Diffusion and osmosis lab Essay

What happened to the iodine, the starch, the glucose and the water in your experiment? Explain which molecules did/did not cross the membrane and in which direction they moved. Substance Prediction Results Starch Starch will stay in the cellulose tubing The results were correct Glucose Glucose will defuse and move out The results were correct Iodine The iodine will change color The results were correct 2. Did the results of your experiment agree or disagree with your prediction? Why or why not? My results agreed with my prediction because the starch, glucose and iodine stayed in the cellulose tubing, or the water changed color. 3. Considering your observations, suggest an explanation for the results of your experiment. What assumptions did you make about the nature of the membrane? The cell contains what enters. Small molecules can quickly go through and out of the cell. Meaning the small molecule diffuse through the process of osmosis. Lab 2 – ELODEA Objective: To demonstrate and explain effects of osmosis across a living membrane. 1. What changes took place in the Elodea cell after salt water is added? Did these changes agree or disagree with your prediction? Why or why or not? When the salt was added to the water it caused the water concentration to lessen but the solute to increase. There are more water molecules going out of the cell than in the cell the cell membrane began to shrink known as dehydration. 2. Explain, in detail, the process that caused these changes to occur. The elodea would not be able to live in salt-water environment because there is a greater concentration of the water in the cell. When there is salt in the cell, it would die. 3. Is this process reversible? If so, describe how you would reverse it? Yes, I think this process is reversible. You would have more of a salt solution then a water solution. Then you would add the water to the concentration then it will be revered

Impact of western culture on india Essay

since Indian people are becoming more modernized. They totally get involved in style and want to look trendy. They get annoyed hearing Indian music which have Ragas, Talas which give us pleasure. But on the other hand the GEN-Y’ers only like pop, rock and hip-hop. India offers a number of classical dance each of which can be traced to different parts of the country and because of the western outlook most of them tend to follow it. Some festivals are associated with renowned historical or cultural places like the Khajrao festival, Taj Mahoutsav, etc. we must give equal importance to the Indian culture as we are Indians and shouldn’t let any culture to come in our way. Jai Hind! Yes I think the Indian culture is influenced by the western culture. Today’s generation thinks that knowing their own culture is something to be ashamed of. Children want to be modern to keep their respect high. They don’t know the value of India’s heritage and culture. Indians are depleting their own culture. 14. Compile the books of prayers, songs, and stories, and with translations, and make them available to everyone. 5. Make the proper and benevolent images to worship where and when it is helpful. 6. Construct centers for prayer, worship, and practice. Such centers are the basis of preserving the culture and offering education in them. 7. Congregate together regularly, and be supportive toward one another. 8. Celebrate and enjoy your festivals, and know and discuss the meaning of them so they are not lost, and be willing to share the beauty and joy of them with all others. 9. In a friendly way, encourage others you know to participate as the basis of a united community. 10. Recognize the need to be pro-active in working to keep your culture. Join or form the organizations that help you preserve and protect your culture. 11. Establish the means or campaign that will assist people to realize the value of their own spiritual heritage. 12. Form political action committees to (A) make sure politicians are aware of your issues, (B) to make sure that they are representing you properly, and (C) to unite voters to bring in a better political representative for the indigenous culture or vote out those who are ineffective. 13. A group should be established in every town and village, if possible, to encourage people in this way. 14. Come together in groups regularly to participate in and discuss your culture, and develop the ways of defending it, especially when it is under attack or threatened by conversion groups who are under a foreign influence. 15. Also recognize the need for true harmony and unity, and know that a true religion or spiritual path does not create disharmony by dividing people into the â€Å"sinners† and the â€Å"saved† simply because of following different religions or spiritual traditions. 16. There must also be the maturity to balance the old traditions with any new modifications. 17. Unite with other organizations, groups, or village tribes who have similar interests and concerns for cultural preservation, and share information and support with other groups. 18. Start your own schools. Write or compile teacher’s guide books on ways to teach children and The word CULTURE has been derived from a French word CULTURA which means to cultivate, to till, to grow. Therefore culture is a process of growth through the means of education, discipline, training etc.. Western and Indian cultures are diametrically opposed. The reason for this is that western culture is based on the principles of MATERIALISM, whereas Indian culture is based on the tenets and principles of SPIRITUALISM. Materialism stands for worldly possessions, wealth, canons of economics, material gains etc., whereas spiritualism stands for moral values, ethics, scruples, virtues and the power to distinguish between right and wrong, between good and evil, between correct and incorrect etc. It is essential to have material possessions in this world. It is a source of sustenance. It is a must to have economic advancement and liberalisation alongwith globalisation. Scientific advancement is another sphere where India as a country needs to deve CHEERS†, and the party starts. With booze, fags and skimpily dressed girls who move their bodies to be the cynosure and to attract males. Everyone is wearing branded clothes, imported watches, designer accessories and what not. These things have become the necessities of the Indian youth and even the older generations. A father-son duo sitting together and enjoying their drinks, women going to pubs and discos and getting involved in obscene acts and girls taking their boyfriends to their homes to have a jolly time with parents and otherwise too. What can one infer after reading the above lines? I guess, the first answer would be that India is changing over the course of time. India, as the name flickers, one thinks of religion, traditions, art and culture and it’s apt to think so because India is the country which is famous for its diversity in these aspects. The land where the great Raja Ram Mohan, Tagore, Gandhi transformed the thinking of people and removed the social stigmas like sati pratha (the practice of widows being forced to sit on the pior of their husbands), untouchability and many more. India was known as â€Å"Sone Ki Chidiya† (The Golden Bird) but the shine has faded away gradually with the change in I, YOU and WE. Indian society has evolved into a mixed breed of Western and Indian culture. People are becoming too much casual in both their personal and professional lives, how a â€Å"Good Morning Madam† has now become â€Å"Hi Diksha†, how a â€Å"Namaste Daadu† has become â€Å"Hey Grandpa†, courtesy the western culture. The western culture has proved to be a setback for Indian culture, its rituals, its traditions and mannerism. The Indian morning which used to begin with bhajans and kirtans now begins with the rock of Metallica and the punk of Greenday. The age of losing virginity has gone down to teens — following the western culture, these days it has become a casual and usual trend to lose virginity as teenagers. The way in which Hollywood movies have created an†¦ [continues] Preserve articles Essay on the impact of western culture on India Civilizations do meet and even merge but never has such an impact been witnessed as the impact of the west on India. A Birdseye view of the Indian scenario would depict a miniature or a distorted West in India. The impact has been so great and so deep that, wherever we go, and, as far as the eye can see, we notice only western modes and we are for a moment set to wonder if we are in India or in some western country. Impact of cultures is felt elsewhere also and this is bound to be, when two people or two societies or two countries meet but, neither leaves its own system wholesale as in India. This is a unique feature in India only, where the culture of the west has penetrated so deep and far and wide that, the original Indian culture has got lost somewhere. To find western impact on India we do not have to go far to seek. Each and every home, each and every sphere of life has been completely influenced by the west that it is difficult to recognize what is Indian in India. Our food, and food habits, our dresses, our dances, our songs, our music, our life style are all of the western pattern. One often wonders whether where we live is India, or a colony of the west? The influence is also changing our education system. In schools, the language most prominent is English and not Hindi. The medium of instruction is also English, so far so good. However, the sad part of this system is that, the schools that lay more stress on Hindi, or use the Hindi Medium of instruction, are known to be second rate schools. Thus, we have not only adopted the British ways but we also appreciate them only. The height of it all is seen when see that, a person who can communicate in English is known to be smarter than a person who cannot. This volume of change is not understandable. It implies that, not only have we taken to western styles, we also admire only them who follow the western styles, in comparison to those who follow the Indian styles. This much influence is not only unwarranted but also shameful. It has often been seen that countries do adopt methods of other countries but in doing so, they maintain their own identity. The loss of the identity is only found in India. To a great extent the influence of the British can be well understood as, we have remained slaves to them for two centuries. This much may be excused, but to revolt if anything Indian or anything indigenous is being introduced cannot be forgiven at all. This only points to the ugly fact that, we have got independence from the British only physically and politically but, mentally and culturally the onslaught on India has been complete. We, even to-day, remain culturally and mentally bonded to the west. Whenever anything Indian is talked about there is an attitude of derision for it, even in the highest echelons of society This indicates a full and complete degeneration of Indian culture and its total merger with the culture of the west. In my view, it is good to learn whatever is good anywhere, but, to learn a thing just because it is of the west only depicts a crumbled and shattered state of the Indian mind. We must learn to sort out and learn what is good elsewhere and maintain what is good in us. If we do this we can have the best of all – and that is what on intelligent person or community should be doing – alas India has not done it and got lost in the labyrinth of western notions at the cost of all that was ours. Culture† and â€Å"Tradition† are more significant in a country like India which has always been cherishing its rich culture and heritage and it’s quite well known for it worldwide. But these things are just on paper and are slowly losing their sheen. Why? India is known by her people. We, the younger generation are the representatives of India in a true sense of the word. Even in history, we come across various incidents where the youth took the lead to bring about a change and get India independence from the British rule. We, the Indian youth have always been the power and pride of India. We are the sole cherishers of India’s pride and its heritage which actually lies in its culture, its diversity, its uniqueness. In such a scenario, where the point of a rich cultured country like India is facing the problem of losing its culture, are we, the youth; the Indian youth not ACTUALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS? Are we not putting our own self image, our self respect, our mother India’s pride at stake by doing so? Just think about it my dear friends. There is no problem as such when we follow the western culture to some extent. The problem is we are forgetting our culture to a greater extent. Why should we do so? 21st century youth doesn’t mean forgetting the motherland and following or in short adopting western lifestyle in totality . Every culture has its own pros and cons. We individuals should be strong enough to take the good and throw off the bad. But what are we doing now? It’s a shame to see that â€Å"India’s pride†; â€Å"We Indian Youth† doesn’t have even a bit of importance for India’s pride and heritage, its culture; and we are easily influenced by western culture. Right from our clothing, till the music, the films, our attitude, our lifestyle, in short every aspect of our life has totally changed. â€Å"Change doesn’t happen on its own; it’s we who bring about the change.† But by this change, our mother India has lost its sheen and beauty; its place; its uniqueness in the†¦ [continues] Is Western Culture dominating India Culture Now we are in 21st century ,if we compare the culture which means the way we live,the way we love,the way we give respect to yelders and teachers,the food we eat,the way we dress,etc., of the 20th century I can say that the western culture is not dominating but going to dominate unique Indian culture. Today youth occupy most of the population of our country. Youth contribute to the uniqueness of any nation.Our nation has its uniqueness in its culture through the world.Most of the countries respect our culture. But for a doveloping country like India some of the western principles are necessary to make it dovelprd country.This reason is making our youth attracted to the bad part of western culture such as late night pubs,shorts,western music,etc which is giving them a great intellectual freedom. All these results in this present discussion of Domination of culture. Some of the citizens of the nation are supporting the western culture by saying that without the western culture no country will become developed.I agree with them up to some extent because a country should have to adapt foreign principles up to which the people of nation doesn’t get spoiled bi it. There is a saying of Mahathma Gandhi that â€Å"Open the doors and windows of the house to get fresh air from them to makes us good but not to flew away by heavy wind†. So I can say finally that we should adapt the positive side of the foreign culture which makes us developed and oppose its negative side†¦ [continues] The culture of India has been shaped not only by its long history, unique geography and diverse demography, but also by its ancient heritages. Regarded by some historians as the â€Å"oldest living civilization of Earth†, the Indian tradition dates back to 8,000 BC and has a continuous recorded history for over 2,500 years. But due to the increasing development†¦ Due to globalization†¦ the rich culture of India is disappearing. The most impact is of western culture on India culture. Western culture is based more on materialistic factors where as our culture has a spiritual base. The culture of India is been disappearing by many ways†¦ the youths in India do not respect their elders, the families in India live separate†¦ And thus have lost contacts with their other relatives†¦ the big point which is making the culture of India to disappear in bollywood†¦ the dressing style of the actresses, the slang word used in movies are been influenced the youth to bad step of life. The young ones try to act the same as these actors do which is very bad to the culture of India†¦ the lack of morals, the lacking faith in God, having late night parties, the influence of drugs and alcohols, least interest in Indian languages like Sanskrit, Hindi, Celebrating mothers day, fathers day, valentine day, fools day etc rather than celebrating our Indian festivals and thus wasting their precious time of life, Thinking to be independent at an early age so I strongly say that accept good from that and try to know our Indian culture more than u definitely change mind.. Thnkyou! 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Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King, Jr Research Paper

Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King, Jr - Research Paper Example He especially appreciated Gandhi’s non-violent means of standing against civil misconduct. Martin Luther was inspired by Gandhi’s principles. The principles of championing for liberation based on love and not violence. Hence, he championed for resistance against racial segregation without the use of violence. He urged his followers not to use violence against the white perpetrators. Instead, he used his inspirational speeches to motivate them with his faith in God. Instilling hope in them that God was with them, and they should keep fighting (Moldovan 1). Martin Luther was a founding member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference that he utilized to champion for civil rights. He used the Christian body to stand against the segregation and discrimination that the black people were subjected to. Through it, his national fame grew. Martin Luther King used the Christian body to organize peaceful and non-violent demonstrations in various states. Their peaceful nature can be attributed to Gandhi’s principles of non-violence. He used his great oratory skills to champion for Christian like virtues that disregarded discrimination (Moldovan 2). Douglass also had religious convictions that guided him. How do these religious convictions compare? The religious faith that Douglass had was described by a friend of his who did not believe in God. The friend said that it was his faith in God that prevented them from having a long-lasting friendship. Hence, it was outstanding. Douglass utilized the faith to spur the people. He utilized it to instill hope in the people. Hope that the oppression they all faced due to their race and slavery would come to an end. He believed that God would change the world, that God would change the predicament faced by black people and redeem them. Through his faith, Douglass viewed himself as a prophet. A prophet who was following God’s instructions (Stauffer). Hence, by utilizing the prophet in him, he was able

Assessing and Planning Skills Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Assessing and Planning Skills - Essay Example Clinical supervision is used to assist the teacher provide good services to students by learning from the supervisor’s experiences. Also, it provides the link between administration and the staff by monitoring the extent of compliance with policies, goals and procedures set out by the administration (Shohet, (2001). Peer coaching is a technique that combines coaching and peer to peer skill sharing. The participants can share experiences in their work and also teach other vital professional practices. They work together to evaluate practices, develop new skills together, share ideas and develop strategies for the classroom. One type of peer coaching involves only a few teachers working around observations in teaching. Peer coaching might involve teachers planning and implementing a curriculum together to test for new approaches to teaching. Also, it may be used to conduct research by the formulation of hypothesis about classroom behaviours and teachers testing these hypotheses (Aly, 2013). The major strength of the clinical supervision model is its ability to promote staff retention as it improves performance delivery. So as to attain this, the model requires a healthy and productive relationship between the teacher and a supervisor that is knowledgeable and can objectively analyse strategies (Evans, 2000). The teacher should have a mentality of accepting direction and correction. For the model to be effective, the supervisor needs to have a strong rapport with the teacher so that he could constructively criticise the teacher, and the teacher can open up. In such an environment, the teacher can learn a set of new skills from the experience of the supervisor and air out their concerns. However, the reliance on a good rapport for the model to be effective is its major drawback. In some instances, the teacher might be resistant to the supervisor’s authority and resist any feedback

Emily Dickinson's poetry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Emily Dickinson's poetry - Essay Example Poetry of Emily Dickinson, one of the most illustrious American poets, is marked by the unaffected and sensible way of communicating of thoughts and ideas. Her poems – sometimes rather short and succinct – are abundant with poetic vehicles and rather recognizable owing to the original style and brilliant poetic genius. And, moreover, I would say, that Dickinson’s poetry is alive. The poet herself inquired about liveliness of her verses in one of her letters: â€Å"Are you too deeply occupied to say if my verse is alive? The mind is so near itself it cannot see distinctly, and I have none to ask† (Dickinson, 1862). To my thinking, the answer is ‘yes’ and it could be proved by several arguments. Firstly, it is the peculiar style enlivening the verses: in her poems, Dickinson uses her own recognizable style of punctuation and rhyming – and these â€Å"instruments† grant dynamic and lively shape to her thoughts. For instance, her recurrent use of dashes and capital letters in certain words create the effect of intensity and emphasis. Her verse â€Å"Hope† is the thing with feathers† reflects the major features of her writing style. Here, she muses upon the essence of hope, comparing it to a bird. In the second stanza, she writes: â€Å"And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard- » (Dickinson, 312). By using a capital letter, she emphasizes the word and makes the verse more dynamic, virtually pulsating. It is clearly seen that the poet was â€Å"enamoured in language† (Melani) and played with it in the most exquisite ways, making the short lines of grammatically wrenched and compressed text speak for her and sound melodically and touchingly. Here, coming out of the previous, is the second ground to consider Dickinson’s poetry alive. Once, she herself defined poetry in the following way: â€Å"If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire ever can warm me I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know

Past exam papers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Past exam papers - Essay Example As such, amount of firm effort is determined by market, not an entrepreneur. The market determines the level of effort needed in an enterprise and, therefore, the quality and determination of the person operating a business is affected by the effort observed. If the entrepreneur realizes that putting much effort will result into more output, then they will design a manager contract that requires the manager to be energetic and put more effort. If the effort is not much needed, then the entrepreneur will design the contract, which puts less pressure on the manager. a) Fair insurance has zero net payoff, that is, the total amount of premium, which is paid by the client, is equated to the expected value of compensation that would be received. A full insurance pays compensates the insured with a payment that is equal to the harm which is caused by the risk insured against, that is, it leaves the insured as well off as they would have been if the risk insured against did not occur. b) Full and fair insurance is given only in the event that the insured knows the degree of their risk. Both low and high-risk person knows whether the insurance is fair by comparing the level of their risk with the premium charged and the amount of compensation expected. c) Equilibrium occurs when the insured person and the insurance companies have the same information regarding the risk to be insured. When an insurance company fully understand the extent to which the client is exposed to the risk and the insured understands the extent to which the insurance company will cover him/her if the risk occurs. a) The EUT holds that after satisfaction of certain axioms, the subjected value that is associated with the gamble will be equal to the expected outcome valuation. The independence axiom regards well defined preferences and makes the assumption that when two gambles are

Substance abuse in Veterans Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Substance abuse in Veterans - Research Paper Example These drugs provide relief for a short lifespan. However, this can in turn bring a heavy aftermath after the lapse. Its effects include nightmares, addiction, anxiety, flashbacks, suicide, overdose, sleeplessness, depression, aggressiveness, loneliness and even in the worst scenario; death (Lewis, Dana & Blevins, 2011) Stress forms a greater influence than any other cause and it greatly hinders a person’s mentality. The soldiers especially those from Iraq and Afghanistan, tend to overuse opioids a lot as a way of relieving stress. Most of them don’t use it because of physical injury, but because they want to erase the painful memories of their lost ones in the army. Hence, they misuse these drugs to relieve dark memories. Some veterans also use excessive hard drugs as a supplement of the opiates in case they don’t manage to get one. One of the majorly abused illegal drugs was heroin. This was because of fear from war tensions .Heroin abuse was largely used by Vietnam veterans. Battles needed courage and bravery; and that is why a huge number of soldiers used these drugs to boost their confidence. Injured soldiers especially those with severe cases were prescribed powerful painkillers which provided pleasure in return. The most prescribed painkillers included hydrocodone, oxycodone and meperidine. These drugs were commonly abused by being injected or sniffed in the blood system by the patients. These painkillers provided a similar feeling like the heroin. Excessive opioids brought about addiction which made most of them captive. The patients later turned to the abuse of painkillers which served as alternative opioids, having been controlled by the Department of Veteran Affairs. Opioids also caused anxiety and sleeplessness. Flashbacks were also recorded by the veterans causing them to scream or cry when sleeping. The patients sometimes took huge amounts of the painkillers whether prescribed or not, and

Are counter-intelligence and counter-espionage priorities mainly Essay

Are counter-intelligence and counter-espionage priorities mainly during major state-against-state geopolitical confrontations, a - Essay Example David Lonsdale has talked about this phenomenon by evoking the consequences of information technology.2 There have been a number of changes happening in the geopolitical relations that have changed the way, counter-espionage and counterintelligence operations are carried out. The changes have also transformed the time and space in which such acts are relevant. It was in this backdrop that in 1991, US had declared that new challenges were surfacing before the US counterintelligence, and had developed a National Security Strategy which said: Growing international economic competition and potential regional instabilities vastly broaden the scope of the potential intelligence threat. Our traditional openness, combined with recent changes in immigration laws and the sheer volume of information flow in the United States, affords great access to sensitive information and facilities as well as to individuals who may be targets for intelligence collection.3 Similarly, the formation of Europol in European Union was a step towards ensuring effective counterintelligence coordination within the EU nations.4 UK has also included US â€Å"among the prioritized country for a cooperation treaty with Europol.†5 All this refocusing and redesigning of intelligence activities represent a broader understanding of the changes that happen around. Counterintelligence operations have thus become more a round the clock activity than being a response to some existing or potential security threats. Researchers have been talking about the need for establishing an â€Å"international intelligence model†¦[which can]†¦establish shared concepts and procedures in the exchange of intelligence and common national and international intelligence work.†6 International counterespionage and counterintelligence activities and theories have to be discussed in the broader context of geopolitics. The term, ‘geopolitics’, is often used to understand international politic s and foreign policy matters.7 Henry Kissinger had equaled this concept with â€Å"global equilibrium and permanent national interests in the world balance of power.†8 Thus this concept is viewed as a prerequisite for maintaining global peace and well being. But usually, counterintelligence and counterespionage practices have also a trait to create global tensions as well. When these activities infringes upon the privacy and freedom of the citizens, criticism is bound to rise. For example, in the 1970s, FBI in America had pursued callous persecution of the Black radical activists and the American Indian Movement in the name of national security.9 Bruneau and Tollefson have also explained this aspect of counterintelligence by saying that, â€Å"counterintelligence and security intelligence activities have the greatest negative implications for democracy because of their covert surveillance of their citizenry.†10 Also, when the counterintelligence activity of a hostile n ation or agency is unearthed and the propagators are prosecuted, the hostilities may get enhanced. An interesting explanation on intelligence and counterintelligence has been that â€Å"one side’s intelligence failure is likely to be another side’s counterintelligence success. Conversely, an intelligence coup by one country implies a

The Discussion of Future Career Goals Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Discussion of Future Career Goals - Essay Example Firstly, the service that I hope to deliver will be fabricated upon the increasing levels of tourism that my native country has experienced with regards to the number of individuals that are currently traveling abroad for vacation. Although a litany of different travel agencies exists which can facilitate the process of booking tickets and planning hotel stays, a full-service travel industry does not exist. As such, providing cultural integration, analysis of any needed medical examinations or shots prior to going to a country, a crash course in etiquette, and an emphasis upon the specific activities that individual hope to engage in while they are on vacation will serve as new integration with the service industry. Accordingly, the tenure goal of this particular service plan will be to open at least one travel service agency within a population center in excess of 4 million people. I further twenty-year plan will be to expand this industry and have it represented within at least 3 t o 5 different locations around the country; with a 25-year plan of appointing a manager and director to oversee the coordinated efforts that these entities can engage. Further, a specific positioning strategy will be predicated upon the fact that the current level of service offerings that exist within the specific sphere are incapable of meeting the needs or demands of the population in question. Moreover, due to the fact that more and more individuals are traveling each and every year and the projected growth within the tourism industry is set to exceed 30% within the next five years, it only makes logical sense to engage with this market as a means of promoting my own career and servicing the professional needs of individuals within the economy. Further, the Four P’s of marketing, price – promotion – place – and product, can be utilized as a means of marketing this service and increasing the level of engagement by the society or population. Firstly, be fore engaging with an understanding of price, promotion, or product, the place is a definitive portion of the marketing mix that must first be analyzed.  

Early Childhood Education Programs Essay Example for Free

Early Childhood Education Programs Essay Early childhood education or preschool education is education for children in the early stages of their childhood before they join school. Several researches that have been conducted by neuroscientists, pediatricians and other stakeholders shows that the biggest portion of the brain architecture takes place in the early childhood years. Research studies have also found out that intellectual and emotional development is critical during the first three years of life. Maria Montessori was one of many educationists who believe that the foundation of human development is laid during the childs early years. She declared that: The most important period of life is not the age of university studies, but the first one, the period from birth to the age of six, (Pandor, 2008 para. 3). Many other educationists assert that the quality of education is determined in the first years of a child in school. Early Childhood Education Programs Preschool education or early childhood education is a quality education and it is beneficial to children from all economic and social groups. Development of quality early childhood programs should be emphasized as it can be viewed as a social and economic strategy. Investing in these programs is therefore not only important to the child but also to the development of the state and the country at large. A research conducted by the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) in five states of the United States found out that â€Å"quality public preschool programs produce broad gains in childrens learning and development,† (NIEER, 2005 para. 4). According to the same study, state funded programs were found to have significant gains regardless of the child’s ethnic or economic and social background. The effects of the preschool programs were estimated by testing the literacy skills, vocabulary and academic skills of the kindergarteners. A total of 5,071 children in 1, 320 classrooms were tested in either English or Spanish depending on the child’s strongest language. The impacts on mathematics, literacy and language were statistically significant compared to the children without the program. Vocabulary scores were 31 percent higher than gains of children without the program. On mathematical skills which included basic skills such as counting money, simple additions and subtractions, number concepts and telling time, the gains increased to 44 percent. In print awareness the gains were 85 percent greater for children enrolled in state sponsored preschool programs compared to the growth of children who are not enrolled (NIEER, 2005). According to the NIEER study, participants at the age of 20 years were more likely to have cleared high school if they enrolled for the preschool programs. They were less likely to have required remedial education and also less likely to have committed juvenile crimes which warrant arrests. With the unnecessary costs of remedial classes and expenditure for justice systems and in addition to the increased revenues, it was estimated that there was a return of $7 for every dollar that was invested. At 27 years of age, participants had gained a higher level of education and their earnings were higher than those who did not enroll for the early childhood school programs. The number of those who received the social services was significantly low and the numbers of arrests were fewer. These studies were carried out on children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. The befits gained can be intertwined in the sense that once this child gains a higher level of education most likely the earnings will be high, consequently economic prospects will be high, improvement on financial decisions, improved health and housing (NIEER, 2008). An opportunity to live in a classroom community, interact and get along with people from various socioeconomic backgrounds can be considered as a social benefit for children from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Learning how to get along with others will result to improved social skills and emotional competence. These programs set a stage and give a child preparedness to enroll for the formal education. Apart from improving on their communication skills and getting higher scores in school tests, they have lesser behavioral issues once they enroll in the formal learning process. When a child goes through the pre kindergarten learning they succeed in school and become good citizens, earn more, commit less crimes and pay more taxes. â€Å"Every dollar invested in quality early care and education saves taxpayers up to $13. 00 in future costs,† (http://web. mit. edu/workplacecenter/docs/Full%20Report. pdf. n. d pp. 2). The success of the early child leaning relies heavily on the quality of the preschool programs. In an effort to improve the schools and the learning process, most states in United States have established public preschool programs to cater for less privileged and disadvantaged. Most of these programs are established on the principle that early intervention will help the child unleash his full potential. For example the mission for Head Start is â€Å"to ensure that no child in America is trapped in poverty’s grasp,† (United Way of America, 2005 pp. 1). These programs have been criticized and their effectiveness has been questionable. From the findings of NIEER (2005) studies, â€Å"vocabulary gains were three or four times greater than those in the Head Start study,† (para. 9). In spite of this big difference in performance, such aspects such as the class size and the length of day remained the same. This difference was attributed to high educational qualifications and good remuneration for teachers in state funded pre-kindergarten programs compared to Head Start. Almost all state funded programs studied in the five states required teachers to be licensed, have a certification in early childhood education and be a holder of a BA degree. In the case of Head Start the requirements half of the teachers were required to have a two-year Associate’s degree while the rest to have a Child Development Associate (requires only 120 hours of training to acquire CDA credential) or an equivalent (LIFESTYLENIEER, n. d). Abbot, another preschool program in New Jersey was established to serve the highest poverty districts within the state. Substantial resources have been invested in the school and NIEER annual report rated it as one those with highest quality standards nationwide. According to the Abbot preschool program longitudinal effects study by Frede et al (2007), â€Å"the results presented provides clear evidence that by participating in a high-quality program regardless of auspice, children are improving in literacy and math at least until the end of the kindergarten year,† (pp. 35). It therefore remains clear that high standard and accountability are key factors to the success of these programs. Recruitments of qualified and well educated teachers as has been observed in performing preschool programs are instrumental in guaranteeing good quality. These teachers must be adequately compensated to boost their morale and hence increasing productivity. The classes should be manageable. This can only be achieved by having a reasonable child to teacher ratio. Finally there should be strong supervision to ensure that standard and quality of learning is uncompromised. Conclusion All children are entitled to quality education. From the studies conducted a disadvantaged child is likely to gain more from preschool program. If these programs are expanded more disadvantaged children will enroll and they will develop positive peer effects when they enroll for the formal school learning. â€Å"Failing to invest sufficiently in quality early care and education shortchanges taxpayers because the return on investment is greater than many other economic development options,† (http://web. mit. edu/workplacecenter/docs/Full%20Report. pdf. n. d pp. 2). There should be universal large-scale and state wide programs to benefit the minority and the poor. Reference: Early Childhood Education for All, a Wise Investment, retrieved on 20th July 2008 from http://web. mit. edu/workplacecenter/docs/Full%20Report. pdf. Frede E, Jung K, Barnett W. S, Lamy, C. E Figueras, A. (2007): The Abbott Preschool Program Longitudinal Effects Study (Apples). Retrieved on 20th July 2008 from: http://nieer. org/resources/research/APPLES. pdf LIFESTYLENIEER (n. d): Economic Benefits Of Quality Preschool Education for Americas 3- And 4-Year Olds. Retrieved on 20th July 2008 from: http://nieer. org/resources/facts/index. php? FastFactID=6 Martina, A (2008): Column: Early Connections Are Key For Infants To Thrive. Retrieved on 20th July 2008 From: http://detnews. com/apps/pbcs. dll/article? AID=/20080715/OPINION03/807150398/100 National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) (2005):New Study Shows High Quality State Pre-K Programs Improve Language and Math Abilities of Children of All Backgrounds: State Programs with Higher Teacher Qualifications Outperform Head Start , retrieved on 20th July 2008 from http://nieer. org/mediacenter/index. php? PressID=46 Pandor N (2008): A call to focus on firm foundations for learning, Journal of Education, Vol. 8. Issue No. 11, pp 21-27, Retrieved on 20th July 2008 from http://www. anc. org. za/ancdocs/anctoday/2008/text/at11. txt United Way of America (2005): Early Childhood Education, retrieved on 20th July 2008 from http://www. liveunited. org/_cs

Factors affecting customer perception

Factors affecting customer perception CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Introduction This is a report on the survey of the factors that affecting the customer perception in choosing their mobile service provider. The use of customer perception is to require the company figure out what their customers think. Customers always evaluate the perceived benefits before they decide to purchase a particular product. They also include costs of usage, the lost opportunity to use other offering, potential switching costs etc. Consumers always value these added benefits when making a purchasing decision. Therefore this is making it important for company to understand the customers need when marketing to their customers. Recently, the hottest topic in the Malaysias mobile industry which is Mobile Number Portability (MNP) are discussing by everyone. In simple, Mobile Number Portability (MNP) is taking our Mobile Number from one mobile phone network to another. It enables us to maintain their existing mobile phone numbers when changing from one mobile network operator to another mobile network operator. This removed one of the major restrictions on changing mobile network operator, and allows users to freely select from among the mobile network operators on offer. In Malaysia, there are four main mobile service providers Celcom, Maxis, DiGi and U-Mobile. A desire for cheaper calls is the reason that most consumers cite for possibly changing to a new network. Everybody is looking to change networks give a heavy weighting to four major factors: cost, coverage, technology and service options. This indicates that service providers need to take a multidimensional approach to managing their corporate custom er bases. MNP will allow further flexibility in the mobile phone market, as a result of which mobile network operators will be subject to other competition. This will cause mobile network operators to clarify their features in various policies such as fees and services. We have seen some of the mobile network operators introducing measures such as fixed price for calling other users of the others mobile network operator. There are five factors that has been found out how on what factor that influence the customers to select the certain telecommunication service provider- peer influence, product quality, customer service quality, promotion and network coverage. The consumer are getting the benefits from the result of this fierce competition among the telecommunication service provider in Malaysia because these company will keep improving and offer more attractive promotion in order to maintain and attract the new customers. Background of the research Malaysias telecommunication infrastructure market was opened in 1989 when a second mobile operator, Celcom, launched service. From 1993 to 1995, the market was further opened when three additional companies were granted various operating licenses such as fixed, long distance, mobile cellular allowing them to compete as full service operators. The telecommunication companies are competing among each other and create a competitive environment in the telco industry. There are some of the companies had merged with others big company and some of them gone bankruptcy. Today, four companies make up the major telecommunication market segment. The companies are DiGi, Maxis, Celcom and U-mobile. Celcom (Malaysia) Berhad is the oldest mobile telecommunications company in Malaysia that was established in 1988 and Celcom had transform itself as the market leader by offering the quality services to the customers. It continues to spread its wings and is undeterred by the dynamic nature of the mobile communications industry. Currently, Celcom offers its mobile postpaid and prepaid services under the access codes 019 and 013, serving a combined customer base in excess of 5 million with network coverage spanning over 95 per cent of the populated areas in the country. Furthermore, businessman was the major user of this Celcom service provider due to the stable network coverage. According to the Maxis website, Maxis Mobile Sdn Bhd, which started operations in 1995, Maxis has steadily built up its role to become leading telecommunications service provider in Malaysia by focusing its core business, adding 600 base stations during 2003. In 2003, the company acquired an additional 25 MHz spectrum in the 1800 MHz band and with a 3G license which launched by 2006. Being the leader within the telecommunication industry, the corporation is the fifth largest Public Company in Malaysia with total subscribers of 6.4million, providing a wide range of innovative mobile, fixed and international network services to their customers. Maxis Mobile Sdn Bhd first used the Cardax System (CC Unix) since 1998 when they moved their operations into Menara Maxis, owned and managed by Tanjong City Centre Property Management (Tanjong Plc Group of Companies). DiGi Telecommunications is smallest of the major mobile service provider that is majority controlled by Telenor, is holding its own in the face of its two bigger rivals. DiGi is supported by Telenor with the financial and technical stability. DiGi as the smallest of remaining mobile cellular companies has benefited from the sustained growth in market demand for cell phones in Malaysia. DiGi tend to serve their customers with high quality services and products by offering an affordable price, convenient and easy to access the broadband services in order to enrich the customers life. DiGi is the first mobile service provider to launch the prepaid concept for mobile services in Malaysia and till today, DiGi Prepaid remains the market leader. To achieve the quality and innovation services, DiGi is placing a lot of emphasis upon backend systems, efficient billing system and customer relationship management system. Now they had come out the broadband package which has a higher speed so cal led 3.5G. U mobile Sdn Bhd is Malaysias new established mobile service provider by offering value added services such as 3G video call to attract the youth market. U Mobile is using 018 prefix and provide the call charges with per second per block charges. This uniqueness had become their strength and a point to attract the light users of mobile. They just need to pay as how many second they are using. In April 2007, U Mobile signed Malaysias first ever nationwide roaming memorandum of understanding as a precursor to an agreement with Celcom (Malaysia) Bhd. This initiative allows U Mobiles customers to experience nationwide coverage from day one of service availability, whilst U Mobile continues to progressively rollout its own unique HSDPA driven mobile network. KT Freetel of South Korea and NTT DOCOMO of Japans combined investment of USD$200 million in December 2007 marked an exciting new chapter for U Mobile. This strategic partnership supports U Mobiles rapid go-to-market and product enha ncement and diversification plan. U Mobile introduced 3G mobile phone bundling packages for its U38, U68, and U98 Postpaid plans at attractive prices in August 2008. These few companys core business is segmented of the Malaysia telecommunication market, mobile markets and also the broadband markets. Besides, the telecommunication companies are also provided mobile services such as Short Message Service (SMS), Wireless Application Protocol, subscription services, General Packet Radio Services (GPRS), and Third Generation known as 3G that enable the customer to connect with a video call. These companies are offering the price promotion in order to attract the customers. Now there is an aggressive competition among these companies, so the company should figure out the factors of playing a vital role to choose the telecommunication service providers The Malaysia mobile industry is going the new era of competition. Therefore, all these mobile service provider need to differentiate themselves from others and presence itself well to become the one of the market leader in telecommunication industry. They can differentiate themselves by delivering more value added service such as the superior call charges and quality and improve their network coverage to maintain their market position and generating more innovation in their performance to meet the customer expectation. Problem Statement To what extent do the peers influence, customers services quality, products quality, promotion and network coverage affect the customer perception in choosing their mobile service provider? Research Objective The overall goal of this study is to determine and identify the factors that affecting customers perception in choosing their mobile service provider. The following objectives are built to achieve the goals of this study: To access that how peer influence, customer service quality, product quality, promotion and network coverage going to become the factor for customer to using specific telecommunication service provider. To determine whether the customers like the mobile service providers marketing activities To determine the mobile service provider positioning strategies in serving their customers. Justification for the research The telecommunication industry is undergoing in a dramatic changes. The value of the paper will indicate the consumer behavior in the competitive market. This study provides insights of the factors that affecting the customer perception in choosing their mobile service provider nowadays. This research is done for the contribution that will bring for the family; society, country, and it also lead us to a better living environment with advanced technology. The result of this research will be beneficial for the telecommunication operator to serve as a guideline in implementing their business strategy. With the information, those telecommunication provider will be able to design packages that satisfying consumers to improve their company performance as well as to maintain their market share. This research is important because it can outline what the factors that affecting the consumers perception in choosing their mobile service provider. Also, this research able to provides the factors that cause the switching behavior. When service provider understand what is the wants and needs of the consumer. Thus, it helps to reduce their cost in research and development. By then, service provider can focus to increase their product features or quality that serves to the consumers. Superior customer service and products quality can affect customers perception in choosing their mobile service provider. Through this study, service provider can focus on what is the best business quality and services to consumers in order to maintain their life long relationship to create maximum life time value to the company itself. This research can figure out the relationship between product and service quality with the customers perception in choosing the mobile service provider. Therefore, Telecommunication Company should emphasis on its product quality and customer service aspect in order to improve customers satisfaction. Before taking any actions to change the customer perception, the most crucial thing is to understand what factors influence customer satisfaction, and then try to make improvements in these critical areas so that they can have more satisfied and loyal customers. Methodology The methodology used for the survey to collect data in this research is through questionnaire. The population of this study is individuals who are mobile users in Malaysia. It is impossible to get all mobile users to conduct the survey; therefore survey will conduct to selected samples to gather the data. Besides, non-probability purposive sampling method will be used as this is an exploratory study. Other than that, the questionnaire conducted would be self-administered and made from secondary data obtained from journals from other researchers due to the lack of local research on the topic. The methods used for this research also come from review of literatures and books from the internet as it is more time saving and less costly. Limitations of the research Despite the useful findings of this study, this empirical study has several limitations to be acknowledged. First, the findings in this study depend on the honesty of the respondents. It is known individuals would agree more on socially desirable answers and disagree more towards socially undesirable answers rather than fully and truly express the feeling and opinions. Next, the limitation of this research is that the data of this study is collected through the surveys, so there is a high probability of inaccurate information. The sample size of 300 is not enough to determine the actual factor. There are too many factors that will affect the customers perception. More researches need to be conducted on the higher population in order to get the actual factors. Outline of the research project report This research paper is divided into five chapters. Chapter 1: Introduction The background of study is mentioned in this chapter. The discussion of the overall question and the relevance topic are being carried out. This chapter includes the objectives and the problem statement of this study. Besides that, the explanation of who is gaining benefits from this study is included. Lastly, important terms are clearly defined to avoid confusion amongst readers. Chapter 2: Literature Review This chapter is the part to cite those relevant studies from authors and year of the study. Both dependent and independent variables will then be identified and highlighted as the foundation to build the theoretical framework and hypotheses development. Arguments and opinions from different authors are included to support the study. During this chapter, readers will have a clear idea about the problems and the possible solutions that can be made to solve. Chapter 3: Research Methodology Theoretical framework and hypothesis of study will be stated. Theoretical framework shows the relationship between variables. Next, testable hypotheses will be developed based on their relationships. These hypotheses are to examine whether or not the framework is valid by using appropriate statistical analysis. Chapter 4: Data Analysis Before proceed into this chapter, data collection is needed from respondents through various methods. The results will then be tested to analyze the response in order to get a clearer and more concrete result. Chapter 5: Discussions and Conclusion Chapter 5 contains the conclusions and justification on the hypothesis constructed in the research. Other than that, the chapter also summarized the research findings and suggestions on the future findings are given supported by assumptions made from the research. Figure 1 below shows the outlines of the research. Definition Peer Influence Past research shows that peer influence has emerged over the last 50 years to be the chief source of values and behavioral influence in adolescence, replacing the influence of adults. By examining the peer influence on the consumer perception, we can know why peer influence is a factor that affects consumer perception in choosing their mobile service provider. Customer Service Quality Customers service quality includes trust, reliability and responsiveness of the company in telecommunication industry. This study will figure out how this factor affects the consumers perception. Product Quality Product quality is the characteristics of a product that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs. Customers always focus on the product quality when they purchase a product/service. Promotion Promotion is one of the four elements of the marketing mix. Promotion able to attract the customers to disseminate the information of a product. This study will discuss how promotion works as one of the factors to affect the consumer perception. Network Coverage Network Coverage is the range of mobile network signal provided by the telecommunication mobile service provider. This study will also discuss about how the network coverage will affect the consumer perception. Scope This research is particularly interested in investigating consumers behaviors and perceptions such as motivations of changing or remaining with mobile operators with the introduction of MNP. This paper is tending to find out what are the factors that affecting customer perception in choosing their service provider through this study. All respondents are assumed to have basic mobile knowledge. There are many factors that cause the consumers to choose their mobile service provider. The study will also include the implications of switching cost on the telecommunication industry, service providers and consumers. Conclusion This research is aim to complete successfully within the time frame so that the result would accurate and will achieve the research objectives. This research had confirms the significant positive relationship of peer influence, customer service quality, product quality, promotion and network coverage to affect the consumers perception. It is expected to provide a broader understanding of mobile service provider in Malaysia and explore the real factors that affecting the consumers perception in choosing their mobile service provider. It is also hope that the successful completion of the survey would have positive impact on the mobile service provider strategies in order to grab the customers and maintain their customer relationship. Chapter 2 Literature Review Dependent Variable Customers perception in choosing their mobile service provider The understanding of consumer perception in a virtual environment is limited. It is important to develop an understanding of the factors that affect consumer perception in this market space. This will enable mobile service provider to develop more effective and focused strategies for optimizing the visibility of their product offerings and to attract more customers. There are various factors that can affecting the consumer perception when making buying decision on a product. Independent Variables Peer Influence   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Peer influence is commonly defined as the extent to which peers exert influence on the attitudes, thoughts, and actions of an individual (Bristol and Mangleburg, 2005). There will be some of the people will affect the perception of the customer when they decide to buy a product. When they decide using which mobile service provider, most of customers will think which mobile service providers are currently using by their friends and family. Peers influences include the spread opinions of friends, family, colleagues and reference group. Mostly individuals will be influenced and get into following their trend and take their opinions as a standard of their purchase decisions. Peers can influence each other either in a positive way or negative way. The potential power of WOM (Word of Mouth) as a form of promotion is generally accepted (Arndt, 1967; Buttle, 1998; Dye, 2000). WOM is a strong factor to affect the customers perception. If the customer is less well understood the product, he/she will refer to the people around them. WOM can be negative or positive, so the company should utilize the effectiveness of WOM as a good promotional tool and build goodwill of the product in order to enhance their company reputation. The influence that a sources word-of-mouth information exhibits on the receiver has traditionally been explained by models of interpersonal influence (Bansal and Voyer, 2000; Bone, 1995; Cohen and Golden, 1972). Within this stream of research, it has often been suggested that interpersonal or social influence can be categorized as either informational or normative influence (e.g. Deutsch and Gerrard, 1955). Word of mouth can operate through both channels: Informational influence occurs when information is accepted as evidence of reality (e.g. Burnkraut and Cosineau, 1975). In contrast, normative influence operates through compliance, which means that the individual conforms to the verbalized expectations of referent others (Kelman, 1961) Customer service quality Service quality had become an important attention to the company due to its strong impact on their business performance. Customer service is a series of activities designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction. That is, the feeling that a product or service has met the customer expectation. Customer service quality is the perceived quality of service obtained by a customer when using the current mobile service providers. Customer service is what an organization provides to its customers and is relatively easy to measure. Typically the measures include response time, time required to provide service, ability to handle a customers issues on the first call, procedures for handling customer complaints. Customer service is always important and companies should enhance all the ways in which they touch their customer, the service they provide and their measures to continuously improve that service. Superior service quality measurably increases a firms overall profitability. Mobile users always requested the fast connection either in calling or sending short message from the mobile service provider. They will make judgment based on the service quality given by their mobile service provider in order to change the mobile service provider or being loyal to their current mobile service provider. If the customers maintain loyalty to their mobile service provider, thus it will bring continuous revenue to the company. Service quality is associated with the relationships between server and customer, The customers will consider the politeness, helpfulness, speeds of delivery, and pleasantness of the service (Berry, 1987) when they received the services from their mobile service provider. Customer service is playing an important role in mobile service provider; it helps to maintain the loyalty of consumer towards the company. According to Taylor, 1992, service quality enhancement differentiates the service providers from competitors. Consumer often compares the service quality within other mobile service provider companies. There is huge amount of support in the service quality literature for a link with customer loyalty and future purchases. Customers always put the service quality they receive as the factor that affects them to do purchase of the product. If the service is bad, the customer will tend to change to mobile service provider.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Service quality is very important that companies have gone to great efforts to evaluate and keep records of service quality levels. Service quality is about the consumers judgment about the overall excellence or superiority of a service (Zeithaml, 1988). If the mobile service providers provide the bad services in handling the customers issues, it will leave a bad impact of the brand name in the customers mind. In order to have a better understanding about service quality, there are few attributes about services: services are intangible; services are heterogeneous, meaning that their performance often varies with respect to the provider and the customer; services cannot be placed in a time capsule and thus be tested and re-tested over time; and The production of services is likely to be inseparable from their consumption (Gronroos, 1990). The service evaluation can be associated with service delivery process, along with output (Cody and Hope, 1999). These two underlying processes generally explain the contribution of service quality to profitability. First, service quality is regarded as one of the few means for service differentiation and competitive advantage that attracts new customers and contributes to the market share (Venetis and Ghauri, 2000, p. 215). Second, service quality enhances customers intention to purchase again, to buy more, to buy other services, to become less price-sensitive and to tell others about their favorable experiences (Venetis and Ghauri, 2000, p. 215).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Reichheld and Sasser (1995) had proposed that the high level of satisfaction lead to increase the customer loyalty. There is growing evidence that customer perception of service quality they received when using the mobile service provider will affect their behavioral intention. Nowadays, the telecommunication industry is become more competitive and there are more new entrants of other small mobile service provider to grab the market. According to Melody (2001) public utilities is derived from the law in any country. Where the demand for a good or service is considered a common necessity for the public at large and the supply conditions are such that the public may not be provided with reasonable service at reasonable prices. Service is a form of attitude which is related to satisfaction and also leads to consumer loyalty (Johnson and Sirikit, 2002) and future purchase. In particular consumers prefer service quality when the price and other cost elements are held constant (Boyer and Hult, 2005). It has become a distinct and important aspect of the product and service offering (Wal et al., 2002). According to Leisen and Vance (2001) service quality helps to create the necessary competitive advantage by being an effective differentiating factor. Service qualit y was initiated in the 1980s as the worldwide trend when marketers realized that only a quality product could not guaranteed to maintain competitive advantage (Wal et al., 2002). Competitive advantage is a value-creating strategy, simultaneously which is not implemented by any existing or potential competitors (Barney, 1991). Service quality is essential and important for a telecommunication service provider company to ensure the quality service for establishing and maintaining loyal and profitable customer (Zeithaml, 2000; Leisen and Vance, 2001). Conversely, Johnson and Sirikit (2002) stated that service delivery systems have the ability to allow managers of company to identify the real customer feedback and satisfaction on their telecommunication service. Since, quality reflects the customers expectations about a product or service. Lovelock (1996) stated that this customer driven quality replaced the traditional marketing philosophies which was based on products and process. Product quality The quality of a product is a conceptualize service quality as the relative perceptual distance between customer expectations and evaluations of service experiences and service quality using a multi-item scale called the SERVQUAL model.(Parasuraman et al., 1988). The SERVQUAL model includes the five dimensions of tangibles which is the physical facilities and the appearance of personnel, reliability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately, responsiveness as the willingness to help customers and provide prompt service, assurance where employee knowledge base which induces customer trust and confidence, and empathy which is the caring and individualized attention provided to customers by the service provider.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To get products or services in good quality is a must in customers perception. Especially for telecommunication industry, customers cannot touch the physical product before they make their decision. To gain trust in consumers, it is necessary for the mobile service provider to provide the identity and complete information of the company such as their physical location, pass record, product quality approved. Besides, telecommunication company have to ensure they provide only good quality product or service to consumer because can gain word of mouth. Once they fail to do it, they will suffer it. According to lemons model (Akerlof 1970), product quality is the basic idea in a competitive market. Products only differentiated by their exogenous quality. If product quality is undistinguishable beforehand by the buyer, then there is one price. If cost are increasing in quality, then at that price the highest quality products may not be offered, and as a result buyers become reluctant to pay high price. They learn to expect low-quality products which mean the price must fall. Product quality is always an important aspect of a purchasing decision and in market behavior. Since, consumers regularly face the task of estimating product quality under conditions of imperfect knowledge about the underlying attributes of the various product offers with the aid of personal, self-perceived quality criteria (Bedeian, 1971 adapted by Sjolander, 1992). According to Sjolander (1992), the consumer behavior in modern market is different from the theoretical case of consumer decision making in free markets. Promotion In order to promote a companys product, a company often uses advertising to create brand and or product differentiation in order to soften the price competition. To the extent that persuasive advertising create customer loyalty through perceived differentiation over essentially identical products, they create market power in the sense that consumers may be willing to pay more for preferred brands, thus allowing Telco Company to raise prices above marginal costs. The most preferred outcome by firms is where one advertises while its competitors dont, leading to market share and profitability gain at the expense of its rivals. In the price promotion, the Telco companies are using game theoretic model (Axelrod and Hamilton, 1981) to provide a homogenous product and have sufficient capacity to serve the market demand. It is a non-cooperative game as there werent any enforceable agreements between them as they compete in the marketplace. It is a repeated one-shot simultaneous game as they were driven by quarterly performance accountable to shareholders. As such, they would decide on their pricing strategies independently and aware of rivals prices in the market while forming certain expectations about rivals pricing strategies. Actions available are Maintain Price and Undercut Price. Payoffs are ranked in order of preference (higher number is preferred). The most preferred outcome by firms is where one undercuts price while its competitors maintains price, leading to market share gain at the expense of its rivals. When all firms maintain prices, there is no change in market-share and profitability. When all f irms undercut prices, market-share remains with reduced profitability. Price plays a vital role in telecommunication market especially for the mobile telecommunication service providers (Kollmann, 2000). Its included not only the purchase price but also the call and rental charges. Generally, a price dominated mass market leads to customers having more choice and the opportunity to compare the pricing structures of different providers. Therefore, the company that will offer lower charges, the more customers will commit themselves to the telephone networks, so more call minutes will achieved. It will be interesting to study the impact of the two or more mobile service provider having price competition. One of the impact will be the customers will keep switching from one mobile service provider to another one. For example, there is a new customer will think of reducing its switching cost. The customers that keep changing their customer due to price promotion offered by the mobile service provider

Essay --

Looking back at America’s past wars I wonder what would have happened if we lost any of them? What would’ve happened if we lost in the war against Great Britain? What would have happened if we lost in any other war from our pass? There is a strong possibility that this country would have been governed by a form dictatorship, not a state of democracy. War to many is seen as destruction and death to millions of innocent and guilty individuals. But war is much more than just destruction and death; it’s about defending one’s country honor and improving individual’s way of life. Having a strong and powerful military is great for a nation for reason, it can defend, and it can boost the nations economy. Structurally, when different societies and cultural groups look at the military, they should ask this question, â€Å"What makes the military so intimidating to the point we despise it?† In my opinion, the military probably seems intimidating because of their nonstop technological advancements and using anthropologist to help better them understanding a different culture from their own and also go to war with an enemy without harming innocent civilians. Yes, it can be said as well as seen, that the American military spends billions of dollars each year creating and advancing their technology to â€Å"outgun† their enemy during times of war (Lutz). The billions of dollars that the American government uses towards military not alone creates weapons of war, it also provides jobs and keeps a steadiness in the business cycle (Lutz). Even though the government spends a very large amount of money on the military cultural groups tend to overlook the cultural intelligence that also being used to overcome and overpower the enemy. The Human Terrain System (HT... ... as peacemakers in a warzone, they are often looked upon as individuals who are promoting war. The HTS program was designed to mix troop education, ethnography and save lives in communities and territories. Death is evitable it can never be prevented. Death can happen at anytime, anywhere under any circumstances. Like the soldiers who enlisted in the military, the anthropologist knew there was a slight possibility that they would be killed in a foreign country. I feel as though both the anthropologist and soldiers are putting their lives on the line so the world can be a safer place for future generations. When I look at both the military and the brave anthropologist who are apart the HTS program I look at two completely different occupations with one common goal, trying to find a safer way for different cultures and society to cohabit the world with being enemies.

Age Of Jackson Essay -- essays research papers

The Age of Jackson, written by Arthur M. Schlesinger, focuses on the long lasting effects of Andrew Jackson on democracy and American politics. The novel starts off with Jackson’s life story, a lowerclass boy from the west, raised by a single mother. After finding financial success on his own, he became well known for his military exploits, being a crucial factor in the Battle of New Orleans, and the acquisition of Florida from the Spanish. After the brief account of Jackson’s life, the author moves on to his administration, and stays with that topic for most of the book. By the time Jackson came to power, the nation had been drastically changed by the Industrial Revolution. The simple, pastoral, agricultural lifestyle was being replaced by the manufacturing world, of cities and factories. Politically, the nation was in great turmoil. There was still an everlasting debate among men in power, over what should prevail, the rights of the states, or the rights of the Federal Government. If not for several personal reasons, Jackson would have been a staunch advocator of states rights. The right to vote was still a major issue, the middle class feeling robbed of power in governmental decisions, the upperclass feeling threatened by the growth of the middleclass. However, Jackson brought with him many new ideas and principles. Since he himself had very modest roots, he sympathized with the middle and lower classes. He had worked for everything he had of value in life, and he acknow...

Just Another Veterans Day Essay -- Personal Narrative Essay Example

Just Another Veteran's Day    My grandmother and I stopped in DC before we met up with my parents to go on a trip. The fact that we were there on Veteran's Day was only a coincidence. True to my historically disinterested generation, the crowds of people as we left the hotel to walk towards the mall perplexed me. Only momentarily, of course; the hundreds of predominantly middle-aged men, defiantly strutting, proudly adorning their wheelchairs and various prosthetics, required little introduction and less explanation. Amidst them I, not yet 15, variably slithered with ignorance, the inexperience of war; and alongside, my Belgian-bred grandmother, veteran to a war these men could not know.    Uncharacteristically, I fell prey to tourist trappings: photographing the Lincoln Memorial, vainly attempting to hunt down and shoot the one angle of the Reflecting Pool that no one, in the history of history, had yet to see. Others swarmed... ...e there than I; their lack of respect condemned them to a hell in which I do not particularly believe. In an attempt to capture what we all saw but were unable to comprehend, they obliterated the very purpose of this apotheosis. These soldiers, soulfully searching the black mirror for a prosthetic for their soul, their sanity; a glimmer of sense in an event that defined madness: they deserved silence, solitude, peace. Instead, capitalism and greed spat in their face.   

Title E-books or print books: which do you prefer?

The purpose of this paper Is to present the some basic aspects of e-book and print book. The methodology of this paper Is using the bibliography and the statistics attempts to give some specific analysis about e-book and print book as a whole. The study found a much higher use of e-book over print book, and the trend of personal preference is not only restricted to the group of students but the whole younger generation. The result of this paper offers the individuals a new idea to insider for eBooks purchase.Keywords User preference, Surveys, E-Books, Print books Paper In the contemporary society, it is generally believed that books play an indispensable role in the development of human society. Apart from the print books, there is another kind of books—electronic books, which poses a challenge to the position of paper quality books. However, there is no unanimous consensus on whether the print books should be substituted for the digital books yet. On the one hand, some people think the golden age of print books In gone, and we should pay ore attention to the modern technological products.On the another hand, the view that print books will not be supplanted by electronic books was held by some individuals. As far as I am concerned, I am in favor of the latter's side. Some people have a tendency to choose the print books rather than the eBooks. Here are a few possible reasons for that. For one thing, the tangibility, which gave by the print books, cannot be showed in any aspects of eBooks. Therefore, people usually purchased print books instead of eBooks because they can get a tangible item for their memory y buying a paper printed book.For another thing, print books offer a sense of accomplishment to people. Specifically, consumers believe that they will feel more accomplished when the mass of the book moves from the right side to the left and they know they are almost done. Furthermore, print books afford the people opportunities to use them for other p urposes. In fact, It Is Impossible that one person could use a stack of eBooks to maintain his couch If the leg fell off. In all, some people lust choose the print books as their prefer because that Is what reading Is about to hem.Reading is something like going to a bookstore and browsing through hundreds, maybe thousands, of books to find the right one. Admittedly, the profitable problem is the crucial factor which the E-book producer should mainly concern about. A questionnaire survey was distributed among 27 students at a library and information science school in the USA to find out what users and potential users think about e-books in this transition period, when the US economy has experienced downtime, and the e-book world cannot see profitability In Its business as predicted.Among the 27 survey participants, a third of them has used e-books in the past, mostly reading computer-based e-books without special readers. â€Å"Available around the clock † and â€Å"searchab le † are both chosen and ranked as the most Important reasons. Those who have never used e-books mainly think that eBooks are â€Å"hard to read and browse † or â€Å"need special equipment However. About half of the non- would agree that e-book have its peculiar advantages as a whole. Firstly, one of the most significant aspects is portability. The reason for that is e-book has a smaller illume and less weight than the majority of the printed book.In fact, the worst thing of reading might be that you finishing a book and not having another book to carry on reading due to the lack of your bag's volume. Secondly, another advantage of e-book is a host of books can be made available for your electronic books without worrying about the number of your saved books. Thus, people can bring a digital device with hundreds or even thousands of books stored in your digital books. In conclusion, eBooks are available for purchase and reading at any time and any place with battery re mitting.These aspects of s-book indicate that the individuals tend to purchase e- books when the print and electronic version all are available for them. What's more, the Association of American Publishers reported that the annual growth rate for e- book sales fell abruptly during 2012, to about 34%. (2) That's still a healthy clip, but it is a sharp decline from the triple-digit growth rates of the preceding four years. Another survey conducted by Neurosurgeons. Org suggests that Of the respondents who took the survey, 25. 2 percent indicated that they would â€Å"very likely † arches an reader in the next six months; 36. Percent said that they â€Å"may † purchase an reader; while almost 40 percent indicated that they were â€Å"very unlikely. (3) Of the 7,880 titles that were available in print and e-book, 58 e-book titles were accessed and 2,799 print titles were circulated during the study period. In print and e-book format, 1,688 titles were used. In e-book form at, but not in print, 1,484 titles were used. In print, but not e-book format, 1,125 titles were used. In either format, 3,597 titles were unused. (4) The above three surveys show a trend of the increasing rate of e-book purchase. Personally, I consider the position of paper books is irreplaceable.Not only because it contains a vast number of historic values, but it represents the civilization evolution of human society. From the view of human civilization, print books play a pivotal role in human society. Books have been books have been the cornerstone of our society for centuries, especially after the invention of the printing press – perhaps the most important invention in human history. Len other words, the development of electronic books is advancing at a staggering tempo, ay turn out to be Just another format-an even lighter-weight, more disposable paperback.That would fit with the discovery that once people start buying digital books, they don't necessarily stop purcha sing printed ones. In fact, according to Pew, nearly 90% of e-book readers still read physical volumes. The two forms seem to serve different purposes. However, the transformation from print books to E-books is inevitably popular. Dominique Reach, Publisher and CEO of Successors, said that â€Å"the digital transformation is bringing with it an onslaught of content. In fact, more intent was published last year than ever before.Booker (the ISBN agency) reported that 2009 self-publishing or what they call the non-traditional book publishers drove total book production over 1,000,000 units for the first time-that's over a million books produced last year. Think about that as a reader, an author or a publisher. † (5) In sum, paper books have its unparalleled superiority and so eBooks does. No one knows what the future book market will be. Time will tell whether eBooks are a viable alternative. At the moment, the whole thing is still in its infancy, and a decent

Diversity Among Individuals Essay

Diversity among individuals, as well as cultures, provides a challenge for nurses when it comes to delivering meaningful health promotion and illness prevention-based education. How do teaching principles, varied learning styles (for both the nurse and her patients), and teaching methodologies impact the quality of such education? How does understanding a patient’s view of health promotion and disease prevention guide you in teaching them? Provide an example. Education is impacted any time that the student (patient) does not understand what is being explained, so it is important for the instructor (nurse) to have multiple teaching styles and methodologies to ensure the information is clear and understood. Speaking with patients, while drawing pictures or diagrams, as well as giving them handouts to take home allows you to cover all but one type of learner. Understanding my patient’s view of health promotion and disease prevention helps guide me to what specific information the patient will need. For example, A 21 year old male who smokes tobacco and has multiple sex partners informs me that he has no desire to quit smoking and refuses you to discuss the matter with me. Attempting to educate this patient on quitting smoking will do harm than good. The patient will be frustrated and possibly angry at me for not respecting his feelings, this could possibly damage our nurse-patient relationship of trust and understanding. In this case I will respect the patient’s right to smoke and spend my time educating him on sexually transmitted diseases and the importance of safe sex. My 21 year old female tobacco smoker informs me that she would like to quit smoking but is having a hard time. In this situation I would speak with her about her difficulties quitting smoking, fears and anxieties. Provide information regarding medications that are available, programs and resources that are designed to help her, and other options like hypnosis and acupuncture. Understanding and being able to incorporate teaching principles, teaching methodologies, and learning styles are all very important in patient education and health promotion but it will do you little good if you do not have the patient’s buy in and willingness to change.

Environmental Pollution Essay

Los Angeles, California have been experiencing a growing population within our city. The growing population in this city has caused an increased pressure on the infrastructure and natural resources that are beginning to affect our environment. The expansion of the city has cut deeper into the rural areas that are causing problems to the environment, such as a loss in our wetlands, water pollution, biological habitats, and air pollution. The cause of the growing population has led to a high density of factories, automobiles, and commercial enterprises in Los Angeles. The population growth is beginning to create many environmental problems that are giving Los Angeles economic, and environmental consequences. Theresa Carter, an associate-level environmental scientist, has suggested four measurements of the city council for addressing the pollution management. She has suggested to Encouraging alternative transportation, walking, and bicycle use, Promoting fuel-efficient cars, Improving roads, and Encouraging carpooling. The encouragement of alternative transportation is great on the earth environment and the health of human beings. The improvement of better roads can also improve the transportation of people, reduce cars accidents, and can allow people to compost what was used. Compost helps improve soil, so it holds more water and plants grow better. Carpooling is a very effective climate change, because it allows one car to be used to carry different people to work and other places. For instance, eight people wanted to drive their car from Los Angeles to Apple valley. Los Angeles is an hour and a half drive away. Instead of using eight different cars and spending money on  eight different fossil fuels to fuel their cars, one person can use a van to carry all the co-worker to one location saving, hundreds of dollars and used of savable fossil fuels. When people use walking, bicycling, and carpooling at least twice a week it can cut the greenhouse gas emission at 1,600 pound per year. The promotion of fuel efficient vehicles allows the waste of fuel not to be used and helps protect the future cost of fossil fuels. When humans trade a car for a bicycle, it do not only improve their and the ecosystem health, It allows humans to fight obesity and rely on other ways to get around. Some persons may argue that fuel efficient cars are a great expense, but it can also be a significant improvement to get their health in order. It can do this by removing pollution from the air and gathering into their lungs. Bicycling is exercise, and many people have become obese by sitting around and driving, while not doing nothing to benefit their health. Pedestrian crashes are more than twice as likely to occur in areas without sidewalks; streets with â€Å"sidewalks on both sides have the fewest crashes. â€Å"Streets without safe places to walk, cross, catch a bus, or bicycle put people at risk. Over 5,000 pedestrians and bicyclists died on U.S. roads in 2008, and more than 120,000 were injured† (Reynolds, C, p. 22, 2009). Improvements of new roads and fuel efficient cars can be a massive expense, but the is an excellent conservation of people lives, and deter of greenhouse gases being released. Better decision making on environmental issues, allow people to make a better decision to live life on earth for a longer existence. The way the Earth works is to create and recreate, not for human to produce and destroys nature natural habitat. The following quote â€Å"Decision-making about environmental issues necessitates the maintenance of a good balance between the effectiveness of measures and the public reaction towards them.† In Theresa opinion mean that if human makes a valid decision on the thing that he or she find necessary, meaning something they can not live without Only then will they know how to keep the earth and its environment clean, and the general will began to follow. When the public sees the response of them destroying the environment personally, they can take the appropriate measure it take to have others combined with the contribute to restoring and  maintain a clean environment. Los Angeles economic and environmental hazard can become improved by encouraging alternative transportation, walking, and bicycle use, promoting fuel-efficient cars, improving roads and encouraging carpooling. Many hazards come from the emission of fossil fuels from the engines of cars, by implementing the use of people not using their cars or making fuel efficient vehicles, it helps improve the inconvenience use of vehicles. When the growth of population becomes larger, more people require unnecessary materialistic items, like cars, technology, and material that cut into the field and push down trees from growing. Animals start to get pushed out their habitats, and the earth begin to become small on their environmental structure. If Los Angeles complete or clean up their street, it may cost a profit, but it is a reduction in car accidents, better bicycling paths for bicyclist, and a cleaner environment so humans can respect and take care. Reference: Analysis shows promoting fuel efficient cars will keep fuel costs from draining illinois economy. (2011). Entertainment Close – Up, Retrieved September 14, 2014, from http://search.proquest.com/docview/864596179?accountid=458 Botkin, D.B. and Keller,E.A. 2010. Environmental Science: Earth as a Living Planet 7th Edition. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons. Reynolds, C., et al. (2009). â€Å"The Impact of Transportation Infrastructure on Bicycling Injuries and Crashes: A Review

Reflection Essay

Matthews (2004) explains that reflection is an important tool for clinical development. Rolfe (2011) provides the argument that reflection is just as important and works alongside evidence based practice. Schon (1991) cited in Howatson-Jones (2011) describes the link between professionals reflecting in and on action and how this leads to increased efficiency in working through problems and issues. In order to adhere to the objectives governing nurses and midwives, through the NMC Code of Conduct (2008), the names and service providers mentioned within this discussion have been replaced by a pseudonym. This discussion with utilise Gibbs’ model of reflection as it provides simple headings within which thoughts and feelings can be collated effectively. Also Gibbs provides a section for which to plan for further or future action which is an important part of reflecting. Gibbs’ model differs from other simpler models such as Borton’s REFERENCE in that it offers that final stage on what to do with reflective ideas in order to formulate an action plan for future events. Description George Wilson, an 80 year old gentleman with Parkinson’s, was admitted in the early hours of the morning onto my placement area. While my mentor observed I began to assess George using an ABCDE approach, whilst the nurse transporting him handed over his notes and care plan. It became apparent that his medication was not properly prescribed. Parkinson’s medication is a very important aspect of treatment and must be given on time everyday. Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative condition which affects the production of dopamine in the brain stem causing motor and cognitive mpairments. (Mattox, et al. , 2001) Evidence suggests that the impacts of missed, incorrect or delayed doses affects the Parkinson’s patient greatly. Leopold et al, (2004) state that it can result in lowered mobility including swallowing and can put them at risk of falls. Another issue was that in the move some of George’s medication had been misplaced. In order to be given his medication in the morning on time it would need to be prescribed correctly and retrieved from pharmacy.

Abortion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 2

Abortion - Essay Example In the United States of America much of the legislation relating to Abortion has been set by judicial activism i.e. in the form of court rulings. While the effort of the congress to resolve the conflict on a legal foundation is welcome, it would be prudent to question if they alone can settle so cavernous and sensitive an issue. To see how wide ranging the conflict is, simply consider the fact that the Pro-Life and Pro-Choice activists prefer different terminology in their arguments. Thus, ‘Pro-Choice’ is interpreted to mean ‘Anti- Life’ and Pro-lifers consider the terms ‘fetus’ and ‘embryo’ dehumanizing; while in the opposing camp, referring to the fetus as an ‘unborn child’ is thought to be too emotional (Wikipedia). The laws relating to abortion in this nation is derived from the Supreme Court ruling on the famous Roe Vs Wade trial. That this ruling is not accepted by all is established by the fact that there are many US states that have passed various ‘Trigger Laws’ which would come into action if and when the Roe Vs Wade ruling is overturned (Reuters). Feminists today regard anti abortionist campaign as a direct infringement on their reproductive freedom (Willis). If the human fetus is declared as a human being from the moment of conception, then it implies that all abortions irrespective of the context would amount to murder and hence would be illegal in the eyes of the law. This is a very strong moral argument and is the starting point for all debates on abortion and has attained the centre stage in most forums (Willis). Various methods of logical deduction have been used to reach from here to the final step. Thomson has conjectured a number of situations and in each has considered the ethical question of whether the life of a fetus is more important than the life of its mother. In each case that he has hypothesized, he has

Real Estate and Property Management Company report. Maxima Real Estate Essay

Real Estate and Property Management Company report. Maxima Real Estate Development Company - Essay Example However, the name was derived from the term maximum meaning that it would be a company with the ability to perform the best in the effort to elevate and facelift the states of any property to be developed. The report is objectively aimed at providing a summary and a guideline on the property expansion project in the Great Manchester Area. The report is composed of a research survey conducted within a period of 3 weeks to identify a potential opportunity that would generate income within the Great Manchester area (Harris, 2005, p. 18). Since UK is best known for sports especially football availability of vast potential in the field of sports. The best option obtained during the research study settled on a conclusive count for building an international sports academy, which would host a considerable number of sporting activities, which are not limited to athletics, triathlon, football, baseball, volleyball, tennis, rugby and hockey (Reuvid, 2009, p. 42). The decision to settle on devel oping a football academy was considered as the best option because, Maxima Real Estate Development Company is a large multinational company, with organized leadership that is capable of constructing any kind of building. Our representatives and technical teams are also richly talented in myriad areas of expertise that would influence and facilitate the construction process with minimum supervision within a given timeline (Victoria, & Louise, 2004, p. 24). Bottom of Form The company is objectively designed to collaborate with both managers and residence in order to develop properties to the satisfaction of both managers and customers. However, to enhance better outcome, the company plans to employ casual workers from the locality. This will help the local residents benefit from the construction sites, it is one of the strategies aimed at creating more jobs opportunities for the benefit of the global community in any country where the real estate development company wins a constructio n tender (Banfield, 2005, p. 33). The property strategy for a corporate organization Maxima Real Estate Development Company augmented essential acquaintance in project and property development in accordance with the corporate social responsibility (CSR). This is aimed at distinctively creating a difference from our estate development company and the other companies that trade in the same area of expertise and professionalism. This enables corporate organizations to consider and award our company construction and estate management tenders due to adequate and convincing research outcomes (Barry, & Nick, 2010, p. 63). Our objective is aimed at determining and building the best action plan that would enable the company to move forward both internally and externally. With vast expertise and professionalism, our constructors and practitioners are capable of building discreet foundations in management, which are not limited to reputation/ image management, issues management, property brand , crisis and equity management (Bradstreet, & Dun, 2011, p.40). Through developing community relational and philanthropic strategies, the company would be able to avoid the stigma in relation to real estate development business to drive profits. The organization is mandated to achieving its mission and vision through value addition to the corporation of estate development within the country franchising its continuation (Reuvid, 2009, p. 49). However, the organizational interest would no longer be at odds with common good and mutual interest as the company is objectively determined to work for government, faith based and nongovernmental organizations. Our