Ammoco Caediz

On the morning of the 16 March 1978, the oil tanker Amoco Cadiz owned by Amoco Transport Co. suffered a technical failure of the steering system off the coast of Finistere in Brittany, France. The tanker was transporting 227,000 tonnes of crude oil from the Persian Gulf to Rotterdam (Netherlands) when the ship began to drift towards the coastline in a heavy storm. (Tides, 2008). The reason for the steering gear failure was seen to be because of the stormy weather conditions that the ship was facing.At 9:15 the Captain Pasquale Bandari hoisted the international signal for â€Å"Not Under Command. † But he did not request assistance until 11:20, when his engineer determined that the damage was irreparable. Two unsuccessful towing attempts the first a towrope, thrown at 1:30 am, this broke three hours later. Despite all the efforts made by the crews of both ships, the Amoco Cadiz started drifting to shore where touching the bottom ripped open the hull and storage tanks before sto pping on the Portsall Rocks on the Breton coast. cedre, 2008)The crew of the tanker was rescued by helicopter, but the ship broke in two releasing 230,000 tons of crude oil. This spread through the English Channel. The oil spill polluted approximately 300 kilometres of coastline, destroying fisheries, oysters and seaweed beds and also 76 beaches in the Breton community. (Lenntech, 2006) This was seen as the worst oil disaster the world had seen at that time. After the steering had failed the captain had made some unwise decisions that were made under pressure. It took 1 hour 45 minutes before the tug boat was called for.It also took 1 hour 30 minutes to negotiate a towing contract this did not help with the language problems with both parties. The second tow for the ship was very badly coordinated. All of these examples led to the ship splitting in half and losing all of the oil. (Kristiansen, 2005) Having a single propeller and also a single rudder the Amoco Cadiz was at risk of th e steering gear failing. This became a reality when it happened and the crew could do nothing to repair it. The fact was that the crew where ill prepared for the steering gear to fail.If they were more prepared or had two propellers this tragedy might not have happened. (Kristiansen, 2005) BIB http://www. cedre. fr/en/spill/amoco/amoco. php http://www. lenntech. com/environmental-disasters. htm#1. _Bhopal:_the_Union_Carbide_gas_leak http://www. kozacky. com/site/files/789/74616/284382/393597/matter_oil_spill_by. pdf http://www. itopf. com/information-services/data-and-statistics/case-histories/alist. html http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Amoco_Cadiz http://news. bbc. co. uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/24/newsid_2531000/2531211. stm

Bal-A-Vis-X

Trying to minimize which program is the most effective lies in the opinion and experience of the teacher under the policies of each school district. Currently, my professional peers use Brain Gym, Go Noodle, Move It or some form of a self-designed kinesthetic curriculum in their classroom as a management technique to reduce or minimize undesirable behaviors and create healthy environments. Another reason to incorporate movement is to engage multiple areas of the brain and to use both sides of the brain. Exercise increases blood flow and oxygen to the brain resulting in improve academic performance. There is a plethora of programs designed to accomplish this concept with integrating kinesthetic lessons into education.It has been proven and evidence supports that movement using multi-sensory techniques increases cognitive functions of the brain. Ultimately, this is the desired outcome or goal for the educator and student.Hubert, Bill.  Cues for Learning and Teaching in Flow. Wichita, KS: Bal-A-Vis-X, 2014. Print.   Bal-A-Vis-X was developed by a teacher in Wichita, Kansas named Bill Hubert. Bill Hubert uses cognitive exercises which encompass the integration of balance, auditory, and vision exercises using racquetballs, balance boards, hand-sized sandbags and various complexity of rhythmic exercises. The exercises focus on rhythm, patterning, balance and visual teaming. The combination of 300 various exercises increase in complexity as the student masters the fundamental skills. The exercises can be reduced to accommodate the student with varying disabilities. The program is designed to help individuals who struggle with academics, post-traumatic stress, physical and social impairments. (Hubert, 2007)Bill Hubert suggest the lack of flow within a person can trigger the stressful occurrences which may cause the cognitive debilitation of an individual. (Hubert, 2007). He further explains what he believes are the series of physical and developmental movement which occur and how this movement contributes to the cognitive aspects of the individual to perform a required task.In Bill Hubert's book Bal-A-Vis-X Rhythmic Balance/Auditory/Vision/eXercises for Brain and Brain-Body Integration, he mentions neurophysiologist Carla Hannaford. She wrote an excerpt about how the brain and body worked which inspired him: A most fundamental and mysterious aspect of the mind, thought, creativity and intelligence are not processes of the brain alone, but the whole body. Sensations, moments, emotions, and brain integrative functions are grounded in the body. The human qualities we associate with the mind can never exists separate from the body, it is our movements that express knowledge and facilitate greater cognitive function as they increase in complexity. (Hubert 2014) The principals of the program are to introduce midline crossings in three dimensions which are designed to follow steady rhythm using the whole mind-body system creating the flow with in the student aligning the mind with the body. The idea is to listen to the rhythm of the sound of the balls bouncing or the sandbags being passed while simultaneously integrating patterned movement involving the whole body.†Making an Intervention Report.†Ã‚  WWC | Find What Works!  US Department of Education, n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2018. One reliable intervention resource for Special Education teachers is the website, What Works Clearinghouse created by the Department of Education. The information presented on this website shares interventions which are research based with data which has been proven to be effective and reliable across multiple categories. Another resource is the National Intervention Institute in Florida. They have collected and presented a multitude of research supporting the Response to Intervention tiered System academically and behaviorally. I did not find any data on either of these websites for Bal-A-Vis-X. Searching for data and information seemed to come from the founder himself, testimonials of educators and parents, and other graduate students conducting their own research. I felt the information could be bias and not authentic or reliable. I questioned if Bal-A-Vis-X was possibly just another product to entice the movement program generation to incorporate it in their interventions in schools, nursing homes, care facilities and physical therapy centers. Several of the testimonials were extremely emotional and supportive that Bal-A-Vis-X is remarkable in its entirety. Web. 14 Mar. 2018.  Norsworthy, Francis, and Bill Hubert. The Illustrated Bal-A-Vis-X: Rhythmic Balance/auditory/vision Exercises for Brain and Brain-body Integration. Wichita, Kan.: Bal-A-Vis-X, 2009. Print.  The founder, Bill Hubert claims it takes approximately three years to master all the skills of the program. (Hubert, 2007) I started my project first with viewing the first disc in the series of three. Each disc is a video recording of the founder Bill Hubert and his students demonstrating the first foundational exercises. He demonstrates the target skill precisely. He then demonstrates variations of the skill with modifications to accommodate students who struggle with the skill. Bill Hubert strives for three main goals with the program First, it is important to test a student for visual tracking. This is very important for a student to be able to visually track. Starting from the beginning basic skills visual tracking is essential for the student to be able to follow with their eyes the direction of the bean bags or balls while engaging their body in various other movements simultaneously in multiple directions and abilities. The next goal is to have discipline parameters. Classroom management is necessary. Students must be paying attention to the instructor and responding to exactly what is being demonstrated exactly the way it is intended. The student must be able to hear the rhythm of the bean bags slapping, the balls bouncing, and feel the flow from all of the components of the program working together with the student similar to pendulum swinging. When mind and body are working together harmony will occur in the body and mind to create a sense overall balance. In conclusion of training elementary students in the basic skill activities of Bal-A-Vis-X, I have discovered intensive individualized instruction is needed for optimal results. My fidelity of the training was challenged in the setting I provided for the instruction to the participating students. The parameters of what was needed was comprised by instructing in a group setting for the initial training. In addition, I was unaware at first that I would be losing one training a week per grade level due to Keyboarding class at the same time. I had originally planned on the group training two days a week, for sixteen weeks, for fifteen minutes prior to their physical education class. In the beginning I randomly drew from a jar which had each student's name printed on it from the targeted grade level fourth, fifth and sixth grades. One group would participate and one group would not participate in Bal-A-Vis-X skills. I administered all students an assessment an oral reading fluency probe and a silent reading comprehension probe. There were no significant positive results from the reading data which validated that Bal-A-Vis-X improved the students reading skills comparing from the beginning to end reading skills assessments. There were no significant differences comparing the Bal-A-Vis-X group to the non-Bal-A-Vis-X group either. Even though I did not get the intended results I was hoping for with this intervention program for reading, I did observe other positive outcomes. These observations were my personal observations from watching the students perform the skills. One observation example was a sixth grade girl with Autism. She is high functioning but just rebuts physical activity. She continually argued how all the skills were stupid or hard. I put her on the end to practice by herself or where I could be her partner. She repetitively could not perform the tasks asked without restarting several times, dropping of the beanbags or balls. She couldn't balance herself on the board and refused to even try. Each time I worked with her I broke the task down in smaller increments of movements. Eventually, the complaining decreased and she willing participated. One day at recess, which she stands and typically watches her peers play a popular competitive speed basketball game of shooting hoops, she stepped forward and joined. Remarkably, she hit the hoop every time she attempted to hit the hoop. This was a very first for her. She was so excited and her peers even noticed and were awed by her success. This was the first time I saw her happy and excited to engage with her peers in a physical activity. There were a few other coordination observations I made during the sixteen weeks. In knowledge I have obtained from the results first hand from this program, I have decided to peruse professional development of this program so I can teach it more reliably next year. I would like to teach it one on one to my special needs students. Many of the skills taught on the CD disc I personally struggled with performing them myself. I received as much satisfaction from inter personal learning as I did from learning from the students as they were performing the skills. Over all, I cannot say at this time in my personal opinion, observation, and results from reading assessments that Bal-A-Vis-X will improve a student's reading performance. However, I have not determined that it is not effective either. I will need more time and specific measurable obtainable data implementing the program in a individualized specialized setting for the best results.

Causes and Effects of Peer Pressure

A negative effect of peer pressure is anything that someone forces another to do that makes them feel uncomfortable. It causes young individuals to do things they know is wrong which can be very dangerous. A teenage boy can convince a teenage girl to have sex with him because â€Å"everyone is doing it†. The teenage girl might believe him, but she really did not want to.The result could be a teenage pregnancy or a sexually transmitted disease. This is a life changing result from peer pressure. Negative peer pressure can cause teenagers to drink, do drugs, lie, cheat, and steal which can cause horrible things to occur to innocent people. Drinking is a negative effect of peer pressure. Young people may be influenced to drink Just to fit in or be in the spotlight. This type of drinking can occur at a party from winning a sporting event or a birthday party which could be prevented with parental supervision.The effects of drinking can be memory loss, fatigue, black-outs, liver dama ge, and nausea. Drinking can cause illegal acts such as: driving while under the influence, possible rape while passed out, underage drinking, and possible death. Drinking at such a young age can cause the teenager to become an alcoholic which would be a lifetime disease. Driving while under the influence can cause death to others because of uncoordinated driving which is the effect of alcohol to the body. This could lead to involuntary manslaughter which causes imprisonment.This is another life changing event caused by peer pressure (Slake 2001). Drugs are a negative effect of peer pressure. Influencing teenagers to try drugs to go along with the crowd affects your body similar to drinking and causes teenagers to kill brain cells. If teenagers are hanging out with their friends, everyone is smoking marijuana except you; most teenagers do not want to be ridiculed because of lack of participation. This creates depression, withdrawn, poor grades, and negative effects to your body phys ically.These types of effects can be long term causing problems later in adulthood such as: conceiving children, negative affects to appearance, and financial problems (Scott 1997). Negative effects of peer pressure can cause teenagers to lie, cheat, and steal. Teenagers will lie to their parents in order to hang out with certain groups. They lie because they know that it is wrong. They have friends that convince them to lie so they do not have to listen to a lecture or have the parents prevent them from doing something.These same teenagers will cheat on school work and relationships in order to please the people that are influencing them to do these things (Kate 2013). Peer pressure causes teenagers to steal. Most teenagers will do almost anything to fit in and be important which creates them to fall under the influence of peer pressure. They might be dared to steal something from the store or from their family just to be accepted. These things cause problems for the stores or peop le they steal room, as well as, give the teenager a poor sense of being because they know what they are doing is wrong (Ginsburg 2001).There are many negative effects of peer pressure. Popular, athletic, pretty, and well liked teenagers use their influence to cause other teenagers to forcibly do things they do not really want to do, but are desperate to fit in. These influences are peer pressure and causes problems with all those involved. Teenagers can be influenced to drink alcohol, smoke marijuana, lie to parents, cheat on homework, and steal from stores through peer pressure. All these things cause teenagers to do things they now are wrong which affects their sense of worth and others that are around them.

True Grit by Charles Portis Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

True Grit by Charles Portis - Research Paper Example However, Mattie goes after them and La Boeuf expresses his displeasure by switching her with her rod, and Cogburn intervenes. Mattie and her team, in their pursuit of Chaney, find two criminals, Moon, Quincy, and as Cogburn interrogates Moon, Quincy kills him, and thereafter Cogburn shoots Quinsy dead. The Pepper gang knowing the hideout of Chaney arrives at the dugout where Cogburn and Mattie hide. They kill two members of the gang but Pepper manages to escape. In the same hideout, Mattie meets Chaney and tries to kill him but to no avail. He grabs Mattie dragging her to Ned who intervenes by threatening to murder Chaney if he kills her. Consequently, she is saved by LaBouef who knocks Chaney. After this, they devise a plan on how to confront Ned and his gang. Cogburn decides to fight against Ned’s team, assassinating two and wounding Ned. LaBoeuf kills Pepper, and Mattie, using a rifle, kills Chaney. In the fight, Mattie loses one arm that results from snake bite and the movie ends by the death of Cogburn. The 2010 sequence of True Grit was produced by the two Coen brothers and it is borrowed from Charles Portis novel of 1968 entitled True Grit.The version stars Hailee Steinfeld, who takes the character of Mattie Ross, and Jeff Bridges, as Reuben J, a US Marshall. Other actors in the movie are Barry Pepper, Matt Damon, and Jeff Bridges. The production of the movie was in March 2010 and was officially released in the United States of America on December 2010 (Portis & Tartt 24).

Pharmacology and medicines management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Pharmacology and medicines management - Essay Example There are various factors that play a role in the onset of disease. However, therapeutic and non-pharmacological management plans can help the patients in the long run. Scientists theorize that the worldwide increase in pollution due to the industrialization has caused a significant rise in the disease. The major implications and occurrence to treatment ratio along with the various strategies for controlling it are discussed further on. The incidence rates provides the information about the onset of the disease along with the probability of developing a disease. The incidence rate of asthma ranges between 2.65 to 4 per 1000 people annually. The condition is more commonly found in children less than five years of age and among boys as compared to girls. In childhood, the rate is estimated to be about 8.1 to 14 every 1000 persons for boys and 4.3 to 9 every 1000 persons for girls. Annually it is estimated that this rate of incidence is 2.1 every 1000 persons over 25 years of age. CDC r eports that asthma continues to be the major public health concern with a large financial impact on families and health care system. Internationally UK is the highest ranking countries in terms of asthma prevalence. The peak prevalence occurs between the ages of 5 and 15 and falls thereafter the age range of 55-64 years, after which it starts to rise again. Asthma diagnoses have recently became more common since 1950’s. Most of the children wheeze in their early life in response to the respiratory tract infection but most appear to grow out of it by the time they go to school. It is also to be noted that a few children will continue to wheeze and develop interval symptoms similar to atopic asthma (Worldallergy.org. 2013). The most common symptoms that are accompanied in asthma are coughing (especially at night or during exercise), trouble breathing, a tight feeling in the chest and wheezing sound. Some people may have prolonged symptom free periods while others experience som e symptoms every day. Loss of breath, exhaustion, wheezing, coughing, upper tract respiratory infections, sore throat and runny rose are some other less frequent signs. The underlying cause of asthma is bronchoconstriction due to the allergic inflammation of the passage ways. The inflammation process can be histologically seen. There is a hyper secretion of sub epithelial fibrosis, mucus hyper secretion and infiltration of the various inflammatory cells. The immuno-histopathologic features of asthma include the infiltration of the neutrophils, lymphocytes, epithelia cells and mast cell activation. An allergen triggers the type 1 hypersensitivity by activating the IgE antibodies. In normal individuals, the pathogen is phagocytised by the antigens stimulating a low TH1 response. In allergic people, the pathogen or pollutant induces the TH2 mediated response through the release of IL-4. This interleukin 4 induces the production of IgE antibodies which then attach to the mast cells rece ptors upon the secondary exposure of the allergen. Their attachment with mast cells triggers the release of the histamine which causes bronchoconstriction. The TH2 cells can directly induce the type 4 hypersensitivity through the production of interleukin 13. These interleukins cause the goblet cell hyperplasia, increased production of mucus and smooth muscle contraction. TH2 lymphocytes

Global support for trade , mixed with some doubts Article

Global support for trade , mixed with some doubts - Article Example Firstly these countries started trading a long time ago and the negatives of trade have started to show prominently along with its positive. Its human nature that we give importance to the negatives more than the positives even if the positive points are more in number. Secondly terrorism has developed a negative mind frame in every person, which is very obvious due to the terrorist activities that have happened recently hence people of the developed countries have started to think that any contact with the outside undeveloped countries might bring in terrorists and terrorism in their own country. The second aspect of the article is that capitalism has been the preferred mode of running the system of the country. Majority around the World agreed to the fact that capitalism is a more authentic mode. In the same way people also emphasized that environmental protection should be given priority even if that slows down the process of development of a country, I agree with this statement as education around the world is changing the way we think and saving environment should be our first priority. Another important problem that has arisen due to Globalization is of migration. People tend to migrate to developed countries for a better living standard. Another reason for people migrating are the wars going on around the globe. The migration problem has lead to the implementation of harsher immigration rules by some countries. The overall population around the World is against immigration. The article also covers the area of culture, which is how many people in different countries think that their culture is superior to other cultures. From my point of view every person has the right to decide whether his or her culture is superior to that of others. In this sense the Americans were most culture oriented and the majority thought that their culture is superior to other cultures unlike residents of other countries. This is due to the high development and standard of the U.S. residents. The article also checked out the relation between wealth and religious beliefs. This was an obvious result, as people don't normally associate closeness to religion by their wealth. It is not necessary that a rich person would be religious and it comes from rational thinking. Coming to homosexuality, most of the people said it can be tolerated but can't be accepted. This was an expected result as people don't usually interfere in the matters of others in the Western Countries and all types of freedom are given to people. This is another factor why people of Western Countries think that their culture is superior to other cultures because it minimizes boundaries. Countries that are developed and do not face any major problems or threats to their economy favored immigration and were happy to have people coming from all over the world to work in their country. This is because under developed countries find it hard to cope with the immigrants and the government itself looks to avoid immigrants hence it tightens up the immigration rules. Talking about democracy and dictatorship, it is obvious and proved many times that democracy is the best policy but in certain situations when the stability of the country is at stake people thought that dictatorship was the best policy. People mostly rejected this idea of democracy being the Western way of doing things by the fact that it does work everywhere, which has been proven time and

Yoko Ono's Relationship with Popular Culture Essay

Yoko Ono's Relationship with Popular Culture - Essay Example The essay "Yoko Ono's relationship with popular culture" investigates the great talent of the famous artist and her role in the context of culture. Paper gives details from her life and activity. It is almost fifty years ago, when people started thinking of Yoko Ono as that woman. She was aged 27 years and lived in New York. Paper discover Yoko Ono's background that partly explains radical works and performances. The performances include ''Cut Piece'' that she did in 1965. It is here that she sat impassively like Bodhisattva, while the audience slowly one by one cut off her clothes. This was an amazing feminist manifesto as by then most people did not know what feminism was. It was about exhibitionism and sex. Similar to her other works she did, it rebuffed parent’s mores in a great way. But in the performance, of importance was the element of ritual violence. This was not like seppuku but a theatrical version of self-sacrifice. This was a recurrent theme around Yoko Ono's pub lic life. Yoko Ono can be considered as a muse. This does not only apply to John Lennon whose devotion and love for her resulted in the most interesting and beautiful artworks of his career. She was a pioneering artist, activist, musician, and feminist. Yoko Ono has influenced to a great extent those artists who are daring enough in pushing at and experimenting the imaginary distinctions and boundaries between media and art forms. Her talent was formidable but the prominent quality in her painting works was her spirit.

Effective Leadership Styles for an Educational or Training Institution Essay

Effective Leadership Styles for an Educational or Training Institution - Essay Example A general definition would be that â€Å"a leader is someone who influences a group of people towards the achievement of a goal†. There are 3Ps that are related to the term â€Å"leader† and these are People, Purpose, and Person. A leader is a person that is deeply committed to the goal and s/he will try to achieve it even if nobody follows him/her. A leader is someone who has a personal vision and in order to achieve needs the help of others. The leader should communicate his/her vision in such a way that the followers will share it and the goal will become a common goal. The leader needs the trust of the followers. Some people are more effective than others at influencing people. This effectiveness has been attributed to leadership styles, persuasion skills and the personal attributes of the leader. A leader is someone that brings big changes and innovations, someone who has handled effectively big crises whereas a manager is someone who improves the effectiveness of an organization at a given place and at a controlled course. Coercive. This is the least effective since it erodes employees’ pride. The leader here creates terrifies and demeans the employees at the slightest misstep. As a style it can be used in emergency situations. Authoritative. The leader has a vision, s/he motivates people by showing them how their work fits in the vision of the organization. This approach fails when the leader has a team of experts but it is a style which is effective in most business situations. Affiliative. The leader focuses on strong emotional relations and then he receives the benefits i.e. employees loyalty. S/he offers positive feedback. As a style it is positive but it should be better used when the leader wants to improve communication and increase morale. Democratic.  

Research skills Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Research skills - Essay Example The current logistic system at the port relies on the traditional approaches to clearing and forwarding of the goods at the port. The case study company has various logistic resources such as handling equipments, yards and labour. In addition, the company uses two separate logistics approaches, which include the import and export logistic processes. The import logistic process entails different activities such as vessels unloading by quay cranes and vessels anchorage at berths. In addition, it encompasses transportation of the containers to the yard cranes for the purpose of storage (ElMesmary, Song & Dinwoodie, 2014). The customs authorities inspect the containers in the various storage yards in order to provide an exit go ahead. Consequently, the logistics company avails the containers to the respective customers through tracks and railway system (Karmelić, Dundović & Kolanović, 2012). On the other hand, the logistic process for exports includes different steps such as entrance of the customers’ trucks into the terminals and handling of the containers from the trucks by lifters. In addition, the logistics company tractors move the containers to the quay cranes, which load them to the vessels. The logistics company model operates different activities regarding export and import processes. The current model aims at enhancing efficiency in the logistics process by integrating both export and import processes into a pipe flow. The pipe flow model comprises of various activities that link both export and import activities to reduce dwell time of the containers at the terminal. The model starts with vessel, which forms the imports’ process entry point. Three births follow the vessels, which enables three vessels to berth simultaneously at the terminal. In additional, a five quay cranes unload and the load the containers

Contract law problem scenario Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Contract law problem scenario - Case Study Example Equity has always sought to protect the weaker of two parties from oppression and from exploitation. In the context of a mortgage, equity will seek to intervene where the mortgage terms are oppressive. In order to answer this question it needs to consider presumed undue influence, which was defined in Bank of Credit and Commerce International SA v Aboody1. In this case the Court held that there was a relationship of trust and confidence between the parties of such a nature that it is fair to presume that the trust and confidence of the claimant were abused. Ginger is mother of Seamus, so the case falls in Class 2A types presumed undue influence for specific relationship. In Royal Bank of Scotland v Etridge (No. 2)2, the principle judgement was given by Lord Nicholls. In this case Ginger is especially proud of Seamus, who is a real success in her eyes. Lord Nicholls considered that a bank or any financial institution lending money should take steps to ensure that the claimant receives legal advice by asking for the name of the claimant's legal adviser. Here Northern Bank sends Miss Bindie with all the necessary paperwork but she did not provide adequate information. On the other hand Miss Bindie advised for solicitor or accountant to explain details of legal responsibilities and risks involved before sign papers. In order to answer this question it is also necessary to argue whether the contract was unconscionable or not. Here the contract was unconscionable for Ginger. Ginger is a pensioner, and has no other income. In Commercial Bank of Australia Ltd v Amadio3, in the High Court, it was held that the transaction should be set as side on the grounds that the bank's behaviour was unconscionable. An English court might well have reached the same conclusion on these facts by the application of the rules of undue influence. In Portman Building Society v Dusangh4, a father borrowed money on mortgage from the claimants so as to fund a loan to his son who was planning to buy a supermarket. The father was 72, retired, illiterate in English and spoke it poorly. No fraud or undue influence on the part of the son was alleged and the son was not in financial difficulties at the time of the loan. The father, the son and the building society sought to enforce the mortgage and the father argued that the tr ansaction as unconscionable was not excluded but on the facts the transaction was held not to be unconscionable. In Barclays Bank plc v O'Brien5, Mrs O'Brien sought to set aside the mortgage transaction on the ground that she signed the documents under undue influence and misrepresentation. It was held that the mortgage had been obtained either by her husband's misrepresentation or because of undue influence over her and the court ordered it to be set aside. Ginger can apply to the under s.14 of Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996 (TOLATA), whereby the court may make any order, including one not to sell (unlike the old s.30 of the Law of Property Act 1925, where sale was often the required way to resolve any dispute unless the purposes for which the property was

Financial Regulation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Financial Regulation - Essay Example This essay is organized as follows. Section 2 discusses the origin of global financial crisis and its cases in general as well as in the case of UK in particular. Sections 3 and 4 discuss the different dimensions of financial regulation in UK and the reasons for their failure. Section 5 concludes the report. The financial crisis had its origin in USA with the sudden boom in housing prices creating high optimism among investors and lenders between 1990 to 2006.This resulted in the creation of many mortgages and finally as the hosing price boom came to an end in 2006, subprime1 defaults started rising. Since the households became unable to repay their debts, the leading financial institutions worldwide had to write off their investments since August 2007. This deteriorated their balance sheet positions, which ultimately resulted in a tightening of supply of credit to households and firms to finance their consumption. Thus, the financial crisis led to economic crisis which spreaded all over the world (Agarwal et al, 2008; Vyuev, 2008; Gwimmer and Sanders, 2008). Financial market regulation is mainly aimed at correcting market imperfection and ensuring allocative efficiency of resources (Giorgio et al, 2000). However, one major reason for financial crisis has been cited as the failure of regulatory system to cop up with the financial innovation that resulted in the crisis (Pan, 2009). The rising indebtedness of the US households and financial institutions during the years before the financial crisis increased their vulnerability to crisis. The complexity of highly sophisticated financial instruments like derivatives helped in spreading the financial crisis to countries all over the world. The inaccurate measurement of risk associated with the financial innovation also resulted in creating the financial crisis. The other main reasons for the financial crisis are identified in the literature as weakened lending practices,

The Effect Chunking of Numbers has on Short-Term Memory Recall Essay Example for Free

The Effect Chunking of Numbers has on Short-Term Memory Recall Essay The same group of people were not tested in both conditions to eliminate the possibility of one condition affecting another. Students and adults, living in the same country were selected. Extraneous variables such as temperature and outside distractions could not be controlled. The temperature of the area in which the experiment was conducted varied. A set of instructions read out before the start of the experiment dealt with ethical issues that may be related to this study, such as informed consent, deception and ability to withdraw. They were given the aim of the experiment and were given the option to withdraw at any time during the experiment. They all had to agree to take part in the tests before the experiment started as well and results were kept anonymous, abiding to ethical regulations for participant confidentiality. Relationship of results to the hypothesis The hypothesis of this experiment was that chunking of numbers will improve recall in STM. Results showed that cause and effect could not be established between the IV and DV. Chunking did not improve recall in this experiment significantly, even though the total number of numbers recalled in the second condition was more than that of the first condition, which suggested there was a big difference. The results became more dispersed, causing the difference in the two conditions to appear much bigger. Conclusion Validity Validity refers to the trueness of an experiment to what its intended aim was-whether it measured what it was supposed to measure. One aspect of this is internal validity, which assesses the extent to which manipulation of a variable in the experiment (IV) was able to do its intended job (change the DV). This includes the control of extraneous variables so cause and effect can be established between the IV and the DV. There was internal validity because confounding variables from external factors, ex. distractions and temperature were not controlled this could effect the results. Experimenter bias was eliminated because participants were not affected by any special behaviour in the experimenters part. The participants may have deliberately forgot letters read out in an attempt to disrupt the experiment. Certain participants were also familiar with the theory of chunking to aid STM recall as they also study psychology, which may have affected results. The experiment also had construct validity as the method used to measuring STM recall was able to measure what it claimed to. Results showed differences in recall quantitatively, which can be compared. Improvements for validity To improve the validity of this experiment, demand characteristics must be reduced. Teachers may have been asked to conduct the experiment as a task set during lessons. This would also improve EV, as it is more realistic for students to be learning information in their lessons rather than under artificial conditions. Reliability Reliability measures consistency in results: whether or not it can be repeated by another researcher afterwards. There was external reliability as many aspects of the experiment were controlled, making it easier to repeat. The same method was used to measure recall in both conditions so comparisons could be made accurately between results. Procedures and instructions used were standardised, so they can be used again and again in other experiments. The apparatus and controls of confounding variables used were very basic and could be duplicated in many other locations. However, the sample used in this experiment may be harder to repeat in different locations as it was from a very small target population. Participants have to be from Park lane college and surrounding area so it cannot be repeated in other countries It also lacked internal reliability, as memory is a very subjective thing. We cannot go inside someones head to read their thoughts and look through their memories. Therefore, it cannot be certain that results showed exactly what participants remembered, as they may leave out some information deliberately. Improving reliability This could be improved by increasing the sample size. More participants could be used so results are more representative of the target population, ex. using a sample of 50. However, the process of collecting data with such a big sample becomes more difficult, as it would be hard to control them and make them do the experiment in absolute silence.

Budget and Account Management of Restaurant | Case Study

Budget and Account Management of Restaurant | Case Study Traditions Ltd Question One. Marginal costing, Comparison between Traditions Ltd Marginal costing for all departments and without the restaurant department; Without the restaurant, the store is profitable. The store is capable of making a profit of  £9,000. This indicates that the restaurant department is making losses. Even without putting the fixed cost incurred by the business into consideration, the restaurant had made a contribution of  £-30,500 in that particular period alone. This is a high level of loss to be incurred by only one department. Among the other three departments, furnishing is the least profitable. This is because; the amount of purchase for resale that ends up being sold is very low. This increases the stock in the store such that closing stock for the furnishing department is very high as compared to the other department. By the end of the period, closing stock is more than the opening stock. This indicates that there were fewer sales made in this department during that particular period. Question two. Financial and non-financial consequences of closing down the restaurant department; Following the financial position of traditions Ltd analyzed in the previous sector, the restaurant department was making losses. This has prompted the management of the store to consider closing down the restaurant department. Doing so, traditions restaurant is will be faced with various implications, both financial and non financial. Closing down the restaurant department will lead to reduction in the overall profits realized. This is because; the contribution margin will increase leading to reduction in profits. This is because fixed cost will be shared among three departments. Since fixed costs per period of time do not vary by the amount of units produced, the other three departments will have to incur these costs. This will increase the overall costs leading to reduced profits. As indicated in the calculations of marginal costing statement, when the business is operating four departments, the total contribution margin was  £390,500. On closing down the restaurant, the total contribution increased from  £390,500 to  £421,000. This means that a higher contribution margin is to be shared between remaining departments. Another financial implication of closing down the restaurant is that the store will be required to retrench workers. The business will have to pay employees in the restaurant department such as Claude. This will have a negative financial effect on the business. Socially, when a business retrenches workers, customers do not like to be associated with it. In this context, Claude is a renowned chef especially after winning the potato-sculpting competition. This made him famous as he created customer loyalty. Many customers visit the store because of him. Closing down the restaurant will reduce customers who also shop in other departments. This will lead to a decline of sales in the other three departments. Reduction of sales will lead to reduction of overall profits in the business (Tennent, 2008). Another financial effect of closing down the restaurant will lead to low selling of the restaurant assets. As indicated, the restaurant has been having challenges regarding its’ assets such as the dough mixer. Due to poor maintenance of these equipments, they may be valued very poorly. This will limit the store in recovering some of the costs. Other than financial implications, the store will also face non-financial challenges as a result of closing down the restaurant department. One of the main challenges is bad image of the business which will be brought about by retrenchment of employees. Potential customers dislike businesses which often lay of their employees because terminating employee’s employment suggest that the business is no longer profitable. More so, society does not like business entities that lay off employee because unemployment is viewed as bad. These employees have families and other responsibilities to take care of, without their jobs, they cannot. As such, it is viewed as the fault of the store that these families will suffer. Potential customers will not like to be associated with such businesses (Drury, 2006). Question Three As management accountant, Samantha will be required to prepare, come up and analyze financial information for the store. This will be very difficult since she does not have prior experience in management accounting. More so, the company does not keep well organized information data base. There is no previous history of management information in the company and as such, she has to first of all collect her own management information. This is rather a very tedious. In her role, she will have the responsibility to ensure that the management of the store has to make decisions which are well informed from now going forward so as to guarantee the store’s future profitability, stability as well as its growth. Samantha will have to come up and maintain management information systems as well as financial policies by liaising with the management to provide a better support service on all aspects of finance. As indicated, Samantha and some of the management colleagues such as Albert often argue. More so, the top management colleagues are old and will not for sure understand fully these financial policies so as to make sound management decision regarding the company. Her role also includes looking into the future. She is supposes to analyze the performance of the business in the past years and offer advice to the management on how to prevent challenges that the business encounters. Currently, the restaurant department is making losses and as such, it is her responsibility to advice the management whether to close down the restaurant or to put more capital in it so as to make it more profitable as Claude advices. She will be required to make Traditions Ltd adapt to changing environment. The management of the store prides itself on running the store through maintaining the standards of services and customers relationships which is mainly related with a bygone era. This means that the store cannot be able to attract the young middle class people who provide a very significant market. It is her duty to make sure that the store taps in this market so as to increase sales. She should advice the management on adoption new and upcoming trends so that the y can be able to make decisions which will inline the store to new trends hence attract more customers. It is her duty to identify departments that need reduction in operational and production costs. Most importantly she should be able to establish better and effective strategies so as to control spending. This will involve reducing the spending habits of some department and increasing others. Each department is headed by a family member and in reference to their relationships; some of the managers of departments such as Albert will not be willing to reduce their spending habits to increase other departments. Since is a family owned business, sibling rivalry will be unavoidable bringing about more challenges and disagreements among decision makers. Management Information System (MIS) for Traditions Ltd; Management information system (MIS) is vital in its role as an agent of sharing information within a business. There are various factors to consider while implementing a management information system at Traditions Ltd (Graham, 2005) (Clarke, 2010). These factors include; The level of knowledge of the users. Traditions Ltd is a family owned store. The managers of the store are above fifty years of age and most of them have little or no knowledge of what management information system is. These managers also do not have siblings to act on their behalf. They are required to access the MIS and effectively use it on daily basis. As such, the management information system that can be effective in the store should be easy to use for the management and simple to understand (Khosrowpour, 1997). The security of the system. A secure MIS should be implemented in the store. Since the store is family owned, there may be conflicting interest within the family. A management system should be in such a way that it is transparent and each member with access should be able to view what others are doing (Galletta Zhang, 2006). Stock control systems; Stock taking is a process that requires the making a list of stock with their location and value. A stock control system must be able to show make orders, track stock levels as well as issue stock. The systems should contain information on the value, location, description, reorder levels, quantities, supplies and information on previous stock history (Office, 2009). Inventory turnover is a ratio that describes how many times a business inventory is sold and replaced over a period of time. To calculate the inventory turnover days, the days in the period are divided by the inventory turnover formula. Inventory turnover ratio is a key measure for determining the efficiency of the business in management of company inventory as well as making sales from it (Wanjialin, 2004). It can be calculated as; Inventory turnover =cost of goods sold/ average inventory. Or =sales/inventory Day sales Inventory is simply the inverse of the inventory turnover ratio multiplied by 365. i.e. Days Inventory= (Average Inventory/Cost of good) *365 Question 4 Budgetary planning and control system; Budgetary planning is the process by which a budget is prepared in an organization. A budget is a plan which is expressed quantitatively for a specific period of time. It can include various items such as assets, liabilities, planned sales output and revenues, amount of resources, cash flows and costs and expenses. As a management accountant at Traditions Ltd, budgetary planning is vital in the operations of the store. This is a process that will involve identifying objectives, looking for alternatives and collecting information about them and choosing the best alternative that suits the store. The final step is to implement the chosen alternatives to achieve the set objectives. In planning the budget, one needs to make sure that the plans are properly quantified, financed and be able to control resource allocation and performance (Plumptre, 1988) (Bogsnes, 2009). The main functions of the management accountant involve forecasting. This is where I am supposed to lay down objective to be achieved at the end of a specific period. Come up with a plan on how these forecasted objectives are going to be realized. Communicate this plan to all members of the departments in details so that they can follow the plan comprehensively. Coordinate various departments by keeping an eye on what is happening within the operation of the store. Select a team of managers and supervisors who are going to monitor every day activities in the store and make reports. Come up with authorization protocol where every employee should be able to follow. To boost morale and encourage employees, motivate employees either through giving rewards for best performers or promotions. Evaluate on regular basis the performance of the store to know whether the store is in line in realizing of the set objective (Radev Allen, 2006). Some of the behavioural problems one might encounter as a management accountant are the unwillingness of some management colleagues as well as other employees in the implementation of the plan. Since this is a family business, and each department is headed by a family member, some of them may be unwilling to cooperate especially when it comes to financing. This might result in mistrust, leaving behind some aspects of the plan which will lead to under realization of the objective. Budgets are time consuming and tiresome. As such, a management accountant should be ready to work long hours without pay so as to meet deadlines (Lacey, 2013). The best way to gain budget control in the businesses is through the analysis of variance. There are two types of variance analysis. One is the fixed analysis which does not change with the level of activities within the business. The other one is the flexed analysis which is prepared in such a way that it can be altered to indicate the actual activity involved. A flexed variance analysis will suit Traditions Ltd. This is because; the management accountant should be able to monitor each and every activity that is taking place in the store. Actual profits= budgeted profits+ favourable variances – adverse variances. For budgetary control to be effective, serious attitudes should be emphasized. There should be clear boundaries between managerial duties and other duties undertaken by employees. Budget targets which are challenging should be identified and more emphasis put on them. Routines for data collection, analysis and reporting should be established. Reports should be aimed at respective managers and reporting periods should be fairly short. Time variance reports should be prepared and where they are adverse, action should be taken to get back to favourable (Business : The Ultimate Resource, 2003). References Bogsnes, B. (2009). Implementing Beyond budgeting : Unlocking the Performance Potential. Hoboken: John Wiley Sons. Business : The Ultimate Resource. (2003). Beijing : Citic Publishing House. Clarke, S. (2010). Computational Advancements in end-user Technologies : Emerging Models and Frameworks. Hershey: Information Science Reference. Drury, C. (2006). Cost and Management Accounting : An Introduction. London: Thomson. Galletta, D., Zhang, P. (2006). Human-Computer Interaction and Management Information Systems : Applications. Armonk: M. E. Sharpe. Graham, G. (2005). Exploring Supply Chain Management in the Creative Industries. Bradford, England : Emerald Group Pub. Khosrowpour, M. (1997). Managing Information Technology Resources and Applications in the World Economy : Proceedings of the 1997 Information Resources Management Association International Conference Vancouver, B.C., Canada. London : Idea Group. Lacey, D. (2013). Managing the Human Factor in Information Security : How to Win Over Staff and Influence Business Managers. Hoboken: Wiley. Office, G. B. (2009). The National Offender Management Information System : Report. London: TSO. Plumptre, T. W. (1988). Beyond the Bottom Line : Management in Government. Halifax: Institute for Research on Public Policy. Radev, D., Allen, R. (2006). Managing and Controlling Extrabudgetary Funds. Washington : International Monetary Fund. Tennent, J. (2008). Guide to Financial Management. London: Profile Books. Wanjialin, G. (2004). An International Dictionary of Accounting Taxation : 12000 + Entries on Accounting, Auditing Taxation in the USA, Canada, UK Australia ; Clear one Sentence Definition Right to the Point. New York: ] iUniverse Publ .

Effectiveness Of Online Marketing Tools Marketing Essay

Effectiveness Of Online Marketing Tools Marketing Essay The present research paper is looking into effectiveness of online marketing tools on B2C websites. In this section a background in e-commerce, online marketing and online customers is provided in order to give the reader an introduction. Background nnnnnnnnnnn 1.1.1. E-commerce The development of the information communication technologies has brought changes to the way of doing business and lead to the birth of electronic commerce. Chaffey (2006) defined E-commerce as both financial and informational electronically mediated transactions between an organization and any third party it deals with. By the nature of business transactions, e-commerce can be classified into business-to-business (B2B), business-to-consumer (B2C), consumer-to-consumer (C2C), consumer-to-business (C2B), and intra-organizational e-commerce (Dou Chou 2002). Business to consumer (B2C), the focus of our research, is defined by Chaffey (2006) as, commercial transactions between an organization and consumers. E-commerce transactions have grown significantly during the past years (Grover Teng, 2001) and are expected to continue growing with double-digit annual growth rates (Daniels, Sehgal, Vogel, 2008). According to Mulpura (2008) Business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce and online retail sales reached $175 billion in 2007 and are predicted to reach $204 billion in 2008, $235.4 billion in 2009, $267.8 billion in 2010, $301 billion in 2011, and $334.7 billion in 2012. One of the main reasons for the growth of B2C e-commerce is increasing number of internet users (Oppenheim, 2006). 1.1.2. Online Marketing Internet created new ways of doing business for the companies but Internet is not only a place for buyers and sellers to discover product information; it also plays a role of intermediary (Bailey Bakos, 1997). Ab Hamid (2008) states that; The emergence of Internet technology, particularly the World Wide Web, as an electronic medium of commerce offers new opportunities to industries to adopt the Internet as their alternative marketing tools (or as the only marketing channel). There is still no widespread agreement regarding the nomenclature used to describe marketing through internet and terms such as hypermedia marketing, digital marketing, online marketing and e-marketing, have all been used at one time or another (Dholakia, 2005). Online marketing term will be used in our research. Elley and Tilley (2009) described online marketing as promotional activity on the internet, including email that can take many forms, including search engine marketing, email marketing, online advertising, social media, and affiliate marketing. These online marketing tools became one of the important communication tools for the companies to promote services and products in todays economy. Shankar Batra (2009) states, Marketing communications through the online medium are growing rapidly and The role of online marketing communications in the marketing mix is constantly evolving Shankar and (Hollinger, 2007). These views are also motivated by Reedy (2000) and he says online c ommunications tools are started become an important ingredient in the promotional mix and its 1.1.3. Online customers The Internet is no longer a novelty in the minds of todays population as it is the access to it. In fact, the Internet and digital information have taken over many aspects of our lives from communication to information consumption to new ways of doing business. It has reinvented our vocabulary and gave new meanings to words in cyberspace, for example surfing, visitors, hits or navigate (Dobrowolski 2000). These changes in meaning can be discovered as well in the word user; it can mean a surfer or a visitor. Now, in the 21th century, borders represented by gender, occupation and education in using or navigating the Internet and other digital mediums have been sponged away by habit, supported by changes in system technologies. So surfing the Internet, texting a mobile message or reading an online magazine is opened and, in fact, used by elderly, children or unemployed and technologies have become more mobile, real-time and interactive to support those behaviors. (Nicholas and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. 2003) By now, it is a common knowledge that consumers of all ages shop online, but as Silverman (2000) and Seock (2008) point out, college students with ages between 18 and 22 are the hottest market and can be the main customers to generate revenue and growth for online sales. The common trait argued in Seocks (2008) research is that although college students are avid information seekers though the internet, the conversion rate to online buyers is very low, only 4,9 % from general online visitors buy also the products online (Kerner 2005). InternetWorldStats shows that, in 2010, 92,5% of Swedens population was using the Internet, making it one of the most developed Internet and broadband markets in the EU, a so called online nation  [1]  . All members of the age group 15 to 24 year old is using the Internet on a daily basis with an average of 155 minutes online per day  [2]  , but it is only the 3rd biggest age group that is actually shopping online, 72% of Swedish males aged 16 to 24 have purchased online in 2010, whereas 82% of the 25-34 female users have purchased in the last year  [3]  . The trends in connectivity and being online also differ with age group. According to Internetstatistik.se, 15 to 24 year olds are more avid consumer of social media (66%) than e-mail (44%)  [4]  , which just emphasizes even more the need of new insight into what Shop.org names as social commerce. The problem arises into how to blend new social media and other new technologies into an effective online marketing strategy in order to obtain the wanted conversion from online visitors to online customers. What comes after building a Facebook company account, twittering about the new promotion and optimizing your website? 1.1.4. Effectiveness New technologies have changed the ways customers and companies relate to one another and has challenged the traditional process of transactions and the way communications between consumers and companies are managed (Ozuem, Howell and Lancaster, 2008). When evaluating this new technologies, it is important to consider the advantages and disadvantages of traditional and new channels as well as, from a managers point of view, translate them into effectiveness (Danaher and Rossiter, 2011). Companies are not using the whole potential of online marketing tools although they perceive them as effective (Teo 2005). However, measuring marketing effectiveness poses numerous challenges due to the multitude of possible metrics for assessing effectiveness (Gray, 2006). Chaffey (2009) translates effectiveness as doing the right thing and from a practical point of view producing the required outputs and outcomes. Kierzkowski, McQuade, Waitman and Zeissler (1996) expresses 5 wanted outcomes from a marketers point of view attract customers, engage customers, retain customers, learn about customers and relate to customers. It is critical for companies to know; how do they attract customers to their website, engage them to turn into paying customers and also retain them to keep returning to your website. Chaffey 2009 states Online communications techniques used to achieve goals of brand awareness, familiarity and favorability and to influence purchase intent by encouraging users of digital media to visit a web site to engage with the brand or product and ultimately to purchase online or offline through traditional media channels such as by phone or in-store. As Teo (2005) has established in his research, effectiveness does not have to translate necessarily only into revenue, but it can be measured in building customer relationships, traffic on the companys website or another outcome that satisfies management. Our research will use the same 5 points outcome from Kierzkowski, McQuade, Waitman and Zeissler (1996) and will explore the different ways customers reach companies via internet. 1.2. Problem Discussion What is the problem? (Borrowed or created) Today, companies realized the potential of e-commerce and most of them already started to make use of this technology. Ã…Â  Ãƒâ€žÃ‚ eulovs and Gaile-Sarkane (2010) state that, E-commerce has now become a key component of many companies in the daily running of their businesses. Thus, the e-marketing component of a companys marketing strategy has grown in importance; Baker (2007) states that, In a short period of time, e-marketing has become a facet of marketing that cannot be ignored. New developments on internet technologies enables new ways of marketing, communication, gathering customer opinions and experiences about products, services and firms, and also allows personalized one-to-one marketing (Li and Bernoff, 2008). Marketers are faced now with two important questions that they have to answer regarding: Which online marketing tools to use for the wanted outcome? Andrews, et al. (2007 cited in Ab. Hamid, 2008) point out that for firms the increased importance of Internet channels can be seen in its contribution to disseminating information, enhancing consumer value, improving consumer satisfaction, loyalty and retention as well as consumer perception which in turn leads to better profitability and expanded market share. How to integrate them in the overall company strategy? Baker (2007) noted that, marketers need to carefully assess the significance of e-marketing and assimilate it, as appropriate, into all aspects of marketing from strategy and planning to marketing research, objectives setting, buyer behavior, marketing communications and the marketing mix. Given that the Internet has not only changed the way companies do business, but as well consumers behavior to shop or to look for information, the matter of effectiveness of online tools arises. Online marketing tools need to be identified well by the companies and marketers should validate the economics of their promotional activities against their effectiveness ( McQuade, S. (1996). In addition, the specific characteristics of the world wide web (traditional barriers of communication are broken, information and competition just at a click away) often result in a question that we will try to answer in this research: Research question: What tools are effective in attracting, retaining and engaging customers? 1.3. Research Problem Questions that are developed from problem Which online tools are customers responding to? How effective is the online marketing tools to attract online customers? How effective is the online marketing tools to engage online customers? How effective is the online marketing tools to retain online customers? Starting from an existing study on digital marketing, we have chosen to apply a similar model into a quantitative research that is questioning students in Sweden about the effectiveness of digital marketing tools. In this paper, we investigate the effectiveness of online marketing tools of B2C websites in Sweden. 2. Literature Overview This section will present review of relevant literature relating to our research. We will identify the theoretical base on which our study will be built. What to base the study on? 2.1. E-commerce and B2C Digital technology, particularly the internet, has been described as an enabler of a global marketplace, characterised by equal access to information about products, prices, and distribution (Strauss et al., 2006). According to Chaffey (2009) e-commerce is all electronically mediated transactions between an organization and any third party it deals with. According to this definition non-financial transactions can be considered to be part of e-commerce. Chaffey (2009) Business-to-consumer (B2C) markets have made a significant contribution to the commercial development of the Internet encouraging wide-scale use of computer networks by a diverse and increasingly global range of consumers 2.2. Online Marketing Elley and Tilley (2009) defined online marketing as promotional activity on the internet, including email that can take many forms, including search engine marketing, email marketing, online advertising, social media, and affiliate marketing. McQuade, S. (1996) states that there are several success factors for companies to be able to successful in the online market, these five factors are Attract users. Engage users interest and participation. Retain users and ensure they return to an application. Learn about their preferences. Relate back to them to provide the sort of customized interactions that represent the true value bubble of digital marketing. e-marketing is the strategy that the agency or organization uses the modern communication technical methods to exchange the potential market into reality market. The e-marketing is that we can use internet making continuously services in the every step of products pre-selling, products selling and products after-selling. It runs in the whole process of business operating and includes searching for new customers, services for old customers. 2.2.1. Attracting McQuade (1996) states that the current clutter on the Internet virtually ensures that the build it and they will come model is insufficient to draw consumers, marketers need to actively attract users in the first place. Chaffey (2009+) Before an organization can acquire customers through the content on its site, it must, of course, develop marketing communication strategies to attract visitors to the web site. Reed (2010) states online marketing drives traffic to your site and he also mentions this is probably the single biggest reason for using online marketing. Baker (2009) states that; to bring in the customers, companies must ensure their website is visible to customers thats why companies first priority is to be ensure their website is Search Engine Optimized. Banner and display advertisement is another important marketing tool that generate traffic and increase the views of your website. Social media tools generate traffic to your website and its also very important tool to engage current customers. Baker (2009) states Social media can deliver new customers, but primarily is a terrific tool to communicate and engage current customers. Engagement is driven by good design and good content. The biggest explosion in this area has been the growth of online video to drive the message of business and products across in a dynamic way. A recent survey by Yahoo Pew has shown video can increase e-commerce purchases by up to 40 percent. According to Chaffey (2009) online marketing focus on three main activities; customer acquisition (attracting site visitor), conversion (generating leads and sales), and retention (encouraging the continued use of digital channels). Reed (2010) states online marketing is an important tool and lists why it works for companies: Online marketing drives traffic to your site: This is probably the single biggest reason for using online marketing. Creates new ways to connect with your market: companies will become visible to a new set of prospects. Builds trust: your clients and customers can get to know you through your online presence. Starts a conversation: A two way of dialogue with your customers and prospects is much more effective than a one-way broadcast of your marketing message. Creates value: If you can create a useful resource or interesting content targeted at your niche, they will keep coming back for more. Builds communities and relationships. Online marketing communications defined by Chaffey 2009 as Online communications techniques used to achieve goals of brand awareness, familiarity and favourability and to influence purchase intent by encouraging users of digital media to visit a web site to engage with the brand or product and ultimately to purchase online or offline through traditional media channels such as by phone or in-store. 2.2.2. Engaging 2.2.3. Retaining 2.3. Online Marketing Communications There are several online marketing tools to attract customers and each tool must be chosen and applied carefully by the companies. online marketing tools available for b2c companies Developing the capability to create and maintain an effective online presence through a web site is a key part of Internet marketing. Effective means that the web site and related communications must deliver relevance to its audience, whether this be through news content for a portal, product and service information for a business-to-business site or relevant products and offers for an e-commerce site. At the same time, effective means the web site must deliver results for the company. 2.3.1. Social Media Social media is defined as a group of Internet-based applications such as blogs, social networking sites, content communities, collaborative projects, virtual game worlds and social worlds that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user generated content (Kaplan Haenlein, 2010). The social media marketing connects service providers, companies and corporations with a broad audience of influencers and consumers (Weinberg 2009, 2-3.). Frick (2010) states that, When you share content on social profiles and your network of friends in turn share it as well, the potential for reaching huge numbers of people with little effort and in a small amount of time could be construed as a tangible business transaction, at least in terms of its marketing potential. Increasing usage of social media and networks created new ways of marketing of products and services. According to Black, Harrison et. Al. (2010) the uptake in use of social media tools is currently rising extremely quickly, Facebook now has over 400 million users and Twitter over 50 million. With these high potentials companies realized the importance of social media and social media started to become a new way to reach potential customers. Kaplan (2010) states that each Social Media application usually attracts a certain group of people and firms should be active wherever their customers are present. A research done by Digital Brand Expressions indicates that 78 percent of client companies actively utilizing social media (sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, etc.) and only 41 percent of the respondents strategic social media communications plan  [5]  . 2.3.2. Search Engine Marketing (SEM) 2.3.3. Search Engine Optimization Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of identifying and fine-tuning elements and keywords of a Website to improve the traffic in order to reach the highest possible visibility from search engines. Hernà ¡ndez et al (2009) states that, SEO tool tries to capture users who are actively looking for information about a product related to the firm, which converts them into potential clients openly expressing their needs. So SEO is the first thing to tick on your list and its worth remembering that 50 percent of all online purchases start with a search. SEO is a great tool to create brand awareness and increase the website visits. Highest ranking in search engines can attract more visitors to the website. According to Evans (2007) more than half of all visitors come from a search engine rather than from a direct link on another web page. 2.3.4. Mobile Marketing Shankar and Balasubramanian (2009) define Mobile marketing as a two- or multi-way communication and promotion of an offer between a firm and its customers using a mobile medium, device, or technology. Marketing through mobile devices can be used to attract new customers or to retain them. Lubbe and Louw (2010) states that, Mobile devices create an opportunity to deliver new services to existing customers and to attract new ones. Shankar et al. (2010) states that is improving the acquisition and enhancing the retention of customers is an important challenge in the mobile marketing context and the retailers need to better understand social networking to attract and retain customers. Mobile marketing is taking off as more consumers are increasingly becoming dependent on their mobile device for their day-to-day needs, including music, voice and data communication, and photography (Shankar and Balasubramanian 2009). 2.3.5. Affiliate Marketing Chaffey (2009) defines affiliate marketing as a commission based arrangement where referring sites (publishers) receive a commission on sales or leads by merchants (retailers or other transactional sites). He also states that Web site traffic can be developed through online partnerships such as affiliate marketing which involves partners being paid commission for each sale or lead. Affiliate marketing programs help firms to increase their reach and acquire other firms customers when the firms agree to refer their customers to the third parties (Akà §ura, 2010). 2.3.6. Display (Banner) Advertising Display ads are paid ad placements using graphical or rich media ad units within a web page to achieve goals of delivering brand awareness, familiarity, favourability and purchase intent. Many ads encourage interactioÄ ±n through prompting the viewer to interact or rollover to play videos, complete an online form or to view more details by clicking through to a site. Chaffey 2009 2.3.7. Permission E-mail marketing A wide variety of e-commerce marketers are using permission-based e-mail communications to notify prospects of promotions and services, acquire new customers, increase sales, and, most importantly, develop and nurture an ongoing dialogue and relationship with their customers. LOrà ©als brand Lancà ´me uses email newsletters to keep in touch with customers and hence strengthen their brand loyalty (Merisavo and Raulas 2004). The consumers exposed to e-mail marketing recommended the brand to their friends. E-mail also activated consumers to visit retail stores, buy the brands products, and visit the brands site on the internet via links. Brand attitudes were also positive among consumers who had received e-mail. The data show that consumers with higher brand loyalty appreciate regular communication from the brand more than the less loyal. From this we conclude that e-mail offers marketers an opportunity to further strengthen the brand loyalty of already loyal customers by keeping in frequent contact with them. 2.3.8. Online PR Subscription and Feed tools. RSS etc. Social Media Membership Dynamic content 2.3.9. Viral Marketing Viral marketing for the real world. Chaffey and Smith (2008) states that Viral marketing harnesses the network effect of the Internet and can be effective in reaching a large number of people rapidly in the same way as a computer virus can affect many machines around the world. With viral techniques, traffic is built either through using e-mail (virtual word-of-mouth) or real-world word-of-mouth to spread the message from one person to the next (Chaffey and Smith, 2008). BLENDTEC CASE STUDY 2.3.10. Permission E- mail Marketing E-mail is most widely used as a prospect conversion and customer retention tool using an opt-in house-list of prospects and customers who have given permission to a company to contact them (Chaffey and Smith, 2008). For example, Lastminute.com has built a house list of over ten million prospects and customers across Europe. 2.3.11. Online PR Maximising favourable mentions of your company, brands, products or web sites on third-party web sites which are likely to be visited by your target audience. (Chaffey, 2006). According to Chaffey (2006) online PR include: Communicating with media (journalists) online: setting up a press-release area on the web site; creating e-mail alerts about news that journalists and other third parties can sign up to; submitting your news stories or releases to online news feeds. Link building: A structured activity to include good quality hyperlinks to your site from relevant sites with a good page rank. Blogs, podcasting and RSS: Web logs or blogs give an easy method of regularly publishing web pages which are best described as online journals, diaries or news or events listings, Really Simple Syndication (RSS) is an extension of blogging where blog, news or any type of content is received by subscribers using the systems mentioned above. Podcasts are related to blogs since they can potentially be generated by individuals or organisations to voice an opinion either as audio (typically MP3) or less commonly currently as video. Managing how your brand is presented on third-party sites As part of online PR it is useful to set up monitoring services. It is also necessary to have the resources to deal with negative PR as part of online reputation management. Creating a buzz online viral marketing. member get member 2.4. Online customer This section will present a short story of developments in digital interactive environment with regards to digital user definition and behavior in this environment and will present the new digital player characteristics that is said to be transformed into the Google generation Starting with the term of end-user which was pushed by scholars in the late 1970s to define the persons that would finally benefit from the usage of information, the growing number of users (we refer to tens of millions) in the coming 20 years after that have given birth to the term consumers, as recognition to their new found (economic) powers  [6]  . Nicholas D. and Dobrowolsky T. (2000) argue the over-usage of the term user in reference to the Internet and name it a tired, over-used, cheap and misused word, which provides the information profession with a debased currency. It does not reflect the close and complex engagement that takes place between a person and todays interactive information systems  [7]  . Instead they introduce the term player as a new name for the information consumer and characterize information seeking behavior as interactive, recreational, social and competitive with nuances depending on individual online engagement. According to their following research in 2003, the digital players characteristics are  [8]  : Enormous and unprecedented numbers; we have gotten used to see and speak of website traffic in millions. All powerfull; power given by numbers, by huge choice possibilities and backed-up by governments. Personal characteristics; they cover all age groups, education groups and gender. More then that, the research has revealed that the Internet, initially a male dominated domain, now reflects the gender balance of the general population  [9]  that needs a new demographic profiling in consumer behavior. Huge choice is premonitory (not sure if it is the right word) of the next 2 characteristics: Promiscuous users short attention spans and short visits; Nicholas and Dobrowolski refer to users as bouncers. Online consumers bounce from website to another due to short attention spans, running against homepages they do not like, huge choice of websites, etc. Promiscuous; consumers visit a lot of sites online, but purchase from just a few. (more explanation needed?) Untrusting; all electronic media is two-dimensional and the information provider can be everyone. cited in Seock 2008 Consumers across the age spectrum shop online, but college students aged 18 to 22 have been identified as the Internets hottest market and a prime source of future growth in online sales (Silverman, 2000). College students yearly expenditures reach near $200 billion (as cited in PROMO Xtra, 2003). They are heavy users of the Internet and have more access to this medium than most other population segments (Jasper Lan, 1992; Kim LaRose, 2004; U.S. Department of State, 2002). According to Harris Interactive (2002), 92% of college students own a computer and 93% access the Internet. Their online spending exceeds that of any other demographic group in the U.S. (ODonnell Associates, LLC, 2004). Roemer (2003) noted that U.S. college students online purchases came to $1.4 billion in 2002 following a 17% increase over the previous three years. In this vein, it is important for retailers and consumer educators to better understand college students online shopping behavior. Chaffey (2009), Age can affect levels of access to technology, computer literacy, and eventually, the extent to which individuals use the Internet as part of their shopping routines. Chaffey (2009), At the higher end of the educational spectrum (university and college graduate) the internet is considered as essential if not indispensible. However , the digital divide is persistent and internet access is lower in areas with poorer educational achievement and lower-income schools.d Share of persons who use the Internet at least once a week By age groups 16-74 years of age, shares in percent. Year 2010 Share of persons who ordered goods or services via the Internet during the last twelve months By age groups 16-74 years of age, shares in percent. Year 2010. Orders made for private purposes 2.5. Effectivenes online However, measuring marketing effectiveness poses numerous challenges due to the multitude of possible metrics for assessing effectiveness (Gray, 2006 ). The analysis of advertising channel effectiveness and consumer behavior has emerged as a key concept in the marketing discipline for researchers and practitioners because it bridges consumer behavior and marketing strategy (Woodruff, 1997; Overby et al., 2004). The operational and management processes of e-marketing Online and offline communications techniques for e-commerce There are different marketing communicati

Media Should Respect Privacy of Public Figures Essay -- Argumentative

The Media Should Respect Privacy of Public Figures    How much privacy of the individual is protected under the United States Constitution? Every one is entitled to the right of privacy, but to what extent is that privacy granted? Public figures are constantly being harassed and photographed by the media. Some photographers and reporters will go to any means, even illegal actions, to get a picture or story. However, public figures are human beings like everyone else, and the media should give them more privacy. The media needs to operate with more respect for both laws and for moral and ethical codes of conduct. There are laws establishing the privacy of an individual, and the media needs to extend these rights to public figures. Are public officials entitled to private lives? The answer, up until two generations ago was a clear yes (Knowlton, 51). President Franklin D. Roosevelt used a wheel chair or braces, but that disability was rarely mentioned and almost never photographed. Many previous presidents were unfaithful to their wives, but the media did not cover these affairs that were common knowledge to the press corps (Knowlton, 51). However, the extramarital affairs of President Clinton are being widely covered by the media. The ethical code of conduct has fallen apart, and the media has new views on the amount of privacy that should be extended to public figures. According to Steven Knowlton, author of Moral Reasoning for Journalists, "Celebrities of all sorts-musicians, athletes, entertainers, and others-make their living from the public and the public therefore in a sense employs them, just as it employs governors and presidents..."(54). Most journalists figure that celebrities voluntarily surrender their pr... ...ion in a home or other private place. Even though these are not currently illegal actions, the media should act as if they were. Like other people, public figures should be able to separate their job from their family and personal lives. When public figures are spending time with their families, they should not be harassed by the media; intrusions on the privacy of celebrities are intrusions on the privacy of everyone. Works Cited Claffey, Mike and Tumposky, Ellen. "Sadness, Anger Toward Photographers Follows Diana's Death. Witchita Eagle. 31 August 1997. Dill, Barbara. The Journalist's Handbook on Libel and Privacy. New York. 1986. Knowlton, Steven R. Moral Reasoning for Journalists. Connecticut. 1997. Smolla, Rodney A. Suing the Press. New York. 1986. Sunstein, Cass R. "Reinforce the Walls of Privacy." The New York Times. 6 September 1997.

Skepticism Essay -- Skeptic philosophy philosophers

Skepticism Skepticism is the Western philosophical tradition that maintains that human beings can never arrive at any kind of certain knowledge. Originating in Greece in the middle of the fourth century BC, skepticism and its derivatives are based on the following principles: There is no such thing as certainty in human knowledge. All human knowledge is only probably true, that is, true most of the time, or not true. Several non-Western cultures have skeptical traditions, particularly Buddhist philosophy, but properly speaking, skepticism refers only to a Greek philosophical tradition and its Greek, Roman, and European derivatives. The school of Skeptic philosophers were called the "Skeptikoi" in Greece. The word is derived from the Greek verb, "skeptomai," which means "to look carefully, to reflect." The hallmark of the skeptikoi was caution; they refused to be caught in assertions that could be proven false. In fact, the entire system of skeptic philosophy was to present all knowledge as opinion only, that is, to assert nothing as true. In this, they were firmly planted in a tradition started a century earlier by Socrates. Socrates claimed that he knew one and only one thing: that he knew nothing. So he would never go about making any assertions or opinions whatsoever. Instead, he set about questioning people who claimed to have knowledge, ostensibly for the purpose of learning from them, using a judicial cross-examination, called elenchus . If someone made an assertion, such as, "Virtue means acting in accordance with public morality, " he would keep questioning the speaker until he had forced him into a contradiction. As in a court of law, this contradiction proved that the speaker was lying in som... ...at a certain piece of knowledge, that piece of knowledge then becomes the basis for clearing up other doubts. Descartes systematic doubt became the basis of the Enlightenment and modern scientific tradition. One begins with a proposition, or hypothesis, that is in doubt and then tests that proposition until one arrives, more or less, at a certain conclusion. That does not, however, end the story. When confronted by the conclusions of others, one's job is to doubt those conclusions and redo the tests. Once a hypothesis has been tested and retested, then one can conclude that one has arrived at a "scientific truth." That, of course, doesn't end it, for all scientific truths can be doubted sometime in the future. In other words, although scientists speak about certainty and truth all the time, the foundational epistemology is skeptical: doubt anything and everything.

Behaviourist Thoery Essay

E.L.Thorndike(1874-1949) was the chief exponent of th theory of connectionism or trial and error. He was an American Psychologist who conducted Stimulus – Response(S-R) theory experiment with the help of animals. Thorndike was the first to study the subject of learning systematically using standardized procedure and apparatus. All learning, according to Thorndike is the formation of bonds or connections between Stimulus- Response. The Puzzle Box Experiment Thorndike’s Experiment on cat in the puzzle is widely known and often quoted in psychology of learning. The experimental set up was very simple. A hungry cat was confined in a puzzle box and outside the box a dish of food was kept. The cat, in the box had to pull a string to come out of the box. The cat in the box made several random movement of jumping, dashing and running to get out of the box. The cat atlast succeeded in pulling the string. The door of the puzzle box opened, the cat came out and ate the food. He promtly put the cat to next trial. The cat again gave a lot of frantic behaviour but it soon succeeded in pulling the string. It repeated for several time, Thorndike noticed as the repetition increases the error also reduced i.e., Thorndike’s cat showed slow, gradual and continous improvement in performance over successive trials. He concluded that learning of cat in the puzzle box can be explained in term of formation of direct connectionism between stimulus and response. Features of Trial and Error Learning 1. Learning by trial and error is gradual process. 2. For learning to occur, the learner must be definitely motivated. 3. The learner makes random and variable response. 4. Some responses do lead to the goal (annoying response) 5. Some responses lead to the goal. (satisfying responses) 6. With the increase in number of trials the annoying responses will tend to be eliminated and the satisfying responses will be strengthened and repeated. 7. The time taken to perform the task (to repeat the satisfying response) decreases with successive trials. The experiment sum up the following in the process of learning: 1. Drive : In the present experiment, drive was hunger and was intensified with the sight of food. (motivation) 2. Goal : To get the food by getting out of the box.  3. Block: The cat was confined in the box with a closed door. 4. Random Movement: The cat, persistently, tried to get out of the box. 5. Chance of Success: As a result of this striving and random movement the cat, by chance, succeeded in opening the door. 6. Selection (of proper moevement) : Gradually the cat recognised the correct manipulation of latch. 7. Fixation: At last, the cat learned the proper way of opening the door by eliminating all the incorrect responses and fixing the only right responses. Through the experiment, Thorndike explains that the learning is nothing but the stamping in of correct responses and stamping out of incorrect responses through trial and error. Thorndike’s Laws of Learning i) Law of Readiness : The law states â€Å"When any conduction unit is ready to conduct, for it do so is satisfying. When a conduction unit is not ready to conduct. for it to conduct is annoying. When any conduction is ready to conduct, for it not to do so is annoying.† ii) Law of Effect: The law states â€Å"When a modifiable connection between a stimulus and response is made and is accompanied or followed by a satisfying state of affairs the strength of connection is increased. When a connection between stimulus and response is made and accompanied or followed by an annoying state of affairs , it strength decreases. iii) Law of Execise: The law states â€Å"Any response to a situation will, other things being equal, be more strongly connected with the situation in proportion to the number of times it has been connected with that situation and to the average vigour and duration of the connection.† The law has two sub parts: a) Law of Use and b) Law of Disuse a) Law of Use states that â€Å"When a modifiable connection is made between a situation and response that connection strength is increased if it is practised.† b) Law of Disuse states that â€Å"When a modifiable connection is not made between a situation and response, during a length of time, that connection’s strength is decreased.† This means, any act that is not practised for sometime gradually decays. Educational Implication 1. Thorndike’s theory emphasize the importance of motivation in learning. So learning should be made purposeful and goal directed. 2. It stresses the importance of mental readiness, meaningful practise and incentive in learning process. 3. The law of readiness implies that the teacher should prepare the minds of the students to be ready to accept the knowledge, skills and aptitudes before teaching the topic. 4. More and more opportunities should be given to the learners to use and repeat the knowledge they get in the classroom for effectiveness and longer retention. 5. To maintain learned connection for longer period, review of learned material is necessary. 6. The law of effect has called atention to the importance of motivation and reinforcement in learning. 7. In order to benefit from the mechanism of association in the learning process what is being taught at one situation should be linked with the past experience of the learner.

McCloskey in his article claims

Atheism is a judgement that has entered the mind of military personnel forward to the advent of scientific revolution. This ideology is non an original one and has its roots compensate during the time of the kings and prophets in the Old Testament. The record book records their cosmea in one of its verses The sprout hath said in his heart, there is no graven image1.They have been a minority in the past but as mans ability to mull over and create progressed so does his self egotism and pride expanded. More and more peck atomic number 18 now embracing the clause of faith that there is no God and the nonion in an any strong be is simply unreli satiscircumstanceory because there are no strong validations that can prove its validity.2Some of the countries which receive a high cast of atheism include origin earthly concern countries like Japan, Denmark, Norway, Finland, France, Germany and Sweden which topped the list.3 It has indeed original prominence in the ex istence and it is attracting more supporters through the series of counterarguments it throws to theism.McCloskey in his article claims that proofs or arguments which theists provide to support their printing have no weight.4 He speaks of this primarily in relation to the ontological argument, the argument which attempts to show that the very(prenominal) theory of God implies his reality.5 McCloskey believes that there is no prefigure in debating on this particular proof because it has no bearing but the ontological argument serves as the very asylum for other arguments which supports and defends Gods existence.If not for the purpose of proving His existence, the ontological argument is salvage necessary because it distinguishes the characteristics of God whom we are defending. The first rule of philosophical discourse is uncloudedness and since God is the main topic, there is no way in which we should avoid discussing the ontological argument. Actu totallyy, McCloskeys failu re to analyze the ontological argument is one of the tenablenesss why he failed to understand the theists arguments.The diversity of religious beliefs bemused in the world is not aiding the theistical endeavor. It has further complicated the defenses used by theists all over the world. Fortunately, Evans clarified rough misconceptions about the characteristics of God in his article.For one, atheists confute the belief of an all powerful public because it pull up stakes result to absurdity. According to them such(prenominal) a being should be able to create an object that is both a circle and a box or if not create a bowlder so heavy that he himself cannot carry. solely such a rebuttal should not be considered as worthy to be filmed. It is completely a mockery.Atheists fail to entertain that the God who is being supported by the cosmological, teleological and moral argument is a God of reason. He is indeed all powerful but the language all powerful is not to be equated to tender vocabulary as being absolute. It is only used to elaborate on the fact that compared to man his power is unimaginable. He is not bound or limited by anything in this world.He is not governed by the systems of the world rather he governs it. Whatever we do will not diminish nor lessen his godliness. He is the only thing that is constant in this world and will not undergo any change. He is self-existent and will remain that way forever.Further clarification of the nature of God will lead us to the Cosmological Argument. The cosmological argument states that Gods existence is inferred through the existence of the cosmos or the universe.6 According to McCloskey, the stainless existence of the world constitutes no reason for believing in such a being (omnipotent).7He argues that the most we can accept is that the cause, which is the first cause or God, is powerful affluent to create the universe. But this attitude is in no way contradicting the belief that a being which is powerful enough did began the series of levelts which triggered the composition of the universe.It perfectly meets the penury of the temporal argument which only assumes that the universe had a first moment of existence. I have earlier stated that the phrase all powerful should not be misinterpreted because it is only used figuratively to answer for God. How can you further address person that is able to trigger the formation of galaxies? result the word powerful or very powerful be sufficient ?For the rice beer of emphasizing his greatness we use the precondition all powerful because no man can ever do the things that he have done. It is unimaginable for man to even produce a single abandon of hair from zero. Yes, scientists have managed to clone plants, animals and serviceman but he is only dependent of doing such if he has a specimen. He starts from something and makes it more complex but populace is not done in that process. It is from nothing to something.1 Psalm 14 1, The hallowed Bible.com, accessed on 13 May 2010. 2 Martin, Michel, identify Atheism on the Rise in U.S., 2009, NPR.org, accessed on 13 May 2010 from http//www.npr.org/templates/ recital/story.php?storyId=111885128 3 Zuckerman, Phil. Atheism Contemporary Rates and Patterns, chapter in The Cambridge Companion to Atheism, ed. by Michael Martin, Cambridge University Press Cambridge, UK (2005). 4 McCloskey, H.J. On Being an Atheist, p. 50 5 Evans, Stephems Hellenic Arguments for Goss Existence, p. 63 6 ibid., p. 67 7 opcit, McCloskey, p. 51