Thursday, October 24, 2019
Owenââ¬â¢s presentation of war and soldiers in ââ¬ËDulce Et Decorum Estââ¬â¢ and ââ¬ËDisabledââ¬â¢ Essay
When World War 1 broke out in 1914, most of Britain rejoiced. There was a rush to join the army and many young men did as they decided it was their patriotic duty to fight for their ââ¬Ëmother countryââ¬â¢. Many also joined the army because they thought the war would be an adventure and because war was being glorified and made into an exciting game at that time. Being a soldier gave you a higher status and a public respect. These ideas were reflected in many early war poems such as Rupert Brookeââ¬â¢s ââ¬ËThe Soldierââ¬â¢ and Jessie Popeââ¬â¢s ââ¬ËWhoââ¬â¢s for the Game?ââ¬â¢ In the poem the ââ¬ËThe Soldierââ¬â¢ Brooke gives war a clean, sanitized and idealistic look, such as making England seem the perfect place and associating England with only good words (For example peace and friends laughter.) Brooke also makes war sound romantic as he makes it sound dashing and glorious like a cavalry charge and he then omits all the actual fighting and getting wounded, gassed, shot, maimed or injured. The poem is about being a hero and being taken to heaven. Patriotism is reflected in the poem as Brooke makes it sound as if you are English and you die for England, you are precious: Englandââ¬â¢s ââ¬Ëricher dustââ¬â¢ is contained in you and when you die you make the land where you have fallen part of England. There is a repetition of England and whenever England is mentioned good things are said about it. There is also the implication that God is on Englandââ¬â¢s side, this is shown in the poem as Brooke makes the reader think that our soldiers are being blessed by God. For example ââ¬Ëblest by suns of home.ââ¬â¢ Brooke also suggests that it is your patriotic duty to go and fight for the country that ââ¬Ëbore, shaped and made you awareââ¬â¢ and gave you life. You must repay ââ¬Ëherââ¬â¢ by fighting Englandââ¬â¢s enemies. England is also personified as a mother because war was a call to manââ¬â¢s protective instinct and possibly to his chivalry. As the war progressed the views about the war changed as well. More people stopped thinking that the war was glorious and exciting and they began to realise just how deadly and dangerous war was. They also realised the cost of war was damaging to the country, not just economically but also through by the huge numbers of the dead and wounded. People began to wonder whether the sacrifice of these men was worth the benefits of the war and whether there was even any point to the war. The war poems written at that time began to show this contrast. The early, naà ¯Ã ¿Ã ½ve poems of Brooke and Pope contrast with the experienced poems of Owen. The ideas that they had on war were clearly different. In the poem Dulce et Decorum Est Owen provides the reader with a realistic presentation of the war in the trenches and the soldiers fighting in the war. Owen gives the reader the perils of that the soldier faced everyday, (for example dangers of fighting and being shot or gassed,). Owen uses very physical and graphic imagery to describe what happens (For example ââ¬ËBent double, like old beggars under sacks, knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed throughout the sludge.ââ¬â¢ and ââ¬Ë Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots but limped on, blood shod, all went lame; all blind; drunk with fatigue.ââ¬â¢) As you can see even from these couple of lines in the poem Owen uses physical description to help the reader visualise what is happening and what it was like to be out there. There is some very graphic imagery in the poem, (For exampleââ¬â¢Floundââ¬â¢ring like a man on fire or limeâ⬠¦ Dim under a green sea I saw him drowning. In all my dreams, before my helpless sight, he plunges at me guttering, choking, and drowningââ¬â¢). Also in the poem there is some more graphic description about how what happened to this poor soldier after he got gassed: (ââ¬Ëwhite eyes writhing in his face, his hanging face, like a devils sick of sin, at every jolt, the blood come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungsââ¬â¢). Owen also in the poem places the reader in the actual experience (For example ââ¬ËIf in some smothering dreams you too could pace behind the wagon we flung him in.ââ¬â¢) By recreating a specific moment in the poem, the gas attack Owen lets the reader ââ¬Å"enterâ⬠and be part of the poem. Owen does not just place the reader in the experience he also directly addresses the reader by using words like ââ¬Å"my friendsâ⬠and ââ¬Å"youâ⬠in the poem (For example ââ¬ËIf you could hearâ⬠¦. My friend, you would notâ⬠¦.ââ¬â¢) There is also reader involvement in the ââ¬Å"Old Lieâ⬠at the end of the poem as Owen says with certainty that if you could see what it was like here you would not tell the children the Old Lie? The tone of the poem is very bitter and angry and in some parts there is a very sarcastic and negative attitude In the lines ââ¬ËIf in some smothering dream you too could paceâ⬠¦Ã¢â¬â¢ the words ââ¬Å"ifâ⬠and ââ¬Å"youâ⬠suggest that he is angry because the word ââ¬Ëifââ¬â¢ suggests that the reader doesnââ¬â¢t know just how bad it was out there and the word ââ¬Ëyouââ¬â¢ separates the reader from Owen and suggests that the reader is safe at home. There are ironic moments in the poem as the title of the poem is ironic. The last lines contradict the title of the poem ââ¬Å"Dulce et Decorum Estâ⬠which means that ââ¬Ëit is sweet and right to die for your countryââ¬â¢. This is a sarcastic comment in the poem as Owen was trying to show the reader that it was not right to die for your country. Owen also wrote another poem called Disabled which contrast with Dulce etâ⬠¦ as in Dulce etâ⬠¦ Owen is describing the realities of war while in Disabled Owen is writing about the results or aftermath of the war for one particular badly wounded soldier. The poem is not as physically or graphically descriptive as Dulce etâ⬠¦ was; Disabled is more reflective and sorrowful, (for example ââ¬Ë Now he will never feel again how girls waists are, or how warm their subtle hands;ââ¬â¢) There is quieter language used in Disabled, for example not as ââ¬Ëloudââ¬â¢ or shocking words were used by Owen in Disabled unlike Dulce etâ⬠¦ The poem shows how he lost his youth, future, limbs, hope and his normal life and how knows he has to live in hospitals waiting for death doing things that only the rules consider wise. The young man fought for his country and was wounded for it but he is not treated like a hero. He is shoved into a hospital like a diseased man and Owen stresse s his bitterness about how he is treated in the poem. (for example ââ¬ËAll of them touch him like some queer diseaseââ¬â¢) Owen focuses on one normal young man but this man represents millions of others like him and it showed the reader that their brother, husband, father could be facing or could be soon facing the consequences of fighting for your country like this young man did. It also lets the reader understand the perils of war on a personal level. In the poem there is a question being asked to the reader although not directly, and the question asked is whether the sacrifice of millions of young menââ¬â¢s futures, lives, hopes and dreams was worth the countries involvement in the war, and again as in Dulce etâ⬠¦ Owens answer is no, that it is not right to throw your future away for the country or for your country to expect this from you. The poem therefore shares some of Dulce etâ⬠¦ bitterness and anger at the war. I can admire aspects of Brookeââ¬â¢s poem after reading Owens as Brooke was an idealistic even romantic man and he was obsessed with war and also Brooke was a patriot and I admire him as he was not hesitant to sign for the army and these character points are reflected in his poem. Brooke was however naà ¯Ã ¿Ã ½ve and inexperienced so he really didnââ¬â¢t know fully about war and this too is reflected in his poem.
Wednesday, October 23, 2019
Example Research Paper
The Effects of Preferred vs Standard Colors on College Studentsââ¬â¢ Short Term Memory Kristen N. Williams Emporia State University Abstract Can color help enhance students' ability to learn and better prepare for tests and with other school assignments? The participants were 15 college students at Emporia State University. I used an independent two-group design where students signed up via Blackboard. Participants had 2 min to look at the word list, either black words or color words, then another 2 min to recall what they had seen.I was expecting to find more color words recalled than black words. However, I found no significance between colors and black words. This finding is inconsistent with the findings of Camp, Pecher, Schmidt, and Zeelenber (2009) where color did in fact affect a participant's ability in remembering. Keywords: recall, colors, memory, word list The Effects of Preferred vs Standard Colors on College Studentsââ¬â¢ Short Term Memory The ability to obtain and store information in a short time is short-term memory. Factors can help increase the ability to retain more information.According to Sagi (1980) ââ¬Å"words of colors are recalled well than and at the expense of printed colorsâ⬠(p. 149). Previous research by Dreschsler (1960) has suggested that different colors have different effects on individuals and can have some connection to oneââ¬â¢s subconscious as well. According to Tait (1912), ââ¬Å"colors may affect multiple aspects of oneââ¬â¢s memoryâ⬠(p. 1). Past research using recall-testing (Noble, 1952; Radvansky, Gibson, & McNerney, 2011; Rockway & Duncan, 1952; Watkins & LeCompte, 1991) studied how well people can retain information.Radvansky, et al. , (2011) found that among four experiments performed, when individuals had another sense manipulated, sense of sight, the individuals were able to retain words from the word list presented to them. The best perception that increased memory retention was the aspec t of colors (Radvansky, et al. , 2011) MacKinnon, Geiselman, and Woodward (1985) found that participantsââ¬â¢ effort and their ability to retain information when paired with an interference decreased. As one progresses with age their memory may tend to fade ut some research has found an increase in memory retention when older adults performed a recall test using colors although multiple responses does tend to decrease after multiple features (Gagnon, Soulard, Brasgold, & Kreller, 2007, p. 210). Within this research, participants were in into two groups by their ages. They underwent three different conditions, the same for each group. While one test varied on one feature, like color, the second varied with color and size, while the third varied in three different features, color, size, and font.They tested participants to see how well they were able to retain the word list, along with the other features, because of the colors, both groups had the ability to remember more from the word lists, but the older individuals were not able to remember the other features as well as the younger participants. Many have used recall tests as their form of testing in their study, whereas the others use colors within their tests to help measure how it affects the individuals memory, whether it deals with emotional ties (Tait, 1912) or to just test whether it affects oneââ¬â¢s ability in remembering (Camp, Pecher, Schmidt, & Zeelenber, 2009).The primary goal of my research was to see if participants would memorize a higher percentage of words in color than in black. I believe that this experiment could help students better their studying, may help students remember words for a test, or quiz, and possibly use color to help transfer items from short-term memory, to long-term. Method Participants Participants in this study were 15 college students enrolled in undergraduate psychology courses in the spring of 2012 at Emporia State University. Participants possibly earned cour se credit for their participation, but their instructors will make other alternatives available.I obtained my participants via sign-up online through Black Board. Materials The following words were on a power point slide (Appendix A; Chair, Moon, Tape, Armadillo, Kitchen, Glue, Phone, Newt, Notebook, Cookie, Ring, Flower, Couch, Blanket, Fire, Sand, Lion, Bully, Window, & Hair). The recall survey (Appendix B) contained a number list for participants to fill out, along with a short demographic form (e. g. gender). Design and Procedure I obtained an ESU IRB approval (Appendix C) prior to conducting any procedures of the independent two-group design experiment.When the participants signed up for the study I assigned them to either Group Black Words (views word list in black and white) or Group Colored Words (views same word list, except in different colors). I gave and read the informed consent form (Appendix D) to the participants as they read along. They had 2 min to memorize the wor ds. After that, participants had another 2 min to recall the words onto their surveys. After time was up, I debriefed them (Appendix E). Results The independent variable was color of words (Black, Colors) and the dependent variable was participants' percentage of recalled words.I included total of all words recalled in color. I determined the mean and standard deviation for each group's recall percentage (see Figure 1). I performed a t test for independent samples to compare the group means, Black words (M = 98, SD = 3. 4) and Color words (M = 37, SD = 2. 3). However, there was not a significant difference between the means of black words and color words. Discussion The present experiment was designed to assess the effects of colored words on memory. I did not find a significant difference between words in black, and words in colors.This experiment was different from past research. For example, Sagi (1980) looked at the recall of colors and the ability to remember those colors versu s printed colors, whereas this experiment looked at how colors affect an individualââ¬â¢s memory in recalling a simple list of words. Also, Tait (1912) looked at how colors that are repeated can increase an individualââ¬â¢s ability to remember, where I searched to find if color could do the same thing except with words. The findings I had received were different from the other researches, in terms of not finding any significant effect.There were hopes in finding a connection to color, by means of memorization because Dreschsler (1960) found that individualââ¬â¢s were giving more emotional responses to colors rather than neutral, plain colors. That which showed it affected the individual and because of this association, I had hoped through this research I could find that aspect and show that color could also help individuals in terms of memorizing a list of words. MacKinnon, Geiselman, & Woodward (1985) found that individuals who looked over the words twice as long as the co ntrol group, they had recalled more of the word list.The reason this experiment had a different result is because they changed the length of time, whereas I changed the colors, which would explain why they found an increase in successful recall. The possible problem I could have encountered that caused an insignificant affect was that the word list could have been too simple for the college students. I had used such simple words so it could transfer to any age group, to make an easier generalization or another problem could have been the number of words, 20.Although I did not find a significant effect, I did show the great amount of words a college student can retain in their short-term memory. Just like in past research done by Gagnon, Soulard, Brasgold, & Kreller (2007), who found that as one increases in age, their memory and attention decreases, but much younger, college age, can remember and recall better, and faster. This experiment is still of worth, although there was no sig nificant affect, in terms of finding a way for individuals to better learn in school, and help with studying habits.It has opened doors to new ideas to better students, whether they are in elementary, or college. The next step to take is to increase the group sizes, and choose a greater variety of colors and more complex words, but not overly complex, because it still needs to be easily generalized to other individuals. If a significant affect is discovered then the aspects of favorite colors can be researched in hopes of finding ways for students to better themselves in school. References Camp, G. , Pecher, D. , Schmidt, H. G. , & Zeelenberg, R. (2009).Are independent probes truly independent? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 35(4), 934-942. Drechsler, R. J. (1960). Affect-simulating effects of colors. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 61(3), 323-328. Gagnon, S. , Soulard, K. , Brasgold, M. , & Kreller, J. (2007). Effects of normal a ging on memory for multiple contextual features. Brain and Cognition, 64(3), 208-216. MacKinnon, D. P. , Geiselman, R. E. , & Woodward, J. A. (1985). The effects of effort on stroop interference. Acta Psychologica, 58(3), 225-235. Noble, C. E. (1952).The role of stimulus meaning (r) in serial verbal learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 43(6), 437-446. Radvansky, G. A. , Gibson, B. S. , & McNerney, M. W. (2011). Synesthesia and memory: Color congruency, von restorff, and false memory effects. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 37(1), 219-229. Rockway, M. , & Duncan, C. P. (1952). Pre-recall warming-up in verbal retention. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 43(4), 305-312. Sagi, A. (1980). Color-word interference in a recall test. Journal of General Psychology, 103(1), 149-154.Tait, W. D. (1912). A short study in dislike. The Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 7(1), 1-4. Watkins, M. J. , & LeCompte, D. C. (1991). Inadequacy of recall as a basis for frequency knowledge. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 17(6), 1161-1176. Appendix A Word Recall PowerPoint Slide Appendix B Survey Appendix C ESU IRB Approval Letter Appendix D Informed Consent Form Appendix E Debriefing Statement [pic] Figure 1. Mean recall scores for participants who either saw black words (n = 7) or color words (n = 8). Error bars show standard deviations.
Tuesday, October 22, 2019
Is the ACT Getting Harder Over the Years
Is the ACT Getting Harder Over the Years SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Is the ACT of today the same test that was given years ago? According to students and test experts, the ACT has gradually been getting harder over the years, both in the level of its questions and its fast pace. So what does the ACT have to say about these claims? Is the ACT hard now more than ever before? And what exactly do people think is getting more difficult on this already challenging test? The Times: Are They A-Changin'? So ACT, Inc. hasn't said the test has gotten more difficult over the years. But students and ACTexperts beg to disagree. Jed Applerouth of Applerouth Tutoring Services, for instance, says that the changes are so pronounced as to make the ACT, and especially the Science section, a completely different test. According to Applerouth, the Science section is much more time intensive and features multi-phase questions like never before. For instance, older questions would direct youto a specific piece of data within a graph, table, or chart. Newer questions, on the other hand, have additional steps. After finding the information, youthen have to apply it to a chart and use another value to determine youranswer. Rather than quick questions that get to the point on the Science section, there are a lot of these kinds of questions with multiple steps that require youto combine skills and concepts from various fields. While these questions used to stand alone and apart from one another, now there are lotsthat are intertwined. This style has mostly shown up in the Science section, making it harder to answer all the questions before time is called, but harder questions have also been seen in Reading. Some ACT Reading sections have featured double passages, similar to the ones on the SAT. Older ACT practice tests usually don't prepare youfor these paired passage questions, where you have to compare, contrast, and interpret authors' perspectives relative to each other. In addition to these increasingly complex questions, the ACT will feature some other changes soon. The optional essay will be 40 minutes long and will ask you to analyze different perspectives and present and support your own argument. The Science section may feature more data representation questions, or at least make the numbers of each question type unpredictable. The ACT used to always ask the same number of data representation, research summary, and conflicting viewpoints questions in Science, a consistency that helped a lot of students feel prepared. Future tests will be less predictable. Finally, the Reading section will incorporate paired passages, which feature questions that may take you more time to answer. So if, as most people agree, the ACT really has been getting harder and more fast-paced in the past few years, what would be the reasons behind this change? Hint: it has to do with the ACT getting super popular. Why Would the ACT Be Getting More Difficult? The main reason the ACT may have undergone changes in the past few years is its increasing popularity among students,both in the U.S. and internationally. Historically, more students in the Midwest took the ACT, and it usually lagged behind the SAT as the admissions test of choice. But for the first time in 2011, more students took the ACT than the SAT (of course, then the SAT added another test date to up its numbers). As more highly achieving students internationally and across the US (especially on the East and West coasts where test prep is especially popular) tookthe ACT, the score distribution was affected. The curve became steeper, meaning that missing just a question or two would bring down your score a lot more than it would in the past. To smooth out the curve, it seems that the ACT made the test more difficult and harder to finish. While these changes don't necessarily affect average scorers all that much, they make it more difficult for top scorers to place at a score of 31 or above. Another possible reason for making the ACT harder, as you'll see in ACT's official statement below, is to further align the test with college courses. The ACT is an admissions test meant to measure student ability and college readiness. If college classes are getting more challenging, then the ACT wants to increase its rigor to match them and ensure students' results are predictive of their success in college level courses. Let's take a look at how ACT has responded to the general consensus that the test has, in fact, gotten harder in the past few years. Spoiler: they don't say much. What ACT Says About Changes to the Test According to Brian Eufinger, the co-owner of Edison Prep, the ACT responded to his queries about the changes in the test in the following way (emphasis mine): "ACT continues to measure college and career readiness in a way that is consistent with the past. The ACT is designed to reflect the knowledge and skills that are taught in schools and deemed necessary for success in first-year college courses and workforce training courses. When those skills and constructs become more complicated and difficult over time, the ACT reflects that. Those changes tend to occur very gradually, however, not usually within a two to three year span. So we would disagree with the statement that the ACT has been slowly and steadily changing the difficulty level of the test over the past two to three years." The ACT says that the test hasn't been changing over the past two to three years, yet they also say that it will reflect when college "skills and constructs become more complicated and difficult over time." It seems like the ACT doesn't publicize big changes, like College Board is with the new SAT for 2016, but perhaps makes subtle, gradual changes over time. Apart from revealing a possible gap between what the ACT is saying and what the ACT isdoing, what does this apparent increase in difficulty level mean for your test prep? What ACT Changes Mean For Your Test Prep Since the recent ACT tests seem to be harder than those from five or so years ago, youshould be cautious with the pre-2010 practice tests that are in the Real ACT Prep Guide, or the "Red Book." They are still useful practice, but they might not be the truest representation of what you'll get or how you'll score on the real thing. Most ACT experts agree that they are easier than what you'll seetoday. Practice tests 4 and 5 will give you a more accurate sense of the test you'll be taking. The biggest changes have been seen in the Science and Reading section, so make sure to focus a good dealof yourtest prep, and especially your practice with time management, on these sections. Be discerning about the multi-step questions types and paired passage questions, and try out strategies for saving time and improving your efficiency. If you're deciding between the SAT and ACT, it's a good idea to note how you do on these sections, whether they'll be a boost to your score or a drawbackas compared to the SAT. If you're aiming for a top score, continue to be diligent about your test prep. Try to develop an intuition for how much time you spend on various questions, and make sure you're not wasting your time and energy on questions that should be answered quicklyor that won't earn youmany points. All questions contribute equally to your raw score, so focus on answering the questions you can and dividing up your time in a way that will maximize your score. Since difficulty level of questions vary, a lot of students benefit from mixing up the order of questions rather than answering them in the same order they're given. Again, practice testing will help you try out various strategies, like mixing up the order of the Reading passages, to figure out which ones are most effective for you. To sum up, let's quickly go over the most important takeaways for current and future ACT test-takers. What Are the Takeaways? Is the ACT hard? I think so. The ACT tests given today seem to be harder and more time intensive than ones given before 2010. (Lucky you.) Most of the changes are seen in the Science and Reading sections, where the questions are getting more complex and time-consuming. The ACT is not advertising any changes, so it's up to you to keep a discerning eye when you take practice tests from various years and adjust your test prep accordingly. Since the ACT is getting harder to finish, focus on trying out different strategies for pacing yourself and managing your time. Finally, if you're still deciding between the SAT and ACT, familiarize yourself with both tests and take practice tests to determine which one will help you achieve the stronger score for your college applications.Both tests are undergoing some serious changes now and in the near future. Get ahead of the game by staying on top of these changes and knowing what you, the test-taker, should expect and how you can prepare. What's Next? Not to brag, but PrepScholar has an exceptionally thorough and helpful series of study guides for the Science section of the ACT. Check out our Ultimate Study Guide to ACT Science for content review, strategies, and the overall structure you need to know. Since the ACT Reading section is getting more fast-paced, you want to show up on test day armed with a speed reading strategy. Check out our full guide on how to read the ACT Reading passages. Are you aiming for perfection on the ACT? This full 36 scorer shares his tips and inspiration for how he studied his way to a perfect score. Want to improve your ACT score by 4 points?We have the industry's leading ACT prep program. Built by Harvard grads and ACT full scorers, the program learns your strengths and weaknesses through advanced statistics, then customizes your prep program to you so you get the most effective prep possible. Check out our 5-day free trial today:
Monday, October 21, 2019
Identify and Evaluate Key Personal Essays
Identify and Evaluate Key Personal Essays Identify and Evaluate Key Personal Essay Identify and Evaluate Key Personal Essay Samsung Electronics Company (SEC), founded In 969 as a member of the Samsung Group, Is the largest manufacturer In Korea, with a sales turnover of $23. 9 billion in 1 997, and accounting for 32. 8 percent of the total output of the electronics industry. In investment, product development, marketing, and technology development, SEC has played the leading role in expanding the frontier of Koreans electronics industry. The case study can be enlightening to many industries that struggle to strive In a highly competitive business world. SEC is one of Americas fastest growing companies and an acknowledged leader In the digital nonviolence revolution. SEC developed strategies to build the competitive advantages required to cope with the unfriendly market environment dominated by world-class U. S. And Japanese electronics corporations. Though founded in 1970, SEC commenced reinventing itself after 1993, whilst positioning itself globally. Therefore, SEC can be studied for the various strategic models used, tools and techniques developed from the inception of the company. Moreover, the case study may provide a basis to Investigate strategies In place at SEC In long, medium and short terms. Due o the enormous size of the organization, SEC can be studied for ethical values within the organization. SEC was ranked as the fastest growing brand in the world in 2006 by Interbrain. Therefore, SEC can be studied for the participation of stakeholders, the commitment of senior management and the way in which its employees are committed in implementation of its strategies. Theories and principles that underlie strategic planning The goal of strategic planning process is to organize the future. It develops a clarity of purpose of the association and allows scarce resources to be targeted for axiom results Environmental analysis: An environmental analysis identifies the internal and external parameters of the environment in which the association operates. Environmental scanning provides invaluable insights. After completion of environmental analysis, the strategic plan is to be developed using the following principles: Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, Legal Factors Develop a vision statement Develop a mission statement Set goals. Goals, which flow from the mission statement Set objectives. Identify strategies and tactics to achieve the objectives set forth under the goals. Scenario planning is a framework that Samsung can use to develop a general strategy. There are many complex ways of doing scenario planning, but a simple process is based on creating alternative visions of the future and then developing a long term marketing plan for 2-3 scenarios, using robust strategies. Scenario planning is most safely viewed as less trying to foresee alternative futures, and more challenging the validity of the current strategy from different perspectives. The framework comprises of three stages: 1. General scenarios for 10-15 years 2. Industry/topic specific scenarios for 5-10 years 3. Eng term marketing plan for 2-3 scenarios Stages 1 2 (general/specific scenarios) 1. Define the scope of the scenario: o clarify with creative problem solving techniques, such as word replacement, word diamonds etc. 2. Conduct general research: o desk o interviews o focus groups/Delphi 3. Identify current trends (almost everything to happen in the next 20 years can be identified today in embryonic form, the so-called weak signals): o use Post-it toe brainstorming o reverse key assumptions o pick out most far-fetched ideas and get people to champion them/make them more realistic 4. Apply trends too matrix of impact vs.. Likelihood: o Locus can Issue as to winter It Is Important or not, Ana winter It Is cert. happen or may happen split ideas if parts of an idea fall into different boxes be aware that those trends that are certain to happen will form the basis of any scenario; those that may happen will group into different scenarios o discard those trends that are considered unimportant 5. Work up 8-9 mini scenarios aspects of the larger alternative scenarios to follow): o identify 6-10 key drivers the major themes that underpin all the trends o get each member of the team (or sub-teams) to write up one mini scenario based on one of the 6-10 key drivers 6. Identify 3 major scenarios: o the mostly likely scenario o the scenario that offers the greatest opportunity offers the greatest threat 7. Work on each major scenario: o the scenario that o elaborate each scenario by defining the major issues o test each scenario by suggesting the sorts of events that would have to happen for the scenario to be realized write up each scenario o critique each scenario with a wider audience 8. Identify issues arising from each major scenario: o what implications does each scenario have for the business? Stage 3: long term marketing plan 1 . Summaries the scenarios 2. Identify turning points: o identify the main events/trends that will impact the organization identify issues arising from each event/trend 3. Identify the robust strategies: o identify strategies that are necessary to address the key turning points identify issues arising from each strategy 4. Compare robust strategies with current strategies: identify strategic gaps o identify issues arising from the strategic gaps 5. Identify strategic actions required: o identify specific actions o priorities actions o allocate resources o allocate timeliness Task 1 Part d. Describe and critically evaluate a small range (3 to 5)of models tools and techniques that could be used to develop a marketing plan for your chosen organization.
Sunday, October 20, 2019
The Theory of Relativity and the Speed of Light
The Theory of Relativity and the Speed of Light One commonly known fact in physics is that you cannot move faster than the speed of light. While thats basically true, its also an over-simplification. Under the theory of relativity, there are actually three ways that objects can move: At the speed of lightSlower than the speed of lightFaster than the speed of light Moving at the Speed of Light One of the key insights that Albert Einstein used to develop his theory of relativity was that light in a vacuum always moves at the same speed. The particles of light, orà photons, therefore move at the speed of light. This is the only speed at which photons can move. They cant ever speed up or slow down. (Note: Photons do change speed when they pass through different materials. This is how refraction occurs, but its the photons absolute speed in a vacuum that cannot change.) In fact, all of the bosons move at the speed of light, so far as we can tell. Slower Than the Speed of Light The next major set of particles (so far as we know, all of the ones that arent bosons) move slower than the speed of light. Relativity tells us that it is physically impossible to ever accelerate these particles fast enough to reach the speed of light. Why is this? It actually amounts to some basic mathematical concepts. Since these objects contain mass, relativity tells us that the equation kinetic energy of the object, based on its velocity, is determined by the equation: Ek m0(à ³ - 1)c2Ek m0c2 / square root of (1 - v2/c2) - m0c2 Theres a lot going on in the above equation, so lets unpack those variables: à ³ is the Lorentz factor, which is a scale factor that shows up repeatedly in relativity. It indicates the change in different quantities, such as mass, length, and time, when objects are moving. Since à ³ 1 / / square root of (1 - v2/c2), this is what causes the different look of the two equations shown.m0 is the rest mass of the object, obtained when it has a velocity of 0 in a given frame of reference.c is the speed of light in free space.v is the velocity at which the object is moving. The relativistic effects are only noticeably significant for very high values of v, which is why these effects could be ignored for long before Einstein came along. Notice the denominator which contains the variable v (for velocity). As the velocity gets closer and closer to the speed of light (c), that v2/c2 term will get closer and closer to 1 ... which means that the value of the denominator (the square root of 1 - v2/c2) will get closer and closer to 0. As the denominator gets smaller, the energy itself gets larger and larger, approaching infinity. Therefore, when you try to accelerate a particle nearly to the speed of light, it takes more and more energy to do it. Actually accelerating to the speed of light itself would take an infinite amount of energy, which is impossible. By this reasoning, no particle that is moving slower than the speed of light can ever reach the speed of light (or, by extension, go faster than the speed of light). Faster Than the Speed of Light So what about if we did have a particle that moves faster than the speed of light. Is that even possible? Strictly speaking, it is possible. Such particles, called tachyons, have shown up in some theoretical models, but they almost always end up being removed because they represent a fundamental instability in the model. To date, we have no experimental evidence to indicate that tachyons do exist. If a tachyon did exist, it would always move faster than the speed of light. Using the same reasoning as in the case of slower-than-light particles, you can prove that it would take an infinite amount of energy to slow a tachyon down to light speed. The difference is that, in this case, you end up with the v-term being slightly greater than one, which means the number in the square root is a negative. This results in an imaginary number, and its not even conceptually clear what having an imaginary energy would really mean. (No, this is not dark energy.) Faster Than Slow Light As I mentioned earlier, when light goes from a vacuum into another material, it slows down. It is possible that a charged particle, such as an electron, can enter a material with sufficient force to move faster than light within that material. (The speed of light within a given material is called the phase velocity of light in that medium.) In this case, the charged particle emits a form of electromagnetic radiation thats become called Cherenkov radiation. The Confirmed Exception There is one way around the speed of light restriction. This restriction only applies to objects that are moving through spacetime, but its possible for spacetime itself to expand at a rate such that objects within it are separating faster than the speed of light. As an imperfect example, think about two rafts floating down a river at a constant speed. The river forks into two branches, with one raft floating down each of the branches. Though the rafts themselves are each always moving at the same speed, they are moving faster in relation to each other because of the relative flow of the river itself. In this example, the river itself is spacetime. Under the current cosmological model, the distant reaches of the universe is expanding at speeds faster than the speed of light. In the early universe, our universe was expanding at this rate, as well. Still, within any specific region of spacetime, the speed limitations imposed by relativity do hold. One Possible Exception One final point worth mentioning is a hypothetical idea put forth called variable speed of light (VSL) cosmology, which suggests that the speed of light itself has changed over time. This is an extremely controversial theory and theres little direct experimental evidence to support it. Mostly, the theory has been put forward because it has the potential to solve certain problems in the evolution of the early universe without resorting to inflation theory.
Saturday, October 19, 2019
Technology and Society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words
Technology and Society - Essay Example The issue at hand is not the impact that the technology would have on the culture of a society that has yet to reach the evolution level of societies in the developed world, but rather the societies in the least developed world. Information technology is given high importance in the article, with the inference that the modern societies are information driven. This is true of the developed world. However, it becomes diminished in value in the least developed countries, where the culture of the society has not evolved to be in a position to accept a high technology. For instance, in such societies, being literate in terms of the developed world may be a luxury very few can afford, and so the vast majority of the society remains illiterate. For a high technology like the Internet to diffuse and be absorbed in this society would be nigh impossible , because of the complexity involved in the use of the technology. Yes, there is mention complexity of the technological product acting as a b arrier to diffusion in a society, but the complexity suggested there is much higher than the simple ability to read and write. Yet, another aspect missed out in relevance to this issue is that there should be the presence of supportive technologies for a new technology to diffuse in a society. For a technology like the Internet to diffuse in the society, there should be enough diffusion of the supportive telecommunication technologies. The again this article has a greater bearing on markets and diffusion and adoption of technologies into these markets, and the developed world is where the large markets exists, and hence the tailoring of the article to the developed world (1). Do you agree with the concepts suggested in the Nye and Ceruzzi readings? Is technology 'fixing' or is it 'harming'? Is this something we can measure? Why or why not? Technology is both fixing and harming. Looking at the development of the spread of information and technology, the biggest barrier to this was th e inability of one computer to communicate with another and thus impeding the flow of information. A technology fix occurred in the development of the Internet and the World Wide Web (WWW). The barrier of flow of information from one computer to another just vanished. The technological fix of the Internet and the World Wide Web demonstrated the potential of their being a medium through which a host of various kinds of activities ranging from information activity sites to commercial activity sites, and social interaction sites and soon the technological fix fell in place like search engines for information, e-commerce sites for commercial activity, and yahoo mail, hotmail, etc., as social ad business activity sites. So technology is fixing providing a host of benefits, but along with it comes the price in the form of the harm it can cause. The activities of hackers and pornography sites may be arguably discounted as the actions with a criminal bend of mind misusing the technology tow ards their objectives. Yet, the harm transcends this with the potential of reducing the very quality of the society we live in. Being students it is easy to see how the technology fixes of the Internet a
Discussion Questions Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 3
Discussion Questions - Assignment Example berg (Saadi, 2010), cooperation with Threadless Company gave Dell possibility to be closer to its customers as such art fitted consumers of Dell products. The co called crowdsourcing is also known business model which such companies as Mars and Ben & Jerry used within their strategies. Thus, Mars has launched the global contest in order to choose the new color of M&Ms. Ben & Jerry lineup added Primary Berry Graham. If to consider firm performance regarding customer satisfaction, Ngobo (n.d.) considers that in service sectors, firm-specific effects are more important than the industry effects as it is more difficult to imitate in the customized service industries. Within the strategic management, firm effects capture variation in strategies and performance outcomes throughout industries and firms (Mauri & Michaels, 1998). The three levels of strategy, the corporate, business and functional should be paid equal attention by an organization as it enables the firm to determine its long-term direction within the external environment, meet the stakeholdersââ¬â¢ expectations and take care of its operations (Barnes, 2007). The firm should understand where it is in business, what it should acquire or divest, how to compete in this business and with what mission, determine its strategic objectives and resources managed in the function. Despite the different length, content, format and specificity if a mission statement, it should be informative and clear, inspire employees and all organizational stakeholders. Academicians consider (David, et al., 2014) that effective mission statement includes components directed toward customers, products or services, markets, technology, environmental concerns, philosophy, concern about society, employees and self- concept. Within the modern business world, it is important for an organization to understand the external environment in order to align it with the strategies which lead to a firmââ¬â¢s ability to remain sustainable in the
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