Nostradamus Essays - Apocalypticists, Divination, Nostradamus

Nostradamus For four centuries Nostradamus's prophecies have inspired fear and controversy. His followers say he predicted the French Revolution, the birth and rise of Hitler, and the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Did he, as his believers claim, predict some of history's most monumental events - from the Great Fire of London to the launch disaster of the space shuttle Challenger? Nostradamus was typical of the Renaissance time period. He made many prophecies and was a major contributor to not only the Renaissance but the 'Spirit of the Renaissance'. Michel de Nostrodame (or his more used Latin name of Nostradamus) was born a Jew in the small town of St.Remy de Province in southern France on the 14th of December 1503. Little is known about Nostradamus's family apart from Jean his youngest brother became Procurer of the Parliament of Province. As a small boy Nostradamus underwent significant changes in his life. While Nostradamus was a child his family was forced to convert to Roman Catholicism. Around this time he was sent to live with his grandfather who taught him the basics of Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Mathematics and Astrology. A few years later Nostradamus's grandfather died and he went to Avignon to finish his schooling. Whilst at Avignon he also believed as did Galileo that the Earth was round and circled the sun. Nostradamus used his ability to help people through harsh times and did not even fear for his own life. In 1525 he received his Bachelor's degree for Medicine and went to help the fight against the 'Black Death' that was feared throughout the Renaissance period. After traveling for almost four years helping the sufferers of the Plague, he returned to Avignon and won fame for his eagerness for learning which ties in with the spirit of the Renaissance. In 1532 he earned his Doctorate and became a Professor at the Montipellier University but resigned within the same year. He then moved to Agen, married and had a son and daughter. His life now seemed complete until an outbreak of the Plague in Agen that killed his wife and children. In 1538, he was accused of heresy because of a remark about a statue of the Virgin Mary being like a devil that he had made years before. The Inquisitors sent him to Toulouse to stand trial. Leoni, Edgar stated that in 1554 Nostradamus settled in Marseilles after wandering for six years keeping well clear of the church authorities. During these time legends started to appear about his foreseeing powers. It was not until later however that he received his fame with his prophetic visions of the future - 942 cryptic poems called The Centuries - that have preoccupied generation after generation of readers. The Centauries (ten in total) were written in poem like form and contained hard-to-break codes that were use to stop attention being drawn to him self as the church authorities could not arrest him for writing in gibberish, because in that time prophecies were considered as witch craft or devil work. The Centauries were written by night as not to be seen in 1555. He eventually settled down in the town of Salon, France in 1554 where he Married his second wife, Anne Ponsart Gemelle, with whom he rose six Children - three boys and three girls. Do these writings actually predict the death of popes, rise of tyrants, and natural disasters to come? The code in which the prophecies were written could be comprehended to mean many things, but if the people who claim to be able to crack the code of Nostradamus' work are right then World War Three will reach its climax in the year 1999. Bio-warfare will be used - which will virtually wipe out most of humanity with minimal survivors with the human race living until the year 3797. Nostradamus travelled to Paris and booked in at a hotel on the 15th of August 1556 and the queen at the time sent a message to Nostradamus asking him to see her. The queen talked to Nostradamus privately for two hours, nothing is know about what they talked about. Two weeks later Nostradamus was again summoned to speak with the queen. This time she asked him to give horoscopes on all her children - all turned out correct except one horoscope, her youngest child who died before taking the throne. In 1564 Nostradamus was appointed Royal Physician to King Charles IX. On the 1st of July 1566 he sent for the local priest to give him this message, "I

Floods and Flooding

Floods and Flooding River and coastal flooding are the most frequently occurring natural disasters and are increasing in occurrence. Floods, once purely known as acts of God, are being rapidly enhanced by the works of humans. What Causes Floods? A flood occurs when an area that is normally dry gets submerged in water. If a flood happens in an empty field, then the damage from flooding may be relatively mild. If the flood happens in a city or a suburb, then flooding can cause catastrophic damage and take human lives. Flooding can be caused by many natural things, such as excessive rainfall, extra snow melt that travels downstream, hurricanes, monsoons, and tsunamis. There are also manmade features that can cause flooding, such as burst pipes and dam breaks. Why Are the Number of Floods Increasing? Humans have spent thousands of years trying to curb flooding in order to protect farmland and   homes. Dams, for instance, are built to help regulate the flow of water downstream. However, there are some man-made features that are aiding flooding. Urbanization, for instance, has reduced the earths capability of absorbing excess water. With extra neighborhoods comes an increase in asphalt and concrete-covered surfaces. which cover the once open fields. The earth underneath the new asphalt and concrete can then no longer help absorb the water; instead, water running over the pavement collects quickly and easily disrupts storm drain systems. The more pavement, the more likely a flood will occur. Deforestation is another way that humans have helped increase the potential for flooding. When humans cut down trees, the soil is left without roots to hold down soil or to absorb water. Again, the water builds up and causes flooding. What Areas Are Most at Risk for Flooding? Those areas which are most at risk for floods include low-lying areas, coastal regions, and communities on rivers downstream from dams. Flood waters are extremely dangerous; a mere six inches of swiftly moving water can knock people off their feet, while it takes just 12 inches to move a car. The safest thing to do during a flood is to evacuate and seek shelter on higher ground. It is important to know the safest route to a safe location. A 100-Year Flood Floods are often given designations as a hundred year flood or twenty year flood, etc. The larger the year, the larger the flood. But dont let these terms fool you, a hundred year flood does not mean that such a flood occurs once every 100 years; instead it means that there is a one in 100 (or 1%) chance of such a flood occurring in a given year. Two one-hundred year floods could occur a year apart or even a month apart it all depends on how much rain is falling or how quickly the snow melts. A twenty-year flood has a one in 20 (or 5%) chance of occurring in a particular year. A five-hundred-year flood has a one in 500 chance (0.2%) of occurring in any given year. Flood Preparedness In the United States, homeowners insurance does not cover flood damage. If you live in a flood zone or any low-lying area, you should consider purchasing insurance through the National Flood Insurance Program. Contact your local insurance agent for more details. You can be prepared for flooding and other disasters by assembling a disaster supplies kit. Take this kit with you if evacuating: A portable, battery-operated radio and extra batteries (know the appropriate radio station to listen to during a disaster)Flashlights and extra batteriesFirst aid kit and manualEmergency food and waterNonelectric can openerEssential and prescription medicationsCash and credit cardsSturdy shoesExtra clothes and beddingFood and supplies for pets

Constitutional and Administrative Law (Parliament Sovereignty in UK) Essay

Constitutional and Administrative Law (Parliament Sovereignty in UK) - Essay Example Britain is known to have an unwritten constitution; nevertheless, still, they do exist in a solitary text, just like other countries, for instance, the USA and Germany. For that reason, Britain constitution is too often described as partially written and completely unchanged (Goldsworthy, 1999). According to Goldsworthy (2010) the principle of parliamentary supremacy is about the connection between the Legislature and the courts. Is parliament sovereign or the courts? As aforementioned, the United Kingdom is known to have parliament sovereignty, but to what to degree? Dicey asserts that parliament is supreme, meaning that the Legislature has, under the English constitution, the right to make or unmake any decree whatsoever. Further, no individual or entity is acknowledged by the law of England as having a right to overrule or refute the legislation of Parliament. The dogma of legislature sovereignty in the United Kingdom has been considered as the most significant feature of the British constitution. It can be abridged in three parts. The Legislature has the authority to make any law they want, and no legislature can create a decree/law that future parliament cannot amend and only parliament can adjust or unmake a law passed by parliament. It offers categorical authority to Westminster Parliament Dicey illustrates it as the overriding trait of our political organs. Another feature to put into account is the effects of the European Union, the Human Rights Act 1998. It is also essential to consider the Devolution of sovereignty to Scottish Legislature and Welsh Assembly and the establishment of the United Kingdom Supreme Court. These features do not essentially undercut the doctrine of parliament sovereignty, at least theoretically, as the legislature could repeal any of the law carrying out these transformations. The Scottish Legislature and Northern Ireland Congress are both capable to pass key legislation within the places that have been devolved to them. As the network remains devolved and not centralized, the authority of these parliaments stems from the United Kingdom and can be balanced, as has occurred with the Northern Irish case. Nevertheless, this appear improbably to take place in Scotland or Wales, as such a judgment would presently be exce edingly out of favor with the electorate in both areas. The bodies of the European Union, in specific the European Court of Justice (ECJ) that suggests the supremacy to carried out judicial assessment over the United Kingdom law. In this scenario, an unfavorable establishment by the ECJ that a United Kingdom decree is conflicting with the EC Treaties mechanically rescinds the law, because the European Communities Act 1972 offers that European Community decree is sovereign in Britain. An example of this in connection to a law, the Merchant Shipping Act 1988, was the Factortame case. The European Community Act has been considered as a constitutional law. In the case of Thoburn V Sunderland City Council, the Weights puts on leash the impact of parliamentary supremacy, as the ECA must be explicitly repealed for it to be annulled by later unsuited legislation. The European Convention on Human Rights and the integration by the Human Rights Act 1988 of the European Convention an establishm ent of a contravention of Convention rights by the ECHR does not mechanically resc

Generally Accepted Auditing Standards Paper Essay

Generally Accepted Auditing Standards Paper - Essay Example The audit opinion resulting from verification of financial statements provides a reasonable assurance that the statements give a true and fair value in accordance with the frameworks of financial reporting; therefore, Mobitech Accessories Ltd. does not expect auditors to produce absolute assurance by detecting all aspects of errors and fraud. Types of audits that organizations can perform include statutory, internal, external, and compulsory audits. Various standards, Acts, and boards have been initiated to guide the auditing function. Generally Accepted Auditing Standards provides a basis for performing and judging the quality of audits (Catty, 2012). The general requirements of GAAS include maintenance of independence in audit matters, adequate technical training, and proficiency for audit performance, and exercising professional care during audit performance and report preparation. Mobitech Accessories Ltd enables auditors to obtain sufficient understanding of the enterprise and allows auditors to access sufficient evidence by performing audit procedures in accordance with GAAS. GAAS also require the auditor to express an opinion regarding the financial statements; an opinion can be qualified, unqualified or disclaimer (Huault & Richard, 2012). Mobitech Accessories Ltd auditors usually state reasons in the report where they cannot express an overall opinion. GAAS provide assumptions, principles, and constraints to achieve basic objectives and implement fundamental qualities (Huault & Richard, 2012). The accounting entity assumption assumes that the business entity is a being and separate and distinct from its owners and managers. The going concern assumption assumes that the business will remain in operation indefinitely. The historical cost principle requires companies to report their liabilities and assets based on costs of acquisition rather than fair market value. The principle of revenue

RISK MANAGEMENT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

RISK MANAGEMENT - Essay Example Strong leadership defines the risk culture and shares that vision with management. Leadership acts as if it believes in its vision. In the feedback cycle, leadership listens to new risks identified and responds with a course of action consistent with the culture of risk. (Marks and Rassmussen, 2010) (Hopkin, 2010) Management commits to the leadership vision and manages to that standard. Teamwork is essential throughout the workforce and it is management that provides the regulation of the team. Management trains employees to respond properly to risks, for example, wearing safety equipment or using machinery correctly. Management monitors the results of risk management tactics and accounts for poor risk taking behaviors. Management establishes quantitative analysis tools to measure risk culture compliance. Any problem areas are reported to leadership, discussed and a mutually agreed upon intervention occurs. (Marks and Rassmussen)(Hopkin, 2010) Strong financial risk cultures identify key risks inherent in the business; these may include currency exchange, interest rates, diversification issues, fluctuating suppliers’ prices and raw commodity pricing. The key financial risks order by primacy from largest concern to least impactful. The financial risk manager reviews the company risk tolerance and manages the priorities accordingly, implementing strategies and tactics to reduce risk where desired. These tactics usually involve the derivative markets, like interest rate swaps and commodity trading. Risk management is a repetitive process, so the financial risk manager monitors the markets of concern and refines his strategy as needed. (Horcher, 2005) (Das, 2006) Operational risk management concerns both management and measurement of risk. Traditionally, operations risk management involved all the company processes and systems, all employees for management and training, and any external event, such as political interference. A strong culture identifies, measu res and implements a strategy consistent with overall company goals. Of course, on-going stewardship is required as with the financial risk management. (Abkowitz, 2008) Weak Risk Culture Weak risk cultures begin with resistant leadership, sometimes arrogant leadership. Management is either not told goals or communications are not transparent. Leadership and management must believe in and be committed to the same vision of risk culture. New risks are not identified on a timely basis, on-going stewardship is an essential part of a strong risk culture. Underutilizing personal or improper training creates a weak risk culture operationally. Only considering risk avoidance and mitigation rather than proactively seeking profitable means to deal with risk is a characteristic of a weak risk culture financially. For instance, trading in derivatives can be profitable by trading risky interest rate situations for more time sensitive hedges. Weak risk cultures do not do what strong ones do. (And erson and Schroder, 2010) Risk-Return/Risk-Reward The financial risk manager observes the risk-reward behavior of financial instruments in order to determine the least risk available for the highest return. If all instruments shared the same risk, the investor would choose the highest reward. If all risks had the same reward, investors would choose the lowest risk. This balance is achieved through diversification of investments and managing the volatility of an investment

2012 Penn State University Football Team Scandal

2012 Penn State University Football Team Scandal This was the scandal that woke up our nation to the sexual abuse and unethical conduct in our university system. Jerry Sandusky had been on the Penn State football coaching staff. Mr. Sandusky was the defensive coordinator for Joe Paterno for 30 plus years. Graham Spanier, Penn States president, Gary Schultz, Penn State’s vice president and Tim Curley the athletic director were all charged for perjury to a grand jury about the knowing of Mr. Sanduskys sexual misconduct and not reporting the child abuse or sexual abuse to the proper authorities.† This paper will show what ethically went wrong with the people involved with the 2012 Penn State Football Program scandal that destroyed their football program.    The President of Penn State Mr. Spanier had been in charge for over 16 years before he was forced to resign in the year 2011. Mr. Spanier believed that Gary Schultz and Tim Curley followed all the proper rules and regulations during this sexual abuse scandal. Mr. Schultz had a extensive history at Penn State. Gary Schultz attained his bachelors along with his master’s degree from Penn State. Mr. Schultz started his career at Penn State in the year 1971 in which he had different admin duties in business operations, finance, and technology. The in 1995 he was appointed to the Vice President position. Mr. Schultz had decided to retire from the university then return in 2011 on a temporary basis until the university was able to hire someone for the position. The athletic director Tim Curley was at Penn State from 1993 until 2011. Joe Paterno was the head coach of the Penn State football team during the time of this scandal. Joe Paterno, was on the coaching staff of this football t eam for over half a century from 1966 to 2011. Jerry Sandusky is a convicted serial child molester, and was the assistant coach to Joe Paterno for more than 30 years which most of those years as a defensive coordinator. Through the 1970’s Mr. Sandusky had developed the nonprofit organization named The Second Mile. The Second Mile was to helped underprivileged children and their parents that are at risk in the state of Pennsylvania. There were a few incidents that pointed the finger at Sandusky’s indecent behavior with young boys on the Penn State campus. There are incidents also off campus. I will focus on the incidents that happened at Penn State. In 1998 was the first incident. The Penn State police department along with the Pennsylvania Public Welfare investigated an incident where the mother of the 11year old boy had reported Mr. Sandusky took a with her son and may had sexual conduct with the young boy. After the investigation of Mr. Sandusky confessed of taking a shower in the nude with the young boy he made apology and all charges were dropped. There were two janitors that witnessed incidents on the same night in 2000. Fall of 2000 a janitor that worked at the university observed a man, which was identified as Mr. Sandusky, in the showers of the assistant coach’s locker in the Lasch Building with a child. Mr. Sandusky had the boy pinned to the wall and Mr. Sandusky was performing oral sex o n the child. Then on the same night, a different janitor saw two pairs of feet in the same shower at the Lasch Building but he could not see the upper torso of the two people. The janitor waited for them to finish their shower, then he later saw Mr. Sandusky with a child, leave the locker room holding hands. The head janitor told that they told about what they witnessed. The other janitor advised the head janitor how he could report what he saw, if he wanted to do so. Everyone knows that the Penn State football, it is the heart of the University and the surrounding community. Joe Paterno is like Paul Bear Bryant to Alabama when it comes to Penn State Football. The ethical dilemma is that what these janitors faced should of been reported and the incidents they witnessed to their supervisors at the University to protect these children and to prevent any possible damage to the University. But instead these janitors did nothing to save their jobs. Which resulted in they decided not to r eport because they were scared of losing their jobs. Was this morally a good decision? No it wasn’t. What these janitors witnessed was wrong and they knew it was. I can understand that someone wouldn’t want to lose their job, but children being molested should’ve been at the top of the list. They felt too much pressure to do what was ethically right. Janitor B thought that Paterno had a lot of power and would get rid of whomever he had to in order to protect the program. Football runs through the veins of this college. Those connected with the program would do what they had to do to keep the reputation of the football program as well as the University squeaky clean. There are a couple of ethical questions I have when I look at this scandal. The first one is what would make an ethical person make bad choices when they are facing an ethical dilemma? Why did Graham Spanier, Gary Schultz, Tim Curley, and Joe Paterno turn their back on Jerry Sandusky’s molestation of young boys at Penn State? The group of men mentioned all failed to protect children from a child predator, Jerry Sandusky. Here is an ethical dilemma that Spanier, Schultz, Curley, Paterno faced. Should they have taken legal action against Sandusky and possibly caused the University reputation to be smeared or should they have just talk to Sandusky and move on from this situation. They chose to just talk to Sandusky and just move on. This is ethically wrong because they were not looking out for the welfare of the children from the Second Mile that Sandusky brought to the Penn State campus. It’s obvious that Penn States big four leaders were more committed to making sure the University did not get any negative reporting instead of thinking of the safety of the children the university brought Mr. Sandusky to the campus and then he molested children. The big four covered up what Sandusky was doing to children. I feel that the Penn State police department also played a part in this scandal. I feel the Penn State police department should have gotten more involved including the FBI. If the other coaches and staff new about this why didn’t they do something. Joe Paterno is just as guilty as Mr. Sandusky because he knew that this was going on but did nothing. Why didn’t they charge Sandusky in 1998 when the child’s mother reported Sandusky showered with her son and had inappropriate contact with him? Sandusky apologized for his behavior and it was all dismissed. Which it should have never been dismissed. Mr. Sandusky should have gone straight to jail. Was football bigger than everything in Penn State? It seemed like the leaders of the Uni versity and the police department was more concerned with protecting the reputation of the University instead of prosecuting a child molester.   In 1999 Sandusky retired from Penn State. However, he was still granted access to the same areas of the University even after his retirement. In 2002 there was another incident witnessed in which Sandusky had abused another boy. â€Å"On March 2, 2002, Mike McQuarrie tells football Coach Paterno that he saw Sandusky in the locker room shower the evening before, performing sex on a child to be 10 years old. On March 3, 2002, Coach Paterno reported the incident to Athletic Director Tim Curley, telling the graduate assistant had seen Sandusky doing something of a sexual nature to a young boy. â€Å"Tim Curley informed Schultz about what Paterno reported to him. The outcome was Sandusky had to turnover his keys and was no longer allowed to bring kids from his Second Mile foundation to the campus. This was not reported to the law enforcement. During this I really looked at Paterno. He was known to be a good guy, but in my opinion, he approving of Mr. Sandusky’s behavior by not ta king action and reporting it. Since the year 1998 Coach Paterno knew that Mr. Sandusky was involved molesting children. What did he do when faced with this ethical dilemma, he looked the other way. Coach Paterno thought it was more important to protect the image of his football team and Penn State instead of taking matters in his own hands. Even though Sandusky retired he still was associated directly with Paterno on the campus. What should Paterno have done? I think that Paterno should have taken the actions of a whistle blower. â€Å"Serious harm raises moral intensity of an issue.† (Trevino & Nelson, 2011) These children were being seriously harmed and even when the leaders of the University were obviously covering up this situation. I feel Joe Paterno should have taken the necessary steps to let law enforcement know that Sandusky was still molesting young boys. Spanier, Schultz, and Curley were all released from their duties at Penn State charged with covering up Sandusky’s abuse of young boys from his Second Mile foundation. Joe Paterno was dismissed from the Penn State Nittany Lions and later died from complications from a lung cancer treatment. If Joe Paterno was still alive he also would have faced charges for covering up Sandusky’s molestation of young boys. The Second Mile foundation is trying shutdown and transfer to another youth based ministry that will help underprivileged kids. Jerry Sandusky was sentenced to jail for 30 to 60 years for sex abuse of minors. Jerry Sandusky is 69 years old and after this sentence will spend the rest of his life in jail. The 2012 Penn State Scandal involved the top leaders of Penn State University. There were a few incidents that pointed the finger at Jerry Sandusky for sexually molesting young boys from his Second Mile foundation. What would make an ethical person make bad choices when they are facing an ethical dilemma?   Why did Graham Spanier, Gary Schultz, Tim Curley, and Joe Paterno turn their back on Jerry Sandusky’s molestation of young boys at Penn State? Why didn’t the Penn State police pursue this further? These are few ethical questions about this scandal. Even after Sandusky retired from Penn State he was still allowed to have access he did when he was employed. Joe Paterno was also involved in this cover-up. All the top leaders were fired from their duties at Penn State. This scandal did ruin the reputation of this University in which the big four tried so hard to not let happen. It’s sad that they all did not make better ethical decisions.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   References: Penn state scandal: Timeline from November 2011 to July 2012. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/18/penn-state-timeline-nov-july_n_1682867.html Schultz returns to fill interim senior vp post; nominations sought. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://news.psu.edu/story/156548/2011/07/29/schultz-returns-fill-interim-senior-vp-post-nominations-sought A timeline of the Penn state child sex abuse scandal. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/16/justice/pennsylvania-coach-abuse-timeline Paterno, others slammed in report for failing to protect Sandusky’s victims. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwoway/2012/07/12/156654260/was-there-a-coverup-report-on-penn-state-scandalmay-tell-us Linda K. Trevino & Katherine A. Nelson, K. A. (2017). Managing Business Ethics. (7th ed.).

The Need for Employee Counseling Essays -- Business Management Studies

The Need for Employee Counseling Employees are the most valuable asset the company has. Without employees the company is just bricks and walls and pieces of iron and steel. Employees are the ones that bring the place alive, they cause the activity and they are responsible for output. Though today all of us have been influenced by the age of information technology and automation, there is no company that can claim that it can make it on its own without employees. In fact today more than ever it is necessary for organizations to realize that an employee is very valuable and losing an employee is a resource lost. Having said as much, we see that in actual practice dealing with employees at times is the worst nightmare of any manager. Employee Relations is gaining momentum as time goes by but there is no one scientific formula that takes care of all. This is because each organization is different as is each employee. The problems that arise can generically be attributed to the following reasons:  ¤ Poor employee relations  ¤ Absence of employee counseling  ¤ Poor or no employee coaching The focus of this report is on these three functional areas and each will be discussed separately. Employee Relations The Importance of Employee Relations Working with employees requires an understanding of what actually makes the employee function. Satisfying monetary needs does not have a long lasting impact. Employees need to be kept informed and must be provided with an opportunity to raise suggestions and voice their complains. Otherwise employees are bound to feel dissatisfied and alienated. The Employee Relations (ER) department basically takes care of the company's communication program, its Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and its employee recognition program. Effective employee management is the key to having favorable employee relations, which in turn is necessary for retaining talented and productive employees. Common deficiencies and hindrances in the way of effective employee relations For most part, managers say that they hate managing people and it’s the most difficult part of their job. This is because; a) they have not received formal training on how to manage people b) they get little or no support from employee relations and human resource people. Most managers look at Human Resource (HR) and ER for help. However HR in most organizations is th... ... employees otherwise it will be difficult to grow. Difficult people are necessary as they help us remain on our toes and bring to the work environment the dynamism that is necessary. Bibliography Peterson, Bert "Role of Employee Relations Today." www.cableone.net, pp.1-5. Peterson, Bert "Fear- A Management Style." www.cableone.net, pp.1-4. Peyser, Randy "The Necessity of Difficult People." Exploration Hall, www.balancinglife.com, pp.1-2. Cairnes, Margot "Building self-confidence should be strategic priority." www.hr-info.com, pp.1-2. "Employee Assistance Program; Counselling Service." www.benefits.org, pp.1-3. "Counseling Service." www.balancinglife.com, pp.1-2. "The Layperson's Guide to Counselor Ethics: What You Should Know About the Ethical Practice of Professional Counselors." www.counseling.org, pp.1-2. "7 Ways To Beat The Blues." www.hurstplace.com, pp.1 Atkinson, William "Wellness, Employee Assistance Programs: Investments, Not Costs." www.findarticles.com, pp.1-6 Farr, John "Problem Employees: How do managers decide how and when to deal with poor employee performance?" www.findarticles.com, pp.1-7 "The Future of Electronic Counselling." www.bac.co.uk, pp.1-2

A Framework for Marketing Image Management Review

A Framework for Marketing Image Management Review Organization Image Management Prepared by: Nur Amirah Bt Sarudian806421 A Framework for Marketing Image Management This paper focusing on company’s marketing image which include consequently, certain factors, offerings, and publics. It is important to each company to make customer’s impression of an organization. The findings of this paper show that only a systematic approach will yield useful and accurate information that a company can translate into action.Image is very important to an organization where it can described as a sum of beliefs, attitudes, and impressions that a person or group has an object. The object either is company, product, brand, place, or person. A company has many images which is depending upon the specific object being studied, the public assessed and other conditions that related with images. Every organization has a corporate image, whether it wants one or not. When properly designed and manag ed, the corporate image will accurately reflect the level of the organization's commitment to quality, excellence and relationships.The relationships with its various constituents including current and potential customers, employees and future staff, competitors, partners, governing bodies, and the general public at large. As a result, the corporate image is a critical concern for every organization, one deserving the same attention and commitment by senior management as any other vital issue. A company’s image is a dynamic and profound affirmation of the nature, culture and structure of an organization. This applies equally to corporations, businesses, government entities, and non-profit organizations.The corporate image communicates the organization's mission, the professionalism of its leadership, the caliber of its employees and its roles within the marketing environment or political landscape. All tend to have a unique image, an image that is partially deliberate and par tially accidental, partially self-created and partially exogenous. The company’s image or also known as a corporate image is important to every company because the raw materials into a tangible product, machinery use to make products or product inventory. It refers to how a company is perceived.It also a generally accepted image of what a company stands for. Typically, a company’s image is designed to be appealing to the public, so that the company can spark an interest among consumers, create share of mind, generate brand equity, and thus facilitate product sales. A company's image is not solely created by the company. Other contributors to a company's image could include news media, journalists, environmental organizations, labor unions and other Non-Government Organizations (NGO). The negative reputation is correlates with negative performance.If this happened, the company needs to direct communication as a public relations department to correct the misperception. I n general, the company needs to improve its performance and sometimes it needs to communicate its actual performance level more effectively. The image management process has four phases. It is use to make sure the process is feasible, affordable which is low cost and repeatable. The phases are design, data collection, image gap analysis and lastly, image modification actions and tracking. Design phase is when company decided needs to track such as image factors, products, publics and location.Corporate marketing research department has a task of measuring and tracking image and also to hire research agencies, collect data, analyze results, and make recommendations. The example is marketing experts who use public relations and other forms of promotion to suggest a mental picture to the public. When built a design phase, the company determines the factors, offerings, publics, and appropriate competitors to track over time. Then, the one-on-one interviews and focus group is using with considered the following the types of questions such as factors tracked like product, price, salesforce, channels, communications, service or support.This decision based on factors that most influence on the purchase decision. Then, study the offering are most important either a low market share or large revenue contributions. After the offering, company should know the different publics for three types of consumer buying decisions. Decisions in type, geographical location and other factors have to decide by company. It will focusing on the term or the mission which has been decided. Every each steps company takes, it should decide who the relevant competitors are. It includes the major competitors and competitive alternatives in customer nd distributors perception. Lastly, the question needs to think is how often the specified images be tracked. Image tracking is costly, company will try to perform a cost-benefits analysis to limit the number of attributes, competitors, and public examined in the quantitative phase which is obtained from the design phase. The information that company needs is qualitative measure of the importance of the factors in buying decision, qualitative measure of the key competitors, and qualitative research for each of the purchasers and users including in salient publics.This will avoids the possibility of a misdirected image measurement that leads to develop hypotheses to be tested in the quantitative phase. Second, data collection phase is collected by telephone surveys. Using telephone survey has several advantages and also disadvantages. The advantages is over mailed questionnaires. The information or data can be obtained faster. It also make the interviewer can clarify the questions that been asking. While the disadvantages using telephone survey is when the questionnaire is long or complex. The great action is personal interviews to collect the long or complex data from the surveys.Third, the image gap analysis phase is when th e marketing research department summarizes and analyzes the collected data, and graphically portrays the results. The image is portrayed on a set of bipolar scales. Each scales runs from one to five (poor to excellent). It has two profiles plotted over the scales which represent many different comparisons. The comparisons is two public’s views, two time periods, the company and its major competitor, two products and lastly the actual image and desired image. The collecting image data have to indicate the importance of each attribute.There is two methods to analysis data. First, the direct method includes asking the respondent to simply rank the attributes by distributing a constant sum of points over the attributes. Using rating scale also can be use in direct method. Second, the indirect method is obtained from the data using a regression or conjoint methodology. Company needs to achieve a high image rating on each attribute that is highly important to its target public. If company image is not making the best possible first impression, it really could be losing thousands of dollars, as prospects flit away to ompanies they perceive as the better company. It means, the company will lose sales to its competitors. Then, it also make company overspend on an attribute of low or less importance to the customer which not needs it. The best things to do is devote resources to the various factor which is important to the target market. The factor is usually about the public and the offerings example like excellent services, customer support, product and sales force and communications quality. The communication quality is like using brochures, advertisements, product packages and business cards that reflect company’s image.For example, a children's party planning service might create materials using bright colors and cheery images that look fun and youthful. Four, all the analysis before show that the image modification actions and tracking phase is a pic ture of the company’s major strengths and weakness as perceived by respondents. Company have to develops plan to modify any of its attribute standings; include competitors’ standings on same attributes. Then, the firm’s standing in each quadrant has different ramifications for management action.It also acknowledged that changing the perceived attribute importance is usually more difficult than changing the perceived attribute rating. When management identifies more than one image gaps either it real gaps or perception gaps, they need to be prioritized. They have to consider the five questions about the gaps. The gaps questions is the gaps influence buyer behavior, best strategy to close the gap, costs and benefits of closing gap, time to close the gap and the better to change importance ratings or attribute ratings.All the specifying strategies to close image gaps must have cost-benefit analysis which includes potential competitor responses. The cost-benefits ar e include the resources and time in improving image perception of a particular factor or attribute if competitors can close the image gap rapidly and at low cost. Closing a different image gap may reduce the possibility of competitive countermoves and result in advantageous niche positioning. After answering the question above, management will be in good positions to prepare a sound image modification strategy.Management can track the marketing image has improved in the desired direction after the action plans are implanted. Corporate image management or company image management is one of the most potent marketing and management tools to use in ensuring the viable execution of the corporate vision. It provides one of the most powerful strategic marketing weapons available in the corporate arsenal. It also process the highest level of functional control of the organization. Progressive company leaders will drive their organizations forward in victory in today's and tomorrow marketing , use management and marketing discipline.The underlining principle of the discipline is touches the customer attention to make sure they perceives company image. This fundamental perception will be the major factor that determines whether the customer will decide to conduct business with the company and the important things is enter into a long-term and mutually rewarding relationship with company. The image tracking system that used in company will used as an early warning system to identify the future and the present shits in the company’s competitive performance to be excellent organization.There greater marketing issue is corporate image management which is in growing higher competitive markets. The corporate image management will be a key marketing discipline well into the next century. Management have to determines the strength and the factors that improve its image or product with image gaps. Nowadays, the important things for winning and maintaining customer relation ships now takes place in the minds, emotions and perceptions of the customers for the company’s marketing image. |   Ã‚  Ã‚  | |

The Untold Story essays

The Untold Story essays Womens Studies September 21st The Untold Story: An In-class Critique It is truly mind boggling how one could spend twenty years in a province and have no true concept of the struggle those before her went through so that she can sit in her big, spacious, nicely decorated room with my laptop and write about them. What it must have been like to be a woman at that time. To be considered the property of someone. To work endlessly next to men building a community and receive nothing while the men were paid in alcohol and drank in heated taverns while the women sat at home with no heat and freezing, starving children. Or to put in endless hours of fund raising to rebuild a community destroyed by fire only to have no say on where the money was spent. When Jessie O and Emma Peters led the first march to the House of Assembly in 1891, I wonder if they realized their fight would take thirty-four years and continue into another generation. I realize that men are often stubborn but thirty-four years seems a little extreme. I found it very ironic and interesting that while all this was going on a Queen was ruling Britain and the colonies. A women was trusted enough to rule but not to vote. Hmmm... Try as the first suffragists did the wave of the movement ended when Jessie O moved to Montreal with her husband. It would be nearly a decade before the movement caught the current again. The early 1900s brought about the second wave of the movement. I never thought of how much harder it was for Newfoundland women to rally support since, unlike Britain and America they had to get to the women in outports, of which there were many spread over vast land. In this new era women formed their own club to discuss important issues, since while they could attend the mens meeting, they could not talk. They called it the Reading Room and made use of their time by reading about other parts of the world and their st...

Artist Inspiration and Beauty in Thought

Artist Inspiration and Beauty in Thought Free Online Research Papers In this paper I will discuss how an artist’s inspiration is sublime beauty and how they try to produce their art, every time they make an attempt at producing perfect beauty they fail, where is their motivation to continue, so sublime beauty must be achievable if the artist is motivated. Yet it remains a subject of argument as to what art, if any form of art, is perfect, and if there is such a thing as perfect beauty, it would appear that we would know what it is. In the following paragraphs, I will attempt to demonstrate that perfect beauty is a deception of one’s sublime thought of beauty. Socrates states in Ion that when people try to convey their thoughts of beauty in a form of art, that it comes out as a deception of the truth of real beauty. â€Å"Then if anyone has not a certain art, he will not know what is said or done well in that art.†(Ion 537C) And since no one man’s art is exactly the same as another, it cannot be conveyed perfectly to reveal his sublime thought of perfect beauty. Since the creator himself cannot convey even his own perception of perfect beauty, than no one can see this true perfect beauty. Man is imperfect and can never perfectly funnel their thoughts into a physical form. Art is only an interpretation which we cannot conduct our thoughts in such a manner to exactly show what is in thought into the physical form. I will defend against two objections in this paper. I will argue against the objection of all thoughts need an origin, since all thoughts have an origin where does the thought of sublime beauty originate from. I will argue this by stating that its origin comes to us based off our personal experience, based off our experience it makes us think of how that experience would be more beautiful even to a point where one might think of how that experience could be perfectly beautiful. Thus we get the sublime beauty. I will use an analogy the origin of appetite to demonstrate this. The second objection in this paper is that everyone has their own concept of what perfect beauty is and that beauty is relative in thought. I will respond to this by stating that art is relative in thought and no man or woman is perfect. Since they are not perfect they cannot convey their sublime thought of perfect beauty in the any physical form. Some not espousing this view may contend the origin of sublime beauty in thought needs an account. The account of sublimity in though occurs based off experience, simply because it comes based our experience. Sublimity in thought comes to us by different exposure. An example of sublimity in thought through exposure is when one looks and interprets a painting. One cannot help to interpret the painting. When one interprets something they bring out the meaning behind it. Since the meaning is being interpreted it is being thought on a deeper meaning. The deeper meaning causes one to think of it in a way where the sublime thought or perfect thought can be imagined. The sublime beauty is caused by the individual’s ability think progressively, and how that painting could be made better. Since the idea of how to make it better is only in thought it has no limits to how great it can be. Reality has natural laws which everything has to follow. Contrary to where thoughts don’t ha ve boundaries, any thought can happen. This happens in a similar way to us, just the way that appetite comes from experience. Our appetite happens based off our previous experience. One eats a delicious salad. As he is eating the salad he is enjoying it. After he indulges in the salad one begins to think about how the salad could be better. The next time that person is hungry he is going to want to eat a better salad than that her had, even though the salad was enjoyable. He wants it to be better. He imagines his dream salad based of his previous salad. Regardless of how many salads he tries, one will always imagine a greater salad. The more experience you have the greater amount of sublime beauty you will have in thought. It comes natural. One might object to this argument by stating that perfect beauty is relative in thought. Beauty in physical art is relative and not real. It is inspired from his sublimity. But since man is not perfect, neither can the art that he produces that is based off his interpretation of his sublime thought of perfect beauty. Yet, art can still be useful and awesome and magnificent. Art can be useful in the way that it may bring one be inspired by that certain art piece. To see this art as useful and wonderful we need to come in with the mindset that this art is only an approximation of beauty. We can learn from art but only if we know that it is false and that we do not become beguiled by this cunning interpretation. Art can be good even though it is a deception the same way an illusion of an oasis in the desert can be useful to someone lost in the desert. It keeps them moving; it keeps them from standing still it keeps us striving for that perfect beauty. Art is our oasis, it keeps us think ing and imaging what perfect beauty is. It keeps us from not thinking and not pondering perfect beauty. Why do we have so many art museums and value art so much since art is only a deception of the truth? We want to know others interpretation of their sublime thought of perfect beauty and compare it to our own. We like to appreciate people’s artist ability to deceive because we need it. We want it. We can’t live without the lie. We want it so bad to see interpretation of their own thought. Because everyone tries so hard to express their sublime thought of perfect beauty, that when we see someone’s interpretation of their sublime beauty remotely close to our own interpretation we think of it as beauty. Thus there are many different types of art because some people can view some art to be more sensual to the senses because they perceive it to be remotely similar to their sublime interpretation, but do not have the skill to convey it like the artist does. Thus it i s only a false hood of perfect beauty because it is not exactly like our sublime thought. In conclusion, perfect beauty cannot exist nor be created. It is only a sublime thought. An objection that was brought up was that sublimity in thought must have an origin. Sublime thought of beauty comes to us from experience. We interpret different things which in turns make us imagine a form greater than that of our original experience. Since it was our thought is greater than our original experience it must be our idea of perfect sublime beauty. The second objection I brought up in this paper was that perfect beauty is relative and everyone might see it differently. The response is that art is a deception and that not a single being can put perfect beauty into a physical form. It is false and a lie. But this deception can be good if we see it as a deception and not as real. It is not perfect beauty. Perfect beauty cannot exist; regardless of how hard man tries to convey their thoughts in word, paint, sculpture. It cannot be done because man is an imperfect being and will never be come imperfect. Thus, sublime beauty can only be in thought. This thesis matters because we as a society must see and understand art to be a deception. If we see some art that we perceive it to be as perfect beauty then we will stop striving to obtain the true perfect beauty which can only be in thought. If we stop trying to see this perfect beauty in the physical form we in essence stop striving for truth. And if we stop striving for truth then we are wasting away and life is pointless. Because truth is the one thing in the world that everyone wants. And we need to strive to become closer to that truth. Thus art is good because it gets us thinking about our sublime idea of perfect beauty. Research Papers on Artist Inspiration and Beauty in ThoughtAnalysis Of A Cosmetics AdvertisementHip-Hop is ArtMarketing of Lifeboy Soap A Unilever ProductUnreasonable Searches and SeizuresThree Concepts of PsychodynamicComparison: Letter from Birmingham and CritoQuebec and CanadaArguments for Physician-Assisted Suicide (PAS)Capital PunishmentHonest Iagos Truth through Deception

See instructions Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

See instructions - Term Paper Example Furthermore, I edited the document two times after each peer review. The first peer reviewer was Robert Luo. He suggested that I should write more clearly about the exact identity of my author and audience, and why HUD intends to offer its TMS to the University of Maryland. He also suggested using a chart to compare HUD’s TMS with other existing systems. Moreover, he provided a good analogy also for the TMS, as he compares it to a central nervous system. He also recommended a white paper format because it can offer more technical and numerical information about the advantages and superiority of the HUD’s TMS compared to other systems. I addressed his issues by changing the format to a white paper one. I also determined a specific audience and clarified why the HUD is reaching out to the University of Maryland in particular. I did not include suggestions about charts and numerical detail because I will be going over the word count and I could not find relevant data at th at time. I will try to include that in future drafts. My second peer reviewer was Kevin Muldoon. He commented on my run-on sentences and unclear choice of words. He also wanted me to elaborate more on the goals of the Office of Sustainability. Furthermore, he recommended deleting the headings and explaining the relevance of and connection among my resources. He added that I should use a bibliography page instead. Moreover, he suggested that I should use a business letter format because it is the best way to get my extended definition paper to the target audience. I addressed these issues by fixing my run-on sentences and simplifying words and sentences to make them clearer. I did not think that I needed to elaborate more on the goals of the Office of Sustainability because I thought it was clear already that they wanted to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to help resolve transportation costs and traffic issues. I also changed the format to a business

Business Law (International) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Business Law (International) - Essay Example Some of the US based companies and exporting manufacturers are not aware of piracy, counterfeiting and theft of their patent or trademark in other countries. It was reported that the brand name, products, packaging style and business plans of some US companies have been copied by some businesses abroad. For this reason, it is recommended that businesses must seek trademark and patent protection in their concerned foreign market ahead of exporting to such markets. The protection of intellectual properties varies widely around the world. When intellectual property becomes more important in international trade, the differences between different protection acts become a source of problem in international economic relation. In 1994, the agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) was negotiated at the end of Uruguay Round of the GATT administered by World Trade Organization. TRIPS put forward requirements that countries laws are expected to meet rights for protecting copyrights, geographical indications, integrated layout- designs, patents, and industrial designs. The Anti- counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is currently negotiated by the governments of United State, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Japan, Canada and Mexico. ACTA imposed strong enforcement of intellectual property pertaining to internet activity and information based trading. The WTO’s TRIPS agreement attempts to reduce the gaps in protecting intellectual property around the world and to bring them under systematic international rules. Philippe Sands says that the 1994 WTO TRIPS agreement establishes a regime requiring WTO members to make patents available for any inventions, whether product or processes, in all fields of technology without discrimination, subject to the normal tests of novelty, inventiveness and applicability. It also requires that