Monday, September 30, 2019

Little Red Riding Hood Essay

The story of Little Red Riding Hood has been around for years. Throughout the years this story has been told many different ways. The story began as a folk tale that European mothers and nurses told to young children. The fable soon came to the attention of Charles Perrault (1628-1703). He was a French attorney who turned into a poet, writer, and anthologist. He published one version of the story in a 1697 collection of fairy tales, which is a book that became a French juvenile classic. The story was soon revised by the Grimm brothers which is the version known today. The moral of Little Red Riding Hood is to show that children should obey their mothers when they tell them about walking through dangerous areas and to beware of seemingly friendly strangers. Little Red Riding Hood starts with the setting of a small cottage in the middle of a thick forest which is the home of a humble girl name Little Red Riding Hood. One day, her mother said, â€Å"Grandma is ill. Take her this basket of cakes, but be very careful. Keep to the path through the wood and don’t ever stop. That way, you will come to no harm. Her mother plainly told her to follow the path to her grandmother’s house and never to stop; that way she can be safe. She disobeyed her mother by not staying on the path which will cause her to eventually meet the wolf, who is popular for playing the villain in most fables. â€Å"Little Red Riding Hood ran back and forth popping strawberries into her mouth†¦ In the meantime, two wicked eyes were spying on her from behind a tree a strange rustling in the woods made Little Red Riding Hood’s heart thump. † When she felt that someone was spying on her or when she heard strange noises, she should turn back or kept going on the path. The author made her get off the path several times by causing distractions such as butterflies which is a good because is shows no matter how great temptation is one should follow a mother’s orders. When she gained the knowledge that she disobeyed her mother, she said, â€Å"I must find the path and run away from here! † She gets back on the path and runs into the seemingly nice wolf. The wolf seems nice because of the pleasant conversation he had started with her. He asked, â€Å"Where are you going, my pretty girl, all alone in the woods? † â€Å"I’m taking Grandma some cakes. She lives at the end of the path,† said Little Riding Hood. Not only did Little Red Riding Hood talk to a complete stranger, but she told him where she is going. That leads towards her grandmother getting eaten by the wolf. When the grandmother is eaten it gives off a shocking surprise to the audience to point where they cannot wait to hear the rest. When Little Red Riding Hood arrives, a famous dialogue follows: â€Å"What great arms you have, grandma! The better to embrace you, my child. ‘What great legs you have! The better to run with, my child. What great ears! The better to hear with. What great eyes! The better to see with. What great teeth! The better to eat you with. † At this particular point in the story is where the story gets extremely interesting and grabs the audience’s full attention. The wolf eats Little Red Riding Hood and falls asleep. In Perrault version this was the end of the story. He was severely criticized for choosing a gruesome ending, but the Grimm Brothers added their ending to the story. A hunter came along and killed the wolf. Then the hunter sliced open the wolf’s stomach and freed the grandmother along with her granddaughter, Little Red Riding Hood. The Grimm Brother’s ending made the story have more justice, but was just as gruesome, if not more. In the end Little Red Riding Hood did disobey her mother, but she later learned her lesson even though it was in a unfortunate manner. The story is short and simple, but most importantly it teaches children about listening and talking to strangers. It can be told to any age group but read by elementary kids and up. The authors were very creative and imaginative. The fairy tale of Little Red Riding will continue to be told for generations to come.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Journal Summary-International Marketing Ethics

Journal Summary International marketing ethics from an Islamic perspective: A value-maximization approach At the heart of Islamic marketing is principle of value-maximization based on equity and justice that can perform wider welfare for society nowadays. In case, there have five reason in the Islamic religious perspective that is importance in the global business ethic. First, Islam provides a guideline that builds the moral and ethical behavior.Second, Muslims countries represent the huge number of affluent customers in this era. Next, Islamic countries ready to welcome foreign investors and the result of this item, the level of foreign investment was increasing. In addition, what we can see, the Islamic trade expanding rapidly in International market from day to day absolutely can convince others to come and invest to these Islamic countries. Lastly, Muslims are control the application of the Islamic law in the thought and life aspect.Islamic teaching in economics operation was in cluding in marketing field whether domestic or global that absolutely has been providing with two resources; the Quran and Hadith. The Islamic perspective offers ways that create value and elevate the standard of living of people through commercials pursuits and it is also quite unique regarding the aspect of human activity in life. What we are doing in our life will be the things that we are responsible for and will be count at last.In facts, there is the concept of idealism and relativism as it means of setting ethics standards has acquired popularity among theoreticians. Idealism relates to the tendency to consider injury to others while relativism measures the tendency to disregard universal moral values. As we can see, international marketing relativism is becoming more influent in the field of global business. The basic of relativism is their experience and the term of experience can be described as their own culture.Islamic international ethic was difference from a convention al ethic in number of ways as an Islamic concept more stress on reference of Quran and Hadith. In terms of Concept of justice in marketing there are been defined into fair play and just dealing which is business according to the interest of all concerned and virtue which causes one to be fair to oneself or others. In addition, have two principles that been governed for any commercial activity from an Islamic perspective.There are submissions to moral order of God and mercy to God’s creations which avoid from doing bad things towards others and refrain from unethical manner. When the five P’s (product, price, promotion, place and people) mix with the term Islamic principles of marketing mix in the context of international marketing, the terms show a number of different. As for the first P, which is Product clarify about the quality of the production process as in the Quran claim about the high quality ideals is one of the important aspect of actualizing safe product and services for the consumers.In the Islamic concept, they are most stress on the product that can give full satisfactions on basic human needs and the production process must be permissible and pure. The second P is price. In Islam, Muslims are prohibited to get something too easily without any effort and receive profit without working on it. Changing the price without altering the quality or quantity of the product is one that not allowed when a person doing business. Next P is promotion.Over praise of the product without considering about the true facts is considered as unethical behavior in the Islamic concept. Apart from that, the seller must to speak the true about the product condition while doing promotion and the buyer has the right to return the goods as long as they are not separate  in  a long time. In international marketers, they are required to reveal all problems in their product and the seller needs to disclose all the things about the goods that the buyers can ei ther see or not.The term of place is a process with a number of steps that starting with providing the buyer with a means to place the product by doing an order processing and ending with delivered the goods to the final consumers. One of the unethical manners during the packaging is one of the terms in place in marketing mix. The seller or supplier need to use packaging design that can protect the goods and prohibited to use inappropriate packaging when the products transferred through public highways.In the Islamic principle, distribution channel of the products to the final customers are supposed not to be a burden to them especially in terms of higher prices and delays. People were a last P of the marketing mix which is the customers has the right to know the information about the product. Islam emphasizes the importance of free to make judgment about the products are mostly lies on the consumers. As a matters of facts, in term of corporate responsibility, customers cannot toler ate when they having the unethical international marketing behaviors.The international marketing responsibilities can be categorizes to toward Gods, society, marketer’s own welfare and also environment. The culture of corruption and bribery are the most popular problem among the marketers and it is extremely prohibited in the Islamic principle. In short, the Islamic principle nowadays in the international marketing is governed by two sources; Quran and the practices of the Prophet. Thus, these Islamic practices do not differentiate between the temporal and the spiritual dimensions. Islam always respects the freedom of the customers while doing their business.

Friday, September 27, 2019

The reasons for price drop of crude oil Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The reasons for price drop of crude oil - Essay Example Crude futures declined in the recent past on concerns global oversupply is hurriedly  filling oil stocks. Total petroleum output in the year 2015 is expected to go up to 9.35 million barrels every day, slightly more than the 9.3 million barrels daily forecast in the previous period, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said last week in its monthly short-term energy outlook. Independently, oil stocks went up more than anticipated marking the several consecutive week of a higher overall than at any other time for the last 80 years and more. The American commercial crude oil stocks rose by appoxialely4.5 million barrels from the previous week, the EIA said Wednesday. Another reason weighing on oil price is the OPEC. The U.S. oil output could be adversely affected in the years due to low oil prices offered by the OPEC countries. In addition, the lower global oil prices may have affected the marginal barrel output from other sources, such as shale, OPEC said.  The OPEC body controls a significant percentage of the world’s fuel production. As such, any decision they make directly affect the market prices of the commodity. In this case, the petroleum trading block may take actions targeting their competitors. Such actions may include flooding the market with the commodity leading to market forces coming into play and hence price decline. America has been in the frontline in the war against terrorism. As such, the country has formulated various policies aimed at reducing terrorism. Such policies have been affected towards Iran and Tehran for their alleged involvement in nuclear weapon manufacturing. In this case, the two countries are prohibited from placing their products in major global markets. However, USA and the two countries have signed several deals that have seen the reintroduction of petroleum product from two nations. In this case, the total global supplies increase prompting the market forces to push the prices

Website Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Website Analysis - Essay Example It has only used the phrases that must be used. This in itself sends a strong message. This tends to show that the company believes its their products, (Thomas and Stoddard 89). The website is easy to navigate. The key buttons are arranged horizontally on top of every page in the website. This means that a customer can access the index from any page of the entire site. The index is the first page of the website. It s also called the home page. In most websites, the index is accessed through a link button called home. The index is the image of the entire website. It shows a brief overview of the contents of the entire site and contains the main links. The Apple.com website has a well thought out index with well labeled links, (Thomas and Stoddard 89), making it easy for any visitor to navigate through the website. The Apple website has multiple articles. A website with exceptionally few articles show the company is either small or the site development was in a hurry. This website has many informative articles. The information varies from the products, history of the apple company to their future plan, (Thomas and Stoddard 89). Some of these articles carry information that would not be found elsewhere. This leaves the audience feeling the website is worth their time. The apple website is not static. It contains dynamic data. It is easy to see images swapping, products blinking, and images of Apple products just as they appear in the market, (Thomas and Stoddard 89). Moreover, the website is truly interactive. It is possible to check the features of apple products from the website, e.g. apple laptops, imacs, etc. Then order for it through the same website. The website can simply interact with its audience and achieve the intended goal. It has a place for enquiring any issue concerning Apple and its product, (Thomas and Stoddard 89). These are plenty of resources to download, ranging from text to audio data content. This data is

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Resisting Disability Epithets Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Resisting Disability Epithets - Assignment Example This paper illustrates that the organization, Hermit Life and Auto, could be deduced to offer insurance services (both life and automobiles) to various clients across the United States. Its communication culture manifests an abundance of expressing disability slur or disability epithet, defined as â€Å"an abusive or contemptuous word or phrase†¦commonly used as a simple synonym for a term of abuse or slur†, with frequent references to words such as â€Å"spazzos† and â€Å"retards† within their communication patterns. The main party involved in Stacey, who is disturbed by the communication culture, particularly due to her being â€Å"the mother of a child with an intellectual disability†. She felt that by being tolerant of other personnel’s constant disregard for respectful and irresponsible use of disability epithet, the communication culture would be construed as an unprofessional representation of the high quality of services they are expec ted to offer to diverse clients â€Å"regardless of race, religion, political or cultural differences, sexual orientation, or mental and /or physical disability†. In this regard, a letter was drafted and written by Stacey with the aim of presenting the issues to her colleagues to ultimately put a stop to the use of disability epithet within the communication culture in the organization.

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

The Qualitative Characteristics of Relevance and Reliability Essay

The Qualitative Characteristics of Relevance and Reliability - Essay Example IASB has set standards for financial reporting which ensure that the reporting is done according to the set principles by all the companies. This helps the users of financial statements in making crucial economic decisions as there is no ambiguity due to different accounting styles. The standards ensure that a company provides all the relevant information that influences the financial needs of the users. There are specific areas that are not allowed to be left untouched. There is a possibility that some users require non-financial information about a company which is not available in its financial statements. There are a variety of users and their requirements are also different. Financial statements may be used by the employees of a company to know about their chances of obtaining a bonus. A cash flow statement of the year describes the liquidity of the company. Comparisons of statements of affairs of a year with those of preceding years help in evaluating the performance of the com pany. ... These are understandability, relevance, reliability and comparability (Para 24). Understandability and comparability can be discussed in the context of relevance and reliability as they cannot be separated from each other. According to Para 25, the information that is provided in the financial statements must be readily understandable by the users who have reasonable knowledge of business, accounting and economic activities and a willingness to study the financial statements. If the information is not understandable, it might not be reliable for the users because they would be reluctant to take decisions on the basis of such information. However, some information of complex nature has to be included in the financial statements to ensure that relevant information is available. Such information cannot be discarded merely due to the fact that it is difficult to understand. Para 26 of the Framework explains that information is relevant when it influences the economic decisions of users b y helping them in evaluating past, present or future events (predictive role) or by confirming, or correcting, their past evaluations (confirmatory role). The predictive and confirmatory roles of information are interrelated. For instance, a user may take a decision on the basis of information regarding the current level and structure of asset holdings of a company. Here, this information would have predictive role. But the similar information might also prove to be the confirmation of previous predictions made by the similar or different users (Para 27). The predictive ability of information does not mean that it gives clear forecasts; it gives relevant and reliable information so that the

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

IP 5 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

IP 5 - Essay Example 2. The second position is in Maryland, earning $65,000 per year. You found a starter duplex that you can purchase with an assessed value of $135,000. Property taxes average 2.4% of the assessed value. The state sales tax rate is 1% higher than in Pennsylvania, and it also applies to food and clothing. Marylands state income tax rate is 1.5% higher than Pennsylvanias. With the data above, complete the following table, with all values rounded to the nearest cent. Note that the Difference column is the difference between Pennsylvania’s and Maryland’s values. (Hint: Property tax only applies to housing; state sales tax only applies to purchases and food and clothing, when applicable; and income tax only applies to the salary.) The difference in cost of living between the two locations (Maryland and Pennsylvania) based on the differences in sales tax, income tax, and property tax is $3,033.75. In other words, I have to pay an additional $3,033.75 in taxes in Maryland as compared to Pennsylvania. This does not much influence which job to choose, as the difference in taxes (sales tax, income tax, and property tax) of $3,033.75 is much less as compared to the difference in salary $15,000 between the two

Monday, September 23, 2019

Network Topology Design Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Network Topology Design - Assignment Example In this topology, single stations use their own internal drives as the basic storage destination but each of these accesses the drives of the other computers without unnecessary restrictions. This type of topology is easier to mechanize and promises convenience of use. Furthermore, the additional computer drives offer back up to the data incase of a crash of any computer. This topology is cheaper in relation to any other (Shelly & Rosenblatt, 2012). The growth recorded in the first year needs an equally stable topology but one that caters for the increased number of employees. This is a mechanism promised only by the star topology which is strong and stable enough to sustain the multiple access expected from the growing number of employees. In this mechanism, a central database is accessed equally by other individual computers. To increase efficiency, the database can be placed on the cyber space. This is achieved through cloud computing. Cloud computing offers speed, security, and integrity three factors that may be hampered in the event of the increase of employees in the firm (International Conference on Soft Methods in Probability and Statistics, & LoÃŒ pez-DiÃŒ az,

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Customer Loyalty in a Business To Business Context Essay Example for Free

Customer Loyalty in a Business To Business Context Essay Customer loyalty is considered to be a powerful tool for most organizations in ensuring that they gain a competitive advantage in their respective industries ( Lam, Shankar, Erramilli, Bvsan, 2004, p. 294). Customer loyalty is necessary for ensuring that organizations remain profitable while also achieving growth through reaching out to new market grounds. The importance of customer loyalty in the world of economics has developed gradually as an area of study especially business to business (B2B) environments. This is due to the need to study and identify factors that ensure customer loyalty is maintained and even increased, according to Haghkhah et al. , (2013, p. 156). Haghkhah, et al., (2013, p. 156) further noted that increased competition for customers in the market signifies that business ought to react even faster and more specific to the demands and wants of clients in order to win their loyalty. For this reason, marketers in most organizations tend to focus on customer retention techniques and also to lay an emphasis on increasing their loyalty levels. In order to achieve this, B2B has offered vast opportunities to ensure that most organizations achieve their objectives of customer retention and loyalty. Thus, the latter shows the importance of understanding customer retention and loyalty as an important area of the research study. Customer loyalty is viewed as a behavior of repetitive buying and further developed moving forward with factors such as antecedents, consequences, and factors. This has led the researcher to gain an interest in conducting further research on customer retention and loyalty, therefore, this research paper will be on the various ways and techniques that organizations can implement in order to increase customer loyalty in a B2B context Customer loyalty According to Haghkhah, et al., (2013, p. 157) a high rate of loyalty in a B2B environment is a competitive advantage to the seller due to the clients willingness to pay a higher price for goods and sensitive since they start becoming less price sensitive as a result of trust that has been gained. This means that the income generated is likely to increase and remain stable to move forward Customer loyalty is viewed as a strategy that aims at ensuring customers gain behaviour of repetitive purchasing from the same company. Customer loyalty in a B2B environment achieves a mutual reward that benefits both the customer and the organization. It is usually considered as ways of gaining competitive advantage by an organization over its competitors. Various companies have applied the strategy of maintaining customer loyalty since it is considered cheaper in regard trying to gain new customers in order to increase their revenue base. ÄÅ'ater.T ÄÅ'ater.B (2010, p. 1322) view customer loyalty based on activities such as contract renewal, making recommendations to clients and increasing patronage in a business to business environments. They further note that these factors will likely influence the level of loyalty to clients of an organization. In other research, customer loyalty in a B2B environment is based on the experiences of the client, the future expectations that a client may have about the organization and the frequency at which a customer buys goods and services from the organization( haghkhah, Abdul Hamid, Ebrahimpour, Roghanian, Gheysari, 2013, p. 158). Further, (ÄÅ'ater ÄÅ'ater, 2010) notes that in order to influence the loyalty of clients in a B2B context, and then the organization has to understand the behaviour of the client and the attitude of the client. Literature review 2.1 Limitations and Gap in Literature The field of customer loyalty is one that has much information, but very little attention has been given to business-to-business scenarios. Most previous research has mainly focused on the customer’s point of view (Mascareigne, 2009). This could be because most view customer retentions as a behavioral factor. (Ranaweera Prabhu, 2003) In any economy, businesses have to transact to perform their daily operations. Some businesses, such as audit firms, exist to serve other businesses. Extensive research on this area could aid other businesses to learn the dynamics of customer loyalty amongst themselves. A major limitation that was also experienced in the research was the over generalization of the research based on a B2B context. Since different businesses have different operations and strategies, some aspects may works for a certain sector that may not necessarily work for another. For example, concepts that may be used to increase customer loyalty in the banking sector, may not work in the manufacturing sector. According to Buttle (2008, p. 267) commitment is defined as the relationship that exist between the two firms and is likely to be terminated at a reasonable future date. In a B2B environment, the commitment shared by the two firms is usually on a mutual agreement. Doma (2013, p. 72) notes that commitment between two firms is usually bonded by trust among the two firms. The level of trust that is usually shared by the two or more firms that conduct business affects their commitment framework. The more a firm is committed to another increases the level of loyalty shared by the two firms. Moorman Rust (1999, p. 183) in their research notes that commitment is usually the level of effort that is put by firms in ensuring a valuable relationship enjoyed by the two firms is maintained in the long term. The relationship usually has economic benefits for the two firms in their bid to ensure they remain profitable in their operations. For this reason, there exists a belief among organizations that the relationship has economic benefits; thus efforts are put in maintaining it. However, according to Hennig-Thurau (2004, p. 463) states that many scholars tend to argue that there is no major difference between loyalty and commitment. That school of thought has been dismissed by Morgan Hunt (1999, p. 24) who argued there is a difference between loyalty and commitment. They, however, noted that the two are related, with a commitment being an antecedent of loyalty. This means that commitment is a factor in B2B environment that will increase the level of loyalty. This also meant th at the existence of commitment had a strong positive impact on the level of commitment. Shabbir et al. (2007, p. 280) in their research demonstrated that commitment is an antecedent of loyalty. They argued that commitment in the B2B environment, it played a central role in ensuring that loyalty is always maintained and even increased to higher levels. Sharma, et al. (2006, p. 77) in their study note that commitment is the situation whereby there is a desire to make a relationship stronger with another person or even group due to familiarity or even friendship has that has been developed over time due to the personal interaction that has occurred between the two over a period of time(Eakuru Mat, 2008, p. 125). Therefore, commitment should be as a result of identifying the values that are shared commonly between two organizations. It is crucial to note that the customer will retain a relationship with another party due to the positive effect they have with the supplier. At times, a client may be forced to continue staying in a relationship with another party due to lack of valuable options that may be available to them (Fullerton, 2005, p. 1388). However, most relationships are maintained with a commitment as a result of the benefits that both parties will benefit from (Brandi, 2001, p. 67). When commitment is the guiding principle of B2B environment, and one organization performs poorly in comparison to the incumbent organization, then due to the level of commitment shared the partners are unlikely to switch to other options (Stephan , 2002, p. 20). This makes a commitment an underlying factor that will help in influencing the level of loyalty in a B2B environment (Stephan , 2002, p. 33). Akin (2012) gives an example, in comparing the loyal between customers with low loyalty and customers with high loyalty and explains that customers with high loyalty will be not be swayed by discounted prices from other suppliers. Therfore, the higher the level of commitment that will be shared between organizations an increase in loyalty levels between the organizations will be experienced. If the level of commitment is increased through activities such as contract renewal and making of recommendations to the other organization, it will in turn increase the level of loyalty enjoyed by the two firms. Therefore, if organizations want to increase the rate of exit by their clients, then they have to build a relationship that will be founded on a commitment. Commitment will in turn increase the level of loyalty in a B2B environment. This will ensure that the future of the organization is maintained as it will continue making profit. In a study conducted by CITATION Gus05 l 1033 (Gustavsson Lundgren, 2005) they give an example whereby airline companies use their frequent flyer programs as a means to enhance repeated purchase through provision of economic incentives to ensure that they increase and also maintain loyal among their clients. 2.2 Theories and Methodologies A common principle that has emerged from the total quality management (TQM) movement is that the decisive path, to retaining customers, is to satisfy their needs (Colby, 2013). The theory holds that if by identifying what customers expect and by meeting these requirements and expectations, these customers are less likely to opt for the services given by a competitor. Past research conducted by Colby (2013) has shown a positive relationship between satisfaction and loyalty. In other words, if a client is satisfied with the services offered by a business, the client is bound to be loyal to the business. Other studies have also identified a positive relationship between service quality and customer loyalty (Van Es, 2012). However, a certain level of satisfaction does not always guarantee the desired loyalty. In a certain survey, Colby suggested four indicators of customer loyalty and this include; demographics, past behavior, perception of gain or loss of switching to a different brand and attitudes towards openness to new brands. Studying these four indicators can give a better understanding of customer loyalty. For instance, if a business expects to save on costs by transacting with another business, then they are most likely to be loyal to that particular partnership. The attitudinal approach takes a view of purchase behavior and tends to explain in terms of values, beliefs and attitudes. Deterministic theory entails the logical relationship between variables and researchers in this field are responsible for identifying which variables affect customer loyalty. It appears to be acceptable to most cognitive researchers that attitude comes before behavior in a scenario that involves repurchasing a product and is very important because attitude comes before a choice. The behavioral approach holds that internal processes cannot be measured and, therefore, have no place in research (Bennet Bove, 2002). Understanding customer loyalty in a B2B scenario is a long term relationship regardless of the importance of the transactions. Both methods may differ in views but can be both used to understand the concept. Although customer loyalty research has evolved over the years, most of this research uses a logical empiricist paradigm(Paavola, 2006). Information about customer loyalty has been derived mainly from cognitive psychology, with theories about attitude forming most of the work. Current theoretical framework could, therefore, bring a new perspective into the loyalty research. Paavola (2006) uses the social constructionism paradigm to examine the notion of customer loyalty critically. The study gives a detailed description of customer loyalty that is based on the social reality of customers. The results imply that different types of loyalty should be taken into considerations when making managerial implementations. Categorization can also be very beneficial when it comes to future loyalty research. Most theories, which are associated with loyalty studies, deal with issues such as loyalty programs, customer satisfaction, customer value, service quality and social bonds (Jacobsen, Olsson, Sjovall, 2004). A model constructed by Jacobsen, Olsson and Sjovall (2004) shows that social bonds have the most significant effect on customer loyalty with companies in the banking sector. The study shows that the most important factors, in maintaining customer loyalty in the banking sector, were social bonds and personnel. This is because, banking services are very similar and to survive in such as market, strong competitive personnel are required to make the right connections. The same study revealed that monetary benefits are not a significant factor in that area of business. According to Kuusik (2007), the factors, trustworthiness, satisfaction, importance of relationship and image are important factors that play a role in the different levels of customer loyalty. Traditionally, most research has focussed on either the influence of individual factors on loyalty or the nature of different levels of loyalty. It is important to not only view loyalty through behavioural criteria, but also attitudinal criteria as well. Behavioural clients could be divided into; forced to be loyal, functionally loyal and loyal due to inertia (Kuusik, 2007). For instance, in a B2B context, when a certain company is a monopoly, getting supplies from them is the only logical answer, and this forces a company to be loyal by force. Businesses can be loyal by inertia due to the importance of a certain process. If the process is of low importance, then there is practically no need to get another partner. This can happen in situations where the transaction is routine such as trash- pickup. Functionality loyalty is gained from when organizations have to partner with other organizations because they have an objective reason to be. Research has shown that inertia is a situation opposite to loyalty CITATION Aki12 l 4105 (Akin, 2012). For example, a business may select another business since they require minimal effort to reach them. Dahlgren (2005) used multivariate data analysis techniques to build a link between dimensions of brand loyalty and to capture the different levels of customer loyalty. The result showed several differences in the loyalty dimensions. In a similar study, Kuusik (2007) uses a LOGIT regression model to determine the significant factors that affect customer loyalty. The model comprises of various factors that affect customer loyalty. The study reveals that image, satisfaction, importance of relationship and trustworthiness are the most significant factors in loyalty research. According to East et al. (2005) the definition of loyalty is useful if they can be used to predict phenomena such as search, retention, and recommendation. The authors establish that combination measures of customer loyalty often act as poor indicators of consumer loyalty as compared to other singular indicators such as recommendations. Apart from viewing these combinations to be of limited value, the research also establishes that there is no form of loyalty that always predicts different loyalty outcomes and a general concept of loyalty should be abandoned (East, Gendall, Hammond, Lomax, 2005). For instance, instead of using indicators such as loyalty programs and money rewards, researchers should either look for retention of customers and any recommendation given by them. 2.3 Identifying relationships between ideas and practice to increase loyalty in a B2B context Various ideas have been drafted in order to increase customer loyalty in a B2B context. For example, from the above review, it is noted that identification of the companys prospects and acting on them will help in increasing the loyalty. However a company can deliver on all the needs of their clients, but the delivery of their services will influence the level of loyalty moving forward. If when delivering all the needs of their client, and they produce a poor delivery service, then this will likely lead to a decrease in loyalty level. For example according to Akin (2012) factors that help increasing the loyalty of customers is high-level service quality delivered by firms that will lead to a high level of customer satisfaction. In another scenario, companies tend to try and find ways in which they can influence the frequency at which their clients access their websites for information. However, research indicates that half of the customers get information from their website. The lack of companies to invest and provide websites that are easy to access and provide the necessary information to their clients will lead to a decline in the level of loyalty. For this reason, there is a clear distinction between the ideas developed to increase loyalty and the practices a company will adopt. Conclusion From this literature review, it can be shown that various researches have tried to establish the existence of a positive relationship between loyalty and aspects such as service quality and customer satisfaction. Some studies have employed the use of correlation analysis to investigate this relationship. Correlation research allows a researcher to determine whether a relationship between variables exists, it allows one to define the extent of the relationship between the variables (Gall, Gall, Bord, 2005). Qualitative and quantitative research methods both have their benefits and drawbacks. For instance, when the correlation between two variables has been established, it still does not tell the researcher what should be done, but rather what can be done. Qualitative methods, as used by Paavola (2006), can also bring out knowledge that is not familiar with other researchers. The results can also be influenced by the researcher’s personal biases. However, some of these studies tend to cover wide areas that may take long periods of research. The benefits of customer retention have been recognized by many researchers (Feihua, 2011). In the business to business scenario, certain aspects of retaining a customer bring out themselves than conducting business with the ordinary customers. For instance, paying attention to the ordinary, like attending meetings on time is not a necessary, but a crucial habit to consider. In a B2B relationship, the parties are more defined, and this is based on the assumption that both parties are seeking common benefits in the relationship (Oy, 2010). In a normal business to customer relationship, the dissolution of the relationship ends up in the consumer leaving the services of the provider. In the B2B setup, the end of the relationship is thought in terms of a process while in switching is thought as just as a change in the relationship. In customer loyalty research, perhaps it would be of vital importance to consider the industry in which the research is being conducted on. In industries wher e the businesses provide similar services, social bonds could be the prevalent factor that promotes consumer loyalty between businesses. In other industries, where the services offered are different, probably loyalty programs and monetary rewards could be the way to win customer loyalty. References Akin, E. (2012). Literature Review and Discussion on Customer Loyalty and Consciousness. European Journal of Economics, Finance and Administrative Sciences, 158-170. Brandi, J. (2001). Building Customer Loyalty: The 21 Essential Elements in Action. Texas: The Walk The Talk Company. Buttle, F. (2008). Customer Relationship Management (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge. Doma, S. A. (2013). Relationship Quality as Predictor of B2B Customer Loyalty. SYSTEMICS, CYBERNETICS AND INFORMATICS, 111(1), 72-78. Gustavsson, S., Lundgren, E. (2005). Customer Loyalty. Lulea University of Technology. Haghkhah, A., Abdul Hamid, A. B., Ebrahimpour, A., Roghanian, P., Gheysari, H. (2013). Commitment and Customer Loyalty in Business-To-Business Context. European Journal of Business and Management, 15(19), 156-164. Lam, S. Y., Shankar, V., Erramilli, M. K., B. M. (2004). Customer Value, Satisfaction, Loyalty, and Switching Costs: An Illustration From a Business-to-Business Service Context. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 32(293), 294-311. Bennet, R., Bove, L. (2002). Identifying the Key Issues for Measuring Loyalty. QUT Digital Repository, 1-29. ÄÅ'ater, T., ÄÅ'ater, B. (2010). Product and relationship quality influence on customer commitment and loyalty in B2B manufacturing relationships. Industrial marketing management, 39(8), 1321-1333.Colby, C. (2013, December 9). A New Paradigm for Understanding Customer Retention. Retrieved from Rockbridge: http://rockresearch.com/a-new-paradigm-for-understanding-customer-retention/ Eakuru, N., Mat, N. (2008). The application of structural equation modeling (SEM) in determining the antecedents of customer loyalty in banks in South Thailand. The Business Review, Cambridge, 10(2), 129-139. East, R., Gendall, P., Hammond, K., Lomax, W. (2005). Consumer Loyalty: Singular, Additive or Interactive? Australian arketing Joural, 10-17.Feihua, Q. (2011). Customer Retention in E-commerce business. Haaha-Helia University press, 1-56. Fullerton, G. (2005). How commitment both enables and undermines marketing relationships. European Journal of marketing, 39(11), 1372-1388.Gall, J., Gall, M., Bord, W. (2005). Applying educational research: A practical guide (1st ed.). Boston: Pearzon. Hennig-Thurau, T. (2004). Customer orientation of service employees: Its impact on customer satisfaction, commitment, and retention. International Journal of Service Industry Management, 15(5), 460-478. Jacobsen, D., Olsson, M., Sjovall, A. (2004). The Creation of Customer Loyalty. Kristianstad University, 1-71. Kuusik, A. (2007). AFFECTING CUSTOMER LOYALTY: DO DIFFERENT FACTORS HAVE VARIOUS INFLUENCES IN DIFFERENT LOYALTY LEVELS? Tartu University Press, 1-29. Mascareigne, J. (2009). Customer Retention. Lulea University Press, 1-88. Moorman, C., Rust, R. T. (1999). The role of marketing. The Journal of Marketing, 180-197, 63.Morgan, R. M., Hunt, S. D. (1999). The commitment-trust theory of relationship marketing. The Journal of marketing, 20-38.Oy, O. (2010). IMPROVING CUSTOMER LOYALTY THROUGH A REGULAR CUSTOMER PROGRAM. TAMPEREEN AMMATTIKORKEAKOULU University Publications, 1-45. Paalova, H. (2006). Categories of Loyalty. Toward Meaning-based Theory of Customer Loyalty. European Advances in Consumer Research, 420-428. Ranaweera, C., Prabhu, J. (2003). The influence of satisfaction, trust and switching barriers on customer retention in a continuous purchasing setting. international journal of service industry management, 374-395. Shabbir, H., Palihawadana, D., Thwaites, D. (2007). Determining the antecedents and consequences of donor †perceived relationship quality—A dimensional qualitative research approach. Psychology Marketing, 24(3), 271-293. Sharma, N., Young, L., Wilkinson, I. (2006). The commitment mix: Dimensions of commitment in international trading relationships in India. Journal of International Marketing, 64-91. Stephan, B. (2002). Customer Loyalty Programs and Clubs (2nd ed.). London: Gower Publishing, Ltd. Van Es, R. (2012). The Relationship between Service Quality and Customer Loyalty, and its Influence on Business Model Design. Universiteit Twente, 1-85. Source document

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Persuasion Techniques In Advertisement Media Media Essay

Persuasion Techniques In Advertisement Media Media Essay Introduction The main theme of this paper is to discuss the topic of persuasion in the media through the usage of several examples to explain some of the techniques used to perform this function. Persuasion is one of the many different types of communication that exist, and the best way to begin to define the persuasive communication is primarily giving a definition of what communication is. A quite widespread definition about what communication is would be to say that communication is the action or process where there is an exchange of information of any kind between two or more individuals. Also, it is important to understand that this process is dynamic, transactional, it affects both the sender of the message, and who listen to it and receive it. Persuasive communication is outside our consciousness, since it influences us and manipulates more than what we usually realize. We often hear about the power of specific communicators. We also know that those who control information are very powerfu l. When we talk about the power public speaking, we are only recognizing what experts have known for years, we recognize that communication that influences others is a powerful weapon. The main problem is that the persuasive communication is a tool that can be used for good or bad purposes, to change behaviors, but in one way or another it is important to recognize that it is a powerful tool. For this reason, although the communication fulfils different functions, the purpose is this paper is to show how in the media through the marketing advertisements, we can also use persuasion as a tool to persuade the audience into buying a product. Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) Slim Fast In this ad for Slim Fast, the target audience is middle class females who are in a stage of their lives in which they have a successful career. Women are very aware of their weight usually more than men do. Also inside their main audience target, the ad appeals minority females in their 30 and older since this is the time when most start to achieve success climbing the career ladder and at the same time most already have family making it more difficult to take care of their bodies since time is now limited and there is no much room for exercise. The quick and easy answer is Slim Fast. Therefore, the ad shows that a woman in her 30s can have a healthy and thin body because she uses the Slim Fast product. Even the name is persuasive, Slim-Fast, this implies not much work, for people in a hurry to lose weight. In the ad they used as spokesperson a celebrity, a person women could identify with and the before and after pictures are always very effective to persuade audience this is a trusted product. This audience is all about success, and to represent a person who is being successful in life, we must be thin. Not being able to take good care of your body, especially for women in the professional work environment could be seen as a failure. The ad utilizes strategies from the Elaboration Likelihood Model(ELM) to persuade its audience. First the ad uses visual elements to motivate the usage of mental processes to motivate audience to accept the persuasive message. The ad makes good use of the analysis results to understand the audience in order to come up with the ad strategy. In the ELM model the ad used the peripheral route by the celebrity endorsement since it is a way to connect the audience with the product since it helps the receiver think about something that the person is familiar wit h(after all weight lost, is a Fact of Life-TV show where the celebrity being used in this ad became popular back in the early 80s, period when the target audience where in their late teens) and to rely on audience lack of capability to achieve the goal to reduce weight. Lastly self-esteem is effectively appealed by this same route since by gaining audience emotional involvement to demonstrate if the actress selected was able to do it, the audience can do it too. Social Judgment Theory In this advertisement for Mercedes-Benz, the target audience is upper middle class individuals who are coming up in the professional ladder. Young executives like to demonstrate in the way they dress, what they eat, and more important what they drive, that they are successful people. For most people cars make a social status statement, and what better statement to show everybody how successful we are, by getting a Mercedes-Benz. The biggest challenge for many people in getting such a prestigious car is the cost, and in the ad, they already give the solution; raise expectations, but not the payments. The persuasive message is why settling for less if now you can get a Mercedes-Benz for an affordable price. This ad uses subliminal persuasion since in the picture the car is driving up, or heading up. In other words, once again, we see the message about moving up the professional ladder. In addition in the picture the cars wheels are in motion, another subliminal message of the always m oving and fast-paced on how people judge individuals who are working towards achieving their goals. It is interesting to see in the picture the lack of color to give the impression of a classical and somewhat elegant item. This advertisement utilizes strategies from the Social Judgment Theory to persuade its audience. My interpretation of the use of this theory in the ad, is that when people receive the nonverbal message, they immediately judge the ad message based on how they view and measure being successful, and to be able to own this car, will give them the prestige they view as representation of the success they are experiencing in their personal and professional lives. The message was crafted keeping in mind an audience who has a high ego-involvement based on their values and views of how they measure success and this enable a high level of acceptance/agreement with the message. Professionals in their social networks and affiliations usually will agree with the majority opinion more often than not, and in this type of groups most of them own or wish they could own a Mercedes-Benz. This is a result of high ego-involvement, or taking on the groups views/judgments as ones own. Subliminal Co-Creation Theories In this lipstick ad, the target audience is women-young adults in their 20s 30s who are not afraid to express themselves. They want to look sexy, they want to feel sexy for the opposite sex, and they are looking for company and what better than using a red lipstick. Young adults are always looking for action, are not afraid of risks, and in this ad we see two nice looking adults who are not afraid to demonstrate to each other how they are feeling and what they want. The persuasive approach is very graphic and it is used by having beautiful women with white complexion to highlight the redness of her bold, shiny lips. The use of sex appeal, and color, is part of the persuasion process to convince audience it is ok to be beautiful and this lipstick will give them the lips theyve always wanted and it would drive men crazy. The subliminal approach continues with the way she is using the lipstick (girls mouth open while using the lipstick) and the man kissing her, suggesting that she feels sexy wearing the lipstick and it could lead for more than just a kiss. The Co-creation process is clearly used in this ad since it leads audience to co-create what is going on or what is about to happen with the couple in the picture. Once again this is a very effective approach to appeal to the main audience this ad is targeting since they are in their prime age and are interested to attract the opposite sex. The picture is not complete since we cannot see where th ey are, are they dressed or not dressed? or what their eyes look like, giving audience the opportunity to imagine different scenarios where the action is taking place; her apartment, his house, or at a club. The co-creation process is used by omitting information in the picture which helps audience co-create their own unique scenario with the expectation that this will help persuade potential buyers to get the product since once we co-create a unique scenario it can have a more effective appeal to me as an individual. Compliance Gaining Theory Kama Sutra Condoms In this ad for Kama Sutra condoms, the target audience is adults in their 20s to 30s who are self-confidents and are very clear of what they want and are not afraid to ask for it. Men self esteem many times is measured by the capability to satisfy women, and the ad provides an answer to this dilemma. This ad persuades men with the message that they not just will have sex but they will be able to enjoy it more because they would achieve to experience it for much longer by using this condom. In the other hand Women are also persuaded with this ad, since the message is that not only they will have safe-sex by getting protection, but it will not limit their capability to be satisfied. The picture shows a good-looking people which also appeals to audience by sending this message that good-looking people know how to have fun. I believe sexually explicit pictures attract attention, are interesting and engaging, and direct processing resources toward the sexual stimulus and this lead to a p ositive attitude towards the product. This advertisement utilizes strategies from the Compliance Gaining Theory to persuade its audience. The persuasive message is very interpersonal by clearly establishing the promise that the people who use this product are rewarded. The product clearly sends this message by writing in big letters right in the front package: long last. There are different elements of this theory used in this ad, since also I can see the debt factor playing in the persuasive message, since most men feel like they owe women the pleasure of sex. In addition, self-feeling is very evident since using this product will make both feel very good by having a long and fulfilling time. The esteem element is also played in the ad since the ad establishes that by using it, the partners will be satisfied. In summary both female and male audience will be positively influenced by this ad by appealing to their self-gratification. CONCLUSION We can see how in the media and in particular advertising, the process of persuasion is critical in order to achieve success through the process to convince the audience to acquire certain products, either goods or services. To achieve persuasion, advertising media uses different methods and strategies to present a product or service as something necessary for the consumer. We are surrounded by advertising everywhere. Posters in the subway, clothing brands, advertisements on television, making us feel we are constantly being targeted by persuasion messages which are impossible to get rid of it. Advertising is executed by people and, therefore, is subject to the same virtues and their same defects but, what is very important is to acknowledge that it is a powerful communication tool. For that reason, it is important to learn more about the different persuasion strategies that are used in the media in order to determine when we are being targeted to get something that really we do not need or convince us to change our principles.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Use of Protease Inhibitors as Insecticides

Use of Protease Inhibitors as Insecticides The Plagues of Egypt are a well-known to many, to send a message to the Pharaoh, the eighth of which saw Moses have God send was a plague of locusts to destroy crops. Luckily those were mere allegorical stories. What is true is that crop yields for ancient societies have always been plagued pests destroying crops. Even in modern times pests are a major issue for farmers. Effective modern delivery methods of insecticides to fight pests such as chemical sprays like the infamous roundup by Monsanto have proven to be effective, but face issues such as potential poisons lingering in the environment, insects acquiring resistance to them over time, not being very specific in their targets often killing everything they are sprayed on, and tend to be quite toxic. A more effective method has been the use of biological pesticides, where plants in question generate toxins required to fight insects specifically without being toxic. One methods of delivery that has shown promise has been to use pr oteinase inhibitors. Proteases are found in almost all organisms playing important roles in biological processes by breaking down proteins via hydrolytic reactions (Lin et al., 2017). If proteases are overexpressed in a cell it can lead to many proteins being degraded needlessly affecting cell function (Lin et al., 2017). As a result, proteases need to be properly controlled and one of the most efficient ways to do so is with protease inhibitors. When proteinase inhibitors (PIs) bind to digestive enzymes it causes them to become unreactive (Broadway and Duffey, 1986). The pancreas would then have to secrete additional proteinases itself to fight the inhibition from inhibitors so that normal digestion can occur and prevent re-absorption of protease-inhibitor enzyme complex (Broadway and Duffey, 1986). If this process is left unhindered it would lead to loss of essential amino acids which could have be used to build more proteases (Broadway and Duffey, 1986). This loss of amino acids results in an amino ac id deficiency that leads to growth, development and survival issues of the organism (Fatemeh and Bandani, 2011). What makes proteinase inhibitors attractive for controlling pests is that they are encoded by single genes and are effective over wide ranges of pests, making them more practical than methods that rely on inhibiting complex pathways with similar targets (Fatemeh and Bandani, 2011). A substantial amount of development has gone towards finding suitable proteinase inhibitors for plants to express. Insects have also been found to be adapting against the use of protease inhibitors, with some being able to overexpress gut proteases or create new enzymes that are harder to inhibit (Nath et al., 2015). This only shows that the study of proteinase inhibitors still has a long ways to go and will require much more study. Some of the techniques studied in recent years to deter pests include use of trypsin inhibitor against lepidopteran larvae and serine proteinase inhibitors against mosquitos. It was believed that a trypsin inhibitor that was expressed in the germinating seed of Dolichos biflorus would be effective the gut proteins of P. brassicae and S. littoralis. To test this theory researchers extracted the PI from germinating various seed samples then sterilizing seeds in ethanol and water and growing them, collecting the plant seeds from flowering plants at different time intervals and then grinded them up into fine powder and processed it with acetone to get a crude extract (Nath et al., 2015). Researchers were able to measure and extract the amount of trypsin inhibitor in each seed from the crude extract via centrifugation and found that the more days after germination when they extracted the trypsin inhibitor the less the seed had (Nath et al., 2015). This decline coincided with noted decreases in soluble protein activity in the seeds after germination which could be attributed to degradation of proteins including inhibitors and proteases during germination (Nath et al., 2015). To measure trypsin inhibitor effectiveness against gut proteases of organisms, researchers also dissected the midgut of P. brassicae and S. littoralis and centrifuged it to isolate for a source of trypsin, which they found (Nath et al., 2015). To measure activity of inhibitor against gut proteases, researchers measured optical density after mixing inhibitor and gut proteases together (Nath et al., 2015). It was found in this study that all trypsin inhibitors extracted from seeds exhibited inhibitory response against P. brassicae, researchers then took the sample (HPK4) that showed highest inhibitory action and tested it against proteases of S. littoralis, and found that it also exhibited inhibitory activity making it ideal an ideal candidate for an insecticide (Nath et al., 2015). To test inhibitor ability as an insecticide researchers used cabbage leaf discs coated in trypsin inhibitor extracted from HPK4 seeds as it had the highest activity, and fed it to newly hat ched larvae for 5 days (Nath et al., 2015). The experiment measured the amount of the leaf disc eaten and fecal matter produced from larvae over the 5 day period using different concentrations of trypsin inhibitor ranging from 0.025mg to 2.5mg (Nath et al., 2015).ÂÂ   It was found that P. brassicae larvae were sensitive to inhibitor as they showed mortality rate ranging from 10% to 80% (at 0.025mg and 2.5mg concentration respectively) after 5 days of feeding (Nath et al., 2015). Larval fecal matter was also noted to having 38% less gut trypsin and other soluble proteins compared to fecal matter in control samples, and with less of cabbage leaf being eaten in all samples compared to control due to massive dying off of larvae (Nath et al., 2015).ÂÂ   Larval death could be attributed to lack of essential amino acids in insects body due to trypsin inhibitor (Nath et al., 2015). Reduced soluble protein in fecal matter was attributed to less intestinal aberration and the fact th at much less of the leaf was eaten overall (Nath et al., 2015).ÂÂ   Similar results were found in complementary study regarding the effects on S. littoralis, with low survival rates, reduced larval mass, and decreased soluble protein concentration in fecal matter compared to control (Nath et al., 2015). Overall researchers were able to conclude that the PIs (trypsin inhibitor in this case) from various germinating seed strains were able to inhibit gut proteinases of many lepidopteran larvae such as P. brassicae and S. littoralis (Nath et al., 2015).ÂÂ   It is worth noting that while this experiment used PIs as a spray over plants, researchers indicate that this holds promising future for crops to express higher levels of proteinase inhibitors naturally to fight pest populations in a way without spraying toxic pesticides (Nath et al., 2015). Another tested method to fight pests was with serine proteinase inhibitors. Mosquitoes are a major vector of disease carrying with them malaria, west nile virus, and etc, mosquitoes are found around the world and it has been reaffirmed many times that the best way to control mosquitos is through controlling populations (Soares, Soares Torquato, Alves Lemos, Tanaka, 2013).ÂÂ   This topic has been studied extensively and is known that the majority of digestive enzymes for mosquitoes are serine proteases (Soares, Soares Torquato, Alves Lemos, Tanaka, 2013). For this experiment researchers looked into Ae. aegypti a mosquito strain which is found commonly around the world (Soares, Soares Torquato, Alves Lemos, Tanaka, 2013). It was determined that mosquito larvae would be the ideal target for this protease inhibitors because they are aquatic and feed constantly which would give inhibitors the greatest chance to succeed in killing them as they are in early development (Soares, Soar es Torquato, Alves Lemos, Tanaka, 2013). To determine which serine proteases were present in mosquito larvae researchers performed a kinetic assay of larval midgut proteins and determined that the gut extract was a host to trypsin-like, elastase-like, and chymotrypsin-like enzymatic activities (Soares, Soares Torquato, Alves Lemos, Tanaka, 2013). Researchers then used a phage display system to select an inhibitor for all of these digestive proteases, finding that HiTI a trypsin inhibitor from the horn fly would suffice because of successful detection for HiTI on an active M13 phage as it was fused to coat one of the coat proteins (Soares, Soares Torquato, Alves Lemos, Tanaka, 2013).ÂÂ   Researchers then created aÂÂ   combinatorial HiTI inhibitor library and tested for their ability to inhibit the serine proteases in mosquito larvae and their ability to inhibit the trypsin-like, chymotrypsin-like and elastase-like proteases (Soares, Soares Torquato, Alves Lemos, Tanaka, 2013). Amino acid analysis of phagemid DNA indicated that for HiTI, the largest area for variation occurred in the P1 position of the enzyme (Soares, Soares Torquato, Alves Lemos, Tanaka, 2013). This was important because it appeared this position determined the specificity of the HiTI inhibitor, as it was found that if a basic amino acid was present in P1 it would inhibit trypsin, while chymotrypsin would be inhibited if hydrophobic amino acids was present, and if small aliphatic amino acids are present then elastase would be inhibited (Soares, Soares Torquato, Alves Lemos, Tanaka, 2013). Among the library created mutants that would inhibit one of the three noted above were found with majority of clones not being proteases (Soares, Soares Torquato, Alves Lemos, Tanaka, 2013). Researchers then proceeded to purify and clone the HiTI variants into a plamids which experessed in P.pastoris (Soares, Soares Torquato, Alves Lemos, Tanaka, 2013).It was found that the wild type HiTI was able to inhibit the trypsin-like enzymes but not the remaining two (Soares, Soares Torquato, Alves Lemos, Tanaka, 2013). Researchers were able to find 3 mutants that inhibited trypsin-like enzymes but did not inhibit elastase-like and chymotrypsin-like enzymatic reactions, two variants were found to inhibit chymotrypsin with high selectivity for bovine chymotrypsin, one of which (T23) was also found to be an inhibitor for elastase-like proteases as well reaffirming the researchers belief in specific selection by inhibitors for different proteases (Soares, Soares Torquato, Alves Lemos, Tanaka, 2013). The results of this research are promising because this study provides a better understanding of mosquito gut enzymes and provides a framework for insecticide development based on protease inhibitors for mosquitos. In conclusion, it was found that proteinase inhibitors are a viable methods for controlling pests whether it is controlling mosquito populations by feeding larvae serine proteinase inhibitor or coating crops with trypsin inhibitors and feeding it to pests. Much of the work currently has been formed around determining which proteinase inhibitors would match well with their intended target. In order to expand the scope and make proteinases a functional insecticide it would seem more work needs to be done around delivery systems, whether it be as a chemical insecticide spray or genetically altering plants to overexpress proteinase inhibitors. Over time as this field becomes more developed we can be able to determine the effects of these inhibitors on humans. The concept has been proven and more work is needed to make them viable, proteinase inhibitors have a strong future and once the kinks have been worked out then there is no doubt they will be massively successful in increasing crop yields and fighting off pests. References Dantzger, M., Vasconcelos, I. M., Scorsato, V., Aparicio, R., Marangoni, S., Macedo, M. L. R. (2013). Bowman-Birk proteinase inhibitor from Clitoria fairchildiana seeds: Isolation, biochemical properties and insecticidal potential. Phytochemistry, 118(August), 224-235. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.phytochem.2015.08.013 Lin, H., Lin, X., Zhu, J., Yu, X.-Q., Xia, X., Yao, F., You, M. (2017). Characterization and expression profiling of serine protease inhibitors in the diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae). BMC Genomics, 18(1), 162. http://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-017-3583-z Nath, A. K., Kumari, R., Sharma, S., Sharma, H. (2015). Biological activity of Dolichos biflorus L. trypsin inhibitor against lepidopteran insect pests. Indian Journal of Experimental Biology, 53(September), 594-599. Soares, T. S., Soares Torquato, R. J., Alves Lemos, F. J., Tanaka, A. S. (2013). Selective inhibitors of digestive enzymes from Aedes aegypti larvae identified by phage display. Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 43(1), 9-16. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.ibmb.2012.10.007 Broadway, R. M., Duffey, S. S. (1986). Plant proteinase inhibitors: Mechanism of action and effect on the growth and digestive physiology of larval Heliothis zea and Spodoptera exigua. Journal of Insect Physiology, 32(10), 827-833. http://doi.org/10.1016/0022-1910(86)90097-1 Saadati, F., Bandani, A. R. (2011). Effects of Serine Protease Inhibitors on Growth and Development and Digestive Serine Proteinases of the Sunn Pest, Eurygaster integriceps. Journal of Insect Science (Online), 11(72), 72. http://doi.org/10.1673/031.011.7201

Thursday, September 19, 2019

The Fairytale of Alice Walkers Color Purple Essay -- Color Purple Ess

The Fairytale of The Color Purple It is important for one to distinguish between the "real" outcome of economic achievement as described in The Color Purple by the lynching of Celie's father, and its "alternative" economic view presented at the end of the novel depicting Celie's happiness and entrepreneurial success. To distinguish between these outcomes it is necessary to relate the novel to two Models (Historical and Empirical Data, Manners and Customs) of representation in the "real" and "alternative" worlds of The Color Purple. By focusing on the letters describing the lynching of Celie's father, and the letter describing Celie's economic stability and happiness (found in last letter), we will have established a clear distinction between the real and alternative worlds in relation to the economic situations presented throughout the novel. Manners and customs in the "real" generally work to maintain order, decorum, and stability. Within the novel the reality was that blacks had to work for whites on whatever terms were available. When using manners and customs to depict the real world of the novel, it is evident we are examining an external world based in a society where the white oppressor governs the oppressed black populace. The economic realities of white land ownership, near-monopoly of technical and business skills and control of financial institutions was in fact the accepted norm (Sowell 48). When presenting the term fact - we must account for the introduction of a second model, "historical and empirical data" in representing the real world of The Color Purple. As illustrated in the pages of American history books, it is evide... ...ntity with which the novel leaves us uses fairytale explanations of social relations to represent an alternative world. This fairy tale embraces America for providing the black nation with the right and the opportunity to own land, to participate in the free market, and to profit from it. Indeed The Color Purple is a fairytale; a world in which sexual exploitation can easily be overcome; and a world of unlimited access to material well-being (Hooks 223). By emphasizing on the letter dealing with the lynching of Celie's father and the last letter of the novel establishing Celie's economic independence we have illustrated the real and alternative worlds in relation to the economic prosperity of the black individual. Thus creating an illusionary fantasy world by combining or mediating between the novel's social realism and its alternative.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Cuban Cigars : Rolling Process and Crop Gathering :: Cuban Cigar

Cuban Cigars: The Rolling Process and Gathering the Crop In 1492, Christopher Columbus discovered the island now known as Cuba. Along with the discovery of Cuba, Columbus also discovered tobacco. Since that time, Cuba has developed the reputation as having the finest tobacco and finest cigars in the world. The following article will discuss how the crop is raised and harvested. Furthermore, the art of cigar rolling will be discussed in detail. What makes Cuban tobacco the world's finest tobacco? The answer lies in Cuba's climate and in the uniquely composed fertile fields in which the tobacco is raised. Cuba has a topical climate; this, combined with a temperature that is tempered by trade winds makes the island quite tobacco friendly. Cuba's fields, in which the tobacco is grown, have a unique composition that gives Cuban tobacco its own distinct and unmatched color and flavor. The tobacco crop goes through a long and tedious process before it is ultimately ready to become a Cuban Cigar. The first step in the process is to prepare the beds for the tobacco seedlings. After the beds are made, the tobacco seeds are planted. The next step involves topping the plants and removing the suckers. This is done to increase the vitality of the plants. After about 2 Â ½ to 3 months, the plant reaches maturity and is then harvested. The tobacco crop is harvested leaf by leaf. After the tobacco crop is harvested, the next step is to cure the crop. Curing is done in a very methodical manner. First, the tobacco leaves are strung together with a cotton thread. They are then hung out to dry for a few months. They are then considered cured. After "curing" the leaves, the plant goes through a series of natural fermentation steps. The tobacco at this stage is graded according to size and quality. The leaves at this point are ready to be wrapped and rolled into cigars. Before this is to occur however, the tobacco leaves are arranged according to thickness and length to match the type of cigar that is to be produced. The process of rolling a cigar is a very detailed and meticulous one. Cigar rolling requires expertise and care. Interestingly, the tools used to roll cigars have also remained virtually unchanged for generations. A small wooden board is needed, along with a semi-circular blade, and a small container of clear purified rubber resin, which is used to shape and seal off the ends of the cigar.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Healthcare Technology Essay

In such a short period of time we have seen the healthcare industry go from paper tracking to technological tracking. We continue to see healthcare care drastically each year. The article I am reviewing is an article put out by Forbes in the beginning of 2013. Even though we have seen the many transformations when it comes to technology and healthcare, this article touches on five, which I will talk about more here shortly. It is an amazing idea that potentially five years from now that we could be totally paperless in the healthcare world. Four years ago the IT departments of healthcare had a mere $343 million invested considering the potential of what was to come (Forbes, Lee 2013). Since then venture capitalists have tripled their investments into the health care IT and sunk $955 million (Forbes, Lee 2013). The article expresses that the federal government is even going to be sinking some major money into hospitals and medical offices to digitize health care. It all comes to a ver y good point mentioned in the article. â€Å"All of these VCs are now starting to put money into the space. And as we start getting some big wins, we’re going to see this accelerate,† said Aza Raskin, cofounder of Massive Health — a startup developing a mobile app to encourage healthier eating and other health-related tools — in an interview with Fast Company. â€Å"The smartest minds of our generation shouldn’t be working on getting us more addicted to Facebook or Twitter; they should be working on helping us get — and stay — healthy† (Forbes, Lee 2013). What would people think when they are told that a machine helped their doctor figure out their diagnosis and the best possible treatment for them? Most will think it is absolute craziness, right? Funny that is brought up because researchers with the IBM corporation are currently developing a state of the art computer system that will take a doctors data and come up with the best possible outcome of a diagnosis would be for the patient. They are calling this major technological advancement Watson, and known to the medical field as Dr. Watson (Forbes, Lee 2013). This machine will be able to not only help assess the projected diagnosis of a patient, but also to keep tabs on a patients history, and allow the doctors to keep up with the latest and greatest abilities to treat patients. How often have we all been at work and have had to deal with someone that spoke a language we were unable to understand or speak for that matter? In the medical field it is  hard to track down one person i n a hospital that can speak Cantonese, Russian, German, Japanese, or many other languages that are less frequented in our day to day lives. Well, welcome Omnifluent Health! This product was developed by the Science Applications International Corporation, or the SAIC, to help with translation process in the healthcare field (Forbes, Lee 2013). This is a huge step considering doctors could just whip out there cell phones and ask a question into the microphone and get a quick translation. We would be able to break the language barrier between patients and healthcare workers. We have so many social media sites on the web now a days. Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Twitter, G Plus, and many others. That is how we stay connected to friends and family. Now physicians have a â€Å"physicians only† media site that will allow them to contact one another in regards to taking better care of their patients. It is called Doximity (Forbes, Lee 2013). The funding for the project is at $27 million currently (Forbes, Lee 2013). I hate to have to sit in an ER for hours on end in the middle of the night to be seen for a rapid asthma onset, or with a child running a high fever and vomiting just to be told that there are over the counter remedies available at the 24 hour big box retail giant less than 10 miles away. It would be nice to be able to pop into a chat, or call where I can talk to a healthcare professional about what is going on and have a response without having to get out of a comforting place, like home, and sit for hours in a cold ER waiting room. There is now a system that gives patients the opportunity to have a medical consultation via phone or online. It is a startup company out of New York City called Sherpaa (Forbes, Le e 2013). If you were to type in â€Å"diet apps† in your Google Play Store tons of apps would pop up that are there to help you count calories, track weight loss, track exercise time and calories burned, and so on and so forth. One that the article talks about it Fitbit. It is a pedometer that tracks the sleeping patterns and activities of a person (Forbes, Lee 2013). Another one it talks about is Lark. Lark is a silent alarm clock and sleep monitor that tracks and analyzes the quality of sleep a person gets over time (Forbes, Lee 2013). In this day of technological advances there is no surprise at the countless ones that are in place in regards to the health care industry. With the amount of change from paper charting to digitized charting methods, egg timers on when med  pass is compared to computer pop ups, from easy access to patients meds to secured sign in procedures to acquire the meds, and from sitting in a waiting room for countless hours on end to picking up your phone and making a quick call is all proof that it has been time for a change in medical technology for a long time now. We are entering a new time for health care and to some, it is the era of Health 2.0 (Forbes, Lee 2013) References Lee, Ellen (2013). 5 Ways Technology Is Transforming Health Care. http://www.forbes.com/sites/bmoharrisbank/2013/01/24/5-ways-technology-is-transforming-health-care/

Monday, September 16, 2019

Communication and Assessment in Nursing Essay

The structure of this essay is designed to show the importance of relationship centered communication. However it will begin with a brief definition of the essential concepts intrinsic to the topic of therapeutic communication, distinct therapeutic nurse-patient relationship. Thereafter, it will focus on verbal and nonverbal communication, listening, understanding, empathy and important aspects of confidentiality and privacy. IntroJust as chemistry sciences were adopted as the 20th century medical model, patient’s perspective into a relationship-centered communication has been suggested as appropriate for the 21st century. It is the medical dialogue that provides the fundamental vehicle through which the battle of perspectives is waged and the therapeutic relationship is defined (Roter D. 2000). In many regards, the primary challenge to the field is the development of therapeutic communication that will provide a valid representation of the therapeutic relationship (Craven & Hirnle 2000). The purpose of this essay is to explore the implications of therapeutic communications in the nature of the patient-nurse relationship and its expression in routine of medical practice. Therapeutic communication is defined as the face-to-face process of interacting that focuses on advancing the physical and emotional well-being of a patient (http://tpub.com/content/medical ). Communication is an essential process when providing culturally competent nursing care and it must be therapeutic in nature to be effective. It involves the use of techniques such as using silence, offering self, restating, reflecting, and seeking clarification to name a few. Therapeutic communication involves displaying a genuine interest in the person communicating that is demonstrated trough the use of a relaxed and comfortable body posture. Therapeutic communication requires the components of empathy, positive regard, and a positive sense of self (Craven & Hirnle 2000). But no single definition could possibly capture the rich and complex nature  of the relationships between patients and nurses. Each relationship is distinct, because both patient and nurse are distinctive and the way they interact and relate is unique (Parbury 2006). The therapeutic nurse/client relationship stands at the core of health nursing. Through the establishment of this relationship, nurses are ideally suited as therapists to lead clients toward accomplishing their health goals (Parbury 2006). Therapeutic relationships between patients and nurses are formed in the majority of situations. In this type of relationships nurse’s perspective is primarily that the patient is a patient, but there is also recognition and understanding of the patient as the person (Parbury 2006). There are few similarities between the therapeutic relationship and friendship. It’s important to both to have worth, friendliness, trust, care, honesty and respect. Some differences in values and attitudes can hinder both as well as poor communication strategies. A feeling of satisfaction is important to both and also transference (involves clients feelings and acting toward the therapist as they did to other individuals in the past, mother/father for example) can occur in both ( Craven & Hirnle 2000). Let’s look into differences between the therapeutic relationship and friendship. Contract. A contract implicit on exploit is usually negotiated between client and workers and may include payment together they agree on. Limits are set whereas in friendship there is usually no monetary reward or contracts exchanged (Craven & Hirnle 2000). Aims. In helping relationship there are specific goals. Friendship on the other hand, does not usually have agreed upon goals, it’s usually spontaneous. Focus. Helpee’s needs are the focus of attention in the helping relationship- the helper temporally sets aside personal needs. In contrast, friendship usually means that mutual needs are met in sharing way (Beck & Polite 2004). Time. Therapeutic relationship require time that is planned, limited and sometimes scheduled. In addition time is finite and perhaps negotiated by a contract. Time in friendships is mostly spontaneous and tends to have fewer limits (Parbury 2006). Objectivity. Therapeutic relationships require that the helper strives to be objective, and to act in client’s best interests. Objectivity is mostly impossible in friendships due to the fact that self interest is largely paramount (Gladys, Husted and Husted 2001)Acceptance. The helper tries to accept the client in therapeutic relationship thereby is able to understand the behavior of imposing value and judgments. On the other hand friendships usually terminate when differences in values or interests become too great. After actively listening to a patient it is natural for a nurse to respond verbally. The nurse’s initial verbal responses set the direction for further interaction. Because there is a variety of possible ways to respond, nurses must ensure that their verbal responses move the relationship in a desired and intended direction (Parbury 2006). Choice of the response is based on insight into how it may affect the patient, the interaction and the relationship. A nurse who has this insight and awareness is in the best position to respond in the manner that both matches the current situation and realizes the response’s desired intent (Parbury 2006). Nonverbal responses are very important and the ability to recognize and interpret this kind of responses depends upon consistent development of observation skills. As we continue to mature in our role and responsibilities in the healthcare team, both clinical knowledge and understanding of human behavior will also grow (Beck & Polit 2000). Our growth in both knowledge and understanding will contribute to our ability to recognize and interpret many kinds of nonverbal communication. Our sensitivity in listening with our eyes will become as refined as-if not better than-listening with our ears (Roter 2000). Most frequently, the relationship and communication between patient and nurse  begins with an interview, during which the nurse collects pertinent data about the patient (Parbury 2006). The effectiveness of an interview is influenced by both the amount of information and the degree of motivation possessed by the patient (Parbury 2006). Factors that enhance the quality of an interview consist of the participant’s knowledge of the subject under consideration; his patience, temperament, and listening skills; and our attention to both verbal and nonverbal cues. Courtesy, understanding, and nonjudgmental attitudes must be mutual goals of both the interviewee and the interviewer (Roter 2000). Understanding a patient’s experience, that is, viewing the world from patient’s perspective is one of the most essential aspects of interacting and building relationships in nursing (Parbury 2006). In patient-nurse relationship it is the nurse’s responsibility to make mutual understanding easier, which would be the basis of meaningful interaction. Mutual understanding requires time, effort, commitment and skill. It can be challenging for one person to understand and appreciate another person’s reality. Listening and effective attending would give ability to the nurse to develop an understanding of the patient’s experience (Parbury 2006). Effective listening demonstrates open acceptance of the patient, and encourages the patient to interact. Listening to the patient and watching how he listens. Observing how he gives and receives both verbal and nonverbal responses. When nurses listen, just listen, they pay careful attention to what they hear and observe, they focus on what is expressed by the patient and they try to determine what the patient is meaning. Effective listening requires receptivity, sustained concentration and astute observation. The skill of listening is fundamental and crucial to patient-nurse relationship (Ooijen 2000). Listening permeates the entire relationship; if meaningful interpersonal connections are to occur, listening must be engaged in throughout every interaction in therapeutic relationship (Parbury 2006). The skills of clarification are used whenever nurses are uncertain or unsure about what patients are saying. Clarification is often achieved trough the use of probing skills. At times a restatement of what a patient has said is an effective means of clarifying (Parbury 2006). Other times, nurses clarify what a patient has said by sharing how they might feel, think and perceive the situation if they were the patient. Reflecting feelings is useful too, because it conveys the nurse’s recognition of feelings and confirms the existence of emotions. When used to collect information, therapeutic communication requires a great deal of sensitivity as well as expertise in using interviewing skills (Roter 2000). To ensure the identification and clarification of the patient’s thoughts and feelings, we, as the interviewers, must observe his behavior. By using the skills of understanding nurses can arrive at knowing what patient is experiencing and thus are in a better position to be empathetic. Empathy is the ability to perceive the world from another person’s view, and take on the perspective of another, while not losing one’s own perspective (Parbury 2006). The ability to enter to another person’s experience to perceive it accurately and to understand how the situation is viewed from the client’s perspective is very important in therapeutic communication. By using therapeutic communication, we attempt to learn as much as we can about the patient in relation to his illness. To accomplish this learning, both the sender and the receiver must be consciously aware of the confidentiality of the information disclosed and received during the communication process (Roter 2000). Confidentiality is not merely keeping patient information inside the confines of a particular setting, but also considering what should be shared, trough reporting and recording, with other nurses and other health care professionals (Parbury 2006).There has to be a therapeutic reason for invading a patient’s privacy. Information that has no direct bearing on the nursing or other healthcare of the patient should be considered confidential and treated as such (Parbury 2006). Finally, interpret and record the data we have observed. As I mentioned earlier, listening is one of the most difficult skills to master. It  requires maintaining an open mind, eliminating both internal and external noise and distractions, and channeling attention to all verbal and nonverbal messages (Roter 2000). Listening involves the ability to recognize pitch and tone of voice, evaluate vocabulary and choice of words, and recognize hesitancy or intensity of speech as part of the total communication attempt. The patient crying aloud for help after a fall is communicating a need for assistance. This cry for help sounds very different from the call for assistance we might make when requesting help in transcribing a physician’s order (Roter 2000). Also advances in both video recording technology and participant observations have led us to consider ways in which these observational methods may be blended to answer research questions. Such innovations in data collection have t he potential to extend our understanding of social interactions in important ways (Paterson, Bottorf & Hewat 2003). ConclusionFinally, essential nature between patients and nurses is that of mutual understanding. It is clear that to function effectively in the therapeutic communication, we need to be informed and skilled practitioners, but not only that, active listening, empathy, understanding is necessary when we there to help our patients. They become calmer and more appreciated after having someone listen to them and express their feelings. Nurse needs to have the ability to express verbally and nonverbally, clarifying and reflecting with the patient, spending time and accepting and understanding behavior of imposing value and judgments. Also let the patient know that we care and that they are able to trust because of information that they share with us stays confidential and their privacy will not be damaged. Clearly therapeutic communication is central to health nursing and through this process nurse-client relationships can be enhanced. References: Andersen, C., & Adamsen, L. (2001). Continuous video recording: a new clinical research tool for studying the nursing care of cancer patients. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 35, 257-267. Beck C.T., Polit D.F. (2000) Nursing Research: Principles and Methods Patient Education Counseling. Journal article 39(1):5-15. Lippincott W&W. Carol, D. Tamparo, Wilburta, Q. Lindh (2000) Therapeutic relationships for Health Professionals. Craven, R.F. & Hirnle, C. J. (2000) Fundamentals of Nursing: Human Health and Function, (4th edition). Husted, G. L., & Husted, J. H. (2001).Ethical decision making in nursing (3rd ed.). New York: Springer. Ooijen, E.V. (2000) Clinical Supervision a Practical Guide. Policies and Procedures. Health Visitors. Harcourt Pub. Lim. Parbury, S. J. 2006 Patient and Person. Interpersonal skills in Nursing. (3rd ed.)Sydney: Harcourt. Paterson, B., Bottorff, J., & Hewatt, R. (2003). Blending observational methods: Possibilities, strategies, and challenges. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 2 (1). Article 3. Retrieved [12.04.07] from http://www.ualberta.ca/~iiqm/backissues/2_1/ html/patersonetal.htmlRoter D. (2000) The Role of Information Technology and Informatics Research in the Nurse-Patient Relationship. Retrieved [7.04.07] from http://adr.iadrjournals.org/cgi/content/full/17/1/77Volbert R.M (2002) Nursing Ethics, Communities in Dialogue. New Jersey. Prentice Hall. Wicks D. (1999) Nurses and doctors at work. Rethinking professional boundaries. Deidre Wicks. Lindeman, C., & McAthie, M. (1999). Fundamentals of Contemporary Nursing Practice. Philadelphia: Saunders. Zilm, G., & Entwistle, C. (2002).The smart way. Canada: Harcourt.

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Communication Failure

â€Å"Communication is not an easy process. It involves verbal and non-verbal attempts to assist the other person to understand what we are trying to communicate. Yet it often fails. † The communication occurring between two people as discussed in the statement above is known by academics as ‘interpersonal communication’. Interpersonal communication can be defined as a two-way, transactional process in which two people, occupying a shared space, continue to send information to each other and receive information from each simultaneously. DeVito, 2008; Firth, Berry & Irvine, 2010; Hartley, 1999). The above statement refers to the process of interpersonal communication. Three clear assertions regarding the process of interpersonal communication are put forth in the statement above. Firstly, it is declared that the process of interpersonal communication is not simple. Secondly, it is declared that both verbal and non-verbal means are employed to foster the process of interpersonal communication. Lastly, it is declared that the process of interpersonal communication often is unsuccessful.This essay will discuss and analyse the above statement and the three assertions it puts forth in regards to the process of interpersonal communication. The interpersonal communication process is said to be comprised of five basic elements, which are: the sender of the information; the receiver of the information; the encoding of the information by the sender; the decoding of the information by the receiver; and the shared means or channel through which the information is sent (Shannon & Weaver, 1949, as cited Firth et al. , 2010).DeVito (2008) states there are additional elements which also have some part to play in the interpersonal communication process, these being: feedback from the receiver; feedforward by the sender; noise or interference impacting the interpersonal communication process; and the context or setting in which the communication process takes place. The statement above states that the process of interpersonal communication is often unsuccessful. DeVito (2008) suggests that such unsuccessful communication would be attributed to some of the elements of interpersonal communication either being present, absent or employed ineffectively by ender or receiver. Due to the process of interpersonal communication comprising of a number different elements, it can be concluded that the interpersonal communication process does have a certain degree of complexity as declared in the statement above. The statement being discussed also declares that for the process of interpersonal communication to be successful, verbal and non-verbal forms of information are broadcast by both the sender to facilitate understanding.DeVito (2008) states that verbal forms of information are essentially the actual words used by the sender and are chosen to: convey facts and inferences; express the connotation a word is being used in; and express sincerity or criticism. Hartley (1999) adds that the words a sender chooses to employ can communicate assertiveness and social standing. Though verbal communication is important in the interpersonal communication process, non-verbal communication conveys a far greater amount of information to the receiver (DeVito, 2008; Firth et al. , 2010; Hartley, 1999).DeVito (2008) states non-verbal means of information transfer between sender and receiver include: body movements and gestures such as pointing with a finger; facial expressions and gestures such as smiles and frowns; the amount of and nature of eye contact present such as pupil dilatation and breaking or initiating gaze; the actual physical space between sender and receiver where closer space often indicates a greater level of intimacy between sender and receiver; the presence or absence of touch such as shaking hands or embracing; the use of paralanguage which involves the rate, tone and volume at which the sender speaks or the use of uttera nces; the sender’s view of the importance of time; artifactual communication which involves how one’s physical appearance, clothing, makeup, and material possessions are made known to the sender; and smell such as the presence of perfumes, deodorants, body odour, mouthwashes. Therefore a great amount of information is sent though verbal and non-verbal communication, which is also made up of many elements. As indicated before, a greater number of elements often results to a greater level of complexity, which is declared in the statement discussed. Though many forms of verbal and non-verbal information sent intentionally to the receiver, sometimes additional verbal nd non-verbal information sent to a receiver is sent unknowingly and unintentionally (DeVito, 2008; Firth et al. , 2010). Most intentional information sent to a receiver is sent verbally and most unintentional information broadcast by a sender is unwittingly sent through non-verbal means (Firth et al. , 2010). Information that is unintentionally expressed by the sender impacts the message decoded and comprehended by the receiver, often leading to ineffective, unwanted or failed communication (DeVito, 2008; Firth et al. , 2010; Hartley, 1999). Therefore, if the amount of unintentional information sent during the process of communication is reduced, the high chance of communication failure, suggested in the statement above, will be lessened to a degree.While encoding and conveying information in the interpersonal communication process, the sender employs a language they deem to be recognisable easily decoded by the receiver in an attempt to foster successful communication (Firth et al. , 2010). A language can be defined as any verbal or non-verbal manner or means employed to transmit information and understanding between groups of people (Firth et al. , 2010). Verbal and non-verbal messages expressed by should ideally have congruency, meaning they complement each other (DeVito, 2008; Firth et al. , 2010). Incongruent verbal and non-verbal messages often lead to confusion in the receiver, hindering successful reception and comprehension of the information being communicated and therefore resulting in a failure in the communication process (Devito, 2008; Firth et al. , 2010).Hence, congruent verbal and non-verbal messages encoded and communicated by sender will also aid in reducing the likeliness of communication failure. It has been suggested that a failure or breakdown in the interpersonal communication process can be further reduced if both the sender and receiver possess satisfactory levels of what is termed ‘emotional intelligence’ (Goleman, 1998; Lynn, 2002). Emotional intelligence may be defined as a person’s ability to recognise, control and evaluate their own feelings and emotions as well as the feelings and emotions of others (Goleman, 1998). Goleman (1998) states that emotional Intelligence is made up of five lements, these being: self-aw areness, self-regulation, self-motivation, empathy, and the possession of social skills. Self-awareness comprises of: the ability to recognise one’s emotions; awareness of one’s strengths, weaknesses and potential; and one’s ability to maintain a satisfactory sense of self-worth and confidence (Goleman, 1998). Self-regulation involves: one’s desire to maintain honestly; one’s ability to keep distracting emotions at bay; one’s ability to ensure a high level of performance in tasks; and the ability to manage and adapt suit to change (Goleman, 1998). Self-motivation requires one to have: a desire to excel; initiative to grasp given opportunities; and the desire to continue pursing goals whilst barriers are met (Goleman, 1998).Empathy involves one’s ability to: perceive other’s feelings; understand others points of view; and nurture others in developing their abilities (Goleman, 1998). A person with a high level of social skills wi ll be able to: listen openly and effectively send messages; negotiate well with others in times of conflict; inspire, guide others or successfully persuade others; collaborate well with others; bring about change; and effectively deal with change (Goleman, 1998). Therefore, possessing a high level of emotional intelligence involves possessing numerous skills. Lynn (2002) states that possessing emotional intelligence enables one to be aware of their own emotions and abilities, and allows one to hold confidence themselves, enabling the person to communicate confidently and effectively.It can be concluded that someone who possesses emotional intelligence is able to manage how they send, receive, encode and decode information. Elements which are of great importance in the interpersonal communication process (DeVito, 2008). Emotional intelligence in the sender and receiver will also impact the remaining elements of the interpersonal communication process. Feedforward is an element of the interpersonal communication process which enables the sender to attract the attention of the receiver before conveying their full message (DeVito, 2008). Feedforward can indicate to the receiver the nature or the importance of the information which is about to be provided to them by the sender (DeVito 2008).DeVito (2008) states that in the interpersonal communication process, feedforward can: open communication channels; provide a sample of what is about to be conveyed; disclaim the message; and altercast which lets the sender and receiver to assume specific roles during the interpersonal communication process. Feedforward therefore, is a good tactic the sender can employ to gain the attention of the receiver before important messages conveyed, heightening the chance of successful information reception. After conveying their message, the sender can make note of feedback given to them by the receiver (DeVito, 2008). Feedback is an element of interpersonal communication that relates to the information which is continually broadcast either immediately or after short delay by the receiver during the course of the interpersonal communication process (Devito, 2008).Feedback can come in the form of: body language such as hand gestures; eye contact such as breaking or initiating gaze; facial expressions such as smiles; silence which may indicate the receiver is disinterested in the interpersonal communication process; and the variation of distance the which may indicate how involved the receiver wants to be with the sender (DeVito, 2008; Firth et al. , 2010). Feedback may be intentional or unintentional just like other forms of information broadcast during the interpersonal communication process (DeVito, 2008; Firth et al. , 2010). By making note of of feedback, the sender can gain and understanding of how the receiver perceives the message (DeVito, 2008). The context associated with communication also affects how messages are encoded and decoded by the sender and re ceiver in the interpersonal communication process (DeVito, 2008; Firth et al. , 2010).DeVito (2008) makes note of four dimensions communication takes place in: the physical dimension, which is the environment the sender and receiver communicate within and whether or not the environment promotes successful communication; the social-psychological dimension, which deals with the status, class or relationship between sender and receiver and how formal the communication should be; the temporal or time dimension, which deals with whether it is the appropriate time for a sender to convey a message; and the cultural dimension, which refers to beliefs, values, traditions and expectations that exist in the cultures of the sender and receiver whether certain forms of communication are appropriate. The channel or medium through which the information between sender and receiver is relayed has much influence upon successful encoding, decoding and comprehension (DeVito, 2008; Firth et al. , 2010; Hartley, 1999). DeVito (2008) states some channels used in the interpersonal communication process are: verbal; non-verbal; auditory, which relates to sound; olfactory, which relates to smell; and tactile, which relates to touch.Different mediums include: letters; emails; phone calls; mobile phone text messaging; radio; television; the Internet; and print media such as newspapers and magazines (DeVito, 2008; Firth et al. , 2010; Hartley, 1999). Proper use of the communication channels ensures that information travels between sender and receiver in a manner that facilitates accurate encoding and decoding (DeVito, 2008; Firth et al. , 2010; Hartley, 1999). Therefore, it can be concluded that successful use and management of communication channels would further lessen the significant chance of communication failure that is alleged to exist in the interpersonal communication process by the statement being analysed.Failure in the interpersonal communication process can also be attributed to differing types of noise or interference that work against or and act as a barrier to successful communication (DeVito, 2008; Firth et al. , 2010). DeVito (2008) mentions four categories of noise: physical noise, which includes the noise occurring in the environment around the sender and receiver, along with apparel such as sunglasses which would interfere with eye contact; physiological noise, which includes physical disabilities the sender or receiver may have such as poor eyesight, hearing and tiredness; psychological noise, such as preconceived notions and other mental distractions; and semantic noise, which is where the receiver does not understand the language employed by the sender.It has been shown that the interpersonal communication process comprises of various complex elements which either facilitate or hinder successful communication. Successful communication requires information to be properly encoded by a sender, transferred with all attached meaning through a chan nel to a receiver who must successfully decode and comprehend the information sent to them as intended by the sender. Though there are barriers that obstruct successful communication, the possession of emotional intelligence, communicating effectively and maintaining congruency between non-verbal and verbal messages have been argued to reduce the great likelihood of communication failure, as declared in the statement being discussed.The success of interpersonal communication is decided heavily by the skills possessed by other the sender and receiver. References DeVito, J. A. (2008). The interpersonal communication book (12th ed. ). Boston, MA: Pearson Education. Firth, G. , Berry, R. , & Irvine, C. (2010). Understanding intensive interaction: Context and concepts for professionals and families. London, UK: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Goleman, D. (1998). Working with emotional intelligence. London, UK: Bloomsbury Publishing. Hartley, P. (1999). Interpersonal communication (2nd ed. ) . New York, NY: Routledge. Lynn, A. B. (2002). The emotional intelligence activity book: 50 activities for developing eq at work. New York, NY: American Management Assosication.