US History CR4 - Causes of the Civil War Essays -

US History CR4 - Causes of the Civil War Directions: Your answer must be a minimum of 5 complete sentences. Prompt: Identify each term below (states' rights, compromise of 1850, Dred Scott case, and Election of 1860) and explain why it was a cause of the Civil War (1861-1865). Response: "States' Rights": The concept of states' rights was an argument in whom should possess the supreme power of government- The states or the federal government. This argument had occurred in previous years with the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists, but occurred again under the Jacksonian Democracy. This caused arguments and tensions to rise between people in power and citizens. Any change in the distribution of power and creation and destruction of rights would change the nation. This caused tensions to rise. Compromise of 1850: The Compromise of 1850 allowed California to the Union as a Free State, without forbidding slavery in the other territories acquired from Mexico. This law prohibited the sale of slaves in Washington D.C., but in a contradiction, included a law requiring the return of runaway slaves to slaveholders. Abolitionists supported the freedom of California and the freedom in all territories acquired from Mexico. However, the law requiring the return of slaves to slave holders angered Abolitionists. In A Free State, every citizen is free except for slaves, a great contradiction. The rights of slaves began to be questioned even further. This Compromise was used in the Dred Scott v. Sandford case seven years after it was created. Dred Scott case: In the case of Dred Scott v. Sandford, the Supreme Court ruled that slaves were not citizens, only property. Slaves were not granted human and constitutional rights as they were property of their owners. Thus ruling, slaves are a possession that can be brought into any territory and still be enslaved. Decided by the members of the court, the Missouri Compromise of 1820 is declared and ruled unconstitutional. This ruling deeply disturbed the rights of humans, and the morale of slavery, leading for a strengthened out cry of freedom from abolitionists, and ignorant and defensive responses from slave owners. The issue of Abolitionists v Pro-Slavery intensed severely. Election of 1860: The election of Abraham Lincoln, a member of the Republican Party, terrified the southern states. The southern states feared that Abraham Lincoln would take away the power to protect and preserve slavery, and stop the expansion of slavery into the Free States. One month after Abraham Lincoln was elected, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, voted to secede from the Union. A few months later, the seven states seceded and created a new nation called the Confederate States of America. Under the Confederate States of America, a new constitution was created, one with the legalization of slavery, Jefferson Davis was elected as the president and Alexander Stephens was elected as the vice president. Arkansas, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia soon joined the new nation. The separation from the United States of America with the formation of a new nation, displayed how serious the tensions were.

Vietnams problems essays

Vietnam's problems essays Communism in Vietnam originated in when it was overrun by the Japanese during World War II. When the Japanese retreated, the Vietnamese formed their own government, with Ho Chi Minh as their leader. After the war, the Allies gave southern Vietnam to the French, and northern Vietnam to the Chinese. The Chinese did not treat the Vietnamese well and support for Ho Chi Minh grew, as he was removed from power after the war ended. The Chinese retreated from Vietnam, and supporters of Ho Chi Minh, the Viet Minh, took matters into their own hands. The reign of Ho Chi Minh was supported by Communist China, where Mao Tse Tung had risen to power. Other communists supported Ho Chi Minh as well, like Russia and Eastern Europe. This was similar to what had happened in World War II, where these countries had developed by means of communism in the Cold War. In 1946, the French had declared that they wanted to take over northern Vietnam. The Viet Minh fought back, using guerilla warfare. They also attacked southern Vietnam since they were under French control. Americans soon became concerned and developed the Domino Theory. The Domino Theory was that if one country had fallen to communism, the country next to it would also fall and the chain would continue until all surrounding countries would be under communist control. America feared that communism would spread too far, so they intervened. The Americans deployed special forces to go to southern Vietnam to train the Vietnamese how to fight against Viet Minh. The Viet Minh had convinced many Vietnamese peasants to support their cause in spreading communism. The southern Vietnamese ruler, Dien Bien Phu, who was against communism and was supported by America, wanted to save the Vietnamese by sending them to defended camps. The peasants did not like the idea because they didnt want to be moved, so the southern Vietnamese army overthrew him. The confusion ...

Nutrition and Health in America Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Nutrition and Health in America - Essay Example The physical education programs which are introduced at the school level don't offer sufficient physical activities which could keep a child healthy. So in their grooming ages like at the age of 5 they are not groomed well by their physical health trainers. And parents even don't account the importance of physical education programs and they are only concerned about the academic activities of their children. Unfortunately the schools don't pay attention towards this serious matter and they take physical education program as an optional task for the students. They feel that they are only responsible to polish student's mental abilities and to train them to get good grades. The fact is that if the students are physically fit they can produce even more positive outcome. A well know proverb also says that "health is wealth" .If you are healthy then only you can contribute towards good and can perform better. This is plenty evidence to turn around the educational policies. For example like mathematics and reading, the physical education should be made compulsory to pass the grade. It should be given its due importance like the other subjects as it grooms the personality of the child and takes him towards fitness as well as good grades. Americans like to spend their leisure time in front of televisions, computers, electronic games etc. But some forces are trying to divert their attention towards the fact that exercise can bring health benefits for people belong to any age group and both genders. American Heart Association has also taken step by giving awareness that the exercise could keep people away from heart problems. The opportunities to take part in marathon, cycle races and walks are being introduced by different charity fund raisers. It also plays role to motivate people to take part in such activities which could fulfill the need of exercise. The laws and regulations have also played its part in it. The walk paths are created for people to encourage going by walk wherever they want to go and not by motored transportation. Pilates, yoga and other gentler activities are becoming popular among the people and attaining their attention towards them. World's population on the world sports reveled that the participants were growing in many sports which were above 45. Now days the events are specifically arranged for the people who belong to age group of 45 and above. They participate in such activities and pass their leisure time instead of watching televisions as they used to generation ago. Now its time for parents and the education policy makes to take corrective action and should realize the importance of the physical education in the early ages of child. Parents should encourage their children to carry outdoor activities and to participate in such games which offer exercise .So that their adult ones could be able to develop immunity against different life taking diseases.Work cited: British Journal of Nutrition (2008), 99, suppl.1, S26-S32 The author

Response Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 6

Response - Essay Example Ameirca also has a long tradition of exporting to other countries, and so there are opportunities for manufacturing to bring large returns through domestic and export marketing. In the next decade there will be increasing competition from countries like India and China, where wages are considerably cheaper and education standards are catching up fast to those of America, and even in some cases such as maths education, exceeding them. The stakeholders for Standard Motors include the owners, the workforce, the large and small customers, and the communities in which their factories are located. The owners are keen to make profits consistently, so that they can continue investing in the plant but workers want higher wages, and so there is a conflict of interests there. Standard Motor Products prospers when people cannot afford new cars. A similar counter-cyclical business may be local tourism such as hotels selling weekend breaks, since many Americans may stay at home and have short breaks instead of travelling abroad for longer vacations. The article seemed fairly accurate, but it may give an over-optimitistic picture of America’s performance globally. I think there is more of a threat from Brazil, China and India, for example, than is visible right now, and it will become apparent very soon. I expect that the entertainments electronics industry (laptops, ipods, mobile phones etc.) will be even more competitive than it is now, and there may be increasing shortages in key raw materials that go into making these products, like some heavy metals and some elements that are common at the present time, but will be running short in 2020, such as copper, for example. This will mean that recycling will be a bigger part of production, and I expect that manufacturing plants will have built in recycling facilities located right next to their new production facilities. This may provide some jobs for low skilled human staff, in collecting and delivering the products to be

IT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

IT - Essay Example Its terms and conditions of service, data use and cookie use policy can be estimated to be about 14, 000 words which run over eight pages. Even for a fast reader, this would take one about two hours to go through all the pages. This could be an associating factor as to why most users simply agree to the terms without agreeing to them, not knowing exactly what right they are handing over to Facebook. In order to ensure customer satisfaction, Facebook could try to edit their terms and conditions to a page or so. At least then, there is a chance of someone actually reading the terms before accepting them unknowingly. Definitively for photos and personal videos uploaded to the site, Facebook has the right to use this content any way they see fit according to the terms and conditions. If people actually knew this, what are the chances that they would probably not upload so many personal photos and videos of themselves online? In addition, the terms state that Facebook can hand over its rights over the user’s content to another organization if needed. Ethically users need to understand how these companies intend to use the content handed over to them and have a say in whether or not it is okay if the organizations have access to this information. Furthermore, the terms and conditions stipulate that eve on deletion or deactivation on a users account, Facebook’s licence over the user’s content shall only come to a cessation in a situation where all of their friends also delete their accounts. The possibility of this ever occurring is next to impossible, which in a way is Facebook taking advantage of user’s negligence (Gopalsamy, 2009). Google is not so popular when one thinks of social networking. It is not hard to imagine that Google+ is probably not the first place where most Google users agreed to their terms and conditions of service. Most users almost certainly signed up through one of Google’s

Causes and Effects of the Air France 447 Crash

Causes and Effects of the Air France 447 Crash Air France Flight 447 was an international, long-haul passenger flight, from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. On 1st June 2009 the aircraft crashed into the Atlantic Ocean killing everybody on board. The aircraft is thought to have crashed due to temporary inconsistencies between airspeed measurements, caused by the aircrafts pitot tubes being blocked by ice crystals. Ultimately, the autopilot disconnecting and the crew reacting incorrectly, led the aircraft to an aerodynamic stall from which they did not recover (BEA, 2012). The accident resulted from a combination of factors relating to both the technology of the aircraft and the training of the crew (BEA, 2012). The technological failures were: poor feedback mechanisms, unclear display of airspeed readings, confusing stall warnings, absence of visual information and poor indications by the Flight Director. Failures in training resulted in the crew; not responding to the stall warning, not being trained in icing of the Pitot tubes and lacking practical training in manually handling the aircraft. Moreover, incomprehension of the situation and poor management of emotions weakened the task sharing ability of the co-pilots. This accident has highlighted a number of human automation issues in aviation. Automated flight-control functions can remove some danger from aviation, however it also changes the activities, workloads, situation awareness and skill levels of the operators, which can cause problems (Hodgson, Siemieniuch Hubbard, 2013). The first problem highlighted by this accident is the crew’s change of role from operator to monitor. Flight deck automation uses the crew’s ability to perform a passive monitoring role, rather than an active operating role. One problem associated with this is a drop in vigilance (Mackworth, 1948), which is exacerbated when a system is highly reliable (Parasuraman, Molloy Singh, 1993). However, these accidents are not human operator errors, they are automation system design errors. More importantly, the crash of Flight 447 was partly attributed due to loss of situation awareness, possibly due to pilots having to perform a passive monitoring role. Monitoring roles can reduce the situation awareness of the current â€Å"flying state† of the aircraft, as well as the awareness of its predicted future behaviour (Sarter Woods, 1995). Lack of situation awareness can also be an outcome of complex automation, such as a having a complicated flight automation system which can result in pilot confusion due to poor interface design. In the case of Flight 447 the BEA (2010) report shows that a poor Human Computer Interface played a main part in the crash. There were a number of reasons for this: the Flight Director display was inaccurate, therefore accounting for most of the wrong pitch-up inputs due to an altimeter error. Airspeed inconsistencies that had been identified by computers were not clearly displayed. Failure messages were generated but only showed the consequences not the origin of the problem. There was no indication of a blocked pitot tube on the flight displays. There was also an absence of Angle of Attack information, which is important in identifying and preventing a stall. This information was sent to on-board computers but there were no displays to convey this information. Furthermore, as the level and complexity of automation increases, the levels of experience and skill needed to be able to recover from a failure or unexpected situation have increased (Hodgson, Siemieniuch Hubbard, 2013). This is because there is less time for the operator to become aware of and correct developing problems. For example in Flight 447 the crew had less than three minutes to find the problem and take action. Additionally, in the case of aircraft, the ability to recover from a failure or unexpected situation relies on the crews manual flying abilities too. However, with highly automated aircrafts there is a loss of manual flying skills experienced by pilots (Wood, 2004). Fanjoy and Young (2005) found that training and airline policies on automation, often lead to a lack of opportunities to practice resulting in pilot complacency as well as the deterioration of flying skills. Furthermore, Young, Fanjoy and Suckow (2006) found that crews who used the most flight deck automation had poorer manual flying skills than others. This has implications when there is an abnormal situation in which the automation system disengages without prior warning, as the crews will rely on their manual flying skills. Furthermore, automation will maintain stability until it is no longer possible, resulting in the aircraft going out of control as the flight crew take over, meaning crews need to have good manual fl ying skills. A further problem with this is that automation increases mental workload during high-load periods (Funk et al, 1999). This workload problem increases when there are situations that need further mental workload during an already high workload time. When the crew’s workload is high, developing failures of the automation system are more likely to be allowed to develop into a critical situation. For example, if damage has occurred or instrumentation has failed, the Flight Management System advice is often misleading or incorrect, and flight crews can be overloaded with a vast amount of information and alarms, making it difficult to identify what the problem is. For example, the crew of the A447 were faced with more than 50 simultaneous alarms.One alarm after another lit up the cockpit monitors. One after another, the autopilot, the automatic engine control system, and the flight computers shut themselves off (Traufetter, 2010). This lead to them not being able to understand or ide ntify what the problem was before it turned into a critical situation, ultimately ending in disaster. The above problem could be due automation being an inadequate crew member. Automation can act as a poorly trained, incommunicative member of the system’s crew. There is often poor interaction between crews and automation systems (Norman, 1990), yet there is a need for multisensory feedback to crews (Sarter 1999). In order for a crew to achieve a safe level of shared situation awareness, the automated system must become part of the crew. It needs to do this by communicating its adjustments in order to maintain shared situation awareness. Current automated systems may indicate adjustments on a dial or screen, but they do not typically draw attention to them because they lack situation awareness of the â€Å"bigger picture.† Clear communication can prevent accidents. For example in Flight 447 if there would have been clear communication that the pitot tube was frozen then this would have stopped the chain of events from unfolding. To improve automation it is proposed that aircraft should be made into more effective team players. A human–automation team should be defined as â€Å"the dynamic, interdependent coupling between one or more human operators and one or more automated systems requiring collaboration and coordination to achieve successful task completion† (Cuevas, Fiore, Caldwell Strater, 2007). Current automation systems perform as very inadequate team members, leaving the human operators or crew unprepared when failure occurs or unusual events arise. (Hodgson, Siemieniuch Hubbard, 2013). To improve human-automation interaction, systems should be able to trade and share control so that interacting with a system is more like interacting with a teammate (Scerbo, 2007). Future systems, such as Free Flight, are envisioned to have human–automation teams sharing and trading tasks (Inagaki, 2003) as situational demands change (van Dongen van Maanen, 2005). Such dynamic situations creat e occasions where human–automation teams can implicitly coordinate (Rico, Sanchez-Manzanares, Gil Gibson, 2008) on an almost exclusively cognitive basis (Hoc, 2001). This would enable automation systems to become good team players. Furthermore, good team players make their activities observable for fellow team players, and are easy to direct (Christofferson Woods, 2002). To be observable, automation activities should be presented in ways that capitalise on human strengths (Klein 1998). For example; they should be: Event-based: representations need to highlight changes and events, Future-oriented: Human operators in dynamic systems need support for anticipating changes and knowing what to expect and where to look next and Pattern-based: operators must be able to quickly scan displays and pick up possible abnormalities without having to engage in difficult cognitive work. By relying on pattern-based representations, automation can change difficult mental tasks into straightfo rward perceptual ones. Overall, changes in workload, reduced situation awareness, reduced operator skills, automation failures and unexpected behaviours have caused many accidents over the past three decades, including flight 447. As a result of these factors, manual recovery when the automation system fails is often compromised. These issues may have been exacerbated by having a tightly coupled system. Tight coupling reduces the ability to recover from small failures before they expand into large ones. Tighter coupling between parts spreads effects throughout the system more rapidly. This means that problems have greater and more complex effects that can spread quickly. When automated partners are strong, silent, clumsy and difficult to direct, then handling these demands becomes more difficult. The result is coordination failures and new forms of system failure. Currently it is argued that aircraft systems are only moderately tightly coupled. However, airlines, for financial reasons, are pressing for a r eduction of flight crews from three (pilot, co-pilot, and engineer) to two (pilot and co-pilot) on the grounds that computers and other devices reduce the engineering load. More automation in its system and reducing the number of controllers will lead to much tighter coupling resulting in less resources for recovery from incidents (Perrow, 2011). Now the problems with the automation in Flight 447 have been identified, it is important to understand how safety models contributed to the understanding of the accident and what the implications are for managing safety in the future, to prevent history from repeating itself. The first safety model and safety management strategy is known as Safety-I. According to Safety-I, things go wrong due to technical, human and organisational causes such as failures and malfunctions, with humans being viewed as a main hazard. The safety management principle is to react when something goes wrong; by investigating and identifying the causes of the accident and then trying to eliminate the causes or improve barriers. This results in safety being a condition where the number of adverse outcomes is as low as possible. The principles of safety-1 have been expressed by many different accident models; the best known accident model being the Swiss cheese model (Reason, 1990). This model posits that accidents occur due to multiple factors jointly. These factors align creating a possible trajectory for an accident. These can either be latent conditions, such as problems with the organisation due to its design or management, which are present in the organisation long before an incident is triggered. Active failures are mistakes made by human operators, which when combined with the latent failures, result in an accident. It states that that no one failure, human or technical, is sufficient to cause an accident. Rather, it happens due to the unlikely and often unforeseeable event of several contributing factors arising from different levels of the system. In the case of Flight 447 the model would allow each contributing factor to be identified. For example the technical faults would be: the Human Computer Interface, pitot tubes, controls not being linked between pilots, misleading stall warnings. Human faults would be the Co-pilot pulling back on stick, poor management of startle effect, poor communication and the captain leaving the room. Organisational faults would be poor training, delayed installing new pitot tubes, poor design of HCI. When put together all of these factors played a part in causing the accident. Looking for human errors after an event is a â€Å"safe† choice, as they can always be found in hindsight. Looking and finding human errors makes it easier to find who should be held accountable and where preventative measures should be aimed. However, when â€Å"the cause† has been attributed to individual error, the preventative measures are usually misaimed. Accidents occur from a combination of many factors and by blaming the individual, people often assume that the system is safe, as soon as it can get rid of the â€Å"bad apples†. However more recently, a proactive model of safety has been suggested. Proactive safety management is part of the aim of Safety-II, which argues that focusing on cases of failure does not show how to improve safety and that instead of looking at what goes wrong, there should be a focus on looking at what goes right in order to understand how that happens. In hindsight after an accident, many weaknesses existing in organisations are usually revealed. For example, detect the â€Å"deviations† from rules and regulation and find the â€Å"cause†. However, the fact that something did deviate from a prescribed rule is not necessarily a contributor to an accident or even an abnormal event. On the contrary, adaptations are often a norm rather than an exception (Reimana Rollenhagen, 2011). It should be acknowledged that the everyday performance variability needed to respond to varying conditions is the reason why things go right. Humans are consequently seen as a resource neces sary for system flexibility and resilience. The safety management principle is continuously to anticipate developments and events. When something goes wrong, we should begin by understanding how it usually goes right, instead of searching for specific causes that only explain the failure. This strategy posits that accidents are not resultant but emergent. In consequence of this, the definition of safety should be changed from ‘avoiding that something goes wrong’ to ‘ensuring that everything goes right’. The basis for safety and safety management must therefore be an understanding of why things go right, which means understanding everyday activities. Safety management must be proactive, so that interventions are made before something happens. In the case of Flight 447 safety management needs to ask: What could have been done before that flight to minimise the possible risks associated with it? (McDonald Ydalus, 2010) The risks were built into the operational situation before take-off. Routine measures in advance could not just prevent this accident happening again but provide a more general preventive shield against a wide range of system accidents. This has been explained in a FRAM analysis model (Hollagenel, 2004). In this model there is a need to understand the essential system functions, their variability and how these can resonate, in order to identify barriers for safety. Furthermore, another way to understand why an accident occurred is to determine why the control structure was ineffective (Leveson, 2004). Preventing future accidents requires designing a control structure that will enforce the necessary constraints. In systems theory, systems are seen as hierarchical structures, where each level puts constraints on the activity of the level below. This means that constraints or a lack of constraints at a higher level allow or control behaviour at a lower level (Checkland, 1981). The cause of an accident is viewed as the result of a lack of constraints due to inadequate enforcement of constraints on behaviour at each level of a socio-technical system. The model has two basic hierarchical control structures; one for system development and one for system operation, with interactions between them. Between the hierarchical levels of each control structure, good communication channels are needed. A downward reference channel provides the information needed to apply constraints on the level below and an upward measuring channel provides feedback about how effectively the constraints were applied. At each level, inadequate control may result from missing constraints, inadequately communicated constraints, or from constraints that are not enforced correctly at a lower level. (Leveson, 2011). Therefore, understanding why an accident occurred requires determining why the control structure was ineffective and preventing future accidents requires designing a control structure that will enforce the necessary constraints. Therefore the implications for managing safety are that by combining safety-I and safety-II techniques, so that there is a proactive focus looking at how everyday activities go right, then accidents could be prevented by being able to identify the organisational and societal problems, which can then be changed before an accident happens, for example by making sure the right constraints are in place. Overall, pilots are part of a complex human-automation system that can both increase and reduce the probability of an accident. Training, automation systems, and cockpit procedures can be changed so that certain mistakes will not be made again. However, it could be that with the inclusion of the humans and their variability, there will always be the possibility of an accident. However turning automation systems into effective team players may transform aviation, preventing avoidable catastrophes. Furthermore, safety management strategies should focus on how to be proactive in order to identify potential accidents before they happen, focusing on how variability and adjustments are a part of what goes right in everyday performance, which may prevent accidents from happening.

Comparing Nature of Man in Island of Dr. Moreau and Lord of the Flies E

Nature of Man Exposed in Island of Dr. Moreau and Lord of the Flies  Ã‚        Ã‚   Throughout the natural history of mankind, the human race has always held a notion of its predominance over all other creations of nature. Man has long believed that he is somehow morally superior to all other creatures, motivated by a higher source than basic instincts. Yet, the history of man is marked by an interminable string of events that would seem to contradict that theory: war, genocide, segregation, suppression, tyranny, the list goes on and on. Only a cursory look at man’s history is required to come to the conclusion that man is at least as cruel and savage as the beasts they strive to surpass. H.G. Wells in The Island of Dr. Moreau and William Golding in Lord of the Flies each attack man’s artificial superiority extensively. Both men believed that the beast itself resided in man’s soul, surfacing occasionally to produce the evil that man is capable of. Yet, the men approached this concept in two distinct manners, leading to differences in a number of key aspects of the ir respective theories, differences that could weigh heavily on the future of the human race. When H.G. Wells’ was asked what his motivation was for writing Moreau, he responded, "This story was but the response of an imaginative mind to the reminder that humanity is but animal rough-hewn to a reasonable shape and in perpetual conflict between instinct and injunction...It was written just to give the utmost possible vividness to that conception of man as hewn and confused and tormented beasts" (Batchelor 17). Inspired by Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, Wells’ island tale of Dr. Moreau and his wild beasts carries a far deeper purpose than the simple survival story... ...." Critical Essays on William Golding. G.K. Hall & Co.: Boston, 1988. 22-29. Batchelor, John. "The Romances of the 1890’s." H.G. Wells. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 1985. 17-21. Boyd, S.J. "The Nature of the Beast: Lord of the Flies (1954)." The Novels of William Golding. Harvester Wheatsheaf: New York, 1990. 1-23. Costa, Richard Hauer. "The Scientific Romances." H.G. Wells. Twayne Publishers: Boston, 1987. 35-39. Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. Berkley Publishing Group: New York, 1954. Hynes, Samuel. "[William Golding’s Lord of the Flies]." Critical Essays on William Golding. G.K. Hall & Co.: Boston, 1988. 13-21. McConnell, Frank. "Evolutionary Fables." The Science Fiction of H.G. Wells. Oxford University Press: New York, 1981. 88-105. Wells, Herbert George. The Island of Dr. Moreau. Bantam Books: New York, 1994.      

Sony’s Environment Analysis

Executive Summary Sony Corp. acquired Ericsson’s shares in their 50-50 joint venture Sony Ericsson early this year and rebranded it into Sony Mobile, a wholly own subsidiary of Sony Corp. The aim of this audit is to analysis current situation of Sony Mobile and suggests how Sony Mobile could compete in such competitive market It started with analysis about the mobile phone market. It then gave an overview about Sony Mobile and STP analysis. This audit used Porter 5 Forces to analyse the current situation of Sony Mobile.PEST and SWOT analysis were used to determine the external macro and micro environment and Sony Mobile’s internal strength and weakness. It also analysed Sony Mobile’s main competitors in the industry and used the marketing mix to analyse its marketing strategy. Finally, the audit gave evaluation of the current situation and gave recommendations. Industry Background Market Size: The global mobile phone industry consists of all analog and digital ha ndsets used for mobile telephony (Marketline, 2009). Mobile phone industry is a very fast growing and competitive industry with many big players like Nokia, Samsung, LG, HTC, RIM, Apple, etc.According to International Telecommunication Union (2011), total number of mobile subscriber worldwide has reached 5,981 millions. The breakdown of subscription by regions extracted from ITU is as follow: Source: ITU Gartner, the world's leading information technology research and advisory company, in its report in 2012 reported that total number of mobile phone shipped in 2011 is 1,775 million units. Total sales of smartphone in 2011 have reached 491. 4 millions, around 27. 7% of total mobile phone sales. (IDC, 2011) Market Growth In 2012, mobile phone industry operating profits rose more than 44% annually (Strategy Analytics, 2012).This is a very impressive growth for any industry thanks to the creation and expansion of 3G and 4G net-works. That led to the demand for 3G and 4G mobile handset g lobally. Total number of mobile phones rose by 11. 1% (Gartner, 2012) and total number of smartphone rose by 61. 3%. (IDC, 2012) Market Trend In 2007, the first iPhone was introduced to the market and it changed the game. Apple created a new trend to the mobile phone industry, the trend of smartphone. Since then to now, Apple has sold more than 200 million iPhones, customers started to pick up smartphone instead of feature phone and producer started to follow the trend.Samsung came up with its Galaxy series, Nokia with its N series, etc. Currently, iPhone and Galaxy from Apple and Samsung are the two best-selling smartphone models worldwide. The two models are being priced quite high but multi-million of them have been sold. The two tech giant, Apple and Samsung continue to lead the market and enjoy the lion's share of global revenues and profits, thanks to the weak performance of other giant such as Nokia, Motorola and LG. Below chart showed the change in market share of top 5 smar tphone vendors. Market ShareNokia’s market share is declining year by year but still, it is holding the largest pie of the cake. Taiwanese mobile producer HTC, Korean giants Samsung and LG are becoming stronger and stronger, Research in Motion has always has its certain share in the market and Apple with its Swiss army knife iPhone, is becoming a biggest threat to all competitors in the industry. The market share of the industry is as follow: In such market, competing in this industry would be difficult enough, but to be a market leader will be even more challenging. Sony Mobile, successor ofSony Ericsson which has the financial support of Sony Corp. and the technology and market share of Ericsson, has always strived to be the top player in mobile industry. Company Background – Sony History Akio Morita & Masaru Iuka founded the Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo in 1946. It was then renamed into Sony Corp. in 1958 due to the belief that a company’s name should be as short and easy to remember as possible. Its headquarters is in Japan but its presence is all over the world and in almost any industry. Howard Stringer is currently appointed as Sony Corp. chairman and CEO.In 2001, Sony joint venture with Ericsson and introduce to the mobile phone industry a new player Sony Ericsson. The milestone marking the success of this joint venture is in 2003 when Sony Ericsson launched the camera phone. It was the combination between the famous Sony cyber shot digital camera and the Ericsson mobile phone technology. However, very soon after, in 2011, due to the significant decline in sales over several years, Ericsson wanted to withdraw from the joint venture. Taking the opportunity, instead of closing down Sony Ericsson, Sony bought Ericsson shares and it became a fully own subsidiary of Sony Corp.It is now dealing with over 2500 contractors worldwide. The current workforce of Sony is around 9400 employees under the leadership of Kunimasa Suzuki, the newly-appointed CEO of Sony Mobile Communications. Sales and Finance As indicated in its 2011 fourth quarter financial statements, Sony Mobile, formerly known as Sony Ericsson report a loss of 247 million euro. It is a decline of 374% from 2010. The lost was due to the rise in competitiveness of the market. It also reflect the unfavourable macroeconomic and the effects of the flood in Thailand in November 2011.The company have shifted from selling feature phones to smartphones. Its Android-based smartphone sales in the fourth quarter increased 65% year-on-year. Sony Mobile have the total units sale during the 2011 fourth quarter is 9 million, it is a decrease of 20% from last year. The decrease in sales is the result of the shift from feature phones to smart phones. The number of feature phones was significantly dropped due to the change in strategy but the increase in smartphone sale is too little to offset the loss in sales despite the fact that the sale in Xperia smartphones to date has reached 28 million.Sales for the quarter were approximately â‚ ¬1. 3 billion, 80% of which is from Xperia smartphones. This has emphasized the company's shift in strategy from selling feature phones to selling smartphones. The gross profit margin was 24%. It is a decrease compare to 30% the same quarter last year and 27% in the previous quarter. The decrease in gross profit margin show the difficulties of Sony in sales due to the increasing in market competitiveness with the rise of many innovative, creative and strong competitors such as Nokia, Samsung, Apple.The price competition is affecting Sony gross profit margin and it also one of the reason led to the loss of Sony Mobile during this quarter. Due to the difficulties and the shift in strategies and the restructuring program mentioned above, Sony Ericsson ended the quarter with a net loss of â‚ ¬207 million. Cash flow from operating activities during the quarter was negative Euro 26 million. External borrowings were Euro 19 milli on during the quarter. Total borrowings were Euro 742 million at the end of the quarter. Total cash balances at December 31, 2011 were Euro 442 million. Business objectives:Sony Mobile is aiming to challenge the market leaders in smartphone producers. They want to integrate Sony Corp. technology into their phones in order to compete with others smartphone vendor like Apple or Samsung. They want to gain market share any try to become number one market leader. â€Å"Sony will change† as quoted by the current President and the CEO of Sony Corp. , Sony is reinventing itself to deliver a new, unique and exciting experience for its customers around the world. Sony is now moving fully towards giving an all-in-one solution through its new array of smartphones powered by android operating system.SONY STP ALALYSIS (Segmentation Targeting and Positioning): In marketing most important things are the marketing segmentation and the marketing mix. Even if you come up with a best product and if you do not use the right marketing strategies the result can be devastating. Sony is one of the electronic companies in the world but it cannot be attributed just to the technology and the innovation. Sony's marketing segmentation consists of four different lines: 1) Mobile phones 2) Sony music 3) Sony pictures (Play Station) ) Electronics (TV, camera, walkman, computer, MP3 players) Source: http://www. consumerpsychologist. com/cb_Segmentation. html Segmentation: Sony takes an effort to understand its customers as much as possible. The marketing segmentation makes the process more efficient and effective. It divides the market into small pieces and targets people who belong to the same group and feel the same desire for a product. Sony mobile aims to target the mid-end to high-end market and they offer high quality product irrespective of the cost.Sony mobile works on the design of handset to make it more stylish. Segmentation can be done in four categories: * Demographic * Geo graphic * Psychographic * Behavioural Demographic: Marketers typically consider for a broader vision of socioeconomic characteristic as demographic variables. Demographic characteristic that marketers commonly use to segment markets include age, sex, race, education, occupation and social class. Sony mobiles have different variety of handsets. For example, Sony launched mobiles of different range i. e. Sony Xperia P, Sony Xperia S, Sony Xperia U.These new generation mobiles are targeted for young and middle aged people. As these smartphone mobiles have latest features like Reality Display powered by the Mobile BRAVIA ® Engine HD, Clear Audio and xLOUD Sony audio technologies, a next generation PlayStation for gaming, HD camera, and social networking. It is targeted for business people as it is said â€Å"Your office is where you are†, this shows that it has excellent business capabilities. Geographic: Market is divided into different regions as one or more geographic region s cause customers to differ from one region to other.Sony has different marketing strategies for different regions, as in some regions of India; more people are attracted for loud and clear music while some regions are more in social networking. For such regions Sony launched mobiles like Sony Xperia sola, Xperia P. Largest market segment is China with 1,023 million mobile subscribers. India is second with 919 million and USA top the three with 331 million subscribers. Psychographic: Psychographic factors are also been used to segment markets, as it is divided into lifestyle, motives, etc.Lifestyle analysis provides a broad view of buyers, as it is categorised like hobbies, sports, entertainment, social events, shopping and many more. For business driven customer, Sony came up with smartphone Xperia S as a tool for their business. Also for entertainment and social networking consumers, Sony’s smartphones include features to enable the same. Behavioural: Behavioural is classif ied in some categories like Brand Loyalty, Price Sensitivity, and benefit expectation. Some of the consumers look out for brand loyalty as, Sony designed the new Smartphone which target for such customers.As price is another factor, for which the consumers check, Sony came out with price of range S$650-S$750 for Xperia S, Xperia P which has latest features. Targeting: Sony mobile is currently trying to target mid-end to higher-end market by rolling out lower priced handsets. Sony mobiles use the newest and greatest technology to appeal to their customers. The people who are most interested in staying up to date with the newest technology are usually men of the ages 18-30. Sony mobiles are more targeting for entertainment with communication.They are targeting for young and middle aged group, who are more interested in new features and latest technology. Young aged group consumers i. e. 18-25, are more attracted towards Smartphone’s having features like entertainment, social ne tworking, and camera. For which Sony is targeting these age groups with Xperia’s new versions. Sony mobile communication is also targeting for business group consumers by using excellent business features. Positioning Sony Mobile is currently focusing only on the higher end of mobile phone, the smart phone segment. They position their product as high class mobile phones.With their continuous innovation in technology, they are trying to lower the cost and produce entry-level smart phone models (telecomlead, 2012) but the image of a higher class mobile phone is still their main focus. Sony Mobile has an advantage that they inherited the image and brand name of Sony Corp. When people think of Sony, they think of high class, innovative, high-tech and best quality product. Sony Mobile is trying to re-assure customer that image through their products. PORTER’s 5 PORTER’s 5 forces analysis helps to study the market’s structure which would identify the companyâ⠂¬â„¢s attractiveness and long-run profitability. . Threat of new entrants Considering the amount of capital required to setup a mobile phone manufacturing company, the threat of new entrants are relatively low. Though few companies crop up once in a while, it is not feasible to challenge big players such as Sony. 2. Bargaining power of suppliers Sony currently has got very limited number suppliers when it comes to their chips. Since android supports only specific number of chips, Sony needs to make sure that they maintain a good working relation with such companies. Qualcomm, NVidia and ARM are such company who provides required chipsets to Sony.But in terms of other parts for their mobile, they are flexible and for few parts such as camera, they have got their own manufacturing units. 3. Bargaining power of Buyers Like in majority of the companies, bargaining power of the buyers are the prime criteria to which the companies aim to cater. All the major companies are trying to endle ssly to the catch up with the customer’s demand through offering unique features. Each Customer perceive value in a different way, thus it is very important to keep up with the customer’s expectation. 4. Threat of Substitute Products/ServicesDue to high competition in the market currently, there are high numbers of choices a customer can make while selecting their mobile. Also there is no switching cost involved except for the cost of the mobile phone. Unless 5. Intensity of Rivalry among Competitors Competition is extremely fierce between the existing mobile phone manufacturers. Competitors such as Samsung, Nokia, HTC and LG are continuously coming out with new features in a regular interval. The competitors make sure their products stand out through actively promoting them even before the launch. PEST Analysis:This is a framework where the management/strategy consultants use to get an overview of the external Macro-environment in which the organization operates. PEST factors play an important role in the value creation opportunities of a strategy. These factors are usually being considered as either threats or opportunities. Political Factors: Political factors for Sony can be changed at any time. The Government holds the power to change any policies and regulations which may affect Sony at the time. Also the recession may become reduced, therefore resulting in better trades for Sony. Government decisions an affect the organization up to high extent. Even this would affect Sony’s competitors. The laws which can affect Sony Corporation would consist of new international policies. Internationally the Government may change or increase trading restrictions which would definitely change the way Sony works, because it needs to trade. Government also has the power to change minimum wage, tax, VAT etc. These are also the factors which lead Sony to rank low compared to other competitors. Sony Mobiles are present in many countries worldwide; the p olitical pressure in each of them would affect them one way or the other.Economical Factors: The economic growth has shrunk which means that the growth of the economy is negative. Economically, due to this many changes occur such as the interest and exchanges rates. Due to the recession being deducted in the near future exchange rates may also decrease, however steadily. Sony must be aware of any trading restrictions the Government has made. Since Sony is an international company the exchange rates is different to whichever country they trade with. If the exchange rates in different countries have changed, Sony works out what prices are their products being sold at and whether it would be worth it.Sony Mobile formulates new strategies with respect to segmentation and to check on with the new price of products being launched in different markets due to the changes in these exchange rates. Also low growth in the National income of most of the countries has been resulted in low demand of the firm’s products. Because of these increasing costs and problems Sony Mobile company had to reduce the size of its organisation as it was in the year 2010, the global economic climate has a negative effect on Sony mobiles and as a direct result of this it was necessary to rebuilt and reduce the size of the organisation around the world.Social Factors: Socially, Sony Corporation would be predicted to do well. The company has already gained a lot of reputation because of the quality products and services they provide. Technology has been improved by a mass majority. Sony may even have new competitors which may impact on them. Sony must ensure that they stay ahead of technology. They must be able to create revolutionary equipment for people because that what their company would rely on to stay alive. Companies such as Microsoft and Apple would also do the same. People have trends which Sony must learn so that they may create products which can relate towards them.For examp le, many young adults tend to listen to music; therefore Sony would create products which may allow people to listen to music anywhere at any time. People will have different tastes of style, trends, activities etc. Sony must also improve their work of ideas so that they can still please their customers and that they have adapted with the ageing of the company. Technological Factors: Having new technology Sony creates and innovates products for e. g. Sony’s 12MP camera in Xperia S and their Bravia engine based HD display. This is all possible due to the technological advances.With the latest technology it is possible for Sony mobiles to reduce costs, improve quality, and lead to innovation and new developments. These products benefit the company as well as its customers. Sony mobile works around the latest technology. In order to lead with their competitors they have to stay updated every time and regularly research and develop. It depends on technology so that it may provide efficient productivity of work internationally. Sony uses upgraded and new technology to increase its productivity level and to stay ahead of its competitors.Sony uses new technology to conduct its research and development which would help the business create new products using customer information and also by conducting market research. SWOT Favourable Sony’s presence around world is given the fact that it is one of those strongest established Japanese brand. It is present in almost all the countries around the world. Sony, established in 1946 one of those world renowned companies known for their innovation and quality of products till date. They have a very strong brand name and have a magnitude of products under their brand.They are the leaders when it comes to their display unit in the mobiles as well as the camera. Apple’s Iphone 4S and Samsung’s Galaxy SIII buy their camera unit from Sony. Unfavourable Unfortunately with the lack of innovation and not kee ping up with the competition, Sony is no more a leader or even in the top 5 of the mobile phone manufacturers in the world. With more people moving towards the smart phone segment, Sony has lost out to its competitors such as Samsung, Apple, HTC, etc. Sony’s adaptation to the latest mobile technology is also at its slowest.While its competitors are moving towards the next generation technology Sony is very slow with even announcing its next generation product roadmaps. Sony currently is lacking in innovation unlike till few years back. Despite having a previous generation technology their product pricing is a tad bit higher than its competitors. Opportunities Sony has got an opportunity to tap into the lower segment market with their high quality product offering. Currently all the mobile manufacturers are very focused in their higher end and higher mid value segment market.Sony who is already a marketing leader in portable gaming service can integrate such technology into th eir mobiles and offer a unique product which will set the apart from their competitors. While all of their products currently using Google’s Android OS, they should provide faster software updates to their products. These days the operating system used also one of the decisive factors while buying a mobile. Threat Currently Samsung, Nokia and HTC are aggressively releasing their new generation smartphones and promoting the same.While other manufacturers such as LG, Motorola and Research in motion are coming out with newer product of next generation smart phone in order to stay competitive. Sony’s market share is decreasing slowly and their advertisement campaign hardly has any reach to its target segment. Competitor Analysis For the completive analysis, we’ll look at the major mobile phone manufacturers in the market. We’ll look at their strength and weaknesses, strategy and objectives. Samsung Korean Giant Samsung is one of the leading mobile manufacture rs in the world.Currently Samsung is the world’s largest smart phone maker with the sales of 45 million smartphones in the first quarter of 2012. Samsung’s strong hold is with its mid segment to the high end segment products, comprising majorly of the smartphone sporting the Google’s Android OS. Samsung is aggressively competing with Apple in the top end segment of the smart phone. Samsung’s Galaxy S line is their flagship models and are one of the highest selling products in the smartphone industry. For the first quarter of 2012, Samsung holds a market share of 23. 5% and 29. 1% of global mobile phone market and global smart phone market respectively.Nokia Nokia is one of the direct competitors of Sony from the early days. Despite its declining market share, Nokia is still the largest mobile phone maker in the world. With its strong low segment models and the recent tie up with Microsoft for their Windows Mobile OS. Nokia is aggressively trying to get so me of shares in the smartphone market. They have already strategically placed their products in the mid segment and high end segment market, ranging from Lumia 610 to the Lumia 900. HTC HTC is next big competitor to Sony. HTC trademark comes from their very quick releases of the new generation products.HTC was the first to come out the initial batch of touch screen smartphones and also the first to come out with the mobile under Android platform. HTC’s current flagship product lines are their â€Å"One† Series and are aggressively promoting it all over the world. Their strategy is to release their product ahead of the competitors and gain a good amount of market share. HTC is project itself as a very good multimedia mobile and have acquired Beats Electronic. HTC also acquired majority of the stake in â€Å"VIA Technology†, one of the major chipset makers on July 6, 2011. MotorolaThe Patent powerhouse Motorola is also on decline with respect to its market share. Motorola lacks the consistency when it comes to their market share. The threat to Sony comes from the fact that Google has acquired â€Å"Motorola Mobility† and that in the near future it’ll revamped to compete with the bigger players including Apple. Currently Motorola is doing a fair amount of sales with its â€Å"Droid RAZR† product and has got couple of more release lined up for the next generation mobiles. Apple Competitor Analysis would not complete without analysing Apple. Apple’s dominance in the market with its IPhone is unbeaten.With their aggressive marketing and innovative design, they are in the lead along with Samsung. Apple currently sports a big fan following for their products and holds a very high market share in the smartphone and tablet segment. Despite having only very less number of products in their portfolio, Apple manages post a huge profit when compared to others. In the first quarter of 2012, Apple holds a market share of 24. 2% in the smart phone segment, an 88. 7% increase from the first quarter of 2011. This scenario is bound to continue for the upcoming years. Other Players:Research In Motion (RIM), LG, ZTE are other big competitors to Sony. ZTE and LG are holding a market share of 4. 8% and 3. 4% respectively in the global mobile phone market. Whereas, Research in Motion’s market share in the smart phone is down to 6. 7% and are planning on targeting the mass market instead of restricting themselves to the business class users. Thus from the above analysis, it is evident that Sony is facing with a high amount competition and is in a very tough spot. Marketing Mix Marketing Mix is a different kind of choices organizations makes in the process of introducing a product or service to the market.The 4Ps is one of the methods used to analyse the market mix. 5. 1 Product In the Fiscal year 2011, Sony began to shift the focus of its mobile phone business exclusively to smartphones. So currently Sony Mo bile Corporation has got a very low number of products under its wing. It has got only two product lines namely â€Å"BRAVIA† and â€Å"XPERIA† range of mobile phones. The â€Å"BRAVIA† branded line of phones are exclusive to their Japanese market and there are about five models under it. For rest of the world the â€Å"XPERIA† ranges of mobile phones are being sold.First introduced back in 2008, Sony after revamping their product line retained only this series which sports the Google’s Android OS. Sony currently has got about six models under the â€Å"XPERIA† series. Sony’s flagship model â€Å"Xperia S† comes with one of the best camera in the market with its 12 Mega Pixel Sensor. With their â€Å"Xperia† product line up, Sony is trying to offer an all-round functionality offering. It is also coming up with 7 new models which will target the various segment users. Sony also has got two Tablet models namely â€Å"Sony Tablet P† and â€Å"Sony Tablet S†. Currently all of Sony’s models are featuring android and are touchscreen.Sony also has got range of Accessories to support the functionality of their mobile phones such as headset, wrist strap and customized chargers. 5. 2 Price Pricing is one of the key areas to be successful in the market and is one of the frequently investigated marketing strategies as related with quality. The perception of Sony’s superior quality is still preserved with their current models and it comes at a higher cost of production. This makes their models costing higher than its competitor with the similar product. Currently Sony’s cheapest model comes at the cost of about SG$400 and their flagship model â€Å"XPERIA S† costing about SG$700. . 3 Place Sony currently retails its mobile phone through four primary channels – traditional multi-brand shops, retail chains, local stores and also through their exclusive branded stor es. Sony also sells their product online through their own web store and also through online e-commerce websites such as newegg (US), amazon (US), flipkart (India) and other country specific e-commerce portals. Sony also sells its product with tie up the national operators of the respective country. Sony mobile takes the inherent advantages of the Sony brand and strengthens the marketing field and publicity.Build an outstanding Sony branded shop in shop and point of sale and re-establish the brand image of Sony mobile market and marketing in a wide range. And realize the integration of other businesses with the Sony Group. It means selling the smart phones in Sony home appliances and other Sony line of business sales channels online shop. In order to achieve the effective integration – Sony mobile channels the resources to the Sony Group. 5. 4 Promotion Sony Mobile currently trying to establish its â€Å"Sony† brand name after the name change from â€Å"Sony Ericssonà ¢â‚¬ .Currently Sony is trying hard to be a follower and it is currently promoting its Xperia smartphone through various communications medium such as Television advertisement, press, Internet and social websites, and road shows. Sony is also actively sponsoring various public events and also through. They are also aggressively promoting their models through the network operators by providing the mobiles at a subsidized rate upon contract. Evaluation & Recommendation From the marketing audit, it is quite evident that Sony is currently facing lots of challenges, while trying to establish its revamped image with their smartphones.They have put in strategies to gain more market shares and introducing new smartphones to keep up with the recent market development. With its strong foundation, Sony can improve their positioning in the market with strategically placed steps. Sony need to focus on delivering products that would cater to wide segment of customers. They should make sure that they come out with latest technology products on par with its competitors. Sony should bring back their innovative culture they once had and focus on becoming the market leader.They should leverage on their strong foundation with the multitude technological products under them. Sony currently does not have any low cost solution; this is a very big shift from their previous strategy wherein they had products targeting all range of customers. It is recommended they try to focus on providing low cost solution and fill in the void. Currently all the major companies are focusing their resource to compete in the mid-range to high end mobile products, leaving enough opportunity in the lower end segment of the mobile market.With the right price to feature ratio in this segment, Sony can gain a very good market share that will enable to them to recapture their past position in the near future, especially in the developing countries like India where such low price solution will attract a huge number of customers. Though Sony has got an extensive distribution network, they can provide a direct to customer model through their website which can enable them to engage the customers directly without a need of the resellers; they are already doing such model through their direct stores.With more users opting to purchase their products through the e-commerce websites, such a solution will add some good value to the company. Sony should make sure their products are marketed properly such a way they highlight the target feature for the respective target group. Thus with right products and marketing strategy, Sony Mobile Corporation can make sure that they reach their objectivity of gaining more market share. LIST OF REFERENCE Fourth quarter mobile phone industry overview | asymco. 2012. Fourth quarter mobile phone industry overview | asymco. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www. asymco. om/2011/01/31/fourth-quarter-mobile-phone-industry-overview/. Global mobile statistics 2012 Part A: Mobile subscribers; handset market share; mobile operators | mobiThinking. 2012. Global mobile statistics 2012 Part A: Mobile subscribers; handset market share; mobile operators | mobiThinking. [ONLINE] Available at: http://mobithinking. com/mobile-marketing-tools/latest-mobile-stats/a#subscribers. Gartner Says Worldwide Smartphone Sales Soared in Fourth Quarter of 2011 With 47 Percent Growth. 2012. Gartner Says Worldwide Smartphone Sales Soared in Fourth Quarter of 2011 With 47 Percent Growth. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www. artner. com/it/page. jsp? id=1924314. Key Global Telecom Indicators for the World Telecommunication Service Sector. 2012. Key Global Telecom Indicators for the World Telecommunication Service Sector. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www. itu. int/ITU-D/ict/statistics/at_glance/KeyTelecom. html. Worldwide Smartphone Market Continues to Soar, Carrying Samsung Into the Top Position in Total Mobile Phone and Smartphone Shipments, According to IDC – prUS23 455612. 2012. Worldwide Smartphone Market Continues to Soar, Carrying Samsung Into the Top Position in Total Mobile Phone and Smartphone Shipments, According to IDC – prUS23455612. ONLINE] Available at: http://www. idc. com/getdoc. jsp? containerId=prUS23455612. Global Mobile-Phone Sales and Market Share: Summary – Bloomberg. 2012. Global Mobile-Phone Sales and Market Share: Summary – Bloomberg. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www. bloomberg. com/news/2011-11-15/global-mobile-phone-sales-and-market-share-summary-table-. html. Mobile Phone Industry Profits Surge 44% in Q1 2012 . 2012. Mobile Phone Industry Profits Surge 44% in Q1 2012 . [ONLINE] Available at: http://blogs. strategyanalytics. com/WDS/post/2012/05/30/Mobile-Phone-Industry-

Muic Guns and Roses essays

Muic Guns and Roses essays GUNS AND ROSES CONCERT I went to see Guns and Roses in the fall of 2002, and it was truly an event of sensory overload. I felt inspired by their music in every aspect possible and the level of sound was through the ceiling. Throughout my seventeen years I have seen quite a few concerts but this was by far the best concert I have ever seen. It was a usual Sunday morning outside for everyone else, but for me it was one of the best days of my life. Just a few days prior my friend, Greg Heaven, had received an extra pair of tickets off the Internet. I was lucky enough to have him as a good friend and be able to buy these great floor seats from him for half the ticket price. We decided to leave for Cleveland around 4 oclock, three hours before the concert even started. I got stuck sitting in the backseat for an hour and a half. This was the most eagerness Ive ever had to experience in the back of a car. I spent the whole time listening to Guns and Roses blasting on the stereo system and contemplating whether Axle Rose still had what it takes to play rock and roll music. As we entered Cleveland there were sings with the bands name everywhere and plenty of places to park being that we were 2 hours early. An old man motioned with his arms where to park, as the vehicle came to a stop. My friends and I got out of the car and looked around to check out the city. My friends and I decided that it would be fun to take a walk around the city to pass time. As I walked around there were many scalpers asking if we had tickets and homeless people walking up asking if we had any money for something to eat. I became somewhat nervous being that I was a young white boy walking around in the ghetto. I decided that the best idea would be to enter the Gund arena and get our seats for the concert. I first walked around the arena a few times checking out the outrageous prices on Guns and Roses memorabilia...

Charles Darwin Student WebQuest

Charles Darwin Student WebQuest Learning about the life and work of scientist Charles Darwin can be more engaging with a lesson plan incorporating a WebQuest. Students can do their own research to learn more about the Father of Evolution by using these questions with the links provided. Charles Darwin WebQuest:    Directions:  Go to the webpages listed below and answer the following questions using the information on those pages.    Link #1:  Who Is Charles Darwin?  https://www.thoughtco.com/who-is-charles-darwin-1224477​    1.  When and where was Charles Darwin born?  What were his parents named and did he have any siblings?    2.  Briefly describe Darwin’s schooling and why he did not become a doctor.    3.  How did Darwin get selected to sail on the HMS Beagle?    4.  What year did Darwin first propose the Theory of Evolution through Natural Selection and who was his collaborator?      5.  What was the name of his most famous book, when was it published, and why was he so reluctant to publish it?    6.  When did Charles Darwin die and where is he buried?    Link #2: 5 Interesting Facts About Charles Darwin https://www.thoughtco.com/interesting-facts-about-charles-darwin-1224479​    1.  Who did Charles Darwin marry and how did he meet her?  How many children did they have?    2.  What TWO things did Charles Darwin have in common with Abraham Lincoln?    3.  How did Darwin influence the beginning of Psychology?    4.  What is the name of the book Darwin wrote that was influenced by Buddhism and how is it related to that religion?    Link #3:  People Who Influenced Charles Darwin https://www.thoughtco.com/people-who-influenced-charles-darwin-1224651​ (Note:  In this section, you may have to click on the links of the people’s names to get to their biographies to answer some of the following questions)    1.  Give the birth and death dates of Jean Baptiste Lamarck.    2.  What did Lamarck believe would happen to older, unused structures as new adaptations took over for them?    3.  Who influenced Darwin to come up with the idea of Natural Selection (also sometimes called â€Å"Survival of the Fittest†)?    4.  The Comte de Buffon was not a scientist.  What area was he most known for and what did he help discover?    5.  Alfred Russel Wallace contributed to the Theory of Evolution as well but is far less known outside scientific circles. Briefly describe Wallaces contributions.    6.  What relation was Erasmus Darwin to Charles Darwin and how did he influence Charles Darwin?    Link #4:  Darwin’s Finches  https://www.thoughtco.com/charles-darwins-finches-1224472​    1.  How long did it take the HMS Beagle to reach South America and how long did they stay there?    2.  Besides the finches, what two things did Darwin study while on the Galapagos Islands?    3.  What year did Darwin return to England and whom did he enlist to help him figure out the situation with the finches’ beaks?  (Name the man and his occupation.) Describe the man’s reaction and what he said about Darwin’s information.    4.  Relate why the finches had different beaks to the evolution of the species.  How did this new information compare to Jean Baptiste Lamarck’s ideas?    5.  What is the name of the book Darwin published about his trip to South America?

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz Essay

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz - Essay Example In this novel, Oscar is a character that can not maintain a physical relationship with a girl because of his obesity. (Diaz) has emphasized that sex is the fundamental element that an individual must exhibit in order to be a Dominican male. Dominican male in the novel has been described as an individual that has charm, physical attraction, and virility. All of these qualities have been replaced in Oscar’s persona by his obesity. Other characters in the play like Yunior and Rudolfo are able to make girlfriends and maintain a physical relationship with them because they are smart, and have captivating looks. Thus, Diaz has placed a lot of emphasis upon the significance of looks of men. When Oscar’s mother, Belicia reaches puberty and develops large breasts that appeal to all the boys around her, she chooses to date nobody but the most handsome boy in the school named Jack Pujols. The fact that this happens between the year 1955 and 1962 reinforces the concept that menâ₠¬â„¢s beauty has not just recently gained importance, but has been of significance for a long time in the past. Clare Spurrell has expressed the consequences of obesity on the physical relationship in her article Obesity and relationships. Spurrell supports the notion that people have been weight conscious for long. â€Å"Since the 1960s the population as a whole has become more sedentary with greater hours spent in front of the television, and an increasingly automated lifestyle† (Spurrell 1). ... The idea compares well with the issue of obesity in the present age. Proponents of obesity control programs are of the view that obesity lowers an individual’s confidence level and may put the individual into social exclusion. In a society that stereotypes obesity as a symptom of sloth, overindulgence and a lack of self-control, sufferers are often left with feelings of social exclusion and isolation. Even more so in a relationship, the psychological implications of the 'fat stereotype' can be equally disruptive. (Spurrell 1). Diaz and Spurrell have both maintained that obesity has negative effect on people’s physical relationships, though Diaz has gone a step further by not letting Oscar make love with anyone because of his obesity whereas Sara and her boyfriend, do make love with one another, but their relationship is complicated by the obesity that both suffer from and eventually, they part ways. Oscar develops several affairs in the novel by Diaz, though the intimac y never grows up to the physical level. First, Oscar finds Ana Obregon in the SAT preparation class. He finds her attractive and the two make friends with each other. However, Ana is taken over by Manny because he is physically intimate with Ana unlike Oscar, who is only good in conversing with her. Later, Oscar finds Jenni Munoz, a Puerto Rican girl. He does the same to her what he did to Ana i.e. kill the time speaking to her and never making love. Because of that, the end of their relationship is also like before. Jenni finds a boyfriend and breaks all ties with Oscar. Once again, Oscar is left alone. Break up of Ana and then Jenni with Oscar as well as the breakup of Sara with Jonathon essentially tells that sex is fundamental to the survival and sustainability of a relationship.

The 'New Look' in Foreign Policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The 'New Look' in Foreign Policy - Essay Example or action against the Soviets, and Eisenhower's inability to confront them militarily in Europe or elsewhere that instigated the rationale behind the 'New Look' foreign policy that began in 1954. The concept was to create a large-scale nuclear force capable of massive retaliation. The plan was highly controversial when Eisenhower introduced it and it was considered impractical by both the Navy and the Army (The Army and the New Look, 2001). They viewed the plan as being carried out at the expense of a reduction in forces that would be required to fight a more convention style war. The critics "[...] denounced the 'New Look' as a dangerous gamble likely to force the US in the event of a crisis to choose between a humiliating climb down or the unleashing of a mutually devastating nuclear exchange with the Soviet Union" (Dockrill & Hopkins, 2006, p. 59). The Army insisted that the budget adequately fund a conventional force. The Secretary of Defense would often find himself negotiating among the services for scarce funding. According to the US Army Office of History, "As the Air Force's share of the budget increased in the mid-fifties to procure expensive bombers and missiles an d as the United States' capability to wage less than general nuclear war decreased, opposition to the massive retaliation policy mounted" (The Army and the New Look, 2001). Because the 'New Look' was aimed at massive retaliatory capability, it was primarily aimed at the Air Force. This meant reduction in Army forces and would cause Army Chief of Staff General Ridgeway to remark, "The present United States preoccupation with preparations for general war has limited the military means available for cold war to those which are essentially by-products or leftovers from the means available for general... Th paper outlines the necessity of 'New Look'. In retrospect, faced with a nuclear threat from the Soviets and their aggressive nature after World War II, the United States did not have a lot of options to attempt to roll back Soviet domination in Eastern Europe. The 'New Look' policies were a reasonable approach in line with the policies of containment practised at the time. Early on into the massive build-up program, it was recognised that nuclear weapons were of no value to discourage an enemy or wage a regional war. When called on to use them in Dien Bien Phu in 1954, Eisenhower was faced with the reality that the eventual outcome was simply too horrendous to ever be of use. Yet, in the long run, the potential of mutually assured destruction may have prevented a major nuclear detonation by either side. The build-up and arms race that resulted from Eisenhower's 'New Look' foreign policy left a deep and lasting impression on the American psyche. It created the biggest arms race in the history of the world and as for preventing a nuclear attack, whether it did or not, we are certain that it did not happen.