Compare Contrast Performance Enhancing Drugs

Assignment 4-1-1 Compare and Contrast COMM 120 College Writing Justin Reed Professor Hilton-Ross Performance-Enhancing Drugs: New level of excitement or quick death? We regularly hear of professional athletes being accused of â€Å"doping,† or use of illegal performance-enhancing drugs. Many do this to be the very best at what they do. This is lucrative for not only the player, but also for the franchises that bring in the crowds. The question that arises is, if these drugs should be the new frontier of sports, or if we should heavily screen the players to prevent death. Looking at this from a neutral standpoint, it can be very easy to see both positives and negatives to taking such drugs. Our society not only demands perfection, but we also expect a level of entertainment that is on par or greater than the ever increasing price tag of the tickets that we buy for these spectacles. Many of the drugs that are banned from sports are due to the side-effects that often occur. The players have psychotic episodes, become increasing hostile, and sometimes even death. Even with the evidence backing this, the drugs are still used. The reason for this is monetary gains. A question comes to mind, would you rather live a long, regular life or a shortened, amazing one? You will be faster, stronger, and heal more quickly than you ever have before. Still, let’s make the assumption that athletes begin to use performance-enhancing drugs, the prices are higher for tickets,and the amount of time a player will actually be capable of playing at such a high level is decreased. Who really wins in this scenario? I believe thefans do. Fansget a very exciting game, more plays, more action, and more impact. Things that were not possible become far more possible. Games are invented or improved to make the spectacle all the better. The athletes can now demandmore money because the crowds are greater. In turn,the crowd draw means the franchise can improve the facilities and impact the surrounding areas. Yes, the athletes have a potential of being hurt, but their sacrifice could ultimately bring happiness to thousands, give them extreme wealth,and help the areas businesses. References Donovan, R. J. , Egger, G. , Kapernick, V. , & Mendoza, J. (2002). A Conceptual Framework for Achieving Performance Enhancing Drug Compliance in Sport. _Sports Medicine_, 32(4), 269-284.

Need of moral education to students Essay

In today’s world man, machine and money are the modern day trinity where as morality is just a casualty. As a result of this, our society has been suffering from much of corruption, exploitation, merciless killings, casteism, communalism, terrorism and a total crisis of character. In addition, schools have been facing unhealthy behavioral and indiscipline problems from students. All this needs to be reformed. But who is to bell the cat? It is we, the children, who have to complete that task. In this essay further, I shall explain importance of moral education in schools and how it helps our society to beat from above stated social evils. Every child possesses the potential to become the builder of an ideal society. What it needs is a proper cultivation of good morals at a young age to develop positive social attitudes and make him a useful, complete and perfect person. The great goal of education is not to cosmetically furnish the minds to produce doctors and engineers but to develop the sense of right, duty, honour, love of God and humanity by imparting moral education in schools. With this, students can improve overall behavior with their teachers and society too. In addition, when they grow, they will bring strong foundation to beat social evils. Many schools have been searching the reasons of depreciation in moral values and they have been working for developing good moral values among the students. However moral values are integrated part of the education and it is great emphasized in almost all countries. Generally Moral Education is not a specific subject for schools but it is taught under different subjects like languages, literature, supplementary reading books etc. Moral Education is taught as a separate subject like Moral Science in a few schools. Schools have been doing several efforts to manipulate the moral values among the students. The syllabus is designed such type to combine many moral values by stories, poems and by many lessons. Sometimes textbooks include many inspirational lessons about the great persons so that students may learn by their life.

Identify Harley Davidsons Strategy Essay

Harley is a globally recognised brand firmly associated with large motorbikes with a historic emphasis on style, individuality and freedom rather than on technology, speed or sports. From a segmentation view they belong in the heavyweight motorcycle market and are particularly strong within a sub-segment of super heavyweight. Their bikes are strongest in the Cruiser motorcycle segment, feature in the Touring bikes segment (focus on their style and image) and through acquisition of Buell, now have a presence in the Performance models segment. The Harley-Davidson image and the customer loyalty earned and sustained by the unique ? Harley Experience’ are its greatest assets. The appeal of the Harley brand was central to the corporate strategy. The focus of the strategy was to reinforce and extend the relationship between the company and its consumers. The Harley Owners Group was established to be a vehicle to unite management, employees and customers in a special community and to foster relationships and shared experiences towards a bonding with the brand and the company. The loyalty of Harley owners is evident in their repeat purchase behaviour ? over 50% of sales between ’99 and ’05 were to previous owners, while brand attraction helped account for a 20% share from first time buyers. The brand was also successful in effecting a demographic and socioeconomic shift away from young workers to middle-aged, higher income owners. Harley lagged behind its competitors in terms of technological innovation and rapid progress but insisted on playing the game on their home strengths of distinctive features and traditional designs. They lacked the economies of scale of their competitors who could spread the costs of research and development across higher unit volumes of products and multiple product lines. Instead they concentrated on incremental improvements to their engines, frames and gearboxes to increase reliability and power and reduce vibration. In 2006 they had 36 models available with lots of customisation options so that each purchaser could virtually have a personalised motorcycle. This captures their reconciliation between differentiation and economies of scale ? a wide range of customisable options while standardising on key components. Sales of parts, accessories and merchandise had grown to a 20% share in 2000. Harley established a dealer development program to improve its distribution and position it in support of the brands requirement for a sustained ? Harley Experience’. The program increased support for dealers while imposing higher standards of pre- and after-sales service and better dealer facilities. Training programs, test ride facilities, rider instruction classes were all initiatives designed to differentiate the Harley products from their competitors and success is evident with sustained demand. Not all initiatives were so successful, the intent of the Buell acquisition was to broaden the customer base by merging the comfort and style of a Harley cruiser with the performance attributes of a sports bike. While by no means a failure the Buell strategy has performed steadily but has not attracted the same demand from the market and annual shipments now approach just 12 to 13 thousand. Compare Harley’s resources and capabilities to those of Honda. What does your analysis imply for Harley’s potential to establish cost and differentiation advantage over Honda? Harley has continuously upgraded its manufacturing operations and invested in plant and machinery both to introduce advanced process technologies and to expand capacity. Despite constant development and investment, Harley’s low production volumes relative to Honda and the other Japanese manufacturers imposed severe cost disadvantages. They simply could not attain economies of scale to match their large competitors. A related area was their weakness in buying power ? While not having the volumes with which to bargain quantity discounts Harley emphasised the internal roles of Purchasing Managers to foster close relationships with suppliers. Honda, in particular, are renowned for their engine technology and they can sustain continued engine innovation as they have a very large product range to which engines are central and over which the costs can be amortised more easily. Harley turned to their own strengths and organisational capabilities to achieve cost efficiencies and product / brand differentiation. By utilising ? Strategic Innovation’ they chose to establish competitive advantage through creating value for customers from novel experiences, product delivery, customisation options and customer care. As a smaller organisation and one which adopted a non-hierarchical, team based structure, Harley successfully engineered a transformation in employee commitment and job satisfaction which also helped the company sustain this competitive advantage once it had been achieved. By ensuring that the ?Harley Experience’ was kept to a very high level it proved impossible for imitators or competitors to tap into the brand attractiveness. The sustainability of Harleys differentiation is less vulnerable to being overturned by changes in the external environment and is more difficult to replicate. Harley differentiate on more than one plane ? their products certainly, but also their design, marketing and customer interactions ? have you ever seen a group of Honda owners get together BECAUSE they are Honda owners ? Way to go Harley. How can Harley D. sustain and enhance it’s competitive position? The essence of differentiation advantage is to increase the perceived value of the offering to the customer either more effectively or at lower cost to competitors. This requires that Harley continue to match the requirements and preferences of customers with its own capacity for creating uniqueness. Successful differentiation requires a combination of astute analysis and creative imagination. The Value Chain provides a useful framework for analysing differentiation advantage. By regularly analysing how value is created for customers and by systematically appraising the scope of each of the firms activities for achieving differentiation, the value-chain permits matching demand-side and supply-side sources of differentiation.

IT601-0903B-07 Information Technology in Business Management - Phase 3 Essay

IT601-0903B-07 Information Technology in Business Management - Phase 3 Discussion Board - Essay Example For the wholesale customers, it would be most beneficial to use the extranet to help improve the relations. FYC can provide complete access of the extranet to the customers and allow for online account management and allow for updating the requirements online. The customers should also be provided with details of the inventory levels and the company requires implementing a system where if the level of inventory falls below the safety level, automatic orders are placed with FYC (Kennedy & Dysart, 2007). The company should also allow each store to log into the system and share their details of the existing stocks, the trend of sales, exchange documents and make comments. This can be referred to as a ‘Store Extranet’. Numerous companies usually utilise the intranet however they do not make complete utilisation of the intranet and this is mainly due to the reason that it does not work in sync with the objectives of the company (Kennedy & Dysart, 2007). The company can utilise the extranet and intranet for various purposes which include: b) Production Teams: The utilisation of high levels of Information technology will allow the production teams to be easily connected to the suppliers. This will help the company reduce the inventory carrying costs and the intranet will also permit the communication to be much quicker to the other teams like the sales, especially for the sales forecasts. c) Sourcing and Supply Chain Departments: The Extranet will permit higher volumes of data to be communicated regarding the raw materials requirements direct to the suppliers. This will help improving the procurement process. Also the extranet allows for better communication plans to the suppliers and also timely deliveries of all supplies. d) Human Resources Team / Finance Departments: The HR teams for each store need to be linked with Thomas. The intranet will allow for centralised recruitment and training and will act as a measure for the human resources teams. This

The Concept of Outsourcing in Contemporary Economy Literature review

The Concept of Outsourcing in Contemporary Economy - Literature review Example Critics admit that there are both pros and cons of outsourcing based on the unique nature of every industry and a current state of the economy. In cases where this is technically possible, the cost advantage of outsourcing will probably apply to component parts of production processes, leading to outsourcing by the developed economies. Indeed in the current period, the large growth in merchandise trade relative to merchandise produced in the less developed economies can be attributed both to the increased number of exporting final goods to the developed economies, and also to the growth of the latter's outsourcing. Both developments act to reduce the bargaining power of labor, especially union labor. When rules limit direct investment and outsourcing, both producers and labor want enforcement of labor standards abroad to maintain competitiveness for their product. Once the rules are relaxed, the interests of producers and consumers diverge, as low wages and lax labor standards make f oreign production more profitable (Cadena, 2007). The threat to move all or part of production abroad can be used at home to exact reductions in labor compensation (wages plus benefits). Moreover, the threat of significant job losses allows large firms to demand changes to labor legislation that further weaken labor. In addition to endangering jobs, wages, labor standards, and union powers, globalization also hastens the decline of social safety nets. Citing international competitiveness, business has been able to shift the tax burden to labor. But job losses and low wages will erode this tax base, reducing governments' ability to finance welfare programs. Globalization thus undermines labor strength, reinforcing the impact of higher levels of overall unemployment on capital's ability to control the workplace in the developed economies (Aalders, 2001). Such researchers as Cullen and Willcocks (2003) suppose that globalization and communication revolution (via the Internet) opens new opportunities for developed countries to outsource. Cheap labor and favorable economic conditions are the main factors of successful outsourcing strategies. The core places of outsourcing are India, China, Malaysia, the Czech Republic, and Singapore. With economic support, people will pursue careers to achieve stability, security, relationship with others, personal growth, and ultimately status, prioritizing these goals according to their personal value system. For much of the past century, when the drive for careers matured as a goal in offers of employment and in vocational development, this was a very tenable and fulfilling pursuit (Engardio 2006). Careers provided opportunities for individuals with potential and determination to aspire toward goals that enabled them to achieve comfortable economic status. It provided employers with dedicated employe es. As the new millennium approaches, the pursuit of careers appears to be in a state of flux. The turmoil in the industry brought about by global competition and industrial consolidation has shaken the concept of stability and the idea of lifelong employment in a single occupation for a single employer.

Video Gamers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Video Gamers - Essay Example Because the systems and new games are not usually available at bargain prices, this world is also often filled with those individuals who have a decent amount of disposable income available to them, aka young professionals. While all gamers seem to feel it’s important to solve the game’s challenge and tend to lose themselves in the action of the game sometimes to the effect of losing track of real time, different types of games attract different types of gamers (â€Å"Profile†, 2006). For example, Halo 2, Half-Life 2 and FEAR, which are first person shooter games, would be likely to attract gamers who have a high need to succeed and expect to beat the game even on their first play. Multiplayer games like Counter Strike, while still featuring similar characteristics to the games listed above, can often appeal to those individuals who enjoy a challenge and don’t mind spending the time necessary to meet it. When not able to actually be at home and involved in their particular favorite video game, gamers can often be found participating in activities that further their video game world, such as shopping for new gadgets or researching new games. Because of the nature of the video game world and the involvement of players within this world, gamers are usually not involved in many other leisure-type activities, preferring to devote their time to solving the latest game challenge or investigating the new technologies available for game development. However, gamers are not necessarily isolated individuals secretly plugging away at defeating the latest cyber enemy in the dark.

Ultrasonography in Breast Cancer Research Paper - 1

Ultrasonography in Breast Cancer - Research Paper Example ult, the clinically breast lesions suspected in women who are 30 years of age or younger than that, and evaluation of the abnormalities that are seen on mammograms1. This shows that the ultrasonography is a step taken later than the mammography as it evaluates the results on the mammograms and images them. In fact, the imagers of breast cancers also believe that ultrasonography is used as the primary modality to evaluate the palpable masses seen in women older than 30 years of age and mammography, also, is an adjunctive technique. Since ultrasonography is primarily used as the evaluating step, it also helps in the guidance of biopsies, surgeries and other therapeutic procedures. The evaluating role of ultrasonography has started being used in the treatment and guidelines of breast cancer, but the research on its role in cancer screening is still not confirmed, but studies have shown several aspects to the issue. The role of ultrasonography has developed and matured over time, otherwise initially it was considered as a method which was comparatively cheaper and effective in identifying the cystic breast masses and differentiating them from the solid masses. As the research study advanced, it was established that ultrasonography is not only a method to differentiate, rather it also was useful in providing valuable information and evaluation of the nature of the solid masses and other breast lesions along with the extent to which they are present. This meant that it was an effective and an important technique in evaluating, analyzing and treating the breast cancer2. The technique of ultrasonography does not involve exposing the cancer patient to the ionizing radiation, which, according to the studies, is a factor which is more important for pregnant and young patients. For ultrasonography, the medical studies say that the patients cannot be exposed to radiation because their breasts are sensitive for radiation. This means that comparing mammography with

Distributed and Parallel Systems Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Distributed and Parallel Systems - Term Paper Example A parallel system is a computer with more than one processor for parallel processing. Although there are many kinds of parallel computers, they are basically distinguished by the kind of interconnection between processor, known as processing elements (PES), and the memory. One major way to classify parallel computers is based on their memory architectures. Shared memory based parallel computing systems have multiple processors that access all available memory as a global address space. Distributed system is a network of a set of asynchronously connected computing devices. Communication in DS is either through shared memory or through messages. In wide-spread distributed systems, work and information are physically distributed, implying that computing needs should be distributed. Along with improvement in response time, this system contributes to offering a local control over data. With this solid background of multiprocessor systems, parallel computing, distributed systems and shared memory; speed-up performance law such as the Amdahl's law was introduced to throw light on algorithm design for speed-up and operational efficiency of parallel system. Concurrency is another important factor which enables distributed systems to share memory; and to better understand its execution, Dining philosophers' algorithm Bully's algorithm and Logical clocks were introduced. 2. Amdahl's Law The memory organization of parallel system also has a profound impact on algorithm design. In systems in which memory

Effects of Mortgage Problems in Todays Economy on the Business of Real Essay

Effects of Mortgage Problems in Todays Economy on the Business of Real Estate Appraisal and Sales - Essay Example When considering the historical data, the prevailing rates for a 30-year fixed loan, is extremely lower and the mortgage lenders are facing problems to setoff their losses from real estate business. Location factor is the basis of mortgage business and it is now assuming greater significance in today’s housing market. Thus there exist differential rates of growth in the mortgage industry. Mortgage lenders face serious financial problems such as default from borrowers on repaying loan installments in time and such instances of nonpayment had severe implications in the housing market and real estate industry. Mortgage business is based on lending of mortgage loans to the clients. Thus, falling house prices in the US economy will result in immense losses on the mortgages the companies own as security for loan issued, and thus the loan given out on the basis of such securities also suffer higher risk. This higher risk in security investment will influence individuals and institutions like pension funds, hedge funds, insurance companies and banks negatively. Therefore these institutions compelled to stop buying the residential mortgages from mortgage lenders. Thus the mortgage industry will suffer from lack of financial resources and the home buyers are also restricted from getting loans. Investment is the basis of the real estate market. The report on real estate business shows that the values for homes across the country are showing a declining trend and the real estate appraisers are suffering increased pressure from real estate agents and mortgage brokers to show the asset values at a higher rate in order to increase sales. Control measures for followed by the real estate agents and mortgage brokers by compelling the appraisers to artificially increase the property values, which also affect the mortgage business badly. Due to the increased pressure from mortgage brokers, appraisers give over value report on the asset on mortgage. The authenticity of their valuation seems to lack reliability and the customers hardly trust it. This affects their further business growth badly. The mortgage lenders are facing problems with default in repayment of loan installments and they are not in a position to retain the loan from the securities which are overvalued through the influence of brokers. (Kerr). As per the new regulations in the US mortgage industry, banks and mortgage brokers are required to order all appraisals through an independent third party. This third party is required to order the appraisal from a licensed appraiser, and he selects only those who agree to do it for the lowest rate without any quality constraints. This provides advantages and disadvantageous in the mortgage industry. The new regulations help the borrowers to get the appraisal price at reduced level. Due to the elimination of upfront communication between the lender and the appraiser, the problems arising from such communications in the mortgage industry can also be reduced. A consequence of this new regulation is that only lowest priced appraisers are accepted by borrowers while most of the qualified appraisers are avoided. Thus in the real estate market, there may only be the lower priced appraisers. Thus local appraisers, charging a little higher price has to do their quality work in a very special ized market. This new system also creates other problems for the mortgage busi

History of Fire Sprinklers Essay Example for Free

History of Fire Sprinklers Essay Rome, 64 A. D. Emperor Nero watched in horror as the great city of Rome burned for six days and seven nights. Afterwards 70% of the city was left in smoldering ruins and devastation. (The Burning of Rome, 64 AD 1) Why the exact cause of the fire is unknown, we wonder if an effective sprinkler system could have prevented this incident and others like it. A city that was well known for their magnificent construction, architecture, and irrigation systems was almost completely destroyed by one incident. Many codes do not require a specific type of Automatic Sprinkler System. While the most common type found is the Wet Pipe System; Dry Pipe, Preaction, and Deluge Systems can be found in many different occupancy types. The two main purposes of automatic sprinkler systems are to extinguish fires and control the fire until appropriate personnel arrive to extinguish the fire. Automatic sprinkler systems are expected in all occupancy types, except residential, unless the hazard is not compatible with water. For these hazards there are several other types of suppression systems that can be installed to manage the incident. By installing an automatic sprinkler system, you increase life safety and property protection. What is the standard of sprinkler systems? The goal is to increase life safety and decrease property damage. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has been the leader in mandating standards and requirements when it comes to sprinkler systems. They have developed many standards that address the installation, inspection, and maintenance of sprinklers. Wet pipe systems are closed water systems attached to a piping system containing pressurized water at all times. This type of automatic sprinkler system is the most common type, and can be found in all most all occupancy types. Unless the potential of freezing pipes or other special conditions apply, this type of system will be encountered most frequently. The operation of this sprinkler system is very simple. The wet-pipe system consists of sprinkler heads attached to sprinkler supply lines that interlace the occupancy. When a fire first starts there is minimum heat generated. As the fire grows and the thermal layer is disturbed, heat rises to the targeted sprinkler heads. Depending on the rated temperature of the sprinkler head, a fusible disc or link melts from the heat and initiates the flow of water. While most fires are controlled by one or two sprinkler heads, in the case of fast moving fires more may be needed to control the fire. When water is flowed from the system, typically other things may happen. In all most all wet-pipe systems, there is some type of audible alarm activated at the standpipe. This will trigger other alarms in the building, and most of the time notifies an agency that will then notify the Fire Department of a water flow alarm or others like it. Dry pipe systems use air or nitrogen to keep the supply line pressurized at all times. This type of automatic sprinkler system is commonly found in the colder areas where the possibilities of freezing pipes are encountered. Dry-pipe systems provide the same adequate protection similar to wet-pipe systems. The piping is charged with air or nitrogen, and when a sprinkler head is activated the drop in the pressure opens a valve at the standpipe that allows water to flow into the systems. (Bahme 25) Just like the wet-pipe system, normally one or two sprinkler heads are needed to control the fire. There will also be an alarm that is activated notifying the appropriate agency to contact the Fire Department. At lest once a week the system should be tested to make sure that the air pressure within the piping is maintained. The third type of automatic sprinkler system is the Pre-action System. This type of system is a closed piping system that contains air, which may or may not be under pressure. When a fire occurs the fire detecting device signals the control valve to open charging the system. This type of system is usually used where the possibility of broken pipes and sprinkler heads may result. The most common places found include electrical rooms, computer rooms, and other areas that may house expensive equipment. There can be several types of pre-action system including a recycling system. This system is capable of charging the piping, discharging water, then cutting itself off. In the event that the fire rekindles, it can discharge again. It then has the ability to recycle the water. Deluge systems are much like Pre-action systems except that the sprinkler heads are open and the system is not charged. Similar to that of the pre-action systems, a fire detection device, usually a heat sensor, activates the discharge valve on the system. The difference is that the entire sprinkler component of the system is open; therefore the area that is activated is deluged in water. These types of automatic sprinkler system can be found where a high hazard of flammable liquid may be encountered. The most common place is aircraft hangars. Caution should be taken though; in confined spaces the oxygen level can be deficient when these systems are activated due to the copious amounts of water. Combined Dry-Pipe and Pre-action systems are composed of both the systems mentioned above. These systems have the dry pipe features with the pre-action features in the event the dry pipe portion fails. These systems are used when an area is too large to be covered by a dry pipe system. On the same note though, combined systems were originally developed for protection during cold climates. Long lines would be subject to freezing. These systems are commonly found when dealing with long piers. (Bahme 30) It is important to note this type of system is considered two independent systems. Testing requires individual standards for both type; consisting of the dry pipe system and the pre-action system. Limited water supply systems are those where supply water cannot be properly supplied to the occupancy. These systems consist of many wide range types and can be used as outside sprinklers and confined space sprinklers. Some research obtained shows that one type of limited water sprinkler type could be the antifreeze sprinkler system. This type of system is very uncommon and is normally not accepted and used in recent automatic sprinkler systems. In conclusion, there are several types of water sprinklers used in today’s management to help increase life safety and decrease property damage. By including detection devices and the correct sprinkler heads, these systems can mean the difference between life and death. The occupancy should have the correct automatic sprinkler system that will properly suppress the material relevant in that occupancy regardless of the type. The preferred automatic sprinkler system should all be able to notify the occupants, summon the correct agency to suppress the fire, sound alarms, supervise fire control, and initiated a wide variety of auxiliary functions involving environmental, utility, and process controls. (IFSTA 559)

The Comprehensive And Flat Tax System Economics Essay

The Comprehensive And Flat Tax System Economics Essay The comprehensive income tax system in its ideal form enjoys a good reputation due to the structure which is based on the ability to pay principle. In general this principle points out that taxpayers with the same low level of income are taxed at the same rate and the ones with higher income are taxed heavier. 4 What makes this taxation system even more attractive to countries is that due to the equalization of capital and labour income, there is no interest in income shifting. This would be a so called tax arbitrage profit. That means it is more profitable to transform labour income into capital income and pay less taxes due to the different tax burden between labour and capital income. 4 2.1.2 Disadvantages of the comprehensive tax system 4 2.2 Flat Tax 5 2.2.1 Advantages of the flat tax system 5 2.2.2 Disadvantage of the flat tax system 5 Introduction In this Paper I will discuss the so called dual income tax. This system is considered to be one of the most auspicious taxation alternatives to existing taxation systems. This paper is build up in three big chapters. Firstly I will describe the environment of the actual taxation systems. On the one hand there is the system which is used in almost all European countries, the so called comprehensive personal income tax. And on the other hand the flat tax system, which can be found in the Este-European countries. Secondly I will point out more accurately the development of the Dual income tax system with its mayor advantages and disadvantages. Finally I will draw my personal conclusion to the dual income taxation system, its possibilities and future evolution. The major objectives of the taxation system in a country are clearly to earn as much tax affordable to obtain a solid and running state. This aim is collateral with the idea that everybody pays the amount of taxes one has to pay according to the ability to pay principle. Therefore leave as little as possible chances to cheat. Aligned with this aim the system should have two additional targets, fairness and simplicity. Fairness as a basis requires a system to be fair in the way that people with same income should be taxed in the same way. Simplicity should make taxpaying as easy and efficient as possible. This means in an ideal world there would be no exceptions or special tax treatments. Through globalization, easier and faster communication, many people start to find more and more possibilities to optimize their tax expenditures. This, for example is possible by investing in foreign countries causing harm to the own. As a consequence of missing tax income and loosing the possibility to keep up the states standards, a change in form of a reform is unavoidable. There are as many possibilities as there are countries on earth to reform a taxation system, by raising / lowering taxes or changing the whole system to become more attractive again. I will now present 3 exemplary systems. The comprehensive tax system The comprehensive income tax system also known by other synonyms as global income tax, unitary income tax or synthetic income tax is the most used taxation system in western European countries. It has got its name due to the fact that all income types are seen as a one and therefore are added together and taxed as one whole income. In Germany it was installed in the late 1950, and since then has been subjected of many changes from its original form. It was seen as the ideal tax system in Europe because in its original form it could align fully with the ability to pay principle and to both tasks of simplicity and fairness. This method is composed as a system which adds together all the taxpayers income (from labor, capital, rent and business) in a single measure and taxes it with a single progressive tax. Labour income is usually defined as income earned from activities as an employed individual. Capital income can take a variety of forms such as dividends, interests, income from real estate and to add further complications capital income is not always from a single organization, but can come from pension funds, life insurance companies, corporations, banks etc. Business income is income earned out of entrepreneurial activities. Normally the minimum subsistence level remains tax free. Income surpassing this minimum level is typically taxed on a progressive scale. For example in Germany it starts with a tax rate of 15% and ends up as high as 50%. Losses of one income type can be offset with gains from other sources. One tax rate will then be applied on the taxpayers total income (Synthetic taxation system). The idea behind the comprehensive tax scale is the assumption that someone with higher income is able not only in absolute but also in relative numbers to pay a higher share of his earnings to the government. This is by the majority of the most western cultures felt as a fair distribution of the tax burden also called tax fairness. This is the reason why there is a progressive tax table lying behind this structure. 2.1.1 Advantages of the comprehensive tax system The comprehensive income tax system in its ideal form enjoys a good reputation due to the structure which is based on the ability to pay principle. In general this principle points out that taxpayers with the same low level of income are taxed at the same rate and the ones with higher income are taxed heavier. What makes this taxation system even more attractive to countries is that due to the equalization of capital and labour income, there is no interest in income shifting. This would be a so called tax arbitrage profit. That means it is more profitable to transform labour income into capital income and pay less taxes due to the different tax burden between labour and capital income. 2.1.2 Disadvantages of the comprehensive tax system Although this taxation system seems to be clear and easy, when installed and worked with there are always specialties and exceptions. These treatments were implemented during many years and destroyed the purity of the comprehensive system. The special treatments came along with a high amount of administrative costs and a loss of the simplicity. The possibility of the capital income to become negative and be cleared with the labour income is just one example. This even can be seen in the tax declaration. Hardly anybody is capable to hand in a correct tax declaration without concerning a tax accountant. All countries with the comprehensive taxation system implied special tax treatment for a particular type of income (e.g. pensions, capital gains or lottery wins) to grant a tax relieve. But there is no systematic reason that for example lottery wins stay completely income tax free in Germany. Theoretically the State should levy taxes to generate income for funding its public tasks, as production public goods (eg. Schools, streets). It should not use the taxation system to channel the spending and investment behaviour of its citizens and tax payers. By doing so the systematic foundation, the justification and the acceptance of the comprehensive taxation system gets lost. The maximum rate should in no case surpass the 50% level because it is perceived as unfair from the tax payers when more than half of the money earned has to be transferred to the government. Some decades ago Sweden had a maximum tax rate of 90% with the consequence that people had no incentive anymore to generate income and tried to transfer their income stream to foreign countries. This effect is described as a so called Laffer curve. (It is used to illustrate the concept of  Taxable Income Elasticity  (that  taxable income  will change in response to changes in the rate of taxation). The curve is constructed by  thought experiment. First, the amount of tax revenue raised at the extreme tax rates of 0% and 100% is considered. It is clear that a 0% tax rate raises no revenue, but the Laffer curve hypothesis is that a 100% tax rate will also generate no revenue because at such a rate there is no longer any incentive for a rational taxpayer to earn any income, thus the revenue raised will be 100% of nothing. If both a 0% rate and 100% rate of taxation generate no revenue, it follows that  there must exist  a rate in between where tax revenue would be a maximu m. The Laffer curve is typically represented as a stylized graph which starts at 0% tax, zero revenue, rises to a maximum rate of revenue raised at an intermediate rate of taxation and then falls again to zero revenue at a 100% tax rate. One potential result of the Laffer curve is that increasing tax rates beyond a certain point will become counterproductive for raising further tax revenue because of diminishing returns.) 2.2 Flat Tax An alternative to the just described global tax system is the so called flat tax system. Herewith a flat proportional taxation for all net income types, capital, labour and other income is installed. This taxation system does not consider the taxpayers ability to pay taxes but sets a flat level for all income types. Some east European countries (Russia and Slovakia) have installed this taxation system. Russia replaced its progressive taxation system with a single flat tax rate of 13%. (Under a pure flat tax without deductions, companies could simply, every period, make a single payment to the government covering the flat tax liabilities of their employees and the taxes owed on their business income.  For example, suppose that in a given year, ACME earns a profit of 3 million, pays 2 million in salaries, and spends an added 1 million on other expenses the IRS deems to be taxable income, such as stock options, bonuses, and certain executive privileges. Given a flat rate of 15%, ACME would then owe the IRS (3M + 2M + 1M) x0.15 = 900,000. This payment would, in one fell swoop, settle the tax liabilities of ACMEs employees as well as taxes it owed by being a firm. Most employees throughout the economy would never need to interact with the revenue authorities, as all tax owed on wages, interest, dividends, royalties, etc. would be withheld at the source.) 2.2.1 Advantages of the flat tax system Aim of this taxation method is to gain a very simplified and transparent Tax system. Those who perceive the comprehensive taxation system with its progressive effects as unfair often are in favor of a flat tax system and claim it to be fairer to apply the same tax rate to all income sources and amounts. Because there is only one tax rate for all income, the administration costs are definitely lower and there is a balance between lower tax and lower cost. Additionally every taxpayer can easily calculate his taxes due which are usually not the case in the very complex progressive taxation system. After Russia installed the flat tax the real revenues from its Personal Income Tax rose by 25.2%, 24.6% and 15.2% in the first three years. 2.2.2 Disadvantage of the flat tax system Despite all the Pro arguments the problem of the flat taxation system is that hardly any country could keep it as a fully flat income tax system due to too many special tax treatments. Because everybody has to pay the same percentage of his total income the ability of pay performance is not considered or minded. This is the biggest contra argument of the flat tax system. It only seems to be a fair system but leaves only a small to no gap for a fair sharing of the tax burden. For many people it is not convincing why rich people should only pay as much as the poorer. And therefore it can hardly survive. In Addition to fairness another adverse point is the fact of the pure flat tax system that the government loses its power to steer the investing behavior. So if it would be of interest to support the private pension reserves, a deduction of capital income taxes on these payments is not possible. The Dual Income Tax Development of the Dual Income Tax (DIT) system The Dual Income Tax (DIT) is a combination of both of the recent presented tax systems. It is not a plain comprehensive system with a single progressive tax development or a flat tax with only a proportional tax, but a combination of both. It attempts to tax the personal capital income at a uniform (low) proportional tax while maintaining a (higher) progressive rate on the labour income. This taxation system was first introduced in Denmark 1987, other northern countries as Finland, Norway or Sweden followed. Until today the Norwegian system is seen as the most experienced one and is seen as very respected for the consistency with which it was implemented. Until today the system as such had to be subject to changes. Germany introduced the dual income tax system in 2009. Income was taxed according to the global tax system with the progressive taxation method whereas capital income was taxed deducted at source at a rate of 25 %, without exception. A unique aspect of the dual income tax system is the problem of how to distinguish labour from cpital income when the two are mixed together. A typical example is the business man who provides labour and capital with one business. These types of business are tempted to declare their gains of labour as capital income to avoid the higher progressive tax. The Finnish Government countered this problem with a division of dividends paid by unlisted companies into two components. Each half is then treated as either labour or capital income. Advantages of the Dual Income Tax system A country with lower capital income taxation becomes more attractive to foreign investors with a higher local capital income tax. This also has a positive effect on the attractivity of corporate investments. The further positive impact on the economic development is obvious. The generation of capital income tax by collecting it at its source, creates a higher possibility of tax payment in comparison to individual tax declaration. The incentive for capital exports and tax avoidance is reduced by a lower tax rate on capital income. It also diminishes the risk of tax evasion. Neutrality or simplicity means an equal treatment of capital income tax without personalized deductions or any other special handling. The main tax income which is raised for public finance can be brought up alone by the labour income tax. Disadvantages of the Dual Income Tax system Compared to the comprehensive taxation system, the dual income tax system has left the tax arbitrage is theory open. This is the (income shifting between higher-taxed labour income and lower-taxed capital income) to gain the difference between these two tax rates. Nevertheless it can reduce the incentives of capital exports to cheaper capital income neighbor countries. A common mentioned disadvantage of the dual income tax system it the so called problem of the double taxation. This taxation problem does not only exist in this taxation system but is characteristic for this system. Double taxations is a  taxation  principle  referring to income taxes that are paid twice on the same source of earned income. The problem herewith is the question when and how the best way is to tax capital income. The current scheme taxes the first time when earned as labour income. The taxpayer now has got two options, one would be to consume directly and have no further problems. In times of shrinking pension accounts many people prefer to save the money in forms of capital investment eg. shares, bondsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ The real dual taxation problem now appears when these capital investments start to pay their interests or dividends. The argument behind this contra argument is that the capital to buy a investment was already taxed. 3.4 The dual income tax system in Germany and its impact In this section I will outline the general impact of the dual income tax system for Germany. In 2009 Germany installed the dual income tax system, keeping its progressive tax for labour income and changing its capital income to a flat taxation rate of 25%. The aim of this change from the comprehensive to the dual income tax system was diverse. First of all the German state wanted to stop the emigration of capital income to abroad countries. By implementing the 25% capital income tax Germany became more attractive to investors from foreign countries like Switzerland due to their higher taxation rate of 35%. As an additional positive effect Germany could hold its own capital income taxes in the country. If Germany would have kept it this way, a major relief of administration on the governmental and in the private sector would have been seen. The taxation on capital income would have been done directly as a deduction at source by the capital organization like banks or pension organizati on, as a standard anonymous fee. This as consequents would have meant a higher and more continuous reliable income flow and a real established flat tax for the capital income tax. But this was not the case, due to a minority, the people whose income tax is below the minimum subsistence level. These people claimed that the taxation of capital income at a rate of 25 % compared to their taxation level from the comprehensive taxation system which is lower than 25 % is unfair and not feasible. This is why the German model of the dual income taxation system could not be installed in its pure way, but with a major amount of adjustments. To give people living at the minimum subsistence level a chance to be taxed by their correct tax rate the capital income tax from banks had to be change from anonymous to personalized. On the one hand this meant a huge effort for banks to change their standard fee to a personalized fee tracing every capital movement on bank accounts. And on the other hand the anticipated administration reduction was not fulfilled. Taxpayers below the minimum subsistence level still have to create a tax declaration with a special request form. The problem with one special treatment is that it never comes alone, and so it is the same in Germany. As one of the few countries left which still has got the church tax as a fixed component of the tax system, the simple neglection as it is foreseen in the flat tax system for capital income was not possible, has to keep the church tax specialties in mind. The church fee in Germany is even dependant the federal state you life in and can vary between 8 9 %. In the old comprehensive system it was an easy task to retain the church taxes, due to the fact that this tax was retained as one tax from the hole income. With the new dual income tax system the labour income part of the church taxation is treated in the same way, by deduction of the entrepreneur. But to keep the principle of being a fair state, of course the capital income part of the church tax hast do be discharged as well. In principle this doesnt seem to be that big of a task but as the capital income is deduced by a capital company as banks even more information exchange is necessary. An aligned problem with the further information exchange is the question if a, lets stay with this example, bank should have the right or need to know ones religious orientation. As a diverse and social alert state Germany added another special treatment to the capital income taxation system. Church tax payers who have capital income then have two options. These would be on the one hand, provide your bank with you religious orientation who then would have to check each capital income payment on the capital income tax 25 % the 5,5 % solidarity surcharge tax and then depending on the Information the 8 9% church taxes. Or on the other hand declare your taxes through the normal tax declaration and being charged retroactively. Especially here you can see how the gap between fair and simple is a thin line which Is hard to meet. Either a taxation system is held flat and small so special tax treatments like church taxes or the regard of the Taxpayers below the minimum subsistence level are not concerned, or the system is tried to be held fair and a huge amount of administrative costs is installed. Another side effect of the dual income tax system is a well known problem that in general equity in personal businesses should be intensified. With the flat tax for capital income in Germany unfortunately the opposite is achieved. If an business owner gives a loan to his own company, his interest incomes are taxed according to the normal progressive tax rate (up to 50%). Giving the money to the bank instead of his own company allows him to make use of the favour of the flat tax rate. This lead to an unforeseen out pulls of money of personal businesses and reinvesting it in the capital market. Here again the question can be asked, which aim is the dual income taxation system following? If the main aim was to ensure a larger capital spend in the local market then the aim was fulfilled, but if a long term effect as supporting the increase of equity in private businesses was targeted then a clearly miss must be admitted. Anyhow the change to the dual income tax system for people with income greater than the minimum subsistence level presented a pleasant relief. As the capital amount of exemption in Germany is currently at 801 euros any capital income higher than 800 euros (20000 euros at an interest rate of 4 %) and a labour income tax higher than 25 % can make a noticeable saving. The problem in the Germany state is that it always tries to care for everybody, this is why a simplified system is hard or even impossible to install in Germany. Conclusion Because the fiscal functionality is not a static system there is in my opinion hardly any tax system which can last all too long. This is also the reason way a change in the German taxation system was needed badly. In my opinion the dual income tax system as it is thought of, in its original form without any special treatments is a very attractive and a realizable taxation system. With its aim to simplify the capital taxation by installing a flat tax which is deducted at the source is a major relief to administrative effort. As a critical discussion Point concerning the dual income tax system, is my question: can a taxation system be seen as fair if a person who owns an X amount of Euros (which is enough for him to live from the interests) should be allowed life a nice and easy life and only having to pay a low capital income Tax. on The contrary the taxpayer working 330 days paying the higher labour tax rate according to a comprehensive tax system? To illustrate this a little more clearly lets make a simple example with numbers. In the one hand we have the rich person with a capital of 5 million Euros who, with a interst rate of 4 %, has got a capital gain of 200.000 Euros. As this is seen as capital income it is only taxed at a low rate of 25 % so, the rich person can keep net 150.000 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬. He can keep his life standard without working and exaggerated be on holiday the whole year. On the other Hand the person who works hard and has got a labour income of 200.000 Euros, hast to pay the top ta x rate of 50% and can only use the remaining 100.000 Euros. Summary Due to new European taxation systems many countries changed their view on taxation and had no other opportunity than to reform their own system. The dual income tax system, as a so called Scheduler Taxation System, because it has different schedules for the different income types originates from two different taxation models, these are a comprehensive, and flat tax taxation methods. The Main aims of the DIT system is the separation of capital and labour income. The dual income tax system underlays a proportional tax rate on all net income (e.g. Capital, interests, dividends, business income, income from real estate) and a progressive tax rate on labour income. With this background I took a look at the previous described Tax systems. Conclusions of the A major problem of the dual income tax in Germany is the sense of unfairness that is implemented by the general application of this tool. This lead to possible individual tax deductions. A general capital income tax, that is collected right where it is generated from the bank and is discharged anonymously is administrated easily. An advantage of a flat tax rate is ideally a simplification of the existing system. In Germany however in order to avoid unequal treatment individual tax deductions are possible. This counterstrikes the hoped effect. Vereinfachungs effect flat tax vereinfachung. A) keine abzà ¼hge b) depot gebà ¼hrenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ etc. Æ’Â   wird einfacher aber immer grà ¶ber (ungerecht)Aufantragà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. Auch die capitalertrà ¤ge.

The emergence of the internet marketing

The emergence of the internet marketing A new field of marketing called Internet marketing has emerged with the increasing number of people online. Companies are finding it increasingly difficult to maintain pace with the demands of numerous visitors of their web sites. With the growing traffic on the internet, now almost every company is involved in internet marketing. Internet marketing is much more than just having a nice web site. It encompasses each and everything that a business does to promote itself. The ways of conducting business have now changed due to access to information from any corner of the world in an affordable and easy manner. Today internet has replaced television, phone systems and newspapers bringing about an improvement in the lifestyle of the people across the globe. Offering 50,000 different products in a virtual store is very simple and easy; however this cannot exist in any physical departmental store. Internet has brought along with it real-time access, full connectivity and a simple unique int erface given by web browsers. This entire evolution has created a new environment for conducting business processes, establishing and maintaining business relations. This new wave in marketing has created an entire set of trends which companies need to look at and incorporate if they want to sustain their business. New value needs to be added at each and every stage of the business cycle. Ideas ripe for organizations to pluck and make their own, thus demonstrating that We are still here and better than ever! There is a vast pool of opportunities out there which needs to be exploited. MARKETING TRENDS TO WATCH! Value.Value.Value. The most apt word today is value. Actions that generate an enhanced customer relationship are created by the conversion of key information and knowledge. Organizations need to figure out their value. They need to fit themselves in each of the circles shown aside. The intersection of these is its value proposition. This needs to be placed in front of people over and over again. For e.g., the humanitarian organization CARE, for many years positioned itself as working to eliminate poverty. However many organizations were competing for this. It is a marketplace since the competition is for getting donors. CARE then changed its focus to plight of girls and women with the understanding that this class suffers more from poverty and till date markets this distinction in order to be heard. Online Reputation Management Organizations need to spend an equivalent amount of effort in managing the online brands as in maintaining the physical ones. The flow of messages is no longer controllable with the increasing number of user generated content in the form of blogs and online forums. It is thus essential to masquerade behind the scenes and influence, correct as well as add to th conversations. There are a number of cheap aggregator tools like Google alerts which help to get a daily digest via which the companies can be a part of the conversations. Video Marketing Many organizations have greatly reduced advertising budgets due to the different cost equations. In this scenario video marketing is gaining increasing importance. For e.g. a self styled makeup maven, Lauren Luke, started selling cosmetics by putting videos on YouTube. The videos have over fifty million views and her channel has more than 250000 subscribers. Next in line is the interactive video technology, through which visitors can be taken to the related content by clicking on elements in the video. Value-Added Content By pushing content onto customers businesses are now finding ways to enhance the customer experience. In order to push circulation Amazon has if you like enhancement to its catalogs. Customers continuously try to find that hidden aspect which makes him happy and visit again for purchases. Connecting with Mobile Marketing There are now more than 2.4 billion mobile phone subscribers in the world. Mobile marketing is now becoming a way to attract customers by building a one stop shop for email, photos and other digital services. It is therefore necessary for web sites to easily be able to navigate in mobile browser. Basically specific applications need to be developed to enhance the presence on customer devices by giving notices via phone. The Art of Being Real In a recent poll by AdweekMedia 78 percent respondents said that a celebrity in an advertisement does not affect them in any way. This means that now a days people are on a look for real evidence. It is a trust economy in which people who speak from the heart are believed. For e.g. Doves campaign which features real women using the beauty products was a breakthrough success. A rise of 700 percent in sales of Dove was reported in America. A Deeper Shade of Green Organizations are judged on their practices in the global community. It is now essential to talk green and to deliver on the green. The market research company, Aberdeen Group, reported that customer loyalty is driven up by 36 percent with modest green initiatives. It may rise to as high as 69 percent in some cases. In order to address this topic to teenagers, Worthington Libraries, selected a green theme for its summer reading club online. Death of Email My Info Quest is a text messaging service which a consortium of international libraries has developed which provides live reference services for public. The answers are given to the users from a worldwide network of professionals. In this way the customers are served as and when they expect due to the link between online and mobile functionality. Micromarketing Based on the differences in the customer groups marketing has now become nearly exclusively segmented. Online marketing needs to focus even on this aspect. In a study of its customers a national car wash company found that the customers fall into six different groups. Some young women prefer a car wash based on price whereas some other wealthy male segments prefer a car wash weekly at any given high price. The company has kept a record of email addresses of all its customers, thus offering the right promotional products to the right cluster and motivates behavior. Value of Design A design executes a brand through every touchpoint. Customers need to be provided with a familiar and branded experience. The use of themes, templates, stylish fonts, consistent colours develops a brand within the minds of customers who then recognize the brand easily generating a recall. Speed It is a fast moving world and people are in a constant hurry. The customers now want it fast and easy. Online customers want their results in a moments time without waiting longer on the website. Thus it is necessary that service delivery is streamlined and customers are given what they ask instantly. Emotional Connection Marketing today is all about making an emotional connection that establishes a relevance to customers. Organizations need to cement the emotional and personal connection. HOW DO YOU PLAN TO MAKE MONEY? CHOOSING A BUSINESS MODELà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.. In simplest terms, a business model is a plan that an organization uses to generate income. It is a combination of many factors like the potential market or niche and how does the organization plan to reach it, the value proposition and other elements which are essential to sustain business in the long run. The company may have many marketing choices at its disposal but it needs to keep the abilities and costs associated with each marketing effort in mind. PPC (Pay Per Click) Business Model Using the PPC model organizations can advertise the product or service in the search engines (Google, Yahoo! and MSN) themselves. Organizations bid on keywords related to their business and pay for advertising only when a user clicks on the ad and visits the site. The ad is triggered when a user types in a search query which matches the keywords that were bided on. The marketer who bids the highest gets his ad displayed somewhere on top of the search results provided by the engine. In this way the company has complete control over when and where the ads are displayed. Depending upon the time of the day the ads can even be turned on or off. The geographic locations wherein the ads will be run can also be decided by the marketer. In relation to the competitors the ad position is determined by: maximum cost per click (CPC) multiplied by click-through rate. It is only when somebody actually clicks on the ad that the search engine gets paid. In this way the top position needs to be earned by writing ads that tempt searchers to click on it and explore the site. PPC is a good fit for marketers if they :  · Like to work with huge amounts of keyword information.  · Are willing to invest the time needed to do daily research and updates to accounts.  · Have more money than time and are willing to spend money to make money.  · Like working with statistics.  · Like analyzing (and reanalyzing) results.  · Know how to write small classified ads.  · Have an advertising budget of at least $100 per month, per campaign. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Business Model Organizations get their site indexed and ranked in natural search results for search terms that are related to the business or certain keywords. For example, when someone searches a term-schools or restaurants , on Google, the Web sites that pop up first are determined by SEO. The search engines fixed algorithms determine these results and rankings. In such a type of a natural environment the owners do not have much control as to when and where the site will be displayed as in the PPC model. There is thus no cost associated with this model. The only resource required is time. The sites that rank among the top generally have strong inbound links and good content. This amounts for a lot of free traffic. A few things to keep in mind while building up the site:  · Put the keywords in the title of the page, as well in the file name if possible.  · The domain name should consist of the keyword.  · Write articles and web copy with the appropriate keywords in mind (and only a few keywords per article or web page). SEO is a good fit for marketers if they:  · Like to research a topic in depth.  · Enjoy writing content a lot of content!  · Can be patient and have time to wait for traffic (and profits) to increase. Have a limited budget.  · Enjoy spending most of the time on one site to consistently track SEO status and make changes to increase visibility.  · Enjoy doing keyword research and writing content based on just a few keywords at a time.  · Just like to make sales and dont really care where they come from (natural search result sales can be hard to track). Content Business Model In this kind of model the emphasis is on writing articles with a particular keyword or phrases. Within the article, links are provided to the merchants products. Articles may be in the form of press releases, product reviews, personal recommendations, informative content or original fresh content. Good content automatically raises the page rank since it gets linked to more often. Also penalization can be avoided if the content is original and not copied from some other sites. Interesting articles attract more traffic and lead to increased sales. The content should be updated, relevant and act as a valued information source. Visitors should enjoy reading the article and it is the articles content that should give them every reason to visit the website where the organization can market its product. The content model is a good fit if for marketers if they :  · Like to research a topic in depth.  · Enjoy writing content a lot of content!  · Can be patient and have time to wait for traffic (and profits) to increase.  · Have a limited budget.  · Enjoy spending most of time on one site/topic and have time to devote to content development each week.  · Enjoy doing keyword research and writing content based on just a few keywords at a time.  · Like to make changes to a site by consistently adding many pages of content.  · Enjoy setting up tracking links so you can find out where you sales are coming from.  · Like to manage large sites with possibly thousands of pages.  · Enjoy making sales for years to come from articles written in the past. Whichever business model the organization chooses the pay off for the strategy comes only when full time and commitment is devoted to it. Paid vs. Free Content In a survey conducted by A.C.Nielsen across 52 countries comprising 27,000 consumers, 85% prefer that free content remain free. The online content that consumers are willing to pay for includes generally those that they pay for offline and which is produced at a high cost. This includes music, movies, games and some other television shows. On the other hand they refuse to pay for user generated material like blogs and videos. Before they chip in an amount, Online users need the fulfillment of certain criteria by the content produced. 78% of participants believe if they already subscribe to a newspaper, magazine, radio or television service, they should be able to use its online content for free. 71% of global consumers say online content of any kind will have to be considerably better than what is currently free before they will pay for it. Nearly eight out of every ten (79%) would no longer use a website that charges them, presuming they can find the same information at no cost. As a group, they are ambivalent about whether the quality of online content would suffer if companies could not charge for it 34% think so while 30% do not; and the remaining 36% have no firm opinion. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ But they are far more united (62%) in their conviction that once they purchase content, it should be theirs to copy or share with whomever they want. Organizations are now experimenting with different payment models, like micropayments, full service subscriptions to individual transactions. Regardless of what they offer and choose, organizations will continue advertising and along with paid content visitors will have still see ads. 64% believe that if they are paying for online content then there should be no ads. On the other hand 47% are ready to accept greater advertising to subsidize free content. There is no consensus on this subject till date and in the near future online visitors and consumers will make their decisions based on the value of the online content. CONNECT AND PROMOTE SOCIAL MEDIA CHANGING THE FACE OF ONLINE MARKETING The advent of social media has drastically changed online marketing. Now a days organizations devote an entire department to social media. Every campaign on social media is tailored to the needs of the company. A dance company will promote itself through videos posted on YouTube; on the other hand a business minded outlet like LinkedIn may be chosen by a corporation trying to promote itself to different companies. A connection is established between organizations, businesses and people due to the ability to send friend requests, post comments and join networks. All this form a part of continuous extensive user interaction. People want to connect with real people. The information online spreads at a very fast rate. One just needs to re-tweet on twitter, or suggest a Facebook page or forward an email to friends and family. All this is driving a big change in the way brand marketing works. New ideas have been inspired on the relationship between paid and earned media and their impact on the brand. Marketers are moving from a broadcast-based marketing relationship with consumers to a relationship that more explicitly considers how traditional paid media drives earned media-where consumers directly engage with the marketing messages and pass them along to their friends. Earned media Earlier earned media was looked upon as the number of times a brand was mentioned in the newspapers or tv programs. Today however these are not the only form of earned distribution. Today it is the consumer who endorses the brand to his online friends. In such a scenario, tools like organic impressions by Facebook and other options provided by social media networks are exploited to send across the brand message. Hybrid options of paid and earned media are now being used by publishers to create a greater impact. Thus unlike the traditional approach where there was a chance of the brand message degrading by the word of mouth, the brand now directly interacts with the consumer. When it comes to making decisions related to purchasing consumers rely on friends more than anyone else. This provides for a vast pool of opportunities in the growing variety of social media outlets. Encouraging Brand Advocates In advertising there is a constant need to create and encourage brand advocates. It is these advocates who are brand loyal and have an influence on the purchasing decisions of others. This is achieved on Facebook via social ads. When an ad is served to a user the names of the users friends who are fans of that brand are contained in the ad unit. The effectiveness of advertisements is actually positively affected by such lightweight forms of endorsements. Organic Exposure The ability to create earned media using an ad campaign is the main point of attraction to social media for marketers. The newsfeed stories on facebook is one such example of earned media. These stories termed as organic impressions are sent out to friends of users who involve with ads on Facebook. The ad recall was increased by 10% due to exposure to a homepage ad. Also the brand awareness was increased by 4% on an average. (Source: Survey conducted by A.C.Nielsen) How Organic Frequency Drives Impact A number of exposures to the same message still increase the recall. It shows the strong ability of organic impressions to impact the consumers over a long duration for absorbing the messages. This beats the traditional form of advertising. Earned Media Engagement and Reach Interesting homepage impressions must be developed to maximize the reach of earned media. A strong relationship is observed between the number of impressions and engagement rate of an ad campaign because the impressions are generated via interactions with ad unit which are posted as stories in users friends feeds. The problem of the impressions being tough to scale and marketers trying to reach a lot of people needs to be appropriately addressed. Types of Media on FB Concept of Earned Media Brands as Communities on Social Media The social media sites enable organizations to form product groups and fan pages. In this way opinion form brand enthusiast can be seeked. However what does a company do to attract a new pool of customers? A site called Gather.com allows organizations to gain access to people who have not yet experienced the brand offered. This website links people with similar interests rather than with friends or known people. It attracts 8.1 million visitors every month. Feedbacks are also provided regularly to members friends. In this way the site has become an important spot for marketers introducing new products. Badges and Publicity Engaging Users A location based social network site called Foursquare rewards the users with different types of virtual badges for using the service on their cell phones from various destinations. These are like virtual awards that the users earn. For example, a jetsetter badge is earned by a user if he uses Foursquare at five different airports. Reinforcement of a particular kind of behavior i.e. checking in as many times as possible, is the idea behind this. Till date over one million badges have been awarded to more than 5,00,000 users. New badges are introduced every now and then to avoid boredome and badge fatigue. It creates excitement among the users as well as an environment of positive reinforcement. The more one plays, the more one wins! FINALLY: IS YOUR MARKETING INVESTMENT DELIVERING THE EXPECTED RESULTS? MARKETING ROI With the increasing competition and customers becoming more and more price conscious, it becomes essential for marketers to ensure that they are maximizing the returns. For every rupee spent on marketing, the amount of sales achieved need to be known. Resources should be allocated to those activities which help achieve higher sales. Also the focus of marketing investment should be on campaigns that create the greatest halo effect i.e. the extent to which one brands marketing activity positively influences sales of other brands in the portfolio. The ones which have a positive impact on sales should be invested in further. The method for achieving results will differ across a brands portfolio. A tailored strategy is required for each brand and product since each has a different personality and target audience. CONCLUSION: The Wide World of Internet Marketing For someone entering the field of Internet marketing, the opportunities are vast. Most marketing professionals have a bachelors degree in some area of communication, such as advertising, marketing, or English. You can get very specialized. Desmet says. You could work for basically any company because these days almost every business has a marketing department. Sports teams need marketing departments to keep their image and brand in the public eye. Hospitals use marketing to create awareness of their achievements and support for their communitys needs. All businesses need to promote themselves, so theres a marketing position out there to suit nearly any interest. For those having difficulty picking just one specialty, there are marketing firms that work with clients across a number of industries. The foundation for [marketing] is that you have to be an excellent communicator, whatever your specialty may be, Desmet says. Marketing for the most part requires a creative approach. You always have to be coming up with fresh ideas.

Ben Jonsons On My First Sonne Essay -- Poem Ben Jonson First Sonne Es

Ben Jonson's On My First Sonne Ben Jonson writes On My First Sonne from a father’s point of view grieving over the death of his very young son. The title alone suggests which time period this poem is from i.e. it is from the 17th century (1603)- when the poet’s son Benjamin died- through the use of language of the time. This poem has been written in memory of a seven year old child whose death has dealt a great blow to a father. Throughout the poem, the use of religious comparisons and words creates a vivid picture of the thoughts running in the mind of Ben Jonson and we know almost exactly what he feels. The inter-relation of father and son in this piece of poetry leads us back to the beginning of the poem. The son, sitting on the right hand of his father, would remind a Christian reader of the Creed, in which the Son 'sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.' What others would interpret from the line-â€Å"Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy;† is that a father is bidding farewell to his most loved one and his heir. Again in line 2, when the poet says â€Å"My sinne was too much hope of thee, lov’d boy†, the poem suggests that Ben had taken his son much for granted as if now he possessed him and so loved him too much. It is ironical as he is comparing the love towards his son as a sin. As mentioned, he now considered that, love, his â€Å"sin† which has a deep meaning from a religious point of view. A sin, in the eye of GOD is a bad deed but in this case means a mistake or an error. The language used, hence in relation with religion, exclaims Ben Jonson’s sorrow and love for the child; despite the fact that he is in a way happy ... ...es of the poem. Contrastingly, in Refugee Mother and Child, the mother still showed her love and affection towards the child in the last few days. She cannot let go as easily. Most mothers would in this situation have lost hope and would have â€Å"ceased / to care†¦Ã¢â‚¬  but not her. She would ‘fight’ this sorrow till the end. Both poems hence clearly depict the true feelings about the death of a child. We get the perspective from two points of view in either case i.e. from a mother’s and a father’s point of view and the feeling before and after the death of a child. The language used is very specific and has been used in the most appropriate contexts. Sorrow and remorse are the main themes of both poems along with death of a child, yet there is another shadow of a theme i.e. the ‘sin’ of loving the child so much which causes almost endless grief in the end.

Constitution Position Paper :: essays research papers

The falls of this country are due to the Articles of Confederation and a weak centralized government. To correct this, a strong national government will need to take its place. The majority of this delegation wishes to accept the Constitution as the new federal government of the United States.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Many good arguments were brought up during the proceedings such as William Paterson’s view of revising the Articles and proposing the union of the states as merely federal. Alexander Hamilton’s idea of a supreme executive serving during good behavior or life with veto power over all laws. Both of these were rejected. Paterson’s plan because there are too many faults with the Articles and Hamilton’s idea because it is too close to a form of monarchy. The most accepted idea was by Edmund Randolph and James Madison. In it they proposed the government be broken up into three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial; and each branch to check and balance each other’s power. This centralized government would have the power to veto laws enacted by state legislatures. The majority of the delegates voted on a supreme power national government over the federations being an agreement resting on the good faith of its members.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The many problems in the Articles of Confederation that led us to throw it away rather than to amend it were its inability to tax, no national court system, no executive to enforce acts of Congress, lack of regulation of foreign and interstate commerce, amendments with consent of all states, and the fact that the articles are only a firm league of friendship that is non-binding. There are too many changes to me made to have the state legislatures vote on it. The result would be no changes for the legislatures stand to loose power. The only way that changes will be made if we start new.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Many new issues came up with the Constitution and they were settled. The issue of legislation was fixed with a bicameral legislature with two houses where one is represented equally by each state is allotted two votes while the other is based on population. How slaves would be counted was settled where every five slaves counted as three persons.

Media studies †Life on Mars Essay

How does life on mars (2006) use visual codes, technical, audio and narrative codes to create a sense of excitement and encourage the audience to watch. In this first episode of Life on Mars there are many different codes and conventions used to make this series instantly appealing to the audience. The episode is excellently paced and smartly directed, getting us into 1973 within 10 minutes and introducing new characters effortlessly. Sequence 1 of life on mars gets the audience instantly familiar with the genre, the episode begins with a police car chasing down a suspect which quickly shows us this is a hybrid police crime drama. The diegetic sounds of police sirens and dogs along with the non diegetic music, a heartbeat which is corresponding with Sam the detective in the police car creating suspense as we get a feel for how Sam is feeling as the heartbeat signifies his nerves also introducing the audience to protagonist Sam Tyler, these audio codes add up to create an exciting police chase which again expresses the genre of ‘Life on Mars’. Once out of the car Sam is forced to chase his primary suspect down an ally way in a council estate in the city giving the audience a feel for the setting. The music isn’t as dramatic while the chase is happening but speeds up during more dramatic parts of the chase which creates suspense. Cinema-verte is used when filming the chase which makes the audience feel almost part of the chase, this entertaining filming technique and creative use of music makes Life on Mars exciting to the audience creating enigma and encouraging them to watch on. This chase takes us up to Colin Raimes arrest bringing us to sequence 2. In sequence 2 Sam’s colleague and girlfriend, Maya, are interviewing suspect Colin Raimes. Sam and Maya facing Colin and his lawyers, which creates tension between these two sets of people. During the interview there is a close up of Colin Raimes which engages the audience creating tension and increasing the viewers curiosity as to what this suspect has done and makes them wonder has he done it or not? The diegetic recording sound in the background shows the viewers the interview is being recorded and shows the viewers the seriousness of the situation, the room is dark with little light which creates a professional mood, the dark setting is a technique used to scare the suspect in to talking, perfect for the situation. The narrative codes in this sequence reveal allot about Colin Raimes as he gets upset by the images he is being shown, we learn Colin sees a psychiatrist and his lawyers talk about how kids would throw fireworks at him on his estate. This is evidence to show that Colin is vulnerable and is possibly mad, the audience may take pity on him or take a different view on the suspect, this makes the viewers curious and increases their want to watch on. After the interview in sequence 3, Maya isn’t done with the suspect and decides to follow him on her own, only to be kidnapped. Once Maya is kidnapped Sam becomes sad and heads out looking for her, there is a close up of Sams face and he is distressed with tears running from his eyes. This visual codes will make the audience feel sympathetic towards Sam and shows us perhaps he is feeling stronger than just friendship for Maya. Sams nerves eventually get the better of him when he has to stop the car to refresh himself, standing there half-heartedly he says into himself,’ The world is a scary place’ again this shows the audience he is thinking about Maya and wants to find her increasing their sympathy for him and overall making the viewers want to continue to watch to see the conclusion. The different audio codes used express Sams feeling for Maya as the non diegetic music plays softly whilst he cries and thinks about her, this corresponds with the visual codes creating a sympathetic feel for the protagonist making the audience pity him. Sam is unexpectedly struck by a speeding vehicle which brings me to sequence four. Sam is struck very unexpectedly and this may have came as a shock to the audience, the accident is very unexpected and this is done deliberately to shock the audience as this scene is key to the viewers as it is where the storyline unfolds as after this it is based in 1973, where Sam time travels back in time. The diegetic sounds used are very impacting, when the car hits Sam, initially there is a loud sound to signify he has been hit, after this all that can be heard is silence which corresponds with how the audience will feel, as they will be shocked at what has just happened. This creates enigma and increases the viewers curiosity to keep watching and they are now introduced to how Life on Mars is going to take place. (back in time) will Sam be okay? what will happen next? are few of the questions the audience will be asking making them exciting and encouraging them to keep watching. Once Sam is hit and the audience are aware of what happened there is a close up of him laying vulnerably on the ground, this close up shot shows his eyes, wide open but yet not moving, with only police sirens and a heartbeat which is corresponding with Sams as he lays on the tarmac, creating tension and making the audience question if he is even alive. This close up then changes to a high shot as the camera slowly moves up, looking down on Sam which shows how empty the road is, no traffic just him. This suggests a change in time and expresses to the audience what has happened introducing them to 1973. These visual and technical codes all raise the audiences awareness causing them to ask questions and want to know the conclusion. Sequence five is the most important as, Sam wakes up to find himself in 1973, complete with 1970s era clothing and an 8-track playing â€Å"Life on Mars† in a car. Dazed and confused, Sam wanders back to the police precinct he works at, only to find it filled with cigarette-smoking, gum-chewing strangers he’s never seen before. The music is significant as before the crash David Bowies 1970’s song â€Å"Life on Mars† was playing on Sams ipod in the car. This is strange as he has travelled back in time to when this song was just out and extremely popular. Sams feeling are conveyed in different ways, with voices in his head from when he was a boy repeating,’ where are you?’ as he wakes up in a forest, obviously not where he was before. Creating enigma for the audience and making them aware of the time change increasing their excitement and want to continue watching. When Sam stands up in 1973, with no clue as to where he is the camera is low angled and is circling him while â€Å"Life on Mars† plays which really creates a confusing atmosphere showing that Sam does not know what is going on. This technical camera work helps to express Sams feelings and shows the audience a broader understanding of what’s going on. Everything has changed in Sams world, The set designs and costumes effectively evoke the era, as well as the grittiness of the run-down neighbourhood and police precinct. Everything feels straight out of the 70s, from the clothing to the cars to the horridly ugly decorating in Sam’s apartment. Throughout the episode, Sam hears hospital noises and doctor voices and at one point sees a person on late night TV talking like a doctor describing Sam being in a coma. Sam becomes increasingly convinced that he truly is in a coma, and that none of this world is real. he believes it is all part of his imagination. These are some of the ways in which Sam portrays his feelings to the audience during this sequence. Which allows the audience to get to know Sam and begin to have a feel for his character encouraging them to continue to watch Life on Mars. Later Sam meets a young police officer named Annie Cartwright who he begins to open up to and express his opinion and at one point tells her â€Å"I had an accident and when I woke up, I was here. Only here is 33 years in the past. Now, that either makes me a time-traveller, a lunatic, or I’m lying in a hospital bed in 2006 and none of this is real.† This quotation of what he says gives the audience insight into how he feels about the whole situation, this again allows the audience to engage with Sam and feel what he is going through, the audience will grow a certain like for Sam and this creates a sense of excitement and encourages the audience to continue to watch â€Å"Life on Mars†.

Nursing Accountability in Relationship Essay

In this paper, I will review and implement recommendations based on the findings of the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality (AHRQ) regarding the training of hospital staff to respond to a mass casualty incident (MCI). I will give examples and situations that can affect the effectiveness of proper training and responses to a traumatic event in our city, county, state, or country. For years, hospitals have contemplated the possibility of a mass casualty incident (MCI). Federal agencies planning and responding to these events have determined that it would be overwhelming and catastrophic to any community. The resources would not be sufficient to absorb the needs and requirements for help. These events can be naturally occurring or manmade, for example, hurricane season and tornado season in Texas can be predicted with accuracy. In the West coast, we have constant planning and preparation for the next big earthquake even though we do not know with accuracy when it would be. During hurricane Katrina, we had an excellent opportunity to witness how prepared a city is, and how hospitals can easily be overwhelmed by a massive influx of patients. Examples can be given worldwide, but for the purpose of simplicity we will not elaborate further. Never before have we experienced more threats than in the past few years starting from the Oklahoma City bombing and the 911 attacks as the most horrific examples to site. More and more we have seen our fears become our realities and our vulnerabilities, and this is what has made us rethink our strategies and training for proper response to chemical, radiological, or biological threats. Findings The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) requires that hospitals implement and test proper hospital response training twice a year. My hospital, BAMC, a military hospital, has complied with the training and has made significant contributions to the evolution and preparedness in response to a potential or actual event. The military has always been an integral part in training and preparation in regards to logistics and coordination of available resources, but even the best trained or better equipped hospitals cannot compensate for the impact it has on its employees, particularly nurses. Nurses take part and are an important aspect of training and preparation, and they are essential in the response to a crisis or trauma. Working in the emergency department, I often question myself as to how is it that we can train and prepare every year for a mass casualty incident (MCI) when I can see how easily we get overrun and in total disarray. Our hospital is currently capable of taking up to four major traumas all at the same time, but the reality is that even under the best staffed days we get overwhelmed, resourcing quickly to diversion of Emergency Medical Service (EMS) to other hospitals when we have reached maximum capacity. If training then is to prepare us and allow us to be well equipped with the necessary knowledge to perform, why is it that we struggle under small real life case scenarios? The response has to be once again in the level of preparation that each individual nurse takes to be ready to be able to function under very stressful environment. The nurse can be well prepared for future events by performing after action reviews (AAR), which is primordial in determining the stressors and the potential solutions to the problems encountered after each event. Disaster drills are beneficial in the effectiveness of command and control, communication, triage, patient flow, security response, and the roles each practitioner must perform. Recommendations Hospital drills and disaster planning are key and instrumental to make the nurse familiar with his/ her role, as well as the role of all the providers of care and first responders. Proper coordination and adequate allocation of resources are essential. The nurse can be instrumental in his/her flexibility and ability to adapt to different roles under extremely chaotic circumstances. Also, nurses are important for the delegation of tasks and coordination of duties to be taken to stabilize the emergency department for the proper movement of patients arriving and departing. The nurse plays an integral role in the transporting of patient, triage, and treatment of the injured. Properly identifying those who are very critical (expectant, life threatening), and those who are stable and can still function (broken bones, laceration, psychological issues) allows the provider to render the proper and efficient care. The nurse needs to have clear communication with the rest of the staff at every level of the disaster event in order to function and coordinate efficiently. Good documentation needs to be implemented. Nurses need to remain creative in finding ways to document what has been done to a patient with regards of his or her care. In a war zone, we can document key components of patient treatment on the uniforms of soldiers, and the same can be done with civilian population in the absence of computers or charting for short periods of time. Another important aspect is the transport of first aid equipment and supplies as soon as the disaster is identified, including body bags, stretchers, wheelchairs, crutches, splints, IV solutions, blood products, antibiotics, and plenty of analgesics and narcotics. Keeping an adequate number of chaplains, counselors, and security is imperative for the emergency department to maintain order under the chaos and stress. Summary In conclusion, the registered nurse needs to be ever vigilant of the realities of our current situations of the world. Today, more than ever with ongoing climate changes and unpredictable massive storms, tornados, earthquakes, and the impending threats created by man, we are always at risk for an (MCI). Keeping a good understanding of the preparation and the steps to take, and knowing his or her role the nurse can be reassured that he/she will be ready for the unpredictable and often unthinkable. References Training of Hospital Staff to Respond to a Mass Casualty Incident Evidence Reports/Technology Assessments, No. 95 Rockville (MD): Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (US); July 2004 http://angel03. gcu. edu/section/default. asp? id=705202 Mass Casualty Incident (MCI) St. John West Shore Hospital, MCI Overview http://www. emsconedonline. com/pdfs/EMT-Mass%20Casualty%20Incident-an%20overview-Trauma. pdf

Cotton Research Paper

Ralph Lauren Polo Shirt Ralph Lauren polo shirts have been in production since the 1970s. I am writing about polo shirts because I own many of them in different colors so I am interested in how they are made. Polos are composed of 100% cotton. I like to wear these shirts mainly because they are comfortable and look good, but also because they are easy to maintain. Cotton is machine washable and can also be dried in a standard dryer, even though they may shrink if over-dried. Cotton is made up of fibrous cellulose, which is a carbohydrate, and the molecular makeup is a long chain of glucose molecules.Glucose molecules are made up of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen with reactive hydroxyl groups. There are as many as 10,000 glucose monomers per molecule. The molecular chains are arranged in long spiral linear chains within the fiber. The strength of a fiber is directly related to chain length. Hydrogen bonding occurs between cellulose chains in a cotton fiber. Hydrogen bonding occurs when hydroxyl groups within the chain are polar, meaning the electrons surrounding the atoms are not evenly distributed.As a consequence, hydrogen atoms of the hydroxyl group are attracted to many of the oxygen atoms of the cellulose. The bonding of hydrogen within the fibrils causes the molecules to draw closer together which increases the strength of the fiber. Cotton's comfort and absorbency is also due to hydrogen bonding. A picture of cotton's chemical structure is shown below. Cotton is a natural fiber and is grown in temperate climates. Cotton plants live for at least two years in good conditions which makes it a perennial crop. Geographically, Antarctica is the only continent where cotton is not grown.In the United States, cotton has been continually produced for hundreds of years, mainly in the southeastern region but also throughout the southern part of the country stretching all the way to California. Cotton is considered a stable investment since it has long seasons which can get up to half a year in profitable income, making cotton a primary choice for farmers as long as they live in a region with an appropriate climate. Once farmers have successfully grown the cotton plant, they use one of two different methods to harvest their fields.The most common method involves the ‘cotton picker' which does not damage the plant. They also have the option of using whats called a ‘cotton stripper,' but this method makes the cotton more polluted with leaves and stems which requires more cleaning. Once the cotton is picked, it moves on to the cotton gin where on average about 40 bales of cotton per hour are processed. An invention by Eli Whitney, the cotton gin dries out the cotton to remove excess moisture and also to filter out unwanted debree.Next, the fibers are run through circular saws that filter out smaller debree such as seeds that may have gotten through the first part of the process. Finally, once the cotton has completed the ginning process, it is shipped in bales weighing 500 pounds each to textile mills for fabric production. An example of a standard cotton gin is pictured below. The cotton polo that I chose for my paper went through the process of knitting. Knitting can occur on a circular machine which causes the cotton to be processed into a long tube-like fabric, or on a flat bed. Polo shirts are made using the latter process.This is apparent because there are seams connecting the different parts of the shirt, meaning that it was not made from one continuous thread of cotton. There are other methods to transforming cotton into a fabric. Weaving is another popular method, but the fabric produced from weaving is not as flexible as the fabric produced from knitting. Below is an example of a flat bed knitting machine. Cotton is a very popular choice for clothing production. It has been used for thousands of years and many every day items that people use are also made out at least in some part of cotton.The fabric is e asy to maintain, and it is very breathable and soft when worn, making it an ideal choice for not only clothes but anything from pillows to bed sheets to medical products such as gauze. To give an example of how often cotton is used to produce clothing, over 70% of all men's clothing is composed of the fiber. This is due to the fact that cotton is very easy to process and handle, and has many retainable qualities that keep the clothing items intact and looking like new for years if treated with a reasonable amount of care. To clean my polo, I can throw it in the washing machine and also into the dryer afterward.Cotton has a tendency to shrink if dried for too long which is one of the only drawbacks. Cotton also has such advantages as having high absorbency, retaining dyes well, and being easy to handle and knit. Cotton is so widely used around the world that it has it has its own terms of measurement. ‘Cotton count' is used to denote 840 yards per 1 pound of cotton. This is an unusual term of measurement because it measures the length of the cotton instead of its weight. Terms that specifically measure the weight of fibers are the denier and the tex.These measurements apply to all fibers, not specifically cotton. One denier is approximately nine kilograms per meter, while the tex is a ninth of that total at one kilogram per meter. Different parts of the world interchangeably use these two units of measurement. The United States and England use deniers while Canada and most other parts of Europe prefer the tex unit. In conclusion, Ralph Lauren's polo shirts are one of my favorite pieces of clothing that I currently own. They are very comfortable and easy to maintain. This is due to the versatility and quality of the cotton fiber.Not only is it easy to maintain, but also has a fairly cheap production cost and has a huge demand among all types of consumers. That being said, it is no wonder that cotton has been at the top of the list of fibers used for clothi ng for thousands of years.Works Cited Understanding Textiles Collier, Billie J. , Bide, Martin, and Tortora, Phyllis G. Understanding Textiles. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc. 2001. Print. Cotton. org http://www. cotton. org/pubs/cottoncounts/fieldtofabric/uses. cfm Wikipedia http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Cotton Cotton Manufacturing http://www. oldandsold. com/articles04/textiles6. shtml