The Concept of Performance in Human Behaviour

Introduction Performance is defined as a contested concept. Goffman (1959) describes performance as â€Å"reference to all the activity of an individual that occur during a period marked by his continuous presence before a particular set of observers†. This activity has some influence on the observers.Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on The Concept of Performance in Human Behaviour specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Performance could also refer to aesthetic performance or art practice also known as performing arts. â€Å"This is used to describe a performance by someone or an artist† (Schmitt, 2010, p.367). This may also describe in other terms a whole show or a particular genre also known as performance art. Other occurrences well suited to performance definition but outside the aesthetic bracket would include sports for example where we describe an athlete’s performance. Similarly while foc using on the management arena we may talk about organizational performance indicators or further still basing on science and technology we can perform an experiment and take measurement of certain parameters. Performance as a term will therefore broadly encompass a range of human behaviour of a particular kind. This behaviour will either be extra daily, aesthetic or cultural. Broadening the classification results in two kinds of performances under everyday performance or aesthetic, cultural or extra daily performance. The extra daily , aesthetic and cultural performance may typically cover the likes of operas, films, circus, theatre, ceremonies, rituals, specific events such as weddings, trials; any behaviour outside of the daily behaviour. It is significant to note that aesthetic, cultural or extra daily performances are not mutually exclusive. Bateson and Goffman attempted to define the everyday performance through the frame theory. It can be understood from their approach that va rious aspects of social life are framed and participants act appropriately within each of these frames. While defining relationships among living organisms Bateson made an attempt to categorize seriousness and play through what he termed metacommunicative mechanism. These mechanisms are meant to define how specific actions are to be understood in every day performance. Bateson concludes that every metacommunicative message describes a frame. Goffman was the initiator of the frame idea.Advertising Looking for assessment on rhetoric? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In the light of this understanding Goffman asserts that someone creates a conceptual frame enabling their behaviour to be viewed by an audience as a performance. â€Å"Based on this understanding the relationship between everyday and extra daily performance can be described as a continuum† (Schmit, 2004, p.55). The implication is that every day unmarked perform ance is part of the big picture that is about the extra daily. Performance in anthropological, sociological and psychological spheres is concerned more with context other than specific activities by the performer. Fitzpatrick in quoting Bauman’s definition of performance points to the fact that there is the assumption of responsibility to an audience to whom is a display of communicative competence. According to Bauman (1984) â€Å"competence is based on knowledge and the ability to speak in socially appropriate ways† (p.9). Fitzpatrick himself defines performance by pinpointing three specific elements that are constituents of the Fitzpatrick performance triangle. The elements are personal resources, role in a particular context of the situation and specific goals. Bauman’s understanding of performance can be mapped to Fitzpatrick’s triangle in the three areas where Bauman’s assumption of responsibility aspect points to Fitzpatrick’s accepta nce of role in the context situation. While Fitzpatrick mentions goals aims and derived outcomes, these concur with Bauman’s display of performative competence. â€Å"This competence according to Bauman rests on the knowledge and ability to speak in socially appropriate ways which according to Fitzpatrick relates to the deployment of personal resources† (Henke, 2002, p. 34). Defining the Fitzpatrick terms Accordingly Fitzpatrick views performance in terms of the deployment of personal resources, goals, aims and desired outcome and acceptance of role in context of situation (Fitzpatrick, 1995). In a broader sense these personal resources would be performing artists in the Goffman frames. The personal resource refers to the entities that will contribute to the everyday or extra daily performance. The particulate behaviour as defined by Bateson defines the role in a particular context or situation.Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on The Concept of Performance in Human Behaviour specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The objective of this particular behaviour is to be able to display performative competence which are actually the goals, aims or derived outcomes of the performance. Fitzpatrick’s triangle visually aids in effectively contextualizing lectures with performance being the central focus. To effectively gauge a lecture the performance of the performer or personal resource in this case the lecturer is vital. This largely depends on competency, the comprehension and the capability to speak in socially suitable ways. On the other hand lectures are effective and the lecturers are performing if there is a program and an outline of desired outcomes or results that can define the levels of performance in other words Bauman defines these as display of performative competence. To a large extend the success in terms of performance for a lecture depends on how well that lecture has attained the goals, aims and desired outcomes. That largely depends on the lecturer’s ability to display performative competence. Fitzpatrick’s triangle addresses a third and important aspect within the performance context. Basing on the lectures, the personal resource or the performer who in this context is the lecturer can only perform if they have acceptance from the audience or what Fitzpatrick terms as acceptance of role in context of the situation. In delivering the lecture the performer is seen to perform if they have a responsibility to an audience. This is the particular role in a particular context or situation. Conclusion Performance studies remains a broad subject today and covers a number of disciplines most of which borrow from the tenets of the scholars such as Fitzpatrick who have laid out a thorough foundation in performance studies. Being the broad aspect it is performance studies derivatives would include the fields such as anthropology, sociolog y, drama and theatre studies linguistics among others. Contributions Austin a speech act theorist serves to give us another dimension to understanding performance where according to him a statement can assert something what he calls the constantive as well as do something what he terms performative. With this idea has arisen performativity which is an attempt at defining the processes taking place around the world in terms of language especially so speech acts and how these acts affect the listener. What has resulted is an important view of the world in terms of performance a term referred to as performativity. Reference List Baumann, R., 1984. Verbal Art as Performance. Illinois: Waveland Press.Advertising Looking for assessment on rhetoric? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Fitzpatrick, T., 1995. The Relationship of Oral and Literate Performance Process in the Commedia Dell’Arte: Beyond the Improvisation / Memorization Divide. New York: Edwin Mellen Press. Goffman, E., 1959. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, 1st Ed. Colorado: Anchor Press. Henke, R., 2002. Performance and Literature in Commedia Dell’Arte. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Schmitt, N.C., 2010. Life on the Street in Commedia dell’ Arte Scenarios of Flamino Scala. Viator, 41 (1), pp. 367-393. Schmit, N.C., 2004. Commedia dell’Arte: Characters, Scenarios and Rhetoric. Text and Performance Quarterly, 24 (1), pp. 55-73. This assessment on The Concept of Performance in Human Behaviour was written and submitted by user Philip Mccarty to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Supply Chain Management at Bose Corporation Essays

Supply Chain Management at Bose Corporation Essays Supply Chain Management at Bose Corporation Paper Supply Chain Management at Bose Corporation Paper Bose Corporation, headquartered in Framingham, Massachusetts, offers an excellent example of integrated supply chain management. Bose, a producer of audio premium speakers used in automobiles, high-fidelity systems, and consumer and commercial broadcasting systems, was founded in 1964 by Dr. Bose of MIT. Bose currently maintains plants in Massachusetts and Michigan as well as Canada, Mexico, and Ireland. Its purchasing organization, while decentralized, has some overlap that requires coordination between sites. It manages this coordination by using conference calls between managers, electronic communication, and joint problem solving. The company is moving toward single sourcing many of its 800 to 1,000 parts, which include corrugated paper, particle board and wood, plastic injected molded parts, fasteners, glues, woofers, and fabric. Some product components, such as woofers, are sourced overseas. For example, at the Hillsdale, Michigan, plant, foreign sourcing accounts for 20% of purchases, with the remainder of suppliers located immediately within the state of Michigan. About 35% of the parts purchased at this site are single sourced, with approximately half of the components arriving with no incoming performed. In turn, Bose ships finished products directly to Delco, Honda, and Nissan and has a record of no missed deliveries. Normal lead time to customers is 60 working days, but Bose can expedite shipments in one week and airfreight them if necessary. The company has developed a detailed supplier performance system that measures on-time delivery, quality performance, technical improvements, and supplier suggestions. A report is generated twice a month from this system and sent to the supplier providing feedback about supplier performance. If there is a threes include 10% delivery improvement every month until 100% conformance is achieved, or 5% quality improvement until a 1% defect level is reached over a four-month period. In one case, a supplier sent a rejected shipment back to Bose without explanation and with no corrective action taken. When no significant improvement occurred, another supplier replaced the delinquent supplier. Bose has few written contracts with suppliers. After six months of deliveries without rejects, Bose encourages suppliers to apply for a certificate of achievement form, signifying that they are qualified suppliers. One of the primary criteria for gaining certification involves how well the supplier responds to corrective action requests. One of the biggest problems observed is that suppliers often correct problems on individual parts covered by a corrective action form without extending these corrective actions to other part families and applicable parts. Bose has adopted a unique system of marrying just-in-time (JIT) purchasing with global sourcing. Approximately half of the dollar value of Bose’s total purchases are made overseas, with the majority of the sourcing done in Asia. Because foreign sourcing does not support just-in-time deliveries, Bose â€Å"had to find a way to blend low inventory with buying from distant sources,† says the director of purchasing and logistics for Bose. Visualizing itself as a customer-driven organization, Bose now uses a sophisticated transportation system- what Bose’s manager of logistics calls â€Å"the best EDI system in the country. † Working closely with a national less-than-truckload carrier for the bulk of its domestic freight movements, including shipments arriving at a U. S. ort from oversees, Bose implemented an electronic data interchange (EDI) system that does much more than simple tracking. The system operates close to real time and allows two-way communication between every one of the freight handler’s 230 terminals and Bose. Information is updated several times daily and is downloaded automatically, enabling Bose to perform shipping analysis and distribution channel modeling to achie ve reliable lowest total cost scenarios. The company can also request removal from a terminal of any shipment that it must expedite with an air shipment. This state-of-the-art system provides a snapshot of what is happening on a daily basis and keeps Bose’s managers on top of everyday occurrences and decisions. Management proactively manages logistics time elements in pursuit of better customer service. The next step is to implement this system with all major suppliers rather than just with transportation suppliers. In the future, Bose plans to automate its entire materials system. Perhaps one of the most unique features of Bose’s procurement and logistics system is the development of JIT II. The basic premise of JIT II is simple: The person who can do the best job of ordering and managing inventory of a particular item is the supplier himself. Bose negotiated with each supplier to provide a full-time employee at the Bose plant who was responsible for ordering, shipping, and receiving materials from that plant, as well as managing on-site inventories of the items. This was done through an EDI connection between Bose’s plant and the supplier’s facility. Collocating suppliers and buyers was so successful that Bose is now implementing it at all plant locations. In fact, many other companies have also begun to implement collocation of suppliers. Assignment Questions The following assignment questions relate to ideas and concepts presented throughout this text. Answer some or all of the questions as directed by your instructor. 1. Discuss how the strategy development process might work at a company like Bose. They have a JIT approach incorporated to the facets of the company. This is all strategy based, so a strategy development process would allow them to continue what they are doing. 2. What should be the relationship between Bose’s supply management strategy and the development of its performance measurement system? A close, data-oriented overlapping, relationship. 3. Why is purchased quality so important to Bose? Bose is known for its quality in products. This is reflected in price too. It is a part of what makes Bose, Bose. If their product quality diminishes, customers might as well switch to cheaper brands. 4. Can a just-in-time purchase system operate without total quality from suppliers? It can, but it shouldnt. 5. Why can some components arrive at the Hillsdale, Michigan, plant with no incoming inspection required? The components have a production technique set, that allows them to deliver quality without question. 6. Discuss the reasons why Bose has a certificate of achievement program for identifying qualified suppliers. To signifying that they are qualified suppliers. 7. Bose is moving toward single sourcing many of its purchased part requirements. Discuss why the company might want to do this. Are there any risks to that approach? A company may do this to have a unquestioned uniformity in quality. 8. Discuss some of the difficulties a company like Bose might experience when trying to implement just-in-time purchasing with nternational suppliers. Because foreign sourcing does not support just-in-time deliveries, Bose â€Å"had to find a way to blend low inventory with buying from distant sources,† says the director of purchasing and logistics for Bose. 9. Why does Bose have to source so much of its purchase requirements from offshore suppliers? Bose has offshore customers. Once its su pplies are finished, it can ship it directly to those customers without having to store them at a more distant facility. 10. What makes the JIT II system at Bose unique? Why would a company pursue this type of system? It reduces the time it takes to accomplish goals, and saves money in various areas – act of warehousing, act of shipping, the labor in warehousing, shipping,etc. 11. Why is it necessary to enter into a longer-term contractual arrangement when pursuing arrangements like the one Bose has with its domestic transportation carrier? JIT systems need low variablity. Longer-term contractual arrangements allow for that, better than short-term, rapidly changing contracts. 12. Why is it important to manage logistics time elements proactively when pursuing higher levels of customer service? The time element of logistics allows Bose to project itself as a customer-driven organization. They do this by having a â€Å"system operates close to real time and allows two-way communication between every one of the freight handler’s 230 terminals and Bose. † 13. What role does information technology play at Bose? Information technology plays the role of proof. 14. What advantages do information technology systems provide to Bose that might not be available to a company that does not have these systems? Information technology provides ease. If that ease at other companies does not exist, then Bose may have an internal advantage. 5. Why has Bose developed its supplier performance measurement system? The company has developed a detailed supplier performance system [to measure] on-time delivery, quality performance, technical improvements, and supplier suggestions. †Ã¢â‚¬Å" 16. Do you think the performance measurement systems at Bose are computerized or manual? Wh y? Computers cant do everything, but sometimes a computer can do a certain function more accutrately than a human, like quantifying data. However, a human can interpret and use that information, and a computer cannot.

Facebook Marketing Strategy Why You Need One How To Build It

Facebook Marketing Strategy Why You Need One How To Build It Facebook marketing has gotten exponentially more challenging now than it was in the early days. Organic reach is harder to come by, advertising has become more important, and old-school tips and tricks that once worked well may not anymore. Now, more than ever, having a clear strategy is crucial for success. You know that though. Thats why youre here, right? So, your next questions might include: Can you still do effective marketing on Facebook organically? How exactly should smart businesses approach crafting their strategy? What are current best practices to consider following (and to consider breaking)? Which tactics are worth experimenting with right now? Should you consider using tools to better manage your processes? This post will dive into each of these points (and more), showing you exactly how to map out a robust strategy that will help you make the most of Facebook. Facebook Marketing Strategy: How to Plan the Best One in 8 StepsWhat Are the Benefits Behind Planning a Proactive Strategy? research data shows that marketers who document strategy are 313% more likely to report being successful. If Facebook is a primary marketing channel for your company, that means proactive planning should be considered important to ensure the effectiveness of your efforts. Of course, that strategy needs to be thoughtful and on-point. Youll need to do some research and keep it flexible enough to adjust your tactics based on performance over time, but having a plan will put you ahead of the game. You can make documenting that strategy easier by downloading the templates and resources below. In it, youll find a ZIP folder that includes the following: Facebook Marketing Strategy Template (PPT): This template will make it easy to document your entire strategy from start to finish. Google Analytics Custom Reports: Use these links to set up custom reports in Google Analytics for measuring social media success in just a few clicks. Social Media Calendar: Plan every post and keep the execution of your strategy organized in one place. This post will show you exactly how to put it to use so you can get this entire task completed quickly and easily. Planning Your Facebook Strategy in 8 Steps Step 1: Establishing Goals Step 2: Conducting a Facebook Page Audit Step 3: Understanding Your Audience Step 4: Developing a Brand Voice for Facebook Step 5: Running a Competitive Analysis Step 6: Planning a Facebook Content Strategy Step 7: Setting a Facebook Posting Schedule Step 8: Measuring the Effectiveness of Your Strategy Step 1: Define Your Marketing Goals For Facebook Before you know what to do, you need to know why you are doing it. It's easier to succeed when you give yourself a target to aim at.  Here are some common business goals for Facebook brand pages: Drive referral traffic. It isn't as easy as it used to be, but you can still drive traffic from Facebook. Strengthen brand awareness. Odds are your target customer is active on Facebook. Make them know you exist. Build a relationship with your audience. Groups are a great way to build community and achieve this goal. Provide customer service. People expect to be able to reach businesses through their Facebook pages. Generate leads and conversions. Particularly through advertising. No matter what your goal might be, it's important to remember Facebook is a social platform that allows two-way communication with your customers and target audience. Treat it accordingly. Step 2: Audit Your Existing Facebook Presence Do you currently have a Facebook business page (even if you haven't done much with it strategy-wise)? If so, it's a good idea to review where your page's performance is currently standing. This can help identify opportunities for improvement.  Here are some simple things to check (they may seem basic, but lots of little details can collectively add up to a big difference for your brand perception). Is Your About Tab Complete? People discovering your company on Facebook need a way to get to know who you are. If your About tab isn't accurate or complete, though, they'll have a harder time understanding your business. Check out this example from Saucony: Here, you can see they've filled out the following sections: Mission. What are you all about? Contact Info. How can people get ahold of you? Website. Where can I find more about your business? About. Add a company bio here. Company Overview. What do you do? Products. What do you sell? This might include some things that aren't obvious to people. Categories. How is your page best understood? Our Story. This is an extended section to share more about your company. Which Types of Content Appear to Perform Best? Research data shows that video content performs best on Facebook. That's a broad and general truth, though. What's actually working best for you? Review your recent posts (consider going back 90 days or so) and the following questions: Which tone of voice works best? Humorous posts? Serious posts? Inspirational posts? Do successful image posts have anything in common? Certain colors? Subjects? Text vs. no text? Are videos performing well? And if so, what attributes do successful videos share? Are they short? Long? Funny? Serious? What about posts with links? Facebook has indicated a desire to keep people on Facebook, rather than sending traffic away. Is your link post performance reflecting this? This simple exercise can help you figure out what might work well in the future based on what's worked well in the past. You can also quickly see your top performing posts using the Insights tab on your Facebook business page and taking a quick scroll downward: Click See All Posts  to take a deeper dive into your post history: How Does Your Cover Photo Look? If your cover photo hasn't been updated in a while (which it may not have been if you haven't optimized your business page in a while), now might be a good time to consider updating it. One option is to create something simple, timeline, and on-brand like this example from Vans: Or, you can create one that's coordinated with a current campaign you're running, like this example from Hulu: It's a small thing, but it can make a difference toward putting your brand's best foot forward. Step 3: Know Your Facebook Audience It helps to know who you're talking to before starting a conversation. Knowing who your audience is on Facebook, however, can be a challenge. Fortunately, its own built-in analytics and other tools can make this task a bit easier. Understand the People Currently Interacting With Your Page Using Insights Facebook offers page owners with plenty of useful data (and at no charge). So, take full advantage of it. Step 1:  Visit your page (if you're the admin) and click Insights: Step 2:  Click on People. Here, you'll find a wealth of useful demographic information. Step 3: Review your demographic performance data on Facebook. Who's interacting with your content the most on Facebook? The answers are easy to find.Use Google Analytics to Analyze Facebook Referral Traffic Google Analytics won't break down your Facebook audience directly. However, it does provide valuable data about who is visiting your website. You want those folks following you on Facebook too, right? Knowing what they like will help achieve that goal. Step 1:  Log into Google Analytics and click on Audience.  Then, click Interests to find out what your website visitors are interested in. Step 2: Next, try finding information about the demographics of your website visitors. Step 3: Next, try clicking into Social. Then, click into the Overview tab to get more useful data. Step 4: You can find detailed data on which social networks (including Facebook) are sending referral traffic back to your site under Network Referrals: Step 5: Clicking into Landing Pages can help you see where Facebook is sending traffic on your site. This is helpful for understanding which content is performing best on the network. Spend some time seeing what you can learn about your audience here. Between Google Analytics and Facebook Insights, there's a lot you can extract. Recommended Reading: 49 Facebook Marketing Tips to Drive Better Results Right Now Use 's Facebook Report If you use 's Social Organizer to schedule your company's social media content, you can use its Facebook Report within the Analytics tab to find the following performance data: Impressions.  How many people saw your posts? Impression Rate By Post Type.  Which types of posts got the most attention? Number of Posts Sent. What does your overall post volume look like? Best Days to Post. Does your audience appear to be more active on some days rather than others? Best Times to Post. Same goes for times. When does your audience engage with your content the most? Best Post Types.  Stats show that video dominates Facebook. Is that the case for you, though? Engagement Rate.  How is your content performing based on engagement? Top Posts. Which specific posts have performed the best (and how might you recreate that success moving forward)? Using this data can help you understand your audience by understanding which content appears to resonate with them the most. Run A Survey This is perhaps the easiest way to know exactly what your audience wants. Sign up for Crowd Signal or Survey Monkey. Create a short list of simple questions asking your audience what they want to see on your Facebook page. Promote your survey on social media and your email newsletter. Analyze the results.Step 4: Develop Your Brand's Facebook Voice You now know who you're talking to. It's time to figure out how you'll talk to them. This means establishing your brand voice on Facebook. This doesn't have to be complicated. It just helps to understand how to make the voice of your brand work on social media. 1. Serious Are you  in an industry where a light-hearted or casual tone would be inappropriate? If so, memes, Millennial lingo, and other things you might typically see on Facebook probably won't be your bread and butter.   Fortunately, it is possible to be formal, professional, and interesting. For example, UNICEF creates compelling content that often carries immense emotional weight: It’s about time A special message from our Goodwill Ambassador, David Beckham on why early moments matter. #EarlyMomentsMatter Posted by UNICEF on Tuesday, June 4, 2019 2. Casual Let's say your brand is in a serious industry. How can you make your Facebook content entertaining and on-brand? Take a cue from Capital One: All Bracket buddies are good luck for #MarchMadness, but a bracket buddy as good as Charles Bark-ley 🠐 ¶ is #FanGoals. Posted by Capital One on Thursday, April 4, 2019 3. Humorous A little bit of light humor can go a long way. Don't worry if you're not the world's best comedian, either. Sometimes, a small amount of subtle humor (as long as it's relevant to your content and brand) can go a long way: "When it comes to Dad Jokes, this is the Nucleus Option." - Michael Buxton, the winning artist from our Dad Jokes design challenge! âš›ï ¸  https://bit.ly/2KclvMW Posted by Threadless on  Wednesday, May 29, 2019 Facebook Marketing Strategy Why You Need One How To Build It Facebook marketing has gotten exponentially more challenging now than it was in the early days. Organic reach is harder to come by, advertising has become more important, and old-school tips and tricks that once worked well may not anymore. Now, more than ever, having a clear strategy is crucial for success. You know that though. Thats why youre here, right? So, your next questions might include: Can you still do effective marketing on Facebook organically? How exactly should smart businesses approach crafting their strategy? What are current best practices to consider following (and to consider breaking)? Which tactics are worth experimenting with right now? Should you consider using tools to better manage your processes? This post will dive into each of these points (and more), showing you exactly how to map out a robust strategy that will help you make the most of Facebook. Facebook Marketing Strategy: How to Plan the Best One in 8 StepsWhat Are the Benefits Behind Planning a Proactive Strategy? research data shows that marketers who document strategy are 313% more likely to report being successful. If Facebook is a primary marketing channel for your company, that means proactive planning should be considered important to ensure the effectiveness of your efforts. Of course, that strategy needs to be thoughtful and on-point. Youll need to do some research and keep it flexible enough to adjust your tactics based on performance over time, but having a plan will put you ahead of the game. You can make documenting that strategy easier by downloading the templates and resources below. In it, youll find a ZIP folder that includes the following: Facebook Marketing Strategy Template (PPT): This template will make it easy to document your entire strategy from start to finish. Google Analytics Custom Reports: Use these links to set up custom reports in Google Analytics for measuring social media success in just a few clicks. Social Media Calendar: Plan every post and keep the execution of your strategy organized in one place. This post will show you exactly how to put it to use so you can get this entire task completed quickly and easily. Planning Your Facebook Strategy in 8 Steps Step 1: Establishing Goals Step 2: Conducting a Facebook Page Audit Step 3: Understanding Your Audience Step 4: Developing a Brand Voice for Facebook Step 5: Running a Competitive Analysis Step 6: Planning a Facebook Content Strategy Step 7: Setting a Facebook Posting Schedule Step 8: Measuring the Effectiveness of Your Strategy Step 1: Define Your Marketing Goals For Facebook Before you know what to do, you need to know why you are doing it. It's easier to succeed when you give yourself a target to aim at.  Here are some common business goals for Facebook brand pages: Drive referral traffic. It isn't as easy as it used to be, but you can still drive traffic from Facebook. Strengthen brand awareness. Odds are your target customer is active on Facebook. Make them know you exist. Build a relationship with your audience. Groups are a great way to build community and achieve this goal. Provide customer service. People expect to be able to reach businesses through their Facebook pages. Generate leads and conversions. Particularly through advertising. No matter what your goal might be, it's important to remember Facebook is a social platform that allows two-way communication with your customers and target audience. Treat it accordingly. Step 2: Audit Your Existing Facebook Presence Do you currently have a Facebook business page (even if you haven't done much with it strategy-wise)? If so, it's a good idea to review where your page's performance is currently standing. This can help identify opportunities for improvement.  Here are some simple things to check (they may seem basic, but lots of little details can collectively add up to a big difference for your brand perception). Is Your About Tab Complete? People discovering your company on Facebook need a way to get to know who you are. If your About tab isn't accurate or complete, though, they'll have a harder time understanding your business. Check out this example from Saucony: Here, you can see they've filled out the following sections: Mission. What are you all about? Contact Info. How can people get ahold of you? Website. Where can I find more about your business? About. Add a company bio here. Company Overview. What do you do? Products. What do you sell? This might include some things that aren't obvious to people. Categories. How is your page best understood? Our Story. This is an extended section to share more about your company. Which Types of Content Appear to Perform Best? Research data shows that video content performs best on Facebook. That's a broad and general truth, though. What's actually working best for you? Review your recent posts (consider going back 90 days or so) and the following questions: Which tone of voice works best? Humorous posts? Serious posts? Inspirational posts? Do successful image posts have anything in common? Certain colors? Subjects? Text vs. no text? Are videos performing well? And if so, what attributes do successful videos share? Are they short? Long? Funny? Serious? What about posts with links? Facebook has indicated a desire to keep people on Facebook, rather than sending traffic away. Is your link post performance reflecting this? This simple exercise can help you figure out what might work well in the future based on what's worked well in the past. You can also quickly see your top performing posts using the Insights tab on your Facebook business page and taking a quick scroll downward: Click See All Posts  to take a deeper dive into your post history: How Does Your Cover Photo Look? If your cover photo hasn't been updated in a while (which it may not have been if you haven't optimized your business page in a while), now might be a good time to consider updating it. One option is to create something simple, timeline, and on-brand like this example from Vans: Or, you can create one that's coordinated with a current campaign you're running, like this example from Hulu: It's a small thing, but it can make a difference toward putting your brand's best foot forward. Step 3: Know Your Facebook Audience It helps to know who you're talking to before starting a conversation. Knowing who your audience is on Facebook, however, can be a challenge. Fortunately, its own built-in analytics and other tools can make this task a bit easier. Understand the People Currently Interacting With Your Page Using Insights Facebook offers page owners with plenty of useful data (and at no charge). So, take full advantage of it. Step 1:  Visit your page (if you're the admin) and click Insights: Step 2:  Click on People. Here, you'll find a wealth of useful demographic information. Step 3: Review your demographic performance data on Facebook. Who's interacting with your content the most on Facebook? The answers are easy to find.Use Google Analytics to Analyze Facebook Referral Traffic Google Analytics won't break down your Facebook audience directly. However, it does provide valuable data about who is visiting your website. You want those folks following you on Facebook too, right? Knowing what they like will help achieve that goal. Step 1:  Log into Google Analytics and click on Audience.  Then, click Interests to find out what your website visitors are interested in. Step 2: Next, try finding information about the demographics of your website visitors. Step 3: Next, try clicking into Social. Then, click into the Overview tab to get more useful data. Step 4: You can find detailed data on which social networks (including Facebook) are sending referral traffic back to your site under Network Referrals: Step 5: Clicking into Landing Pages can help you see where Facebook is sending traffic on your site. This is helpful for understanding which content is performing best on the network. Spend some time seeing what you can learn about your audience here. Between Google Analytics and Facebook Insights, there's a lot you can extract. Recommended Reading: 49 Facebook Marketing Tips to Drive Better Results Right Now Use 's Facebook Report If you use 's Social Organizer to schedule your company's social media content, you can use its Facebook Report within the Analytics tab to find the following performance data: Impressions.  How many people saw your posts? Impression Rate By Post Type.  Which types of posts got the most attention? Number of Posts Sent. What does your overall post volume look like? Best Days to Post. Does your audience appear to be more active on some days rather than others? Best Times to Post. Same goes for times. When does your audience engage with your content the most? Best Post Types.  Stats show that video dominates Facebook. Is that the case for you, though? Engagement Rate.  How is your content performing based on engagement? Top Posts. Which specific posts have performed the best (and how might you recreate that success moving forward)? Using this data can help you understand your audience by understanding which content appears to resonate with them the most. Run A Survey This is perhaps the easiest way to know exactly what your audience wants. Sign up for Crowd Signal or Survey Monkey. Create a short list of simple questions asking your audience what they want to see on your Facebook page. Promote your survey on social media and your email newsletter. Analyze the results.Step 4: Develop Your Brand's Facebook Voice You now know who you're talking to. It's time to figure out how you'll talk to them. This means establishing your brand voice on Facebook. This doesn't have to be complicated. It just helps to understand how to make the voice of your brand work on social media. 1. Serious Are you  in an industry where a light-hearted or casual tone would be inappropriate? If so, memes, Millennial lingo, and other things you might typically see on Facebook probably won't be your bread and butter.   Fortunately, it is possible to be formal, professional, and interesting. For example, UNICEF creates compelling content that often carries immense emotional weight: It’s about time A special message from our Goodwill Ambassador, David Beckham on why early moments matter. #EarlyMomentsMatter Posted by UNICEF on Tuesday, June 4, 2019 2. Casual Let's say your brand is in a serious industry. How can you make your Facebook content entertaining and on-brand? Take a cue from Capital One: All Bracket buddies are good luck for #MarchMadness, but a bracket buddy as good as Charles Bark-ley 🠐 ¶ is #FanGoals. Posted by Capital One on Thursday, April 4, 2019 3. Humorous A little bit of light humor can go a long way. Don't worry if you're not the world's best comedian, either. Sometimes, a small amount of subtle humor (as long as it's relevant to your content and brand) can go a long way: "When it comes to Dad Jokes, this is the Nucleus Option." - Michael Buxton, the winning artist from our Dad Jokes design challenge! âš›ï ¸  https://bit.ly/2KclvMW Posted by Threadless on  Wednesday, May 29, 2019

CRJS 205 Introduction to Criminal Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

CRJS 205 Introduction to Criminal Law - Essay Example Having difference remedies in civil and criminal cases implies different penalties for prospective offenders. In civil cases, a defendant who loses a case if immune from incarceration or a jail sentence as compared to losers in criminal cases. In general, a defendant in a civil case is only required by law to pay compensation to any losses incurred by the plaintiff (Standler, web). Punishments offered by at the civil and criminal level for a similar case should not correlate in any way. The main reason why the two punishments should not correlate is that civil litigations are aimed at restoring the plaintiff to the initial financial position while criminal punishment offers emotional consolation and therefore the two remedies are not related or equivalent. Secondly, in criminal cases the state bears the burden of proof while a plaintiff shoulders the burden of proof in civil cases and the two have different capabilities (Standler, web). Finally civil cases corporate as the defendant while criminal cases have individuals as the defendant therefore available punishments will have different effects on the two

Chief Information Security Officer Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Chief Information Security Officer - Term Paper Example The repercussions of these breaches are felt by multiple parties including the administrative staff, the university itself, the IT department and the student body. It is therefore, imperative for higher education institutions to familiarize themselves with the constantly changing threats besides the high cost associated with leaving data and systems unprotected. Introduction Computer system hacks and data breaches with higher education institutions as the main target are constantly dominating the headlines. The higher education institutions are increasingly at high risk having their information and data compromised by malicious activities and hackers beside insider mistakes. The considerable number of system hacks and data breaches experienced by higher educational institutions can be attributed to such factors as resource plague issues experienced by IT department within the institutions, budgetary constraints and desperate database systems among other factors (Gahm, 2010). Higher e ducational institutions posses a considerable amount of data and distinct data type which make them a potential target by malicious attackers and hackers. A wealth of personally identifiable information is mostly stored by these institutions thus the high risk of data breaches and system hacks. A health record of students, employees and parents together with their names, social security numbers and credit card numbers are among the sensitive information that subject these institutions to potential threats and makes them a valuable target to the hackers. (Gahm, 2010) According to Gahm, Higher educational institutions should learn to take actions besides implementing proactive security to their database infrastructure in order to protect the critical information contained in their database systems. These database systems house a variety of information that can be exploited for financial gain. Given that the institution’s databases are the most critical repository of confidentia l and sensitive information at these institutions, safeguarding the database is of the essence (2010). Recent hack attacks against higher educational institutions Some of the top and best universities around the world had recently been reported to have fallen victim of computer system hack and data breaches. Team GhostShell, a hacking group claimed to have hacked into the servers of close to a hundred universities across the globe including Harvard, University of Pennsylvania, Stanford and University of Michigan. Close to 120,000 records were accessed from the breached universities’ servers and publicly posted. Critical and confidential information such as the names, phone numbers, log in details and email addresses were among the records exposed in the event of the breaches. The reports further showed that the hackers used malware injection into the servers in order to compromise their security and gain access to the records. The log-in credentials exposed were further used to improperly access some of the universities’ websites including Stanford University. Another data breach incident involving Western Connecticut State University was reported and blamed on the vulnerabilities existing on their computer systems. The breach utilized the existing vulnerabilities in the system and inappropriately accessed and exposed confidential inf

Evaluation of Iraq war through group think Essay Example for Free

Evaluation of Iraq war through group think Essay The War on Iraq was decided by a small group of people that was headed by the President and comprised of the Vice-President, Defense Secretary, CIA Director and other senior administrative officials. The decision to go to war was a decision of a small think-tank rather than of an individual or a larger group of people. The decision of the think-tank pushing the case for the Iraq War seems to be an apt example of confirmation bias. This confirmation bias during the events leading to the Iraq War has led to a widening rift between policy makers and the intelligence community. It is widely believed that the war think-tank defied the pointers presented by the official intelligence. Instead, the intelligence available in a raw form was misused to publicly justify the war on Iraq and build a positive public perception that would endorse the war. As the Washington Post reports the discussion on the war; The case was thin, summarized the notes taken by a British national security aide at the meeting. Saddam was not threatening his neighbours and his WMD capability was less than that of Libya, North Korea or Iran. However, the think-tank was convinced about going for a war with Iraq and it used the available intelligence to confirm its beliefs. Cognitive diversity was missing in the think-tank that drew up the plan for the Iraq War. All members involved in the decision process had same political leanings, were to a large extent a culturally homogenous group and formed a small team that worked closely with each other on various policy making issues. The team did not comprise of various political voices even though the decision to go to war impacted the entire country. It did also not take advice and heed to objections of World bodies like the United Nations when some of the member countries objected to the unilateral action of the United States and its ally Britain to go to war. The team did not invite any new members to its coterie of decision makers to infuse fresh or alternative thinking in its decision making process. As Senator Barbara Boxer said, â€Å"Iraq was a war of choice, not necessity†. The intelligence community was roped in only to substantiate claims made by the think-tank on the reason to go to war. The group behaved with a preset agenda ignoring the alternatives at hand and made biased decisions. The Iraq War is also an example of group comparison where the decisions of the individual members could have been different from the decisions of the group that they were part of. The study of group polarization began with an unpublished 1961 Master’s thesis by MIT student James Stoner, who observed the so-called risky shift, meaning that a group’s decisions are riskier than the average of the individual decisions of members before the group met. After the wide public criticism of the U. S. handling of the war, two prominent members of the Iraq think-tank put in their papers. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell resigned after almost 4 years of at the helm of affairs. He was seen as less supportive of the war even though he was the public face on international forums to drum up support amongst its traditional allies. Whereas Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld who took over the course of foreign policy after Powell’s exit was seen as a hardliner. It seems that the hardliners would have grown even more resolute in their decision to go to war after several rounds of deliberations that the think-tank might have had. They would have presented intelligence information and other reasons to hard sell their belief thereby subduing the reluctant supporters of the war.

Personality and Finding Out Who You Are Essay -- Personality Psycholog

Personality and Finding Out Who You Are Many people go throughout life not knowing exactly who they are. The personality of some one is who they are. Many psychologists have tried to define what they envisioned personality to be, and by analyzing their theories I will try to find out who I am. Carl Jung developed the concept of introverts and extroverts. Introverts are people who tend to be preoccupied with the internal world of their own thought, feelings, and experiences. Extroverts are people who tend to be interested in the external world of people and things. Personally I do not believe personality can be put into just two columns as Jung has filtered it into. I do not feel like I am extroverted or introverted. It all depends upon what mood and situation I am in. The Big Five theory has a better description of personality. It is based on five categories, openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism. Within these categories there are traits that people have, and personality can be based through the traits of the categories. I feel like this gives a better idea of some one’s personality because going through the categories I can tell that I am imaginative, conscientious, optimistic, good natured and sometimes relaxed, but also sometimes anxious. This gives a much better idea of what my personality is than saying my personality is somewhere in between introversion and extroversion. Sigmund Freud claims that personality ...

Cumberland Case Essay

1. What’s your price for the curled metal pads? Why? (3) 2. How attractive an opportunity is this for CMI? (7) 3. How are you going to market these pads? Describe your marketing plan. (8) 4. What are you going to say to the Colerick Foundation?Exhibit 1: CMI was one of the largest manufacturers of curled metal products in US with an 80% market share. CMI’s sales were dipping and management was not optimistic of maintaining the current market share in the long run. Cumberland had a history of using curled metal technology to develop innovative metal products like slip-seal to meet the demanding specifications. Existing cushion pads in the market seem to be meeting the need adequately and hence no specific attention was being paid to develop new and high performing products. The results of tests of the use of new metal pad had been excellent, exhibiting nearly 33% gain in efficiency and 20 times more life as compared to asbestos pads. Because of the lack of an existing market and sales and distribution channels, company faced a herculean task of convincing the channels that there indeed was a market for the new pad. Existing pads in the market came in standard diameters but CMI’s manufacturing process provided the flexibi lity to develop pads in any diameter using the same band of curled metal. Because of the lack of statistics on cushion pad usage, CMI did not have a clear idea of the sales mix of the various product sizes. Contractors and Subject matter Experts(Prof. R. Stephan McCormack of Pennsylvania A&M university ) had expressed great enthusiasm about the new pad. At this stage of prior to product launch and manufacturing, CMI seem to be struggling to find a responsible contractor to use the product and monitor its performance | Opportunities| Threats|No direct competition for Cumberland existed because of the lack of interest of†¦ foot driven. This alternative is in line with the price of current used pads in the test scenario, hence competitive. The advantage of this method is it fulfills the company objective of 50% markup, is easy to calculate, and competes well with other pads. Furthermore, proceeding years will realize a greater than 50% margin since the $150,000 equipment investment will be eliminated. This approach would work best for a strategy of extensive market penetration. Since the price of the pads are the same current used, CMI needs only to convince consumers of the  effici ency and safety advantages to convert them to the new pads. However, this pricing method does not consider the possibility of premium pricing due to efficiency cost savings or value added to the customer by using the CMI pads. Case PresentationCurled Metal Inc. (CMI) faced a pricing and channel marketing decision for metal pile cushions utilized during pile driving. CMI’s approach to metal pads has significant efficiency advantages over currently used pads available in the market. However, CMI has to take into account several barriers to entry into this market. The primary barrier is that most companies viewed role of pads as a necessary accessory or tangent item instead of viewing them as a potentially value adding or cost reducing part of pile driving. In order to penetrate the market, CMI has to alter the point of view of pile driving pads for the opinion leaders, engineering firms, and contractors involved in the decision process. There is several stakeholders to consider, first CMI that need a new successful product to the continued success of the company. The decisions regarding pile cushions could greatly increase the company’s revenues and profits. There are also several secondary sta keholders in the pile driving industry. Secondary stakeholders include pile hammer manufacturers, architectural consulting engineers, soil consultants, pile hammer distributing/renting companies,†¦Promotion strategyPatent? Curled Metal’s strategic and marketing objectivesThere is a need to increase the industry’s awareness for the new pad and to recognize it as a â€Å"necessity† for projects.This can be achieved by soliciting different influencing parties. Different parties have established ties with their targeted clients. The parties can easily influence clients.Pile hammer manufacturers, architectural/ Consulting engineers play a role in influencing decisions of contractors by providing recommendations. Curled Metal should maintain a good relationship with these parties and carry out firm visits to introduce the product to them.For independent pile-driving contractors, professional staff from Curled Metal can be assigned to these contractors to help with management at the initial period.Less resource should be allocated on pile hammer distributing and sophisticated engineering/ construction contractors as it may be difficult to change their mindsets.This can also be achieved th rough promotion. Curled metal can continue to make use of the influence of respected Professor Stephen McCormack of Pennsylvania A&M University. Since sophisticated  firms of the industry are familiar with his research, Curl Metal should value Professor McCormack’s influence. Curl Metal should publish the test results of the new pads to the industry when it is finalized.Curled Metal can make use of existing publication on pile-driving jobs, such as Oklahoma Contractor. Curled Metal can have its advertisement featured on the publication to introduce the advantages of the new pads.Curled Metal can also sponsor professional-level seminars and conference for contractors, designers and equipment developers to exchange ideas. Curl Metal can make us of the chance where different parties gather together and promote the new pads to them. Professors can be invited to hold talks and explain how the new pads can help save resources and time. Answered questions: What should a customer be willing to pay for one of Curled Metal Incorporated’s new cushion pads? What factors are relevant in calculating willingness to pay in this situation? Prepare a specific monetary estimate of customer value in this situation. What price should Curled Metal Inc. set for one of its new cushion pads? Why? Please focus on an 11.5-inch cushion pad. On page 1 of the case, Curled Metal Inc.’s vice president Joseph Fernandez says, â€Å"The way we price this could have a significant impact on everything else we do.† An integrated strategic option specifies the basic type of advantage a company will pursue (e.g., differentiation? low cost? other?), relevant decisions about customer and product scope, and key choices throughout the company’s value chain. Please prepare an integrated strategic option for CMI – an option that specifies your price but also specifies the many other choices facing CMI in formulating a strategy for its new cushion pads (e.g., in marketing, sales, distribution, production, finance, and other functions). Case analysis for Curled Metal Inc.1. What should a customer be willing to pay for one of Curled Metal Incorporated’s new cushion pads? What factors are relevant in calculating willingness to pay in this situation? Please prepare a specific monetary estimate of customer value in this situation. When calculating the value of CMI’s curled metal pads to the customers one has to take a variety of factors into account. These are the total costs per hour of pile driving, the saved costs for driving as well as the savings in  changing time. By calculating the total amount of money saved when applying the new pads, one can calculate the â€Å"real value† of the product. One „real hour’sâ€Å" worth of pile driving is calculated as follows: One real hour has a total cost of $714. We will use this number for further calculations. Below I have calculated the total costs for driving time, replacing pads for both the Kendrick Foundation Company and Corey construction†¦ Cumberland Metals: Case Study Analysis. 1/9Cumberland Metals faced a both a pricing and channel marketing decision for metal pile cushions utilized during pile driving. Cumberland’s approach to pile cushions had significant efficiency advantages over other asbestos methods that were currently available in the 1979 market. However, Cumberland faced several barriers to entry into the pile cushion market. The primary barrier was that most companies viewed role of cushions as a necessary accessory or tangent item instead of viewing cushions as a potentially value adding or cost reducing part of pile driving. In order to penetrate the market, Cumberland would have to alter the lackadaisical view of pile driving cushion pads for the opinion leaders, eng ineering firms, and contractors involved in the decision process.Key IssuesCumberland needs to consider several marketing decisions. First, they must determine a method for pricing and ultimately a price for the new metal pads. Second, Cumberla nd must decide which channels to market the pads based on the selected pricing strategy. Third, Cumberland must determine how much to invest in manufacturing equipment by estimating market penetration and considering the costs and benefits of investing in pad producing equipment.AnalysisCumberland’s new metal pile driving pads provided several benefits over the current asbestos cushions. Several Pad features and pricing decisions will be discussed and analyzed in this section. First, the safety and heat properties of the cushions will be analyzed and compared to current asbestos pads. Second, efficiency characteristics will be analyzed and compared with current asbestos pads. Third, several methods of calculating the best price in order to match the price to the value added for the customer will be discussed. Finally, an analysis of the different marketing channels a nd marketing strategy will be presented. Safety Presentation MarketingCumberland Metal Industries ( CMI cushion pads) The  Problem Definition: For Cumberland Metal Industries the curled metal cushion pads represent a great breakthrough. These pads offer the company the opportunity to diversify, and double their sales, given a proper market introduction. Cumberland Industries faces the challenge to Place in the market (promote/advertise) and price their latest innovation, the curled metal cushion pads in a way that it reveals the great advantages that the product provides.In order to do that, the company needs to pay attention to certain factors that can influence the success of the product on the market. These factors are: promotion and advertising, and the pricing of the metal pads on the market.Marketing Strategy: A sensible thing for the company to do is to use the niche strategy in order to place the product on the market. A Niche strategy will focus on a specific area of a service or a product. The advantage of using niche strategy is that it can focus on a specific niche that provides either a large volume of business or small volume with lucrative profit margins. The whole idea behind the niche strategy is that it targets those people who are interested in the type of product offered. In our case, by placing the CMI metal cushion pads as a niche, Cumberland Metal Industries has the potential of becoming a dominant player on the market.The next step is promoting and advertising the product as such (niche/innovative etc.). What Cumberland Industries should do, is create a brand. They have a truly innovative product that has the potential of becoming a huge success. Before the CMI metal pads, the only pads available were the asbestos pads. Those, however, could be found at diverse retailers, and were not properly marketed. Moreover, it is well known, and proven that the asbestos pads are a hazard to health and also there are some government regulations that prohibit the use of asbestos. Cumberland Metal Industries – Pricing Strategy Executive SummaryCumberland Metal Industries (CMI), a company specialized in making of curled metal products, has develop a new product, metal cushion pad with health safety and long durability, to help contractors drive piles faster. Based on the successful tests, CMI now wants to launch this new product to the market. The main challenge CMI is facing is to price its new pads. Since the pad is totally new in the market, CMI should use perceived  value pricing method and apply marketing mix programs comprised of advertising, education, and distribution channels to launch this product as well as develop it to get full market share in the future.Perceived Value Pricing – strategy for future successCMI should set the objective of this new business to be the monopoly and to maximize profits. However, the prerequisite for this objective is to get a patent to prevent this product from being copied and imitated. As long as CMI did not get patent for this product, CMI should not sel l it as it would invite the entry of competitors because this cushion pad is not a high technology product and easy to be copied.

Compassion in The Witch of Blackbird Pond Essay

Compassion is important in every walk of life. The definition of compassion is : a virtue of empathy for the suffering of others and a desire to alleviate that suffering. Compassion is important because it makes up who you are and is a strong part of human love. Without compassion, no human could ever get close to each other or function together as a society. Without compassion, people would not be able work together because they would not care about anyone else’s pain. There would be no working together towards a common goal, that is one of the key pillars of society. Compassion is reason we have doctors and nurses. Compassion is reason that when we see someone hurt, on the ground, we help them up. In the novel, The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Kit and Nat show compassion for Hannah Tupper when her house burns down. She is their friend and they are sympathetic for her and do anything to help her. They even go into the building to retrieve her cats. They are feeling compassion for her and will help to alleviate her suffering, risking the possible legal repercussions of aiding a witch. Another instance in the novel in which the characters show compassion is when Kit teaches Prudence to read and when she defends Prudence from her mother by lying at the trial. The first time was compassion because kit saw prudence had low self worth because her mother has lead her to believe that she is stupid and never will be able to read. Kit sees her suffering and decides to alleviate her suffering, risking Goodwife Cruff’s wrath by teaching her to read and write. Later in the book, once kit is accused of practicing witch craft and the townspeople present the evidence of the hornbook with Prudence’s name written in it repeatedly, Kit lies for Prudence’s sake. She doesn’t want Prudence to get beaten by her mother. She risks possible death in compassion for Prudence’s situation. Finally, prudence shows compassion to Kit. Against all odds, though she has been educated to not show compassion by watching her mother, she shows everyone that she can write. She risks her mother’s abuse to save Kit, a girl she has recently met, but who has taught her a very important value: compassion.

Worst Ways to Remove a Tick

Worst Ways to Remove a Tick Is there anything worse than finding a tick embedded in your skin? Besides the ick factor, tick bites are a definite cause for concern, because many ticks transmit disease-causing pathogens. In general, the faster you remove the tick, the less your chance of getting Lyme disease or other tick-borne illnesses. Unfortunately, theres a lot of bad information being shared about how to remove ticks from your skin. Some people swear that these methods work, but scientific studies have proven them wrong. If you have a tick embedded in your skin, please read carefully. These are the 5 worst ways to remove a tick. Burn It With a Hot Match Why people think it works: The working theory here is that if you hold something hot against the ticks body, it will become so uncomfortable it will let go and flee. Dr. Glen Needham of Ohio State University found that holding a hot match against an embedded tick did nothing to convince the tick to let go. Needham also noted that this tick removal strategy actually increases your risk of pathogen exposure. Heating the tick can cause it to rupture, increasing your exposure to any diseases it may carry. Also, heat makes the tick salivate, and sometimes even regurgitate, again increasing your exposure to pathogens in the ticks body. And do I need to mention that you can burn yourself trying to hold a hot match against a tiny tick on your skin? Smother It With Petroleum Jelly Why people think it works: If you completely cover the tick with something thick and gooey like petroleum jelly, it wont be able to breathe and will have to back out to keep from suffocating. This is an interesting idea that has some basis in reality, since ticks breathe via spiracles and not their mouths. But whoever hatched this theory didnt have a complete understanding of tick physiology. Ticks, according to Needham, have extremely slow respiration rates. When a tick is moving about, it may only breathe 15 times in an hour; while resting comfortably on a host, doing nothing more than feeding, it breathes as little as 4 times per hour. So smothering it with petroleum jelly could take a very long time. Its a lot quicker to simply pluck the tick off with tweezers. Coat It With Nail Polish Why people think it works: This folklore method follows the same reasoning as the petroleum jelly technique. If you completely cover the tick in nail polish, it will start to suffocate and give up its grip. Smothering a tick with nail polish is just as ineffective, if not more so. Needham determined  that once the nail polish hardened, the tick became immobilized and was therefore unable to retreat from the host. If you coat a tick with nail polish, you are simply securing it in place. Pour Rubbing Alcohol on It Why people think it works: Maybe because they read it in Readers Digest? Were not sure of their source for this tidbit, but Readers Digest has claimed ticks hate the taste of rubbing alcohol. Perhaps they think a tick doused in rubbing alcohol will loosen its grip in order to spit and cough in disgust? However, rubbing alcohol isnt without merit when it comes to removing ticks. It is good practice to clean the affected area with rubbing alcohol to prevent infection of the tick bite wound. But that, according to Dr. Needham, is the sole benefit of putting rubbing alcohol on a tick. It does nothing to convince the tick to go. Unscrew It Why people think it works: The theory here is that by grabbing and twisting the tick, it will somehow be forced to lose its grip and pop free of your skin. Dr. Elisa McNeill of Texas AM University has an amusing retort for this tick removal method – tick mouthparts are not threaded (like screws)! You cannot unscrew a tick. The reason a tick can maintain such a good hold on your skin is because it has lateral barbs extending from its mouthparts to anchor it in place. Hard ticks also produce a cement of sorts to fasten themselves down. So all that twisting isnt going to get you anywhere. If you twist an embedded tick, you will most likely succeed in separating its body from its head, and the head will remain stuck in your skin where it can become infected. Now that you know the wrong ways to remove ticks, learn how to remove a tick safely and effectively (from the Centers for Disease Control). Or better yet, follow these  tips for avoiding ticks so you never have to remove one from your skin. Sources Evaluation of Five Popular Methods of Tick Removal, Glen R. Needham, Ph.D., Ohio State University. Journal of Pediatrics, Vol. 75, No. 6, June 1985.Physicians Guide to Arthropods of Medical Importance, 6th edition, by Jerome Goddard.Tick Removal, Centers for Disease Control website. Accessed online May 27, 2014.Ticks and Tick Bites, Dr. Elisa McNeill, Texas AM University. Accessed online May 27, 2014.Tick Bits, Kansas State University. Accessed online May 27, 2014.

Accessing and Managing MS Excel Sheets With Delphi

Accessing and Managing MS Excel Sheets With Delphi This step-by-step guide describes how to connect to Microsoft Excel, retrieve sheet data, and enable editing of the data using the DBGrid. Youll also find a list of the most common errors that might appear in the process, plus how to deal with them. Whats Covered Below: Methods for transferring data between Excel and Delphi. How to connect to Excel with ADO  (ActiveX Data Objects) and Delphi.Creating an Excel spreadsheet editor using Delphi and ADORetrieving the data from Excel. How to reference a table (or range) in an Excel workbook.A discussion on Excel field (column) typesHow to modify Excel sheets: edit, add  and delete rows.Transferring data from a Delphi application to Excel. How to create a worksheet and fill it with custom data from an MS Access database. How to Connect to Microsoft Excel Microsoft Excel is a powerful spreadsheet calculator and data analysis tool. Since rows and columns of an Excel worksheet closely relate to the rows and columns of a database table, many developers find it appropriate to transport their data into an Excel workbook for analysis purposes; and retrieve data back to the application afterwards. The most commonly used approach to data exchange between your application and Excel is  Automation. Automation provides a way to read Excel data using the Excel Object Model to dive into the worksheet, extract its data, and display it inside a grid-like component, namely DBGrid or StringGrid. Automation gives you the greatest flexibility for locating the data in the workbook as well as the ability to format the worksheet and make various settings at run time. To transfer your data to and from Excel without Automation, you can use other methods such as: Write data into a comma-delimited text file, and let Excel parse the file into cellsTransfer data using DDE (Dynamic Data Exchange)Transfer your data to and from  a worksheet using ADO Data Transfer Using ADO Since Excel is JET OLE DB compliant, you can connect to it with Delphi using ADO (dbGO or AdoExpress) and then retrieve the worksheets data into an ADO dataset by issuing an  SQL query  (just like you would open a dataset against any database table). In this way, all the methods and features of the ADODataset object are available to process the Excel data. In other words, using the ADO components let you build an application that can use an Excel workbook as the database. Another important fact is that Excel is an out-of-process ActiveX server. ADO runs in-process  and saves the overhead of costly out-of-process calls. When you connect to Excel using ADO, you can only exchange raw data to and from a workbook. An ADO connection cannot be used for sheet formatting or implementing formulas to cells. However, if you transfer your data to a worksheet that is pre-formatted, the format is maintained. After the data is inserted from your application to Excel, you can carry out any conditional formatting using a (pre-recorded) macro in the worksheet. You can connect to Excel using ADO with the two OLE DB Providers that are a part of MDAC: Microsoft Jet OLE DB Provider or Microsoft OLE DB Provider for ODBC Drivers. Well focus on Jet OLE DB Provider, which can be used to access data in Excel workbooks through installable Indexed Sequential Access Method (ISAM) drivers. Tip: See the  Beginners Course to Delphi ADO Database Programming  if youre new to ADO. The ConnectionString Magic The ConnectionString property tells ADO how to connect to the datasource. The value used for ConnectionString consists of one or more arguments ADO uses to establish the connection. In Delphi, the TADOConnection component encapsulates the ADO connection object; it can be shared by multiple ADO dataset (TADOTable, TADOQuery, etc.) components through their Connection properties. In order to connect to Excel, a valid connection string involves only two additional  pieces of information -  the full path to the workbook and the Excel file version. A legitimate connection string could look like this: ConnectionString : ProviderMicrosoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data SourceC:\MyWorkBooks\myDataBook.xls;Extended PropertiesExcel 8.0;; When connecting to an external database format supported by the Jet, the extended properties for the connection needs to be set. In our case, when connecting to an Excel database, extended properties are used to set the Excel file version.   For an Excel95 workbook, this value is Excel 5.0 (without the quotes); use Excel 8.0 for Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, and ExcelXP. Important:  You must use the Jet 4.0 Provider since Jet 3.5 does not support the ISAM drivers. If you set the Jet Provider to version 3.5, youll receive the Couldnt find installable ISAM error. Another Jet extended property is HDR. HDRYes means that there is a header row in the range, so the Jet will not include the first row of the selection into the dataset. If HDRNo is specified, then the provider will include the first row of the range (or named range) into the dataset. The first row in a range is considered to be the header row by default (HDRYes). Therefore, if you have column heading, you do not need to specify this value. If you do not have column headings, you need to specify HDRNo. Now that youre all set, this is the part where things become interesting since were now ready for some code. Lets see how to create a simple Excel Spreadsheet editor using Delphi and ADO. Note:  You should proceed even if you lack knowledge on ADO and Jet programming. As youll see, editing an Excel workbook is as simple as editing data from any standard database.

RETIREMENT ASSIGNMENT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

RETIREMENT ASSIGNMENT - Essay Example The benefit is based on the ending salary. This means that the real dollar value of the retirement benefit will reduce during retirement. Imagine the same situation as above, but now you work for two employers during your career: You work for Employer A for the first 24 years, and Employer B for the second 24 years. Everything else in the problem is the same. Calculate your retirement salary from Employer A, from Employer B, and the total of the two retirement salaries. (Note that throughout your career, you receive a raise of 5.0% every year, even if you change employers, and you never loose salary when you change employers. Is a defined benefit a good plan if you do not stay with the company for your whole career? A defined benefit is not good if you do not stay with the company for your whole life because once you leave before the benefits are they vested, you may even lose the whole benefits or part of it if you worked for less than five years. If you work at a company for a whole career, you retire on your defined benefit salary, and the firm goes bankrupt, can the firm’s obligation to retirees like yourself be lowered, i.e. can retirees be left with a lowered retirement salary by the bankruptcy judge? Once the employer decides to offer the defined befits the company has no obligation to take back the benefit since it belongs to the retirees, hence incase the company goes bankruptcy, the retirees retirement benefits will not be