Leveler by August Burns Red free essay sample

Discharged on June 21, 2011, the collection â€Å"Leveler†, by August Burns Red, set new measures for the metalcore kind. The verses mirror the group’s want to improve society. Their commitment to God is effortlessly seen in this collection, more so than their past discharges: â€Å"Thrill Seeker† (2006), â€Å"Messengers† (2007), and â€Å"Constellations† (2009). In â€Å"Leveler† there are exacting relations to their confidence rather than allegorical references. The collection is unquestionably their best work to date. Gun magazine even expressed, â€Å"They’ve set their own bar significantly higher on Leveler, and have done as such for the entire scene in the process.† Despite the fact that their past collections have utilized the subject of personal development, Leveler takes that idea to an a lot more elevated level. In particular, urging audience members to relinquish the things keeping them down. In the tune, â€Å"Cutting the Ties†, vocalist, Jake Luhrs, belts out the words, â€Å"Break Free†, as the band sets out a substantial breakdown. The title itself clarifies the basic perfect of the band’s Christian conviction of being separated and reestablished by Jesus Christ. We will compose a custom exposition test on Leveler by August Burns Red or then again any comparative point explicitly for you Don't WasteYour Time Recruit WRITER Just 13.90/page The melodic parts of the collection are marvelous. In spite of the fact that there is a moving message behind the collection, the band figured out how to incorporate the substantial breakdowns and elevating guitar riffs. The entire collection, yet additionally particularly the melody â€Å"Poor Millionaire†, highlights Matt Greiner’s foremost drumming aptitudes in a multifaceted drum introduction. JB Brubaker and Brent Rambler make an uncommon showing on guitar with a few definite performances all through the collection. The elevating guitar riffs from â€Å"Salt Light† are an incredible expansion to the groups munititions stockpile of melodic weapons. Dustin Davidson gives the collection an ideal measure of largeness through his bass. Jake Luhrs has taken off higher than ever in his vocal range with this collection. From the highs in â€Å"Empire† and â€Å"Carpe Diem† to the lows in â€Å"Divisions† he has culminated some new octaves improv ing the band’s by and large solid. The collection starts with the tune â€Å"Empire†, which in itself is a perfect work of art. The track incorporates tremendous breakdowns, quick guitar riffs, complex drumbeats, and a moderate vocals segment. The track is an ideal case of the better than ever August Burns Red. This melody alone could get a colossal group going. The collection closes with the tune â€Å"Leveler†, the namesake of the collection. This tune presents melodic verses demoralizing people’s fraud, disloyalty and retribution. Despite the fact that these things are referenced the tune presents absolution as the subject. The tune parades the band’s baffling stockpile of fast riffs, drum rolls, and profound vocals. The collection closes with a positive note that absolution and love wins. In spite of the fact that the collection is dependent on religion, any metalcore fan can tune in and make the most of its hair-raising melodic components.

Method Used for Managing Risk Issues

Question: Talk about the Method Used for Managing Risk Issues. Answer: Presentation: IT chance administration is the strategy utilized for overseeing hazard issues related with data innovation as per business, association, and undertakings. The business dangers are essentially connected with activities performed by the venture, proprietorship, impact from others, inclusion, and appropriation of Information innovation (Resnik, 2015). From the examination, it has been anticipated that hazard are the mix of danger, resources, and powerlessness. In this paper we will concentrate on job and possibility of digital protection, different methodologies of moderating security hazard, assessment of IT security hazard, and preferred position of utilizing interruption location framework, firewalls, and helplessness scanner to decrease chance. Job and Feasibility of Cyber protection: Digital protection is utilized for shielding organizations and its advantages from the IT dangers. Digital protection assumes a significant job in giving inclusion like first gathering inclusion which is typically related against the misfortunes which goes under the class of information annihilation, burglary, blackmail, hacking, and other disavowal of administration assaults, risk inclusion works as per the misfortune happens because of mistake and oversights, slander, disappointment in shielding the information, and other security reviews. Digital protection is favored due to the explanation like shortage in sound specialized arrangement (Lujan, 2011); trouble emerges in planning the arrangement against organize assault, and numerous others. Different methodologies of alleviating security hazard: The security dangers are normally connected with vital interest, operational issues, money related strategies, and numerous others (Buhalis, 2012). The event of hazard can be maintained a strategic distance from, diminished, decrease in spreading, moving of hazard, and its acknowledgment. The way toward relieving the hazard is related with following advance which are featured underneath: Suspicion of hazard Shirking of hazard Confinement of hazard Arranging of hazard Research and affirmation Transference of hazard There are different security techniques which can be actualized inside the association to beat the hazard which are arranged as firewalls, interruption recognition framework, and access control by executing biometric verification framework and bolting through key-card, powerlessness scanner, and numerous others. Assessment of IT security Risk: The approach which is utilized for assessing the security hazard are related with the arrangement of step which are sorted as examination of circumstance and prerequisite, production of security strategy and keep it refreshed, audit of the archive, recognizable proof of the hazard, filtering of powerlessness, investigation of the information, and readiness of the report. Bit of leeway: Firewall is a framework plan for utilizing system security which helps in observing and controlling the approaching and active of information by foreordaining the hazard related with the information move utilizing the security standard principles. Interruption recognition framework is an application programming which is intended for observing the event of pernicious movement on the system (Bresler, 2010) It helps in limiting the unapproved getting to of the framework. It helps in shielding the significant data from interruption Quicker recuperation if the interruption happens in the information because of some digital assault Aides in the development of the business by safeguarding its significant data From the examination, it has been found that the event of hazard can be maintained a strategic distance from, decreased, decrease in spreading, moving of hazard, and its acknowledgment. References: Lujan, G. (2011).Cyber protection look into paper(1st ed.). Recovered from https://www.canberra.edu.au/media-focus/connections/pdf_folder/AIG-CIS-Cyber-Insurance_F3.pdf Resnik, D. (2015).Computer security in the genuine world.(1st ed.). Recovered from https://web.mit.edu/6.826/www/notes/HO31.pdf Bresler, L. (2010).The protection and security issues with data technology(1st ed.). Recovered from https://www.projectpact.eu/protection security-investigate paper-arrangement/protection security-look into paper-arrangement/PACT_ResearchPapers_10_FINAL.pdf Buhalis, A. (2012).Network security assaults, apparatuses, and techniques(1st ed.). Recovered from https://www.ijarcsse.com/docs/papers/Volume_3/6_June2013/V3I6-0254.pdf

Our Complicated Relationship with Racism in Books

Our Complicated Relationship with Racism in Books While we at the Riot are taking this lovely summer week off to rest (translation: read by the pool/ocean/on our couches), were re-running some of our  favorite posts from the last several months. Enjoy our highlight reel, and well be back with new stuff on Wednesday, July 8th. This post originally ran June 3, 2015. _________________________ Sometimes books haunt you not because youve read them, but because you havent. The solution for this dilemma seems easy enoughwhy not get it over with and read it? But because books are books, thats not always easy. For a long time Ive never been able to entertain the idea of reading Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness. For a postcolonialism class during my first year in college, I was assigned an essay by Chinua Achebe titled An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrads  Heart of Darkness. In it, Achebe systematically points out how Conrads prose depicts Africa as savage and prehistoric, to better contrast against Europes success in civilizing their environment. He quotes passages where unnamed inhabitants of the Congo are described in increasingly dehumanized ways, speaking in stereotypical broken English and explicitly called ugly. And so this essay was my very first experience of Joseph Conrad, snippets of prose that turned my stomach and filled me with unarticulated anger. The well has been poisoned, and despite being one of the shortest works in the Western Canon, Ive actively avoided reading it or any of his other works for more than ten years. My objections against reading it still stand: Why should I, a brown person living in a formerly colonized country, poison my mind further with a distorted image of other people of color and enforce within myself a colonialist vision of the world? As years came between me and my first visceral reaction to Heart of Darkness, however, my feelings about this book have become more complicated. One reason is a recent book discussion by my local book club. For March, we read Arundhati Roys The God of Small Things. The phrase the Heart of Darkness kept showing up in the prose, and the imagery of the river in the novel also seemed like an echo of the Congo River in the Conrad story. I found it very intriguing that a writer like Roy, a fierce critic of neo-colonialism, would reference this infamous book. It felt to me that she was grappling not only with Joseph Conrad, but also with Achebe. My long relationship with reading also means becoming fascinated with genres that admittedly have dubious tropes. Case in point: noir fiction, true crime, historical romance, even quaint Golden Age mysteries. Why should I blithely elide the racism in Arthur Conan Doyle or Agatha Christie (and they have some doozies) and choose Joseph Conrad as the scapegoat for every racist writing in Western literature? Another reason is the persistent feeling that this book has taken up a lot of intellectual space within me only because I havent read it. Its kind of the same feeling I got when I bailed out of Mark Z. Danielewskis The House of Leaves so many years ago. The haunting felt so present that I eventually decided to go back and scale the novel again last year. Now, HoL has been subdued and I no longer feel this weird pang when I think about it. I still identify with the person who cringed at the bits quoted by Achebe, but I also want to form my own opinions. I want to know instead of guess what the horror is. Which is not to say that people shouldnt decide to refrain from reading a writer for their own peace of mind. Im holding off reading Bret Easton Ellis, Jonathan Franzen, Ayn Rand, H.P. Lovecraft, Sophie Kinsella, and John Updike. I know that as of this moment, I cannot approach their works with any semblance of good faith, so Im holding off, at least for now. But when it comes the Heart of Darkness, I feel like Im slowly circling back into its orbitit was one of the novels nominated as our book club pick for July. It didnt win, but I actually voted for it. (In case this matters, the other nominations were A Passage To India and The Quiet American. The moderator clearly had a theme going on.) Im pretty sure Im going to tackle it in the near future. Theres more than a decade of reading that is buoying me up now, writers who actively push against unenlightened ideas about people of color. Im better equipped to articulate things that feel wrong even if theyre just art. And since I havent read Achebe yet except for his essays, I may just close the circle even more neatly and read them in tandem. Our Complicated Relationship with Racism in Books This is a guest post from Kristel Autencio. Kristel lives in Manila, Philippines and works as a technical writer for a startup. Shes an active member of a local book club and reads during her grueling commute to effectively ignore people. While her reading taste is varied, she has a particular affection for crime/mystery and speculative fiction. She is partial to Dorothy L. Sayers, Ray Bradbury and Dashiell Hammett, and is weak against unrepentant puns. She blogs here. Follow her on Twitter @fanarchism. ____________________ Sometimes books haunt you not because youve read them, but because you havent. The solution for this dilemma seems easy enoughwhy not get it over with and read it? But because books are books, thats not always easy. For a long time Ive never been able to entertain the idea of reading Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness. For a postcolonialism class during my first year in college, I was assigned an essay by Chinua Achebe titled An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrads  Heart of Darkness. In it, Achebe systematically points out how Conrads prose depicts Africa as savage and prehistoric, to better contrast against Europes success in civilizing their environment. He quotes passages where unnamed inhabitants of the Congo are described in increasingly dehumanized ways, speaking in stereotypical broken English and explicitly called ugly. And so this essay was my very first experience of Joseph Conrad, snippets of prose that turned my stomach and filled me with unarticulated anger. The well has been poisoned, and despite being one of the shortest works in the Western Canon, Ive actively avoided reading it or any of his other works for more than ten years. My objections against reading it still stand: Why should I, a brown person living in a formerly colonized country, poison my mind further with a distorted image of other people of color and enforce within myself a colonialist vision of the world? As years came between me and my first visceral reaction to Heart of Darkness, however, my feelings about this book have become more complicated. One reason is a recent book discussion by my local book club. For March, we read Arundhati Roys The God of Small Things. The phrase the Heart of Darkness kept showing up in the prose, and the imagery of the river in the novel also seemed like an echo of the Congo River in the Conrad story. I found it very intriguing that a writer like Roy, a fierce critic of neo-colonialism, would reference this infamous book. It felt to me that she was grappling not only with Joseph Conrad, but also with Achebe. My long relationship with reading also means becoming fascinated with genres that admittedly have dubious tropes. Case in point: noir fiction, true crime, historical romance, even quaint Golden Age mysteries. Why should I blithely elide the racism in Arthur Conan Doyle or Agatha Christie (and they have some doozies) and choose Joseph Conrad as the scapegoat for every racist writing in Western literature? Another reason is the persistent feeling that this book has taken up a lot of intellectual space within me only because I havent read it. Its kind of the same feeling I got when I bailed out of Mark Z. Danielewskis The House of Leaves so many years ago. The haunting felt so present that I eventually decided to go back and scale the novel again last year. Now, HoL has been subdued and I no longer feel this weird pang when I think about it. I still identify with the person who cringed at the bits quoted by Achebe, but I also want to form my own opinions. I want to know instead of guess what the horror is. Which is not to say that people shouldnt decide to refrain from reading a writer for their own peace of mind. Im holding off reading Bret Easton Ellis, Jonathan Franzen, Ayn Rand, H.P. Lovecraft, Sophie Kinsella, and John Updike. I know that as of this moment, I cannot approach their works with any semblance of good faith, so Im holding off, at least for now. But when it comes the Heart of Darkness, I feel like Im slowly circling back into its orbitit was one of the novels nominated as our book club pick for July. It didnt win, but I actually voted for it. (In case this matters, the other nominations were A Passage To India and The Quiet American. The moderator clearly had a theme going on.) Im pretty sure Im going to tackle it in the near future. Theres more than a decade of reading that is buoying me up now, writers who actively push against unenlightened ideas about people of color. Im better equipped to articulate things that feel wrong even if theyre just art. And since I havent read Achebe yet except for his essays, I may just close the circle even more neatly and read them in tandem. ____________________ Book Riot Live is coming! Join us for a two-day event full of books, authors, and an all around good time. Its the convention for book lovers that weve always wanted to attend. So we are doing it ourselves.

Individuals On Games Empowering Violent Behaviors

This paper is going to show individuals on games empowering violent behaviors. Each time playing is happening your mind begins building up a considerable measure all the more in an unexpected way. Playing these games make individuals more aggressive. Regardless of a child s belief that these games are nothing they truly do lead to a change in a persons mind. Individuals additionally may get addicted on the gaming which leads to a man trying to be aggressive more frequently. A clear understanding on the ESRB rating in which stands for entertainment software rating board is critical. Folks should be included in some way or another in the decisions they are allowing their children’s play. A few children wont escape from their room because†¦show more content†¦More methods for playing violent games are made every year. Being so excessive in playing video games can have numerous consequences for teenagers. They need to start limiting their gameplay which may have various beneficial outcomes. Some of the consequences players can have from playing a lot of violent videos games is having poor social skills. Video games require no physical movement and a great chunk of people eat while playing this kind of games for days. These games restrict the teenager’s mind into playing more the games. This causes them to get away and forget about their actual social life outside of it. Also it gives them more problem of actually talking and interacting in everyday basis. They have no interest to make friends because they are in the gaming world trying to beat the new level or conquering a new island. Gaming system now have Wifi capability which lets the gamers have outside experiences with other people with the game. It helps them interact and play against one another. This is enough for them to feel comfortable with them and actually think they are actual real life friends. They just talk thought a headset that is it no real life connection. Individuals d on t see them as who they truly are they seem them in the body of the player. They only speak through a headset. People do not view them as who they really are they view them as their players identity in the

The Impact Of Firm Level Characteristics - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 7 Words: 1964 Downloads: 8 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Statistics Essay Did you like this example? Abstract Organizational performance has attracted scholarly attention in corporate finance literature over the several decades. However, in the context of insurance sector, it has received a little attention. Current study examines the impact of firm level characteristics (size, leverage, tangibility, risk, growth, liquidity and age) on performance of listed life insurance companies of Pakistan over seven years from 2001 to 2007. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "The Impact Of Firm Level Characteristics" essay for you Create order The results of Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression analysis indicate that size, risk and leverage are important determinants of performance of life insurance companies of Pakistan while ROA has statistically insignificant relationship with growth, profitability, age and liquidity. Keywords: performance, firm level characteristics, life insurance companies. Introduction The performance of any firm not only plays the role to increase the market value of that specific firm but also leads towards the growth of the whole industry which ultimately leads towards the overall prosperity of the economy. Measuring the performance of insurers has gained the importance in the corporate finance literature because as intermediaries , these companies are not only providing the mechanism of risk transfer but also helps to channelizing the funds in an appropriate way to support the business activities in the economy . Insurance companies have importance both for businesses and individuals as they indemnify the losses and put them in the same positions as they were before the occurrence of the loss. In addition, insurers provide economic and social benefits in the society i.e. prevention of losses, reduction in anxiousness, fear and increasing employment. Therefore, the current business world without insurance companies is unsustainable because risky businesses have not a capacity to retain all types of risk in current extremely uncertain environment. For the past six decades, Pakistani life insurance companies have shown the impressive progress which not only creates the employment opportunities but also enhances the business activities in the economy. Financial statistics reported the phenomenal growth of Pakistani life insurance companies as these companies comprise 52% and 69% share of entire (life plus non-life) insurance market in terms of net premiums and assets (Insurance Year Book, 2007). In addition, the premium of these life insurers increased by 36% in 2007 (Insurance Year Book, 2007) shows the remarkable progress of life insurance sector of Pakistan. Therefore, what determines the performance of the life insurance industry is an important discussion for the regulators and policy makers to support the sector in achieving the excellence so that desirable economic fruits could be reaped from the help of the life insurance sector of Pakistan. Literature Review The Determinants of performance have been extensively studied in corporate finance literature from the last several decades. For instance; by selecting the sample of US banks, Berger (1995) investigated the impact of capital asset ratio on return on equity. He concluded that capital asset ratio has a positive relationship with profitability. Anghazo (1997) examined the impact of firm level characteristics on US bank net interest margin. The results documented that bank interest margin positively related with leverage, opportunity cost, and default risk and management efficiency. Neeley and Wheelock (1997) explored the determinants of profitability of commercial banks and find that profitability positively related with changes in per capita income. To investigate the performance of banks (Naceur Goaied, 2001)used the sample of Tunisian banks over the period of 1980 to 1995. They advocated that the banks who tried to maintain their high deposits and improve their capital and labor productivity are performed well. Guru et al. (2002) examined the determinants of performance of Malaysian banks over the 10 years period from 1986 to 1995. For this purpose, they selected both micro and macro level characteristics. The results revealed that inflation positively while efficient expense management and high interest rate negatively related with profitability. The results of Goddard et al. (2004) showed that Profit is an important prerequisite for future growth of banks and the banks that maintain a high capital assets ratio tend to grow slowly. A study conducted by the (Sufian Parman, 2009)to investigate the determinants of profitability by selecting the non-commercial banks financial institutions. The findings indicated that credit risk and loan intensity negatively related with profitability while large size and financial institutions with high operational expenses tended to high profitability ratio. (Hakim Neaime, 2005) Observed that liquidity, current capital and investment are the important determinants of banks profitability. (Aburime, 2006) Identified the firm level determinants of profitability of Nigerian banks over the five years period from 2000 to 2004. He concluded that credit portfolio, size, capital size and ownership concentration are important determinants of Nigerian banks. (Kosmidou, 2008) showed that money supply growth has insignificant impact on profitability while GDP and stock market capitalization to assets are significant and have negative relation with the ROA. (Asimakopoulos, Samitas, Papadogo nas, 2009) illustrated that Firms profitability is positively affected by size, sales growth and investment. On the other hand, leverage and current assets negatively related with profitability. Severeral studies also have been conducted to measure the performance of the insurance compnies. For instance; Sloan, A and Conover, J.(1998) deduced that functional status of insurers do not affect the profitability of being insured but public coverage have significant impact on profitability of insurance companies. Chen and Wong ( 2004) examined that size, investment, liquidity are the important determinants of financial health of insurance companies. Chen et al.( 2009) examined the determinants of profitability and the results showed that profitability of insurance companies decreased with the increase in equity ratio. In addition, insurance companies must have to diversify their investment and use effective hedging techniques which help them to create better financial revenues. Research Methodology Sample and Data Currently, there are five life insurance companies operating in Pakistan and all these five companies are selected to measuring their performance over the period of seven years from 2001 to 2007. For this purpose, financial data has been collected from financial statements (Balance Sheets and Profit and Loss a/c) of insurance companies and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Insurance Year Bookà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? which is published by Insurance Association of Pakistan. Model PR = ÃŽÂ ²0 + ÃŽÂ ²1 (LG) + ÃŽÂ ²2 (TA) + ÃŽÂ ²3 (SZ) + ÃŽÂ ²4 (LQ) + ÃŽÂ ²5 (AG) + ÃŽÂ ²6 (RK) + ÃŽÂ ²7 (GR) + ÃŽÂ µ Where: PR = Performance (Net income before interest and tax divided by total assets) LG = Leverage (Total debts divided by total assets) TA = Tangibility (Fixed assets divided by total assets) SZ = Size (Log of premiums) LQ = Liquidity (Current assets divided by current liabilities) AG = Age (Difference b/w observation year and establishment year) RK = Risk (standard deviation of ratio of total claims to total premiums) GR = Growth (Percentage change in premiums) ÃŽÂ µ = the error term Descriptive Statistics Table 4.1 presents descriptive analysis of the firm level characteristic associated with life insurance sector. This study considers performance as dependent variable whereas leverage, size, growth, tangibility, liquidity, age and risk as independent variables. The industry average is provided by mean along with are the minima and maxima for respective year while standard deviation indicates the inter-industry variation of the variables value within the respective year. Table 4.1 indicates that the minimum value of industry mean of leverage is 0.79 in 2004 and 2007 while the mean value is at its maximum level in 2006 at 0.84.The maximum variation in leverage is observed in 2007 valuing at 0.30 and minimum is found in 2003 at 0.19. The variable size constantly shows the increasing trend from year 2001 to 2007. The mean value of size is at maximum level in 2007 i.e. 7.51 whereas minimum mean value for size is observed at 6.02 in 2001. In addition, the inter industry variation is minimum in 2001 at 2.12. Table 4.1 also shows that growth of Pakistani life insurance companies is not consistent in all seven years and mean value of growth is reached 34.84 in 2007 from 11.53 which is observed in 2001. The mean value of performance (dependent variable) is maximum in 2007 valuing at 0.07 and the minimum value is observed in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2005 at 0.02. The standard deviation is also not very high i.e. around 0.02 as compare to other variables except in the year 2007 in which it touches it maximum of 0.07. Table 4.2 also provides descriptive results of tangibility, liquidity, age and risk for the period of seven years from 2001 to 2007 for the life insurance sector of Pakistan. The mean values and standard deviations of tangibility is around 0.03 and 0.02 respectively in all seven years from 2001 to 2007.The mean values of liquidity are indicating an increasing trend from the minimum of 1.70 in 2001 to the maximum value at 6.36 in 2007. The standard deviation is also establishing an increasing trend from a minimum value of 0.76 in 2001 to a maximum value of 8.63 in 2007.The mean value of risk is at its lowest level in 2003 at 0.58 with a minimum standard deviation of 0.45 while these values have reached their maximum level in 2007 i.e. 6.35 and 6.51 respectively. Analysis Table 4.2 reports the results of regression analysis in which seven independent variables are regressed by using the data of life insurance sector of Pakistan from 2001 to 2007. The value of R square (0.816) indicates that performance of life insurance companies is nearly 82% dependent on independent variables i.e. size, leverage, growth, tangibility, age, risk and liquidity. Therefore, performance is mainly defined by these seven variables of life insurers in Pakistan over seven years. Table 4.2 indicates that leverage is negatively and significantly related with the performance of the life insurance companies. This predicts that the performance of highly levered Pakistani life insurance companies is not up to the mark. Table 4.2 also shows that coefficient of variable size is positive and statistically significant at 1% level. This predicts that performance of large size life insurance companies is better than small size companies. The negative coefficient of growth indicates a negative relationship between growth and performance. However, this negative relationship is found to be statistically insignificant with the p-value of 0.809. Therefore, growth is not considered as a proper explanatory variable of performance in life insurance sector. The beta values of explanatory variables tangibility and liquidity are 0.507 and 0.001 respectively with the positive coefficient sign. However, tangibility and liquidity are not statistically significant with the large p-values. Therefore, tangibility and liquidity are not Model Unstandardized Coefficients Standardized Coefficients t Sig. B Std. Error Beta (Constant) .010 .051 .204 .841 Leverage -.265 .090 -1.579 -2.940 .008* Size .038 .009 1.722 4.120 .001* Growth -4.69 .000 -.032 -.245 .809 Tangibility .507 .367 .183 1.382 .183 Liquidity .001 .003 .058 .205 .840 Age -.003 .003 -.235 -1.169 .257 Risk .004 .002 .374 1.903 .072** considered a powerful explanatory variable to define the performance of life insurance companies in Pakistan over seven years. Negative coefficient of variable age specifies the Table: 4.2 Regression Coefficients Their Significance level R Square 0.816 Adjusted R Square 0.749 F statistics 12.062 * Significant at 1% level **Significant at 10% level ______________________________________ negative relationship between performance and age of the Pakistani life insurance companies. However, the relationship between performance and age is statistically insignificant. Table 4.2 indicates that the coefficient of variable risk is positive and statistically significant at 10% level. According to the nature of insurance industry, ratio of total claims to total premiums (loss ratio) is used as a proxy to measure the risk of the life insurance companies in Pakistan. Positive sign shows a positive relationship between performance and risk of the insurance companies i.e. performance increases with the increase of loss ratio. Conclusion The current study investigates the impact of firm level characteristics on performance of the life insurance sector of Pakistan over the period of seven years from 2001 to 2007. For this purpose, size, profitability, age, risk, growth and tangibility are selected as explanatory variables while ROA is taken as dependent variable. The results of OLS regression analysis reveal that leverage, size and risk are most important determinant of performance of life insurance sector whereas ROA has statistically insignificant relationship with profitability, growth, tangibility and liquidity. TABLE 4.1: Descriptive Statistics Years Leverage Size Growth Performance Mean SD Min Max Mean SD Min Max Mean SD Min Max Mean SD Min Max 2001 0.80 0.21 0.45 0.99 6.02 2.12 3.06 8.93 11.53 11.90 3.22 32.39 0.02 0.01 0.00 0.03 2002 0.81 0.20 0.47 0.99 6.21 2.11 3.29 9.07 22.21 23.52 3.68 60.99 0.02 0.01 0.00 0.03 2003 0.82 0.19 0.51 0.99 6.50 2.08 3.57 9.20 37.18 32.62 8.30 90.71 0.02 0.01 0.00 0.03 2004 0.79 0.24 0.38 0.99 6.68 2.09 3.56 9.31 22.20 27.93 -1.78 61.16 0.03 0.02 0.00 0.05 2005 0.83 0.21 0.47 0.99 6.95 2.03 3.96 9.53 31.18 10.30 24.97 48.98 0.02 0.02 0.00 0.05 2006 0.84 0.20 0.49 0.99 7.21 2.02 4.24 9.68 31.79 26.14 3.74 72.78 0.03 0.02 0.00 0.06 2007 0.79 0.30 0.26 1.00 7.51 2.06 4.50 10.03 34.82 9.25 22.44 45.66 0.07 0.07 0.00 0.17 TABLE 4.1 (Continued): Descriptive Statistics Years Tangibility Liquidity Age Risk Mean SD Min Max Mean SD Min Max Mean SD Min Max Mean SD Min Max 2001 0.03 0.02 0.00 0.06 1.70 0.76 1.07 2.65 16.60 20.40 6.00 53.00 1.92 1.33 0.70 3.94 2002 0.03 0.02 0.00 0.06 1.73 0.86 1.14 3.01 17.60 20.40 7.00 54.00 0.83 0.47 0.40 1.34 2003 0.03 0.02 0.00 0.05 2.18 1.11 1.22 3.72 18.60 20.40 8.00 55.00 0.58 0.45 0.18 1.34 2004 0.02 0.02 0.00 0.04 2.24 1.77 1.09 4.85 19.60 20.40 9.00 56.00 3.34 3.08 0.00 7.23 2005 0.02 0.02 0.00 0.04 3.02 2.26 1.15 5.94 20.60 20.40 10.00 57.00 4.70 2.15 1.23 6.36 2006 0.02 0.01 0.00 0.03 3.98 2.72 1.36 7.37 21.60 20.40 11.00 58.00 3.60 3.86 0.51 9.72 2007 0.02 0.02 0.00 0.05 6.36 8.63 1.33 16.33 22.60 20.40 12.00 59.00 6.35 6.51 1.78 16.00 Table: 4.2 Regression Coefficients Their Significance level Model Unstandardized Coefficients Standardized Coefficients t Sig. B Std. Error Beta (Constant) .010 .051 .204 .841 Leverage -.265 .090 -1.579 -2.940 .008* Size .038 .009 1.722 4.120 .001* Growth -4.69 .000 -.032 -.245 .809 Tangibility .507 .367 .183 1.382 .183 Liquidity .001 .003 .058 .205 .840 Age -.003 .003 -.235 -1.169 .257 Risk .004 .002 .374 1.903 .072** R Square 0.816 Adjusted R Square 0.749 F statistics 12.062 * Significant at 1% level **Significant at 10% level

What is the Impact of ICT on Economic Growth Free Essays

Background: A nation’s standard of living is the most significant indicator of national economic performance. Economic growth is considered the most powerful engine for generating long term increases in standards of living. In today’s world economy, technology is a key factor that has a strong impact on economic growth both in short and long term. We will write a custom essay sample on What is the Impact of ICT on Economic Growth? or any similar topic only for you Order Now Thus, economists have become accustomed to associate long term economic growth with technological progress (Mokyr, 2005). Economists identify technology as ideas or knowledge that helps to produce output from inputs. Having more technology means being capable of producing more output with a given amount of inputs. People tend to focus on computers and the Internet as the icons of economic development, but it is the process that generates new ideas and innovations not the technologies themselves, that is the energy that sustains economic growth (Cortright, 2001). Accordingly, firms have invested in new technologies when they have seen an opportunity to earn profits. Investment in technology contributes to overall capital deepening. The greater use of technology may help firms reduce their costs, enhance their productivity and increase their overall efficiency, and thus raise economic growth. Moreover, greater use of information and communication technology may contribute to network effects, such as lower transaction costs, higher productivity of knowledge workers, and more rapid innovation, which will improve the overall efficiency of the economy (Moradi and Kebryaee, 2005). Research aim: This paper discusses the impact of Information and Communication technology on economic growth. Research hypothesis: The use of information and communication technology (ICT) is directly related to economic growth. Literature review: Although economic growth and technological progress are conceptually distinct, both theory and evidence suggest they often come together. Earlier economists had been interested in linking them together. Paul Romer’s New Growth theory, often called endogenous growth theory, is a view of the economy that incorporates two points. First, it views technological progress as a product of economic activity. Second, it holds that, unlike physical objects, knowledge and technology are characterized by increasing returns, and these increasing returns drive the process of growth (Cortright, 2001).The central idea of the New Growth theory is that the increase in returns is associated with new knowledge or technology. According to Romer, economic growth does not result from adding more labor to more capital, but from new and enhanced ideas articulated as technological development. In the 1950s, Robert Solow developed a model that added technical knowledge as a third factor -beside capital and labor- that continued to push economic productivity and growth (Cotright, 2001). In this model, Solow assumed that changes in technological progress have permanent effects on economic growth, while other changes have only level effects. Solow’s model pictured technology as a continuous, ever expanding set of knowledge. Chen and Kee in 2005 developed a theoretical model which states that knowledge is the main engine of economic growth, and that RD and human capital are tools to â€Å"endogenize† the accumulation of knowledge via technical progress (Detschew, 2008). Their main idea was that the increase in human capital in RD sector produces more innovations and at the same time the higher stock of human capital is considered as a factor of production, and using the innovations raises the rate of output growth. The rate of human capital growth biases the growth rate of productivity and output per worker, consequently, the growth rate per capita GDP (Detschew, 2008). Discussion: Taking into account the effects of technology on economic growth, we shift to emphasize on the Information and communication technology (ICT). ICT definition varies, causing intensive confusion. Many economists and agencies could not find a typical definition of ICT within the framework of economics. Patrick Bongo (2005) defined ICT as a set of activities that facilitate by electronic means the processing, transmission and display of information. According to the World Bank, ICT consist of the whole range of technologies designed to access, process and transmit information: hardware, software, networks and media for collection, storage, processing transmission, and presentation of information in the form of voice, sound, data, text and images. They range from the telephone, mobile phone, hardware, software to the internet (Detschew, 2008). Since economic growth is the ability of a nation to produce more goods and services (Bongo, 2005), therefore, the use of ICT enables the production of more goods in a shorter time as well as provides more efficient services. Miles (2001) explained that economic growth could happen in two ways; â€Å"the increased use of land, labor, capital and entrepreneurial resources by using improved technology or management techniques and increased productivity of existing resource use through rising labor and capital productivity†, which further explains the impact of ICT on economic growth. OECD (2003) mentioned three main impacts of ICT on economic growth. Capital deepening: investment in ICT contributes in overall capital deepening and consequently helps raise labor productivity. While the qualities and capabilities of ICTs have been improved all over the years, nominal prices of most ICTs have decreased (Hempell and Writschaftsforschung, 2006). Together, these developments had large declines in prices in real terms, which encouraged downstream sectors to increase their capital spending in real terms and consequently result in capital deepening. In addition, the decrease in ICTs prices and the resulting capital deepening contribute to overall labor productivity growth. Contribution of declining prices of ICT equipment to growth: Contribution of declining prices of ICT equipment to growth: http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2010/wp1066.pdf (Haacker, 2010). 2. Technical progress in the ICT sector: for several years, there have been outstanding progress in the production of ICT goods and services; the qualities of these goods and services have improved. The production of ICT goods and services as a result of rapid technological progress may contribute to more rapid multifactor productivity (MFP) growth in the ICT producing sector (OECD, 2003). Increasing the amount and type of capital and labor used in production, plus reaching higher overall efficiency in how these factors of production can be used, would directly lead to economic growth, specifically higher multifactor productivity. http://coevolving.com/blogs/index.php/archive/ict-capital-and-the-services-sector-in-oecd-reports/ 3. Spillover effects: the greater use of ICT possibly will help out companies enhance their overall efficiency and thus raise MFP; also it may contribute to network effects, such as lower transaction costs and more innovations, which will improve the economy’s overall efficiency. Figure 1. The contribution of ICTs to economic growth (Source: ITU, World Telecommunication/ICT Development Report 2006: Measuring ICT for Social and Economic Development (Geneva: ITU, 2006), 44, http://www.unapcict.org/academy/academy-modules/english/Academy-Module8-Update-Section1.pdf Conclusion: The three impacts mentioned above all feed through economic growth, which prove that ICT has a positive impact on economic growth. But having this technology only is not enough to derive economic benefits. Many other factors are needed such as stable environment, the availability of the right skills, the organizational ability to make ICT effective in the workplace. It is important to mention that countries with equal flow of ICT will not always have equal impacts of ICT on their economic performances. Bibliography: Borros, M. 1997. Technology policy and Economic Growth. [Online]. Available at: http://brie.berkeley.edu/publications/WP%2097.pdf Mokyr, J. 2005. Long term Economic Growth and the History of Technology. [Online]. Departments of Economic and History, Northwestern University. Available at: http://faculty.wcas.northwestern.edu/~jmokyr/AGHION1017new.pdf Cortright, J. 2001. New growth theory: technology and learning. [Online]. Reviews of economic development literature and practice. No. 4. Available at: http://www.eda.gov/ImageCache/EDAPublic/documents/pdfdocs/1g3lr_5f7_5fcortright_2epdf/v1/1g3lr_5f7_5fcortright.pdf moradi, M. and Kebryaee, M. 2005. Impact of information and communication technology on economic growth in selected Islamic countries. [Online]. Available at: http://www.ecomod.org/files/papers/987.pdf Bongo, P. 2005. The impact of ICT on economic growth. [Online]. EconWPA, development and computer systems. Available at: http://129.3.20.41/eps/dev/papers/0501/0501008.pdf Miles, P. 2001. Globalization-Economic growth and development and development indicators. [Online]. Available at: http:// www.planetpapers.com/assets/4302.php OECD. 2003. ICT and economic growth: evidence from OECD countries, industries, and firms. [Online]. Available at: http://www.labs-associados.org/docs/OCDE_TIC.PDF Detschew, S. 2008. Impact of ICT in the developing countries on the economic growth. [Online]. Available at: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Gx8viG1uNK4Cprintsec=frontcoverdq=ICT+and+economic+growthhl=enei=XT2vTafMIIbOswafn63XDAsa=Xoi=book_resultct=resultresnum=2sqi=2ved=0CC4Q6AEwAQ#v=onepageqf=false Hempell, T. 2006. Computers and productivity: how firms make a general purpose technology work. [Online]. Vol.33. Available at: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=oBzzBMa6Y-sCprintsec=frontcoverdq=Computers+and+productivity:+how+firms+make+a+general+purpose+technology+workhl=enei=GT6vTZHGFoX3sgasq-jXDAsa=Xoi=book_resultct=resultresnum=1ved=0CDgQ6AEwAA#v=onepageqf=false How to cite What is the Impact of ICT on Economic Growth?, Essay examples

By Fredrik Erixon of the European Centre for International Political Economy free essay sample

By Fredrik Erixon of the European Centre for International Political Economy Russia s command to fall in the World Trade Organisation ( WTO ) , filed in 1993, has been the longest accession saga in the history of the universe trade organic structure. Yet now, after bilateral trades with the US and the European Union that secured their support for the rank command, Russia looks set to fall in the pantheon of rules-based planetary capitalist economy at some point following twelvemonth. This is welcome intelligence. Russia would profit from being portion of the WTO nine. Its exports will non acquire much of a encouragement because they are dominated by the hydrocarbons and minerals ( stand foring more than two tierces of entire exports ) and they are already traded at zero or really low duties. But Russia will profit from lower monetary values of imported consumer and industrial goods, and, hopefully, from an addition in foreign direct investing ( FDI ) . If the Kremlin besides decides to follow the WTO regulation book, rank will assist to restrain Russia s fickle trade policy, particularly its regular descents into protectionism. Naturally, that would be of value for exporters to Russia ( and for importers of Russian goods, excessively, as Russia on a regular basis uses export revenue enhancements ) , but the biggest donee would be Russia itself. The biggest casualty of protectionism is ever the state that imposes such steps. Other states would profit from Russian WTO rank through a decrease in duties mean duties will travel down from 12-14 per centum to around 8 per centum and from an betterment in their predictability. The sectors that will profit specifically from a decrease in duties are civil aircraft, building, agricultural and scientific equipment, and medical devices. Russia will necessitate to present greater transparence ( and less favoritism ) in its system for merchandise criterions, licences and other alleged non-tariff barriers ( NTBs ) . Furthermore, sectors dependent on rational belongings, such as chemicals and biotechnology, will profit from holding resort to the WTO s agreement on rational belongings rights ( TRIPS ) to train Russia s shambolic IPR policy. Finally, foreign Bankss and insurance houses will be granted bigger chances to make concern in Russia. But there are besides hazards and downsides to holding Russia as member of the WTO. The biggest hazard is that the Kremlin will merely ignore opinions against Russia in the dispute-settlement system, the anchor of the WTO. As the WTO itself can non implement opinions that require policy alteration in a state, the system requires that states respect the authorization of the dispute-settlem ent organic structure and that bigger and more powerful states avoid playing power games with smaller states over opinions. The instance for esteeming opinions is simple: it is in everyone s involvement that states adhere to hold regulations. The failing is the same as for all systems that depend on enlightened involvement for a common good: some may liberate drive on the system in the belief that it benefits them, at least in the short term. And if some are free-riding, others will follow. And the system will unknot. This hazard is underlined by Russia s recent history of flashing international understandings ( and, as in the instance of the Energy Charter Treaty, retreating from understandings ) in the belief that no 1 would hold the bravery to contend the Kremlin to the acrimonious terminal. Russian rank will besides add a new bed of troubles for WTO dialogues, like the current Doha Round. Russia will be portion of the protectionist wing of the rank and will defy in countries that are cardinal to universe trade today and in future, like liberating up services trade, cutting ruddy tape that prevents trade, and restricting the freedom to subsidise domestic houses at the disbursal of foreign rivals. It will besides implement the resistance to turn toing old issues, like cut downing or extinguishing duties on consumer and industrial goods. Russia s fabrication sector is weak it merely represents 6-7 per centum of Russia s export and suffers from the Dutch disease: the heavy trust on hydrocarbon exports have pushed the existent exchange rate to such a grade that the fabrication sector has suffered. Many industries are saddled with old Soviet engineerings, and they survive on subsidies and boundary line protectionism. There are positive marks that Russia is acute to alter its economic theoretical account. The new Kremlin rhetoric on modernisation and the denationalization plans suggest that energy and state-based economic dictatorship is on a downward tendency. The new morning in its rank command for the WTO is besides a good mark. But the marks are far excessively few to be cheerful about Russian economic policy. Like earlier, optimism over the WTO accession can shortly switch to pessimism. The old theoretical account is entrenched in the Kremlin economic mind and there are many powerful figures that dislike the thought of being constrained by international understandings or increased foreign competition. President Medvedev has now secured the support from the US and the European Union for its WTO command. Now he needs to take the battle with Kremlin co-workers and oligarchs. That may go a far bigger job. Fredrik Erixon is manager of the European Centre for International Political Economy ( ECIPE ) , an economic think armored combat vehicle based in Brussels

1984 Knowledge and Main Reason Essay

1984 Knowledge and Main Reason Essay 1984: Knowledge and Main Reason Essay To Build a Fire Response The short story begins with the rather bitter description of the cold and of the enclosing surroundings that the man will have to face in order to survive. â€Å"The Yukon lay a mile wide and hidden under three feet of ice†¦.North and South, as far as his eye could see, it was unbroken white† (0:55): Described as a wretched excess, this clearly points to the man’s observation that the cold has surrounded him and the piling on of images is starting to occur in his mind. The images that will make him cringe over the decision to travel out in such frigid weather. His main reason for traveling out is for the apparent â€Å"Gold Rush† and to think he would find gold is like finding a needle in a haystack. At this point in the short story the man begins to think about what the old man said about the cold and still sort of denying that he was wrong. The man’s nonchalant attitude to the temperature is significant to his lack of hereditary instincts. It was cold, but colder than the man had formerly thought about and had felt comfortable taking in. The narrator says, â€Å"This man did not know cold. Possibly all the generations of his ancestry had been ignorant of cold, of real cold, of cold one hundred and seven degrees below freezing point. But the dog knew; all its ancestry knew and it had inherited the knowledge† (14:26): The quote that was just reinstated is another characteristic where heredity will determine his own character. However, his canine

Free Essays on Curriculum Of The University

My response to the question  ¡Ã‚ °Does the education serve the purpose only when it fulfills the individual needs and caters to the interests of each students  ¡Ã‚ ± is that not always. The system of education nowadays can be divided into three stages: elementary education, secondary, and senior which are achieved by grade schools, high schools, plus colleges and universities. Only senior education, I think, can be specialized ,by contrast, the elementary and secondary education should be carried out with all basic courses involved. Most of the Pupils or even high-school students may not be aware that what are they really interested in. Once I forwarded this question to my ten-year-old sister, and play Dune ( a kind of computer game ) is her answer. Can we especially open a course to satisfy her such interest? Of course no. And also, students ¡Ã‚ ¯ interests change as the years gaining. A biologist might have a dream of being a tailor to make clothes for bobbies when she was young, then long for a teacher ¡Ã‚ ¯s position in her teenage. Too early determining of the nature will do such a harm that to narrow the children ¡Ã‚ ¯s ken and restrict their development. Basic knowledge in all subjects are vital for any student to grow into a complete individual. Just as Francis Bacon said, histories make man wise; poems witty; the mathematics subtle; natural philosophy deep ; moral grave; logic and rhetoric able to content. In addition, it should be taken into account that means of imparting education must be feasible. If we let every student to choose his own curriculum, the extant educational system will not satisfy the various interests of each student, anther large number of teachers , realias, places or something else are required. Then it will lead to a burden on the economy or even the society. (However, to give elective courses may settle the problem, if it is really worth. Among high school students, on condition that, a part of them have f... Free Essays on Curriculum Of The University Free Essays on Curriculum Of The University My response to the question  ¡Ã‚ °Does the education serve the purpose only when it fulfills the individual needs and caters to the interests of each students  ¡Ã‚ ± is that not always. The system of education nowadays can be divided into three stages: elementary education, secondary, and senior which are achieved by grade schools, high schools, plus colleges and universities. Only senior education, I think, can be specialized ,by contrast, the elementary and secondary education should be carried out with all basic courses involved. Most of the Pupils or even high-school students may not be aware that what are they really interested in. Once I forwarded this question to my ten-year-old sister, and play Dune ( a kind of computer game ) is her answer. Can we especially open a course to satisfy her such interest? Of course no. And also, students ¡Ã‚ ¯ interests change as the years gaining. A biologist might have a dream of being a tailor to make clothes for bobbies when she was young, then long for a teacher ¡Ã‚ ¯s position in her teenage. Too early determining of the nature will do such a harm that to narrow the children ¡Ã‚ ¯s ken and restrict their development. Basic knowledge in all subjects are vital for any student to grow into a complete individual. Just as Francis Bacon said, histories make man wise; poems witty; the mathematics subtle; natural philosophy deep ; moral grave; logic and rhetoric able to content. In addition, it should be taken into account that means of imparting education must be feasible. If we let every student to choose his own curriculum, the extant educational system will not satisfy the various interests of each student, anther large number of teachers , realias, places or something else are required. Then it will lead to a burden on the economy or even the society. (However, to give elective courses may settle the problem, if it is really worth. Among high school students, on condition that, a part of them have f...

GATTACA film Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

GATTACA film - Essay Example Specifically, Socrates writes the following: [H]e who has experience of the manner in which we order justice and administer the State, and still remains, has entered into an implied contract that he will do as we command him. He claims that those who do not obey commands are unjust because they have accepted parental training and education from the state. If they fail to convince the state otherwise, disobedience itself is a kind of crime against the state. Taking this definition on its surface, the character of Vincent Anton Freeman in GATTACA can be shown to violate his contract with the state by trying to rise above his genetically prescribed circumstances. There are many different examples available to show that Vincent refuses to accept his lot in the society of GATTACA. Three such examples will be shown here. First, from his early childhood, Vincent competes against his brother Anton in swimming contests. They swim out to sea and see which one gives up first and swims back. In these early contests, Vincent loses to his brother due to his brother’s superior genetic make-up. However, he continues trying to beat his brother rather than accepting this outcome. In the end, he learns to beat his brother by using all his strength to swim out, not saving anything for the swim back. In this example, he learns that his will can overcome his genetic destiny. Exercising this, he violates his supposed understanding with the state. Second, Vincent decides he wants to become an elite astronaut. In this choice, he also violates his implied contract, which should require him to accept a menial job not afforded those without superior genetics. In the mere decision to attempt to become more than is available to him, Vincent goes against the deterministic direction the state tells him he should accept. While one could make the argument that by attempting to leave earth and go to the stars, Vincent is in fact â€Å"leaving† the state, the fact that he uses state space programs in order to achieve his dreams of becoming more indicates that he has accepted the state’s material conditions without accepting its moral dictates. Third, and finally, the fact that Vincent uses deception to achieve his dream of becoming an astronaut shows that he violates his contract. He steals DNA from a person with a â€Å"superior† profile and uses this to impersonate a different identity. He even undergoes surgery to make himself taller, so that he won’t be detected. In doing this, he shows that, on one hand, he is willing to live within the state’s expectations, but on the other he does not accept its ultimate ordering of justice. He deceives the state while accepting the benefits that it affords him as he lives under that deception. GATTACA, in the end, poses questions about the justice of a state that is formed on genetic determinism. However, it is also an example of a citizen acting within such a state in a way that is, contrac tually speaking, unjust. By using the state for his own private ends, Vincent can be said to be unjust, in view of Socrates’ definition. The fact that we pull for him forces us to ask questions about this social contract and about the nature of justice generally. Second Prompt In her poem, â€Å"Ethics† Linda Pastan defines a situation in which a person must choose between saving a classic painting and another, older human being. She considers this question in light

Exploring the Marketing Mix Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Exploring the Marketing Mix - Essay Example I feel that the consumer perceptions of brands and their attitudes toward strong brands is the core element of this lecture, as it all boils down to figuring out consumer preferences and what consumers actually expect and how they behave (Brassington & Pettitt, 2003). The reason I prefer this part is that it also throws light on the bet practises to win a customer, from a company’s or a manufacturer’s perspective. All the arguments in the lecture lead to the fact that brands affect the buying behaviour of consumers to a great extent. A classic example of this is the choice between diet coke and diet pepsi. As a consumer, I have always preferred diet coke over diet pepsi. But I was amazed to find that various tests have actually proved that the quality of diet pepsi to be better than diet coke. But still, diet coke leads the market as the most preferred drink in the diet colas segment (De Chernatony & McDonald, 1998). When the drinks were tested with two matched sample of consumers, the first ‘blind’ (brands were concealed) group preferred diet pepsi. However, when the same test was carried out in an ‘open’ (brand identities were shown) group, they preferred diet coke (De Chernatony & McDonald, 1998). This example indicates that strong brands are important to both companies and consumers. Though product qualities and prices are given great importance, strong brand overrules all these elements, and can influence the decision making process of the consumers to a much greater extent. Hence distinctive brand identity is the most important element in creating a successful and strong brand (Jobber, 2004). It is evident that a successful brand should win consumer trust and should add value to the companies and positively affect the customer perceptions of the brand. Consumers also gain, as strong brands assure them of the quality of the products and act as a certification. The formula put forth by Doyle (1998) states that a successful brand is a

Applied Behavioural Assessment Case Study

Applied Behavioural Assessment Case Study Sophia A. Johnson Abstract Behavioral assessment involves a variety of methods including direct observations, interviews, checklists, and tests to identify and define targets for behavior change. (Miltenberger, 2012) This assessment will utilize evidence based research to clearly identify target behaviors to assist our clients in implementing a successful intervention plan that is based on a behavior modification plan that objective, clearly defined, measurable and geared to the individual’s specific needs. We hypothesize that we will be able to reduce Emily’s refusal to attend school, her crying tantrums and head banging, as well as improve and increase Mr. Smith’s employee’s attendance and restore production to normalcy. Case #1 This case study examines why 6-year old Emily is exhibiting behavior issues. Recommended by her pediatric psychologist her parents want to understand this change in behavior that started when she started first grade. It appears that Emily’s reluctance to attend school which she claims is no longer fun, often results in her having screaming tantrums in which cries and bangs her head on the floor. Her parents also noted that she has not been able to sleep in her own bed and they must take her theirs in order for her to fall asleep, but even after falling asleep if they return her to her bed she will awake and cry and scream until her parents return her to their bed. Due to these outburst she is often allowed to remain home from school. Her parents are tired and frustrated and in need of answers for this behavior change and an intervention to return their household to normalcy. Emily’s teacher reports that on most occasions she is well behaving and her basic academic skills appear to be at grade level. It is hypothesized that Emily’s behavior maybe as a result of bullying and teasing, if we could get her to address her fears we will be able to reduce the screaming tantrums and fear of going to school and return her to the normal school environment. In communicating with Emily’s parents we were able to identify the target behavior that they would like addressed. Emily’s parents would like us to address her reluctance to attend school resulting in a screaming tantrums, which includes a loud piercing cry followed by her head repeatedly striking the floor. We believe this target behavior needs to be addressed because it poses a social significant health risk which may result in bodily injury for Emily. This behavior is also being targeted because it results in a â€Å"negative reinforcement by escape from a task† (Cooper, 2007, p. 49), this behavior is inadvertently being reinforced by her parent’s reluctance to upset her so they allow her to remain home. This cannot continue as it will also affect her academic and social interaction skills, there may also be financial ramifications if the parents are missing work or having to find a sitter to care for Emily while they go to work. It is hypothesized that Emily’s overall reluctance and tantruming would decrease and that, with time, we would see her willingly wanting to attend school and interacting with others more frequently, we expect to see a decrease in the number of tantrums and head banging’s. As part of the intervention technique we will be able to create a confident rapport with Emily, where she can share her fears and concerns regarding school. Based on the information shared we will be able to change the target behavior by helping Emily adapt to her school environment. We will carry out a functional assessment on Emily using direct observation both at her home and school to assess and gathering relevant data on the target behavior, such as duration and frequency and whether or not they are preceded by a visible antecedent. The behavior modification program that will be used is operant condition using positive reinforcement. Each day that Emily goes to school without a resulting tantrum she gets to do an activity of her choosing with the family when she gets home. If she has a tantrum and refuses to go to school she has to do one hour of reading. We will be tracking her progress using a excel spreadsheet after which we will chart and graph the results on a weekly basis and do a monthly assessment. The data gathered will be reported by her family and teachers, so as to get an accurate view of her overall behavior in both environment. We chose operant conditioning using positive reinforcement because, â€Å"operant conditioning is the means by which we use reinforcement or punishment to change one’s behavior and â€Å"the goal of behavior modification is to establish desirable new behaviors or skills†. (Miltenberger, 2012), in Emily’s case we hope to increase her desire to attend school by creating a positive experience and reduce her tantruming and head banging episodes by allowing her to use her words to express herself. Once per week on a Friday a visit will be made to Emily’s school and home to collect the charts, review any discrepancies and get a verbal feedback on Emily’s behavior. We will meet with Emily as well to learn how she is doing and assess if the behavior modification is having a positive outcome. The data is analyzed by gathering the number of refusal to attend school for the week, the number of tantruming and head bang, as well as any disruptive behavior in the classroom. We will be able to identify whether or not the intervention is successful if the data reveals a decrease such as only once per week does her parents have to keep her home for refusal to attend school or if they do not have to keep her home at all. Table 1.1 After a 3 month period a review of the behavior modification program will be assessed, if it is found to be unsuccessful or not progressing as expected, we will review the data to see if there are specific days when Emily exhibits continuous refusal to attend school, we could also assess the stimulus being used to reinforce the desired behavior, changes to the program will only help to benefit and address any future needs that may arise. If however, the program is successful and we are able to cause extinction of the behavior which is â€Å"the process by which a previously reinforced behavior is no longer followed by the reinforcing consequences, and the frequency of the behavior decreases in the future (Miltenberger, 2012, p. 516), we could say the behavior modification intervention is successful, even if there is only a reduction in the number of refusal to attend school, or even a reduction of the need for positive reinforcements. The scientific method has guided this experiment by helping us to evaluate the data using frequency of measurement, resulting in accurate, reliable, and believable data to create an individualized assessment intervention plan. Case #2 Mr. Smith owns a manufacturing company which specializes in custom figure skates. He has 30 employees who has highly specialized training required for the production of these skates. Mr. Smith is concerned that over the last year his workforce seems to be suffering from a high percentage of absenteeism, which is having a negative effect on production and the health of the company. Prior to soliciting our help Mr. Smith has tried to address this behavior by offering breakfast which consists of coffee and donuts, he has also called a meeting and shared with them that the end result of continued absence will result in the company suffering a financial loss and closing. He noted that neither of these interventions has worked and seem to only increase the problem. In the case of Mr. Smith the target behavior being identified is the consistent absenteeism which is defined as unreported or unscheduled absence from work by an employee who is not on vacation or other documented leave. This target behavior is being addressed because it affects productivity and the overall well-being of the organization, employee morale and the community. The behavior also affects the social responsibility of the individuals who have contracted to work for a specific period of time and should give adequate notice or inform a manager of any absence. Antecedent: Employee shift starts, production line short. Behavior: Employee does not show up for work, does not call. Consequence: Unable to meet production quota and financial obligations. Mr. Smith previous interventions of providing breakfast of coffee and donuts or sharing the company financial perspective, may not have worked because he did not do the adequate research needed to assess the situation and offer a contingency plan that was appealing to the employees, or his overall approach could also not have been appealing to the employees. It is our job as the behavior analysis to help Mr. Smith achieve his goal by selecting target behaviors that are the most directly and functionally related to those goals of his employees. Evidence suggests that the continued absenteeism maybe due to low morale, stress or sheer employee burnout. We hypothesize that after assessing and defining the cause of the absenteeism we will be able to create an intervention plan that will improve attendance, reduce employee burnout and restore the company morale. After gathering data from HR on the persons who are habitual absentees, individual interview was schedule for one on ones to understand the reason and what can be done to assist the employee in restoring their attendance record. For ethical reasons this information will not be shared with HR. Based on the results of the interviews and questionnaires completed by the other staff, we decided that a contingency contract or a behavioral contract would be implemented to restore productivity within the organization. Each employee will have the opportunity to be rewarded for completing their 40 hour work week for 30 minutes of paid time off per week. The company will implement a time card system and HR will judge the time completed and award the time off accordingly, employees do not have to take their time off weekly but may accumulate and take as needed. Additionally, the organization will implement paid sick leave, a daycare reimbursement program, a schedule adjustment for employees need ing time off during the work hours, and a monthly health truck run to ensure staff is mentally and physically fit. To address the morale issue Mr. Smith has agreed to supplement a breakfast and lunch program as well as quarterly picnics. Each person will be given a task sheet to review and sign, this Behavioral contract will take effect the first of the month and the first review will be done a month later. We will be able to assess the success of the program by a decrease in the number of absenteeism and an increase in productivity and production, as well as employee morale. Charts representing the percentage of attendance versus absenteeism will also serve as a visual for performance. If the expected outcome is not obtained, we would reassess and try another strategy such as possibly a token economy system offering which is more tangible and is immediate in occurrence and reinforcements. â€Å"Extinction is the process that weakens behavior† (Miltenberger, 2012), Extinction/Response maintenance is ensuring that the behavior that has been reinforced for a period of time and is no longer reinforced in the future. Measures need to be put in place to maintain the success of behavior that has now become extinct. In Emily’s case the potential issue with extinction is that her tantrums may return but reinforced based on another behavior. According to (Miltenberger, 2012), â€Å"a potential issue with extinction/response maintenance is that behavior often increases in frequency, duration or intensity prior to being extinct and may undergo extinction regardless of positive or negative reinforcement.† CONCLUSION As behavior analysis we were able to determine that Emily and Mr. Smith’s employees did not need to learn a new skill related to behavior. Instead we recognized the need to make changes to their environment and preferences in order to support them and change their behavior. Since Emily experienced such distress when being prepared for school, changes were made in the environment at home and school, and reinforcers were used to encourage a positive outlook for going to school. Mr. Smith’s employees were given opportunities to not only change their attendance habits, but increase company morale and productivity. Despite these apparent drawbacks when creating an intervention plan in a controlled experimental settings, the findings largely supports both hypotheses suggesting that behavioral analysis when used in a scientific method with clearly defined target behavior, the result is an objective and measurable intervention plan. References Cooper, J. H. (2007). Applied behavior analysis. Upper Saddle, NJ: Pearson Education. Miltenberger, R. (2012). Behavior Modification: Principles and Procedures. 5th Edition. In R. Miltenberger, Extinction . Wadsworth.

Brain Cell Transplants

For decades the wonders of science have miraculously improved and given hope to the unfortunate individuals of the world. From stem cell research to cloning, there is not a day that goes by that there is not a lab that is not full of eager scientists working hard in effort to find a cure for some of the millions of illnesses that are present today. There are many disabled children living throughout the world today. In fact, they make up quite a large portion of the world.From mental illnesses, to physical disabilities, there are thousands  of different types of diseases that strike newborns and children every day. Causes attributed to such illnesses can be anything from hereditary reasons to environmental. Fortunately, we have our magnificent scientists striving to help these children. In August of 2000, scientists began developing brain cell transplants to treat the damage caused by a stroke. The procedure appeared to benefit some patients. What this means is that their is, in fac t hope for children with mental disabilities, because a stroke causes mild to sever brain damage.Rehabilitation plays an important role once the brain cell transplants have taken place. And, not all patients will show signs of improvements. This is an ongoing study that is still being worked on and has much room for improvement. In the laboratory, scientists have actually developed a process which uses several to transform cells called LBS-neurons into mature brain cells or neurons. The regular LBS-neurons originate from human tumor tissue composed of embryonic like cells. This is a long way from looking through a magnifying glass!

Cisco’s Web Enablement Essay

CEO John Chambers believed that â€Å"by providing the end-to-end network plumbing, we can change the way entire companies and industries operate. † How did Cisco’s IT web-enablement initiatives reinforce and demonstrate that belief? Explain your answer with examples. Cisco began web development in early 1990s. Cisco invested around $100 million to web-enable all the applications using standard set of tools and smart group of people. Most of the interactions with customers, partner and suppliers were network-based and began at Cisco’s home page which allowed them to do business with Cisco more efficiently and effectively. Below are some of the examples of the intranet and internet applications that were built part of this initiative: Intranet Applicationss: Employee Self-Service & Communication and distance learning: Cisco’s corporate intranet, Cisco Employee Connection, a centralized portal to access the information, tools and resources needed to streamline processes, facilitate knowledge exchange and maximize employee productivity met the unique needs of 40,000 plus employees. Training modules were available to employees to be trained from their desktops through the distance learning application. The usage of training modules was tracked to improve the quality and its effectiveness. Personalized home pages using ‘My Yahoo! ’ retrieved information from the internet based on user preferences and pushed it to their desktops. Cisco’s quarterly meetings were available for employees to be viewed from their desktop. This not just doubled the attendance but also enhanced the Cisco’s culture of maintaining a strong relationship with each employee. Internet Applications: Customer Self-service through website Cisco’s customer self-service portal built on Cisco. com, a comprehensive, web-based, online resource for information and networked application, was the primary vehicle for delivering responsive, around the clock support for its customers. They relied on Cisco. com to get their questions answered, diagnose network problems, provided solutions and expert assistance worldwide. It was translated into 17 languages for international customers. Cisco’s customers were highly satisfied and enjoyed the lower cost of doing business with Cisco than those who do not used internet based applications to support. Net commerce through the web: Cisco was an early pioneer in using the internet for full electronic commerce. Customer could place and track their orders using Cisco. com. As of January 2001, internet-commerce-based revenue represented 92% of the total revenue base. Productivity gains of 60% for Cisco and 20% for Customers and resellers were being realized through online commerce. Besides the above examples there were other intranet and internet based applications which increased the productivity of its employees and improved supply chain process & customer satisfaction. Thus the above web-enabled systems reinforce and demonstrate the CEO’s belief of changing how companies and business operate. It was very clear that Cisco was successful in the principles of using internet in doing general business.

People Have Different Learning Style - 851 Words

People have different learning style. According to the VAK Learning Style Indicators, my learning style is quite not clear which is tend to be physical but very close to visual and auditory. Because of in university or college even high school in some cases is very stressful. Student live in a very intensive environment, so it is very significant to let the student know what their learning style is. Let them concentrate on using the learning style that they good at. So, I am going to introduce my current learning style, the tasks I find which is the most easiest or difficult and the strategies I think it would be useful in university due to my learning style. I have a weird hobby that is in the theater, I will casually turn my head back to see how people would react when they watch movie. Perhaps this action shows the visual side that I tend to accept information. Another example, back to the time I started learning English, I have got no interest at all. 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