Choose a topic of interest to you that relates to couples or families Essay

Pick a subject important to you that identifies with couples or families. (I'll join the directions) - Essay Example The facts confirm that â€Å"one out of each two relationships finishes in divorce† in the current pattern (Ambert, 2009). One of the basic purposes behind separation to happen in today’s cutting edge situation is misconception in the midst of the accomplices. While talking about the subject of separation, it tends to be avowed that married couples lack the capacity to deal with one another to invest energy as they remains very occupied in procuring cash and sparing a similar more for future (Bruze et al., 2012). In this procedure, they neglect to make the most of their lives and in this way wind up separating from one another. In addition, there are a few different explanations behind separation to happen, for example, age issue, feeling of anxiety, cheating and extra conjugal issue. Separation forces immense effect in the lives of the individuals particularly when it happens in the mid age. It is genuinely troubling and has antagonistic effect on the life of the indiv iduals, youngsters and the encompassing. It prompts sadness, dejection and offers ascend to the sentiment of selling out and disappointment among oneself (Montenegro, 2004). The Brondenbrenner’s Model, which is likewise recognized as Bronfenbrenner’s natural hypothesis will in general decide the affiliation winning between the people and their related condition. This specific hypothesis or model is regularly used to examine the mental issues looked by the people because of a few natural frameworks. The model includes natural frameworks that go from â€Å"interpersonal communication to expansive based influence†. The individual degree of this model is viewed as an essential angle as it communicates a connection between nature and the human conduct. It identifies with mental situation that an individual face in the wake of experiencing divorce. It is generally seen that the pace of separation is typically more in the midst of the grown-ups whose age extend falls younger than 50 or more (Erikson, n.d.). Comparative realities can be supported concerning the article â€Å"The Gray Divorce Revolution: Rising Divorce Among Middle-Aged and Older Adults,

Liability Capping CSC Australia in Perth

Presentation CSC Australia in Perth is perhaps its biggest supplier benefits in the district and it has 56% of the market in the locale. 1 One of the benefits of the organization is its worldwide nature, for example the organization works globally.Advertising We will compose a custom article test on Liability Capping: CSC Australia in Perth explicitly for you for just $16.05 $11/page Learn More Another preferred position of the organization is its capacity to top liabilities as all multinationals will in general work as per major corporate laws. Risk topping is fundamental for CSC Australia as it works in such territories as coal and gas mining which are regularly connected with an assortment of wellbeing concerns. Prominently, the organization gives exceptional consideration to security issues and all company’s workers have the fundamental aptitudes to counsel customers on various wellbeing issues.2 One of the company’s strategies is to continually move to specialties where rivalry is the most minimal. In this way, the organization figures out how to decrease consumption. In any case, there are as yet an assortment of issues to be tended to. For example, one of the most earnest issues is expanded rivalry which is bothered by the on-going discussion on the need to significantly build risk topping for organizations. Significantly, the expansion of risk topping has negative just as a positive result for the organization. Choice Criteria To create legitimate choice measures, it is conceivable to utilize Michael Porter Framework. The system uncovers five significant powers influencing organizations. These powers are danger of new contenders, danger of substitute administrations, haggling intensity of purchasers, dealing intensity of providers and force of rivalry.3 It is essential to take note of that the five components are interconnected yet a few elements are progressively important for a specific organization though different elements have small i nfluence.4Advertising Looking for exposition on business financial matters? How about we check whether we can support you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More As for such factors as danger of substitute administrations or dealing intensity of providers and purchasers, they are very insignificant as the organization gives a great deal of consideration to advancement and improvement of an assortment of administrations for various customers with various paying capacity. It is likewise important to take note of that there will consistently be request in this part as individuals still intensely depend on creation of coal and gas. Porter’s powers can be viewed as fitting standards to assess potential options for CSC to create. Options The First Alternative: Looking for New Niches The primary conceivable option for CSC Australia is to proceed with the strategies utilized in the organization. In this manner, the organization can move to different specialties where rivalry is insignificant.5 First, the force of serious contention will be practically immaterial as the organization will in general move to specialties where just a couple of suppliers work. At that, the current suppliers are probably going to be little organizations which have a huge downside as they can't give enough risk to the customer. Regarding the discussion concerning increment of obligation topping, less organizations (except if they are multinationals) will have the option to top their liabilities.6 Therefore, CSC Australia can work in the new specialty viably as it is probably going to be the main organization topping risk. In any case, soon every specialty gets involved by various organizations. Along these lines, the danger of new rivalry is high and it makes this option very incapable as multinationals can likewise enter the specialty picked by the organization. These organizations can top their liabilities and can offer types of assistance on various (increasingly ideal) terms . The Second Alternative: Remaining in the Niches Looking for new specialties is related with specific dangers referenced previously. It is important to stay in the specialties and grow new administrations and new proposals to stay alluring for the current customers. Be that as it may, the power of serious contention is very significant.Advertising We will compose a custom exposition test on Liability Capping: CSC Australia in Perth explicitly for you for just $16.05 $11/page Learn More The company’s obligation top won't be viewed as one of the most significant focal points the same number of multinationals top their liabilities and give a great deal of consideration to wellbeing. There is additionally a danger of new rivalry the same number of organizations show up and extend their business sectors. Numerous multinationals may enter the specialties involved by CSC, which will adversely influence the company’s advancement. The Third Alternative: Combining the Two Alter natives It is conceivable to think of another elective which can be suitable for the organization. CSC Australia can stay in the specialties picked and at the same time it will scan for new specialties. In any case, staying in the ‘old’ specialty doesn't imply that the organization will just offer similar administrations at lower costs or build up some new items. It very well may be viable to create administrations which can address issues in territories related with higher dangers. This can enable the organization to keep away from a great deal of rivalry. Arrangement Therefore, it is conceivable to take note of that the third choice is the most fitting for the organization as the initial two are still connected with a ton of rivalry (new rivalry and concentrated existing rivalry). Expansion has consistently been viewed as a compelling methodology. Subsequently, the organization should keep scanning for new specialties, yet this can't be a need for such enormous organi zation as CSC Australia. Simultaneously, the organization ought to create methodologies to stay serious in the specialties where the organization is working. One of the potential approaches to do it is to grow new administrations which can be applied in territories related with higher dangers. This can prompt certain misfortunes. Be that as it may, this will emphatically influence the company’s advancement over the long haul. The organization gives a great deal of consideration to innovation.7Advertising Searching for exposition on business financial aspects? How about we check whether we can support you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Find out More The organization is equipped for growing new administrations which will assist excavators with working in increasingly risky destinations with negligible hazard. As a matter of fact, the organization should top its liabilities which can likewise prompt expanded consumption. Notwithstanding, it is important to take note of that organizations (huge multinationals) will in general repay conceivable losses.8 Therefore, in the event of some mishap the organization will in any case pay certain pay. Obviously, if the organization creates appropriate items, there will be no compelling reason to pay remunerations. Suggestion To execute the arrangement proposed, the organization should embrace certain means. In any case, it is basic to build up an unequivocal technique. It is significant to set explicit objectives. All representatives ought to know about the objectives and the new system. The workers ought to comprehend the bearing picked. The development division should concentrate on the sig nificant goal while as yet chipping away at an assortment of activities. The significant target is advancement of items appropriate in progressively hazardous locales in coal and gas mining. It might be successful to give more consideration to HR arrangements. The organization may need to utilize more experts (maybe, youthful experts) who will think of thoughts to address existing issues in the business. It is additionally significant to create HR as workers may need to concentrate on improvement of very new items. Obviously, the organization will keep looking for new specialties. The organization has noteworthy involvement with this circle. Aside from offering built up administrations, it is likewise conceivable to offer items pertinent in risky locales. This will help procure more understanding and grow new items. The organization has been helping out various organizations in various projects.9 Development of new items may require participation with different organizations. CSC Au stralia ought to be prepared to team up with its opponents. The organization should concentrate on its administrations and its ability to address the most major issues. Plus, the organization will likewise pressure its being dependable as it tops its liabilities. The company’s customers ought to know about these favorable circumstances of the organization. Consequently, the organization ought to likewise shape its advertising system. Significant spotlight ought to be made on the new items and the company’s risk topping. Book index Grundy, Tony. â€Å"Rethinking and Reinventing Michael Porter’s Five Forces Model.† Strategic Change 15, no. 1 (2006): 213-229. Horton, Michael. Meeting, Business Capstone Interviews, 2011, got to from https://mcmaweb01.curtin.edu.au/content.php?content_id=382. Ketels, Christian H. M. â€Å"Michael Porter’s Competitiveness Framework †Recent Learnings and New Research Priorities.† J Ind Compet Trade 6, no. 1 (2 006): 115-136. Kotadia, Munir. â€Å"AIA: Uncapped Liability Clause Makes Firms Lie.† ZDNet, April 21, 2006. Gotten to from http://www.zdnet.com/aiia-uncapped-risk proviso makes-firms-lie-1139252849/. Stein, Sam. â€Å"Robert Menendez Pushes Bill Raising BP’s Oil Spill Liability to $10 Billion.† Huffington Post, May 25, 2011. Gotten to from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/03/robert-menendez-pushes-bi_n_561011.html. Commentaries 1. Michael Horton, Interview, Business Capstone Interviews, 2011, got to from https://mcmaweb01.curtin.edu.au/content.php?content_id=382. 2. On the same page. 3. Christian H. M. Ketels, â€Å"Michael Porter’s Competitiveness Framework †Recent Learnings and New Research Priorities,† J Ind Compet Trade 6, no. 1 (2006): 116. 4. Tony Grundy, â€Å"Rethinking and Reinventing Michael Porter’s Five Forces Model,† Strategic Change 15, no. 1 (2006): 218. 5. Michael Horton, Interview, Business Capstone Intervi ews, 2011, got to from https:/

Customer Development What Questions Do You Ask Potential Customers

Customer Development What Questions Do You Ask Potential Customers © Shutterstock.com | Minerva StudioIn this article, you will learn about how to conduct an interview that will get you deep insigths to calibrating your value proposition.INTRODUCTION TO CUSTOMER DEVELOPMENT INTERVIEWSSo you need to get out of the office and talk to your potential customers if you want the Customer Development model to work. This is easier said than done. You might have a great idea but a real fear of pitching your ideas to complete strangers. You can’t deny that asking strangers a series of questions isn’t scary. No one wants to hear that everything they thought they knew isn’t true.But the customer interview phase is one of the most valuable parts of the Customer Development model. It does not have to be scary. In fact, you should not even be talking about yourself enough for customers to shut down your ideas.The customer interview is all about learning and discovery. You can think of yourself as an impartial researcher or a journalist. If you approach the c ustomer interview as someone who is genuinely curious about one person’s experience in the bigger picture, you will find that you will be listening a lot more than you will be talking. This means that you will be gathering more useful information but still protecting your ego in front of your customers.ESTABLISH YOUR GOALSLike any other process in business or in life, you need to have firmly established goals if you want to be able to measure the progress of your efforts. You need to have goals listed for each step of the Customer Development model. When you have these goals, you can refine and iterate your process later.Some goals you should establish when you are developing the interview questions should include the following:You should be able to identify and understand your customers’ problems.Identifying your customers’ problems is essential. You need to keep this problem in mind throughout the entire customer development process. But it is not enough to be able to write down the problem. You need to know what the problem means for your customers.A deeper understanding of your customers’ problem will tell you more about what they are trying to achieve with their solution. If you do not know how they want their problem solved, you cannot help them solve it. This comes from learning about how important their problem is and what their expectations of a potential solution are.You might have a solution to the customers’ problem. But if your solution does not provide the solution that your customers desire, you still have nothing.You want to learn how they want to solve their problem.People do not just want a solution. They want a solution within a unique timeframe and a unique budget. Some customers want a simple solution. Others might be looking for a complex solution that solves current problems and prevents wider problems. Some customers will want a solution that is instantaneous. Others will want a solution that might take a while to work so that they do not upset their current ecosystem.Every customer that is aware of their problem will have wants and needs for their solution. You must identify these desires before you can implement them into your product.Ultimately, you need in depth knowledge about what your customers want the solution to their problem to achieve.You need to understand what currently stands in your customers’ way.Your early customers will likely have already tried other solutions. Yet, they are continuously looking for new and better solutions. It would serve you well to learn about why they do not like the solutions they have used previously. If none of them worked for the customer, you need to find out why.Additionally, if you are entering an existing market, you need to find out what it is about your competitors that your customers do not like. Maybe your competitors offer a solution to your potential customers but it comes with strings attached like mandatory consulting hours.Your goal is not neces sarily to figure out how to solve the problem better. Your goal is to figure out how to solve the problem according to your customers’ needs.You want to get the information you need to create customer segments and develop customer channels.Collecting information blindly is rarely useful for any process. Instead, you want to be sure that you are collecting information that you use to learn more about your customers. This information should help you determine who your customers are and how they can be segmented.This information should also help you figure out where to find your customers. When you can identify your customer segments, you can develop the channels you need to reach your potential customers.Find product evangelists.All of the information that you have collected thus far should come down to one goal. You want to find your product evangelists. These customers are some of the most influential customers that you can find. As a result, they are some of the most important cu stomers that you have.The information that you gather about problems, solutions, segments and channels should all be used to accomplish this goal.FINDING CUSTOMERS TO INTERVIEWFinding customers to interview may seem difficult, but its not. The reason that many people find it hard to find customers to interview is because they are afraid of rejection. They do not want to find potential customers who tell them that they are not interested in their product.Fortunately, the interview phases of the Customer Development model have little to do with your product. They are all about learning, discovery and validation. When you set up an interview, you want to learn about your customer. You are not trying to sell them a product. When you think about it this way, it is substantially easier to think about going out and finding customers to interview.To find the right customers, you need to get out of the office. This means that you need to ask people who don’t work for you or with you. You w ant to ask real customers, not engineers or sales people with a vested interest in your product. Your VP of Sales will definitely buy your product. But you’re not selling to your VP of Sales. You’re selling to your target market.You may be tempted to interview people you know, such as friends or family. But you should only be doing this if your friends or family fit within your potential customer market. You should also only do this when you are learning about the problem. If you start interviewing your family about your product, you are likely to have a biased result. Your friends and family like you. They want to support you even if what they are telling you is not helpful. However, if your friends and family currently experience the problem that you are trying to solve, it is okay to interview them. You just need to make sure you speak to other customers as well.To get out of the office, you might want to find customers who do not have such a personal interest in your success . For example, you can find customers on LinkedIn or on Quora. People who post on these sites will be asking real questions about their real problems. You should not feel strange about approaching them. In fact, they will probably appreciate it. The anonymity of working over the Internet will also help elicit more honest responses which will in turn produce more valuable information.Another good place to find customers to interview is an industry event or a conference. This is ideal because you will already be in the center of your marketplace. You will also find that people here are ready to network. As a result, they will be approachable.You can also find customers on social sites like Twitter, Facebook, Meetup and even Craigslist. This is an inexpensive way to find customers online. One of the best ways to get involved on these social media sites is to join in an existing conversation. If the problem you want to solve is real, people will be talking about it online. You can find the profiles of people in the industry or market that you are targetingAnother idea is to search for customers on crowdfunding platforms like Indiegogo or Kickstarter. Here you can target customers who are actively searching for solutions to their problems. These are the kinds of customers who you can convert into product evangelists, which is the goal of your customer interview process.ASK YOUR QUESTIONSIt is not enough just to ask questions and wright down answers. If you want answers that are useful, you need to be able to phrase your questions well. The language that you use to phrase your questions will often determine the kind of answers that you get. The more detail your questions invite, the better answers you will get.You want to avoid asking misleading questions. Your questions need to be concrete and avoid feeling like trick questions. You want to ask questions that provoke thoughtful answers. But you want to avoid asking questions that make the interviewee believe that y ou are looking for a certain answer.It is also important not to ask questions that force the interviewee to guess the answer. You need to ask questions that get concrete answers. You should also avoid asking people about hypothetical situations because hypothetical doesn’t reflect reality. You need real world answers if you want your business to work. You do not need what-if’s.You should be avoiding questions like:Is this problem a big deal for you?If someone offered a solution to your problem, would you take it?Would you spend $500 to solve this problem?Did the solution work?All of the above questions can be answered with a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’. They do not require the interviewee to think about the answer.One of the best ways to get useful answers is to ask open ended questions. Open ended questions do not elicit ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answers. If the interviewee can answer with one word then you have crafted a poor question. Open ended questions require a full explanation a nd description of an answer. Some examples of great open ended questions include:What is your biggest challenge in a particular area?What is the most frustrating part of the problem?How big of a problem is this for you?How have you tried to solve this problem in the past?Why didn’t the solution work?What is the ideal solution?How would ____ help you?How would the solution fix the problem?Is this problem important for you to solve?How much money would you spend if you could solve the problem right now?MAKING THESE QUESTIONS WORK FOR YOUThe questions listed above are basic examples of questions that you might ask potential customers during an interview. But like anything else in Customer Development, you need to be able to measure the success of your questions. Not all questions will suit all customer markets. Asking the right questions is as important as the person that you are interviewing. These questions are not meant to be a part of a rigid formula. You have to be able to creat e an interview scenario that matches your brand, your customer base and your needs.Adapting your questions to your needs should also include personalization. By asking customers questions that are personal to them, and ideally reflect their problem, you will respect their time and insight. Their time is valuable to you. You want them to know that if you plan to convert them into paying customers later.Thus, the personalization process should begin with the invitation to interview and continue into the follow up. You cannot send people you value a form invitation when you reach out to them the first time. More often than not, they will already feel like you are a faceless company that is going to ask them general questions without really respecting their answers. You will elicit fewer responses if you do not personalize your interview. You may also not be attracting the right customers. When you personalize an invitation and an interview, people will know whether or not they are the kind of person that you want to talk to.Personalization also includes asking the hard questions. Hard questions are the reason that so many people are afraid of getting out of the office to speak to their customers.But being afraid of the difficulty of the customer interview can sometimes lead to a general set of questions that don’t match the market or the product.This happens because many people are afraid to ask the tough questions because you might not get the answers that you want to hear. But asking the tough questions is what the interview process is all about. You want to get facts, not opinions. Opinions are personal and do not necessarily reflect the state of your business or your product. You cannot work with one man’s opinion. But facts reflect things as they really are. This makes it easier to make real-world adjustments to your product and to your business.Finally, the most important thing that you need to remember during your customer interviews is not to talk abo ut your idea. You are here to learn about your customers, not to sell to them. This is because you are interviewing your potential customers to find out if they even are your potential customers. Not to sell to people that you do not even know fit your target market.Trying to sell your solution will not help you at all. It won’t tell you anything about your customer. All you will learn is what you already know about your product. Plus, if you ask your customer if they would be interested in your solution, you are implying that they have a problem that they might not have. This is a dangerous assumption that can lead to truly flawed data.CONCLUSIONInterviewing customers is not easy. But it is also not as hard as many people feel it is. When you go out to interview customers, prepare for a conversation with a real person, not a data set. People want to share their problems and experiences with you, especially if you are trying to help solve their problem. If you go out looking for r eal, honest answers from real customers, you are likely to come home with the information that you need.

Do You Have a Low Self-esteem Essay - 926 Words

â€Å"You are altogether beautiful my darling; beautiful in every way.† This verse from the Bible sums up what I think about every woman. I believe that every woman, teenage girl, or pre teen should stop putting themselves down! Confidence is key to living a happy and joyful life. Being depressed, being unhappy, giving up on things, being introvert and not feeling good about oneself are some characteristics of a person that does not have self confidence. I believe that in order to succeed and be successful in life you must have self-confidence. Eagerness to learn new things, pride in doing a good job, being a nice person, having the confidence to know â€Å"I can do it†, and altogether liking oneself are some attributes of having self confidence.†¦show more content†¦People who have low self-esteem tend to give up on things easier then ones who have confidence. My mom recently broke her leg and is going to physical therapy. If she had low self-esteem about walk ing she probably would give up and break down. Low self-esteem can also lead to a person being introvert. Introvert means that someone keeps to him or herself and is not outgoing and spunky. A person would not want to talk to be social and outgoing if they had low self esteem. Low self-esteem comes with many side effects but the worst one I would have to say is not feeling good about oneself. Low self-esteem means not having confidence in ones own worth or abilities, or not having self-respect. This explains why people having low-self esteem is very unhealthy and can lead to depression, unhappiness, giving up on things, being introvert and not feeling good about themselves. Second, having self-confidence is key to living a happy and joyful life. Some characteristics of self-confidence are taking pride in doing a good job, being a nice person, having the confidence to know â€Å"I can do it†, and altogether liking oneself (â€Å"Self-Confidence†). When a basketball player has a lot of self-confidence in their selves, they altogether play better and have more fun. Without self-confidence people hardly ever succeed. People with self-confidence take pride in what they do. A baker that has theShow MoreRelatedImproving Your Low Self Esteem1422 Words   |  6 PagesIMPROVING YOUR LOW SELF ESTEEM INTRODUCTION: In the course of our life, we might have encountered a situation whereby we think of other people as been better than us. At times you may look at some successful people, and see them as perfect, being lucky and more gifted and hope you could trade places with them. On the other hand, these people also look at you and think of you as someone who is free, without many problems. You feel insecure of people and they likewise feel the same thing of you. At thatRead MoreTaking an Inside Look at Self-Esteem Essay768 Words   |  4 PagesDo you believe in yourself and in your abilities? Can you handle rejection and criticism in an objective and healthy manner, or does one negative comment completely shatter your self-view? Self-esteem is an important part of personal happiness, fulfilling relationships and achievement. Self-esteem is used to describe a persons overall sense of self-worth. Research has shown key differences between individuals with high and low self-esteem. So what is self-esteem? Ray Baumeister defines it as,Read MoreSelf Esteem And Self-Esteem832 Words   |  4 Pages The grade you get on an exam, how your friends and parents treat you, and how perfect your social media is can all have an impact on how you feel about yourself. These daily experiences are why people’s thoughts and feelings about themselves fluctuate. All of these thoughts about oneself is self-esteem. Self esteem or â€Å"confidence in ones own worth or abilities; self-respect† (Merriam-Webster) can be portrayed in two different ways. The first way is having a habit of negative thinking about oneselfRead MoreUsing Low Self Esteem Thought Facebook Is Safe And Appealing For Self Disclosure1547 Words   |  7 PagesThe authors of this article were interested in studying whether people with low self-esteem thought Facebook was safe and appealing for self disclosure, and if any of their Facebook posts would enable them to gather social rewards. The authors made three studies to help them find the answer to their questions. Their hypothesis was that posting on Facebook would only reduce self-disclosure, as a result of making low self-esteem people feel more free about expressing their feelings. This hypothesis wasRead MoreVisual And Statistical Manual Of Mental Disorders990 Words   |  4 PagesIntroduction Oxford dictionary added the word â€Å"selfie† in August 2013 being defined as a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smart phone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website (Augarde, 1981). Its not you its me: The Science Behind the Selfie is a recent news article that came out addressing the complexity behind what a selfie represents and what people are really trying to convey or masque. Throughout the past five years the word selfie has been addedRead MoreThe Effect Of Self Esteem1634 Words   |  7 PagesEffects of self-esteem What is self-esteem? Self-esteem is confidence in one’s own worth or abilities and self-respect. Self-esteem is how a person feels about his or herself. A person’s self-esteem can be high, low, or in between. Someone with high self-esteem might be more confident in seeking out new friendships. However, someone with low self-esteem may not even try to have a social life because they tend to feel worthless. If a person self esteem is in between they are very observantRead MoreImproving Self Esteem And Live A Better Life1242 Words   |  5 PagesHow to Improve Self Esteem and Live a Better Life By Kassie Lyne | Submitted On March 03, 2012 Recommend Article Article Comments Print Article Share this article on Facebook Share this article on Twitter Share this article on Google+ Share this article on Linkedin Share this article on StumbleUpon Share this article on Delicious Share this article on Digg Share this article on Reddit Share this article on Pinterest One of the questions psychologists and counselors of all kinds find themselvesRead MoreThe Importance Of Self Esteem And High Self981 Words   |  4 PagesYour self-esteem is really your opinion of the kind of person that you think you are. Self -esteem is not inherited and has nothing to do with someone’s feelings or opinions of you. Low self- esteem and high self -esteem result from the evaluation you have of yourself. Specifically, self- esteem is a direct result of what you believe about yourself. Self- esteem comes from your core belief about yourself and how you view others and the world. You can get compliments about your skills and workRead MoreSelf Esteem Essay798 Words   |  4 PagesYou cant touch it, but it affects how you feel. You cant see it, but its there when you look at yourself in the mirror. You cant hear it, but its there every time you talk about yourself. What is this important but mysterious thing? Its your self-esteem! Self Esteem is defined as confidence in your own merit as an individual. Our self esteem is instilled in us during our youth. There are two types of self esteem. There is high self esteem which is when you feel good about yourself, and thenRead MoreImportance Of Self Esteem805 Words   |  4 PagesDo We Need Self-Esteem To Be Successful? â€Å"Your chances of success in any undertaking can always be measured by your belief in yourself,† says Robert Collier. Self-esteem is important to be successful because having low self-esteem will get in the way of many things that lead people to success. It will get in the way of getting good grades or having good relationships with others. Believing and feeling confident in yourself will help you become confident. Back then, before the 1960s, people didn’t

A Report On Isis And The Effect On The Middle East

Good Morning Sir or Ma’am, Today I have prepared for a report on ISIS and the effect they have on the Middle East. As you have known for the past year this organization has been a huge problem not only for the America but the world. The world did leave this organization unchecked, but more and more countries are starting to respond because of the overall effect it is having on global stabilization. Through my research, I will give you an overall brief on the organization as a whole and then present a possible plan you can consider when making future policy and plans when attacking a situation like this. I want to start off with how ISIS got to the stage they are at now according to articles I’ve read through online research. The first article I read was called, â€Å"We Built Their Death Squads: ISIS’s Bizarre Origin Story†. This is one of first of three articles I have read so far, which provided a lot of insight with no restriction how they reported. Wha t I mean by restriction is that the author didn’t hold his tongue on his article. The article referrers to them as the boogeymen of the west that did everything fro human trafficking to genocide and everything in between. (Death) According to this author we are the uncle of ISIS if not the father of the organization. Many of these terrorists started out at Camp Bucca, Iraq. Camp Bucca is a military detention center, which held captured fighters and suspected fighters. (Death) The American Forces ran this camp duringShow MoreRelatedThe United States And The Middle East834 Words   |  4 Pagesinvested in the Middle East. Geographically, the Middle East region contains a large percentage of the industrialized world’s most prized resource, oil. Throughout this time, the United States has participated in Gulf War I, Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Southern Watch, Operation Northern Watch, and numerous other contingencies and operations. Most recently, the region fell further into turmoil with the civil unrest and uprising in Syria, the formation of ISIS, and theRead MoreThe First Criteria Of Just War Theory Is Jus Ad Bellum, The Just Initiation Of A War1085 Words   |  5 Pagesinitiated by ISIS that places American institutions and Americans at harm, they are retaliating with the intention of self defense as opposed to acting out of aggression. This serves as a just cause of war. Additionally, failure to combat ISIS could potentially escalate the boomerang effect, a phenomenon in which citizens of the United States travel to Syria and Iraq and return to the states radicalized (In the News 8-30-16). This means that the US can justifiably send troops to the Middle East becauseRead MoreSecretary Of Energy And National Security Related Missions1169 Words   |  5 Pagesclimate. It is time for the US to prove its real intention which is fighting against terrorism. However, we cannot bomb or attack the supporters of the ISIS in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia and Iraq are the countries that we buy our oils. (globalpost, 2010) We cannot risk the explosion of oil reserves. If we cannot buy our oils from Middle East, we have to increase the prices, which will result in opposition from the society and decrease the Presidents second term service chance. It is importantRead MoreThe s Presence Of Latin America762 Words   |  4 Pageslinked to the Mexican drug cartel Los Zetas. Various reports put Hezbollah’s earnings in Latin America in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Once you have money you can focus on recruiting. This is, for now, the main purpose of Hezbollah in Latin America. There are millions of Islamic converts, Arab immigrants and decedents from which Hezbollah pick and choose. Hezbollah sends the majority of its newly recruited fighters to the Middle East, but this could be changing. The terrorist organizationRead MoreThe Islamic State Of Iraq And Syria2957 Words   |  12 PagesSyria to Help Combat ISIS? Chloe Varlack, Gillian Smith, Patricia Luna P.3 Introduction ISIS, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, is an extremist group that branched from the Sunni terrorist group, al Qaeda, specifically the Iraq faction. Although ISIS has primarily focused on initiatives in the Middle Eastern region, the recent killing of American journalists, James Foley and Steven Sotlof following U.S. airstrikes targeting ISIS, has caused controversy as to whether ISIS is a threat to theRead MoreThe Islamic State Of Syria And Iraq1699 Words   |  7 PagesISIS; the Islamic State of Syria and Iraq better known for their mass killings, terrorist attacks, and intense regime. This group was founded in 1999, and was created by people who were former Al Qaeda members. ISIS is a group of terrorists with members positioned all over the world to carry out with mass killings. The members have been radicalized to believe irrational thoughts of killing harmless human beings. The whole world is aware of the issue, and knows that this terrorist group needsRead MoreU.s. Bush s Foreign Policy Essay1500 Words   |  6 PagesBush’s ambassador to the United Nations) (Gibson,2014) It is essentially true that Syria is a country with abundant natural resources. This can be illustrated by the comment mentioned above that America has always taken a keen interest to the Middle East to reap the benefit of huge oil and gas industry. Since Syria is the second largest oil producer after Iraq, a huge political economy worked behind America’s decision to wage war on Syria, which left a disastrous impact on overall development ofRead MoreIr The Islamic Republic Of Iran1776 Words   |  8 Pagesprimarily means of revenue remains in its oil fields. Geographically, Iran is located in the Middle East. Iran is surrounded by two seas, the Caspian Sea to the north and Arabian Sea to the south. Iran also borders the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. Countries bordering Iran include Iraq and Turkey to the west, Armenia and Azerbaijan to the northwest, Turkmen istan to the northeast, Afghanistan to the east, and Pakistan to the southeast. Religion wise, Iran is composed of about 95% Shia Muslim andRead MoreU.s. Military Field Manual1426 Words   |  6 Pagesmajor problem in the United States. Due to the damaging effects of 9/11 on the moral of the country and the present threats from ISIS, the Muslim-American society as a whole is being depicted in a way that classifies them as extremist terrorists. This fear of the Muslim society has become so dominant that the term â€Å"Islamophobia† has been adopted to communicate â€Å"fear, hatred and hostility towards Islam and Muslims.† As seen in a 2011 report on the West’s respect for Muslims, 52% percent of the AmericanRead MoreThe Rise Of The Islamic State1707 Words   |  7 PagesISIS Essay: The Rise of ISIS The rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) or also sometimes known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is an extremist Islamic militant group that has based themselves from around North Syria to the Central part of Iraq. ISIS is has been run by Abu Bakr al Baghdadi since May 2010 and has terrified people from all around the world with their extreme use of violence to get what they want. The group originally began in 2004 with the name Al Qaeda

Data Summary and Discussion Free Essays

The data presented shows the amount charged on credit cards by households of a given size and income. This data shows that while the amount spent by households varies depending on the size and income, the combination of both might also have an important bearing on the amount of that household’s debt. The debt range for the entire data set of 50 households is $1,864 to $5,678 per year, while the incomes in the set range from $21,000 to $67,000 per year. We will write a custom essay sample on Data Summary and Discussion or any similar topic only for you Order Now The households’ sizes in this data set range from one (1) to seven (7). When each variable is taken singly, one finds that each does to a significant extend predict the amount of debt that the household carries. What is specifically shown in this data is that households tend to have a higher amount of debt depending on the number of persons who live in the house, as it largest households generally carry a debt amount that lies on the higher end of the spectrum. For example, the average debt for the three seven-person households lies at $4,911, which is only about seven hundred dollars below the highest debt amount of $5,678. The data also shows that the average debt for the five one-person households is approximately $2,781. However, what the data also shows is that even though debt rises as the household size rises, it does so at a decreasing rate. The fact that the average debt for one-person households is significantly higher than the lower end of the range demonstrates that the low end might represent an extraneous amount, and indeed it does. This is the debt carried by a two-person household. A better comparison of the one-person household average debt could be made with the calculated debt per head for the entire data set. The total number of persons in all households is 171, and the total debt for all households is $198,203. The average debt per capita for this group of persons is about $1,159. This, compared with the average debt for the one-person households, shows that the debt for the one-person households does represent a disproportionately high size of twice as much as the overall per capita debt. This might be explained by the fact that the fixed costs for households generally remain relatively the same regardless of how many persons may live in the house. Other factors that bear on this are extraneous, such as the spending patterns and financial awareness of the persons in each household. However, another major factor to consider in predicting household debt is the annual income of the persons within each house. Which is a Better Predictor: household size or income? However, further analysis shows that even household, by itself, does not predict the amount of debt very well. In fact, the data points toward the fact that household size predicts the annual credit card charges better than household income. Looking back at the previous example, one sees a household that earns $26,000 producing debt comparable to most of the higher-end earners. Part of this debt size has to be attributed to the fact that the household earning such a small income in comparison to other household is faced with the challenge of supporting seven persons. Another household earning $23,000 supports six persons and shows credit card charges of $4,127 per year. Other households of comparable earnings ($21,000 and $27,000) show smaller credit card charges of $2,448 and $2,477 respectively, and this can be attributed to their smaller household sizes. Combination of Household Size and Earnings The income range for the data set has already been stated as $21,000 to $67,000. The total income for this group is $2,174,000 and the average income is $43,480. The average debt for each household is $3,964 which falls approximately in the middle of the $1,864 to $5,678 range. However, what one notices is that though the average debt for the three 7-person households is shown to be $4,911, the highest debt in that segment goes to the household with the highest income. Therefore, the $5,301 debt goes to the household that earns $55,000 per year, while the lowest debt of $4,603 goes to the household that earns only $26,000 per year. This demonstrates that the combination of household size and household income is an overall better predictor of credit card charges that any of those variables alone. According to this, a household made up of three persons and earning $40,000 should show a credit card charge within the median range of about $3,800 – $4,100. This would be expected to be comparable to any other household of three persons, yet slightly below those households of three that have higher earnings. Other Data Necessary to Make Accurate Predictions Other information concerning these households’ loans, mortgages, and neighbourhood locations would also be requested of the client. According to the discussion above, though, it would appear that despite the fact that household size predicts the annual credit card charges better than household income, other factors also affect the size of credit card debt. What one notes is that most of the low-earning households do still show a disproportionately higher amount of debt than their counterparts of high-earning households with similar household sizes. Households that, for example earn twice as much as another do not generally show twice as much debt in this data set. Neither is this so for households that have twice as many persons. One contributor to this is the existence of fixed costs, as mentioned above. However, this does not account for all the discrepancies. Therefore, other factors that might contribute to credit card charges include the amount of previous debt (such as university tuition loans, mortgages, etc) that each household has incurred. They may also include the household’s attitude toward its finances and toward debt in general. Other factors involve the cost of living within the geographical area of the particular household and the general lifestyle to which the household is accustomed. Work Cited Professor’s Name. â€Å"Data Sheet.† Name of Class. City: University, 2007. How to cite Data Summary and Discussion, Essay examples

Marketing Principle for Melyn Green Refrigerator - myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theMarketing Principle for Melyn Green Refrigerator. Answer: Current situation Background to sustainable offering Melyn Green Refrigerator provides the high-quality home services related to food storage and preservation. This product also facilitates a resolution to gain demand of energy in the home. It also depends on the function of solar energy. Solar energy is a clean and renewable source of energy. Therefore, it provides sustainability to the environment. Furthermore, this new product will need to invest less amount of money. It will offer the fridge users (Jobber, and Ellis-Chadwick, 2016).This product promoted the energy conservation and also encourages the financial sustainability and sustainable use of energy in a home setting. Environmental analysis The environment of the political system is very constant in Australia which facilitates an effective environment for development and growth of Melyn Green Refrigerator. But, at the same time, the Australian economic environment can negatively impact on sales volume of the company due to global financial meltdown. Besides this, the social factor like beliefs, attitudes, and perception of consumers act in favor to Melyn Green Refrigerator. This product is designed by using advanced technology which makes sure the efficiency. Along with this, the Australian atmosphere is largely affected through pollution but Melyn Green Refrigerator promotes the sustainability in an environment (Goworek, and McGoldrick, 2015). Consequently, this product will be accepted in an Australian market. Market and customer analysis This product is used in a consumer market hence this product can be directly delivered to retailers and consumers to increase their profits. There are a high amount of potential consumers who can be interested in solar-energy refrigerators. Further, it is analyzed that current consumers are sensitive towards the environment and their consumption can impact on the environment. Hence, they need products which are eco-friendly such as Melyn Green Refrigerator. Moreover, consumers can get a renewable source of energy at affordable prices (Moriarty, et. al., 2014).The Australian consumers give priority to high-quality product hence it is beneficial for Melyn Company to sell Melyn Green Refrigerator to Australian consumers because this product delivers added value to them. Objectives Financial objectives To attain the revenue of approximately $1, 50,000 per annum from this product (it is about half value of average Melyn Company) To increase the net profit of about 15% of revenue To gain the return on investment by 12% Marketing objectives To increase the customer satisfaction on all products by 90% To obtain promotion and endorsement through local celebrities Stakeholder objectives To provide save energy system by 90% To become familiar and participated in government energy-saving campaign Target market Melyn Company should target the market on the basis of geographical, demographical and psychographic factors. Under the geographical category, the company will target the urban areas of Australia. Under the demographical factor, the company should segment the market on the basis of age, gender, and income. For launching Melyn Green Refrigerator product, the company will select the above 24 years ages of people. Further, it will also target the both male and female to deliver the products because this can be used by both people. It will also target the middle-class income in order to cover a wide range of products (Weinstein, 2013).Under the psychographic factor, the company will select to that individual who gives priority to take eco-friendly products. Marketing strategies Positioning To attract the medium class people, who need to keep safe food storage, Melyn Green Refrigerator is a food storage system that allows it to stay connected with people because it provides safe food storage and preservation solution at an affordable price than the competing technologies. The company can also create the positioning in the market by delivering the added value to customers. It will also provide the financial sustainability to end-users by delivering solar power in its products as it is a key source of energy. At the same time, it will also facilitate the durable and high quality of refrigeration equipment to store the food with the domestic purpose (McHugh, and Krukonis, 2013).As a result, it can be stated that Melyn Green Refrigerator will create a positive image in the customers mind. Product/offering Melyn Green Refrigerator will deliver the high-quality of food storage and also provides the facility of preservation services in their residence. This product also facilitates a resolution to gain energy demand in homes. This product is created for domestic purpose hence company will provide Melyn Green Refrigerator at an affordable price (Ennew, et. al., 2013). Optional additional product-related strategies People The company should create the habit of thinking in the perspectives of people who are available inside and outside of the business. Since, these people are responsible for every activity related to sales and marketing. Melyn Company will recruit the right people at the right time for placing the right position as it would be beneficial to attract more customers towards this new product. Along with this, the company can hire HR manager who has proper skills and abilities to recruit the best workforce for influencing the customers (Moore, et. al., 2016). Process Melyn Company should use effective procedure and flow of activities by which services and products will be delivered as it is essential to marketing strategy. In this way, the company can use information systems and queuing systems to make effective relation with the customers as it would be beneficial to create brand loyalty among customers. Further, the information system will enable the company to keep the record of customers data hence it can provide offers to their customers and also get feedback from them (Armstrong, et. al., 2014). Consequently, Melyn Company can attract a large number of customers towards their products and services. Physical evidence Physical evidence is ability and atmosphere where products and services will be delivered to customers. In this way, the company will provide wide space to assess the products, self-service, and attractive light to check the products condition. It will also provide the different payment mode to pay the amount of swipe machine, cash, and e-channels. The company will also provide the brochures and data regarding the products as it will aid to the customer for selecting the products. As a result, it will increase the positive experience among existing customers because the company will satisfy to them (Wells, 2013). Price Melyn Company should adopt the penetration pricing and competitors oriented strategy to attract the customers. In this way, it can set its prices of product at a lower marginal rate as compared to its key market participants. Since, economic pricing strategy aids the company to persuade the huge potential customer and gain their share in the consumer market. The actual manufacturing cost of Melyn Green Refrigerator is less as compared to other brands in the market because of cheap labor. Therefore, it can easily implement economic pricing strategy and still produce good revenues (Varey, and Pirson, 2013). Placement The place is a marketing strategy in which products will be actually sold. In this way, the company can create the habit of assessing and reflecting the exact location in which customer attains the salesperson. Moreover, Melyn Company can sell Melyn Green Refrigerator in many different places like direct selling where it can send their salespeople to personally meet and talk with the potential customers. It can also use telemarketing in which can take orders through email and phone. It can also sell their product at a trade show and in retail shops. It can also use a combination of these methods to increase the revenue of product. It can also use B2C marketing which is a modern marketing strategy to sell the products and services (Idowu, et. al., 2013).These channels can be beneficial for the company to increase the demand of customer towards their products. Promotion/Marketing communications Melyn Green Refrigerator can be easily promoted due to its ecological status. In this way, Melyn Company can promote the concept regarding green ideas which is part of the community. Therefore, the community will actively support to save the energy and creating more demand of the customers. Further, the company can promote their product through different electronic media such as radio, television, print media, newspaper, magazines, and billboards. In the current scenario, customer highly uses social media hence company can use this media to promote their products (Brindley, and Oxborrow, 2014). In this way, it can use different modes such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. Marketing implementation The company will implement the following action plan to advertising and marketing of Melyn Green Refrigerator: Marketing activities The company will use different marketing channels like radio, and newspaper. It will also do hangout the handouts, discount vouchers, and brochures at a sports event. Along with this, it will gather the database of customers who comes under the loyalty member. It will also organize different types of public relations campaigns such as energy saving seminars and food storage and preservation events (Idowu, et. al., 2013). It can also provide small sponsorship to a local sports club. Target completing duration This project will be completed at 2/11/2017 as it will facilitate the company to adequate time to get prepared the products in the first week of November. Responsibilities Radio/newspaper marketing- salesperson Handouts and social media marketing- marketing manager Databases- all workforces who are on the job Public relations and sponsorship- sales team will organize the event and seminars Expenditure Appropriately $7, 000,000 will be required to meet the project. Budget Projected Budget for Melyn Green Refrigerator Revenues (in $) Sales 10,000 units @ approximately $9000 each 90,000,000.00 Less: Production cost Raw material 10,000 units@ approximately $6000 each 60,000,000.00 Less: Distribution costs Fuel 12000 Less: Marketing costs Advertising 40000 Databases 8000 Public relation 7000 sponsorships 18000 Sales promotion 16000 Total marketing cost 89000 Less: other expenses Utilities 70000 Rent 250,000 Wages@12% of sales 10,800,000.00 Superannuation @9% of wages 972,000.00 Insurance 10000 GST@12% of sales 10,800,000.00 Total other expenses 22,902,000.00 Projected profit 6,997,000.00 Proposed Return on Investment Equipment purchased 50000 Delivery truck 27000 ROI 77000 Evaluation and control The method is used for evaluating the success of marketing strategies. However, it depends on the different types of objectives: Financial Evaluation Revenue: it will be monitored on a weekly basis by cash register report to make sure targets are attained Profits and ROI: It will be calculated annually at the end of financial year and it will be compared from projected budget and also applies to revenue Wages: it will be monitored on weekly and determined against our sales to make sure the store uses are no greater than 15% of revenue on wages (Wells, 2013). Marketing Evaluation Market share-determines revenue at the end of financial year to assess if company has attained target of 12% Customer satisfaction- Company will use online and in-store questionnaire to get feedback from customers and take satisfaction rating about the product Endorsement- Company will approach the aforementioned organizations and request them to recommend our products (Varey, and Pirson, 2013). Stakeholders evaluation Save energy- company will assess solar energy in each product. It will also compare their energy system with their key competitors. Energy saving campaign- it will also participate in government energy saving research and demonstrates it on the television as a sponsor (Armstrong, et. al., 2014). References Armstrong, G., Adam, S., Denize, S., and Kotler, P. (2014)Principles of marketing. Australia: Pearson. Brindley, C., and Oxborrow, L. (2014) Aligning the sustainable supply chain to green marketing needs: A case study,Industrial Marketing Management,43(1), pp. 45-55. Ennew, C., Waite, N., and Waite, R. (2013)Financial services marketing: An international guide to principles and practice. UK: Routledge. Goworek, H., and McGoldrick, P. (2015)Retail marketing management: Principles and practice. Australia: Pearson Higher Ed. Idowu, S. O., Zu, L., and Gupta, A. D. (2013)Encyclopedia of corporate social responsibility(Vol. 21). N. Capaldi (Ed.). New York: Springer. Jobber, D., and Ellis-Chadwick, F. (2016)Principles and Practice of Marketing. Australia: McGraw-Hill Education. McHugh, M., and Krukonis, V. (2013) Supercritical fluid extraction: principles and practice. UK: Elsevier. Moore, K. N., Swisher, M. E., Rodriguez, J. C., Blevins, M., Hogan, M., Hunter, L., ... and Redhage, D. (2016) Principles guiding practice: A case study analysis of the principles of sustainable agriculture for diverse farms,Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development,6(3), pp. 61-89. Moriarty, S., Mitchell, N. D., Wells, W. D., Crawford, R., Brennan, L., and Spence-Stone, R. (2014)Advertising: Principles and practice. Australia: Pearson. Varey, R., and Pirson, M. (Eds.). (2013) Humanistic Marketing. Berlin: Springer. Weinstein, A. (2013)Handbook of Niche Marketing: Principles and Practice. UK: Routledge. Wells, G. (Ed.). (2013)Sustainable business: Theory and practice of business under sustainability principles. UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.

A monopoly market player Apple

A monopoly market player Apple A monopoly market player is a firm, which is the only one existent in a market. Monopolization is when a firm has a significant control to set the prices in a multiplayer market.Advertising We will write a custom case study sample on A monopoly market player: Apple specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In 2005, even with more than one player in its market segment, Apple was able to sell a more expensive product and achieve 63% control of digital music players and 83% control of legal digital music download market. Such an achievement was made through leveraging on its ITunes store and stylish status of iPods. In charging high products, Apple built a premium and exclusives status for its products. Over the long term, this will create a cult like following for its products as long as the firm can keep on developing digital music players with the better technology than that of its competitors. This will require massive investment in idea and technology generation and development. Low sales numbers can easily lead to the company being bankrupt. In conclusion, charging high prices is a risky but highly rewarding option (Manikw, 2008). Diagram 1 represents a monopoly market. A monopolist is a price maker because the company does not face any competitors in such a case. Thus, there is a price inelastic demand where marginal cost meets marginal revenues, which represents the quantity for profit maximisation. The extrapolating the output up to its maximum to meet the average revenue and cost curves, we arrive at the prices P1 and P2. The total cost of production is P1Q1, while the total revenues are P2Q2; the difference is the supernormal profit. Considering diagram 2, prices decrease from P1 to P3, while quantity sold has an increase from Q1 to Q2. This is due to a different demand pattern brought about by different demographic and physiographic population factors, while a different cost pattern brought about by a change of the tax regime affects the cost pattern resulting in a different price maximizing output and different prices.Advertising Looking for case study on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More First, for price discrimination to take place, it must be performed in different geographical markets. Secondly, market segmentation is based on different demographic and physiographic population factors. Thirdly, inelastic price elasticity of demand ensures the advantage of price discriminators (Manikw, 2008). Monopolies and oligopolies are vital firms in a country especially if they can work competitively to bring new products to the market, while providing job places. Secondly, they accumulate large amounts of capital to the benefit of economy. However, consumer and labor groups have no trust in monopolies and oligopolies achieving this economic function without government oversight. Arguments for intellectual proper ty rights include giving the right of intellectual property to its owner, who can use it for financial gain. The right to own an intellectual property is a result of hard labor and investment in creating it. Thus, development to humanity would not occur from private entities but only from the government. The socialist and economic growth would follow the government’s agenda. Margins for firms would be thin since it is a price market (Dwivedi, 2002). Every industry deserves to obtain its intellectual rights, especially considering the economic significance of motivating capital and expertise investment. In such areas as healthcare, its importance to ensuring human rights observance and proper solutions to human health problems is significant. For such markets, additional control by government authorities is necessary to balance morality and intellectual rights (Perloff, 2009).Advertising We will write a custom case study sample on A monopoly market player: Apple specif ically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More References Dwivedi, D. (2002). Microeconomics: Theory and Application. India: Pearson education. Manikw, G. (2008). Principles of microeconomics: a guided tour. Connecticut: Cengage Learning. Perloff, J. (2009). Microeconomics. London: Pearson/Addison Wesley.

Family Delphinidae

Family Delphinidae Delphinidae is the family of animals commonly known as the dolphins. This is the largest family of cetaceans.Members of this family are commonly called dolphins or delphinids. The Family Delphinidae includes such recognizable species as the bottlenose dolphin, the killer whale (orca), the  Atlantic white-sided dolphin,  Pacific white-sided dolphin, spinner dolphin,  common dolphin, and pilot whales. Dolphins are vertebrates and marine mammals. Origin of the Word Delphinidae The word Delphinidae comes from the Latin word delphinus, meaning dolphin. Delphinidae Species Cetaceans in the Family Delphinidae are  Odontocetes or  toothed whales. There are  38 species  in this family.   Characteristics of Delphinidae The Delphinidae are generally fast, streamlined animals with a pronounced beak, or rostrum.   Dolphins have cone-shaped teeth, an important characteristic that distinguishes them from porpoises. They have one blowhole, which distinguishes them from baleen whales, which have a pair of blowholes.   Dolphins also use echolocation to find their prey. They have an organ in their head called a melon which they use to focus clicking sounds which they produce. The sounds bounce off objects around them, including prey. In addition to its use in finding prey, delphinids also use echolocation to communicate with other dolphins and to navigate. How Big Are Dolphins? According to the Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals, the Delphinidae can range in size from about 4 or 5 feet (e.g., Hectors dolphin and the spinner dolphin) to about 30 feet in length (the killer whale, or orca). Where Do Dolphins Live? Delphinids live in a wide range of habitats, from coastal to pelagic areas.   Dolphins in Captivity Dolphins, especially bottlenose dolphins, are kept in captivity in aquaria and marine parks. They are also kept in some facilities for research. Some of these animals are once-wild animals that came into a rehabilitation center and were unable to be released. The first marine park in the U.S. was  Marine Studios, now known as Marineland. This park began exhibiting bottlenose dolphins in the 1930s. Since dolphins were first displayed in aquaria, the practice has become more controversial, with activists and animal welfare advocates especially concerned about the stress levels and health of captive cetaceans, especially orcas. Dolphin Conservation Dolphins are also sometimes the victims of drive hunts, which have grown more widely known and controversial. In these hunts, dolphins are killed for their meat and to be sent to aquariums and marine parks. Even before that, people advocated for the protection of dolphins, who were dying by the thousands in nets used to catch tuna. This led to the development and marketing of dolphin-safe tuna. In the U.S., all dolphins are protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act.   References and Further Information Committee on Taxonomy. 2014. List of marine mammal species and subspecies. Society for Marine Mammalogy, Accessed October 31, 2015.Perrin, W. F., Wursig, B., and J.G.M. Thewissen, editors. Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals. Academic Press.

Discuss the Servqual and Gap Analysis concepts and demonstrate how it Essay

Discuss the Servqual and Gap Analysis concepts and demonstrate how it can be applied in hospitality operations - Essay Example It is based on the pre-purchase expectations of an individual and the quality perceptions after purchase. The customer satisfaction differs with quality of service through psychological factors which play a vital role in an individual’s personal experience. Customer satisfaction is premised on the outcome or the process undertaken and thus defining customer satisfaction as the attributes of an end-state originating from consumption of experience base on perception, evaluation and psychological factors. The hospitality industry focuses on customer satisfaction as the main concern for producing service to its customers. Potential customers are lured to the hospitality sector for a number of reasons not limited to satisfaction, enjoyment, sense of achievement and self- esteem benefits that can be sought from this industry. Robinson (2009, p.21) discusses the benefits of leisure that provide customers with intellectual challenge, involvement and enjoyment, intellectual stimulation due to education, relief of stress through social benefits, relaxation and other aesthetic benefits. This factors link customer needs and satisfaction and motivation which is variable from individual to individual and thus obligating the customer oriented marketing to consider customer needs and be flexible to changes in internal processes to suit them. Satisfaction brings new customers through a positive word of mouth recommendations from existing customers. Secondly, it results into a stable source of income through maintaining customer loyalty through repetitive quality service delivery in the industry. Lack or inadequate customer satisfaction leads to additional expenses through handling customer complaints with an end result of wasting productive hours and ruining the reputation of a firm. There are a number of factors that affect customer satisfaction. However, the aspects of this paper aims at pre-purchase expectations that affect the overall

Is the fiscal stimulus worked during the Japanese Stagnation in early Research Paper

Is the fiscal stimulus worked during the Japanese Stagnation in early 1990 crisis - Research Paper Example Indeed, the government introduced several fiscal stimuli, they were, however, not effective enough to bring back the growth that the Japanese economy had earlier witnessed. Opinions on the effectiveness of the fiscal stimulus abound in literature written by economists with some arguing that the fiscal stimulus was not successful and actually degraded the economic growth due to the crowding out effect; while others arguing that the fiscal stimulus prevented worsening of the economy and should therefore be considered â€Å"successful†. In my opinion, however, the fiscal stimulus did not work and the reason for this, in part, is due to the fact that most fiscal stimulus when actually implemented/applied by the Japanese government was seldom close to what the government actually promised to implement/apply. Therefore, the fiscal stimulus failed to work because whatever stimulus was actually applied was never enough. Following the September 1985 Plaza Accord, the Japanese Yen start ed to appreciate which led to Japan’s export sector getting badly hit. To counter this appreciation of the Yen, the Bank of Japan drastically eased its monetary policy reducing the interest rate from 5% in January 1986 to 2.5% in February 1987. Soon, the real estate and financial markets began to expand rapidly as a result of this monetary easing, creating a huge financial asset bubble. In response to this, the government increased its interest rate to 6% in 1989-90. The sudden tightening of the money supply led the markets to collapse and thus began the onset of a long period of stagnant economic growth in Japan. The real GDP increased from 428,826 billion Yen in 1990 was to a mere 469,480 billion Yen by the end of 2000 (Powell). Statistical evidence of poor performance of fiscal stimulus The discussion about fiscal stimulus and the Japanese 1990s crisis finds root in the Keynesian economic principles. Keynesian economists preach that during a cyclical trough, discretionary fiscal policies can help the economy emerge from the trough. That is, when the economy goes down due to cyclical factors, the government by introducing fiscal expansionary policy (applying fiscal stimulus) can help the economy maintain emerge from the downturn faster. The Japanese economy in the 1980s saw rapid expansion and large building up of asset bubbles. Accordingly and cyclically, when the bubbles burst, the economy started to cool down. However, this time the trough was not due to a business cyclical downturn; the economy had lost steam due to asset bubble burst. Keynesians argue that by applying large fiscal stimulus under such situations, the government can reinvigorate growth. The Japanese government did apply several fiscal stimulus programs but was unsuccessful in spurring growth or controlling other macroeconomic indicators either. Figure 1 below puts into perspective the state of the Japanese economy during the crisis. It shows the real GDP growth rates for Japan and for the US from 1985 to 2002. Figure 1: Comparison of Real GDP growth in Japan and US from 1985 to 2002 From Figure 1, we see that Japan enjoyed high economic growth from 1985 to 1991 where after the economy was more or less stagnant until 2002 except in 1996 (2.6%) and in 2000 (2.9%) where the economic growth was >2% but still well below that of

Big Five Model of Leadership

Big Five Model of Leadership YONGKUN LI Â   Based on the results of your personality test, what do extant research say your leadership may or may not be like? Do you agree or disagree with the research findings? Identify some ways which you may be able to better develop your leadership potential. Is the leader born or made? For years, people was arguing about this question. With the development of the society, every organization or companies demand different skills and personal qualities in its leadership. Some researchers who advocate that personality traits are related to leadership emergence or effectiveness. In this essay, I will discuss the relationship between personality and leadership. There are different definitions of leadership have been presented over the years (Bass, 1998). Most definitions include one or more of the elements of goal achievement, teamwork or organization, and interpersonal reactions. According to Hogg, M (2001), leadership is a group process generated by social categorization and depersonalization processes associated with the social identity. In another word, leadership is kind of an ability to get other people to do what you want them to, willingly (Sendjaya, S., SpringerLink, 2015). However, leadership is kind of personal traits. According to Mayer, personality refers to individual differences in characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving (2015). Based on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), everyone has a natural leadership style that related to their personality types. The more consistent the characteristic and the more frequently it occurs in diverse situations, the more important the trait. When executives position changing into new roles or environments, it may need to explore or rein in different facets of their personality. The famous theory study about personality is Big Five model, including openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness and neuroticism. Neuroticism Neuroticism reflects the individual emotional adjustment process. High neuroticism individuals tend to have psychological stress, unrealistic thoughts, excessive demands and violence impulses. And it is more likely to experience negative emotions such as anger, anxiety, depression and so on. On the contrary, people with low neuroticism scores are less troubled, less emotional, and more stable. Openness Openness means that generous heart, bold, adventurous, and dislike familiar things or routine. It is described as a persons cognitive style. It has different aspects of openness. The openness of experience is defined as seeking and understanding of experience proactively. It compares curious, novel, non-traditional, and creative individuals with those that are traditional, non-artistic, and non-analytical. Openness people prefer abstract thinking, a wide range of interests. Closed people are practical, preferring, more traditional and conservative. Leaders with this tendency should be working more on openness and push themselves out of their comfort zone. Extroversion Extroversion can be advantageous in leadership. It represents the number and density of interpersonal interactions, the need for excitement, and the ability to be pleasant. This trait contrasts cross social, active, individual-oriented and silent, serious, shy, and quiet among people. It aspect can be measured by two qualities: interpersonal and vitality. The former assesses the degree to which individuals like others, while the latter reflects individual rhythms and vitality levels. Outgoing people like to contact with others, full of vitality, often feel positive emotions. They are passionate, like sports, like to stimulate adventure. In a group, they are very talkative, confident, would be attracted by the attention of others. On the other hand, introverted people are relatively quiet, cautious, do not like too much contact with the outside world. Agreeableness Extroversion is to assess the degree of individual likes with others, while the agreeableness examines the attitudes to others. It including, on the one hand, close, compassionate, trustworthy, lenient and soft-hearted. On the other hand, it including hostile, cynical, manipulative, vengeful and ruthless. Those who are agreeableness are satisfied, friendly, generous, helpful and willing to give up their interests for others. For some positions, too high agreeableness is not necessary, especially tough and objective judgments, such as scientists, critics, and soldiers. Conscientiousness Conscientiousness refers to our control, manage and regulate our own impulsive way of assessing an individual goal-oriented behavior on the organization, persistence, and motivation. It compares the trustworthy, exquisite individual and the lazy, sloppy among individuals. One risk for highly conscientious is that their perfectionism can cause them to lose sight of the big picture. On the other hand, individuals who tend to be more responsibility and flexible would make right decisions, which can get them earn more trust. References: Bass, B. (1998). Transformational leadership: Industrial, military, and educational impact. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Hogg, M. (2001). A Social Identity Theory of Leadership. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 5(3), 184-200. Mayer, J. (2015). The personality systems framework: Current theory and development. Journal of Research in Personality,56, 4. Sendjaya, S., SpringerLink. (2015). Personal and organizational excellence through servant leadership: Learning to serve, serving to lead, leading to transform (Management for professionals).

ICT Hardware/Software report Essay

A Diagram to show the Structure of A Computer System A Diagram to show the System for Completing My Logo A Diagram to show the System for Completing My Spreadsheet A Diagram to show the System for Completing My Wage Slip A Diagram to show the System for Completing Mail Merge Storage Device Description Advantages Disadvantages Where did I use this device? How could I have used this device? Hard Disk Primary storage device of a computer. It has a large capacity of up to 1024 GB (160 GB on PC). Large capacity Reliable Durable Fragile Not infallible Not portable I used this device each time I needed to save my work. N/A Floppy Disk A 3. 5 inch disk quadrangular in shape. Obsolete form of data storage. Simple to use Compact Portable Small memory Easily damaged Unreliable N/A To take my data home Flash Drive (USB) A modern form of data storage. It connects via USB. Compact Portable Large memory (up to 2GB) Small-easily lost Not compatible with all computers Fragile To take work home N/A Output Device Description Advantages Disadvantages Where did I use this device? How could I have used this device? Ink Jet Printer These printers use cartridges which contain ink. Produce good quality printouts Fast Cheap to buy Laserjet Printer They print in the same way as photocopiers. Powdered ink, called ‘Toner’, is fused onto paper by heat and pressure. High quality printouts Cost per page low (cheaper than ink-jet or dot matrix printers) Most expensive printer to buy Large Expensive to repair Dot Matrix Printer First printer to be used in homes and schools. Cheap Low operating costs Can create carbon copies Noisy Cannot produce colour documents Very slow N/A I could have printed some of my work off with it. LCD Monitor Liquid crystal displays. Passes light through tiny crystals. Portable. High quality display More expensive than CRT monitors Screen is fragile To view my work N/A CRT Monitor Cathode ray tube. Coating of small phosphor dots glow when hit by electrons i. e. light. Cheap Simple Heavy (not portable therefore) Lower quality display N/A I could have used this to view my work rather than an LCD monitor Graphics Plotter Can produce large printouts e. g. 3†³x10†³ and of a high quality. The images are created by a pen controlled by the computer. High quality printouts Large printouts can be produced Slower than printers More expensive than printers Bad for printing text N/A. To print off large copies of my work. Will have improved quality of logo Input Device Description Advantages Disadvantages Where did I use this device? How could I have used this device? Keyboard It is the commonest and most widely used input device. The keys (buttons) are arranged alphabetically, numerically and there are computer specific keys (function-F1, F2 etc and: delete, page up home etc). Most computers have a keyboard packaged with them Simple to use Special keyboards available Mistakes are easy to make Keyboards are unsuitable for making graphs Handicapped people find them hard to use. All the way through the course every time I needed to enter data N/A Mouse Most common input device alongside the keyboard. Has 2-5 buttons. There are two types available: optical and roller; optical has a motion sensor under the mouse, and the roller operates with a ball. Perfect for desktop computers Simple to use Supplied with PC Need an even surface near the PC Overuse can lead to RSI (repetitive strain injury) Any time I needed to select a file, used for navigating the internet and programs Scanner Scanners convert physical data (text, image etc) into digital data. This allows the image to be edited. The most used scanner is the flatbed scanner which is used at home school etc. Higher quality than handheld scanners. Images can be edited/enhanced once digitised Very accurate and high quality Images can take up large amounts of memory The digital image loses some quality in the scanning process N/A I could have made my wage slip by hand and scanned it in Magnetic Stripe Reader A device which reads magnetic tape. Commonly used by bank machines and for security in buildings (acts as a key) Simple to operate Quick and easy to use Smudges on the magnetic stripe make it unable for the card to be read N/A N/A. Software Description Advantages Disadvantages Where did I use this program? How could I have used this program? Word Processing The method of creating documents on a computer. Also used to describe advanced shorthand techniques. Easy to edit Simple to correct mistakes Not all word processors allow the same formatting e. g. notepad doesn’t allow you to add images but Word does When I was mail merging, entering employee data and creating my wage slip N/A Spreadsheet Data is entered in rows and columns like a table. This is ideal for numerical data/registers etc, calculations can be carried out with ease. Formulae are easy to enter Cleary presented data Can use up a lot of memory Can be complicated at times When I entered the data for the employees N/A Database A collection of data. Files are fixed or variable length. Requires little memory Easy to get the hang of For it to work correctly you’ll need to design the files yourself. When mail merging. N/A Graphics There are programs used to create digital images e. g. Bryce 2 Dimensions of image can be altered (2D/3D) Many editing tools Takes time to create high quality graphics Can get complicated N/A To create my logo Internet Software Software on the internet e.g. search engines Simple to use Access to vast amounts of data Free to use Can be slow Filtering through the data can be very time consuming When I needed some help with the task To create my logo N/A Publishing General purpose software. Ideal for producing menus. Leaflets etc. Simple to operate Many tools Mistakes are hard to correct at times Files can take up a lot of memory N/A To design my logo Bespoke Software Programs that are tailor made to fit the customer’s needs. Customer gets exactly what they want More expensive to create Self maintained N/A Could have designed my own program to create a database.

The Development of Arabic Scripts

1. Pre – Islamic Era Arabic script is probably one of the oldest in the world, having been widely spread across cultures as this was the language used to spread Islam in major territories. Its influence can be seen in various languages which adopted Arabic script to develop their own way of recording, like Persian, Pashto, Urdu and more. But Arab scripts have evolved with major historical events of these nations (AncientScripts. com). Various accounts of the history of Arabia, the ‘island of the Arabs’, give the impression that Arabic scripts started to take form at the height of Islamization or during the time of Prophet Mohammed.It is said to have originated from the fourth century, CE but there is evidence – an ancient document – that shows Arabic script was already a medium for recording even as early as 512 CE. Long before the Prophet Mohammed was born (some authors say even 700 years before Mohammed), the Arabs already had established a form of written language which originally was used by the Nabateans who once inhabited a territory which is now the kingdom of Jordan. This was called the Nabatean script, which evolved from the Aramaic language.The Nabataean script was an off – shoot of the Aramaic alphabet which developed in the first century CE on the Sinai Peninsula and in North Arabia. It differs conspicuously from other Aramaic varieties by making extensive use of ligatures. Stone inscriptions in the Nabataean script are found from Petra, the capital of the Nabataean Kingdon (c. 150 CE to 100 CE), to Damascus and Medina. The script is not attested in manuscripts, although its cursive character with letters frequently joined together indicates common use.The language of the inscriptions is Nabataean, a close cognate of Aramaic – other authors claim it s Aramaic and that the Nabataeans had dual language styles for communication: written in Aramaic, verbal in Arabic. Spread over a wide area, the script exh ibits considerable variation with highly diverse letter shapes. Its significance for the history of writing lies in its being the immediate forebear of the Arabic script. Certain features of the Arabic character, such as the existence of separate final forms for certain letters, are already foreshadowed in Nabataean writing.Its transformation into the Arabic script took place in the fourth and fifth centuries CE (Calmous 350). In the North of the Syrian Desert, the Arabs were involved in world politics very much earlier. Even under the Assyrian king Tiglath – Pileser III (745 – 728BC), there was an Arabi kingdom there with its capital in the Jawf, which was ruled by queens and remained one of the vassal states of Assyria until the time of Essarhaddon (689 – 669 BC). The Babylonian King Nabunaid (556 – 539 BC) had his residence for some time in the oasis of Tayma, which was the base of his expeditions against the west.An Aramaic inscription from the Persia n era found there indicates the organization of the city cult, with its priests and temple gods. Then as early as the period of the last Achaemenians, the Nabataean state sprang up (in a territory of modern day Jordan). This state controlled the caravan trade from South Africa to Medina and remained significantly independent since Alexander the Great’s plan of conquering Arabia by sea from east and west simultaneously was not resumed by his successors.At first, Petra’s commerce was drawn to Bostra, where caravans then proceeded to Chalcis, below Lebanon and Emesa, Edessa, and Hatra toward the north and east. The Nabataeans adopted the titles of their officials and military leaders from neighboring Hellenistic states. The Nabataean capital was Petra, a mountain fortress lying about halfway between the Dead Sea and the tip of the Arabian gulf (Brockelman 6).Numerous inscriptions and ruins found in the rock – cut tombs bear witness to the flourishing civilization o f the Nabataeans but in these inscriptions, Aramaic was used for it was then the official language dating as far back as the time of the Achaemenians. There are also accounts of other historians that Arabic was the spoken language of the Nabataeans but they write using Aramaic. Initially, they were considered by the Romans as allies until the time of Trajan but due to doubts over their ambiguity during the Jewish insurrection under Titus, the Nabataean Kingdom was absorbed as Provincia Arabia in 106 BC.The civilized areas – or the major cities where trades occur – were marked off from the deset by a chain of fortifications which were far from being strong as the Limes on the Rhine and on the Danube frontier (Brockelman 6). But in another Arab state, Palmyra, the Nabataeans found a more fortunate heir. In the wars between Rome and the Parthians, Palmyra was prudently neutral and by the time of Augustus, was able to extend its trade connections to Rome, Dacia, Gaul and S pain. The Severian Dynasty, also half – Semitic, showed favor on Palmyra.From 260 onwards King Odenat extended his rule over the entire Syria and was even acknowledged by the weak Roman Emperor, Gallienus, as co – emperor for the Orient. After his death in 268, his wife Zenobia maintained his power for a time but Aurelianus destroyed Palmyra in 273. This tragedy would be retold through generations even until the first centuries of Islam. (Brockelmann 7). Palmyra represented the last stance of Arab independence pre – Islam and its fall marked a loss of Arab independence.No other Arab state in the north remained free after this and they were used as vassals by the Romans and Byzantines to ward off incursions of the nomads (Bedouins, or Arabs) into the settled regions. This is probably why the Nabataeans retained their scripts even under Roman rule – because they continued with their trades and were also vassals to ward off their own kind from coming into ma jor cities of commerce (Brockelmann 7). In the 6th century, however, the Ghassanid dynasty ruled at Damascus, east of the Jordan.He was designated by Justinian in 529 as patricius and phylarch with supreme authority over all the Arabs in the northern Syria. But this power again dissolved into fragmentary principalities after his death and when they won over the Persians, the Roman Emperor let their officials rule until a Muslim onslaught brought another Ghassanid ruler of the Syrian Arabs (Brockelmann 8). Before and during these periods, the Arabs had been exposed to Christianity (Yah-weh / Judaism) at one time or another.First, from the Roman Empire Christianity exercising great power over them, down to the Lakhmid Dynasty in Hirah who once served the Persians and had finally gone to the Christian faith of their urban subjects, even the Bedouins in the north were in intimate contact with the indigenous Aramean population, who had long since been swallowed up by Christianity. Inner Arabia also due to their trading cities of the Hijaz must have also been permeated by a knowledge of Christian teachings and customs, however superficial, as a result of the steady traffic with related tribes in the north.The anchorites, whose cells must have spread from Palestine and Sinai Peninsula far into the desert, no doubt also made a great many contributions. In addition, the desert was an asylum from some sects persecuted by the established church, and precisely these may have spread their doctrines with more success than the Orthodox Church. During these times, however, the Aramaic language still remained the official and principal administrative language.Thus, most of the inscriptions on the Petra were in Aramaic but there have been evidence showing that the Nabataeans before used their own language for their local transactions and in oral exchange, but retained Aramaic for recording due to its value in trading with other countries. Other authors propose that some Arab na tions or states were actually oral groups; meaning, they hand down their stories by telling and re – telling it and still could keep it fresh in their memories but there are also groups who were visual, or those which could not keep a mental record of events thus, keep records in tablet form.Nomads, for instance, or Bedouins, often recite poetry in their gatherings inside their tents wherever they are in the dessert. But those engaged in trades, in the major cities, often would chose to write to keep a record of their transactions. Many believe that the ancient Arabs’ exposure to Christians / those practicing Judaism probably justifies the influence or traces of Sumerian, Greek, Akkadian or Aramaic system to an otherwise Semitic heritage in the Arabic scripts or written as well as spoken languages.But others argue that though there appear some points for seeming similarities, these actually represent the observed or practiced systems used by different countries at the time. While some authors attribute the variations to assimilation, others believe the language and therefore, the scripts, evolved following events in Arab history. But in the case of the Nabataeans from the former territory now called Jordan, they were able to keep both, Arab language and Aramaic scripts.This is perhaps because all Arabs, including the Nabataeans who were under Roman rule for many years, were used as vassals against their own Arab brothers. Thus they kept their language to communicate with each other, and for trading purposes, maintained Aramaic. The duality could perhaps be due to the fact that two somewhat differing entities formed their society then: the urban people and the nomads (whom they had to ward off from the center of civilization, as was their task as vassals for the Roman Empire).The former relied so much on writing for keeping records, while the latter, used word of mouth to communicate information, even recite poetry. Other authors though, believe t hat the Aramaic inscriptions on the Petra were in fact the written or Arabic script at the time. Prior to Mohammed’s birth, some Arabs were Christians, others primitive in their exercise of faith, as was their political life. Like they believed that their surroundings had forces superior to those of man.These forces were believed to be like the human soul but with dangerous powers that could turn them into demons. They, Semites, regarded trees, stones, caves, springs and large stones are inhabited by spirits. The Black Stone of Islam in a corner of the KaBah, Mecca, in Petra and other places in Arabia stones were venerated also. Every tribe has its own god but also recognized the power of other tribal gods in their own sphere. Individual clans sometimes named themselves after other gods than those of the tribe, and the same divinity was worshipped by various tribes.The gods had fixed abodes, after the tribe has departed, they enjoyed the worship of its successors; the tribes returned once or twice a year to worship (Brockelmann 9). Contrary to claims of the Jews and Christians, the Arabs already did believe in a God, creator of the world, in addition to the gods and goddesses – even before the birth of Islam. 2. The Prophet Mohammed The Prophet Mohammed, ergo, the birth of Islam has also brought about changes in the Arabic scripts. He has touched a cord in Arab history and left an influence that would govern every aspect of Arabian nations long after he had gone.The Arab ruling group began to identify its new order with a revelation by God to Mohammed, then a citizen of Mecca, in the form of a Holy Book, the Qur’an. This was a revelation which completed those given to earlier prophets or messengers of God and created a new religion, Islam, distinct and separate from Judaism and Christianity (Hourani 15). The most obscure part of his life was the early one. It is said he was born in Mecca, a town in Western Arabia, near or in the year 570. His family belonged to the tribe of Quraysh, although not to its powerful part.This tribe was composed of traders who had contacts with the pastoral tribes around Mecca, relations with Syria and south – western Arabia. He worked for – and later married – a widow and managed her business for her. One day he received a message from an ‘angel, seen in the form of a man on the horizon’ who called him to become a messenger of God. Affirmed by his wife, he them began relaying messages which he believed were revealed to him by an angel of God: that the world would end, that God would judge all men and the pains of Hell and delights of Heaven were vividly described.Gradually he had a following, including young members of the influential families of their tribe, Quraysh, members of minor families and clients of other tribes who had placed themselves under the protection of Quraysh, and some craftsmen and slaves. As his teachings developed, its difference fro m the teachings of the time became apparent and placed him more explicitly in the line of prophets of the Jews and Christian tradition (Hourani 1991). Mohammed demanded of his followers’ profession of belief in the One God and the surrender to God’s will, islam, after which his religion took its name.Probably very early he also levied a poor – tax for the maintenance of needgy members of the community but it was only later in Medina that it assumed greater significance. The chief duty of the faithful, by virtue of which they professed membership in the community, was praying at first twice, then three times, and only later five times a day. Mohammed’s teachings were not accepted by some of the Arabs, in fact, he and his followers were locked up in a ravine. When his wife and uncle died, he had to move to Mecca after his brother, a strong opponent of his religion, took his uncle’s place.But he was not accepted there as well and driven away by stonin g that he never returned to the place until he received assurance from a relative that he will be protected. Within his lifetime, Mohammed started his mission of religious and political unification of Arabia. He abolished the foothold of paganism in Mecca and later in all Arab states. Then after his death, he was succeeded by his father –in – law and started the caliphate. The caliphate succeeded in subduing and conquering neighboring places and spread Islam with it.There were oppositions to it, like people willing to follow the religion or Allah’s will but not pay taxes. In the long run, however, they were either driven by force, fear or respect for the Allah so that the religion flourished in almost all of Asia, the Mediterranean as well as some parts of Europe (Hourani 6). It was after the conquest of Mesopotamia that a school for the study of Islam and its development was built in the city of Kufa. Kufa is the place where the kufic script was developed / ori ginated, hence the name.Due to variations in the languages of peoples – converts – under Islamic rule, they felt the need to provide uniformity of religious concepts and practices so that scholars created some form of a dictionary which was later discarded. But that, to some analysts, was actually the first helpful step in Arab history for establishing the common literary standard of Islamic scholars (Brockelmann 15) The extent to which the intellectual life of the epoch was still dominated by Arabic and by the great past of the Arabs is also attested to by the two major focus of interest of the educated world: philology and history.The former had risen in connection with the Qur’an. It was necessary that the numerous new converts, born in communities of different speech, develop and perfect an understanding of the diving word and its proper application in effective prayer. It was just an urgent need to enable them to acieve a complete mastery of the nuances of Arabic and its excessively rich vocabulary (Brockelmann 119). It was in the city of Kufa and Basra where classes on history and literature were conducted.Kufa was also chosen as the major place for studying Islam and mastering the Qur’an. Due to the various languages of the newly converted Islams, the kufic script was developed mainly as the medium to copy Qur’an and to create a vast collection of commentaries on the Qur’anic verses. This was done in order for converts of different languages to understand one common version of the Qu’ran. Angular, which was most likely a product of inscribing on hard surfaces such as wood or stone, kufic soon became the principal script for copying the Qu’ran.For the same reason (having a principal script for copying the Qur’an), the nakshi script, also known as the ‘Mecca – Medina’ script came about. It is thought to have been developed by Abu Ali Muhammad Ibn Muqlah (died 940) and intro duced in Baghdad, once the seat of literature in Arabia. The nakshi is one of the earliest book hands and is more cursive than the angular kufic script. Because of its elegance and legibility, the nakshi script as of the eleventh century gradually superseded kufic as the principal script for writing the Qur’an.Nakshi has also been widely used for languages other than Arabic, like Persian, Turkish, Malay, Kiswahili, Hausa, and Serbo – Croatian, among others. And from this script, other styles have also developed, the most popular of which are the riqa, diwani, and the thuluth (Calmous 351). Another off – shoot of the nakshi script is the nastaliq script, which was first seen in the thirteenth century CE, developed by Mir Ali, a calligrapher from Tabriz. It evolved as a combination of nakshi and taliq, hence the name nastaliq.While nakshi was primarily used for copying the Qur’an, the nastaliq, on the other hand, was widely used for manuscripts and architec tural monuments, particularly in Persia (Calmous 353). With the invasion of Persia came another development in language and scripts. Farsi, actually a combination of Arabic and European languages, was used by the Persians and Arab residents in that area. Other authors claim that Abu Ali Muhammad Ibn Muglah, a vizier in Baghdad, invented the sitta, a canon of six cursive scripts which include the thuluth, nakshi, rihani, muhaqqaq, tauqi and riqa.This was later augmented to include four more scripts, ghubar, tumar, taliq and nastaliq, which came to be used in the whole Islamic world. While these cursive scripts were popular with calligraphers and illuminators, they never replaced the kufic althogether, except for the nakshi – other writers claim it superseded the kufic by the eleventh century. Today, in many religious writings, kufic headings are still used, in combination with the main body of the text written in cursive script (Calmous 66). One cannot study the Arabic scripts without touching on Arabic calligraphy.Since the Prophet Mohammad stated God’s message in his native tongue, Arabic (scholars think he was actually using a combination of Aramaic and Nabataean languages, otherwise now known and indiscriminately described as Arabic), the Qur’an hence was also written in this language. Arabic, has therefore, been revered as God’s language and every letter of the Arabic alphabet is regarded as a manifestation of God (Calmous 64). Thus, for many Muslims the Qur’an should not be rendered in any other language.As the written version of the revelation, it must always be copied in Arabic. Since, in the wake of the Islamic conquest Islam as a religion was carried to regions of many different tongues, written Arabic acquired an important function as a unifying bond of the various Islamic peoples. Writing itself came to be regarded as an expression of faith. In this spirit it developed into a religious inspired art with a special s tatus that no other forms of aesthetic expression was able to attain – calligraphy (Calmous 64).A great variety of materials was used to receive calligraphic writing: stone, glass, ceramics, metalwork, woodwork, carpets and other textiles, as well as parchment paper and other surfaces of manuscript writing. The adaptability of Arabic scripts and their ability to be modified is attributed to the early use of such a variety of surfaces (Calmous 64). Because of its religious significance, great importance is attached to the literal contents of Islamic calligraphy. Yet, sometimes the verbal message is pushed into the background by the decorative function.As many students of Islamic calligraphy pointed out, there are a great number of inscriptions which defy easy reading. Orthographic mistakes and peculiarities as well as typographic idiosyncrasies render inscriptions on such sanctuaries as the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem (seventh century), the Qutab Minar in Delhi (eleventh cen tury) and the Masjid-i-Shah Mosque in Isfahan (seventeenth century) virtually impossible to decipher. This suggests that the viewer of these works was not always expected to read the text.In many instances of decorative writing, the symbolic message was conveyed by other means. For instance, an inscription on a tomb or the wall of a mosque would be recognized as a holy phrase, no matter whether it could actually be read or not (Calmous 66). History shows that the development of Arabic scripts, as opposed to Arabic calligraphy, was purely for a functional rather than decorative purpose. However, for many who find it impossible to decipher scripts or calligraphic art in Arabic, they would have to look deeper into the history of Arabic nations, with focus on the history of Islam.Those who wish to decipher and understand the numerous transitions the Arabic scripts have gone through across the centuries would better grasp, and maybe even be guided by the annals of history. For instance, while others think nakshi has superseded kufic being the principal language or medium of communication or transmitting the Qur’an, it would help them understand better or find out more if such is the fact by assessing the current or be updated with the present print media being used by Islam.On the other hand, as is occurring amongst Christians all over the world, with all the versions and different languages or Arabic scripts used to print the Qur’an, is there any chance that there may be issues of misinterpretations considering that there is not an exact equivalent of one word across the different scripts or languages? Or is it safe to assume that the later scripts developed (nakshi, kufic, thuluth) found exactly the same words from Arabic translated to these scripts in exact precision?It may not be humanly possible to decipher each and every variation of the Qur’an copied in the different scripts like nakshi and kufic to see if precisely the same words have t he same meaning in the original Arabic version. But if for the interest of curiosity one should start to do an inquest, maybe it would save him time to reflect on the following observations and then make his own inferences:First of all, in spite of the variations or the versions of Arabic scripts by which the Qur’an is written, it is amazing how there is only one version of Islam the religion and all things corollary to Allah’s orders are the same things every Muslim believes. Comparing the Islam faith with Christianity, there are thousands of types of Christians all over the world – some of which were formed on the basis of their understanding of some verses in the Holy Bible.Though both the Holy Bible and the Holy Qur’an have been translated or transliterated or written in different scripts, the uniformity of treatment and application of the religious concepts practiced by Islams all over the world is simply amazing. It therefore becomes easy to infer t hat the kufic and nakshi scripts, used in copying Qur’an, may have therefore been religiously developed. And the purpose therefore, of developing such scripts to help other Islamic converts understand it, was achieved.