Living in a Global Society Rubric

Living in a Global Society Integrated Unit Assignment and Rubric/Feedback Sheet Description: Teacher candidates will develop an instructional unit based on a realistic fiction trade book. Additional information: 1. The selected trade book will have part or all of its setting in a country other than the United States of America. 2. The unit will display integration of language arts (English usage, writing/composition, and spelling), reading (comprehension and fluency), math, science, social studies, the arts, physical education, and student use of technology. . The arts, physical education, and technology will need to be integrated into only one lesson each somewhere within your unit. These do not need to be done on a daily basis. b. Language arts, reading, math, science, social studies will need to be integrated into each day’s instructional planning. 3. Learning activities need to incorporate at least three of the five following items: a. Culture and cultural diversity b. Tim e, continuity, and change c. Economic, scientific, and technological development d. Individuals, groups, and institutions . Civic ideals and practice of the country that is the setting of the book 4. The integrated unit will cover three complete days’ instruction. Local pacing guides are not to be taken into account. The three days of instruction will be done on Plan Book Sheets. Please indicate content areas that are being integrated. 5. All appropriate standards for each integrated lesson are to be listed. 6. Template for submitting on following page. 7. One full day’s instruction will also be developed using the Blueprint Lesson Plan format.Candidates will pick any one of the three days developed on Plan Book Sheets as the day that also gets Lesson Plans. 8. Candidates will have an individual checkpoint meeting with their instructor to ensure appropriate progress is being made towards completion of this assignment. 9. Candidates will bring a copy of their Rubric/Res ponse Sheet for Individual Unit Meetings to their unit meeting with starred items completed before meeting 10. Completed unit assignments will be submitted in a zip bag on a flash drive with rubric.After any editing, the candidate will upload finalized version to Task Stream. 11. Please email questions to me at emily. [email  protected] edu ELE 4030: Living in a Global Society Plan Book Sheet for Unit Assignment Trade book used and grade level of instruction: Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan – Grade 4 Instructional day: (Circle appropriate one) Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Focus for this day: Introduction of Story – Vocabulary, Geography, Science and Math Content area (s) addressed in this lesson: Reading, Writing , Geography, Social Studies , Science and MathReado ELE 4030: Living in a Global Society Plan Book Sheet for Unit Assignment Trade book used and grade level of instruction: Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan – Grade 4 Instructional day: (Circle appropriate one) Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Focus for this day: Continuation of Story – Comprehension, Geography, Science and Math Content area (s) addressed in this lesson: Reading, Writing , Geography, Social Studies , Science and Math Reado ELE 4030: Living in a Global Society Plan Book Sheet for Unit AssignmentTrade book used and grade level of instruction: Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan – Grade 4 Instructional day: (Circle appropriate one) Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Focus for this day: Conclusion of Story – Comprehension, Geography, Science and Math Content area (s) addressed in this lesson: Reading, Writing , Geography, Social Studies , Science and Math Reado The University of North Carolina at Pembroke School of Education – Teacher Education ELE 4030: Living in a Global Society Integrated Unit Assignment and Rubric/Feedback Sheet Candidate: | |Aspect of Assignment | Possible points | |Cover sheet (Candidate’s name, course, semester & year, Integrated Unit based on †¦ (na me of trade book), level of |-10 if missing or | |instruction |incomplete | |Plan book sheet completeness & clarity |10 | |Lesson plans in Elementary Lesson Plan Format, completeness, and clarity |10 | |Curriculum integration |10 | |Language arts strategies |10 | |Reading strategies |10 | |Math strategies |10 | |Science strategies |10 |Social studies strategies |10 | |Arts strategies |5 | |Physical education strategies |5 | |Student use of technology |5 | |Developmental appropriateness |5 | |Total points earned out of 100 & Instructor comments | | | |/100 | | | | University of North Carolina at Pembroke School of Education – Elementary Education Department Rubric/Response Sheet for Individual Unit Meetings **Candidate: Cristy Prince | |**Book used & author: Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan | |**Appointment day & time: Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 4:00 p. m. | |Aspect of Assignment |Possible Points | |On time for appointment |10 | |One day’s Plan Book Sheets | 20 | |Three Lesson Plans in Elementary Lesson Plan Format |20 | |Curriculum Integration 20 | |Meshing of activities with appropriate standards |20 | |Clarity/precise language |10 | | |100 | |Subtotal | | |Rubric not provided by candidate |-15 | |Rubric provided but starred items not completed |-15 | | | | |Total | | Comments: ———————– Standards/Competencies: English Language Arts – Goal 1: The learner will apply enabling strategies and skills to read and write. Goal 2: The learner will apply strategies and skills to comprehend text that is read, heard, and viewed. Goal 3: The learner will make connections with text through the use of oral language, written language, and media and technology.Goal 4: The learner will apply strategies and skills to create oral, visual and written texts. Goal 5: The learner will apply grammar and language conventions to communicate effectively. Social Studies – Goal 2: The learn er will examine the importance of the role of ethnic groups and examine the multiple roles they have played in the development of North Carolina. Science – Goal 1: The learner will make observations and conduct investigations to build an understanding of animal behavior and adaptation. Math – Goal 1: Number and Operations – The learner will read, write, model, and compute with non-negative rational numbers. Activities/Strategies: We will begin the day with the reading of Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan.The teacher will read aloud the first 10 chapters, stopping along the way to introduce vocabulary (Norway, Norse, kroner, Nazi, etc. ) and geography (Norway, the Arctic Circle, Poland, Germany, Britain, and France). The day’s activities will also include a summary written by the students on what has been read to them thus far. They will be asked to begin to think what role the Norse have played in the development of our country and what, if any, they have p layed in our state. We will also discuss how both humans and animals adapt to such a cold, harsh climate. During math, we will continue talking about Norway and their system of currency. We will work on currency conversions, starting with a basic lesson and then moving on to using the web site www. xe. om to practice further. We will further this concept in the computer lab in the afternoon with www. ixl. com. Standards/Competencies: English Language Arts – Goal 1: The learner will apply enabling strategies and skills to read and write. Goal 2: The learner will apply strategies and skills to comprehend text that is read, heard, and viewed. Goal 3: The learner will make connections with text through the use of oral language, written language, and media and technology. Goal 4: The learner will apply strategies and skills to create oral, visual and written texts. Goal 5: The learner will apply grammar and language conventions to communicate effectively.Social Studies – Go al 2: The learner will examine the importance of the role of ethnic groups and examine the multiple roles they have played in the development of North Carolina. Science – Goal 1: The learner will make observations and conduct investigations to build an understanding of animal behavior and adaptation. Math – Goal 1: Number and Operations – The learner will read, write, model, and compute with non-negative rational numbers. Activities/Strategies: We will begin the day with the reading of Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan. The teacher will read aloud chapters 11-20, stopping along the way to introduce any new vocabulary and/or geography. The day’s activities will also include a summary written by the students on what has been read to them thus far.They will be asked to revisit our discussion about what role the Norse have played in the development of our country and what, if any, they have played in our state. We will also discuss what animals indigenous to ou r country could survive in Norway. During math, we will continue talking about Norway and how they moved their gold from the cave to the Snake. We will work on word problems that revisit such a conundrum to figure what it would take to move amounts from site to site. We will further this concept in the computer lab in the afternoon with www. ixl. com. Standards/Competencies: English Language Arts – Goal 1: The learner will apply enabling strategies and skills to read and write. Goal 2: The learner will apply strategies and skills to comprehend text that is read, heard, and viewed.Goal 3: The learner will make connections with text through the use of oral language, written language, and media and technology. Goal 4: The learner will apply strategies and skills to create oral, visual and written texts. Goal 5: The learner will apply grammar and language conventions to communicate effectively. Social Studies – Goal 2: The learner will examine the importance of the role of ethnic groups and examine the multiple roles they have played in the development of North Carolina. Science – Goal 1: The learner will make observations and conduct investigations to build an understanding of animal behavior and adaptation. Math – Goal 4: Data Analysis and Probability – The learner will understand and use graphs, probability, and data analysis.Healthful Living Education – Goal 6: The learner will demonstrate competency in a variety of movement forms and proficiency in a few to gain competence towards lifetime physical activities (NASPE Standard 1). Activities/Strategies: We will begin the day with the reading of Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan. The teacher will read aloud chapters 21-30, stopping along the way to introduce any new vocabulary and/or geography. The day’s activities will also include a summary written by the students on what has been read to them thus far. They will be asked to revisit our discussion about what role the Norse have played in the development of our country and what, if any, they have played in our state.Students will be asked to draw pictures of what adaptations they believe that we as North Carolinians would need to make to survive in Norway. In this picture, they will also draw a picture of their favorite NC indigenous animal with their adaptations. During math, we will wrap up our discussion on Norway with a Venn diagram comparing and contrasting the Norse with Americans. We will further this with a bar graph of what students believe to be attributes common to both countries. To wrap-up our journey into Norway, we will practice our â€Å"sled-moves† during recess. The students will work both individually as well as in pairs to come up with the most original slalom.

Environmental Scan Paper Essay

A business environment is made up of both internal and external factors. The environment of a business must be scanned to be able to determine what factors the company can use to determine the development and forecasts that will help in the success of the business. The definition of Environmental Scanning, as per managementstudyguide.com, is the â€Å"possession and utilization of information about occasions, patterns, trends, and relationships within an organization’s internal and external environment†. Scanning is used to identify the threats and opportunities that exist in the business environment. Some of the internal environment factors that a company must observe include; employee interaction with each other, with management, manager interaction with other managers, and manager interaction with shareholders, brand awareness, organizational structure and the main staff (managementstudyguide.com, 2012). The company may use other resources to gain this information as in group discussions, surveys and interviews. This information than may be used to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the company. External environment plays an important role as a company starts to become more competitive and changes start to occur. As these changes start to occur, it becomes essential for the company to identify what their competitors are doing. These changes may also affect the internal environment, so it is important that the company update its core competencies as per the external environment. Because external environments are always changing, the company should be ready at all times to be able to accept and adjust to the environmental changes. External monitoring could include the original forecasts of raw materials, which may affect the credibility of the original source. This will force the company to be more focused on scanning, forecasting and analysis to create a more trustworthy prediction and the input costs (managementstudyguide.com, 2012). The external environment scan should include three areas; immediate/industry environment, national environment, and the broader socio-economic environment/macro-environment. Companies The two companies that will be used in this paper will be Apple and Target. Both of these companies have survived a tough economy over the years by having to adjust to many external and internal environmental factors. Apple, as most of us know, is a successful producer of computer hardware and software. Target, is one of the largest retail companies, right behind Wal-Mart, in the U.S. The environmental scan is used to evaluate the threats, opportunities, strengths and weakness of both Apple and Target. This will help identify external and internal areas that may need help and the areas that have been successful. Strengths There are many strengths that have made Apple a success. Apple is known to offer superior products such as the iPhone, iPad, iPod and many others. They control both the manufacturing of its products as well as its operating system (http://www.slideshare.net/edbiy/swot-analysis-for-apple, 2012). Apple also produces its own internal components for the core of their products. They also set a high standard for the quality of their products to make sure that the customer is extremely satisfied. Apple is always evolving and creating new and updated products. Apple has a very loyal customer base that will buy the new and updated product regardless of what it costs. The company stock is also the highest in their personal history. Target is a monster of a company as well. As of 2011, the diversification of its store chain was at 1,750 stores. The stores are big; anywhere between 95,000 to 135,000 square feet is size. As of 2011, Target has a presence in all states except Vermont. Due to the competition with Wal-Mart to keep their product prices low, Target has seen increases in revenue year after year, with their 2011 revenue equaling $67 billion. Target has adapted to their specific demographic locations and offer three different types of stores; Target Green Lands, Super Target, and their urban stores. And most important, Target offers a wide variety of goods; clothing, electronics, beauty, and home furnishings to just name a few. Weaknesses As being the leader in the electronic industry, Apple is faced with having to ensure their product is consistent and quality is number one. Not all of Apple’s products are without flaws. With their competitors making similar devices, Apple must continue to invest in research and development, to make sure any flaws don’t hamper future success. With Apple being a financial stable company, any lack of debt could be seen as a weakness for their infrastructure as it may pose a risk for stock acquisition by other companies (http://www.slideshare.net/edbiy/swot-analysis-for-apple, 2012). As for Target, their lack of an internal presence is a weakness. Though their products are considered low cost, the quality of their product is better than Wal-Mart, which makes Target’s products a higher price than their competitor. Employee wages have also been considered low, forcing some employees to look for work elsewhere. Threats With Apple products saturating the market, Microsoft has still be able to hold a consistent share of the market as well. Within the industry, there are many competitors that appeal to the economic conscience. Companies such as HP and Dell are offering low-budget computers that are appealing to customers that cannot afford the Apple product. Apple must be able to produce their products and set a financial standard so they do not lose out on a certain market of people. Target has their threats as well. Kmart and Wal-Mart both offer similar products but at a lower cost. With today’s economy, customers may sacrifice the quality of a product to get a lower price. Target may have to restructure their product base to keep from losing out to the competition. Opportunity With Apple being a technological leader, they are known for their originality and innovative thinking. iLife is a new product that allows users to link up multiple programs through one central application. Apple has found a way to simplify a person’s â€Å"life†, by consolidating what that person needs into one little package. That is innovation at its finest. Apple will continue to develop new opportunities through innovation and breaking new ground in different markets. Target introduced that the company will expand into Canada, this being the first step into the international market. The company will focus on reducing operational cost and increasing their revenue ratio. Target will continue to push the private labled products to customers, to focus on low cost products. These companies are creating value by offering a product that is made up of tangible and intangible attributes that the customer values. These companies are able to obtain money for the costs which then generates benefits that it values. Apple and Target create products that offer many solutions for their customer. This creates a competitive advantage for these companies. Creative advantage is the â€Å"advantage that a company has over its competitors, allowing it to generate greater sales or margins and/or retains more customers than its competition† (Investopedia.com, 2012). Both companies have shown that they offer a product that has been superior to their competition, which in turn has generated greater sales for these companies. The mission statement of a company is a way to evaluate how a company may measure their effectiveness. Apple states, â€Å"Apple computer is committed to protecting the environment, health and safety of our employees, customers and the global communities where we operate. We recognize that by integrating sound environmental, health and safety management practices into all aspects of our business, we can offer technologically innovative products and services while conserving and enhancing resources for future generations. Apple strives for continuous improvement in our environmental, health and safety management systems and in the environmental quality of our products, processes and services†. Target states, â€Å"Our mission is to make Target your preferred shopping destination in all channels by delivering outstanding value, continuous innovation and exceptional guest experiences by consistently fulfilling our Expect More. Pay Less. ® brand promise†. Both Apple and Target have shown continued success, both following their mission to create a better experience for their customers. References Answers, W. (2012). Answers. Retrieved October 08, 2012, from WikiAnswers.com: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_mission_statement_of_apple_inc Investopedia. (2012). Competitive Advantage. Retrieved October 08, 2012, from Investopedia.com: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/competitive_advantage.asp#axzz28k4ujJ6x Managementstudyguide.com. (2008-2012). Environmental Scanning-Internal & External Analysis of Environment. Retrieved October 08, 2012, from Managementstudyguide.com: http://www.managementstudyguide.com/environmental-scanning.htm Mixx, M. (2012). Targer SWOT Analysis. Retrieved October 08, 2012, from MarketMixx.com: http://marketingmixx.com/marketing-basics/swot-analysis-marketing-basics/177-target-corporation-swot-analysis.html Target Brands, I. (2012). Mission & Values. Retrieved October 08, 2012, from Target.com: http://corporate.target.com/about/mission-values Unknown. (2012). Slideshare.net. Retrieved October 08, 2012, from SWOT Analysis for Apple: http://www.slideshare.net/edbiy/swot-analysis-for-apple

How to Ensure Individual Freedom and Community-Building in a Society?

Topic: How to ensure individual freedom and community-building in a society? Every people want to live freely to do whatever they want in a society with freedom and want to communicate with every social groups or governments to build up a good community. If we want to ensure individual freedom I shall briefly that what is the freedom and community is? Freedom is the power or rights to act, speak or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint. Community means that all people living in a particular area or place which call local communities.How to ensure individual freedom and community-building in a society? First of all, Individual freedom is talk about people is given rights to pursue life, liberty and happiness. To ensure individual freedom in society is security. Security is the most important point for the individual freedom because security is the degree of protection to safeguard for citizens live in country. If the country does not maintenance the security for the citize ns or in society have not well developed in security, so the citizens or in society have no freedom to act or rights to do everything and it might be harm in society.But if the society does maintenance the security for the citizens or this country in society will have no war. And also a country which provides citizens live in freedom under well developed in security in everything that they feel free to do anything they want. Hence, people have individual freedom that want to do everything freely because freedom is born out of an understanding of natural law and natural consequences and that drive each of us to be personality responsible for our own actions, to be self-reliant in our thinking and in our work.Second, to ensure individual freedom in society is self-autonomy because self-autonomy is a self-governing in society whom responds for our own actions in society. If we have self-autonomy to do something, to govern in our own decision in society, it seems that we strongly have a bility to do everything. So self-autonomy is another point that seek to individual freedom. For the community-building is creation or enhancement of community among ndividual within regional area or with common interest. To improve community-building we have to make social capital. Because social capital produce a sense of belonging which make an increasing overall health of community. Social capital is a social group that cooperated between citizens and governments that participates in society. To increase evidence shows that social capital cohesion is critical for societies to prosper economically and for development to be sustainable.Social capital is focus on social relations that have productive benefits. It is the most important participates in this society is to make social group and the governments make it to the strong system one to ensure which mean to build up the local communities or social truth governments and create more policies. Thus, to ensure community-building in society is we have social capital which have group of social or governments cooperating to build up the strong community.To sum up, we seems to ensure individual freedom and community-building in a society have many reasons or explanations to describe. For reasons or explanations to ensure individual freedom are security and self-autonomy. If every people live in society does have individual freedom which means that their society must have well developed in security and have self-autonomy. But for the ensure community-building is about social capital which means that all citizens and governments work together with a good community in society.

Intermediate Management Accounting past paper Essay

Intermediate Management Accounting past paper - Essay Example Nevertheless, the target profit margin is seen to rise substantially from a low of -0.004% in year one to 10.25% in year three. (b) Issues facing firms like KZ in making decisions on the costs to cut in order to meet the specified target income level. Costs relevance: It could be difficult for firms like KZ to associate all the costs involved to products. This makes the firm continue incurring costs that do not directly involve production hence eating on the margins. Cost classification: The firm has not classified its costs appropriately. For instance, marketing costs are classified as fixed costs and such costs are required to be consistent with sales made in a given year. In this regard, during year 2 and year 3, KZ sales were the same despite difference in marketing campaign undertaken. The marketing campaign should therefore be consistent with the amounts allocated in a given year. ... 27,000,000 Years Cash inflows in ?’000’ Discounting rates 17% N.P.V Year 0 (27,000) 1 (27,000) Year 1 1,454 0.855 1,243 Year 2 4,009 0.731 2,931 Year 3 3,904 0.624 2,436 Year 4 3,799 0.534 2,029 Total (18,361) Recoveries at the end of year 4: Technology estimated re-sale value – ? 8,000,000 Reimbursement by customers - ? 2,000,000 Total – ? 10,000,000 Net present value of recoveries = 10,000,000 x 0.534 = ? 5,340,000 Total Net Present Value (N.P.V) in ? ‘000’ = (18,361) +5,340 = (13,021) (b) Comment: Investment in the product should not be undertaken since it has a negative NPV. The net present value does not represent a proper assessment of the value of the new product since the objective of calculating NPV is to establish whether the project is viable. Question 11 Roles and limitation of transfer pricing in managing divisional firms Roles Transfer pricing refers to the price at which services or goods are transferred between different units of the same organization. However, the degree in which transfer pricing contributes to firms profitability or covers costs is a matter of policy. The main role of transfer pricing includes optimization of group’s profitability by supporting goal congruence, motivate divisional managers of both buying and selling divisions to engage in business with one another, facilitate realistic performance appraisal of different divisions, preservation of autonomy of divisional managers and also plays a significant role in facilitating decision making. Transfer pricing leads to operation of different division whose profits are assessed separately. The management of a division becomes simpler and coordination of sales, production and pricing decisions are also eased. The principal types of transfer pricing includes: Cost-based

Internet Saerver Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Internet Saerver Management - Essay Example an e-mail system using technology called web front end, so named because the mail client normally accesses his/her e-mail account utilizing the Internet. It is free for the individual user but several businesses also use the service and Gmail is the most popular web mail, with almost seventy-five million more clients than its nearest competitor, Hotmail. One of the biggest advantages of using web mail is the portability. Whether in Glasgow, Georgia or Guam one does not have to be connected to the office to send and receive mail. Faculty and students of Eilean Muile who travel for research probably find Gmail convenient and easy. The biggest disadvantage is lack of security and is a distinct reason why most Governments specifically forbid web mail for official transmissions. If one wishes to use a stand-alone mail program such as Outlook, by its own website (Google 2012), Google uses both IMAP and POP protocol, although it suggests that one choose IMAP, because of its stability and the fact that â€Å"Unlike POP, IMAP offers two-way communication between your web Gmail and your email client†. On the other hand, mail distributed through a local server, also known as local client, is totally different. With that approach, mail is received, distributed and disseminated on a local server, usually specifically for that purpose. The most popular version is Microsoft Exchange, in partnership with MS Outlook installed on the client computers which is what UHI uses. The mail service is named after the year in which the version was introduced, as is usual for MS applications, and the current version is Exchange Server 2010, although the older versions are still in use worldwide. It is almost used exclusively with Outlook, although Novell Evolution can also be utilized. The advantages include the increased security unavailable on Web clients. Mail can be scrutinized for denial of service attacks and Microsoft claims that Exchange 2010 is the most secure yet and

Marxist Interpretation of Hairstyles of the Damned Essay

Marxist Interpretation of Hairstyles of the Damned - Essay Example Gretchen is an overweight tom-boy, rude, ballsy and punk rocker who â€Å"wasn't the most feminine girl in the world, sincerely,† always involved in fights and is in love with a 26-year old (Meno 4). Brian tries to make her a mix-tape which results in their separation for some time. This struggle for identification recurs in the whole novel as Brian tries to define himself among his peers who have distinct traits that places them is particular classes. The Marxist literary theory attributes such traits to historical forces which shape the environment, character traits of the inhabitants and the language and writing style of the author. Therefore, there are forces that guide the traits and values of the teenagers in the setting which also lead to conflicts among various classes. Siegel defines the Marxist literary theory as a sociological approach in literature that considers the works in question as a result of historical forces whose analysis could be achieved by considering the material conditions that led to its formation. The general focus is on the conflict between the repressed and dominant classes at any age, encouraging art to imitate the objective reality. ‘Hairstyles of the Damned’ provides a perfect example of conflict in different classes due to what the society has upheld over time, particularly among the teenagers. The novel supports the fact that the environment plays an important role in shaping what one would uphold with high esteem and probably consider trendy and fashionable. In the novel, Brian’s lifestyle is shaped differently by the friends he meets and bonds with. As an outsider, it becomes hard for him to make friends and only befriends outsiders like him including Rod, Mike, Dorie and Nick who shape his path towards finding himself and the values in life. Encountering different friends, it would be noted that in every section of the novel, Brian would have his favorite music from different genres in line with what the peers upheld with high regard. The environment further classified them into blacks and whites, cheerleaders and jocks, outcasts and rich kids, burnouts and punks, which shaped her mind and what he would perceive as the desired lifestyle. Gretchen for instance had all she wanted and that is why Brian noted that â€Å"she did the things I wish I could do but didn't have the guts to† (Meno 15). The characters in the narration are young with and the adults therein immature. Their major interest is in sex, music, bands, clothing and less on schoolwork. Brian secured a job but co-worker issues stumbled his way. In his racial neighborhood, the parents are less caring and uninvolved in his proper upbringing. This causes teenage aimlessness and indulgence into pop culture without regard for how this causes loss of individuality. The neon colored hair was adored among the young and every other teenager would try to fit into this cultural definition of being in a high social cl ass. Brian seemed to adore characters like Bobby B., a kid from his neighborhood, a year older than him and a senior who â€Å"always had about five pairs of girls’ underwear from girls he had made with† (Meno 10). The author glorifies some material aspects of the characters that would appeal to teens like Bobby’

In what ways has the use of statistics in psychology helped to sustain Essay

In what ways has the use of statistics in psychology helped to sustain notions of objectivity and determinism - Essay Example That is why would-be psychologists, wrote Jock Abra, lacking mathematical skills has a tough row to hoe, holding that the clinicians should be trained as scientists particularly demonstrating abilities in statistics, in order to be able to comprehend, evaluate, and, if occasion warrants, conduct research. (p. 102) While it is acknowledged that psychology is a science it is not considered as an exact one. (Cowles 2000, p. 21) Determinism – an ideal connected with the struggle for certain knowledge - upholds the propositions of the natural sciences as it more demonstrate the order of the universe better than psychology as a social science. B.F. Skinner (1953), underscores the necessity of assuming order in nature: We cannot apply the methods of science to a subject matter which is assumed to move about capriciously. Science not only describes, it predicts. It deals not only with the past but with the future†¦ If we are to use the methods of science in the field of human affairs, we must assume that behavior is lawful and determined. (p. 6) Fortunately, determinism could coexist with probabilistic thinking. Probabilistic thinking was used as a means toward objectivity in the classical sense of separating the experimenter from his knowledge. Such was the role of inferential statistics as a mechanization of the experimenter’s inference from data to hypothesis. (Gigerenzer 1987, p. 12) According to Raymond Nickerson (2004), the appearance of objectivity was promoted by eliminating the need for an experimenter’s judgment through the application of mechanical statistical procedures to the interpretation of data, hence, statistics became a means for the mechanization of inductive inference. (p. 271) The significance of all these is that statistics maintains the objectivity of psychology as an experimental science. In light of all these, one can say that statistics is more than just a tool in psychology. It validates the field

English Country House Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

English Country House - Essay Example This essay discusses that people build English Country Houses for spending time in a country side, away from the chaos of city life and its hassles. However, making enormous investments on such mansions, and incurring hefty expenditures on their maintenance, also has a sociological purpose. Owing such houses elevates the social status of the investor and offers that person an aura of belonging to a certain class. The architectural splendour and lush landscapes, coupled with their historical significance make country houses the most popular asset in English society. People cherish such mansions as priced possessions also because of their value in terms of social and environmental aspects. Due to these characteristics, in people consider a country house as an ideal place for spending vacations and getting relaxation from the monotony of their daily routine. However, since the cost towards purchase and maintenance of such houses is exponential, only the highly rich and elite, or people in the higher echelons of power are able to afford such mansions. A large house or mansion having great architectural merit in English country side is commonly known as English Country House, and some people also mention it as stately home. The very purpose of the house is to spend time in a country area without any botheration of city life headaches and to enjoy life. The country houses are known for their architectural, historical, landscapes, social and environmental aspects. In fact a Country House is a spot where you can relax and spend your vacation. ... â€Å"As Mark Girouard points out in his anthology  A Country House Companion, there's a mythology surrounding English country houses that extols them as "magical places" and their owners as wise custodians who tend the land, look after their tenants and servants, devote their lives to public service, fill their galleries with beautiful pictures and their libraries with rare books, and are unfailingly hospitable to friends and guests† (Morrison, 2011). The decline of English Country Houses starts with the rise of taxation, agricultural depression, and financial shortfalls in maintaining such huge houses, and the vast area involved as well. Due to there issues, most of such historical houses have been transferred to private trust, national museums or local museums. Some of the houses are now running the show by giving it on rental for short period activities such as wedding, civil ceremonies, film shooting, and as corporate entertainment venue. The survival of such houses is in jeopardy. Ever since the inception of high rise buildings in cities, and the influx of villagers to cities, and the consequent demand for accommodation in big cities, public interest has been growing in exploring the social values of English country houses. The status they give to the owners, the lifestyle, and also the identity of such houses attracts public attention. With new trends in architectural style and interior designing, the grand old country houses had lagged behind in attracting customers or tourists until a few years ago. Recently there is a reverse trend in the public minds concerning the serenity, charm, prestige and splendor involved in owning a country house or in staying there. Though they are modeled on the 18th and 19th century architectural style, people have an eye on them.

Spiritual Belief Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Spiritual Belief - Essay Example In patience recovery, faith is important in contributing to the beliefs of the individual thus their ability to recover. The spiritual needs assessment of a relative to a patient helped reveal several demographic factors that may help devise proper psychological therapies for the patient thereby resulting in faster recovery. The assessment revealed that the patient had ardent faith in the Christian faith and was a staunch catholic. His beliefs were founded in the teachings of the Roman Catholic and so was his family’s. As a Christian ascribing to the doctrines of the faith, the respondent neither drinks nor smokes. Additionally, he portrays a social and loving personality often assisting those he interacts with whenever possible thus validating his support for the patient. The patient portrayed strong belief in the teachings of the faith thereby opting to live as per the demands of the Catholic Church. From the assessment, it became evident that one’s spiritual beliefs are important in determining their subsequent personalities. Religious beliefs contribute to the development of a personality within an individual as the interview portrayed. Most of the questions in the assessment tool sought to investigate the relationship between the faith and the social life of the individual. The respondent’s responses revealed a close relationship with the faith greatly influencing the social lives of the respondent (Reilly, 2011). Since the respondent is a catholic and that, the catholic teachings abhor alcoholism and cigarette. The respondent thus selects his social groupings carefully always avoiding smoker ad alcoholics. His religious beliefs thus influence the type of respondent’s lifestyle, such toxic substances as alcohol and cigarette affect health. By avoiding such for whichever reasons, one reduces chances of infections (Manent, 2011). Religious beliefs and the degree of beliefs in the teachings of a faith is a key factor that helps inf luence the type of lifestyle an individual leads. In this relation, religious beliefs thus influence the propensity of an individual being susceptible to certain lifestyle diseases such as those caused by alcohol, cigarettes and other religious contrabands. The assessment went well thereby revealing several important factors of religion that affect the health of an individual. Just as stated earlier, religion influences the relationship among people. The respondent’s belief in his faith that discourages discrimination resulted in an objective interaction between the respondent and the interviewer. The interaction was free and extremely interactive with the respondent opting to take the opportunity to pass some of his teachings to the respondent. The personal interaction between the respondent and the interviewer portrayed advanced development and maturity thereby leading to free flow of information from both sides. Such thereby contributed to the effectiveness of the study, w hich revealed several important facts about the relationship between religious belief, and lifestyle that is an important determinant of lifestyle diseases. Besides the personal relations between the respondent and the interviewer, communication between the two was effective a factor contributed to by several factors. The effectiveness of the interview ensured that the interviewee responded to all the questions and exhibited sincerity that improved the effectiveness of the study. The respondent owing to his inclination to his faith committed to the study and provided detailed answers to the questions in the tool. The free flow of information between the two permitted the respondent to provide examples of some of the issues he raised thereby developing factual relationship betw

Gambling Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 2

Gambling - Research Paper Example There was a time when gambling was considered illegal or a disrespectful activity but now it has become a Multi-billion dollar activity in most parts of the world. In many parts of the world funding charities and other voluntary works are heavily funded with the money raised from gambling. People tend to fantasize that what they would do when they would win the lottery but mostly people rely on buying lottery tickets and some occasionally gamble with intentions that their lives are not seriously affected with it. After the approval of legalizing gambling in the United States, there has been a significant decline in certain types of gambling which include buying lottery tickets and mostly bingo for different cash prizes (Pew Research Center 2006). Gambling in the view of many people is the most popular kind of fun enjoyment activity today. Most of the people indulge in gambling because they feel a rush or another kind of feeling each time they place a bet whether it is on sports on its casino gambling. Mostly it is a tool to have fun among most of the people. Since gambling is being legalized in many parts of the world, therefore legislative bodies have imposed many laws for safe gambling. All in all the basic reason behind legalizing gambling was the establishment of gambling places which plays an important role in the economic development. Many religious groups protested against the legalization of gambling and they mainly focused on the key points that it will threaten the stability of the community (Azmier 2000). After the Gambling was legalized in the United States of America, it was evident that people started to spend more money on legal gambling now and this is a significant change if compared to history. The legalization of gambling encouraged people to gamble more than the limit they could afford. Buying lottery tickets has increased significantly in United States of America and a large proportion of people believe that it is a way to

Case solution Essay Example for Free

Case solution Essay Solution: Moving from â€Å"make do† to â€Å"can do† Meeting SUBWAY’s expectations meant IPC needed topnotch management of key issues: Card programs: A newly implemented Gift card program – and management of an existing loyalty card program – brought high customer demand for IPC to handle card issues and placed a serious burden on them to respond efficiently. Customer service: Efforts to address issues were being duplicated and the process was managed manually. There was no real control of customer service, so issues were falling through the cracks. Centralization: IPC needed a system to centralize customer issues and eliminate redundancies. IPC had no way to know or track if multiple resources were working independently to resolve the same customer issue. With a holiday season quickly approaching, IPC expected higher volume demands, which meant they more support resources. They decided the timing was right for CRM Solution: Moving from â€Å"make do† to â€Å"can do† Meeting SUBWAY’s expectations meant IPC needed topnotch management of key issues: Card programs: A newly implemented Gift card program – and management of an existing loyalty card program – brought high customer demand for IPC to handle card issues and placed a serious burden on them to respond efficiently. Customer service: Efforts to address issues were being duplicated and the process was managed manually. There was no real control of customer service, so issues were falling through the cracks. Centralization: IPC needed a system to centralize customer issues and eliminate redundancies. IPC had no way to know or track if multiple resources were working independently to resolve the same customer issue. With a holiday season quickly approaching, IPC expected higher volume demands, which meant they more support resources. They decided the timing was right for CRM

Cross Cultural Studies in Gender Essay Example for Free

Cross Cultural Studies in Gender Essay Most research into gender roles has occurred in Western societies, and generally shows a clear divide in gender roles, most encouraging masculine behaviour in boys, and feminine behaviour in girls. However, in order to further explore the idea of nature vs. nurture (biological vs. social approach); it is important to research gender roles in a variety of countries. If clear themes, it may indicate that gender role development is nature, as would show that men are similar to men across the whole world, and likewise for females, showing there must be something determining the way men work, whereas if there are clear culture differences, it would imply social factors determine gender. Cross cultural research has been explored for many years by anthropologists. Some of the earliest work came from Margret Mead in the 1930’s. Comparing three Papua New Guinean tribes, the Arapesh, the Mundugumor and the Tchambuli, she discovered different behaviours displayed by both men and women in each individual tribe. In the Arapesh, men and women were seen to be gentle, responsive- fitting the Western stereotype as feminine. In the Mundugumor tribe, she found males and females to violent and aggressive- the Western stereotype of masculinity and finally in the Tchambuli tribe, she found role reversal to Western stereotypes, as males were more emotionally dependant and flirtatious, whereas the females were dominant, impersonal and definite. Although at first, Mead concluded that her research showed that gender roles came through cultural determinism as big differences were found between males and females in different cultures, implying that gender roles were driven by social factors. However, after later analysis and extending her research to look at other tribes in Samoa, she changed her view (1949) to that her research actually showed cultural determinism, as despite differences in the roles males and females played in each society, in all the societies she looked at men were more aggressive than the women, contributing to the idea that gender role is determined by nature, as there are some behaviours which are innate and universal, e. g. ggression in men, but that degree to which they are expressed is relative to the particular culture. This fits under the biosocial approach, as her research suggests there are some behaviours which are universal, but the degrees to which these behaviours are expressed depends on social factors, such as culture. Mead’s study was a natural experiment, meaning the tribes were observed in their usual environment, suggesting she was noting their true behaviour. However, her method has been heavily criticised by other psychol ogists such as Freeman (1984). Her research was conducted through interviews and observations of the tribes, but Freeman who also worked with Samoan tribes was told that Mead provided the tribesmen with what she wanted them to say. Although this questions the validity of her research, in later years there has been lots of cross cultural research to show differences and similarities and divisions of labour and behaviour by gender in every society (Munroe and Munroe 1975). Further research to support the nature side of the argument is from Whiting and Edwards 1975. Through looking at 11 non-western societies, they found that gender roles were organised in similar ways across a range of traditional cultures. They found girls were encouraged to spend more time with their mothers and were more likely to be given domestic and childcare jobs, whereas the boys were likely to be assigned jobs outside the house such as herding animals. This lead to girls spending more time with younger infants and adults, whereas boys spent more time with their peers, and so It seemed younger girls were found to be more responsible and nurturing than boys who in early adolescence began to get more responsibility. Whiting and Edwards concluded that the behavioural differences observed came about because of the tasks they are given. Girls are taught how to be responsible at a young age as they are exposed to female role models, and develop skills of caring for younger siblings. In another, Whiting and Whiting (1988) observed children in their natural environment with parents, siblings and peers. There were universal differences that girls were more nurturing and boys showed more dominance. However, the fact there were key differences between boys and girls such as what they were socialised into, and what they were encouraged to achieve, implies that both upbringing and biology play a role in development; socialisation just magnifies the biological difference, hence differences across cultures such as between US and India. Bee (1995) supported the idea of socialisation being the most important factor in determining gender, as he stated children became the company they keep. However, researches such as Omar et al found similarities in varied countries such as Switzerland, Ethiopia and the US. Their research indicated that all boys show higher levels of competitiveness and aggression than females, indicating there are underling biological factors. Further support for the nurture argument comes from Berry et al (2002). They studied male superiority on spatial perceptual tasks in 17 societies. He found that this superiority is only found in relatively tight knit, sedentary societies but absent in nomadic societies. This shows that the magnitude of sex differences is linked to culture and ecology. In tight knit societies, the division of labour is greatest because women stay at home whilst men travel, whereas in nomadic societies, both men and women travel and hunt so there is less division of labour (Van Leeuwen 1978). Therefore, this implies that social factors dictate gender role, due to the cultural differences in division of labour found. Berry’s large study of a variety of societies indicates his results can be representative of the general population and we can generalise results. However, Kimura (1999) offered an alternative biological interpretation, that in hunting societies, those with poor spatial perception are likely to die, thus eliminating such genes from the gene pool. This explains why in nomadic societies, there would be less gender difference in spatial abilities. Further biological support comes from Buss et al (1989). Involving 10,000 participants from 37 cultures, he found universal themes in what males and females looked for in marriage partners. Women desired males who had good financial prospects, whereas men placed more important in physical attraction and youthfulness. Both sexes agreed intelligence, kindness and reliability are important. Due to the fact these finding were universal, and the scale of the study implies we can generalise, it suggests gender roles are biologically determined. However, an alternative argument may be that women look for providers, not because of biology, but because of the fact women tend to earn less in society, and in some countries, have fewer rights, which is a social issue determining differences in gender roles. But despite the fact that labour division are the same in most cultures- irls are brought up to be nurturing, responsible and obedient, likely to raise the children, whereas boys are raised to be more independent, self-reliant and high-achieving, and provide for their family, suggest that it is biology that determines sex roles. However, it is difficult to decipher whether division is the direct outcome of biological differences or whether it is a more indirect outcome of biological differences. Eagly and Wood argued that all cultures shape their socialisation processes along with the lines of inborn biological tendencies. However, there has been research to counter this. Sugihara and Katsurada (2002) found that Japanese men do no not seek to be macho like Americans, but instead value being well-rounded in the arts (usually associated as femininity), showing that labour divisions are not the same in all cultures. As well as looking at the divisions of labour between difference cultures, there has also been research into the differences between gender roles in collectivist and individualistic cultures. In 2002, Chang, Guo and Hau, compared 145 American and 173 Chinese students by giving the students a 10 item Egalitarian Gender Role Attitudes Scale, which measured their attitudes to gender equality at home and in the work place. Chang et al found that American students emphasised the important of equal gender roles at work, whereas the Chinese students emphasised the importance of equality at home and in the family. Although this does indicate differences, this may be due to the nature of their home country. In communist China, equality at work is taken for granted. Further exploring this, Leung and Moore (2003) compared Australians of English and Chinese decent using Bem’s SRI and fond differences in line with the Hofstede’s dimensions. Both male and female English Australians showed masculine traits which are valued in individualistic cultures, whereas Chinese Australian’s; male and female, showed feminine traits valued in a collectivist culture. Both research studies imply that cultural values and expectations have a strong on the development of gender roles and expectations (nurture). A big problem with much research is how you measure sex stereotypes. Williams and Best (1990) study highlighted some of the problems linked to this. 2,800 university students from 30 different nations were given a 300 item adjective checklist (ACL) and asked to decide for each adjective whether it was associated more with men or women. They found a broad consensus across countries- men were seen as more dominant, aggressive and autonomous, whereas women were more nurturing, deferent and interested in affiliation. This suggests there are universal gender stereotypes about gender roles, indicating, they are derived though our genes. However, this study proposed many problems in how they measured sex stereotypes. Firstly, the participants had to pick either male or female, there was no equal category (although there was a ‘cannot say’ category) which may have resulted in the division in gender roles being exaggerated. Furthermore, the task was related to stereotypes, not actual behaviours. Some argue that such stereotypes have a significant effect on socialisation within the culture, and this are related to behaviour, but the data does not demonstrate this. Finally, because all of the participants are students, it indicates there behaviours are similar e. g. intelligences, and exposed to similar influences which may explain the broad consensus. Another problem is a lot of the cross-cultural research has been collected by western researchers, therefore, even though they were collecting data in western and non-western societies, the method of research will be developed by western psychology. This may indicated imposed etic, and the data collected is meaningless and demonstrates cultural bias. To overcome this, Berry et al (2002) concluded that there should be a greater use of more genuine indigenous research, opposed to indigenous researchers carrying out the method of western psychologists. To conclude, despite methodological problems, due to the universal similarity in gender roles found in various investigations, it indicated that biology drives gender roles. However, difference found between cultures indicates social factors are also important, so there is a complex interaction between both factors, so the biosocial approach may be a more suitable approach, as it is less deterministic and acknowledges both aspects. As well, it is important to account for historical changes. Much research was done in the 1970/1980’s when the gender gap in many western countries was much larger than is it today, as it is now accepted that both males and females work, and parental equality. However, males still occupy more powerful positions than women, and women perform more domestic duties. But it is an important factor to consider when looking at data.

Service Recovery In The Hotel Industry

Service Recovery In The Hotel Industry Abstract Aiming at the actuality that the article about service recovery in the hotel industry. Handling complaints, resolving problems, retain the customers and to avoid undesirable outcomes such as negative thinks of the customers for the services. Fortunately significant progress has been made in the hotel industry to service recovery in the last few years. This article based on the literature view, environment and marketing mix strategies to identify what changes has been made in the recent year of hotel industry to achieved maximum customer satisfaction level. We adopt marketing mix 7Ps in the service recovery and analysis what changes has been made in to minimize the service failure in the hotel industry. The confirmatory result shows that the scale service processes to better reliability and validity level, and the basic need of the customer services recovery expectation includes recovery attributes, service failure attributes and empowering employees for problem solution in the hotel industry. Introduction Hotel industry one of the fastest growing industry in the current scenario .The demand of hotel industry has been increase in recent time and now days tourists want highly specialized as well as customized services from hotel industry. In addition, competition in the field of hotel industry and tourism has always been extremely on top and it is always difficult for newcomers to adopt the new trends and demand their own market share. Therefore, Hotel industry professionals need to focus on offering better quality services at affordable prices for the customers. The main goal of the industry is to obtain customer satisfaction in terms of services and money and maintain stable relationship with customers in long term basis. Services recovery is the action that the services provider should adopt for the services failure (Gronroos,1988,p.10-13) Researches indicated that the service recovery could enhance customers perceptive value, satisfactory feeling, loyalty and credit, and the satisfactory service recovery is propitious to reduce customers conversion intention and fluidity (Bitner, 1990, Lewis, 2004, Cong, 2007). McColloughs service recovery paradox even pointed out that customers satisfaction after service recovery would exceed customers satisfaction without service failure, which more showed the importance of service recovery (Boshoff, 1999, P.236-249) However, Satisfying a customers is a very difficult job for any industry especially when it comes to services industry. Earlier studies have shown that consumers level of satisfaction is generally lower for the services than product (Andreasen Best,1977). When it comes for hotel industry, where customer want high level of services and personal interaction with many departments and services failure is sometimes difficult to avoid by the industry. Services recovery is a important marketing tool which provide a another chance for the hotel industry to satisfy the consumers demands. The outcomes of services recovery will strongly influence the customers opinion of the hotel industry. This essay focuses to identify and evaluate previous services recovery process with the current process in the hotel industry. It is also show that services recovery in the hotel industry has influence on the tourism and the images of a location. Furthermore, essay will show how the services recovery experience affects consumers behavior for hotel industry. Literature Review Services recovery The necessity for the service recovery is brought about by services failure. Services failure is define as those situations when the services fails to live up to the customers expectations (Michel,2001) or according to Maxham (2001), any services-related mishaps or problems (real and/or perceived) that occur during a consumers experience of the firm. Services recovery has all those actions which is taken by the a services provider in order to resolve the all problem that caused the services failure in the industry( Gronroos,1990) Agenda is not only to resolve the problems but try to find out the source of the problem. A good recovery will reduce customers negative aspect for the industry and increase the services quality level to meet customers expectation. However as Smith et al. (1999) state, service recovery includes situations in which a service failure occurs but no complaint is lodged by the customers (p. 359), it means services recovery also includes that situations where some time customer not able to expressed a complaint or discomfort but the services provider has to indentify or recognized the failure in their services and take initiated a recovery procedure. In addition, studies show very few unhappy or dissatisfied customers actually complain about the services. So its very important for the services recovery system to indentify the fault with in the process and rectified on time to betterment for hotel industry. However service recoverys major importance is increase customer satisfactions and makes long term relation with the customers. Customers satisfaction with the service recovery will directly affect on the customer intentions toward the industry and they will might be think about to repurchase and recommend the service provider for other customers. This is very important for the service industry in term of increase own and industry marker share. Justice Theory in service recovery Justice theory is majorly used in services recovery studies to help analyze customers perceive the entire recovery process. With the help of it we can identified which elements affect the customers image of the locations. In the terms of services industry, inputs can be defined as the costs (economic, time energy cost etc.) that is service failure in the industry and outcomes after process will services recovery tactics (e.g. cash refunds ,apology, replacement etc.) In addition customer will determine whether a recovery attempts was fair or not in terms of services recovery or they will satisfied with the changes has been done by the recovery system. There are three dimensions are :- à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Distributive justice (focusing on the outcome of the recovery process) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Procedural justice (examining the process undertaken in order to arrive at the final outcome) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Interactional justice (referring to the manner in which the process is implemented and the customer is treated) (Hoffman et al., 2000; Tax, Brown Chandrashekaran, 1998) Image of the destination Image of the destinations is very important aspect in hotel industry and here we have to linkup between customers satisfactions with the services recovery and the image of the destinations. It is very new aspect in the services recovery process. In the current scenario destinations image is very important to increase the profit margin of the industry. For example any destinations where consumers get satisfied with the hotel services and all then defiantly he will going to share his experience about particular destinations and talk about the hotel services . That will generate more demand and more people get attracted to visit those locations. Lots studies measures that there is difference between the pre- trip and post -trip image of the destination. Some time its positive and some time negative. Post trip behavior Post trip behavior is important component of service recovery process. Its very useful for continues improvement in the services. Most of the services and especially hotel industry use that tool very effetely for example customer feedback form after service offered ,and always ready to take customer suggestion and opinion about their services. Its also important to retain the customers for the next time because find a new customer is very difficult and crucial task in hotel industry rather than continue with the same customers .If customers will be satisfied with the services then it might be possible they can bring few more customer for them. That is mouth publicity which is very useful and effective in marketing without investing money. Macro Environment Macro environment include the following element are Technological, Political, Economical, Social-Culture. It is also called PEST. For more precision the term PESTET is also used. Find here the PEST framework for the environment auditing in terms of the service recovery. What influence it has on the service recovery in hotel industry to achieved customer satisfaction. Hotel industry has to be consider all the factor before going to make any service recovery process. POLITICAL/LEGAL FACTORS: Legislative Structure Government and political stability Taxation Policies Pressure groups Monopolistic restrictions Political orientations Trade Union Power Environmental protection legislation Foreign trade legislations Employment legislation ECONOMIC FACTORS: Business Cycles Money Supply Inflation Rates Investment levels Unemployment Energy Costs GNP trends Patterns of ownership SOCIO-CULTURAL FACTORS: Demographics Lifestyles Educational Levels Social Mobility Attitudes Consumerism TECHNOLOGICAL FACTORS: Levels and focuses of government and industrial RD expenditure Speed of technology transfer Product Life Cycle Joint Ventures Technological Shift The (change)costs of technology Table 1.1 PEST frameworks for the environment auditing (Source: Wilson, R. M. and Gilligan, C.2003) Environment:- Green environment is very important factor when it come services industry or hotel industry. There has been so many changes happened in the last few years. In the recent time service recovery highly depend on the environment policy to provide customer satisfactions. In addition, consumer looking for environment free service to protect the environment and services recovery also use it as a tool to reduce service failure and create brand value in the market. Concept of STP After focusing on the environmental analysis, now we will discuss market related segmentations, Targets and Position of the industry. These are very important tools of the services recovery process to identified best strategies to come up with the failure. The following figure shows the eight stages of STP process. 1. Identify the current position, capabilities, objectives and constraints.. Situation Analysis 2. Identify the segmentation of variables and segment of the markets for their services 3. Develop profiles of each segment according to requirement Market Segmentation 4. Evaluate the potential and attractiveness of each segment and try to minimize the services failure. 5. Select the target segment(s). Market Targeting 6. Identify the positioning concept within each target segment in terms of customer satisfaction. 7. Select and develop the appropriate positioning concepts to achieved 100% services level. Product Positioning 8. Develop the marketing mix strategy for service recovery in the industry. The Marketing Mix Table 1.2 The eight stages of the segmentation, targeting and positioning process (Source: Wilson, R. M. and Gilligan, C. 1998) Marketing Mix Strategies:- Marketing mix is a very important tool of marketing and it is very helpful in the decision making process. Once we evaluate the industry services level and market scenario e.g. internal and external issue and segment the target market for a particular product, industry will think about their strategies to achieve the target and for that management need to design strategic plan to get enter the into the market by using marketing mix tool e.g. price place product and promotion to recover from the failure in services. 2.1 Elements of marketing mix There is still a debate about the how many elements involve in marketing mix. Mainly management focuses on four elements price, product, place and promotion. Service industry is also considering people, process and physical evidence because it is very important for them. Generally people know the 4-Ps of marketing. Which are acts as a guideline for a management to implement their marketing strategies for the company or the industry. According to Kotler et al. (1999) the mix is a set of controllable tactical marketing tools that the firm blends to produce the response it wants in the target market. 2.1.1 The 4-Ps of marketing mix The traditionally marketing mix contain of 4 major elements. But we will discuss 7-Ps of marketing Product: Product has to be categorized one is physical food that means tangible and other is intangible for illustration Automobile industry has car as a physical product which they can sell in the market and Hotel industry like Lemiridien they have service as a product which is intangible. Price: -This is more critical and difficult element of marketing mix and management has to put lots of efforts to finalize the product price especially in services industry. For every industry it will vary time to time and circumstances. The price of the product is made on the basis of three factors as shown in the figure below: Figure 1 Factors influencing pricing decisions by the managers (Source: Liao, M. 2005) Promotion: In the current scenario promotional activity is very important to increase the market share and make awareness about changes in the services. It shows the visible face of the industry and its products in front of customer. It creates awareness about the product in the consumer mind. These are the ways which are used by the industry to communicate with the target customer in present time. Advertising (TV, News Paper, Radio, Internet) Personal Selling Sponsorship Publicity Exhibitions Sales Promotion Point of Sales Place: This element plays major role when we discuss about services recovery in hotel industry. How effective they are connected with consumer and offer them their best deal in the market. People: Employees are the key assets of the organization and all business depends on the people. How well they are playing their role in the organization. Especially when we will discuss about the services industry. Service industry always tries to take feedback from the consumer about their employees services and give them training and motivation to improve their interpersonal skill to minimize services failure in the industry. Process: Process means proper system to do the things in plan way. Follow the roles and instruction and procedure by which the service is acquired. For illustration computer function means for any operation which is perform by computer goes through pre-define process and then result will be displayed on the screen. Every process has some steps. Physical evidence: It is shown that the physical appearance of the industry is to deliver their services to the consumer like hotel building, public hospitals and school colleges. These all are contain similar types of logo or design to specified company existence. Its very important for the services industry. Evaluate the influence of 7Ps in context of service recovery in hotel industry. After having an overview of marketing mix including environment analysis, now we have to discuss all contents in terms of service industry market strategy for service recovery. Product: In the service industry product are intangible and industry had made too many changes to recover from the service failure. Now industry has different range of product in the market to offer best quality of service and minimize the service failure in the industry. Industry introduces different range of service in their product to satisfied customer demand. Now days hotel have some entertainment zone for the relaxation of the customer. Price: After service failure in the hotel industry .Pricing is very important factor in service recovery process. Customer satisfaction highly depends on the price of the services and facility. Hotel industry has different price range to cover all segments with different range in service quality. It has all basic prices and customer has paid more to get additional features in the current service level. Company has to meet the competitors price and also offer some extra benefit to satisfied consumer like free food and transports etc. price is mostly depend on the what service they are offering for the customers and now hotel have different pricing strategies to attract more customers. Place: Place is very important aspect in terms of the service recovery for hotel industry as we discussed earlier image of the destination. Where we are operating and what services we are offering for the client. Some time industry didnt understand what they have to offer for the customers for their satisfaction. Now industry analyses shows its very important for the service industry to identify the locations and its service requirement in that destinations. Promotion: Its most important factor for in services recovery of hotel industry. Promotions offer and schemes play wider role to recover from the service failure earlier consumer dont know about the services of the hotel where customer going to stay. In the recent time, consumer become more active and aware about the services just because of the promotional activates and they knows what service they will receive. Now days industry has very strong promotional system in the world. With the help of this system industry easily transfer all information about destinations and their services with the different range of price. Customer know about new event, campaigning and promotional schemes. All results have an integrated marketing approach so that every employee of the industry could deliver the same image and services of the industry to achieve customer satisfaction with the service. In addition, some company has its call centres and informational centres to guide the customer about pro duct and its proper use. Most of the promotional budgets are spend in communicating towards advertising the product through Television, radio, press and internet. Hotel industry uses E-marketing tools to promote their new and existing service product in the market and try to improve their position in front of consumer and also have e-store facility, by which the customers could book the rooms and other service. People: People are most important part of services industry. Services industry highly depends on the people. Because there is no physical product and what ever they are charging its totally based on what services level they are offering for their customer. Earlier most of the services failure comes from here and most of the dissatisfaction in the industry based on the people behaviour on job. Now industries have better option to hire highly skills employees. so they know how to satisfied customer and how to meet their requirement. Process:- Process of hotel industry has been totally changed in the recent years. Now industry become more professional and qualifies. They know what customer wants and how to deliver it to achieved 100% customer satisfaction. Industry has standard process to fulfil the customer demand and minimize services failure with in the industry. Physical Evidence: Physical evidence is very important for any industry but its quite difficult to understand in the hotel industry. Because of there is no tangible product so industry not able to show what will the offer for the customer .But in the recent time hotel can show their services for the customers what they will offer and what facility they have for the customers . Evaluate effective marketing strategies for services recovery in hotel industry. Product Strategies:-The hotel industry has variety of right mix product for every market segment with best feature and services. Now days hotel industry has very focused segmentation e.g. lower to upper range product and services according to that. They have target audience and positioning strategies. Industry has flexible product so if a customer wants to add some services in existing facility then they can add on few package in that. Such kind of strategies easily satisfied the customer requirement. Promotional strategies:- Hotel industry profit more depend on the promotions strategies as compare to earlier time and its very important tool of recovery and generate maximum profit from the market. Internet play wider role in to promote hotel industry through out the world customer can book the room in advance and they have all information about the locations and services which will they get in the hotel .Internet easily transform information to customers. Hotel industry is spending million of dollars to increase the market value with the help of promotional scheme. All hotels provide all the details about their product and services on their company official website and also highlights the best feature about the product. Process: Hotel industry is one of the best industries in the world. Service recovery in the process also has been changed a lot. In the recent years industry become more professional and structured. They follow its own process to meet customer demand and satisfied them with services. Conclusion: In this article, we are tried to find service recovery in hotel industry on the basis of marketing mix. Where they are change their strategies to achieve customer satisfaction and come up with the failure which happened earlier in the market. The article use marketing mix approach to identify the market scenario and fault in the market in terms of services and where they made changes to recover from the failure. This model intended to expand the impact of 7Ps on the services recovery from the service provider. Putting the article into the practice its shows service provider made so many changes to recover from loses in the industry in terms of marketing afford and strategies. After analysis of marketing mix model in hotel industry its clearly show that industry had too many changes to become more profitable industry. Now it has more flexible service product in the market and trying to become more flexible as per the customer demand. Industry also effectively using technology to achie ved their target and objective. However service industry dont have physical product which they can show to the customer so they have to more effective and fast service offer for the customer to take positive feedback from the customers. In addition, industry also takes responsibility to build a strong image of the destination so that it attracts other customer to visit there. Hotel services in very important to maintain the positive image of the destination. 7 Ps of marketing is very effective to evaluate the service of the hotel industry. Where promotions activities is more important factor to improve the service level and differentiate between earlier and existing service in the industry. Hotel industry introduces some other new service to improve customer satisfaction. Therefore, in this article we discuss about the changes in service level people role in the system and how well they are involve to improve the service of the hotel industry in order to customer satisfaction and increase the profit margin. .

Red Death Essay -- essays research papers

Edgar Allan Poe's short story entitled The Mask of the Red Death is an artistic example of vivid symbolism. Throughout the sinister tale Poe writes in a style that appeals to all five senses and captivates the reader's curiosity until the story's dour conclusion. Upon first glance, the story seems to be a complex tale of good versus evil. If the reader were to examine the story more deeply, they would then discover that the plot and symbolism intertwined throughout the narrative is no more than a simple metaphor for life and death. A quick synopsis of the story tells the account of the affluent and overly confident Prince Prospero and his faulted attempt to escape death. Poe illustrates that Prospero is blinded by his riches and believes that he can escape death. A heavy dose of figurative language is used to create a struggle in which the mood goes from elation to somberness in just a mere three pages. The characters of the story are well defined in that the reader can ascertain certain traits, good or bad, of the characters. For instance, Poe writes, "When his dominions were half depopulated, he summoned to his presence a thousand hale and light-hearted friends from among the knights and dames of his court." (Poe 41) This line identifies the Prince as a smug, insecure, and even foolish character all while foreshadowing a dark conclusion. These lines identify the Prince as the axis of the story by illustrating a few ... Red Death Essay -- essays research papers Edgar Allan Poe's short story entitled The Mask of the Red Death is an artistic example of vivid symbolism. Throughout the sinister tale Poe writes in a style that appeals to all five senses and captivates the reader's curiosity until the story's dour conclusion. Upon first glance, the story seems to be a complex tale of good versus evil. If the reader were to examine the story more deeply, they would then discover that the plot and symbolism intertwined throughout the narrative is no more than a simple metaphor for life and death. A quick synopsis of the story tells the account of the affluent and overly confident Prince Prospero and his faulted attempt to escape death. Poe illustrates that Prospero is blinded by his riches and believes that he can escape death. A heavy dose of figurative language is used to create a struggle in which the mood goes from elation to somberness in just a mere three pages. The characters of the story are well defined in that the reader can ascertain certain traits, good or bad, of the characters. For instance, Poe writes, "When his dominions were half depopulated, he summoned to his presence a thousand hale and light-hearted friends from among the knights and dames of his court." (Poe 41) This line identifies the Prince as a smug, insecure, and even foolish character all while foreshadowing a dark conclusion. These lines identify the Prince as the axis of the story by illustrating a few ...

Why I Should Win The University Philosophy Club Essay Contest :: Writing Jacksonville University Essays

Why I Should Win The 1997 Jacksonville University Philosophy Club Essay Contest The Jacksonville University Philosophy Club is sponsoring its eighth annual undergraduate essay contest. The best argumentative essay, from any discipline, will receive the first place prize. I will demonstrate here why you will be compelled to award that prize to the essay that you are currently undertaking. We start this argument with the following premise, known as the Conservation of Energy. Energy can neither be created nor destroyed. This is a basis of physics, and no evidence is brought against it that refutes its certainty. If we accept it, it follows that the energy in the cosmos must be finite. If we posited an infinite amount of energy, we could not speak of conserving it. Additionally, the stuff of the cosmos cannot be infinite or w e would face the contradiction that new energy would be coming into existence from nothing; ex nihilo. From this examination we must accept the entailed premise that the amount of energy must be finite. The second premise of the argument is that all becoming is of necessity. Perhaps, it is easier to frame this idea within a format of cause and effect. For the event, represented by the placeholder; Z, to be any different than it is, its cause (or causes), symbolized; Y must have necessarily been different in some manner. It follows logically that for Y to be different, then X must differ. This, like the energy in the cosmos, can not amount to an infinite set of possibilities. The possible outcomes of a pair of rolled standard die are a finite number of outcomes (six to the second power). The number of possible outcomes of any finite set of probabilities must be finite (albeit perhaps incomprehensibly large). If we extrapolate the number of outcomes from the huge number of finite possibilities we do not ever, arrive at an infinite amount. Although, one odd possibility does remain. We may come upon the case where (for the sake of simplicity) Z causes A. The chain of causes resumes wher e it once before began. Subsequently, time is infinite. It extends forever toward the past and forever into the future. We have now only to piece these premises together. Energy is a fixed quantum within the cosmos. Time proceeds through an unending series of becoming from necessity (with acknowledged shortcomings, I may interchange the terms; cause and effect).

Basketball Essay -- essays research papers

Basketball Basketball was created a simple game. The primary objective was to place a ball, without dribbling, into a peach basket. However, like Darwin's theory of man, basketball has evolved into the most exciting exhibition of athletic ability. Basketball has seen many rule changes, because of the increasing ability of the players. Basketball is a melting pot, where black, white, and European people excel. This is a sport that is color-blind. This sport requires complete control over one's body and mind. Pure strength is required to fight through opposing teams picks, and to gain position for rebounds. Speed is necessary to create space for a shot attempt or a pass. Concentration is vital to dribbling a ball up the court, with an opposing defender harassing you. With as much physical prowess that is required for success, basketball is a mental chess match. "Thurber, make the smart play!" yelled Coach Balderama all last season.This game is only "ten percent" physical as Duke's Coach K explains it. For those who deny the mental aspects of the game, John Stockton is an ideal example. He is not the fastest, strongest, or best player on the floor. Stockton uses angles and his understanding of basketball to quietly and consistently outplay much more talented opponents. There is a growing problem in the NBA, and it is evident in the "Pop Warner" leagues also. Basketball is not the same game it was ten years ago, and ESPN's Sportcenter, the lack of fundamentals, and the influx of teenagers into the professional ranks. "Vince Carter on the baseline†¦ He raises up†¦ Boo-ya, all in Alonzo Mourning's grill!" States an exited Stuart Scott. Every day ESPN gathers the most amazing highlights from the games the night before, and creates a visually appealing collage. As a religious viewer I am fed a ste ady diet of no look passes, monstrous slam-dunks, and impossible fade-away shots that only NBA caliber players are capable of making. This, almost unknowingly, has assisted in creating a new mentality towards the sport. Last season I would find myself in situations where I was trying to execute a spectacular play, instead of completing the easy one. Why do I try to imitate the sweeping crossover dribble glorified by Allen Iverson? ESPN has made "Playground" basketball in style. Allen Iverson is the pioneer of this ghetto re... ...aliber, and he educated himself about the game and life off of the court. Many of these players who jump to the pro's after little or no college are ignorant. The NBA, these days, has a combined IQ of fifteen, and we wonder what is wrong. The NBA is in a limbo, and is tripping over it's own clumsy feet. The game will not get better until the players improve their levels of play. But improvement comes with experience, and it is difficult for players to gain experience and confidence when they are only children trying to master a complex game. In conclusion, ESPN's Sportcenter, the lack of basic basketball fundamentals, and the decreasing age of players entering into the league is a recipe for disaster. It is a cycle that is going to be hard to break. Today's kids are presented with options that are too difficult for them to comprehend. So instead of doing it the right way and going through school and listening to their coach, agents are give utter control over these exploited chil dren. However, with all of the negatives surrounding the game, basketball will survive. David Stern is a competent commissioner and there is too much money involved for people to let the NBA self destruct.

Islam: Evils of Idolatry (Surah 10:26-38) Essay

The opening verses portray Allah as a deity that invites his follows to a â€Å"Home of Peace†. Allah will guide them on a straight path, and will reward all that do good works with promises of abundant blessings. Allah will protect these followers and will treat them as â€Å"heirs of Paradise† where they will live forever. However, it is quickly established that while those who do good works will be blessed, those who do evil will be rewarded with evil. They will not be protected by Allah and will be covered in misery. The evil doers will also be heirs, but instead of Paradise they will be heirs of Hell; where they will spend eternity. Islam views idolatry as evil. According this section of the scripture, those who commit idolatry are believed to have turned their backs on Allah. The scripture asks how they can be turned from the one who â€Å"turns living from the dead, and the dead from the living? † The scriptures question their judgment, and declare that even the idols that they worship will betray them in the end. The scripture states that the idols will declare that they had no idea that the evil doer was worshiping them, and that â€Å"Allah is there all-sufficient witness. † The scripture goes on to say that these evil doers who worship idols have no faith. They pose the question, â€Å"Can your idols lead you in the truth? † Islam believes that only Allah can lead you in the truth; therefore, only Allah could have written the Koran. This portion of the scripture concludes by challenging the evil-doers to have their false idols attempt to write one chapter of the Koran. Islam sees the worshiping of idols as an ultimate evil. They believe that not only will idol worshipers be exposed, but that they will pay for their sin by being sent to live in Hell for all of time. Idol worshipers are seen as those who lack faith, and have turned from Allah

Prom Nights from Hell Chapter Ten

It worked perfectly. Almost. There were six guards blocking the exits and another four at the door, checking everyone as they left. Ten total. All in body armor and masks, explaining patiently that there had been a bomb threat and it was important to evacuate as quickly as possible. No one questioned why they were armed with the automatic weapons they kept using to push the crowd along. No one except Dr. Trope, who went up to one of them and said, â€Å"Young man, I ask you to keep your weapons away from my students,† distracting him just long enough for Miranda and Sibby to get swallowed into the middle of the crowd. They'd navigated by the first two storm troopers, with only two left when Ariel yelled, â€Å"Dr. Trope? Dr. Trope? Look, there she is, Miranda Kiss. I told you she crashed the prom. She's right there in the middle. You have to-â€Å" Four men with automatic weapons suddenly swiveled and waded into the mass of students. Miranda whispered, â€Å"Duck,† to Sibby and the two of them bobbed beneath the surface of the crowd, crawling back into the Great Hall. Behind her she heard Dr. Trope saying, â€Å"Where is she? Where did she go? I'm not leaving one of my pupils in there.† And the storm trooper saying, â€Å"Please, sir, you need to evacuate. We'll find her. Rest assured.† Miranda decided that if she got out of this alive, she'd be a lot nicer to Dr. Trope. If. She dragged Sibby over to Old Faithful and said, â€Å"In there. Now.† â€Å"Why can't I hide in the White House? Why does it have to be in the volcano?† â€Å"I might need part of the White House. Please, just do it. They won't be able to make you out if they have night goggles.† â€Å"What about you? You're wearing white.† â€Å"I match the decorations.† â€Å"Wow, you're really good at this. This planning stuff. How'd you learn how to-â€Å" Miranda was wondering the same thing. Wondering why as soon as she'd heard the announcement some part of her brain had started measuring her distance to the exits, looking around for weapons, watching the door. Her senses going into overdrive was a relief; it meant some of her powers were cooperating. But did she have the strength to take on ten armed men? The most she'd ever taken on at one time before was three, and they hadn't been toting machine guns. She'd have to be crafty rather than direct. She said to Sibby, â€Å"Give me your boots.† â€Å"For what?† â€Å"To get rid of some of our competition so we can get out of here.† â€Å"But I really like these-â€Å" â€Å"Give them to me. And also a rubber bracelet.† Miranda set her trap, then held her breath as a guard approached. She heard him say into the walkie-talkie, â€Å"Southwest pillar. I've got one,† and saw the ribbons stir as he used the butt of his gun to push them aside. Heard him say, â€Å"What the-â€Å" And fired George Washington's sugar nose at him with the slingshot she'd made out of Sibby's rubber bracelet and a fork. All her target work paid off because it hit him at exactly the right point to send him plunging forward. He went down headfirst just hard enough to be disoriented and docile while she tied his hands and feet with the ribbons from the pillar. â€Å"I'm really sorry,† she said, flipping him over to gag him with a piece of dinner roll, then smiled. â€Å"Oh, hi, Craig. Not your day, is it? I hope your head's feeling better. What? It's not? It will. Try rubbing some insta-hot on your wrists and ankles when they untie you. Bye.† She'd just grabbed the boots she'd used at the base of the column as a decoy when she heard another guard coming fast from her left. She threw a boot at him Frisbee style and heard a satisfying swack as he fell down, too. Two down, eight to go. She was apologizing to the one she'd hit with the shoe, who was out cold-it was nice to know ankle boots were good for something-when the walkie-talkie on his belt came to life. â€Å"Leon, this is the Gardener. Where are you? State your position. Copy?† Miranda picked up the unconscious guard's walkie-talkie and said into it, â€Å"I thought your name was Caleb Reynolds, Deputy. Why the Gardener stuff? Or, as my friend likes to call you, Plant Boy.† A crackle. Then Deputy Reynolds's voice through the walkie-talkie. â€Å"Miranda? Is that you? Where are you? Miranda?† â€Å"Right here,† she whispered in his ear. She'd snuck up behind him, and now as he turned, her arm came around his neck with the heel of the boot pointed at his throat. â€Å"What are you stabbing me with?† he asked. â€Å"All you need to know is that it's going to cause you a lot of pain and probably a bad infection if you don't start telling me how many people there are here and what their plan is.† â€Å"There are ten in here, five more watching the exits outside. But I'm on your side.† â€Å"Really, Gardener? That's not how it looked at the house.† â€Å"You didn't give me a chance to talk to the girl.† â€Å"You're going to have to do better than that. I'm not a mix tape, you can't play me.† â€Å"Do you have any idea what she is?† † What she is? Not really.† His heart rate sped up now. â€Å"She's a real-life flesh-and-blood prophet. The Cumean Sibyl. She's one of ten people who between them supposedly know and can control the whole future of the world.† â€Å"Wow. I thought she was just an annoying fourteen-year-old with wild hormones.† â€Å"The Sibyl operates through different bodies. Or that's what they think. These people I'm working with. Wack jobs. They pretend they want to protect her, keep her prophecies from being exploited by the unscrupulous, but I think they're actually into extortion. I heard one of them say they could ransom the girl for eight figures.† His heart rate slowed as he talked. â€Å"My job was to find out where she was supposed to be picked up, so they could send someone there with some trinket of hers to show we had her, and get the Overseer to pay up.† Miranda didn't like the sound of the word trinket at all. â€Å"But you weren't going to?† â€Å"They're just using this religion stuff as a cover for their greed. It's disgusting. I'm all set to stop them, and then you†-getting agitated, his heartbeat spiking-â€Å"you come along in the middle and mess it up.† Miranda knew he was genuinely angry. â€Å"Stop them how?† â€Å"I was supposed to be getting the location of her pickup place from her, right? When you crashed in, I was going to tell her what to say, a place I'd picked out with the task force, then when the wackos went there, they'd be picked up by the police. Meanwhile I'd get the Sibyl safely to the real rendezvous. But you come in and blow it. Months of police work down the tubes.† His heartbeat was slow and even again. Miranda let him go. â€Å"I'm so sorry,† she said. He turned to scowl at her, changing it to a half smile when he saw what she was wearing. â€Å"Nice look on you.† He paused for a second, then said, â€Å"You know, there's a way we could still make this work. Do you have another outfit like that?† â€Å"My skating uniform? Yeah. But it's not the same color. It's more blue.† â€Å"That doesn't matter as long as it's close. With you two dressed as twins we'll be able to fool them into thinking that you're the Sibyl, use you as a decoy while we sneak her out to safety.† Talking quickly, he outlined the rest of his plan. Miranda said, â€Å"It would be better if we wore the wigs and masks, too. To complete the disguise.† â€Å"That's right. Perfect. Go toward the employee entrance, the one you used to sneak in. There's someone guarding the outer door but there's a door on the left that is clear. It goes to an office. I'll deal with these guys and then come-â€Å" He stopped talking, lifted his gun, and fired behind her. Turning, Miranda saw he'd shot one of the guards. â€Å"He saw us together,† he told her. â€Å"I couldn't let one of those bastards get you or tell the others. I'll distract them, keep them over here. You get the Sibyl, change, and wait for me in the office.† She was already moving away when she paused and said, â€Å"How did you find us?† His heartbeat slowed. â€Å"Put out a bulletin on your car.† â€Å"I should have thought of that,† Miranda said, then took off as he radioed, â€Å"Man down-man down.† Sibby was frantic when Miranda got back to her. â€Å"What happened? Did you get shot?† â€Å"No. I got us a ride out of here.† â€Å"How?† Miranda explained as they changed, then skirted the edges of the Great Hall toward the director's office. As they moved, she heard Deputy Reynolds barking orders to the guards, keeping them busy in other parts of the room, saying at one point, â€Å"No, don't turn on the lights-that will give them an advantage!† At another, heard a grunt of pain that sounded like someone being knocked out. She was impressed. They reached the director's office without running into anyone. Sibby sat in the desk chair. Miranda was pacing, walking back and forth to the ticktock of the big clock on the director's mantelpiece, picking up and putting down objects, a crystal bowl, a box of stationery, weighing them in her hand. A family picture of a man, woman, two small boys, a dog sitting together at the edge of a pier with the sun setting behind them. The dog was wearing someone's hat, a real full member of the family. A hand came down in front of the picture. â€Å"Hello, Miranda? I was asking you something?† Miranda put the picture down. â€Å"Sorry. What?† â€Å"How do you know you're right about him?† â€Å"I just do. Trust me.† â€Å"But if you're wrong-â€Å" â€Å"I'm not.† The clock ticked. Miranda paced. Sibby said, â€Å"I hate that clock.† Tick. Pace. Sibby: â€Å"I'm not sure I can do this.† Miranda stopped and looked at her. â€Å"Of course you can.† â€Å"I'm not brave like you.† â€Å"Excuse me? The girl who got-how many guys is it now? Twenty-three?† â€Å"Twenty-four.† â€Å"Twenty-four guys to kiss her? You're brave.† Miranda hesitated. â€Å"Know how many guys I've kissed?† â€Å"How many?† â€Å"Three.† Sibby gaped at her, burst out laughing. â€Å"Gods, no wonder you're so repressed. This had better work or you'll have had one seriously sad life.† â€Å"Thanks.†