Business Analysis Written Report (Fcebook company) Research Paper

Business Analysis Written Report (Fcebook organization) - Research Paper Example One of the significant issues that Facebook is experiencing is security, a study that was directed in 2010 recorded Facebook among the last five when it came to issues of protection. The issue was first noted in 2006 after Facebook presented News Feed, which indicated each change made by the user’s companions to their pages, it additionally presented an assistance considered Beacon that would permit clients see items that had been bought by their companions. After a clamor from the clients, security controls were executed which permitted them to control the substance they needed to show up in the News Feed area. In the year 2012, Facebook made misfortunes of more than 157 million dollars joined with an IPO that flamed out because of specialized hitches and elevated requirements, the company’s costs have about significantly increased because of finance costs and stock-based remuneration. Financial Factors The condition of the economy may be contrarily influencing the com pany’s income, as the average cost for basic items acknowledges; a great many people are compelled to lessen on their spending and totally bunk off superfluous costs. In the event that the clients are compelled to be efficient with their income, they may choose to lessen the measure of cash they use on web get to charges their visits to the locales that they esteem valuable, for example, work or school related. Thusly, Facebook may consider a to be in their pay as lesser individuals visit the site, which will thusly decrease the quantity of associations that decide to publicize with the organization. Sociocultural Factors One of the primary destinations of Facebook was to unite individuals as a social stage; it has effectively figured out how to do so observing that it holds the biggest number of clients contrasted with some other long range informal communication site. As individuals get busier, the network and families endure in light of the fact that they no longer have th e opportunity to bond as it was in the prior years yet because of Facebook, individuals from a family or some other social gathering can stay in contact without having the option to see each other genuinely. On the opposite side, certain sociocultural issues are influencing the organization in a negative manner, for example, digital tormenting, digital following and security. There is an ascent in instances of individuals confessing to having been badgering by means of Facebook and self destruction cases announced accordingly, the clients appear to lose confidence in the security of protection that Facebook concurs them; this thusly prompts less site visits (Peterson 29). Worldwide Factors Different worldwide components can impact the effect Facebook has in various areas, in this way deciding if the organization is fruitful or not. Factors, for example, government guideline on the utilization of web and restricting of sites, similar to the case in Syria, in 2007, when the legislatur e blocked Facebook to decrease online activism influence the organization (Wilson, Kellerman and Corey 173). Different factors, for example, medical problems become an integral factor and may influence the income of the organization as masses are being encouraged to invest less energy in the web, PC and other cell phone due to the wellbeing threat they present. Mechanical Factors Technology is the medium that has delivered the utilization of Facebook; it has made it one of the best 500 organizations on the planet and because of the expansion use in innovation, Facebook has become the most well known interpersonal interaction site. On the opposite side, the development being used of innovation and gadgets, for example, cell phones is turning into a danger to the budgetary success of the organization. The quantity of

Kant: Human, Animals, and Empathy Essay

Immanuel Kant stays one of the most compelling scholars ever. Some portion of Kant’s offer is his capacity to give fantastically extraordinary experiences into the human condition. One of the all the more fascinating works by Kant was his composing that investigated human interrelations with creatures. From his assessments, Kant basically shows that how people treat creatures is characteristic of how they will treat others. This ties vigorously into the thought that the human-creature relationship is connected intensely with compassion. Kant makes a calming point in his investigation of human associations with creatures. Quite a bit of Kant’s examination is sensible and this reasonable knowledge takes note of the darker side of human instinct. Kant comprehends that not all human/creature connections are agreeable. The miserable certainty remains that there are the individuals who are barbarous to creatures. Numerous sociopathic people show colossal mercilessness to creatures. In truth, the quantity of those people is restricted in contrast with the individuals who have amicable connections. Be that as it may, these people do exists. There numbers †while low †are as yet noteworthy enough that there are laws on the books intended to rebuff their remorseless conduct. Kant comprehends this since he takes a gander at the relationship from a good judgment point of view. All things considered, how could an individual who torments creatures show compassion towards people? An absence of compassion against any living this is characteristic that the individual has NO sympathy. Kant additionally calls attention to that a kid who has such brutal conduct will probably form into a savage grown-up. That is the way such a distorted advancement of connections will lead the kid when he/she blooms into adulthood. Obviously, not all of Kant’s composing manages the negative angles that can become visible while looking at the connection among people and creatures. The opposite is introduced also. That is, the acceptable characteristics of an individual become obvious while looking at how an individual treats their caring creatures. An individual who thinks about a pooch when it is debilitated, gives it food when it is ravenous, and gives cover when the creature needs insurance is unmistakably an individual who comprehend the idea of providing for those out of luck. Such activities will in the end reappear in their associations with different people. Presently, does that imply that basically in light of the fact that a canine proprietor is celestial with his pet that the proprietor will be without savagery towards others? No, obviously not; such an evaluation would be ludicrous. In any case, in the event that an individual treats a creature with generosity and regard, at that point compassion is available. Basically, all great treatment of creatures is interchangeable with compassion. You can not have one without the other. In truth, the real volume of sympathy may shift. That is, an individual may show compassion towards loved ones however may have atypical or ruinous characteristics also. An individual who adores his family sacrificially may likewise have racial ill will. In any case, if one somehow managed to take a gander at lessening or killing racial enmity (or some other character variation), an individual with a limit with respect to sympathy will be more than liable to apologize instead of a sociopath who needs compassion. Remember, sympathy is anything but a negligible â€Å"touchy-feely† feeling. Sympathy goes profoundly of what our identity is and what we are able to do. That is the reason it is basic to see how creatures respond to others since this gives a knowledge into their empathic nature. An away from of human-creature connections gives this knowledge. Or on the other hand, at any rate, this is the expectation.

5 Ways to Narrow Your College Search

5 Ways to Narrow Your College Search You might be thinking, There are a thousand colleges I could go to. How in the world am I going to choose just one? Its tough! A lot of great colleges across the country excel in their respective fields, so how do you even begin to compare them? Were giving you 5 ways to narrow things down. 1. Size When looking at various colleges, start by considering size. Do you like the idea of a really big school with lots of people, or do you want to keep it smaller and more personal? Answering this question can begin to narrow your search criteria. Related to size, if you wouldnt mind attending a large university but are concerned you wont receive a personalized classroom experience, pay close attention to student-to-faculty ratios. The lower a ratio is, the fewer large lectures youll find and the more direct access youll have to professors at that university. 2. Location Location is also an important factor when choosing a college. You can live in a big city, a small city, a suburban greenscape, a rural oasis, on top of a mountain, below sea level, or somewhere in between. If you come from a city or a rural town and you really enjoy it, you may want to look into similar locales. On the other hand, if you want to try something new, you could do the exact opposite. But dont be fooledâ€"some cities are quiet, while some rural areas have a vibrant college-town life. As you consider locations, also ask yourself this: How close to home do I want to be? If you want to be able to drive home once a month to see your beloved pet rat (lets call him Fluffy), you may want to consider colleges that are close by. If youre comfortable seeing Fluffy less often and dont mind taking a train or plane to get to him, you might decide to expand your search to include a larger area. 3. Major If you already know what you want your major to be, thats great! Look for schools of your preferred size in your preferred location that have that major. If you arent sure what you want to major in yet, thats also great! You have the opportunity to self-reflect and explore your options at a number of colleges. 4. Cost Cost is such a key factor when deciding where to go to college. Because its a large investment, you want to make sure you get the best value for your education. Familiarize yourself with how much college costs, and then determine the maximum amount you can comfortably afford. At this point, however, dont rule out any schools based on cost alone. Both scholarships and financial aid can help drastically, and we have advice on how to apply for both. 5. Fit The concept of fit is a little less concrete, but its arguably the most important thing on this list. Because if youre going to spend four years of your life at a particular college, you should definitely feel comfortable there. The best way to determine fit is to visit campus, where you can explore the college, including its people and its surroundings, to the fullest. Weve written a blog about what you should look for when visiting, and that blog includes more on this very topic. Once you narrow down your choices based on the above search criteria, its likely that multiple schools will make the cutâ€"and thats a good thing, because you should always apply to more than one college. So if one school ticks off all the right boxes on paper but another school still seems like the dream, dont hesitate to apply to both of them. You can always use this list to narrow down your options again after all those admissions offers come rolling in! How Illinois Stacks Up Size:Large Public UniversityLocation:Champaign-Urbana, IllinoisMajors:150+ in 11 Academic CommunitiesCost: Estimate Your Cost of Attendance and Financial AidFit: Unknown (visit us to find out!) college college prep resources planning Illinois Admissions We're here for you as you prepare for college. Whether you're looking for guidance on the college search process or have questions about Illinois, we hope our blogs will help!

Secrets of the Dead The Lost Gardens of Babylon

The latest video from the PBS series Secrets of the Dead visits the fairly controversial theory of Stephanie Dalley, an Assyriologist at Oxford University, who for last twenty years or so, has argued the Greek historian Diodorus had it wrong: the seventh ancient Wonder of the World shouldnt be called the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, because it wasnt in Babylon, it was in the Assyrian capital of Nineveh. Where are the Hanging Gardens? Archaeological remnants of all of the remaining ancient seven wonders--the colossus of Rhodes, the Great Pyramid at Giza, the Lighthouse of Alexandria, the Mausoleum at Halicamassus, the statue of Zeus at Olympia and the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus--have been discovered over the centuries: but not the Gardens at Babylon. Dalley points out that neither Nebuchadnezzar nor Semiramis, the two Babylonian rulers often credited with building the Hanging Gardens, were known for gardens: Nebuchadnezzar in particularly left hundreds of cuneiform documents, full of descriptions of his architectural works but not a word about gardens. No physical evidence to date has been found in Babylon at all, leading some scholars to wonder if the garden ever existed. Not so, says Dalley, there is documentary evidence for the Hanging Gardens--and some archaeological evidence as well--for them, but in Nineveh, 300 miles north of Babylon. Sennacherib of Nineveh Dalleys research points to Sennacherib, the son of Sargon the Great, who ruled Assyria between 705-681 BC. He was one of ​several Assyrian leaders who ​were known for engineering feats around water control: and he left many cuneiform documents in which he described his construction projects. One is the Taylor prism, an octagonal fired clay object that one of three known such objects in the world. It was discovered in the walls of the elevated palace of Kuyunjik, at Nineveh, and it describes an extravagant garden with orchards of fruit trees and cotton plants, watered daily. Further information comes from the decorative panels that were on the palace walls when it was excavated, now stored in the Assyrian Room of the British Museum, which illustrate a lush garden. Archaeological Evidence The Hanging Gardens of Babylon includes the research of Jason Ur, who has used satellite imagery and detailed spy maps made of the Iraqi countryside back in the 1970s and are now declassified, to trace Sennacheribs amazing canal system. It included one of the earliest known aqueducts, the Aqueduct at Jerwan, part of a 95 kilometer (~59 mile) long canal system that led from the Zagros Mountains to Nineveh. One of the bas-reliefs from Lachish now at the British Museum contains images of a vast garden, with arches of similar construction of those used at Jerwan. More archaeological evidence is hard to come by: the ruins of Nineveh are in Mosul, about as dangerous a place on the planet today as you can get to. Nevertheless, some local guards from Mosul were able to get to the site for Dalley and take video of the remnants of Sennacheribs palace and the place where Dalley believes they might find evidence of the garden. Archimedes Screw A fascinating part of this film discusses Dalleys theory about how Sennacherib got water into his elevated garden. No doubt, there are canals that would have brought water into Nineveh, and there was a lagoon as well. Scholars have thought he might ​have  used a shadoof, a wooden lever contraption that was used by ancient Egyptians to lift buckets of water out of the Nile and onto their fields. Shadoofs are slow and cumbersome, and Dalley suggests that some version of a water screw was used. The water screw is thought to have been invented by the Greek mathematician Archimedes, some 400 years later, but, as Dalley describes in this video, there is a strong possibility that it had been known for centuries before Archimedes described it. And might indeed have been used at Nineveh. Bottom Line The Secrets of the Dead The Lost Gardens of Babylon is a terrific example of the entertaining glimpses into the ancient past, covering controversial ideas where history and science collide, and a great addition to the Secrets of the Dead collection.   Video Details Secrets of the Dead: The Lost Gardens of Babylon. 2014. Featuring Stephanie Dalley (Oxford); Paul Collins (Ashmolean Museum); Jason Ur (Harvard). Narrated by Jay O. Sanders; writer and director by Nick Green; director of photography, Paul Jenkins, director of production Olwyn Silvester. Executive producer for Bedlam Productions, Simon Eagan. Executive in charge for WNET, Stephen Segaller. Executive producer for WNET, Steve Burns. Coordinating producer for WNET, Stephanie Carter. Bedlam Production for Channel 4 in association with ARTE, THIRTEEN Productions LLC for WNET and SBS Australia. Check local listings. Disclosure: A review copy (link to a screener) was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.

The Marketing Process - 7575 Words

Basic Quantitative Analysis for Marketing Break-even Analysis Fixed Cost – costs that remain constant over a range of activity irrespective of the quantity produced †¢ ex: rent, insurance, depreciation, office overheads Variable Cost – costs that vary directly with the quantity produced †¢ ex: direct labor, direct materials, sales commissions Break-Even Point – the point of production at which Total Revenue = Total Cost Total Revenues = P X Q Total Cost = TFC + TVC Total Variable Cost (TVC) = VC/unit X Q Contribution Margin (CM) = P – VC/unit Total Contribution = (P – VC/unit) X Q BEP: BEQ = TFC/CM Break-Even Sales: BE$ = BEQ X P BEP w/ profit goal = TFC + Profit Goal/CM Bross Cord calculations Given: Price gives†¦show more content†¦There are five alternative concepts under which organizations design and carry out their marketing strategies (in chronological order): Production Concept – the idea that consumers will favor products that are available and highly affordable and that the organization should therefore focus on improving production and distribution efficiency †¢ Profit maximization through economies of scale †¢ Can sometimes lead to marketing myopia †¢ Philosophy during the Industrial revolution Product Concept – the idea that consumers will favor products that offer the most in quality, performance, and innovative features and that the organization should therefore devote its energy to making continuous product improvements †¢ Profit maximization through superior product performance †¢ Can also sometimes lead to marketing myopia Selling Concept – the idea that consumers will not buy enough of the firm’s products unless it undertakes a large-scale selling and promotion effort †¢ Profit maximization through the generation of demand for products (through sales volume) †¢ â€Å"Inside-out† perspective—â€Å"†¦any color he wants, so long as it’s black.† †¢ Typically practiced with unsought goods – goods that buyers do notShow MoreRelatedThe Marketing Process Of Marketing1341 Words   |  6 Pages The marketing world where we live in is changing daily, but the main, basic function on marketing is remains the same. 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Freedom Of Press Free Essays

string(173) " what we mean by freedom of the press today was shaped in an extraordinary era of Supreme Court decision-making that began with Sullivan and concluded in 1991 witn Conen v\." Freedom of Press Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the freedom of communication and expression through mediums including various electronic media and published materials. While such freedom mostly implies the absence of interference from an overreaching state, its preservation may be sought through constitutional or other legal protections. With respect to governmental information, any government may distinguish which materials are public or protected from disclosure to the public based on classification of information as sensitive, classified or secret and being therwise protected from disclosure due to relevance of the information to protecting the national interest. We will write a custom essay sample on Freedom Of Press or any similar topic only for you Order Now Many governments are also subject to sunshine laws or freedom of information legislation which are both used to define the extent of national interest. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights declares: â€Å"Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference, and impart information and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers† This philosophy is usually accompanied by legislation ensuring various degrees of freedom of scientific research (known s scientific freedom), publishing, press and printing the depth to which these laws are entrenched in a country’s legal system can go as far down as its constitution. The concept of freedom of speech is often covered by the same laws as freedom of the press, thereby giving equal treatment to spoken and published expression. Beyond legal definitions, several non-governmental organizations use other criteria to Judge the level of press freedom around the world. Some of those organizations include the following: Reporters Without Borders The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) Freedom House Many of the traditional means of delivering information are being slowly superseded by the increasing pace of modern technological advance. Almost every conventional mode of media and information dissemination has a modern counterpart that offers significant potential advantages to Journalists seeking to maintain and enhance their freedom of speech. A few simple examples of such Satellite television Web-based publishing (e. g. , blogging) Voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) Every year, Reporters Without Borders establishes a ranking of countries in terms of their freedom of the press. The Freedom of the Press index, an annual survey of edia independence in 197 countries and territories, is based on responses to surveys sent to Journalists that are members of partner organizations of the RWB, as well as related specialists such as researchers, Jurists and human rights activists. The survey asks questions about direct attacks on Journalists and the media as well as other indirect sources of pressure against the free press, such as non-governmental groups. The annual index contains the most comprehensive data set available on global media treedom and is a key resource tor scholars, policymakers, international institutions, media, and activists. The index assesses the degree of print, broadcast, and internet freedom in every country in the world, analyzing the events of each calendar year. It provides numerical rankings and rates each country’s media as â€Å"Free,† â€Å"Partly Free,† or â€Å"Not Free. Country narratives examine the legal environment for the media, political pressures that influence reporting, and economic factors that affect access to information As of 2013, the United States is ranked 32nd in the Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index. There was a fall from 20th in 2010 to 42nd in 2012, which was attributed to arrests of Journalists covering the Occupy movement. In 2011-2012, the countries where press was the most free were Finland, Norway and Germany, followed by Estonia, Netherlands, A ustria, Iceland, and Luxembourg. The country with the least degree of press freedom was Eritrea, followed by North Korea, Turkmenistan, Syria, Iran, and China. Freedom of the press in the United States is protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. The First Amendment to the U. S. Constitution, says that â€Å"Congress shall make no law†¦. abridging (limiting) the freedom of speech, or of the press † Freedom of speech is the liberty to speak openly without fear of government restraint. It is closely linked to freedom of the press because this freedom includes both the right to speak and the right to be heard. In the United States, both the freedom of speech and freedom of press are commonly called freedom of expression. This clause is generally understood as prohibiting the government from interfering with the printing and distribution of information or opinions, although freedom of the press, like freedom of speech, is subject to some restrictions, such as defamation law and copyright law. The Constitution’s framers provided the press with broad freedom. This freedom was considered necessary to the establishment of a strong, independent press sometimes called â€Å"the fourth branch† of the government. An independent press can provide citizens with a variety of information and opinions on matters of public importance. However, freedom of press sometimes collides with other rights, such as a defendant’s right to a fair trial or a citizen’s right to privacy. In recent years, there has been increasing concern about extremely aggressive journalism, including stories about people’s sexual lives and photographs of people when they were in a private setting. The framers’ conception of freedom of the press has been the subject of intense historical debate, both among scholars and in the pages of Judicial opinions. At the very least, those who drafted and ratified the Bill of Rights purported to embrace the notion, derived from William Blackstone, that a free press may not be licensed by the sovereign, or otherwise restrained in advance of publication. And, although the subject remains a lively topic of academic debate, the Supreme Court itself reviewed the historical record in 1964 in New York Times Co. . Sullivan and concluded that the central meaning of the First Amendment embraces s well a rejection of the law of seditious libel i. e. , the power of the sovereign to impose subsequent punishments, from imprisonment to criminal fines to civil damages, on those who criticize the state and its officials. To a great extent, however, what we mean by freedom of the press today was shaped in an extraordinary era of Supreme Court decisio n-making that began with Sullivan and concluded in 1991 witn Conen v. You read "Freedom Of Press" in category "Papers" Cowles Media Co. During that remarkable period, the Court ruled least 40 cases involving the press and fleshed out the skeleton of freedoms addressed only rarely in prior cases. In contrast, although the Court in the early part of the last century had considered the First Amendment claims of political dissidents with some frequency, it took nearly 150 years after the adoption of the Bill of Rights, and the First Amendment along with it, for the Court to issue its first decision based squarely on the freedom of the press. Over the course of the quarter-century following Sullivan, the Court made it its business to explore the ramifications of the case on a virtually annual basis. During that period, the Supreme Courts elaboration of what we mean by a free press focused on the nature of the official restraint lleged to compromise that freedom as well as the extent to which the First Amendment protects the press from a given species of governmental action or inaction. Thus, in cases such as Near and the Pentagon Papers case (1971 ‘s New York Times Co. . United States), the Court established that freedom of the press from previous restraints on publication is nearly absolute, encompassing the right to publish information that a president concluded would harm the national security, if not the movements of troopships at sea in time of war. In 1974’s Miami Herald Publishing Co. v. Tornillo, the Court embraced the analogous proposition that the overnment has virtually no power to compel the press to publish that which it would prefer to leave on the proverbial cutting room floor. In that regard, however, it must be noted that not all media are created equal when it comes to entitlement to the full protections of the First Amendments press clause. Most significantly, because of a perceived scarcity of the electromagnetic spectrum, the Court has held that Congress and the Federal Communications Commission may regulate the activities of broadcasters operating over public airwaves in a manner that would surely violate the First Amendment if applied to newspapers. Compare Red Lion Broadcasting v. FCC (1969) with Tornillo. ) The Courts reasoning in Red Lion, in which it upheld the Commissions Fairness Doctrine and personal attack rule i. e. , the right of a person criticized on a broadcast station to respond to such criticism over the same airwaves licensed to that station has never been disavowed, although the Justices have expressly declined to extend it to other, later-developed communications media, including cable television (1994’s Turner Broadcasting v. FCC) and the Internet (1997’s Reno v. ACLU), to which the scarcity rationale for regulation is plainly napplicable. Sullivan and cases that followed also hold that the First Amendment protects the publication of false information about matters of public concern in a variety of contexts, although with considerably less vigor than it does dissemination of the truth. Even so, public officials and public fgures may not recover civil damages for injury to their reputations unless they were the victims of a reckless disregard for truth in the dissemination of a calculated falsehood. Indeed, private persons may not collect civil damages for reputational harm caused by falsehoods relating to a matter f public concern unless the publishers conduct violates a fault-based standard of care. And although expressions of opinion are not always immune from legal sanction, in its 1990 decision in Milkovich v. Lorain Journal Co. the Court held that statements not capable of being proven false, or which reasonable people would not construe as statements of fact at all, but rather as mere rhetorical hyperbole, are absolutely protected by the First Amendment. Indeed e ou nas rejected arguments advanced by the institutional press that, because of its structural role in nsuring the free flow of information in a democratic society, it ought to enjoy unique protection s from otherwise generally applicable laws that inhibit its ability to gather and report the news. Thus, in 1991 in Cohen v. Cowles Media Co. , the Court effectively concluded the treatise on the freedom of the press it began in Sullivan; it did so when it emphasized that the press is properly subject to liability under the generally applicable law of contracts when it breaks a promise to keep a sources identity confidential, even when it does so in order to report truthful information about the ources involvement in a matter of public concern. In the decade following Cohen, the Court again fell largely silent when it came to the First Amendments application to the institutional press. As the 21st century dawned, however, the Court interrupted that silence, at least briefly, to revisit the extent to which a generally applicable law such as the federal wiretap statute can constitutionally impose criminal penalties and civil liability on the dissemination by the press of the contents of unlawfully recorded telephone conversations, at least when the information so disseminated is the truth about a matter of public concern. While it is undeniable fact that freedom of press is essential ingredient of democracy, it does not mean it will advance the goals of democracy. A free press plays a key role in sustaining and monitoring a healthy democracy, as well as in contributing to greater accountability, good government, and economic development. Most importantly, restrictions on media are often an early indicator that governments intend to assault other democratic institutions. According to the Freedom of the Press index, only 14. 5 percent of the world’s citizens live in countries that enjoy a free press. In the rest of the world, governments as well as non-state actors control the viewpoints that reach citizens and brutally repress independent voices who aim to promote accountability, good governance, and economic development. How to cite Freedom Of Press, Papers

What Are the Main Goals of Cognitive Neuropsychology Essay Example

What Are the Main Goals of Cognitive Neuropsychology? Essay What are the main goals of cognitive neuropsychology? This essay will be looking into the aims and uses of cognitive neuropsychology. Cognitive psychology first emerged in the 1970’s, Cognitive psychology can be defined as the branch of psychology that studies mental processes. These processes include functions such as how people think,speak, perceive, remember and learn. As part of the larger field of cognitive science, this branch of psychology is related to other disciplines including neuroscience, philosophy, and linguistics. Neuropsychology is the branch of psychology which investigates the relationship between basic neurophysiological (the brain) processes and mental functions or behaviour such as language, memory, and perception. Neuropsychology stresses the dominant role of the nervous system. Neuropsychology was born in the 1980’s and exploded into the scene where a huge range of neuroimaging techniques were created from the 1980’s all the way through to the 2000’s. Therefore, cognitive neuropsychology is a combination of cognitive psychology and neuropsychology and can be defined as the branch of psychology that aims to understand the relationship between the structure and function of the brain and psychological processes such as thinking ect. We will write a custom essay sample on What Are the Main Goals of Cognitive Neuropsychology? specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on What Are the Main Goals of Cognitive Neuropsychology? specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on What Are the Main Goals of Cognitive Neuropsychology? specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Cognitive neuropsychology looks particularly into the effects brain damage or neurological illnesses have on cognitive functions with a aim to infer models of normal cognitive functioning. (So aim is to find out what normal brain functioning is or looks like). This essay will be looking into the main goals of cognitive psychology. But one can also learn about cognitive systems by studying ways in which they break down after brain damage: and this is the approach known as cognitive neuropsychology. So cognitive neuropsychology is a subfield of cognitive psychology, distinguished by the feature that it studies people with disorders of perception, attention, learning, memory, processing of spoken and written language, thinking, reasoning or belief formation, with the aim of learning more about the normal functional architectures of the cognitive processing systems used to carry out these activities cognitive neuropsychology aims to just study the mind and not the brain, base their work purely on what part of the brain is linked to what function and do not study brain mechanisms associated with cognitive processes The term cognitive neuropsychology often connotes a purely functional approach to patients with cognitive deficits that does not make use of, or encourage interest in, evidence and ideas about brain systems and processes. Scachter (1992, p. 56). One main goal o cognitive neuropsychology is lesion localisation.

Save Water Speech Essays

Save Water Speech Essays Save Water Speech Essay Save Water Speech Essay Good forenoon to the Excellencies, respected instructors and my beloved co-workers. I would wish to speech on a really of import subject save water today at this particular juncture. As good all know that how the H2O is of import for the continuance of life on the Earth. It is the most basic demand of everyone ( human being, animate being, works and other micro-organisms ) . Water is the alone beginning of life, without H2O we can non conceive of the life here. Life on other planets is non possible merely because of the absence of H2O. It is considered as the most of import among other known heavenly organic structures. Almost three-fourth country of the Earth is covered by the H2O and it constitutes around 60-70 % of the life universe. It seems that H2O is eternal renewable beginning on the Earth because it is regenerated and redistributed all over the Earth through vaporization and rain. It arises a inquiry in our head that if H2O is renewable beginning so why we should worry for H 2O and seek to conserve it. Actually, there is merely 1 % of the H2O on the Earth which is useable to us. And other H2O organic structures have unserviceable H2O to us such as 97 % salty sea H2O, 2 % H2O in the signifier of glaciers and polar ice caps. Merely 1 % H2O is here for us over which a immense population all over the universe is depended for the endurance. Death is more possible in the deficiency of H2O than the deficiency of nutrient. It once more arises a inquiry in our head that why we are so tardily in recognizing the demand of H2O economy and preservation. Since the life of each and every life things on the Earth depends on H2O, so scenario will acquire worse if utile H2O go dirty or started cut downing. A H2O looking fresh and potable from outside can be mixed with the harmful and toxic elements through assorted beginnings like industries, mills, sewer, etc and do unwellness and decease if ingested by animate beings, workss or human existences. Here are some tips which truly will assist us to salvage H2O: Parents should aware their kids about the demand of H2O preservation. They should avoid purchasing recreational H2O plaything ( which require changeless watercourse of H2O ) to their kids. Everyone should be cognizant of the H2O deficit regulations and limitations and purely follow in their ain country. Every employee should be active for the H2O preservation at their ain work topographic point and promote their employer to advance H2O preservation in other effectual ways. There should be H2O preservation consciousness and tips for every starting motor in the orientation manual and developing plan at schools, colleges, work topographic point, offices, establishments, etc. Water preservation techniques should be promoted on every intelligence media such as Television, newspaper, wireless, FM, community newssheets, bulletin boards, streamers, etc. Peoples should be more active in their country to describe ( to their proprietor, local governments, H2O direction of territory ) any jobs related to H2O loss through broken pipes, errant sprinklers, unfastened water faucets, abandoned free-flowing Wellss, etc. Water preservation consciousness should be extremely developed and promoted particularly in the schools to cognizant kids means hereafter of the state. School pupils should be assigned to fix undertakings on H2O preservation or given this subject during any competition like argument, treatment, essay composing or speech recitation. It should be promoted at touristry degree so that tourers and visitants can be cognizant of and understand the demand for H2O preservation. As being educated citizens we should promote our friends and neighbours to fall in the H2O witting community. Everyone should do a undertaking related to H2O economy and seek to finish by the terminal of twenty-four hours purely.

Save Water Speech Essays

Save Water Speech Essays Save Water Speech Essay Save Water Speech Essay Good forenoon to the Excellencies, respected instructors and my beloved co-workers. I would wish to speech on a really of import subject save water today at this particular juncture. As good all know that how the H2O is of import for the continuance of life on the Earth. It is the most basic demand of everyone ( human being, animate being, works and other micro-organisms ) . Water is the alone beginning of life, without H2O we can non conceive of the life here. Life on other planets is non possible merely because of the absence of H2O. It is considered as the most of import among other known heavenly organic structures. Almost three-fourth country of the Earth is covered by the H2O and it constitutes around 60-70 % of the life universe. It seems that H2O is eternal renewable beginning on the Earth because it is regenerated and redistributed all over the Earth through vaporization and rain. It arises a inquiry in our head that if H2O is renewable beginning so why we should worry for H 2O and seek to conserve it. Actually, there is merely 1 % of the H2O on the Earth which is useable to us. And other H2O organic structures have unserviceable H2O to us such as 97 % salty sea H2O, 2 % H2O in the signifier of glaciers and polar ice caps. Merely 1 % H2O is here for us over which a immense population all over the universe is depended for the endurance. Death is more possible in the deficiency of H2O than the deficiency of nutrient. It once more arises a inquiry in our head that why we are so tardily in recognizing the demand of H2O economy and preservation. Since the life of each and every life things on the Earth depends on H2O, so scenario will acquire worse if utile H2O go dirty or started cut downing. A H2O looking fresh and potable from outside can be mixed with the harmful and toxic elements through assorted beginnings like industries, mills, sewer, etc and do unwellness and decease if ingested by animate beings, workss or human existences. Here are some tips which truly will assist us to salvage H2O: Parents should aware their kids about the demand of H2O preservation. They should avoid purchasing recreational H2O plaything ( which require changeless watercourse of H2O ) to their kids. Everyone should be cognizant of the H2O deficit regulations and limitations and purely follow in their ain country. Every employee should be active for the H2O preservation at their ain work topographic point and promote their employer to advance H2O preservation in other effectual ways. There should be H2O preservation consciousness and tips for every starting motor in the orientation manual and developing plan at schools, colleges, work topographic point, offices, establishments, etc. Water preservation techniques should be promoted on every intelligence media such as Television, newspaper, wireless, FM, community newssheets, bulletin boards, streamers, etc. Peoples should be more active in their country to describe ( to their proprietor, local governments, H2O direction of territory ) any jobs related to H2O loss through broken pipes, errant sprinklers, unfastened water faucets, abandoned free-flowing Wellss, etc. Water preservation consciousness should be extremely developed and promoted particularly in the schools to cognizant kids means hereafter of the state. School pupils should be assigned to fix undertakings on H2O preservation or given this subject during any competition like argument, treatment, essay composing or speech recitation. It should be promoted at touristry degree so that tourers and visitants can be cognizant of and understand the demand for H2O preservation. As being educated citizens we should promote our friends and neighbours to fall in the H2O witting community. Everyone should do a undertaking related to H2O economy and seek to finish by the terminal of twenty-four hours purely.

Save Water Speech Essays

Save Water Speech Essays Save Water Speech Essay Save Water Speech Essay Good forenoon to the Excellencies, respected instructors and my beloved co-workers. I would wish to speech on a really of import subject save water today at this particular juncture. As good all know that how the H2O is of import for the continuance of life on the Earth. It is the most basic demand of everyone ( human being, animate being, works and other micro-organisms ) . Water is the alone beginning of life, without H2O we can non conceive of the life here. Life on other planets is non possible merely because of the absence of H2O. It is considered as the most of import among other known heavenly organic structures. Almost three-fourth country of the Earth is covered by the H2O and it constitutes around 60-70 % of the life universe. It seems that H2O is eternal renewable beginning on the Earth because it is regenerated and redistributed all over the Earth through vaporization and rain. It arises a inquiry in our head that if H2O is renewable beginning so why we should worry for H 2O and seek to conserve it. Actually, there is merely 1 % of the H2O on the Earth which is useable to us. And other H2O organic structures have unserviceable H2O to us such as 97 % salty sea H2O, 2 % H2O in the signifier of glaciers and polar ice caps. Merely 1 % H2O is here for us over which a immense population all over the universe is depended for the endurance. Death is more possible in the deficiency of H2O than the deficiency of nutrient. It once more arises a inquiry in our head that why we are so tardily in recognizing the demand of H2O economy and preservation. Since the life of each and every life things on the Earth depends on H2O, so scenario will acquire worse if utile H2O go dirty or started cut downing. A H2O looking fresh and potable from outside can be mixed with the harmful and toxic elements through assorted beginnings like industries, mills, sewer, etc and do unwellness and decease if ingested by animate beings, workss or human existences. Here are some tips which truly will assist us to salvage H2O: Parents should aware their kids about the demand of H2O preservation. They should avoid purchasing recreational H2O plaything ( which require changeless watercourse of H2O ) to their kids. Everyone should be cognizant of the H2O deficit regulations and limitations and purely follow in their ain country. Every employee should be active for the H2O preservation at their ain work topographic point and promote their employer to advance H2O preservation in other effectual ways. There should be H2O preservation consciousness and tips for every starting motor in the orientation manual and developing plan at schools, colleges, work topographic point, offices, establishments, etc. Water preservation techniques should be promoted on every intelligence media such as Television, newspaper, wireless, FM, community newssheets, bulletin boards, streamers, etc. Peoples should be more active in their country to describe ( to their proprietor, local governments, H2O direction of territory ) any jobs related to H2O loss through broken pipes, errant sprinklers, unfastened water faucets, abandoned free-flowing Wellss, etc. Water preservation consciousness should be extremely developed and promoted particularly in the schools to cognizant kids means hereafter of the state. School pupils should be assigned to fix undertakings on H2O preservation or given this subject during any competition like argument, treatment, essay composing or speech recitation. It should be promoted at touristry degree so that tourers and visitants can be cognizant of and understand the demand for H2O preservation. As being educated citizens we should promote our friends and neighbours to fall in the H2O witting community. Everyone should do a undertaking related to H2O economy and seek to finish by the terminal of twenty-four hours purely.

Understanding Jim Crow Laws

Understanding Jim Crow Laws Jim Crow laws maintained racial segregation in the South beginning in the late 1800s. After slavery ended, many whites feared the  freedom  blacks had. They loathed the idea that it would be possible for African Americans to achieve the same social status as whites if given the same access to employment, healthcare,  housing ,  and education. Already uncomfortable with the gains some blacks made during  Reconstruction, whites took issue with such a prospect. As a result, states began to pass laws that placed a number of restrictions on blacks. Collectively, these laws limited black advancement and ultimately gave blacks the status of second-class citizens. The Origins of Jim Crow Florida became the first state to pass such laws, according to Americas History, Volume 2: Since 1865.  In 1887, the Sunshine State issued a series of regulations that required racial segregation in public transportation and other public facilities. By 1890, the South became fully segregated, meaning that blacks had to drink from different water fountains from whites, use different bathrooms from whites and sit apart from whites in movie theaters, restaurants, and buses. They also attended separate schools and lived in separate neighborhoods. Racial apartheid in the United States soon earned the nickname, Jim Crow. The moniker comes from a 19th-century minstrel song called â€Å"Jump Jim Crow,† popularized by a minstrel performer named Thomas â€Å"Daddy† Rice, who appeared in blackface. The Black Codes, a set of laws Southern states began passing in 1865, after slaverys end, were a precursor to Jim Crow. The codes imposed curfews on blacks, required unemployed blacks to be jailed and mandated that they get white sponsors to live in town or passes from their employers, if they worked in agriculture. The Black Codes even made it difficult for African Americans to hold meetings of any kind, including church services. Blacks who violated these laws could be fined, jailed, if they could not pay the fines, or required to perform forced labor, just as they had while enslaved. Essentially, the codes recreated slavery-like conditions. Legislation such as the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments sought to grant more liberties to African Americans. These laws, however, focused on citizenship and suffrage and did not prevent the enactment of Jim Crow laws years later. Segregation did not only function to keep society racially stratified but also resulted in homegrown terrorism against blacks. African Americans who did not obey Jim Crow laws could be beaten, jailed, maimed or lynched. But a black person neednt flout Jim Crow laws to become a target of violent white racism. Black people who carried themselves with dignity, thrived economically, pursued education, dared to exercise their right to vote or rejected the sexual advances of whites could all be targets of white racism. In fact, a black person neednt do anything at all to be victimized in this manner. If a white person simply didnt like the look of a black person, that African American could lose everything, including his life. Legal Challenges to Jim Crow The Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) constituted the first major legal challenge to Jim Crow. The plaintiff in the case, Homer Plessy, a Louisiana Creole, was a shoemaker and activist who sat in a whites-only train car, for which he was arrested (as he and fellow activists planned). He fought his removal from the car all the way to the high court, which ultimately decided that separate but equal accommodations for blacks and whites werent discriminatory. Plessy, who died in 1925, would not live to see this ruling overturned by the landmark Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education (1954), which found that segregation was indeed discriminatory. Although this case focused on segregated schools, it led to the reversal of laws that enforced segregation in city parks, public beaches, public housing,  interstate and intrastate travel and elsewhere. Rosa Parks famously challenged racial segregation on city buses in Montgomery, Ala., when she refused to relinquish her seat to a white man on Dec. 1, 1955. Her arrest sparked the 381-day Montgomery Bus Boycott. While Parks challenged segregation on city buses, the activists known as the Freedom Riders challenged Jim Crow in interstate travel in 1961. Jim Crow Today Although racial segregation is illegal today, the United States continues to be a racially stratified society. Black and brown children are much more likely to attend schools with other black and brown children than they are with whites. Schools today are, in fact, more segregated than they were in the 1970s. Residential areas in the U.S. mostly remain segregated as well, and the high numbers of black men in prison mean that a large swathe of the African American population does not have its freedom and is disenfranchised, to boot. Scholar Michelle Alexander coined the term the New Jim Crow to describe this phenomenon.   Similarly, laws that target undocumented immigrants have led to the introduction of the term Juan Crow. Anti-immigrant bills passed in states such as California, Arizona,  and Alabama in recent decades have resulted in unauthorized immigrants living in the shadows, subject to shoddy working conditions, predatory landlords, a lack of healthcare, sexual assault, domestic violence and more. Although some of these laws have been struck down or largely gutted, their passage in various states have created a hostile climate that makes undocumented immigrants feel dehumanized. Jim Crow is a ghost of what it once was but racial divisions continue to characterize American life.

Judaism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 5

Judaism - Essay Example These beliefs basically constitute a significant part of â€Å"The Thirteen Principles of Faith† which is the heart of the Torah according to Maimonides, the Jewish philosopher and rabbi who compiled and referred to it as â€Å"Shloshah Asar Ikkarim† in Hebrew (Maimonides). Talmud, being the central text of Judaism or the most essential collection of the Jewish oral tradition, necessitates for its rabbinic substance to be put in translation from written principles and thought into actual behavior by each Jew. Through â€Å"The Thirteen Principles of Faith†, the Jews acknowledge the existence of one Creator who, in perfect unity or singularity, is considered the ‘primary cause’ of all that exists. Moreover, God is absolute, non-corporeal, and eternal by nature so that it is an imperative principle for the Jews to worship this same God alone and cast off the rest which are false gods. While the prophet Moses is regarded by the Jews as highly crucial in conveying the chief prophecy and the â€Å"Ten Commandments† of God, the revelation at Mt. Sinai is taken as a profoundly valuable occurrence in which Hashem (God) revealed in front of 600,000 Jews at the foot of the mountain that He chose these people to comprise His nation. By â€Å"The Thirteen Principles of Faith†, the Torah is further believed to possess divine origin and immutability. The omniscience and providence of God as well as the divine reward and retribution are altogether inclusive of the core principles of Judaism which similarly hold in great account the Jewish faith upon the coming of the ‘Messiah’ and the resurrection of the dead. On the other hand, the dispersal of the Jewish people from their ancestral homeland which is widely known as the ‘Diaspora’ began the time when a population of Jews were exiled from Israel by their Babylonian conquerors in the 6th

P.Sc.1001 term paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

P.Sc.1001 - Term Paper Example Ensuring the public good is no simple task, but nonetheless with good policy it is very possible to work toward a better future. The public good is essentially defined as the safety, liberty, health, and welfare of the United States. Safety is mentioned because it is in the best interest of Americans to be protected from all dangers. Ensuring the public good would therefore include protection from crime, from disease, from inadvertent accidents, from foreign attacks and invasion, from atmospheric and environmental threats, and any risk to health or life that can be minimized or controlled. Health is a similar issue, and in the case of government responsibility calls for sanitation and prevention of exposure to dangerous materials or illnesses. Thus, this calls for clean air, clean water, and even clean streets. In addition, it calls for regulations of food and other consumable items that may cause illness. Liberty and welfare are both part of a much less physical and concrete realm t han safety and health. These two aspects of the public good are largely philosophical, and largely tied to the founding ideals. Americans are familiar with the phrase â€Å"life, liberty and pursuit of happiness†, as well as the similar â€Å"life, liberty and property.† A combination of these two encompasses the overall idea of liberty and welfare. These two can be separated however when taking a paternal view for one and a maternal view for the other. Liberty is generally paternal, and thus is something that the state protects rather than provides. The American government should pursue the concept of an island of constitutionality, where the law applies to small areas here and there within a sea of liberty. A poor alternative to this is having islands of liberty that are afloat upon a sea of legality, where the government regulates almost everything unless specified. The former approach is in the interest of the public good. Welfare is a maternal concept, and involve s the government providing for its citizens. Basically, this encompasses the essential services that must be paid for with tax dollars, to include roads, postal service, and the other agencies that basically ensure health and safety. Welfare also includes, beyond health and safety, the opportunity to pursue happiness, and thus provides for equal protection under the law, prohibition of slander and libel, prohibition of fraud, regulation of work hours, and other laws that don’t protect health or physical safety but more the emotional and mental wellbeing of citizens while ensuring that all business is conducted fairly and with equal opportunity. Welfare is therefore the assurance of social fluidity and fairness, and elimination of discrimination and exploitation. If American society therefore provides for safety at home and abroad, keeps the environment and the population clean and healthy, ensures liberty is granted and protected, and also regulates society to guarantee a fai r and equal field of play, then the public good has been well served. These issues are those that are most important to Americans and that the government is entrusted with addressing. The first issue on which a recommendation is necessary is on health care. The current state of American health care is well summarized in a report by the American College of Physicians, where the group points out what is lacking and what it

Competitive advantage and the Dangote Group and MTN Nigeria

Competitive advantage and the Dangote Group and MTN Nigeria The efficiency and effectiveness of any firm is dependent on the activities of other companies, be it a competitor, a supplier of raw materials to the firm or the distributor of its finished goods. In an attempt for a firm to expand its growth and further improve on its performance, it seeks a means of gaining a competitive advantage in the market. As such the firm may want to gain more control of activities that leads to the creation and distribution of its product, delivery of services or the chose to merger with or acquire similar companies so as to curb the threat to which competing firms pose. For the purpose of this research, the study would shed light on the activities of two firms based in Nigeria Dangote Group MTN Nigeria Both companies have impacted greatly on the economy of Nigeria and are leading figures in their respective sectors. These companies have had to employ business Integration methods to further boost the products or services they provide. The primary aim of a firm that chooses to employing vertical, horizontal or conglomerate integration is for the company to grow and gain market power thereby increasing its market share and/or product and service range. The research will explore Integration, the types of integration. It will also provide insight into how the firms were able to exploit the various integration methods furthermore the benefits of integration to the firms and the disadvantages of employing these forms of organising production. Before analysing the various forms of integration adopted by both companies, the work will offer a proper understanding of the following What is Vertical Integration? What is Horizontal Integration? What is Conglomerate Integration? Vertical Integration Vertical integration can be referred to as the process by which a company or firm takes control of the activities that influence the production and/or distribution of its goods and services. This to gain more control of the activities related to production and distribution of company goods, for strategic reasons and also to cut cost by owning the sources to which it relies on for raw materials, intermediate or complimentary goods. At the completion of a product, the distribution of these finished goods to the final consumer in the most efficient and efficient manner is crucial to the company, the company can either delivers the goods to middlemen or retail outlet, it can also rely on the distribution companies such as Inter-Distribution Company in Nigeria. The control of activities for which a company relies on for the completion of its product or service is referred to as backward (upstream) integration, this means that the company tries to gain control of the services provided by its suppliers; these could be raw materials, intermediate goods and complimentary goods. An example of backward integration is when a company that manufactures Chocolate decides to start growing Cocoa. When a company takes control of close to sale post-production activities such as distribution, it is referred to as forward (downstream) integration. An example of this is how the Coca Cola Company distributes its products to numerous outlets. The firm can also opt to engage both backward and forward integration, this is referred to as balanced integration. Horizontal integration Horizontal integration can be referred to as an expansion of a firm either by the act merging or acquiring a business or businesses in the same industry that produce similar products and/or provide similar services. It is a course of action that allows companies that are competitors of the same products or services to come together as one, thereby broadening its activities, scope and market size. An example is the recent consolidation exercise that took place in the Nigerian Banking Industry, which saw Banks being acquired or merging with another Bank in trying to meet up with the N25 billion Naira minimum capital base set by the Central bank of Nigeria. Horizontal Integration can result in a company producing different varieties of the same product or different products that meet the same demand. Horizontal Integration is not without its setbacks, this will be analysed proper with particular reference to MTN Nigeria. Conglomerate Integration Conglomerate Integration can be referred as the coming together of diverse businesses to form as one, providing a wide range of services to different market segments. The businesses that come together are not rivals, as they do not produce the same goods or render similar services. This is in an attempt to create a solid corporate body that is able to reach out into different markets. DANGOTE GROUP The company started as a small cement trading business in 1981 and later diversified into a conglomerate with businesses located in Nigeria, Benin, Ghana and Togo. It is currently engaged in the activities listed below Sugar Manufacturing Refining, Packaging and Distribution Salt Refining, Packaging and Distribution Cement Manufacturing/ Importing, Packing and Distribution Noodles Manufacturing and Distribution Flour Milling, Packaging and Distribution Poly Products Manufacturing Pasta Manufacturing and Distribution Real Estate Logistics Port Management Logistics Haulage Dangote Group in itself is a conglomerate and it has employed the various forms of integration, a relationship exists between these businesses. It should be noted that figures quoted about Dangote Group are related only to their activities within Nigeria and were sourced from the information the firm made available to the public. DANGOTE CEMENT PLC Dangote Cement Plc (DCP) is made up of a combination of six cement terminals and three plants, including the widely publicized Obajana Cement plant, which is the largest cement plant is the sub-Saharan Africa. The company recently merged with Benue Cement Company (BCC), in previous years, the Dangote Cement Plc (DCP) owned shares in Benue Cement Company (BCC). The coming together of these two companies is a horizontal Integration. Cement is produced and imported in trying to meet demand, the transportation of these materials from the sea port to factories and distribution of finished goods is carried out by a company called Dangote Transport (DanTrans). The haulage business is run by Dangote Group and it provides freight services with a fleet of over 5,000 trucks. By controlling the movement of materials and finished goods, the firm has employed vertical integration. It has expanded in a way that it now controls downstream activities. This is also referred to as forward integration. The merger of Dangote Cement Plc and Benue Cement Company has presented enormous benefits. The merger has streamlined the management of both companies, giving the newly merged companies positional advantage which will in turn give the company the power to act effectively, thereby leading to a positive operational and administrative economies of scale. The merger will increase the production capacity, as the company will see its production capacity increase to 20 million metric tonnes annually. Obajana plant alone currently has an annual production capacity of 5.2 million metric tonnes which will increase product capacity by 5 million metric tonnes at the end of the first half of 2011. Benue Cement Company currently produces 3 million metric tonnes and is also expected to increase to four million metric tonnes by the end of 2011. The increase in capacity is made possible because the coming together of the two companies has led to better access to financing. Nigeria cement production is below demand, that is why Dangote Cement Company imports cement, so as to meet demand. A rise in production will see the companys dependence on import reduce which will in turn lead to an increase in turnover, this means that shareholders will reap greater dividend and also gain in share value. The merger will lead to greater operational integration between the two companies, because they will be able to share facilities, inventory and other resources. This is referred to as Synergies. Benue Cement Company will be able to benefit from the superior production technology of DCP and this will significantly reduce the cost of operation. As the company production increases, more profit is made. In line with the companys ambition to expand it will create more jobs, as there will be an increase in the demand for manpower. Dangote Cement Company is the highest producer in the country, it is not without competition. One of its core competitors is the Ashaka Cement Company located mainly in the northern region of the country. With regards to the threat posed by rival companies, the merger will further strengthen the company giving it a wider geographical advantage by the size of its market share. DANGOTE SUGAR REFINERY PLC Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc manufactures Sugar and has its refinery located in lagos, Nigeria. It started production in 2000 and currently has an annual production capacity of 1.4 million metric tonnes. Its production capacity is currently being increased to 2.5 metric tonnes a year which will make it the largest sugar refinery in the world. Dangote Group operates a Sugarcane farming, processing and refining plant called Savannah Sugar Company Limited (SSCL) located in Adamawa, Nigeria. This company was established by the Federal Government of Nigeria in 1997 and was acquired by Dangote Group in 2003. Savannah Sugar Company Limited has a current production capacity of 50,000 metric tonnes per annum as such Dangote Sugar Refinery partly relies on the importation of raw sugar from Brazil, it intends to further reduce that dependency with its recent projection of cultivating 18,000 hectares a year, with approximately of 50,000 employees on board at the end of 2010 which will see raw material production increase to 200,000 metric tonnes annually The sugar cane farm is a backward integration supplying raw material to the sugar refinery, and the sugar refinery in itself is also a backward integration. This is because it supplies Dangote beverages (Dansa Food Ltd) with sugar. The company has two categories of customers Super industrial users who are largely blue chip Nigerian companies which account for about 18 per cent of its sales revenue. These include Nestle Nigeria Plc, Cadbury Nigeria Plc, Seven-Up Bottling Company Plc and Nigerian Bottling Company Plc (NBC). The other group is the distributors who service the retail end of the market (i.e. household and micro industrial users). This group trades in wholesale white sugar and are responsible for near 82 per cent of Dangote Sugars sales revenue. Dangote Sugar Plc also enjoys the services of Dangote Transport (DanTrans) for movement of its raw materials and finished goods, this phase of vertical integration touches both forward and backward integration. Some of the benefit s of integration enjoyed by the Dangote Sugar Plc are listed below Growing Sugar has substantially given Dangote Sugar Plc more control over the source of its raw materials, thereby reducing its reliance on importation. Sugar farming has also reduced the general cost of production, this is because internally sourcing for raw materials does not match the cost of purchasing them from suppliers whose choice of profit can affect the company negatively and it does not attract extra charges that come with importation of raw materials. By adopting the services provided by DanTrans, there is better coordination of company activities and also a reduction in the cost of transportation. Dangote Flour Mills Plc Dangote Flour Mills Plc comprises of 3 factories located in Lagos, Kano and Kwara State with a combined production output of 2.7 million metric tonnes a year. The company imports wheat from the US and some of its products are semolina and flour. Dangote Group has two companies that are heavily dependent on the flour mills company, they are the Dangote Pasta Limited and Dangote Noodles Limited. These two companies rely on the flour mills for raw materials; the form of production adopted here is vertical integration which sees the both companies source for its raw materials from within. Dangote Pasta Limited and Dangote Noodles Limited also share various benefits mentioned earlier about other companies which are Lower cost of acquiring raw materials Better coordination of company activities Dangote Agro Sacks Limited A variety of Dangote Products like cement, salt, flour and sugar needs to be packaged before they are distributed, because of the large volume of sacks that will be needed for this purpose, Dangote Group introduced Dangote Agro Sacks Limited. The company produces polypropylene bags primarily for internal use, and is able to produce 500 million 50kg sacks a year. Agro sacks are able to meet the total packaging demand of Dangote Group. By vertically integrating the activities of Dangote Group, it saves the company millions of naira. Dangote Transportation Limited (DanTrans) With a total of 5,000 trucks, DanTrans is able to meet the transportation needs of Dangote group. These activities range from the transportation of bulk cement from terminals, distribution of finished goods like noodle, cement, beverages, sugar, salt and many others; and also the movement of raw materials to factories for processing. Movement of raw materials to factories are not a close to sale activity, therefore it is regarded as backward integration The distributions of finished goods are downstream activities referred to as forward integration, both are forms of vertical integration. Disadvantages The application of the various integration methods in company activities are not without their shortcomings. Trust Issues: The merger was put on hold for several years as properties of Benue Cement Company were vandalized and set ablaze by protesting workers who saw the merger from a religious and regional perspective. Judging that the Chief Executive of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote is a muslim from the northern part of Nigeria and Benue Cement Company is located in Benue State, with a predominantly Christian population in the Central part of Nigeria. A repeat of such an act will have a negative effect on the companys profit and growth forecast. Emergence of monopoly: The merger of Dangote Cement which is an already sound company with Benue Cement Company will put rival companies at risk of losing their share of the market. This is because competing companies will be restricted by their size, technology and borrowing power, this can lead to the emergence of a monopoly. Vertical Integration is Limited: Though Dangote Group has gained so much control of related inter-company activities, it is still dependant on other companies for materials, an example is Doy Packs Limited which packages Dansa Products. Sustenance: The introduction of new activities poses the question as to whether these companies can be sustained. The larger a company is, the more complex it is to manage. With particular reference to Dangote Flour Mills which also sells flour to consumers through middlemen. In trying to compete with other flour products which have established themselves in the market, Dangote Flour Mills give out goods on credit to middlemen with the hope that when the goods are sold, the middlemen will hold on to their profits and pay for the purchase. This is not the case because many middlemen refuse to pay up even after the goods have been sold, a recent attempt to involve the police in debt recovery has seen middlemen threaten to shift to rival products. Little or no competition: Some companies like Dangote Agro Sacks, which manufactures company sacks and DanTrans, which transports finished goods and raw materials primarily exist to satisfy company needs, as such these companies are less efficient in the areas of innovation and management as a result of the lack of competition. This can be seen in the behaviour of DanTrans truck driver who have continued to give Dangote Group a bad image in the eyes of the public by the manner in which the drive. They have been said to be responsible for accidents that have caused the loss of lives, this has resulted in the burning down of 3 DanTrans Trucks by angry sympathisers along lokoja road, Nigeria this year. Additional Expenses: The merger of the two cement companies will see the companies incur higher expense at Annual General Meetings, Board of Directors and Communication with Shareholders MTN NIGERIA MTN Nigeria is a Telecommunication company which got its license in 2001, it is a part of MTN Group. The company has a heavily rooted presence in Nigeria with an estimated 35 million subscribers and offers a wide range of products and services which include voice communication services, video calling, internet services, street cam service and tracking services. MTN Nigeria has made tremendous investments in Nigeria by rooting telecommunication infrastructure in all 36 states of Nigeria, the transmission has reached over 10,000 villages and over 223 cities. Any company which wishes to succeed aspires to grow, the telecommunication industry has been subject to stiff competition as there are other major players like Glo Nigeria, Etisalat, and Zain Nigeria. In trying to gain competitive advantage in the market, MTN Nigeria horizontally integrated by acquiring VGC Communications for 70 million US Dollars. VGC Communications also provided Telecom services such as fixed line and internet services but it was a relatively smaller company which had a little over 20,000 customers. It is a company that was unheard of in many parts of the country and had only established itself solidly in Lagos state. What used to be known as VGC communications is now known as MTN Hyconnect. MTN Hyconnect now provides broadband internet services and landline services, this is with the aim of tackling the poor internet speed that has plagued the country and also to provide voice services. This act of horizontal integration is targeted at homes, offices, small and me dium enterprises; this acquisition has provided MTN Nigeria with some benefits Cost Savings: Though MTN Nigeria paid $70 million to acquire VGC communications, it has benefited by the already existing structures, the goodwill the company had and also the existing customers. It has been able to save the time and money that would have been needed to start a company from scratch. Economies of Scale: MTN Nigeria has been able to provide similar services to a new range of customers by acquiring VGC Communications. By this geographical expansion it has grown in the number of its customers and the type of services it provides. Competitive Advantage: Once again MTN Nigeria has proven to be a pioneer in the Telecommunication industry as rival companies have continued their competitive onslaught by brings out competing tariff packages and lowering call cost. This brilliant move has seen MTN Nigeria venture into a terrain with lots of opportunities to be exploited. Diversification: By the acquisition MTN Nigeria has ventured into another aspect of telecommunication which is fixed network, this has seen the emergence of a new market with the telecommunication industry. Better access to financing: MTN Hyconnect has grown signifacantly in recent years, tthis is because the company now has access to more funds and has been able to grow ever since, MTN Hyconnect now exists in 3 other places which are Abuja, Port Harcourt, and Ibadan. It has not been a situation of smooth sailing all through, as the following disadvantages have emerged from the acquisition Restricted Growth: MTN Hyconnect is still trying to establish a strong footing, this is because companies like Starcomms provide similar services at relatively lower rates. The continues decline in the general standard of living has also seen homes embrace these services at a slower rate as some will see it as a luxury. Takeover of smaller companies: Acquisition of smaller companies has seen these companies vanish, thereby limiting the choices consumers have and also reduces competition in the industry. Another disadvantage faced by MTN Hyconnect is that, it was a small company at the point of acquisition and has left MTN Nigeria with the giant task of reaching out to the whole country, so far, it exist in 3 states and the federal capital, Abuja. For Hyconnect to succeed, it will require large sums and also a lengthy period of time. Summary Vertical, Horizontal and Conglomerate Integration are different forms of organising production which involves a company gain control of the activities of suppliers and distributors, acquiring or merging with companies that offer similar goods and services, and companies that offer totally different goods and services respectively. Dangote Group is made up of different companies that manufacture cement, salt, sugar, sacks, noodles, flour, beverages and over transport services for company use. It has adopted horizontal integration by merging with Benue Cement Company and has employed vertical integration by producing company sacks, transporting the firms raw materials and finished goods, growing sugar cane for the sugar factory, and sourcing flour for the production of noodles and pasta. With integration, Dangote Group has benefited from economies of scale, saved cost, gain more control of related company activities and has as gained a competitive edge. The application of vertical and horizontal integration has brought forward issues of coordinating larger company activities, incurring additional expense, trust issues, reduced competition in the industry and the fear of an emergence of a monopoly. MTN Nigeria provides telecommunication services ranging from voice communication services, internet services to tracking services. The bid to gain competitive edge has seen the company acquire VGC Communication, a fixed network provider which is now called Hyconnect. The acquisition which has seen MTN Nigeria diversify within the same industry has reaped competitive advantage, growth, cost savings, and the economies of scale that comes with a merger or acquisition. Hyconnect has not fully gain footing because of the activities competing companies and the general standard of living, acquisition has seen smaller companies fade away giving consumers lesser choices. Conclusion Adopting the various forms of organising production has seen the companies grow tremendous, it should also be noted that this has positively affects on the GDP of Nigeria. The fear of the emergence of a monopoly is evident, yet this has further strengthened the positioning of Dangote Group and MTN Nigeria in a very unstable economy.

Global village Essay

America was a time of challenging authority and established conventions. It was into this era that a Professor of Media studies at Toronto University rose to media personality status. Marshall Mcluhan is famous for introducing society to catchy aphorisms such as â€Å"the medium is the message†. Although his theories have always been contested, they were popular at the time and are currently enjoying a revival. One such theory is his vision of the â€Å"Global Village† which I will discuss in this essay. To understand the term, a comprehension of some of his other ideas is necessary. Mcluhan was influenced by Harold Adams Innis who suggested that each medium of communication had a time â€Å"bias† which affected the stability of society. In short, he saw that â€Å"time biased† media such as stone carving would endure time and lead to a stable society. â€Å"Space biased† media, such as papyrus, could easily be revised and lead to an unstable culture (Meyrowitz 1985:17). Mcluhan went beyond this to suggest that different media have â€Å"sensory bias† (Postman went beyond this to argue that the medium contains an â€Å"ideological bias†). Mcluhan saw each new media invention as an extension of some human faculty. In The Medium is the Massage he notes, â€Å"All new media are extensions of some human faculty† (Mcluhan and Fiore 1967:26). The book illustrates some examples; the wheel of the foot, the book of the eye, clothing of the skin and electronic circuitry of the central nervous system. In terms of the â€Å"global village† the last extension is the most important. He saw us as breaking our ties with a local society and, through our new electronic extensions, connecting globally to a new world of total involvement. â€Å"We now live in a Global Village†¦a simultaneous happening† (Mcluhan & Fiore 1967:63). He refers to the village as a global community, existing with a level of connection associated with small rural settlings. We can see evidence for this in terms of what is sometimes termed an â€Å"always on† culture. News travels instantaneously across the globe, 1 in 6 people own a mobile phone (Guardian 2002) and the Internet smashes old barriers of communication. However, the Internet was in its infancy when Mcluhan used the term, which was first used in response to radio. There is some debate over the origin of the term â€Å"global village†. Eric Mcluhan writes that James Joyce reffered to a similar phrase, as did Wyndham Lewis. His opinion is that his father was probably already developing the concept and found it referenced in Lewis’ work afterwards. Mcluhan’s view of the â€Å"Global Village† was positive. He saw it championing greater social involvement and wrote, â€Å"In an electronic information environment, minority groups can no longer be ignored† This is a technological determinist attitude as it holds the medium as the single key to their involvement. Mcluhan also notes, â€Å"there is absolutely no inevitability as long as there is a willingness to contemplate what is happening† (Mcluhan and Fiore 1967:25). This is rather at odds with some of Mcluhan’s other material. He often makes poetically powerful statements about our helplessness in the face of technology (â€Å"All media work us over completely† (Mcluhan & Fiore 1967:26)). Digital TV offers increasing interactivity with Internet functions such as e-mail and online banking available next to greater entertainment choices. It is being put to an alternative use in sheltered housing by allowing residents in difficulty to contact the manager; an example of how new technology is including minority groups. However, with the advent of digital TV the Government has come under pressure to sell the broadcasting spectrum that analogue occupies and is planning to do so before 2010. The effects of this look set to create a greater divide than the one it healed. 50% of homes currently have digital TV but a third of homes are unable to receive digital TV at all. A report by the Department of Trade and Industry found that 6% of the population are likely to object to the switch-off based on the cost of upgrading and the belief that we watch too much TV (The Observer, 2004). If the analogue signal were to be switched off, those who couldn’t (or wouldn’t) receive digital TV would have no access to TV. The gap between rich and poor would accelerate and a greater social divide would exist. Technological Determinists refer to a â€Å"technological revolution† and since the invention of this term there has been concern for those left outside. The issue is more complex than Mcluhan presents it and subject to factors beyond that of just the medium. In Mcluhan’s time the Internet was far from the widespread facility it is today. He died in 1980, but only 5 years later the system to which the phrase â€Å"online community† is most pertinent was operational. Internet forums allow a number of people across the globe to converse in real time. The Internet seems to provide the most convincing argument for the â€Å"global village†. With broadband most actions are instant, allowing the user to converse, transfer money, view information and order products regardless of geography. Mcluhan’s idea of electronic circuitry extending the nervous system is easier to comprehend when you consider someone sitting down at a computer. The physical action of typing becomes the cause, but the effect is realised in an electronic global network. Meyrowitz notes how â€Å"At one time, parents had the ability to discipline a child by sending the child to his or her room-a form of ex-communication from social interaction† (Meyrowitz 1985:Preface). This is no longer the case. The Internet offers the possibility of extending our central nervous system across the globe. It is intrinsic in today’s society and much has been written over its social effects. Wellman and Gulia remark, â€Å"those on either side of this debate assert that the Internet will create either wonderful new forms of community or will destroy communication altogether† (Wellman: â€Å"The Networked Community†). The reality is unlikely to be as clear as this (although Mcluhan’s â€Å"global village† would suggest that it is). Meyrowitz has argued that new media blur the boundaries between public and private behaviour (Meyrowitz 1985:93-114). The same headline in a newspaper and read by a newsreader are two different messages. Print media does not invite the same depth of character analysis that TV does. The public broadcast begins to merge a private situation and invites a personal reading of the presenter. The personal homepage is an explicit example of the blurring between public and private boundaries. People from all walks of life are making available to the connected world their presentation of themselves. Cheung notes how it can be emancipatory as it allows you to rehearse your presentation (Cheung 2000). Unlike face-to-face communication you can refine your presentation until you are content. Mcluhan envisaged the â€Å"global village† as creating a greater level of social involvement and to some extent we can see this happening with the personal homepage. Individuals are reaching out to a global mass audience to say, â€Å"this is me†. Grosswiler notes that Mcluhan â€Å"would have agreed with the idea that electronic media increase the desire for closeness and intimacy in the Global Village† (Grosswiler 1998:118). However there is a problem in defining what we mean by â€Å"closeness and intimacy†. A personal webpage is more personal than the BBC homepage but not as personal as face-to-face communication. Mcluhan would argue that the â€Å"closeness and intimacy† on the personal webpage is the only type that exists as we live in the â€Å"global village†. For Mcluhan there was no other village and intimacy could be with anyone, anywhere. There is a tendency by those who consider the Internet in a technologically determinist way to view it in isolation. The Internet is for most people not the totality of their social interaction, although it is becoming increasing possible to live your life without human contact. It is possible to order almost everything you could need using the Internet, yet town centres still exist. I may talk to friends online but the majority of communication with them will be face-to-face. Mcluhan is often accused of exaggerating his conclusions and this is evident. While the personal webpage is popular it doesn’t provide a substantial system of interaction. It also clear that while a minority of people make friends online, face-to-face interactions comprise the majority. Mcluhan’s famous aphorism â€Å"the medium is the message,† represents the belief that the medium itself has social impact of which the masses are usually considered to be unaware. If the power of the media is so great, how is it that determinists such as Mcluhan can stand outside of it to comment? Furthermore Mcluhan thought that as soon as we are aware of something as environment, a greater process must be in effect (Mcluhan, Eric). However, Mcluhan was considered knowledgeable enough to sit on a board set up to examine â€Å"the totality of communications problems in modern society† (McBride cited in Briggs and Burke 2002:258-260). The outcome of this report would have made interesting reading but unfortunately political conditions halted proceedings. Maybe I would be discussing a different concept if the report had gone ahead. Mcluhan once remarked that the one thing a fish is not aware of is water. The water determines everything the fish does yet the fish is blissfully unaware. The point is that we are the fish and technology our water. However this doesn’t prove the argument, it simply explains it. At first glance the phrase appears clever yet contains no empirical evidence and is typical of Mcluhan’s inventive and persuasive useful of language. Mcluhan’s global village is perceived as optimistic. Yet a Marxist interpretation offered by Ang notes that â€Å"the making of the â€Å"global village† can be rewritten as the transformation, or domestication, of the non-Western Other in the name of capitalist modernity† (Ang 1996:150-180 cited in Grosswiler 1998:142). While the idea of the spread of communication remains constant, it is seen to destroy individual non-western cultures to make way for capitalist exploitation. The sociologist Tom Nairn argues that while Mcluhan’s â€Å"global village† could be reality, it is prevented from being so by the social forms of capitalism† (Nairn 1968:150 cited in Grosswiler 1998:34). He is not denying that it is achievable, but notes, â€Å"The potential of electric media is, in fact, in contradiction with a great deal of the actual social world†. He accuses Mcluhan of creating myths and ignoring the contradictions of his theory. The graphic below compare the distribution of Internet routers and the global population. (Soon-Hyung Yook, Hawoong Jeong, and Albert-Laszlo Barabasi at http://www. cybergeography. org/atlas/geographic. html) It is obvious from the map that the majority of the world is not connected. According to this the â€Å"global village† is made up of a minority of the worlds population. This is a model far from creating greater social involvement and has the potential to create a global divide between the connected and the unconnected. In my introduction I cited a statistic claiming that 1 in 6 people own a mobile phone in support of the â€Å"global village† concept. As with Mcluhan’s aphorisms this initially seems persuasive but closer inspection reveals the truth. The statistic suggests proportionality. As Briggs and Burke explain, â€Å"While there were 600 million telephones in the world in 1982, half the world’s population lived in countries which together had fewer than ten million†. Again this undermines the â€Å"global village† vision and adds empirical weight to Nairn’s criticism that the potential of the media is in contradiction with reality. As with the Internet, the â€Å"global village† is presented here as almost exclusively existing between developed western countries. Mcluhan’s vision dictated that minorities couldn’t fail to be incorporated, yet they have been excluded by virtue of being unconnected. Furthermore the Marxist view upholds that where third-world nations are included, it is only as means of stripping them of identity for capitalist ends. These points considered, it seems that Mcluhan’s vision is not a reality. Much of the world is unconnected and I need cite no evidence that it has not led to world peace. However, it should be noted that Africa is currently leading the way in the realms of mobile phone ownership. It has become the first continent in which the number of mobile phone users exceeds that of landline subscribers. A report â€Å"has estimated that there will be 60 million people using mobile phones by the end of the year – more than double the 27 million who have a landline† and mobile phone ownership is growing at an annual rate of 65%, double the global average (Guardian, May 2004). It seems that we may be fast heading toward a â€Å"global village†. However even with Africa’s growth in mobile phone ownership, this still only brings the total to 6% of the population (Guardian, May 2004) and Internet access is considerably lower. While it may be true that a virtual village has been created, it is far from the all-inclusive global vision that Mcluhan prophesised.