Christ Crowned with thorns Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Christ Crowned with thorns - Essay Example The use of a lone candle shows an intimacy between the torturers and Christ. Because the Jews were the one who crowned Jesus with thorns, this event must have taken place after Pilate turned Him over to the Jews. The realism in this painting makes me feel great compassion for the Christ shown. Unlike other paintings, Stom used his paintbrush smoothly. â€Å"Christ Crowned with Thorns† can be recognized as a painting, but not with harsh visible strokes. Stom obviously studied humans closely. The Christs muscles, ribcage, and face are realistically human. The crown upon the Christs head is delicately placed, blending into the background of darkness. If one word was used to describe this work of art, it would be seamless. The whole painting flows into a seamless scene of Christ and his crown of thorns. â€Å"Christ Crowned with Thorns† does portray a symbolic message. The light, which is a candle, closest to the Christ represents Jesus light to Christians. A light to show the way toward Christianity and heaven. The darkness represents individuals lost doomed to end up in hell. The men around Jesus represent skeptics of Christianity, even after hearing Jesus message or seeing Jesus light. The black and white represent the chasm between heaven and hell. Heaven and hell are complete opposites, just like light and darkness. Since I am a Christian, this painting makes me feel hope. This painting reminds me of the sacrifice Jesus made for sinners. I also feel a great compassion for the Christ in the picture. It makes the crucification of Jesus more real to me, not just an abstract idea. I feel that for Matthias Stom to paint this picture, he must have been a Christian as well. This painting had to be inspired by more than being a Caravaggisti. Matthias Stoms â€Å"Christ Crowned with Thorns† fits into history as a painting influenced by Caravaggio. The naturalism, minute observation of detail mixed with dramatic light and

Webers View on Modern Society

Webers View on Modern Society Discuss the Characteristics of Modern Society According to Weber Introduction What is known as classical sociology is found in the work of Comte, Durkheim, Marx and Weber. Weber and the other classicists attempted to explain the origins of modern industrial society and the elements that worked both for and against it. Like Comte and Durkheim Weber believed that scientific and technological advances would do away with humanity’s need of religion. Old ideas of magic would disappear and the world would become ‘disenchanted’ and society would become increasingly rational. Beginning with the distinction between rationality and rationalisation, his paper will discuss the characteristics of modern society according to Weber. Rationality and Rationalisation Rationality, in Weber’s thought refers to social actions being the result of a rational process of the calculation of the means and ends of actions. Rationalisation on the other hand refers to an overall historical process whereby scientific knowledge and rational action come to dominate social reality (Morrison, 1995).[1] Modern Society and Conflict Weber is noted for his historical grasp of the political, legal, economic, and religious development of modern western societies (Morrison, 1995).[2] He was concerned interested in issues of power and conflict in society, the different interest groups in society implied that state institutions were necessary if order was to be maintained. As legislation increased, however, the administration would be less effective. He rejected Marx’s materialist view of history and did not agree with Marx on the importance of class conflict. In Weber’s view class was just one type of inequality among many others (Giddens, 2001).[3] Sociology, Weber believed, should concentrate more on social action and less on social structure. It was his contention that Marx had laid too much stress on economics. Capitalism was only one factor in the shaping of modern societies, Weber held that culture and politics deserved equal consideration. The inter-connectedness of social spheres, Weber believed , was a key factor for understanding the development of modern society (Marsh, 2000). According to Turner (1999) humanity’s place in modern society was problematic for Weber because he believed that human beings were alienated from themselves and the world in which they lived. Weber did not believe, as did Durkheim and Marx, that structures had an independent existence from individuals. Rather he maintained that structures were a result of a complex interplay of human action. Thus Weber argued that social change came about as the result of human motivation and ideas, and that these were powerful agents of the transformation of societies (Giddens, 2001).Although Weber was an atheist he believed that religion influenced people’s ideas and practices and that this had an effect in the world. Weber did not believe, as did Marx, that capitalism came about as a result of greed. Nor did he agree with Marx that it was the result of class conflict, rather it was due to an emphasis on science and the bureaucracy of large organisations. Weber argued that Protestants regarded earning a living as a sacred duty and financial success as a sign of God’s grace. It was this belief, Weber said that led to self-control and regulation, thus Protestantism contribut ed to the rationalisation of everyday life (Hughes, Martin and Sharrock, 1995). For Weber, a major facet of the development of modern societies was the rationalisation of production. Rationalisation The concept of rationalisation, according to Weber (1967) was endemic to modern society, and it was to be found in all large organisations. Such organisations are tightly regulated and predictability and impersonality are their defining characteristics. The members of large organisations can become dehumanised, because with in it, social relations are defined purely in functional terms. Bureaucracy grew out of the increasing rationalisation, which, in modern society, affected all areas of life. As society continued in its rational progression then this would become evident in its social institutions which would, in turn, become more formal. This process would also lead to a decrease in people’s reliance on traditional beliefs, and an increase in the making of rational decisions that had a direct purpose.(Hughes, Martin and Sharrock, 1995). Weber believed that religion predisposed people to order their lives in terms of rational action and this meant that they earned more than they needed. Turner (1999) maintains that: This striving for world mastery did not lead however to a satisfaction with the meaningfulness of everyday life, but rather resulted in a continuing disenchantment with reality which drove out moral significance from everyday life (Turner, 1999:9). Religious and moral disenchantment, Weber contended, would be the end result of increasing bureaucratisation and the rationalisation of social relations. He termed the increasing rationalisation and bureaucratisation of western society as an ‘iron cage’ (Turner, 1999). The impact of western society on the rest of the world was due to its command of industrial resources and its superior military power (Giddens, 2001). Modern societies, in Weber’s view, were especially characterised by what he termed the development of rational/legal authority. Authority in Modern Society Weber believed that authority was invested in the state, the source of the nation state, he maintained was the pre-capitalist conflicts between absolutist rulers. Weber favoured capitalist democracies rather than socialism and believed that in order to maintain a balance in the amount of authority the state had, it was necessary to have a strong private sector. He also believed that increasing rationalisation and bureaucratisation would have a deleterious effect on democracy. Authority, he maintained was in the hands of certain types of individuals and thus he developed a theory of ideal types as a means of understanding the world. These should be seen as a reference point rather than having an existence in the real world (Giddens, 2001). Thus the type of society identified by Weber as modern society is identified most especially by the development of rationalisation and bureaucratisation. The ideal type is used to form an ideal picture of a shift occurring in society by reason of ce rtain historical factors (Weber, quoted in Brown, 1995 p. 271). Weber used the notion of ideal types to develop an understanding of the kinds of activities that can be assigned as features of empirical reality. Conclusion Weber’s work has been influential in sociology’s understanding of the defining features of modern society. Weber’s thinking on rationalisation and bureaucratisation have been a useful analytic tool for those attempting to understand modern societies. However, he has been criticised for being too determininistic. The rise of science, for example, has not completely taken over from religious belief as Weber predicted it would and his notion of bureaucratic organisations as iron cages neglects the fact the very often people will use bureaucracies to stem the tide of certain rules and regulations rather than be totally constricted within the organisation. Nevertheless Weber’s analysis continues to be a useful and fascinating analysis of the development of modern industrial societies. In addition to this his work on human choice and action were pivotal to the development symbolic interactionism and interpretative social research. Bibliography Brown, K 1995. Marx, Durkheim, Weber Formations of Modern Social Thought London, Sage. Giddens, A. 2001. Sociology. Cambridge, Polity Press. Hamilton, M 1995 Sociology of Religion London, Routledge Hughes, J. Martin, P. and Sharrock, W. 1995 Understanding Classical Sociology: Marx, Weber, Durkheim. Sage, London Turner, B. 1999. Classical Sociology. Sage.London Walsh, I ed. 2000 Sociology: Making Sense of Society. Edinburgh, Prentice Hall. Weber, M 1967 â€Å"The Social Psychology of World Religions† in Gerth, H and Wright-Mills , C. 1967 eds From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology New York, Oxford University Press pp.267-301 1 Footnotes [1] See Morrison page 220 [2] See Morrison page 213 [3] See Giddens page 673

A Town Like Alice: Discussion :: essays research papers

A Town Like Alice: Discussion †Even though cultures differ, people are basically the same.† This is a statement that depends a lot on what you mean with basically. I think people are pretty much the same all around the world but and they definitely could end up being almost the same if they was raised in exactly the same way and had the exact same possibilities in life. If the basic characteristics are those you have when you're new-borned then I think it's obvious that they are almost the same, some things are of course genetic but I believe that the main part depends on your way of living. It's not only the culture that matters but also the religion and the type of country you live in. These two naturally affects culture a lot and the culture affects them so there are no sharp limit between them. An example from the book is the Australians, whose culture is rather close to the English, but there are few Englishmen who would have liked the loneliness in the big country Australia, and even fewer Australians, (I think), would feel comfortable in the crowded England. Another example in the book that is more about religion and culture is the Japanese soldier who walked with the girls in Malaya when they got the stolen poultry from Joe. The soldier is abused by his captain and he finds it so humiliating that he looses his will to live. When he's infected by the fever he doesn't fight it and he dies. This is a mentality that is or maybe was very common in Japan. A person from the west would never feel so bad about loosing his face as a man from Japan. The differences between cultures can be something that maybe some of the persons would like to change if they got the possibilities but it has never occurred to them to do so because they are used to the way it is. In the book this is found amongst the Malayan women that has to work on the fields, look after the kids and sleep on the floor. I don't think that they would want to be repressed by the men , but they are too used to it change it. What I'm trying to say with this essay is that you can't tell if people are the A Town Like Alice: Discussion :: essays research papers A Town Like Alice: Discussion †Even though cultures differ, people are basically the same.† This is a statement that depends a lot on what you mean with basically. I think people are pretty much the same all around the world but and they definitely could end up being almost the same if they was raised in exactly the same way and had the exact same possibilities in life. If the basic characteristics are those you have when you're new-borned then I think it's obvious that they are almost the same, some things are of course genetic but I believe that the main part depends on your way of living. It's not only the culture that matters but also the religion and the type of country you live in. These two naturally affects culture a lot and the culture affects them so there are no sharp limit between them. An example from the book is the Australians, whose culture is rather close to the English, but there are few Englishmen who would have liked the loneliness in the big country Australia, and even fewer Australians, (I think), would feel comfortable in the crowded England. Another example in the book that is more about religion and culture is the Japanese soldier who walked with the girls in Malaya when they got the stolen poultry from Joe. The soldier is abused by his captain and he finds it so humiliating that he looses his will to live. When he's infected by the fever he doesn't fight it and he dies. This is a mentality that is or maybe was very common in Japan. A person from the west would never feel so bad about loosing his face as a man from Japan. The differences between cultures can be something that maybe some of the persons would like to change if they got the possibilities but it has never occurred to them to do so because they are used to the way it is. In the book this is found amongst the Malayan women that has to work on the fields, look after the kids and sleep on the floor. I don't think that they would want to be repressed by the men , but they are too used to it change it. What I'm trying to say with this essay is that you can't tell if people are the

Creative Professional Identity Paper

From birth, various actions I took led me down the long and winding path to my current career as a Labor and Delivery nurse. I became a nurse because I love blood, saving lives and cheating death. I love working weekends and holidays for extra money. I love the mobility and respect that comes with being a nurse. I love all the overtime I could ever want! Some Jobs are physically demanding. Some Jobs are mentally demanding. Some are emotionally demanding. Nursing is all three. Ask any person in another career about how much they learned after they finished their education and/or graduated ND went to work.Many will tell you that they learn nothing new. As an URN, you learn something new every day you go to work because every day comes with a new set of patients, regardless of what specialty you work in. As I continue my path as a future baccalaureate nurse, I will build a stronger focus on nursing theory, communication, and leadership. I'm very good at my Job. If you are sick and need help then come to me and I will help you. If I can't help or â€Å"fix† the problem, then by George, I will find someone who ill. I especially love poking people with needles and watching that first splash of blood inside the test tube.I love the adrenaline that comes along with the rush of an emergency cesarean and the matter of minutes you have between life and death. It's exhilarating. I love seeing how the disease process works ? in obstetrical patients, in their babies. I love looking at a person and thinking, â€Å"l can't believe they survived that. † I hate fetal demises for any reason, but crying with the family that has tried In vitro retaliation four times and Is finally holding a newborn in their arms Is an extraordinary moment that simply cannot be put into words.I really love educating people. This can be the highlight of my day. I love hearing their outrageous stories of self-entitlement. It allows a plethora of communication and learning between other n urses and is a great way to bond. As a baccalaureate- prepared nurse I will have better leadership abilities and different ways to educate others as well as teach myself. I believe having a BBS will Increase communication capableness. After becoming an URN, I learned to love the special moments I shared alone with patients.Coming from an ERR where I rarely got a â€Å"thank you† too Labor and Delivery Unit where families shower nurses with flowers, cards, and gifts to show their appreciation Is a huge change. I really do enjoy being that person thanked for helping them, and appreciate being rewarded for a job well done since I put my all Into everything that I do. I enjoyed upping my Income to $ask* per year from the salary I was making at a homely mom and pop diner where I held a witnessing gig pre-nursing.Finally, nursing isn't a Job for me, it's a livelihood. It's helping that first-time Mom bond with her baby, understand the postpartum process, what breastfeeding should a nd shouldn't feel like, and when to know when something Just â€Å"Isn't right† with her baby. As a baccalaureate-prepared nurse, I will continue using evidenced-based our facility. I will reach out and suggest change when it is needed. I treat my Job with respect and dignity. I try my best to cut out the drama and get straight to the point.These moms and dads chose the facility that employs me to liver their 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 8th child ? and the goal is to make that process go as smoothly as possible. Having a baby is right up there with getting married as far as a moment in time a woman will remember for the rest of her life. I truly make a difference here, and I make an impact on their lives. I labor these women for 12 hours at a time, sometimes on consecutive days, tirelessly watching fetal heart rate monitoring strips, and will Jump on an opportunity to call the physician if the slightest thing â€Å"seems off.Our goal is always a health mom and a healthy baby. In Labor and Delivery, we care for both the mother and the fetus, â€Å"invisible† as the baby may appear, it is still the second patient. And Just like certain situations from my upbringing shaped the person I am today, I am also able to influence each new life I bring into this world by giving these babies the best chance at developing their own personal identities ? whether they decide to become policemen, doctors, hairstylists, teachers, veterinarians, accountants, or maybe Just maybe, nurses.

Anthropology-African Religions

The roots of modern day Islam were sown a couple of centuries ago when the once proud Muslim empire began to be overwhelmed by expansionist movements dominated by European colonialists.This has led to a cultural turmoil in Muslim world who once used to live at the pinnacle of glory saw its silent burial with the meek subjugation of the Islamic Caliphate at the hands of mighty British army in early twentieth century. While a sizable section of the Muslims chose to follow the path shown by great statesman like Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, many continued to be festered by the wounds of humiliation.Now Muslims in many countries are looking to reassert themselves after a long period of humiliation and oppression, sometimes at the hands of foreigners and sometimes at the hands of their own leaders. Contrary to popular belief, Muslims are not a monolithic group, nor there is any centralized authority within Islam.The Islamic civilization from its birth has gone through debates and counter debates . Except for the Shahadah (God is one and Mohammad is his messenger) and the five mandatory duties (Hajj, Zakat, Roza, Namaz and Shahadah) everything else in Islam has been subjected to deep scrutiny and analysis with the result that many schools of thoughts kept appearing and disappearing.That is why contradictions are evident to people both inside and outside the Muslim community. The orientalists, the conventional authorities on Islam, have been accused of being essentialist and insensitive to the change, negotiation, development, and diversity that characterizes lived Islam.Some scholars, primarily anthropologists, have responded to the tendency to essentialize by giving up the idea of conceptualizing one â€Å"Islam† and instead have focused their inquiry on what they call various â€Å"local Islams.† Others have focused on sociological or political-economic approaches in explaining the modern forms of political and social activism among Muslims to the exclusion o f â€Å"scriptural† Islam from their analysis. (Anjum O., 2007)Islam was brought to Sub-Saharan Africa in the first place via the trade routes from the Arab countries and North Africa. The African Muslims have always maintained quite close links with the Arab world, from which a number of reformers came.But Islamisation was essentially carried out by Africans themselves, who shared the same life, spoke the same language, lived in the same cultural world entirely. There is no doubt that, for African Muslims,  «Africanicity » and Islam are in no way opposed. For them Islam is not an imported religion.For many, abandoning the Muslim religion is equivalent to the rejection of all their family and tribal traditions, so intermingled are the two socio-religious universes. One must conclude that Islam, in its traditional African form, is entirely a part of the African cultural heritage and thus an African reality. The long cohabitation of Islam with traditional African religion h as also had an effect at the cultural level.The African languages are in general languages with a concrete vocabulary, rather limited in the expression of more abstract realities or more developed reflections. With the Arabic language Islam has been able to fill a gap. Many African peoples, some scarcely touched by Islam, have borrowed a complete abstract, and especially religious, vocabulary from Arabic, with no more than the changes proper to the structure of each language.The relative success of Islam may be related to its compatibility with many aspects of African culture–for example, plural marriage for men, which was opposed by Christian missionaries. Nonetheless, Islam was also embraced because it provided symbolic identification with successful traders and travelers throughout the world, and it was seen as an alternative to European religion.Its agents were black, and it preached on behalf of those who lacked the trappings of Western civilization. These adaptations of local practices by the Islamists is not only unique in Cà ´te d'Ivoire, it has happened world over and plays an important role in shaping the thoughts and mind processes of the Muslims.

Para Qué sirve la Matrícula Consular en Estados Unidos

Para Quà © sirve la Matrà ­cula Consular en Estados Unidos  ¿Quà © Es la Matrà ­cula Consular? La matrà ­cula consular es un documento emitido por los consulados de algunos paà ­ses  que permite la identificacià ³n de los connacionales que residen en los Estados Unidos. La matrà ­cula se entrega a todas las personas que la solicitan y cumplen los requisitos, sin importar su estatus migratorio (dado que los inmigrantes ilegales no tienen otras formas de identificacià ³n, la matricula consular es la que ms usan para este fin). Consulados que emiten la matrà ­cula consular Los consulados que entregan matrà ­culas consulares a sus connacionales dentro de Estados Unidos son: Argentina, Colombia (Tarjeta de Registro Consular), Ecuador, Guatemala (Tarjeta de Identificacià ³n Consular) y Mà ©xico (Matrà ­cula Consular de Alta Seguridad).   Cada consulado establece los requisitos para otorgarla, pero en general se solicita: un documento que pruebe la ciudadanà ­a del solicitante (como pasaporte o acta de nacimiento)uno o varios documentos que prueben el lugar de residencia (recibos de electricidad, contractos de arrendamiento, facturas)una o ms fotos tamaà ±o pasaporteuna cuota de pago de hasta $30 Cada consulado puede pedir documentos adicionales. En el caso de Mexico, los requisitos son: Prueba de nacionalidad (pasaporte mexicano, certificado de nacionalidad mexicana, certificado de nacimiento en Mà ©xico, o declaracià ³n de nacionalidad mexicana)Prueba de identidad (licencia de manejar mexicana o estadounidense, una identificacià ³n emitida por un estado de los Estados Unidos, pasaporte mexicano o de Estados Unidos, permiso de trabajo, tarjeta de voto mexicana, o cualquier identificacià ³n con foto emitida por el gobierno de Mà ©xico)Prueba de residencia en Estados Unidos (identificacià ³n emitida por un organismo pà ºblico en el que conste la direccià ³n del solicitante, o una factura de servicios pà ºblicos)Pago de $27  ¿Para Quà © Sirve la Matrà ­cula Consular? La matrà ­cula consular sirve: Como identificacià ³n en los condados  y ciudades que la admiten, como Tucson, Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Denver, San Antonio  y ChicagoComo identificacià ³n en ms de 350 bancos y cooperativas de crà ©dito para abrir cuentas, cobrar cheques o enviar dinero al extranjero. Entre las instituciones financieras que admiten las matrà ­culas consulares  se destacan Bank of America, Banco Popular, Citibank, HSBC, JP Morgan Chase, Wachovia Bank, Washington Mutual y Wells FargoComo identificacià ³n para inscribir  nià ±os en la escuelaComo identificacià ³n para obtener tarjetas de la biblioteca pà ºblica.Como identificacià ³n para acceder a  servicios pà ºblicosComo identificacià ³n para sacar licencias para negociosComo identificacià ³n para ingresar a edificios pà ºblicos de las municipalidades que la admitenComo identificacià ³n para obtener algunos servicios sociales, como  el WIC para mujeres embarazadas y menoresComo identificacià ³n para solicitar el certificado de nacimiento de un hijo nacido en Estados Unidos. Tenga en cuenta que algunas ciudades han emitido sus propias tarjetas de identidad y estas pueden ser utilizadas por los inmigrantes con los mismos beneficios y para los mismos fines de las tarjetas consulares.  ¿Para Quà © No Sirve la Matrà ­cula Consular? La matrà ­cula consular no es: Un documento que muestra el estatus migratorio legal en los Estados Unidos.Un documento que permita trabajar legalmente. Un documento de identificacià ³n para la planilla I-9 en un trabajo nuevo.Un documento de identificacià ³n en edificios federales (USCIS o cortes migratorias).Un documento de identificacià ³n para vuelos nacionales.Un documento de identificacià ³n para ingresar a Estados Unidos.  ¿Es Riesgoso Utilizarla? La tarjeta consular no indica el estatus migratorio, en ella no hay pruebas escritas de la misma. Sin embargo, una autoridad podrà ­a considerar el uso de la matricula una razà ³n de sospecha de que la persona no cuenta con otro documento legal de identificacià ³n. Aà ºn asà ­, recuerde que las autoridades no pueden obligarle a responder a sus preguntas ms all de su nombre ni obligarlo a mostrar ningà ºn tipo de documento; si una autoridad lo interroga usted puede permanecer en silencio una vez haya dicho su nombre. En esa medida, la matricula consular es una buena opcià ³n para tramitar gestiones que requieran identificacià ³n. De lo contrario usted puede usar su ITIN (Nà ºmero de Identificacià ³n de Contribuyente Individual) que le provee el IRS si no tiene seguro social. Este nà ºmero tampoco lo autoriza para trabajar legalmente pero muchos inmigrantes ilegales lo usan para pagar sus impuestos por trabajo. Este es un artà ­culo informativo y no pretende ser asesorà ­a legal.

Research Paper Trifles4 Essays

Research Paper Trifles4 Essays Research Paper Trifles4 Essay Research Paper Trifles4 Essay Essay Topic: Trifles Silence Killing Susan Glaspell’s â€Å"Trifles†, Suzy Clarkson Holstein and Judith Kay Russell give almost the same aspect of the story, one of the stories talk about the play being â€Å"dramatic and deceptive† and the other of being â€Å"artsy and silence justice† which both represents the story uniquely the same; which I agree with both articles meaning. The story is one about a woman who felt like a prisoner in her own home. The story is a play that becomes one of the most fulfilling of a nineteenth century love and killing of the spirit. I will be talking about the other articles that I have found about â€Å"Trifles†. Susan Glaspell wrote the play â€Å"Trifles† which originated in the 1900’s that is about a woman who lost her spirit and who quietly killed her husband from taking her spirit away from living a outgoing life. The play is about a murder that happened at a farmhouse and there is the sheriff and their wives looking for evidence of her silent killing of her husband. The story is a true mastery that only the women that are her neighbors knew where to look for evidence of Mrs. Write. Suzy Clarkson Holstein’s article is the â€Å"profound conflict between two models of perception and behavior† (282). The article gives a way of life of in the nineteenth-century of a woman’s actions and the men’s and moral choices of gender. It comes out to be a â€Å"power of silence† (283). It’s kind of a sexist kind of away, due to the fact the sheriff and officer was digging around in the garage, while the women were inside of the house, and found all of the evidence. This article gets in detail with the preserved fruits and the meaning of why there are all broken, just the thought of canning the fruit and preserving them. Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peter are the sheriff and officers wife. While they dig around in Mrs. Write’s personal areas in the house, he find all of the evidence that Mrs. Write killed her husband.. They don’t show their husbands, they keep it silence also. They know how Mrs. Write feels, and why she did what she did.

Matching Your Market

Matching Your Market Several times this week Ive declined advertisers. I know. Why turn down money, right? But they wanted to advertise romance, fantasy and childrens books in FundsforWriters. Nothing against those souls. They are seeking venues to sell their books, and FundsforWriters has a sizeable following. Im actually flattered they come to me with their lovely babies. I write. I get that. But as I try to tactfully explain to them, they arent reaching their audience via my newsletter. FundsforWriters is a sea of writers, all dreaming about one day selling enough of their words to earn a living. They arent signing up to see what other writers are selling. They dont want to buy childrens books, womens fiction, sci-fi or poetry. They want to know how to be a successful writer. They are the competition, not the audience these advertisers seek. You might ask why I sell my mysteries in my newsletters, but they are part of my brand. I fully understand that a gross minority of the readers are not mystery fans, but since Im connected to this readership, I toss my books out there for consideration. Also, much of the readership has seen how Ive traveled from novice to freelancer to struggling author to an agented author to a traditional author who also chose hybrid. Its a journey to learn from. Or at least I hope it is. But it would be an injustice for me to take money from people to advertise their books. And it would be an injustice for me to put advertising in FundsforWriters that doesnt jive with the mission of FFW. The point is, you need to stop and think about who reads your type of book. Then you head out and find them. How? Identify: 1) your genre 2) the age of your reader 3) the geography of your work 4) the time period of your work 5) the gender the book leans toward (it can be both, or one over another) 6) the leaders in your genre Then find places online and in your community that connect somehow to one or more of these traits. Write guest blog posts. Participate in chats. Volunteer to help a cause. Offer to speak at libraries, bookstores and clubs. There are Twitter chats, Google+ interviews, Skype, your blog, professional groups with their forums, and more. Be seen. Be heard. People dont just want books anymore. They want the author, too. Whether you like it or not, you have to become a brand and develop a face, because books are a dime a dozen. But dont waste your time scattering your book anywhere and everywhere. Strategically place it where you think your readership resides. Time is precious. Use it wisely.

Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 7

Marketing - Essay Example eryday city driving because its McPherson front axle offers high levels of driving safety, making it an excellent choice for everyday drivers as well who can enjoy the driving experience with relative safety ensured. The car is priced above $100,000. In devising an effective marketing plan for the Porsche, the market must be segmented so that target marketing can be directed at the appropriate segment that is most likely to purchase the new cars. Smith originally defined market segmentation as follows: â€Å"†¦..viewing a heterogeneous market as a number of smaller homogenous markets, in response to differing preferences, attributable to the desires of customers for precise satisfaction of their varying wants.† (Smith, 1965:5). In effectively marketing a sports car such as the Porsche, which is priced in the luxury car range, it may be necessary to direct marketing efforts towards a cosmopolitan, city area where there would be an adequate number of customers in the high income ranges. The city of Melbourne offers excellent potential for the Porsche 91 Turbo car, since it is experiencing rapid growth – for example, between 2000 to 2002, employment grew by 5.4%, while between 2002 and 2004, it grew by an additional 2%. (Profile, 2005). Segmentation is one of the essential ideas in marketing discipline, however it has evolved over time from purely descriptive factors of customers to benefit segmentation as a tool to identify factors that may influence future purchasing behavior.(Haley, 1968). According to Baker (1988), if market segmentation is to prove to be viable, then the following tools should apply: (a) viability (b) sustainability (c) responsiveness (d) stability (e) accessibility and (f) actionability. Benefit segmentation is a method that aids in the development of products and services that are of actual benefit to customers, therefore firstly, it is necessary to identify the kind of customers who may be benefited by the Porsche 911 Turbo car. For

Decision Usefulness approach vs. Measurement Approach Research Paper

Decision Usefulness approach vs. Measurement Approach - Research Paper Example This research will begin with the Decision Useful Approach. This approach motivates the application of decision models. The approach is based on the concept that if financial statements cannot be prepared correctly, then financial statements must be presented in such a manner so as to reflect useful information focusing on users and the decision problems that they face. The approach assumes that if the financial and accounting is useful to investors, then trading volume of stocks should experience a surge and securities prices are also expected to increase or respond in predictable manner relative to publicly available accounting information. The Single-Pearson decision theory aims to understand how an investor makes rational decisions under circumstances of certainty. The theory appreciates the concept of information and enables decision makers to keep informed and modernize their beliefs. The concept uses the publicly available financial statements as source of information. The rat ionale or principle of portfolio diversification is as follows: Maintain a balance between risk and return Assurance that the different securities held for investment are negatively correlated which will give an assurance of protection in case of any market shortfall and an expectation of positive returns. Diversification of investment reduces the risk underlying the investment. Investment in a single stock of a particular company increases the substantial risk attached with the particular investment. The Optimal Portfolio Investment The concept of optimal investment falls under modern portfolio theory and assumes that investors prefer to minimize risk while striving for maximizing their expected returns. (Source: Spreadsheetml.com, http://www.spreadsheetml.com/finance/freeportfoliooptimization.shtml, 2013) The theory states investors will act rationally and thus they will always make decisions that will aim at maximizing their expected return for given tolerable level of risk. Portfolio Risk It is one of the concepts used in risk-return analysis that gives an estimate of actual returns relative to expected returns of an investment. Important factors which are considered in measuring portfolio risks are standard

Club IT's Information Management Needs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Club IT's Information Management Needs - Essay Example To make it clear and execute effectively I visited the website of Club IT to get more information. It helped me to comprehend the basic structure of the informational technology resources available to them and to implement strategies that can attract more clients. With this in mind, I recollected the five strategies that companies use to achieve competitive advantage in their industries. They are, Cost Leadership strategy-produce products and services at the lower cost in the industry Differentiation strategy-It offers different products, services or products features Innovation strategy- introduce new products and services, put new features in existing products and service and develop new ways to produce them Operational effectiveness strategy: improved the manner in which internal business process is executed so that a firm performs similar activities. Customer-orientation strategy: It is to follow the basic principle of focusing on customers and be at the best.( Rainer & Turban, p . 52) After reviewing the place and its needs I have decided that the best strategy for competitive advantage for Club IT is to use the Customer-Orientation Strategy. The Club IT’s Mission is "We, Ruben and Lisa, offer you live music, DJ's, dance space and refreshments that suit your lifestyle. You are our friends, and we seek to build a community that meets regularly at Club IT" (â€Å"About Club It†, n.d.).This reflects that the club wants to provide friendly environment. The entertainment that they get from the live music and the dance space allows them to be a part of Club IT for a longer period of time. The primary clientele that I have come across is young aged to mid age like 20’s and 30’s.They are jubilant at the fun-filled place and mostly are music lovers with high spirits. It helped me to focus on this section and to enhance the IT resources that are available. The Club IT’s information include intranet resources and it can be well utili zed to the advantage of the clients. It can be managed by a Club In charge or a Manager who is well versed with the computer usage. I suggested that the software can be upgraded to upload the photos of the clients, e-mail address and so forth. It would be a good practice to enter the clients’ name and basic information at the entrance so that we can have track on the number of people visit daily and to give special preference to regular customers. This helps the management to avoid any discrepancy caused by under-aged drinkers. The best part would be to have track of the regular customer record and show them the gratitude and allow them to enter the place without any normal proceedings. They can have suggestions box in the website to get feedback once they visit the place. They can use around 2 to 4 computers as the place is small. The files have to be updated in an accurate manner. This type of software is a lifesaver for clubs, there is not much maintenance needed. The Cust omer-Orientation Strategy would be the right one to follow as its inclination is towards making the customer happy. The foremost step is to make the existing clients happy and to do so we can use the information that they provided and give them the details of the coverage of events through e-newsletters. The database that the club follows must have the information of the clients like the email

Introduction to Psycology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Introduction to Psycology - Essay Example Psychology is an amalgamation of knowledge acquired either through theories read, through education and logical and scientific connection of mental operations and behavior or performance. It is an understanding developed through knowledge and skills to numerous areas of human activities, encompassing concerns of daily activities viz. education, actions, populace and their task, employment, association, involvement, relationship as well as the treatment of mental health difficulties (Psychology and Its Importance). All this can never be attained through common sense unless an individual go through a proper training and accomplish methodical and systematic knowledge. Common sense is developed when we experience a situation, and is a gradual process unless an individual witness it but the judgment and insight to grasp the circumstances is realized when we have an in-depth awareness and background information about the reaction of the situation posed. It is here the psychology plays the role. Even if one is not exposed to the similar situation in past but still have immense potential to tackle the situation and reach the solution; because psychology engage various sub-areas of study and relevance related with different aspects of human development, sports education, physical condition, business, media as well as the regulation, investigation from the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities. Psychology is imperative as it engross the study of behavior and mental processes. Each and every action performed is very much related to or with psychology. Psychology, primarily studies who and what we are, why we are like that, why we act and think like that and what we could be as a person (Psychology and Its Importance). Psychology is approved to have a firm place in the treatment of various diseases such as Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease and some other Neurological diseases. Researchers are conducting studies to develop an understanding to treat the patients through psychotherapy apart from medicines to alleviate different illnesses. Moreover, psychology teaches us to control mind, uncontrolled and unguided mind will drag us down (Psychology and Its Importance). The processes of social and family relations, career development and political organization take on new meaning when comparing the environmental influences on behavior. In examining the impact of environmental influences, explain how culture impacts behavior. In particular, describe how the differences between individualist and collectivist cultures manifest themselves when considering these three processes. Explain how these differences affect personal identity and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of these two cultural perspectives. Psychology aids in building and strengthening relationship making everyday lives better, it improve daily communication, through effective speaking, comprehending the actions and gestures, builds self confidence and hence enriches careers, by understanding co-workers and their behaviors and dealings (Psychology and Its Importance). Various literatures on the psychological significance contribute to our understanding of the exchange relationship between employees and their employer. (Thomas, 2003). Individualism stands for a society in which the ties between persons are loose: everybody is predictable to look after himself or herself and his or her immediate family. Individuals belonging to this

Homework Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 30

Homework - Essay Example The incident that included not seeing birds when they were there all along stems from the inability to completely focus that could have helped in watching the organisms in the tree. The being analyzed work is discussing a reality that humans tend to see what they cardinally expect to see and therefore, they do that anyway. In a mental hospital a man was seeing eight fingers instead for four because he is willing to do that. However, the perception of the humans do not change the reality but does so with one’s life as individuals are significantly noticed to base their decisions in life on their judgments which are dependent on their perception. In this way, humans create their own reality and very few of them are able to know what actually lies out there. The actual knowledge can be gathered with the help of following logic and realistic thinking and have you ever used them in order to find out the reality of the

Lucy vs. Zehmer Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Lucy vs. Zehmer - Essay Example The instrument the Lucys were seeking to enforce stated: â€Å"We hereby agree to sell to W.O. Lucy the Ferguson Farm complete for $50,000, title satisfactory to buyer.† It was written by A.H. Zehmer, and was duly signed by both A.H. and I.S. Zehmer. The defense of A.H. Zehmer was that he considered the offer of Lucy to purchase Ferguson as a joke, and at the time they signed the document both of the respondents were drunk. Zehmer also stated that while he did write the document, to him it was more of a response to a dare, as he did not believe that Lucy could afford $50,000, something he outrightly told the latter. In fact, although Zehmer wrote the contract, he did not deliver it, but Lucy picked it up, read it and put it in his pocket. At this point, Lucy offered $5 earnest money to seal the contract, but realizing he was serious, Zehmer refused to accept the money and instead told Lucy that had no intentions to sell Ferguson. On the other hand, Lucy contended that the sale was a done deal. He argued that at no time did he believe Zehmer to be joking. When Zehmer mentioned that Lucy would not be able to afford his price, Lucy assured him that he could. This was the reason Lucy immediately thereafter asked the help of his brother who agreed to share interests in the purchase. The lower court decided that Lucy had not proven his right to specific performance, and the case was dismissed. ... However, if the contract remains valid, then the Lucys are entitled to its specific performance. 3. The court's decision on those issues The Supreme Court of Virginia ruled that a valid contract had been created when the Zehmers set their signatures to the instrument, creating an obligation on either side to meet its terms as contained in the document. The claim of Zehmer that he was merely drunk, and at the same time only joking (i.e., did not really intend to sell), is not sufficient to invalidate the existing contract. The complainants are entitled to the specific performance of the contested contract. The decision of the lower court is therefore reversed, and the case is remanded. 4. The rationale the court used in reaching those decisions The Supreme Court decided that Zehmer’s contention that he did not really intend to offer his property for sale does not hold water. It is true that normally, the law of contracts requires that the parties to the contract mutually consen ted to it. However, given certain cases such as this one, it is not so important for the parties to mentally agree to the forming of the contract; what is important is that the acts and words of one of the parties convey the reasonable meaning of such intention to the other party, that is, that the parties appeared serious in their intent to transact (Patterson, p. 74). A binding contract of sale therefore existed between the two parties, whether or not the response of the Zehmers was serious or in jest, because one party (Lucy) made a serious offer, and took their response to be likewise a serious answer to his offer. â€Å"Intentions of the parties to a contract are determined by a reasonable interpretation of their manifest conduct and expression. Unexpressed

Homework Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 30

Homework - Essay Example The incident that included not seeing birds when they were there all along stems from the inability to completely focus that could have helped in watching the organisms in the tree. The being analyzed work is discussing a reality that humans tend to see what they cardinally expect to see and therefore, they do that anyway. In a mental hospital a man was seeing eight fingers instead for four because he is willing to do that. However, the perception of the humans do not change the reality but does so with one’s life as individuals are significantly noticed to base their decisions in life on their judgments which are dependent on their perception. In this way, humans create their own reality and very few of them are able to know what actually lies out there. The actual knowledge can be gathered with the help of following logic and realistic thinking and have you ever used them in order to find out the reality of the

Analysis of Personal and Organizational Ethics and Values between Assignment

Analysis of Personal and Organizational Ethics and Values between For-Profit and Not-for-Profit Organizations - Assignment Example On the other hand, in a for-profit organization, the organization is operated with the sole purpose of returning profit to its owners and are subjected to paying taxes (Business Dictionary, 2013). The distinctive feature between for-profit and not-for-profit organizations is for-profit organization dispenses profits to its owners while not-for-profit do not. Also, when it occurs that a for-profit organization becomes bankrupt or goes out of business, then its assets will be liquidated and the fund distributed to the shareholders or owners, while when a not-for-profit organization ceases to be, its assets have to be given to another not-for-profit organization. There are however similarities between the two organizations. Both wish to accomplish objectives using management techniques and business tactics that are manly applied in for-profit organizations. The not-for-profit organization that we will be examining is American Red Cross (2013), because it is well organized and has all the properties of a not for-profit organization. Walmart (2013) a for-profit organization will also be examined, because it houses all the properties of a for-profit organization. Both of these mentioned organizations are worth examining when looking at personal and organization or business ethics. There are three business ethic theories that we will observe. These include divine command, virtue and social theory. Austin (2006) describes divine command theory as a view where morality is in some way dependent upon God, and moral obligation entails obedience to God’s commands. A person running a business based on divine command theory would want to use God’s commands to run the business where the employer will treat the employees just as he want to be treated. For instance, if the business is producing running shoes and there is excess work remaining for the day and allowed extra working time has passed, the employer should let the employees go home. This is because in

Speaker Independent Speech Recognizer Development

Speaker Independent Speech Recognizer Development Chapter 4 Methodology and Implementation This chapter describes the methodology and implementation of the speaker independent speech recognizer for the Sinhala language and the Android mobile application for voice dialing. Mainly there are two phases of the research. First one is to build the speaker independent Sinhala speech recognizer to recognize the digits spoken in Sinhala language. The second phase is to build an android application by integrating the trained speech recognizer. This chapter covers the tools, algorithms, theoretical aspects, the models and the file structures used for the entire research process. 4.1Research phase 1: Build the speaker independent Sinhala speech recognizer for recognizing the digits. In this section the development of the speaker independent Sinhala speech recognizer is described, step by step. It includes the phonetic dictionary, language model, grammar file, acoustic speech database and the trained acoustic model creation. 4.1.1 Data preparation This system is a Sinhala speech recognition voice dial and since there is no such speech database which is done earlier was available, the speech has to be taken from the scratch to develop the system. Data collection The first stage of any speech recognizer is the collection of sound signals. Database should contain a variety of enough speakers recording. The size of the database is compared to the task we handle. For this application only little number of words was considered. This research aims only the written Sinhala vocabulary that can be applied for voice dialing. Altogether twelve words were considered with the ten numbers including two initial calling words â€Å"amatanna† and â€Å"katakaranna†. Here the Database has two parts, the training part and the testing part. Usually about 1/10th of the full speech data is used to the testing part. In this research 3000 speech samples were used for training and 150 speech samples were used for testing. Speech database Before collecting data, a speech database was created. The database was included with the Sinhala speech samples taken from variety of people who were in different age levels. Since there was no such database published anywhere for Sinhala language relevant for voice dialing, speech had to be collected from Sinhala native speakers. Prompt sheet To create the speech database, the first step was to prepare the prompt sheet having a list of sentences for all the recordings. Here it used 100 sentences that are different from each other by generating the numbers randomly. 50 sentences are starting with the word â€Å"amatanna† while the other half is starting with the word â€Å"katakaranna†. The prompt sheet used for this research is given in the Appendix A. Recording The prepared sentences in the prompt sheet were recorded by using thirty (30) native speakers since this is speaker independent application. The speakers were selected according to the age limits and divided them into eight age groups. Four people were selected from each group except one age group. Two females and two males were included into each age group. One group only contained two people with one female and one male. Each speaker was given 100 sentences to speak and altogether 3000 speech samples were recorded for training. The description of speakers such as gender and age can be found in Appendix A. If there was an error in the recording due to the background noise and filler sounds, the speaker was asked to repeat it and got the correct sound signal. Since the proposed system is a discrete system, the speakers have to make a short pause at the start and end of the recording and also between the words when they were uttered. Speech was recorded in a quiet room and the recordi ngs were done at nights by using a condenser recorder microphone. The sounds were recorded under the sampling rate of 44.1 kHz using mono channel and they were saved under *.wav format. Sampling frequency and format of speech audio files Speech recording files were saved in the file format of MS WAV. The â€Å"Praatâ€Å" software was used to convert the 44.1 kHz sampling frequency signals to 16 kHz frequency signals since the frequency should be 16kHz of the training samples. Audio files were recorded in a medium length of 11 seconds. Since there should be a silence in the beginning and the end of the utterance and it should not be exceeded 0.2 seconds, the â€Å"Praat† software was used to edit all 3000 sound signals. 4.1.2 Pronunciation dictionary The pronunciation dictionary was implemented by hand since the number of words used for the voice dialing system is very few. It is used only 12 words from the Sinhala vocabulary. To create the dictionary, the International Phonetic Alphabet for Sinhala Language and the previously created dictionaries by CMU Sphinx were used. But the acoustic phones were taken mostly by studying the different types of databases given by the Carnegie Mellon University’s Sphinx Forum (CMU Sphinx Forum). Two dictionaries were implemented for this system. One is for the speech utterances and the other one is for filler sounds. The filler sounds contain the silences in the beginning, middle and at the end of the speech utterances. The attachment of the two types of dictionaries can be found on the Appendix A. They are referred to as the languagedictionaryand thefiller dictionary. 4.1.3 Creating the grammar file The grammar file also created by hand since the number of words used for the system is very few. The JSGF (JSpeech Grammar Format) format was used to implement the grammar file. The grammar file can be found in Appendix A. 4.1.4 Building the language model Word search is restricted by a language model. It identifies the matching words by comparing the previously recognized words by the model and restricts the matching process by taking off the words that are not possible to be. N-gram language model is the most common language models used nowadays. It is a finite state language model and it contains statistics of word sequences. In search space where restriction is applied, a good accuracy rate can be obtained if the language model is a very successful one. The result is the language model can predict the next word properly. It usually restricts the word search which are included the vocabulary. The language model was built using the cmuclmtk software. First of all the reference text was created and that text (svd.text) can be found in Appendix A. It was written in a specific format. The speech sentences were delimited byandtags. Then the vocabulary file was generated by giving the following command. text2wfreq svd.vocab Then the generated vocabulary file was edited to remove words (numbers and misspellings). When finding misspellings, they were fixed in the input reference text. The generated vocabulary file (svd.vocab) can be found in the Appendix A. Then the ARPA format language model was generated using these commands. text2idngram -vocab svd.vocab -idngram svd.idngram idngram2lm -vocab_type 0 -idngram svd.idngram -vocab svd.vocab –arpa svd.arpa Finally the CMU binary of language model (DMP file) was generated using the command sphinx_lm_convert -i svd.arpa -o svd.lm.DMP The final output containing the language model needed for the training process is svd.lm.dmp file. This is a binary file. 4.1.5Acoustic model Before starting the acoustic model creation, the following file structure was arranged as described by the CMU Sphinx tool kit guide. The name of the speech database is â€Å"svd† (Sinhala Voice Dial). The content of these files is given in Appendix A. svd.dic -Phonetic dictionary svd.phone -Phoneset file svd.lm.DMP -Language model svd.filler -List of fillers svd _train.fileids -List of files for training svd _train.transcription -Transcription for training svd _test.fileids -List of files for testing svd _test.transcription -Transcription for testing All these files were included in to one directory and it was named as â€Å"etc†. The speech samples of wav files were included in to another directory and named it as â€Å"wav†. These two directories were included in to another directory and named it using the name of the database (svd). Before starting the training process, there should be another directory that contains the â€Å"svd† and the required compilation package â€Å"pocketsphinx†, â€Å"sphinxbase† and â€Å"sphinxtrain† directories. All the packages and the â€Å"svd† directory were put into another directory and started the training process. Setting up the training scripts The command prompt terminal is used to run the scripts of the training process. Before starting the process, terminal was changed to the database â€Å"svd† directory and then the following command was run. python ../sphinxtrain/scripts/sphinxtrain –t svd setup This command copied all the required configuration files into etc sub directory of the database directory and prepared the database for training. The two configuration files created were feat.params and sphinx_train.cfg. These two are given in Appendix A. Set up the database These values were filled in at configuration time. The Experiment name, will be used to name model files and log files in the database. $CFG_DB_NAME = svd; $CFG_EXPTNAME = $CFG_DB_NAME; Set up the format of database audio Since the database contains speech utterances with the ‘wav’ format and they were recorded using MSWav, the extension and the type were given accordingly as â€Å"wav† and â€Å"mswav†. $CFG_WAVFILES_DIR = $CFG_BASE_DIR/wav; $CFG_WAVFILE_EXTENSION = wav; $CFG_WAVFILE_TYPE = mswav; # one of nist, mswav, raw Configure Path to files This process was done automatically when having the right file structure in the running directory. The naming of the files must be very accurate. The paths were assigned to the variables used in main training of models. $CFG_DICTIONARY = $CFG_LIST_DIR/$CFG_DB_NAME.dic; $CFG_RAWPHONEFILE = $CFG_LIST_DIR/$CFG_DB_NAME.phone; $CFG_FILLERDICT = $CFG_LIST_DIR/$CFG_DB_NAME.filler; $CFG_LISTOFFILES = $CFG_LIST_DIR/${CFG_DB_NAME}_train.fileids; $CFG_TRANSCRIPTFILE = $CFG_LIST_DIR/${CFG_DB_NAME}_train.transcription; $CFG_FEATPARAMS = $CFG_LIST_DIR/feat.params; Configure model type and model parameters The model type continuous and semi continuous can be used in pocket sphinx. Continuous type is used for continuous speech recognition. Semi continuous is used for discrete speech recognition process. Since this application use discrete speech the semi continuous model training was used. #$CFG_HMM_TYPE = .cont.; # Sphinx 4, Pocketsphinx $CFG_HMM_TYPE = .semi.; # PocketSphinx $CFG_FINAL_NUM_DENSITIES = 8; # Number of tied states (senones) to create in decision-tree clustering $CFG_N_TIED_STATES = 1000; The number of senones used to train the model is indicated in this value. The sound can be chosen accurately if the number of senones is higher. But if we use too much senones, then it may not be able to recognize the unseen sounds. So the Word Error Rate can be very much higher on unseen sounds. The approximate number of senones and number of densities is provided in the table below. Configure sound feature parameters The default parameter used for sound files in Sphinx is a rate of 16 thousand samples per second (16KHz). If this is the case, then the etc/feat.params file will be automatically generated with the recommended values. The Recommended values are: # Feature extraction parameters $CFG_WAVFILE_SRATE = 16000.0; $CFG_NUM_FILT = 40; # For wideband speech its 40, for telephone 8khz reasonable value is 31 $CFG_LO_FILT = 133.3334; # For telephone 8kHz speech value is 200 $CFG_HI_FILT = 6855.4976; # For telephone 8kHz speech value is 3500 Configure decoding parameters The following were properly configured in theetc/sphinx_train.cfg. $DEC_CFG_DICTIONARY = $DEC_CFG_BASE_DIR/etc/$DEC_CFG_DB_NAME.dic; $DEC_CFG_FILLERDICT = $DEC_CFG_BASE_DIR/etc/$DEC_CFG_DB_NAME.filler; $DEC_CFG_LISTOFFILES = $DEC_CFG_BASE_DIR/etc/${DEC_CFG_DB_NAME}_test.fileids; $DEC_CFG_TRANSCRIPTFILE = $DEC_CFG_BASE_DIR/etc/${DEC_CFG_DB_NAME}_test.transcription; $DEC_CFG_RESULT_DIR = $DEC_CFG_BASE_DIR/result; # These variables, used by the decoder, have to be user defined, and # may affect the decoder output $DEC_CFG_LANGUAGEMODEL_DIR = $DEC_CFG_BASE_DIR/etc; $DEC_CFG_LANGUAGEMODEL = $DEC_CFG_LANGUAGEMODEL_DIR/ ${CFG_DB_NAME}.lm.DMP; Training After setting all these paths and parameters in the configuration file as described above, the training was proceeded. To start the training process the following command was run. python ../sphinxtrain/scripts/sphinxtrain run Scripts launched jobs on the machine, and it took few minutes to run. Acoustic Model After the training process, the acoustic model was located in the following path in the directory. Only this folder is needed for the speech recognition tasks. model_parameters/svd.cd_semi_200 We need only that folder for the speech recognition tasks we have to perform. 4.1.6Testing Results 150 speech samples were used as testing data. The aligning results could be obtained after the training process. It was located in the following path in the database directory. results/svd.align 4.1.7Parameters to be optimized Word error rate WER was given as a percentage value. It was calculated according to the following equation Accuracy Accuracy was also given as a percentage. That is the opposite value of the WER. It was calculated using the following equation To obtain an optimal recognition system, the WER should be minimized and the accuracy should be maximized. The parameters of the configuration file were changed time to time and obtained an optimal recognition system where the WER was the minimum with a high accuracy rate. 4.2Research phase 2: Build the voice dialing mobile application. In this section, the implementation of voice dialer for android mobile application is described. The application was developed using the programming language JAVA and it was done using the Eclipse IDE. It was tested in both the emulator and the actual device. The application is able to recognize the spoken digits by any speaker and dial the recognized number. To do this process the trained acoustic model, the pronunciation dictionary, the language model and the grammar files were needed. The speech recognition was performed by using these models in the mobile device itself by using the pocketsphinx library. It is a library written in C language to use for embedded speech recognition devices in Android platform. The step by step implementation and integration of the necessary components were discussed in detail in this section. Resource Files When inputting the resource files to the Android application, they were added in to theassets/directory of the project. Then the physical path was given to make them available for pocketsphinx. After adding them, the Assets directory contained the following resource files. Dictionary svd.dic svd.dic.md5 Grammar digits.gram digits.gram.md5 menu.gram menu.gram.md5 Language model svd.lm.DMP svd.lm.DMP.md5 Acoustic Model feat.params feat.params.md5 mdef mdef.md5 means means.md5 mixture_weights mixture_weights.md5 noisedict noisedict.md5 transition_matrices transition_matrices.md5 variances variances.md5 Assets.lst models/dict/svd.dic models/grammar/digits.gram models/grammar/menu.gram models/hmm/en-us-semi/feat.params models/hmm/en-us-semi/mdef models/hmm/en-us-semi/means models/hmm/en-us-semi/mixture_weights models/hmm/en-us-semi/noisedict models/hmm/en-us-semi/sendump models/hmm/en-us-semi/transition_matrices models/hmm/en-us-semi/variances models/lm/svd.lm.DMP Setup the Recognizer First of all the recognizer should be set up by adding the resource files. The model parameters taken after the training process were added as the HMM in the application. The recognition process was depended mainly on this resource files. Since the grammar files and the language model were added as assets, these two can be used for the recognition process of the application as well as the HMM. The utterances can be recognized from either the grammar files or language model. The whole process is coded using the Java programing language. 4.3Architecture of the developed Speech Recognition System

Essay --

MEDIATION ANALYSIS ESSAY – 1994-95 MAJOR BASEBALL LEAGUE STRIKE MSgt ANGELA SANDERS AIR FORCE SENIOR NONCOMMISSIONED OFFICER ACADEMY DECEMBER 2, 2014 INSTRUCTOR: SMSgt THOMAS HOLMES How could baseball team owners lose $580 million in revenue and baseball players lose $230 million in salary pay in one year? The 1994-95 Major Baseball League 232 day strike lead to millions of dollars lost and millions of fans frustrated by what they say was an act of war. The mediation between Major League Baseball team owners and baseball players was ineffective in delivering a bargaining agreement that would protect the players from being used by the owners for the benefit of their businesses. First, I will provide some background information about the baseball strike followed by cross cultural competence factors and how they affected the event. Next, we will look at the negotiation factors that will include the TIPO model and negotiation strategies. Finally, I will give some highlights and effects of the mediation process. Now, let's look at one of the most famous baseball strikes of all times. The 1994-95 baseball strike was the fourth strike in 22 years and has been known as the worst strike in sports history. The major impact was approximately 948 games canceled along with the World Series resulting in millions of dollars lost. Team owners proposed a salary cap agreement to the players due to difficult financial situations the league was experiencing. The owners said that teams needed to share broadcasting revenues to make it equal amongst the teams to prevent market clubs from falling. This meant that smaller teams would not lose their bigger players to teams that c... ...iation factors. We learned that the selfishness of one person or group of people can have a major ripple effect on other things. Sometimes not fast forwarding and looking into the future of effects are not realize until it actually takes place. Unfortunately, in this situation that is exactly what happened and effected an entire nation. REFERENCES Source A 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike. (2013, November 9). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 17:14, November 29, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1994%E2%80%9395_Major_League_Baseball_strike&oldid=580905114 Source B Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services. (2013, November 29). In Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services, Collective Bargaining. Retrieved 11:08, November 29, 2013 from http://www.fmcs.gov/internet/searchResults.asp?categoryID=81

Animal Testing Essay -- essays research papers fc

Animal Testing   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  More and more animals are being taken form their natural habitats and tested on every year. Researchers, scientists, and companies just trying to make new products are using animals to further their experiments. If animal testing continues to happen at this rate then their will be no animals left to use for food, study, or even for simple amusement. When the animals are being taken form their natural environments it harms the natural food chain and other ways of life. When people abusing the animal’s rights they make the animals suffer and decrease their overall population. Many people are trying to find ways to end this hurting of nature. Some people find different ways like using computer simulations and other new sources. Many animals are dying everyday from humans testing on them. These animals have been tested on for research, drug use, and to test company products. Testing on animals leads to more diseases occurring. There are many groups assembling to stop the scientists and researchers from hurting the animals. Some people try and argue the reasons for why animals are being abused. Some say that it is for science and to expand our knowledge.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are many new forms of diseases being found everyday. A major cause of these new diseases is testing on animals. Many scientists and researchers find that new forms of diseases or showing up from exposing new substances to animals.(Hart, Snyder pg#1+) Research at the Barrow Neurological institute in Phoenix has shown that injecting cancer cells into beagle puppy’s brains has caused a new, different form of cancer. (Hart, Snyder pg#1+)Another way diseases are spreading is the fact that people in Korea are eating dogs and passing different diseases between spaces. Many people that are not testing on live animals are contracting diseases too. (Texley pg#1+) Some students in an Alabama school caught a slightly different case of the flu from dissecting dead frogs in biology class.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Many groups have been formed to stop animals from being abused and tested on for selfish reasons. Animals are being tortured and killed for some companies to test their products. (Motavalli pg#3+) Many people in there groups are going to law schools in America that offer animal rights law. Animal righ... ... this is aloud to continue. People will keep trying and finding ways to save the animals and still further science. I feel that animal’s rights should not be violated for the sake of science. I feel life should not be traded off for simple research. Works Cited â€Å"A Big First Step in Reducing Animal Testing.† NIH News Release. December 28, 1999. SIRS. January 5, 2005.www.sirs.com. Balcombe, Jonathan. â€Å"Anything but Routine.† Good Medicine. Autumn 2003. SIRS.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  January 14, 2005. www.sirs.com. Balcombe, Jonathan. â€Å"Stress and Substance Abuse.† Good Medicine. Spring 2003. SIRS.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  January 14, 2005. www.sirs.com. Hart, Bill and Kerry Fehr-Snyder. â€Å"Almost Human.† Arizona Republic. December 10, 2000. SIRS. January 14, 2005. www.sirs.com. Morrison, Adrian R. â€Å"What’s Wrong with Animal Rights.† American School Board   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Journal. January 1992. SIRS. January 14, 2005. www.sirs.com. Motavalli, Jim. â€Å"Rights from Wrong.† E Magazine. March-April 2003. SIRS. January 14, 2005. www.sirs.com. Texley, Julian A. â€Å"Doing Without Dissection.† American School Board Journal. January 1992. SIRS. January 14, 2005. www.sirs.com.

Individual Assignmnet

Throughout the simulator, learners figure out the lease rates or how many flats are leased out for a given month. A microeconomic idea that separated itself at the beginning of the simulator was the use of the phrase â€Å"monopoly'. The simulated control company has a monopoly In the lease area within Atlantis. I regarded It to be a microeconomic idea in that it was restricted to a certain area. On a macroeconomic range, it would not hold true because of the fact that there are several lease control companies throughout the world.The second microeconomic idea from the simulator was the situation In which the university student Is to figure out a per onto lease amount that will eliminate the discrepancy between amount required and amount provided at the lease amount of $1550 (University of Phoenix, 2003). I consider this to be a microeconomic idea because each market or area has its own standard for amount required which definitely Impacts how much Is provided. An example of this is that of unique automobiles.There are a small number of these automobiles in need which results in the producers of these automobiles to develop only a restricted amount. A macroeconomic idea that revealed through In the emulator was that for any product, more amounts are required at a lower cost, other things staying continuous. To apply that to a microeconomic range using the simulator as an example, when the lease amount was decreased, more individuals were willing to move in. The changes in supply and demand in the simulator are caused by deferent factors throughout the simulator.The causes Included changes In vacancy prices, low lease prices In neighboring towns, Imbalances between amount demanded and amount provided at current lease prices, changes in population, personal incomes, affordability of apartments, and cost roof. Determining whether the move affected supply and demand, then If the supply or demand were decreased or Increased, and If the shifts were to the remaining or right had to be taken into consideration before decisions could be made.A supply move to the right indicated a loss of the lease amount was necessary, whereas a supply move to the remaining indicated an increase in the lease amount was necessary to improve stability. A demand move to the right Indicated an increase In the lease amount was accessory, while a demand move to the remaining indicated a loss of the lease amount was necessary to improve stability. Some tips from the reading assignments that were emphasized in the simulator were supply and demand, stability, shifts in supply and demand, and cost roof.The supply curve Is upward sloping because the amount provided Improves as the cost Increases; cost and amount provided are proportional. Supply and demand is an essential factor in forming the personality of 1 OFF products or solutions. The provision, or â€Å"supply,† of solutions or products is a key consideration in identifying the price at which those solutions o r products can be obtained.For example, a landscape designs organization with little competition that operates in an area of popular for such solutions will in all likelihood be able to control a heavy price than will a business operating in a highly competitive environment. But accessibility is only one-half of the formula that decides costs components in the market. The other 50 percent is â€Å"demand. † An organization may e able to produce huge quantities of an item at low price, but if there is little or no need for that item in the market, the organization will be forced to sell units at a very low price.On the other hand, if the industry shows responsive to the item that is being sold, the organization can identify a greater unit price. â€Å"Supply† and â€Å"demand,† then, are closely connected economic concepts; indeed, the law of supply and demand is often mentioned as among the most essential in all of business economics. References: Supply and dema nd Simulation, University of Phoenix 2003

Marketing Pencil

INDEX †¢ Acknowledgement †¢ Executive Summary †¢ Introduction to the market †¢ Definition to the marketing plan †¢ Impact of Environmental factors †¢ Marketing Plan for pencils †¢ Category analysis †¢ Current market situation †¢ Customer analysis †¢ Marketing strategy †¢ Product development process †¢ Brand name, Brand equity, Brand image †¢ Segmentation and Targeting †¢ Profile of rural market in general †¢ Marketing Mix and Integrated Marketing Communication †¢ Conclusion ACKNOWLEDGEMENT We extent our thanks to Mrs. Saima Hussain faculty guide who has given me moral support to do my project work.We also extend our thankfulness to our beloved parents and friends for their continuous encouragement at every moment It is our privilege to express our profound in deftness, deep sense of gratitude to our facility guide who had trusts in our ability in assigning us such an important and interesting project and also for allotting time for discussing and clarifying issues related to this project. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY A marketing plan is a written document that contains the guidelines for the business centers and allocation over the planning period. This project is made on the basis for the marketing plan for the pencils.In our project our company is i. e. , of Torres are introducing their new pencils product. The names of the pencils are the ‘Shesham pencils’. If our company introduces new pencils and have to sell it in the market then we have to firstly write down a market plan for it. That means we have to analyze the current market situation i. e. ? We have to analyze the impact of the micro environment, macro environment. ? We have to analyze the needs of the consumers and then do segmentation, target and positioned the market. ? We have to do surveys for knowing the needs of the peoples.The more concise a marketing plan is the better it will serve you. These are the guideline s for writing a strategic marketing plan that meets the specific requirements of your business. We will take you through the development process step-by-step with easy to follow planning sheets to lead you through each stage. After that we have to choose different modes of communication for the sale, promotion of our product. The format includes a fully developed sample plan and is designed to meet the needs of most types of businesses although the emphasis on different aspects of the plan will vary from one business type to another.MARKET PLANNING FOR THE PENCILS (SHESHAM PENCILS) INTRODUCTION:Bangladesh is always said a country of villages and it is fact as Bangladesh 60% of population lives in villages, and it is said that rural market has been growing at five times the pace of the urban market more government rural development initiatives have been seen to increase rural markets. MARKET: Traditionally, a market was a physical place where buyers and sellers gather to buy and sell goods. Economist describes a market as a collection of buyers and sellers who transact over a particular Product or product class.Manufactures go to resources, marketer buy resources and turn them into good and services. MARKET PLANNING: It is well and good to include marketing in your business and a lot a few hours a day to do marketing tasks. But if we do not organize our market plan our efforts won/t get nearly as far as putting . Marketing plan in writing gives you a guideline to work from and it provides goal to strive for and it organize all those creative ideas you have floating around your brain. Firms that is successful in marketing businesses starts with marketing plan.Marketing plan cannot be made without involving many people into it. No matter what kind of feedback you get from all parts of your company. This is as important because it take all aspects of your company to make your marketing plan. Your key people can provide realistic impact on what’s achievable and how achievable and how your goals can be worked out. From all the things we can concluded that market plan is very necessary for the successful running of any business operation and to achieve various goals of the business operations in a right manner and in right ways.DEFINITION OF MARKETING PLAN: ‘A marketing plan is a written document containing the guidelines for the business centers marketing programs and allocation over the planning period’ THE IMPACT OF ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS: There are two keys perspectives on the marketing environment. , namely the micro environment and macro environment: MICRO ENVIRONMENT: This environment influences the organization directly . It includes suppliers that deal directly and indirectly with consumers and customers and other local stake holders. Micro environment tends to suggest the small but this can be misleading.In context, micro describes the relationship between firms consumers and customers directly or indirectly, and ot her local stakeholders. This includes all factors that can influence an organization, but that are out of their direct control. A company does not generally influence any laws (although it is accepted that they could lobby or be part of a trade organization). It is continuously changing, and the company needs to be flexible to adapt. There may be aggressive competition and rivalry in a market. Globalization means that there is always the threat of substitute products and new entrants. The wider nvironment is also changing, and the marketer needs to compensate for changes in culture, politics, economics and technology. All factors that are internal to the organization are known as the ‘internal environment'. They are generally audited by applying the ‘Five Ms' which are Men, Money, Machinery, Materials and Markets. The internal environment is as important for managing change in the external environment. As marketers we call the process of managing internal change is calle d internal marketing. MACRO ENVIRONMENT: Macro environment includes all the external factors that affect our product .The macro environment includes the factors like technology, political, geographical, and ecological and socio cultural factors that have an impact on the manufacturing of the product. In the manufacturing of pencils we have to keep in the mind that the sociological environment, the society has been changed and due to this the needs, demands of the customers are also changed. Different kinds of pencils are made according to the need and standards of the peoples. Now a high class person wants pencils which are of high quality and provides better services. The middle class peoples want a pencil that are of low price and is not very expensive.So manufacturer produces the pencils in keeping all these things in mind. The pencils are produced with accordance of the new technology. MARKET PLAN FOR PENCILS: If our company introduces new pencils and have to sell it in the mark et then we have to firstly write down a market plan for it. That means we have to analyze the current market situation i. e. ? We have to analyze the impact of the micro environment, macro environment. ? We have to analyze the needs of the consumers and then do segmentation, target and positioned the market. ? We have to do surveys for knowing the needs of the peoples.The more concise a marketing plan is the better it will serve you. These are the guidelines for writing a strategic marketing plan that meets the specific requirements of your business. We will take you through the development process step-by-step with easy to follow planning sheets to lead you through each stage. After that we have to choose different modes of communication for the sale, promotion of our product. The format includes a fully developed sample plan and is designed to meet the needs of most types of businesses although the emphasis on different aspects of the plan will vary from one business type to anoth er.PROCESS OF MARKET PLAN CATEGORY ANALYSIS: The product of our company is the pencils. Our company is introducing a new product of Torres pencils with new unique features, and size. Our company is providing better and unique features to our customers. The competitors of our company are the other pencils stores like, GOLDFISH pencils, and DOLLAR pencils. MARKET SURVEY/ CURRENT MARKET SITUATIONS: Market survey is the first step in the market planning . Our Company conducted the market survey for knowing ? The need in the current market situation. To analyze what are the different kinds or types of pencils which are present in the current time in the market. ? The different kinds of features of the pencils, their prices. NEEDS, WANTS AND DEMANDS OF THE CUSTOMERS: The market plan will be started before the manufacturing of the particular product. If we have to make any kind of pencils products, we have to analyze the needs, demands and wants of the customers. Needs are the basic human requirements. Needs are then converted into wants. Demands are the wants for specific products backed by the ability to pay.We start our market plan by analyzing that whether there is a need; want among the customers for the pencils we decide to manufacture and for that we conduct survey, market research for knowing the needs of the customers. For that we have to visit the schools, and may know the needs of the children by Putting them questions and having their suggestions that what kind of pencils they want for writing ,and knowing from them that what are the difficulties they get from their previous pencils while writing. We need to have different types of people which are using pencils to know their needs.After collecting all the information we have to get a result for knowing the needs, wants, and demands of the customers and get ready for making pencils according to the needs wants and demands of the customers. COMPETITOR ANALYSIS: The analysis of the competitor is very import ant aspect because through it we come to know that that our competitor is. The main competitors of our pencils are the other pencils company like GOLDFISH pencils and DOLLAR pencils which are having good position in the market. Our company has to include all those factors in our pencils by which our product look unique and different.Determining the â€Å"Marketing Mix† Product Price Promotion Distribution Goldfish Rs 5 High High Dollar Rs 4 Average Average CUSTOMERS ANANLYSIS: Our Company is targeting different types of customers according to their needs and wants. We are targeting the students of school, colleges. E. G—–Children’s like pencils having shapes of toys and other attracting things.The persons who have to work in the offices like simple pencils . Other professionals like different kinds of pencils so pencils are made according to the needs and wants of these different consumers. ESTABLISHING OBJECTIVES: The main objectives of our company are a s follows: ? To provide better services to our customers. ? To provide quality pencils to our target customers at the reasonable prices. ? To build a good image in the minds of our customers. ? To increase sales of our product. ? To generate revenues and profits by the sale of our pencils.MARKETING STRATEGIES: For the introduction of new product in the market we have to develop a preliminary strategy plan for introducing our new pencils in the market. The plan consists of three parts. 1. First part describes target market’s size, structure, and behavior of the planned product positioning and sales, market share, and profits and the goals sought in the few years by our product. Therefore the target market for our pencil is mainly the children’s of schools and colleges. We will analyze the benefit which comes out by the sale of the pencils. 2. The second part outlines the planned price, distribution strategy, and marketing budget for the first years. This part describes that what are the features or special points of the pencils which we have to made . In it we determine the prices of our different kinds of pencils. Like we determine that the cost of our pencil is Rs 2 each but if the customers buy the box there cost will be of Rs 8. 00 with a sharpener and eraser free. In it we also determine the different kinds of expenses which are to done for the introduction of our pencils in the market.Like the expenses done on the sale, promotion, advertisement of pencils in print media. That what are the profits which come to us by the sale of the pencils. As we see that during the first year a substantial amount will be spent on marketing research by audits and consumers panel data to monitor market reaction and buying rates. The entire budget is made in keeping eye on all these things. 3. The third part of the market strategy plan describes the long run sales and profits goals and market mix strategy over time. As we see that our products would be selling at a very good rate and giving us lots of profits.So we can invest more and more money in it and tries to improve the quality of our pencils by adding new features in it . We will make the product mix and decided to make new kinds of pencils with new innovations and additional features. Market strategy plan is very essential in the business for the proper allocation of revenues, expenditure from the product. It determines all the expenditure done for the sale of our pencils in the market. It also describes that to which segment of the customers we have to sell our pencils and at what price. MANAGING THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS:Up to now the product has existed in only as a word description. The next step involves the jump in the investment that dwarfs the cost incurred in the earlier stages. At this stage the company will determine whether the product idea can be translated into a technically and commercially feasible product. In this step we have to make our ideas, plans about the pen cils in truth. In other word we make our pencils according to needs and demands of the customers. PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT: The development of the pencils starts at this step. The jobs of translating target customers requirement are helpful in making of our pencils.We analyze all the collected data from different kinds of customers and make our pencils according to their needs. E. g. The customers have said that they faces a lots of problems during writing because their pencils do not work properly, the points of the pencils get damaged during their writing time due to which they faces a lots of problems. From this we get an idea to use that kind of lead in our pencils which is of high quality and would not get damaged while writing. We adopt the quality function method for manufacturing of our pencils. We develop a pencils according to view taken by the peoples during market research.PRODUCT MIX: In product mix we include that what are the additional benefits that we are providing to ou r customer along with our original products i. e. , in it we can provide some additional services to our customers along with our pencils. We can give customer free sharpener and eraser with the one box of pencils. Along with one pencils peoples gets a free attached eraser. By adding these additional things in our pencils the customers get happy, and it will definitely results in the increase of the customers loyalty towards our product. It will also be helpful in retaining the attention of the customers towards our product.PRODUCT STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESS: Product strengths and weakness describes the strengths of our pencils that what makes our pencils different from other pencils and what is our weaknesses when compared with others. STRENGTHS OF OUR PRODUCT; We should add what kind of features in our pencils that should act as strength of our pencils. We raise the length of our pencils, and provides different shapes of pencils which distinct our pencils different from others pencils . The offer of giving a free sharpener and an eraser is also helpful in attracting the consumers towards our product.As more and more customer are getting our pencils , these all results in increasing sale of the product and increasing revenues of the company. WEAKNESS OF OUR PRODUCT Our company should also analyze the weakness of our product: The main weakness may comes during the sale of the pencils that when we offer a free eraser and sharpener with our pencils whether the company may faces a lot of expenditure. These activities involve the wastage of money by the company. The pencils of other companies like GOLDFISH Pencils and DOLLAR Pencils are the main competitors of our company.Our company has to add the extra features in our product so that our product gets a different position as compared to our competitor’s product. PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE MANAGEMENT AND NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT- In the product life cycle management we can describes the product and determines for how muc h time we should sale our product in the market, whether for a long time or for short period of time. A company positioning and differentiation strategy must change as the product, market, and competitors change over the product life cycle.To say that the products have a life cycle it asserts four things: 1. Product has a limited life. 2. Product sale pass through distinct stages and each positioning asserts different challenges, opportunities and problems to the seller. 3. Profits raises and fall at different stages of the product life cycle. 4. Product required different marketing, financial, manufacturing, purchasing and human resource strategies in each life cycle stages. Product life cycle of the pencils depends upon the needs of our customers that for how much time our product should remain in the market.If our pencils do not satisfy the needs of the customers it may comes in the decline stage that results in the extinction of our pencils in the market. Because the customers a re not satisfied by our products their demand gets changed due to which our pencils comes in the decline stage. INTRODUCTION: At the introduction period there is the slow sale growth of the pencils. At this stage the profits are nonexistent because of the heavy expenses of product introduction. In this phase the customers are not much aware about our pencils.Large amount of advertisement expense, discounts are given by our company to create awareness of the customers towards our pencils. GROWTH: Rapid market acceptance and substantial profits improvements at growth the product is selling at a high rate. MATURITY: A slowdown in the sale growths shows the maturity period. As the sale of our pencils are not undergoing up to the mark. The customers are now not satisfied by our pencils, the pencils do not function according to their needs, which results in the slowdown in the sale of our pencils. The sale declines with the arrival of competitors in the market.It may seen that if the new company may introduce a new pencils with new and better features it will results in the decline in the sale of the pencils of our product. DECLINE: Decline shows the downward drift and profits erode. At this point the profit from the existing product comes to zero. This stage comes due to the arrival of new competitors in the market and when the customer satisfactions from our pencils are not up to the mark. This stage may come when our pencil do not gives full satisfaction to the consumers. Decline may also comes when the taste and preferences of the consumers gets change.If the decline stage may come in the existing product life it is good for our company to develop a new product according to the needs of the peoples and providing better services to the customers. BRAND NAME, BRAND EQUITY AND BRAND IMAGE: Brand is the name ,term, sign, symbol or design or the combination that tends to the goods and services of one seller or group of seller and to differentiate them from others tho se of competitors. A brand is the thus product or service that add dimensions that differentiate it in some way from others products or services designed to satisfy the same needs.These differences may be functional, rational, or tangible related to product performance of the brand. We give our pencils as the name’ ‘SHESHAM PENCILS’ it’s a new product of Torres pencil company. Branding may helps the consumers to identify our product . The consumers starts finding about the brand satisfy their needs and which ones do not. The brand name can be protected through registered trademarks, and packing can be protected through copyrights and designs. SEGMENTATION AND TARGETING MARKET SEGMENTATION Market segmentation is one of the steps that go into defining and targeting specific markets.It is the process of dividing a market into a distinct group of buyers that require different products or marketing mixes. A key factor to success in today's market place is findi ng subtle differences to give a business the marketing edge. Businesses that target specialty markets will promote its products and services more effectively than a business aiming at the â€Å"average† customer. Opportunities in marketing increase when segmented groups of clients and customers with varying needs and wants are recognized. Markets can be segmented or targeted using a variety of factor. The bases for segmenting consumer markets include: Demographical bases (age, family size, life cycle, occupation) †¢ Geographical bases (states, regions, countries) †¢ Behavior bases (product knowledge, usage, attitudes, responses) †¢ Psychographic bases (lifestyle, values, personality) A business must analyze the needs and wants of different market segments before determining their own niche. To be effective in market segmentation keeps the following things in mind: †¢ Segments or target markets should be accessible to the business †¢ Each segmented gro up must be large enough to provide a solid customer base. Each segmented group requires a separate marketing plan. Large companies segment their markets by conducting extensive market research projects. This research is often too expensive for small businesses to invest in, but there are alternative ways for to a small business to segment their markets. A small business can do the following to gain knowledge and information on how to segment their markets: 1. Use secondary date resources and qualitative research. You can use the following resources for external secondary data: o Trade and association publications and experts o Basic research publications External measurement services 1. Conduct informal factor and cluster analysis by: o Watching key competitors marketing efforts and copying them. o Talking to key trade buyers about new product introductions o Conducting needs analysis from qualitative research with individuals and groups. There are many reasons for dividing marketin g into smaller segments. Any time you suspect there are significant, measurable differences in your market you should consider market segmentation. By doing this you will make marketing easier, discover niche markets, and become more efficient with your marketing resources.TARGETING: By doing the segmentation we target the consumers where we have to sell our pencils. The main target are the school children’s and college student and there teachers and professors. In it we have to remain aware of our competitors in order to take competitive advantage and we should be also aware about the consumers who would be buying our product. Why our Company go to rural market? The cost of going global is very high, and it is difficult to gauge markets in other countries. It is better to target the rural market as it is growing by the day.Today rural markets are as critical as urban markets. The rural markets provide better opportunities. In village vast competition exists. Different compan ies come with different flavors. So people have ample choice. With only around 100000 of the 638667 villages tapped so far there are huge potential and market areas. So we get high percentage of total market though profit margin is less. Now a day’s villager also spends on luxury & comfort products. After all Dettol is a one type of necessity product. As it plays a role of anti-septic medicine.Media also plays an important role in promotion of goods. The growing reach of the electronic media has created a huge change in the lifestyle of rural consumer. Profile of rural market in general:- The rural market of Pakistan is large and scattered, in the sense that it consist of over 63 core consumers from 6, 38,365 villages spread throughout the country. Nearly 60% of the rural income is from agriculture. Hence rural prosperity is tied with agricultural prosperity. During the harvest season, the demand for consumer goods in village goes up.The population securing income from non-ag ricultural sector is now increasing due to rural development programs. The consumers in the village areas do have a low standard of living because of low literacy, low per capita income, social backwardness, low savings, etc. The rural consumer values old customs and traditions. A change is beginning to take place in their outlook because of growth in literacy rate and mass media in the rural areas. Rural consumers have diverse socio-economic background. This is different in different parts of the country. This brings diversity among rural customers and market.The demand pattern of the rural consumers is fast changing. There is new and growing demand for toiletries, ready-made garments, cosmetics, packaged foodstuffs, etc. this change is due to increase in rural income. The infrastructural facilities like roads, warehouses, communication system, and financial facilities are inadequate in rural areas. Hence physical distribution becomes costly due to inadequate infrastructural facili ties. The saving habit of the rural community is increasing in the recent years as a result of the efforts put by co-operative and commercial banksMarketing Mix: PRODUCT: A business needs to consider the products that it produces and the stage of the product life cycle that a product is at. Marketing strategies will vary according to the type of product and its stage in the life cycle. 1. Pencils are very convenient to use and will be easy for customers also to use this product. 2. By providing good quality of Pencils, students will be attracted towards writing and will also be encouraged. 3. Pencils are available in different colors, so a person has choices to select various types in one particular product. . Pencils are available in different prices, so people can buy it as per their affordability. [pic] PLACE: This generally refers to the physical locations of product sales as well as the methods of distribution. However, it is also considered to be the â€Å"place† or â⠂¬Å"position† in the market of the product; refer to information below. Businesses need to make many decisions related to â€Å"place†: access, parking, competition, physical location etc. It’s the most important P in the pencil wars — Place. And nothing evokes more passion in distribution.We have chosen the different zones especially south schools and colleges and west zones as keen interest is shown by nearby villages of it. We had chosen these places due to following reasons: In these areas literacy rate is better than other areas. â€Å"So WHERE THERE IS WILL, THERE IS A WAY†. As people living in this area have mostly standard income so they can purchase our product â€Å"pencils† as they are cheaply and in a better way available. There is a lot of scope of expansion as these areas are surrounded by various other villages so great scope of expansion is there.PRICE: Most businesses use a â€Å"cost plus† method for setting the price s of their products. This involves determining unit production costs and then adding in a profit margin. However, many other factors are involved. Consider â€Å"perceived price† (what you think consumers will be prepared to pay), demand elasticity (is it elastic or inelastic? ), competitors' pricing (can you afford to undercut their prices? ), pricing objectives (what do you want to achieve increased market share? increased profits? market leadership? etc. ) Example:Price is the only factor which decides the presence of the product in the rural market. As people are having standard purchasing power, low income or high group of income persons etc. can afford Shesham pencils as they are available cheaply and in a better way. Hence keeping all the dynamic factors we have decided to go for penetration pricing for our product. We have decided to go with the application of penetration pricing as the people in the rural area are having low income, low purchasing power and we are ne wly entering the market. The pricing will be in way: Small pencils: 1 pencil = RS. . /- 10 pencils of pencils box = RS. 9/- Large pencils: 1 pencils = RS. 4/- 10 pencils of pencils box= RS. 16/- PROMOTION: Promotion is said to be the vital for all companies until now the promotional tools have been acted as the targeting tool used to attract huge demand for rural people and also huge demand for company’s product. The promotional strategies are as follows:- A new innovative broad aspect followed by me to attract huge attraction towards my product will be the use of tree borders. e will make use of tree borders as in rural areas mostly there are villages surrounded by huge and number of trees, so the hoardings at tree border will definitely attract huge demand. We will be putting hoardings on retail shops so that whenever the customer comes over the shop they should easily come to know about the arrival of new Pencils i. e. â€Å"name of the pencils† in the market. We w ill also promote my product through wall paintings. As wall paintings lasts for longer time and through this maximum customer can be attracted.There are some other strategies also like, The role of the influencer or influencing communication cannot be ignored as far as rural Pakistan is concerned. The advertisements that revolve around this very strategy actually depend on the influence of different influential people and/or events in the villages to put across the message powerfully with more effect and purchase intention. An example of this kind of advertisement may be brand endorsement by any influential person in the village like the ‘Intellectual Chaudary’ or the ‘school master’. Events like different festivals and different games and sports competitions actually have a high participation level in the rural Pakistan, as other sources of entertainment are very less in those areas. So, these events and shows offer great opportunity to reach rural Pakist an cost effectively. Different brands sponsor different events and shows in rural villages, which is actually a cost-effective way to advertise with the participatory strategy. Many brands are venturing into different ways to educate their rural consumers about their brands and their usage through different shows and events.This kind of initiatives actually creates huge awareness about the brand among the interested people in the rural Pakistan. Different health related advertisements like Polio awareness and AIDS awareness programmes involve a ‘show-n-tell’ strategy of advertising. It includes Press and print, TV, Cinema, Radio, and Point of purchase and Outdoor advertisement. Reach of formal media is low in rural households (Print: 18%, TV: 27%, Cinema: 30%, and Radio: 37%) and therefore the marketer has to consider the following points: English newspapers and magazines have negligible circulation in rural areas.However local language newspapers and magazines are bec oming popular among educated facilities in rural areas. It has made a great impact and large audience has been exposed to this medium. Organizations have been using TV to communicate with the rural masses. Lifebuoy, Lux, Dalda oil etc. are some of the products advertised via television. Many consumer goods companies and fertilizer companies are using these TV channels to reach the rural customer. Radio reaches large population in rural areas at a relatively low cost. Example: Colgate, Brite total, Shan Masala industries are some of the companies using radio communication programme.The farmers have a habit of listening to regional news/agricultural news in the morning and the late evening. The advertisement has to be released during this time to get maximum coverage in rural areas. Another advantage is that the radio commercial can be prepared at short notice to meet the changing needs of the rural folk. Example: Release of a pesticide ad at the time of outbreak of a pest or diseas e in crops. [pic] This form of media, which includes signboards, wall painting, hoarding, tree boards, bus boards, dealer boards, product display boards etc. , is cost effective in rural areas.Symbols, pictures and colors should be used in POPs meant for rural markets so that they can easily identify the products. Generally rural people prefer bright colors and the marketer should utilize such cues. Display of hangings, festoons and product packs in the shops will catch the attention of prospective buyers. However a clutter of such POP materials of competing companies will not have the desired effect and is to be avoided. It is a way of passing on information relating to goods or services for sale, directly to potential customers through the medium of post. It is a medium employed by the advertiser to bring in a personal touch.In cities lot of junk mail is received by all of us and very often such mails are thrown into the dustbin whereas a villager get very few letters and he is re ceptive to such mailers. It is an effective and economical medium for communication in rural areas, since it stays there for a long time depending upon the weather conditions. The cost of painting one square foot area is just Rs. 10. Retailers welcome painting of their shops so that the shop will look better. Walls of farm houses, shops and schools are ideal places for painting and the company need not have to pay any rent for the same.The walls have to be painted at least one or two feet from ground level. It is better to take permission of the owner. Very often the owner takes responsibility for taking care of the wall painting. Paintings are to be avoided during election time and rainy season. The matter should be in the form of pictures, slogans for catching the attention of people. Companies marketing TV, fans, branded coffee/tea, toothpaste, pesticides, fertilizers etc. use wall painting as promotion medium in rural areas. These are painted boards of about two square feet in d imension having the picture or name or slogan of the product painted on it.The cost of such a painted board is about Rs. 80. These boards are fixed to the trees on both sides of the village road at a height of about 10 feet from ground level. These boards attract the attention of slow moving vehicles like cycles, bullock carts and tractors and people walking on the road. The condition of roads, even the buses move at slow speed through village road. Fertilizer and pesticide companies in rural areas extensively use tree boards. These are low priced promotion items and can be used by consumer goods companies too. [pic]These media with effective reach and personalized communication will help in realizing the promotional objectives. Companies to suit the specific requirements of rural communication are using a variety of such media effectively and some of the more important media and methods are given below. Rural people prefer face-to-face communication and farm visits facilitate two-w ay communication. The advantage is that the sales person can understand the needs and wants of the rural customer by directly discussing with him and answer his queries on products and services. Potential customers in the illage are identified and the company’s/distributor’s representative makes farm-to-farm visits and highlight the benefits of the products. The person carries with him literature in local language and also samples of products. The person does not sell the product but only promotes the use of the product. Very often the local dealer also joins the representative in making farm-to-farm visits. The dealer clarifies the terms and conditions of sale and also makes independent follow up visits for securing orders. [pic] Group meetings of rural customers as well as prospects are an important part of interpersonal media.The company is able to pass on the message regarding benefits of the products to a large number of customers through such meetings. Group meet ing of key customers are conducted by banks, agricultural inputs and machinery companies in rural areas. The bankers visit an identified village, get the village people in a common place and explain the various schemes to the villagers. Such meetings could be organized in prosperous villages for promoting consumer durables and two wheelers also. Example: Millat Tractors conduct a meeting for tractor owners and they meet in villages to discuss repairs and maintenance of tractors. [pic]Package is an integral part of the product. Its main purpose is to protect the product during transit, to preserve the quality and to avoid any loss in quality and quantity. The main purpose of this contest is to remind the customer to buy the product as soon as he enters the shop. Another objective is to influence the dealer to stock the product and support the company in increasing the sales. The display contest has to be announced well in advance and promotional materials to be distributed to all the selected dealers in a geographical area. Prizes for best displays are announced to motivate the dealers; the contest lasts for about a month.A well-planned product display contest not only increases the involvement of dealers in the company’s products but also increases the sales during the contest period. This is used for promoting consumer goods such as shampoos, soaps and toothpaste Each rural market segment has certain special features i. e. they share common life-style traits. They include village sports, religious events, prominent personalities and role models. Examples: Textile mills maintaining community gardens, Mineral water companies supplying clean drinking water during summer festivals in villages and Consumer goods companies sponsoring Kabaddi. pic] PACKAGING: The Silent sales man: What does a sales man do when you go to a shop or he comes to your house, he first s how’s you the product then starts to tell you the features of the product like its brand name, method of production, ingredients (if it is eatable), price etc. In short he tries to persuade you to buy his product, this same activity is performed by packets of any product but without any use of language this is called silent salesman ship Thus we say that â€Å"packaging – A silent salesman† pic] Packaging is done for the three reasons: – 1) To protect the product 2) To make the product easy to carry 3) To make the product attractive. Pencils do not require heavy packaging but still we have come up with the two packaging strategies for our pencils: – 1) To have a packet of 3 pencils sets 2) To have a packet of 10 pencils sets. The rural Bangladesh is not much developed; hence their purchasing power is also not high. Hence, for their convenience we have come up with these packaging strategies.This was also done to reduce the cost of the product so as to supply the product at cheap rates and also for a profitable deal for our company. FEATURES O F PENCIL The pencil is used for writing and if the writing is not dark i. e. it is light then the reader will not be able to understand the written matter. Hence we have invented the pencil which would be darker than any other pencil. The goods which are cheaply available with no compromise in quality then those goods or products are liked by every consumer. This is the reason why we are coming up with a pencil which would be cheaper.The body of the pencil would be covered with velvet piece or a rubber piece to make the pencil body of either velvet or rubber. This is the extra feature added because this would help the writer to have a firm hold over the pencil and to write faster. The body and its shape also add to the beauty of the product. Hence it is said that in the business world what ever is seen is taken. So the shape or the body of the pencil would be squared shaped which is not at all seen in the market till the date. The pencil is seemed to be incomplete without the rubb er.The writer might commit a mistake while writing and hence to correct the same rubber is provided at the end point of the pencil so that there is not an extra expenditure on the purchase of the rubbers. This pencil would be extra long then any other pencil and also at the minimum cost. So with that the buyer would be able to enjoy the good writer pencil for a longer period of time. This pencil would be available at each and every store of the rural market so that there are no extra efforts taken by the customer to come at a long distance for the purchase of this unique pencil.The pencil is a kind of a product which is mostly used by children and the children enjoy watching cartoons or such characters which seems to be funny. So then the children are going to get their favorite cartoon characters on this lovely pencil which is effectively made for kids but it is not that only kids could enjoy the writing with this pencil but it is for everyone to enjoy the writing with this penci l. The pencil has come up with new innovative feature of fragrance. This means that kids will enjoy good hand writing with sweet fragrance.This is an added advantage to our product as this idea is not applied to any of the pencil to the date. [pic] Conclusion: Thus looking at the challenges and the opportunities which rural markets offer to the marketers it can be said that the future is very promising for those who can understand the dynamics of rural markets and exploit them to their best advantage. A radical change in attitudes of marketers towards the vibrant and burgeoning rural markets is called for, so they can successfully impress on the millions rural consumers spread over approximately thousands of villages in rural Bangladesh.Eurosif European Social Investment Hamida Kawser Student of UIU Second samaster BBA Departmeny Road Number 27 Dhanmondi Dhaka 30. 03. 2013 Respected Sir. I am submitting you my report on automobile companies and associated risk and opportunities the se pose for long-term return. Perpose behind preparing automobile report is to have an idea about how automobile companies grew through decades. So that we can use this quality information in Bangladesh industry and even in our personnal business field. ———————– [pic] [pic] [pic]