Cognitive Dissonance Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Cognitive Dissonance - Assignment Example As opposed to an efficacy test, the article conducts an effectiveness test within a real world context. Procedures pertaining to the research will all be done in an ecologically valid environment free from laboratory control. In order to objectively test the underlying hypothesis, researchers conducted a scientific research exercise. This essay involves an evaluation on the research article, and includes appraising both the dependent and independent variables adopted during the process. In addition, a thorough critique on results and findings will serve the purpose of unearthing strengths and weaknesses contained within the article. Finally, suggestion for future research will provide directions for improved versions of the prevention program in subject. Dependent versus Independent Variables Since it is a scientific research article, both dependent and independent variables are contained within the underlying hypothesis. The hypothesis claims that dissonance-inducing habits causes a n improvement in teenagers’ eating patterns and reduces dissatisfaction towards their body images. In this context, the independent variables include; i. Dissonance-inducing habits ii. Psycho educational Brochure control condition On the contrary, dependent variables, commonly referred to as the outcome variables includes; i. Improvement in eating disorder risk factors like dieting ii. Status of eating disorder symptoms iii. Risk for onset of sub threshold and threshold conditions like anorexia nervosa iv. Degree of escalation in individuals’ body mass v. Depressive symptoms Dissonance-inducing practices are independent variables because they are manipulated by researchers in order to elicit the desired outcome from participants. According to Stice, Paul, Jeff and Heather (2009), changing the intensity of dissonance-inducing practices will cause a corresponding change in the desired effects of improved eating habits. On the other hand, status of eating disorder symptom s and the other listed variables fall under the dependent category. There variables are tested for cause-effect relationship whereby independent variables are the cause while the dependent variables are expected outcomes. ANOVA Results Significant Results Within the findings section, researchers conducted analysis of variance test in an effort to ascertain difference between the dissonance-induced practices and psycho educational brochure conditions. After the analysis, certain findings were found to indicate significant difference between the two conditions, while other results indicated little or insignificant difference. Among the ANOVA results found to being significant include; i. Thin-ideal internalization

Describe the architecture and building of El Escorial Research Paper

Describe the architecture and building of El Escorial - Research Paper Example On its south were five cloisters which included the royal palace and other offices. The northern part comprised of the living quarters of the monks. The complex design was of two architects, Toledo and Herrera who was credited with the completion of the building after revising the plans laid by Toledo (Herrera et al. 1990). The interior is composed of massive walls that were relieved by Doric pilasters without the concession to the decorative richness. This produced a serious monument beyond any Italian Renaissance ever imagined. On the exterior part, the monastery’s gigantic scale and the plain gray granite walls appears very unfriendly. This design was established by Herrera and named it the Herrera style and was to prevail in Spain for a period of fifty years. The granite complex also memorializes the first military victory and the defeat of the French on 10th august 1557. This particular day was also the San Lorenzo’s day and thus the name San Lorenzo de El Escorial. On the other hand, the rectilinear complex which has several internal courtyards is exhibited on the grill where San Lorenzo was murdered. The building’s floor plan takes a kind of a gridiron. This design had a traditional belief that was based on the honor of St. Lawrence who was murdered by being roasted on a grill. The origin of this layout is somehow controversial. The El Escorial is not by any chance made unique by the grill like shape. Several buildings have been found to take the same shape with numerous interior courtyards. This shape had fully emerged after Herrera had eliminated it from the original conception of the six interior towers. The Temple of Solomon design was the basis of the El Escorial. This was extensively modified for the purpose of accommodating the additional functions intended by Philip II. The building therefore, was intended to serve many purposes which also contributed to its design. It was

Starbucks international business Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Starbucks international business - Assignment Example The rise of business opportunity in different markets is creating a strong appeal in terms of market attractiveness to the firms located in the global markets. The factor of market attractiveness is resulting in the entry of firms in to new geographical locations. It is important to highlight that the entry of the firms in different foreign markets around the world is continuously raising the level of competition in the marketplaces. This assignment focuses on the international business aspects of Starbucks. In a more elaborate manner, it can be said that this assignment focuses on analyzing the international business activities of Starbucks as well as understanding the challenges that they face for being present in an international business. This assignment also aims to evaluate the business stage of Starbucks and make necessary recommendations. Analysis of international business activities Starbucks is a widely popular beverage brand of the United States, which has presence in mult iple markets around the world. ... In the current times, the company produces and sources its highly specific Arabica coffee from various international markets like Latin America, Africa as well as Asia (Pashman, â€Å"Do You Know Where Your Coffee Beans Come From?†). While analyzing the international business activities of Starbucks, the factor of international expansion of Starbucks also has to be taken into account. The highly popular news site Forbes has reported that under the leadership of President and CEO, Howard Schultz, the company has designed some very ambitious international expansion plans. The international expansion plans are highly organic in nature and focuses largely on penetrating in the emerging markets of the east like India and China. The company has plans of opening around 1300 stores in various markets around the world, out of which around 600 stores will be opened in the market of China (Loeb, â€Å"Starbucks: Global Coffee Giant Has New Growth Plans†). Talking in regards to the long term expansion plans of the company, it can be stated that the current management aims to open around 1500 stores in China by the close of the year 2015 (Trefis Team, â€Å"Starbucks U.S. Growth Will Remain Solid While Overseas Expansion Continues†). Challenges for Starbucks as an International Corporation While analyzing the challenges that exist for Starbucks, focus has to be given to the fact that Starbucks is an international brand which enjoys presence in multiple global markets. The most important challenge for Starbucks is the level of competition. Since the main offering of Starbucks is beverage, hence the brand faces competition of both primary and secondary nature. The primary competition of Starbucks arises from the multiple

Explain the economic basis of African Slavery and its impact on the Essay

Explain the economic basis of African Slavery and its impact on the emerging nation - Essay Example At the time of slavery, cotton from the South comprised the majority of all cotton grown world wide. With the invention of the cotton gin, cotton could not be grown fast enough to meet the demand. Without slaves cotton production would have dramatically decreased, effecting not only the slave owners, but the pious abolitionists and everyone that wore cotton harvested by the slaves. This is just one example of slaves being cheap labor. Many other professions in the South were based on this cheap labor, such as housekeepers, ironsmiths, and various other jobs slaves worked at for fee. The second economic reason slavery lasted so long was the monetary value of each slave. Each slave cost from two hundred to two thousand dollars depending on gender and age. These prices are an example, different sales had different prices, but slaves had monetary value. Southern slave owners would complain that the government was taking valuable property if slaves were freed. Slave owners did not see slaves as humans with souls, but as property. The monetary value of a slave leads to the third economic reason slavery lasted so long. If slaves were freed, could the government afford it? Questions were raised such as who would pay slave owners for their loss? And who would give slaves money to start their new life as free in America? And lastly who would pay to have the slaves returned to Africa? Would slaves take jobs from whites? The North and the South were at loss concerning what to do once slaves were free. No one took into account that once the slaves were free that they would work for wages to be integrated into American society. The North and the South were overly concerned with the economic issues of slavery. Although the North had many people against slavery, many looked the other way because of the imported goods from the South because of the cheap labor of slaves. The United States government did not want

Comparison Of Domestic Logistics With International Logistics Information Technology Essay

Comparison Of Domestic Logistics With International Logistics Information Technology Essay Logistics is the management of business  operations, such as the acquisition, storage, transportation and delivery of goods along the supply chain. The key elements of the logistics are discussed in the report to make the process effective. There should be a good strategy to make the logistics effective. The NAF clothing company have retail stores in every major city in UK. It has decided to open new branches in all over the world. The logistics operations will differ in every country. So the best transportation method and the logistics system are to be analyzed before opening the branches in the other countries. Companies always have the threat of global competition so they must always be analysing their competitors if their focus is selling or manufacturing overseas. Now the domestic components of the business turn to be a part of the large global supply chain. This involves a lot of tactics in the local operations. There are many things that are to be considered in the supply chain they are feasibility, technology and visibility. These are needed to be employed in order to form a supply chain that functions efficiently, technology is becoming upgraded day by day and hence they will allow different alternatives of systems to communicate and share information. Visibility means to identify where the goods are. This is very critical for companies to in order for companies to manage their supply chain by identifying the important points throughout the supply chain so that they can reduce the risk of delays. In regard to flexibility companies need to integrate the alternate locations to switch d estinations both domestic and global in order to get the goods to their ultimate destination. At global level companies need to collect large amount of data and transform it to useful information to streamline their operations and to reduce inventory. Managing the supply chain is thus regarded as managing information than moving goods. Also globally operational differences come into picture. Though the concept is the same the out show is different between domestic and global logistics but international trade is more complicated than domestic as it requires different modes of transportation and multiple hand changes. Also the skills and knowledge needed to manage differs from a global to the domestic structure. Globally logistics industry has grown to a high degree of sophistication far in the westernised countries than Asia and Africa. Thus information is not well recognised in Asia and other developing countries. Thus there are chances of missing the information flow and ultimately customers cant be confident of what they will receive when the shipment actually arrives as th ere will be gaps in the visibility. In global logistics there are three main operations i.e., getting the goods to the port of the country of origin, shipping from the port to the destination port. 2.1. Inventory holding: In a distribution system it is important for a company to hold stocks at adequate level and not in a higher level. It is very important to hold stock as it is necessary to balance between demand and supply as there is always a difference between the volumes of supply and demand. The other important reasons are To lower the total production costs To regulate the variations in demand To control the different supply times To lower buying costs and to have an advantage of bulk buying To be aware of seasonal variations To help in the smooth functioning of the production and operating systems To minimise delays in production due to out of stock of spare parts. To facilitate the availability of work in progress. There are a number of types of inventory positions held at different strategy positions in a company mainly at the point with customers and suppliers. They are Work in progress stocks Finished products Pipeline stocks General stores Spare parts Consumables Rotatables and repairs It can also be classified as Working stock Cycle stock Safety stock 2.2. Inventory replenishment system An effective inventory replenishment system aims at balancing the cost of holding stock and the service provided to the customers. The inventory replenishment system was designed to minimise the effect of the high or low level of stock outcomes and to identify the most appropriate level of inventory for all the products that are to be stocked. The negative aspect of low level of stock is that the supplies cannot be made at the specified date and there for e it might lead to a loss of the existing business as well as future business opportunities. And since goods have to be ordered now and then frequently this will increase the cost of purchase as it may involve huge ordering and delivery expenses. On the contrary high stock level are also a major disadvantage as the capital is locked up with the stock and it cannot be used up anywhere else and would tend to remain idle for a long time. Also the goods might become outdated or expired and hence may result in loss and the last disadvant age is that there may be a need to provide and maintain large storage space thus involving more expenses. It is always difficult to calculate the amount of demand based on the available next level of demand. So companies need to hold a higher level of transparency in maintaining information to suppliers and stock holding and demand all through the supply chain. 3. Different types of transportation modes: The mode of transportation is defined by which a shipment is moved from point A to point B, such as by air, rail, road, or sea. The transportation modes vary for both national and international distribution. The transportation modes inside the UK are mostly by land. The Land transportation includes road transportation and Rail transportation. Road Transportation: Road transportation mode is better than rail transportation modes. The Road transportation mode is the mode that has expanded over the last 50 years. The road transportation is made by trucks. The trucks are used for the distribution of goods from the warehouse to the local stores. This transportation mode is easy if the roads are good and the trucks have the large capacity of storage. The goods are distributed from the manufacturing unit to the distribution centres. The goods are then distributed from the distribution centres to the local stores. Road transportation modes have some advantages. They are This method is cost effective. The capital cost of the vehicle is low. The low vehicle costs make the company to expand the road transportation. Fast Delivery Easy to monitor the location of goods. Easy to communicate with the driver Ideal for short distances Rail Transportation: Rail transportation is another transportation method used for long-distance shipping. This offers the same speed as the trucks. This is also in-expensive like road transportation. The rail transportation is used to move the goods which are heavy and to move for a long distance. The good are then moved to another truck to get into the local shops. Due to this, for so many transportations the rail transportation is not used. But to move a long distance the rail transportation is the best method. The Rail transportation is the transportation method after the road transportation method in UK. So the Trucking is the best mode of transportation for the NAF clothing company. The roads are good and also can get product anywhere through the trucks. So the communication with the driver is easy and the other advantages are given above. So the trucking is the best transportation method in the national transportation. International transportation modes: International logistics modes are used to distribute the goods throughout the world. The international transportation modes are by Air and Sea. The services in the International ocean transportation are through linear ships and tramp ships. The Linear ships travel on a regular voyage and it has a pre established schedule with the determined ports. The Tramp ships service do not operates on a regular schedule. It travels to the place wherever the company wants the cargo to be delivered. Different types of vessels are used in this. They are container ships, Roll-on/Roll-off ships, Combination ships, Break bulk ships, Crude carriers, Lash ships, Dry bulk carriers and Gas carriers. Different types of containers are General purpose container, Reefer container, Tank container and Dry bulk container. In shipping mode, there is a competition between the conference shipping and the non-conference shipping. The conference shipping is the group of shipping companies operating vessels in the same trade lanes and they agree not to compete in price and they charge the same price for all same type of cargos. This is reliable and will be useful at the time of entering into the international logistics transportation. The non conference shipping is provided by the other members who are not in the conference. They offer different rates for the same type of cargo. So a newly entered person cannot get into that immediately. It takes time to analyze the cost and quality of different services provided by them. The Air transportation is the next method in the international transportation. The Air transportation is expensive but it will be suitable for immediate delivery. The goods which are to be delivered quickly for emergency purpose Air transportation is the best way. There are different types of air crafts in the international Air transportation. They are Passenger air planes, Combis, Air freighters and Charters. So the Air transportation is the best transportation for the food products but for the clothing industry The Air transportation is expensive. So for the NAF clothing company, the Shipping transportation is the best transportation method for the international transportation. The shipping transportation is in-expensive and also can get more profit from the goods. The developing countries like India and China will choose the shipping transportation is the best method. The Air transportation is expensive but it will be suitable for the food products and for immediate delivery. So the shipping transportation is the best transportation method for international Logistics. Monitoring and Control system in Logistics: Monitoring and control process is the procedure to obtain the detailed information about the process used. There are some approaches used in the process control monitoring. The main two approaches are balanced scorecard and the SCOR model. The SCOR model is one which is suitable for taking supply chain strategic decisions: The supply chain operations reference model (SCOR) is a management tool used to address, communicate, and improve supply chain management decision within a company and also with the customers and suppliers of the company. This model says the business process should satisfy the customer requirements. This is the best model for the supply chain strategic decision making. This integrates business concepts of bench marking, measurement and process re-engineering into its framework. This focuses on the five main areas of the supply chain management. Those five areas are plan, source, make, deliver and return. These are the areas which repeat again and again for every process. Plan: The planning comes first in every model. The demand and supply planning management has to be included first in this. The resources for the entire supply chain have to be planned and determined in the first stage. This also includes business rules to improve the efficiency of the supply chain. Source: This includes how to manage the inventory, supplier agreements, supplier performance and supplier network. This also deals with things like when to receive the goods, verify the goods and when to transfer the product. This also describes material acquisition, procurement unit cost and vendor lead time. Make: This includes production activities, packaging, stocking and releasing. This also includes managing the production activities, facilities and equipment requirement. This includes production management also. Deliver: This step includes order management, warehousing techniques and transportation modes. This involves managing product lifecycles, transportation, inventories, assets, importing and exporting requirements. Return: Companies have to be prepared to handle the return of defective products, packages or containers. This includes managing assets, return inventory, transportation and regulatory requirements. The benefits of the SCOR model are (1) It includes every step in the supply chain process. (2) Most of the companies prove that this model has identified the problems in the supply chain. (3)This model enables a two to six times of return on investment. The operation of control systems starts with setting the objectives. Collect the data and compare with the objectives. Find the differences between the current data and the objectives. Then take the corrective action to attain the objectives. These are tre basi operations of the control system. Tracking and tracing technologies: There are different types of tracking and tracing technologies used in the Logistics transportation systems. The efficient technology will provide the details of the product at every stage. The main technologies are discussed below one by one. Electronic Data Interchange: Electronic Data Transmission is the transmission of data between organizations from one computer system to another computer system. The EDI is used for electronic fund transfer between the financial institutions. The companies use EDI to increase efficiency and to save cost. The communication can occur in less time with fewer errors. There is no labour cost in EDI. The data accuracy is more when compare to the paper documents. So EDI makes suppliers attractive to other companies and retailers. Bar Codes: Every product has a bar code in it. The bar code reader is used to scan the bar code in the product. The Bar code reader consists of a scanner, decoder and a cable that connects reader to the computer. When a product is scanned the details of the product stored in the database. The details already stored in the database. But after scanning that there is a confirmation that the product has reached the destination. Radio Data Terminals: Radio data terminals are very effective in the control and monitoring applications. The hand held Radio Data Terminal is very useful because its portable and handy. It is used in many industries where an information is needed while on the movement of products from one place to another place. This has an internal rechargeable battery pack and an integral antenna. This also has a keypad with 20 programmable keys. This has so many features which help to communicate quickly. Radio Frequency Identity technology: Radio frequency Identification technology (RFID) is a technology that used to communicate between a reader and an electronic tag attached to the object. This is used to track the location of an object. There are three types of RFID tags. They are passive RFID tags. They are passive RFID tags, active RFID tags and also batter assisted passive (BAP) RFID tags. The passive RFID tags have no power source and active RFID tags contain a battery. The battery assisted passive RFID tags requires an external source to wake up and provides a greater range and has a high forward link capability. These are the technologies used to track the goods in the industries. By these methods we can know about where the product is moving. NAF clothing company plc has to follow SCOR model for the better performance. The effective mode of transport to be used for national requirement is through Trucking Freight and inters modal freight. For Global Distribution air freight is expensive but less in use, so Sea transportation is the better one. This must have control on stock, maintaining stock. So the company must follow the global logistic process for expanding its market world-wide.

The Lieutenant in Othello Essay -- Othello essays

The Lieutenant in Othello  Ã‚        Ã‚   Iago, in the Bard’s tragedy Othello, detests in an irrational way the very person of Cassio. Does Michael Cassio deserve the governorship of the island of Cyprus? What is his relationship with Bianca? Let’s look at these and other questions relating to the lieutenant in this essay.    David Bevington in William Shakespeare: Four Tragedies concludes that it is the â€Å"daily beauty† in the life of the lieutenant which underlies the destructive behavior of the antagonist:    The â€Å"daily beauty† in Cassio’s life makes Iago feel â€Å"ugly† by comparison (5.1.19-20), engendering in Iago a profound sense of lack of worth from which he can temporarily find relief only by reducing Othello and others to his own miserable condition. He is adept at provoking self-hatred in others because he suffers from it himself. (223)    Blanche Coles in Shakespeare’s Four Giants comments on the character of Cassio:    In a casual reading of Othello, it may seem that the character of Cassio is not sufficiently well drawn, because, for reasons connected with his portrayal of Iago, Shakespeare delays the full characterization of Cassio until almost the end of the play. However, we have a number of brief revelations of his personality that mark him distinctly – in his genuine anxiety for Othello’s safety, in his abstaining from taking part in the bold and suggestive comments of Iago to the two women as they wait for Othello’s ship and, a little later, in his sincere regret about the loss of his reputation after he has partaken of the wine which Iago has forced upon him. (85-86)    Cassio makes his first appearance in the play in Act 1 Scene 2, when he is conducting the official business of the... ...– another emotional revelation for Michael Cassio. Finally, the ultimate emotional blow to the ex-officer comes when Othello stabs himself and dies: â€Å"This did I fear, but thought he had no weapon; / For he was great of heart.†    As â€Å"lord governor† of the island of Cyprus now, Michael Cassio has charge of the â€Å"censure of this hellish villain, / The time, the place, the torture.† Lodovico appeals to Cassio to let his justice, not his mercy prevail: â€Å"O, enforce it!†    WORKS CITED    Bevington, David, ed. William Shakespeare: Four Tragedies. New York: Bantam Books, 1980.    Coles, Blanche. Shakespeare’s Four Giants. Rindge, New Hampshire: Richard Smith Publisher, 1957.    Shakespeare, William. Othello. In The Electric Shakespeare. Princeton University. 1996. http://www.eiu.edu/~multilit/studyabroad/othello/othello_all.html No line nos.

Fahrenheit 451 Pg 113-129 Journal Essay

â€Å"What is there about fire that’s so lovely?†¦ It’s perpetual motion; the thing man wanted to invent but never did†¦ What is fire?†¦Its real beauty is that is destroys responsibility and consequences†¦clean quick, sure; nothing to rot later. Antibiotic, aesthetic, practical† (Bradbury 115). This section of reading is without argument dominated by fire and its effects. For the society in F 451, fire is the magic elixir for cleansing life of its hardships and enigmas. Montag uses fire to cleanse his life of the restraints that are holding him back from freedom. Before Chief Beatty sends Montag to burn his own house, he informs Montag that fire is the solution to everything. Beatty sends Montag into his home with a powerful weapon. This powerful weapon is simply an explanation. To the reader’s dismay, the explanation is later used against its dragoman. As Montag begins to enjoy burning his own house down, he begins to concur with Beatty that fire is the solution to anything and everything. Bradbury makes it evident that Montag enjoys burning his house by using descriptive accounts like â€Å"it was good to burn† (116) and â€Å"Fire was best for everything† (116). As he fires each shot of liquid fire, Montag is incinerating his past into ash. Fire plays a contradictory role in this reading. Montag uses fire as his liberator against his past, while at the same time violates its vast power. Since Montag‘s past has held him down for so long, he is feeling pleasure getting rid of it. To do so, he uses fire’s sheer dynamism to justify his problems, a lesson he derives from Chief Beatty. Montag’s cowering back to his old way of thinking shows the reader that he may not have changed as much as he believes he did. This is the case until he gets rid of the seconds thing that is holding him back from total edification. The barrage of quotes and explanations that Beatty radiates help prevent Montag from becoming completely contumacious and incorrigible against power. To eliminate the force that prevents him from being liberated, Montag uses fire to kill a pundit of fire. Ray Bradbury has filled F 451 with instances of irony, so unsurprisingly he uses a major one in the climax of the novel. Beatty uses fire to defend his mentality and the mentality of society, but ironically the bulwarking of fire leads to Beatty’s demise. In tonight’s reading, Montag successfully exterminates two of the three things that hold him back from outright emancipation. To eliminate Chief Beatty and his past, Montag uses fire. Up to this point, Montag uses fire as a tool for dissipation. In this section, however, Montag uses fire as a tool to free himself from the restraints of a vacant life. Bradbury depicts to the reader that Montag craves change by writing â€Å"burned the bedroom walls and cosmetics chest because he wanted to change everything† (116). The third and final obstacle that is holding Montag back from utter freedom is his own conscience. If he can learn to control his feelings and reasoning, Montag will be free once and for all.