Website Analysis

Website Analysis Assignment I choose the website of Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan to analysis. Its address is http://www. gcfb. org/site/PageServer? pagename=homepage. The site clearly states Gleaners mission – Nourishing Communities by Feeding Hungry People, on the heading with the company’s icon and also in the first â€Å"What we do† text chunk. From the information provided, I found that it serves three audience segments: donators, volunteers, and partner agencies. From my perspective, the donators group is the one the organization mostly to target, because compare to other groups, the organization provides exhaustive introductions about donation and put them on a more easy-to-grasp place. For instance, three out of five homepage text blurbs and the first picture comes out in the homepage are all about donation The website groups related items into different menus and links. However, the link name and the hierarchical order are confusing to me. The main menu arranges information as HOME, TAKE ACTION, EVENTS/FOOD DRIVES, END HUNGER and PARTNER AGENCIES. For the first sight, people will not understand what the END HUNGER section means and will have to search. Besides, I think the END HUNGER and EVENTS/FOOD DRIVES sections should be before the TAKE ACTION and PARTNER AGENCIES. Because people need to see the organization’s mission and approaches before making a donation or partner decision. Moreover, the website does not do efficient in terms of web navigation. Different audiences have to click back and forward among different links to get all the information they want. The website’s menu put donation and volunteer together into the submenu of TAKE ACTION; It puts some of the partner agent information strangely into the END HUNGER section; Besides, the â€Å"Need Food Now† which links to Gleans partner agencies occurs twice at the top-row menu and the right column header within a screen length. This duplicate link is unnecessary since to find the information, you do not even need to roll your mouse. The bottom-row menu provides some site navigation about jobs and contact information but does not list any helpful information on location or site map. All these designs make the presentation distracting and inefficient. When I look into its content, I find the information is periodically updated, however, not fresh. The last update news is in October. I volunteered with Gleaner on the first Saturday of November and wanted to see our volunteer pictures on the website. It is clearly promised on website, the volunteer section that the pictures will updated per week. However, it seems that the company ate its words. Since the news is not newest, current audiences will feel disappointed and the prospective audiences may lose their interest to keep looking at the site. Despite the fact that some information is not easy to access for certain audience, the information content itself is helpful. For example, when I go to the Bag Hunger event link, I can find a very attracting event poster, the event date, location, contact information and even a calendar which brings you to previous and upcoming events. The website is written in a consistently professional and friendly tone. It invites interaction with email newsletters, facebook, twitter, mobile and visiting tour. Most of its texts maintain pleasing, easy-to-read line length, use the font size and color that are easy to read from the background. The line spacing is consistent and easy on the readers’ eyes as well. The text is balanced with vivid illustrative graphics and bulleted lists. The graphs in the website are really powerful. They are adorable and creative in design. When surfing the site, I even stored some pictures in my computer. But a problem about them is the size. They are so small that I have some struggles to catch the words in the picture. Thus the small size kills the informational effectiveness of the pictures. Glearners’ Food Bank has its headlines and page title clear, very simple but still to the point. So it saves the readers’ time and keeps them interested. Its name and logo are on every page and links to the homepage. The internal links provides identification for all pages with both heading and a short text that explains the purpose of each page. For the Donation site, you can see a description that â€Å"You can help feed our hungry neighbors today with your donation of funds or food to Gleaners†. For the volunteer, it has â€Å"View a list of current volunteer activities†, â€Å"View our Volunteer Scrapbook to see some of the thousands of volunteers who assist Gleaners every year† clearly states the purpose. The heading also contains a search with an advanced searching option. I tried the search by Wayne State University, and hoped to find their volunteer picture in the scrapbook. But the search gave me twenty unrelated Wayne community, Wayne annual report things. It did not work adequately. On a whole, I will trust the website with my information because it presents its information in a professional way and also because it is a member of many reputable charity organizations. Even though from my perspective, some items are grouped overlapped and they lack strong logic drive, most of the words are really simple and informative. To make the website look better, I suggest the following: * Make the images larger and easy on the reader’s eyes * Delete the duplicate hyperlink â€Å" Need Food Now† * Change the â€Å"END HUNGER† to a more clear and understandable title * Arrange the menu into a logic order –put END HUNGER and EVENTS/FOOD DRIVES sections before TAKE ACTION and PARTNER AGENCIES * Make sure the content is current and keep its weekly update promise

Problems of Democracy in Pakistan Essay

After years of military dictatorships followed by sham democracy, the situation in Pakistan has reached such a point that the masses are yearning for radical change. Their suffering is immense as the people at the top continue to enrich themselves at the expensive of the workers and peasants, collaborating with imperialism as it rides rough-shod over the people of Pakistan. Everything is moving to an inevitable revolutionary explosion. Pakistan’s Supreme Court in its verdict of 16 December, 2009 declared the notorious NRO null and void ab initio. The National Reconciliation Ordinance of October 2007 was promulgated by the then President of Pakistan General Parvaiz Musharraf. It was the outcome of a deal he had struck with Benazir Bhutto, life Chairperson of the Pakistan People’s Party in a covert meeting in Abu Dhabi. The deal was brokered by the United States and Britain. The aim was to create a new setup that could facilitate the imperialist war and other interests in this turbulent region. According to this ordinance all cases of politicians including corruption, murder, extortion, kidnappings and other heinous crimes would be withdrawn. Some of the major beneficiaries are now in power including Benazir’s widower Zardari, now the President of Pakistan and some of his most sinister ministers. The other main beneficiary is the Muteheda Qaumi Movement, MQM, whose leader, an absconder resident in London for several years, and its other leading figures were facing charges of murder and other crimes. The MQM is a mafia-type organisation with neo-fascist tendencies and its main ideological baggage is based on ethnic conflict. The present democratic dispensation is the product of such a nefarious design. After Benazir’s assassination in December 2007 Musharraf’s fate was sealed. The plan B came into action and Zardari having a long standing relationship with US officials was catapulted into the presidency with his firm assurance that he would be more subservient to the Americans than Musharraf or Benazir could ever have been. The Electoral College for this election are comprised of members of the National and provincial assemblies who were elected in the February 2008 elections, the results of which were tailor-made in Washington to serve the imperialist strategies. Ironically this unanimity, or â€Å"reconciliation†, between all the parties in Parliament was prompted by a collective fear on the part of these representatives of the ruling class in the wake of the beginnings of a mass movement that they witnessed on the arrival of Benazir from exile in Karachi on October 18, 2007 and later after the explosion of the wrath of the workers, peasants and youth at the news of her assassination on December 27, 2007. After a long period of suffering, the oppressed in Pakistan had risen up in the hope that the leader of their traditional party, the PPP under Benazir Bhutto, would be a beacon of change and free them from the unrelenting misery and distress. The Americans had already done their homework with the PPP leaders, who mainly come from the moneyed classes, to divert this outburst into a democratic election and facade of â€Å"democracy†. These leaders drowned the mass anger and revolt in sorrow and despair. They refused to call for a general strike for the elections to be held on the scheduled date of January 8, 2008 and blocked the movement. This gave an opportunity to the Pakistani state and its imperialist masters to regroup their forces and stave off the threat of a revolutionary upheaval. The Military in Pakistan has ruled directly for more than half of the country’s 62 years of chequered history. All the military regimes were supported and propped up by US imperialism. During the â€Å"democratic† intermissions the plight of the masses continued to deteriorate. After the first decade (1947-58) of democratic regimes, such was the crisis that when Martial Law was imposed by Field Martial Ayub Khan there was even a sense of relief amongst several sections of society. Ayub Khan had the impertinence to say in one of his initial statements â€Å"we must understand that democracy cannot work in a hot climate. To have democracy we must have a cold climate like Britain. † General Ayub told the first meeting of his cabinet, â€Å"As far as you are concerned there is only one embassy that matters in this country: the American Embassy. † The Ayub dictatorship embarked upon an ambitious economic, agrarian and industrial programme in the 1960s, mainly sponsored by â€Å"US Aid† and the World Bank. Although Pakistan achieved its highest growth rates under Ayub, Keynesian economic policies failed to improve the lot of the masses. The aggravated social contradictions exploded into the revolution of 1968-69 that was fundamentally of a socialist character. See Pakistan’s Other Story-The 1968-69 Revolution]. The failure of the existing left leadership to give a clear revolutionary programme and perspective to the movement resulted in the rise of the Populism of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. Due to the absence of a Bolshevik-Leninist revolutionary party the revolution was lost. But it did shake the whole of South Asia. The ruling classes initially tried to impose Martial Law again. However, its failure to curb the tide resulted in the first elections based on the adult franchise in 1970 where the PPP became the largest party in West Pakistan. Having failed to curtail the revolutionary wave that pierced through the ballot, ultimately the ruling classes resorted to a war with India, which led to the break-up of Pakistan and then Bhutto was given power who, forced by the pressure of the masses, initiated radical reforms from above, but only to exhaust the revolution brewing below. Bhutto’s elected left reformist government was subsequently overthrown by a military coup led by General Zia ul Haq in July 1977, who later hanged Bhutto at the behest of US imperialism. The eleven-year brutal dictatorship of Zia was perhaps the most traumatic period for the working masses in Pakistan. In connivance with the Americans, Zia propped up and unleashed the beast of Islamic fundamentalism to crush the left. The continuance of that grotesque monstrosity is what produced the present day fundamentalist terror that is ripping apart the social fabric of Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Zia Dictatorship began to crumble after another upheaval on the return from exile of Bhutto’s daughter Benazir in April 1986. The contradictions in the already weakened dictatorship were thus sharpened. General Zia’s plane was conveniently blown up in mid air in August 1988 – some have speculated that this may have been done at the request of the Americans, whom the megalomaniac and insane general had begun to â€Å"disobey† seeking his own personal agenda. From 1988 to 1999 there was another democratic interlude, where Benazir and Nawaz Sharif alternated in short stints of rulerships. This period was marred by an orgy of corruption, incompetence, spiralling economic decline and chaos. General Musharraf took power in a bloodless coup by overthrowing Sharif. Musharraf then introduced a â€Å"quasi-democracy† in 2002 but the 9/11 episode in the USA once again made another dictator another main American collaborator. This time the facade was not against communists but we had the so-called â€Å"war against terror†. Musharraf’s demise and the regime that ensued once again brought unprecedented agony and pain for the people of Pakistan. History has turned full circle. This vicious cycle of Pakistan’s political superstructure – dictatorship to democracy and back to dictatorship – has brought no respite to society. Only the suffering has intensified. In reality this is a reflection of the ongoing social and economic crisis built into the foundations of this tragic country. The Pakistani ruling class after its independence from direct British rule came onto the scene of history too late and with this came an inability to develop the economy. It was a weak class even at its inception. It could not produce enough surpluses for its profits and capital needed to tap the resources of the country and carry out its historical role of the national revolution that its pioneers had envisaged. It adjusted itself accordingly, and its survival depended on the one hand by being subservient to imperialism and on the other allying itself and compromising with the landed aristocracy created under the Raj. The founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, as early as November 1947, less than three months after the formation of Pakistan, had sent his emissary to Washington asking for a $2bn loan. The response he got was a mere $10million of loose change. The failure of Pakistan’s ruling elite is evident 62 years later. None of the national democratic tasks have been completed. Several agrarian reforms have failed to abolish feudalism. Pakistan came into existence not as a nation but as a state comprising different nationalities. National oppression continues and the national question has become a festering wound on the body politic of this country. The task of the formation of a modern nation state is far from being achieved and will in fact further deteriorate with the impending crisis. This state of incompleteness of the tasks has wrought havoc on the social and economic life of Pakistani society. The social and political infrastructure is in a state of collapse. â€Å"National sovereignty† is a farce and hardly anybody believes in the state’s independence. Imperialist intervention and domination is on a greater scale today than it was in 1947, the year of Pakistan’s creation. Except for a few years under Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, all the finance ministers have been employees of the World Bank or other imperialist financial institutions. Now the US is even trying to control sections of Pakistan’s armed forces and intruding its military corporate contractors to take over â€Å"security† in several vital parts of the country. These include former Blackwater now XE securities, DynCorp and others. An embittered general described the strategic relationship as Americans using Pakistan as a â€Å"condom†. The conflicts within the army are also the result of this aggressive hegemony being thrust into the Military’s domain. This is already giving rise to bloody conflicts among different agencies and sections of the armed forces representing black money and other sections of finance capital. This conflict is being waged covertly at the present time. But if a desperate imperialism faces an impending defeat in Afghanistan and tries a partial US occupation of NWFP (Pushtoonkhwa), it could even trigger a severe crisis in the army already under strain from carrying out the CENTCOM instructions on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. The fallout could have catastrophic consequences. Similarly the severe crisis of Pakistani capitalism has failed to develop a parliamentary democracy. The Pakistani ruling class, in the wake of its economic failures turned to plunder of the state at an early stage. They pay less than 10% of total taxation revenues. The real burden falls on the working class who are forced to pay more than 80% of the revenues through indirect taxation. The capitalist class steals electricity and gas, while billions of dollars of bank loans have been written off. According to the figures presented before the Supreme Court of Pakistan, a small section of these leeches’ annual corruption exceeds Rs. 500 billion (US$6. 2bn). Most of this money is stashed away in western banking havens. As this process started to become more and more evident, the army, the most powerful instrument of the state, started to become part of this evil nexus of plunderers and usurpers. The drug-funded and US/Saudi sponsored Afghan Jihad brought even greater loot to the coffers of the generals. Other institutions of the state and society including the judiciary, the bureaucracy and the media joined in this orgy of corruption. Hence, whenever there was a political crisis (conflict of the civilian plunderers) the military moved in to quell the rot. The dictatorships bred more corruption and as they began to lose their grip democracy was introduced – the main reason being the growing danger of a mass revolt that is provoked by these repressive regimes. Although even a bourgeois democracy is a progressive step forward as compared to military dictatorships, the exploitative system that the military rulers intervene to salvage remains intact. In Pakistan this crisis-ridden system again creates a political instability that reflects the burning economic turmoil. The army and state are not a class, but in the last analysis the economic and social conditions determine the nature of the regime that is needed by the ruling class to preserve the system of exploitation of labour. Comrade Ted Grant elaborated on this in 1949 â€Å"The state by its very nature is composed of a bureaucracy, officers, generals, heads of police etc. But those do not constitute a class; they are the instrument of a class even if they may be in antagonism to that class. They cannot themselves be a class. † (The unbroken thread, pp. 235). In Pakistan the irony is that time and again the masses have risen up against the dictatorship, fundamentally to overthrow the yoke of exploitation and misery inflicted upon them by this vicious system of class rule. When they were allowed even to make half a choice through the ballot-box they propelled the PPP to power. Yet their hopes have been dashed time and again by the PPP in government in the short span of less than 40 years. The toiling masses have been loyal to their tradition for generations. The ruling class only allowed the PPP into the corridors of power to dissipate the mass upsurge. Above all the ruling class, the state and the imperialists have used the capitulating leaders of the PPP to carry through cuts, privatisations and other drastic anti-working class measures. They could not have achieved so much with the right-wing governments of Sharif, etc. , but even under the dictatorships they combined caution with repression. However, at least in the 1970s the PPP government did carry through some reforms for the betterment of the impoverished masses. In the later PPP governments since 1988 such was the crisis of Pakistani capitalism that there was no room for even minimal reforms.

Advertisement- Louis Vuitton Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Advertisement- Louis Vuitton - Essay Example The need for that commodity might not even exist but the advertisements have the power to make products seem very important and thus influence the consumers to purchase it. Nowadays, advertising accumulates a great portion of the expenses of any company since expensive and extensive campaigns are carried out. Alongside the benefits of advertising, it has taken a different toll and has started causing a negative impact on the lifestyle of individuals. Advertising has created the want for attention among individuals and has promoted materialism to a great extent. 2. Impacts of Advertising Advertising has integrated deeply in the business field and no company feels positively about its survival without it. Advertising has become a major source of revenue for companies as they have transformed their products into nothing less than sacred possessions and status symbols. A Louis Vuitton advertisement has been chosen to analyze the current trends of advertising in the modern world; the adve rtisement displays an attractive girl who poses a Louis Vuitton bag on a sports model, shiny, purple car. 2.1 Attention Seeking Attitude The first impression perceived by the viewer would be that the beholder of the bag will look very stylish and the bag will win them attention from others. The consumer might not have the necessary resources to purchase the purse but will make it his/her aim to acquire it. Consumers feel that they can get the attention of their peers if they possess such products. Rather than seeking attention on the basis of their personality and good deeds, consumers start focusing on the advertised accessories to attain a prominent position in the society. Such advertisements make people conscious about their attire, accessories, shoes etc and might make them spend more than their resources. Spending beyond one’s pocket makes an individual get into different kinds of debts. In other words, advertisements are promoting the idea of not being true to one†™s own existence since these objects might not even suit the individual’s character and personality but the perception has successfully been created that the attainment of such branded accessories will make them noticeable and attractive for their peers and the opposite gender. The want for seeking attention from others even makes some consumers prefer the purchase of commodities over their basic needs like rent, utility bills, education funds etc. Rosenberg discussed the experiences of a shopaholic, who admitted that acquiring things became a way for her to feel equivalent with her social circle. The subject had witnessed a limited supply of resources in her childhood because of which she always felt inferior to her friends and found herself in a constant struggle to appear equal to them. This childhood struggle has left her with the want for possessions to prove her equivalent status to the people in her life. Rosenberg stated that â€Å"Buying things--the right things-- later became a way for her to attain a sense of parity† (1). 2.2 Materialism It would not be wrong to term the current times as the technological era. The progression in the media field is also due to technology. Both, media and technology, have played a prominent role in the gradual shift in the styles of living and spending. Both of these mediums bombard the viewer with advertisements throughout the day. The constant viewership of advertisements (like the chosen one) creates a false perception of a happy and good quality life. The chosen advertisement shows a brand new sports model car in the background; a viewer with an old and used car will start fantasizing about the attainment of

Public International Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Public International Law - Essay Example To stop the influx of the people from the mentioned countries, the Immigration Act 1971 came into being. According to which only those Britishers who have strong links with the United Kingdom, the  Channel Islands  and the  Isle of Man had the right to abode, live and seek employment in the United Kingdom and the cited Islands2. Gone are the days when Indians, Africans and the Carribians were on the priority list of job seekers in the United Kingdom. The people of mentioned countries joined Armed Forces and Factories to help the Britishers to fight against their enemies in the World War-II and to produce war related products. Another factor of migration to Britain on the mass scale was the wages of working in the Armed Forces and the Factories, which were higher in Britain as compared to their homelands3. International Laws The International Law, unlike national laws has to address certain laws, rules and regulations, customs (interaction with the people of different countries) , respective governments, businesses entities besides rights and responsibilities in dealing with the sovereign states. The apex body responsible for making international laws must take into consideration the international norms; agreements; treaties; accords, UN charters, protocols; tribunals; memoranda’s; legal precedents of the International Court of Justice etc to adhere and to abide by the member countries4. The diverse legal systems and different historical backgrounds of different countries have compelled the countries to address international law including common law and civil law. It covers all the aspects of domestic laws, substantive laws, procedures and the remedies. The international law is heavily dependant on a) Principle of Comity   b) State Doctrine  and c) Sovereign Immunity5.   Keeping in mind the importance of International law, the developed world hires to address international issues in many of its agencies. The prominent entities are a) State Depa rtment b) Commerce and Environmental Protection Agency. There are number of lawyers who are working in a) United Nations b) World Bank c) Bureaus of American States d) International tribunals e) International Court of Justice and f) certain intergovernmental establishments. Apart from that mentioned above, there are NGOs who keep an eye on the international issues, including but not limited to, development activities, protection of human rights, environment laws, power sector, trade, arms control, drugs, human trafficking and transitional justice6.    National Laws of USA According to the US Nationality Act of 1952 (INA) â€Å"any person who is not a citizen or a national of the United States is considered as Immigrant.† U.S. Immigration law further provides a detailed guidance to the immigrants in terms of residence and naturalized citizenship, wherein they will avail full citizenship rights. It includes regulatory body, which deals with the immigrants, who intend to enter in the US with reference to how long he or she will remain in the country and when he will leave the country7. As far as the duties and obligations of US law enforcers are concerned, they can be termed as shared responsibilities. For example, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is taking care of its responsibilities towards a) Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) b) U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

Cross culture communication and negotiation Essay - 1

Cross culture communication and negotiation - Essay Example The author point out how both native and non-native speakers should make their approach in order to understand each other and co-construct the conversation in intercultural communication in an age when English is becoming a global language. 5. Dovidio, J.F., Hebl, M., Richeson, J.A. & Shelton, J.N. 2006. Nonverbal communication, Race, and intergroup Interaction. [Online] Available at: http://www.yale.edu/intergroup/Dovidio_Hebl_Richeson_Shelton_2006.pdf In this article, the authors analyses the importance of nonverbal communication in cross cultural communication and negotiation process. It says that members of majority and minority groups in general may differ in the types of nonverbal behaviors they display regularly. It also analyses Social Identity and Nonverbal Behavior in Intergroup Interaction. 6. Rudlin, P. 2008. Indirect communication: I see what you mean. MultiLingual, Jun2008, Vol. 19 Issue 4, p49-51, This article focuses on the importance of non-verbal communication in Ja pan. It says that Japanese prefer to use eye contact, teeth sucking and head movements to avoid confrontation and disagreement with others. Listeners and speakers are expected to understand the real meaning of their movement and vague expressions to convey that it is not necessary to talk about it. 7. Mandal, M.K., Harizuka, S., Bhushan, B. & Mishra, K.C. (2001). Cultural variation in hemifacial asymmetry of emotion expressions British Journal of Social Psychology (2 001), 40, 385–398 The authors of this article argues that emotions such as happy, sad, fear , anger, surprise, disgust etc are displayed differently by people of different cultures after analysing the emotions of Japanese, Oriental Indian and...All these developments result in increased cross cultural communication and business negotiation processes. Cross cultural communication and negotiation are vital in determining the success and failures of international business. Stuhlmacher & Citera (2005) pointed out that â€Å"Negotiations are often categorized as distributive (win-lose) and integrative (win-win)† (p.24). Even though everybody wants to conduct negotiations to yield a win-win result, in most of the cases, it results in win-lose results. Both the parties argue their points strongly while doing negotiations. Such arguments often end up in conflicts. The success of business negotiation rests in the abilities of the parties in solving such crisis. While doing international business, the negotiators belong to different cultures, and hence it is quite possible that the ideas conveyed by one by one person may not be perceived properly by the other person. It should be noted that verbal as well as nonverbal communication are important in communicating the ideas of one person to another. In cross cultural business negotiations, the negotiators are from different cultures and hence their verbal as well as the nonverbal means of communication could be entirely different.

Ethics and Criminal Justice CRJS345 Research Paper

Ethics and Criminal Justice CRJS345 - Research Paper Example Use of COPPS will be imperative in mining vital information from members of the public and through scanning, analysis, response and assessment will utterly empower police to solve the prevalent problems of underage drinking and street racing in Westwood. Social crimes such as drugs trafficking and mugging continue to prevail in the contemporary society. It is intelligible that police agencies cannot handle such serious issues without encouraging public participation. The development of COPPS will be of assistance to condense causes and diminish social disorder through analytical devices and community-policy joint venture. Scanning phase will be of prodigious support in channeling preliminary investigation and in establishing if underage drinking and street racing problem exist in Westwood. Scanning phase will help in identifying the actual area in Westwood that juvenile drinking is practiced. I will visit traffic unit so that I can get to know if street racing do exist in Westwood roads. After this, I will analyze data on underage drinking and street racing delinquency both from the public and police agency as this will be helpfulness in attaining substantial details for determining whether the two offenses are existent (Sozer, 2010). I will use the analysis phase in solving the problems by first examining to which extend has underage drinking, and street racing problem broadened in Westwood. My major source is from the community and the police agency; therefore, I will initiate a solemn study that will help out in discovering the major cause of these two problems. In my study to underage drinking, I will try to explore what may be the its cause or navigating factors (Williams & Arrigo,  2008). This can help me to understand the key causes thus formulate the best strategies of resolving the issues. Is it caused by young people’s curiosity of venturing into risk-taking or is caused by heritable feature and other

Superdry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Superdry - Essay Example This, however, does not translate to the fact that enterprises did not employ business models before this renewed wave of interest, but rather that, the business model did not carry much weight as it is does today. Arguably, the latest advancement in information and communication technologies coupled with the wave of globalization has sparked the recent attention in business model innovation and business model design. In fact, the so-called â€Å"e-businesses† comprise new business models (Riley, 2009). Shafer, Linder and Smith (2005) postulates that majority of these models are related to e-business. Certainly, other forces have been at play in the recent development in business models such as forces resulting from deregulation and increased consumer awareness. New strategies for forces of competition in globally emerging markets have also accelerated researchers and practitioners towards the systematic study of business models (Grant, 2001). Most academics study concurs that, for companies to be successful in such different and ever dynamic environments, it is imperative to come up with innovative business models (John, 2008). In point of fact, globally motivated enterprises that aim to reach the top ladder in the global markets must find business innovations and model an important constituent (McWilliams, 2000). Therefore, it is precisely right to state that, for an organization to thrive in the current dynamic markets, the management must have hands on skills in business models. In this regard, this study will attempt to look at various models that can be used by Super Dry in the endeavor to become a globally competitive fashion industry (IBM, 2006). Superdry owes its existence to a British international corporation, Super Group Plc. The Superdry products include fashion and clothing line designed in Americana styling inspired with Japanese

ATKINS DIET Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

ATKINS DIET - Essay Example 20-23), the main principle of Atkins diet was to deprive the body of carbohydrates so that the body could shift the metabolism of the body from breaking down the glucose to converting the stored body fat (Insel, Turner & Ross, pp. 130-132). This way the person has greater chances of losing weight and less chances of getting fat again. The Atkins diet focuses its energy on decreasing the intake of sugar, glucose, and carbohydrates. Furthermore, the focus also remains on decreasing the intake of fiber. Towards the end of the day, the subject, along with weight loss, gradually finds himself with a reduced appetite (Bowden, pp. 20-23). However, this type of diet in not at all ideal for vegetarians since Atkins diet includes high quantities of meat as an attempt to increase the protein and minerals content in the diet. Atkins program is different from other diet programs because it goes on to take the way of moderation. Rather than forcing its followers to force themselves to remain hungr y or deprive oneself of the needed food, Atkins Diet follows the mantra of never be hungry. During the first phase of induction, this is also the toughest and strictest phase of the entire course, people start off the program by restricting their daily carbohydrate intake to less than 20 grams (Insel, Turner & Ross, pp. 130-132; Hensley, pp. 85-89). ... In the next phase of pre maintenance, the subject would increase his or her carbohydrate level again to find the level where the weight remains steady. The last phase is of lifetime maintenance where the subject ensures that he or she does not forget the habits acquired in the previous stages (Lutz, Allan & Allen, pp. 64-65). Despite the fact that supporters and proponents of Atkins Diet put forward the evidence that the diet has helped people from diverse backgrounds to lose their weight and escape the vicious circle of obesity, the diet appears to be falling short on the basic five characteristics of a nutritious diet. Adequacy, which is the first characteristic, refers to the provision of 100 percent nutrients through the diet. Quite clearly, Atkins Diet ensures that the person ends up getting a high protein and saturated fat diet with little or â€Å"no carbohydrates, fiber, minerals, and vitamins† (Hensley, pp. 85-89). The second characteristic is of a nutritious diet is that it has be â€Å"balanced† (Lutz, Allan & Allen, pp. 64-65; Hensley, pp. 85-89). By blocking carbohydrates and fiber, the Atkins Diet fails to fulfill the balanced part of the criteria. However, the Atkins Diet is perfect match for the third criteria of nutritious diet, which is about moderation (Sharkey & Gaskill, pp. 96-98). As mentioned earlier that neither Atkins Diet tells people to eat with full force nor does it tell them to stay hungry for longer periods. Instead, it tells them to adopt s diet, which will not add to their weight but will help them burn the existing calories. The fourth criterion is about calorie control Atkins Diet appears to be hitting the bull’s eye on these criteria as well.

Economic Growth Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Economic Growth - Essay Example However, the United States still displays the highest growth rate in this period as shown in the left panel of Figure 2. The rest of the world also displayed increasing growth rate, but at a much slower pace than the seven biggest economies which resulted to a wider gap between the real GDP per person among these countries as shown in the right panel of Figure 2. The rest of Asia, on the other hand, as represented by Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan South Korea, and China also showed tremendous gains in their economies as shown by their real GDP per person growth depicted in Figure 3. China, the world's newest economic superpower, showed an exponential growth in its real GDP. A question, prompted by the above, is what are the underlying causes of economic growth' Furthermore, why is it that some countries grow faster than others' Is trade a major engine of economic growth' Or is it foreign direct investments' A major goal of this paper is to debate the effectiveness foreign direct investments and trade in fostering economic growth, and in the end answer the question on whether 'developing countries are right to increasingly shift resources towards attracting foreign direct investment rather than promoting trade in their objective to achieve economic growth'' Admittedly, these questions must be answered amidst ... The shift in economic policies is often on the reallocation of economic resources to finance activities geared toward attracting foreign direct investments rather than the other needs of those nations. Figure 3 Economic Growth in Asia Source: See Figure 2 Economic theories postulate that, for economic growth to be persistent economies must pursue three activities - these activities generate ongoing economic growth: saving and investment in new capital, investment in human capital, and discovery of new technologies. From these three activities emerged different economic growth theories, however, these theories are not the topic of this reading, but rather foreign direct investments and trade. International trade promotes the development of comparative advantage in the global economy, allows for the trade of similar goods - for example, United States imports automobiles and at the same time exports other types of automobiles, the diversity of taste of people is given an outlet, and economies of scale is enhanced. Trade has a very important role in promoting and sustaining long term economic growth that foreign direct investment doesn't (Kurgman and Obsfeld; Marrewijk, Ottens and Schueller). Nonetheless, the role of foreign direct investment in the development process can not be underscored either. Hence, developing countries had shifted a considerable amount of their resources into attracting foreign direct investments or FDIs. For example, in the Sub-Saharan Africa, governments have shifted policies to attract FDIs. Fiscal holidays and tax holidays are awarded generously to investors. Moreover, investors often require that the country improve its property rights in favor of the FDI and improve

Election 1912 Essay Example for Free

Election 1912 Essay In the election of 1912, candidates Woodrow Wilson, Theodore Roosevelt, William Taft and Eugene Debs competed for the spot as President of the United States. Wilson represented the Democratic Party, Roosevelt, the Progressive, Taft, the Republican and Debs, the Socialist. Although there were four candidates in the running, most would agree that the real competition was between Wilson and Roosevelt. A few of the many issues during the time of this election concerned trusts, women’s suffrage and tariffs. Wilson thought that trusts, or big monopolistic businesses, should be eliminated all together, while Roosevelt wanted to place limits on them. Roosevelt openly supported women’s suffrage and Wilson wanted individual states to decide voting rights for women. Wilson wanted to get rid of tariffs along with trusts, but Roosevelt wanted to keep them in order to protect wages. There was still an indecisiveness between state power and national power as we have seen in nearly every era preceding. Can’t Bring A Bull Moose Down In the first ad, the audience we were trying to address was the everyday, common men. We felt that people could relate to facing hard times and adversities and overcoming them. As common people ourselves we found these acts admirable and felt that the common man of 1912 would have viewed them the same way. This ad is supposed to show viewers about how persistence is an important quality in a president and how Roosevelt clearly showed that quality when he kept speaking for 90 minutes after being shot in the chest. This way, viewers will know that Roosevelt will be persistent in his original and elected beliefs when making decisions for their country. What Women Want The audience we were trying to address in the second ad were women. Although women did not have voting rights, they still had a fair amount of political pull. The issue of voting rights would have been a very important one to women everywhere at the time and the fact that Wilson did not even acknowledge them was an issue, whereas Roosevelt supported women’s suffrage in his campaign. The message of this ad tried to get voters to retract support for Wilson because he didn’t encourage women’s rights and support Roosevelt because he did.

Self Care Strategies for Counsellors

Self Care Strategies for Counsellors Byrne et al. (2006) indicates that therapists can be at risk of burnout and impairment if they do not manage their professional stress well. Practicing therapists may exhibit symptoms of burnout and may suffer from symptoms of VT (El-Ghoroury et al., 2012). Graduate students in helping fields are vulnerable to stress because of the multiple demands of graduate school, such as academic assignments, clinical practice, and financial restrictions (Myers et al., 2012). Time and financial constraints have been cited as primary sources of stress among graduate students in training (El-Ghoroury et al., 2012). Student trainees may face the additional responsibilities and time demands of clinical work, supervision, and internship. In addition to aforementioned stressors, other common stressors in this population include performance anxiety, competition, program requirements, lack of experience, and professional relationships (Myers et al., 2012). Myers et al. (2012) indicate that students in t raining have to cope with these stressors and their new roles, while concurrently fostering their skills necessary for providing therapeutic services to clients. Therefore, educators and supervisors need to understand the role of stress among students to provide guidance on effective stress management and self-care (Myers et al., 2012). Without well-established support systems and coping strategies, novice trainees may have difficulties of managing the stress (El-Ghoroury et al., 2012). Forrest et al. (2008) provide an ecological description by indicating systemic factors for trainee impairment, including faculty interactions (micro), institutional (exo) and national (macro) policies, and hierarchical issues (micro). Societal hierarchical dynamics are unconscious and deeply embedded in the training process. Forrest et al. (2008) further indicates the importance of communication (meso) between academic programs and off-campus training sites such as practicum and internship settings. Besides, program structure (exo) may evoke unnecessary stresses for students. Systematic issues of program policy are often ignored while play a powerful role in student impairment. Forrest et al. (2008) comment that the understanding of trainee impairment should cover an individual level (center) and a contextual system level (micro, meso, exo, macro, and chrono). The authors suggest that trainees not meeting minimum standards of professional competence are influenced by peers (micro), t raining supervisors (micro), program policies and structures (exo), accreditation (e.g., CACREP; macro), professional associations (e.g., ACA; macro). In addition to being stressors, financial (micro) and time constraints (micro) may also be important barriers to participation in activities of self-care that may help buffer stress (El-Ghoroury et al., 2012). The existing literature has noted a significant relationship between self-care strategy and stress among therapist trainees (Myers et al., 2012). A wide range of self-care strategies have been found to reduce stress-related symptoms. Self-care strategy is defined as the engagement in behaviors that promote well-being and may include factors such as sleep, exercise, use of social support, emotion regulation strategies, and mindfulness practice (Myers et al., 2012). According to El-Ghoroury et al. (2012), lack of time was the first barrier to using or learning any of these coping strategies. The steadily rising expenses associated with graduate training are also a significant concern for students. Students may need to sacrifice their leisure time for earning a living (e.g., part- time job; micro). Given the significant amount of stress during higher education, elucidating the behavioral and emotional coping strategies by educators (micro) is important for helping them handle stress more effectively. Social support and engaging in activities that promote social support may be considered an aspect of self-care practice (Myers et al., 2012). Social support has negative correlation with stressful, emotional and physical problems (El-Ghoroury et al., 2012). Graduate program support (micro) and family support (micro) have been found to be related to graduate student stress level (Myers et al., 2012). Students reported less stressful events and health problems when perceived more support from their family and friends (Myers et al., 2012). Besides, consistent, trusting, and supportive faculty-student interactions may help students in managing stress. Support from faculty, advising relationships, and training programs are also critical for students to adapt to new professional roles. Global stress and poor advisor support were found to be associated with burnout and career dissatisfaction in therapist trainees. The importance of mentoring relationships (micro) is highlighted in career de velopment, academic functioning and satisfaction, among student trainees. The top three coping strategies reported are the support from friends, family, and classmates, rather than supervisors. Students who have difficult relationships with their advisors tend to have more stress. The quality of the mentoring relationship is associated with students’ professional outcomes. Pack (2013) indicates that on the level of microsystem, support from peer (micro) and agencies (micro) are important as well as the availability of personal therapy (micro). Opportunities to share experiences of working with trauma victims and information about VT needs to be available in all settings (micro). For example, settings should provide peer supervision and training workshops to help therapists ameliorate VT (Pack, 2013). Information on worker rights may assist in supporting therapists to collectively advocate for their work. Pack (2013) further indicates that on the organizational level, health and safety issues should be addressed within setting policy (exo). The risks of engaging potentially traumatic events need to be explained during the recruitment of new employees. Possible cumulative effects of working with trauma clients should be raised with therapists. Pack (2013) suggests that the risks of VT can be reduced if there a setting (micro) provides sufficient support and collaborative approaches for therapists. Settings can inform trainees the views of trauma practitioners about the trauma therapy. An experienced therapist (micro) may be able to mentor trainees or students. Supervisors have a responsibility for ensuring their trainees have access to education about VT. The culture (exo) of the agency could also be the support for ameliorating VT (Pack, 2013). The culture here includes peer support within daily case meetings and non-hierarchical collaborative decision making. Having a culture which s ees VT as a normal part of trauma-related helping would effectively ameliorate VT. The culture can provide sense of security for the therapists while working with traumatized clients (Pack, 2013). This idea suggests that in graduate training program, the culture (exo) and the program (micro) should provide a supportive environment to prevent students from developing VT. Ethnic minority students may face a somewhat different pattern of stressors during graduate training than non-minority students (Myers et al., 2012; El-Ghoroury et al., 2012). These additional stressors include racial discrimination, racial prejudice, the feeling of isolation, and different cultural expectations (macro, chrono), which negatively impacted school experience. Furthermore, minority students who reported the stressors had higher rates of burnout, depressive symptoms, and reduced quality of life (Myers et al., 2012). The authors also indicate that minority students and international graduate students are actually less likely to use counseling services in response to stressors. Racial minority students often experience more academic stress and less social support than students of Euro-American descent, which may be attributable to race-related stress and vulnerability of developing VT (El-Ghoroury et al., 2012). It is important to consider cultural differences when consider ing stress among student trainees. Adams and Riggs (2008) indicate that students with personal trauma history (chrono) are more vulnerable to VT in courses on trauma. At the moments of reexperiencing, students with trauma history described their struggling with coping as avoidance. Students also reported having little control over the experience of VT symptoms. Adams and Riggs (2008) describe these adaptive coping strategies used by students, including suppression, sublimation, and humor. By the end of this course, most students reported developing effective self-care strategies. This finding suggests that although many students with trauma history (chrono) may revisit their own trauma symptoms during trauma courses, the course on trauma (micro) helped students develop successful self-care strategies. Pack (2013) also addresses the importance of personal trauma history, and recommends that agencies should provide personal therapy (micro) for therapists affected by clients’ trauma information due to their own tr auma history. Adams and Riggs (2008) reported that novice clinicians may be more vulnerable to VT. The authors indicate that the level of training and experience working with traumatized patients is related to clinician outcomes. The deficits in trauma-specific training are associated with VT symptoms. Black (2008) indicates that graduate counseling students may have preexisting factors (chrono) in their lives that form a vulnerability to developing VT later in their careers. Therefore, Graduate training programs (micro) should work on preventing students in training from being traumatized or becoming more vulnerable to future VT (Black, 2008). DePrince et al. (2011) indicate that the lack of trauma education at the graduate levels increases the urgency to develop effective training for postgraduate professionals. Training and education practices which support system-wide, culturally responsive practice is important for preventing VT (DePrince et al., 2011). Even if students do not have preexistin g events that might predispose them to VT, teaching a course on trauma may prevent students from becoming overwhelmed in training (Black, 2008). Pack (2013) also recommends that training courses (e.g., practicum and internship) need to alert students to the potential risks of affecting their psychological health due to the trauma-related practice. Resources such as theoretical models fostering recovery are needed to ameliorate VT.