David Alfaro Siqueiros: The Activist Artist Essay

David Alfaro Siqueiros was a social realist painter known for his large murals in fresco. He was born in Chihuahua City in 1896 and by age fifteen David was already involved in artistic studies and political activism. Siqueiros was involved in direct political action more than most other artists. He was a sophisticated political ideologist who was involved in the political conflicts of the Mexican Revolution serving as a protestor, demonstrator, soldier and leader of an assassination squad. The type of art he produces are murals; he believed art should be public, educational, and ideological. He went probably the furthest of all the muralists in his attempts to combine his political views and aesthetic ideals with modern technical means to create a truly â€Å"public art†. Siqueiros was an activist in many different ways, controversy lies in his work, and he has many meanings of his work. In 1911 Siqueiros led a student strike at San Carlos Academy, one designed to force changes in teaching methods, this strike lasted six months and ended in complete victory for students. Through his fellows, he soon became familiar with communist and anarchist writings, embittering him further against the upper middle class to which he himself belonged. Following that in 1913 he joined the anti-Huerta Constitutionalist movement and contributed to its newspaper, La Vanguardia. After serving four years as an active combatant during the Revolution, he attained the rank of a captain. Siqueiros than organized a group called Congress of Soldier Artists in 1918. He then published a magazine called Vida Americana in 1921. These play the roles of him being an activist because he is reporting his issues. In 1924, Siqueiros finished work on The Burial of the Martyred Worker, also in the National Preparatory School, taking the bold step of painting a hammer-and-sickle on the coffin. This provoked outrage on the part of the students at the School, then, as prior to the Revolution, representing the conservative element in society. There were several clashes, and the muralists took to carrying firearms to defend themselves. At one point, a battalion of Yaqui Indians, all devout supporters of the Revolution marched into the school to defend the murals. A short while later, the artists received a major blow when Vasconcelos resigned from his post as Minister of Public Education. Quite soon, the government issued an ultimatum; either the painters had to abandon their Union, or they would be fired from the government payroll. The painters refused. When Diego Rivera adopted a more conciliatory tone, they voted to expel him from the Union. As a result, within a short period of time, he was the only muralist still allowed to work. In response, Siqueiros turned to political activism. Leaving Mexico City, he traveled to the state of Jalisco, where he helped organize trade unions for the silver miners there. He was so successful that by 1927 he was head of the United Syndicate Confederation of Mexico, a national trade union organization that brought together miners, peasants, factory and railroad workers, school teachers and other professional groups. He quickly was harassed and detained several times by the police.

Personality psychology Essay

The person I am choosing to describe is my best friend, Matt Wotring. We first started talking near the end of July of last year, but didn’t really become friends until we hung out at a mutual friend’s birthday party at the beginning of October. Over the course of the past year, he and I have continued to grow closer and spend as much time together as possible. He has one of those charismatic personalities that is hard to find in the present world. He is very close with all of his family – and believe me, he has a lot of family living nearby – and is probably closer with his cousins than he is with any of his friends. He is currently a senior a Calvary Christian Academy and plans on continuing his education at Frostburg State University, majoring in Computer Science. One thing that I’ve always admired about Matt is his perseverance. Even though his father died when he was only four years old, and the person he calls â€Å"Dad† now is merely a step-father, he still continues to always look on the bright side of things. Many people that go through something like that become depressed and withdrawn, or just never really recover fully. But because of Matt’s cheery disposition, you would’ve never known he’d ever gone through so much at such a young age. Even today, he has this uncanny ability to let things roll off his back and keep smiling – a character trait I’ve always thought highly of, but was never able to adapt in my own life. Matt is a fairly tall person – somewhere between 5’10† and 5’11† – so it’s always a challenge for me to give him a hug. His black hair is almost always disheveled, and he generally keeps it cut short due to the dress code policy at his school. During the summer, however, he grows it out longer and shaggy. Although he’ll sometimes have a 5’oclock shadow, he never purposely lets any facial hair grow. He has beautiful eyes that are dark brown around the pupils but become lighter as they move toward the edges of the iris, and have specks of darker brown in them. He has an amazing smile – in addition to having sparkling white teeth, he has one of those warm, inviting smiles that instantly make a person more comfortable around him. He’s pretty self-conscious about his shorter legs and large feet, in addition to his weight. He isn’t what a doctor would classify as â€Å"thin† – to be honest, he’s slight overweight – but I always say, â€Å"The bigger the person, the bigger the heart,† and Matt is no exception. Matt’s lifestyle greatly reflects the Christian upbringing he has received. Not only does he have good morals, but he has a very loving personality as well. He is one of the most caring people I’ve met – he almost always puts the needs and feelings of other people above his own needs and feelings. He won’t hesitate to loan you money, or take your shift at work, or even just to rake your lawn. He is also very generous, both with his time and his money. He always buys his friends video games (or anything else they want), and he will schedule his day around a person if he has to. He is probably one of the nicest people I’ve ever met – even if he has a problem with somebody, he can still face them with a smile, and ignore the urge to say something rude and unnecessary to them. He’s pretty hard working most of the time, and he strives to make every effort his very best – especially on the soccer field. Matt’s number one passion in life (aside from his girlfriend, I’m told) is soccer. He is the main goalie, as well as one of the team captains, of his school’s soccer team, and his passion for the sport is evident in the effort he puts into it, and the look of enjoyment on his face. He is also very intelligent, and teaches me something new almost every day. The most attractive parts of his personality, though, are his remarkable sense of humor and listening abilities. No matter how bad of a day I’ve had, he will always stop what he’s doing to listen to me vent, and then bring a smile to my face again. Matt is honestly someone who I not only look up to, but also try to model my own personality and attitudes after. .++. And, by the way.. I love him very much. 🙂

Hamlet by William Shakespeare Essay

Hamlet is a story by William Shakespeare written in 1599. This story is about Prince Hamlet’s struggles after his father’s death. Hamlet seeks revenge from his uncle for his father’s death. His uncle, Claudius sees Hamlet as a threat to his power, so he attempts to get rid of him. Unfortunately, his plan backfires, and the whole royal family dies, including Hamlet. An animated children’s Disney movie, The Lion King created in 1994, reflects Hamlet. The Lion King starts with a lion cub, Simba, who is learning the responsibilities of a king. Scar, Simba’s uncle has the desire to become the king. In order, to fulfill his dream, Scar kills king Mufasa and blames Simba. Scared and guilty Simba runs away, but returns soon after to take over his responsibility and become king. The Lion King is like a reproduction of the play Hamlet. The stories are similar and different in many ways. Here I have listed a few of many. The Hamlet and The Lion King have a lot in similar. In both of the stories, the uncle is the villain who seeks power. Simba and Hamlet both lose their fathers to what they believe is an unfortunate accident. Both of the main characters seek revenge for their father’s death and eventually kill their uncles. They are both from a royal family and the rightful heir to the throne. The characters are very similar and so is the plot. The queens, Sarabi and Gertrude have little to no power in the kingdom. Scar and Claudius are portrayed as cold and evil. Simba and Hamlet are presented as thoughtful, intelligent and emotional. Although the stories are known to have similarities, they have a lot of differences too. The most prominent difference is that Hamlet dies at the end of Hamlet, whereas the Lion King has a happy ending. Simba marries Nala and has a baby. In the Lion King, Simba is framed for Mufasa’s death so he chooses to run away, however, in Hamlet, Claudius orders Hamlet to go to England. Claudius rules pretty well, he does not ruin the kingdom like Scar. After his father’s death, Simba lives a carefree life for some years, whereas Hamlet is depressed, and on the verge of madness. Also, in Hamlet Polonius is Ophelia’s father, however in the Lion King, Zazu is not related to Nala. The differences are what make the stories unique. Disney recreated Shakespeare’s Hamlet into an animated children’s movie to make it suitable for children. They could have copied all of it, but then kids would not have liked it. The language of Hamlet is difficult to understand, whereas the Lion King uses modern words. Lion King creators did not kill Simba in the end because kids like to see happy endings. Movies created for kids should not be depressing. They put a family feeling in the movie, so more people would watch it and they would make more profit. The Lion King had a moral, like other Disney movies. Here the moral was, you have to learn to step up and keep moving forward, instead of running from your past. In my opinion, both of the stories were quite entertaining and well thought of. Disney did a great job with changing the story. They kept the major similarities but changed Shakespeare’s work into their own words. Hamlet’s tragic ending and The Lion King’s delightful ending make them remarkable. They are stories worth knowing.

Statistical Techniques, Sample, and Data Collection Research Paper

Statistical Techniques, Sample, and Data Collection - Research Paper Example In a quantitative research, the sample refers to a group of people among the population with who the researcher has direct interaction or encounter with as part of the data collection process. The population can therefore be said to be a very large set made up of several people but the sample a subset within the larger set from who data is collected. Reading through reading through the work of Gall, Gall and Borg, one gets the understanding that having a sample is important for several reasons. In the first place, having a sample is very important to ensure that the researcher can have a group of people who can be handled well in relation to the time available for the study. What this means is that when there are so many people to deal with at a time, it may be difficult to perform an in-depth data collection. What is more, sample can be used to ensure that the researcher uses only people with the right form of information that the researcher seeks for the study. After the sample has been developed, a researcher may go ahead to collect data from the respondents or participants within the sample. Performing data collection can be very difficult for researchers and can even impact on the outcome of the study if the right data collection procedure is not selected. With this, Gall, Gall and Borg (2008) noted that there are several data collection procedures which are often defined under the research strategy that the researcher uses. For most quantitative research, the use of survey is used as the most preferred data collection procedure.

Answer qusetion of final exam Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Answer qusetion of final exam - Essay Example xplain why and how the events take place and subsequent pattern of behaviour of man under certain condition involving emotional and metaphysical reaction. The role of brain and conscious and unconscious activities of the mind are seen to be the responsible for the general behaviour of man. The cognitive theory, therefore, defines brain and the mind as two independent entities that work in tandem to produce actions and reactions of man, to an event. Descartes treated body and mind of a man separately. He believed that body is inanimate object that acts only at the behest of the mind. It is also known as Cartesian dualism. He says that one cannot find out the nature of physical things without the participation of ‘intelligence’ which instead of ‘seeing’ judges them do be so. The mind therefore understands and recognizes other objects because of its inherent ability to represent complex structures rather than relying on sensation and imagination (Descartes, 1901). The theory of dualism, though controversial at that time, was much appreciated and even corroborated by the later philosophers. Kim, through his theory of causal closure and overdetermination, has tried to correlate mind and body. The overdetermination hints at causes that might constitute non physical causal effects. It can be explained in the following example. If, one is having headache and takes appropriate medication he will get the relief . But if at the same time, he would rest, process of recovering would be expedited. The need to know the working of mind becomes all the more important because of the fact that all our intentional and non intentional decisions and emotive expressions have a definite voluntary and involuntary actions associated with them. Hence our state of mental causation results in some form of physical actions. In other words, our beliefs and desires are linked with some definite actions that are designed to rearrange the physical aspects of our surrounding through the

Advantages And Disadvantages Of A Corporation Diversifying Essay

Advantages And Disadvantages Of A Corporation Diversifying Internationally - Essay Example Diversification may be used to refer to the variation between businesses within a company. This variation may be by products and/ or services. Diversification meaning varies across businesses, as what stands as diversification in one organization may not have significance in another. Thus, the definition of diversification is subjective. Nonetheless, business diversification may be in the dimension of cost leadership, production of commodity products, new product development, market leadership, strong brand names, high value added products, niche markets served, customers shared, advertisement emphasis, customer service emphasis and product design. Other dimensions may be emphasis on research and development, raw materials used, quality emphasis, distribution networks, company size. International diversification entails diversifying an investment portfolio across diverse geographic regions in order to lessen the overall peril and enhance returns on the portfolio. Corporations embrace international diversification by locating their operations in diverse nations and regions so as to reduce operational and business peril. There are three types of international diversification that is, related diversification, unrelated diversification and single product strategy. ... pany level tactic founded on a multibusiness model with the aim of increasing profitability through the use of common organizational capabilities to augment the performance of all the company’s business units. Firms that pursue this mode of diversification strategy are referred to as conglomerates, implying business organizations that function in numerous diverse industries. Advantages of international diversification Diversification and profit stability The assertions associating diversification on profit stability revolve around the portfolio concept, which holds that investing in diversified stock with non related profits may lower the precariousness of a corporation’s total gains. The idea of portfolio relates to product diversification, which may lower the variance of a company’s total profits. The reason is that the unpredictability of various profit schemes merged is nearly always less than the unpredictability of every profit stream independently, on cond ition that the profit streams are negatively related. Researches establish that product diversifiers actually enjoy higher profits than non diversifiers. The degree of risk reduction through unrelated diversification may exceed that which may be attained through related diversification. The reason is that unrelated diversification could lower industry specific systematic risk because it entails diversification across numerous industries. On the other hand, related diversification may not lower industry specific systematic risk happening within an industry. Industry specific systematic risks are the risks universal to all businesses in a certain industry (Kim, Hwang & Burgers, 1989, p 47). Rugman observed the same view, that geographical diversification through direct overseas investments evens out a

Democratic and Mutilcutural Classroom Research Paper

Democratic and Mutilcutural Classroom - Research Paper Example In a democratic classroom, it was expected that the class members air out their view on the whole idea without fear of contradiction that maybe negatively geared. In which case, the democratic setting was to demonstrate a high-level participation of students with guidance of the teacher when need arises. For diversity, on the other hand, the students interviewed was composed of students from a diverse community outlook basically consisting of blacks, Latina and whites. The cultural diversity required understanding and appreciation of the diversities. Through this research, it was found out that Hook’s theory applied best in getting the students to share ideas thus democracy was highly advocated for. The diversity to some extent was seen to contribute to the lack of democracy in some cases. Introduction This research was carried on a diverse group of students and minor consideration of the staff. The whole process included the visit to the school and observation of the real sit uation. Other methods were also applied which resulted to a result that was analyzed critically and conclusions drawn. This was done with an aid of some philosophical theory ideas from Bell Hook. This theory highly proposed the democratic setting of a classroom to work better for a learning system. Diversity on the other side was viewed as an asset that could help in having a wider understanding of varied cultural views, norms and diversity hence enriching knowledge. Literature review In this subject education, a class to be handled by a teacher can consist of students from different cultural backgrounds; this can potentially form a basis of discrimination against some students. As such, the minors in the population are most likely to fall a victim of the discrimination. On the other hand, according to Thomas (2003) a democratic class may exhibit fairness to most of the students who make a decision in case of any undertakings. These students, therefore, exercise the full freedom of putting what is in their interest. However, the few who may not be for the same idea may not be considered but forced to join the majority (Amy 46). A class exhibiting such a kind of setting whereby there is diverse cultural outlook expression and a majority preference choice, there may be challenges and merits associated with it. To begin with, multicultural classroom is a can be termed to be sensitive hence prompting the students to achieve their potential (Kymlicka 26). This type of class allows the student to have an understanding of their own culture and appreciate the similarities and differences with other perspectives and cultures in the process of their interaction. The well-known components of such a class are influence of culture in a society, components, which are academic in nature and relevant to the various cultural groups, and the communication skills that can be applied effectively across cultures. In such a case, the teacher can give preparations to all the student s so that they may be multicultural competent ii the diverse society. For a democratic classroom, the students and teachers make a decision on what they feel is right to be done (Portelli & Solomon 33). It is more contribution based than authoritative. Various characteristics may be associated with this type of classroom. This may include hand in hand working of the teacher and student to enable students to apply what they learn in their community, application of the learnt points

Strategy and Plans of Operation on the Event of a Government Shutdown Essay

Strategy and Plans of Operation on the Event of a Government Shutdown - Essay Example .. 5 Causes of Federal Shutdown†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 5 Effects of a Federal Shutdown†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 7 Strategies during Federal Shutdown†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦....................... 8 Contingency Plan†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 10 References†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 11 Appendices†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â ‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 12 Abstract Government shutdowns occur when the Congress and the President fail to enact and make law the appropriations bills for the agencies of the government. On this case the opinions of Attorney General Civilleti and the Antideficiency Act take in action wherein the government is prohibited to spend, enter into contracts or other obligations, and provide government service and employees, except for those that are rated essential by the law. This paper will be focusing on the understanding of how the government shutdown occurs, as well as its adverse effects on the federal employees, public, and business institutions that are involved in providing goods and services to the federal government. This paper will also cover strategies and plans that a company can establish in order to anticipate and develop a course act ion plan in the event of a government shutdown. Strategy and Plans of Operation on the Event of a Government Shutdown Government shutdowns are events that can lead to tremendous effects among workers as well as the public. During a government shutdown, the government tends to stop all its services except those who are termed as essential. This leads to thousands of government employees to be furloughed for a certain period of time. In addition, there are also several institutions and business that will suffer the consequences of the shutdown since it will be expected that cash flow will not occur due to non-payment of invoices. Thus, the need of establishing strategies and a contingency plan is crucial for a company to cope up in the occurrence of a government shutdown. Government agencies will cease in the procurement of equipments or service, installation of equipments, and suspend delivery of equipments to these agencies. The closing will cause tremendous losses for the company e specially when a significant part of the market share of the business comprises the government offices. On the event of a Federal shutdown, several government agencies will furlough most of its employees. However, specific institutions will still continually operate on a normal basis. These agencies include police, fire fighting, postal services, armed forces, utilizes, air traffic management, and the penal system. The goal of the strategy and planning of a business company is to be able to pin-point the affected areas during a shutdown and be able to anticipate its effects on the normal operations. It will also be beneficial for the company if it can establish a contingency plan that will cover the overall course of action on the onset of the shutdown. This can be developed with the help of past records and data of occurrences of government shutdow

Can School Vouchers and School Choice Successfully Coexist Research Paper

Can School Vouchers and School Choice Successfully Coexist - Research Paper Example Charter schools are different from school vouchers. Charter schools are subsidized by the government. The government can revoke the charter and halt funding at any time. Voucher programs date back to the early 1900s in Vermont and Maine. The two states wanted to ensure that every child had access to schools, at a time when some children were not located in a school district (CNN). It is only in the 1990s that other localities and states adopted voucher programs and sparked debate (Brown, B. 2002, 287-300). The issues presented by school vouchers have polarized Americans. Many are for vouchers, and many are against vouchers. Few are left in the middle. Proponents of school vouchers make their main case the condition of failing, inner-city schools. Varying in different programs, vouchers are offered to failing students in urban schools. The students have a choice to enrol in another public school or private school. Supporters argue that a majority of voucher recipients are poor minorities. Therefore, these poor, neglected students have a new chance in a school outside the district. In addition to providing better education to these failing students, the push for school integration is renewed (Coulson). Since school integration became the law of the land in 1954, white families have flocked to the suburbs, resulting in separation of the upper classes and lower classes (Epple, D., and Romano, R. 2003). Opponents dispute that this totally undermines public education. Learning by People for the American Way (PFAW) cites that the voucher costs drain money from public schools. This has unenthusiastic effects in its place of keeping the money inside the school budget.  

Food and Culture Report Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Food and Culture Report - Assignment Example The most prominent nutritional ailment is obesity, which has a higher prevalence among African-Americans, as compared to any other group in the United States. These facts have motivated the interest on focusing on this ethnic group’s health habits. Approximate number of people belonging to this group living in the U.S. According to the 2011 U.S Census Bureau estimates, African-Americans number approximately 40 million and account for 14.1 percent of the total population in the United States.1 Traditional Food Habits Core or Staple Foods When African slaves were brought into the United States, they carried along their food practices and styles of cooking. Some of the staple foods they brought along include okra, peanuts, sesame seeds, rice and black-eyed peas. The slaves also learned to prepare the food provided by their masters such as pork, vegetables and cornmeal. They also used molasses as a sweetener in food dishes and drinks such as iced tea. These are still being applied to date. African-Americans also celebrate their cultural holidays through the promotion of unique cooking, characterized by ethnic styles which are sometimes referred to as soul food.2 For instance, fish has always been considered a staple food among the African-Americans. ... Food Preparation Methods and Seasonings Many African-Americans prepare food using a frying or barbecuing method and serve the prepared dishes with heavy sauces and gravy. They also prefer making baked goods from scratch, as opposed to using commercial mixes, which come pre-packaged in a box. Meal Composition and Cycle It is customary for African Americans to consume a lot of food for breakfast. In the morning, they prefer eating grits, sausage, ham and freshly baked biscuits with syrup and butter. Lunch usually consists of bologna, which is eaten in sandwiches. The dinner is normally baked chicken with corn bread, baked ham, green vegetables, rice, candied yams and baked macaroni and cheese. Dessert is comprised of fruit cake and/or apple pie. Foods Associated With Superstitions Most of the superstitions revolve around the consumption of black-eyed peas. If the black-eyed peas are served with greens the food represents money i.e. the peas represent coins while the greens represent no tes.2 If the corn bread is added to the black-eyed peas and greens meal, this represents gold. If eaten with stewed tomatoes, it represents health and wealth. The culture dictates that for one to witness everyday luck, they should eat at least 365 black-eyed peas during New Year’s Eve. Foods Used For Therapeutic Purposes Most contemporary African Americans have become more health conscious and realize the significance of ensuring that their diets contribute to their well-being.3 This has resulted in an increase in the addition of fruits and vegetables in every dish. They have also ventured into healthier and lighter cooking with the traditional fattier foods being left for special holidays and occasions. Foods for Traditional Celebrations

Explain how new products are diffused through a marketplace, and Essay

Explain how new products are diffused through a marketplace, and identify the different groups involved in the process - Essay Example In simpler words, the willingness to buy a product at a particular time is different for different people. The first ever contribution to the field was provided by Everett Rogers in 1962. He defined diffusion as ‘the process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among the members of a social system’. The figure below provides a brief understanding of the diffusion of innovation process curve. This curve categorises people and organisations according to the willingness of the people to buy the product and adoption of the innovations. To further gain a better understanding of the various stages that have been displayed above the following sub sections will deal with the characteristics of the each of the groups. As has been noted in the figure, and as suggested by Roger, the five broad characteristics for each of the categories are as under: a) Innovators: The people who fall under this category are generally very venturesome. The people who fall into this category generally tend to be different and like to have the latest versions of all new products and are willing to be the first to experiment the new products. These people tend to be the younger population of the markets. The general characteristics of these groups are that they are highly educated, with high levels of confidence, and highly affluent financially. The fact that the groups are affluent financially, allows them to be able to test with the products and take chances. Considering the innovators of organisations, generally fall into the companies with better educated management. The reasons for these groups to adopt newer innovations is the fact of their own god track record in introducing newer products to the markets and the need to be updated with the latest in the markets. b) Early Adopters: This is the second group of people in the market. These groups do not tend to be very venturesome like the innovators.

The Psychological And Physical Effects Essay Example for Free

The Psychological And Physical Effects Essay Discuss the psychological and physical effects of loss and grief: How might an ethical therapist incorporate this knowledge into his/her work? Base your answer of the theories and models presented in Module 7. It is a fact of life that every individual will experience loss and grief at some point in their lives but in certain circumstances they may be unaware of it. Loss can come in many disguises from the easily recognisable bereavement, to redundancy, children leaving home, divorce, relocation, disfigurement, chronic illness, miscarriage, loss of a close pet, abortion and others. When a client presents for Counselling, it is vital to be alert for losses, both recent and historical, to check if there are unresolved issues because grief can be easily missed or misinterpreted. Chrysalis (2012) states that there are two ways in which a therapist will encounter the need to work with loss and grief. These are: 1) When a client presents with a recent loss and their goal is to work through the process and understand it, reaching a satisfactory conclusion. 2) When a client presents with other symptoms which you then uncover as being a grief reaction. In this case the person may not recognise that their problems are related to grief or unresolved grief in the past. For the purposes of this assignment, loss and grief will be focus primarily on bereavement. Worden (2009) states â€Å"that the overall goal of grief counselling is to help the survivor adapt to the loss of a loved one and adapt to a new reality without him or her†. He goes on to explain that there must be four adjustments: increasing the reality of the loss, dealing with behavioural pain, and helping the client maintain a bond with the deceased while being comfortable with the new reality. I will now examine the psychological and physical aspects of grief and how a therapist may use grief models and theories in the therapy room and take into consideration social and ethical factors. The Physical and Psychological effects of Grief. Before exploring the theories and models of grief, it is important to be aware of the psychological and physical issues which accompany the grieving process. It is possible indeed common that a client may present for Counselling on an unrelated issue and on closer examination by the  therapist; it becomes apparent that the client is in the grief process, and is in fact stuck at a certain stage in this process, or has failed to grieve in the past. There are feelings, cognitive processes, behaviours and physical symptoms which manifest not only in grief but in other psychological issues. It is the job of the Counsellor to make the link between the presenting issue with the unresolved past grief and loss. Many people will assume that the over-riding feeling associated with grief is sadness and if sadness is not being experienced then the issue is not grief. This is most definitely not the case. There is often a ray of emotions that individuals experience, such as anger, frustration, s ometimes and a sense of relief. This is not uncommon after the deceased has been ill for months or years or if there was a difficult relationship between the deceased and the client. There are several stages to the grief process and each of these stages has distinct range of emotions and feelings. Common feelings surrounding grief are shock, numbness, denial, fear, sense of abandonment, anxiety, anger, guilt, loneliness, pining, relief, tiredness and freedom. The same is true for cognitive processes and behaviours which can be frightening and confusing to the client. They include obsessive thoughts, hallucinations or visions of the deceased, denial that the deceased has died or even sensing that the deceased is in the room with the client. Behaviours can be disturbed sleep, loss or a gain in appetite, forgetfulness, or lack of interest in life, withdrawal from the client’s normal network of friends and family, crying, avoidance, restlessness, a idealisation of the deceased and the treasuring of the deceased objects. The bereaved can also experience a range of physical symptoms which can be disturbing and frightening and may exacerbate any feelings of anxiety being experienced by the client. These can include tightness in the chest, hollowness in the stomach, sensitivity to noise, shortness of breath, increased sighting or yawning, feelings that they are going to collapse, a sense of disconnectedness from others and the external world. In such cases, it is important as a Counsellor that the client is encourage to visit their G.P. if theIR symptoms become serious or a cause for concern. Sometimes clients need reassurance that their symptoms are normal reactions to the grieving process and that the physical symptoms will pass in time. The physical symptoms of grief can mimic depression but there is a difference. Freud believed that in grief the world looks poor and  empty to the client, where’s in depression the person feels poor and empty themselves. The Theories and Models used in Therapy. These have been numerous theories and models proposed by psychologists over the years, these include works by Bowlby, Worden, Murray Parkes and Kubler Ross among others. Bowlby (1907 to 1990) believed that in psychoanalysis the therapist is too interested in fantasy and not sufficiently interested in the present environment and events of the client’s current life. Bowlby tried to understand the human tendency to attach to others. He went on to study the reaction of infants when they are separated from their mother and what occurs when this bond is threatened or broken, (he went on in the 1950’s he published his Attachment Theory). His ideas on separation response could be said to be the underpinning theory of bereavement. Chryslais (2012) explains the three stages of separation response: 1) Protest (related to separation anxiety) 2) Despair (relating to grief and mourning) 3) Detachment or denial (related to defence). The models and theories used by psychologists present grief as a curve and that the grieving process (sometimes expressed as phrases or stages) must be worked through. Worden explains that he chooses to use the word â€Å"tasks† because he finds it more useful for the clinician; phrases or stages imply certain passivity, something that the mourner must pass through. The tasks concept on the other hand, can give the mourner a sense of leverage and hope that there is something that he or she can actively do to adapt to the death of a loved one. As there are a lot of similarities between the theories on grief, I will focus on Worden’s tasks of mourning. He describes four tasks through which the bereaved must work through: 1) To accept the reality of the loss (that the deceased will not return). 2) To process the pain of grief, the pain associated with the grief must be worked through. If there is avoidance or suppression then this will be carried through life to surface at a later date. 3) To adjust to a world without the deceased. This will differ from client to client depending on  the type of loss and what the deceased provided for the bereaved. Parkes (1972), explains, it is seldom clear exactly what is lost. A loss of partner may or may not mean the loss of a sexual partner, companion, accountant, gardener, someone to help with the children; this will obviously depend on the particular roles normally performed by their deceased partner. There are also the financial consequences of losing a partner which can cause a lot of worry and anxiety for the client which also create further change in the client’s lifestyle. 4) To find an enduring connection with the deceased in the midst of embarking on a new life, the Counsellors role is not to help the bereaved give up their relationship with the deceased but to help them find an appropriate place for the person they have lost in their emotional lives, a place that will enable them to go on living effectively in the world. I have discussed already that some people who present for therapy may be unaware that they are experiencing a grief reaction at all. Others, who have suffered a recent loss may not understand the grief process, particularly if this is the first time grief has been experienced. It is appropriate to ask the client this during the therapy, to determine how grief will be handled and whether there is previous grief that is unresolved, which could signify â€Å"complex grief† as being a problem. To help the client understand the grieving process, the grief curve is a visual tool which can be employed in the therapy room and given t o the client to take home with them. The therapist can ask the client if explaining to them about the grieving process would be useful. The curve plots the emotions over the time which the client can expect to experience following bereavement and confirms to the client that the feelings and reactions they are experiencing are entirely normal. The disadvantage of actually showing the client an illustration of the grief curve is that the client may start to put pressure on themselves where they feel they ‘should be at this stage of the grieving process! The curve begins at the time the loss was first experienced and then continues until the point of resolution. That is to say, when Worden’s fourth task has been completed and the mourner is able to reminisce and remember the deceased while forging a new life for themselves. This process does not have a time limit, Chrysalis (2012), explains that the time it takes for a person to complete the process will depend on the situation, the client’s previous ex perience of grief and the environment they are living  in. Worden (2009) states in order to understand how somebody is going to grieve, you need to know if he or she has had previous losses and the circumstances they were grieved. Did they grieve adequately or does the individual bring to the new loss a lack of resolution from a previous loss! The grieving process is not linear and the client is likely to move forwards and backwards through the emotions depicted on the loss curve. This can be very confusing and frustrating for the client, who may believe that they beginning to move forward only to take a backward step. This can be explained to the client as a perfectly normal and expected part of the grieving process and although it may seem frustrating and challenging at times, the overall motion is one towards resolution, even if it is two steps forward and one step back. As previously mentioned the grief curve plots the emotions the client is likely to experience during the process. It can be very useful to ask the name of the emotion that they are feeling in order to bring it to the client’s full awareness. Worden’s first task of mourning is to actualise the loss because the process cannot start without full realisation and confrontation of this fact. He states, the first task is to come to a more complete awareness that the loss actually occurred and the person is dead and will not return. Survivors must accept this reality before they can deal with the emotional impact of the loss. He goes on to say on occasions the Counsellor needs to use language that reminds the client that the deceased has died. This language can help clients with reality issues surrounding the loss and stimulate some of the painful feelings that need to be felt. As can be observed in Appendix 1, the emotions on the curve begin with shock. According to Chrysalis (2012) shock is an emotional defence mechanism which allows the situation to dip slowly into the bereaved awareness in order to protect them from emotional overload. It is a very difficult time and in reality it is not until this stage is over that people usually present for Counselling, unless they have become stuck here. The second stage is separation and pain, during which time there will be periods of very deep darkness and periods of easier times. The client may report dreams and hallucinations of the deceased and exhibit searching behaviours. The next stage is despair, during which the client, may experience many  feelings and emotions to understand. It can be accompanied by depression and lack of concentration or inability to focus on everyday tasks. People in this despair stage may feel unable to function and may say things like â€Å"I can see no way ahead and no way out of this†. Acceptance comes next on the curve and is the beginning of the upward slope towards resolution. Chrysalis (2012) explains that it is important to note that the client will often reach intellectual acceptance before emotional acceptance and can experience mood swings and depressions associated with despair at times. At this point, the client may feel able to begin to adjust to a new life, but may feel guilty and need reassurance and permission from the Counsellor. The final stage is resolution during which time the client will be able to make plans for the future and has found a place for the deceased to be remembered with happiness. The above is a representation of a normal grief process (although it is widely accepted that there is no norm), but there can be obstacles which can complicate the process and this is known as Complex Grief. Clients may have unresolved issues from their past which may be affecting the grieving process or stopping it altogether. This is why the therapist must check for unresolved grief in the past. According to Chrysalis (2012) the factors which should be taken into account are: 1) The nature of the attachment (is there an ambivalent attachment or conflict with the deceased). 2) Method of death (including socially unacceptable deaths such as suicide, violent deaths, missing persons and in other dramatic circumstances). 3) Historical unresolved grief. 4) Personality, how easily does the client assimilate change! 5) Social variables, how is grief handled in the client’s culture or faith! 6) Concurrent stresses (is the bereavement around the same time as other major life stresses such as relationship breakdown, loss of work, a close relative has a chronic ill and the client is the main carer giver, moving house). 7) What support system (friends and family) does the bereaved have! There are four types of complex grief these are: 1) Chronic grief, where the client is unable to find resolution 2) Delayed grief, the client has unresolved grief from the past and a present loss triggers the grieving process. 3) Exaggerated grief, the client may  use maladaptive behaviours such as drugs and alcohol, suffer general chronic anxiety, clinical depression. If a client is struggling to cope with difficult emotions then they may find outlets to help them manage. 4) Masked grief, the client does not link the symptoms to the grieving process. This is why the Counsellor must check when working with a client that their presenting issue is not masking unresolved grief. Ethical Factors It is widely accepted that a Person Centred Counselling approach is required when working with grief. The process cannot be hurried and each person will take their own time to work through the curve. All that may be necessary is the holding of the client and allowing them to work through the process. This means allowing the client to take their own time, to create a safe space for the client to explore their emotions, to reassure the client that what they are feeling is â€Å"normal† and to be a non-judgemental listener. Inventions however, must be carefully planned and only used towards the end of the grieving process when the client is nearing resolution and has the strength to take them on board. It is important to recognise that clients may display displacement activities or using defence mechanisms. In a normal therapeutic session this behaviour would often be challenged but in this instance it is often advisable to continue to support the client without challenging their behaviour, as the client may not have the reserve or strength to confront them at the current time. Conclusion Grief and loss is something that will be experienced by everyone at some point in their lives. Counsellors and psychologists generally agree that grief is a process and generally follows a curve. It can take approximately two years to work through (for someone close to the client) but obviously varies for each individual and this does not include complex grief. A variety of emotions will be experienced by the bereaved. The curve is organic, meaning that the bereaved is likely to move forwards and backwards through these until resolution is reached. The way grief is handled depends on a variety of factors unique to the individual. Grief can be â€Å"normal† or described as â€Å"complex†. Factors associated with complex grief I have mentioned previously in this  assignment, such as the circumstances of the deceased’s death, the importance of the relationship between the deceased and the client, the depth of the attachment between the two, how stressed was the client prior to this loss! Another important factor does the bereaved have the opportunity to express their grief or do they feel pressured to supress their emotions. An example of this, would be a mother who has lost their partner and has dependent children and feels that in order to appear strong, that she must soldier on without the opportunity to express her own emotions around the loss. There are four types of complex grief, chronic, delayed, exaggerated and masked, the therapist must use their skills to determine whether the client who presents for an unrelated issue actually has an unresolved grief issue in their past. Tools can be used in the therapy room to aid the process. These could include asking the client to draw their own grief curve or ask them to write to the deceased. A person centred approach is necessary to give the client space and time to process the loss in safety. Interventions can be kept to minimum unless near resolution and the client has progressed along the grief curve and has the strength to handle them.

Challenges Of Human Resource Information System Information Technology Essay

Challenges Of Human Resource Information System Information Technology Essay In this technological world, a lot of things are run by the most advanced technology. Therefore, those managers are using the latest technology to operate the whole system in the company. By using these latest technology can help the company work more effective and can help keep their company information more safe and secure. It is same as for the Human Resource Information System (HRIS). Human Resource Information System (HRIS) could be count as the latest technology that can help analyze the data necessary for human resource department to do its jobs properly. So, William (2006) say the Human Resource Information System (HRIS) is usually a part of the companys larger Management Information System (MIS) that to help the company to making recruiting, promoting, payroll, employee selection and placement, intake and training projections, career-pathing and productivity evaluation. These information systems help the administrative more effective and produce reports capable of improving decision making. But there are some challenges to make this useful Human Resource Information System cannot work well at all and will make Human Resource Information System work fail. The following are the challenges of Human Resource Information System: Training the users to use HRIS. Cost to purchase and implementation of HRIS. Time to adapt the HRIS. Lack functional expertise in designing. Improper vendor provide illegal copy of HRIS. 4.1 Training the users to use HRIS (by Choo Jun Cheng) The first challenge of company to implementation the Human Resource Information System (HRIS) is ensuring that a HRIS for a company involve one key issue that is have the users that can use this HRIS as well as he/she can said by William (2006). The HRIS could be count as the latest technology to operate to human resource department, but there is not every manager and employees know to use this system well and some of them even do not know what this system is and what this system is for. For this case will make the company face the challenge to use this HRIS to help their human resource department to do its jobs perfectly. This will also cause the company cannot work efficiently, quick access to information and the information will be have risk to stole by other company easily. So, human resource department need to provide training to employee of a company in certain areas and the human resource department must make sure that the employees in the company are properly trained to use t he HRIS well. However, teaching the employees how to use system is not the only component needed and it is also critical to teach the employees know to use the HRIS to locate the answers to solve the human resource questions. This requires the employees who under this training program need to adopt the new mindset of self-service rather than turning the human resources questions to the answers by using the Human Resource Information System (HRIS) and make employees become a part of HRIS. 4.2 Cost to purchase and implementation of HRIS (by Choo Jun Cheng) Next, the one of the most significant challenge facing by the company to run the Human Resource Information System (HRIS) is the cost to purchase and implementation of a Human Resource Information System (HRIS) said by William (2006). If the company is looking the cost to justify a HRIS new system or upgrade one, they will much need new HRIS software. But for the company already have a policy to cost justifying any new technology for their produce and investment and this cause the company facing the lack capital problem to purchase and implementation of HRIS. Besides that, HRIS system represents a large investment decision for company of all sizes to purchase and implementation this HRIS and this will become the challenge that is the lack capital problem facing by the company. Therefore, some company does not want to upgrade their HRIS system to a new one, even some of the company still using the traditional way to operate their human resource department. This situation will lead the company cannot get the benefits from HRIS that is improved accuracy of information, the provision of timely and quick access to information and the saving the costs of human resource. So, having an HRIS system in the company are very important and it can also bring a lot of benefits to the company and help to reengineer the entire Human Resource (HR) function to work more effective and help the human resource department can use full of HRIS advantages and the company can operate properly too. 4.3 Time to adapt the HRIS (by Choo Jun Cheng) Besides that, the challenge facing by the company is the time that employees and managers need to take to adapt the Human Resource Information System (HRIS) said by K. Michele (2006). Although for the company have already send the employees and managers who in certain area of human resource department to training to use the HRIS, but the employees and the managers need to take times to adapt the new system. Even if the employees and managers know how to use the system, it will not serve the company if they cannot perceive any benefits from its use said by K. Michele (2006). Besides that, some employees are not good in using computer, they will take very long time to adapt this new system even they are trained employees. Not only that, by using the Human Resource Information System (HRIS) will help to reengineer the entire Human Resource (HR) function and this also need take time for employees and managers to adapt this system. Some of their companys HRIS system are lack flexibility w ill cause the employees and managers use more time to adapt the system. Even this HRIS need some time for employees and managers to adapt for it but HRIS still can bring a lot of convenient to human resource department and it can help the company can operate properly. 4.4 Lack of functional expertise in designing (by Choo Jun Cheng) The challenge facing by the company is lack of functional expertise in designing of Human Resource Information System (HRIS) said by K. Michele (2006). The HRIS could be count as the latest technology to operate to human resource department to do the job properly, but there are not yet become a flexibility system for operate the department and company need to hire the expert in this HRIS system keep maintain the system in perfect condition. The lack of flexibility of HRIS would have a risk hacking by theft of information, the companys information would easily know by other people. Besides that, the HRIS cannot solve the difficulty situation and sometime the system will solve wrong problem because of the lack of functional expertise in designing of HRIS. But if the company can keep upgrade the functional expertise in designing of HRIS and it can overcome this problem and it can help company operate the human resource department work efficiency. So, the company need to keep maintain th e HRIS system and always make sure the system are at the perfect situation. 4.5 Improper vendor provide illegal copy of HRIS (by Choo Jun Cheng) The last challenge that face by the company is the improper vendor that provide the illegal copy of HRIS said by Pamela (2006). It is because the HRIS is the latest technology for the company to operate the human resource department and implementation HRIS are expensive, so many of company willing to implementation the illegal copy of HRIS because the improper vendor cost the company cheaper than others. The illegal copy of HRIS possible have the virus that always make the system clash down then the company need to ask the improper vendor repair it and improper vendor can keep charge the company repair fees. Besides that, the illegal copy of HRIS possible have the spyware that let the improper vendor have the backdoor that allow the improper vendor can stole the information from the company. So, for every company need to avoid buy the illegal copy from improper vendor. 4.6 Conclusion (by Choo Jun Cheng) In the conclusion, Human Resource Information System (HRIS) plays an important role to operate the company, even the Human Resource Information System (HRIS) are facing many of challenges to use this system in the company. But if we can overcome those challenges and situation to make the HRIS can run perfect inside the company, we can gain a lot of advantages and by using this system can make sure our human resource department can work more effectively and more efficiently. This HRIS system can also help reduce errors, increase efficiency, and reduce costs for the company and this system are very useful and helpful to the company. 4.7 Reference William P. Anthony, K. Michele Kacmar, Pamela L. Perreve (2006) Human Resource Management (Fifth Edition) Thomson, the Star logo, and Custom Publishing, Chapter 4.

Economic Situation Malaysians Attitudes Towards Private Label Brands Marketing Essay

Economic Situation Malaysians Attitudes Towards Private Label Brands Marketing Essay The term of Globalisation is a very common word in business world. Many businessmen are trying hard to market their product to other countries. Globalisation becomes an important issue in the world today and eventually it leads to the increasing number of competitors among retailers by doing trade globally. In order to become an outstanding firm from other retailers, established a competitive advantage is an important criterion for any competitive strategy (Walsh and Mitchell, 2010). Retailers use different methods to achieve competitive advantage. The most important elements of retails branding is private label brands (Glynn and Chen, 2009). According to Levy (2009), it is easy to find out that private label brands available in almost every retail product category and it is one of the competitive strategies that retailers used to achieve competitive advantage. Private label brands have reached another level in the appearance of many products categories such as grocery, household che micals, clothing and cosmetics (Veloutsou et al., 2004). Private label brands can be a crucial component of competitive advantage especially in an economic recession (Walsh and Mitchell, 2010). Economic downturn will lead to the changes in shopping patterns. Private label brands are products that are produced by retailers and sold under the retailers own name through their own retail outlets (Baltas, 1997). Private label brands have grown in many countries and product categories in the last few decades (Connor et al., 1996). According to Lupton et al. (2010), private label brands have established their market in the United Stated and Europe in the past few decades. The consumers tend to perceive private label brands as a substitute or choices to the national brands (Lupton et al., 2010). Private label brands have built their own markets and becoming more popular among the consumers in the world (AC Nielsen, 2006). According to Morris (2002), the most successful retailer has more private label branding strategies and the retailer is normally the stronger firm. Retailers with strong private label brands will have better financial results (Morris, 2002). Malaysia, as a middle income country and one of the most developed in the developing countries, has transformed itself from a producer of raw materials into a multi-sector economy (Economy Watch, 2011). According to Economy Watch (2011), the population of Malaysia is 28.713 Million. In the following year, 2012, population of Malaysia will be 29.20 Million, which is more than the figure in year 2011 (Economy Watch, 2011). The increasing of population in Malaysia will encourage the development of retailing and will boost up the purchasing power of goods. Yelkur (2000) found that the success of private label brands is varied from different nations, such as in the United Kingdom, private label brands have successfully gain a large portion of grocery sales, but in the United States the proportion of purchasing private label brands is relatively low if compare to branded products. Developing countries are being exposed to private label brands and are becoming more aware of their benefits ( Collins and Bone, 2008). According to Collins and Bone (2008), the growth of private label brands in developing countries, such as Malaysia, is still remaining low. Private label brands continue to steadily increase their share in the marketplace. According to A.C. Nielsen (2005), the private label share of refrigerated food is 32%, paper plastic is 31%, frozen food is 25%, cosmetics is 23%, pet food is 21%, health care is 14%, non-Alcoholic beverages is 12%, snack is 9%, personal care is 3% and others. There are few hypermarkets in Malaysia selling their private label product, such as Giant, Carrefour, Tesco and Tesco Extra (A.C. Nielsen, 2010). These hypermarkets provide their private label brands in many product categories. For example, Tesco offers Tesco Finest as their private label brands (Morris, 2004). This Tesco Finest private label brands has include the product category of non-Alcoholic beverages. Morris (2004) mentioned that the strong private label brands in Tesco have became the key elements of Tescos success. Tescos private label brands generate 55% of the total sales in year 2004 (Morris, 2004). Apart than that, even though there is an amount of studies on private label brands, there is no specific research based on the Malaysians attitudes towards private label brands. Nowadays, retailers own brand becomes an alternative of consumers. According to Veloutsou et al. (2004), consumers have their own perception on different brand of products, each of the products has its special features or characteristics and it will affect the purchasing behaviour of consumers. Retailers need to understand what are the main factors affecting Malaysians attitudes towards private label brands in order to attract and convince more customers stick to the own brands (Goldsmith et al., 2010). The factors affecting Malaysians attitudes towards private label brands include consumers perceived benefits (Chaniotakis, 2010), price (Walsh and Mitchell, 2010), social influences (Nelson and McLeod, 2005) and economic situation (Chaniotakis, 2010). In a recent study of private label brands (Richardson et al., 1996), some influences such as economic and psychological factors bring the effect to the purchasing rate of private label brands. Malaysian is a country comprises of many races. The three major races in Malaysia are Malay, Chinese, and Indian. Different culture will cause different people have different perception towards private label brands. This research is focusing on the factors affecting Malaysians attitudes towards private label brands. The factors that will be look into are consumers perceived benefits, price, social influences and economic situation. Last but not least, it can lead us to have a better understanding toward the issue of private label brands in Malaysia. The Background of Study There are a few previous studies that focusing on the topic of private label brands in many countries, such as a scale for measuring attitude towards private label products and examination of its psychological and behavioural correlates (Burton et al., 1998), an investigation of the new generic consumer (Herstein and Tifferet, 2007), consumer behaviour towards own label monitoring the Greek experience (Boutsouki et al., 2008) and consumers perception of generic products a Mexican study (Yelkur, 2000). The definition of attitudes towards private label brands is a predisposition to respond in a positive way to private label brands and the consumer will purchase the private label brands in a more favourable way. (Burton et al., 1998) The Theory of Planned Behaviour (Ajzen, 1991) which focusing on the research of attitude-behaviour consistency can explain the positive attitude of consumers who has good perception towards the brands when they are making their decision on purchase. The rate of adoption of private label brands is not the same in all the nations (Veloutsou et al., 2004). According to A.C. Nielsen (2010), the private label brands are still not famous in all Asian markets, but only Hong Kong having a share above 5%. Private label brands of sales increased in a few countries in year 2009 compared to year 2008, but it still remains less than 5%, except of Hong Kong (A.C. Nielsen, 2010). In a recent study of retail and shopper trends, A.C. Nielsen (2010) mentioned that Malaysia has only a share of 2.3% in private label brands, Singapore has only a share of 2.8% and Thailand has a share of 1.8%. The growing of private label brands in Asian markets has to depend on how much the retailers are willing to invest in the private label brands. Retailers have to focus on the development of products and also the quality of products in order to gain a better position in the current market (A.C. Nielsen, 2010). According to the Private Label Manufacturers Association (2010), it showed that 91% of the respondents will still buying private label brands after the economic downturn and they believe that the private label brands are just good and same quality with the branded products. The promotion and packaging of the private label brands is often similar to the branded products (Putsis and Dhar, 2001). Problem Statement According to Hernon and Metoyer-Duran (1993), problem statement must be precise and it contains the need for the study. The problem statement for this research is the factor that will affect Malaysians attitudes on buying branded products or private label brands. There are some researches being conducted to find out the factors that affect the consumers intention to buy private label brands (Walsh and Mitchell, 2010), the attribute that affect the consumers intentions of buying own-label premium food products (Chaniotakis et al., 2010) and consumer attitudes and loyalty towards private brands ( Goldsmith et al., 2010). The globalization of business creates a lot of opportunities to the retailers and it also brings a lot of competitors to them. In this emerging world, establishing a competitive advantage is the main purpose of every competitive strategy while doing the business globally (Walsh and Mitchell, 2010). Some retailers have low store-operating cost, some have efficient supply chain management and some have a large number of loyal customers (Walsh and Mitchell, 2010). Therefore, hypermarkets tend to make some changes in order to attract new customers or to meet their existing customers needs. To become outstanding among all the other competitors, retailers must have some unique products or services to attract more customers. Furthermore, the technology advancement has altered the media habits from the traditional advertising method, such as billboard, to some new advertising techniques, such as product placement, in order to reach younger generation (Nelson and McLeod, 2005). Those hypermarkets required to catch up with all these changes on media habits in order to attract more customers. Besides, due to the advance technologies, people prefer to go online shopping rather than shopping in the hypermarkets. They can purchase anything online through some website, such as amazon.com. This research not only expects that the price will be the major factor that affect Malaysians attitudes towards private label brands, but also some other factors that will bring effect on the attitudes of consumer in Malaysia towards private label brands. Some of the consumers are willing to pay more for a branded product in order to obtain higher quality than paying a less money for a private label brand (Tse, 2001). So, it is very important for this study to find out what are the major factors that determine the attitudes of Malaysian towards private label brands. Objectives of Study The objectives of the research are: To examine the relationship between consumers perceived benefits and Malaysians attitudes towards private label brands. To identify the relationship between price and Malaysians attitudes towards private label brands. To examine the relationship between social influences and Malaysians attitudes towards private label brands. To identify the relationship between economic situation and Malaysians attitudes towards private label brands. The Scope of Study In every research, there are independent variables and dependent variable. The dependent variable in this research is Malaysians attitudes towards private label brands. The attitude of Malaysian is important as they are contributing the response in this research. The independent variables in this study are consumers perceived benefits, price, social influences and economic situation. The coverage of this research is on Malaysian. This is because there already have a few studies that focusing on other nations but there are no research are doing based on the Malaysians attitudes towards private label brands. Besides, Malaysian seems to be likely increased their purchasing rate of private label brands in hypermarkets in these few years. Grocery sales in private label brands in Malaysia are rising. The respondents who participate in this survey are those who used or bought any private label brands before. Only 150 Malaysian will be selected to contribute their response to this research. The author will develop a questionnaire with the different types and forms of questions, such as closed questions and negatively worded questions. By using the method of questionnaires, the attitude of the respondents will be shown. Hence, after finding out the relationship between the major factors and Malaysians attitude towards private label brands, it will give us a better understanding about the current consumer trend of buying private label brands in Malaysia. It helps the retailers to know which of the factor has the major influence on the peoples intentions of purchasing private label brands. Furthermore, the retailers can help them to find out what factors affecting them from losing their market share, so that they can do some analysis based on the results and make some improvement and changes. Respondents can also benefits from this research too. They can broaden their knowledge toward the topic of private label brands. They can also know better about the current market trends and the main factor that determines their attitude towards private label brands. Then, by knowing the factors that affecting Malaysians attitudes towards private label brands, the government can earn more income due to the increasing sell of private label brands. Besides, the government should implement some policy to help the private label brands in order to protect them from the competition of branded and national products. Lastly, it will make contribution to the Malaysias economy because it will help the local retailers to know which factors affecting their customer on choosing private label brands, therefore, they can make slightly changes and it will lead to the increasing number of sales. By the increasing number of sales, it will definitely lead to a rise in GDP. Definition for the Key Terms Attributes Definition Sources Private Label Brands Products that are produced by retailers and sold under the retailers own name through their own retail outlets Baltas (1997) Perceived benefits The degree to which a fulfilment of expectations when choosing private label brands. Veloutsou, Gioulistanis and Moutinho (2004) Price A monetary value when the consumer wants to exchange it with the goods or services provided by the sellers or producers. Nagle and Holden (2002) Social Influences The degree to which learning the skills, knowledge and attitudes relevant for consumption from media, parents and peers. Nelson and Mcleod (2005) Economic Situation The economic conditions that will lead the retailers to enrich the range of private label offerings. Chaniotakis, Lymperopoulos and Soureli (2010) Organization Structure There are total five chapters in this research. The structure of the study is organized as following. Chapter 1 is about the introduction, the author will start by the background of this study. Besides, the author will briefly explain why this research is important, what factors will affect the Malaysians attitudes towards private label brands, history of private label brands, rules and regulations towards private label brands in Malaysia, problem statements, research objectives and contribution of this study. This part will have an overview of the research. Chapter 2 is literature review that discusses the factors that affect the attitudes of Malaysian towards private label brands. In the beginning, the definition of the theory and interest of study are introduces. Then, the author will explain each of the variables that affecting Malaysians attitudes towards private label brands. The author was reviewed the previous study to make the analysis of each variables. Chapter 3 is research methodology. In this part, it describes how the author collects information and finalizes the data. It will also explain what method will be used to conduct this research. The author defines the research framework, develops hypothesis, develops questionnaires, explain how the author undergo pilot study, chooses convenient sampling as the sampling method, and introduces the target size. Furthermore, data collection method and data analysis will be presented. Conclusion This chapter will give us some briefing about this research. Let us know about why this research is important and why this research is needed to be conducted. One of the reasons is that we can know the consumer purchasing trend in the current market after the completion of this research. Then, this study will make a huge contribution to the retailer who are selling or planning to sell private label brands. They can further know about how the consumers think and their attitudes towards private label brands in Malaysia. We can also know which variable has more powerful to affect the Malaysians intention to buy private label brands. This will have an impact on the economy of Malaysia too. Last but not least, we can also have better understanding towards the key terms that affect the Malaysians attitudes on private label brands. Besides, it will give us a clear picture for the structure of this research.

Gettysburg Essay example -- essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Gettysburg, the largest, bloodiest, and most celebrated battle of the Civil war, is said by many to be the turning point of the war that killed 618,000 Americans. Gettysburg the movie was four hours long, which is about 68 hours less than it actually took for the battle to come and go. The first shots were fired no long after daylight, so to be exact, it was 04:30 hours, on the morning of July 1st, (49 Nofi). Bullets flew from the rifles of Union Calvary men on picket duty along the Chambersburg Pike. It was in response to the advancing of Confederates, a skirmish line of 2,500 led by Henry Keith, a General that graduated last in his class at West Point (104 Clark).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The battle took place in the grassy country just south of Gettysburg. The Confederate headquarters was located East of the union at Seminary Ridge. Seminary Ridge was composed largely of flat fields with patches of forests. Federal forces however, were set along Culpshill, Cemetery Hill, and Cemetery Ridge, which made the Federals line form a hook. The Federal ground was all elevated considerably over the surrounding land. General Stuart and his Calvary had been sent by Lee on an observation mission to locate union forces. Fortunately for the Virginian army, General Longstreet had hired a spy known only as Harrison, to do the same job. This Harrison was an actor and because General Stuart returned late, it was by his word that the entire Southern army made it's move (181 Coddington). On July 1st, Confederate forces soon found themselves face to face with brigade General John Buford who was uphill and eventually gained the upper hand as he received reinforcements f rom Major General John Reynolds. Bufords own brigade sustained many casualties and after the 1st, was reassigned to guarding the supply train for the remainder of the battle, (movie).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  July 1st was the same day that the Potomac army found itself replacing General Hooker with General Mead. Meade helped his army secure a well protected area on Cemetery Ridge, and Culps Hill, where it would stay, (aside from the left flank), until the end of the battle. Meade's army line stretched three miles and had an average of 17,000 men per mile, (105 Clark). Lee's army line stretched approximately two miles longer, but averaged about 10,000 men per mile, (105 ... ...r with itself. The brother against brother and friend against friend mentally made fighting even harder. In one particular instance, General Amistead who was leading his Confederate brigade up the slope during Picketts charge, was shot on the Union line. Instantly he was noticed by Colonel Chamberlain's brother Thomas, who instead of killing Amistead, helped him lay down to ease his pain. General Amistead was good friends with Hacock a Union General. Amistead requested to speak with Hancock, but Thomas Chamberlain informed him that Hancock had also been shot. Upon hearing this, Amistead was greatly saddened. Union soldiers then carried Amistead to field hospital where he died two days later. Hancock survived the wound at Gettysburg and went on to run for the Presidency on the Democratic ticket in 1880.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  All in all the war seemed to me senceless, the Confederate and Federal Generals knew this and wore it on their faces, constantly giving orders and pulling triggers in vain. A prime example would be Longstreets following of orders in the midst of doubt. The movie was very well made; it showed the harsh realities of war and the great simplicity of life.

In Favor of Drug Legalization :: Illegal Drugs Narcotics

The legalization of drugs has been an enormous issue in politics for an extremely long time. Many people believe that the legalization of drugs will allow the government to gain more control and therefore reducing crime on the streets. Another issue in this matter is that the government will be able to profit money off the drugs and be able to control prices and what age you will have to be to be able to buy the drug. On the issue of less crime, with the government controlling drugs there will be fewer drug dealers on the streets, as there is no need for them. The ban on underage people using drugs will lessen the crimes by minors and by students in our schools. With the government regulating the drug, they can readily control how much is sold and how much is appropriate for consumption by the buyer. In addition, the government could profit off the legalization of drugs. If the government were to legalize drugs, then they could choose the prices of the drugs and how much or if they want to place a tax on them. With the government doing this, people would be paying higher prices than what they currently pay from a dealer. This would, in turn, reduce the demand for the drug due to the high prices. The money that the government makes off the taxing and the pricing of the drugs could go to health care or to another good cause that support the citizens. However, it seems we will never see the legalization of drugs. Many people go out and do things just because the authoritative figures say you shouldn't do them. In other words, certain people merely break the law not to experience the drug, but to be a rebel. The legalization of drugs would most likely cause the use of drugs to decline.

{Punctuality: Personal Nd Professional Image Essay

Punctuality: Personal and Professional Image A man of experience once said that there are four good habits-punctuality, accuracy, steadiness and efficiency. Without punctuality, time is wasted; without accuracy, mistakes are made: without steadiness, nothing can be done; and without efficiency, all is lost. To this we may add the habits of prudence, discipline and contentment as being most desirable. So what are the payoffs of punctuality? Two important ones are that it is an indicator of professionalism, and it’s respectful to the other person. These are certainly important in business. Another payoff is that it is moral and ethical. As someone once said, â€Å" A man who has taken your time recognizes no debt, yet it is the only debt he can never repay’. A taken for granted aspect of everyday life is that people are usually punctual. This norm is so well established that a common sense understanding of unpunctuality as a personality defect prevails in the social science literature. Drawing on qualitative and experiential data from the Mass Observation Archive, this paper argues that punctuality is less a matter of individual virtue and more one of age, gender, and work situation. It proposes that a close study of these differentiating â€Å"surface† conditions leads back to more fundamental questions of social structure and solidarity. The sentiments underlying the norm demanding unconditional punctuality correspond to, and may be a legacy of the mechanical solidarity that Durkheim stressed underpinned even the most complex and advanced societies. With all the tasks on our plates, it is easy to try to cram in one more activity before rushing off to the next engagement, but when you arrive late, it can resul in any of the following: Conveying to the other party involved that you feel your time is more valuable than theirs. Presenting the image that you are poorly prepared causing others to fall behind in their schedules for the rest of the day. Contrast the symptoms that often result from running late with the confident feeling of arriving at an event on time, feeling calm and in control. Punctuality is a habit that takes time and practice to develop, but both your self-esteem and your professional image will benefit. It is most important, therefore that we should acquire good habits at the very start of our life. As a friend and an individual, learn to meet people on time. Every minute counts, do not be late for doctors or dentists appointments, do not be late to school and do not meet friends 10 or 15 minutes late. Dhirubhai Ambani who started Reliance Industries says that one of his greatest achievements lies in having promoted punctuality at all levels from top executives to the workers. All had to keep exact time. It is a form of discipline that has effect on all your achievements. Many people like to get their coffee and breakfast prior to starting their work day. The biggest problem with this is that it is being done on company time. Corporate America suffers millions of dollars in losses each day because of employees spending the first 10 to 15 minutes of their workday conducting non-business rituals, such as getting coffee, eating breakfast, and chatting with co-workers about their evening or weekend. The figures given in the following example are a conservative estimate. It must be acknowledged that not all employees would make the same hourly wage and not all employees waste company time. Of course, there is also the fact that some employees waste more time than others do during a work day. Say an employee is paid $20. 0 per hour, during a 5 day work week a company would pay $25. 00 just for that employee to get their morning coffee. That is $1,250. 00 per year (this estimate deducts two weeks from the year for illness, vacation time and holidays. Next, imagine that every employee in a company of 5,000 wastes 15 minutes every day. That is an incredible $6,250. 00 that the company would lose each and every yea r because its employees utilize company time to conduct personal errands each morning. As with formal controls, informal controls reward or punish acceptable or unacceptable behavior. Informal controls are varied and differ from individual to individual, group to group and society to society. For example, in a college class, a disapproving look might convey the message that it is inappropriate to arrive late and disrupt the lecture. In a business setting on the other hand, a stronger sanction applies in the case of someone who arrives late for a business meeting and threatens to jeopardize the company’s image. Did you ever notice that sometimes, if not often, you arrive late, even when you have carefully planned to arrive on time to a meeting, date, or appointment? Possibly, you are among those who are chronically late. One reason for constant tardiness is that it’s extremely difficult to arrive on time, especially in large metropolitan areas. Unexpected traffic congestion, taking that last minute call, running back to the office or home to grab forgotten articles, are all impediments to being on time. Even the most time conscious, careful planners can be undermined by these factors. While this seems obvious at first, it’s really not that simple. One thing that makes this difficult is simply human nature we simply don’t like waiting.

English Negotiation

V: Good afternoon! Valerie Mitchell at your service! E: How do you do? Melanie Brantt, pleased to meet you. V: As you know, the reason of our meeting concerns the lawsuit between Glow Industries and Sweetface Fashion, regarding the conflict of the brand names for the products promoted. E: Yes, I have been informed by my client, she has given me all the necessary details. V: Alright, should we proceed? E: Yes, please. V: My client decided to take legal action against Sweetface Fashion due to the unauthorized use of the name ‘Glow’ for its products. As a result, Glow Industries demands Sweetface Fashion to take immediate measures in order to stop selling the successful Jennifer Lopez perfume under the same brand name as the one used by them. E: First of all, let me get the things clear. Sweetface Fashion registered the brand of the famous perfumes as ‘Glow by JLo’, which means everything has been done under strict regulation. I have brought you the official documents which provide evidence for the legal framework. Have a careful look yourself. V: I perfectly understand what you are showing me and I see nothing wrong so far. However, it was Glow Industries that first came up with the idea of ‘Glow’ for its line of cosmetics. So, I believe it is easy for you to understand that we have intellectual property rights. As a result, we are fully authorized to claim damages given that you adopted our brand name without consulting us. E: You cannot claim damages for something that legally speaking did not cause you any specific injuries. And I remind you that a few moments ago I have shown you the registration paper that clearly states all the conditions and even you agreed that there is nothing you can object about. V: Yes, we can claim damages, given that the simultaneous use of this brand could represent a disadvantage for both companies. E: Absolutely not! Sweetface has built itself an image on the market which is different of Glow Industries’. They are completely different artificial entities. There is no point in what you are saying. V: This is exactly where I was trying to get. If you do not accept our conditions, taking into account that Sweetface Fashion has known a strong growing period and is still in the expansion phase, refusing to do so would virtually affect the trust of your clients in your promoted brand. Besides, a lawsuit takes a lot of time and it is very expensive as well. Are you willing to do that? E: It is true that the expansion of Sweetface would be somewhat delayed, but given its large dimensions compared to Glow Industries, it wouldn’t have the same impact on the profits. V: Well then, I see you are willing to face Glow Industries in court. I would like to let you know that if we win the case, we will not only keep the ‘Glow’ name for our products, but we will also ask for 20% of the annual profits made by Sweetface. E: Let me tell you something too. There is also a large possibility for Glow Industries to lose the case. If that happens, Sweetface Fashion would be interested in acquiring Glow Industries and enlarge the number of shares. V: That’s out of the question! Glow Industries is a company with a longtime tradition for over 30 years. Under no circumstances we’ll sell it to Sweetface Fashion! No way! E: I am more than convinced that what I am about to tell you will get your attention. Sweetface Fashion has recently acquired a company which has been selling its products under the name ‘Glow’ and was the first one to ever use it. So, if you refuse to sell, Sweetface Fashion will be even more interested in taking further legal action against you. You wouldn’t like that, would you? V: So, we either win a small part or lose it all. E: Now you seem to get my point. V: Alright. Given the context, how much would Sweetface Fashion offer us? E: Starting at $4 million. V: No way! We ask for at least $10 million as we have been a successful company. E: You must be joking. V: Not a bit actually. E: We could give you $5,5 million and nothing more! V: $7 million and nothing less! E: $6,5 million, I insist! V: $7 million. This is our last word. You may take it or leave it! E: Alright, you’ve got a deal. If you lose the case, Sweetface Fashion will acquire Glow Industries for $7 million. But if you win, you will only get a small share of the profits. V: We are taking that chance. E: Well then, see you in the court! It was a pleasure to negotiate with you. V: The pleasure was mine. E: Have a nice day! V: Goodbye!

Policies and Procedures Essay

One employee was experiencing personal problems; she recently gave birth and at the same time, she has to deal with estrangement from her partner. Another employee steps in to do the work of the troubled one, doing her assigned tasks and assuming all responsibilities for her, without prior permission of the supervisor. Although the intentions of the sympathetic employee are noble, the mistake of the set-up is that one employee should not shoulder the responsibilities of another without going through the formal channels of authority. Every employee is hired to accomplish tasks within his job description and could only assume other responsibilities under the authority and consent of a higher office such as the supervisor or division manager, and even then, only if the superior thinks that the other employee could perform beyond and more than what he was hired and being paid to do. If I were the head of the organization where the said incident happened, I would ensure to prevent the same from happening again. Although the second employee could perform the job of the problematic employee, I would not be appeased knowing that my people are switching jobs and making decisions without the prior knowledge of a supervisor. They are simply driven to the act by their personal instincts rather than as sanctioned by the company. The distribution of tasks in a company should be directed by a certain structure that eliminates as much as possible, if not completely, whimsical or emotion-driven decisions by the staff that change expected routines. Firstly, I would institute a policy, or reiterate through a memorandum if a certain policy has already been included in the staff guidebook only it is hidden among the hundreds of other rules there, that no employee should undertake the responsibilities of other employees even if both employees occupy the same rung in the company hierarchy and thus, have similar job descriptions. Responsibilities carry their respective accountabilities. If the substitute performs poorly or make a serious mistake, he should be held accountable along with his superior who assigned him to do the task. Substitution of tasks if ever it is needed should be made official and accompanied with the corresponding paperwork so that the substitute will not only assume responsibility for the additional assigned task including the blame for any mistake committed and reward for any achievement attained, but also get remuneration for it. Those who disobey this policy would be sanctioned with a written and verbal warning. Continued violation would affect the regular performance evaluation of the offender and in turn, his future prospects with the company. For employees with personal problems, I would hire a part-time psychologist as part of the clinic staff so that these employees would be encouraged to open up about personal troubles that may affect their jobs without fear of getting fired or their pay being affected from non-performance or incurring absences. A psychologist could also guide employees to deal with their personal problems while not neglecting their duties. In consonance to this, I will also make it another policy of the company that no employee should be fired or fined for having personal problems that may affect his performance on the job unless the problems would permanently make him unable to perform it for the rest of his life although these troubled employee would be asked to avail of the company-provided professional help. For problems that would affect the financial stability of the worker, the company would also institute a low-interest loan scheme. The endpoint of these programs is to make the employee feel valued so that they would be more open and unafraid to approach upper management if they think that their performance is being affected or would be affected by their personal problems.

Eva’s death Essay

Also at the beginning of the play, Mr and Mrs. Birling come across as a well-off couple who are very well educated and in the public eye a lot when Mr Birling says to Gerald, â€Å"I could be in line for a knighthood, providing nothing goes wrong.† This means that if a scandal is linked with his family, then the public will turn against him, and therefore he won’t be able to get a knighthood. Because of this, the audience wouldn’t expect them to behave in the way they did, and when we find out what they did, and the affect they had on Eva Smith/ Daisy Renton, it’s quite shocking to see that they were both somehow involved in her death. And when we find out the reasons behind what they did, it changes the impression we get of them, and you see that they are quite selfish and take advantage of the power they have and who they inflict it upon. They are both quite wrapped up in their own lives, and anything that would lose them money or cause them grief, they take no notice of and dismiss the idea. Sheila and Eric are Mr and Mrs. Birling’s children. At the beginning of the play Sheila comes across as a bit childish and immature and maybe still relies on her mum and dad a lot when she say, † yes, go on, mummy. You must drink our health.† We get an impression of Sheila as being naive and shallow, but her comment, â€Å"last summer, when you never came near me,† which refers to Gerald, may suggest to us that she isn’t as stupid as she may seem. Eric seems a bit more mischievous and much more naive than Sheila, in the way he talks and how he acts. He seems embarrassed and nervous, as soon as he is mentioned in the play, as it says, â€Å"Eric suddenly guffaws,† and then doesn’t tell the other characters why he came out with it, which suggests he is nervous about something, which we later find out that it is the money he recently stole from his father, Mr. Birling. hI think Mr and Mrs. Birling are more ashamed of Eric and careful that he doesn’t do anything stupid to embarrass the family, but the family seem to get on with each other quite well, although you get the impression that there is some tension between Eric and Mr. Birling, when Gerald, Mr. Birling and Eric are talking about women’s love of clothes before the Inspector arrives. Sheila also has a link with Eva, who was employed at ‘Milwards,’ because Sheila thought Eva, was laughing at her when she tried on a dress that didn’t suit her. Eva was prettier than Sheila and the dress suited her more, which made Sheila irritated and envious of Eva, so she was guilty of a deadly sin, which was envy. Eric’s link with Eva was that he met her in the palace bar one thing lead to another and he got her pregnant, which made him guilty of lust towards Eva. Although Eric doesn’t seem very responsible he shows some initiative, as he was concerned enough to give Eva some money, which shows his priority was Eva’s future and not necessarily the consequences of stealing from Mr. Birling’s office. I don’t think the audience are too shocked to find out what Eric and Sheila are capable of, because they are young and quite naive, and they don’t seem to have much empathy towards other people, maybe because they haven’t experienced the things Eva has before. Their actions can be linked to their parents as they have a lot of power, so this may be filtered down to them, which they might exploit and take advantage of. By the end of the play Eric and Sheila have changed more than the other characters. Sheila feels extremely guilty for what she has done to Eva and frequently cries and sobs when the Inspector mentions Eva in the infirmary. Eric also feels guilty for what he did to Eva, he says, â€Å"the girl’s dead and we all helped to kill her- and that’s what matters.† I think they have both changed because they are young and impressionable, whereas Mr and Mrs. Birling refuse to take responsibility for Eva’s death to save their reputation, and they have never been forced to examine their consciences before and they find that they can’t do it now, and are relieved when they find out the Inspector wasn’t real and want to forget about it and move on. At the start of the play we find out that Gerald is from a family who are socially better than the Birlings. We know this because after Mr.Birling tells Gerald he has the same port as his father gets, Gerald says, â€Å"The governor prides himself on being a good judge of port†. Gerald is also described as â€Å"an attractive chap about thirty, rather too manly to be a dandy but very much the easy well-bred man-about-town.† We also know that he is the son of Lord and Lady Croft, and we are given the impression that they are not to keen on the engagement of Gerald and Sheila as they didn’t accept the invitation to the dinner. This makes us wander why Gerald would want to marry a woman of a lower status than him. Gerald was involved with Eva when he met her at the palace bar and let her stay in his friend’s empty flat in Bromley, as she had nowhere to stay, and he felt sorry for her. Eva, or Daisy Renton as Gerald knew her as, was his mistress for a time until she had to move out because Gerald was away on business. His involvement with Eva was different to the rest of the characters, because he actually tried to help her and did something good. In a way his actions are the most shocking because he is better-off than even the Birling’s, so you wouldn’t expect him to help out someone like Eva who hangs around in places like the palace bar, and you would have thought he would look down on people like her, and have no sympathy for them. I don’t think his actions fit in with the Gerald at the beginning of the play because he tells Sheila the reason why he didn’t see her much last summer was because he was busy at work, when he was with Eva at the flat, so we find out he was lying to Sheila, which you wouldn’t have thought he’d do as he says he wants to be part of the family and they seem to have a lot of respect for each other. Although Gerald seems moved by the news of Eva’s death, he isn’t entirely willing to admit his involvement with her, and this could be because of the same reason as Mr. Birling, that he wants to protect his own interests. At the end of the play he tries to come up with as much evidence as possible to prove that the Inspector isn’t real, which could potentially get him off the hook, if he could convince the rest of the characters that they had been hoaxed.