Sacred Texts and Buried Treasures essays

Sacred Texts and Buried Treasures essays Imagine Japan in the earlier part of its existence, before it was as we know it now. What it unified under one ruler or was in made up of many smaller societies? How did people have kinship ties with one another? How did they live? While you contemplate these things others have already extensively researched them, written about them, and taught the history to other people. One such individual, William Wayne Farris, wrote a book called Sacred Texts and Buried Treasures (1998) which attempts to address some parts of Japanese history that are still under debate as well as recent archaeological finding and what they prove. First he discusses Yamatai which is a 3rd century realm that was ruled over by Queen Himiko. Next, he discusses the Korean connection, which refers to the connections that Japanese and Koreans had during this time period (Did the Japanese conquer southern Korea or did the Koreans conquer Japan. Thirdly, he discusses the capitals in Japan, how they were influen ced by the Chinese methods of architecture, and how they were able to build such large cities. Lastly, Farris addresses wooden tablets (a new written resource) and how they effected what we thought about certain parts of Japanese politics and history. Before the book is discussed any further, we will take a look at the author so we can see how credible he is, how much research he did for this book, and how well he knows the material. William Wayne Farris is a professor in Japanese history at the University of Tennessee. He not only teaches Japanese history but also a variety of specialized classes for graduate students. He is a world-renowned expert on pre-1600 population, disease, agriculture, samurai, and historical archaeology in Japan. He received his PhD at Harvard University in 1981 and his field specialties are pre-modern Japanese social and economic history. He has received recieved research grants from the Japan Foundatio...

How To Make The Best Blog Graphics (For Non-Designers) - CoSchedule Blog

How To Make The Best Blog Graphics (For Non-Designers) Blog As bloggers and content marketers, one of your biggest challenges is making sure that your blog posts not only read well, but also look awesome. You probably know why: Posts with better graphics are easier to read and get more shares. The problem is that you may not  have the budget, nor the skills necessary for creating blog post graphics from scratch.  You also like to do things yourself, or just don’t have the means to hire a freelance designer every time you need a new header image for a blog post. That puts you at a slight  disadvantage against your competitors who are already rocking great blog graphics. The good news is that you can learn to create your own blog post graphics fairly quickly. A handful of dollars in stock graphics, a few hours in Photoshop, and you will be on your way to making your blog look better in no time. How To Make The Best #Blog Graphics (For Non-Designers) via @puranjaycomIn this post, I’ll share with you the exact strategies I use to create visuals for my posts, right from start to finish. But first, a quick overview of why your blog actually needs more visuals. Why Your Blog Posts Need More Visual Content Human beings are visual creatures. Our brains process images 60,000 times faster than text. This is a crucial stat for bloggers and content marketers- it means readers are more likely to engage with your visuals than with your words. (Which also explains why infographics tend to be so successful). There are dozens of reasons why you need to add more graphics to your blog posts, but the five  most important ones I can think of are: Higher engagement: Articles with relevant images get 94% more page views than those without. Highlight crucial data: In-post graphics are a good way to highlight the most important data points within an article. If there is something you really want your readers to see, you’re better off putting it into a mini infographic than the main post body (especially considering how most visitors read just 20% of a Web page on average). Get more shares: Pages with pictures see 50% more shares. Create better post structure: In-post graphics are a great way to give better structure to your post by dividing the content into different sections- an oft-ignored benefit. More credibility: 67% of consumers consider detailed images to carry even more weight than customer ratings, reviews, and product descriptions. Recommended Reading:  10 Stunning Examples Of Visual Content Marketing Now that we know why we need visuals, let’s look at how we can create our own blog  graphics. The Building Blocks Of Awesome Blog Graphics You don’t need to know a lot to create your own blog graphics. In fact, this article assumes that your design skills don’t extend beyond cropping an image and adding a filter to it in Photoshop (explained below). That said, you can greatly accelerate the graphic-creation process by mastering a few simple Photoshop skills and building up a library of stock graphics that will serve as the ‘building blocks’ for all your visuals. Let’s look at each of these in detail. Essential Photoshop skills to create blog graphics. You don’t have to master Photoshop to create good looking designs. Being familiar with the interface and understanding a few basic skills will be more than enough. At the very least, you should know the following: Cropping, resizing and selecting images, or parts of images. Layers and how they work. Blending modes and Layer blending options. Creating simple shapes such as circles, rounded rectangles, etc. Using the font tool. Importing and using patterns, brushes, and shapes. Using grids and guides to lay out individual elements. All this shouldn’t take you more than a couple of hours of work to learn. Everything else you can learn along the way. There are only 7 things you need to know with Photoshop to create awesome #blog graphics.Choose your colors. Color is the non-designer’s Achilles heel. We either use too many colors, or often, too few- neither of which leads to desirable results. â€Å"What colors should I use?† is the number one question I get asked by non-designers (and the question I often find asking myself). For answers, follow the two step process below: 1. Pick one dominant color. Take a look at any popular website and you will see one thing in common: They all use a single dominant color everywhere. Facebook has its blue, TechCrunch is green and Snapchat is overwhelmingly yellow. All reports, blog posts, and visuals they put out follow the same color palette. For your own blog  graphics, follow the same strategy: Pick one dominant color (ideally, the same as your site color) and use it everywhere. Complement it with lighter variations of the same color when needed. You can always branch out and experiment with more colors of course (it would be a dull world if you couldn’t), but for simplicity’s sake, stick to one dominant color when you’re starting out. Recommended Reading:  Why Visual Brand Consistency Is Important 2. For additional colors, use the Google material design color palette. One of the harder things to understand as an amateur designer is how different colors work with each other and the subtle differences between, say, #FA4B00 and #F04800 (two hexadecimal numbers for different colors). The good news: You don’t have to learn all this on your own. By taking advantage of pre-existing, professional color palettes, you can jump right in and use proven colors in your designs. To start with, use the Google material design color palette. These are Google-approved colors for the Android UI. They look good and cover a huge range of colors. If you get tired of your ‘one dominant color’, pick a few shades from this palette and start experimenting. Pro Tip: Download the palette as a swatch and open it in Photoshop to get immediate access to all colors. Recommended Reading:  Color Psychology In Marketing: The Complete Guide Pick your fonts. After color, typography is the most widely misunderstood aspect of design. You’ve probably seen this in action yourself: flyers with Papyrus, memos written entirely in Comic Sans, and websites that use nothing but Times New Roman. Designers can talk for hours about kerning and line height and letter spacing, but as bloggers, we don’t really need all that. Instead, all we need to know is: What fonts look good. How to pick a good font pair. Here are the answers to these questions: 1. What fonts look good? Some good fonts are expensive (a single license of a professional font can cost upwards of $200), so I’m going to focus entirely on free fonts for now. Fortunately for us, high-quality free fonts have never been easier to find. Your first stop should be Google Fonts. This free font library will give you access to all the fonts you need. It can be overwhelming at first, so I suggest sticking to these tried and tested fonts, for now: If you need something beyond this selection, stop by Typekit.com and check out the fonts that come pre-loaded with a free account (only 25k pageviews/month though- not for you popular bloggers). Next, check out Typography.com and the nearly weekly giveaways at CreativeMarket.com. If you are willing to splurge, you can also check out some boutique font foundries at FontShop.com. 2. How should you  pair fonts? There are two guidelines to pairing fonts: Fonts from the same family go well together.  For obvious reasons, if two fonts are from the same family (say, PT Sans and PT Sans-Serif), they will look good together. Combine serif with sans-serif fonts.  For optimum results, combine a serif font with a sans-serif font. If your posts are long and wordy, use serif in the body text, sans-serif in the headings. For shorter posts (under 2,000 words- a majority of posts), use sans-serif in the body, serif in headlines. (In case you are wondering, serif fonts are those with the little horizontal bar at the edges. Sans-serif, obviously, are those without.) Instead of experimenting with different pairings, pick a few tried and tested combinations to start with. For inspiration, install WhatFont extension and see what fonts your favorite websites are using. Wired.com, for instance, uses Exchange, while Buzzfeed uses Proxima Nova for both headings and body text. Choose your images. Most bloggers turn to SXC.hu, Pixabay, or any of the countless other stock pictures websites for their image needs. Images here are free and easy to find, but also tend to be low in quality and poor in contextual relevancy. Plus, since they’ve been used by bloggers ad infinitum, they tend to look jaded and overused. Recommended Reading: Should You Use Stock Or Free Images For Blog Posts? Below, I’ve shared some of my favorite methods to get better images: 1. Buy stock images. With prices as low as $1/image, you really don’t have an excuse for not taking this route already. The picture quality is far superior and they all look ‘fresh’ to readers since they haven’t been used by every blogger in existence. You also don’t need resolutions wider than 640px for most images, which brings down initial purchase cost as well. If you do plan to modify the image, make sure that the image license permits it. Check out ShutterStock.com, Fotolia.com, BigStock.com, etc. to get started. But what if you don’t have $1 to spare? In that case, use option #2, below. With prices as low as $1/image, you really don’t have an excuse to use great images. #blogging2. Use free hero images. Startups need high quality images to build their sites. Thankfully, a number of designers and photographers have stepped up to the challenge and started offering stunning pictures for free. These are called ‘hero’ images, and for bloggers, they are (largely) untapped goldmines. Here are some sites to get you started: Unsplash.com, DeathToTheStockPhoto.com, LittleVisuals.co, Superfamous.com, and PicJumbo.com. The image quality here is incredible, but you can’t search by keyword, so be prepared to dig deep to find the right image. Some pictures (especially from Unsplash.com) have also been overused by startups. If it looks a little too familiar, it’s probably a good idea to not use it. If a stock photo seems a little familiar, its best not to use it. #blogging3. Try paid hero images. An alternative to stock image marketplaces is to buy splash or hero images from marketplaces like CreativeMarket. You can either buy images individually, or you can buy image packs of hundreds of images for as low as $10. Its a useful strategy if you want something more exclusive than what Unsplash.com or the others have to offer. Choose your shapes, brushes, patterns, and icons. Strong colors, bold fonts, and breathtaking stock imagery are good enough to make your blog stand out.  But to create blog  graphics, you will need a few extra building blocks- namely brushes, patterns, icons, and shapes. You can find thousands of these design elements online on sources both free and paid. The hard part is figuring out what to download, and where to download it. For a start, grab the following: 1. Patterns. A clean, subtle pattern can make the most ordinary design pop and sparkle. There are countless websites peddling patterns online, but for the most projects, you don’t need to look beyond SubtlePatterns.com. Start with the following patterns – Concrete Seamless, Crossword, Stardust, Squared Metal, Notebook, Triangular, and Mooning- and grab more as you learn how to use them. 2. Icons. You will use icons a lot in your blog graphics, mostly to visualize data and highlight key points. I suggest starting out at IcoMoon.io, then exploring free icon packs such as  Line icons, Modern UI icons, 350 Pixel Perfect icons, flat icons, and  3600 flat icons. To get something more exclusive, buy a set of icon packs from  CreativeMarket. 3. Brushes, shapes, and vectors. There is no telling what shapes, vectors, and brushes you will need in your graphics projects. Since our aim is to keep costs low, I suggest grabbing the ones listed below, then buying up separate design elements as needed. Start with the graphics library at Pixeden.com. Grab virtually all the free stuff you can, then head over to MediaLoot.com, PremiumPixels.com, Brusheezy.com, and GraphicHive.net. For paid alternatives, check out CreativeMarket.com and GraphicRiver.com. I also suggest buying some credits at a stock marketplace such as VectorStock.com. A contextually relevant vector image can make your designs really stand out. Also look to grab some of the ‘infographics packs’ at CreativeMarket. You can use elements from these packs to create your own mini-infographics inside posts. This concludes the basic building blocks of our blog  graphics project. Now let’s take a look at some strategies for putting these together to create header images and in-post graphics. The Non-Designers Guide to Creating Better #Blog GraphicsHow to Create Better Blog Graphics Start with your header images. Header images are more than just design filler. They give readers a glimpse of your post’s content, and show up in social media. In essence, these are the ‘anchor’ images for your post and offer readers an idea of what to expect not just from a post, but the blog as a whole. It’s easy to get lazy with header images. You might very well be tempted to stick a stock image from SXC.hu on top and call it a day. The problem is that such stock images not only look bad, but they also don’t get as many page views. The alternative: customized header images. Let’s look at a couple of strategies for creating these. 1. Use good stock images, add text and a color tint. One of my favorite ways to create better header images in a jiffy is to use a high-quality stock image, add some text (usually the post title, shortened for clarity) and a color tint, like this: Creating this is easy enough: Grab a picture from Unsplash.com and add some text in a font from the list above. For the color tint, add a color layer in Photoshop, fill it with a color from the Google Material Design color palette, then drag it beneath the base image layer. Change the ‘blend’ mode for the base image to ‘Multiply’, and you’re all set. 2. Add borders, shapes, and different fonts. Add some complexity to your header image by throwing in some shapes, borders, and font combinations. Try the elegant font + light base color + dark border combination: Or the color gradient + pattern + gradient filled text. In the example below, I’ve used a blue-pink gradient on top of the Triangular pattern fill from SubtlePatterns.com: An easy way to make the post title stand out is to enclose it within a shape, like this: Another personal favorite is to use a vector graphic against a solid background. Below, I’ve used the ‘camera’ icon from the ET-Line icons set: None of these styles are complicated or particularly hard to copy. Try recreating them in Photoshop to get a hang of things. For further inspiration, see the header image gallery at Canva.com. Create your in-post graphics. In-post graphics are a wonderful way to give additional structure to your posts and highlight key information. They are also highly sharable. I try to add at least a couple of graphics to all my posts. With a set of existing templates, it often takes less than 10 minutes to create unique graphics for every piece of content.

Approaches to explain Entrepreneurship Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Approaches to explain Entrepreneurship - Essay Example There are several approaches using which one can analyze the personality of an entrepreneur. In this paper, we will discuss some key approaches, which can help us explain an entrepreneur. 2. Environmental Background of An Entrepreneur Environmental background of an entrepreneur is very important to consider when assessing different approaches to explain entrepreneurship. Environmental background includes several elements, which play critical roles in the development of an entrepreneur. Some of those elements include family, education, role model, experience, and government support. Let us analyze these elements in some detail. 2.1 Family Family plays a vital role in the development of an entrepreneur. Professions and businesses of the family members of a person have a lot of influence on his/her professional mindset. According to Bruin and Dupuis (2003, p. 93), family business has a deep association with the concept of entrepreneurship. In some families, if the father of a person is involved in the business of construction, son will also try to step into that business by opening a firm or an independent construction company. Similarly, businesses of relatives also influence the mindset of an entrepreneur. 2.2 Education Education also plays a critical role in shaping professional approach of a person. Education makes a person aware of the legalities of different businesses, which help him/her become an entrepreneur at some stage of life. Education not only creates awareness among the entrepreneurs but also ensures economic development. Bruin and Dupuis (2003, p. 178) state, â€Å"Raising overall education and skill levels of indigenous peoples is undoubtedly crucial to indigenous economic development†. 2.3 Role Model Another element, which plays a role in shaping the mindset of an entrepreneur, is role model. As discussed earlier, a person is likely to step into the business of his/her ancestors. The reason is that success of parents or other relatives in any specific business positively influences the professional thoughts of an entrepreneur, which results in making that person an entrepreneur at some stage of life. Similarly, some successful businesspersons also become the role models for some people and they try to test their luck in the businesses of those people. 2.4 Experience Professional work experience is also an important element in the life of an entrepreneur. According to Bruin and Dupuis (2003, p. 69), entrepreneurs having little or no prior experience are less likely to succeed in their ambitions. A person is likely to start his/her own business after getting some experience in the related field. For example, a person doing job in a fresh food store or in a construction company may open his/her own company at some point in life after getting some practical experience and knowledge of all issues related to the business. 3. Entrepreneurs are Born or Made According to Shefsky (1994, p. 2), entrepreneurs are made, they are not born. Various factors play their roles in shaping an entrepreneur. Every entrepreneur is a normal person like every other person. The difference is just of their approaches to professional life. A normal person is generally less enthusiastic and innovative. He/she does not think of starting an independent business. On the other hand, an entrepreneur has some determination to do something new in life. Various

Peer review Threats to Data Security (Virtual Lab Research Paper

Peer review Threats to Data Security (Virtual Lab - Research Paper Example In such an area, access to such gadgets can easily be monitored. The control not only restricts accessibility to the premises but also data, information and information systems. When such individuals gain access, they may alter network and system settings that may weaken the security system of the organization. Other physical threats not mentioned include direct break in by thugs. In such a case, we require CCTV cameras installed and warning systems to alert the security. The text did not also include the use of biometric systems for authentication to server rooms and rooms containing networking equipment’s (Special issue on trust in cyber, physical and social computer computing’, 2013). For example, authorized persons can have their fingerprints taken so that when they enter such rooms, they only use their fingers as a passkey. In addition, visitors need to be given badges, escorts for them and control entrance for such individuals. Further, it is wise to secure workstations with locks. Although Laptops can have locks, it is important to set alarm systems to restrict unauthorized persons from touching them. Printed documents that are the waste should be shredded to avoid their use elsewhere. It also means that information that is in the paper especially that which is very sensitive to the organization needs securing in cabinets using locks. Only authorized personnel should have accessibility to this

Hitler Became Chancellor in 1933 Because He Was Leader of the Most Popular Party in Germany Essay Example for Free

Hitler Became Chancellor in 1933 Because He Was Leader of the Most Popular Party in Germany Essay Hitler became Chancellor in 1933 because he was leader of the most popular party in Germany. How far you agree with this opinion? Hitler’s appointment in 1933 cannot be put down to just one factor. There were many influential occurrences leading up to his appointment but overall the Great Depression seems to be the biggest factor as it started a ‘chain reaction’ that overall led to Hitler being Chancellor of Germany. Therefore, despite being the leader of the most popular party in Germany playing a part in Hitler’s appointment as Chancellor it was not solely responsible and was also not the most important factor. An argument that could be used to show that Hitler became Chancellor in 1933 because he was leader of the most popular party in Germany is the idea that the Nazis used effective tactics which not only allowed them to gain extreme popularity but also their leader, Adolf Hitler. Essentially, the Nazis clever strategies allowed Hitler to gain recognition. For example, the Nazis were incredibly good at changing their policies to suit their audiences at rallies. The Great Depression was also used to their favour; promoting Hitler as the saviour in their propaganda to incredible effect. Goebbels’ propaganda campaign was very effective and it won support for the Nazis and Hitler. Also, Hitler moved away from violence and realised that the only way he could receive true power was through the Reichstag. The Nazis were able to win over the working and middle classes by using their anti-Jewish propaganda for the working classes and for the middle classes and farmers they focussed on their policies on powerless and honourless Germany, making it great again. No other party focussed more on propaganda than the Nazis; they were masters of propaganda. Their propaganda skills had the ability to change the public’s opinions and views. It encompassed every aspect of Weimar Germany to entice millions of people into following them, their policies ranged from unemployment to the stab in the back myth of Versailles. This increased the appeal of the Nazis and as a result they increased their vote in the Reichstag in the next election of July 1932, increasing their number of seats to 230 and becoming the largest party in the Reichstag. The Nazis used the problems with the economy and the Weimar republic to boost their support; this is evident in the fact that as unemployment got worse, Nazi support increased. Therefore clearly, being the leader of the most popular party did have extreme benefits for Hitler in terms of helping him become Chancellor due to gaining popularity through the party. Having said that, the idea that Hitler became Chancellor in 1933 because he was leader of the most popular party in Germany to an extent can be argued to be untrue; as briefly discussed the weaknesses of the Weimar government also played a clear role. More specifically, events happening outside of Germany such as Wall Street Crash; The Great Depression. Germany suffered the consequences due to the collapse of share prices on the New York Stock Exchange more than any other country. US loans and investment ceased and demands quickly followed for the repayment of previous short-term loans. Also, the crisis caused a further decline in the price of food and raw materials as the industrialised nations reduced their imports. As demands for exports collapsed world trade slumped and German industry could no longer pay its way. The argument could therefore be made that without this event the Nazis may not have become the most popular party. After all, the party’s popularity came from anger and bitterness of Weimar. Therefore, people turned towards the extremist political parties. Yet many workers turned to communism but this frightened wealthy businessmen, so they financed Hitler’s campaigns. Many middle-class people, alarmed by the obvious failure of democracy, decided that the country needed a strong government. The depression of 1929 created poverty and unemployment, making people angry with the Weimar government. Overall, this argument clearly signifies that Hitler’s appointment to become Chancellor was not just down to him being leader of the most popular party in Germany; events outside Germany lead to Weimar failing miserably which also played a clear role. Nazis electoral success in 1932 did to an extent have an impact and therefore, can be used to argue that Hitler became Chancellor in 1933 because he was leader of the most popular party in Germany. After all, the elections to the Reichstag in July saw the Nazi percentage of the vote increase to 37. 3 per cent, making it the largest party in the Reichstag. This was a sensational breakthrough. As the largest political group in the Reichstag, they had a mandate from the German people to be involved in the government. Clearly, this indicates that whilst the Nazi party looked increasingly powerful, their leader Hitler did so too; making him more well known throughout the country. This argument is also strengthened by the thought that it is after all, down to being the leader of the Nazis because the moderate parties would not work together despite the fact that together they would be stronger than the Nazis and therefore, weaknesses of other parties contribute to Hitler and the Nazis looking stronger. This strength made Hitler more established as a political figure giving him a clear advantage. However, in comparison to the previous argument another reason for Hitler’s Chancellorship was Von Papen; indicating that Hitler did not become Chancellor just due to being the leader of the most popular party in Germany. After all, the Nazis gained electoral success in 1932 but Hindenburg still refused to make Hitler Chancellor; indicating despite being the leader this did not put Hitler in an advantageous position. Yet, Von Papen had been Chancellor before Hitler and had become close friends with President Hindenburg. This played much to Hitler’s advantage as Papen offered to convince Hindenburg that Hitler was the right choice for the new Chancellor provided Papen could be Vice Chancellor. Von Papen managed to convince Hindenburg, along with various other politicians that Hitler was the best choice. Without Von Papen, Hitler may not have managed to initially become Chancellor or at least not until later than January 1933. This combined with the idea that previous governments were weak and lacked support made a clear sign for that Germany needed change. Hitler was something new and had clearly opposed the idea of a democracy from the start. As the German public started to go against the Republic their support turned to the opposing and completely differing view of Hitler. He was different to the past chancellors such as Von Papen who represented failed governments. He portrayed himself through propaganda and in speeches as a strong and powerful leader who could lead Germany out of this depression and unrest and that’s what the German public needed at the time. After all, Hindenburg had no other alternative but to place Hitler as Chancellor due to the failures of previous governments and Hitler’s growing support from people close to Hindenburg. Also, other conservative elites believed that Hitler was a man that could easily be tamed and kept under control. This gave him an advantage over the Communists, as Hindenburg believed he wouldn’t be able to control the communists if he supported them. This is therefore important in the eventual appointment of Hitler as Chancellor as without the support of the conservative elites, it is debatable as to whether or not Hitler would actually have gained power. Even, when in the July 1932 the NSDAP won 230 seats, becoming the largest party in Germany, Hindenburg did not appoint Hitler Chancellor. Hence, it is hard to imagine why anything would have changed without considerable pressure being mounted on Hindenburg from business. In particular, without the support of von Papen and his supposed ability to control Hitler, Hindenburg would certainly not have been persuaded. Clearly then, these conservative elites had at least some impact in bringing about Hitlers time as Chancellor. Also, the misjudgement of von Papen and Hindenburg in believing that they could control Hitler is crucial in explaining the overall Nazi seizure of power.

Lorraine Hansberrys A Raisin In The Sun Essay -- Lorraine Hansberry

Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun A Raisin in the Sun is one of the best works of Lorraine Vivian Hansberry, in which, through a black family, the Youngers, she talks about vital issues such as poverty, gender and racial discrimination. Hansberry's play focuses mainly on the dreams of the main characters, which motivates them. The title 'A Raisin in the Sun' has been taken from the poem "Montage of a Dream Deferred" written by Langston Hughes in which he talks about the consequences when dreams are put off for later. The title is appropriate for Hansberry?s play since it shows how ?deferred dreams? of the Younger family shrivel up like ?a raisin in the sun? leading to disillusionment and leaving very little hope for the future. The Younger family includes Lena Younger, who is the head of the family; Beneatha, Lena?s daughter; Walter, Lena?s son; Ruth, wife of Walter; Travis, Walter and Ruth?s son. Other than the Younger family, Joseph Asagai shown as Beneatha?s Nigerian friend also has an important role in the play. Each of the members in Younger family has their own individual dreams. Throughout the play, their happiness and sadness depends on how successful they are in attaining their respective dreams. Walter Lee is shown as a typical African-American man who struggles and works hard to support his family and often comes up with different ideas and schemes, which would make him rich in no time and will improve the life of his family. One such scheme was to invest money, from the deceased Mr. Younger's life insurance policy, in a liquor store with his friends. When he tells Ruth about his plans over breakfast, Ruth completely ignores and tells him ?eat your eggs? over and over again. This annoys Walter and he tells her how everytime a man dreams to achieve something in life & a woman shuns him by telling him to eat his eggs. Being quiet and eating one's eggs represents an acceptance of the adversity that Walter and the rest of the Youngers face in life. He believes that it is the black women who keep the black men from achieving their dreams and he argues that Ruth should be more supportive of him. Walter believes that ?money is life? and that it will bring an end to all the misery his family is suffering from. He measures the success of a man by the amount of money and possessions he has. Walter has worked as a chauffeur most o... ...-assimilationist beliefs as well as her desire to shape her identity by looking back to her roots in Africa. Asagai is proud to belong to the African heritage and wishes to bring about modern advancement in Nigeria to improve the life of his people. He influences Beneatha greatly in a positive way, teaching her about her heritage. He tells her that she is not as independent as she thinks she is since she has to rely on the insurance money for paying the fees of her medical school. He proposes Beneatha and asks her to get a medical degree and move to Africa with him. He will teach and lead the people, and she can practice medicine and help take care of people. Asagai and his dream enable Beneatha to discover a new energy and to reshape a new dream for herself. Throughout the play, each member of the Younger family concentrates only on their respective dreams. But by the end of the play they put the family dreams and wishes before their own. Now they have one common dream ? that of owning a house, which will be important for the family?s welfare and will keep them united. They eventually move out of their small over-crowded apartment, fulfilling the family's long-held dream.

Prelude to Programming

As you took your first step you had to figure out how to execute the following process: Put one foot in front of the other At some point you did just that, and it was a major accomplishment. But this didn't get you very far. If you wanted to walk across the room, you needed to extend this process to the following: put the left foot in front of the right foot Put the right foot in front of the left foot Put the left foot in front of the right foot Put the right foot in front of the left foot and so forth This is not a very efficient way to describe what you did.A detailed list of your actions as you ambled all over the house would be very long. Because you did the same thing over and over, the following is a much better way to describe your actions: Repeat Put the right foot in front of the left foot until you get across the room This way is short, convenient, and just as descriptive. Even if you want to take hundreds or thousands of steps, the process can still be described in four l ines. This is the basic idea off loop. Walking is just one of many examples of loops in your daily life.For example, if you have a large family and need to prepare lunches in the morning for everyone, you can do the following: Make a sandwich Wrap the sandwich Place the sandwich in a lunch bag place an apple in the lunch bag Place a drink in the lunch bag Continue until lunches have been made for everyone in the family Where else do you encounter a looping process? How about eating a sandwich (one bite at a time) or brushing your teeth? If you have a programming class on Tuesdays at 1 1100 a. M. , you go to class every Tuesday at 1 1 a. M. Until the end of the semester.You do the â€Å"go to programming class† loop until a certain day. After you read this chapter (one word at a time), you'll be ready to place loops in your programs as well. 4. 1 An Introduction to Repetition Structures: Computers Never Get Bored! 165 4. 1 An Introduction to Repetition Structures: Computers Ne ver Get Bored! You have already learned that all computer programs are created from three basic constructs: sequence, decision, and repetition. This chapter discusses repetition, which in many ways is the most important construct of all. We are lucky that computers don't find repetitious tasks boring.Regardless of what task we ask a computer to perform, the computer is virtually useless if it can perform that task only once. The ability to repeat the same actions over and over is the most basic requirement in programming. When you use any software application, you expect to be able to open the application and do certain tasks. Imagine if your word processor Was programmed to make your text bold only once or if your operating system allowed you to use the copy command only once. Each computer task you perform has been coded into the software by a programmer and each task must have the ability to be used over and over.In this chapter, we will examine how to program a computer to repea t one or more actions many times. Pop Basics All programming languages provide statements to create a loop. The loop is the basic component of the repetition structure. These statements are a block of code, which under certain conditions, will be executed repeatedly. In this section, we will introduce some basic ideas about these structures. We will start with a simple illustration of a loop shown in Example 4. 1 . This example uses a type of loop called a Repeat†¦ Until loop. Other types of loops are discussed throughout the chapter. Example 4.Simply Writing Numbers This program segment repeatedly inputs a number from the user and displays that number until the user enters O. The program then displays the words List Ended. 2 3 5 6 7 Declare Number As Integer Write â€Å"Please enter a number: ‘ Input Number Write Number Until Number – Write â€Å"List Ended† In the pseudopodia, the loop begins on line 2 with the word Repeat and ends on line 6 with Until Nu mber O. The loop body is contained in lines 3, 4, and 5. These are the statements that will be executed repeatedly. The body of a loop is executed until the test condition following the word Until on line 6 becomes true.In this case, the test condition becomes true when the user types a O. At that point, the loop is exited and the statement on line 7 is executed. 1 66 What Happened? Let's trace the execution of this program, assuming that the user enters the numbers 1, 3, and O, in that order: When execution begins the loop is entered, the number 1 is input, and this number is displayed. These actions make up the first pass through the loop. The test condition, â€Å"Number – = O? † is now â€Å"tested† on line 6 and found to be false because at this point, Number =-? Therefore, the loop is entered again.The program execution returns to line 2 ND the body of the loop is executed again. (Recall that the double equals sign, -?2, is a comparison operator and asks t he question, â€Å"Is the value of the variable Number the same as O? ) On the second pass through the loop, the number 3 is input (line 4) and displayed (line 5), and once again the condition (line 6), Number = = O is false. So the program returns to line 2. On the third pass through the loop, the number O is input and displayed. This time the condition Number == O is true, so the loop is exited and execution transfers to line 7, the statement after the loop.The words List Ended are displayed and the program is complete. Iterations We have said that the loop is the basic component of the repetition structure. One of the main reasons a computer can perform many tasks efficiently is because it can quickly repeat tasks over and over. The number of times a task is repeated is always a significant part of any repetition structure, but a programmer must be aware of how many times a loop will be repeated to ensure that the loop performs the task correctly. In computer lingo a single pass through a loop is called a loop iteration.A loop that executes three times goes through three iterations. Example 4. 2 presents the iteration process. Example 4. 2 How Many Iterations? This program segment repeatedly asks the user to input a name until the user enters â€Å"Done. † Declare Name As String Write â€Å"Enter the name Of your brother or sister: † Input Name Write Name until Name â€Å"Done† and Elizabeth Drake. Published by Addison-Wesley. Copyright C 2011 by This pseudopodia is almost the same as shown in Example 4. 1 except that the input in this example is string data instead Of integer data.The loop begins on line 2 with the word Repeat and ends on line 6 with until Name â€Å"Done†. The loop body is contained in lines 3, 4, and 5. How are the iterations counted? Each time these statements are executed, the loop is said to have gone through one iteration. 167 Let's assume this program segment is used to enter a list of a user's brothers and sisters. If Hector has two brothers named Joe and Jim and one sister named Ellen, the loop would complete four iterations. Joe would be entered on the first iteration, Jim on the next iteration, Ellen on the third iteration, and the word Done would be entered on the fourth iteration.If Marie, on the other hand, had only one sister named Anne, the program would go through two iterations-?one to enter the name Anne and one to enter the word Done. And if Bobby were an only child, the program would only complete one iteration since Bobby would enter Done on the first iteration. Later in this chapter, We will see how to create a loop that does not require that the test condition count as one of the iterations. Beware of the Infinite Loop! In Example 4. 1 , we saw that the user was prompted to enter any number and that number would be displayed on the screen.Fifth user started with the number 234789 and worked his way down, entente 234,788, then 234,787, and so forth, the computer wou ld display 234,790 numbers (including the O that terminates the loop). However, after the user entered the last number, O, the loop would end. It would be a lot of numbers, but it would end. On the other hand, what would happen if the loop was written as shown in Example 4. 3? Example 4. 3 The Dangerous Infinite Loop In this example, we change the test condition of Example 4. 1 to a condition that is impossible to achieve. The user is asked to enter a number on line 2 and line 3 takes in the user's input.Line 4 sets a new variable, Computerized equal to that number plus one. The loop will continue to ask for and display numbers until the value of Number is greater than Computerized. That condition will never be met because on each pass through the loop, regardless of what number the user enters, Computerized will always be one greater. Thus, the loop will repeat and repeat, continually asking for and displaying numbers. 8 Declare Number, Computerized As Integer Write â€Å"Please e nter a number: † Computerized = Number + 1 Until Number > Computerized Write â€Å"The End† When will it end?Never. The words The End will never be displayed. If, as shown in Example 4. 3, a loop's test condition is never satisfied, then the loop will never be exited and it will become an infinite loop. Infinite loops can reek and Elizabeth Drake. Published by Addison-Wesley. Copyright @ 2011 by 168 havoc on a program, so when you set up a loop and put in a test condition, be sure that the test condition can be met. Computers don't mind doing a task many times, but forever is simply too many! Don't Let the User Get Trapped in a Loop There is one more important point to mention about Examples 4. And 4. 2. In both of these examples, we have test conditions that can easily be met. As soon as a user enters O for the number in Example 4. 1, the loop ends. As soon as the user enters the word Done in Example 4. 2, the loop ends. But owe would the user know that O or Done is th e cue for the program segment to end? It is important for the programmer to make it clear, by means of a suitable prompt, how the user will terminate the action of the loop. In Example 4. 1, the following would be a suitable prompt: Write â€Å"Enter a number; enter O to quit. In Example 4. 2, the following would be a suitable prompt: Write â€Å"Enter the name of your brother or sister:† Write â€Å"Enter the word Done to quit. † In the type of loops we used in these two examples, the loop continues until the user ends it. Other loops end without user input. Regardless of what type f loop you write, you always want to avoid the possibility that the loop will continue without end. Therefore, you must ensure that the test condition can be met and, if the user must enter something special to end the loop, be sure it's clear.Relational and Logical Operators The condition that determines whether a loop is reentered or exited is usually constructed with the help Of relatio nal and logical operators. We will briefly review these operators here. The following are the six standard relational operators and the programming symbols we will use in this book to represent them: equal to (or â€Å"is the same as†): – to equal to: less than: greater than or equal to: >= prelude to Programming: Concepts and Design, Fifth Edition, by Stewart Event All six operators can be applied to either numeric or character string data.Note that the double equals sign, the comparison operator (==) is different from the assignment operator While the assignment operator assigns the value on the right side of the equals sign to the variable on the left side, the comparison operator compares the values of the variable or expression on the left side of the operator to the value of the variable, expression, number, r text on the right side. It returns only a value of false (if the two values are different) or true (if the two values are the same).

Air Bnb Stakeholder Analysis Essay

Stakeholder description Airbnb is a peer-to-peer platform that provides accommodation for lodgers, and the possibility for people with unused living space to rent it out. The website offers anything from budget rooms, to luxury villas, which makes it a serious alternative to the hospitality industry. Prior to a business conference held in San Francisco, the two founders Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia decided to offer additional accommodation for the participants. Moreover, they offered them homemade breakfast, and a unique chance for them to do networking. Quickly, this became a success, and they even decided to accommodate three guests, in their own flat in SF. The two founders teamed up with the Harvard graduate Nathan Blecharczyk, and now they had ambitions. They mainly focussed on high-profile events, where there was a shortage of beds for the participants. They spotted the potential of their idea, and took advantage of the internet. A platform was created, that connected individuals that offered accommodation, as well as people that were looking for it. On the 11th of August, 2008 the website airbedandbreakfast.com (now airbnb.com) was launched. Other people realized the potential as well, and the three owners raised considerable amounts of money, to keep expanding and developing the business, in the US as well as abroad. Today, more than 9 million guests, in 34,000 cities, spanning across 192 countries have used the service. Airbnb has released some interesting growth figures, proving that 2012 was the year that Airbnb stopped being something people were talking about and started to be something (a lot of) people used. The company announced that 4 million total guests have now used Airbnb to book a night’s stay on the peer-to-peer lodging marketplace. A whopping 3 million of those guests used the service in 2012 alone. The company launched all the way back in 2007, so that should give you a clear picture of just how much growth Airbnb has seen in the past year. Airbnb has proven that its San Francisco user base is a financially powerful market for the company, but we shouldn’t forget that  Airbnb is a truly global marketplace, as people from over 150 different countries traveled on the service in 2012.

ARAMARKs Database Marketing Project

ARAMARKs Database Marketing Project Introduction Marketing is a vital tool for attracting and maintaining new customers. Technically, it refers to â€Å"the process of communicating the value of a product or service to customers† (Kotler Keller, 2012, p. 23). Alternatively, it may be argued as encompassing the process through which organizations promote their products and services. These processes may be approached from either direct or indirect marketing.Advertising We will write a custom proposal sample on ARAMARK’s Database Marketing Project specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Database marketing is one of the direct marketing techniques. It is â€Å"†¦a systematic approach of gathering, consolidating, and processing of consumer data (both for customers and potential customers) that is maintained in a companys database† (Baesens et al, 2002, p.191). The process is aimed at generating communication to customers who are personalized in the attemp t to promote a company’s products (marketing). In database marketing, an enormous emphasis is placed on the significance of data analysis. Often, this step entails deployment of statistical methods to aid in coming up with models for describing behaviors of consumers. From these behaviors, specific promotional techniques are derived to address specific customers’ segments. For accuracy in deriving the model, is it crucial for an organization deploying database marketing to have large data warehouse because â€Å"having a greater amount of data about customers increases the likelihood that a more accurate model can be built† (Baesens et al., 2002, p.195). Essentially, there are two main types of databases for marketing. These are business and customer databases. The focus of this proposal is on customer databases. Therefore, the aim of this proposal is to come up with a database marketing solution for ARAMARK to help the company attract new customers to achieve a higher retention rate of the existing clients. Project Objectives ARAMARK sells its food products to varying markets, which are dominated by consumers with varying buying capabilities. Based on this difference of consumers of the products of ARAMARK, the primary objective of this project is to deploy the data warehouse of the company especially pertaining to the past purchases of consumers in the varying markets. The attempt seeks to derive a marketing model that would result to increasing consumption on these markets by 10 percent besides retaining the existing customers. This framework is ideally a behavioral segmentation model of database marketing. Therefore, in the model, the consumers will be segmented based on â€Å"recency, frequency, and monetary value of the past purchases† (Hughes, 2000, p.63).Advertising Looking for proposal on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More By increasing the consumption of the ARAMARK’s products by 10 percent, it implies that the project proposal has an objective of increasing the profitability of the company. To do this, database house will also be used to provide information on the area where consumers are not satisfied with either the products or the means through which the products are delivered to them (customer service). When this information is analyzed, products can be modified to meet the concerns of the customers. Service delivery can be altered to suit the needs of consumers who are required to attain the 10 percent increase in consumption. Project Description including Database Information This project depends principally on customer databases since they contain the information of people to whom the ARAMARK’s products were sold, when, and how often the persons buy. To acquire information on how often a given customer buys, it is significant to maintain the name and the email contact of the customer. The inform ation is utilized in designing marketing strategies and advertising techniques to capture these particular customer segments. This idea is inspired by the perception, â€Å"selling to an existing customer is far easier and cheaper in comparison to new customers† (Shepard, 1999, p.47). This means that, for the case of ARAMARK, it is easier to target selling again to a customer who has prior experience with ARAMARK’s products in relation to a new customer seeking new food preferences. Once an analysis is conducted on why different customers purchase ARAMARK’s products, the product’s attribute associated with the cited reason for purchasing the food products can be improved. The project capitalizes on this idea in the attempt to deploy the information contained in the customer databases to build a sustained customer loyalty to the ARAMARK’s food products. The database information particularly on the market segments that buy a given food product of ARA MARK together with the respective amounts is significant in helping to attain the target of 10 percent increase in the consumption of ARAMARK’s products in all the market segments.Advertising We will write a custom proposal sample on ARAMARK’s Database Marketing Project specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The claim holds because, with this information, it is possible to target specific segments with the most precise offers that will accurately hike consumption levels within the segments. Background and Significance ARAMARK has an immense number of consumers. In particular, according to ARAMARK (2012), â€Å"it provides services in nearly every industry including businesses, colleges and universities, healthcare, sports and entertainment, parks and resorts, conference centers, conference centers, cultural attractions, and senior living† (Para 3). Garnering information on the markets produces a mega database, which, w hile well utilized might serve to enormously boost the organization’s marketing efforts. Developing a database marketing strategy based on customer databases is particularly likely to be successful since â€Å"having a greater amount of data about customers increases the likelihood that a more accurate model for database marketing can be built† (Drake Rhonda, 2006, p.317). ARAMARK happens to have a huge number of customers. When ARAMARK implements this project, it will produce a myriad of benefits to the company. Firstly, ARAMARK will develop the capacity to retain its existing customers since the future decisions on diversification of products and strategies for improvement of service delivery will be laid squarely on the needs of a particular group of customers occupying specific market segments. Therefore, in the re-designing of products to meet the emerging needs of the customers, only those things that drive consumption in particular markets will be incorporated. This leads to cutting costs associated with attempts to re-design products in a manner that will not produce any impacts in terms of hiking future demands.Advertising Looking for proposal on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More When products are redesigned to match particular priory known needs of consumers, it also becomes easier to place them in the market because the products are consumer-need oriented. Consequently, ARAMARK would benefit through hiked values generated from the existing pool of customers, as well as in the reduction of costs for serving the customers. Designing of products to meet the needs of the customers based on the analysis of the information contained in customer databases aids incredibly in enhancing customer satisfaction (Rouse, 2007, Para.3). Arguably, customer satisfaction amounts to customer retention and hence maintained profitability of an organization. Additionally, database marketing has the benefit of producing â€Å"effective marketing communications through a more personal approach following the development of new improved products or services† (Shepard, 1999, p.72). Overall, database marketing will benefit ARAMARK through increasing sale levels to both new and old consumers due to reasons attributed to the development of the capacity to identify the concerns of consumers. It will improve timing through the development of cute mechanisms of identification of the consumer needs coupled with a means of placing and positioning the products and or services to yield optimal sales. Sample Database Files The building block of the consumer data files is the general information of the consumers. This information is arranged in the following order: name of the customer, email address, location of the customer, age, preferred ARAMARK’s food products, reason for preference, preferred products of another company that may substitute ARAMARK’s preferred product, reason for the preference of the product, and the number of times that customer consumes the selected ARAMARK’s product in a week. Additionally, a field is also created to garner information on how the customer came to know about the ARAMARK’s product. An example of cu stomer’s general information files is shown below. General customer information file (As many files as the number of consumers of the Company’s products are necessary) From the above generic files, information on the specific elements contained in the file of the general information is developed for all the customers. These files also record the number of customers citing, for instance, the particular substitute product, preferred ARAMARK’s product, and the reason for the preference among other things cited above in the generic file information example. An example of such a file is shown below. File quantifying customers’ preferences The aim of developing the files such as the one exemplified above is to provide a means of quantifying the concerns of the customers about ARAMARK’s products so that effort to market the products can be focused on the specific products, which face the most adverse disadvantages of placement and positioning. Action Pl an: How to accomplish Goals and overcome anticipated Obstacles In any project, goals act as the guide to the desired output of the project under consideration. This means that, without goals, a project lacks direction. The goal of the project discussed here is to deploy database marketing to ensure retention and attraction of new clients for ARAMARK’s food products in the effort to boost the company’s profitability. To achieve this goal, an action plan is necessary coupled with provision of a means of countering the expected obstacles to the accomplishment of the goals (Drake Rhonda, 2006, p.319). The goal of the database marketing in ARAMARK is achieved through a number of ways. Firstly, customer communication channels are created to address personalized customer concerns. These communications are based on information regarding the customers contained in ARAMARK’s customer database. This makes it possible to realize the goal of the project since the communicat ion to customer about the products of the company is based on the customer’s perception about the products. Therefore, customers develop a feeling that what the company is offering in its menus is just what they want. This stands out as the idea of producing to meet market demands as opposed to producing to sale. Apparently, organizations build customer databases to help them enhance customer communications (Rouse, 2007, Para. 1). Another action plans is to create an appended data for the information existing in the ARAMARK customer databases. According to Edward, Leung, and Jonson (2004), it is possible today to append data to any name and address file to learn about the age, income, home value, home ownership, presence of children, length of residence, and about forty other valuable pieces of information about any household† (p.158). This information is utilized to guide strategies for customers’ communication within market segments and sub segments. The append ed consumption behavior and demographic data are then deployed to develop a predictive model, which helps to â€Å"predict accurately, which customers are most likely to defect, as well as those who are most likely to respond to new initiatives† (Edward, Leung, Jonson, 2004, p.159). Coupled with customer communications, appended data is pivotal in hiking customer response rates to advertising and reduction of attrition rates. Implementation of the marketing strategies faces major obstacles especially in matters of determining the right ways to penetrate markets. To overcome this obstacle in this project proposal, penetration analysis is conducted using database analytical software. The attempt is aimed at coming up with precise data on the percentages of sales that ARAMARK has on each market, which is segmented on income level basis and other demographic factors. This way, it is possible to locate the characteristics of the customers who frequently visit particular stores, a reas where a group of stores is located, and the characteristics that unify the entire pool of ARAMARK’s consumers. Consequently, it becomes possible to derive advertising campaigns that target all the consumers of ARAMARK, consumers of a specific regional area, and or consumers of a specific store. In the case of ARAMARK, this can be consumers of the healthcare industry, colleges, and universities amongst others. Cost and Benefit Assessment In the current project, cost benefit analysis is conducted to estimate various monetary values associated with the project. However, in a cost benefit analysis, a major challenge is encountered in that there is a need to express all the costs into a common denominator, for instance, monetary values for this case. A further challenge also comes up since it is necessary to express benefits and costs of the project with particular consideration of the inflation rates of the dollar. In this perspective, arguably, upon successful implementatio n of the database marketing strategy, an increment in sales may be produced. However, in the real sense, when factoring the inflation rates, no gain is realized in terms of profitability. However, it is critical to quantify the anticipated gains in revenues, market gains, and gains associated with customer retention. According to Russell and Labe (1994), an organization may â€Å"build the world’s best and cleanest database, but with no plan in place or proper team in place to maximize the use of the database, it will be good for nothing† (p.7). The concern raised here means that it is necessary to consider labor costs for the implementation of the project. Money is required to hire people who will compile and analyze the data available within the ARAMARK’s databases. Additional costs are encountered, which are associated with the needs to put in place some web communication systems to link the database marketing strategies to the vast pool of ARAMARK’s c ustomers. However, it is expected that these costs will be recovered within a period of two years by the increased sales. Hence, revenues also increase. The 10% increment in the profitability of the company will be achieved from customer retention efficiencies within all markets having sale opportunities, acquisition efficiencies, and convergence of various offline and online marketing initiatives arrived at after an analysis of the customer databases of ARAMARK. These aspects are given a thorough treatment in the section of how to create or improve ARAMARKs customer database to support its marketing efforts. Addressing large number of customers with standardized marketing techniques often leads to a reduction in the profitability of organizations since ineffectiveness of the marketing strategies to win the customers truncates to dwindled sale volumes. Therefore, this project reduces the costs since the innovated marketing techniques have specific areas of concern through the deploy ment of the customer databases depending on the needs of consumers. Such strategies are effective for the specific market segments. The benefit of increased sales through attracting of new customers implies that the company improves its market share in relation to the company competing in the food service sector targeting the market segments that are also targeted by ARAMARK. The following table shows a template that is utilized in conduction a costs benefit analysis for the proposed project. Template for cost Benefit Analysis Cost and benefit analysis for database marketing at ARAMARK No. Item Cost Estimated savings in U.S dollars (benefits) 1. Increase response rate to cross sales by 10% Under the old models Under the database marketing model a-b (when the answer is positive, then the database model is effective) 2. †¦ †¦ †¦ How to create or improve ARAMARK’s customer database to support its marketing efforts In the above section, it has been discussed that the 10 percent increment in the profitability of the ARAMARK is akin to the enhancement of various efficiencies of activities associated with efforts to win new, as well as retaining the existing pool of consumers of food products sold by ARAMARK. In this section, it is found imperative to discuss how the developed ARAMARK’s customer databases will be deployed to support the marketing efforts of the company. In the first place, when the customer data warehouses are ready, they will be deployed to determine acquisition efficiencies. It is imperative that the company negates focusing certain advertising efforts within the areas where they are ineffective. For non-online advertising modes such as consumers’ magazines, leaflets, and others, the data warehouse may provide ample basis for their elimination and or their redesign to meet the needs of the targeted audience. Data for promotion history is critical in helping to build responses in the market segment s, which are identified as having a positive response to the marketing efforts of ARAMARK. This makes it possible to build â€Å"models that utilize promotion history data to help in increasing the response rate after the merge or purge process† (Prinzie Dirk, 2005, p.31). Once the acquisition efficiencies are determined from the data warehouse, the second endeavor is to work on retention efficiency models, which is accomplished by developing and building the myriads of communication models likely to win the loyalty of the consumers of ARAMARK food products. The approach used here is to â€Å"efficiently convert subscribers and improve renewals at each contract to produce a compounding effect in the growth of a subscriber file† (Drake Rhonda, 2006, p.321). In the background section, it is argued that ARAMARK supplies foods products to widen the number of industries whose incomes are valid. Consequently, in deriving the retention efficiencies, price differentiation is significant. Hence, an effort is made to develop a model that explains the price sensitivities of the various consumers per industry basis in the effort to derive the appropriate pricing strategy for each market segment from the ARAMARK’s data warehouses. Other ways of creating and or improving ARAMARKs customer database to support its marketing efforts include developing models for pricing processes, cross-selling opportunities, and staffing efficiencies. The particular model adopted is inspired by the characteristics of consumers in each industry to which ARAMARK offers foods products. From the paradigms of staffing efficiencies, the developed ARAMARK’s database marketing strategies are enhanced by ensuring the staff is able to consolidate data from the vast number of consumers both fast and effectively. Apart from the staff making it possible to have a quick access of data utilized in making the decision on the appropriate marketing strategy for each segment, enhan cement of staffing efficiencies is aimed at ensuring that thorough reports of the success of the database-informed marketing strategies are also available. This step acts as the future inputs of new mechanisms of improving the ways of targeting consumers with changing preferences. Process efficiencies involve data standardization to enhance the efficiency of the data consolidation. The aim is to make sure the available data is appropriate and reflective of the actual concerns of consumers on the ground. With regard to Drake and Rhonda (2006), cross selling opportunities are also critical in the identification of the optimal product stream to maximize the lifetime value of customers in a bid to utilize segmentation and regression models to identify best prospects for the next offer† (p.323). The models serve the purpose of aiding to identify the people who are likely to substitute ARAMARK’s products, with which product, and why. The goal is to utilize the data to enginee r a means of improving the products of the company to meet the emerging needs of the consumers so that the customer communication strategy developed pays attention to the concerns, which are then backed up by actual reflection of the concerns in the products themselves. Conclusion Marketing is a critical component of facilitating and boosting the volumes of sales for companies’ products. This goal is often accomplished either directly or indirectly. In this paper, a project deploying database marketing strategies is proposed. The paper strongly holds that such a project will substantially aid in increasing the profitability levels of the company by an approximated increase of 10%. Additionally, the paper maintains that employing customers’ databases to effect marketing strategies is critical in an organization that has large numbers of consumers. ARAMARK serves a large number of industries. Therefore, it has a large pool of consumers. As a result, as discussed in the p aper, there is a need to have a data store for customers that, once analyzed, can help any organization in its strategizing in terms of which product or service it needs to maintain, discard, and or improve to maintain or rather attract a bigger pool of customers. Reference List ARAMARK. (2012) About ARAMARK. Retrieved from https://www.aramark.com/about-us Baesens, B., Viaene S., Poel, D., Guido, D. (2002). Bayesian Neutral Learning For Repeat Purchase Modeling In Direct Marketing. European Journal of Operational Research, 138(1), 191-211. Drake, P., Rhonda, D. (2006). Demystifying Databases Why and How to Build a Profit Producing Data Warehouse. International Journal of Marketing, 5(3), 317-325. Edward, H., Leung, P., Jonson J. (2004). Web-Based Statistical Application in Visualizing Educational and Marketing Databases. Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, 29(2), 157-175. Hughes, A. (2000). Strategic Database Marketing: The Master plan for Starting and Managing a Pr ofitable Customer-Based Marketing Program. New York, NY: McGraw Hill. Kotler, P., Keller, K. (2012). Marketing Management. New Jersey, NJ: Pearson Education Limited. Prinzie, A., Dirk, V. (2005). Constrained Optimization Of Data-Mining Problems To Improve Performance: A Direct Marketing Application. Expert Systems with Applications, 29(3), 630-640. Rouse, M. (2007). Database Marketing. Retrieved from https://searchcustomerexperience.techtarget.com/definition/database-marketing Russell, P., Labe, J. (1994). Database marketing increases prospecting effectiveness at Merrill Lynch. Interfaces, 24(5), 1-12. Shepard, D. (1999).The New Direct Marketing: How to Implement a Profit-Driven Database Marketing Strategy. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

The Story of Bonnie and Clyde by Bonnie Parker

The Story of Bonnie and Clyde by Bonnie Parker Bonnie and Clyde were legendary and historic outlaws who robbed banks and killed people. The authorities saw the couple as dangerous criminals, while the public viewed Bonnie and Clyde as modern-day Robin Hoods. The couples legend was in part helped along by Bonnies poems: The Story of Bonnie and Clyde, and The Story of Suicide Sal. Bonnie Parker wrote the poems in the middle of their 1934 crime spree, while she and Clyde Barrow were on the run from the law. This poem, The Story of Bonnie and Clyde, was the last one she wrote, and the legend reports that Bonnie gave a copy of the poem to her mother just weeks before the couple was gunned down. Bonnie and Clyde as Social Bandits Parkers poem is part of a long-established outlaw-folk hero tradition, what British historian Eric Hobsbawm called social bandits. The social bandit/outlaw-hero is a peoples champion who adheres to a higher law and defies the established authority of his time. The idea of a social bandit is a nearly universal social phenomenon found throughout history, and ballads and legends of them share a long set of characteristics. The main feature shared by ballads and legends around such historical figures as Jesse James, Sam Bass, Billy the Kid, and Pretty Boy Floyd is the enormous amount of distortion of the known facts. That distortion enables the transition of a violent criminal into a folk hero. In all cases, the peoples champion story the people need to hear is more important than the facts- during the Great Depression, the public needed reassurance that there were people working against a government perceived as callous to their predicament. The voice of the Depression, American balladeer Woody Guthrie, wrote just such a ballad about Pretty Boy Floyd after Floyd was killed six months after Bonnie and Clyde died. Curiously, many of the ballads, like Bonnies, also use the metaphor of the pen is mightier than the sword, stating that what newspapers have written about the bandit hero is false, but that the truth can be found written in their legends and ballads. 12 Characteristics of the Social Outlaw American historian Richard Meyer identified 12 characteristics that are common to social outlaw stories. Not all of them appear in every story, but many of them come from older ancient legends- tricksters, champions of the oppressed, and ancient betrayals. The social bandit hero is a man of the people who stands in opposition to certain established, oppressive economic, civil, and legal systems. He is a champion who wouldnt harm the little man.His first crime is brought about through extreme provocation by agents of the oppressive system.He steals from the rich and gives to the poor, serving as one who rights wrongs. (Robin Hood, Zorro)Despite his reputation, he is good-natured, kind-hearted, and frequently pious.His criminal exploits are audacious and daring.He frequently outwits and confounds his opponents by trickery, often expressed humorously. (Trickster)He is helped, supported, and admired by his own people.The authorities cant catch him through conventional means.His death is only brought about by the betrayal by a former friend. (Judas)His death provokes great mourning on the part of his people.After he dies, the hero manages to live on in a number of ways: stories say that he is not really dead, or that his ghost or spirit con tinues to help and inspire people. His actions and deeds may not always gain approval or admiration, but rather are sometimes decried in the ballads as mildly stated criticism to outright condemnation and refutation of all the other 11 elements. Bonnie Parkers Social Outlaw True to the form, in The Story of Bonnie and Clyde, Parker cements their image as social bandits. Clyde used to be honest and upright and clean, and she reports that he was locked up unjustly. The couple has supporters in the regular people like newsboys, and she foretells that the law will beat them in the end. Like most of us, Parker had heard ballads and legends of lost heroes as a child. She even references Jesse James in the first stanza. What is interesting about her poems is that we see her actively spinning their criminal history into a legend. The Story of Bonnie and ClydeYouve read the story of Jesse JamesOf how he lived and died;If youre still in needOf something to read,Heres the story of Bonnie and Clyde. Now Bonnie and Clyde are the Barrow gang,Im sure you all have readHow they rob and stealAnd those who squealAre usually found dying or dead. Theres lots of untruths to these write-ups;Theyre not so ruthless as that;Their nature is raw;They hate all the lawThe stool pigeons, spotters, and rats. They call them cold-blooded killers;They say they are heartless and mean;But I say this with pride,That I once knew ClydeWhen he was honest and upright and clean. But the laws fooled around,Kept taking him downAnd locking him up in a cell,Till he said to me,Ill never be free,So Ill meet a few of them in hell. The road was so dimly lighted;There were no highway signs to guide;But they made up their mindsIf all roads were blind,They wouldnt give up till they died. The road gets dimmer and dimmer;Sometimes you can hardly see;But its fight, man to man,And do all you can,For they know they can never be free. From heart-break some people have suffered;From weariness some people have died;But take it all in all,Our troubles are smallTill we get like Bonnie and Clyde. If a policeman is killed in Dallas,And they have no clue or guide;If they cant find a fiend,They just wipe their slate cleanAnd hand it on Bonnie and Clyde. Theres two crimes committed in AmericaNot accredited to the Barrow mob;They had no handIn the kidnap demand,Nor the Kansas City depot job. A newsboy once said to his buddy;I wish old Clyde would get jumped;In these awful hard timesWed make a few dimesIf five or six cops would get bumped. The police havent got the report yet,But Clyde called me up today;He said, Dont start any fightsWe arent working nightsWere joining the NRA. From Irving to West Dallas viaductIs known as the Great Divide,Where the women are kin,And the men are men,And they wont stool on Bonnie and Clyde. If they try to act like citizensAnd rent them a nice little flat,About the third nightTheyre invited to fightBy a sub-guns rat-tat-tat. They dont think theyre too tough or desperate,They know that the law always wins;Theyve been shot at before,But they do not ignoreThat death is the wages of sin. Some day theyll go down together;And theyll bury them side by side;To few itll be griefTo the law a reliefBut its death for Bonnie and Clyde. - Bonnie Parker 1934 Sources Hobsbawm, Eric. Bandits. Orion, 2010.Lundblad, Bonnie Jo. The Rebel-Victim: Past and Present. The English Journal 60.6 (1971): 763–66.Meyer, Richard E. The Outlaw: A Distinctive American Folktype. Journal of the Folklore Institute 17.2/3 (1980): 94–124.Muecke, Stephen, Alan Rumsey, and Banjo Wirrunmarra. Pigeon the Outlaw: History as Texts. Aboriginal History 9.1/2 (1985): 81–100.Roberts, John W. Railroad Bill and the American Outlaw Tradition. Western Folklore 40.4 (1981): 315–28.Seal, Graham. The Robin Hood Principle: Folklore, History, and the Social Bandit. Journal of Folklore Research 46.1 (2009): 67–89.

The Chinese Communist Partys Ideological Change Essay

The Chinese Communist Partys Ideological Change - Essay Example There have been many changes in the political systems and in particular to the ideology of the Chinese Communist Party, from 1978, when the then leader of the party and the country Deng Xiaoping began to initiate reforms and a movement towards a more market oriented economy. According to Misra (1998, p.272) and other scholars predicted the imminent decline and demise of the Marxist ideology in China, while other scholars who held a contrary opinion held that the ideology is not on its death bed; rather it is on its path to recovery (Brugger and David 1990, p.7). Ordinary Chinese citizens had become tired with the ideologies of the party and those of the its high profile leaders, it was perceived by the masses as more of a privileged society but less in touch with what is happening on the ground, this majorly began in the late 1990s. Currently, there is a general feeling amongst the populace that the Chinese Communist Party is riddled with corruption, and its sheer size complicates ef fectiveness of the party. Pro-democracy scholars and activist have a firm belief that the Party has lost its relevance in this century, and that the current leaders have lost legitimacy from the people and that they suffer from governance issues and this will ultimately lead to its collapse. After the death of the Chinese leader, Deng in 1997, majority of leaders in the west and particularly the United States predicted the collapse and adoption of ideologies of democracy in China. Most of them had predicted in the late 1990s that the regime would eventually collapse in the year 2010; this has happened, as the current leader is tightening these political policies but opening up the economy. In the