Social networking is effecting students grades Essay

Social networking is effecting students grades - Essay Example The social networking regimes have therefore hurt the cause of education more than anything else and the ones who have been hit the hardest are the students themselves. This raises an interesting proposition altogether – why not regulate the usage of social networking by the students so they can concentrate more towards their studies and less on how to mingle with friends, acquaints and the like? There seem to be no answers to such issues. The students need to understand that the social networking elements and tools have been affecting their educational realms and now is the time to realize what is hurting them the most. The sooner they will wake up to such conclusions, the better it would be for their respective selves. However, what is unfortunate is the aspect of non-realization that social networking is providing them more worries than anything else, and now is the time to understand that they have to find a way to move ahead with the social linkages that they have develop ed over the Internet. What is even more worrying is the fact that these social networking tools have involved within them gaming elements that have literally taken away the concentration levels of the students, and given them an alternate path in the wake of spending their lives, their own way (Hitch, 2011). The social networking understandings within the students’ grades have been proven as true with the passage of time. The teachers, instructors and even parents have raised their voice against the tyranny that these social networking elements have created, which have literally impacted the students in more ways than one. There seems to be a great amount of anarchy within the related ranks, and the undue credit for the same does rest on the shoulders of the social networking websites, tools and programs. Since the social networking domains do not consider how the same would be taking charge of the students and their related folds, they are trying their best to introduce new and novel applications, programs and features. This will ensure that the social networking will remain as pivotal for the sake of the students, much more than what education does for their own good. This is a very unfortunate happening but it is taking place for a number of reasons that can be deemed as wrong more than anything else. The social networking does more harm than offering any solace to the young ones who are bound to go wrong in the face of severe competition that they receive at the hands of their colleagues and friends, as well as the technological mastery that the social networking websites and tools have to propose, day in and day out. Therefore how social networking is being manifested by the elders within the society is something to write home about (Sarachan, 2011). This has been made apparent through the different procedures that they have adopted to keep away the perils that come attached with the social networking elements and realms within the society. It is f or this reason that social networking is now being seen as a very dangerous metaphor within the terrains of the society as the students are the worst sufferers at the end of the day. In the end, it would be proper to state that the social networking issues should be tackled at the earliest. This will help resolve the disputes and conflicts that have come to the fore. It will also restore the confidence of the parents within their young ones who are

Online Shopping Buyer Behaviour in Fashion industry Dissertation

Online Shopping Buyer Behaviour in Fashion industry - Dissertation Example The paper "Online Shopping Buyer Behaviour in Fashion industry" will look into the differences between the traditional retail marketing and online shopping in the fashion industry. The main differences between the traditional and online shopping preferences for fashion products include display, expense, location, communication and technology. As far as display is concerned, the traditional fashion shopping offered the buyers an opportunity to touch and handle fashion products physically when they are interested in something. This had the benefit of the buyer ensuring that the product is of high quality and that it is durable. This was very beneficial to the fashion product buyers. On the other hand, online shopping for fashion products does not offer the purchaser a chance of getting into physical contact with the products. Instead, the buyer will have to be contented with the graphical displays, pictures and the text descriptions for the products. This has the effect of ensuring tha t prospective customers would rather buy from the traditional fashion retailers rather than the modern online fashion retailer. Expenses are also major determinants and number of factors exist that fashion product retailers need to put into mind. One of the factors is that while the traditional retailers must look for viable premises that will attract customers, the online retailers do not have to look for premises. Hence, the traditional retailers will have to incur many expenses for setting up the businesses.

Customer Satisfaction Towards Online Shopping

Customer Satisfaction Towards Online Shopping Customer satisfaction is the degree to which customer expectations of a product or service are met or exceeded. It is seen as a key performance indicator within business. In a competitive marketplace where businesses compete for customers, customer satisfaction is seen as a key differentiator and increasingly has become a key element of business strategy. In the era of globalization electronic marketing is a great revolution. Over the last decade maximum business organizations are running with technological change. Online shopping or marketing is the use of technology for better marketing performance. And retailers are devising strategies to meet the demand of online shoppers; they are busy in studying consumer behavior in the field of online shopping, to see the consumer attitudes towards online shopping. Therefore we have also decided to study the factors that affect MMU students satisfaction of their online shopping provider. Research Background Online shopping is basically a process of selling and buying of goods and services on World Wide Web. As (Forsythe and Shi, 2003) explains Internet shopping has become the fastest-growing use of the Internet; most online consumers, however, use information gathered online to make purchases off-line. According to a report (ACNielsen Report on Global Consumer Attitudes towards Online Shopping, 2005) published on www.acnielsen.com, one tenth of the world population is shopping online , till October 2005, 627 million people have done online shopping , and according to the same report Germans and British are on the top of the list on Online Shopping. Additionally in the report published, it was confirmed that products most purchased online included books followed by DVDs, videos, games and Plane Reservations, with credit cards being the most sought method of payments for the purchases made regarding the items offered for purchase online. So many countries all over the world pour millions of dollars into online shopping as a means to purchase goods and services through the internet. The improving use of the internet has provided for fast purchase of online services as this is evident in the rapid growing internet usage activity all over Europe, with Sweden being ranked one of the high heels in Internet Usage and online Shopping in Europe coming in ninth with Japan and USA following in close competition (ACNielsen Report on Global Consumer Attitudes towards Online Shopping, 2005). During 1994, Netscape introduced SSL encryption method for data transformation online through the web, which became so important for secure online shopping. The first online shopping system was introduced by a German Company called Intershop in 1994. Follow by Amazon in 1995 and eBay in 1996. Online shopping has been getting famous since the last few years after the internet was being widely used. It began to appeal to a larger number of consumers as it gradually evolved to serve and satisfy millions of people from all over the world. Consequently, e-commerce industry has seen rapid growth. An online consumer or online seller must at least have one electronic gadget to access to the internet. Online banking system had been launched before the era of online shopping. Therefore, online banking system made online shopping much convenient. Hence, payment can be made in several forms such as cheques, debit card, electronic money or various types, cash deposit using ATM machine, gift cards and etc. Problem Statement The online retail industry is going the new era of competition. These online shopping provider need to differentiate themselves from others and present it well to become the one of the market leader in online retails industry. Competition has become more aggressive among these companies, therefore it is important for companies to figure out the factors that affects MMU students satisfaction towards their online shopping providers. Research Objective The purpose of this research is to analyze and identify the overall attitude towards online shopping and the key factors that influences MMU students satisfaction of their online shopping providers. Significance of Study The online retail is undergoing dramatic changes. This study will provide insights of the factors that affect the MMU students satisfaction of their online shopping provider. In other words it will indicate the consumer behavior in the competitive market. This research can contribute to the society and country. The result of this research will be beneficial for the online shopping provider to serve as a guideline in implementing their business strategy. With the information, the online shopping providers will be able to design packages that are satisfying consumers. They can also improve their company performance as well as to maintain their market share. This research is important because it can outline what are the factors that are affecting the MMU students satisfaction of their online shopping provider. Also, this research able to provides the factors that cause the satisfaction level. When online shopping provider understand what is the wants and needs of the consumer. Thus, it helps to reduce their cost in research and development. By then, online shopping provider can focus to increase their product features or quality that serves to the consumers. Through this study, online shopping provider can focus on what is the best business quality and services to consumers in order to maintain their life long relationship to create maximum life time value to the company itself. Before taking any actions to change the satisfaction level, the most crucial thing is to understand what factors influence customer satisfaction, and then try to make improvements in these critical areas so that they can have more satisfied and loyal customers. Scope of the Study This research is particularly interested in investigating customer satisfaction level. This paper is tending to find out what are the factors that affecting MMU students satisfaction of online shopping provider through this study. All respondents are assumed to have online shopping knowledge. There are many factors that cause the different satisfaction level of their online shopping provider. 1.7 Operational Definition 1.7.1 Online Shopping Online shopping or online retailing is a form of electronic commerce allowing consumers to directly buy goods or services from a seller over the Internet without an intermediary service. An online shop, e-shop, e-store, Internet shop, web-shop, web-store, online store, or virtual store extorts the analogy of purchasing goods or services at a retails stores or shopping center. 1.7.2 Convenience Online retail store are support the available for 24 hour 7days a week. This is a means by retailers and wholesalers to provide customers with a very convenient way to be able to do all the shopping from one spot or by just a mouse click. 1.7.3 User friendly web features and designs Online web stores need to be user friendly and easy to navigate, these being very vital influencing factors of online shopping website designs, privacy or confidentiality, website reliability, navigation, and website customer services incorporated with the website security are the most attractive features which influence the perception of consumers to buy goods and services online. 1.7.4 Time Saving With the rapid development of the World Wide Web online shopping has come to be the most sought means to purchase goods and services at the convenience for the customers as it saves time whereby being an important influencing factor towards online shopping. Browsing through the internet or searching through online catalogues can be time saving as one needs not to move from place to place and less effort is put into shopping, thus less effort is required and only patience becomes vital during the shopping process. 1.7.5 Security Security issues which is involved in keeping the information safe and accurate. 1.8 Organizational of Research These research papers are categories into five chapters. Chapter 1: Introduction In this chapter is all about the overall question and the relevant topic are being carried out for discussion. There are includes the objectives and the problem statement of this study. Besides that, the explanations of who is gaining benefits from this study are included. However, to prevent the confusion and misunderstanding of the reader those important terms are clearly defined. Chapter 2: Literature Review In this chapter cite those relevant studies related to this research. The dependent and independent variables will then be identified and use as a basis to build the theoretical framework and hypotheses development. In the other hand the arguments and opinions from different authors are add in for the purpose to support the study carry out. Chapter 3: Research Methodology In this chapter the theoretical framework and hypothesis of study will be stated. Theoretical framework shows the relationship between variables. Next, by identify the relationship those testable hypotheses are formed based .Moreover all these hypothesis are been use to examine whether the framework is in effect by using appropriate statistical analysis. The research instrument, sample size, source of data and the statistical data to be used in the study are discussed. Chapter 4: Research Findings and Discussion This chapter will present the results and discussion based on the data analyzed. Chapter 5: Conclusion In this chapter we will review the entire research from the introduction, the main details and the justification on the hypothesis constructed in the study and well as a brief look into the findings obtained from the hypothesis. The limitation and implication of the study will also be presented. Chapter 2 : Literature Review 2.1 Overview There are few causes that influencing the customer satisfaction from their online shopping provider due to the changing preferences and satisfaction toward the demand and services provided .However the literature review of the factors will be discussed as below. 2.2 Dependent Variable 2.2.1 Customer Satisfaction Customer satisfaction is an output, resulting from the customers pre-purchase comparison of expected performance with perceived actual performance and incurred cost (Churchill and Surprenant, 1982). According to Vance Christensen (2006), customer satisfaction is very different from customer loyalty.  One is a requirement to do business; the other is the basis for sustained profitability and growth. It is believe that satisfied customers will lead to their loyalty and improve revenues. Customer loyalty is the degree of a customer staying with a specific vendor or brand. If the customer is satisfied with the firms products or services, it eventually will help the firm to increase its customer loyalty. In other words, high customer satisfaction lead to high customer loyalty while low customer satisfaction lead to low customer loyalty. Customer satisfaction is a measure of expectations being exceeded, met, or not met. Besides, when thinking of customer satisfaction measurement, the firm wanted to know whether the firm is meeting or exceeding customer expectations.  The marketing literature suggests that customer satisfaction operates in two different ways: transaction-specific and general-overall (Yi, 1991). Transaction-specific concept concerns customer satisfaction as the assessment made after a specific purchase occasion. Besides, it may also provide specific diagnostic information about a particular product or service encounter. General-overall satisfaction refers to the customers rating of the brand, based on all encounters and experiences (Johnson and Fornell, 1991). It can be viewed as a function of all previous transaction-specific satisfactions (Jones and Suh, 2000). Overall satisfaction is a more fundamental indicator of the firms past, current and future performance (Anderson et al., 1994). This i s because customers make repurchase evaluations and decision based on their purchase and consumption experience to date, not just on a particular transaction or episode (Johnson et al., 2001, p.219). Many other studies (eg. Gronholdt et al., 2000; Kristensen et al., 2000; Gerpott et al., 2001; Sharma,2003; Bruhn and Grund, 2000) have shown that customer satisfaction positively affected loyalty. 2.3 Independent Variables 2.3.1 Convenience It is an investment or a cost when consumers spending their time making purchases. It takes quite a lot of time for a consumer to make purchases from shop to shop, thus online shopping helps to save a lot of their precious time and effort. The time spent plays a very important role in consumer perceptions especially the time used for shopping. Bitner, 1990; Taylor, 1994 have pointed out that waiting created a negative impact on customer service satisfaction. Consumers time will be wasted a lot if have to keep waiting for such a long time and definitely will cause the consumers to have bad impressions to the seller or company. Time and energy saving are in the same concept (Brown, 1990). Time and effort play an important role because these two factors might affect consumers convenience during shopping. Online shopping definitely can help consumers to save time and effort in purchasing process by bringing a lot of convenience. Convenience factor refers that it is easy to browse or sear ch the information through online is easier than the traditional retail shopping. Through online, consumers can easily search product catalog but if the consumer look generally for the same product or item in a traditional store manually it is difficult to visit physically and time consuming also. Convenience has always been a prime factor for consumers to shop online. Darian (1987) mentioned that online shoppers carry multiple benefits in terms of convenience, such as less time consuming, flexibility, very less physical effort etc. Bhatnagar and Ghose (2004) claims that convenience as one of the most important advantage for engaging in online shopping. According to the Robinson, Riley, Rettie and Wilsonz (2007) the major motivation for online purchasing is convince in terms of shop at any time and having bundles of items delivered at door step. Rohm and Swaminathans (2004) claims in typology of online shoppers into: Convenience shoppers, balanced buyers, variety seekers and store-oriented shoppers, based upon their preset shopping motivation. Rohm and Swaminathans (2004) findings about convenience and variety seeking are major motivating factors of online shopping and this study is consistent with Morganosky and Cudes (2000) research findings. Webchecks (1999) study shows that convenience factor is one of the biggest advantages of online shopping. Through online purchase consumers can easily compare the price than the traditional purchase. So price comparison is also another convenience factor of online shopping. 2.3.2 Website Design/Features Web site design of a web page is one of the most important factors that influence online shopping. Shergill and Chen, (2005) identified web site design characteristics as the dominant factor which influences customer satisfaction towards online purchasing. The quality of website design is very important for any online store to attract customers. Cho and Park (2001) have found in their study that customer satisfaction in e-commerce is related to the quality of website design. According to Ranganathan and Grandon (2002), website design represents the way in which the content is arranged in the website. Wolfinbarger and Gilly (2003) argued that when customers interact with an online store they prefer to do so via a technical interface and not through any employee. Therefore the design of the website, which acts as the interface, would play an important role in influencing customer satisfaction. Lee and Lin (2005) had empirically found that website design positively influences overall customer satisfaction and perceived service quality. Besides, Ranganathan and Ganapathy (2002) have empirically established that website design positively affects purchase intention. Kamariah and Salwani (2005) claims the higher website quality, the higher consumer intends to shop from internet. Web design quality has important impacts on consumer choice of electronic stores, stated by Liang and Lai (2000). Website design one of the important factor motivating consumers for online shopping. Almost 100,000 on-line shoppers surveyed by (Reibstein, 2000) shows that web site design was rated as important factor for online shopping. Another study conducted by Zhang, Dran, Small, and Barcellos (1999, 2000), and Zhang and Dran (2000) indicated that website design features of the website are important and influencing factors that leads consumers satisfaction and dissatisfaction with a specific website. A study conducted by Yasmin and Nik (2010) shows a significant relationship between online shopping activity and website features. Website design features can be considered as a motivational factor that can create positive or negative feelings with a website (Zhang, et al 1999). A study by Li and Zhang (2002), if website is designed with quality features it can guide the customers for successful transactions and attract the customers to revisit the website again. However, worse quality website features can also hamper online shopping. According to Liang and Lai (2000), web design quality or website features has direct impact on user to shop online. Moreover researchers such as Belanger, Hiller and Smith (2002) concluded that a large segment of internet users have serious concerns of security. 2.3.3 Time Saving According to Rohm and Swaminathans (2004), one possible explanation that online shopping saves time during the purchasing of goods and it can eliminate the traveling time required to go to the traditional store. On the other side, some respondent think that it is also time taken for delivery of goods or services over online shopping. To most consumers important attributes of online shopping are convenience and accessibility (Wolà ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ nbarger and Gilly, 2001): because consumers can shop on the Internet in the comfort of their home environment, it saves time and effort, and they are able to shop any time of the day or night. Especially for consumers that, owing to their extended working hours, only have a small amount of free time, online shopping is an excellent opportunity. Thus, the situational factor time pressure has an attenuating impact on the relationship between attitude and consumers intention to shop online. Because the Internet is time saving and accessible 24 hours a day, this becomes the main drive for online shopping and attitude toward Internet shopping is less important. Unexpectedly time saving is not the motivating factor for the consumers to shop online (Corbett, 2001) because it takes time receiving goods or delivery. But time saving factor can be seen through different dimensions i.e. person living in Florida can shop at Harods in London (through the web) in less time than it takes to visit the local Burdines department store (Alba et al. 1997, p. 41,emphasis added). Morganosky and Cude (2000) have concluded that time saving factor was reported to be primary reason among those consumers who have already experienced the online grocery buying. So the importance of the time saving factor cannot be neglected as motivation behind online purchasing. Additionally Goldsmith and Bridges (2000) emphasize that there is a discrimination between online shopper and non online shoppers, online shoppers are more worried about convenience, time saving and selection whereas non online shoppers are worried about security, privacy and on time delivery. A study by K amariah and Salwani (2005) shows higher website quality can highly influence customers to shop online. 2.3.4 Security Security is another dominant factor which affects consumers to shop online. However many internet users avoid online shopping because of credit card fraud, privacy factors, non delivery risk, post purchase service and so on. But transaction security on the online shopping has received attention. Safe and secured transaction of money and credit card information increases trust and decreases transaction risk. In 1995, UK has introduced Fraud free electronic shopping and later on Europe and Singapore introduced secured electronic transaction (SET). According to Bhatnagar and Ghose (2004) Security is one of the attribute which limits buying on the web as they claim that there is a large segment of internet shoppers who dont like to buy online because of their thinking about the security of their sensitive information. Cuneyt and Gautam (2004) claims trust in the internet shopping with advanced technology, and frequent online shopping to the internet being secured as a trustworthy shopping channel. Chapter 3: Research Methodology This chapter includes the research framework which identifies and helps explain the steps taken in investigating the research done. Discussion in this section will cover the research design and procedure, variables and measurement, data collection method, questionnaire design and data analysis. The research instruments, sampling process and data analysis techniques also will be discussed in this chapter. 3.1 Theoretical Framework Below is the theoretical framework for the research paper. The dependent and independent variables are clearly identified. The customer satisfaction is the dependent variable; the convenience, website design and features, time saving and security are been use for independent variables part. Convenience Customer Satisfaction toward online shopping provider Website design/features Time Saving Security The dependent variable been analyzed for the purpose to get know the solution causes problem occurs. However, both variables are link either positive or negative relationship with each others. 3.2 Hypothesis Development Hypothesis is the sate used by marketing researcher about the population parameter (Burns and Bush 2005), using prior knowledge, assumptions or intuition to form an exact specification of what the population parameter value is. Once the variables have been identified, the independent and dependent variables are then established through logical reasoning in the theoretical framework. Then the next step is to examine the relationship formed and find out whether the facts are actually accurate. In Figure 2 are clearly explain the relationship between dependent variable and independent variable that influence the perception of consumer select online shopping provider .Moreover , based on the literature review and the theoretical framework ,the hypothesis are been formed H1: There is an association between convenience and customer satisfaction of their online shopping provider H2: There is an association between the website design/features and customer satisfaction of their online shopping provider H3: There is an association between time saving and customer satisfaction of their online shopping provider H4: There is an association between security and customer satisfaction of their online shopping provider 3.3 Research Design The questionnaire design is categorized in few choices. Students from MMU will be selected as our sample of study. Questionnaires are given to respondents via online and also in hardcopy form. All the respondents are given 15 minutes to fill in the questionnaires. After this, students start collecting the data based on the questionnaires. 3.4 Research Instrument In this study questionnaire method are been chooses as a tool for the purpose of collect the data. 3.5 Sampling method Questionnaire development is a rather important element in this research yet there are many limitation of setting the questions. Hence, questionnaire developed must be clear and avoid ambiguous questions As questionnaire need to appear in a reasonable sequence that could convinced the respondent and also increasingly gives the respondent confidence and trust in both the survey and the surveyor. Hence, questionnaire development process will start by identifying the related information used to develop the question such as the independent variable that had been identify in the earlier stage of the research process. After that, it proceed by choosing the best out of the questions, so that this questionnaire can directly targeted towards the respondents behavior and perceptions of being a telecommunication users. The questionnaire is designed to draw out information on respondents demographic, their experience in using mobile hand phones, their daily average expenditures, and their awareness with various available mobile phone services. The questionnaire is divided into two sections which is section A and section B. Section A measures the demographic variables and personal information towards their choosing behavior whereas, section B measures about the independent variables differently. The methods using for each section are discussed as below: A) Multiple Choice Questions: In section A, the respondents personal basic background and perception toward the online shopping was appearing in this section. It consists of the respondents demography such as ethnicity, gender, race, age and usage of online shopping. B) Likert Scale: Section B consists of questions concerned with the dependent variables towards online in the research model such as convenience, website design/features, time saving, and security. The measurement of this research is based on Likert scale which ranging from 1 to 5. Researchers Perez, Abad, Carrilo and Fernandez (2007) found that the Likert scale to be effective in their research on the Effects of Service Quality Dimensions on Behavioral Purchase Intentions. Below is the rating scale format from strongly disagree to strongly agree: 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree 3.6 Data collection method Questionnaire 3.5.1 Primary Data The data been collected by using questionnaire method which is distributed to students in Multimedia University Melaka campus and the questionnaire is divided into two parts; part A and part B. For part A of the questionnaire is focuses on the demographic background of the respondents For part B the questionnaire consists of certain questions all divided according to the relevant independent variables. Next , all the potential relevance variable are been covered in this survey questionnaire .In order to get better understanding 5 point scale are been applied in this questionnaire form to get know clearly what the respondent actual think about their personal preferences toward online shopping and to help to reduces the hesitation for the answer may be chooses by respondents This data is used as foundation reading materials to strengthen the understanding the topic research. The secondary data for this paper included journals, books, and article been chooses to provided a lot of insight for the creation of the literature review. In addition, secondary data provided for added credibility to the paper. Research Population and Sample The MMU Melaka students will be represent the population for this research, there will be 200 questionnaire form are filled for the students in campus area of MMU .Those respondents are covered the students in all fields of education background offered by MMU Melaka who have been gone through the online shopping before . Also, the questionnaire was structured in such a way to ensure that the research objective and hypothesis of this research can be achieve . 3.7 Data analysis method Once the all the 200 completed questionnaires are gathered, the data analysis will be done according to the dissertation. Thus, all the data collected from respondents will be analyzed based on descriptive statistical analysis by using the SPSS software so as to obtain a more statistical analysis of the study. One of the strong points of SPSS is that it can perform almost any statistical analysis (Huizing 1994). Basic tests that were used in the beginning of analysis were checking for the central tendency and the dispersion of data. The mean, standard deviation, range and variance was used. There were preliminary tests done for all the sections. Descriptive Analysis: the information obtained for the frequency distribution was from the first section of the questionnaire on the demography; here a frequency table was used to explain it, with mean and standard deviation for some of the data being computed. This was done for the independent, moderator and dependent variables. The statistics  obtained are useful for describing the data, for example. In a study with large data, the summary statistics for the scale variables and measures of the data helps us to manage the data and present it in a summary table. For instance in a cricket match, player records are stored and compared with records of another player. Reliability Analysis:   a measurement is reliable if it reflects mostly true score, relative to the error. The reliability of the scales is analyzed by using Cronbachs Alpha. An alpha above 0.70 is considered as reasonably reliable while an alpha scale above 0.80 is regarded as being perfect. Spearman rank order correlation: measures the strength of association between ranked variable, whether the hypothesized variables are associates with customer satisfaction. Multiple regression analysis: It is used to analyze a single dependent variable with two or more independent variables to test which variables is the most important lead to customer satisfaction in their mobile service provider. CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDING 4.1 Introduction The chapter is divided into three different parts which are descriptive analysis, reliability analysis and results of hypothesis testing. This chapter entails the detailed analysis of variables and also data which were distributed and gathered from the MMU students. Of all 200 questionnaires that were distributed, 200 copies of the completed survey were collected. All 200 surveys form were evaluated and screened for any imperfect or missing data. After checking through the questionnaires for uncompleted as well as unanswered questionnaires, 200 of them were found to be utilizable for the purpose of this research. Data is then analyzed and tabulated for simplicity and easy understanding of the research. 4.2 Descriptive Analysis In this analysis, frequency analysis will be carried out to analyze the demographic aspects in the questionnaires. The 200 survey forms are measured demographically with regards to: Gender of respondents Age group of respondents Nationality of respondents Ethnicity of respondents Faculty of respondents Current year of respondents Respondents do online shopping or not Experience of online shopping towards respondents Amount of expense on online shopping towards respondents Amount of shopping hours on online shopping in a week towards respondents 4.2.1 DEMOGRAPHIC GENDER Table 4.2.1: Gender Gender Frequency Percentage (%) Male 92 46.0 Female 108 54.0

Using your Memory Better :: essays research papers

The task of learning and remembering all the different physical properties of lipids and proteins in Organic Chemistry can be an extremely challenging duty. Being an athletic-training major here at the University of Iowa, it is one of my many obligations to understand and be able to recall such properties very quickly. By using mnemonic strategies, memory aid techniques that use vivid imagery and organization devices, I am able to defeat the challenge in my Organic Chemistry class of getting all the physical properties of lipids and proteins into my Long Term Memory and then recall them whenever I need. In order for me to understand and remember the physical properties of lipids and proteins, I must first relate personal experiences to the information my professor gives. For example, by using the mnemonic strategy of relating an object to an image, also known as the â€Å"peg-word† system, I can remember things such as the structural make up of a saturated fatty acid, a long bumpy tube, versus an unsaturated fatty acid, a bent bumpy tube. Also with this mnemonic strategy, I can remember the structural make up of a Liposome by relating it to what a flower looks like. I can turn the task of remember what an Alpha- Helix protein looks like by associating it to the picture of a spring. A difficult subject to remember is easily turned into something easy by relating them to everyday symbols. This particular mnemonic strategy works extremely well for me because it associates items, such as the structure of Amino Acids, which are harder to understand with items that I can relate to in my everyday life, chains and springs. This technique puts the information I need to know and remember into my own words so to speak. It chunks the information into acronyms that I am familiar with. I am a visual learner, so this strategy is easier for me over others because I am more likely to recognize a picture and relate it to its short form. To get the information about lipids and proteins out of my Long Term Memory I have to do the task of recall, which is the ability to retrieve information not in conscious awareness. There are many ways to in which I can make retrieving information stored in my Long Term Memory easier. One is by putting myself back in the context of where I experienced what I learned. Using your Memory Better :: essays research papers The task of learning and remembering all the different physical properties of lipids and proteins in Organic Chemistry can be an extremely challenging duty. Being an athletic-training major here at the University of Iowa, it is one of my many obligations to understand and be able to recall such properties very quickly. By using mnemonic strategies, memory aid techniques that use vivid imagery and organization devices, I am able to defeat the challenge in my Organic Chemistry class of getting all the physical properties of lipids and proteins into my Long Term Memory and then recall them whenever I need. In order for me to understand and remember the physical properties of lipids and proteins, I must first relate personal experiences to the information my professor gives. For example, by using the mnemonic strategy of relating an object to an image, also known as the â€Å"peg-word† system, I can remember things such as the structural make up of a saturated fatty acid, a long bumpy tube, versus an unsaturated fatty acid, a bent bumpy tube. Also with this mnemonic strategy, I can remember the structural make up of a Liposome by relating it to what a flower looks like. I can turn the task of remember what an Alpha- Helix protein looks like by associating it to the picture of a spring. A difficult subject to remember is easily turned into something easy by relating them to everyday symbols. This particular mnemonic strategy works extremely well for me because it associates items, such as the structure of Amino Acids, which are harder to understand with items that I can relate to in my everyday life, chains and springs. This technique puts the information I need to know and remember into my own words so to speak. It chunks the information into acronyms that I am familiar with. I am a visual learner, so this strategy is easier for me over others because I am more likely to recognize a picture and relate it to its short form. To get the information about lipids and proteins out of my Long Term Memory I have to do the task of recall, which is the ability to retrieve information not in conscious awareness. There are many ways to in which I can make retrieving information stored in my Long Term Memory easier. One is by putting myself back in the context of where I experienced what I learned.

Violence in Public School

Your Name Instructor/Professor’s Name Course Date Violence In Public Schools Perhaps, one of the most pressing concerns affecting not only the educational sector, but the entire society, is the rising violence in schools. Indeed, there’s no question that school-related violence is one of the gravest threats that any government will have to face. In fact, the U. S. is just one of the dozens of countries plagued by this social ill. With easy access on guns and knives, schools—students and teachers, specifically—have been placed at a more precarious condition.Thus, it is no longer surprising if shooting spree, sexual assault, and stabbing incidents continue to headline the newspapers around the world. Such is the alarming rate of violence in what was once considered the haven of safety and sanctuary of morality that parents, students, and policymakers have to brave. In general, violence in U. S. schools, plus the government’s failure to prevent— let alone eliminate—even in the presence of new initiatives specifically intended for this purpose, has turned out a huge cause for concern that needs to be addressed no sooner than later.No student or teacher for this matter should ever suffer from violence inside the classroom, playground, school cafeteria, or even while on his way to or from school. But the truth does not speak of the same. As the rate of school violence continues to escalate year by year, so does the disruption of the learning process, degradation of the students’ and teachers’ morale, and the spread of fear not only in the school but in the community in general.Aside from the immediate negative impact, school violence could also give birth to youth violence, which could stem to more diverse concerns in criminality, peace and order, and public health and safety. In this paper, we will try to delve the degree of school violence and how dangerous it is not only to wither the integrity of the U . S. school system, but also to rock society as well. In the present condition where the government seems too powerless enough to put this social crisis to an end, it is safe to say that school violence is indeed a force to reckon, a substantial shaker that will definitely cause the failure of schools in general.Data Reveal the Alarming Rate of School Violence Numerous studies have been conducted to assess the real impact and the degree in which school violence has really affected the school system. Data from the US Department of Education show disturbing figures. Between 2003 and 2004, it was revealed that 1 out of 10 teachers in urban schools admitted receiving threats from students. Between 2005 and 2006, almost 40 percent of public schools had at least one case of school violence. In 2007, 23 percent of students admitted that gangs existed in their schools.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (series 4) reveals that according to the results of a nationwide survey in 20 07 among students from grades 9 to 12 show that almost 6 percent of students did bring guns, knives and other types of dangerous weapons inside the school. Furthermore, almost 8 percent of students were threatened, harassed, or injured by these weapons. Meanwhile, 12 percent of the respondent-students admitted that they had been involved in physical fights inside the school.A more disturbing note revealed that most than 22 percent of students sold, used, and were offered and given illegal drugs right inside the school. Nonfatal assaults are also rampant inside the school. The Department of Education reveals that in 2006, on a national level, 3 out of 100 students are actively participating in school-based crimes, which included rape, assault, and theft. Bullying is even a more serious cause for alarm. More than one-third of the entire student population had been victims of bullying, 4 percent of them being bullied online or through text messages.This stems to a more violent personal ity as bullied students have more chances of getting engaged into fights, psychological trauma and dropping out of school. Likewise, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (33-36) reveals that school violence-related deaths continue to escalate on a yearly basis. Although on an average rate, 1 out of 100 students die due to violence inside the school, still, such cases are too much to ignore, since NO death, especially violence-related must ever occur inside the campus. Since 2003, more than 115 students have been killed in almost 110 incidents.On a yearly basis, that translates to 17 students dying from homicide. Anderson et al (2695) reveals that school-associated violence and deaths occur â€Å"before and after the school day and during lunch,† while cases of violence are more likely to occur at the onset of the semester (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Violent, 657). Half of recorded homicide cases show that perpetrators actually reveal some sort of war ning signal before they attack their victims. These include making a threat or leaving a note before the crime occurs (Anderson et al, 2695).Risk Factors Leading to Violence in Schools School violence does not exist simply because they have to exist. There are numerous underlying factors that trigger the occurrence of numerous conditions that give rise to this case. In fact, experts, researchers and lawmakers agree that there is a deeper root that that gives life to these occurence. According to the Constitutional Rights Foundation, among the risk factors affecting school violence include: â€Å"weapons, media violence, cyber abuse, the impact of school, community, and family environments, personal alienation,† (crf-usa. rg) among others. Access to Weapons. The late 1980s and early 1990s saw the rapid increase in the rate of gun accessibility among teens in the United States. As more teenagers owned guns, thus, the rise of gun deaths and injuries (crf-usa. org). A study condu cted by Bergstein et al (794-8) in Boston and Milwaukee shows that that 42 percent of students who responded revealed that â€Å"they could get a gun if they wanted, 28 percent have handled a gun without adult knowledge or supervision, and 17 percent have carried a concealed gun†¦. This claim was backed by data provided by the University of Southern California School of Medicine, which reports that around 35% of U. S. households with children 18 years old and below are reported to have owned at least one firearm, which â€Å"translates to more than 11 million children living in homes with firearms† (crf-usa. org). Furthermore, teens can also acquire handguns in illegal sales, as â€Å"American gun shows continue to be a venue for illegal activity, including unlicensed sales to prohibited individuals† (Bergstein et al, 794). Violence Caused by Media. The Constitutional Rights Foundations (crf-usa. rg ) reveals that an average American child will have witness 8,000 murders and 100,000 violent acts by time he reaches 7th grade. That’s because of television. Time and again, claims have been made and studies have been conducted to really test the truth behind the impact of television in inculcating wrong values to a child. According to the Anderson et al (81), â€Å"violent television and films, video games, and music reveals unequivocal evidence that media violence increases the likelihood of aggressive and violent behavior in both immediate and long-term contexts. Although certain characteristics exhibited by viewers, such as identification of aggressive characters), parental guidance and other social factors, as well as the content of the media could make or break the effect of media violence. These also count the the degree of aggression instilled in the viewer’s personality. Cyber Bullying. Anderson et al (83) write that high school students are more exposed to violence in video games, thus, they show â€Å"more pro-violent attitudes, had more hostile personalities, were less forgiving, believed violence to be more normal, and behaved more aggressively in their everyday lives. † However, Sherry (msu. du ) reasoned out that the â€Å"overall effect of these games on aggressiveness does not appear great† to warrant significant attention. School Environments. A survey conducted by the Children's Institute International revealed that more than half off teenage population living in rural, suburban, or urban areas all agree that schools are becoming more and more violent in the passing of time. School-based Gangs. The National Center for Educational Statistics, as quoted by the Center for Mental Health in Schools at UCLA (2), reveals that in 2005, â€Å"24 percent of students ages 12-18 reported that there were gangs at their schools. Nevertheless, no difference was observed with regards to reporting gang presence among rural and suburban students. Communities. Aside from the negligence in the school and in the home, communities also show neglect in children, which is another reason for hastened occurrence of school violence. Furthermore, a community’s unresponsive attitude â€Å"to the needs of families and their children [†¦could] develop into school violence [†¦given that] [a]fter-school and summer programs are not always available† (crf-usa. org). Family.The family, which should have been highly responsible in shaping a child’s mind to become upright and law-abiding, are also the one the blame of the deterioration of the values and attitudes among teenagers. As parents neglect their duty to rare their child with positive attitudes, â€Å"children may develop negative–and often violent–behavior patterns† (crf-usa. org). But more than providing room for negative values to grow, irresponsible and abusive households also impede a child’s growth and maturity. Thus, as observed, some of the most aggressive teenagers show signs of poor communication skills and low self-esteem.And since children have no parental role models to look up to, they would tend to focus their attention on popular culture, no matter how violent or aggressive it nature may be. The lack of support from the family and community therefore poses burden on schools, as it turns out that they are the only social institution left to â€Å"educate, shelter, and discipline children,† (crf-usa. org). Nevertheless, this task serves too tasking as â€Å"most schools have difficulty playing multiple roles as educators, surrogate parents, social service, or law-enforcement agencies†( crf-usa).Violence Is Becoming Widespread in Schools With all these research and information laid on the table, it is therefore too difficult to ignore the fact that school violence is bound to impair the country’s education system. Lack of funding and support from state and federal governments, plus neglect on the part of communities a nd families, eventually prove too much for educators to bear the task of educating, disciplining and imparting positive attitudes to students.Thus, it could be deduced that â€Å"violence and danger are constant companions for America's schoolchildren† (McClusky, cato. org) While state and federal documents reveal that school violence has been heading towards the slump since the advent of the 21st century, researchers believe that these information are misleading, as administrators and government officials are actually negligent and blind enough to make the problem known. Journalists are quick to point out the discrepancy of assessments. McClusky (cato. rg) revealed a Denver Post article that uncovered a widespread â€Å"under-reporting of violent incidents in Denver-area schools–under-reporting that occurred despite the presence of a state accountability system designed to identify dangerous schools. † What’s went wrong is the fact that in the entire Col orado, as well as well as in other states, a lot of schools tend to under-report violent incidents. Furthermore, Chicago Tribune in McClusky (cato. org) reported negligence on the part of law enforcers in Illinois to warn school districts whenever â€Å"convicted juvenile sex offenders enroll in their schools.Many failed to notify principals in the mistaken belief they were not permitted to alert them, when in fact they were required to do so† (cato. org). Another mistake on the part of the government is the poor process of collecting and gathering data, reveals Modzeleski in McClusky (cato. org). When the law regarding this issue was enacted in 2001, it was revealed that quite a good number of school districts have gathered sufficient data to provide accurate records regarding school violence, although there were also school districts who failed on this. Impact of Violence in Public SchoolsThere’s really no question that violence in schools have profound effect not ju st in the education system, but in the entire aspect of American life. As schools are disturbed by violence, the effect is felt by students through poor education, low self-esteem and other debilitating factors that could affect not only their professional career, but other facets of their lives, as well. â€Å"It is intuitively obvious and consistent with an ecological perspective that crime and violence in settings in which youth live and attend school pose a poor context for academic involvement and performance,† explains Bowen & Bowen (321).Indeed, violent and aggressive behavior displayed by students at school could mean poor academic performance, which could directly or indirectly hamper the teaching and learning process. Based on the observations made by Lochman, Lampron, Gemmer, & Harris (339), we can conclude therefore, that aggression and violence do not only hamper the individual’s academic performance, but the â€Å"negative impact [could also extend] on t he education of their classmates by diverting their teachers from teaching and reducing the amount of time students are engaged in learning† (339).In Garbarino & Abramowitz (17), we discovered that the â€Å"risks to development can come from both direct threats and the absence of opportunities for development. † Aside from classroom performance, the impact of school violence also reaches to the physical side. Pollack, in the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (cdc. gov), reveals that â€Å"a number of students seek medical care for nonfatal, violence-related injuries. Some of these injuries are relatively minor and include cuts, bruises, and broken bones.Other injuries, like gunshot wounds and head trauma, are more serious and can lead to permanent disability. † But injuries extend deeper, more than what the eye can see, actually. The Center for Disease Control (cdc. gov) reveals that constant exposure to violence not only in school, but also at home and in the neighborhood, could result to different negative health, psychological and even mental outcomes to a person. This could include depression and anxiety, which could trigger fear in going to school and other negative effects to an individual’s life.A 2007 survey by CDC (cdc. gov), shows that almost 6 percent of high school schools in the entire country nationwide did not go to school â€Å"on one or more of the 30 days before the survey† (cdc. gov) was conducted for fear of danger and harm â€Å"at school or on their way to or from school† (cdc. gov). Thus, for this reason, the rate of absences has risen from 1993 and 2005. Furthermore, Pollack (cdc. gov) revealed that around â€Å"160,000 students go home early on any given day because they are afraid of being bullied. † ConclusionAll the records are one and the same in revealing that violence in the school is indeed a cause for alarm for everyone. According to the Indiana State University (indiana. edu), the past fifteen years saw a distressing rate in the increasing of youth violence in schools. Worst, both the culprits and the victims are getting younger and younger. What is sad and disturbing about this situation is that school officials themselves show little interest in curbing the criminality within their campus. They either fail to record the incidence or are negligent nough to inform higher officials and law enforcers about this. Furthermore, law enforcers themselves seem half-hearted in waging an all-out campaign against school violence. Even state and federal governments seem not to care at all. That is why, it is pretty irritating to note that government officials are proud to hail that school violence has either stabilized or spiraled downwards, even if every day, televisions and new papers keep on trumpeting for what really is the truth—incidents of shooting, stabbing, robbery, or rape right within the school campus.Thus, we can really conclude that at thi s point, schools are not really safe. They are in fact, at their most dangerous—among the riskiest places, ever, for students and teachers be. As revealed by Indiana State University (indiana. edu): â€Å"National level data suggests that middle and high schools, especially larger schools, are more at-risk for serious violence. Moreover, students in urban schools serving predominantly lower SES minority children remain twice as likely to be victims of violence as students in suburban, town, or rural areas.In addressing the tragic incidents that have occurred recently in suburban and rural schools, it is critical that the more ongoing and severe problems of lower SES urban schools and students not be forgotten or ignored. † All these data, figures and studies have their significant effect on our schools and in society as a whole. Indeed â€Å"what we do in our schools on a day to day basis in terms of discipline may be related to serious crime and violence† (indi ana. edu). Thus, each of us is partly to blame for what is happening. And as we are part of the problem, so, too are we parts of the solution.And while comprehensive programs and tightened security are implemented to improve the atmosphere inside the school and reduce the violence, we may say that, really, only time could tell what the future holds for our country’s educational system. References Anderson, C. A. , Gentile, Douglas A. , Burkley, K. E. Violent Video Game Effects on Children and Adolescents: Theory Research and Public Policy. New York: Oxford University Press; 2007, 83. Anderson, Craig A. et al. The Influence Of Media Violence On Youth. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 4 (3); 81.Anderson, M. , Kaufman J. , Simon T. R. , Barrios L, Paulozzi L, Ryan G, et al. School-associated violent deaths in the United States, 1994-1999. JAMA 2001; 286 (21):2695-702. Bergstein J. M. , Hemenway D. , Kennedy B. , Quaday S. , Ander R. Guns in young hands: a survey of urban teenagers' attitudes and behaviors related to handgun violence. Journal of Trauma. 1996 Nov; 41(5):794-8. Bowen, Natasha K. , Bowen, Gary L. Effects of Crime and Violence in Neighborhoods and Schools on the School Behavior and Performance of Adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Research, Vol. 14 No. , July 1999, 321-23. Center for Mental Health in Schools at UCLA. Youth Gangs and Schools. Los Angeles, CA: 2007. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. School-associated student homicides-United States, 1992-2006. MMWR 2008;57(02):33-36. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Temporal variations in school-associated student homicide and suicide events – United States, 1992 -1999. MMWR 2001;50(31):657-60. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance—United States, 2007. Surveillance Summaries, June 6, 2008. MMWR 2008;57(SS-4).Constitutional Rights Foundation. Causes of School Violence, no date. Retrieved from http://www. crf-usa . org/school-violence/causes-of-school-violence. html. Department of Education. Indicators of school crime and safety: 2008. NCES 2009-022. Department of Education and Justice (US); 2009. Washington (DC): US Government Printing Office. Garbarino, J. , Abramowitz, R. H. (1992). The ecology of human development. In J. Garbarino (Ed. ), Children and families in the social environment (2nd ed. , pp. 11-33). New York: Aldine de Gruyter. Jamieson, A. , Curry, A. Martinez, G. School enrollment in the United States – social and economic characteristics of students. Department of Commerce (US), Census Bureau (US);1999. Washington (DC): US Government Printing Office. Kachur, S. P. , Stennies, G. M. , Powell, K. E. , Modzeleski, W. , Stephens, R. , Murphy, R. , et al. School-associated violent deaths in the United States, 1992 to 1994. JAMA 1996;275(22):1729-33. Lochman, J. E. , Lampron, L. B. , Gemmer, T. C. , & Harris, S. R. (1987). Anger coping intervention with aggressive children:A guide to implementation in school settings.In P. A. Keller& S. R. Heyman (Eds. ), Innovations in clinical practice: A source book (Vol. 6, pp. 339-356). Sarasota, FL: Professional Resource Exchange. McCluskey, N. Violence in Public Schools: A Dirty Secret. School Reform News: 2005, June 1. Retrieved from: http://www. cato. org/publications/commentary/violence-public-schools-dirty-secret Olweus, D. Bullying at school: what we know and what we can do. Malden (MA): Blackwell; 1993. Pollack, W. Real boys: rescuing our sons form the myths of boyhood. New York (NY): Henry Holt and Company, LLC; 1998.

Samsung vs Apple

SAMSUNG VS APPLE-BATTLE OF THE GIANTS Samsung and Apple are the two biggest smartphone companies with a combined market share of more than half the global smartphone market. Every year both the companies bring in new innovations in their smartphones, which greatly increases their smartphone sales. But in today’s market where there is cut throat competition it is given that each company will try to outdo the other in every possible manner.Hence I would like to discuss the fierce battle raging between these smartphone giants-Samsung and Apple. Apple created a boom in the smartphone market by launching the iPhone, which had more features and was the most advanced smartphone at that time. The company made a huge profit and Apple became a household favorite. But with the rise of competition and the growth of Asian giant –Samsung, Apple’s success was not to last forever.Samsung came up with the Samsung Galaxy S smartphone with identical features as that of the iPhone a nd slowly but steadily the sales of Samsung smartphones rose. Over the years there have been many new versions of the Apple iPhone and the Samsung Galaxy smartphone series and to surpass each other both these companies have been guilty of imitating the technologies used in their smartphones and have also filed for various lawsuits against each other.Samsung has been accused by Apple of violating patents and: – 1) Copying their icon arrangement display pattern. 2) Accused of imitating the iconic iPhone’s shape which in official terms is called as â€Å"tradedress†(e. g. smartphones resemble the iPhone 3g and iPhone 3gs in shape). [One such example of tradedress is that Apple on conducting a survey with â€Å"BestBuy† found out that there were many people who returned the Samsung phones because they thought they were iPhones.This Apple accuses was Samsung’s strategy for increasing their smartphone sales against the iPhone and also to tempt buyers int o buying Samsung phones which look identical to iPhone] 3) Imitating features like â€Å"double tap† to zoom, â€Å"pinch and squeeze â€Å" to zoom and the â€Å"rubber-band† effect. On the other hand Samsung has accused Apple of: – 1) Using Samsung’s 3G technology in their smartphones without a legal permit from Samsung. (Apple uses this technology on millions of phones) 2) Use of E-mail in a camera equipped phone. ) Multitasking in the mobile device. Hence by weighing the claims of both these companies, in my opinion, Samsung tried to ape the specific look and feel of iPhone to increase its sales. However, this is not the only reason that translates directly to lost sales on apple’s part-from price to carriers. To sum up, the software patent claims made by both the companies seem pretty baseless to me and I strongly feel there needs to be some kind of protection for genuine innovation. References: – www. businessweek. com www. ibtimes. com www. forbes. com

Agriculture Helped Civilization essays

Agriculture Helped Civilization essays Who wouldve thought that farmers 10,000 or some odd years ago could have helped civilization to what it is today? Farming started in the near east about 10,000 years ago. It began in areas that had an abundance of food so it just came to them. Without it, civilization would not be what it is today. Agriculture led to advances such as, technology, settlement, and government. Agriculture required you stay in one place so this meant people had to stop their nomadic ways. In order to tend their animals and crops people had to settle down. Now they didnt have to cross hot deserts, or climb steep mountains (Cereals). The packs of hunters that had roamed about in search of game now settled in villages (Cities). Imagine what it would be like today if we were still a nomadic people. After people started settling down urbanization started to occur. Most of the early cities started out as farming towns then evolved into bigger metropolises (Cities). With more food being produced than needed the population increased greatly causing the cities to expand (Cereals). Without agriculture people wouldnt have settled in one place and none of these important things wouldve come to be. Important technological advances came out of agriculture. Seeds are planted in rows and a device was needed to make theses rows. The first real device used for this purpose was the digging stick. It was an approximately V-shaped piece of wood with the two sides of the V of unequal length (Cereals). This later led to the development of the plow, which is still used today. One of the main produces of agriculture is a domesticated animal like cattle. The domestication of animals started in the near east where the animals could graze on the already existing cereals (Cities). If this hadnt have been thought of back then, who knows, maybe cows would be running in the streets today? ...

A Freelance Writers Portfolio

A Freelance Writers Portfolio When venturing into the world of freelance writing, most writers discover that a diversified portfolio in the publishing industry is as important as it is in the financial industry. Unless you are one of those writers who are able to find your own niche and achieve instant success there, being able to write in any genre or style, anywhere, is almost vital to a freelancers budding career. Very few writers are able to immediately break into the industry without prior experience or publishing credentials, and the easiest way to attain both of these is to write, write, write- anything and everything.When a writer learns to mimic various styles within various genres, the possibilities for a full-time career in writing become more likely. Even if writing is a hobby, or something you are pursuing in college, having a portfolio that demonstrates a range in ability, style, and tone will only work to your advantage- regardless of your future plans.Setting up a portfolio with some of your best work in each genre helps clients and publishers to see the range of your ability, and gives them confidence that you will be able to produce the content they need, even if you have never written something exactly like it.For most freelance writers, copywriting and sales copy is one of the easiest ways to earn a living. Therefore, examples of your ability to write this type of content are crucial as additions to your freelancers portfolio. Copywriting can cover a range of assignments- from web site content to Blogs to informative articles- and the best copywriters must be able to research any given topic and produce quality, informative content based on that research. Therefore, having a few different examples of content on a range of topics is important.Also, much of copywriting is keyword driven, meaning that specific keywords must be placed throughout the article or website in order to attract online traffic through search engines. While there is a fine line between too many keywo rds and not enough, most clients will want to see at least a 3% ratio (this means that the keywords should be at least 3% of the total word count). It might be a good idea to include one portfolio example with a higher ratio and one with a lower ratio to show that you can write effective content with varying keyword frequency.In addition to content articles and sales copy, another facet of copywriting is the press release. A mixture of marketing strategy and engaging content, the press release shows your ability to say a lot within a few words. A well-written press release also demonstrates your ability to factor in the audience- an important skill for any writer, regardless of the genre or tone of the writing.Technical writing encompasses everything from copywriting to how-to manuals to presentations, and your portfolio should include examples of any of your previous work in these areas. A good technical writer is one that has a thorough grasp of grammar, conciseness, and flow- all qualities that can easily translate into more creative ventures.You should also have examples of creative writing in your portfolio, even if you plan to focus your freelance career on technical writing assignments. Creative writing allows clients to have a glimpse into your personality and drive as a writer, and tends to demonstrate more of your persona than that which is shown in your technical writing examples.Regardless of how mundane, or seemingly un-creative their projects might be, clients are aware that any writer must possess a certain degree of imagination and vision in order to produce quality work. Creative writing within your freelancers portfolio allows them to see these things in you. Some great creative writing additions to your portfolio would be op-ed (opposite editorial) pieces, magazine articles, creative Blogs, or short stories.Also, many clients looking for a freelance writer are interested in someone to ghostwrite a work of fiction or nonfiction for them, and will want to see your abilities on the creative front for writing a book-When venturing into the world of freelance writing, most writers discover that a diversified portfolio in the publishing industry is as important as it is in the financial industry. Unless you are one of those writers who is able to find your own niche and achieve instant success there, being able to write in any genre or style, anywhere, is vital to a freelancers budding career.The secret to breaking into the industryVery few writers are able to immediately break into the industry without prior experience or publishing credentials, and the easiest way to attain both of these is to write, write, write- anything and everything! When a writer learns to mimic various styles within multiple genres, the possibilities for a full-time career in writing become more likely. Even if writing is a hobby, or something you are pursuing in college, having a portfolio that demonstrates a range in ability, style, and tone will only work to your advantage- regardless of your future plans.Why you need a portfolio as a copywriterSetting up a portfolio with some of your best work in each genre helps clients and publishers to see the range of your ability, and gives them confidence that you will be able to produce the content they need, even if you have never written something exactly like it. For most freelance writers, copywriting and sales copy is one of the easiest ways to earn a living. Therefore, examples of your ability to write this type of content are crucial as additions to your freelancers portfolio.Copywriting can cover a range of assignments- from web site content to blogs to informative articles- and the best copywriters must be able to research any given topic and produce quality, informative content based on that research. Therefore, having a few different examples of content on a range of topics is important.Keyword frequencyAlso, much of copywriting is keyword driven, meaning that specific ke ywords must be placed throughout the article or website in order to attract online traffic through search engines. While there is a fine line between too many keywords and not enough, most clients will want to see at least a 3% ratio (this means that the keywords should be at least 3% of the total word count). It might be a good idea to include one portfolio example with a higher ratio and one with a lower ratio to show that you can write effective content with varying keyword frequency.Press releaseIn addition to content articles and sales copy, another facet of copywriting is the press release. A mixture of marketing strategy and engaging content, the press release shows your ability to say a lot within a few words. A well-written press release also demonstrates your ability to factor in the audience- an important skill for any writer, regardless of the genre or tone of the writing.Technical writingTechnical writing encompasses everything from copywriting to how-to manuals to pres entations, and your portfolio should include examples of any of your previous work in these areas. A good technical writer is one that has a thorough grasp of grammar, conciseness, and flow- all qualities that can easily translate into more creative ventures.Creative writingYou should also have examples of creative writing in your portfolio, even if you plan to focus your freelance career on technical writing assignments. Creative writing allows clients to have a glimpse into your personality and drive as a writer, and tends to demonstrate more of your persona than that which is shown in your technical writing examples.Regardless of how mundane, or seemingly un-creative their projects might be, clients are aware that any writer must possess a certain degree of imagination and vision in order to produce quality work. Creative writing within your freelancers portfolio allows them to see these things in you. Some great creative writing additions to your portfolio would be op-ed (opposi te editorial) pieces, magazine articles, creative blogs, or short stories.GhostwritingAlso, many clients looking for a freelance writer are interested in someone to ghostwrite a work of fiction or nonfiction for them, and will want to see your abilities on the creative front for writing a book-length manuscript. Including an example chapter in your portfolio would be a great way to show them your capabilities on this front. If possible, try to include two chapters- one for a work of fiction and one for a work of nonfiction. If you have not previously written an entire chapter, consider doing so for the sole purpose of inclusion in your freelance writers portfolio. The opportunities for ghostwriters are, in some cases, greater than those available to copywriters, and the pay is often better as an added bonus.Your business card and resume wrapped into oneAs a freelance writer, your portfolio is your business card and resume wrapped into one. It is an opportunity for you to showcase yo ur abilities, in addition to your range of skill in writing. In the same sense that presentation is key to any first impression, be sure that the items in your portfolio are impeccably edited and formatted into an easy-to-read font. You could have all the skills a client is looking for, but without the proper presentation of those skills, you could very well be overlooked.Finally, think of your portfolio as a work in progress. When you write something that is published- be sure to include it, along with all information regarding when and where it was published. It is also a good idea to include a copy of the original article if you were published in a regional or national magazine or paper. Often, the stepping-stones into the world of publishing are the little achievements youve made along the way.

Alcohol Prohibition In 1920s History Essay

Alcohol Prohibition In 1920s History Essay Women, the driving factor in prohibition, believed that prohibition would make alcohol’s presence in society go away this would resolve the majority of societal issues.. The prohibition movement only made the alcohol problem worse by increasing the percentage of alcohol in one drink, due to the new group of people it created. This group was coined with the name moonshiners or bootleggers, and these people were in the very profitable business of producing alcohol illegally. Not only did they make alcohol illegally, but the alcohol that they did make was a lot more potent than the alcohol that was sold prior to prohibition. They could not transport beer, or even wine very easily because of the sheer volume that it would take to intoxicate a person. Moonshiners had to resort to something that would be more profitable and easier to transport. â€Å"Well, one of the things that happen when you outlaw any product is that the product returns underground. Correct? But it returns und erground in a more concentrated form. And the problem with beer is it’s very difficult to hide. So, in most parts of the United States, beer actually was not available during Prohibition. Instead, you had to substitute bathtub gin.†(See Appendix 3) Alcohol sold before 1920 was usually low proof, but when moonshine came about it was up to 190 proof , or 95% alcohol. The picture â€Å"Still Diagram† shows a diagram of how moonshiners built their valuable stills that could produce very high proof alcohol. (See Appendix 1) This was something that women did not think about. They just believed that they alcohol would go away, not be transferred into a different more potent form. People would get a lot drunker a lot faster only making worse the problem that women saw before. This alone made prohibition a complete failure. Seeing that moonshine was illegal, this turned many citizens, who used to be good law abiding citizens, into criminals. These citizens were people who held respectable jobs, and were very capable members of society, and not just people who were the stereotypical criminals. With more people breaking laws, and a new underground business, this led to the ever rising crime rate, leaving the police outnumbered. â€Å"The most successful gangs became ever larger and more organized. With the money made from liquor they were able to branch out into a variety of other criminal enterprises, and eventually they used the money to take over legitimate business. The structure of what we now call organized crime was born during prohibition.† (Cohen 49) It was very hard for authorities to keep up with something so new that they had never had to combat before. What started out as a good idea was falling apart day by day. â€Å"The demand for alcohol was outweighing (and out-winning) the demand for sobriety.† (National Archives) This became such a profitable business that in most cases the ends would justify the means. After all, thi s was a tax free business, and the money that was coming into bootleggers from selling their moonshine was more that most of them have seen in their entire life. Women did not approve of this at all. This was not what they had intended when they posed the idea of prohibition. Creating more problems in a society that they had already deemed as corrupt was the last thing they want to do, but they did not realize their ideology was just fueling the issues they felt that were already bad enough in their society.

Movie review Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Movie review - Research Paper Example It is during the research on Doctor Death that Morris came across Adams who convinced him of his innocence. Emotional Aspect: Investigations into the Adams case revealed that five of the witnesses in the case had committed perjury. This resulted in Adams being given a death sentence that was later overturned by the Supreme Court in 1980 and was commuted to life imprisonment by the then Governor of Texas. Film Craft: The documentary was done by re-enacting scenes as they were told in the witnesses’ statements. In making the documentary, Morris and his team recreated several versions of the shooting that Adams was convicted for. It does not, however, recreate the scene where David Harris shoots the officer. The final scene of the film is an audio recording in which Morris and Harris can be heard speaking in the background. Comments: Although most convicted criminals are known to pledge their innocence, some of them are actually innocent of the crimes they were sentenced for. The Adams case is a clear illustration of cases where the innocent are prosecuted while the guilty roam

Managing across Cultures individual report Essay

Managing across Cultures individual report - Essay Example As a result of its influence, culture management across organizations has started getting importance in business terms and is currently the one of the most evaluated subject for business analysts researchers and. In the present study culture will be studied with respect to its various dimensions researched by known people. Few of the organizational behaviour and cultural theories will also be discussed in detail Critical analysis of theory and research Culture plays a major role in characterizing the environmental context in which firms operate and decide, chose strategies and structures. A culture essentially consists of the expectations, experiences, philosophies and values ingrained and the elemental brinks which holds an organization or an association together (Bennett, Aston and Colquhoun, 2000). In broader terms organizational culture comprises of visions, norms, working languages, systems, beliefs, symbols and habits. Since individuals work together in an organization as a tea m with a common goal of completing the job, the culture created in a firm will help the team members in understanding each other more successfully (Olsonand Kroeger, 2001). Hofstede defines culture as â€Å"the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from others† (Hofstede et al., 1990). ... ee individuals are integrated with groups Masculinity and Femininity (MAS) - Masculinity represents society’s preference towards heroism, achievement, assertiveness as well as material rewards. On the other hand, Femininity refers preferring modesty, cooperation and care for underprivileged and weak and improving quality of life. Society is both competitive and consensus oriented (Hofstede and McCrae, 2004). Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI) - it is the tolerance of a society towards ambiguity and uncertainty. It expresses the tendency of feeling uncomfortable with risks and unexpected changes. countries showing strong UI have rigid belief codes while weak UI society have more tranquil attitudes where practice is given more preference than principles Long term and Short term orientation- long term orientation refers to the society and their individual’s explore for virtues. On the other hand, short term orientation refers to preference for absolute truth. They are normative t hinkers and exhibit respect for traditions. Another model of cultural dimensions was given by Trompenaars. He classified cultures according to a mix of value and behavioral patterns. The research was particularly focused on business executives. Seven value orientations were evaluated. The seven dimensions were particularism versus universalism, individualism versus communitarians, emotional versus neutral, specific versus diffuse, ascription versus achievement, nature-human relationship and nature-time relationship. Trompennar’s work primarily focuses on sociology and includes two measurements for attitudes which were environment and time. Researchers have divided Trompennars theory into two different aspects. There are three ways to handle cultural problems and five individual dimensions. Edward

Child Abuse Laws Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Child Abuse Laws - Essay Example Statistics on child abuse in the UK are very alarming. In a period of one year between 2012 April and March 2013, the police recorded 23000 sexual offences against children. On average, at least one child is killed every week in the hands of an adult through physical abuse in the UK. In 2012, the police forces in England and Wales reported about 28000 cases of children running away from care as a result of constant abuse while the Sex Offenders Register for sexual offences against children recorded 2980 cases. Another shocking statistic is that about 34% of cases of child abuse are left unreported to authorities. This makes it difficult to tackle this problem.In order to adequately protect children from abuse, it is necessary to understand the factors that cause or threaten to cause abuse among children. There are various causes of child abuse. Studies show that children from violent parents who are constantly engaged in domestic violence are also likely to experience abuse from the parents. Children who get unintended pregnancies are also likely to experience abuse and neglect from their parents (Balliere & Tindall, 2003). In other cases, children with severe or moderate disabilities often have a higher rate of falling victims to abuse. Parents with a history of substance abuse are also likely to subject their children to abuse. Recent studies also indicate that children in the custody of non-biological parents, for instance those living with step parents, are 100 times more likely to face abuse. Child abuse has a wide range of effects on the children, some of which may be long term and may persist in to the adult life of the children. A recent research study dubbed Hidden Costs in Health Care: The Economic Impact of Violence and Abuse, makes the case that child abuse also has greater effects on the wider societies economic prospects. The report states that child abuse forms a greater part of expensive and costly public health policy which can be avoided with appropriate child protection legal frameworks. Some of the effects of child abuse on children include both physical and psychological effects. Child victims of abuse are exposed to a lot of physical injuries including bone fractures and may develop higher chances of contracting cancer. In some cases these physical damages may be temporary while in other cases they may persist in the long term. Among some of the permanent or long term physical infections on children as a result of abuse include brain impairments, shaken b aby syndrome, and poor physical health. Psychological effect

Judicial Conduct and Disability Act Research Paper

Judicial Conduct and Disability Act - Research Paper Example The repeated reassignment of cases from Article is also constitutional. This will always be so as long as a rational reason exists for the Article III judge to request for a change of either judge or venue of the case (Baum, 2013). One example of such a rational reason is conflict of interest. However, it would be unconstitutional for Congress to delegate the authority to remove an Article III judge to the Supreme Court. This is because these judges can only be removed when the Congress successfully impeaches them. In addition, since these judges serve in their positions during good behavior, they cannot be discharged and only Congress can remove them through impeachment (Baum, 2013). Finally, federal judges should be appointed for life. The reason that they should have life tenure is because they should be insulated from whatever politics are gripping the nation at any particular moment (Baum, 2013). If federal judges did not have tenure for life, it would be easy for them to become affected by various issues and crisis that were prevalent in the different political parties. In addition, giving them tenure for life makes sure that they are above social issues in the

Questions on Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Questions on Management - Essay Example A case in point can be drawn from the lawsuit involving the Bank of America versus the City and County of San Francisco. In this case, the Bank of American seeks to annul ordinances passed by the city and county of San Francisco to protect consumers; the states are mandated by Congress to enact additional legislation especially with respect to consumer protection (Mitchell). The ordinances prohibit financial institutions (all banks, industrial loan companies and savings associations) from charging ATM fees to non-depositors. According to the cities, an ATM charge on non-depositors is punitive to consumers and weakens competition in the banking industry at the local state level (Bank of America). In this case, congestion in smaller banks makes the smaller banks to lose clientele to bigger banks that operate many ATMs in the city. Conversely, the Bank of America argued that the above-mentioned ordinances were disadvantageous as they impaired its operations. Ultimately, the Bank of Amer ica disputed the city’s contention because the city’s characterization of the ATM market was faulty. Unfortunately, the district court ruled in favor of the bank with the city falling on the losing end. According to the District Court, the savings clause in the Electronic Fund Transfer Act does not grant the cities permission to regulate fees charged on ATMs as a measure to protect the consumers. In addition, the court also ruled that Home Owners' Loan Act (HOLA) and Office of Thrift Supervision's (OTS) regulations gave savings banks the legal permission to charge ATM fees on consumers (Bank of America). †¢ Among the issues which have come to the fore are those concerning the attempts of states to enact laws which main purpose is to protect those who live within these states. The laws that have been enacted most often have tended to be overridden by the financial regulatory agencies in the name of implementing federal laws (Mitchell). Since the American Constituti on states that all the laws that are passed at the federal level are supreme to those passed at the state level, many of the agencies have used these laws as an excuse to frustrate any laws that have been passed at the state level for the benefit of the citizens. In contrast, these agencies have developed a culture of helping banks (especially national banks) to establish their dominance over their rivals at the state level. In fact, the lawsuit involving the Bank of America versus the City and County of San Francisco indicates clearly that the HOLA and OTS regulations override the ordinances. The District Court also ruled that the National Bank Act and the regulations of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) are supreme to the ordinances passed by the city and county of San Francisco. Federal law annuls state law both directly (by stating preemption in explicit terms) and indirectly (by leaving no room for state regulatory control). A state law may also be annulled if it is established that its execution is in contravention of a preexisting federal law. In such cases, the federal law normally preempts the state law as the application of both laws is always deemed inadvertently impossible under the provisions of the constitution; therefore, it is clear that the federal regulations

Child Abuse Laws Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Child Abuse Laws - Essay Example Statistics on child abuse in the UK are very alarming. In a period of one year between 2012 April and March 2013, the police recorded 23000 sexual offences against children. On average, at least one child is killed every week in the hands of an adult through physical abuse in the UK. In 2012, the police forces in England and Wales reported about 28000 cases of children running away from care as a result of constant abuse while the Sex Offenders Register for sexual offences against children recorded 2980 cases. Another shocking statistic is that about 34% of cases of child abuse are left unreported to authorities. This makes it difficult to tackle this problem.In order to adequately protect children from abuse, it is necessary to understand the factors that cause or threaten to cause abuse among children. There are various causes of child abuse. Studies show that children from violent parents who are constantly engaged in domestic violence are also likely to experience abuse from the parents. Children who get unintended pregnancies are also likely to experience abuse and neglect from their parents (Balliere & Tindall, 2003). In other cases, children with severe or moderate disabilities often have a higher rate of falling victims to abuse. Parents with a history of substance abuse are also likely to subject their children to abuse. Recent studies also indicate that children in the custody of non-biological parents, for instance those living with step parents, are 100 times more likely to face abuse. Child abuse has a wide range of effects on the children, some of which may be long term and may persist in to the adult life of the children. A recent research study dubbed Hidden Costs in Health Care: The Economic Impact of Violence and Abuse, makes the case that child abuse also has greater effects on the wider societies economic prospects. The report states that child abuse forms a greater part of expensive and costly public health policy which can be avoided with appropriate child protection legal frameworks. Some of the effects of child abuse on children include both physical and psychological effects. Child victims of abuse are exposed to a lot of physical injuries including bone fractures and may develop higher chances of contracting cancer. In some cases these physical damages may be temporary while in other cases they may persist in the long term. Among some of the permanent or long term physical infections on children as a result of abuse include brain impairments, shaken b aby syndrome, and poor physical health. Psychological effect

Questions on Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Questions on Management - Essay Example A case in point can be drawn from the lawsuit involving the Bank of America versus the City and County of San Francisco. In this case, the Bank of American seeks to annul ordinances passed by the city and county of San Francisco to protect consumers; the states are mandated by Congress to enact additional legislation especially with respect to consumer protection (Mitchell). The ordinances prohibit financial institutions (all banks, industrial loan companies and savings associations) from charging ATM fees to non-depositors. According to the cities, an ATM charge on non-depositors is punitive to consumers and weakens competition in the banking industry at the local state level (Bank of America). In this case, congestion in smaller banks makes the smaller banks to lose clientele to bigger banks that operate many ATMs in the city. Conversely, the Bank of America argued that the above-mentioned ordinances were disadvantageous as they impaired its operations. Ultimately, the Bank of Amer ica disputed the city’s contention because the city’s characterization of the ATM market was faulty. Unfortunately, the district court ruled in favor of the bank with the city falling on the losing end. According to the District Court, the savings clause in the Electronic Fund Transfer Act does not grant the cities permission to regulate fees charged on ATMs as a measure to protect the consumers. In addition, the court also ruled that Home Owners' Loan Act (HOLA) and Office of Thrift Supervision's (OTS) regulations gave savings banks the legal permission to charge ATM fees on consumers (Bank of America). †¢ Among the issues which have come to the fore are those concerning the attempts of states to enact laws which main purpose is to protect those who live within these states. The laws that have been enacted most often have tended to be overridden by the financial regulatory agencies in the name of implementing federal laws (Mitchell). Since the American Constituti on states that all the laws that are passed at the federal level are supreme to those passed at the state level, many of the agencies have used these laws as an excuse to frustrate any laws that have been passed at the state level for the benefit of the citizens. In contrast, these agencies have developed a culture of helping banks (especially national banks) to establish their dominance over their rivals at the state level. In fact, the lawsuit involving the Bank of America versus the City and County of San Francisco indicates clearly that the HOLA and OTS regulations override the ordinances. The District Court also ruled that the National Bank Act and the regulations of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) are supreme to the ordinances passed by the city and county of San Francisco. Federal law annuls state law both directly (by stating preemption in explicit terms) and indirectly (by leaving no room for state regulatory control). A state law may also be annulled if it is established that its execution is in contravention of a preexisting federal law. In such cases, the federal law normally preempts the state law as the application of both laws is always deemed inadvertently impossible under the provisions of the constitution; therefore, it is clear that the federal regulations

Managerial Finance Essay Example for Free

Managerial Finance Essay You have been at your job with East Coast Yachts for a week now and have decided you need to sign up for the company’s 401(k) plan. Even after your discussion with Sarah Brown, the Bledsoe Financial Services representative, you are still unsure as to which investment option you should choose. Recall that the options available to you are stock in East Coast Yachts, the Bledsoe SP 500 Index Fund, the Bledsoe Small-Cap Fund, the Bledsoe Large-Company Stock Fund, the Bledsoe Bond Fund, and the Bledsoe Money Market Fund. You have decided that you should invest in a diversified portfolio, with 70 percent of your investment in equity, 25 percent in bonds, and 5 percent in the money market fund. You have also decided to focus your equity investment on large-cap stocks, but you are debating whether to select the SP 500 Index Fund or the Large-Company Stock Fund. In thinking it over, you understand the basic difference in the two funds. One is a purely passive fund that replicates a widely followed large-cap index, the SP 500, and has low fees. The other is actively managed with the intention that the skill of the portfolio manager will result in improved performance relative to an index. Fees are higher in the latter fund. You’re just not certain on which way to go, so you ask Dan Ervin, who works in the company’s finance area, for advice. After discussing your concerns, Dan gives you some information comparing the performance of equity mutual funds and the Vanguard 500 Index Fund. The Vanguard 500 is the world’s largest equity index mutual fund. It replicates the SP 500, and its return is only negligibly different from the SP 500. Fees are very low. As a result, the Vanguard 500 is essentially identical to the Bledsoe SP 500 Index Fund offered in the 401(k) plan, but it has been in existence for much longer, so you can study its track record for over two decades. The graph below summarizes Dan’s comments by showing the percentage of equity mutual funds that outperformed the Vanguard 500 Fund over the previous ten years. So for example, from January 1977 to December 1986, almost 70 percent of equity mutual funds outperformed the Vanguard 500. Dan suggests that you study the graph and answer the following questions: 1. What implications do you draw from the graph for mutual fund investors? If I was to draw any implications from the graph for mutual fund investors it would be an expectation that the investors will outperform the market. As with any business the high performers will continue performing and the low performers will be let go. If we were looking at the level of market efficiency it would be expected that mutual funds would outperform the market. It is expected that half of all investors will outperform the market. 2. Is the graph consistent or inconsistent with market efficiency? Explain carefully. I believe that the graph shows consistency with market efficiency, but even the most efficient of markets must be willing to spend on research to outperform the market and even then many investors do not outperform the market. The graph is consistent with market efficiency because if even the highest performers are not outperforming the market, even with high financing, then as would be expected average investors will not be outperforming the market. 3. What investment decision would you make for the equity portion of your 401(k) account? Why? If I was to make an investment decision based on the equity portion of this 401K plan I would choose to invest in the SP 500 index. There should also be investments made in small cap funds as this will help diversify the portfolio. Small cap funds however are not available as an option so the SP 500 would be the best choice as an investment decision.