Saturday, August 31, 2019

Groupon Analysis

1. Research process As the secondary data on evaluation of customers in Vietnam with regard to groupon are not available, the method to be used in this study is almost research employing a combination of qualitative and quantitive approaches. Problems de? nition Quantitive research Research design Qualitative research Questionnaire online survey Sampling Fieldwork Data analysis Managerial implications Figure : the stages of customers evaluation research Normally the starting point of any research process is the research problem and research objectives.The next stage is to design plans of getting information of both quantitive and qualitative ? gures. Then the the objectives transform in to questionnaire. In the survey both quantitive and qualitative questions are used. Multiple choices with scale measure is used on the other hand question with open answers are use to identify the quantitive problems. Information to be obtained should be determined prior to the building of questionnai re. Table 1 shows how information is to be collected. Each variable have 5 question to determine. Variables Reliability! Who to ask Customer!What to get How is the customer valuation of groupon companies’s reliability ! How is the customer valuation of groupon companies’s responsibility!! How is the customer valuation of groupon companies’s assurance! How is the customer valuation of groupon companies’s empathy! ! How is the customer valuation of groupon companies’s tangibles! Responsibility Customer Assurance Customer Empathy! Customer! Tangibles Customer! The next step after questionnaires were designed and sampled, ? eldwork was executed that involved the completion and return of questionnaire. Data analysis can start after the returned questionnaire were checked.Finally, the research process ends with the most important part that is the managerial implications. 2. Quantitative study The purpose of the quantitative study is to identify the relat ionship between 5 factors reliability, responsibility, assurance, empathy and tangibles and the quality of groupon companies’s services. The details about sampling, data collection and data analysis methods are described in the next part. a. Sampling †¢ Sample size: a sample of 390 people was drawn from residents living or working in some districts in Hanoi and some part of districts 1 Ho Chi Minh city. 90 people answered some question to classify in 3 groups which are the people have used groupon service, the people never use groupon service but they know about it and the people never use groupon and do not know anything about it. As expected, 50 percents of people who were asked to do survey are student because large number of people who use groupon to buy product and services is low income people; 30 percents of that is white collar worker the reason is that they have to work with computer and internet in plenty hours in a day and they want to buy product with low cos t lso and the last group of people the survey focusing on is housewives which is have 20 percents in total sample. Sample should include both women and men, belonging to 5 groups of age (from 18 years old to over 55 years old). †¢ Selection criteria: the selection criteria for those participating in the study were age (between 18 and over 55 years old), income ( at least more than 1 million Vietnam dong per month), ability to use computer and the internet ( because almost all groupon companies are working base on internet environment).In addition, respondents should not be acquaintances of each other because they can share the same attitude about some services and companies. b. Data collection The questionnaire consists of 25 questions to determine 25 items which belong to 5 factors. These factors were developed from the study model Serqual . The Likert ? ve-point scale was used for those items that aimed to measure consumer’s evaluation and felling. †¢ Factors 1: r eliability have 5 questions which were designed to explore customer’s belief †¢ Factors 2: responsibility was aimed to ? d out the felling of customers about responsibility of the companies whether they can respond the requirement of customer immediately or with some delays. This factor was determined by 5 questions †¢ Factor 3: Assurance is the factor which have 5 question to measure the security of the companies’s service. †¢ Factor 4: empathy use 5 question to explore if the staff of companies try to help and understand customer or not. †¢ Factor 5: tangible have 5 question to determine like the last 4 factor. Those question use to evaluate the appearance of the companies such as the website, voucher or uniforms of staffs.Every question uses multiple choices with ? ve-point scale from 1-5 which mean terrible, poor, average, very good and excellent. The questionnaire was translate into Vietnamese and pre-test on 5 respondents to ensure the correct understanding and the ease of answering. Pretest results were satis? ed. The questionnaire were distributed to 730 persons in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh city via online survey which is designed by Google and send by email, direct message and social networking(Facebook, Twitter). (Appendix Phu luc bang hoi )Of 730 person sent survey 390 returned result, of which 163 were usable (163 respondents use groupon as the media to shopping). The valid questionnaire must (1) not having more than ? ve missing values; (2) not selecting all â€Å"1† or all â€Å"5† for all questions. The distribution of questionnaires and the collections of returned ones were carried out from 8th October to 20th October 2012. c. Data analysis Answers from the respondents were reviewed for completion and usefulness. Accepted questionnaire were coded and the raw data input in the SPSS package version 20 for Mac.The reliability of measurement scales was evaluated using Cronbach’s alpha value. A scal e is reliable if the alpha is higher than 0. 6. Descriptive analysis is used to describe the variables in term of frequency. Due to the small size sample, subgroup analysis is not meaningful. Analysis variance (ANOVA) or cross tabulation results therefore were not used. The lis of codi? ed variables is shown in Appendix phu luc cac bien Factor analysis was used to reduce the number of variables and to identify the underlying common dimensions.Factor scores were then analyzed using multiple regressions, through linear relationships between a dependent variable and various independent variables (predictors) were determined. 3. Results 3. 1 Sample pro? le Groupon-buying discount products or services online are consumed by a large number of population due to the development of the internet past 10 years. Sample includes 46 men and 117 women, aged from 18 to over 18 years old with the majority being the age group of 18-24 years old. Of 162 respondents 20. 2% using groupon for their work, 64. 4% using for their personal purpose and 15. % using groupon to buy products and services for both purposes which are personal and work. More than 60% of people who are asked have a low income which is less than 5 million Vietnam dong per month, it can be reasonable when most of groupon customer have a low income and it may explain that price is very importance when they decide to buy somethine. And a large number of the respondents are student which are a young generation. They can easily using internet and modern way of shopping. Figure : Gender distribution Figure : Purpose distribution 15% 28% 20% 72% 64% Man Women Personal WorkPersonal and work Figure : Age distribution Figure : Monthly income 1% 7% 13% 16% 11% 12% 79% 9million 5-9 million other 61% 18-24 25-29 30-40 40-50 Figure : Job distribution 150 100 50 0 Student New employee Employee Housewife Other Table show the demographic characteristics of the sample with regards to gender, age, income, job and voucher’s value. Table : Summary samples’s characteristic Percentage (n=162) Female Gender Male 18-24 25-29 Age 30-40 40-50 less than 5 million 5-9 million Monthly income more than 9 million other Student New employee Jobs Employee Housewife Other 1. 500. 000 11% 16% 69. % 12. 3% 15. 3% 1. 8% 0. 6% 17. 8% 69. 9% 9. 2% 1. 8% 1. 2% 7% 1% 61% 12% 28% 79% 13% 72% 3. 2 Descriptive analysis In the study, ? ve factors were used to measure customer evaluation and felling. For the statistical purpose all variables were described in term of frequencies (percentage) and average values (means). Finding related to customer’s evaluation and felling are summarized in tables. a. ! How customers trust groupon companies services in Vietnam, those thing can show up by some factors such as the quality of products what companies guaranteed and the punctuation of delivery. Consequently, the result will show how customer believe in companies and their goods. Groupon companies always sale all product w ith a very cheap price so this factor explore how is the customer’s belief. Table : Customer’s belief in groupon companies Percentage (n=163) Terrible/ poor 2. The customer’s belief in discount price 3. The customer’s thinking of products and services qualities 4. Delivery’s punctuation 5. Customer care staffs’s knowledge 6. Customer care staffs’s respond 22. 6% 21. 5% 17. 8% 19. 6% 22. 7% Very good/ excellent 30. 7% 31. 3% 55. % 42. 9% 34. 7% Average value (means) 3. 08 3. 10 3. 53 3. 29 3. 21 As can be seen that customer belief indicator is more than 3 but still below than 4. The respondents accepted and trust those companies. b. How customers evaluate the responsibility of Vietnamese groupon companies: Online shopping is very different from traditional shopping because clients can pay money and have goods or services immediately so that responsibility is a very important factor to rate ? rms’s qualities. It can be seen that customer evaluate ? rm’s after sale service is poor .It is probably due to many groupon companies in Vietnam think that responsibility which is taking care customers after they had bought products and service belong to suppliers, they only have to sale goods. It may lead to 47,9% of respondent thinks ? rm’s responsibilities are terrible and poor. Table : Response to companies’s responsibility Percentage (n=163) Terrible/ poor 7. Staffs's enthusiasm 8. Companies solve your problems actively 9. Hotline for customer care 10. Recheck customer’s information to ensure fast and correct delivery 11. After sales services 16. 6% 26. % 31. 3% 23. 9% 47. 9% Very good/ excellent 40. 5% 27. 6% 33. 8% 44. 1% 19. 6% Average value (means) 3. 28 3. 08 3. 06 3. 29 2. 60 From the table it can be concluded that ? rm’s responsibility is acceptable but they some aspects are poor for instance hotline and after sales services. c. How customer rate companies’s assura nce: Not as tradition transactions, online shopping should have a more secure transaction. Most of payments for groupon company are electronic payment which have many potential risk. As the result keep customers’s personal and payment data is very essential.Vietnamese people do not care much about security but in the modern life but when credit card, online wallet etc†¦ are becoming more popular everyday it has to be a factor to evaluate service qualities Table : Customer evaluation of transaction assurance Percentage (n=163) Terrible/ poor 12. Trading process is quick and exactly 13. Privacy of transaction 14. Company always keep clients's data safe 15. Contrasts are sensible and clear 16. Reputation of companies 22. 1% 10. 4% 17. 2% 11. 7% 14. 7% Very good/ excellent 44. 1% 56. 4% 52. 5% 55. 2% 40. 5% Average value (means) 3. 33 3. 9 3. 54 3. 60 3. 29 Every items belonging to assurance factor are shown on the table. It is believed that respondents rate this factor pret ty good. d. How companies and their staff empathize customers: This factor was designed to uncover customer’s felling about companies’s empathy. There is an idiom that â€Å"customers are always right† so that communication between sellers and their customers is very importance . Those 5 questions explore how respondent think about staff attitude and empathy. Table : Customers’s evaluation of companies’s empathy Percentage (n=163) Terrible/ poor 17.Staffs’s behavior and attitude 18. Companies's staff pay attention of customers's private requirement 19. Customer always feel convenient and satisfied of services 20. Company makes improvement after client’s complain 21. Clients don’t have to wait for a long time to user service 14. 1% 27. 6% 21. 5% 31. 3% 21. 5% Very good/ excellent 46. 7% 35. 6% 33. 1% 20. 9% 41. 1% Average value (means) 3. 37 3. 09 3. 14 2. 88 3. 31 The table show that customer’s evaluative criteria is une ven, some items have a high value some is quite low.Respondents evaluate that improvements of company after their complain are poor, 31. 3% think that it terrible and poor. e. How is the tangibles of companies: Although almost all groupon companies do not impress their customer by a fancy shop or building but there are some aspects to evaluate their tangibles such as their vouchers and websites whether they are beautiful or ease of recognizing. Respondents think that about these 2 things groupon companies do well and they probably appreciate that. However there is a aspect having a low evaluation by respondents which is staffs’s uniform.It can be a result of companies category which is online company because of that they do not think staff’s uniform is the serious problem. Table : Customers’s evaluation of companies’s Tangibles Percentage (n=163) Terrible/ poor 22. Transaction place 23. Vouchers design 24. Website designed 25. Staff uniform 26. Transporte rs have transportations to deliver products to clients quickly and safe. 19% 11. 6% 8. 6% 33. 2% 16. 6% Very good/ excellent 45. 4% 59. 5% 64. 4% 24% 46. 6% Average value (means) 3. 42 3. 66 3. 74 2. 85 3. 41 4. 3 Factors in? encing groupon services quality a. Evaluation of the measuring scales In the reliability analysis, items that have total-item correlation smaller than 0. 6 were removed from the scales but in this sample there is no variable was eliminated. All items were tested for reliability. The resulting Cronbach alpha of each scale is presented in Table . Table : Alpha values Codi? ed variables Reli1-Reli5 Res1-Res5 Assu1-Assu5 Emp1-Emp5 Tan1-Tan5 Number of items 5 5 5 5 5 Alpha value 0. 804 0. 831 0. 863 0. 826 0. 856 Measurement Scale Reliability!Responsibility Assurance Empathy! Tangibles b. Factor analysis Twenty four variables were submitted for factor analysis. The extraction method used was Principal Axis Factoring, accepting all Eigen values which are higher than 1. The rotation method was Oblimin with Kaiser Normalization; rotation was coverged in 9 iteration. The factor analysis resulted in e Component 1 Tan1 Tan2 Emp5 Tan5 Tan3 Tan4 Assu3 Assu2 Assu4 Emp1 Assu5 Emp4 Res5 Res3 Emp3 Emp2 Res4 Reli5 Res1 Reli4 Res2 Reli2 Reli1 Reli3 Assu1 Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization. a. Rotation converged in 9 iterations. 2 0. 767 0. 760 0. 742 0. 714 0. 699 0. 561 0. 803 0. 771 0. 732 0. 552 0. 542 3 4 5 0. 521 0. 708 0. 609 0. 580 0. 550 0. 502 0. 524 0. 772 0. 754 0. 723 0. 564 0. 784 0. 746 0. 549 Eigen values and variance of each factor are indicated in Appendix Ph? l? c Eigen. The factor correlation matrix (Appendix Ph? l? c ma tr? n tuong quan) illustrates that the correlation between factors is insignificant (correlation coefficient are smaller than 0. ). This is an underlying assumption required for multiple regression. For those variables that load on two factors, the higher loa d on two factors, the factor with higher value is selected. However if loading difference is not significant (that is not more than 0. 3) the variable will not be used for multiple regression (Tan4 and Emp2). Table Nr :Factor nomination Factor name Transaction place Vouchers design Clients don’t have to wait for a long time to user service 1 Tangibles Having transportations to deliver quickly and safe.Website designed Staff uniform Company always keep clients's data safe Privacy of transaction 2 Assurance Contrasts are sensible and clear Staffs’s behavior and attitude Reputation of companies Company makes improvement after client’s complain After sales services 3 Responsibility Hotline for customer care Customer’s convenience and satisfaction of services Attention of customers's private requirement Customer care staffs’s respond Staffs's enthusiasm 4 Staff quality Customer care staffs’s knowledge Companies solve your problems actively Factor componentNr Factor name Factor component The customer’s thinking of products and services qualities 5 Reliability The customer’s belief in discount price Delivery’s punctuation The above 5 factors were considered independent variables in the multiple regression model and the dependent variable was â€Å"Quality of groupon service†. Multiple regression results are presented in the next section. c.Multiple regression Multiple regression is use to identify the relationship between the dependent variable and many independents variables. The multiple regression model has the following form: Y= ? + ? 1X1 + ? 2X2 + ? 3X3 + ? 4X4 +†¦.. + ? nXn The relationship between the dependent variable â€Å"Quality of groupon service† and the factors identified through the above factor analysis is determined using multiple regression. Table shows the variance of this analysis. Tab

Friday, August 30, 2019

Examine the Changes in Location and Development of Tourism Activities Essay

The changes in location and development of tourism activities over the past 50 years can be linked to advantages in air travel, economic growth and the development of technology linked to the internet dangers in the type and availability of accommodation for tourism has also been responsible for changes in the development of tourism activities. Population growth must also be considered when explaining changes in the development of tourism. Booking flights and hotels is now much easier. You can use a travel agent, but increasingly more people are going online to book their own flights and hotels and flights either directly or through agents. It is also possible to look at customer reviews so you can assess the quality of hotels, tours, etc. As communication and transport improved, more people hear about and travel to new places. At the same time that new destinations are discovered, more and more people are going on holidays on these places. Improved communication has not only made booking holidays easier, it has also meant people can now keep in contact much easier while abroad. This has removed the worry from many families. You can now update your status on Twitter or Facebook or send e-mail or texts to family letting them know where you are or what are you doing. It is now just as easy to communicate with your family half way around the world as it is from the next street. English is slowly become an international language – it is the most widely spoken second language. As the number of English speakers increase, more and more people are confident about going on holiday and knowing that they will be able to communicate. As the tourism industry develops the amount of multilingual guides is also increasing so it is possible to visit a foreign country and go on a tour in your native language. Even with the on-going global economic downturn, the world economy is growing. This economic growth is being led by the so called emerging economies e.g. China, Russia and India. With economic growth ore individuals are removed from poverty and are able to afford to go on holiday. People can afford holidays when there disposable income increases. Disposable income is the amount of money left over after all bills are paid for. Over the past 50 years the relative cost of transport has fallen and the ease of moving between countries has increased. Car ownership has increased, new train networks have been built and new airports opened. In the last decade low-cost airlines have emerged and increased tourism. Low-cost airlines offer cheaper flights that normal airlines by removing added extras like airport check-in, in-flight meals, checked baggage and seat selection. The growth of transport has meant people can go on more holidays and also go on shorter holidays (weekend breaks). We are now saturated with advertising on billboards, in magazines, on TV and increasingly online. These adverts make us aware of new destinations and persuade us to visit new places. There has also been a growth of TV programs just about holiday destinations. The emergence of credit cards has made it much easier to pay for holidays and it has made it easier for people to buy things once on holiday. Credit cards can be used to pay for hotels and flights online and can be used to pay for things on holiday or take local currency out of ATMs. Credit cars remove the worry of carrying large amounts of money and the time of exchanging currencies. In conclusion, the growth and changes in location of the tourism in the last 50 years it is caused by thing that went occurring by the pass of the year but the most important is the technology that it grows allot in the last 50 years. The tourism grow because booking flight and hotels is now much more easier, the communication improved so now the people can keep in contact being in any country in the world, the transport is better and cheaper, credit cards has made it much easier to pay for holidays.

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Harry Potter And The Order Of the Phoenix Essay

J. K. Rowling is the author of the Harry Potter books series that began with the book Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone while Warner Bros. owns the rights to produce the movies based upon the book series. The latest outing of the movie version of the book series is the adventure filled â€Å"Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix†, movie number 5 of a 7 series film outing. Released in the year 2007, the CGI heavy film stars Daniel Radcliffe in the titular role together with Emma Watson and Rupert Grint portraying the highly important support characters of Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley respectively. The now more light colored movie setting, when compared to the previous directorial jobs of Chris Colombus and Alfonso Cuaron, was imagined and crafted by the imagination of first time Harry Potter director David Yates. In order to be able to follow the story as it unfolds throughout the movie, one must be an avid Harry Potter book or movie follower for the storyline of the movie is not for the uninitiated and will leave any viewer without a background in the story series feeling frustrated and left out of some of the seemingly inside jokes being thrown around in the movie (e. g.  Who are you and what have you done with Hermione Granger? ) The film picks up the story from where the prior movie, â€Å"Harry Potter And The Goblet of Fire† left off. Harry is coming to terms with the death of Cedric Diggory at the end of the previous movie while also trying to figure out who he really is as a person. Is he a bad person trying to be good or, as his Godfather Sirius Black told him â€Å"just a good person to whom bad things happen? † All of his personal doubts make him choose isolate himself from even his closest friends because of the way most of the school views him as a liar. As a character, Harry develops like any normal teenage boy. He dabbles in the typical first love, first kiss, and often rebellious streak that his main nemesis, Lord Voldemort, portrayed in the film by the superb British actor Ralphe Fiennes, often takes advantage of. I observed this particular movie to be, in a a way, the coming of age for the students of Hogwart’s School Of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Although the screenplay writer Michael Goldenberg took tremendous amounts of liberties in the retelling of the book, the main plot and lessons from the book still managed to translate well to the big screen. After all, it is no joke trying to translate an 870 page book to the big screen with a running time of almost 3 hours. Die hard fans of the book will probably scream â€Å"Sacrilege! † at the way certain key elements that were perceived in the book, such as the magic mirror Sirius gave to Harry on Christmas Day, or the jinxed DA coins that Hermione gave to the member of their little organization in order to prevent the members from telling about what they were up to in the Room Of Requirement. But I guess that one will realize that all the key elements were retained within in one way or another. The fans will also most likely not appreciate the way certain duties in the book seemed to have gotten reassigned in the movie. For example, in the book, it was a member of the DA who told Prof. Umbridge about where their organization meets, not Cho Chang. What did help the story to move along quite well on film is the total cutting out of the minor subplots in the book that really had no place in the movie version. The real magic of the Harry Potter movie series seems to lie in the way that author J. K.  Rowling has managed to write a book series that mirrors the problems facing teenagers in such a way that the readers and the movie viewers who grew up with the story will be experiencing the same things almost simultaneously in real life. The movie has real lessons to teach, such as standing up and fighting for what one believes in, believing in yourself and accepting the consequences of your actions, and finally, knowing that there is always an easier way out of things but that may not always be the right path to take.

Principles of economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Principles of economics - Essay Example According to the way people make decisions People face trade-off People face trade-off in the economy. A trade-off occurs where one has to give up something for something else. One can forego a resource so that they can spend it somewhere else (Mankiw, Gregory, 2014). For example, when a student is given upkeep money, they can decide to purchase extra study materials and reduce the amount of snacks they take daily. The price of a good is what you pay to have it To obtain a product, one must pay for it. The cost that one pays to obtain something and fore go the benefit of the other is called the opportunity cost. For example, one has to pay fees to spend time to gain knowledge of a particular skill. Therefore, it is important to consider the opportunity cost so as to make decision as to whether to undertake an action. In most cases, the chosen course of action has a lower opportunity cost. If the forgone choice has a lower opportunity cost, then there is no economic feasibility. Rational people think at the margin Economists take it that individuals are rational in decisions, and that they take the best options to achieve their goals, given certain opprotunities.Example, a company may decide to higher highly competent people who will produce a very high output within a shorttime.This will help maximize returns (Mankiw, Gregory, 2014). Individuals react or incentives – People, being rational decision makers, would be sensitive to rewards and punishments (Mankiw, Gregory, 2014).

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

How to use social media to raise awareness and reduce the rate of car Research Proposal

How to use social media to raise awareness and reduce the rate of car accidents - Research Proposal Example In addition, new hypotheses may be generated using numerical data collected during a research. However, it is the qualitative analysis of data rather than numerical computation that actually gives meaning to any given research. This research proposal attempts to study research methodologies (qualitative and quantitative), their characteristics, importance, suitability of application and circumstances under which one method is more suitable than the other. Further, it investigates the importance of using mixed methods of research. It is divided into three sections. The first section tackles into detail qualitative research, quantitative research and mixed research methods. The second section studies into detail the process of undertaking a quantitative research study, taking into detail the steps involved. The third section attempts to apply the processes and concepts of quantitative research methods to conduct a research on How to use social media to raise awareness and reduce the rate of car accidents. This type of research is n normally used when a researcher aims at gaining a deeper understanding of a specific event rather than a superficial understanding/ knowledge of a large sample in a population. The main goal of qualitative research is to provide a concise outlook into the order, structure and the exact relationships between the research parameters. Rather than introduce manipulative variables that impose the researcher’s operational definitions on the research parameters, it allows the true meaning of the research emerge on its own from the research. This means it is more flexible and adaptable to most situations since data collection tools, methods and concepts are easily adjusted to meet the needs of the research at any stage. In order to bring the best results out of every research situation, qualitative

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Artifact Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Artifact - Essay Example They are a source of comfort and give us the opportunity to connect with ourselves when alone. I don’t consider the rocking chair as a piece of furniture but something that I can resort to when I need to rejoice the moments spent with my grandfather or when I need sometime for myself away from the noise and pollution of this world. These rocking chairs add to the household making the entire environment very comfortable. The rocking chair is practically affiliated with Americans who have immense love for this wonderful creation. The origin of this ornament is quite controversial as we do not really find how or why this was designed. Although the first rocking chair was skates attached to a chair. With time this conventional design was modernized to the recent form. It is estimated that the rocking chair resulted from two distinct pieces of furniture that is a cradle and a rocking horse during the eighteenth century. Both these ornaments are generally associated to children who relax and rejoice on them. The cradle and the rocking horse were found to give immense pleasure to little ones hence with the passage of time a similar thing was designed for adults that would give them the same joy and comfort. It will not be wrong to say that the rocking chair gives a modern touch to sleep. The rocking chair at my home is an antique wooden chair made out of dark oak wood which has been carved to perfection. The basic design is similar to a conventional rocking chair that moves front and back which are joint to the legs of it. Further is has a curved shape to support my backbone. There is a faint shine on it. This rocking chair makes squeaky voices in particular; furthermore in order to give a modern touch to the rocking chair I have accessorized it with floral summery cushions giving a pleasant feel overall. The rocking chair has far more to offer than just comfort and relaxation. Like I mentioned earlier,

Monday, August 26, 2019

Risk Assessment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Risk Assessment - Essay Example Table of Contents I. Introduction II. Body Table 1.0 III. Conclusion IV. References Introduction: It is without question that the risks facing children on the World Wide Web are expansive. The risks associated with chat rooms and strangers on the internet have been the cause for many law enforcement investigations and new protocols and restrictions towards what minors can and cannot do on the internet. Likewise, even secondary schools have been instituting policies which ban educators from â€Å"friending† their own students on social networking sites due to the perceived risk and liability that this entails. However, although the risks to children online and more specifically in social networking are vast, growing, and varied, few studies have attempted to present what risks are the most prescient and to what extent. This type of analysis is beneficial in determining proper policies and procedures in order to mitigate these risks. As such, this brief analysis will make a curs ory review of the risks associated with social networking as it applies to children and then construct a risk assessment of these threats in order to more succinctly describe the threats that children face in the social networking sphere. ... Accordingly, the levels of restrictions that users can chose to set regarding what information is shared/distributed with others is at the prerogative of the user. However, children are unlikely to entertain the full scope of how privacy can affect their lives. Additionally, the decision of what to share, what not to share, to what extent to share, and who to share it with is also likely not a cognitive ability that children will fully grasp the significance of (White, 2012). Without question, privacy is an issue that affects all users; however, with respect to children, the danger is specifically high. For purposes of this analysis, privacy concerns (as they relate to children on social networking) have been labeled a high overall risk. This is due to the fact that privacy violation and over sharing are so expansive as well as the fact the severity associated with that risk exceeds the category of privacy itself. With respect to privacy, the threat to children online can begin and e nd with this category. If it is taken seriously, the succeeding categories are redundant; however, if not heeded at all, this privacy category is a gateway to each of the others. Regardless of the particular privacy mechanism in question, the increasing rate of identity theft, issues relating to what to share and how to share it, and the fact that privacy encompasses all of the dangers that are extant to children online makes it the most prescient issue associated with the problem. When one stops to think about it, the proper amount of online privacy will stop sexual predators from finding their victims, will hamper cyber bullying, and will serve to protect the child in most other situations. As such, privacy is the paramount concern with relation to social networking. Likewise, a

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Constitutional law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Constitutional law - Essay Example The powers of the government should be controlled in order to ensure that its exercise of such powers does not cause destruction of the values it intended to uphold.4 According to the rule of law, an individual can only be punished in case of breach of the law.5 "Everyone is equal before the law and no one is above the law."6 It is the responsibility of the court to provide a remedy for any breach of an individual right. â€Å"The wider concept of rule of law fits with the idea of a codified constitution articulating a form of ‘higher law;’ or a set of shared community values which the people adopting the constitution wish to promote and protect, and against which they wish all other legislation to be measured.†7 The uncodified UK law does not provide these differences, but it affirms to that the government is subject to the law and so it is under the control of the courts.8 Therefore, the court themselves must be free of government’s influence in order to control the government effectively. In order to avoid concentration of too much power to a single body there should be separation of powers between the three governme nt institutions for effective application of law as established in various constitutions recognizing various government institutions.9 The constitutional theorists have recognized the role of government in the society by expressing their determination to put the government under control and establish a limit on how the government exercises its constitutional powers.10 The doctrine of separation of powers remains the main guiding principle for the proper organization of government.11 However, as suggested by the Montesquieu model of separation of power the theory of separation of powers has not been fully implemented. His model suggests partial separation of persons and functions of various branches of the government.12 The UK constitution has

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Career Path Planning Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Career Path Planning Report - Essay Example Designing and implementation of software refers to the task of software development. This has grown to cover web development aspects, interface design, issues concerning securities, mobile computing among others. Most graduates usually follow this career path. Despite having taken a degree being sufficient to venture into this career, some graduates decide to undertake a master’s degree (Lopatto, 2004). Career opportunities is provided in various settings such as software companies, computer services companies, industries, health sectors, banking among other sectors. Coming up with new ways of computer use requires one to come up with various innovations in computer technology applications. This pathway includes graduate work that is advanced, positioning one in an industrial research or research in a university. Coming up with effective ways in solving computing problems needs one to apply knowledge and theory in computer science to come up with solutions to computational problems. This needs graduate work to PhD level, later positioning in Research University or development laboratory or industrial research (Goode, 2008). On completion of my computer science course, two career jobs of my choice are web designer and software tester. Having gained all the skills and knowledge over the years of my degree course, it would be easier to handle the two careers in the real life situation. As a software tester, one is engaged in quality assurance level of development of software and deployment. The person is involved in conducting both automated and manual software tests to ensure their fitness for the purpose they are meant for. This career of software testing involves software and system analysis to eradicate risks and prevent other software issues. The software tester role is tied to development of software systems and other technical products such as electronic goods, vehicles, healthcare and defense.

Friday, August 23, 2019

UNIT 5 DISCUSSION BOARD Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

UNIT 5 DISCUSSION BOARD - Essay Example Here the cost center is a responsibility center whose employees control costs but do not control its revenues or investment level. On the other hand a revenue center is a responsibility center whose members control revenues but do not control the cost of the product or service they sell or the level of investment in the responsibility center. Thirdly there is a profit center which is a responsibility center whose manager and other employees control both the revenues and the costs of the product or service they sell or deliver. Lastly, we come up to the investment center that is a responsibility center whose manager and other employees control the revenues, costs, and the level of investment in the responsibility center. If we take into account the policies incorporated by Howard Works ltd the scene could be easily clarified. In Howard Works Ltd the four aspects of Responsibility Centers are dealt in the most efficient manner. Cost centers, Revenue centers, Profit centers and Investment centers are in able hand and they are evaluated in every possible way. In Howard Works Ltd Responsibility Centers are evaluated in regular interval by the dint of underlying the accounting classifications of responsibility centers is the concept of controllability. Moreover, the controllability principle asserts that people should only be held accountable for results that they can control. Though it should be remembered that, according to Rick Dobson, the CEO of Howard Works Ltd, â€Å"it is often difficult to apply the controllability principle†. (Hobbs, 84) Rick Dobson also pointed out some problems associated with controllability; according to him the problem stays with jointly earned revenues and/or jointl y incurred costs. He also pointed out the problem regarding intricate, and often arbitrary, accounting procedures. But with management principals applied in a more perfect manner and with more vigor it is expected that these problems would gradually

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Democracy though media Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Democracy though media - Article Example The new media has exponentially augmented the access to information and has dramatically expanded the scope of free speech. The global flow of information has enabled people around the world to test and contrast the archaic models of civic life with the emerging trends and influences. The pivotal question in this context is that is the new media ubiquitous and if it is so, does it have the potential to contribute to the cause of democracy at a global scale? I s new media contributing to democratic values in Castro’s Cuba or in war ravaged Afghanistan? A general perusal of the history establishes beyond doubt that one or other form of media did play an essential role in the dissemination of political values and ideologies in the 20th century. Lenin’s smuggling of Iskra into Russia, nine decades ago is an apt example of the subversion of a regime through the usage of media (Leighley, 2003). The ground for the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1978 was possibly laid down when the supporters of Ayatollah Khomeini managed to smuggle audio cassettes into the mosques in Iran (Leighley, 2003). Actually, in many cases, the media was able to impart an aura of credibility to the political content transmitted through it, thereby manifold increasing its effectiveness and impact. For example, when the B92 Radio Station in Serbia was banned by the Milosevic regime, it managed to remain on air by closely associating with the international news organizations like CNN, BBC and Voice of America (Leighley, 2003). The net result was that the cover age of B92 being transmitted into Serbia from outside began to be regarded by its recipients as more credible and authentic than before. The recent Spring Revolution in the Middle East had an inevitable new media element associated with it. The same stands to be true for the recent uprisings in Indonesia. To a great extent it is true that though media has already been a part of most

Core Areas of a Successful Business Essay Example for Free

Core Areas of a Successful Business Essay I.Ethics Leadership and ethics are more than closely related. They are one in the same. A famous quote by James MacGregor Burns sums up the correlation well, â€Å"Divorced from ethics, leadership is reduced to management and politics to mere technique.† (James Macgregor Burns) The quote touches on two very distinct differences. One aspect is leadership, and the other management. One who is a leader has the ability to inspire. He or she can inspire others to work harder, take on tasks thought to be impossible, and the leader could also inspire ideas. The ideas could come directly from a leader, or from those around him or her. A leader has complete clarity and vision. They also have a knack for overcoming obstacles and having others see and share their viewpoint. Another attribute that great leaders possess is the ability to show balance when handling various issues. They are able to balance ethic justice with ethic core. Ethic justice is defined by law and logic, as ethic core is defined by how it influences people on an emotional level. There have been various examples of ethical violations or moral ambiguity in business involving companies such as ENRON and TYCO. These companies were all about the perception of success. However, if someone were to investigate into the numbers, he would see there were serious problems. Hiding debt in dummy companies and offering excessive bonuses to executives are just a few examples of these violations. Where was the oversight? Well, the people who were in charge hand their hands out like everyone else. These individuals seemed oblivious to the consequences of their actions or those who would be hurt in the process due to their greed. Key decisions weren’t made at lower management level. Rather, they were being made at the executive level! Isn’t it the role of effective managers to prevent occurrences like this from happening? What is management’s position in these particular circumstances? Is there a specific procedure they should always follow? II.Processes of Management How do management and leadership differ from one another? It is best simplified by this quote from Peter Drucker, â€Å"Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.† The terms manager and leadership are commonly used to mean the same idea, although they serve different purposes. Mr. Drucker gives a glimpse of the differences within his quote. Management is defined as a process that is used within an organization to help accomplish goals. The overall process of management includes planning, organizing, leading, and utilizing individuals and resources available within the organization. Planning is all about strategy and positioning. Having a clear understanding of the company’s objectives will streamline the planning portion of the process. Being able to identify trends are critical in meeting the demands of a business. A well-developed plan will help diminish the chances of failure of an organization. The plan requires structure and a team to deliver the plan. It is important that the structure be in place, and everyone has a clear understanding of their role. The concepts of organizational structures have in practiced for nearly one hundred years. In 1919, a French economic theoretician Henri Fayol published a book titled Administration Industrielle. It was one of the first publications that outlined the various aspects of a functioning business structure. He spoke about how to best to divide the function of business: creating a unity of command, hierarchy of authority, division of labor, and putting in place clear channels of communication. (Nickels McHugh, 2010, p. 207) Another theory was developed by Max Weber. Max Weber wrote a book titled The Theory of Social and Economic Organizations. He shared many of the same theories as Henri Fayol. However, Max Weber was of the belief that less educated workers carried out tasks better if they were guided closely and given strict rules by middle management to be performed. (Nickels McHugh, 2010, p. 208) Today many of those theories are still practiced. Businesses have to develop strategies allowing them to be nimble. If a business is slow to react to the market demands, they could be left behind. This is a costly proposition for companies looking to expand. Organizations seem to be moving toward a decentralized authority. This empowers the managers and employees to make decisions based upon their market needs quickly. A faster response time translates into improved customer relations and builds brand loyalty. This type of strategy is found in retail department store chains. On the other hand many fast food chains believe in the concept of centralized authority. All decisions on purchasing and promotion come from those in upper management. This allows companies such as McDonalds to keep their product consistent. (Nickels McHugh, 2010, p. 210) It is unlikely that a drastic philosophical change within retail or fast food will take place anytime soon. There have been innovative changes within other market segments concerning team structuring and how to best respond to the demands of the consumer. For example, if a company wants to introduce a new product and bring it to market quickly they have the ability to pool their internal human resources. Simply put as bringing the best minds from all facets of the business and have them work on a specified project. This team is commonly known as a cross functional team. What is so unique about this team is that they are self-managed. They may also share different managers during the task. The engineer may work closely with the team on the design of the product. However, when it is time to distribute and brand the product the marketing manager may take over. They also work together on a long term basis fostering new opportunities. (Nickels McHugh, 2010, p. 218) Working in teams can be great at moving an organization forward and carrying out task delivered by management. Teams can also seize opportunity by having the ability to quickly respond to a changing market such as technology. The biggest advantage of working in a team would have to be communication. Working as a team has far more advantages compared to its disadvantages. Some of the drawbacks would be the team having or developing a disconnection from the corporation’s core values or a feeling that they are their own entity. This occurs when areas are departmentalized from other functions of the business. Sometimes, if a common goal is not reinforced, it can cause some employees to become disengaged. If you have ever been part of a team where one of the members is negative and disengaged it can become infectious. At a minimum it becomes a distraction and disruptive to the team and its progress. (Nickels McHugh, 2010, p. 212) At what point does leadership step in to take charge? What role, if any, does leadership play in business? III.Leadership Leadership is universal as the principles that define effective leadership are equitable worldwide. This is because leadership is mainly founded on principles that revolve around human relations. It usually requires one to be selfless. Individuals in leadership should always prioritize the needs of all the people who are under his command before his personal needs or interests. There are several styles that have resulted in effective leadership. These styles depend on the demands and requirements of the individuals involved and the tasks facing the institution. However, these styles have also been forced to evolve with the changes brought along by the 21st century. This section tackles the evolution of leadership taking into account various styles and use of varied examples in a bid to highlight and make the issue most comprehensible. Leadership styles revolve around three key points. The first includes the manner in which a leader gives guidelines or directions to his subordinates. Secondly, it is also determined by the method through which the leader implements his plans. Lastly, leadership style is also largely influenced by whether or not the leader motivates people to produce the desired results. Leadership styles are usually categorized into three different and unique styles when referring to individual leaders. One of the leadership styles that have been around for ages is the authoritarian or autocratic type of leadership. In this case, the leader gives the employees orders on what they want to be executed and the execution manner. An authoritarian leader usually is strict on the regulations and policies governing the employees of the company. An example of an authoritarian leader is a traffic police officer giving directions to motorists (Glanz, 2002). According to Glanz, a true leader is best characterized if he or she serves as a role model to others by promoting corporation between them. Moreover, one should also empower other individuals by giving praise where necessary or including them in the process of decision making. Lastly, a leader should communicate effectively to his employees on both his values and those that govern the organization. Another form of leadership style is democratic or participative type of leadership. In this case, the individual in the leadership position includes other people in decision making. Despite this, the leader is the one to make the final decision on the matters at hand. There is also a leadership style where the leader delegates the role of decision making to the employees while giving minimal or no guidance. This style is referred to as free-rein or delegative type of leadership. This style works well where the employees are competent, and the leader has confidence in them. Having any characteristics of these three leadership styles doesn’t mean you can’t enhance your role as a leader/manager with vision, value, and ethics. How does following these important guidelines improve your role as a leader? Leaders that impact businesses and employees on a daily basis know what they value. They also recognize the importance of utilizing their ethical behavior. The best leaders exhibit their values and ethics in their leadership style and actions. Defining your leadership ethics and values should be visible because you are living them in your actions every single day. A lack of trust can become a serious problem in many workplaces throughout the business world. If leaders never identified their values in these workplaces, the mistrust becomes understandable. If leaders have identified and shared their core values then living those values daily will create trust with everyone. Workplace ethics take the same route when the organizations leadership has a code of conduct and ethical expectation; they become an organization joke if the leaders fail to live up to their published code of ethics. Leaders that exhibit ethical behavior powerfully influence the actions of others including the employees that will eventually make that leader successful. As a leader, choose the values and the ethics that are most important to you, the values and ethics you believe in and that define your character. Then live them visibly every day in the workplace. Living your values is one of the most powerful tools available to you to help you lead and influence others. Just as in the business text of class; leaders must communicate a vision, establish their values, promote their corporate ethics, and embrace change, and stress accountability and responsibility among employees to become an effective leader in management. How could you improve your role as a leader/manager to become more effective? Managers are often seen as administrators and not leaders, depending on how we define leadership. The meaning of leadership is defined as promoting new direction either in people or organizations. It has nothing to do with being in a position of authority over others. What do we define as management? This is having responsibility for people and other resources with the goal of getting work done as efficiently and effectively as possible. The goal of the manager is to execute the directions promoted by the leader. Managers do not differ from leaders based on their personalities or styles as leaders are not just more lively, charismatic or larger than life managers. Any manager can lead by promoting new directions. Managers can be as inspiring as leaders even when they are wearing their managerial hat; hence, aiming to get work done efficiently, they try to inspire employees to improve performance rather than move them to change direction as leaders do. Both leaders and managers can influence quietly or by example without being charismatic. Any person can step into management, but the real question is how that individual is going to lead his people or team. Managers become successful only by understanding what it takes to be an effective leader to promote change with accountability. An individual can manage, but the true success of a powerful leader is the reflection of performance among its subordinates. An imposing leader knows how to manage as well as how to promote change effectively and positively from leading by example. Becoming an effective leader will eventually give an individual the success to reach his/her employees through positive influence and by achieving the high expectations handed down by the company objective. It is up to the individual leader on how he wants to manage his people in order to receive the best end-results. Taking all of these aspects into consideration, does someone in a leadership position have an obligation to motivate his or her employees, or is it up to the employee to realize his or her motivation? IV.Employee Motivation Many corporations today explore various strategies on how to improve production and motivate their staff to give one hundred percent toward the company’s goals. The most successful companies and organizations always seem to have extraordinarily strong leadership. There are many ways in which strong leadership can motivate the employees in an organization. Strong leadership can be used to energize a team in the workplace. A formidable leader should create a positive correlation between the workers and their employer. Moreover, the leader should be able to pool energy from each worker so as to improve performance and productivity as a team. Strong leaders have enormous reserves of spiritual, emotional and physical energy. The leader should be able to create a time for reflection of performance and also interpersonal evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of every employee. This is because the investment in employees helps to improve performance and also improve motivation (Adair, 1998). Powerful leadership in the workplace can help to motivate the employees through effective communication. Communication helps to influence employees to improve their performance. In addition, delegation of duties within an organization is carried through communication, and it is essential for employees to communicate their concerns in the workplace to avoid inconvenience. An influential leader is a person who listens to the grievances of the subordinates and provides possible solutions to improve the level of performance. Moreover, a prominent leader should also be empowered to solve problems and to suggest solutions for the problems affecting the employees in the workplace. This means the information from every employee should be handled with the respect it deserves, including a concentrated effort placed on improving interpersonal relations with their employees. This reduces conflicts and creates a platform for employees to act as a team (Advameg, 2012). One valuable method to motivate employees in the workplace is to mentor them and encourage them to grow and work as a team. This improves their partnerships and helps the organization to benefit in the long run. The fundamentals of motivation should be based on influencing the employees and helping them to achieve success. In essence, the leader should limit the regulations and set rules. Any change of an objective or rule should be communicated effectively to avoid frustrations which may be created by the confusion. It should also be understood that employees work effectively in an environment where there are reduced rules and regulations. The rules should be developed in such a manner that they enhance integration and cohesion within the workplace (Emmerich, 2009). Awarding the employees who have performed well in an organization is one of the ways which motivates them and improves their capability. The top leadership should ensure that there is the creation of incentive programs in which the best performing employees are awarded according to their performance in the workplace. The main purpose for creation of incentive programs is to show the employees that the organization values and cares about them. In addition, through the rewarding of performance employees are encouraged to continue to seek improvement in their job. The production of employees is prone to increase after they have been motivated using incentive programs Messmer, 1995). Incentive programs motivate performance through maximization of results. Outstanding performance over a period of time should be rewarded through promotion or through the provision of incentives. The incentives should be based on hard work and should vary from one employee to the other. This helps to improve competition and also to help motivate the weaker employees to increase their performance within the organization. The leadership has the obligation to create a program in which the top performers are rewarded according to their performance in the work place. Alternatively, the salaries and remuneration of the top performing employees should be increased to encourage them to work towards achievement of personal goals and objectives (Emmerich, 2009). Performance based on consistent meeting of the objectives should also be rewarded. Some form of compensation helps to encourage employees to invest their personal best into an organization. Employers who reward their subordinates on performance based on consistency have increased rates in meeting of personal goals and objectives. Rewarding the employees shows them that they are important, and increases their level of motivation, consequently leading to excellent performance. This also shows employees that they are highly valued and are significant assets to management. Furthermore, rewarding employees helps to retain them and increase their morale in the workplace. Employees should also receive unexpected rewards to express appreciation for all of their diligence on the job. This unanticipated compensation explicitly illustrates their importance in the organization (Messmer, 1995). One of the proven ways of motivating employees is the reduction of turnover in the workplace. Reducing turnover creates cohesion and trust among the employees. Reduction of turnover also helps to maximize potential through reduction of the costs of retaining valuable employees. When the numbers of employees are at an optimum level, the rate of performance increases. This means that hardworking and promising employees within an organization should be retained while the unproductive employees should be dismissed. Arguably, it is evident that employees who leave their employment have the reason of being unmotivated and unsatisfied. Good leadership would solve these problems while helping to improve performance in the long run. However, the individual who displays a sense of pride complimented with self-motivation is the most valued employee and a key contributor to the success of any organization. (Advameg, 2012). Operating a successful business is by no means any easy task. For lack of a better analogy, it’s like a well-oiled machine. All the pieces have to be working together and each piece doing its fair share of the work. If one were to go down, then the others have to pick up the slack for the malfunctioning section. In business, each position has to be working together to achieve successful financial as well as intangibly. If not, then a company could very well be on the path to failure.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Morphology Control in Gold Nanoparticle Synthesis

Morphology Control in Gold Nanoparticle Synthesis Hammed A. Salami Introduction One of the most significant current discussions in the field of nanotechnology is the development of novel nanomaterials. When materials are reduced from bulk to the nanometer-scale dimension, they begin to exhibit unusual physical and chemical properties [1, 2]. Recently, researchers have shown an increased interest in the elucidation of the structure-function relationship of these novel nanomaterials [3, 4]. The availability of imaging techniques with nanometer resolution, such as electron microscopy has not only helped in visualizing the individual nanoparticles, but also, it has facilitated an understanding of some of the emerging properties of noble metal nanoparticles such as spectroscopic enhancement and localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) [5, 6]. For noble-metal nanoparticles, these structure-function relationships have attracted significant research interests. This is because, unlike in bulk metal materials, the control of the chemical and physical properties of noble-metal nanoparticles is possible with a modification of their size and shape, and by varying the material composition [1, 6]. As a result of the unique roles played by size and shape in influencing the properties of noble-metal nanoparticles, researchers have continually focused on ways to reproducibly tailor these parameters in other to adapt the nanoparticles for optimal use in a wide range of applications, including biology[4], energy[7], sensing, spectroscopic enhancement[8-10] and catalysis [7, 11]. The size of nanoparticles influences their optical properties while the shape and crystallographic facets are the major factors that determine their catalytic and surface activities [12]. Nanoparticles with non-spherical structures are referred to as anisotropic nanoparticles. Examples include nanocubes, nanoprisms, nanorods, etc. [13]. They show pronounced shape-dependent properties and functionalities, therefore a great deal of research effort has been paid at developing synthetic strategies to get a high yield of anisotropic noble metal nanoparticles having uniform structures and controlled shape and size[5]. The deliberate control of shape has however proven to be the most challenging, despite being one of the useful parameters for optimizing the properties of noble metal nanoparticles. This is particularly more pronounced in gold nanoparticles synthesis [3, 14-16]. Of the many shapes of gold nanoparticles, gold nanorods have continued to attract the most attention [2]. This is largely due to the large number of synthetic methods available, the possibility of high monodispersity and the control over the aspect ratio, which accounts for the change in their optical properties [17]. When molecules are adsorbed on the surface of gold nanoparticles, they undergo surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) effects. This is due to the coupling effect of the plasmon band of the irradiated metal with the molecules electronic states [18, 19]. For gold nanorods, two Plasmon bands are prominent. They are the longitudinal plasmon band and the transverse plasmon band. These bands correspond to light absorption and scattering along the long and short axis of the particle respectively [20-22]. While the longitudinal surface plasmon resonance increases with larger aspect ratios (length/diameter), the transverse surface plasmon resonance is usually on the same wavel ength as that of nanospheres, with no dependence on the aspect ratio[23]. The current high dependence on non-renewable feedstocks can be minimized with the production of fine chemicals, petrol-derived commodities and polymer precursors from biomass[24]. Supported gold nanoparticles have been found to be very active catalysts for a number of biomass transformation and many researchers have focused their attention in searching for the best supports, reaction conditions and mechanistic studies to improve their selectivity[25, 26]. Most catalytic studies in literature involving noble metal nanoparticles, either as mono- or bimetallic catalyst, are done with spherical nanoparticles [25-27]. The spherical nanoparticles used are usually immobilized onto suitable supports to form impregnated catalysts and in some cases they are preformed before immobilization [27]. To achieve this, methods such as wet impregnation, sol immobilization etc. are often used [28, 29]. These methods however, do not allow the control of morphology of the nanoparticles. There is therefore the need to develop an understanding of morphology control in the synthesis of anisotropic noble metal nanoparticles with high yield. It would also be interesting to explore the correlation between these controlled morphologies and catalytic activities. Project Aims This project will therefore aim at synthesising various morphologies of mono and bimetallic noble metal nanoparticles, with optimum control of the morphology during the synthesis. Starting with gold, we will also explore the use of colloidal methods in immobilizing the preformed nanoparticles with selected morphologies and narrow particle size distribution e.g. gold nanorods, onto suitable supports to form heterogeneous catalysts. Since the rods expose certain crystallographic planes more than most other morphologies and also have comparatively low coordination sites, they can be potentially more selective for reactions that preferably occur on low coordination sites. As a starting point we will therefore, explore their use as supported heterogeneous catalysts in selective oxidation and hydrogenation reactions for biomass transformation. References [1]M.-C. Daniel, D. Astruc, Chemical reviews 2004, 104, 293-346. [2]J. Pà ©rez-Juste, I. Pastoriza-Santos, L. M. Liz-Marzà ¡n, P. Mulvaney, Coordination Chemistry Reviews 2005, 249, 1870-1901. [3]M. L. Personick, C. A. Mirkin, Journal of the American Chemical Society 2013, 135, 18238-18247. [4]X. Ma, M.-C. Wang, J. Feng, X. Zhao, Acta Materialia 2015, 85, 322-330. [5]C. J. Murphy, T. K. Sau, A. M. Gole, C. J. Orendorff, J. Gao, L. Gou, S. E. Hunyadi, T. Li, The Journal of Physical Chemistry B 2005, 109, 13857-13870. [6]L. T. Lanh, T. T. Hoa, N. D. Cuong, D. Q. Khieu, D. T. Quang, N. Van Duy, N. D. Hoa, N. Van Hieu, Journal of Alloys and Compounds 2015, 635, 265-271. [7]G. A. Somorjai, H. Frei, J. Y. Park, Journal of the American Chemical Society 2009, 131, 16589-16605. [8]J. E. Millstone, S. J. Hurst, G. S. Mà ©traux, J. I. Cutler, C. A. Mirkin, Small 2009, 5, 646-664. [9]M. R. Jones, K. D. Osberg, R. J. Macfarlane, M. R. Langille, C. A. Mirkin, Chemical reviews 2011, 111, 3736-3827. [10]A. R. Tao, S. Habas, P. Yang, small 2008, 4, 310-325. [11]N. Tian, Z.-Y. Zhou, S.-G. Sun, Y. Ding, Z. L. Wang, science 2007, 316, 732-735. [12]K. L. Kelly, E. Coronado, L. L. Zhao, G. C. Schatz, The Journal of Physical Chemistry B 2003, 107, 668-677. [13]M. Treguer-Delapierre, J. Majimel, S. Mornet, E. Duguet, S. Ravaine, Gold Bulletin 2008, 41, 195-207. [14]S. Koeppl, N. Ghielmetti, W. Caseri, R. Spolenak, J Nanopart Res 2013, 15, 1-11. [15]S.-S. Chang, C.-W. Shih, C.-D. Chen, W.-C. Lai, C. R. C. Wang, Langmuir 1999, 15, 701-709. [16]X. Ma, M.-C. Wang, J. Feng, X. Zhao, Journal of Alloys and Compounds 2015, 637, 36-43. [17]C. Burda, X. Chen, R. Narayanan, M. A. El-Sayed, Chemical reviews 2005, 105, 1025-1102. [18]R. L. Garrell, Analytical Chemistry 1989, 61, 401A-411A. [19]A. Campion, P. Kambhampati, Chem. Soc. Rev. 1998, 27, 241-250. [20]G. L. Hornyak, C. J. Patrissi, C. R. Martin, The Journal of Physical Chemistry B 1997, 101, 1548-1555. [21]K. L. Kelly, E. Coronado, L. L. Zhao, G. C. Schatz, The Journal of Physical Chemistry B 2003, 107, 668-677. [22]I. O. Sosa, C. Noguez, R. G. Barrera, The Journal of Physical Chemistry B 2003, 107, 6269-6275. [23]S. Eustis, M. A. El-Sayed, Chemical society reviews 2006, 35, 209-217. [24]G. Budroni, A. Corma, Journal of Catalysis 2008, 257, 403-408. [25]M. Boronat, 2013, 25, 50-76. [26]O. Casanova, S. Iborra, A. Corma, ChemSusChem 2009, 2, 1138-1144. [27]S. Albonetti, T. Pasini, A. Lolli, M. Blosi, M. Piccinini, N. Dimitratos, J. A. Lopez-Sanchez, D. J. Morgan, A. F. Carley, G. J. Hutchings, F. Cavani, Catalysis Today 2012, 195, 120-126. [28]L.-S. Zhong, J.-S. Hu, Z.-M. Cui, L.-J. Wan, W.-G. Song, Chemistry of Materials 2007, 19, 4557-4562. [29]S. E. Davis, B. N. Zope, R. J. Davis, Green Chemistry 2012, 14, 143-147. 1

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Does Violance On Television Cause Aggressive Behavior :: essays research papers

An 18-year-old boy locks himself in his room, mesmerized for hours by the corpse-filled video game Doom, while shock-rocker Marilyn Manson screams obscenities from the stereo. Shelved nearby are a video collection, including the graphically violent film Natural Born Killers, and a diary, replicating the unrestrained expressions of hate and death, published on the boy's personal website. Should this boy's media preferences be cause for alarm? The question is not new, but the April 20,1999 massacre of 12 students and a teacher by fellow Columbine High students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold has added urgency to the search for answers. The Littleton, Colorado teenagers reportedly immersed themselves in the same media described above, even producing and starring in their own murderous video before gunning down their classmates, and apparently taking their own lives. We live in a world of violence -- Kosovo, Bosnia, the West Bank, and abortion clinics.The value of human life has reduced to, simply, a few vital organs in a hollow body. Life is no longer viewed as the sacred and amazing gift that it is. Human life is now only a temporary, useful commodity. And, when it is no longer useful? Well, it can be thrown away, like used Kleenex. This irreverence for life has been a result of numerous hours of senseless violence society feeds into their brains every day. Yet, media representatives defend the entertainment industry, denying any direct link between violent media and violent behavior. In many peoples' living rooms, there sits an outlet for violence that often goes unnoticed. It is the television. The children who view it are often pulled into its realistic world of violent scenes with sometimes devastating results.Much effort has gone into showing why this glowing box, and the action that takes place within it, mesmerizes children. Research shows that it is definitely a major source of violent behavior in children. The statistics prove time and time again that aggression and television viewing do go hand in hand.Research shows the truth about television violence and children. Some are trying to fight this problem, while others are ignoring it, hoping it will go away with yesterday’s trash. Still, others do not even seem to care. However, the facts are undeniable. The experiments carried out, all point to one conclusion: television violence causes children to be violent, and the effects can be life-long.Here is the scene: Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and a well-armed Elmer Fudd are having a standoff in the forest.

Monday, August 19, 2019

Living Healthy Essay -- essays research papers fc

Living Healthy   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"No matter who you are, no matter what you do, you absolutely, positively do have the power to change† (Phillips xv). No matter how old or over weight you are, you always have the need to be healthy and it is never too late to start living healthy. Your body is the center of your universe. You can go nowhere without it. It’s the temple of your mind and your soul. If your body is sagging, or aging rapidly, other aspects of your life will soon follow. There are too many people who believe that they’re already too overweight, too weak, or too old to get in shape. People think that everybody in the gym is in perfect shape, and that is just not true. Everybody has to start somewhere. (Phillips xiv). When you begin to apply the information in this paper, you will be proving to yourself that outstanding changes are within your grasp. Being healthy is a gateway to a new and better life, a life of rewarding and fulfilling times.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first thing that everyone needs to do is to learn to control your bad habits. Bad habits wait on us forever, they don’t go away. Bad Habits will always be there looking for an opening. If you’re addicted to food or alcohol or cigarettes, if you have a bad habit of any kind, you need to know that it doesn’t just disappear. If you stop stetting goals for your future, that is when bad habits push their way into your life (Phillips xiii). Exercise is a way to control your bad habits and to help you become healthier in all areas. Runners run and exercisers exercise because so many people have told them it’s good for them physically, emotionally, socially, and even spiritually (Solomon 3). There are approximately 35 million people walking enthusiasts, 20 million cyclists, 5 million weight lifters, 10 million basketball players, and 25 million joggers around us (Glenn 4). You get the impression of how many joggers pound the streets and shoulders of suburban roads by looking around during the early morning and after work hours. In former days, the healthiest form of exercise was thought to be a daily constitutional, a brisk walk that could be accomplished without special gear and certainly without panting (Solomon 2). Now days’ exercising is much harder. Elite professional athletes such as John Elway, Karl Malone, Mike Piazza, and Terell Davis have turned to advisors f... ... evolutionary,† (Wilkenson 15). All of these were developed to help people become healthier because it is so important for everyone to live healthy.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In conclusion, it is so important to doctors, scientists, and nutritionist, that people be healthy that they have wrote several books on just how to live healthy. It will benefit you in all ways possible. It will make you feel better both physically and emotionally. Your health depends on your exercise and the good nutrients that you put into your body. I hope that this paper has been able to persuade you to take control and live a healthier life. Just like Bill Phillips says, â€Å"When you gain control of your body, you will gain control of your LIFE!† Works Cited Gilmore, C.P.. Exercising for Fitness. Chicago: Time Life Books, 1981. Glenn, Jim. Exercise and Fitness. Springhouse, PA: Springhouse Corp., 1986 Phillips, Bill. Body for Life. New York, NY: Harper Collins, 1999. Solomon, Henrey. The Exercise Myth. New York, NY: Harcourt Brace   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Jovanovich, 1984. Wilkinson, Cecilia. Nutrition. Hyattsville, MD: United States Department of   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Agriculture.

Sunday, August 18, 2019

The Skeletal System Essay -- essays research papers

Chapter 7 I.Bone Structure A.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Bone Classification 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  4 Classes – Long, Short, flat and irregular 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Example of a long bone- forearm and thigh bones. 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Short Bones are shaped like cubes 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ex. Of short bones are in wrists and ankle bones 5.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Flat bones are platelike structures 6.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ex of Flat bones are platelike structures 7.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Irregular bones vary in size 8.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Irregular bones vary in size 9.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Examples of irregular bones are those of the vertebra and some facial bones 10.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Round bones are also called sesamoid bones i.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  They are small and modular and embedded in tendons ii.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Example is the patella (kneecap) B.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Parts of a long bone 1.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   An expanded end of a long bone is an epiphysis 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  An epiphysis articulates with another bone 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Articular Cartilage is located on the epiphysis 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The shaft of a long bone is called a diaphysis 5.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Periosteum functions t form and repair bone tissue 6.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Periosteum is a tough, vascular, fibrous membrane covering the diaphysis of a bone 7.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Processes provide sites for attachment of tendons or ligaments 8.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The wall of the diaphysis is composed of compact bone 9.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Compact bone has no gaps 10.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ephiphysis is composed of spongy bone 11.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Spongy bone consists of bony plates called trabeculae 12.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A bone is composed of spongy and compact bone 13.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A canal called the medullary cavity runs through the diaphysis 14.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The endosteum lines this cavity and spaces of the spongy bone 15.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Endosteum contains bone forming cells 16.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The tissue that fills the spaces of the bone is called marrow 17.  Ã‚  &nb... ...ome osteocytes 11.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Periosteum comes from cells of the primitive conncective tissue that persist outside of the developing bone. 12.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Compact bone is formed by osteoblasts on the inside of periosteum 13.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Intramembranous ossification is the process if replacing connective tissue to form an intramembranous bone. D.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Endochondral Bones 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Most of the bones are these types of bone 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  They develop as masses of hyaline cartilage 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Eventually the cartilage decompses forming periosteum from connective tissue that encircles that developing structure 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Blood vessels and undifferentiated connective tissue cells invade the disintegrating tissue 5.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Some of these cells become osteoblasts 6.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ostoeblasts form the spongy bone in the spaces previously housed by cartilage 7.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Endochondral ossification is the process of forming an endochondral bone by the replacement of hyaline cartilage.

Saturday, August 17, 2019

Fedex Operation Mangement

The organization’s name and main line of business: FEDEX Corporations – Logistics 2. Specific type of operation: Air and Ground Delivery Specializing in Next Day Delivery 3. Describe the nature of operations process given your newfound understanding of operation management and productivity: a. Service and product design: i. Supply Chain management ii. Next Day Delivery Services b. Quality management – Customer oriented business â€Å"People First Philosophy† c.Process and capacity – use of available technologies (web based tracking system) to enable customers real time access to information related to their packages to increase customer satisfaction; task employees to think of innovation as part of their day to day job d. Location – sites located locally and globally (over 220 countries) e. Layout and design – operated and owed independently f. Job Design : based on parcel shipping through ground and air, e-commerce and business servic es g.Supply Chain Management: h. Inventory Management: use improved – technology function to meet its goals i. Scheduling: 24 hour shipping operation globally 4. Maintenance: Owns and operates and maintains over 90K ground vehicles; 663 aircrafts in more than 375 airports 5. Global Strategy of the Organization FEDEX is the embodiment of operation management. The company started out as shipping company in 1971 to a multibillion dollar corporation with current revenue of $42. 7 billion in the current fiscal year.Originally FEDEX started with freight delivery through ground and air which expanded to four divisions FEDEX Express, Ground, Freight, and Services. FEDEX success in today’s business due to their diligence in addressing Basic Management Functions – planning, organizing, staffing, leading and controlling as well as addressing the ten critical decisions associated with a very successful business. FEDEX CEO and founder Mr. Fred Smith planning his organization from fledgling company offering delivery of small packages and documents to approximately 25 cities in the United States.His efficient ideas of outlining delivery service in the computer information age was outstanding not only did his idea went to fruition became FEDEX blue print for success. He organized his corporation by having locally owned company can concentrated on specific needs of that area through FEDEX business practice not only minimize staffing overhead, it also gave the independent companies the flexibility they need without losing control of core principles is a great example of successful and triumphant Corporation in the modern era.FEDEX address their ten critical decision areas by incorporating it through their mission, strategies and values. Their customer centric mission â€Å"People First Philosophy† embodies their service and product design. Their process and capacity is addressed again through customer satisfaction by utilizing modern technology such as the internet to give real time in-transit information on their packages and tasking the employees to think of innovative ways to operate as part of their day to day job is a great example of empowerment to improve the work place resulting in efficient ways to operate.Independently owned and operated sites are another way to save money in lower overhead cost. This also allows the site to concentrate on the particular requirements of the customers in that area. FEDEX is in the forefront of a successful business because of how they employ and use operation management techniques and addressing the ten critical decision areas through their mission, strategies and values that centers on employees and customers.

Friday, August 16, 2019

Gender Based Discrimination in the Novel Things Fall Apart Essay

In regions especially where poverty and ignorance are widespread, people are generally be in dispair. Living in such hard conditions and being unable to get rid of the situation, the man is tend to unload his suppressed resentment by using brute force on his houshold. The man who is not satisfied with his achievments and dont have dignity in his social life, tries to establish domination over women through agression. Therefore masculanity is associated with agression and violence. And that situation leads to discrimination and conflict between the two genders. But unfortunately, the gender-based discrimination happens everywhere, even in the western ,industrialized nations that are thought to be closest to an ideal modern egalitarian treatment for women. Although western women have legal freedoms, the right to vote and to own property; they still dont enjoy full equality with men, nor are they socially valued or esteemed as men. The concept of ‘gender based discrimination’ may be analyzed in the aspects of; interpretion of gender, domestic life of women, women & sexuality and the roles of men, among various times and cultures. Based on the novel ‘Things Fall Apart’ we deduce that in Nigerian community women led a domestic life, being in charge of breeding their children, cooking and serving to their husbands as well as not being able to participate the social life and ceremonies, while the men are in charge of taking all decisions about the community. ( Chapter 10, pages 77-78 ) Also, a man’s power was measured by his physical strength. If one hasnt got a name by bloodshed he was called as agbala which also means woman. As a concequence of being a strong men, they frequently beat and threaten their wives. Similarly, plural marriage is widespread and virginity is considered as a merit. Since a woman is not valuable herself, she is always described whether as a daughter or a wife of a man. If she asks for divorce, her husband wants the bride-prize he had given back, which is very insulting as the marriage became a trade. This ideology is also widely seen in Turkey and many other Middle Eastern countries supported by â€Å"the ethnic morals†. In rural areas many women are being killed due to chastity by her kins. In cities, althogh they work more than men they are less prefered and less paid. Needless to say that, these obstacles can only be passed over with the presence of the more educated individuals who are able to establish healthy relationships with women. For that reason both gender must be aware of their rights and values in the community.

Analysis of Miss Emily in “A Rose for Emily” Essay

In the fiction† A Rose for Emily â€Å",Miss Emily’s life in particular its gruesome and saddened by the outcome of Tan Wan and as well as the central figure in the daily lives of the other two – her father, her dead lover’s fate, should not only to us Bring thriller, and the offensive suppressed, perhaps, there should be more apprehensive and thinking, because this can be called Faulkner’s short story on behalf of its work, its title has been leaked by its authors described the emotional character Secret. Is no longer the tragedy of death, behind the death of the self-stick to the face and secular blue suit, which is rooted in the history of the thick soil, and even more awesome. The author in the novel approach will be a symbol of its head. Novels for readers to show the United States after the civil war in the south of social change, as well as different social groups in the South of the fate of history. The collapse of the old South, the decline of the aristocracy of the South, whites in the South, as well as to enhance the self-consciousness Southern black suffering and hope of life co-exist, to varying degrees, reflected in the novels, William Faulkner regarded the past as a repository of great images of human effort and integrity, but also as the source of a dynamic evil. He was aware of the romantic pull of the past and realized that submission to this romance of the past was a form of death. In â€Å"A Rose for Emily†, Faulkner contrasted the past with the present era. The past was represented in Emily herself, in Colonel Sartoris, in the old Negro servant, and in the Board of Alderman who accepted the Colonel’s attitude toward Emily and rescinded her taxes.. The novel contains the existential factor, to explore the existential theme of the show. That through the works of Faulkner’s life again alienated people, to show his concern about the situation of human existence,From William Faulkner as a writer in the South of the United States is in a special historical period of ideological complexity and contradiction of, their analysis of the short story in two main lines of the refraction by the Fuk Faulkner to the south of the old love-hate complex of the South, to provide readers with a new perspective in order to better understan d and appreciate the works, By the time the representatives of the new, progressive Board of Aldermen waited on her concerning her delinquent taxes, she had already completely retreated to  her world of the past. She declared that she had no taxes in Jefferson, basing her belief on a verbal agreement made with Colonel Sartoris, who had been dead for ten years. Just as Emily refused to acknowledge the death of her father, she now refused to recognize the death of Colonel Sartoris. He had given his word and according to the traditional view, his word knew no death. It is the past pitted against the present–the past with its social decorum, the present with everything set down in â€Å"the books.† Emily’s world, however, was already in the past. When she was threatened with desertion and disgrace, she not only took refuge in that world but also took Homer with her in the only manner possible–death. Miss Emily’s position in regard to the specific problem of time was suggested in the scene where the old soldiers appear at her funeral. There are two perspectives of time held by the characters. The first perspective views time as a â€Å"mechanical progressionâ₠¬  in which the past is a â€Å"diminishing road†. The second perspective views the past as â€Å"a huge meadow which no winter ever quite touches, divided from them now by the narrow bottleneck of the most recent decade of years†. The first perspective was that of Homer and the modern generation. The second was that of the older members of the Board of Aldermen and of the confederate soldiers.. Emily held the second view as well, except that for her there was no bottleneck dividing her from the meadow of the past. Emily’s room above the stairs was that timeless meadow. In it, the living Emily and the dead Homer remained together as though not even death could separate them. In the simplest sense, the story says that death conquers all. But what is death? On one level, death is the past, tradition, whatever is opposite of the present. In the setting of this story, it is the past of the South in which the retrospective survivors of the Civil War deny changing the customs and the passage of time. This article from the feminist point of view of psychology to re-read the , an analysis of Emily was confused with a tragic sense and reason in an attempt to add a kind of used to be trampled on Suppressed and ignored the different voices – the voices of women, people from the female psychology and thinking, learn to build self, pay more attention to women’s mental health and human hearts to their homes.

Thursday, August 15, 2019

The Math in Figure Skating

Alexis Dillon l. Introduction This paper will be discussing the involvement of math in figure skating. There are three parts of skating that will be discussed in the essay; Jumps and moves in the field. Jumps require a lot of power, strength and knee bend in order for the Jump to be successful. I will be looking at the appropriate angle of knee bend a skater needs to successfully land a Jump. Moves in the field are series of test that include certain turns and moves that are tested in front of Judges.Moves in the field require grace, knee bend, speed and strength. This essay will discuss the correct angle of the knee bend required to correctly complete specific turns, including counters, rockers and brackets and to successfully remain on the correct edge. I have been skating for nine years. I have done many types of skating, like freestyle, moves in the field and synchronized skating. I'm currently a competitive synchronize skater and working on my novice moves. Both these parts of f igure skating require speed, grace, edge quality and strength.Many things can affect how well a skater can preform and the quality of the skating. Knee bend is one of the many crucial parts of quality skating. II. What Is Skating? Figure skating is defined as a â€Å"competitive on ice sport in prescribed fgures and/or choreographed free skating. † Figure skating includes many different types and levels. Ill. Basic Skills To start, many skaters complete basic skills classes, which, in short, teach the basic components of skating, needed to be successful. Children under the age of six usually begin a beginner class called â€Å"snowplow'.This level consists of very basic skills including things like learning how to stand up and fall down. After the skater has completed these levels, or is above the age of six, moves on to the levels â€Å"Basic Skill† There are eight levels in this section, where each level increases in difficulty. The basic skills provide the fundamen tals of skating. These levels will also provide more challenging skills including, edges, turns, and crossovers that are necessary for successful skating. Once the skater has successful passed these levels, the skater may move on to â€Å"freestyle†.There are six levels in this section. These levels teach the skater basic Jumps and spins. ‘V. Freestyle Freestyle skating consists of Jumps, spins and footwork sequences choreographed in a program using the skater's style. Some Jumps include axel, the loop Jump, lutz and salchow. These Jumps can be preformed as singles (, doubles, triples, and even quadruples. The axel is one of the hardest Jumps to master, whether it's a single, double, or a quad The axel requires knee bend, power and speed Competitions are based on levels. There are eight levels in freestyle.Each level gets harder and the harder Jumps require programs with required moves, Jumps and spins. These test are preformed in front of Judges. These test are importa nt for a fgure skater because in determines what level the skater competes at. These tests ake practice and skill. V. Moves in the field Like the freestyle tests, there are eight tests the gradually increase in difficulty. The tests are as follows; pre-preliminary, preliminary, pre-Juvenile, Juvenile, intermediate, novice, Junior and senior. Each test consist of certain step sequences, turns, and moves that require knee bend, grace, and speed.Example of a very simple pattern on the preliminary exam: This pattern consist of a very simple inside three-turn in which you start on an inside edge and turn onto your outside edge. Example of a two very challenging patterns on the Junior exam: Figure 2 Figure 3 This pattern requires a lot good edge quality, grace and knee bend. This turns, also known as a rocker, requires you to stay on the same edge before and after a turn. To determine the correct amount of knee bend, twenty forward inside rockers were done and photographed.Each turn was a nalyzed to determine whether or not the turn was on the correct edge or not. The photos were separated into two groups, turn with a perfect edge and turn with imperfect edge. The angle of the knee was measured for each photo and then averaged. The average angle for a turn with perfect edge quality was 1090 (refer to fgure 3 for what the edge is supposed to look ike). The average angle for a turn with imperfect edge quality was about 1230. Below are the pictures of a person doing the turn and what the turn looked like on the ice. RFI Rocker. How does math relate to this turn?Although, the differences between the two angles may have seemed small, it made a huge difference. IVe been working on these types turns for about a year, and from experience, I know there are some many things that need to be perfect in order for the turn to be on the correct edge and successtul. One ot the most important and influential part of the turn is the amount of knee bend the skater has. So, how does the angle of the knee make the turn have good or bad edge quality? When you bend your knee, you are doing what's called, â€Å"pressing your edge†. This means you are on the correct edge because of your knee bend.So, how much knee bend is enough? Is there a certain angle needed to perfect the turns? The answer is yes. This experiment has shown that a very large angle and a very low angle will disrupt the turn. VI'. What is an axel? Axel is one of the most difficult Jumps. The axel takes off from the forward outside edge and is landed on the back outside edge of the opposite foot. A single axel is 1. 5 revolutions. Axel is one of the many Jumps that skaters practice and attempt to master. Like most other Jumps, the axel can be increased in difficulty by adding more rotations to the Jump. VIII.What things affect the success of an axel? Many experienced skaters would say the most important things to master when learning how to land an axel successfully is power, speed, and height. How can you master all of these things? Through knee bend. Knee bend provides many things for a successful axel. When you bend you're knee while you skate, you â€Å"pressing on your edge† letting your skates skate with the ice rather than on top of the ice and merely liding.. No matter how fast your feet move, you will not gain speed if are â€Å"stepping† rather then bending your knees and actually skating.Knee bend also provides grace when preforming an axel. The more you â€Å"get down in your knees† or bend your knees, the more graceful and elegant you appear. This will help those who compete. Finally, right before the Jump takes off, knee bend provides height and the power of the Jump itself. But, how much knee bend is enough knee bend? Skaters, like me and those who think analytically, would love to know how much knee bend will lead to a successful Jump. ‘X. Figuring out how much knee bend is enough knee bend Like what was done for the rockers, a si milar experiment was done for the axel.To determine the correct amount of knee bend before the Jump, twenty axels were done and recorded and photographed. Each Jump was analyzed to determine whether or not the turn was a successful Jump or not. The photos were separated into two groups, turn with a perfect edge and turn with imperfect edge. The angle of the knee was measured for each photo and then averaged. The average angle for a Jump with good height and a quality Jump was 1070. The average angle for a turn with imperfect dge quality was about 1280. These results are very similar to the rockers.The Jumps that were considered unsuccessful landed with a fall or it was over or under rotated. This is most likely because the skater either had too much or too little power. X'. How does math relate to this Jump? Even though the differences between the two angles may have seemed small, it made a huge difference. From experience I know that an axel can up to about a year to perfect. Like the rocker, I know there are some many things that need to be perfect in order for the turn to be successful. One of the most important and influential part f the turn is the amount of knee bend the skater has.