The Effect of Dialectical Behavior Therapy on the Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder free essay sample

This paper explores Marsha Linehans treatment of borderline personality disorder in an extensive literature review. The basis of this study looks at the effects of a therapy derived from eastern Zen practices and western psychodynamic theory, known as Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, on the treatment of patients afflicted with Borderline Personality Disorder. DBT is a treatment paradigm created by Marsha M. Linehan of Washington University, and is the first and only treatment paradigm to be tested in clinical settings. The importance of DBT stems from the belief that BPD is the most treatment-resistant of all mental disorders outlined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual: Vol. IV. The study tests the hypothesis that DBT will effectively reduce targeted behaviors of BPD as compared to treatment as usual (TAU) groups, and suggests that because of the structured nature of DBT, it is the most effective of all present treatments of BPD. Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is the application of a broad array of cognitive and behavior therapy strategies to the problems of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), including suicidal behaviors (Heard Linehan 1994). We will write a custom essay sample on The Effect of Dialectical Behavior Therapy on the Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page DBT also has a number of distinctive defining characteristics. As its name suggests, its overriding characteristic is an emphasis on dialectics that is, the reconciliation of opposites in a continual process of synthesis. The most fundamental dialectic is the necessity of accepting patients just as they are within a context of trying to teach them to change. This emphasis on acceptance as a balance to change flows directly from the integration of Eastern Zen practice with Western psychodynamic theory (Linehan 1993a).

Rock music research

Rock music research Most people think that punk rock is just loud noise and profanity, at least the people who have even heard of it. The truth is that, for the most part, punk bands are really trying to get a message across. This music, or at least a variation of it has been around since the mid 1960's and is just as important today as it was back then. I plan to trace its history all the way up to the present, and explain how it has changed.The main American precursors of punk were the Velvet Underground, the MC5, the Stooges, the Modern Lovers, and the New York Dolls. These bands paved the way for the huge wave of punk rock to hit America in the early 1970's. They changed how people looked at music because they had a completely different attitude than what people were used to at the time.United StatesWhile other bands were out there singing about happiness and love, these "pre-punk" bands were singing about not being content, instead, be angry.These new bands believed that music should have a more im portant meaning than what they were hearing from everyone else. They wanted to make music that made people take a closer look at the society around them and find out how bad it actually is. There music was not widely accepted at the time because people didn't want that, they wanted to be happy and ignore the worlds problems, which was the popular thing to do at that point in time.Because bands like the Velvet Underground had such unpopular styles, it was very hard for them to get signed for a record contact. Record companies knew that not many people would buy their albums, so they stood to lose money.A club called CBGB's (Country...

Abortion Essay Example for Free (#4)

Abortion Essay Essay Topic: Abortion Choose cite format: APA MLA Harvard Chicago ASA IEEE AMA company About StudyMoose Contact Careers Help Center Donate a Paper Legal Terms & Conditions Privacy Policy Complaints ? There’s a lot of speculation going on right now about whether or not abortion is ethical. Many people believe that there should be laws against it, that it should be banned entirely. Thousands spend time protesting abortion, stating that it is a sin, and that it is the same as murdering a child. However, the majority of those who claim these things don’t have their facts quite right. When an abortion is performed, the fetus is in a very early stage of development. Most brain cells are not yet developed, and this means that the fetus cannot feel pain. The â€Å"silent screams† that those who oppose abortion often mention are nonexistent. Fetuses cannot scream, move, or feel at this point in the pregnancy. Additionally, aborting a fetus is certainly not the same as murdering a fully-developed, self-sufficient child. At this stage in a fetus’ development, it is entirely unable to survive outside of the woman’s womb. It is incapable of breathing as well as conscious thought. It is not yet a child, but merely a developing organism with the capability of becoming one. Abortion should be kept legal. While I do not think it should be used as a standard form of birth control, it definitely needs to remain an option. What if you found yourself pregnant after being a victim of rape? Just imagine trying to provide a quality life for a baby while you’re so young yourself, especially seeing as you aren’t pregnant as a result of your own decision, but because of some cruel person’s actions. Why should that child have to grow up to have a life in either a struggling one-parent household or an orphanage? If we get some of the facts out there, I believe that people might begin to see that abortion is really not such a sin. Maybe when others start to realize this, some of the laws in certain countries that do not allow abortion will be lifted. After all, is it not a terrible thing to have tons of children living their entire lives in poverty? Think about this for a second: what’s better, terminating an undeveloped, non-autonomous fetus, or watching a child slowly die due its young parent’s lack of income? Abortion. (2017, Jan 08).

Entrepreneurship questions Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Entrepreneurship questions - Assignment Example This discussion shall focus on the earning based approach together with its strengths and weaknesses. Moreover it will focus on factors that may affect franchising over the next ten years. This mode of business valuation is based on the concept of predicting the probability of a business to make profits and more wealth in future. In this case, the valuator may undertake various forms of calculation majorly based on determining future income cash flows by using a company’s records indicating past earnings as well as other records indicating general information of past performance. This is specifically done by creating a normalcy of expected revenue and the multiplying it with a specific capitalization factor. One of the strengths of the earning-based approach is the fact that it involves the use of simple computing methods such as the Price Multiple Earnings. Moreover, this method has been considered relatively more accurate as compared to other methods like asset based approach. One the other hand, it is quite challenging to attain 100% accuracy with this method making its greatest weakness. Increasing business competition is one imperative factor that will affect franchising over the next ten years. This is due to the fact majority of upcoming businesses are exposed to high rates of competition with already established businesses thus compelling them to use business models of these already established businesses. Moreover, varying economic factors i.e. fluctuation of prices that majorly affects new small scale businesses may affect franchising over the next decade; this may compel such enterprises to franchise with already established and financially stable businesses. "EARNINGS VERSUS CASH BASED VALUATION TECHNIQUES." EARNINGS VERSUS CASH BASED VALUATION TECHNIQUES. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2014.

Community Profile (demography) - Brisbane City Inner Essay

Community Profile (demography) - Brisbane City Inner - Essay Example Brisbane is the busiest commercial centre of the Queensland, which not only earns significant revenue for the entire state, but also it carries the load of unemployment, educational and health requirements of Queensland. It is therefore the people from suburb regions migrate towards the capital city for business and employment purposes. The history as well as the demographic, cultural, social, economic and religious aspects of the city have been analysed under the following headings: Historical Background: The archaeologists have defined various methodologies while detecting the historical backgrounds of different regions and cities of the world. The same is the case with Brisbane city, where the archaeologists and theorists lay stress upon estimating and analysing the nature, characteristics and features of creeks, hills, meadows and ravines, situated in Brisbane, around which this splendid city has been constructed. â€Å"To discover the early history of Brisbane, one needs to look no further than the oyster shell mounds found along the canyons and ravines of its creeks. From those mounds, archaeologists have unearthed relics of the first inhabitants of the area: the Costanoan Indians.† (Retrieved from ci.brisbane.ca.us) The Costanoan Indians lived in this coastal city for decades with peace and solidarity till the European nations started arriving towards the city and taking its hold through their military might. Though the US, French and other Europea n nations set their foot in the land, it were the British forces officials who captured the control of the country and set up their political and military establishment in Australia. Sir Thomas Brisbane is regarded as the founder person of the Brisbane city in 1825, which established the city on modern lines. The city was divided into zones and councils during the second half of twentieth century, and is still in

Only in America Essay Example for Free

Only in America Essay â€Å"Only in America† was written by Leiber, Stoller, Weill, and Mann (1963) as a song to propagate the American dream. After more than four decades of American dream to own a house, a car, and to have a good-paying job one can see that it is not enough any longer for many ‘new’ Americans. Hard work and determination perhaps were good enough tools to â€Å"take a giant step and reach right up and touch the stars†¦Ã¢â‚¬  four decades ago (that is if you were the right skin color) but not any longer. It does take a genius of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs to become wealthy using their own talents as leverage. Or it takes a sheer luck and some intuition to participate in real estate speculations at exactly the right time. Either, that precludes honest working folks who work their given hours a week and get enough to pay the bills. More (2003) compared such to a drug â€Å"first prescribed to us as children in the form of a fairy tale. † Certainly, it happens for some, for a very few. It does seem that those very few knew exactly what they were doing – either investing into the right stock, buying properties when they still cost in low 100s in California, or get on the tip of the wave of progress, like Bill Gates did. Well, for the few it worked but not for the majority of us. It is not difficult to figure out the reasons. A rational thought would suggest that American government is able to render every citizen rich – not necessarily with the money distribution but with the controlling the purchase power of an average citizen. If to eliminate the political agenda and change the status quo to people-centered market, it is not difficult to see that one carrying President of the country can do so by a) eliminating unnecessary government agencies and departments and b) removing political and financial limitations to the free enterprise. The latter action by itself can be very powerful for business owners not having a need to compensate for the high rents and other costs to run a business will keep their products of low cost. Everything, from energy to communication services, to the infrastructure will cost less, much less as the result. Any business owner understands that selling products by the quantity will bring more financial result than doing so by higher cost and selling by the lesser numbers. As the result, people, even those with meager incomes, will have more purchase power by being able to afford much more than they can do today. That would raise the daily comfort of people. They would become content for their minds would not be preoccupied with the sheer necessities needed by their families. Material things and services, like houses, cars, food, clothes, education needs, health needs should not cost so much of a fortune that people must get into the life-time debt to be able to afford it. If the necessities are met and people do not have a difficult time to find an appropriate for them job, the content should become widespread. As of now, most people live in fear, in fear of loosing their jobs, in fear not being able to pay the mortgage and the car notes, for fear not being able to meet their responsibility to their families. People who live by such fear cannot experience content. I once knew a family, good solid one. He was a teacher working in the same district for over a decade. She worked at the bank. They had a nice house, two cars, good-looking furniture, but could not save enough to pay their financial obligations sooner. They lived a nice life, but in debt. And then, the tragedy stroke. He lost the purpose, feeling stagnated he left to his home country that he came from originally. Looking for happiness, he left his wife and children. To avoid gossip and talk in their community, she moved to another state with 50K dollars that came from his retirement plan. Because she could not afford to continue paying for the house, the house was foreclosed. The same happened with one of the cars. Her credit was in ruin, and now she had to start anew. She was afraid to touch the money, whatever left from moving and initial expenses. After three months, she found a job at the bank. The income was just enough to cover rent and monthly bills. What did happen to such a strong family who used to have everything: each other, nice house, cars, two wonderful kids, and ability to buy things they wanted†¦? One could say they lived American Dream, but did they? Does material things constitute the Dream most people strive to in their lives? It is apparent to me, that people who do not have material comfort around them, whose life is difficult because they have to calculate whether they have enough money to purchase oranges or grapes but cannot afford both, they would think that the end to their means would be living like that couple lived. And yet, my friend, being a nice and decent man felt trapped and not content. Once people obtain the material means around them they soon realize that their American Dream was not fancy cars or bigger homes – it is the opportunity to do what their heart desires: self-expression in the least amount. That would not happen if he had an opportunity to change a job that he was doing for 26 years, or at least to take a year of sabbatical. That would not happen if they were not in debt paying $ 2500 for the house and $ 1000 a month for their two cars. That would not happen if financial obligations did not overload him conflicting with his inner desires. Here, I believe I came to the root of the question whether this great country can give a feeling of being at home. Obviously, having enough income is not enough. Eliminating the need to obtain debts to rise economically perhaps would do for some. To my opinion, however, the concept of American Dream was neither of that: it had nothing to do with the financial part of it. If one looks deeper perhaps it can be seen that the fulfillment of personal dreams through the structure’s support to each family’s happiness can render people happier, and if happy they feel the more at home they would consider the country they live in. When people have to struggle thinking about their family economics and knowing that they cannot change their occupations because the discontinuation of income would bring their family to the financial ruin, they cannot think of their personal development through the change of direction in their life. They grow more and more discontent and discontented people are bitter people, people who can at the brink of a move quit their country and go looking for the happiness elsewhere. In conclusion, more and more people understand that described is not enough to be happy in life, that doing the job for the only purpose to get the money to buy the house and a nice car causes stagnation, and as the result unhappiness and discontent. An opportunity that was promised as a part of all American dream is waning and harder to grasp. That is because people understand more and more that to be called Home, the society must offer something else: as in the promise to personal fulfillment – whatever it be. The idea of a home can be different from different perspectives. Certainly, living in a house with the backyard, driving a brand new car, and having a respectable income can make characteristics of a home for many people who had never had such before. Yet, for others these are not enough for they seek something else, perhaps certain characteristics of the society that increase the degree of their satisfaction from living this life. Yet for others the dream is to become wealthy just to discover (in case if they achieve it) that even that was an illusion. The idea of a home cannot be objectified for it is unique to the subjective perception of every person who lives within the society. References More, M. (2003). Dude, where’s my country? (publisher? ) Jay and the Americans (1963). Only in America. Song written by Leiber, J. , Stoller, M. , Weill, C. , and Mann, B.

What do you find to admire in the poetry of Christina Rossetti? :: English Literature

What do you find to admire in the poetry of Christina Rossetti? Christina Rossetti was born on the 5th December 1830 and died in 1894. She was an English poet and a devout High Anglican, from an Anglo - Italian background. She also was the sister of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, who was a famous artist. Christina Rossetti could be described as one of the 19th Century's 'great odd women.' Even though she did have a variety of poems, no one has said she was a 'great' poet; however, the reason why we are so interested in her is because she was writing poetry in Victorian England and middle - class women were not seen to have any power. The fact that she had even been writing poetry was very unusual, as most females had little rights at this time. Most of her poetry expresses unfulfilled spiritual yearning, frustrated love and the sadness that is spread through her poems may be due to unhappy love affairs in her youth, or to the ill health she constantly suffered. Some examples of this are, 'When I am deadà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦' and 'After death.' These poems are obviously about death and her poems are sometimes optimistic and depressing. But simply by writing poetry at this time, she was making a statement about how a lot of women felt during this period. One of the things I admire in the poetry of Christina Rossetti is that she was very honest in what she wrote. She was not afraid to express personal thoughts; for example in 'A Birthday' she says, 'My heart is like a singing bird.' This is very dramatic as she normally writes about darker feelings. Christina Rossetti is also not afraid of dying as she has strong religious beliefs that echo through each poem. For example in 'Song', she expresses that in some way she is looking forward to death and she feels that when she dies she will be a peace. When she wrote her poems, most of them were very depressing but she did, from time, to time write about happiness; for example the poem, which I mentioned previously, 'A Birthday.' This poem is about happiness and feelings of love that inspire her. In it, she is very happy and she cannot describe how she feels enough. Another thing that I admire is that she had the ability to write in different poetic styles; ballads, sonnets and songs, among others. Ballads are a simple song and are very sentimental often with several verses, with the same beat and rhythm. 'Maude Clare' is an example of a Ballad.

Amazon Business Model Essay

Overview: Amazon.com was founded in 1994, it started by selling books online. As it grew, the company started offering various products and services. Some goods include: DVDs, videos, electronics, camera and photography, clothing apparels, shoes, and so forth. Other retailers have merged with Amazon.com to offer diverse quality of items based on different degrees of usage, such as new, refurbished, and used items. The company’s headquarter is in Seattle, Washington. It has six global websites that serves customers that are based in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Canada, and Japan. Their website features: e-mail order verification, customer review on products, and one-click shopping. Vision: According to Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com, they want to build one of the most customer-centric company in the world. A place where people can find everything they want to buy online (Amazon.com: the Hidden Empire, 2011). Mission: â€Å"Work Hard, Have Fun, and Make History.† The company’s core value is based upon customer obsession. With the help of innovation and technology, they want to take lead in customer care (Fast Moving Consumer Goods, 2009). Business Model A business model is a conceptual framework which expresses the underlying economic logic and system. It proves how a business can appropriate costs, make money, and deliver value to customers. As a result, this segment will introduce this company’s model, and how over the course of several years, it has managed to adapt their model to keep itself ahead (Business Model Definition, N.D). Business Strategy: Business Foundation: The foundation of Amazon.com was built on the ability to transform. It has proved that when opportunities arise to serve new or existing customers, it manages to adapt new business models to exploit it. The company is able to launch and run new businesses while extracting value on existing ones. Accordingly, they will satisfy their customer’s need no matter what, even if it is foreign to their current model. â€Å"You cannot stop at what you are good at.† Jeff Bezos says, â€Å"You have to ask what your customers need and want, and then, no matter how hard it is, you better get good at those things.† (Jeff Bezos Biography, 2001). The leader of Amazon was always interested in building an online retailer. The business model was not uniquely customized to the peculiarity of the Internet, nor was it predominantly innovative as it was based upon an online catalog operation. He saw himself improving on the traditional brick-and-mortar stores saying, â€Å"Look at e-retailing. The key trade that we make is that we trade real estate for technology. Real estate is the key cost of physical retailers. That’s why there’s the old saw: location, location, location. Real estate gets more expensive every year, and technology gets cheaper every year. And it gets cheaper fast.† (Online Extra: Q&A, 2001). However, it was an inexperienced observation when the company assumed that it could expand without making physical investments. Currently, Amazon has invested a large amount of funds into warehouses. Third Party Sellers: After gaining a large amount of profit from their book industry, they began to expand into easily shippable consumer goods. This lead them into two new directions; the first initiative was to host small business as part of the Z-Shop project. The second was partnering with several e-retailers that sold goods that Amazon.com did not. These projects allowed merchants to list up to 3,000 items at cost of 9.99 USD a month (Amazon.com Opens zShops, 1999). Even though this creates competition between Amazon.com and the third party sellers, it gains a percentage of each sale as commission from these merchants. The company obtains information on consumer’s purchasing habits, and create one destination where purchasers enjoy a consistent experience (Chaffey, D., 2012). Competitive Environment As stated previously, Amazon.com is an e-market, and in order to analyze the competitive environment both SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) and Porter’s Five Forces will be discussed. SWOT Analysis Strengths: As of January 2010, Amazon.com has three times the Internet sales revenue of the runner up, Staples. By offering a large amount of varied categories through its website and other international ones (Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.co.fr, and so on), it has managed to grow to a customer based company with over 30 million people. In addition, the online retail format enables the company to reduce costs of managing inventory (Amazon.com; online bookstore, 2008). Due to Amazon.com building their business model around their customer’s ever-changing tastes and preferences, they were able to avoid the dot-com bust – a period between 2000-2002, where many dot-com companies went bankrupt (Dot-com bust, 2012). Amazon.com has successfully managed to make its customers to feel that anything they could possibly want could be found on their website. Additionally, its products are marketed at a competitive price. Another important factor is their speedy delivery with their usage of UPS and FedEx (United States) and Royal Mail (United Kingdom). The company also caters for people that prefer online shopping with extra services such as Amazon Prime – a service with a yearly payment, customers are eligible for free next day delivery. Even though Amazon.com is known to be an online seller of most things, it still excels in its original market of book selling. Evidence of such is that students are more likely to use the marketplace to purchase or sell used university books at a fair value. Weaknesses: From a financial standpoint, Amazon.com’s goal of being a customer-centric company that wants to gain a market share rather than profit may not be appealing to investors. Also by relying on third party sellers to provide products to customers, there is the risk that the seller may fail to commit to their sale. Customers will most likely blame Amazon; therefore, damaging Amazon.com’s reputation more than the third party. Another disadvantage is that prices may differ due to geographical location and economy, for example a FILCO Keyboard is 100USD in the in the States; whereas, in the United Kingdom, it is 100GBP. (Amazon.com; online bookstore, 2008). Opportunities: There is an opportunity to expand to other emerging countries such as China, India, and the Middle East. Not only does Amazon have opportunities to expand its base to other geographical locations around the world, it also has the chance to provide many local shops to sell its products abroad through their website. There will be an incentive for retailers to post products on Amazon’s website to increase their sales around the globe, as a result, the company will generate more revenue through third party sales. In addition, it is also possible to open retail stores or provide its own goods such as the Kindle Fire to well-known and established retailers. These suppliers could then be paid a small commission fee to have them display their goods in a proper showcase. This will allow customers to physically interact with the company’s gadgets similar to an Apple store. They could also provide tech support to any problems that may arise. Threats: Currently Amazon.com faces the threat of 15 court cases in regards to patent infringement. Moreover, international issues with their foreign websites may occur, such as export and import restrictions, taxes, tariffs, trade barriers, different payment cycles, and political instability. To illustrate, American electronics use different voltages compared to Europeans, which may cause issues to buyers that are unaware; therefore, Amazon must take extra precaution to ensure that customers are fully aware of what they are purchasing. It may also struggle to provide proper customer support to people that have purchased goods abroad. Porter’s Five Forces Threat of New Entrants: It is unlikely that competitors will be able to compete with Amazon.com’s information system. The technology that has been used in their website is unique, such as the One-click shopping. It has been patented to deter their competitors from copying it. Competitors will find it difficult to compete with Amazon’s brand recognition, because they are well-known for selling books online and are fairly established in that market (Analysing Amazon.com, 2006). Bargaining Power of Buyer: Due to a wide variety of choice, the bargaining power is high as customers may choose to buy from other sites rather than Amazon. Although, Amazon.com has been known to price their products lower to compete with other services such as iTunes. Threat of Product Substitute: It may be considered high, because people might prefer to physically visit a store rather than buy it online. Bargaining Power of Supplier: Amazon.com is not allowed to directly purchase electronic products directly from main distributers such as Sony, because of its low cost strategy. On the other hand, in their book sector, the company has opened five automated distribution centers located within the United States. This lessens dependence on their main distributer, Ingram (Analysing Amazon.com, 2006). Industry Rivalry: Amazon.com has little competition versus websites that sell everything; however, they will have to compete with websites with certain niche for products. For example, competing with Newegg.com with computer parts, iTunes with music, Netflix with movies, Barnes and Nobles for books, and Best-Buy for electronics. Potential Growth through Agility and Adaptation To be regarded as an agile company it must have four characteristics; it must be flexible, adaptable, coordinated, and balanced. The business must have the capability to adjust and adapt in effective ways to environment and market changes. There are three types of agility, one that involves the customers, another with partners, and finally with operations (Marakas, 2011). Consumer Focused Strategy: As previously mentioned, Amazon.com is obsessed with its customer base, the company’s aim is at gaining market share rather than profit. Accordingly, pricing is said to be the primary tool while considering customer’s bargaining power; therefore, adjusting the price of identical goods to correspond to the purchaser’s willingness to pay is a necessity. Amazon.com does not operate in any physical stores; all of its sales occur through its website. The company captures their customers recommendations and comments for site visitors to read, and this is similar to that of a salesperson in a store offering advice on which product to buy. Their website is consistently improved to be personalized and satisfying for customers. It tracks users traffic, the number and duration of visits, what products have been looked at, and so on. Amazon.com then uses all this information to create patterns. It then uses this data promotions and evaluation of goods. Unique and personalized features such as online customer reviews, personalized recommendations, and One-Click ordering, customers truly feel as if their needs are being catered to. Amazon’s website is so technologically advanced, that each customer’s front page would be different from another (Hill, M., N.D). Furthermore, Amazon.com offer its users almost everything due to the vast amount of resources available, such as Amazon.com Auctions, Marketplace (selling of used items), and Z-Shops (third-party sellers). Growth Strategy: In late 2007, Amazon created a subsidiary company called Lab126. Their first product was the Amazon Kindle E-Book Reader. Its business model was so foreign, that it had disrupted the entire industry. In order to be able to launch this product, Amazon became an original equipment manufacturer (OEM). It has linked the Kindle into a digital media platform that used both transaction and subscription based content delivery. Content producers have also partnered up with Amazon to create new content for the Kindle. Even after changing their business model several times, their ability to improve operational efficiencies such as shopping convenience, discount pricing, ease of purchasing, reliability of order fulfillment, and to purchase a large quantity of products from suppliers allowing them to benefit from discounts and offer a wide selection of goods to their customers is the key to sustainable competitive advantage (Kotelnikov, V., N.D). Innovation Strategy: Amazon has redesigned Android 3.0, as a result, The Kindle Fire has a clean, user-friendly home screen without random widgets scattered within the interface. The company has spent several years building up their services such as their cloud music player, video service, Kindle e-books, Android App Store; therefore, the tablet has a vast amount of content. As a result, consumers will know exactly what to look for in the device, and they will know where to get its content. The price point of 199 USD – compared to 269USD for the Xoom, 379USD for the Galaxy Tab, and 499USD for the iPad (A Tablet Buyers Guide, 2012) – is a price consumers are willing to purchase and weigh off the opportunity cost. It will not affect a large portion of their disposable income; therefore, they are more likely to purchase it for their kids. It is much more appealing to purchase an item that is practical at a price of 199USD in comparison to other practical goods at >350USD price range. The objective of the Kindle Fire is mainly about media consumption. Amazon has supplied this device at a low price point, in return, customers are being hooked into Amazon’s digital distribution ecosystem. The main purpose of this is to buyers to purchase high margin items such as the Kindle Apps and E-Books. The Kindle Fire will become a platform for selling digital content, and its distributer will most likely subsidize some hardware to be able to sell more content in the long run. This is a similar approach to what they have done with the E-Reader Kindles. Adaptation Amazon.com has managed to adapt its markets to current events by creating promotional sales that are equivalent to specific dates of the year; for example, Black Friday, Christmas, and Veteran’s Day. They have daily, weekly, and monthly deals constantly running throughout the year. The company’s website places recent products that are popular on their front page, in order to have people notice it. Furthermore, Amazon.com combats competition by allowing sellers to open their stores for a small fee of 9.99 USD a month, and taking a small percent free from supplier’s sales. Conclusion The essay first introduced Amazon’s business model. This model involved business strategy, foundation, and third party sellers. It then analyses Amazon’s competitive environment through SWOT and Porter’s Five Forces. To conclude, the company has unambiguous potential growth from agility and adaptation. Amazon.com has created one of the most unique e-commerce online store by having a variety of products as well as a huge customer base that, to this day, is steadily rising. Amazon.com is a behemoth e-commerce retailer, only time will tell what wonders and innovations this company will bring in the future. Bibliography A Tablet Buyers Guide. 2012. [ONLINE] Available at: http://community.digitalmediaacademy.org/15165-ipad-2-vs-kindle-fire-xoom-others-a-tablet-buyers-guide. [Accessed 20 November 2012]. Amazon.com Opens zShops – Direct Marketing News. 1999. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.dmnews.com/Amazon.comcom-opens-zshops/article/62986/. [Accessed 14 November 2012]. Amazon.com: the Hidden Empire. 2011. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.slideshare.net/faberNovel/amazoncom-the-hidden-empire. [Accessed 14 November 2012]. Amazon.com; online bookstore. 2008. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.ukessays.com/essays/education/amazon.php. [Accessed 15 November 2012]. Analysing Amazon.com: Macro Environment and Competitive Forces – Yahoo! Voices – voices.yahoo.com. 2006. [ONLINE] Available at: http://voices.yahoo.com/analysing-amazoncom-macro-environment-competitive-138171.html?cat=31. [Accessed 15 November 2012]. Business Model Definition | Investopedia . N.D.[ONLINE] Available at: htt p://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/businessmodel.asp#axzz2CcsE9gly. [Accessed 18 November 2012]. Chaffey, D. Amazon.com case study – Smart Insights Digital Marketing Advice. 2012. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.smartinsights.com/digital-marketing-strategy/online-business-revenue-models/amazon-case-study/. [Accessed 13 November 2012]. Dot-com bust definition in the Free Online Encyclopedia. 2012. [ONLINE] Available at: http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/dot-com+bust. [Accessed 14 November 2012]. E Marketing Lecture, Part 1. 2009. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.slideshare.net/Ballkultur/e-marketing-lecture-part-1-to-3. [Accessed 15 November 2012]. Fast Moving Consumer Goods: Amazon – Business Model. 2009. [ONLINE] Available at: http://fmcgcentral.blogspot.co.uk/2009/01/amazon-business-model-company-overview.html. [Accessed 18 November 2012]. Hill, M., N.D. E-Business. Available at: http://highered.mcgrawhill.com/sites/dl/free/0073195588/438531/sample_chapter3 .pdf. [Accessed 19 November 2012]. Jeff Bezos Biography — Academy of

Creative story Essay

What is creative story? In general, creative story is writing which expresses the writer’s thoughts and feelings in an imaginative way. The key elements of a creative story include characters, theme, setting, plot, structure, complication, crisis, and resolution. Characters are tour guides who lead the readers into the fantastic world created by the writer and theme is what the writer wants to show to the readers. Setting is important in making the story â€Å"real† and creating the atmosphere. Plot is something that happens to the characters and structure shows how the writer develops the story. Complication and crisis make the story tenser and more interesting. Resolution ends up the story. To write a creative story, I will follow the four stages of writing. First, I will write an attention-catching opening to introduce the characters, location and setting. Followed by, I will build up tension and conflicts to make the story more exciting. Then, the story reaches its climax. Finally, the characters sort out the problem and the story comes to an end. In the writing, I will use figurative language like similes, metaphors, personification and hyperbole. These can make my story alive and help the reader visualize a clearer image by comparing it to something that they are familiar with. I think it’s important to â€Å"think out of the border† when writing a creative story. Everything can happen in a creative story like an alien attacks people or a school suddenly disappears. Moreover, I will enjoy the process of writing and express my thoughts and feelings to the readers through my story.

The Novel Writer’s Secret Short Stories - Freewrite Store

The Novel Writer’s Secret Short Stories - Freewrite Store Today’s guest post is by author Jeff Somers.  He has published nine novels, including the  Avery Cates Series  of noir-science fiction novels from Orbit Books, the darkly hilarious crime novel  Chum  from Tyrus Books, and most recently tales of blood magic and short cons in the  Ustari Cycle. Go Short to Go Long: Going from Short Stories to Novels The Short Story is having a bit of a Moment these days. After a lengthy period of being overshadowed by longer-form fiction, readers, critics, and (most importantly) film and television producers seem to be waking up to the unique old-school pleasures of a short piece of fiction. Writers like George Saunders, who largely specialize in short stories (Lincoln in the Bardo was his first published novel), have bubbled into the mainstream- Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad is composed of interlocked short stories, and it won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize. Some of the biggest movies of the past few years- like Arrival or The Curious Case of Benjamin Button- have been based on short stories. And Amazon just picked up Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams,an anthology series based on the short works of the famous sci-fi author. A lot of writers shy away from short stories. Stories don’t earn a whole lot of money, as a rule, and so can be seen as a poor use of a writer’s time. Plus, they’re tough to write; unlike a novel, where you can spin words upon words as you write through problems, the format is tight and constricted, requiring ruthless cutting and efficient plotting. This is also whyevery writer who aspires to write and sell a novel should be writing short stories- and a lot of them. Challenge: Accepted George R.R. Martin, a man who has managed to make writing huge, wordy novels look easy, once offered this piece of writing advice: â€Å"I would also suggest that any aspiring writer begin with short stories. These days, I meet far too many young writers who try to start off with a novel right off, or a trilogy, or even a nine-book series. That’s like starting in at rock climbing by tackling Mt. Everest. Short stories help you learn your craft.† The fact that writing a coherent short story that’s an affecting, complete piece of work is difficult is your first clue that you should be doing it. In fact, writing a short story exercises several writing muscles that will benefit your novel writing: Finishing. Probably the hardest part of writing any piece of fiction is getting to The End. Books often begin with a blaze of inspiration and excitement, then get bogged down in characters that don’t seem interesting, plots that go nowhere, and the slow creeping sense that you are a fraud and an impostor. Short stories train you to get from the beginning to the end without investing months or years of your time- and like any muscle memory, physical or mental, the more you get to The End the easier it becomes in the future. Efficiency. The open-ended expanse of novels (first drafts can be as flabby and overwritten as we like, after all) encourages experimentation and, to use a scientific term, noodling. All that noodling can bulk up your word count without actually moving the story forward or clarifying your characters’ motivations. Word count is a satisfying metric, making you feel like you’ve achieved something regardless of the quality of those words. But in a short story, there’s no room for noodling. Writing the short form forces you to cut your plot, your characterizations, and your world-building down to the essentials, making your game that much tighter. Creativity. Short stories also offer a way of capturing ideas when you don’t have time to work on a longer version of an idea. Haruki Murakami, the author of Kafka on the Shore and 1Q84 among many other amazing novels, once said â€Å"A short story I have written long ago would barge into my house in the middle of the night, shake me awake and shout, 'Hey, this is no time for sleeping! You can't forget me, there's still more to write!' Impelled by that voice, I would find myself writing a novel. In this sense, too, my short stories and novels connect inside me in a very natural, organic way.† In other words, sometimes a short story is just a short story, and sometimes it’s the tip of a novel-length iceberg. Short Stories Every Day When discussing the craft and process of writing, you’ll eventually hear that if you want to improve you need to write every day or as near to it as possible. The more you write (and the more you read), the better your writing will become because practice is an essential part of any skill or craft. Most of us have to work pretty hard to find the time to write every day, making that time precious. Your choice of what to work on during those precious hours (or minutes) is one of the most important decisions you’ll make as a writer. I strongly suggest you use that time to work on short stories unless you have a very clear concept and way forward for a novel. I’ve completed 35 novels. Many of those are awful, some are mediocre, and nine have been published (so far). One reason I’ve been able to plan, compose, and sell so many novels is that I write at least one short story every month, without fail. I started doing this thirty years ago, and I now have more than 500 stories written in long-hand in notebooks. When I finish one, I immediately start another. As with my novels, most of these aren’t great; I’ve sold about 40 over the years, and most of them never make it out of the notebooks at all. My goal isn’t necessarily to write a brilliant, publishable short story, though- those come as a side-effect of my true goal, which is to practice. To try different things. Working on a story each month means I can play around with a narrative device for a month, then capture an idea that’s been buzzing inside my head the next. After that, I can write a story focusing on a dialog trick I’ve thought of, and the month after that I can write my version of someone else’s story so I can tear apart their style, their mechanics, their tricks, and tics to see what can be seen. Every story I write, month after month, I’m trying something new, something that maybe I’m no good at, something that won’t work at all- but it’s low-risk, because at the end of the month I write The End and mo ve on to the next idea, the next experiment, the next challenge. This has had an incredibly positive effect on my longer works. First of all, some of these experiments lead to ideas and scenarios that grow naturally into novels- my book We Are Not Good People ultimately sprang from a pretty awful short story written a long, long time ago when I thought a mullet was an acceptable hairstyle. And every time I push myself to write a story in a new way, or using new, unfamiliar tools, I get a faint echo of that first crazy energy that drove me to write in the first place. And the fact that every day, without fail, I’m working on a new story means that my mind is always focused on writing and the mechanics of telling a tale, keeping me sharp. The TL;DR version is: Short stories for the Win. So, writers, how do you keep your skills and mind sharp even when your novel only exists as 4,000 Post-It Notes and a dream journal?    Jeff Somers (www.jeffreysomers.com) began writing by court order as an attempt to steer his creative impulses away from engineering genetic grotesqueries. He has published nine novels, including the Avery Cates Series of noir-science fiction novels from Orbit Books (www.avery-cates.com) and the Ustari Cycle  Series of urban fantasy novels. His short story Ringing the Changes was selected for inclusion in Best American Mystery Stories 2006,his story Sift, Almost Invisible, Through appeared in the anthology Crimes by Moonlight edited by Charlaine Harris, and his story Three Cups of Tea  appeared in the anthology Hanzai Japan. He also writes about books for Barnes and Noble and About.com and about the craft of writing for Writer’s Digest, which will publish his book on the craft of writing Writing Without Rules in 2018. He lives in Hoboken with his wife, The Duchess, and their cats. He considers pants to always be optional.

Technology implementation paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Technology implementation paper - Essay Example The traditional business generally relies on a series of technologies, including separate payroll systems, distinct inventory and warehousing applications, and various accounting software in order to meet the needs of the business environment. When such a disconnected series of systems exists, the business tends to require multiple support staff, from the information technology team to the end-user, in order to make the business function efficiently. However, in the fast-paced, contemporary business environment, with rising labor costs and the economics of cost reduction initiatives, the need for a more enhanced, streamlined method of doing business is required so as to stay competitive within any particular industry. For firms in search of enhanced business applications, SAP can mean the difference between business success or failure. purchasing, human resources, and logistics, into a singular program (Blackstone & Bujold, 2005). The process of implementing SAP is not a simplistic operation, as with most companies the set-up process involves group representatives from each division of the business, who must offer advice and suggestion to the SAP programmers in order to incorporate actual business practice into the design of the new technology, thus making SAP a unique application, custom-tailored for the needs of each individual firm. Having offered a brief understanding of SAP and its purpose, this report will highlight the long-term plan required for incorporating this application across the domestic divisions of ABC Industries. There are four phases required to SAP implementation: The planning stage, blueprint and training development, tangible program development, and the testing phase, in which a significant portion of the business staff are involved in running divisional scenarios to test the integrity of the system and the viability of its programmed features (Vogle, 2004). This process, based on the needs of ABC Industries, will

Use of intravenous quinine sulfate remains to treat severe malaria Essay

Use of intravenous quinine sulfate remains to treat severe malaria - Essay Example She did not take the malaria tablets but instead took her son’s leftovers tablets after becoming sick. She at first presents with a normal mental state of mind but is febrile and ill appearing. She soon becomes obtunded. The laboratory tests clearly reveal that important anion-gap acidosis, but the blood smear is not at present in progress. The objective related critical parts include the following, to identify that the patient is suffering and is in risk and to order the relevant tests for severe malaria and other diseases in the differential diagnosis, to identify the seizure, com, and acidosis as the manifestations of the severe malaria, and more so to remember to look for or treat hypoglycemia. Another thing is to offer supportive care , including the fluids, anticonvulsants and end tracheal intubation as needed to begin on the empiric therapy for severe malaria with the intravenous articulate to identify the complications of the treatment, to also seek for the outside ass istance of the malaria care, including consulting those individuals who are specialized. Over the years, the intramuscular quinine has been the first-line treatment for the treatment of malaria. Since the intravenous quinine is not available in the US, guanidine is the only drug of choice. This is a more effective drug than quinine and is less likely to bring about hypoglycemia, but is endemic and hence calls for continuous monitoring. In case of severe malaria with elevated parasitemia, which do not respond clearly to the anti-malarial drugs, an individual may consider an exchange transfusion, although there is no strong clinical evidence to support its issue. Thick and... The intention of this study is severe malaria as prevalent globally, yet as an uncommon disease posing a challenge to education in nonendemic countries. Severe malaria refers to the malaria with signs of end organ dysfunction, as manifested by comma, pulmonary edema, renal failure, circulatory collapse, or severe anemia. Malaria accounts for over a million deaths per year. A very useful aspect of the severe malaria case management is pre-referral treatment that is administered to patient with severe malaria before they are referred to a health facility as explained by Beauchamp & Childress. This is crucial, as most malaria deaths, particularly in Africa, take place outside the hospitals, either in the communities or at a lower level of care. Studies evaluating the role rectal articulate and as a pre-referral treatment have found that these options are highly efficacious. However, the biggest challenge faced in resource-limited settings has been the non-availability of these preparati ons in health centers. The author of the paper has tabled a review of research in regard to the effectiveness of Intravenous quinine as a treatment for the severe malaria and hoe the considerations of the empirical understanding on this subject has helped shaped my evidence-based practice for the future as stated by Holland & Rees. In addition he has acknowledged the understanding of the other four fundamental patterns of knowing is important to the awareness of the complexity and diversity of the nursing understanding.