Bed Sheet Ghost

What do you think is scary? When people ask you what you think is scary, you will usually say your biggest fear, but I think ghosts are the scariest. Either that or flesh- eating zombies! When I think of ghosts, I think of the whole furniture moving on its own thing or your traditional bed sheet ghost. However, in early ghost stories the ghost never tried to hurt or scare the people but were said to have been asking for help like getting a proper burial or finish something that the ghost never got to do in TTS lifetime.Some of these ghost stories date back as far as 3,000 years! One story takes place around 2,000 years ago when a man named Homer wrote an Iliad. In the story a deceased warrior named Patrols visited his friend Achilles as a ghost. Patrols told Achilles that he wanted a proper burial of his body. He also informed Achilles that he would die in the final battle of Troy. And what do you know? Achilles actually did die in the final battle of Troy because he was stabbed in h is heel, his only sake spot.Another story takes place over 3,000 years ago in Athens Greece. In this story a man named Attendants rented a house even though he was told it was haunted. He woke up later that night to a rattling noise. He then saw the ghost of a man bound by chains. The ghost then pointed to the ground beneath him and disappeared. The next day Attendants dug up where the ghost pointed and found a skeleton. He then buried the skeleton in a graveyard, and the ghost was never seenIn 1848 in Heedlessly New York, there were two sisters who claimed they again. Were able to talk to spirits by rapping their knuckles. The noises they made could mean yes, no, or a certain letter. When the sisters were very old and nearing death, they confessed that they were faking it the entire time. Even though people knew it was fake, the idea of spiritualism still caught on and in 1853 the Spiritualism Church was created and had over two million followers in only two years. Nowadays most re ligions believe in life after death.They believe that after death your spirit or soul goes to Heaven if you were good or the Underworld if you lead a bad life. Sometimes a ghost takes over a human body. This is called possession and it can only be stopped if a priest comes in and performs an exorcism, which makes the evil ghost leave that person's body. One movie that demonstrates that well is called, â€Å"The Exorcist. † It is a movie that I hope you never have to see. Site source- outshoot. Com

Strategic Planning Case Study- Dunkin Donuts

Strategic Hospitality Management A case analysis of Dunkin’ Donuts with a focus on tools available for strategic planning. April 2013 Abstract The following essay is based on the Quick Service Restaurants brand (QSR)- Dunkin’ Donuts. The company has been studied and a case study regarding the growth of the company from 1950 till today has been studied. Growth strategies of the company have been used to understand how they reached the position of America’s largest QSR.The Legal, Moral and Ethical Issues of the company have also been studied and the solutions to those issues and the implementation has been studied Contents Abstracti Introduction1 Strategic Planning1 The Process1 Dunkin’ Donuts3 Mission Statement3 Vision Statement3 Case Study3 Growth Strategy4 Growth Strategies used by Dunkin’ Donuts4 SWOT ANALYSIS9 Legal, Moral and Ethical Issues10 Conclusion and Recommendation11 Bibliography12 Part ‘A’ Introduction Strategic Planning Str ategic planning is a process that brings to life the mission and vision of he enterprise. A strategic plan, well crafted and of value, is driven from the top down; considers the internal and external environment around the business; is the work of the managers of the business, and is communicated to all the business stakeholders, both inside and outside of the company. As a company grows and as the business environment becomes more complex the need for strategic planning becomes greater. There is a need for all people in the corporation to understand the direction and mission of the business.Companies consistently applying a disciplined approach to strategic planning are better prepared to evolve as the market changes and as different market segments require different needs for the products or services of the company. The Process There is no one formula or process for strategic planning. There are however, principles and required steps that optimize the value of strategic planning. The steps in the process described in this series of articles on strategic planning are presented below: * Current Situation Analysis Segmentation Analysis * Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threat Analysis * Core Competencies Analysis * Key Success Factors * Business Unit Strategy / Business Plan * Balanced Score Card * Evaluation The choice, of the planning process that works best, should be driven by the culture of the organization, and by the comfort level of the participants. The strategic planning process must mirror the cultural values and goals of the company. There are a number of important steps to remember in the process of strategic planning.They include collecting a meaningful and broad data base, resourcefully thinking about separation, defining gaps, assessing core competencies, and understanding the identifying critical resources and skills. An important distinction in the process is to recognize the difference between strategic planning and the work being done , and strategic thinking, or the creative, intuitive input. The planning element involves the data collection, goal setting, expectation definition and statement of direction.Strategic thinking includes the intuitive and creative elements. This thinking process takes into account and helps to leverage the values of the internal culture of the business and external characteristics of the market. Strategic planning can be a challenging process, particularly the first time it is undertaken in a company. With patience and perseverance as well as a strong team effort the strategic plan can be the beginning of improved and predictable results for a company.At times when the business gets off track a strategic plan can help direct the recovery process. When strategic planning is treated as an ongoing process it becomes a competitive advantage and an offensive assurance of improved day to day execution of the business practices. (Mathews & Lee) Use of an outside, independent facilitator can help in the process and in the development of a strategic plan. An outside resource can provide objectivity and serve as a â€Å"devil’s advocate† as well as a sounding board for the management charged with plan development.In the final analysis the plan must have the authorship and ownership of the owner and the managers who must execute and follow the strategic plan. It must be their plan. The strategic plan, to be of real long-term value, must be treated as an ongoing business process. It must be reflective of the owners’ mission and vision. It must evolve and change to reflect changing market and economic conditions. It must be proactive to competitive, market and economic conditions. If those steps are followed, the strategic plan will institutionalize a culture of continuous improvement and disciplined change.Strategic planning, when treated as a work in progress, rather than as a binder on a shelf, or a file in a computer, provides business with a real a nd lasting competitive advantage. It will help determine and direct the quality of relationships with suppliers, employees, unions, customers, and bankers. To get your business to where you desire it to be, start with determination and drive to develop a useful and living strategic planning process. Give it strong support and leadership from the top down. Develop and evolve it with participation and buy-in from the bottom up.Strategic planning is your company’s road map to your vision. (Wheelin, 2005) Dunkin’ Donuts Dunkin’ Donuts is a business in food retail. They are the world’s largest coffee and baked goods chain. Dunkin’ Donuts have been in business since 1950 and have been franchising since 1995. This franchise serves more than 2 million customers a day. Dunkin’ Donuts is owned by Dunkin’ Brands. Dunkin’ Brands has two companies in its portfolio which are Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin Robins. It works under a 100% fran chise model and reduces store costs and can then concentrate more on menu and product innovation.Mission Statement Make and serve the freshest, most delicious coffee and donuts quickly and courteously in modern, well- Merchandized stores. Vision Statement America run on Dunkin’ Case Study From the beginning from a single restaurant in Quincy Massachusetts, Dunkin’ Donuts is now a Global brand with more than 10,000 locations in 32 countries. The growth is testimony to the fact that people everywhere appreciate what Dunkin’ Donuts offers: High Quality food and beverages served all day in a friendly, fast environment at a great value.In the United States, Dunkin’ Donuts has maintained steady, strategic and disciplined growth, opening new restaurants in the core markets in the north – east and in cities all throughout Mid Atlantic, Southern and Midwest states. (Donuts, 2011)They now have more than 7,000 restaurants in 36 states and the District of Colu mbia, Dunkin’ Donuts is an important part of life for millions of Americans. While Dunkin’ Donuts has nationwide brand recognition, they have a significant opportunity to expand the number of restaurants in the United States as well as all around the world.The company believes that they can double the footprint in the U. S to 15,000 Dunkin’ Donut Restaurants over the next 20 years. The company has a strong presence internationally as well with more than 3000 Dunkin’ Donut Restaurants over 31 international countries across 4 continents. The company maintains stable global expansion, opening new restaurants in Europe, Asia, Middle East and Latin and South American countries. Dunkin’ Donuts has already opened more than 88 locations in Greater China and has nearly opened 900 shops in South Korea.In 2010, the brand Re-entered Russia with new restaurants in Moscow, and in 2012, the first set of Dunkin’ Donut Restaurants were opened in India and Gu atemala. (Donuts, 2011) To achieve this high rate of growth across most of the world, and a vision to continue to achieve and steadily grow at a high rate Dunkin’ Donuts under the company Dunkin’ Brands has a strongly formulated Growth Strategy. Growth Strategy Growing a business requires ongoing work in an environment of continually emerging global challenges.One of the most fundamental aspects of the growth process is the formation and distribution of competences within and among organizations. To a large extent, the challenges for businesses are innovation and internationalization to grow businesses. The goal of any business growth is to increase revenue and profitability with a reduced business cycle time that is more productive, innovative and export-led, delivers high-value products/services for customers and markets around the world. The following are major areas where businesses have to take initiatives to support growth strategy: * Market Growth Financial Tran sformational Initiatives * Supply Chain Management * Outsourcing Concept (Kumar, 2010) Growth Strategies used by Dunkin’ Donuts 1. Increase comparable store sales and profitability in Dunkin’ Donuts U. S. The company’s largest operating segment, Dunkin’ Donuts U. S. experienced positive comparable store sales growth in eight of the last ten fiscal years. The fiscal year 2011 with comparable store sales growth of 5. 1%, was the highest annual comparable store sales growth since 2005, and 7. 4% for the fourth quarter of 2011, which was the highest quarterly performance in the past seven years.There is a strong intention to continue building on comparable store sales growth momentum and improving profitability through the following initiatives: * Further increase coffee and beverage sales. Since the late 1980s, the company has been transformed into a coffee-focused brand and have developed a significantly enhanced menu of beverage products. Approximately 60% of Dunkin’ Donuts U. S. franchisee-reported sales for fiscal 2011 were generated from coffee and other beverages, which is believe to generate increased customer visits to the stores and higher unit volumes, and which produce higher margins than their other products.They plan to increase the coffee and beverage revenue through continued new product innovations and related marketing, including advertising campaigns such as ’America Runs on Dunkin’ in 2011 Dunkin’ Donuts created a product called the K- Cups, which is a 12$ box with 14 K-Cups. This product had been an idea from the customers themselves, as it is an easier and more convenient method. It is used in the Keurig brewing system. The company that makes them, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. , first announced its partnership with Dunkin' Donuts in February.Dunkin's decision to sell the K-Cups only in its outlets will help drive customers there and perhaps lead them to make additional purchases. It could also keep the brand from becoming too omnipresent, which is widely believed to be a mistake made by Krispy Krem`e Doughnuts Inc. when it started selling its products in gas stations and grocery stores. * Continue to develop enhancements in restaurant operations. The company will continue to maintain a highly operations-focused culture to help the franchisees maximize the quality and consistency of their customers’ in-store experience, as well as to increase franchisee profitability.In support of this, there has been an initial enhancement and ongoing restaurant manager and crew training programs and developed new in-store planning and tracking technology tools to assist the franchisees. As a result, over 164,000 respondents, representing approximately 93% of all respondents, to the company’s Guest Satisfaction Survey program in December 2011 rated their overall experience as â€Å"Satisfied† or â€Å"Highly Satisfied. † 2. Continue Dunkin’ Donuts U. S. Immediate store expansion The company believes there is a significant opportunity to grow the points of distribution for Dunkin’ Donuts in the U. S. iven the strong potential outside of the Northeast region to increase the per-capita penetration to levels closer to those in their core markets. The company’s development strategy resulted in 243 net new U. S. store openings in fiscal 2011. In 2012, it is expected that their franchisees will open an additional 260 to 280 net new points of distribution in the U. S. , principally in existing developed markets. They believe that strategy of focusing on contiguous growth has the potential to, over approximately the next 20 years, more than double our current U. S. footprint and reach a total of 15,000 points of distribution in the U.S. The following table details the per-capita penetration levels in the U. S. regions. Region| Population(ml)| Stores| Penetration| Core 36. 0 3| 768 1:9| 560| Core 36. 0 3| Eastern Established. 53. 8 2| 227 1:24| 160| Eastern Established. 53. 8 2| Eastern Emerging 88. 7 891 1:99| 600| 891| Eastern Emerging 88. 7 891 1:99| West 130. 0 129 1:1| 008| 100| West 130. 0 129 1:1| Table 1: As per December, 2011 * Increase penetration in existing markets. In the traditional core markets of New England and New York, there now is a Dunkin’ Donuts store for every 9,560 people.In the near term, there is an intention to focus the core development on other markets east of the Mississippi River, where currently there is only approximately one Dunkin’ Donuts store for every 99,600 people. In certain established Eastern U. S. markets outside of their core markets, such as Philadelphia, Chicago and South Florida, they have already achieved per-capita penetration of greater than one Dunkin’ Donuts store for every 24,160 people. * Expand into new markets using a disciplined approach. The Company believes that the Western part of the U. S. epresents a significa nt growth opportunity for Dunkin’ Donuts. However, a disciplined approach to development is the best one for the brand and franchisees. Specifically, in the near term, they intend to focus on development in markets that are adjacent to the existing base, and generally move westward in an immediate fashion to less penetrated markets, providing for marketing and supply chain efficiencies within each new market. * Focus on store-level economics. In recent years, they have undertaken significant initiatives to further enhance store-level economics for their ranchisees, * Reducing the cash investment for new stores. * Increasing beverage sales. * Lowering supply chain costs and implementing more efficient store management systems. The Company believes these initiatives have further increased franchisee profitability. Dunkin’ Donuts recently entered into an agreement with the franchisee-owned supply chain cooperative that provides for a three-year phase in of flat invoice pr icing across the franchise system, which, coupled with the cost reductions noted above, should lead to cost savings across the entire franchise system.It is believed that this will be one of the drivers of the immediate development strategy, by improving store-level economics in all markets, but particularly in newer markets where their growth is targeted. Store-level economics have also continued to benefit from increased national marketing and from the introduction of Dunkin’ K-Cups into their restaurants. 3. Drive Accelerated International Growth. They believe there is a significant opportunity to grow points of distribution Dunkin’ Donuts in international markets.Their international expansion strategy has resulted in more than 3,500 net new openings in the last ten years. The key Elements of the future Growth Strategies are: * Grow in Their existing core markets. The Company’s international development strategy for Dunkin’ Donuts includes growth in th eir existing core markets. Dunkin’ Donuts intends to focus on growth in South Korea and the Middle East, where they currently have 857 and 229 points of distribution, respectively. During fiscal 2012, the company is expected to open approximately 350- 450 new points of distribution internationally, principally in their existing markets.However, there can be no assurance that their franchisees will be successful in opening this number of, or any, additional points of distribution. * Capitalize on other markets with significant growth potential. Dunkin’ Donuts intends on expanding in certain international focus markets where the brand does not have a significant store presence, but where they believe there is consumer demand for the products as well as strong franchisee partners. In 2011, it was announced that an agreement with an experienced QSR franchisee to enter the Indian market with Dunkin’ Donuts brand.The agreement calls for the development of at least 500 Dunkin’ Donuts restaurants throughout India, the first of which is expected to open by the second quarter of 2012. By teaming with local operators, it is believed they are better able to adapt the brands to local business practices and consumer preferences. * Further develop the franchisee support infrastructure. Dunkin’ Donuts plan to increase the focus on providing international franchisees with operational tools and services that can help them to efficiently operate in their markets and become more profitable.Dunkin’ Donuts plans to focus on improving on native-language restaurant training programs and updating existing restaurants for the new international retail restaurant designs. To accomplish this, we are dedicating additional resources to our restaurant operations support teams in key geographies in order to assist international franchisees in improving their store-level operations. (Brands, 2012) Segment| Q2 2012 Comparable Store Sales Growth| Q1 2012 Comparable Store sales Growth| Q2 2012System wideSales Growth| Q1 2012 System wideSales Growth| Dunkin’ Donuts U. S| 4. 0%| 7. 2%| 7. %| 11. 5%| Dunkin’ Donuts International| 3. 5%| 2. 3%| 1. 5%| 4. 8%| The long-term prospects of Dunkin' Brands seem very impressive. Dunkin' Brands is compensated as a percent of franchisee top-line and it bears basically no store operating costs itself. With only 36 company- owned points of distribution out of a total of 17,016 as of June 30, 2012, the company is less affected by store level costs and profitability and fluctuations in commodity costs than many other QSR operators. (Saibus, 2012) SWOT ANALYSIS Strengths * High operating Profit Margin * Lower Costs than Industry High Brand Recognition * Becoming Socially Responsible Weaknesses * High Debt * Low Return on Equity Ratio * High Interest Rate * Need to better manage Fixed assets Opportunity * Pay off some debt * Open more stores in the West * Capitalize on high customer Loyal ty Threats * Low entry Barriers into Industry * Health Conscious society and Starbucks focusing on Health and Wellness * Krispy Kreme expands into the Global Market Part ‘B’ Legal, Moral and Ethical Issues * Recently in news articles, it was reported that there were approximately 350 lawsuits between Dunkin’ and its franchisees.The company has been accused of aggressively targeting shop owners in an effort to terminate franchise agreements and in the process collect hefty fees and penalties for alleged contract violations. Michelle King is Dunkin’s Director of Public Relations and he states that strongly encouraged Dunkin’ Brands to take a step back and reconsider its policy of litigation and instead embrace its process of mediation to settle disputes with franchise owners. He said, â€Å"It is the right thing to do to grow the brand in an increasingly challenging and competitive environment.DDIFO is ready, willing and able to help see this process of mediation come to fruition. † (Leiber, 2009) * Due to the sudden increase in the consciousness of health and wellness, Dunkin’ Donuts has come across a moral dilemma as most of their Products go against the code of healthy food. Their competitor Starbucks has taken a turn and concentrated more of healthy eating which has created a drop in the business of Dunkin’ Donuts, to overcome this the company has also started concentrating on health food and beverages. Dunkin’ Brands leaders have an added obligation to ensure that policies are communicated to employees and that business practices are designed to prevent improper conduct. They have a responsibility to build and maintain a culture of compliance by ensuring employees know that our integrity should never be compromised in order to achieve business results. The Code of Conduct provides employees and directors with guidance on doing the right thing. However, it is not an all inclusive list of doâ€℠¢s and don’ts.The Overview sections outline the intended behavior and the Expectations and Examples of What to Watch Out For sections provide some examples of what employees and directors should and should not do. (Dunkin', 2012) Conclusion and Recommendation Strategic planning and management is what makes or breaks a company or Brand. Dunkin’ Donuts, The Company I have done my study on is a brand which I think has put a lot of thought into the planning of business. Their techniques and business sense is what has brought them to be America’s most popular quick service restaurant chain.In this essay I have studied the growth strategies of the company and how from a single outlet in 1950, today it has a presence in most countries in the world. This is possible because of a proper vision that the company had and a set of strong Growth Strategies. The company has strongly believed in spreading and making their brand what people live by. I believe that Dunkin Donuts should aggressively target India, as it is expected to Grow over half a billion in Breakfast Food sales by 2016.The Asia pacific Region is growing rapidly and should be Targeted within the next five years. The company should capitalize more on college campuses as what they serve is directly related to the average diet of a teenager. They should target this market in both America and abroad. Bibliography Brands, D. (2012). Annual Report 2012. massechusetts: Edgar Online. Donuts, D. (2011). Global Presence. Retrieved April 12, 2013, from Dunkindonuts: http://www. dunkindonuts. com/content/dunkindonuts/en/company/global. tml Dunkin'. (2012). Code of Business Conduct and Ethics. Canton. Kumar, D. (2010). Enterprise Growth Strategy: Vision, Planning and Execution. Surrey: Ashgate Publishing Group. Leiber, N. (2009, October 8). Attorneys Criticize Dunkin' Donuts' Litigious Behavior. Business Weekly . Mathews, J. F. , & Lee, H. Business Devlopment Index. Columbus: Ohio State University. Sa ibus. (2012). Dunkin' Brands Is Brewing Up Strong Perfomance. Seeking Alpha. Wheelin, T. (2005). Concepts in Strategic Mangement.

Third world countries Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

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Fashion and consumer science Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words - 1

Fashion and consumer science - Term Paper Example This term paper talks about consumers around the world that reflect some distinct behavioural traits while going for purchasing luxury products. Luxury products are purchased by the consumers not only depending on the features and advantages obtained from the product but also tends to avail a large plethora of experiences attached to such. The people availing such luxury products also tend to relate their identity with the products purchased and also with the specific brands and companies from which such commodities are purchased. Consumers do not resort to logical decision making while making the relevant purchases but rather are made to satiate the growing desires of comfort and luxury. It also helps the consumers to create a different social image for them in the society. To satisfy consumerism related to fashion commodities different types of retail formats have grown around the world which help the consumers to sustain their lifestyles. The purchasing activities related to luxur y commodities are conducted by consumers both on the physical and on the virtual plane. On the physical front the consumers tend to frequent the stores from where the commodities can be availed. However the consumers in the modern periods are also found to avail such commodities through the online sphere or through shopping activities conducted by the help of mobiles. The evaluation of the benefits availed through the purchase of luxury commodities is done based on the level of reflection that the consumers gain with the products. Still the luxury commodities produced around the world have some considerable lifetime after which such products or services become redundant and their place is taken by other such products and services. With the increase in sophistication and growth of consumer desires the luxury goods and services need to be enhanced in an aspiring manner to help meet future needs (Okonkwo, 2007, p.63-64). Research Question The research paper in question

Unionization and strikes in the healthcare industry Term Paper

Unionization and strikes in the healthcare industry - Term Paper Example imes strikes are used by employees to force their governments or employers to change certain policies for which they do not like (Lewin, Keefe, & Kochan, 2012). However, various acts and policies exist that have served to affect this unionization process as well as strike. Among them is PT self determination Act, Federal Healthcare quality act and laws such as ERISA, HIPPA. This paper therefore seeks to discuss the background of unionization and strike in the health care industry outlining the effects of unionization and strikes in the health care sector. Further it will explain how the different acts among them PT self determination Act, Federal Healthcare quality act and laws such as ERISA, HIPPA affects striking and unionization in the Health care industry. Finally, the paper will give a brief conclusion summarizing this topic of discussion. Freeman, & Han, (2012) discuses that; unionization and strikes are subject to law and are thus regulated by the laws as provided by the constitution and other sector acts. In the recent past the number of health practitioners covered or bound by a collective bargain agreement or those who have registered as members of workers union has been edging upwards. This trend can possibly be attributed to the backlash against the belt tightening experienced in certain hospitals as away to respond to the recent downturn in economy. Additionally, reforms in the health sector also play a major role in the rise of unionization of the health sector. Unions want to have a future; as such they understand that organizing the health workers will give them an inroad. The cost cutting pressure in the health care sector is making nurses and other health workers in this industry feel a lot of loss in control within their jobs. They experience a lot of uncertainty of the unanticipated outcomes or impacts of the health care reforms. As a result, there has been a merger across the health care practitioners associations. This includes Committee of

Amicus (Friend of the Court) (3rd party) Brief for specified current Research Paper

Amicus (Friend of the Court) (3rd party) Brief for specified current Suprem Court case - Research Paper Example Human Rights Watch also has a role of investigating and exposing incidences of human rights abuse abuses and violation, with an aim of putting the abuses to the task of being accountable. The organization also seeks to challenge the government and other bodies or people who hold powers to observe human rights and to end human rights abuses, particularly with reference to international human rights standards as well as that of the municipal laws. As a leading human rights body, with the aforesaid specific roles, which are highly tangential to the issues of justice , the organization has a legitimate interest to participate in the case and to present an Amicus brief for the same. The organization has a lot of interest in ensuring that justice is done to the defendant. It is the Human Rights Watch that this honorable court safeguards future systematic human rights abuses by the state, and in particular the police, against the citizens. It is the interest of the organization that the pol ice and all government organs concerned are held accountable for human rights abuses that they perpetrate. ... Incarcerated on a disorderly conduct charge, the deputies were hoping to learn more about Fields' relationship with an underage male. Fields was not given his Miranda warnings, but was told he could leave the conference room where the questioning took place at any time. During the 7 hour questioning, Fields repeatedly told the deputies that he did not want to talk about the allegations of sexual misconduct that they had leveled against him. Eventually, however, he did admit to some of the behavior that had been alleged. On the basis of that information, and over the strenuous objection of his counsel, Fields was later convicted of two counts of third-degree criminal conduct and sentenced to a term of 10-15 years.   Fields appealed claiming that when he was first removed from his cell to go to the conference room, he was given no notice of what the deputies wanted. Further, because they had not Mirandized him and continued to question him even after he told them he did not want to s peak to them, the incriminating statements should be thrown out. Throughout his appeals in the state judicial system, his arguments were denied.   Upon making a habeus corpus motion to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, however, Fields' contention that his rights had been violated was upheld. The Sixth Circuit Court affirmed that lower court ruling which contrasted with decisions made in similar cases in other federal courts. The split in the circuits virtually guaranteed that the Supreme Court would take the case. On January 24, 2011, the Supreme Court granted certiorari.   The present case presents a question as to what amounts to being in custody and in particular whether or not a prisoner is always â€Å"in

Women and Culture in the West Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Women and Culture in the West - Research Paper Example nce, mathematics, history, philosophy, Latin, Italian, French, Greek and German unlike the majority who preferred the girl child doing worsted work and practicing quadrilles. Their education was his responsibility (Aler, 2008). All these teachings resulted to Florence being intelligent and well educated which in some way shaped her to the nurse she came to be. Since Florence came from a wealthy background she was not expected to work. Her mother most of all deemed it best if she was to get married some day because she assumed that was her destiny. It was after a long emotional battle that tutors were eventually allowed to teach Florence mathematics over home duties. She was taught a number of subjects such as algebra, geometry and arithmetic’s. During her leisure time, Florence spent it tutoring children on this particular topics thus in the process enhancing her knowledge and having a wider scope on mathematics. She enjoyed being of service to others (Aler, 2008). Unlike these present times where people are strongly campaigning for the girl child to have a decent education and a lead a decent life where they are able to fend for themselves and be independent there was once upon a time an era where the English girls had little or no education at all, this was during the nineteenth century. Boys had an advantage over girls in the sense that parents were more willing to take them to private schools and pay more since there was no system of free schools until the 1880s. Girls of all ages had a disadvantage in relation to boys of the same age and level because of the depravity of education knowledge. Governesses taught the girls of the upper –class since they did not go to school at all but the funny part is that these very governesses who are supposed to be the source of enlightenment had no formal training. The objective of this strategy of the upper-class being taught at home was to alienate them from the lower classes as well as to keep them away from the

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Human sex trafficing in united states - Research Paper Example As the name suggest it need not involve a movement to another location , even the street prostitution or any form of sexual exploitation come under this crime. Human sex trafficking is an insult to humanity and need to be abolished for a better world. ( Thesis) According to (Polaris project,2014) â€Å"Sex trafficking occurs when people are forced or coerced into the commercial sex trade against their will.   Child sex trafficking includes any child involved in commercial sex†. The sex traffickers usually target people who have vulnerable backgrounds like poor, orphans, abused people and children. They trap their victims by false promises, threats, lies, force or control. Sex trafficking happens in brothels, hostess clubs, online escorts services, strip clubs and in street prostitution. Since the money involved in this trade is high the victim indulges in it for benefits. The human sex trafficking need to be fought from the root and this is not an easy task. Many women from third world countries are pushed in to sex trade daily from which they cannot escape. Human trafficking is a challenge for government authorities nowadays and it not an easy task to stop it as the activity has assimilated in to the society in a complex way Human trafficking is a result of weakness and helplessness rather than a voluntary activity. Human sex trafficking is an evil that has many reasons .One of it is poverty and can be seen that many victims of human sex trafficking are poor people. People living in extreme poverty are given hopes of well paid jobs and are trapped in to this commercial trade. The person making the promises is a trafficker which the victim is not aware of. They are transported to a foreign country and then sexually exploited. Another reason for ending in this trade is due t o debt which they are unable to pay off. For the need of money they get trapped in false promises and opportunities. Money is always a motivator for all the crimes and human sex

A critical analysis of article-3 of the European Convention on Human Dissertation

A critical analysis of article-3 of the European Convention on Human Rights - Dissertation Example Every human being needs the fundamental rights as a primary requirement in their life,which feciliates them with security to live their life in present day world.The basis of this right is the respect to the human values by securing the human rights. The basis of this right is the respect to the human values by securing the human rights. On the contrary, ECHR is all set to work for the protection of human rights in th european countries. However, some of its policies regarding certain humain rights are still not worth effective. As, Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, prohibits torture â€Å"inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment†. In other words we can say any intentional act by which severe pain or suffering is caused physically or mentally to a person. The definition has tried to cover a huge objective scope, rather than becoming subjective and more definite. Resultantly, due to its infinite nature, the Article 3 has been a critical issue. There is a lack of exact definition and clear meaning of torture mentioned in the article. Nevertheless, torture has a wide range, from normal torture to severe punishment and that may vary in different age group. But, Article 3 does not seem to cover all the aspects of human rights. Initially the UK Court had restrictive view on what consisted of torture, preferring to find that states had inflicted inhuman and degrading treatment. Though ECHR is fighting for the rights of children and protect the children from violations but the criteria it has designed is not able to act effectively. Thus the court held that practices such as sleep deprivation, subjecting individual to intense noise and requiring them to stand against a wall with their limbs outstretched for extended periods of time, did not constitute torture1. On the contrary, there is a necessity of giving more emphasis on the rights of the children, because they are the usual victim of torture and prohibitions, which deprive them of th e human rights in their normal day to day life. That may lead to troublesome life of the children. In such case, the convention’s Article 3 seems to be insufficient to provide protection to the children in an authentic way. Keeping in view, the importance of child’s right The United Nations Convention on the Human Rights of the Child defines a child as a human being below the age of 18 years unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier, 2 agreed by 192 of 194 member countries. Biologically, a child is anyone between birth and puberty or in the developmental stage of childhood, between infancy and adulthood. Children generally have fewer rights than adults and are classed as not able to make serious decisions, and legally must always be under the care of a responsible adult.3 The positive side of European Convention on Human Rights is their step towards the reforms in human rights and possibly, there are chances of more amendments and impro vement in the capacity of the policies; enabling them to protect the children from any kind of abuses. Due to the lack of contents in the Article 3 of European Convention, The UK Court has emphasized the fundamental nature of Article 3 in holding that the prohibition is made in absolute terms, irrespective of a victim's conduct. The Court has also held that states cannot deport or extradite individuals who might be subjected to torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, in the recipient state.4 If we look at the history of torture, it was first used in the ancient Greeks and Romans for interrogations. Torture was used only on slaves until the 2nd century. But, gradually that started spreading to all the sections in lower class people. Statement of a slave was valid, only if it has come out through torture.5 But at the present scenario when we talk about child torture and their right it would be important to find the definition of torture and its relevance with child†™s right. Torture, according to the United Nations

Reading habits Essay Example for Free

Reading habits Essay First of all I would say thank you to our Almighty God for giving me the wisdom and the knowledge in doing this project. To my very intelligent, kind, and very patient Instructor, the Area chairman of the Teacher Education Student, Dr Angelita S. Nagun for giving advices to make this successful. Of course to my supportive and loving Parents, â€Å"Mr Danilo C. Cabato Sr and Mrs Violeta M. Cabato who sacrificed and giving their efforts for me especially for financial things. And to my friends and classmates, cousins, Especially Mr Nesty Esteben, for helping me to do this project and giving me the words of wisdom and  encouragement, all of you thank you so much and God Bless.!! APPROVAL SHEET In Partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree, Bachelor of Elementary Education, this research proposal entitled â€Å"LEVEL OF READING HABITS OF THE TEACHER EDUCATION STUDENTS OF PSU URDANETA† has been prepared and submitted by Philip Anthony M. Cabato who hereby recommended for oral examination. Angelita S. Nagun, Ph. D. Adviser Approved by the Committee on Oral Examination Angelita S. Nagun, Ph. D. Chairman Mariluz Segui , Ph. D Ofelia Imatong, MA. ED Member Member Accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of  Elementary Education. CRISTITA C. DULOS, Ph. D. Zenaida U Suyat, Ph. D. Area Chairman, College of Teacher Education Campus Executive Director LEVEL OF READING HABITS OF THE TEACHER EDUCATION STUDENTS OF PSU URDANETA CHAPTER 1 THE PROBLEM BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY Francis Bacon’s off quoted observation that â€Å"reading make the man full† was made almost five Centuries ago, but still rings true today in an age of wireless communication and computer technology. Educators have expounded on the significance of reading in enhancing individual development and Cultural awareness. Whether pursued us as a pastime or as a means of furthering one’ education,  for both reading keep us aware of what is going around us. It enforces us of what took place in the past affords us glimpses of what will happen in the future. The world of one who reads in necessarily wider than that of the other who does not. It is on the forgoing premise that the literate populace, especially the youths, are argued to devote more in readings broaden their mental horizon increase their awareness of the environment, and be abreast of the chances in modern society Reading is a very important issue which is not only about enjoyment but a necessity: basic tool of education (Makotsi, 2005). The impact of reading in people lives is extraordinary widespread. A reader can learn new skills, can become a more knowledgeable person of the whole world, and he can be stimulated to both thought and emotion. One should read books and other materials to acquire knowledge. If the reading habits is not inculcated among the student community, the school of knowledge will go in vain. The hour is come for the student community to rise up and read books. So it is found necessary to study about the reading habit to the student especially to the TEACHER EDUCATION STUDENTS OF PSU URDANETA CAMPUS, URDANETA CITY PANGASINAN. The TEACHER EDUCATION STUDENTS OF PSU URDANETA CAMPUS, URDANETA CITY PANGASINAN are now having a problem as regards to their reading habit. As the researcher observed, many of the TEACHER EDUCATION STUDENTS OF PSU URDANETA, URDANETA CITY CAMPUS are reading only when they are told to do so and when examination or quizzes are coming. This study will conduct to help the students and encourage TEACHER EDUCATION STUDENTS OF PSU URDANETA, URDANETA CITY CAMPUS to determine the level of reading habits and to help them determine to themselves if they have good or poor reading habits. STATEMENTS OF THE PROBLEM. The study will seek to determine the Reading Habits of the TEACHER EDUCATION STUDENTS OF PSU URDANETA CAMPUS, URDANETA CITY PANGASINAN A. Y. 2014-2015 Especially, this study will sought to answer the following questions. What is the Demographic Profile of TEACHER EDUCATION STUDENTS OF PSU URDANETA CAMPUS, URDANETA CITY PANGASINAN A. Y. 2014-2015. a. Age b. Sex c. Parents Educational Attainment; and d. Family Income What is the Level of Reading Habits of the TEACHER EDUCATION STUDENTS OF PSU URDANETA CAMPUS, URDANETA, CITY PANGASINAN as measured by the Likert Scale questionnaire when group in terms of: a. Age b. Sex c. Parents Educational Attainment; and d. Family Income What is the Level Reading Habits of the TEACHER EDUCATION STUDENTS OF PSU URDANETA CAMPUS, URDANETA CITY PANGASINAN as measured of by Likert Scale when group as a whole? SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY This study will be focusing on the Reading Habits of the TEACHER EDUCATION STUDENTS OF PSU URDANETA CAMPUS, URDANETA CITY PANGASINAN and deemed to benefit several factors. INSTRUCTORS. Teacher may be able to realize that they have the ability to motivate and encourage students to read. STUDENTS. The researcher will help the students know their level of Reading  Habits and for them to be aware to themselves if they have good and poor Reading Habits. PARENTS. Parents may be able to realize that they have a certain influence to make their children read and make it one of their Habits. RESEARCHER. The whole process of the research will serve as a training on how to become an effective and efficient teacher. SCOPE AND DELIMINATION OF THE STUDY The research study will conduct to the TEACHER EDUCATION STUDENTS OFPSU URDANETA CAMPUS , URDANETA CITY PANGASINAN during Second Semester of A. Y. 2014-2015. DEFENITION OF KEY TERMS The following terms are defined lexically and operationally to provide a  common understanding of terms in the study. READING. In this study, it is thee cognitive process of understanding a written linguistic method. It also means the action or practice of a person who reads. HABIT. In this study, it is a tendency or disposition to act in a particular way. It also means an established custom, usually practice. READING HABITS. Reading Habits refers to the behaviour which express likeness of reading of individual types of reading and tastes of reading. (Sangkeo, 1999) In this study, it is the creation of a strong desire to read that continues throughout the student’s life. LEVEL. It is a position on a real or imaginary scale of amount, quantity, extent or quality. As used in this study, it refers to the degree or standing of the TEACHER EDUCATION STUDENTS for their reading habits. CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES This chapter presents a brief discussion of relevant and selected literature and studies. This will give the researcher the needed insight and background for discussion and analysis of the finding in this study. It includes Literature and studies reviewed by the researcher which serves as guide and references for the paradigm of the study. RELATED LITERATURE Reading is important for students in general in order to cope with new knowledge in a changing world and technological age. The ability to red is the hearth of self- education and lifelong learning. Reading according to Fatimayin and Lawa(2010), connotes the ability to read well not only English Language and literature text, but also newspaper, magazines, journal, periodical, etc. Reading is a key to a wealth of experience that links people in a way unlimited by distance or time. It provides experience through which the individuals may expand his horizons, identify and develop his  interest while gaining a deeper insight of himself, his fellow human beings and the world generally. Potter (2011) opines that reading fire’s children’s imagination and encourage quick learning as well as widens, expand horizons, and help reader learn about dimes. He further argues that it encourages imagination, curiously and the ability to handle complex ideas. Reading plays a vital role in any worthwhile efforts to learn English. It is also a tool for learning other subjects and a yardstick for measuring academic progress. It is also a through reading that educational objectives can be accomplished. Above all, reading is related to other language skills. Bright and McGregor(1971:3) describe that it has the â€Å" core of the English Language Syllabus† by explaining that the language acquisition of the large extent on reading. It is a gateway to academic success, that is the reason on its importance cannot be overstated. Reading makes way for a better understanding of one’s experience and it can be exciting voyage to self-discover ( Panigrahi and Panda, 1996: Eyre, 2005). According to Deverajan and Gray, as cited in Panigrahi and Panda (1996)0, reading influences the extent and accuracy of information as well as the attitudes,  morals, belief, judgement and action of reading. According to William S. Grey, reading influences the extent and accuracy of information as well as the attitudes, moral beliefs, judgments and action of readers. Books are one of the best tools for training and upbringing. A good book always has a salutary effect on the mind of a reader. It will elevate spirit and thoughts. It will augment his store of knowledge. It is possible that the reading of book might have a deeper impact on the minds of the readers than the other sources of acquiring knowledge. Sometimes, reading brings about a revolutionary change in the outlook  of a person. Reading is the basic foundation on which academic skills of an individual are built, and that has been verified by various studies time and again. Frequent reading is related to the development of sophisticated language structures; higher levels of comprehension, improved word analysis skills, and fluency in significant amounts of voluntary reading are associated with greater interest and skill development (Irving, International Reading Association, 2000). According toChow Chou, 2000, â€Å"a moderate amount of reading will lead to substantial vocabulary gains†. Also in the subject of vocabulary, Parry (1991)  investigated how language learners acquire vocabulary. The subject in her study, whose vocabulary is limited, read very little. She concludes; â€Å"To establish a firm foundation for the vocabulary building to be done in academic courses, we should encourage our students to read as much as they can before they leave our classes† (Parry, 1991:649). RELATED STUDIES Reading habit refers to the behaviour which express the likeness of reading of individual types of reading and tastes of reading ( Sangkaeo 1999). It is a pattern withwhich an individual organizes his or her reading. Similarly, Shen(2000) identifies  reading habits, as how often, how much, and what student read. Researchers in the past decade have devoted efforts to examining learner’s reading habits( e. g. Mokhtari, and Sheorey, 1994). With their endeavours, these researchers have discovered that reading habits are associated with student’s gender, age, educational background, academic performance and professional growth. A good reading habit is necessary for a healthy intellectual growth and play’s a very crucial role in enabling a person to achieve practical efficiency. Furthermore, an individual interest are determine to a considerable extent by the amount he will  read and the intensity with which he will pursue his reading activity. By reading books, onegets confirmation or rejection of one’s own ideas, which makes one think more critically about right and wrong in a society. Reading provides people with a sense of values which enable them to gradually to develop the greatest of all virtues, that is the ability to understand rather than condemn. Books can also be very comforting, especially at times when one doubt’s one’s self and one’s belief. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Behaviourist psychology of the 1950’s influenced the Traditional Bottom-up  Approach to reading, which claimed learning was based upon â€Å"habit formation, brought about by the repeated association of a stimulus with a response† and language learning was characterized as a â€Å"response system that humans acquire through automatic conditioning processes,† where â€Å"some patterns of language are reinforced (rewarded) and others are not,† and â€Å"only those patterns reinforced by the community of language users will persist† (Omaggio 1993, 45-46). Behaviorism became the basis of the audio-lingual method, which sought to form second language â€Å"habits† through drilling, repetition, and error correction. The main method associated with the bottom-up approach to reading is known as phonics, which requires the learner to match letters with sounds in a defined sequence. According to this view, reading is a linear process by which readers decode a text word by word, linking the words into phrases and then sentences (Gray and Rogers, cited in Kucer 1987). According to Samuels and Kamil (1988: 25), the emphasis on behaviorism treated reading as a word-recognition response to the stimuli of the printed words, where â€Å"little attempt was made to explain what went on within the recesses of the mind that allowed the human to  make sense of the printed page†. In other words, textual comprehension involves adding the meanings of words to get the meanings of clauses (Anderson 1994). These lower level skills are connected to the visual stimulus, or print, and are consequently concerned with recognizing and recalling. Like the audio-lingual teaching method, phonics emphasizes on repetition and on drills using the sounds that make up words. Information is received and processed beginning with the smallest sound units, and proceeded to letter blends, words, phrases, and sentences. Thus, novice readers acquire a set of hierarchically  ordered sub-skills that sequentially build toward comprehension ability. Having mastered these skills, readers are viewed as experts who comprehend what they read. Another theory closely related to top-down processing called schema theory also had a major impact on reading instruction. It describes in detail how the background knowledge of the learner interacts with the reading task and illustrates how a student’s knowledge and previous experience with the world is crucial to deciphering a text. The ability to use this schemata, or background knowledge, plays a fundamental role in one’s trial to comprehend a text. Schema theory is based on the notion that past experiences lead to the creation of mental frameworks that help a reader make sense of new experiences. Smith (1994: 14) calls schemes the â€Å"extensive representations of more general patterns or regularities that occur in our experience†. For instance one’s generic scheme of an airplane will allow him to make sense of airplane he has not previously filed with. This means that past experiences will be related to new experiences, which may include the knowledge of â€Å"objects, situations, and events as well as knowledge of procedures for retrieving,  organizing and interpreting information† (Kucer, 1987: 31). Anderson (1994: 469) presents research showing that recall of information in a text is affected by the reader’s schemata and explains that â€Å"a reader comprehends a message when he is able to bring to mind a schema that gives account of the objects and events described in the message†. Comprehension is the process of â€Å"activating or constructing a schema that provides a coherent explanation of objects and events mentioned in a discourse† (Anderson, 1994: 473). For Anderson and Pearson (1988: 38), comprehension is the interaction between old and new information. They emphasize: â€Å"To say that one has comprehended a text is to say that she has found a mental ‘home’ for the information in the text, or else that she has modified an existing mental home in order to accommodate that new information†. Therefore, a learner’s schemata will restructure it to accommodate new information as that information is added to the system (Omaggio, 1993). According to Block (1992), there is now no more debate on â€Å"whether reading is a bottom-up, language-based process or a top-down, knowledge-based process. † It is also no more problematic to accept the influence of background knowledge on readers. Research has gone even further to define the control executed by readers on their trial to understand a text. This control is what Block has referred to as meta-cognition. In the context of reading, meta-cognition involves thinking about what one is doing while reading. Strategic readers do not only sample the text, make hypotheses, confirm or reject them, and make new hypotheses while reading. They also involve many activities along the process of reading, whose stages can be divided into three, i. e. before reading, while reading, and after reading. The activities the readers involve before reading are to identify the purpose of the  reading, identify the form or type of the text. In the second stage (while reading), they think about the general character and features of the form or type of the text— such as trying to locate a topic sentence and follow supporting details toward a conclusion, project the author’s purpose for writing the text, choose, scan, or read in detail, make continuous predictions about what will occur next based on information obtained earlier, prior knowledge, and conclusions obtained within the previous stages. Finally, in the last stage, they attempt to form a summary, conclude, or make inference of what was read. PARADIGM OF THE STUDY  This study shown in Figure 1 in the study next page shows the direction of the study. The Paradigm further shows the demographic profile of the Teacher Education Students. Such as age, sex, parents educational attainment, and family income also respondents with regards to their level of reading habits. Figure 1. Paradigm of the Study The Teacher Education Students Profile in Terms of: Age Sex Parent’s Educational Attainment Family income Level of Reading Habits of Teacher Education Students Age Sex Parent’s Educational Attainment Family Income Figure 1. A paradigm showing the demographic profile of the respondents in  terms of their age, sex, parents educational attainment and family income as well as the levels of reading habits of the respondents. Chapter III METHODOLOGY This chapter presents the research methodology. This contains the research design used, the subjects of the study, sample population, data-gathering instrument, datagathering procedures, and the statistical treatment of the data. Research Design The researcher made use of the Descriptive Survey Method. We will this method through giving our questionnaires to our respondents which are the Teacher-Education students in their most convenient time. The use of the method is to justify by the purpose of the researcher to gather information about the said topic. Respondents The respondents of the study were sixty (60) students. In every section of the Teacher-Education Department of Pangasinan State University from first year BEED and BSED to third year. A random sampling of students in every section was made. Table 1 Presents the distribution of Respondents Course/Section Number of Respondents BEED I 10 BEED II 10 BEED III 10 BSED I 10 BSED II 10 BSED III 10 Total number or Respondents 60 Ten (10) students from every section/course will be select. The chosen  respondents are cooperative and willing to answer the questionnaire. All the respondents in the study will answer the questionnaires in order to find and determine their level of reading habits. Sample Population The researchers will be using random sampling since we are only limited from first year to third year students. Random sampling is the selection of a random sample; each element of the population has an equal chance of being select. The researchers will select the students that belong to the desired course and year level. Data Gathering Instrument The main data-gathering instrument was the two (2) set of survey questionnaires. The first part is intended to gather Teacher – Education students’ background information and the next part is a five-point Likert-Scale Type questionnaire. The questionnaire consisting of items under reading habits that requires the students to rate themselves in terms of scale: 5 – I strongly disagree, 4 – I disagree, 3 – I partly agree, 2 – I agree, 1 – I strongly agree. The researchers made use of the five-point scale likert type test as the main data gathering instrument. The test is made up of 27 questions to be answered by the respondents. Each questions as well as its corresponding options will explain thoroughly. All the  options given are correct except that they differ on the degree on how the respondents answered the questions. Data Gathering Procedure The researchers will personally administer and retrieve the questionnaires to the respondents in the Teacher-Education Department. Assistance from their friends will seek in the administration and the retrieval of the questionnaires in other sections. Data from the questionnaires will be tally and tabulate for interpretation. Statistical Treatment of Data For the profile of the students of this research study, will tally and tabulate in the frequency (f) and percentage (p) table using the formula shown below. P= f/n (100%) Where, P = percentage equivalent f = frequency n = total number of respondents The mean use in describing the language acquisition will determined using the scale below: Mean Scale Rating Verbal Interpretation 4. 20 – 5. 00 Very High 3. 40 – 4. 19 High 2. 60 – 3. 39 Average 1. 80 – 2. 59 Low 1. 00 – 1. 79 Very Low To be able to answer the problem number 2, the Weighted Average Point (WAP) was employed to determine the reading habits level of the Teacher – Education students of the Pangasinan State University – Urdaneta Campus. The following formula used to compare for the Weighted Average Point (WAP). WAP = (f5x5) + (f4x4) + (f3x3) + (f2x2) + (f1x1) N Where: N = total number of respondents WAP = f5 = number of the responses who answered â€Å"I strongly disagree. † f4 = number of the response who answered â€Å"I disagree. † f3 = number of the response who answered â€Å"I partly agree. † f2 = number of the response who answered â€Å"I agree. † f1 = number of the response who answered â€Å"I strongly agree. † Pangasinan State University Urdaneta Campus Urdaneta City, Pangasinan March, 2014 Dear fellow Education Student in Pangasinan State University, May I request you to kindly fill up the attached questionnaire in connection  with my special problem entitled Level of Reading Habits of the Teacher-Education Students of Pangasinan State University year 2014-2015. This will fulfil the requirements for the completion of our subject Introduction to Research. Thank you very much for your kind and cooperation. Very sincerely yours, Philip Anthony M. Cabato BEED II Direction: Please supply the needed information by filling up the given blanks or checking your answer to the questions asked. Name: Sex: Age: Birthday: Course/Section: _____________________ Parents: Father: Mother: 1. Educational Attainment: a. Father: Elementary Secondary. Vocational College b. Mother: Elementary Secondary Vocational College 2. Occupation: a. Father: Manual Vocational Technical Professional *manual *vocational *technical *professional Laundering Dressmaker/ Tailor Technician Lawyer -Teacher Carpenter Beautician/ Barber Mechanic Doctor -Employee Baker Driver Electrician Nurse Housekeep Midwife Mason Dentist Janitor Engineer Farming Architect Labourer a. Mother: Manual Vocational Technical Professional *manual *vocational *technical *professional Laundering Dressmaker/ Tailor Technician Lawyer -Teacher. Carpenter Beautician/ Barber Mechanic Doctor -Employee Baker Driver Electrician Nurse Housekeep Midwife Mason Dentist Janitor Engineer Farming Architect Labourer 3. Family Income: a. Father: _____ Low (P7, 000 below) _____ Average (P8, 000-P10, 000) _____ High (P11, 000 above) b. Mother: _____ Low (P7,000 below) _____ Average (P8,000-P10,000) _____ High (P11,000 above) Self- Assessment Questionnaire for Reading Habits Directions: For each of the following statements, put a check mark on the appropriate column that corresponds to your answer. SCALE RATING 1 I strongly agree 2 I agree. 3 I partly agree 4 I disagree 5 I strongly disagree Statements 1 2 3 4 5 1. When I read books, I feel happy. 2. When I have to read something, I feel anxious. 3. Reading books helps a person learn a language. 4. I read only when I need to find some information. 5. I would rather see a play in a theatre than read the play in a book. 6. I enjoy reading things on the Internet. 7. I enjoyed reading at school. 8. I didn’t enjoy reading at school. 9. I have many books at home. 10. I don’t have much free time for reading. 11. Reading teaches me a lot about life and about people. 12. I get bored in my free time if I don’t have a book to read. 13. I learn more from TV than from reading books. 14. If you want to be well- educated, you must read books. 15. Reading books teaches you things that help you make decisions. 16. I would rather spend money on books than on clothes. 17. I read books only when my teacher tells me I should. 18. I think reading books will be helpful for me in my life. 19. I don’t think reading books will be helpful for me in my life. 20. When I don’t understand something I am reading, it makes me feel less confident about myself. 21. I want to be like my friends, and they don’t read. (If your friends like reading,   don’t answer this question. ) 22. I had a teacher or teachers who enjoyed reading and made me feel I would like to read. 23. My parents encourage/have always encouraged me to read. 24. I think books are too expensive for me to buy. 25. I have a quiet place where I can read undisturbed. 26. At University, I had a quiet place where I could read and study undisturbed. 27. I don’t think books will be important fifty years from now. Bibliography (http://balaibahasa. upi. edu/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/01_Noorizah-R eading_habit-edited. pdf ) (http://www. buzzle. com/articles/importance-of-reading. html).

Ethical Concepts in the Provision of Nursing Care

Ethical Concepts in the Provision of Nursing Care The nursing process is more than a method that nurses use to diagnose and treat actual and potential health problems. The American Nurses Association (ANA) Standards of Nursing Practice provides a basis for practice and recognition of the patient; in addition, nurses also must adhere to the professions ethical code as well. Nurses are committed to respect human beings with an unbiased approach of care to differences socially, economically, culturally, racially, and other human attributes (Saucier, 2005, p. 80). It is the responsibility of the professional nurse to engrain ethics as an essential part of the foundation of nursing. The International Council for Nurses (ICN) identifies that the need for nursing is universal and that nurses have four fundamental responsibilities: to promote health, prevent illness, restore health, and alleviate suffering (Tomey, 2004, p. 75). From the beginning of nursing Florence Nightingale stated it so eloquently in the original Nightingale Pledge: I will do all in my power to maintain and elevate the standard of my profession and will hold in confidence all personal matters committed to my keeping and all family affairs coming to my knowledge in the practice of my calling (Nightingale, 1893, para. 1) Ethical issues that are challenging for nurses in everyday practice and nurses continue to find it difficult to practice with moral integrity and as moral agents given the many difficult ethical challenges they encounter in the healthcare system. Confidentiality The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) was originally created to ensure the privacy of individuals and it holds those individuals accountable that might acquire sensitive information in regards to medical records (Garrett, Baillie, Garrett, 2010, p. 117). However, there are also some gray areas where a nurse is often not sure whether the information that is being handed out is acceptable, or whether the person that is asking for the information is authorized to have it. When these kinds of situations take place, confusion can arise and it can make it difficult for nurses to do the job properly without fear of retaliation. Not only is confidentiality an ethical issue, but a legal requirement. In chapter five, Principles of Confidentiality and Truthfulness, the terms obligation and secrets was used. Having the understanding and knowing the difference between the types of secrets and an awareness of harm or possible harm to the patient, family, or profession is key. This information is directly related to the Nursing Scope and Standards of Practice, Standard 12. Ethics, The registered nurse integrates ethical provisions in all areas of practice. The measurement criteria for the registered nurse state: Maintains patient confidentiality within legal and regulatory parameters, maintains a therapeutic and professional patient-nurse relationship with appropriate professional boundaries, and uses Code of Ethics for Nurses with Interpretive Statements to guide practice (American Nurses Association [ANA], 2004, p. 39). Specifically, ethic 3.2 Confidentiality, that is encompassed in the standard that states the nurse promotes, advocates for, and strives to protect the health, safety , and rights of the patient (American Nurses Association [ANA], 2001, p. 12). Trust and well-being of the patient are key in the area of confidentiality; keeping in mind, that when working within a multi-disciplinary team, the nurse must only share relevant information on a need to know bases. As an example, the emergency room nurses cousin was admitted to the emergency room during the shift at the hospital. He is in critical condition. The nurses mother is very concerned about him, but she has not been able to reach the nurses aunt and uncle. The nurse is aware of the cousins condition. With the standards and ethics does she tell her mom? No, this is probably the hardest of situations, but the nurse must not tell. She must not even let on that she has any information. Instead, encourage her mother to keep calling your aunt. The nurse might even see if her aunt is at the hospital and arrange for her to call mom. Even doctors can only release information to the immediate family-in this case, the cousins parents. It is up to the aunt and uncle to inform the rest of the family. That way, they can determine how much information family members should have. Maintaining confidentiality is an important aspect of professional behavior. It is essential that a nurse safeguard the patients right to privacy by carefully protecting information of a sensitive, private nature. Sharing personal information or gossiping about others violates nursing ethical codes and practice standards. It sends a message that the nurse cannot be trusted and damages interpersonal relationships. Informed consent Nurses are obligated to tell all patients, regardless of whether or not they are capable or incapable of giving consent, about the care or treatments before it is given. Nurses are obligated to assist patients understand the nature of their health problems and assist them to receive the information and support they need to make informed decisions. A key principle studied in chapter two, Principles of Autonomy and Informed Consent, that all medical care requires the consent of the patient (or someone who is authorized to consent for the patient) before the care plan is carried out. An assumption is made that informed consent recognizes that a patient needs to know about a procedure, surgery, or treatment, before they decide to have it. Standard 14.Resource Utilization in the ANA Scope and Standards of Practice explicitly denotes that nurses should assists the patient and family in becoming informed consumers about options, costs, risks, and benefits of treatment and care. Informed con sent may have a multitude of legal ramifications, but its core and most controversial function lies in the idea of patients actually participating in medical decision making. It may be at this point that the physician (or autonomist) and the nurse most tend to butt heads. Fortunately for nurses there is Ethics Code 1.4. The concept of informed consent is fundamental to the delivery of health care. The nurses responsibility is vital in ensuring that patients are fully informed and understand their options; each nurse has an obligation to be knowledgeable about the moral and legal rights of all patients to self-determination (ANA, 2001, p. 8). Informed consent is more than just signing a paper, is specific patient right. An example case of a patient with angina who was considered for a coronary bypass surgery demonstrates the issue of informed consent. Ethical and legal aspects of achieving consent must be considered. Physicians may have personal biases, which may lead to coerced consent, or may overwhelm the patient with information on potential complications of a proposed procedure. Patient preconceived notion or misinformation may lead to misunderstood consent. The patients request to put back the decision to the physician raises the question of whether such requested paternalism violates patient self-determination and invalidates consent or is it an exercise of the patients right to have his physician decides (Garrett et al., 2010, p. 32)? Quality and safety Providing basic nursing care for the individual patient is an important nursing value supported by professional mandates and by codes of nursing ethics. Referring again to Standard 14.Resouce Utilization that states, the registered nurse considers factors related to safety, effectiveness, cost, and impact on practice in the planning and delivery of nursing services (ANA, 2004, p. 42). It is easy to tie the concept directly from the ANA standards of performance to the nursing code of ethics 8 that states the nursing profession is committed to promoting health, welfare, and safety of all people (ANA, 2001, p. 23). In reading from chapter six, there was discussion that quality care can be achieved by high tech equipment, credentialing, licensing, skill, knowledge, and protocols; however, a key point in judging quality stated professions lead the effort to enhance and protect quality in the professions (Garrett et al., 2010, p. 134). If employment conditions, agency regulations, or hospi tal policies create undesirable working conditions that limit the quality of nursing care that can be provided, nurses become concerned. Since nurses value quality of patient care, they also value those conditions that allow quality patient care. When nurses attempt to balance the value of quality of patient care with issues involving their quality of life the action of a possible strike may come into question. While the nurses value being able to guarantee high quality care they may realize in the short term many patients may not receive the highest of quality care while a strike is in effect. When putting ethical decisions first, nurses should work through their professional organizations and promote positive mechanisms for negotiations with employers. If nurses can gain responsibility for, and control over, the quality of care delivered, they will have gained great benefit for the health of the community. Conclusion If not nurses, who will advocate for the chronically ill (both young and old), the under and uninsured, and the most vulnerable with complex health needs? Who will question the rightness or wrongness of aggressive care, technological advancements, and determinations of quality of life? Who will address patient concerns related to informed consent, surrogate decision-making, and the risks and benefits of treatment or research? And who will challenge ineffective or inefficient nursing, physician, and administrative leadership standards and styles that underestimate the significance of ethical problems on patient outcomes and nurse productivity and retention? These philosophical questions are at the core of our deeply held values and beliefs about who we are as a discipline. Without adequate ethical knowledge and competence; however, it is difficult to bring together nursing on central ethical concepts in the provision of nursing care. The nurse, as a patient advocate presents difficult challenges; however, the key principles of ethics will allow all nurses to persevere in understanding the scope and limits of their professional responsibilities.

Ozzy Osbourne :: essays research papers fc

The Prince of Darkness and Black Sabbath On December 3rd, 1948, John Michael Osbourne was born in Birmingham, England. This child would suffer many hardships throughout his life, but somehow would force himself to overcome them. This man that came to be known as Ozzy fronted the most famous classic metal bad of all time, Black Sabbath. After trying work, Ozzy moved to petty theft, and then ended up in jail. Ozzy decided to try music as a career. He began to look for bands to join and soon found one named Music Machine. Due to illness, Music Machine was in need of a singer. Ozzy filled in and was fascinated by the traveling and wild sides of the music lifestyle. Later, he joined a band called Approach, but he disliked the band and quit shortly after. Ozzy eventually formed a band with Tony Iommi as guitarist, William â€Å"Bill† Ward as drummer, and Terence â€Å"Geezer Butler† as bassist. The four musicians first called themselves Polka Tulk Blues, and then changed its name to Earth. The Band played a gig at a place called Henry’s Blueshouse(Veinotte). The upper-class people that were at the gig had been awaiting a different Earth and totally different style of music. The night was a disaster and the band knew that a new band name was in order. Geezer suggested that the band change its name to ‘Black Sabbath’, the name of a horror movie during that time. Black Sabbath got some gigs on its own, but more often the band would wait where other bands were scheduled to perform. If the scheduled band failed to show up, Black Sabbath would take their position on stage. In January 1969, they played the Star Club in Hamburg, a place made famous by The Beatles. The club booked the band for future shows after the outstanding performance. They played seven shows a day and wrote new music and lyrics as they went. Black Sabbath completed their first album and released it on Friday, February 13, 1970. The album was recorded in only eight hours with a cost of approximately $1200 in United States currency, which was very cheap for the time. During the recording, the band still lacked popularity, but just did what they enjoyed, which was sing about the gloomy side of life. At this point, the four men were having a great time and did not expect to make it very big in the music industry.

Pride and Dignity in No One Writes to the Colonel, by Gabriel Garcia Ma

In a state of martial law one individual does not have much to say. This statement holds true in the novel, No One Writes to the Colonel, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The author discusses the political climate of one man, the Colonel, who after fighting to create the government in power is being controlled by the bureaucracy. A corrupt government can ruin a man, sap his will, and drive him mindless with hunger; although times are hard the Colonel keeps his dignity and pride.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The government, through the use of martial law, controls the people quite readily. The government maintains itself through "Big-Brother" tactics that include the use of censors, secret police, and ordinances like "TALKING POLITICS FORBIDDEN." The sweeping control that is present under this martial law is evident in the every day life of the Colonel and the people of his town. The first example of the nature of their lives is shown through the funeral. A poor musician has died of natural causes; the first in a long period of time. The government in attempt to avoid a demonstration and possibly a riot, reroutes his funeral procession to avoid the police barracks. Since the musician is a first to have died of natural causes, we can assume that martial law has resulted in the untimely death of many people. Another example is the death of the Colonel's son, Agustin, Whom after his death has become the embodiment of the underground. It is rightly so, being that he was the writer of the "clandestine" papers.   Ã‚  Ã‚   "'Agustin wrote.'   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Colonel observed the deserted street.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   'What does he say?'   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   'The same as always.'   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   They gave him the clandestine sheet of paper" (p.32)    Martial law has restricted the free flow of id... ...is moment the Colonel feels "pure, explicit, invincible" (p.64) in replying "shit." (p.64)      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This novel takes place somewhere in South America and it is evident that because of the type of government, conditions are difficult during this period for the group of people fighting tyranny. The Colonel has little material wealth after a life of work and service to his country. These monetary circumstances dictate how he and his wife must live day by day; and this hardship is in addition to the medical problems they both endure requiring the service of a doctor.   And yet through it all, the Colonel with steadfast resolve awaits his letter from Congress regarding his pension. This corrupt and unjust government has ruined this man, but has not broken him. His pride enables him to retain his dignity through it all.

Free Things They Carried Essays: Women in Vietnam :: Things They Carried Essays

The Things They Carried: Women in Vietnam In the book The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien gender stereotypes of women who fought in the Vietnam War are represented through some of the short stories. One short story in particular is "Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong" which describes a woman who participated in the Vietnam War and went beyond some of her gender roles that were placed on her. In this war women had certain roles they had to fulfill with many of them being non-traditional ones. This paper will discuss the concept of Cultural Studies in literature about the Vietnam War. Women in the Vietnam War had numerous roles they had to fulfill both physically and mentally. For example in the story "Sweetheart of the song Tra Bong" the character Mary Anne is flown down by her boyfriend to Vietnam. She is dressed in "White culottes and a sexy pink sweater" which is very traditional for a woman (O'Brien 90). Right of the bat the men were attracted to her and was especially liked when she wore her cut-off blue jeans and a swimsuit top that was black (95). In this instance she was representing a traditional feminine role in her dress and her actions. Traditionally women the war were nurses, Women worked for the Red Cross or worked in other types of medical facility. Also you found women who were on the Clerical staff and who were Support Personnel. Only on a few occasions did you find a woman who actually fought in the war. Two women from another source stated that "Women served alongside men in that sink-pit of War." Some roles women had were non-traditional. In the same story that was represented in the preceding paragraph Mary Anne show some of her own non-traditional roles. She becomes very fond of military paraphernalia and even blackens her face with charcoal and carries around an M-16 (102). Her hygiene also becomes second hand. "No cosmetics, no fingernail filling. She stopped wearing jewelry, cut her hair short and wrapped it in a green bandana"(98). Here she is taking on masculine features and her feminine ways are forgotten. Mary Anne also starts staying out late, and once even does not come in until the next day. Some nights the men would go out and look for her, and her boyfriend even accuses her of sleeping with other men, because of her awkward ways. Free Things They Carried Essays: Women in Vietnam :: Things They Carried Essays The Things They Carried: Women in Vietnam In the book The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien gender stereotypes of women who fought in the Vietnam War are represented through some of the short stories. One short story in particular is "Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong" which describes a woman who participated in the Vietnam War and went beyond some of her gender roles that were placed on her. In this war women had certain roles they had to fulfill with many of them being non-traditional ones. This paper will discuss the concept of Cultural Studies in literature about the Vietnam War. Women in the Vietnam War had numerous roles they had to fulfill both physically and mentally. For example in the story "Sweetheart of the song Tra Bong" the character Mary Anne is flown down by her boyfriend to Vietnam. She is dressed in "White culottes and a sexy pink sweater" which is very traditional for a woman (O'Brien 90). Right of the bat the men were attracted to her and was especially liked when she wore her cut-off blue jeans and a swimsuit top that was black (95). In this instance she was representing a traditional feminine role in her dress and her actions. Traditionally women the war were nurses, Women worked for the Red Cross or worked in other types of medical facility. Also you found women who were on the Clerical staff and who were Support Personnel. Only on a few occasions did you find a woman who actually fought in the war. Two women from another source stated that "Women served alongside men in that sink-pit of War." Some roles women had were non-traditional. In the same story that was represented in the preceding paragraph Mary Anne show some of her own non-traditional roles. She becomes very fond of military paraphernalia and even blackens her face with charcoal and carries around an M-16 (102). Her hygiene also becomes second hand. "No cosmetics, no fingernail filling. She stopped wearing jewelry, cut her hair short and wrapped it in a green bandana"(98). Here she is taking on masculine features and her feminine ways are forgotten. Mary Anne also starts staying out late, and once even does not come in until the next day. Some nights the men would go out and look for her, and her boyfriend even accuses her of sleeping with other men, because of her awkward ways.

Communication Barrier Essay

Communication is defined as â€Å"an exchange of information.† It involved the transmission of ideas and thoughts. To communicate means that you share with others your concepts, your thoughts and ideas. Most of our time is spent in this mutual relationship by either speaking or listening. This ability to communicate is what makes man the unique creature that he is, with the ability to control and dominate, to build and maintain. Communications is a big thing in America. It is said to be our most vital and largest industry. We are awed by man’s methods of communication. We find them complete in oral, written or visualized form. In spite of this, communication is a big problem in our lives. Because of human nature, certain barriers exist making the communication process either ineffective or impossible. At times we just do not get through to people. This often results in misunderstanding. Many splits in congregations are due to the communications problem. Brethren have trouble talking to each other, they become estranged and some become enemies. Much of this can be eliminated if we understand some of the barriers to our communication. In the discussion that follows, the principal barriers to communicating effectively in today’s working environment are identified, and proven techniques for coping with them are considered. The principal barriers to effective communication are: noise, poor feedback, selection of inappropriate media, a wrong mental attitude, insufficient or lack of attention to work selection, delay in message transmittal, physical separation of the sender and receiver, and lack of empathy or a good relationship between the sender and receiver. Let’s now give four examples of communication barriers and the solution of each one as well. There are many communication barriers that come up during the communication process. First, there are physical distractions that interfere with the effectiveness of a communication attempt. For example, I work at a hardware store and I would be mixing paint for customer while another customer comes up to me and asks where something is located in the store. For this case, it can be many ways. You can ask someone else to attend to the customer, yet still be able to accomplish your job without losing the customer. If the first customer not around, you should attend to the other customer first and go back to your job. Second, we live in a â€Å"verbal† environment. Words constitute the most frequently used tool for communicating. Words usually facilitate communication; however, their careless, improper use in a given situation can create a communication barrier. Arthur Kudner, an advertising executive, once told his son: â€Å"All big things have little names such as life and death, peace and war, or dawn, day, night, hope, love, and home. Learn to use little words in a big way. It is hard to do, but they say what you mean. When you don’t know what you mean – use big words; they often fool little people.† The words we use should be selected carefully. Dr. Rudolph Flesch, a specialist in words and communication, suggests a way to break through the word barrier: use familiar words in place of the unfamiliar, use concrete words in place of the abstract, use short words in place of long and use single words in place of several. Unfortunately, almost every commonly used word has more than one meaning. Also words have regional meanings or derive new meanings as a result of the development of new industries or fields. The meaning conveyed by the sender’s words depends upon the experience and attitude of the receiver. Therefore, one way to penetrate the word barrier is for the sender to strive to speak or write in terms of the receiver’s experience and attitude. The better able he is to do this, the more successful the communication will be. Dr. S. E. Hayakawa, a U.S. Senator from California, expressed it very well when he said, â€Å"The meanings of words are not in the words; they are in us.† Third, the ability to empathize with someone else may not be easy. If you are to see things from another’s viewpoint, you have to put aside your own prejudices and preconceptions. The receiver may be of a different race,  creed, educational background, from a different section of the country, or have a different specialty or rank within the organization. Under these circumstances, the task of empathizing with the other member of the communication link is difficult. The task is further complicated if you believe that understanding another’s viewpoint may pose a threat to your own. To better communicate, we must try to see ourselves through the eyes of others in the communication link. By developing some empathy with the people to whom we will be directing messages, we might recognize the need to modify our messages from time to time before sending them. We should use easy word when we communicate with other people, let everyone understand easily. Not to ward, no technician word that people around the word will be able to follow. The last one, as manager, many communication barriers will turn out as well. Generally, managers make more frequent use of oral, rather than written, communication. However, the media one selects for communication in a particular situation should correlate with the feedback requirements. A communication failure or partial failure could occur if the media you select for transmittal of a message is inappropriate and necessary feedback is not received. Most simple messages can be transmitted orally – either in a face-to-face discussion, formal briefing, or meeting of the staff. More complex messages should be written in a directive, instruction, memorandum, or report. Very complex messages should be transmitted in both oral and written form. Repetition and review of an oral communication in written form can be a facilitating device. So the personal qualities of the manager should be a consideration in the selection. As manager, you should recognize your strengths and limitations. You should evaluate your successes and failures in communication and plan to use the media that best fits your style and qualities. From the above communication barriers and each of solution, we can observe that in today’s world, no matter what the communication barrier is, there is always to the solution over the barrier. It is just a matter of different  approach within you means and ability to execute the solution without losing any clients.

Consumer Behavior Essay

This section describes the roles of product appearance in the process of consumer evaluation and choice. For this aim, literature in the fields of product development, product design, consumer behavior, marketing, and human factors has been searched. The literature shows that the visual appearance of a product can influence consumer product evaluations and choice in several ways. Several authors considered the role of product or package appearance in consumer product evaluation or choice (Bloch, 1995; Garber, 1995; Garber et al. , 2000; Veryzer, 1993; Veryzer, 1995). However, they did not discuss explicitly the different ways in which appearance influences consumer choice and their respective implications for product design. In addition to these more recent contributions to the literature, the functions of a product in consumer–product interaction are described in earlier industrial design literature (Lo? bach, 1976; Pilditch, 1976; Schu? rer, 1971). Several of these functions concern product appearance. There are differences between authors in the number of roles (i. e. , functions) of product appearance they distinguish and the terms they use. For example, communication of ease of use was mentioned by Bloch (1995) and was described as part of the aesthetic function by Lo? bach (1976), while Veryzer (1995) called it the communicative function of a product appearance. If all the roles mentioned in the literature are considered as a whole, the following six roles of product appearance for consumers can be distinguished: (1) communication of aesthetic, (2) symbolic, (3) functional, and (4) ergonomic product information; (5) attention drawing; and (6) categorization. A description of these six roles and their implications for product design follows. Product Appearance and Aesthetic Product Value The aesthetic value of a product pertains to the pleasure derived from seeing the product, without consideration of utility (Holbrook, 1980). A consumer can value the ‘‘look’’ of a product purely for its own sake, as looking at something beautiful is rewarding in itself. When product alternatives are similar in functioning and price, consumers will prefer the one that appeals the most to them aesthetically (see, for example, Figure 1). Aesthetic responses are primarily emotional or feeling responses, and as such they are very personal (Bamossy et al. , 1983). Several researchers have tried to determine properties of products that are related to aesthetic appreciation. Innate preferences are proposed for visual organization principles, such as unity (i. e. , congruence in elements), proportion (e. g. , ‘‘the Golden Section’’), and symmetry (Hekkert, 1995; Muller, 2001; Veryzer, 1993; Veryzer and Hutchinson, 1998), and an inverted U-shaped relation is proposed between aestheticpreference and complexity (Berlyne, 1971). Another property influencing aesthetic judgments is color. The desirability of a color will change according to the object to which it is applied (e. g. , a car or a table) and with the style of the object (e. g. , modern or Georgian) (Whitfield and Wiltshire, 1983). In addition to (innate) preferences for certain properties of stimuli, prototypicality is found to influence the aesthetic response. Proto typicality is the degree to which something is representative of a category (see also the section about categorization). In several studies, evidence is found for a positive influence of visual prototypicality on aesthetic preference (Hekkert, 1995; Veryzer and Hutchinson, 1998; Whitfield and Slatter, 1979). According to Hekkert et al. (2003), products with an optimal combination of prototypicality and novelty are preferred aesthetically. As well as the product-related characteristics previously mentioned, there are cultural, social, and personal influences on design taste. For example, color preferences differ between cultures and in time (Whitfield and Wiltshire, 1983). In addition, personal factors, such as design acumen, prior experience, and personality influence the design taste of consumers (Bloch, 1995). The influence of an aesthetic judgment on product preference can be moderated by the perceived aesthetic fit of the product with other products the consumer owns, or his or her home interior (Bloch, 1995). Product Appearance and Symbolic Product Value Consumer goods carry and communicate symbolic meaning (McCracken, 1986). Symbolic value even can be the key determinant for product selection (Hirschman and Holbrook, 1982) and can account for the selection of products that clearly are inferior in their tangible characteristics (Levy, 1959). An example of the latter is Philippe Starck’s Juicy Salif lemon squeezer (Lloyd and Snelders, 2003). The choice for a specific product or brand may convey the kind of person someone is or wants to be; consumers use products to express their (ideal) self-image to themselves and to others (Belk, 1988; Landon, 1974; Sirgy, 1982; Solomon, 1983). Symbolic meaning can be attached to a product or brand on the basis of, among other things, advertising (McCracken, 1986), country of origin, or the kind of people using it (Sirgy, 1982). But the productitself also can communicate symbolic value in a more direct way, namely by its appearance. A product’s appearance communicates messages (Murdoch and Flurscheim, 1983), as it may look cheerful, boring, friendly, expensive, rude, or childish (see, for example, Figure 2). In addition, a certain style of appearance may evoke associations with a certain time or place (e. g. , the Fifties). Furthermore, the product or package appearance can reinforce the image of a brand, as the identity of a brand is expressed visually in the appearance of products (Schmitt and Simonson, 1997). Consumers may attach the meaning of a brand to elements of the physical appearance of products. In this way, a brand image may transfer to different kinds of products (see the section about categorization). Many companies therefore make consistent use of certain design elements, such as a color combination, a distinctive form element, or style. For example, car manufacturers often try to keep different car models recognizable as belonging to the same brand. The distinctive radiator grill of BMW automobiles is an example of a recognizable design element. The linking of brand meaning to elements of the product appearance will be easier when the associations these elements engender by themselves (e. g. , because they are innate or are determined by culture) correspond to the desired brand image. For example, use of bright colors and a large size, which is associated with aggression (Murdoch and Flurscheim, 1983), will make it easier to position a car brand as aggressive. Although there are large individual and time-specific differences in the experience of color and form, there are certain associations that seem to be relatively constant. Overviews of the influence of form and color on consumer perception of symbolic value (but also ergonomic and aesthetic value) can be found in Muller (2001), Murdoch and Flurscheim (1983), Schmitt and Simonson (1997), and Whitfield and Wiltshire (1983). For example, angular forms are associated with dynamism and masculinity, while roundness evokes softness and femininity (Schmitt and Simonson, 1997). Culture is an important determinant of the interpretations that consumers give and the associations they have with certain factors of a product’s appearance. For example, color associations vary from culture to culture (Whitfield and Wiltshire, 1983). In America and Europe, the color white stands for purity, and brides traditionally dress in white; in Japan itis a color of mourning. Furthermore, meaning is context dependent. The impression that colors give may change completely by combining certain colors (Muller, 2001). Also, the meaning of forms and colors may change in time, as meanings are continuously transformed by movements in art, fashion, etcetera (Muller, 2001). There is some debate about whether symbolic interpretation is part of the aesthetic experience. In most literature, aesthetic value is mentioned as botha hedonic impression and a result of interpretation and representation (Schmitt and Simonson, 1997; Vihma, 1995). It is acknowledged in this article that whether a product is conceived of as beautiful is affected by what it represents (Vihma, 1995). The same style can be considered ‘‘good taste’’ at one point in time, while being considered ‘‘bad taste’’ 10 years later, because the connotations associated with it or the interpretations given to it have changed. For example, orange was a modern color for clothes, furniture, and plastic products in the Seventies, generally was perceived as old-fashioned and ugly in the Eighties, and became used in products and clothing again in the Nineties. However, the view in this article is that aesthetic and symbolic value should be distinguished, as they may have opposite influences on preference. For example, someone who likes a colorful design may not buy it because it looks ‘‘too childish. ’’ Product Appearance and Functional Product Value