Decision Making Assessment (Synthesis) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Decision Making Assessment (Synthesis) - Essay Example The study deals in focusing on the decision making concept with reference to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Frame is defined as â€Å"the structural core of the paradigmatic mental model that brings to a problem† (Johnson & Russo, 1994, p. 290). In simple terms decision making frames creates its own ideas and focuses on the environment. By ideas it is meant that the environmental issues should be considered that are affected by the decision (Johnson & Russo, 1994, p. 290). U.S. Army Corps of Engineers considers environmental sustainability as their key principle. The Corp team diligently works to strengthen the security of the nation by developing and preserving the infrastructure of America and offering military facilities (About us, n.d.). Any type of decision making is backed by reasoning. A bad decision comes from distortion and biases, which creates a series of mental flaws and obstructs the sense of reasoning. So before coming to any decision reasoning should be done properly (The Hidden Traps in Decision Making, n.d.). Behind any decision taken by the organization, the main reason is to â€Å"strengthen the security system, energize the economy and reduce the risks from disasters† (Mission & Vision, n.d.). For this reason a group of trained individual is continuously working to provide innovative and sustainable solutions (Mission & Vision, n.d.). Declarative knowledge in decision making gives importance to the ordering of attributes and relative desirability of various levels within the attributes that are required to implement the strategy. Thus the experience and expertise of a decision maker is bound to be affected by the declarative and procedural memory in following a plan (Goldstain & Weber, 1995, p.116). U.S. Army Corps of Engineers always transform the ways they do their business based on the Campaign Plan. A set of experienced, trained and certified workers, work as per

Marketing and Entrepreneurship Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Marketing and Entrepreneurship - Essay Example The concept and significance of entrepreneurship indicated above earns further potential when linked to marketing activities. It is found that entrepreneurs mainly tied to small and medium sized business concerns with the help of potential marketing activities earned the potential to gain an enhanced space in the existing business environment. The entrepreneurial firms thus through the help of potential marketing strategies gained a competitive advantage to successfully compete with other firms in the same sector. Hence with the development of the business scenario the entrepreneurial activities are required to be increasingly linked with large scale marketing and promotional pursuits to help the entrepreneur earn success. The paper hereby discusses on the concepts of entrepreneurship through the uses of different models and draws its linkage to marketing activities. Further emphasizing on the above concepts the paper focuses on the actions and entrepreneurial processes of a specific retailer which would be analyzed through the entrepreneurial models like that of Sarasvathy’s and Burns Entrepreneurial Model and also based on the GET tests. Concept of Entrepreneurship The concept of entrepreneurship can be observed to have its emergence in relation to English and French literature when the dimensions of trade were slowly evolving. More specifically the evolution of the concept of entrepreneurship can be found to have gained in regards to French literature where the entrepreneurs were considered to be persons creating large business organizations and thereby are found to undertake large amount of business risks. Thus entrepreneurs are found to be people related to large business organizations and those with potency to manage to high amount of business risks. In the modern business context the concept of entrepreneurship earns a much larger dimension in regards to the innovative mindsets of the entrepreneur in rendering innovation to the existing organization processes and thereby enhancing the competitive advantage of the business policies. Similarly the entrepreneur working on the process of innovation can use potential technological and other resources to produce newer products and services and thus gain control of newer markets. The above discussion can be diagrammatically presented as follows. Figure 1: Entrepreneurship in Relation to Firm and

Education of respondents Essay Example for Free

Education of respondents Essay The above table shows that there are thirteen respondents belong to the High School Highest Educational Attainment level. This group represents sixty five percent of the entire respondent population. This group level is ranked 1 in the above table based on their percentage. Also, there are five respondents belonging to the College level. This group represents twenty five percent of the entire respondent population. This group level is ranked 2 in the above table based on their percentage. Also, there are two respondents belonging to the Masters level. This group represents ten percent of the entire respondent population. This group level is ranked 3 in the above table based on their percentage. There are more respondents belonging to the High School Highest Educational Attainment level. 4. 4. Significant difference between the respondents’ determination if the Beloved novel is real or fiction when grouped according to Age, Gender and Highest Educational Attainment. 4. 4. 1 Age Table 4 ANOVA Significant difference between the respondents’ determination if the Beloved novel is real or fiction when grouped according to Age. REALITY Sum of Squares Df Mean Square F Sig. Between Groups . 806 3 . 269 . 184 . 906 Within Groups 23. 394 16 1. 462 Total 24. 200 19 Critical value 2. 353 As for the survey question Is Beloved Novel Real (or Fiction)? In terms of age, the degree of freedom is 3 and the computed F is 0. 184 with a significance of . 906. The critical value is 2. 353. There is no significant difference between the respondents’ determination if the Beloved novel is real or fiction when grouped according to Age because the computed F value is lower than the critical value. Therefore, the respondents with different age levels have the same levels in terms reality of the Beloved novel. 4. 4. 2 Gender Table 5 ANOVA Significant difference between the respondents’ determination if the Beloved novel is real or fiction when grouped according to Gender. REALITY Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. Between Groups . 010 1 . 010 . 007 . 934 Within Groups 24. 190 18 1. 344 Total 24. 200 19 Critical value 6. 314 As for the survey question Do slave mothers in Beloved have to right to own their children? , In terms of gender, the degree of freedom is 1 and the computed F is . 007 with a significance of 0. 934. The critical value is 6. 314. There is no significant difference between the respondents in terms of the reality of the Beloved Novel when grouped according to Gender because the computed F value is lower than the critical value. Therefore, the respondents with different age levels have the same levels in terms of the reality of the Beloved novel. 4. 4. 3 Highest Educational Attainment Table 6 ANOVA Significant difference between the respondents’ determination if the Beloved novel is real or fiction when grouped according to Highest Educational Attainment. REALITY Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. Between Groups . 131 2 . 065 . 046 . 955 Within Groups 24. 069 17 1. 416 Total 24. 200 19 Critical value 2. 920 As for the survey question Is Beloved Novel Real (or Fiction)? , In terms of highest Educational Attainment, the degree of freedom is 2 and the computed F is . 046 with a significance of 0. 955. The critical value is 2. 920. There is no significant difference between the respondents in terms of the reality of the Beloved Novel when grouped according to highest Educational Attainment because the computed F value is lower than the critical value. Therefore, the respondents with different age levels have the same levels in terms highest Educational Attainment in the Beloved Novel. 4. 5. Significant difference between the respondents’ determination if slave life is harsh in the Beloved novel when grouped according to Age, Gender and Highest Educational Attainment. 4. 5. 1 Age Table 7 ANOVA Significant difference between the respondents’ determination if slave life is harsh in the Beloved novel when grouped according to Age. LIFE Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. Between Groups 2. 564 3 . 855 2. 124 . 137 Within Groups 6. 436 16 . 402 Total 9. 000 19 Critical value 2. 353 As for the survey question Is slave life harsh in Beloved? , In terms of age, the degree of freedom is 3 and the computed F is 2. 124 with a significance of . 137. The critical value is 2. 353. There is no significant difference between the respondents’ determination if slave life is harsh in the Beloved novel when grouped according to Age because the computed F value is lower than the critical value. Therefore, the respondents with different age levels have the levels in terms harshness of slave life in the Beloved novel. 4. 5. 2 Gender Table 8 ANOVA Significant difference between the respondents’ determination if slave life is harsh in the Beloved novel when grouped according to Gender. LIFE Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. Between Groups . 238 1 . 238 . 489 . 493 Within Groups 8. 762 18 . 487 Total 9. 000 19 Critical value 6. 314 As for the survey question Is slave life harsh in Beloved? , In terms of gender, the degree of freedom is 1 and the computed F is . 238 with a significance of 0. 493. The critical value is 6. 314. There is no significant difference between the respondents in terms of the harshness of slave life in the Beloved Novel when grouped according to Gender because the computed F value is lower than the critical value. Therefore, the respondents with different age levels have the same levels in terms of the harshness of slave life in the Beloved novel. 4. 5. 3 Highest Educational Attainment Table 9 ANOVA Significant difference between the respondents’ determination if slave life is harsh in the Beloved novel when grouped according to Highest Educational Attainment. LIFE Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. Between Groups . 969 2 . 485 1. 026 . 380 Within Groups 8. 031 17 . 472 Total 9. 000 19 Critical value 2. 920 As for the survey question Is slave life harsh in Beloved? , In terms of highest Educational Attainment, the degree of freedom is 2 and the computed F is 1. 026 with a significance of 0. 380. The critical value is 2. 920. There is no significant difference between the respondents in terms of the harshness of slave life in the Beloved Novel when grouped according to highest Educational Attainment because the computed F value is lower than the critical value. Therefore, the respondents with different age levels have the same levels in terms harshness of slave life in the Beloved Novel. 4. 6. Significant difference between the respondents’ determination on how Sethe felt about her motherly suffering in the Beloved novel when grouped according to Age, Gender and Highest Educational Attainment. 4. 6. 1 Age Table 10 ANOVA Significant difference between the respondents’ determination on how Sethe felt about her motherly suffering in the Beloved novel when grouped according to Age. SUFFERIN Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. Between Groups . 206 3 . 069 . 239 . 868 Within Groups 4. 594 16 . 287 Total 4. 800 19 Critical value 2. 353 As for the survey question How did Sethe feel about her motherly suffering? , In terms of age, the degree of freedom is 3 and the computed F is . 239 with a significance of . 868. The critical value is 2. 353. There is no significant difference between the respondents’ determination on how Sethe felt about her motherly suffering in the Beloved novel when grouped according to Age because the computed F value is lower than the critical value. Therefore, the respondents with different age levels have the same levels in terms of how Sethe felt about her motherly suffering in the Beloved novel. 4. 6. 2 Gender Table 11 ANOVA Significant difference between the respondents’ determination on how Sethe felt about her motherly suffering in the Beloved novel when grouped according to Gender. SUFFERIN Sum of Squares Df Mean Square F Sig. Between Groups . 086 1 . 086 . 327 . 574 Within Groups 4. 714 18 . 262 Total 4. 800 19 Critical value 6. 314 As for the survey question How did Sethe feel about her motherly suffering? , In terms of gender, the degree of freedom is 1 and the computed F is . 327 with a significance of 0. 574. The critical value is 6. 314. There is no significant difference between the respondents in terms of the how Sethe feels about her motherly suffering in the Beloved Novel when grouped according to Gender because the computed F value is lower than the critical value. Therefore, the respondents with different age levels have the same levels in terms of how Sethe feels about her motherly suffering in the Beloved Novel. 4. 6. 3 Highest Educational Attainment Table 12 ANOVA Significant difference between the respondents’ determination on how Sethe felt about her motherly suffering in the Beloved novel when grouped according Highest Educational Attainment. SUFFERIN Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. Between Groups . 369 2 . 185 . 708 . 506 Within Groups 4. 431 17 . 261 Total 4. 800 19 Critical value 2. 920 As for the survey question How did Sethe feel about her motherly suffering? , In terms of highest Educational Attainment, the degree of freedom is 2 and the computed F is 1. 026 with a significance of 0. 380. The critical value is 2. 920. There is no significant difference between the respondents in terms of the harshness of slave life in the Beloved Novel when grouped according to highest Educational Attainment because the computed F value is lower than the critical value. Therefore, the respondents with different age levels have the same levels in terms harshness of slave life in the Beloved Novel. 4. 7. Significant difference between the respondents’ determination on the reality of Mother Baby Snuggs Freedom when grouped according to Age, Gender and Highest Educational Attainment. 4. 7. 1 Age Table 13 ANOVA Significant difference between the respondents’ determination on the reality of Mother Baby Snuggs Freedom when grouped according to Age. FREEDOM Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. Between Groups 5. 333 3 1. 778 1. 255 . 323 Within Groups 22. 667 16 1. 417 Total 28. 000 19 Critical value 2. 353 As for the survey question Is Mother Baby Snuggs Freedom real? , In terms of age, the degree of freedom is 3 and the computed F is 1. 255 with a significance of . 323. The critical value is 2. 353. There is no significant difference between the respondents’ determination on the reality of Mother Baby Snuggs Freedom when grouped according to Age because the computed F value is lower than the critical value. Therefore, the respondents with different age levels have the same levels in terms of the reality of Mother Baby Snuggs Freedom in the Beloved novel. 4. 7. 2 Gender Table 14 ANOVA Significant difference between the respondents’ determination on the reality of Mother Baby Snuggs Freedom when grouped according to Gender. FREEDOM Sum of Squares Df Mean Square F Sig. Between Groups . 952 1 . 952 . 634 . 436 Within Groups 27. 048 18 1. 503 Total 28. 000 19 Critical value 6. 314 As for the survey question Is Mother Baby Snuggs Freedom real? , In terms of gender, the degree of freedom is 1 and the computed F is . 634 with a significance of 0. 436. The critical value is 6. 314. There is no significant difference between the respondents in terms of Mother Baby Snugg’s Freedom reality in the Beloved Novel when grouped according to Gender because the computed F value is lower than the critical value. Therefore, the respondents with different age levels have the same levels in terms of Mother Baby Snugg’s Freedom reality in the Beloved Novel. 4. 7. 3 Highest Educational Attainment Table 15 ANOVA Significant difference between the respondents’ determination on the reality of Mother Baby Snuggs Freedom when grouped according to Highest Educational Attainment. FREEDOM Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. Between Groups 2. 608 2 1. 304 . 873 . 436 Within Groups 25. 392 17 1. 494 Total 28. 000 19 Critical value 2. 920 As for the survey question Is Mother Baby Snuggs Freedom real? , In terms of highest Educational Attainment, the degree of freedom is 2 and the computed F is . 873 with a significance of 0. 436. The critical value is 2. 920. There is no significant difference between the respondents in terms of the reality of Mother Baby Snugg’s freedom reality in the Beloved Novel when grouped according to highest Educational Attainment because the computed F value is lower than the critical value. Therefore, the respondents with different age levels have the same levels in terms the reality of Mother Baby Snugg’s freedom reality in the Beloved Novel. 4. 8. Significant difference between the respondents’ determination on the reality of the right of women slaves to love when grouped according to Age, Gender and Highest Educational Attainment. 4. 8. 1 Age Table 16 ANOVA Significant difference between the respondents’ determination on the reality of the right of women slaves to love when grouped according to Age. LOVE Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. Between Groups 13. 722 3 4. 574 2. 550 . 095 Within Groups 26. 909 15 1. 794 Total 40. 632 18 Critical value 2. 353 As for the survey question Do Women Slaves in Beloved have the right to love? , In terms of age, the degree of freedom is 3 and the computed F is 2. 55 with a significance of . 095. The critical value is 2. 353. This question is in relation to the right of the owners to rape their slaves. There is a significant difference between the respondents’ determination on the reality of the right of women slaves to love when grouped according to Age because the computed F value is higher than the critical value. Therefore, the respondents with different age levels have the different levels in terms of the right of woman slaves to love in the Beloved novel. 4. 8. 2 Gender Table 17 ANOVA Significant difference between the respondents’ determination on the reality of the right of women slaves to love when grouped according to Gender. LOVE Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. Between Groups 1. 555 1 1. 555 . 676 . 422 Within Groups 39. 077 17 2. 299 Total 40. 632 18 Critical value 6. 314 As for the survey question Do Women Slaves in Beloved have the right to love? , In terms of gender, the degree of freedom is 1 and the computed F is . 676 with a significance of 0. 422. The critical value is 6. 314. This question is in relation to the right of the owners to rape their slaves. There is no significant difference between the respondents in terms of the right of women slaves to fall in love in the Beloved Novel when grouped according to Gender because the computed F value is lower than the critical value. Therefore, the respondents with different age levels have the same levels in terms of the right of women slaves to fall in love in the Beloved Novel. 4. 8. 3 Highest Educational Attainment Table 18 ANOVA Significant difference between the respondents’ determination on the reality of the right of women slaves to love when grouped according to highest educational attainment. LOVE Sum of Squares Df Mean Square F Sig. Between Groups 4. 515 2 2. 257 1. 000 . 390 Within Groups 36. 117 16 2. 257 Total 40. 632 18 Critical value 2. 920 As for the survey question Do Women Slaves in Beloved have the right to love? , In terms of highest Educational Attainment, the degree of freedom is 2 and the computed F is 1. 000 with a significance of 0. 390. The critical value is 2. 920. This question is in relation to the right of the owners to rape their slaves. There is no significant difference between the respondents in terms of the right of woman slaves to love in the Beloved Novel when grouped according to highest Educational Attainment because the computed F value is lower than the critical value. Therefore, the respondents with different age levels have the same levels in terms the right of woman slaves to love in the Beloved Novel. 4. 9. Significant difference between the respondents in terms of the right of slave mothers right to own their children when grouped according to Age, Gender and Highest Educational Attainment. 4. 9. 1 Age Table 19 ANOVA Significant difference between the respondents in terms of the right of slave mothers right to own their children when grouped according to Age. CHILDREN Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. Between Groups 2. 207 3 . 736 . 402 . 754 Within Groups 27. 477 15 1. 832 Total 29. 684 18 Critical value 2. 353 As for the survey question Do slave mothers in Beloved have to right to own their children? , In terms of age, the degree of freedom is 3 and the computed F is . 402 with a significance of 0. 754. The critical value is 2. 353. There is no significant difference between the respondents in terms of the right of slave mothers right to own their children when grouped according to Age because the computed F value is lower than the critical value. Therefore, the respondents with different age levels have the same levels in terms of the right of slave mothers to own their children in the Beloved novel. 4. 9. 2 Gender Table 20 ANOVA Significant difference between the respondents in terms of the right of slave mothers right to own their children when grouped according to Gender. CHILDREN Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. Between Groups . 492 1 . 492 . 286 . 599 Within Groups 29. 192 17 1. 717 Total 29. 684 18 Critical value 6. 314 As for the survey question Do slave mothers in Beloved have to right to own their children? , In terms of gender, the degree of freedom is 1 and the computed F is . 286 with a significance of 0. 599. The critical value is 6. 314. There is no significant difference between the respondents in terms of slave mothers’ right to own their children in the Beloved Novel when grouped according to Gender because the computed F value is lower than the critical value. Therefore, the respondents with different age levels have the same levels in terms slave mothers’ right to own their children in the Beloved Novel. 4. 9. 3 Highest Educational Attainment Table 21 ANOVA Significant difference between the respondents in terms of the right of slave mothers right to own their children when grouped according to Highest Educational Attainment. CHILDREN Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig. Between Groups 3. 568 2 1. 784 1. 093 . 359 Within Groups 26. 117 16 1. 632 Total 29. 684 18 Critical value 2. 920 As for the survey question Do slave mothers in Beloved have to right to own their children? In terms of highest Educational Attainment, the degree of freedom is 2 and the computed F is 1. 093 with a significance of 0. 359. The critical value is 2. 920. There is no significant difference between the respondents in terms of the right of slave mothers to own their children in the Beloved Novel when grouped according to highest Educational Attainment because the computed F value is lower than the critical value. Therefore, the respondents with different age levels have the same levels in terms the right of slave mothers to own their children.

The effect of background noise on free recall

The effect of background noise on free recall The effect of background noise upon free recall of visually presented words was investigated. A total of 60 participants were recruited for this psychological study. The experimental groups were the speech condition (N=20) and the whale sound condition (N=20) whereas the silent condition (N=20) accounted for the control condition. Participants were randomly assigned to each group. The speech, whale sound and silence accounted for the three levels of independent variable whereas the subjective free recall accounted for the dependent variable. This study formed two hypotheses. Hypothesis one proposed that more words will be recalled in the control condition than in the experimental conditions and hypothesis 2 proposed that fewer words will be recalled in the speech condition than both the whale sound and silent condition. The present investigation employed a between groups design. One way ANOVA showed that participants in the control condition (M = 12.85 SD = 2.97) significantly recall ed more words than the whale sound experimental (M= 9.05 SD =2.13) and the speech conditions (M= 9.65 SD= 3.49) (p= Key words: working memory, free recall, silence, whale sound, speech Investigation into background noise and participants free recall performance Background noise has been established to be among the most notable forms of interference in the in offices and educational settings causing stress and discomfort for workers and learners and affecting performance (Hugh Jones 2001). Background noise from aircraft, road traffic, and trains have all been shown to impair learning (Enmarker, Boman, Hygge 2006; Hygge, 2003; Wible, Nicol, Kraus, 2004 in McNeil). The working memory model proposed by Salame and Baddeley (1990) constitutes of the visuo-spatial system and phonological system, however, the memory system that is concerned with verbal visual and auditory presentation is the phonological store. The phonological store, together with the process of articulatory rehearsal constitutes what is unknown as the phonological loop (Gisselgard, Petersson, Baddeley Ingvar, 2003). Prominent psychologists have investigated the phenomenon of background noise and its interference with the working memory processes and recall impairment. For example, Salame Baddeley (1982 in Gisselgard, Petersson, Baddeley Ingvar, 2003) argued of the irrelevant speech effect which refers to a reduction in the immediate recall of lists of presented items when irrelevant auditory material is presented together with the items to be memorized (Gisselgard et al, 2003). Salame and Baddeley argued that irrelevant sound effect interferes with the temporary storage of verbal material within a phonological input store of limited capacity (Gisselgard, 2003). Jones (2004) also argues that auditory verbal stimuli have direct access to phonological system whereas visual verbal has indirect access whereas the visual verbal stimuli endeavour a process of sub vocalization before passing through the articulatory suppression system. (Jones, Macken Nicholls (2004: the phonological store of working memory). Other psychologists argue that the irrelevant speech will interfere with the representations of list items if and only they are being held within the phonological store. However, during the rehearsal process (articulatory suppression), the irrelevant sound effect may be abolished (Gisselgard, Petersson, Baddeley Ingvar, 2003), therefore not impairing word recall. Beaman Jones (1998) acknowledge that one of the earliest explanations produced for the irrelevant sound effect was the acoustic primary memory masking hypothesis (Colle Welsh, 1976) which postulates that irrelevant auditory stimuli have the action of masking phonologically recoded visual stimuli in an acoustic primary memory store. According to this approach, the items lose their distinctiveness by being masked, making their retrieval difficult (Beaman Jones, 1998). Banbury, Macken, Trenblay Jones (2001), on the contrary, argue that as the memory task and irrelevant speech are presented in different sensory modalities, the effect cannot be attributed to some kind of interference (or masking) at sensory level as suggested by Colle and Welsh( 1976). Instead they argue that this disruption must be attributable to: A confluence of processing from the ear and the eye at some level beyond the sensory organs; this can be explained as a breakdown in attentional selectivity. Despite the intent of the person to concentrate on the memory task, the irrelevant sound intrudes therefore impairing recall. (Banbury, Macken, Trenblay Jones, 2001) Banbury, Macken, Trenblay Jones (2001) suggest that interference results from the similarity of events represented in memory, a phenomenon known as phonological similarity. One subtype proposes that the disruption is based on a conflict of content between what is seen and what is heard. This may be through similarity (phonological similarity) in the identity of the irrelevant sound to the items being rehearsed (Salame Baddely 1982 in Banbury, Macken, Trenblay Jones 2001) through shared temporal cues or through degree of overlap of modality-independent features in the irrelevant speech with the items in the visually presented to-be-recalled list (Neath, 2000 in Banbury, Macken, Trenblay Jones 2001). The phonological similarity is particularly relevant in this study as a back ground speech by Martin Luther King, in English will be employed and administered in the background. It is worthy of acknowledgement that irrelevant sound hypothesis has been predominately investigated for serial recall (Lecompte, 1994 Beaman Jones, 1998). The irrelevant speech effect has been found to effect and disrupt the learning of list of words in a sequential order and Salame and Baddeley (1990) did establish that background noise was disruptive. However, free recall has also found to be affected by the irrelevant sound (Beaman Jones 1998). In light of this, the present study will investigate the irrelevant sound hypothesis through assessing free recall of subjects. Moreover, Studies (Beaman Jones, 1998 have shown that the irrelevant sound effect does equally effect serial or free recall, without distinction. For example, in testing the free recall and the irrelevant speech effect, Lecompte (1994) study found that a) irrelevant speech inhibited free recall more than white noise. In addition Lecompte (1994) had found an effect on irrelevant sound on free recall in four cond itions (Lecompte, 1994). This is also supported and acknowledged by Beaman Jones (1998). The present study will be employing whale sound as one of the independent variables although animal sound with relation to memory recall impairment have been investigated by Neath Surprenant (2000) (the nature of remembering) In other studies, the irrelevant speech effect was not found in free recall (Salame Baddeley, 1990 in Lecompte, 1994). Although there is substantial research which has found that noise disrupts learning, there is however some other investigations which established that background noise had a facilitative effect on learning as oppose to a detrimental effect dependent upon the level and frequency of the noise and subjective ratings of levels for interference (Hughes Jones, 2001). It is noteworthy that although Salame and Baddeley (1989) used Japanese speech in the background which accounted for the irrelevant speech the present study will use English Martin Luther King speech. Use of English narrative as an independent variable has also been investigated. For example, Jones, Miles and Page (1990 in Jones, Madden Miles, 1992) performed an investigation in which forward, reversed (English narrative) and Welsh (narrative) irrelevant speech were contrasted. Each produced a large and almost identical effect on the recall of consonant strings. In another study (in Jones, Madden Miles, 1992) irrelevant Italian and English produced a similar degree of impairment (Morris, Jones Quayle., 1989 in ibid) the psychologists argue that the phonological similarity effect isnt the cause of poorer recall as Salame and Baddeley (1989 in Jones, Madden Miles, 1992) have argued. The aforementioned mentioned study by Jones et al (1990) demonstrates that background speech which is similar to the language of the listener will be equally disruptive when compared to other languages such as Welsh. Oswald et al (2000 in Hughes Jones, 2001: the intrusiveness of sound) tested participants comprehension of sentences of meaningful speech, meaningless speech and in quiet. They found that performance was worse in both speech conditions relative to quiet, but most noticeably, meaningful speech was more disruptive than meaningless speech. This study therefore supports Salame and Baddeley (1990) similar phonological effect hypothesis with relation to interference and disruption, which will also form one of the hypothesis for the present study. Amidst the scope of studies already performed in the domains of irrelevant sound effect and its effect upon the phonological working memory, this present study too, aims to investigate whether or not the background speech and whale sound will impair recall for words presented visually. Method Participants A total of 60 participants were recruited for this psychological research. Each of the eight investigators for this study recruited eight participants. The control or silent condition comprised of 20 participants, the whale sound condition comprised on 20 participants and the Martin Luther King speech condition comprised of 20 participants. All these participants were randomly assigned to each of the eight investigators. All of the participants were over 18 and no other demographic variable such as specific age group or gender was considered in this present study. The participants were either related or associated with the investigators. Design variables A between subjects experiment design was employed. Participants were randomly allocated to each group. This study used one independent variable with three levels of background noise which were silent, speech, and whale sound. The silent condition was the control condition whereas the speech and whale sound were the experimental conditions. The dependent variable is the number of words correctly recalled by the groups. The noise level of the speech and whale sound was 66 -70 decibels. The present study employed the free recall methodology. Hypotheses Recall of words will be higher for the silent (control) condition than the whale sound and speech sound (experimental) conditions. This accounts for hypothesis 1. The recall of words will be lower in the speech sound condition compared to both the whale and silent conditions to investigate the phonological similarity effect and its effect of interference with information processing and recall. This therefore accounts for hypothesis 2. Stimuli and materials Martin Luther King speech (experimental condition 1); Whale sound (experimental condition2); Silence (Control condition); 20 words were selected from the Toronto Word Pool with neutral but similar levels of concreteness and imaginability. The lower level of imaginability and concreteness ranged from 1 to 3 and high ranged from 5 to 9 but the words selected were at level 4.font was Ariel size 12. The format of the words was a visual presentation of in a list form. Procedure Participants were briefed and informed consent was obtained prior to commencement of experimentation. In the silent (control) condition the participants were presented with the words. Participants learned the words for 3 minutes. Participants were then given a further 3 minutes to recall the words followed by debrief. In experimental (1) whale sound and experimental (2) speech conditions participants were presented with words and were allowed 3 minutes to learn the words accompanied with either background whale sound or speech. A further 3 minutes were given for the written free recall of words followed by debrief. In the brief the participants were informed of the whale and speech background noise, neither any approach to learn the words was mentioned. Other background interferences and auditory disruptions, other than the intended noise were kept to a minimum. Results The effect of background sound (silent, speech, whale sound) on recall of words was examined using one-way subjects ANOVA. It was expected that participants in the silent condition would recall more words than the participants in the speech and whale sound condition. The mean scores revealed that more words were recalled in the silent condition (12.85 SD = 2.97). There was almost equal number of words recalled in the whale sound (M= 9.05 SD=2.13) and the speech condition (M=9.65 SD=3.49). There was significant difference between the recall scores of the control and experimental conditions F (2, 57) = 9.748, p0.05). Participants in the speech condition recalled significantly less than the silent condition (Mean difference = -3.2 p=0.05). Therefore this experiment supports the hypothes1 and therefore the null hypothesis will be rejected. Lower recall in the speech condition compared to the silent but similar levels of recall compared to the whale sound condition partially supports hypo thesis 2. Condition Recall N Mean Standard Deviation Silent 20 12.85 2.97 Whale 20 9.05 2.13 Speech 20 9.65 3.49 Total 60 10.51 3.33 Table 1 shows the mean score for each group together with their standard deviations. The silent condition recalled the most number of words and the whale and speech conditions scoring the similar number of words. Sound Sound Mean Difference Sig. Alpha 0.05 Silent Whale 3.80 0.00 speech 3.20 0.00 whale Silent -3.8 0.00 Speech -.60 0.79 speech Silent -.32 0.03 whale .6 0.79 Table 2 Multiple comparisons showing the scores of each group, inclusive of mean difference and their significance. There is a significantly larger difference between Silent compared to whale and speech conditions. There is a significant difference between whale and silent condition but not with speech condition. There is a significant difference between speech and silent but not with the whale condition. This test supports hypothesis 1 expected the recall for words in the control condition to be higher than the experimental thus supporting the experimental hypothesis and rejecting the null hypothesis. However, there is not a significant difference between the speech and whale noise condition therefore as fewer words were recalled in the speech condition compared to the silent condition and assessing that there is not a significance recall difference when compared to the whale noise condition only partially supports hypothesis 2. Recall Sum of Squares Df Mean Square F Sig. ÃŽÂ ·p2 Between Groups 166.933 2 83.46 9.74 0.000 0.25 Within Groups 488.050 57 8.56 Total 654.983 59 Table 3 is showing the between and within groups mean scores and shows that the differences between the groups is significant (p= Discussion This present study attempted to investigate the effect of background sound on recall for words. The investigation manifested that overall the recall for the control (silent) condition was higher than the experimental (whale sound and speech) conditions. Therefore is supportive of the hypothesis 1 of this study and of the irrelevant sound hypothesis, and therefore rejecting the null hypothesis. The minor partial eta square effect is also noteworthy showing that the independent variables did not greatly affect the participants recall of words. In relation to the phonological similarity effect due to the administration of English words and English speech, it was found that articulatory suppression in the speech condition did not abolish the phonological similarity effect as well as the irrelevant speech effect which are known to impair the processing and retrieval of visually presented words. This is evident through lower production of words in the Speech condition. Therefore this study has supported the phonological similarity effect and its impairing effects upon processing visually similar verbal information. This investigation has shown that the practice of rehearsal or articulatory suppression did not abolish the both the phonological similarity effect and the irrelevant sound effect. The abolishment the phonological similarity hypothesis through articulatory suppression is well documented by Gisselgard, Petersson, Baddeley Ingvar (2003). The findings of these results can therefore be extended to the wider world where people are reading verbal information and listening to verbal auditory concurrently, albeit individual differences can also be taken into consideration. It was acknowledged that hypothesis 2 was partially supported because even though significantly fewer words were recalled in the speech condition than the silent condition but the difference is not statistically significant when compared to the whale sound condition. This finding is therefore also interesting as animal whale noise had equal level of disruption than human verbal speech. Despite the interesting findings, this study however, does have some limitations. This present study didnt take into consideration other individual variables such as age, gender. Considering these variables could yield further complimentary or contradictory results which could be subjected to empirical analysis. In a study performed by Ellermeier Zimmer (1997) individual difference was found with relation to susceptibility to the irrelevant speech effect. One study demonstrated that males and females perform differently in the presence of music when undertaking different tasks and exercises (Miller Schyb, 1989). In future studies, demographic variables and specific sample can be considered to ensure more reliable and valid results. Moreover, this present study did not take vocal or instrumental music as an independent measure and variable, although these variables may also be critical. Therefore, in future studies the inclusion of music condition and how background music facilitate s and impairs learning can also be considered. Hillard and Tolin (1975), for example, showed that if the background music was well-known to the subject, they performed better on the given task than when unknown music was present. The domains of familiarity and unfamiliarity of music can therefore, also be explored. Moreover, in another study, the psychoacoustics found that music that contained speech had significant detrimental effects on the participants ability to perform tasks (Martin, Wogalter Forlano, 1988). Extensive studies can be performed in light of all of the aforementioned variables.

Brave New World - Fears Of The Future :: essays research papers

Art is like a fractured mirror that reflects the society in which it was created. This reflection is a mosaic of images constructed by the artist’s own perceptions which in turn are determined by the values and attitudes, especially the fears and insecurities in his or her own contemporary society. The responder also has to acknowledge his or her own door of perception, as this would affect their interpretation of the art. This is especially evident in texts like Brave New World which are designed specifically as probes into the aspects of society that the writer desires to explore. Aldous Huxley wrote Brave New World during the late ‘20s and early ‘30s; in the middle of the Great Depression and at the eve of the Second World War. World War One was still fresh in everyone’s memories and so was the Bolshevik revolution of Russia, which threatened to spread throughout Europe and the world. On the other side of the Atlantic the †New World† was unde rgoing a revitalisation of industry with Henry Ford and other leading capitalists implementing the concept of mass production and attempting to create the ideal consumer society. There was also a form of cultural renaissance in the central European countries where the avaunt-garde was embraced rigorously in art and architecture. And in science, especially in the biological field, great breakthroughs, the likes of which the world hadn’t witnessed since the days of Newton were being accomplished. In short it was a period of great social change and instability. Such instability eventually leads to fears and insecurities, most of which tend revolve around the future of society and the future of the individual. For the rich upper class the primary fear was Bolshevism. They feared it so much so that Fascists and Nazis were tolerated, even encouraged, all for the purpose of crushing Bolshevism. Although the World State from Brave New World does not resemble Lenin’s Bolshevik state, it does however have strong parallelisms with Mussolini’s fascist Italy and shares an uncanny resemblance to the future Germany under Hitler. Even more profoundly and more importantly it’s resemblance of Stalin’s totalitarian Russia is undeniable. From the characteristics of the World State in his novel, it seems that Huxley, unlike his noble compatriots, was not fearful of Bolshevism. However unlike the socialist intellectuals of his time, Huxley had a realistic, bleak vision of the future of Bolshevism.

Amazon :: science

Amazon The Amazon River is the second longest river in world. The headwaters begin high in the soaring Andes Mountains and stretches 6,400 km across the South American continent to the Atlantic Ocean. It discharges between 34 to 121 million liters of water per second, and depositing an average of 3 million tons of sediments near its mouth. The outpouring of water and residue is so vast that the salt content and the color of the Atlantic Ocean are altered for a distance of about 320km from the mouth of the river. Also, unlike many other rivers it ¡Ã‚ ¯s wide and straight from the headwaters to the mouth. During a new or full moon, a wave front from the ocean sweeps 650km upstream at speeds of 65km/h and this causes waves as high as 5m. Because of its vastness, annual floods, and navigability, the Amazon River is often called the Ocean River. The Amazon River is the largest and wettest tropical plain on Earth with heavy rains. Europeans were not the original keepers of this vast rainforest. The Amazonians are trapped between the old and new customs, and since they have traditions, their technology isn ¡Ã‚ ¯t as modern as the rest of the worlds ¡Ã‚ ¯. They live on the richest land with a wide variety of flora and fauna. With such great resources, including the river as transportation, almost anybody would want to seize the land and gain profits easily. The Amazonians have little power to defend themselves with spears against their guns. Unfortunately, the outside world has brought them diseases that are incurable with their own medicine. They cannot exist in the way they were before, but they know the Amazon better than any of us. If the rich businessmen listened to them instead of stealing from them, they might be able to improve the usage of the Amazon. All the tributaries merge into the Amazon River, but not all have an identical color. White-water rivers, the ice and snow from the Andes Mountains washes off soil nutrients from the rocks, allowing the water to have a dirty yellowish color. Clear-water rivers are azure-green in color; they barely contain any sediment. These rivers arise from the highlands that are created by hard rock that doesn ¡Ã‚ ¯t easily erode. Dark black-water river of the Rio Negro washes over old rocks, which are rich in minerals. The name  ¡Ã‚ °Amazon ¡Ã‚ ± just isn ¡Ã‚ ¯t any old name.

Brand and Esprit Essay

America, 1968. Susie and Doug Tompkins are travelling through California in a station wagon filled with homemade clothes. Theirs is an unconventional method of selling – from the back seat of a vehicle – but even their very first customers are delighted, and one of the world’s most successful young fashion brands is born: Esprit. Worldwide success As the Esprit headquarters developed in Europe (Dà ¼sseldorf) and Asia (Hong Kong) in the 70s, the founder company Esprit USA gradually became an entirely self-sufficient company. What began in Germany with young sportswear fashion for women marketed under the name of Esprit de Corp soon became one of the most successful young fashion brands on the European market. The American rights were bought back in April 2002, and since then the Esprit group has been one of few global companies to hold 100% of a brand worldwide. In the first six month of the 2003/04 business year Esprit Holdings Limited achieved consolidated sales of 810 million Euro (per 31.12.03) – an impressive growth of 32% compared to last fiscal year. The Esprit Holdings Limited share price is listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange (second listing in London), the Hang Seng index and the MCSI index Hong Kong, as well as the FTSE All World Index for Hong Kong. Excellent products A team of international designers translates the Esprit attributes into regular collections self-confidently, naturally, stylishly and sensually: twelve collections are produced for six order dates per year and product line for Women Collection, Men Casual, Kids, edc youth, Shoes + Accessories and Esprit Sports Women, Men + Kids; the twelve edc and Women Casual collections can be ordered monthly. Four collections are produced a year for Esprit Bodywear and Men Collection. Although the company focuses on the product and price/performance ratio, Esprit also invests continuously in quality and fit – high standards that are also maintained in manufacture. â€Å"Our customers expect us to produce contemporary, high quality and yet affordable goods†, explains Heinz Krogner. â€Å"And not only do we have to do so, but we have to make sure we do so continuously and over a long period of time†. Global image The consistent implementation of the image includes a distinct appearance on the outside, and for years now Esprit’s in-house â€Å"Image office† has been responsible for ensuring that the brand is shown in the same look all over the world. This office is responsible for developing and monitoring every means of communication for advertising, promotional activities and point-of-sale, and co-ordinates and carries out the shoots for Esprit’s current image campaigns – in short, everything that visually represents the Esprit company. The Global Image Office is based in New York. Lifestyle philosophy The lifestyle idea is at the very heart of Esprit’s philosophy. From pure product to overall service strategy: since 1990 successful license partnerships have supported the company on its global development into a lifestyle group. Co-operations with companies with a strong market presence have helped to create what is now a large pool of Esprit licenses. Please see â€Å"US license partners† for more information. Quality first Esprit is an international youthful lifestyle brand offering smart, affordable luxury and bringing newness and style to life. The Group offers 12 product lines encompassing women’s wear, men’s wear, kid’s wear, edc youth as well as shoes and accessories through over 640 directly managed retail stores and over 12,000 wholesale points-of-sale worldwide, occupying over 817,000 square metres directly managed retail space in more than 40 countries. Esprit licenses its logo to third-party licensees that offer products bearing the same Esprit quality and essence to consumers. Esprit also operates the Red Earth cosmetic brand which includes cosmetics, skin care and body care products. â€Å"Penetrating into existing markets while entering new ones.† The Group will continue to penetrate into existing markets and expand newer ones through wholesale distribution channels in the new financial year. Over 200 partnership stores, 500 shop-in-stores and 700 identity corne rs are planned for FY2005/2006. Europe In Europe, partnership stores will be used to gain penetration in core markets such as Germany, Benelux and France where the Esprit brand already has substantial brand presence. Shop-in-stores and identity corners concept with department stores and multi-label retailers will be used to enter new markets in order to minimize capital expenditure requirements. U.K., Italy and Spain will be the newer European markets of focus for FY2005/2006. USA Esprit is faced with difficult times in its US operations. Key department stores have discontinued sale of the brand (Nordstrom is the only major store to carry Esprit and Dillard’s, Macy’s East, Macy’s West and Marshall Field’s have all received their last wholesale shipments), a number of licensing agreements have been put on hold and the brand will stop US distribution of Collection women’s suits and career apparel, as well as the entire men’s wear line. Furthermore, three executives have recently resigned. Having recently reintroduced the brand in the US after an absence of 15 years, Esprit is facing up to the fact that brand recognition is not what it used to be and changes have to be made. The company intents to revise its US strategy, confessing that it had misjudged its popularity there. â€Å"I have overestimated our brand power in America,† said chief executive Heinz Krogner. â€Å"Sixty percent of the women knew our brand, but they didn’t see any relevance. We have made mistakes.† [1] Asia Asia wholesale initiatives for the fiscal year include entering the India market as well as expanding the distribution channels to duty free stores in Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam. In November 2005, Esprit announced that it will step up garment sourcing from India. The company plans for a new store in partnership with Madura Garments, part of the Birla Group, and sourcing from India will naturally increase. Although China and Taiwan are still the biggest source of products for Esprit, the company already sources products like shirts and trousers from India. Esprit is increasing its efforts to penetrate the Indian market, with the partnership with Madura Garments marking a beginning to that effort. Stores have already been launched in Mumbai and Bangalore. COO Thomas Johannes Grote told the Economic Times that India would become â€Å"one of the most important markets† for Esprit within the next 10 to 12 years. What do they sell? Esprit Holdings Limited is engaged in the sourcing, retail and wholesale distribution and licensing of quality and lifestyle products designed under the globally recognised Esprit brand name. It has been a listed company in Hong Kong since 1993 and has a secondary listing on the London Stock Exchange since December 1998. Up to 2004 the Group has controlled retail space of over 400,000 square meters in more than 40 countries spanning 5 continents. It operates approximately 630 directly managed retail stores and has over 9,700 wholesale outlets. The brand Esprit has been an international lifestyle fashion brand name applied to an extensive range of 12 lines, covering women’s, men’s and children’s apparel, footwear and accessories. Its main line, â€Å"women’s casual† covers the largest segment of the brand’s portfolio (39% of total turnover), appealing to most consumers because of its casual and sportswear for everyday lifestyle. It constitutes the most competitive division of the portfolio. EDC women (13% of total turnover), appeals to trend conscious women through an up-to-date mix of items that fit women’s outgoing lifestyle. Although it is one of the fastest growing segments in the company, it is not doing well considering the competition. This is the segment where Esprit losses the race among big shapers of the industry such as Spanish ZARA and Swedish H&M. Men’s casual (11% of total turnover) provides smart and urban wear for men. The designs combine quality cutting with new fashion highlights and provide the required relaxation fit for the socially conscious after work. Licensed products bearing the Esprit name range from time wear, eyewear, jewel and fragrance, to bedding and other home products. In addition, the Group owns the Red Earth brand name and distributes its cosmetics, skin and body care products. Fashion companies not only sell products, but also identify with their customers through certain values. Esprit has been a pioneer in having a clear identity and a courageous thirst for sharing what they believe in with their public. The following are the main characters within the brand’s identity: The end consumer Esprit is a well-recognized brand, which reaches a very big audience, across 5 continents. In their own words, they are a youthful lifestyle brand that targets customers with young attitude, not age. Although the brand counts with 12 different lines, directed at women, men and children, most customers are women, ranging between 15 and 35 years old. They turn to the brand in search of youthful stylish items that will never go out of fashion. They have simple but refreshing taste. They are looking mostly for stylish, yet comfortable clothes. They appreciate Esprit’s quality clothing, which is at all times at a democratic price. The brand counts with a large number of loyal customers. Its â€Å"e*club†, an online membership club which rewards repeated purchases and offers special promotions and services, has a large audience across the globe. It is impossible for us to know exactly how many people are loyal to Esprit’s core values since the birth of the brand, or how many of their customers even know about the compelling letters to prevent aids and its questioning of the way we shop in this ever more consumerism lifestyle we have seem to engaged. It would be interesting to conduct such a survey before suggesting any concrete communication strategy. How does Esprit deliver customer satisfaction? As we described before, Esprit’s target audience is looking for something stylish, yet not too fashionable. Its customers put quality first, before latest trends. They want their clothes to last, not to be very expensive, and to have a simple yet tasteful touch. They want their clothes to say something about them, something Esprit conveys as well: reliability, comfort, good reputation, seriousness with a little touch of playfulness, trustworthiness, honesty, credibility. Esprit delivers customer satisfaction by not letting its clients down. By representing values its customers like to feel connected to. By being honest and not trying to sell something that it’s not suitable for the customer. Esprit stands for a traditional brand, which has steadily grown by being true to itself, to its values, by not letting other brands’ strategies change its own. Also, by not taking too many risks. And that is what its customers expect: reliable products, at fair prices, which will not imply any mayor risk. Esprit’s shops are comforting and make one feel safe. They are attractive, yet not flashy. Taking into consideration that the brand targets not only teenagers but also grown-ups, the atmosphere has to be more calmed and stable. A regular customer who walks into an Esprit shop knows what they will find there and will never be disappointed. Esprit makes its clients feel like part of a whole. Part of those women in society who are not intimidated by the fast moving market of clothing. Women who do not let the industry tell them what to wear, or to buy products with little quality and at ridiculous prices. That is why they are faithful to Esprit, because it makes them feel safe and confident. Obviously there is a market for these women, considering that Esprit –unlike H&M or ZARA- sells basically the same collection all over the world. How do they attract and retain customers? Esprit lives thanks to a loyal group of customers. However, their constant growth derives from the success in attracting new customers every year. They do so by offering an alternative option to shops like ZARA and H&M, whose quality is lower and atmosphere might be too intimidating for some people. The fact that they sell items for the whole family in one shop also brings them repeated purchases in their different product lines. The fact that they sell the same collection all over the world also makes repeated purchases more plausible. Whether the client is in China, Germany or the United States, they can feel at home when they enter the shop. The brand retains customers by offering a quality product, at the same time as a superior service. Unlike many other clothing shops, at Esprit employees are very attentive and strive for making customers feel comfortable and not only pleased, but delighted. That explains part of the success in keeping such a loyal audience. Esprit also offers discounts and special promotions to loyal customers. Through e*club, its online membership club, Esprit offers credit (e*club points) in their stores for every purchase done through the e*club card. As an e*club member, customers are invited to enjoy special promotions, such as double e*points weeks and special shopping hours. Also, a member of the e*club can have access to other benefits such as free call centre service and personal access to their account balance. Joining the e*club is free. Esprit offers as well the possibility to do online shopping, which allows customers to view the items online and request for the measures and colours they prefer. If they are not satisfied they can always return the merchandise and get their money back, which not many shops are ready to offer yet. Shipping is for free, in those countries where the programme is available. To keep their clients informed, Esprit also offers a regular newsletter, in which they inform of the latest collections and news in the fashion industry. Subscription is for free and for every new entry clients get important discounts.