The Global Fast-Food Industry

Colonel Harland Sanders signed up his first franchise in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1952. In 1956 he sold the Corbin, Ky. restaurant he owned, and began traveling across the United States to sell new franchises. Later that year he sold his first international franchise in Canada. By 1960 there were more than 200 Colonel Sanders Recipe Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) outlets. In 1963 revenues were over $500 million and the number of outlets had increased to over 300. In 1974 at the age of 74, he sold the business to Jack Massey and John Brown for $2 million, one of the great bargains in business history. The Colonel stayed on with the company in a ceremonial role, often helping to open new franchises. Brown and Massey grew the business throughout the United States over the next several years and in 1966 took the company public, listing it on the New York Stock Exchange and the Colonel was allowed to purchase the first 100 shares. The year 1969 was a crucial one in the history of the company with the first major penetration into international markets outside North America by acquiring franchises in England and Japan. By 1971, there were more than 2400 franchises and 600 company-owned restaurants spread throughout the United States and 47 other countries. 1971 became another key year in company history with the sale of KFC to Heublein. This was Heublein†s first significant entry into the restaurant business and it did not go smoothly. By 1977 restaurant quality had declined and the Colonel was upset. Only about 20 new restaurants were being opened per year. In response, Heublein implemented a new strategy emphasizing clean restaurants, product consistency across franchises and better service. Old franchise buildings were remodeled. In 1982 R. J. Reynolds Inc. (RJR), in an attempt to diversify beyond the tobacco business, acquired Heublein for $1.2 billion. KFC was profitable and growing again, but Colonel Sanders never saw the end result of Heublein†s strategy in the late 1970†³s, because he died in 1980. RJR continued to run KFC as an autonomous business for several years. In 1985 it acquired Nabisco and in 1986, in preparation for the subsequent move to take RJR Nabisco private, it sold KFC to PepsiCo Inc. for $840 million, over the objections of former Heublein chairman, Stuart Watson. Also this year the Colonel Sanders Technical Center in Louisville, Kentucky was established. The acquisition by PepsiCo was a significant turning point in the company†s history. In previous acquisitions by Heublein and RJR, KFC had been operated as a separate entity, although in different ways. Heublein tried to use its own managers to operate KFC, while RJR adopted a completely hands off approach. PepsiCo was looking to the acquisition of KFC to create some synergy within its other operations. Recently restructured into three major divisions, soft drink, snack foods and restaurants, PepsiCo could cross-pollinate between divisions, for instance by selling its soft drinks in restaurants. PepsiCo†s culture was also much different than KFC. PepsiCo placed a strong emphasis on employee performance, while KFC†s culture was more laid-back in the southern tradition. In 1991 a change was made that was to have unintended consequences. Kentucky Fried Chicken decided to change their name to KFC for several reasons, according to the web site Snopes.com, A move to de-emphasize â€Å"chicken† because KFC planned to offer a varied menu that included other types of food. (The Boston Chicken corporation took the same approach for the same reason, changing their name of their retail food outlets to Boston Market.) A desire to eliminate the word â€Å"fried,† which has negative connotations to the increasingly health-conscious consumer market. A recent trend towards the abbreviation of long commercial titles, as demonstrated by other companies' employing shortened forms of their names, such as The International House of Pancakes (IHOP) and Howard Johnson's (HoJo). As a result of this name change, rumors later began circulating throughout the internet that the government had forced KFC to change its name because it was no longer using chickens. According to the rumor, KFC was producing a genetically altered chicken with more than the normal amount of appendages. In spite of the fact that some of these claims, such as chickens without beaks, feathers or feet, are beyond scientific capabilities, the rumors have persisted. Over the next several years, KFC continued to prosper and undergo changes. It refocused its strategy to increase the traffic in individual franchises by expanding the menu to appeal to a larger group of consumers. In 1993 the company added non-fried chicken to menus in the U.S. and Australia, and in 1994 KFC officially opened its 9,000th restaurant in the world, in Shanghai, China, and announced a $200 million investment over the next four years for 200 restaurants in 48 Chinese cities. 1995 saw the introduction of Colonel's Crispy Strips and Chunky Chicken Pot Pie. The first KFC restaurant in Moscow was opened. In 1996 KFC introduced Tender Roast chicken pieces and brought back one of the world's most recognized packages, the bucket, and in 1997 the company introduced Honey BBQ-flavored Tender Roast, Spicy Buffalo Crispy Strips and Chicken Twister, which are wrapped up chicken and vegetables. In spite of all these innovations and improvements, PepsiCo had become increasingly unhappy with the restaurant division. Aging facilities were requiring much of the parent company†s revenue to be spent on remodeling restaurants and thereby neglecting investment in the soft drink and snack food businesses. In an attempt to return to its roots, PepsiCo spun off the entire restaurant division into a publicly traded company, Tricon Global Restaurants in October 1997. In May 2002, with the acquisition of A&W and Long John Silver's, Tricon changed its name to Yum!. One of the main strategic issues presented in this case is the question of whether or not KFC should continue to expand globally and where. Since the early days of its inception, KFC has been involved outside the United States, having expanded to Canada in 1956 and then in a major move in 1969, to Japan and England. As of 2000, of the thirty-five largest fast-food chains, KFC was second only to McDonalds in the number countries penetrated. It is an arena where KFC has had enormous success and should continue to be involved. As of 2001 KFC had more than 500 outlets in China compared to only about 400 for McDonald†s. KFC beat McDonald†s to China by five years, opening their first outlet in Beijing in 1987. Market surveys in China by AC Nielson have indicated a preference for KFC over McDonald†s, both in terms of products and the outlets themselves. In addition, the Chinese have cultural bias in favor of chicken over beef. This is certainly an area where KFC should continue to exploit its advantage. Latin America is another global area where KFC has a strong presence. In the Central American, Caribbean and Mexican area, KFC is very competitive with McDonald†s and Burger King in terms of number of outlets. It has a particularly strong presence in Mexico and the Caribbean. Only in the Southern part of Latin America does KFC fall sharply behind McDonald†s. With the advent of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) the environment has changed in Mexico. A helpful factor is that one of KFC†s major suppliers, Tyson Foods, has major chicken facilities in Mexico. The political environment has changed with the election of Vicente Fox. KFC†s already strong presence should be expanded aggressively. They should also use this base in Mexico as a means of investing capital to further expand the franchise base throughout South America, in order to negate a first-mover advantage by McDonald†s and Wendy†s. Franchise outlets require less capital than company-owned restaurants, and are thus a quicker way in which to expand. Anther strategic issue facing KFC is the decision to franchise or expand by company-owned restaurants and whether to refranchise. The original strategy of Colonel Sanders and his immediate successors was to franchise and not build company-owned restaurants. This allowed them to grow quicker than they would have if KFC had primarily invested in company-owned restaurants. This strategy continued until the purchase of KFC by PepsiCo. Because of a clash in corporate culture between KFC and PepsiCo, and the presence of a strong franchisee group within KFC, PepsiCo embarked on a strategy of repurchasing weaker franchises and running them. At the time of the spin-off of KFC and the restaurant division into Tricon Restaurant Group in 1994, the percentage of company-owned restaurants was about 40%. After the spin-off, Tricon management began to divest of many of the company-owned outlets. This was the result of a change in attitude on the part of Tricon management. They did not believe in absolute control of all aspects of the local business and were willing to admit that the franchisees knew the local business better than they did. By the year 2000, the number of company-owned outlets had dropped to 27%. As shown in the SWOT analysis below, there are a number of factors in the external environment that KFC should consider when formulating and implementing strategies. Some of the more important aspects are brand name awareness, global market expansion, shrinking resources available to outlets and attacks by activist groups such as PETA. On the positive side, the brand name awareness is a tremendous asset for KFC. The move in 1996 to bring back the bucket was one of the best decisions in its history. Likewise, global market expansion presents an enormous opportunity to KFC to grow. They should build on their existing international base and continue to grow franchises. On the negative side, KFC, along with other fast-food companies, is facing a shrinking of the available potential outlet locations. The proliferation of fast-food outlets in this country has absorbed many of the prime locations. This is another reason to justify continued overseas expansion, where many prime spots remain. Just as potential locations have dwindled, so too has the labor pool. In spite of increased unemployment since 2000, there is still a problem attracting workers in the eighteen to twenty-four year old range. An interesting aspect of the external environment that has negatively impacted KFC has been the virulent attacks on KFC by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and other similar groups. A number of celebrities have joined the campaign against KFC, which is focused on trying to force them to change the process of defeathering chickens. KFC has consistently refused to meet with the animal rights group for years, but because of concerns of losing market share in the inner city, has recently attempted to mediate this dispute through the offices of hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons and the Reverend Al Sharpton. Examining the list of top fifty U.S. fast-food restaurants for those sectors and companies that might be good investments we observe several companies that have a dominant position in their section. McDonald†s has a 35% market share among sandwich chains, Pizza Hut has a 44% share among pizza chains, KFC a 55% share among chicken chains, Golden Corral a 32% share among grill buffet chains and Dunkin† Donuts a 43% share among non-dinner concepts. Each of these companies would seem to be a good investment over the near term because of that dominant position in their sectors. In addition, financial data available for these companies confirm that the reason each is dominant in their sector is because they consistently produce above average financial returns. KFC continues to have a bright outlook for the future. It is well-positioned both domestically and international for continued growth. While it is unlikely ever to overtake McDonald†s, either in the domestic or overseas market, it is dominant in certain countries such as China and Mexico, and should be able to leverage this advantage to fend off other competitors, like Wendy†s and Burger King. Over the next five years look for KFC to have a strong number two position in the industry, particularly if it can address the problems with activist groups.

Hart Rudman Commission Report Essay

The U.S. Commission on National Security/21st Century, frequently known as the Hart-Rudman Commission after its chairmen, issued its third and final report in January 2001. The bottom-line conclusion is that the primary national security challenge that the United States will face in the next 20 or 30 years will be an attack by an adversary on the American homeland which could produce thousands of casualties. To deal with this threat, the commission calls for a major reorganization of the U.S. national security apparatus. The changed security environment and the changed threat to American society suggest a fundamental rethinking of the organizations designed to achieve national security. Phase 1 – New World Coming: American Security in the 21st Century was the first report completed by the Commission (July 1998 – August 1999). This Report is dedicated to understanding how the world will likely evolve over the next 25 years. It describes global trends in scientific, technological, economic, socio-political and military security domains and the interplay of these developments on U.S. national security. Pro: The nation has a better understanding of the global effects that affecting America; therefore, it helps better preparation the nation to tackle any upcoming obstacles. Con: With the advanced technology development, more dangerous weapons are being developed. Phase 2: Seeking a National Strategy: A Concert for Preserving Security and Promoting Freedom (August 1999 – April 2000). This Report devised a U.S. national security strategy to deal with the world in 2025. The purpose of the Phase II Report is to define an American strategy based on U.S. interests and key objectives. It develops a strategy for America to secure the benefits of a more integrated world to expand freedom, security, and prosperity and to dampen the forces of instability. Pro: The development assisted in strengthens our security to safeguard our  nation. Con: In order to tighten our national security, the general public somewhat has to scarify levels of privacy. Phase 3 – Roadmap for National Security: Imperative for Change (April 2000 – February 2001). This Report recommended significant and comprehensive institutional and procedural changes throughout the Executive and Legislative Branches in order to meet the challenges of 2025. Pro: The creation of the Department of Homeland Security marks a significant step forward for the United States in addressing the threat posed by terrorism within its borders. Con: The recommendation of significant restructuring to re-align government offices, branches, and procedures with the global realities, we are giving more power to the government to change the structure of our nation; how one can be certain this will lead to positive outcome. Reference Lathrop, C., & Eaglen, M. M. The Institute of Land Warfare, (2001). The commission on national security/21st century: A hart-rudman commission primer (NSW 01-2)

Ethical Foreign Policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Ethical Foreign Policy - Essay Example In addition a global discourse of human rights is emerging, which in turn, reflects in a large number of international legal instruments.2 This discourse warrants intervention where rights are being abused on a large scale and where at the same time a global opinion in favour of democracy is observed. Why This is primarily because the "in time" availability of information makes the issue more sensitive since the natural instinct of "helping" in human nature is effectively activated. In addition due to a more accessible world people and governments (representative of the people) feel themselves to be more attached with the affairs of others as they directly or indirectly affect them politically, economically or sheer as per the national morality/psyche. This essay will first clarify ethical foreign policy. It will then examine foreign policy ethics and interests. Thirdly, it wills discuses how to construct ethical foreign policies in a government. Finally it will conclude that the most important points in the study, with a recommendation for any future work. It iWhat is ethical foreign policy It is not reflective of actual practice to posit a dichotomy between, on one hand, an ethical foreign policy, and on the other, a non-ethical foreign policy.3 The growing interaction amongst nation state at international canvass has made it impossible that the action of one state is devoid of the effect on other state. This existing interconnectedness of actions of one state and the effects on the other state had made it impossible to have foreign policy which is devoid of ethical strings. However, the depth and breadth of ethical paradigms might be different for different nations. Therefore, the issues are focused on rather how governments act ethically, according to certain criteria, and how they balance competing ethical claims. The governments must be pragmatic, because they cannot formulate foreign policy from a predetermined ethical standpoint.4 The pedestal of "ethical standpoint" has to be different for every government. The reason is that the intensity or the will to follow the ethical strings/viewpoints or even formulation of those, is directly proportional to numerous factors within the government which include military/economic might and the resultant fall out on the nation, of the event taking place. Example That is exactly what happened in case of Iraq War. To have a nuclear weapon, if seen from ethical stand point of protecting one's country, was justified from Iraq's point of view. However, US saw it as a direct threat to itself in particular and world in general. This led US to adopt pre-emptive strategy. On the other hand many of the world nations were not interested in US strategy as they were viewing the issue from the "ethical stand point" of engaging and resolving issue through dialogue with Iraq. Further, the resultant expected destabilization of the region and loss of life was not thought to be ethical enough by those nations. Reality is that US did go for the war because it had the

Interaction and Usability Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Interaction and Usability - Essay Example Implementation 10 7 Evaluation 19 7.1 Cognitive Walk-through 19 7.2 Heuristic Evaluation 19 8 References 20 Appendix 21 A.1 Interview with the Owner 21 A.2 Document Analysis 23 A.3 Observation of Brit Drive 23 A.4 Questionnaire for Receptionists, Instructors and Pupil 24 A.5 Cognitive walk-through 26 A.6 Heuristic Evaluation 27 A.7 Scenarios 28 A.8 Task Analysis 30 1. Introduction Brit Drive is a small driving school, situated in the north of London. With the help of certified and experienced instructors, the school offers driving lessons at affordable prices. The target market of Brit Drive consists of those people from the locality who want to learn how to drive. Brit Drive holds lessons for nearly 20-30 students each day. The duration of a daily lesson varies from one to four hours. The school has four cars (of which one is automatic) where each has a lease duration of two years. 2. Discovery Methods 2.1 Primary Research The initial user research was conducted through four discove ry techniques: interviews, observations, questionnaires and document analysis. Since the company has a small staff team, it was easy to conduct the primary research. Interview with the Owner An interview with the owner, Timothy Goode, made it possible to gain a basic understanding of the existing system, its primary and secondary users and its environment (See Appendix A.1 for the interview). The questions revolved around the users and their roles in the Brit Drive system. Document Analysis The company’s data is paper-based and resides with Timothy. With Timothy’s permission, it became possible to analyze the data that is stored in the existing Brit Drive system (See Appendix section A.2 for the analysis). Observation By spending a day at the school, a first hand observation of the Brit Drive’s environment and daily operations became possible (See Appendix section A.3 for the findings). Questionnaires: To analyze the computer skill level, problems and requiremen ts of the receptionists, instructors and the pupils, a questionnaire was formulated. Each questionnaire had open and closed questions. (See the questionnaire and findings summary in Appendix A.4). 2.2 Secondary Research Based on the facts collected in the primary research, the main users that will directly interact with the system are the owner and the receptionists. The instructor and the pupil are the secondary users of the system (Wang n.d.). The main users fall into the category of novice (Helander et al. 1997) as they are general computer users. And since the system is to shift from legacy to digital, the users would have no syntactic and limited semantic knowledge of the overall application. In such cases, a simply designed interface is the only option. Since, all the tasks the receptionists perform can also be performed by the owner, easily memorized shortcuts can be used as a standard for a task. Once the users become frequent users, these shortcuts will not only ease the sy stem learning process but will also help during the rush hours. 3. User Needs Analysis 3.1 Persona According to the common traits, system has four user categories which leads to four personas; the owner, receptionist, instructor and the pupil (Wang n.d.). The persona skeletons from the previous section, are then prioritized according to their importance to the system (Wang n.d.). From the four personas, the owner and the

DISCUSSION QUESTION RESPONSE Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 16

DISCUSSION QUESTION RESPONSE - Essay Example I also approve of your point that learning is one thing, and being able to apply the knowledge thus gained to practical work situations is another thing. This may be because the factors that influence an individual’s performance at work are unlearned in the formal school studies. In order for an individual, he/she not only needs to have a high level of emotional intelligence, but also some experience in the work. It is only through experience, dedication and determination that one gets to identify the fundamental drivers of professional competence at work, and thus control them in a way to improve his/her own professional competence. I appreciate that you discussed the example of the young boy who acquired a bachelor’s degree in biology and was yet able to be more professionally competent than the son of the owner who had acquired the degree in business. This is a very strong example. Really, it is all about one’s aptitude instead of one’s field. The highe r education may be a driver of professional competence, but it is not the ultimate prerequisite of the

The Cranes by peter meinke Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Cranes by peter meinke - Essay Example The bare plot of the story is quite simple: a couple who have mated for life are driving on the seashore and watching the Whooping Cranes, which also mate for life. They admire the cranes and wish that they could see a mating dance. There is not any time to wait, because the woman has a terminal disease. We are never told what the disease is, but we can guess at lung cancer from her coughing. At the end of the story we are not quite sure what will happen, but the author hints that the husband will kill the wife and then himself. The most ironic note in the story is that Whooping Cranes were once almost extinct, but are now a viable population. We might wonder if humans who mate for life are as lucky. We learn all of this in a just a few pages, because the writer uses what we now about the cranes and what most people know about the controversial subject of euthanasia is also used. The description of the tall and stately cranes hints at how the author see the two people, dignified. This is a mainstay of the euthanasia controversy, that people have the right to die with dignity. We find out how old the couple is by the conversation. The man says that he has been coming for years and never seen a Whooping Crane. When she says they make the little birds look like clowns makes him mention that he could use some laughter. This prompts her to wonder if this is the right things to do. She says she feels responsible. It is then that we get a fuller picture of this couple, who have, apparently, been married a very long time. He answers her statement that she feels responsible with a list of all the things he cannot do, and we realize that his health is not very good. At this point we do not know that it is she who is terminally ill, but her statements hint at this. At first read, we might assume that this couple do not believe in God. However, that is not really what is said. She mentions a time when he got

Career Development Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Career Development - Personal Statement Example I thought a lot about my next steps after graduation during my studies, and finally I decided to take up a Kimberly-Clark graduate program. I felt I still had lots of things to learn, and this program, which offered moving jobs, was an ideal way to acquire knowledge and experience, to get acquainted with various operating strategies and techniques, to see the different working styles. Besides, Kimberly-Clark is a very successful company, and it has a lot to offer to its employees. I was fascinated by the possibility to study from people who created and managed one of the biggest and most successful companies in Europe. Working for Kimberly-Clark is my first working experience in the field of Supply Chain Management, and I feel I've made the right choice. When I decided to study for to get the Supply Chain Management degree, I considered the possibility that some day I would have to change my occupation for some reasons. I found that the Supply Chain Manager can easily transition to Purchasing Management, Logistics and Procurement Management. Of course, the specifics of work is different for each of those specializations, but the basic education the Supply Manager has allows him/her to adapt to the new working requirements and get needed knowledge in a relatively short period of time. The supply chain management software can be divided into two major groups. Those are Supply chain planning (SCP) software and Supply chain execution (SCE) software. Supply chain planning (SCP) software is used for to improve the efficiency of the supply chain. The characteristic feature of this software is that it is entirely dependent from the accuracy of the information you feed it. This type of software is used for to track the quantity and whereabouts of materials or goods, for predicting the quantity of products the customers will need next month/year, etc. There are applications designed for each stage of the working process, and each of them has its specific functions. Supply chain execution (SCE) software is used for automating the different stages of the supply chain, like electronically routing the orders for the needed materials to the suppliers. The accuracy and reliability of the software depends on the accuracy and reliability of data you feed it. The updates to supply management software are produced frequently, and I usually install them, as I feel I should use all of the opportunities the manufacturers of this product present, as it makes my job much easier. Every day on my working place presents me some new tasks and challenges, and I rarely do some routine work. Of course, there are some things I usually do, but there is not much of them. My typical day in the office may start from responding to the requests the market sector manager makes. For example, he may request me to present a report on savings achieved by the market sector, as he does once a month. Than I would devote my time to planning next steps of the project and having meetings with my project team. At the end of the working day I may organize a meeting with the suppliers and discuss their performance during the last year. Of course, there is more movement on the market before holidays, and I have more things to do and to plan. Christmas and New Year time are the busiest, as the amount of orders increases, and, of course, there are a lot of tasks to finish at the end of the fiscal year. The goods Kimberly Clark produces are in demand 365 days a year,

Public Health Nursing in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Assignment - 66

Public Health Nursing in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania - Assignment Example This, therefore, implies that chronic diseases and lack of access to quality treatment and prevention services are the key health concerns, in this county. For instance, the most recent research on community health, in Pennsylvania State, indicated that more than 60 percent of people who participated in this study cited several unmet needs such as access to dental care, oral health education, mental health education and treatment services, access to health care through support and insurance services, and nutrition education and counseling (Elliott, 2012). Delivery of quality health care services to people of Lancaster County is a significant duty of both the community itself and the available private and public health facilities. This paper, therefore, identifies and describes the problems facing public health nursing in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and provides appropriate solutions to these problems. Stanhope and Lancaster in their book, â€Å"Public Health Nursing†, provide some community health concepts such as community as a client, population-centered nursing in rural and urban environments and promoting health through communities and cities, and their significance in promoting quality healthcare delivery (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2012). The problems cited by Lancaster people are some of the significant health service needs, which are primarily community-based needs. Improving health care delivery, in this county, requires more health care attention than what is currently being implemented by the public health in Pennsylvania. Lancaster community health is primarily challenged by two factors, which include management of chronic diseases and access to personal health (Elliott, 2012). There are crucial disparities in health status and access by geography and race/ethnicity with central city’s residents while the rural population faces the greatest challenge. Many rur al dwellers are suffering from significant public health problems such as STDs, lead poisoning, and tuberculosis while not getting the attention or  resources required for understanding, preventing and treating these health problems.  

Marketing Mix Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Marketing Mix - Essay Example a.. Discussion on which elements of the marketing mix are still being promoted 5 b. Considerations for new developments 5 4. Conclusion 6 Annexes 8 List of references 12 . An analysis of the Pre launching strategy of Cotswold Water Park Introduction. Costswold Water Park Four Pillars Hotel located near Swindon was launched in 2007and had used integrated marketing strategies in pre-launching. Purpose of this research is to analyze if marketing approaches used by the hotel sustained the success of pre-launch a. Review of the marketing mix The hotel used high level plans related to the marketing mix. Chai, Lee , (May 2009) & MacArthy( 06 Sept 2011) consider the right mix of product, pricing, place and, promotion to be assured of a pre-launching success. It is likened to baking a cake wherein there is a right proportion to come out with a desirable product. b. Discussion of the pre-launch activities. Marketing Team Direct, 2011 of the hotel first considered the creation of positioning an d message statements about the hotel. Next, they applied a segmented approach wherein they set a clear target of customers to know their needs and motivations, and travel behavior in order to get an actionable picture of targeted customers. Third, they created activities to support the launch such as marketing and sales tools. Then, they had the partnership strategy wherein they sold the product thru their distribution channel. Next,   they ensured that product infrastructure is fully developed. They also prepared for the international travelers by designing a website. Last is the preparation for the hotel operational activities and coming up with a price system.(Marketing Team Direct, 2011) c. Objectives of the marketers. Objectives set are to be assured of a ready market or advanced bookings of travelers to maintain operations during first months of opening d .What pre-launch activities are evident? Pre-launch activities were selective promotions to target customers by creating brand awareness, research on prospect’s data, and securing advanced bookings. Marketing tools used were advertising, vehicle graphics and press releases, PR and creation of a company website (Marketing Team Direct, 2011) e. Which elements of the Marketing Mix are being focused on and which are missing? Price, place, product and promotion are the marketing mix used, but the people factor is missing. MacArthy believes people or personnel should be incorporated as an approach for service oriented business like Cotswold.. Their strategy lacked the feedback support. The hotel is a service industry, and much depends on the services it offers. The campaign fails to identify the service culture that indicates â€Å"customer satisfaction is the top priority and the hotel activity should demonstrate these business objectives of the customer’. (ITIL Service Culture definition) Bruce Goff (2005), a licensed interior designer for hotel industry, uses the theory of Maslow for hospi tality design that meets hierarchy of needs. On this, he speculates that hotels should be designed to meet the basic needs of travelers then afterwards respond to higher standards of customers needs. He related the bedding wars of Hilton, Marriot, and Westin Hotel and upgrading of small amenities like soaps, towels, shampoo that give customers satisfaction. Advanced Services Marketing (2008) said that there are service standards that should be

The Organization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Organization - Essay Example A focused supply chain strategy has enabled Tesco to strengthen its UK based business and expand it to new global markets. To achieve its purpose of expansion, Tesco heavily relies on comprehensive analysis of its supply chain data. Tesco's supply chain analysis processes have earned it a profit of millions of pounds by recognising various opportunities such as carrying out effective promotions and reducing waste (Sukati & Baharun, 2011). Customers. Customers are the jugular vein of a business enterprise. They are the most valuable asset of an organisation and Tesco is no exception in this regard. The core purpose of Tesco is to create value for its customers and earn their lifetime loyalty. The success of Tesco can rightly be attributed to its widely spread customers who have enabled it to emerge as a market leader of retail business. Satisfaction of customers directly leads to greater sales and profits; therefore, Tesco sticks to two major values when dealing with its customers. No -one tries harder for customers, and Treat people as we like to be treated. Tesco offers a wide range of products to cater the needs of its diverse customers. Although Tesco offers numerous cheap products, Tesco Finest products are a specialty of Tesco, available for its premium customers. Some of the well renowned Tesco brands are Cherokee, F&F and Healthy Living (Clark, 2013). Planning. The purchase request initiated by Tesco’s customers is followed by a production plan that is adopted by its planning department to manufacture a product according to the requirements mentioned by the customer. The planning department takes great pains to prepare a dynamic and vigorous plan utilizing all materials and resources to fulfill all requirements put forth by Tesco’s customers. Suppliers. Tesco has the opportunity to collaborate with thousands of suppliers around the globe who are experts in diverse aspects of business operations. To exchange knowledge with its supply chains a nd keep abreast of the rapidly changing needs of the supply chain industry, Tesco has set up an online Tesco Knowledge Hub to share best practices with its suppliers on an everyday basis (Malley & Palmer, 2010). Being a pioneer in delivering safe and responsibly sourced quality products through its retail stores, the sole purpose of Tesco is to create value for money and gain an everlasting loyalty of its customers. To achieve this goal, Tesco has nine sourcing offices around the world that enable it to source products from across 40 countries and collaborate with a large number of suppliers who are the major contributors in strengthening and materialising its core values. Tesco makes special arrangements for training courses and workshops of its suppliers. These training workshops are aimed at elaborating its standards, creating an awareness of ethical issues and establishing supplier confidence while dealing with all such issues in their respective countries and factories (Malley & Palmer, 2010). Warehousing and Distribution Centres. In Europe, North America and Asia alone, the number of stores is 5,380. It is the undisputed leader of the grocery market in the United Kingdom, where its market share is close to 30 percent. Warehousing and distribution

Politics and Society Essay Example for Free

Politics and Society Essay â€Å"There was an old bastard named Lenin Who did two or three million men in. Thats a lot to have done in But where he did one in That old bastard Stalin did ten in.† ― Robert Conquest[-0] According to the historian Robert Conquest, Joseph Stalin gives the impression of a large and crude claylike figure, a golem, into which a demonic spark has been instilled. He was nonetheless a man who perhaps more than any other determined the course of the twentieth century. Any adult inhabitant of this country, from a collective farmer up to a member of the Politburo, always knew that it would take only one careless word or gesture and he would fly off irrevocably into the abyss. (The Gulag Archipelago, vol. 2, p Fear by night, and a feverish effort by day to pretend enthusiasm for a system of lies, was the permanent condition. (Conquest, The Great Terror: A Reassessment, According to some reports, entire groups of men were taken in one swoop by the NKVD. Almost all the male inhabitants of the little Greek community where I lived [in the lower Ukraine] had been arrested, recalled one à ©migrà ©. Another reported that the NKVD took all males between the ages of seventeen and seventy from his village of German-Russians. In some stories, the police clearly knew they were arresting innocent people. For example, an order reportedly arrived in Tashkent to Send 200 [prisoners]! The local NKVD was at its wits end about who else to arrest, having exhausted all the obvious possibilities, until it learned that a band of gypsies (Romany) had just camped in town. Police surrounded them and charged every male from seventeen to sixty with sabotage. In the city of Zherinka, Ivan Ivanovich had his wife sew rubles [Soviet currency] into his coat because the NKVD was taking all the men in his town. (Thurston, Life and Terror in Stalins Russia, 1934-1941

Dark Tourism Within The Tourism Industry Tourism Essay

Dark Tourism Within The Tourism Industry Tourism Essay The topic of this essay will discuss dark tourism within the tourism industry and what motivates tourists to visit this place Introduction The aim of this essay is to discuss the relevance and appropriateness of different approaches of research in the researchers chosen subject area (dark tourism) and what motivates tourist or visitors to visit this place. There is different research method. In other words, the researcher will be using different approaches to evaluate and analyse them. In addition, the essay will discuss and critically evaluate the available resource in the subject area example by using qualitative research or quantitative research, primary and secondary research, inductive and deductive approach, positivist or phenomenological approach and ethnography. Furthermore, the researcher will justify why this approach has been taken this into consideration or chosen and not the other approaches. Firstly, the literature of this essay will define research, qualitative research, and quantitative research. Secondly, this essay will define dark tourism and validity. And finally, conclusion will be summarised. There are different definitions for research methods, quantitative research and qualitative research. According to Sekaran (1994, p. 4) quoted in Finn et al (2000, p.2) he defines research as a systematic and organised effort to investigate a specific problem that needs solution. Whilst Elias (1986, p.20) cited in Veal (2006, p. 2) argues it as The aim, as far as I can see, is the same in all science. Put simple and cursorily, the aim is to make known something previously unknown to human beings. It is to advance human knowledge, to make it more certain or better fitting The aim is discovery. Veal also Define quantitative approach as to research involves statistical analysis. It relies on numerical evidence to draw conclusions or to test hypotheses. To be sure of the reliability of the results it is often necessary to study relatively large numbers of people and to use computers to analyse the data. The data may be derived from questionnaire surveys, from observation involving counts, or from secondary sources. Adding to that, Veal also defines the qualitative approach as research is generally not concern with numbers. It involves gathering a great deal of information about a small number of people rather than a limited amount of information about large number of people. As the researcher said earlier, there are different definitions for quantitative and qualitative research, here are some other definitions form another author. Brent and Goeldner (2003, p, 487) define qualitative research as the foundation on which strong, reliable research programs are based. It is most often the first step in a research program the step designed to uncover motivation, reasons, impression, perception, and ideas that relevant individuals have about a subject of interests. Unlike more quantitative methods of research, qualitative research involves talking in depth and detail with few individuals. The goal is to develop extensive information from a few people. The author also defines quantitative as a type of research; the goal is to develop important-but limited- information from each individual and to talk with a sizable number of individuals in order to draw inferences about the population at large. The characteristic of qualitative research, on the other hand, inc ludes small samples, extensive information from each other respondent, and a search for meaning, ideas and relevant issues to quantify in later steps of the research program. Dark tourism is a different type of tourist attraction. It is the act of travel and visitation to sites of death, disaster and the seemingly macabre. Tourists flock to experience sites of past terror that offer up grim and disturbing tragedies (www.citypaper). Howie (2003, p. 325) argues that dark tourism can be define as a term coined by Lennon and Foley(2000) for tourism motivated by a desire to visit places associated with death and catastrophe such as famous assassination sites, for example where president Kennedy was shot in Dallas, Texas, or the concentration camps in Europe and Holocaust memorial in Israel. Dark tourism has been very important because is the time people remember their loves ones who has been dead through war. Tourist or visitors intend to visit the darker side of tourism from all over the world and for different reasons for example because of curiosity and maybe something they have heard before. Dark tourism includes some of the most famous places in the world to visit. It is obvious that most tourists travel because they are very interested in seeing the dark side of tourism such as the death and disaster which occurred in countries such as country France, Belgium and Germany where soldiers died in the wars. This dark tourism issue has caused a lot of discussion as to why people do this in among academics. Research in the field of dark tourism has not been very important until the early nineteen seventies; it began to spread only since that time. Marketing research is a broad concept including various techniques, but a main distinction should be made between quantitative and qualitative research methods. As said early Quantitative techniques describe variables by assigning a number representing an attitude, opinion or motivation- which can be statistically analysed. In contrast, qualitative research focuses on attitudes, opinions and motivations in the words of each respondent, but without quantifying it. Quantitative methods have always dominated in tourism, as it often appears as more reliable, since it is based on facts that can be observed, and then analysed. This paper will focus on the quantitative correlation study method used in survey based researches. Social research is a collection of methods people use to systematically combine theories and ideas to produce knowledge. Because of its complexity, researchers must be able to carefully select a method or methods that will best suit their study objectives. Quantitative research methods consist of: experiment, content analysis, existing statistics (correlation), and survey. The correlation and survey will be the two main methods that will be emphasized. In a survey research, people are asked questions either through the use of questionnaires or during an interview. Unlike the experiment approach, the condition and situation in a survey requires no manipulation. All the subjects have to do is to answer questions. Good quantitative research is determined by validity and reliability of the research method used. Quantitative research is a technique for comparing relationship between time, weight, size and performance. The purpose of quantitative market research is to have an increased understanding of the product First Fruit. This research is numerically oriented and requires attention of consumers as well. For example an insurance company may ask its customers to rate its overall service as excellent, good, poor, very poor. Quantitative data consist of numbers representing counts or measurements (e.g., height, weights, salaries, etc.). Quantitative data can be further divided into discrete data or continuous data. Discrete data result from either a finite number of possible values or a countable number of possible values. Continuous data result from infinitely many possible values that can be associated with points on a continuous scale in such a way that there are no gaps are interruptions. However, qualitative techniques have become to be more commonly used for the last decade. Each technique has obviously specific advantages and drawbacks; that is why it is necessary to examine both in different contexts, especially in tourism research. As Alf H. Walle reported in his report called Quantitative versus Qualitative Research in Tourism, plurality of equally valid research strategies exist within tourism. Choice must be thus determined according to the situation in which the research takes place. Grounded Theory is still very relevant today as it is the main form of rigorous and rule-governed qualitative methods. Even if it attempts to maintain positivist rigor, a high degree of Modernism can be reached through this technique. As both quantitative and qualitative research methods have advantages and drawbacks. To evaluate this problem and overcome the limitations, the principal solution appears to be the use of both methods in the same time, according to the situation. As Miller and Crabtree pointed out, different levels of intensity can be reached in tourism research, this intensity being defined as the degree to which qualitative methods are associated with quantitative methods. The canonical correlation analysis is based on the same principle, but it uses multiple dependent variables, thus enlarging the scope of research. However, both methods have the same limitations: omitted variables may be correlated with existing ones, and the environmental conditions are likely to change. On the other hand, factor analysis and collecting analysis are two other important quantitative techniques that can be useful for tourism research methods. Factor analysiss goal is to identify the underlying dimension in data and to reduce the number of variables by eliminating redundancy. Validity also helps produce the desire result the researcher is looking for. Validity can define as the extent to which the information collected by the researcher truly reflects the phenomenon being studied veal (2006, p.41). In tourism research there are different approaches targeting the audience when researching. The primary sources of these methods have largely come from sociology and anthrop ology. Since that time, qualitative techniques have developed, but the sharpest rise in qualitative publications has really occurred in the nineteen eighties, the main reason for that being that figures cant explain all the situations, especially in a field such as tourism. Besides, decision behaviours are always depending on two main elements that should not be forgotten: firstly, task factors include the number of alternative and attributes, time pressure, response mode and information format. Secondly, Context factors refer to the similarity of the options in a choice, the quality of the choice set, as well as reference points and framing. This report also considers qualitative techniques as inadequate because of the extra time, effort and skill required; besides the model tested may in this case be incompletely or inadequately specified. Most researchers use different approaches of researching as has been said before, for example a focus group. Using a focus group also help analyse what the research is about and also gives broad ideas of another audience. Additionally, it also helps identify what people want and love to do in a tourism organisation. Researchers conduct focus group so that they can know the perception of their opinion, attitude or be haviours towards something. Focus group is a unique method of qualitative research in discussing issues with group of people. According to lia (2003, p.1) a focus group is defined as a small structured group with selected participant, normally led by a moderator. They are set up in other groups to explore specific topic, and individual views and experiences through group interaction a focus group is intended to be a collection of data from audience and also having individual interviews for example face to face interviews. On the other hand, a focus group has a limitation of analysing a topic. A Focus group can very be difficult in terms of gathering all the information taken from a target audience. As Monique (2007, p. 10) argues that despite popular belief, focus group research is not a cheap and quick exercise; it requires a great of preparation, organisation, and time to collect, manage and analyse and the data. The sample size is usually small, and there is a large use of non-pr obability sampling methods, meaning that results cant be generalized to the whole population, they are just reliable for the sample concerned. Descriptive methods summarize some aspects of the environment, they only describe but without looking for the cause and effect of relationships. Surveys with questionnaires are the main way to collect data, they can be achieved face-to-face or by indirect means such as mail, phone, fax or the Internet. This usually takes a long time, but a large sample can be used easily. Finally, causal research establishes a cause-effect link between variables. In each case, the main strength of projective techniques is that respondents are more willing to give answers that they wouldnt have given if they knew the purpose of the study, especially when the subject is personal or difficult. Whats more, it can reveal motivations or attitudes at a subconscious level. Yet, these methods require highly trained interviewers and skilled interpreters, as they are open ended techniques that can thus be difficult to interpret. Finally, other qualitative methods can be used to explain the reasons and motivations underlying in peoples decisions. Moreover, there are different ways of research in terms of academic working. Researcher mostly use the following ways, referencing usually when we paraphrase or summarize someone else opinion. Books, journals, video, personal interview, emails and many more are some of the sources that researchers use. Qualitative research can be used to enhance quantitative work. Finally, in qualitative research it can lead to theological sampling. As quoted from (Manson 1996:93-4) in Long (2007, p.42) said, theoretical sampling means selecting groups or categories to study on the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦basis of their relevance to your question , your theoretical positionà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦and most importantly the explanation or account which you are developingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦[using] criteria which help to develop and test your theory and explanation. The researcher is going to identify some side effect or complication of secondary research. According to veal (2006, p.148) he argues that are advantage and disadv antage of using secondary data to analyse research. Some of the advantages can be, timing- data maybe instantly available, cost of collecting new data avoided and disadvantages can be secondary data that has been designed for another purpose so it may be not be ideal for the current project. A clear link with this essay summarise up the importance of why visitors or tourist visit the darker side of tourism. It has now become clear that, tourists have their own interest and what motivates them to visit this place which there is no doubt for that. Additionally, the researcher focuses on different approaches of research and picked one approach to research the dark tourism.

Experiment for Plant Recognition

Experiment for Plant Recognition Abstract In classical sparse representation based classification (SRC) and weighted SRC (WSRC) algorithms, the test samples are sparely represented by all training samples. They emphasize the sparsity of the coding coefficients but without considering the local structure of the input data. Although the more training samples, the better the sparse representation, it is time consuming to find a global sparse representation for the test sample on the large-scale database. To overcome the shortcoming, aiming at the difficult problem of plant leaf recognition on the large-scale database, a two-stage local similarity based classification learning (LSCL) method is proposed by combining local mean-based classification (LMC) method and local WSRC (LWSRC). In the first stage, LMC is applied to coarsely classifying the test sample. k nearest neighbors of the test sample, as a neighbor subset, is selected from each training class, then the local geometric center of each class is calculated. S candidate n eighbor subsets of the test sample are determined with the first S smallest distances between the test sample and each local geometric center. In the second stage, LWSRC is proposed to approximately represent the test sample through a linear weighted sum of all kÃÆ'-S samples of the S candidate neighbor subsets. The rationale of the proposed method is as follows: (1) the first stage aims to eliminate the training samples that are far from the test sample and assume that these samples have no effects on the ultimate classification decision, then select the candidate neighbor subsets of the test sample. Thus the classification problem becomes simple with fewer subsets; (2) the second stage pays more attention to those training samples of the candidate neighbor subsets in weighted representing the test sample. This is helpful to accurately represent the test sample. Experimental results on the leaf image database demonstrate that the proposed method not only has a high accuracy and lo w time cost, but also can be clearly interpreted. Keywords: Local similarity-based-classification learning (LSCL); Local mean-based classification method (LMC); Weighted sparse representation based classification (WSRC); Local WSRC (LWSRC); Two-stage LSCL. 1. Introduction Similarity-based-classification learning (SCL) methods make use of the pair-wise similarities or dissimilarities between a test sample and each training sample to design the classification problem. K-nearest neighbor (K-NN) is a non-parametric, simple, attractive, relatively mature pattern SCL method, and is easy to be quickly achieved [1,2]. It has been widely applied to many applications, including computer vision, pattern recognition and machine learning [3,4]. Its basic processes are: calculating the distance (as dissimilarity or similarity) between the test sample y and each training sample, selecting k samples with k minimum distances as the nearest k neighbors of y, finally determining the category of y that most of the nearest k neighbors belong to. In weighted K-NN, it is useful to assign weight to the contributions of the neighbors, so that the nearer neighbors contribute more to the classification method than the more dissimilarity ones. One of the disadvantages of K-NN is that, when the distribution of the training set is uneven, K-NN may cause misjudgment, because K-NN only cares the order of the first k nearest neighbor samples but does not consider the sample density. Moreover, the performance of K-NN is seriously influenced by the existing outliers and noise samples. To overcome these problems, a number of local SCL (LSCL) methods have been proposed recently. The local mean-based nonparametric classifier (LMC) is said to be an improved K-NN, which can resist the noise influences and classify the unbalanced data [5,6]. Its main idea is to calculate the local mean-based vector of each class as the nearest k neighbor of the test sample, and the test sample can be classified into the category that the nearest local mean-based vector belongs to. One disadvantage of LMC is that it cannot well represent the similarity between multidimensional vectors. To improve the performance of LMC, Mitani et al. [5] proposed a reliable local mean-based K-NN algorit hm (LMKNN), which employs the local mean vector of each class to classify the test sample. LMKNN has been already successfully applied to the group-based classification, discriminant analysis and distance metric learning. Zhang et al. [6] further improved the performance of LMC by utilizing the cosine distance instead of Euclidean distance to select the k nearest neighbors. It is proved to be better suitable for the classification of multidimensional data. Above SCL, LMC and LSCL algorithms are often not effective when the data patterns of different classes overlap in the regions in feature space. Recently, sparse representation based classification (SRC) [8], a SCL modified manner, has attracted much attention in various areas. It can achieve better classification performance than other typical clustering and classification methods such as SCL, LSCL, linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and principal component analysis (PCA) [7] in some cases. In SRC [9], a test image is encoded over the original training set with sparse constraint imposed on the encoding vector. The training set acts as a dictionary to linearly represent the test samples. SRC emphasizes the sparsity of the coding coefficients but without considering the local structure of the input data [10,11]. However, the local structure of the data is proven to be important for the classification tasks. To make use of the local structure of the data, some weighted SRC (WSRC) and lo cal SCR (LSRC) algorithms have been proposed. Guo et al. [12] proposed a similarity WSRC algorithm, in which, the similarity matrix between the test samples and the training samples can be constructed by various distance or similarity measurements. Lu et al. [13] proposed a WSRC algorithm to represent the test sample by exploiting the weighted training samples based on l1-norm. Li et al. [14] proposed a LSRC algorithm to perform the sparse decomposition in local neighborhood. In LSRC, instead of solving the l1-norm constrained least square problem for all of training samples, they solved a similar problem in the local neighborhood of each test sample. SRC, WSRC, similarity WSRC and LSRChave something in common, such as, the individual sparsity and local similarity between the test sample and the training samples are considered to ensure that the neighbor coding vectors are similar to each other if they have strong correlation, and the weighted matrix is constructed by incorporating the similarity information, the similarity weighted l1-norm minimization problem is constructed and solved, and the obtained coding coefficients tend to be local and robust. Leaf based plant species recognition is one of the most important branches in pattern recognition and artificial intelligence [15-18]. It is useful for agricultural producers, botanists, industrialists, food engineers and physicians, but it is a NP-hard problem and a challenging research [19-21], because plant leaves are quite irregular, it is difficult to accurately describe their shapes compared with the industrial work pieces, and some between-species leaves are different from each other, as shown in Fig1.A and B, while within-species leaves are similar to each other, as shown in Fig.1C [22]. test sample training 1 training 2 training 3 training 4 training 5 training 6 training 7 (A) Four different species leaves (B) Four different species leaves (C) Ten same species leaves Fig.1 plant leaf examples SRC can be applied to leaf based plant species recognition [23,24]. In theory, in SRC and modified SRC, it is well to sparsely represent the test sample by too many training samples. In practice, however, it is time consuming to find a global sparse representation on the large-scale leaf image database, because leaf images are quite complex than face images. To overcome this problem, in the paper, motivated by the recent progress and success in LMC [6], modified SRC [12-14], two-stage SR [25] and SR based coarse-to-fine face recognition [26], by creatively integrating LMC and WSRC into the leaf classification, a novel plant recognition method is proposed and verified on the large-scale dataset. Different from the classical plant classification methods and the modified SRC algorithms, in the proposed method, the plant species recognition is implemented through a coarse recognition process and a fine recognition process. The major contributions of the proposed method are (1) a two-stage plant species recognition method, for the first time, is proposed; (2) a local WSRC algorithm is proposed to sparsely represent the test sample; (3) the experimental results indicate that the proposed method is very competitive in plant species recognition on large-scale database. The remainder of this paper is arranged as follows: in Section 2, we briefly review LMC, SRC and WSRC. In Section 3, we describe the proposed method and provide some rationale and interpretation. Section 4 presents experimental results. Section 5 offers conclusion and future work. 2. Related works In this section, some related works are introduced. Suppose n training samples,, from different classes {X1, X2,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦,XC}. is the sample number of the ith class, then. 2.1 LMC Local mean-based nonparametric classification (LMC) is an improved K-NN method [6]. It uses Euclidean distance or cosine distance to select nearest neighbors and measure the similarity between the test sample and its neighbors. In general, the cosine distance is more suitable to describe the similarity of the multi-dimensional data. LMC is described as follows, for each test sample y, Step 1: Select k nearest neighbors of y from the jth class, as a neighbor subset represented by; Step 2: Calculate the local mean-based vector for each classby, (1) Step 3: Calculate the distance between y and. Step 4: if Euclidean distance metric is adopted; while if cosine distance metric is adopted. 2.2 SRC SRC relies on a distance metric to penalize the dissimilar samples and award the similar samples. Its main idea is to sparsely represent and classify the test sample by a linear combination of all the training samples. The test sample is assigned into the class that produces the minimum residue. SRC is described as follows, Input: n training samples, a test sample. Output: the class label of y. Step 1: Construct the dictionary matrixby n training samples. Each column of A is a training sample called basis vector or atom. Normalize each column of A to unit l2-norm. A is required to be unit l2-norm (or bounded norm) in order to avoid the trivial solutions that are due to the ambiguity of the linear reconstruction. Step 2: Construct and solve an l1-norm minimization problem, (2) where x is called as spare representation coefficients of y. Eq. (2) can be usually approximate by an l1-norm minimization problem, (3) whereis the threshold of the residue. Eq.(3) can be generalized as a constrained least square problem, (4) where ÃŽÂ »>0 is a scalar regularization parameter which balances the tradeoff between the sparsity of the solution and the reconstruction error. Eq.(4) is a constrained LASSO problem, its detail solution is found in Ref. [27]. Step 3: Compute residue, whereis the characteristic function that selects the coefficients associated with the ith class; Step 4: the class label of, y, is identified as. 2.3 WSRC WSRC integrates both sparsity and locality structure of the data to further improve the classification performance of SRC. It aims to impose larger weight to the training samples that are farer from the test sample. Different from SRC, WSRC solves a weighted l1-norm minimization problem, (5) where W is a diagonal weighted matrix, and its diagonal elements are. Eq.(5) makes sure that the coding coefficients of WSRC tend to be not only sparse but also local in linear representation [13], which can represent the test sample more robustly. 2.4 LSRC Though a lot of instances have been reported that WSRC performs better than SRC in various classification problems, WSRC forms the dictionary by using all the training samples, thus the size of the generated dictionary may be large, which will make adverse effect to solving the l1-norm minimization problem. To overcome this drawback, a local sparse representation based classification (LSRC) is proposed to perform sparse decomposition in a local manner. In LSRC, K-NN criterion is exploited to find the nearest k neighbors for the test samples, and the selected samples are utilized to construct the over-complete dictionary. Different from SRC, LSRC solves a weighted l1 minimization problem, (6) wherestands for data matrix which consists of the k nearest neighbors of y. Compared with the original SRC and WSRC, although the computational cost of LSRC will be saved remarkably when, LSRC does not assign different weight to the different training samples. 3. Two-stage LSCL From the above analysis, it is found that each of LMC, WSRC and LSRC has its advantages and disadvantages. To overcome the difficult problem of plant recognition on the large-scale leaf image database, a two-stage LSCL leaf recognition method is proposed in the section. It is a sparse decomposition problem in a local manner to obtain an approximate solution. Compared with WSRC and LSRC, LSCL solves a weighted l1-norm constrain least square problem in the candidate local neighborhoods of each test sample, instead of solving the same problem for all the training samples. Suppose there are a test sampleand n training samples from C classes, andis the sample number of ith class,is jth sample of the ith class. Each sample is assumed to be a one-dimensional column vector. The proposed method is described in detail as follows. 3.1 First stage of LSCL Calculate the Euclidean distancebetween y and, and select k nearest neighbors of y fromwith the first k smallest distances, the selected neighbor subset noted as, . Calculate the average of, (7) Calculate the Euclidean distancebetween y and. From C neighbor subsets, selectneighbor subsets with the firstsmallest distancesas the candidate subsets for the test sample, in simple terms, denoted as. The training samples fromare reserved as the candidate training samples for the test sample, and the other training samples are eliminated from the training set. 3.2 Second step of LSCL From the first stage, it is noted that there aretraining samples from all the candidate subsets. For simplify, we just as well express the jth training sample ofis. The second stage first represents the test sample as a linear combination of all the training samples of, and then exploits this linear combination to classify the test sample. From the first stage, we have obtained the Euclidean distancebetween y and each candidate sample. By, a new local WSRC is proposed to solve the same weighted l1-norm minimization problem as Eq.(5), (8) where is the dictionary constructed bytraining samples of,is the weighted diagonal matrix, is the Euclidean distance between y and. In Eq.(8), the weighted matrix is a locality adaptor to penalize the distance between y and. In the above SRC, WSRC, LSRC and LSCL, the l1à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢norm constraint least square minimization problem is solved by the approach proposed in [28], which is a specialized interior-point method for solving the large scale problem. The solution of Eq.(8) can be expressed as (9) From Eq.(9), is expressed as the sparse representation of the test sample. In representing the test sample, the sum of the contribution of the ith candidate neighbor subset is calculated by (10) whereis the jth sparse coefficient corresponding to the ith candidate nearest neighbor subset. Then we calculate the residue of the ith candidate neighbor subset corresponding to test sample y, (11) In Eq.(11), for the ith class (), a smalleraverages the greater contribution to representing y. Thus, y is finally classified into the class that produces the smallest residue. 3.3 Summary of two-stage LSCL From the above analysis, the main steps of the proposed method are summarized as follows. Suppose n training samples from Cdifferent classes, a test sample y, the number k of the nearest neighbors of y, the number S of the candidate neighbor subsets. Step 1. Compute the Euclidean distance between the test sample y and every training sample, respectively. Step 2. Through K-NN rules, find k nearest neighbors from each training class as the neighbor subset for y, calculate the neighbor average of the neighbor subset of each class, and calculate the distance between y and the neighbor average. Step 3. Determine S neighbor subsets with the first S smallest distances, as the candidate neighbor subsets for y. Step 4. Construct the dictionary by all training samples of the S candidate neighbor subsets and then construct the weighted l1-norm minimization optimization problem as Eq.(8). Step 5. Solve Eq.(8) and obtain the sparse coefficients. Step 6. For each candidate neighbor subset, compute the residue between yand its estimationby Eq.(11). Step 7. Identify the class labelthat has the minimum ultimate residue and classify y into this class. 3.4 Rationale and interpretation of LSCL In practical, some between-species leaves are very different from the other leaves, as shown in Fig.1A. They can be easily classified by the Euclidean distances between the leaf digital image matrices. However, some between-species leaves are very similar to each other, as shown in Fig.1B. They cannot be easily classified by some simple classification methods. In Figs.1A and B, suppose the first leaf is the test sample, while other seven leaves are training samples. It is difficult to identify the label of the test leaf by the simple classification method, because the test leaf is very similar to Nos. 4,5,6 and 7 in Fig.1B. However, it is sure that the test sample is not Nos.1, 2 and 3. So, we can naturally firstly exclude these three leaves. This exclusion method example is the purpose of the first stage of LSCL. From Fig.1C, it is found that there is large difference between the leaves of the same species. Therefore, in plant recognition, an optimal scheme is to select some trainin g samples that are relatively similar to the test sample as the candidate training samples, such as Nos. 2 and 9 in Fig.1C are similar to the test sample in Fig.1C, instead of considering all training samples. The average neighbor distance is used to coarsely recognize the test sample. The average neighbor distance as dissimilarity is more effective and robust than the original distance between the test and each training leaf, especially in the case of existing noise and outliers. From the above analysis, in the first stage of LSCL, it is reasonable to assume that the leaf close to the test sample has great effect, on the contrary, if a leaf is far enough from the test sample it will have little effect and even have side-effect on the classification decision of the test sample. These leaves should be discarded firstly, and then the later plant recognition task will be clear and simple. In the same way, we can use the similarity between the test sample and the average of its nearest neighbors to select some neighbor subsets as the candidate training subsets of the test sample. If we do so, we can eliminate the side-effect on the classification decision of the neighbor subset that is far from the test sample. Usually, for the classification problem, the more the classes, the lower the classification accuracy, so the first stage is very useful. In the second stage of LSCL, there are S nearest neighbor subsets as candidate class labels of the test sample, thus it is indeed faced with a problem simpler than the original classification problem, becauseand, i.e., few training samples are reserved to match the test sample. Thus, the computational cost is mostly reduced and the recognition rate will be improved greatly. We analyze the computational cost of LSCL in theory as follows. There are n samples from C classes, and every sample is an mÃÆ'-1 column vector, the first stage need to calculate the Euclidean distance, select k nearest neighbors from each class, and calculate the average of the k nearest neighbors, then the computational cost is about. In second stage, there aretraining samples to construct the dictionary A, the cost ofis, the cost ofis, and the cost ofis. The second stage has computational cost of+. The computational cost of LSCL is ++in total. The computational cost of the classical SRC algorithm is[8,9]. Compared with SRC, it is found that the computational cost of LSCL will be saved remarkably when. 4. Experiments and result analysis In this section, the proposed method is validated on a plant species leaf database and compared with the state-of-the-art methods. 4.1 Leaf image data and experiment preparation To validate the proposed method, we apply it to the leaf classification task using the ICL dataset. All leaf images of the dataset were collected at the Botanical Garden of Hefei, Anhui Province of China by Intelligent Computing Laboratory (ICL), Chinese Academy of Sciences. The ICL dataset contains 6000 plant leaf images from 200 species, in which each class has 30 leaf images. Some examples are shown in Fig.2. In the database, some leaves could be distinguished easily, such as the first 6 leaves in Fig.2A, while some leaves could be distinguished difficultly, such as the last 6 leaves in Fig.2A. We verify the proposed method by two situations, (1) two-fold cross validation, i.e., 15 leaf images of each class are randomly selected for training, and the rest 15 samples are used for testing; (2) leave-one-out cross validation, i.e., one of each class are randomly selected for testing and the rest 29 leaf images per class are used for training. (A) Original leaf images (B) Gray-scale images (C) Binary texture images Fig.2 Samples of different species from ICL database

“Sonny’s Blues “ - Follow Your Dreams Essay -- Literature Review

The story â€Å"Sonny’s Blues â€Å"is about two brothers that deal with racism. In dealing with their issues they both suffer and survive in their family and community. Their stories are a strong impact on their character and how they deal with their pain. Sonny chooses a more damaging means of racism, such as drug addiction to heroin; although, he does find a better choice music! The older brother, the narrator, James Baldwin, goes to college to become a teacher, and give back to his community in Harlem. The narrator rises above the suffering and difficulties of trying to fit into the white society. Sonny and the narrator find different means in dealing with their racism.Eventhough, both brothers take different routes in their lives, and they feel at the end be true to yourself, Follow your Dreams! Sonny tries to escape racism with his music, but his brother feels he needs a better means in providing for himself (99).He tries to get his point across to James ‘he replies that there’s no way not to suffer isn’t better than just to take it. (105) Sonny searches to find ways versus using drugs; he even goes into the service. He struggles with his suffering difficulties, and tries to escape from the ghetto, but drugs seem to be how he fits in his troubled society, so he becomes one of the society. His realistic method to his pain and suffering is dealing and using heroin; therefore, he ends up in jail. During his incarceration he begins working on his music, so when he gets out he has a career. During the time in prison, blues seems to be the music he can relate to, and it helps with his pain and suffering. Sonny realizes that music has a much better impact of his life versus his heroin addiction.Music has alwa... ...the civil rights movement. This story has different aspects of the brothers’ lives and how they chose to cope with racism. The story also tells us how both brothers resolve their racism issues and have a relationship again. Sonny struggles in the beginning with his racism, he quits school, joins the service, gets mixed up with drugs, spends time in prison, and then finally he finds his outlet with music. He feels blues represent common black American ways in their suffering and the problems they have in the white society. Unlike Sonny though, James takes a quieter way to live in a racist world and that was his teaching. Music is what finally brings the brothers closer together, and helps them cope with racism during that period. Both brothers feel no matter what struggles we endure though life, always be true to yourself and follow your dreams. Word Count: 1009

Courts Essays -- essays research papers

The jurisdiction of the federal courts is defined in Article III, Section 2, of the Constitution, as extending in law and equity to all cases arising under the Constitution and federal legislation; to controversies to which the U.S. shall be a party, including those arising from treaties with other governments; to admiralty and maritime cases; to controversies between states; to controversies between a state, or its citizens, and foreign governments or their subjects; and to controversies between the citizens of one state and citizens of another state. The federal courts were also originally invested with jurisdiction over controversies between citizens of one state and the government of another state; the 11th Amendment (ratified February 7, 1795), however, removed from federal jurisdiction those cases in which the citizens of one state were plaintiffs and the government of another state was the defendant. The amendment did not disturb the jurisdiction of the federal courts in case s in which a state government is a plaintiff and a citizen of another state, the defendant. Federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction in patent and copyright cases; and by congressional enactment in 1898, federal courts were vested with original jurisdiction in bankruptcy cases. The courts established under the powers granted by Article III, Sections 1 and 2, of the Constitution are known as constitutional courts. Judges of constitutional courts are appointed for life by the president with the approval of the Senate. These courts are the district courts, tribunals of general original jurisdiction; the courts of appeals (before 1948, circuit courts of appeals), exercising appellate jurisdiction over the district courts; and the Supreme Court.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A district court functions in each of the more than 90 federal judicial districts and in the District of Columbia. A court of appeals functions in each of the 11 federal judicial circuits and in the District of Columbia; there is also a more specialized court with nationwide jurisdiction known as the court of appeals for the federal circuit. The federal district court and the court of appeals of the District of Columbia perform functions discharged in the states by state courts. All lower federal cour ts operate under uniform rules of procedure promulgated by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is the highest ap... ...tes, the same courts of original jurisdiction deal with both civil and criminal cases; these courts usually have two levels, one handling misdemeanors and civil claims under $5000, the other handling felonies and civil claims over $5000. Between the lower courts and the supreme appellate courts, in a number of states, are intermediate appellate courts which, like the federal courts of appeals, provide speedier justice for litigants by disposing of a large number of cases that otherwise would be added to the overcrowded calendars of the higher courts. Courts of last resort, the highest appellate tribunals of the states in criminal and civil cases and in law and equity, are generally called supreme courts. In New York state, however, the Supreme Court is a trial court; the highest appellate court of New York, as well as of Maryland, is called the Court of Appeals. The state court systems also include a number of minor courts with limited jurisdiction. These courts dispose of minor offenses and relatively small civil actions. Included in this classification are police and municipal courts in cities and larger towns and the courts presided over by justices of the peace in rural areas.

Review of Douglas E. Winter’s Thrilling Novel, Run Essay -- Run

Review of Douglas E. Winter’s Thrilling Novel, Run If you’re in the market for a good thriller, the kind that you don’t put down, the kind that releases its grip on you once it’s through, look no further. Run grabbed my attention with its opening sentence and I found myself slipping into that helpless, blissful state of complete submission to the book, confident I was in the hands of a master storyteller. I chose to review this book primarily because none of my friends had heard of it, despite its New York Times-bestseller status and cover, which is decorated with blurbs from literary illuminati as they gasp for superlatives in attempts to describe the story’s pace, which is breathless, to be sure. This is Winter’s debut novel (having previously collaborated with Clive Barker), and we are in the presence of an exciting new talent. The novel is told from the first-person perspective of Burdon Lane, an arms dealer of the less-than-legal variety, who finds himself in a classic noir predicament where the only person he can trust is himself, and only then ...

Leaving Belfast

Focused on a conflictive time for Belfast, Andrew Motion tries to express the devastation that Belfast suffered during the economy's decline years and the influence that the political issues had in the society. The narrators sadness for having to leave his beloved city can be felt all over the poem. The poem was published at a very difficult time for Belfast. Conflicts and violence were present in all the streets.On the one hand, manufacturing industries were on a cline and economy was in its worst situation; on the other hand, the city was divided in two parts: the Catholics and the Protestants. The poem introduced us two people going to the airport. One of them has decided to stay In the city, but the other wants to leave It. On the way to the airport, the narrator looks back from the top of the hills of the road and feels nostalgia for leaving the city behind. The author uses lots of descriptions which are representative of the sadness of the narrator, but also of the image that t he city had acquired.As the narrator states, he doesn't leave Belfast because of fear, although the violence of the bombs could make him feel scared; he leave it because he feels like a stranger in his own city and because the political issues are having a tremendous impact in the habitants of the city. In the last part of the poem, the narrators explains what is the thing most annoying for him. His beloved city doesn't seem to be on the way of the change so, unfortunately, he has to leave from Belfast and let it behind. Leaving Belfast Is a 7 stanzas poem consisted of 4 lines In each stanza, what we call a quatrain.The feet analyzed In the poem don't seem to have any relation between them, but we could say that although the position of the stressed syllable doesn't seem to have any concordance, most of them are what we call Rising feet, because in most of the occasions the unstressed syllables happen to appear before the stressed one and not the other way. The poem is a free verse poem; it doesn't respect any regular rhyme scheme as it is written in a narrative way, using the narrative techniques that were widespread in the 20th century, trying to reflect his feelings by he words of a narrator.The first stanza introduces us the main characters, the one staying in Belfast and the one leaving. In the second and the third stanza the narrator, the one staying, tell us about the way they have done leaving Belfast, how he feels doing it and what he see while he Is moving away. In the next stanzas, the narrator builds up a strong feel of devastation referral to Belfast. He shows us a society which Is In decline and under a world of violence. Finally, in the last stanzas, he expresses his feelings in this tuition, feeling like a stranger, and goes ahead with his decision to leave the city.The poem, which at first sight doesn't seem to be very complex, hides lots of stylistic devices that should be mentioned. The devices that appear more regularly are the figurative o nes, which explain something but in an inordinate way. The biggest example could be what we call Imagery. The test is very rich in images of Belfast, as the narrator helps the reader to visualize the way Belfast is decaying and how it is not more a sweet home for him. This can be perceived all along in the poem because he entire poem is highly representative of the Belfast society.There are other type of devices such as Paradox, on the first line of the third stanza, â€Å"geographies of punishment and love†; Personifications, third stanza â€Å"silence deepens under rain† or fifth stanza â€Å"the moon filling rooms with shadow politics†; or also Metaphors, third stanza â€Å"gust of light explains itself as flames† referring to the suns flashes, which are so heavy as flames, or in the last stanza â€Å"until it disappears at last in darkness†¦ † Referring to his Journey, that he has already left Belfast behind.The sound techniques, on the ot her hand, are not so clear. The most representative one could be the use of the stressed words made by the author, which immerse the reader in the Belfast atmosphere. The poem reflects the dramatic situation Belfast was suffering in those days where violence was common in the whole town. The poem has been created by the strong emotions Andrew Motion felt for his country and hometown, because the authors own feelings of the topic are represented everywhere. Those many details allow us to picture the Belfast scene.

Contemporary Managment – Vodafone

Linking the HRS objectives with the business strategy demonstrates the fast paced nature of the industry and the relationship between human capital and strategy. Issues in Commission and Bonuses ( Rewards Benefits) Paul Cheroots HRS Director of Avoidance commented that Avoidance ‘saw flexible working hours, part time and home working as an imperative aspect of Job requirements for staff. He acknowledged that they would also still be looking for commitment and productivity likewise. Policies that were promoting flexible working and reasonable work life balances ‘used to be nice to have, now they are a must.Its become a core demand from candidates. Carination (2005) According to CHIP such working patterns are still in high demand today. Training is performed a TA residential Recommendations for the HARM issues that Avoidance face: Using something other than redundancy to save money – clear impact on motivation and morale. Suggest other ways. Accommodating for changes in External Environment with in the workforce such as the need for flexible working. Get stats from IONS Avoidance have 8 Losing the staff to better paid industries such as banking and estate agency.Good sales people or often required in Re ; Specialist agencies for each sector of business Recruiting in a Recession http://www. Personality. Com/articles/2009/01116/4901 Wrecking-in-a- recession. HTML Module phone retailer boatmen NAS 1 K employees Dates at Its nonstarters in Newbury, Berkshire, a number of regional contact centers, and about 350 retail stores. It recruits about 3,000 staff into new positions each year – 2,000 from external candidates, and 1,000 internally. The disciplines covered include customer services, retail, technology, marketing, finance and HRS.The economic climate means that looking for value for money is more crucial than ever in all areas of business, but resounding operations manager Anna Tompkins says that establishing best-value, cutting-edge qua lity recruitment processes has always been essential in this competitive market. â€Å"We are always looking at ways to be more effective in how we recruit,† she says. â€Å"We have to be focused and deliver what is needed to support the business strategy. This may mean delivering things in a different way to before.Avoidance partners with three firms for recruitment process outsourcing, each of which manages a different aspect of its recruitment process. Alexander Mann Solutions manages specialist and head office roles Adduce handles retail adviser roles and Reed manages recruiting customer service advisers. All have been working with Avoidance for the past four years. This has improved the effectiveness of Avoidance's recruitment systems, says Tompkins, and the company has an ongoing improvement programmer designed to encourage partners to deliver the best possible experience for the candidate during the process.Working with resounding partners helps us take stock of what opportunities there are to do things more efficiently,† she says. â€Å"For instance, each partner provides regular activity information and suggests improvements to the process and experience. â€Å"Last year, we found we were running a number of assessment centers for roles where we felt this was not the most appropriate approach. By developing and implementing interview skills training for line managers, we were able to give them more confidence to participate in the right type of assessment at the right time.It also helped streamline our approach and improve the candidate experience. † The company is also using input from external recruitment specialists to help improve the experience of candidates applying for Jobs, and to hone the recruitment skills of line managers. â€Å"We are careful not to expect line managers to accommodate too many changes at once and we plan our calendar of improvements around what the business is doing overall,† says Tompkins. She believes that while the perspective of external specialists is useful, any findings should be fed back to staff if they are to have an impact.For example, nine managers were involved at every stage in a recent initiative to improve their interview skills, and their views and expectations were built into the process. At Avoidance we are committed to helping you perform at your best and realism your full potential. Join us and you'll benefit from regular development reviews to understand your goals, strengths and development areas. You will work with your manager to create your own Personal Development Plan. You will have access to a range of learning experiences including on-the Job experience, Job rotation, coaching, mentoring as well as online and face to face learning programmed.

Summary Of A Visit Of Grandmother

Chill's uncle, trades a horse for a chair. His grandmother even rides the horse and the horse almost loses control, which she thinks that Is amusing and a funny experience. Then, she asks Charles, Chic's father, if he remembers how tired they are. However, Charles is not present when his mother rides the horse and complains that she loves his rather more than him, because of their skin color differences.He yells, â€Å"If GAL and I did something wrong, you'd beat me first†¦ But if I wanted you to do something with me, you were always too busy. † Charlie's mother thinks she may have treated them differently, but thinks Charles is smarter to understand that. Charles returns to his room. Meanwhile, GAL, his brother, who is eager to meet with Charles, comes back. In the article, † A Visit to Grandmother†, which was published in the Dancer on theShore in 1964, William Melvin Kelley writes about Chic's experience of visiting his grandmother with his father. The stor y begins with Chic's father expressing an interest in attending a class reunion. The decision to visit Chic's grandmother is casual and unplanned, although they have not seen each other for thirty years. Upon visit. During their dinner, his grandmother tells a story about how GAL, Chic's uncle, almost loses control, which she thinks that is amusing and a funny experience. Then,

Statement of Intent

Statement of Intent The title of my Final Major Project is â€Å"Military Hero†. I will focus on the area of fashion and will work towards producing a small capsule collection consisting of a jacket/coat and a dress that I hope to create and display on show. It will be based around the ever popular military style; which has always been a favourite of mine. In my pathway project my theme was â€Å"Architecture in Fashion† of where I looked at structure and form, I found this theme to be very broad and endless.I also produced a garment based on the theme of shirt-making for a design competition, as I am progressing to University of Ulster to study the BA Hons Degree in Textile Art, Design and Fashion I feel I have made the right area and theme to work with for this project. I will start by looking at period weapons, medals, and armour of which I will use to produce a range of observational studies at A1 size.As I am focusing on Military Fashion I will take my inspiration from fashion designers Frida Giannini, Christopher Bailey, Alexander McQueen and John Galliano as I find their work and style to have elements of what I’m aiming to achieve as a final outcome for my final major project. I will also refer back to the uniforms worn by the armed forces and paramilitaries of various nations. Fashion magazines and the internet as well as my college’s library are also resources I will use. On completion of my visual recording and references I intend to begin the design cycle of the final outcome.I will start by researching the style of garments I shall design through creating moodboard’s relating to colour, style and my military theme; I will then produce a capsule collection board of fashion designs which I will then develop further. Through completing class critiques I will refer to my peer comments and advice from specialism tutors to make a final decision. Once decided I will move on to creating a pattern that will then lead on to the making of a toile this will help me to make any adjustments needed. After this is completed I will compose the final pieces onto fabric that I have chosen.To make sure I do not have to deal with any complications I aim to do each stage two weeks in advance. All work that I do will be critically evaluated as I go along, this will help me to stay on track and I will also record websites, ideas and my schedule in my daily diary. The military styled capsule collection will be on exhibition and modelled on two size 10 mannequins at my college’s end of year show. I will have couture photography of the garments mounted in the background and will also have my project sketchbook displayed on a plinth.If I have any spare time I will also make myself a top based around my military theme. Appendix Bibliography Books: Antonio Mancinelli, (2010), â€Å"Fashion Box: The Immortal Icons of Style†, Thames & Hudson. Richard Martin, (2001), â€Å"The Fashion Book†, Phaidon. Kr istin Knox, (2010), â€Å"Alexander McQueen: Genius of a Generation†, A & C Black Publishers. Bonnie English, (2010), â€Å"Fashion: The 50 Most Influential Fashion Designers of All Time (Icons of Culture)†, Barrons. Websites: Who What Wear http://www. whowhatwear. com/Style http://www. style. com/ Vogue http://www. vogue. co. uk/ Lookbook http://lookbook. nu/ Fashion Is My Inspiration http://fashionismy-inspiration. blogspot. co. uk/ Polyvore http://www. polyvore. com/ Wikipedia http://www. wikipedia. org/ Trendstop http://www. trendstop. com/ Fashion Era http://www. fashion-era. com/ What I Wore http://whatiwore. tumblr. com/ Gucci http://www. gucci. com/ Fashion Net http://fashion. net/ Style and the City http://www. styleandthecity. com/ Alexander McQueen http://www. alexandermcqueen. co. uk .

Expository Writing Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Expository Writing - Assignment Example According to research conducted, students taking such a short intensive course are better equipped to handle the work at hand because they get first hand concentration and attention by the teachers and instructors and thus are able to recall their work as well as revise and learn better. â€Å"Concentrating classroom time in the intensive course enhances group cohesion, showing a significantly higher degree of group-building communication by peers in relation to group-building communication by the teacher than in the standard format course.† (Takeda, H) However, at the same time, disadvantages like less retention of information over a long period of time have been shown with students pursuing such intensive courses. Furthermore, there is a great amount of pressure on the student as well as the instructor in order to complete the syllabus on time. Thus, in order to counter such pressure, a number of tips have also been provided within the article which has proven to be quite ha ndy, like creating a classroom rapport and having the students focus on a single class rather than taking too many subjects at once. As per popularity, the use of such a short intensive will continue into the future and tips like grading quickly, assessing teachers, and following drop date approaches all help to get the studying done in an exceptional manner for the students. Assignment 2: The topic for research for the second assignment is â€Å"Leadership.† This topic will help me to write and understand articles on the basis of how leadership plays a vital role in any business organization and how it helps greatly in achieving the organisational goals. With the help of articles on the basis of motivation, skill and perseverance, leadership can be understood as the key tool in the formation and running of any company or firm. Various sources ranging from published works by renowned companies as well as historical texts written on how leadership was used in various ways to m otivate and instil a sense of affiliation as well as pride within the people working under or serving great leaders. Assignment 3: RESEARCH TOPIC: LEADERSHIP Source Definitions/ key terms Focus of study (subjects, participants, type of college, purpose of study) Methodology Findings Personal reflections Seltzer, J. (1990). Transformational Leadership: Beyond Initiation and Consideration.  Journal of Management,  16(4) Leadership, management The main focus of study within this article was to find information regarding transformational leadership and how the same has helped in understanding leadership effectiveness and satisfaction in variants of subordinates. The research that was gathered used analysis using subordinates and statistics to find out information regarding transformational leadership. This article has made use of leader ratings by one subordinate and outcome ratings by a second subordinate, largely confirms the augmentation effect that has been talked about within t he article with the help of leadership attributes. There was disconfirmation for the effect on reported extra effort, suggesting that the relation of transformational leadership to subordinate's extra effort is a dyadic rather than a group effect. This article was