Friday, November 29, 2019

Judo Stategy Essay Example

Judo Stategy Essay In each of the four cases, does the entrant or challenger (i. e. Softsoap, Red Bull, supermarkets, Freeserve) have a competitive advantage when they market? Would they if the incumbents imitated their product offerings immediately? Softsoap According to the time of the case, bar soap is the product which is the market leader until late 1977, Minnetonka release Soap Machine that is the first time to have liquid soap in the market and continuously launch Softsoap in 1980. Softsoap entered to the market as the first mover, gain a competitive advantage and become to the market leader. However, competitive advantage of Softsoap is not able to preserve the market share when it is attacked by big players in the market as PG and Armour-Dial which are produce the liquid soap after. Red Bull Red Bull has a competitive advantage in term of focusing on the specific market and distribution strategy. It focus on the energy drink segment which has a small percentage from soft drink industry. They success in access to the consumer which is Red Bull assess that big player as Coke and Pepsi are probably not come to play in this category. Moreover, using its own distribution network can build brand image and it’s the easy way to keep Red Bull uniqueness. Supermarkets In U. K. Petrol Price War case, supermarkets had the competitive advantage but they are not sustainable because it’s depend on gasoline price and the location. Lower price gasoline was the factor to persuade customers to the store while the authority of setting gasoline price was the major gasoline retailers. We will write a custom essay sample on Judo Stategy specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Judo Stategy specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Judo Stategy specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Freeserve Cutting price is not quite a competitive advantage, in case of Freeserve, it effort to provide service in low price expect to outcome AOL while AOL not only be internet service provider but also provide content valuable as interactive news, entertainment shopping, information, email service and so on. It’s probably that Freeserve was operating in on loss by too low of service fee. 2. In the Softsoap and Red bull cases, what kept the incumbents from fighting back aggressively, at least initially? In case of Softsoap and Red Bull, the big players as PG, Armour-Dial, Lever Brothers and Colgate Palmolive (Softsoap Case), Coke and Pepsi (Red Bull Case) penetrate their market share and have a strong brand. It’s quite too risky to fighting back aggressively because it probably damage their current brand, decreasing brand image, decreasing the market size by cannibalize to current product and maybe lesser profit from fighting because of more spending on promotion and advertising for launching new product. 3. In the case of the UK petrol war, how do you think the supermarkets expected the major gasoline retailers to react to their entry? Was this expectation reasonable? In U. K. Petrol War case, I think supermarkets expected the major gasoline retailers to react their entry because the sales volume and revenue of supermarket was high or low depend on gasoline price which was controlled by major gasoline retailers. The expectation is reasonable because it’s the only one way the gasoline stands compete is price. When price war occurred, in one area where compete in price, the petrol station in that area have the same low price, leading to loss in profit margin. Moreover, the variety of consumer behaviors, consumers may prefer the convenient in filling up the gasoline then ignore to find the lowest gasoline price and sometimes it’s not reasonable to save a few money for lower gasoline price by the wasting time. 4. In the Freeserve vs AOL case, which consumers do you think are most readily switching to Freeserve? How can AOL retain these customers? Because of the low price of Freeserve, it probably gain the customers who are price sensitive as teenagers who get low income and don’t pay attention more to value-added service while AOL was the higher price but providing more than internet accessing. Ways to retain AOL customers are create network effect in order to create high switching cost by build up special things which create community among the users such as instant messaging, provide contents which is the strength of AOL service such as interactive news, entertainment, information, shopping, email service and so on. Last but not least, AOL is the largest internet service provider, It can communicate this strength point to users to rely on AOL then they will not switch to freeserver.

Monday, November 25, 2019

Parsons Chairs and Parsons

Parsons Chairs and Parsons Parsons Chairs and Parsons Parsons Chairs and Parsons By Maeve Maddox The first time I heard the term parsons chair I immediately imagined that the name derived from some quaint country custom of seating the visiting preacher on the best chair in the parlor. Not so. The Parsons chair takes its name from its place of invention: the Parsons School of Design founded in Paris in 1921 by Frank Alvah Parsons. According to an article on a site called Modern Dining Chairs, The parsons chair is virtually always crafted of hardwood, and features a slightly curving, squared backrest and legs. They are usually featured with slipcover upholstery that entirely covers the legs and gives the chair a solid, monumental appearance. This slipcover is optional or absent on many recent models. Furniture retailers don’t seem to agree as to the spelling. You can find Parsons chair, parsons chair, Parson chair and parson chair. Until a chair design expert corrects me, I’ll go with Parsons chair in recognition of the fact that the name comes from a proper noun. However, since Parsons is not a commercially-registered word, Im sure that parsons chair cannot be considered incorrect. The word parson meaning â€Å"clergyman† derives ultimately from the same Latin word that gives us person in the sense of â€Å"human being.† The word entered English from Anglo-Fr., O.Fr. persone curate, parson. Person may have come to mean the person in charge of the local church by shortening the Latin phrase persona ecclesiae person of the church. I suppose that a pronunciation variant turned person into parson. The word parsonage, â€Å"house for the parson,† is documented from the 15th century. The word parson occurs in several English expressions. One that I find amusing is the parson’s nose, a reference to the fatty tail end of a cooked chicken or turkey. My granny used to gross us out by eating that bit. She may have called it the pope’s nose. Here are some other words used to refer to personnae ecclesiae. chaplain clergyman cleric curate pastor preacher priest minister rector vicar Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Is She a "Lady" or a "Woman"?Time Words: Era, Epoch, and EonThrew and Through

Friday, November 22, 2019

Marketing - Second Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Marketing - Second Assignment - Essay Example l services Employment in wholesale & retail trade Toledo 47% 31% 46% 44% Cleveland 22% 27% 16% 27% Fort Wayne 16% 11% 19% 5% In the first part of the assignment, I have observed that cities have higher numbers of employment opportunities compared to the suburbs. The number of employment opportunities is progressive relative to the distance of a town from the city center. Cities have the highest numbers of employment followed by close surrounding areas with distant areas recording the lowest numbers of employment. ... The high numbers of employment opportunities are as a result of the government and private companies preferring establishing their businesses in areas where there is plenty supply of labor. On the other hand, businesses may be established in suburbs because of the low cost of land relative to the city center where land ownership is very competitive and very expensive. In the second part of the assignment, the newspaper article reports of a situation whereby UBS is making plans to relocate to Manhattan where it was originally located in the early 1990s. Business owners and employees of the firm are concerned about the firm relocating from Stamford where it is considered to have the largest number of employees. Business owners are worried because the relocation of UBS could mean loss of business. Most of the businesses rely heavily on the presence of the company in the area. On the other hand, employees are worried because the relocation of UBS to New York means that they would be payi ng more for transport to their place of work. However, UBS had made the decision to move to Manhattan because the city had a lot of young talent that could work for the organization. This would see UBS employees moving to the city to secure employment. The observations made are consistent with the Alonso model to the extent that majority of job seekers prefer working in the city as opposed to suburbs. Employers on the other hand consider locating their business in the city because they expect to maximize profits despite incurring high costs of rent. Cities rank higher in the number of employment opportunities than suburbs and most of the jobseekers prefer living in the

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Case study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 10

Case Study Example Basing on this, this paper has developed a SWOT analysis of FedEx. A SWOT analysis is a managerial strategic program aimed at analyzing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of an organization so that decision makers can enact policies basing on information at hand. From the DI case, the weaknesses of the organization are highlighted, and in all, they are internal, and based on employees negligence. This report will highlight that. The table below shows the SWOT analysis of the organization. Political instability in various countries and regions of its interest might affect its operations. For example the Arab Spring crises that started in Tunisia to Egypt that led to overthrow of these governments through mass participation. Poor judgment by its employees on appeasing aggrieved clients can lead to customer dissatisfaction for example Poor customer relationship skills witnessed by the supervisor sending chocolates instead of offering an apology to aggrieved customers. Loses arising from inefficiency of their services through paying of refunds and compensations to clients for expenses arising from the company’s negligence. For instance DI lost $ 600 in paying trade booths which were to be used for showcasing the undelivered goods (McDougall and Charles, 48). Risk negative publicity and therefore affecting their profitability due to their inefficiency in handling DI shipments. This is portrayed by Anita Kilgour expressing her disappointment and unhappiness at how the organization handled her orders. From this analysis, we can conclude that FedEx is a strong company with minimum weaknesses in its operations. It is also a technology oriented company and because of this, it is a market leader in provision of courier services. Despite its strengths and position in the market, the company can improve on its weaknesses by improving on the terms of the money back guarantee system, to give

Monday, November 18, 2019

Formal Analysis of Gao Jianfu (1879-1951)s Buddhist Pagodas in Burma Essay

Formal Analysis of Gao Jianfu (1879-1951)s Buddhist Pagodas in Burma - Essay Example In 1939, Gao Jianfu was one of the Chinese artists who founded the Awakening Art Academy. The main purposes of the academy were to produce skilled artists who could document the war crimes in form of paintings, and to host art exhibitions in the southern cities of Macao and Hong Kong (Hung 148). During his time, Jianfu not only spearheaded establishment of national art academies, but also produced iconic paintings of ruined cities and buildings. Succeeding sections of this paper contains formal analysis of two paintings on the theme of ruins and destruction by Jianfu. In one painting on page 151 of the chapter The Birth of Ruins, Jianfu uses ink and color on paper to depict a Chinese city in ruins. On page 153 of the same chapter, there is a painting by Jianfu depicting the burning of the Afong Palace. With respect to the painting of a city in ruins, Jianfu work shows the architectural remains of two adjacent buildings, clustered debris on the ground, and white and orange smokes soaring up to the skies. The city in ruins painting contains diagonal lines. Edges of the destroyed walls are diagonally aligned with respect to the ground. In addition, debris and smoke streams are tilted with respect to the ground’s horizontal and vertical planes (Hung 151). Similarly, the painting of Afong Palace depicts dust, ashes and smoke rising in a tilted manner. In both paintings, Jianfu employed the use of diagonal lines to convey a feeling of instability. Diagonally represented structures means they are either unstable, or are wobbling from the effect o f instability (Whitney 58). By using diagonal lines, Jianfu wanted to concisely represent the destroying effects of Japanese invasion in the city painting, and the detrimental state of the Afong Palace in the second painting. With respect to the formal analysis concepts of shape and form, Jianfu depicted both paintings in three dimensions. By viewing the city ruins and the Afong Palace painting, one

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Eye Tracking in Usability Evaluation

Eye Tracking in Usability Evaluation   In this literature review I have talked about experiments conducted on usability of various interfaces and designs using eye-tracking. The authors of the papers focus on various types of eye movements for usability evaluations like saccades, pupil dilation, fixation, scanpaths etc. Based on these measurements the try to infer the point/area of interest of the users, point on entry, the cognitive load etc. about the user. These conclusions help in understanding the mindset of the users which can be generalised to a larger population within the proximity of time and space and help in making recommendations for better design of the interface. Benefits of eye tracking: Eye tracking has many benefits. Using eye tracking methods for usability evaluation one can track how the users interact with a given interface or environment. They help in measuring the effectiveness of a visual element on the interface. The measurements recorded can give an insight into the users mind while making a decision regrading searching or navigating an interface. This can be done by measuring what users are interested in, what they are ignoring and what is distracting them from their current tasks. They help in figuring out the Area of Interest which I a randomly shaped box that may contain some information or object or potential interest to the user. The quantitative data collected through eye tracking gives a visuals representation usually in the form of heatmaps(hotspots) which help in better understanding the results. Eye tracking equipments used now-a-days like Tobii and SMI are easy to set-up, calibrate and handle. They are unobtrusive and p rovided accurate real-time feedback. The fast passed usability testing of the software development industry, test conducted using eye tracking can of valuable and useful input providing benefits what will help the users. Eye Tracking in Usability Evalusation: A practitioners Guide [1] This paper is a general guideline on the use of eye tracking used for usability evaluation. The author talks about the specialists who conduct the study, the metrics used with the testing, the protocol followed to conduct a test. They also talk about when eye tracking can come in handy as compared to the normal usability test which usually include heuristic evaluation, cognitive walkthrough, checklist, remoter-usability testing, click-tracking etc. The authors talk about the different types of eye movements that are measured like saccades, fixation, pupil dilation, scanpaths etc. These movements provide a log of the visual attention of a user on the interface. It is also interesting to know that the eye tracking gadgets only track the movement of one eye, usually the dominant eye of the beholder. Saccades: rapid eye movements. Fixation: A linger at a point for more than 300ms. Scanpath: established by the sequence of saccades and fixations. Most of the studies conducted analyzed the fixation pattern. Which can be realized through heatmaps. Red indicates the highest level of fixation followed by green yellow. The areas which are not colored drew no attention. F-Shaped Pattern for reading web content[4] The author says that a eye tracking study was conducted on 232 users on their reading behaviour on webpages. They found a governing F shaped pattern which was undeviating among most of the users. The participants of the experiment were fond to first adhere a long horizontal gaze across the screen, followed by a short horizontal gaze on the area below and finally giving a quick vertical scan of the content of the webpage. Occasionally there were a few cases of an E and an L shaped pattern but mostly F was dominant with variation in the placement of the horizontal bars. These patterns suggest hat usres dont read the text on a website line by line. They like to give a scan to see if any of the content available if of interest or not. Such reading patterns suggest that first paragraph should contain important and catchy information. While scanning vertically users generally users generally read the first two words of the text. Visual Hierarchy and Viewing Behaviour: An eye tracking study[2] The authors of this paper aim to suggest effective improvements in the design of a web page to attract more users and to disperse important information in an effective manner. For this purpose, they have analyzed the gazing patterns of users. The author have tried to decipher the reason behind the F shape viewing pattern by most users which could be due to the arrangements of element on the interface or the task at hand. To test this they used 4 prototypes of a webpage with each having a different visual hierarchy. The prototypes differed in the form of being well structed or not and 2 had images of people and 2 did not. 48 participants were used for the study which were from different field of the industry and each one was given either a searching task or a browsing task on one of the 4 prototypes. Fixation patterns using heatmaps was used to analyze the data. It was found that users fixate more on the part of the page which is above the fold. The F shaped pattern was not apparent w ith any of the conditions as the website was more visually complex as compared to a text based simple website. The well structured and organized pages drew more attention. During searching users tend to gaze in a scattered manner with more focus on the left side of the page where the navigation links are usually located. Browsing is less scattered with few fixations time and is usually defined within the center of the interface. Faces drew more attention only when they were placed above the fold of the page and during browsing. They concluded that these insights into a users viewing pattern can help make better designs for different type of websites to attract users. No subjective ratings were used to access users comfort while dealing with the different types of interfaces. Efficiency Trust and visual appeal: Usability testing through eye tracking[5] The authors conducted a research on the efficiency, trust and visual appeal of a website and made recommendations on what kind of an interface would attract more customers to an e-commerce website and what type of user experience would make a first-time visitor a customer. The author believed that an element of social presence will give a more satisfying experience while navigating an automated website which lack humane warmth. This accompanied with a aesthetically pleasing interface will make the users trust the website more. To test this the authors came up with a set of tasks for the users and two hypothesis which were related to images of people on a website and the visual appeal of a website. 522 users were recruited for an online study and each of them were provided with a different prototype of a website. Users were asked the visual appeal and the level of trust on the website using seven point Likert scales. After performing p on the online study, authors concluded that websi tes with images of people are more visually appealing and in turn elicit a higher level of trust. It was fond that the users conduct the search from left to right. The online study was followed by an eye tracking experiment to confirm the results of the online study. They used a count heat map and a fixation heatmap. 40 were recruited for the eye tracking experiment. The experiment confirmed that images of faces are more helpful in drawing attention. Gender Preferences in Web Design: Usability Testing through Eye tracking[6] The authors of this papers tried to investigate the visual predilections of male and female users. They have tried to detect he noticeability of bricklets(small box containing useful information) based on their background colour images by male and female users. Since men and woman have different notion of attractiveness, an hypothesis was made on the noticeability of the different prototypes of the bricklets. Men have a tendency to like dark colors and women have a tendency to like light color. 36 participants were chosen for the study out of which 17 were male and 19 were female. 4 type of bricklets were designed with dark and light background color and with and without images. Tasks were designed in such a way so that the users were tested on their ability to detect certain kind of bricklets. It was found that both male and female fixate less on images and more on the bricklets without images. Female users were attracted more towards the darker background bricklets and male users w ere not biased towards a specific colour. The study concluded that what users find appealing is not necessary noticeable this was supported by the discrepancy in self report survey and the fixation duration on the bricklets by the users. Generation Y and Web Design: Usability through Eye tracking[7] The aim of the authors of this paper is to come up for better design recommendation for retail web sites to attract the millennial generation also knows as generation Y. This generation poses the strongest internet skills and spend around $200 a year on online retail. An hypothesis is made that Generation Y like large images preferably of celebrities and with search features and as little text as possible. Top 50 retail pages were selected. These pages were ranked on the characteristics posed by them based on the predilections of generation Y. A self report study and an eye tracking study was conducted to compare both the results. 99 participants were selected who possessed strong internet skills for the self report study. 9 participants were selected for the eye tracking experiment. The survey and the data provided by the eye tracking device supported the hypothesis made. Eye tracking in Web Search Tasks: Design Implications [3] The authors of this paper conducted an eye tracking usability testing for a web portal application which was developed by Oracle portal software. Seven users were selected to complete six tasks for the study. The users came across 15 screens while completing their tasks and had to spend around 360 seconds to complete one task. The authors recorded the key presses and mouse clicks on the interface and eye movements like saccades and fixations and the dwell time on the Area of Interest were diligently recorded. Every task started with a set of scenario and required the user to perform them based on his understanding. The results in this study were not in the form heatmaps but rather in the form of screen bitmap files, fixation file and object file. These files were amalgamated to perform data analysis. The study was performed in a very systematic way. The authors studied the eye movements of the users at the task level then at the screen level and then finally at the object level with the focus on Area of Interest. In-depth study was conducted regarding screen visits and distribution. The authors analyzed the pattern for navigating within and between portlets and concluded that there is an inclination for the users to notice the portlets on the left and the upper part of the screen in view. The authors tried to discover a relationship between user action, scene sequence and the data derived from the eye movement. Age-related Differences in Eye Tracking and Usability Performance: Website usability for Older Adults [8]. The authors of this paper conducted usability study of websites through eye tracking to make design recommendations which keep in mind the needs and ease of usability and navigation of older adults. 5 websites were used for the experiment. And a comparison was made on how you and old people interact with the environment. Around 3-7 young adults and 2-3 older adults were recruited. All of them a possessed a working knowledge about using the internet. The participants were given predefined tasks and their fixations were recorded using the unobtrusive eye tracking device. The participants also filled out a questionnaire to report their satisfaction level. It was found that older adults focus more on the center portion of the screen and ignore the information located on the peripheral areas. Cluttered periphery results in performance hindrance for the old users. The ignorance of the edge of the screen can be related to the cognitive decline encountered due to growing age. Older adults we re less accurate and efficient as compared to younger adults. Older adults who are ususally unfamiliar with the environment get easily distracted by unnecessary elements. Seven users are very less as compared to the recommendation of 10-30 participants made by [1]. There were often stements made by the authors that there is presently too little evidence to support the notion [3] suggesting that clearly 7 participants for the experiment was not enough and the results produced can be a threat to external validity. [1] also suggest to recruit 20% more participants in case there are problems with calibiratio of the equipment with the users. [2] used 48 users from different fields of the industry sector age not mentioned. 40 people in [5]. [6] 99 participants were recruited. [8] small number of users. Limits on generalizations made. Users were tested for their visual acuity The users were made to sign demographic, consent and disclosure forms. The authors conducted initial training tasks They used a head mounted system. Although these systems are good for tasks which may require a lot of head or body movement, they are obtrusive. They obstruct a certain portion of the of the field of view of the user and can interrupt a user in hi cognitive process or task at hand as he is constantly reminded of a apparatus being setup on his head. Since this experiment was conducted in 2002 the eye tracking instruments used that time were not technologically that advanced. Therefore, a lot of time and effort went into analyzing the data. Tape recorders were used to capture users comments and a video recorder was also used for in depth analysis. While conducting the experiment it was found that one of the users took very less time to complete the task as compared to others. The authors concluded that users learned about the interface while performing the tasks. But since one of the users showed less reaction to time to the given task at hand the inference suffers from a threat to internal validity because he possessed previous knowledge about similar interface. Threats to generalizibilty as an intrusive setup was used. Dis advantages: tedious, requires extensive data reduction, focus on micro-level behaviours, too much noise in the data. Lots of work required to narrow down on the data that is needed Eye tracking study is usually conducted where results of traditional software usability results are compared with that of the results from the eye tracking derived results. The traditional usability tests are usually done using five point Likert scale. In many experiments authors have concluded that users are inclined towards noticing the upper left side of the interface. It maybe possible that users in these experiments are used to languages that goes left to right and hence are natural disposed to look at the upper left side of the screen. If there experiments were conducted on a subset of population that are used to languages that go from right to left then there could have been different results. Most of the papers have conclude that users tend to ignore important information what is located at the bottom of the page which if below the fold. It could be father investigated that is that information is accompanied with an image of a person then would it attract users or not. While investigating the usability of an interface mostly two types of tasks were used: browsing and searching. This is because it the viewing behaviours of the users change depending on their task. In searching the users try to find a point of entry into a page and then from their he scans the near the point of entry for relevant information. In the heatmap the areas that are red could be the point of entry for those elements of the interface and the yellow and green areas in the heatmap are the surrounding locations where the users try to locate relevant information. Since the search process is majorly influenced by the factors such as, images, color and text. Designers can make use of these factors to guide the searching process of the users A trend was found that larger images attracts more attention as compared to smaller images. This can be used to attract user attention towards information that need immediate attention. Studies suggest that images of people tend to attract more attention. For [2] more prototypes of the web pages could have be formulated and compared to see if that was really true. Heat maps are created using data from several participants and are used to analyze the pattern of fixation on an area on the interface. The findings in [2] are in contrast with the one in [4] where the author has concluded on a dominant F shaped pattern. It can be absorbed what for a text based website with a simple visual hierarchy an F shaped pattern of viewing is more visible but for websites that have a complex visual hierarchy the viewing pattern in more scattered although focusing a lot on the left side if the interface which again is dominated by the users reading style form left to right. Different results will most certainly be produced with users who are habitual in reading from right to left. In general websites with good visual appeal and easy navigation elicit trust worthiness and are major contributing factors towards an enhanced user experience. [5] says that when since images attract attention, can be used to draw users attention to important information below the fold of a page. But the author of [2] contradicts this by saying that even though images of human faces were placed below they fold they attracted very little attention. [5] says that there is no effect of the gender of the image of the face on the website but in [?] notice a lot re spots on the heat map over the images of a female. Also, further studies can be conducted to see male images are more appealing than female image and which gender of the images attract the male users and which gender of the images attract the female users. The analysis of the heat maps performed by [5] was more structured as they used a standardized heatmap. Such a map puts a limit on the number of fixations to be considered as a red zone across different prototypes. Although in [5] the authors conclude that users trust level can be enhanced by the increasing visual appeal it should be noted that visual appeal is not all that matters, functionality of a website also plays a major role. the authors of [5] said that users are attracted toward the area where the images of faces were located but little fixation on the images. This is opposed by [?] where the authors have concluded that generation Y is then to fixate on the images of faces more. Then again the age difference between the participants in [5] was spread out therefore the two papers made contradictory statements. Also, since [5] is making recommendations for a e-commerce website which is mostly used by generation Y they could have narrowed down the are limit of the participants of the experiment. Papers [5] and [2] concluded that images of faces attract more attention but it maybe possible that images of different genre may be more effective. These images when paired with a lowers aesthetic quality webpage may not attract any attention at all. Keeping the ethical issues in mind [],[], and [] did not made the users sign Informed consent form and no information is provided if the participants were briefed or not. [7] suggest that generation Y is more attracted towards images of celebrities. But the study may fail external validity as it has not considered the population of the people who are not familiar with those celebrities. To extend this study a search task could have been given to the users to gain a more indepth understang of likes and dislikes of generation as done ny authorss in [2] and [3]. [7] conducted a research on generation Y but we know that baby boomers are constitute major part of the population that uses the internet. Results form [2], [7] and [5] can be combined to make recommendations for designs that would attract more users and increase user satisfaction. These designs would generally contain more images of faces, important information will be located on top left corner of the screen. To draw attention towards the part of the page below the fold images of celebrities can be used in an effective manner. Most studies concluded that users tend to focus on the left side of the interface but the studies conducted in[8] concluded that older adults ignore the left navigation area. This suggests that younger users who are more familiar with the interface know where to look at for navigation but this lack of knowledge and experience hinder the performance of an older adult. To help out the tease out the age effect designers can do a dual placement where navigation information can be placed in the center and the peripherals of the screen. All the eye tracking studies performed were under a laboratory condition. Here the users are asked to perform task in which they might be interested. These results maybe different in a real world situation when users are performing tasks of their own interest and are aware that the are not being monitored.

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Essay --

Animal cruelty occurs all over the world. The human race has a major effect on the natural world, especially animals. Animal cruelty is an example of how man has taken advantage of his power. Those exhibiting cruelty towards animals have been proven to have a tendency to harbor violent psychological problems. Animal cruelty occurs all over the world. Fortunately, many countries have enacted laws and penalties to stop this harsh behavior. There are many anti-cruelty laws in the United States as well as other states. This laws prohibit torturing, beating, mutilating and unnecessary killing of animals. Also, they cover neglecting abandoning or depriving pets or farm animals of food, water or shelter. In 1822 the British parliment passed the Martin Act for animals protection, later on Richard Martin formed the society for the prevention of cruelty to animals. But the cruelty to Animals Act was not firmily established until the years of 1849 and 1854. As a matter of fact the word was finally starting to spread throughout Europe and even the United States because of this movement the American Society for the prevention of animal cruelty was later formed in the year of 1866 by Henry Bergin in New York. In addition to this in the nineteenth century many laws were passed both in Great Britain as well as the Unites States to protect the helpless, especially-children, lunatics, and domestics animals, from willful and malicious acts of cruelty. On the other hand, just as there are laws there are many weak laws that have been enforced to protect animals from cruelty. As a matter of fact not only are the laws weak, but they are also rarely enforced. The reason being is because police officers and public presecutors frequently view animal cru... ...althy individual, this is a warning.† There are deep psychological issues that lead to violent crimes against people† (cfawr). What is more shocking is that most animal abusers abuse animals for entertainment of both themselves and others, and to show their aggressiveness. In conclusion the simple of one adopting a vegetarian or minimizing the amount of animal products can prevent the death and suffering of millions of animals. There are many ways that one can prevent animal cruelty, is just a matter or wanting to do so. For example one is not so excited about chores at all, but when some one important is coming one cleans the houses, and leaves it shining, just with this much effort one needs to want to stop cruelty because it this matter is not stopped it could lead to even major problems, one does not know if this could lead to animal extinction.

Monday, November 11, 2019

Evaluation of King David

In both books, Samuel I and Samuel II, King David is depicted as a true, but imperfect, example of an ideal king. When David was first introduced, he was a young boy, but quickly proved himself to be a strong leader, as he defeated Goliath, the giant. But as he takes his role as king, and gets older, his judgment and decisions aren’t always smart ones. I believe as a moral and political leader, King David was a good king, despite his sinful nature, and there is a lot to learn from his kingship. King David’s decisions showed he was a decisive and an effective king. He captured Jerusalem from the Jebusites and took it for his own home. (Samuel II: Chapter 5, 6-7) 6: And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who spoke unto David, saying: ‘Except thou take away the blind and the lame, thou shalt not come in hither'; thinking: ‘David cannot come in hither. ‘ 7: Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion; the same is the city of David. By David going and taking over the city of Jerusalem, it shows how he his a committed leader, and that he wanted to take this city and transform it to the capital of the holy land. In god’s eyes, this must be an extremely powerful act, as David is truly showing his loyalty to Hashem. We can also conclude that by David winning this battle, he must be a strong military leader. Despite some of the eventual imperfections of David, he still defeated his enemies and because of that the nation prospered. One of his great displays of devotion to God would be when he brought the ark from the house of Abinadab to Jerusalem. Samuel II: Chapter 6, 15-16) 15: So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting, and with the sound of the horn. 16: And it was so, as the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, This showed the people of Jerusalem his devotion to God, and he openly displayed his devotion by bringing it openly. David was aware how the Ark of th e Covenant was most sacred and powerful item to his people, so by bringing it to Jerusalem, people would give him more support and recognize him for being a strong religious leader. Even though we study today that this wasn’t the best way for David to prove he is a good religious leader, we still look up to him, as his purpose is what really counts. I believe a lot of us could learn from that, to be more open in our worship and show our devotion publicly to God. I believe David’s heart was in the right place and God knew that, that is why he blessed him in his reign. David wanted to build a house for the Lord, but instead God built a house for him. (Samuel II: Chapter 7, 5-6) 5: Go and tell My servant David: Thus said the Lord: Shalt thou build Me a house for Me to dwell in? : for I have not dwelt in a house since the day that I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, but have walked in a tent and in a tabernacle. God made a covenant with David in which God promised to make David a great and everlasting dynasty. David showed great devotion to the lord, but fell short of his glory. The lord saw he was whole-heartedly devote d to him and therefore he made an everlasting covenant with David. I believe it was David’s â€Å"good intentions† that God did not see David’s his sinful nature, because God doesn’t expect perfection, just devotion. The fact that David acted in a way that he constantly dedicated himself to God, and tried to do the right thing, is what God saw him for, and we can learn from that because people have a sinful nature sometimes, but God still cares for us. I think it is important to remember David was a human, granted he had responsibilities as a King, but he shouldn’t have been expected to be perfect. Like all humans, he had weaknesses, which got him into trouble. David had several â€Å"downfalls† in his reign. One example of David’s downfalls is when he committed adultery. (Samuel II: 11, 4) 4: And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness; and she returned unto her house. This act is perhaps one of the reasons why people have controversy over David, and if he was a â€Å"good† king or not. I believe it can be compared to that of the incident of our president Clinton. David was a human like Clinton and, given they were leaders who represented a nation, were both human. My point is that pressures are put on those with power and people expect them to be perfect when really they are not that different from us. I’m not saying that what they did was okay, but I’m just trying to understand it more. It was a sin, what they did, but God knew their hearts, and in David’s case the Lord still blessed him. I believe the greatest thing we can observe from King David would be that God called him a king after his own heart. (Samuel I: Chapter 13, 14) But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you The fact that God says this, and understands that David is a man of heart, is the most significant to learn from all of David’s actions. It was the fact that David was willing to confess his wrongdoings and admit his sins, then repent that saved him, and showed God his devotion to him. I admire David’s whole heartedness and I believe that is the most important thing I’ve learned from him.

Saturday, November 9, 2019

CSR – Fast Food Industry

Since the late 1960's and early 1970's, the term â€Å"corporate social responsibility† has come into common. The concept of CSR has attracted considerable attention in recent years. However, CSR may have confused many corporations whether CSR brings benefits to the corporations, whether it is worthwhile to contribute organizational resources to CSR. Different studies have brought different answers to those questions. In the following paragraphs, we will briefly discuss whether CSR are necessary and the effectiveness of CSR. As the competitors have started showing they are socially responsible, it becomes necessary for a fast food corporation to consider the need and importance of CSR if it wants to stay at an advantaged position in the fast food industry. As consumers have more choices due to globalization and consider more today, it may be necessary for a corporation to show it is socially responsible to attract consumers. According to Scalet and Kelly (2010), people are demanding CSR, the market incentives are following consumer preferences for CSR activities and the market is producing it. In related to the fast food industry, Schroder and McEachern(2005) ‘s research suggests that â€Å"Most respondents favoured an involvement of global fast-food companies in CSR, whether in the context of providing healthy choices, assuring animal welfare or the sponsoring of community activities. They also suggest that fast-food retailers for example McDonald’s and KFC should emphasize on customer health, food quality and CSR activities in order to maintain and have new customers. On the other hand, some studies argue CSR may not be helpful in developing corporations’ brand and gaining advantages. Nicola (2007) describes â€Å"awareness of CR policies is low† and â€Å"consumers do not act on their beliefs about CR – they will continue to buy brands they know to be irresponsible. Product quality and consumer fairness are more important than CSR in consumers’ mind, most consumers agree corporations should have CSR, but only one-third of them consider CSR when shopping and not more than 4% would really not purchase a product due to the corporation's ethical policy (Peter 2007). John (2006) mentions Milton Friedman, the famous economist, has said â€Å"few trends could so thoroughly undermine the very foundations of our free society as the acceptance by corporate officials of a social responsibility other than to make as much money for their stockholders as possible†. Corporation should not have conscience like a human being as a corporation's nature is to maximize returns to its shareholder without breaching the law. These perspectives supporting the need of CSR show the consumers today choose our products not only depending on the quality of our products and service, but also depending on our contribution to CSR activities. As the whole market is producing it, a corporation has to fulfill the consumer demand of CSR in order to remain competitive. However, it assumes consumers are rational and act like what they think about CSR. In fact, consumers are not always rational and their consuming behavior may not consist with their thought. At the same time, there are some other perspectives showing the corporation contribution to CSR may be useless in gaining advantages. It strongly states that consumers focus much more on the product quality and consumer fairness, rather than CSR. Even the consumers know the corporation is irresponsible, they would still buy its products. It makes CSR seems to be less important than what scholars have described. However, CSR not gaining advantages to the corporation doesn’t mean not gaining advantages to the society. As a responsible corporation, it should have a conscience to keep on committing itself to CSR activities. These perspectives focus too much on what a corporation can gain from a society, but not on what a corporation can give to the society. Only obeying to the law is not enough for a responsible corporation. In conclusion, different perspectives may have certain strengths as well as weaknesses in their arguments. These perspectives supporting CSR provide a clear picture of the necessity of CSR by showing the consumers’ demand for CSR activities and indicating fast food corporations should have more CSR activities to maintain their competitiveness. However, it ignores the fact that consumers are not always rational and they may behave differ from what they think. Those perspectives questioning the effectiveness of CSR place a strong emphasis on that fact that CSR is not consumers' priority and the role of a corporation is to maximum profits. However, it focuses too much on the benefits of the corporation rather than the benefits of the society as it puts the role of corporations in a too utilitarian position. On the whole, although we understand much about CSR through the process of analyzing different claims, it is still hard to have a clear conclusion on those perspectives as obvious contradictory findings do exist and it may need a further research.

Thursday, November 7, 2019

Comparison Between Mitosis and Meiosis Processes

Comparison Between Mitosis and Meiosis Processes Mitosis (along with the step of cytokinesis) is the process of how a eukaryotic somatic cell, or body cell, divides into two identical diploid cells. Meiosis is a different type of cell division that begins with one cell that has the proper number of chromosomes and ends with four cells- haploid cells- that have half the normal number of chromosomes. In a human, almost all cells undergo mitosis. The only human cells that are made by meiosis are gametes, or sex cells: the egg or ovum for females and the sperm for males. Gametes have only half the number of chromosomes as a normal body cell because when gametes fuse during fertilization, the resulting cell, called a zygote, then has the correct number of chromosomes. This is why offspring are a mixture of genetics from the mother and the father- the fathers gamete carries half the chromosomes and the mothers gamete carries the other half- and why there is so much genetic diversity, even within families. Although mitosis and meiosis have very different results, the processes are similar, with just a few changes within the stages of each. Both processes start out after a cell goes through interphase and copies its DNA exactly in the synthesis phase, or S phase. At this point, each chromosome is made up of sister chromatids held together by a centromere. The sister chromatids are identical to each other. During mitosis, the cell undergoes the mitotic phase, or M phase, only once, ending with two identical diploid cells. In meiosis, there are two rounds of the M phase, resulting in four haploid cells that arent identical. Stages of Mitosis and Meiosis There are four stages of mitosis and eight stages in meiosis. Since meiosis undergoes two rounds of splitting, it is divided into meiosis I and meiosis II. Each stage of mitosis and meiosis has many changes going on in the cell, but very similar, if not identical, important events mark that stage. Comparing mitosis and meiosis is fairly easy if these important events are taken into account: Prophase The first stage is called prophase in mitosis and prophase I or prophase II in meiosis I and meiosis II. During prophase, the nucleus is getting ready to divide. This means the nuclear envelope has to disappear and the chromosomes start to condense. Also, the spindle starts to form within the centriole of the cell that will help with the division of chromosomes during a later stage. These things all happen in mitotic prophase, prophase I and usually in prophase II. Sometimes there is no nuclear envelope at the beginning of prophase II and most of the time the chromosomes are already condensed from meiosis I. There are a couple of differences between mitotic prophase and prophase I. During prophase I, homologous chromosomes come together. Every chromosome has a matching chromosome that carries the same genes and is usually the same size and shape. Those pairs are called homologous pairs of chromosomes. One homologous chromosome came from the individuals father and the other came from the individuals mother. During prophase I, these homologous chromosomes pair up and sometimes intertwine. A process called crossing over can happen during prophase I. This is when homologous chromosomes overlap and exchange genetic material. Actual pieces of one of the sister chromatids break off and reattach to the other homolog. The purpose of crossing over is to further increase genetic diversity, since alleles for those genes are now on different chromosomes and can be placed into different gametes at the end of meiosis II. Metaphase In metaphase, the chromosomes line up at the equator, or middle, of the cell, and the newly formed spindle attaches to those chromosomes to prepare for pulling them apart. In mitotic metaphase and metaphase II, the spindles attach to each side of the centromeres holding the sister chromatids together. However, in metaphase I, the spindle attaches to the different homologous chromosomes at the centromere. Therefore, in mitotic metaphase and metaphase II, the spindles from each side of the cell are connected to the same chromosome. In metaphase, I, only one spindle from one side of the cell is connected to a whole chromosome. The spindles from opposite sides of the cell are attached to different homologous chromosomes. This attachment and setup is essential for the next stage. There is a checkpoint at that time to make sure it was done correctly. Anaphase Anaphase is the stage in which the physical splitting occurs. In mitotic anaphase and anaphase II, the sister chromatids are pulled apart and moved to opposite sides of the cell by the retraction and shortening of the spindle. Since the spindles attached at the centromere on both sides of the same chromosome during metaphase, it essentially rips apart the chromosome into two individual chromatids. Mitotic anaphase pulls apart the identical sister chromatids, so identical genetics will be in each cell. In anaphase I, the sister chromatids are most likely not identical copies since they probably underwent crossing over during prophase I. In anaphase I, the sister chromatids stay together, but the homologous pairs of chromosomes are pulled apart and taken to opposite sides of the cell. Telophase The final stage is called telophase. In mitotic telophase and telophase II, most of what was done during prophase will be undone. The spindle begins to break down and disappear, a nuclear envelope begins to reappear, chromosomes start to unravel, and the cell prepares to split during cytokinesis. At this point, mitotic telophase will go into cytokinesis that will create two identical diploid cells. Telophase II has already gone one division at the end of meiosis I, so it will go into cytokinesis to make a total of four haploid cells. Telophase I may or may not see these same sorts of things happening, depending on the cell type. The spindle will break down, but the nuclear envelope may not reappear and the chromosomes may stay tightly wound. Also, some cells will go straight into prophase II instead of splitting into two cells during a round of cytokinesis. Mitosis and Meiosis in Evolution Most of the time, mutations in the DNA of somatic cells that undergo mitosis will not be passed down to the offspring and therefore are not applicable to natural selection and do not contribute to the evolution of the species. However, mistakes in meiosis and the random mixing of genes and chromosomes throughout the process contribute to genetic diversity and drive evolution. Crossing over creates a new combination of genes that may code for a favorable adaptation. The independent assortment of chromosomes during metaphase I also leads to genetic diversity. It is random how homologous chromosome pairs line up during that stage, so the mixing and matching of traits have many choices and contribute to the diversity. Finally, random fertilization also can increase genetic diversity. Since there are ideally four genetically different gametes at the end of meiosis II, which one is actually used during fertilization is random. As the available traits are mixed up and passed down, natural selection works on those and chooses the most favorable adaptations as the preferred phenotypes of individuals.

Monday, November 4, 2019

Statement by the President on Cuba Policy Changes Essay

Statement by the President on Cuba Policy Changes - Essay Example This rhetoric began a speech that not only asked me to re-examine what I know about the history of America and Cuba as allies and foes but also changed the way that I now view the historical lessons taught to me. This particular speech was highly effective because of Pres. Obama did not only use the story of other people to support his claims of the need to change the American policy pertaining to Cuba, but he used historical analysis and evidence to help support his claims. Evidence that gave credibility to his claims and offered a chance for the American people to make up their own minds regarding the logic or mistakes that lifting the embargo might bring about. By clearly explaining the history of the embargo and its  effectiveness as an international policy, we, the listeners, came to better understand the logic and practicality of his reasons for lifting the ban. In the end, Pres. Obama left the stage having convinced a number of listeners and leaving some to ponder the direct ion that his new Cuban policy might lead the United States into.   

Saturday, November 2, 2019

Safety at the Fire Emergency Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Safety at the Fire Emergency - Essay Example Overloaded buildings are also dangerous when the fire starts. This includes structures such as warehouses and factories which are packed to the brim and hence increasing the number of casualties (NFPA 588). Wild land fire is the opposite of a structure fire because it happens outside in the wild without habitat. Fighting these types of fires is also dangerous because of weather conditions such as wind which changes the direction of the fire. It is also hard to predict which area will burn next as the fire changes every time. These fires take long to be controlled leading to burnout by the fire fighters and hence laxity which is dangerous when it comes to fires. Due to the uncontrollability of the fire, prevention efforts are more crucial than the actual fire fighting. The fire fighters have to enact measures to prevent the fire spreading to a wide area and control it on one place to make it easy to fight which involves starting other small fires (NFPA