Capital Punishment in Texas Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Capital Punishment in Texas - Essay Example The typical methods of execution have been by electrocution, lethal injections and firing squads. Crimes such as murder, rape, piracy, treason, desertion all carried the death penalty. Currently the death penalty has been applied to crimes which fall under â€Å"capital crime† category. These capital offenses include murder of law enforcement personnel, during prison breaks, person serving life sentences, perpetrated during arson or robbery, children and multiple murders. Texas has executed 405 people since 1976 while 393 people are currently in death row (State by State Information). There are many reasons why Texas has a high death penalty rate. Judges in Texas are elected by popular support. Public pleasure drives their desire to impose tough punishments on crime. This increases their chances of getting reelected. Further lawyers are appointed by the court that has little experience in defending capital punishment crimes. Jurors are not allowed to consider less severe evidence during the sentencing period of the trial. Still others believe that the high rate of executions has to do with Texan history of frontier justice. Capital Punishment permanently damages justice and it is a violation of a criminal rights. Life imprisonment is a much better punishment in place of capital punishment. The death penalty is cruel and inhumane. It prevents the possibility of criminal rehabilitation. Further there is also the risk of executing innocent people. Proponents of the capital punishment claim that it acts as deterrence to murder. Murder is perpetrated either due to passion or insanity. A criminal does not take into consideration the consequences of their actions. Capital punishment also brutalizes society since it justifies state sanctioned killings and that it is acceptable to kill in some cases. Supporters of the death penalty argue that it does not brutalize society but provides justice upon

Racist Violence In America Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Racist Violence In America - Essay Example The fact that the author mentions different problems also makes the essay more informative. Another strong point is the inclusion of the real life personalities, such as the story of Trayvon Martin and Deamonte Driver, who died because of the â€Å"bacteria from the abscessed tooth that spread to the brain† after he was not given a timely medical help. (Giroux) This makes readers feel sympathy and become more prone to supporting the author. In addition, the author makes references to other authors, such as Steve Herbert, Glen Ford, Patricia and Trecento Clough to show that he is not alone in his considerations and make the argument more plausible. In general, I share the author’s point of view when he explains that the present-day society allows too much violence and, yet, it continues spreading the messages of fear among the population. In my opinion, it is clear that the economic gap between people exists and it is always difficult to break the circle of poverty having poor education and, therefore, poor opportunities to prosper. At the same time, in my opinion, the essay could be better grounded. Although the author gives the numbers of poor and imprisoned minorities and explains the conditions in which they live, he did not provide evidence that could show the causal connection between the facts, such as the rates of drop outs of the minorities and racial stereotyping for example. However, the points covered in the article are worth consideration and further research.

Benefits of Personalised Geriatric Care

Benefits of Personalised Geriatric Care INTRODUCTION It is always best to provide an intervention to every issue that is seen. In relation to the common Geriatric problems, there are different approaches in the planning of care depending on the needs of every individual. Personalized care is being promoted and executed to further and better assist every individual who goes through such kinds of condition. In the planning of care for the Geriatric patients, there are two kinds of approaches. These two are the Person Centered Approach and the Non-Person Centered Approach. The Person Centered Approach focuses on the basis of individuality regardless of the persons’ cognitive status, age, race and even gender. In this approach, every elder is subject to the care they need and what is due to them. The healthcare provider in this case should thoroughly identify and gather data to ensure that proper treatment and therapeutic approaches are being executed. What I best int his approach is that, there is no standard criteria for someone with a geriatric condition to be able to fit in. This is basically open to those who need it. On the other hand, the Non-Person Centered Approach has different goals and perspective. They focus on something in general rather than the person as a whole. Their intention is to help alleviate the condition of those elders with Geriatric problems, However, their approach is not directly on the elders. Rather, it depends on the mission and vision of their agency. Aside from the different approaches in handling Geriatric problems, there are principles that Healthcare providers must observe. The importance of these principles and the impact it can create in the development of the elders with geriatric problems. In this research, techniques and abilities will also be discussed. The different kinds of techniques that can be used to benefit the elders will be elaborated. This will gain advantage on both the Healthcare provider and the elders. Considering the equality and Cultural aspects of the community, this will surely make an impact to elders with Dementia or other common Geriatric problems. Because this can create an impact on the lives of these elders, it is best to be aware of such things. TASK There are different principles involved in the person-centered approach for elders with Dementia and other common Geriatric conditions. These principles will aid every individual that is involved in the management of such conditions. Individuality In individuality, histories are being thoroughly reviewed in order for the healthcare providers to specifically know the kind of treatment or therapeutic management the elders might need. Data are being gathered from the significant others regarding about the specific lifestyle an habitual behaviour of the elder. Since this is individualized, the planning of treatment in this case is basically personalized. What may work for elder 1 may not work for elder 2 because both elders may have different experiences and environmental factors that caused their condition. Also, each elder have different needs and it is the duty of the health care providers to determine the appropriate approach. Rights We certainly consider that every individual has their own rights regardless of their status. In this approach we promote that despite the elder’s condition, we should take into consideration that they deserve to be treated right. And in this way, elders with Dementia or other common geriatric conditions are being protected and they receive the treatment that they truly deserve. Despite their condition, these elders are still human thus, they needed to be treated well. Choice The facility in this kind of approach gives the elders the right to choose what they think is best for them. They’re being given the option to choose for themselves. In this way, they have the freedom to voice out their own preferences. The elder’s choice be a large undertaking or small undertakings. In the large undertakings, for instance, elders may choose to sign the â€Å"Do not Resuscitate† waiver. They have every right to do that for themselves. On the other hand, the small undertaking may include choosing what to wear for that day, the colour of shirt they prefer, whether or not they want a jacket or a raincoat on a rainy day. In this way we are giving the elders to be responsible and make them feel that they are not worthless. This will help them feel that they have the control over their life. Privacy Privacy is not disclosing any information outside of the Health care institution. Information is only being discussed within the circle of the involved health care practitioners. Families are given the assurance that whatever condition the elder has will only be made known to those professionals involved in the treatment. Practitioners may only disclose some information once the family has given them the consent to do so. Independence Independence is one of the goals in the management of elders with dementia and other common geriatric conditions. Some people may think that this is quite impossible to attain, but with the constant assistance elders get from health care practitioners, this is achievable. Health care providers must identify certain situations in which elders may find themselves dependent. Once the health care provider has figured out the elders dependence, it is where the health care provider will make a strategy to assist the elder in achieving his/her independence. This may take a long process that’s why it is best to set goals that are attainable. Dignity Another goal in the management of elders with dementia is the promotion of their dignity. Healthcare providers must promote that despite the elder’s situation they still need to be respected as human beings. Promotion of dignity makes them worth as a person. Respect Respect is very important in the management of elders with dementia. They should be treated with transparency to further avoid the deterioration of the elder. This will also help ensure that elders are not confused. Respect is the summation of all the person-centered approach. Autonomy Every person is subject to their own preference. Since we all have this kind of rights, even elders with dementia should have autonomy. In this way, we are guiding them in deciphering what kind of outcome they want for themselves. The non-person centered approach to dementia and the Institutional Perspective and the Bio-Medical Perspective. The Institutional perspective focuses on the policies, rules and regulations in order to maintain the normal function of the physical aspect of the elders with dementia. Aside from the physical aspect, this approach is also taking part in the social and spiritual aspect of the person. On the other hand, the Bio-Medical Perspective’s main focus is the disease process. This perspective is concerned more of the prevention and alleviation of the common geriatric conditions. They are not in any way relating their efforts to the family or to any healthcare providers. They are more concern of the medications that elders needs, the diagnostic tests to further detect the progression of the disease or even the treatments needed to aid the elders with their condition. To maintain the condition of elders with dementia, there are techniques that are being used. Among are the following: Reality-orientation Approach This approach focuses on what is going on around the world. The objective data that clients must know such as the date, time, day, year and even the weather. To confirm this to the client’s we must provide evidence such as newspaper, television news and all the like. Validation Approach The focus of this approach is to validate the emotional content of the person. Healthcare providers are looking into what the client is feeling about a certain given situation. It is here that we can check if the expression matches the content of his/her emotions. Assistive Technologies It is in this approach that clients are being assisted in a way that health care provider brings the world to them. Due to their condition, most often they already forgot how it was to live a life that is normal. Through this kind of approach, the elders will gain more hope, better self-esteem thus resulting to sociable elders. Reminiscence Techniques This will help the clients exercise their memories. In this technique, the clients are given the chance to share their experiences in life. The things they’ve gone through and the memorable events in their lives. This is a good measurement of the retained past memories of the elders. Holistic Approach This approach focuses on the person as a whole. This includes the different aspect of the person’s life. The physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual aspect of the elder is given importance. These four aspects are being given attention and goes hand in hand in the process of holistic approach. The Public Health has attributed a lot in the management of Dementia. In the Public health, the government funds the programme that is being presented. In a way, this funding will result to an evidence-based practice. This will further develop the management techniques for elders with dementia and other common geriatric health conditions. By doing this, both government and the public and the Institutions will know what is effective and what is not. Also, they are making the public know and become aware of what is happening in the world of the elders with dementia. Making the public become aware of dementia’s nature will help distinguish the early signs of it and prevent it from worsening. Awareness of this condition is their way of making it known to everyone that Dementia is something everyone should never neglect because this just doesn’t affect the person having it but it makes a great impact in the community. Also, health promotions have been made to help reduce the incident of complications of dementia. The healthcare provider’s attitudes should be taken into consideration. They should instil in their minds that positive attitude attracts positive results, so as negative attitude attracts negative ones. Healthcare providers exist to provide the care that elders with dementia need but not to worsen their condition by the way they treat the elders. Providers must be patient enough and smart enough to think that these elders don’t intend to complicate the situation but it’s simply a given fact that elders with these kinds of conditions aren’t aware of the things they do. Healthcare providers are in demand in this case due to the massive growth of older adults. Older generation are being outgrown by the new ones. And it’s now time to pay back to these elders what they’ve done. The code of practice and other published standards has created a great impact in the lives of those individuals with dementia and other common geriatric health conditions. This benefited most on the person centered approach. The impact created was directly received by the recipient, the elders with dementia and other geriatric conditions. The code of practice has impacted the elders in a way that despite their condition, they are still being protected. We are all aware that elders who possess these kinds of condition are primarily affected on their brain, specifically their memory. Without memory, they are all like physical humans who just wander and don’t know where their lives are leading. But because of the concern and initiative of others for these elders, they’ve set standards for them that while they’re losing their memory they’re not losing their humanity. This won’t give impact to the elders now but also to the next generations of growing elders. This has made a way for everyone to be aware that every human has their rights and that no one being left behind. The health sector standards have gained the cooperation of every healthcare provider in providing the right management to elders with dementia and other common geriatric conditions. Moreover, the code of practice has benefitted both the residents and the healthcare providers. To the residents, the code of standards has become their protection from any malpractices. While on the other hand, the code of standard is the guide of the health care providers to do things in the right way and to avoid committing any malpractice that will affect the condition of the elders. These health sector standards and code of standards and other published standards has benefited the person-centered approach because the standards’cncern are primarily for the purpose of the residents safety as well as the health care providers. This is the only approach that it’s only the resident and the health care providers that are involved. Unlike other approaches which does not directly involves the residents. CONCLUSION In conclusion, this paper has enumerated the different principles involved in the person centered approach that gives benefit to both the residents and the health care providers. This paper primarily focuses about the protection and rights of the elders with dementia and other geriatric conditions, how the different approaches work and the benefits it has for the elders. Aside from the primary focus of protecting and promoting the rights of these elders, the healthcare providers are at the same time being guided on how to do things right and possibly rule out malpractices to happen. One way or the other, both parties can benefit from the different approaches, range of techniques, the different public health promotions and attitudes to health and the demand for more health care. RECOMMENDATION This paper will increase the awareness of the principles of the person centered approach, non-person centered approach, range of techniques used to meet the needs of persons with dementia, the impacts of public health and attitudes to health and demand for healthcare to those individuals whose family members has been affected by these common geriatric conditions. However, it’s not enough to make the awareness limited to those individuals that are being affected by this phenomenon. It’s always best to make it known to the public because no one knows who’s going to be the next victim. As what they always say the â€Å"prevention is better than cure.† Being aware is a way of making a step of preventing things to affect you. Although we don’t always have the control over things, but at least, having the knowledge of these kinds of things will lighten up the load and will help managing easier. These information ill help anybody know how things work especially to elders with dementia and other geriatric health conditions. BIBLIOGRAPHY/ REFERENCES Halura, M. (2002). Dementia in New Zealand: Improving Quality in Residential Care. Retrieved from http://www.health.govt.nz/system/files/documents/publications/healthreportdementia.pdf

my life ant its ways :: essays research papers

My Thinking and its Ways   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A utopia is a place of ideal perfection especially in laws, government, and social conditions. When I sit to think I think of my own utopia. I dream of things that I could not do the normal world but in my own utopia. In my utopia a key phrase and motto is â€Å"don’t worry†. I want to have no worries in what I do, think, feel, and every other aspect that would worry about. In my utopia, I am the utopia. I am the one and only in my world. Temptation to do things and the will to not do things is what separate the strong and the weak. I feel and many others may disagree when I say that everyone will fall to temptation. I am not a perfect individual and many others are not either and if you think your perfect certainly you are to bigheaded to be perfect. So in my world I like to be by myself. How can one be tempted if there is no one to tempt him? A main reason for me to be by myself is so I can live in a world without temptation. I know I am not a weak person but I am not the strongest and I fall to temptation. I think that I could do everything by myself. I think that I can depend on myself and no one else. I know in a real world this could not happen that you cannot make it by yourself, but in mine you can make it by yourself because you are the one that makes it. No one can challenge you and it is not necessary to not challenge anyone else. Life is hard and harsh place to be so to be somewhere else would be a dream. Being alone would not bother me; I would be able to do it. Sometimes I love being myself just thinking about this little world that I could live in and do things my way. You may think being by yourself would be dull because there is no impact, but when your alone you can think of the most imaginative places and scenarios. From reading this you might think that I am an anti-social person, but I am not one. I love the people around me but when you dream and think you can do things you cant do on earth or in reality.

Poverty in America Essay

Poverty has always been with us from beggars outside the gates of Jerusalem to the mentally ill homeless woman in the park. America is known for our huge difference in culture and class. This is due partly to the dynamics behind the political decisions of this country. The president himself admits that America is more unequal than it’s been since the great depression and many of his own supporters say he has failed. America now has, by many standards, the lowest social mobility of all of the high-end countries, meaning that a child born into poverty is likely to grow up as a poor adult. This is surprising for a country that not only prides itself as being a middle class society, but as the society where anyone can make it and where social mobility is so high. In some places now, it is hard to believe that America is an economic giant. â€Å"One in four young children lives in poverty in the richest nation on earth.† (Kindle, 2012) This is a fact that goes unnoticed by m ost Americans. Poverty in America has become a circular phenomenon and it has been shown to affect certain communities while it breezes by others. The Poverty Line â€Å"Some 46 million Americans live in poverty. That is the third highest poverty rate among developed nations, ahead only of Turkey and Mexico.† (Kindle, 2012) We might then ask, what is poverty? Where is the poverty line? For 63% of Americans, ages 16 and over, working is a necessity. From working entry level jobs in retail and fast food, jobs in manufacturing and farming, to banking and health care. These similarities, however, end there. This becomes quite apparent especially when it comes to hours worked and their compensation. For example, the average entry level wage in New Mexico is $8.02 an hour or $16,673 a year, before taxes. As opposed to an experienced worker or a college educated one, $22.93 an hour or $47,692 a year. This is lower than the national level of $17,867 annual for an entry level job and $66,248 for the experienced and educated. Unfortunately there are some that work as many hours and are paid less. Since 1938, there has been a federal law requiring employers to pay their employees a minimum wage. It was 25 cents. (Williamson, 1980) In 1938, the gap between nominal wages and real wages was quite wide compared to now where they are fairly close to each  other and it is predicted they will mirror each other in the near future. Currently in California, the state minimum is $8.00, which is not a lot considering the rising cost of food, housing, and energy. According to 2008 Federal Poverty Guidelines, a family of 4 making $21,200 before taxes is considered to be poor. (Iceland, 2012) There are social programs that are set up to help people in this predicament; however, it does not help them get out of the circumstance. â€Å"The average food stamp benefit is $21 per week.† (Kindle, 2012) This is not nearly enough to support your average American. The aid programs are set up to get the poor by on a day to day basis and are not set up to improve their social mobility. There should be money spent on programs that allow those in poverty to improve their education and careers. What makes people poor? Is it lack of opportunities? Is it lack of education and skills training? Is racism and sexism? There are a wide variety of opinions on why people are poor. There is a sense of ignorance when bringing to attention the issue to those unaffected. Those that are unaffected could help but they do not know which way will help not only with th e poor today but to decrease the poverty in the future. What is surprising is that a lack of education opportunities is often mentioned as reasons for poverty. According to the US department of education, 9.3% of the 37 million students ages 16-24 are high school drop outs. This is ironic considering that public high school is available to all. It seems creating jobs is the consensus and it makes sense especially when you look at the unemployment rate. Nationally the unemployment rate is 6.1%. What is the reason for this number? The loss of non government jobs, mainly in the manufacturing sector. This had a domino effect to other businesses like retail and construction. In the past years, we’ve heard how the economy is on the verge of collapse and this is the worst since the great depression of the 1930s. (Ross, 1967) We have a long way before we are in a depression. In 1935 the unemployment rate was the highest at 24.9% in 1959 it was 5.5% the highest since that time was at 1982 at 10.8% We are not close to another depression but we do have extreme poverty amongst us. Poverty in America has been rapidly growing in the past decade because of poor political decisions. There is an extreme divide between the social classes in America. Most people belong to the 99%. The 1% is some of the richest people in the word and has cornered the market. They own 1/3 of US net worth. The  US has over 400 billionaires, which is the most in the world. (GAO, 2007) Lack of money is not the reason for the extreme poverty rates in America, greed is. There is definitely enough money to go around the US multiple times but no one wants to help those in need. There is this sense of survival of the fittest that is an ongoing theme when looking into poverty here. Race and Class Segregation America is deeply divided. We can agree that poverty is more pervasive among minorities, children, female-headed families and people with less education. It has been shown through true statistics that there is a definite inequality between race and class when dealing with poverty in America. But why is American poverty still colored in the twenty-fifth century? Neighborhoods that are organized around work where significant percentage of the adults is working are significantly different from neighborhoods that are jobless, which are neighborhoods that include a significant percentage of people that are not working. Jobless neighborhoods are a lot more dangerous because they create and breed other problems like crime, gang formation, and drug trafficking. (Iceland, 2012) This leads back to the continuing issue with America’s lack of social mobility. It seems that once one person is in poverty, it becomes a vicious cycle and no one is willing to do anything to help. That’s why poverty is passed down to the same races and the same classes because they get stuck in that predicament. There are 50 million Americans without health insurance. (Iceland, 2012) This does not help our problem with poverty. America is a country that deals with problems as they come and never with preventing them. Those that are born into a poor family almost always end up the head of a poor family. This fact has shaped America and has almost made it impossible for those that are born into less fortunate homes. Dealing with Poverty The facts are as stands; if a person was to walk down the streets in any which neighborhood in America, 1 out of every 6 people passed could be living in poverty. This issue is rarely talked about for these outstanding numbers. Each year the number of poverty in America goes up. The new poor  are the former middle class, and the middle class is disintegrating. There are becoming only two classes; a lower class and a higher class. Bottom line; America needs to reverse the cycle. Through education and assistance programs, America will be able to close the gap between the two classes. Recent unemployment rates have dropped slightly and the economy is showing some signs of growth but only some Americans are gaining from it. Almost a million American children sometimes go hungry and tent cities are springing up across the country. The world’s economic power house has a sickness. While both sides blame each other, America cannot fully admit their poverty, and are certainly not dea ling with it. Annotated Bibliography Iceland, JohnPoverty in America: A Handbook, with a 2012 Preface. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 2012. This book allowed me to understand better poverty in America. It focuses on early views of poverty in America and where the poverty in America originated. This book also describes the causes and characteristics of poverty as well as why poverty remains high in America. I chose this book so that I would have a timeline of poverty from the beginning as well as poverty now. I would be able to compare and contrast the social and economical times between then and now. I will compare the different ethnicities in America and compare the different ways that they have been affected by poverty over the years. Kindle, Peter A. â€Å"Book Review of So Rich, So Poor: Why It’s So Hard to End Poverty in America by Peter Edelman Edelman, Peter. 2012. So Rich, So Poor: Why It’s So Hard to End Poverty in America. New York: The New Press. $24.95, 208 Pp., Hardcover. ISBN: 978-1-59558-785-5.† Poverty & Public Policy 4.4 (2012): 241-43. Print. This is a journal that gave me facts about poverty in America. I was able to link the problems with true statistics and use them in my paper. I found this journal to be very helpful when deliberating what should be in my paper and not. It was easier to read than the books and really got me interested in the topic. Ross, Arthur M., and Herbert Hill. Employment, Race, and Poverty. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1967. Print. This book talks about the employment,  race, and poverty in America and gives me statistics that are quotable for my paper. It is important to figure out how all these three aspect tie together and it allows me to relate race to poverty in America. This books also paints a picture of what it is like to be unemployed, a minority, and in poverty in America throughout many decades. I will use this source to also explain the unemployment issue and how the unemployed got to where they are and how it affects their families. I will talk about the vicious cycle of the unemployed and how it will almost always be passed down to their children and what other types of issues (jail time, drug dealing, etc) are caused because of the unemployment of certain classes. â€Å"The Other America, 2012: Confronting the Poverty Epidemic | The Nation.† The Other America, 2012: Confronting the Poverty Epidemic | The Nation. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Mar. 2014. This site helped me to form my conclusion. It allowed me to formulate my thoughts and wrap up my ideas. I was able to see how other people looked at poverty and what their stance was on the issue. I also used this site to add some facts to my paper and get more of an emotional effect with my word play. United States. Government Accountability Office. Poverty in America: Economic Research Shows Adverse Impacts on Health Status and Other Social Conditions as Well as the Economic Growth Rate: Report to Congressional Requesters. [Washington, D.C.]: U.S. Government Accountability Office, 2007. Economic research suggests that people living in poverty face an increased risk of adverse outcomes, such as poor health and criminal activity, both of which may lead to reduced participation in the labor market. It also shows that limited access to health care as well as a greater exposure to environmental hazards affects the heath of those living in poverty. I will use this book to examine the effects that poverty has on issues like health, social conditions, and growth rate. The previous book allowed me to examine exactly what poverty is and this book will allow me to see the affects the poverty has had over time. I would like to go over the economic growth rate and see what ethnicities have su ffered the most and which have substantially improved, if any. Williamson, Jeffrey G., and Peter H. Lindert. American Inequality: A Macroeconomic History. New York: Academic, 1980. Print. This book solely focuses on the history of the inequality of class and race in America. The information found in this book will start my paper off with facts about how the poverty came to be what it is today. American inequality  is highlighted in this book and we are able to see where the inequality started and how it is currently affecting America. It is important to explain the macroeconomic history of America for the readers to get an idea of how the inequality in America originally started Revision Plan I. Thesis: I changed the focus of my thesis to relate more to the lack of social mobility in my paper. I felt that it was the basis of my paper and what I was most interested in. My thesis originally was not very powerful but after using Pearson’s writing guide I was able to change my words around and create more of a strong stance. II. Organization: My paper was completely unorganized. It is hard for me to organize my thoughts and to better blend my ideas. I had to make index cards and organize them that way in order to figure out the best order of my ideas. III. Support and Development of Ideas: Adding quotes helped better support my ideas. It added facts to what I already had and also helped with smoothing out my ideas. IV. Style: I changed the style of my paper from MLA to APA. I had never done a paper in APA but it made sense to use this format because we were told to include an abstract and an author’s note which followed the guidelines of an APA style paper. It was different but it turned out to look a lot cleaner than the MLA. V. Mechanics: Using the Pearson writing components really helped develop my paper. I knew what to focus on and what was unimportant in the process. I tried to make the issue clear by painting a picture with my words to help better understand the points I was trying to make.

Advertising: Make the Consumer Believe They Are Superior Essay

Advertisers persuade people into buying their products by making the advertisement appealing to the consumer. By relating alluring experiences that in most cases have nothing to do with the product at all. It is a psychological strategy that advertisers use to make the consumer believe that by buying the product they will be superior or they will get some kind of satisfaction out of it. Researchers have found a way to discover codes hidden in advertisements that make the unconscious mind want to buy the product. Advertisers relate the products to pleasurable experiences and they use emotional branding to make money. Researchers study the right language to sell a product or idea by trying to figure out a code to the unconscious mind of why people actually buy the product. According to (Clotaire Rapaille) from â€Å"The Persuaders† advertisers know how Americans feel about the product, â€Å"there are unconscious associations with every product that we buy†.† Every word has an unconscious code in every mind marketers understand the real need of the customer sometimes unspoken and they deliver give me want we want†. Marketers try to connect their products to the consumers they are persuasive and they have plenty of selling strategies to get to people to buy something. They relate the product to a certain group of people for example, there was an advertisement that was shown on the film â€Å"The Persuaders† that made a connection with happy people saying that Song a new airline is for happy people. It could be very difficult to get around in this world with a degree of self- awareness as to what’s happening because all these messages are trying to move us to act and make choices on an emotional level and probably the best way to not fall into this trap that advertisers put consumers into is not to believe in the advertisements. (Rusgkoff, Persuaders) Advertisers capture the attention of teens by relating cool or pleasur able experiences to products. They obtain their attention by telling them what’s cool. On TV commercials or at the stores that teenager are most likely to visit. Persuasion is an important role in capturing teen’s attention. Teens are easily persuaded into buying things by the media, advertisers know that teens have favorite celebrities and they use it to capture their attention. Teens attention is captured by the images and wordings that an advertisement has. There is a story that teens can identify just by the picture and by how well the advertisement is organized. It is so easy for teenagers to be amazed by some products being advertised. Teenagers want to have everything that is cool, everything that is going to make them stand out or popular among their own groups. (Rushkoff, Merchants) An example of emotional persuasion is that advertisers are trying to sell their products by making people believe that by buying a product they will be superior. Advertisers relate their products to culture, sports, family anything that is important to people. For example they might advertise something that has to do with a groups culture. Therefore consumers buy the product because they feel that it relates to their culture and makes them feel good. Emotional branding is used to describe a way of life. What people like to do or they are accustomed to do advertisers try to put it in their advertisements. Images and words are important to tell a story within an advertisement. Products are related to things that we enjoy doing advertisers want to make us think that the products we purchase make us who we are. An important strategy that advertisers use is imagery. Imagery displays pleasurable experiences or things that make people laugh. For example the joy they would feel if they bought energizer max batteries because the bunny is so catchy and gives a precedent of how the batteries work. (Maasik and Solomon) Having the correct picture in an advertisement can be very beneficial. Images are what capture peoples’ attention. Pleasurable experiences are shown in images so that the consumer is enlightened by the product and could see themselves in that pleasurable experience. Imagery is very important in selling products. It defines what people want and the words in the advertisement makes people see what advertisers want them to see and feel in order to sell their product. . Pictures give advertisements a sense of what the product means. A product can mean many things in an advertisement but the images show emotion towards things that people want.(Streeter) Images of desire are substituted for actual products on the advertisements advertisers goal is to transform desire into necessity. â€Å"Semiotics is a tradition of thought known for calling attention to the formal structures of signification, of meaning-making, in culture.†(Streeter) Advertisers use psychology to sell their products by associating products with pleasurable experiences, this is how consumers are persuaded into buying a product even though sometimes the pleasurable experience has nothing to do with the product being advertised. Advertisers want to know how the unconscious mind works when it comes to deciding whether or not to buy a product. They believe that the unconscious mind makes people buy things that they don’t need. Advertisers try to satisfy consumers’ needs throughout images and words to make them feel that they deserve to have that pleasurable experience that is being shown in the advertisement. Some ways that advertisers use psychology to sell their products is by making us think that we need the product but we buy a certain brand because it associates with something that we enjoy doing. For example, their favorite brands, things that they like, colors that they might find alluring. Advertisers are willing to pay these people for information to gather ideas for new advertisements. (Rushkoff,Persuaders) Day after day people are exposed to advertisements. There are advertisements in every building, any place we look at. People are being persuaded to buy things and many do not realize it. Many do not even imagine that behind those fascinating images there is a code that advertisers worked too hard to uncover so that people buy their product.

5 Excellent Reasons Not to Fear the Garden Spider

5 Excellent Reasons Not to Fear the Garden Spider SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Have you noticed a large black and yellow spider making its home in your yard? This species is commonly known as the garden spider, and they are widespread throughout North America. Should you be concerned about you or your pet being bitten by a garden spider? Are garden spiders poisonous? On the contrary, garden spiders are a beneficial garden inhabit and are key to keeping insect populations down. Read this guide to learn more about this striking spider species and their unique characteristics. What Are Garden Spiders? To start, what are garden spiders? Is any spider you find wandering across your lawn a garden spider? When people talk about garden spiders, they’re referring to one species of spider. Its scientific name is Argiope aurantia, but it has many common names, including garden spider, black and yellow garden spider, yellow garden spider, writing spider, garden orb weaving spider, corn spider, zigzag spider and banded garden spider. The most distinctive feature of garden spiders are the black and yellow markings that often appear as bands or spots across their abdomen. Only female garden spiders have these colors though, along with a white or gray cephalothorax (front part of the body). Males are significantly smaller, with a thinner abdomen, and have a duller red-brown color. Females range from 0.75 to 1.1 inches (19 to 28mm) long, while males are about a quarter the size of females: 0.20 to 0.35 inches (5 to 9mm) long. Like all spider species, garden spiders have eight legs (in four pairs) and multiple small eyes. Because of their larger size and bright colors, female garden spiders are noticed much more often than male garden spiders. A female garden spider on the left and a male garden spider on the right. Source: Wikimedia Commons Where Do Garden Spiders Live? Black and yellow garden spiders have a wide range. They’re native to North America and are found in every US state except Alaska. Their range also extends to northern Central America and southern Canada. Garden spiders prefer to live near sunny, grassy areas that are out of the wind so that they can build their webs. They typically build their webs on tall plants or low buildings. This is why they are found so often in gardens! Tall grasses, shrubs, even the eaves of houses are all ideal places for garden spiders to live. These spiders are active during the day, and they can often be found on or near the webs they build. Are Garden Spiders Poisonous? If you see a garden spider, don’t worry about being bitten by it. Garden spiders aren’t aggressive, and they’ll leave you alone as long as you don’t bother or provoke them. In the rare cases that garden spiders do bite, you still don’t need to worry. Garden spider venom isn’t poisonous, and the bite will feel similar to a bee sting, with only minor pain and swelling. This is true for both humans and animals, so you don’t need to worry if your dog or other pet is bitten by one of these spiders. The only people who need to worry about getting bitten by garden spiders are those who are allergic to the spider’s venom, but this is very rare. If the bite or other parts of your body (such as your face) become very swollen or you have trouble breathing, call 9 or get to an emergency room immediately. Despite some articles explaining how to get rid of garden spiders, they are a harmless and often interesting addition to yards and gardens. In the next section we explain how garden spiders can even benefit you! 4 Key Black and Yellow Garden Spider Facts Want to know more about garden spiders? Below are some of the most important and interesting facts to know about this species. What Do Garden Spiders Eat? Not only are garden spiders harmless, they can help make your garden a more enjoyable place to be! Garden spiders eat insects, including many common pests like mosquitoes and wasps. Garden spiders trap their prey by spinning webs that the insects fly into. They don’t chase or hunt their prey (so any stories about garden spiders chasing after humans are false). Insects make up the majority of a garden spider’s diet, but they may also eat slightly larger prey, such as small lizards, if they get caught in the spiders’ webs. What Does a Garden Spider Web Look Like? Garden spiders are known for having large, intricate webs. The webs can be up to two feet across and are circular in shape. They have the classic spiral rings and radial lines that most people envision when they picture a spider web. Their webs often have a distinctive zigzag of silk running through the center, known as the stabilimentum. Female garden spiders typically build much larger webs than male spiders. Once the web is complete, the spider will often sit in the middle of it, waiting for prey to fly into the web. Garden spiders will use the same web for several months, maintaining it as needed each night. However, they may build new webs more often if they decide to move locations or the web is damaged. How Long Do Garden Spiders Live? Garden spiders live, on average, for one year, although some females can live for several years if they live in areas that don’t have hard frosts (a frequent killer of garden spiders). Garden spiders typically spend their entire lives in one area, so your yard may be the site of an entire garden spider life cycle! How Do Garden Spiders Reproduce? Garden spiders reproduce one to two times a year. The male garden spider dies immediately after mating and is sometimes eaten by the female. After mating, the female lays several thousand eggs which she covers in brown silk. The eggs hatch in the spring or fall, and the baby garden spiders (the vast majority of which won’t survive to adulthood) either stay in the area or get carried by the wind to new places. Summary: Garden Spider Even though they may look frightening, black and yellow garden spiders are actually a harmless, and sometimes even beneficial, addition to your yard. The garden spider, officially known as Argiope aurantia, is a widespread spider species that is nonaggressive. Even if a human or animal is bitten by one of these spiders, the reaction will only be similar to that of a bee sting, with minor swelling and pain. The garden spider web is often large and intricate, and it’s one of the most obvious signs that this spider is living in your yard. Female garden spiders are the only ones with the bold black and yellow coloring, and the species eats primarily insects, including many pests that frequent gardens. They play an important role in the ecosystem and keeping insect populations down, so there’s no need to worry if one of these spiders makes its home in your garden! What's Next? Looking for more spider facts? We dissect 4 popular camel spider myths here. Writing a research paper for school but not sure what to write about? Our guide to research paper topics has over 100 topics in ten categories so you can be sure to find the perfect topic for you. What's Vygotsky scaffolding? It actually has nothing to do with buildings! Learn everything you need to know about this important education term in our complete guide to Vygotsky scaffolding. Did you know that water has a very special density? Check out our guide to learn what the density of water is and how the density can change.

Premise Definition and Examples in Arguments

Premise Definition and Examples in Arguments A premise is a  proposition upon which an argument is based or from which a conclusion is drawn. Put another way, a  premise includes the reasons and evidence behind a conclusion, says  Study.com. A premise may be  either the major or the minor proposition of a  syllogism- an argument in which two premises are made and a  logical conclusion  is drawn from them- in a deductive argument. Merriam-Webster  gives this example of a major and minor premise (and conclusion): All mammals are warmblooded [major premise]; whales are mammals [minor premise]; therefore, whales are warmblooded [conclusion]. The term premise comes from medieval Latin, meaning things mentioned before. In philosophy as well as fiction and nonfiction writing, the premise follows largely the same pattern as that defined in Merriam-Webster. The premise- the thing or things that came before- lead (or fail to lead) to a logical resolution in an argument or story. Premises in Philosophy To understand what a premise is in philosophy, it helps to understand how the field defines an argument, says  Joshua May, an associate professor of philosophy at the University of Alabama, Birmingham. In philosophy, an argument is not concerned with disputes among people; it is a set of propositions that contain premises offered to support a conclusion, he says, adding: A  premise  is a proposition one offers in support of a conclusion. That is, one offers a premise as evidence for the truth of the conclusion, as justification for or a reason to believe the conclusion. May offers this example of a major and minor premise, as well as a conclusion, that echoes the example from Merriam-Webster: All humans are mortal. [major premise]G.W. Bush is a human. [minor premise]Therefore, G.W. Bush is mortal. [conclusion] May notes that the validity of an argument in philosophy (and in general) depends on the accuracy and truth of the premise or premises. For example, May gives this example of a bad (or inaccurate) premise: All women are Republican. [major premise: false]Hilary Clinton is a woman. [minor premise: true]Therefore, Hilary Clinton is a Republican. [conclusion: false] The  Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy  says that an argument can be valid if it follows logically from its premises, but the conclusion can still be wrong if the premises are incorrect: However, if the premises are true, then the conclusion is also true, as a matter of logic.​​ In philosophy, then, the process of creating premises and carrying them through to a conclusion involves logic and deductive reasoning. Other areas provide a similar, but slightly different, take when defining and explaining premises. Premises in Writing For nonfiction writing, the term  premise  carries largely the same definition as in philosophy. Purdue OWL notes that a premise or premises are integral parts of constructing an argument. Indeed, says the language website operated by Purdue University, the very definition of an argument is that it is an assertion of a conclusion based on logical premises. Nonfiction writing uses the same terminology as in philosophy, such as  syllogism, which Purdue OWL describes as the simplest sequence of logical premises and conclusions. Nonfiction writers use a premise or premises as the backbone of a piece such as an editorial, opinion article, or even a letter to the editor of a newspaper. Premises are also useful for developing and writing an outline for a debate. Purdue gives this example: Nonrenewable resources do not exist in infinite supply. [premise 1]Coal is a nonrenewable resource. [premise 2]Coal does not exist in infinite supply. [conclusion] The only difference in nonfiction writing versus the use of premises in philosophy is that nonfiction writing generally does not distinguish between major and minor premises. Fiction writing also uses the concept of a premise but in a different way, and not one connected with making an argument. James M. Frey, as quoted on  Writers Digest, notes: The premise is the foundation of your story- that single core statement of what happens to the characters as a result of the actions of a story.† The writing website gives the example of the story The Three Little Pigs, noting that the premise is: â€Å"Foolishness leads to death, and wisdom leads to happiness.† The well-known story does not seek to create an argument, as is the case in philosophy and nonfiction writing. Instead, the story itself is the argument, showing how and why the premise is accurate, says Writers Digest: If you can establish what your premise is at the beginning of your project, you will have an easier time writing your story. Thats because the fundamental concept you create in advance will drive the actions of your characters. Its the characters- and to some degree the plot- that prove or disprove the premise of the story. Other Examples The use of premises is not limited to philosophy and writing. The concept can also be useful in science, such as in the study of genetics or biology versus environment, which is also known as the nature-versus-nurture debate.  In Logic and Philosophy: A Modern Introduction, Alan Hausman, Howard Kahane, and Paul Tidman give this example: Identical twins often have different IQ test scores. Yet such twins inherit the same genes. So environment must play some part in determining IQ. In this case, the argument consists of three statements: Identical twins often have different IQ  scores. [premise]Identical twins inherit the same genes. [premise]The environment must play some part in  determining  IQ. [conclusion] The use of the premise even reaches into religion and theological arguments.  Michigan State University  (MSU) gives this example: God exists, for the world is an organized system and all organized systems must have a creator. The creator of the world is God. The statements provide  reasons why God exists, says MSU. The argument of the statements can be organized into premises and a conclusion. Premise 1: The world is an organized system.Premise 2: Every organized system must have a creator.Conclusion: The creator of the world is God. Consider the Conclusion You can use the concept of the premise in countless areas, so long as each premise is true and relevant to the topic. The key to laying out a premise or premises (in essence, constructing an argument) is to remember that premises are assertions that, when joined together, will lead the reader or listener to a given conclusion, says the  San Jose State University Writing Center, adding: The most important part of any premise is that your audience will accept it as true. If your audience rejects even one of your premises, they will likely also reject your conclusion, and your entire argument will fall apart.​ Consider the following assertion: â€Å"Because greenhouse gases are causing the atmosphere to warm at a rapid rate...† The San Jose State writing lab notes that whether this is a solid premise depends on your audience: If your readers are members of an environmental group, they will accept this premise without qualms. If your readers are oil company executives, they may reject this premise and your conclusions. When developing one or more premises, consider  the rationales and beliefs not just of your audience  but also of your opponents, says San Jose State. After all, your whole point in making an argument is not just to preach to a like-minded audience but to convince others of the correctness of your point of view. Determine what givens† you accept that your opponents do not, as well as where two sides of an argument can find common ground. That point is where you will find effective premises to reach your conclusion, the writing lab notes. Source Hausman, Alan. Logic and Philosophy: A Modern Introduction. Howard Kahane, Paul Tidman, 12th Edition, Cengage Learning, January 1, 2012.

Margaret Jones - Executed for Witchcraft, 1648

Margaret Jones - Executed for Witchcraft, 1648 Known for: first person executed for witchcraft in Massachusetts Bay ColonyOccupation: midwife, herbalist, physicianDates: died June 15, 1648, executed as a witch in Charlestown (now part of Boston) Margaret Jones was hanged on an elm tree on June 15, 1648, after being convicted of witchcraft. The first known execution for witchcraft in New England was the year before: Alse (or Alice) Young in Connecticut. Her execution was reported in an Almanac published by Samuel Danforth, a Harvard College graduate who was then working as a tutor at Harvard. Samuels brother Thomas was a judge at the Salem witch trials in 1692. John Hale, who was later involved in the Salem witch trials as the minister in Beverley, Massachusetts, witnessed the execution of Margaret Jones when he was twelve years old. Rev. Hale was called to help Rev. Parris determine the cause of the strange happenings in his home in early 1692; he was later present at court hearings and executions, supportive of the courts actions. Later, he questioned the legality of the proceedings, and his postumously published book, A Modest Inquiry Into the Nature of Witchcraft, is one of the few sources for information about Margaret Jones. Source: Court Records We know about Margaret Jones from several sources. A court record notes that in April, 1648, a woman and her husband were confined and watched for signs of witchcraft, according to a course which hath ben taken in England for the discovery of witches. The officer was appointed to this task on April 18. Although the names of those watched were not mentioned, the subsequent events involving Margaret Jones and her husband Thomas lend credence to the conclusion that the husband and wife named were the Joneses. The court record shows: This court beinge desireows that the same course which hath ben taken in England for the discovery of witches, by watchinge, may also be taken here with the witch now in question, therefore doe order that a strict watch be set about her every night, that her husband be confined in a private roome, watched also. Winthrops Journal According to the journals of Governor Winthrop, who was a judge at the trial that convicted Margaret Jones, she was found to have caused pain and sickness and even deafness by her touch; she prescribed medicines (aniseed and liquors are mentioned) that had extraordinary violent effects; she warned that those who would not use her medicines would not heal, and that some so warned had had relapses that could not be treated; and she had foretold things that she had no way to know about. Further, two signs usually ascribed to witches were found: the witchs mark or witchs teat, and being seen with a child who, on further investigation, vanished the assumption was that such an apparition was a spirit. Winthrop also reported a very great tempest at Connecticut at the very time of her execution, which people interpreted as confirming that she was truly a witch. Winthrops journal entry is reproduced below. At this court one Margaret Jones of Charlestown was indict- ed and found guilty of witchcraft, and hanged for it. The evidence against her was,1. that she was found to have such a malignant touch, as many persons, (men, women, and children,) whom she stroked or touched with any affection or displeasure, or, etc., were taken with deafness, or vomiting, or other violent pains or sickness,2. she practising physic, and her medicines being such things as (by her own confession) were harmless, as aniseed, liquors, etc., yet had extraordinary violent effects,3. she would use to tell such as would not make use of her physic, that they would never be healed, and accordingly their diseases and hurts continued, with relapse against the ordinary course, and beyond the apprehension of all physicians and surgeons,4. some things which she foretold came to pass accordingly; other things she could tell of (as secret speeches, etc.) which she had no ordinary means to come to the knowledge of,5. she ha d (upon search) an apparent teat in her secret parts as fresh as if it had been newly sucked, and after it had been scanned, upon a forced search, that was withered, and another began on the opposite side,6. in the prison, in the clear day-light, there was seen in her arms, she sitting on the floor, and her clothes up, etc., a little child, which ran from her into another room, and the officer following it, it was vanished. The like child was seen in two other places, to which she had relation; and one maid that saw it, fell sick upon it, and was cured by the said Margaret, who used means to be employed to that end.Her behavior at her trial was very intemperate, lying notoriously, and railing upon the jury and witnesses, etc., and in the like distemper she died. The same day and hour she was executed, there was a very great tempest at Connecticut, which blew down many trees, etc.Source: Winthrops Journal, History of New England 1630-1649. Volume 2. John Winthrop. Edited by James Ken dall Hosmer. New York, 1908. A Nineteenth Century History In the mid-19th century, Samuel Gardner Drake wrote about the case of Margaret Jones, including more information about what may have happened to her husband: The first Execution for Witchcraft in the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was at Boston on the 15th of June, 1648. Accusations were probably common long before this, but now came a tangible Case, and it was carried through with as much Satisfaction to the Authorities, apparently, as ever the Indians burnt a Prisoner at the Stake.The Victim was a Female named Margaret Jones, the Wife of Thomas Jones of Charlestown, who perished on the Gallows, as much for her good Offices, as for the evil Influences imputed to her. She had been, like many other Mothers among the early Settlers, a Physician; but being once suspected of Witchcraft, was found to have such a malignant Touch, as many Persons were taken with Deafness, or Vomiting, or other violent Pains or Sickness. Her Medicines, though harmless in themselves, yet had extraordinary violent Effects; that such as refused her Medicines, she would tell that they would never be healed, and accordingly their Diseases and Hurts continued, with Relap se against the ordinary Course, and beyond the Apprehension of all Physicians and Surgeons. And as she lay in Prison, a little Child was seen to run from her into another Room, and being followed by an Officer, it was vanished. There was other Testimony against her more ridiculous than this, but not necessary to be recited. To make her Case as bad as possible, the Record or it says her Behaviour at her Trials was intemperate, lying notoriously, and railing upon the Jury and Witnesses, and that in like Distemper she died. It is not unlikely that this poor forsake Woman was distracted with Indignation at the Utterances of the false Witnesses, when she saw her Life was sworn away by them. The deluded Court denounced her frantick Denial of the Charges as lying notoriously. And in the probably honest Belief in Witchcraft, the same Recorder says, in the most complacent Credulity, that the same Day and Hour she was executed, there was a very great Tempest at Connecticut, which blew down ma ny Trees, c. Another equally credulous Gentleman, writing a Letter to a Friend, dated at Boston on the 13th of the same Month, says: The Witche is condemned, and to be hanged Tomorrow, being Lecture Day.Whether there were any other suspected Persons at the time Margaret Jones was prosecuted, we have no Means of ascertaining, yet it is more than propable that a supposed Spirit of Darkness had been whispering in the Ears of the Men in Authority in Boston; for about a Month before the Execution of Margaret, they had passed this Order: The Courte desire the Course which hath been takin in England for Discovery of Witches, by watching them a certina Time. It is ordered, that the best and surest Way may forthwith be put in Practice; to being this Night, if it may be, being the 18th of the third Month, and that the Husband may be confined to a private Roome, and be also then watched.That the Court was stirred up to ferret out Witches, by the late Successes in that Business in England, sev eral Persons having been tried, condemned and executed in Feversham about two Years before is not improbable. By the Course which hath been taken in England for the Discovery of Witches, the Court had References to the Employment of Witch-Finders, one Matthew Hopkins having had great Success. By his infernal Pretensions some scores of innocent bewildered People met violent Deaths at the Hands of the Executioner, all along from 1634 to 1646. But to return to the Case of Margaret Jones. She having gone down to an ignominious Grave, leaving her Husband to suffer the Taunts and Jeers of the ignorant Multitude, escaped further Prosecution. These were so insufferable that his Means of Living were cut off, and he was compelled to try to seek another Asylum. A ship was lying in the Harbor bound for Barbadoes. In this he took Passage. But he was not thus to escape Persecution. On this Ship of 300 Tons were eighty Horses. These caused the Vessel to roll considerably perhaps heavily, wich to Persons of any Sea Experience would have been no Miracle. But Mr. Jones was a Witch, a Warrant was sued out for his Apprehension, and he was hurried thence to Prison, and there left by the Recorder of the Account, who has left his Readers in Ignorance of what became of him. Whether he were the Thomas Joanes of Elzing, who in 1637 took Passage at Yarmouth for New England, cannot be positively stated, although he is probably the same Person. If so, his Age at that Time was 25 Years, and he married subsequently.Samuel Gardner Drake. Annals of Witchcraft in New England, and Elsewhere in the United States, From Their First Settlement. 1869. Capitalization as in the original. Another Nineteenth Century Analysis Also in 1869, William Frederick Poole reacted to the account of the Salem witch trials by Charles Upham. Poole noted that Uphams thesis was largely that Cotton Mather was at fault for the Salem witch trials, to gain glory and out of gullibility, and used the case of Margaret Jones (among other cases) to show that witch executions did not begin with Cotton Mather. Here are excerpts from the section of that article addressing Margaret Jones: In New England, the earliest witch execution of which any details have been preserved was that of Margaret Jones, of Charlestown, in June, 1648. Governor Winthrop presided at the trial, signed the death-warrant, and wrote the report of the case in his journal. No indictment, process, or other evidence in the case can be found, unless it be an order of the General Court of May 10, 1648, a certain woman, not named, and her husband, be confined and watched.... [Poole inserts the transcript, shown above, of Winthrops journal] ...The facts in relation to Margaret Jones seem to be, that she was a strong-minded woman, with a will of her own, and undertook, with simple remedies, to practise as a female physician. Were she living in our day, she would brandish a diploma of M. D. from the New England Female Medical College, would annually refuse to pay her city taxes unless she had the right to vote, and would make speeches at the meetings of the Universal Suffrage Association. Her touch seeme d to be attended with mesmeric powers. Her character and abilities rather commend themselves to our respect. She made anise-seed and good liquors do the good work of huge doses of calomel and Epsom salts, or their equivalents. Her predictions as to the termination of cases treated in the heroic method proved to be true. Who knows but that she practiced homoeopathy? The regulars pounced upon her as a witch, as the monks did upon Faustus for printing the first edition of the Bible, put her and her husband into jail, set rude men to watch her day and night, subjected her person to indignities unmentionable, and, with the assistance of Winthrop and the magistrates, hanged her, and all this only fifteen years before Cotton Mather, the credulous, was born!William Frederick Poole. Cotton Mather and Salem Witchcraft North American Review, April, 1869. Complete article is on pages 337-397.

Compare and contrast the approaches to the learning and teaching in Essay

Compare and contrast the approaches to the learning and teaching in the early years utilised by Montessori with the EYFS - Essay Example She came to believe that with special educational treatment, their condition could be improved. Inspired by this new idea of pedagogy, she devoted herself to the teaching of defective children. Gradually, she began to realise that the methods she was using had nothing in them peculiarly limited to the instruction of the retarded. On the contrary, they contained educational principles more rational than those generally in use. She says, â€Å"This feeling, so deep as to be of the nature of an intuition, became my controlling idea. I became convinced that similar methods applied to normal children would develop and set free their personality in a marvellous and superior way.† Thus developed the Montessori Method, the educational system devised by Madame Montessori and which has undergone a process of birth, death and re-birth. In the last few years, innumerable books, magazines and newspaper articles have appeared in many parts of the world, singing the praises of Madame Montess ori. As a matter of fsct, a whole ‘Montessori Mystique’ has come into being. New theories have developed leading to new methods for pre-school education in different parts of the world. However, they are either adaptations of the Montessori Method, or deviations in some respect, yet, rooted somewhere in the Montessori Method. One such scheme operating in U.K. is the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). Theory and principles: Montessori was not a theoretician in the true sense. Montessori education is based on an empirical experiment with children in concrete life situations. Madame Montessori was so struck by what she observed that she never felt the need to build up an abstract theoretical system. More important to her were not the theories but the child itself and the revelations of its spontaneous behaviour which touched her so profoundly that she devoted the rest of her life to provide him such conditions

Ethics in Business Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Ethics in Business - Research Paper Example One of the most important qualities a business leader must have to remain ethical is the ability to maintain divided and often contradictory loyalties. When thought about most basically, a business leader is often a middle person between two other groups who have mutually opposing desires: board members who would like maximization of profits, and employees who want to maximize their own value for work. If imagined in the utmost simplicity, shareholders would prefer that all work be done for free so long as the quality remains sufficient, and employees would all prefer that they get paid for nothing, and these are incompatible goals. One of the fundamental problems for a business leader is how to treat both of these groups ethically. Many business leaders have a fiduciary responsibility to stockholders to maximize their profits while also having an ethical, legal, and often business interest in keeping the workforce happy and healthy.There have been several suggested solutions to thes e problems, which would allow a business leader to think of these competing interests as part of the same goal. Amongst the most prominent of these is stakeholder theory. This theory essentially states that many of these conflicts can be dealt with theoretically by imagining everyone involved as being â€Å"stakeholders,† whose interests must be collectively guarded. Firstly, it can have a paralytic effect (Heath 2006), because it does not deal with the fact that individual stakeholders will still have competing goals.

Accounting Proposal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Accounting Proposal - Essay Example The current revolution in the information technology industry has had an important impact on the accounting information systems (AIS).Traditional bookkeeping and accounting methods proved to consume more time and involved a lot of resources and in extension, led to high costs of production. Improvement in IT has led to the development of computers and thus facilitated the easy computerization of accounting (Prasad & Green, 2015). I intend to pursue an accounting project focussed on finding out effective and efficient ways through which small businesses can incorporate the usage of computerized accounting systems to reduce the accounting workload. My project will be titled â€Å"Integrating computerized accounting into small scale businesses.† The research study has a very broad scope. The project covers a variety of aspects that are useful in various ways to different people. It enables small scale businesses to find out the expectations of customers about tally accounting software. Moreover, it shows various reasons for selecting different accounting packages and also gives a representation of customer satisfaction after the usage of accounting software by the business. My project focuses on small businesses that do not see the need to incorporate computerized Accounting Information Systems because they are small and consequently will not benefit much. Computerized accounting information systems have caused the substitution of manual bookkeeping systems with digital ones. Manual processing of data is slow and prone to error, unlike computerized accounting (Prasad & Green, 2015). Improvements in technology have resulted in quicker ways of collecting, processing and retrieval of data. Automated accounting systems have taken over the functions of manual accounting systems. An example of such functions is the data input function. In manual accounting, the data capture happened together with the source documents

Entry Strategies of Starbucks in China and UK Case Study

Entry Strategies of Starbucks in China and UK - Case Study Example This research will begin with the statement that when a firm seeks to enter a foreign market, the company must choose the most appropriate entry mode for that specific market. The decision of entry mode strategy has an important implication in company’s international expansion. The choice of international strategy has long-term implication for MNCs. There are six international entry mode strategies: exporting, licensing, a turnkey project, franchising, joint ventures and wholly-owned subsidiaries. There are different influential factors that determine a company’s international strategy in each situation. The effect of these factors may differ considerably with respect to different countries. Starbucks uses three different entry modes to internationally establish their business such as joint ventures, licensing and wholly owned subsidiaries. Each day nearly 2.5 billion cups of coffee are consumed. It is the 5th most widely traded commodity in the world and millions of pe ople depend directly or indirectly on the production and sale of coffee for their income. The US coffee shop industry includes about 20,000 stores with combined annual revenue of about $11 billion. The industry is highly concentrated: the top 50 companies generate more than 70 percent of industry sales. The profitability of companies in the industry depends on the ability to obtain prime locations, create innovative promotion methods to increase customers, and deliver high-quality products. Big sized firms have advantages beginning from sourcing the beans to marketing their specialty coffee products owing to their easy availability of capital. Small companies can offer competition only by bringing in the local flavor to their restaurants based on their familiarity about the surroundings and also adding that personal touch to customer service. Coffee shops compete with businesses such as convenience stores, fast food restaurants, gourmet restaurants, and donut shops. Target Segment:- When specialty coffee was first being produced, its target consumer segment was the upper income class. This specific customer segment has been nearly fully penetrated. Any additional growth will come from those consumers with middle or lower incomes. These two segments are generally more motivated by discount products over branded products. Buyers are more aware and knowledgeable about specialty coffee and they are also demanding superior quality in the recent times. This results in further consumption of the product based on better information. PEST analysis: Political/Legal:- Rise in tensions between U.S. and rest of the world often results in negative impact on business activities of American brands like Starbucks in Middle East. Starbucks CEO Schultz was assumed to be close to Jewish society and was alleged to be funding their activities. Due to threats following this accusation Starbucks was forced to close down six stores in Israel. Starbucks imports all their coffee beans. So changes in import laws could affect production which can result in price variations of the product and in turn consumption too. Economic:- Starbucks has faced problems due to economic recession in countries such as Switzerland, Germany, and Japan in the early 2000s, where it caused declining sales and revenues for the company. Moreover, huge recession due to the global financial crisis also impacts the company’s results badly. Social:- Starbucks is committed to a role of positive impact on environment in all of their business activities. They understand the environmental issues and share information with their partners and encourage them to participate in this mission. This only adds on to the positive image of the company. Technological:-

Learning another language Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Learning another language - Essay Example There are hundreds of languages in the world and it is quite impossible to learn every language which is spoken within the planet. Why to learn other language? Many people are leaned to learn other language for the sake of their personal interest while others are required in official sense. Study of language and translation has gained international and globalized importance since the time from when international trade has grabbed vital and significant importance. People throw their competitive edge by gaining command on the communication. Communication is the key to success in each transaction when we talk about business. Many traders are interested to have transactions with the people who know their language. For this purpose the people who need to be indulged in foreign transactions prefer to learn the languages of their interest. Some business men never let it spare to know about the other party’s language and they only accept the deals from those who are alike in communica tion. In this sense, learning a second language can aid the individuals in actively participating in economic activity. Through learning the other languages, we can actively communicate with others at international level for various purposes (Ellis, 22). The other mean to lean other languages is for academic purposes. For instance, people who aspire to study in the world class universities are required to learn their languages. For example whenever a foreigner applies in any university of UK or Australia, they ask for IELTS qualifying certificate. Similarly, many countries in Europe like Germany, Italy and France are rigid about their languages. They seldom accept any admission application with the certificate of the concerned language. Rigidity about language comes up because of the fear of cultural amalgamation. The people do not want to be merged with other so that they do not allow anyone else to bring their own practices at their place. The most practical example is about Walma rt when they started their business in Germany. Walmart is an international stores’ chain with headquarter in USA. Walmart was badly hatred by the locales just because they were not complying with the German culture. The main mistake done by the American chain was the language; they did not adopt German language. They were inclined to sustain their own identity because of international recognition (American Linguistic Society). Another constraint to learn second language is for international communication. Since English has been recognized as an international language and every piece of documentation at upper level is commenced in English. For the people who live in other than English countries, English is a second language but they need to learn the language for the sake of their personal interests (Ellis, 32). Advantages of Learning a Second Language There are several benefits of learning a second language which are explained by Sociologists and several Psychologists. A sec ond language can help a person to broaden his or exposure about the outer world. No doubt, learning another language is the most difficult task of the world but it is a task which can only be completed by talented people. Psychology states that second language can be learnt by the people who have significant intelligence quotient. Without this, a person cannot remain successful to gain full command over a language. It is a continuous learning and continually developing process.

Sheltering the Deep Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Sheltering the Deep - Assignment Example Jessen emphasizes the need to protect depleting marine ecosystems from pollution and other human interventions. She underscores the need to find new ways to protect these marine environments, and bats for the concept of marine protected areas, that have been successful in other parts of the world. Although she concedes that marine protected areas are not the solution to all the problems; she encourages the reader to take a fresh look at the various species that exist in an ecosystem, and consider the symbiotic relationship they share. Her efforts are directed towards awakening the reader to the rich cultural heritage of the region that preserves early forms of life on earth as well as some unique plant life, and the need to protect it before it is too late. The author’s diction conveys her love of the treasures in the deep. Her choice of words like â€Å"adorn the underwater cliffs† (185) to describe the underwater plants and animals conveys the fact that she considers these jewels of the sea. Jessen conjures up striking word pictures of the beauty of nature’s bounty. Her use of metaphors like â€Å"perched off the southern tip of Vancouver Island† (185) conjures up a picture of a bird, ready to fly away at the merest hint of danger. Jessen’s extensive use of alliteration to describe nature’s beauty gives an almost poetic quality to the piece. When the author describes â€Å"other marine mammals† that â€Å"frequent the waters foraging† (185); or her portrayal of â€Å"soaring walls and spectacular scenery† (187) of the fiords of Baffin, enhances the aesthetic appeal of the essay. Her use of euphony as in â€Å"speckled trout spawn in the shallow bays†, (186) gives a harmonious mellowness to the piece that is both pleasing to the ear as well as conveying the harmonious nature of an ecosystem. Jessen’s use of denotation when she describes the fate of ancient mariners pitted against the â€Å"treacherous waters and well known fury of Lake

Learning another language Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Learning another language - Essay Example There are hundreds of languages in the world and it is quite impossible to learn every language which is spoken within the planet. Why to learn other language? Many people are leaned to learn other language for the sake of their personal interest while others are required in official sense. Study of language and translation has gained international and globalized importance since the time from when international trade has grabbed vital and significant importance. People throw their competitive edge by gaining command on the communication. Communication is the key to success in each transaction when we talk about business. Many traders are interested to have transactions with the people who know their language. For this purpose the people who need to be indulged in foreign transactions prefer to learn the languages of their interest. Some business men never let it spare to know about the other party’s language and they only accept the deals from those who are alike in communica tion. In this sense, learning a second language can aid the individuals in actively participating in economic activity. Through learning the other languages, we can actively communicate with others at international level for various purposes (Ellis, 22). The other mean to lean other languages is for academic purposes. For instance, people who aspire to study in the world class universities are required to learn their languages. For example whenever a foreigner applies in any university of UK or Australia, they ask for IELTS qualifying certificate. Similarly, many countries in Europe like Germany, Italy and France are rigid about their languages. They seldom accept any admission application with the certificate of the concerned language. Rigidity about language comes up because of the fear of cultural amalgamation. The people do not want to be merged with other so that they do not allow anyone else to bring their own practices at their place. The most practical example is about Walma rt when they started their business in Germany. Walmart is an international stores’ chain with headquarter in USA. Walmart was badly hatred by the locales just because they were not complying with the German culture. The main mistake done by the American chain was the language; they did not adopt German language. They were inclined to sustain their own identity because of international recognition (American Linguistic Society). Another constraint to learn second language is for international communication. Since English has been recognized as an international language and every piece of documentation at upper level is commenced in English. For the people who live in other than English countries, English is a second language but they need to learn the language for the sake of their personal interests (Ellis, 32). Advantages of Learning a Second Language There are several benefits of learning a second language which are explained by Sociologists and several Psychologists. A sec ond language can help a person to broaden his or exposure about the outer world. No doubt, learning another language is the most difficult task of the world but it is a task which can only be completed by talented people. Psychology states that second language can be learnt by the people who have significant intelligence quotient. Without this, a person cannot remain successful to gain full command over a language. It is a continuous learning and continually developing process.

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne and the Holocaust Essay Example for Free

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne and the Holocaust Essay Author John Boyne published his infamous novel The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. John Boyne was born in Dublin, Ireland. Boyne attended Trinity College in Dublin where he first studied English Literature and then proceeded to the University of East Anglia in Norwich where he then studied creative writing. He began his published writing career in the year two-thousand with his first published book The Thief of Time. Though The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas separates itself from Boyne’s traditional style of writing by having being written for a younger audience, it was the book that took John Boyne’s career to the successful point it is now at. Using his father’s date of birth as the same for both Shmuel and Bruno, Boyne could further relate the two boys to a familiar story. Demonstrating the truly catastrophic events of the Holocaust in a fictional novel, Boyne captures the torment that two young boys face in a time where their innocence is taken away by one of the most evil acts of humanity. The Holocaust caused the lives of six million Jews to be lost, and the faith of the survivors. The Nazi Germans called this systematic mass killing â€Å"the final solution to the Jewish question. † In nineteen-thirty-three, Anti-Semitism reached its’ peak in Germany â€Å"†¦destruction, which was launched with torchlight parades and accented by speeches that proclaimed the death of Jewish intellectualism and the purification of German culture. Thus, writings by such Jewish intellectuals as Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud fueled the huge bonfires. Also engulfed in flames was the work of Heinrich Heine, a German poet of Jewish origin. A century earlier Heine had stated, Where books are burned, in the end people will be burned. †¦. his statement would become [true], specifically for the European Jews who found themselves under Nazi domination during the Third Reich. † (The Holocaust Chronicles 53) By July of nineteen-thirty-three, twenty-five thousand Jews amongst other â€Å"unfit† German citizens had been sent to concentration camps or jail. Democracy in Germany had disappeared under Adolf Hitler’s new command with the Nazi Party being the only legal political party. Hitler began a propaganda that the Jew was a threat to the German race, unequal, and inferior, that it must be eliminated in order to restore the power lost during and after the First World War Jewish businesses were boycotted, German citizens began discriminating Jews, physically harming them and humiliating them. Later, German Nazis demanded that all non-Aryan subjects shall retire, â€Å"†¦any person who had a Jewish parent or grandparent was non-Aryan. † (54) The Jews were then places in ghettos, where the living conditions were poor and a preview of their upcoming fate was shown. Forced to wear David’s star as an embroidered badge on their clothing to symbolize their faith, the Jews were publicly isolated for the German citizens to see and attack. This would’ve made many of the Jews feel ashamed and directed them to lose faith in the God they had previously loved and lived by, as that same faith in the religion was what caused their cruel misfortune. Religion is seen repeatedly in both Night by Elie Wiesel and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne. In Boyne’s work, the two main characters, Bruno and Shmuel, are two nine year old boys who are unfortunately wrapped up in the horrid events that took place during the years of the Holocaust. Bruno’s father is a high ranking officer working for the S. S during the period of the Nazi Party’s ruling in Germany. He doesn’t show clear understanding of what’s going on and what his father is doing, with help of constant deceit from his parents, his sister and instructor, Bruno still sees no difference between him and Shmuel, who is a Jewish prisoner of a concentration camp. Though there is no difference in the two boys, society, family and religion tells them otherwise, and yet their friendship is unbreakable. â€Å"We’re not supposed to be friends, you and me. We’re supposed to be enemies, did you know that? † (The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas 118) Having been disciplined by society to believe in a concept of inequality between the pure German race and the Jewish people, the friendship between Bruno and Shmuel becomes a significantly touching plot, not in the sense that it shouldn’t or couldn’t be, but in a way that demonstrates the innocence that adults tried to deprive from their children, and the loving bond that brings two boys who are meant enemies together, it makes them equal. Religion isn’t understood, hatred isn’t understood and evil acts are not understood; for once, the naive minds of innocence that cannot understand the plot Hitler formed are perfectly right by the similarity of not understanding their nonexistent â€Å"differences. † Both the real events of World War II and the fictional events within the novel feature a lot of deceit. Propaganda was used by the governments of every country involved in the war as well as within Germany against the Jews. This form of subtle manipulation was successful as it used citizens’ issues and fears to provide an excuse for the events occurring. Hitler used slogans and made powerful speeches throughout his dictatorship that convinced the Germans to believe that the Jewish people really were a threat that Germany had to repel. By blaming their economical issues on the Jews, the Germans had more of a reason to desire the exeunt of their race entirely. â€Å"’Propaganda tries to force a doctrine on the whole people Propaganda works on the general public from the standpoint of an idea and makes them ripe for the victory of this idea. ’ Adolf Hitler wrote these words in his book Mein Kampf, in which he first advocated the use of propaganda to spread the ideals of National Socialism among them racism, antisemitism,. ( http://www. ushmm. org ) The novel also shows a pattern of deceit, where Bruno is lied to by his parents when he asks what is behind the fence. Bruno also lies when he denies knowing Shmuel, an act of fear that resurfaces the idea that he is still a child with no desire to be punished. Deceit is a tendency that was believed to be necessary by the furor, Adolf Hitler, in order to proceed with the Final Solution while having his citizens and the rest of the world blind, as they believed his idea was only beneficial to Germany. Hitler and the Nazi Party would have not succeeded had they always been truthful to not only the people within their own borders, but the people outside of them too. It was necessary to deceit in order to succeed, or what he planned to be a success. In Bruno’s case, that same deceit provided him with the loyalty and love to Shmuel to be his friend until death. The accounted Jewish casualties that took place under the furor, Adolf Hitler and commander Heimrich Himmler are an approximate six million, completely exterminating the trace of each and every Jewish family in Germany, for even those who survived left immediately after the Russians set them free from the concentration camps in nineteen-forty-five. Survivors who have testimonies of their experience in the camps, the ghettos, and those who escaped still try to make sense of what happened in the twelve year long battle for survival. Emotionally, they have wounds that will never fully heal over. Mentally, they withhold memories that could only be imagined as the most vivid of nightmares to those of us who didn’t live through the terrorizing events. Spiritually, they are finally free to believe, if they can and most do. They speak of the Holocaust as a test from God, another reason to show their faith to the world. Eliezer Wiesel said in Night, â€Å"That I survived the Holocaust and went on to love beautiful girls, to talk, to write and to have toast and tea and live my life – that is what is abnormal. † Evidently, families were lost and lives were separated, an emotional devastation that one may never come to comprehend. In both of the works, family is demonstrated to be a significant factor. Elie, in Night, speaks fondly of the love for his father and the absolute loss of himself after the loss of his father. In The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, Bruno’s mother reveals a love for her family so deep that she becomes despaired with the facts of her husband’s work. Shmuel sacrifices himself, at the side of his best friend, Bruno, to find his father and endanger his own life to save one of a family members’. This was the case for each person who died and survived the Holocaust. â€Å"If we bear all this suffering and if there are still Jews left, when it is over, then Jews, instead of being doomed, will be held up as an example. † (Anne Frank)

Starbucks Business And Marketing Plan Marketing Essay

Starbucks Business And Marketing Plan Marketing Essay What was once a small coffee shop opened by Gerald Baldwin, Gordon Bowker, and Ziev Siegl in 1971, Starbucks Coffee Company has grown into the number one specialty coffee retailer. With over 10,000 coffee shops in more than 30 countries, of which 4,200 are licensed and franchised and 6,000 are owned, the companys main objective is to establish Starbucks as the most recognized and respected brand in the world, (Moon) . Currently, Starbucks is relying on retail expansion, product innovation, and service innovation to achieve a long-term goal once set by current chairman Howard Schultz: The idea was to create a chain of coffeehouses that would becomeAmericas third place. At the time, most Americans had two places in their lives home and work. But I believed that people needed another place, a place where they could go to relax and enjoy others, or just be by themselves. I envisioned a place that would be separate from home or work, a place that would mean different things to different people, (Moon). By working toward this goal, Starbucks wants to open new stores in both new and existing markets, expand their product development process, and cater to customers needs to eventually improve their financial position and dominate market share. Market Summary Target Markets In the early stages of development for Starbucks, Schultz identified their target market as affluent, well-educated, white-collar patrons (skewed female) between the ages of 25 and 44, (Moon). Over time, market research teams have recognized the new target market as younger, less well-educated, and in a lower income bracket than their more established customers, (Moon). Market Demographics Geographics (Moon) Data from 2002 showed that in the Southeast there was only one store for every 110,000 people. whereas in the Pacific Northwest. There was one store for every 20,000 people. Hence, the company was far from reaching existing markets. International plans showed Starbucks was operating in over 30Company-owned stores in the United Kingdom, Australia, and Thailand. Also, 900 licensed stores were operating in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. Demographics Young, affluent, tech-savvy customers (Hoovers) a 1999 estimate showed that 70% of customers were internet users, and today the estimate has exceeded 90% (Hoovers). Moms with strollers (Hoovers) People combining work and a coffee break (Hoovers) The most frequent customers average 18 visits per month, whereas the typical customer visits five times per month (Moon). Market Needs Starbucks wants to create an experience for their customers that combine their on-the-go schedule, as well as a place to relax. Senior vice president of administration in North America Christine Day explains that, people come here for the coffee, but ambience is what makes them want to stay, Selection Starbucks menu contains brewed coffee, espresso traditions and favourites, cold beverages, coffee alternatives, frappuccinos, and the sale of whole beans. Accessibility Starbucks operates over 10,000 retail stores. Most of the 4,200 franchised stores are located in shopping malls and airports. Starbucks coffee brands are also marketed through grocery stores in the form of beans and even ice cream flavours. Customer Service Starbucks employees are referred to as partners. As of 2002, Starbucks employed 60,000 partners worldwide, 50,000 of those in the United States. From the beginning when Howard Schultz took Over Starbucks, he believed, Partner satisfaction leads to customer satisfaction, (Moon). Competitive Pricing Starbucks brand coffee sold in grocery stores are similar to these prices found in the cafes. Market Forecast (Moon) Over the next few years, an estimate for the U.S. retail coffee market expects specialty coffee to have a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between 9%-10%. Starbucks was also estimated in 2002 to grow at a CAGR of about 20% top-line revenue growth. As of 2002, coffee consumption had risen with more than half of the population (about 109 million people) drinking coffee every day, and an additional 52 million drinking coffee on occasion. PEST Analysis Political Influences Relationships between coffee producing nations and US State Local government controls Economic Influences Constant demand for food and beverages Changes in disposable income could influence purchase levels Social Influences Consumer preferences could shift from coffee to other beverages Technological Influences Use of technology can improve operational efficiencies Market Growth Reports show in 2002, the number of specialty coffee drinkers has become the markets biggest growth. An estimated one-third of all U.S. coffee consumption takes place outside of the home and in places such as offices, restaurants, and coffee shops (Moon). SWOT Analysis Strengths The company is good at taking advantage of opportunities. Starbucks is very profitable and has a strong financial base, therefore allowing the company to undertake new business ventures. Revenue increased to $5294.2 million in 2004, a 29.9% increase from 2003 (Data Monitor) Profits increased to $610 million in 2004, a 43.7% increase from 2003. Net earnings increased 46% (SWOT). The company is internationally recognized and has a global presence. Their reputation is one of fine products and services. Almost 9,000 cafes in almost 40 countries (SWOT) Widespread brand recognition, which in turn becomes brand Preference, and ideally eventually brand loyalty. Strong customer base Clusters company units Expands business with the continuing growth of the coffee market, especially in areas where the company is already well established, and groups stores in an area, therefore able to dominate the region. Leads to considerable financial reward without suffering from cannibalism (Data Monitor). Focus on opening stores that have convenient access for pedestrian and drivers Helps the company capture an increasing share of the coffee market Weaknesses Reliance on beverage innovation Vulnerable to the possibility that their innovation may falter over time Company growth is mostly driven by beverage innovation. If U.S. store growth decreases, stock is lowered in value. Diminishing return from beverage innovation would have an adverse effect (Data Monitor). More than 75% of the companys stores are in the USA (Data Monitor). May need to look for an assortment of countries in which to open more shops in order to spread business risk 85% of revenue is from its domestic US market (Data Monitor). Has high international brand recognition and should look to generate a greater proportion of revenue from outside the USA Would suffer greatly if U.S. stores underperformed because of economic conditions or increased levels of competition Dependent on the retail of coffee, this could make them slow to diversify into other divisions if the need should arise. Employee efficiency is poor. Lower revenue per employee ($71,544-fiscal 2004) compared to the Industry average ($110,841) (Data Monitor) Lower income per employee ($5,294) compared to the industry average ($9,500) (Data Monitor). Lower Return on Equity than peers Companys 5 year average ROE (13.65%) have been lower than the Industry average (15.09%) (Data Monitor). Need to effectively manage its finances to ensure that returns are at par of higher than industry average. Problems in some international operations Problems of expansion: A number of openings are failing to be Successful. Japanese operations: The Company has experienced some same-stores sluggishness. Closures of stores in Israel and Tel Aviv: Hurts growth prospects in the region Opportunities In 2004, created a CD-burning service where customers can create their own music CD Opportunities for revenue growth by expanding its global operations New markets for coffee are beginning to emerge; for example, in Indian and the Pacific Rim (SWOT). Targeting 15,000 international stores in the next few years Expansion potential questionable in Brazil, India, and Russia China could be one of the largest markets, and therefore the company will focus on Beijing and Shanghai. Large urban population Rising economy Increase in coffee consumption Co-branding with other manufacturers of food and drinks and brand franchising to manufacturers of other goods and services Creates loyalty for Starbucks brand Recently signed agreement with Jim Beam Brands to develop and market a Starbucks-branded coffee liqueur drink (Data Monitor), which has strong revenue potential because: Liqueurs represent $4-5 billion opportunity (Data Monitor). Liqueurs with coffee represent a considerable segment of the Liqueur market. There is a significant overlap between consumers of liqueurs and consumers loyal to the Starbucks brand (Data Monitor). Growth in coffee markets: Starbucks has a market share of over 40% of the special coffee market (Data Monitor). Therefore growth in this category would result in considerable opportunities for further growth and expansion in the near future. Threats Coffee may not stay in favour with customers, and another type of beverage or leisure activity could replace it. Rises in the costs of dairy products could affect the companys margins. Competition Competitive coffee shops Copy cat brands Restaurants Street carts Competition could enter the market at any time. The U.S. specialty coffee market continues to grow, and an Increasing number of firms is looking to enter. At any time, a company with greater financial, marketing, and Operating resources could enter the market and compete directly with Starbucks. Volatile nature of the coffee market Multiple factors, including weather, political, and economic conditions for example, can potentially negatively affect the companys business. Green coffee prices may be affected due to agreements establishing export quotas or restricting global coffee supplies. Slowing U.S. retail sales Domestic retail accounts for about 75% of the companys revenue growth and an even greater proportion of profit growth (Data Monitor). If current U.S. store growth continues, saturation levels within the North American division may be reached within five years. Before Reaching this point, US retail sales growth will slow significantly (Data Monitor) Competition Competition comes in several forms: Independent/Local coffee shops Social and inclusive Diverse and intellectual Artsy and funky, typically cozy and very welcoming Liberal and free-spirited Lingering encouraged Particularly appealing to younger coffee house customers Wide variety of beverages/food Appeals to the non-traditional crowd Franchise/Large Companies Generally well-recognized names (McDonalds, Krispy Kreme, Dunkin Donuts, etc.) More convenient and accessible Easy access in and out Appeals to the more mainstream coffee drinkers Services (Company) Starbucks purchases roasts of the highest quality of whole bean coffees. Fresh and rich brewed Italian espresso Offers pastries and other appetizing confections Sells coffee-related accessories (mugs, coffee makers, cups, espresso, etc.) Expanded sales into supermarkets of whole bean coffee Introduction the widely popular drink, Frappuccinos, to the public Strives for satisfied customers and a welcoming environment Works to have highest standards of excellence in way of business Offers newspapers and other reading material, popular music, and Internet access (provided by T-Mobile) Keys to Success (Company) Rapidly expand retail operations Growth in its specialty sales and other operations Selectively pursue opportunities to leverage the Starbucks brand through the introduction of new products Continue to be widely available and welcoming Maintain reputation for having specialty and gourmet coffee Make customers feel welcome with friendly service Critical Issues (Moon) Must increase customer satisfaction through improvements to service Friendlier and more attentive staff Faster and more efficient service Increase in personal treatment (remember customers name and order) More knowledgeable staff Better overall service Offer better prices/incentive programs Free cups after x number of visits Reduction of price Offer promotions, sales to increase customer satisfaction OTHER Offer better quality and variety of products Improve atmosphere (friendly, welcoming) Reaching out to community through involvement and awareness More stores and convenient locations Other critical issues Starbucks is criticized for and must be aware of are: Clustering Driving out independents Loss of diversity Its policy toward farming communities in developing countries Fair trade Many of these issues are vital for Starbucks to improve their Customers satisfaction (Simmons). Critical Issues Marketing Strategy Starbucks Mission Statement (Company) Establish Starbucks as the premier purveyor of the finest coffee in the world while maintaining our uncompromising principles while we grow. The following six guiding principles will help us measure the appropriateness of our decisions: Provide a great work environment and treat each other with respect and dignity. Embrace diversity as an essential component in the way we do business. Apply the highest standards of excellence to the purchasing, roasting, and delivery of our fresh coffee o Develop enthusiastically satisfied customers all of the time. Contribute positively to our communities and our environment. Recognize that profitability is essential to our future success. Environmental Mission Statement (Company) Starbucks is committed to a role of environmental leadership in all facets of our business. We fulfil this mission by a commitment to: Understanding of environmental issues and sharing information with our partners. Developing innovative and flexible solutions to bring about change. Striving to buy, sell, and use environmentally friendly products. Recognizing that fiscal responsibility is essential to our environmental future. Instilling environmental responsibility as a corporate value. Measuring and monitoring our progress for each project. Encouraging all partners to share in our mission. Other points of importance to Starbucks: Building customer loyalty around cappuccinos, lattes, and other fancy beverages, (Overshot). Want to create a sense of community Want to create a memorable experience for a customer that inspires the customer to return often, as well as to tell a friend Striving to become the most recognized and respected brand in the world Putting people before products (Company) What a Starbucks store should be: An authentic coffee experience that conveyed the artistry of espresso making, a place to think and imagine, a spot where people could gather and talk over a great cup of coffee, a comforting refuge that provided a sense of community, a third place for people to congregate beyond work or the home, a place that welcomed people and rewarded them for coming, and a layout that could accommodate both fast service and quiet moments (Thompson). Marketing Objectives To create a Starbucks experience that makes people come for the coffee, stay for the ambience and environment, and return for the connection To build an image separate from smaller coffee chains To clearly communicate the values and commitments of the Starbucks business to their customers, instead of only growth plans publicized in the media Financial Objectives Have each store reach a $20,000 weekly sales level Open new stores with lower store-opening costs (about $315,000 per store on average). Target Marketing Based on a sample of Starbucks 2002 customer base, the attitudes toward the brand were: The chart shows that the new customers have a poorer attitude toward Starbucks in every category than the existing customers. The new customer type that needs attention is: 45% female, 55% male Average age of 36 37% have a college degree Average income is $65,000 Drink an average of 15 cups of coffee per week Store Expansion Strategy Target areas with favourable demographic profiles, as well as areas that can be serviced and supported by the companys operations infrastructure. For each targeted area, select a large city to serve as a focal point. Goal of each focal city: Open 20 or more stores in that city in the first two years. Once stores cover the city, open additional stores in smaller, surrounding areas in the region. With this plan, the company had only closed 2 of the 1,500 sites it had opened between 1992 and 1997. Stores must be custom-designed. The company does not buy freestanding structures, and therefore each store is a different shape and size. Most stores range in size from 1,000 to 1,500 square feet. Most stores are located in high-trafficked, high-visibility areas, such as: Office buildings Downtown and suburban retail centres Airport terminals University campuses Busy neighbourhood shopping areas convenient to pedestrian traffic International expansion As of 2004, the company operated over 300 company-owned stores in the United Kingdom, Australia, and Thailand, as well as 900 licensed stores in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. Goal: Have 15,000 international stores Other things to consider: Kiosks Drive-through windows Positioning Store Ambience Goal: To make customers want to linger Social Appeal-Offer a sense of community, a place where people can come together Physical layout Seating areas to encourage lounging Appear upscale yet inviting Aromas Smoking is banned in all stores Employees are asked to refrain from wearing perfumes or colognes, and prepared foods are kept covered so customers would only smell coffee aromas. Sounds Play soothing CDs that are also for sale Often offer live music Customer Service The company sees a direct link between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. The company believes that employee satisfaction leads to customer satisfaction (Moon). Voted onto Fortunes Top 100 Places to Work Employee satisfaction remains consistently around 80-90%. Turnover rate is 70%, one of the lowest in the industry Focuses on manager stability in order to decrease employee turnover, but also to help recognize regular customers and provide personalized services Employees are trained to connect with customers and focus on customer intimacy. Greet customers with a smile. Enthusiastically welcome customers into the store. Establish eye contact. Try to remember customers names and orders if they are frequent customers. Just Say Yes policy, in order to keep the customer happy, which may go beyond store rules Example: Always compensate dissatisfied customers with a Starbucks coupon entitling them to a free drink Example: Give a customer a free refill if he/she spills their drink. Advertising-The Company spends very little on advertising and depends on word-of-mouth promotion. Involvement in the Community Contributing positively to surrounding communities is one of Starbucks guiding principles in the companys mission statement. Howard Schultz had the plan to build a company with soul (Student). Starbucks has been the largest corporate contributor in North America to CARE, a worldwide relief and development organization to help Third World countries where Starbucks purchases its coffee supplies. The company has an Environmental Committee that looks for ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle waste, as well as contribute to local community environmental efforts. The company donated almost $200,000 to literacy improvement efforts (Student). Starbucks has many community building programs to contribute positively to the communities where our partners (employees) and customers live, work, and play (Corporate). As part of Starbucks ongoing commitment to share the comfort of coffee during times of crisis, the company continues to demonstrate our support of the men and women serving in the U.S. military overseas (Company). The Starbucks Foundation (Company) Established in 1997 by Howard Schultz Inspired by Schultzs childhood experiences and those of other inner city children Dedicated to creating hope, discovery, and opportunity in the communities of Starbucks Marketing Mix Marketing Research Schultz wanted to use research in order for Starbucks to challenge the status quo, be more innovative and take bigger risks. Examples of questions he asked were : What could Starbucks do to make its stores an even more elegant third place that welcomed, rewarded, and surprised customers? What new products and new experiences could the company provide that would uniquely belong to or be associated with Starbucks? What could coffee be besides being hot or liquid? How could Starbucks reach people who were not coffee drinkers? What strategic paths should Starbucks pursue to achieve its objective of becoming the most recognized and respected brand of coffee in the world? At the retail stores, a pamphlet is available for customers to share their thoughts about their Starbucks experience. Starbucks uses Customer Snapshots, similar to mystery shoppers, to evaluate partner performance in the retail stores (Moon). The four basic service evaluations include: Service Did the register partner verbally greet the customer? Did the partners make eye contact with the customer? Say thank you? Cleanliness Was the store clean? The counters? The tables? The restrooms? Product Quality Was the order filled accurately? Was the temperature of the drink within range? Was the beverage properly presented? Speed of Service How long did the customer have to wait? The companys goal was to serve a customer within three minutes, from back-of-the-line to drink-in-hand. Customer Snapshot Scores (North American Stores) Product   Starbucks product-mix expanded from 30 varieties of whole bean coffees to eco-friendly cappuccino, coffee makers, and other Starbuck paraphernalia. Its product offerings have also expanded beyond pastries and coffee to oatmeal, smoothes, and wraps to keep up with the competition and satisfy more customer needs. The company has also been constantly introducing new products, such as Instant via Ready and Full Leaf Tazo Tea Lattes and Tazo Tea Infusions. The Instant via Ready is an instant coffee that the company claims is indistinguishable from its regular brewed coffee (Jargon). Full Leaf Tazo Tea Lattes and Tazo Tea Infusions are the companys new tea offerings through which it hopes to attract tea drinkers (Edwards). The company also offers Starbucks coffee and cappuccino makers for consumers who wish to replace their existing home coffee makers. Price Starbucks products are priced higher due to perceived upscale image attached to its brand. The company also began to offer $1 bottomless 8 oz. cup of coffee, with unlimited refills that cost approximately 50 cents less than any other Starbucks products. The company is also implementing value strategies that would emphasize more on inexpensive coffee products rather being perceived as unaffordable to price-skittish consumers. For example, the company introduced $3.95 breakfast pairings, including popular breakfast items paired with a coffee, and highlights $2 brewed coffees instead of the more expensive specialty drinks (Jennings). Place   As stated earlier, Starbucks can be found in any neighbourhood where there is a perceived high traffic for its stores. Starbucks outlets can also be found in-store of various large chains including Barnes Noble and Target. Their locations are extremely conducive for individuals that are on the go and for those who enjoy reading or listening to music. Starbucks has also been recently testing stealth outlets, where the store is named after the street it is located on. The new stores attempt to localize Starbucks stores with no Starbucks logo on any of the products being offered there, and instead have the specific street address as the brand name (Allison). Promotion Starbucks has implemented numerous promotions to reach its target markets. Promotions are listed as follows: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ One of the promotions that Starbucks has used is the Starbucks Card. Starbucks Card is an initiative that offers customers the opportunity to promote companys products through a referral system. When a customer purchases a gift card, it not only shows brand loyalty, but it also provides the company with free advertising, and brings in new customers. Starbucks also provides a card for corporate sales, which are used for extrinsic rewards to show employee appreciation for a job well done, or a gift to client or a vendor.   à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Coffee services delivered to offices without coffee size restrictions. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Appealing to a diverse customer base by offering international teas and coffees to accommodate those customers that want a taste from home or for locals that enjoy tea. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Using philanthropy as a means for promotion Starbucks contributes to several non-profit organizations as a way to improve brand image and awareness in local communities. Controls Problems and Solutions In 2002, our fellow associates, including Christine Day, recognized that customer service needed to be improved upon, and one idea to conquer this problem was to invest $40 million annually in 4,500 stores. By adding almost $9,000 to each store, this would allow an additional 20 hours of labour per week. Day said, The idea is to improve speed-of-service and thereby increase customer satisfaction. According to a survey of customers, 65% believed fast service was a key attribute to their satisfaction. In the past when we thought of adding more labour hours to our retail stores, we decided against it due to the struggling economy, especially since labour was already our biggest expense. Another option instead of increasing labour hours is to increase the efficiency of the partners that we currently employ. We removed the no value- added tasks, simplified the production process, and manipulated the store layout to take better advantage of store space. Additionally, we installed an automatic espresso machine that was faster, reduced waste, and improved consistency while still fulfilling our customers needs. We want to continually implement the use of these machines in more of our stores. Furthermore, we want to add more drive-thru lanes to our stores. In doing so, we can still serve our customers who want a taste of Starbucks on-the go. Marketing Organizations Although we have been considered one of the worlds most effective marketing organizations, we lack a strategic marketing group (Moon). Instead, we have smaller divisions (Moon): Market research group gathered and analyzed market data Category group developed new products and managed the menu Marketing group developed quarterly promotional plans However, we need to find a way to get these divisions to collaborate so information about market and customer trends is not overlooked like it has been in the past and we can make better decisions about driving our business in the future. In 1995, a Stores of the Future project team was formed (Student). Their goal was to come up with the next generation of Starbucks stores to be debuted in 1996. Schultz communicated with the team and envisioned the retail stores to look and feel like, an authentic coffee experience that conveyed the artistry of espresso making, a place to think and imagine, a spot where people could gather and talk over a great cup of coffee, a comforting refuge that provided a sense of community, a third place for people to congregate beyond work or the home, a place that welcomed people and rewarded them for coming, and a layout that could accommodate both fast service and quiet moments. The team researched the art and literature of coffee throughout the ages, studied coffee-growing and coffee-making techniques, and looked at how our retail stores have already evolved in terms of design, logos, colours, and mood. The team decided upon four store layout designs: A store for each stage of coffee making: growing, roasting, brewing, and aroma. Each store had its own colour combinations, lighting scheme, and component materials. Also, the stores adapted to the environment, whether the store was downtown or on a college campus, for example. Recommendations For Improvement Revamp the employee reward system Tighten focus on creating the Third Place environment Focus profitability measures on profitable sales, not just reduction in staffing References Company, The. Starbucks. .Received by 8may, 2010 Corporate Social Responsibility. Starbucks Coffee. . Starbucks Corporation. 4