The Krebs Cycle And Its relationship to Aerobic and Anaerobic Essay

The Krebs Cycle And Its relationship to Aerobic and Anaerobic Metabolism & Acid base balance - Essay Example This proves that the Krebs cycle occurs in the oxidation of fats. It was later found by Krebs that the citric acid cycles is not limited to animal cells but it takes place is almost all aerobic cells. In a cell, the Krebs cycle occurs in the mitochondria or power plant and generated energy need by the organism to function (The Krebs Cycle. Cell Structure and Function). Krebs metabolic pathway in the cells is responsible for the oxidation of the basic food components that constitute carbohydrates, protein and fat to give out energy. Mitochondria are present in the cells of the human body. The fundamental function of these minute organelles (that range from 500 to 2000 mitochondria in a cell) is to convert energy present in the nutrient molecules and store this energy in the form of ATP (adenosine triphosphate). ATP is the universal energy producing molecules utilised by enzymes to conduct a number of cellular functions. Human being cannot live even for a second without the continuous supply of ATP. Energy conversion requires oxygen and this is supplied by the circulatory and respiratory systems which carry the oxygen to the tissue for further use by mitochondria to remove carbon dioxide. This process is called cellular respiration. During the Krebs cycle, acetyl coenzyme A is metabolised into citric acid which undergoes a complex series of biologic al oxidation to produce free hydrogen ions. The hydrogen ion then move to a biochemical phase called oxidative phosphorylation which is a highly competitive aerobic energy producer. Oxidative phosphorylation produces 36 molecules of ATP. There are different phases at which metabolites move into the Krebs cycle. Components of carbohydrates, fat and protein are broken down to molecule coenzyme A before moving into the Krebs cycle. Glucose the basic fuel in the body is initially metabolized into pyruvic acid and later to acetyle

Personal Leadership Development Plan Education Essay

Personal Leadership Development Plan Education Essay The scientific analysis of leadership began by focusing on leaders themselves. The trait theory of leadership, as it is often called, was originally grounded in the assumption that some people are simply natural leaders by virtue of the fact that they have been endowed with certain characteristics not possessed by others. Since traits appeared to have little analytical or predictive value, leadership researches shifted their emphasis in the late 1940s and early 1950s from leader traits to leader behaviors as the basic unit of analysis. The investigation of leader traits has been more productive because researchers have constructed more appropriate theories, used better measures of traits, included more relevant traits, and used longitudinal data. Consequently a variety of personal attributes, such as energy level and emotional maturity have now been linked to effective leadership (e.g. Bass, 1990). Further, traits associated with socialized or learned motivational patterns, such as t he need for power and the need for achievement, have been empirically connected with effective managers. In addition, different types of skills, that is, interpersonal skills, technical skills, and cognitive skills appear to be relevant to managerial success. The cumulative traits in an individual make him/her decide the best for his future and lead for him the path of glory. The same goes for me as well as there lies some unrigged traits in me that drives me towards the development of a specific leadership plan for me, according to my inherited features. The trait of making people come to a common conclusion inherits in me, which gives me an insight as to being a strong leader. Though this trait is not dominant in me yet, but with the growth of my mind and body, I would want to work on this trait of mine to utilize the positives. Also, the art of misleading people at times, in order to get the work out, is not visibly seen in me. Therefore, the specific nuances that are required to become a complete leader is missing in my overall personality. The positives would be taken by me in all its valid respects, and the negatives would be scrolled out viciously. LEADERSHIP STYLES The path-goal model identified four distinct types of leader behaviors: 1. Supportive leadership Leaders with this style show concern for the well being and personal needs of subordinates. 2. Directive leadership Leaders with this style provide specific guidance for subordinates by setting standards of performance, scheduling and coordinating work efforts, and asking subordinates to follow rules and regulations. 3. Achievement-oriented leadership This style of leadership involves setting challenging goals, seeking improvements in performance, emphasizing excellence in performance, and showing confidence that subordinates will achieve high levels of performance. 4. Participative leadership Leaders with this style solicit suggestions and advice from subordinates and take this information into account when making decisions. The most prominent leadership style in me is of Participative. This is because the instinct of participation has always been dominant in me, which has further encouraged me to take various decisions. The art of listening to others patiently and finalizing my own opinions yet has been firmly rooted within me. Contrary to this, stands the authoritative style of leadership. This style lies on the harsher side of an individual, and therefore, an individual like me is refrained from such a style. Moreover, if there lies any possibility of me getting prone to this leadership style, I shall make sure that I utilize it to the best of my ability, without making it a bane for anyone. LEADERSHIP SKILLS Developing leadership skills is a continuous process which needs to be sharpened throughout a persons career. In order to develop my leadership skills, I will first need to take stock of my existing leadership skills, strengths and weaknesses. While doing this, what would be required of me is the consideration of the difference between leadership and management. Though the leadership skills incorporate the elements of charisma, dependability, flexibility, judgment, integrity, courage, individual consideration etc, I would like to inculcate some of the dominant skills while framing my personality plan. These skills would include the element of intellectual stimulation, charisma and individual consideration. Charisma to be quoted in a single sentence, can be defined as ones ability to entrust respect, trust and faith, which according to me, is the most required. Another pertinent leadership skill that I would like to imbibe is intellectual stimulation. It is the ability to make others working in the organization make use of facts and logic so as to extract new ways of solving problems. These elements shall make my plan of personality a worth while option. TEAM BUILDING Another trait of leadership is team building, which can prove to be a success or a failure of a leader. Team building is a catch all term for a whole list of techniques aimed at improving the internal functioning of work groups (Kreitner et al., 2002). Whether conducted by company trainers or outside consultants, team building workshops strive for greater cooperation, better communication, and less dysfunctional conflict. Experiential learning techniques such as interpersonal trust exercises, conflict-handling role play sessions, and interactive games are common. Rote memorization and lectures/discussions are discouraged by team-building experts who prefer this sort of active versus passive learning. Greater emphasis is placed on how work groups get the job done than on the job itself. Team building generally is carried out in the name of organization development (OD). The extensive use of team building appears to be justified. The element of team building is something which I personally appreciate in any individual and therefore, talking about me, the imbibing of this very power would be addressed by me further. In order to be strong leaders and in order to develop a personal leadership plan, my emphasis would be on building and leading groups. This way a sense of team would be visible in my skills, in turn making me a perfect leader. COMMUNICATION The issue of communication is vital for the successful functioning of any organization. All organizations normally establish formal mechanisms and processes of vertical and lateral lines or channels of communication to provide the means by which information, facts, ideas, proposals, emotions, feelings, opinions and problems can be exchanged. According to Kelly, the term Communication may be defined as the field of knowledge which deals with the systematic application of symbols to acquire common information regarding an object or event. Communication and information feed the quality of all human relations in organizations. Good communications underlie good relations and exchange the general quality of working life, motivation and morale. Bad and inadequate communications lead to frustration, and enhance feelings of alienation and lack of identity and unity. Choosing the right kind of communication is crucial in forming a leadership plan and it depends a lot on the culture of a region. My communication style depends partly on whether the addressees make a high or low contribution in the communication process. My communication style is more participative as I belong to a culture in which there is more of a democratic style of functioning. The style of communication also depends on whether a culture is individualistic or collective. Since there are some traits of collective culture, therefore, my emphasis is more on the group achievement, rather than on the individual achievement. The leadership skills primarily incorporate the element of communication, which in turn exhibit the vital ingredients that are necessary to be referred while communicating with an individual. I would certainly like to acquire some of the pertinent communication skills that would make me a jack in the field of leadership. These skills would incorporate the tinge of activeness and vigor to impress the one standing on the other side. Another important communication skill that I would like to imbibe is the ability to convince the other. This would make several doors open for me while planning my steps in the development of the leadership plan. II. STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES My utmost and peripheral strength is my ability to work hard. Hard-work and perseverance are considered the most vital elements for gaining an upper hand on the other individual. While developing the leadership development plan, the foremost thing that I shall adhere to is gathering my strengths together and making the best possible use of it in my career. My ability to lead shall make me more eligible for succumbing to the development of my leadership development plan. The only way to lead in life is therefore, to accumulate all the hidden strengths and wave off all the imbibed weaknesses, which spoils the entire plan in a go. Being a bit of short tempered, I tend to lose my patience at times. This can prove to be a very negative trait of mine while developing my leadership plan. Therefore, in order to become a successful leader, I would have to eradicate this flaw or weakness of mine and work on the further inevitability of the same. This shall make the whole process of developing a plan reach the set targets. Patience is said to be the key of success, therefore, this trait would be duly inculcated by me in its set limits. III. PERSONAL GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT CONTENT THEORIES OF MOTIVATION The earliest content theory of scientific management was pioneered by Frederick W. Taylor, Frank Gilbreth and Henry L. Gantt. The scientific management theory of motivation considered money to be the only incentive. Subsequent theories began to consider factors such as working conditions and work security to be incentives. Still later, the possibility of satisfying higher level needs or motives also came to be considered as incentives. Examples of such needs are: the needs for esteem and self- actualization, identified by Maslow; responsibility, recognition, achievement and advancement as proposed by Herzberg; and growth and personal development as identified by Alderfer. The most popular extension and refinement of Maslows theory of needs is the one proposed by Alderfer (1972). While Maslows model was not developed specifically for work organizations, Alderfers theory attempted to establish a conceptualization of human needs that are relevant to organizational settings. In extending Maslows theory Alderfer argued that the need categories could be grouped into three more general classes: Existence, Relatedness and Growth. Under the content theories of motivation, Maslows hierarchy of needs goes best with my actual self. The five step needs are essential for any individual to survive. In order to form a leadership development plan, the scope of motivation must be wide and diverse. To begin with, the physiological and safety needs are the foundation that makes me stand stiff towards the commencement of leadership plan. Furthermore, the love, esteem and self actualization needs stand erect in strengthening my base and applying such a theory in my practical life to grow higher. Also, Alderfers ERG theory of motivation plays a great role in growing higher and leading high. This will help in developing a synchronized plan of leadership for me. PROCESS THEORIES OF MOTIVATION There are three process theories of motivation namely Equity Theory, Vrooms Expectancy Theory and The Porter-Lawler Model. First proposed by Stacey Adams, the equity theory is completely based on the basic ground that people aspire to get treated fairly. The theory propounds that equity is nothing better than a belief that states that we are being treated equally as compared to the others. It also defines that inequity is just a belief that we are being treated unfairly in comparison to others. Adams describes the equity comparison process in terms of input/outcome ratios. Inputs are an individuals contributions to the organization, such as education, experience, effort and loyalty. Outcomes are what he or she receives in return, such as pay, recognition, social relationships and intrinsic rewards. Speaking about the Vrooms Expectancy Theory, Vroom (1964) presented the first systematic formulation of expectancy theory developed specifically for work situations. According to Vroom (1964) employees rationally evaluate various work behaviors. Put another way, employees will decide to apply effort to those tasks that they find attractive and that they believe they can perform. The attractiveness of a particular task depends upon the extent to which the employee believes that its accomplishment will lead to valued outcomes. Porter and Lawler extended the highly known Vrooms (1964) expectancy model. They agreed with Vroom that employee effort is jointly determined by the valence that employees place on certain outcomes and the degree to which people and their efforts will lead to the attainment of these rewards. However, Porter and Lawler emphasize that effort may not necessarily result in performance. Furthermore, they contend that the relationship between valencies and expectancies, on the one hand, and effort or motivation, on the other, is more complicated than Vrooms model suggests. When it comes on which process theory suits me, I think the Porter- Lawler method suits me the best. It webs my efforts, performance, rewards and satisfaction in a systematic queue that enhances my work motivation and makes me a more worthwhile individual. It is generally said that a happy worker is a productive worker and I personally desire to inherit the same within me. The how of motivation is explained under the process theory of motivation. The deep down cognitive antecedents are subdued in my personality, making my ladder of career taller and taller. My desire to perform in every field and extract wonderful results boosts me to apply certain elements of process theories of motivation in my very self. 5 FACTOR PERSONALITY QUESTIONNAIRE The five factors that I espouse to inhibit within me in its complete respect are the elements of neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, conscientiousness and agreeableness. The quality of extraversion is deep seated in my personality but as and when I am progressing towards the overall grooming, I am quite inquisitive to form such a leadership development plan that brings out my inner talent and positive qualities. I would certainly go by the factors of agreeableness and conscientiousness too. This would in turn strengthen my plan in totality. LEADERSHIP THEORIES AND CONCEPTS There are many different leadership theories that have been developed. The first one is Leader Traits. The scientific analysis of leadership began by focusing on leaders themselves. The trait theory of leadership, as it is often called, was originally grounded in the assumption that some people are simply natural leaders by virtue of the fact that they have been endowed with certain characteristics not possessed by others. Since traits appeared to have little analytical or predictive value, leadership researches shifted their emphasis in the late 1940s and early 1950s from leader traits to leader behaviors as the basic unit of analysis. The investigation of leader traits has been more productive because researchers have constructed more appropriate theories, used better measures of traits, included more relevant traits, and used longitudinal data. Consequently a variety of personal attributes, such as energy level and emotional maturity have now been linked to effective leadership (e .g. Bass, 1990). Further, traits associated with socialized or learned motivational patterns, such as the need for power and the need for achievement, have been empirically connected with effective managers. In addition, different types of skills, that is, interpersonal skills, technical skills, and cognitive skills appear to be relevant to managerial success. The apparent failure of trait approaches to the study of leadership, by the end of the 1940s, led researchers to adopt a new focus for their work during the 1950s. Instead of personal attributes, investigators began to concentrate on leader behaviors as explanatory variables. This approach compares the behaviors of effective leaders with those of ineffective ones. Two major research projects investigating leader behaviors were initiated at about the same time. One was a research effort conducted at Ohio State University. The other was a program undertaken at the University of Michigan by Likert and his colleagues. Leadership theories though are self explanatory and inviting to plan a better development plan of leadership, yet my development plan focuses on the trait theory of leadership. This gives an insight to the different traits that are present in every individual differently, irrespective of its form and format. The leadership traits that I found to be the most tempting are leadership motivation, which implies having a desire to lead but not being hungry for power at the same time. The drive, honesty and integrity are other related traits in the trait theory of leadership, but out of all these traits, the best suited for me is the drive and cognitive ability. It insinuates me to lead in a better way, no matter how hard a circumstance I am being put in. Drive is a force that incorporates energy, initiative, achievement, ambition and tenacity and I feel all these traits are present in me, somewhere or the other, but are not yet prominent. But I shall nourish these traits within me, without any hustle and bustle. IV. CONCLUSION Hence my leadership development plan would be such that it makes me an overall groomed individual, inhibiting the leading traits of empathy, patient listener, leadership motivation, agreeableness and conscientiousness. Also, since I inherit features like extraversion, cognitive antecedents and strong determination, I would aspire to go smooth on the path of success, by droving along the aforementioned inhabitants. Group achievement is another aspect that I would be dealing with in order to form a strong place for myself in the dynamic world of leadership. My plan of leadership development would therefore be inclusive of all the positive traits and skills quoted by me above and would exclude most of the unwanted features.

Millennial Themes in The Prelude and Mont Blanc Essay -- Wordsworth P

Millennial Themes in The Prelude and Mont Blanc On reading Book VI of Wordsworth's thirteen-part version of The Prelude, I was particularly struck by the passage in which, following his crossing of the Alps, the poet describes "the sick sight / And giddy prospect of the raging stream" (VI. 564-565) of the Arve Ravine as both an apocalyptic foreboding and an expression of millennial unity in his theory of the One Mind: The unfettered clouds and region of the heavens, Tumult and peace, the darkness and the light, Were all like workings of one mind, the features Of the same face, blossoms upon one tree, Characters of the great Apocalypse, The types and symbols of eternity, Of first, and last, and midst, and without end. (VI. 566-572) The unity of God, man, and nature is of course a common theme in Wordsworth's poetry, having been given equally memorable treatments in Tintern Abbey and elsewhere, but it was the seemingly paradoxical sentiment of this passage from The Prelude that made such a strong impression on me. As John Beer points out in his article "Romantic Apocalypses," "Although traditionally the apocalypse and the millennium have gone together, recently, the first, with its sense of doom, has been more prominent" (109). To a reader who has lived through the passing of both a new century and a new millennium, the phrase "Characters of the great Apocalypse" tends to evoke feelings of eschatological anxiety, and to suggest the fragility and transience of the landscape Wordsworth is attempting to describe. It is easy to forget that Wordsworth used the term in its original sense of "simply 'revelation,' the name given to the English version in the New Testament" (Beer 109); and that in its evocations o... ... used the essential paradox of apocalypse and millennium not to prophesy the destruction of the existing world, but to make their readers aware of the greater harmony of the universe, both within and outside the boundaries of time. Works Cited Beer, John. "Romantic Apocalypses." Wordsworth Circle 32.2 (2001): 109-116. Shelley, Percy Bysshe. "Mont Blanc: Lines Written in the Vale of Chamounix." 1816. Romanticism: An Anthology. 2nd ed. Ed. Duncan Wu. Oxford: Blackwell, 1998. 845-849. Shelley, Percy Bysshe. Excerpt from "Journal-Letter from Percy Bysshe Shelley to Thomas Love Peacock, 22 July to 2 August 1876." Romanticism: An Anthology. 2nd ed. Ed. Duncan Wu. Oxford: Blackwell, 1998. 844. Wordsworth, William. Excerpt from The Thirteen-Book Prelude, Book VI. 1806. Romanticism: An Anthology. 2nd ed. Ed. Duncan Wu. Oxford: Blackwell, 1998. 389-392.

Philippine Party-List System: A Failure or a Success? Essay

The country’s population is about 90 million; about 70 percent of which is in poverty. It is not farfetched to say that majority of the country’s population is underserved and marginalized ― our farmers, fisher folks, the youth and the women among others ―and are in need of government’s attention. In a developing country like the Philippines, decision-making or policy-making must gear towards development of these underserved sectors of the Philippine society. The population elects its legislators ― congressional and party-list representatives, senators and the rest of the elective members of the bureaucracy. But what assurance do the Filipino people get that the underserved are represented in the policy-making body of the country? It is the party-list system. As defined by Republic Act No. 7941 also known as the Philippine Party-list Act, â€Å"the party-list system is a mechanism of proportional representation in the election of representat ives to the House of Representatives from national, regional and sectoral parties or organizations or coalitions thereof registered with the Commission on Elections (COMELEC).† The rationale behind the emergence of the Philippine party-list system in the Philippine party politics is to provide representation to the marginalized and underrepresented sectors of the society ― a ‘democratizing agent’ to the elite-oriented Congress. Nonetheless, it attempts to challenge the status quo and truly serve the underserved masses (Rivera, 2007). The emergence of the party-list system is not an event which transpired â€Å"out of the blue† rather an attempt to redress an insufficiently undemocratic growing elite party politics in the country. Tracing history backwards, the domination of the elite-oriented party politics can clearly be seen since its beginning up to its continuing ascendancy in the Philippine politics today. When the American rule in the Philippines instigated, they were faced with Filipino armed resistance. To resist such â€Å"insurgencies† and to install its complete control over the Philippines, the Americans painsta kingly deceived the Filipinos thru the Filipinization it proposed ― a venue for Filipino participation in the realm of governance and politics. To achieve such purpose, they â€Å"recruited† the elites to join the Filipinization (Gealogo, 2007). Why the elites? For one, they have their own interest to protect. They have much and more to lose than to gain if they won’t yield and collaborate with the colonizers. And they do not trust their fellow Filipinos for they themselves have branded their fellowmen as ‘thieves’. Simply put, they try to maintain political power. And political power resides in property: in their wealth. It is interesting to note, they have collaborated not with the Americans only but with all the other colonizers who came to our land and they successfully maintained a stronghold in the political arena ― in the arena of influence and the influential ― and so begins the reign of the elites. Dante Simbulan (2005) sites that â€Å"the political parties or factions that developed [today] had one common beginning: the principalia group which . . . was composed of the native ruling elites under the Spaniards [emphasis added].† The elites of today are in fact the elites of the colonial Phi lippines. Surprisingly, the entire Philippine party system in today’s time is dominated only by less than a hundred to a hundred wealthy families, and they exist as political clans and dynasties (Simbulan, R., 2007). Does one expect an elite-oriented Congress to legislate against its own interests and genuinely serve the greater masses ― the marginalized and the underrepresented? Prior to the party-list system, minority parties that represent the interest of the same sectors that the party-lists represent today have existed. They tried to forward the interest of the underserved and the marginalized, but eventually, â€Å"no working class (or counter elite) political group or party was able to prosper [emphasis added] (Simbulan, D., 2005).† Former minority parties did not thrive. Now that the Philippine Party-list Act provides the establishment of the party-list system, the question is: Will it, too, vanish like the minority parties which used to assume the same role it does today? This paper seeks to assess the efficacy of the party-list system while pointing out loopholes and lapses in the system. As Section 2 of Republic Act No 7941 or the â€Å"Party-list System Act† states, the Party-list System has three basic elements: (1) to include the â€Å"marginalized† and â€Å"underrepresented† sectors of the country in the legislative processes of the House of Representatives ― democratize the Congress; (2) to pluralize the party system by encouraging multi-parties and (3) to simplify the electoral system. Let us examine the first element of the party-list system by finding out whether it complies with its most basic purpose or not ― that is to democratize the Congress. Based on RA 7941 and the 1987 Constitution, the party-list (originally) has the following basic features: 1. Twenty percent allocation. The party-list representatives constitute 20% of the total number of representatives including those under the party-list. 2. Two percent threshold. A party or organization must obtain at least two percent of the total votes obtained by the party-list system in order to get one seat. 3. Three-seat limit. Section 11 of RA 7941 specifies that a qualified party would be entitled to a maximum of three seats. 4. Proportional representation. The additional seats that the party is entitled to are computed in proportion to its total number of votes. Over the years, there have been debates on these basic features of the party-list system― the structure per se is said to be a â€Å"counter-productive† structure and is in contrast to the very purpose of the party-list system. To show this, let us take a look at the 14 years of the party-list system. The first ever party-list election in 1998 was accepted with enthusiasm. A total of 123 parties participated in the election. The first party-list election was not free of controversies. Right after the election, a certain party-list (PAG-ASA) filed a petition wanting the filling up of the complete 20 percent membership of the party-list to the House of Representatives― they argued it is mandatory. This petition gathered support from nine other organizations which also filed. Eventually, the COMELEC declared all the other 38 organizations in addition to the already declared 14 winners. In declaring the other 38 organizations the COMELEC clearly disregarded the 2 percent threshold and it reasoned out that their decision was based on the following justifications: (1) ‘the marginalized and the underrepresented sectors must be represented in the House of Representatives, (2) the party-list system must represent the broadest sectors of the society and; (3) it would encourage multi-party system.’ However, 12 of the parties which were initially declared by the COMELEC objected to the proclamation of the other 38 organizations arguing that only them (the 14 initially declared winners) are entitled to the seat in the lower house because the other 38 organizations failed to attain the 2 percent vote threshold. Eventually, the dispute was resolved in the Supreme Court. In an en banc session of the Supreme Court in October 1998 it ruled that the 20 percent seat allocation as prescribed by Section 5 (2) of the Constitution is not mandatory. Furthermore, it ruled that the 2 percent threshold is constitutional thus required to obtain a seat in the House of Representatives. So the COMELEC had to recall the proclamation of the other 38 organizations. Given the basic features of the party-list system, one important question needs to be answered: â€Å"How does the party-list system enhance the chances of marginalized or underrepresented parties of winning seats in the House of Representatives?† The COMELEC says that with the three- seat cap for the party-lists, major political parties or the bigger parties which usually dominates the elections will not have the chance to â€Å"corner all the seats† in the House of Representatives and â€Å"crowd out† minority parties. This, th ey argue, will encourage the party-lists to win seat in the House of Representatives. Granted this to be true and the desired or expected consequence to be existent, the party-list is indeed a potential counter-foil to the elite-dominated Congress. However, given this features, particularly the three-seat cap, Felix Muga (2007c) argues―in contrast with what the COMELEC declares―that this features of the party-list system particularly the three-seat cap is a â€Å"counter-productive† structure for â€Å"it promotes the break-up of a strong party into smaller ones and discourages parties to form bigger coalitions† (Para. 4). To illustrate this, let us consider the events after the 2001 Party-list Elections. After the Supreme Court disqualified some parties during the 2001 Elections, Bayan Muna’s percentage share of total party-list votes reached 26.82 percent (Party-List Canvass Report Number 26 as September 7, 2001). Sadly, they were just given three seats. Consequently, in the 2004 party-list election, Bayan Muna broke up into smalle r parties and obtained 6 seats in the House of Representatives. Note that not only Bayan Muna resorted to this break up; there are also several of other party-lists like the Sanlakas. Thus, Muga further claims that â€Å"it [3-seat cap] does not pave the way for smaller parties to win seats in the House of Representatives. Together with the 2% informal threshold in the simplified Comelec Formula or with the first party-rule of the Panganiban Formula, it cannot fill up the available number of party-list seats and causes the Formula used to contradict the principle of proportional representation [emphasis added].† The party-list as defined is a ‘mechanism for proportional representation’ (RA 7941). Thus, for instance, if a party gets 50 percent of the total party-list votes, it shall get the 50 percent of the total number of seats allocated for the party-lists (principle of proportionality). RA 7941 requires a vote threshold. The two (2) percent vote threshold means that the party which obtained at least 2 percent of the party-list votes will be allotted the seat. Mathematically, this can be represented by total number of votes of all parties divided by the total number of available seats (Hare Quota). In the 2007 Party-list election, the total number of party-list votes reached 8,416,421; the 20 percent seat allocation for that particular Party-List Election translated to 55 seats. Therefore, following the above-mentioned formula, we arrive at â€Å"8,416,421 divided by 55 seats, equals 153,025† (Hare Quota). Following the principle of proportionality, we now compute the ideal seat for BUHAY party-list, the top-notch party-list group in the 2007 Party-List Election. BUHAY attained a total number of votes of 1,169,234; we divide it with the Hare Quota for the 2007 Party-list Election computed earlier which is 153,025 (1,169,234/153,025). Thus, the ideal seat for BUHAY is 7.64. However, the ideal seat is not the actual seat given to the winning party-list groups. Muga (2005) came up with the idea of â€Å"seat allocation error† to illustrate the difference between the ideal seat and the actual seat given (ideal seat – actual seat given). BUHAY party-list’s ideal seat is 7.64, but it was granted with only 3 seats. Thus, the â€Å"seat allocation error† is 4.64 seats. They were deprived of 4 more seats in the Congress and were only given 3. Muga also provided a formula in computing the disenfranchised votes which can be expressed as: Degree of Negation X Hare Quota = Number of votes disenfranchised To a certain extent, the basic features ― the three-seat cap, the 2 percent vote threshold and the First Party Rule ― of the party-list system’s structure caused the negation of proportional representation. This structure is indeed â€Å"counter-productive† on the part of the party-lists and most of all, the entire marginalized sector they represent. The party-list system seeks to democratize the Congress. Ironically, the structure itself does not provide any clear means for a genuine â€Å"democratization† of the Congress. Given this restrictions, ‘no party can really grow in the Congress.’ In the latter part of this paper, performance of the party-lists (in terms of legislation) shall be assessed and we will found out if the current party-list structure has something to do with the party-lists’ performance. Also, major concerns of the party-list system are issues on accreditation, membership and legislation. The accreditation p rocess employed by the Commission on Elections is very loose ― there is lack of prohibition against party-lists with links to the government (irrespective whether direct or indirect), lack of strict imposition of prohibition on party-lists receiving foreign support, lack of strictness in following the rules set by the law on who shall become the party-list’s nominee among others. To illustrate this, let us consider the party-list Aksyon Sambayanan or AKSA. It is very clear in the Supreme Court ruling that a party-list shall be disqualified if â€Å"It is receiving foreign support from any foreign government, foreign political party, foundation, organization, whether directly or through any of its officers or members, or indirectly through third parties for partisan election purposes† (Ang Bagong Bayani-OFW Labor Party vs. COMELEC, G.R. No. 147589, June 26, 2001, En Banc). Despite that, after known to be supported by Socialist International, AKSA still was accredited, allowed to join the election and was given seat in the House of Representatives (Manalansan, 2007). It may be safe to say that the Supreme Court ruling has not been proven insurmountable because such lapses occur. Also is the nominee Catalina Bagasina ― a provincial board member and a business woman ― of the Pilipino Association for Country or Urban Poor Youth Advancement Wel fare (Pacyaw). The Ang Galing Pinoy party-list is a group representing the security guards. Its representative to the Congress is the former first son―the son of the former President now Pampanga Representative Gloria Arroyo― Rep. Juan Miguel â€Å"Mikey† Arroyo. What is troubling about this is that Rep. Arroyo is not and has never been a security guard. In short, he doesn’t belong to the sector he represents. Logically, how can he truly understand the plight of the security guards if he himself is not one of them? The Supreme Court ruling states that â€Å"not only the candidate party or organization must represent marginalized and underrepresented sectors, so also must its nominees. The nominees must be Filipino citizen ‘who belong to marginalized and underrepresented sectors, organizations and parties [he/she represents]’† (Ang Bagong Bayani-OFW Labor Party vs. COMELEC, G.R. No. 147589, June 26, 2001, En Banc, para. 8). Surprisingly, Ang Galing Pin oy which is in clear defiance to this rule is still in position in Congress. Still surprisingly, there are other party-lists in defiance to this. 1-UTAK party-list ― a group representing PUV drivers, operators and commuters ― had the late former Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes as its representative. It is interesting to note that former Sec. Reyes is a stalwart defender of the oil deregulation law, which this group he tried to represent, strongly opposes. Another point the Supreme Court ruling raised was that â€Å"the political party, sector, organization or coalition must represent the marginalized and underrepresented groups identified in Section 5 or R.A. 7941† (Ang Bagong Bayani-OFW Labor Party vs. COMELEC, G.R. No. 147589, June 26, 2001, En Banc). However, APEC or the Association of Philippine Electric Cooperatives is not a marginalized group yet it is granted the chance to join the election and win seats. Manalansan (2007) further points out other party-lists which are not considered marginalized. They are BUHAY, Veterans Federation of the Philippines and Cooperative-National Confederation of Cooperat ives (Coop-NATCCO) among others. Moreover, the Supreme Court ruled that â€Å"the party or organization must not be an adjunct of, or a project organized or entry funded or assisted by, the government. . . . The participation of the government or its official in the affairs of a party-list candidate is not only illegal and unfair to other parties, but also deleterious to the objective of the law† (Ang Bagong Bayani-OFW Labor Party vs. COMELEC, G.R. No. 147589, June 26, 2001, En Banc). However, the Veterans Federation of the Philippines (VFP) is a government-funded group. It is in fact a creation of R.A. 2640 (Manalansan, 2007). Clearly, there are lots of loopholes in the current party-list system ― not only the structure which makes it ineffective but also the very process of filtrating or accrediting the party-lists-to-be and the nominees. In its 14 years of existence, how well did the party-lists performed in the Philippine legislature? In the 11th Congress, the party-list representatives filed a total of 3, 698 bills and resolutions. Only 20 bills reached Second Reading. In the 12th and 13th Congress, party-lists representatives filed a total of 5, 706 bills and resolutio ns, but majority of which are still pending (Manalansan, 2007). In the 14th Congress, there were 19 bills which reached the Third Reading but disappointingly, none became a law. One may remember the approval of the 125 pesos daily minimum wage increase in the 13th Congress. It was filed by Bayan Muna Rep. Crispin Beltran (12th Congress) and refilled by him again in the 13th Congress (this time as Anakpawis representative). It was approved by the House of Representatives and the Senate. However, it was later on recalled. At the brighter side, laws on Abolition of the Death Penalty, Protection to Children in Conflict with the Law, Anti-Trafficking in Persons, Anti-Violence against Women and Overseas Absentee Voting have been passed with party-list representatives as forwarders and/or consultants. The progressive party-list representatives are diligent enough to file and re-file bills and resolutions that would serve the greater mass. These are bills to amend the Labor Code, to repeal the Automatic Appropriations law, Mining Act, National Government Center Land Utilization Act and Oil Deregulation Act among others. On the contrary, a number of bills have been passed within a short period of deliberations only. These bills are alleged as â€Å"Malacaňang-certified† legislations. Examples of this are the Expanded Value Added Tax, Lateral Attrition Law and the infamous Anti-terrorism bill or the Human Security Act of 2007. Since the beginning of the party-list system there were assumptions that the party-list, originating from elite politics, shall only prolong elite politics in the country (Simbulan, 2007). Some believe that this is just a make-believe measure to make it appear that the Philippine society is well-represented in the legislature. At this point, we will try to assess whether this assumption is true or not. It is a fact that the Philippine congress is a congress of the elite or the wealthy oligarchs of the nation. As a matter of fact, in a study conducted by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), it found out that ‘60 to 100 wealthy families (political clans) â€Å"dominate† and â€Å"determine† the entire Philippine legislature or politics’ (Simbulan, 2007). The PCIJ studied political clans from 2001 to 2004 and found out that political parties in the country are really â€Å"clan alliances†. In a Congress like this ―dominated by traditional parties and wealthy political clans, where number matters ― what can the very few party-list representatives do to forward the interest of the masses when it conflicts with the elites? Proponents of the party-list system admit that the party-lists have been absorbed by the traditional parties in the Congress. In news article from GMA News TV on April 6, 2010, former Marikina Rep. Romeo Candazo ― one of the main authors of the RA 7941 ― said that ‘majority of the party-list representatives have been co-opted by traditional politics. As such, it is very difficult for this minority party-list to resist the domination of these ruling elites. These political clans coalesce with other clans or political parties to uphold and protect the status quo and to maintain a stronghold on the legislature. This sufficiently explains why the party-lists get co-opted by these traditional parties. Clearly, the party-list is to the disadvantage as compared to the traditional parties in the Congress. First, the party-list lacks the number or a stronghold in the Congress due to the seat allocation restrictions of the Party-List System Act. Also, the party-list lacks the machinery during elections. The very low voters’ turnout on party-list election testifies to the ignorance of the people on this system. This may be attributed to the lack of machinery of the party-lists system. The party-lists lack the financial prowess to air political ads on televisions and other media of information. In a Pulse Asia Survey (March 27 to April 4, 2004), television is the leading primary source of election-related information (71%), followed by radio at 20 percent and newspapers by 4 percent (Arao, 2007). As such, how would the people know about the party-list if these media of information is not maximized by the party-list? However, we cannot deny the fact that the party-list has two faces: the rich and the poor. Some party-list representatives are found at the bottom 10 percent poorest Representatives, but there are party-list representatives who are millionaires. In the 12th Congress, APEC representatives were all multi-millionaires. There are many other millionaire party-list representatives like Alagad’s Rodante Macoleto, AVE’s Eulogio Magsaysay, and Coop-NATCCO’s Guillermo Cua among others. Note that in the 13th Congress, the richest party-list representative was VFP’s Gidaya with a net worth of 34.66 million pesos and the poorest was Anakpawis’ Rep. Rafael Mariano with a net worth of 18,000 pesos (Manalansan, 2007). It is not farfetched that one day the party-list is no longer of difference with the traditional parties in the Congress. What future awaits the Party-List System? Will it too vanish or survive the test of traditional politics? In conclusion, this paper does not undermine the potential of the party-list system for it has forwarded a significant number of bills and resolutions since 1998 up to this present Congress. It is a clear sign that the party-lists system, somehow, is working in the Philippines. They have provided the underserved and the marginalized a voice in the congress. They tried to strike a balance in an elite Congress. The party-list per se is a great chance for the masses to be represented. But it is undeniable that the party-li st system is failing. It might just be a matter of less than a decade that the â€Å"narrow alley constitutionally reserved for the representation of marginal sectors in Congress† be permanently closed by traditional politics (Tuazon, 2007). It is quite not hard to conclude that the Philippine party-list system is more of a failure than a success. First and for most, its goal to democratize the Philippine Congress is at the onset defeated for the structure itself limits the growth of this party-list groups in the Congress and even encouraged break ups among the party-lists. Secondly, the issue of accreditation weakens the chance of the party-list system to genuinely fulfill its promising purpose ― to serve the marginalized and the underrepresented sectors of the society. Moreover, the party-lists are co-opted by traditional politics. The party-list legislation has not resulted to any concrete law that would directly benefit the underserved sectors of the Philippine society. Nonetheless, the future for the party-list system is still bright despite such failures. As Dr. Florangel Rosario Braid of the Justice Cecilia Munoz Palma Foundation said: Those who argue that it [the party-list system] should be retained, and in fact strengthened, point to how it has been able to balance our â€Å"elite† democracy by providing representation to sectors which otherwise would have been excluded under our present political system. But how do we deal with blatant abuses like having individuals who had never been a part of the group that they are expected to represent? . . . It is about time that the system should be examined by groups from various sectors of society [emphasis added]. The party-list system as the sole legal or constitutional means by which the underrepresented and the marginalized sectors of the Philippine society assert their rights and be part of the Philippine legislature, despite its failure, should be braced and strengthened so as to serve its purpose truly.

Different Research strategies you can use in your Dissertation

Different Research strategies you can use in your Dissertation Different Research strategies you can use in your Dissertation One of the key problems you need to address early on when writing your dissertation is that of the best strategy to use to conduct your researchThat is, how will you go about answering the research questions you want to investigate Defining your research strategy means deciding whether you want to do primary research or confine yourself to the existing literature. You can get help deciding whether a primary or secondary study is best for you from one of our helpful guides. Research strategy for secondary studies is fairly straightforward, although you do have to look at your search methods and define key words and so on. However, defining different research strategies you can use in your dissertation to conduct primary studies is slightly more involved. This guide will help you understand the basics by looking at some of the most common research strategies.Case StudiesCase studies are a type of descriptive research looking at individuals, a small group of people or a unit (an organ isation for example). Data is collected by observation, participation and a range of other methods including examining existing records, interviews and tests Case studies may include participants own accounts Conclusions are relevant primarily to the people or unit studied, they are not as appropriate if you want to generalise to a much wider population Case studies tend not to look at cause and effect, rather they focus upon exploring and describing A typical case study looks at the way a number of variables interact in order to fully understand a given situation Case studies are usually used for qualitative research Case studies are useful for ‘how’ and ‘why’ questions, where context is important, and where the researcher has little control over events.SurveysSurvey research is frequently used in social science research. Surveys are also used in commercial settings, primarily market research. Surveys often gather quantitative data, but can also gather qua litative information through open-ended questions Surveys are carried out on a sample of respondents from a selected population through the administration of a questionnaire. The questionnaire can be done online, face-to-face or over the telephone. Surveys are very flexible and can be used to collect different types of data from small or large numbers of people Surveys can also be useful across a wide range of disciplines from business to anthropology The data collected in surveys needs to be analysed to produce useful results. Quantitative data (numbers) is typically analysed using statistical software like SPSS. Qualitative data can be analysed by a number of techniques including coding and thematic analysis.InterviewsAn interview is a discussion with one or more people. The matters raised are recorded (video-taped, audio-recorded or written down) and subsequently analysed Interviews are very flexible. They can be highly structured and formalised, with all the possible options det ermined in advance (a quantitative survey administered face-to-face would be an interview of this type) or unstructured and relaxed. Interviews are usually divided into three groups, depending upon the degree to which they are structured: structured, semi-structured and unstructured interviews. Structured interviews are based on a pre-determined set of questions and allow little-to-no scope for deviation from the structure. Unstructured interviews start with a few broad questions or areas for discussion, and the interviewer uses techniques like prompting and probing to elicit responses from the participants. Interviews can involve one subject, or a group of subjects, but typically no more than 5 or 6 people in a group. The dynamics of a one-to-one interview and a group interview are different and are suitable for different purposes: one-to-one interviews are useful where you want people to open up about personal or private matters, while group interviews allow people to interact and create group dynamics.Other StrategiesAction research, also known as participatory research and collaborative inquiry can be seen as a process of research through doing something. It involves the ability to usefully reflect upon process in order to improve understanding of practices and situations Ethnomethodology as an approach tries to understand the way people interact with each other, and therefore studies social realities, often of the day-to-day lives of ordinary people. Its concern is with how people make sense of their world. Grounded theory research does not have a set of assumptions or research objectives which are tested against reality. Rather it generates theory by first examining a social situation and seeing what explanations could account for the phenomena.BibliographyBadke, W (2012) Research Strategies: Finding your way through the information fog (4th edn), iUniverse, USA Colorado State University (2013) ‘Case Study’ [online] (cited 6th March 2013) available from http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/guide.cfm?guideid=60 Marsden, P V and Wright, J D (2010) Handbook of Survey Research (2nd edn.), Emerald Group Publishing, London. Punch, K (2003) Survey Research: The Basics, SAGE, Thousand Oaks, CA.

Free Essays on Queen Hatshepsut

Queen Hatshepsut During the 18th Dynasty the third Queen of regent came to power, her name was Ma’at-ka-Ra Hatshepsut. Ma’at-ka-Ra means ‘Truth/Order/Balance is the Spirit/Double of Ra’, and Hatshepsut meaning ‘Foremost of Noble Women’. She wasn’t the only female ruler of Egypt, but is one of the best known. When her father, Thutmosis I, died, the throne was past down to his son, Thutmosis II, who was very sickly during his time of reign. Thutmosis II married his half-sister (they had different mothers), Hatshepsut. When he died, his son, from a wife other than Hatshepsut, held control of throne. Thutmosis III was just a child, so Hatshepsut became his regent (â€Å"one who governs a kingdom in the minority, absence, or disability of the sovereign†). Then during his second year as ruler(around 1490 BC), Hatshepsut took over all authority, and was now King, which was almost unheard of for women to be a Pharaoh. Her justification, besides t he fact that she was conducting all Thutmosis III’s affairs, because he was just a child, she also claimed that the god Amon-Ra had visited her mother while she was pregnet with her, thus making her a divine child. Hatshepsut did not wait for Tuthmosis III to become old enough to be Pharaoh. She kept her power for a long time, raging from 15 to 22 years, which is not definite, considering she was a woman and her stepson was becoming impatient. It was tough for her to keep her power. We also know that she had a daughter, Neferura, said to be the daughter of Thutmosis II, but may have been fathered by Semnut, which is unclear. Hatshepsut governed for 22 years. She was believed to be between 35-40 years old when she died. Queen Hatshepsut concentrated on arts of peace rather than arts of war, as in earlier Pharaohs. She had many great accomplishments during her reign. She had the support from a group of powerful men, chiefs and priests. She had the wisdom to surrou... Free Essays on Queen Hatshepsut Free Essays on Queen Hatshepsut Queen Hatshepsut During the 18th Dynasty the third Queen of regent came to power, her name was Ma’at-ka-Ra Hatshepsut. Ma’at-ka-Ra means ‘Truth/Order/Balance is the Spirit/Double of Ra’, and Hatshepsut meaning ‘Foremost of Noble Women’. She wasn’t the only female ruler of Egypt, but is one of the best known. When her father, Thutmosis I, died, the throne was past down to his son, Thutmosis II, who was very sickly during his time of reign. Thutmosis II married his half-sister (they had different mothers), Hatshepsut. When he died, his son, from a wife other than Hatshepsut, held control of throne. Thutmosis III was just a child, so Hatshepsut became his regent (â€Å"one who governs a kingdom in the minority, absence, or disability of the sovereign†). Then during his second year as ruler(around 1490 BC), Hatshepsut took over all authority, and was now King, which was almost unheard of for women to be a Pharaoh. Her justification, besides t he fact that she was conducting all Thutmosis III’s affairs, because he was just a child, she also claimed that the god Amon-Ra had visited her mother while she was pregnet with her, thus making her a divine child. Hatshepsut did not wait for Tuthmosis III to become old enough to be Pharaoh. She kept her power for a long time, raging from 15 to 22 years, which is not definite, considering she was a woman and her stepson was becoming impatient. It was tough for her to keep her power. We also know that she had a daughter, Neferura, said to be the daughter of Thutmosis II, but may have been fathered by Semnut, which is unclear. Hatshepsut governed for 22 years. She was believed to be between 35-40 years old when she died. Queen Hatshepsut concentrated on arts of peace rather than arts of war, as in earlier Pharaohs. She had many great accomplishments during her reign. She had the support from a group of powerful men, chiefs and priests. She had the wisdom to surrou...

Every AP Environmental Science Practice Test Available

Every AP Environmental Science Practice Test Available SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Are you preparing for the Environmental Science AP exam? One of the best ways to study for the test and figure out how well you’re doing is to take practice tests.Taking practice tests lets you see what kind of questions you’ll be asked on the exam, and they can help you figure out which subjects or types of questions you struggle with and need to review more.Finding practice tests can be time-consuming, and, unfortunately, not all practice tests are created equally. Luckily, we’re here to help. In this guide, I’ll provide links to all theAP Environmental Science practice tests available, point out which ones are the highest quality, and explain how you should be using them. Official AP Environmental Science Practice Exams Official practice materials, those developed by the College Board, are the best to use when preparing for an AP exam.This is because, since the practice materials are created by the same organization that develops the real AP test, you can be sure they’ll accurately represent the test and give you the best idea of what the real AP exam will cover. Unfortunately, the College Board doesn’t often like to release a ton of practice material, particularly multiple-choice questions (because they often reuse these for multiple exams). However, there are still official review materialsyou can use which I've separated into three categories. Complete Exams The College Board has released one completeAP Environmental Science practice test, from 1998. Complete 1998 AP Environmental Science exam This test is not super recent, but becauseAP Enviro hasn’t undergone any significant changes since then, it’s still useful and will give you a great idea of what the real exam will be like. This test also contains answers to all the questions, as well as scoring guidelines and sample responses for the free-response questions. Be aware though that, although the questions are still similar, grading guidelines have changed. As a result, the College Board has released a document with updated scoring guidelines for the free-response questions so you can get a more accurate idea of how questions are scored and what your rough score on the exam would be. Multiple-Choice Questions Besides the single complete released practice test, the only place to find official multiple-choice questions for AP Environmental Science is in the Course Description for the class. Beginning on page 12 of the document, you’ll find 17 multiple-choice questions. While this isn’t anywhere close to what you’ll see on the real exam (the actual AP test will have 100 questions), it’ll give you an idea of the topics the exam will cover and how questions will be worded. Free-Response Questions Luckily, there are tons of official free-response questions available for you to study and practice with. The College Board has released previous free-response questions from 1999-2017. Free-response questions 1999-2017 With four free-response questions included on the test each year, that means you have access to 68 official free-response questions! These questions each include scoring guidelines and sample responses so you can get an idea of what the graders were looking for. Possible Other Source: Your Teacher Your AP Environmental Science teacher may also have access to some additional official practice questions that you can use. Teachers are sometimes able to purchase official practice questions from the College Board which students don’t have access to. Now, your teacher may have chosen not to do this, or they may be saving those questions for class exams, but if you’re looking for more official practice materials, you may want to take a chance and ask them. Official practice tests won't come with a seal, but you can be sure they're the highest-qualitypracticematerials out there. Free Unofficial AP Environmental Science Practice Tests You have to be a bit warier when using unofficial practice materials because some of them don’t do a very good job of replicating what topics the AP test covers or how they word their questions. However, there are many that can still be very helpful. For each of the resources below, I’ll explain what material they include and how closely it matches the real AP Environmental Science exam. Barron’s Barron’s has created a high-quality, complete practice exam (with 100 multiple-choice and four free-response questions, just like the actual AP test). This test does a good job of replicating actual AP questions, and it also includes in-depth answer explanations for each question, including sample responses for free-response questions. You can take the test in timed or untimed mode.This is a particularly helpful resource that you should use wisely. (See below for how you should be using this and other resources.) Varsity Tutors Varsity Tutors has a complete multiple-choice section (100 questions). The test is timed and automatically graded for you. While it doesn’t include free-response questions, themultiple-choice questions are similar to those you’ll see on the AP exam.You can combine these questions with a set of official free-response questions and made a complete practice test. If you’d like to practice a specific topic, they also have 148 practice quizzes of varying difficulty for AP Environmental Science, however; the topics are broken down into such specific categories that many quizzes have only 1-2 questions, which can make it tedious to move from one very short quiz to the next.The quizzes can be helpful for more focused studying, but, in general, the complete diagnostic test is the best resource from this site. McGraw-Hill McGraw-Hill offers a 25-question AP Environmental Science practice quiz. This is shorter than many other practice questions and, additionally, the quiz is also untimed. However, the questions are generally well-written, so it’s still a good resource to use. Environmental Science Textbook Quizzes This site includes 20-question quizzes for each of the 25 chapters of the Environmental Science textbook chapters. To select a quiz, choose a chapter from the left-hand side of the page, then choose â€Å"Practice Quiz† on the new page.These quizzes are fairly surface-level, but they can help you study specific topics or prepare for in-class exams, even if you don’t use Environmental Science as your textbook.One frustrating thing is that you’ll have to click on each chapter individually to see what areasit covers if you’re looking to study a particular topic. ProProfs This is an -question multiple-choice quiz. This is quite a short quiz and, strangely, it provides definitions for some keywords you should already know, but it might be helpful if you want a quick study session. High School Test Prep This quiz contains 15 multiple-choice questions. Like ProProfs, its questions are more basic than the majority of those on the actual AP exam will be, but you still may find it useful to try out. Paid Unofficial AP Environmental Science Practice Tests These next resources will cost you a bit of money to use. Shmoop For people who pay its subscription free, Shmoop offers three full-length AP Environmental Science exams as well as a diagnostic test.Paying Shmoop’s fee of $24.68 a month gets you access to these practice tests as well as practice material for a wide variety of other tests forthe ACT, SAT, and other AP exams. Albert Albert has multiple-choice quizzes for each of the seven main ideas of the course. The quizzes are categorized by difficulty, are not timed, and will immediately let you know if you have answered correctly.While some of the questions are free (you'll need to set up an account), you won’t be able to see what the correct answer is if you answered incorrectly or answer any hard-level difficulty questions unless you pay $25 for full access. Full access gives you access to over 200 multiple-choice questions. As a whole, I found these questions to be more basic than actual AP questions.They focused primarily on definitions and basic factsand didn’t emphasize making connections between different topics as much as the real exam does. Review Books Another place to find practice tests is in AP Environmental Science Review books. Most review books contain 1-2 practice tests. These exams can vary in terms of quality, but, in general, Princeton Review and Barron’s are pretty safe bets when it comes to quality. Before you purchase a review book, you should read reviews online or ask students who have previously used the book how well they felt it prepared them for the exam. How to Use AP Environmental Science Practice Tests Now that you know where to find all those practice tests, how should you use them? Taking random tests haphazardly won’t improve your score much, if at all, so follow these guidelines to know which practice materials you should usewhen. First Semester First semester, you’re still learning most of the content you need to know for the exam, so taking a full-length practice exam won’t be very helpful because your score will likely be low since you haven’t covered certain topics yet. During this semester, focus on taking official free-response questions (you can look through them to find ones that focus on information you’ve already covered) and unofficial quizzes that focus on specific content areas (the Environmental Science and Albert quizzes are good places to start). Be sure to start your studying early (by the middle of first semester) and regularly review throughout the year. Doing regular review will help you stay on top of the material, be prepared for class exams, and make reviewing for the final AP test much less overwhelming in the spring.You may also want to consider buying a review book this semester; many of them have practice questions after each chapter so you can see how well you’ve learned the material. Second Semester Second semester is when you should begin really focusing on preparing for the AP exam.At this point, you should have learned the majority of information you need to know for the exam, so you can begin taking full-length practice tests. I recommended beginning with the Barron’s practice test. Take this test under realistic testing conditions (timed and in a quiet room). After you’ve completed it, review how well you did (follow their guidelines for grading your free-response questions). Your score on this test will help you know how well you’re doing and how much studying you need in order to meet your target score. If you’re close to the score you want, you may only need to do light review, but if you’re two points away or more, you’ll likely have to put in some significant time to meet your goal. After taking and scoring your first full-length practice test, look to see where you got questions wrong. The primary reason for taking practice tests is to find where your weaknesses are and then improve in those areas. Don’t just immediately move on to your next practice test, spend time strengthening areas you need to improve on. Perhaps you need to learn how to complete your essays faster, or you realized you really don’t know anything about the nitrogen cycle. Get these gaps taken care of before you take another practice test, otherwise; you won’t see your scores improve.After you feel you’ve reviewed sufficiently, take another practice exam, either the official released test or Varsity Tutors’ multiple-choice section with official free-response questions added to it. Here’s a brief recap of the process you should be following: Take and score your first practice exam (4 hours) Evaluate your mistakes (1.5 hours) Improve your weak areas by doing focused content study and completing practice problems (2.5 hours) Take and score a second practice exam (4 hours) Repeat the steps above as often as you need to in order to make sure you’ve eliminated all your weaknesses for the AP exam and are ready when it comes time to test day. Conclusion AP Environmental Science has the lowest average AP score of any exam. If you want to beat the odds, taking practice tests is one of the best ways to improve your chances of earning a high score.While official practice materials give you the most accurate idea of what will be on the real AP exam, there are high-quality unofficial practice tests out there as well. During your first semester in the class, you should use practice tests to get yourself familiar with the free-response questions and solidify your knowledge of specific topic areas.Second semester is when you can begin taking full-length practice exams toget an idea of how well you’re doing and where you need to improve. What's Next? The free-response sectionistypically the hardest part of the AP Enviro exam. Check outthis guide to learn more about what it'llcover and how to get a high score. Need help starting or continuing your review for AP Enviro? We have acomplete guide to reviewing for the AP Environmental Science exam that'll walk you through each step you need to follow. Wondering which other AP classes you should be taking? Learn how to plan out your futureAP classesby reading this guide. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

128 Words with Senses That Started Out as Underworld Slang

128 Words with Senses That Started Out as Underworld Slang 128 Words with Senses That Started Out as Underworld Slang 128 Words with Senses That Started Out as Underworld Slang By Mark Nichol The slang senses of many words we use in conversation and in informal writing originated in jargon employed by criminals, often coined to disguise the activities they were describing when they spoke among one another. This post lists and defines a number of those words. action: bet, or betting, or criminal activity aggro: aggressive behavior angle: approach, or plan bananas: crazy (originally, â€Å"sexually perverted†) beat: escape, avoid beef: quarrel blow: leave boob: stupid person boost: steal bought: bribed break it up: stop argument or fight broad: woman buddy: man (as in addressing a person the speaker does not know) bum’s rush: act of being forcibly removed bump/bump off: kill bunk: nonsense buy: bribe case: check the site of a potential robbery chisel: cheat clam up: stop talking, or refuse to talk, to avoid giving information con: scheme to trick someone into relinquishing money con man: person who steals through trickery cop/copper: police officer or private detective crew: group of rank-and-file criminals subordinate to a leader; by extension, a group of people with whom one associates crumb: worthless person; originally, a noncriminal deep-six: bury dive: low-quality establishment, such as a dark, dingy bar doll: attractive woman dope: drugs, or information dough: money dump: see dive Feds: federal law-enforcement personnel fence: trade stolen items, or one who does so finger: identify fix: situation in which law-enforcement personnel have been bribed to overlook criminal activity fruit: homosexual (derogatory) fuzz: police glom: steal (by extension, â€Å"grab†) go straight: cease criminal activity goofy: crazy (by extension, â€Å"silly†) goon: low-level criminal graft: see con grand: thousand (dollars) grease: see buy grill: interrogate grifter: see â€Å"con man† haywire: mentally unbalanced heat: attention from law-enforcement personnel, or a gun (by extension, â€Å"psychological pressure†) heel: an incompetent criminal (by extension, â€Å"a villain or someone who takes on a villainous persona or role,† as in professional wrestling) hit: planned murder (by extension, â€Å"an attack on someone’s reputation†) hood(lum): see goon horn: telephone hot: stolen hype: cheat by short-changing, or hypodermic needle jam: trouble, or a troublesome situation jaw: talk joe: coffee joint: place junkie: drug user keister: buttocks, or a safe kisser: mouth knock off: see bump/â€Å"bump off† knock over: rob large: see grand lay low: remain out of sight so as to avoid attention after committing a crime legit: pertaining to legal business activities lit: drunk loan shark: one who loans money at high rates of interest looker: see doll lug: stupid person (by extension, â€Å"clumsy person†- often used affectionately and jocularly) mark: person targeted to be a victim of criminal activity marker: IOU, note acknowledging a debt mitt: hand muscle: force, or intimidate, or someone who forces or intimidates mug: face nail: capture nick: steal nix: no, or say no to something on the carpet: situation in which a criminal is called on the carpet, or disciplined, by a leader (by extension, pertains to any similar event) on the lam: moving secretly to avoid arrest after committing a crime on the spot: targeted for assassination (by extension, pertaining to being held accountable for a failure or mistake) packing heat: armed with a gun patsy: person framed for a crime (by extension, â€Å"fool†) paw: hand piece: share of the proceeds from criminal activity (see action), or a gun pig: police officer pinch: arrest pop: see bump/â€Å"bump off† punk: see goon (originally, a submissive homosexual) put the screws on: see grill queer: counterfeit rap: criminal charge rat: give information about associates’ criminal activities to law-enforcement personnel, or someone who does so ringer: fake rub out: see bump/â€Å"bump off† rube: easy victim sap: stupid person score: succeed in obtaining stolen money or goods scram: see blow scratch: money sing: see rat (verb) skip out: leave without paying skirt: woman slug: punch, or knock unconscious, or a bullet snatch: kidnap sock: punch spill: see rat (verb), or talk (verb) square: honest stiff: corpse sting: see con (by extension, â€Å"a law-enforcement operation to prompt and observe criminal behavior†) stir: jail stir-crazy: mentally disturbed because of incarceration stool pigeon/stoolie: see rat (noun) straighten out: resolve a dispute string along: deceive sucker: see rube swag: stolen goods (by extension, â€Å"gifts offered to promote through publicity†) tag: designation (by extension, â€Å"graffiti signature†) tail: track a criminal’s activities, or a law-enforcement official who does so take: share of profits from criminal activity take a powder: leave take (someone) for a ride: see bump/â€Å"bump off† take the fall: be targeted for blame for a crime tighten the screws: pressure trap: see kisser two bits: twenty-five cents vendetta: vow of vengeance (by extension, â€Å"a passionate, sustained effort to avenge oneself or one’s family or group†) yap: see kisser Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:4 Types of Gerunds and Gerund PhrasesHow to Pronounce Mobile15 Idioms for Periods of Time

Child sexual abuse is a form of harm outlined in Working Together to Essay

Child sexual abuse is a form of harm outlined in Working Together to Safeguard Children (2006). Having considered the literature related to this form of harm, a - Essay Example In the past there was a sense of shame and guilt on the child, where they were made to feel that the abuse was their own fault and that talking to anyone about the abuse they were suffering would bring shame on their families. Despite this new openness towards discussing abuse in the family the social workers are constantly facing difficulties in being able to assist those in need. Firstly the powers they are given to intervene are very limited and orders to have the child removed from the family home are only issued under the most extreme of circumstances. A further area that causes difficulties comes with having to deal with ethnic minority families. Within these families the children are often encouraged to not discuss the things that are happening in their homes. There are also cultural issues that can affect the way the child deals with the abuse they are suffering. Within some ethnic families sexual abuse of the child is in some ways regarding as normal. Some ethnic communities might regard the father of the child involving in sexual activity with the child as normal within their community. In order to protect children from abuse several pieces of legislation have been implemented. Child abuse first came under the spotlight in 1889 when the children’s charter was passed1. The aim of this was to prevent the cruelty of children by allowing the state to intervene in relationships between parents and children. Under the charter the police had the power to arrest anyone believed to be ill treating a child or to enter the home of a child they believed to be in danger. The Children’s Act 1908 introduced in Ireland made further changes towards protecting children and created juvenile courts and the registration of foster parents. Irish law went one stage further at this point in time by introducing the Punishment of Incest Act2. Prior to the inclusion of this Act the church were responsible for punishing those who committed incest. Despite legislation

Global political economy Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Global political economy - Research Proposal Example Things were made worse by the bitter realities of the Post Cold War era which had a negative perspective to conflict resolutions and peacemaking. On another level this "Big Brother" impetus can be labelled as being mainly based upon the political agenda of "democratisation and globalisation" of the world through multilateral agenda. The thesis concludes that this impetus is not based mainly upon the "fear of another communist takeover" which is still a Western Nightmare but that there is a more profound political and economic agenda underlying the efforts of the UK and the US to re-establish themselves at the heart of multi-lateral action through international agencies. This dissertation will rely heavily on Documentation review and a critical analysis of the Post cold war propaganda through the electronic and print media. Peer reviewed journals and political views will be searched through the Athens Server, The EBSCO host and the Proquest Portal. However the necessity for interviews is still tentative based upon the suitable search for an intellectual who will add to my political research and insight. This dissertation explores the role of the state the modern state in the era of globalisation and the relevant developmental consequences of this within the global political economy. ... The main concept is to discusses the changing conceptions of the role of the state,a trend especially dominant in the nineties particularly in relation to the institutions like IMF and the World Bank (hereafter referred to as the Bretton Wood institutions or BWI's) Also discussed in the paper will be the role of Market-Friendly Policies (MFP's)in de-emphasizing the role the State in the interests of promoting long term and efficient economic development. MFP's typically relate to low rates of inflation ,prudent government spending, high rates of investment and a healthy trend of market liberalisation. The Post World War II approach of the BWI's was based upon a much smaller role for the state following the era of the large-scale globalisation (so characteristic of the post cold war years) This was largely a response to the state controlled economy' of the USSR which turned out to be an economic and political disaster. The post world war agenda of the US and UK based BWI's was to disc ourage world political economies from any interference in the Economic system, and this new policy was nicknamed as the "Washington Consensus," a term coined by John Williamson, who defined his own set of reforms he believed that the policymakers in Washington should propose for Latin America, which included trade liberalization and the privatization of inward foreign Direct Investment(FDI) .The "Washington consensus" was used to describe the commonly shared goals /themes within the policy packages endorsed by Washington-based institutions at the time, such as the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and U.S. Treasury Department. The Washington Consensus was later dubbed as the "neoliberal" agenda and received scathing criticism ,in that it that it

Banking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Banking - Essay Example ing overtaken by Dutch giant ING for a measly sum of  £1, and exposing the risky environment in which equity corporations scale catastrophic limits in order to make a quick profit. At the heart of the devastating scam was a person with a huge appetite for risk-taking but hardly any accountability towards the bank, Nick Leeson. Overnight, the unscrupulous futures’ trader from London who was previously the poster boy for Barings’ high-growth earnings from Singapore’s premium monetary exchange, SIMEX (In 1993, he documented nearly 10% of the bank’s profits in futures’ trading), took special advantage of the bank’s vulnerability in not being able to hedge the risks that come with dealing in a concern as sensitive as this. This is what happened. Nick Leeson’s job as Chief Trader at SIMEX was to buy and sell the simplest kind of derivatives pegged to the Nikkei-225 stock exchange of Japan. This job entails the methodology of a skilled bookie who basically, bets on what people are likely to bet on in the future course. Despite booking profits on various occasions, some of Leeson’s predictions proved incorrect. The idea to fool the bank management in covering up details of unsuccessful tradings came from devising an unaudited bank account, called error account 88888, to fix  £20,000 goofed up by an inexperienced team member, which was later to serve as Leeson’s personal getaway in covering up failed investment strategies. Even as the entire audit team of Barings’ was kept in dark about what was the tip of the iceberg then, Leeson managed to document account losses which were initially at  £2 million in 1992 to an astronomical figure of  £208 million by 1994. The final blow

Personality & Perceptions Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Personality & Perceptions - Assignment Example I think that there approach to the consumer is effective because of the extra services they offer. It is among the oldest companies, established in USA and situated worldwide. Proctor and Gamble offers packaged products to consumers, such as Pampers, Crest, and Tide that are exceptionally popular (Gilbertson & Lehman & Passalacqua, 2008). The company offers a service encounter to prospective procurers through the internet to publicize their products and widen their marketability. The company also guarantees that her workers are well edified, and have the indispensable skills that are required to serve the customers well. I think that their approach to the consumer is effective, since they consider the welfare of the customer. It is a company situated in America dealing with electronic devices such as computer hardware. The goods it offers to consumer include PCs, TV, and radio systems. The other services they offer to consumers are the hardware warranty support, and customer care services. Dell offers a service encounter to a consumer through engaging with consumers even after the warranty period is over, and offering financial assistance. It has established devoted customer communication ability; hence, they can know their views. I think that their approach to the consumer is effectual owing to their personal approach to the

Team Training Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Team Training Plan - Essay Example The collaboration of the team members is essential in order to get the job tasks of the team done. In order to enhance the leadership skills of all the team members a position called team leader will be generated. The team leader position serves as a training exercise for the leader in order to make apply critical thinking skills and leadership. The mechanism that will ensure everyone gets a chance to be team leader is a rotating mechanism. Each week our team will have a different team leader. The collaboration between team members will ensure that everyone participates in the team project. Collaboration involves recognition that something is wrong and needs attention immediately through problem solving (Schermerhorn & Hunt & Osborn, 2003). The utilization of collaboration is considered in organizational management as a win-win proposition. Whenever a team player has any concern about the job to be completed he will have the support of the other team members. Another tool that will b e used to enhance the collaboration of the team is creating different position that provide specific task to the completed by the player. Three additional positions that our team will have along with team leader are editor, researcher, and administrative assistant. Creating a structure in our team will enhance the functionality of the work to be performed. A training exercise that will be used by the team to gather ideas simultaneously is brainstorming sessions. Collaboration among the team member is important in order for the brainstorming session to have positive effects and greater results. A second important element of the action plan of the team is communication. Communication is essential in order for people in organization to function in an effective manner. Managers today must have excellent communication skills in order to motivate their employees. As mention earlier a tool that

Comparison Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Comparison - Essay Example Winning could be determined using various standards determined by the respective judges. Examples of these sports, which would be featured in this paper as it seeks to compare and contrast them from various aspects, include football and baseball. Football refers to sports involving ball kicking with the aim of scoring a goal. The most common form of football, association football, just referred to as football originated from Romans and Ancient Greeks. There would be opposing teams comprising of between 11 and 18 players with a maximum of 11 players being in the field at any playing moment. The points in the game would be earned by scoring goals by moving the football towards the opposite team’s side of the field with the aim of having the ball enter between the two goal posts. The opponents would be defending the goal line to make sure that the ball does not cross it with goalkeepers being the only players with the right of touching the ball in preventing a score. Several code s such as offside, free kick and being carded would be determined by the set rules and regulations to govern the game. The winner would be determined by the team with the highest number of goals. Various clubs have existed since the 18th Century involved in competitively playing football. The official international football governing body, FIFA has its headquarters in Zurich with six associated regional confederations. Baseball sports involves two teams each of nine players aiming as scoring runs through hitting a thrown ball using a bat a hitting four bases at the corners of the diamond, usually 90 foot in size. The batting team players hit in turns against the pitcher of the opponents, the fielding team which stops them from scoring runs. With the recording of three outs from the fielding team, the teams switch between fielding and batting. The winner would be determined by the number of runs such that the team with the most runs wins. Baseball and football have attracted huge fan s in countries with these sports such as the US. Both football and baseball are ball games, despite the difference in the sizes and shapes of the balls. Players would throw the ball and run after it. To win in either of these sports, teamwork plays a crucial role in ensuring that the highest number of scores has been recorded. This means that teammates have to co-operate with each other, following the strategies given by their coaches for a win to be recorded. Just as there would be substitute players and goalkeepers in football, baseball would also have substitute catchers, infielders and outfielders. Both sports have rules and regulations that govern the way the players should conduct themselves and the determination of the winner. The players have the technical team that holds the decision of who to feature in the starting line-up, who to substitute and coaching on the strategies to use so as to win. Football teams and baseball teams have owners and even at times share owners bet ween football and baseball clubs. For example, while having a shareholding in Arsenal Football Club, Stan Kroenke also owned the St. Louis Rams (NFL). Nonetheless, these two sports have distinctive features. First, in football, players would always attack the opposite team to prevent them from moving forward towards the goal. But in baseball, this would be a rare observation. While goals would be scored in football as the determinant of the winner, runs would be scored

Team Training Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Team Training Plan - Essay Example The collaboration of the team members is essential in order to get the job tasks of the team done. In order to enhance the leadership skills of all the team members a position called team leader will be generated. The team leader position serves as a training exercise for the leader in order to make apply critical thinking skills and leadership. The mechanism that will ensure everyone gets a chance to be team leader is a rotating mechanism. Each week our team will have a different team leader. The collaboration between team members will ensure that everyone participates in the team project. Collaboration involves recognition that something is wrong and needs attention immediately through problem solving (Schermerhorn & Hunt & Osborn, 2003). The utilization of collaboration is considered in organizational management as a win-win proposition. Whenever a team player has any concern about the job to be completed he will have the support of the other team members. Another tool that will b e used to enhance the collaboration of the team is creating different position that provide specific task to the completed by the player. Three additional positions that our team will have along with team leader are editor, researcher, and administrative assistant. Creating a structure in our team will enhance the functionality of the work to be performed. A training exercise that will be used by the team to gather ideas simultaneously is brainstorming sessions. Collaboration among the team member is important in order for the brainstorming session to have positive effects and greater results. A second important element of the action plan of the team is communication. Communication is essential in order for people in organization to function in an effective manner. Managers today must have excellent communication skills in order to motivate their employees. As mention earlier a tool that

Treasury Yield Curve Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Treasury Yield Curve - Research Paper Example The trailing 12-month U.S. speculative-grade corporate default rate tumbled to 1.7 percent a month ago, the most minimal smallest since March 2008, as per Standard & Poors. The rate, which declined from 2.1 percent in December, will most likely build through the following few months, said Diane Vazza, the leader of S&P's worldwide altered wage research, in an announcement from the credit rating agency why. There were no appraised what does this mean corporate U.S. high-yield defaults in January, making it the sixth month in 14 years without a default. There were 43 U.S. speculative evaluation defaults in the majority of we have full year data 2013 and 47 in 2012, New York-based S&P said.(Summers)you need footnotesThe U.S. default ratio what is the default ratio? declined to 5.2 percent in January from 5.3 percent in the early part of February, over its low since the money related emergency of 5.1 percent in May 2013 what does this mean, S&P said. Distressed bonds are those with yield s no less than 10 rate focuses more than comparable development Treasuries.High-yield, high-risk securities are appraised less than BBB-at S&P and beneath Baa3 by Moody's Investors Service no definitions.Since 2008, the movements of the Federal Reserve have put the U.S. on a way to economic disappointment. To stem the economic slide of the U.S. lodging crumple what is this that initially surfaced in 2005, the Federal Reserve divulged three diverse quantitative maneuvering (QE) exertions.

Vodka In An Absolut World

Vodka In An Absolut World Every bottle of Absolut Vodka is produced in Ahus, in southern Sweden where the wheat that gives Absolut Vodka its smooth grain character grows. Absolut Vodka is produced from winter wheat, a hardy wheat grain that centuries of experience have shown to produce superior vodka. Absolut Vodka uses a process called continuous distillation, introduced in Sweden in 1879 by The Vodka King Lars Olsson Smith (Pernod Ricard, 2009). The water it uses comes from our own deep well. Producing its vodka in one location using local raw materials gives VS Absolut Spirits complete control of all stages of production and ensures that every drop meets the companys high quality standard. Unlike other vodkas, the Absolut Vodka flavors are made by blending the vodka with only natural flavors and no sugar is added. In fact, Absolut is as pure as vodka can be. Still, that purity has a certain taste; rich, full-bodied and complex, yet smooth and mellow with a distinct character of grain, followed by a hint of dried fruit (2009). Absolut Vodka currently comprises its products within many flavors, such as vanilia, raspberri, apeach, ruby red, pears, and mango. All Absolut Vodka products can also be enjoyed neat or mixed in drinks. In addition, the shape of the Absolut Vodka bottle has made it one of the worlds most iconic products reinforces the brands strong design heritage. The bottle shape of the Absolut Vodka bottle has made it one of the worlds most iconic products reinforces the brands strong design heritage. It looked elegant, different, simple and very Swedish, and was decided that there should be no label not to hide the crystal clear liquid. Blue was decided upon as the most visible and elegant color for the Absolut Vodka logo. The flavor comes in a transparent bottle in order to show how pure and clear its vodka is. The brand values of Absolut are defined as Clarity, Simplicity and Perfection. All three are there, visible on the bottle. Absolut Vodka currently comprises the following products within the same quality framework: Year Product 1979 Absolut Vodka 1986 Absolut Pepper 1988 Absolut Citron 1992 Absolut Kurant 1999 Absolut Mandrin 2003 Absolut Vanilla 2004 Absolut Raspberri 2005 Absolut Apeach 2006 Absolut Ruby Red 2007 Absolut Pears, Absolut 100, Absolut Mango 2008 Absolut Los Angeles 2009 Absolut Boston 2010 Absolut Berri Acai, Absolut Brooklyn, 2011 Absolut Wild Tea, Absolut San Francisco Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolut_Vodka Creativity is what drives Absolut brand forward. That applies not only to the marketing and design, but also to the product development. When launching a flavour, the Absolut Company wants to make room for new cocktail experiences. 3. Brand Positioning Absolut Vodka is positioned as premium brand in the minds of the target consumers. The price of the product is high. Absolut is one of the expensive brands among the leading brands in the U.S. as illustrated in Exhibit 4. The company also tried to feature the product as a high end product. For example, Absolut had an identity campaign termed Smart, showy, sassy, sophisticated and stylish. By this kind of brand personality statement, the brand was associated with the fashion conscious, rich, desperate and dynamic lifestyle-namely the Absolut Lifestyle. Absolut entered Glamour world and tried to relate the brand with fashion world. In the Lifestyle magazines, the glimpse of a trendy tanned fashionable girl posing and wearing Absolut Vodka marked attire became widely visible. The brand personality of Absolut was communicated successfully with the help of a series of aesthetically designed advertisement campaigns both in print and in electronic media. The word Absolut was punned in conjunction with creative images of the bottle and with strong positive feeling awakening words or phrases. Absolut went for simple, but sophisticated ads a classy picture of the bottle accompanied by a witty caption (Facts Abusolut Ads, 2009). Those advertisements have not only broken advertising records year after year but also have captured the eyeball alongside the imagination of the general public. The advertisement campaigns were nice to look at, easy to understand yet had the spark of intelligence and smartness. The modes featuring in the advertisement had a tanned skin most of the times thus the brand tried to relate itself with a sense of sunny, urban and dynamic lifestyle. The brand was more inclined to lay emphasis on girls. Because vodka is an odorless drink and do esnt give any quirky sensation while drinking, this was assumed that girls would love this kind of product features. Absolut Vodka soon became news. The latest ads often started getting journalistic coverage in magazines and on TV. Everybody talked about Absolut campaigns be it the Absolut Manhattan ad portraying an aerial view of New Yorks Central Park in the shape of an Absolut Vodka bottle or 26 Russian painters creating their own most personal impressions of the bottle. Over the years Absolut has commissioned not only over 300 painters, but also leading artists in all fields like sculptors, glass designers, musicians and fashion designers. The main strategy of the brand was to avoid relating the product with only one particular lifestyle and the ads were to have a timeless but contemporary theme. Absolut Vodka can be proud of its ads in crossing the line between advertising and art using different medians such as paintings, limited edition bottles, shirts, and sculpture (Brand Spotlight: Absolut Vodka, 2010). Many famous artists worked for the company, including Andy Warhol and Keith Harris. TBWAs branding campaign for Absolut Vodka was listed as one of the top ten campaigns of the last century by Advertising Age and the campaign won many awards including an Effie and Kelly awards which are probably the most prestigious awards in the advertising industry (2010). Those highly accepted and widely popular advertisements campaigns could successfully del iver the main brand positioning ideas of Absolut Vodka, i.e. premium product, high quality and association with art and a good life. 4. Competitors and their Campaigns In addition to Absolut Vodka, there are over other 30 vodka brands in the U.S. market as shown in Exhibit 2. Those brands are original from nine countries such as Belgium, Britain, Denmark, France, Finland, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia (Latvia and Estonia), and Sweden. Apart from American made brands existing in the market such as Popov, Gordon, etc. there was the emergence of new American made vodka brands in the past several year such as Skyy, a lovely San Francisco spirit, the newly arrived Teton Glacier, unique vodka made in Idaho, etc (Department of Liquor Control, 2009). In 2007, there were seven leading vodka brand in the U.S. market including Smirnoff, Absolut, Grey Goose, Skyy, Stolichnaya, Ketel One, and Svedka respectively as shown in Exhibit 3. These brands are made in different countries. However, the American made brand like Smirnoff was ranked the number one U.S. market share in 2007, followed by Absolut Vokda. A brief profile of five leading brands that were Absoluts competitors and their campaigns in 2007 will be discussed in next session. 4.1 Smirnoff Smirnoff is the #1 selling vodka in the U.S and the world. It had a 17.2% share in 2007. It is originally produced in Russia, the recipe found its way to America in the early 1900s. Smirnoff is one of alcohol brands of Diageo (Dee-AH-Gee-O), the worlds leading premium drinks business with an outstanding collection of beverage alcohol brands across spirits, wines, and beer categories. These brands include Johnnie Walker, Guinness, Smirnoff, JB, Baileys, Cuervo, Tanqueray, Captain Morgan, Crown Royal, Beaulieu Vineyard and Sterling Vineyards wines. In November, 2006, Smirnoff renewed its alliance with James Bond in the film Casino Royale. The alliance involved a multi-million dollar media campaign, which was activated in the U.S. and around the world. The campaign included a broadcast advertising campaign; on- and off-premise promotions and sweepstakes; a global public relations campaign; and a fully interactive Casino Royale microsite (Zydel, 2006). Smirnoff had the close partnership with Bond in 1962à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ²s Dr. No. In a scene when the villain hands Sean Connery a Martini, shaken not stirred made with Smirnoff Vodka. This monumental moment in film made some impact on the way martini drinkers made their cocktails, shifting from the traditional gin to a vodka-based drink and popularizing the vodka martini the world over (2006). Exhibit 5 shows a cross-promotional ad for James Bond Casino Royale and Smirnoff Vodka and some scenes in James Bonds movie in 1962s. In August, 2007, Smirnoff launched its largest ever marketing campaign ( £5M) which was named Sea to promote the brand. It centers around a 60-second commercial created by JWT, which premiered on 17 August 2007 in showings of The Bourne Ultimatum at selected cinemas across the United Kingdom. There were various tie-ins launched, including the Smirnoff Purifier, an online game, point of sale Smirnoff purity kits, and a tour of a custom-built Smirnoff Purification Installation used to make drinkable samples of water taken from saline or otherwise undrinkable water at selected sites (Sea: Advertisement, 2010). 4.2 Grey Goose Grey Goose was imported to the United States by the Sidney Frank Importing Company which is located in New Rochelle New York. In 1997, the brand became national prominence when it was awarded substantially for its quality in the U.S. In 2004, Sidney Frank then sold the right of manufacturing to Bacardi. Grey Goose was the first prominent French vodka but has seen some competition from Nuage, Ciroc and Idol which are now on the market. Each of these vodka brands are premium brands sold in North America (Grey Goose Vodka, 2007). In 2007, it held a 6.3% share of the U.S. Market. In 2007, claiming itself to be the Worlds Best Tasting Vodka, Grey Goose launched its new Discerning Taste advertising campaign which was produced by New York-based @radical.media. The campaign was the brands first major advertising effort since its acquisition by Bacardi Limited in 2004. It consisted of four different print advertisements and three broadcast spots. Creative elements of the campaign capture particular moments, people, places, and events in the lives of Grey Goose consumers revealing their unyielding lifestyle of discerning taste. The theme of the advertising platform supports the brands commitment to represent more than just a spirit, but a luxurious lifestyle brand. The print composites reveals the back stories of Grey Goose drinkers by portraying images ranging from playing golf to a spontaneous late night dinner with friends. These snapshot moments suggest that a Grey Goose drinkers inherent eye for detail leads them to seek refined subtleties in more than just th eir vodka but in all aspects of life (Grey Goose Vodka 2007 Advertising Campaign, 2007). The advertising campaign commenced in conjunction with the U.S. Open Tennis Championships in which Grey Goose was the Proud Promotional Partner of the tournament. The advertisements surrounded broadcast coverage on the USA Network and appeared on target outlets such as the Golf Channel, ESPN, and HD Networks and in print outlets such as BlackBook, Departures, GQ, Golf Digest, Travel + Leisure, Vanity Fair and Wine Spectator (Grey Goose Vodka 2007 Advertising Campaign, 2007). 4.3 SKYY SKYY is one of the fastest growing spirits globally and the leading domestic super premium vodka in the United States (Baker Hearn, 2005). The brand was launched in 1992 by Skyy Spirits, LLC who is the US-based wholly owned subsidiary of Gruppo Campari (Milan: CPR.MI) and the definitive marketer and distributor of super-premium and luxury spirits brands in North America. It had 4.6% U.S. share. Skyy vodkas highest quality and ultimate smoothness are perceived by consumers due to the state-of-the-art process of quadruple distillation and triple filtration (2005). According to the good design of its distinctive cobalt blue bottle and award-winning marketing communications, SKYY is synonymous with quality, sophistication, and style (2005). SKYY Vodka let the worlds most accomplished and controversial photographers interpret the brands sexy image in bold and daring fashion (Press Release: Skyy Spirits Unveils Sexiest Ad Campaign in Skyy  ® Vodka History, 2010). In 2007, SKYY looked to acclaimed photographer and independent filmmaker David LaChapelle to shoot the powerful, tantalizing images that captured the essence of cocktail glamour and the jet set lifestyle which would constitute its third campaign. The national campaign was named Cocktail Moments and was available for national outdoor, print, and online. Exhibit 6 shows some ads for this campaign. The creative was launched outdoors beginning January 2007 in LA, Chicago, Miami and San Francisco (2010). Magazine insertions start in February of 2007 in men and womens entertainment and lifestyle publications, including ESPN, InStyle, US Weekly and People, as well as on www.SKYY.com. The ads also ran as banner ads on selected websites including ESPN.com, Evite.com, an d Gay.com, starting in mid-February. Due to its bold, sexy imagery, SKYYs ads have become collectible pieces of artwork (2010). 4.4 Stolichnaya Stolichnaya has its origins in the Moscow State Wine Warehouse No. 1 which was opened in 1901 by the authorities to ensure higher quality vodka production (Stolichnaya, 2010). It was the first vodka to be introduced and imported into the USA, in 1972. Stolichnaya was at this time a good choice to the USA-produced vodka brands as it tasted milder due to a more refined distilling process (2010). However, Stolichnayas popularity has been dependent on the political climate between the U.S. and the former USSR. In 2005, Stolichnaya was included in the Pernod Ricard portfolio. Pierre Pringuet, Managing Director of Pernod Ricard said We needed a major vodka to boost and balance our product range. Stolichnaya signalled our first step in the vodka market and we are proud of our achievements in developing this fine brand. But with ABSOLUT, we have now made a giant leap forward! (Pernod Ricard, 2008). Since 2005, sales of Stolichnaya grew up from 2.1 million to 3.4 million cases and it had a 4.2% share. In 2007, the brand received several awards including Best New Product in the U.S. and Best New Event in the UK. Additionally, its benchmark Ultra Premium Stolichnaya Elit also got the highest rating by the U.S. Beverage Tasting Institute (2008). While renovating the brand, Pernod Ricard launched a new advertising campaign for the Stoli family in order to remind consumers to Choose Authenticity on April 9, 2007 (Pernod Ricard USA, LLC., 2007). Exhibit 7 presents ads of this campaign. The campaign debuted in leading U.S. magazines as In Style, Rolling Stone, and GQ in May, 2007. The new campaign was in a visual style and based on a Russian artistic movement called constructivism, that celebrated the strong industrial structures of the early 20th century when there was the creation of Stolichnaya (2007). The campaign depicted positive Russian icons in a proud tone and humorous way. One of the first ad executions headlines was The Mother of all Vodkas, from the Motherland of Vodka. The new campaign was developed according to two findings of research that: first, that the remarkable history of Stoli hadnt been fully told; and second, that authenticity was a critical consideration in the purchasing decisions of sophisticated, young adult consumers at that time (2007). Patrick Piana, Senior Vice President, Marketing, Pernod Ricard USA said: Pernod Ricard has consistently demonstrated its ability to drive brands to achieve their potential, and we are confident that this new Stolichnaya campaign will resonate with the brands core consumers and build on our overall track record of success(2007). However, after the purchase of Absolut was completed, Pernod Ricard ended its agreement with Stoli. William Grant Sons USA signed an agreement to distribute Stolichnaya in the U.S. in 2009. 5. Consumer Behavior The comprehensive analysis of vodka by the Beverage Information Group and research by Simmons Market Research Bureau reveal consumer behavior of vodka as follows: Vodka is unlike any other spirit category. The proportion between male vodka consumers and female consumers are fairly equal. Furthermore, it is consumed by all adult age groups (Simmons Market Research Bureau, 2007). Due to universal appeal of vodka coupled with its versatility as a mixer and the cachet high end products, it has continued to attract adult consumers (Beverage Information Group, 2008). Females favor flavored vodkas while males take the lead among several brands-Absolut Kurant, Stoli Citros, Stoli Ohranj and Stoli Cranberi (Simmons Market Research Bureau, 2007). According to Simmons (2007), the older the brand the older the consumer. Stolichnaya drinkers tend to be older than Absolut drinkers. Also, Absolut drinkers tend to be slightly older than Grey Goose consumers. Belvedere scores highest in the 21-to-24 age group among unflavored vodkas. Younger adult consumers tend to be attracted by somewhat sweet flavors-vanilla and raspberry. Whereas older consumers prefer classic cocktails that are savory in nature (Beverage Information Group, 2008). All vodka consumers are moving toward a healthier lifestyle and a greener planet. (Beverage Information Group, 2008). It was found that several marketers are incorporating natural and green elements in their products. This is a trend that is expected to continue (Beverage Information Group, 2008).. Limited edition products that benefit local causes such as Absolut New Orleans and Absolut Los Angeles are another trend that is expected to gain a following (Beverage Information Group, 2008).. Overall, consumers are moving away from sweet cocktails into the savory area. This may not bode well for several flavored vodkas (Beverage Information Group, 2008). Review of publications about vodka brands uncovers that there are some significant factors that enhance customer decision making process when buying vodka as follows: Luxury: By definition, vodka is a clear, tasteless, odourless liquid-meaning that a basic level of quality distilling yields vodka on par with any other. Yet through clever ads and higher pricing, Absolut vodka became the premium vodka over Smirnoff in the 1980s. Then, i n the 1990s, Sidney Frank consciously decided to introduce Grey Goose vodka, which costs 50 percent more than Absolut, with reasoning that people would pay more for a brand they saw as more exclusive, just as they did with Absolut over Smirnoff. Since vodka is one of premium alcoholic drinks, it is considered a kind of luxury items (Rothbaum, 2009). Flavors: Several companies keep introducing more varieties for customers to choose from, this strategy has proven to be quite successful. Also, the U.S. is the worlds biggest market for flavored vodka and a new flavour can drive sales. For example, in the summer of 2007, Finlandia introduced grapefruit flavored vodka. The vodkas popularity has been so great that it has increased the brands overall sales of flavored vodkas by almost 10% (2009). Thus, there are still room for competition in the vodka category. Store shelves are now packed with new flavours and brand extensions from numerous well-established brands (2009). Price: Setting an inviting price to attract consumers seems to be successful for some brand vodkas like Smirnoff. For example, Smirnoff posted a 4.0% gain in 2008 and making it the top-selling spirit in the U.S., leveraging its rainbow of flavors as well as its inviting price (2009). This pricing strategy must be employed carefully for luxury goods like vodka, since consumers still perceive that Vodka should not be cheap. It is not a product of first necessity. Even though higher-priced brands are seeing slower growth, consumers are still spending a lot of money to purchase these prestigious brands. Reference Group: Vodka consumers use reference groups such as co-workers, friends, and family as a guide to select a brand, since vodka is a product that can be shared in social occasions and consumers tend to please all of those groups when they gather. Thus, group situations constitute their purchase decisions. Packaging: Packaging has always played an important role in developing brand image, and the vodka industry is not exceptional. According to Adam Rosen, the brand manager of Wyborowa Vodka, the vodka industry is much more image conscious than other liquors (Labbrand Consulting Co., Ltd., 2009). In addition to ingredients and taste, packing is another factor influencing vodka drinkers buying decision- the vodka they choose should make a statement to others. Thus, the bottle design should display sophistication and class. For example, Svedkas new bottle reflects their cheap chic positioning, allowing consumers to purchase a premium vodka at a competitive price (2009). This should appeal to hip night life lovers, but not older customers accustomed to having a casual drink at home. It was found that the older audience will appreciate a classic bottle design that looks nice in their alcohol cabinet (2009). As Svedka hasnt redesigned their bottle for over 10 years, the repeat customers like ly have a strong connection to the old brand image (2009). In short, packing can influence decisions made through constructive process at the time of purchase. 6. History of Brand Advertising Absolut Vodka has become famous mainly due to its advertising campaigns. The shape of the bottle of Absolut vodka is very unique and is emphasized in all their advertisements. For about 25 years, the focus on the product has been the main theme in advertisements for Absolut Vodka. They ran campaigns of humor featuring their unique bottle. It is the unique advertising campaigns that have made Absolut a popular brand going up to the heights of Coke and Nike. In 1981 they started the Absolut ________ campaign. Absolut Perfection which was created in 1981 was the first advertisement and it is still popular today. They had clever concepts like Absolut L.A. which showed a swimming pool shaped like a bottle or Absolut Warhol which showed the painting of a bottle by the artist. One of their popular ads is the Absolut London', which shows the door of 10 Downing Street resembling an Absolut bottle. In a 1988 feature of a playboy magazine they showed a bottle like a model and this ad was called Absolut Centerfold. Then there were issues Absolut Disco (2007) related to dance music in 2008 Absolut Masquerade under the theme Every night is a masquerade and in 2009 the Absolut Rock Edition as a tribute to rock and roll. They wanted to end this campaign in 1997 with the launch of an offbeat bottle campaign on April fools day and it was very popular. But it took 9 more years to come up with a different campaign due to its limited advertising budget. Th e Absolut ____ campaign enabled the brand to become the best-selling imported vodka in the United States as sales rose from 20,000 cases in 1981 to almost 5 million in 2007. In January 2006 they started a campaign called The Absolut Vodka which had a theme on the pun between the brand name and the word absolute. This multimedia campaign demonstrates the headship of Absolut Vodka as The Absolut Vodka and observes other classics that are absolutes in our culture. This campaign is an evolution of the brands iconic, 25-year-old advertising and one that underscores the brands marketing ingenuity and continuous creativity. This campaign was broadcasted on television in the United States. The campaign also featured online and print executions. The new execution was built on the brands existing campaigns. The broadcast depicts a collage of absolute moments and icons that bases modern culture. Pictures include The Absolut Morale Booster (Marilyn Monroe singing for U.S. troops) and The Absolut Road Trip (first manned trip to the moon). The print advertisement features an Absolut Vodka bottle levitating over a color-block table with copy that reads The Absolut Vodk a the image connotes an exclamation point. The print ad shows the genuinity of Absolut Vodka and conveys only one message that Absolut is The Absolut Vodka. The Absolut Vodka campaign targeted a new and increasing group of vodka drinkers in the United States. The broadcast is very interactive and is aimed at capturing in-the-know customers. The Absolut Vodka campaign was created by TBWA/Chiat/Day, the advertising agency of record for Absolut VODKA. 7. The In an Absolut World Campaign In 2007, Absolut Vodka began its In An Absolut World campaign in which the company posted various, often fanciful scenarios of what the target audience might think would constitute a perfect, or Absolut, reality. The campaign was handled by TBWA/Chiat/Day, part of the TBWA Worldwide division of the Omnicom Group. The In An Absolut World would elicit varying opinions and points of view of customers. It is designed to be an inspiring, humorous, and thought-provoking integrated campaign about what an Absolut World might look like and to initiate a discussion about both universal and everyday subjects, as well as to challenge consumers to express their own visions of the world. Its advertising campaign invites consumers to visualize a world that appeals to them one they feel may be more idealized or one that may be a bit fantastic. The campaign includes commercials and video clips as well as online ads, print ads, billboards and event marketing. Drinkers were invited to imbibe In An Absolut World, a fanciful, even surreal, place where common sense prevails and just deserts are always on the menu. For example, on planet Absolut, men can get pregnant, and lying leaders are exposed by their Pinocchio noses. In fact, Absolut was confronting the same problems as other market-leading brands in that everybody knows who they are, but what are they known for? Thus, The goal is to encourage a dialogue between customers and the brand. The ads proclaim, This is Absoluts view of the world; you respond, you react. Absolut ads aimed at minority consumers will also begin to feature the Absolut World theme. 7.1 Probable Marketing Objectives Since from 2003 to 2007 over 240 new brands of vodka came and many companies started focusing on the ultra-premium category, the marketing objectives of the In an Absolut World include robusting sales growth and re-establishing and re-cementing the Absoluts position in the vodka category in an extremely competitive environment. 7.2 Probable Communication/ Advertising Objectives The main communication of the In an Absolut World campaign is to provide the customers with an opportunity to interact, get involved and associated with the brand, since its customer survey found that the previous one never provided the opportunities for customers to interact and get involved with the brand. Furthermore, the campaign aimed at depicting that Absolut Vodka has a class of its own or a world of its own implicating that it is different and better than other brands. The idea is that Absolut Vodka is the quintessential vodka, the true vodka, and the standard by which you judge other things. 7.3 Target Market The target audience is 23 34 year urbanites. 7.4 Positioning Statement To inform urbanites that Absolut Vodka is the quintessential vodka, the true vodka, the standard by which consumers judge other Vodkas. 7.5 Creative Strategy The In an Absolut World advertising campaign requires that consumers imagine a world that appeals to them, something like a perfect world or a fantastic world, thus bringing about different opinions and points of view. Also it needs to these ads in countries worldwide with varying themes relevant to their region. 7.6 Creative Execution To achieve the creative strategy, they decided not only to show what an ABSOLUT WORLD looks like, but also to give consumers the chance to experience it in their daily lives. The idea was to publish the perfect newspaper and distribute it for free, with real editorial content that was entirely positive and interesting to read. Another idea was to perfect a taxi ride by supplying a fleet of free-of-charge Porsche taxis. The next idea was to make a unique experience at the nearest ATM cash machine by introducing the Happy Hour. 7.7 Media Strategy The campaign would be put in print ads, billboards, TV commercials, video clips as well as online ads (at absolut.com), and event marketing. Absolut turned its website into an online community where visitors can share and discuss their visions of an Absolut World, create and upload images, films, worlds, and sounds, create personal profiles; browse, comment, and develop the visions of others. 8. Evaluation of the In an Absolut World The campaign uses a combination of approaches in the major selling idea between creating a brand image, positioning and inherent drama. Absolut developed its strong, memorable identity through image advertising and positioned itself as the quintessential vodka in the consumers mind. The creative approach used in the campaign is appropriate for the target audience who is 25 34 year urbanites. The message can delivered to the target audience and executed in a combination of imagery and humor. For example, one of the ads shows an expectant couple and the husband is pregnant. Additionally, even though Absolut came up with many ads with different pictures, those ads were able to convey the message to the target audience effectively by using indirect headlines In an Absolut World as creative tactics for printing ads and TV commercials. Also, the message is short, clear, novel, and creative as well as provokes their thoughts. Most of the ads in the campaign use emotional appeal to attract the target audience while others create excitement and provoke thoughts. The ads and some TV commercials try to communicate with the target audience that people wish to see the world in a different manner according what an Absolut World means to them or their perceptions. For example, a TV commercial portrays a higher form of conflict resolution when protestors and police do a pillow war. In addition to creating the brand awareness, the campaign tried to break through the clutter by using both traditional and non-traditional advertising. The campaign has been put in a variety of media and on its Web site. The campaign also achieved one of the communication objectives of the brand is to provide the customers with an opportunity to interact, get involved and associated with the brand. By making the Web site more interactive for customers, Absolut creates a dialogue between the brand and customers and other visitors. Also, Absolut can get their data when those visitors and its customers create personal profile which can be used to develop marketing communications strategy in the future. Moreover, Absolut.com has become an online community where customers and visitors can disc