Thursday, October 31, 2019

Forest Fire Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Forest Fire - Article Example ts from fire danger rating systems can be used for prevention planning, preparedness planning, detection planning, initial attack dispatching, fire behavior evaluation just to mention a few. It is hence noted that the use of fire management systems has several advantages. Canada has identified that historically, there have been four developmental stages in the country’s fire management programs (Taylor & Alexander, p3). What this means is that fire danger systems must be dynamic enough to evolve in support of decision making that is continuously getting complex. The systems, according to experts, in order to be effective must be based on factors that are accurately measurable and that are consistent irrespective of place and time. Two types of error may result from the application of fire danger systems; low and high fire danger levels. The low danger level error is grave and may easily result in the management system underestimating a fire’s potential (Taylor & Alexander, p4). The CFFDRS (Canadian Forest Fire danger Rating System) has continued to evolve ever since its introduction. The Fire Weather Index (FWI) system that is currently used in the country was developed in the 70s and then involved the manual observation of fires from fire weather stations. The system’s values were then determined by consulting look-up tables since electronic communication and computer systems were widely unavailable. In the 80s and 90s, remote automatic weather stations were developed. This went hand in hand with developments in communications technology. In a review published by the Canadian government in 1987, it was noted that the CFFDRS had saved a whooping 750 million Canadian dollars to the country with a cost-to- benefit ratio of about 1:3 (Taylor & Alexander, p6). Underlying every modern fire management system is the fire danger rating scheme. It is through such systems that scientific knowledge of the potential of fires can be synthesized and integrated with

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Multiple Intelligence Theory Essay Example for Free

Multiple Intelligence Theory Essay Many students choose to attend APUS because the University fosters differing educational styles and empowers the students through education. The Student Handbook states, â€Å"The University System fosters an environment that promotes a life of learning for its constituents and uses feedback from its participants and supporters to improve the quality of its teaching, learning, and support†¦ The University System anticipates and adapts to its changing environment and responds to the needs of the organization and its constituencies in manners both appropriate and timely. † In the beginning of College 100, students are introduced to the different learning styles and the theory of multiple intelligences. By becoming familiar with other students learning styles and exploring the multiple intelligences students became more tolerant towards others and were able to strengthen their learning power. Being familiar with multiple intelligence theory, knowing the different learning styles, utilizing appropriate classroom methods, and exploring the interdisciplinary classroom will empower students towards a lifetime of learning. Recognizing the multiple intelligence theory is the first step in capturing the different learning styles. â€Å"Howard Gardners multiple intelligence theory (Gardner, 1993) proposes the idea that we all have various levels of intelligence across a range of intellectual areas† (Pritchard, 2008). The concept that people learn in different ways, and perceive and learn by different methods is what makes up the theory of multiple intelligences. There are at least nine different intelligences in which people display in varying ways (Pritchard, 2008). The styles are as follows: linguistic, logical/mathematical, musical, spatial/visual, kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalistic, and existential (Pritchard, 2008). Student’s particular academic strengths have a direct impact on how effective their learning will be for their overall education. When applying multiple intelligences to the classroom, it is very important to cater to all the types of learning styles. When discussing learning styles in the forums of College 100, every student had a different way of learning that especially worked for them. If every single assignment or activity in a classroom is slanted towards visual learning, then the students who are auditory or kinesthetic learners will be at a serious disadvantage. These students will not be able to express themselves or be able to conform to the teaching style if their learning needs are not met. â€Å"In planning for multiple intelligences, teachers consider the range of activities related to the content of the lesson and the intended learning outcomes will give a range of opportunities to the children’s different intelligence strengths† (Pritchard, 2008). It is very important for a teacher to introduce a range of activities and presentations in order to make the most out of multiple intelligences. A learning style is reflected by a students preferred method of learning, which is a direct result of their type of intelligence. It is irresponsible for a teacher to assume that all of their students will learn in the same manner. The four main styles of learning are visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and extrovert. Every style has strengths and weaknesses. It is crucial in the educational environment to exploit the student’s strengths and protect the weaknesses. A student’s self-worth and esteem can be very much tied up with their learning capability. Teachers must exhibit a range of teaching styles, so that their students learning styles will be compatible. â€Å"Diverse personalities impact relationships, motivation, and ease of learning in classroom and work environments. Where there are diverse personalities within groups, people generally prefer and choose to be with others who are similar to themselves; individuals may even dislike those who have different attitudes and behaviors from their own† (Richardson Arker, 2010). What Richardson and Arker are implying is that people of different personalities and learning styles tend to stick in the same groups. It would be to the benefit of everyone if individuals of different personalities and persuasions were put together in one group, that way the group will be more powerful and will benefit greatly from the input of everybody. A truly good teacher will ensure that they have designed their curriculum in such a way so that students learning needs are met. Classroom arrangements can be made so that individuals of similar temperaments are brought together in what is called compatibility scheduling. This arrangement will enhance the overall productivity of students as well as teachers† (Richard son Arker, 2010). As multiple intelligence theory has developed, advances in classroom methods have also been made. There are at least three different methods that combine multiple intelligence theory with learning styles in order to better the classroom environment. â€Å"Brain-based education supports the need to differentiate instruction† (Richardson Arker, 2010). Some studies in brain research have shown that there is such a thing as a left-brain and a right-brain. People can be left or right brain dominate, which largely determines the individuals learning style. â€Å"Collaborative learning is a method of teaching and learning in which student’s team together to explore a significant question or create a meaningful project† (Educational Broadcasting Corporation, 2004). This type of classroom learning will serve to help the entire group. The students and teachers will be able to pick out the roles that suit them best, thus serving the group to the best of their ability. Another method that is similar to collaborative learning is cooperative learning. In cooperative learning, â€Å"Students work together in small groups on a structured activity. They are individually accountable for their work, and the work of the group as a whole is also assessed. Cooperative groups work face-to-face and learn to work as a team† (Educational Broadcasting Corporation, 2004). Cooperative learning is becoming a very popular method. It uses individuals best qualities for the betterment of the group. By using these methods in the classroom learning becomes an active process and engages all types of learning styles. The Western world has divided education into blocks, and then further divided the blocks into disciplines. While convenient on paper, it is clear that education and disciplines overlap, the world is a fluid place. Interdisciplinary education is an approach that blends different disciplines and utilizes multiple intelligence theory and varying learning styles. â€Å"The exponential growth of knowledge in the twentieth century revealed how disciplinary cultures and perspectives could discourage inquiries and explanations that spanned disciplinary boundaries. Disciplines, it now seems clear, are powerful but constraining ways of knowing† (Lattuca, 2001). By breaking down the walls of the disciplines, students are empowered to use their differing learning styles. This will result in students having positive experiences with education. Students will then seek out a lifetime of learning, and encourage other to seek knowledge. Recognizing the theory of multiple intelligences and defining each student’s learning style will lead to success in education. By utilizing methods such as brain-based learning, cooperative learning, and collaborative learning teachers can empower students by giving them the educational method that works best for each individual. Combining all of these aspects yields the concept of interdisciplinary learning, leading to a lifetime of successful education, teaching, and learning. References Concept to Classroom: Course Menu. (2004). THIRTEEN New York Public Media. Retrieved December 2, 2012, from http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/index.html Lattuca, L. R. (2001). Creating interdisciplinarity: Interdisciplinary research and teaching among college and university faculty. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press. Pritchard, A. (2008). Ways of Learning [electronic resource]: Learning Theories and Learning Styles in the Classroom. Hoboken, NJ: David Fulton Publishers. Richardson, R., Arker, E. (2010). Personalities in the Classroom: Making the Most of Them. Kappa Delta Pi Record, 46(2), 76-81.

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Concepts and Research into Green Networking

Concepts and Research into Green Networking Green Networking Abstract: Saving of excessive energy consumption is becoming a key concern in networking, because of theprobable economical benefits. These concerns, usually argued to as â€Å"green networking†, relate to inserting energy-awareness in the strategy, in the devicesand in the protocols of networks. In this work, I first formulate a more precise definition of the â€Å"green† attribute. I further more classify a few standards that are key enablers of energy-aware networking research. I then overview the up-to-date state of the art and offer a catalog of the relevant work, with a superior focus on networking. Introduction: Recent studies shows that Information Technology and communication advances are responsible for significant amount of world electric power consumptions which ranges from 2% to 10%, that is one of the contributing factor for global warming, via gases release from greenhouse and from the growth of demand of internet applications and services. Therefore, for these reasons energy efficient and sustainable networking often called â€Å"Green Networking†, has become a hot issue in the last few years. Definition: Green Networking is the practice of selecting energy-efficient networking technologies and products, and minimizing resources use whenever possible. [1] All facets of Information Technology and Communication are under supervision, from energy-saving design of all networking devices, to strategies which reflect the entire network’s energy depletion in the planning, design, implementation and management points, to new approach for long-run sustainability of the networking which covers reformed attitudes of users’ as well as smart energy mowing techniques.This special concern on Green Networking intentions at providing revolutionary influences to the research and development of energy-efficient networking solutions and approaches for network sustainability. Motivation for research and review: There are many complexities in network, unnecessary traffic congestion, and more power wastages due to unnecessary idling of node at the current situation of networking.Therefore, I have used one research paper published on the subject and examining the viewpoints to the matter.To the paper, I have added an analysis section where I reflect on the paper value, and discuss important points listed in the paper on the subject. Green Networking With Packet Processing Engines: Modeling and Optimization Published on:14th February, 2013. IEEE Computer Society Authors: Raffaele Bolla, RobertoBruschi, Alessandro Carrega, and Franco Davoli With the goal of monitoring power consumption in metro/transport and main networks, the paper reflects energy-aware devices capable to shrink their energy chucks by adjusting their performance. In specific, the paper focuses on state-of-the-art packet processing engines, which normally characterize the most energy-consuming apparatuses of network devices, and that are often collected of a number of parallel pipelines to â€Å"divide and conquer† the received traffic load. The paper talk about goal to control both the power structure of pipelines and the way to issue traffic flows among them. The authors proposed an analytical model to precisely represent the impact of green network technologies (i.e., low power idle and adaptive rate) on network-aware and energy-aware performance indexes. The model has been confirmed with experimental consequences, accomplished by using energy-aware software routers loaded by real-world traffic traces. The attained outcomes determine how the p rojected model can successfully epitomize energy-aware and network-aware presentation indexes. The method goals at dynamically adjusting the energy-aware device structure to lessen energy consumption whereas handling with received traffic signals and gathering network performance limitations. In order to genuinely comprehend the impact of such policy, a number of experiments have been executed by using experimental data from software router designs and real-world traffic traces. Analysis: In this paper, the authors considered energy-aware network devices (e.g., routers, switches, etc.) able to trade their energy consumption for packet forwarding performance by means of both low power idle and adaptive rate schemes. The proposed analytical model is able to capture the impact of power management capabilities on network performance metrics. The analytical framework considers stochastic incoming traffic at the packet level with Long Range Dependency (LRD) properties. On the basis of the analytical model, authors have chosen the parameters characterizing the joint usage of Adaptive Rate(AR) and Low Power Idle(LPI) energy-aware capabilities by optimizing the desired tradeoff between energy consumption and Quality of Service(QoS) while at the same time enforcing the satisfaction of given upper bounds on both. Since the performance and cost indicators used in the optimization depend on incoming traffic volumes and statistical features (notably, burst inter-arrival time and av erage burst length), researchers repeat the optimization periodically under updated estimations of these quantities. The modeling and control framework has been validated experimentally by using a Linux-based open software router with AR and LPI primitives under traffic generated by real-world traces; the results demonstrate how the proposed model can effectively represent energy-aware and network-aware performance indexes. Therefore proposed model, is efficient and addressing green networking maintaining the Quality of Service (QoS) in the network. Green Strategies Traditionally, networking systems are designed and dimensioned according to principles that are inherently in opposition with green networking objectives: namely, over-provisioning and redundancy. On the other hand, due to the lack of Quality of Service (QoS) provision from the Internet architecture, over-provisioning is a common practice: networks are dimensioned to sustain peak hour traffic, with extra capacity to allow for unexpected happenings. As a result, through low traffic periods, over-provisioned networks are also over-energy-consuming. Furthermore, on behalf of resiliency and fault-tolerance, networks are also deliberate in a redundant manner. Devices are added to the structure with the sole purpose of taking over the duty when another device fails, which further adds to the overall energy ingesting. These objectives, drastically divergent to the environmental ones, make green networking an interesting, and technically challenging, research arena. A major change is indeed needed in networking research and development to introduce energy-awareness in the network design, deprived of compromising either the Quality of Service (QoS) or the network consistency. This section illustrates a few key paradigms that the network infrastructure can exploit to reach the green objectives formalized above. We individuate three classes of solution, namely resource consolidation, virtualization and  selective connectedness  [2]. These three categories represent three research directions, which may find further detailed applications in device and protocol design. Resource consolidation regroups all the dimensioning strategies to reduce the global consumption due to devices underutilized at a given time. Given that the traffic level in a given network approximately follows a well-known daily and weekly behavior [3], there is an opportunity to â€Å"adapt† the level of active over-provisioning to the current network conditions. In other words, the required level of performance will still be guaranteed, but using an amount of resources that is dimensioned for current network traffic demand rather than for the peak demand. This can, for example, be achieved by shutting down some lightly loaded routers and rerouting the traffic on a smaller number of active network equipment. Resource consolidation is already a popular approach in other fields, in particular data centers and CPU. Virtualization regroups a set of mechanisms allowing more than one service to operate on the same section of hardware, hence refining the hardware operation. It results in a lowered energy consumption, as long as a single machine under high load consumes less than several lightly loaded ones, which is generally the case. Virtualization can be applied to multiple kinds of resources, comprising network links, storage hardware, software resources, etc. A typical example of virtualization consists in sharing servers in data centers, thus reducing hardware costs, improving energy management and reducing energy and cooling costs, ultimately reducing data center carbon footprint. In the current context, virtualization has already been deployed with success: e.g., the US Postal Service has virtualized 791 of its 895 physical servers [4]. As virtualization is a more mature research field, we refer the interested reader to [5] for a detailed survey of virtualization techniques from a computer architecture perspective, and to [6] for a networking perspective. At the same time, it should be noted that a virtualization solution designed explicitly to reduce network energy consumption has yet to appear. Applying the same base concept, selective connectedness of devices, as outlined in [7], [8], consists in distributed mechanisms allowing single pieces of equipment to go idle for some time, as clearly as probable for the rest of the networked devices. If the consolidation principle relates to resources that are shared within the network infrastructure, selective connectedness allows instead to turn off unused resources at the edge of the network. For instance, edge nodes can go idle in order to avoid supporting network connectivity tasks (e.g., periodically sending heartbeats, receiving unnecessary broadcast traffic, etc.). These tasks may have to be taken over by other nodes, such as proxies, momentarily faking identity of sluggish devices, so that no essentialmodification is required in network protocols Conclusion: This article surveyed the efforts that the research community has been spending in the attempt to reduce the energy waste in fixed networks, which are usually denoted as â€Å"green networking†. I presented the importance of the issue, its definition and mainstream paradigms, and proposed a taxonomy of the relevant related work. Examining the state of the art, we observe that a few techniques are emerging, which can be roughly categorized as (i) resource consolidation, (ii) virtualization (iii) selective connectedness. It also emerges from my analysis that despite the relative youth of the green networking field, research in some of the above areas is already mature, with advanced standardization efforts and prototyping results. Finally, as the ultimate goal of networking is to provide services to end-users, the quality of such services and of the user experience is a topic that spans over all the previous branches. Indeed, while energy efficiency is becoming a primary issue, it shall never be neglected that the energy gain must not come at the price of a network performance loss. This delicate tradeoff arises from opposite principles: indeed, while networked systems have traditionally be designed and dimensioned according to principles such as overprovisioning and redundancy, green networking approaches praise opposite practices such as resource-consolidation and selective-connectedness. The challenge lays in this case in applying the latter principles in a way that is as transparent as possible to the user – in other words, avoiding that resource consolidation translates into congestion, or that selective connectedness translates into unreachability. While the first wave of green studies focused mor e on the achievable energy gain, we believe that a systematic evaluation of networking performance from the user-perspective should be undertaken as well. Indeed, in all branches interesting questions remain, which deserve precise quantitative answers: Finally, we believe that while, for the time being, techniques of different branches have been studied in isolation, future research should address the combined impact of different techniques as well. Indeed, even though each of the above techniques alone do not constitute serious threats for the QoS perceived by the end-user, however it is not guaranteed that the joint use of several technique will not raise unexpected behaviour. Due to the current rise in green networking research and attention, it cannot be excluded that, in a near future, users will run Energy Aware Applications, in a home equipped with a green set-top-box implementing Interface Proxying functionalities, and will access the Internet through an Internet Service Pro vider implementing Energy Aware Routing in devices interconnected by Adaptive Link Rate lines – which opens a number of interesting questions that are so far all unexplored. References: [1] â€Å"Discussion Definition of green networking,†http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/definition/green-networking [2] â€Å"International Journal of Advanced Research in Computer Science and Software Engineering,†http://ijarcsse.com/docs/papers/Volume_4/9_September2014/V4I9-0353.pdf [3] A. Qureshi, R. Weber, H. Balakrishnan, J. Guttag, and B. Maggs, â€Å"Cutting the Electric Bill for Internet-Scale Systems,† in Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Applications, Technologies, Architectures, and Protocols for Computer Communications (SIGCOMM 2009), (Barcelona, Spain), Aug. 2009. [4] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency – Energy Star Program, â€Å"Report to Congress on Server and Data Center Energy Efficiency Public Law 109-431,† Tech. Rep. , U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Aug. 2007. [5] S. Nanda and T.-C. Chiueh, â€Å"A Survey on Virtualization Technologies,† Tech. Rep. TR179, Department of Computer Science, SUNY at Stony Brook, 2005. [6] N. M. Kabir Chowdhury and R. Boutaba, â€Å"A Survey of Network Virtualization,† Tech. Rep. CS-2008-25, University of Waterloo, Oct.2008. [7] K. Christensen, C. Gunaratne, B. Nordman, and A. D. George, â€Å"The Next Frontier for Communications Networks: Power Management,†Computer Communications, vol. 27, pp. 1758–1770, Dec. 2004. [8] M. Allman, K. Christensen, B. Nordman, and V. Paxson, â€Å"Enabling an Energy-Efficient Future Internet Through Selectively Connected End Systems,† in Proceedings of the Sixth ACM Workshop on Hot Topics in Networks (HotNets-VI), (Atlanta, Georgia, USA), Nov. 2007.

Friday, October 25, 2019

Japans Anime and Cyberpunk Genres :: Cyberpunk Anime Films Literature Essays Papers

Japan's Anime and Cyberpunk Genres Anime films are cartoons, usually from Japan, with adult subject matter. Despite the prevailing American view that cartoons are for children, Japanese view anime as a legitimate art form that is appropriate for adult viewing. Anime subjects vary widely from soap opera drama, to medieval adventures, to science fiction. Many of the sci-fi anime films exhibit traits that are common to the cyberpunk ethic. Cyberpunk as a genre seems to defy a precise definition, but several common themes can be used to exemplify what ideals the "movement" represents. This movement is a new view of the world, one in which neither apocalypse nor utopia is presented. Those involved in creating cyberpunk show the current global situation, only much more so. They extrapolate from current events and take it to a higher degree. Almost everything in their fictional worlds is recognizable to modern readers, only they have projected technology and events into a future that is possible. The creators of anime present views of the future that are often very similar. Big robots, crowded metropolises, and powerful corporations are all commonplace. The Tessier-Ashpool mega-corp of Neuromancer can be likened to GENOM, a multinational corporation from Bubblegum Crisis. The Tessier-Ashpool artificial intelligences, Wintermute and Neuromancer, quitely amassed power and eventually changed the world. This idea of technology out of control is mirrored in GENOM's escaped Boomers. Boomers are pretty much Terminator endoskeletons, but even more bulky. Occasionally, one would escape and wreak havoc on the surrounding city. Both the novel and the anime film examine the social ramifications of technology beyond human intervention. And while it is true that Gibson's take on it is much more subtle, watching a Boomer get blown up by a cyberbabe in power armor can be pretty rewarding in its own right. A Boomer cocks his head, small optical relays click. He almost grins. A split second later, a helicopter is going down in flames. ...he sees that the dark wavelike phenomenon was a wave of blood ... a miniaturized gatling gun ... whirs around. (Stephenson, 361) The feelings evoked by these two passages are similar. Although the first quote was my pitiful attempt to paraphrase the animated action of Bubblegum Crisis; you can clearly see that directors of anime seem to share literary cyberpunks' fascination with cool tech. The Boomer's gun that spews zillions of rounds of superheated death is reminiscent of Stephenson's depleted uranium Reason gatling gun. Japan's Anime and Cyberpunk Genres :: Cyberpunk Anime Films Literature Essays Papers Japan's Anime and Cyberpunk Genres Anime films are cartoons, usually from Japan, with adult subject matter. Despite the prevailing American view that cartoons are for children, Japanese view anime as a legitimate art form that is appropriate for adult viewing. Anime subjects vary widely from soap opera drama, to medieval adventures, to science fiction. Many of the sci-fi anime films exhibit traits that are common to the cyberpunk ethic. Cyberpunk as a genre seems to defy a precise definition, but several common themes can be used to exemplify what ideals the "movement" represents. This movement is a new view of the world, one in which neither apocalypse nor utopia is presented. Those involved in creating cyberpunk show the current global situation, only much more so. They extrapolate from current events and take it to a higher degree. Almost everything in their fictional worlds is recognizable to modern readers, only they have projected technology and events into a future that is possible. The creators of anime present views of the future that are often very similar. Big robots, crowded metropolises, and powerful corporations are all commonplace. The Tessier-Ashpool mega-corp of Neuromancer can be likened to GENOM, a multinational corporation from Bubblegum Crisis. The Tessier-Ashpool artificial intelligences, Wintermute and Neuromancer, quitely amassed power and eventually changed the world. This idea of technology out of control is mirrored in GENOM's escaped Boomers. Boomers are pretty much Terminator endoskeletons, but even more bulky. Occasionally, one would escape and wreak havoc on the surrounding city. Both the novel and the anime film examine the social ramifications of technology beyond human intervention. And while it is true that Gibson's take on it is much more subtle, watching a Boomer get blown up by a cyberbabe in power armor can be pretty rewarding in its own right. A Boomer cocks his head, small optical relays click. He almost grins. A split second later, a helicopter is going down in flames. ...he sees that the dark wavelike phenomenon was a wave of blood ... a miniaturized gatling gun ... whirs around. (Stephenson, 361) The feelings evoked by these two passages are similar. Although the first quote was my pitiful attempt to paraphrase the animated action of Bubblegum Crisis; you can clearly see that directors of anime seem to share literary cyberpunks' fascination with cool tech. The Boomer's gun that spews zillions of rounds of superheated death is reminiscent of Stephenson's depleted uranium Reason gatling gun.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Federalism, unitary and confedrate government Essay

Federalism is a governmental organization in which authority is divided between two sovereign levels of government.  ·National  ·Regional Federalism is a method of government where decision on taxes and education are shared between two political powers and are exercised on two levels of government. There are several distinguishing deference’s between federalist, unitary, and confederation government structures. Federal states may be created in one of two ways  · Separate political units may decide to join together in a political partnership.  ·An existing unitary government may choose to disperse. In a federal system, each citizen is subject to two governments: the national or federal governments and the regional, state, or local government. The courts or some other impartial body is usually given the power to interpret the conditions of the constitution concerning the political powers of each level. A single level government for the entire country characterizes a unitary state. There is also no municipal, or local government working without help of the national government unlike the federalist government. An example of a unitary government would be Sweden. Confederacy is a union in which the states alone are self-governing. The power of the central government is derived from the states. Confederation that is traditional is described as the following:  ·Structure is based on centralized command of politics  ·Confederate law is superior law  ·State borders are fixed or determined by central authority. Federalist, unitary, and confederation governing structures are distinctly different in several ways. Governments chose to run their country with different methods that work for them.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

20 Email Marketing Best Practices That Will Improve Results

20 Email Marketing Best Practices That Will Improve Results Emails are incredibly powerful. A third of customers  have visited a website or purchased something just from seeing an email in their inbox without ever actually opening the email. That’s the power of email! Whether you’re running a blog, selling products online, or collecting sales leads, everybody wants a healthy email list. But how do you make that email list an engaged one? By following best practices. Consider the following 20 tips your complete guide to an excellent email marketing program that boosts open and click rates, reduces churn, and increases your subscriber lifetime value! Let’s get started. 20 Email Marketing Best Practices That Will Improve ResultsImplement Email Best Practices With Three Free Templates This post is packed with actionable advice. To help you execute your email marketing even better, weve included these three free templates: Email Marketing Calendar: Plan all your email content in advance and get more organized. Email Subject Line Template: Make writing subject lines easy with these simple fill-in-the-blank templates. Its a great complement to the Email Subject Line Tester. Email Subject Line A/B Test Template: Record results from A/B tests and refine your messaging over time.20 #email #marketing best practices + 3 free templates = success.Infographic: Best Practices, At a Glance. Email marketing is an art and science. Navigate its complexities successfully by following these 20 simple best practices. Check out this infographic rounding up 20 top #email #marketing best practices:1. Send to Yourself First. This one feels like a no-brainer, but when you reflect on how few people actually proofread their own emails, you quickly realize it isn't. Always send yourself a test email first to ensure that: There are no typos The images show up The format looks great on both your desktop and smartphone All the links work There is nothing glaringly wrong with the email Double-check both the HTML and plain-text versions. Always send email newsletters to yourself first.2. Do NOT Spam. This is another no-brainer, but it’s so important it bears repeating: do not spam. Spamminess can refer to poor judgment within the email itself - irrelevant content, all-uppercase subject lines, etc. - but it mainly refers to how you collect and engage with your email subscribers. Buying email lists or signing people up without them expressly opting in first is an absolute no no. Do not do this. If you think you can get away with this, know that you can’t. Purchased lists are associated with extremely high unsubscribe and spam rates. Get too many of those, and you could get banned from your email marketing provider. Other best practices include: adding your physical address somewhere in the email (the footer is a good option). giving people a way to unsubscribe (most reputable email marketing providers include this by default). Leave out either of these, and you are breaking anti-spam laws. Are you unknowingly breaking anti-spam email marketing laws? Find out (and read 19 more best...3. Make it Easy to Subscribe. Since you won’t be purchasing email lists, you want to make it as easy and as enticing as possible for people to subscribe to your email. Here are some ideas: Embed signup CTAs throughout your website or blog. Include a pre-checked checkbox besides any other form where people enter their email address (such as a member registration or checkout page). Add a signup form to your Facebook page. Regularly tweet out a link to your subscribe page. Send your first email within 24 hours of subscribing, if not immediately. With human attention spans officially  shorter than that of goldfish, you can’t risk people forgetting what they signed up for. Make it easy for subcribers to get on your #email list.4. Use a Double Opt-in. Because sharing your email address has become so commonplace these days, people don’t always realize they’re signing up to get overloaded with emails. This is why most experts recommend a double opt-in process. A double opt-in  involves sending a person a confirmation email after they sign up, letting them know that they signed up and requiring them to click a button to confirm they indeed want to stay signed up. Keep your double opt-in email short and sweet like Haute Hijab does below, emphasizing the confirmation button and placing it above-the-fold. Below that button, include validation of why signing up for your email is a good idea: it’s the best way to avoid FOMO on your best offers and freshest content. Here's the confirmation email button: Here's why email marketers should use a double opt-in.5. Schedule Smart. The best day and time to send your emails depends on your unique customer set. However, you can make some educated guesses using the research others have already done.   helpfully aggregated studies from the top email providers to conclude that the best day and time to send emails is Tuesdays around 10am. Start there, and then test and optimize based off your own data. Remember that these times are specific to your recipient’s time zones, which may or may not match yours. Depending on the size of your customer base, you may segment your list based on time zones (more on segmentation later). Recommended Reading: What 10 Studies Say About the Best Time to Send Email 6. Develop a Cadence. Speaking of timing, how frequently do you want to send your emails? Much of your email will be automated based on your user’s actions (e.g. double opt-in confirmations, order confirmation and shipping notifications), but you want to touch subscribers at least once a month. To support this goal, brainstorm an email calendar that corresponds to your content marketing, event marketing, and other promotional calendars. This helps keep you sane while ensuring you stay in touch. Plan sales emails and product launch announcements ahead of time. Help people prepare for the holidays by emailing gift guides and encouraging them to make reservations now vs. later. Not sure how much is too much? If you start sending more emails and witness a downward trend in your open and click rates but an uptick in your unsubscribes, that’s a telltale sign that you’re sending too much. Why is developing a consistent cadence important for #email #marketing?7. Give People Options. Of course, rather than guessing for them, you can always let people choose the frequency themselves. When Hubspot started offering separate newsletter subscriptions options for their blog, organized by frequency and topics, their subscriber churn rate went way down: Other ideas include: Letting people opt for â€Å"less† email Letting people â€Å"pause† their subscription for 30 or 90 days Sometimes people care about your brand but they’re simply overwhelmed or taking a healthy hiatus from email. Help them stay in touch by letting them choose the frequency of your emails. Recommended Reading: 21+ Easy Ways to Build an Email List That Will Skyrocket By 140% in 1 Year 8. Focus on Your Subject Line... Subject lines are critically important. These are the headline that convince a subscriber your email is worth opening. That means you should do everything within your power to set yourself up for success here. Research and tinker to find the two best options possible, then A/B test among those with a small subset of your subscribers. Then, repeat this process for every single email you send. Things that do well in subject lines include: The recipient’s name A tasteful emoji or two 30-50 characters tops Action verbs A clear and irresistible value proposition that matches the content of your email Consistency (Some emails, like blog newsletters, perform best with the same subject line everytime - it helps readers know what to expect so they keep an eye for it in their inbox) Things that don’t do so great are: Spammy keywords (urgent, buy now, win, free) All uppercase letters Typos Overuse of emojis Deceptive subject lines that don’t match the email content (these lead to unhappy subscribers who unsubscribe and grow to resent you as a brand) Remember: the goal of your subject line is to get the people who care about the content within your email to open it, not to get opens at any cost. Editor's Note: You can also use 's Email Subject Line Tester to optimize every one you send.https://.com/email-subject-line-tester 9. ...But Don’t Forget the Sender. Perhaps even more important the subject line, the â€Å"from† name  can literally make or break your email. Sender names tend to perform best when they’re personalized. Instead of just your company name, use a person’s name, like â€Å"Your Name from Your Company.† And never use the default â€Å"No-Reply @ Your Company† option - it’s impersonal, and frankly, frustrating. Use a real name and assign a team member to respond to emails. Don’t forget your pre-header either. This is the preview text that displays after the subject line in most email clients. If you don’t set it, the client will preview something from your email which can look messy and unprofessional. Test these just as vigorously as your subject lines and sender names. Recommended Reading: Everything You Need to Know About Writing Awesome Email Subject Lines 10. Keep It Simple, Stupid. On to the body of the email. The goal here is to grab your reader’s attention quickly and follow up with a strong CTA. Regardless of whether you want them to sign up, order a product, or read your blog post, organize your copy using the â€Å"power of three†: Here's another example from Dropbox: Where possible, limit your CTAs. Try to keep it to one main CTA and place it above-the fold. Also make your CTA a bright, beautiful button that’s easy to find and click - otherwise you’re making people search for it. Before you send, double-check your work by sharing the email with a colleague. Can they instantly (within a few seconds) relay back to you the CTA? If so, move forward with your email. If not, do not pass go. Your email needs work as the message is not clear. Recommended Reading: How to Write a Call to Action In a Template With 6 Examples 11. Add Alt Text to Images and Buttons. Alt text isn’t just for images on your website. Adding them to your emails helps users understand what they’re reading, in case the HTML doesn’t render properly or their email client blocks images by default. Without alt text, readers will simply see a blank space where a button or image used to be. With alt text, they’ll still be able to read the action you want to take and understand where to click. Add alt text to all of your images and CTA buttons, and hyperlink them to your landing pages while you’re at it. Don't forget to add alt-text to all your images (plus 19 more email marketing best practices12. Send the Right Emails. The longer a person has subscribed, the more personalized the emails they receive from you should be - because you’re collecting information from their purchases, their interactions with your support team, and the content they’re clicking on from your previous email sends†¦ right? Right. But at a minimum, most successful email marketing programs tend to include the following types of emails: Double opt-in for subscribing (see tip #4) Welcome/thank you for signing up Some form of blog newsletter Important brand announcements Request for feedback or online review Abandoned cart reminder, order confirmation, shipping confirmation (for e-commerce) What’s the one type of email you should never send? The kind you send, just to send it. Every single email you send should have a purpose that provides value to your customers. Their inbox is not the place to simply remind them of your existence. No one liked the poke button on Facebook, remember? Recommended Reading: How to Get Bigger Results From Email Marketing With Kim Courvoisier From Campaign Monitor 13. Create Drip Campaigns. Drip campaigns are another successful type of email companies send. Drip campaigns extend the water metaphor of the sales funnel. Here’s an example of what a drip campaign might look like for a new e-commerce blog subscriber: Welcome email: â€Å"Thanks for subscribing! Here’s a % off coupon.† A few days later: â€Å"Hope you’re enjoying our blog. Here are our top articles you may have missed.† One week after that: â€Å"If you like our blog, you’ll love our whitepaper about X! It goes into way more detail.† If the prospect downloads the whitepaper, you might then enter them into a new drip campaign. If you’re wondering how you can create drip campaigns, start by knowing your audience. Once you know your audience and define your user personas, you can segment your email list. Different personas get different campaigns with copy choices, send frequency, and content catered specifically to them. What's the benefit to creating email drip campaigns?14. Automate Your Outreach. Drip campaigns are just one type of automated email you can create. There are all sorts of behaviors that could trigger different marketing emails, such as: Someone who subscribes to your blog receives a welcome email sharing your most popular articles. Someone who buys an item gets notified of future sales in that item’s category, plus any new styles of that particular item. Someone who abandons their shopping cart  receives a reminder of the items in their cart, with a steep discount or an urgent call to buy while supplies still alst.Are you automating your #email outreach?15. Keep It True to You. Your emails should match your brand. The colors and font choices should be the same. The tone should read like the same voice of the person who wrote your web copy or your latest Facebook post. However, that’s not to say you can’t give your emails a special flair. Some brands have done this to great success, so they’re essentially known for an outstanding email marketing program. Warby Parker  is one such example: Recommended Reading: How to Define Your Brand Positioning and Brand Voice 16. Encourage Sharing. Want more subscribers? Ask people to share your email! Encourage recipients to forward your email to anyone else who might be interested. Link the CTA to prepopulate a new email message with the subject and body text already pre-filled. For example: Share this email with your friends! Incorporate social sharing, too, but do so with purpose: Want more eyes on your content? Add social buttons for people to share the newsletter link itself on social media. Want more followers? Add social buttons that link to your social media channels. Recommended Reading: Why People Share: The Psychology of Social Sharing 17. Optimize for Mobile. How many of us have spent time waiting in line at the coffee shop checking our emails? Over half of emails are now read on mobile devices, and that trend should only continue as people increasingly rely on mobile devices over desktop computers. That means your email needs to be easy to read, view, and click on mobile. It should load fast (aim for 300KB or less), and it shouldn't require too much scrolling. Keep your email as short as possible, and go heavy on the imagery (while compressing it to ensure optimal load times). Make CTA buttons and any links 45-57 pixels tall to match the size of adult fingertips. Limit the width of your email body to 650 pixels so it displays nicely on most phones. Recommended Reading: Mobile Marketing Strategy: How to Build One the Best Way 18. Test, Test, and Test Again. Nearly all email marketing providers have A/B testing functionality built-in. Many offer multivariate testing as part of an upgrade. Either way, there is absolutely no reason for you to not test your emails. Here are just a few examples of what you can test: Subject lines and preheader text Send times and days of the week Format and layout Featured image or copy CTA placements and types of buttons

Monday, October 21, 2019

E. Coli essays

E. Coli essays In Walkerton Ontario, many people dont even drink a glass of water from the kitchen taps, for fear of their lives. This is because of Escherichia Coli (E. coli). This bacterium has been found to be the cause of over 2,300 illnesses and either the main factor or a contributing factor in 7 deaths. As far back as 1978, tests revealed fecal coliform contamination in Walkertons wells. (Verma and Donovan, Oct. 14/00) *(1,2,3) E. coli was found in water testing, on May 15, and it was not until six days later that the citizens were informed of the deadly bacteria. The outbreak laid bare how a decade of neglect, government cutbacks and weakened controls has undermined the safety of our water supply. (Verma and Donovan, Oct. 14/00) In May of 2000, 7 people died and approximately 2,300 became ill because of harmful bacteria called E. coli in the Walkerton water. Total coliform bacteria are a collection of relatively harmless microorganisms that live in large numbers in the intestines of man and warm and cold-blooded animals. A specific subgroup of this collection is the fecal coliform bacteria, including the Escherichia coli. These organisms have the ability to grow at elevated temperatures in the fecal material of warm-blooded animals. The presence of fecal coliform bacteria in a water system indicates that the water has been contaminated with the fecal material of man or other animals. The presence of fecal contamination is a warning that a potential health risk exists for individuals exposed to this water. Escherichia coli 0157 was first identified as a serious cause of illness in humans in 1982. The bacteria binds to the intestinal lining, multiplies and produces a toxin that destroys small blooded vessels, causing clotting in the colon, kidney and brain. In two to ten days, most people develop bloody diarrhea and abdominal cramps. The clotting can lead to organ failure and death. The...

Sunday, October 20, 2019

What is the Function of Self-P essays

What is the Function of Self-P essays What is the Function of Self-Portrait? How is it Different from Portraits? Study the Topic in Relation to Works by Both Rembrandt and Vincent Van Gogh (and Other Artists)? A portrait, according to Websters Dictionary of the English Language, is a painting, photograph, drawing etc. of a person, esp. of his face, usually made from life. Going by the dictionary definition of a portrait, a self portrait can simply be defined as a painting of the artists own face, but are they simply images of a humans face be it the artists own or anothers, or do they hold other more significant functions? What purposes do portraits and self portraits serve, and are there any differences between them? To answer these questions, we shall examine the artworks of Vincent Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Frida Kahlo and some other artists. Van Gogh's self portraits reveal a range of ideas and states of feelings, such as the "Self-portrait", done in 1889, which showed a pale, craggy face and brings about feelings of anxiety and loneliness, while another Self Portrait, also done in 1889, had a firm and focused face which generates a feeling of uneasiness and tension . It is also interesting to note that Van Gogh did not paint any self portraits when he was staying in Nuenen as he had just had a major dental treatment, and at that point of time, he saw himself as a person too unpresentable to be placed in a self portrait . It was only later in Paris where he felt more like a man about town, giving him the confidence necessary to paint his self portraits, most of which were created when he felt a need for self analysis . In Van Goghs two infamous self portraits depicting his mutilated ear, which he drew after a quarrel with Gauguin, it can be seen that the second version was not a copy of the first, but instead was Va n Goghs second interpretation of his fluctuating mental condition . The two self p...

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Hepatic disorders Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Hepatic disorders - Article Example The research aims to establish whether dieticians for nutritional evaluation at the various stages of chronic liver disease (CLD) and other hepatic disorders can use the technique. Sixty-six patients were enrolled into the research study who were at different levels of progression of CLD. Their probability of their death or survival due to liver related complications was calculated and factored into the hypotheses of the research study. Nutritional diagnosis was based on measuring their mid arm circumference (MAC), mid arm and muscle circumference (MAMC) and triceps skin fold thickness (TST) (Dossel & Schlegel, 2009). Their subject global assessment (SGA) was also calculated as a relation to the overall results. Clinical and biochemical evaluation was done on their hepatic tissue and serum samples. The results garnered from the experiment illustrated an increase in derived-phase angle (Pha) of the BIA in well fed test subjects as compared to underfed participants(Dossel & Schlegel, 2009). This conclusion was arrived at by looking at the SGA of patients who had no hepatic encephalopathy. Calculations were also able to reveal that there was a significant co-rela tion between the Pha and the nutritional diagnosis data that was collected earlier. The body serum albumin from the research study participants displayed an inverse correlation with age of the subjects. The research results garnered from the experiment supported the conclusion that BIA-derived Pha of a patient is highly associated with patient survival rates. A decreased Pha is related to increase in risk of death from CLD and other hepatic disorders. The conclusion, from the research study, was successfully able to support the thesis that BIA derived Pha can be used and applied as a tool of nutritional evaluation, in CLD patients. The hypothesis posted for the research study adequately addressed the purpose set out by the researchers, and it was

Friday, October 18, 2019

Australian personal financial planning case studny questions, urgent Essay

Australian personal financial planning case studny questions, urgent - Essay Example The business needs of the company are different from that of its directors and running a company costs a lot. Neither Leo nor Spiro can claim the company as part of their estate, since none of them is the sole owner of the company (Small Business Development Corporation, 2010). (ii) Partnership: If Leo and Spiro would agree to go into partnership, this is simple and inexpensive to set up. However, both of them will be required to pay income taxes, and the assets of a partnership business may not be fully protected as that of a company. There may problems of secession plan because each partner has equal right to the business assets, and sharing this may bring some disagreements. The business needs of the partnership business are the same as that of the partners. Neither of the partners can count the business as part of his business estate, because they jointly own the business (Small Business Development Corporation, 2010). (iii) Self-Managed Superannuation Fund (SMSF): Both Leo and Spiro will act as individual trustees of the Fund; which means that they cannot receive salaries or wages for their duties. The assets of the Fund are different from the personal assets Leo and Spiro. SMSF is not expensive to run. Neither of the trustees can lay claim to the Fund as part of his estate. The trustees may decide to allow the Fund to cease operating if there are problems from running it. (iv) Discretionary Trust: Either Leo and Spiro may decide to set up a discretionary trust, otherwise known as Family Trust. The business needs of the trustee are the same as that of the trust. The trustee will be required to pay taxes on the activities of the Trust, for example, investing the trust fund in a business; taxes will be paid on the income from the business. The asset of the trust belongs to all the family members. There may be problems in secession planning, but it does not cost much to run a trust. And none of the members can claim it as an his or her Estate (Small

Gender at work Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Gender at work - Essay Example Multiple roles with unique responsibilities of both home and work, are seen to be beneficial to women, if domestic responsibilities are shared with the spouse. The numbers of women in the work force are increasing steadily, and may soon be equal in proportion to men. (p.271). Gender relations are more prone to conflict in today’s stressed lives. One reason is the following of traditional concepts of inequality of the sexes. The concept of imposing one’s will appears both in gender relations and war. Why is that? In gender relationships, the stronger or more dominant partner is perceived as the one who is superior physically, financially, or by education. The term status is linked with power, and refers to an individual’s position in the structure of social relationships with respect to other individuals. Status is dependent on the set of values attached by the culture concerned, to attributes like abilities, education, wealth, etc. Watts (1991) is of the opinion that power is exercised on the basis of higher status. The term ‘dominance’ is often connected to interruptive behavior. In terms of the hierarchy of status relationships, dominance is an explicit expression of power over others. Latent or overt conflict is interruptive behavior between two persons. Watts quotes Weber and Durkheim: â€Å"Power is the opportunity of imposing one’s will on another.† Power also forms part of the content of the network links of each individual. (pp. 55-56). Dominance and power give rise to control, which results in conflict. Conflicts in gender relationships, where the ‘weaker’ partner refuses to submit to the will of the dominant partner arise from perceptions about gender, and an individual’s sense of personal worth. The same definitions of power and conflict can be applied in the larger picture of war between two nations. According to Clausewitz and Rapoport, (1982) â€Å"war is nothing but a duel on an

Religion8 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Religion8 - Essay Example ove and caring for all the members of the church, but on the church as an institution love and caring is lost to the achievement of it believed mission. Practices within the church as a community through love and care looks to build up each member of the community. This is essentially through greater focus of sharing of the resources within the community to build every member of the community. In the church as an institution the building up of the individual through love, care and sharing is lost. Instead the resources are used to build the institution called the church. The concentration of practices is on increasing number of individuals that are members. This means there will be greater emphasis on activities on the show of the religion, like increase in the visibility of prayer and hymns to the world, as against the activities of caring, in a community like charity and service of the community. Building of churches, expansion of parishes, and growth of the church would be the mor e prominent practices in the church as an institution, instead of practices aimed at the building up of each member, when the church is a community. (2). Providing a simple meaning to the concept of the sacrament to the church is not easy, for it is a very significant aspect of the Christian church. It can be looked upon as the receiving of the greatest gift of Divine Grace, or restoring it when it is lost, or increasing it, depending on the sacrament. (3). The sacraments offer in them celebrations relating to Christian celebration, Christian life, and Christian hope. The meanings associated with these sacraments lie in the past, present and future providing the import to these celebrations. This makes sacraments no ordinary celebrations, but occasions to remember and experience the saving presence of God. This makes it important for receiving of the sacraments to be accepted in a meaningful manner. The sacraments are the means to remember and celebrate several elements of the Divine

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Annalyzing Alice Walker The Color Purple Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Annalyzing Alice Walker The Color Purple - Essay Example She tells Him that she is only 14 and is already burdened with responsibilities of her siblings and the household, sexually abused by her father and pregnant twice. Innocent Celie is confused as to why these things are happening to her and asks God the reason, saying that she has â€Å"always been a good girl†. (Walker, 1) The letters written by Celie to God and later to Nettie, her sister, symbolizes her voice. Her initial letters to God were symbolic to her emotions that were very private, and therefore not for everyone’s eyes. It also shows her isolation as she has no one else to talk to. The only love she has in her life is that of her sister Nettie. They both share an unusual bond of very deep love. The story takes a turn for worse when Celie is married off to a much older man, who is a widower with children and has no respect for Celie. He treats her like a slave and uses her like a sex object, while continuing his affair with Shug Avery. Shug was first introduced to Celie through a photograph which is symbolic to her belonging to a very different world, a place where beauty exists and not like Celie’s world which is devoid of beauty. Celie, after marriage has a life much the same as before marriage. Nettie, on the other hand, in order to escape her father leaves home and comes to stay with Celie but later she escapes this place as well in order to escape the advances of Mr.__ (Celie’s husband). The separation of the two sisters further adds to the misery of Celie. Carrie and Kate, sisters of Mr.__ had good relations with Celie. Kate was the one who had made Celie believe that she deserved â€Å"more than this†. (Walker, 21) The climax of this book is the growing affection between the protagonist and her husband’s love interest, Shug Avery. Their mutual affection and closeness (even sexual relationships) helps these two women to overcome their personal problems. Shug is the one who brings Celie to the joys of sexual communion and it is from

Human Resource & Competitive Advantage- A Case of Nucor Study

Human Resource & Competitive Advantage- A of Nucor - Case Study Example Looking at the financial aspect of the pay for performance system the system might seem as inappropriate to modern organizational setting but they pay system of Nucor needed to be viewed from the human side of the equation. However there are advantages and disadvantages that are associated with the pay for performance scheme of Nucor. Advantages According to the case study, pay for performance has helped Nucor to retain top performers and create the sense of responsibility among employees because employees know that their pay scale is directly related to their performance level. Korda has pointed out that leaders need to adopt alternate solutions in order to enhance performance of subordinates. Same is the case for Nucor, leaders of the company have designed a unique pay for performance scheme for employees which can positively impact the overall production performance of the company. According to the case study, workers in Nucor Corporation three times incentives along with the fixed pay when they perform exceptionally well. Now from an egalitarian perspective, the pay for performance model can be appreciated, for example, in a fixed salary based compensation scheme with separate performance appraisal system; all employees are equally compensated irrespective of their performance level in the organizations.... mpensation scheme with separate performance appraisal system; all employees are equally compensated irrespective of their performance level in the organizations. Such type of pay system might discourage employees to put their hard work hence overall productivity of the firm will get hampered. The case is opposite when organizations link incentives along with fixed payment to appreciate workers to enhance their effort level earn more monetary rewards. Disadvantages According to Bernardin and Russell (2013) there are two major limitations associated with pay for performance scheme, 1-it is not a standardised procedure to measure performance because performance of employees can be downgraded by variety of reasons apart from incompetency of workers and 2- biased pay for performance system can decreased the level of output from workers. These problems are associated with the pay system of Nucor Corporation. Careful analysis is showing that, hourly workers in steel manufacturing giant earn $10/hour which is far less than the industry average of $16-$21/hour while rest of the payment is made in terms of incentives and bonuses which are linked with the quality and productivity of entire shift. Now imagine a case, where overall productivity of Nucor Corporation gets reduced due to decrease in demand for steel across the globe for various macro-environmental reasons. From the law of economics, in such cases, Nucor will not be able provide bonuses or incentives to workers hence the workers will go home with fixed salary which is way below than the industry average. The same case happened to Nucor during 2003, when the demand for steel was chopped; hourly workers earned only $59,000 annually. Answer 2 Nucor Corporation uses both financial and non-financial incentives to motivate

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Religion8 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Religion8 - Essay Example ove and caring for all the members of the church, but on the church as an institution love and caring is lost to the achievement of it believed mission. Practices within the church as a community through love and care looks to build up each member of the community. This is essentially through greater focus of sharing of the resources within the community to build every member of the community. In the church as an institution the building up of the individual through love, care and sharing is lost. Instead the resources are used to build the institution called the church. The concentration of practices is on increasing number of individuals that are members. This means there will be greater emphasis on activities on the show of the religion, like increase in the visibility of prayer and hymns to the world, as against the activities of caring, in a community like charity and service of the community. Building of churches, expansion of parishes, and growth of the church would be the mor e prominent practices in the church as an institution, instead of practices aimed at the building up of each member, when the church is a community. (2). Providing a simple meaning to the concept of the sacrament to the church is not easy, for it is a very significant aspect of the Christian church. It can be looked upon as the receiving of the greatest gift of Divine Grace, or restoring it when it is lost, or increasing it, depending on the sacrament. (3). The sacraments offer in them celebrations relating to Christian celebration, Christian life, and Christian hope. The meanings associated with these sacraments lie in the past, present and future providing the import to these celebrations. This makes sacraments no ordinary celebrations, but occasions to remember and experience the saving presence of God. This makes it important for receiving of the sacraments to be accepted in a meaningful manner. The sacraments are the means to remember and celebrate several elements of the Divine

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Human Resource & Competitive Advantage- A Case of Nucor Study

Human Resource & Competitive Advantage- A of Nucor - Case Study Example Looking at the financial aspect of the pay for performance system the system might seem as inappropriate to modern organizational setting but they pay system of Nucor needed to be viewed from the human side of the equation. However there are advantages and disadvantages that are associated with the pay for performance scheme of Nucor. Advantages According to the case study, pay for performance has helped Nucor to retain top performers and create the sense of responsibility among employees because employees know that their pay scale is directly related to their performance level. Korda has pointed out that leaders need to adopt alternate solutions in order to enhance performance of subordinates. Same is the case for Nucor, leaders of the company have designed a unique pay for performance scheme for employees which can positively impact the overall production performance of the company. According to the case study, workers in Nucor Corporation three times incentives along with the fixed pay when they perform exceptionally well. Now from an egalitarian perspective, the pay for performance model can be appreciated, for example, in a fixed salary based compensation scheme with separate performance appraisal system; all employees are equally compensated irrespective of their performance level in the organizations.... mpensation scheme with separate performance appraisal system; all employees are equally compensated irrespective of their performance level in the organizations. Such type of pay system might discourage employees to put their hard work hence overall productivity of the firm will get hampered. The case is opposite when organizations link incentives along with fixed payment to appreciate workers to enhance their effort level earn more monetary rewards. Disadvantages According to Bernardin and Russell (2013) there are two major limitations associated with pay for performance scheme, 1-it is not a standardised procedure to measure performance because performance of employees can be downgraded by variety of reasons apart from incompetency of workers and 2- biased pay for performance system can decreased the level of output from workers. These problems are associated with the pay system of Nucor Corporation. Careful analysis is showing that, hourly workers in steel manufacturing giant earn $10/hour which is far less than the industry average of $16-$21/hour while rest of the payment is made in terms of incentives and bonuses which are linked with the quality and productivity of entire shift. Now imagine a case, where overall productivity of Nucor Corporation gets reduced due to decrease in demand for steel across the globe for various macro-environmental reasons. From the law of economics, in such cases, Nucor will not be able provide bonuses or incentives to workers hence the workers will go home with fixed salary which is way below than the industry average. The same case happened to Nucor during 2003, when the demand for steel was chopped; hourly workers earned only $59,000 annually. Answer 2 Nucor Corporation uses both financial and non-financial incentives to motivate

Internship Report Essay Example for Free

Internship Report Essay I am Nigel Ng Ding Xun from Business Information Technology. During the ending of my second year in Ngee Ann Polytechnic, I had to go through what may be the toughest thing I faced during my time studying in Ngee Ann. Internship. I was placed in the company Lau Chin Huat Co. Lau Chin Huat Co. is a firm of certified public accountants. In the company, there are a total of three different departments. The IT department, the Accounts department, and the Audit department. The head of the IT department is my supervisor, Mr Anthony Lum. He is the one that handles any of the IT problems faced in the company. Staffs in the company often treat him as the ‘boss’, as Mr Lau is not in the company most of the time. Mr Anthony is very strict when it comes to work. He is known as one who would get displeased very easily when a work given by him to his staffs is not completed on time even though the time given may not be sufficient. Therefore, most of his co-workers tend to panic and put in their utmost effort into completing their work efficiently. The Accounts and Audit departments are managed by mainly Mr Yeo, and Miss Ai Ting. They might be my superiors, but when working there, I could sense the amount of respect they have for all of their staffs, regardless of their status in the company. Due to that, many of the staffs deeply respect them, including me. The Audit Department performs audit work on client’s financial statements and records. They assist in preparation of audit working papers of clients to facilitate further audit work, and the prepare audit reports for review by audit work. They are not in the company most of the time as they are often off to another company for auditing of work. The Organisational Chart for Lau Chin Huat Co: Lau Chin Huat uses mainly two kinds of software to run their business, it being Adagio and OpenOffice. Adagio itself has many different kinds of products, but the products that Lau Chin Huat uses would be mainly focused on Adagio Payables, Adagio receivables, and Adagio Ledger. With these softwares combined, you can complete accounts payables, receivables and General Ledger management for your business. Open Office is just like Microsoft Office, just that it does not cost a single cent and that it is free for everyone to use. During my first week at Lau Chin Huat, I was told to do a descriptive and pictorial step by step user manual of the software, Adagio. It basically meant that I had to take screenshots of every step of the process, combine it into one or two pictures, and describe what it was for. Although it was time consuming, it was really useful to me in the sense that I had a better understanding on how to use Adagio after finishing the user manual. Moving on, during the third week of my internship, I was exposed to excel and its formulas. Using formulas would promote ease of access as users would not need to manually key in the data needed anymore. Just a click and drag would solve all those issues. I was also given easier kind of work, such as editing templates that would be used as receipts. I learnt how to conduct stock take, and I also had to key in the stock count of the companies who have already conducted their stock take. As it has always been my dream to work in an accounting firm, I found much joy while doing the work needed at Lau Chin Huat. The one thing that I really love when I was working at Lau Chin Huat would be that my co-workers are really friendly. As almost half of the company comprises of interns like myself, it was really easy to get along with them. To my surprise, even those that are working as full-timers are really friendly as well. Everyone will always lend a helping hand to you when in need, or when you are at doubt. During our lunch break, we would gather together and talk about anything and everything in the world. This is something that I really cherished and enjoyed during my 2 months of Internship at Lau Chin Huat. I could still remember my first few days where I knew no one and I felt really lonely during lunch breaks as I always had to dine alone. Until that day where one of my colleagues asked me whether I would like to join them for lunch. That really made my day. Till now, I could still clearly remember that situation and how elated I felt at that time. That made me realized how important it is to have friends in life. Though the working environment may be small, but everyone in the company is very bonded. We share everything with each other, and we treat each other as our own siblings. Although it sounds as though we will play around in the company, but when it comes to work, we put our heart and soul into producing efficient and quality work. During my first few weeks at Lau Chin Huat, I faced many problems/difficulties. To start it off, I admit that I was not happy at all being posted here. The travelling distance from my house to Lau Chin Huat was a long journey, I had the lowest pay amongst all my friends, and worst of all, I had to work on Saturdays. Being a comparative person, after I was told by my friends that my posting was the worst amongst all of them, I was really unhappy. I was really negative and it was not a good start for me on the first day I started working at Lau Chin Huat. I was easily affected during work, and little things that annoyed me just made me hated having my internship here even more. That was when I wanted to opt for a change of internship placement. It’s a long story, but basically, that step I made was the biggest mistake in the time of undertaking my Internship. I caused a lot of problems for everyone, and that mistake almost cost me to fail my Internship. Luckily, I was given a second chance by Lau Chin Huat, and I am really grateful to them for that. I was then asked to go in with a positive mindset and do the best that I can. I mean, after all, it’s just six weeks. How hard can it get, seriously. That sentence was told to me by my NPIS supervisor, Mr Tay. It really woke me up. It made a lot of sense to me, and I told myself to give it another shot. Apparently, my habit of not being able to be punctual was a major obstacle to overcome for me. I was late most of the time, and that feeling was really horrible. The stares given by others when you are late and you walk into the company. Sometimes, I just wish to bury my head under the ground. I felt so ashamed of myself, I was scolded by Mr Anthony and he was really unhappy. From that moment I told myself not to be late anymore, to wake up early to attend work on time. The first time when I was punctual actually felt really great. I did not have to rush to work, I was not panicking about how I should explain to my boss about why I am late, and I was praised by Mr Anthony for being punctual. I was happy. That was when I started waking up earlier, just so that I would arrive to work on time. There were many times when I faced difficulties in completing my work, as the task given to me was kind of ‘impossible’. There was this once where I was given this Excel file and I was supposed to derive with formulas in order for easier formatting of data. Everything was a breeze and I did not face any difficulties until this one cell where I was supposed to format cells according to their address. (Eg. Block 340; one cell. Ang Mo Kio Avenue 2; one cell.) Due to the different formatting of data in the database, I was unable to derive with this particular formula. All of my time was then spent on looking for ways to come out with the formula, researching on whether there are such formulas, but to no avail. When I told Mr Anthony about it, he told me that he would fail me for this because if I could not find the formula, the work would not be counted as complete, and he grades me based on the results produced. That was when I really panicked and I was really upset. Thankfully, Mr Yeo knew about the plight I was in and he told Mr Anthony that it was not fair for me and asked him to give me simpler work instead. Knowing that I was given a second chance, I tried even harder so that the work that I produced would be up to Mr Anthony’s standard. On the last day of my work, I realized that Mr Anthony is not such a bad guy after all. He had a talk with me before I left the company. He explained to me the reasons why it seemed like he was always picking on me. He told me that in the past, he was just like me. Always being late, and that he did not give a care in the world. Thankfully, his supervisor talked to him and changed the way of how he saw things. Now, that he realized the amount of similarity that we used to have, he told himself that he just wanted to show me the way of life, just like how his supervisor did for him. He told me that he knows that I did my best, and he was proud of me. These words that he said are words that I will never forget. During my time at Lau Chin Huat, it really taught me the importance of responsibility, punctuality and respect. I was always late and I did not bother whether about punctuality at all, but after being posted to Lau Chin Huat, I realized how important punctuality really is, be it work, or anything else you do. It is able to see a person’s level of responsibility just by whether they are punctual or not. I also realized that respect is not necessarily always given to others, it will only be given to those who deserve it. These are qualities being taught to me that I will carry with me wherever I am, be it when I am working, or when I am doing other things. My suggestions to improve the work done would be to always do things with a positive mindset and to persevere on in whatever you do. With a positive mindset and perseverance, no matter how tough your work is, a positive mindset will guide you through the way and your perseverance will make sure you see it to the end. To me, I think that these are the qualities everyone should have as this will help and benefit you in whatever you do. In conclusion, having my Internship at Lau Chin Huat taught me more Excel formulas that I would be able to use in my course of study, it also taught me how to do reports after a stock take. Internship taught me many valuable life lessons. I am really glad that I gave my all during the second chance that was given to me. If given the chance to, I would be more than happy to work for Lau Chin Huat again.

Monday, October 14, 2019

Criminological Theories of Terrorism

Criminological Theories of Terrorism ORIGIN Terrorism has occurred throughout history for a variety of reasons. Its causes can be historical, cultural, political, social, psychological, economic, or religious-or any combination of these. Some countries have proven to be particularly susceptible to terrorism at certain times, as Italy and West Germany were during the 1970s. Terrorist violence escalated precipitously in those two countries for a decade before declining equally dramatically. Other countries, such as Canada and The Netherlands, have proven to be more resistant, and have experienced only a few isolated terrorist incidents. In general, democratic countries have provided more fertile ground for terrorism because of the open nature of their societies. In such societies citizens have fundamental rights, civil liberties are legally protected, and government control and constant surveillance of its citizens and their activities is absent. By the same token, repressive societies, in which the government closely monitors citizens and restricts their speech and movement, have often provided more difficult environments for terrorists. But even police states have not been immune to terrorism, despite limiting civil liberties and forbidding free speech and rights of assembly. Examples include Russia under tsarist rule and the Communist-ruled Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, as well as the Peoples Republic of China, Myanmar, and Laos. In broad terms the causes that have commonly compelled people to engage in terrorism are grievances borne of political oppression, cultural domination, economic exploitation, ethn ic discrimination, and religious persecution. Perceived inequities in the distribution of wealth and political power have led some terrorists to attempt to overthrow democratically elected governments. To achieve a fairer society, they would replace these governments with socialist or communist regimes. Left-wing terrorist groups of the 1960s and 1970s with such aims included Germanys Baader-Meinhof Gang, Italys Red Brigades, and the Weather Underground in the United States. Other terrorists have sought to fulfill some mission that they believe to be divinely inspired or millennialist (related to the end of the world). The Japanese religious cult Aum Shinrikyo, responsible for a nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway in 1995 that killed 12 people, falls into this category. Still other terrorists have embraced comparatively more defined and comprehensible goals such as the re-establishment of a national homeland (for example, Basque separatists in Spain) or the unification of a divided nation (Irish nationalists in Northern Ireland). Finally, some terrorists are motivated by very specific issues, such as opposition to legalized abortion or nuclear energy, or the championing of environmental concerns and animal rights. They hope to pressure both the public and its representatives in government to enact legislation directly reflecting their particular concern. Militant animal rights activists, for example, have used violence against scientists and laboratory technicians in their campaign to halt medical experimentation involving animals. Radical environmentalists have sabotaged logging operations and the construction of power grids to protest the spoiling of natural wilderness areas. Extremists who oppose legalized abortion in the United States have attacked clinics and murdered doctors and other employees in hopes of denying women the right to abortion. Â  [2]Â   More than 2, 000 years ago the first known acts of what we now call terrorism were perpetrated by a radical offshoot of the Zealots, a Jewish sect active in Judea during the 1st century ad. The Zealots resisted the Roman Empires rule of what is today Israel through a determined campaign primarily involving assassination. Zealot fighters used the sica, a primitive dagger, to attack their enemies in broad daylight, often in crowded market places or on feast days-essentially wherever there were people to witness the violence. Thus, like modern terrorists, the Zealots intended their actions to communicate a message to a wider target audience: in this instance, the Roman occupation forces and any Jews who sympathized or collaborated with the invaders. Between 1090 and 1272 an Islamic movement known as the Assassins used similar tactics in their struggle against the Christian Crusaders who had invaded what is today part of Syria. The Assassins embraced the same notions of self-sacrifice an d suicidal martyrdom evident in some Islamic terrorist groups today. They regarded violence as a sacramental or divine act that ensured its perpetrators would ascend to a glorious heaven should they perish during the task. Â  [3]Â   THEORIES OF TERRORISM THE POLITICAL THEORY OF ANARCHISM AS A THEORY OF TERRORISM Terrorism is most definitely not a form of governance, but anarchism is. Most anarchists reject terrorism in its vanguard varieties (for nationalist or religious purposes), but in a theoretical sense, anarchism justifies terrorism as a form of criminal action that attacks the values of an organized, complacent society. Anarchism is a theory of governance that rejects any form of central or external authority, preferring instead to replace it with alternative forms of organization such as shaming rituals for deviants, mutual assistance pacts between citizens, syndicalism (any non-authoritarian organizational structure that gives the greatest freedom to workers), iconoclasm (the destruction of cherished beliefs), libertarianism (a belief in absolute liberty), and plain old rugged individualism. Anarchism is often referred to as the nineteenth century roots of terrorism, the term first being introduced in 1840 by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon. Anarchism definedis the rejection of the state, of any form of coercive government, of any form of domination and exploitation. It is the notion of free and equal access to all the worlds resources to enable positive freedom (freedom to) in place of negative freedom (freedom from, or the basis of most constitutional rights). THE POLITICAL THEORY OF FASCISM AS A THEORY OF TERRORISM Fascism is the one form of government with the most disagreement about a definition for it. The word comes from the Latin fasces which means to use power to scare or impress people. It generally refers to the consolidation of all economic and political power into some form of super-patriotism that is devoted to genocide or endless war with ones enemies. Benito Mussolini, who practically invented the term in 1922, said it is the merger of state and corporate power. Mussolinis version of fascism was based on the idea of an indomitable power and an attempt to resurrect imperial Rome. Adolf Hitler said fascism is the clever and constant application of propaganda so that people can be made to see paradise as hell, and the other way around. Hitlers brand of fascism drew upon philosophical reflections by Hegel, Nietzsche, and Spengler, and also drew upon Nordic folk romance from Wagner to Tacitus. Japanese fascism involved racism, fanaticism, historical destiny, and a mixture of Bushido, Ze n and Shinto Buddhism, emperor worship, and past samurai legends. THE PHILOSOPHICAL THEORY OF RELIGION AS A THEORY OF TERRORISM More than one criminologist has pointed out that the disciplines of theology, religion, and philosophy have had important things to say about terrorism (Stitt 2003; Kraemer 2004). It is also a fact that about a quarter of all terrorist groups and about half of the most dangerous ones on earth are primarily motivated by religious concerns (Hoffman 1993). They believe that God not only approves of their action, but that God demands their action. Their cause is sacred, and consists of a combined sense of hope for the future and vengeance for the past. Of these two components, the backward-looking desire for vengeance may be the more important trigger for terrorism because the forward-looking component (calledapocalyptic thinking, or eschatology) produces wild-eyed fanatics who are more a danger to themselves and their own people. The trick to successful use of terrorism in the name of religion rests upon convincing believers or convertees that aneglected dutyexists in the fundamental, m ainstream part of the religion. Religious terrorism is therefore, NOT about extremism, fanaticism, sects, or cults, but is instead all about a fundamentalist or militant interpretation of the basic tenets. Evil is often defined as malignant narcissism from a theological point of view, and religion easily serves as moral cover for self-centred terrorists and psychopaths (Stitt 2003). Religion has always absorbed or absolved evil and guilt in what is called theodicy, or the study of how the existence of evil can be reconciled with a good and benevolent God. Most religions theodicize evil away as either: (1) a test of faith; (2) a product of free will; (3) part of Gods plan; or (4) functional to let people learn right from wrong; and terrorists easily make use of these established theodicy or critiques of them (Kraemer 2004). THE ECONOMICS THEORY OF RATIONAL CHOICE AS A THEORY OF TERRORISM The discipline of economics has many concepts that are relevant to an understanding of terrorism supply and demand costs and benefits, etc. Fully-developed economic or econometric models of terrorism are quite rare, however, and often involve such things as psychic costs and benefits (Nyatepe-Coo 2004). More down-to-earth economic theories can be found in the literature ondeterrence. Rational choice theory, in particular, has found a place in criminology, and holds that people will engage in crime after weighing the costs and benefits of their actions to arrive at a rational choice about motivation after perceiving that the chances of gain outweigh any possible punishment or loss. THE GLOBALIZATION THEORY OF TERRORISM Nassar (2004) has probably written the most interesting piece on globalization theory as it relates to terrorism, and although his ideas are fairly critical of the U. S. for exporting nightmares as well as dreams, he does provide a robust introduction to the complex topic of globalization. Globalization contributes to dreams, fantasies, and rising expectations, but at the same time, it leads to dashed hopes, broken dreams, and unfulfilled achievements. Terrorism breeds in the gap between expectations and achievements. The thinking is very similar to strain theory in criminology or the rising expectations theory of prison riots, and about the only thing unique about globalization theory is that it adds a rich-poor dichotomy. Rich people (or nations) are seen as wanting power and wealth, and poor people (or nations) are seen as wanting justice. From this perspective, then, rich people are part of the causal factor or root cause of terrorism, since they contribute to the conditions whic h give rise to it. Perpetrators of terrorism (always treated as an ill-defined concept in globalization theory) are never seen as born or raised with any specific predispositions toward it. In brief, globalization theory holds that if the oppressed and disgruntled poor people of the world were simply given the chance to find peaceful means for achieving justice, terrorism would not thrive. SOCIOLOGICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORIES OF TERRORISM Modern sociological perspectives are primarily concerned with the social construction of fear or panic, and how institutions and processes, especially the media, primary and secondary groups, maintain that expression of fear. Labeling theory in criminology, for example, is a social constructionist viewpoint that, in my opinion, goes about reconnecting consequences with causes in a way that is less systematic than the way functionalists did it a long time ago. Some societies become softer targets after terrorism (especially after short-term target hardening), and other societies become stronger in the long term. It depends upon interaction patterns, and stabilities and interpenetrations among the structural subsystems (economy, polity, religion, law). PSYCHIATRIC THEORIES OF MENTAL ILLNESS AS A THEORY OF TERRORISM The leading exponent of the terrorist-as-mentally-ill approach is Jerrold Post (1984; 1990), who has gone on record saying that the most dangerous terrorist is likely to be a religious terrorist, and that all terrorists suffer from negative childhood experiences and a damaged sense of self. His analysis of the terrorist mindset (a word that substitutes for terrorist personality, and technically means a fixed mental attitude or inclination) draws upon a view of mental illness that compels, or forces, people to commit horrible acts. It should be noted that we know from criminal justice that this is not the only possible view on mental illness. More crazy people come into contact with the law through sheer folly and foolishness than a compulsion their mental illness made them have. Post (1990) makes a somewhat neo-Freudian distinction between terrorists who desire to destroy the nation, or world, of their fathers and those who desire to carry on the mission, or world, of their fathers. BIOLOGICAL THEORIES OF TERRORISM David Hubbard (1983) was one of the first biological researchers of terrorism, and his line of work is similar to the familiar cycle of violence hypothesis in criminal justice. In this view, people who commit repetitive and cyclical acts of violence (which would include wife beaters, rapists, and serial killers) are driven by hormonal or neurochemical fluctuations in their body or brain chemistry. Three compounds, in particular, have been singled out as having abnormal levels among terrorists: norepinephrine, acetylcholine, and endorphins. Of these, norepinephrineis suspected as being the most influential, as it is associated with the so-calledflight or fight mechanismin human biology. The theory of fight or flight was developed by W. B. Cannon back in 1929, and refers to a state of arousal under stress in which the heart, lungs, and muscle operate more efficiently. As it applies to terrorism (and crime), the behavioral requirements of such activities (fighting exhilaration before an event, and fleeing manipulation of audience after an event) produce a syndrome of physiological need for arousal at fairly regular intervals. Motives for terrorism appear to be quite stable when the biological viewpoint is taken, and it is possible to link a variety of aspects in the typical terrorist profile with biological factors. TRADITIONAL CRIMINOLOGICAL THEORIES APPLIED TO TERRORISM Its not easy applying traditional criminological theories to terrorism. Most of these theories were designed to explain ordinary street crime like robbery or burglary, and have a certain hardiness to their perspectives which makes them difficult to extend. Ruggiero (2005) is typical of those who have attempted to apply such theories or suggest various extensions, starting with Durkheims functionalism by asking whether Durkheim would see terrorism as part of the normality of crime or as part of a clearly unacceptable, dysfunctional form of crime. On the one hand, Durkheim said that all crime serves positive functions (of innovation and evolution), but on the other hand, the organic metaphor that Durkheim used seems to suggest that some forms of crime only cause disintegration and are cancerous. The Chicago school of disorganization in criminology would presumably focus on the distinctiveness of different social worlds between terrorists and non-terrorists, analyzing the communication blockages, for example. Strain theorists would likely argue that terrorism is inevitable as a manifestation of the broken promise that everybody can rise from rags to riches, and study the adaptation Merton described as rebellion. Learning theorists would likely emphasize the importance of role models or the techniques of neutralization involved along with the drift into a terrorist lifestyle. Labeling theorists would probably say, cynically but truly, that terrorism is what the other person does. Control theorists would likely focus on terrorists being unattached, unloved, uncommitted to education or business, uninvolved in conventional tasks, and having their hands idle so time becomes the devils playground for them. Conflict theorists would probably focus on the presence or absence of associations that provide room for collective action and permanent confrontation, although more radical versions of conflict theory might glamorize terrorism as proto-revolutionary action. Integrat ed theories would likely focus on the influences of aggressive proneness, provocation, and the support of third parties. THEORIES UNIQUE TO DOMESTIC TERRORISM Freilich (2003) does a good job of reviewing the theories in this category, a relatively small area of research which tends to be studied within a field called the sociology of social movements. There are three groups of theories. The first is called economic/social integration theory, and it holds that high concentrations of farming, economic depression, and social disorganization are all related to high levels of domestic terrorist activity, militia movements in particular. In some varieties, it tends to be a kind of farm crisis or agrarian reform theory frequently used by those who study the Latin American context. The second theory is called resource mobilization theory, and it suggests that states which are more prosperous and socially integrated would tend to develop more domestic terrorist activity, on the basis that group competition for power and resources becomes intense. The third group of theories are called cultural theories, and propose that states experiencing greater cultural diversity and female empowerment along with increasing paramilitarism are likely to develop greater levels of domestic terrorist activity. In terms of research findings, more empirical support seems to exist for the third set of theories (at least according to Freilich 2003), although resource mobilization theory tends to dominate the theoretical literature. Also in general, there is more empirical support for the idea that domestic terrorism more often plagues richer and affluent nations than poor ones. Â  [4]Â