Story outline of one minute film idea Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Story outline of one minute film idea - Essay Example The eagles respond that he is simply taking a walk through the forest. The rabbit then coyly asks the eagle for money. In the forth panel, the frame shifts to a close up of the eagle. He has just been asked by the rabbit for money and his face is shrieking in disgust and anger. He responds that the rabbit cannot have any money from him and that the rabbit should search somewhere else for the money. After rejecting the rabbit’s request, the frame shifts slightly and the viewer sees that there is another rabbit walking back from around a tree. This rabbit sees the two talking and shouts out, â€Å"Hey, don’t dawdle over there!† The film rapidly cuts again. This time to a behind the shoulder shot of a fourth rabbit. The rabbit is watching the eagle being surrounded by the earlier rabbits. The eagles’ face has suddenly shifted from his jovial laughing to a sudden and worrisome scowl. One of the rabbits is heard saying in a foreboding tone, â€Å"What are you laughing at?† The frame continues from the same perspective but follows the rabbit in slowly walking towards the eagle. This gives the effect of placing the viewer in the rabbit’s position and also gives the viewer of the impending worry and doom the eagle is facing in being surrounded by the rabbits. This time a different rabbit states, â€Å"You don’t take us seriously.† Suddenly, another rabbit appears and then another and another. The frame dissolves out from the infusion of rabbits into the

Stored Procedures and Triggers Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Stored Procedures and Triggers - Research Paper Example Considering that the operating system running on any computer determines the type of programming language most appropriate for use, then, this can limit database programming on such systems. However, since SQL 2008 can be written in a variety of programming languages, then it is not limited to only one or a few operating systems (Norman, 2007). This is so because, if one programming language is incompatible with the operating system running in a given computer, then a different programming language can be opted for, which is more compatible with the operating system, serving to preserve the data being utilized, and making it possible to utilize similar data in different computer systems. The other determinant of programming language compatibility is the server software under use in the system where such programming is to be undertaken (Robert, 1996). Therefore, the programming language to be used is determined by the server software that is under use in the system. However, with the ability if stored procedure SQL 2008 to be written in various languages, then, it enhances its compatibility with any sever software, as a different programming language, which is compatible with the software, can be selected and used. ... This is a very vital aspect, in that, it allows for the individuals undertaking the programming to incorporate business logic in the database program. Through the application of various languages, this business logic serves to ensure that the necessity of encoding such logic in the client specific programs is eliminated. Additionally, the possibility of applying multiple programming languages for stored procedure SQL 2008 provides for the consistency of data used, in that it involves the use of similar data that is encoded in different languages, making it possible to preserve the integrity of the data, even though applied under different coding languages (Pratt, 1996). Any chance of corrupting such data is thus eliminated and the client programs can easily be maintained universal, only that they involve different programming languages, as per the client specification and preferences. The application of various languages under SQL 2008 stored procedure allows for a range of programmi ng and coding that can enhance the protection of the data from SQL injection attacks (Michael, 2011). This makes such databases more stable and thus protected against various vulnerabilities. The ability of the stored procedure SQL 2008 to be written in various languages is important in database development, in that it enhances the reduction of costs involved in database development (Michael, 2011). Some programming languages are offered as free software, while others are licensed for commercialization. This means that some of the programming language can be obtained and used free, while others must be bought. Due to its ability of being written in different languages, then, it allows for the use of some programming languages that are offered freely, thus

The video game console market

The video game console market Executive Summary The video game console market is a fast growing market. Sonys PlayStation 3 competes together with Nintendos Wii and Microsofts Xbox 360 for the market leader position. Compared with these competitors, Sonys PS3 includes the newest technologies and provides the highest variety of functionalities. Therefore, Sonys strategy is to target customers who focus on high technologies and multimedia-entertainment. However, this involves that the PS3 competes not only with console manufacturers, but also with other multimedia producers such as PC manufacturers. Due to the fact, that the Sonys PS3 will be quite expensive, the console will be available in a premium edition and in a cheaper basic edition. Considering the distribution of its PS3 games, Sony tries to change its traditional supply chain by providing an Internet platform, where users can download games. This results in saving costs and a faster distribution. Furthermore, the most important marketing tool is the Internet for promoting the PlayStation 3. Blogs, MySpace, YouTube and other kind of websites enable an area-wide promotion of the game console and especially, it is done by consumers. Another important tool is the official website, which offers among others information about the console and about available games. Additionally, Sony promotes its PlayStation 3 together with a meaningful slogan, which differs between Europe (This is living) and U.S. (Play Beyond). Finally, Sonys financing objectives are to sell 15 million exemplars in the first-year and to achieve total sales revenue of $8.25 billion. Its marketing goals are to sell more than 100 million exemplars in the long-run and to become the market leader. 1 Situation Analysis 1.1 Current marketing environment The video game console market is highly influenced from its demographic and technological environment. The worldwide population is growing and more and more people have a strong need for entertainment. Many people require something against boredom in their free time. Furthermore, the technology environment creates a variety of new functionalities which are almost unlimited. According to Moores Law, processor speed and memory capability reduplicate almost every 18 months by constant prices. Additionally, technologies such as High Definition TV provide a new way of entertainment consumption. Finally, another important influence in peoples behavior is enabled by the Internet. Its introduction was a milestone of the new economy. It allows finding almost any required information and enables worldwide communication as well as interaction and it simplifies doing business. 1.2 Current Product Line Before we describe the features and functionalities of Sonys new video game console, the PlayStation 3, we would like to give a short overview of the companys current home video game line: PlayStation (PS1) The Sony PlayStation is the companys first video game console and was produced in the mid-1990s. It belongs to the fifth generation of video game consoles and provides a 32-bit processor. Furthermore, the PlayStation was the first game console that reached the 100 million mark. PlayStation 2 (PS2) Sonys PlayStation 2 is part of the sixth generation era and was released in 2000. Besides its 128-bit processor, it was the fist video game console that provides DVD playback functionality. It placed first in number of units sold in its sixth generation of video game consoles and it became the fastest selling and most popular game console in history, with over 110 million units shipped worldwide by November 2006.[1] PlayStation Portable (PSP) Sonys PlayStation Portable was the companys first handheld game console released in 2004. Besides playing games, it also provides different functionalities such as playing music, watching videos, viewing pictures and using Internet applications. Nowadays, the PSP is the main competitor of Nintendos Game Boy and Nintendo DS. 1.3 Product Analysis The Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3) is the seventh generation video game console and the third in Sonys PlayStation series. The console was launched in North America and Japan in November 2006 and is yet expected to be launched in Europe by March 2007. The reason for its delay in Europe is a shortness of supplies with parts of the Blu-ray drive. The console offers high-end technology and it has been described as an engineering masterpiece because of its promising specification and use of new technology.[2] Furthermore, the PS3 will be available in two different editions on the one hand, a basic edition with a 20 GB hard disk drive (HDD), and on the other hand a premium edition with 60 GB HDD. Nevertheless, both editions will have key elements such the Blu-Ray Disc for High Definition movies, the Cell chip, Giga-bit Ethernet for high speed Internet-connection, and an HDMI connection for optimum output on HDTV. Compared with the basic edition, the premium edition will provide some extra features like support for multiple external memory storage devices (Memory stick, SD) and Wireless connectivity. More information about the specification can you find in the Appendix. Furthermore, Sonys newest game console provides a Linux operating system and some Internet applications such as an Opera Web browser and multiplaying functionality. Finally, another feature of the PlayStation 3 is the backward compatibility to Sonys previous video games for PS1 and PS2. 1.4 Target Markets The following section should provide an overview of Sonys target market and of its targeted customers. 1.4.1 Target market approach In our opinion, Sony should use a segmentation approach as their general strategy to reach targeted customers. Although mass-marketing would create the largest potential market, which leads to the lowest costs and results in lower prices or higher margins, we propose segment marketing because it can create a more fine-tuned product offering and price for the target segment. Moreover, this approach enables to select more easily the best distribution and communication channels, and to have a clearer picture of the main competitors.[3] 1.4.2 Segmenting consumer markets Cultural distinctions, different needs and demands of individuals, and diversities in customers buying behaviours require market segmentation of companies to satisfy their customers effectively. Thereby, the market can be divided in geographic, demographic, psychographic and behavioural segmentation variables and the company can focus on target segments which it wants to attract.[4] According to Sony, the main geographic segments of the PlayStation 3 consist of the Northern America market, the Japanese market and the European market. When Sony released his first video game console PlayStation in 1994, the companys main focus was on the marketplace from 12- to 17-year-old boys. But nowadays, Sonys demographic segmentation divides the market of the PS3 in male and female, old and young players and expands its business vastly to a mainstream entertainment.[5] The PS3 offers a multifaceted repertoire of video games which includes something for everybody. Theres not merely one game to ultimately define the PS3 platform, but rather different must-have games for different segments of consumers. Additionally, an important and profitable demographic segment could be the college market because according to a study by Anderson Analytics GenX2Z only 26 percent of students report not playing video games.[6] Furthermore, Sony concentrates on a strong customer loyalty status in the behavioural segment. Besides its popular brand and the high reputation of its products, the company tries to win over its former consumers by the implementation of a backward compatibility which enables to play video games from its previous video game consoles (PlayStation 1, PlayStation 2). Finally, one of the important target segments of the PS3 involves consumers who require high technology. The company is convinced that its consumers desire and want to get the best out of the best. 1.4.3 Characteristics of the targeted customers / product uses As already mentioned, Sonys targeted customers want to have the newest technologies and functionalities. Moreover, they need an entertainment system which provides functionalities such as viewing pictures, movies or listening music. The Playstation 3 can fulfil all this particular requirements and reach therewith a lot of different customers. First of all, video game players can use the console, because it provides high technology and a lot of different available games. Furthermore, movie lovers can use the PS3 because it involves a DVD drive and also allows watching movies in High Definition with its Blu-Ray drive. Moreover, customers can use the game console to see pictures from their last holidays easily by inserting their memory card in the included card-reader. Finally, customer can use the console to surf in the Internet or to use it instead of a computer, because its Linux operation system provides similar functionalities. Summarized, all members of a family can use the PlayStation 3 for different needs. For instance, children play video games during the day and when the father arrives, he uses the PlayStation to read his emails. Thereafter, the mother inserts the SD card in the PS3 and shows him the pictures from her trip to Stockholm last weekend. And at the evening, the whole family watch a movie together. This multimedia functionality provides the biggest benefit for the PS3s consumers. 1.4.4 Purchasing process Some customers make their decision which game console they want to buy dependent from the number of available games. Not only the functionality and technology, but also the variety of games can be important for the decision-making process of customers. Therefore, the company has to offer information about the games which will be available for its game console. The primary channel for providing such information would be the official webpage. Furthermore, the final end-user of the game console is not always responsible for the purchasing process. For instance, sometimes parents purchase the game console for their children, and therewith another party is involved in the purchasing process. 1.4.5 Market size estimations The number of consumers in the video game console industry increased continuously during the last years. Due to the fact, that game consoles of the newest generation are comparable with an entertainment system, we estimate a market size of 400 million potential users in Europe if everybody would buy the product. Considering that one product would be enough for a family, our final estimation of potential consumers will be 100 million in Europe. Furthermore, a forecast report of PricewaterhouseCoopers has shown that by 2010, the worldwide video game market will grow to $46.5 billion, at an average 11.4% compound annual rate.[7] 1.5 Competitive Analysis Nintendo and Microsoft are the main competitors of Sony in the video game console industry. Considering the seventh generation, Sonys PlayStation 3 compete with Nintendos Wii and Microsofts Xbox 360. These two consoles were released world-wide in November 2006 and November 2005 respectively.[8] According to a study of the NPD Group about the best-selling video game consoles for December 2006, the Xbox 360 sold 1.1 million units, the Wii 604.2 thousand units and the PS3 490.7 thousand units. However, the PS3 sales figures include only the U.S. and Japan market, where it is released already. More details about the competition situation will be discussed in chapter 3 Competition. 1.6 Product/Market Analysis Tools 1.6.1 Product Life Cycle According to Sonys previous game consoles, the PlayStation 3 should have a 10-year product life-cycle. Its state-of-the-art technology involves that the usage of the PS3 resources and technology are just at the beginning and can fulfil all game requirements in the next years.[9] The product life-cycle consists of four different stages: Introduction: At this stage, the sales growth increase slowly when the product is introduced to the market. In Europe, the PS 3 is already located in the middle of this stage, because many game-console lovers and fans have ordered the PS 3 in advance to become one of the first consumers after its release in March 2007. For instance, a new PS 3 is pre-ordered almost each 20 seconds in Great Britain.[10] Growth: At this period, a market acceptance of the product is recognizable and the number of sales units increases. First-users report about the product positively and other consumers are becoming curious. Maturity: A slowdown in sales growth will be at this stage because the product has achieved acceptance by most of the buyers. Decline: Most of the potential buyers have already the product and therewith the number of sales declines. Different marketing strategies are necessary for each stage of the product life-cycle. We will discuss our recommended strategies in6 Marketing Strategy. Due to the fact, that the PlayStation 3 was already released in Japan and U.S., Figure 2 shows that the PlayStation 3 is located in a higher position compared with Europe. After shortness of supplies and an enormous rush demand in Japan and in the United States after the release in November 2006, a kind of stagnation is visible in these both markets today. Vendors report that a large contingent of the PlayStation 3 is still available in their shops.[11] Although Sony sees the reason for that in its optimized supply chain, the company has to consider new marketing strategies to increase its sales. 1.6.2 The Boston Consulting Groups Growth-Share Matrix In the following section, we would like to analyse and classify Sonys game console product portfolio by profit potentials. Therefore, we used the Boston Consulting Group approach presented by Kotler.[12] Due to the fact, that the PlayStation 1 is not be sold anymore, we didnt regard it in our analysis. First, we placed the PlayStation Portable in the Question marks sector, because the market of game handhelds is still growing and as the strongest competitor of the market leader Nintendo DS, the relative market share of the PSP increases. Therefore, Sony has to spend a lot of money in the development and advertising of the PSP to keep up with the fast-growing market, and to overtake the market leader. Additionally, we also placed the PlayStation 3 in the Question marks sector, because the market of the seventh generation video game consoles is still increasing and it is not visible already if the PS 3 will take the position of the market leader. Finally, we located the PlayStation 2 in the Cash cow sector. The PS2 has a falling market growth rate after the release of the next generation game console. Nevertheless, it is still the market leader in its generation and it achieved higher sales units (1.4 million) as the Xbox360 (1.1 million), Nintendo Wii (604.2 thousand), and the PlayStation 3 (490.7 thousand) in December 2006.[13] According to the 10-year product life-cycle, the PS2 is in the decline stage and will stay in the market for the next 3 years yet. 1.7 SWOT Analysis The SWOT analysis is the overall evaluation of a companys strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.[14] It is used as a framework to help an organization develop its marketing strategy. Thereby, strengths and weaknesses are internal factors which can be controlled by an organization, whereas opportunities and threats consist of external factors which are uncontrollable by an organization. 2 Objectives Sonys financial objectives are to: Achieve first-year total sales revenue of $8.25 billion, based on an average price of $550 per unit. Sonys PlayStation 3 marketing objectives are to: Achieve a first-year unit sales volume of 15 million, which represent a projected market share of 25 percent. Increase second-year share to 40 percent and become the market leader. Sell more than 100 million units in the long-term. Arrange for distribution through the leading electric, video games and computer retailer in the top 100 and establish an Internet platform. 3 Competition 3.1 Game console industry According to the industry concept of competition presented by Kotler[15], an industry is a group of firms that offer a product or class of products that are close substitutes for another product. The structure type of the video game console industry is an oligopoly, because the Japanese Nintendo and Sony, and the U.S. Microsoft dominate the market. Particularly, the structure is a differentiated oligopoly, because only few companies producing products partially differentiated along lines of price and features. Furthermore, the console industry is characterized by large cost of barriers to entry according to Porters model of five competitive forces. It may cost up to $2 billion to develop a competitive console platform and returns on investment may take several years.[16] Furthermore, these three console manufacturers have a similar business model consisting of the following three income flows: Hardware sales Sales of own software/games Licences fees from other software/game developers that use the console platform Finally, Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony compete on a global basis with core markets in Japan, Europe and in the United States. 3.2 Direct competitors The following section compares the direct competitors Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony with regard to their products, prices, sales units and game range. 3.2.1 Product differentiation Furthermore, both competitors of Sonys PS3 provide an internet platform: Microsoft: Xbox Live Arcade Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) is an online service that is used to distribute video games to Xbox 360 owners. Thereby, Microsoft offers an Xbox Live Marketplace, a virtual market place, where consumers can download movie and game trailers, game demos, Xbox Live Arcade games, gamer tag images, and Xbox 360 Dashboard themes.[17] The consumers can pay with Microsoft Points, which can be purchased by credit cards. Nintendo: WiiConnect24 It allows distributing content such as software patches and updated game contents while the Wii is on stand-bye.[18] 3.2.2 Price strategy Nintendo offers the cheapest price in the game console market. Therefore, the company dispense with some extra features such as DVD drives or HDTV quality. Contrary, Sonys PlayStation 3 offers the newest technology with a plenty of accessories, but also the highest price. The following list shows the current prices in January 2007:[19] 3.2.3 Market share in Japan and U.S. The following figures show how many game consoles each of the manufacturers has sold in Japan and U.S. during the last months:[20] [21] Whereas Nintendos Wii was the market leader during the Christmas time in Japan, Microsofts Xbox 360 could sell the most units in the United States. 3.2.4 Games An important criterion for buyers is the volume of games which are available for each game console. At the moment, Microsofts Xbox 360 consists of 82 exclusive games and 132 cross-platform games. In contrary, Nintendo offers 55 exclusive and 96 cross-platform games for its Wii. For Sonys PlayStation 3, 43 exclusive and 77 cross-platform games are planned. 3.3 Market concept of competition Due to the fact, that the PlayStation 3 is more a multimedia centre than only a game console, we have to consider more competitors as only game console manufacturers. Therefore, we used the approach of Rayport and Jaworski to identify direct and indirect competitors by mapping the buyers steps in using the product.[23] The following figure shows the PS3s direct and indirect competitors: Summarized, Sonys PlayStation 3 competes not only with other video game console companies, but also with PC manufactures and other high technology producers. Sonys PS3 offers besides a Linux operating system a plenty of functionalities such as Internet to attract previous PC users and to expand its market. This approach is comparable with Coca-Cola which identifies milk, coffee, tea, and water products as its main competitors.[24] Finally, Figure 7 shows Sonys market position with regard to technology and price compared with its video game console competitors: 4 Product Unique selling proposition The unique selling proposition is a marketing approach to promote a products benefit and to convince customers that the company can deliver it. For Sonys PlayStation 3, the main benefit, especially compared with its competitors, is its functionality as a multimedia centre and its state-of-the-art technology. Nevertheless, Sony has to consider that its targeted consumers are located in different market segments with different demands and wishes. Therefore, the company has to develop different unique selling propositions. First considering the video game hardcore fans segment, these costumers want to have the best and newest technology. Due to the fact, that the PS3 fulfil these requirements at best compared with its competitors, Sony should promote this in its advertisements, especially in game magazines. Furthermore, Sony wants to attract also middle-age consumers and families. The most benefit for these customers is to use the PlayStation 3 as a multimedia system which offers a variety of functionalities. Therefore, the company should focus on its multimedia range. Summarized, the companys unique selling proposition should consist of newest technology and multimedia-functionality. To emphasize this, Sony uses a short slogan after every mention of its products. In the United States, Sony evokes the following slogan: Play Beyond. People should associate therewith that the PS3 is not only a game console which enables playing video games, but also a system which allows playing in High Digital quality and getting a feeling of reality. Furthermore, the PS3 offers more than playing video games, it is a multimedia system that can be used for different pleasures such as Internet surfing or watching movies that can also be interpreted as a kind of playing. However, Sony uses a different slogan for the European market. The reason is that people with few English skills will not understand the impact of Play Beyond or will be interpreted wrongly. Therefore, Sony uses the following slogan in Europe: This is living. The slogan is really simple and uses words which can be understood by not English-speakers. Consumers can associate that the PS3 delivers a kind of living standard and ensures to enjoy living. Furthermore, its a relation to PS3s multimedia functionalities which are desired for every household these days. It emphasizes that the game console is the core of living room entertainment. 5 Distribution 5.1 Supply chain With the video game industry being the fastest growing sector of the growing entertainment industry, the industrys revenue has now reached $26 billion in annual revenue and there is currently no indication of decline in the industry. So, in order to identify how the revenue is distributed, its essential to look at the supply chain of the entire PS3 business. As seen in the supply chain, there are opportunities in many aspects of the console business, coming from the actual console sales as well as extras such as games. The customers, as identified by our segmentation analysis table, are at the end of the supply chain, and their consuming of video games are distributes across several actors. Additionally, the most known among the actors are of course the hardware manufacturers, which include Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft. Except for the revenue coming from the console sales, they also get about 20% of the market price for the games, which are mostly sold in the growth level of the product life-cycle. The additional revenue in the supply chain is split among the other actors. Looking more closely at the publishers and developers, we realize that the publishers are likely to take a large portion of the revenue. Those are the large international companies that have sufficient funds to build a distribution network and employ developers to pull off new best-selling games for the consoles. Hardware manufacturers usually try to pull off deals with these companies when they identify potential best-selling games because the top 3.3% of the games bring in 55% of the sales revenue. For this reason, some hardware manufacturers, most notable Microsoft, tend to buy top-creative publishers to secure exclusive rights of new games for their console. Because of the complexity with world-wide game launches, there are almost always distribution partners in the chain, those accounts for an estimate of 10% of the shelf price. Next are the retail channels, which include online stores as well as retail stores. However, they are becoming increasingly bypassed in the supply chain, as discussed in the next generation supply chain (described in detail below). When they do exist in the supply chain though, they take an estimate of 30% of the shelf price. Developers are a mix of artists and engineers that create the actual games played on the console. Typically, they are funded by the publishers and together they take between 40 to 60% of the shelf price. Notably, in recent years another actor have also entered the supply chain as the industry have grown. Those are the middleware actors. Those create reusable software that is used by developers to increase their productivity in creating games. The reason for the shift towards middleware providers has to do with shifting the focus away from technology, and re-using the technology that is already out there. 5.2 Next generation supply chain As discussed previously, there is a change in the supply chain taking place due to the connectivity and Internet capabilities that are becoming an increasingly integrated part of the console business. As illustrated in Figure 3, we can see how several actors in the supply chain are suddenly not present. Because of using Internet as an enabler of distributing and selling games, the need for distribution and retail is almost gone, whereas a larger piece of the revenue pie can be shared between the manufacturer (e.g. Sony) and the publishers of the games. At the same time, the manufacturer can act as a distributor because its the technology and technique they provide that will actually distribute the game over the Internet to the customer. At the present moment, it remains unclear how much Sony will charge for their part in this supply chain, but its possible that it may be around 47%. 5.3 Business Models There are several business models contributing to the revenue income for the PS3. Obviously, sales of the actual console initially generate the biggest revenue. But, as reported by several news agencies, Sony actually makes a loss on each console bought by a consumer. [26] As reported by several sources, a PS3 costs between $725 and $905 to manufacture, but is sold for $599 in the US market. The reason for the high manufacturing price is the high cost of components such as the Blu-Ray DVD, XDR memory etc. (More on that chapter 8). To support several streams of revenue there are three business models for distribution supported by the PS3. Since the console is making a loss per sold unit, there are other ways for Sony to catch up on the income and make a profit in the console business through other business models. The business models are: However, comparing the business models for the PS3 tells us that there are several possible models for generating revenue and profit for the console. Most notably, the Internet Gaming via the PlayStation network and the developer licenses are possible sources of potential profit. 6 Marketing Strategy The Playstation 3 has a broad marketing strategy set by Sony. Launched with slogans such as This is living and Play beyond, Playstation 3 is aiming for a large audience. Thereby, Sony will have to apply a different marketing strategy depending on which level of the product-life-cycle the product currently placed in. For example, at this initial state of introduction the most evident need is to market the console itself, to make sure that it reaches as many customers as possible. A suitable strategy for the first year is to get the message out about the capabilities with the console, and a suitable channel for this message is the kind of Internet forums and channels that teenagers and game-players regularly visit, including MySpace, YouTube and Gaming magazine websites. The greatest benefit from using MySpace as a communication channel is that they reach potentially millions of interested customers and can thus get the message out about the console and its possibilities in gaming and entertainment. The idea with this way of communicating through marketing is to inform, entertain and encourage interaction and debate about all the different things the PS3 can do according to a marketing director at Sony. With this particular way of communicating a marketing message, Sony hopes that the PS3 will be the natural choice not only for hardcore games enthusiasts but also anyone interested in the broad capabilities covered by the digital media and content creation that the PS3 offers. So far, the blog approach seems to be successful because an estimate of 86,000 users interacts on the official PS3 blog. For the second year, there is big need to start marketing the games more actively, to make sure the console owners buy as many games as possible. This stage is characterized by growth and Sony needs to put a lot of effort into taking advantage of the growth in the PS3 business. As seen in the financial projections, there is a big need to get the largest parts of the revenue from the game sales. Throughout both years of the product life-cycle, there is a potential growth level, which can be boosted by getting the message out about the games and the game console. In both case the official webpage for the PS3 also works as an important channel for communication to the customers. By customizing the website to the customers depending on their country origin, Sony makes sure they have a clear message customized for each potential customer by letting the customer specify their region and as well as country to get the information in their local language etc. The website provides information about the PS3 specification, advertisement spots and a list of all available games. Furthermore, users can sign in to get the newest information about the PS3 via newsletter and they can also find answers for Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). 6.1 AIDA By looking at the AIDA model that is suitable for the PS3, wed expect it to look like this: A

dead birds Essays -- essays research papers

Dead Birds This movie is about a tribe on the island of Papa New Guinea. They are called the Dani. This tribe lives in the middle of the island. Near their enemy, another near by tribe. They live in little huts made from mud and wood. There tribe consists of about twenty to thirty people. If you are a man your day starts out by going to your tower, checking to see if the enemy is going to attack today then, signaling with smoke from a fire if it is ok for the others to start working in there gardens. While these men watch for their enemy they will keep busy by weaving bands decorated with shells and fur for the decoration of the dead. Another job that men do is they break up the soil and help out with the gardening. The young men are also the front line in battles. Women are responsible for most of the gardening. They also gather banana leaves for soaking up the brine to make salt and preparing food. Children have jobs also, they tend their pigs on the frontier and frequently gather with other children there size and play fight and grow pretend gardens. The Dani, greatly believe in magic and practice it daily. For instance, no one will come out after dark because they are afraid of the unhappy ghosts will bring them bad luck. They also believe that when you die, you just die and become a ghost. This is explained by a story they tell about a race between a bird and a snake. Because of these unlucky ghosts, the Dani and other surrounding tribes are at a constant state o... dead birds Essays -- essays research papers Dead Birds This movie is about a tribe on the island of Papa New Guinea. They are called the Dani. This tribe lives in the middle of the island. Near their enemy, another near by tribe. They live in little huts made from mud and wood. There tribe consists of about twenty to thirty people. If you are a man your day starts out by going to your tower, checking to see if the enemy is going to attack today then, signaling with smoke from a fire if it is ok for the others to start working in there gardens. While these men watch for their enemy they will keep busy by weaving bands decorated with shells and fur for the decoration of the dead. Another job that men do is they break up the soil and help out with the gardening. The young men are also the front line in battles. Women are responsible for most of the gardening. They also gather banana leaves for soaking up the brine to make salt and preparing food. Children have jobs also, they tend their pigs on the frontier and frequently gather with other children there size and play fight and grow pretend gardens. The Dani, greatly believe in magic and practice it daily. For instance, no one will come out after dark because they are afraid of the unhappy ghosts will bring them bad luck. They also believe that when you die, you just die and become a ghost. This is explained by a story they tell about a race between a bird and a snake. Because of these unlucky ghosts, the Dani and other surrounding tribes are at a constant state o...

Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank

Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2006 for their efforts in creating economic and social development for the masses below.The Chairman of the Nobel Committee said in his prize announcement speech that poverty is reduced if large groups of people work towards it, and microfinance is one such method. Muhammad Yunus is one person who had the leadership and the vision and took an initiative to translated those visions into practical action, and benefitted people in Bangladesh and other countries. He established the idea to give loans to poor people who had no financial security. Muhammad Yunus was given the award because he established a model for many other organizations to follow.He had the vision that every man, no matter how poor, has some talent within him that he can pursue for his own economic uplift. This is especially true for the women in the society who deserve to get an equal opportunity to men to acquire the necessary finances to pursue t heir talents. Microcredit is one of the methods that Muhammad Yunus thought could help in the erosion of poverty from the world. (Cozyinhel, 2006)Muhammad Yunus gave a speech about the microfinance revolution. In this video, he talks about how he came up with the idea of microfinance. He explained how when Bangladesh was formed, it faced a lot of problems, economy was sliding down and famines struck too. He was an economics teacher at that time and he felt terrible for not being able to use all that he teaches to help the people of his country. He wanted to remove people from this frustration and agony and the one thing that caught his attention most was the ruthlessness of the money lenders in a small village.He researched into how many people in the village actually went to these money lenders for money and found out how less they borrowed. He realized how entrenched the money lending system was in the roots and this led him to the solution that he came up with. He thought that if he gives the mere amount of money to people from his own pocket, they can return that to the money lender and they will be free. So the basic idea he had in mind was to free the people from the money lenders.He did this initially as a onetime action and later wanted to expand this into a systematic system. He then thought of an idea to go to a bank and ask them to lend that amount to the villagers, which blatantly refused to lend money to the poor people because they were not credit worthy. He then convinced them to allow him to be the guarantor and lend money to the poor.This was agreed upon and he kept growing this system. He is of the opinion that during the entire process, all he did was to struggle against mindsets (Calit2ube, 2007).He was also of the opinion that banking system was unjust because it excluded the poor and the women, so he decided to put his maximum focus on lending money to the women. Again at this point, he faced a struggle of mindset because women themselves were scared and unwilling to take the money and use it to create something. But he said that this was not the voice of the woman but the voice of fear and if worked upon patiently, these fears can be removed. Ultimately, they started lending to women and the impact on the families was much stronger than lending to men.Keeping this in mind, Grameen Bank thus started lending 97% to women only! Grameen Bank was owned by these poor women, who were the shareholders and on the Board of Directors, and it worked for the poor women too. Grameen Bank went to the poor, the women and the rurals. They worked on the philosophy, â€Å"The less you have, the more attractive a borrower you are for the Bank† (Calit2ube, 2007).He thus started a system that was then established all over the world. Muhammad Yunus is of the opinion that poverty is not created by the poor people, it is created by the system, by our mindsets and by our institutions. Microfinance enabled people to change their lives , it gave a mere 15$ to enable people to move away from a begging position to a dignified position.In an interview with Charlie Rose, Muhammad Yunus said that the system was to give money to poor people without collateral and a guarantee. The existing financial system served to only top one third people who have a huge amount of money and lent money to those who had money to give you collateral.They decided to give money to those who have no money to start with. It worked so well and expanded all over the world because there always was a crying need for it and nobody had ever paid attention to it (Rose, 2007). He has a strong conviction that such a system if grown exponentially can eradicate poverty from this world because poverty is artificially sown in the society and once that seed is removed, it can be eliminated.

Record Controls

Record Controls Valerie Chacon Axia College November 21st, 2010 HCR 210 Lisa Israel Today, there are many security measures within small, medium and large facilities. There are secure rooms, passwords, access codes and other things to keep records safe. If these security measures are not in place, then the medical facility could be at risk for letting confidential information get to the wrong people. There are differences and similarities in ways each medical facility handles their medical records. Small, medium, and large facilities seem to use similar security measures within an electronic record filing system.Most facilities use passwords, usernames, and access codes. With this said, only certain staff members have these access codes. Sometimes, one person has these access codes depending on how big the facility is. Sometimes files are only kept in a filing cabinet that is locked, along with the building locked when no one is there. Many small facilities seem to still use paper re cords. Paper records can have their positives and negatives. Small facilities do not have many doctors which in this case they know many of their patients on a personal level. This is a good aspect, especially for looking up records.Many small facilities keep their records in a secured room that is locked. Some facilities use only one person with one key, and others have access codes to get into the secured room. Depending on the facility and how many patient records there are, they all follow certain rules in their facility. Some facilities follow color coded record filing, numeric filing, and alphabetical filing. Some facilities keep their record in one place, other facilities have 2. If it is paper filing and they have 2 secure rooms, usually one room is for current patients and the other room is for old patient record.Records are kept from eight to ten year, depending on facilities regulations, and then destroyed of properly according to privacy information (Robinson, 2010). Wit h smaller facilities, this may happen more often than a larger facility, most likely because they use the paper filing system. With medium to large facilities, these facilities seem to use the electronic filing system. Although some medium and large facilities still use paper filing, more medium and large facilities have and are converting to electronic filing. The electronic filing systems seem to be more convenient for larger facilities.The hassle of so many patient records in paper form can be huge responsibility. This is why electronic filing is so much easier. The less hassle for records management, the less stress. Many larger facilities agree that electronic filing is much easier and can help control the records management. The storage for electronic filing is much easier too. The only downside with electronic filing is the unknown system downs for restoring or upgrading system requirements (Robinson, 2010). Sometimes when the system goes down, they may have to write down rec ords until systems are up and running.Each facility follows a strict policy in the scenario. Large facilities handle more patient records than a small and medium facility. There are not many facilities that still have paper records management. If security procedures are not followed correctly then there can be major problems. Mix up’s of patient records are at stake, patient confidentiality could be at stake. All facilities follow procedures to ensure patient privacy. In certain cases that a file may be lost or stolen, there are rules regulations and consequences on behalf of the facility. This is why it is so important for security measure to be met.It is the law that all confidential information is secured and locked, whether it is in a room or a filing cabinet. If a fire were to happen, patient records could be damaged, this is why it is equally important to have a sprinkler system set up in the case of a fire (Green & Bowie,  2005). No matter if the facility is smal l medium or large, each medical facility follows security Measure’s to ensure record confidentiality and keeping records safe. The follow specific guidelines and if these guidelines are not followed, serious consequences can come to the facility and the staff members.If it is a single staff member that is not following guidelines, this staff member can be written up and/or subject to termination from their job/career. To ensure this does not happen, many facilities offer training and most need a degree in having a job like this.References Robinson, S. (2010, November  7). Interview Data Thread: Group C []. Message posted to http://University of Phoenix class forum, HCR/210 Patient Records: Keeping it Real course website. Green, M. A. , & Bowie, M. J. (2005). Essentials pf Health Information Management: Principles and Practices. Clifton Park , NY: Thomson Felmar Learning.

A Tree of Life film Analysis

A Tree of Life film Analysis American drama The Tree of Life is a 2011 film directed and produced by Terrence Malick. The film takes the audience through a middle-aged mans childhood memories of 1950s. The film combines the childhood thoughts of origins and meaning of life with imagery of the origins of the earth and the beginning of life.Advertising We will write a custom term paper sample on A Tree of Life film Analysis specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Terrence combined technical and artistic imagery and fragmented narration to produce a masterpiece family drama with a clear inclination to science fiction. This paper seeks to analyze Terrence Malick’s film The Tree of Life. A lot of visual effects work has been applied on The Tree of Life. The director has applied special effects not only to bring out his plot but also to engage the audiences as events unfold throughout the film. Special effects have been applied to create the universe sequence. The colo r effect filters have been used to enhance mood and dramatic effects. At the beginning of the movie, the producers block out some color wavelengths of light from reaching the film. The result is a dark yellow light that marks the beginning of the universe. After the family receives the news about death of a nineteen years old son, the entire family falls into grief. Color filters have been used to characterize the mood with Mr. and Mrs. O’Brien lost in their thoughts. In the film, Terrence has used lighting to show the emotional response of characters. He has used lens flare to invoke a sense of drama in the movie. This is evident just after Mr. OBrien is notified by telephone about the death of his son. It has also been applied to give an expression of a real life scene. For instance, Mrs. O’Brien moves through the trees lost in her thoughts looks more of a real life photograph. The director has used sound as background music, sounds of objects in the story and voices of characters, all which are heard both by the audience and the characters in the film. Another important aspect of sound employed by Terrence is the narrator’s commentary and mood music to create the solitude mood and the melancholy atmosphere of the film. Terrence has selected different lenses for different purposes throughout the movie. Variation of focal length has been used to make the audiences share their feelings with characters in the film. When Mr. O’Brien receives a call about the death of his son, the focal length of the lens is varied to show his entire face. This gives the audience a chance to see his facial expression and to share his grief.Advertising Looking for term paper on art and design? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The same shot is evident when his wife reads a telegram notifying her about the same death. The focal length of the lens has been used to determine the angle of view and the field of view. Terrence has used this to combine real life and unreal world. For instance, a shot where a dinosaur moves in a natural environment with real vegetation and water is a combination of real and unreal world. The dinosaurs look like truly living animals and they are then super-imposed into a world that is completely real. In the film, short focal lengths of the lens have been used to make spatial distances to look more obvious. A character in the distance is made to look smaller while characters in the front emerge as big. This is clearly depicted by an instance where Mrs. O’Brien plays with his son as a small boy. The boy looks bigger when brought closer but much smaller when he runs out to play and the camera remains in the same position. The continuity style has been applied by the director in The Tree of Life as a conventional and dominant mode of visual storytelling. In this film, the most significant aspect of this particular style is that it encoura ges the viewer to become engrossed and fascinated by a story. However, this style discourages the audiences from consciously noticing the editing and camera techniques that have been used in the movie. The style has been deliberately used to make the camera, camerawork and editing invisible. The events on screen especially the multiple shots of the beginning of the universe seem to take place within a world of their own. Terrence makes the events to look as though they have been captured by some kind of unseen observer, who happened to have watched and recorded the action from convenient and suitable positions or angles. The film takes a surprising leap. It takes the audiences back millions of years in time, to the beginning of the world. The Tree of Life exhibits choral music that has been used as a staggeringly crafted hymn to creation. The audiences see swirling gases as planets emerge and the beginning of life itself. This leads to creation of plants, creatures like fish and din osaurs. The director suggests the O’Brien family as an archetype, a characteristic family in Biblical terms.Advertising We will write a custom term paper sample on A Tree of Life film Analysis specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The audience is drawn into the narrative. The viewers feel like they are viewing the story unfolding onscreen. Terrence has used the technique to precisely put the right emotional response in the audience and at the right moment. The outcome is seamless and engaging masterpiece and great filmmaking that make the audiences feel like they are actually participating in all events. An illustration of continuity style is the opening scene of The Tree of Life. This opening scene is an exceptional instance of how Terrence has relayed information to his audience without using a lot of dialogue. By moving the camera around and using strategically objects we find out that the lead character is a middle aged man who is married and with some children. The Tree of Life illustrates the technique of cross or inter-cutting in several instances. These are instances where the viewers are shown different events happening at the same time. The views are then made to seamlessly connect these events in their mind. In the opening scenes, the viewers see the first view of the two main characters, Mr. and Mrs. O’Brien. This is an instance of the technique of cross-cutting being applied to set up the plot and establish the two protagonists in the film in an absorbing way. Multiple scenes of nature are brought into focus simultaneously to illustrate the creation of earth. Terrence also uses the technique of cross-cutting to create suspense and narrative tension. Terrence has applied the point of view as a device through which the audiences identify with characters in the movie. This technique has been used to place the audience in the position of the protagonists. The point of view shots are evident wi th characters looking off screen and this allows the audience to cut to the object the character is looking at. Point of view is depicted in a church congregation as the clergyman delivers summon. The camera shifts from one character to another and it is easy to notice that all the characters are focused on the clergyman. The camera then shifts to O’Brien’s son seated next to his mother. The boy changes his gaze to a picture of Jesus on the wall. Like the boy, the audiences are lost in their thoughts as they identify themselves with the characters. Point of view is also depicted when the boy watches his parents engage in a fight in their house. The boy can see unclear shots of his father through the window as he moves with rage shouting to his mother. These shots make the audiences to concentrate on what the boy is watching, identify themselves with the boy and share his thoughts. The shots also increase the viewer’s concentration.Advertising Looking for term paper on art and design? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The viewers are able to experience the emotions of the boy, his anxiety and apprehension as he watches his parents quarrel with each other. In a very direct way, the viewers gain an insight into the emotional vulnerability and suffering of O’Brien’s children. Terrence has extensively applied framing and frame cuts The Tree of Life. The film exits one shot, then enters the next, allowing the eyes of the audience to follow the movement of the protagonists. In particular, Terrence wants the audience to focus on the emotions of the characters. For instance, Mr. O’Brien is shot touching his wife’s pregnancy, perhaps to show his admiration. This shot eliminates the space around Mr. and Mrs. O’Brien, emphasizing their facial expressions and gestures. Instances of frame cuts are also evident in the film. Some shots ends with the characters leaving the frame and the next shot begins with the characters entering the frame. For example, the audience witness O ’Brien’s son learning to crawl as a baby. The baby leaves the frame when crawling and the next shot begin with the baby entering the frame aided to walk by his father. Terrence has used instances of three-point lighting, key, fill and back lights to light the subjects in the film. This enables the viewers to form their perception of characters or setting in the film. The key light is the main source of lighting but the director has combined it with fill lighting to avoid leaving the shadow and to soften the shadows. To create a sense of depth, Terrence has also used the back light paced behind and above the characters. A high contrast ratio of key and fill light has been used in an instance where Mr. and Mrs. O’Brien embrace each other and the shot disappears and reappears repetitively. This produces a dark shadow and a night time effect with the faces of the protagonists being bleached white against a black background. Terrence has used the light and shade to d irect the audience’s attention to particular part of the scenes. For instance, Mr. O’Brien enters the house and turn off all the lighting. The audience can only focus on his moving image in the house as he walks towards the window. He then looks at his son sleeping outside the house. The audiences’ attention is directed to his thoughts and memories as he remembers the happy moments he had spent with his family. Terrence has applied instances of mise-en-scene in The Tree of Life. In the context of this film, mise-en-scene has been used to describe both the content of what is filmed and the way in which it has been filmed. It also signifies the Terrence’s control over what appears in the frame of The Tree of Life. In this film, settings applied are not only backgrounds but also integral to creating atmosphere and to building narrative within the movie. For instance, shots of sky and moving clouds, mountains, vegetation, sea and sea creatures depict the begi nning of universe. Shots of imaginary creatures like dinosaurs are depicted in natural environment characterized by a river with flowing water. Like settings, Terrence has used the props to characterize and show the atmosphere of the film. Props play a significant role of the action of The Tree of Life. Props like a dinosaur play a very significant function in the cause-effect logic of a film’s narrative. They also have a symbolic meaning of showing the beginning of the world where imaginary creatures existed. In The Tree of Life, the positioning and movement of protagonists within a frame is very important for both characterization and narrative. Terrence has successfully drawn the attention of the audience to his important characters by placing them in the foreground of the frame. For instance, as Mr. O’Brien touches and listens to his unborn son, he is drawn very close to the foreground of the frame. This gives the audience a feeling that he was welcoming the idea o f getting a son. It also highlights the closeness that was shared by Mr. and Mrs. O’Brien before their son was born. The same effects are depicted when Terrence places moving objects in a stationary background. Some instances of these effects are evident when O’Brien’s sons are shown playing in the field. Stationary objects have also been placed in moving backgrounds. For example, Mr. O’Brien stands stationary in a building looking and admiring its architecture as the camera moves swiftly through the stairs and along the length of the huge building. The Tree of Life and The artist a 2011 French romance directed by Michel Hazanavicius share a lot of similarity. Both Terrence and Michel have used positioning to indicate relationships between characters in their films. The physical distance between all the members of O’Brien family in a frame indicates emotional distance. In many instances, Mr. O’Brien is seen hugging and squatting to hold his sons closely showing that he loved them. Michel has also used the physical distance to highlight the romance between George and Peppy. Both Terrence and Michel have applied performance in the film including the protagonist’s facial expressions and body language. By bringing the faces of the characters closer and highlighting their features, the audiences can read a wide range of emotions and feelings. The audience can view the faces of Mr. and Mrs. O’Brien as they engage in a heated argument. The camera is drawn close to their son’s face and the viewer can see and judge his remorse regarding the quarrel between his parents. In conclusion, The Tree of Life exhibits a lot of brilliance with its breath taking imagery. The film is filled with inquiring ideas and questions about our place in the changed world. Earlier in the film a woman’s voice sets the debate of what a man should follow, â€Å"the more selfish way of nature or the less selfish way of grace. † The movie has applied a lot of imagery and cinematographic features amid the touching story of a loving mother and a strict father.

carbohydrates essays

carbohydrates essays Carbohydrates are present in sugars, starch, acids, and in many other nutrients that consist elements of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. Having a ratio of 1: 2: 1 or written as CH20. A monosaccharide meaning monomer of sugar is a "simple" carbohydrate. Containing backbone of five carbon atoms that are present in ribose and deoxyribose, components of RNA and DNA. Glucose a six carbon atom that is common cellulose, starch, and glycogen are classified as polysaccharide, Known as a "complex" carbohydrate, with straight or branched chains of many sugar monomers. These categories of carbohydrates are tested in two laboratory experiments. It will allow us (my partner and I) to detect the presence of sugar or starch. The first test, using two different solutions to expose the presence of sugar or starch by color alteration. I hypothesize that both samples of the experiment will result differently in order to pursue the next test. The second test consists of 9 food items, identifying t he appearance of sugar or starch. I guess in identifying 75% out of the 9 items right. Conducting both experiments will test my hypotheses either right or wrong. The first experiment on  ¡Ã‚ °simple ¡ and  ¡Ã‚ °complex ¡ carbohydrates, several tools and liquids were obtained: two test tubes, spot plate, test tube holder, benedicts reagent, lugol's iodine, 10% karo syrup solution, 1% starch solution. In a test tube (holding it with a test tube holder,) my partner fills 1 cm from the bottom of 10% karo syrup solution. With the benedicts reagent I gently add four drops, then quickly placed the tube in 98 degrees of boiling water, at 3:17p.m. While waiting for 3 minutes, we noticed that before placing the tube in the boiling water, the benedict reagent in the 10% karo syrup was blue. After heating, we observed at 3:20 p.m. that the benedict solution activated and turned yellow. Which meant that sugar (simple carbohydrate) was present in th ...

ACT English Word Choice and Diction Errors

ACT English Word Choice and Diction Errors SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips One of the trickier concepts that you will be tested on ACT English is your ability to choose the right word from among many that are not quite right, and to spot when words are being used incorrectly. Are you confident in your ability to find the differences in a group of similar words? Can you distinguish what’s needed from the context of a question? If you’re not so sure, read on to see how the ACT English will test you on this skill!In this post, I'll cover everything you need to know about these questions: What Does â€Å"Diction† Mean, Anyway? Diction is a fancy synonym forâ€Å"word choice† - you may have heard your literature teacher talk about itwhen analyzing a famous author’s writing style. On the ACT English, there are three main ways that word choice becomes important: recognizing commonly confused words understanding meaning in context recognizing idiomatic uses of phrases with prepositions This final topic is large enough thatwe have a whole separate article dedicated to it. But for the first two, let's lookat some example sentences that illustrate these concepts. There is nothing better then (1) waking up to the smell of freshly-brewed coffee. The exciting (2) smell really gets my blood pumping. 1. A. NO CHANGE B. better than C. better D. better to 2. A. NO CHANGE B. simulating C. dazzling D. stimulating Answers: 1. B; 2. D How did you do? These questions cover two of the most common types of diction errors that you will see on ACT English – commonly confused words and understanding meaning in context. Both of these test your ability to understand when a word is being used incorrectly. I’ll go into each of these question types in more detail below. But first, let’s talk about why ACT English has diction errors in the first place. Why Diction Errors? ACT English basically tests your ability to be an editor. The ACT wants to see if you can spot and correct errors in short passages. This skill is important for college level work, such as writing papers. Most of the ACT English questions focus on grammar, punctuation and style. By reading our guides or using another prep method, you can learn the various grammar rules that are important for being able to answer most of the questions on ACT English. With diction questions, the ACT is looking to see which students can also spot errors where you can’t apply your grammar rules. The only way you will know these answers is to understand the subtle differences between similar words. If you don’t think this task sounds too difficult, keep in mind that many students make diction errors all the time in their everyday speech and writing. The makers of the ACT know which words are most confusing for students, and focus on these when writing the test. So let’s start there – with the most commonly confused words that the ACT loves to test. The Most Common Diction Errors Some of the diction errors the ACT tests are random and therefore essentially impossibleto study for. However, the ACT writers havea couple of favorite errors, which usually appear at least once on every test. We'll go through these one at a time. THAN vs. THEN The first key concept for diction questionsis understanding the difference between â€Å"than† and â€Å"then.† Than is used to show a comparison. I am smarter than you are. He eats more rice than beans. Then is used for showing what happens next. First, she went to the store. Then, she went home. I want to eat my rice, then my beans. Pop Quiz! Look at the following pair of sentences. Can you tell which one is correct? I like blue Cornish cheese more then any other cheese in the world. I like blue Cornish cheese more than any other cheese in the world. Answer: the second is correct because the sentence shows a comparison - than is needed. How Should You Approach These Questions? Then/than errorsare pretty easy to spot and correct. When you see one of these words underlined, look at the rest of the sentence. If it is comparing something, use â€Å"than." If it is telling that one thing happened after another, use â€Å"then.† Let’s look back at the first question At the beginning of the article, I gave you the following question: There is nothing better thenwaking up to the smell of freshly-brewed coffee. A. No change B. better than C. better D. better to Now you can understand why the answer is (B) better than. The sentence shows a comparison (waking up and smelling coffee vs. waking up and doing anything else), so we need than. HAVE vs. OF The second most important diction pair to know is â€Å"have† and â€Å"of." The important distinction here is that â€Å"have† is a helping verb, while â€Å"of† is a preposition. If you see â€Å"of† being used as a helping verb, it will be incorrect! The #1 Rule for Have/Of: If you see could of, would/will of, should of, or might of: these are all INCORRECT. Instead they should be could HAVE, would/will HAVE, should HAVE, and might HAVE. This is one of those â€Å"everyday English† mistakes. In speaking, people tend to pronounceâ€Å"have† likeâ€Å"of† because it’s faster and easier to say. It also sounds a lot like our contractions â€Å"would’ve," â€Å"should’ve," etc. This has led some people to believe that â€Å"of† is actually the correct word to use in these circumstances - but it’s not! Let’s look at some examples: She would of preferred gorgonzola, but she got Cornish blue instead. INCORRECT She would have preferred gorgonzola, but she got Cornish blue instead. CORRECT "Would of" is always incorrect; "would have" is the correct replacement. How Should You Approach These Questions? Have/of questions should also be very easy to spot if you're looking for them. If you see of or have underlined, be ready to see a diction question. Remember that if you have would/will of, might of, should of, or could of, you can immediately cross out those answers. Choose an answer that replaces â€Å"of† with â€Å"have† and is also grammatically correct in the sentence. Let’s look at an example from the ACT. Dickinson’s last twenty years of letters many over 1,500 words in length reveals the breadth and depth of her connection to the world through a wide circle of correspondents. A. NO CHANGE B. reveal C. will of revealed D. would of revealed First thing we see in the answer choices are two answers that can automatically be crossed out, whichmakes our lives so much easier! Get rid of C and D, which both have the dreaded â€Å"of† construction. Now it’s a matter of differentiating between â€Å"reveals† and â€Å"reveal." At this point, you may notice that we are looking at a subject-verb agreement question. So we need to find what the subject is. Ask yourself: what is doing the revealing? It’s the â€Å"last twenty years of letters." When we cross out modifiers and the prepositional phrase, we get â€Å"last twenty years of letters." Now it’s obvious that â€Å"years† is the subject. Since â€Å"years† is a plural noun, we need the plural verb, which is â€Å"reveal." B is the answer. Other Easily Confused Words The ACT will rarely test other commonly-confused words. These questions are very difficult to predict because they happen quite infrequently. I have included a list of commonly confused words at the end of this article. Try reading through them and see if there are any that surprise you or that you didn’t know. If so, it wouldn’t hurt to make sure you have these down before you take the test. But don’t bother spending a lot of time worrying about this list. The ACT will rarely test this kind of question, so it’s really not worth stressing out over. You will most often see these commonly confused words in the context of our next type of question, which is†¦. Understanding Word Meaning in Context Instead of using really tricky commonly confused words, the ACT usually uses fairly common words with similar meanings, and asks you to choose which one is best for the sentence. This can be tricky because you have to really think about what the differences are between the different words that you're given, and also understand what the sentence needs in order to most correctly complete it. Let’s look at an example of this type of problem from the ACT: Many people might be surprised to learn that the American way of computing a person’s age differs from the traditional Korean way. In Korean tradition, a person is considered to be already one year old at the time of his or her birth. As a child growing up in two cultures, I found this contest a bit confusing. When I was in the fifth grade, was I ten or eleven years old? A.NO CHANGE B. change C. dispute D. difference This example shows how the ACT uses relatively simple words to try to trick you. You are probably familiar with all of the words in the answer choices, so let’s look at them closely to see which one best fits the sentence. All of the words here imply some sort of contrast or conflict, but in very different ways. Let’s start with the given word, â€Å"contest." A contest implies some form of formal competition between two things. Though the author says that there are differences between American and Korean age counting traditions, he doesn’t imply that they were actually in competition with each other. So (A) is out. Let’s look at (B). â€Å"Change† implies that something was one way, and then became another way. This doesn’t work because these traditions haven’t changed from one to the other - they were just different to begin with. So (B) is out. (C) is quite similar to (A), in that â€Å"dispute," like â€Å"contest," shows a direct conflict between two things. Again, this doesn’t really work because the two traditions aren’t actually competing with each other. That leaves us with (D), which is the only answer that makes sense. As we’ve said, the two traditions aren’t having a fight; they contrast simply because they have different characteristics. That means that (D), â€Å"differences," is the most appropriate answer. How Should You Approach These Questions? The meaning in context questions are definitely the trickiest of the diction questions. To spot them, look for questions that have an underlined word and answer choices that are completely different words, but are loosely related in meaning. First, read through the sentence. Try to place a word of your own in the spot of the underlined word. Now look at the answer choices. Though they will be slightly similar words, they will have different meanings. Which of them can have the meaning most like the word you put into the sentence? Choose that as the answer. Let’s look at this example from the ACT and use the above strategy to answer it. Perhaps the celebration of New Year’s Day in Korean culture is heightened because it is thought of as everyone’s birthday party. A. NO CHANGE B. raised C. lifted D. lighted First, let’s read through the sentence and try to see what should go in the blank. â€Å"Perhaps the celebration of New Year’s Day in Korean culture is _______ because it is thought of as everyone’s birthday party.† Something along the lines of â€Å"made more important† makes sense here. So which word could mean that? You’ll notice that almost all the words imply going up in one way or another - this is how the ACT is trying to trick you. But in the right context, one of them can also mean showing greater importance. â€Å"Raised† and â€Å"lifted† both refer to physically moving something up (unless they are paired with other words - not the case here). So (B) and (C) are out. â€Å"Lighted† is thrown in here to trick you and is quite different to the others - its means something has been made lighter, as in the opposite of darker. It doesn’t work at all, so (D) is out. Therefore the best word is the one the sentence started out with. If you look up â€Å"heighten†, you will see it can mean to physically raise something up, but it can also mean to make something more intense or significant, which is close to the original idea we came up with, which was making something more important. Looking Back The second question I gave you about smelling coffee in the morning had one of these meaning in context errors. Take a second look at the question. Though the answer choices are all vaguely related – they all imply something that excites or surprises in some way – the correct answer is â€Å"stimulating†. This is the only word that really implies something that helps wake you up, which is what is needed to correctly complete the sentence. Quick Recap To summarize, here are the key strategies you need to use to master diction questions on ACT English: â€Å"Of† used as a helping verb (would of, should of) is always incorrect. Choose an answer that replaces it with â€Å"have." Use â€Å"than† for sentences with comparisons. Use â€Å"then† to show one thing happening after another. When you see a meaning in context question, first read through the sentence and mentally replace the word with one that makes sense in the sentence. Choose the answer that comes closest to the word you used. Now It’s Your Turn! Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow. For the past twelve years, Khoubbane has been the unassuming leader of a unique (1) culinary movement in Morocco: creating and distributing a variety of high-quality cheeses throughout the country He slices a small piece off the outer edge of the wheel. A fine dusting of white mold already covers the cheese. The flavor is intense and creamy, with just a hint of the tang that will of developed (2) over the next five months with only Khoubbane's watchful eye and sensible (3) palate to determine when it has finished maturing. It is an unexpected undertaking for the 56 year old. Cheese, as the western world knows it, is unpopular in Morocco. "Moroccans don't eat smelly things," he says with a shrug. "There is less love for cheese here then in (4) France or Italy." This attitude is slowly changing, thanks to Khoubbane. His success, he says, has been due to the fact that he has viewed the process as a labor of love, rather than a business adventure.(5) A. NO CHANGE B. single C. differentiated D. specified A. NO CHANGE B. would of developed C. will develop D. develops A. NO CHANGE B. sensitive C. emotional D. touchy A. NO CHANGE B. then between C. than in D. than between A. NO CHANGE B. venture C. advantage D. process 1. A; 2. C; B.; 4. C; 5. B List of Commonly Confused Words WORD MEANING WORD MEANING accept to receive, take except excluding access entrance; opportunity excess more than needed addition something added edition a certain production of something adopt to legally take on, accept adapt to change to be more suitable advice a recommendation advise to give a recommendation adverse bad; unfavorable averse opposed to affect to influence effect a result afflict to cause suffering inflict to force something harmful aisle space between rows isle island allude to make an indirect reference elude to avoid allusion an indirect reference illusion a false idea or vision already happened before now all ready to be entirely prepared altar table for religious ceremony alter to change altogether completely; entirely all together all things with each other a lot a large number of something allot to give out an amount of something ambivalent to have two different feelings about something ambiguous having more than one possible meaning amoral having no sense or right and wrong immoral having intentionally bad morals anecdote ashort personal story antidote a substance or activity that stops something bad angel a spiritual creature angle space between intersecting lines measured in degrees apart separated, into pieces a part a piece of something appraise to examine and judge apprise to tell someone of something are 3rd person plural of â€Å"to be† our belonging to us accent how someone pronounces words ascent movement up assent agreement/approval assistance help assistants helpers attribute a quality/characteristic contribute to give something auditory related to hearing audible able to be heard aural related to hearing oral spoken, or related to the mouth balmy pleasantly warm barmy crazy or silly bare not covered bear to carry or accept something bated in suspense, excited baited to harass (past tense) bazaar a market bizarre very strange and surprising berth a bed on a boat/train birth time when a baby is born beside next to something besides in addition to something boar a wild pig bore a dull person board a long, flat piece of wood bored feeling uninterested born to have been birthed borne carried bough a large branch of a tree bow bend upper body forward breath air that comes from lunch breathe to take air in and out brake part of a vehicle that stops it break to separate into pieces buy to purchase by shows a person who does something canvas a strong cloth canvass to ask people their opinions censure to criticize formally censor to remove offensive things from public capital city where government is based,ormoney capitol state legislature building choose to decide or pick chose past tense of choose climactic an important or exciting time climatic relating to the weather coarse rough and thick course a series of lessons collaborate to work together corroborate to provide supporting information command to order commend to praise complacent feeling you don’t need to try hard complaisant willingness to please others complement something that goes well with something else compliment saying something to show praise comprehensive thorough comprehensible easy to understand conscience the part of you that makes you feel guilty conscious aware; awake contemptuous showing contempt contemptible extremely bad corps a group of people or military force corpse a dead body council an elected group of people counsel to give advice credible able to be believed credulous gullible dairy milk products diary a book of personal thoughts descent a movement down dissent disagreement desirous wanting something desirable attractive dessert sweet food desert hot, dry area device equipment used for a particular purpose devise to design or invent something discreet secretive discrete separate and different disinterested impartial uninterested not interested do a helping verb dew drops of water due expected or planned dominant most important or wanting control dominate to control or have power over die to stop living dye substance used to change color dyeing to change the color of dying present participle of â€Å"die† elicit to get info or a reaction from someone illicit not legal eminent respected imminent about to happen immanent permanent part of something emit to send out gas/heat/light omit exclude envelop cover something envelope what letters go in everyday commonplace every day each day exhaustive comprehensive exhausting tiring expandable gets bigger expendable non-essential explicit clear, detailed implicit implied or suggested fair reasonable fare cost farther more distant (physical distance) further more flaunt exaggerate flout intentionally break the rules formally properly formerly before foreboding apprehension or anxiety forbidding unfriendly or hostile forth forwards fourth first, second, third†¦.. gorilla large monkey guerrilla unofficial military group hear percieving sound here in this place or moment heard percieved sound (past tense of hear) herd flock/gaggle/group hoard collect/store horde large group hole hollow space in something whole complete human people/person humane kind implicit implied or suggested complicit involved in imply suggest implicate suggest someone is involved in something infer guess something based on the information you have incur cause unpleasant consequences to oneself occur to happen indeterminate uncertain or unclear interminable lasting a long time, in a boring way influence impact affluence wealth ingenious really clever ingenuous innocent and trusting its belongs to it’s it is knew past tense of "know" new not old know to be aware of something no a denial laid past tense of lay lain past tense of lie later occuring further along in time latter near the end of a period lay to put something down lie to recline horizontally lead to take charge led had taken charge lessen to reduce or decrease lesson what a teacher teaches lightning weather lightening becoming lighter or brighter loose not tight lose to not win maybe an adverb that means "perhaps" may be a verb phrase indicating that something could happen but is not certain meat flesh meet assemble mete administer a punishment metal hard, shiny substance medal metal object given as a prize mettle courage, strength, or fortitude miner someone who works in a mine minor not important; underageperson moral right and wrongs morale confidence level in the success of an endeavor passed to go by something; alternatively, to qualify past something that’s happened before now patience to stay calm patients sick people peace tranquility piece a part of peak the top peek a quick look pique annoyance pedal foot operated part of machine petal part of a flower peddle to sell perpetrate do something bad perpetuate to sustain or preserve something personal relating to a person personnel staff persecute oppress or abuse prosecute to take legal action against someone perspective viewpoint prospective potential buyer, or applying to the future plain ordinary, unremarkable plane flying vehicle pore small hole, esp. in the skin pour make liquid flow from a container precede to happen before something else proceed to go forward precedent an example or model president the head of prescribe recommend or authorize medical treatment proscribe to forbid presence being in a place presents gifts principal most important principle fundamental rule quiet no noise quite completely rain precipitation reign to rule rein straps that control a horse raise to lift raze completely destroy rational reasonable rationale the reason reluctant unwilling reticent saying little about what you feel respectfully showing respect respectively in the same order reverend Christian official reverent showing respect right correct rite traditional religious ceremony write produce words road surface built for vehicles rode to have ridden scene location or site seen to have looked sense feeling or awareness of something; one of the 5 senses since between the past and now; because sensible practical or realistic sensitive delicate; responsive sensory connected to the physical senses sight vision site a place cite mention something as proof simulate to mimic stimulate to activate or energize a process stationary unmoving; still stationery office supplies, esp. paper straight not curved strait narrow waterway or channel connecting two bodies of water suppose assume or presume supposed to expected to do something taught educated, instructed taut stretched very tight than used to compare two things then at that time their belongs to them there at that place or location they’re they are through from one end to the other threw to have thrown thorough completely to preposition used to describe a definition or identify the object of something too as well as two comes after one track narrow path tract large area of land visual relating to seeing visible able to seen waist around the middle of your body waste a bad use of something waive give up or cede wave move hand from side to side weak not strong week 7 days weather conditions in the air above the earth (wind, rain etc) whether if, or not wether a castrated ram where to, at, or in what place were past tense of "to be" which determining pronoun witch woman with magical powers whose pronoun identifying what belongs to someone who’s who is your belonging to you you’re you are yore a long time ago What’s Next? Now that you know how to tackle one of the trickier subjects on the ACT English, try another: here is how to take on idioms on the ACT. Not sure what else you’ll be up against? Here is a full breakdown of what you will find on ACT English. Aiming high? Here are some top tips to get a 36 on ACT English. Want to improve your ACT score by 4 points? Check out our best-in-class online ACT prep program. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your ACT score by 4 points or more. Our program is entirely online, and it customizes what you study to your strengths and weaknesses. If you liked this English lesson, you'll love our program.Along with more detailed lessons, you'll get thousands ofpractice problems organized by individual skills so you learn most effectively. We'll also give you a step-by-step program to follow so you'll never be confused about what to study next. Check out our 5-day free trial:

Bullying in Early Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Bullying in Early Education - Essay Example ave equal strength or power to the bully† (Berthold & Hoover, 2000; Olweus, 1996; Solberg, Olweus & Enderson, 2007; Sourander, Holstela, Helenius & Piha, 2000). Aggression was clearly defined in Lee’s research on the relationship of aggression and bullying to social preference as a â€Å"behavior that is intended to harm someone either physically or psychologically (Berkowitz, 1993), manifests itself in a wide variety of acts† (Lee, 2009, 323). Despite differences in definitions, bullying still manifests an aggressively vicious behavior expressed either indirectly or directly by a repeated tormenting towards a victim with obviously less strength and power to defend oneself from his aggressor aimed to harm him or her physically or psychologically. III. The role of gender in bullying Diverse research literatures examined the role of gender in increased susceptibility in bullying. There are actually two sides to be examined: (1) does gender play a significant part in assuming the role of the aggressor? In this issue, one would like to assess and evaluate if indeed boys are the instigator of bullying. If so, what forms of bullying do they usually perform? On the other hand, does it necessarily follow that girls are always the victims of bullying? What other perspectives in bullying give credence to gender differences as relevant correlates of bullying? The study conducted by Carbone-Lopez, et.al. (2010) reveal that gender differences have significant impact on bullying and victimization. However, it was necessary to qualify the direct form of bullying versus the indirect form. The direct form involves behavior that aims to physically harm the victim through any of the following means: hitting, kicking, pushing (Carbone-Lopez, et.al, 2010, 333) and fighting, flicking,... Bullying in Early Education Parents of bullies were observed to resort to unjustifiable physical punishment instigated by mood swings and flares. Due to the fact that bullies have never learned the value of sharing or cooperation, getting along with others is not an ultimate priority. In this regard, the objective of the research is to determine if gender affects the way children respond to bullying in terms of the response or action taken against bullying and how young children, in general, deal with it. II. Differences in Definition of Bullying Bullying has been described by Marees & Petermann (2010) as â€Å"a specific for or aggressive behavior, namely the systematic humiliation, harassment and/or torment of certain children by their peers: (178). Taylor (2003), on the other hand, who studied primary school bullying and the issue of gender differences, defined bullying as â€Å"a subcategory of aggressive behavior; but a particularly vicious kind of aggressive behavior since it is directed, often repeated ly, towards a particular victim who is unable to defend himself or herself effectively†. The impact of gender on the response of children to bullying can still be further investigated to ensure that possible findings would shed light on the diversity of gender and the way they perceive bullying as either a threat to be directly addressed or ignored. There could be other reactions or responses that were not evidently investigated, or reported especially for the age group targeted for the project.

College Writing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

College Writing - Essay Example Further, college students have come out as lacking in the skills of determining which information is relevant, how to obtain it and then how to evaluate the information critically before using it in their writing (Perelman, 130). The major controversy therefore is whether college students are actually lacking in the skills of utilizing sources of information effectively, or the college grading systems have forced the students to misuse the information sources. Nevertheless, whether through summarizing or paraphrasing, college students are not generally lacking in skills of information internalization and subsequent application in their work. Rather, the grading systems of the testing organizations are forcing the students to misuse or misapply the sources. Most contemporary argument regarding the best ways in which college students should complete their academic work and papers hold that summary is the most effective method of students obtaining information from sources. This argument holds that summary enabled students to obtain information from a source in a critical manner, and then incorporate it in their own work, since summary â€Å"compel the writer to understand the source† (Howard, Serviss and Rodrigue, 177). On the other hand, it is argued that paraphrasing is the most suitable method of the college students using information obtained from their sources, owing to the fact that information is most effective as a paraphrase, when it has been written in students’ own words (Perelman, 131). However, the problem may not even rest in which method students should apply in utilizing sources of information and incorporating them in their work. The major issue is what could be the reason behind the students using their s ources in the way the use them. The grading criteria approved and applied by the College Board requires that a