Saturday, August 31, 2019

Reformation Essay

The Reformation is a broad term used to describe the period of time beginning around 1500 A. D. extending through the mid-seventeenth century, with roots dating back to around the fourteenth century. Society was in something of an upheaval at the time and the church was faced persistent heresy. A wave that would become known as the Protestant Reformation started in Germany in the early 1500’s and moved throughout the German speaking countries to Scandinavia to the French and finally to England and Scotland. Differing from the Renaissance, the Reformation made an impact in most every European’s life and forced people to make the decision between the old way and the new. In the early stages of the Reformation there was a man, the pioneer of that Protestant Reformation that swept over Europe, a man who ventured into a new arena of thought in relation to how the Church, his name was Martin Luther. 1] The following writing will be a short biographical work of Martin Luther showing some of the events of his life and how through them, he changed the Church as well as contributed to the progress of the Reformation concluding with a look at his life in a way to show more of who Luther was as opposed to what he did. Martin Luther was born in Eisleben Germany on November 10, 1493 before moving to Mansfield in 1484 where he attended school before moving on to Magdeburg with the Brethren of the Common Life. From there he entered the University of Erfurt in 1501 where he was introduced to nominalist philosophy which taught the inability of natural reason to establish articles of faith. It was here that he also furthered his linguistic skills in the classical tongues, and graduated with his B. A. in 1502 and his M. A. in 1505. The winds of the Reformation had already begun to whirl as Luther was growing up. He had been studying law, before being caught up in the religious revival that had been heading across Western Europe. 2] That July he was knocked to the ground by lightning and the combination of those events, the death of a friend and issues inside himself he entered the chapter house of the Hermits of St. Augustine[3] in Erfurt monastery of the Augustinian Eremites. At this time he was given his very first Bible, which he studied relentlessly, studying carefully Romans and Galatians. He was also deeply into the works of Augustine as well as William of Occam and carried with himself the reputation of being a man of singular piety, devotion and monastic zeal. [4] To the objection of his father he took the vows in September 1506, was elected to study for the priesthood, and was made a deacon in February of 1507 and ordained a priest on April 4 of that same year. His father attended his first Mass where he rebuked Martin for disobeying his parents. [5] At the monastery, Luther practiced ascetic excesses to try to achieve some sense of inner peace. Johann von Staupitz helped him away from his life of standing fearfully in front of a Deity to responding in joy to the loving forgiveness of God through Jesus Christ. In 1510 he went on a business trip to Rome to the Vatican where he was shaken and disturbed by the commercial, showy splendor of the Vatica n. In 1512, Luther began lecturing as a doctorate of theology at Wittenberg, a position he would hold for the rest of his life. For the following two years he lectured heavily on the Psalms before shifting to Romans, Galatians, Hebrews and Titus in 1516. It was after these studies that Luther became convinced that salvation is a new relationship with God, and that it was not a merit-based system but rather it came through placing trust in the promises of God. Humans would still sin, but would live life as a forgiven sinner as a result of their relationship with Jesus Christ. It was also through these studies that Luther had his Gospel epiphany in 1516 while reading in Galatians 3 that â€Å"the just shall live by faith. † At this time that Luther was released from his haunting sense of guilt and crossed over into the freedom that came from relying on God’s grace. During this time he was growing, discovering new convictions, and while he had not written them into an officially theology he did have the principles that would be instrumental in and would define the Reformation; man is justified by faith alone, every believer has direct access to God and the Bible is the sole source of authority for faith and life. In 1517 Luther decided he needed to put these ideas into action. It was in that year that he came across a Dominican, Johann Tetzel, selling indulgences to Luther’s parishioners. Going against Tetzel’s methods, bad theology and the fact that the outflow of cash was for a new St. Peter’s for Leo X, Luther preached against buying pardons and for relying on God’s grace for salvation. He had grown tired of this theology that was lacking Scriptural truth about it. On October 31, 1517, the day for which many remember Luther, he tacked Ninety-five Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg intending to have the questions bring about academic discussion, not a document written to insight a revolt against the pope of the Church of Rome. The Theses were translated and circulated bringing about attacks from Tetzel and the formidable Eck, labeling him a heretic. Luther was ordered by Leo X to appear at Rome in 1518 though it Frederck â€Å"the Wise† changed the hearing to Augsburg and it was through Frederick’s protection that Luther was able to survive. At the time of the hearing, Leo was drafting a papal bull describing indulgences in the exact fashion that Luther had questioned. In 1519 Luther’s debate went publicly with Eck and he admitted that he rejected other authority of popes and councils when they were not congruent to the Scriptures. To combat the view that he was going against everything the church stood for, he published three works to clarify his views; â€Å"An Address to Christian Nobility of the German Nation,† â€Å"The Babylonian Captivity of the Church† and the â€Å"Liberty of a Christian Man. On Dec. 10, 1520, he was presented with a papal bull threatening to excommunicate him. He publicly burned the document along with a copy of the canon law, an open defiance of the pope’s authority in refusal to renounce any of his viewpoints Due to factors beyond just Luther’s actions, the Wittenberg civil authorities looked on approvingly as their country was in a rebellious mood. Again h e was summoned to appear before the pope, again refusing to budge from his position. A group of German churchmen, princes and nobles approached him one day ordering him to recant to which he replied, â€Å"Unless I am refuted and convicted by testimonies of Scripture or by clear arguments, my conscience is bound in the word of God: I cannot and will not recant anything. I cannot do otherwise. Here I stand. God help me, Amen. † It was Frederick that again came to the rescue of Luther, saving him from almost certain martyrdom yet again, abducting him on his journey from Worms and holding him at the Wartburg Castle for ten months. Some consider Luther’s time spent there in the castle his most valuable as, among other things, he translated the Greek Bible to German. Upon his return to Wittenberg in March of 1522 he set about organizing the reformation that had nearly crumbled under the enthusiastic, but unskilled leadership of such people as Carlstadt and Zwilling in Wittenberg. They had gotten a crowd together that started rampages, wrecking statuary and artwork, actions Luther quickly denounced and went about producing forms for instruction, worship and church government. The Peasant’s War came about in 1524, but Luther continued undeterred, holding to the position of upholding authority, calling for social justice and urging the consideration for the economic welfare of the lower class. Luther’s language used in urging the princes to put down the revolt was intemperate and he ended up alienating some of the lower class. [6] During his time in the castle, Luther set out writing a children’s catechism as well as a catechism for the common people. It was also during this time that he composed what some consider the battle hymn for the reformation â€Å"Almighty Fortress Is Our God. He went on teaching in his position, beginning to teach that priests could marry and soon met and married a former nun named Katharina von Bora who had followed him along with eight other nuns in fleeing from their convent in 1523 to take refuge in Wittenberg. [7] Together they produced six children of their own and opened their home to countless others as well as boarding students and other guests. [8] Luther continued to write, preach and teach and in 1530 he approved the Augsburg Confession and the Augsburg Apology as written by Philip Melanchthon. In 1573 Luther restated his doctrines in the Schmalkald Articles and spent his remaining years spent in inactive and productive service, such as writing â€Å"On Bondage of Will. † Luther died in his home town of Eisleben after mediating a meeting between two princes and experiences mild chest pains[9] in 1546. [10] The life of Martin Luther is something that one could marvel at, but there is more to this man’s story than a whole lot of scholarly achievements and raising questions that ended up causing Christianity to divide. He was a man of great passion and was extremely focused on God, realizing that it was about God and not about himself. When Christ drove the people out of the church saying they made it a den of theives he is angry because he knows that things are not what they should be, and sees what they could become, Martin Luther is another man with the same sort of view. He saw things the way that they could be. This anger was not exclusive to just Luther and Christ, it happens within many men and comes from different places, but what is common is that they are angry at the denial–not to themselves alone, but to their fellowmen as well–of all they have seen of head in their solitude that has been proven in their own personal life. Luther, slated by some as the last angry man of the Reformation, was once quoted saying, â€Å"I never work better, than when I am inspired of anger when I am angry, I can write, pray and preach well, for then my whole temperament is quickened, my understanding sharpened and my mundane vexations and temptations depart. † His life was tumultuous and deep melancholy assaulted him, leaving him weak and desperately ill. Upon tasting the grace of God he was driven with great compassion to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ and publish the Word of God in the native tongue of his countrymen. His passion and resolute faith was so great that it was said that upon hearing him pray people would exclaim: â€Å"How great a spirit, how great a faith, was in his very words! † As a monk he vowed to crucify the flesh through fasting, mortifications, and watchings struggling against deceitful thoughts and the evil inclinations of his heart. Nothing was too great a sacrifice if it would enable him to become a saint of acquired heaven. He was sold out on his quest for attaining holiness. He even claimed himself to be a pious monk stating that, â€Å"If a monk could obtain heaven by his good works, I should, certainly those who have known me can testify. † As he was carrying out this torture on himself he was confronted by John Staupitz, who asked him why he tormented himself the way that he did telling the young Martin, to â€Å"look at the wounds of Christ, to the blood that he has shed for you. † Luther was so wrapped up in literally beating himself up over his sins, he forgot a key element. Staupitz went on to tell him, â€Å"Instead of torturing yourself on account of your sins, throw you self in the Redeemer’s arms. Trust in Him–in the righteousness of His life–in the atonement of His death. † Not long after his conversations with Staupitz, Luther was done being an imitator, keeping to the rules of the religious order, but rather he was a new creation entirely, walking in the full assurance of faith confident that the God that began the good work in him, would perfect His work. For Luther Christ was no longer an option, Christ was the option, or as he said in his Commentary on Galatians, â€Å"Christ is no lawgiver. He is the Lifegiver. † [11] For Luther it was about knowing God, not having a knowledge of God, he was a man full of passion for his Savior, completely sold out on his Master’s plan. It was so much so that he thanked God that he knew enough to believe that God knew more than he did and was able to rest in knowing that that would never change. Knowing that God was greater and surrendering to that knowledge was an undercurrent to Luther’s life, he clung to the word of God for his confidence and promises, not to the tradition of men. [12] The Reformation is a broad term used to describe the period of time beginning around 1500 A. D. extending through the mid-seventeenth century, with roots dating back to around the fourteenth century. Society was in something of an upheaval and the church was faced persistent heresy. In the early stages of the Reformation Martin Luther was the pioneer of that Protestant Reformation that swept over Europe, and who ventured into a new arena of thought in relation to how the Church. [13] The previous writing was a short biographical work of Martin Luther showing some of the events of his life and how through them, he changed the Church as well as contributed to the progress of the Reformation concluding with a look at his life in a way to show more of who Luther was as opposed to what he did.

Friday, August 30, 2019

Hewlett Packard Swot Analysis Essay

The Hewlett-Packard and Compaq merger decision case study provided many points necessary in the understanding of why these two companies would undergo a risky business venture. Compaq was a company that began successfully with record setting financial statements, but in an attempt to expand its market, threatened company stability. With the acquisition of Tandem Computer and Digital Equipment Corporation, Compaq experienced decreased revenues resulting in their inability to fully recover. In a competitive information technology market, HP was one of the industry leaders. Due to a failure to be proactive to market changes, HP grew stagnant and looked to reinvent company strategies through newly appointed President/CEO Carly Fiorina. Competitive advantages for both HP and Compaq included imaging and printing segment and high performance PC technology respectively. Management’s reasons for the merger included their assumption that together, HP and Compaq would be able to replicate and overtake competitors. Oppositions to the merger included a decrease in shareholder interests, a reduction of focus for company core competencies, and an unprofitable future. Several financial advisors and industry analysts were in agreement that the proposed merger would not be in the best interests of either company. Despite the uncertainties, information gathered and forecasts projected were in favor of the merger, which resulted in shareholder approval and the merger of Hewlett-Packard and Compaq Computer. SWOT Analysis In researching Hewlett-Packard’s present-day company position, a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis was conducted. Strengths found include HP’s strong market position internationally and on the domestic end, a successful growth throughout large acquisitions, and a considerable brand value. HP currently has a 28.6% market share in the United States of America while internationally they stand at 17.7%. As the current number one leader in PC sales, HP has a solid market position. Although the strengths are allowing HP to maintain market position, there are also weaknesses present in all companies. Compared to other companies in the same industry, Hewlett-Packard lacks significant software product and management consulting services. As a result, Hewlett-Packard’s weakness is its weak market segment integration. HP is able to answer consumer demand when it comes to PC technology and imaging and printing software, but they fall short in t he software product creation and consulting services to combine with their successful departments of PC technology and imaging and printing services. As Hewlett-Packard continues to grow and seek an increase in market position, opportunities surface. A spin-off of the PC technology business, entering the cloud computing market, and expanding imaging and printing solutions portfolio are opportunities HP has going forward. In placing more emphasis on the PC technology aspect of the company, HP may find that this venture will become as profitable as the imaging and printing department in the long-run. With the announcement of this spin-off, their share of US PC shipment increased from 25.4% to 28.9%. This positive reaction from consumers is an early indicator of possible success as a result of placing resources to build up the PC technology department. Cloud computing is a fairly new concept in which resources and software are delivered through a network, mainly over the Internet. As this is market quickly growing in demand, HP’s introduction of HP Cloud Assure is a great opportunity for future prosperity. With success comes o pportunities of threats, and Hewlett-Packard is no exception. With projected decrease in information technology (IT) in the near future, an increase in demand for non PC devices, and competitors with more diversified portfolios, HP’s threats are numerous. Industry analysts have projected a decrease of IT in upcoming quarters which will decrease HP’s profitability. HP has already witnessed a decrease in consumer spending during last quarter’s back-to-school spending. If analyst projections prove to be true, changes will quickly need to be made. As more and more consumers are entering the non PC device era, HP is losing a segment of the market with their inability to provide products for this demand. HP’s more diversified competitors such as Dell and Samsung are able to easily capture the demand for these tablets. Future of the Company Through the case study, present-day SWOT analysis, and outside research conducted on Hewlett-Packard, the group has concluded that the company will remain constant, but unless strategies are implemented to answer more consumer demands, they may lose market share. New CEO Meg Whitman has a technology visionary that will shift HP’s focus to answering consumer demands. Her leadership capabilities and projections for company future are a desirable mix for a company to achieve sustainable future relevance. With the implementation of HP Cloud Assure, a new venture capitalizing on the growing consumer interest of cloud computing, HP is already adapting to answering the demands of consumers. As long as the company continues to anticipate and provide the products and services desired, sustainability will be maintained. Questions 1. What are the strategic challenges that HP is facing? Strategic challenges: Cost- reduction initiatives that included â€Å"difficult but necessary voluntary- severance programs† and manufacturing consolidations. â€Å"Unacceptably high expense growth† contributed to a decline in earnings from operations and net earnings. HP had a weak macroeconomic environment and competitive price pressures that led to slumping sales. Management was unable to keep pace of the changing market conditions which were a key contributor. HP management failed to follow Dell’s lead in adopting a low- cost, Internet based direct sales channel to offset its reliance on the retail channel. * Accelerating growth in existing businesses * Streamlining the existing decentralized operating model to fuel growth opportunities * Implementing a â€Å"total customer experience† approach * Taking advantage of HP’s strong balance sheet and cash generation capability to fund new growth initiatives * Leveraging HP’s market position * Creating e- services ecosystems and placing HP at the center 2. Is the proposed merger likely to address these challenges? Benefits from the merger included personal systems, improved economics, and innovation. HP management believed that the combined company would have a lower cost structure due to economies of scale. HP would also be able to leverage Compaq’s progress in developing a direct sales channel, yielding a more flexible distribution model. Complementary leadership in key markets: Compaq’s strength in industry standard servers, coupled with HP’s Linus and UNIX offerings, would result in an industry- leading product line spanning the entire server category. By adding HP’s strength in high- end storage, the combined company would be the industry leader in both the enterprise storage segment and the fastest growing sub-segment storage area networks. Doubling HP’s sales force, the merger would allow HP to increase account coverage and better compete for important customer engagements around the world. IT Services: Strengthened Business Provides Critical Mass in Key Growth Market- Management believed the merger would significantly strengthen HP and Compaq’s combined services business for several reasons. Financial Benefits- As predicted the merger would yield $2.5 billion in annual cost saving by mid-2004. Yes, we do believe the proposed merger is likely to address the challenges HP faces. 3. How do you interpret the market’s reaction to the proposal deal? We interpret the market’s reaction to the proposed deal to be negative. Just two months of the Merger announcement, HP’s share price trailed the preannouncement level by 27%, representing a loss of $12.3 billion of market share value at the same time comparable companies increased 9.9%. 4. If you were a shareholder of HP, how would you vote on the deal? If we were shareholders of HP, we would vote against the deal. It is obvious the company is losing a great deal of money at the same time other companies in the same industry are making money. The merger is not looking out for the best interest of the shareholders so we would not vote for the merger. Sources Bloomberg Businessweek http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-10-12/hewlett-packard-gains-pc-market-share-after-mulling-spinoff.html CNN Money http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2005/02/07/8250437/index.htm http://money.cnn.com/2011/09/22/technology/hp_ceo_fired/index.htm Hewlett-Packard Website http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press/2009/090331xa.html Hewlett-Packard Case Study â€Å"Hewlett-Packard – Compaq: The Merger Decision† Marketing Research http://www.marketing–research.com/marketing/swot-analysis-hewlett-packard Jennifer Brown Synopsis The process of completing this assignment has helped me discover how to view business decisions in a more analytical way. When approaching this one it seemed overwhelming at first. I began pulling outside sources and background information that helped me gain a better understanding of the project at hand. That extra research was very useful in explaining what the companies were going through and giving different perspectives as to why. I was able to apply what I have learned in my accounting classes when the case study and articles referred to financial ratios and provided financial reports. That was helpful when trying to answer the questions assigned. Working with a group was also beneficial because there were several times my group members made great points that I may have missed working alone. Our group has met several times since the project has been assigned. I have been present at each meeting. Before we met the first time we decided we would read the case study in full to have an understanding of what we would need to do. Our first meeting we discussed the case study and our stance on what HP should do. We also discussed the questions within the case study and started our outline for our power point. Outside of the meeting I researched articles to gain background information. Our group had several more meetings at which we outlined our strategy report and assigned each person a portion of the report. When we were finished with our portion we would submit it to the rest of the group for proofreading. Everybody completed their task as set and we came together as a group and finalized the report. I, as well as the other members of the group, contributed to the makeup and layout of both the strategy report and the power point. Charnele Hodge Synopsis Being that this has been my first time in a group doing a strategy report on a company, I took away a few key elements. I have learned, understood, and properly used the purpose of a SWOT Analysis. I know this form of analysis will be used in my future endeavors, so I know it will be very beneficial to me. Also, I learned while in a group setting how to effectively achieve a SWOT Analysis to inform and persuade others to understand and see our point-of-view on our particular position. As a Business Management major, this group project has helped me realize that in not every group setting, that there needs to be a set leader. In my group, I felt that everyone meshed well with each other and there was not a constant need for someone to be in charge. Every group member knew what was at stake and that being at meetings and pulling her part in the group was essential. My individual contribution to the group was making sure that I gave my opinion on the different positions that we would be taking on the SWOT Analysis. I made it my individual objective to make sure that I pulled my part in completing each and every task that I volunteered to work on, that it was done properly, as well as completed on time. Being a Business Management major, I believe I helped bring balance among my other peers that are majoring in different genres in the college of business. I took a more realistic, rational approach to the group, in who would be better fit for particular objectives. Sakina Middleton Synopsis Conducting a strategy report required using resources from all aspects of my undergraduate studies. I was able to read the Hewlett-Packard and Compaq merger decision and understand the different aspects used to compile the information. In utilizing marketing concepts, I was able to conduct a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis of Hewlett-Packard’s present company structure. My management background allowed for an understanding of company decisions made, such as whether to undergo a merger. Finally, the accounting knowledge I have acquired thus far has enabled me to read and comprehend the many financial statements used to decide which options should be made based on the factual numbers provided. Overall, my primary takeaway was my ability to read, comprehend, and analyze a case study regarding two merging companies with the knowledge and education provided by Savannah State University’s College of Business Administration. Throughout this project I was able to increase my ability to problem solve in a group of my colleagues. No one group is perfect, but the communication skills I have acquired allowed me to handle all situations appropriately and in a timely fashion. For this strategy report, I was responsible for arranging all group meetings regarding the collection and accumulation of information for the paper. I was the initiator of correspondence and also the channel of delivery for every member’s designated portion of the paper. My personal contribution includes the compilation on the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the present-day company Hewlett-Packard. I was also responsible for the editing of the final paper. Summer Wilcox Synopsis In March 2002, Hewlett- Packard’s current CEO and president, Carleton Firiona announced the acquiring of HP’s rival company, Compaq Computer. The merging of the two companies was designed to put Hewlett- Packard/Compaq in a position to challenge one of its top leaders in the industry, IBM. The merger was also designed to create a global technology powerhouse that would provide consumers with products and services demanded by profitable enterprise customers. After reading over the case, I started to feel like the merger was not going to be a success. The merger presented itself to be too risky. Although Hewlett Packard was aiming to become the industry’s leader by expanding into new markets, the idea of the merger just didn’t seem to look out for the best interest of the company. Management felt that HP and Compaq needed to improve their whole business structure to effectively compete with Dell which was the industry’s leader. They also felt that HP and Compaq’s leadership would complement each other in key markets such as the enterprise storage segment and storage area networks, and by having a broader portfolio of products and services. Management believed that HP and Compaq had a weak combination of products and services, and merging would strengthen that area. While some thought that the merger would be a success to Hewlett- Packard, there were some who were against it. Among those few were the director and son of HP cofounder William Hewlett, Walter Hewlett. Walter Hewlett was HP’s second largest shareholder and had a very powerful, important voting privilege of HP. Walter was against the merger for 4 main reasons. He felt the proposed merger would be worse, the integration risk of the proposed merger would be substantial, the financial impact on HP’s stockholders would remain negative, and the position of the company would not improve. I agree with opposing the merger of HP and Compaq. They knew from the beginning stages that the merger was going to be risky. Shareholders would lose and ample amount of value on their shares. Stockholders would get a very small amount of the combined company’s contribution to earnings. The merger would drown the stockholder’s interest in the imaging and printing business which is the most profitable of HP already. The merger would not improve the position of the company. Furthermore, HP had no experience with handling a merger of that size. All HP had to do was invest and focus more on the printing and imaging part of the company. The printing and imaging varied in low-end printers and supplies to commercial printing solutions. Instead of taking such a risky acquisition, they could have focused on something that proved already successful for the business. My contribution to the overall strategy report was to research where HP stands now. I also found official documents filed by both HP and Compaq to the SEC about the planned merger. The documents further explained forward- looking statements, assumptions, uncertainties, and risk of the planned merger between the two companies.

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Is “Sredni Vashtar” a Horror Short Story? Essay

â€Å"Sredni Vashtar† Takes a close look into the life and interactions of and between Conradin; his cousin and mentor, Mrs. de Ropp and Conradin’s Ferret and God: Sredni Vashtar. It can be described as a horror story because of its character’s description, themes and setting. It shows the religious downfall of the protagonist, the death of the antagonist and the lack of coherence in society. Saki emphasises the horror in the main characters, including both the protagonists and antagonists. â€Å"Conradin† is described as a â€Å"ten years old† boy, skinny and sick who â€Å"will not live for another 5 years†. It is not a nice image for a boy, and it can either cause sympathy or apathy. However, the fact that he has a â€Å"rampant† imagination and he uses it to evade reality, intimidates the reader. The antagonist is Mrs. De Ropp, a high-class elder woman, which is Conradin’s â€Å"guardian and cousin†. Even if she does not admit it â€Å"she disliked Conradin†, which becomes obvious with some actions and details she has with Conradin, such as killing his hen and friend. Sredni Vashtar is a ferret, a God and a religion, all at the same time. It’s difficult for a reader, especially if we took into account the social and religious contex, to not feel uncomfortable or intimidated with/by this character. It symbolises Conradin’s religious fail, it kills Mrs. De Ropp and is described as a fierce beast. Also it has complete control over Conradin, even that it’s not a thinking individual. The maid is the other human character described. She is the contact point with society and ordinary lifestyles, in other words reality. She is described as a clumsy and â€Å"foolish† person, who lacked importance. This shows the author’s and protagonist’s opinion of society. Despite the fact that is not described in detail, the setting has a lot of impact on the reader. First of all, the story is set during fall, the horror season in most cultures. It’s also the time when nature begins to die. The Edwardian mansion is described to have â€Å"many windows†, which commonly in literature symbolise eyes. This creates a feeling of constant vigilance, as if Conradin and the reader could not do anything without Mrs. De Ropp knowing. The lack of detail pushes the reader to use his own imagination to recreate the old Edwardian mansion, which can either create more fear or reduce it, depending on the reader. The â€Å"cheerless† garden with â€Å"few trees† represents Mrs. De Ropp arid personality and decrepit physical appearance, which emphasises the regret and fear felt for the antagonist. The two main places Conradin spends most time on are his room and the toolshed. The first one is described as been â€Å"dark† and the second been at â€Å"dusk†. Light represents hope, so Sredni Vashtar, who lives in the tool shed, also represents hope. The main themes are the children role in the high class society, how the protagonists fails to fulfil them and the consecuences. The reader can easily see the closed social and religious views Saki is trying to criticise: The edwardian high class social standards, based on pride, severe rules and inhuman punishments and the lack of everyday devotion for religion, despite which one. The protagonist contrast and completely break these rules: Conradin hated his cousin, lost and changed his faith, did not had manners and rejected society. As we can observe â€Å"Sredni Vashta† represents divinity/God’s fail, in a social context where religion was extremely strong and important in everyday life; This obviously drags reader’s attention. Saki also explores the importance of a close family, which he lacked because, just as the protagonist, he was raised in Burma by hated relatives. In the story Conradin did not have a close and loving family so become into a troubled kid , with psychological, health and social problems. The language used to describe the protagonist includes a series of techniques Saki uses to emphasise specific characteristics or cause a certain effect on the reader. For example the religious downfall: Saki describes how Conradin thinks â€Å"church service was an alien rite† and instead his god was a ferret. Saki foreshadows Mrs, De Ropp’s death with Conradin’s hen death and with the prayers Conradin says to Sredni Vashtar: â€Å"Do one thing for me, Sredi Vashtar† This makes the readers pay attention to any details and do not loose interest, as well as creating a horror and suspense atmosphere. The contrast between the â€Å"cold afternoon† and the â€Å"warming daylight† is a pathetic fallacy which represents Mrs. De Ropp’s hope fading, anticipating her death. The toast is a symbolism for the pleasure death can cause. This is shown when Mrs. De Ropp tells Conradin about his friend’s death and she offers him a toast, and when Mrs. De Ropp is killed, Conradin prepares himself a toast. The fact that is his favourite meal shows the sick mentality of the character, who celebrates his freedom but also death. Humor, sarcasm and dramatic irony are commonly used by Saki in â€Å"Sredni Vashtar†, which develop a creepiness sensation on the reader. For example the maid says after Mrs. De Ropp’s death â€Å"Whoever will break it to the poor child?†, this dramatic irony is used to emphasise the fact that society did not understood Conradin, and it’s humorous because the maid was described as a stupid character.

Political Science or Public Policy Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Political Science or Public Policy - Term Paper Example e leaders have perfected the art of using all manner of illegal tactics to remain in power such as vote rigging, detaining opposition leaders and altering the constitution. Some African leaders have objected the idea of multi-party democracy thus anybody seeking a political leadership opportunity should do so through one party which is controlled the by the incumbent president. The parliamentary systems are ineffective and weak since they are controlled by the executive. The main duty of the legislature is to oversee the smooth running and implementation of government policies but African governments have failed in this duty. The parliamentary systems is misused by the executive to rubber stamp the decisions of the executive while the judiciary lacks the independence to protect the constitution and civil rights. A flawed electioneering system and ethnic based politics will continue to precipitate political conflicts unless policy changes are implemented. Though the international community is greatly supporting Africa nations to implement full democratic and market-based economies, dictatorial leadership, unfair elections, diseases and unequal distribution of resources have hindered all the opportunities of ensuring democracy in several African countries. Natural resources like copper, gold and oil mining continue to be trafficked to foreign countries by corrupt leaders thus leading to low economic development of these conflicts. Unfair distribution of resources and underdevelopment of some parts of the countries, especially areas occupied by the marginalized ethnic communities is currently fueling ethnic-based conflicts for power and natural resources. Some leaders are busy utilizing the natural resources to fuel ethnic tensions and conflicts in order to remain in power. There are numerous challenges that have hindered entrenchment of liberal democracy in Africa. African countries will continue to experience political conflicts unless the leaders agree how to

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Harlem Riot of 1943 Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Harlem Riot of 1943 - Research Paper Example The culture of the period affected the way in which the events were reported, the tone of the media shadowed by the way in which society viewed the African American place within it. The Harlem riot of 1943 is an event that shows how the media has a great influence on the way in which public opinion is created about events and the people who are involved. The Harlem riot of 1943 occurred after an incident where a policeman had hit an African American woman that he was arresting for charges stemming from a public disturbance. As he was about to hit her again, a young African American soldier by the name of Robert Bandy moved to stop the policeman’s violence. As a result, the soldier was shot in the shoulder, but the rumor was spread that he was killed which sparked the riot. The incident occurred on August 1, 1943 and the riot was finally ended on August 3 after six people were killed with 500 African Americans arrested (Capeci 116: New York Times). In studying riots, the most c ommon format from which to characterize the events is from the precipitating event, such as the shooting of the soldier who was defending the woman. The emotions created by this event created a climate of violent reaction in which the targets of the volatile consequences were representations of authority. Riots are almost always a result of a social injustice that becomes a part of a theater of violence in which the participants are acting out the underlying emotions of that injustice (Monti 42). The conflict was not representative of black-white confrontation as much as it was represented by confrontations with police and with symbols of oppression and authority which included local stores. According to Gold, â€Å"Observers attributed the Harlem riot to the fact that blacks’ opportunities and living conditions showed few signs of improvement, despite the booming wartime economy† (85). Oppression led to an outburst against that oppressive state in order to express the unequal position that was imposed upon those living in neighborhoods where hope was a limited commodity. The dynamics of the social situation was reflected in the resources that were provided by the media as the event was covered. The Kerner Commission, which was the 1968 National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, was given the task of looking at the riots that had occurred during the 20th century and at the multiple causes of difficulties that were segregating Caucasians from African Americans. Using the Harlem riot of 1943 as one example of the problems that were evolving, a report by the commission charged â€Å"the nation’s media with contributing to a culture of ignorance and prejudice that imprisoned African Americans in stereotypes and helped to foster and perpetuate the poverty and discrimination that eventually led to turmoil† (Henry 80). The specific recommendation to thwart this problem was a call to the news media to include black voices so that a mo re equitable balance of information could be heard (Henry 80). The mainstream press covered the events through perspectives that have not held up historically. According to Lubin, â€Å"the mainstream press repeatedly insisted that it was not a race riot, but rather the work of gangs of hoodlums. Some white critics argued that it was the result of racial ‘

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Nature vs Nurture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Nature vs Nurture - Essay Example Some researchers support the argument that nature is responsible for the makeup of an individual’s behavioral patterns which can be modified through interaction with society. They suggest that human beings are not happy or sad because of their environment but individuals are different from each other because of their genetic makeup granted to them by their parents. Opponents of this approach argue that the behavioral patterns have nothing to do with genes because a human being can be modified into whatever kind of a person the nurturer wants him to grow into. Part 2 My friend’s parents were both doctors and they wanted their daughter to become one too. The girl herself had very much willingness and interest toward becoming a doctor and everybody knew that she had an inborn talent and ability to excel in the field of medicine. However, when she passed her high school, she had not enough marks to get into a medical school. She took admission in a computer science universi ty and made up her mind to study hard and show to the world that she can do it. And unbelievingly, she kept on passing with good grades in a field which was just opposite to her inborn talent and abilities.

Monday, August 26, 2019

Study Guide Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Study Guide - Assignment Example However, when people from a different country relocate to that society, they find it extremely difficult to adapt to the new culture and such individuals confront many issues that may entail personality conflicts. The author, through her essay, has been able to demonstrate the problems she has encountered in becoming American and it clearly depicts how immigrants feel in an alien land. The society prescribes a high standard on outward appearances, especially in the context of females. Thus, they are forced to harbor certain notions on how a woman should look. The concept of beauty also changes as a person moves from one society to the other. In her essay, Alvarez illustrates this eloquently when she shows the sisters watching the Beauty Pageant. They actively discuss about different contestant, opining who should win and who should not. During all these, they feel themselves intimidated by the notion that they may not ever be able to win the Miss America Pageant because they are not â€Å"American.† Through the description of the inner feelings of the sisters, Alvarez provides her audience a subtle hint that the sisters do not feel â€Å"belonging† to the American culture. Their alienation becomes evident when they think that they will have to change their appearance to â€Å"English, iron and tweeze them out, straighten them, mold them into Made-in -the-USA beauty† (Alvarez Page). Jim Barnes’ poem, â€Å"Return to La Plata, Missouri,† evokes a sense of nostalgia, where the poet recalls the memories of his town, saying goodbye to it. Like many of his other poems this is also focused on the description of a place. The city, like many others around the world, has all the evils, hidden beneath its red sheath that slowly turns brown. At the first reading, a reader may not clearly understand many of the imagery and how the writer connects these to the evils that hide within the dark recesses of cities. However, a close reading makes it clear that

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Temporary Works to Superstructures (Slabs) Essay

Temporary Works to Superstructures (Slabs) - Essay Example The braking system applies friction on the tire during braking and as a result, the kinetic energy is converted to heat and sometimes noise. However, the hybrid car is so energy conservative such that it uses its energy with minimal losses. The energy is converted into electrical energy by the motor installed on the car and is stored in the battery. Thus, in place of the normal braking system of friction, the car uses the electric motor. The motor runs in the opposite direction to the tires, and in so doing acts as generator, converting the lost energy into electrical energy for storage in the battery. The earth’s potential energy The earth is another system that has got very much energy pent up within its interior. This energy manifests itself in various ways, but the most common is the earth tremors and earthquakes that are experienced. This energy moves in the earth’s interior as waves referred to as seismic waves. These waves cause the movement of the earth plates. Once these waves meet and slip over each other, the pent up energy is released promptly and is propagated to the earths surface inform of seismic waves. There are of two main types, the primary waves also called longitudinal waves and the secondary waves also called transverse. The primary waves travel faster than the secondary waves but the secondary are stronger than the primary waves. If this energy is not anticipated and happens to be very high, it causes catastrophic effects on the earth. Structures are brought down and others destroyed for good. Means of harnessing this energy have not been discovered. Electric field energy The field of electric energy has really been exploited. The law enforcement agencies have also embraced this technology and developed a very beautiful and efficient gun. These guns use battery and an inbuilt circuit to produce charges. These are connected to electrodes which when the electric field created encounters the body, disrupt the nerves electrical signals which control the body muscles, making the muscles non-active and hence the criminal is subdued easily. The charge used to produce these electrical fields is regulated such that it does not cause any harm to the criminal. Another fine advancement is the discovery of the electric fish. Fish tat produce electric fields actively are known as electrogenic fish. They achieve the separation of charge by having an electric organ. The electroplates are disk like and hence once the brain launches the message, the plates become charged by a chemical progression which is just the same as that of the nerves functioning. There are many fish that are electric but the most common are the electric eel and catfish. These fish use these electric fields for catching and subduing their prey. The fish that have strong electric fields such as the eel, whose electric field makes up to fifty percent of its body, can kill a prey instantaneously as they touch it with the electrodes. They also use the se fields for locating prey or other organisms and for communicating with each other. Some fish such as the elephant nose have weak electric fields and hence they use them for communicating only. Their electric charge is as good as that contained in the batteries. Lightening energy Lightening, usually observed as a flash of light on the sky is another form

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Assignment 12(675) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Assignment 12(675) - Essay Example Sarah, being a novice teacher, is not likely to be acquainted with the norms and practices of Elmstreet Elementary School. The problems faced due to a conflict between school culture and her teaching approaches are chanced to be high. This is because the students would be used to a different technique of teaching and a different way of classroom management. For example, if other teachers were fairly strict with their approach to discipline and a new teacher seems to be softer, students may take advantage of the leniency. This causes classroom disturbance. This certainly does not point to the teacher’s incompetence in maintaining class discipline, rather the students not being used to such an instructor. A similar situation is displayed in Sarah’s case. Another problem that may arise is of a difference in delivering the lecture. Some teachers use an interactive approach and do excessive questioning, keeping the classroom lively by cracking jokes, whereas some may be too professional. What is important in schools is to adopt a way that suits the learning process of students and keeps them under control. The role to be taken of the mentor teacher is one of a personality mentor as well as a motivational guide. As mentioned in the vignette, Sarah lacks strong personal authority. The mentor must guide Sarah towards the type of culture that prevails in the school, motivate her so that she strengthens her personal authority and advise her ways to adopt to the culture. When someone is told off for their actions or their shortcomings are pointed out by someone else, it is in our human nature to not accept it fully and possibly feel angered and belittled. The most effective self-improvement is done where a person himself identifies and accepts his/her flaws and works on a plan to improve them. Having Sarah involved in her growth plan development will help keep her motivation and self-image intact. This will make her work harder than she would have had someone else

Friday, August 23, 2019

American football Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

American football - Essay Example The game evolved as new of rules were set including the introduction of the snap, the downs concept, the neutral zone and legalization of the forward pass. The introduction of the snap caused the unexpected development of the â€Å"block game† where a team would keep hold on the ball indefinitely to keep the other team from scoring. To prevent this practice from becoming the norm, a rule change was necessary. There was the introduction of three downs or tackles to advance the ball five yards or forfeiture of ball control to the other team. The rule probably stopped the game from becoming boring and fading into the confines of other less popular sports. Rules were also developed to specify field size and a scoring system to be used by teams during play. It clear from the evolution and revision of the rules and guidelines of the game that American foot was growing to be a popular sport among many people. Professional football was first recorded when William heffelfinger was paid 500 Dollars to play a game in 1892. After that, it became apparent that there needed to be rules to govern how people handled this aspect. Fortunately, there was the rise of the NFL that has reigned over the game for a long time. Despite its disadvantages, professional play may have improved the standard of the game by making sure that only the best players compete professionally. In a team, there are three major backfield positions, namely the quarterback, the halfback and the fullback. The quarterback leads the offense and calls the plays. He usually takes the snap and may hand off the ball, throw it or run with it. Consequently, quarterbacks have sometimes been seen as the most important players in the team. The halfback or tailback usually carries the ball during running plays. He may also be a receiver. A fullback primarily acts as a blocker but may sometimes act as a runner the for short distance situations. The center leads the

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Effects of Aerobic Exercise on Heart Rate Essay Example for Free

Effects of Aerobic Exercise on Heart Rate Essay Introduction: Our bodies need to be in balance in order to function properly, and there are many ways the body maintains balance, or homeostasis. Homeostasis is the maintenance of nearly constant conditions in the internal environment. Our normal heart rate is an example of our body in homeostasis and any sort of change, or stimulus, can alter it. Exercise, adrenaline in the blood, and a low blood pH are all stimuli that increase the heart rate. Exercise, for example, stimulates stretch receptors in the muscles. These receptors then send a signal to a part of the brain called the medulla oblongata that receives the sensory input. It then in turn sends nerve impulses to the sinoatrial node in the heart. This node generates an impulse and initiates contraction of the heart at a quicker pace. Thus, the heart beats faster, which equals an increased heart rate. This is an example of a homeostasis imbalance. The heart reaches homeostasis again when exercise ceases and the heart rate drops down to its basal rate, or its rate at rest. This whole process is an example of a negative feedback cycle: a stimulus (increased heart rate) sends receptors to the control center (medulla oblongata), which then sends effectors (impulses by the vagus nerve, or the efferent pathway) to the heart to slow the heart contractions, thus reducing the heart rate and bringing it back to its basal rate. In our experiment we studied heart rate before and after a brief exercise session. Our hypothesis is exercise will increase the heart rate, and a negative feedback mechanism will occur to restore the heart rate back to its normal basal rate. Materials: Stop watch, metronome, stairs Methods: †¢Eight subjects took their own resting, or basal, heart rate for 15 seconds while standing up. Some subjects chose to take their heart rate at their carotid artery, and some took their pulse using their radial artery. This number was multiplied by 4 to get beats per minute. This is how all heart rate measurements were taken throughout the experiment. †¢Subjects did exercise session. They walked down 57 stairs and then back up those same 57 stairs for a total of 104 stair steps. This was done at a pace of 85 beats per minute. The whole session took 1 minute 45 seconds. †¢Subjects immediately took their heart rate after they completed the exercise. †¢After 1 minute of completing the exercise, subjects measured their heart rate again. This was done at 1 minute intervals for a total of 5 heart rate measurements after completing the exercise. †¢All together, subjects took 6 heart rate measurements: 1 before the exercise, and then 5 after the exercise. Data/Results: See attached graph and table. Conclusion/Discussion: The data shows that heart rate increases during and after exercise and begins to drop back down close to the basal rate after rest. The heart progressively decreases after each minute of rest. Our results show a negative feedback mechanism was used to control the heart rate after exercise. The increased heart rate stimulated the medulla oblongata which sent impulses to the sinoatrial node of the heart to slow down contractions and decrease the heart rate. Different subjects had differences in the time it took for their heart rate to drop after the exercise, but heart rate decreased nonetheless. Overall, our hypothesis was shown to be correct from the experiment. We chose the heart rate as our variable because it is easy to measure and gives clear results. We predicted that the heart would increase after a brief exercise session, and our results matched that prediction. As for other experiments, we could perform different activities or tasks and measure our hear t rate after those. We could even hold a serious/heated discussion and see if heart rate is affected in an intense conversation. There are many different things you could do to test heart rate, as exercise is just one example. Data: Each subject and their heart rate at certain time interval: SubjectBefore exercise0 minutes rest1 min. rest2 min. rest3 min. rest4 min. rest 1100 BPM120 BPM104 BPM104 BPM104 BPM104 BPM 2120160156156152148 37210076807672 47212080727272 596136124120100100 66812072727680 76011664646464 86816084888084 Summary statement: Heart rate increases during and after exercise and begins to drop back down close to the basal rate after rest. Citations Heart Rate Regulation in Humans. (2010, January 23). The Student Room. Retrieved August 24, 2013, from http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php%3Ft%3D1059551%26page%3D45q=esrc=sei=EEIuUtiHKMKUiQL86YDQDQusg=AFQjCNGj9jN4mV3pDlB7dF1yuUm0gn81gA

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

The Relationship Between Human and Nature Essay Example for Free

The Relationship Between Human and Nature Essay After reading the article in our text book Is weather getting worse, I learn that despite of the increased disasters brought about by bad weather, scientists are hesitant to say the weather is getting worse for lack of strong data to prove the statement. As harsh weather happens infrequently, it is difficult for scientists to come up with enough scientifically sound statistics. Besides, even if they had good numbers, the present computer resolution is still too coarse to be able to make definite predictions. Although the hypothesis that global warming is to blame for harsh weather arouses wide attention among scientists, no one can provide enough evidence to prove it. El Nino is the periodic warming of the equatorial Pacific that induces storms and other climatic events, historically occurs once every three or seven years and lasts for up to two years. It can cause storms, floods, droughts, and secondary effects like fires. I also referred to some other articles about human and nature, one of which is called The Role of Animal-derived Remedies as Complementary Medicine in Brazil. In this article, they report on the use of 283 medicinal animal species in Brazil, 96% of which are wild caught and 27% of which are on one or more lists of endangered species. Further population declines may limit users’access to these bioresources and diminish the knowledge base upon which traditional medicine is built. Though largely different, these articles lead me to think of the relationship between human and nature. I am a girl deeply in love with nature, the plants, the animals, the rivers, the mountains, and I have a date with the grassland. When I was 10 years old, I was shocked by the breath-taking beauty of the intriguing grassland on TV, hoping that one day I could ride on a fine horse gallopping across the vast plain. Now I am 20 years old and not a long time later, I will be armed with enough time and money to travel to the grassland. But I am worried. I am afraid that the grassland will disappear totally before I am able to embrace it because of human beings cruel activity of destroying nature. It is widely known that nature, the environment which human beings live by, s magnificent and unique. There is only one earth with super living conditions in the universe. We should have cherished nature and preserved it. Conversely, however, we have been continually spoiling it, even to a shocking degree. Now lets see what we have done. Thousands of trees have been cut down per year, which has caused soil erosion. Hundreds of thousands of tons of CFCS have been left in the higher sky in the last decade which has led to the ozone layer leak above the South Pole that covers an area of that of the United States. Million tons of fuel containing nitrogen and sulphur have been consumed per year, which has eventually resulted in acid rain throughout the world. Similarly, ecology has been affected as well. And considerable number of species have been extinct. As the years go by, many creatures, common in the past, are becoming less and less, even rare. The Tibet antelope, for instance, is a good example. Since the antelopes of Tibet have a part of fur on their body which can be made into a precious cape, driven by some lawless dealers many villagers killed antelopes excessively and shocking for the large suns of fortune. Because of this, the number of the antelopes of Tibet has sharply fallen from over one million to less than one hundred thousand. And whats more, the number has now decreased by 20 thousand per year. Qing Zang Platean, which was their homeland, is their tombs now. This is how nature has suffered what we have done to it. However, nature cant suffer any more. She lost her temper and could no longer possibly put up with humans. She gave humans harsh punishment, which she thought they deserved. The acid rain has caused the less of more than 100 billion dollars throughout the world per year. And because of desertisation, soil is becoming more and more barren. The soil of many planes is now until for growing plants. The air is less fresh, and a lot of people even get many strange diseases. The acid rain has caused the loss of more than 100 billion dollars throughout the world per year. And because of desertisation, soil is becoming more and more barren. The air is less fresh, and a lot of people even get many strange diseases. Those are all the punishments of nature to humans pollution. On the other hand, human being suffer a lot as well. The period from now to the year of 2080, the global average temperature will rise by 2-4 centigrades. 1100-3200 million people will have trouble in getting safe and clean drinking water. 200-600 million people will be threatened with starvation. 200-700 million residents of the coastal regions will suffer catastrophic floods and waterlogging. So it leads to a serious of questions Why cant we live harmoniously with nature? Why cant we set a balance between human and nature? Why cant we pay more attention to nature and try to reserve it? Therefore, before we take immediate measures to do something, we should be aware of the fact that Conquering nature will never be our goal, instead, we should look on nature as our intimate friend. Preserving nature is not only preserving our home, but the civilization of human community as well. My dear friends, lets do something to protect our earth, our home. Lets reserve a blue sky for the birds, a piece of ice for the polar bears, a body of water for the fish and a grassland for me to travel to.

Reading Habits Among Student Of Faculty Information Management Education Essay

Reading Habits Among Student Of Faculty Information Management Education Essay Proverb says reading is warehouse of knowledge. By reading we can get a number of knowledge and information that is being developed or have evolved though. Anyway, all is never separated from the act of reading. In particular, the student or students for these jobs require them to read. That is read, read, and continue readings. As a hunter of science, the book is a major source of knowledge for them. Hence, reading something that is very important in our lives if we want to succeed in life. There are lots of understanding about the reading by some of the figures. Among Klein, ddk (in Faridah Rahim, 2005: 3) that make the definition of reading includes: first, reading is a process. The point is the information from the text and the knowledge possessed by the reader has a key role in the form of questions. According to Harris and Sipay (1980) described the process of reading as a process for the interpretation of the meaning of the symbols printed or written. In addition, Kenedy (1981) also defines reading as the ability to detect a visual form (graphic symbols that represent the language and the writing or words), connecting it with the form of sound or meaning of the note and then based on past experience, understand and interpret its meaning. For Mohairaini Yusoff (1989), has concluded the process of reading as a complex treatment and cannot be observed. Only two components of the agreed key skills inherent in the reading skills of skills to recognize and condemn the w ords and the skills to understand what is read. Reading is something that should be in our lives as human beings as long as we live on this Gods earth. Reading is the roots strength of an individual, but of a nation and a country. Without someone to read that there would be no knowledge or experience, without the knowledge and experience of how someone is able to govern or to lead a country and family. Therefore, reading is something very important in life if we want to succeed. In addition, reading is a science which is important to us. Many forms of knowledge can be gained by reading habits, but the reading can improve a person thinking and enhance their skills or expertise in any field of endeavor. Reading also benefited as the reading we can fill the free time and with these we will not waste time with things that are not useful as is happening now is like illegal racing activity, loitering, and so forth. In fact, reading can calm the mind and reduce the burden and to read, we can disseminate the knowledge gained from reading to others. Now we can also read and heard through the mass media in our country Malaysia, the ministry tried to set up various programs to encourage people to read because we are Malaysian government is aware that people are not reading less knowledgeable, and this will affect the performance of our country. Among the programs are held at each school talks about the importance of reading to enhance knowledge, sales day books, NILAM program at the school, the programs readers and many programs have been organized. This program is held by the ministry in collaboration with the NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MALAYSIA and also the school. From here we can see the importance of reading to the individual, especially the students and students of higher education. To get a good future they must have a high knowledge and to get the high knowledge they must reading and have reading habits inside them. They must think reading is not just to fulfill their field in their study but they must think reading is to make a knowledge that is really treasure for them. Here we will know the higher education student skill in reading. This means that how they read, for what they read and how they interpret their reading into study or their works. Beside that we also can know the important of reading for the higher education student. How the faculties keep their student in reading habits and what programs that already being handled to keep the student reading. ORGANIZATION BACKGROUND The research of mine will be conducted in Universiti Teknologi MARA, Campus Puncak Perdana, Shah Alam. My research scope will be among student of Faculty Information Management (FPM). UITM was establishing on 14 October 1967 by Tun Abdul Razak and by the mid-70s, but at that time the campus was already in full operation. Now UITM have 26 campuses. It is including UITM Campus Puncak Perdana. Campus Puncak Perdana was establish in the year of 2005.There are 3 Faculty in this campus, it is Faculty Information Management, Faculty Account, and Faculty Technology Creative and Artistic. Faculty of Information Management, UiTM, takes pride in being the pioneer in providing professional education to fulfill the manpower need of the country in three very important fields, namely: Information Management, Library Management, and Records Management. Our academic programmes, supplemented by industry attachments, equip graduates with knowledge and skills to take on the challenging demands of managing information in various forms and in various types of organizations. Our graduates become the main driving force for the development of a knowledge-based society, transforming Malaysia into a developed nation, ensuring that the countryà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s rich reservoirs of knowledge are systematically organized, maintained and enhanced for optimum value. To achieve this aim, the programmes consist of the blended components from four main areas: Information Technologies, Professional and Technical Aspects of Information and Records Management, Public Relations, and Usersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ Needs and Services. To achieve the goal of the Information Management Faculty, the student must active reading and they must have the skill to manage their reading, information, knowledge, information literacy, become the information proficiency and many more. The student must have good reading habits to become the skilled persons. Having good reading habits will make them professional in this field. The students also know how to handle the information from overload because they have skills because of their habits in reading. Although, Faculty of Information Management produces good workers on manage the information and they also produce the librarian. So, here they need to produce a program to increase the reading habits among students. Before they can conduct program, they must have the reading habit. From this they can conduct and handle student and people to have reading habits and they can give their experience on reading habits. PROBLEM STATEMENT Reading habits is very important to students especially student in higher education. They need to read more than other people. This is because students have to read to broaden their knowledge. Not to read just for school assignments, but read to give them knowledge. With this knowledge, they can complete their tasks quickly and have knowledge of their contents. In addition, reading can also prepare students to stand up and speak in front of the class, especially in the presentation works. Without reading difficult for them to speak fluently to describe the contents of their hard work and also to answer questions raised by colleagues and lecturers. Therefore, we have the knowledge to read high. However, the students reading is just to finish their assignment not for keep their knowledge. They think that finish their assignment is more important than reading for knowledge. This can give impact to the students and also to the faculty. This is because the faculty of Information Management wants to produce the workers that have a quality and having knowledge in manages information, without reading is it hard to produce this kind of workers. After the student finish their studies, they will go for works, if they not works as what the employer want this can give impact for Faculty. Employer would dispute the ability faculty in produce are capable students in the world of works. In this field of studies, need the student read more than often because from reading student will know about the management of information and what they need to do. The first problem in this area is lack awareness about the important of reading. Reading habits can give them more knowledge not only in studies but also knowledge about worlds. The second problem is students are always narrowed in reading minds. They can only be read if asked or to complete their assignment. In fact, they prefer to read scientific material about such gossip. The third problem is the limited collection materials in the library and the lack of Internet services. When there are limited collections of materials in the library so students refer to not go to library and also they will read this limited collection and this will occur problem on student reading habits. Lack of using the internet or browsing internet the student will get not enough information and they will get limited information and this will make they have a limited knowledge. The forth problem is student easy to feel bored in reading especially read books and article without any picture. They refer to read the visual form of reading materials. This kind of reading concept would not make the student feel bored easily. Besides that, visual material of reading will help the student to faster remember their readings. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES The objectives of this study are as follows: To investigate the student awareness about the important of reading. To investigate frequency of student go to library. To investigate the materials of the student often to read and borrowed from library. To investigate the using of the internet by student; is that they use the internet to learn, reading or something else. To investigate is there any program being handle at the faculty to attract the student to go library and read; is it the student attend the program. RESEARCH QUESTION The research questions of this study are as follow: What is the purpose of reading for student? What is the frequency of the student come to library? How often the student come to reading program handle by the faculty and library? How much the materials that student read per day and how many material they borrowed from library? What the material the student often use to read and study; internet or printed materials? SCOPE OF THE RESEARCH The scope of this study is about the reading habits among student of Faculty of Information Management. How important reading habits in order to fulfill the career as a student, need of the student and ths will plays a big rle to produce the quality works and leading to successful academic person. This research is being conduct among student in Faculty of Information Management, Universiti Teknologi MARA, campus Puncak Perdana. The scope of this study are limited to two main areas, which is the contents of the study that is base on the title and the location of the study which is I have chose in Faculty of Information Management Campus Puncak Perdana, UITM, Shah Alam. The study of this research covers several elements. The elements are how often student go to library to make a reading for them self, how much materials they read per day, what kind material they read, and their ability in reading. The respondents for this study comprises of the students in Faculty Information Management and in this faculty there are four courses, IM220 (Library Science Management), IM221 (Information Systems Management), IM222 (Records Management), and IM223 (Resource Centers Management). This faculty located at University Teknologi MARA, Campus Puncak Perdana, Seksyen U10, Shah Alam. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK Independent Variable Dependent Variable Reading Skill Reading Habits Material Library services Reading Habits Program MATERIAL READING SKILL READING HABITS READING HABITS PROGRAM LIBRARY SERVICES FIGURE 1: THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK RELATIONSHIP INDEPENDENT VARIABLES AND DEPENDENT VARIABLES The conceptual framework indicates the relationship which consists of the dependent and independent variables. The framework denotes the four variables which causes to single variable which were affected by the independent variable. Reading habits is dependent variable, variance in which to be explained by the four independent variables which are reading skill, materials, library services, and reading habits programs. The independent variables in this case are reading habits skills, materials, library services, and reading habit programs. Thus, it is very important of the reading habits in produce the good future and ability in works, also can make a higher knowledge. On the other hand, the dependent variable is the reading habits. It can be seen clearly that the independent variables have influenced the dependent variable. This research indicate and elaborate clearly that the reading skill, materials, library services and reading habit programs in student life as an independent variables that will affect and support the student life, works and student futures by having the reading habits among themselves as a dependent variables. OPERATIONAL DEFINITION Reading Habits According to North Regional Education Laboratory, definition of reading is, for many years, three basic definitions of reading have driven literacy programs in the United States (Foertsch, 1998). According to the first definition, learning to read means learning to pronounce words. According to the second definition, learning to read means learning to identify words and get their meaning. According to the third definition, learning to read means learning to bring meaning to a text in order to get meaning from it. But, according to the free dictionary, reading is the act or activity of one that reads. The definition of habits according to dictionary.com is, habits are an acquired behavior pattern regularly followed until it has become almost involuntary: the habit of looking both ways before crossing the street. Habits also can be define as a particular practice, custom, or usage, a dominant or regular disposition or tendency; prevailing character or quality. From both definition we can understand that reading habits is the act or activity of one that reads acquired behavior pattern as regularly followed until it has become almost involuntary.

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Essay --

Critical analysis â€Å"A man would never set out to write a book on the peculiar situation of the human male. But if I wish to define myself I must first of all say: ‘I am a woman’; on this truth must be based all further discussion. A man never being by presenting himself as an individual of a certain sex; it goes without saying that he is a man. The terms masculine and feminine are used symmetrically only as a matter of form, as on legal papers. In actuality the relation of the two sexes is not quite like that of two electrical poles, for man represents both the positive and the neutral, as is indicated by the common use of man to designate human beings in general; whereas woman represents only the negative, defined by limiting criteria, without reciprocity†¦.Thus humanity is male and man defines woman not in herself but as relative to him; she is not regarded as an autonomous being †¦He is the Subject, he is the Absolute- she is the Other†. This pie ce of writing is taken from the book ‘Y: The Descent of Men’ by Steve Jones published in 2002, Little, Brown. This was written originally by de Beauvoir in The Second Sex, that is later elaborated both in the context and the meaning by Jones. The historical context of the writing follows the academic feminism as an interdisciplinary proposition that is deep rooted in a sort of â€Å"political reality that challenges confinement to one particular discipline†. Consequently, philosophies and principles â€Å"which developed from the 1960s onwards were shared as feminist philosophers, historians, literary therorists, anthropologists, sociologists, cultural theorists and others, engaged in a project that had a common political background – to take action against women's subordination. The genesis of fe... ...of the 1970s and early 1980s. In anthropology this concept has never lost its value, as many societies do not allow unfamiliar men to interact with their women†. Endnotes Y: The Descent of Men by Steve Jones2002, Little, Brown. Reviewed by D. M. Procida Human Nature Review 3 (2003) 67-71, Available at http://human-nature.com/nibbs/03/sjones.html, Accessed 10/05/03 Peggy Reeves Sanday / Ruth G. Goodenough (eds.) (1990): Beyond the Second Sex. New Directions in the Anthropology of Gender. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Heidi Armbruster (2000) Feminist Theories and Anthropology, Available at http://www.polylog.org/lit/1.2/re2-en.htm, Accessed 10/05/03 Rayna Reiter (ed.) (1975): Toward an Anthropology of Women. New York: Monthly Review Press. Michelle Z. Rosaldo / L. Lamphere (1974): Woman, Culture, and Society. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Monday, August 19, 2019

The Good Death - :: essays research papers

Terrorism is a highly effective tool in getting worldly attention but if we increase the punishments we can then decrease the amount of terrorism. In order to stop terrorism we need to understand what terrorism is. 'Terrorism is the unlawful use or threat of violence against persons or property to further political or social objectives (The Vice President's Task Force on Combating Terrorism, pg. 17).'; Terrorist can use many different approaches. Sometimes they give warnings and sometimes they don't. The best ways to solve terrorism is by understanding the reasons behind it, ending publicity for it, and increasing securitiy measures for it.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Terrorism is used to change a groups political or social objectives. 'It is generally intended to intimidate or coerce a governments, individuals or groups to modify their behavior or policies (The Vice President's Task Force on Combating Terrorism, pg. 17).'; Violence is its main ley in obtaining this change. Terrorist aim at the entire population. Which increases their chance of change. There id do much terrorism due to its unnecessary success. Terrorism has become out of hand. 'Terrorism has become the accepted model for the modern use of force, with terrorists them selves often enjoying more moral credibility than the democratic stated they are trying to bring down (McGurn, William, pg.91).'; By allowing the terrorist to become more popular than their government it creates a even more hectic situation. This needs to change or the terrorists acts will only increase.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Terrorism is a strategy used because it has no rules. This makes it vary useful due to it having no restrictions at all. 'Whereas nuclear weapons are means that can be shaped according to human will and strategies, terrorism rejects the foundation of all Western ethics: the conviction that even the noble cause has limits (McGurn, William, pg.94).'; Since there is no rules there is no limit to how far a terrorist can take his act. To contradict them having no rules we need to put up limits on what we allow them to do. If they want to protest against something or some government the best way to actually get results is by non-violent acts.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Terrorism right now has a lesser punishment that that of the same criminal act. It seems that just because they have a reason they can put others at risk. If your a terrorist you have a little respect because you are standing up for what you believe in.

Sunday, August 18, 2019

California History :: American America History

California History 1. EPIC EPIC is the Educational Participation in Communities. This organization involves students as volunteers in the fight against poverty and social neglect in local communities. The goal is social awareness and student involvement. It says that poverty, neglect, and social inequity are a growing reality for millions of people in America. Families are losing their homes, people can't find good jobs, children go hungry, and education in the inner-city is a disaster. There is a is problem because the public and community programs that serve as a safety net to assist such populations are strained beyond their capacity and are usually understaffed and under-funded. Since they cannot do the job without help, EPIC helps. It recruits college students to do volunteer work in schools, hospitals, community centers, legal aid, probation, youth agencies, and other and public service programs. EPIC volunteers provide thousands of volunteer hours to the community. 2. Earl Warren Earl Warren was a political leader. He was a governor of California, but he is remembered as the chief justice who led the Supreme Court of the United States when it made big changes in civil rights laws and in criminal procedures. Warren was a liberal Republican, and he was born in Los Angeles, California. He was elected attorney general of California in 1938. During his four years in office he gained standing as a strong enemy of racketeers. He was elected governor of California in 1942. His progressive policies won him bipartisan support and he was reelected as governor in 1946 and 1950. He was seen as an activist on the Supreme Court, as well as a liberal. 3. Pat Brown Pat Brown was the governor of California. He was elected two times, for two terms (12 years total). He was a Democrat. He thought that nobody could beat him, but the Republican, Ronald Reagan, beat him in the 1966 election. Brown had good policies, and by 1962 California had a booming economy and the largest population of any US state. Brown generously funded social programs that were a factor to the state's prosperity. He enlarged the University of California system, and he built many water projects. During Brown's two terms a governor, the California legislature passed some of the most progressive civil rights laws in the US. 4. Ronald Reagan In 1966 Ronald Reagan beat Pat Brown by a landslide in the election for California governor.

Saturday, August 17, 2019

Brand Personality Assessment of Royal Enfield Essay

Introduction Manufactured in Redditch, UK, the Bullet was the culmination of designs that date back to 1933. The classic 350 cc model made its debut at the Earl’s Court motor show in 1948 and was an immediate success. Its big brother, the 500 cc came along later, in 1953. In 1955, a satellite factory was established in Madras, India, to meet demands from the Indian Army. When the UK factory closed in 1970, the Madras plant continued production. In 1994, Enfield India was acquired by the large engineering group, Eicher, which has since made a number of improvements to the bike. However, despite these, its distinctive appearance remains unchanged and provides an opportunity to enjoy the privilege of riding a â€Å"classic† reproduction bike. First World War (1911–1920) Inter-war years (1921–1939) Second World War (1939–1945) 1913 Enfield 425cc 1923 Royal Enfield 225cc 1941 Royal Enfield 250cc Royal Enfield in Nepal All the Royal Enfield motorcycle in Nepal is imported from India by Dugar Brothers and Sons. It is manufactured in Chennai, India and by 2013 its Pune branch will also start manufacturing and the facility will be of same capacity. Currently 70,000 to 75,000 units of motorcycle are manufactured in a year. Dugar Brothers and Sons is the sole distributor of Royal Enfield in Nepal. It branches are in Kathmandu, Narayanghat, Birgunj, Nepalgunj and Biratnagar. Among these branches Narayanghat and Biratnagar branch has the highest number of sales. It has many distributors spread around the nation. Among all the branches and distributor the most number of Royal Enfield motorcycle is sold by the dealer in Pokhara and dealer in Butwal’s sales volume is the second highest. The highest number of sales is usually during festival season. Royal Enfield Bullet Electra/classic 350 cc are the two most selling brand here in Nepal and the same product of 500 cc is the second highest selling Royal Enfield bike. Royal Enfield’s most popular brand of today is Bullet and it is often taken as synonymous to Royal Enfield. And this is the only bike in the 350 cc and 500 cc segment of bike here in Nepal. And thunderbird segment is least popular and not sold currently. Royal Enfield was first manufactured in England more than hundred years ago. It has a long legacy and a war history as this motorcycle was used in both first and second world war. It has always been perceived as a quality product and it has been able to retain the same perception even after a century and it has been able to position itself as a Luxurious, Premium and a quality product. Royal Enfield’s target customers for Nepal are upper middle and upper class segment. It faces competition from new brands like KTM Duke, VR and others sports bikes. But it has its own set of loyal customer and these competitors are of very little threat to them as the model and performance both vary largely from other bikes. It is a premi um brand and its part and maintenance cost is high as well and it even consumes more fuel as its millage is about 20-25 Km per liter of petrol and petrol in Nepal is expensive too. It is a luxurious item for Nepalese people and hardly used by a middle class commuters. There is no age limit for the product like Royal Enfield Motorcycle as people from teen to older generation of 45 and above still have the love for the bike. Customers of this bike can be adventure rider, traveler, once that have the love for classic things or admirer of a legacy it carries. Royal Enfield has become very popular among the youngsters of Nepal. They seem to prefer this brand among other. Although it does not have a proper showroom in city area where most bike showrooms are located instead it has only one show room inside the industrial state of Kathmandu but still it has been selling the same unit of bike as it used to when it had its showroom in New Baneshwor as well. Its market share is only about 1% of total market share in the two wheeler segment. People buying Bullet usually find the place to buy the bike as it is a premium product here in Nepal and people generally come prepared through research in internet visiting www.royalenfield.com of India and as same bikes are imported and sold here in Nepal adequate information can be gathered from there and they find the place to buy the bike through friends and relatives or from NTC call centre which will provide the phone number of the distribution centre on demand. The point of difference for the Royal Enfield with other two wheeler motorcycle is its physical strength, quality assurance, retro look and traditional system still incorporated and above all it is the oldest two wheeler company. The price of the motorcycle is not over charged as well for the segment of the bike it lies in. Royal Enfield has not changed with advancement of the technology. This bike is still very similar to the bike that was produces decades ago. But this is what customer mostly like about the brand and it even has even advertised its classic chrome saying â€Å"old school magic, recreated† and this brand has really done well in the market in terms of sales. Nut there is still that segment in the market that would like to own a Royal Enfield but want it with a change and new technology incorporated; keeping this in mind Royal Enfield has come up with a Thunder Bird 500 cc with led light, double disk brakes and other various changes which will soon enter the Nep ali market as well. There are various clubs like Nasa Bullet Club (managed by distributor themselves), Himalayan Enfield and Sector Summit in Nepal that unites Royal Enfield owners and organizes tours and rally. These rally and tour are also a source of promotion and it has been able to lure more customers to the showroom. People like to get associated in such events and to do so they even buy the motorcycle. When other clubs organize such events the distributors mostly participate through sponsorship. They participate in different auto show like NADA Auto Show. They publish print advertisement in popular national daily newspaper every fortnight and even influence some magazines to cover a story of the Royal Enfield. They do not do television commercials but appear in programs like Wheel Factor in news 24 where over all description of the motorcycle is given. The main reason for the company not being able to tap all the potential market is its age old technology which requires special knowledge for the maintenance of the Motorcycle. Customers have different types of problem and most number of customer complain is about the limited number of service centre which makes it very difficult for customer to have their motorcycle repaired and moreover private workshop owner are not capable to repair the bike as it has a very complex engine, and its engineering is also very different from other motorcycles of today which make it very difficult for every motorcycle mechanic to have idea to repair the motorcycle so customers had suggested them to have service centers in different location rather than having a single service centre. Keeping this in mind the Dugar Brother and Sons even had a workshop and training program for the existing workshop owner and the interested new people who want to open a motorcycle workshop. The training was for free and it had a good number of enthusiasts joining the program. Customer’s attitude towards Royal Enfield I had interviewed few Royal Enfield owners and there was mixed comments on the motorcycle. Pride, power and superiority was something that everyone pointed out. They were satisfied with the functionality aspect of the bike and loved the sound emitted by the bike. On asking what made them buy the bike I found out that it was the retro look of the bike, the sound it emits, the powerful engine and the pride that comes with the bike. they even shared their experience they had joining different tours from Royal Enfield owners club, they found such tours very interesting and exciting as they would mostly travelling in a group and in the rest point they would have various activities for entertainment and they could socialize with the likeminded people on the tour as well. Riding Royal Enfield gives them a certain level of satisfaction, joy, pride, excitement and confidence. They said it was very comfortable on a highway; bike really gets lighter as you race it and even turning will be easy. The main problem that everyone indicated was the limited number of service centers and workshops. People have faced many problem due to unavailability of service centers that could fix the Royal Enfield bike and due to the complex nature of bike every mechanic cannot repair and maintain the bike thus the owners really gets in trouble when there is problem in the bike as they have to take the bike to some limited number of service center of Royal Enfield. They said it would be better if the bike adopts some new technology like led headlights, fuel indicators, tubeless wheel etc but without changing the appearance, as it has already introduced self start on the bike and is of huge success. Another well recognized problem was the high maintenance cost and expensive parts of the Royal Enfield. Where normal bikes that run in the street of Kathmandu run on an average of 1 liter engine oil it needs 2.5 liters which makes the regular maintenance cost double the cost of normal bike. Moreover the costly part that is not readily available and takes long lead time for arrival and the labor c ost associated with it is also higher making it more expensive to keep and maintain. It is because of this reasons people despite their outmost love for the bike had to sell their beloved possession, and some don’t even buy the product when they know all these about the product. Positioning of Royal Enfield as a brand Royal Enfield has positioned itself as a premium brand in Nepal and targeted upper middle and above class of people but it is actually for middle class people in India. It is perceived as a quality product. Although it is made in India people because of the age old legacy it carries people are confident on its performance and quality. It is targeted for travel enthusiasts and adventure riders more than for daily commuters. Although its price with reference to its engine cc is not that high its spare parts and maintenance cost is definitely high which makes it more attractive to the upper middle and above class of people. It spends very less in advertisement and promotion, still people find their ways to learn about the bike and buy it even if they have to search for the vendor. People find pride in owning the bike. There are different clubs started by the authorized dealer and likeminded people who love to ride and own the bike. FINDINGS Aaker’s Brand Personality Scale A sample size of 16 responded were asked to fill the questionnaire, which included the five major factors (i.e. sincerity, excitement, competence, sophistication and ruggedness) with their underlining facets as suggested by the Aaker’s model. Respondents were asked to rate how descriptive each personality trait was for Royal Enfield on a 7 point scale (1being extremely not descriptive & 7 being extremely descriptive). The summary of the result is shown below Factors| Ratings | Sincerity| 1.0555| Excitement| 1.6420| Competence| 1.3203| Sophistication| 0.9687| Ruggedness| 1.8125| From the obtained result we can say that Royal Enfield as a brand has received high scores on all except the sophistication. The reason behind the brand to score low point in the sophistication factor might be because the customers are actually looking for the age old traditional antic bike which has very less modification to its original design thus making it less sophisticated and people like it that way. Projective Technique Here in the research I have used a comparison task to uncover the true feelings of the respondent about the brand. The respondents were asked to compare Royal Enfield with animal, activity, car, music, perfume, profession, sports, emotion and fabric and provide reason for their selection as well. Royal Enfield and animal Most of the respondent has compared the Royal Enfield with animals like Lion, Tiger, Rhinoceros, Giraffe and Dog. The highest number of respondent however has compared the brand with Lion because of its appearance, its power and king’s status in jungle and the roar which is comparable with the sound emitted by the bike. It is compared with tiger looking at its strength and toughness. Rhinoceros was mostly selected for classic and huge body of the bike. One respondent has even compared the bike with dog keeping the sound in mind he has compared it with the dogs barking. Royal Enfield and car Royal Enfield has been compared with different cars. The highest number of respondent has compared Royal Enfield with beetle because of its classic look. The respondents have a feeling that Royal Enfield is classy and are totally different from other bikes. Similarly, it has been compared with several other cars like Hummer, Ferrari, and BMW because of its sound and advanced technology. Royal Enfield and occupation All the respondents have come up with an individual occupation. Fashion Stylist as an occupation is somewhat mentioned by most of them. Royal Enfield however is compared to Fashion icon because of its classy, antique look and because of its individuality. Moreover, Royal Enfield is also compared to the job of Army, engineer, drilling mining because of the effort and power it possess. Royal Enfield and Sport The highest number of respondents has compared Royal Enfield to Football because of the enthusiasm and excitement it possesses while playing it. Moreover, Golf is the next highest sports that have been compared to Royal Enfield because of its nature. The respondents has revealed that playing golf shows your standard similarly riding Royal Enfield shows your Status and shows your living standard. Royal Enfield has been somewhat been compared to bike racing, ping pong, rugby, swimming, Marathon and Baseball. Royal Enfield and TV Show The highest respondents compared Royal Enfield to a TV show† FRIENDS† and â€Å" How I Met Your Mother†, which has revealed some different opinion towards Royal Enfield, which says that these shows makes you feel so attached to each other and so delighted everytime you watch it, likewise riding Enfield gives you the same feeling of delightness and attachment .One of the respondent has compared Enfield to a show ‘ Mind Your Language’ where the show makes you laugh loud and this laughter has been compared to the sound that Enfield emits. Similarly, Enfield has also been compared to a show like ‘Kofee with Karan’ where I see no relevance . Moreover other shows like Larry King Show, X-factor, Pimp my ride has been compared to the Royal Enfield. Royal Enfield and Perfume Most of the respondents have compared Enfield to ‘GUCCI’ because of its unique fragrance and its brand which depicts that Enfield has its own uniqueness in every other way. Moreover, Enfield has also been compared to AXE because of its strong attachment. Enfield has also been compared to other Perfumes like VERSACE, Channel, Playboy, Hugo Boss, Brut, Euphoria because of its masculinity. Royal Enfield and Fabric Some of the respondents have mentioned silk because of its softness and smoothness and some have compared Enfield with RUG which depicts its roughness meaning the bike is rough and tough. Some other respondents have mentioned that Enfield should be compared to such a fabric which shows its masculine power being very tough one. Some have compared Enfield with leather jackets and some have compared it with Wool and Raymond. Royal Enfield and Emotion The highest number of respondent has compared Enfield with happiness which reveals the fact that riding Enfield makes you feel happy and pleasant. Most of the respondent also has compared Enfield with aggression and violence as the bike itself shows the attitude and the aggression. In a nutshell, Royal Enfield is viewed as a tough bike with the class of its own having features totally different from other bikes. Many respondents seemed to like Enfield because of its classy look, because of the sound it produces, its individuality and the attitude it possess. Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique (ZMET) ZMET is used to have an understanding of how brand is perceived by the customers. The study is conducted with 5 participants who were shown the collage of pictures related to the brand and asked to follow the following steps to bring out their true feelings about the brand. Step 1: The participants were asked to describe the content of the pictures. Step 2:The Participants were then asked to describe the pictures that they thought would be appropriate and asked to explain its relevance. Step 3:The Participants were then asked to sort the images into three meaningful groups and provide a label or description for each group. Step 4: The respondents were then asked to indicate the most representative picture among the 12 pictures. Step 5: The respondents were then asked to indicate the picture that signifies the opposite of the brand. Step 6: The participants were then asked to indicate what does or doesn’t describe the Royal Enfield in terms of color, emotion, sound, smell, taste, and touch. Step 7: Participants were then asked to create a mental map using constructs and relationships. Step 8: Participants were then asked to create a summary image with a final story. After collecting the responses I found out that people related these pictures do reflect the image of Royal Enfield. They found pictures to be rough and tough, cool, showed some attitude, bad boys, junky, biker, loud, stylish, masculine, strength, classy and legendary. Most of the respondents felt that had I included something related with the bike tours and antique bikes as this brand is closely related with bike tours and carries age old history with it. Most of the respondent arranged pictures like bike and its parts in one group and labeled it like cool bikes, antique pieces, old school etc. pictures of bull skull, sword, key rings etc were mostly placed in different group and labeled as bad boys toys, strength and masculine, classy and dangerous. Pictures of jacket, shoes, gloves etc were grouped in one group and labeled as harness, protection, save with speed. Most of the respondent did not find the picture of helmet and leg guard to be related as they felt it off the beat whereas they felt jacket, flag and antique bike to be most related with the bike. On asking the participant to construct a mental map they made up a story using these pictures and made a story full of actions and adventure, some were a lead character in the story and some were just a spectator. Fournier Brand Typology Fournier has indentified fifteen different types of relation a customer can have with a particular brand. Among these fifteen my relationship with Royal Enfield would be Committed Partnership. I wanted to own Royal Enfield bike since very long. I love the sound that the bike emits, its appearance and except for the complex engine structure that needs specially trained mechanic to fix it I love everything about the bike. Even though the bike makes loud sound it is not disregarded in the society and moreover the sound is high only when the bike is started and as it starts to run it gets smoother and emits lower sound. With the century long legacy and a history that beats all the two wheelers of the world trust over bike is definitely high. Its performance on both off road and black top road is very good and could be trusted to function very well even in adverse situation like low temperature. It gives a different feel when I ride it, I feel like I rule the street itself. Conclusion and Recommendation Royal Enfield as a brand has still not lost its charm among the youngsters even after a century of its operation. It has tried to position itself as a bike for a bike lover, a premium brand and a quality product. It has targeted the upper middle class and above class of people, but there is no as such age bracket of people that are targeted as people of different age from teen to old tend to like the bike. It has captured a large share of bike market in the upper middle and above class segment. It follows a differentiation strategy and focuses itself to the specific target market only. The bike is a sole player in the 350 cc and 500cc segment of bike in Nepal. Its age old legacy has been able to attract a good pool of enthusiast to its show room although its presence in the market is not that visible. People generally investigate well ahead and make contact to the showroom via various sources like from NTC call centre, asking people who own the bike etc. People also perceive it to be a premium brand. People mostly associate it with long tour, loudness, biker, bad boys, adventures and masculinity. It still has the power to stand out from the crowd of bike. People like the classic look and features that the bike offers but some small changes like led headlights, disk brakes etc are suggested by the customer, but largely it is preferred in its original state. Various programs like bike tour and different events are organized by the different clubs like Himalayan Enfield which enhances the brand value and keeps the charm for the bike alive. The engine of the bike is very complicated and cannot be fixed by all the mechanics of Nepal and it has very limited number of workshops and service centre that provide the facility, thus customer get into trouble every now and then when they find they need to fix a problem in their bike. Keeping this into mind the company has now started training the local workshop owner to make them capable of working on Royal Enfield and fix the problem. Royal Enfield as a brand is positioned very well. They have targeted the right segment of people. But they are not being able to provide good service after sales. With all the huge investment made on the bike people want it to be in condition and find a feasible location for maintenance. But there are very limited numbers of service centre that can repair and maintain the bike. Moreover the spare parts are not readily available and customer has to wait for week or more for the parts to arrive from India. This has certainly hampered the brand equity. The technology like LED headlights and disk brakes are in huge demand after it started producing the bike with self start and shifted gear in the left side. But bringing in these changes should not affect its original look as people have special love for the appearance itself. Thus the company should look into these aspects to enhance the brand image.