A Multimodal Learning Strategy Essay

How do you learn best? Do you rely on written instructions that outline details or processes? Do you physically test and try something out to see how it works? Do you learn through observation, by seeing someone else demonstrate? Do you rely on diagrams and visual aids to help you understand? If you answered mostly â€Å"yes† to the above questions, chances are, you have a multimodal learning preference. The majority—approximately 60%– of any population, group, or demographic fall into the category of multimodal learning. Multimodal learning takes from each of the four sensory modalities—the VARK learning style—used for learning information. The VARK learning style was developed by New Zealand educator Neil Fleming (1987) as a model that assesses how different people have different learning preferences. VARK is an abbreviation for visual (V), aural (A), read/write (R), and kinesthetic (K)—the four modes of learning strategies that he believed categorized how people learned and gathered knowledge. A multimodal learning strategy is a learning preference that combines two or three out of the four basic learning preferences. Finding out what one’s learning preference is promotes a more effectiveness in learning, as it gears one’s study habits towards their preferred method. Assessing the Method A VARK questionnaire is an effective method in assessing what a person’s learning preference is. A survey of approximately 15 to 16 questions would be given to a group of mixed background profiles, which would later be broken down into categories relating various social categories. The goal of the questionnaire or survey is to come up with a mean score which would be the standard for comparison and action. This score will is used to initiate a joint effort involving varying parties to determine strategies that would enhance learning for the groups (Murphy, Gray, Straja and Bogert, 2004). The VARK Four To better understand what multimodal learning strategies take from, it is important to discuss and differentiate between the four modes of learning strategies (Fleming, 1987). Visual learning styles highly prefer illustrated information over presentations or explanations in word. People who are â€Å"visual† rely heavily on drawings, maps, diagrams, symbols, and the like to gather information and learn. Aural or Auditory learners prefer to gather information that is spoken or heard. These types of learners acquire information best by listening to lectures, talks, discussions—even from e-mails, chats, texts and phone calls. Those with the Read/Write learning style process information best when it is written or displayed as text. The emphasis of this preference not only considers the input (which in this case is reading), it also looks at the output, which is more often than not, also in written form. Kinesthetic learners gain knowledge and information through practice and experience, real or simulated. This â€Å"experiential learning† may involve simulations, demonstrations, case studies and applications. The discussion of each of the four modes of learning preferences gives an idea of how learners with multimodal learning strategies absorb and understand information. Multiple preferences take factors from each of the four learning styles and incorporate them into an interesting formula that varies from user to user. As an example, you may have strong visual and aural preferences, or read/write and kinesthetic. It is also possible for a person to have three strong preferences, while some may also exhibit no particular inclination towards any single preference, and instead would have equal learning strategies in all four (Hong and Milgram, 2000). The multimodal learning style uses at least two types of strategies for learning. Unlike those with single preferences who deduce concepts by using their strategic style, multimodal learners often feel the need to â€Å"counter-check† the facts they obtained from a single set of strategies with the other types of learning styles (Fleming and Bonwell, 2002). Case Study: Myself as a Multimodal Learner I obtained the following scores using the VARK questionnaire found on www. vark-learn. com (Fleming, 2006): V=5, A=1, R=9 and K=7. This shows that I have a multimodal learning preference, with strengths in both Read/Write and Kinesthetic areas. Top R and K scores allow me to learn effectively using a combination of written reference and hands-on experience (Vierheller, 2005). My capacity to gather information would be greatly influenced by references, textbooks, lists, notes and readings. They would likewise be enhanced by using sensory observations, trial and error experiences, and hands-on approaches like computing, field trips and laboratory work. Alternately, I should theoretically be able to produce valuable output by writing information and lists, and by doing a mock-up or by physically recreating experiences and observations. To concur with my test results, I have personally found written information coupled with hands-on testing to be a most effective strategy. Also, while scoring only a 5 on the visual mode, I have always found visual study strategies to be effective in supplementing the information that I am able to collate using my supposed strong styles. The use of pictures, diagrams, charts, symbols and the like provide significant assistance in my personal learning preference. Users like myself, who have a three-dimensional multimodal learning preference have the fortunate advantage of easily adapting to various assessment methods and techniques required. References Fleming, N. (n. d. ) VARK: A Review of Those Who Are Multimodal. Web site: http://www. vark-learn. com/english/page_content/multimodality. html Hong, E. and Milgram, R. (2000). Homework: Motivation and Learning Preference [Electronic version]. Westport, CT: Bergin & Garvey. Murphy, R. , Gray, S. , Straja, S. , and Bogert, M. (2004). Student Learning Preferences and Teaching Implication. Journal of Dental Education. 68(8). 860-861. Retrieved from www. jdentaled. org.

Dover Beach

George 1 Joshua George Instructor Sarah Poffenroth EN 115 23 October 2012 Essay Two: The theme of ‘Illusion versus Reality’ in Matthew Arnold’s ‘Dover Beach’ ‘Dover Beach’ is a poem by the English poet Matthew Arnold. The locale of the poem is the English ferry port of Dover Kent, facing Calais, France. This was the place where Matthew Arnold honeymooned in 1851 (Wikipedia Contributors).In Matthew Arnold’s ‘Dover Beach’, the speaker draws visual imagery to show that what is generally perceived is false and hence an illusion, and he contrasts it using aural imagery to show what is truly real, the bitter reality of losing faith in one’s tradition, culture, and religion. The poem is unevenly divided into four stanzas. The first stanza has fourteen lines, whereas the second, third, and fourth have six, eight, and nine lines, respectively. Ruth Pitman calls this poem a series of incomplete sonnets (109).The poem has no particular rhyme scheme except for stanza four which follows the rhyme scheme- abbacddcc. The events described in the poem allude to the Victorian Era (1837-1901) (Wikipedia Contributors), which was a time of industrialization and introduction of scientific theories and ideas such as the Theory of Evolution which questioned major principles of Christianity. Some critics say that the speaker in the poem is Matthew Arnold himself because the location where the events in the poem take place isGeorge 2 Dover beach, where Arnold went for honeymoon with his wife. The poem is thought to be composed in 1851 and that is the year when Arnold honeymooned (Wikipedia Contributors). The speaker paints visual imagery of the scene in lines 1-8. Words such as ‘calm’ and ‘tranquil’ create an image of stability whereas words such as ‘glimmering’ and ‘vast’ describe the visual beauty of the scene. The first stanza also uses words like ‘roarâ €™ and ‘tremulous cadence’ to draw an aural image of the scene.Notice the contrast Arnold draws by using visual and aural imagery; the former expresses illusion (calm, beautiful, tranquil, etc. ) and the latter expresses reality (tremulous cadence) which induces sadness. The beginning of the first stanza describes the beauty of ‘Dover beach’. Midway through the stanza, the speaker invites his love (mentioned in stanza four) to ‘come to the window’ (line 6) and listen to the grating roar of the pebbles. By saying ‘come to the window’ the speaker wants his love to see things from his perspective.Alternatively, it could also mean looking at things closely as implied by lines seven and eight where the speaker mentions that ‘only, from the long line of spray where the sea meets the moon-blanched land’ (the shore) can you hear the ‘grating roar of pebbles’. The sound made by the pebbles when it is drawn and flung by waves, creates a note of sadness in the speaker’s heart. The first stanza shows the incompatibility between what is perceived and what is truly real. The material things of the world are in a way an illusion created by the world but the truth can be only known when we closely inspect everything.By introducing Sophocles (Greek playwright) in the second stanza, the speaker wants to emphasize the fact that he is not the only one to experience sadness induces by the sound of pebbles tossed about by the waves which ‘brought into his (Sophocles’) mind the turbid ebb and George 3 flow of human misery’ (lines 17-18). The speaker feels the same. This poem was written in the Victorian Era. It was a time of industrialization, economic prosperity and introduction of scientific ideas such as ‘Darwin’s Evolution Theory’ which made people question tradition, culture, and religion.People lost all their faith; though on the outside they seemed calm, happy and in control, the speaker feels that deep down inside they all experienced sadness due to their lack of faith (stanza 3). In the third stanza, the speaker talks about faith. The speaker feels that people used to be full of faith but due to the modern age and its ideas, people have lost their faith in tradition, culture, and religion. The speaker illustrates this by using the image of clothes. When people had faith in religion, the world used to be clothed (Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled).Once they lost their faith, they were stripped of these clothes like ‘naked shingles of the earth’. Thus, the third stanza brings out the bitter reality of that time. Depressed by the condition of humans the speaker turns to his lover and wants them to be true to one another. Stanza four brings back the illusion presented in stanza one. The speaker says, â€Å"For the world, which seems to lie before us like a land of dreams, so various, so beautiful, so new , hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light, nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain† (lines 30-34).Here the word ‘seems’ implies that the world isn’t what it is normally perceived (it is an illusion) as (land of dreams, beautiful etc. ) but it has bitter reality attached to it. This melancholy awareness of the poet is put perfectly by Rodney Delasanta; he wrote, â€Å"The theme of the poem (the poet’s melancholy awareness of the terrible incompatibility between illusion and reality) is supported by the use of visual imagery to express illusion and auditory imagery to express reality† (1). George 4 H.Wayne Schow points out an interesting thing; the phraseology of the poem is similar to Romans 8:38-39, where Paul writes: For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the l ove of God. This shows that Arnold knew the Bible well. He could have used it deliberately to contrast the piece of scripture from Romans to emphasize the current state of humankind (27).Arnold’s â€Å"Dover Beach† uses imagery, symbolism, and other poetic devices to reveal the theme of illusion versus reality. Throughout the poem we can see the speaker’s struggle which is well supported by the inconsistent rhythm and meter. The speaker beautifully describes it by using visual imagery to express illusions and aural imagery to express harsh reality. The speaker expresses his desire to have faith and be honest with his love but towards the end of the poem slides back to pessimism due to the realization of the reality. George 5 Works Cited Wikipedia contributors. â€Å"Victorian era.   Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 23 Oct. 2012. Web. 23 Oct. 2012. Wikipedia contributors. â€Å"Dover Beach. †Ã‚  Wikipedia, The Free Enc yclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 17 Sep. 2012. Web. 23 Oct. 2012. Pitman, Ruth. â€Å"On Dover Beach. † Essays in Criticism. XXIII (1973): 109-136. Web. 23 Oct. 2012. Schow, H. Wayne. â€Å"Arnold’s Dover Beach. † The Explicator. (1998): 26-27. Web. 23 Oct. 2012. Delasanta, Rodney. Explicator. XVIII (1959): 1. Web. 23 Oct. 2012. Fain, John T. â€Å"Arnold’s Dover Beach. † (2002): 40-42. Web. 23 Oct. 2012.

Effects of syntax bill to student smokers of Mindanao University of Science and Technology Essay

It is our great honor and respect for those persons who acknowledge to our study about â€Å"The effects of Syntax Bill to selected student smokers of Mindanao University of Science and Technology, SY. 2012-2013†. That we researchers are very thankful to the following: To our English 20 professor Dr. Erly M. Maglangit, for helping we finish our study. And for giving also this very interesting topic with regards to the student smokers here in our School or in this University. To my group who gives their ideas about our research and for their cooperation and teamwork for us to finish our study. To overall students who gives their moral support with regards to this study. To my classmate Genevieve Tagolimot for allowing me to used her laptop. To the parents above all that who are very supportive to their sons and daughters and keeping those sending school every day in this constitution which is the Mindanao University of Science and Technology. Once again, we are very thankful to all of you, without your moral support our studies will not be finish. Abstract For the past days, weeks, and months, SIN-tax Bill has been the content of the news reports on television, radio, and newspapers. It also garnered different reactions and views from different group of citizens, smokers or not. This bill was called SIN-Tax Bill because it proposes additional tax collection to bad vices such as cigarette and liquors. The proponents of the bill have said that it will give large amount of profit to the country as per the Department of Finance. This study purposes to know what the possibilities effects of House Bill 5727 are or what we called Sin Tax Bill. This law was approved by the congress and our President Benigno Simeon Aquino III for this law gives a higher tax or price will be given to the liquors or alcohols and especially to the cigarettes. Our study focuses to the selected student smokers of Mindanao University of Science and Technology and asking question to them on what are the effects of Sin Tax Bill to them as a Smoker. Most of the student smokers of Mindanao University of Science and Technology are not affected of House Bill 5727 or what we called Sin Tax Bill implementation. We also found out that one of the effects of Syntax Bill is the reduction of cigarettes stick of the smokers. That Sin tax bill helps to minimize the students smoker in smoking due to higher price of cigarettes. Even if House Bill 5727 is implemented students smokers in this University are able to continue their studies while others are not able able to focused their lessons if they can’t smoke cigarettes or tobaccos. Lastly, researchers also found out that there is no significant effects of House Bill 5727 or Sin Tax Bill. Though, most of the student smokers passed in all their subjects, but it is wise for them to quit or leave smoking for their health’s sake. Since, Sin Tax Bill reduces spending of the student smokers it will better for them to quit smoking so they can save spent their money to a very important projects in school. Lastly, it will be better for the school administration to conduct weekly SMOKING SYMPOSIUM about the harmful effects of smoking.   When Sin tax Bill was implemented in the Philippines, tobacco and cigar consumers were stunned whether the said law is in full implementation. Of course, those whose puffs are unavoidable and uncontrollable might oppose to this law. The only interest on their part is the money spent for the cigar. Others smokers disliked the law for it means additional â€Å"TAX INCORPORATED IN THIS BILL BUT THERE IS NO WAY TO ESCAPE THE LAW. SMOKERS MUST COMPLY WITH THE LAW†. They are not banned to smoke but they will only compromise the increase or value of the cigarette. This is the only means to control the additional burden of the Philippine government. The Philippine government spends billion a year for medicine for those who suffer lung cancer cited from Manila Bulletin, dated January 14, 2013). Based from the DOST, second hand smoking is so dangerous that it will take only few months to notice cancer sickness. This means to say that cancer cells will be triggered when nicotine enters the body direct to the lungs. The usual sicknesses for those who smoke are lung cancer, throat cancer, prostate cancer and anal cancer. Mindanao University of Science and Technology where the study was conducted about the effects of Syntax Bill to the selected student smokers’ wherein the selected students’ of MUST are involved. Since, sicknesses and no matter how posts of information in TV and in school campus on SMOKE FREE ZONE school, still without the monitor of the school administration, students’ smokers continue their journey towards smoking and the unseen effect in the future. Syntax is a tax levied on a certain goods and services that are seen vices, such as alcohol, tobacco and the like. Syntax is used for taxing activities that are considered undesirable. These types of taxes are levied by the government to discourage individuals from partaking in such activities without making the use of the products illegal. Like other taxes, sin tax also provides a source of government revenue. According to our research, Syntax Bill is often called â€Å"SIN TAXES,† because these taxes are, likewise, aimed at trying to â€Å"dissuade consumers from excessive intake of these potentially harmful products. â€Å"There is no disputing the â€Å"what†: House Bill 5727 is a measure that seeks to unify and increase the excise tax rates for alcohol and especially for cigarettes. This is also incites and provokes different responses, simply because this bill, if passed, would mean different things to different people. Manufacturers argue against the measure, primarily, on the following points: (1) it is the low-income earning earner consumers (who can only afford the lower-priced products) who will feel the pinch; (2) the decline in sales (from this segment of the market) will result in decreased production; (3) and that the decrease in production will inevitably lead to massive lay-offs. Smoking is an important risk factor for the three diseases that cause most deaths: heart disease, stroke and lung cancer. It is responsible for around 80% of all lung cancer deaths and 20% of all cancer deaths. Smoking has also been linked to cancers of the mouth, bladder, kidney, stomach and cervix, among other. Smokers are also at increased risk at having reduced lung function from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Using tobacco has been linked a variety of 3 other conditions, such as diabetes, peptic ulcers, some vision problems, and back pain. Smoking in pregnancy can lead to miscarriage, still birth or premature birth. Statement of the Problem The following are the statements of the problem: 1. What are the effects of Syntax bill to the student smokers of Mindanao University of Science and Technology? 2. What are the effects of Syntax bill to the non-smokers of Mindanao University of Science and Technology? 3. What is their stand as to smoking and studying done simultaneously? 4. Is smoking not a problem of the student smokers’ studies? Importance of the Study Syntax bill is House Bill 5727 which means— a measure that seeks to unify and increase the excise tax rates for alcohol and especially for cigarettes. Is it important that we know the effect syntax bill to the selected student smokers of Mindanao University of Science and Technology. This study also asks the students on how the cigarettes, tobacco, and etc. affect their daily life, especially in the field of their studies.

LAW Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

LAW - Essay Example . .But the classification of the agreement as a lease does not depend upon any intention additional to that expressed in the choice of terms. It is simply a question of characterising the terms which the parties have agreed. This is a question of law.†2 Traditionally in determining whether or not the arrangements between Botolphs Investments plc and Alfred Micawber constitute a tenancy or a license it will be necessary to look a the factual background and discern whether or not the intent of the arrangements was to give Alfred Micawber exclusive possession of the shop. If so, the agreement was a tenancy rather than a license.3 Lord Denning stated in Shell-Mex & BP Ltd v Manchester Garages Ltd [1971] 1 WLR 612 that: â€Å"Broadly speaking, we have to see whether it is a personal privilege given to a person (in which case it is a licence) or whether it grants an interest in land (in which case it is a tenancy). At one time it used to be thought that exclusive possession was a decisive factor. But that is not so. It depends on broader considerations altogether. Primarily on whether it is personal in its nature or not.†4 This submission by Lord Denning was merely an extension of his ruling in Isaac v Hotel de Paris Ltd [1960] 1 WLR 239 where he broadly held that exclusive possession was not the only consideration.5 Although the law changed somewhat it has once again been restored to the resolution of the question of exclusive possession. â€Å"In my opinion the agreement was only ‘personal in its nature’ and created ‘a personal privilege’ if the agreement did not confer the right to exclusive possession of the filling station. No other test for distinguishing between a contractual tenancy and a contractual licence appears to be understandable or workable.†6 The right to exclusive possession is the pivotal test for which to determine whether on not the agreement between Botolphs Investments plc and Alfred Micawber constitutes a tenancy as opposed

Theme is innocence and epiphanies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Theme is innocence and epiphanies - Essay Example According to a New York Times piece this January, the normal child, ages 8-18, uses over 7 ? hours a day with technology gadgets almost 5 hours of TV and films, equaling 2 ? hours of music, three hours of video games and internet, and only 30 minutes of traditional reading. This technology use, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, sums up to an overwhelming 75 hours a week (Stone 1). This information is not just sheer figures. However, they are a manifestation of the way the world is heading. There is a direct connection of the amount of time spent with gadgets and poor grades, obesity, violence, impatience, and mainly a loss of family interest. Therefore, it is safe to argue that children today still experience epiphanies from their daily experience within a technologically infused society (Stone 1). â€Å"Thinking, the ability to reason and reflect accurately, draws conclusions derived from our experiences, insights and knowledge. Thinking is what makes us human and has perm itted us to create, communicate, build, progress and become civilized. It encompasses so many phases of who our children are, as well as what they do, from learning, observing, questioning, remembering, and judging to innovating, deciding, arguing and performing† (Taylor 1). Families are being hurt by all of the new innovation. When a cluster of 4-6 year olds were asked to select between watching a television program and spending quality time with their parents along with siblings, 54% of them considered watching TV (Stone 1). In addition, according to a similar survey reported by the A.C. Nielson Company, the normal parent spends three and a half minutes only in a week to have meaningful discussions with their children. Technology is shaping a generation gap, which makes parents feel left out as they cannot relate to what their children are doing (Stone 1). Whether child recognition of their parents’ experiences or students paying attention in class, a child’s i mmediate surrounding establishes the kind of attention, which he/she will develop. In generations past, for instance, children dedicated considerable sums of their time to studying, an activity which offered few interruptions and needed both intense and sustained attention, memory and imagination (Taylor 1). The arrival of the television among other gadgets altered that concentration by providing children visual incentives, disjointed attention, as well as little need for imagination. Then the Internet was established, and children were propelled into an immensely different environment in which, since entertainment is the culture, consistent concentration is impractical, imagination is needless and memory is subdued. â€Å"Technology sets the mind to pay attention to information extremely differently compared to reading. The metaphor, which Nicholas Carr adapts is the difference between jet skiing and scuba diving. Book reading is similar to scuba diving whereby the diver is submer ged in a silence, visually controlled, negligent setting with few interruptions, and, as a result, is forced to focus intently and think intensely on the restricted information, which is available at that time. In comparison, using the Internet is similar to jet skiing, whereby the jet skier is skimming extremely fast along the surface of the water, open to

Global business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Global business - Essay Example Particularly this discussion will be looking at the issues that American businesses going in Russia need to understand in order to formulate effective entry strategy. These two countries have major cultural difference in language, authority, customs and norms thus conducting businesses in Russia present a communication and management challenge. Communication is essential for any business, Russia unlike America has several official language due to the large number of ethnic communities of about one hundred (Bloshteyn, 2007). This will need the company to have people who understand a variety of these ethnic languages while in US English is their official language. Body language help to convey certain messages like nodding the head to show agreement Russians do not use body language as such like Americans do but are said to be very emotion for instance they can walk out on you during a meeting to show disagreement. Authority in Russia is centralized and chain of commands are from top to bottom and the juniors staff are expected to perform their tasks without any questioning while the Americans top managers give directions and give room for debating. Russians organizational structures are very bureaucratic in nature and this makes it difficult to do business for instance according to an executive director of Russo-British commerce chamber Stephen Danziel, ‘‘you have to fill forms for all most everything and have them signed by the right authorities usually in triplicate’’. According to Trompenaars & Woolliams ( 2003), culture is the core value of any society, businesses have to understand the cultural background of the customer in order to be able to meet their needs. The ideologies and gender views of these two countries are different, Russians are seen as communalism and believe in collectivity while Americans are entrepreneurship and very competitive. Therefore Amer icans businesses need to be aware of these background which will enable the

Change Management of People and Technology in an ERP Implementation Case Study

Change Management of People and Technology in an ERP Implementation - Case Study Example PowerIT's has decided to acquire a 3rd-party modified off-the-shelf solution. The main reason behind the implementation of the 3rd-party modified off-the-shelf solution is the less effective system development skill of the PowerIT's internal IT department. In other words we can also say that PowerIT did not want to take the risk of such huge development. Therefore PowerIT has decided to acquire 3rd-party modified off-the-shelf solution (Edwards and Humphries). In the analysis of this system the case writers have declared the different areas of the system implementation with different ranks. For example the â€Å"Software Development Expertise† regarding the 3rd-party modified off-the-shelf solution is ranked as â€Å"HIGH†. This signifies that the system development firm that is going to develop the system is possessing high quality system developers; those are having extensive expertise in the system development. In this scenario the PowerIT lacks and not have such com petent experts and professional for such a huge development. In this case in-house-development of the system can be a failure. The case writers have ranked the second aspect of the 3rd-party modified off-the-shelf solution as â€Å"HIGH† that is about the â€Å"Application Domain Expertise†. In this scenario we can also have better expertise of the overall system development through the 3rd-party modified off-the-shelf solution.

Latest effort at transparency just muddies water by Carolyn Pugsley Research Paper

Latest effort at transparency just muddies water by Carolyn Pugsley and Alexandra Module - Research Paper Example The article is written by Carolyn Pugsley and Alexandra Module. The main objective of the article is to state the reforms which are adopted by the federal government of Australia in order to disclose the remunerations of seniors executives of companies. This reform has been adopted by the Australian government with the intention of facilitating better transparency for shareholders with respect to the remuneration structures of senior executives. Moreover, this reform will facilitate management of companies with minimum regulatory pressure (Pugsley & Module, 2012). Accounting Theory (Part B) The appropriate theory for this article will be ‘Legitimacy Theory’. This theory states that the remuneration policy of an organisation is conducted in a legitimated manner in accordance with it the board of directors (BOD) of the organisation is required to justify that the remuneration policy adopted by them are according to the company law and Accounting Standards of Australia. Mor eover, the remuneration of BOD of organisations should be justified to the shareholders as well as society. The remuneration policy of senior executives is required to be revealed in order to ascertain that remunerations are provided in keeping with best practices under the code of corporate governance (AFAANZ, 2010). Analysis (Part C) The legitimacy theory signifies that the remuneration policy adopted by companies is in adherence with rules as well as regulations of the government. This theory also states that the financial and annual reports which are prepared by companies are in accordance with accounting standards and company law. In this similar context, the article depicts that the remuneration policy of senior executives will aid in determining that the remunerations as well as rewards which are acquired by senior executives are according to accounting standards. The theory signifies that the remuneration of senior executives should be revealed in an appropriate manner in an nual reports with the motive of depicting the performance of companies to stakeholders. Moreover, the theory assists in minimising pressure on the management as the audit committee is familiar with the regulations of remuneration policy. The article depicts that the amount of remuneration of the senior executives should be revealed in the financial statements or annual reports of companies which will signify the performance of companies among stakeholders and market segments. Companies are required to adopt appropriate remuneration policies which will be legally enacted. The article also reveals that the remunerations of the senior executive should be disclosed in order to ascertain transparency towards shareholders. Moreover, the disclosure of the remuneration policy will assist companies in better regulatory operations (Crombie, 2010). It has been observed from the article that the government of Australia has formulated policy with regard to the disclosure of remunerations of seni or executive. The policy devised by the government is perceived to be complex for auditors as the remuneration report will comprise three segments which include ‘past pay’, ‘present pay’ as well as ‘future pay’. Furthermore, annual reports of companies with excess or decreased incentives and remunerations will portray ineffective performance of companies. Companies should adopt an effective policy of representing remuneration of senior executive which can be linked with the companies’

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

ProgramManagement - Essay Example The most important resource is the house in which the day care center will be located. I will reorganize the house such that scarce space available is utilized optimally. This will be done by only using the necessary households for the center and keeping the unnecessary items in store. Other resources such as toys, beds, and furniture will be properly utilized to ensure efficient running of the center. An effective customer care relation is the key to success in any business. The day care center will be providing services to different parents within the neighborhoods of the center. Quality service can only be guaranteed if proper means of communication between the day care center management and parents is maintained. I will be open to dialogue to the parents at all times to ensure that they are updated on the status and wellbeing of their babies. The day care center will demand proper record keeping. This will ensure that all events and activities regarding the center are well documented (Various 49). It is important to keep proper health, historical, growth, behavioral patterns and developmental records of all babies to ensure that all babies are handled with specialized care. This is particularly important since some babies may have medical history that requires special attention or handling. In addition payment, attendance, and other relevant documents will be properly recorded and stored for quality service delivery A day care requires proper planning and organization to ensure that all activities and operations are carried out successfully within their time frames. A concise and detailed plan of the number of babies, their special requirements, time schedules, communication, and other operations will be outlined and followed. This will ensure smooth flow of daily activities from the time the babies are brought to the time they leave for home. This will entail both short and

The Japanese American internment Research Paper - 1

The Japanese American internment - Research Paper Example The government targeted the Japanese Americans, both aliens and residents, without ever warning them specifically. The main reason given for the internment was that the people of Japanese descent living in Hawaii, through the provision of intelligence, had aided the enemy in attacking the Pearl Harbor. In fact, two-thirds of the Japanese-Americans interned were American citizens, mostly children and young adults. Those internees who proved to be loyal to the US were released and by 1946, and all the internment camps were closed, but the psychological effects could not be undone (Steven and Bernie 2). The experience the Nisei, the second generation of the Japanese Americans, had in the internment camps led them to question their identity and citizenship. Research shows that â€Å"the camp experience was paradoxical† (Suyemoto 6). The camps were viewed as a way of enhancing the acculturation of the Japanese Americans, but the internees only interacted with their fellow Nisei. The Nisei relied on Japanese values, which included endurance during difficult situations and stoicism in the face of adversity, and this helped them to cope with the internment experience. After the release of the Nisei, they tried their best to avoid attracting any negative attention to themselves by attempting to present their identity as Americans. One Nisei has said â€Å"By trying to prove we were 110 percent American, we hoped to be accepted† (Suyemoto 6). The race-related trauma experienced during the internment prompted the Nisei to suppress their Japanese cultural heritage and instead focus on portraying American values. Subsequently, they passed on the same sentiments to their Sansei children, who passed the same to the current Gosei and Yonsei generation (Nagata 125).The impact of the race-related trauma experienced during the internment was then, transgenerational. The Sansei children often heard their parents mention the â€Å"camp† in

Adolf Hitler- Long Live Germany Essay Example for Free

Adolf Hitler- Long Live Germany Essay The ruler, commander, leader, â€Å"God like† image to all of German in between his rising years, 1928-1935, had great power over all living being in Germany at the time. German flags would be raised wherever you may travel in German; Nazi’s over-ruled the people in many streets Here is a poster of Adolf Hitler, during 1935, showing us how mighty and powerful he is. Showing us how he can change German individuals’ lives into a better life, and how he and his party, can make a change into German. Es lebe Deutfchland! † A phrase that has been used in front of the poster, meaning â€Å"Long live Germany! † We all know that Hitler’s rise to power between 1928-1933 made him a strong and well-known man. Everyone in Germany would look up to Hitler, and here shows how Hitler would die for his country, how he would do what so ever to protect his country. He is telling us in this poster that he himself would fight for Germany, he would be able to lead his country, and the people in it, and keep them from harm. Having an eagle hover against the light of heaven over Hitler in this poster connects back to Christ when a dove descended upon Him when He was being baptised by John the Baptist. This would give us a clue that Yes! Hitler was an idealized God to the Germans’, knowing that he has done a lot for them. Overcoming the great depression, helping the citizens of Germany get employed and many other offers. People would praise in Adolf Hitler’s name. They would die for Hitler. As you can see at the back of Hitler are his followers, much likely to be the Nazi’s and German people holding the German flag and hailing Hitler. Thousands, let’s say billions had gathered to support Hitler, and trying to persuade us that Hitler is a trustworthy man, and how he can help German citizens overcome anything when they are in deep crisis. We all know that in Hitler’s time, everyone idolized him, but for what reason? Hitler was a powerful and spellbinding speaker who attracted a wide following of Germans who were desperate for change in Germany. This poster tells us more of how Hitler won over, changed Germany and became successful in many things. To conclude this Visual essay, Hitler was successful in his days, knowing by the looks of this poster. He did have everybody fooled by his beauty and the way he structures himself, to make people think he is on their side, but in reality he’s just another beast getting revenge for his mother country, Germany. â€Å"Heil Hitler† they say, and have German flags flowing for him†¦ â€Å"Heil Hitler! †

Education For Life Essay Example for Free

Education For Life Essay Education For LifeThe basic purpose of a liberal arts education is to liberate the human being to exercise his or her potential to the fullest. Liberal arts plays an important role in developing individuals and the world. When students attend liberal art colleges, they will understand the essence of humanity and will learn to shape and develop personal values. For a person to develop, he needs to understand the essence of humanity. When you attend college, your view on the meaning of life changes. You live for your minds and spirits and not just for the security of material wealth (Urbanek). You start to do things related to your work as this is your interest. This will make you care less about material wealth and you will focus more on the benefit of the world than the benefit of yourself. Liberal arts means arts of freedom. People learn about things that interest them. This makes the experience of learning better. Students will recognize the value of material things for what they are (Urbanek). They will start challenging tasks of design where they would learn how to translate ideas into actions. They will get to know the depth, flexibility and openness of their thinking and will also be able to recognize the importance of their thinking. Taking these ideas into consideration, I can say that liberal arts teaches people global responsibility, social awareness and self development, which is the essence of humanity. Thus, when the essence of humanity is known, then only a person will be able to acquire personal values. The value of liberal arts was appreciated by the students in older times but contemporary students do not share the same sentiment. In 1900, 70 percent of college students in US attended liberal arts colleges but today fewer that 5 percent do. The idea has taken hold by educators that todays youth are more materialistic, less idealistic and more self interested than their predecessors (Richard). In 1997, Yankelovitch survey focused on high school students and their parents, found that 85 percent of the high school students and 74 percent of their parents stated that the goal of college is to get a practical education and to secure a job. Furthermore, only 14 percent of the students and 27percent of their parents were even familiar with what a liberal art education is. Todays students tend to be career oriented, impatient and focused in material rewards (Kahn). People do not know that liberal arts can offer a clearer understanding that work embodies the values of courage, honour and responsibility. Liberal art colleges expose you to a variety of academic disciplines and an excellent background for future work. The education gives you the ability to adapt to a changing environment, communicate effectively, think critically and solve complex problems, which can prove very useful in everyday lives. As you acquire personal values throughout your college years, it is important to learn how to shape these values. I believe that the central purpose of liberal arts education is to shape the values of people. The impact of liberal arts education on student value change is conclusive in determining whether higher education is effective in achieving this central purpose. According to a survey conducted at the University of California at Los Angeles, 8 out of 10 academics said they were spiritual, and 64 percent called themselves religious. More than half of the faculty members said that it was important to enhance undergraduates self-understanding and to develop their moral character and values. I think liberal arts is a great way to teach people their spiritual and moral responsibilities towards the community and world itself. Humanitarian values are defined by acceptance of value equivalency between ones own loyalties and those of all other individuals and groups, as well as respecting the rights of others to freely express similar claims and loyalties without infringement (Hollway). Values serve as guiding principles in the life of a person or other social entity and thus, it is important for people to learn how to shape these values. Values are described as serving the interests of some social entity, motivating action, giving direction, and having emotional intensity (Hollway). Therefore, these values are needed for the development of individuals. When individuals possess these values, they will be able to use them in their society. Employers around the world are looking for people who possess these values and have the ability to use them. Hence, liberal arts students will satisfy these employers. These students will also find opportunities to learn more as their primary goal is not material wealth. This will help countries to better their economy. These values will benefit the students themselves as well as the world. Once a person understands the essence of humanity and learns to shape and develop values, he will be able to make changes to the world. Liberal arts students have the skills to become valuable community members. They make decisions, solve problems and communicate the solutions to others. Liberal arts prepares these students to be successful throughout their life. WORKS CITEDUrbanek, Jennifer. The EBSCOhost. 28 Oct. 2007 Kahn, Beverly. Co-opting The Market Place. Journal of Higher Education: p. 19. EBSCOhost. 28 Oct. 2007 Richard, M. The Practical Path, Too, Can Be High-Minded. Chronicle of Higher Education: p. 11. EBSCOhost. 28 Oct. 2007 Hollway, Michael. A Comparison of the Impact of 2 Liberal Arts. Journal of General Education: p. 237. EBSCOhost. 28 Oct. 2007.

Expanding The Market Share For Apples Iphone Marketing Essay

Expanding The Market Share For Apples Iphone Marketing Essay A Marketing Research project for the MSc International Marketing Management programme 2010/11 Executive Summary The purpose of this research was to determine how to increase the market share of the iPhone in China. In order to conduct the study, the marketing research problem was identified as to determine the needs and preferences of buyers of smartphones in the Chinese market. In line with the research problem six hypotheses were developed to be tested. In this project, several research approaches were used. Exploratory research was conducted to help the researchers obtain a basic understanding and insight into the problems facing Apple Inc., while conclusive research helped to build upon the findings of the exploratory research. Through searching and reading secondary data, the researchers identified the different factors, in terms of physical factors (e.g., price, quality, ease of use), social factors (e.g., fashion purchasing, group identity, symbol of status) and emotional factors (e.g., brand image, appearance, advertisement, etc.), that theoretically should influence purchase behaviour. Based on the secondary data, a questionnaire was designed and administered to 176 Chinese students in the University of Leeds from 11th to 22nd November 2010 to collect the primary data of their perceptions and satisfactions towards smartphones and the iPhone. The results were analysed using SPSS, and several statistical tests performed to check whether the hypotheses were accepted in the study. From the project, the researchers found that all the three factors (physical factor, social factor and emotional factor) individually were closely related to the perceptions of iPhone, and also that these three factors combined exerted influence towards the perceptions. Moreover, consumers perceptions toward the iPhone were found to be related to their post purchase satisfactions as well. Gender and income, as the demographic moderators, also have influence on the perceptions and satisfactions of iPhone, although the effect of gender was limited. As a result, the study could be considered as a reference of iPhone to identify their current problems in Chinese market and design corresponding marketing strategy to increase their marketing share in China. Table of Contents 1 A Marketing Research project for the MSc International Marketing Management programme 2010/11 1 Introduction 4 Background 6 SWOT analysis for iPhone in Chinese market 7 Problem Definition 7 Management Decision Problem 7 Market Research Problem 8 Research Components 8 Research Approach Development 8 Literature review 8 1.1.1Physical Factors 8 1.1.2Social Factors 9 1.1.3Emotional/Psychological Factors 9 1.1.4Demographic Factors 9 Conceptual Model 11 Research Question and Hypotheses 11 Research Design and Methodology 13 Research Design 13 Secondary Research 13 Primary Research 14 1.1.5Research Approach 14 1.1.6Sampling Design 14 1.1.7Questionnaire Design 16 Field work 19 Analytical Methods 20 Results and Hypotheses Testing 21 Profile of the respondents 21 Factors influencing mobile phone choices 21 1.1.8Factors influencing smartphone preferences 21 1.1.9Factors related to iPhones 22 1.1.10Post Purchase Satisfaction 23 Hypothesis Testing 23 7. Conclusions and Recommendations 29 7.1 Conclusion 29 The conclusion is shown in the following model: 30 7.2 Recommendations 30 7.3 Limitations of the Research 31 8. References 32 9.List of Appendix 34 Appendix 1: Questionnaire 34 9.2 Appendix 2: Respondents Profile Frequency 39 9.3 Appendix 3: Mean Value 41 9.4 Appendix 4: Moderator regression table 44 Introduction The market for smartphones has been growing continually. The proof of its popularity is that sales of smartphones to end users have reached 54.3 million units in the first quarter of 2010, an increase of 48.7 percent from the same period in 2009. smartphones hold 17.3 percent of worldwide mobile phone devices sales (Gartner, May 2010). There are currently more than 6 types of operating systems available in the smartphone market, such as Symbian, RIM, Apple iOS, Android, Windows Mobile and Linux. The Nokia Symbian holds the highest market share followed by RIM BlackBerry and Apple iOS in the year 2010 (Gartner, May 2010). The players in the market compete by introducing new innovations and adding value to their phones, since the consumers expect more from smartphones than from basic feature phones (Mintel, January 2010). Creating an image of being a state of the art technology provider may give the positive connotations in the customers head that allow them to set a higher price, as the strategy that Apple implemented with the iPhone has shown (Data Monitor, May 2010). Even so, according to the fact that 51 percent of the consumers will not buy the phone unless the price come down (Mintel, January 2010), price does clearly matter to them. The factors influencing smartphone purchasing decisions needs to be identified in order to develop new potential opportunities to create distinctive competencies. This study will cover factors influencing iPhone perception and iPhone post purchase satisfaction. This should give a guide to a successful marketing strategy in the future. Background Apple Inc. is one of the major companies of technology and innovation in consumer products in the world. They provide a wide range of products and services, from laptop and desktop computers to accessories and software services. The company recorded revenues of almost $43 billion during the financial year ending in September 2009 (FY2009), an increase of over 14% since 2008. The increase in revenues was mainly due to growth in sales of iPhone handsets and the related sales of third-party digital content and applications from the iTunes Store (Data Monitor, May 2010). But even though China has the highest number of mobile phone subscribers in the world, the sales figures for iPhone in China as reported by China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd. are far behind the rest of the big markets in the world. It took only 30 hours for Apple iPhone to reach over 200,000 sold units in the U.S. in 2007, but it took more than a month to reach the same number in China (The Economic Times, October 2010). One possible factor holding the iPhone back in China is its relatively high price. Apple and Unicom charge $730 to $1,020 for the iPhone, not including discounts on service, making it more expensive than grey market iPhones brought into the country through places like Hong Kong. There may be up to two million such grey market iPhones in China according to an estimate by Paul Wuh, an analyst covering China Unicom for Samsung Securities. In addition to this, the Wi-Fi Internet function was initially disabled on Unicoms iPhones to comply with Chinese government rules (Wall Street Journal, Dec 2009), which might also have contributed to the slow take-off of iPhone sales. NOTE Is this a reference SWOT analysis for iPhone in Chinese market Strengths Strong brand name Focuses RD driving innovation Provides State of the art technologies Opportunities Strong growth in smartphones market segment Continuing growth in demand for handheld devices Weaknesses Product recalls Patent infringement Expensive Price Threats Intense competition Dependence on specific suppliers Chinese Governments regulations High cost of internet bundle provider Reference: Data monitor 21 May 2010 Available at http://www.datamonitor.com Problem Definition Management Decision Problem Apple Inc. has encountered some potential limitations for the iPhone in the Chinese market, such as government regulations, grey market opportunities and the high price of the phone. Even though 100,000 iPhone 4s were sold in the first 4 days of availability (Sutherland, 2010), representing a high demand for the iPhone, the market share in China is still lower than anywhere else in the world. Hence, the management decision problem for Apple could be How to increase iPhone market share in China? Market Research Problem To answer the management decision problem it needs to be translated into a market research problem, which the researchers therefore define to be: To determine the needs and preferences of buyers of smartphones in the Chinese market Research Components To clarify consumers perceptions toward smartphones. To determine the factors that influence consumers decision to buy the iPhone. To evaluate consumers post purchase behaviour of iPhone. To discover potential influence of demographic factors on iPhone satisfaction Research Approach Development Literature review According to the secondary data that have been collected for this study, there are 4 main factors that should influence consumers technology buying decisions. Physical Factors Consumers would look into visible aspects (design) more than software specific aspects (operating system). Three main factors that consumers focus on are good design, the brand of the handset and quality of integrated camera. The consumers cannot always tell the distinction between the latest innovative phones and other phones. The companies attempts to position themselves, as high technology innovators may not be significant when consumers do not look for it (Mintel, January 2010). A better design leads to a sense of better usability and help to extend users emotional attachment to the device (Nanda, 2008) Social Factors As a rule, in the emerging markets of the world the penetration of mobile technology is higher in the high-income segments of a population. In the developed world a mobile handset is part of the everyday world, while elsewhere it is still considered as a luxury and a symbol of status. Thus, while income is less related to the ownership of a mobile handset in Europe, in China it is still a very important factor (Castells et al., 2004). To specify on teenage consumers, they want to keep up with the most recent trend so there is a quick turnover in their technology adopting behaviour. They were controlled by trend not technology and they fear to be excluded from their group because the lack of technology involvement (Mintel, August 2008). People were influenced by their own group about which phone to buy. The innovation and designs were developed to satisfy consumers social needs (Vincent, 2009). Young users are also more likely to use SMS rather than voice calls than other users, mainly because it is cheaper and because they usually have more time to master the technical skill of texting. For the older, working population where the employer pays the bills the opposite is the general rule (Castells et al., 2004). Emotional/Psychological Factors The role of the phones is more than just a communication tool. They become personal objects (Hallnà ¤s Redstrà ¶m, 2002). The common emotional responses among mobile phone users are being cool, chilled out and tuned into a mobile phone culture The thrill and the novelty of the mobile phone: What the phones can do for the users are the factors that enable and strengthen the relationship. Demographic Factors There is a positive relation between age and price concern. Older buyers would take price as an important factor when deciding to buy a new phone (Mintel, January 2010). As well as teenage buyers, they have a budget constraint due to their limited income. Consequently they would wait until they are certain about their choice so as to avoid making a bad purchase. This concern leads to a brand criterion. In order to reduce the risk of wasting their money, they would stick to the trusted brand only (Mintel, August 2008). Technology goods are a low elasticity product to men. During the recession men still buy new technology goods. Women are more prices sensitive than men and they are also interested in design more than men (Mintel, June 2009). Due to the two facts that in China ownership of a mobile phone is positively related to income, and that a larger part of the high-income earners are men, there is a gap between number of male and female users of mobile phones. However, there is a growing market segment targeted at women where the exterior design is the major selling point (Castells et al., 2004). There is also a difference in how male and females perceive and use their handsets; female users are not only likelier to see the phone as a fashionable accessory but also use it as a key channel to maintain personal relationships. This becomes evident in studies that show that even if more men than women use SMS, women are more frequent users of it than men (Castells et al., 2004). Conceptual Model Figure 1: Model of Smartphone Purchasing Decision H1 H3 H4 H5 H6 iPhone Perceptions Post purchase Satisfaction Demographic Moderators Physical Factors H2 Social Factors Emotional Factors Research Question and Hypotheses Q1: Is there any relationship between physical factors and the iPhone perceptions? H1: There is a relationship between physical factors and the iPhone perceptions. Q2: Is there any relationship between social factors and the iPhone perceptions? H2: There is a relationship between social factors and the iPhone perceptions. Q3: Is there any relationship between emotional factors and the iPhone perceptions? H3: There is a relationship between emotional factors and the iPhone perceptions. Q4: Is there a relationship between physical factors, social factors and emotional factors and iPhone perceptions? H4: There is a relationship between physical factors, social factors and emotional factors and iPhone perceptions. Q5: Is there a relationship between iPhone perceptions and post purchase satisfactions? H5: There is a relationship between iPhone perceptions and post purchase satisfactions. Q6a: Does the demographic moderator of income influence the relationship between iPhone perceptions and post purchase satisfaction? H6a: The demographic moderator of income influences the relationship between iPhone perceptions and post purchase satisfaction. Q6b: Does the demographic moderator of gender influence the relationship between iPhone perceptions and post purchase satisfaction? H6b: The demographic moderator of gender influences the relationship between iPhone perceptions and post purchase satisfaction. Research Design and Methodology Research Design Research design is a framework or blueprint conducting a market research project that specifies the procedures necessary to obtain the information needed to structure or solve the marketing problem (Malhotra, 2009: 94). The objective of this project is to improve the sales volume of iPhone in China. The first step here was to define the management decision problem and then apply suitable market research approach. There are two types of research designs; Exploratory: An exploratory research was conducted to gain a basic understanding and insight in the problems faced by Apple Inc. This was done mainly through secondary data. The exploratory research proved that there was some problem and further research was required in order to address it appropriately. Conclusive: A conclusive research was conducted to build upon the finding of the exploratory research. It is done mainly to test the formulated hypotheses. The conclusive research is of two types; descriptive and casual. The descriptive research was used to identify the relationship between the different variables affecting the buying behaviour whereas the causal research was used to determine the cause and effect relationships between the moderator and the variables. Secondary Research This is one of the most important elements of a market research project especially when there is time and cost constraint. Since the study revolves around a very new, unique and innovative product so the secondary data has been entirely sourced from the quality journals, newspapers and research articles. In order to maintain authenticity of the data, all the data was compared among each other and this lay the foundation for the development of the research model for the study. Primary Research Research Approach The survey method was used to collect the information from the respondents in this research. This method was chosen due to its advantages of ease, reliability, and simplicity along with the fact that it can simultaneously demonstrate the insights into who the actual consumers are, how the consumers behave, and why the consumers behave in certain way (Malhotra, 2009: p214). With the consideration of time and resource constraints, the questionnaires were distributed to Chinese students at the University of Leeds. In addition to distributing the questionnaire face to face to the respondents, an on-line version of the questionnaire was also made available by the researchers to collect data from the respondents. Sampling Design In this case, to understand the correlations between different types of factors and the smartphone purchasing decision of Chinese consumers and between demographic moderators and the customer satisfaction, the sample size was determined according to the four steps of the Sampling Design Process (Malhotra, 2009: p371). Defining the Target Population: Elements of the Sample: Prospective purchasers of mobile phones in China Sample Units: Chinese mobile phone users Extent: Chinese students study in the University of Leeds Time Period: November, 2010 Sample Frame: The Chinese students who study at the University of Leeds were the target population of this research. According to the web page of the University of Leeds (http://www.leeds.ac.uk/info/30313/asia/200/china), the number of Chinese students was 561 when the research was undertaken. Therefore, the sample size was calculated based on the population size of 561. Sampling Technique: Sampling techniques can be classified as non-probability sampling and probability sampling (Malhotra, 2009: p373). Non-probability sampling was selected for the data collection in this research due to the time and resource constraints; the selecting of sample elements was based on the research teams personal judgment and conveniencealecting of sample elements was survey was carried out among different income level.ch could expand the age interval of the re. Determining the sample size: The sample size of the research was calculated by statistical method with the formula below: n = where: n = sample size required N = population size Z = number of standard errors (Z=1.96 for 95% confidence level) (Anton, 1995, cited by Palihawadana, 2009) The sample size was calculated at 95% confidence level, therefore n = = 229 According to the calculation above, 229 questionnaires were required to be collected in this research. However, due to the time and resource constraints, instead 76% of the required sample size or 176 questionnaires were to be included in this research. Questionnaire Design A questionnaire was designed to collect the quantitative primary data. According to the literature review, three factors were embraced in the questionnaire to determine their relevance of smartphones purchasing decision. Besides, collecting basic information of the respondents helped to investigate whether the demographic moderators affected the consumer satisfaction. The questionnaire was designed on the basis of questionnaire design process (Malhotra, 2009 p.331). Information Needed: The first step is to make sure the information which should be collected and used to analyse the result. Thus, it is vital to clearly understand the research questions and hypotheses so as to help the questionnaire remain focused. As the respondents are students at the University of Leeds, the wording and style used in the questionnaire was appropriate to their level of education. Type of Interviewing Method: The survey was conducted mainly by using personal interviews, accompanied by an internet survey. As a result, complex questions were avoided and all the questions were made as detailed and clear as possible so as to avoid any ambiguity. Content of Individual Questions: All questions were designed based on six hypotheses. Reviewing the form and structure of related researches helped the questionnaire to be succinct and well-structured, and thus easy for young respondents to answer. Question Design: The questionnaire was designed to be as simple as possible to achieve raise the willingness to answer of the respondents. Moreover, the questions were oriented to require less effort and to avoid asking for sensitive information. Question structure and operationalisation of the variables Question design: 7-Attitudinal Scales Dichotomous Data Multiple-Choice Questions Questions Social Factors Physical Factors Emotional Factors Q: 3d, 3e, 3f, 7d, 7e, 7f Q:3g-i, 7g-i, 8a-g, 12a-g H1 H2 H3 Q4,Q10,Q14 Q1, Q2, Q5, Q: 3a, 3b, 3c, 7a, 7b, 7c Demo- graphic Moderators Q15, Q16, Q17, Q18, Q19 H6 Post- purchase Satisfaction Q13 Q6 Construct Item Reference H4 iPhone Percep-tions H5 Q11 The questionnaire included 19 questions in four pages. In this questionnaire, three formats of questions were designed, which are, respectively; multiple-choice questions, 7-attitudinal scales and dichotomous questions. Multiple-choice questions were designed in order to get the general information about peoples perception of mobile phones and smartphones, as well as respondents personal information. As respondents are familiar with phones, and the personal information questions are basic background questions, respondents could easily choose a preference choice from the several alternatives. In addition, since the questions were asked in an objective way, the data collected can be taken as reliable. Dichotomous data is that classified into either one of two mutually exclusive values. In the questionnaire, the dichotomous questions were about Yes or No questions about purchasing phones of respondents. Scale questions were used to indicate respondents attitudinal preference of the given items or sentences. In the questionnaire, scale questions were designed as the model of 7-attitudinal scale questions. Among most of these questions, 7 represented strongly agree or strongly satisfied while 1 represents strongly disagree or strongly dissatisfied, indicating respondents attitude in a much more detailed manner. All the factors that directly influence the hypothesis can be evaluated in on the 7-attitudinal scale question model, including physical factors, social factors as well as emotional factors. In this way the researchers found it easy to evaluate the factors that influence peoples preferences regarding smartphones according to the data. Question wording: Questions in the questionnaire were appropriate, simple and objective. While designing the questionnaire, special attention was given so that the questions did not mislead or prime the respondents in any way. This way the reliability of the data is enhanced. Sections of the questionnaire: The questionnaire was divided into four parts; Section A: Mobile Phones in the Market; Section B: Smartphones in the Market; Section C: iPhone and Section D: Personal Information. In Section A, it the respondents general perception about mobile phones was explored; in Section B, the questionnaire tried to get an idea of Chinese international students preferences towards smartphones at Leeds University; in Section C, the questionnaire focused on the attitude towards iPhone among Chinese students at Leeds University; and in the last part, Section D, it is appertained that all the respondents provide their basic personal information, which is an essential part of demographic factors as it would help the researchers to test Hypothesis 4 as a reference. Among the first three sections, equivalent attitudinal questions are asked in order to make a comparison among students attitude towards feature phones, smartphones and the iPhone. Also, all these three parts contained questions about physical factors, social factors and emotional factors that could influence peoples decision while buying phones. Form and Layout: The questionnaire was designed in a way that would inspire the respondents willingness and interest to finish it. This was done by way of keeping sections clearly defined, avoiding the title or questions within a section to be separated between alternatives in two pages. Additionally, certain care was taken to give the questionnaire an appealing look, and the university logo was added to give a serious and trustworthy impression. Pilot testing: Before collecting data from Chinese students in Leeds University, a pilot testing was made among five Chinese students at different schools, to test the practicability of the questionnaire. The suggestions from the five respondents were taken into consideration. The questionnaire was then complemented with some new alternatives, covering more situations and factors in a better way. While doing the actual survey, it was concluded that the respondents of the questionnaire perceived it to be much easier to answer all the questions after the views of the respondents of the Pilot project were incorporated. Field work The duration of data collection was between 11th and 22nd of November 2010, when 176 questionnaires were distributed by the six members of the research team. The researchers collected the data from Chinese students by requesting them to fill out the questionnaires on the campus of the University of Leeds. Analytical Methods In this study, a variety of statistical methods were used to analyse the data which had collected from 176 respondents, in order to understand whether the physical factor, social factor and emotional factor significantly relate to iPhone perceptions, whether these three factors combined together and affected iPhone perception, whether there is a relationship between iPhone perceptions and post purchase satisfaction, and whether demographic factor could be considered as a moderator influences on the relationship between iPhone perceptions and post purchase satisfaction according to the conceptual model. The following are the methods adopted: Bi-variate regression analysis was used to calculate whether there was a relationship between the respondents preferences regarding the different factor (independent variable) and their perception of iPhone (dependent variable). This method was also used to test whether there was a relationship between the perception of respondents towards iPhone (independent variable) and the post purchase satisfaction (dependent variable). When measuring the importance of demographic moderating variables affect the satisfaction of iPhone (dependent variable), bi-variate regression analysis was be used as well. Multiple Regression analysis was conducted to analyse the degree of connection between three factors in terms of physical factor, social factor and emotional factor (independent variables) and the perception of iPhone (dependent variable). Results and Hypotheses Testing Profile of the respondents Among the 176 respondents, 63 of them (35.8%) were male while 113 of them (64.2%) were female. 72.7% of total sample are between the age of 20 and 23. Merely 13.1% of the respondents came from families with the family income level of less than RMB 5000 per month. 61.4% of all the respondents studied in Business School. 64.8% of the respondents have postgraduate educational level. The largest percentage of respondents came from East China, accounts for 43.8%, while only 5% of the respondents came from Northeast China. Factors influencing mobile phone choices Factors influencing smartphone preferences According to the questionnaire result, physical factors were the most important factors that influenced peoples purchasing of smartphones, with an average score of 5.77 on the attitudinal scale while social factors were the least important with an average score of 4.65. Among the physical factors that influenced respondents decision of buying smartphone quality was the most important with an average score of 6.21, while price was the least important with 5.17. Among social factors, pursuing fashion was the most important with an average score of 5.10 while group identity was the least important with 4.40. As to the emotional factors, the appearance of the smartphone was the most important in respondents mind with 5.80 average score, while advertisements were of least importance with 4.09. As mentioned about the functions of smartphones, which are part of emotional factors that influencing peoples decision of buying smartphones, the function of browsing the websites was the most attractive with an average score of 5.70 while the function of video was the least important with 4.51. Factors related to iPhones Regarding the iPhone, emotional factors were the most important factors affecting respondents purchasing behaviour with an average score of 5.26, while the social factors were the least important with 4.37. Among the physical factors, most of the respondents agreed with the sentence iPhone has a high quality, with this factor getting the highest score of 5.47. At the same time most of them think iPhone is expensive because the sentence iPhone has a reasonable price only registered the average score of 3.72. Within the social factors a majority of the respondents believed iPhone to be a symbol of fashion with the score of 5.65, while few people wanted to buy an iPhone just because their friends or family have one, this factor recording only 3.28. Among emotional factors, iPhone has a good design of appearance was the most agreeable sentence with the score of 5.61, and the sentence The advertisements of iPhone are attractive the least with an average score of 4.79. As to functions, included in emotional factors which influence peoples purchasing decisions regarding the iPhone, the availability of applications through which you can go over websites like Facebook or Youtube was the most attractive with a score of 5.91, while

Harper Lees To Kill a Mockingbird Essay -- Harper Lee Kill Mockingbir

Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird "To Kill a Mocking Bird" by Harper Lee was published in 1960 and was adapted into a play by Christopher Sergal and published in 1980. It tells the story of a court case when a black man gets accused of raping a white woman. The black man, Tom Robinson is defended by the a lawyer called Atticus Finch. Atticus is one of the few people in Maycome who have a bit of money an can read and write very well. The inevitable outcome of the case was that the Black man was sentenced to death. The play is set in 1935 during the Great Depression and in times of Poverty and Unemployment. Maycome is a rural farming community and the Great Depression has hit them hard. The law is very unfair to Blacks because they issue different sentences to White people then to Black people. For example in a court case that court would be made up of all white men. The community is divided as well because all Black services are separate from White services. E.G. Education, money, churches, funerals, graveyards, medical services. However poor a White person is, a Black person would always be lower than the poor white person in the social scale. In the Deep South a man was expected to do manly jobs like Hunting, Carpentry, Farrier and a Blacksmith. Atticus is seamed to different than the other men because he is a lawyer and reads books, unlike most of the other men who do the jobs described above. The Deep South came to be like this because of the slavery White people enforced on the Blacks. In 1619 the first black people were brought to America and then in 1661, Virginia legalised slavery, along with lots of other Deep South states. 35-40 million Blacks were brought to be slaves over 300 years, o... ... up, knowing what Atticus has proved and said damn you ta..." because and every one else knows that it was Bob who hit Mayella because he is left handed. To prove this even more Atticus reminds the court that Bob signed that piece of paper with his left and that Tom took his oath with his only good hand - his right. The next part of Atticus' summing up says about the views of the people in the Deep South, saying about people thinking that all Negroes are bad and all Negroes lie but they all don't and all races lie and are bad sometimes and not just the blacks. "To kill a mockingbird" is a prime example of what life was like during the Great Depression in the Deep South, full of discrimination and social scales determining what people were like and how they would act. I think the story is a very good because of how it describes life during that period.

Emotions And Decision Making Essay -- essays research papers

A recently published article seems to lend new information as to the way in which emotions influence our decision-making process. While emotions and reasoning are considered inherently separate by some, new experiments are challenging that perception. A series of studies done by experimental psychologists now show us that emotion plays a very natural role in decision-making situations. The experiments, ranging in type from neuroimaging to simple classical conditioning, suggest that emotions can affect everything from simple judgments of other people to severe behavioral disabilities seen for example in sociopathic individuals. Emotion is now acknowledged as possibly the most basic of human operations and the basis for personal judgments. Fear especially has been studied extensively and is proving to be a very unconscious and automatic cognitive reaction. One fear-related study was conducted using simple classical conditioning: subjects were shown a picture of a person exhibiting stereotypical properties along with a frown used to convey a feeling of social threat (Mineka, 2002). Once the subjects were adequately conditioned, simply seeing that type of person would cause an increase in heart rate, suggesting fear, as well as provoke responses attributed to anger. The experimenters used these findings to infer that social fears are easily instilled in people simply because they for some reason have a negative image of them implanted in their head. Extensive studies of the rela...

Professional Sports Teams Move - Cities Fight To Keep Them Essay

Professional Sports Teams Move - Cities Fight To Keep Them   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Professional sports, like most of our popular culture, can be understood only partly by through its exiting plays and tremendous athletes. Baseball and football most of all are not only games anymore but also hardcore businesses. As businesses, sports leagues can be as conniving, deceitful, and manipulative as any other businesses in the world. No matter what the circumstances are, it seems that Politicians are always some how right around the corner from the world of sports. These Politicians look to exploit both the cultural and the economic dimensions of the sports for their own purposes. This is what is known in the sports industry as â€Å"playing the field†.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the last decade, almost all the big cities in the United States, and a few small cities as well, have battled with each other for the right to host big league franchises. Cities spend hundreds of millions of dollars to build new stadiums and offer enticements to private franchise owners. Politicians often push for stadiums and other favors to teams despite not having support from neighborhoods and general opposition across the whole city, especially where these high dollar stadiums would be built.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Some of the most prolific franchises in sports, like the Oakland Raiders and Baltimore Colts of the National Football League, have moved to other cities breaking off their loyalty to the hometown fans. More important than the actual moves are the more frequent threatened moves. When teams â€Å"play the field† and explore the option of playing in other cities they are able to lure interested cities into giving them just about any royalty they want. New stadiums are only the beginning. The willingness to threaten departure has secured for teams a variety of land deals, lower taxes, more revenues from parking and concessions, control of stadium operations, guaranteed ticket sales, renovation of stadiums with luxury seating, control over neighborhoods and transportation systems, and that’s only the beginning of the list.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Franchises are able to control their own destinies and have major advantages over city officials. This is what as known in the sports industry as the â€Å"uneven playing field†. City officials react to the offensive stra... ...s left Baltimore to play in Indianapolis, where they haven’t had a championship season since they left.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ironically, the Cleveland Browns of the NFL who were a playoff caliber team every year, who had loyal fans and good attendance, lost their team to the city of Baltimore. Owner Art Modell moved his Cleveland Browns team to the city of Baltimore, with the promise of a cost free state of the art stadium, built by tax payers, and a larger market for their team to play in. The city of Baltimore welcomed the team wholeheartedly, after going through the same loss of a team, the Colts. The team is know called the Baltimore Ravens and play in a beautiful stadium complex in downtown Baltimore, Maryland. They have great fan support and Baltimore is once again a football town. The city of Cleveland on the other hand has been in shock after losing a team they loved and supported and are not very fond of Art Modell. The city of Cleveland will once again become a football town, with the expansion Cleveland Browns preparing for their inaugural season, beginning in the fall 1999. The city is once again very excited about the NFL and the â€Å"Dog Pound† will live again.

How Does You Race, Religion, Nationality, Gender and Culture Define You? Essay

If we were stripped of our day-to-day activities, would you just wander around aimlessly, or would you default to the things that have been ingrained into our brains since we were little? What defines you? It could be your job, the fact that you are an A star student, a parent, or maybe it could be the things you love like your car or your impressive record collection. The problem is, what happens when you lose it? Lose your job, your kids grow up and move out, then what? When you define who you are with what you do for a living or the objects you own, it’s temporary. Identity is fragile. For me, my race, religion, nationality, gender and culture define me. No one can tell you that you are not something you are; that is to say, the things that define who we are cannot simply be taken away because we do not meet their expectations. People’s expectations say more about them than it does you. I am Chinese. But I am not from China. Skin colour is only skin deep. The genes for skin colour have nothing to do with athletic ability, musical talent or forms of intelligence. Unfortunately in Malaysia today, almost everything is race-based, which makes me feel unhappy. Race isn’t biological, but racism is still real. Race is a powerful social idea that gives people different access to opportunities and resources. The government and social institutions in Malaysia have created advantages that disproportionately channel wealth, power and resources to ‘bumiputras’, the Malay and indigenous people, which make up roughly 61.4 percent of the total population. For instance, in my cousin’s school there are quotas on how many Malay, Chinese and Indian students are to become prefects. The idea shocked and angered me further when I found out that out of the twenty positions, only three Chinese students are allowed to become prefects, whereas twelve positions are reserved for Malay students and the remaining five for Indians. She goes to a government school, undoubtedly. I feel grateful because I study in an international school, which does not follow such principles. Race-based quotas, a highly politicized and controversial issue, exists in university admissions also. I am also a Buddhist. But not a strict one. My immediate family does not have a prayer room or even an altar. Usually, Buddhists pray to specific gods or deities and give offerings as a daily routine in hopes of getting what they hope for, or sometimes doing something in return. Some Buddhists do not eat beef because they pray to the Goddess of Mercy, who regards the bull as a sacred animal. To my family and I, Buddhism is not about what you put into your mouth, but rather what comes from your mind and heart. As far as I know, a person who claims to be a Buddhist and does not consume beef can also indulge in unnecessary many other things, most of which are not abiding to the true teachings of Buddhism. We do, occasionally, visit the temple for blessings. We go to the temple in Ipoh, where my aunty and cousins live. The temple is very smoky but we endure it and kneel down in front of the idols of the gods and deities to pray, asking usually for good results, to be in the pink of health and generally good wealth. After that, we stick a few joss sticks into a metal bowl. Sometimes, my parents, with the assistance of a temple monk will use a slipper to hit a charm with the name of whomever they think might be preventing business deals to fall through or cursing them, in some way. Sometimes I do not believe in such things actually working, but I think my parents do it because it might somehow alter their luck. My father is, or rather was, a Christian. He went to church every Sunday when he was younger. His sister married a priest and they are very conservative. I am lucky in the sense that my father does not take religion to the extent that we are forbidden to say phrases such as ‘Oh my god’ or ‘God knows’, like his sister. I am very certain that her own children say that. This is not something she can control because we live in a different age now and the world is constantly changing. I think she should adapt to the current culture, or risk being seen as old-fashioned and not open minded. Back to my father, now he considers himself a Buddhist. He no longer goes to church and goes to the temple, with the rest of my family. I do pray, but rarely, sometimes when I am in desperate need of something, although not to any particular god, in hopes of the god wherever he or she may be, hearing my prayers and fulfilling them. I believe in karma too. When something bad happens, I tell myself that it happens for a reason. Maybe because something good is on its way, or because the Supreme Being is punishing me for something I did previously. I think of it as a balance of nature, because nobody can have it all. I have been to church when I was younger, not because my parents made me but because my friends went. It was quite fun while it lasted. Many activities were conducted during Sunday school, as they called it. Such activities were singing, playing games, drawing and reciting bible verses. Admittedly, I sometimes believe in Greek gods. I find it ‘cool’ because they are special. Maybe I find them so interesting because these beings are publicized and are often said to have mythical powers and go on quests and such in the movies and books. All in all, I think that I might be still finding myse lf in the religion department. But for now, I’ll still consider myself a Buddhist. Seeing as my name is Samantha, I am unmistakably female. Some people may call me girly or feminine but I think I can be tough if I want to. I am not generally a loud person, unlike my close friends. They are treated like boys by other boys. I’m not saying that I don’t accept that, but I think I prefer being treated like a girl. I do not mind gender stereotypes because for the most part, they are true. Gender is defined for us at birth, but how much you become like the gender is down to how much you choose to follow it. I am strongly against anti-gay and anti-homosexual beliefs though. I trust that many people in my generation accept that culture and do not discriminate lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals. There was a recent case of a Muslim gay man in Malaysia says he fears for his safety after speaking about his sexuality in an internet video that attracted online death threats and accusations by religious authorities that he is insulting Islam. I get angry after hearing news of the government acting irrationally towards these individuals. However, the government insists that this comes under the Islamic Law and such acts are a disgrace to their religion. I, myself would like to participate in rallies against anti-LGBT activists next time. Being a Malaysian does not affect me in any way. I do sometimes feel embarrassed by what our country has done in the past. Petty issues are often made big and raise eyebrows around the world. I do not want our country to be famous for its many controversies. Politics is also another factor because many politicians have become corrupt and greedy for money and power. They abuse their power for their own benefit and end up in scandals, which take even more money to cover up. Last but not least, culture does define me. I, as a Chinese celebrate Chinese New Year with my family every year. It is our tradition to pour and offer tea to our elders. We have yearly gatherings in my relatives’ houses. We gamble and eat, like most families do during that time of the year. Sad to say, our culture is heavily influenced by the Western society. This happens because of our exposure to their culture through television, radio and movies. Fads are spread quickly with the access of the Internet. For some reason, the Americans will always be held with a higher regard than the rest of the world. They consider themselves a global super power and can control everything. Our way of speaking, style of dressing and thinking has become more like the westerners’. In a way, I feel disappointed with the loss of a part of our culture but this change is inevitable. In conclusion, I think that as we grow older, we learn and tend to recognize what defines us more. Our priorities change and, in tandem we change ourselves. We must not be quick to judge because looks are not everything. I think our experiences also play a role in defining who we are. We remember the good as well as the bad si de of things, so every day is one part of our long journey to finding ourselves.

Analysis of Loneliness in Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men Essay

John Steinbeck – the creator of the famous: Of Mice and Men, was born in 1902 in California; near Solidad. His family were quite wealthy, but he was interested in farm labouring, and this is how he materialised most of his stories. He wrote a number of novels about people that were farmers and yearned for better lifestyles including The Grapes of Wrath, which is a touching story about a family’s struggle to escape the dust bowl of the West to reach California. Steinbeck was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1962, six years before his death in 1968. The title of the novel: Of Mice and Men, originates from a poem made by a Scottish poet named; Robert Burn. It comes from the line that says: â€Å"The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men, gang aft agley.† From using a translated version of the poem, I induced that this means: The best-laid plans of mice and men often go askew. People can have enormous dreams, that they continue to plan how to get towards, but things have a way of falling apart and sometimes turning tragic. In my essay, I am going to talk about the main characters in Of Mice and Men, and I will discuss how each of the characters befriends loneliness. Of Mice and Men is one of the spectacular novella’s which was written by John Steinbeck. It is about two men that go travelling together that come across many unworldly experiences. The first of the two men: Lennie Small – a large man – in contrast to his name, has broad shoulders and a large body frame. His companion, George Milton, is quite opposite, he is small and slim. Lennie also has a disability; this is the main reason why the two men go travelling ‘together’. George is the brainpower of the two men and is a man that is just trying to live a normal life and earn a living. The novella starts when Lennie and George are escaping a place called Weed due to Lennie’s liking for touching things that are ‘soft’. Lennie likes the look of a woman’s dress, so feels the necessity to experiment. The woman believes that he is attacking her so she runs away and alerts the lynch mob of the area. Lennie and George are forced into hiding till the lynch mob finally retreats. Then, they decide to start a new life, and so the phenomenal story begins. Two migrant workers: Lennie Small and George Milton, come to a ranch in Soledad to â€Å"work up a stake†. They hope one day to fulfil their shared dream of settling down on their own land. Lennie’s part of the dream is never forgotten throughout the short novel – which is to have soft rabbits that he can tend. The quick-witted George thinks of a great plan if there is a repeat of what happened at Weed. He tells Lennie that he will not get to â€Å"tend the rabbits† if he gets into any trouble. The threat helps prolong the time that they get to work on the ranch. When they finally reach the ranch, their dream appears to become possible. Candy, the aged, one-handed ranch-hand, employs the idea that he can pitch in with George and Lennie so that they can buy their dream land by the end of the month. The dream is dismantled when George kills the attractive, wife of Curley, the ranch owner’s son, while trying to stroke her hair. A lynch mob led by Curley gathers. George decides to be practical and decides to spare Lennie from a painful death at the hands of the evil, antagonizing Curley, and his crew. George shoots Lennie in the back of this head before the mob can locate where they are. The shot comes while Lennie is distracted by one last retelling of the dream. At the beginning of the text, a sense of loneliness is emitted by John Steinbeck. He describes one of the men – George – to be walking in front of the other. After having been dropped off at the wrong destination, George and Lennie decide to walk the last few miles to the ranch. Steinbeck’s description of the way they walk inevitably shows the status of both men. Even without knowing that Lennie has a disability, we are notified that one of the men is superior to the other. George seems to have a higher profile to that of Lennie because George is walking in front of Lennie; steering Lennie’s movement. Lennie is walking behind George even though the place they are currently trudging is â€Å"open†. He appears to need a leader in order to arrive at a place successfully. This is a very extraordinary quality – although the path is wide enough for the two men to walk, one chooses to be guided by the other. The irony of this situation is that Lennie and George are together – yet are profoundly lonely. Lennie shows he needs creature comforts to aid his loneliness. When Lennie and George are walking towards the ranch, they stop to discuss what Lennie has taken from his side pocket. George is intrigued by this mysterious object and says, â€Å"What’d you take outta that pocket?† Lennie replies saying he has nothing in his pocket. He is afraid of losing his only solution to overcoming loneliness. Lennie does not have the ability to engage in discussions with people, so finds another way to entertain him self and finds an animal for a replacement. With animal company, he feels that he is happy and content. Lennie does not want to lose his only diversion for loneliness on account of George’s worries. Lennie’s loneliness is apparent when he starts to copy the actions of his fellow comrade, George. John Steinbeck writes: â€Å"Lennie, who had been watching, imitated George exactly. He pushed himself back drew up his knees, embraced them, looked over to George to see whether he had it just right. He pulled his hat down a little more over his eyes, the way George’s hat was.† The two men stop by a river bank to quench their thirst. Lennie, the bigger of the two men, can not think for him self, because of his disability, so takes to copying his friend to show him how to do things. This is an indicator that Lennie does not really have a personality, he is always doing what everyone around him is doing. Therefore, a sense of loneliness is shown through the way Lennie acts. George shows his disappointment in the lifestyle he is currently living. After George tells Lennie instructions on what to do when they get to the ranch, George ponders how his life would be without Lennie. He â€Å"crossed his hands under his head†. This gesture confirms that George is looking up at the sky thinking about something; in this case – life without the â€Å"trouble†. George talks about the possible lifestyle he could have leaded if he never had to worry about Lennie, saying: â€Å"I could get along so easy and so nice if I didn’t have you on my tail.† This suggests that Lennie believes without his companion, he would have lived a ‘normal,’ happy, life, without having anything, or anyone to worry about. If Lennie did not follow George around everywhere like he were George’s â€Å"tail,† George assumes that he might have been able to make something out of his life. George then goes on to say, â€Å"I could live so easy and maybe have a girl.† George repeats the word easy, showing he feels strongly that his standard of living is ultimately never near to easy. He even imagines that he would be in a relationship if he had not chosen to look after Lennie. On the whole, George considers Lennie to be a constraint in his life, and that without this ‘constraint’ he would have lead a better life. John Steinbeck uses animals as well as humans to show loneliness throughout the story. Intelligently, he chooses to use snakes as a form of isolation. Snakes are very good at displaying loneliness because most water snakes are not usually found in groups. So he chose to use a snake for background loneliness, as oppose to the characters. John Steinbeck writes that the water snake, â€Å"slipped along on the pool† and its head was: â€Å"held up like a little periscope.† From this quotation, I can see that Steinbeck was trying to show that the snake might have been looking for company, and so, it perched its head up hopefully, with the intention of finding anything else that was stirring in the lake. It is confirmed that the old swamper has nothing to do in his spear time. When Lennie and George arrive at the ranch, they start talking to a man that has come to greet them. The two newcomers to the ranch are disgusted by the object lying around the bunk house that indicates the ranch has many faults. After noticing a can that is utilized for killing insects, George begins to worry about the health and safety at their new work place. George says indignantly, â€Å"What the hell kind of bed you giving us anyways we don’t want no pants rabbits.† The challenging remark makes the old swamper retaliate immediately because he is given the chance to socialize with new ranch workers, and he feels it is a great opportunity to make new friends. The old swamper states, â€Å"Last guy that had this bed was a black smith – hell of a nice fella and as clean a guy as you want to meet†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The old swamper is lonely and because of this factor, he has found an occasion when people are actually interested in what he has to say. Therefore, to keep them listening to him, he takes upon telling them stories about different people to keep them in range of conversation. The Old swamper starts talking about all of the men on the ranch. This shows he has been lonely for quite a while and so has not had the chance to gossip about all the men and their lifestyles. Now he has people to talk to that are not associated with the ranch, he uses them to discuss all of the workers on the ranch because he feels he wants to get it off his mind so that he can relax. (He is fit to burst with useless information that he never got to tell anyone). When Lennie and George go to meet the boss and hand him their work slips, Lennie clearly feels left out because he has made a pact that he is not going to engage in any conversation with the boss since he will only spoil things for the two hard workers. George emphasizes that his friend is: â€Å"as strong as a bull.† Lennie feels it is appropriate for him to produce a smile and proudly repeats; â€Å"strong as a bull.† After saying this, he is warned by George. Steinbeck writes: â€Å"George scowled at him, and Lennie dropped his head at having forgotten.† Due to Lennie’s disability he is made to be left out in some situations. This is a very good example; George tells Lennie that he must not talk whilst they are in the mist of talking about their job status, and because Lennie was being commanded by George he feels he has to obey him. In obeying his close friend, (George) he has to be isolated from any conversations that include the Boss of the ranch. The old man with a dog is accused of listening to George and Lennie’s excited discussion. Panicking, George asks if he has heard anything. The old man replies saying: â€Å"A guy on a ranch don’t never listen nor he don’t ast no questions.† The elderly man examines a crucial point about the ranch workers. From this line, we are given the hint that all the men on the ranch are not aware of socializing. They work on the ranch single handed; working hard to get money to spend it foolishly or use it to buy treasures they have always wanted in their lonely lives to cure them of lonesomeness. After talking about Curley’s family tree, the swamper starts to talk about the relationship between Curley and his wife. The swamper is inexperienced in relationships and feels it is right to talk about this topic, especially because Curley’s is the Boss’s son. He wants to gossip about the Boss’s son to pass time, but also, to explain to his new friends -George and Lennie- that the Boss and his family are not perfect. Curley is the main example of why the family is not very close and idealistic. In other words, the old swamper wants to get the point across that the ranch workers are not the only people on the ranch that have to put up with loneliness, and so the Boss’s family are also human, even though they are richer than the â€Å"ranch hands.† George implanted the idea in Lennie’s head that if he ever does anything inhumane, he is not going to be able to â€Å"tend the rabbits† when they finally get their dream land and house. Every time Lennie does something slightly wrong, he becomes sad, because he has child-like thoughts, he is disheartened sourly by the fact that he will not get access to these soft and ‘happy’ animals. This shows his loneliness is deep within him. Even though he does not always show his depression – due to loneliness, like the other men, the way he reacts to George’s encore of: â€Å"if you get into any kind of trouble, you remember what I told you to do,† shows how desperate Lennie is to â€Å"tend the rabbits† – to keep him sane! Slim, the ‘prince’ of the ranch, describes George and Lennie as, â€Å"kinda funny.† This demonstrates that the men on the ranch do not really know how it is like to have a travelling companion. Slim declares that, â€Å"Hardly none of the guys travel together.† The isolation is clear because if none of the men are seen traveling with company, this means that none of the men have ever had a real friendship. However, George and Lennie are different – because they travel together, they stand out and defy the normal â€Å"ranch hands† behavior. George is forced to play solitaire to overcome boredom. The way in which this expresses loneliness is that George is playing a card game that is made for one person only. This shows his isolation from other’s company. The loneliness of Carlson makes him become selfish, as he resorts to killing Candy’s old dog. He does not like the idea of anyone having a companion, so makes the excuse that the dog is causing too much catastrophe by just existing. He says he does not know â€Å"nothing that stinks bad as an old dog.† The way he comprehends this sentence suggests that Carlson does not really mind about the smell coming from the dog because he is categorizing all dogs. This indicates that he feels dogs in general smell; technically, he is not really pin-pointing the idea that Candy’s dog is causing him grief. Therefore, Carlson is only killing the dog because he does not want anyone to have a companion, or he is mercy-killing the dog due to the suffering that the dog might be enduring. In this frame of mind, he might only want to kill the dog to save Candy from the grief when the dog dies naturally. As a result of the killing of the dog, Carlson achieves totalizing the loneliness surrounding the ranch workers. George illustrates how the ranch workers live their ‘normal’ day-to-day lives. He states, â€Å"I seen the guys that go around on the ranches alone. That ain’t no good. They don’ have no fun. After a long time they get mean. They get wantin’ to fight all the time.† From this quotation, we are painted a clear image of how the ranch workers live. The loneliness in the ranch goes around the workers, making them all aggressive and angry. The seclusion of the way the â€Å"ranch hands† live turns all the men bitter and this is how fights break out. All the men walk around the ranch gloomy and bored, so they start fights to pass time, and beat boredom. George confronts Lennie about separating the puppy from his mother saying: â€Å"take this pup back to the nest. He’s gotta sleep with his mother.† Lennie always needs comfort and closure and gets this from animals. He was brought up by his aunt Clara, but she soon died. Because Lennie’s mother abandoned him as a young child, Lennie does not understand why the puppy needs to be with its mother. He does not understand the motherly bond that a child and mother have, or that a puppy and its mother have. We are first fully introduced to Candy when he is questioned about the preference of his â€Å"ancient dog†. Carlson tells him that it is about time that the dog is killed, for his own good, and for the sake of the ranch workers. Carlson is starting to get annoyed by the smell of the old dog, so insists that the dog must be killed on the day. Carlson confronts Candy saying, â€Å"why’n’t you shoot him, Candy?† Without having to think of a come back, Candy immediately retorts saying, â€Å"Well-hell! I had him so long. Had him since he was a pup.† Candy has had his dog since the dog was a puppy, and also mentions that the dog is almost like family; this shows his loyalty and dedication to the mammal. The dog has become his only friend since he has had it for a long time. Candy’s only continuous friend is his dog. When Carlson shows were the shot of the gun will be directed, Candy replies again, without thinking saying, â€Å"No, I couldn’ do that. I had ‘im too long.† Because Candy has had his dog for a lengthy time, he feels that it is hard for his only friend go. He has become emotionally involved with the dog – the dog is a part of him. This is why he is so reluctant to letting the dog go. A while after Candy’s dog is taken away from him to get slaughtered. Candy, even though he does not know George and Lennie, wants to collaborate to get the hose. He would rather buy land with people that he does not know, than go back to living his life suffering from the illness known to many of the ranch hands as – loneliness. After Candy has finished mourning the death of his old dog, he starts to listen to George and Lennie’s discussion about the land they want to buy. He realizes he is not of any additional help to the ranch, and thinks it is time for him to find another location to live a life that is relaxing and that does not consist of too much laborious work. Hopefully, Candy suggests, â€Å"S’pose I went in with you guys.† He believes he has a chance to get away from the ranch, and grabs it at all corners. Candy decides there is nothing left for him at the ranch and it is his time to leave; knowing he will have a better life living elsewhere. The irony of the situation is that in the end of the story, George ends up killing his partner that was supposed to be getting the shared dream house and land. Candy might have therefore, filled the spot of Lennie, even though the bond would not be as good as the bond of Lennie and George. Whitt is introduced when he is talking about a magazine that he purchases; he explains, â€Å"I think your mag is the best dime’s worth I ever spent.† Whitt talks about a person called Bill that worked on the ranch previously. Whitt is lonely and is deduced to gossiping about other people to relieve his boredom. Because of the rarity of friendship on the ranch, Whitt wants to keep the magazine to hold on to his old friend – Bill. He feels he has companionship because his friend’s letter was published in a letter and he was the only person that talked to Bill about the letter before it did not even exist in the eyes of the public. Curley’s wife likes to draw attention to her self in order to get company to socialize. She comes into the bunk house â€Å"fully made up† and wearing red nail polish, asking about her husband. She looks like this because she wants to grab the interest of the men, thus getting their full awareness and successfully managing to converse. Her husband Curley does not talk to her because they are both always looking for each other. So Curley’s wife needs to find other people to talk to. Throughout the story, Curley’s wife is never given a real name; she is always referred to as Curley’s wife. She has become a possession of Curley. They suffer from the same loneliness because they both married into a loveless marriage. We are notified that Curley’s wife wanted to be an actress in Hollywood, but when she never receives the phone call to admit her, she marries Curley. This shows that she did not really want to marry Curley, but she felt it was right to marry Curley because she needed someone to care for her because she could not have the job that she wanted. Crooks is a â€Å"busybody† because he feels it is his job to inform Slim on the whereabouts of Lennie. He states, â€Å"That big new guy’s messin’ around your pups out in the barn.† Then he goes on to explain what Lennie was doing with them: â€Å"He’s takin’ em outta the nest and handlin’ them.† The ranch workers gossip because this is the only way that they can communicate. To relieve their unhappiness and loneliness they are forced to pay for company. The boss’s son, Curley, appears to be the loneliest person on the ranch. After coming from one of his detours, Curley is subjected to finding his ‘other half.’ When Curley is looking for his wife, he has to turn to the workers for advice. He says, â€Å"You seen a girl around here?† demanding an answer from the men. When he says this, he ensures he gets a quick response with no unnecessary information. Instead of greeting the men warmly, and then introducing his query, he gets straight to the point, requesting a valid answer. Curley does not have much experience talking to people since he is always either in town or looking for his ‘wife.’ Another factor that could be the answer to why Curley is always aggressive towards any human company is that he has turned bitter because he is lonely. Although he has a wife, she is never around for him to talk to her – so his socializing skills are limited. To add to this, Curley might have had a lon ely childhood because he grew up on the ranch and did not have the opportunity to play and talk with someone his age – all of the ranch workers are adults. As a result of this, Curley turned out to be an outspoken, patronizing adult. Crooks finally gets his chance to emit all the emotions he is feeling. When he receives this opportunity, we begin to realize the extent of his loneliness. Lennie is bored because all the other workers have gone to town, and he has no one to talk to so he decides to visit his puppy in the barn. Instead, he meets the stable buck – Crooks. They start to talk and Crooks says, â€Å"There wasn’t another colored family for miles around.† From this quotation, we get to look into how Crooks feels; vulnerable and singled out. This also shows how he feels at the ranch; because he is the only black person on the ranch he feels different, almost an outcast. He then goes on to talk about his status on the ranch, saying: â€Å"This is just a nigger talkin’, an’ a busted-back nigger. So it don’t mean nothing, see?† Crooks believes that because he has a disability, this is another reason why the men on the ranch are not likely to want to talk to him. He feels like he does not exist because a lot of people take no notice of what he says. He does not have anyone to talk to. For being alone, Crooks could leave his things about and being a stable buck and a cripple, his actions are not arguable. Crooks is separated from everyone so he believes none of the men take notice of him. He mentions that he is the only black person for miles, because of this, he feels vulnerable and singled out. When Crooks is talking to Lennie, he tries to make Lennie see his life from his perspective. Lennie has gone into the barn to see his puppy because all of the other men have gone into town. Instead of seeing the puppy, he meets the stable buck – Crooks. He has finally managed to get to talk to a person and have a full conversation; so uses this opportunity to let someone else feel the hurt and loneliness that he has had to endure for most of his life. Crooks states, â€Å"Well, s’pose he don’t come back. What’ll you do then?† Crooks feels isolated and because of this, he wants one person to try and even image the loneliness that he has to suffer each day. Lennie retreats to the place George told him to go if ever he got in trouble – â€Å"the brush.† He starts to hallucinate; seeing his aunt Clara. Lennie turns immediately at the sound of any company. Due to his loneliness, he wants a companion, so he seeks comfort and manages to conjure up a hallucinated version of his Aunt Clara. John Steinbeck cleverly makes the illusion speak with Lennie’s voice. I believe the image was Lennie’s conscious, making excuses for why Lennie is going to be killed by George in the future; but because of Lennie’s mental incapability’s, he does not receive this warning in time. Lennie needs constant reassurance from George that their lives will be better when they buy their own place to live. So tells George to recite their dream, showing he always wants to look at the bright side because his life is miserable. Lennie is near a pool waiting for George to arrive, so that the two men can flee to another ‘ranch’. Then, George arrives disheartened and Lennie says immediately, â€Å"Tell me like you done before.† Then George replies reluctantly, â€Å"Tell you what?† Lennie then says, â€Å"Bout the other guys an’ about us.† Then George starts to describe â€Å"how it’s gonna be.† George does not want Lennie to feel lonely when he dies so tells him to look across the forest, to make sure Lennie is not aware of the situation – and that his only companion dies peacefully. George shoots, and after, he feels very sad for killing Lennie, although does not feel regretful. His future now looks bleak, in term s of companionship. I believe the loneliest person on the ranch is the Boss. He is the character that gives orders to all of the workers around and just gets money coming in for doing practically no work. In accordance to this, he probably does not have much entertainment at home because he does not need to work for his money, because he is fortunate enough to have bought the ranch. The only time that we hear about the boss is when he is accepting George and Lennie’s work slips. This promotes the idea that the Boss is not very included in the society of the ranch, and is therefore, more prone to getting lonely than the other men on the ranch. The workers can talk to other workers whilst they are keeping themselves busy working to make money. The boss is a typical leader that receives money for just having the title: ‘Boss’. Furthermore, there is no mention of the boss having a wife in the book, so the only relative family that he has is Curley. This makes matters worse for the boss b ecause Curley is always in town or looking for his wife. So explains why the Boss deserves the title: â€Å"loneliest being.†