Alfred Adler’s “The Neurotic Constitution” Essay Example for Free

Alfred Adler’s â€Å"The Neurotic Constitution† Essay Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   One of the most common negative attributes an individual possess is insecurity.   Common among adolescents, insecurity can be exhibited through either inferiority complex or superiority complex.   This paper would present Alfred Adler’s theory of personality which concentrated on the reason as to why an individual develops feelings of insecurity and why this remains part of the individual’s behavior despite them reaching adulthood or old age. Adler’s Individual Personality   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As a result of debates with Sigmund Freud, Alfred Adler (2007) developed his own theory of personality which he called as the â€Å"Individual Personality. †Ã‚   Adler believed that it is the motivations experienced by an individual that determines his or her role in society as well as being responsible for an individual’s uniqueness.   Under the Individual Personality theory, Adler presented two psychological conditions which he termed as â€Å"inferiority complex† and â€Å"superiority complex.†Ã‚   These conditions are commonly experienced by an individual during the early childhood years and would eventually lead to the individual to suffer neurosis.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   An individual suffering from either inferior or superiority complex requires an expedient to allow him or her to focus on the uncertainty of his or her existence.   By doing so, the individual is able to do a self-estimation of all evils and considers him or her to feel incompetent, inferior, degraded and insecure.   In order for the individual to find a guiding principle he or she uses either his or her parent who attributed his or her values to (Adler 2007). Based on the study of cause, behavior, manifestation and altered modes of activity, Adler (2007) discovered that there was a link between the individual developing an inferiority complex and the individual having underdeveloped organs resulting to the nervous system to compensate these.   As a result, the individual develops what Adler termed as somatic inferiority and eventually becomes a permanent compelling part of the individual’s psyche.   The only way this could be addressed is through the intervention of a psychologist. Another reason for the development of superior or inferiority complex among individuals is their desire to become what they consider to be great and strong.   This desire then influences their conduct, psychical and physical attitudes.   Oftentimes, individuals would experience temporary denials and discomforts, particularly during the early childhood years.   This leads them to seek the impulse to develop character traits that they would consider as common.    It is also during this period of time that individuals experience feelings of weaknesses, helplessness and feelings of anxiety.   At the same time, the development of these negative behaviors allows the individual to realize his or her strengths which results to the individual a sense of gratitude towards his strengths.   This, along with the development of obedience, allows the individual to develop an accentuation of his or her ego consciousness by assisting him or her to achieve the goal of his or her personality which is to strive for superiority (Adler 2007). Adler (2007) also stated that the parental neglect experienced by an individual as he or she grows up would result to the child developing feelings of aggression and contribution to the individual’s development of inferiority.   This is particularly evident among individuals who have been brought up in large families where the individual has a lot of siblings. Conclusion   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Insecurities are commonplace among each and every individual such that it would seem to be impossible to find an individual who does not possess any form of insecurity.   Adler’s theory provided valid explanations not only as to why individuals possess feelings of insecurity but also why certain individuals are more insecure than others.   Along with his theory, Adler presented factors that cause the emergence of insecurities among individuals.   The first is physical.   Many of people who are insecure are those who are inflicted with what society would consider as physical abnormalities.   They are viewed by society as different and as a result would make them to ridicule and bullying.   Another factor presented was the family.    On one hand, any children feel that they are pressured into following the footsteps of their parents which would let them feel that the only way to be accepted and considered as â€Å"doing the right thing† is if they would follow the footsteps of their parents.   On the other hand, because of the changes in lifestyles of most families, parents tend to have lesser time for their children.   The parental neglect causes the children to feel abandoned and as a result would develop insecurities which they would try to hide by creating an image that they are superior, hence the development of the superiority complex.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   All in all, society has played a part in the formation of insecurities of an individual.   Most often than not, individuals are not even aware that they in fact possess feelings of insecurity which is why only through the intervention of a psychologist and an open mind would an individual discover these insecurities and work on these insecurities in order to develop a stronger personality which is the goal of an individual. Reference Adler, A. (2007). The neurotic constitution: the origin and development of the feeling of inferiority. In H. S. Friedman M. W. Schustack (Eds.), The personality reader (pp. 42-43).   Needham Heights, MA: Allyn Bacon.

Locke, Hobbes, Mill, Thoreau Essay Example for Free

Locke, Hobbes, Mill, Thoreau Essay John Locke explains the state of nature as a state of equality in which no one has power over another, and all are free to do as they please. He notes, however, that this liberty does not equal license to abuse others, and that natural law exists even in the state of nature. Each individual in the state of nature has the power to execute natural laws, which are universal. I believe that Locke is correct in his analysis of the state of nature however; Locke? s theory includes many assumptions. First is the assumption of a system of morality, the natural law derives from a theory of justice, a set of rights. No one would have any rights at all in the absence of a moral code applicable to human actions, nor would there be any standard of just punishment. Locke frequently uses the term rights and appeals to conscience and calm reason, all of which reflect his assumptions about justice and morality. For individual property to exist, there must be a means for individuals to appropriate the things around them. Locke starts out with the idea of the property of person; each person owns his or her own body, and all the labor that they perform with the body. When an individual adds their own labor, their own property, to a foreign object or good, that object becomes their own because they have added their labor. This appropriation of goods does not demand the consent of humankind in general, each person has license to appropriate things in this way by individual initiative. Locke then places a bound on this type of acquisition, a person may only acquire as many things in this way as he or she can reasonably use to their advantage. One can only take so much as one can use. Lock applies these rules to land: a person in a state of nature can claim land by adding labor to it, building house on it or farming on it, but only so much as that person can reasonably use without waste. Locke then defines labor as the determining factor of value, the tool by which humans make their world a more advantageous and rewarding place to inhabit. Locke states that in order for a civil society to be established, the individuals must forfeit some of their rights that they have in the state of nature. This needs to be done so everyone can live together in peace. If everyone had the right to take whatever he or she could use, this might infringe on another members right to take whatever he or she could use. This consent to the laws in put upon the society in an indirect way. The people didnt actually say I will not take that mans land but it is inferred through the agreement that the other man wont take my land. This way we can all live in harmony together. Locke points out that any society has the right to rebellion. In order to justify this, Locke says a society must be in a very poor state. The state must be infringing on the natural rights of the people. A society couldnt rebel for the sake of rebellion, this would cause chaos and in order to return chaos to order tyranny would follow. Locke is very opposed to tyranny for obvious reasons. The voice of the people doesnt get heard and causes injustice. This eventually leads into a cycle. This justifies rebellion but since the people have to be strictly controlled, a rebellion couldnt get organized and there is no way out of the circle. John Stewart Mill Mill writes a majority may consciously try to oppress a minority. He also states that this concept of a tyranny of the majority has come to be accepted by major thinkers. What ever the general will of the majority dictates is what gets done. This is illustrated in the United States Congress. It doesnt necessarily consciously try to oppress the minority, but if the US didnt have the balance in power, what ever the majority wanted would get done without the consent of everyone. Mill discusses why silencing opinions hurts humanity. His first argument is that the suppressed opinion may be true. He writes that since human beings are not infallible, they have no authority to decide an issue for all people, and to keep others from coming up with their own judgments. Mill asserts that the reason why liberty of opinion is so often in danger is that in practice people tend to be confident in their own rightness, and excluding that, in the infallibility of the world they come in contact with. Mill contends that such confidence is not justified, and that silencing potentially true ideas hurts all people. This brings us to the next argument Mill makes. He observes that if an opinion is true, it will survive persecution. This is generally true; however when history is written, it might conveniently forget the truth for many generations. A perfect example of this is Nikola Tesla. He was considered one of the greatest if not the greatest scientist in his time, but his opinion (the truth) was silenced because he was thought to be crazy. Mill tries to show the contingency of popular beliefs about truth while going to great lengths to not actually state that any popular views about things like religion are wrong. Galileo and Copernicus are just a few of the examples of people getting persecuted for religious reasons for what is now believed to be true. Henry David Thoreau Thoreau says that while everyone recognizes the right to revolution when faced with an intolerably tyrannical or inefficient government, most people say that such a revolution would not be warranted under current conditions. However, Thoreau argues that we have not only the right, but also the duty to rebel. He uses an example from the Mexican-American War. He argues Americans must stop the slavery and war with Mexico even if it costs them their existence. He believes the war is unjust and the people have the duty to rebel against the government to protect their conscience. One of the most important themes throughout Thoreaus work is the notion of individualism. Deeply skeptical of government, Thoreau rejects the view that a person must sacrifice or marginalize his values out of loyalty to his government. He believes individualism is the most important virtue in humanism. Furthermore, he argues that if an individual supports the government in any way, even by simply respecting its authority as a government, then that person is implicated in the injustices committed by the government. For example, if a German in Nazi Germany let the injustices against the Jews go by because he feared retribution from the government, he is just as responsible as the people who actually executed the Jews. However, a person couldnt withdraw his consent because withdrawing would be morally unjust. This is where a persons duty to rebel comes into play. A person must actively try to change what they dont agree with. Thoreau believes a very heavy responsibility should be placed on the individual to make sure the individual consents to everything. Thomas Hobbes It can be understood from Hobbes the state of nature is what would exist if there were no government, no civilization, no laws and no common power to restrain human nature. The state of nature is a war of all against all, in which human beings constantly seek to destroy each other in an incessant pursuit for power. Life in the state of nature is nasty, brutish and short. From this one can infer Hobbes believes human nature is inherently evil and corrupt. To prevent the ensuing chaos, Hobbes believes a social contract must be created. To inter into a social contract the individual must give up some of his rights in order to preserve the peace. This becomes obvious when the laws of nature are looked at. Hobbes states The right of nature, which writhers commonly call jus naturale, is the liberty each man hath to use his own power, as he will himself, for the preservation of his own nature; that is to say, of his one life; and consequently, of doing anything, which in his own judgment and reason, he shall conceive to be the aptest means thereunto. People must surrender part of this right in order to live in harmony. Obviously when Hobbes discusses right to do anything in order to preserve ones life, this cant mean killing someone to preserve ones life.

The Effects Of Different Ugc On Users Marketing Essay

The Effects Of Different Ugc On Users Marketing Essay Since the advent of Web 2.0, social media, such as social networking sites and user-generated services, have emerged into mass use Boyd and Ellison, 2008. Academic research is starting to explore related concepts, such as social networking sites (Boyd and Ellison, 2008; Utz, 2010), user-generated content (Shao, 2009), and social media (Walker Rettberg, 2009). Basically, what characterizes user-generated content (UGC) is the fact that consumers are the ones producing, designing, publishing, or editing the content in the media (Krishnamurthy and Dou, 2008), i.e. the service is user-created. Social media in turn enable people to share and interact with each other and the content becomes more democratized (Drury, 2008). User generated content (UGC) is fast becoming one of the most valuable and influential sources of information in the on-line world, supporting millions of consumers who have come to rely on product and service reviews to support the purchase process. There is considerable interest in the value of UGC and its antecedents. Research shows that product reviews, for instance, influence consumer search and product choice, enhance sales forecast quality, affect product sales, and drive viewership (Chevalier and Mayzlin, 2006; Godes and Mayzlin, 2004; Li and Hitt, 2008). Current research on UGC has focused mainly on the motivations of consumers to produce UGC. Studies on brand-related UGC and its causality to brand perceptions is still in its infancy. It has been mentioned as part of future research to study consumers of UGC who are individuals exposed to brand-related UGC to investigate whether simply viewing rather than creating UGC may effect a change in consumer perception of brands. (Ch ristodoulides, et. al., 2012). Future research has also been suggested to distinguish between incentive- and non-incentive driven UGC and examine differences in terms of drivers and brand perceptions (Christodoulides, et. al., 2012). As consumers are increasingly performing activities previously controlled by companies, the entire marketing landscape is changing. Therefore, companies need to better understand the changing behaviour of consumers, in order to create mutual benefits from the use of social media (Heinonen, 2011). This research is an extension of current work to examine the effects of the different types of UGC on users perceptions of brands. This research is an exploratory study to address this subject by first discussing current literature on UGC and its relation to brand equity. Then, the design of the study and its results are presented and discussed. The research hopes to bring new knowledge about the positive and negative influences of UGC on brands, and highlights managerial implications for brand-related activities on online platforms containing UGC. 2 Literature Review: User Generated Content (UGC) and its growing influence in brand marketing The term social media here refers to user-created services, such as blogs, online review/rating sites, social networking sites, and online communities. The term consumer is used to describe the individual user that is active in the social media, however, not necessarily only consuming the media but also performing other activities, such as participating in, using, or producing activities.(Heinonen, 2011). Consumption means reading the content that is posted by other users; participation occurs when people comment on others creations, and production means posting ones own content on the site (Shao, 2009). In brief, information technology is empowering consumers, and their role is shifting from being passive recipients of information to becoming active generators of information (Stewart and Pavlou, 2002). Research has suggested that the classic notion of individuals as mere consumers is outdated and that consumers should also be seen as active producers of business value (Heinonen, 201 1). Marketers think that brand-related UGC is a more effective and targeted way of reaching disparate audiences than standard paid media (Lovett, 2011). The recent boom in social media provides opportunities for more targeted distribution of branded content (Lovett, 2011). Social networks are not just targeting tools but rather egalitarian and inexpensive platforms for broadcast and distribution (Lovett, 2011). Many websites such as YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and weblogs enable consumers to easily create UGC (Dwyer, 2012). With the enormous interest in social media and user-generated content on these sites, consumers are seen to be actively contributing to the marketing content. A significant amount of UGC concerns brand-related material (Burmann and Arnhold, 2008). For example, recent evidence shows that about 70 percent of brand-related searches on social-networking sites such as YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter relate to UGC (360i, 2009). This active consumer behaviour is changing the media and marketing landscape as consumers are invading companies marketing sphere (Berthon, et al.2008). Some of the online activities performed by consumers may influence the company image and brand positively whereas other consumer activities are perhaps not favourable (Heinonen, 2011). This is explained by a finding that consumers of UGC often consider it more credible than professional content (Cheong and Morrison, 2008). Hence, negative UGC can have harmful implications for building and sustaining a brands market presence. It is, therefore, important for managers to understand the impact of UGC on brands (Berthon, et. al., 2008; Christodoulides, 2009). One of the motivation for social media activity is information processing. A key activity in information processing is sharing information and experiences, and accessing shared knowledge online. Contrary to factual information that has lower trustworthiness, opinions were considered to be reliable and value adding. It was felt that UGC is a reliable way to get opinions of products. As they do not benefit anything from advertising a certain product, producers who create product reviews are seen to be more motivated to tell the truth. When the truth is unfavourable, this may negatively impact consumers perception of a brand and their subsequent decision to use it (Heinonen, 2011). Information processing is also concerned with applying knowledge from UGC for utilitarian purposes. This activity often results in monetary benefits and economic gain. Higher levels of brand awareness and associations may prompt perceptions of choice and progress cues (Hoyer and Brown, 1990). When applying su ch knowledge appropriately, UGC may inform consumers selection of brands. Thus, we hypothesise: H1: The platform type of incentive-driven UGC has an effect on the users awareness of the sponsoring brand. H2a: The platform type of incentive-driven UGC has an effect on the users related purchasing decisions of the sponsoring brand. H2b: The users general opinion on the bias-ness of incentive-driven UCC has an effect on the difference between the effects of the platform type of incentive-driven UGC in the users related purchasing decisions of the sponsoring brand H3a: The platform type of positive incentive-driven UGC has an effect on the users evaluation of the sponsoring brand. H3b: The users general opinion on the bias-ness of incentive-driven UCC has an effect on the difference between the effects of the platform type of incentive-driven UGC in the users evaluation of the sponsoring brand. 3 Research Design and Measures This study used the uses and gratifications approach as the theoretical fundament. This method is commonly used in internet studies, see for example (Sangwan, 2005), (Papacharissi and Rubin, 2000) or (Kaye and Johnson, 2002). The approach assumes people using media actively and goal orientated and according to their needs (Katz and Blumler, 1974). This implicitly means that people know their needs and can articulate them. The uses and gratifications approach is seen to be appropriate for studying the motivations of people using media (Lin, 1996). To complement the perspective given through the uses and gratifications approach, the study used concepts common in economic theory, namely the consideration of monetary rewards and signalling incentives (Lerner and Tirole 2002). This means of data gathering has been found useful in a number of studies concerning user motivation (Lakhani and Wolf, 2005; Hars and Ou, 2002; Hippel and Lakhani, 2003). The authors develop a questionnaire to capture quantitative data administered via survey of a small sample of NTU graduate students. The chosen procedure for recruitment has the disadvantage not to be statistically representative (Ruggiero, 2000). It is therefore an exploratory study. The survey questionnaire was sent out to about 100 people, of which the return rate was 68% with 68 users. The questionnaire was in the form of an online survey, which was emailed to the randomly selected participants in the form of an embedded link. The survey was open for 2 days. Of the 68 responses, all of them were useable with no incomplete responses. The brand awareness construct was measured through one item, while the users purchasing decision of the brand construct was measured through three items. Finally, the users evaluation of the brand construct was measured through eight items. In all of the items, survey participants are asked to rank their responses based upon a 5-unit Likert scale of 1 to 5 (1- Strongly Agree; 2 Agree; 3 Neutral; 4 Disagree; 5 Strongly Disagree). For each of the dependent constructs relating to the users perceptions of brands, we calculate the sum of all the results of the survey items relating to that construct respective to each platform type (namely Facebook-related UGC or product review). Then, we begin by first conducting reliability analysis for each of the construct. A paired t-test was performed to test if there is any significant difference between the effects of the platform types of incentive-driven UGC on each of the constructs to test the postulated hypotheses. For the dependent constructs of the users related purchasing decision of the sponsoring brand, and the users evaluation of the sponsoring brand, a further linear regression analysis was performed to test if the users general opinion of the biasness of incentive-driven UGC has an effect on the difference between each platform types sum of all the results of the survey items relating to each of those dependent constructs (i.e., difference =[sum of Facebook-related survey items for construct A] [sum of product reviews-related survey items for construct A] ) 4 Results In the testing of the hypothesis H1, it is found that the difference between incentive-driven UGC on Facebook and in the form of product reviews is not statistically significant (p = 0.816, ÃŽÂ ±=0.05). Therefore, H1 is rejected. However, there is a moderate correlation between the users awareness of the sponsoring brand as a result of incentive-driven UGC on Facebook and the users awareness of the sponsoring brand as a result of incentive-driven UGC in the form of product reviews, and the Pearsons coefficient of 0.543 is significant at ÃŽÂ ± =0.05 (p In the test for the next hypothesis H2a, two analogous sets of 3 items are used; one set for measuring the construct of users related purchasing decisions with respect to incentive-driven UGC on Facebook and the other for incentive-driven UGC in the form of product reviews. In the initial reliability analysis, Cronbachs alpha for each of the Facebook and product reviews-related set of items was 0.802 and 0.891 respectively. The mean of the users related purchasing decisions as a result of incentive-driven Facebook-related UGC is 8.82, which suggests an almost neutral opinion on the average for each of the three survey items (3 = neutral). Similarly, the mean of the users related purchasing decisions as a result of incentive-driven Facebook-related UGC is 9.05, which suggests a neutral opinion on the average for each of the 3 survey items (3 = neutral). The mean of the users related purchasing decisions as a result of incentive-driven Facebook-related UGC was not significantly different from that of the users related purchasing decisions as a result of incentive-driven UGC in the form of product reviews (p =0.539, ÃŽÂ ±= 0.05). Thus, H2a is rejected. However, there is fairly moderate correlation between the two variables, and the Pearsons coefficient of 0.338 is significant (p =0.005, ÃŽÂ ±= 0.05). In the testing of the hypothesis H2b, the R2 value is 0.158, and there is a statistically significant negative linear relationship (standardised coefficient ÃŽÂ ² = -0.398) between the users opinion of the bias-ness of incentive-driven UGC and the difference in the platform types effect on the users related purchasing decisions (p = 0.001, ÃŽÂ ± = 0.05). In other words, the more the user agrees that the incentive-driven UGC are biased, the greater the positive effect that product reviews will on the users purchasing decisions than the same by Facebook-related UGC. Thus, hypothesis H2b is accepted. In the test of the hypothesis H3a, two analogous sets of 8 items are used. One set is for measuring the construct of users evaluation of brands with respect to positive incentive driven UGC on Facebook, and the other for incentive-driven UGC in the form of product reviews. Cronbachs alpha for each of the Facebook and product reviews-related set of items was 0.891 and 0.926 respectively in the reliability analysis. The mean rating of the users evaluation of the sponsoring brand as a result of Facebook-related UGC or product reviews are 22.35 and 22.94 respectively, both of which denote that the average opinion is between that of agree and neutral for each of the 8 survey items in each set. The mean of the users evaluation of brands as a result of positive incentive-driven UGC on Facebook was not significantly different from the same as a result of positive incentive-driven UGC in the form of product reviews ( p = 0.510, ÃŽÂ ± = 0.05). Thus, H3a is rejected. However, there is moderate correlation between the two variables, and the Pearsons coefficient of 0.385 is significant (p = 0.001, ÃŽÂ ± = 0.05). In the testing of the hypothesis H3b, the R2 value is 0.231, and there is a statistically significant negative linear relationship (standardised coefficient ÃŽÂ ² = -0.480) between the users opinion of the bias-ness of incentive-driven UGC and the difference in the platform types effect on the users related purchasing decisions (p 5 Analysis and Discussion In summary, there is no significant difference between the platform type of online incentive-driven UGC (whether Facebook-related UGC or UGC in the form of online product reviews) in their effects on all of i) the awareness of the sponsoring brand; ii) the users related purchasing decisions of the sponsoring brand, and; iii) the users evaluation of the sponsoring brand. However, there is a significant difference between the platform type of online incentive-driven UGC on the constructs of purchasing decisions and evaluation of the brand when the users general opinion of the bias-ness of incentive-driven UGC is taken into consideration. 5.1 When users general opinion of the biasness of incentive-driven UGC is not considered The results seem to suggest that there is no difference between the efficacy of both incentive-driven Facebook-related UGC and incentive-driven customer product reviews in furthering brand awareness. This may also hint of an overall fairly even amount of exposure that users currently have of both Facebook and websites/blogs. The lack of difference between the efficacy of both Facebook-related UGC and product reviews also seems to extend to the users related purchasing decisions of the sponsoring brand. This also seems to support the view that in fact that the users related purchasing decisions (whether their own or when advising a friend or relatives purchasing decision) had less to do with any type of UGC then the factors that they are directly exposed to when they are in a store or at the point of purchase (Edelman, 2010). Those information such as product placement, stock availability, packaging, pricing and sales interactions, are more crucial in influencing the users related purchasing decisions. Despite that, a user may still put off the purchase if they realise that the actual product is different from what is represented in other promotional materials online or offline (Edelman, 2010). The results also suggest that neither type of incentive-driven UGC, whether on Facebook or in product reviews, has a greater effect than the other in boosting the users opinion of the brand. It seems to reflect that the users acquisition of information in their evaluation of the product is multi-faceted, and does not rest solely on a single platform. 5.2 When users general opinion of the biasness of incentive-driven UGC is considered Of the 68 participants, 45.6% of them agree (36.8%) or strongly agree (8.8%) that online incentive-driven UGC are generally more biased than balanced, while a substantial 30.9 % of them are neutral on this. 41.2% of the surveyed participants also agreed or strongly agreed that extremely biased online UGC has a greater impact on their impression of the brand than moderately biased online UGC, while a significant 35.3% of the group remained neutral. The results suggest that when the user feels more strongly about the biasness of incentive-driven UGC, he has a tendency to trust the product information encapsulated within product reviews more than those reflected on Facebook contributed by other users. This might be possibly due to the more detailed textual information that the typical product review has than the average Facebook post, which tend to be more sporadic in nature. The results also support the findings in a study by McKinsey, that most consumers in the study are observed to have headed directly to Amazon.com, a major online shopping website hosted in multiple countries. There is a wealth of customer reviews on related products on the website, where customers can obtain more detailed product information and conduct their own product comparisons (Edelman, 2010). It is thus not surprising that Amazon.com is found to be one of the top influencers in brand equity, as it is where customers are influenced in both their evaluation of the product and purchasing decisions (Edelman, 2010). 5.3 Limitations and Suggestions for Future Research There are several limitations in this study. One limitation of this study is the small sample group size. Although the Cronbachs alpha in the reliability analysis was more than 0.7 for the data used in testing the hypothesis, a larger number of survey participants would allow for a more representative sample. In addition, the current study only focuses on two main platforms, namely Facebook and product reviews in blogs and websites for the studying of incentive-driven UGC. The inclusion of other platforms, such as the micro-blogging platform Twitter, and LinkedIn, a business networking platform that is gaining prominence for use in marketing companies and brands, might also have possibly shed more light on their respective effects on brand perceptions. Further, there is no specific brand that is used as a case study for this research. Sentiments may be highly mixed when responding to the survey questions as the participants are likely to have in mind different brands as their subjects for analysis. Hence, possible future work as an extension of this study could include a longitudinal study that is focused on representative brands across several product categories to analyse the efficacies of UGC on different product categories. It is also found that differences in culture and language can affect the users actions and behaviours when writing reviews, and in turn, such differences influences the disparity in product ratings creating their own online UGC related to products and brands, which in turn can influence others user perceptions of the brands in concern (Decker Trusov, 2010). Therefore, it would be useful to also study if differences in culture and language of UGC also have an effect on the users perception of brands. 6 Managerial implications The results of the current study have several implications for the marketing manager. Firstly, the lack of a difference in efficacy between Facebook-related UGC and product reviews and an average opinion that is almost neutral that either platform has influenced the user in his awareness of the sponsoring brand, showed that neither platform should be neglected by the manager in the online marketing plan when promoting a product or brand, nor should the manager put an over-emphasis of the marketing budget on these two platforms versus other online marketing mediums. Secondly, the manager may also consider allowing customer reviews on the companys own retail website for its products, if there is one. Such a feature will allow the growth of a virtual community of customers, and will also increase the time that a user spends on the website, thus boosting product sales (Mudambi Schuff, 2010). The social functions available on the retail website provide added value to the customer, and will exert a positive effect on brand equity through a more enhanced customer experience (Kumar Benbasat, 2006). 7 Conclusion

APPLICATIONS OF SILICON :: essays research papers

Applications of Silicon Silicon is one of man’s most useful elements. In the form of sand and clay it is used to make concrete and brick; it is a useful refractory material for high-temperature work, and in the form of silicates it is used in making enamels, pottery, etc. Silica, as sand, is a principal ingredient of glass, one of the most inexpensive of materials with excellent mechanical, optical, thermal and electrical properties. Hyperpure silicon can be doped with boron, gallium, phosphorus, or arsenic to produce silicon for use in transistors, solar cells, rectifiers, and other solid-state devices, which are used extensively in the electronics and space-age industries. Though silicon was originally discovered in 1810 and thought to be a compound silicon was discovered as an element in 1823 by Jons Berzelius. In 1824 Berzelius prepared amorphous silicon by the same general method and purified the product by removing the fluosilicates by repeated washings. Deville in 1854 first prepared crystalline silicon, the second allotropic form of the element. Davy in1800 thought silica to be a compound and not an element; later in 1811, Gay Lussac and Thenard probably prepared impure amorphous silicon by heating potassium with silicon tetrafluoride. Silicon is a metalloid at room temperature with an atomic number of 14, 14 electrons, 14 neutrons, and an average atomic mass of 28.0855. In its pure form,silicon melts at 2,570 degrees, and boils at 4,271 degrees Fahrenheit. This element belongs to the metalloid family, the 14th family on the periodic table of elements. This element is a solid metalloid at room temperature and turns to liquid at 2,570 degrees. Silicon is prepared as a brown amorphous powder or as gray-black crystals. Crystalline silicon has a metallic luster and grayish color. It is hard, non-magnetic, and most acids do not effect it, but it does dissolve in hydrofluoric acid, forming the gas, silicon tetrafluoride, SiF 4. At ordinary temperatures silicon is impervious to air, but at high temperatures it reacts with oxygen, forming a layer of silica that does not react further. At high temperatures it also reacts with nitrogen and chlorine to form silicon nitride and silicon chloride, respectively. Elemental silicon transmits more than 95% of all wavelengths of infrared, from 1.3 to 6.y micro-m. Silicon is present in the soil and makes up about 25.7% of the earth’s crust. Silicon also promotes firmness and strength in human tissues. It is part of the arteries, tendons, skin, connective tissue, and eyes.

Lollos dream :: essays research papers

One day Lollo was having intercourse with a donkey, suddenly he realized that he was doing a donkey. the ass and the lapdog jumped on the masters lap, and the ass killed himself because he was jealous that the lapdog was sitting on its masters lap. this was very upsetting to the master, so he killed himself because of his sudden loss of his manipulative donkey, which caused a sudden fluctuation of money. Many people cried over their deaths. The lapdog was left alone because so many people killed themselves. Since he was so deprest and lonely, he began a sudden art of masturbation, which he continued to do by himself until he realised that he could engage in sexual intercourse with dead asses and people. This caused in a battle of harmony and peace in this sick, inhumane, and corrupt world. I hope we should never live through this experience again! If you don't have much money but you do wand to train you're pet stop buying codestones and buy dubloons. Those are at least 4 times as c heap it take 2 or 4 hours longer but its much cheaper. Play games every day, I make 5000+ every day just buy playing destruct o match, kiko match, poke match and Swich-a-Roo. Just find easy games that give a lot of np. I also look for bargains on the shop wizard and sell things for a little more then I buy them for. When things are cheap buy a couple of them and put them in your safety deposit box. At one point or another they'll probably go up. If not at least you'll have some thing to fall back on. My last tip is to get free stuff. Get an omelette from Tyrania, and your free Tombola and Fruit Wheel Spins.

Federal Welfare Reform Essay -- Poverty

Federal Welfare Reform: A Critical Perspective Abstract: This project will examine â€Å"welfare reform,† which was signified by the signing of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act (PRWOA) in 1996. PRWOA replaced the original welfare act of 1935, titled Aid to Dependent Children (later changed to Aid to Families with Dependent Children), with the program Temporary Assistance to needy Families (TANF). Under PRWOA, TANF was instated as a system of block grants allocated to states to implement their own forms of assistance and replaced programs like the cash-assistance program, Aid to Families with Dependent Children, and the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training. The most influential change of this legislation among others has been the implementation of required work hours and strict time limits to how long families may receive aid, implying that people can simply will their way out of poverty provided they work hard enough. While the significant fall of TANF cash assistance caseloads within the program’s first five years has been celebrated as proof of reform’s success, the new era of welfare can only be considered a success if America views the transformation of the welfare poor to the working poor an achievement. Review of the Literature: In conducting my research, it was interesting to find dramatically divergent perspectives on the topic of welfare reform, especially considering that each perspective gave the impression that their argument was based on quantitative facts. The sources I consulted that were affiliated with the federal government, such as statistics and fact sheets from the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) as well as the Whitehouse website, were the most optim... ...erg, Heidi. â€Å"Recent TANF Proposals Would Hinder Successful State Efforts to Help Families Overcome Barriers to Employment and Find Better- Paying Jobs.† Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. 9 May 2002. Melendez, Edwin et al. â€Å"Community College Participation in Welfare Programs: Do State Policies Matter?† Community College Journal of Research and Practice. 27.3 (2003). Shipler, David K. The Working Poor: Invisible in America. Vintage Books. New York, 2004. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families. Factsheets â€Å"Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).† October 2003. . The White House. Office of the Press Secretary. Factsheet. â€Å"President Calls for Action on Welfare Reform.† 14 January 2003. .

International Trade Law

Law chosen to govern a transactions is clearly state the legal consequences of their contractual activities for example the right, obligation, and remedies for involve parties, and they can choose the law of particular country or international law to govern their contract. International trade law (CISG) includes the appropriate rules and customs for handling trade between states and it forms part of domestic law if the involve parties are from the contracting state of CISG.With assistance from Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT) for filling gap in the coverage of issues by the CISG which is the validity of contract, effect of contract on property and goods, exclusively or non-sale aspects for distribution agreement, and inability of sell for death or personal injury cause by the goods on any person. The domestic law that governs the transactions in Malaysia is the Contract Act 1950 and supplement from Sale of Goods Act (SOGA) 1957 (revised 1989) which is based on the English Sales of Goods Act.As a Malaysian lawyer, I recommend you choose the Contract Act 1950 and SOGA as the governing law because the business you based is on Malaysia home soil and it creates a familiar factor to you. Besides that, Contract Act 1950 and SOGA already govern the basic contract of goods and contract of insurance but they did not cover the contract of carriage. However, because of Malaysia still practices the Hague Rules by virtue of the Carriage of Goods By Sea Act 1950 (Revised 1994), you have to choose the Hague Rules to govern your contract of carriage even though there are prominent weaknesses.For contract of carriage, there is standard term used on trading call as International Commercial Terms (INCOTERMS), and Cost, Insurance and Freight (CIF) and Free On Board (FOB) are the generally used term in the trade. So, I recommend you to practice FOB even through your product price will slightly lower due to bargain from buyer, but the cost will reflect on save at the transport o f the products. Besides, the main benefit is you do not need to make arrangement on carriage and thus this will reduced the burden to you as a seller’s responsibilities.Policies and regulations have the very close relationship because regulations are come under the policies. The policies and regulations at Malaysia are based on an open and encourage motive, so, normally you can smoothly doing your business on export the product out of Malaysia to foreign countries. This is see through the durian is one of the fruits that identifies by the Third National Agricultural Policy (1998-2010) (NAP3) as important role in creating competitiveness of the Malaysia fruit and vegetable industry in the ASEAN.However, you need to take care about different policies and regulations of your dealing countries which are ASEAN countries and China in order to gain the benefits from all your dealing exporter countries which are actually on the free trade area as ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) and also ASEAN-China Free Trade Area (ACFTA). Firstly, other than the list of preferential tariffs products that under the Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) scheme , the 40% rules of origin are also one regulation that need to comply with in able to benefit from preferential market access.So, you need to obtain a different certificate of origin from Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) to trade at both free trade areas. Besides certificate of origin, there are regulations for the quality of trading goods on AFTA and ACFTA. Start from sign of AFTA and ACFTA, the ASEAN countries and China fruits market move to more open market as can see through the fruits quality control have been replace to which is more harmonize and standardize call as Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measurers (SPS).This is to prevent countries to protect their domestic agricultural producers from imports with stringent phytosanitary measures which are non-science based, discriminatory and non-transpar ent. So, you now can be more efficiently and effectively on export your product to these particular countries. ? Answer 2: International agreement different to domestic contract that only contracting within the familiar home country itself, it is more complicated in contracting with various countries and sometimes may be in unfamiliar countries.So in contracting International agreement, there normally required for more trade documents that covers wider range that classified under four main groups which is Financial, Commercial, official, and Transport and insurance documents. Compared to International agreement, domestic contract normally required fewer types of documents especially only commercial and insurance type. This is because domestic contract only contracting the goods move within country territory and did not cross over he national boarder, so documents like certificated of origin in Official group of documents, bill of landing (BOL) or airway bills (AWB) in Transport grou p of documents are not needed. Term of payment decide on International agreement is more complicated than for domestic contract in reasons of more person involve in the payment process for International agreement. This process can explained though the general example of payment term which is letter of credit (LC) that involve bank parties assistance by act as a middle man in the payment process.The next main difference between both is the risk face by each other. International agreement is exposed to a number of risks such as buyer’s risk, transport risk and transfer risk that may be also faced by domestic contract. However, these similar risks faced by the domestic contract will be lower in term of cost factor and some other risks such as exchange rate risk and country or sovereign risk will exclude to domestic contract that only contracting at local currency and local policies.Besides that, the transportation and delivery aspect must follow the international standard for ex ample the standardized dimensions of shipping pallets for International agreement, but this requirement is not so strict for the domestic contract. Product packaging and labeling aspect is also not so concern by domestic contract because it normally travels across short distance. However, for International agreement that the goods travel at long distance, export packaging must be suitable for the particular mode of transport in order to provide maximum protection.There are four different types of contracting methods available which is negotiating a complete contract, choosing international law to govern the contract, agree on standard form or terms, and standard industry contracts. Negotiating a complete contract is not suitable to you because your business was just at the beginning stages of entering the new market, so there are many ‘unknown’ on the others’ domestic law that will cause unfair situation in the contracting, thus this will also incurred even more time in making the final agreement.For your situation that deals with many countries, standard industry contracts seem more suitable to you but there are still not any single association that published the standard contracts of durian even though there are already mature grow of durian industry in ASEAN. Then, Standard terms contracting method is suitable to you not only because it is a speedy and convenient way of contracting, but it also benefit to you as an fferor that has priority in the ‘last shot doctrine’ in the courts. Besides, the objective of choosing international law to govern the contract is to provide more comfortably for other parties to enter the contracts, rather than selecting particular domestic law. So, as I recommend you to choose the Malaysia law as governing law, this method is clearly not suitable because it controversy to governing law that you chosen.The object clauses can create legal and practical problems to you in term of quality and specif ication of the goods you export. Certificate of origin is basic requirement for export goods to other countries, and as discussed before, you needs to obtain a certificate of origin ‘Form D’ from Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) for trade on AFTA, and ‘Form E’ for trade on ACFTA in order to fulfill the CEPT scheme.In other simply meaning, you must to obtain the certificate of origin in order to enjoy the benefit of tariff in the free trade area and simply act as a ‘passport’ that show approval to entering particular market. The packing aspect of goods’ specification creates the problem on the transport of durian to other countries by the strong odour of durian leaking out from the poor packaging.So you need to practice the suitable packaging method for your export durian especially your fresh durian that exported by air shipment. Besides that, you must prepare for the future of sustainable packaging that reflect in the designed in a holistic way and be made from responsibly sourced materials that are safe and effective throughout its lifecycle, meet criteria for performance and cost, meet consumers’ choice and expectations and, finally, it has to be recovered efficiently after use.For the price clauses, you better determine the price that can change over time subject to review and modification because there are fluctuate in the currency exchange among all the different countries that will cause huge lost if there are big differences between the current currency and the currency that agree on the fixed price agreement. Payment clauses also need to be aware because the method of payment will affect your receivable ability, and letter of credit seem more suitable for you because it emphasis more on the seller side through the process that provide more insure on receiving of payment for seller side.Penalty for late payment in this clauses will not only provide extra insure to you through the c harges gain for the late payment, but it also help in your financial arrangement due to the on-time payment and assurance of creditability of the buyer through the slightly higher of penalty being set. Delivery and shipment clauses will also raise problem through period time that involve in transport the perishable durian product.So, in order to maintained the product freshness especially when transport at long distance like to China, the date and also time must specify in detail referred to the time of harvest and the available of transportation to prevent any extra days or hours it incurred to transport the product. Besides that, port of shipment is also a critical element in this clause because the distance between the choosing port and the distribution centre determine the product freshness also.For example in China, you can choose the port of Guangzhou because it is considering being a centre for exporting Malaysian durian to China. As I suggest you to choose Malaysian law as t he governing law, you need to state this clearly in the clause of governing law. Besides, after state of the governing law is Malaysian law, follow by the jurisdiction will state Malaysia court is the place to resolve dispute. If this never state in the contract, it will depend on court to decide which law apply.The clause of passing of title and risk is also a vital term to consider when there are accidents happen to the goods on the carrier stage or incident of unpaid seller. ? Bibliography 1. AB Teoh. 2008. Exporting and International Trade [access on 15 July 2010] 2. Essential international trade law by Michelle Sanson. 2002 by Cavendish Publishing (Australia) Pty Limited. Available www. cavendishpublish. com. [access on 15 July 2010]