The book of Arts essays

The book of Arts essays The account of St.Paul's ill-fated journey to Rome in the New Testament's Book of Acts provides some useful insights into shipping practices during the first century of the common era. In this paper, I intend to summarise the information and clues provided in the Book of Acts and present an overview of some of the basic interpretations of the relevant passages. It is important to understand that the Book of Acts is a continuation of the gospel according to Luke and any reference to him here is in his capacity as writer of the Book. St.Paul, as a Roman prisoner, had been put in the charge of Julius, an officer in the "Emperor's Regiment" who was to take the prisoners to Rome to see the Emperor. At Caesarea, Julius had his prisoners board a ship from Adramyttium and they sailed overnight to Sidon. The next leg of their journey was more difficult as the winds were again against them. As such, they sailed the ship on the sheltered east side of the island of Cyprus, then west to In Myra, Julius moved his prisoners to a boat from Alexandria which was bound for Italy. The first leg of their journey aboard this new ship was difficult as the winds were against them. It took several days to reach Cnidus. With the wind against them still, they were forced to sail south, hoping to take shelter behind the island of Crete. Keeping close to shore, they eventually arrived at Safe Harbours, on the southern coast of Crete. Here they stayed for several days and the Book of Acts notes that St.Paul advised against continuing as the Day of Atonement had The Day of Atonement is the traditional day at which shipping would stop for the winter in anticipation of the poor weather to come. It is normally marked towards the end of September or the start of October. However St.Paul's advice fell on deaf ears and Julius chose to accept the advice of the ship's owner and captain. They pressed on towards Phoenix (on C...

Dealing With Restroom Use During Class

Dealing With Restroom Use During Class How do you handle requests from students to go to the bathroom during class? Every so often you will see a news story about a teacher who did not let a child use the bathroom during class causing them to have an embarrassing accident. Restroom use during class is a sticky issue that deserves some thought so that you do not end up on the news. We have all experienced sitting in a meeting when we really have to use the restroom. People retain less information when they are focused on their need to relieve themselves. Therefore, it is important that you provide a way for students to use the restroom, while  at the same time maintain control within your classroom. Issues With Restroom Use A couple of issues exist that cause teachers to be wary of allowing  restroom use during class. It can be very disruptive. One of the most annoying things to a teacher is trying to hold a classroom discussion and when they call on a student who has raised their hand, the only thing they do is ask if they can go to the bathroom.It can be easily abused. Every teacher has encountered a student who does not have a medical issue yet asks to go to the bathroom each and every day.Roaming the halls is not acceptable. Most schools have strict policies concerning who can be out of class. This helps the school maintain control and keeps disruption to other classes to a minimum. You dont want to be in the hot seat by allowing too many students to leave your class at once or by having your students cause a problem when they are supposed to be in your class. Ideas to Help Control Restroom Use What can you do to allow students to go to the bathroom when they really need to but at the same time maintain control? Make it a policy that only one student can go to the bathroom at a time from your class. This relieves the problem of having too many students out at once.Give students a limit to the amount of time they are allowed out. This will help cut down on students taking advantage of leaving the class. You will need to come up with a discipline plan associated with this to help with enforcement.Institute a policy that students cannot ask to go to the restroom until you are at your desk or at a minimum not addressing the entire class. This is fine but remember that if a student has a medical issue of which you have been informed then they should be allowed to leave when it is necessary. You might want to consider creating a special pass for them for this purpose.Track who is going each day if you think there is an issue. If a student is abusing the privilege talk to them about it. If this does not stop the behavior, call and talk to their parents. There may be situations where a student abuse s the privilege every day without a medical reason. In one example, when the teacher denied the student the ability to go one day, the parents called and complained causing a lot of problems for this particular teacher. A call to the parents before instituting the policy with that student could have helped because they would not be getting the story just from their child. Restroom use can quickly become an emotionally charged subject. Make sure that you spend some time creating and perfecting your own restroom use plan so that you can stay focused on teaching and not on this issue. You can refer to How to Create a Restroom Pass System for more ideas.

Combinational and sequential logics Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Combinational and sequential logics - Assignment Example The two binary digit full adders are found as the standard IC packages as 74LS283 and 74LS83 which add up and generate a CARRY and SUM output. Image for the two binary digits full adder Another very useful and a common combinational logic is that of one bit magnitude comparator. The comparator is comprised of the NOT, NOR, and AND logic gates. The logic gates compare the signals found in the input terminal and produce the output that depend on the input condition (Ross & Sheldon 75). For instance, despite adding and subtracting numbers, they are able to compare them and find if the value of A is smaller than, equal to, or greater than input B. The one bit magnitude comparator achieves this by using the above logic gates that use the mechanism of Boolean algebra. The one bit magnitude comparator comprises of the three terminals that act as the terminals. One is greater than A>B, equalityA=B, and less than A

Usage Of IT Tools In Organization Research Paper

Usage Of IT Tools In Organization - Research Paper Example Organizations such as Farmers Insurance and Travellers Insurance recently have benefited on a major part with the technique of outsourcing their IT and BPO sector. These successful companies seemed to have partitioned core processes and other back-end processes that are of least importance for outsourcing. Organizations have moved beyond initial stages of outsourcing only the back-end processes and they have adopted outsourcing the core development which produced a statistics report of 40% increment in productivity and high efficiency in cost of labor. On a contrary, companies like CCC Information services in source or import people as a solution to reduce the incurring cost that is at a hidden level. This finds a way to control a company's taxes and decisions on outsourcing and insourcing are made based on the business goals of each company. On the analysis made, it is found that the manufacturing companies prefer more of insourcing labors from China or from remote areas in the north where employment is less. Companies can make a straightforward decision to choose insourcing or the other depending on the business requirement. It is also clear that insourcing requires a lot of effort and manpower to train a team and match them to the skill set in a short period of time but on a large duration inclusive of the cutting down cost of labor, and then this is the best way adopted by companies to enhance their profit and productivity. In outsourcing, we get a more powerful and skilled team in a short period. This was considered more expensive and used by larger organizations earlier. Rapid growth of the IT industries such as TCS, CTS, Accenture and IBM is mainly due to migration of industries from undertaking the core process all by themselves with less manpower and resources to distributing the process among few trusted partners which is less time consuming and effective availability of resources. At a reduced cost, work can be smartly insourced too. It is found that companies with major growth and productivity have adopted these strategies only after a thorough analysis of which organization or people should be insourced or outsourced.   Ã‚  Ã‚   Organizations such as Rackspace have started building their own cloud spaces where they can share secure data and make it private. The traditional approach of disk spaces has been removed from the stage and the big picture is all about web. Most of the data and information that organizations use are through web. They emerge obtaining permissions and spaces from providers with such cloud options to make their organizational data much

Translation and Interpreting Essay Example for Free

Translation and Interpreting Essay Introduction As I was preparing to put my ideas in order and reflect upon what I was going to write for my essay on International Communication, I suddenly remembered the last lecture on the subject. It was about translating and interpreting, so I figured out that an essay on the translation challenges in todays world would be a great idea to write about. I personally knew Dumitru Toncia, my sister-in-law relative, who had worked in the field for many years, so we had a meeting in which I took some interesting notes. He is specialized in English and French. There are a lot of definitions for International Communication, but I consider it to contain aspects of intercultural understandings, communicaton theory, intercultural communication, croscultural communication, mass communication, intercultural psychology, congnition psychology, area-study like society, culture, constitution, law, education, language etc Proper translation and interpreting has become more and more demanding, and this paper deals with the qualities translators or interpreters should posses in the international environment today. It also outlines some grammar and semantics issues that turn this filed into a real challenge. I hope the examples he drew from his experience in translation will give you an interesting insight into some of the most frustrating problems encountered when transferring ideas from one language to another. Taking part in the selection of candidates for translator jobs in international environments, Toncia has often been amazed by the fact that a number of candidates with a perfect knowledge of both the source and the target languages and an impressive mastery of the relevant field could be very poor translators indeed. Why is that? One of the human factors is the lack of modesty. The translators personality and intelligence interfere with the very humble task he has to perform. Instead of putting aside his own ideas, fantasies and style to follow blindly the authors, he merges, adds or transforms. Anyway, besides humility, candidates must possess two other qualities: judgment and flexibility. Judgment By judgment I mean the ability to solve a problem through wide knowledge of the field, through awareness that a problem exists and through taking into account the various levels of context. Wide knowledge of the field. Lets take the phrase to table a bill. The translator must know that if the original is in British English, it means to submit a bill i. e. a text proposed to become law to the countrys legislative body, in French deposer un projet de loi, but that if the author followed American usage, he meant to shelve, i. e. to adjourn indefinitely the discussion of the text, in French ajourner sine die lexamen du projet de loi Here is another example. The word heure in French can mean hour as well as oclock. To be able to translate correctly the French phrase une messe de neuf heures, you have to know that a Catholic mass lasting nine hours is extremely improbable, so that the translation is a nine oclock mass, and not a nine hour mass. Since the linguistic structure is exactly the same in un voyage de neuf heures, which means a nine hour journey, only knowledge of the average duration of a mass can help the translator decide. Awareness that a problem exists. When you become a professional translator, the chief development that occurs in you during your first three or four years consists in becoming aware of problems that you had no idea could exist. If you are transferred to another organization, the whole process will start anew for a few years because the new field implies new problems that are just as hidden as in your former job. Some people may know that in the history of international communication there was an organization called International Auxiliary Language Association. Well, if you ask people how they understand that title, you will realize that, for a number of them, it means international association dealing with an auxiliary language, whereas for others it means an association studying the question of an international auxiliary language. The interesting point lies not so much in the ambiguity as in the fact that most people are not aware of it. When exposed to the phrase, they immediately understand it in a certain way and they are not at all conscious that the very same words are susceptible to another interpretation and that their immediate comprehension does not necessarily reflect what the author had in mind. Similarly, most junior translators simply do not imagine that the words English teacher usually designate, not a teacher who happens to be a British citizen, but somebody who teaches English and can be Japanese or Brazilian as well from any English speaking country.. Taking into account the various levels of context. The English word repression has two conventional translations in French. In politics, the French equivalent is repression, whereas in psychology, it is refoulement. You might believe at first glance that translating it correctly is simply a matter of knowing to what field your text belongs. If it deals with politics, you use one translation, if with psychology another. Reality is not that simple. Your author may use the psychological sense within a broad political context. For instance, in an article dealing with the Stalin era, you may have a sentence beginning with Repression by the population of its spontaneous critical reactions led to In this case, although the text deals with politics, the sentence deals with psychology. The narrow context is at variance with the broad context. Flexibility Besides judgment, the other quality I mentioned as indispensable to make an acceptable international translator is flexibility. This refers to the gymnastics aspect of translation work. Mastering the specialized field and the two relevant languages is not enough, you have to master the art of constantly jumping from one into the other and back. Languages are more than intellectual structures. They are universes. Each language has a certain atmosphere, a style of its own, that differentiates it from all others. If you compare such English expressions as software and, on a road sign, soft shoulder with their French equivalents, you realize that there is a very definite switch in the approach to communication. The French translations are respectively logiciel and accotements non stabilises. The English phrases are concrete, metaphorical, made up, with a zest of humor, from words used in everyday speech, although this does not contribute to better comprehension: knowing the meaning of soft and of shoulder does not help you to understand what a soft shoulder is. In French, the same meanings are conveyed by abstract and descriptive terms, which do not belong to everyday usage. You dont understand them either, but for a different reason: because they are based on too intellectual, too sophisticated, too unusual morphemes, so that most foreigners have to look up the words in dictionaries. The difficulty lies in the fact that this difference in approach has to be taken into account at the level, not only of words (a good dictionary may often solve that problem), but of sentences. Consider the sentence Private education is in no way under the jurisdiction of the government. It includes mostly English words of French origin, but common etymology does not imply a common way of expressing ones thoughts. In this case, a good French rendering would be Lenseignement libre ne releve en rien de lEtat. You will realize the importance of those differences in the approach to communication if you take the French sentence as the original and translate it literally into English. The result would be Free teaching does not depend in any way from the State, which means something quite different, especially to an American. In order to translate properly, you have to feel when and how to switch from one atmosphere to another. The problem is that with languages, you never know how you know what you know. If, in a text dealing with economic matters, a good translator meets the phrase the life expectancy of those capital goods, he knows because he feels that he has to translate it by la longevite des equipements. He also knows that when that same text mentions the consumers life expectancy, hell have to say, in French, esperance de vie, because the author for a while deals with a demographic concept which is included in his economic reasoning. But how does he know he knows? He doesnt know. This ability to adjust to the various approaches to reality or fantasy embodied in the different languages, linked to an ability to pass constantly back and forth, is what is called flexibility. This is the quality which is the most difficult to find when you recruit translators. We can now approach the same field from a different angle, asking ourselves the question: what are the problems built-in in languages that make judgment and flexibility so important in translation work? They relate to the grammar and the semantics of both the source and the target languages. Grammar The more a language uses precise and clear-cut grammatical devices to express the relationships among words and, within a given word, its constitutive concepts, the easier the task for the translator. The worst source languages for translators are thus English and Chinese. A Chinese sentence like ta shi qunian shengde xiaohair can mean both he (or she) is a child who was born last year and it was last year that she gave birth to a child. In English similar ambiguities are constant. In International Labor Organization, the word international refers to organization, as shown in the official French wording: Organisation internationale du Travail. But in another UN specialized agency, the International Civil Aviation Organization, the word international is to be related with aviation, not with organization, as shown, again, by the French version: Organisation de laviation civile internationale (and not Organisation internationale de laviation civile). This is legally and politically important, because it means that the organization is competent only for flights that cross national boundaries. It is not an international organization that deals with all problems of non-military flying. However, since the linguistic structure is similar in both cases, no text analysis can help the translator; he has no linguistic means to decide which is which. He has to refer to the constitution of the relevant organization. Many mistakes made by professional translators result from the impossibility, in English, to assign an adjective to its noun through grammatical means. When a translator rendered Basic oral health survey methods by Methodologie des enquetes fondamentales sur letat de sante bucco-dentaire, he was mistaken in relating the word basic to survey, whereas it actually relates to methods, but he should be forgiven, because only familiarity with the subject enables the reader to understand what refers to what. The correct translation was Methodologie fondamentale applicable aux enquetes sur letat de sante bucco-dentaire. Toncias wife teaches translation to American students who come to Geneva for one year. A standard translation task she gives them includes the subtitle Short breathing exercises. Every year, half her class understands exercises in short breathing, whereas the real meaning is short exercises in deep breathing. The fact that native speakers of English so consistently make the same mistake, although the context provides all the necessary clues, its still a wonder. The fact that, in English, the endings -s, -ed and -ing have several grammatical functions often complicates matters. In the sentence He was sorting out food rations and chewing gum, it is impossible to know if the concerned individual was chewing gum while sorting out food rations, or if he was sorting out two kinds of supplies: food, and chewing gum. Semantics Problems caused by semantics are particularly difficult for human translators. They are of two kinds: (1) the problem is not apparent; (2) the problem is readily seen, but the solution either requires good judgment or does not exist. An example of the first category is provided by the phrase malaria therapy. Since malaria is a well known disease, and therapy means treatment, a translator not trained in medical matters will think that it means treatment of malaria. But the semantic field of therapy is not identical with that of treatment, although this is not apparent if you simply consult a dictionary (Websters defines therapy as treatment of a disease). It would be too long to explain here the differences, but the fact is that malaria therapy should be rendered, not by traitement du paludisme, but by impaludation therapeutique or paludotherapie , because it means that the malaria parasite is injected into the blood to elicit a febrile reaction designed to cure the attacked disease, which is not malaria. In other words, it means treatment by malaria and not treatment of malaria. In the French version, published by Albin Michel, of Hammond Innes novel Levkas Man, one of the characters complains about les jungles concretes in which an enormous population has to live (Hammond, 1998, p.82). This does not make sense for the French reader. What the author meant by concrete jungles was jungles de beton, i. e. high-rise housing developments made of concrete. This is a case in which the translator was not aware of the existence of a semantic problem, namely that concrete has two completely unrelated meanings: a building material, and the opposite of abstract. An example of a semantic problem requiring good judgment is the word develop. It has such a wide semantic field that it is often a real nightmare for translators. It can mean setting up, creating, designing, establishing and thus refer to something that did not exist before. It can mean intensifying, accelerating, extending, amplifying, and thus express the concept making larger, which implies that the thing being developed has been concretely in existence for some time. But it can also mean tapping the resources, exploiting, in other words making use of something that has been having a latent or potential existence. In all other languages, the translation will vary according to the meaning, i. e.to that particular segment the author had in view within the very wide semantic field covered by the word. To know how to translate to develop such or such an industry, you have to know if the said industry already exists or not in the area your text is covering. In most cases, the text itself gives no clue on that matter. Only the translators general culture or his ability to do appropriate research can lead him to the right translation. Such a simple word as more can pose problems, because its semantic area covers both the concepts of quantity and of qualitative degree. What does more accurate information mean? Does it mean a larger amount of accurate information or information that has greater accuracy? And how can you translate cute into another language? The concept simply does not exist in most. Conversely, the French word frileux has no equivalent in English, so that a simple French sentence like il est frileux cannot be properly translated. Still, you can say he feels the cold terribly or he is very sensitive to cold. Although those are poor renderings, they are acceptable. What most resists translation is the adverbial form: frileusement. How can you translate il ramena frileusement la couverture sur ses genoux? You have to say something like He put the blanket back onto his knees with the kind of shivering movement typical of people particularly sensitive to cold. To those of you who might think that this is literary translation, something outside your field of research, I have to emphasize that descriptions of attitudes and behavior are an integral part of medical and psychological case presentations, so that the above sentence should not be considered unusual in a translators practice. An enormous amount of words, many of them appearing constantly in ordinary texts, present similar difficulties. Such words as commodity, consolidation, core, crop, disposal, to duck, emphasis, estate, evidence, feature, flow, forward, format, insight, issue, joint, junior, kit, maintain, matching, predicament, procurement and hundreds of others are quite easy to understand, but no French word has the same semantic field, so that their translation is always a headache. Dictionaries dont help, because they give you a few translations that never coincide with the concept as actually used in a text; in most cases the translations they suggest do not fit with the given context. Another case in point is provided by the many words that refer to the organization of life. You cannot translate Swiss Government by Gouvernement suisse, because the French word gouvernement has a much narrower meaning than the English one. In French, you have to say le Conseil federal or la Confederation suisse according to the precise meaning. The French word gouvernement designates what in English is often named cabinet. The English word government is one of the frustrating ones. You may render it by lEtat, les pouvoirs publics, les autorites, le regime or similar words, evaluating in each case what is closest to the English meaning, and you have to bear in mind that at times it should be sciences politiques (for instance in the sentence she majored in government, in which the verb major is another headache, because American studies are organized in quite a different way from studies in French speaking countries). The Russian word dispanserizacija illustrates a similar problem. It designates a whole conception of public health services that has no equivalent in Western countries. If you want your reader to understand your translation, you should, rather than translate it (it would be easy enough to say dispensarisation), explain what it means. Conclusion As you see, each one of the problems mentioned in the paper makes the translators task very arduous indeed. Problems caused by ambiguities, unexpressed but implied meanings, and semantic values without equivalent in the target language require a lot of thinking, a special knowledge of the field and a certain amount of research as for instance when you have to find out if an industry being developed already exists or not, or if secretary Tan Buting is a male or a female, which, in many languages, will govern the correct form of the adjectives and even the translation of  secretary (Sekreter? Sekreterin? ) . Such problems take up 80 to 90% of a professional translators time. A translator is essentially a detective, Toncia uses to say, and it is true. He has to make a lot of phone calls, to go from one library to another (not so much to find a technical term as to understand how a process unfolds or to find basic data that are understood, and thus unexpressed, among specialists) and to tap all his resources in deduction. These days we all seem to take the right of being a professional translator, but on closer look things are not so simple. In the international environment today, proper communication has become extremely important, and seemingly insignificant mistakes could cause a lot of trouble for the parties involved. In cases when proficient translation or interpreting is required, saving money by hiring someone from your staff instead of a competent professional is not a choice I would recommend. Bibliography Hammond , I. , 1998 Levkas Man, William Collins Larousse, 1994 Dictionaire de la langue fracaise, Lexis Philip, B. , 2000 Websters Third New International Dictionary, Webster Inc. Websites www. iti. org. uk- Institute or Translating and Interpreting http://www. naati. com. au- National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters.

The F.B.I. Essay examples -- FBI Police Crime Essays

The F.B.I. To uphold the law through the investigation of violations of federal criminal law; to protect the U.S. from foreign intelligence and terrorist activities; to provide leadership and law enforcement assistance to federal, state, local, and international agencies; and to perform these responsibilities in a manner that is responsive to the needs of the public and is faithful to the constitution of the U.S.: this is the mission of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The agency now known as the Federal Bureau of Investigation was founded in 1908 when the Attorney General appointed an unnamed force of Special Agents to be the investigative force of the Department of Justice (DOJ). Before that time, the DOJ had to borrow Agents from the U.S. Secret Service to investigate violations of federal criminal laws within its jurisdiction. In 1909, the Special Agent Force was renamed the Bureau of Investigation, and after a series of name changes, it received its present official name in 1935. During the early period of the FBIs history, its agents investigated violations of mainly bankruptcy frauds, antitrust crime, and neutrality violation. During World War One, the Bureau was given the responsibility of investigating espionage, sabotage, sedition (resistance against lawful authority), and draft violations. The passage of the National Motor Vehicle Theft Act in 1919 further broadened the Bureau's jurisdiction. After the passage of Prohibition in 1920, the gangster era began, bringing about a whole new type of crime. Criminals engaged in kidnapping and bank robbery, which were not federal crimes at that time. This changed in 1932 with the passage of a federal kidnapping statute. In 1934, many other federal criminal statutes were passed, and Congress gave Special Agents the authority to make arrests and to carry firearms. The FBIs size and jurisdiction during the second World War increased greatly and included intelligence matters in South America. With the end of that war, and the arrival of the Atomic Age, the FBI began conducting background security investigations for the White House and other government agencies, as well as probes into internal security matters for the executive branch of the government. In the 1960s, civil rights and organized crime became major concerns of the FBI, and counterterrorism, drugs, financial crime, and v... .... hold a bachelors degree obtained in an accredited four-year resident program at a college or university; and 4. have three years full-time work experience, or fluency in a language for which the Bureau has a need for. After graduation from the FBI Academy, a new Special Agent is assigned to an FBI field office. This assignment is determined by the individuals special skills and the needs of the bureau. As part of their duties, Special Agents are required to relocate during their careers. Special Agents enter service in Grade GS 10 on the federal governments General Schedule pay scale and can advance to Grade 13 in field assignment. In our society today, one of the most important things to us is our safety. Organizations like the FBI help protect us and investigate crimes to help prevent future ones. Their motto is Fidelity, Bravery, and Integrity, and I think that each one of those words is justified when it comes to describing the Federal Bureau of Investigation. When the duties of the FBI are stated in the mission it says to perform these duties in a manner that is responsive to the needs of the public and is faithful to the Constitution of the United States.

Walmart Income Statment Comparative Analysis

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Comparative Consolidated Income Statement 2012 Amount Percent 443,854 100. 0% 335,127 75. 5% 108,727 24. 5% 85,265 19. 2% 23,462 5. 3% 3,096 0. 7% 2,160 0. 5% 24,398 5. 5% 7,944 1. 8% 16,454 3. 7% 2011 Amount Percent 418,952 100. 0% 314,946 75. 2% 104,006 24. 8% 81,361 19. 4% 22,645 5. 4% 2,897 0. 7% 2,004 0. 5% 23,538 5. 6% 7,579 1. 8% 15,959 3. 8% 2010 Amount Percent 405,132 100. 0% 304,106 75. 1% 101,026 24. 9% 79,977 19. 7% 21,049 5. % 2,953 0. 7% 1,884 0. 5% 22,118 5. 5% 7,156 1. 8% 14,962 3. 7% Net Sales Cost of Goods Sold Gross Profit Operating Expenses Income from Opertaions Other Revenues and Gains Other Expenses and Losses Income before Income Tax Provision Income Tax Provision Net Income From above comparative income statement for threes years, Walmart has lower percentage gross profit for 2012 compare with previous two year, which caused by increased cost of goods sold.However the dollar amount for net sales is increasing from year to year. Operating expenses are decreased for the percentage comparation, this is a favorable trend. Again the dollar amount increased. Even the other renenues, gains and other expenses, losses percentage remain the same for the past three years, but dollar amount increased. The income tax rate for the past three years are remained consistent .

Construction Companies in an Online Environment Essay

For a company to be viable online it must attract the consumer as well as present a viable market for the product being sold. When one thinks of a company that does business well online they may bring to mind businesses such as Amazon or Google. However there are many companies that provide a great product or service but fail to have an online presence that some of their top online competitors possess. One field that has an expansive online presence is the construction industry. Many companies such as Thor Construction Inc. have gone the route of hiring a professional online market company to design their web site, while other much smaller companies have to design their online presence by what their budget will allow. Darrell Julian Construction out of Albuquerque, NM is a company that has a web site that could benefit from developing a different online strategy directed toward their target audience in the commercial and residential construction field. It used to be that one would go to the yellow pages to find a contractor or rely on word of mouth to find a company for a construction project. According to the web site for Darrell Julian Construction (Darrell Julian Construction, Inc., 2007), the company was established in 1975, long before online marketing would have been a thought for Mr. Julian and his company. As the company grew and the industry began to have greater online prescience, Darrell Julian construction needed to take its service to the internet to increase their marketability and stay competitive with the other constructions companies in their target market. By doing this Darrell Julian’s company identified with what Swiply’s web site states that â€Å"the internet gives you a virtually unlimited platform on which you can distinguish yourself as an industry expert.† (Swipely, 2011) In 2007 the web site darrelljulianconstuction.com was created to give this long established company a chance to compete in an online environment. The  product and service that the company has to offer would be viable in an online market as the consumer would be able to see the buildings and the unique way that Darrell Julian’s company assembles the product. According to the web site the walls are designed at a panel plant located at their facility and then shipped to the job site for assembly as opposed to building everything at the job site. This ability allows the workers to assemble precision wall panels and build large scale projects in a timely manner. Having these keywords in their online marketing allows the customer to search for a construction company that can supply the demand of large construction projects with a timely delivery. All of these aspects allow this company to get the word out to the online shopper that they can fill specific needs, however just having a web site in today’s market may not be enough to get the consumer to shop your product or service. Darrell Julian’s web site is available simply by typing in Darrell Julian and then the search engine supplies the web site as one of the first listed on the page. So it is not a hard web site to find, if one knows the name of the business. However, if a person was to search for construction companies in Albuquerque, NM, that person would not see the name Darrell Julian anywhere on the first page. The customer searching for what Mr. Julian’s company has to offer would not have the opportunity to visit the web site because it is not available in a general search. For this site to be successful it must reach the people that are searching for it. The competition is out there and their goal is to reach the consumer first before they have the opportunity to shop around. Some of the first sites that one sees when a search is done for construction companies in Albuquerque would be companies such as Jaynes Corporation, Gerald Martin General Contractor, and Hart Construction Inc. There are many other companies that appear on the first page of the search but a first glance these appear to be the more popular companies that consumers search for when trying to find a construction company. Jaynes Corporation is the first site that appears with a brief description after the companies’ name. Jaynes Corporation is primarily a commercial construction company that  offers competition to Darrell Julian Construction on a large scale. Their site shows many pictures of the projects that they have done as well as detailed descriptions as to what the project required. Some of the other positives of the web site are that they provide a complete company profile, press releases and news stories exemplifying their work as well as rewards, and links to social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Some of the negative aspects of the site are that they do not talk about that construction process as much as one would think would be necessary to understand how the company adds to the value of their service with unique traits of their design. There is also not a place to find customer feedback on the site, be it good or bad so that a customer can relate to the other organization that have utilized Jaynes Corporation’s services. Gerald Martin has a beautiful home page that entices the visitor with spectacular pictures of some of their greatest accomplishments in the field of commercial construction. Also on the home page are some of the company’s accreditations, with the graphic designs that those who understand the construction industry would recognize by site. As with the web site for Jaynes, this site offers many pictures of the company’s projects with a detailed description of the structure that was built. Also there is a link to read news briefs to allow one an insight into some of the inner workings of Gerald Martin and their accomplishments. One of the negatives that could stand out to a visitor of the site would be that there are no links to social media sites. Again much like with Jaynes Corporation there are no testimonials on the site. There is not a place to go to view customer’s opinions of the company or the site. Another aspect that one might find is that there is not a place to compare how Gerald Martin stands apart from their competition giving the customer a way to eliminate other companies from their search. One final site for comparison is Hart Construction located in the local Albuquerque area. The web site for this company has many of the same attributes as Darrel Julian’s web site. Upon first glance the site is not  as professionally done as the other two companies that it is compared to above. The site does have quality pictures that show some of the jobs that the company has done but there are no descriptions as to what was done on the project, so one does not what aspects of construction the company can provide to their customers. One attribute that the site does offer, that differs from the others, is a reference page. They are not testimonials but they do give the potential customer the chance to contact other customers that have used the company for their projects. All of these sites differ vastly from Darrell Julian Construction with the exception of Hart Construction’s site, that allow for competition to provide a much more attractive online experience for per sons searching for a quality contractor. One aspect of online marketing that Darrell Julian’s web site could benefit from would be content marketing. According to Laura Lake from About.com â€Å"everyone is trying to sell, but those that can inform are more likely to get sales.† (Lake, L., n.d.) Though Darrell Julian’s site does show content that supports their service as well as descriptions of what the company can offer the customer, it does not go in depth enough to show the value added when choosing Darrell Julian Construction over one of their online competitors. The site lacks the ability to attract customers with up to date posts and information about the company. It also does not offer a way for the potential customer to feel that they are being enticed to choose Darrell Julian over a similar company that may have a more contemporary picture of their overall value. The content of Jaynes Corporation’s web site offers a very appealing visual appeal as well as a multitude of opportunities to explore why hiring this company to do a job would be beneficial not only in quality but monetarily as well. The content of the web site is presented in such a manner that allows the viewer to navigate to where he or she would like to go to find relevant information. When one views Darrell Julian’s web site it is not as appealing nor is it as easy to navigate as some of their competitors. A company must stay relevant to stay in order to stay in competition with other competitors. If a site gives the viewer the sense that the content is not current, and that the company is not maintaining their web site, a  person may be inclined to go elsewhere to search. Another online marketing strategy Darrell Julian’s company would benefit from would be Web site optimization. As mentioned previously, the web site can be found when typing in the owner’s name, Darrell Julian. However, if one was to type in general construction keywords they would not be directed to Darrell Julian’s web site. Even though the title of the company does contain the word construction it would be much more beneficial to have the first word in the title be associated with the construction industry. A name like Construction Designs by Darrell Julian would allow the company a better chance of showing up on the first page of the search engines query. (Stokes, R., n.d.) Optimization brings to mind ways to perform in a more proficient manner. For Darrell Julian’s web site to be more proficient for the customer it would have to be more readily accessible. One way to make a site more available to the person conducting the search would be to have links on web site that provide related products or services. If a relationship could be made with a site that provides land that is zoned for commercial construction a customer that was looking for land to build on would also come across Mr. Julian’s web site to provide their construction needs. It is important to have positive aspects about ones company be the focus when a customer is searching for a product or service provided by a company. When Darrell Julian Construction is typed into a search the focal point of the search bring the eye directly to the web site, which is the first item on the page. However if the person searching for this particular web site scrolls down to mid page there is a link to a legal web page that brings up a law suit against the company from 1998. Though this is not a damaging claim it does bring questions to the consumer conducting the search as to whether or not they should continue to consider Darrell Julian Construction as a candidate for their business. It would be much better for the company if news like this had to be searched for instead of on the same page as the link to the site itself. One  strategy that would be useful here would to be diligent in creating enough web traffic via social media or other positive web sites that allows this information to fall back to other pages so that it is not the first thing that a customer sees. One could use sites like Squidoo, or a blog site such a sGoogle+ to create positive web traffic on a page. Even though Darrell Julian’s web site does state what the business can do for the customer, it does not fully cover how the customer will benefit by choosing Darrell Julian Construction as its contractor. One strategy that keeps such things in mind is a shift in thinking, changing the focus from and upstream approach, looking at the product, to a downstream approach, focusing on the customer. In Naraj Dawar’s Harvard Business Review article he states that â€Å"the strategic question that drives business today is not ‘What else can we make?’ but ‘What else can we do for our customers?†. (Dawar, N.,2013) Darrell Julian’s web site does a good job of talking about their expertise in panel plant construction and how that allows the company to build walls at their site and then ship them out to the build site. It does not go into great detail as to how this will benefit the customer financially as well as shorten the time line it will take to finish the product. All of these aspects of the business would be positives to a potential customer and should be brought out in more detail on the site in place that would be readily viewed by the consumer, such as the home page. With all of these strategies in mind one of the most beneficial strategies that Mr. Julian could incorporate into his web site would be the presence of social media. It seems almost everyone is on social media sites these days from grandmothers posting pictures of their grandkids to businesses marketing their product with instant customer feedback and response. From Facebook to Twitter businesses are getting the message out that their product is superior over what their competition has to offer and invite customers that have used their company to spread the word that they approve of the product or service that they received. Jaynes Corporation is a perfect example of how the construction industry can reach those customers that may not  directly search for their site by marketing on sites such as Facebook and Google Plus. One of the advantages to sites such as Facebook is that customers can reach your web site through your Facebook page, or they can link to you Facebook though your direct web page. For example, if someone had used Darrell Julian Construction for one of their projects they may like your page on Facebook. Perhaps a potential customer may be friends with this individual and come across Darrell Julian’s web page via this form of marketing. On the other hand a potential customer may be on Mr. Julian’s web site and wanting to read some testimonial of others experiences with his company so they click the link on the site and are directed to the companies Facebook page. There they will have the advantage of getting to know what type of a business they are looking into and how others felt about the service they received from Darrell Julian construction. By providing these opportunities for his customers Darrell Julian has the potential to expand his business web presence exponentially. Another social media site that could be very useful to Darrell Julian’s company would be YouTube. This site allows the user to watch video’s of particular subjects that the viewer may be interested in through a search directly on the site, or by linking to the site via ones personal web page. One way that Darrell Julian may benefit from a site such as this would be to put links to some videos of his projects as they are being constructed in real time. Customers could click on the link and watch as a project unfolds, and to see the professionalism and craftsmanship that Mr. Julian speaks of in his web site. Going back to a previous comment regarding marketing strategy, one of Darrell Julian’s trademark design aspects of the business is his panel plant design. If the links are set up correctly on the site a customer could have the opportunity to watch the panel plant process as it happens. This person would have the unique ability to visualize for themselves what the company is talking about in the site without ever having to leave the comfort of their office. There is also the testimonial piece of the marketing  strategy. YouTube could allow for videos to be posted of customers talking about the excellent service and outstanding experience they had when dealing with Darrell Julian Construction. These sites are some of the more well know social media sites that most are familiar with, however blogs offer the company an opportunity to create a place for not only direct marketing by talking about the product, but indirectly by writing about experiences and interactions with custom ers. Blogs come in many shapes and sizes, from social blogs to wikis, or podcasts. A blog can be set up easily by an individual and does not need the help of a professional to be appealing to person reading or writing in the blog. Another great attribute of the blog for the company that chooses to utilize that media is that it can be controlled. Unlike Facebook or Twitter one can set limits on who can access the blog to write comments, or give feedback. This is a safe way for a company to get the word out about their product without having to do too much damage control. Darrell Julian Construction could expand their web presence by having a blog that customers could link to through the site. This would again allow the customer to read detailed descriptions of others experiences with the company as well as get to know Mr. Julian directly through his submissions to the site. Another positive aspect of the blog is that it can take a position on the first page of a search that someone may be conducting for Darrell Julian Construction allowing for a positive search and pushing negative aspects such as the lawsuit to a later page. As a whole the online marketing plan that Darrell Julian Construction, Inc. set out to establish was a good start for the company. A web site that would market to their consumer base on the internet and allow them to stay competitive with other companies that provided similar services. When Darrell Julian set up his web site in 2007 there were many attributes to the site that would allow his company to remain competitive via the internet. On the site potential customers could find out what Darrell Julian Construction’s mission and vision is, as well as how the business operates. One can also find pictures and brief descriptions of some of the company’s  top designs. With that being said the site itself is not what some of Darrell Julian competitors has to offer their customers. One of Mr. Julian’s biggest competitors, Jaynes Corporation, offers their customer a visually appealing web site that has a multitude of high definition pictures as well as detailed description of their projects. In addition to the appeal of the web site, a customer can also link to the companies Facebook site, their Twitter site, as well as other social media sites that will allow the customer to gain better knowledge of whom they are doing business with. If Darrell Julian wants his company to stay competitive in an online environment his web site will need to be updated with more content as to why the company is viable to the potential online customer. More detailed descriptions of Darrell Julian Constructions unique panel plant and how the plant will benefit the customer would be a useful addition to the site. More interactive images and detailed descriptions of jobs will allow a customer better access to information from the comfort of their personal computer. Mr. Julian’s competition will most likely continue to update their sites as well as add content as it becomes apparent that it will help in their marketing strategy. For Mr. Julian to stay competitive his company will need to implement a plan to have someone within the company or a third party that will keep the content up-to-date and allow a competitive edge over the competition. Some of the aspects discussed above will help in allowing Mr. Julian’s company to be one of the first web sites a customer sees when they Google the word construction in Albuquerque, NM. One major change may just simply be changing the name of the site to include the actual word construction at the beginning of the name allowing the search to yield his web site by topic. These strategies that would to be implemented will allow a much better experience for the customer as well as the company as a whole. Social media is everywhere and most people are going to social media to search for products or services before they will actually visit the company’s web site. Many will stumble across a company’s web site as a  result doing other things on a social media site. Mr. Julian does have a Facebook site for his company however, there is no way to access the company’s web site from Facebook, nor is there any way to access the Facebook site from the actual web site itself. A link between these two sites would allow the customer to not only visit the web site but to utilize social media to search for a company that will fit their need. In conclusion, Darrell Julian has an online presence that allows a customer to find them if they are willing to do the research. Most do not spend that much time to find a company when there are other sites that are readily available to the customer through a search on a search engine or through a social media site. Companies continue to get a majority of their business through their advertizing and marketing on the internet, for some companies it is their single and best source of marketing. Darrell Julian Construction could maintain a strong presence on the web by making some critical changes to their site and social media interaction with the customer. Maintaining this online presence and marking their company in a professional manner could be the difference between a customer choosing Mr. Julian’s company over the competition. References Darrell Julian Construction, Inc. (2007). Retrieved from http://www.darrelljulianconstruction .com/ Lake, L. (n.d.). Top Internet Marketing Strategies for the Small Business. Retrieved from http://marketing.about.com/od/strategytutorials/a/Top-Internet-Marketing-Strategies- For-The-Small-Business.htm Stokes, R. (n.d.). eMarketing: The essential Guide to Online Marketing, v.1.0. Chapter 6: Search Engine Optimization. Retrieved from http://catalog.flatworldknowledge.com/ Bookhub/reader/19?e=fwk-105454-ch18#fwk-105454-ch06 Dawar, N. (2013). Harvard Business Review: When Marketing Is Strategy.

The eNotes Blog Growing Up Turning 21 and Other Reflections on a Quarter LifeCrisis

Growing Up Turning 21 and Other Reflections on a Quarter LifeCrisis According to many, I’ve crossed the final threshold into adulthood. On February 14, I turned 21. For many people this means trips to Vegas, wineries, and (if you live on Capitol Hill in Seattle) a 21 Run which consists of a parade through a minimum of five bars the night of your birthday. For me, my 21st was just a confirmation of what I already knew to be true: I’ve reached the so-called ‘grown up’ part of my life. Turning 21 is just another reminder that in the next year I’ll be graduating from college and crawling into my first career, whatever that may be. Honestly, I don’t believe  college students are given the recognition they deserve. At my university we joke that if you’re not over-involved and over-committed, you aren’t getting the full Seattle University Redhawk experience. For example, my average Wednesday looks something like this: 6:30 am wake up, shower 7:45 am venture to Starbucks, grab a coffee and breakfast sandwich 8-10:30 am work on homework for this morning’s class 10:55-12:20 pm attend French lecture 12:20-12:45 pm walk to , stop at QFC for a quick lunch to-go 12:45-4:45 pm internship 5:00 pm arrive home, attempt to eat a balanced meal 6:00-7:30 pm attend/work Student Events and Activities Council event 8-9 pm SEAC meeting 9:15 arrive at home, work on homework for Thursday morning 11:00 pm you guessed it bed time This schedule is on par with many of my peers typical days as well. Just looking at that hour-by-hour breakdown makes me tired (and a little bit nauseous). I think we, as a society, tend to believe that if we aren’t productive every hour of every day, we are somehow failing ourselves and the expectations put in front of us. This image  demonstrates what many consider to be a daily struggle, excluding some key factors. Many students work multiple jobs and juggle additional extracurriculars which arent really accounted for below. Realistically, this graphic would serve us better if it was a pentagon or something larger! Growing up has meant re-evaluating the priorities in my life on a fairly regular basis in order to find a balance that is satisfactory. Ive by no means perfected this balancing act yet, but Ive at least come to the realization that not everything can be perfect. Not every assignment I turn in will get an A, not every class I take will intrigue me, and not every week will I feel capable of doing it all, but acknowledging that these factors only make up one, individual part of my life, gives me hope and faith in myself. Overall, learning that its okay to drop the ball every once in a while has proven to be my most valuable grown up lesson. I recently stumbled upon a quotation that seems well-suited for a post of this nature: Perfection is annihilation.   It paralyzes us from working from our heart. Humans by nature are not perfect and imperfections are what make the world beautiful. Have you ever felt utterly overwhelmed by the pressure to perform in every facet of your life? What helped you through that point in your life? If youd like to shoot me an email and share your stories and commiserate, I can be reached at krounds@  or in the comments below. With excitement and sincerity, Katie R.

What is a Motif †Definition and 10 Must-Know Examples

What is a Motif s What is a Motif? Definition and 10 Concrete Examples from Literature Let's just admit it: â€Å"What is a motif and how do you use it?† is a much less sexy question to ask than, â€Å"What’s your book about?†But it’s just as necessary. If the theme of a book is its heartbeat, then motifs in literature are the vessels that keep the blood coursing through the narrative. Among other things, motifs add depth to your writing and steer readers toward your book’s central message (assisted by other strong literary devices).In this post, we’ll look at what a motif is (and what it is not), examine motif examples in action, and explore how you can incorporate motifs into your own writing.What is a motif?A motif is a recurring narrative element with symbolic significance. If you spot a symbol, concept, or plot structure that surfaces repeatedly in the text, you’re probably dealing with a motif. Motifs  must be related to the central idea of the work and they  always end up reinforcing the author’s overal l message.But how can you tell which ones are motifs? Remember that you must be able to connect a motif to the "big ideas" in a book. Just because the narrator mentions a particular pair of shoes a few times, doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s a motif - unless the author makes a point of tying it to a bigger question of, let’s say, escape and freedom. (Don’t worry - we’ll provide more concrete motif examples in a bit!)Since they’re repeated throughout a text, motifs are also very traceable. As you're trying to figure out the motifs of a given work, it might be useful to think of them as having a trail of purposeful clues. The author plants these breadcrumbs so that the reader can better work out the ideas behind the work - and its overarching point.That brings up our next question: how do motifs relate to themes? Luckily, we've got the answer for you right here!Motifs support a book's theme How to Create a Character Profile: the Ultimate Guide (with Template) Read post If you need help developing your characters to that point, here are some character development exercises and a free character profile template for your personal use.Option 3: FreewriteIf you’re itching to nail down your motifs before you start writing, but aren’t feeling inspired, consider freewriting. This is the practice of writing down all of your thoughts without stopping for a certain period of time - usually between 10-20 minutes.To tease out your motif, try to start off by freewriting about your theme. When you’re done, go back and see what ideas or symbols surface repeatedly in the exercises. You might be surprised at what your mind produces when the block of self-editing is removed!4. Know that motifs are here to help, not hinderLike themes, motifs are there to help you write your book (and help readers understand them)! If you let them, motifs will add a valuable layer of depth to your story. So don't be afraid of them - let the motifs come to you nat urally as you're writing or planning. You'll find that your themes will thank you for it.How do you approach motifs in your stories? Do you have any more questions or thoughts on the subject? Leave them in the comments below!

Army Family Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Army Family - Essay Example I realized what color I was, but that really didn’t seem to affect anything in the communities where I was growing up. Base housing was very diverse and I realized that there were surely more white kids than black kids. But I also noticed that there were more black kids than Hispanic kids and Asian kids as well. I had friends, close friends, of all colors, as did my parents. We went over to the Hispanic family next door for supper and they cam to us. Only they weren’t ever viewed as Hispanic. They were just the Ramirez’s. I do remember going to some parties when I was a kid and all of us were the same race. I do remember thinking, â€Å"This is weird. Where are the Ramirez’s?† I have no idea if these parties were planned so that everybody was the same race as my parents or not, but I sort of doubt it. So I guess what I am trying to say is, as a kid growing up in military housing, I never though about race at all, mine or anyone else’s. When I arrived in North Carolina, I first became aware of race. For one thing, I noticed that people of the same color tended to stay together. There seemed to be a rule that said people of different colors didn’t mix. I noticed it right away and asked my mother about it. She simply said that things are different everywhere and that in North Carolina, that’s just the way it was. ... and Asian kids apparently just had to figure out something else to do than have friends because there weren’t many of them on base at that time in North Carolina. I can honestly say I didn’t try to challenge the rule in any way. When you are new to a base, the kids that approach you first are the kids that become your friends. When only kids of your same race approach you, well then that is the friends you have. I remember thinking it was weird at first, and then after a year it was perfectly normal. The second lesson about race I learned was that some races are better than others at certain things. Black kids can run fast and dance best. They listen to rap music and play basketball. White kids are smartest and are better at sports like baseball. Hispanic kids play soccer and have lots of sisters and brothers. For the first time, I was introduced to racial stereotypes and this I struggled with. I didn’t fit into the definition of any of these races. I was smart, awesome at basketball and had five brothers and sisters. I could have been white, black or Hispanic. But for the first time, I felt like I had to downplay an aspect of who I was because I had to conform to somebody else’s notion of what I ought to be based on my race. The final thing I learned about race in North Carolina is that people of different races had nasty names for each other. It was in North Carolina that I heard racial epithets, from all races, for the first time. Perhaps I was incredibly sheltered growing up. I can say that I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I feel as though I still have a lot of that pre-North Carolina person in me. I still see color, not race. I have a more nuanced understanding of what race means in a societal context, but the reality is I still am largely unaware of