Maria Montessori Language Arts Rationale Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Maria Montessori Language Arts Rationale - Essay Example A child learns to listen by hearing the various sounds that the adults around him and also learns to speak by imitating the various sounds that the adults make around him.as Maria Montessori said: There are three main areas where children are prepared for reading and writing. The first is physical skills where a child learns to balance using their hands and coordination of the hand and the eye works. The child also learns to concentrate and focus on the practical issues of life, recognizing sizes and shapes, working with paints, crayons, pencils and practice in talking. The second skill that a child learns is the mental skills where the child learns to absorb and how to use language and how to learn the sounds that each letter of the alphabet makes. This can be made easy by playing games to break up words into sounds (Montessori, 2010). The third skills are the social skills where people living in homes sit down and have conversations instead of watching the television or using the computer to learn language. A directress would know that a child is ready to learn a sound if they try to repeat what has been said to them by an adult around them. The child will also be making sounds on their own that they have heard before. Sounds are taught to children by repeating the sounds over and over until the child is able to differentiate it from other sounds. In learning the different sounds, he child is taught the various sounds of the different letters of the alphabet. There are different rules for the letters and children are very receptive towards rules. Therefore, they are first taught the rules than the different sounds of the letters of the alphabet (Montessori, 1909). The child is taught the phonetic words first and once they have mastered the phonetic part of the alphabets, they are next taught the non-phonetic part of the language where there are no rules whatsoever. A child learns to blend sounds by learning the individual

Reproductive Rights as a Historical and Feminist Issue Essay Example for Free

Reproductive Rights as a Historical and Feminist Issue Essay One of the biggest issues facing women in American society today has been an issue bouncing around in politics for decades: reproductive rights. Women can never have equal opportunity to men without equal opportunity to make their own decisions about their bodies. Reproductive rights for women not only include the right to abort a pregnancy, but it also involves any choice a woman may make concerning her body. She must have the right to choose when she wants to get pregnant, choose when she wants to have sex, have easy access to information about her body and reproductive system, as well as access to contraceptives and non-stigmatized medical care. Today’s women in American society still have to battle the right to information, the right to contraceptives, and the right to abortion. Sex Education in public schools has always been a widely debated topic in American History. Determining what information to give out and how old the children need to be is constantly being argued. However, many programs are only preaching abstinence, especially to young women. Young men on the other hand get the â€Å"condom talk. † Very little information about female contraceptives, physical or medicinal, is ever discussed in these sex education sessions. Rebecca Walker, in 1995, wrote that young women must be treated as growing, learning, individuals, and need information concerning â€Å"sex and access to birth control and abortion† in order to nurture their self-esteem and protect them from violence. With limited access to information, women are being denied the ability to make a fully cognitive decision about their bodies. Even women who have heard about female contraceptives tend to still only know very little about their options. Most women have only ever heard or relied on â€Å"the pill,† which during long-term use can sometimes have negative side effects on women. In its early stages of development and use, many women suffered severe side effects from the drug. The stigma against female contraceptives is very interesting. Could this be a resurgence of the idea that women should not have sexual inclinations? Female condoms, diaphragms, and other barrier methods besides the male condom can be confusing and intimidating for a woman to seek out, and many resort to the pill or â€Å"being careful. † In this instance both information and availability go hand-in-hand to allow women the knowledge to make an informed decision about their body. In 1891, Harriot Stanton Blatch (daughter of famous Elizabeth Cady Stanton) spoke out about a new term â€Å"Voluntary Motherhood. † She claimed that the upheld idea of motherhood as the highest moral position woman should strive to achieve was a lie, and that women who mothered unwelcome children were scorned. This creates another example of a double standard placed against women in society. The most notable of reproductive rights issues debated throughout history and into the present is the constitutionality of abortion. In 1973, the famous Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court case made all state laws against abortion deemed unconstitutional. However, lawmakers sought to impose regulations that still kept women from being able to control their bodies, defining who, when, and under what condition a woman could have the procedure. Many â€Å"pro-life† activists began criminal attacks on abortion clinics, 167 were reported between 1982 and 1997. [3] Feminists, especially in the second-wave movement, insisted that the choice of having an abortion was not a medical or criminal debate, but a â€Å"highly personal decision that belonged only to the woman who was pregnant. †[4] Women of color in American society during the 1970s also faced reproductive rights issues of their own. Many women of color in low economic standing were pressured into having sterilization procedures. These women were forced to make the life-altering decision usually while they were on the table just after delivering their child. Female sterilization of colored women at this time was equated to racial genocide, as it drastically cut down the predicted birthrate. Repugnant as this was, many states were chastised because they would fund these sterilizations but they would not support welfare programs to support these same families. Women should be able to make their own decisions about their bodies, especially when it comes to their sexual identity. Women should be able to decide whether or not they want to carry a child, and those who argue that women who deny motherhood are not listening to the women who argue for reproductive rights. Women need the power to control their bodies because that is the epitome of owning the power to be considered an equal in society. Women would not end up in abusive situations concerning their bodies if information and prevention were more readily available. With knowledge comes power, and that is proven in every argument through history. Argument for reproductive rights becomes a national topic every time the presidential race rolls around.

Data Collection And Data Analysis Physical Education Essay

Data Collection And Data Analysis Physical Education Essay The research method plays an essential role in addressing the research objectives with reliable and valid data. This section illustrates how and why a certain approach chosen to answer the research questions. The methodology of this research bases on research onion model (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2012). The structure of this chapter follows the layers of the research onion model. Figure 0.: The research onion Source:  © Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill 2008 (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2012, p.108) 3.1. Research philosophy Selecting the research philosophy is a necessary stage in the research process because it is important to reflect the perspective of a researcher and it also influences directly on the choice of research strategy and research methods (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2012). In business and management research, the popular philosophies includes positivism, realism interpretivism and pragmatism (Creswell, 2008; Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2012). Thus, this research should determine the suitable philosophies based on the philosophy theory and the research questions and research objectives stated above. Regarding the theory philosophy, Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2012) discuss that there are two key points of view including ontology and epistemology. Firstly, based on ontology, the nature of reality or being of researchers view about the positivist is objective, external and independent with social factors, but researchers view about the interpretivist is subjective, social constructed and changeable depend on the participants (ibid.). On the other hand, on the way of thinking about epistemology, the valid knowledge of researchers view about the positivist focuses on causality, reducing phenomena to simplest elements, data and facts; but researchers view about interpretivist concentrates on social phenomena, feelings attitudes and detail of situations and subjective meaning (ibid., p.119). These viewpoints between ontology and epistemology are difference, and each of them will impact on the way of thinking about the research process. Additionally, the pragmatist research philosop hy tends to be the combination of both positivist and interpretivist. The positivist philosophy is appropriate choice for this research owing to the research objectives to examine the relationships among measurements of an e-learning system success and the using e-learning system of students to support their KM. Regarding ontology view, the e-learning system is an objective and singular. Furthermore, collecting data to analyse the e-learning system success in this research proves that it is positivism based on epistemology view. However, investigating students attitude can use interpretivism but it is reasonable with positivism. 3.2. Research approach Due to positivistic philosophy and the research questions to test theory and the prior researches discussed in the literature review chapter, this research is suitable with deductive approach. This approach includes 5 progressive stages: (1) inferring hypotheses from the theory (test relationship among variables in the e-learning system success); (2) proposing the relationships among variables in this research (e.g. users attitude positive impacting on system acceptance); (3) testing operational hypotheses (using statistical software to estimate hypotheses); (4) discussing the outcome to confirm the theory; and (5) altering the theory based on the findings (Robson, 2002 cited in Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2012, p.124-125). Furthermore, the detailed progress of this research based on this deductive approach is illustrated in figure 3.2 (Maylor and Blackmon, 2005). Figure 0.: The deductive approach process (Maylor and Blackmon, 2005,p.56) 3.3. Research strategy Creswell (2008) stated that research strategy significantly influence on the direction of the research, as a result, the choice of research strategy is essential in research progress. The factors impact on the selected strategy including the research questions and objective, the choice of research philosophy, research approach and other resources such as time constraint, finance or data access (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2012). Due to the selected deductive approach, experiment, survey, ground theory or case study are the research strategies that can be applied for this research. Experiment strategy tends to concentrate on a specific group. Moreover, case study is often used in specific research for a period of time. Hence, both experiment strategy and case study are not suitable for this study due to of the research questions. Because this study is developed on the previous researches in difference context, the ground theory strategy is not appropriate with this research. On the other hand, the survey approach is the most rational choice for this research within limited time. Survey strategy can be defined as a specific sampling from the population and the structured questionnaires are designed to test theory (Malhotra and Birks, 2007). This strategy is suitable to test the relationships between variables in research objectives using quantitative data method (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2012). In additi on, this survey strategy also appropriate with cross-sectional time horizon studies (Easterby-Smith et al. 2008; Robson 2002 cited in Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2012). Alternatively, the survey strategy also has some limitations such as irrelevant or inaccurate responses of the questionnaire or possibly insufficient sample. The number of responses may not achieve the target of at least 95% of confidential level because people are not able or willing to answers the questionnaire (Girden and Kabacoff, 2010). Understanding the potential drawbacks of the survey strategy is vital that result in well preparing in data collection plan. 3.4. Research choices Due to the selected positivistic research philosophy as well as deductive approach, the mono method with quantitative approach is the research choice of this study. Using mono method seems to be adequate because this is not ground theory and experiment research strategy. Additionally, referring the section 2.2 of the literature review chapter, the mono method with only quantitative research approach tends to be used in almost previous researches to measure the e-learning system success and to test the research model. Hence, the theory and research framework of based on previous researches are tested in this research in the context of the University of Southampton with the quantitative approach. 3.5. Time horizon This research has been conducted in three months. Thus, it is appropriate with cross-sectional time horizon owing to time constraint. Cross-sectional researches are appropriate to study specific phenomenon at specific time while longitudinal researches are suitable to study change and development over a long period of time (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2012). 3.6. Research design: Data collection and data analysis This  section aims to describe detail about the quantitative approach to collect and analyse primary data with sampling method, questionnaire design, pilot testing, data collection and data analysis sub-sections. 3.6.1. Sampling method The context of this research is the University of Southampton. Therefore, all students and alumni of the University who has used the e-learning system at the University can participate on this research. Due to applying survey research strategy in this research, the most suitable sampling method for this study can be probability samples. Based on the probability sampling method (another name is representative sampling), the research questions and objectives can be achieved by evaluating statistically the characteristics of the population from the sample (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2012, p.213). In this research, the population which is all students using the e-learning system at the University of Southampton is generalised from the sample which is the students participating in the questionnaire. The most appropriate sampling technique for this study is simple random sampling but the sampling frame size and the cost and time consuming of this sampling technique is high (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2012). Hence, multi-stage can be used as the sampling technique to save time and cost. In the first stage of this sampling technique, the list of schools at the University of Southampton is drawn. Then, in the second stage, a simple random sample of students can be selected by chosen schools. In fact, the selected schools may be not random because it is not acceptance to help of all schools at the University to broadcast the survey to their students. This study uses online questionnaire as a result of sharing questionnaire easily via emails or social network (such as Facebook). Indeed, several schools at the University are willing to help sending the questionnaire to all their students email. Higher Education Statistic Agency summary that there are more than 23,000 students at the University of Southampton in 2010/2011 (HESA, 2012). Thus, the population in this study can be more than 100 thousands because both students and alumni has been used the e-learning system at the University since at least 4 years. This research targets to achieve 95 per cent confidence level and 5 per cent margin of error. Thus, referring to figure about sample sizes for different sizes of population at a 95 confidence level, the minimum sample size is 383 (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2012, p.219). 3.6.2. Questionnaire design Designing a questionnaire is a vital stage in data collection technique to support positivism methodology, deductive approach and survey strategy in business and management research (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2012). The questionnaire technique is used to test the reliability and validity of hypotheses proposed from research objectives and research framework (Neuman and Neuman, 2011). There are many benefits of using questionnaire technique in research. For instance, it is an effective and economical approach to collect primary data (Patten, 2001). It also provide clear result in tabular to analyse easily (ibid.). Moreover, it can be managed anonymously and asynchronously (ibid.). The type of questionnaire in this research is self-administrated online questionnaire due to the convenience and effectiveness of broadcasting as well as preparing data. The online questionnaire is designed on the iSurvey platform which is endorsed by the University of Southampton (www.isurvey.soton.ac.uk). Because iSurvey is a high quality tool and many advantages such as no cost, secure, friendly interface, ease of use, reliability and stability, it is used to design questionnaire by almost students of the University. Following the questionnaire research a practical guide of Patten (2011), the designed questions are clear, short, simple and avoided common errors. Due to the willing help and limited time of participants, only necessary questions are presented in the questionnaire. Moreover, the questionnaire is designed with a short time to complete (around 10 minutes). The validity of questions in questionnaire can lead to accurate data after collecting, and the reliability means the consistence of collected data (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2012). Bourque and Clark (1994, cited in Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2012) stated three effective methods to design individual questions that are adopting questions used in other questionnaires; adapting questions used in other questionnaires; and developing own questions. Thus, rich literature review significantly supports questionnaire design with high reliability and validity because the questions in questionnaires are tested in the previous researches. Moreover, clear questions in questionnaire are recommended to discuss with others and test pilot studies (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2012). The questionnaire is designed with three sections. The first section to ask about the basic information of participant, the most important question in this section is that Have/had you used the e-learning system (Blackboard, Moodle, Medis, ECS, or others) of the University of Southampton? If participant select option No, they will complete the questionnaire. At the second section, the questions are self-developed question to conduct descriptive statistic regarding using e-learning system of students to facilitate their KM. The content of these questions in this section is classified by attribute and behaviour. These questions based on the theory on literature review regarding e-learning system success and KM. They also have been recommended by friends who are studying PhD and have much experience with questionnaire design; and test in pilot study. The final section in the questionnaire aims to test the research framework and research hypotheses. This section includes 32 items and all adopt 5-point Likert scale (from 1 strongly disagree to 5 strongly agree). All items are adapted and adopted questions used in prior researches regarding e-learning system success and e-learning system as a tool to support KM (for example, items are referred and adapted from Lin, 2007; Lin, 2007, Liaw, Chen and Huang, 2008; Liaw, Huang and Chen, 2007 ; Wang and Chiu, 2011). The scales have been tested by previous researchers as discuss in the section 2.2 and 2.4 of the literature review chapter. Thus, the reliability and validity of the instruments are high because of revealed in public papers. Furthermore, the participant information sheet and only consent form are stated in the welcome page of the online questionnaire to introduce briefly regarding this research, researcher, research questions, contact of researcher and Ethic Committee, and a participants consent to taking part in the survey. Additionally, the a debriefing page is stated at the ending page of the online questionnaire in order to give thanks to participants as well as introduce briefly about this research such as research hypotheses and papers closely related to this study. The full questionnaire is stated in Appendix 1; and the e-mails which are sent to several schools of the University and to fellow students to collect data are stated in Appendix 1; and. 3.6.3. Pilot testing and assess validity A pilot study (pre-test) conducts a small part of sample to test the questionnaire before delivering the questionnaire to collect primary data from sample. Implementing the pilot test is crucial, especially when researchers lack of experience within designing a survey questionnaire as well as data collection approach (Yin, 2011). According to Vaus (2002), in term of pilot test, individual questionnaire items need to evaluate the variation, meaning, redundancy, scalability, not-response and acquiescent response while the whole questionnaire should test the flow, question skips, timing and interest and attention of respondents. The pilot test also aims to enhance questions in the questionnaire and it can do more than one time. Moreover, after completing the questionnaire, participants of pilot test can comment to refine the questionnaire where which questions can be misunderstood, silly or difficult (Sapsford, 2006). Additionally, the reliability and validity of items in questionnaire can be assessed with the pilot test. Factor analysis also can do in this pre-test to remove low quality items in the questionnaire (Fowler, 2008). The pilot test to improve the questionnaire in this research was conducted two times. At the first time, the questionnaire was designed with only 2 first sections. The link of the questionnaire was sent by email and Facebook to 20 participants which are students at the University of Southampton. After that, some respondents gave much valuable feedback used to enhance the instruction as well as individual questions in the questionnaire. Because of almost self-developed questions in section 2 of the questionnaire, some questions were recommended by participants who have much experience in designing survey and statistic research. For example, in the question to ask about benefits of using e-mail function of the e-learning system, the kind of question should be changed from multiple choice questions to check box question because respondents can want to select all options. Another example is that some questions such as Yes or No questions had been improved to the open ended questions to i nvestigate in deep why Yes or No option is selected. On the other hand, some participants who studying in English subject at faculty of Humanities at the University had contributed much valuable advice regarding the language including grammar and words choice of the instruction part as well as individual questions. Additionally, the overall appearance and organisation of the questionnaire had been commented. The time consuming to complete the two sections of the questionnaire was calculated in this first pilot test around 4 minutes. After conducting the pilot test, individual questions were changed to be clearer and easier to understand. At the second time of the pilot testing, the completed questionnaire had been design with the final section. Because 50(+/-20) is the typical sample size at the pre-test stage, the link of the questionnaire was sent to another 40 students (Cooper and Schindler, 2010). After that, there are 32 completed answers with no missing from participants because having 02 PhD students do not use the e-learning system at the University and 6 missing answers. The alert participants if they have left any questions blank function of the iSurvey was not turned on that is the main reason of missing answers in pilot test. Therefore, this function is setup in the main data collection. From the data collection, the consistence of the multi-item scales question was tested by SPSS. This pilot data is also very useful to study data analysis in practice with SPSS and AMOS model test software. Furthermore, overall feedback from almost respondents about the questionnaire is that all questions are clear and ea sy to understand because the questions in the first two sections had been updated after the first pilot test and all questions in section three have been adapted and adopted from prior researches. Statistic from iSurvey administrative site, from 8 to 10 minutes is a typical time to complete the questionnaire. 3.6.4. Data collection The completed questionnaire version, the Ethic, Risk, consent forms, the information sheet and debriefing sheet has been submitted to the Ethic committee. After approved by this committee, the questionnaire is broadcasted to students and alumni at the University of Southampton. Initially, e-mail including the questionnaire link is sent to all schools at the University in order to request a help spreading out the questionnaire to students at these schools via the e-mail system of the University (Appendix 2). Several schools (such as English, Music, Modern language at the faculty of Humanities; Law and Management school at the faculty of Business and Law; faculty of Medicine; Education, Mathematics and Social Sciences school at the faculty of Social and Human Sciences) have been agreed and helped to send the questionnaire to all their students. They replied a confirmation e-mail while some other schools sent a sorry e-mail which means cannot help to deliver the online questionnaire. Secondly, the link of the questionnaire is shared to some Facebook fan page of the University of Southampton such as the University of Southampton Alumni, SUSU group, Southampton Management School Alumni fan page; and some Facebook group such as Vietnamese Society at the University of Southampton group; Badminton, Tennis and Table Tennis at the University of Southampton group. The data are collected during 15 days from the 2nd of August to the 16th of August 2012. 3.6.5. Data analysis Both descriptive statistics and inferential statistics to analyse quantitative data are used in this research. Initially, this study conducts descriptive statistics to report the averages, the dispersion, and the central tendencies of the data collected (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2012). After that, the research framework and hypotheses are tested by two-phased approach for Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) (Schumacker and Lomax, 2004; Hair et al. 2006 cited in Wang and Chiu, 2011). In term of technology for data analysis, Microsoft Excel, IBM SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Science) and IBM AMOS (Analysis of Moment Structures) software are used. SPSS which is well-known computer programme widely used to carry out statistical analysis in Social Science. AMOS also is a powerful tool and easy-to-use with graphical interface design to analyse model fit. Thus, using these tools can accomplish quickly the results with the highest accuracy. However, lack of basic skills in using SPSS and AMOS software can be the problem affecting the research progress. Nonetheless, due to the booming sharing knowledge in the internet, many online instruction video clips are available on Youtube and tutorials in the internet today. Thus, these tools can be controlled fundamentally in the short period of time. The strategy to analyse data is stated below: Analyse the descriptive statistic in SPSS Test the reliability of items by using reliability analysis in SPSS Analyse factor analysis to find and delete the unnecessary items in SPSS Conduct confirmation factor analysis (CFA) to measure research framework in AMOS Evaluate structure research framework and calculate hypotheses in AMOS. 3.7. Summary This chapter explained about the selected research method base on the theory, literature review and the research questions and objectives. This research is appropriate with positivistic philosophy and deductive approach. Mono method with quantitative approach is suitable choice to conduct this research. Cross-sessional is the time horizon determined for this research. This chapter also discuss detail regarding data collection and analysis with choosing sampling technique, designing questionnaire, testing pilot study, collecting data strategy and analysing data strategy.

Discuss How Carol Ann Duffy Makes Effective Use Of Metaphor. Essay

Discuss How Carol Ann Duffy Makes Effective Use Of Metaphor. In ‘Valentine’, Carol Ann Duffy uses metaphors to illustrate and attempt to explain the complex subject of love. ‘Valentine’ is a very poignant, meaningful poem which is on a very personal level with C.A.D. It seems as if she is drawing on personal experiences. The general tone of the poem appears to be one of bitterness and resentment. Forceful comments such as, ‘†¦Here..’ and ‘†¦Take it†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ suggest that she still holds hidden anger towards the events from which she is drawing her memories. The main metaphor that she uses is of course an onion. She uses an onion to compare the different aspects of love in a number of ways. In the first instance of C.A.D’s use of an onion she uses it to compare the fact that both an onion and love have many layers. She proposes that this is a huge similarity between the two apparently unrelated objects. Secondly, C.A.D uses the onion’s shape and colour to reflect how life changing love can be. She describes the onion as ‘†¦a moon wrapped in brown paper†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ What she means by this is that love can light up your heart but that it often becomes clouded by other issues and problems- the brown paper symbolizes the ‘barrier’. In another way, the brown paper could symbolize boundaries people sometimes erect because they are scared or cynical. C.A.D. seems to be cynical about love-all throughout the poem she seems to want to escape the clichà ©s and what most people would consider as romance. Perhaps this may be because she has had a bad experience of love which she has then illustrated through words in her poem. Just after this she states ‘†¦it promises light..’ which means that C.A.D is suggesting that sometimes a... ...reak. In the final stanza, C.A.D writes, ‘†¦the air tasted of electricity..’ She is referring to the charged atmosphere caused by adolescent hormones. Obviously the classroom is going to be full of hormones because of all the children. Another reference to the heavily charged atmosphere is, ‘†¦the heavy, sexy sky..’ which just supports the atmosphere being hormonally charged. Carol Ann Duffy’s use of metaphors is very effective and illustrative-it causes readers to form subconscious links between objects which in reality are apparently unrelated. Without the use of metaphors, her poems would be entirely different and I am not sure they would be as flowing or as descriptive. The metaphors are often the basis upon which C.A.D’s descriptions are built. She uses them to great effect by blending and layering metaphors with other adjectives and descriptions.

Being Assertive Essays -- Assertiveness Personality Essays

Being Assertive Assertiveness is an ability to take action in a positive, sincere, respectful, and confident way. It is also an ability to communicate directly using language that is to the point, taking initiative, focusing on solutions, addressing problems, taking ownership of problems, and bringing the problems to a close. Assertiveness can also mean being firm, patient, persistent, pushing someone into action, encouraging, and not compromising on the solution to the problem. Assertiveness requires flexibility tailored to the individual and the situation they are placed in. People usually have three obstacles that keep them from being assertive. They are: poor communication skills, low self-esteem, and a fear of conflict. An assertive response would be: â€Å"I have some concerns about whether the idea will work. My concerns include†¦.Please help me to clear up my misunderstandings.† The assertive person does not focus on winning as such, but rather on negotiating changes to benefit himself or herself and the other parties involved. They are very clear on what they want to accomplish. The communication needs to be planned out in order to sell the idea and not seem as if the assertive person is nagging or dictating. Assertive speaking is an important communication method that is usually paired with active listening. When someone speaks assertively they are expressing themselves in a confident, direct way both verbally and nonverbally. They are speaking up to make a point but allowing for other’s ideas to be shared as well. Being assertive does not necessarily mean being aggressive. These two behaviors are quite different in their manners. Someone who is assertive allows the problem to be discussed whereas someone who is aggressive usually participates in a one-sided conversation with little listening to the other side. Someone who is aggressive usually â€Å"shoots first† before addressing the problem. An assertive person looks at a problem with solutions in mind. An aggressive person is blunt and feels that their solution is the only solution. An assertive person takes charge yet invites other ideas for solutions. An example of an aggressive response might be: â€Å"There’s no way that will work. I don’t like that idea and I don’t know what you were thinking about when you thought of it.† Aggressiveness normally is associated with anger. Anger is a natural emot... ...rectly interpret a situation. If this happens it is important to be willing to admit being wrong. Also, do not stop being assertive in the future with that person. Finally, assertiveness should not be used for intimidation or manipulation. It means standing up for beliefs, expressing anger in a tactful eloquent way, reaching out to others, building self-esteem, and learning to be more direct. It is a method to reach goals, feel good about oneself, and to demonstrate respect for others. Most importantly, do not try to be something out of the ordinary and always take other’s needs and respect into account. References Alberti, Ph.D, R., & Emmons, Ph.D, M. (1986). Your Perfect Right. 5th ed. San Luis Obispo, CA: Impact Publishers. Axelrod, A. (2000). Elizabeth I CEO. Paramus, NJ: Prentice Hall Press. Bower, S. (1991). Asserting Yourself. Updated ed. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company. Brounstein, M. (2000). Coaching & Mentoring for Dummies. Foster City, CA: IDG Books Worldwide. Fensterheim, Ph.D, H., & Baer, J. (1975). Don't Say Yes When You Want to Say No. New York: Dell Publishing. Smith, Ph.D, M. (1975). When I Say No, I Feel Guilty. New York: Dial Press.

Sleep :: Biology Essays Research Papers

Sleep Sleep has plagued the existence of complex organisms since their evolution early on in the formation of Earth. Although there are various stages to the sleep cycle, essentially one falls into a temporary coma for a few hours each day. It seems totally irrational that evolution would dictate a system where one lets down their guard for hours every day, leaving one prone to a deadly attack. It seems a fairly logical assumption that sleep is exceedingly important to life if, in order to get some rest, animals in the wild irrationally risk their lives. Our bodies are telling us that they have run at full capacity for long enough, and therefore need to replenish valuable resources. In researching sleep, I found "replenish" to be a key word. During the day, one's body is constantly metabolizing ingested food and water, turning them into useful forms of energy. The body depletes a great deal of its energy stores (glycogen, mostly) and also experiences a large buildup of toxic byproducts (lactic acid, for example) during the day.1 Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to replenish these lost stores and get rid of the toxic chemicals coursing through your blood. Four hours seems to be the minimum amount of time one can sleep per night in order to coherently function during the day. A lack of sleep can have grave consequences, greatly caused by the inability of your immune system to work without rest. Sleep is a multistage cyclic process, involving five steps. Fast waves, called "Beta" waves are those which result from being awake. Once you become sleepy and close your eyes, your body relaxes and your brain waves greatly slow down, becoming "alpha" waves. After approximately five minutes in this relaxed state, your brain waves further slow down to become "theta" waves, transporting you into Stage I sleep. Stage one sleep generally does not last very long, and is accompanied by a lowered pulse rate and slower breathing. After a few minutes in Stage I sleep, Stage II sleep begins, marked by a further slowing of brain waves as well as bursts of electrical activity, called "spindles." These bursts manifest themselves as a sort of twitching. Sleep :: Biology Essays Research Papers Sleep Sleep has plagued the existence of complex organisms since their evolution early on in the formation of Earth. Although there are various stages to the sleep cycle, essentially one falls into a temporary coma for a few hours each day. It seems totally irrational that evolution would dictate a system where one lets down their guard for hours every day, leaving one prone to a deadly attack. It seems a fairly logical assumption that sleep is exceedingly important to life if, in order to get some rest, animals in the wild irrationally risk their lives. Our bodies are telling us that they have run at full capacity for long enough, and therefore need to replenish valuable resources. In researching sleep, I found "replenish" to be a key word. During the day, one's body is constantly metabolizing ingested food and water, turning them into useful forms of energy. The body depletes a great deal of its energy stores (glycogen, mostly) and also experiences a large buildup of toxic byproducts (lactic acid, for example) during the day.1 Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to replenish these lost stores and get rid of the toxic chemicals coursing through your blood. Four hours seems to be the minimum amount of time one can sleep per night in order to coherently function during the day. A lack of sleep can have grave consequences, greatly caused by the inability of your immune system to work without rest. Sleep is a multistage cyclic process, involving five steps. Fast waves, called "Beta" waves are those which result from being awake. Once you become sleepy and close your eyes, your body relaxes and your brain waves greatly slow down, becoming "alpha" waves. After approximately five minutes in this relaxed state, your brain waves further slow down to become "theta" waves, transporting you into Stage I sleep. Stage one sleep generally does not last very long, and is accompanied by a lowered pulse rate and slower breathing. After a few minutes in Stage I sleep, Stage II sleep begins, marked by a further slowing of brain waves as well as bursts of electrical activity, called "spindles." These bursts manifest themselves as a sort of twitching.

The Marketing Strategy Analysis of Starbucks Corporation

Under today’s ever-changing market, strategic marketing planning has become more and more significant whether of the functional or the fundamental. Especially, although financial crisis leaded economy growth slowdown, it did not cause a serious influence for chain coffee shop. As Howard Schultz said, CEO of Starbucks, â€Å"I don't think we had a business plan for the severity of what has taken place. History demonstrated to us that a downturn in the economy would not affect us, and in fact, we would be recession-proof. (Katie Couric, 2008) Based on Financial Times, Starbucks revealed that strong earnings of $242m of 2008, a jump from the $64m it recorded during the comparable period last year and total revenues for the quarter were $2. 7bn, up 4 per cent from the $2. 6bn recorded during the comparable quarter at the end of 2008. It illustrated that consumers will still pay premium prices for its coffee even in uncertain economic times. Greg Farrell 2010) In this essay, besides demonstrating the concept of strategic marketing, I will take Starbucks Corporation, United States for a case to define its position in this turbulent chain coffee shop market. Then, identify the â€Å"customized mass production† and evaluate how the organization affect and communicate the market. Next, the strategic importance of Starbucks Corporation, United States will be analyzed by various tools such as demand chain approach, SWOT and TOWS, PESTLE, pricing policies and so on with practical examples. Finally, based on these strategic analyses, the recommendations will be available for the organization to improve the competitiveness over this competitive market in the future. Brief history of Starbucks Corporation Starbucks Corporation, United States (NASDAQ: SBUX), the largest international coffeehouse chain company over the world, opened in 1971 by Gerald Baldwin, Gordon Bowker and Zev Siegl in Seattle, Washington, United States. In 1982, Howard Schultz, the present CEO of Starbucks, joined the company as Director of Retail Operations and Marketing. In 1987, Howard Schultz purchased Starbucks chain and rapidly started to expand. The first location outside Seattle was established at Waterfront Station in Vancouver, British Columbia, and Chicago, Illinois. In 1992, its initial public offering (IPO) on the stock market with common stock being traded on the Nasdaq National Market under the trading symbol â€Å"SBUX. † In 1996, Starbucks opened first store outside of U. S in Japan. Today, there are more than 15,000 stores in 50 countries all of the world, including with over two thirds in the home market in the United States. The products sold include coffee, beverages, merchandise, and fresh food and consumer products such as coffee beans, Starbucks cups and so on. Besides, Starbucks engages in gaining the brands add value such as business responsibly nowadays that earn the respect and trust of the partners and customers. They claimed that two areas including ethical sourcing, environmental stewardship and community involvement would be focused on. For example, the plan of Starbucks Corporation is that by 2015, all of the coffee will be grown using ethical trading and responsible growing practices. Besides, they also said that by 2015, 100% of our cups will be reusable or recyclable. So, what Starbucks Corporation emphasized is not only the tangible products, but the intangible assets such as brand image or the add value. The development and concept of the Strategic Marketing First of all, I want to define what is ‘market’ and ‘marketing. ’ The word ‘market’ can be referred to the process of exchange controlled by supply and demand, and the price involved. The word ‘marketing’ is the relationship between supply and demand and now favors demand and consumer choice. (Chapman and Cowdell, 1998) Trace back to the origins of modern marketing, it is from the Industrial Revolutions in Britain around 1750 and in the Germany and USA around 1830. The emphasis earlier was on â€Å"how to do it,† with a focus of the technique of marketing. As time goes by, people pay more attention on the philosophy of marketing and influence on stakeholders and society as a whole. Jobber and Fahy, 2009) Therefore, the strategic marketing becomes more and more significant since it can help organizations to find its own position of the competitive market; thus, they just can justify their strategy against whether the existing or the potential competitors. Therefore, organizations should classify the marketing environment including competitive environment (its immediate competitors and customers) and the macro-environment (the wider social, political and economic setting they operate. In order to develop the right strategy whether for short-term or long-term, organizations not only need to know the concept of strategic marketing but also how to use it within the competitive marketing. In addition, fundamental to strategic thinking is the concept of ‘strategic fit. ’ It indicates how organizations match the internal resources and capabilities with the opportunities in the external environment. The strategic model used to evaluate the appropriateness of the vision or decision making of the organizations (Hooley G et al 2008). A competitive advantage can be developed successfully by a suitable and unique combination of capabilities and resources. Nevertheless, organizations should pay more attention to classify the differentiation between resources and capabilities. Capabilities are focused on the learning effect of the organizations’’ possesses, whereas resources is connected to the inputs to production owned by the organizations. In other words, they should seek the appropriate balance between the marketing of functionalism and fundamentalism under this ever-changing market actually. Black Box Method Kotler et al. (2009) explain that the consumer is regarded as a ‘black box' in the sense that the consumer’s behavior is a conditioned response to marketing stimuli. After consumers making decision of purchase, the black box concept in behavior science responses. Because of the external stimulation, the consumers’ decision making process will be affected by the marketing planning and environment. The significance and the strengths of the model is that after consumers processing the various stimuli in their mind, they will react in specific ways. Generally speaking, in the model, the external elements to the consumer will move to behavioral stimuli; however, before a specific behavioral reaction is created, the consumer's decision-making process and personal characteristics will interact with the stimuli. On the other hand, in the ‘black box' model, people can’t get much information about the way human mind operates. The weakness of this model is people still cannot get the ideas of what goes on in the brain and have no ideas about what goes on in there. In other words, through the ‘black box' model the main internal process and influences of consumer’ behavior can be identified when consumer behavior operates, but the way how consumers convert the data, together with the stimuli, to act specific responses cannot be available. So, it is just called the ‘black box' model. (Kotler et al. 2009) The figure is shown the content and process involved in the ‘black box' model. Therefore, in order to understand consumers’ behavior in the market, organizations need to realize the fundamental process of perception and motivation. Through economic analysis and behavioral adds value can help organizations to make the marketing planning (Chapman and Cowdell 1998). Take Starbucks Corporation for example, last year (2009) in order to to maintain its brand image as a premium customer experience, it revealed â€Å"a long term, multi-million dollar† advertising campaign in the US, as it seeks to combat perceptions that its products are over-priced. As Howard Schultz, chief executive, said that they indicated the new â€Å"value focused† offerings had improved customers’ perception of the value of its products and it is based on the company’s research (Jonathan Birchall 2009). Source: Keegan et al. (1992, p. 193) Marketing Demand Chain Approach Demand is the relationship between needs and wants and also can be inferred to producer/supplier and consumer. Whole markets are motivated by demand; consumers can exercise demand by choice freely (Chapman and Cowdell 1998). A demand chain is composed of the organizations which sell products or services. For example, from the customer perspective, the demand chain may be composed by the customers who lead the sales transaction and the suppliers who sell or create the goods. Or from the supplier perspective, the suppliers create or offer the products and the customers buy it. In addition, the market for specific products or service can be defined by a three-dimensional box. The three sides of the box are product purchase, buyer group and buyer location (Chapman and Cowdell 1998). For example, the demand for Starbucks Corporation can be defined using this method. Buyer group could be identified by age, education or salary characteristics – such as students, white collar workers and retired people. Product purchase could identify the range or type the products offering such as beverage, pastries, whole coffee beans, coffee-related retail items and so on. Then, buyer location could be described the locations of buyer groups. Under this complicated and competitive coffee market, the demand chain approach is appropriate for managers to use the concept of identifying the market segmentations. Once the demand is identified, the necessary change and strategic marketing planning of the business environment could be evaluated effectively. The competitive position and market segmentation of Starbucks Corporation ‘Position’ describes the characteristic place in the market and becomes important more and more in a competitive market because it makes the comparisons to be set between organizations, products and services. It also makes the market segmentation to be classified and the competition analysis and market analysis to be connected to an organization’s strategy. The market segmentation is produced by the differences in customer’s needs, wants and attitudes (Chapman and Cowdell, 1998. Take Starbucks Corporation for a case, numerous cheap coffees are available, what is its attraction under this competitive coffee market? The idea can be also referred to â€Å"the role of positioning is to support that process, not to be it. † (Mintzberg et al 2009) The advantage of defining the position is to help Starbucks Corporation both defending itself and attacking the existing or potential competitors by utilizing the strategic tools such as Porter’s generic strategies, Porter’s five forces and so on. For example, using Porter’s generic strategies for the strategic tool shown below, differentiation focus is Starbucks Corporation’s position compared with other competitors. Hence, the suitable strategy could be set by it. Through identifying the position of the market, not only analyzing the competitors but creating competitive advantages is necessary to organizations. Competitor identification is the purpose of competitor analysis and it investigates competitor strategies, objectives, capabilities and prediction of response patterns. In addition, the process is to offer a foundation of competitive advantages, defining their future strategies. Competitive advantages are the resources and skills of the organizations; classification of the organization’s core competences could be available by analyzing those factors (Jobber 2001). â€Å"Customized mass production† of Starbucks Corporation For Starbucks, it is very important that it provides mass customization to their customers. They obey the conception which is every customer is unique. Therefore, both products and services are created to be a unique experience and atmosphere for the customers individually. So, what customer pay for is not just the products or services but including the unique experience and atmosphere. As B. Joseph Pine (1999) said, â€Å"We have shifted from a goods economy (coffee beans in a can) to a service economy (hot coffee at a diner) to an experience economy (coffee sold in a special mug, in comfortable surroundings – Starbucks). † In other words, under an ever-changing economy, what trend the organizations should follow is that converts products into services and then services into a unique and memorable experience. The unique and memorable experience is the differentiation between Starbucks and its existing or potential competitors. Starbucks Corporation’s Strategic Marketing Planning Strategic Marketing Planning includes the competitive position creating of both the organization and its offerings, core strategy decision making and implementing that strategy. The significance of planning marketing strategies for organizations are to make sure that the organizations’ capabilities are appropriate or not and it is not just for short-term but for the long-term (Hooley et al, 2008). Besides, organizations also need the market audit to model and understand the key factors in the marketing environment. A marketing audit could be defined that â€Å"it is an essential tool for the periodic reassessment of any organization’s marketing effectiveness. † It is the way to analyze organizations’ environment, activities and strategies critically, and improve them (Chapman and Cowdell, 1998. ) Starbucks Corporation’s strategic marketing planning starts with marketing audit and it could be divided to three parts, macro environment, internal environment and external environment. Macro environment is examined to recognize the directions and patterns; inter environment is scanned to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses and opportunity and threat is involved in external environment. * PESTEL analysis For macro environment, it could start with PESTEL analysis (an acronym for Political, Economic, Socio-Cultural, Technological, Ethical and Environmental and Legal factors) of the organizations’ environment. Starbucks Corporation tends to classify main drivers which play important role in the strategic marketing planning by its PESTEL analysis. Take the socio-cultural environment for example; identifying the difference such as consumer preferences could shift from coffee to other beverages can help Starbucks Corporation finding the target groups by setting the suitable marketing strategies. In addition, increasing usage of community networks such as Facebook in the technological environment can provide Starbucks Corporation the efficient way to promote the brand on the popular channel nowadays. In other words, organizations can understand the macro environment by using strategic tools and then set the appropriate marketing strategies for not only now but for the future. Appendix-A provides the summaries of Starbucks Corporation’s PESTEL environment * SWOT analysis For internal environment (strengths and weaknesses) analysis, its purpose is to make organizations to get valuable chances and then to enable them taking advantages of them. For external environment (opportunity and threat) analysis, a marketing opportunity is a field of buyer interest and need that organization with high possibility of beneficially satisfying. In addition, an environmental threat is a danger by a negative development or trend that would lead to decrease profit or sales (Kotler and Keller 2009. According to the information of the internal environment and external environment, Starbucks Corporation develops SWOT analysis to classify the key strengths and weaknesses related to opportunities and threats (Appendix-B). Consider this case, the strengths such as strong global coffee brand, differentiated atmosphere and customer base loyalty would let Starbucks Corporation to grow the market share in new markets such as some specific cities with high population density in China. Besides, take the other care for example, facing the threat of more and more competitors are from various channels such as McDonald in the competitive market, Starbucks Corporation develop new strategy to defense it. Last year (2009), Starbucks Corporation embraced customer research surveys and ran its first major advertising campaign (Claire Cain Miller 2010). * TOWS Matrix The SWOT analysis provides the identification of organizations’ strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Nevertheless, according to such an nalysis, it is rarely and static of the development of definite substitute strategies. Hence, the TOWS Matrix is instituted for analysis the competitive situation of organizations or lead to the evolution of four different sets of strategic alternatives. In addition, the TOWS Matrix is a conceptual structure and begins with the threats since organizations try to make strategic marketing planning under the pressure of perceiving danger, crisis, or threat (Koontz and Weihrich 2007). Appendix-B shows the example of TOWS Matrix. Starbucks Corporation plans to spend the majority of its $40m marketing budget to promote its Via brand of instant coffee and Frappucino drinks through grocery stores (Greg Farrell 2010. ) This is the example for the SO strategy of Starbucks Corporation based on the strength of strong global coffee brand and the opportunity of New products/services/ distribution channels. In addition, take the other case for example, in 2009 the New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene released the results of a study about the ordering habits at 115 Starbucks stores in the city. The study, which was conducted in 2007, found that the average blended drink had 239 calories. The average cup of coffee had 63 calories. â€Å"The popularity of blended coffee beverages has grown in recent years,† Dr. Thomas A. Farley, the city’s health commissioner, said in a statement. â€Å"Unfortunately, many of these drinks are loaded with calories. Your afternoon pick-me-up may be weighing you down. † After that announcement, Valerie O’Neil, a vice president at Starbucks, said in a statement: â€Å"We offer wholesome food and beverage options for our customers, including blended coffee beverages less than 100 calories. Looking forward, we continue to find helpful ways to deliver information for our customers to make more informed choices. † (A. G. Sulzberger 2009) This is the example for the ST strategy of Starbucks Corporation based on the strength of product diversification and the treats of healthy issue (calories). In other words, by using the TOWS Matrix, organizations can know that how to take advantages of the opportunities. Meanwhile, the impact of weaknesses could be minimized and defense them against threats. By clearly identifying the analysis of threats, opportunities, weaknesses and strength, organizations can make the appropriate strategic marketing decisions actually. Pricing strategies of Starbucks Corporation â€Å"Price may be defined as the value (measures by whatever means is appropriate) given to a product or a service by a market. The price of a product or a service refers to the term by which it can be acquired, and may be expressed in monetary or non-monetary terms (Chapman and Cowdell 1998). In organizations, designing pricing strategies effectively not only needs a systematic approach but also a complete understanding of consumer psychology and then just can set or adapt prices appropriately (Kotler and Keller 2009). Consider the case of Starbucks Corporation, last year (2009) they announced a new pricing scheme. It included the price decreased of many of its popular products such as brewed coffees and lattes. This action is in order to confront the danger of the other organization with offering lower price coffee such as McDonald’s stealing price sensitive customers (Claire Cain Miller 2009). However, in this article written by Claire Cain Miller in the New York Times, it also mentioned Starbucks increased some drinks’ price including Frappuccinos and caramel macchiatos. The reason is that Starbucks thought there are less competition from rivals in higher-end more complex drinks. Starbucks is attempting to make the most profit from its loyal customers who are desired on its products and expecting they will patronize Starbucks continually. Jobber and Fahy (2009) stated that positioning strategy is one of the key factors influencing price-setting decisions. Positioning strategy includes the creation of a differential advantage and the preference of target market. These factors affect price enormously. In addition, price is the main element to make great influence to the marketing strategies since it is the only factor of the marketing mix that impact on the generates revenue directly. Indeed, the pricing strategy plays a very important role of organizations because it is can be a good indicator of its future growth potential.