17 Weird Hobbies for Students That Will Change Your Life

17 Weird Hobbies for Students That Will Change Your Life College can be a stressful time, so it is a good idea to find some fun activities to fill your spare time. However, for some students this can lead to some weird hobbies! Let’s look at some of the most unusual hobbies you might want to try. 1 – Toy Voyaging There are some weird hobbies that are stranger than others and one of them must be toy voyaging. You can register online to send your toy off on vacation to another part of the world – or you can host someone else’s toy. People take it incredibly seriously, giving their toy life missions they wish to fulfil while hosts complete travel journals and take photographs of the toy enjoying its vacation. 2 – Quidditch Harry Potter captured thehearts of children and adults alike and continues to have a huge fanbase today. Many colleges and universities are playing homage to that by setting up their own real life Quidditch teams. There may not be flying brooms, but the muggle equivalent of this wizard sport certainly counts as one of the weird hobbies you might find on campus. 3 – Soap Carving Some weird hobbies are quite artistic when you look more closely. Soap carving transforms standard bars of soap into intricate works of art using specialist tools and techniques. 4 – Element Collecting As weird hobbies go, one that might appeal to chemistry students in particular is Element Collecting. This involves trying to collect elements from the periodic table. There are many ways to approach this with some enthusiasts opting for a specific row or group rather than the whole table. A word of caution – collecting heavy elements, poisonous elements and of course radioactive ones is not recommended! 5 – Making Snow Globes Who doesn’t love playing with a snow globe? Wouldn’t making your own be even more fun? This is a hobby shared by one of the world’s most well-known celebrities – Taylor Swift. Even the stars have weird hobbies they enjoy on their down time. 6 – Beetle Fighting Beetle fighters pit their insects against one another in small plastic arenas with the bouts often being filmed and loaded to YouTube. Some enthusiasts even go so far as to breed their own beetles in an attempt to create a champion. 7 – Hikaru Dorodango You have likely never heard of Hikaru Dorodango, also known as dirt polishing, but it is apparently a popular hobby. It involves take a small ball of mud, extracting all the moisture and then coating it with fine layers of soil. Eventually it becomes possible to polish the ball of dirt into a smooth sphere. 8 – Entomology Entomology is the study of insects. In terms of weird hobbies bug collecting must be up there, right? One celebrity who doesn’t agree is model Claudia Schiffer who has an extensive bug collection and is also a huge fan of spiders! The logo for her clothing line even features a spider. 9 – Duck Herding Did you know? It is possible to train ducks to be herded just like sheep? In fact, it is a competitive sport and one of the most popular choices for corporate team building days. 10 – Extreme Ironing Believe it or not Extreme Ironing is a competitive sport which is growing in popularity. It involves ironing laundry, but in more extreme situations such as while rock climbing, kayaking or even skydiving. 11 – Newsraiding Have you ever wanted to appear on television? You are not alone if the growing popularity of newsraiding is anything to go on. This hobby involves appearing on television as a bystander on news reports and other live broadcasters! One of the most prolific newsraiders is Paul Yarrow from the UK who has appeared in the background of hundreds of television broadcasts always wearing his signature beige sweater. 12 – Noodling If your college is located near a fishing spot, then maybe you would like to try your hand at noodling quite literally. Noodling is the art of fishing with your bare hands. Catfish are the most common prey for noodlers. 13 – Ghost Hunting Are you a fan of paranormal TV shows like Ghost Adventures and Paranormal Lockdown? Why not try a little ghost hunting in real life? Many paranormal teams across the country run events taking members of the public to investigate spooky buildings. 14 – Collecting Barbie Dolls Perhaps collecting barbies isn’t one of the strangest entries on our list, but one of its enthusiasts made it interesting enough to be included. Johnny Depp is an avid collector of the dolls and says he often plays with the dolls in his collection when getting into character for a role. 15 – Tree Shaping Tree shaping is not a hobby for those looking for instant gratification as it can take years. However, it is extremely cool as you can train trees to grow into artistic shapes or even into your own living furniture. 16 – Geocaching What if we told you that you could go on a real-life treasure hunt? Geocachers use satellite technology to locate caches – small boxes of trinkets and other treasures which can be swapped. There is also a log book to sign inside each one. It may seem a little weird at first, but it is totally free, a great way to stay fit and good for meeting other players. 17 – Suing People Not all the weird hobbies we have come across are advisable and we certainly don’t recommend taking up suing people. Jonathan Lee Riches made it into the Guinness Book of World Records for being the person who has filed the most lawsuits. His list of targets includes the likes of Britney Spears, Martha Stewart, the Eiffel Tower and even a selection of Buddhist Monks. These weird hobbies might sound a little strange to you right now but consider this – the hobbies you mention on your resume are something that helps companies with their recruitment. If you prefer to try something more conservative, check out these cheap hobbies for students. A prospective employer is not necessarily looking for a hobby connected to the job, but if you have an interesting hobby then it could help you to stand out from the crowd of applicants!

Mozarts Symphony No. 39 in E-Flat Major, K. 543 A Brief History and Interpretation essays

Mozart's Symphony No. 39 in E-Flat Major, K. 543 A Brief History and Interpretation essays Mozart is undoubtedly one of the greatest musical composers in the Western tradition. Indeed, many might argue that he is the greatest classical composer to have walked the earth, period. However, some of his works are less well known than others. In particular, his Symphony No. 39 in E-flat major, K.543, is among the least commonly cited in reference to his greatness. Yet the depth, and sense of gentle optimism that shines through the piecean optimism and lightness that seems to defy the pain that Mozart experienced in his personal life, marks it as truly remarkable According to Michael Prouty, in his Mozart Web page, Mozart was born in the year 1756 in the Austrian town of Salzburg, one of two surviving children (out of seven) of Anna Maria and Leopold Mozart. A child prodigy, Mozart learned to play the harpsichord at the age of three, and by the age of six he was writing compositions. Under the guidance of his father, Wolfgang toured Europe. When that ended, he traveled briefly to France and there, suffered the death of his mother. Soon after, he returned to Salzburg, where he married Constanza, the sister of his first love, Aloysia Weber (who had rejected him). Soon he was to suffer through the deaths of several of his children, as well as difficult financial times. It is during this time that he completed his greatest works, including The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, and the Magic Flute, which was completed It was during the last years of his life that he completed what is known as the final symphonic trilogy, including K543, K550, and K551. In fact, Mozart completed this monumental task in approximately three month's time in 1788. Further, according to the Web-based encyclopedia, Wikpedia, many scholars assert that he probably intended that these three works should be published as a single, three part opus. However, they were...

Is digital evidence collected from a volatile source as valid as that Research Paper

Is digital evidence collected from a volatile source as valid as that collected from a static source - Research Paper Example Evidence sources in the recent times has shifted from static source as one of the initial steps in evidence collection to adoption of digital source which is quickly driven by the ever changing dynamic computing environment. Evidence from volatile source can be referred to as data that provides a linkage that is significant between the victim and the perpetrator (Wang 2007). It can be gathered from anything that is criminally related such as such as theft of trade secrets, destruction of intellectual property and fraud to the usage of computer. Static source can be referred to as data preserved when the computer is turned off conserved on a computer hard drive or another medium as opposed to volatile source whose storage is in memory and gets lost when the computer is turned off. Introduction There are various ways of collecting digital evidence from the scene of crime. The most prevalent techniques are collecting digital evidence form volatile sources and collecting from static sour ce. Data from volatile source might have key evidence. It is therefore vital that at the scene of crime, the computer remains on. Tools for data collection range from various software such as data recovery, file examination, internet protocol tracking, decryption, authentication and most notably backup. Other notable tools are needed when obtaining data such as hardware imaging tool where bit by bit of data is copied using a method known as a bit stream copy. Data backups are always considered first with a principal objective of retaining the original evidence. Scope Casey (2000) lays out the physical characteristics of digital source where he asserts that it cannot be kept in its original state easily since the computer system records data in binary form that is 0 and 1 where the copied data has user modifications making it difficult to recollect volatile source in its original status. Volatile source can easily be produced hence prone for it being modified or copied raising doubts on its source and integrity. The negative impact posed is the difficulty to deduce directly the relationship between evidence obtained and the suspects as posed to the highly efficient methods such as deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) or fingerprints that is used for evidence authentication. A computer uses random access memory (RAM) to store volatile data by way of writing current processes in the form of a virtual clipboard for process usage and immediate reference. The information that may be of interest to the investigator include running processes, console executed commands, clear text passwords, unencrypted data, instant messages and the internet protocol addresses. There can be a scenario where an examination of a running system is required involving a computer during investigation. These can be enhanced using home networking technology which allows an investigator to have a small network to facilitate any investigative situation involving a computer. Volatile source data preserva tion and forensic examination analysis will surely be the way forward for many years to come for digital evidence collection. Investigators ability to collect crucial evidence at the crime of scene ought to be critical most importantly when they are provided crime scene collection skills so as to deal with the challenges and workload brought about by

Social Media in the Public Sector Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Social Media in the Public Sector - Dissertation Example In the midst of Arab uprisings, the role of social media such as Twitter and Facebook and their utilization by the Government 2.0 goes largely ignored (Council on Foreign Relations, 2011). While some research has attempted to examine the use of social media in the private sector, little attention has been given to the use of social media by the Government 2.0 in Arab countries in controlling and channelizing the thought processes of Arab citizens and averting such uprisings as happened recently. Background Previously, the world was organized around the traditional system of messages communicated via a single knowledge repository to all stakeholders with little or no interaction ‘amongst’ these stakeholders (Evans, 2008). However, the contemporary networked world is just the opposite with two-way communication being the norm. Social media has played a significant role in the birth of the boundary less world, with ease of collaboration and interaction amongst participants (Evans & McKee, 2010). Recent uprisings in Arab countries are raising concerns about the need for government to interact with its citizens, listen to their concerns and respond to them (Idle & Nunns, 2011). Governments in UAE have introduced blueprints for social media for government organizations in line with the e-participation directives (Abdallah & Albadr, 2010). Research indicates that approximately 30% of government organizations in Dubai have successfully adopted the use of Web 2.0 and social media technology at their place of work and another 30% plan to do the same in the coming 3 years (Abdallah & Albadr, 2010). ... by Arab governments is a step further in the concept of â€Å"open governments† which is a people-oriented strategy, in line with principles of true democracy, which is reflected in long term partnerships between the government and the nation’s citizens at a holistic level (Andersen et al., 2010). The concept is to engage the citizens by using ICTs that enhance trust, collaboration and participation between the government and its citizens. The notion of e-government includes but is not limited to, e-participation, a term that recognizes that two-way communication can be efficiently achieved via social media technologies by allowing the user (citizen) to interact with the government in real time (Macintosh & Tambouris, 2009). 2. Aims and Objectives The aim of this research is to identify, describe, and critically analyze the factors responsible for the need for use of social media in the public sector and establish the significance of social media as a tool for fostering Government 2.0. The objectives are as follows: 1) to define the tools used by public sector government organizations under the umbrella of social media 2) To determine the most significant tool in social media adoption in Arab world 3) To determine the extent to which the economic impact of e-government can be established 4) To examine the benefits of an open government and the role of social media in promoting it 5) To examine the challenges of implementing the social media networking technology in the context of promoting Government 2.0 6) To establish the differences between countries that are promoting Government 2.0 and those that are not 3. Intellectual Challenge: Within private sector businesses, there is evidence of use of social media as a tool for enhancing communication with stakeholders

Managerial Decision in Supply Chain Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Managerial Decision in Supply Chain - Essay Example Supply chain is a key feature to success or a failure of today’s business. This is because getting the correct products to consumers is not only the key player to competitive success, but also the solution to survival. According to Industrial Marketing Management Journal, managerial decisions to prevent failure in the movement of goods and services are very crucial (Handfield, & Bechtel, 2002:367). The decisions should target to respond to the market requirements with overall efficiency. This issue falls on the management. The management should design sound strategies to respond swiftly to the consumer’s demands. Moreover, the strategies should take care of the ever-changing markets. This is the only way to maintain and bring a competitive advantage to the market. For supply chain to remain efficient, it should concentrate on reduction of cost. In addition, the supply chain should avoid wastage of resources of non-value added activities. The managerial decisions should focus to resolve trade-off between responsive and efficiency (Handfield, & Bechtel, 2002:369). This paper examines the managerial decisions that increase responsiveness of the supply chains. ... To achieve this, it calls for the management to make sound decisions to respond well to the customer demands or changes in market. This is because each customer has specific set of needs. Some markets require high level of receptiveness and others concentrate on effectiveness. The general effect of making prudent decisions regarding to each driver establishes the affectivity with which the supply chain serves its market for maximum profits for the participants in the supply chain (Minnich, & Maier, 2008:3). The common tenet from literatures holds that for success of supply chain managers should be aware of changes in the competitive market environment. The managers should then re-organise the supply chain to satisfy the genuine needs of the consumers. This swift response determines the adaptation of firms and supply chain to the needs of the ever-changing markets to achieve lasting competitive success. This means that policy designing, and changes are crucial to respond well to the s upply chain in the five areas of the company. These are production, transportation, information, inventory, and location. The managers’ decisions on the strategies they should focus on the situation at hand. The decision should endeavour to achieve the lower costs of goods and services. This is an issue, which many supply managers grapple with. It therefore means that the managers should choose between two strategies philosophies. The management can either demonstrate a high reaction to consumers at any cost. The other way is to reduce waste in order to achieve maximum profits (Minnich & Maier, 2008:3). The managerial decisions should concentrate on devising sound processes and key performance pointers that rewards

The Manual Transmission System

The Manual Transmission System In this report, I am going to compare and contrast the difference between Toyota 5 speed manual gearbox transmission and Toyota 5 speed automatic transmission system. 2. History of the transmission In 1894 Louis-Rene Panhard and Emile Levassor invented the modern transmission. Today we still use the same concept since it was introduced. The concept is still the same that the crankshaft connects from the engine to the transmission shaft through clutch. The latter is mounted to gears which control and operate the transmission of the motion that is coming from the engine to the wheels. Few experiments have been done about type and numbers of gears but still until today the same concept is applied. To make it easier for the driver to control speed and with help of gears, synchromesh gears and a live rear axle were invented. Instead of having gears engage and disengage again from each other, a car transmission that had gears and continuous with each other was introduced, all the gears were moving and the dog clutch was designed in order to connect the gears that are caused to rotate by engine and move the wheels forward. Different gears with different sizes are designed to increase or decrease the momentum of the vehicle. The most popular transmissions were 4 speed transmissions which its top gear (4th) had a ratio of 1:1 while other gears had lower ratios. Then, engineers came with a 5th gear in which will increase the ratio by 1 between the engine rpm and the wheel rpm that is known as overdrive. American inventors Harold Sinclair and Richard Spikes designed automatic transmission while German inventors invented the automatic transmission rudimentary design. While General Motors provided automatic transmission in all of their cars that were manufactured from 1938 and by the end of 1940s most of the car manufactures offered at least one transmission in their models. Electric cars also fitted with electric car transmission. Now the market for automatic transmission is huge and most cars are manufactured with it (Car transmission, 2006) 3. Automatic transmission system This is the type of transmission that is capable of changing the gear ratios automatically while the vehicle is moving without the need of the driver to manually change the gear using the gear stick. The main purpose of the transmission is to provide the following outcome: Neutral to keep the engine running without the gear, or moving the vehicle. Lower gears for taking off purpose and for operating in heavier situation. Higher gears for cruising, higher speed and lighter weight Reverse gear to move the vehicle backwards. Transferring the driving torque to the required wheels (Crolla, D, 2009, p, 109) The automatic transmission comes into two different types. The front wheel drives vehicles that are designed more compact than rear wheel drive vehicles transmissions that are normally connected in the engine compartment in which they are known as transaxle. Both of these types of transmission do the same job and same design of the planetary gear train. The essential part for the front wheel drive transmission is differential, while the rear wheel drive transmission has externally mounted differential which is uses the drive shaft to link up with the transmission. The automatic transmission system contains few major components. These are: Planetary gear unit Torque converter Hydraulic control unit Seals and gasket Computer Governor/ modulator The above six components perform various duties in transmission as explained below (Toyota technical training). Planetary gear unit: The purpose of planetary gear unit is to provide and changing different gear ratios. Generally, the planetary gear unit contains three major parts. These are ring gear, inner gear (sun gear) and planetary carrier that carries three or four gears which are between the inner gear and outer ring gear. Planetary gear unit When one part of the planetary gear connects to the input shaft which leads to the engine, the second part is held still and the third part usually attached to the output shaft. It all depends on which part stays still, which one is the input or output because it will result in different gear ratios. Things such as brake bands, hydraulic clutch packs and one way clutches are used in the planetary gear to control the power flow. Every gear links up to a combination of clutch packs and bake bands being engaged or disengaged (Samarins.com) Torque converter Is a fluid type coupling, that lets the engine to rotate freely without the help from the transmission, if the engine is running slowly, idling or on the stop traffic, there is a small amount of torque that is passed via torque converter, less pressure is also required on the brake pedal to keep the car stationary. Also when you put more pressure on the gas pedal, it speeds up and adds more fluid into the torque converter which causes the wheels to receive more torque. The torque converter housing contains five major components. Pump is fixed to housing, turbine that is connected through output shaft to transmission, stator has output that is connected to fixed shaft in transmission, fluid and converter clutch. This housing is attached to the engines flywheel and rotates and at any speed that the engine is spinning. The torque converter also has pumps that is made up of fins and are attached to the housing that uses the same speed as engine to turn. Centrifugal type pump is used inside the torque converter, as it rotates it causes the fluid to be thrown outside and this action creates the vacuum that draws a lot of fluid in at the centre. Once the fluid arrives in the blades of the turbine, the transmission begins to rotate and this causes the car to move, the turbines blades are curved and this makes the fluid that is coming from the outside to go into different way before it goes to the centre of the turbine, this changing of direction is the one that causes the turbine to spin. In other way we can put that both turbine and the fluid spin in different direction and this creates the force as an outcome. This fluid that exists from the turbine is usually moving into different direction as the pump and engine turn, because if the fluid hits the pump directly, it may cause the engine to waste power or slow it down and that is why there is a stator in the torque converter (Builders transmission and used car Inc.). Hydraulic control unit: A transmission fluid is sent using the engine oil pump that controls the performance of the car clutches that helps the planetary gear sets to work smoothly. Seals and gasket Their work is to support and maintain the right place of the engine oil and stop it from leaking outside. Governor / Modulator This controls and monitors throttle position and the speed of the car to determine when to change the gears. Computer This is the major unit that uses sensors to control all the activities such as engine speed, engine load, throttle position, brake pedal position etc. (Carazoo, 2010) 4. Materials The materials that are used to build clutch or transmission have to resist heat, friction, durable, strong, hard and tough. These materials are organic, Kevlar, segmented Kevlar, hybrid carbon, ceramic and sintered iron (UUC Motorwerks, 2003) 5. Advantages of automatic transmission system The torque converter gives more engine torques and reduces the strain and the shock of the entire drive line. A lock up clutch is included in the latest automatic transmission, this helps in maximizing the fuel economy because of its direct mechanical linkage from the engine to the transmission. A vehicle with automatic transmission is very comfortable and easy to drive as the driver does not need to manually change the gear ratios. Automatic transmission can also be powerful and strong because of the arrangement of the sun gear and ring gear, this increase the gears contacts that reduces the gears breakage and supplies more torque on big area (Rowe, R. 2010) 6. Disadvantages of automatic transmission Since the automatic transmission is made up of several components, the main setback can occur when single part breaks down working and this can cause a transmission to stop working, as a result maintaining or fixing it can be very expensive. Also the total speed of the vehicle is controlled by the computer that manages the transmission, and the driver can lose the acceleration beyond a certain speed. Automatic transmission can overheat easily. 7. Manual transmission system This is the type of transmission in which the driver has to manually change the gear ratio setting by using the gear stick inside the car. There are two types of manual transmissions. The constant mesh design and the sliding gear type. The sliding-gear type, no part is turning inside the transmission case except the main drive gear and cluster gear when the transmission is in neutral. In order to mesh the gears and apply engine power to move the vehicle, the driver pushes the clutch pedal and moves the shift knob, which shifts a linkage and forks to slide a gear along the main shaft that is connected straight above the cluster. Once the gears are meshed, the clutch pedal is released and the power from the engine is sent to the drive wheels. There can be different gears on the main shaft of different diameters and tooth counts, and the transmission shift linkage is designed so the driver has to unmesh one gear before being able to mesh another. With these older transmissions, gear clash is a problem because the gears are all rotating at different speed (Cook, M. 2009) The 5 speed manual transmission gear box has a three plane arrangement order with reverse gear alongside fifth gear and uses a special fluid to operate. Moving forks are attached to three wide base rails that work in arranged bushing for less friction, these moving levers are connected together to the shifting cables. Every one of them uses different way with selected lever and this creates less shifting efforts for a driver, it also avoids to accidentally engaging the reverse gear from fifth because of the way it is designed to operate, it shifts the crossover lever into three to four gear without jamming or binding. The shift knob is usually used to control the gear ratios. The forward gear ratios are synchronized using great capacity dual cone brass (1st and 2nd) and other gears are synchronized with paper friction materials which is more strong and clash resistant than brass. The input shaft uses paper materials synchronizers, by cutting rotating inertia it helps to reduce the shifting effort. A reverse engagement clash can be minimised by using a brake mechanism. The needle roller bearings are fixed to reduce friction and extend gear life. The case itself is cast in only two pieces to reduce leak paths; structural ribs strengthen and harden the case to reduce noise and vibration with small or no extra weight. The case has good bending stiffness, offering a natural frequency above the exciting frequency of the engine at peak rpm (Massey, K. 2010) 8. Clutch system A manual transmission system will not function without a clutch. This is the mechanism that is used for transmitting rotation that can be engaged and disengaged. This is controlled by the driver who uses a special release mechanism to control the movement of the torque between them. The clutch assembly A single disc clutch assembly contains four major parts: the rear face of the flywheel- a driving member the clutch disc- the driven member the pressure plate assembly-a driving member the release mechanism-disengages and engages the clutch (May, E. 2004. p,250) 8.1 Types of clutches Multidisc clutch that contain two or more disc are usually used in automatic transmission, motor cycles and heavy mechanical equipment. While the manual transmission is operated using a dry clutch and there is no lubrication between surfaces. The automatic transmission clutch operates wet, it is enclosed in the transmission case that is full of lubrication fluid. Generally, in automatic transmission there is no clutch pedal and a gear shift (Roymech, 2010) (Genta Morello, 2009 p, 425) There are so many different types of clutches such as cone clutches, wet clutches and dry clutches but the common one uses one or more friction discs that are pushed very tight together or against the fly wheel using a spring. A Clutch contains two rotating shafts, one is operated using pulley and the other one uses a different method, these two shafts are connected together by the clutch so that they can be locked together and rotating at the same time while it engages, or be decoupled and rotate at different speed while it disengages. The input shaft is used at the centre of the pressure to engage the splines of the friction disc hub. The clutch and flywheel assembly spinning as one unit when the engine is rotating. The flywheel is receiving the torque from the engine, uses the friction that is occurring from the clutch discs to the spline hub into the transmission. When the clutch pedal is moved, it manages and controls the movement of the torque between two units. The pressure pl ate can be retracted against the springs force and frees the disc from its clamping action by depressing the pedal. These two units and clamping force can be connected again by releasing the pedal once again. This is a very important mechanism when: Engaging the transmission into gear, the input shaft from the transmission must be disengaged from the engine. The pedal is released slowly, it provides a gradual engagement of the drive, as the facings slips of the friction slip, and this lets the torque to be applied continuously until these two units are connected very tightly. Choosing different ratio, changing gears when the vehicle is moving, for this to happen, the engine torque from the transmission must be interrupted. The disengaged of the transmission that causes the vehicle to stop and let the engine run at idling speed. The co-efficient of friction between the friction facings and their mating surfaces, the total spring force and the amount of facings in contact can decide the torque that is transferred by the clutch. If you want to increase the torque capacity, the diameter of the clutch needs to be increased and this will cause the spring force to increase. Multi plate clutch can be made by having two or more clutch plates as well as increasing the number of facings and torque capacity. They are useful where by reducing the diameter is beneficial or where by increasing the spring strength is undesirable. (CDX online eTextbook). 9. Advantages of manual transmission system The manual transmission vehicles are usually cheaper and good in maintenance compare to the automatic ones, this is because changing of the fluid can be very less, also when it breaks down it is more than likely that the clutch needs to be replaced and this can save you a lot from buying a new or second hand transmission. It gives better control because of the faster shift response, this is mainly due to the bad weather. They can as well be good in braking because the driver is not fighting the effort of the automatic transmission to move forward. It can be good is terms of fuel economy because you can shift the gear into neutral and avoiding driving in lower gears. A skilled driver at shifting gears will have a better traction in snowy, muddy or slippery conditions and might as well be easier to get of the dangerous situation than automatic one. Manual transmission is also lighter in weight. And there is a fun point of view in driving manual because it keeps you active and keeps you aware of what is going on around you (Moore, S. 2010) 10. Disadvantages of manual transmission system Driving manual car in traffic can be very pain full especially when there is a stop start driving, automatic cars are more comfortable in this case. It is very unlikely to find a manual transmission car with a cruise control. Most car now are built in automatic transmission so there is less availability of cars with manual transmission as well as the difficulties in learning how to drive manual transmission cars. 11. Report Summary This has been a successful report and I have researched a lot of information about this topic. Indeed I have acquired a lot transmission system. Here are some few pointed aligned below: History of the transmission What is automatic transmission system Major components of the automatic transmission and how they work Advantages and disadvantages of automatic transmission system What is manual transmission system Clutch assembly and clutch components and how they work Advantages and disadvantages of manual transmission system 12. Conclusions According to my understanding in the report, it shows the main difference between automatic transmission and manual transmission is that automatic transmission uses torque converter to create power while manual transmission uses clutch to engage and disengage the gears. Also automatic cars are in very high demanding since most of the components are controlled by computers now in the car. It also shows that once the automatic transmission breaks it can be very hard and complicated to fix it and this may end up in replacing the whole transmission. In terms of manual gear box, the report shows they are very hard to break or die as well as less maintenance too, this is one of the best things in manual transmission because it can last for long time without anything happen. From my point of view I would always recommend to go for manual car if you enjoy the gear changing ration as I do.

Families Values in Knoxville, Tennessee, Those Winter Sundays, and Two Kinds :: Two Kinds, Amy Tan

Family. What do you think of when you hear that word? Some people think of relatives or the people that they live with. Maybe a stepfather, stepmother, brothers, or sisters. To me, family is love, devotion, and caring. People of a family want to be together and love to do things for each other, such as do the dishes or wash the car for them. The poems that most represent my family values are â€Å"Knoxville, Tennessee† by Nikki Giovanni and â€Å"Those Winter Sundays† by Robert Hayden. The one that does not represent my family as much as the others is â€Å"Two Kinds† by Amy Tan. I love the poem â€Å"Knoxville, Tennessee† by Nikki Giovanni. It gives me a sense of people wanting to be together, family, wanting to be together. Giovanni wrote this poem so that it is told through a child (under the age of ten). The child’s world is made up of his or her family. He or she is mostly with the family â€Å"at the church picnic† (Giovanni 50, line 12) or â€Å"at the church / homecoming† (Giovanni 50, lines17-18). The child goes places with the family and is with them all of the time. He or she has not reached the teenage stage of rebellion and does not mind being with his or her parents. That is why I like this poem. It shows love for family through the uncontaminated eyes of a child. â€Å"Those Winter Sundays† represents family devotion to me. The father in the poem is so devoted to his family that he gets â€Å"up early / and put his clothes on in the blueback cold† (Hayden 51, lines 1-2) to warm the house for them. He does not care about anything except driving the cold away for his family. That is the kind of thing that is done out of true, deep, unconditional love. Families stick together and support each other, even if one is not so kind, like the teenager who fears â€Å"the chronic angers of the house† (Hayden 51, line 9). Families forgive, forget, and keep loving each other. â€Å"Two Kinds† is a story that does not represent my idea of family. The young daughter (Tan) does not obey her mother and continually disappoints her. Her mother wants her to learn piano and believes that she has talent, but Tan does not agree. â€Å"Unlike my mother, I did not believe that I could be anything.

Critical Thinking Triad Insurance Company Essay

Introduction The term critical thinking refers to â€Å" †¦ to a wide range of cognitive skills and intellectual dispositions needed to effectively identify, analyze, and evaluate arguments and truth claims, to discover and overcome personal prejudices and biases, to formulate and present convincing reasons in support of conclusions, and to make reasonable, intelligent decisions about what to believe and what to do†¦ â€Å"   (Bassham, G., et al, 2005).     It serves as the foundation of objective analyses that leads to the correct problem definition resulting in the generation of sound alternative courses of action.   In the absence of critical thinking models, companies can fall into decision-making traps where, unconsciously, they are forced to make the wrong decisions (Langlois, G, 2007). What are the issue and conclusion? The case study, as embodied in the Memorandum to the Chief Executive Officer, dated September 20, 2007, presents a prescriptive issue, to establish or not a leadership development program for Triad Insurance Company of Indianapolis (TICI).   Ms. Denise Khali (Vice-President of Human Resources) specifically recommended disapproval of the proposal submitted by the Director of Operations, Mr. Ralph Clarke. What are the reasons? As VP of human resources and from her personal standpoint, Ms. Khali presented various arguments, notions and ideas to support her recommendation. TICI has 12 senior executives and none has attended a leadership development program. The past performance of TICI casts doubt on the necessity of the program. Supporting reason 1: TICI is over 50 years old.   The continued operation of TICI suggests a successful business undertaking.   Even at over 50 years, there is no end in sight for its continued operations, increasing its going-concern value. Supporting reason 2: TICI has an annual average growth rate of 12%.   There is a presumption that the 12% growth rate is acceptable in the insurance industry where TICI is located. Supporting reason 3: The age and growth factor of TICI are indicative of the company’s prosperity. According to Ms. Khali, the successful and effective leadership experience of TICI suggests that â€Å"leaders are born, not made.† Supporting reason 1: Ms. Khali surveyed TICI’s senior staff on the notion that â€Å"leaders are born, not made.†Ã‚   The survey result showed that all, except one, agreed with this notion. Supporting reason 2: Dr. Carleton Parker, a famous economist, has a similar stance. Supporting reason 3: Ms. Khali refers to an existing â€Å"entire school of leadership theory† that the world’s famous leaders possess common traits – that â€Å"cannot be learned; they are innate.† Ms. Khali cited her personal observation that leaders have a genetically determined tall physical stature. Supporting reason 1: She cited two internet websites Laughter Genealogy and IMDB that presented a partial list of American leaders, of different generations, having a height of more than six feet. Supporting reason 2: All of TICI’s senior staff members have heights of over six feet tall.   With the exception of Mr. Ralph Clarke, the leadership training advocate. The intentions of Mr. Ralph Clarke are doubtful with regards to his ambitions and liberal views on education and achievement. Supporting reason 1: Ms.Khali believes Mr. Clarke covets her position as VP of Human Resources. Supporting reason 2: Ms. Khali believes Mr.Clarke is out to discredit her. Supporting reason 3: According to Ms. Khali, Mr. Clarke believes every citizen can get anything they desire through each citizen’s right to get education. Supporting reason 4: The leadership theories of Aspen Institute do not fit in the culture of TICI. Agreement to the proposal will set off requests for expensive trainings that TICI cannot afford. Training staff without leadership traits is a waste of money. Supporting reason 1: Two research studies, described as â€Å"well-respected,† concluded that personality traits point to a person’s leadership potential.   These two studies appeared in the Journal of Applied Psychology and Leadership Quarterly.   There was no mention of the specific issues where they appeared. Supporting reason 2: Recruitment efforts should focus on applicants with leadership traits. Which words or phrases are ambiguous? We review the reasons cited above for ambiguity.   Vague words undermine the strength of the reasons supporting the conclusion.   The discussion of ambiguity also opens the door to look into the proposal itself for weaknesses and possible points of misunderstanding.   The Background Section identifies the ultimate purpose of the training program as preparation for â€Å"future advancement† of 20 junior executives annually into executive positions.   There was no justification on the number of trainees.   Does TICI have as many executive positions to fill up in the short or medium term?   The phrase â€Å"future advancement† can be broken down into the exact executive positions with vacancy and in what future timeframe.   The training program can be viewed as an investment and the training costs can be matched with the costs of pirating executives to see which is feasible. The term prosperity in Reason 1 can mean increases in value in different things.   The increase can refer to gross sales, net profit, net worth, goodwill, and others.   In the insurance industry, cash flow is not proportionate to sales levels as there is no guarantee in the collection of annual premiums due to nonpayment or termination of contact by the policyholder.   Even if an insurance company is growing in terms of premium sales, there is the possibility of cash flow problems that will translate in operational problems, including training activities by the Human Resource Department. Reason two, uses a very general description of TICI leadership in the words successful and effective.   The words suggest that TICI leadership is successful in all areas of corporate management – finance, operations, marketing, sales, administration, information systems, and others.   If that is the case, there is no need for an outsourced training program.   The best training the junior executives can get is from the company leadership itself.   The Human Resource Department can develop in-house training programs.   Ms. Khali was silent on this possibility.   She did mention training of personnel with leadership traits, but she failed to elaborate. Ms. Khali conducted a survey to support the notion that â€Å"leaders are born, not made.†Ã‚   She did not inform the technicalities as to sample population characteristics, sample size, and others.   It could have been a simple query to a select group such that the procedure itself is biased.   Therefore, in this case, the result is also biased.   The use of the descriptive phrase â€Å"entire school of leadership theory† suggested a huge following but said following is unverifiable. Reason 4 reveals power play and Ms. Khali accuses the Operations Director of discrediting her.   There seem to be an assumption the training proposal of Mr. Clarke is needed by the company and the VP of Human Resources was not able to see or sense this.   Therefore, she may have been bypassed in the formulation of the proposal.   How the leadership theories of Aspen do not fit the culture of TICI is in itself vague. Ms. Khali mentioned subsequent requests for expensive trainings are something TICI cannot afford.   Are they having cash flow problems even if the company is experiencing a long period of prosperity? What are the value conflicts and assumptions? The case facts limit us to values in the work place.   A good reference in analyzing the interplay of values in Triad Insurance is Schwartz’s Values Circumplex (McShane & Von Glinow 2:47, 2005).   The case facts present bipolar positions where the VP of Human Resources assumes conservative values while the Director for Operations assumes values reflecting openness to change.   This explains, in part, the actions of the two protagonists and the values they are assumed to have.   Ms. Khali possesses the values of conformity (adherence to corporate culture), security (tenure and stability) and tradition (moderation and maintenance of the status quo). Mr. Clarke whose values cluster on the opposite side of the model is assumed to possess the values of self-direction (independence in thinking and action) and stimulation (facing challenges and taking risks).   The Schwartz model also has vertical bipolar clusters around self-transcendence and self-enhancement.   From this dimension, only the values clustering around self-enhancement are present, from the facts given in the case.   Both protagonists possess the values of achievement (personal success) and power (dominance over others within the organization).   The conflicting values and assumptions explain the collision course of the two corporate protagonists. What are the descriptive assumptions? The first descriptive assumption is that the senior executives know almost everything about leadership and further training is unnecessary.   This assumption is hard to accept in this age of globalization, which promotes the free flow of information, resources and people (Jrank, 2007).   Several decades ago, the concept of international competition was limited to the big multinationals.   With the developments in information technology, competition is now global in character and big and small players can compete in various geographic locations at the same time or within cyberspace itself. Genetics play an important role in determining leadership traits of every person.   Ms. Khali relied heavily on this descriptive assumption to support her recommendation not to accept Mr. Clarke’s proposal.   Underlying this descriptive assumption is another descriptive assumption that exposes Ms. Khali’s incapability of adequately supporting her arguments.   The data on leader heights she presented to the CEO was taken from the Laughter Genealogy website.   Professional journals are readily accessible in the libraries and the internet and are better sources of reliable data and information. The case did not present much information on Mr. Clarke.   It was apparent that Ms. Khali was wary of Mr. Clarke’s intentions and she was convinced that the latter was after her position.   The manner by which Ms. Khali reacted, gathering supporting arguments left and right and throwing accusations, seemed to indicate another descriptive assumption.   Ms. Khali was insecure of her position in the company for reasons not stated in the case.   She was desperately protecting herself in the ongoing power struggle, as she perceived it. Are there any fallacies in the reasoning? The following analysis on fallacies is based on the article of Haskins (2008) as posted on the Skepdic website. Ms. Khali has committed the fallacy of argument from ignorance and the fallacy of begging the question when she argued that all, except one, senior executive of TICI are over 6 feet tall that explains why they are â€Å"successful and effective† leaders.   She also committed the fallacy of false analogy by quoting Dr. Carleton Parker in proving that only a select group can be leaders and they are genetically determined to become leaders.   What Dr. Parker said is that each human being is born into this world with â€Å"rich, psychical disposition† that provides â€Å"all his motivations of conduct.†Ã‚   She also committed the fallacy of slippery slope when she argued that there would be more requests for expensive trainings if the leadership program were approved. It is only a claim but remains to be proven.   Upon concluding her arguments, she also committed the ad hominem fallacy by shifting her criticisms from the leadership program to the character of Ralph Clarke accusing him of coveting her position.   She resorted to the ad populum fallacy when surveying the acceptance of the notion that leaders are born, not made.   The survey was more of a popularity vote on an idea rather than a serious attempt to establish statistical probabilities. How good is the evidence? The evidences given by Ms. Khali were gathered to support her decision not to recommend the acceptance of the proposal.   On the contrary, whatever position she takes will be more acceptable with a study that will show the feasibility of the proposed program.   She capped her memorandum with personal accusations that were impossible to prove or defend. Are there rival causes? As Vice President of Human Resources, it was the prerogative of Ms. Khali to recommend or not the leadership-training proposal.   It is assumed that anybody n her position will recommend what is best for the company.   The memorandum she wrote was filled with ambiguities and fallacies.   As she cast doubt on the intentions of Mr. Clarke a similar cloud of suspicion hung over her intentions. The manner by which her memorandum was crafted was not deserving of the CEO.   All these factors indicate the possibility of rival causes.   Did Ms, Khali recommend the rejection of the proposal as part of her job as vice president or did she make that recommendation to protect her hold on the position of vice president?   Conflicting values as discussed above indicated a collision course between the two major players in the case.   Corporate executives live with conflict and are expected to resolve them in a professional manner expected of them. Are the statistics deceptive?  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The proposal itself and the arguments against it contain deceptive statistics.   Training 20 junior executives for senior positions every year indicates a requirement stemming from growth or a fast turnover of senior executives.   Both of these two possible reasons remain unsupported throughout the case.   If the number of junior executives for training were down to five, for example, would it have been more realistic for the company?   Ms. Khali did not look at it from this perspective; she simply went all out to prevent project implementation. Dr. Carleton Parker was quoted as supporting the hypothesis that a select group is genetically destined to become leaders.   What Dr. Parker said was all human beings are psychically equipped to face motivations in his lifetime. What significant information is omitted?   The pros and cons of the project proposal did not get equal investigation.   The memorandum would have gained much credibility if the side of Mr. Clarke was sought and presented in the memorandum.   Perhaps, Ms. Khali was not consulted during the formulation of the project proposal causing her personal hurt and doubts as to the real intentions of Mr. Clarke.   In retaliation, she presented only her side of the picture.   In the absence of Mr. Clarke’s arguments, the memorandum could have achieved a sense of balance and fairness if both sides of the coin were represented in all the arguments used. What reasonable conclusions are possible? There were so many ambiguities and fallacies in the memorandum.   Perhaps the CEO will ask an improved version, one expected of a vice president.   A balanced report will provide stronger arguments and the opinion of Mr. Clarke may be required in the modified memorandum.   The CEO may ask other parties to conduct the investigation.   Both the proposal and the arguments have weaknesses and points to the possibility that personal interest weighed heavily against that of the company. Conclusion As mentioned, critical thinking is a requirement to generate the right arguments, generate Alternative courses of action and make the right decisions.   By not following a critical thinking model, the company finds itself with the wrong decisions.   Many decision alternatives are arrived at because of the poor thinking styles used in the process.   As a result, companies unconsciously limit their own decision choices. Langlois (2007) identifies several heuristic (decision) traps companies face.   In the case of TICI, a decision based on Ms. Khali’s memorandum will force the company into a framing trap that prevents the generation of other alternatives to the proposal presented.   It is the responsibilities of the CEO to identify heuristic traps and develop strategies that will guide the company develop a healthy decision making environment. References Bassham, G, Irwin, W, Nardone, H, & Wallace, J (2005). Critical thinking, 2nd ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Haskins, G. (2008). A practical guide to critical thinking.   Retrieved January 20, 2008, from   http://skepdic.com/essays/haskins.pdf Jrank, 2007, Modernization theory – globalization theory.   Retrieved January 16, 2008, from   http://science.jrank.org/pages/10275/Modernization-Theory-Globalization-Theory.html Langlois, H. (2007). The challenge of changing, part II. Massachusetts: Cambridge [Course notes.]   Retrieved   January 14, 2008, from http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/docs/icb.topic203996.files/Challenge_in_Changing092507B.ppt McShane, S.L., Von Glinow, M.A. (2005). Organizational behavior: emerging realities for the workplace revolution, 3rd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Education.

Strategic Planning at the Chronicle Gazette Essays

Strategic Planning at the Chronicle Gazette Essays Strategic Planning at the Chronicle Gazette Essay Strategic Planning at the Chronicle Gazette Essay Student Name: Lee Cheuk Fung Jerff Student ID No. : LE0002110 Course No. : MGT 195 Course Name : Business Policy and Strategy Title of the Assignment: Strategic Planning at The Chronicle Gazette Date of submission: 8 DEC 2011 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Introduction 3 2. State of the newspaper publishing industry today 2. 1Data on Circulation and Revenue 4-6 2. 2 Top 20 U. S. Newspapers Print Circulation 7-8 3 Why newspapers are facing declining circulations and revenues? 3. 1 External Assessment . 11 Rise of the Web , Internet and free information 9 3. 12 Economic downturn put company into the trouble 9 3 Internal Assessment of The Chronicle Gazette 4. 13 Strengths 10 4. 14 Weaknesses 10 4 Strategies in publishing industry to cope with the Challenges 11,12 5 Steps to deal with the challenge 13 6. 1 Short-term steps 6. 2 Long-term steps Strategic Planning at The Chronicle Gazette 1. Introduction The Chronicle Gazette is a leading newspaper in the United States with a circulation of 225,000 customers. Over the past few years, it has been facing a decline in its customer base and revenues. This is mainly due to the increasing dominance of the Internet as a means of disseminating information and news. Susan Feinman, the publisher of The Chronicle Gazette, noted the criticalness of the problem and worried this will become the 21st century equivalent of buggy whip manufacturers. The company is not looking for band-aid solutions but an insight of all the challenges and to work out an effective business strategy. As The Chronicle Gazette has been a steady decline in subscriptions and revenues, this report will present the strategic vision of where the newspaper publishing industry stands today and where it is headed over the next decade. 3. State of the newspaper publishing industry today The U. S. newspaper industry is in the midst of a historic restructuring, buffeted by a deep recession that is battering crucial advertising revenues, long-term structural challenges as readership to free news and entertainment on the Internet, and heavy debt burdens weighing down some major media companies. As the distress mounts – seven U. S. newspaper companies have filed for bankruptcy in the past years – lawmakers are debating possible legislation to assist the industry. Additionally, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will hold a series of workshops in 2009 to look at challenges facing newspapers, television, and radio in the Internet age. There are now about 1,400 daily newspapers in the United States and thousands of community papers, which generally publish weekly or biweekly. A handful of papers, including the Wall Street Journal, USA TODAY, and the New York Times, have a national print readership topping a million or more. The top 50 papers account for about a third of circulation, among them the big city papers that had some of the largest circulation declines in 2008. Overall, the newspaper industry, including printers, reporters, advertising salespeople and other personnel, was a roughly $50 billion business in 2002, according to Census Bureau data, employing about 400,000 people. Over the past few years, there has been a steady decline in the readership of newspapers. Anincreasing number of people are using the Internet to read and view news online for free. Due tothe advancements in Internet, people have free access to news and information online twentyfour hours a day and seven days a week. The news content is available in real time and can beaccessed anytime anywhere in the world. The majority of these online news providers do not levy a fee. As a result, the number of readers willing to pay for news content is reducing and this has a direct impact on the sales of newspapers. 2. 1Data on Circulation and Revenue The following tables and data demonstrating the decline of print circulation and revenue of the newspaper industry A) U. S. Newspapers Circulation in the last decade U. S. Newspapers Circulation forecast Starting decline from the early 90’s (B) Top 20 U. S. Newspapers Print Circulation (Six-Month Period Ending in March 2009) Daily PrintSix Months NewspaperCirculationEnding Mar 2009 USA TODAY 2,113,725 -7. 46% The Wall Street Journal 2,082,189 0. 61% The New York Times 1,039,031-3. 55% Los Angeles Times 723,181 -6. 55% Th e Washington Post 665,383 -1. 16% New York Daily News 602,857 -14. 26% New York Post 558,140 -20. 55% Chicago Tribune 501,202 -7. 47% Houston Chronicle 425,138 -13. 96% The Arizona Republic 389,701 -5. 72% The Denver Post 371,728 NA Newsday 368,194 -3. 01% The Dallas Morning News 331,907 -9. 88% Minneapolis Star-Tribune 320,076 -0. 71% Chicago Sun-Times 312,141 -0. 04% San Francisco Chronicle 312,118 -15. 72% The Boston Globe 302,638 -13. 68% Cleveland Plain Dealer 291,630 -11. 70% Detroit Free Press 290,730 -5. 90% The Philadelphia Inquirer 288,298 -13. 72% Source: Nielsen Online and Editor Publisher. (C) Newspapers Advertising Revenue (D) Top 25 U. S. Newspapers Circulations As of mar 2011 Why newspapers are facing declining circulations and revenues? 4. 2 External Assessment 3. 11 Rise of the Web , Internet and free information The key challenge of traditional newspaper are too much free information from everywhere, internet , web, free newspaper and app. People can know all the things though the forum of a website. And the development of iphone , ipad, and smartsphone let the electronic reading grow fast. Prin t circulation for daily papers fell by 13. 5% from 2001 to 2008, and 17. 3% for Sunday editions. Losses are mounting. Average daily newspaper print irculation fell 7% alone during the six-month period ending March 31, 2009, compared too the same period in 2008 As print circulation declines, online readership is soaring. U. S. newspaper websites averaged more than 73 million individual visitors a month in the first quarter of 2009, up 10. 5% from the same period in 2008. Newspapers are attracting online readers from well beyond their local communities including other cities and countries. Newspaper executives point to surging online readership as an endorsement of their product, saying public interest in news has increased, not diminished. But readership trends are complex, as habits and preferences evolve in response to the enormous array of information available on the Internet, television, and through devices such as hand-held readers and cell phones. Though readers want news, they do not necessarily want it from a traditional paper, and are using multiple sources. For example, there is just one newspaper in the top five news websites. The biggest news websites, in descending order are : MSNBC Digital Network, CNN Digital Network, Yahoo! News, AOL News, and NYTimes. com. MSNBC had nearly twice the online audience of the New York Times. Now is the technology era, television, radio and internet is more popular. The reader can more easily get some information and up to the minute news in them. They are the most threats to newspaper publishing industry. The Chronicle Gazette has the fixed supplier to furnish to the paper and printing inks, also long-term cooperation between us. Therefore, the bargaining power of suppliers is in medium-high level. Many competitors exist in the market. Also, the substitute products come out, such as Yahoo, MSNBC, Hotmail and 24-hours cable news, etc. In additional, they are free. The readers will towards them. Therefore the bargaining power of customers is high. Other so-called aggregators run websites that mix links to newspapers’ stories with some original content, and bloggers frequently mingle newspaper and other reporting with their own commentary and insights. Increasingly individual stories are displayed on the Web as discrete products, separate from a broader newspaper. About 22% of readers who visited newspaper websites arrived indirectly, by first clicking onto online search engines like Google, with another big share arriving through the front page of Web portals like Yahoo or MSN, according to one analysis. A separate 22% came from traffic moving between media and news websites, containing links to specific stories. Once readers arrive at newspaper websites, they spend less time there, on average, than print readers spend reading a traditional newspaper, though some studies show that time online has been increasing. Web readers spend an average of 53 minutes a week with newspapers – or just under eight minutes a day. It is also found, however, that 22% of readers had recently dropped a paid print newspaper or magazine subscription because they could get the paper free online. 3. 2 Economic downturn put company into the trouble The financial crisis in 2008 and the European debt problem let the newspaper industry is in trouble. Some large newspaper companies took on significant debt shortly before the economic downturn hit. Legacy costs are a complicating factor. Many newspapers have traditional, defined-benefit pension plans, which now appear underfunded due to large losses in mar ket investments. It will have to make bigger cash contributions to its pension plans in coming years than previously expected, due to poor market returns and changes in pension law. The company cautioned investors that â€Å"the contributions will place additional strain on the company’s liquidity needs. Investors have soured on newspapers. Some large newspaper companies saw their stock prices drop by more than 80% last year – far beyond the overall decline in the publishing industry and various stock indices. Newspaper stock prices rebounded a bit in 2009, but are still near historic lows. With revenues declining and their ability to raise new capital impaired, some newspaper companies are in danger of breaching financing agreements with their lenders. If that happens, lenders could terminate lines of credit and call in existing loans. 3 Internal Assessment of The Chronicle Gazette 4. 1 Strengths * Good reputation on brand name for good quality * Accumulated significant market share * With experienced and professional workforce * Conservative corporate investment policy which had minimized lost during the economic recession * Top Managements all have the will to change and are ready for transformation 4. 2 Weaknesses Deficient in proactive action to the challenge of Internet and Web threats * Without a focus work team to nurture innovative ideas and develop new products * Inadequate of interaction with audiences in both online website and traditional print newspaper and so can have updated news. * Insufficient technology knowledge and experience in terms of people and equipments * A rigid hierarchy organizational structure which impede employees’ motivation to propose new ideas or changes 5. Strategies in publishing industry to cope with the Challenges The newspaper industry in the United States is faced with multiple challenges of reducedreadership, increased costs and competition from new media companies, such as Google. Amajority of the newspapers have online versions of their editions on websites. They have alsoother measures to increase circulation and improve profitability. Newspapers have increased the prices for both the subscriptions and single buy purchase. They are also analyzing the markets they serve to understand the cost-benefit dynamic of each market. As a result, some newspapers have cut back on circulation to remote areas where the revenues earned are more than the cost of delivery. The Wall Street Journal is one of the leading newspapers in the United States, which has changed its market strategy and business model to overcome the challenges in the publishing industry. Through its website, www. wsj. com, the paper provides online access of its news content to readers. As of April 2010, the Wall Street Journal had 414,025 e-subscriptions. Though the website is available online, not all of the content is free. The Journal has formulated a mixed price strategy where it provides both free and paid content. The popular sections of the news content, such as politics, sports, arts and entertainment is free. Niche coverage such as editorials, opinions and articles on business and financial topics can be viewed only for a fee. Indepth coverage, analysis, opinions and reviews are available only to paid users(PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2010). By adopting this strategy of free and paid access, the WallStreet Journal has been able to increase its e-readership base. The free access to popular content attracts more traffic on its website. This brings in more advertising revenues and increases profitability. At the same time, it helps in building a relationship with new readers. They are aware of the useful content available on wsj. com and are willing to pay for more in-depth coverage and analysis. Another important measure taken by the Wall Street Journal is embracing the digital revolution and becoming a part of it. The Wall Street Journal is available on Apple’s iPad. This move helps the Journal to widen its market and tap younger readers who are technologically savvy. As of June 2010, the Journal had sold more than 10,000 subscriptions and generated $2. million in revenues from the iPad (Business Insider, Inc. , 2010). There are companies at the other end of the spectrum in the newspaper industry who have adopted drastic measures to cope with the challenges. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer was facing significant losses for a few years. In 2008, the paper’s losses amounted to $14 million. As aresult, i ts owner The Hearst Corporation decided to shut down its print operations (GuardianNews and Media Limited, 2010). The Company had to make the hard decision of stopping publication of the 146-year old newspaper. It stopped delivery to nearly 117,600 weekday readers (Hearst Seattle Media, LLC, 2010). In March 2009, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer rolled out its final print edition. It decided to publish only the online version, www. seattlepi. com of the paper. The paper reduced its staff headcount drastically from 165 to 20 (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2010). Since the paper transformed into an entirely digital web format, its website, www. seattlepi. com, has had 4 million visitors per month with 40 million page views. With a reduced headcount, the website covers major topics, such as politics, sports and local happenings by itself. It also sources stories through wire services and other news agencies. The website also makes use of 150 local bloggers for regional content (World Editors Forum, 2010). 6. Steps to deal with the challenge 7. 1. Short-term steps For the short-term, The Chronicle Gazette should study its organization structure and ensure that the human capital is being effectively used in the business. And it will publish the edition tabloid for free. And we will recruit the new employee have experience in technology, he will establish the E-newspaper and for future technology and internet issue. . 2. Long-term steps Adopt a multimedia mindset, viewing the business as a portfolio of products and services with different business models, pricing and distributions strategiesWe establish email and discussion area in our web-site for the reader offer the information. First of all, it is to attract much more reader to our platform. Second, we will know their favorite orientation in they provided the data. T hird, it can increase the subject in our newspaper and E-newspaper by reader offered data.

Japanese Counters Used for Counting Objects

Japanese Counters Used for Counting Objects Lets learn how to count in Japanese. Every language has a different way of counting objects; the Japanese use counters. They are similar to English expressions such as a cup of ~, a sheet of ~ and so on. There are a variety of counters, often based on the shape of the object. Counters are attached directly to a number (e.g. ni-hai, san-mai). Following the next couple of paragraphs, we have included counters for the following categories: objects, duration, animals, frequency, order, people and others. Things which are not clearly categorized or shapeless are counted by using native Japanese numbers (hitotsu, futatsu, mittsu etc.). When using a counter, pay attention to the word order. It is different from English order. A typical order is noun particle quantity- verbs. Here are examples. Hon o ni-satsu kaimashita.æÅ" ¬Ã£â€šâ€™Ã¤ ºÅ'冊è ² ·Ã£ â€žÃ£  ¾Ã£ â€"㠁Ÿã€‚I bought two books.Koohii o ni-hai kudasai.ã‚ ³Ã£Æ' ¼Ã£Æ'’ãÆ' ¼Ã£â€šâ€™Ã¤ ºÅ'æ  ¯Ã£  Ã£   Ã£ â€¢Ã£ â€žÃ£â‚¬â€šPlease give me two cups of coffee.Another thing we  want to mention is that when the Japanese group objects they divide them into groups of five and ten, unlike the typical groupings of six and twelve in the West. For example, sets of Japanese dishes or bowls are sold in units of five. Traditionally, there was no word for a dozen, though it has been used because of Western influence.ObjectsWhen combining a number with a counter, the pronunciation of the number or the counter might change.hon æÅ" ¬ - Long, cylindrical objects: trees, pens, etc.mai æžš - Flat, thin objects: paper, stamps, dishes, etc.ko 個 - Broad category of small and compact objectshai æ  ¯ - Liquid in cups, glasses, bowls, etc.satsu 冊 - Bound objects: books, magazines, etc.dai Ã¥  ° - Vehicles, machines etc.kai 階 - The floor of a buildingken ä » ¶ - Houses, buildingssoku è ¶ ³ - Pairs of footwear: sock, shoes, etc.tsuu 通 - LettersDurationjikan 時éâ€"“ - Hour, as in ni-jikan (two hours)fun 分 - Minute, as in go-fun (five minutes)byou ç §â€™ - Second, as in sanjuu-byoo (thirty seconds)shuukan é€ ±Ã©â€"“ - Week, as in san-shuukan (three weeks)kagetsu 㠁‹æÅ"ˆ - Month, as in ni-kagetsu (two months)nenkan Ã¥ ¹ ´Ã©â€"“ - Year, as in juu-nenkan (ten years)Animalshiki Ã¥Å' ¹ - Insects, fish, small animals: cats, dogs, etc.tou é   ­ - Large animals: horses, bears, etc.wa ç ¾ ½ - BirdsFrequencykai 回 - Times, as in ni-kai (twice)do Ã¥ º ¦ - Times, as in ichi-do (once)Orderban ç• ª - Ordinal numbers, as in ichi-ban (first place, number one)tou ç ­â€° - Class, grade, as in san-too (third place)Peoplenin ä º º - Hitori (one person) and futari (two people) are exceptions.mei Ã¥   - More formal than nin.Otherssai æ ­ ³/æ ‰  - Age, as in go-sai (five years old)Ippon demo Ninjin is a fun children song for learning about counters. Pay attention to the different counters used for each item.

Smartphone Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Smartphone - Lab Report Example one owners (or potential owners) are aimed at tracing the constantly varying preferences of the audience, and make corresponding changes in the construction, electronic stuffing, as well as applications. While leaders of the smartphone market set the tendency, the others have to trim the sales to the wind; nevertheless, everyone has to study the needs and preferences of the potential customers. Marketing Details. Problem Definition In accordance with the research by Bojei and Hoo (2012), the smartphone audience has increased essentially for the recent several years. The 2012 surveys show that almost half of the mobile consumers in the USA, Western Europe, and Australia own smartphones, and this amount is expected to reach 70% level in 2014. From the viewpoint of the profit share, the smartphone segment is essentially more profitable. Therefore, Apple Inc. holds up to 52% of the smartphone segment operating income. Samsung is featured with 29%. The key questions that the research is f ocused on are as follows: 1. What are the smartphone segment leaders 2. What are the key factors of the gadget popularity 3. What parameters are used for evaluating gadgets The key problem of the research is mainly based on defining the image of the audience. Since the growth of the smartphone segment is quite exceptional, it should be stated that the overall marketing study should not touch upon the communication aspect. This can be explained by the fact that smartphones are also used for shopping, leisure, navigation, sport activities, etc. For at least 20% of smartphone users, this gadget has become the primary way of internet access. In fact, the mobile phone segment study is not a novelty in marketing, since the surveys are arranged from the moment smartphones have become a mass... It is stated that the global phone market growth has decreased over the last two years. This is explained by the fact that the markets are highly penetrated, and the growth for the account of new customers can not compensate the growth decrease. Nevertheless, the smartphone segment of mobile gadgets tends to grow, and the aim of the current research is to evaluate and analyze the customers’ demands and needs in smartphones. Therefore, the current research is focused on the matters of studying the smartphone segment, and the key research effort is associated with studying the preferences of the audience. The data collection process involved filling out the questionnaire only, while data analysis required using additional sources for the proper interpretation of the primary data analysis. Proper analysis required marketing, economic, and industry data as a basis of the questionnaire analysis. Hence, the research was based on the actual researches, theories and patterns, and the outcomes of the qualitative research analysis will not be randomized as in case of pure studies. Considering the necessity to analyze the mass of statistical data, the research involved quantitative approaches as well. These are based on the SSPS data analysis, however, the number of respondents is not sufficient for proper statistic evaluation. This paper approves that the individuality of the customers is not considered in the research, however, some information was collected through personal communication.

A summary post us even more important in this forum given the range of Coursework

A summary post us even more important in this forum given the range of issues thathave been covered - Coursework Example market and sets high prices than the prices at which the buyers are willing to buy at leading to the restriction of supply quantity and a reduction in the demand of the consumers for the product due to the high prices (Varoufakis, 1998). One example of a monopoly is the government of Saudi Arabia that has total control for supply of oil and the whole oil industry. Other examples include Sky film that has led to increased prices in the pay television business in the UK. Inappropriate competition may result to an oligopoly, which is a form of market failure where a small number of firms dominate the market and decisions by one firms influences that of other firms in the market (Howard et al., 2009). Collusion among the firms leads to setting of higher prices and limiting of supplier affecting the consumers in the market. Examples of oligopolies include Tesco, Sainsbury, Morrisons, and Asda, which have 74.4% of the grocery market and Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds TSB, Natwest, and Halifax, which together dominate the banking sector in the United Kingdom. Inappropriate information may also result to a situation characterized by one buyer influencing the decisions of the suppliers in the market, a situation referred to as a monopsony (Ferguson, 2004). An example of a monopsony in the Natural Led Lumber Media Company where it is the only company conducting lumbering operations in Lumber town. As demonstrated in the above examples of monopoly, oligopoly, and monopsony as cases for inappropriate competition, leading to market failure, which results in the lack of a free market mechanism for allocation of goods and services demonstrated by these conditions in the