Fiscal policies of president Bush and president Obama

Introduction Known as the most successful economy in the globe, the United States has come a long way to achieve its economic prowess. The country is a fairly new economy compared to the rest of the super powers making its case unique.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Fiscal policies of president Bush and president Obama specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The United States is known for its aggressive and hard working nature due to its political and economic policies. The policies place emphasis on a democratic system of governance that allows for an immense amount of freedom in all aspects of life. These policies have proved to be an advantage to the growth and sustainability of the country. Despite the spiraling rate of economic growth, the country records a number of economic down turns that have threatened the future sustainability. This has as a result led in implementation of a number of economic bailouts so as to increase the viability of the economy in the long run (Wright, 2010). One of the most discussed fiscal policies is that of George. W. Bush Jr. despite his allegiance to the Republican Party, most of his policies are inspire by President John F. Kennedy. One of the areas where Bush placed emphasis is the federal income tax cuts. At this time the country was highly taxed which in turn, affected the essential functions such as disposable income, the borrowing rate and the investing capability of the nation. The change in the tax cuts enabled individuals to use their extra income to pay off debts and save money in the bank. This turned the economy around owing to the level of growth in terms of the economic strength. Another significant element of his fiscal policy was the allocation and distribution of the national resources to different sectors. The government invested the funding of the army which at this time was heavily populated in the Middle Eastern countries.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This affected the rest of the vital sectors such as health, education, food, housing and internal security. The policy has served as a disadvantage to the economy recording one of the lowest rates of economic growth. This low performance reached its peak in 2008 when the country’s performance recorded an all time low causing a recession across the globe (Wright, 2010). President Obama made news as the first African American to become president of the United States. His economic policy has as a result become highly scrutinized so as to compare his policies to that of his predecessor. One of the areas that Obama chose to concentrate on was the general welfare of the economy. The government reduced the funding of the army redirecting the finances to healthcare, education and housing. This reduced the strain on the public who had become heavily tasked so as to meet the demands of the army. Obama ensured that the central bank reduced their interest rates on most of the charges so as to release the money to the public. This however is closely monitored so as to regulate some of the policies in the event that there is a colossal circulation of money amongst the public. This varies from Bush’s policies that did not place emphasis on regulation of the money by the central bank. The current regime is thus more observant so that the country does not experience another recession in the future (Wright, 2010). Conclusion President Bush’s fiscal policy is highly concentrated on investment in sectors such as the army and tax cuts making the country lack funding in other sectors. The tax cuts however increased the disposable income of the public increasing the level of investment. Obama on the other hand focuses on the welfare of the general economy redirecting the funds to crucial sectors such as health education and housing. Refe rences Wright, R. E. (2010). Bailouts: Public money, private profit. New York: Columbia University PressAdvertising We will write a custom essay sample on Fiscal policies of president Bush and president Obama specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This essay on Fiscal policies of president Bush and president Obama was written and submitted by user Tanner H. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Brand Audit Proposal Essays

Brand Audit Proposal Essays Brand Audit Proposal Paper Brand Audit Proposal Paper The objective of Davits Tea brand audit is to evaluate and relate the theoretical approaches with practical market research and mainly to come to know about the inventory and exploratory expects of the brand. The behavioral and psychological nature of the brand equity will be analyzed and the current position of the brand in industry will be examined. We would like to study and research the brand effectiveness, strategy, positioning, customers perception, and further testify the brand in a multidimensional perspective. Marketing and Business Environment Davits Tea is the first Canadian-based tea company, established by David Seal, a young passionate entrepreneur gaggers to bring the happiness taste of life to people through the consumption of tea. Davits primary functional vision is to provide consumers with a high quality tea developed by its own tea expertise. The company builds its very own brand equity and engagement with customers by delivering a sense of belonging and connecting people who are willing to share their tea experiences together in the brand community. Its first store was successfully launched in 2008 on Queen Street, a metropolitan area in Toronto, Ontario. Traditionally, existing tea consumers re limited to experience a small and narrowed market where not many selection of tea was offered. However, Davits Tea has taken the leading stance in the industry by breaking the traditional concept of tea, informing tea alone possesses an indefinite potential to be developed and grown. In Davits Tea store, customers are offered with over 1 50 types of flavored tea from all over the world. It also differentiates itself from other tea brands such as Tavern from Cataracts and Tim Horrors by providing variety of seasonal tea collections and the Tea of Month, which can be easily made at home, office, and anywhere you want. Unlike Cataracts where tea and coffee sold are consumed on the spot, Davits Tea uniquely sells every supplies needed for tea and also shows how easy and fun it is to make tea with people at your own place. By doing so, people have a chance to be more exposed and dissolved into the tea culture with various people in their daily life. However, back in 2008, investing in the tea industry was considered as a risky move for many beverage companies. According to Statistics of Canada, both tea and coffee industry where most weight is heavily put on represents 1. % of the value of sales of food and beverage goods manufactured. The consumption of tea both in Canada and internationally was lower by far relative to the coffee consumption. Coffee alone generated the revenue more than $1 billion per year whereas tea served just above than 500 million in 2007. The gap between tea and coffee industry seemed to be significant and definite at that time. However, currently in Canada, intensive competition has been rising among beverage brands and retail stores as the consumers preferences and tastes had shifted toward products that enable healthy lifestyle. Tea is a profitable commodity. Store footprints are usually small, while mark-ups and profit margins are high, ranging from 50% to 70%. More businesses attempt to enter the industry to expand the business scale. For example, Tavern, a tea specialty acquired by Cataracts aggressively positioned its products in response to the competition. Stores across America feature Opera Chaw Tea which is personally blended and developed by Opera Winfred, a world renowned and influential TV show host, writer and publisher, to capture more potential customers in beverage industry. In addition, Tavern plans to expand its tea buss news around the world by launching more tea stores every year. Current challenges and untapped opportunities for brand equity Current Challenges Davits Tea has achieved many successful milestones and developed its own competitive advantages over other competing companies. However, there are still some weaknesses and challenges that Davits Tea is facing at the moment. Although there are various challenges for Davits Tea, the biggest four challenges for Davits Tea are 1) its unique but limited operational system 2) heavy training expense due to a high turnover rate 3) difficulty in upturning customers in some countries with a strong coffee preference culture and 4) its limited marketing strategy. Firstly, Davits Tea is famous for owning its unique operation system. The management team of Davits Tea itself operates all the stores in Canada and SACS; there are no franchise opportunity unlike Cataracts, Tim Horrors and Chaw Time. This system may be advantageous for them because the company is able to control every elements starting from location selection to recruitment process, however, this is one of the biggest challenges the Davits Tea is facing. This operational system is time-consuming and it engages resources inefficiently. There would be some limitations to the numbers of shops to open and earning investments from outer company if Davits Tea continues to hold back the franchise opportunities. Consequently, this will decrease the brand awareness and customers accessibility of Davits tea. Secondly, Davits Tea is suffering from the huge employee training expenses due to a high staffs turnover rate. Many workers quit the job due to high expectation from the company compared to their low compensation system and low promotion opportunities. Even though the Davits Tea has high petition for friendly and kind customer service, their employees experiences would create the negative impression upon brands image through word of mouth or posting negative reviews on online if those employees complaints do not resolved. It took 2 times more expenses to train employees to be tea expert compare with training programs from their competitors, but once the employees decide to leave the position, the value resources will be mostly wasted. Third, some countries have strong coffee culture; Most of the North American and European countries like America, Canada, Brazil, Italy, Norway had been influenced by coffee for hundreds of years. The Davits Tea is only serving hundreds of various teas on their menu if so the Davits Tea will miss out a large amount of customers or markets who prefer coffee more than tea. Even though the interest on tea is increasing, the countries culture is hard to change just because of the world trend has changed. Lastly, the Davits Tea marketing is too heavily relied on social media. According to research, Davits Tea is spending a lot of money and time on social media marketing such as replying to every single customers tweet or hiring more staffs in social media marketing department. However, if they continue to approach customers only with social media marketing then their target customers would be very limited to youth people and they would be hard to raise their brand awareness. They should consider other marketing tools to raise brand awareness not solely with social media. Opportunities for Brand Equity Regarding challenges the Davits Tea is currently facing, there are some opportunities the Davits Tea could increase their brand equity and reinforce the challenges they are facing. First, they can create some products to be sold at wholesale markets such as Metro, Lowbrows, Cost and etc. Brand trials and experiences are important in order to raise the brand equity. In order to do so, Davits tea could produce some products designed for wholesale sale, enabling to increase customers accessibility, trial and raise its brand awareness. If the customers have enjoyed the purchased products from the wholesale market than there are high possibilities this would lead to brand preference and visit of retail store nearby. Secondly, there are a lot of markets left for Davits Tea, especially, Global markets such as Asia or Europe. Under strong preference of coffee in European countries, there are increasing interests on decaffeinated products such as tea due to health concerns. Davits Tea could open online orders for other countries as well in order to approach new customers who are willing to buy Davits Tea products in other countries. Furthermore, Davits Tea can be more active on promoting its brand by advertising or using other various marketing methods. As it has been discussed above, marketing of Davits Tea is heavily relied on social media. However, in order to reach various customers and to raise its brand awareness, it should give a shot on other marketing strategies. For example, it could hang up the poster on the ETC wall just like Tim Horrors to allow more potential customers to recognize. Also, it can use Youth videos to introduce an easier way to make a tea at home, or release more an articles regarding the tea industry and their company on magazines/ newspaper. SOOT Analysis Drivers of current brand equity Davits Tea has strong brand equity, created with its uniqueness, favorable and strong factors of the brand. Subconsciously, customer, company and competitors could create brand equity. Positioning and identifying is a first step to build brand equity. Davits tea was first opened in 2008. Currently, they have opened about 120 stores in North America, and be;en the years of 2012 to 2014, they have opened about 40 more stores. The increasing number of stores builds the awareness of Davits Tea by providing easily accessing availability to the consumers. Davits Tea is focusing on sales of specializing in tea and tea related products. Since tea is recognized for healthy beverage that involves relaxation feelings, which is the opposite of coffee or energy drinks, the consumption of tea is growing in a fast rate and about 84% of the population consumes tea every year. Tea is the 2nd most consumed beverage in the world, and the annual sales of tea is estimated to $423 million from annual grocery sales, and $760 million from annual food service sales. Since the consumers purchasing of tea is increasing, their interest towards Davits Tea have also increased. By positioning and identifying its brand, Davits Tea became one of the most recognized teashop in Canada. Furthermore, there are various articles about the massive expansion and innovative corporate structure of Davits tea. This became an unofficial advertisement, and built credibility by distancing itself from rival rand. One of the unofficial advertising examples is that, Melanie Barbaric, the Events Community Relations manager of Davits tea, gave a Davits tea package with hand written note to Opera Winfred. With no expectation at all, this also has brought an amazing effect of advertising in Davits tea. Opera have posted the picture on her Mainstream, where she has more than 1. 3 million followers, and 32,377 people have liked her photo. Nevertheless, she mentioned about how she favors Davits tea on O Magazine. One small gift to a famous person has raised the huge awareness of Davits tea, and since Opera is a celebrity with enormous credibility image, Davits tea also gained the reputation of credibility. Davits tea frequently releases new flavors with over 1 50 variety kinds of selections from all around the world. They have their own style and design, and special collections for holidays and other special occasions (e. G. Christmas Collections, Summer and Winter teas, and Cold fighting teas). Since Davits tea are reputed for its innovative design, the collections gives imagery of perfect gift for people and individuals themselves. Moreover, the unique names of different kinds (e. G. The Skinny, Happy Kampuchea and Read My Lips) gave various positive feelings to people and established brand equity. Potential Drivers of Future Brand Equity Davits tea has created its brand equity by informing customers about their position and brand identity, and gave credibility with positive feelings about its brand. However, they need new and innovative strategies to harden its brand equity. Recently, Agriculture Canada Food Trends Study predicted that in year 2020, the tea consumption would increase to 40%. Louise Robbery, the president of Tea Association of Canada mentioned that one of the factor f the raise of consumption is due to the retiring of baby boomers, who are concerned about their health, and will likely be drinking more tea at home. Therefore, One of the strategies that Davits tea should use is to increase the number of stores, which will give location benefit to consumers. Moreover, Davits tea should use advertising marking to raise its reputation. TO Create a TV commercial, they need to hire an advertising company or a celebrity. Hiring a recognizable celebrity costs about $kick-$300 and making advertising costs more additional. Since Davits tea is still a small brand with mall budget, they should make a campaign video to promote. One of the examples is the smooth Valentines Day video of Wilkinson Sword Shaver Company. This theme of the video is that a man should shave on valentine day, because it is not a day to irritate a lady. It cost small budget to make a video, but have raised more than 1,700,000 views on Youth. A campaign video that shows how healthy it is to drink a tea or the free trade of Davits tea could be an effective and meaningful future driver to building its brand equity. Today, due to cheap and easy access of smart phones, the number of smartened users has reached about 1. 5 billion users. Play store is the smart phone application store of Samsung. In the Play store, the application for Cataracts reached 5 million downloaded, while the application for Tavern reached 50 thousand downloaded. Cataracts smart phone application personalizes by each customers, and has an everyday promotion that if a frequent purchasing customer buys 12 cups of coffee, they get free drink. Howard Schultz, the CEO of Cataracts said that there are more than 7 million mobile transaction is in the stores each week. Since more number of people use different smart phones from other companies, creating a rationalized smart phone application could also help building its awareness and efficiency. Lastly, customers are sensitive about personalization. The brand that could satisfy this factor could create loyal customer, who loves the brand and uses the brand as identifier of themselves. Coca Cola had Share a coke campaign that grew sales for the first time in 10 years. This campaign was writing 250 most popular names on each bottle of coke, and this campaign created the personalized feelings to the consumers with their names on the bottle. Benchmarking this idea, creating tea names with popular names could create a belonging feeling to consumers by personalizing. Data collection methods Data Collection and marketing research is one of the most crucial processes that links the customers and end users to the marketer through information which used to identify and define marketing opportunity while generating, evaluating and refining marketing performances as a brand. The goal of the research and data collection is to identify and assess how changing elements of marketing mix and brand equity impact customer behavior and perception, thus, it is very important to learn and audit a brand from customers perspectives and responses. We plan to conduct a mixed- methodology approach in both qualitative and quantitative research to collect data on the brand audit to make sure both subjective and objective opinions are valued in the data collecting process. Qualitative Research Qualitative Research is an in-depth exploration of what people think, feel, or do, and most importantly, the reason behind the purchasing action. We believe its very helpful to understand the brand performance when customers could have opportunity to talk about their unique experiences with the brand and therefore we propose 2 methods: focus group and depth interview. . Focus groups In focus groups, we will be the moderator uses a scripted series of questions and topics to lead a discussion among a group of people. The advantage of using a focus group is that we could get more subjective response other than a yes or no answer and it will be beneficial for us to further integrate customers responses into analysis. We would like to take a neutr al stance and subjectively ask questions such as please describe your experience when shopping at Davits Tea or How do you feel about the brand? To give people more freedom to discuss both positive and negative opinion towards the brand. In order to get a more relevant and balanced result, we would like to conduct at least 3 groups of people (with around 5-7 people in each group) from age 15-60 and we expect the targeted participants would have various demographic backgrounds: gender, occupation, spending habits, disposable income, Tea/coffee drinking routine, etc. 2. Depth Interviews Depth Interview is another method we would like to use by interviewing people with unstructured and open-ended questions. We would like to conduct an interview in a more intimate environment or via telephone since it allows participants to talk more openly and be more comfortable to give arsenal opinions. The results might not be 100% statistically re opinion may not represent a large enough segment Of the POLL Nevertheless, focus groups and interviews yield valuable insight customer attitudes. Quantitative Research Since the qualitative research might not provide absolute stasis findings, we therefore decided to conduct quantitative research analysis to determine the result. We plan to use a structured quo with mostly closed questions that allow respondents to select it from given list of possible responses. We would distribute sues both online survey resources and printed version to fill out. We excel to report the findings with statistics, tables, and graphs. 1. We would like to use snowball sampling strategy by asking rest participants to pass along a survey link to relevant others, or visa locations where the target market is likely to congregate. We WAC pass the survey through social network like Faceable to ask fan and people online to fill out the question. We will use accessible free online survey programs like surveyings. Com, Zimmerman, Monkey. Also, in order to gather more responses, we plan to go around campus or library/coffee shop to ask people take 2 mini out while waiting for elevator, etc. Please see possible survey IQ Appendix 1. 2. Quantitative Observation Individual responses to surveys and focus groups are sometime from peoples actual behavior, and therefore, we plan to use q observation method to observe some customers purchasing be stores, at work, or other reachable locations. We would like to o customers behavior in Davits Tea and their competitors (suit by examining how customer making the order at different store Davits Tea has very different and unique way to make the order have a traditional menu displayed any where in store, instead, t tea boxes placed on the wall with special names for customers I fore making the purchasing decision. We will observe and cool customers knowledge about the brand and further integrate to Other possible tools to manage data Since The Rotten School of Management maintains a site license: and students to use the Qualities Research Suite, we would like advantage of this system and use it to apply on some of data c methods.

IPad's Security Breach Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

IPad's Security Breach - Assignment Example We immediately took the sites offline to assess how this had happened and what had been accessed, then took further measures to increase the security of these and all of our websites, before allowing the sites to go live again" News | SQUARE ENIX MEMBERS (n.d.) However, servers that were preserving archives correlated to e-commerce transactions and credit cards were not interconnected to the website. Moreover, candidates have uploaded their resumes to ‘Square Enix’ for job considerations were also pilfered. Hackers can now trade and sell information present in the resumes, as educational background, home address and contact numbers, interest, hobbies, references etc. are exposed. Conversely, organization denied the fact that only one email address was leaked during the hack. Moreover, organization also stated that the website was equipped with latest and most updated web security architecture. An employee from an organization justified this fact as â€Å"We take the sec urity of our websites extremely seriously and employ strict measures, which we test regularly, to guard against this sort of incident† Square Enix admits to Deus Ex website hacks. (n.d.). The statement given by the concerned personnel of an organization was not credible as the security breach clearly demonstrated loopholes in their security architecture. One more incident related to website hacking took place in which some particular areas of the website were breached. The name of the website was daily Telegraph. It was hacked by Romanian hackers. Moreover, the areas that were hacked includes pages named as ‘Short Breaks’ and ‘Wine and Dine’ respectively. There are still no answers for the hacking incident that was conducted by these hackers. The methodology and technology that was used to attack the site was not found. A researcher named as Chris Boyd illustrated description of the pages that were hacked. The contents of the page were â€Å"sick of seeing garbage like this †¦ calling us Romanians gypsies† (Daily telegraph website hacked by aggrieved Romanians, n.d.). The survey concluded and justified the real world factors related to website hacking, as it has its own place in the field of hacking. In order to protect websites from vulnerabilities and threats, security measures are required. Moreover, websites providing e-commerce services are even more vulnerable and require most updated security controls in place. 1 Ethics Statement Hacking is a process that is implemented to explore a security imperfection that has not been reported earlier. Mostly, information security specialists take hacking as a concept of stealing and destroying data or any incident related to criminal activities. However, hacking exemplifies skills of an individual to exhibit his knowledge on the network domain, as well as on the application domain. Research and development in terms of information security is evaluated due to hacking and s ecurity loop holes (Introduction to computer ethics n.d.). One view of hacking is to be acquiescent, as a good cause is to strengthen the security architecture. However, the second view of hacking has the capacity to facilitate individuals to steal highly confidential information from servers located in organization as well as stealing funds by credit cards and bank account, therefore, giving a major business loss to an organization. Hacking ethics are important

Censorship of pornography Speech or Presentation

Censorship of pornography - Speech or Presentation Example In 1973, the Supreme Court tried to define what could be considered as obscene in the case of Miller v. California. It was held in the said case that pornography is obscene if applying community standards and viewing such material as a whole, (1) the "dominant theme taken as a whole appeals to the prurient interest" (2) that it depicts or describes sexual conduct in a patently offensive way; and (3) that it lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value (Miller v. California 1976). Community standards may have evolved, as more people are becoming more liberated and open-minded. But the average person as a whole still defines what is proper. Pornography injures not just the community but also, the self-respect lost by its subjects. The abuse that it contemplates is not limited to what could be shocking to the conscience of men, but what is proper to humanity. Obscenity is never a matter of individual belief or perception, it is not how one can be impressed or satisfie d by such material, rather, it is the perception of the community as a whole which is genuinely taken. In our modern time where media and the Internet are accessible to every person, even to a child, the State must act upon its authority to provide the sanctity and safety of every individual through regulation.

The ethical dilemma of the physicians orders for the care of a child Essay

The ethical dilemma of the physicians orders for the care of a child vs the parents disapproval - Essay Example This paper discusses an ethical dilemma involving physicians’ order for childcare and parents disapproval citing the moral issues involved. The paper discusses two bioethical principles and relates them to the aforementioned case. The document closes with a discussion on a value of personal morality and relates it to the morality of the larger group and society. An unnamed woman in Canada gave birth to six babies and physicians warned of their ill health and recommended blood transfusion for them. Two of them died before physicians in the hospitals where they had been born convinced their parents of how urgently the babies needed blood transfusion. The parents refused physicians to carry out the intervention and went to court seeking to stop officials forcing their way with the said intervention. The court then ordered some social workers who had taken custody of some babies seeking to secure treatment for them to return them to their parents (Birchley, 2010). The ethical dilemma in the case involved the decision on whether to assume physician’s moral obligation to ensure health of patients, in this case the infants, or whether to respect moral requirement of parents’ autonomy regarding actions on their children’s lives. Legal aspects of human rights to autonomy further complicated the case as the law supported the parents’ opinion that was based on their religious beliefs. The parents refused their babies to receive blood transfusion because their faith was against it. They were followers of Jehovah’s Witness and they remained adamant that they would have allowed any other treatment intervention as long as it did not involve blood. Jehovah’s Witness believers have strongly rejected any medical treatment including surgery that involves blood loss or reception. These believers have been proposing to have machines that can help recycle patient’s own blood to eliminate the need for a blood tra nsfusion. The Canadian

Study on the selection process

Study on the selection process According to R.D. Gatewood and H.S. Field, employee selection is the process of collecting and evaluating information about an individual in order to extend an offer of employment. In an organization, it is the main part of overall staffing process. This includes all the activities from Human Resource Planning, Recruitment to Retention. (By doing human resource planning, the organization projects its likely demand for personnel with particular knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs), and compares that to the anticipated availability of such personnel in the internal or external labour markets.) Job Analysis: Pearn and Kandola (1993, p1) defines job analysis as a form of research and a systematic procedure for obtaining detailed and objective details about the job, task or role that will be performed in future or is currently being performed. Job analysis is the first step in the selection process of the employee for a job. This is also known as Occupational Analysis. Job Analysis is a process of examining a job in detail. The main purpose of Job Analysis is to determine and identify the duties and requirements of a particular job. It also helps us to provide information about the job description and person specification. http://www.hr-guide.com/data/G000.htm People Resourcing, Stephen Taylor, 4th edition, Pg.No.187 Job Description: Description which is also known as Job summary explains the role of a person and accountability. It gives the detailed description of job and its expectations. It also gives idea about the training needs for the job and determination of pay rates to the employees. It is a tool in recruitment and selection process. http://www.businessballs.com/jobdescription.htm http://www.businessbureau-uk.co.uk/personnel/recruitment/job_description.htm. People Resourcing, Stephen Taylor, 4th edition, Pg. No. 194 Person Specification: It describes the need of a person to perform the job. Therefore, it is the basis for selecting a person who fits the job. Person specification also helps the organisation to review and re-design the job if required. It also tell us what are the skills the person should have to do the job in good manner. http://tutor2u.net/business/people/recruitment_personspecification.asp People Resourcing, Stephen Taylor, 4th edition, Pg. No. 198 Recruitment: This is the process of attracting the candidates for employment. Recruitment process involves searching for the candidates and selection of the candidate who is suitable for the job. In recruitment there are many steps to follow from Attracting, Screening, Assessing, Short listing, Interviews, Testing and final selection. Selection: Selection is the final stage in the selection process where the final candidates who are suitable for the job will be selected. Before giving appointments or offers the organisation has to do the background check of the candidate. In that they have to check the qualifications, criminal records and previous experience. Appointment: Appointment is the next process where the selected candidates will be offered a job and the task to perform. If there is a need for the candidate has to take a training then the organisation has to provide training program before placing him in the job. (Reference: People Resourcing, Stephen Taylor, 4th edition, Pg.No.187) Selection: Organisations are made of people and in an age of increasingly complex technology, organisations are stating that employees are our greatest asset (Sue Newell and Viv Shackleton). The job requirements of organisations vary and some people are best suited for some roles and organisations than others. Therefore, as per CIPD, it is important to have an effective recruitment and selection system which will thereby help in selecting the right person, at the right time, in the right place is crucial to organisational performance. There are several definitions for Selection. F.W Taylor (1911), one of the earliest management writers, stressed the importance of, best man for the job. He was of the opinion that people should be selected for their particular skills and abilities which should be tested prior to the selection decision rather than based on who they knew or who was in the queue first. According to Hackett selection is concerned more with predicting which candidates will make the most appropriate contribution to the organisation now and in the future. Gupta (2006) defines it as a process of choosing the most suitable persons out of all participants. Selection according to Roberts, G (2005) is the most important element in the organisations management of people. Where there is faulty selection, the organisation suffers waste of time, money and choosing the wrong candidates leading to absenteeism and labour turnover. Different selection methodology: Application Forms: The information of the individual is collected systematically and presented in a consistent format in an application form thereby making it easier to assess the candidates suitability for the job (CIPD). There has been a rise in the usage of application form as a basis for employment decisions. CIPD (2003) also reports that 80% of the organisations surveyed use applications forms. While it acted as a useful preliminary to interviews and decisions, it also made sorting of applications and shortlisting easier. According to Huczynski and Buchanan (2007), application form provides background but is also impersonal. Interviewers used this as a basis for their interviews with information from the application form being taken and improved upon during the interview. The predictive validity of application form is 0.2 which is a fairly low predictive validity (Roberts, 2005). According to Gareths, the low rating is more of a reflection on the poor use of application forms. He further goes to say that if it is used to screen acquired competencies, then application forms can be considered as an effective technique especially if used properly with a clear rating system. Interviews: The individual interview is the most familiar and most commonly used method of selection. It provides for face to face discussion and also provides the best opportunity for the organisation to establish a good rapport with the candidate (Armstrong, 2003). According to Pilbeam Corbridge (2006), interview is more than a selection method. It is a forum where information about the organisation and about the job is given to the candidate. There is however, more scope for bias if one interviewer is used. There are two classifications of interviews structured and unstructured interviews. While the predictive validity of unstructured interviews is 0.2, structured interviews have a predictive validity of 0.4. Recent studies have also shown that behaviorial interviews which are based on experience are more effective predictors of success as compared to situational which is based on future scenario interview (Roberts, 2005). Although, there has been research done to suggest that traditional i nterviews are poor predictors of performance, one of the reason as to why they are still popular is the fact that they are cost effective (Taylor, 2002). Personality Tests: Personality tests are used mainly for management, professional and graduate jobs. CIPD (2005) states that personality test can be useful as an added dimension to decision-making but only when practitioners generally use those instruments that have been rigorously developed and for which thoroughly researched validation evidence and norms are available. Taylor (2002) states that when used carefully and professionally, personality test has a useful role to play in the selection process. According to a report by IRS (1997d:13), personality testing remained a stable selection procedure in the 1990s with approximately three-fifths of the organisation stating that it was used as one of the process for selection for certain positions. Biodata: Biodata provides a highly structured method of sifting applications. It consists of demographic details like the age, sex and family circumstances, education and professional qualifications, previous employment history, Assessment Centre: Assessment centres are used by organisations for various purposes like selection of candidates for jobs, for promotion and for decisions about the potential development of individuals over a long period of time (Fletcher, 1991). In UK, many organisations use this method of selection especially for the recruitment of graduates (Keenan, 1997). According to Robertson (1996), assessment centres not only ensure that the organisations appoint, develop and promote only people who are effective in their job, it also benefits the individual in terms of greater job satisfaction, good career prospects and enhanced earnings. For the organisation, this tool enables the effectiveness of the job holder to be reflected in terms of organisational effectiveness and therefore considerable financial gains. PSYCHOMETRIC TESTS: What are Psychometric Tests? The British Psychological Society definition of a psychometric test: a psychological test is any procedure on the basis of which inferences are made concerning a persons capacity, propensity or liability to act, react, experience, or to structure or order thought or behaviour in particular ways. Who uses psychometric tests? Large, medium, and an increasing number of small firms use psychometric tests. Over 70 % of larger companies are currently using psychometric tests to gather vital information from potential and current employees. More and more companies are using psychometric tests for: graduate recruitment filtering out candidates when there are large numbers of applicants Over 70% of large companies use them in their recruitment process and small companies are using them increasingly. They are also used to assess existing employees for: training and staff development needs promotion What do psychometric tests measure? Psychometric tests may measure aptitude, personality or interests: Aptitude Tests these measure how people differ in their ability to perform or carry out different tasks. (these are the type you are most likely to find at the first stage of a selection process). Interest Tests these measure how people vary in their motivation, in the direction and strength of their interests, and in their values and opinions (these are less likely to be used on new graduates but are sometimes). Personality Tests these measure how people differ in their style or manner of doing things, and in the way they interact with their environment and other people (personality). Whereas aptitude tests measure your maximum performance capacity, the other tests examine typical or preferred behaviour. Why are Tests Used? If psychometric tests are to be useful as indicators of shifts in the demand for skills, then it is important that organisations use of tests is linked to their wish to measure the skills of prospective employees. If tests are in use for other reasons, then this would undermine their usefulness as indicators of skill demands. Do organisations in the UK make use of tests in order to measure work force skills, or have they adopted tests for some other reason, or set of reasons? Here we look at the rather limited evidence available on this question. There are a few surveys which have asked organisations why they make use of tests, and there is a more speculative literature dealing with change in test use over time. We take each of these in turn. Some past results suggest that the perceived objectivity of tests, their predictive abilities, as well as their ability to filter out unsuitable candidates were important reasons for test use by companies and local authorities. Some quite similar results were obtained in the IRS (1997) survey. The data show that companies believe the tests are valid measures of something useful, although it gives us no insight into what exactly the companies are, or think they are, measuring through the tests. It also does not explain why there have been such sizeable changes in test use since the 1980s. In what follows we divide the current literature on changes in test use into those which concentrate on changes in the labour market, and those which focus on other possible reasons for changes in the use of tests, or indeed changes in recruitment and selection practices more generally. Why use psychometrics in an employment setting? The main advantages of using psychometric tests are: Objectivity they dramatically reduce bias and personal perspective. Clarity they provide a robust framework and structure. Equality and fairness for all individuals (tests are standardised so that all individuals receive the same treatment). Increase the likelihood of being able to predict future job performance (they have a high level of predictive validity). The identification of training needs. Encourage employers to do thorough job analysis in order to identify appropriate skills and abilities. This helps to ensure that candidates for a position are assessed on skills only relevant to the job. What are psychometric tests used for? Some uses of psychometric tests are: Selection of candidates to jobs Personal development/identification of training needs/staff development Careers guidance Building and developing teams Psychometric tests have been used since the early part of the 20th century and were originally developed for use in educational psychology. These days, outside of education, you are most likely to encounter psychometric testing as part of the recruitment or selection process. Tests of this sort are devised by occupational psychologists and their aim is to provide employers with a reliable method of selecting the most suitable job applicants or candidates for promotion. Psychometric tests aim to measure attributes like intelligence, aptitude and personality. They provide a potential employer with an insight into how well you work with other people, how well you handle stress, and whether you will be able to cope with the intellectual demands of the job. Most of the established psychometric tests used in recruitment and selection make no attempt to analyze your emotional or psychological stability and should not be confused with tests used in clinical psychology. However, in recent years there has been rapid growth (particularly in the US) of tests that claim to measure your integrity or honesty and your predisposition to anger. These tests have attracted a lot of controversy, because of questions about their validity, but their popularity with employers has continued to increase. Psychometric testing is now used by over 80% of the Fortune 500 companies in the USA and by over 75% of the Times Top 100 companies in the UK. Information technology companies, financial institutions, management consultancies, local authorities, the civil service, police forces, fire services and the armed forces all make extensive use of use psychometric testing. As an indicator of your personality, preferences and abilities, psychometric tests can help prospective employers to find the best match of individual to occupation and working environment. As a recruitment and selection tool, these tests can be applied in a straightforward way at the early stages of selection to screen-out candidates who are likely to be unsuitable for the job. They can also provide management with guidance on career progression for existing employees. Because of their importance in making personnel decisions it is vital that the tests themselves are known to produce accurate results based on standardized methods and statistical principles. A psychometric test must be: Objective: The score must not affected by the testers beliefs or values Standardized: It must be administered under controlled conditions Reliable: It must minimize and quantify any intrinsic errors Predictive: It must make an accurate prediction of performance Non Discriminatory: It must not disadvantage any group on the basis of gender, culture, ethnicity, etc. VALIDITY Validity refers to the quality of a measure that exists when the measure assesses a construct. In the selection context, validity refers to the appropriateness, meaningfulness, and usefulness of the inferences made about applicants during the selection process. It is concerned with the issue of whether applicants will actually perform the job as well as expected based on the inferences made during the selection process. The closer the applicants actual job performances match their expected performances, the greater the validity of the selection process. (http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/management/Em-Exp/Employee-Screening-and-Selection.html) Face Validity Face validity is concerned with how a measure or procedure appears. Does it seem like a reasonable way to gain the information the researchers are attempting to obtain? Does it seem well designed? Does it seem as though it will work reliably? Unlike content validity, face validity does not depend on established theories for support (Fink, 1995). Criterion Related Validity Criterion related validity, also referred to as instrumental validity, is used to demonstrate the accuracy of a measure or procedure by comparing it with another measure or procedure which has been demonstrated to be valid. For example, imagine a hands-on driving test has been shown to be an accurate test of driving skills. By comparing the scores on the written driving test with the scores from the hands-on driving test, the written test can be validated by using a criterion related strategy in which the hands-on driving test is compared to the written test. Construct Validity Construct validity seeks agreement between a theoretical concept and a specific measuring device or procedure. For example, a researcher inventing a new IQ test might spend a great deal of time attempting to define intelligence in order to reach an acceptable level of construct validity. Construct validity can be broken down into two sub-categories: Convergent validity and discriminate validity. Convergent validity is the actual general agreement among ratings, gathered independently of one another, where measures should be theoretically related. Discriminate validity is the lack of a relationship among measures which theoretically should not be related. To understand whether a piece of research has construct validity, three steps should be followed. First, the theoretical relationships must be specified. Second, the empirical relationships between the measures of the concepts must be examined. Third, the empirical evidence must be interpreted in terms of how it clarifies the construct validity of the particular measure being tested (Carmines Zeller, p. 23). Content Validity Content Validity is based on the extent to which a measurement reflects the specific intended domain of content (Carmines Zeller, 1991, p.20). Content validity is illustrated using the following examples: Researchers aim to study mathematical learning and create a survey to test for mathematical skill. If these researchers only tested for multiplication and then drew conclusions from that survey, their study would not show content validity because it excludes other mathematical functions. Although the establishment of content validity for placement-type exams seems relatively straight-forward, the process becomes more complex as it moves into the more abstract domain of socio-cultural studies. For example, a researcher needing to measure an attitude like self-esteem must decide what constitutes a relevant domain of content for that attitude. For socio-cultural studies, content validity forces the researchers to define the very domains they are attempting to study. RELIABILITY Reliability is the extent to which an experiment, test, or any measuring procedure yields the same result on repeated trials. Reliability is concerned with the accuracy of the actual measuring instrument or procedure. ( http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/research/relval/pop2a.cfm) Equivalency Reliability Equivalency reliability is the extent to which two items measure identical concepts at an identical level of difficulty. Equivalency reliability is determined by relating two sets of test scores to one another to highlight the degree of relationship or association. In quantitative studies and particularly in experimental studies, a correlation coefficient, statistically referred to as r, is used to show the strength of the correlation between a dependent variable (the subject under study), and one or more independent variables, which are manipulated to determine effects on the dependent variable. An important consideration is that equivalency reliability is concerned with correlational, not causal, relationships. For example, a researcher studying university English students happened to notice that when some students were studying for finals, their holiday shopping began. Intrigued by this, the researcher attempted to observe how often, or to what degree, this these two behaviors co-occurred throughout the academic year. The researcher used the results of the observations to assess the correlation between studying throughout the academic year and shopping for gifts. The researcher concluded there was poor equivalency reliability between the two actions. In other words, studying was not a reliable predictor of shopping for gifts. Stability Reliability Stability reliability (sometimes called test, re-test reliability) is the agreement of measuring instruments over time. To determine stability, a measure or test is repeated on the same subjects at a future date. Results are compared and correlated with the initial test to give a measure of stability. An example of stability reliability would be the method of maintaining weights used by the U.S. Bureau of Standards. Platinum objects of fixed weight (one kilogram, one pound, etc) are kept locked away. Once a year they are taken out and weighed, allowing scales to be reset so they are weighing accurately. Keeping track of how much the scales are off from year to year establishes a stability reliability for these instruments. In this instance, the platinum weights themselves are assumed to have a perfectly fixed stability reliability. Internal Consistency Internal consistency is the extent to which tests or procedures assess the same characteristic, skill or quality. It is a measure of the precision between the observers or of the measuring instruments used in a study. This type of reliability often helps researchers interpret data and predict the value of scores and the limits of the relationship among variables. For example, a researcher designs a questionnaire to find out about college students dissatisfaction with a particular textbook. Analyzing the internal consistency of the survey items dealing with dissatisfaction will reveal the extent to which items on the questionnaire focus on the notion of dissatisfaction. Interrater Reliability Interrater reliability is the extent to which two or more individuals (coders or raters) agree. Interrater reliability addresses the consistency of the implementation of a rating system. A test of interrater reliability would be the following scenario: Two or more researchers are observing a high school classroom. The class is discussing a movie that they have just viewed as a group. The researchers have a sliding rating scale (1 being most positive, 5 being most negative) with which they are rating the students oral responses. Interrater reliability assesses the consistency of how the rating system is implemented. For example, if one researcher gives a 1 to a student response, while another researcher gives a 5, obviously the interrater reliability would be inconsistent. Interrater reliability is dependent upon the ability of two or more individuals to be consistent. Training, education and monitoring skills can enhance interrater reliability. There can be validity without reliability if reliability is defined as consistency among independent measures. Reliability is an aspect of construct validity. As assessment becomes less standardized, distinctions between reliability and validity blur. (Moss, 1994) The two most important and fundamental characteristics of any measurement procedure are reliability and validity. (Michael J. Miller, Ph.D.) (http://www.michaeljmillerphd.com/res500_lecturenotes/Reliability_and_Validity.pdf) From the above explanations by the authors it is clear that both validity and reliability is important aspect in the selection process where they rely on one other thing. It is also possible that there can be reliability without validity if the reliability is consistent in certain aspects. VALIDITY IN SELECTION METHODS: The attainment of validity depends heavily on the appropriateness of the particular selection technique used. Validity means the truthfulness of the test. We should use some test to know whether our selection process is valid or not. A firm should use a selection method that is reliable and accurate in measuring the needed qualifications of an employee. The reliability of a measure refers to its consistency. Reliable evaluations are consistent across both people and time. Reliability is maximized when two people evaluating the same candidate provide the same ratings, and when the ratings of a candidate taken at two different times are the same. When selection scores are unreliable, their validity is diminished. Some of the factors affecting the reliability of selection measures are: Emotional and physical state of the candidate: For example if the candidate is in tensed mood where he is not able to perform well in the interview then he may be not selected for the job. Lack of rapport with the administrator of the measure: If the candidate and the administer is not communicate well then there will be a problem which will affect the reliability. Inadequate knowledge of how to respond to a measure: If the candidate is illiterate or he dont know anything about the job or role. Individual differences among respondents: Each and every individual is different from others. If the administer uses the same technique for every individual then it will not be giving the same result expected. Question difficulty: If the interviewer is not clear in what he is doing then the reliability of the process is failed. Length of measure: If the length of measure is too long then there will be a conflict in the reliability and validity in selection process. The Validity of Tests While the immediate causes of test use may include a variety of factors internal and external to the company, the adoption of formal tests for selection rests on the belief that they provide reliable and valid information about a variety of relevant characteristics. Do the tests predict job performance i.e. do those who score well in psychometric tests go on to do well in the job? There is compelling evidence from the research literature that cognitive ability tests are successful in predicting performance. There is a long history of investigation of this topic amongst psychologists and a great deal of evidence had accumulated on the predictive power of measures of general intelligence, for example in Ghisellis (1966) well-known study. However, until about twenty-five or thirty years ago there was an apparent tendency for different measures to vary enormously in their predictive power, implying that the validity of a given measure was highly sector and indeed firm specific. This perception has now changed due largely to the work of Schmidt and Hunter (1998) who conducted meta-analytic studies which demonstrated the underlying consistency in this set of work. Schmidt and Hunter showed that the apparent variability was in fact largely the result of sampling error (deriving from small sample sizes) along with a number of other measurement artefacts. Cognitive tests were confirmed as good predictors of performance across a very broad range of jobs. The predictive validity of personality testing is more controversial. There has been a good deal of debate about whether personality measures are valid predictors, with some commentators suggesting that reported correlations in this field could be of little value, or even entirely spurious (Blinkhorn and Johnson, 1990). Meta-analysis has given some support to the use of personality tests in recruitment and selection. Tett et al (1991) conducted a meta-an alytic review of 494 studies in this field, and found significant correlations between personality scales and measures of job performance. Unlike the case of cognitive ability measures, however, there is no unifying g factor for personality measures, so that careful attention has to be paid to the relevant characteristics for each type of job. Indeed Tett et al found that studies which were confirmatory i.e. had clear prior hypotheses about the traits likely to be relevant for particular occupations obtained much higher validities than studies which were exploratory or data-driven. Studies that made use of job analysis so as to be clear about which characteristics were required for the job also obtained higher validities than those which made no use of job analysis. Growth in test use seems to have taken off at some point in the 1980s. By the late 1980s and early 1990s, researchers were beginning to discern substantial shifts in companies selection techniques. Shackleton and Newell (1991), comparing their survey results with those of Mabey five years previously, reported what they felt was an encouraging trend towards higher proportions of companies making use of more reliable and valid methods of selection. Since then surveys have continued to suggest that more organisations have adopted psychological testing. In the main, it is large organisations which have chosen to use tests. Psychometric testing is not unknown in smaller organisations, but they tend to be deterred by the costs of the tests and the low numbers of vacancies which they have. There are now a wide range of tests on the market, and new products are being introduced all the time. These may be completely new products, or up-dates of well established tests. Some tests measure broad skills while others are more narrowly focused on particular occupations, whether managerial, technical, or manual. There are tests of cognitive ability, literacy and numeracy skills, as well as personality questionnaires designed to assess softer, people-oriented competencies. The costs of tests are quite substantial, and suggest that employers which use them are likely to be drawing on them for a clear purpose, rather than just responding to some passing management fad. The rather limited survey evidence available on why tests are used does show that prediction of job performance is an important factor, as well as the perceived objectivity of the tests. Because most surveys are relatively small-scale, and only make very broad distin

So You Want to be a Hero Essay -- Essays Papers

So You Want to be a Hero: An Account of Heroism and Narrative Power in Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Though both considered heroes, Beowulf and Sir Gawain are drastically different characters in personality, ability, and perspective. The similarities are few: each performs deeds for which they gain fame and honor, and each is seen, in their own respects, as a paragon of virtue. Two factors immediately stand out as fundamental differences between the texts: Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight suggest fundamentally disparate views of religion and of courtly manners. Superficially, Beowulf displays a distinct lack of either in any but the most rudimentary way, while Sir Gawain is completely permeated with both. These differences in the contextual worlds of the heroes shape and propel them in often wildly different directions. Beginning from these superficial differences in Beowulf and Sir Gawain's respective worlds and then analyzing how these two champions (and others) function in their contextual spheres, one can uncover the deeper structures of their social orders, who actua lly holds power (and narrative power) in them, and, perhaps, something about the values the cultures that produced these two works held. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight describes a well ordered Medieval Christian world. Christianity guides the actions of a hero's soul, courtly love those of his heart &emdash; the "most noble knights known under Christ" sat around King Arthur's round-table (Part I-line 51). Sir Gawain as a character is the perfect cog in this system, "that [knight] of courage ever-constant, and customs pure,/ Is pattern and paragon, and praised without end:/ Of all knights on earth most honored is he" (II-912-15)[1]. He is devout &emdash; he emblazoned the image of Mary on the inside of his shield &emdash; and chivalrous &emdash; his wheedling out of either affronting Lady Bercilak or betraying the trust of her Lord whilst in their company is a truly virtuoso chivalric performance. Sir Gawain's world is an edifice built of (perhaps arbitrary) religious and chivalric codes that constrain, define and bolster its inhabitants, and Sir Gawain is its golden child. Gawain is brave, for example, not because courage is intrinsically good and thus he, as a good knight possesses it, but rather because he puts his faith in God, whom naturally no Christi... ...d these tribes' cosmic perception: an over-arching order to the cosmos now existed, created eternal by an eternal being, above any piddling systems men could create. This apocalyptic safety net thus removed the burden of fending off the e'er encroaching entropy, and provided a set of new, absolute criteria for virtue and heroism. Notes 1: If read as satirical, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight takes on a new flavor. The descriptions remain the same, however; only the author's intention changes. All Gawain citations are from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, translated by Marie Borroff, Â © 1967 by W.W. Norton and Company, Inc, New York and London. 2: All Beowulf quotes are taken from Beowulf, translated by Burton Raffel, Â © 1963 by Burton Raffel, published by Penguin Books, USA. 3: This explains why the (presumed and unrecounted - Gawain II-705-735) deeds of Sir Gawain and Beowulf appear similar but feel so different &emdash; to an non-omniscient objective viewer, a man acting charitably out of compassion for other people and a man acting charitably because God will save his (individual) soul appear to be performing the same deeds. 4: A tenet supplied by his chivalric code

Of Mice and Men Themes: Depression Essay

A central focus in the novel â€Å"Of Mice and Men† is the idea of inherent human loneliness. This manifests itself in many different ways for each character, but is collectively expressed as an unshakeable sadness or worry. Crooks states early on in the novel â€Å"I seen hunderds of men come by on the road an’ on the ranches, with their bindles on their back an’ that same damn thing in their heads. Hunderds of them. They come, an’ they quit an’ go on; an’ every damn one of ’em’s got a little piece of land in his head. An’ never a God damn one of ’em ever gets it. Just like heaven. Everybody wants a little piece of land’. I read plenty of books out here. Nobody never gets to heaven, and nobody gets no land. It’s just in their head. They’re all the time talkin’ about it, but it’s jus’ in their head† This is an accurate representation of the general feeling of never-ending sadness expressed by the characters in this novel. Steinbeck’s approach to this feeling ventures outside the realm of just a plot device, because he uses it as a way to enable the reader to better understand each character’s self discovery and viewpoints on the world they live in. One of the most intriguing characters in the novel is Curley’s wife, who is never given a name, as to represent the treatment of women during the era. She is introduced as a character you are meant to dislike, promiscuous and seemingly out for trouble. Throughout the novel in the time leading up to her murder, we learn that she is not working to harm the people around her, but rather working to satisfy the sadness that stems from her lowly place in the world. She expresses this feeling when she states â€Å"Seems like they ain’t none of them cares how I gotta live. Explaining how her â€Å"promiscuity† is actually just a cry for attention, showing that she isn’t the happy flirty woman she is made out to be, rather a fairly depressed and unhappy woman who wants to find ways to lift herself up. Moreover, it is hard for some people reading the novel to relate to the sadness felt by Curley’s wife, because it is seemingly warrantless, but Steinbeck does a commendable job of appealing to a broader audience with the character Crooks, an unhappy African American farmhand who feels isolated and melancholy because of his depressed status on the farm due to his race. He finds great joy in Lennie and George’s dream, and we see it become a savior for him, and outlet for all the anger and sadness he feels because of his position in the world. His depression is more obvious to the reader and also more relatable to anyone who has felt marginalized in their life. His sadness is very raw and clear, but he never acts upon his sadness. This shows a level of self control that isn’t seen in the other characters, and it very clearly differentiates his role within the world he lives in. In contrast to the reserved nature of Crooks, Curley’s sadness is expressed in his aggression that is rooted in his deep insecurities about himself. He acts out of rage and to assert his dominance to the characters around him, in an attempt to cure himself about his extreme lack of self confidence. This is proven to be an ineffective method for him, because no matter what he does he is seen with a bigger ego, but never seen liking himself anymore than before. Steinbeck writes him to be a short and stout man , which I believe is a representation of how trapped and unhappy he feels on the inside, almost as if he is being so oppressed by himself that it becomes physically manifested. His sadness affects me the most of all the characters in this novel, because it is the most unresolved. You get the sense that he does not even recognize his own sadness, which is something very tragic. In contrast to most of the characters in this novel, there is one that seems to be at peace with himself, and who also seems to recognize everyone else’s sadness, and has no problem accepting it as his own. I believe that slims character was added by Steinbeck to be a sharp contrasts from every other character, as well as a method of giving the reader hope that not all dreams die, and sadness is not permanent. Slims lack of internal or external conflict gives him an interesting perspective on the other characters, and made him my favorite character in the book. He handles the depression and the loneliness around him so effectively that it almost makes him appear to be superhuman. He is an educator to the others in the book, as well as an educator to the reader. He teaches everyone that our insecurities and our unhappiness doesn’t have to last forever and doesn’t have to define who we are as people. In conclusion, Steinbeck teaches us through â€Å"Of Mice and Men† that sadness is universal, but it doesn’t have to be an end all. It manifests itself in different ways for all of us, but the causes are never very different. We can learn to accept it and grow from it, or we can let it consume us, but either way it will always be there, and we just need to work to find the little things in life to help us persevere.

Biography of Fernand Leger, Forerunner of Pop Art

Biography of Fernand Leger, Forerunner of Pop Art Fernand Legà ©r, born Joseph Fernand Henri Là ©ger (February 4, 1881 – August 17, 1955), was a French artist, specializing in paintings, sculpture, and film. His innovative variants on cubism and figurative art led to him being regarded as a forerunner of the pop art movement. Fast Facts: Fernand Là ©ger Full Name: Joseph  Fernand  Henri  Là ©gerOccupation: Painter, sculptor, filmmakerBorn: February 4, 1881 in  Argentan, FranceDied: August 17, 1955 in  Gif-sur-Yvette, FranceSpouses: Jeanne-Augustine Lohy (m. 1919-1950), Nadia Khodossevitch  (m. 1952-1955)Key Accomplishments: Influenced by the industrial age and the two world wars, Fernand Leger developed a unique artistic outlook that preceded the developments and concerns of Pop Art. Early Life Fernand Legà ©r was born in Argentan, in the Normandy (then Lower Normandy) region of France. His father was a cattle farmer. Little is known about his early life until he began his schooling and professional career. Initially, Legà ©r did not train in the arts. At the age of sixteen, he began training as an architect. He finished his formal architectural training in 1899, and the following year, he moved to Paris. For about a year or two, he worked as an architectural draftsman, but in 1902, he shifted into the military. Legà ©r spent 1902 and 1903 in military service, based out of the city of Versailles. French expatriate artist Fernand Leger standing in front of his completed murals. John Gutmann / Getty Images After his military service ended, Legà ©r attempted to get more formal art training. He applied to the École des Beaux-Arts but was rejected. Instead, he enrolled at the School of Decorative Arts. Ultimately, he attended the École des Beaux-Arts in a non-enrolled capacity for three years while also studying at the Acadà ©mie Julian. It was not until the age of 25 that Legà ©r began working as an artist in earnest. In those early days, his work was in the mold of the impressionists; later in his life, he destroyed many of these early paintings. Developing His Art In 1909, Legà ©r moved to Montparnasse, an area of Paris known for being home to a wide array of creative artists, many of whom lived in poverty in order to pursue their art. While there, he met several other artists of the era. In 1910, he had his first exhibition, with his art displayed at the Salon dAutomne in the same room as that of Jean Metzinger and Henri Le Fauconnie. His most important painting at the time was Nudes in the Forest, which displayed his particular variation on cubism, dubbed â€Å"tubism† by art critic Louis Vauxcelles for its emphasis on cylindrical shapes. Sothebys employees pose for photographers with Fernand Legers Cubist masterpiece Etude pour La Femme Bleu, on April 21, 2008 in London, England. Cate Gillon / Getty Images Cubism was a relatively new movement at the time, and in 1911, Legà ©r was part of a group that displayed the development to the general public for the first time. The Salon des Indà ©pendants displayed together the work by painters identified as cubists: Jean Metzinger, Albert Gleizes, Henri Le Fauconnier, Robert Delaunay, and Fernand Là ©ger. In 1912, Legà ©r again exhibited work with the Indà ©pendants and was part of a group of artists dubbed the â€Å"Section d’Or†- the â€Å"Gold Section.† His works of this era mostly were in palettes of primary colors or green, black, and white. After the Great War Like many of his countrymen, Fernand Legà ©r served in World War I, then called the â€Å"Great War.† In 1914, he joined the army, and he spent the next two years serving at the Argonne. Although he was far from the studios and salons of Paris, he continued to make art. During his service, Legà ©r sketched the instruments of war that he was surrounded by, along with some of his fellow soldiers. He nearly died from a mustard gas attack in 1916, and during his recovery, he painted The Card Players, full of frightening, mechanized figures that reflected his horror of what he had seen in the war. His experiences in the war, which was the first massive war of the industrialized era, significantly influenced the next several years of his work. Referred to as his â€Å"mechanical† period, his work from the postwar years through the 1920s featured sleek, mechanical-looking shapes. As the world attempted to return to normalcy following the war, Legà ©r made similar attempts, returning to â€Å"normal† subject matter: mothers and children, landscapes, female figure drawings, etc. However, his works continued to have that mechanical, orderly look to them. Fernand Legers Builders with Aloe, is seen at the Post-War European Art Exhibition at Pushkin Museum, in Moscow, Russia, March 6, 2017.   Mikhail Svetlov / Getty Images It was during this time that Legà ©r also got married. In December 1919, he wed Jeanne-Augustine Lohy. The couple did not have any children over the course of their three-decade marriage. In many ways, his work fell under the umbrella of purism, an answer to cubism that focused on mathematical proportions and rationality, rather than intense emotions and impulses. Legà ©r also was fascinated by the dawn of filmmaking, and for a time, he even considered abandoning his visual art to pursue cinema. In 1924, he produced and directed the film Ballet Mà ©canique, a Dadaist art film consisting of images of women’s facial features, everyday activities, and ordinary objects. He also experimented with murals, which became the most abstract of his paintings. Later Career By the end of the 1920s, Fernand Legà ©r’s work had begun to evolve. Instead of sleek, cylindrical forms that evoked the machinery of industry and war alike, more organic influences- and irregular, lively shapes- took center stage. His figures took on more color and even some humor and playfulness. He began teaching more, starting a free school in 1924 along with Alexandra Exter and Marie Laurencin. Painter Fernand Leger sits among his works in his Left Bank studio in 1948, following a trip to New York.   Bettmann  /  Contributor In the 1930s, Legà ©r made his first trips to the United States, traveling to the major hubs of New York City and Chicago. His artwork was displayed for the first time in America in 1935 with an exhibition at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. A few years later, he was commissioned by American politician Nelson Rockefeller to decorate his personal apartment. During World War II, Legà ©r lived and worked in America, teaching at Yale University. His work from this era often juxtaposed organic or natural elements with industrial or mechanical imagery. He also found new inspiration for brightly colored paintings in the neon lights of New York, resulting in paintings that included bright stripes of color and starkly outlined figures. Legà ©r returned to France in 1945, after the war ended. There, he joined the Communist Party, although he was more of a humanist with socialist beliefs rather than a fervent, devoted Marxist. During this time, his paintings took a turn to depict more scenes of everyday life featuring the â€Å"common folk.† His work also became less abstract, emphasizing his stronger focus on ordinary people rather than the avant-garde world. French painter Fernand Leger straddeling a chair in front of an incomplete painting, holding paintbrushes, wearing a flannel plaid shirt and a striped tie, Venice 1950. Archivio Cameraphoto Epoche / Getty Images In 1950, his wife Jeanne-Augustine died, and he remarried in 1952 to French artist Nadia Khodassevitch. Legà ©r spent the next few years teaching in Switzerland and working on a variety of projects including stained glass windows, sculptures, mosaics, paintings, and even set and costume design. His final, unfinished project was a mosaic for the So Paulo Opera. Fernand Legà ©r died on August 17, 1955 at his home in France. As the first artist to focus on the industrial and machine age, creating images that reflected modern consumer society, he is considered a forerunner of pop art. Sources Buck, Robert T. et al.  Fernand Là ©ger. New York: Abbeville Publishers, 1982.â€Å"Fernand Là ©ger.† Guggenheim, https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/artist/fernand-leger.Nà ©ret, Gilles. F. Là ©ger. New York: BDD Illustrated Books, 1993.

Driving Test purposal essays

Driving Test purposal essays Are you ready for your driving test? Are you 16 years old? Our program includes everything you need to pass the test. You will get the confidence and knowledge you need to become a safe and considerate driver, whilst saving you time. Our driving test is designed to establish whether you know the Rules of the Road; have the knowledge and skills to drive competently in accordance with those rules, and whether you drive with due regard for the safety and convenience of other road users because it is important to drive safely according to the rules for making driving safe. In todays busy traffic conditions, learner drivers need to acquire competence undertaking a range of vehicle control maneuvers: reversing, starting off and braking - uphill, downhill and on the flat. Our program will include more then 50 questions for you to test your self and also will include Tutorial that will give you more understanding about the rule of roads and will give you knowledge you need to become a safe driver. Our program will also include some videos that will give you better understanding of rules of roads. After studying our program you will have better understanding of why is it important to drive safe. The videos include lessons that by driving safely you are not only saving your life but also lives of others on the road. In our test there will be two parts. You have to pass both parts to get ready for the original test. Each part has 25 questions. You need to get at least 20 of the questions correct in order to pass our test. But before you will take our test you must read the Tutorial to get ready for it. The tutorial explains how the test will be and what should you know before writing the test. Our program will also give you information about How to apply for a Driver's License in Ontario. And all the equipment you will need to take with you when going to get license. It is recommended that you try this test un ...

Change in Boiling Point of Water with Molarity Essay

Change in Boiling Point of Water with Molarity - Essay Example In the beaker A NaCl was not dissolved. Concentration of this solution was expressed as 0 molar aqueous solution (0M). In beaker B 5.8gms of NaCl was dissolved and hence a 1 molar aqueous solution (1M) was obtained. In the beaker C 17.4gms of NaCl was dissolved and hence a 3 molar aqueous solution (3M) was obtained. Lastly in the beaker D 29.0gms of NaCl was dissolved and the molarity of this aqueous solution was 5M. It is very clear that boiling point of the solution increases with molarity of the aqueous solution. It implies that the boiling point of water and the amount of dissolved salt, or molarity of the solution, are in direct proportion. If the increase in temperature were to be denoted by t and the molarity of the aqueous solution by M and if k were to be a constant, then, 4) The exact amounts of salt to get 0M, 1M, 3M, 5M aqueous solutions respectively should be dissolved in the water in the beakers. The formula Molarity = Moles of solute/Liters of Solution should be used for this purpose1. Some of controlled variables are Normal Pressure of 1 atmosphere, Identical beakers in all regards like made of same dimensions and material, The burner level, Pure distilled water, etc. The independent variable was the molarity and the dependent variable was the temperature.

Mobiles retailing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Mobiles retailing - Essay Example The mobile solution providers have made this possible through the provision of a wide range and convenient mobile platforms. Smartphone is making all this possible as their sales and eventual effectiveness in eCommerce is proving and surpassing Tablets. For instance in the US, a larger percentage of the mobile transaction come from the Smartphones and this trend is forecast to be more prevalent. The introduction of large sized smartphones such as Samsung Galaxy and iPhone 6 has been a boost as more consumers increasingly prefer Smartphone arena for mobile transactions and ordering. Despite the fact that the conversion rates on smartphone tend to be a lower compared tablet or desktop, they are increasingly preferred by owners since they generate more transactions because of significantly higher traffic. Looking at the rate at which the Japanese employ Smartphone for various mobile transactions (90%) the future looks bright for Smartphones in mobile retailing. For the US, the situation is likely to improve in future as higher mobile conversion rates are expected due to increasingly turning browsing into com pleted mobile purchases. One probably trend forecast to be more prevalent in mobile retailing in future is increased mobile retailing of Fashion and Luxury products. Luxury goods and fashion retailers are controlling the industry in m-commerce, and as more shoppers increasingly to embrace mobile services in and out of fashion stores, likewise these retailers are forecast to continue broadening the gap existing between leaders and laggards. Closely related to this, Fashion and Luxury products retailers are currently having the highest share of mobile transactions. The world has also witnessed the first ever shoppable social network that will continue trending. The introduction of Net Set app will allow various users to shop while socializing with the stylish Net-A-Porter community. Various online beauty products have been made possible