History of Greenwich Village in Manhattan Essay

Greenwich Village’s history begins in the 16th century when its area was first settled by Native American tribes and then by the Dutch who called it New Amsterdam. In the 1660s, it was conquered by the British and its current name was first mentioned in 1713. In the late 18th century, the area known today as Washington Square Park was occupied by a Potters Field Cemetery, closed in 1826. During the outbreaks of yellow fever and cholera in early 19th century Manhattan, its citizens began to flee to Greenwich Village building new houses in the Federal style, shops, and banks. They built New York University in 1836 and made it an artistic and intellectual center. Buildings in the Greek Revival style appeared around Washington Square as well as the marble arch commemorating Washington’s inauguration as President that was built in 1892 (â€Å"Village History†). An unusual wooden house at 6 Weehawken Street is the only surviving example of 18th century oyster bars that were common in the Village at that time. That street also had many stables with apartments above them some of which can be still seen today. Residential houses whose ground floors were used for commercial purposes where more common, however. After the Civil War, Greenwich Village saw the erection of factories, warehouses, and other industrial buildings typical of the Industrial Revolution such as, for example, the Shepherd Warehouse at West Street or the Tower Warehouses at Greenwich Street. The late 19th century also saw the erection of beautiful maritime hotels (Great Eastern Hotel) and ecclesiastical buildings (Victorian Public School at West Street) (â€Å"The Far West Village and Greenwich Village Waterfront†). By the end of the 19th century, the wealthy citizens built new buildings north from the original settlement that was left to the newly arrived immigrants from Europe. In the early 20th century, Greenwich Village’s theaters and galleries attracted artists and writers, and new luxury apartment buildings appeared. In the middle of the 20th century, Greenwich Village began to look like it appears today and has not changed a lot since then. In the second half of the 20th century, many industrial buildings and warehouses were converted to residential buildings (Sass â€Å"History of Greenwich Village, Manhattan†).

Forensic Psych

Forensic Psychology Psychology involves the scientific study of mental functions and behaviors of the human body. It can be looked as being broken down into two categories, basic psychology and applied psychology. Basic psychology is the use of theories and fundamentals to explain how attitudes, personalities, values, and behaviors are related while applied psychology is the use of these psychological principles and theories to overcome problems in real life situations.Some of the basic psychology studies include abnormal, cognitive, developmental, and social psychology. Applied psychology applies these studies in things like clinical, forensic, health, and educational psychology. I chose to explore the study of an applied type of psych, forensic psychology. Forensic psychology is the application of the science and profession of psychology to questions issues relating to law and the legal system. The word ‘forensic' comes from the Latin word ‘forensis,' meaning ‘of the forum,' where the law courts of ancient Rome were held.Not only does forensic psychology require understanding of the different psychological studies but also an understanding of the law and how it works. Looking at legal issues from a psychological standpoint combines psychology and the law. This form of psychology is used frequently in the legal system. Legal systems make use of forensic psychologists and their practice in evaluations of the mental status of defendants before, during and after trial proceedings.Most may think forensic psychology is only used in criminal matters but forensic psychologist may also assist in a wide variety of civil matters. Civil matters can include lawsuits or insurance claims where emotional affliction is a part of the claim. Determination of competency of an aged or ill person to make decisions, or whether a death was an accident or a â€Å"disguised suicide† in an insurance claim case are both examples of how forensic psychology can he lp aid certain legal cases.The idea of forensic psychology first came about in the late 1800’s. But it wasn’t until the 1900’s when a German psychologist by the name of Hugo Munsterberg claimed that psychology should be applied to the law. Even though this is a couple hundred years from today, it wasn’t until 2001 that the American Psychological Association recognized forensic psychology as a specialization under the study of psychology. In 1906, a defense attorney asked Hugo to review his convicted client’s investigation and trial records.This promoted his 1908 book â€Å"On the Witness Stand†. It detailed how psychological factors can influence the outcome of a trial. In the book, he discussed problems with eyewitness testimony, false confessions, and interrogations. Munsterberg points out that for various reasons why eye witness testimony is essentially unreliable, he describes how eye witness testimony is naturally susceptible to what he calls â€Å"illusions† where a subjects perceptions could be affected causing an inaccurate testimony.In the portion of the book that he calls â€Å"The Detection of Crime†, he discusses the many factors that can influence testimonies, gain confessions, and force confessions from those who are innocent. He explains some of the ways that police have of making suspects confess to crimes that they had not committed, some of these including making their life as uncomfortable as possible while in holding to be able to break down their energy, and â€Å"worst of all giving brutal shocks given with fiendish cruelty to the terrified imagination of the suspect. Later, in 1917 one of Munsterberg’s students, William Marston, discovered that systolic blood pressure and lying were directly correlated. This discovery helped lead the creation of the modern polygraph detector Forensic psychology was largely stagnant until the 1940s and 1950s, when psychologists began regularl y testifying in courts as experts on a range of psychological topics. They became able to conduct evaluations to help the court with mental statuses, the sanity of defendants, and legal competence. One of the first uses of forensic psychology in the court was in the landmark case Brown v.Board of Education (1954) that ended legal segregation in public schools. Psychologists showed that segregation had a negative effect on the self-esteem of young children and the court believed this was a persuasive argument. This proved that psychologists were an extremely useful form of testimony for both the plaintiffs and defendants. Another example of the importance of forensic psychologists came around in 1962 when psychologists serving as mental illness professionals were strongly supported by the court in the case Jenkins v. United States.Here the court ruled in support to psychologists being used as expert witnesses when mental illnesses are concerned. Following this example many other cour ts, both federal and local, began to accept the use of psychologists and psychological assessments more willingly. Psychological assessment refers to scientific methods used by psychologists for the purpose of understanding and explaining an individual’s, couple’s or family’s psychological functioning. Psychological assessments help to define and understand personality, behavior, emoti ons, intelligence, and how they come together.Such assessments help to answer diagnostic questions, to specify a person’s strengths, weaknesses and personality structure, and to explain and to predict behavior. Assessments that are used in the forensic setting are a leading activity for those whom are involved. Forensic psychological assessments are an in-depth process utilizing extensive interviewing, and standardized psychological tests, which produce reliable, valid and reproducible results. To be all-inclusive, an assessment needs to examine a range of psychological fac tors, such as cognitive and personality functioning, developmental history, and interpersonal relationships.These factors can be further broken down into emotional, cognitive, intellectual, developmental, executive, educational, social, neuropsychological, and physiological functioning. Information obtained from standardized psychological assessment has a normative, statistical scientific basis, as it compares the individual against data collected in samples of normal and clinically disordered individuals. It allows the evaluator to determine how similar or dissimilar this person is to people in these samples.While individuals may attempt to â€Å"look good† or â€Å"look bad† in interviews, depending on the case at hand, most test instruments contain multiple validity scales on which to evaluate the extent to which the individual is providing honest, candid, defensive, socially desirable, or exaggerated depictions of their psychological health or symptoms. An overall aim of forensic psychological assessment is to provide the basis for concluding both previous and active factors that can help to explain specific actions, and to make recommendations applicable to the legal issues at hand.The court appoints a psychologist to determine a range of things including mental state, diminished capacity, and competency. When it comes to mental state, a determination is made as to whether there is substantial evidence that the patient suffers a mental disorder. Emotions are not considered a mental disorder. The psychologist needs to consider psychological influences at the scene of the alleged crime. Depending on the outcome of the examination, the psychologist may testify in court how the impaired mental abilities â€Å"actually caused a malformation of the mental element of the crime. The psychologist does not have to be certain that the defendant's disorder caused him or her to be unable to form the intent or knowledge or the crime, but the expert must have some belief in the â€Å"probability or possibility† that it did. Experts need to testify with reasonable medical or psychological certainty. Three main areas of defense related to mental health include diminished capacity, competency, or mitigating (justifying) circumstances. A diminished capacity assessment focuses on whether or not a person was able to comprehend the alleged crime being committed.The psychologist assessed whether the individual, in his/her opinion, was organized, purposeful, and goal oriented. The main question is, whether the defendant's behavior was affected by a mental disorder of mood or thought, by alcohol and or drug intoxication or an irresistible impulse induced by a mental disease affecting the person so that the person is unable to resist the impulse to commit the act that he or she has been charged with. A competency evaluation assesses whether a person has the mental facility or ability to understand the legal proceedings against them.Also , the evaluation focuses on determining whether they are able to assist their attorney in their own defense. Mitigating circumstances are sometimes considered regarding the defendant's capacity to â€Å"appreciate the wrongfulness of their conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law. † Whether a person is charged with a misdemeanor or a felony, their mental state or mental illness is an issue to consider before conviction or before sentencing. The attorney representing the accused person may request a psychological evaluation or sometimes an evaluation is court ordered.Psychological expert witness testimony may also be used in a personal injury case when the plaintiff makes a case that they suffered undue  mental or emotional  pain and suffering. In family law cases, the parties may be evaluated with regard to the best interests of the child or children, and a custody and parenting-time recommendation is made. An in-depth evaluation of the parties, an assessment of their parenting and relationships with their children, and an assessment of their children's status and developmental needs is devised in terms of the children's best interests and a parenting and custody plan which best meets the children eeds. The following is a list of most widely known and commonly utilized psychological tests in forensic contexts: Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV) – The most recent of the adult Wechsler tests is a general test of intelligence, IQ (general measure of intellectual ability). There are 15 subtests that make up the WAIS-IV; at least 10 must be administered to derive an IQ score. In addition to providing an IQ, scores are derived on the following groups of the WAIS-IV subtests:   Verbal comprehension, perceptual reasoning, working memory, and processing speed.For adolescents and children, the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition is used. Rorschach Ink Blot Method – This is a performance-based test instrument. The examinee is presented with the Rorschach inkblots and asked, â€Å"What do you see? † Score results provide insight into the individual’s basic psychological processes such as thinking, impulse control, stress tolerance, reality testing, imagination, and interpersonal relationships.Compared to self-report measures, the Rorschach is not nearly as vulnerable to impression-management or attempts to exaggerate problems. Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) –  A self-report personality inventory, and is the most commonly used test in forensic psychological assessment. The MMPI-2 provides information along multiple scopes including clinical syndromes, personality characteristics, psychosocial stressors and severity of disturbance. Scoring provides a number of validity scales.There are 10 primary clinical scales and a multitude of content and symptom scales. Psychology is a growing field and will continued to b e used in the legal content. It is an essential part of cases when dealing with the mentally ill and it aids in providing proper conviction, sentencing and rehabilitation. ——————————————– [ 1 ]. Kitaeff, J. (2010). Forensic psychology. Pearson College Div. [ 2 ]. Fulero, S. M. , & Wrightsman, L. S. (2010). Forensic psychology. (3rd ed. ). New York, NY: Wadsworth Pub Co. 3 ]. Munsterberg, H. (1909). On the witness stand: Essays on psychology and crime. New York: Doubleday, Page (74). [ 4 ]. Costanzo, M. , & Krauss, D. (2011). Forensic and legal psychology. New York, NY: Worth Pub. [ 5 ]. Heilbrun, K. (2001). Principles of forensic mental health assessment. Springer. [ 6 ]. Wrightsman, L. (2001). Forensic psychology. Australia Belmont, Calif: Wadsworth Thomson Learning. [ 7 ]. Rosenfeld, Barry, Steven Penrod, and Barry Rosenfeld. Research Methods in Forensic Psychology. Hoboken, NJ : Wiley, 2011

What is Ford companys alignment and bargaining power of buyers Essay

What is Ford companys alignment and bargaining power of buyers - Essay Example What is Ford company’s alignment and bargaining power of buyers? The bargaining power of buyers’ for Ford can be examined as relatively low or moderate. Conceptually, the bargaining power of buyers is presumed to depend on various industrial factors ranging from the availability of substitute products to the pricing strategies undertaken by the company or the consumer purchasing power affecting the demand for the product/service on offer. As explained in Porter, the aggregate volume of buyers availed by the company also determines the degree of their bargaining power, apart from the facts that the products are undifferentiated in the market, a low switching cost prevails in the market With the aim to verify the same code of conduct in order to maintain better working conditions and protect the employees’ human rights throughout the chain, Ford provides training as required by the suppliers and inquires them to provide internal training to safeguard understanding of the codes. Ford also assists in developing the process of compliance to support the codes in its supply chain sustainability management as its â€Å"macro-management† strategy. The business framework also intends to inspire suppliers to accept and impose identical code of performance within Ford in the â€Å"encouraging† phase. To manage the performance in this phase, each supplier has been assigned with an executive to lead the expansion of the code and enable them to report the growth to Ford in response to the traditional metrics. During the stages of progression of the suppliers, the company also delivers considerable support, contacts and resources in order to assist the suppli er to improve its program. This commitment further proves to be highly significant for both the business and its stakeholders in reducing the operational risks, which could hamper the production to a substantial extent. Apparently, the alignment certifies accountable behavior throughout the ‘Automotive Supply Chain’ establishing interlinked and interdependent sustainability goals, through the three phase expansion process of â€Å"macro-managing†, â€Å"encouraging† and â€Å"expecting† (Business for Social Responsibility, â€Å"Internal Alignment: An Essential Step to Establishing Sustainable Supply Chains†). The final phase of â€Å"expecting† focuses to share the same sustainability goals to have greater expectancy throughout the supply chain. The company has therefore been applying a vigorous procedure to ensure the effectiveness of these stages. Through this procedure of Aligned business framework, almost 24% of Ford’s supp liers have been successful to meet the benchmark performances, which are to maintain the codes of conduct and the standard internationally throughout its supply chain. It is worth mentioning in this context that with the implementation of Aligned Business Framework business model, Ford has been able to increase its cost-effectiveness, simultaneously raising the quality features of its suppliers. The alignment also increases the innovation and reduces operational risks by way of improving the working conditions to a profitable extent (Corporate Ford, Creating a Sustainable Supply Chain: Strong Relationships, Shared Commitment, and Capacity Building†). Thus, it shall be rationally affirmed that the implementation of the aligned business model framework in Ford, aided it along with its suppliers to gain higher degree of sustainability and operational efficiency, not only in terms of costs and profitability but also in the form of legal coordination with the business partners thro ughout. WHAT IS FORD COMPANY’S BARGAINING POWER OF BUYERS? The bargaining power of buyers’

The Colbert Show, Culture and Politics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Colbert Show, Culture and Politics - Essay Example Research by Amarasingam revealed that, numerous television programs follow the same format in reviewing top news stories as well as analyzing politicians and the media through satires (15).Symbolically, my document explores the effects of the Colbert show in today’s culture. In addition, the document highlights numerous ways in which the elite have used the show to sway people towards varied opinions and its impact on the views. Research by Schiller has postulated that, the Colbert show has profoundly influenced on people’s culture (Schiller 15). It asserts that, the Colbert show play two critical roles in communication. Research by Amarasingam postulated that, the Colbert show transmits information by objectively reporting news hence transmitting information to the masses without including external viewpoints. Significantly, the show disseminates information in packaged formats across vast distances. Notably, the show employs numerous ritualistic viewpoints of communic ation in presenting its message. Accordingly, it places its communication in a cultural context. Particularly, it subjectively report news in numerous ways in order to portray its information. Consequently, the Colbert show integrates numerous cultural viewpoints in its reporting of news. Therefore, it creates an element of a community amongst its audience. Additionally, the show creates change on the value views of the audience. For instance, the cheering of the audience during the report on the segments illuminates the community’s feelings. In addition, due its excitable attitudes in is reporting, the show creates numerous feeling of passion hence causing deeper emotional connections with its reporting news events. Moreover, the show pushes limits on journalism and gives the audience a critical look on prevalent affairs in the society. Jones’ research revealed that, Colbert comedy has significantly influenced our daily culture (Jones 115). For instance, it has mobili zed its viewers to participate in numerous activities such as voting; especially the time 100 online polls (Jones 117). Consequently, its impacts have significantly enhanced international markets. In response, numerous entrepreneurs have embraced the show for its intrinsic worth. It has also engaged its viewers in numerous projects that demonstrate figurative resistance and questioning the authorities. For instance, some people have created remixes of the Colbert’s show content, while others have propagated its neologisms. Moreover, numerous viewers have helped the Colbert in formulating new neologisms. Politically, the Colbert show has significantly altered numerous opinions of various people’s. Accordingly, various elite use it to sway the masses towards numerous opinions. For instance, its partisan message has profoundly influenced American politics. The Colbert support politicians regardless of their party allegiances. In addition, the character betrays his conserv ative ideologies for the sake of his personal achievements (Schiller, 21). Symbolically, he celebrated the victorious success of the Democrats during the 2006 elections. As an ultra-conservative, he should have been disappointed at the results, but instead, he celebrated. Significantly, this marks a turning point in American politics. Additionally, the show explores myriad ways on how people can restore sanity and fear.

Cirque du Soleil Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Cirque du Soleil - Case Study Example (Cascio, W. (1998) Modes of communications are extremely open and the authorities that certain hierarchical titles could impose are practically imaginary. And a Cirque du Soleil core value is respect for cultural diversity. Inspite of the incessant growth that the company has experienced, it has always known how to ensure solidity among employees and maintain a strong sense of belonging. Cirque had tried decentralizing management into three regional divisions The management at Cirque Du Soleil aims at providing "presenting a unique blend of creation and the performing arts, of architecture and the arts in general." the company had only one goal with respect to the customer: "When a customer enters the big top, he will have an experience he will never forget." the management by creating an employee newsletter, la boule, composed of employee submissions that were uncensored. The company's basic objective is to provide an affordable form of entertainment to the audience. Basically, by reinventing the concept of circus. By employing new and innovative individuals with unique skills in the business , companies can expect profits to rise . Payne, T. (2000) The casting director for Cirque, said it was a constant challenge to find the right artists Cantin tried to select artists to fit into the currently conceived productions, she also looked for their potential contributions to future productions at Cirque. Recruiting sources are methods used by organizations to transmit information about open positions to potential applicants (Breaugh 1992). Traditionally trained artists learned, often for the first time, to perform in an intensely multicultural background (A.R. (2002). When hiring artists from different countries, Cantin took into consideration what their no artistic needs were. During auditions, Cantin tried to measure two key dimensions besides pure talent: "Can they continue to develop" and "Can they be generous in the show" The paradox of hiring people, who were really good at what they did, for what they did have to be aligned with the primary work of the organization. Management Level: This can actually get pretty complex and in order to carry this out the Staff at human resource department need to carry out staffing activities. This can be done through the training of employees, recruitment of new employees, rotation of the current employees, lying of f of any staff that can be deemed extra. The bottom line is to get the right staff, with the right skills at the right place.' Management is about coping with complexity' (Gabarro, 1992) Thus, it can be concluded that the Strategic staffing process are easy to use and implement and

Public Sector Employment Relations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Public Sector Employment Relations - Essay Example In this context, the role of government and its position in the public sector is a crucial aspect to account for. On the same note, the fact that the government employs the public service introduces employment relations to be accounted for in that sector. Employee-employer relationship is captured in employment relations concepts. This is basically an account of the employee and employer interactions, to further account for productivity in service delivery. The public sector provides both public goods and services (Ashworth and Entwistle, 2010, p.109). The government, whether local or central, acts as the employer in public service. Every employed individual is accountable to the state. Public sector employment relations therefore capture the interactions between the government and its employees in the public service field (Ashworth and Entwistle, 2010, p.113). Over and above capturing productivity of employee through functional relationships with their employers, the concept of empl oyment relations also encompass the morale and motivation of employees in their working environment and beyond. Generally, employment relations are fundamental in a number of ways. The interaction of employees with their employers boosts their cooperation, improving the underlying working environment. Effectiveness and efficiency of product and service delivery is realized in that process. Unnecessary conflicts are also avoided, enhancing information flow and discharge of duties and responsibilities by both employees and employers. Decision making in that context cannot be ignored. Employee relations seek to incorporate the participation of employees in organizational decision making. On the same note, employees can keep track of decisions made that pertain to matters affecting them from time to time. Public servants are managed by the public sector, primarily the government. The relationship between the public servants and their employer is a complex one, and dynamic in nature. It encompasses multidimensional factors that include but not limited to social, economic, political, ethical, psychological and legal factors (Julius, 2008, p.73). Social, economic, political and technological advancements are creating diverse needs for the society, consequently requiring that the public sector be more accountable. Resource allocation is central to this pursuit, but there never seems to be enough resources that adequately address the needs of the society. Social welfare is on the same note calling for higher qualities and standards, pressuring the government even further. This has influenced the public sector, public service and the private sector in a number of ways, all of which converge to employment concerns. The public sector creates a critical employment pool, rendering functional all its firms, agencies, corporates and parastatal entities. The private sector on the other hand accounts for significant employment opportunities in the nation and beyond. Firms and o rganizations that are privately run complement the public sector in accounting for social welfare in the country. Employment operations in the two sectors have open distinctions, and so are the underlying employment relations. In the public sector, the government acts as the central employer of the public servants. These public servants make up the public service that further accounts for public goods and services delivery to the entire public population. The private sect

French History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

French History - Essay Example This is also the time when the decolonization began and France lost most of its colonial possessions. It was Charles de Gaulle, writing in his memoirs, who said that France was overburdened with history, wars and revolutions, moving endlessly from grandeur to decline. At the end of World War II, France adopted a socialist system anchored on a â€Å"thick social safety net†¦ by an extraordinary coalition of Gaullists, Socialists, Communists and Christian Democrats.† (Hoffman, 2004) This same policy which is still in effect up to this day is to lead France to economic and political stagnation which contributed greatly to the country’s declining relevance. For instance, on the premise of governance, the present French bureaucracy is colonized by its employees and unions, where it is impossible for the government to confront its people head-on and implement drastic changes.1 Some observers comment that the French have cultivated and perfected a culture of dissent. We are reminded that one of the factors that determine the amount of political influence a country has is a functioning political system that is capable of mobilizing resources for world political goals and immense ideological influence. Also, on the economic front, Guy Sorman put it best when he said that France missed the turn when it chose to languish on the economic model of social-statism – a controlled and nationalist economy – and refused a better alternative which was the liberal solution. As countries like China, United Kingdom and the US profit from capitalism, France harbored an â€Å"anticapitalist tradition, based on the high value attached to equality, and linked to powerful socialist and Catholic schools of thought.† (Hoffman, 2000) As a result, â€Å"the French economy is static relative to those around it, especially Spain and Ireland and the UK.† (Sennot, 2004) Although, France is still

4. Strategic management- evaluation of the article Coursework - 1

4. Strategic management- evaluation of the article - Coursework Example It will examine the guidelines and also the code of conduct under which the directors or rather the board of directors operates under. It also shows the practices which they undertake in order to ensure the success of the company. This will also give knowledge on how the stakeholders’ diversity can be used in order to create appropriate boards that will promote the activities of the CSR. This involves taking stakeholders with different opinions on different issues that will affect the company and putting them togetherKhan, (2010). Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a form of governance that is brand new and is mostly used by almost all modern organizations. In the different companies, there are several and different form of governance. They are used to solve several situations in order to have a good outcome and for them to be productive. There is a simple example which states that in case there is an asset that is owned by a particular organization and it is under stake, if the approach chosen to handle the issue is sole ownership, it would be the worst approach to be used by the governors of the organization. The best way to handle such a situation would be that the board of directors take action. The CSR is proving to be a strong and suitable way to solve most of these problems. The boards of directors are very positive towards the strategy. This has improved the performance of many companies. This is also very favourable since it includes and involves the shareholders and even the stakeholders. This has added the strength of the strategy. Most of the parties involved in the stakeholders group are the managers, suppliers, employees and even some outside firms might be counted in. But there are still problems and setbacks with the strategy as compared with other systems of governance. Some of the managers tend to want to exercise control over the other

Goal of Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Goal of Education - Essay Example No parent would against his or her children’s education. There is no child who does not hate his school and yet would not want to be deprived of one either. So the question here is why is education so desirable? When asked in a survey, most people said that education, for them, is a way to make money. Parents who struggle hard for their kids’ education do so in hope of a financially brighter future and an upward mobility. Children who spend all their childhood and adolescence period in studying do so, in order to attain a social standing, where they can enjoy better standard of life. Thus, education is merely a way to become rich and make money (Eames, 1977). As simple as the statement sounds, there are a few loopholes in the argument. First, if education is the best possible way to earn money as proven by its popularity, then why do facts show that the richest people on the planet are either illiterate or high school dropouts? Bill Gates, who dropped out of high school, remained the â€Å"richest man of the world for ten consecutive years† (Dewey, 1998). Secondly, history shows that the system of education was not invented to help people make more money (Dewey, 1998). The idea of education leading to upward financial mobility emerged at the onset of capitalism when all processes and social phenomenon were commodified in order for powerful to outdo the powerless, which is principally the Marxist perspective on capitalism. One now asks, if it is possible to become as rich as anyone can without going to school and the process does not even accredit its alleged purpose, then why bother. What is the ultimate edge that an educated man has over the uneducated one? The answer lies in the quote of Dr. Martin Luther King, "The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education" (Warren, 2001, 27). Education, in its true essence is

The Sanctuary Essay Example for Free

The Sanctuary Essay The author of the publication is Elif Batuman. The article’s title is the Sanctuary published in December 19th to 26th in the year 2011. The origin version title is the Life and the Legend by Susan Orlean. It was about the world’s oldest temple built 11,500 years ago at Gobekli Tepe in Turkey. Batuman embarks on a pilgrimage to the Gobelki Tepe temple where she finds much ancient memoirs concerning the way of life of the Neolithic man. She tries to analyse the Neolithic man, but her experience is quite captivating to the reader. The explanations that Batuman offers to regard the different remnants of the Neolithic man are quite convincing. She offers both scientific and biblical explanations for the existence of the evidence as presented by the remnants of the Neolithic man. Batuman has many questions regarding the way of life of the people who lived during the era. In her quest to seek a broader understanding and the way of life and origin of these people; she visits the excavation site where archaeologists are trying hard to unearth the finer details of the Neolithic man existence. There are many artefacts that she finds intriguing and has many questions concerning the animals and human sculptures that exist in the cave. She further tries to gather information from the local residents and raise questions to students and observes every detail and tries to analyse the situation in a logical manner. Batuman feels that these sculptures must surely represent the way of life and the thoughts of the Neolithic man but figures out that the Neolithic man must have had a connection with the Christian biblical origin of man. Batuman further cites many examples about the people from the bible like Adam and Eve, Abraham who are believed to have been among the first generations of mankind on earth. The remnants that are being unearthed from Gobelki Tepe are quite scary to an observer. Snakes, scorpions and other wild animals are naturally dangerous but were part of the creation that the Neolithic man had to contend with. Batuman feels that the men who had their penises exposed were trying to show the importance of children and that they were fertile. Towards the end of the story, Batuman says that Abraham wanted children in order for them to assure him of the continuity of the generation. Batuman tries to convince the reader by providing reasons as to why the Neolithic man became extinct. She feels that there were chances of an occurrence of a natural calamity that wiped out the Neolithic generation. The fact that people lived together with animals could have contributed to a disease outbreak or a natural calamity that wiped out the generation. Batuman further trusts her instincts that she is most likely to be a descendant of the large Neolithic man who is preserved in the museum. This can be somehow convincing to the reader because, sometimes human beings have been proven to have instincts, which guide them to some important discoveries. Elif Batuman tries to relate the Gobelki Tepe temple to the sacred nature of the Neolithic man. The man had a reference for a supreme being who was in control of mankind. The supreme God was recognized for his providence to the people. Among the fundamental things provided were children and food. However, she admits that the sculptures of animals may have been made in order to display a different message altogether. Batuman feels that the hunters should have done some sculptures or paintings in the caves that show hunting scenes. The message that the Neolithic man was trying to put across therefore may need further research in order to try and determine what the real meaning of the sculptures and animals could be.

Benefits Types Of Wheelchair Ramps

Benefits Types Of Wheelchair Ramps Most people who use wheelchairs face the difficulty of climbing stairs since they are seated on the wheel chairs. They also find it difficult to go over a platform due to the upward slope that they will have to drive over. Wheelchair users also experience problems when getting down or stepping inside a car or when they go to a building that does not have a ramp. It is for such difficult situations that Portable wheelchair ramps were devised and are found to be most useful for the people who use wheelchairs. These portable ramps are designed in such a way that the wheelchair can be suitably adjusted by the users to use the steps up and down while being seated on the wheelchair. When you go on to choose a portable ramp for yourself or for someone who necessitates it, you must consider a number of important factors that will help the user to effectively use the portable wheelchair. The weight of the person would be one of the most important factors. The wheelchair must be chosen such that the weight of the person can be withheld by the wheelchair ramp without leading to any deformation. Another important factor is the durability offered by the material used in making the wheelchair. Priority can also be given in choosing a portable wheelchair ramp made of particularly strong materials for a safer use. Of the many materials used for making portable wheelchairs ramps, the ones that are most commonly used are steel, wood and aluminum. Hospital portable wheelchair ramps are to be bought with care keeping in mind the weight capacity that keeps varying depending on the patients and the width requirements in certain cases. The best portable wheelchair ramps are the ones which are designed to have the capacity to help serve all types of wheelchairs, regardless of the size. It must also bear all types of weights of the wheelchair and have a reliable and smooth platform. 2) CLASSIFICATION OF WHEELCHAIR RAMPS Wheelchairs are used by many people with mobility problem and who wish to live an independent life without the necessity of a caretaker to move them every time. Wheelchairs give freedom to these mobility impaired people and help them in moving easily to the places like home or their work place or even a locality where they wish to meet friends. Wheelchair ramp is a platform which helps the movement of wheelchairs with ease in certain incompatible surfaces such as stairs and rough floors. Wheelchair ramps come in many designs and can be used effectively in places such as curbs and steps of a building to make the wheel chaired persons cover heights smoothly. Wheelchair ramps can be classified into four different groups based on the structure and the way the ramps are used. The most important and the only distinguishable feature of ramps is the way the ramps is the way the ramps are installed and used. Horizontally folding ramps are the ones which are foldable in horizontal directions, when required to move the wheelchairs in a rough path. Longitudinal folding ramps are used in covering steps f a building and when different heights are to be covered. There are other types of ramps too such as fixed dimension ramps which cannot be extended and have a fixed size and telescopic ramps. Telescopic ramps come in different shapes and hence are further divided as gutter ramps that are basically U shaped, also called U shaped Gutter ramps and reverse profile ramps that are used in many places. Though wheelchair ramps are primarily used from among the above four types, there have however been a number of other wheelchair ramps in the market now. Track Wheelchair Ramps are used in places where the wheelchairs have wheels that use a particular design. In this case, the Track wheelchair ramp aligns itself to the wheel and extends itself to make a path for the wheelchair. Many other Wheelchair ramps like Modular Ramps, Threshold Wheelchair Ramps, Single-Fold Wheelchair Ramps and many more are also available in the market. ****************************************************************************** 3) MODULAR WHEELCHAIR RAMPS Wheelchair ramps provide a way for people to travel from one place to another with comfort avoiding any kind of hassles or hurdles in their way. Wheelchair ramps are designed in specific ways to suit the specific situations where patients or mobility impaired victims can move easily by wheelchairs or trolleys. An easy mobility of the wheelchairs in buildings is provided by wheelchair ramps and rough uneven surfaces both inside and outside buildings. There have been many variants in the modeling of wheelchair ramps to suit the different scenarios faced by a wheel chaired person. These wheelchair ramps help them in facing the difficult situations such as going through doorways to outdoors and also to reach laces that are in high areas that are difficult to reach by them without any aid. Modular ramp is a variant of wheelchair ramps that is available and widely used due to its mobility features. Modular Ramps are a class of wheelchair ramps that can be installed permanently or can be installed for a period of time and removed later. These ramps are made of leveling systems that help in elevating wheelchairs to higher levels and moving them easily over the stairs. Modular ramps also have landings and supports to create a stable movement atmosphere for the user of the wheelchair. The ramp can also be moved with the help of wheels and flanges. Hand rails are also included in the modular ramp. The ramp can be extended by combining ramps with bolts and clamping the rails together and fitting the ramp to the ground for stable standing of the ramp. These ramps are manufactured with varying dimensions and hence can be ordered to obtain a custom sized ramp suiting your needs for your building or house. The ramp will be shipped with instructions of how to install the ramp incl uded with the package. ****************************************************************************** 4) SINGLE FOLD AND MULTI FOLD WHEELCHAIR RAMPS Portable wheelchair ramps are most used in the world today for providing access to people who use wheelchairs to travel within building and homes. Portable wheelchair ramps are easy to install and can be used dynamically to move wheelchairs to classes, churches and hospitals, or even other locations such as to meet friends and family. Wheel chair users can go in vehicles and get in and move out of vehicles easily with no hassles by using a portable wheelchairs ramp when required. Portable ramps can be installed when required and can be folded and carried easily. Due to the varied advantages of portable ramps, many variations of portable ramps have been designed and are available in the market for users. Single-Fold Wheelchair Ramps are one of the designs of portable ramps that offer highly portable features, making the ramp easy to carry and use in any environment. The ramp can be folded easily at the center, and can be carried to any place without any problems. Single fold wheelchair ramps are very easy to install in locations and can be set up within minutes and can also be uninstalled quickly. Multi-Fold Wheelchair Ramp is an extended version of single fold ramps. These raps can be folded multiple times and can be made into a small pack that makes it easily portable. The ramp can be folded twice in most designs and fits in to a suitcase easily. Multi Fold Wheelchair ramps are easy to install and also offer extendibility. Multi-Fold Wheelchair Ramps help in covering long distances and taller obstacles in an easy way by using added ramps for length. Roll-Up Wheelchair Ramps are an extended variant of multi fold ramps. These ramps are designed to be portable to the best extent. These ramps have a hinge design which allows the complete ramp to be folded to a small pack and enabling the ramp to be stored in a small space. Though many variants of wheelchair ramps are created, it is an observed fact that no single wheelchair can suit all the needs of wheelchair users. ****************************************************************************** 5) WHEELCHAIR RAMPS FOR BUILDINGS Wheelchair ramps are specially designed slopes that are used for providing ease in movement of wheeled chairs and other transporting equipments to a house or hospital. Wheelchair ramps are primarily used in hospitals to help people who use wheelchair to easily move in and out of the hospital. The ramp can also be used for transferring patients in portable bed when a patient cannot walk or sit. Wheelchair ramps have now been used for purposes other than just for wheel chaired patients. They act as a great path for strollers and trolleys to be moved in a mall and in many government agencies. The main purpose of wheelchair ramps however was to make every wheel chaired person to be able to use buildings without any difficulties. The introduction of wheelchair ramps was a great replacement for wheelchair lifts and has been implemented all over the world now. Most building owners prefer to have a fixed permanent wheel chair ramp made up of cement or by using wood as the ramp floor. However, installation of Permanent wheelchair ramps can be done only in places where you have a fixed entrance to the house or building on a wheelchair. In cases where you must cover varying heights of a building, the ramps must be designed and architecture differently depending on the distance the wheelchair must cover vertically. A straight and slightly inclined wheelchair can be the best to cover short distance safely in cases where there are only few steps in the building. But when one must cover more distance through stairs, especially the ones which are steep, creating a wheelchair ramp would be the best option for the building. Wheelchair ramps are also mostly not sighted in first look and hence will not be harm in the looks of your building. On the other hand, you will also be creating an easy and safe way for wheel chaired people to move in and out of the house easily. ****************************************************************************** 6) WHEELCHAIR RAMPS CHOOSING BASED ON NEEDS If you are a person who use wheelchair for moving around, you would know the difficulties better than anyone else in the world. It is sure a trouble to go around in a house which is designed for a normal person and is in most cases not compatible for movement on a wheelchair. People on wheelchairs also face difficulties to get in a car when they wish to move to far places. It is also a hard job to get to different floors of a building when there is no elevator and one has to use stairs to get there. For all these purposes, Wheelchair Ramps were designed. Wheelchair Ramps provide an easy way of navigating throughout the building. It makes a whole lot of difference to wheelchair users and makes their life more comfortable and manageable. Wheelchair Ramps have grown in popularity so much that there are many types of Wheelchair Ramps available in different brands. The ramps are available in varying qualities and prices. The first thing to decide when buying a wheelchair ramp is the size of the ramp required. The area of the ramp required can be judged based on the type of ramp you wish to install too. If you are willing to install a permanent wheelchair ramp, the area of the ramp can be large and as much is suitable to fill the area, by using concrete or wood as ramp base. However, in cases when you need portable ramps, the size of the ramp will be limited since the ramps must fit into a suitcase or the back of your car deck in case you wish to carry. So the best way to choose a wheelchair ramp is to list the places where you wish to use the ramp and then decide whether you require a permanent or semi permanent ramp installed in your house, or rather buy a portable limited area ramp which can be carried anywhere and installed easily. ****************************************************************************** 7) PORTABLE WHEELCHAIR RAMPS AND SAGETY Wheelchair Ramps are widely used now in many places to assist mobility impaired wheelchair users to move freely in public places and in homes. The need for Wheelchair Ramps arises in many situations such as staircases, elevated places and so on which cannot be accessed by wheelchair users. The situations faced by wheelchair users are often challenging and keep changing and hence the need for variety of ramps was noticed. Now, there are many classes of Wheelchair Ramps available in the market which suits the needs of almost all wheelchair users in difficult situations. Suitcase ramps are portable wheelchair ramps which are used when ramps are to be installed dynamically in random places, when needed. These ramps are easily installable and detachable and can be folded and carried to places easily. Almost all portable ramps can fit in suitcases that make them easy to be carried along anywhere. So if you visit a hotel which has only stairs and no lifts, you can have your portable ramp to help you get over the place with no problems at all. Another interesting advantage of portable ramps is that the weight capacity that it can withhold is enough to even carry your luggage over the ramp. A typical portable ramp can carry about 600lbs. of weight. This way, portable ramps can also be used to move heavy luggage up or down the stairs, by just using a wheeled trolley to carry and slide the luggage over the ramp. An alternative to portable ramps would be threshold ramps. These ramps are often to move chairs to places such as down small steps in the house or near doors. Using threshold ramps in such places helps the wheels of the wheelchair stay intact and not get stuck at the edges of the step and make the wheelchair fall. This ramp is also easily portable but can be used only for small distance coverage. However, threshold ramps are mostly used in homes to prevent injuries to wheelchair users. ****************************************************************************** 8) ADA STANDARDS FOR WHEELCHAIR RAMPS Wheelchair Ramps are considered as one of the most important requirement to be included in a house plan. These ramps help mobility disabled people to navigate freely within the house. Wheelchair Ramps are also installed in many offices and social places to enable wheel chair users to have the freedom to visit these places with no difficulties. Since the wheelchairs used by most people come under the same standard design, The American with Disabilities Act, also known as ADA in the US, stated a set of specifications that are to be followed when one constructs a wheelchair ramp. The Wheelchair Ramps constructed by any company or brand must meet the ADA specifications and this has been made mandatory. A low rise long tread type ramp was first proposed by a few construction engineers and consultants and was found to be safe and an easy variation for wheelchair users to use the ramps. The low rise ramp provided an advantageous strong grip to the ground when compared to the slope ramp. However, when a wheelchair is to be driven over this ramp, the wheelchair is required to be tiled a bit backwards, thus lifting the front wheels of the wheelchair. This would negotiate to the rise of the ramp and make the movement of the wheelchair smooth and easy. These Wheelchair Ramps are hence mostly used in hospitals with wheelchairs that require an attendant to push through. The main specifications of the ADA are to make the slope of the ramp have a size of one inch maximum size after every twelve inches of the ramp length. The surface of the ramp must be chosen such that it is hard and stable. The surface must have the capacity to withstand weight and also have a regular smooth face for easy movement of the wheelchair. Soft surfaces such as carpets and wet clay must be avoided for making the surface of the ramp. Also, irregular faces such as cobblestones must not be used in making ramp surfaces according to ADA. ADA strictly recommends that the ramps must be constructed by Pressure treated methods for wheelchair ramp construction. ****************************************************************************** 9) CHOOSING A SAFE PORTABLE WHEELCHAIR RAMP Portable Wheelchair Ramps are widely used by people who use wheelchairs since the ramps can be carried to any place easily. Portable ramps are considered as the best way to provide an easy way for wheelchair users to move up and go down the staircases of a building or get into a car. However, when choosing a portable wheelchair ramp, it is important to note a few issues that must be given importance while choosing portable ramps. Ramps must be selected in a wise manner such that it suits the needs of the wheelchair user and the environment where it will be installed. Hence, the first thing to be noted is to check for any incompatibilities that the ramp may cause when you start using it. The first issue is to check if the ramp has any kind of edged surfaces or corners that may cause damage to the wheels of the wheelchair or the person who assists the wheel chaired person. The quality of the ramp must be checked first along with the way finishing has been done. Many low quality ramps have a poor finishing touch which often leads to injuries to the caregiver and the wheelchair user. When you use portable ramps that are foldable, make sure that you take caution when folding the ramp. If fingers get in the way of the fold, it can cause serious pain due to the hard material the ramp will be made of. The ramps must be designed suitable to have a leveled surface and also have a perfectly smooth level end of the platform so that the wheelchair user can be transferred smoothly to the street from inside the house. Edge protectors are also extremely important in Wheelchair Ramps since it effectively prevents the wheelchair users to fall off the ramp if they go off the side ends of the ramp anytime. The ramp must also have a stiff attachment to the ground so that the ramp does not move when in use. These issues must be addressed properly first before installing and using a ramp in order to have a safe wheelchair ramp in use. ****************************************************************************** 10) TIPS TO BUY WHEELCHAIR RAMPS Wheelchair Ramps offer a great life of freedom to wheelchair users since it provides them with a will to move to different places of the house and to the streets without the need of an aid or a helper. However, choosing a wheelchair ramp is a very serious and important job and proper care must be taken in choosing the characteristics of the ramp r the ramp may lead to danger of the userà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s life. In choosing a wheelchair ramp, there are four major properties of the ramp that must be given importance: the length of the ramp, its maximum weight limit, the width of the ramp and finally the rise or inclination of the ramp relative to the ground. Length of the ramp: Length of the ramp is a very important characteristic of the ramp since the steepness of it increases as the length decreases. When you have a short ramp length, the ramp would be too steep and the speed of the wheelchair may go out of control and cause injuries due to fall. Thus choosing a length to provide the right steepness is extremely important. Ramp Width: The width of the ramp must match the width of the wheels. This is also an important characteristic of ramps and one must make sure the wheels have enough space to make the wheels stay on the ramp always. For specific wheelchairs which have wider dimensions, a wider ramp would be required. Thus, the width of the ramp must be chosen suitably to accommodate the wheelchair. Maximum Weight Limit: The maximum weight limit of the ramp must be sufficiently higher than the summation of the wheelchair and the wheelchair user along with any person who may be on the same ramp helping the wheelchair user. This must be the minimum weight that the ramp must bear and the maximum limit can be anything sufficiently higher than this. Rise: The rise of a ramp is the maximum height the ramp connects from the ground. The steepness can vary for two ramps of same rise and hence one must select a proper rise for a ramp to avoid injuries due to steepness. Selecting a ramp by considering these characteristics will help you to find the safest wheelchair ramp for your needs.

Behind Closed Doors Essay -- essays research papers fc

Behind Closed Doors Over the years, many people have believed that the issue of sexual harassment should not be discussed in public. Sexual harassment was to be discussed behind closed doors. In spite of this, the social and political systems have changed instantaneously. This social problem has affected men and women throughout time; however, it seems that the women of our society more closely look at this issue. This social topic has encouraged women to establish organizations in order to help them discuss the issues more openly and to demand equality including fairness and justice throughout the workplace and in their social lives as well. In recent years, sexual harassment has been one of the most serious and widespread problems found in the workplace. For this reason, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaimed, by the United Nations in 1948, to help everyone in their fight for self-respect and dignity. Indeed sexual harassment is an issue that complicates employment decisions. People also recognize that it is an issue involving the creation of an antagonistic or offensive work environment. In many instances, the issue of sexual harassment is not something minor that can be easily solved. Sexual harassment, in most cases, involves a superior’s behavior towards a subordinate. As mentioned before, most forms of sexual harassment occur in the workplace. An employee can charge an employer with sexual harassment as a result of the misconduct of managers, fellow employees, vendors, and even customers. Eventually, sexual harassment can cause a hostile work environment. It is true, for the most part, that sexual harassment comes in many forms in the workplace. There are two significant ways in which one can identify sexual harassment. They are called the â€Å"Quid Pro Quo† and the â€Å"Hostile Environment Harassment.† The essence of the Quid Pro Quo theory of sexual harassment occurs when an employee is confronted with sexual demands to keep her job or obtain a promotion. This is a true violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which is also referred to as the Title VII Act. Even though sexual harassment by its very nature is complicated to define, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission provides a general description of sexual advances. [The several basic varieties of the Quid Pro Quo harassment indicate the unwelcome sexual advances and requests for... ...sex with him. She had bee going on with his sick plan for six months. The owner as far as we know hasn’t been charged with anything, but the boss is in jail for some felony concerning the blackmail. My friend still has deep seeded emotional problems with the men that she works with. She has been to a psychiatrist only to be told that it is a healing process and that it takes time. I think that this ordeal has hurt her mentally more than anything else. In conclusion I’d like to ask everyone, male and female, to think before you act. What you might think is a harmless joke could be just the opposite to someone else. What can we do as individuals and as a group to stop this to commonly practiced act? Works Cited Aggarwal, Arjun P. â€Å"Sexual Harassment in the Workplace† Butterworths Canada Ltd. 1992 Lindemann, Barbara and Kadue, David D. â€Å"Sexual Harassment in Employmet Law† Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) Transactional Reporting Services 1993 Caggiano, Christopher â€Å"The Inc. Faxpoll† Multimedia Publications Inc. 1992 Baridon, Andrea P. â€Å"The New Rules and Realities for Managing Men and Women at Work† McGraw Hill Inc. 1994 Serepca, Beth â€Å"Sexual Harassment† Internal Auditor October 1995

Indochina :: History

Indochina Indochina is made up of Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. It was colonized by the French in the late 1800's and given up in 1939. Japan tookover France’s loss after that. After Japan’s defeat in 1945, Vietnam’s patriot and communist, Ho Chi Minh and his Viet Minh declared Vietnam independent. After that, France came to claim their loss. The US supported France fearing the "Domino Theory" would take affect after in 1949 China fell to communism. In 1950, the US sent troops to South Korea to prevent the dominos from falling. The Vietnamese took fort Dien Bien Phoo in May of 1954, so then the French finally pulled out. That set up 2 nations North Vietnam and South Vietnam split at the 17th parallel. Ho Chi Minh was in the North and was a Communist Ngo Dinh Diem was in South and disliked communism. He argued that if there was an election to choose a leader of 1 unified nation, that Ho would not permit fair elections. Viet Cong Rebellion In 1956, Diem closed all elections, and appointed local officials. That gave him less of support. Also he didn’t win the support of the peasants, that was a major mistake... in the south Vietminh members who were located in South Vietnam formed their own communist party. Diem called them the Viet Cong meaning Vietnamese Communists. North Vietnam supported the rebellion in the early parts. In 1959 the Vietminh set up a supply route to South Vietnam through Laos and Cambodia. They were then named the Ho Chi Minh trail. Also in 1959, the first American advisors were killed during a battle. By 1960 the Vietcong had about 10,000 troops and were threatening to overthrow Diem. Then the US sent 15,100(WorldBook) more US advisors in from 1961 - 1963. The Buddhist’s also had a hard time with Diem, they felt he did not give enough religious freedom. The Buddhists also held the better part of Vietnam’s population. On June 21, 1963, an old Buddhist Monk Quang Duc lit himself on fire as a form of protest. Diem who was a Roman Catholic and his brother, performed massive arrests on Buddhists and raided Buddhist temples. Kennedy urged Diem to improve relationships with Diem, but he didn’t take his offering. Then a group of generals who were against Diem formed. On Nov. 1, 1963, the generals overthrew Diem and his brother, and Diem and Nhu were murdered.

Analysis of Common Enzymatic Pathways in Gambierdiscus toxicus and Symbiodinium in the TCA Cycle :: The TCA Cycle

Background: Dinoflagellates are one of the four main types of phytoplankton, which are photosynthetic, single celled and free living organisms in the ocean. Dinoflagellates cause the Harmful Algal Blooms (HAB) also known as the red tide effect (Hackett et al 2004). Toxicity persisting at upper levels of the food chain is detected in them from the ones which are toxic, but not all such blooms are toxic. Enhanced detection capabilities may in part contribute to observed high frequency and severity of toxic blooms. As they are also important in the health of coral reefs their study has gained significant interest. Species are often selected for genome sequencing based on their importance as a model organism or relevance to human health, such as the HAB case. Fig 1 Gambierdiscus Toxicus and its golden brown chloroplasts (Image courtesy: Institute Malarde) Recreating the evolutionary history of dinoflagellates has been challenging as they possess a known ability to transform from noncyst – to cyst – forming strategies (unreferenced/Wikipedia). The dinoflagellate nucleus lacks histones, nucleosomes and maintains continually condensed chromosomes during mitosis (Dodge 1966), making their classification difficult (Hackett et al 2004). Though being classified as eukaryotes, the dinoflagellate nuclei are not characteristically eukaryotic (Dodge 1966). However, typical eukaryotic organelles, such as Golgi bodies, mitochondria and chloroplasts are present in dinoflagellates (Morrill et al 1983). Since dinoflagellate nuclei possess intermediate characteristics between the coiled DNA areas of prokaryotic bacteria and the well-defined eukaryotic nucleus it was termed ‘mesokaryotic’ by Dodge (1966). This research focuses on Gambierdiscus toxicus which is an armored, marine, benthic species in the phylum Dinoflagellata. It has an epitheca and a hypotheca, that is very similar in size, compressed anterio-posteriorly. The theca is covered with numerous deep and dense pores which are very thick. This species is autotrophic creating energy via several golden-brown chloroplasts (Hackett et al 2004), but is also heterotrophic and hence is referred to as mixotrophic. It has a ventrally – oriented crescent shaped nucleus. (Adachi & Fukuyo 1979). It usually inhabits warmer waters such as bay, mediterranian, tropical/sub – tropical in North/Central America (Shiumuzu et al 1982; Loeblich & Indelicato 1986), Asia/Pacific (Holmes & Tao 2002; Lu & Hodgkiss 2004) and has recently been identified in the Mediterranean (Aligizaki & Nikolaidis 2008). These authors identified the organisms to genus level, at best of their effort, so may have been one of the less common members of its g enus although it is unlikely.

Integration versus generic approach Essay

Integration versus Generic Approach Author Note This paper is being submitted on November 17, 2013, HS/100 Introduction to Human services course. Integration versus Generic Approach The integration concept is that which emphasis’s on the integrating of the various human services systems under one organizational or administrative system. In the most basic terms, an integrated service delivery approach serves people better, more efficiently and effectively. Integration calls for people within agencies to be involved and invested in the process of sustainable change. To achieve truly integrated services, organizations must overcome their own interests and look at clients’ needs. (Friedman and Pagan, 2011). Today technology allows human service agencies to have a comprehensive view of client need, giving caseworkers the best information to look at services across programs and to allocate available resources to assist customers. This enables agencies to deploy necessary services quickly in a well-coordinated fashion (Freidman and Pagen, 2011). The generic approach to human services, in part, has integration, but it is generally believed that the existing human services structure is most accurately described as an array of potentially related programs that deliver distinct benefits or services to narrowly defined target populations. These programs are usually separate and distinct, through which money, regulations, and professional norms, and expectations flow. While some overlapping across programs has always existed, each usually operates in a relatively self-contained manner (Corbett and Noyes, 2008). I believe that the integration approach serves our publics best interest. To have all systems and programs come together to see the big picture, to focus on all the problems together, instead of having to go place to place to work on separate issues Unfortunately, a  ready-made definition of service integration does not exist. We have not been able to find a magic threshold that marks the separation of unintegrated service systems from those we would characterize as integrated (Corbett and Noyes, 2008). (Ragan, 2003) states, â€Å"There is no single answer. Based on observations†¦service integration is a combination of strategies that simplifies and facilitates clients’ access to benefits and services. Each site has implemented a distinctive mix of strategies, processes, and partner agencies†.

Nordstrom: a Marketing Analysis Essay

Over the years Nordstrom has created individual departments that focus on the individual lifestyles of the customers. The company nor only provides its customers with a wardrobe, but also a countless line of accessories, cosmetics, and fragrance. Over the past few years, the company has added new brands to its product line to satisfy its customer needs. In order to give the best possible service to the customer, the company plans on continuing to update the product line as new customer desires evolve. The employees are extremely focused on creating an environment of customer service within the store as well. The employees are not only focused on meeting the company standards, they are also focused on reaching the standards they have set within their own department as well. Each employee is trusted by the store managers to make good decisions and represent the company well. This trust has built confidence in the employee and enables them to focus all of the energy toward the customer. The atmosphere of the store also shows evidence of the company mission. The store is easy to navigate through, specific soothing colors are well placed throughout the store, and there is always a piano that can be heard playing in the background. These three things create a soothing and comfortable atmosphere for the customer. Nordstrom’s mission of providing customer service, quality, selection and value to its customers is carried out in every aspect of the company. The company employees, store atmosphere, and product line all display extraordinary qualities of service. The Mission Statement of Nordstrom is definitely evident in its day to day operations. Situation Analysis (SWOT Analysis) Internal Strengths and Weaknesses History (Sales, Profits, Organizational Philosophies) Nordstrom was co founded 1901 by a 30 year old man named John W Nordstrom and his partner Carl Wallin. At age 16, John W of Sweden left his home and moved to Alaska where he struck gold. While in Alaska, he met a man named Carl Wallin, â€Å"who owned a shoe repair shop in downtown Seattle† (Nordstrom Employee, 2006). The two decided form a partnership and open a shoe store entitled Wallin & Nordstrom. Right form the start, the business philosophy was â€Å"based on exceptional customer service, selection, quality and value† (Nordstrom Employee, 2006). Focusing on this philosophy helped Nordstrom develop a competitive advantage in the shoe market. Due to their success, the company opened a new store in 1923. The company was soon taken over by John W’s sons. Under their management it â€Å"grew to become the largest independent shoe chain in the United States. By the 1960’s the current market had started to reach maturity and the company began to look â€Å"for new ways to spread its wings† (Nordstrom Employee, 2006). In an attempt to diversify itself, and gain greater market penetration, Nordstrom took on a new name, â€Å"Nordstrom Best†, and ventured into the clothing market. Now, upon entering a Nordstrom store, â€Å"customers were greeted with a selection of both shoes and fine apparel† (Nordstrom Employee, 2006). Now for the first time in history, Nordstrom offered a diverse product mix, something no other competitor offered. In 1971, under the third generation of management, the company decided to go public. Two years later Nordstrom reached a critical point in its business, surpassing $100 million in sales, making it the largest volume specialty store on the west coast. Profits were growing, market share was increasing, and Nordstrom’s marketing plan seemed to be working. Even though Nordstrom was experiencing tremendous success, the management was not satisfied. There was still room to grow. In order for Nordstrom to retain its competitive advantage, the company needed to revise its marketing strategy and further its market penetration. The company decided to take action. By 1975 the company penetrated into the markets of Alaska and California and by the late 80’s, the company opened up the first Nordstrom Rack in the mid 70’s. This store was a â€Å"clearance center for full-line store merchandise† (Nordstrom Employee, 2006). The higher prices in the regular store targeted the upper segment of society, while the Rack enabled Nordstrom to orient itself to a completely new crowd. Today, more than 100 years after its establishment, Nordstrom maintains the same focus of offering â€Å"the customer the best possible service, selection, quality, and value† (Nordstrom Employee, 2006). This is evident in the product line and store ambience. Nordstrom has created a unique store atmosphere designed to enhance the shopping experience of the customer. â€Å"Instead of categorizing departments by merchandise, Nordstrom† has â€Å"created fashion departments that fit individual’s lifestyles† (Nordstrom Employee, 2006). Focus on serving the market (or customer’s needs and wants) has helped Nordstrom grow from a small shoe store in Seattle â€Å"into a nationwide fashion specialty chain† (Nordstrom Employee, 2006). Nature of Firm/Current Situation Aside from Nordstrom’s customer service, one of its most influential qualities is the store atmosphere. Immediately after walking into a Nordstrom, one experiences a sense of calmness that is not experienced when walking into other department stores. At Nordstrom, â€Å"careful attention has been given to achieving an esthetically pleasing atmosphere†, a Nordstrom customer commented (Bee H, 2006). Nordstrom has put a lot of research into testing different layout scenarios within each store. Every time the layout of a department changes, a diagram is made and a record of sales is kept for that layout. From this information, Nordstrom has been able to develop the most economical and profitable layout for the customer and the organization. The Nordstrom colors are also carefully selected. Deep earthy colors present customers with a comfortable and desirable atmosphere. Deep red, brown (wooden floors), blue, purple and green are used to color the store. Every color is strategically placed throughout the store to enhance the shopping experience. Nordstrom has put a lot of research into effects that color has on the human psyche. For example red is chosen because it produces feelings of â€Å"energy, desire, and attention† (Bear , 2006). Purple is another color that is placed in distinct locations throughout the store. It brings about feelings of self assurance, dignity, high aspirations, royalty, sophistication, wealth, ambition, fame, luxury, and power. These two colors are used to promote confidence and feelings of satisfaction within the customers as they shop. During sales, employees are also given a tie to wear which almost always includes the color purple. Purple is also found near the more expensive items in the store. The color scheme is critical in creating a store atmosphere that is desirable to customers. Aside from the colors, the product layout also plays an essential role in providing a even-tempered atmosphere. Nordstrom has separated its products into different departments for men and women. This helps provide better service as each department can cater to the specific needs and wants of the customer. Within each department the clothes are either laid out on hanging racks or on tables. Organization is the primary focus when setting up the departments. Clothes are always neatly folded and clothing racks are well separated. A general rule of thumb is that if two people can not walk side by side between two fixtures, they are too close together. To produce an even cleaner look, jackets and heavier clothes are always hung on wooden hangers instead of plastic. The most famous contribution to the atmosphere of Nordstrom is the Piano. Nordstrom has created a â€Å"partnership with Levine School of Music† where it hand selects students to work for the company upon graduation. The partnership is working; â€Å"the dude playing the piano just adds to the calm shopping atmosphere† commented one man after a day a day of shopping (Bee H, 2006). To provide even more relaxation, comfortable couches are usually found somewhere around the piano for tired shoppers to sit down and for men to wait while their wives shop. Andrew Cooper, a computer design major at North Park University in Chicago said â€Å"these couches are a great place for me to relax while my wife spends all my money†. Resources of the Firm Finance: Nordstrom uses a verity of resources to help attract new customers and retain its current customer base. By far, one of its biggest resources is in the area of finance. Nordstrom recently â€Å"reported third-quarter earnings of $135. 7 million† (Portland Business Journal , 2006). These earnings jumped unexpectedly and are up from $107. 5 million earlier this year. The financial resources of Nordstrom are an essential part of the companies marketing plan. This money has given Nordstrom the ability to put on expensive training programs for employees, purchase personal book (a customer database program), send out bulk mailings to customers (such as catalogs, promotions, etc. , build new stores, and create a customer friendly in-store atmosphere. Human: Nordstrom’s employees and management are the company’s most valuable resource. An article written in the Seattle PI describes exactly why this is true. It states that, â€Å"Nordstrom salespeople make decisions as if managing their own business; they are trusted to do what is right. Everyone else in the company is ther e to help the sales staff make the sale and please the customer† (Mulady, 2001). The way the employees are treated and valued is a perfect portrayal of the company’s mission of providing the best possible customer service and value to the customer. Even though the sales person is the front man for the company (being put in positions of direct contact with the customer), the human resource and management team act as the glue that holds the company together. The president of the company, Blake Nordstrom, says that people in support positions â€Å"like myself or someone in human resources that isn’t on the floor manning a register,† needs to understand that their job is to use the â€Å"energy and the activities they’re doing (to) contribute to a better customer and employee experience† (HR Magazine, 2006). It is therefore extremely important that the workers in the HR department stay connected to the selling process in order to stay connected with the employees. It is this connection that helps the employees â€Å"take care of their customers†. It is not unusual for employees to go in on their days off to meet a customer that is in need of a new suit or pair of shoes. The manager of the men’s suit department at the Tacoma Nordstrom comes in regularly on his days off. In an interview he commented that if a customer is in need â€Å"I will find them the suit, get it altered for them so they can have it in time† (Mulady, 2001). The sales employees have a tremendous amount of trust in the tailoring shop. One employee comments: â€Å"We rely heavily on the tailoring shop; they are great† (Mulady, 2001). In one situation, a baseball player needed a special shirt for a conference that Nordstrom did not have. To solve this problem, the sales person took a few shirts up to the tailor shop and used the material to make a brand new shirt. The shirt was then delivered to the player’s hotel room that afternoon. The employees of Nordstrom are what keep the company going. The trust built between employees is critical in helping Nordstrom provide the excellent service it does. Without trust and support of all the company’s workers, Nordstrom would be just another company. Physical: Currently Nordstrom operates â€Å"156 US stores located in 26 states† (Nordstrom Staff, 2002). Of these stores, there are 99 full line retail, 49 Nordstrom Racks, 5 Faconnable boutiques, 1 free standing shoe store, and 2 clearance stores. Even with all of these stores, the company is not satisfied, and is seeking to expand its physical existence even further. Nordstrom is currently in the process of establishing a store in Kenwood, Cincinnati. When interviewed about this decision, president, Erik Nordstrom, exclaimed â€Å"there is still much more opportunity to increase our presence around the country where our customers live and shop† (Fasiq, 2006). Nordstrom has also planted stores internationally where it operates 35 Faconnable boutiques, primarily in Europe. Customers of Nordstrom can even enjoy a unique shopping experience without setting foot in the store. The company has developed a unique online and mail order catalog designed to reach those customers who are interested in its products, but may not have the time or desire to come into the physical store. These resources are extremely important to the company. The two contrasting stores (online and physical), reach two diverse crowds. The physical stores provide a tangible place that customers can relate to all across the country, while the online stores take advantage of the stores reputation. They reach customers who have heard good things about the store but do not like to shop. Policies and Objectives of firm Nordstrom has established many different policies designed to keep employees on track with its mission. The use of good judgment is the number one guiding principle for the employees of Nordstrom. The first page of the employee â€Å"Code of Business Conduct and Ethics† states â€Å"at Nordstrom, we expect you to use good judgment when it comes to taking care of our customers. But we don’t expect you to do it without help from us† (Nordstrom Management, 2006). This policy lets the sales people know that the management stands behind them at all times. Aside from the standard company policies reguarding sexual harassment, stealing, drugs or alcohol, and preventing theft; the company also has some policies that make it unique. Employees are not allowed to accept gifts from anyone with whom they do business. This policy was instilled to uphold Nordstrom’s reputation of acting fair, honest, and professional. Accepting a gift can create the inkling that the gift inappropriately influenced the business transaction. The code of Ethics also tells employees that the company expects its employees to use personal book (a database that includes customer’s information such as purchases, sizes, etc. ) on a daily basis. This policy was designed to help the company keep their â€Å"reputation for excellent follow-through and service† (Nordstrom Management, 2006). However, since this in personal information, the company states that, â€Å"Personal Book and its contents are confidential and†¦ should be used in accordance with the Confidentiality and Nondisclosure Expectation† (Nordstrom Management, 2006). When an employee ends his/her career with Nordstrom, their personal book is closed off to them and returned to Nordstrom. All of these policies help keep Nordstrom on track with its mission. Almost all of the sections in the handbook for employees end with a line about using good judgment. This shows that Nordstrom has confidence in their employees. Nordstrom truly believes that if the employees use good judgment, the customers will get the best possible service the company can offer. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Nordstrom provides many benefits to its employees. The company provides time off with pay for personal and family needs. It also provides paid time for observed holidays. Each employee is also provided with a twenty percent discount at all Nordstrom locations. Nordstrom employees also have many long term benefits available to them. These Benefits include a 401(k) and profit sharing plan, where an employee can divert 50 percent of his/her compensation on a pretax basis, and an Employee stock Purchase Plan where the employee can purchase stock at a 10 percent discount. Full medical/vision and dental coverage are also provided by the company. Basic short term and long term disability coverage, as well as basic life insurance and long term care are also included in the standard benefit package. These benefits help the employee find meaning in their work and promote a positive attitude throughout the organization. A complete list of all the benefits provided by Nordstrom can be found on page †¦ in the back of this report. External Opportunities and Threats Social Social factors play a big role in what the way the company operates. For example, in Belleview Nordstrom offers a more upscale product line such as Gucci and other upper echelon brand names. This difference in product lines is evident in the Nordstrom in Tacoma as well. The Tacoma store is located in an area surrounded by many different social classes. Because of this, the store carries a more neutral line of products such as Calvin Cline, Cole Hann, Polo, Northface, and Tommy Bahama. These brands are brands that all of the target market of Nordstrom considers being very nice. To reach the outer limits of the Tacoma population, the store also sells products ranging form Coach and Burberry (reaching the wealthier population), to the Nordstrom brand (reaching the less wealthy consumer). Nordstrom is also a company that strongly believes in diversity. On its webpage under the diversity section it says â€Å"One of the best ways we can provide excellent customer service is by working to reflect the communities we serve† (Diversity Affairs Team, 2006). The company believes that an atmosphere encouraging diversity helps the employees as well as the customer. It is â€Å"deeply committed to cultivating an environment where the contributions of every employee, customer and vendor are respected† (Diversity Affairs Team, 2006). Creating a diverse company is an important step that Nordstrom has taken to broaden its customer service. Demographics Demographic issues are a big an important issue at Nordstrom. This is shown not only in the mission of the company, but in the physical store itself. Now days a majority of women in the United States enter the workforce after college. Nordstrom has created distinct departments to reach these women. In these sections of the store, women can find suits, and other more expensive dress clothes that Nordstrom would have not carried 20 years ago. The American family has also changed dramatically in the past decade. Because of this Nordstrom has changed its focus toward the individual. Ten years ago, it would not be a common sight to see moms shopping with their children, or dad’s waiting on the couch by the escalator with their children. Now days, it is almost unheard of to see families walking around the store. Teenagers, women, and men all come alone or with their significant other. The every store use to give balloons to children, employees all over the store would stop and talk with them and a lot of the mannequins were placed together (a man with a woman, or a child). Now the mannequins are all placed individually around the store, and it is rare enough to see a kid, let alone a kid with a balloon. In order to retain market share Nordstrom has shifted its focus more toward the individual. It has downsized its youth departments and added more upscale departments. Competition Nordstrom is dealing with competition on many different levels. It is competing with higher end stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, and Barney’s. It is also competing with second tier stores such as Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s. Because of the diverse competition, Nordstrom constantly stays one step ahead with its unprecedented customer service. Saks Fifth Avenue: Saks Fifth Avenue can be categorized as a mini version of Nordstrom. It has similar products, but targets a smaller market and carries less variety. To make it unique, Saks â€Å"focuses on other products such as bridal† (Nordstrom comparative analysis). In comparison to Nordstrom, Saks is slightly more expensive and is well known for its â€Å"much higher brand names† (Nordstrom Comparative analysis). There is also a difference in the store layout at Saks. Unlike Nordstrom, which it is categorized by department and where popular trendy goods are on the main floor, Saks â€Å"bottom floor consists of shoes, make up and teen clothing, and the upper floors are bridal and much higher priced brands and products† (Nordstrom comparative analysis). However, the major difference between the two companies is not in the layout of the store, the products offered, or the price of the goods. The major difference is the focus of the company. The mission statement of Saks is completely different from that of Nordstrom. Saks says the focus of their company is â€Å"to be a great place to shop, a great place to work and a great place to invest† (Nordstrom comparative Analysis). Money is what seems to be the number one marketing objective of Saks. On the other hand Nordstrom focuses on the treatment of the customer. It does not have a formal mission statement but the company’s core values can be summed up by the statement â€Å"through these doors pass the most courteous people in the world†. This statement is found at the employee entrance of almost all Nordstrom stores across the country. Bloomingdales: Bloomingdales might just be one of the most famous stores in the world. Bloomingdales is known for its â€Å"Big Brown Bag† which is something that all avid shoppers like to be seen carrying around. The mission of Bloomingdales is â€Å"to seek and create†, which is a statement that is well carried out by the company (Nordstrom comparative analysis). The company has a hand picked product development team that travels to Europe looking for new fashion ideas. If they do not find what they are looking for they create it. The extreme focus on product development and diversity has made the company famous for having a tremendous product mix. However, some stores rather cluttered. The Layout seems to have no structure and Bloomingdale’s pricing ranges form being competitive with Foley’s to stores far more expensive than Nordstrom. On the other hand, Nordstrom has a focused store with individual departments and consistent prices. Its does not have as much variety in its stores, but it can special order and create any product that a customer desires. This creates more satisfaction for the customer because they can easily find what they are looking for. Bloomingdales website also reflects its store atmosphere. It is a full line of goods which overwhelms the customer. The website lacks structure and is confusing to sift through. Nordstrom’s website also reflects it’s in store characteristics. The site is user friendly and easy to navigate through. Macy’s: Macy’s seems to have a similar strategy as Bloomie’s (Bloomingdales). The company is all about selling their name, not their service, unlike Nordstrom. Macy’s also focuses on having a tremendous product width as well as depth. This focus like Bloomie’s has also led the store to look cluttered. Some customers even suggest that â€Å"Macy’s looks more like discount store every year rather than a department store† (Nordstrom comparison analysis). This is again where Nordstrom gains a competitive advantage. It offers a smaller product mix in stores to help keep the customer from getting confused and overwhelmed. Macy’s offers a larger selection of home products than Nordstrom. It has a separate department for home furnishings. This department is so large that many times it is located in its own building next to Macy’s. However, Macy’s has a good selection of home products in its retail stores as well. Again, it is the focus of Macy’s that sets them apart from Nordstrom. The specialization of household products and cheaper prices keep Macy’s competitive in the market. However, Nordstrom’s focus on the customer and the employee gives them the competitive advantage in the industry. Technological In the 1900’s the information systems of Nordstrom â€Å"lagged behind many retailers†, such as JC Penny, Federated Department Stores, Dillard’s, and Belk. (Levinson, 2005) The CFO of Nordstrom commented on the lagging information systems, saying, â€Å"our people at one time were our information system† (Levinson, 2005). During this time the company was reluctant to consider IT â€Å"for fear that it would come between the store and its customers† (Levinson, 2005). A sales slump in the year 2000 was enough to convince Nordstrom that it was behind the times. The threat of other companies gaining a heavy advantage with new technology was too much to handle. Looking at the other models around them, Nordstrom became an early adopter and began buying IT technology. â€Å"Over the past four years†, Nordstrom has spent a total of $350 million on IT products and has found â€Å"that technology has improved, not degraded, the customer service in which it takes such pride† (Levinson, 2005). Nordstrom has integrated two major systems into the company within the last five years. The systems are personal book and a new inventory system at the cash registers. These two systems have helped bring Nordstrom’s customer service to a new level. Personal Book: Personal book is new computer software designed to help companies keep track of customer information. It can track what the customer bought, their size, how much he/she spent, who sold them what, their birthday and other valuable information that sales people need to enhance sales. This is a valuable tool because the sales people can create a more â€Å"personal† relationship with the customer. One former employee quotes â€Å"the personal book was a very useful tool and instilled in me the importance of building and maintaining customer relationships† (Palma, 2006). This quote describes exactly what puts Nordstrom in a class of its own. Adding a personal touch is the difference between good and great companies. The implementation of personal book has dramatically increased sales at Nordstrom. After its introduction in 2005, Nordstrom’s first quarter sales increased â€Å"7. 7 percent to $1. 7 billion, compared with $1. 5 billion† in the first quarter of the previous year. Levinson, 2005) Total sales for the second quarter also rose 7. 8 percent. CFO of Nordstrom Michael Koppel reported that â€Å"approximately a third of all sales are a result of interactions between sales associates and customers facilitated with personal book† (Levinson, 2005). Nordstrom analysts also have reported that 68 percent of the business from the top sales people is g enerated from personal book customers. More information about personal book can be found on page †¦. Inventory System: The new inventory system has proven to be â€Å"a tremendous home run† (Levinson, 2005). The new system is based around an electronic inventory management system and an automatic replenishment function. Before this new system was installed in 2003, inventory was counted by hand. This old system was definitely â€Å"not the most accurate way to [manage inventory], and certainly wasn’t very quick†, commented Peter Nordstrom during a conference call. This created a problem for the company. The distribution departments could not tell how much inventory was needed in each store, which resulted in a lot more discounts than the company should have had. This loss of money led Nordstrom to purchase an inventory management system. The new inventory system was an electronic system which took a lot of the work load off of the Nordstrom staff. It helped the company determine the demand for each product by using historical sales and fashion trends. Now it could allocate the proper amount and type of merchandise to each store. It also kept track of in store inventory. Every time a product was rung up at the register or returned to the store, the in store inventory went up or down accordingly. This helped the distribution department immensely. They could now replenish the inventory of each store when it was actually needed. This also helped the sales dramatically increase customer service. When a customer wanted to purchase a product, a sales person could look it up on the computer to see how many were in the store, and how many were available at other locations. The results of this new system worked wonders for Nordstrom. Koppel stated that the inventory in 2003 (they year the system was integrated), went down $15 million or 1. 6 percent† (Levinson, 2005). Likewise, inventory continued to go down in 2004, decreasing by 5. 3 percent. Inventory was also turned 10 percent more in 2004. This increase showed the company there was still a lot of room to grow in their current market and that other department stores had good reason to switch to this way of inventory. Marketing Strategy Target Market In each Nordstrom store there is the potential for one consumer to encounter upwards of 30 different departments. For women’s clothing alone, there are 14 clothing options ranging from teenage apparel, to elegant ballroom attire. The multiple departments within the Nordstrom store cause the target market for a single Nordstrom store to range across a broad spectrum of potential buyers. While each of the target markets differs substantially depending on the department, the members of each of these markets do have a main connecting quality. Each customer, no matter the department in which they are shopping, is looking for a quality product that they know will be guaranteed by Nordstrom for a lifetime. Each consumer knows that while the products offered may not be the cheapest, they are quality made products that come with an implied warranty by Nordstrom. Nordstrom does not have a return policy, which will be addressed later in the paper, to ensure that consumers can return any product at anytime, for any reason. Consumers are also looking for a product that is not only well made, but that is usually contemporary in relation to current fashion trends. This makes Nordstrom’s overall target market homogeneous in respect to the demographic and psychographic segments. A person’s income and lifestyle can be the deciding factor of whether they can afford to shop at Nordstrom or not, or whether the products that Nordstrom offers are even of interest. For the sake of space, this paper will look at the target markets of three specific departments within Nordstrom that embody a large number of Nordstrom’s clientele: Brass Plum for juniors, Point of View for women, and Men’s Sportswear. Brass Plum (B. P. ) is Nordstrom’s only junior’s department, targeting young women, ages 16-22 in the middle or upper class. B. P. offers the latest fashion trends for the younger women at a price that is more reasonable than high-end boutiques and department stores. While that price is more reasonable than some places, it still is not as cheap as some other department stores, which is why the target market is the middle and upper class. Those ‘other department stores’ however, do not insure their products as well as Nordstrom’s does, nor is the quality of product comparable either. Lastly, the reason for the target of the middle and upper class is because fashion trends do not usually last for more than a season. Most people of a lower class cannot afford to buy new, trendy clothes every season to match what is popular, which is the only type of clothing that B. P. offers. Point of View has a target market of women in their twenties to early fifties. The age is not clearly defined because more specifically, Point of View has a target market of the working professional woman. While some clothes within Point of View are casual, they still uphold a classy and refined look suitable for a ‘dress down’ day at the office. Most of the selection within Point of View however, is professional attire for the working, middle to upper class woman. The clothes are priced comparable to other high-end department stores, but are backed with the quality guarantee Nordstrom provides all of its products. The one major difference between the selection in Point of View, and other high-end department stores, is that Point of View tries to offer a selection of business wear for the younger working woman that has a trendier edge. This helps to capture the twenty-something market that is usually skipped over in other department stores. It allows young women to look professional, while still looking their age. While carrying this younger professional attire, Point of View still carries the classic suits and shirts that appeal to the more conservative thirty to fifty year old professional women. The last department is the Men’s Sportswear department, which like Point of View, targets men in their twenties to early fifties. The word sportswear might evoke thoughts of soccer or football to some, but in this department sportswear are the clothes worn by the middle to upper class while they sail, golf, or simply lounge around at their beach house. This department is intended for the professional male, who in his daily life must dress in professional attire and would like that to translate into his causal wear as well. This casual wear consists of clothes that portray an image of success and prosperity without a suit and tie. The target market is middle to upper class within this department because of the intended uses of the clothes that are sold. Many of the clothes are intended for sailing and golf, leisure activities that the middle and lower class might not be able to afford. The size of the men’s sportswear department is small in relation to some of the women’s departments, but this can be attributed to men’s desire for consistency and ease when shopping. The prices within the men’s sportswear department are comparable to other high-end department stores, but once again the clothes are backed by the Nordstrom guarantee of quality. While each of the departments have a target market that separates itself from the rest of the store, it can be seen that within all of the heterogeneous factors there are three homogeneous factors that can be found. First, in all departments, the consumer is looking for a quality product that will suit their clothing needs. Second, no matter what their clothing needs, the consumer is looking for clothes that portray a specific image of their choosing, such as an established professional or a young trendsetter. Lastly, throughout all of the clothes offered at Nordstrom each consumer is expecting the Nordstrom, guarantee of quality that ensures the consumers happiness with the product – no matter the circumstances. Marketing Mix Nordstrom seeks to achieve the retention of the previously stated target markets through the use of coordinated marketing activities. These include the use of product, place, price, and promotion inside and outside of the store. These four aspects embody the marketing mix, and their objectives and roles are clearly specified through different offerings and outlets. Product The products that are offered within a single Nordstrom store compliment each other very well. On one shopping trip a family is able to buy clothes and accessories for everyone. Women are able to complete an outfit from Point of View by getting the perfect pair of shoes from the Women’s Shoes department, accessorize the outfit in fine jewelry, accessorizes and handbags, and can shop her favorite makeup line in the makeup department, all in one trip. These products are enhanced by a multitude of factors including their warranty, return policy, customer service, and the internal workings of any Nordstrom. Each transaction within Nordstrom comes with an implied warranty of the goods purchased by the consumer. If the consumer is unhappy with the product at anytime, even after the tags are removed, the product has been worn, or the receipt has been lost, the consumer is more than welcome to return the product back to the store for a full refund or exchange – no questions asked. This return policy is exemplified through the mythical story that circulates throughout Nordstrom stores and their competitor’s outlets. It has been said that a woman tried to return a set of snow tires that she claimed she bought at her nearby Nordstrom store. When the employee was unsure of what procedure to follow since Nordstrom did not sell tires, the employee contacted the store manager. The manager told the employee to take back the tires and offer a full refund of the standard price for snow tires to the woman. So while it is obvious that Nordstrom might not appreciate consumers returning goods from other stores, they are dedicated to customer service and their guarantee of quality. Nordstrom wants to carry quality items that consumers will love, and if the consumers decide they do not, they are able to return them at anytime. This allows Nordstrom to have an absent return policy to ensure that a return is bound by no limits. Aside from offering their products for free, customer satisfaction within a Nordstrom cannot be better guaranteed in any other way. By knowing that every purchase is basically guaranteed for life, a consumer’s satisfaction is not bound by any measures on behalf of Nordstrom. Along with such a liberal return policy, Nordstrom offers a range of other amenities for consumers to enjoy and enhance the value of the product to the customer. For instance, with anything that you purchase from Nordstrom you can have it altered for free. Upon trying the clothes on, a person from the alteration department will come to your fitting room and measure your clothes according to your needs. The altered clothes are usually available within a week’s time. Also, in the lingerie department, women can receive a free and accurate bra fitting. Unlike other popular lingerie stores, employees within the lingerie department must attend class and earn the right to do bra fittings. This ensures each consumer an accurate fitting. In the shoe department, if a pair of leather shoes is too tight on a consumer’s foot, the Nordstrom employee will stretch the shoes out at no cost. Also, when trying on clothes there is no limit to how many pieces of clothing a consumer is allowed to take in, and a consumer is never expected to clean out their dressing room when they are finished. Any purchase that is made can also be complimentary gift wrapped. While these factors may seem miniscule, it does help consumers reduce shopping time and have a more enjoyable shopping experience. So while the consumer might only be in and out for a white t-shirt, they know that if needed all of these amenities are available for their use, enhancing the value of the product for the consumer. Along with these externally obvious factors of product value to the consumer, there are also internal functions within Nordstrom that ensure that customer service is ideal in any situation. Quality customer service is Nordstrom’s main competitive advantage against its competitors. Nordstrom has focused itself since 1901 on the basis that superior customer service is the first and foremost important aspect of the company. While other companies have a chain of command when dealing with customer service issues, Nordstrom is void of any such rules. When hired at Nordstrom, the new employee is greeted with an employee folder that includes a welcome packet, employee expectations, rewards, benefit information and information about the specific Nordstrom store the new employee will be working. On the very front of each folder is a 5Ãâ€"7 card that states: â€Å"We’re glad to have you with our Company. Our number one goal is to provide outstanding customer service. Set both your personal and professional goals high. We have great confidence in your ability to achieve them. Nordstrom Rules: Rule #1: Use your good judgment in all situations. There will be no additional rules. Please feel free to ask your department manager, store manager, or division general manager any question at any time†. Nordstrom’s idea is to put the employees in control of every situation so that the consumer feels a sense of security at all times within the store. While specific instances might dictate manager involvement, employees are granted the right to deal with consumer situations based on their judgment. These words ring loud within any Nordstrom store because they are printed in the employee entrance and in the backrooms of most departments. Through out the hiring process Nordstrom ensures that customer service is always handled in a way that upholds their reputation. Nordstrom is able to supply a quality product based on the judgment of the consumer, while also providing a trusted and quality environment by empowering the judgment of the employees. Place/Distribution The next factor of the marketing mix is to coordinate the marketing activities for the retention of the target markets through place and distribution. Nordstrom currently has 157 stores located in twenty seven states. These include 99 full-line stores, 50 Nordstrom Rack stores, five Faconnable boutiques, one free-standing shoe store and two clearance stores. Nordstrom also operates 35 international Faconnable boutiques in Europe. Faconnable is a men’s clothing line developed by Nordstrom for the more upscale shopper to accommodate their business and leisure clothing needs. Nordstrom’s popularity is based on the west-coast, primarily because of its headquarters and flagship store in Seattle, Washington. Mainly, the Nordstrom stores are located in shopping malls which usually provide a heavily populated central area which contains a portion of their target market. Since Nordstrom is located within a mall, access is relatively easy for consumers. Even if consumers do live some distance away from the faculties, coming to the mall is more acceptable because they will not only have the option to visit Nordstrom, but will have the ability to shop at other stores as well. This justifies their traveling time, which would not happen if Nordstrom had only free-standing stores. While access to Nordstrom facilities is relatively easy on the west coast, there is room for major improvement by Nordstrom on the east coast. In New Hampshire, Maine, South Carolina, Vermont, West Virginia and Massachusetts, there is not a single Nordstrom store to date. There are two stores in North Carolina and New York; and one store in Pennsylvania, Missouri, Michigan, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. This is compared to the thirty two California stores, nine Washington stores, five Oregon stores and two Hawaii stores. However, this lack of access to facilities by consumers on the east coast will soon be partially remedied. Nordstrom plans to open twenty five new stores in the next five years. Out of these twenty five stores, it plans on opening four in Massachusetts, two in Michigan and one in Missouri. Once Nordstrom has established a stronger base on the east coast, I believe they will gain an even better reputation and have the ability to fine tune their marketing and customer service strategies. Along in place and distribution is not just the physical outlet that Nordstrom has, but also the atmosphere in each of the outlets. Since we are at the peak of the holiday season, it is a good time to look at the atmosphere within a Nordstrom store. Garland and decorative curtains decorate each entrance into the store. Holiday music played live in each store on the well known Nordstrom piano echoes through the departments on speakers. A giving tree accompanies the bottom side of each escalator, and on weekends the tops of the escalators have live carolers. Each department has holiday specials, and pictures with Santa are held every year. This atmosphere helps to evoke the holiday spirit within the consumers, and also provides them with a place to shop that is enjoyable during the busy holiday time. When it is not a holiday season, front window displays are changed bi-weekly, and in store decorations and manikins are changed multiple times each week. Also, a night cleaning crew makes sure that all the carpets, mirrors and dressing rooms are kept in pristine condition. This type of atmosphere allows the consumer to shop at ease without heaps of clothes in a mess, or stained carpets. Instead, they can go to a place where the only thing they notice is the clothes and the quality of the presentation. Promotion The next factor of the marketing mix is to coordinate the marketing activities for the retention of the target markets through promotion tactics including advertising, public relations, personal selling, and sales promotion. Nordstrom does not engage in heavy advertising. TV commercial spots are few and far between, and only usually take place on major televised events. Instead, Nordstrom does most of its advertising through print. Local newspapers usually contain a full page spread during Nordstrom’s half yearly and anniversary sales. During the holidays, Nordstrom also has featured spreads as well. These spreads are hung in the employee entrance area so that employees are aware of what consumers are looking for, if they come in and refer specifically to that advertisement. Also, Nordstrom puts out two catalogues per month that premiere a few new items within each department. They also feature gift ideas during the holidays, and include an easy way to order straight from the catalogue. Anyone that has a Nordstrom account will receive this catalogue, along with anyone that registers online Advertising: Nordstrom has also engaged in some other intense advertising campaigns in the past few years. Most of these have been directly related to online advertising. In 1999, Nordstrom started to campaign heavily to gain consumer awareness of their new website, Nordstromshoes. com. Nordstrom claims the site is the world’s biggest shoe store. It is titled ‘Make Room for Shoes’. The name was selected to entice users not only to their main website which was linked on the new shoes site, but also to educate users on the broad selection of shoes that Nordstrom offers. In 2005, Nordstrom debuted NordstromSilverscreen. com. The website combined music and pop culture with shopping. Visitors of the site were able to be a DJ and mix up songs recorded by artists specifically for the site. The visitors mixed the song, by mixing up clothes on a corresponding manikin. This allowed visitors to see new fashion trends and learn how to mix and match clothes to find their very own style. Visitors of the site could also ‘shop’ the site, by clicking on any the clothes worn in the video made exclusively for Nordstrom. Anything that the artist was wearing in the video was available for sale at Nordstom. com. Nordstromsilverscreen. om was one of the first attempts by a retailer to mix shopping and interactive media making Nordstrom an innovator in this new market. While Nordstromscilverscreen. com is no longer available to visit, the launch of this new and innovative platform says a lot of Nordstrom. This company is willing to take risks to advertise and capture a new and different consumer, and to evolve and be ahead of other department stores in the advertising industry. Aside from these new websites, Nordstrom. com is still a large, comprehensive site that allows visitors to see everything that Nordstrom has to offer. Visitors are able to search by brand, in-store department, or by age and gender. Along side every choice that the visitor views, is a selection of other clothes that are closely related to the current viewing. Also, if a consumer has provided Nordstrom with their e-mail address, Nordstrom sends out weekly e-mails that highlight new items, and special discounts. Lastly, the newest advertising campaign that Nordstrom embarked on was for the Nordstrom MOD card. The MOD card is a debit card that is set up through a consumer’s personal bank and checking account. The MOD card is specific to Nordstrom, and allows Nordstrom to track what is bought and how much consumers spend. This way, consumers can gain points like what is offered with the traditional Nordstrom’s credit card. For every dollar that is spent, the consumer earns a point; and during promotional events, they can earn twice the points for every dollar spent. Once the consumer reaches a certain level of points, they get a gift certificate in the mail redeemable at any Nordstrom. Nordstrom realized that not everyone wants to hold a credit card at Nordstrom, which led them to the idea of the MOD card. This way, consumers can buy from Nordstrom using cash, and still receive the points they deserve. Nordstrom has heavily advertised the MOD card and the rewards that a customer gains from having a Nordstrom account. Through these advertising activities, Nordstrom is better able to promote their stores in a positive and controlled manner. Public Relations: The next segment of promotion is public relations. Nordstrom is equipped with a public relations representative, who is located at Nordstrom’s headquarters in downtown Seattle, Washington. Consumers are able to find out about public relation activities on their website under investor relations, or in their annual report. On the Nordstrom website consumers are able to find out about new store openings, upcoming events, stock information, news, and press releases. Nordstrom also relies on customer word of mouth. While other competitor department stores deal with union battles, and declining sales, the quality and outstanding customer service is rarely questioned by consumers. Consumers know by personal experience and word of mouth that Nordstrom is dedicated to its customers. Nordstrom also engages in public relations activities through the promotion of some of their clothes. Most recently, Nordstrom has taken an active role in the â€Å"ONE† campaign and formed a partnership with the company Edun. Edun is selling a t-shirt with the word ‘ONE’ across the front. This promotes the idea that if the United States government allocated just one percent of its budget to health, education, and medication for underprivileged countries, the United States could save millions of lives. For every shirt sold Edun contributes ten dollars to the Apparel Lesotho Alliance to Fight Aids (ALAFA). The ONE shirts are made in Lesotho, Africa. Upon selling the ONE shirt within their stores, Nordstrom donated $100,000 to ALAFA. Nordstrom is also a yearly sponsor in the Race for the Cure, hosted by the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation to raise money for breast cancer research and awareness. Nordstrom exclusively hosts the Beat the Bridge to Beat Diabetes marathon in Seattle, Washington. The proceeds benefit the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. So far in 2006, the Beat the Bridge marathon donations have raised $855,078. 57. Through not only their exceptional reputation, but also through involvement in philanthropic activities Nordstrom is able to enhance their public relations. These positive public relation activities in turn influence consumer perception and decision making. Personal Selling: The next section of promotion is personal selling. Personal selling is defined as a purchase situation in which two people communicate in an attempt to influence each other (Lamb, et al, 2006). Personal selling is the basis of Nordstrom’s philosophy and mission statement. Personal selling emphasizes the relationship that is developed between a salesperson and a consumer. Within any department at a Nordstrom store, a consumer will be able to find numerous employees who are knowledgeable about the products they offer, and who are also eager to help them find whatever it is they are looking for. When a consumer is shopping within a department, a single salesperson will usually help them through the entire purchasing process. If what the consumer is looking for happens to be in a different department, that same salesperson will go to that other department and get whatever it s. The salesperson will find sizes, colors, and styles from other stores if what the consumer is looking for is not available at that specific store. Salespeople also can take payment on Nordstrom credit cards at their payment station, and can hold clothes for the consumer. Salespeople are endowed with the ability to manage customer service situations, so if one consumer feels comfort able with a specific salesperson, basically all of their needs can be taken care of through that salesperson. This created a very strong relationship between the salesperson and the consumer. If the consumer knows that when they go to Nordstrom they can count on someone being there that they know and trust, they will be more likely to ask more questions and try on more things. Nordstrom has made personal selling even easier through their new system of Personal Book. Personal Book allows a salesperson to enter in consumer information such as their address, phone number, birthday and recent purchases. During sale times, salespeople are asked to call at least fifty people from their personal book to the consumer know that they are excited to see them at the sale. Having this information also enables the salespeople to send out thank you cards which are supposed to be done a daily basis by a salesperson. The thank you cards are mailed out to the consumer, and add a personal finishing touch to the purchase, which also enhances the bond between the consumer and the salesperson. Personal Book also can keep track of what a consumer has bought, so when Nordstrom has a big sale, some of the consumers who have purchased the most throughout the year are invited to shop the sale prior to anyone else, and to preview what is going to be offered. Personal Book also allows for promotional materials to be sent out pertaining to certain events that occur within a department that a consumer frequently shops. All of these benefits from Personal Book enhance the personal selling aspect of promotion. Consumers are not seen as a target market within the store, but are rather seen as individuals with specific needs and wants that are catered to be the Nordstrom employees. Sales Promotion: The last component of promotion is sales promotion. Sales promotion is everything else that is not covered by personal selling, advertising, and public relations. Usually sales promotions are a quick tool that immediately increases consumer demand of a product. Nordstrom does not offer a lot of the one day sales, or door buster sales that other department stores offer. Instead, Nordstrom focuses all of their attention on their three major sales per year. These include the half yearly sales, in June and November, and their Anniversary sale in August. These attractions are not just a sale, they are an event. Special promotions, rewards and deals are offered. A kick-rally prior to the doors opening helps to hype up the employees for the coming busy weeks. Consumers line up outside of Nordstrom’s doors hours prior to opening. They enter a newly decorated store from the previous day, with new displays, merchandise and prices. Nordstrom focuses on these events for the purpose of showing the consumer that they do not just want to push inventory in and out of the store. They want to offer quality products that consumers enjoy, and reward consumers for their purchases through major discounts at these sales. Lastly, another important factor of these sales is that they have created a tradition. Women and their daughters take time off school and work to attend the first day of the sale. At the sale they go Christmas shopping, school shopping personal shopping. This is important for Nordstrom because their limited numbers of sales are not only seen as a time to get a good deal, but they have penetrated the culture and created more than just a sale. Price: The last factor of the marketing mix is to coordinate the marketing activities for the retention of the target markets through price. Nordstrom strives to provide the most quality product for the cheapest price allowable. However, Nordstrom does cater to an upper and middle class target market which does raise their prices from other lower department stores. Each department within Nordstrom, as stated earlier, has a different target market which does vary the range pf prices immensely within one store. In the St. John department catered to upper class wealthy women, a consumer can buy a suit jacket for $2,000. In Point of View, targeted toward the more middle class women who want to look professional without spending as much, a suit jacket is available for seventy dollars. Through this, it can be seen that the department a consumer goes to will determine the price they will pay. Whatever the dollar price of the purchase, Nordstrom tries to justify that price through their personal selling efforts and their product guarantee. A sale is not just a sale, as proven earlier in the personal selling section. Consumers and salespersons are able to establish a relationship which enhances the consumers purchase experience. Because the consumer knows that no matter what they buy, whether it is a pair of socks, or a mink coat, the quality of that purchase is indefinitely guaranteed by Nordstrom.