Interpersonal, Group and Collective Behavior Dynamics Essay Example for Free

Relational, Group and Collective Behavior Dynamics Essay Enron is an organization that is confronted with monetary shakiness however keeps on running on questionable dealings including distorting their actual money related position (Cohan, 2002). This is done to spare the open picture of the organization thus staying away from the danger of losing speculators. American International Group (AIG) is likewise in a genuine money related emergency following instances of bungle (FRB, 2009). We will make an examination of the gathering elements and inward legislative issues inside these two organizations. The organizations displayed a component of data blockage. This is keeping down unfriendly news from the general population until the last conceivable second. This is generally a conscious demonstration with the point of keeping up a decent open picture. It is anyway trailed by claims, detest sends or even demise dangers from despondent financial specialists. In Enron’s case, the senior administrators retained any data about budgetary emergency from the general population until it fallen (Cohan, 2002). AIG kept up a ‘business as usual’ picture in general society notwithstanding its liquidity issues (FRB, 2009). Inspiration to lie or intentionally hiding reality in an association was clear in the two organizations. The corporate officials don't uncover reality particularly when this fact may place the organization into liquidation or cost them their employments. On account of Enron the falsehoods were advise regarding hard information, lying about bookkeeping results and a surge of profit (Williamson, 1970). Sketchy bookkeeping rehearses were intended to conceal gigantic misfortunes that the organization endured. AIG had a lot of purposeful falsehoods when it esteemed its An and sub prime property at 1. 7; double the worth utilized by Lehman. The issue of the board’s oversight work and the business judgment rule is likewise genuinely apparent in the two organizations he governing body go about as though they are qualified for depend on the genuineness and honesty of their subordinates until something incorrectly occurs (Crag Rebecca, 1996) . The executives of Enron were absolutely ignorant of the seriousness of the company’s money related emergency until its breakdown. A chiefs were excessively uninformed of the liquidity issue to the reach out of making arrangements for an extravagant retreat for themselves. The subordinate administrators have influential enthusiasm for covering the awful news. This is intended to maintain a strategic distance from or postpone individual humiliation and other related dangers, for example, the probability of a value drop in its offers. In Enron, singular officials who chose to shroud the questionable organization dreaded disintegration of status (Cohan, 2002). They felt that they expected to ensure both their self and outer picture. A similar case was clear in AIG, where the subordinate chiefs saw the requirement for over costing their resources for recover their picture. Presumptuousness and idealism is shown in the two organizations by the senior administrators particularly in public statements. Presumptuousness makes a solid picture for any organization according to people in general. Administrators who are careless and idealistic are viewed as effective chiefs. This is on the grounds that they can convince and impact individuals even notwithstanding an emergency. The officials in Enron and AIG were additionally in the offered of becoming well known. Senior administrators guaranteed workers would consistently rise even in case of money related precariousness in Enron. The CEO in AIG guaranteed financial specialists that they would at present get their rewards even as the organization was being rescued (FRB, 2009). Corporate ‘culture’ can't be precluded in the administration of the two organizations. This alludes to the standards of the organization which are notable to the administration and the subordinate workers. They override different business or moral laws if there should arise an occurrence of a contention. Cynism as a corporate culture cultivates the disrupting of norms as a way to succeed. Moral standards are under implemented with the center being to augment benefits. The Enron and AIG were up to speed in this culture when they confronted a budgetary emergency. They distorted their obligations and resources separately in the company’s sheet to reflect high benefits and draw in financial specialists (Cohan, 2002). This is done in all out dismissal for bookkeeping morals. Nearsighted data inside the association is additionally predominant in the two organizations. This may be because of our constrained subjective capacities however more so in light of the fact that the administrators are too occupied to even think about dealing with bottomless information. They lean toward filtering this information and extricating just what is significant. They may likewise be inadequate with regards to the expertise to examine and comprehend the information just like the instance of Enron’s previous administrator Mr. Kenneth Lay. The executives in AIG and Enron, concentrated on data that affirmed their earlier mentalities of driving foundations in the market. They dismissed any disconfirming data of conceivable breakdown or liquidity issues. This is regularly alluded to as psychological cacophony. It is normally hard to change these convictions as one is viewed as a danger to the company’s the norm. Ms. Watkins, a representative in Enron turned out to be such a danger by notice a ranking director of a potential breakdown (Cohan, 2002). A CEO officer’s proposition in AIG was overlooked on a similar premise (FRB, 2009). Terrorizing of subordinate workers by the senior representatives is common in Enron yet not in AIG. In Enron, examinations against Mr. Andrew a previous CFO and other senior officials who were associated with misrepresentation cases didn't occur since nobody was sure enough to defy them (Cohan, 2002). In AIG the bookkeeping embarrassment is completely examined and nobody is saved including a previous director of the board. REFERENCES: Federal Reserve Bank. (2009). History and improvement of AIG. Recovered May 26,2009, from http://www. federalbank. orf/history/advancement. pdf Herbert, A. S. (1955). A conduct model of sane decision. John, A. C. (2002). †I didn’t know† and â€Å"I was just doing my job†. Has corporate administration pitched wild? A contextual investigation of Enron’s data nearsightedness. Diary of Business Ethics, 40 (3),275-299. Paul Z. Janet A. (1997). The social impact of trust in cooperative choice creation.

Parents Keep Gender Secret free essay sample

Would keeping your child’s sexual orientation mystery be something to be thankful for or an awful thing? In this article, Parents keep child’s sexual orientation mystery by Jayme Poisson, I am going to impart to you my considerations and worries just as reality in this article I have perused. I have blended sentiments about this article and all through my article I will reveal to you why. Keeping sexual orientation of your youngster mystery can be hazardous to the child’s public activity. This article starts with a case of how individuals continually requesting that they revel the baby’s sex. The neighbors ask them every week what Storms sex is. They begin to reprimand them about how they are bringing up their other two youngsters, which are young men. They let the boy’s dress how they need with long hair, pink dresses, and they ride pink bicycles. Kathy Witterick and David Stocker, the guardians of Storm accept what they are doing is typical. We will compose a custom exposition test on Guardians Keep Gender Secret or then again any comparable subject explicitly for you Don't WasteYour Time Recruit WRITER Just 13.90/page They state â€Å"we have chosen not to share Storm’s sex for the time being †a tribute to opportunity and decision instead of impediment, a confront what the world could become in Storm’s lifetime(a increasingly dynamic spot? ). The grandparent’s point of view toward it is they are strong, yet they won't clarify the way Storm’s guardians decide to raise the child genderless to their collaborators or to their companions. They have numerous worries about the youngsters being scorned and being harassed when they get more established. Others can be remorseless to outcasts like the youngsters are turning out to be. Diane Ehrensaft , a California-based analyst, a creator of â€Å"Gender conceived, Gender made†, a guide for guardians of nonconforming children, says guardians ought to be strong of youngsters who are sexual orientation innovative. Then again she stresses by not disclosing Storms sex; the guardians are denying the child an approach to discover oneself in our current reality where you are either male, female, or in the middle. My reaction to this article would need to me that I accept that the guardians did this since they imagined that it was going to help Storm. I don't concur nor do I differ that is was acceptable. What I do accept is that it can hurt the children seriously in the public eye as well as in a psychological manner. I accept that the youngsters would have picked how they would have preferred to act male, female, or in the middle. All in all my convictions are that bringing up a kid genderless can have great and awful results. Regardless of whether it be simply the youngster finds all alone or the kid gets lost and can't work in consistently social standards. I myself would not have brought up my kid genderless in light of the fact that I feel it's anything but something to be thankful for to do to a youngster by confounding them. So in this end I can't help contradicting the manner in which they parent their kids.

Sample Esaay on Digital Computer Crime

Sample Esaay on Digital Computer Crime Digital Computer Crime Oct 28, 2019 in Law Introduction The term cybercrime refers to any crime committed by using a computer and the Internet to purloin persons identity with malevolent programs. Computer crimes are inexorably becoming more advanced and threatening to both individuals and organizations. Cyber-attacks against computers and critical infrastructure are increasing in a consistent manner. This essay will address different types of computer crimes, common forms of digital crimes and responses taken by the United States to combat computer crimes. Body The primary four classes of computer crimes comprise cyber warfare, cyber extortion, computer fraud and cyber terrorism. First, cyber warfare is usually a political crime related to the interests of a state or worldwide group. Its goal is to attack and harm another states computers or other vital system. Such an attack can be carried out through the use of computer viruses or denial-of-service (DoS) attacks. For instance, in the United States digital infrastructure is protected by the military nullifying the detrimental effects of cyber warfare. Second, cyber extortion involves using the Internet by a person to demand money, services, or other goods from another individual by intimidating them to impose harm on their reputation or property. An example of cyber extortion could be considered denial-of-service attack where the malicious attacker subjects the email server or computer system to repeated denial of service and demands money in order to stop the attacks. For instance, cyber extortion attack occurred in Sony Pictures in 2014. Chat now Order now Third, computer fraud is a fraud performed by informational systems, such as Internet devices or services. The main goal of this crime is to gain money or data by deceptive means. It encompasses bank fraud, identity theft, and theft of information. Lastly, computer-generated terrorism is a crime usually committed by terrorists to threaten peaceful population or overturn the regime of the public enemy. Stohl claims, It also includes the use of the computer system gears to close down dangerous state organization like carriage, administration tasks, and energy. This susceptibility of cyber sabotage is conveyed about by reliance on computer grids in actions by countries and dire organization (2006). An unfriendly group of people or country could take on the rebound of the enemy to infiltrate ill fortified computer system, upsetting and even closing down pressing tasks. The risk of virtual dangers is frequently connected with extremists who seek to take revenge. Terrorists hack into structures with the intention of inflicting severe damage. Under computer terrorism, there is a category of computer virus which can be well-defined as a self-replicating computer program that works by implanting duplicates of itself into other executable forms or code. Lewis clarifies, It works like natural infections, disseminating by implanting itself into existing cells. The addition of a virus into the program known as an impurity. The diseased file, or the executable encryption that is not portion of a file is characterized a host (2002). Viruses are one of the numerous forms of cruel software or malware. Some viruses can be deliberately dangerous as they could erase information or cause irreparable damage; others are non-threatening or just irritating. Some kinds of them have so-called retarded ignition, commonly denoted to as a bomb. The main destructive result of viruses is their unrestrained self-reproduction which trashes and overpowers computer properties. Like other cyber-attacks, viruses are becoming extra painful, destructive, and challenging. They spread very fast and have large zone of damage. The most common forms of digital crimes are phishing, identity theft, hacking, and grooming. Phishing involves obtaining personal information through the use of fake email messages from Internet users. Hacking, in turn, involves misusing or shutting down websites and computer networks. Identity theft is usually connected with misusing of personal information for lucrative purposes. Finally, Internet grooming is a practice of befriending with persons online, usually with children, in order to abuse them sexually. The government of United States has taken significant steps to combat computer crimes through the use of the following methods. Firstly, the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS) is accountable for executing the Departments nationwide policies in battling computer and logical property crimes internationally. Intellectual Property Section has developed to be an essential part of the U.S tax institutions. In pursuant to these ideas, CCIPS counsels frequently solve intricate problems, deal with exceptional legal and fact-finding matters raised by developing of the computer and telecommunications skills throughout the world. Regarding hearing of cases, it provides necessary information to other prosecutors, federal and local law administration staff. It also recommends and introduces legislations, subscribes and partakes in global efforts to counter intellectual property and computer crimes. By the end of 1998, the National Institute of Justice had selected a supervision team comprising TriData Corporation, U.S. Tennessee Valley Authority Police, U.S Navy Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, and U.S Department of Justice (DOJ) to solve daily tasks. This team has a number of responsibilities concerning digital crimes, including research and investigations, developing of defensive measures, etc. It also is directed at combating of terrorism and extremism, finding and advancing scientific ways and evidence concerning the issue. .fod-banner { display: table; width: 100%; height: 100px; background-color: #04b5af; background-image: url('/images/banners/fod-banner-bg-1.png'), url('/images/banners/fod-banner-bg-2.png'); background-position: left center, right center; background-repeat: no-repeat; } .fod-banner .button { min-width: 120px; } .fod-banner-content { height: 100px; display: table-cell; vertical-align: middle; color: #ffffff; width: 100%; text-align: center; padding-top: 5px; padding-bottom: 5px; } .fod-banner-content > span:first-child { font-size: 15px; font-weight: 100; } .fod-banner-content-discount-text { font-size: 16px; } .fod-banner-content-discount-text span { font-size: 18px; color: #ffe98f; font-weight: bold; } .fod-banner-content-image { vertical-align: middle; } .fod-banner img.fod-banner-content-image { width: auto; } @media all and (min-width: 993px) and (max-width: 1320px) { .fod-banner { background-image: none; } } @media all and (min-width: 845px) and (max-width: 992px) { .fod-banner-content > span:first-child { font-size: 18px; } .fod-banner-content-discount-text { font-size: 20px; } .fod-banner-content-discount-text span { font-size: 24px; } } @media all and (max-width: 740px) { .fod-banner { background-image: url('/images/banners/fod-banner-bg-2.png'); background-position: right center; background-repeat: no-repeat; } } @media all and (max-width: 670px) { .fod-banner { background-image: none; } .fod-banner-content { padding: 15px 10px; } .fod-banner img, .fod-banner-content-discount-text { display: block; margin: 0 auto; } .fod-banner-content > span:first-child { font-size: 28px; } .fod-banner-content-discount-text { font-size: 20px; } .fod-banner-content-discount-text span { font-size: 24px; } } Limited time offer! Get 15% OFF your first order Order now In addition, it should be mentioned that Department of Homeland Security is also working on the defensive measures against computer terrorism. According to Dhillon, It works to stimulate consciousness on virtual safety and statistical knowledge amid all internet operators. The section also cooperates with the monetary and other serious groundwork areas to expand network security (1999). The Department has various branches such as the United States Secret Service and United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement which collectively combat cyber-crimes. The Secret Service upholds Electronic Crimes Task Forces (ECTFs) which focus on recognizing and tracking cyber crooks linked to cyber incursions, bank scam, facts cracks and other computer-related crimes worldwide. The Secret Services Cyber Intelligence Section has openly backed the capture of most sought cyber criminals. The Secret Service similarly runs the National Computer Forensic Institute, which offers law implementation offic ers and magistrates with cyber exercise and facts to fight the cyber misconduct. Though numerous attempts to combat cyber crimes have been undertaken, the government and namely law enforcement agencies should not forget about constant developing of preventive strategies. For instance, cyber security responsiveness should be attained among the Internet users. Besides, it is important to devise special programs to prevent cyber attacks, as it is usually easier to take preventive measures beforehand instead of dealing with full-fledged crimes. Conclusion In conclusion, it could be seen that with the advancing of informational technologies computer crimes have spread worldwide and critical measures should be employed by the all countries to curb furtherance of this malefaction. Nowadays there exist several types of computer crimes, such as cyber warfare, cyber extortion, computer fraud, and cyber terrorism. On the Internet people could encounter with phishing, identity theft, hacking, and grooming. Though government is taking needed steps to combat cyber crimes, preventive measured should also be taken into account. The fights against computer crimes should be fought not only by the US legislators, prosecuting attorneys, security development authorities, but also by all computer users.

Acetate Definition - What Is an Acetate

Acetate refers to the acetate anion and the acetate ester functional group. The acetate anion is formed from acetic acid and has a chemical formula of CH3COO-. The acetate anion is commonly abbreviated as OAc in formulas. For example, sodium acetate is abbreviated NaOAc and acetic acid is HOAc. The acetate ester group connects a functional group to the last oxygen atom of the acetate anion. The general formula for the acetate ester group is CH3COO-R. Key Takeaways: Acetate The word acetate refers to the acetate anion, the acetate functional group, and to compounds that include the acetate anion.The chemical formula for the acetate anion is C2H3O2-.The simplest compound made using acetate is hydrogen acetate or ethanoate, which is most often called acetic acid.Acetate in the form of acetyl CoA is used in metabolism to yield chemical energy. However, too much acetate in the bloodstream can lead to adenosine accumulation, which causes symptoms of a hangover. Acetic Acid and Acetates When the negatively-charged acetate anion combines with a positively charged cation, the resulting compound is called an acetate. The simplest of these compounds is hydrogen acetate, which is commonly called acetic acid. The systematic name of acetic acid is ethanoate, but the name acetic acid is preferred by the IUPAC. Other important acetates are acetate of lead (or sugar of lead), chromium(II) acetate, and aluminum acetate. Most transition metal acetates are colorless salts that are highly soluble in water. At one time, lead acetate was used as a (toxic) sweetener. Aluminum acetate is used in dyeing. Potassium acetate is a diuretic. Most acetic acid produced by the chemical industry is used to prepare acetates. Acetates, in turn, are primarily used to make polymers. Nearly half of acetic acid production goes to preparing vinyl acetate, which is used to make polyvinyl alcohol, an ingredient in paint. Another fraction of acetic acid is used to make cellulose acetate, which is used to make fibers for the textile industry and acetate discs in the audio industry. In biology, acetates occur naturally for use in biosynthesis of more complex organic molecules. For example, bonding two carbons from acetate to a fatty acid produces a more complex hydrocarbon. Acetate Salts and Acetate Esters Because acetate salts are ionic, they tend to dissolve well in water. One of the easiest forms of acetate to prepare at home is sodium acetate, which is also known as hot ice. Sodium acetate is prepared by mixing vinegar (dilute acetic acid) and baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) and evaporating off the excess water. While acetate salts are typically white, soluble powders, acetate esters are typically available as lipophilic, often volatile liquids. Acetate esters have the general chemical formula CH3CO2R, in which R is an organyl group. Acetate esters are typically inexpensive, display low toxicity, and often have a sweet odor. Acetate Biochemistry Methanogen archaea produce methane via a disproportionation reaction of fermentation: CH3COO- H → CH4 CO2 In this reaction, a single electron is transferred from the carbonyl of the carboxylic group to the methyl group, releasing methane gas and carbon dioxide gas. In animals, acetate is most commonly used in the form acetyl coenzyme A. Acetyl coenzyme A or acetyl CoA is important for lipid, protein, and carbohydrate metabolism. It delivers the acetyl group to the citric acid cycle for oxidation, which leads to energy production. Acetate is believe to cause or at least contribute to hangovers from alcohol consumption. When alcohol is metabolized in mammals, increased levels of serum acetate lead to adenosine accumulation in the brain and other tissues. In rats, caffeine has been shown to reduce nociceptive behavior in response to adenosine. So, while drinking coffee after consuming alcohol may not increase sobriety of a person (or rat), it may reduce the likelihood of getting a hangover. Resources and Further Reading Cheung, Hosea, et al. â€Å"Acetic Acid.† Ullmanns Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry, 15 June 2000.Holmes, Bob. â€Å"Is Coffee the Real Cure for a Hangover?† New Scientist, 11 Jan. 2011.March, Jerry. Advanced Organic Chemistry: Reactions, Mechanisms, and Structure. 4th ed., Wiley, 1992.Nelson, David Lee, and Michael M Cox. Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry. 3rd ed., Worth, 2000.Vogels, G.D., et al. â€Å"Biochemistry of Methane Production.† Biology of Anaerobic Microorganisms, edited by Alexander J.B. Zehnder, 99th ed., Wiley, 1988, pp. 707-770.

Women During The Civil War - 997 Words

Many people believe that women did not play any essential roles in our country’s history until the 1960s. However, this is not the case. Women have played many vital roles in suffrage movements as attempts to shed light upon or cure many of the ills of American society throughout American history. As an example, women fought to change the course and ideologies that were bestowed upon them by the traditional viewpoints of society of the time. The status of women was shifting rapidly in the Progressive Era. However, middle-class white married women still did not work outside the home. They were expected to stay home and tend to their families. Minority women, on the other hand, had to balance home life and their jobs outside of the home.†¦show more content†¦Likewise, several African American women went from working in agriculture to working in factories and as domestic servants and housekeepers. Concurrently, African American women had to endure the social and governmental racism, segregation, and overtly violent acts of racism, such as lynching and also sexism. This paper focuses on comparing and contrasting the education received by African American and Euro-American women used due to their differing and sometimes conflicted social standings during the Progressive Era. Attention is also given to specific strategies that were realized by organizations and groups, such as women’s conventions, schools, and settlement houses to help achieve their overall goal of equality. Attention is also given to specific strategies that were realized by organizations and groups, such as women’s conventions, schools, and settlement houses to help achieve their overall goal of equality. The paper also pinpoints key early reforms, and highlights the women who led them. In order to fully understand how and why these women did what they had to do, one must have knowledge of both the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era. The Gilded Age It is said that Mark Twain dubbed the later years of the 19th century as the Gilded Age. The period is very well described as a glittering invitation of the ‘American Dream’ to immigrants and laborers on the surface but corrupt and

The Importance of Color and Balance in the Work of Nolde Free Essays

Color was tremendously important to the artist Emil Nolde and Henri Matisse.   They used color to achieve balance, vividness, and brilliance.   Both men were born in the eighteen sixties and died in the nineteen fifties, therefore they were painting during the same time period. We will write a custom essay sample on The Importance of Color and Balance in the Work of Nolde or any similar topic only for you Order Now    They were European with Nolde being from Germany and Matisse from France.   They shared an extraordinary use of color. Emil Nolde painted the famous still life Tulips using bright vivid color choices.   It is a watercolor on paper yet the colors almost have the same depth as oils.   The background in Tulips is a range of light and dark shades of violet.   The darkness is achieved by the amount of blue in the violet.   The actual flowers are deep shades of red, orange, yellow, and white. They are very detailed in shape and form.   Matisse painted the still life Tulips and Oysters on Black Background.  Ã‚   These two artists used similar colors in their work, but the works were different.   Matisse uses a deep brownish red instead of black as the title suggested for the background.   Like Nolde, he uses vibrant shades of red, orange, yellow and white which create the same warm tone as Nolde’s.   However, Tulips and Oysters on Black Background is not as defined and has more objects like a table and oysters along with the tulips. The focal point of each painting is the tulips.   In Tulips by Nolde, he uses colors that are analogues to achieve the warmth of the flowers that are a symbol of spring and warmer weather.   Matisse also uses red in the color of the tulips even though he uses more white than Nolde.   His use of analogues are placed on the table.   He uses the red table, yellow lemons, and the deeper shade of red in the tulips to create the same warmth that Nolde does. Both Nolde and Matisse use complimentary colors as well to achieve balance.   They both use green in the leaves and stems to compliment the red in the tulips. In Tulips by Nolde, orange is complimented by the shades of blue in the background.   Tulips and Oysters on Black Background by Matisse uses the blue in the vase to compliment the orange red of the table.   Nolde adds a random yellow tulip at the base of his arrangement so that the violet of the background will be complimented While the violet rims of the oysters compliment the vibrant yellow lemons on the table. References Delahunt, M. (1996-2008). Artlex. Retrieved April 9, 2008 from http://www.artlex.com Matisse, H. (1943-44). Tulips and Oysters on Black Background Nolde, E. (1930). Tulips How to cite The Importance of Color and Balance in the Work of Nolde, Essay examples

Why Taking Too Many AP Classes Can Hurt You

One of the most important factors university admissions offices look at when evaluating a candidate is academic rigor. But how challenging is too challenging?When it comes to academic rigor, Advanced Placement (AP) courses are a measure of whether applicants have challenged themselves enough with their curriculum. So, naturally, the more AP courses you have in your schedule and the more difficult your courses, the better, right? Not necessarily. Here are the factors to consider whether you’re striking the right balance with the number of APs you’re taking.1) Impact on GPAYou are first and foremost assessed based on your GPA – your ability to perform well in the classes you’ve chosen. So if your AP course load is going to overwhelm your GPA where your grades suffer because the material is too difficult or you’re taking too many APs to be able to properly devote sufficient time to all of them, then it’s not worth it. Between stellar grades with a comparatively easier workload and mediocre grades with tough courses, the first is more compelling for admissions.However, the caveat here is that you should not be taking the easiest classes. Right after the GPA, colleges look at the difficulty of your classes so a sky high GPA without any Honors or AP courses are a red flag as well. The point is that you want to strike a healthy balance. Don’t take so many APs that you sabotage your GPA. But don’t strip your schedule of challenging courses either. *Tip re: GPA weighting. Some high schools weight your GPA (aka give you a GPA-boost) if you take Honors or AP classes. While this does provide a buffer so you don’t end up with a low GPA, consider the next few factors as well. 2) Reflection of Academic Interests Just because you can take all the AP classes your school offers doesn’t mean you should. Which courses you choose to focus your attention on will help college understand what your academic interests are and whether they’re a fit with their programs. The classes you choose to challenge yourself in should be aligned with your intended major or general course of study that you indicate you have an interest in. Of course, you may not have insight into this as an underclassman, so you can simply gauge whether you like humanities or math and science classes more. Pursue the advanced classes you’re more interested in. This will help you figure out your college major later on and potentially point you toward a career path! 3) Prioritizing Your Time With a finite number of hours in a day, you can’t devote each waking hour to schoolwork so you should be choosy about which courses you take to not detract from your extracurricular or other involvements. Take it from someone who took 15 APs. It’s not worth the loss of sleep. You can be allocating the time you’re spending on one class to developing other interests or exploring potential career paths. Having a moderate, balanced course load will help you demonstrate to colleges that you know how to prioritize and manage your time. If you know how to balance your schedule so you’re not overwhelmed with your course load in high school, you’ll have an easier time doing the same in college. Everything in moderation. 4) A Holistic Admissions Review Your application will be evaluated holistically. This means that your extracurriculars should support your coursework and vice versa. You’ll want your application to be cohesive, so your course picks junior and senior years should be more focused than your freshman and sophomore year courses because you ostensibly have narrowed down your academic interests a bit. Again, your AP coursework should reflect any extracurricular academic interests (e.g., you should be taking AP science courses if you’re also conducting science research or you should be taking AP English if you’re President of the Literature Club). Make sure there aren’t discrepancies in your application where it would be strange for you to not have an offered AP class on your schedule when it looks like you should. 5) College Credit If you’re taking a ton of AP classes with the intention to have the courses count in college, there are two very important distinctions to make: Are you trying to graduate early or are you trying to place out of introductory courses? The vast majority of highly selective universities will limit the number of AP credits you’re allowed to count toward graduation since they’re not incentivized to let you graduate early. Remember my 15 APs? Only 2 of them counted toward graduation credits. If you want the AP credits to place out of university introductory courses, the question is why? The same advice about balancing your courses so you’re not overly challenged goes for college as well. While selective universities are more open to letting you receive credit for an introductory class and place into a higher level, this won’t necessarily get you out of taking the same number of credits to graduate from a major. (You can search individual university policies about AP credits here.) In the end, there is no â€Å"right† number of APs to take. The onus is on you to really understand what you can handle to still achieve at a high standard in each course and to balance your coursework with other non-classroom interests you might have. Don’t forget to just be a kid! With that said, anywhere from 5 to 10 APs is a good range to be in if you’re targeting highly selective schools. Final note: Unless you’re already achieving at a level in a subject area that your high school course offering and high school teachers cannot handle (meaning you are performing college-level research that you need a specialized professor to mentor you), there’s no reason to take classes at your local college. Applying this year? For access to our college profiles, upgrade to ourpremium plansoffer different levels of profile access and data insights that can help you get into your dream school.

Management Essays - Cognition, Experimental Psychology, Free Essays

Management Essays - Cognition, Experimental Psychology, Free Essays Management The experience during the (name of course) at (name of College) has given me a broader view on managment. With the vast amount of material given to me in class with prior modules, I?ve increased my understanding of an effective management. One?s skill in management requires constant practice. Mangers who grow too complacement or too lazy to continue practicing will eventually find their carrer in decay. In this paper, I will present my concept of an ideal managment environment. Good management is practiced in many forms and in a great diversity of business situations. There are basic principles of how to manage, but they would be applied differently in different situations. In an effective organization led by good managers, there is a clear set of strategic objectives I consider skill essential in an effective management: ? Communication ? Motivation ? Listening ? Teamwork ? Interpersonal Skill ? Goals After I explain the six essential skills in an effective management, I will state my own style/preferences in management and explain how I?ll try to incorporate them into my effective management views. There are many more concepts I have learned about effective management but I will focus on what areas I believe can relate to my needs in my organization. It is worthy to note that a successful organization have managers who have a great deal of flexibility in establishing a workable leadership style. Successful managers, in addition, realize that times, tasks, and circumstances change on a daily basis. Communication Nothing could be easier than failing to communicate. For many years, managers think they can belittle their employees with the ?I?m the boss, get to work? attitude. It is different today in most places. More poeople are beginning to understand how important good comunication really is. Communicating well is something every one of us does everday in our lives. However, effective communication seems to be rare in adults. There are some basic concepts that can be implemented to have a successful communication. They are making communication a top priority, being open to other people, and creating a receptive enviornment for communication. First, I?ve learned that I must make time to communicate with my subordinates no matter how busy I find myself during the work day. All my brilliant ideas are worthless if I dont share them. Second, if I can show my colleagues I am receptive to their ideas, they are more likely to be receptive to me and to keep me honestly informed about the things I need to know. I?ve learned that a good organization has people caring about the future of the organization and that top managements care as much about their people. Finally, it?s a basic fact that people wont say what they think and won?t listen receptively to what you say unless a foundation of trust and shared interest has been laid. In an effective management environment, people shouldn?t be punished for their openness; especially in situation when they took the risk to tell you what they think. For example, if I am in a position when someone disagrees with my plan and tried to make a suggestion, I?d be very delicate about the way I tell them I dont agree with them. However, I?d encourage them to come back to me the next time and make another suggestion. Motivation I see an importance in having a skill to motivate people. In an effective managment environment, leaders should show the employees that he will take risks and encourages them to do the same. In the past modules, I?ve learned that using fear is a poor motivator. Companies that are run on that basis will end up with a work force of resentful employees. An ideal environment would be a place where someone feel a real sense of purpose, the feeling that they are valuable. This is where I believe a true motivation comes from, not just to work but to excel. To do this, I believe people need to be recognized, be included, be encouraged, and be involved. Glory should be shared with everyone in an organization and a clear understanding how value individuals are. I?d like to see employees be given the freedom to work as they see fit, and convey their belief in their abilities by getting out of

Best Character Analysis Jay Gatsby - The Great Gatsby

Best Character Analysis Jay Gatsby - The Great Gatsby SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips The man, the myth, the legend, Jay Gatsby is the titular hero of The Great Gatsby. Nick first comes to know him as an incredibly wealthy, mysterious man who throws lavish parties, but we eventually learn his background: a boy from humble origins who is desperate to win back the love of a rich woman, Daisy, and loses everything in his last attempt to win her over. So where did Gatsby get his money? Does he actually love Daisy? And what’s so â€Å"great† about him anyway? This guide explains Gatsby’s rags-to-riches story, what he does in the novel, his most famous lines, and common essay topics. Read on for an in-depth guide to all things Jay Gatsby. Article Roadmap Gatsbyas a character Physical description Gatsby'sbackground Actions in the novel Character Analysis Quotes about and byGatsby Common discussion topics and essay ideas FAQ clarifyingconfusing points aboutGatsby Quick Note on Our Citations Our citation format in this guide is (chapter.paragraph). We're using this system since there are many editions of Gatsby, so using page numbers would only work for students with our copy of the book. To find a quotation we cite via chapter and paragraph in your book, you can either eyeball it (Paragraph 1-50: beginning of chapter; 50-100: middle of chapter; 100-on: end of chapter), or use the search function if you're using an online or eReader version of the text. Jay Gatsby's Physical Description We were sitting at a table with a man of about my age (3.60) He smiled understandinglymuch more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It facedor seemed to facethe whole external world for an instant, and then concentrated onyouwith an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just so far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself and assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey. Precisely at that point it vanishedand I was looking at an elegant young rough-neck, a year or two over thirty, whose elaborate formality of speech just missed being absurd. (3.76) His tanned skin was drawn attractively tight on his face and his short hair looked as though it were trimmed every day. (3.93) Gatsby’s very first appearance is a bit surprising and anti-climatic – he is presented as just another party-goer of Nick’s age before it’s revealed that he’s actually the famous Gatsby. That said, Nick’s description of Gatsby’s smile – â€Å"rare† and â€Å"full of eternal reassurances† that â€Å"understood you the way you wanted to be understood† – sets Gatsby apart as someone special and alluring. Gatsby has tan skin and short hair, but otherwise most of Gatsby’s characterization comes through his dialogue and actions – Nick doesn’t linger on his physical appearance the way he does with other characters (especially Tom and Myrtle). Perhaps Gatsby having more of a â€Å"blank slate† appearance allows the reader to more easily project his shifting characterization onto him (from mysterious party host to the military man madly in love with Daisy to the ambitious farmboy James Gatz), whereas characters like Tom Buchanan and Myrtle are more stiffly characterized. Jay Gatsby's Background Gatsby was born â€Å"James Gatz,† the son of poor farmers, in North Dakota. However, he was deeply ambitious and determined to be successful. He changed his name to â€Å"Jay Gatsby† and learned the manners of the rich on the yacht of Dan Cody, a wealthy man who he saved from a destructive storm and ended up being employed by. However, although Cody intended to leave his fortune to Gatsby, it ended up being taken by Cody’s ex-wife Ella Kaye, leaving Jaywith the knowledge and manners of the upper class, but no money to back them up. Gatsby ended up enlisting in the military during World War I. He met Daisy in Louisville before he was shipped out to Europe. In his uniform, there was no way for anyone to know he wasn’t wealthy, and Daisy assumed he was due to his manners. He kept up this lie to keep up their romance, and when he left she promised to wait for him. Gatsby fought in the War, gained a medal from Montenegro for valor, and was made an officer. After the war ended, he briefly attended Oxford University through a program for officers, but left after five months. By the time Gatsby returned to America, he learned that Daisy had married and became determined to win her back. Through Meyer Wolfshiem, Gatsby got into shady business (read: bootlegging, gambling) to get rich. It worked, and Gatsby accrued a huge sum of money in just 3 years. He moved to West Egg, bought an extravagant mansion and a Rolls Royce, and started throwing lavish parties and building up a reputation, all in the hopes of meeting Daisy again. Luckily, an aspiring bond salesman named Nick Carraway moves in next door just as the novel begins. Nick is Daisy’s second cousin, and through that connection he is able to reunite with Daisy during the novel. To see how Gatsby's life fits into the biographies of the novel's other characters, check out our timeline. What Jay Gatsby Does in the Novel Although Nick briefly glimpses Gatsby reaching out to Daisy’s green light at the end of Chapter 1, we don’t properly meet Gatsby until Chapter 3. Gatsby has been throwing lavish parties, and he invites Nick Carraway to one. They meet, and Gatsby takes a liking to Nick, inviting him out on his hydroplane the next day. He also speaks to Jordan Baker in private, and reveals his past history with Daisy Buchanan. In Chapter 4, he spends more time with Nick, telling him about his service in WWI as well as a made-up story about his past as the only surviving member of a wealthy family. Later, he has Jordan explain Gatsby and Daisy’s background in a bid to get Nick to help the pair reunite. Through Jordan and Nick, Gatsby is thus able to meet with Daisy again and begins an affair with her in Chapter 5. Throughout all of this Gatsby continues to do business with Meyer Wolfsheim and run his own bootlegging â€Å"business," mainly based on the mysterious phone calls he's always taking. Rumors begin to swirl about where he got his money. Tom Buchanan, in particular, is instantly suspicious of Gatsby when they meet in Chapter 6 and even more so after he and Daisy attend one of Gatsby’s parties. Daisy seems particularly unhappy and Gatsby frets. At the beginning of Chapter 7, he stops throwing the parties, fires his current staff, and hires Wolfshiem’s people instead, telling Nick he needs discreet people – this makes the affair easier, but also hints at Gatsby’s criminal doings.In the climactic Manhattan confrontation with Tom and Daisy later in Chapter 7, Gatsby tries to get Daisy to admit she never loved Tom, and to leave him, but she doesn’t. Later in the same chapter, he and Daisy leave together to drive back to West Egg in Gatsby’s distinctive yellow car. However, Daisy is driving and hits and kills Myrtle Wilson, who ran out into the road since she thought the car was Tom’s. Gatsby resolves to take the blame for the incident and still believes that Daisy will leave Tom for him. During Chapter 8, Gatsby confides in Nick about his past, the true story this time.At the end of Chapter 8, Gatsby is shot and killed by George Wilson, who believes Gatsby killed Myrtle and was the one sleeping with her. Meanwhile, Daisy and Tom have left town to avoid the repercussions of Myrtle’s death. In Chapter 9, Gatsby’s funeral is sparsely attended, despite Nick’s efforts to invite people. Gatsby’s father does make an appearance, sharing some details about young Jay’s early ambition and focus. Nick leaves New York shortly after, disenchanted with life on the east coast. Thus Gatsby's actual death has caused Nick's metaphorical death of leaving New York forever. Though real death is obviously much worse. Jay Gatsby Quotes Catchphrase: â€Å"old sport† Gatsby adopts this catchphrase, which was used among wealthy people in England and America at the time, to help build up his image as a man from old money, which is related to his frequent insistence he is â€Å"an Oxford man.† Note that both Jordan Baker and Tom Buchanan are immediately skeptical of both Gatsby’s â€Å"old sport† phrase and his claim to being an Oxford man, indicating that despite Gatsby’s efforts, it is incredibly difficult to pass yourself off as â€Å"old money† when you aren’t. He reached in his pocket and a piece of metal, slung on a ribbon, fell into my palm. "That's the one from Montenegro." To my astonishment, the thing had an authentic look. Orderi di Danilo, ran the circular legend, Montenegro, Nicolas Rex. "Turn it." Major Jay Gatsby, I read, For Valour Extraordinary. (4.34-39) In this moment, Nick begins to believe and appreciate Gatsby, and not just see him as a puffed-up fraud. The medal, to Nick, is hard proof that Gatsby did, in fact, have a successful career as an officer during the war and therefore that some of Gatsby’s other claims might be true. For the reader, the medal serves as questionable evidence that Gatsby really is an â€Å"extraordinary† man – isn’t it a strange that Gatsby has to produce physical evidence to get Nick to buy his story? (Imagine how strange it would be to carry around a physical token to show to strangers to prove your biggest achievement.) He had passed visibly through two states and was entering upon a third. After his embarrassment and his unreasoning joy he was consumed with wonder at her presence. He had been full of the idea so long, dreamed it right through to the end, waited with his teeth set, so to speak, at an inconceivable pitch of intensity. Now, in the reaction, he was running down like an overwound clock. (5.4) In Chapter 5, the dream Gatsby has been working towards for years – to meet and impress Daisy with his fabulous wealth – finally begins to come to fruition. And so, for the first time, we see Gatsby’s genuine emotions, rather than his carefully-constructed persona. Nick finds these emotions almost as beautiful and transformative as Gatsby’s smile, though there’s also the sense that this love could quickly veer off the rails: Gatsby is running down â€Å"like an overwound clock.† In that sense, this moment gently foreshadows the escalating tensions that lead to the novel's tragic climax. "I wouldn't ask too much of her," I ventured. "You can't repeat the past." "Can't repeat the past?" he cried incredulously. "Why of course you can!" He looked around him wildly, as if the past were lurking here in the shadow of his house, just out of reach of his hand. "I'm going to fix everything just the way it was before," he said, nodding determinedly. "She'll see." (6.128-131) This is probably Gatsby’s single most famous line. His insistence that he can repeat the past and recreate everything as it was in Louisville sums up his intense determination to win Daisy back at any cost. It also shows his naivetà © and optimism, even delusion, about what is possible in his life – an attitude which are increasingly at odds with the cynical portrait of the world painted by Nick Carraway. "Your wife doesn't love you," said Gatsby. "She's never loved you. She loves me." (7.238) This is the moment Gatsby lays his cards out on the table, so to speak – he risks everything to try and win over Daisy. His insistence that Daisy never loved Tom also reveals how Gatsby refuses to acknowledge Daisy could have changed or loved anyone else since they were together in Louisville. This declaration, along with his earlier insistence that he can â€Å"repeat the past,† creates an image of an overly optimistic, naà ¯ve person, despite his experiences in the war and as a bootlegger. Especially since Daisy can’t support this statement, saying that she loved both Tom and Gatsby, and Tom quickly seizes power over the situation by practically ordering Gatsby and Daisy to drive home together, Gatsby’s confident insistence that Daisy has only ever loved him feels desperate, even delusional. Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no mattertomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And one fine morning So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past. (9.153-154) One of the most famous ending lines in modern literature, this quote is Nick’s final analysis of Gatsby – someone who believed in â€Å"the green light, the orgastic future† that he could never really attain. Our last image of Gatsby is of a man who believed in a world (and a future) that was better than the one he found himself in – but you can read more about interpretations of the ending, both optimistic and pessimistic, in our guide to the end of the book. Jay Gatsby Character Analysis If you read The Great Gatsby, odds are you will have to write at least one paper that analyzes Gatsby as a character or connects him to a larger theme, like money, love, or the American Dream. To do this well, you should closely read Gatsby’s key scenes (meeting Daisy again in Chapter 5, the confrontation in the hotel in Chapter 7, his decision to take the blame in Chapter 8) along with his background, revealed over Chapters 6, 8, and 9. By understanding both Gatsby's past and his present in the novel, you can write about him confidently despite his many-layered personality. It can be helpful to compare Gatsby to other characters, because it can make it easier to understand his attitude and motivations. Nick’s cynical nature makes Gatsby’s naivetà © and optimism readily apparent, for example. You should also consider how Gatsby’s interaction with the book’s famous symbols (especially the green light) reveal aspects of his character. Remember that there are many valid ways to interpret Gatsby, as he is a very complex, mysterious character. As long as you back up your arguments with evidence from the book you can connect Gatsby to various big-picture themes and ideas. We will explore that in action below with some common essay topics about Gatsby. Gatsby is especially linked to the American Dream! What makes Gatsby so great? I think the best way to tackle this question is to ask â€Å"why is Gatsby called great† or â€Å"who thinks Gatsby is great?† That way you won’t get bogged down in an unoriginal argument like â€Å"well, he has a lot of money and throws amazing parties, and that’s pretty awesome, so†¦he’s pretty great I guess?† Remember that the book is narrated by Nick Carraway, and all of our impressions of the characters come from his point of view. So the real question is â€Å"why does Nick Carraway think Gatsby is great?† Or in other words, what is it about Gatsby that captures cynical Nick Carraway’s imagination? And the answer to that comes from Gatsby’s outlook and hope, not his money or extravagance, which are in fact everything that Nick claims to despise. Nick admires Gatsby due to his optimism, how he shapes his own life, and how doggedly he believes in his dream, despite the cruel realities of 1920s America. So Gatsby’s greatness comes from his outlook – even if, to many readers, Gatsby’s steadfast belief in Daisy’s love and his own almost god-like abilities come off as delusional. Why is Gatsby obsessed with repeating the past? Gatsby is not so much obsessed with repeating the past as reclaiming it. He wants to both return to that beautiful, perfect moment when he wedded all of his hopes and dreams to Daisy in Louisville, and also to make that past moment his present (and future!). It also means getting right what he couldn’t get right the first time by winning Daisy over. So Gatsby’s obsession with the past is about control – over his own life, over Daisy – as much as it is about love. This search for control could be a larger symptom of being born into a poor/working class family in America, without much control over the direction of his own life. Even after he’s managed to amass great wealth, Gatsby still searches for control over his life in other ways. Perhaps he fixates on the reclamation of that moment in his past because by winning over Daisy, he can finally achieve each of the dreams he imagined as a young man. How would the book be different if Gatsby â€Å"got the girl?† The Great Gatsby would probably be much less memorable, first of all! Sad endings tend to stick in your mind more stubbornly than happy ones. Furthermore, the novel would lose its power as a reflection on the American Dream if Gatsby ended up with Daisy, the book would be a straightforward rags-to-riches American Dream success story. In order to be critical of the American Dream, Gatsby has to lose everything he’s gained. The novel would also lose its power as an indictment of class in America, since if Daisy and Gatsby ended up together it would suggest walls coming down between old and new money, something that never happens in the book. Instead, the novel depicts class as a rigid and insurmountable barrier in 1920s America. A happy ending would also seem to reward both Gatsby’s bad behavior (including crime, dishonesty, and cheating) as well as Daisy’s (cheating, killing Myrtle). This would change the tone of the ending, since Gatsby's tragic death seems to outweigh any of his crimes in Nick's eyes. Also, Gatsby likely wouldn't have caught on as an American classic during the ultra-conservative 1950s had its ending appeared to endorse behavior like cheating, crime, and murder. In short, although on your first read of the novel you more than likely are hoping for Gatsby to succeed in winning over Daisy, the novel would be much less powerful with a stereotypically happy ending. How does Jay Gatsby represent the American Dream? Should we be hopeful or cynical about the status of the American Dream by the end of the novel? There is a bit of a progression in how the reader regards the American Dream in the course of the novel, which moves in roughly three stages and corresponds to what we know about Jay Gatsby. First, the novel expresses a cautious belief in the American Dream. Gatsby’s parties are lavish, Nick rides over the Queensboro bridge with optimism and the belief that anything can happen in New York (4.55-7), and we see some small but significant breaking of class conventions: Myrtle holding court at an apartment with Tom Buchanan (Chapter 2), the â€Å"modish† African Americans riding over the bridge with a white driver (4.56), old money and new money mingling at Gatsby’s party (Chapter 3). However, this optimism quickly gives way to skepticism. As you learn more about Gatsby’s background and likely criminal ties in the middle-to-late chapters (4-8), combined with how broken George seems in Chapter 7 upon learning of his wife’s affair, it seems like the lavish promises of the American Dream we saw in the earlier half of the book are turning out to be hollow, at best. This skepticism gives way to pessimism by the end of the novel. With Gatsby dead, along with George and Myrtle, and only the rich alive, the novel has progressed to a charged, emotional critique of the American Dream. After all, how can you believe in the American Dream in a world where the strivers end up dead and those born into money (literally) get away with murder? So by the end of the novel, the reader should be pretty pessimistic about the state of the American Dream, though there is a bit of hope to be found in the way Nick reflects on Gatsby’s outlook and extends Gatsby's hope to everyone in America. Is Gatsby a tragic hero? How you answer this prompt will depend on the definition you use of tragic hero. The most straightforward definition is pretty obvious: a tragic hero is the hero of a tragedy. (And to be precise, a tragedy is a dramatic play, or more recently any work of literature, that treats sorrowful events caused or witnessed by a great hero with dignity and seriousness.) If we consider The Great Gatsby a tragedy, that would certainly make Gatsby a tragic hero, since he’s the hero of the book! But in Aristotle’s (influential) and more specific definition, a tragic hero is a flawed individual who commits, without evil intentions, some wrong that leads to their misfortunate, usually followed by a realization of the true nature of events that led to his destiny. The tragic hero also has a reversal of fortune, often going from a high place (in terms of society, money, and status) to a ruined one. He also has a â€Å"tragic flaw,† a character weakness that leads to his demise. Using Aristotle’s definition of a tragic hero, Gatsby might not fit. There isn’t a sense that he commits some great wrong (unlike, say, the classic example of Oedipus Rex, who kills his own father and marries his mother) – rather, his downfall is perhaps the result of a few smaller wrongs: he commits crimes and puts too much faith in Daisy, who ends up being a killer. In that sense, Gatsby is more of a playful riff on the idea of a tragic hero, someone who is doomed from aiming too high and from trusting too much. Especially since a huge part of The Great Gatsby is a critique of the American Dream, and specifically the unjust American society that all of the characters have to live within, the idea of a tragic hero – a single person bringing about his own fate – doesn’t quite fit within the frame of the novel. Instead, Nick seems to indict the society around Gatsby for the tragedy, not Gatsby himself. Final Questions Does Gatsby really love Daisy? Does Daisy really love Gatsby? On the surface in Gatsby, we see a man doing whatever it takes to win over the woman he loves (Daisy). He even seems willing to sacrifice everything to protect her by taking the blame for Myrtle's death. However, he ends up killed for his involvement in the affair while Daisy skips town to avoid the aftermath. This can make it look like Gatsby loves Daisy truly while Daisy doesn't love him at all. However, the truth is much more complicated. Gatsby claims to love Daisy, but he rarely takes into account her own feelings or even the fact that five years have passed since their first romance and that she's changed. In fact, he's so determined to repeat the past that he is unable to see that Daisy is not devoted to him in the way he thinks she is. Furthermore, Gatsby seems to love Daisy more for what she represents money, status, beauty than as an actual, flawed human being. As for Daisy, it’s pretty clear she loved Gatsby up until she married Tom (see the bathtub scene as recounted by Jordan in Chapter 4), but whether she still loves him or is just eager to escape her marriage is harder to determine (you can read more in depth about Daisy right here). Either way, there are certainly strong feelings on both sides. I don't think you could argue Daisy never loved Gatsby or Gatsby never loved Daisy, but their relationship is complex and uneven enough that it can raise doubts. Read more about love and relationships in Gatsby for more analysis! What’s up with Nick and Gatsby’s friendship? Does Nick believe Gatsby? Why does Gatsby come to admire Nick? Nick, for his part, starts out suspicious of Gatsby but ends up truly admiring him, to the point that he tells Gatsby that he’s worth more than Daisy, Tom, and their ilk put together. But why does Gatsby come to rely on Nick so much? Part of the answer comes in Nick’s introduction, when he establishes himself as both part of a privileged group (his family is pretty wealthy and he’s a Yale graduate), but also someone who’s not as incredibly wealthy as the Buchanans – in short, Nick is the sort of person Gatsby wishes he was but not to the degree Gatsby would be jealous of him. Perhaps more importantly, Nick establishes himself as relatively grounded and a good listener, which is the type of person lacking in Gatsby’s high-flying circles (hundreds of people come to his parties but Nick seems to be the first real friend he makes). Both Nick and Gatsby seem to recognize each other as kindred spirits – people both â€Å"within and without† of New York society, rich but not old money aristocracy. The cherry on top of this is the fact Nick is related to Daisy, and is thus a link to her Gatsby can use. So Gatsby starts confiding in Nick to get closer to Daisy, but continues because he finds Nick to be a genuine friend – again, something he severely lacks, as his poor funeral attendance suggests. What’s up with the â€Å"Jay Gatsby is black† theory? Is there any chance it’s true? Recently, some scholars have argued that another possible layer of The Great Gatsby is that Gatsby is actually part black, but passing as white. This would make Tom’s racist statements much more charged and ironic, if it’s true his wife is cheating on him with a black man. It would also explain Gatsby’s desire to completely sever ties to his past and reinvent himself with an old money background. However, many Fitzgerald scholars point out that Fitzgerald’s conversations with his editor about the book are well documented, and they never had any discussions about Gatsby’s race. So basically, this theory is intriguing and can be argued for based on the text, but if you take a more historical/biographical approach it’s less likely to be true. You can read more about it here and decide for yourself if you believe it! There are also similar theories that argue that Gatsby is Jewish. You can read one such theory in depth here. Is Gatsby based on a real person? Is this a true story? Is there a Great Gatsby house I can go visit? The Great Gatsby is not based on a true story, and there wasn’t a specific person in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s life who inspired the character of Jay Gatsby. However, F. Scott Fitzgerald did live briefly on Long Island (which is the inspiration for East Egg and West Egg) and spent time with New York celebrities. This was all during the 1920s, when bootlegging and organized crime were in their heyday. So he certainly could have been inspired by real life, newly-rich celebrities. (If you’re curious, the house Fitzgerald lived in is still standing on Long Island, but it’s not a tourist site like, say, Mark Twain’s house is.) Finally, and perhaps most potently, Fitzgerald himself went through a Gatsby-like heartbreak. Before he married Zelda Sayre, he was in love with a wealthy woman named Ginevra King. A dark-haired beauty, Ginevra went on to marry a wealthy man, leaving F. Scott Fitzgerald behind and heartbroken. Those experiences may have all combined to create the character of Jay Gatsby (as well as Daisy Buchanan), but Jay isn’t based on any one person. You can also read more about F. Scott Fitzgerald's life and the history of the novel's composition. What’s Next? Still confused about how the last few chapters play out? Catch up with our summaries of chapters 7, 8, and 9. Read more about Daisy and Gatsby’s relationship and how it stacks up to others in the novel over at our analysis of love, desire, and relationships in Gatsby. Still wondering about Gatsby’s legacy? Is he a man to be admired or a cautionary tale of someone who put too much stock in an old love? Read about different ways to interpret the novel’s ending. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Analyze one of the book themes at play in John Demos's The Unredeemed Essay

Analyze one of the book themes at play in John Demos's The Unredeemed Captive - Essay Example The story starts with a reason that further leads to the cultural integration suitable to the situation. It’s a story of abduction and adoption by Indians of the American settlers (Sweeney 32). The Mohawk Indians are assisted by the French in Canada. They together attempt to attack a small village with name of Deerfield located in Massachusetts. They had targeted revered John Williams, the than Minister from Deerfield because they intended they get their man, with the name of Jean Baptist Gayen rescued in return, who had been held from Boston. Two of John William’s kids were murdered the night of the kidnap and the rest of the family was moved to Canada along with a number of other captives who were also taken up from Deerfield for the same cause of personal gain. John Williams’s family saw this event highly distressful and damaging. They kept very little hope of getting to see each other ever again. John William manages to break through the hostage couple of yea rs later. He remarries another lady after back home and recollects his shattered life to give it a new start. His rest of the children were also set free, leaving behind his daughter, Eunice Williams in their custody. The story majorly revolves around her and the way she chooses to built her life with the Native Americans willingly, once she experiences growing up amongst them. John Williams, the famous Revered of Deerfield is illustrated by John Demos to get stunned and spell bound by the choices his daughter, Eunice is shown to make for herself. After being left alone to live amongst them she has no other option rather than to settle herself with their norms and culture. She was at the age seven when she got taken up the Native Americans. In the early years of her captivity, as a young kid she feared the Native Americans when left to live alone with them. She begged her father to manage for her rescue from their custody (The Archive Organization 33). John Williams did nothing prac tically to get her rescued. He met her on regular basis and tried to get the process carried out on the official basis. Her desire to get out of the culture subsided along with the time and alongside developed into a revenge against her father and other protestants who had not dared to get her rescued from the alien culture where as a child she had frequently felt she did not belong to (Sweeney 12). She, along with the time instilled the culture to her roots and felt as a member of the Native Indian culture. She carried her physical appearances in the same way as they did and adopted their norms in her daily life. She also made religious shifts and got converted to Catholicism (The Archive Organization 57). In wider scenario, it’s the description of a girl, who uses a culture she had been abandoned into, to revenge against her own people, who had left her years earlier as young girl- it’s the Indian Culture’s insight through a young girl’s life (Meorial H all Mueseum 11). Cronon’s Changes in the Land William Cronon, the author of another famous book â€Å"Changes in the land† has also investigated the ecological changes from Indian to European dominance during the time period of 1620 to 1800 (William Coron Net 16). Demo’s book in my opinion is not reflective of the true way Cronon has

American Health System Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

American Health System - Research Paper Example The United States of America spends almost two trillion dollars on health care making it the country spending the most money per capita and with the most technologically advanced medical practice. Despite this, it only ranks 37th in the World Health Organization’s ranking of the World Health Systems. (WHO, 2000) Such state of affairs exists primarily because the American system of health is extremely fragmented. Along with past of half-hearted efforts to form a universal system of health while at the same time bending to the interest of large private sector insurance companies has reduced the American health system to a patchy arrangement with complicated rules ( which differ in different areas) and huge wastage of resources. This fragmentation of the system has developed due to the multiple stakeholders in the system coupled with the rising costs for healthcare provision. (Arthur Garson, 2010)   One fact that cannot be ignored is that a lot of money is being invested each year on healthcare in America. More percentage of GDP is spent on health care than on food. The governmental expenditure on healthcare sums up to 18.9 percent of the total federal and state budget (WHO). Then there are the private and employment-based insurances which are continuously rising. Despite the increased spending on health care, we find that it has not translated into a universal or better health system. This is partly due to the gross inefficiency in the system. As the health sector becomes a larger fraction of the economy the inefficient functioning of the sector become even more costly. Despite this, some health policy analyst argues that increased expenditure on health is necessary to cover the population and continue the cutting edge advancement in technology.     

Why Do Emotions Exist? :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Pervading us with an array of highs and lows, ranging from anger and sadness, to love, joy, and contentment, emotions vividly affect our daily lives. So, unequivocally it could be asked, â€Å"Why do emotions exist?† It is possible that the sole, underlying principle of emotions is to create a reaction in people and things in our environment; or perhaps they exist to be our governing channel of communication; or maybe they precisely exist to regulate individual self-confidence and disparage.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The theory that emotions have a sole principle to generate reactions amongst people, things, and their environment, is very conceivable. Every emotion has a cause and effect, and frequently, both are a reaction in others around us. Perhaps the emotions that are expressed by the opening individual have no direct affect on that individual, but on others, and the reaction emotions of others are what cause the effects on the individual. It could be a repetitive chain of events that begins and ends alike.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Since emotions are typically needed to communicate successfully, this gives way to the possibility that emotions exist to be our governing channel of communication. The level of understandability and intensity of communication is exceedingly dependant on the amount of emotion used. Emotionless verbal communication is complex to understand, uninteresting and monotonous. Emotionless nonverbal communication is generally next to impossible to comprehend, and is the borderline of understanding and bewilderment. Communication could be straightforwardly thought of as expressed emotion.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Maybe, instead of, or in addition to, having a principle to create reactions and to be a major channel of communication, emotions precisely exist to regulate individual self-confidence and disparage. External, as well as internal, emotions are often used to compliment and criticize a person’s own character. Emotions control a person’s level of confidence, or lack there of, in their success and individuality. Perhaps this self-determining strength and weakness alike could be the rationale.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Why do emotions exist?† is a question that could be answered with numerous possibilities; each of those possibilities being parallel to other.

Relationships Among Service Quality

Relationships among Service Quality, Image, Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty in a Hong Kong Franchised Bus Company Iris M. H. Yeung* Abstract Market share of franchised buses in Hong Kong decreases since 2004 irrespective of increase in service quality as reported by Tang and Lo (2010). This paper investigates how service quality, image, satisfaction and loyalty are related to gain insight on the decreasing market share problem based on data collected from passengers of a franchised bus company in Hong Kong in 2004.The structural equation modelling results support the hypothesis that (1) service quality affects satisfaction and image directly, (2) image affects overall satisfaction and loyalty directly, and (3) overall satisfaction affects loyalty directly. However, the results do not support the hypothesis that service quality affects loyalty directly. Service quality has only indirect effect on loyalty through image and overall satisfaction. So even though the service quality may be increasing, the indirect effect of service quality on loyalty is not adequate to increase market share.Keywords: image, loyalty, public transport, satisfaction, service quality, structural equation model. Field of Study: Customer Service and Customer Relations Introduction In Hong Kong, public transport is the dominant transport mode, accounting for approximately 90% of daily passenger journeys over the past 10 years (Transport Department (1999, 2003)). Public transport comprises railways, franchised buses, public light buses, taxi service, non-franchised bus services for residents, ferries, railway feeder buses, and peak tramways.Among these modes, railways and franchised buses play an important role, carrying over seven million passenger journeys per day, or approximately 70% of the total public transport patronage (Transport Department (1995–2010)). Market share of franchised buses is generally higher than that of railways. In 2002, market share of franchised buses peak ed at 39. 8%, whereas market share of railways at the time was a mere 32. 3%. However, with the opening of new rails, market shares of franchised buses and railways were 32. 4% and 38. 8% respectively in 2010.Other than competition from other modes, franchised buses compete with each other as well for the operating right of new bus routes. Moreover, the franchise can be terminated based on poor performance. Thus, service quality is essential to maintain market share and increase profitability under fierce competition. Iris M. H. Yeung , Department of Management Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon Tong, Kowloon,Hong Kong, Tel. : + 852-3442-8566; Fax: + 852-3442-0189, E-mail address: [email  protected] edu. hk (I. M. H. Yeung) YeungIn fact, quality of services for both railways and franchised buses has continuously improved over the past years. Using Mass Transit Railway (MTR) and Kowloon Motor Bus Limited (KMB) as references, Tang and Lo (2010) commented that the qualit y of rail and bus service provision improved from 1984 to 2004, particularly in terms of service supply and based on technical measures such as vehicle-kilometre per capita and real fare increase rate. However, market share of franchised buses, including KMB, started to drop since 2004 irrespective of increase in service quality as reported by Tang and Lo (2010).As passengers decide on which transport mode to take, this paper investigates how service quality, image, satisfaction and loyalty are related in order to gain insight into decreasing market share problem from passengers? perspective. In line with Tang and Lo? s study, the analysis is based on a data set collected from passengers in 2004. Further, among all the franchised bus operators in Hong Kong, KMB has the longest history and is currently the largest, occupying approximately 70% of the franchised bus share in Hong Kong. Thus, KMB? quality of service affects many people in Hong Kong; it is of interest to a large share of the population and therefore merits investigation. The remainder of the paper is organized as follows. Section 2 presents the literature review of the four constructs and the research hypothesis of the proposed structural model. Section 3 describes the research methodology. The results of exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation model (SEM) are provided in Section 4. Finally, Section 5 presents the concluding remarks with limitations of the study and suggestions for future research directions.Literature Review Service quality Parasuraman et al. (1985, 1988) developed the SERVQUAL instrument, which consists of 22 attributes under five distinct dimensions (i. e. , reliability, assurance, tangibles, empathy, and responsiveness). They defined service quality as the difference or gap between customers? expectations and perceived performance and proposed to use gap scores to measure service quality. Despite the widespread use of SERVQU AL in various industries and countries, some scholars such as Brady et al. (2002), Cronin and Taylor (1992, 1994), Zhao et al. 2002) reported that service quality is more accurately assessed by the perceptions of quality rather than the „gap? scores. Another criticism on the SERVQUAL instrument is that the 22 associated attributes have been deemed inappropriate, or that they cannot be simply adopted for measuring service quality in all service industries (Cronin and Taylor, 1992; Lai and Chen, 2011). According to Ladhari (2009), 30 industry-specific measures of service quality have been developed between 1990 and 2007 in different industries and countries. Corporate image Corporate image can be defined as the overall impression that is formed in people? minds about a firm (Barich and Kotler 1991). Some researchers thought that service quality affects image (See, for example, Ostrowski et al (1993), Aydin and Ozer (2005), Nguyen and LeBlanc 1998). Also, it has been reported tha t corporate image can also affect customer satisfaction and customer loyalty (see, for example, Hart and Rosenberger 2004). 2 Yeung Customer satisfaction According to Oliver (1997, 2010), customer satisfaction is defined as a judgment that a product or service provided a pleasurable level of consumption-related fulfillment. Also there are two levels of individual consumer? satisfaction: transaction-specific satisfaction and cumulative satisfaction. Transaction-specific satisfaction or encounter satisfaction is identified as a fulfillment response to a single transaction or encounter, whereas cumulative satisfaction is a judgment based on many occurrences of the same experience and not just one-time experience. For both cases (encounter satisfaction and cumulative satisfaction), satisfaction is either defined as an overall judgment of satisfaction or decomposed into satisfaction with performance or quality attributes (Cronin and Taylor 1992). Overall† â€Å"cumulative† s atisfaction is commonly used by researchers such as Mittal et al. 1999 and Spreng et al. 1996. Loyalty According to Oliver (1997 P392;2010), loyalty is defined as â€Å"a deeply held commitment to rebuy or repatronize a preferred product or service consistently in the future, thereby causing repetitive same-brand or same brand-set purchasing, despite situational influences and marketing efforts that have the potential to cause switching behavior†. There are two approaches to customer loyalty: behavioural and attitudinal.Behavioral loyalty refers to a customer? s actual behavior to repeat purchases of products or services and recommend whereas attitudinal loyalty refers to a customer? s intention to repurchase and willingness to recommend. Attitudinal loyalty is more commonly used in many research studies (Loureiro and Kastenholz 2011) and relatively easy to measure. Relationships among perceived service quality, corporate image, overall satisfaction, and loyalty There is much previous research exploring the quality-satisfaction-loyalty (QSL) relationship.It is generally believed in marketing and service industries that (1) good service quality results in customer satisfaction, (2) good service quality attracts customers and hence lead to customer loyalty and (3) high satisfaction level is likely to create customer loyalty. However, it has also been reported that satisfaction may not be adequate enough to lead to loyalty, though loyal customers are almost typically satisfied (Cronin and Taylor 1992; Cronin et al 2000). Furthermore, corporate image is also found to affect customer satisfaction and loyalty.Customers who develop a positive image towards a company will tend to have high customer satisfaction through a halo effect (see for example, Hart and Rosenberger 2004; Lai et al 2009). Hart and Rosenberger (2004) reported that image has a â€Å"marginally significant† direct effect on customer loyalty, but a substantial effect mediated by custome r satisfaction. Therefore, image can affect loyalty directly and indirectly. Based on the above literature review, this paper considers the structural model presented in Figure 1. The hypothesis proposed in the model are given below: H1: Service quality has a significant, positive and direct effect on orporate image. 3 Yeung H2: Service quality has significant, positive, and direct effect on customer satisfaction. H3: Service quality has a significant, positive and direct effect on loyalty. H4: Corporate image has a significant, positive and direct effect on customer satisfaction. H5: Corporate image has a significant, positive and direct effect on loyalty. H6: Customer satisfaction has a significant, positive and direct effect on loyalty. Methodology Sampling and Data Collection The target population of this study comprises purely KMB passengers.KMB has three main types of bus routes running through urban Kowloon, the New Territories, and crossharbour. Stratified sampling was emplo yed to select the bus routes within each type of stratum: urban Kowloon, New Territories, and cross-harbour. Passengers over 16 years old waiting at the bus stops or stations to ride the selected bus routes and had ridden a KMB bus in the previous month were invited for interview. A total of 855 passengers were randomly selected to complete the questionnaire; only 636 samples were valid and included in the analysis. Successful response rate was 74. %. To complete the questionnaire, passengers must be waiting for the bus at the bus stop. It should be noted that passengers arriving at the bus stop and boarding the bus immediately with little or no waiting period are relatively difficult to interview. Thus, the questionnaire must be as short as possible to encourage response, taking into consideration that respondents may easily lose their patience or may be in a hurry, as well as the fact that buses may arrive during the interview. The time for conducting the survey was scheduled from 7:00 a. m. to 11:00 p. m. n both weekdays and weekends to interview both peak-hour and non-peak-hour passengers. The interview was conducted in Cantonese in March 2004. Measurement and Data Analysis Based on a comprehensive review of the transport literature, detailed search on the printed materials and KMB Web sites, and results of focus groups, 15 attributes of service quality were derived. The order of these attributes in the questionnaire is as follows: clarity of bus number design, bus route map, bus stop location, fare, discount, bus frequency, bus punctuality, bus service time, bus route coverage, travelling/driving safety, driver attitude (anything related to he driver other than driving such as politeness and friendliness, caring about the safety of passengers when they board get on or off the bus), bus cleanliness, seat design (such as comfort, seat layout, leg space), air-conditioning, and bus stop information. Passengers? perception of the performance of service quality are measured by asking them to rate each service quality attribute on a satisfaction scale (1 = very dissatisfied and 5 = very satisfied). This type of measurement scale is used by researchers such as Huang et al. (2006), Lin et al. (2011), and Tam et al. (2005).The overall satisfaction, corporate image and loyalty are measured by a singleitem. Although the use of single-item measures may weaken the estimated relationships, such measures have been used successfully in many research studies (see for example, Bolton and Drew 1991; Bolton and Lemon 1999; Cronin and Taylor 1992; Brunner et al 2008; Mittal, Kumar and Tsiros 1999). As mentioned above, the questionnaire must be short enough to encourage response. Use of multi-item scales for overall satisfaction, corporate image and loyalty will mean longer questionnaire and may affect the response rate and overall reliability.Therefore, single-item measures for these three constructs are considered adequate for this exploratory study. 4 Yeung Overall satisfaction is measured on a 5-point Likert scale with (1=very dissatisfied and 5 = very satisfied). As the respondents had ridden a KMB bus in the previous month, â€Å"overall† cumulative satisfaction is appropriate in this study. Corporate image is measured on a five-point scale from â€Å"very bad† to â€Å"very good† whereas customer loyalty is measured by the intention to increase ridership in the coming month on a five-point scale from â€Å"definitely will not† to â€Å"definitely will†.Repurchase intention and willingness to recommend others are two common indicators of loyalty. As Hong Kong people are already familiar with KMB and its service and hence it is less necessary for the respondents to recommend KMB bus service to others, so this study uses repurchase intention only to measure loyalty. In this paper, we conduct exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation model (SEM ) to these data. Results and Discussion Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis Because two attributes – „bus route coverage? and „bus stop information? have cross loading and low reliability problems, EFA is performed on the remaining 13 service quality attributes using principle axis factoring extraction method and orthogonal rotation. The results of EFA on perceived service quality are shown in Table 1. Five factors with eigenvalue greater than one are retained. The factors are labelled as follows. Factor 1 is highly related with bus punctuality, bus frequency, and service time; thus, it represents reliability. Factor 2 is highly related with bus route map, bus number sign, and bus stop information; thus, it represents bus travelling information.Factor 3 is highly related with seat arrangement, air-conditioning, and cleanliness; thus, it represents bus environment. Factor 4 is highly related with fare and discount; thus, it represents price factor. Finally , Factor 5 is highly related with driver attitude and travel safety; thus, it represents driving or travelling factor. Cronbach? s alpha level for the five factors varies from 0. 658 to 0. 745, which are above the generally agreed lower limit of 0. 6 and hence suggesting high internal consistency among the variables within each factor (Nunnally and Bernstein, 1994).The results of performing CFA on the perceived service quality scores are shown in Tables 2a and 2b respectively. All goodness of fit statistics shown in the bottom part of Table 2a suggest that the measurement model for the service quality has a good fit to the data : small ratio of chi-square value to degrees of freedom (2. 03); goodness of fit index (GFI), goodness of fit index adjusted for degrees of freedom (AGFI), Bentler? s comparative fit index (CFI), normed fit index (NFI), and non-normed fit index (NNFI) are greater than the threshold value of 0. ; and root mean square residual (RMR) and root mean square error o f approximation (RMSEA) are more below the threshold value of 0. 05. The measurement model for the service quality also has high validity and reliability. Firstly, standardized factor loadings and t values of the factor loadings being significantly different from zero at the 0. 001 level support the convergent validity of all attributes. Further, as none of the correlation between the factors is greater than the square root of the AVE for the corresponding factors (see Table 2b), the perceived service quality scores demonstrate discriminant validity.Secondly, the composite reliability of all five factors exceeds the minimally acceptable value of 0. 6. Moreover, four out of five factors have variance extracted estimate (AVE) greater than or close to the threshold value of 0. 5. Only the „bus environment? factor has an average variance estimate below the threshold value. However, this test is conservative. Therefore, as a whole, it can be concluded that the perceived service qua lity scores have 5 Yeung good reliability. Five summated scales are created and used as indicators for the latent construct â€Å"perceived service quality† in the subsequent structural equation model.Structural equation model (SEM) A structural model is fit to the perceived service quality, corporate image, overall satisfaction and loyalty data according to the model structure given in Figure 1. The path between service quality and loyalty is found to be insignificant and dropped based on Wald tests. The goodness of fit indices for the revised structural model, shown in the bottom part of Table 3, suggest a good fit to the data: small ratio of chisquare to degree of freedom (< 2), great values of GFI, AGFI, CFI, NFI, NNFI (> 0,9) and small RMR and RMSEA values (< 0. 05).The estimation results in Table 3 indicate that both H1 (quality ? image) and H2 (quality ? satisfaction) are strongly supported, with standardized path coefficients of 0. 523 and 0. 386 respectively. However , H3 (quality ? loyalty) is not supported based on insignificant standardized path coefficient. It can be seen below that service quality has only indirect effect on loyalty through overall satisfaction and corporate image. So it indicates that high service quality is not adequate to create loyal customers for franchised bus company. The estimation results show moderate support for H4 (image ? atisfaction) with the standardized path coefficient of 0. 192 whereas weak support for H5 (image ? loyalty) and H6 (satisfaction ? loyalty), with the corresponding standardized path coefficients of 0. 105 and 0. 124 respectively. To summarize, the results support five out of six hypothesis (H1 – H2, H4 – H6). Furthermore, the magnitude of the support is strong for H1 and H2, medium for H4 and weak for H5 and H6. In terms of explanatory power, the model accounts for 26. 3% of the variance in overall satisfaction, 27. 4% of the variance in image and 3. 6% of the variance in loyalty . In other words, he model has medium explanatory power for both overall satisfaction and image but low explanatory power for loyalty. The low explanatory power for loyalty may imply that there is not much guarantee that a customer with good perceived service quality, overall satisfaction and corporate image will be loyal and repeat purchase. The management should consider other factors that affect loyalty apart from service quality, overall satisfaction and corporate image. The direct, indirect and total effects of service quality, corporate image and overall satisfaction on loyalty is given in Table 4.It is interesting to see that corporate image plays a more important role than overall satisfaction in affecting loyalty, which are consistent with the findings of researchers such as Abdullah 2000. Concluding Remarks EFA concludes that there are five factors behind the perceived service quality scores. According to CFA, the measurement model for this five-factor structure performs w ell in terms of validity and reliability and hence five summated scales can be used as indicators for service quality in developing structural model. SEM supports the sequence: service quality ? corporate image? verall satisfaction? loyalty. However, it is found that service quality affects loyalty only indirectly through overall satisfaction and corporate image. So it may explain why high service quality is not adequate to lead to customer loyalty. The table of indirect, direct and total effects of service quality, overall satisfaction and image on loyalty shows that corporate image has higher total impact on loyalty, as 6 Yeung compared with satisfaction. So to increase loyalty, improving the corporate image of KMB in passengers? mind is more important than improving satisfaction.As the explanatory power of these three constructs (service quality, overall satisfaction and image) for loyalty is very low (3. 6%), it seems that efforts are still needed to increase loyalty through oth er means. There are several limitations in this study. The generalizability of this study is limited due to three reasons. Firstly, this study used one single item only to measure overall satisfaction, corporate image and loyalty to reduce the burden of respondents and the time for the interview. For further research, multiple-item scales are preferred so that their validity and eliability can be assessed through CFA. Also they may enhance the interpretation and prediction of overall satisfaction and loyalty. Secondly, the analysis is based on a survey data set collected in March 2004 when the market share of franchised buses such as KMB began to decrease. However, further study is necessary to examine whether the relationships among service quality, customer satisfaction, corporate image and customer loyalty change with time. Thirdly, the explanatory power for loyalty in terms of service quality, customer satisfaction and corporate image is low.Further analysis to investigate the p redictors of loyalty other than service quality, overall satisfaction and corporate image is needed. References Abdullah M, Al-Nasser A and Husain N (2000). â€Å"Evaluating functional relationship between image, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty using general maximum entropy†, Total Quality Management, vol 11, P. S826-9. Aydin S and Ozer G (2005). â€Å"The analysis of antecedents of customer loyalty in the Turkish mobile telecommunication market. † European Journal of Marketing, 39 (7/8), P910-925.Barich H and Kotler P (1991),†A framework for marketing image management,†, Sloan Management Review, P94-104. Bolton R N and Drew J H (1991). â€Å"A multistage model of customers? assessments of service quality and value. †, Journal of Consumer Research, 17 (March), P375-384. Bolton R N and Lemon K N (1999). â€Å"A dynamic model of customers? usage of services: usage as antecedent and consequence of satisfaction. † Journal of Marketing R esearch, 36 (2), 171-186. Brady MK, Cronin JJ and Brand R (2002) Performance only measurement of service quality: A replication and extension.Journal of Business Research 55:17-31 Brunner T A, Stocklin M and Opwis K (2008). â€Å"Satisfaction, image and loyalty: new versus experienced customers. † European Journal of Marketing, 42 (9/10), p1095-1105. Cronin J J and Taylor S A (1992). â€Å"Measuring Service Quality: A Reexamination and Extension. †, Journal of Marketing, 56 (July): 55-68. Cronin JJ, Taylor SA (1994) SERVPERF versus SERVQUAL: Reconciling performance-based and perceptions-minus-expectations measurements of service quality. 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Government of the Hong Kong special administrative region. 8 Yeung Zhao X, Bai CH, Hui YV (2002) An empirical assessment and application of SERVQUAL in a Mainland Chinese department store.Total Quality Management 13:241-254. 9 Yeung Table 1 Five-factor structure of perceived service quality scores and Cronbach? s Alpha (with attributes „bus route coverage? and „bus stop information? being deleted) Service quality Attributes Clarity of bus number sign Bus route map Bus stop location Fare Discount Bus frequency Bus punctuality Bus service time Bus route coverage (NA) Travel safety Driver attitude Cleanliness Seat arrangement Air-conditioning Bus stop information (NA) Factor 1 Factor 2 0. 632 0. 865 0. 449 Factor 3 Factor 4 Factor 5 . 777 0. 649 0. 652 0. 902 0. 407 0. 799 0. 551 0. 520 0. 780 0. 495 Eigenvalue 4. 11 1. 44 1. 27 1. 11 Variance (%) 31. 61 11. 08 9. 76 8. 52 Cron bach? s alpha 0. 745 0. 722 0. 658 0. 726 Overall MSA = 0. 797, cumulative variance explained = 68. 70%, communality = 6. 853 Root mean square residual = 0. 012, RMSP = 0. 024, Cronbach? s alpha = 0. 816 1. 01 7. 73 0. 693 10 Yeung Table 2a Results of confirmatory factor analysis on perceived service quality Loadin g 0. 728 0. 795 0. 557 0. 751 0. 765 0. 736 0. 876 0. 535 t 18. 0 1 19. 7 3 13. 4 6 16. 3 16. 4 4 19. 0 0 23. 0 8 13. 2 8 17. 5 4 14. 7 9 Reliabilit y 0. 739 0. 530 0. 632 0. 311 0. 729 0. 564 0. 585 0. 766 0. 541 0. 767 0. 286 0. 703 0. 663 0. 426 Variance Extracted 0. 491 Bus information factor Clarity of bus number sign route map Bus Bus stop location Price factor Fare Discount Reliability factor Bus frequency Bus punctuality Bus service time Bus route coverage (NA) Driving factor Travel safety Driver attitude 0. 574 0. 532 0. 545 0. 814 0. 653 Bus environment factor 0. 663 Cleanliness 0. 677 15. 1 0. 459 9 Seat arrangement . 675 15. 1 0. 456 5 Air-conditioning 0. 531 11. 9 0. 282 2 Bus stop information (NA) Fit indices: Chi-square = 130. 55, df = 55, Chi-square / df =2. 03 GFI = 0. 969, AGFI = 0. 949, CFI = 0. 966, NFI = 0. 943, NNFI = 0. 951 RMR = 0. 023, RMSEA = 0. 047 0. 399 Table 2b Correlation between factors for the measurement model on perceived service quality Bus information Price Reliability Driving Bus environment Bus information 0. 701 0. 451 0. 404 0. 474 0. 334 Price ? 0. 758 0. 453 0. 393 0. 340 Reliability ? ? 0. 729 0. 461 0. 438 Driving ? ? 0. 738 0. 519 Bus environment ? ? ? ? 0. 631 11 Yeung Table 3 Standardized path coefficients of the Structural Model Standardized parameter estimates 0. 566 0. 558 0. 641 0. 586 0. 503 0. 523 0. 386 -t-value Hypothesis Conclusion Independent variable ? Dependent variable Service quality ? Bus information Price Reliability Driving Bus environment Corporate image Overall satisfaction Loyalty Corporate image ? Overall Satisfaction Loyalty 9. 99 -10. 71 10. 19 9. 23 9. 4 6. 6 -1 2 3 Supported Su pported Not supported 0. 192 0. 105 4. 26 2. 7 4 5 Supported Supported Overall satisfaction ? Loyalty 0. 124 2. 92 Fit indices: Chi-square = 27. 7, df = 18, Chi-square / df = 1. 54 GFI = 0. 989, AGFI = 0. 978, CFI = 0. 988, NFI = 0. 967, NNFI = 0. 981 RMR = 0. 009, RMSEA = 0. 029 6 Supported 12 Yeung Table 4. Direct, Indirect and total effects on loyalty Direct Indirect -0. 105 0. 124 0. 115 0. 024 – Total 0. 115 0. 129 0. 1240 Service quality Image Satisfaction Corporate image H1 Service Quality H4 H2 H6 H5 Loyalty Figure 1 Hypothetical Structural Model Satisfaction Overall H3 13