Triple Point Definition and Example (Chemistry)

In chemistry and physics, the triple point is the temperature and pressure at which solid, liquid, and vapor phases of a particular substance coexist in equilibrium. It is a specific case of thermodynamic  phase equilibrium. The term triple point was coined by James Thomson in 1873. Example The triple point for water is at 0.01 degree Celsius at 4.56 mm Hg. The triple point of water is a fixed quantity, used to define other triple point values and the kelvin unit of temperature. Note the triple point may include more than one solid phase if a specific substance has polymorphs.

Edgar Allen Poe wrote the short story “The Masque of the...

Edgar Allen Poe wrote the short story â€Å"The Masque of the Red Death† in 1842. While only one character is actually named, Prince Prospero, the story builds apprehension just based on the descriptions and not on dialogue. The narrator is never named and it is a mystery as to this person’s involvement in the story. The ambiguousness of the narrator also helps build the drama throughout the story. â€Å"The Masque of the Red Death† tells the story of a group of wealthy people who are trying to ignore and separate themselves from a terrible disease that is sweeping across their country. The disease is swift and brutal and can cause death within 30 minutes. The people infected weep blood from the pores on their faces and bodies, which causes a†¦show more content†¦The abbey is referred to as a Castellated Abbey that feels gothic, dark, and foreboding; which also helps set the mood for the story. Symbolism is used to set the tone for the story as well. The so-called â€Å"Red Death† (Poe 516) is a clear reference to the black plague that killed so many people. Poe changes the color of the plague and some of the details but the symmetry is undeniable. The way Poe describes the blood that symbolizes the plague as coming from the pores on the face, but not flowing grotesquely, produces a powerful image. Inside the abbey, there are seven rooms. Each of the areas is themed in a different color. The rooms lead one into another and have stained glass windows that match the color of the rooms. Oddly, though, the windows are set in the corridor and not facing outside which creates more of a dramatic effect. The rooms start at blue, then purple, green, orange, white, violet, and lastly, black. The different spaces can symbolize the different stages of life with the beginning starting with blue; purple is the color of royalty, green symbolizing spring or youth, and finishing with black symbolizing the end or death. To make his point clea rer and more dramatic, Poe had the stained glass windows in the last room be scarlet instead of black. All theShow MoreRelatedEssay on The Masque of the Red Death: Symbolism1419 Words   |  6 PagesThe author, Edgar Allan Poe, using illusion or misdirection keeps the reader is suspense throughout this story called The Masque of the Red Death. Symbolism such as the colored rooms, the impressive clock, the feeling of celebration being at a party all makes this story feel like a fairytale. Poe used this fairytale style and converts it into a nightmare in disguise. In the Masque of the Red Death, the first sentence, The Red Death had long devastated the country, sets the tone for the whole

Conflict Mapping and Analysis Present Conflict Deals

Question: Define the Conflict Mapping and Analysis for Present Conflict Deals. Answer: The present conflict deals with George Pell (GP) who declined Royal Commission appearance request to give testimony in person. George Pell is a well-known personality in Australian cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church (Halter, 2013, pp.261). In the present context, David Ridsdale accused George Pell of offering bribing with intention to hide the truth of child sex abuse. The case later appears in the year May 2015, in which the allegations were present to Royal Commission for judgement (Marr, 2013). In this case, Ridsdale was charged for child sexual abuse cases, whereas Pell denied for any knowledge in conjunction with Ridsdale action. Pell was instructed to appear before the Royal Commission, but he denied the request to give testimony in person, which is the reason for conflict in the present context. Factors fuelling the conflict issue are (Guerzoni and Graham, 2015, pp.58): Media: For media, it is a subject of attention. This news helps them to increase their sell either through newspaper or through web pages. This story creates a source of interest and excitement among the public and fuels the conflict. Legislators: The decision of the commission may affect the current legislation or its interpretation, which acts as one of the critical fueling factor in this conflict. In order to ensure protection for the victims, who seek equality from the institution, the decision of the legislators might have fuelled the conflict. Political issue: the Political issue is another fuelling agent for this conflict. The previous government (now opposition party) has organised the Royal commission. The Catholic Church is however greatly influenced by the current administration. Hence there is a strong relationship between the elected leaders of the current government and the religious leaders of the Catholic Church (Waddell and Jones, 2016). Hence, now the case file hangs between the two political parties,e., the ruling party and the opposition party. Hence, political parties fuel the conflict issue along with the media. Geographical issue: Actually the commission is present in Australia, whereas George Pell is present in the Vatican City and it is difficult in his part to cover such a long distance. Thus, he is allowed to give the testimony via video link. Immediate stakeholders involved in this conflict are as follows: George Pell: He agrees to give testimony in front of the Royal Commission in spite of his ill health. He did not care about a health and life rather he put them on a stake and agrees to give testimony. He needs to travel a long distance to reach the commission i.e. from Vatican City to Australia. Fortunately, another solution that is via video link is arranged for him. The Royal commission: The commission needs to hear the testimony of the related parties reliable with the ToR legislation. The commission has to listen to the evidence in time and in an unbiased way in accordance to ToR legislation, to determine whether further action if needed (Mullis and Scott, 2012, pp.5). The commission needs to listen to all parties related to the case, despite their personal desire to do so or not. Policy makers/Legislators: The results of the case found by the Royal Commission may have an effect on the current legislation, that is ToR legislation. The legislation should protect the victims of child sexual abuse who are charged with a duty of care. The legislator should always ensure the smooth functioning of the government and legislation. Australian community: According to the Australian community, serious legal action should be taken against the child sexual abuser and those who support these crimes. The child sexual abuser needs to be punished for the betterment of the community behaviour and social values (Mullis and Scott, 2012, pp.5). Indirect stakeholders involved in this conflict are as follows: Victims and their associates: They should present the details of their case to the commission and may ask for redress the crime charged against them. Additionaly, the institutes should show their concern and care time to time (Budiselik, 2014, pp.565). Religious leaders/members of the Catholic Church: According to them the recent procedure to deal with the child sexual abuser is enough and further steps need to be taken to avoid such action in future for the name of the organisation (Halter, 2013, pp.261). Media: This topic of child sexual abuse is a fascinating question for both media as well as the public. While media always tries to create exciting stories for the public, but public are in search of news rather than stories. Root causes of this conflict are as follows: Political cause: There is a strong relationship between the elected leaders of the present government and the religious leaders of the Catholic Church. The commission was organised by the previous government (now in opposition party); whereas the Catholic Church is however greatly influenced by the current administration. Presently, the commission has taken its hand from all the political systems and have its separate own power. In contrast, the media is always interested in the conflict between the political leaders and the religious leaders (Budiselik, 2014, pp.565). Environmental cause: The Environmental factor is one of the major root causes of this conflict. George Pell, who has to give the testimony, resides in Vatican City; whereas the commission is present in Australia. George Pell due to some health issues is unable to move to Australia to give testimony. Thus, to solve this problem an alternative is found; GP can appear as testimony through the video link (Healy, 2015, pp.1). Legislative cause: The Royal commission is based on the Australian legislation /ToR legislation. The decision of the commission relies upon the report of the panel. Moreover, any change in the legislation can be done by the ruling government (Foley, 2015, pp.164). Socio-cultural cause: Social and cultural factors are one of the most important root causes of this conflict. Earlier the society used to dishonour the victim of abuse. Nowadays the community tries to aware the society about the pain and suffering experienced by the victim of abuse (Mullis and Scott, 2012, pp.5). Time cause: The testimony of GP is most necessary for the further proceedings and investigations of the case file of the child sexual abuse for the royal commission (Foley, 2015, pp.164). Economic cause: the Economical issue is one of the major root causes of this conflict. Economic support or any kind of funding is not provided to the testimonies to appear before the commission. References: Budiselik, W., Crawford, F. and Chung, D., 2014. The Australian Royal Commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse: dreaming of child safe organisations?. Social Sciences, 3(3), pp.565-583. Foley, T., 2015. Institutional responses to child sexual abuse: how a moral conversation with its lawyers might contribute to cultural change in a faith-based institution. Legal Ethics, 18(2), pp.164-181. Guerzoni, M. and Graham, H., 2015. Catholic Church Responses to Clergy-Child Sexual Abuse and Mandatory Reporting Exemptions in Victoria, Australia: A Discursive Critique. International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy, 4(4), pp.58-75. Halter, N., 2013. The Australian Catholic Church and the Public Sphere: World Youth Day 2008. Journal of Religious History, 37(2), pp.261-282. Healy, K., 2015. Becoming a trustworthy profession: Doing better than doing good. Australian Social Work, pp.1-10. Marr, D., 2013. The prince: Faith, abuse and George Pell. Quarterly Essay, (51), p.1. Mullis, A. and Scott, A., 2012. Reframing libel: taking (all) rights seriously and where it leads. N. Ir. Legal Q., 63, p.5. Waddell, T. and Jones, T.W., 2016. The spoken and unspoken nature of child abuse in the miniseries Devils Playground: The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, the Catholic Church and television drama in Australia. Media International Australia, p.1329878X16631840.

Personal Management free essay sample

These are probably the most important skills you have to get, because nowadays employers are looking for people with best academical background, because they know that a better prepared employee can give better answers at the time of working, but of course, as a worker you must be prepared for every kind of situation, because you never know what can happen, and I say this on the Academic Skills because one of these skills is the capacity to learn and adapt yourself to the situation you have to solve. On the other hand, personal management it’s an important skill and here is the reason. Nowadays employers are not just looking for smart people, they are not just looking for brainiacs that can be very good at what they do but they can’t control their emotions, they’re now looking for people with a level of â€Å"Emotional Intelligence†, because they think â€Å"There’s nothing to do with a guy that knows the whole process, but cannot accept a constructive critic† so that’s the reason the Personal Management is one of the most important skills in a job. We will write a custom essay sample on Personal Management or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page And finally we have teamwork skills. It’s obvious you will not be away from civilization when you work. It’s well known that you must interact with several people during your work hours, and you must know that getting along well with them it’s an important step for this skill. You must be patient, tolerant and last but not least, participative, because as a team you must take decisions together and respect others opinion. So, we can conclude that: Workers must be integral persons, with academical, personal, and teamwork skills, so they can get along well with their work partners and environment. We must not focus on having or enhancing just one of these skills, on the contrary we must work out the three of them, because the three of them are important. It doesn’t matter we don’t have the three of these skills, no one is born knowing everything, we can enhance a develop this, and many more skills.

Free Essays on Anti- Federalists

The formation of our Constitution was a difficult task for our founding fathers. The goal was to establish a new working government to rule an American Nation. This new government would be in the benefit of the citizens as well as the individual person. Just as all great ideals come with great intentions the outcome may not be of the desired result. With the population larger than many other countries to begin with and giving them the opportunity to form their own Constitution to be rule by would be more than enough to separate any social gathering. Beginning of the Anti-Federalist The Federalist and the Anti-Federalist are considered to be some of the first political parties of this country. Despite the name of these two parties their views are actually in opposite of there titles. The Federalist group was those in favor of the Constitution and advertised it to the people to ratify it. Those who disagreed or wished to make changes with the newly Constitution, they were accused of have dramatic apposing views to the Federalist parties. However â€Å"The truly federalist-minded group was a bit slow on the public-relations uptake and promptly found themselves saddled with the label ‘Anti-Federalist’, with all the negativity and obstructionism the name implied.† (Inerny 67) The Anti-Feudalists felt that the Articles of Confederation need some revising in the distribution of power. It was their opinion that the Constitution gave to much freedom to the president, not enough power to the local government, and the congress would be to small to properly and productively serve their constituencies. Anti-Federalists feared that with the dominant power in the national government the central government would decay to nothing, leaving the national government unaware of local activities. This would cause the government to run the country by force, creating a new form of Tyranny. The Anti-Feudalists believed that the solutio... Free Essays on Anti- Federalists Free Essays on Anti- Federalists The formation of our Constitution was a difficult task for our founding fathers. The goal was to establish a new working government to rule an American Nation. This new government would be in the benefit of the citizens as well as the individual person. Just as all great ideals come with great intentions the outcome may not be of the desired result. With the population larger than many other countries to begin with and giving them the opportunity to form their own Constitution to be rule by would be more than enough to separate any social gathering. Beginning of the Anti-Federalist The Federalist and the Anti-Federalist are considered to be some of the first political parties of this country. Despite the name of these two parties their views are actually in opposite of there titles. The Federalist group was those in favor of the Constitution and advertised it to the people to ratify it. Those who disagreed or wished to make changes with the newly Constitution, they were accused of have dramatic apposing views to the Federalist parties. However â€Å"The truly federalist-minded group was a bit slow on the public-relations uptake and promptly found themselves saddled with the label ‘Anti-Federalist’, with all the negativity and obstructionism the name implied.† (Inerny 67) The Anti-Feudalists felt that the Articles of Confederation need some revising in the distribution of power. It was their opinion that the Constitution gave to much freedom to the president, not enough power to the local government, and the congress would be to small to properly and productively serve their constituencies. Anti-Federalists feared that with the dominant power in the national government the central government would decay to nothing, leaving the national government unaware of local activities. This would cause the government to run the country by force, creating a new form of Tyranny. The Anti-Feudalists believed that the solutio...

Some Hairy Expressions

Some Hairy Expressions Some Hairy Expressions Some Hairy Expressions By Maeve Maddox Warning: This post may offend some readers. Words, however, are just words and thats what DWT is all about. Curious minds want to know! DWT reader Jess received an email in which the sender said I got a wild hair about me. Jess says that the expression was used in the sense of acting impetuously. However, the expression for which wild hair is a shortening is to have a wild hair up ones ass. The meaning of this vulgar expression is to have an obsession or fixation about something. Garrison Keillor conveys this sense in his August 2, 2008 News from Lake Woebegone segment. In this instance its not a hair but a quarter, and its not up anything, its between the butt cheeks. Hes talking about a woman who is very angry about something and is going to confront her brother about it: she stalked across that farmyard like somebody whos carrying a quarter in their butt. If you go around carrying a quarter in your butt, you wont think of anything else. Disagreement exists as to why a hair should cause such single-minded discomfort, but I suppose there could be such a thing as a painful ingrown hair. The word wild in this context refers to the fact that the hair in question is not going where it is wanted. The meaning implied in the email, to act impetuously or in an uncharacteristic manner, doesnt seem as apt. Some other hairy idioms: to split hairs to dissect a subject down to the most trivial and unimportant details. I want to give the go ahead and all you want to do is split hairs about what color the tags should be. hair-brained foolish, ditzy. The expression originates from the erratic behavior of hares and is more properly spelled harebrained. However, the spelling hair-brained is quite common. I never heard of a more harebrained idea in my life! hair of the dog short for hair of the dog that bit you. In modern usage it refers to the notion that a person with a hangover can cure himself by drinking in the morning what he was drinking the night before. The expression originates in an ancient homeopathic cure for the bite of a mad dog. Pliny the Elder gives several remedies, one of which is to rub into the wound ash, prepared by burning, from the hair under the tail of the mad dog itself. by a hairs breadth by a narrow margin. He escaped death by a hairs breadth. Possible origin: a formal unit of measurement called a hairbreadth, equal to one-forty-eighth of an inch. hair-trigger a trigger that requires very little effort to release. The term can be used figuratively: Her husband has a hair-trigger temper. to let ones hair down to relax and be at ones ease with people. Come on, Charlie! Let your hair down and dance! The term originated in the 1850s and probably first applied to women who wore their hair up in public. hair-raising frightening and exciting. Follow Indiana Jones in another hair-raising adventure. a hairy situation something fraught with difficulty. The conversation became a bit hairy once he mentioned Alison. hairpin curve a curve in the road that goes back on itself. Younger readers may not know what an old-fashioned hairpin looked like. The curve at the joined end was much wider than the curve of a mere bobby pin. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:36 Adjectives Describing LightFlier vs. FlyerWood vs. Wooden

Personal Branding Plan Paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Personal Branding Plan - Research Paper Example I believe I can swim in the fenland of life, in the streets and not come out stinking, and hunt monsters without turning into one. Through my interest in others and genuine concern for my community I develop lasting, fruitful relationship with my colleagues and increase the citizens trust in law enforcement agencies. My interest in law enforcing, however, goes beyond community law enforcing, as I would like to widen my boundaries and practice law enforcing on a broader scale. The priority function of the Border Patrol is preventing illegal entry of aliens and weapons, including weapons of mass destruction into the country (Defle, 2002). This particular line of duty has always fascinated me and holds a great appeal for me as it is my aspiration to help develop a peaceful nation. Becoming a Border Patrol Officer is a step towards maintaining internal peace as it is a border patrol officer’s main aim to prevent terrorists and terrorists’ weapons from entering the country by securing the states borderline (Defle, 2002). Their agents work round the clock on assignments, in all kinds of terrain and weather conditions. Agents also work in many isolated communities around the country. Several years as a law enforcement officer have strengthened my endurance and perseverance ability. Therefore, this line of work is an ideal match for my experience and skills (Defle, 2002). Private security is involved with ensuring the safety and security of individuals and property, as well as sensitive organization information and intellectual property. Being a private security officer is often a hard job and at the same time honorable merely because the employee is constantly risking his life with regard to protecting other people (Defle, 2002). The job requires a certain degree of willingness and dedication as well as the sense of being responsible for other people. I believe I possess these qualities. Private

Case of Dell in Australia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Case of Dell in Australia - Essay Example B2B and B2C become the main models used by companies to reach their target audiences nod meet customers demands (Bearden et al 2004). It seems likely that direct selling from the manufacturer will grow exponentially. Indeed, it is this very transferability of information which virtually guarantees the demise of traditional industry boundaries. Companies are increasingly finding that, if they combine their information assets with those of other companies, the combined information resource is considerably more useful to all sides: two and two, in this instance, can make a lot more than four. Put together a social security or tax database with another database of people who owe debts and you have a means of tracking individual debtors over long periods of time and collecting the debt from them when they finally have the money to repay it (a process is known as debt surveillance and already being offered by some companies) (Dedrick and Kraemer 2001). The corporate objectives of Dell are to make self-help more useful and easier to use, improve customer support and direct customer relationships. The clear and effective strategy allows a company to redefine itself — at all levels, from strategy to the operation of individual processes (Drejer, 2002). Dell, a company that is comparatively unconstrained by physical geography (a seller of services across the Internet, for example) can reconfigure its distribution to take advantage of the variances in domestic tax regimes at virtually no cost: it does not have any physical assets of any consequence that need to be relocated. For dell, its value chain can be seen as a series of interrelated functions within any organization that link its inputs (raw materials to a factory, inbound logistics to a retail outlet) to its outputs (outbound logistics, the sale of goods to customers), the virtual value chain refers to the value that can be generated by exploiting the information generat ed by any stage of this  process.

West European Studies Essay Example for Free

West European Studies Essay 1. The three-fold divisions of learning by Augustine were: ? Physical- he related it to the working of nature, and posited that there was a cause to all things- the principle of cause-effect. ? Education- the acquisition of knowledge followed some rules, i. e. the methodology of science and procedures used in scientific studies and systematic experimentations ? Practice- Augustine argued that life had some meaning and an end, which people sought in their daily lives through actions and practicing of ideologies and principles. 2. The seven liberal arts outlined by Martianus Capella were: a) The Trivium which comprised of;   Grammar Rhetoric   Logic/dialectic b) The Quadrivium which included; Arithmetic   Geometry   Music   Astronomy Grammar taught one how to write words and understand their meaning. Music signified the cardinal virtues of temperance, prudence, fortitude and justice. Logic was necessary to help individuals distinguish right from wrong so as to avoid evil deeds. Rhetoric was the art of effective use of language to speak eloquently. Geometry was useful in measuring space, distance such as fields and cities. Arithmetic was significant as it aided in assigning numerical values- counting objects. Lastly, astronomy was used to foretell luck or misfortune- it was an essential art in predicting the future. 3. According to St. Augustine, pagan learning was reliant on logic and skeptical criticism of scripture. It appealed to observable evidence and to those things that are physically provable. St. Augustine taught that Christians should shun those elements, which undermined their faith by challenging beliefs that could not be substantiated with physical evidence, e. g. the existence of God. By appealing to logic, therefore, pagan learning dismissed the spiritual aspect of life to which Christianity was intimately connected. Nonetheless, he recognized the significant of logic and reason in a Christian’s life. He observed that the scripture was given by God’s inspiration for correction and reproof of character. Thus, to understand its teachings, believers ought to examine its contents critically to make correct interpretations. At the same time, logic reflected the logical and orderliness of God’s nature, represented by the order he perfected in His creation. Similarly, logical reasoning makes a significant contribution to the ordering of life in the world. Without logic, there would be chaos and conflicts among men. Reason appeals to the common sense that compels people to observe basic rules and obligations. 4. Hugh of St. Victor outlined four types of philosophy in his quaternary of the arts. The first three are concerned with human character, as they shape people into better mortal beings. They include: ? Truth, which is derived from theoretical philosophy- through abstract reasoning and contemplations that leads to insights about acceptable principles Practical philosophy which leads to good virtues that guides human conduct ? Mechanical philosophy which reliefs men from physical burdens ? Logic enables men to make clear and realistic conclusions concerning the preceding three philosophies. 5. The seven mechanical arts as defined by Hugh of St. Victor are: ? Fabric- it is necessary as man is essentially naked, lacking in the fur that is endowed to wild animals ? Armaments- necessitated due to man’s innate weakness for his lack of defensive mechanisms such as the teeth and claws of animals. Commerce- it is necessary to reconcile the world’s nations that have become divided by selfish aspirations. It leads to international relations and diplomacy that calms wars, enhances peaceful negotiations and achieves the greatest good of individual possessions.   Agriculture- it is a compensation of hard labor, what Hugh called the ‘brow’s sweat’ that goes back to Adam’s time, when the ground was cursed such that he had to sweat for a living.   Hunting was a skill necessary to help man get food by preying on wild animals Theatrics- the sooth the mind through laughter, and by providing relaxation and refreshment to a tired spirit; probably after a day’s work. 6. The four senses of scripture of St. Gregory the Great are: literal sense, allegorical sense, moral/tropological sense and the anagogical sense. a) Literal sense- it reveals the plain facts about events or things. For instance, the creation of Adam as explained in the Book of Genesis is a literal understanding of scripture, since the events happened just the way they are stated. b) Allegorical sense- it goes beyond what is plainly stated, to arrive at a meaning that is both metaphorical and symbolic. For instance, the creation of Eve from Adam’s rib symbolizes the subordinate role that a woman plays in her relation to man. This is exemplified in the family unit where the man is the head of the household. Similarly, it symbolizes the significance of marriage, since a woman, with her one rib taken from Adam, is considered incomplete. Consequently, she must seek completeness by uniting with her source- Adam/man. c) Moral sense- it derives from the Greek word â€Å"trepein,† which means ‘to turn. ’ In scriptural interpretation, it refers to the act of ‘turning’ ideas, principles and divine teachings into deeds. It is reflected in an individual’s life through good deeds to all people. In the scripture, the parables of Jesus were reflections on the moral conduct of men. For instance, the parable about the Good Samaritan represents real life situations where Christians are called upon to help those in need, and not to be like the uncaring Levite who walked past the robbed man on his way to Jericho. d) Anagogical sense- it refers to the interpretation of scripture teaching within the wider context of eternity. It attaches a universal meaning to divine concepts, which transcends all boundaries of space and time. For instance, the reference to the Lord’s feast in Mathew 22 signifies the eternal happiness to be enjoyed by the save in heaven. Likewise, the new Jerusalem refers to God’s City, the kingdom that shall reign forever after the second coming.

Vitamin C Content of Apple Juice :: essays research papers

Vitamin C Content of Apple Juice Introduction Complete lack of ascorbic acid (a.k.a Vitamin C) in the diets of humans and other primates leads to a classic nutritional disease, scurvy. This disease was widespread in Europe during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, but it is rare today. Ascorbic acid is widely distributed in nature, but it occurs in extremely high concentrations in citrus and green plants such as green peppers and spinach. Ascorbic acid can be synthesized by all plants and animals, with the exception of humans, other primates, and guinea pigs. Therefore, vitamin C must be present in our dietary substances.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The fundamental role of ascorbic acid in metabolic processes is not very well understood. There is some evidence that it may be involved in metabolic hydroxylation reactions of tyrosine, proline, and some steroid hormones, and in the cleavage-oxidation of homogentisic acid. Its function in these metabolic processes appears to be related to the ability of vitamin C to act as a reducing agent.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The adult Recommended Daily Allowance f vitamin C is 70 mg per day. Some scientists and physicians have suggested doses up to 1 to 3 grams per day in order to help resist the common cold. Deficiency of vitamin C results in swollen joint, abnormal development and maintenance of tissue structures, and eventually scurvy.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Determination of vitamin C in biological fluids such as bolld and urine is difficult because only small amounts of the vitamin are present and many interfering reducing agents are present. Substances containing sulfhydryl groups, sulfite, and thisosufate are common in biological fluids and react with DCIP, but much more slowly than ascorbic acid. The interference by sulfhydryl is often minimized by the addition of p-cholormercuribenzoic acid. Materials and Supplies Apple Juice Metaphosphoric acid/ Acetic acid solution 4% Unknown ascorbic acid in metaphosphoric acid/acetic acid solution, .5mg/ml 2,6 dicholorphenolindophenol solution in water Ascorbic acid oxidase, lyophilized water Experimental Procedure Standard Ascorbic Acid Solution Fill a microburet with DCIP solution. Using a pipet, transfer 1.0 ml of the ascorbic acid standard solution to a 50 ml Erlenmeyer flask containing 5 ml of 4% metaphosphoric acid solution. Read and record the initial reading on the buret. Titrate by rapid, dropwise addition of DCIP from the buret while mixing the contents of the flask. Add DCIP solution until a distinct rose-pink color persists for 15-20 seconds. Record the final reading on the buret. Repeat this procedure twice more, each time with a fresh 1.

Family of Woodstock Essay

Individual Contemporary America Paper The founders of Family of Woodstock charity organization was created in 1970, their human services mission is to provide confidential and fully accessible crisis intervention, resources, prevention, support services while utilizing a network of paid individuals, volunteers to help expand strength-based and prevention programs which grow healthier individuals, communities with providing strong leadership in the effort to assist people to achieve self-sufficiency and self-respect. The Family of Woodstock specializes in meeting the general needs of the community with the operation of 24 hour a day emergency switchboard that county wide and toll free. They specialized in offering walk-in centers that readily accessible/emergency shelter for the homeless and food programs that provides hot meals. They offer youth facility with fourteen beds to help address teenager who run away from home and need shelter. Men and women who are in recovery have access to nineteen-bed shelter. Families who can no longer afford to maintain a roof over their heads can stay at a twenty-seven bed Family Inn, and not sleep in their cars or on the streets at night. The organization recognized the need for immediate shelter for women and children who are battered, abuse have immediate access to seventeen-bed domestic violence shelter. Their services extends to supervised living programs sites for the adolescents and dependable care programs for the elderly, advocates for child care, HIV/AIDS family court, abusers, and individuals in jail. The charity organization is also authorized by Family Court to provide supervised visitation for parents who have lost their parental custody of their children. The Family of Woodstock personnel are skilled and trained not to pass judgment on people or try to tell them what they can or can’t do. They are there to listen to what people needed to say and then offer advice on what they can do. The Family of Woodstock tries to direct individuals to support groups that may help them or offer necessary  alternatives. The organization mission, values, ethics, beliefs and goals have remained the same with assisting individuals and families who are in need of supported services. Over the last four decades we have experience the evolution of concepts, ideals, and changes much like the principle’s that The Family of Woodstock stood on. The human services system had develop over many years, specialization has delivered great progress for individuals who need assistance for their daily survival. We have more programs available mental health, shelter, medical, battered women, substance abuse, vocational and food programs. In the United States along our population will continues to grow and the demand to provide more support services will be needed.

Haier: What is technological change? Essay

Technological change (TC) is a term that is used to describe the overall process of invention, innovation and diffusion of technology or processes.[1][2] The term is synonymous with technological development, technological achievement, and technological progress. In essence TC is the invention of a technology (or a process), the continuous process of improving a technology (in which it often becomes cheaper) and its diffusion throughout industry or society. In short, technological change is based on both better and more technology. Haier as a manufactural group and technologic change also impact them deeply. For example after Haier established they faces on fridge and air condition unit 1997 its entering color TV industry as the initiative, and it went into the industries of black household appliances and information household appliances. In 21st centry with the development of technologic Haier also expand their product range. For instance Haier Digital and Personal Product Group is a good example. They are engaged in multiple fields such as home appliances, computers and mobile phones. It is the only manufacturer in China that is able to produce big screens of TV, mid-sized screens of computer as well as small mobile screens. Haier takes personalized entertainment to another level by offering a brand new and unique smart home life solution through â€Å"cloud family† plan. Centered by Cloud Smart TV, cloud family integrates computers, mobile phones and home appliances to comprehensive interconnection and interaction. In recent month Haier digital developed DV- WF10 intelligent cloud camera. It can connect with terminal equipment (intelligent mobile phone, computer, PAD, etc.) in the wireless network. So customers can use wireless uploading the pictures or videos to phones or computer directly. With the development of biology mapped the entire sequence of human genes which improves our ability to treat a wide range of diseases and illnesses that are linked to the genes.

PROPOSITION 218 Essays - Property Taxes, Politics Of California

PROPOSITION 218 Essays - Property Taxes, Politics Of California PROPOSITION 218 Introduction California voters have spoken again. On November 6, they passed (56%) Proposition 218, marking the continued fiscal conservatism of the state's electorate and their frustration with what has been characterized as the arrogance and inefficiency of government. (SF Chronicle Staff, SF Chronicle: 11/6/96). As Bob Therrien of Ventura stated in his letter to the LA Times "Prop 13 and Prop 218 are the direct result of taxpayer abuse by our elected officials. Its time for government to do some serious soul-searching as to its duties, including the right of the people to have minimum intrusive government." (Therrien, LA Times, 10/13/96). There are two primary political impacts of Prop 218. The first is to take the power to levy taxes and assessments out of the hands of local government and put it into the hands of the general populace, and the second is to strengthen the control of the State government over local affairs. In essence, combined with Prop 13, local government officials have been told by its citizenry - here's a level of taxes, fees, charges and assessments you can collect from us without asking our permission for more. Mechanically, this is somewhat debilitating because getting voter approval is a slow and, often, expensive process. The schedule of elections does not allow for a rapid enough response to deal with the speed of today's demands. A case in point has already occurred in the City of Inglewood where the City has pulled back its offer to help finance a sports arena because Prop 218 knocked out taxes needed to support this effort and it would not be able to go before its voters until April 1997. This has given the City of Los Angeles "a leg up in getting a new sports facility at its downtown Convention Center" and may cause Inglewood to lose both the Lakers and the Kings, which would result in a significant negative financial impact. (Belgum & Merl, LA Times: 11/8/96).! In another example, the City of South Pasadena decided to cancel a special election for a utility tax which was scheduled in December and would have cost $25,000. (LA Times Staff, LA Times: 9/20/96). The LA Times, in a post-election article raised an interesting point when it said " the legislature and the governor must come to terms with the huge new burdens put on local governments... Sacramento, now flush with revenues, should help solve the problem by restoring property tax revenues to local government." (LA Times Staff, LA Times: 11/7/96). Although a potential short-term solution, it does give the State government an additional level of control of local government action (the other golden rule - he who has the gold rules) and, in effect, directly contradicts one of the intents of Prop 218's sponsors of putting more control in the hands of the local citizenry. It is my opinion that Prop 218 is another aspect of a developing trend toward a realignment of American society away from a representative democracy toward a desire for a general democracy (whether or not this will really work is another matter altogether). It is part of the citizenry's way of saying to both elected and appointed government officials that government has lost its trust. Background In 1978, the California electorate passed Prop 13 which set property taxes at a maximum rate of 1% of the property's assessed value and limited annual assessment increases to 2% until the property is sold, at which time the assessment adjusts to sales price, or there is construction or improvements to the property. Prop 13 also requires approval of two-thirds of the Legislature to raise state taxes and two-thirds of the local voters to raise special taxes. Since the passage of Prop 13, local government and the State Legislature have devised a number of ways to finance their operations. These have included increasing the use of assessments from capital specific to revenue general, expanding the use of Community Facilities Districts to charge "fees" citywide, and charging user type fees and taxes (i.e. - utility, hotel occupancy). Although challenged a number of times in court, California courts have, generally, upheld these practices. According to lawyers at O'Melveny & Myers (a major California law firm which represents many local governments), after a

Avoid the HMRC backlash - Emphasis

Avoid the HMRC backlash Avoid the HMRC backlash You may recall that six million people have through no fault of their own paid the wrong amount of tax over the last few years, thanks to a blunder at HM Revenue Customs (HMRC). The story dominated the column inches last month, in part because of the way HMRC so unceremoniously delivered this bombshell to its customers (in the form of a standard tax calculation letter) and in part because of the backlash that followed from taxpayers. Being customer-centred Arguably some of the controversy could have been avoided through a large dose of subtlety and a more customer-centred approach from HMRC. And if it had actually taken into account how its customers might receive the news (particularly if you were one of the 1.4 million poor souls who had underpaid). HMRC was never going to make friends in this situation, but equally it didnt have to make enemies. The tone of its letter was on the clinical side at best and unapologetic at worst. Heres an extract to give you a flavour: Dear taxpayer [Name] I have reviewed your income tax liability for the year shown above to see whether you have underpaid or overpaid tax for that year. My calculation is given on the enclosed sheet. The calculation result is given near the foot of that page. The See Notes column refers to the numbered notes in the guidance leaflet Understanding your tax calculation which I also enclose. A copy of this calculation has been sent to [Agent name]. Part of this underpayment is already being collected through your tax code during [year] and the rest will be collected during [yearyear] (Source: BBC News) Keeping letter writing customer-centred is always important, but probably never more so than when giving bad news. The last thing you want is to exacerbate the situation by not only delivering a blow, but by also sounding like a robot as you do so. To avoid this, try the SCRAP (Situation, Complication, Resolution, Action, Politeness) formula. Situation Begin by explaining the situation (or where they [your readers] are). By doing this, your readers will realise you understand and empathise with them. In the case of HMRC, this could have involved briefly summing up (and owning up to) mistakes in the PAYE system, and suggesting it was at least aware of the worry this might cause to its customers. As you may be aware, HMRC has recently found that some taxpayers have paid the wrong amount of tax through the PAYE system over the last two years. We understand that many people will now be concerned about how this may affect them. Complication Introduce the idea that theres a problem readers need to solve or a request they need to fulfil (why they cant stay there). Here, of course, this will be the money taxpayers owe (or are due). It would also be wise to reinforce this with an apology. Im very sorry to tell you that you have been undercharged by X for the year XX, as the enclosed calculation shows. Resolution State your resolution to the problem or request. Your readers may well be relieved that youre offering a ready-made way of fixing things. (In the case of HMRC, such a sense of relief would unfortunately elude those taxpayers suddenly finding themselves seriously out of pocket.) We are now in the process of collecting underpayments. For those who have underpaid by less than 2000, like you, we will do this by altering your tax code to reclaim the money in monthly instalments over the next X year[s]. We would also like to assure you that from now on, we will be using a new computer system that will minimise the risk of such a mistake happening again. Action Suggest what action the reader can or should take. In some cases, this will be what further action you, the writer, are going to take. Make sure that this follows on logically from the resolution. HMRC has been criticised for not being entirely open about taxpayers possible rights to appeal. If these were made clear at this point, it might avoid being bombarded with letters of appeal sent on the off-chance. You dont need to do anything at this point: your new tax code will be applied automatically. The additional tax taken each month will be X. If, however, you feel that you provided all the necessary information for us to tax you correctly, you may be entitled to appeal. Please see the enclosed leaflet for details on whether this applies to you and how to contact us. Politeness Finally, end with a polite sign-off. And, in this example, a second apology. I hope you understand why we need to take this corrective action. Once again, Im sorry for the effect that our mistake may have on your financial situation. Yours sincerely [name] Apologise like a human No-one likes to admit theyve made a mistake, but owning up and apologising when its justified will always have a better reception from your reader than trying to wriggle out of it. And, while I apologise is better than nothing, Im sorry is much better: it sounds more sincere and more personal. The language of we apologise for any inconvenience caused has been dubbed professionalese by Daniel H Pink, author of Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. Pink advises avoiding the phrase entirely, because it makes the author seem like theyre distancing themselves from the mistake. We speak human at home and professionalese at work, he explains. And that might be hurting our businesses more than we realise. In childhood were often told to say were sorry and mean it. And it seems that remains the best advice at every level. In his book The Upside of Irrationality, Dan Ariely found that a simple Im sorry, uttered following a mistake, stopped the other person from getting annoyed and retaliating in some way. Say, for example, refusing to pay back tax. Want to improve your teams customer-letter writing? See our in-house customer-letter writing course.

Religion and Abortion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Religion and Abortion - Essay Example Terminating the life of an innocent human being is a straight murder that has no legal or moral backing. Abortion as a process in itself is a cruel act both for the child and mother. From religious point of view abortion is a sin. This is just like a murder. Bible does not allow killing of a fetus. Fetus has also feelings, emotions and innocent human psychology after growth for a few weeks in the womb of a mother. In Christianity and particularly in orthodox Christianity, abortion is tantamount to the killing of a child who has yet not seen this world. This sinful act has many immoral bearings on the youths who do this act of sin. It is believed that abortion promotes immorality in the society and it must be avoided. Even where abortion is considered legal a lot of caution must be exercised (Podell 1990). There are numerous testimonies from the holy bible staunchly condemning the abortion as an inhuman act.

MGMT 670- STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

MGMT 670- STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT - Article Example It is a tool with a purpose to help an organization perform at its best, so strategic planning helps an organization to focus its energy and make sure that all members are working toward the same goals, to control whether the organization is going toward its goals in as straight manner as possible and to adjust the course for changes in internal and external circumstances. Strategic planning is thus an organized action to answer fundamental questions of what an organization is, what it does, why it does it in that way, and were it intends to be in the definite future. Strategic plan development is a process of answering a set of questions in a specific order to keep it focused and productive. (Porter, Michael E. , 1980) ) The planners must first examine current experience and situation, set and test assumptions to the best of their capabilities, they must obtain and include current information about the present and envision internal and external circumstances in which the organizatio n will be working in the future. Strategic planning involves preparing the best way to respond to changes in the environment, which are not known at the time of plan preparation, realistically, taking into account company’s resources and objectives. Strategic plan is a set of decisions of what to do, how to do it, and why to do it, in order of priority, meaning that it needs to set which decisions and actions are more important than others in order to reach the goals set. Strategic planing is a continuous process while strategic plan is a snapshot taken in various future points in time. Strategic planning is a tool of managing an organization just like hammer is a tool of reshaping a piece of metal into a horseshoe. Hammer does not make a horseshoe, a blacksmith does it applying his physical and mental power to it. In the same way manager uses strategic planning to lead an organization toward its desired goals. Strategical thinking is applied to strategical planning by manage ment to make it work for better performance of the organization. Strategic thinking is geared toward specific purpose of setting and achieving goals, being at all times mindful of internal and external circumstances that influence the purpose in order to creatively develop best responses to changes in those circumstances. The question that best supports strategic thinking would probably be: â€Å"Are we doing the right thing in the right way?†. If the answer becomes negative at any measurable moment corrective actions need to be taken. â€Å"Are we doing the right thing† would translate into measurable milestones toward set goals while â€Å"are we doing it the right way† would translate in being aligned with company’s mission, vision, values and objectives. (Porter, Michael E., 1980) For example, a fictitious merchant with a convoy of cargo ships and a goal of making the most income and reasonable profit in regular voyages from port to port from Shanghai , China via Sydney, Australia, Los Angeles, USA, Amsterdam, EU, Mumbai, India, Singapore,Singapore back to Shanghai China envisions that the company would capture 10% market share in trading commodities in each port. (Vancil, R.,1976) His objective is to make the biggest regularly modernized fleet that does not harm the

MNC Enters India Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

MNC Enters India - Term Paper Example The company is basically involved in selling quality home furnishing products and home appliances among others through various franchises and retail outlets. The best aspect about this company is that its products are not very costly and thus are quite affordable. The company is responsible for attracting huge figure of consumers in its various retail outlets due to the deliverance of quality products to them and also complying with their requirements at large. It can be apparently viewed in this similar concern that the company was able to attract around 770 million of consumers who visited various retail outlets of IKEA in the year 2012. The company has a total of 338 stores and includes 154,000 co-workers (Inter IKEA Systems B.V., 2012). This part of the paper will entail the tracking of the exchange rate of Indian Rupee in relation to the US Dollar. It can be apparently observed in this regard that there have been a lot of fluctuations relating to India’s exchange rate. Presently, the value of Indian Rupee has fallen to a new record of 64 per dollar. The value of Rupee has been undergoing major turnarounds during the preceding two years due to the reason of weakening conduct of financial activities. It is even expected that the value of Rupee can fall to as low as 70 per dollar which can create a major turnaround in the currency exchange rate (YCharts, 2013). The following pictorial representation shows that the level up to which the value of Indian Rupees has increased. From the start of the year 2013, the value of Rupee has fallen and this trend is continuing. On the basis of the above discussion, it can be affirmed that due to much fluctuations or variations especially in the exchange rates, the financial condition of the nation i.e. of India has been adversely affected resulting in generating financial downturns by a considerable

Order Management Reengineering At Heatway

Order Management Reengineering At Heatway Heatway Systems lost a lengthy legal battle when a federal jury in Cleveland held Goodyear Tire Rubber Co. blameless for its role in manufacturing the rubber hose the radiant company marketed as Entran II. The jury reached its decision February 3 after three days of deliberation and after three weeks of testimony. Frankly, the outcome of this trial was a surprise to everyone-including Goodyear, if they were honest, Heatway president Mike Chiles said the day after the verdict. Chiles had high praise for the evidence presented by his Cleveland legal team. During three days of testimony, for example, an expert witness from the Naval Research Laboratory pointed out that Goodyear used inadequate antioxidants, inappropriate volatile plasticizers and cheap clay fillers in making the hose. A second expert witness testified that Goodyears failure to properly test the Entran II product for radiant heat purposes led to the problems. Meanwhile, mechanical contractors from Colorado and Alaska testified that they had employed exactly the same installation methods when installing Heatways other radiant brands-yet only experienced problems with Entran II hose. Goodyear argued that the failures were due to Heatways radiant system design, as well as problems with installation and maintenance by contractors. It said that field inspections showed that leaks were caused by the wrong type of hose connectors and that the hose was damaged by highly acidic fluid. In addition, Goodyear said it had been using the same 20-year-old formula to make hose for other applications, such as air and water hose, without any problems. In a statement about the jurys decision, Goodyear says it is obviously very gratified by the verdict. We always have believed that the Entran II hose was appropriate for use in radiant home heating systems when it was sold. Chiles said the numbers just didnt add up for his side. The jury looked at the fact that there had only been 658 cases of failure out of 10,000 installations, he said, and didnt think that was a high enough failure rate. After the verdict, Chiles said his lawyers interviewed the jury and many expressed the sentiment that if there had been two or three times as many cases of failure, we would have won. While Heatway lost this case, Goodyears win may be far from solid. Theyre not out of the woods at all, Chiles said. We have unearthed some ugly internal memos as a result of our discovery process. Its our firm belief that Goodyear will pay for this problem-its just going to take a couple of more years and more litigation. Chiles added that the courtroom was packed with plaintiff attorneys from across the country who are in line to sue Goodyear next. Heatway failed on its claim of a breach of implied warranty of merchantability. However, Goodyear still faces a growing number of homeowner claims and will have to fight other legal theories of liability. Heatway bought 25 million feet of the hose between 1989 and 1993. But the hose soon began to crack and leak, causing extensive damages. Entran II tubes started out orange and flexible, like garden hoses. Over time, the tube released plasticizers that hardened the tube, effectively dissolving in hot water, according to expert testimony. The first phase of the problem begins with leaks where the hose connects to the manifold, and continues until the tube spontaneously cracks and leaks elsewhere. There are about 10,000 radiant heating systems in the Unites States that contain Entran II tubes, and Heatway has spent more than $6.5 million to settle more than 100 claims since 1992. Despite the verdict against Heatway, Denver attorney William Maywhort has advised clients that the Ohio jury verdict for Goodyear does not prevent Colorado residents who have Entran II hose in their homes from suing Goodyear. In fact, suing Goodyear and Heatway directly now may be the homeowners only option for recovering for the damage caused by Entran II, said Maywhort, who represents more than a dozen Colorado homeowners who have experienced problems with the Entran II hose What is BPR? Business process re-engineering is a business management strategy, originally pioneered in the early 1990s, focusing on the analysis and design of workflows and processes within an organization. BPR aimed to help organizations fundamentally rethink how they do their work in order to dramatically improve customer service, cut operational costs, and become world-class competitors. In the mid-1990s, as many as 60% of the Fortune 500 companies claimed to either have initiated reengineering efforts, or to have plans to do so. BPR seeks to help companies radically restructure their organizations by focusing on the ground-up design of their business processes. According to Davenport (1990) a business process is a set of logically related tasks performed to achieve a defined business outcome. Re-engineering emphasized a holistic focus on business objectives and how processes related to them, encouraging full-scale recreation of processes rather than iterative optimization of subprocesses. Business process re-engineering is also known as business process redesign, business transformation, or business process change management. The role of information technology Information technology (IT) has historically played an important role in the reengineering concept. It is considered by some as a major enabler for new forms of working and collaborating within an organization and across organizational borders[citation needed]. Early BPR literature identified several so called disruptive technologies that were supposed to challenge traditional wisdom about how work should be performed. Shared databases, making information available at many places Expert systems, allowing generalists to perform specialist tasks Telecommunication networks, allowing organizations to be centralized and decentralized at the same time Decision-support tools, allowing decision-making to be a part of everybodys job Wireless data communication and portable computers, allowing field personnel to work office independent Interactive videodisk, to get in immediate contact with potential buyers Automatic identification and tracking, allowing things to tell where they are, instead of requiring to be found High performance computing, allowing on-the-fly planning and revisioning In the mid-1990s, especially workflow management systems were considered as a significant contributor to improved process efficiency. Also ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) vendors, such as SAP, JD Edwards, Oracle, PeopleSoft, positioned their solutions as vehicles for business process redesign and improvement. BPR Success Failure Factors Critique Many companies used reengineering as an pretext to downsize their companies dramatically, though this was not the intent of reengineerings proponents; consequently, reengineering earned a reputation for being synonymous with downsizing and layoffs. In many circumstances, reengineering has not always lived up to its expectations. Some prominent reasons include: Reengineering assumes that the factor that limits an organizations performance is the ineffectiveness of its processes (which may or may not be true) and offers no means of validating that assumption. Reengineering assumes the need to start the process of performance improvement with a clean slate, i.e. totally disregard the status quo. According to Eliyahu M. Goldratt (and his Theory of Constraints) reengineering does not provide an effective way to focus improvement efforts on the organizations constraint[citation needed]. Others have claimed that reengineering was a recycled buzzword for commonly-held ideas. Abrahamson (1996) argued that fashionable management terms tend to follow a lifecycle, which for Reengineering peaked between 1993 and 1996 (Ponzi and Koenig 2002). They argue that Reengineering was in fact nothing new (as e.g. when Henry Ford implemented the assembly line in 1908, he was in fact reengineering, radically changing the way of thinking in an organization). The most frequent critique against BPR concerns the strict focus on efficiency and technology and the disregard of people in the organization that is subjected to a reengineering initiative. Very often, the label BPR was used for major workforce reductions. Thomas Davenport, an early BPR proponent, stated that: When I wrote about business process redesign in 1990, I explicitly said that using it for cost reduction alone was not a sensible goal. And consultants Michael Hammer and James Champy, the two names most closely associated with reengineering, have insisted all along that layoffs shouldnt be the point. But the fact is, once out of the bottle, the reengineering genie quickly turned ugly. Introduction to Case Problem before Allan Firestone, president of Heatway Cooperationà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s Industrial Products Division and Bob Hemphill, a VP charged with designing and implementing a new process. Design and implementation of a new process, named Proposal to payment (PTP) for selling and delivering Heatway products. Change in organizational structure as well as IT architecture, and even a new philosophy of business. Trouble between Hemphill and Firestone over the spending budget, where Hemphill demanded $35 million and Firestone was ready to spend only $15 million. Funding Considerations before Firestone: How money could be arranged for PTP without sacrificing the profit objectives? Could corporate pay for the rest of amount? Could some of the other international divisions that had expressed interest contribute? Firestone himself believed that PTP was necessary and design for the new process, organization, and technology environment were very exciting. But, the VP had doubts about the urgency to implement PTP. So, firestone resolved to take one more look at the numbers, in hope to find some source of additional savings had been overlooked. Background-Industrial Products Industrial and consumer markets in 27 countries throughout the world. Activities involved heating, ventilation, air conditioning(HVAC) products and services. business heavily dependent on New Construction. IPD sold to medium % large sized businesses. Systems configured to suit the size, location and design of the businesses. Had its own direct-sales engineering groups. Heatway engg worked with architects, contractors and tenants to configure an HVAC solution. Reengineering at heatway An early adopter of new approaches to business improvements Quality based management approaches had been accepted in Manufacturing engineering but lacking in Sales Service In late 1980à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s radical changes to improvement in contrast to incremental changes using IT. Sought order-of-magnitude improvements in Time Cost Quality Designing First phase Assess current state of order management Create vision of new process Work divided into two teams Team A 8 members Analyze current state of the processes Understand the costs time of doing business Recommend short term improvements Team B 10 internal managers consultants Create vision for future state of process. Both teams were jointly responsible for managing the organizational changerequired for the initiative to succeed Implications of New Process Team created a large financial model to analyze the costs, benefits, and financial risks of implementing the new PTP process. The new process was very expensive (around $150million) Cost for prototype process efforts Cost of SAP Implementation Cost of fully implementing and operating the new workstations, networks, and SAP software Cost for retaining, relocating, and removing employees Return on the PTP investment appeared very high. Prototypes and pilots was planned in the middle Atlantic states region. Changes in Information technology Mobile data network necessary SAP installation Sales force workstation Not only the designà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s adoption has to be justified in financial terms, but also the long process of changing had to be started. Implications for Employees Adoption of the new process. Management, evaluation and compensation of their day to day work. Communicated the nature of these changes through written communication. Mixed Reaction Performers loved the new process because of more freedom and less bureaucracy. Less capable performers were worried about how they would fare Dramatic change not only in how the field personnel did their work bt also how they were managed, evaluated and implemented Reorganization at Heatway Change in the management Salada remain as chairman Kacher would leave Heatway Information systems function would be outsourced to an external firm with substantial SAP experience. Reorganization could have been problematic for PTP European groups would have less incentive to adopt the PTP design. Want of new system provider to implement SAP without concern of PTP process vision Concerns Firestone concern Difficulty in assessing how rapidly the construction and rollout of PTP capabilities should take place. Other memebers of the operations committee were neither worried nor committed to PTP. Change in the commitment by the key managers after t He reorganization. These are those managers whose functional areas would shrink with the adoption of PTP despite being offered important role at Heatway. Financing for PTP If all the resources are devoted then both revenue and profitability goals would not meet. Decisions Everyone understood that PTP implementation is a good investment. Head of international said she wanted to wait to see how PTP worked in the U.S. before transferring resources from her budget. Friestone tried unsucessfully at one one meeting to make PTP corporate initiative. Its upto firestone and other executives to decide how quickly to roll out the new process and how to fund it

Realism and Idealism for the Godfather Essay -- essays research papers

Realism and Idealism for the Godfather I will never forget what I felt when I first seen my first mobster movie, I was about 12 years old, it was real late at night and I just could not fall asleep. I was flipping the channels looking for something to watch, and that is when I encountered my first mobster movie. I was intrigued from beginning to end; it was like nothing I had ever seen before. The way they talked so confident and cool to the way they looked so sharp and sophisticated. Although they were ruthless criminals, they had certain respectability towards them that no body could deny. Even though I was young and didn’t quite understand all of the scenes I became infatuated with the movie the Godfather and went on to seeing a couple of other popular films like Goodfellaz, Casino, and Once upon a time in America. It is almost unreal how one movie can have such a big influence on your life, but I truly believe that after that day, something inside of me changed, and I began to grow an overwhelming passion for t hese types of films. It was like discovering a completely new world you never knew existed. What draws people to mobster films like the Godfather? Hollywood’s gangster stereotype does what we would not dare, and acts like no body we know. They do not care about nobody but their selves and do anything they want, or at least think they can. That is what infatuates people with gangster and mafia films, because people secretly want to experience this lifestyle without being punish like the gangsters in the movies. The gangster film is particularly popular in America. Its popularity might be because of the history and actual real life stories of the mob. However, what Hollywood does is take the underworld culture and turn it into the stereotypical story. One stereotype is all mafias having to be Italian. Some people get the impression that all Italians are in the mafia. Movies can have an impact on society and culture, after the release of the Godfather, many Italian American criminals began to sound like the characters in the film, in taped recordings of their conversati ons. The film gangster’s stereotypical mold that they are usually materialistic, street smart, immoral, tough, and self-destructive. Their main goal in life is for power and money because they have an ambitious desire for success and recognition in life, but sometimes underneath all ... ...s, bank robbers, underworld figures, or ruthless hoodlums who operate outside the law, stealing and murdering their way through life. The misunderstandings that lead to bloodbaths, the little arguments that start wars, the girlfriend who wants her man to go legit, all are given in some movies that often finds a great reason for us to want to see what happens next. What differentiates mobsters with every day criminals is the respectability they receive from society, and the associations they have with legitimate people in upper level authority. Mobsters usually have connections with mayors, senators, police officers, and any one in a higher level that they do business with to let them operate. So when you really think about it, which is worse, the mobsters or the legitimate people who secretly work with them? Mobster movies are unique unlike any other movie out there, mobster movies pull you in to them and make you feel what the person is feeling, it makes you live what the person is living and makes you see things through their eyes. That is the magic of making movies it is a way of connecting with the viewers in a special kind of way. That is what these types of films create.

The Effects of Advertising Media on Sales of Insurance Products: a Developing-Country Case

The effects of advertising media on sales of insurance products: a developing-country case S. A. Aduloju Department of Insurance and Actuarial Science, University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria A. O. Odugbesan Formerly of Department of Business Administration, University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria, and S. A. Oke Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria Abstract Purpose – Characterized by declining goodwill and exemplified sharp drop in gross premium, the Nigerian insurance industry, in recent times, has experienced turbulent economic challenges that necessitated re-engineering of its core activities.However, advertising and sales are core activities, which are important predictors of stability and growth in the insurance industry. Consequently, the purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of advertising on sales of insurance products. Design/methodology/approach – An empirical investigation is carried out using a survey that utilizes quest ionnaires, interviews, and field observation as major research instruments. A total of 71 insurance companies in Nigeria, which represent the total operating insurance companies in Nigeria at the time of study, were surveyed.With 100 scientifically selected subjects sampled, descriptive analysis was employed to understand the relationship and the strength of such relationships. Findings – It was found that advertising had effects on sales volume and improved public image. However, the choice of advertising medium, the message, and the format are critical ingredients of a successful advertising program in the insurance industry. Research limitations/implications – The insurance industry in Nigeria was studied from a holistic viewpoint due to the need to present reliable and detailed information for decision makers.However, limitation in achieving this relates to the reluctance of respondents to release information for the study. Practical implications – The impli cation of this research is that proper control of advertisement budget vis-a` -vis the expected sales volume could be made. Thus, organizations could spend budgets more effectively on growth enhancing projects instead of excessive wastage of funds on advertisement. Originality/value – This paper seems to be the first original work that concerns the impact of advertising on sales in the Nigerian insurance industry.As such, it bridges a gap that is opened for investigations. It may be of great value to decision making seeking for control tools. Keywords Insurance, Nigeria, Advertising media, Sales management Paper type Research paper 1. Introduction Over the years, there has been tremendous decline in the goodwill of the Nigerian insurance industry as a result of poor performance in the payment of insurance claims. The sharp drop in gross premium exemplifies this problem. Randle (2003) estimated a decline of more than 89. 4 percent in the 1999/2000 comparative periods.This decl ine may have worsened as a result of the global economic crisis. There is therefore the need to advertise insurance products in order to increase sales. Unfortunately, no reliable records exist on the impact of advertising on sales of insurance products, thus suggesting its strong need. The need to examine the impacts of advertising on sales volume is further strengthened by the significant value of the total premiums generated in Africa, which originated in South Africa (84 percent) while only an insignificant value (16 percent) is partly contributed by Nigeria.Thus, with the enormous advertising expenditures, it becomes necessary to know if such expenditures justify sales volume obtainable from the advertisement efforts. Luo and Donthu (2005) identified advertising media and spending inefficiencies in generating sales, and concluded that top 100 marketers’ advertising spending in print, broadcast, and outdoor media are not efficient and could bring in 20 percent more sales. Sadly, the case relating to insurance products was not treated. Also, there is a strong need for understanding the impacts of advertising on sales volume.Furthermore, although empirical evidence in major markets of the world shares a significant relationship between advertisement and sales volume, there is no reliable data and information on the subject in developing countries such as Nigeria. The absence of this information provides a wide gap and poor understanding on the effectiveness of advertisement on sales. The purpose of the study is to investigate the impact of advertising on the sales of insurance products. Advertising ranks among the major tools of promotion in general and awareness in particular.The study investigates if there are good advertising opportunities insurance industry can make use of, and examine the various advertising media commonly used by the insurers with particular reference to Nigeria. How would the customers know that a particular product will satisf y some needs unless such is communicated to them? As a pivot of economic development, insurance certainly has a major role to play. The issue now is that the sector performance is far below expectation. An important question is why?Is there any inherent difficulty in growing and promoting this business in developing world? Very many factors have been put forward for this performance, and it should be mentioned that it is not the intention of this study to discuss them. It is important, however, to find out the effectiveness of the choice of advertising media on the sales volume of insurance organizations. A study of this nature may prove to be of immense benefit to industry managers on how to make positive impression about their business and product given the dynamic nature of our socio economic environment.Past studies reveal a fairly strong relationship between advertising investments and sales. Twedt and Knitter (1964) observed some relationships between larger investments in pri nt media and profits. Sturgess and Young (1981) identified the direct relationship between sales and advertising expenditures as more relevant to a company’s performance variables than any other test of communication effectiveness of advertising. Perreault and McCarthy (2000) admit that one of the methods of measuring advertising effects is to evaluate sales.Schultz and Wittink (1976) revealed that although some studies have reported a positive influence of primary advertising on primary demand, no conclusive empirical evidence has been brought to bear on the major premise. It is therefore the goal of the current work to bridge this important gap. The effects of advertising media JRF 10,3 The paper is sectioned into the following: introduction, methodology, data analysis, and conclusion. The introduction provides an insight into the significance of the problem and the need to bridge the knowledge gap.Section 2 presents the methodology, which provides the framework for the pre sented study. In Section 3, data analysis is presented based on the results of the survey instruments. Section 4, the final section, provides concluding remarks. 2. Methodology The aim of this research is to carry out an empirical investigation of the extent to which advertising affects sales. This is a survey research whose objectives are to find answers to the following research questions, and test the relevant hypotheses. This section presents the methodological approach adopted to gather relevant data necessary for this study. . 1 Study population, sampling design, and research instrument The Nigerian Insurance Digest, 2006 indicates that there were 96 insurance companies operating in Nigeria as at December 31, 2006. No available records confirm that new companies have been formed since, except for the issues of mergers and acquisitions that characterized the recapitalization/consolidation exercise. A total of 71 companies have since emerged from this exercise. The study populat ion embraced all the staff engaging in marketing, public relations, and advertising in these 71 insurance companies.Most of these companies are direct insurers since they deal directly with the members of the public. Reinsurance companies, though, also engage in advertising activities, were excluded from this study because their impact or contact with the members of the public is indirect. Since it would not be feasible to contact all the staff that represents the population for the study, sampling method was used, and the study was limited to Lagos state, the commercial center of Nigeria. A sample of 100 subjects selected from some insurance companies in Lagos was used.The sampling method was used to avoid bias in the selection procedure, and to achieve maximum precision for a given outlay of resources. Essentially, two research instruments were used: questionnaire and interview. For the questionnaire, 100 copies were distributed to respondents selected from various insurance compa nies in Lagos, Nigeria. In order to ensure high response ratio, the questionnaires were administered personally. To achieve this a number of contacts have been made to the management of those companies soliciting for their cooperation.Also, diligent care was exercised to avoid ambiguity in drafting the questionnaire. Personal interview was conducted with selected executives in the insurance companies (Dillion et al. , 1994). The face-to-face contact with respondents assisted in obtaining high quality data since more information is communicated between human beings communicating directly with each other than using other means. 2. 2 Method of data analysis The research proposed to use such descriptive statistics as simple percentages to compute the data obtained.For hypothesis testing, coefficient of correlation would be employed. Lucey (2002) highlights the benefits of using correlation coefficient when trying to analyze independent and dependent variables in order to understand the relationship between them. The correlation coefficient reveals the strength of such The effects of relationships. advertising media 2. 3 Restatement of research questions The research questions are as follows: RQ1. Is a company’s failure to use advertising a result of lack of good advertising opportunities?RQ2. Do the results of other promotional tools affect the use of advertising? RQ3. Is the use of advertising dependent on the measurability of its results? RQ4. Is there any relationship between advertising expenditure and sales figure? 2. 4 Research hypotheses The hypotheses stated will be used to test the relationship between sales figures and advertising figures (Asika, 2006). The statistical procedure is to state the null hypothesis (H0), which is to be followed by the alternative hypothesis (H1).While a H0 is a statement that no change has occurred from the condition specified, the H1 is a reversal of a H0. Thus, if in hypothesis testing, a H0 is rejected, then, the H1 will be accepted: H0. There is no relationship between advertising expenditure and sales figure. H1. There is a relationship between advertising expenditure and sales figure. 2. 5 Research design The research uses explorative research design in order to gain insights into the subject studied. The research design is that of descriptive survey.It is meant to assess the importance attached to advertisement by insurance organizations. Specifically, the research design would reveal availability of good advertising opportunities for insurance firms, factors affecting a firm’s decision to use advertising, relationship between advertising and company’s performance in terms of sales volume, and justification of advertising expenditure, using profit as the bottom line. 3. Data analysis In Section 2, it was mentioned that empirical investigation would be carried out on the extent to which the choice of advertising medium affects sales.The summaries of the results of the survey q uestions, and how these answer the stated research questions are presented in this Section 3. In fact, we will like to find out whether a company’s failure to use advertising is a result of lack of advertising opportunities, whether the use of advertising is dependent on the measurability of its results, and whether there is any relationship between advertising expenditure and sales figure. These results also attempt to seek support for the hypothesis stated. 3. 1 Response rate and respondents’ characteristicsA total of 100 copies of the questionnaire were distributed to respondents. The challenges of recapitalization in the insurance industry, and subsequent rearrangements including the necessary formalities made the task of getting JRF 10,3 audience difficult. A total of 84 questionnaires were collected out of which two were found unusable for the purpose of analysis. The response rate of 48 percent was thus achieved. The results were analyzed with the use of the fol lowing statistical procedures: (1) the frequency distribution of some parameters; (2) the percentages of the parameters studied; and 3) bar charts were also used for further illustration of some of the results obtained. The first five questions of the questionnaire deal with the characteristics of the respondents, specifically their bio data. These are presented in Table I. Out of the 82 respondents analyzed, 50 are males while 32 are females. The sample members were conveniently selected at random, rather than based on quota. Since 61 percent of the respondents are males and 39 percent are females, should one conclude that 61 percent of the workforce in the insurance industry is male and 39 percent female?This is an interesting possibility due to the fact that a good number of females prefer to be self-employed in order to care for their home responsibilities. From Table II, majority of the respondents are 40 years and below, an overwhelming 89 percent (i. e. 44 percent for below 3 0 years, and 45 percent for age bracket 31-40). About 11 percent of the respondents are above the age 41, while none of the respondents is over 60 years. This analysis suggests that productive and dynamic personnel marketing and public relations functions of these insurance companies.The analysis shows 43 single and 39 married persons indicating 52 and 48 percent respondents, respectively (Table III). This is a fair distribution. From Table IV, 46 of the 82 respondents possess higher national diploma and degrees, 14 respondents possess higher degrees in form of MSc/MBA, and 16 respondents possess professional qualifications. Sex Number Percentage Table I. Male 50 61 Sex distribution Female 32 39 of respondents Total 82 100 Age Number Percentage Table II. Age distribution of respondents Below 30 years 31-40 years 41-50 years 51-60 years Total 36 37 6 3 82 44 45 7 4 100Marital status Number Percentage Table III. Marital status of respondents Single Married Total 43 39 82 52 48 100 The fact that only six respondents (a mere 8 percent) possess national diploma and below shows that marketing and public relations job in the insurance industry is taken over by professionally and academically qualified personnel. From Table V, 71 respondents (which is 87 percent) have not more than ten years working experience, while those having more than 16 years working experience constitute only 4 percent. None of the respondents however, have worked more than 25 years. 3. Descriptive statistics of the sample responses In presenting the data obtained in response to section B of the questionnaire, we will use tables of percentages as well as bar charts. A cumulative of 91 percent agree that insurance is necessary for socio-economic development while a mere 4 percent disagree (Table VI). One may conclude that majority of the respondents believe that insurance has a vital role to play in an economy. Here, again, Table VII shows that 91 percent agree that the Nigerian public is apathe tic toward insurance purchase, while a mere 5 percent could not agree. A total of 69 respondents (20 ? 9) agree that the level of insurance sales in the country is not encouraging, which is 84 percent of the respondents (Table VIII). On the other hand, 10 percent of the respondents disagree. This naturally confirms the response presented in Table VII indicating that the Nigerian public is apathetic toward insurance purchase. Academic qualification Number Percentage WAEC/NECO/GCE National diploma HND/BSc MSc/MBA Professional qualification Total 3 3 46 14 16 82 4 4 56 17 19 100 Table IV. Academic qualifications of respondents The effects of advertising media Length of service Number Percentage Below 5 years -10 years 11-15 years 16-20 years 21-25 years Total 48 23 7 2 2 82 59 28 9 2 2 100 Table V. Length of service/working experience of respondents Response Number Percentage Strongly agree Agree Undecided Strongly disagree Total 37 38 4 3 82 45 46 5 4 100 Table VI. Insurance necessary for socio-economic development JRF 10,3 About 49 percent believe that insurance performance follows the fortunes of the other sectors while 27 percent disagree (Table IX). The interesting thing is that 24 percent could not state whether or not the insurance industry performance depends on the performance of the other sectors.Here, respondents were allowed to choose more than one factor they considered as responsible for the low sales of insurance products. In order of frequency, low level of awareness, poor industry image, high level of illiteracy, and low per capital income top the list with 73, 57, 45, and 45 percent, respectively (Table X). These factors are represented on the bar chart (Figure 1). About 67 percent of the respondents agree that the principles involved in marketing tangible products apply with equal force to marketing intangible products such as Response Number Percentage Table VII. Whether public is pathetic toward insurance Strongly agree Agree Undecided Strong ly disagree Total 12 63 3 1 82 14 77 4 1 100 Response Number Percentage Table VIII. Level of insurance sales in Nigeria not encouraging Strongly agree Agree Undecided Disagree Total 20 49 5 8 82 24 60 6 10 100 Reponses Number Percentage Table IX. Performance of insurance Strongly agree Agree Undecided 7 33 20 9 40 24 industry dependent on the performance of other sectors Disagree Strongly disagree Total 17 5 82 21 6 100 Factor Number Percentage Low per capital income Low level of awareness 37 60 45 73 Table X. Factors responsible for ow sales of insurance High level of illiteracy Religious beliefs Poor industry image Availability of substitute 37 23 47 4 45 28 57 5 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 Poor image Substitute insurance while 33 percent disagree (Table XI). One may assert that while marketing principles are universal, their application to categories of products varies. All the respondents confirm that their companies have marketing or public relations department (Table XII). This shows that the issue of marketing or public relations is given adequate attention with staff assigned specific responsibilities.An overwhelming 93 percent of the respondents agree that their companies engage in one form of advertising or the other (Table XIII). It shows that companies could no longer be content with the provision of goods and services alone, they also see the need to inform the general public of their existence and the benefits they offer to the society. From Table XIII already discussed above, six respondents confirm that their companies do not engage in any form of advertising. In response question 9 on the questionnaire asking for the reasons, they pointed to the factors shown in Table XIV.Out of the six respondents, three chose â€Å"preference for other promotional tools,† four chose â€Å"high cost of advertising,† and two chose â€Å"difficulty in measuring advertising Low income Low awareness Illiteracy Religion Response Number Percentage Yes No Total 55 27 82 67 33 100 The effects of advertising media Figure 1. Chart showing factors responsible for low sales of insurance products Table XI. Can the principles involved in marketing tangible products be applied to insurance marketing? Response Number Percentage Table XII. Does your company have Yes 82 100 marketing or public Total 82 100 relations department? Response Number PercentageTable XIII. Yes 76 93 Whether respondents’ No 6 7 companies engage in Total 82 100 advertising activities JRF 10,3 effects on sales. † Interestingly, none chose â€Å"lack of good advertising opportunities† as a reason for not advertising. This means there may be good advertising opportunities, but measuring the effect of advertising on sales is a problem. In response to the question on advertising objectives, 72 percent of the respondents chose â€Å"inform the public about the company,† 55 percent chose â€Å"increase sales,† and 52 percent chose †Å"improve company’s image† among the major objectives of advertising (Table XV).From the above analysis, increase in sales is the leading advertising objective, apart from giving information about the company. Ranking in frequency, newspapers, radio, and magazines are the most favored advertising media with 79, 59, and 49 percent, respectively (Table XVI). These and other media used are presented on the bar chart (Figure 2). The analysis above indicates that 51 percent of the respondents reveal that developing advertising activities is a joint responsibility of the company’s staff and the advertising agencies (Table XVII).About 41 percent of the respondents show that it is entirely the work of advertising agencies while only 8 percent state that it is an internal responsibility. The report shows that insurance companies in developing their advertising program actively seek for the inputs of the advertising agencies. While only 5 percent of the respondents could n ot decide, a cumulative of 83 percent agree that the success of advertising activities depends on the integration of all marketing promotional tools. While no respondents strongly disagree, 12 percent disagree (Table XVIII).The 83 percent in agreement point to the fact that there is the need for integration of all marketing communications in order to achieve good result. Response Number Percentage Table XIV. Reasons why some Preference for other promotional tools 3 50 companies do no High cost of advertising 4 67 advertising Difficulty in measuring advertising effects 2 33 Response Number Percentage Table XV. Objectives of advertising Inform the public about the company Introduce new product Increase sales Improve profitability Improve company’s image 59 33 45 34 43 72 40 55 42 52 Response Number PercentageTable XVI. Advertising media used Radio Television Outdoor advertising Newspapers Magazines Journals 48 24 29 65 40 21 59 29 35 79 49 26 The effects of advertising media Fi gure 2. Bar chart showing the preferred advertising media Radio TV Outdoor Newspapers Magazine Journals 100 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 Response Number Percentage (a) Advertising staff (b) Advertising agencies (c) Both (a) and (b) above Total 7 34 41 82 8 41 51 100 Table XVII. Those responsible for developing advertising activities Response Strongly agree Agree Undecided Disagree Total Number 23 45 4 10 82 Percentage 8 55 5 12 100 Table XVIII. Whether advertising success is dependent on the integration of all marketing promotional tools From Table XIX, an overwhelming majority of the respondents agree that the choice of advertising medium is critical to the success of advertising activities. This is indicated by the sum of 20 percent for â€Å"strongly agree† and 70 percent for â€Å"agree† respondents making 90 percent. While 6 percent could not decide, a mere 4 percent disagree. Insurers therefore will have to pay attention to the medium selection if their advertising objectives are to be met.In Table XX, the respondents neither â€Å"disagree† nor â€Å"strongly disagree† with the notion that the choice of message can make a difference between success and failure of any advertising activity. While only 1 percent of the respondents could not decide, 99 percent agree with the notion that the choice of message is critical to any successful advertising program. Again, insurers need to pay attention to the message in endeavoring to reach the public. JRF 10,3 About 96 percent of the respondents support the notion that advertising has made positive impact on their company performance (Table XXI).This needs no further elaboration. Owing to the importance of this issue, question 16 in section B was reframed again as question 17 with the aim of testing the genuineness of the respondents’ answer. Interestingly, as in Table XXI (which analyzed responses to question 16), 96 percent of the respondents affirm that advertising has had posi tive effects on their company’s performance (Table XXII). Specifically, 73 percent of the respondents agree that advertising leads to increased sales, the figure which is marginally exceeded by 74 percent for â€Å"favorable public image† (Table XXIII).Also 61 percent of the respondents agree that advertising leads to increased number of prospects. This is presented in the bar chart shown in Figure 3. None of the respondents picked â€Å"no† for the answer, although it was included in the three options (Table XXIV). While 76 percent of the respondents believe that advertising expenditure is justified based on the results achieved, 24 percent could Response Number Percentage Table XIX. Strong agree Agree Undecided 16 57 5 20 70 6 The choice of advertising medium is critical to the success of advertising Disagree Strongly disagree Total 2 2 2 2 2 100 Response Number Percentage Table XX. The choice of message can make or mar advertising campaign Strongly agree Agre e Undecided Total 21 60 1 82 26 73 1 100 Table XXI. Whether advertising has impacted positively on company performance Response Yes No Total Number 79 3 82 Percentage 96 4 100 Response Number Percentage Table XXII. Description of advertising effects on company performance Positive effect No effect Negative effect Total 79 1 2 82 96 1 3 100 not decide. One may align with the fact that advertising expenditure, if properly done, is not a wasteful resource, after all.The fact that only 27 percent agree, and 37 percent could not decide in support of the notion shows that advertising agents have a long way to go in measuring up to international standard (Table XXV). About 36 percent (30 ? 6 percent) disagree that advertising professionals are performing at world standard. Response Number Percentage The effects of advertising media Increased number of calls received 10 Increased number of prospects visits 50 Increased number of orders received 21 Increased volume of sales 60 Increased quan tum of profits 31 Favorable public image 61 2 61 26 73 Table XXIII. 38 Specific effects of 74 advertising on companies Figure3. Bar chart showing effects of advertising 10 30 40 50 60 70 80 Calls Visits Orders Sales Profits Image Response Number Percentage Table XXIV. Yes 62 76 Going by the result, is Undecided 20 24 advertising expenditure Total 82 100 justified? Response Number Percentage Strongly agree 4 5 Agree 18 22 Table XXV. Undecided 30 37 Is performance of Disagree 25 30 advertising agencies in Strongly disagree 5 6 Nigeria is of international Total 82 100 standard? JRF 10,3 3. Analysis of research questions In Section 3, the research questions proposed in Section 1 were restated. These research questions, four in number, are analyzed as follows based on the information received from the respondents: RQ1. Is a company’s failure to use advertising a result of lack of good advertising opportunities? To answer this question, Table XIV (already analyzed somewhere above) is hereby represented in Table XXVI. In response to question 8 on the questionnaire, six out of the 82 respondents confirmed that their companies do no advertising at all.Question 9 asked for the reasons and four options were listed as follows: (1) company’s preference for other promotional tools; (2) high cost of advertising; (3) lack of good advertising opportunities; and (4) difficulty in measuring advertising effects. From Table XXVI, none of the respondents chose option (3), i. e. â€Å"lack of good advertising opportunities† as the reason for not advertising. One can therefore conclude that there are a number of advertising opportunities in the country for companies who care to advertise: RQ2. Do the results of other promotional tools affect the use of advertising?Again, this question would be answered using the response analysis presented in Table XIV. Out of the six respondents whose companies do no advertising, three stated that it was because their companies preferred the use of other promotional tools. When compared with the sample size, which is 82, the position of the three respondents is too insignificant to infer a generalization. One could thus conclude that the results of other promotional tools do not negatively affect the use of advertising: RQ3. Is the use of advertising dependent on the measurability of its result?Using Table XXVI, out of the six respondents who confirm that their companies do not advertise, two chose â€Å"difficulty in measuring advertising effects† as the reason. Again, this position of the two respondents is too insignificant when compared with that of the entire sample size of 82: RQ4. Is there any relationship between advertising expenditure and sales figure? In answering this question, the response to question 17 in the questionnaire will be used. The response as analyzed using Table XXIII (already analyzed somewhere above) is hereby represented in Table XXVII.Response Number Percentage Table XX VI. (Repeated) Reasons why Preference for other promotional tools 3 50 some companies do not High cost of advertising 4 67 advertise? Difficulty in measuring advertising effect 2 33 From this table, advertising has a number of positive effects on the organization. Among others, 74 percent of the respondents believe it has improved public image, 73 percent believe it has increased sales volume and 61 percent believe it has increased the number of prospect visits. All these show a positive relationship between advertising and sales. 3. 4 Test of hypothesisThe hypothesis to be tested is termed the H0 – a statement that no change has occurred from the position specified for a hypothesis. If however we reject the H0, the H1 will be accepted. An H1 is a statement, which is a reversal of a H0. 3. 4. 1 Restatement of the hypothesis. H0. There is no relationship between advertising expenditure and sales figure. H1. There is a relationship between advertising expenditure and sales figu re. In order to test for this hypothesis, data obtained from some insurance companies in respect of their sales figures (gross premium incomes) and their advertising expenditures for a five-year period was used. . 4. 2 Five-year figures of premium and advertising. These are shown in Table XXVIII. Our main objective is to test whether or not there is a relationship between advertising expenditure and sales volume. The statistical tool used here is Pearson’s product moment coefficient of correlation denoted by r. This coefficient gives an indication of the strength of the linear relationship between two variables. In our case, the two variables are: (1) Advertising expenditure, which is the independent variable represented by x. (2)Sales figures (gross premium income) which is the dependent variable denoted by y. Response Number Percentage The effects of advertising media Increased number of calls received 10 Increased number of prospects visits 50 Increased number of orders re ceived 21 Increased volume of sales 60 Increased quantum of profits 31 Favorable public image 61 12 61 26 Table XXVII. 73 (Repeated) Specific effects 38 of advertising on 74 companies Year Advert expenditure (N Premium income (N ?) ?) 2001 7,532,670 1,145,565,930 2002 8,980,422 1,456,227,292 2003 10,581,702 2,048,360,018 004 14,216,019 2,825,270,405 2005 16,186,851 3,485,046,944 Table XXVIII. JRF 10,3 For ease of computation, the figures for both advertising and sales (premium income) have been approximated as follows: XXXX X x ? 575; y ? 1; 096; x 2 ? 71; 369; y 2 ? 277; 194; and xy ? 139; 915: The formula for product moment correlation coefficient is: P PP n xy 2 x y r ? rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ? :99: P P2 * P P2 n x2 2 x ny2 2 y According to Lucey (2002), r can range from ? 1, i. e. perfect p ositive correlation where the variables change value in the same direction as each other, to 21, i. e. perfect negative correlation where y decreases linearly as x increases. Lucey states further that a strong correlation between two variables would produce an r value in excess of ? 0. 9 or 20. 9. If the value were less than, say 0. 5 there would only be a very weak relationship between the variables. The value of our computed coefficient of correlation (r) is 0. 99.This indicates a very strong positive correlation between the two variables, i. e. advertising expenditure and sales figure denoted by x and y, respectively. The decision is that we reject the H0, which states that there is no relationship between advertising expenditure and sales figure, and accept the H1, which states that there is a relationship between advertising expenditure and sales figure. 4. Conclusions This study investigates how advertising could be used by the insurers to disseminate information on the vital role they play. The study concludes that: .The image problem and the poor sales of insurance products are not necessarily the result of the bad economy but the failure to engage in marketing communications. . Emphasizing other roles of insurance as financial intermediation and supplement to government’s efforts in providing social security will make it more attractive. . Greater benefits accrue when advertising is fully integrated into the whole mass of marketing communications. . There are good opportunities for the insurers to advertise their products, advertising practitioners have not measured up to international standards. .For good advertising output, the message and format are the joint responsibility of the insurance staff and advertising agencies. . The major advertising media used by the insurers are the newspapers and the radio. The use of the internet in Nigeria should be given due attention. . The choice of advertising medium is a critical success factor in any a dvertising activity. . The major effects of advertising on companies were found to include sales volume and improved public image. A number of obstacles militate against attainment of growth in the insurance subsector, notably, hostile economic environment.Relentless advertising campaign can take a company to the next level of growth. The research has also shown that advertising expenditure is justified going by the positive effects such expenditure has on a company’s performance. Furthermore, the message and the format have also been found to be critical ingredients of a successful advertising program. It is recommended that: . The insurance executives should realize that their activities do not end with producing good services. Passing information to the public about their services and benefits thereof must be vigorously pursued through advertising. For sustainable competitive advantage there is a need for integration of all marketing communications, as this will reduce con flicts in organizations. . A careful blend of print and electronic media is very essential in order to properly serve each market segment. . Sales persons are the ones on ground since they are always in the field. Their inputs must always be sought while designing advertising message and format. . The lack of records regarding advertising budget and actual expenses is a problem in many insurance organizations.There is a need to keep adequate records of advertising expenditure, as this is necessary for proper evaluation. . The practitioners must promote other important roles of insurance such as savings, financial intermediation and provision of social security. . In the area of image laundry there can still be mutually beneficial cooperation in the midst of competition among the insurers. . In this regard, the insurance industry as a whole should embark on an industry’s advertising in order to promote subjects of common interest.This will also reduce the overall cost of adver tising. In this work, a convenience sampling method is used. While the size of the sample is fairly large (100), a major limitation is that the sample is taken in Lagos: one state out of 36. The fact that some major towns in the country (i. e. Abuja, Port Harcourt, Kano, and Ibadan) were left out could limit the degree of representativeness of the sample. However, the fact that Lagos is home to almost 90 percent of the headquarters of insurance companies in Nigeria makes the findings of this study representative of the population.Consequently, these findings would form a platform on which companies can base some of their marketing decisions. Future research could focus on the effects of publicity and public relations on sales, and on the better methods of separating advertising effects from the total marketing effects. References Asika, N. (2006), Glossary of Terms and Concepts in Research and Statistics, 1st ed. , Maxwell, Lagos, pp. 50-8. Dillion, W. R. , Madden, T. J. and Firtle, N. H. (1994), Marketing Research in a Marketing Environment, 3rd ed. , Irwin, Chicago, IL, pp. 124-5. Lucey, T. 2002), Quantitative Techniques, 6th ed. , MPG, Bodmin, p. 96. Luo, X. and Donthu, N. (2005), â€Å"Assessing advertising media spending inefficiencies in generating sales†, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 58 No. 1, pp. 28-36. The effects of advertising media JRF 10,3 Nigeria Insurers Digest (2005), Statistical Journal of the Nigerian Insurers Association, p. 47. Nigeria Insurance Digest (2006), Statistical Journal of the Nigerian Insurers Association, pp. 23-4, 43. Perreault, W. and McCarthy, J. Jr (2000), Basic Marketing: A Global Managerial Approach, 14th ed. , McGraw-Hill, New York, NY, pp. 51-6. Randle, J. (2003), â€Å"Mergers and acquisition: a survival strategy for the insurance industry†, The Nigerian Insurer, November, pp. 14-18. Schultz, R. L. and Wittink, D. R. (1976), â€Å"The measurement of industry advertising effects†, Journal of Ma rketing Research, Vol. 13 No. 1, pp. 71-5. Sturgess, B. and Young, R. (1981), â€Å"The sales response to advertising: a reconsideration†, Management and Decision Economics, No. 3, pp. 133-8. Twedt and Knitter (1964), â€Å"What about the relationships among sales, advertising, and earnings†, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 28 No. 4, pp. 68-9.Further reading Achumba, I. C. (1985), Sales Management Concepts, Strategies and Cases, rev. ed. , Mukugamu and Brothers Enterprise, Lagos. Achumba, I. C. (1995), Sales and Management Concepts, Strategies and Cases, 1st ed. , Mukugamu and Brothers Enterprise, Lagos, p. 2. Asika, N. (2004), Research Methodology: A Process Approach, 1st ed. , Mukugamu and Brothers Enterprise, Lagos, pp. 20-3. Bickelhaupt, D. (1967), â€Å"Trends and innovations in the marketing of insurance†, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 31 No. 3, pp. 17-22. Connor-Linton, J. (2003), Chi-square Tutorial, updated by C.Ball, Georgetown University, Washington, DC. Coon ey, B. (1999), â€Å"Reuter XL capital announces web-based initiative to help manage organizational risk†, PR Newswire USA, April 12. Davidow, D. and Uttal, B. (1990), The Total Customer Service: The Ultimate Weapon, 1st ed. , Harper Collins, New York, NY. Dayton, D. (1999), Total Market Domination, 1st ed. , Adams Media Corporation, Halbrook, MA, pp. 37-41. Denny, R. (1988), Selling To Win, 1995 ed. , Kogan Page, London. Dibb, S. , Simkin, L. and Pride, W. (1991), Marketing, European ed. , Houghton Mifflin, Boston, MA.Farmer, R. N. (1987), â€Å"Would you want your grand daughter to marry a Taiwanese marketing man? †, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 51, pp. 111-6. Keith, R. (1960), â€Å"The marketing revolution†, Journal of Marketing, January, pp. 35-8. Kotler, P. and Armstrong, G. (2006), Principles of Marketing, 11th ed. , Prentice-Hall, New York, NY, pp. 428-44. Kotler, P. and Connor, R. A. Jr (1977), â€Å"Marketing professional services†, Journal of Mar keting, Vol. 41 No. 1, pp. 71-6. Lancaster, G. and Massingham, L. (1988), â€Å"Essentials of Marketing†, McGraw-Hill, London. Le Boeuf, M. 1987), How to Win Customers and Keep Them for Life, 1st ed. , Berkley Books, New York, NY. McWhorter, S. (1958), â€Å"Advertising and public relations activities of insurance companies with special emphasis on health insurance†, Journal of Insurance, Vol. 25 No. 3, pp. 8-20. Makki, S. and Somwaru, A. (2001), â€Å"Finance’ participation in crop insurance markets: creating the right incentives†, American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Vol. 83 No. 3, pp. 662-7. Miner, R. B. (1961), â€Å"Application of the theory of marketing tangible goods to the marketing of insurance†, Journal of Insurance, Vol. 8 No. 1, pp. 41-4. Nigeria Insurers Association (2006), Where to Insure 2006, Nigeria Insurers Association, Lagos, pp. 28-43. Pappas, C. (2000), â€Å"AdNauseam†, Advertising Age, July, pp. 16-18. Polley, R . W. (1987), â€Å"On the value of reflection in the distorted mirror†, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 27 No. 6, pp. 104-9. Prisca, S. (2004), â€Å"Developing public trust in insurance. A critical appraisal†, Journal of Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria, Vol. 5 No. 13, p. 17. Rejda, G. (2002), Principles of Risk Management and Insurance, 7th ed. , Pearson Education, Delhi. Rejda, G. 2003), Principles of Risk Management and Insurance, 7th ed. , Pearson Education, Singapore, p. 20. Ryan, L. (1985), â€Å"New distribution channels for microcomputer software†, Business, October/December, pp. 21-2. Wikipedia (2006), The Free Encyclopedia, available at: http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Advertising Corresponding author S. A. Aduloju can be contacted at: [email  protected] com To purchase reprints of this article please e-mail: [email  protected] com Or visit our web site for further details: www. emeraldinsight. com/reprints The effects of advertising media