German Culture essays

German Culture essays During spring break of my senior year in high school two of my closest friends and I went to Austria and Germany, for a ski trip. It was probably the most cathartic time of my life. My high school experience was the most stressful time of my life, but my two friends and I left all of that in the states. I had been taking German for four years, but it was on this trip that I realized that this was where I wanted to live. The German culture and I are completely harmonious. Just thinking about the Germans mixture of calm collective efficiency and socializing brings me out of the worst day. When I first stepped off the plane in the Munich airport the entire place was silent. The Germans people are quiet, even when in public. When I went there and did not get a single headache, I realized how loud Americans are. I am a very quiet person, and Americans in general are loud and questioning. One of the reasons Americans are disliked by most Europeans is because they are always asking questions and want to know what is going on. Europeans are very quiet and collective. They only talk to people they know. Most of the time in larger cities, they wont even say hello when you pass them on the street. If a European has an acquaintance, they generally will only say hello. Americans will ask them about their day, and their extended familys. Europeans think this is rude, and so do I. Germans are the most efficient people on the planet. When the Germans built the Autobahns in the 1930s they made them perfect so that their citizens could travel with complete efficiency. They made it wind slowly so that people would not fall asleep at the wheel. They made rules so that it would be completely safe. They are to drive on the right side of the road unless passing. They cannot eat, drink, talk on the phone, or even rest one of their hands. They must have both hands on the wheel at all times unless shifting or working other necessary c...

Why Does Referencing Affect Your Grades

Why Does Referencing Affect Your Grades Why Does Referencing Affect Your Grades? Here at Proofed, we get a lot of requests for help with referencing. But why exactly is referencing important? And why does citing sources clearly and consistently earn you better grades on your papers? Joining the Conversation An academic discipline is like an conversation between thousands of thinkers and researchers, past and present. When you write about a specific subject, you contribute to that conversation. Citing your sources demonstrates the depth of your knowledge, while also making your arguments more authoritative by drawing upon those who have discussed similar ideas before you. Academic Honesty The main purpose of referencing is to give credit where it’s due. By citing your sources, you clearly indicate the influence that other people have had on your work, thereby ensuring your work is academically honest. Failure to cite sources, on the other hand, can lead to accusations of plagiarism, especially if you quote a source without using â€Å"quotation marks† as well as leaving a citation. If you are found to have plagiarized in your work, this will negatively impact your grade. Distinguishing Your Ideas from Other People’s In academic writing, you may need to engage critically with opposing ideas (either contrary to your own position or when discussing two conflicting theories). When doing this, it is important to differentiate between your own ideas and those of the thinkers you are discussing. A well-placed citation should remove any ambiguity about this, thus ensuring you can express your ideas clearly. It Saves Detective Work for Your Reader While researching a paper, you’ll probably need to check the reference list on a website or in a book to find other relevant sources. This is, in fact, an essential skill for any researcher. It’s also another good reason to cite your sources, as without clear citations (including full bibliographic detail in the reference list) your reader will find it difficult to find the texts you’ve used. Demonstrating Academic Skills As the above factors hopefully indicate, referencing is a key skill in the academic world. Consequently, by citing your sources clearly and consistently, you prove to your reader that you are a diligent academic. And this alone can make the difference between a passing and failing grade.

Market segmentation Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Market segmentation - Research Paper Example The market could be segmented into three major groups – young adults (age 22 to 35), middle – aged (age 36 to 50) and senior citizens (51 years and above). Nevertheless, the business scope (in terms of sales volume) of Chevy Volt is relatively high for first two segments because these consumers are tilted towards new hybrid vehicles and eco-friendly products (Welch, 2010). It is justified to argue that GM has currently a small market because there are fewer customers in the market that could easily acquire a $40,000 car in bleak economic scenario (inflation, high gas / fuel prices and unemployment). Indeed, GM sold only 647 vehicles in first 2 months of launch that confirms aforementioned argument (Jin, 2011). It should be emphasized that GM competes with Japanese makers like Toyota, Honda and Nissan that could easily produce and market a hybrid in range of $17,000 – 33,000. Therefore, GM has been planning to increase its production and sell 25,000 units a year. This would definitely enable GM to reduce Volt’s total market price by $8,000 – 12,000, thereby increasing its competitiveness and attracting a large pool of middle – middle customers.

Effective Approaches in Leadership and Management (Benchmark Essay

Effective Approaches in Leadership and Management (Benchmark Assessment) - Essay Example As O’Donnell and Bensky (2011) portray, the core focus is towards addressing the prevailing structural issues that have often hindered optimal outcomes. Optimal outcomes as I perceive, necessarily pertain to aspects such as better health care and lower medical cost/ expenditure. In line with this is the need of the nursing fraternity to aptly adapt to the expected dynamism within the healthcare system. Conformity subsequently necessitates various changes, in line with tackling influential structural issues like utility of contract medical employees, unit restructuring and foreclosure, nursing shortage and turnover rates, staffing ratios, magnet designation, patient satisfaction, and continuous improvement of quality healthcare provision (O’Donnell & Bensky, 2011). A critical issue amongst the aforementioned would be patient satisfaction in terms of overall treatment and positive result outcomes. Towards tactfully addressing this issue, is the need of overall conformity that necessitates a variety of changes. Definitively, the optimal course of direction is towards evolving healthcare into a more patient-centered profession. In such contexts, optimal healthcare ought to be responsive to and respective of personal preferences, needs and values of the individual patient. Through this, leadership and management can strategically strive towards ensuring that individual patient values do guide all forms of clinical decisions. Influential in this regard as Bohm (2012) alludes, is the fact that there has long lacked the incorporation of patient-centered care especially in terms of care quality assessments, as well as subsequent health outcomes. Rather, quality measurement has continuously focused on addressing preventive care and disease-specific processes instead. Similarly, outcome measurement continuously has focused on condition-specific indicators in terms of overall,

Logically Social Essay Example for Free

Logically Social Essay The article is titled â€Å"Logically Social† on which it tackles the role played by Logic in mans social being. As I study mans social being, I have learned that it will involve language, the fundamental tool for communication. A good example is a relationship between speakers and listeners whereas the speakers must establish the truth of what they say and express and uses reasoning as a way of relating to listeners and the listeners play their part by understanding the message we receive and like the speakers they use reasoning as the means of analyzing the intended meaning of the speaker. Reasoning is one of the objects of study in Logic, which is a fundamental learning to me. I also learned that Logic constitutes two basic types of reasoning, the inductive and the deductive which are both necessary for the correct understanding of a matter. I’m enlightened that under the province of logic there is a hodgepodge of studies under the realm of reasoning: the criteria for our arguments to be valid, the conditions for the statements become true, the fallacies we commit, the norms in properly defining terms, and the way to eliminate ambiguity and vagueness in our expressions. I can also tell that Language is Logic because it prompts us the proper usage of language and it is an objective standard that work in authentically effective communication. I’ve been made aware that logic facilitates the option of choosing among ambiguous, vague, or definite terms that are useful for every call of usage. Like poetry, we must use vague or ambiguous terms for aesthetics. Also when clarity is of prime concern, it must use well defined or exact terms. As I read through I’ve observed that logic plays a big role in the grammatical construction of sentences; good usage of logic means a choice between misleading or precise sentences. I’ve learned that misleading sentences falls in two categories: vague and ambiguous. Ambiguous sentences are those that have two or more meaning and it’s vague when its meaning is not determined with precision. Now I learned that an argument is basically a group of statements, one of which is the conclusion and the rest are the premises. Upon learning I also procured the two kinds of argument based on the two kinds of reasoning that: deductive and inductive. A reasoning or argument is deductive if the premises claim to give conclusive grounds for the truth of the conclusion, or if the premises claim to support the conclusion with necessity. Deductive argument is therefore either valid or invalid. I have learned that to make a deductive argument valid, the premises that should be assumed are true. It will be inconsistent and self-contradictory to accept these premises but deny its conclusion, because the conclusion necessarily follows from the premises. I have also acquired the meaning of invalid deductive argument, where the conclusion does not follow necessarily from the premise/s. I have also learned that when you reason inductively on the other hand, you infer a general conclusion from a collection of particular facts. Whereas deductive argument is either valid or invalid, inductive argument is either reliable or unreliable. I have known for the fact that inductive reasoning to be reliable; the conclusion must be based on ample amount of individual representative instances. I must be aware not to confuse inductive argument with invalid deductive argument because its difference between deduction and induction is not the difference between good and bad reasoning, but between two ways to support the truth of conclusions. I’ve learned that when creating argumentative paragraph in writing or speaking, logic prescribes that we can use both valid deductive and reliable inductive argument. To sum all this up, what logic warns us from, when it comes to using arguments is the use of invalid deductive and unreliable inductive argument.

Political Speech -- Media

Discursive consciousness encourages politicians to partake in sharing one’s history. It is the speech that is a conversation or discourse between the potential and the intended audience. It is a personal campaign, relating platform to the laity in an effort to gain a true backing. That creates a profile. Through existential coherence, the insinuations of relatedness succor the public and the politician to find common ground, supplying elements of familiarity evoking a relatable and approachable persona. This public image is a configuration of the individual’s history, ideas, beliefs, and purpose, an oratorical resume of sorts. A Narrative of belonging would be displayed in the existential coherence of the campaign. Implications of specific regional qualifications render the potential apropos to the masses. In example [1] candidate Steve Evans, relegates his background, relishing his youth. Action of Narrative belonging entices the voters to identify the candidate as â€Å"one of us†. It is reinforcing the notion that he is not an outsider. Example [2] invites the audience to look into ...

Humanities nature vs nurture Essay

Some people believe nature is more influential. Got example in the case of the Jim twins. They were separated at birth and around 30 years later they discovered each. It showed that throughout the years they had not known each they had made a lot of similar decisions. Their kids had the same name, the same car and wives were the same. This proves that your genetics play a vital part into the choices you make as you go older. On the other hand some people nurture plays more of a part in the way we act as we grow older. For example Kamala and Amala. These were children who were brought up my wolves. Whether our inborn characteristics are more responsible in our resultant personality or any experiences we will make, has been the topic of discussion among scientists under the title of â€Å"Nature vs Nurture† for years. Biologists believe that the only factor behind individual’s personality is his genome. In contrast, socio-biologists argue that the environment and experiences that one gains during his life, build his personality. I am inclined to believe that the traits we are born with are more responsible genetically in building human’s personality. Some cases of children who were left in the wilderness and raised with wild animals indicate the significance of mothering–nurturing. When those isolated children were found, they were unable to speak language, even a word, and their behaviors were not unlike animals’. If they were born with a special ‘innate’ ability which enables, nativists believe, children to magically acquire everything from language to social manner at ease, why not these wild children failed to acquire the custom of human society? One tragic experiment conducted by a German king proves that one’s language, one type of the intelligence, is not naturally acquired, but learned after years of exposure. The King hoped to find out what language a child would speak if not being told any language after birth. The result was disastrous: All infants who were the subject of this experiment died before the first year, not acquiring any language at all. If human being’s intelligence were really genetically determined, all cases mentioned above would never happen. With the innate property which they are given from birth, they should’ve been able to have proper behavior and speak language without any external help. Unfortunately, that is not true. After a few years of a good mothering, human beings become independent and mature, so their intelligence does. Therefore, ‘nurture’ is a more significant factor in human’s intelligence.

Questions On David Crystal Essay

Questions on David Crystal’s article â€Å"2b or Not 2b?† 1. David Crystal begins his article with some strong â€Å"they say† arguments, quoting writers who argue that text messaging is destroying the English language. At what point in the article do you begin to see that his own perspective is very different from that of such critics? – Crystal’s perspective on texting is displayed many times throughout different paragraphs in the article. In paragraph six Crystal states â€Å"texting has added a new dimension to language use. Although there are some who see texting as a modern tool that is ruining â€Å"proper English†, Crystal sees it as a way for society to enhance thee language skills. 2. Summarize Crystal’s arguments in favor of text messaging. In what ways have the dangers of this phenomenon been vastly overstated, in his opinion? How does he organize his argument? What are his main points, and what kinds of support does he offer? – Most arguments state that text abbreviations have replaced proper English. On the other hand, Crystal states that these abbreviations go back to centuries. For example †IOU goes back to 1618† A book written by Eric Partritch in 1942 called â€Å" Dictionary of Abbreviations† contained sms examples and was published 50 years before texting. 3. Crystal wrote this article for a British newspaper read primarily by adults. What might he have done differently if the piece had been for, say, an audience of middle or high school students? – If Crystal’s audience were middle school students he might have written this article from there point of view . Crystal would most likely include more examples that could relate to them. Also, Crystal could include how texting can help with school and be an asset rather than a distraction. 4. Reread the two text message poems in the article. Which one do you prefer? In what ways do these poems support his argument? – The second poem supports Crystal’s argument, because the author abbreviated words and replaced letters with numbers just as most people who text do. Although the author has written the poem differently the reader is still  able to interpret the poem and the words makes sense.

Free Essays on The Lost While

The Lost While Noelle Oxenhandler’s essay, â€Å"The Lost While† is an astonishingly realistic depiction of what our society has become. It portrays the unconscious monster-like attitudes we express in our everyday life. Today’s society with its extreme technology has altered our thoughts to what enjoying the moment means! In contemporary life, we are so caught up with the worries of the everyday world and its responsibilities, we never take the time to sit down and enjoy the moments that could be so special. However each person individually cannot be blamed for this. Society has changed our views and thoughts through a booming industrial period and so called conveniences. Families and professionals of all sorts have developed this same type of fast-pasted mindset of the world. This is creating a circle that is never-ending, that gets more complex with time. Oxenhandler quotes that, â€Å"We have come to believe that convenience is necessity† (310). Oxenhandler expresses that we get angered and frustrated when what we want is not immediately available to us. These feelings are the product of a booming society that has deeply enrooted a desire for a perfect world; a perfect world where to want is to have. The author goes into details about how living in the moment has evolved into the pressure-filled life we live in today. This is sad to admit, yet, it is all but the truth. Reminiscing Oxenhandler tells of how one of her favorite activities is to send letters to people. She says now the satisfaction of the process of mail delivery is corrupted; due to the technology that brought us e-mail and fax machines. Oxenhandler says that because of this, an intrinsic part of the letter writing process; the delay of a letter-in-transit is being taken away. The anticipation you get of your recipient getting his or her mail is no long er there. Because of the high-tech machines used today, your mail is almost instantly at... Free Essays on The Lost While Free Essays on The Lost While The Lost While Noelle Oxenhandler’s essay, â€Å"The Lost While† is an astonishingly realistic depiction of what our society has become. It portrays the unconscious monster-like attitudes we express in our everyday life. Today’s society with its extreme technology has altered our thoughts to what enjoying the moment means! In contemporary life, we are so caught up with the worries of the everyday world and its responsibilities, we never take the time to sit down and enjoy the moments that could be so special. However each person individually cannot be blamed for this. Society has changed our views and thoughts through a booming industrial period and so called conveniences. Families and professionals of all sorts have developed this same type of fast-pasted mindset of the world. This is creating a circle that is never-ending, that gets more complex with time. Oxenhandler quotes that, â€Å"We have come to believe that convenience is necessity† (310). Oxenhandler expresses that we get angered and frustrated when what we want is not immediately available to us. These feelings are the product of a booming society that has deeply enrooted a desire for a perfect world; a perfect world where to want is to have. The author goes into details about how living in the moment has evolved into the pressure-filled life we live in today. This is sad to admit, yet, it is all but the truth. Reminiscing Oxenhandler tells of how one of her favorite activities is to send letters to people. She says now the satisfaction of the process of mail delivery is corrupted; due to the technology that brought us e-mail and fax machines. Oxenhandler says that because of this, an intrinsic part of the letter writing process; the delay of a letter-in-transit is being taken away. The anticipation you get of your recipient getting his or her mail is no long er there. Because of the high-tech machines used today, your mail is almost instantly at...

The Many Ways to Use Spanish Bajo in a Sentence

The Many Ways to Use Spanish Bajo in a Sentence Bajo is a common Spanish preposition, adjective, and adverb that means being low in some way, either figuratively or literally or under something. Also,  bajo  is used in common idioms  usually as a preposition. Bajo Used as an Adjective As an adjective, common translations include low or short, and bajo can also be used to indicate contemptibility or lack of intensity. Spanish Sentence English Translation Mi prima es baja para su edad. My cousin is short for her age. No es necesario tratar esta enfermedad de bajo riesgo con quimioterapia. It is not necessary to treat this low-risk illness with chemotherapy. El valle bajo es rico en historia. The low valley is rich in history. Tenemos problemas de baja calidad de la seà ±al inalmbrica. We have problems with poor quality of the wireless signal. Alberto cayà ³ en los ms bajos pecados durante los dos aà ±os. Alberto fell into the basest sins during the two years. La clase baja sufre las consecuencias de su reforma polà ­tica. The lower class is suffering the consequences of his political reform. Son capaces de los ms bajos actos de violencia. They are capable of the vilest acts of violence. La presià ³n sanguà ­nea baja puede ser un signo de enfermedad. Low blood pressure can be a sign of sickness. Bajo as an Adverb Although more commonly used as an adjective, bajo can be used as an adverb that means quietly or softly. For example, Si  habla  bajo, es  necesario  elevar  volumen  del  micrà ³fono, which means, If you speak softly, you need to turn up the microphone volume. Another way bajo can be used as an adverb is when describing something falling or flying low as in low to the ground. For example, El pjaro  volaba  muy  bajo, which means, The bird was flying very low. Bajo as a Preposition Bajo can serve as a preposition and can almost always be translated as under. Spanish Sentence English Sentence El gato est bajo la cama. The cat is under the bed. La vida bajo el mar es muy difà ­cil. Life undersea is very difficult. Un barco mercante encallà ³ bajo un puente. The merchant ship ran aground under a bridge. Los compresores principales estn bajo el coche. The main compressors are under the car. Correr bajo la lluvia es ms gratificante que hacerlo en seco. Running in the rain is more rewarding than doing it when it's dry. Bajo Used in Idioms or Borrowed Phrases Bajo can also be a preposition with an indefinite meaning when it is used as an idiom or expression. Many of these figurative expressions correspond to similar ones in English, some of which are likely calques. A  calque or  loan translation  is a  word  or  phrase  borrowed from another  language  by  literal, word-for-word translation. Spanish Expression English Translation bajo arresto under arrest bajo circunstancias normales under normal circumstances bajo condicià ³n de que under condition that bajo construccià ³n under construction bajo control under control bajo cubierto undercover bajo fianza on bail bajo la influencia under the influence bajo investigacià ³n under investigation bajo juramento under oath bajo la mesa under the table bajo ningà ºn concepto in no conceivable way bajo palabra on parole bajo peso underweight bajo presià ³n under pressure bajo protesta under protest Words Related to Bajo Bajar, is a related verb to bajo, which often means to lower or to get down. Related adverbs are abajo and debajo, which often mean underneath, or down there.

Agency costs and ownership structure Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Agency costs and ownership structure - Essay Example A firm is a team effort involving several players - the owners, managers, shareholders, and lenders - that should work together to maximise the value of the firm in terms of profitability, sustainability, and performance. Recent experience, however, in the wake of business bankruptcies and scandals show that this team effort is not achieved in several cases. This paper reviews the available literature on the effects of family ownership, public ownership, and the dispersal of ownership on firm performance and value and provides a summary of the status of our knowledge of these relationships. Agency theory explores the effects of ownership structure on the performance of the firm. The theory states that the value of a firm will depend on the extent to which the interests of principals (owners) and agents (managers) are aligned. However, the interests of the principals are not the same as the interests of the agents, so aligning the two sets of interests will incur so-called agency costs. In this paper, we review the available literature on the application of agency theory in two types of ownership structures. First, we looked at firms that are majority owned, managed, or controlled by a single family and explored whether the aligned interests resulted in lower agency costs and better firm performance. In general, research findings supported the predictions of agency theory: firms where the founder-CEO, or a CEO-heir after the second generation, plays an active management role performed better than firms that are not dominated by a single family. ... cy cost that researchers term as "expropriation" have a negative effect on firm value as the dominant owners "expropriate" perquisites and other benefits to the detriment of minority owners. Second, we compared the performance of public and private firms. Research studies that included firms from a wide range of industries supported the agency theory, but the probability that results were influenced by factors that are endogenous to specific industries affect their external validity, or general applicability, to other industries. By looking at the results of a focused study using sample firms from one industry, we were able to establish the validity of agency theory in explaining firm performance. We also looked at the literature on the effects of a diversified ownership base on firm performance as reflected by stock price, with mixed results due to the effects of increased liquidity, rather than minimisation of agency costs, on improved firm performance. Introduction One of the most discussed topics in finance and economics is the ideal ownership structure that will maximise the value of the firm. This issue touches the core of why firms exist in the first place -to maximise profit for its owners - and explains partially how and why previously successful firms fail. Economists used to assume that everyone - owners, managers, employees, and lenders - act together for the good of the firm. After all, each one is bound by formal and informal contracts to ensure that firm value is maximised (Brealey and Myers, 1996, p. 991). This however seldom happens as there are conflicts of interest that affect firm performance, a phenomenon that academics have attempted to investigate over the last seventy years under the conceptual lens of ownership structure. How and why do

FACTORY LIVES PAPER Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

FACTORY LIVES PAPER - Essay Example The working conditions in the factories had become worse as the industrial revolution took place. Workers had long working hours, poor working conditions, and instability of their jobs. There were no effective government regulations to prevent unsafe and dangerous conditions for workers. A great number of accidents used to take place in factories. One such accident is narrated by William Dodd who was a factory cripple. William worked for 18 hours in an English textile factory and was given a job as a piecer which led to great pressure on his right knee, leaving him crippled. He attended his evening classes and was later given the job of a clerk in the factory which made him badly crippled1. Another story is the Factory Girl written by Ellen Johnston telling about her experiences as a child worker in a factory. She writes how she was physically abused and so was her mother. She was a writer but she worked in factories all her life which also lead to her bad health and eventually she had to shift to Scotland as the doctor suggested change of air2. Women and children were made to work for long hours in dangerous conditions that cost people their lives. William Dodd led a bachelor’s life because no woman wanted to marry a cripple. The Cry of the Children by Elizabeth Barrett demonstrates the tough working conditions for children as they had to work in mines and manufactories. The factory workers’ lives weren’t just torturous while at work, they struggled with a working life outside factories too. Ellen explains in her autobiography how she suffered physical abuse at the hands of her mother when she tried to run away from the factory work. She also received a bad reputation in the society just because she wanted to run away from the tough factory working life her mother was living. These workers lived a tough life as they had to spend long hours at work, their wages were low, and they had low