The Ogood Samaritan Essay

The Ogood Samaritan Essay The Ogood Samaritan Essay The Good Samaritan Jesus Christ was a teacher and he often told parables, embedding within them messages and lessons. One of the many important parables Jesus taught was the parable of the Good Samaritan of the Gospel of Luke. He was asked by a lawyer, an expert on the Law of Moses; how one could inherit eternal life. Jesus replied by asking him what the law said and the lawyer replied with the first commandment: â€Å"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with your entire mind, and with all your strength; and, Love your neighbour as yourself† (Luke 10:27). Jesus said to do so and he will live. The lawyer wanted to justify himself and asked Jesus who his neighbour was. Jesus replied with the parable of The Good Samaritan. (Luke 10: 25-37) We can apply the covenants to our everyday life to be like the Good Samaritan. The parable begins between the city of Jerusalem and the city of Jericho. The roads between the cities were rough and deserted, with very few inhabitants and where many robbers spent their time. A man travelling to Jericho was unfortunate and fell into the hands of the robbers. The robbers stripped him, beat him and then went away, leaving his body on the side of the road half dead. By chance, a priest was going down the same road and when he saw the beaten body, he passed onto the other side. Next a Levite came to the place and when he saw the man’s body, he too passed onto the other side. But a Samaritan, a person despised by the Jews was travelling when he saw the man. He approached the injured man, cleaned and bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them. The Samaritan put the man onto his animal and brought him to an inn to take care of him. The next day, he returns and repay the innkeeper whatever more he spent. The priest and the Levite are two characters in the parable. They are Jewish religious leaders who have good knowledge of God’s law. There are a number of possibilities which may explain why the priest and the Levite could not stop and help the injured man. It would have been bad for the priest and the Levite to touch a dead body, which may explain why they did not check to see if the man was dead. To touch a dead body would have made the Levite and the priest unclean (Numbers 19:11). In Leviticus 21:1, it states: ‘The Lord said to Moses, â€Å"Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: A priest must not make himself ceremonially unclean for any of his people who die.† But in accordance to Leviticus 25:35, they were still required to help his brother in need: â€Å"If any of your fellow Israelites become poor and are unable to support themselves among you, help them as you would a foreigner and stranger, so they can continue to live among you.† They may have had to be someplace else and therefore, it would have been an inconvenience to help the man, their neighbour while the Samaritan did. The third person in the parable is a Samaritan, a person from the province of Samaria. Samaritan and Jews did not associate with one another (John 4:9). Jews called Samaritans unclean and looked down on them. To Jews, Samaritans were considered as social outcasts, untouchables and racially inferior people who practised a false religion. Any physical contact with a Samaritan would make a Jew ceremonially unclean. The Samaritans responded with a strong dislike for the Jews. The bible does not say whether the injured man was a Jew but either way the charitable Samaritan was moved with pity when he saw the half-dead man on the side of the road, â€Å"The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was, â€Å"If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?† But the Good Samaritan reversed the question, â€Å"If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?† (Martin Luther King Jr, 1968). It was the Samaritan who showed Mercy to the injured man, not the Levite or the priest and this is the point that Jesus was trying to get across to the lawyer. Jesus flipped

1906 San Francisco Earthquake

1906 San Francisco Earthquake At 5:12 a.m. on April 18, 1906, an estimated magnitude 7.8 earthquake hit San Francisco, lasting for approximately 45 to 60 seconds. While the earth rolled and the ground split, the wooden and brick buildings of San Francisco toppled. Within half an hour of the San Francisco earthquake, 50 fires had erupted from broken gas pipes, downed power lines, and overturned stoves.   The 1906 San Francisco earthquake and subsequent fires killed an estimated 3,000 people and left over half of the citys population homeless. Around 500 city blocks with 28,000 buildings were destroyed during this devastating natural catastrophe. The Earthquake Strikes San Francisco At 5:12 a.m. on April 18, 1906, a foreshock hit San Francisco. However, it offered just a quick warning, for massive devastation was soon to follow. Approximately 20 to 25 seconds after the foreshock, the large earthquake hit. With the epicenter near San Francisco, the entire city was rocked. Chimneys fell, walls caved in, and gas lines broke. Asphalt that covered the streets buckled and piled up as the ground seemed to move in waves like an ocean. In many places, the ground literally split open. The widest crack was an incredible 28 feet wide. The quake ruptured a total of 290 miles of the Earths surface along the San Andreas Fault, from northwest of San Juan Bautista to the triple junction at Cape Mendocino. Though most of the damage was focused in San Francisco (in large part because of the fires), the quake was felt all the way from Oregon to Los Angeles. Death and Survivors The earthquake was so sudden and the devastation so severe that many people didnt have time to even get out of bed before they were killed by falling debris or collapsed buildings. Others survived the quake but had to scramble out of the wreckage of their buildings, clothed only in pajamas. Others were naked or near naked. Standing out in the glass-strewn streets in their bare feet, survivors looked around them and saw only devastation. Building after building had been toppled. A few buildings were still standing, but had entire walls fall off, making them look somewhat like doll houses. In the hours that followed, survivors began helping neighbors, friends, family, and strangers who remained trapped. They attempted to retrieve personal possessions from the wreckage and scavenge some food and water to eat and drink.   Homeless, thousands upon thousands of survivors began wandering, hoping to find a safe place to eat and sleep. Fires Start Almost immediately after the earthquake, fires broke out across the city from broken gas lines and stoves that had fallen over during the shaking. The fires spread ferociously across San Francisco. Unfortunately, most of the water mains had also broken during the quake and the fire chief was an early victim of falling debris. Without water and without leadership, it seemed nearly impossible to put out the raging fires. The smaller fires eventually combined into larger ones.   South of Market Fire  - Located south of Market Street, the fire was curbed on the east by fireboats that could pump salt water. However, without water in the fire hydrants, the fire quickly spread both north and west.North of Market Fire  - Threatening an important commercial area and Chinatown, firefighters attempted to use dynamite to create firebreaks to stop the fire.  Ham and Eggs Fire  - Started when a survivor tried to make breakfast for her family not realizing that the chimney had been damaged. Sparks then ignited the kitchen, starting a new fire that soon threatened the Mission District and City Hall.Delmonico Fire  - Another cooking fiasco, this time started by soldiers trying to cook dinner in the ruins of the Delmonico Restaurant. The fire quickly grew. With the fires raging out of control, buildings that had survived the earthquake were soon engulfed in flame. Hotels, businesses, mansions, City Hall all were consumed. Survivors had to keep moving, away from their broken homes, away from the fires. Many found refuge in city parks, but often those too had to be evacuated as the fires spread. In just four days, the fires died out, leaving a trail of devastation behind. Aftermath of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake The quake and subsequent fire left 225,000 people homeless, destroyed 28,000 buildings, and killed approximately 3,000 people. Scientists are still trying to accurately calculate the magnitude of the quake. Since the scientific instruments used to measure the earthquake werent as reliable as more modern ones, scientists have yet to agree on the size of the magnitude. Most, however, place it between 7.7 and 7.9 on the Richter scale (a few have said as high as 8.3). Scientific study of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake led to the formation of the elastic-rebound theory, which helps explain why earthquakes occur. The 1906 San Francisco earthquake was also the first large, natural disaster whose damage was recorded by photography.

The Robot-Reply and the Definition of Being Human Essay

The Robot-Reply and the Definition of Being Human - Essay Example In perception, movement, and through the imitation of human action, one might begin to believe they are seeing a sentience, but true sentience requires something more. Searle explores the idea through an examination of causality, that a being must be able to create causality for its choices through the framework of intention. In an examination of the concept of intention as it relates to the creation of sentience, the exploration of the idea of AI becomes as much a philosophical discussion as one of science. In order to discuss the concept of artificial intelligence, one must first discuss the idea of sentience. Sentience means that the thoughts of a being are directed by intention and not dictated through programmed parameters within which the thoughts have been constructed. Claudia Dreifus discussed the emergence of social robots in the M.I.T. God and Computers project with Anne Foerst, the theological advisor for the project. The need for a theological advisor comes from a need to create a discourse on the meaning of the human experience as it is being translated through a computer generated reflection of human behavior. In the case of the M.I.T. project, the idea of embodiment goes a long way in defining the ‘intrinsic value’ of the robot, the premise being that this means that the robot deserves the respect of its reflection of humanity because it has become embodied. In relationship to this embodiment, the robot, according to Foerst, will develop the right to the kind of respect afforded to humans when it can no longer be turned off. When a robot exists in a framework of independence and without the vulnerability of the switch, it becomes a being of intent. Through the socialization skills that are being applied in the project, the robots they have created have already begun to breach the veil between mechanics and life. Searle discusses the idea of creating a thinking robot by creating psychological explanations. These psychological explanat ions provide a testing environment through which psychological factors in humans can be tested. This type of A.I. requires cognitive capacities. Given the appropriate programs, a computer begins to have cognitive states. In the God and Computers project from M.I.T. the robots are given humanoid embodiment, their shape and existence in space relatable at a level that provides for social interaction. The question that one can ask in relationship to the cognitive states that computers have been given in order to create psychological frameworks is whether or not those programs gain ‘life’ status when given into the embodiment of a robotic shell. Defining the difference between the way in which the brain thinks and the robot processes is an attempt to define human life in contrast to the reactions of a machine that can formulate human like responses. In other words, it is the discussion of what is human and what is human-like. The interesting thing that can be noted is that audiences and readers of Shelley’s work rarely consider that the creation made by Dr. Frankenstein is significantly distinguishable from human life. The body of the creation is human as it is constructed from human parts, and while the brain is human it is

Midterm exam Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Midterm exam - Essay Example These are examples of cultural relativism and these examples also would say that one culture cannot be better than another culture because of what they practice and believe. Ethical relativism on the other hand would say that due to the fact that there are several varying ethical norms one’s belief cannot be more good than another. Ethical norms are normally based on one’s culture such that one cannot separate ethics and culture. Two versions of utilitarianism – act and rule – would both consider the consequences of one’s action to determine which is the right action to do based on which will generate the most pleasure. Unfortunately, we can never foretell or conclude with utmost certainty that the end of the action we decide to do will in reality produce the greatest good or the greatest happiness. Good and happiness, after all are constructs of society and thus changes from one period to another or one person to another. At the same time, the view of what we think may produce the greater happiness may be viewed differently. For example, in the industrial age, it was made to believe that burning coal produces the necessary energy to fuel machineries that aid production of textile and the like. It was believed to be producing the greatest happiness for the greater number because it gave jobs to people and it gave them better level of existence with electricity and other implements in the household. However, at this time, the consequences of coal burning is being felt worldwide due to the greenhouse gases emitted by the coal burning. This is not making the people happy rather they are suffering and feeling the negative consequences. This is a true proof that even when we believe that the consequence of the action would result to our own happiness as well as the rest of the population, we are still not guaranteed about it. It would be best if we were to know everything and foresee every thing that our

Lost and Sex and The City Essay Example for Free

Lost and Sex and The City Essay They are referring to the kinds of programmes that are perceived as more expensively produced and, especially more culturally worthwhile, due to their subject matter or content. In the history of ‘quality’ television, it presents a daunting set of challenges. There is no central register of quality programming quality style is defined by depth and warmth of its characters and the use of self reflexivity and the notion that the writers and viewers enjoyed an unusual degree of freedom. The term also associates mostly on the issue of gender representation. In this essay I will discuss television shows, Lost and Sex and The City and how they have both proved great quality television through their success and interesting storylines. (Jancovich, Mark, Lyons, James, Quality Popular Television, 2003) The complex characters, settings and dilemmas are what make good quality television. This brings me to Lost. Lost is an American television drama that follows the survivors of a plane crash that end up on a mysterious island. Each episode typically features what happens on the island as well as a secondary storyline of the characters lives. Most of the characters in Lost are driven to reconcile a patriarchal crisis; Jack must resolve an ‘Oedipal’ conflict with his alcoholic father, John Locke must redeem his masculinity and after being manipulated by his father and rebuild his disabled body and Kate and Sawyer are repetitively haunted by their fathers and dark pasts. The whole island is an experimental site, emphasizing the constant distress of mystery that the island holds and the unknowing. Within this, each episode continues a story about each character, most encountering their violent fathers and how this will shape the collective islands culture. In one particular episode, ‘The 23rd Psalm’, flashbacks consist between Nigeria, the present day and a Nigerian beechcraft airplane that crashed on the island. ‘Mr Eko’ becomes aware that drug addict ‘Charlie’ has possession of a heroin filled Virgin Mary statue that he realizes has a connection to his own past. After discovering the plane on the island, Eko finds his brothers corpse along with it. The episode has an overall theme of redemption of Mr Eko’s religious leanings that have created a major turn in his life. This also challenges our assumptions about coincidence and fate and how the overall series depicts spirituality and realism through the characters pasts. (www. uk. tv. ign. com/artcicles/101/1011812p1. html) The director, ‘JJ Abrams’, creates strong character development and long term plotting which is why the Lost series remained so strong and captivating for audiences. The fact that people were being forced to live together and survive, made it interesting to watch because relationships were created very fast and viewers wanted to see love, fights and dramas as well as action and supernatural happenings on the island. In the first pilot episode of Lost, the first scene shows an eye close-up and character ‘Jack Shephard’ as he awakens in a jungle and notices a yellow Labrador retriever darting through the forest. He then runs through the jungle to a beach where he is faced with the disaster of the plane crash and people fighting for survival. Quality TV dramas are what make audiences want to keep watching and Lost is a great example of this because in the very first scene, viewers are already given that mind blowing experience and the drive to keep watching. The characters are also faced with the unraveling of the islands mystery and the motives of the unknown ‘Others’ who may also inhabit the island. The series tracks two major, interconnected themes; first, the struggles to survive and live together on the island and second, the lives of the fourteen main characters before the crash which is retold through flashbacks. It doesn’t follow the stereotypical television back story and allows viewers to become connected with the characters, their secrets and motivations. Jack is a doctor becomes the leader of the group; helping Charlie kicks his drug addiction and encourages ‘Shannon’ to pursue her relationship with ‘Syid’. Jack is seen at the very beginning of the series and in the last episode in the last scene where it re creates the first scene again only in a different context. The way Lost starts off, during; with all the inconceivable and unthinkable story lines, makes it so mesmerizing for audiences. After six seasons of plot twists, there was a completely thrilling but not entirely logical finale. Audiences across the world became worried about what Lost would end like and how everything could be explained because of its constant complexity. Lost is full of mind puzzling and gripping drama that has become a huge success through its mind blowing performances. (www. tv. com/shows/lost) Another American quality TV show is Sex and The City. Broadcast from 1998 until 2004, the comedy-drama series follows the lives of a group of four women; three in their mid thirties and one in her forties and throughout their different natures and constant changing sex lives, they remain great friends with high confidence. Sex and The City becomes quality television through the continual of its quirky storylines and modern social issues that explore the differences between friendships, relationships and revolves around femininity. The main character ‘Carrie Bradshaw’ is the narrator of each episode which is structured through her train of thoughts. Throughout the entire series, Carrie is entangled with her on and off relationship with ‘Mr Big’ and whose name eventually is revealed to be John Preston. Each character has their own individual unique personalities which female audiences can relate to and connect with. Sex and The City has proven to be one of the most successful and controversial television programmes of the last decade. In transforms the idea of the incisive widow into the life of the single urban female and emphasizes an upper class life. It also presents sophistication and yet, much of the generic and stylistic conventions, are by no means new to this specific show. (LeMay, Matt, Sex and the City and the Discourse of Quality Television: 2) ‘Once upon a time on a small island not too far away, there lived four smart, beautiful women who were all very good friends’. (LeMay, Matt, Sex and the City and the Discourse of Quality Television: 2) This quote already establishes the genre of the show and the kind of characters the audience may expect to see. Much of the criticism both positive and negative, show degrees of realism which suggests how they are entwined in the history of industry and market standards of quality television and determines gender and class. Many other dramas can be traced back to earlier ‘realist’ family sitcoms and still remain relevant to contemporary quality television such as Sex and The City. There is a particular emphasis on self reflectivity and the program’s representations and intersexuality. Through Sex and the City, the relation to feminism and sexual taboos positions itself in the history of television. Intersexuality occurs through the importance and real-life impact of the cultural phenomenon called ‘Sex and the City’. (Akass, Kim, McCabe, Janet, Reading sex and the city. London: I. B. Tauris, 2004) In conclusion, the serve to clearly set out the intended debate and issue of ‘Quality TV’, is the way in which critics and audiences currently define it and supplying a broad overview of the critical contentiousness of quality TV as a collective term. Quality Television is about captivating storylines, unique characters and enabling viewers to want to watch excellent programming. Within this, audiences are able to connect with the show through the interesting structures that are included in them. Bibliography Books: Jancovich, Mark, Lyons, James, Quality Popular Television, 2003) McCabe, Janet, Akass, Kim, Contemporary American Television and Beyond, 2007) Akass, Kim, McCabe, Janet, Reading sex and the city. London: I.B. Tauris, 2004

The YMCA Essay -- essays research papers

The YMCA The YMCA has a very clear and concise mission statement. Their mission is "to put Christian principles into practice through programs thta build healthy spirit, mind, and body for all". The YMCA is the nation's largest not-for-profit community service organization in America. With more than 2,500 YMCAs, they are able to meet the health and social service needs of 18.9 million men, women and children in over 10,000 communities in the United States. No one is turned away from the Y. It is a place for people fo all faiths, races, abilities, ages and incomes. Inability to pay is never a reason for the YMCA to turn someone away. Their strength lies in fulfilling their goal of bringing people together. Not every community is the same. Therefore, each YMCA is different to accomadate these differing needs. The YMCA in your community may offer child care or teen leadership clubs. In the next town over, swimming lessons or drawing lessons may be of bigger concern. Every Y makes theri won decisions based on the needs of the community around them. They decide which programs to offer and how to operate. The YMCA was founded in London, England, in 1844 by George Williams and some friends who lived and worked as clerks in a drapery, a forerunner of drygoods and department stores. Their goal was to help young men like themselves find God. The first members were evangelical Protestants who prayed and studied the Bible as an alternative to vice. The first U.S. YMCA...

Bad Debts and Uncollectible Accounts Receivable

When we own a business, we hope that all the customers who get goods or service from us will pay in full. But in fact, a certain percentage of customers will default on their obligations. We need to consider this part of money to balance sheet, so that we report them as writing off bad debts.Account Receivable We recognize Account Receivable from two different parts. 1) Service Organization, we record a receivable when it provides service on account. 2) Merchandiser, we records receivable at the point of sale of merchandise on account.Bad Debt Expense Under GAAP, when we sale goods or offer service to customers, we recognize the revenue as â€Å"Sales Revenue† on Income Statement- even the customers don’t pay immediately. When we can’t collect the receivable money, we have to report an expense to offset the revenue which we reported at the beginning of sale or service. This is the so called Bad Debt Expense. In other words, seller records losses that result from extending credit as Bad Debts Expense.Methods of Accounting for Uncollectible Accounts There are two methods to record the uncollectible accounts. 1) Direct Write-Off. But it is theoretically undesirable. 2) Allowance Method. It is much better. Companies estimate uncollectible accounts receivable. Then debit Bad Debts Expense and credit Allowance for Doubtful Accounts. Companies debit Allowance for Doubtful Accounts and credit Accounts Receivable at the time the specific account is written off as uncollectible.Write-offs First of all, we need to decide a specific amount for the uncollectible account. For instance, we decide $1000 debt is uncollectible. Secondary, we decrease the Account Receivable by $1000. We also decrease the allowance for doubtful account by $1000. So, at the beginning we have $20000 for the account receivable and $2000 for allowance, then it falls down to $19000 and the allowance would drop to $1000. Then the net account receivable is still $18000 the same as be ginning. Eg: Bed Debts Expense 1000Allowance for doubtful accounts 1000Balance Sheet Approach Under the percentage of receivables basis, management establishes a percentage relationship between the amount of receivables and expected losses from uncollectible accounts.

Data Mining Essay

What is meant by the term â€Å"lift†? The term â€Å"lift† describes the improved performance of an exact or specific amount of effort on a modeled sampling, as opposed to a random sampling (Spang, 2010). In other words, if you are able to market via a model to say, a given number of random customers (e.g. 1000), and we expect that 50 of them would be successful, then a model that can generate 75 successes would have a 50 percent lift. â€Å"Lift† is possibly the most commonly metric used to measure targeting model performance in marketing applications – the purpose of which, is to identify a subgroup or target from a larger population (Coppock, 2002 and Spang, 2010). The subgroup targeted or target members selected are those who are most likely to respond positively to a marketing offer. As such, the model is doing well if as predicted – the response within the targeted section is much better than average when compared to the population as a whole. Lift then, is simply the ratio of these values: target response divided by average response (Coppock, 2002). â€Å"Lift Charts† and â€Å"Lift Curves† are terms often seen in direct marketing. To quickly define them here – a lift curve is a popular technique which assigns a â€Å"probability of responding† score when used in an attempt to determine who the likely responders from a population are. â€Å"The lift curve helps us determine how effectively we can â€Å"skim the cream† by selecting a relatively small number of cases and getting a relatively large portion of the responders† (Keating, 2013). A lift chart or a â€Å"Gains Chart† is a convenient summary of all the cumulative lift curves whereby all the information in these multiple classification matrices are turned into a graph (Keating, 2013 and Coppock, 2002). What is Customer Relationship Management (CRM)? â€Å"There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.† – Sam Walton (Founder of Wal-Mart) Customer Relationship Management or CRM is a â€Å"company-wide business strategy† which is generally designed with the intent to â€Å"reduce costs and increase profitability by solidifying customer satisfaction, loyalty and advocacy† (CRM Magazine, 2010). While once, it was regarded of as a type of software, today, CRM has evolved into a â€Å"customer-centric philosophy that must permeate an entire organization† (CRM Magazine, 2010).   In other words, it is not a new concept but as the quote above by Sam Walton suggests – an extremely important one that can and should be instinctively employed to all businesses to ensure returning and new clientele. We may perhaps think of CRM in its most basic, common and best known form as â€Å"customer services† or simply, methodology employed to create happy customers. A true and effective CRM program revolves around three key elements – people, processes and technology (CRM Magazine, 2010). Targets within these elements that should be especially considered are individual applications, a data infrastructure to support them, and organizational changes to take full advantage of the technical upgrades (Goodhue et. al., 2002). Moreover, the CRM program should be bringing in information from all relevant data sources both within, and outside the organization when applicable. In doing so, a company is able to gain a â€Å"holistic view of each customer in real time† (CRM Magazine, 2010), thus allowing staff dealing directly with customers, for example, in the realms of customer support, sales and marketing – the ability to make informed yet quick decisions on everything from cross-selling and upselling to target marketing strategies and competitive positioning tactics (Info Entrepreneurs, 2013 and CRM Magazine, 2010). A working example of how CRM could be achieved may be through: discovering the purchasing habits, opinions, needs and preferences of one’s customers; then profiling the individuals and groups researched so marketing can be executed more effectively, thus increasing sales. Finally, by combining this information found with good customer services and satisfaction – customer relationships which are the heart of business success, can be appropriately and effectively fostered, then maintained and ultimately managed for efficiency and profitability. While there are many technical and technological components to CRM, thinking about CRM as primarily a strategy to learn about the needs and behaviors of customers in an effort to create, develop and strengthen relationships with them may prove to be more helpful overall and in the long term. Additionally, it should be thought of as a process bringing together information concerning customers, sales, marketing effectiveness, responsiveness and marketing trends (Goodhue et. al., 2002 and Writing, 2013). Finally, for CRM to be truly effective, everyone in the organization from the CEO to the frontline staff and those behind the scenes need to get on board, involved and invested in the company`s program (Info Entrepreneurs, 2013; CRM Magazine, 2010; Writing, 2013 and Goodhue et. al., 2002). What are its benefits? Provide examples of potential benefits. To reiterate the above – benefiting from CRM is â€Å"not just a question of buying the right software. You must also adapt your business to the needs of your customers† (Info Entrepreneurs, 2013).   Having said that, after investing the time and expense in implementing a good CRM solution, there are many potential benefits, some being extremely significant and having a major impact on the establishment in question: −Development of better relationship with existing customers due to understanding and therefore addressing their specific requirements. −Increased sales and revenue through better timing gained via anticipating the customers’ needs based on historic trends. −Cross-selling of other products by leveraging the customer relationship. −Ability to identify the most profitable clientele. −Improved profitability through focusing on most profitable clients while dealing with less profitable clients in a more cost effective manner. −Better overall marketing of products or services. −More effective target marketing communications aimed specifically at customer needs. −An improved, more personal approach which can help win additional business in the future. −The development of new and / or improved products and services through better client feedback, complaints, comments and suggestions. −Reducing cost of sales and cost of new customer acquisition and generation by concentrating on customer retention, thus improving organization reputation and word-of-mouth recommendations. (Writing, 2013; Info Entrepreneurs, 2013 and Goodhue et. al., 2002). With respect to CRM systems, what does it mean if the system is â€Å"scalable†? A â€Å"scalable† system according to the Business Dictionary, is one whose â€Å"size, performance or number of users can be increased on demand without a penalty in cost or functionality†.   A secondary definition details that such a system is well designed enough to handle â€Å"proportionally very small to very large usage and service levels almost instantly, and with no significant drop in cost effectiveness, functionality, performance or reliability.† It goes on to add that scalable systems may generally utilize technologies such as automatic load balancing, clustering and parallel processing as a means to achieve the points listed above (Business Dictionary, 2013). With respect to CRM systems (and even data mining systems), both definitions apply with equal precision and aptness to scalability because scalability deals with not only the increasing size of data sets, but also how to process them within a useful timeframe. We can go so far as to concur that the issue of scalability in systems such as CRM are similar for performance scaling issues for Data Management in general (Piatetsky-Shapiro and Parker via Massa-Lochridge et. al., 2013). Ultimately, the scalable system is in the business of efficiency of analysis – and being able to do so with very large data sets (Olson and Shi, 2005). A system which is scalable is one which can aid in overall performance in the organization. In fact, scaling and performance are often considered together in both data mining and CRM systems (Massa-Lochridge et. al., 2013). To further emphasize and prove these points, we can look towards real life examples such as the Onyx checklist for scalability which sets the criteria as a customer management system deployed across the company that is able to support staff without any degradation in performance. Furthermore, the system must also be able to support thousands of users with sub-second response times. For it to be truly scalable, it needs to be a flexible CRM solution – preferably one which adheres to an industry standard architecture which can leverage existing infrastructure. This, coupled with efficiency and easiness of upgrading, will help to keep the total cost of ownership low now, and into the future (Onyx, 2013). Compare and contrast affinity positioning and cross-selling (minimum 500 words). Provide real life examples and personal experiences to substantiate this analysis. Affinity positioning is a marketing tactic that is defined exactly as its component words suggest – the practice of positioning or placing products that have a natural or inherent attraction or connection with each other, together. For example, a retail store may arrange their shop layout in such a way that there is a deliberate, close placement of complementary products on the shelves (Olson and Shi, 2005). Consider also, this potential real life situation where a retailer may have identified through perhaps, a Market Basket Analysis that customers who tend to buy cold medicine also have been observed to purchase tissues. Similarly, the buying of coffee makers may be strongly correlated with the purchase of ground coffee. It therefore makes sense from a marketing and profitability perspective to place both these items in each set, in close proximity to each other. Cross-selling is a related and resulting concept. Where there is knowledge of products that go together, one is able to use this information to create cross-selling opportunities through marketing the complementary product (Olson and Shi, 2005; Microstrategy, 2013; and Tsai, 2010). Apart from positioning products on shelves like a grocery store might do, retail stores for example, can be seen to rely upon advertising to create this connection within the purchaser`s mind.   A buyer of suits for instance, may notice the sale of shirts and ties from posters and advertising stands on shop windows and outside the door, respectively. In terms of technology, we may observe computer stores selling laptops while encouraging customers to purchase accessories or peripherals like casings, screen protectors and external hard drives concurrently. While both strategies have always been applied by the clever retailer, today data collection (e.g. generated from cash register data) and automated data mining tools provide them with a yet unmatched ability to even identify the less expected and less obvious product affinities and cross-selling possibilities. Sellers are now able to use current technology to look at customers’ purchase history and target marketing operations specifically to their individual and group needs and wants (Olson and Shi, 2005). A Customer Cross-Cell Analysis can be employed to identify customers who might be interested in purchasing complementary products and services to those which have already been bought previously (MicroStrategy, 2013). Indeed, sales and marketing managers have long relied on the cross-sell analysis to create more efficient marketing projects, thereby producing increased revenue with less resources through focused efforts. A customer cross-sell analysis typically begins with using data mining techniques and tools to determine which product pairs (product affinity) are frequently purchased by a significant number of customers. From here, an organization can then identify which customers bought one but not both products or services. By executing this second stage, we can now know who these customers are and hence target them specifically – thereby reducing total advertising campaign costs, increasing response rates and finally and most importantly, create increased sales (MicroStrategy, 2013; Olson and Shi, 2005; and Tsai, 2010). One point worth mentioning, is a separate but related concept to both affinity positioning and cross-selling, which is upselling (also often referred to as up-selling or up selling). This involves searching for opportunities to sell an improved, higher grade or generally more expensive â€Å"latest† product to the consumer. Going back to the example of the computer store, a staff member who tries to upsell to a new or returning customer may sing the praises of another, higher-end model of laptop which may have more features the client may find useful, thus hoping to create a more profitable sale. In my own, personal experience in a hospital setting – affinity positioning is seen for example, in the maternity ward where â€Å"New Mother† and â€Å"Baby Care Training† hospital sponsored classes or their adverts are held or displayed in an area close by, thus encouraging expecting women to come back to the hospital after delivery to take advantage of this value added service. In doing so, the hospital then creates a cross-selling opportunity by ensuring additional services such as pediatrician care for babies or postpartum care for mothers are clearly advertised via a targeted campaign. Finally, upselling is also seen in this ward via examples such as when staff offer mothers increased comfort and privacy with the option of upgrading shared rooms to private ones. Identify and discuss some potential ethical mishandling when it comes to cross-selling. Some of the more commonly known ethical issues to watch for in cross-selling, as well as in general marketing include but are not limited to: −Intentionally trying to sell sub-par goods or services to the client in a bid to create a sale, when aware of the quality deficiency. −Related to the above, is the deliberate misrepresentation of goods or services, in both cross-selling and otherwise. −Incessantly contacting existing or potential clients without consent in order to cross-sell products or services. −The refusal to respond to, acknowledge or correct customer complaints after a sale has taken place – be it cross-selling or initial sales. −An unclear privacy policy which may involve personal details being distributed or sold. −An unclear after sales policy which may involve the placement of deliberate loopholes for the sellers to have an advantage. Again, this point can be attributed to both regular sales and cross-selling issues. With regards to issues more specific to cross-selling, research has revealed that certain service sectors may be affected by ethical mishandlings and / or concerns more than others. In particular, it is revealed that situations regarding cross selling in hospitals; situations to do with plastic surgery; and cross-selling targeted towards the elderly, have all been widely discussed in recent years and may be cause for action. With respect to cross-selling in hospitals, an example which can be seen is that ethical issues often arise when medicine, equipment or medical product reps all too easily ignore or forget that they are supposed to have the hospital’s, doctor’s, medical staff’s and patient’s needs at heart – attempting to create sales based on the pharmaceutical companies’ incentives and profit margins instead. When this happens: It ignores the necessity of consultative selling, which involves proper questioning techniques. It fails to connect the customer on a value level. In essence, it’s not selling at all; it’s simply peddling! (Francis, 2008). The literature available also suggests that there have been events with respect to aesthetic plastic surgery which again raise the question of ethics mishandling and cross-selling. Concerns here include examples such as cross-selling and â€Å"bundling† cosmetic surgery and procedures as attractive package deals – whether they be necessary or not (Fatah, 2011), or the rise of incidences such as patients having undergone breast implant removals or replacements being â€Å"bullied† or pressured into buying additional surgery such as nipple lifts (mastopexy). In addition, these cross-selling strategies may be coupled with other marketing tactics such as time-limited offers from their clinics, resulting in anxiety and customers feeling the need to respond instead of taking time out to heal after surgery (BAAPS, 2012). Finally, in terms of targeting the elderly for cross-selling certain products and services which may be deemed unethical – one may wish to consider the â€Å"unethical and dishonest conduct† of promoting and selling expensive annuities to elderly customers, the market targeting done here because the elderly may be seen as â€Å"easy targets† (Litterick, 2005). There have been cases of banks which have been accused employing cross-selling practices such as referring existing, elderly customers who come in for separate bank services, to stockbrokers who in turn sold them variable annuities that are often considered unsuitable for older people because they can be â€Å"expensive and do not pay out quickly† (Litterick, 2005). This was often found to be due to the fact that service staff were receiving incentives for doing so. In response to such cases, Banner (2011), maintains that: â€Å"Improper cross-selling – cross-selling of products to earn a fee or a commission that does not truly benefit the client’s quality of life on a long-term basis – is wrong, unethical and immoral† (Banner, 2011). He does go on to ascertain however, that the cross-selling of a product or service which truly is suitable to them – meaning to say it can benefit and / or protect the client appropriately, is well worth considering (Banner, 2011). As a final note on the ethics of cross-selling, to avoid ethical dilemmas and mishandling, it is prudent to keep in mind often that the key to effective cross-selling can be boiled down to mutual benefit on the parts of both the selling and buying parties, and suitability, suitability, suitability! (Banner, 2011; Francis, 2008 and NRMLA, 2008). References BAAPS – The British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (2012, February 10). Cross-selling to breast implant scandal victims ‘immoral’. The British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons. Retrieved February 26, 2013, from http://www.baaps.org.uk/about-us/press-releases/1136-cross-selling-to-breast-implant-scandal-victimes-immoral Banner, M. (2011, May). Originating: Living at Home Brings Peace of Mind. The Reverse Review. Retrieved from http://www.reversereview.com/magazine/3862-living-at-home-brings-peace-of-mind.html Business Dictionary (2013). What is scalable? Definition and meaning. In BusinessDictionary.com – Online Business Dictionary. Retrieved February 25, 2013, from http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/scalable.html Coppock, D. S. (2002, June 21). Why Lift? Information Management. Retrieved February 24, 2013, from http://www.information-management.com/news/5329-1.html CRM Magazine (2010, February 19). What Is CRM? – CRM Mag azine. destinationCRM.com – The leading resource for Customer Relationship Management – from the editors of CRM magazine. Retrieved February 24, 2013, from http://www.destinationcrm.com/Articles/CRM-News/Daily-News/What-Is-CRM-46033.aspx Fatah, F. (2011, May 5). BBC News – ‘A little lipo with your facial, madam?’. BBC – Homepage. Retrieved February 26, 2013, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-13228094 Francis, P. T. (2008). Cross-Selling Your Hospital’s Capabilities. Clinical Laboratory Sales Training with Peter Francis. Retrieved February 26, 2013, from http://www.clinlabsales.com/pdf/Cross-Selling-092508.pdf Goodhue, D. L., Wixom, B. H., & Watson, H. J. (2002). Realizing Business Benefits through CRM: Hitting the Target in the Right Way. MIS Quarterly Executive, 1(2), 79

Free Essays on Dads Home

Dad’s home The house slowly rumbled as the garage door opened and I started to think to myself â€Å" Dad’s home.† So, I casually walked up the stairs of our secluded home in the middle woods. As I reached the top of the steps, I heard the beep of a very annoying alarm system. â€Å"Hey dad!† I muttered nerveously, thinking that he was going to get after me again about something being wrong with the way something looks inside the house. Unexpectedly my dad said, â€Å"Hey chief. How are you?† the same thing that he usually says to people that he knows, but forgets their names. Trying to keep things as short as possible I said, â€Å" I’m good, but I need to take out the trash though.† So, I bagged up the smelly trash and walked outside in what seemed a mile to put the smelly trash into an even smellier trash. After that, I came back inside a â€Å" dear OL’ dad,† was inspecting the entire house. â€Å"Well, you kind have been keeping up with the cleaning,† he told me as he tilted his head to the side to look out the window into the woods as if something was staring back at him†¦ it was most likely the reflection of the sun off a leaf of a tree. I replied with a quick â€Å" yeah, I suppose.† Then slowly tried to hurry down the stairs to return to what I was doing before he came home, which was nothing. Just as I approached the third step he gestured a quick â€Å" leaving so soon?† Thinking on my toes I said, â€Å" I have quite a bit of homework I had to do and I was planning on going out later tonight so, I was going to do it so I won’t have to think about it later.† I got downstairs and lay on my bed. Just as I started to get comfortable he yelled â€Å" Court!† I said to myself â€Å" aw†¦here we go again.† I quickly bolted up the stairs as if I was that comic character, Flash; just to see him about ten feet away from the phone that was sitting on a chair. â€Å" Can you hand me the phone?† he said. As much as I wanted to... Free Essays on Dad's Home Free Essays on Dad's Home Dad’s home The house slowly rumbled as the garage door opened and I started to think to myself â€Å" Dad’s home.† So, I casually walked up the stairs of our secluded home in the middle woods. As I reached the top of the steps, I heard the beep of a very annoying alarm system. â€Å"Hey dad!† I muttered nerveously, thinking that he was going to get after me again about something being wrong with the way something looks inside the house. Unexpectedly my dad said, â€Å"Hey chief. How are you?† the same thing that he usually says to people that he knows, but forgets their names. Trying to keep things as short as possible I said, â€Å" I’m good, but I need to take out the trash though.† So, I bagged up the smelly trash and walked outside in what seemed a mile to put the smelly trash into an even smellier trash. After that, I came back inside a â€Å" dear OL’ dad,† was inspecting the entire house. â€Å"Well, you kind have been keeping up with the cleaning,† he told me as he tilted his head to the side to look out the window into the woods as if something was staring back at him†¦ it was most likely the reflection of the sun off a leaf of a tree. I replied with a quick â€Å" yeah, I suppose.† Then slowly tried to hurry down the stairs to return to what I was doing before he came home, which was nothing. Just as I approached the third step he gestured a quick â€Å" leaving so soon?† Thinking on my toes I said, â€Å" I have quite a bit of homework I had to do and I was planning on going out later tonight so, I was going to do it so I won’t have to think about it later.† I got downstairs and lay on my bed. Just as I started to get comfortable he yelled â€Å" Court!† I said to myself â€Å" aw†¦here we go again.† I quickly bolted up the stairs as if I was that comic character, Flash; just to see him about ten feet away from the phone that was sitting on a chair. â€Å" Can you hand me the phone?† he said. As much as I wanted to...

Make a Glow in the Dark Pumpkin

Make a Glow in the Dark Pumpkin You can make a glow in the dark pumpkin with a jack-o-lantern face using a common non-toxic chemical. The jack-o-lantern doesnt require carving or fire, shines in rain or wind, and lasts as long as your pumpkin. Plus, the glowing pumpkin looks really spooky! Glow in the Dark Pumpkin Materials Its very easy to make a glow in the dark pumpkin and it doesnt require many materials: Pumpkin (real, carved, or artificial)Glow in the dark paintPaintbrush (optional)Masking tape to form a jack-o-lantern face (optional) Make the Pumpkin Glow Basically, ​all you need to do is coat a pumpkin with glow in the dark paint. The glow in the dark paint can be obtained from any arts and crafts store. You can use glow in the dark acrylic paint for making models, glowing tempera paint, or glow in the dark fabric paint. I used glowing fabric paint, which dries clear and is waterproof. Paint your pumpkin.Shine a bright light on the pumpkin, then turn out the lights. If the pumpkin does not glow as brightly as you would like, apply one or more coats of glow in the dark paint. Creating a Jack-o-Lantern Face For this project, the jack-o-lantern face is the part that does not glow. If you are using a carved jack-o-lantern, youve already got a face. If you just want a glowing pumpkin, you simply coat the pumpkin with glow in the dark paint, and youre finished. If you want a face on an intact pumpkin you have a few different options for creating it: Trace a face on the pumpkin and paint around the face.Tape a face on the pumpkin, paint the entire pumpkin  and remove the tape when the paint is dry. How Long Will the Glowing Pumpkin Glow? How long your pumpkin glows depends on the chemical used to make it glow and the light you used to charge your pumpkin. Zinc sulfide is a phosphorescent non-toxic chemical used in most glow in the dark paints. If you shine a bright light on it, you can expect it to glow for several minutes up to an hour. If you shine an ultraviolet lamp or black light onto the pumpkin, it will glow more brightly, but probably not any longer. Newer phosphorescent paints are based on rare earth elements. These pigments glow very brightly, usually in green or blue, and can last a full day. If you use tritium-based paint, you will not need to apply light in order to make your pumpkin glow, plus the pumpkin will glow pretty much until the end of time (at least 20 years). How Long Will the Glowing Pumpkin Last? The type of pumpkin you use will determine how long your glowing pumpkin will last. If you paint a carved jack-o-lantern, expect the pumpkin to last a few days to a week. An uncarved pumpkin may last a few months. An artificial pumpkin can be used year after year.

Philosophy - Boethius and Aquinas on the Problem of God's Prescience Essay

Philosophy - Boethius and Aquinas on the Problem of God's Prescience - Essay Example This only serves to pronounces the clash with freewill. The Problem of God’s Prescience The conflict hence forms the basic premise of the Problem. God as the master of all things tangible and intangible is assumed to know incomprehensible details about human life and the course it will take. As such, His knowledge about a particular event precedes the event itself, thereby exemplifying his unique ability of knowing the future. This belief in God’s ubiquitousness forms one of the core foundations of his Divinity across the board of religions, whether the one in question is Christianity, Judaism or Islam. The Bible, Torah, and the Quran all repeatedly assert His pervasiveness carefully contrasting it with His limitless power. The masses of religions preach the notion that God is to be found everywhere at all times and no thought or eventuality escapes His gaze. Superficially, this ideology is readily admissible but when theologians venture to expound their gifts of insigh t onto the subject, striving to explain the Divine Knowledge, the one immediate problem they tend to notice is the apparent conflict with freewill. This is because the concept of freewill indicates that every human is capable of altering the course of his life as he deems fit by exercising discretionary powers of judgment. If God is to possess all knowledge of all time, this discretion may not in actuality exist, since God would already know the direction a particular individual would be expected to take. If the individual’s future is already preconceived in God’s eternal knowledge, the individual’s course of action could simply be labeled predetermined, even though he in his own right may be employing the gift of freewill. This notion forms what has come to be known as the Problem of God’s Prescience. Boethius’s ideologies Boethius in his Consolation of Philosophy sought to answer the very questions that formed the crux of the Problem. Firstly, it must be elucidated that incidents are historically conceived by philosophers to be of two kinds, necessary and contingent. God’s omniscience pertains to all knowledge that exists in the world, including the murkiest of thoughts that originate in a person’s mind. Hence, any thought, if formulated by a conscious course of judgment in a person’s mind, should be deemed contingent. It is contingent because it is not necessary for a person to think a certain thought, as his freewill allows him to develop a unique mindset, but if God already knows what his mindset would be, that contingent thought could become a necessary course of action for the person to take, as not taking that course of action would render God’s knowledge flawed. If it is assumed that God already knows the thought that is about to transpire, its contingency is made redundant. This, in essence, negates freewill and converts seemingly contingent occurrences into necessary occurrences since Go d already knows of their presence. As such, Boethius’ twin-prong ideologies regarding the problem emerge. His first limb identifies that God’s omniscience and perfection go hand in hand and can never be rebutted,

Change of Management - OH&S Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Change of Management - OH&S - Essay Example In the entire process, stakeholders and those affected by change normally have to absorb the simple elements that define and make up the change process. As a result, time, effort and resources are required in order to make the process of change adoption more smooth and possible. Moreover, change is complex, which requires planning, organization, and implementation. Throughout the entire process of change, communication remains the critical aspect that glues the entire process of change. The concept of change as it is applicable in the organization has two major components; that of organizational change itself, and the change of people within the environment where people affected with change are perceived to be crucial to the success of change process. The understanding here is that successful application of change management should integrate the people within the organization and more so the entire process need to be inline with the values of the corporation or organization involved. The University’s Occupational Health and Safety Risk Management (OHSRM) system was established in 2002, in consultation with academic and administrative groups, as a practical mechanism to assist managers and staff at all levels to systematically manage OHS risks in their work areas. It is a key element in promoting the health, safety and well being of staff, students and visitors, and enabling compliance with NSW OHS legislation. As part of the OHSRM, an OHS Audit was undertaken in late 2010. The Faculty of Health Sciences which currently employs approximately 350 staff and educates 5,500 students, scored 20%, the lowest Faculty score within the University. The Faculty will be re audited in November 2011 and it is expected to achieve a minimum of 70%. The survey results portrayed an initial diagnosis of staff being unaware of safety procedures, evacuation plans, who to report incidents and hazards to. However, it was unknown if this was all staff or only