Saturday, October 26, 2019

love in the time of cholera :: essays research papers fc

Black Death THE BLACK DEATH During the fourteenth century a horrible plague spread across Asia, Europe, and Great Britain. This plague is referred to as the black death. Many people are not quite sure why the disease was given the name. The most popular reason why it might be called the black death is because it left purplish, blackish blotches on the bodies of the sick. â€Å"But if the name of the epidemic had been derived primarily from the appearance of its victims, one would have expected it to have been used at the time. Of this there is no evidence.†(Zeiger 17). Step by step, I am going to take you on the journey the black death took, from where it started, what it did, and when it ended. Bacillus yersinia pestis is the bacteria that lived in the blood streams of medieval rats and their fleas. Some time in the late 1340’s the bacteria made its way from rats to warm blooded mammals like humans. Due to earthquakes and other environmental occurrences, medieval rats were forced to cross the paths of humans. They first got on board of ships at ports, then headed to cities where they spread the disease. It was not the rats that spread the disease, but it was their fleas that bit humans and infected them. There was three forms of the plague; bubonic, pneumonic, and septicemia. Each form had different symptoms. â€Å"The most common form, called bubonic, is characterized by the formation of egg-sized swellings at the site of the flea bite, usually located in the armpits, groin, or neck.†(Wark). Which ever form someone contracted they died a disgusting death within days. Their whole body would get covered with nasty blotches of blood under their skin, and any fluid excreted from their body contained an unbearable stench. Florence, Italy was a very hard hit area because it was located right on the Arno River where ships would dock to import and export goods. It was estimated that between 45,000 and 65,000 Florentines died from the plague. â€Å"New cemet eries had to be consecrated quickly to receive all the dead bodies.†(Carmichael 110). With so many people dieing, some tried to write their friends from other countries and warn them with what to look for. Others tried out running the it when it turns out all they were doing was spreading it. After conquering Florence, the plague moved towards England where it killed off fifty percent of the population in London.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Consumer Behaviour Double Jeopardy Essay

The theory of Double Jeopardy is described as a behavioural phenomenon which relates to the size structure of a market (Bandyopadhyay, Gupta & Dube 2005). This indicates that in any given time a smaller brand typically has fewer buyers compared to those of a larger brand as larger brands often have a higher percentage of penetration and market share (Ehrenberg, Goodhardt & Barwise 1990). A brand with more market share indicates that consumers purchase these brands more frequently compared to other brands. There are a number of reasons why this occurs. For example firms offering products that a consumer perceives as better quality and value, will grow larger (Jacobson 1988). Also, a firm that creates power advantages by introducing inferior products which competitors cannot offer to customer’s also results in a higher market share. Careful analyses of all team members’ individual purchases over the tracking period, it can be noted that a large number of different brands were consumed. By viewing the Duplication of Purchases Table for fast food, out of all the 11 types of brands, McDonalds and Max Brennars were the most frequently purchased brands resulting in a higher percentage of penetration and market share compared to other brands. This is because McDonalds and Max Brennars have multiple locations within Australia which provides better access to customers, both brands participate in extensive television and both brands provide regular promotions in order to make customers more alert and aware. These facts all enforce the theory of the double jeopardy; larger brands have more buyers and have a higher market share. To review the occurrence of the Double Jeopardy effect, Ehrenberg et al. (1990) states that there exists two market level explanations. The first market level consists of the differences in consumer exposure to the market mix efforts (price, promotion, advertising, point of purchase display, discount) of a brand. If a brand has less consumer exposure, it is more likely to suffer (Ehrenberg et al. 990) because they have fewer buyers and lower repeat purchase. Looking at the DOP tables for fast food, TGI Friday’s and Koko Black displayed as the least frequently purchased brands. A reason why these two fast food outlets were the least purchased brands is because of their location as many customers may not have close access to it. Another reason is because there is not much advertising and promotion when compared to fast food outlets such as McDonalds and Max B rennars. The second market level relies on stochastic models of buying behaviour (Ehrenberg et al. 1990) which helps predict the Double Jeopardy trends for competitive brands. This is solely based on the heterogeneity in popularity such as the market share as earlier research shows that the average customer of smaller brands buys less, have lower favourable attitude and manifest lower loyalty than the average customer of larger brands (Ehrenberg et al. 1990).

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Nordstrom Case Study Essay

Answer 1: In the 1990s, Nordstrom had six co-presidents who were six cousins belonging to the family’s fourth generation. All six cousins took decisions jointly on major issues concerning the business. Thus, it was necessary that all six co-presidents agree on a decision or a plan for it to be acted upon. This was quite a difficult task as all of them often had differing opinions. Due to this many decisions were delayed or met with resistance by one or the other member. These six co-presidents were compared to a multi-headed hydra. Dismantling the hydra would prevent conflicts on future decisions and would also enable decisions to be taken quickly. It will also vest the ownership for the decisions onto one person. It will also enable a family member to be groomed for possibly leading the company one day. The possible disadvantages of dismantling the hydra is that the six co-presidents could have all contributed their knowledge and experience and have arrived at a better more informed decision. If equal power is vested in six people at the top, it enables them to share the workload.’ Answer 2: Creating departments around products will create independent profit and loss units for each product. The members of each department will have expertise on their products. They will know how to procure those products and effective sales and marketing techniques to sell those products better. This will narrow down their focus and they will concentrate only on the product that they are selling and will gain expertise on how to sell it best. The possible disadvantages of creating departments around products are that the employees will not have a complete picture of the entire business and where they stand. If in future, they are moved to another department, they will have to gain information about that product from scratch. Answer 3: The following changes prompted the move from mechanistic to organic organization. In the 1990s, the company met with stiff competition from its competitors. Its sales began to plateau. Its net income fell 2% and sales edged up only 1.9%. In the stores that had been open for a year, its sales dipped 1.1% after a 2.6% drop the prior year. Nordstrom’s shares fell from a 1999 high of 44 3/16 to under 20 in February. The customers and outsiders complained that top executives spent more time in seeking consensus of all co-presidents on issues and this was a reason for Nordstrom being slow in presenting new fashions for sales. Answer 4: In designing an organization to manage change, an additional structural change that Mr. Whitacre should consider is to start a competition among the departments. In this quarterly competition, the department that has the best sales and profits should be the winner and its members should be given some incentives. They should be asked to share the best practices with the other departments in order to help them manage change better. Employees should be rotated regularly from one department to another.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

MEM Case Study Questions (Harvard Business School)

MEM Case Study Questions (Harvard Business School) INTRODUCTIONMEM Company, Inc., started up in 1883 by Mark Edward Mayer, produces an extensive range of colognes and toiletries. Sales had decreased over the year and MEM is now looking into several options to improve growth. After much extensive analysis, our team had decided to drop the option of launching Cambridge due to the stiff competition from Shulton's Blue Stratos which has a $12 million marketing budget with a fresh slogan, 'Unleash the Spirit', which we believe will differentiate Blue Stratos from the competition. Without the financial muscle and distinct product differentiation, Cambridge would languish in the shadow of Blue Stratos. Therefore, our team suggests that MEM should concentrate on repositioning itself in the market to retain and attract customers.PRODUCTBased on the data given, we found out that there are multiple products that are targeted at the same group of consumers. We found that this problem might have been caused by the process in choosing fragrance fr om the manufacturer.Mem à » Zà ®nIt is stated that most of the time, the research results turn out to be inconclusive. We feel that it is important to have a wider test market that does not belong to the employees of the company and that a clear guideline is given to them to ensure that they know what is the process about.Another suggestion we have is to remove Lime from the product line as it targets at the same consumers as Musk. Furthermore, Lime only makes up for a 2.3% of total sales and most of it is from the sale of the gift sets. By eliminating Lime, there will be more shelf space freed to display other products. The withdraw production of product Lime will provide more cash available for advertising budget. Production efficiency can also be improved. It is...

Monday, October 21, 2019

How to Pack for College Quickly and Not Forget Anything

How to Pack for College Quickly and Not Forget Anything It’s time to embark on a new adventure. You’ve already secured your room, counted down the days until move-in and figured out your class schedule. The only thing that’s left is packing up. Many students become a bit stressed looking at that long packing list and wondering how to pack for college. If you’ve already completed your back-to-school shopping you’re likely staring at a huge pile of sheets, curtains, pencils and more. Moving isn’t easy but with the right tips it doesn’t have to be a challenge either, and it doesn’t have to take days of your time to pack for college. Get Your Checklist Before you begin packing use a comprehensive packing list from online and amend it with your chosen items. There are plenty of blogs and lists on the internet telling you how to pack for college and these are great foundations, but shouldn’t be your end-all. Divide your list by: school supplies personal cleaning clothing decorative You also want to tailor this list to exactly what your college allows (some residence halls don’t like microwaves for example) and to what you need, so you’re not bringing a bunch of extra stuff with you. Keep Those Hangers One of the easiest ways to streamline your packing process is keep your clothes on their hangers. All that taking shirts off the hooks and rolling or folding them into boxes just doesn’t cut it. You’ll need to hang them up once you arrive anyway, so why not cut out a few steps. Make a list of the clothes that you’ll need and set them asidehangers included. To protect them, you can cover them with a large trash bag or garments bag so nothing spills on them or rips them during transports. And voila! You’ve got your clothes packed and ready. Protection and consolidation are keys when learning how to pack for college. Source: Instagram user manda_gee Bedding on Bedding It’s a given that you’ll have about two changes of bedding so you can swap out those sheets in between trips to the laundry room. If you’re thinking about keeping your bedding in those boxy packages from the store you probably don’t know how to pack for college. Jokes aside, here’s an awesome pro tip: use your pillowcase as a mode of transport. Take your fitted and flat sheet and any additional pillowcases and fold them inside of one pillowcase. This is especially easy if you’re bringing new sheets to college because they’re already super small from the factory packaging. This way, everything is right where you need it, the set is kept together and you can just grab and go. Pillows can be used as cushioning in the car or in certain boxes to protect more fragile items like a lamp. If there’s no need for extra padding in your current packing situation, then simply place them in a plastic bag and stuff them in those awkward spaces in the car. by Kelly Oribine Luggage is For Packing Sooo You’re most likely going to take a roll of luggage or two. Maybe a carry-on if you’ll be flying home or an entire suitcase. Use this to your advantage. Pack all of your school supplies in your backpack, that’s your notebooks, pens, mini stapler, sticky notes, etc. This way you can place your backpack on your shoulders and know that you have everything you need for school. When it comes to additional clothes or personal belongings, stuff them straight into your suitcase, that’s what it’s for after all. Using your suitcases as carriers is one of the first things you’ll be glad you learned about how to pack for college because it reduces the amount of boxes you have to find and keeps everything in once central place. Remember, it’s okay if some things are mixed up because you’ll be taking it all out once you arrive on campus. Things You Find in the Kitchen Saran wrap and sling wrap isn’t just for your kitchen. For those small items that are already neatly packed away in your home, wrap them up to keep everything in place! If you have a jewelry box or makeup case that’s already organized your precious things, wrapping them will keep it intact during the drive to your new university. DVDs already on your stand or in your favorite milkcrate? Books on a tiny shelf? No problem, simply wrap it together! Image credit: Pablo Enriquez Have a small cabinet for your school needs or alarm clock, etc? Head to the kitchen aisle, grab you plastic wrap and get to packing. You’ll never have to remove tiny items again, and you’ll have less meticulous things to put away when you arrive, which is one of the signs a student who knows how to pack for college. Ziploc bag small items like your toothpaste, deodorant, etc so you can easily pile it into your suitcase/tote bag/storage cube/container of choice without it spilling out or creating a huge muddled mess that wastes space. This is a great replacement for those nifty storage cubes that fancy people use to pack for fancy vacations (of course if you have one of those feel free to use it). Now that we’ve given you some helpful ideas on how to pack for college you’re ready for a new school year! Adopt these tips and you’ll find yourself packed up and ready to go in no time. You can reuse these techniques anytime you’re moving back and forth between school and home, including winter and summer breaks and even after your first year in college. Now that you know how to pack for college, what are you waiting for? Get up and starting packing!

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Treat Self-Publishing as a Business †Interviewing Elise Kova

Treat Self-Publishing as a Business – Interviewing Elise Kova "Treat Self-Publishing as a Business" – Interviewing Elise Kova We often hear that "the golden age of self-publishing is gone", so we like to use our blog to remind authors that, no, that's not true. There are many more indie success stories than the ones you repeatedly hear about out there, and Elise Kova's is one of them. She started writing in 2013, as a hobby, on Fictionpress. She now has 5 books out in her Air Awakens Series and the first one has over 500 reviews on Goodreads. In this interview, she shares  more about her writing process, why she self-published, and some advice for newer authors.Hi Elise! It’s such a pleasure to have you join us for the Reedsy blog. I want to start off by talking a bit about how you came to write the Air Awakens series. YA fiction has captured the heart of the public in the last few years  Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚  what is it about the YA fantasy genre that really appeals to you as an author?I love talking about books, so thank you for reaching out to me for this interview!I honestly didn't set out thinking tha t I was going to be a "YA Author". I've always loved writing, but I stopped doing it avidly for about four or so years during college and my MBA. When I sat down to write Air Awakens I didn't do so with the intention of being published, I just wanted to enjoy writing a story that I would want to read myself.When I began looking into publication later I toiled over if Air Awakens was "Adult" or "Young Adult" and the young adult age bracket fit better. I think there is something timeless about the "coming of age" story that we see in so much young adult fiction and many, myself included, are drawn to that. So I'm not surprised Air Awakens developed in that direction.Young adult readers can, and hopefully do, sympathize with and recognize the struggles of the protagonists. Whereas older readers remember going through those times themselves. Even more than that, I think people are constantly evolving and the questions of "Who am I?" and "What do I want?" may be more apparent during the transition into adulthood, but never really go away no matter how old we get.One of the things the series is most commonly praised for is its worldbuilding. The Solaris Empire, the Bond, the elemental magic – all of it is so well-developed! Was this a world you thought up quickly when you started actually writing Air Awakens, or had it been living and growing in your mind before that?I'm awful at planning, it's actually something I'm working on doing more in the future: pre-drafting. So much of the Air Awakens world was built as I went. As a result, there were a lot of things that didn't make sense when all was said and done; directions I thought I may take but never explored, or elements that didn't add anything.The series has gone through extensive rewrites before publication and at that point I really sat down and investigated the world and its mechanics. I cut a lot and refined the rest. 50 Book Marketing Ideas Every Author Needs to Know Read post Most indie authors struggle with getting their books discovered. What is the most important thing that you have done in terms of marketing that you think is responsible for your success?Oh, questions like this are so difficult to answer, as it's all speculation. But I think, for me, I've tried really hard to be both genuine and available to my readers. I'm constantly on my social media outlets and I'm not really shy on them when it comes to saying what I think, what I'm geeking out about, or what I'm up to. The bookish community on Twitter, Instagram, blogs, etc, is full of such amazing people that I've been so so lucky to meet.Follow Elise Kova and Reedsy on Twitter:  @EliseKova  and @ReedsyHQWhy did  you choose to self-publish? What would be  your advice for newer  authors looking to become the next "indie success story"? Do share your thoughts, or ask Elise any question, in the comments below!

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Steps to Writing a Grant Proposal Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Steps to Writing a Grant Proposal - Assignment Example Part of the short-range objectives is to upgrade the existing training facilities of PEACE as well as improve the knowledge and skills of its professional trainers with regards to managing traumatic situations the victims and families of the victims are currently going through whereas the long-term objective is to expand the existing infrastructure of PEACE in order to support the increasing number of victims who will be needing the social support of the said organization. To improve the quality of PEACE’s social services, a budget of one million US dollars (US$1,000,000.00) is needed wherein one-eighth (1/8) of the total expected grant will be used to financially support the further education and trainings of its professional trainers and upgrade the existing training facilities such as the improvements in training area and the purchase of new computers, projectors, and LCDs. The remaining three-eighth (3/8) of the total grant will be used in expanding the existing infrastructure of PEACE. Over the past five years, the city of Portland is experiencing an increase in domestic and youth violence, spousal and child abuse, assault, and incidents of road rage. To provide assistance to the victims of violence, the mission of PEACE Domestic Violence Agency is to reduce victim trauma, empower survivors, and promote recovery to the victims of sexual assault and domestic violence. Social problems related to domestic violence can be solved by increasing the number of available service provision, education, and social awareness. By extending free educational training services, wellness support group, and shelter to the victims of domestic violence, PEACE will not only be able to promote the well-being of young men, women, and children whose lives have been affected by domestic violence but also improve the quality of life of families whose member or members are in prison. Educating the public on how to handle and protect themselves from becoming a victim