Thursday, September 26, 2019

Characters of Dexter and Missie May Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Characters of Dexter and Missie May - Essay Example The characters Dexter and Missie May Banks have been presented with memorable roles in developing the stories in Winter Dreams, and The Gilded Six-Bite respectively to achieve the themes within the stories. Winter Dreams as written by Scott Fitzgerald has been based on the events that affect the leading character Dexter Green as presented by the girl in his life. Although his background fails to meet the standards presented in the story, Dexter depicts the desire to meet satisfaction from material wealth. His definition of a perfect life had been inhabited by wealth, money and comfort in the arms of Judy Jones. Judy becomes the key to reveal Dexter’s potential as she advocates for him to be successful. The leading themes in power, beauty and success are represented through the leading character when Dexter desires the luxurious lifestyle. Dexter’s Character Dexter is hardworking, and we are told of the role that he features to be a caddie in the search for money (Fitzge rald). He had further sough to gain success ad wealth when he had declined his position as a caddie to join the ranks of the wealthy class. Dexter strives to lead a more flourishing lifestyle and he demonstrates the fete through joining the Eastern University. The more enthusiastic Dexter proves to be enterprising and ambitious. This is more evident when he borrows money to invest in the laundry hustle that made him borrow $1,000. Dexter’s ability to seek the determination needed to acquire wealth saw him become a leading entrepreneur at the young age of 27. Dexter presents the image required to reflect him as a hard worker and an individual who requires progress. He rises from his neighborhood in Keeble to become a prominent personality within the community. Dexter toils to rise the ranks into a group that holds more wealth within the society and differentiates from the class that had been created by the failure within the society to offer a counter measure. The winter dream s theme had been created to be based on the expectations needed by the young Dexter who works as a caddie and dreams of playing with the established personalities. He further improves his relationship with Judy after acquiring the wealth required to accord a complete life. However, the satisfaction that he presents in Judy is not fully presented because he loses interest as her beauty fades. He is depicted as an inconsiderate character after leaving her first wife Irene for Judy. Dexter places most effort on the image he relays towards the society as he values the wealth and power that he had worked hard to acquire. â€Å"The Gilded Six-Bite† by Zora Neal Hurston is written to delve on the theme of love betrayal and the desire to reconcile with those that share love. The story set in Eatonville depicts Missie May who is eager to impress her new husband Joe. However, their relationship is threatened by, the new wealthy, personality in Otis Slemmons. Joe brags of the wealth tha t Slemmons holds and acknowledges the power presented in the wealth realized in Slemmons but acknowledges that the power he holds is in his beautiful Missie. These fantasies push Missie to the arms of Slemmons who seizes the opportunity to lay with her in exchange for a gold coin. Although these events lead to tension between the couple, Joe forgives his wife, and they reconcile their differences (Hurston 53). Missie May’

Modern Business in Comparative Perspective Essay - 5

Modern Business in Comparative Perspective - Essay Example The model has been formulated by Porter with due consideration of trade theories. In this regard, Porter has devised the model based on different factors that include resources, cost and infrastructure among others and accordingly, the model developed is important to have an extensive understanding of competition relating to market segment, product differentiation and technological changes. Porter also recommended that the model would explain about the procedures with the assistance of which organizations are able to perform operations effectively and competitively. In this context, Porter while formulating the model conduct an examination in ten countries such as the US, Germany, Denmark, South Korea, Britain, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, Japan and Singapore. This type of model helps in recognizing the elements of competitive advantage of the countries. Subsequently, diamond model makes a structure, which determines the rules of competition in a sector and marks the important role to be played for attaining the long-term effectiveness (Bakan & Dogan, 2012). In this regard, the essay intends to explain the concept of Porter’s diamond model and national competitive advantage as well as the key issues and problems in relation to competitive advantage of nations. Porter’s diamond model is a type of economic model, which is established by Michael Porter in the book The Competitive Advantage of Nations, where he explains the reason of competitiveness of particular businesses in specific nations. Porter analyzed and formulated the model based on two parts. Initially, the analysis has been conducted on ten important nations that include the US, Germany, Denmark, South Korea, Britain, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, Japan and Singapore in order to develop a map based on which organizations can conduct operations for their success. Second analysis is the dynamic process through which competitive advantage can be accomplished.

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

What Problems do UEL Student Expect to have in their Future Essay

What Problems do UEL Student Expect to have in their Future Professional Careers and what are their plan to over come it - Essay Example It will gather data from UEL student and analyse it in more depth. The above question analyses two parts of the research. The first part analyses the data generated from the small scale. The second part includes a personal development plan showing how and to what extent studying for the degree has been beneficial to me as a student. The reason for this is because by being in the corporate market students will be capable to link their responsibilities at work with what they will be learn during their degree course. Today’s technology is significantly changing the way Universities teach and how students learn. There are great possibilities for the academic institutions with change in equipping graduates in competing in knowledge economy. Witte &Steijn (245–264.) describes that; students who want to do Master studies should have work experience before doing so. Dale et al.(1998) shows the other reason is that working before taking on degree builds student’s self con fidence and determination for them to take up the studies in order to improve their working skills. In certain areas of work, using a more practical approach and having acquired work experience enables one to have a competitive edge in the job market. Andrea (2010) shows having a working experience is necessary because it is true that some skills may never be taught in a classroom but are acquired though working experience. Methodology In my research I have decided to choose interview and questionnaire. Questionnaires method is one of the most popular concepts of conducting research because it’s easily filled and straightforward. However interview is more complex to analysis as it’s challenging to code and produce graph and chart to display the results. This type of method focuses on conversation between both the interviewee and the interviewer. (Rosemary 2009) quantitative questionnaire and qualitative interview research are the selected data collection methods. The d ifference between both methods is information to be collected in-depth and the other generated statistics. The questionnaire was simple and it started with few closed questions. The questionnaire was designed in a simplistic fashion. It consists of multiple questions in order to reflect the main aspects, which are; retrieving the demographics and the prospect of student aspect, the problems student would encounter in the future and finally plans and measures student would undertake to improve the chance of employability and reduce risks. The questionnaire was given out to student in my seminar and also in the library of UEL. To analyse the data gathered from the questionnaire will be coded and inputted into Microsoft Excel (Kothari 2001). Consequently the data will be integrated into graphs, tables and charts in order to assess and compare against each other. Interview was conducted after the quantitative data collection in order to gain more qualitative insight the issue. The inter view process was subjected to trial to prevent any issue up rising. In order to exclude this, a passive interview method was executed. One to one method of research will be conducted where both interview and the interviewee exclusively focus on the topic being researched (Kahn and Cannel, 1957). The interview was conducted at the same manner as the questionnaire. The reason for using this method is because it’s informal, it also takes less time to process data and it is flexible to use. Holliday (2007) puts it that this method is also effective as there is no moderation or control of data collection environment. Interview is also effective as it provided interactive features if the interviewer had appropriate technology. Personal interaction with the respondent is also beneficial as they feel more relaxed and candid to

Monday, September 23, 2019

Managerial Accounting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 2

Managerial Accounting - Essay Example Initially, they started off with producing high quality record players which attracted customers belonging to a certain age group but gradually they shifted into producing technologically advanced products such as CD players, MP3 players and USB turntable. This helped the company to reach a wider customer base, rather only a younger one. This indicates that their primary strategy was to achieve a higher level of customer satisfaction. In addition to that, GEK’s leaders followed a team or sound style of leadership strategy which was concerned with both the production and employees (Zeidan 2009, 82-85). This was evident from the fact that highly skilled and experienced employees were paid sufficiently well. B. Strength: The development of the USB turntable has proven to be a huge strength for GEK technologies. With the rising demand for new style of products which demonstrated portability, USB turntable was a perfect introduction. This is evident from the sharper than expected i ncrease in sales for the USB Turntable over the last few years. Another strength associated with GEK technologies comes from the product Record player as the manufacturing of this product requires high level of craftsmanship. In 2012, the employees of GEK technologies working on the record player division were older, more experienced and very loyal. These workers displayed the highest level of craftsmanship in the company as well as in the entire industry. This was evident from the fact that record players represented a relatively high proportion of total sales in certain places. Weaknesses: GEK’s weakness can be identified in the CD player and MP3 player division where the sales growth became stagnant after 2010. This also shows that the development of USB turntable was mistimed as it halted the sales of CD players and MP3 players whose sales rate were significantly higher than any other product divisions. Opportunities: GEK’s opportunities can be witnessed in the USB turntable production division as it is shows a sharper than expected increase. The investment in this division is prospective. This is aided with the consistent increase in the sales rate and rising demand of new style of products which are portable, which in turn would help the division to generate significant wealth for the companies. Moreover, USB turntable as a product can be viewed as a ground work for further development of other products. Apart from that, another opportunity can be noticed in the record player division. Since the sales rate of this division is decreasing rapidly and the technology is becoming obsolete, the company can choose to shut it down and use the excess proceeds, generated from selling the assets, to either invest in another prospective project or distribute the excess cash as dividends to the shareholders. Threat: Having studied the report of GEK, record player and USB turntable division poses a certain degree of threat to the company. Record player w hich is an obsolete technology has accrued obsolete assets and inventories worth $287,000. Moreover, the company might incur losses as there was a sharp decline in sales in this division and high cost of production was associated with it. The USB turntable division is another threat to the company because a sharper than expected increase in sales for the USB turntable had resulted in delays in production and a backlog of orders. This

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Youtube.coms Way of Producing Value and Transforming it Into Money Essay

Youtube.coms Way of Producing Value and Transforming it Into Money - Essay Example YouTube's uses video playback technology that allows the company to display videos with quality comparable to more established video playback technologies that generally require the user to download and install a small piece of software called a browser plug-in in order to watch the video. Although the Flash itself requires a plug-in, said plug-in is generally found in approximately 90% of Internet-connected computers, hence users could easily download. It was the use of this technology that explains a key component of company’ success as it viewers watch video instantly without installing software or dealing with a common problem found in other video technologies stock. According to a July 16, 2006, survey, 100 million clips are viewed daily on YouTube, with an additional 65,000 new videos uploaded per 24 hours (Wikipedia, 2006) (Paraphrasing made). YouTube business must have come to what has predicted long ago where the users of its website may be considered the ‘technocrats’ or part of the ‘knowledge class’. In the early 1970’s Bell (1973) predicted the advent of the information society would which inevitably lead to the hegemony of the creators of information: the Knowledge Class. Touraine (1974) was predicted also about the new dominant class [of technocrats] which defined as knowledge and a certain level of education. Youtube.com's production chain operational strategy is a combination of contributions from creative labor and immaterial labor.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Gabriel Oak Essay Example for Free

Gabriel Oak Essay The minor character in the novel, such as the farm labourers and Bathshebas maids, although appearing to be insignificant and unimportant actually have influential and crucial roles to play in the novel. They provide the story with many aspects which help move the plot forward whilst bringing authenticity, humour and personal views to the tale. Undeniably the most important minor character is Liddy, she provides the reader with large amounts of valuable information concerning the personalities of Bathsheba from the conversations they hold. This is mainly due to the close relationship between the two, Liddy being Bathshebas maid. As a result, the characteristics of the latter are shown, not through narration which would be too crude and observable for Hardys style, but through conversations between the two. By using this method Hardy can exercise his trademark subtlety and let the audience come to their own conclusions concerning Bathsheba, that of which Hardy originally intended. A good example of this technique where by using Liddy as a medium in which the characteristics of Bathsheba are fed to the reader is at the beginning of the novel where we first come into contact with Bathshebas excessive vanity. The following quote was from a conversation between the two women on the subject of Oaks proposal: HHHHHHHHHHHHsad A man wanted to once, she said, in a highly experienced voice How nice it must seem! said Liddy, with the fixed features of mental realization. And you wouldnt have him? He wasnt quite good enough for me. Although Liddys main role is to provide the reader with the characteristics of Bathsheba, she has also serves the purpose of moving the plot along. In fact, one of the most essential developments in the story was sparked by a comment from Liddy, the decision to send Boldwood the Valentine card which later lead to his complete psychological breakdown: What fun it would be to send it to the stupid old Boldwood, and how he would wonder! said the irrepressible Liddy. Besides Liddy there are also many other minor characters that play important and influential roles in providing the story with the ingredients that contribute to making the whole book an attractive read. One of the most major roles that they play is their comments on the main characters and actions which take place. This was Hardys method of relaying information that have not been directly covered in the narration to the readers. The mindless chat of the labourers and maids provide us with essential gossip on the actions of the main characters but also they provide the audience their own views on the subject in hand. By giving the reader views from characters in the book, Hardy knew that this would inspire our own thinking upon the subject and they for us to form our own judgements. From those judgements, the majority of the reader will come to the same conclusion, that of which Hardy originally intended. Due to the predictions that the reader will be subconsciously making whilst all this information is relayed to them it creates an air of suspense as one waits to see if their prediction was correct. An example of this can be seen when Gabriel Oak first arrives in Weatherbury and is told about the story of the stealing balif by the rustics: As to shepherd, there, Im sure misess ought to have made ye her baily-such a fitting man fort as you be. This comment by Joseph Poorgrass makes the reader wonder if Bathsheba will indeed employ Oak as her balif. And automatically the audience moves to the question of whether Oak and Bathsheba will actually develop a relationship should Oak work for her. This is Hardys technique of ensuring interest from the audience, by using the comments of the rustics he is able to create curiosity and suspense in the story. Another example of Hardys style of parallels of what is to happen comes from a conversation Liddy and Boldwood hold after the town hears of the death of Troy: My mistress certainly did once say, though not seriously, that she supposed she might marry again at the end of seven years from last year. Reading this remark once again sparks the interest of the readers drawing them to the question: will Bathsheba marry again at the end of the seven years and if so who? Boldwood or Oak? However, despite the subtle intention of drawing attention from the readers the rustics also have a more basic objective of providing the reader of more understanding of the characters and the events. Especially, we learn more detail regarding the past of the main characters which gives us a more comprehensive understanding of the saga as a whole. In addition, from this knowledge more accurate pre conceptions are made and leads back to the point I suggested previously on the topic of drawing interest. We learn that Boldwood has had madness in his family and therefore gain a more perceptive insight into Boldwoods passion and obsession: Oh Coggan, said Troy, as if inspired by a recollection, do you know if insanity has ever appeared in Mr.Boldwoods family? Jan reflected for a moment.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Can the media influence politics?

Can the media influence politics? Can the media influence politics? If so, how? If not, why not? There are numerous academic theories as to the relationship between politics and the media, and whether or not one is a dominant partner greatly influencing the output of the other. Some purport that the media hold extraordinary amounts of power in the political arena, however many other believe that the power they wield is in fact minimal (Newton Van Deth, 2009). What cannot be disputed is the idea that the media and its audience are interdependently connected; the media will alter their message to suit a specific audience, while the public are more likely to invest in media which reflects their viewpoints. Generalisation is something which should be avoided when discussing the media’s relationship with politics, as while the term media traditionally may have been used in reference to newspapers and radio or television programmes, (Newton Van Deth, 2009) it now encapsulates social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. There are those who may argue that media simply represe nts the political views of the public, and while that may be true in the cases of social networks, many may challenge its truth in relation to mass media news outlets. In this essay I will attempt to conclude myself as to the extent of influence media has on politics, and evidence how I have come to that conclusion. In the UK, the link between media and politics is undeniable. For a major newspaper to alter its political allegiance is a sizeable change, which would be expected to dominate all forms of media. For example the decision of The Sun, Britain’s most widely circulated newspaper and therefore the focus of my study, to remove its 12 year support for Labour in 2009 created national news, and ultimately forecast the downfall of the Labour government. It is worth noting that The Sun has supported the party that eventually forms the next government in the last 7 General Elections; something which suggests that The Sun hold great influence over the political opinions of their readers. However, in 1997, 2001 and 2005, the Conservative vote was not as effected as one may imagine, with an average32% of Sun readers saying they would vote Conservative through that period (Ipsos MORI, 2010). While this research may suggest that The Sun is a newspaper which will ruthlessly alter its allegiance in order to be on the winning side of an election, I would argue that this is not necessarily the case. In the 1992 General Election for example, The Sun had been consistently anti-Labour and Kinnock, including their infamous ‘If Kinnock wins today will the last person to leave Britain please turn out the lights’ headline, despite the polls suggesting either a minority Labour government or a very slim Labour Majority. The attacks on Kinnock in the final days of the 1992 campaign were widely regarded as responsible for Labour’s unexpected defeat (McKee, 1995), and even Neil Kinnock himself announced in his departing speech that ‘the Conservative-supporting press has enabled the Tory Party to win yet again when the Conservative Party could not have secured victory for itself on the basis of its record’ (Whitney, 1992). This would be used as an example for the theory of agenda-setting, whereby a media outlet has an opinion which it pushes upon its view ership, and attempts to influence which issues are considered important. Agenda setting is achieved by attaching priority to certain stories which may reflect the opinion which the media outlet wishes to push – in this instance the opinion that a Labour government would have been bad for Britain. Another example of how the mass media have exerted a great influence over British politics, and politics in general is the growth in the publication of scandal within Westminster. Prior to the Profumo Affair in 1963, the media and the public very much stuck to the idea that the private lives of politicians should be exactly that; private. The great public interest in this story however, meant that this affair was the watershed of political scandal, with journalists taking ever further measures in order to reveal the next big scoop. Albeit not immediately followed by a huge stream of revelations, the boundaries of privacy in the lives of politicians had been broken by the media and have not been the same since (Stanyer, 2012). This could be said to be an example of priming with, in the 1990s especially, the scrutiny over the dealings of Conservative politicians from the left-wing press leading to an environment whereby Majors administration was seen to be one full of sleaze and mistru st. This was achieved with revelations such as the Cash for Questions scandal and the backfiring of John Major’s Back to Basics campaign. This is priming as rather than directly stating the conservative ministers were untrustworthy, the media simply dripped out stories to highlight this way of thinking (Newton Van Deth, 2009).The mistrust of Conservatives created by the media environment of the 1990s is perhaps best characterised in the result of the 1997 general election in the historically safe Conservative seat of Tatton, in which the Cash for Questions tainted MP Neil Hamilton lost out to an independent, Martin Bell, standing on an ‘anti-sleaze ticket’ (Mann, 1999). The coverage of scandal can also be used in an argument to suggest that the media has little influence over political thinking. Those who believe in the reinforcement theory which states that ‘mass media can only reflect and reinforce public opinion, not create or mould it,’ (Newton Van Deth, 2009, p. 196) would point to the relatively recent shifts in what journalists publicise in relation to scandal in politics. While prior to the millennium scandal was often focused on the private lives and sexual misdemeanours of the political class, as such behaviour has become normalised in open society, the media has taken less of an interest in it. The public have gone from being shocked by behaviour that may be considered immoral, or not ‘Christian’, to now being shocked by primarily criminal activities. This has directly led to the kind of journalistic research which resulted in the Expenses scandal in 2009. The enormity of this story reflects the moral leanings o f the British people in the 21st century, and was a story picked up by media outlets nationwide – all of which will have held different agendas. Some may say that this proves to an extent that the media cannot control or influence, but merely just publish information which will reinforce public opinion. On a more international scale, it is difficult to ignore the way in which social media forms and revolution have gone hand in hand, specifically in the Arab Spring. It is not a recent idea that the new media of the late 20th and 21st centuries would create new dimensions from which politics can be influenced (Poster, 1995). In Egypt, ‘cyberactivism’ first came to existence in2004, and offered an alternative to the state-controlled media; allowing people to express opinion unpopular with the government. From 2008 onwards, in the shadow of a global economic crisis and an increasingly repressive government, there was a growing number of protests in which a key role has been played by new media forms (Khondker, 2011). It cannot be questioned that social networking was a pivotal player in the organisation and publicising of the protests across the region. One reason for this was the state control of traditional media, which left social media as almost the last voice of the pe ople. On a ground level ‘Facebook was used to schedule the protests’ and ‘Twitter to coordinate’ (Khondker, 2011), and then following on from this traditional media was utilised to present the uprisings to an international audience who in turn supported the uprising. In this case, and similar ones across North Africa, new media held great influence over politics. It mobilised opposition groups, allowing them to build a group identity as well as coherence. The influence that such new media can exert over politics in times of revolution and uprising should not, however, be overstated. It is important to point out that for such events to unfold, certain revolutionary conditions and the inability of the state to react to the actions of the people must be present. In this sense the media is merely a tool of the revolution, not a predetermined necessity for a revolution to occur (Khondker, 2011). Personally I believe that the media, both new and old, does not have a monopoly over the thoughts of the people and instead just provides them with a voice from which their ideas can be spread. The fact that revolutions have occurred throughout history in times before social media, such as the French and Cuban Revolutions, tells me that new media is more of an enabler than a driving force behind such events (Himelfarb, 2011). To conclude, I believe that the influence of the media over politics depends greatly upon the political situation in the region that it is being published. In more politically stable areas, such as the UK, while the media may have a certain agenda their consumers are likely to only access and take note of media that reflects their personal views. Mass media must cater to a certain readership in order to be sustainable as a business, and therefore cannot obviously attempt to mould public opinion. This is evidenced by the fact that in all post war elections but 1, the party with the greatest media support has formed the next government (Butler Butler, 2010). Despite this, the media can play a vital role in influencing politics, as displayed in the aforementioned Arab Spring. I believe this is a sign of the future, in which conventional media will play a comparatively small role to that of social media, in Africa and beyond.