What Is the Interquartile Range Rule

The interquartile range rule is useful in detecting the presence of outliers. Outliers are individual values that fall outside of the overall pattern of the rest of the data. This definition is somewhat vague and subjective, so it is helpful to have a rule to help in considering if a data point truly is an outlier. The Interquartile Range Any set of data can be described by its five number summary. These five numbers, in ascending order, consist of: The minimum, or lowest value of the datasetThe first quartile Q1 - this represents a quarter of the way through the list of all the dataThe median of the data set - this represents the midpoint of the list of all of the dataThe third quartile Q3 - this represents three quarters of the way through the list of all the dataThe maximum, or highest value of the data set. These five numbers can be used to tell us quite a bit about our data. For example, the range, which is just the minimum subtracted from the maximum, is one indicator of how to spread out the data set is. Similar to the range, but less sensitive to outliers, is the interquartile range. The interquartile range is calculated in much the same way as the range. All that we do is subtract the first quartile from the third quartile: IQR Q3 – Q1. The interquartile range shows how the data is spread about the median. It is less susceptible than the range to outliers. Interquartile Rule for Outliers The interquartile range can be used to help detect outliers. All that we need to do is to is the following: Calculate the interquartile range for our dataMultiply the interquartile range (IQR) by the number 1.5Add 1.5 x (IQR) to the third quartile. Any number greater than this is a suspected outlier.Subtract 1.5 x (IQR) from the first quartile. Any number less than this is a suspected outlier. It is important to remember that this is a rule of thumb and generally holds. In general, we should follow up in our analysis. Any potential outlier obtained by this method should be examined in the context of the entire set of data. Example We will see this interquartile range rule at work with a numerical example. Suppose we have the following set of data: 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 7, 8, 8, 10, 12, 17. The five number summary for this data set is minimum 1, first quartile 4, median 7, third quartile 10 and maximum 17. We may look at the data and say that 17 is an outlier. But what does our interquartile range rule say? We calculate the interquartile range to be Q3 – Q1 10 – 4 6 We now multiply by 1.5 and have 1.5 x 6 9. Nine less than the first quartile is 4 – 9 -5. No data is less than this. Nine more than the third quartile is 10 9 19. No data is greater than this. Despite the maximum value being five more than the nearest data point, the interquartile range rule shows that it should probably not be considered an outlier for this data set.

The Effects Of Television On Children s Brain - 1039 Words

The Effects of Television on Children Television sets can be found in almost every American’s home. They’re used for news report, daily weather forecast and for pleasure. However, time spent in front of the tube is linked to having adverse affects in the development of children’s brains. Excess screen time can be linked to attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, aggressive behavior, poor mental development, and physical health issues later in life. In one study a young six year old boy was observed after being referred for aggression disorders in school. The observation found that he was watching three to four hours of television programming a day. When his mother would try to cut down on this time he would lash out and become very†¦show more content†¦Plus, when watching TV you’re not interacting with others. This lack of interaction leaves little opportunity to develop imaginative ideas. Without this kind of creative thought the child cannot b egin to strengthen their mental problem solving skills. A child’s ability to focus their attention on any given subject also seems to be under television attack. â€Å"The rapidly changing images and scenery of many television shows may over stimulate very young children and adversely affect the development of brain synapses,† (Lehman 14). As previously stated, television programs can cause over stimulation of the brain. This is not a good thing. Being flooded with stimuli inhibits the brain’s ability to focus on any one idea. This affects the child’s ability to contemplate deep thoughts, comprehend lessons, and participate in independent problem solving (Healy 917-918). Another troubling area concerning television at a young age is something referred to as ‘background television’. This is television that a child may be too young to comprehend and plays in the background during play, family time, chores, etc. The American Academy of Pediatric s, Committee on Public Education (1999) recommends no screen media exposure for children aged 2 years and younger. Nevertheless, nearly 75% of parents of very young children say that television is on ‘‘about half of the time’’ or more, even if no one is watching (Rideout

A General Guide for Writing Project/Thesis Free Essays

Dr. S. Torres, Jr. We will write a custom essay sample on A General Guide for Writing Project/Thesis or any similar topic only for you Order Now , Professor Division of Social Work California State University, Sacramento A General Guide for Writing Project/Thesis Special Note: This document is for instructional purposes only; faculty directing project/thesis may have different and/or additional requirements and guidelines. Students should consult with their project/thesis advisor for any specific requirements. A thesis is a substantial generalization that can stand by itself as the basis of an essay’s development. It is an assertion of what the writer believes is right or wrong and why, and it is a statement that can be either true or false.Students must be eligible to and then register for SWRK500 Culminating Experience as part of completing the Project/Thesis. SWRK500 Culminating Experience Advancement to candidacy is required prior to registration. Credit given upon successful completion of either, A. Thesis (an original contribution to knowledge) OR B. Research Project (addition to technical/professional knowledge or application of knowledge through case study, field study, documentary report, substantial annotated bibliography, or article of publishable quality) OR C.Directed Study and Comprehensive Examination (seminar, portfolio, examination). Prerequisite: SWRK 210. Graded Credit/No Credit. 2-4 units. Students should consider many factors in approaching a member of the Division’s faculty to act as advisor on a Project/Thesis. Chief among these factors is the faculty member’s interest and expertise on the topic of the Project/Thesis itself. Given the amount of time and energy the student is required to commit in completing a Project/Thesis they will want the assistance and guidance of someone of like interest and commitment.Occasionally, students may choose to develop a Project/Thesis topic that is a smaller part of a research project being conducted by the member of the faculty but this is not a requirement. In either case, students should consider trying to match their personal working style with that of the potential advisor’s when considering who to approach as a Project/Thesis advisor. Please keep in mind that teaching and other institutional responsibilities for each member of the Division’s faculty also impacts their availability to serve as Project/Thesis advisors.Chapter 1: Problem Statement and Overview Introduction The general introduction to the topic should discuss how you became interested in doing this research, study, or project. In this section you can write about your opinion or history as to why and or how you became interested in the topic or issue. This serves as a general introduction on the topic and eventually narrows to the specific topic area; discusses general concepts, gives a 1 reference or two if necessary, but the bulk/detail of related work is discussed later, and concludes with a clear statement on what the work is about.Suggested Length: On e and a half to three (1. 5 to 3) pages. Background of the Problem This is where the student is essentially answering the questions: who, what, where. when. You are establishing the basis for your project. You give specific information here. For example, if you are writing about programs for women leaving county jails, you would give the statistics on how many women are actually in jail, how many programs exist, etc This section is very important because it establishes what you will be doing in chapter two, the review of the literature.You are defining the parameters of your project, what is and what is not important and relevant to your project. In this section you will be citing sources of information. Suggested Length: four to six (4 to 6) pages. Statement of the Problem The statement of the problem is a clear and precise statement of what focus of the study is. Sample: There is a lack of well defined intervention services and treatment modalities for children diagnosed with Attachment Disorder.Sample: There is a need for empowering parents and teachers of children with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) through the development of access to user-friendly to resources and support in understanding, intervening and living with ADHD. Suggested Length: Typically one or two (1 to 2) sentences in length. Purpose of the Study Here the student is briefly stating the importance of the project/thesis. General points or questions to guide you on what to include in an the purpose of the study are: Why is the study or project needed? What practical problem does it address? Who will benefit from such the proposed study or project?Sample: The purpose of this project is to produce a re source handbook for women leaving jail. This handbook will be distributed †¦ Sample: The purpose of the study is to document and analyze the use of anatomical dolls in assessing possible sexual abuse among three and four year-old children. Suggested Length: One to two (1 to 2) paragraphs. 2 Theoretical Framework Here the student presents the theoretical foundation of that will be used as support in the analysis and understanding the topic of study. The theory(s) or perspective selected will of course be dependent on the focus and nature of the project.Sample: General systems theory, feminist perspective or the ecological perspective might be examples of what functions as the theoretical foundation of your study. The student, in consultation with their advisor will need to consider which theory(s) are most applicable and relevant for the topic. This section is usually not a detailed explanation of the theory itself but rather how the theory or perspective acts as foundation to the study. Suggested Length: One to two (1 to 2) pages. Definition of Terms This is where you provide definitions for frequently used technical terms.For example: in the project on women and jail, the terms recidivism, probation, work furlough, etc. would be defined. For the project on anatomical dolls, terms such as child abuse, molest, anatomical dolls would be defined. Suggested Length: Dependent on the number of terms to be defined. Assumptions This section asks the reader to accept specified assumptions as valid. No citations or proofs need to be provided. For example, if you were writing a project on some aspect of housing, you might write an assumption about the lack of adequate and affordable housing in the US today.This way you would assume that fact as true and not have to provide evidence to support it. Suggested Length: Dependent on the number of assumptions made. Justification General points or questions to guide you on what to include here are: Why is the study or project needed? What practical problem does it address? Who will benefit from such the proposed study or project? Suggested Length: One or two (1 or 2) paragraphs. Limitations Write a paragraph about what you will not be doing. For example, if you are doing a project on women and jails, you might be interviewing women in jail but not women who have been released from jail. For the project on anatomical dolls, children and parents were not interviewed, nor were judges or lawyers. Suggested Length: One or two (1 or 2) paragraphs. Chapter 2: Review of the Literature This is probably the most difficult chapter to write. It involves concentrated research. Here you are reviewing the essential literature on your topic. You will be identifying what has been written about your topic. That is, researching other people’s work, specifically pointing out how what you do is different/better than what they did. This should be focused around your topic, not just general items somewhere in the vicinity of your general area. This section requires very close consultation with your project/thesis advisor. You will be spending a great deal of time in the library, finding the relevant information. This can be very time consuming if you just start looking. You need to carefully identify the areas that need to be reviewed. You should have already done that in your Background of the Problem. You will have multiple citations from a number of different journals. You will also be citing books, but the most contemporary literature is in journals.In this section you will rarely be citing just one author, unless you are giving a direct quote. The purpose of this section is to tell the reader what is already known about the topic. If your topic is not well researched, you will look at related areas. One might approach this section as if writing mini-papers on each area then an integrative summary. Sample: A project on women and jails might include a review of the literature in the following areas: women and crime-general, women and punishment-general, women in jails, programs for women released from jails.Sample: A project on anatomical dolls, literature on the following areas might be reviewed: instrument credibility, interviewing credibility, developmental issues of the child subject. Suggested Length: Twenty pages (20) pages. Chapter 3: Methods This is where you describe how you are doing your research. Here you will describe your research design, the subjects and how you identified them, the research instrumentation being used, data gathering procedures, and protection of human subjects.For those of you who are doing manuals, you describe where and how you obtained your information in order to write the manual. Suggested Length: Two to four (2 to 4) pages. 4 Chapter 4: The Project This is it!! Here you present the data that you have collected. If you are writing a manual, the manual is here. You are simply telling the reader about what you found in your research. You can use graphs, charts etc. to present the data. Suggested Length: Dependent on the data that you have collected and form of project or thesis.Chapter 5: Summary, Conclusions and Implications In this chapter you will discuss your findings (from chapter 4) in terms of how these findings compare to, contrast with, or add to what was found in the literature review. You also get to write about what else needs to be done. What additional research should be conducted, how, for what purpose etc. General questions or points you could use to guide you in writing this section include: Revisits your objectives. Did you accomplish what you intended? Did you accomplish more than what you set out to accomplish originally?What were the major points learned? What are your contributions to the field? What foundation for future research have you established? Suggested Length: Three to Five (3 to 5) pages. Appendices and References The last section is the Appendices and References. This section of the Project/Thesis could include materials such as program flyers, instruments, questionnaires or other research tools that were used or developed for use in the project. Please keep in mind that if copyrighted materials are used one should obtain letters of release from the copyright holder and include as part of appendix.Under the heading of References you should include a complete list of cited materials used in completing your project/thesis. You are to use the guidelines contained in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (4th Edition) in writing references. Online Resources for Project/Thesis Writing CSUS, Division of Social Work Online Documents Forms http://www. hhs. csus. edu/SWRK/SWForms. htm CSUS, Office of Graduate Studies Online Forms http://www. csus. edu/gradstudies/forms. htm 5 How to cite A General Guide for Writing Project/Thesis, Papers

Human Rights and Health Concerns free essay sample

Abortion is a controversial issue that opens allows for a large field of topics. These can run the gamut from moral to legal. Below are just a few examples that could assist in narrowing the scope of abortion. Note that there are many more areas that could narrow this subject and give you a better idea on the kinds of questions to ask. Legal Moral Women Rights Health Concerns to Women This is also a good idea for any other issue or subject you encounter in your academic writing career. It helps to narrow anything you come across as most topics or subjects an instructor gives you will be broad on purpose. The reason for this is encourage you to think about the subject and research it. Take the issue or subject and whittle it down into specific topics or areas. Whittle those topics or areas into specific questions. We’ll move on to the second one next. We will write a custom essay sample on Human Rights and Health Concerns or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Ask yourself questions about the subject or topic. If asking questions about the narrowed topic seems too†¦narrow, ask questions of the greater subject. Why abortion is considered cruel? Why do anti-abortion factions consider abortion murder? What are the laws and opinions on abortion in other countries and how do they vary from the US (or your country)? What are the costs of Planned Parenthood? Women’s rights and abortion. What health concerns does abortion pose to women? Extremism groups and abortion. The history of abortion in the US (or your country). Government’s role or lack of a role in abortion. What are the moral concerns about abortion? Even though this article is mainly to cover writing prompts, we’ll give you a refresher on developing a thesis statement with the question. It’s not complex and there are several different outcomes you could get from only one question.

Hamlet Essays (714 words) - Characters In Hamlet,

Hamlet Roberto Santos Journal III Hamlet Hamlets Unknown Madness The marriage of the king and queen within two months of the death of Hamlets father had left Hamlet disillusioned, confused, and suspicious of Claudius, the King of Denmark. In Act I, Scene V, Hamlets belief in his fathers real ghost had him in an outrage and, he thus vows to avenge his fathers death. Ophelia encountered Hamlet in her private chambers and observed that he was disturbed. She was very disturbed and afraid because, Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all unbracd; no hat upon his head; his stockings fould ungartred, and down-gyved to his ankle; pale as his shirt; his knees knocking each other (1409). Hamlet truly loves Ophelia, but at that particular moment, he did not want to express his feelings to her. Ophelia tells her dad, Polonius, about her meeting with Hamlet and Polonius concludes that Hamlet is nothing but a love struck fool who has gone mad. Polonius wanted to assure the king and queen that he knows, the very cause of Hamlets lunacy (1411). The king and queen were skeptical to believe Polonius story of Hamlets lust and lunacy for Ophelia. Polonius effort to damage Hamlets reputation will not end there. Polonius approached the king and queen with a letter that can prove his theory of Hamlets madness. Polonius said, therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit, and tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes, I will be brief: your noble son is mad (1412). Even though the king heard Hamlets letter cited by Polonius, he conspired to find a solution for Hamlets madness in his own fashion. The king had Guilderstern and Rosencrantz act as spies so that they could either find or gain information toward Hamlets madness. After Hamlets request to the players to act out the Murder of Gonzago, Claudius was beginning to feel the wrath of his offense. Claudius said, O, my offence is rank, it smells to heaven; it hath the primal eldest curse upont, a brothers murder, pray can I not, though inclination be as sharp as will (1439). This is when Hamlets agonizing struggles became difficult. Hamlet could have taken his revenge while Claudius was praying, but Hamlet was confused and couldnt avenge his fathers death while Claudius was purging his soul. Hamlet said, why, this is hire and salary, not revengeBut in our circumstances and course of thought, tis heavy with him: and I then revengd, to take him in the purging of his soul, when he is fit and seasoned for his passage (1440)? The king knows his guilt and when he prays he states, my words fly up, my thoughts remain below: words without thoughts never to heaven go (1440). It is in Act III, Scene IV, that we see Hamlet approach his mother Gertrude and question the way she had offended his father in which she married Hamlets uncle soon after her husbands death. The sneaky and witty Polonius was behind the curtain but Hamlet did not know it. While questioning his mother about the death of his father, he heard a voice coming from behin d the curtain: Hamlet turned with sword in hand and stabbed the person behind the curtain. He said, How now! A rat? Dead, for a ducat, dead (1441)! At first, Hamlet thought he killed the king, but instead he killed Polonius in which he felt was better, thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell! I took thee for thy better: take thy fortune(1441) Hamlet struggled throughout the play. Although he is an intelligent man, the madness that descended upon him with his supernatural observation of the ghost of his father leads to his death. Furthermore, toward the end of the play, I get a clear understanding that he had fulfilled the revenge of his father. From the unwary death of Ophelia, the poison drink that took Gertrudes life, the vengeful dual of death between Laertes and Hamlet, we see Hamlets unknown madness of revenge when Hamlet kills the king of Denmark Sports and Games

Essay in Accounting Complete Writing Guide

Essay in Accounting Complete Writing Guide Looking for effective strategies to approach an accounting essay? Digital technologies have changed the role of accounting and now computers do a lot of bookkeeping work which we used to think as â€Å"accounting†. Being an expert in the financial theory is not enough to become a good accountant and have a successful career. These days, finance and accounting professionals devote significant time to documenting the results of research, analysis, and procedures they performed. Written communication is vital in accounting and finance, and companies value employees that are experts in effective business writing because even a well-executed analysis that is based on general accounting principles and laws and done with appropriate tools can lose its value if the findings were not effectively summarized and communicated in a final document. That’s why written assignments are incorporated into accounting courses and include different types of essays and research papers. The main purpose of written tasks for accounting students is to teach them to communicate in writing in a manner that is appropriate to the business. When writing essays in accounting, students learn important skills that are necessary for success in their professional careers such as selection of relevant information, synthesis, description, summary, answering a question, explanation, argument, proper structure, formal style, and more. These skills will be useful in business writing that may include writing memos, emails, letters, audit reports etc. In this article, you will find a complete guide on how to write an essay in accounting. We will discuss how to analyze your prompt and how to choose a topic for your essay, suggest some good topic ideas, give advice on how to organize each stage of the research and writing process and explain how to structure your essay and make an outline. Besides, we will provide you with some useful tips on writing accounting essay parts, editing, and proofreading. Steps in Writing an Accounting Essay An accounting essay is a piece of writing that answers a certain prompt or a question. It shows how well you understand your basic course material, how deep was your research on the essay’s topic, and how analytical you were in choosing information and evidence for your essay and in evaluating the material that you used. When writing your essay, you should follow the following key steps: Analyze the prompt given by your instructor or choose your topic; Do a research and gather information; Write your thesis statement and make an outline; Write a draft of your essay; Revise your essay (edit and proofread). How to Analyze Your Prompt If the topic for your essay or essay prompt was given by your professor, you should analyze it to understand what kind of essay you have to write and what to focus your reading on. It’s a very important step that will help you in doing research and making a working outline. You should read the essay prompt and underline the process words to understand what you are required to do, for example, discuss, outline, analyze, explain or compare and contrast etc. Then, you should analyze the key concepts of your prompt to understand what you are to write about. Some essay questions may also have limiting words that will tell you what material is relevant to your writing. How to Choose a Good Topic for an Essay in Accounting Choosing a topic for an essay might be challenging for the majority of students but this essential step has a great impact on the outcome of your writing. The easiest way to find topic ideas is to consult a textbook for your accounting class and look through a table of contents to find some topics or key terms that you can use for searching the databases in the university library or online. You can also look for ideas in online daily sources and try to find some interesting information that may spark your own imagination. A good idea is to find a topic that is not familiar to you but you wish to know more about it. Try to find a topic that you are interested in because, in this case, you will enjoy doing research and writing and will work more productively. You should evaluate the potential topic and determine if you can find enough sources to do a research and gather relevant examples to prove your arguments. If your topic is too broad, you should narrow it to a manageable size that you can address in your essay (here you should take into account the essay’s length). Accounting Essay Topics Here are some interesting accounting essay topic ideas for your inspiration. Decision Making Approaches in Accounting What is the Difference between Financial Accounting and Management Accounting? Credit Risk Assessment Strategies Pros and Cons of IFRS Tax Concessions for Small Companies Disadvantages and Advantages of Budgeting Formats of Financial Statements for Different Businesses Factors that Influence Dividend Policy Risks of e-Banking Types of Earnings Management Doing Research and Planning your Essay in Accounting After you have chosen your topic it’s time to do a research. You should do a lot of reading for your research because the content of your essay, particularly your thesis statement and your arguments, rely on scientific works of other researchers and writers. You can start with reading your lecture notes and relevant chapters in your textbook as well as use recommended reading list given by your instructor. You can also check the catalog of your university library and look for the latest information on the internet. You should manage your time productively and use skimming and scanning techniques to determine if the texts are useful and are worth reading them in detail. Use scanning when you need to find a specific term, a date or a name. When scanning, you don’t actually read the text, but look for some specific item. In this way, you can also identify which sections of longer texts are important for your research. The purpose of skimming is to get an overall impression of the text. To do that, you should read the title, the first and the last paragraphs, and the first sentence in several body paragraphs. You can also look at some tables or graphics to decide if the text is relevant to your topic and prepare yourself for a detailed reading to make it more meaningful. These techniques will save you a lot of time and help you immerse in your topic. After you have defined the most relevant sources, you should read them carefully and make notes of the most valuable ideas which you can cite or paraphrase in your essay with proper referencing. At the end of the research process, you will have a comprehensive understanding of your topic and will be able to express your own ideas, give arguments and criticism. How to Organize Your Accounting Essay There is no specific template for an accounting essay and like many other business papers, your essay should have a standard structure that includes an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. Plan your essay and make a working outline. First, you should write a thesis statement to define the idea that you are going to argue in your essay. Then think about the structure of the body paragraphs. Each paragraph should contain one main point and consist of: a topic sentence which states the subject of a paragraph; supporting sentences that define and explain the major point and support it with relevant examples; concluding and linking sentences that introduce the subject of the next paragraph and give your readers an idea of where the discussion will lead them. Last, you should think about the conclusion where you will sum up your argument and give an answer to your research question. When making an outline, you need to structure sections of your future essay in detail because it will help you develop your argument when you start writing. How to Write a Strong Thesis Statement A strong thesis statement is important for your readers because it helps them understand your main point and it is crucial for you because it helps you organize your argument more effectively. Practically any essay needs a thesis statement – the exception is the taxation essay where you are asked to explain how a particular tax issue works. In this case, you may just provide a summary of the necessary information. Most essay assignments in accounting include a question that your instructor is asking you to address. When developing a thesis statement, you have to provide an answer to this question. Your thesis should summarize the most important points of your accounting essay clearly and in a simple way. You should also present your original opinion about the essay’s topic and establish a tone appropriate to your purpose, topic, and audience. Structure of an Accounting Essay Introduction The introduction of an accounting essay should begin with more general points and end with more specific points. The length of this part of an essay depends on the total word limit and generally, it is about 10-20% of the whole essay’s length. First, you should grab your reader’s attention and present the exact subject of your essay, explaining its significance and specifying author’s goals. You should include a thesis statement (hypothesis) and present a brief description of what you intend to argue. You should also briefly outline the structure of your essay. Body In the body of your essay, you need to present your argument in a series of linked paragraphs logically and coherently. In this part, you show the results of your research, authoritative quotes, relevant examples, and convincing evidence. If your research question has more than one part, you should answer each part of the question in a separate paragraph. Conclusion The conclusion should provide your audience with a summary of the key moments of your argument and create a feeling of closing or rounding the discussion by giving a broad statement about the future implications or giving a recommendation about future directions for research. Never present any completely new ideas or information in your essay’s conclusion. Remember that it is a final review of the essay. Reference List Any academic essay must contain references to all works that you have cited or paraphrased in your essay. You have to give credit to authors whose ideas you use in your own writings to avoid plagiarism. You should organize your references according to the citation style specified by your instructor. Editing Your Essay Editing and proofreading are necessary stages of the writing process. When your first draft is ready you should revise and rewrite some parts of your essay to improve your content and make sure that you have answered your topic question. You may need to perform an additional research if you feel that you need more evidence to strengthen your argument. When you feel that you are satisfied with your draft, you need to make a final check. Reread your draft and make sure that you have followed instructions and guideline and answered the research question supporting your argument with relevant evidence. Check the logic and the flow of your essay and make sure that you use transitions words between the paragraphs. Eliminate repetitions and unnecessary words and improve word choice to make your essay clear and concise. Check the sentence structure and fix fragments and run-on sentences. Make sure that you didn’t overuse the passive voice and verb tenses are used correctly. Check punctuation and spelling and consult a good dictionary and reference grammar. You can also use a good online spelling and grammar checker. Check reference style and fix inconsistencies. It’s crucial that all your paraphrases and quotes were properly referenced (check all the required information, full stops, commas, italics, and question marks). Proofread your final draft to fix minor grammar and spelling mistake and typos. Make sure your accounting essay is formatted correctly (check margins, spacing, font etc.) Some Easy Tips for Effective Writing from Our Writing Experts When planning your essay, keep balance and include various viewpoints. Examine and evaluate opposing views and arguments and explain why some arguments are more convincing. First, write the body paragraphs of your essay. It is much easier to write the introduction and the conclusion when you already know what your essay is about. Avoid excessive quoting. Use only relative part of the quotation to provide evidence and always explain the relationship between the quotation and your claim that you want to support with it. Avoid wordiness and try to be as concise as possible but make sure you don’t omit the important content. Use active voice when it is possible because, typically, active voice is more lively and concise. Have a break for at least a couple of days before doing the final check and proofread of your accounting essay. Don’t leave your essay in accounting to the last minute. Start early and you will have enough time to read over your work and edit as you rewrite.

MBA Markeing Communications Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

MBA Markeing Communications - Essay Example hand even cheaper products sometimes move rapidly in the market because of the strong marketing communication between the manufacturer and the consumers. Marketing people have many weapons like advertising, branding, direct marketing, graphic designs, packaging, sponsorship, public relations, sales promotion online marketing etc in their armoury to communicate effectively with the market. This paper briefly analyzes Sales Promotion as an integrated marketing communication strategy. Sales promotion is an activity intended for increasing the sale of a product undertaken by organization. It can be of different types based on the market and the product specialties. It is difficult to pin point all the sales promotion activities because of the high volume of creative and innovative sales promotions are entering in the market daily. Manufacturers spend millions of dollars in researching for new methods in sales promotion since they know very well that the traditional sales promotions may not attract the customers much. ‘Buy-One-Get-One-Free (BOGOF), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), New media, Merchandising, Free gifts, Discounted prices, Joint promotions, Free samples, Vouchers and coupons, Competitions and prize draws, etc are some of the common sales promotion methods’ (Sales Promotion, 2009). â€Å"Buy-One-Get-One-Free† is a common sales promotion campaign undertaken by marketing people. The consumers will be offered another one when they purchase one, free of cost in this type of sales promotion strategy. In customer relationship management, the consumers will get bonus points for every product they purchased or service they used which can be later converted in purchasing another product or service later. For example, most of the airliners offer the passengers bonus points for the air miles they travelled in their aircrafts which can be later converted to another free trip. Free gifts are another method for attracting customers. When we purchase a car,

Sickle cell enemia Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Sickle cell enemia - Research Paper Example The disorder shortens the life expectancy of patients with few living beyond the age of fifty. Since its discovery, doctors have worked towards developing a cure for the disease. The cure has been elusive and only methods for reducing severity of the disorder such as taking penicillin and folic acid and the use of hydroxyurea for causative treatment of the disorder. Other management practices include blood transfusion therapy that raises the number of red blood cells in a patient. Bone marrow transplants in children have also been proven to significantly reduce severity of the disorder (â€Å"Woman Cured of SCA† 6). In June 2012, researchers from the University of Illinois Hospital & Health Science Systems, announced that they had developed a new transplant technique that successfully cures a sickle-cell anemia patient. The stem cell transplant requires one to have a genetically-compatible and uninfected sibling. The donor is first given drugs that cause an increase in the number of the stem cells in their blood. The donor’s blood is then taken and processed and then stored in sub-zero temperatures. At the time of the transplant, the blood is thawed and transfused in the patient ( Woman Cured of SCA 6). The transplant which is known as leukapheresis has been carried in at least 25 patients, 22 of whom have been completely cured. The therapy remains by far the most successful ever attempted to cure sickle-cell

Project management Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Project management - Coursework Example Fixed costs are not controllable since even if a firm does not generate revenues it must pay its fixed costs. Variable costs are cost that change depending on the volume of sales. An example of a variable cost is cost of goods sold. Variables costs are controllable because project managers can implement strategies to lower variable costs such as changing suppliers to reduce the cost of materials. Two additional categories of costs are direct and indirect costs. Direct costs are costs that are directly attributed to the production output. Some examples of direct costs are materials and direct labor. Indirect costs are costs that are not associated with the production of a firm. Examples of indirect costs include supervisor salaries, indirect labor, and supplies used (Referenceforbusiness). Other cost categories are period and product costs Period costs are costs that are identified with a specific period of time, while product costs are necessary for producing a finished good. The dif ferent types of costs help project managers differentiate among the types of costs that affect a project. Work Cited Page Referenceforbusiness.com. 2011. â€Å"Costs† 17 May 2011.

Review of Eric Johnsons Psychology and Christianity

Review of Eric Johnsons Psychology and Christianity Review of Eric Johnsons Psychology and Christianity: Five Views TITLE: Psychology Christianity: Five Views EDITOR: Eric L. Johnson EDITION: 2nd CONTRIBUTIONS BY: David G. Myers, Stanton L. Jones, Robert C. Roberts Watson P.J., John H. Coe Todd W. Hall, David Powlison PUBLISHERS: Intervarsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois YEAR OF PUBLICATION: 2010 NUMBER OF PAGES: 319 PRICE:  £14.37 Introduction This book discusses five views on the relationship between Psychology and Christianity. The five views, put forward by seven contributors, include: A Levels-of-Explanation View, An Integration View, A Christian Psychology View, A Transformational Psychology View and A Biblical Counseling View. Each view is also mirrored by proponents of other approaches. The editor provides an insight through the preface and the introductory and concluding chapters. In the preface, he clearly puts the background to the book and its coverage in perspective. Chapter 1: A Brief History of Christians in Psychology In this 39-page chapter, Johnson gives the history of the debate on psychology and Christianity and summarises the five approaches. He traces biblical psychology to creation. Johnson rationalises that, from the beginning of creation to His continuous orderly guide, God presents a rationality that can be verified. He argues that the history of Christianity has shown science as a cardinal gift from God. He further talks about late modernism witnessing Darwin’s perverse theory of evolution with psychological developments replacing biblical study and philosophical reflection. Johnson also discusses the church’s intellectual crisis and the responses of Christians to the new psychology and finally highlights the five approaches of the book. Chapter 2: A-Levels-of-Explanation View Myers begins his 30-page exposition by looking at differing definitions of psychology over time and replies inquisitive critics that psychological science and Christian faith blend well. He argues that one’s perspective depends on what one wants to talk about and that religious and scientific levels of explanation and analysis are often complimentary. He sees no contradiction of explanations at different levels and states that psychological science, hidden values and spiritual awe are complimentary. He also argues that our values, ideas and predictions guide research thereby exposing the reality. He claims that people of faith have no problem with psychological inquiry and that a connecting link exists between the two. Myers tabulates â€Å"Seven Ways to Relate Faith and Psychology† with examples (p.57). He states that several of psychologists’ conclusions concerning attitudes, behaviour and situations are drawn from religious ideas. He states that psychology cha llenges us sometimes to examine some cherished ideas and consult the Scripture as in research on erroneous thinking and new information about sexual orientation. Myers concludes that psychology and faith share the same ideals of humility and scepticism. He summarises the several links between psychology and faith and warns that psychological science should not be seen as the final word but rather keep alive the â€Å"ever reforming Reformation spirit† (p.75). Other writers agree that Myers’ piece has a bias for good science but there are also criticisms of his view. Jones, for example, faults Myers’ approach for failure to specify which beliefs will shape the work and for offering nothing compelling from science itself. Watson too sees Myers’ definition of psychology as suspect and his essay as mere Christians’ interpretation of various scientific findings. Coe and Hall claim that Myers’ approach provides only complimentary views with no proper articulation to critique and that it is merely descriptive and not prescriptive. Lastly, Powlison states that Myers’ example of rationality is ambiguous and that his treatment of self esteem and self-affirmation is futile. Chapter 3: An Integration View In his 28-page essay, Jones looks at the integration of Christianity and psychology as the employment of â€Å"God’s true Word† (p.115) and the elements include biblical truth, methodical science and argumentation, psychological learning and Christianity. He talks about engaging psychotherapy theories critically and constructively. He examines several studies and argues for the need to frame the understanding of the client in counselling and psychotherapy in terms of the Christian understanding of Jesus. He advises that there should be careful reflection on the Bible to understand better what it says about sexuality and homosexuality for future research. He concludes by defining integration as â€Å"the discipline and profession of psychology with a commitment to having one’s Christian convictions shape every aspect of one’s work† (p.125). Myer notes the similarity between him and Jones in using science to interpret the Bible. He faults Jones, however, for overstating the extent to which biblical truths are as stable as empirical evidence. Roberts sees Jones as integrating two dissimilar concepts – psychology and Christianity and making one thing out of two things very strange to each other. He advocates that Christianity and psychology should be seen as one. Furthermore, Coe and Hall criticise Jones’ failure to adequately criticise a wrong view of science which excludes the study of faith and values. Lastly, Powlison, criticises Jones for restricting the impact of Christianity to narrowly religious topics and for failing to mention details of human experience. Chapter 4: A Christian Psychology View In their 30-page essay, Robert and Watson state how one psychology assumes several dimensions that are similar to many psychologies. They call for the retrieval of the long tradition of Christian psychology as a first step with the Bible having a special place. They say that the sermon contains psychology because it conceptualises â€Å"personal well-being† and the broad themes of character traits and attitudes and preaches against psychopathology topics like divorce and hatred. They further look at Jesus’ sermon in Matthew 5 as containing virtues qualified to be psychological themes. Their second step concerns empirical research within the Christian tradition on human beings like in contemporary psychology. Thereafter, they write on Operationalising the Christian Tradition by using socio-scientific methods. They also call for future comparative empirical investigations that will conform to world views. Finally, they see the prospects of Christian Psychology as promisin g. Myers agrees with Roberts and Watson’s psychology from broader perspective. He, however, sees their call for a distinct Christian Psychology as misdirected and irrelevant. Jones praises this work too but sees a problem in Christian psychology being treated as a singular entity. Coe and Hall criticise the view for failing to affirm what Christianity itself affirms and for its two-step approach for empirical work. Finally Powlison sees a similarity between Christian psychology and his own brand of Biblical counselling and raises some similar research questions that may arise from both approaches. He, however, â€Å"felt jarred by Roberts and Watson’s use of the word trait to describe the quality of flourishing humanness† (p.197). Chapter 5: A Transformational Psychology View In their 46-page essay, Coe and Hall look at transformational psychology as a model which tries to mould â€Å"traditional way of thinking of psychology in relation to Christianity† scientifically (p.199). They discuss the history of psychology and engaging in psychology in the spirit. They also discuss the practitioners doing one single psychology but with a complex study of reality in faith and those doing psychology as descriptive and prescriptive science. They thereafter address the issue of existential and theoretical framework as it relates to the person, the process and the product of practising psychology in conformity with God. They explore five levels of transformational psychology on theories, research and training which are depicted in their figure 3 labelled `Contours of a transformational model of psychology` (p.222). They conclude by emphasising that focus of transformational psychology is on the person and process, and affirm that the implications are compellin g. Myers recommends Coe and Hall’s ambitious effort to psychological scientists. He, however, queries their assumptions and dissents from â€Å"their effort to transform â€Å"psychology† into religion† (p.228). Jones criticises their individualism and sees their call for freedom from past thinking about Christian psychology as likely to lead to the argument as to which psychologist is spiritually mature or transformed. Roberts criticises the writers for saying little about the subject of Christian psychology and the character of the psychologist. Finally, Powlison commends them for their comprehensive goals but faults their reliance on the monastic and labels the form of Christianity brought into psychology as problematic. Chapter 6: A Biblical Counseling View This 29-page chapter is by Powlison who sees at the heart of Christianity a coordinated understanding of the basis of work by people. He reveals that God sets the agenda of human blossoming through counselling and says Christians’ understanding is bound to differ from that of other psychologies. He states that Christ’s revelation creates a unique idea of the relationship between counsellor and counselee as well as difference in methodology and counselling location. He argues further that Christian psychology and psychotherapy do not appear in the Bible automatically and that wisdom from biblical counselling is ongoing. Furthermore, Powlison looks at the numerous dimensions underlying the Christian view and implications for helping people. He examines three themes of Nicene Creed and affirms that â€Å"God is the maker of all that is†, that He is judge of both the dead and the living and that Jesus â€Å"came down for us and for our salvation† (pp. 247-248) . He states that Christian faith and psychology are related by reasons of psychology incorporating the feelings, thoughts and experiences of people, supplying systematic observations and descriptions of how people work and giving explanations about human behaviour. He also sketches out how biblical understanding and practice address realities about people’s problems using a thirty-eight year old uncoordinated father of two, Clyde, a medical doctor whose wife and parents also have diverse problems, as a case study. He states that we can make a sense of Clyde’s problem of adjusted disorder and emotions (p.266) by resorting to Christian faith and Jesus’ teachings on heart, faith and love. In conclusion, he foresees his hypothetical Clyde, through the counselling process, taking on the culture of change. Myers sees no serious discussion of the mainstream psychology in Powlison’s view. He queries the effectiveness of biblical counselling but leaves the judgement to others. Jones queries Powlison’s focus on the Nicene fundamentals which do not articulate Christian psychology. He also objects to the counselling offered to Clyde, arguing that, where resources of the faith and the church are inadequate, they should be supplemented with resources from psychological sciences, (integration), and not replaced as suggested by Powlison. Watson praises biblical counselling for adopting revelation from Jesus in its commitment to counselling practice. He faults Powlison’s approach, however, for suggesting that Christian psychologists should only do counselling while they can work on other forms of human endeavours. Coe and Hall see the genuineness of Powlison’s work to relate psychology to Christianity. They, nonetheless, criticise biblical counselling for failing to pr esent a peculiar version of science. They also query Powlison’s use of mainly the quantitative and descriptive methods while ignoring the prescriptive method that talks about values, characters etc. (p.287). Chapter 7: Gaining Understanding Through Five Views In this 22-page chapter, Johnson assists the reader to appreciate the â€Å"multiperspective† nature of the book (p.292). He acknowledges some contradictions in the five views but warns the readers to wait and read all so as to appreciate the valid insights of each of the positions. Furthermore, Johnson encourages understanding of psychology and counselling by participating in the book’s dialogue. Moreover, he advises on having critical ability for understanding. Finally, he encourages us to read this book in order to engage with others in the formulation of a new understanding. Conclusion This book is a huge success by all standards. First, Johnson’s elaboration of the perspectives of the book in his preface and the first chapter of the book serve as a good introduction and a quick guide to the reading and understanding of the book. Second, all the lead authors of the five approaches have also tried hard to articulate their views and their contributions bear an imprint of lofty scholarly presentation. Third, the co-contributors to each of the five approaches assist the reader to see the interdependence of the five chapters on one another. Fourth, the co-contributors to each chapter also discuss the perceived weaknesses of each approach thus assisting the reader to have a balanced view of the whole book and to form an impression about each of the approaches. Fifth, the references to each of the seven chapters are appropriately put at the end of each chapter thereby encouraging easy crosschecking of facts. Besides, the references have a uniform style – the APA style. One noticeable weakness common to most of the writers is the tendency to exclude Jesus Christ, the basis of Christian belief, from their works. Another weakness is the difference in style exhibited by the writers, especially the supportive writers of each chapter. While some of them have headings and sub-headings for their works others do not. Some of the supportive essays failed to reference their supportive essays. These flaws, however, become inconsequential in view of the book’s sterling qualities. The objective of the book to give an opportunity for Christians to dialogue publicly about the value of psychology and the problems in psychological study and counselling practice has also been largely fulfilled. Based on these outstanding qualities, I wish to recommend this book to practitioners in psychology and Christian theology and indeed the general reading public. Ayo Adeola Emordi COU 2001 Book Review 1

A Clean, Well-Lighted Place :: essays research papers fc

Ernest Miller Hemingway was born in Oak Park, Illinois July 21, 1898. He died in 1961 at the age of 63. Hemingway is known to be one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century. He has written more than one hundred short fiction stories, many of them are well known around the world. Some of these short stories have had just as powerful an impact as his novels. As a young man, Hemingway left his hometown in Illinois to go to Europe, where he worked for the Red Cross during World War I. His time spent there inspired him to write some of his most famous novels, most of which spoke of the horrors of the war. For instance, â€Å"A Clean, Well-Lighted Place† by Ernest Hemingway is a short story that focuses on three different age groups and their varying views on life. By analyzing the three different points of view, we see Hemingway’s perspective of an old man. The story is about an old man that every so often, sits in a very clean bar, drinks away at two o’clock in the morning and is the last one to leave. There are three waiters: one is a young man, one is an older gentleman, and the last is a very old man. All the waiters see him in a different way based on their ages. Furthermore, Ernest Hemingway had a different style of writing than the other authors of his time. "The Sun Also Rises is the book that established Hemingway as a literary force and it introduced the world to the Lost Generation" (5). The Lost Generation is referred to as the â€Å"disillusioned that fought in the war†. "Two of the novel's main characters, Lady Brett Ashley and Jake Barnes, typify the Lost Generation" (1). "This book has a lot of thematic issues, but the reader really needs to think to be able to pick up on all of them" (2). Friendship, stoicism, and natural grace under pressure are offered as the values that matter in an otherwise amoral often-senseless world (1). "His mind is set on writing only" (3). The only thing Hemingway thought about was writing and finishing The Sun Also Rises. "The writing is as strong and powerful as a swift kick to the head" (4). This quote is referring to Hemingway's strong and com plex style of writing. "Hemingway writes about the dreariness of everyday life but it is interesting at the emphasis on drinking during the age of prohibition" (3).

Does FIFA Do Enough To Prevent Racism In Football

Racism; hatred or intolerance of another race or other races is unfortunately a very frequent occurrence around the world. Starting very early on, the belief that someone’s race is superior and has the right to rule others still takes place even to this day. Football, is a sport which should bring countries and races together to compete against each other. But this is not the case, the degree of Racism in football is simply unacceptable. From League 2 in England, to the FIFA World Cup it takes place on the pitch, in the stands and even on the internet.Many various organisations have attempted to prevent Racism in Football, including; Fà ©dà ©ration Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) & Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). But are they doing enough? The most recent incident was on the 24th July 2013 where AC Milan left back Kevin Constant kicked the ball into the crowd and left the pitch after racist abuse was being chanted from the stands of the Sassuolo supporters while he was preparing to take a throw in. Constant's actions emulate those of Boateng’s where a similar scene occurred however the whole team walked off the pitch instead of the one player.While Boateng had plenty of support, it seemed that AC were much less supportive of Constant's decision to exit the pitch. The club said in a statement: â€Å"This was not a decision he should have taken upon himself to make. † After the situation had been reviewed by the FIGC (Italian Football Federation) Sassoulo were fined 30,000 euros for their fans actions, I fully support the decision to punish the club but aren’t others to blame for Constant’s decision to leave the pitch? Is this really going to stop the Racist remarks? The answer is absolutely not.FIGC’s solution did not directly affect the fans and therefore these scenes will undoubtedly keep occurring. Situations like this should be dealt with in the equitable way to abrogate Racism in foot ball and not just result in a careless fine. However this isn’t the worst part of the story. Constant was fined with 3,000 euros for is actions. This is an absolutely appalling decision, and could perhaps encourage supporters to carry on with racist remarks towards the players. Kevin Constant had every right to exit the pitch in the manor he did.On the other hand, FIFA -along with its employees and the football community- have showed that they’re currently unquestionably attempting to stop Racism in football and inside civilisation in general. FIFA has begun and presented events such as the FIFA Conference on Racism in Football, UN Anti-Racism Conference, and established its very first Anti-Discrimination Day on 7 July 2002. But this isn’t enough, FIFA have thought of many methods, but haven’t executed enough hands on tasks to cause any great effect. For example, the FIFA Disciplinary code was taken into place a few years ago.The code shows what happens i f the FIFA Statues -basic laws for world football- are violated. It applies to everyone involved in the football match being played but is everyone being caught out? Not everyone can be dealt with at one time, especially when multiple people join in Racist chants. Therefore I don’t see the Disciplinary Code as being an effective method to eliminate Racism from Football. UEFA work very closely with FARE (Football Against Racism In Europe) and give them a lot of aid in promotion, finance etc.I personally feel that have a much more effective method of preventing Racism. I feel this way because annually at 40 UEFA club competition matches, players are accompanied onto the field by children wearing Unite Against Racism T-shirts, while team captains wear matching armbands. I support this form of preventing racism because fans respect their club’s players and if they see the players supporting the fight against racism then they might think twice about shouting abuse at a play er with a different colour of skin. This method is also incredibly cheap and extremely effective.Considering the millions of pounds some of these respected organisations will have, purchasing t-shirts and armbands should not affect them financially in any way. There are multiple Racist incidents in Football and Kevin Constant’s wasn’t the worst. Standard Liege player Onyewu, stated that Anderlecht’s Jelle Van Damme called him a â€Å"dirty ape† under his breath during the first leg of a play off match. Onyewu alerted the white referee but no action was taken and he was ignored. Although this isn’t the worst of what happened on that match day.When Onyewu arrived at the stadium he was punched and shouted at by the opposition fans. These fans were unpunished and allowed to enter the stadium with nothing said. This is just one of many racist incidents in football which haven’t been dealt with correctly, the referee blatantly showed he was simply uninterested in Onyewu’s complaint. I believe that the referee should receive a long match ban and fine for his actions as he should have been one of the first to report the incident. As for the fans who physically attacked Onyewu, they deserved a permanent ban from going to any future matches.I personally feel that FIFA, FIGC, UEFA and all other major Football related organisations should work together to fight racism and not just focus on their own ways of preventing it. Every match should be promoting the act against racism, tickets, programmes and all forms of merchandise should have ‘Say No To Racism printed on them. Furthermore the punishments for violating the FIFA Disciplinary code should be stricter, fans should have a very long –or possibly life- ban from going to matches if caught and players, managers, match officials should be treated in the same manor along with a minimum fine of 40,000 pounds.

More Than Just One Weird Trick Alex Mayor, Publicist

More Than Just One Weird Trick Alex Mayor, Publicist More Than Just 'One Weird Trick' - Alex Mayor, Publicist â€Å"When I raise the issue of marketing a book with a lot of authors, you sort of see the three lemons come up for them - â€Å"Why aren’t I doing that? Why didn’t I think of doing this?† - and for others they look moderately terrified!†Traditional publishers have tried to embrace the new media tech menagerie plenty of times over the last decade, at least. And yet every effort has faded away with time, lost like tears in the rain. Whether it’s book trailers or staid, conservatively hashtagged tweets from a corporate account, it feels a little like watching a toddler trying to walk: graceless, but at least sort of fascinating to watch them fall down as they learn from their mistakes.Or, if we can reach for another simile, traditional publishers trying to innovate are like 20th century passenger liners trying to slalom around icebergs - innovation requires a manoeuvrability that, in 99% of cases, is at odds with the size of the company trying to inn ovate.This is, however, another coup for indie authors. As Ben Galley explained in his interview with us, indies aren’t shackled the way traditionally published authors are. The room for experimentation is there.This is where people like Alex Mayor come in. Alex is the founder / inventor of Papercasting, a Hackney-based agency helping authors find interesting and unheard of ways to bring their books to an audience, whether that’s through audio, video, or even real-world theatrical productions. The best way to explain it is to let Alex himself talk you through it in our interview below, but you can listen to a Papercast for ‘London Bridge in America’ right here!REEDSYHow long have you guys existed for?   How did you get started? How many of you are there?ALEX MAYORAt the moment it’s me and two part-time creative guys that I work with. Because of the friends I have, I’ve ended up knowing quite a few authors. They would come to me saying †Å"The book’s finally done, it’s coming out, but I’m not sure how it’s going to do. I know what the publisher is going to do: they’re going to spring for drinks for a launch party; they might put some promotional postcards together but they probably won’t; and then, after they’ve sent out the review copies, if nothing happens in that first month that’s kind of it.†So what I’ve been doing so far is basically helping out friends. Now I’m trying to move beyond the friendship circles. The idea has been to find authors who are prepared to do something a bit more interesting in terms of how they promote themselves.I’ve also had some support from the Arts Council, who were very interested in the idea. They see that creatives within what we might call ‘the literary world’ writ large suffer to a large degree from being not necessarily the most internet-savvy, the most marketing-savvy - writing by i ts nature is a solipsistic undertaking. Also, traditional publishing, assailed as it is by modernity, is spending less on promo simply because of the sheer number of places they’re trying to reach.Last year we did a few examples of work. Now we’re trying to ramp it up, to find authors with some sort of social footprint, and create pieces of digital work that will help promote them. An author phoned me up last week: â€Å"I’ve suddenly thought this is perfect radio material. This story is quite Carver-esque, it would work really well. Can we make a ten-minute version of this as a radio play?† And I said â€Å"Of course we can, I can find the actors, we can do it all fairly cheaply,† and the author can then use that as a calling card to media organisations, put it online for streaming, and use it to build interest in the books.I’m getting a lot of interest from a certain kind of author - authors who think â€Å"I’ve made something, and I want people to pay interest in it and engage with what I’m doing,† rather than just seeing it as â€Å"A book has been printed with my words in it, my work here is done.† When I raise the issue with a lot of authors, you sort of see the three lemons come up for them - â€Å"Why aren’t I doing that? Why didn’t I think of doing this?† - and for others they look moderately terrified!My background is in media, in publishing; I’ve written music for television, I’ve produced records†¦ I view everything as just ‘stuff.’ It’s stuff that has an audience, somehow, and I’m fairly open-minded about how you reach the audience. In book-publishing, traditionally you have the agent, the publisher who’s kept at one remove†¦ everyone is in their own box. There isn’t a lot of moving around, and publishers don’t tend to want to upset that situation too much. But authors may well know thei r audience *better* than a big corporate publisher. It’s just a fact that if an author is good at writing books about Norwegian circus acts of the 18th century, it may be that they know the most important people who will help sell that book.REEDSYSo what is paper casting? Is it a verb, a noun†¦?ALEX MAYORIt’s both! I wanted a word that would help authors understand the idea that they could be broadcasting. What is being on Twitter but a form of broadcasting? Making a radio play, putting a video together, they’re all kinds of broadcasting. I believe when you’ve got a book you’ve created something that can be expressed in a multitude of ways. You’ve already done the hard bit in finding a way to bring that idea off the page in a way that gets people excited. But because authors are traditionally left out of the equation by publishers, they haven’t been too entrepreneurial in that regard.It’s a business and an experiment. Iâ⠂¬â„¢m trying to find out if there are enough authors who want to do this. I think it’s going to be younger authors probably, or authors who are very good on social media, but within five to ten years there will be an entire generation of writers who have always had a Facebook account, who have always shared their top-of-the-mind thoughts on some network tool or another. This model is waiting to happen, even if it hasn’t yet happened.REEDSYI remember a few years ago this craze for book trailers†¦ALEX MAYORYes! And they were all awful! They were all mind-bogglingly bad. I’ve trawled through loads of these. I noticed that, once YouTube was a fairly embedded prospect in people’s minds, you’d hear people asking â€Å"Do we do video?† This idea that ‘doing some video’ would add value to something, that if you didn’t have an active YouTube account you weren’t really a player.That thinking was evident in pretty much every book trailer I’ve ever seen, particularly ones paid for by publishing companies - where they’ve done a Ken Burns slow-pan over the front cover, they’ve brought a rent-a-quote up, there’s a piece of out-of-copyright classical music playing in the background, it’s two minutes long, and nobody will ever look at it. They’ve not been terribly interesting by and large. That, or - fair enough - a film of the author reading a bit of it, which is at least a step in the right direction.I think it’s been something publishers did badly, and to some degree consider an experiment they don’t really want to repeat. The question is still outstanding because the way we consume literature is changing under our feet all the time. It’s not changing totally, and there’ll be an element of the market, like vinyl, that will always buy the physical book. But how we consume what we call books is changing all the time. Technology compa nies are the ones charging forward and providing those experiences, not publishers.REEDSYIt feels like that even amongst the best of those efforts, there’s rarely much of a tie to the book being promoted. Even my favourite example of a book trailer, while a great little clip, doesn’t connect directly to the book in question.ALEX MAYORI think when you mentioned that 2011/2012 moment, the concomitant line of thinking in marketing departments across the land was â€Å"Can we do something viral?† as if they’d discovered the idea of disease for the first time and were embracing it wholeheartedly. I think the danger of some of those things is that they can be cool, but you see so much cool stuff every day I think there’s a burnout you get to.My feeling is there is, particularly in non-fiction publishing, an enormous number of perfectly good books where it will always be a tricky prospect for a publishing house to find a lot of marketing muscle and budget to push it. Unless your name is Malcolm Gladwell, how many of these are you going to shift? There are all these books that are perfectly interesting, but they’re not as immediate. They’re not things that it would be so easy to make a viral or funny trailer for, but they’ve got something in them that will make you stop in your tracks. And I think the process is find the core of the book - the elevator pitch, the one surprising thing that you’d hear from the author at a cocktail party and repeat to your friends.Say you had an Oliver Sacks neuro-psychological ramble with interesting case-studies. OK, so you get two actors in, find some dialogue that’s interesting, maybe make a two minute radio play out of it, and at the end you’ve got your buy-link - you’ve tee’d up the experience of the book. Where those trailers went wrong is that there were a) uninteresting, and b) they weren’t thinking about the content of the book. Th ey were thinking about the object: â€Å"Here is a book.† Well, yeah, we get it, here’s a book. There are lots of books. Why do we want to read it?I’m still trying to find more authors who have a little bit more of a social footprint who are prepared to be more Gonzo with me. As a premise, I think it’s not expensive to make this kind of media - it’s just about having the willpower to do it.REEDSYIt seems like what you’re doing requires more than just money thrown at it - it also needs creativity, an idea.ALEX MAYORMy ambition for 2015 is to find more of these authors and ramp it up to the point where what we have is a form of entertainment in its own right. If you could image a channel of this stuff, and you were flipping through it, these would be interesting ways of hearing about interesting new books. Maybe some people would listen to them and get whatever they get out of it, but there would be people who click through and buy the book. I t’s a case of taking what’s already a very well considered piece of media, a book manuscript, and creating something slightly smaller in a different format out of the book for not a lot of money. It’s not difficult stuff to do. For me it’s about editorial and production, and finding that killer idea that’s at the heart of the thing. There will be something - you can’t write a book and have no point.REEDSYHow do you produce one of these things? How does your agency work?ALEX MAYORWe have a little studio in Hackney - BBC quality microphones and all of that jazz. Mostly what will happen is I’ll sit down with the author and get them to pitch the book back to me. I’ll obviously go read the manuscript. I’ll come back with suggestions of ways we could bring it off the page. The author has to feel comfortable with what we’re envisioning. It may be that they’re going to be reading, or that they’re not going t o be reading and someone else will be found†¦ It’s very tailored to the person. At its core it’s about understanding the central strengths of the book.People have been asking â€Å"Oh, so we’d be making a video?† I always say â€Å"We might be, but we might not be.† Video is hard to do without a degree of cost because to do justice to the written word in film is notoriously hard. It’s very hard to do without immediately becoming boring, in my opinion. I think audio is a better choice, by and large, because you can maintain the reader’s own interactivity - that way they’re assembling the words in their head and seeing whatever world you’re bringing them into.In terms of capturing what it is that’s interesting you have to be media-neutral at the outset, and also be somewhat sensitive to the person’s own personality and what they’ll feel comfortable with, and also budget - radio’s the cheape st, video is hard to make†¦REEDSYHow do you get the material in front of people?ALEX MAYORAt the moment I’m just using Soundcloud. It’s more about the social footprint of the author, their agent, and any publicity people they have on side. This is simultaneously the massive potential upside and the massive potential downside. Good use of social media is thin on the ground - most people struggle with it. Authors are either total oversharers, or haven’t done much of it before. The model definitely requires that you have a fairly active social media following. It all lives and dies at that point.One author has just engaged me to do this for him. Initially I said â€Å"It will only work if you’re calm about it.† So I’ve been trying to build a voice for him on Twitter. I’ve set writing challenges like â€Å"How about sharing all the titles of things you’ve never written?† Trying to get the author to think of it as a writ ing challenge, not a self-promotion challenge.There was a famous observation by Momus the electronic singer - â€Å"In the internet age everyone is famous for fifteen people.† I’ve always thought that hangs over lots of technology. You could potentially do billions of things and reach zillions of people, but the core of it is still the slogging, and it kind of always was. You’ve just got to keep beavering away at getting a footprint with people and building a personality with people.REEDSYThanks for your time Alex.

¡Ay Mis Hijos! Professor Ramos Blog

 ¡Ay Mis Hijos! Reanna Saldivar Eng 102 22 July 2018 Never been a fan of demons or ghosts. The thought of having the dead come back to life in an untouchable physical form only brings fear and shock to my stomach. Only in spirit form they appear, yet through many individuals’ experience, it is hard to provide proof on any monster occurrences as being true. Hearing about evil spirits coming through the house, even through a board game, a.k.a the Ouija board, will keep me up for nights, knowing it is possible for something lifeless to cause harm. One of the most famous stories that terrified me as a child was La Llorona. In Spanish culture, stories of La Llorona has been passed down through generations as a lesson about cultural allegory for women or as a good scare for children to become obedient. The story alters among traditions; however, it continues to live through generations, becoming memorable in one’s life. Although the purpose of La Llorona is to be used as a disciplinary tool, the story it represents monsters as a cultural aspect through Jeffrey Cohen’s Seven Monster Theses. The original story of La Llorona is told to warn children about misbehaving or straying away from home for long. (Arora). Although the story alters depending on what culture the story is being told to, some parts of the story stay similar. La Llorona is the story or the â€Å"weeping woman†. The time of occurrence varies but the root of the story began with a beautiful women who meet a man with wealth and a popular status. The parents did not approve of their love, however as a act of rebellion, she takes off with her love and have children together. The man does not respect the relationship and cheats upon her. As revenge, the girl has a violent outrage and ultimately drowns and kills her children. She attempts to kill herself in a similar matter where she succeeds, however is denied entrance at the Gates of Heaven. She spends eternity looking for her children after she realizes the damage she has done.   La Llorona is referred to as the ‘woman in white’ along any area around large bodies of water, weeping â€Å"Ay Mis Hijos!†; No one fully understands whether she cries from pain or anger. (Canaderia). The great fear of La Llorona is how she kidnaps children and drowns them after the realization that they aren’t her children. For generations, the story is told repetitively to implement discipline or cause a great scare. (Santos). One adaptation of La Llorona is presented in the children’s horror comedy animation, La Leyenda de la Llorona. The movie itself presents the consequences of an encounterment with the female figure herself, La Llorona. The plot is altered to provide a less horror approach for young kids to watch. La Llorona was mysterious â€Å"Woman in white† figure that appeared down the street on a late Halloween night. One of the main characters named Beto is kidnapped by the figures, causing his sister KiKi to attempt to go on a looking spree for her brother. Kiki learns the real story behind the figure through help of elders met on the journey, however the story is different. La Llorona is depicted as a women who left her kids on a boat to save her house from burning into flames, however her children were found dead days later after failing to return to the boat in time. Townspeople have stories about their occurrences with La Llorona which helps the kids locate her for the safety of their siblings and friends; unlike the original story, La Llorona is not known for kidnapping children and causing harm, instead she attempts to take care of children she kidnaps to fill the void of her missing children. La Llorona attempts to take children’s’ souls because of disobedience but is soon reunited with her own children at their graves, leaving a happy ending and a solution to the mystery of La Llorona. The movie itself is a prime example as La Llorona is children adaptations to present the significance of the icon, La Llorona and part of Hispanic culture. Another adaptation is emphasized by the author Sandra Cisneros interpretation in the â€Å"Woman Hollering Creek†. Cisneros story presents how La Llorona is presented in literature in a similar storyline. In the vignette, the character Cleofilas is described as a very beautiful woman with confidence and pride in herself, like La Llorona. Her only friends were described as â€Å"Dolores† and â€Å"Soledad† translating as â€Å"sorrow† and â€Å"solitude†, which depicts her life as lonely and isolated, similar to the lifestyle of La Llorona. The difference between the mythical story of La Llorona and Cisneros’s story is the depiction and influence of a wealthy man. Cleofilas watches and learns about the betrayal and unfaithfulness of a husband on a novela, but experiences physical abuse while La Llorona experiences betrayal. Each character was depicting of their own challenges and confusion and they attempt to put their love for their husband a bove all things, even abuse, until the damage is unbearable; Cleofilas flees while   La Llorona murders what she felt was most important to her husband. Each story provides a sense of empowerment for women to finally disclose upon a situation that was determined as toxic for the women’s well being, after being taught for so long that women shall conform to the norm of women being obedient to men. The story of La Llorona bodies society diversity as well as common fears or desires among cultures. La Llorona falls under Cohen’s Seventh Monster Theory of â€Å"The Monster Stands at the Threshold †¦ of Becoming†; the theory states that monsters have us â€Å"reevaluate our cultural assumptions about race, gender, sexuality, our perception of difference, our tolerance towards expression†¦. ask why we have created them† (20). Each adaptation of the story of La Llorona teaches the importance of cultural allegory; the allegory expresses equality about sacrifice and a representation of how not to behave to your children. Thus, parents explain the story to establish credibility to themselves as great behaving parents who know best. The theory also explains that humans create monsters to represent our fears, which as parents, the fears of losing their loved ones, which also ties together to another thesis of â€Å" The Monster’s body is a Cultural B ody†. The theory states that â€Å"the body incorporates fear, desire, anxiety and fantasy, giving them life and uncanny independence†¦ it’s pure culture† (4).   La Llorona is a prominent figure in Hispanic culture, being that if the story is untold, children are considerably missing a part of their culture and history. After the story has floated around her decades, it has molded into a Hispanic tradition to warn children about the ghost. Kidnapping is considered to be categorized as anxious fear for parents would never want to lose touch with their children. La Llorona is a predatory figure or icon that figuratively presents every parents worst fear. Each adaptation has provided a sense of importance as providing lessons of not wandering off into the dark for too long as well as the sacrifices a mother makes for her loved ones. Despite the wicked and cruel horror depicted among the story of La Llorona, it continues to be memorable story that leaves a mark or purpose in individual’s lives everywhere. The adaptations all altered among the audience and purpose thrives for, but the story itself shifts among cultures, making it slightly harder to categorize one story as the â€Å"correct† story. The origin itself is unknown, but a children’s first occurrence with being told the story of La Llorona will not be forgotten. Hispanic culture has accepted this story as a common depicting of parents’ fear as well as a lesson of Hispanic culture. Always remember to not wander off too late, curiosity killed the cat. Bibliography Arora, Shirley L. La Llorona. Encyclopedia of Mexico: History, Society Culture, edited by Michael S. Werner, Routledge, 1st edition, 1998. Credo Reference, https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/routmex/la_llorona/0?institutionId=5312. The article establishes the origins of the La Llorona story. The folktale has been around for decades yet the purpose or minor details of the story vary. I will use the article to establish background and originality to the famous La Llorona. Candelaria, Cordelia Chvez. La Llorona. The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Latino Literature, edited by Nicolas Kanellos, ABC-CLIO, 1st edition, 2008. Credo Reference, https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/abclatlit/la_llorona/0?institutionId=5312. The article explains the folktale of La Llorona that has been around for centuries. The story’s purpose is to either scared kids at night or a tactic to simply tell kids so they do not stay out late. The article help establishes the purpose of the La Llorona, because every folktale has a message. I will use the article to help establish why La Llorona is important in the spanish culture. Santos, Cristina. La Llorona. The Ashgate Encyclopedia of Literary and Cinematic Monsters, Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock, Ashgate Publishing, 1st edition, 2014. Credo Reference, https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/ashgtmonster/la_llorona/0?institutionId=5312. The article gives information about La Llorona in literature. As she becomes part of literature, her story often changes to in order to convey the authors message. The article will help establish how La Llorona is characterized differently upon the message the author is trying to convey. Cisneros, Sandra. Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories. New York :Vintage Books, 1992. Print. The story is an example of folktales being a part of our everyday lives, for here it is part a vignette novel by Sandra Cisneros who is known for writing about spanish culture. The article will help me establish how La Llorona becomes modernized in literature. Weiser, Kathy. â€Å"La Llorona – Weeping Woman of the Southwest.† Legends of America, 17 Mar. 2017, www.legendsofamerica.com/gh-lallorona/. The article shows the story told in the South West region of America. Different places depict different stories of La Llorona for various reasons, each altering because of what purpose is desired from the story. The article helps me establish the development of the La Llorona story throughout the years for this story has no exact origin. Cohen, Jeffrey Jerome. Monster Theory: Reading Culture. University of Minnesota Press, 1997 The book was used in class to demonstrate why monsters are important figurative figures in society. Although just depicted as horror objects, they provide a reflection or representation of society or cultures. The book was brought into class, making it credible to use. I plan to use it to help construct the importance of the monster.

What Strategies Should McDonald's Pursue in 2011-2013 Essay

What Strategies Should McDonald's Pursue in 2011-2013 - Essay Example Thus, the strategic management within an organization revolves around conducting an analysis, deciding on an appropriate course of action and finally taking the action. Analysis of strategic management entails the critical evaluation of internal as well as the external environments within which the firm operates. Along these lines, an organization analyzes her missions, visions, goals and objectives as against the other players within the industry. Among these decisions that the organization must make is with what other firms do they compete and through what ways should the competition be? Finally, actions are taken with the aim, of realizing the set goals and meeting the decisions made after the analysis (Dess, Gregory, Lumpkin and Marilyn, 2005, 1) The McDonald’s (MCD) is a trade logo for a group of fast food and burger restaurants; she works like â€Å"Burger King Holdings.† The McDonalds are seen to be the dominant players within this industry with the widest covera ge of the world. According to past reports, the company has set an ever rising performance in the last nine years with her key operational pillars being founded on; people customers and employees), price, products, promotion and place. Their fundamental operation strategy has been â€Å"plan to win† all through. The annual report on investors for the year 2010 reveals a fabulous performance of the company despite the many challenges she faced just like all other firms and especially those in a like industry of the fast foods. By managing deeper insights for customers and proper alignment of business strategies, the CEO says that a 5% rise in comparable sales was realized, 9% growth in operating income and the company’s overall market share around the globe increased. By upholding proper prioritization for the relevance of the firm’s brand and focusing sharply on the customers, the firm managed to keep on top in the year. However, as the CEO puts it, it was the s ame focus that was to be employed for the following year, 2011. The basic working formula for the firm has been building on and holding onto the basics while at the same time modernize and differentiate their brand. As for the service delivery, the brand was committed to further her excellency by adopting onto favorable technologies, invest in training and adoption of other service enhancement mechanisms that are all aimed at maintaining or improving her performance in the year 2011. Repackaging as part of product differentiation and promotion was to be adopted more so through restaurant re-imaging (McDonald’s Corporation, 2010, 1-3). In a more like manner, the year 2011 saw a fantastic performance of the corporation. The CEO records a 5.6% comparable sales rise a 10% growth in operating income and an increase in the corporations overall market share margin. All these are attributable to the proper forecasts made and policies put in place in the previous year, followed by the right decisions and the correct actions. This therefore has revealed a strong strategic management planning of the corporation over the year 2011. There was even deeper commitment to modernizing the operations of the corporation even further than the previous years with even more innovations on customer oriented products. 2012 was no lesser as the comparable margin in sales shot up by 3.1% while 4% was the income increase. The year marked a continuation of inventions and innovations where new menus’ came into place and the focused decision to become modernized taking shape. In a bid to reach more markets, the report also reveals great strides that have been taken to exploit new markets, especially within even the emerging economies. The

Eliminating redundancy at Lion using Business Intelligence Platform Essay

Eliminating redundancy at Lion using Business Intelligence Platform - Essay Example In the report, the researcher has discussed about the Kirini, a Japanese based brewery company which has been brewing beer since its inception in 1888. Lion Nathan Ltd in Australia is wholly owned by subsidiary of Kirin after the merger. According to information obtained from its official website, Lion is a leading beverage and food company with a portfolio that includes many of Australia and New Zealand’s favourite brands. It was formed in 2009 under the name ‘Lion Nathan National Foods,’ but the name later changed to Lion when Kirin Holdings Company Limited completed its purchase of Lion Nathan and merged the business with National Foods in 2009 and it has owned this business since 2007. These companies before and after the merger belonged to the national economies of their host countries. The researcher posits to the effect that Lion employs close to 8,000 people across Australia and New Zealand and it boasts of a portfolio of market-leading, household-name bra nds in beer, spirits, wine, milk, fresh dairy foods, juice, cheese and soy beverages. The company has significantly contributed to the Australian and New Zealand economies. However, the problem emanates from the view that the merger acquisition by Kirin of Lion which is Australian based company may cause redundancy and problems in operation support services. As a result, the redundancy can lead to an increase in the operation costs if the problem is not fixed and this is likely to affect the company. If the problem not fix, explain why it will affect the company. Of notable concern is the factor that there are also competitors in the food and beverage industry where Lion operates and Heineken is the greatest competitor. In order to address the problem raised above, the initiative change is primarily concerned with reviewing the computer system used by the organisations before and after the merger to establish the changes required to turn around the fortunes of the organisation. In t his case, it is proposed that when solving this problem, a business intelligence Platform (real time) can be used to reduce the operational costs after the merger so as to improve the organisation’s productivity in order to gain a competitive advantage over the other rival competitors in the same industry. BIP is a computer based support system used in the decision making process and is based on factual data. According to Gartner (2007), BIP is comprised of mainly three categories namely information delivery (workflow and collaboration) as well as analysis. All information about the operations of the organisation is gathered and computed in detail where it is established if there is any area that may need change to ensure effective operation of the organisation. However, these two organisations have been using different systems where the BIP model was alien to Lion Nathan before the merger. The issues raised above are very important and they are likely to affect the company i f change is not done given that before the major, these two companies used different BI platforms which can pose a challenge to the merged company. In order to analyse the current performance of Lion, it will be imperative to carry out a financial analysis of the company in order to draw a comparison with its previous performance levels. Analysis of the current situation Lion is a company which operates in the food and beverages sector in Australia and it is a public company with various shareholders. The company is listed on the Australian stock exchange and all the data in the financial statements from 2009 to 2010 is quoted in Australian dollars. All the data used in the financial analysis for the company below has been retrieved from the company’s official website (http://www.lionco.com/2011/02/10/lion-nathan-national-foods-fy10-result/, 2010/11). The analysis of the organisation is mainly based on the following three important aspects namely expenses, revenue, net profit as well as return on investment for the three year period under survey. The financial analy

Contemporary Family and it's effect on School Settings Essay

Contemporary Family and it's effect on School Settings - Essay Example There are three types of relationships. The first is the relationship between parents and children; the second among related nuclear families such as adult siblings; the third across family members over a wide span of time, intergenerational relations. Terms like â€Å"family values† refer to one or several of these separate family relationships. The relationship between parents and children is often looked at and of great importance. There are few specific activities such as productive activities which involve the nurturing, training, and caring for the dependent children from birth onward. Few responsibilities are of greater importance than that of parenting, of providing for the healthy development of the child in mental, social, economic, and many other dimensions. A grown up person chose to have children because of the satisfaction they get, and the parental expenditures of time and effort, of money and hassle, of patience and support are all part of the productive activi ties of parenthood.

The Intersection of Nature and Culture Essay Example for Free

The Intersection of Nature and Culture Essay Semiotics is a discipline which stems from the work and theories of American logician C. S. Peirce and the French linguist Ferdinand de Saussure. The idiom originates from the Greek word seemeiootikee, which denotes the study of signs, what they represent and signify, and how human beings act, interact and think in their universe. This branch of learning and understanding can be best described as a system of many communication theories and techniques which can be viewed as pieces of a puzzle. When these fragments are connected and pieced together, they make visible, the intricate design of human interaction and interpersonal communication. Semiotics lies intermediary between philosophy and philology and is nothing less than an objectification, or self-expression, or interpretation and the formation and comprehension of meaning. This area of study is a combination between scientific discipline and a world-view. Semiotics is an enormously broad approach to understanding such matters as meaning, cognition, culture, behavior, even life itself. At the heart of this discipline lies the notion of sign. A sign, according to Charles S. Peirce, widely acknowledged to be one of the seminal thinkers about semiotics, is something which stands to somebody for something in some respect or capacity. It is the study of signs and symbols as elements of communicative behavior and the analysis of systems of communication. These signs take the form of words, images, sounds, acts or objects, but have no genuine meaning and become signs only when we invest them with meaning- nothing is a sign unless it is interpreted and brings about some form of meaning. Understanding semiology assists in the true understanding of ones self, others, and how we view the world around us. Inherently, humans are reactors. Because it is human nature to act, or react toward people, items, and instances on the basis of preconceived meanings that have been assigned, it is beneficial to understand that each sign or symbol will have a different meaning to each individual it is presented to. Because of communication filters and barriers (which can also be signs and symbols) no message is ever received the exact way it is sent. (See Appendix A)  Similarly, every sign encountered can be decoded and interpreted differently depending on preconceived notions, culture and personal experience. A signifier may induce many different interpretations of the signified (See Appendix B and D). This theory of signs and symbolism is divided into branches including pragmatics, semantics, and syntactics. Pragmatics is the branch of semiotics which deals with the causal and other relations between words, expressions, or symbols and their users. It can be an analysis of language in terms of the situational context within which utterances are made, including the knowledge and beliefs of the speaker and the relation between speaker and listener. Semantics is the study of the relationship between words and meanings. The field of semantics has three fundamental concerns: the relations of words to the objects denoted by them, the relations of words to the interpreters of them, and, in symbolic logic, the formal relations of signs to one another semantics is concerned with such issues as meaning and truth, meaning and thought, and the relation between signs and what they mean. Syntactics is the branch of semiotics dealing with the formal properties of language and systems of symbols. Innis proposes that, fundamentally these areas of thought deal with meanings and messages in all their forms and in all their contexts. There are three ways in which the sign can stand for its object: as icon, index or symbol. An icon is a sign that stands for an object by resembling it, not merely visually, but by any means. An icon makes a connection by similitude. Included in this category of sign are obvious examples like pictures, maps and diagrams and some not so obvious ones like algebraic expressions and metaphors. Indexes refer to their objects, not by virtue of any similarity relation, but by an actual causal link between the sign and its object: smoke is an index of fire. The relation between the sign and its object is substantial in that the sign and object have something in common; that is, the object affects the sign. It is physically connected to the object. Symbols refer to their objects by virtue of a law, rule or convention. Words, propositions and texts are obvious examples in that no similarity or causal link is suggested in the relation between, for example,  the word horse and the object to which it refers. In this category especially the potential arbitrary character of signs comes to the foreground. If symbols need bear no similarity or causal link to their object, then the signs can be considered by the sign user in unlimited ways, independent of any physical relationship to the sign user. The convention between recognizing a sign and the meaning which is provoked is affected by perception and experience. What appears to be a complex ideology is really very simple. Semiotics is everywhere, in every part of daily life. Humans recognize patterns of information and organize them to generate meaning. The sign is the signifier, and what speaks to us is the signified. We see a sign, internalize it, and create meaning. The Semantic Triangle, (Appendix E) shows the indirect relationship between symbols and their referents. Some signs are culturally universal and convey similar meaning in individuals (Appendix F). Some signs act as instructions or directions, and guide or restrict behaviors. For instance, if a sign with a cigarette encompassed by a red circle and a bar through the middle is on display in a business it is understood that there is no smoking on the premises. This image has predetermined meaning. Some signs act as reminders. An image in of a young child in a magazine may serve as a sign for an aging mother and the signified may be a sense of sadness as her children have grown and moved on. The perception of meaning and the ability making sense out of the information that is being transmitted by these signs is an essential element of human communication. The study and application of semiotics is the frame work for representing meaning. Reality is encoded with signs and symbols and life is but to decode and find meaning. We seem to be a species driven by a desire to make meaning: above all, we are surely homo-significans meaning-makers within which signs are meaningful units taking the form of words, images, sounds, acts or objects. Such things have no intrinsic meaning and become signs only when we invest them with meaning. And it is this meaning-making which is at the heart of the concerns of semiotics. The fact that humans can consume and interpret signs which are arbitrary and have no tangible existence in their immediate experience is what makes thought possible and is distinctly human. Ideas can be brought to mind and manipulated without being directly experienced. Meanings can be expressed in various ways, through a variety of sign systems: language, music, gesture and by many other vehicles. The meaning that is found within these signs creates the psychological and emotional environment we live in. Signs can also communicate ideological or connotative meaning, and perpetuate the dominant values of society. Aristotle claimed that a thing either is or it isnt. Semiotics is the arbitrator of this existence and because things can be decoded and deciphered differently by each individual, there is much grey area between the is and the isnt. By being aware of the way we use and interpret signs and symbols, and understanding the effects of these things on communication and interaction we are increasing and recognizing cognitive complexity so as to better approximate the halftones of this symbolically mediated real world. The meanings of signs and symbols are mediated by our experience and understanding of the world can never be the same for each person. Thomas Sebeok proposes that semiotics lies at the intersection of nature and culture. It is human nature to see and interpret signs but many of the signs we see are culturally adopted. However, we create our world of meaning by interpreting signs as we interact with objects in our environment and by personal experience. Having an understanding of Semiotics and its branches can help one to better understand their own psyche, as interpreting and finding meaning has much to do with self-disclosure. It also brings an understanding of others into the framework. The concept of semiotics and the ability to comprehend the notions can become a fortunate thing and be advantageous to the ability to communicate interpersonally, connect on a deeper level, and interact with other people and the world around References Barthes, Elements of Semiology (1967); A. A. Berger, Signs in Contemporary Culture: An Introduction to Semiotics (1988). Buchler, J. (Ed.). (1955). Philosophical Writings of Peirce. New York: Dover Innis, R. (Ed.). Semiotics: An Introductory Anthology. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.1983 Sebeok, T. Contributions to the Doctrine of Signs.Lisse: Peter de Ridder Press.1976. Unknown, Steps towards Evolutionary Semiotics. Semiotica 132, 3/4 (317-342).2000