Porters Five Force Model free essay sample

Porter’s Five-Force Model and International Strategies Porter’s Five-Force model is a tool used for strategic analysis of a particular market sector. Its name comes from the five factors that, according to Porter, serve as an aid in determining how attractive a market sector is for potential investors, emerging firms as well as the existing players. â€Å"One can measure the industry’s attractiveness for entry and exit, analyze competitive trends, and plot future strategy. † (Stahl Grigsby, 1997, p. 45). It allows organizations to see what risks as well as benefits accompany functioning within the sector. The forces include: Supplier Power, Threat of Substitutes, Threat of New Entrants, Buyer Power, and Rivalry. The model should be a vital part of an organization’s business plan. If it is trying to enter a new, international market, it needs to have an understanding of what difficulties and challenges it is going to face. Knowledge is power and tha t is exactly what the Five-Force model offers. We will write a custom essay sample on Porters Five Force Model or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The proper generic strategy will position the firm to leverage its strength and defend against the adverse effects of the five forces. † (â€Å"Porter’s Five Forces: A Model for Industry Analysis,† n. d. ). Its role doesn’t end once a firm enters a market. It allows existing entities to keep track of the changes taking place in their industries and gives them a competitive advantage over those that do not see the trends by having more time to adjust and embrace the trends. Porter’s model does not include all the forces present in the market. It does not take under considerations things such as companies forming alliances, leading to an advantage over those not included. It also does not consider sudden changes in markets due to unpredictable events such as a natural disaster causing a shortage of supplies or a discovery of a new technology that can fundamentally alter either one of the forces or the entire market. It includes only the forces Porter considered as having the most impact and the model is to be used only as a framework of a more detailed and insightful market analysis. References Stahl, M. J. , Grigsby, D. W. (1997). Strategic management: total quality and global competition. Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell. Porter’s Five Forces: A Model for Industry Analysis. n. d. Retrieved August 7, 2011 from QuickMBA. com: http://www. quickmba. com/strategy/porter. shtml

History of the SAT Its Many Failures and Controversies

History of the SAT Its Many Failures and Controversies SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips The SAT tends to be seen as an immutable barrier that all students must overcome before getting into college. But standardized testing is a business, and the College Board has its own motivations behind maintaining the status of the SAT as the definitive test for college readiness. In this article I'll take a look at SAT history, its successes and failures, its motivations, and how it might evolve in the future. A Brief History of the SAT Believe it or not, the original SAT was adapted from an intelligence test used to screen recruits for the US Army during the First World War.This original test was called the â€Å"Army Alpha†, and it was thefirst mass-administered IQ test.A psychologist and Princeton professor named Carl Brigham who helped develop the Army Alpha adapted it for use in college admissions after the war as the SAT. The first SAT was administered to a few thousand college applicants in 1926.It was 90 minutes long, and it consisted of 315 questions testing vocabulary and basic math. But the SAT only really blew up when Harvard (of course) showed interest in using it as a means to assess scholarship applicants. In 1933, Harvard President James Conant started a scholarship for academically gifted young men who didn’t come from the hoity toity Eastern boarding schools that usually funneled people into Harvard. Conant needed to find a standardized test that he could use to reliably evaluate candidates, so the assistant dean at Harvard, Henry Chauncey, was tasked with figuring out what to use. Chauncey met Carl Brigham and recommended that Harvard use the SAT. Conant liked the SAT as a screening tool because he thought it measured pure intelligence regardless of high school education. Thus began the era of widespread SAT Testing.In 1938, Chauncey convinced the schools of the College Board (an organization founded in 1900 by the presidents of the top 12 American universities to administer admissions tests) to use the SAT as a test for scholarship applicants, but not regular applicants yet. By 1942, the SAT had become the standard test for all applicants.The SAT was administered to over 300,000 people across the country in 1944.The test remained pretty much unchanged until 2005 when the College Board added the writing section (raising the highest possible score from 1600 to 2400) and renamed the verbal reasoning section "critical reading". Successes and Failures in SAT History The SAT has been a contentious topic for years now. Is it really a fair way of judging college applicants? Standardized tests like the SAT cast light on systemic problems in our society that have lead to cycles of poverty and sub-par education. Many people would argue that the SAT contributes to these cycles, and this is true in certain respects. The SAT helps to perpetuate the myth of the American meritocracy, meaning the smartest, most well-qualified people will always rise to the top regardless of their original starting point (clearly false). It's used as an admission ticket to the upper class, and with enough tutoring that ticket can pretty much be purchased outright. On the flipside, the SAT has also given gifted people from less privileged backgrounds the opportunity to attain higher education at previously closed-off elite institutions. Failures of the SAT Despite Conant’s original belief that the SAT could objectively measure intelligence, this has proven to be far from the case.Many poor and minority students are put at a disadvantage by the test. It has been shown that there is a 400 point gap between the average scores of the poorest students (family income under $20,000) and the wealthiest students (family income over $200,000). If you don’t go to a good high school and don’t have the tools in terms of vocabulary, reasoning skills, or math background, it’s going to be really, really hard to get a great score no matter how â€Å"smart† you are. Whereas kids who go to private (or pseudo-private) high schools where everyone gets individual attention and every home comes with a built-in parental helipad are going to have a huge advantage. Beyond these large systemic problems, the College Board has also faced a string of scandals recently, ranging from widespread cheating in Asiato misprints on the June 6th, 2015 test that led to cancellation of the affected sections. In contrast, the ACT has had a relatively quiet history with infrequent scandals. Successes of the SAT If you go to a bad high school but you manage to do exceptionally well on the SAT, your scores can give you access to great opportunities that might otherwise have been out of reach. Without the SAT, it would also be much more difficult for colleges to make admissions decisions, which is why it is still seen as a necessary step in the college application process. The 2016 redesign seems to be a genuine effort at making the test fairer for everyone. Whether it will accomplish this goal is dubious. It's important to remember that the SAT is something that sits on top of a lot of other problems in the American educational system, and to a large extent it is at the mercy of those problems. â€Å"Non-Profit†, Eh? Incentives That Drive the SAT What is the goal of the all-knowing, all-seeing entity that is the College Board? What drives the continued existence of the SAT as a primary tool in college admissions? Officially, the College Board is a non-profit, but the facts call this into question.Its president was compensated almost $900,000 per year as of 2010 - that’s more than the president of Harvard.The College Board generated $759 million in revenue in 2012.It also sells test prep materials, thereby creating a cycle of even more revenue for itself. A summary of the College Board's income and expenses for 2012 from ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer The College Board wants to get as many people to take the SAT and other tests (AP) that it oversees as possible.This is part of the rationale behind the SAT redesign - the ACT recently overtook the SAT as the most popular standardized testing choice. Colleges have also started to eliminate the SAT as a requirement after studies indicating that it doesn’t act as a great predictor of future success or college graduation rates (high school grades are a much better indicator) and is a barrier to intelligent students who are less privileged.The impetus behind the new SAT is to preserve the test’s image as the definitive indicator of college readiness, and thus preserve the College Board’s market share and profits. SAT results can only be destroyed in the fires of Mount Doom (Mount Doom Community College - you haven't heard of it? It has a great welding program.) The Future of the SAT As you may know, the redesigned SAT will be available to test-takers starting in 2016.It remains to be seen whether the changes will make any significant difference in the clear disadvantages the current SAT presents to lower income and minority students.This articleoutlines what you should expect to see on the new SAT. One major overall difference will be more focus on logical reasoning skills in context rather than in isolation. This means less questions that essentially just ask for the definition of a word or whether a single sentence is grammatically correct and more questions that rely on the larger narratives of surrounding passages.This could help intelligent students who don’t have the best educational background still do well on the test. There will also be fewerâ€Å"tricky† questions and more consistent test content. Overall there is a move toward more straightforwardness. Educational ideology seems to be headed in the direction of greater sensitivity to the disadvantages that people face and stronger efforts at combating those disadvantages. Even with all its flaws, it’s likely that some form of the SAT will be around for a while because it’s such a convenient way to evaluate college applicants. Hopefully standardized tests will continue to evolve along with our educational system so they can get closer to providing the opportunities they purport to offer for the people who need them most. What's Next? If you're still curious about the new SAT, read about how to study for it and whether you should take it. Alternatively, if you would like to read about embarrassing things the College Board has done, learn about this mistake they made and what you should do if you encounter unacceptable testing conditionsduring your exam. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points? Check out our best-in-class online SAT prep program. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your SAT score by 160 points or more. Our program is entirely online, and it customizes your prep program to your strengths and weaknesses. We also feature thousands of practice questions, 10 official SAT practice tests, and personal feedback on your essays from an expert instructor. 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Linking Your Ideas in English With Discourse Markers

Linking Your Ideas in English With Discourse Markers Some words and phrases help to develop ideas and relate them to one another. These kinds of words and phrases are often called discourse markers. Note that most of these discourse markers are formal and used when speaking in a formal context or when presenting complicated information in writing. with regard to /regarding / as regards / as far as is concerned / as for These expressions focus attention on what follows in the sentence. This is done by announcing the subject in advance. These expressions are often used to indicate a change of subject during conversations.   His grades in science subjects are excellent. As regards humanities †¦With regard to the latest market figures we can see that ...Regarding our efforts to improve the local economy, we have made ...As far as I am concerned, we should continue to develop our resources.As for Johns thoughts, lets take a look at this report he sent me. on the other hand /while / whereas These expressions give expression to two ideas which contrast but do not contradict each other. While and whereas can be used as subordinating conjunctions to introduce contrasting information. On the other hand should be used as an introductory phrase of a new sentence connecting information. Football is popular in England, while in Australia they prefer cricket.Weve been steadily improving our customer service center. On the other hand, our shipping department needs to be redesigned.Jack thinks were ready to begin whereas Tom things we still need to wait. however /nonetheless / nevertheless All these words are used to begin a new sentence which  contrasts two  ideas. These words are often used to show the something is true despite not being a good idea.   Smoking is proved to be dangerous to the health. Nonetheless, 40% of the population smokes.Our teacher promised to take us on a field trip. However, he changed his mind last week.Peter was warned not to invest all of his savings in the stock market. Nevertheless, he invested and lost everything. moreover /furthermore / in addition We use these expressions to add information to what has been said. The usage of these words is much more elegant than just making a list or using the conjunction and. His problems with his parents are extremely frustrating. Moreover, there seems to be no easy solution to them.I assured him that I would come to his presentation. Furthermore, I also invited a number of important representatives from the local chamber of commerce.Our energy bills have been increasing steadily. In addition to these costs, our telephone costs have doubled over the past six months. therefore /as a result / consequently These expressions show that the second statement follows logically from the first statement. He reduced the amount of time studying for his final exams. As a result, his marks were rather low.Weve lost over 3,000 customers over the past six months. Consequently, we have been forced to cut back our advertising budget.The government has drastically reduced its spending. Therefore, a number of programs have been canceled. Check our understanding of these discourse markers with this short quiz. Provide an appropriate discourse marker in the gap.   Weve done a great job on the grammar. ______________ listening, Im afraid we still have some work to do.__________ Americans tend to eat quickly and leave the table, Italians prefer to linger over their food.  The company will introduce three new models next spring. __________, they expect profit to rise considerably.  He was excited to go to the movies. ____________, he knew that he needed to finish studying for an important exam.She warned him repeatedly not to believe everything he said. __________, he continued believing him until he found out that he was a compulsive liar.  We need to consider every angle before we begin. _________, we should speak with a number of consultants on the matter.   Answers With regard to / Regarding / As regards / As forwhile / whereasTherefore / As a result / ConsequentlyHowever / Nonetheless / NeverthelessOn the other handIn addition / Moreover / Furthermore

Discuss the expression theory of art, using the chapter from Essay

Discuss the expression theory of art, using the chapter from freelandbut is it art - Essay Example Sometimes these theories focus solely upon the creation process of the artwork while other theories focus more upon the receiving process of the audience. Still other theories range around the concepts between these extremes, from the way in which the thoughts, feelings, ideas or other communicated goals are transferred from the artist’s mind to the canvas, musical score or movement, captured within that medium and then transferred to an audience. As is evident from the range of these theories, the role of the individual artist has been explored, as has the role of the audience, but another aspect of the creation of art that has played a significant role in the investigation of what is art is the role of the ideologies and customs inherent in the society in which the artwork is created as well as that which is receiving it, which do not always have similar outlooks. A prime example of this can be found in Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel. As it was being painted, depiction s of nudes were completely acceptable and natural but only a few years later they were considered indecent and were given flowing garments to cover the more objectionable parts.2 While it has not been agreed upon which is the most important function of art, most all theorists agree that art does convey meaning either cognitively or expressively. The expressive theory of art contends that art conveys its meaning primarily through an appeal to the senses of its audience, evoking specific emotions and feelings intended either consciously or unconsciously by the artist and capable of conveying even complex ideas such as the existence of God or the power of the mind. As defined by Freeland,3 the ‘expression theory’ as it pertains to art is based on the concept that art is intended to communicate something to the viewer that is focused upon exacting an emotion or feeling. This is accomplished through careful use of line

HomeLand Security Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

HomeLand Security - Essay Example The course content in the introduction relates to the general framework which QHSR operates in general1. The second course, The Unconventional Threat to Homeland Security, how terrorism operate and how there organized in terms of the extremists behind them and the groups. How they are formed and the transnational nature of the people within the United States operating as individuals and groups. This people raise money and raise money to use and all motivators behind terrorism with all the political organizations who fund these terrorists. The QHSR examines terrorists who act alone in home soil and how Al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, and Al-Shabaab were formed. The funders of these organizations have been governments sympathizing with these terrorist organizations and the vision of QHSR is to try to dismantle these organizations. Further, intelligence community needs to understand the course on intelligence to on how these organizations operate. The course offers substantive skills on information gathering at all levels in countering and deterring from happening2. The CHDS offers research and critical writing are part of the course. Research writing and homeland security and Research Colloquium are the two courses offered dealing with it. The courses train students on how to write strong thesis which relate the practical nature of terrorism with policy framework that deals with counter terrorism, it relates academics with the practice. The basis of the two courses tries to equip students with skills of overall terrorism contexts. QHSR policy framework needs implementation by use of appropriate technology in a manner as to attain proper preventive mechanism and storing relevant data that can be used to help in the training process. The institution offers use of technology as a core course because the terrorist on our times employs technology to organize the crimes and implement.

Critique of an article using the Scientific Method Essay Example for Free

Critique of an article using the Scientific Method Essay The paper Politics and Inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean is a research paper authored by Evelyne Huber, Francois Nielsen, Jenny Pribble, and John D. Stephens. This paper is a time series analysis of the impact that politics and policy bring about on inequality in the scope of Latin America and the Caribbean. This research is based on various models consisting of sociological and economic variables, plus the strength of the democratic tradition, as well as the distribution of long-term legislative partisan political power and the social spending to explain inequality variations. As a study that aims to analyze social factors and its effect on the inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean, this research was able to conform to the Scientific Method, despite some instances where there are some unsupported arguments. Basing on the Scientific Method of research, we’ll first know what these researchers wanted to find out. What do these people want to learn about? The researchers’ primary concern was to determine what factors are contributing to the inequality levels in Latin America and the Caribbean. Their initial expectations were political variables such as partisan legislative power, strength of democratic tradition, and the nature of social expenditures were the ones initially determining these inequality levels. Another assumption regarding this matter is that these variables have weights different from the ones in advanced modern/industrial societies. One of their basis for this assumption is that most advanced industrial countries have uninterrupted records of democracy as compared to that of Latin America. These countries were able to establish welfare states that redistribute the income. They’re basing their assumption on previous records like the overall size of welfare states and the structure of taxation expenditures. Closely looking at this matter, we can say that what these researchers wanted to find out was somehow in line with the use of scientific method. They came up with an inquiry which is based on previous data. They also gave their hypothesis as to what they expect about their assumption. In relation to this, their assumptions were given as an answer to their inquiry, and that will be the basis of how they’ll go about with this research. They came up with a set of data gathered from previous information from other studies and published articles. One of the bases that they used was studies which utilized multiple regression analyses of inequality in developing countries. They used this information as a pattern or guide in conducting their own study. One study made by Morley is about the determinants of differences in inequality of income distribution among countries in Latin America. Here, he combined multiple regression analysis with case studies of nine countries. Because of this, he came up with variables which play an important role in his research. These variables include national income, inflation, education, economic reform indices and land distribution. These variables are essential because it can also be used for other researches like this one. Basing on the scientific method, we can say that it this research made full use of the information from previous studies. They were able to gather essential information which they could use in proving their assumptions for this study. However, they may have overused the information and relied on it too much. There is a great resemblance of their research with that of Morley’s, that’s why it ma have resulted to something similar. The point is, they could have altered several aspects in other researches and not just utilized everything from that one into their own. If they are expecting to find something new, then their research should be something new also. Other researches are there for additional information and guide, that’s why they shouldn’t dwell on it always. The researchers came up with different hypotheses on democracy, political parties, social spending, economic development, inflation, demography, ethnic composition, education, foreign direct investment, the informal sector, and land distribution. They were able to give arguments and related studies as to how these factors were able to affect the inequality in Latin America. However, the way they presented these factors and how they reasoned out regarding its effect on the state of inequality in the area is questionable. The scientific method should be based on facts and concrete evidences. Surely, they were able to provide related literature for most of the factors, but in some, they also tried injecting their own opinion without giving any basis for saying that. The scientific method relies on how you will be able to back up your statements by using previous studies or materials from previous researches. If you are to say something without backing it up with concrete evidence, then the information you are relaying is questionable. The research posed a lot of information regarding these factors. But not all of the information that they gave were verifiable by evidence, so the credibility of their statements are somewhat questionable, thus making their research somewhat weaker. The next step of the scientific method involves gathering and organizing data for the research. Here, we see that the researches devoted enough time and effort to come up with sufficient data. Their main sources of information were secondary data from various country’s statistics, and how it was related to that country’s social and economic situation. They utilized various analytical methods in interpreting this data, sorting it in manner where one could clearly see how it affected the inequality for the countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. In this part, they were able to stick to the scientific method of conducting a study wherein they properly gathered and sorted the data to be analyzed. As a result, they were able to come up with the necessary information which was interpreted. The results are there in order to verify and support the hypothetical claims that they made earlier on the study. This could either prove or disprove their assumptions. The next part of the scientific method is the discussion of the results before actually concluding the research. The results showed that the assumptions regarding the outcome of the study were strongly supported, wherein politics is really important in shaping the inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean countries. The democratic records were one of the strongest evidence for this, along with the cumulative record of the strength of left-of-center parties in the legislature, as well as the interaction of social security spending and democracy. It has left us with the conclusion that democracy is very important for inequality. This could be quantified in two ways, which are: 1) it allows the leaders who are concerned with the welfare of the underprivileged to let them build organizations in the form of political parties, and 2) allow those parties to establish a support base, and to gain necessary influence in the legislature and be able to use that influence to shape various policies is the direction of redistribution. The conclusion can be well associated with the scientific method, as it summarized the results and mentioned the possible implications of the research. Another problem is whether the research can easily be repeated for the purpose of verification. With all the necessary factors at hand, reproduction of this research may be hard because the political state of a country can be changed, thus affecting the variables it has previously possessed.

Man’s Interaction with the Environment in Faulkner’s Go Down, Moses :: Faulkner’s Go Down Moses

Man’s Interaction with the Environment in Faulkner’s Go Down, Moses I found the short stories in Go Down, Moses to be long, boring, and hard to comprehend. As usual Faulkner writes his stories with no regard to punctuation. His run-on sentences are confusing and unnecessary. However, I did notice the theme of man and his interactions with the environment stressed throughout these stories. â€Å"Was† starts us off with ‘Uncle Ike’ McCaslin in his old age and tells the story of his elder cousin (and surrogate father) and his childhood with Uncle Buck and Uncle Buddy. I was not surprised to see the uncles reappear, as Faulkner loves to have characters make come-backs in numerous novels. Like its title, â€Å"Was† shows a past experience from McCaslin Edmonds’ childhood. The sentence structure in the beginning of the story confused me a bit. Faulkner uses no periods, choosing instead to start a new paragraph every time one sentence ends and the other begins (granted, these ‘sentences’ are basically paragraphs themselves!). Once the story about Edmonds’ past and the dialog start, Faulkner starts using periods again. Why would Faulkner set the story up like this? What is the significance of leaving out periods in the beginning of the narrative? Perhaps it is to signal that the narrator is speaking in present time, and on ce the periods are included, that signals that the event occurred in the past. This is a probable explanation, as we saw a similar structure in his other novels, including The Sound and the Fury, where italics were used to signal a change in narrative. Maybe the same thing is happening here. In â€Å"Pantaloon in Black† Faulkner seems to digress from the story of the McCaslin’s and focuses on a black man, Rider, who goes crazy with grief after his wife’s mysterious (to the reader) death, kills a white man he works with, and is executed. This story clearly illustrates the racial discrimination by whites. After the entire ordeal, the sheriff’s deputy tells his wife about the events and in the process allows us to see how racist he is. He compares blacks to a â€Å"damn herd of wild buffaloes† when it comes to having feelings (150). Also, when he describes Rider’s actions after his wife’s death, he says that the town â€Å"expected him to take the day off since even a nigger couldn’t want no better excuse for a holiday† cruelly suggesting that blacks are lazy and will use any excuse to have a day off of work (151).

Competency Goal Essay

I promote physical activities in my classroom daily. We do music and movement different songs like Pirate Ship, Bear Hunt and the Dancing Machine. All provide a wide range of movement to promote physical health. During outdoor play children are given opportunities , to play with balls, climbing up and down the stairs to the slide, hopping, skipping, jumping and balancing on a rail. Children need opportunities to develop their body strength. Pulling themselves up and down, rolling balls, swinging, throwing things such as bean bags, can strengthen their upper bodies. Running, jumping, balancing, can help strengthen their lower bodies. As they process and these activities they are working on their gross motor skills. Painting, coloring, drawing, encourage fine motor development. Functional Area 5: Cognitive I help children develop cognitive skills by encouraging them to hypothesis and try things out. In my classroom I allow the children to explore toys and objects on their own. I ask open-ended questions to allow them to think critically and imaginatively. Singing, One-to-One Correspondence, Classifying, creating things, and identify items objects gives the child opportunity to discover the purpose for the require skills. Science and media interrelate with visual stimulation and measurement skills. Functional Area 6: Communication In my classroom I help children learn, understand, and use words to communicate. This is done by encouraging conversations throughout the classroom. I ask children about what they are doing and prompt them to explain in detail. Children are reminded to use their words to express themselves when they are having a difficult time communicating.

Critical Appraisal

Introduction This essay will critically appraise a paper investigating the relationship between moderate alcohol intake during pregnancy and risk of foetal death written by Andersen et al. (2012). This was a cohort study that used the data from a sample of 91,843 Danish mothers. It was found that 55% of the cohort abstained completely during pregnancy, whilst the rest of the cohort reported consuming alcoholic drinks during this time. The authors reported that there was a substantially increased risk of either spontaneous abortion or stillbirth in women who consumed even moderately low amounts of alcohol (2-3.5 drinks per week) before their 16th week of pregnancy. However, alcohol consumption after 16 weeks appeared not to have an effect. The introduction of this paper is extremely short, although it does manage to summarise why the study was conducted and the aim of the research is clear. The authors highlight that previous research into the effects of moderate alcohol consumption on foetal death have produced conflicting results and that there appear to be geographical trends in the outcome of such studies. Although a lack of conclusive evidence is a solid basis on which to conduct a new study, the authors do not explicitly detail why the current study will be any different and how it will seek to overcome the limitations of previous research. The Critical Appraisal Skills Progamme (CASP, www.casp-uk.net) recommends approaching critical appraisals using three steps. The first step is to assess whether the study is valid by evaluating the methodological quality. The methodology of the current study is clearly laid out and replicable. Despite this, one criticism of the methodology is the use of self-reported alcohol consumption data. Self-reported data is vulnerable to social desirability bias by which participants may withhold or fabricate certain behaviours in order to fit in to what others expectations of them. Social desirability has been found to confound reports of other health related behaviours, such as diet (Klesges et al., 2004) and physical activity (Adams et al., 2005). Using the levels of evidence hierarchy (Foster, 2011), cohort studies lay below systematic reviews and randomised control studies in their ability to avoid bias. Therefore, the study’s design helps reduce the risk of other biases that could confound the results. The statistical analysis used was the hazard ratio. This analysis calculates the ratio of the hazard rate corresponding to the two conditions of an explanatory variable (Spruance et al., 2004). In the current study, it was found that women who drank even just low levels of alcohol during pregnancy had higher hazard rates of early foetal death than those women who abstained. This is a suitable statistical analysis that answers the research question at hand. The second step in the CASP recommendations for appraising evidence is to examine the results. It is important to consider how clinically important the results are and how much uncertainty surround them. Potentially, the current study has excellent clinical utility. Firstly, the sample size was large and as a result, the findings are likely to be very representative of the population as a whole. There is some cultural bias to be aware of as the sample was collected exclusively from a Danish sample. Therefore, the results may not be generalisble to women in other countries. For example, in the UK, alcohol consumption has been found to be much higher, especially among females in their teen years (Mukherjee et al., 2005). The last step suggested by CASP is to assess whether the results are useful. The current results may certainly be useful in the area of health policy development. The knowledge that even low alcohol consumption within the first trimester of pregnancy can increase the risk of foetal death strengthens current Government guidelines that recommend that women abstain completely from alcohol during pregnancy. In the United Kingdom, the Chief Medical Officer currently advises that women should avoid alcohol altogether but that if they must drink, to consume no more than 1-2 units once or twice a week. However, the current paper suggests that just two drinks per week could increase a woman’s risk of losing the baby. Nevertheless, the conclusions drawn by the study are based on the assumption that alcohol consumption contributed to the increased risk of foetal death and should be interpreted with caution. The study did not collect data on various other variables that may have contribut ed to the increased risk, such as illegal drug use during pregnancy has been associated with foetal death (Wolfe et al., 2005). Furthermore, consumption of large quantities of caffeine (Wisborg et al., 2003) has been found to be associated with a higher risk of early foetal death. The current study collected information on coffee consumption and it was found that 32.6% of women consumed between one and seven cups of coffee during their pregnancy. Therefore, coffee consumption and not just alcohol may have had an impact on the results. In the discussion, the authors acknowledge the large number of confounding variables that may have impacted upon the study. The discussion of the study does discuss the potential usefulness of the results. However, the authors state in the introduction that discrepancy amongst previous research was a driving force behind the study but fail to discuss why or how the current study may have alleviated this issue. In conclusion, this is a reasonably strong piece of research that could contribute considerably to health policy. However, it is flawed in some key areas and so the results should be interpreted with caution. For example, if the study is to be replicated, future researchers may consider additional outcome measures that could identify participants at risk of social desirability bias. Nevertheless, the finding that even very low consumption of alcohol before the 16th week of pregnancy may contribute to early foetal death suggests that this should be further investigated as health policy may subsequently consider recommending women abstain completely from alcohol until after their 16th week. References Adams, S.A., Matthews, C.E., Ebbeling, C.B., Moore, C.G., Cunningham, J.E., Fulton, J. and Herbert, J.R. (2005) The effect of social desirability and social approval on self reports of physical activity. American Journal of Epidemiology, 161(4), pp. 389-398. Andersen, A.N., Andersen, P.K., Olsen, J., Gronbaek, M. and Strandberg-Larsen, K. (2012) Moderate alcohol intake during pregnancy and risk of fetal death. International Journal of Epidemiology, 41, pp. 405-413. Foster, N. (2011) Making sense of the evidential hierarchy. In: Carmen, A. (Ed), Assessing Evidence to Improve Population Health and Wellbeing. Exeter: Learning Matters Ltd. Klesges, L.M., Baranowski, T., Beech, B., Cullen, K., Murray, D.M., Rochon, J. and Pratt, C. (2004) Social desirability bias in self-reported dietary, physical activity and weight concerns measures in 8-to-10-year-old African-American girls: results from the Girls health Enrichment Multisite Studies (GEMS). Preventative Medicine, 38, pp. 78-87. Mukherjee, R.A.S., Hollins, S., Abou-Saleh, M.T. and Turk, J. (2005) Low level alcohol consumption and the fetus. British Medical Journal, 330(7488), pp. 375-376. Spruance, L.S., Reid, J.E., Grace, M. and Samore, M. (2004) Hazard ratio in clinical trials. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, 48(8), pp. 2787-2792. Wisborg, K., Kesmodel, U., Bech, B.H., Hedegaard, M. and Henriksen, T.B. (2003) Maternal consumption of coffee during pregnancy and stillbirth and infant death in first year of life: prospective study. British Medical Journal, 326, pp. 420. Wolfe, E.L., Davis, T., Guydish, J. and Delucchi, K.L. (2005) Mortality risk associated with perinatal drug and alcohol use in California. Journal of Perinatlogy, 25, pp. 93-100. Critical Appraisal Critical appraisal is the use of explicit, transparent methods to assess the data in published research, applying the rules of evidence to factors such as internal validity, adherence to reporting standards, conclusions and generalizability.[1][2] Critical appraisal methods form a central part of the systematic review process.[3] They are used in evidence-based healthcare training to assist clinical decision-making, and are increasingly used in evidence-based social care and education provision. when an entrepreneur is think about setting up in business it is important to think carefully about what is needed to make the idea a success, how the business will compete against other firms and how much money is needed to run it, these items would usually be included in a business plan. * The nature of the business it history and its legal structure * The product it offers, what make it different from anyone else, why customers would buy it and how it is protected from the competition. * The nature of the market and the firm’s customer base . * The objectives of the business( set-out target that entrepreneur would like to achieve ) * The strategy ( this set out how the objective is going to be achieved * Approach to marketing * The founder and employee * The firm’s operations ( where it is based, the production facilities it requires, the capital it has) * A forecast of sale over a period in the future. Idea generation (ideation) is critical to the design and marketing of new products, to mar-keting strategy, and to the creation of effective advertising copy. In new product development, for example, idea generation is a key component of the front end of the process, often called the â€Å"fuzzy front end† and recognized as one of the highest leverage points for a firm (Dahan and Hauser 2001). Ideation is the creative process of generating, developing, and communicating new ideas, where an idea is understood as a basic element of thought that can be either visual, concrete, or abstract.[1] Ideation is all stages of a thought cycle, from innovation, to development, to actualization.[2] As such, it is an essential part of the design process, both in education and practice.[3]

Free Essays on Persusasive Speeches Are Bad Assignments

There is no logical reason to write a persuasive speech for an English class. Persuasive speeches definitely do not need to be a requirement for high school students. The definition of â€Å"persuade† in The Macquarie Dictionary is: To induce one to believe or do something; to argue into an opinion or procedure; to plead with, urge. I have always thought that someone who let his own opinion be changed by someone else is a person who lacks a strong will. I understand that some people have a certain talent for convincing other people, but I personally would not change my mind about a subject unless I was unsure about that subject in the first place. I became aware of one personal trait when writing this paper that is I do not really care about much. I have no intention of letting other people know about the few things that I do care about either. I found it pointless to try to write a persuasive speech about a subject for which I do not care. The only thing I could think to try to convince people to do was to refuse to write a persuasive speech ever again. I faced a kind of moral paradox with this, though. If I wrote a persuasive speech telling people not to write persuasive speeches, what kind of example would I be? I was convinced that I was not going to do this paper, but in a showing of my own lack of will. I realise that teachers would be angry about this somewhat counterproductive speech, but nevertheless students should refuse to write persuasive speeches unless their own will convinces them to do so. People of my age do not really have many reasons to complain. Most persuasive essays written by adolescents are fluff in the eyes of authority anyway. Sure, you could write a persuasive essay about plenty of subjects. For example, â€Å"Kids should be allowed to skateboard anywhere they want.† It's a perfectly fine essay for someone who really cares about it. The problem is that most of the authorities who would decide where... Free Essays on Persusasive Speeches Are Bad Assignments Free Essays on Persusasive Speeches Are Bad Assignments There is no logical reason to write a persuasive speech for an English class. Persuasive speeches definitely do not need to be a requirement for high school students. The definition of â€Å"persuade† in The Macquarie Dictionary is: To induce one to believe or do something; to argue into an opinion or procedure; to plead with, urge. I have always thought that someone who let his own opinion be changed by someone else is a person who lacks a strong will. I understand that some people have a certain talent for convincing other people, but I personally would not change my mind about a subject unless I was unsure about that subject in the first place. I became aware of one personal trait when writing this paper that is I do not really care about much. I have no intention of letting other people know about the few things that I do care about either. I found it pointless to try to write a persuasive speech about a subject for which I do not care. The only thing I could think to try to convince people to do was to refuse to write a persuasive speech ever again. I faced a kind of moral paradox with this, though. If I wrote a persuasive speech telling people not to write persuasive speeches, what kind of example would I be? I was convinced that I was not going to do this paper, but in a showing of my own lack of will. I realise that teachers would be angry about this somewhat counterproductive speech, but nevertheless students should refuse to write persuasive speeches unless their own will convinces them to do so. People of my age do not really have many reasons to complain. Most persuasive essays written by adolescents are fluff in the eyes of authority anyway. Sure, you could write a persuasive essay about plenty of subjects. For example, â€Å"Kids should be allowed to skateboard anywhere they want.† It's a perfectly fine essay for someone who really cares about it. The problem is that most of the authorities who would decide where...

Books and Their Importance for Students and Children

Books and Their Importance for Students and Children Books are our Best Friends for Students Children Humans cannot live alone. They need friends in life. This book can be our best friend. The book company provides pleasure for people and companies of nature. This book is a great blessing. Life is not easy to live without friends. As for books, you can be a good friend forever. Good books enrich our minds with good thoughts and knowledge. We can not feel alone in a book company. As we read good books, we gain knowledge and learn many good things. Books written by good and experienced characters help us become better people and inspire us. It teaches how to serve society in the best way. Books are the best time for us to be alone, start reading with a sense of comfort with a book, and provide knowledge. Books are always best friends because they encourage us to do great things in life and help us overcome failures. I learn a lot from books like good friends. Books can be good or bad, but it is our responsibility to choose books wisely. Friendship with a good book becomes a good person, and friendship with a bad book becomes a bad person. There will always be books in bad times. The book teaches us to dream good things in life. It brings positive thinking and good value to our lives. Some love the company of nature and others love the company of the book. Books are a map of human life and nature. Every page of a great book is a storehouse of the finest and noble thoughts of human beings. The library will meet all the great minds of the world. Today, however, all books are good and innocent. The book is overflowing and the flood is always bad. Even the flood of tears is bad. How then can a flood occur? You should be careful about this. Do not run away with this flood. It is good to live in a bad book company. But falling into a bad book company is bad. Through the influence of bad books, you can develop bad habits by not knowing it. Therefore, you must choose your partner carefully. So its up to you how you choose it wisely. But even the best books can not give you everything. A book company can give you knowledge, but it can not give you wisdom. No book can be a good scientist. Newton was not born in the library. He did not read much but instead lived in a company of plants and flowers. So the library can not make you a great poet or thinker. Even books you choose can only be made from bookworms. Obtain only indirect information. You can not really be great unless you listen with your eyes. It is therefore sometimes necessary to come out of the world of books and live in a company of people and nature. The life of man and nature must be combined with the book company.

Homeless Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Homeless - Essay Example s that it will help solve issues experienced by these people, it will decrease crime rate and lack of homeless individuals will portray a positive image of the government. One of the main reason due to which people have fallen in the category of homeless is that they have lost their jobs due to economic crises. Due to this loss of jobs, individuals who are homeless have no place to attain shelter to sleep, they have no money to buy food and wear clean healthy clothes. If government assists these individuals, they will be able to solve these problems. When individuals fail to make a living due to loss of job and if they continue to be unemployed, they resort to criminal behavior in order to earn money. This can lead to a very negative image of US as this will lead to increased crime rate. If government aids such people, they will not have to look for such options and therefore the crime rate will remain low. Many people are roaming on the street with torn clothes and with play cards in their hands through which they are asking for employment and assistance for the fulfillment of their necessities. This destroys the image of the country and the governme nt. If homeless people are assisted, they will not need to conduct such activities and the image of the nation will be preserved. One of the major downside of assisting homeless people through government funds is that such help may make the homeless people dependant on government provided relief and they may not make efforts to gain employment. A major issue experienced by the government of US is that it is experiencing a budget deficit and if they continue to provide help to homeless people, this will increase the burden on government’s treasury. If the government assists homeless people, others who are already on their jobs and are not homeless will see such assistance as easy money and might quit their jobs in order to attain such welfare benefits. United States is experiencing an increase in number of homeless