Sunday, October 13, 2019

How Conan Doyle Perceives a Victorian Gentleman in Sherlock Holmes :: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes Essays

How Conan Doyle Perceives a Victorian Gentleman in Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes is a hero, he is also a typical Victorian gentleman. A very important fact about the books is that he was the first detective. This brought him much attention and many people loved this idea. He set the standard and has been copied by others many times. Detectives nowadays are still perceived to be just like Sherlock Holmes. They still have the same mannerisms: for example Sherlock Holmes Detectives nowadays * High Moral Yes. * Money - Rich Usually. * Women Not many of the detectives favour women. * Very clever Yes. * Loner Not many friends * Has a drug problem Many drink, and abuse alcohol etc. This table shows how many detectives nowadays are still very much like Holmes. Holmes was very popular too many people in the Victorian era. He was a brake from normal life, an escape from reality. Many of the men had to perfect and where find it too difficult so would take a break and read Conan Doyle's stories on Holmes. Victorian people needed a break from the hustle and bustle of the streets and daily life so turned to the stories of Sherlock Holmes. At this time in the Victorian era the police didn't have much control. There were many people on the streets and there was a lot of crime. Jack the Ripper was also on the loose and people didn't feel safe. They turned to Holmes to reassure them and comfort them. There was also a rise in middle class educated people. This meant more people were reading so would be more interested in finding good books. As more and more people enjoyed them the word spread, so many more people would by his stories, of Holmes. The first story that I am going to talk about is The Speckled Band. The Speckled Band This is a story about heartless widower, Dr Roylott. He returns with his twin step-daughters to Stoke Moran, to his family's old and country house, where wild animals and gypsies wander on its grounds. One of the girls, Helen, visits Holmes after the death of her sister. She comes to Holmes and tells him the story. She exclaims to Holmes that she came out of the room screaming "the band, the speckled band." Holmes notices livid spots and marks on Helen's wrists made by her stepfather, and agrees to go with Watson to Stoke Moran to investigate. They occupy the bedroom of her dead twin which is located next to Dr Roylott's. Late at night they hear a noise which proves to be a speckled snake going down the bell-pull from Roylott's bedroom.

Saturday, October 12, 2019

The Role of Social Class in Thomas Hardys Writing Essay -- Biography

The Role of Social Class in Thomas Hardy's Writing The works of Thomas Hardy reflect the ideas of a man who was clearly obsessed with the issue of social class throughout his literary career. From his first novel, The Poor Man and the Lady (the very title of which indicates class differentiation), to his final work, Jude the Obscure, class issues are woven into every novel which Hardy wrote. Furthermore, his works are personal in the sense that they depict Hardy's own lifelong struggles with social mobility and the class structure as a whole throughout his life. Hardy was born the son of an independent mason in the rural area of Higher Bockhampton, Dorset. As he was growing up, he felt that the circumstances surrounding the working class limited the opportunities by which he could fully develop his talents. Thus, in order to create a place for himself in society, he pursued architecture for nearly twenty years while writing on the side. Only when Hardy had firmly established himself as a writer with the success of Far from the Madding Crowd did he completely devote himself t...

Friday, October 11, 2019

Dollar Tree Analysis

IBP Objectives * Focus on continual growth and improvement while providing a reasonable return to our investors. * Obtain more of the middle-income consumers as consumers, opposed to just low-income consumers. * Increase the public’s awareness of Dollar Trees products, inventory, and quality of products. Have Dollar Tree become a part of consumers recall. * Inform consumers of the extreme quality of Dollar Tree’s products, no products are expired or out to date. We just get an extreme discount with loyal distributors. * Change customer’s attitudes towards Dollar Tree and discounts stores in general.Discount stores carry the same quality name brands as department stores, while staying true to their single price of $1 for everything. * Increase sales and customer traffic in stores from $5,882. 4 million annual revenue by 5% to $ 6,176. 52 million. * Increase consumer purchases from seasonal purchases to everyday purchases. Most people shop in discount stores for se asonal, party supplies opposed to everyday consumer needs, like dish soap. IBP strategy Being a dollar store, Dollar Tree’s usual target audience is primarily low-income households with about 55% of their customers making less than $40,000 annually (IBISWorld, 2011).About 69% of African Americans shop at dollar stores at least once a month compared to 50% of Caucasian consumers (Mintel, 2005). Dollar Tree has successfully marketed themselves to lower income Hispanics and African Americans, but there is an opportunity in another market. In recent years there has been a rise in the number of upper income consumers using Dollar Stores. Everyone would much rather save money shopping, which is why with the recent economic downturn, it has become more common for middle and upper income families to supplement their shopping needs with dollar stores.We see an opportunity to market to this newly emerging market, and believe that we need to capture brand loyalty before the recession is over. Dollar Tree has a unique opportunity with the recession. Because so many people have been affected by the current economy, more than ever people are looking for cheap ways to maintain their lifestyles. As lower income households continue to shop at dollar stores, people who were once wealthy or are still considered wealthy are starting to reconsider their shopping behaviors. Offering products like juice, spices, hips, and several other food and drink products, any homemaker could easily get all of their grocery shopping complete without checking the price tag (â€Å"Dollar Tree, 2012†). The middle class in America typically consists of people with a fast paced lifestyle, and they are all very busy. They work hard for their money, and are always looking for deals, but sometimes don’t have the time to go from store to store searching for the best price. Simply put, this demographic does not like to waste time, which will be one of our key marketing points.There ar e very few stores that offer the amount of different products that Dollar Tree does. There aren’t any stores that have the variety of products that Dollar Tree offers for only one dollar. You can get office supplies, party supplies, medicine, food, games and toys, and much more. The medium income demographic would be attracted to this because they can get all of their errands done at one store for a portion of the price. As well as targeting medium-income households, we will narrow that down to 25-34 year olds in that demographic. These are people who are starting families and starting careers.They are busy trying to make it in the world, and targeting this demographic would prove extremely beneficial for Dollar Tree. We can establish brand loyalty with this relatively young market, and possibly profit in future years when these younger family’s children start shopping. On top of targeting 25-34 year olds in the middle class, we will also continue to target Dollar Tree ’s current market of lower income households. We will run advertisements in these lower income areas simply to serve as a reminder of Dollar Tree’s low fixed price of a dollar.The one quality that puts Dollar Tree ahead of all other dollar stores is that it actually sells all of its products at one dollar. It does not matter what the product usually sells for or what it should sell for, because Dollar Tree’s business works in a way that makes them capable to sell their products at the simple price of one dollar. Because of this unique aspect, we will focus a large portion of our advertising on that message. Consumers can do all of their shopping at one low price, and in return, receive quality products which satisfy their needs. Our advertising will give off the personality of the average working family.Dollar Tree is not a fancy store and that is certainly not the image that our advertising will convey. We want people to be able to relate to Dollar Tree and hav e the feeling that shopping at our stores is like shopping at a Walmart or Cosco, but cheaper and less of a hassle. It’s the one stop shop for all of your family needs. For our media plan, we decided to advertise through Television, Newspapers, and Internet, and these advertisements will run for a whole year. Dollar Tree’s advertisements will give off the same consistent visual appeal to all of its targeted consumers.Moreover, all elements of Dollar Tree will portray a consistent image, while visually appealing to their target consumers. With that being said, our creative strategy will focus on the portrayal of Dollar Tree as a family business with great products at low prices. To do this, advertisements will show off many popular, trusted name brands with the intent to influence consumers into believing Dollar Tree carries quality and trusted products. In order to get as many customers into our stores as possible, our advertisements will visually appeal to middle clas s families.In addition, advertisements will contain visuals of various families shopping at its stores, and have the families appear to be very stress free and loving. These visual appeals will give off the impression that Dollar Tree caters to everyday middle-class consumers by offering an enjoyable family-friendly environment. Dollar Tree competes with many big-chain grocery stores in the country like Wal-Mart, Meijer, and Kroger. These are all huge stores with larger budgets than Dollar Tree, giving them the ability to create expansive creative campaigns that register with consumers.We don’t ask Dollar Tree to go over their limit, but to work with what they have, represent themselves well, and differentiate from other competitors. We believe that there are amazing opportunities for Dollar Tree within their market, and that they are not taking advantage of them by not committing to a traditional ad campaign. We found out that they are missing out on many beneficial ways to increase the company’s income, by not advertising much, and not representing themselves well. Also, differentiating Dollar Tree from other stores is a very important aspect, because too many stores cause clutter to consumers.We have to make Dollar Tree stand up as something special, different, and relatable to target consumers. All of these elements would get the store new shoppers as well as maintaining their current customer base. Media Strategy Dollar Tree’s first problem is that they don’t allocate enough money in their advertising budget to produce an effective campaign that has the ability to produce worthwhile reach and frequency. If they wish to emulate stores like Wal-Mart it is essential that they advertise like them. Wal-Mart’s annual ad budget is $2. billion; we are not trying to suggest that Dollar Tree spend $2. 1 billion. However that $2. 1 billion spent on advertising is only . 8% of Wal-Mart’s annual sales, this is the strategy we suggest Dollar Tree employ (Ries, L. , 2011). Dollar Tree’s current advertising budget is $11. 1 million about . 2% of their annual sales. By increasing the ad budget to . 8% of annual sales, which by market standards is still below average, their new budget would be $47 million a budget that can actually buy effective GRP’s year round. The optimal media strategy for Dollar Tree is to use a pulsing technique.A pulsing strategy is most effective because consumers use their products year round, but there are significant seasonal spikes in consumer spending around holidays, mainly Easter and Christmas. To do this, it’s important that Dollar Tree maintain a moderate level of reach year round of 75 or at least 3/4th of the target audience. At the same time, Ostro’s Matrix indicates that an appropriate level of frequency should be at 4. 1 exposures. During the months of March, April, November, and December is when we plan our flights.During the flighting months reach increases to 80% of the target market and frequency to 4. 5 exposures in the national market. It is also during these months that we use an integrated spot market strategy to maximize consumer spending in local markets that Dollar Tree has a particularly high presence in by increasing reach to 90% and frequency to 6 exposures. These spot markets include 5 DMA’s in California and Florida (Griffin, J. , 2012) Los Angeles, Sacramento–Stockton, San Francisco, Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, and Tampa-St. Pete making up 11. 31% of the U. S. population.To reach our targeted audience of middle-class Americans, it was decided to use TV as the primary vehicle to maximize exposures at the national level. To support the brunt of the ad campaign about a quarter of the budget was spent on half page full color ads in national newspapers since 79% of Americans with white collar jobs read the newspaper (MC Marketing Charts, 2009). Dollar Tree has invested into Dollar Tree Direct, an onli ne e-commerce business, so an additional quarter of the budget was used to buy internet sponsorships, embedding a link to Dollar Tree Direct onto already branded websites (Dollar Tree Inc. 2010). Research Questions Dollar Tree is having issues determining the consumer’s current awareness of their product, recall of their product, and approval ratings. Several research methods would be effective to obtain this information. Such as survey research, Dollar Tree can pass out surveys to their target consumers using geographic location or an online survey targeting the sites their audience will frequent; or through email lists. Another issue of Dollar Tree is that in the past they were unsure of what their target audience should be.Since the economy is so poor, they have expanded their target reach from low-income to the middle-class, but who accompanies this middle class. The middle-class is a large sector that contains many different incomes, lifestyles, etc. To deal with this di lemma Dollar Tree can perform focus groups to figure out who is shopping at Dollar Tree. Why they are shopping there, if they are not shopping there; why not? They can get in-depth answers on what the public really thinks of Dollar Tree, and similar stores within their market sector.

Thursday, October 10, 2019

Culture Intervention in the School Essay

In (PLEASE PUT THE NAME OF YOUR SCHOOL HERE), students coming from different races and ethnicities are accepted. Thus, this creates a student body which is culturally diverse and different in terms of the beliefs, values, languages, and other aspects related to culture. People coming from different cultures are not expected to have a harmonious relationship right away especially with regard to their young age. However, there may be some forms of intervention that can reduce the friction, tension, and conflict due to cultural differences. Before delving into the details of intervention for culture, it is necessary to define culture to be able to target the right elements. Culture is defined â€Å"in anthropology, the patterns of behavior and thinking that people living in social groups learn, create, and share† (Bodley, 2005). This is comprised of the â€Å"beliefs, rules of behavior, language, rituals, art, technology, style of dress, ways of producing and cooking food, religion, and political and economic systems† (Bodley, 2005). Thus, the term culture encompasses a wide range of factors that paves the way for more differences among the students. There are several intervention measures that can be put into application in the school. First, it is important that there is an atmosphere in existent in the school that clearly sets a zero tolerance for bullying and by-standing within the premises of the school. Bullying and by-standing are common consequences of variations in culture. More often than not, the students belonging to the majority culture teases the students who are members of the cultural minority groups. This could lead to bullying and constant fear and inferiority for those who become the victims of the bullies and by-standers. With the foregoing statement, the school administration, in cooperation with the parents, should be able to make a concerted effort to make and agree on policies that will lead to harmonious relationships between the culturally-varied students. Corresponding sanctions should be placed upon the violations and their degrees should be identified. Moreover, rewards for those students who help in creating a stable environment and who makes a way to accept cultural differences in the school should be given a rewards in terms of academic and recognition factors. This is a long and tedious process and there are a lot of factors and minute details to be considered in making the policies. Also, through the cooperation of the parents, there will be reinforcement measures even when the children go back to their homes. It will not simply be a school responsibility for them but hopefully, will become a way of life and a part of their values. Second, there is a need for adult mentors to become visible to the students. However, they should not see these adult mentors as someone who would always pinpoint their mistakes and become an authoritative figure that will constrict their movements. Rather, these adult mentors should be perceived as persons who will be a help within their reach for any problem they have. Adult mentors will be based on a schedule formulated for each break period to patrol on places where the children mostly are and in places that become a favorable place for bullying. The procedures for this should be discusses together with the first culture intervention. Lastly, the students should also be involved in the efforts to have an environment which accepts cultural differences. This can be done by having one class period devoted to an open discussion regarding the different cultures of students and to highlight the exciting and new information about each culture. This way, the students will become aware that it is not only their culture that is in existent but there are a lot of colorful things to look forward to in the treasure box of another student’s culture. Also, the homeroom adviser or teacher could serve as a facilitator for discussion that will dwell on the different problems of culture they have in the school right now. The children are expected to understand this with a proper explanation from the facilitator. The facilitators of the group discussions will have to undergo training for this subject. References Bodley, J. H. 2005. â€Å"Culture. † Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2006 [CD]. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation.

Wednesday, October 9, 2019

To what extent have the Millennium Development Goals been a success Essay - 3

To what extent have the Millennium Development Goals been a success - Essay Example e MDGs included the eradication of abject poverty, promotion of the achievement of universal primary education, realization of gender equality and eradication of child mortality (German Watch, 2010:12). Improving maternal health, promoting global partnership for development, eradicating the most notorious disease such as Malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, and the promotion of environmental sustainability were also among the set MDGs (German Watch, 2010:12). Thus, this being the year when the MDGs were meant to have been achieved, it becomes necessary to take stock of their implementation, to establish whether the MDGs have been a success. However, it can be argued that; although much progress has been made towards realizing the MDGs, many targets are still unmet. The fact that the MDGs have been achieved to a larger extent cannot be denied. The current success stories coming from Africa, Asia and some parts of Latin America are, goes to show that the set target to realize the MDGs by 2015 has made a greater impact in these regions (Manning, 2009:33). While not all of the success stories and positive transformation in these regions can be attributed to the MDGs, there is no doubt that the MDGs have played an important role in enhancing eradication of poverty and promoting development in Africa, Asia and Latin America (Melamed & Scott, 2011:2). Poverty reduction, as one of the eight goals set for achievement by 2015, is an area where the MDGs have had notable success. The poverty reduction target has had success both in the partnership between the developed and the LCDs in projects that would eradicate poverty, as well s in the prioritization of the poverty eradication programs by the LCDs (Easterly, 2009:27). In this respect, the MDGs have been termed as the most successful story in the eradication of poverty in the global history of policy interventions. The proportion of the people living in extreme poverty has been halved within the fifteen year period, where

Tuesday, October 8, 2019

A Catastrophe Housing Crisis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

A Catastrophe Housing Crisis - Essay Example The astonishing part about this is that amidst this crippling crisis, no one truly has an astute understanding of how a simple subprime mortgage flap has caused so much life-changing damage. This holds particularly true for the embattled homeowner, who was bombarded with highly technical instruments without being duly informed of its potentially damaging ramifications. My uncle was one of those gravely affected by the mortgage crisis. He was always an upstanding, responsible guy, and a few years ago he proudly announced that he had taken out a mortgage for a nice new property, the culmination of all his hard work and efforts. Some in our family were particularly wary as to how he got the home loan, as he gone through a rough financial patch some years back. He proudly stated that the bank was very "kind" to him, and had worked out a "special" deal for him so he could buy his house. I distinctly remember having a conversation with him where he was really hyped about this newfangled instrument called a subprime loan. He boasted about how the bank gave him a really low interest rate for the first year, and that succeeding years would depend on how the prime rate would hold up. I asked him how sure it would hold up, and that it wouldn't skyrocket. He said he was assured by the banker he was talking to that it was the perfect time to take out a loan be cause the market was very stable and wasn't going anywhere in the next couple of years.When the prime rate went through the roof, the increase in my uncle's monthly amortization became exponential. He simply could not keep up with the payments , he was only earning so much to support himself and my three cousins. As the bills piled up, he had no choice but to let go of his dream home. The bank is starting foreclosure proceedings on his home, and I often catch him staring blankly into space. When prodded with what went wrong, all he could tell me was "They never told me it would turn out this way".Quite frankly, they never expected that it would turn out this way either. An article in the New York Times (2008) argues that "your confusion is shared by many people who are right in the middle of the crisis. (p.14.) Even top analysts and brokers are lost amidst the extreme complexity of the instruments used. Now, if even the experts do not grasp the crisis fully, what more for the ordina ry homeownerWe have to understand that we are dealing with an issue that ran so deep that once the bubble burst, everyone from the bottom up was hit hard. Its ramifications were far-reaching, extending far beyond domestic shores. According to Dattels and Antonshin, (2008), "Over the next few years losses are expected to reach the $900 billion mark, and banks and financial institutions everywhere are scrambling just to keep their head above their water". (p.9)So who could blame my uncle for not knowing what hit him, when the experts themselves were completely lost as well. Could he be completely blamed for his seeming ignorance, when everyone else was in the same boat.

Monday, October 7, 2019

Progressive Era through the Great Depression Essay

Progressive Era through the Great Depression - Essay Example This assignment seeks to recognize the major turning points in American history between the Progressive Era and the great depression. The assignment also analyses how some historical events shaped Americas current society, economy, politics, and culture. This task also describes the ways that women and minorities have responded to challenges and contributed to American culture. It also recognizes and discusses the ways that formal policies of the government have influenced the direction of historical and social development in the United States. The assignment also analysis the rise of the united states into a world superpower and how the acquired the status has shaped the countries internal developments in the modern epoch. It also identifies the changes in social and economic conditions and technologies have caused concurrent changes in the attitudes of the people and the policies of the government. Various major turning points occurred in the US since the progressive era. One of th e major turning points is the women’s suffrage movement. Most women advocated for the franchise for all the women and the amendment of the constitution in order to incorporate them in decision making of the country. This move provided the women with the full suffrage. The women were granted the right to vote since they were able to convince the men that they should share in the political power. Another major event that happened was the crash of the stock market in the US in October 1929. This crash later spread into the world causing a major economic slump (Goertzel, 2002). The turning point played a major role in converting the United States history on the economic, social, and political backgrounds. One major impact is that America was converted from the wartime frontier to a peaceful time frontier, which bred economic prosperity, social cohesion, and political progression. Consequently, America became the richest nation by the gross domestic product, therefore breeding the culture of consumerism. In the social aspect, there was change that was demanded so that the country can protect and empower every citizen in America. On the political background, there were new laws that were enacted in order to protect people who ordinarily did not have a voice to air. Moreover, the country of United States developed the culture of music, sports, and entertainment culture, which were in existence but needed to be revolutionized in order to incorporate modern trends. The political parties underwent through many changes at this period of reform. Prior to this, the political parties controlled most of the aspects of the political life. This resulted to political parties staying loyal to their followers, thus maintaining the unity and tradition among them (An American Turning Point, 2011). President Franklin Theodore Roosevelt came up with a new spirit of reform during the progressive era. His political philosophies were enthusiastic and aggressive, as he believed th e presidency was a political pulpit for reform. Franklin Roosevelt, before his ascendance into power believed in racial progress but retreated later on his amidst increasing faces of criticisms and his believe in African American inferiority. Some of his reforms were more business oriented such as the move by the congress that created the department of commerce and labor  with a bureau of corporations. In addition, the presidency