Early Action vs. Early Decision Whats the Difference

Early Action vs. Early Decision What's the Difference SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Would you like tofinalize yourcollege plans as soonas possible?If early notificationsounds good to you, then you might want to apply early action (EA) orearly decision (ED). Before choosing one of these admissions plans, you shouldthoroughly understand what itentails and consider all the important factors. This guide will weigh the options ofearly action vs.early decision, along with advice for choosing the best plan for you. To begin, let's review what you need to know about applying early action. What is Early Action? Early action has, like its name indicates, an early deadline. Under early action, you both apply earlier than the regular deadline and find out earlier if you've been accepted. The most common EA deadline is November 1, with November 15 as a close runner up. Most colleges send out notifications to early action candidates in mid-December, so you should have your response before the end of the calendar year. This winter notification is a whole lot sooner than regular notification, which is usually in April.You might be accepted, denied, or deferred to the regular applicant pool andconsidered again in February or March. For the most part, you can apply to as many schools as you want early action. There are a few exceptions to this rule, though. Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, and Yale, for instance, all have restrictive or single choice early action. Restrictive EA means you can only apply to that one school early. You can later apply wherever else you want regular decision. Regardless of whether your school has restrictive or non-restrictive early action, you aren't obligated to attend the school if accepted, nor do you have to respond to an offer any earlier than usual. You still have until the national response deadline of May 1 to decide where to enroll. This policy gives you the opportunity to compare admissions offers, as well as financial aid packages, from all the schools on your list before choosing one. This policy is the main difference between early action and early decision. While applying early action isn't binding, early decision is. Applying ED means that if you get accepted, you will enroll in the school. What is Early Decision? You can only apply to one school early decision. The reason for this is that early decision means you're making a binding agreement to enroll in that school if you get accepted. This contractwill be part of your application and will require a signature from your parents and school counselor, as well as from you. Typically, early decision deadlines match early action deadlines. You may apply by November 1 and hear back in mid-December. If accepted, you'll agree to enroll and send in your deposit within about a month. Like with early action, you could be accepted, denied, or deferred (in which case, you're no longer held to the binding agreement). Some schools also offer Early Decision II, which is also binding but has a later deadline. Early Decision II deadlines are usually in January, and you'll hear back in February. With both ED I and ED II, you'll be obligated to send in a deposit monthsbefore the national response date of May 1st if you get accepted to your school of choice. Early decision is a good option for students who want to make their college plans early and know exactly what school they want to attend. If you've done your research and are 100% sure about a college, then applying EDsignals your enthusiasm to the admissions committee. Most schools only offer one or the other when it comes to early action and early decision. Let's take a look at some popular schools with early admission plans and their deadlines. Popular Schools withEarly Action Some popular schools that offer early action, in addition to their regular decision deadline, include, Boston College CalTech Georgetown Harvard MIT Princeton Stanford University of Chicago University of Michigan UNC Chapel Hill University of Notre Dame University of Virginia Villanova Yale All of these schools have an EA deadline of November 1, with one exception. UNC Chapel Hill has an even earlier EA deadline of October 15. Of these schools, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Stanford, and the University of Notre Dame have single choice early action. Again, this restrictive EA means you can only apply early to that one school. The other schools on the list don't have that restriction. Below aresome well knownschools thatoffer Early Decision deadlines. Popular Schools with Early Decision Popular schools with early decision deadlines in November include, Brown Cornell Dartmouth Duke Johns Hopkins Northwestern University of Pennsylvania All of these schools have November 1 deadlines except for Johns Hopkins with an ED deadline of November 2.As mentioned above, some schools offer both Early Decision I and Early Decision II, both binding but with different deadlines. The following schools offer both the early and later Early Decision deadline. School Deadline for ED I Deadline for ED II American University November 15 January 15 Boston University November 1 January 4 Bowdoin November 15 January 1 Brandeis November 1 January 1 Colby November 15 January 1 Pomona November 1 January 1 Smith November 15 January 1 Tufts November 1 January 1 Vanderbilt November 1 January 1 Wesleyan November 15 January 15 As you can see, the ED II deadlines resemble regular decision deadlines. Instead of having to wait until April to hear back, though, youshouldbe notified inFebruary. If you're accepted, you'll be expected to send your deposit shortly thereafter. Now that you know how early action and early decision work and which schools offer them, let's talk about the advantages of each plan. Starting fromthe colleges' perspectives, what's the point of offering early deadlines? Why Do Colleges Offer Early Action orEarly Decision? There are a few reasons that early admissions appearto benefit colleges. One is that students who apply early tend to be particularly competitive. Those students who are prepared to apply inNovember to these often selective schools are oftenthe most qualified candidates. A few years ago, Harvard and the University of Virginia eliminated early admissions, claiming that it unfairly advantaged wealthier students with more "cultural capital" and greater college counseling resources. When other schools didn't follow suit, both schools reversed their decision and reintroduced early action, saying that they found that students from all backgrounds desired an early option. Practically speaking, they probably also found that they were missing out on some of the most qualified applicants, who just ended up applying elsewhere. Another reason that schools may benefit from early admissions is that it gives them a more accurate sense of their "yield." In other words, they can more accurately predict how many students will accept offers of admission, since early candidates are more likely to enroll (and ED applicants are pretty much certain to enroll). Being able to more accurately predict their numbers may be a reason that some schools offer both Early Decision I and Early Decision II. Finally, a third reason that schools benefit from early admissions is that it allows them to space out their review of applications over a longer period of time. For schools with limited staff and resources, spacing out the process is more feasible than reviewing all applications in one hectic review season. While these are some of the reasons that schools benefit from early deadlines, what are the advantages for you as an applicant? What Are the Advantages of Applying Early? One common idea around early admissions is that early applicants have a better chance of getting in. Is this true? Are you more likely to get accepted if you apply early? Unfortunately, there's no black and white answer for this. There are some compelling reasons to think that applying early does boost your chances. For instance, data shows that a higher percentage of early candidates get accepted than regular candidates. In this past year, for instance, Harvard increased its early action acceptance rate from 6% to 17%. Applying early action, and especially early decision, may also signal to admissions committees how committed to and excited abouta school you are, thereby making an impression in your favor. However, these reasons don't mean you should automatically apply early. The fact that a greater percentage of early applicants are accepted may largely reflect their own merits. It may be that the most qualified candidates apply early, while the pool of regular applicants include those forwhomthe college is a reach. Most students don't apply early to a school if their grades and scores aren't at least on target with the school's expectations. Ultimately, applying early can be a great option if you're prepared to do so, but whatever advantage there iswon't make lowgrades or test scores look any higher than they are. It's not advisable to rush your application or to apply to a school where your academic profile is weaker than that of the average accepted student. Your first priority should be sending the strongest application you can, whether that's in November or January. If you have decided that applying early is a good match with your college plans, which of the two options should you choose, early action or early decision? Which Should You Choose? Early Action vs. Early Decision In most cases, a college will only offer one or the other. Depending on the schools you're interested in, they might essentially make the choice between early action and early decision for you. If you do have a choice, the most important factor to consider is whether or not you're 100% sure you want to attend a school. Before making the commitment of early decision, you should research and visit the school, as well as talk to students who go there about their experience. If you've reached this point of certainty, then early decision couldmake sense for you. You also may consider financial aid as you decide between early action and early decision. With early decision, you agree to enroll regardless of the financial aid package you get. With early action, you still have until May 1 to compare different financial aid packages. This is one major reason early decision isn't a feasible or accessible option for everyone. Make sure you understand your colleges' application policies and any restrictions they place on your applications to other schools. If you're applying to Harvard early action, for example, you can't apply early action anywhere else. Keep track of all your deadlines, and keep preparing for any regular applications you plan to send in case your early application doesn't get accepted. You can still be putting together strong regular decision applications should you get denied, deferred, or decide to apply elsewhere. If you're applying to meet a deadline in November, you want to work on your application materials throughout junior year and the summer. Your SAT or ACT scores, recommendation letters, and personal essay require several months to a year of planning and preparation. You can check out this guide for a more detailed timeline, as well as the full lists ofdeadlines or early action and early decision schools. More Resources for College Planning What College Should You Go To? How to Choose a College How to Request a Letter of Recommendation: Complete Guide How Long Should You Study for the SAT? 6 Step Guide How Long Should You Study for the ACT? 6 Step Guide How to Write About Extracurriculars on Your College Application Want to improve your SAT score by 240 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

How to Take Good Biology Notes

How to Take Good Biology Notes One key to succeeding in biology is having good note-taking skills. It is not enough to just come to class and listen to the instructor. You must be able to take accurate, detailed notes in order to perform well on exams. In fact, most instructors use their lecture notes to come up with at least half, if not more, of their biology exam questions. Below are some good biology note-taking tips that are sure to help you learn how to take biology notes. Follow the Guidelines Some instructors provide course or lecture guidelines. Study these guidelines before class so you will be familiar with the material. Read any assigned materials before class as well. If you know what is going to be discussed beforehand, you will be better prepared to take notes. Get the Main Points An important key ​to success in biology note taking is the ability to focus on and write down the main points. Dont try to write down everything your instructor says, word for word. Its also a good idea to copy down anything the instructor writes on the chalkboard or overhead. This includes drawings, diagrams, or examples. Record the Lecture Many students find it difficult to take good biology notes because some instructors present information very quickly. In this case, ask the instructor for permission to record the lecture. Most instructors dont mind, but in case your instructor says no, you will have to practice taking notes quickly. Ask a friend to read an article quickly while you take notes. Review your notes to see if they are accurate and detailed. Leave Some Space When taking notes, be sure that you have enough space so that you can decipher what you have written. There is nothing more frustrating than having a page full of cramped, illegible notes. You will also want to be sure that you leave extra space in case you need to add more information later. Textbook Highlighting Many students find it useful to highlight information in textbooks. When highlighting, be sure to only highlight specific phrases or keywords. If you highlight every sentence, it will be difficult for you to identify the specific points that you need to focus on. Ensure Accuracy An effective way to ensure that the notes you have taken are accurate is to compare them with the information in your biology text. In addition, speak with the instructor directly and ask for feedback on your notes. Comparing notes with a classmate can also help you to capture the information you may have missed. Reorganize Your Notes Reorganizing your notes serves two purposes. It allows you to rewrite your notes in a format that helps you understand them more clearly, and it helps you to review the material you have written. Review Your Notes Once you have reorganized your biology notes, be sure to review them before the end of the day. Be certain that you know the main points and write a summary of the information. Reviewing your notes is also advantageous when preparing for a biology lab. Prepare For Biology Exams Your biology note-taking skills are essential for preparing for biology exams. You will find that if you follow the instructions above, most of the work in preparing for the exams will have already been done.

Impact of Fatherhood and Motherhood on Organizational Careers Essay

Impact of Fatherhood and Motherhood on Organizational Careers - Essay Example It should be also noted that the development of a standard rule in regard to the potentials of individuals, both males and females, with children to fight for their employment rights is not possible. In fact, the review of the literature related to this subject has revealed that the impact of fatherhood and motherhood on work and organizational career is significant, an issue that needs to be taken into consideration by governors and legislators worldwide. 2. Fatherhood and motherhood as factors influencing work and organizational careers in the early 21st century. In the workplace, fathers and mothers have the potential to use certain advantages, as set by the law for the particular category of employees Shwalb, Shwalb and Lamb (2012) refer to the parental leave scheme, a scheme that allows fathers, as also mothers, to be far from work for a particular period of time in order to take care of their children (Shwalb, Shwalb and Lamb 2012, p.321). ...This means that the use of paternal leave can help mothers ‘to increase their contribution in the family’s expenses, a fact that would highly benefit their self-respect and confidence (Shwalb, Shwalb and Lamb 2012, p.321). Reference can be also made to the findings of another survey, also included in the study of Shwalb, Shwalb and Lamb (2012). In the context of the above survey Scandinavian parents were asked to state their view in regard to their preferable mode of family - expenses sharing by parents (Shwalb, Shwalb and Lamb 2012, p.321). A high percentage, 63%, of the participants responded that they would prefer that the family expenses would be covered equally by both parents (Shwalb, Shwalb and Lamb 2012, p.321). In any case, since the high majority of fathers is paid more than mothers, fathers are more likely to contribute at a higher percentage in family expenses (Ranson 2011). Miller (2010) highlights another issue. Because employment policies are different in each country, according to the loc al ethics and culture, it is quite difficult to identify a strategy that could highly promote the power of mothers and fathers in the workplace and that would be applicable in all organizations that have similar characteristics (Miller 2010, p.13). In this context, the potential identification of an effective strategy for helping fathers in the workplace would not affect the status of fathers in other organizations, who have different conditions and challenges to face (Miller 2010, p.13). The lack of an integrate policy for supporting fatherhood in the workplace is related primarily to the different political systems and interests in each country.

Supermercados Disco Joining Up with Royal Ahold Case Study

Supermercados Disco Joining Up with Royal Ahold - Case Study Example It is also a growing market. The countries in consideration in Latin America are Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela. These countries have fairly stable governments and political environment and it is possible to do business here on long term basis although the economic and geographical conditions vary from country to country. The immediate problem is future strategy. It is the course of action needed to increase profitability and market penetration in Latin America. There are several options before Supermercados Disco. However, the main options are whether the company should choose to go ahead with a joint venture with Royal Ahold or continue independently. Other than this problem, there are choices to do with pestel analysis. There was strong economic growth in the 1990s, making it vital for the political dispensation to frame policies to maintain the growth curve. Economic prosperity made it imperative for political factors to go along with economic parameters and shun despotic influences. Argentina and Brazil became the favored destinations for retailers in the 1990s. Argentina was favored because of its wealth and Brazil because of its purchasing power due to its large middle class population. Brazil, Chile, Mexico, and Venezuela were roughly equal in terms of disposable income, but they had unequal distribution of wealth excluding up to 40% of these countries' populations from normal consumer activity. The region was projected to growth continually in the ensuing decades producing increase in the size of the working population. Due to foreign investments, there was also the fact that cities would grow disproportionately in size and wealth improving communications and infrastructure. These changes were bound to favor retailers. State-owned enterprises were thrown open for privatization. Most of the steel mills, chemical, petrochemical, shipping and aircraft companies were sold to private parties. Price controls were lifted in 1993. In Chile, tariffs were cut down from 75% in 1975 to just 11% currently. Social factors Improving economic conditions had an effect on social factors. In the six largest countries of Latin America viz. Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Mexico, and Venezuela, the population was over 80% urban. Brazil faced the biggest social problems due to poverty and lack of education. The country had to resort to credit schemes to allow poorer members of society to buy consumer durables, food and clothing. Brazil has the sixth largest population in the world. Hence, although Brazil has good middle class population, she has her share of poverty problems. Other than the Brazil factor, social factors in other Latin American countries showed improvement financially. People had money to buy what they needed. Technological factors Attraction of foreign investment

Influence of Brand Name on Consumer Decision Essay Example for Free

Influence of Brand Name on Consumer Decision Essay In the present developing and modern day world, consumerism has dominated all the aspects of life. The life in the society follows the pattern of the capitalist culture where the human values have a different measure, ‘you are known by what you have not by what you are’. This naturally leads to the life in a society where everyone wants to have a unique place in the society, by possessing the things which sets them apart from the rest of people in the society. In present society and living way, the Brands not only represent the symbol of the company or product but to a larger extent define the general life of a person. What the person uses can reflect his taste of life, his status in the society, his economic background and many other things. This makes a deep connection between the company and its brand, with the consumer. In this two way relation both are dependent on each other for various different reasons. In today’s time customers are very deeply connected to the brands. When they purchase any product like a car, mobile, items of daily need, brand name influence the consumer’s choice. Some customers purchase the specific branded things just due to the brand name. Customers believe that brand name is a symbol of quality. I found this interesting and wanted to find out whether brand name influences the consumer choice when they go for purchasing any product. I chose to for the specific product because  this is one of the products which got my attention because of many reasons. Initially the car production was dominated by few companies and one or two countries. With the time, the market started to grow and once considered to be luxurious commodity, cars became a need  rather than a choice. This increased the demand and with that many more  companies entered the arena to have their share of profit and exploit the growing market. This made the companies to put more efforts and money to creating brand awareness of their product. With the Huge sum of money and effort invested by the companies to create the awareness of their brand in the market, many questions arise; does this really affect the purchasing decision  of the customer? Does the brand awareness somehow influence the sale of the product? Etc. On the basis of these questions, I formulated my problem as follows: The purpose of this thesis is to create deeper consideration of what influence a brand name can have, when people go for purchasing, choose the products between different brands in automobile industry. Further I want to identify, if there is a connection between brands and the consumer decision making process. I conducted this study based on theories and surveys. I analyzed the result of the survey in order to be able to draw conclusions and find answers to my problem. I came to the conclusion that when consumer purchases a car, brand names influence his choice. Customers choose the well known branded car among other brands which are new or not so known. The study shows that branded cars have a great place in consumer mind, when customers go for purchasing a car, they prefer to purchase a well known branded car. Customers do not want to try new or unknown branded cars because they have no much information about the  lesser known brand. Usually, people purchase well known branded cars because they might have heard before about brands or they have some information about them from other sources. This makes customer feel more comfortable during the time of decision making as they are not so confident about the knowledge they have gathered about the other brands. The consumers are very conscious about branded and unbranded cars because they have the view that branded cars are more reliable than unbranded car. This study also explains that customers trust the branded cars’ quality. Before purchasing a car people do not consider the lesser known brand car, as people are very attached to some specific brands. Some people are loyal to specific brands, over time they want to purchase the same branded car because the specific brand has satisfied the customer’s needs and in turn has gained the trust in the brand name. I feel that the purpose of this study has been fulfilled to some extant. The theory describe that brand name has a power, which attracts the customers towards branded products. The reason  is that customer gets special connection with specific brands product and become the loyal with brand.

Open Theism vs. Closed Theism :: Essays Papers

Open Theism vs. Closed Theism This topic is one that has had my curiosity piqued for the last few years and is one I have made a point of discussing with many people over the course of that time. I have heard many different viewpoints, some who have been adamant for God's omniscience and knowledge of the future and others who have presented compelling arguments for free will. Most, however are of a third category who have come to grips with the fact that our mere brains cannot understand the workings of God and are content to wait for an answer until they are able to ask them themselves if/when they get to Heaven. I myself hold this latter idea to be a good fallback, but am restless in my pursuit for an answer. For neither the deterministic nor the liberalist perspective seem to have me convinced for it seems to me like both of these beliefs leave you in a dire catch-22: if you insist on complete freedom, you limit God's knowledge; but if you insist on God's knowledge, then you limit humanity's freedom; neither o f which leave my mind at rest in who I know God to be and what His scripture has revealed to us in His creation of humanity. So I am left with an unsettled feeling that there must exist a third alternative--one that encompasses both God's complete omniscience and humanity's unleashed freedom. The closest established belief I would at this point categorize myself with believing would be that of St. Thomas Aquinas and Anselm, which you site on pg. 119 of your text. The pitfall I see in the libertarians' viewpoint is their assumption that foreknowledge implies cause. For instance, by their understanding of foreknowledge, if Chris were to somehow know beforehand what the outcome of a football game would be, but were nothing more than a spectator in the stands, Chris, by this knowledge, somehow CAUSED the outcome of the game to end the way it did. This does not hold up in common sense. Just because Chris somehow were able to KNOW what would happen does not mean that he, by the same token, CAUSED it to happen. And such is the case with God. Just because God KNOWS what will happen in the future of the world does not mean that he literally entered the 'game' and caused it to happen.

Individual research task Essay

This episode of ‘The Simpsons’, ‘The Fat and the Furriest’ was about Homer and a giant Grizzly bear. When Homer is caught on tape running away from a large bear at the town dump, he becomes the laughingstock of Springfield. Determined to win his dignity back, Homer devises a bear-proof suit that will protect him once he returns to the wild to hunt down the bear. When he confronts the beast, he realizes the bear is only upset because he’s been tagged with a painful tracking device. Homer reverses course and helps bring the bear to safety. ‘The Fat and the Furriest’ satirises many different issues about social, political and cultural things. In the beginning after the theme song they show the family getting onto and sitting on the couch. There are hundreds of different ways that the characters manage to do this. In this particular episode, they show Homer walking down a hallway by himself, through many, high security metal doors with a telephone booth at the end, which then drops him onto the couch with the rest of the family. This is the same beginning (with theme song) that is featured in every ‘Get Smart’ episode (a comedy TV show from the 80’s). Another thing that they satirise is the stupidity of men, through the stupidity of Homer and Bart. On Mother’s Day morning, the kids and Homer discuss what they got Marge for Mother’s Day and this is what happens: Homer: Well†¦ what did you get her? Lisa: I picked mum a bouquet of erigeron elodeas†¦ (Homer & Bart stare with lost expression)†¦ daisies†¦ (Homer & Bart still staring)†¦ flowers†¦ (Homer & Bart still staring)†¦ mmmm†¦ (Lisa gestures flowers towards them) Homer & Bart: Oh†¦! Even in the simplest terms (i. e. â€Å"flowers†), Homer and Bart had no idea about what Lisa was talking about. This shows that they are really stupid and could reflect the stupidity of men in society, especially those who don’t think before they say or do things. They also satirise the stupidity of cops, as seen in the seen with a police officer and the chief: Police Officer: Chief, that guy shouldn’t be in the car pool lane. His passenger is just a†¦ big piece of candy Chief: I wish mine was! (looks at officer angrily) Police Officer: What?! Chief: Nothing†¦ Like most episodes of ‘The Simpsons’ with Chief Wiggum in it, shows him caring more for food than for than for his job as a cop. This could be satirising cops and suggesting that they are lazy and don’t do their job properly. They also satirise society and how it takes things for granted, throwing away the old things when new versions come along. This is shown is the city dump seen before Homer gets attacked by a bear for the first time. As Homer walks through the dump, there are 3 signs behind him. The first sign says ‘Betamax Tapes’ and shows a pile of tapes, the second pile says ‘Laser Discs’ and has a pile of discs below it, and the third sign says ‘Reserved for DVDs. This is just saying that once we create something that is even better and more compact than DVDs, everyone will get rid of the DVDs. No one wants to look like they aren’t ‘in with the times’, they care a lot about their image and how society sees them. There are many satirical techniques that are used to make fun of these issues and satirise them. One of the most frequent satirical techniques used throughout this episode and most Simpsons episodes is Irony. An example of this is when Homer is trying to get the hunter off their track by chucking away the tracking device that he is following:Homer: The hunter has become the hunter. He must be following this thing (tracking device). Well I’m gonna make sure it never harms another living creature! (throws tracking device is pond, fish and diver surface after dying from electrical charges put out by tracking device) This is a form of irony because Homer throws the tracking device into the pond because he didn’t want it to hurt another living thing anymore. But instead he killed every fish in that pond as well as a diver who was exploring the pond. Another satirical technique used in this episode is a parody. This was when Homer had created a huge 85 pound ball of deep fried fairy floss and caramel. While making this weird creation, Homer was whimpering as if he was afraid of what could happen, but this whimpering turned into a maniacal evil laugh. This parody is imitating movies and shows where there is an evil person who laughs maniacally when they create something, such as in the movie ‘Spiderman’. The green goblin laughs evilly when he schemes up a plan to destroy and kill Spiderman. There are many movies which use this clichi and this particular Simpsons scene is satirising that clichi. The hyperbole is also another technique used in this episode of ‘The Simpsons’. For example, when the local hunter, Grant Connor, is telling Homer about Grizzly bears before he goes off to face one, he says: Grant Connor: The grizzly is over eight foot tall and can cut through a tree like a Jewish mother through self-esteem. This is an exaggeration of what he is trying to say, which is that grizzly bears are very strong and their claws are very sharp, so be careful. The last, but not least technique used in this episode of ‘The Simpsons’ is humour. This technique is used in the beginning of the show before Homer, Lisa and Bart are going to go shopping for a Mother’s day gift for Marge. Homer: Kids, we’re going mother’s day shopping. I’m glad this holiday only comes every 4 years. This statement is full of humour and makes us laugh because of the stupidity of Homer and how he is so lost in life. He doesn’t even know what he is saying is wrong and he believes that he is not doing anything wrong. There are also many other examples of humour used throughout the whole episode and all the seasons. All these issues that are being satirised and the techniques used to satirise them, all play an important part in the shows ability to satirise social, political and/or cultural context. This particular episode mainly satirises social context. This is evident in the way they portray men, women, children and old people. But in other episodes of the show, political and cultural contexts are both satirised. For example, when President George Bush moves in next door to the Simpsons, or the many times where Mayor Quimby does things wrong. Examples of cultural context is the episode where Apu talks about how he came to America and the episode where Springfield has a referendum, ‘Preposition 24’ about whether refugees should be allowed to stay in Springfield. There are many other episodes and scenes where the show satirises social, political or cultural context. The effectiveness of all this satirising must be great because ‘The Simpsons’ is aired in many countries and languages throughout the world. It has being running on TV for around 15 years and has created 15 seasons and there are still many more episodes still to come in the future. I think that ‘The Simpsons’ is a great TV show that satirises many things to do with social, political and cultural contexts. The many techniques and characters used to make fun of this issue make the show a great laugh and very fun to watch. This very episode, ‘The Fat and the Furriest’ was one of the funniest yet, and featured some very good laughs o get your attention. I’m sure that for years to come, ‘The Simpsons’ will continue to amaze us and make us all laugh.

Organizational Culture and Strategic Human Resource Management Essay

Organizational Culture and Strategic Human Resource Management Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Different scholars have given the term culture different meanings according to the context in which it is applied. People have different cultures from their area of origin, but organizations tend to have almost similar cultures governing the relationship between the employer and employees or among the employees themselves. Carla defined culture as interactions, behavior patterns affective understanding and cognitive constructs which are acquired through the socialization process. These patterns are used in distinguishing members of different cultures through the way they behave. Lederach (1985) stated that culture refers to shared schemes and knowledge obtained from a set of people through interpreting, perceiving, responding and expressing social realities.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Consequently, Organizational culture refers to how people from a given organization are required to behave concerning their employment and their code of behavior concerning the operations and activities carried out in any given organization. These codes give employees a sense of belonging or identity, appointing and aligning a common view which enables them to act according to such cultures (Bates, Amundson, Schroeder, & Morris, 2010: p. 1565). Different organizations have different ways of maintaining organizational cultures. Most of the companies adopt an impressive rate of retaining employees with a high level of satisfaction as a way of maintaining strong cultures in the workplace. These are important towards the success of the business as well behaved and motivated employees are more productive compared to those who are non-motivated in a given organization. These strong organizational cultures can be maintained through the following ways:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Responsive to the needs of an employee; despite the company catering for the pension schemes and the salary of the employees, it is also required to respond to other interests of the employees such as; lifestyle benefits, healthy, working conditions, leisure and the study days. This motivates the employee to maintain good standards of behavior and in turn increases their output.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Ongoing development; this comprises of the developments that are carried out in the business organization such having talents day mentoring schemes, which offers training to employees on how they can improve their services. This makes the employees feel that their future is being invested in and that the company is supporting their professional and personal growth.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Social calendar; this involves a well balanced social interaction regarding business activities, which creates a good morale. It involves social healthy and social events, which are carried outside the office setting, which creates an inter-team bonding and a buoyant atmosphere which is a form of motivation to the employees.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Honest feedback and openness; employers are required to create an environment that brings an open culture which makes employees in every stage share their suggestions, ideas and concerns. When strategies of a well structured feedback are put in place, business owners can as well monitor the levels of employees’ satisfaction and be able to alleviate any arising issue.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Innovative approach; this comprises of the ways a business conducts its activities and the ways it relates with the members of staff. The company should strive to portray good examples and allow its employees to attend industrial events. This makes sure that they become updated with the c trends and advance in their area of work.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Committed leadership; leadership is a very essential component in any given organization; this should involve all team members especially those in the management sector. Company culture can only be maintained through having committed, clear and inclusive leadership where all members are represented. Importance of Maintaining Organizational Culture   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The recent past, there has developed a high concern on how businesses have chosen to carry out their daily operations. The culture of an organization in the leadership concept has become a major component used by leaders to come up with a dynamic organization. Leaders do ignite the process of culture formation through imposing expectations and assumptions on their subjects or followers. Schein (2011: p. 370) stated that as companies stabilize due to their success of completing its primary tasks, assumptions of leaders becomes shared which facilitates the socialization process of new members. This result to the success of the organizational leaders’ consistency, giving clear signals regarding their priorities, believes and values.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   When ethical cultures are promoted through leadership, leaders become successful which facilitates organizational growth, maintains good services that the society demands, ability to solve issues before they end up becoming serious disasters and become competitive against their rivals. Schein (2011: p.374) also discovered that corporate cultures are very important on matters concerning decision making in the organization. He stated that if decisions are made without considering the forces of the operative culture, it may result to undesirable and unanticipated consequences. This is due to complex issues confronting leaders when deciding on the best method of generating the achievements of the organization when faced with complex environments. Their success will depend on the understanding, and the knowledge leaders have concerned the organizational culture. This makes them predict the results of their decisions by preventing anticipated re percussions. Arguably, an organization that maintains such strong culture can also realize the following benefits. Enhanced corporation and mutual trust Development of an informal control system within the organization   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Assisting workers in modifying their behaviors through providing behaviors, which are justified Schein (2011: p.373) also characterized the culture of an organization in three levels. The first level consisted of artifacts and behavior levels which are most visible as they are always around us. Such an observable cultural level consist of an outward manifestations behavior patterns of culture which can be seen in the physical layout of dress codes, work environments, levels of technology, behaviors and attitudes of people. The second level comprised of the organizational values that determine behavior and are unobservable which are different from the artifacts and physical behaviors. They give the difference between operating values and the stated values such valuing customers and qualities. Operating value refers to actual manifestation of true values in force. Schein (2011: p.373) emphasized that for better understanding of culture one h as to get the deeper level of beliefs and assumptions. The relevance of culture is the learned beliefs, values and assumptions which are taken for granted and shared as the company becomes successful.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The most challenging issue concerning the organizational culture is whether they can be changed. Some of these cultures are maintained, created and transformed by leaders or the people. Hartman (2006) stated that culture comprises of laws, history, language as well as systems and rules, informal and formal practices, rituals and beliefs. However, ethics of an organization operates on the whole moral culture of the business organization. Schein (2009: p.109) recommended the following five embedding primary mechanism which can be used by leaders as major tools to teach the organizations they lead on how to think, perceive, behave and feel from their own unconscious and conscious convictions.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Leaders’ attention on a regular basis control and measures: organizational leaders and founders communicate their beliefs, values and priorities based on where they are paying their attention. Their overtime measure and emphasizes can lead to a greater effect on the culture of the organization. Schein (2009: p.110) stated that such a process ends up becoming a powerful way of delivering a message especially when the leaders portray a total consistent to their behavior. These leaders consistency is the one that sends a message showing their priorities, beliefs and values which is high importance rather than the actions’ intensity. Northouse (2008: p.370) argued that every leader should have an agenda, proposals, a series of beliefs; values issues and ideas which they desire to discuss which has significant effects on the values the organization exhibits. Schein (2009: p.112) stated that leaders can apply both negative and posi tive signals as tools of capturing the subordinates’ attention on important issues concerning the organization.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Leaders’ reactions towards organizational crises and critical incidents: all organizations are bound to experience crises which are known to draw every ones attention in such an incidence. The way leaders react to such crises; it gives more information concerning the values, culture and norms of the organization (Pacanowsky & Trujillo, 2013: p.130)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Schein ((2009: p.113) quoted that if an organization is confronted with crises, the way leaders and other shareholders deals with such a situation, it creates values, new norms, working procedures and reveals underlying assumptions, which are important. Crises generate emotional involvement and attention to those related to the organization mostly if such crises threaten the existence of the organization. When the organizations assumptions are exposed in such an incidence, the potential is increased to either reinforce the current culture or make a change on such current culture. In such situations, leaders may influence the culture of the organization so as to support ethical behaviors and strong morals which reinforces creation of new values in the organization. Such situations give the leaders an opportunity to coach, teach and mentor their followers.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   How resources are allocated by leaders, status and rewards: organizations are required to prepare a budget which is a basic tool used in resource allocation of the company, this allocation reveals the leaders beliefs and assumptions. If the allocation of resources is balanced, it improves the efficiency of the operations, creates consumer satisfaction and increases the values of the company.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Deliberate teaching, role modeling and coaching: when a leader becomes a good role model by showing personal examples, it sends a very beneficial and a powerful message to the organizational members mostly for consistent and ethical actions. Schein (2011: p.272) stated that a subordinate derives their personal ethics from what they perceive or observe as ethical standards practiced by the leaders.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   How leaders select, recruit, excommunicate and promote: this gives a significant way through which leaders can transform the culture of the organization and their assumptions through selecting, promoting and retaining people business organization. Schein (2009: p.115) stated that leaders and organizational founders establish unconscious culture in the organization through advancing and hiring anyone, whom they thought has such values they desire and eliminate the undesirable ones. If the corporate culture of the business organization is corrupt, people in the organization tend to ignore the right things and engage in activities which are unethical along their ways of operations.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   SHRM on the other hand refers to the intentions and plans of the organization on how it should achieve its goals through people. It is a process which comprises of three propositions: the first one indicates that competitive advantage has a major source which is human capital; secondly, it indicates that the organization strategic plan is implemented by people. Finally, is that the organization should adopt a systematic approach that defines where the company wants to go, and the ways it should do to get there. These strategies of HRM define the plans and intentions associated to organizational overall considerations such as its effectiveness and more precise aspects related to people management, which involves resourcing, employee relations and rewards, learning and development. It addresses organizational issues in a broader perspective which are associated to changes in culture and structure, organizational performance and its effective ness, matching resources concerning future requirement, and management of change. Its main aim is to develop capability processes, which ensures things, are done effectively. Aims of adopting SHRM   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The rationale of SHRM is to bring an agreement and understanding based on developing an approach of people management in the long-term. Boswell (2010: p. 1489) suggested that SHRM is meant to achieve competitive advantage using HRM.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It provides a perspective on how to address success factors or critical issues related to people, strategic decisions made which have a long term and a major impact on the organizational success and behavior. Its fundamental aim is to come up with strategic capability by making sure that the business has a skilled, well motivated and committed employee which brings competitive advantage.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The objective of SHRM is providing a sense of direction always in a tabulated environment in order to ensure the company needs and the employees collective needs are met through implementation and development of coherent and practical programs and policies of human resource. Holder and Dyer (2008: p.66) stated that the aims of SHRM should be to provide a unifying framework which is integrative, broad and based on contingency. Storey, Wright, & Ulrich, 2009: p. 108) termed the aims of SHRM that they should emphasize on aspects of human relations of people management, communication, emphasizing continuous development, involvement, working life quality, security of employment and balance of work-life.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It should attempt to have an achievement of balancing both the soft and hard elements. Almost every organization strives to achieve its objectives and must ensure that the required resources needed to achieve such objectives they are used efficiently. Quinn (2013: p. 96) stated that when the management is taking an extensive planning, they should consider the people in mind, take an account of the aspirations and the needs of all the organizational members in the soft concept of SHRM. Importance of having SHRM in an organization   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In most cases, the importance of SHRM in a business organization becomes hard to overemphasize them because human beings act as the driving forces in any business organization. This calls for the organization to have strategies of implementing a well-thought out and well planned SHR ideas (Kang & Kim, 2011: p. 390). This will facilitate coordination and having a proper channel of human capital to ensure increased productivity (Kane, 2006: p. 190). Better strategies on human resources, which are solid, allow the business organization to develop a good relationship with the organizational workers, and have peaceful coexistence and mutual benefits from the host community.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A well and properly implemented a plan on SHRM helps the organization to attain its goals through the employees performing their necessary duties which are geared towards achieving such goals. In such a situation, the benefits of SHRM are seen since departments of human resources identify key areas in the organization which requires manpower (Sarros, Cooper & Santora, 2008: p.150)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   These departments are also required to carry out key steps on matters of recruiting ideal candidates who can fill vacancies and helps the organization to achieve its short-term, long-term goals and its vision. Strategic approaches to HRM   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Approach based on resources: Barney (2011: p.46) indicated that aims of based resource approach are developing the capability of achieving the fit between opportunities, resources and obtaining value addition from well deployment of resources.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Strategic fit: strategies of human resource should have an integral part that contains strategies of the business which contributes in the planning processes of the business as they are carried out. Integration is a necessary concept in a business as it gives the congruence between strategies of human resource and the business itself when done vertically (Barney, 2011: p.48). The aim of carrying out both horizontal and vertical integration in a business is to ensure a coherent approach is achieved as far as management of people is concerned.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Management at high-performance: this management aims at making an effect on the firm’s performance through its people in areas such as quality, productivity, levels of consumer services, profits, growth and delivery of improved shareholders value. This management carries out practices such as selection procedures and vigorous recruitment, relevant training and extensive management, development activities and process of management performance.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Few years ago, researchers and professionals have been focusing on whether corporate culture has any effect on the company performance and its effectiveness. Kanter (2013: p.22) in his book Managing Knowledge Workers Unleashing Innovation and Productivity demonstrated that companies with better SHRM outperformed those with less progressive practices. In illustrating the link between organizational culture and its effectiveness, the proposition focuses on four major traits of culture which needs to be examined in order to get the clear link between the two. Such traits are; involvement, adaptability, consistency and mission.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Consistency and involvement are mainly focused on the internal composition of the organization and its mission. Mission and adaptability on the other hand focuses on how external factors of the environment and the organization are collated. Research has proposed that the culture of an organization has to be strong, and give strategic competitive benefits and its values and believes have to be firmly held and widely shared (Koch & McGrath, 2010: p.340). This proposal is only meant if the purpose of the corporate culture is to improve its effectiveness and the overall performance.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Although previous reviews and studies show that SHRM has become general probably with respect to performance and HRM, it has been mainly limited to the relationship between organizational performance and HR practices (Vijayasiri, 2010: p.48). Strategic HRM accepts functions of HR as a strategic important partner when formulating the strategies of the company and their implementation through practices of HR. Deley (2009: p.38) adopted a perspective view based on resources which emphasized on acquiring competitive benefits through the means of utilizing organizational resources through employees. Through the research for SHRM of organizational effectiveness, the following areas were used to determine whether such strategies are successful:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Outcomes on human resource, which made an evaluation concerning the behaviors of the workforce/ employees;   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Outcomes of the organization which are based on quality, productivity and services;Outcomes on financial accounting related to profitability and investment returns;Outcomes on capital market for public organizations that are, shareholders returns and stock value.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Finally, strategic HRM is a very important factor to be mentioned despite whether there is a significant research done or not. There is supportive evidence which shows that there is a strong link between effectiveness and culture. SHRM fully depends on the organizational culture for its successful implementation (Denison, & Mishra, 2013: p. 214). Valuation of styles and viewpoints and development of ways which are concrete facilitates learning in the organization from differences which shows high benefits obtained when organizational structure, processes and procedures are maximized.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Conclusively, research has been done which shows how national cultures are diversified and how they influence the behaviors of the employees, this inspires optimism on the emerging perspectives related to SHRM practices and culture (Siddique, 2013: p.230). Globally, there is a lot of research that is carried out on how organizations allocate resources, make decisions, manage, negotiate and motivate employees, develop and train their employees (Linn, 2008: p. 90). These researches reveal that culture is one of the most important determinants of the organizational behavior. Consequently, a culture plays a great role in the field of HRM which takes heed of methodological and the existing theoretical pitfalls. This shows that, for the SHRM to be implemented successfully, organizational culture has to be maintained at high standards by both the employer and the employees. References Barney, N. J. (2011). Competence, governance, and entrepreneurship: advances in economic strategy research. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (Original work published 2000) Bates, K. A., Amundson, S. D., Schroeder, R. G., & Morris, W. T. (2010). The Crucial Interrelationship Between Manufacturing Strategy And Organizational Culture. Management Science, 41(10), 1565-1580. Boswell, W. (2010). Aligning Employees With The Organization’s Strategic Objectives: Out Of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"line Of Sightà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢, Out Of Mind. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 17(9), 1489-1511. Deley, A. (2009). Best human resource management practices in Latin America. London: Routledge. Denison, D. R., & Mishra, A. K. (2013). Toward A Theory Of Organizational Culture And Effectiveness. Organization Science, 6(2), 204-223. Holder, J., & Dyer, G. (2008). Strategic human resource development. London: Sage Publications. (Original work published 2003) Kane-Urrabazo, C. (2006). Management’s Role In Shaping Organizational Culture. Journal of Nursing Management, 14(3), 188-194. Kang, M., & Kim, H. (2011). Influence Of Strategic Human Resource Management Of On Organizational Culture And Organizational Citizenship Behavior Of Private Facility Security Guards. The Journal of the Korea Contents Association, 11(4), 389-403. Kanter, A. D. (2013). Managing knowledge workers unleashing innovation and productivity. Westport, Conn.: Quorum Books. Koch, M. J., & McGRATH, R. G. (2010). Improving Labor Productivity: Human Resource Management Policies Do Matter. Strategic Management Journal, 17(5), 335-354. Linn, M. (2008). Organizational Culture: An Important Factor To Consider. The Bottom Line: Managing Library Finances, 21(3), 88-93. Northouse, C. (2008). A Model To Explore The Mystery Between Organizations’ Downsizing Strategies And Firm Performance: Integrating The Perspectives Of Organizational Change, Strategy And Strategic Human Resource Management. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 21(3), 367-384. Pacanowsky, M. E., & O’Donnellà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Trujillo, N. (2013). Organizational Communication As Cultural Performance. Communication Monographs, 50(2), 126-147. Quin, C. (2013). The effectiveness of a paid parental leave policy on return rates of new mothers: [a research report submitted to the Victoria University of Wellington in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the] Diploma in Human Resource Management. Hoboken: Springer. Sarros, J. C., Cooper, B. K., & Santora, J. C. (2008). Building A Climate For Innovation Through Transformational Leadership And Organizational Culture. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies , 15(2), 145-158. Schein, E. H. (2009). Organizational Culture.. American Psychologist, 45(2), 109-119. Schein, E. H. (2011). Organizational Culture And Leadership: A Dynamic View, By Edgar H. Schein. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2010. Human Resource Management, 24(3), 370-375. Siddique, C. (2013). Job Analysis: A Strategic Human Resource Management Practice. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 15(1), 219-244. Storey, J., Wright, P. M., & Ulrich, D. (2009). The Routledge companion to strategic human resource management. London: Routledge. Vijayasiri, G. (2010). Reporting Sexual Harassment: The Importance Of Organizational Culture And Trust. Gender Issues, 25(1), 43-61. Source document

The Future of Books in the Information Age Essay

The Future of Books in the Information Age Essay The Future of Books in the Information Age Literature Essay The Future of Books in the Information Age Literature Essay Reading books is one of the biggest joys people have. Throughout history people enjoyed spending time reading books and devoting their time to writing. However, the modern times are changing this process greatly by giving way to e-books and different way of writing. The future of writing will be very different since the texts produced now and later on will include various features they did not have before such as hyperlinks and multimedia content. The future of the books in the information society will change in a similar way because there will be a significant shift to e-books and digitalization, and the paper books will lose their dominant role. Therefore, the reading and writing industry awaits significant changes. The Future of Writers and Books in the Information Society When it comes to the future of books in the information society, it is important to speak about e-books and relation of the modern customers to them because e-books will be the major tool for future readers. The publishers believe that the amount of e-books will increase greatly due to their low costs and high revenues they are about to bring. This view is supported largely by American publishers, whereas European publishers consider e-books as a step backwards: they see more risks than opportunities in using them. Representatives of the companies doubt the prospects of the digital industry. They act slowly, being afraid to reduce sales volumes of printed books. The fact that the reading industry is changing is seen in the innovations of the business giants that introduce and focus on e-books. Amazon, which is one of the biggest world companies, focuses on e-books greatly and digitalizes books with a specific emphasis on Kindle series. When speaking about the future of reading such e-books, it is also important to mention that writing will change as a result. Thus, people will be able to use hyperlinks or become co-authors, which was not possible before. Also, the changes transform the book phenomena in a new reality, presenting users with updated possibilities in such spheres as bookmarks, libraries, donative inscriptions, donation and borrowing books, thus making the entire reading and writing process digital. The Future Decrease of Paper Books According to the conservative forecast, by 2016, a half of the people who read will begin to read on their own electronic readers. However, it is important to mention that not many people read; for instance, in America, half of the population does not read at all. 80% of American citizens did not buy any book during the last year. For instance, 33% of the people without degrees never bought any books, and there are 42% of college graduates who never bought books (Zickuhr and Rainie). However, according to some researchers, the mankind will never cease to read, but the way of reading will strongly change soon (Gaiman). E-books will give readers a set of opportunities inaccessible during an era of paper books, but it will be difficult to replace paper books completely. A strong argument in favor of keeping paper books is the sensation they give, like different experiences when touching paper pages and so on. Those experiences are absent in e-books with their smooth plastic or glass covers. The real book, as people often refer to traditional paper books, unlike electronic, evokes deeper feelings on the readers, involving different areas of a brain, which may contribute to a slower change of the reading approach. A person reading a paper book feels the book with his or her hands and enjoys other pleasant experiences. Of course, an e-book also can assist a person in his or her reading progress and has many different features, but it is perceived absolutely differently from the paper experience. Besides tactile perception of pages, people can feel the books’ smell, see different fonts, feel textures and material of a cover; and these features appear to be extremely important and even irreplaceable for some readers. The more actively and more variously the brain interacts with the book, the better a person remembers what he or she reads. However, despite all this, paper books will become rare souvenirs, subjects of symbolical but not practical appointment in the near future, as mentioned by various modern researchers (Lincoln). Lincoln draws an apocalyptic picture of how the mankind will get rid of a huge number of paper books, which will be taken away at first by enthusiasts and libraries, and then they will become unnecessary even for them; this way, reading will be completely different from the way it is now. New Opportunities of E-Books E-books will change the way annotation in the books is presented. Reading books on devices from Amazon and Sony, everyone can already highlight snippets of text. In her article, a journalist Agresta focuses on the fact that Amazon and Sony develop their own storage system annotations and work with them; however, there is a problem synchronizing annotations in books on different devices. It is necessary not only to the reader at a particular moment; his or her descendants will certainly be interested in seeing the notes of their relatives, which will be difficult to manage with the access to various accounts. Annotation Agresta sees a niche for a startup that could become an annotation engine not only for all formats of e-books and documents but also for printed books. For example, any active housewife cookbook contains a large number of additions and comments to recipes that have an obvious intrinsic value. The idea of the engine was created by Larry Page; however, in the process of working on it, it somehow turned to Google (Agresta). Inscriptions There is also a problem with donative inscriptions and autographs on books. Perhaps, in each family there will be sentimentally guarded a small volume that was signed to the owner by mother, the grandmother or the author of the book. E-books do not yet include a feature similar to the opportunity to write something personal on the blank cover. Naturally, it has to appear in the future - as well as an opportunity to store these inscriptions. Apple or Amazon for certain will create such an opportunity for book readers - and readers will need to pray that Apple and Amazon were not closed, having carried away with itself all their precious autographs. However, even here there is a niche for a startup – a hipster boutique hotel, which will be printed for the people to their favorite eBooks with all the inscriptions and annotations. Borrowing E-Books The idea of renting e-books belongs to the largest publishing and book-selling company Barnes Nobles (â€Å"About BN†). Borrowing books appears to be a very romantic thing to do. Thus, if someone gives a friend his or her favorite book, the former will read it and understand the book owner better. In such a way, the general literary experience can connect people. Therefore, the owner of an e-book must have an opportunity to give it to someone else to read (without being afraid that he will tear it or will forget to return it) (Convissar). Secondary E-Book Market Legally authorized and second-hand technically functional market of e-book readers does not exist yet, but it will inevitably appear. Publishing houses will allow users to resell books bought from them on special sites. Most likely, they will set a specified period after the release of the book a year or two after which the book can be resold. Such option is going to appear in the near future. Thus, in 2013 Amazon patented a technology of selling already used digital goods, including books (Wohlsen). In fact, the service that enables the user to store digital goods and transfer the rights over them to other users was patented; thus, there will be an opportunity to share books or music move between users (Thompson). Changes in Content and Book Distribution Actually, the process of borrowing, renting or reselling digital goods would be reduced to manipulation with the rights of access to this product and its reproduction on the users device. Books which are stored on devices as local files are already on the way out. Digital goods will not belong to people soon. Now there is at least an illusion of owning a book as a file - everyone can download, share from one device to another, copy or send it by mail. Similarly, books will be soon delivered to one’s device by a streaming continuous broadcasting, page by page as in case with music or movies now. Having read a book, nothing remains from it on the device. Actually, Google Books already works in such a way. People do not buy a book but the right to read it. Humanity goes back to the previous stage in the evolution of entertainment when there were only radio receivers and TVs accepting transfers, showing them to us; there were not even audio- or videotapes. There will be completely new and unexpected formats and genres of literature such as, for example, the past decade’s SMS-novel. The first such novel was composed and sent to readers in Japan in 2003. It is written in the form of instantly dispatched SMS, one message after another, to readers, without being published as a book. However, the first Japanese novel was so popular that, nevertheless, a printed book was published and a movie and a TV series were released. By 2007, 98 phone novels have already been released in the form of printed books. Now their popularity grows both in Asia, Africa and in Europe. These are short works, the authors of which develop their own language and style of literary minimalism (Norman). Books as Social Networks Even now, reading a book on Kindle, people can see public summaries from other readers. Already, there are services that allow sharing their own annotations, bookmarks and comments of others. There are some obvious technological steps before the transformation of each e-book into a small thematic social network uniting people in any countries who discuss it with each other. Perhaps, it will be one social network for all books, and each separate book will have its own channel of discussion moderated by an expert or an enthusiast. Naturally, the author will be able to participate in discussions of the book, give sessions of questions and answers, receive feedback, etc. It will be a kind of virtual book club in which communication is not necessarily limited to a discussion of a particular book. It may be only a pretext, the beginning of the conversation; and it will be possible to communicate with many people at once or with one person who interested the most in a private chat. Moderators can select the most interesting discussions and save them for reading as after they were discussed in conversations in chat rooms or in social networks comments. This, strictly speaking, is not new for example, in the Judaic tradition there existed an ancient genre of writing comments to the sacred texts that were released as a book, even comments to the comments (Carlin and Macke). The Death of the Author The concept of authorship of the books will be diluted and changed after the readers will be able to actively communicate with the writers. An eBook is easy to modify and re-release with other characters and alternative plot moves, thus readers can become co-authors. The book will become more similar to a video game, the founders of which develop landscapes and heroes, and what exactly is done by these heroes, depends more on the players. IDEO writes that all the books in the world are actually one big book Facebook of books. Within this network, the book related to each other as people in the Facebook in a relationship of friends, colleagues, parents and children and so on. No book exists by itself; it has something to do with other books and is included in the total cultural and historical context. Reading books should be the same as browsing websites on the Internet with the ability to follow links from its pages, to see information referred to in the text field or people, or ev en move to another book, read it and come back or not (IDEO). The New Book Economy When someone reads the e-book, information about the page he or she is in is constantly transferred to the manufacturing company of the reader. It is necessary to synchronize reading on different devices. But thanks to this, it would be receive information about the speed with which a person reads a particular book and how far he or she has advanced. Receiving such information from different people will make it clear what books are read up to the end and what books are often thrown away, what chapters in a book people pass and what re-read. Booksellers and publishers can use this information and transmit it to the author for the improvement of the book. Perhaps the author will rewrite paragraphs overlooked in easier terms, provide the reader with explanations, or add illustrations. Authors will find an opportunity to test different versions of the story on different audience groups. And, of course, it will be possible to target advertising in a book or on foreign markets on the basis of what people are reading right now or have already read. Through advertising, books will be cheaper or even free. Why People Will not Stop Reading Nevertheless, SMS-novels and interactive broadcasts on a device can hardly be called books. Sturgeon believes that people will continue to read in the future. The beauty of the book lies in the fact that it forces to work more actively on imagination to turn abstract letters into experiences and stories, into emotions and bright images. As long as people know how fun this is, the book will exist, albeit in a completely new sort. According to the view of some publishers expressed in the forum, e-book is a natural form of paper books. It is likely that at first digital literature paper publication will be stimulated because since the time it elapsed since the invention of the printing press, this form has become habitual. A similar situation took place at the dawn of the automotive industry. The first car resembled a horse without a crew because its creators could not imagine another vehicle. Perhaps in the future, e-books will get additional features that will distinguish them from paper predecessors. Nevertheless, electronic books are unlikely to fully replace traditional publications. As the theater did not disappear with the advent of the cinema and television, so traditional printed books are will not be completely replaced by e-books. Therefore, the given paper provides argument that the reading and writing industry are likely to experience significant changes thanks to the technological progress. The latter will provide people with more opportunities whenever they will be reading books, and enable them to change the way they write. However, these are only predictions while it is impossible to know for sure how the technology will develop and what preferences people will have in the following decades.

What a Fulgurite Is and How To Make One

What a Fulgurite Is and How To Make One The word fulgurite comes from the Latin word  fulgur, which means thunderbolt.  A fulgurite or petrified lightning  is a glass tube formed when electricity strikes sand. Usually, fulgurites are hollow, with a rough exterior and smooth interior. Lightning from thunderstorms makes most fulgurites, but they also form from atomic blasts, meteor strikes and from man-made high voltage devices falling onto the ground. Fulgurite Chemistry Fulgurites typically form in sand, which is mostly silicon dioxide. The melted sand forms a glass that is called lechatelierite. Lechatelierite is an amorphous material that is considered to be a mineraloid, similar to obsidian. Fulgurites come in a range of colors, including translucent white, tan, black and green. The coloration comes from impurities in the sand. Make a Fulgurite - Safe Method Fulgurites occur naturally, but there are a couple of ways you can make petrified lightning yourself.  Dont put yourself at risk of a lightning strike! The best way to make a fulgurite is to be safely indoors when its stormy outside. Check the weather forecast to find out when lightning activity is expected. Radar is good or refers to special maps for your area that record lightning strikes. You must complete preparation for a fulgurite several hours (or longer) before the storm arrives.Drive a lightning rod or length of rebar into the sand about 12 inches to 18 inches and extending up into the air. You can set up colored sand or some granular mineral besides quartz sand if you prefer. There is no guarantee lightning will strike your lightning rod, but you improve your chances if you select an open area where the metal is higher than the surroundings. Choose an area far from people, animals or structures.When lightning approaches, be far away from your fulgurite project! Do not check on whether you make a fulgurite until several hours after the storm has passed.The rod and sand will be extremely hot after a lightning strike. Use care when checking for a fulgurite so that you dont burn yourself. Fulgurites are fra gile, so dig around it to expose it before removing it from the surrounding sand. Rinse excess sand with running water. Rocket Fulgurites You can go the Ben Franklin route making a fulgurite by drawing the lightning down to a bucket of sand. This method involves launching a D model rocket toward a thunderhead that is estimated to be due to discharge. A spool of thin copper wire connects the bucket to the rocket. While said to be quite successful, this method is extraordinarily dangerous because the lightning doesnt just follow the wire back to the bucket. It additionally follows the wire and the area around it back to the trigger used to launch the rocket... and you! Simulated Lightning Fulgurites A safer, though someone expensive method, is to use an xfmr or transformer to force man-made lightning into silica or another oxide. This technique fuses the sand into lechatelierite, although it is much more difficult to achieve the branched effect seen in natural fulgurites.

Pschology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Pschology - Essay Example At the presynaptic nerve terminal, chemical neurotransmitters are discharged by neurons. The neurotransmitters’ movement achieves communication of information between neurons and cells across the small gap known as the synapse. Neurotransmitters vary in terms of their functions. Some of the chemical markers serve regulative, stimulatory, motive, and inhibitory roles. For instance, neurotransmitters are important in the regulatory processes of emotion and sensation. Therefore, their role in determining an individual’s behavior is expansive. Dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin are the most commonly cited neurotransmitters. Dopamine is typically discharged by naturally rewarding factors like sex and food. Along with stimulating effects, dopamine serves many additional  roles, such as  in behavior, learning, motivation, pleasure, sleep, sexual arousal, mood, movement, and attention. Likewise, the neurotransmitter serotonin regulates behavior and mood. Some facets of behavior that serotonin affects includes appetite, learning, sleep, and memory. With optimal levels, norepinephrine fosters a sense of wellbeing and a feeling of euphoria during stressful conditions. With excessive levels of norepinephrine, individuals can suffer physiological symptoms of fear and anxiety. From these three cases, one can clearly see that neurotransmitters greatly affect individual behaviors. For instance, dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine are each commonly correlated with symptoms of depression. If an organism’s body is an aircraft, the brain is analogous to the pilot. Besides serving as the root of consciousness and rationality, the brain is reducible to being the root of behavior. Like the control room of a power plant, the brain contains several areas for monitoring and regulating different behaviors. These brain regions include the cerebellum, the diencephalon, the brainstem, and the cerebrum. The cerebellum controls the body’s sense of bala nce and equilibrium. The frontal lobe of the cerebellum controls a large portion of an individual’s behaviors. Because this region conditions emotions, it plays a central role in the daily experiences of human beings. Likewise, the limbic system, which refers to brain structures such as the hippocampus, hypothalamus, and amygdala, also retains an important role in the regulation of motivation and emotion. The hypothalamus affects basic life functions. For instance, sleep, sexual drive, appetite, and stress reactions are all factors conditioned by the hypothalamus. The amygdala is located in the posterior lobes of the forebrain and causes emotional aggression as manifested by anger, fear, or disgust. Additionally, it is responsible for the effects of pheromones with regard to sexuality and reproduction. The orbitofrontal cortex, which is also a part of the frontal lobes of the brain, also affects many of those emotional reactions initiated in the amygdala. Disturbances in the limbic system will greatly affect an individual’s behavior and mood. Ultimately, the brainstem is the information center where all sensory input is filtered. The diencephalon contributes to this filtering of sensory information during the process of regulating pain sensation, thirst, hunger, and temperature sensitivity. The cerebrum is the largest region of the brain and retains an important role in transferring information between the two sides of the brains, in addition to regulating inhibitions, impulses, and judgments. Sensory processing is a