Thursday, December 26, 2019

Teaching Philosophy Essay - 599 Words

Teaching Philosophy Philosophy of Education, is the exploration for the meaning of life. My personal philosophical views of education, is the love of teaching and learning. To serve as an mentor, confidant, instructor and to provide guidance in the area of education. To teach the younger generation that education can give great lifelong rewards. I hope to learn and expand my wisdom surrounding the aspect of education, through research, assignments and field experience. I plan to mold minds and encourage students, to better influence and instill within them that they are unique and special. During my career, students will be nurtured and supported, to grow and be the best possible adults that they can be. As an†¦show more content†¦Essentialism is developed through testing and to follow directions in a timely manner, and to conduct themselves in a well behaved manner, in order to better prepare them for the future. I plan to conduct easy readings for test this would help and encourage students, that learning to read is a good to for success. I hope to give each individual student my attention. During the essential phase subject areas will be explored in-depth and taught in a separate manner. My classroom will consist of colorful and stimulating bulletin boards to encourage the thought process. Students will feel secure and safe rules will be set within the first week of class and enforced through out the school year. Students will be expected to conduct themselves accordingly. Misbehavior will be dealt with in an assertive manner, although if students behave accordingly to classroom rules. The class will have positive rewards and many verbal praises. The seating will be arranged in an authoritarian fashion, in order to set rules. As the students and I, become more familiar with one another, and students act according to the rules set. The seating arrangement will be placed in a non-authoritarian fashion. As assignments and projects will be given, if funds from the government will not suffice for the classroom projects, I will try my best to assist the class. ThisShow MoreRelatedMy Teaching Philosophy1088 Words   |  5 PagesSince the beginning of my academic career, teaching has always been an important part of my academic duties. The interaction that I have with students is not only enjoyable to me, but it also gives me an invaluable perspective on the subjects I am teaching. Since I started my position at the Mathematical Institute at the University of Oxford, I have tutored in four classes across three semesters and supervised two projects, as detailed in my CV. I am also tutoring two new undergraduate classes inRead MoreEssay on Teaching Philosophy Statement1037 Words   |  5 PagesTeaching Philosophy Statement â€Å"Teaching is not a profession; it’s a passion. Without passion for your subject and a desire for your students to learn and be the best in the world, then we have failed as a teacher and failure is not an option.† –John F. Podojil. In my opinion, this quotation is very true. If you do not have the passion to teach your students what is right in the world and what makes them be the best they can be, then you are not really teaching your students orRead More Teaching Philosophy Statement Essay922 Words   |  4 PagesTeaching Philosophy Statement Knowing that you have had an impact on someone and ending the day feeling like you changed just one life could be the best job in the world. To me those feelings and thoughts can only come from one profession-teaching. I have a family full of teachers and it is exciting to see them come home and have that satisfaction of influencing someone’s life. I want to be apart of that feeling and emotion. I have chosen the route to be a SpecialRead MorePersonal Statement Of Teaching Philosophy1254 Words   |  6 PagesStatement of Teaching Philosophy Stephanie Speicher, M.Ed. â€Å"I regard it as the foremost task of education to insure the survival of these qualities: an enterprising spirit, tenacity in pursuit, readiness for sensible self-denial, and above all compassion† Hahn, K. (1957, p.10). Outward bound. New York City: World Books. Foundation – The Sunrise I stood watching the sunrise on the final day of a weeklong backpack/rock climbing training with my college orientation program. The tears streamed downRead More Teaching Philosophy Statement Essay1192 Words   |  5 PagesTeaching Philosophy Statement In the movie The Matrix, Morphis says to Neo â€Å"I can only show you the door, I can’t open it for you.† The door that Morphis is talking about is this incredible vast knowledge that is unknown to Neo. What better person to show, to teach, to inform Neo than his teacher, Morphis. You see, I see myself as Morphis, the teacher, whenever I step into a classroom. As I look across the room, there isn’t just one â€Å"Neo†, but there are thirty or forty Neos. This is an extremeRead More My Philosophy of Teaching Essay598 Words   |  3 PagesMy Philosophy of Teaching Education is an important aspect in the lives of all individuals. From the day we are born until the day we die, we are constantly learning. At a very young age, children begin attending school. Throughout their educational career, children have many different teachers who hold many different views, beliefs, and values. Methods of instruction, personalities, and classroom interaction are all unique to the teacher. Some teachers may come in each day justRead MoreMy Original Teaching Philosophy Statement946 Words   |  4 PagesI honestly would not make any changes to my original teaching philosophy statement because I believe that after reading through the entire phycology book, the things I read only supported the things I stated in my philosophy statement. When writing my philosophy statement I had not taken any previous education classes to aid my original teaching philosophy but I have been working with kids my entire life and so I have seen first hand what things work with children and what does not. This does notRead MoreTeaching And Coaching As A Philosophy2275 Words   |  10 PagesA philosophy can be defined as ‘a set of values and behaviours that serve to guide the actions of a coach’ (Wilcox and Trudel, 1998, p.41). By drawing from all facets of a person’s life, each is specific to the learner and distinguishes teachers and coaches from one another. It can be consciously developed as the professional, teacher/coach and student within education is exposed to a practice as well as other life experiences. It is believed that ‘clearly articulating one’s philosophy is a prerequisiteRead MoreThe Statement Of Teaching Philosophy1775 Words   |  8 PagesMy Philosophy Introduction â€Å"The statement of teaching philosophy (also called the teaching statement or teaching philosophy statement) promotes reflective practice by encouraging instructors to describe their teaching methods, to justify why they use those methods, to analyze the effectiveness of those methods, and to consider how they might appropriately modify those methods in future courses.† (Schà ¶nwetter et al., 2002) Stake holder motivation, engagement, cognitive associations, and personalRead MorePlato s Teachings Of Philosophy1487 Words   |  6 Pagesdistinguished philosophers. Although Plato’s teachings are not universally agreed upon, virtually anyone can agree that that he was a brilliant thinker and spurred many thoughts and beliefs that are carried into today’s teachings of philosophy. While the precise relationship of Plato and Socrates remains a heated disagreement among scholars, Plato states that he was, in fact, a devoted follower of Socrates. Plato was highly influenced by Socrates’ teachings and highly disturbed by his execution, eventually

Wednesday, December 18, 2019

Existentialism As A Philosophical Theory - 1511 Words

The New Oxford American Dictionary defines existentialism as â€Å"a philosophical theory or approach that emphasizes the existence of the individual person as a free and responsible agent determining their own development through acts of the will†. Existentialist writings feature a protagonist that does or does not make their own life, their own way. Existentialism promotes the ideology that man’s actions are the only things that determine a person’s existence and that all events brought on by man are mutually exclusive and not the doing of coincidence or of any higher being. Existentialists are typically atheists, and existentialism heavily bases itself off of the ideas of isolation, alienation, and self-determination. Franz Kafka’s classic†¦show more content†¦This prediction illustrates the strictness of Gregor’s boss and his distrust of his workers calling in sick. The pressure of the doctor’s distrust forces Gregor to attempt t o get out of bed and go to work. Gregor also possesses self-determination stemming from the pressure he is under to financially provide for his parents. Gregor has much self-determination to succeed in his job. After his father’s business failed, it is revealed that, â€Å"Gregor s only concern at that time had been to arrange things so that they could all forget about it as quickly as possible. So then he started working especially hard, with a fiery vigour that raised him from a junior salesman to a travelling representative almost overnight, bringing with it the chance to earn money in quite different ways† (part 2). Gregor possesses self-determination to succeed for the sake of his family and to distract himself from his family’s previous financial crisis. He tries hard to earn promotions, and with promotions, the ability to take on new jobs and earn more money. The financial needs of his family inspire Gregor to work hard in his job and do the best that he can. Through his hard work, Gregor has been able to provide a life for his family, inspired by his own work ethic. After peering into the flat

Tuesday, December 10, 2019

Engineering of Trustworthy Secure Systems †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Engineering of Trustworthy Secure Systems. Answer: Introduction: It has been seen that due to insufficient and inadequate management of proper security arrangements and unexpected security incidents the small-scale industries had already suffered a huge loss of data and privacy information (Yeboah-Boateng and Essandoh, 2014). The need of proper security management technologies is a must in any organisation maybe it is a large-scale industry or any small-scale industry. A resolution to this delinquent may be the controlled and by proper management of the security schemes. However, there are enough evidences that the security practices are not strongly upheld within small and medium enterprise environments. A survey revealed that the SMEs lack this basic need because of the mismanagement of budget and this type of things are often handed to non-experts without proper qualification. This results in loss of data and rupturing of private information of the organisation. Without proper security arrangement a SME can even come down to verge of extinction . Risk assessment can be defined as the as the calculation done of intimidations, impacts and susceptibilities of data and info processing and the chances of occurring of these events. Also, the procedure of risk management may be defined as the identification, collection and execution of counter measures that are premeditated to reduce the identified levels of risk to acceptable levels, this way governing, minimalizing and potentially eradicating the acknowledged security risks, at an acceptable cost (Melendez, Dvila and Pessoa, 2016). The three basic terms related to the information security management are confidentiality that is the data must be accessible completely to official parties, integrity which means the completeness and accuracy of the data must be well-preserved and obtainability that is the authorised users must access the data when required. Data safety is a far-off multifaceted question than Information Technology security. At the present time it is not sufficient to contemplate in terms of firewalls, antivirus packages, unswerving hardware and clear-cut credentials systems. The mindful creation of the high-tech circumstantial is no longer sufficient (A. Harris and Patten 2014). The integrity, accessibility, and secrecy of data is mainly exposed by careless management or decisive mutilation by the hands of core workers through the establishments data control systems and or the internet and tactical associates with admittance via the internet, extranet or Automated Information Exchange to corporations databases contractors, vendors, collaboration associates and economic facility workers (Lo and Chen 2012). Numerous other assets, such as accurateness, liability, non-repudiation, and reliability may also be connected to data security. There are many information security requirements as mentioned by the international safety of the US and the UK the that any organisation needs to follow. Firstly, the need for risk assessments, risks must be understood and recognised. The IT security measures that are taken must be proportionate with these risks (Dillon and Vossen, 2015). Organizations needs to create, interconnect, implement, approve, monitor, and impose security strategies across the organization. Organisations needs to make every employee of the organization aware of the importance of IT security and to train the employees good IT security practices (Shameli-Sendi, Aghababaei-Barzegar and Cheriet, 2016). The organisation also needs to monitor audit and run regular security checks regularly in order to eradicate any incoming threat. Some of the security metrics that a small-scale industry needs to follow are the number of the previous reported incidents. The number of viruses or other malicious code outbreak are also to be recorded (Kimwele, 2014). Keeping a track of the unethical websites are also to be kept in the mind. Frequency of the IT systems failures are also to be checked regularly. The government of any country plays a key role in maintaining the security aspects for an organization specially the small-scale ones. Providing a good infrastructure and technical helps not only boosts the security aspects but also the working capabilities of any organisation. Major threats to the any SME are, the internal attacks, this type of attacks are done by someone who works in the organisation itself. Rough employees with access to the networks does this type of takes. IN order to regulate this, organisation needs tough laws and regulations for the person who does the same (Nguyen, Newby and Macaulay, 2015). This is one of the reason which cannot be reduced as no one can predict what goes on someones mind. accounts accounts with the capability to expressively affect or admittance core systems. Next, fire those persons that are no lengthier in use or are associated with staffs, no longer employed in the corporate. Phishing and spear phasing is of the other factor that is mainly responsible for the data loss in the seas. Lack of proper security knowledge is one of the other major factor that is responsible for the data loss in case of the security. This one of the key factors that are responsible for the breaches in the small-scale industries. Due t o the low budgets also, the organisations do not properly train the staffs. The D-Dos attack, that is the distributed denial of service is one of the attack (Devos, Van Landeghem and Deschoolmeester, 2016). Without knowledge of this it become nearly impossible for anyone to stop this attack. IN most of the SMEs it is seen that most of the employees does not even know about the term DDOS attacks. and this leads to the lack of the systems. Malwares are the one of the other vulnerabilities that harm the systems of any organisation. Malware is a comprehensive word that covers any software that gets connected on a system to do undesirable tasks for the advantage of a third party. Ransomware is a type of malware, which includes adware ,spyware, Trojans , and bots . SQL injection, just about every organisation depend on on the websites to do work and operate day to day business work. Sell injection opens up vulnerabilities web pages and downloads or lets the third parties read the contents of the web sites without the knowledge of the users (Peltier, 2016). This is one of key reason for many organisations data loss. Lastly, many companies accept the employees to bring their own devices inside the organisation for doing works and connect to the network. This is one of the major source that lets the user use the vulnerabilities of the network and do wrong things. As we can see that the small-scale industry faces many problems in maintaining the security in the organisations. Improper infrastructure is one of the key reason for such type of issues. Simple things that can be done in order to make the structure more secure 1st, installing and running proper anti viruses and keeping them updated is one of the key task to be done. Patching the systems with regular security updates from the OS providers also helps in making the system more secure (Cavelty and Mauer, 2016). Using the unique and complex passwords and helps a lot in maintaining servers. Using simple and easily guess able passwords is one of the main reason for the data leaks and using complex alphanumeric passwords can reduce such things easily. Keeping up backup of the data in a regular interval of time also helps a lot. If the data is properly backed up, in any cases of data loss, the backup can be used. This can be done using the cloud services, which also helps in easy maintenance of data (Ross, McEvilley, and Oren, 2018). Other things that the senior officials can do in order to make an organisation more secured are, 1stly ensuring that the employees and the vendors can access the data which are only required for their job (Ab Rahman and Choo, 2015). This ensures that the informations are secured in every hand, steps must be taken if information of one employee is used by some other user.IN any case if an employee leaves the organisation, the knowledge of the information which was access able by that person must be altered immediately. In a small-scale industry, ideas are the key to success, and idea must be kept secret in safe hands. Thus, concluding the topic, it can be said that maintaining proper IT security id one of the key factor for any small-scale industry. Proper analyzation of the risk and solving the same is part of the process. Some of the major issues that I have discussed in the paper are the major causes for the data loss for any organisation. I have also provided some of the steps that can be taken in order to reduce such problems. In order to gain maximum success a small-scale industry other that focussing on the products must also think about the security part. Proper IT technicians must be employed and further trained for the betterment of the organisation. Cloud systems can help a lot in maintaining the security as well as the structure of the data maintenance. Securing the networks from outside world also helps a lot in maintaining proper security. References Harris, M. and P. Patten, K., 2014. Mobile device security considerations for small-and medium-sized enterprise business mobility.Information Management Computer Security,22(1), pp.97-114. Ab Rahman, N.H. and Choo, K.K.R., 2015. A survey of information security incident handling in the cloud.Computers Security,49, pp.45-69. Cavelty, M.D. and Mauer, V., 2016.Power and security in the information age: Investigating the role of the state in cyberspace. Routledge. Devos, J., Van Landeghem, H. and Deschoolmeester, D., 2016.INFORMATION SYSTEMS FOR SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES. SPRINGER-VERLAG BERLIN AN. Dillon, S. and Vossen, G., 2015. SaaS cloud computing in small and medium enterprises: A comparison between Germany and New Zealand.International Journal of Information Technology, Communications and Convergence,3(2), pp.87-104. Kimwele, M.W., 2014. Information technology (IT) security in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). InInformation Systems for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises(pp. 47-64). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. Lo, C.C. and Chen, W.J., 2012. A hybrid information security risk assessment procedure considering interdependences between controls.Expert Systems with Applications,39(1), pp.247-257. Melendez, K., Dvila, A. and Pessoa, M., 2016. Information technology service management models applied to medium and small organizations: A systematic literature review.Computer Standards Interfaces,47, pp.120-127. Nguyen, T.H., Newby, M. and Macaulay, M.J., 2015. Information technology adoption in small business: Confirmation of a proposed framework.Journal of Small Business Management,53(1), pp.207-227. Peltier, T.R., 2016.Information Security Policies, Procedures, and Standards: guidelines for effective information security management. CRC Press. Ross, R.S., McEvilley, M. and Oren, J.C., 2018.Systems Security Engineering: Considerations for a Multidisciplinary Approach in the Engineering of Trustworthy Secure Systems [including updates as of 1-03-2018](No. Special Publication (NIST SP)-800-160). Shameli-Sendi, A., Aghababaei-Barzegar, R. and Cheriet, M., 2016. Taxonomy of information security risk assessment (ISRA).Computers security,57, pp.14-30. Yeboah-Boateng, E.O. and Essandoh, K.A., 2014. Factors influencing the adoption of cloud computing by small and medium enterprises in developing economies.International Journal of Emerging Science and Engineering,2(4), pp.13-20.

Monday, December 2, 2019

The Names of Silence free essay sample

Silence has many names. Silence: carefully crafted contemplation, rueful resignation, frost-bitten fears. A sunken soul of sorrow, traders of tomorrows, and those who recklessly believe they already know it all. At sixteen years old, why would the world be so cruel as to level me like it did? And how has that year become the greatest accomplishment in my life thus far? My silence was emptiness. Gradually, you stop noticing the shadows growing behind you until their inky fingers grab at your toes. At this time one year ago, the sun was shining. The shadows laid plainly on the crisp autumn grass, languid in the fading grace of summer. But I wouldn’t know; no, my nights and my days, spent in the confines of must and mildew, were ensnared in the fix-all promises of a busted treadmill and a single rosy apple. I’m so proud of you, Dad says. We will write a custom essay sample on The Names of Silence or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page I never knew you liked to run. One mile, 100 calories, Two miles, three miles, four. Five and I can eat that cup of chili and maybe a cracker or two more. Why are you crying? Dad asks. It’s only sweat, I reply sweetly, reassuring us both, reminding myself to hold the spoon longer at dinner next time. Life runs smoothly on the tracks I’ve meticulously oiled, year after year since I was ten years old. A smart girl, a pretty girl. A pretty girl, a pretty girl, a pretty girl†¦ But the shadows lengthen, and one by one the gilded leaves float to the ground, getting caught in my eyes like ashes on their way down. Laughter becomes trapped in its cocoon, wet and wrapped in film. Silence, the man dressed all in black, drapes his arms lovingly around me, kisses my temples, my ears, my mouth and fingertips. We make a pretty picture together, standing in the mirror. Not quite pretty enough yet, but what is life without ambition, dreams, goals? He whispers in tantalizing tones. Who am I to disagree? I pull down my sleeves. Without realizing it, I’ve been chasing perfection my whole life. Perfection, when I was a little girl, was swinging high enough to kiss the clouds, Perfection was days turning into nights turning into days again, spent reading book after book: laminating and illuminating my world with millions of others. My one star sky slowly gathering multitudes and chapters and pages until it glows: an entire galaxy of perfection. Perfection differs fr om six to sixteen, and while my world was still graced with tales and tomes, my definition had changed. My steadfast fictional heroes are all beautiful. Beautiful. Definition: pleasing the senses or mind aesthetically. At sixteen, this was the scale filled with numbers all too high and tangled, numbers that had the power to decide the fate of my day or undo all the good things done in a naked footfall. At sixteen, beauty was the mirror, glass coated with metal amalgam, a clear image reflected but distorted by my own mind, refracting rainbows of different definitions of beauty than the definitions I once read in books: my mind, which had never frightened me before now. Before now. Now, with the shadows drawn long like daggers across me, the anemic animalistic urge to scream surges, suddenly there. But after months of assurances (Oh, you’ve lost so much weight, keep up the good work!) upon assurances (This is growing up, feeling this way is only natural) upon assurances (Of course I think you’re beautiful), the silence I had chewed up and swallowed instead of candy and chocolate bars, a silence I thought sustaining, began eating me instead. An empty silence is a mean dog chewing the bones in my belly, the red hot tongs clipping my once eager tongue, stealing every breath, every word, every beautiful world my imagination had accumulated and enchanted: gone. All gone, all gone. Silence has many names. And a silence can never be so empty that it becomes impossible to fill once again. My world of bustle and color instantly morphed into routine and bland hospital food. Healing has many names too, I realized. The hospital is not a halcyon time in my life worth mentioning, however; the learning and relearning I did there continues to affect me to this day. My best friend once advised me, on many of my bad days, to take the day despite every nasty little flaw, and make it my rock bottom. It wasn’t his advice to share: it had passed from troubled mind to troubled mind until it reached my own. Although I have certainly labeled a particular day or two as definitively The Worst, the mantra of troubled minds has not protected me from coming back down and scraping along the bottom time and time again. Our mantra cloaked me in warmth, gifted me a solid gleaming fact: that with every Worst, there must be a Best, and even if you cannot reach that far there is always Good. Nobody appreciates a good day as they should. Good days, seldom to some and blindly granted to others, come and go without gratitude. I have come to realize that nothing shines more brightly than a good day. And so I took my pain, strung it around my neck and wrists and fingers like a strand of pink pearls, adorning myself in something I had once buried in the hidden core of my being. Pain, like secrets, have to be hung out to dry. I no longer let my pain fester and ferment so that it gains power over me: my pain can no longer venomously bite and bother, steal and siphon my life away, for I wear my pain plain to see, perfect pink pearls shamelessly. Loss welcomes gain. The realization that I had squandered something more vital than my physical health is something that tears at me to this day. Smart girl was thrown into the midnight shadow of pretty girl. Places I had aspired to be academically were no longer options. But instead of ruminating on my failure, I added a pendant to my pearl necklace. I smiled in the mirror. I read books like a fourth grader with all the time and hope in the world gathered in fistfuls of cloud around them. â€Å"Trust the process† is a cliche that con tinues to apply itself to my life despite my rejection of its banality. To move forward, I had to move back. Unapologetically so. My grades may have suffered, but for the first time in months I soared. The last year of my life, labeled as failure by some, is my greatest accomplishment thus far. I didn’t realize that silence could also be bravery, determination, and pursuit. Like Captain Ahab in pursuit of his white whale, I storm forward in pursuit: pursuit of knowledge in any form I can find it, beauty in the nooks and crannies of the world, and happiness in all acquirable forms. My white whale is not perfection, for wisdom is in knowing that all truly beautiful things have flaws, and my beauty is not confined to a reflection or a three digit number beneath my feet. My white whale is one day more, one more page, the mind expanding beyond all limits perceivable to man. I take my failures in stride and paint them in hues of my greatest accomplishments. â€Å"Because what is your night worth without a story to tell?† Shane Koyczan croons to his poetic fanbase. Here lies the beginning of my story. Silence is no longer an option.

Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Use LinkedIn to network and find a job

Use LinkedIn to network and find a job Gone are the days of deciding that an online presence is â€Å"just not for you† when it comes to the job hunt. If you’re actively look for a job, it’s hard to be taken seriously if you don’t have a professional footprint- or if you have a weak one. You have to have a LinkedIn profile- it’s a no brainer at this point. Recruiters and hiring managers use the site to look for potential job candidates, and everyone in almost every industry uses it for networking. And while it’s bad form not to have  a LinkedIn account, it’s almost as bad to have a profile that says nothing about why you’re a rockstar.Here are a few tips for how to create a LinkedIn presence that shows you in your best light and attracts the right people.1. Customize your URL.Make your URL distinctive so people can more easily access your profile. An ideal URL will look something like this: linkedin.com/in/yourfullname. Don’t force people to type in a bunch of incomprehensible numbers and letters. Simply modify your â€Å"public profile URL† in the settings section to make this change.2. Make a sharp first impression.Create a basic profile that is visually appealing, clear, concise, and welcoming. Upload a photo- the most professional one you have. Write yourself a compelling (but concise) headline to help recruiters and visitors to your page get what you’re about without having to read too much- think of it as a mini elevator pitch.3. Expand upon your application documents.Use your LinkedIn page to detail everything that doesn’t fit in your resume and cover letter. In the description space beneath each job title you list, detail your responsibilities and positive results. Upload links to your portfolio, or other documents and videos that showcase your best work. Add a little something extra to really make every section sing.4. Get eyes on your page.Once your profile and URL are where you need them to be, start con necting. Send requests and invitations to your existing professional and personal contacts- your friends, classmates, former co-workers, current co-workers, etc.- plus to any other people in your industry you know or want to know. Any time you have a positive networking interaction with someone, shoot them an invite on LinkedIn (and personalize the message†¦ don’t waste an opportunity with the standard â€Å"Hi, Name, I’d like to connect with you on LinkedIn.†) If you get invites from people you don’t know, check out their profiles. Can they be potentially helpful to you and your career? Are they interesting in their own right?5. Snoop around.Start stalking the companies you would love to join. What can you learn by digging around on those company feeds? Do you have any existing contacts that have connections to these companies or industries? Can you score yourself an introduction somewhere?6. Maintain your profile.Don’t just make a profile on ce and forget to do anything new. Stay active. Remind your contacts why they thought you were worth connecting with in the first place. Share articles and links that are relevant to your industry. Keep your profile updated with every professional change. Engage with other people’s content on a regular basis- particularly people you might be trying to impress.7. Use keywords to attract hiring managers.If it’s clear you speak the language of your chosen industry, you will come across as informed and professional. Using key terms in your headline and profile make it more likely that hiring managers will stumble upon you as a candidate, even if they aren’t specifically looking for you.

Saturday, November 23, 2019

Easy Maple Syrup Crystals For Kids

Easy Maple Syrup Crystals For Kids Making maple syrup crystals is a fun project for children. Its great for adults, too, since the maple syrup crystals may be used as a flavorful sweetener in drinks or other treats. Maple syrup crystals have a more complex flavor than sugar crystals or rock candy. Heres how to make the crystals. Method 1 Heat a cup of pure maple syrup in a pan over medium heat.Stir and heat the syrup until it starts to thicken or you start to see crystals forming on the bottom or side of the pan.Pour the syrup onto a chilled plate and allow the syrup to crystallize. If you pour the syrup onto a dark-colored plate, it will be easier to watch the crystals form. Method 2 Cover a baking sheet or shallow dish with a layer of water. You only need about 1/4 inch of water. Freeze the dish to make ice.Heat a cup of pure maple syrup in a pan over medium heat.Heat the syrup, stirring constantly, until it has a thick consistency. Remove the pan from heat.Remove the dish of ice from the freezer. Drop spoonfuls of the hot syrup onto the ice. The sudden temperature change will cause crystals to form within minutes.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

What role do NGOs play in reducing poverty in developing countries Essay

What role do NGOs play in reducing poverty in developing countries - Essay Example Non Governmental Organizations have a long history in improving the lives of the poor and the suffering. In 19th century they played a major role in fighting for rights of women and ran anti slavery movements (Davies, Thomas R. 2008).After the formulation of United Nations in 1945 the term Non Governmental Organization came into existence. These organizations have many roles which include promoting rights of a specific faction of society, promoting basic services like education and health, fighting laws and rules that are against poor or a particular group and helping government fighting diseases. But the most basic role of Non Governmental Organization is poverty alleviation. NGOs can play a major role in reducing poverty by helping people at the micro level. Such organizations have access to people that are in need of help and by helping these people NGOs can reduce poverty at grass root level. Especially in the developing countries NGOs have played a direct role in improving healt h and economic conditions of the people. Issues like lack of health and education are actually a product of poverty therefore the aim of most NGOs in developing countries is to reduce poverty. In this essay we will highlight the role NGOs play in reducing poverty in developing countries. Non Governmental Organizations reduce poverty by promoting rights of poor, providing education and shelter for poor, providing micro financing services and improving health facilities. Fighting for Rights of Poor The most basic way through which NGOs help reduce poverty is by fighting for rights of poor. The main problem in the developing countries is that people are not aware of their rights due to lack of communication technology. NGOs help people realize about their rights as this is the first step in poverty alleviation. Non Governmental Organizations also play a role in voicing concerns of the people to the relevant authorities. They force governmental institutions to take action with regards t o the problems faced by the poor. This is another role they play is easing the suffering of the poor. Sometimes governments are taking steps for example increase in taxes that are in directly harmful to the interest of poor people. NGOs also play a role in fighting such steps of the government and in this way they protect the rights of the people. NGOs fight for the right to food, shelter, education etc in developing countries (Curtis, Marley, & Bakewell, 2005). They also fight against child labour and rights of women. By doing so NGOs create awareness and at the same time improve lives of the poor. The fight for basic rights can therefore be considered as an important role of NGO in reducing poverty of developing countries. Providing Shelter for the Needy The right to shelter is one of the most basic rights of human beings. No one can live a proper life without some sort of shelter. Developing countries face serious problems when it comes to providing housing for their citizens. Ma ny people in the developing world are forced to live on streets because they do not have a home. Non Governmental Organizations help poor people find a shelter in developing countries. It is important to provide shelter because it is one of the basic needs of the people. Providing shelter is one of the steps of poverty reduction in developing countries. Non Governmental Organization provides shelter to children, women and old people. Children who left their homes or are forced to leave their homes are treated by NGOs. Non Governmental Organizations are of many types as mentioned before. Some focus on children only and other provide shelter to people in general. NGOs in developing countries focus on providing secure shelter to female victims of sex trafficking (Tzvetkova, M. 2002). A direct effect of poverty is that people get desperate to find jobs in order to feed their families.

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

How the world works Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

How the world works - Essay Example the student the ability and skill set to effectively analyze and draw connections and conclusions based upon a variety of different sources of material. For purposes of this brief analysis, the student will engage with film documentaries. Through such a unit of analysis, it is the hope of this analyst that the unifying theme of green as it relates to the human condition will be effectively demonstrated. Although it is inherently true that each of the documentaries focuses upon a different aspect of human greed, oftentimes wholly and completely disassociated from the other documentaries represented, they all nonetheless exhibit key issues related to the human condition and the means by which human greed threatens to have a severely negative impact upon the overall quality and existence of life for tens of millions of individuals around the world. In terms of the first documentary/film that will be analyzed, â€Å"Blue Gold: World Water Wars†, the filmmaker begins the discussion by representing the way in which liquid water forms the fundamental basis of all biological life. From such a basic scientific interpretation, it is easily understandable that the availability and existence of liquid water throughout the world, and its overall purity levels, contribute directly to the possibility for certain individuals, races, and regions, to develop as compared to others. From the outset, the film indicates the fact that the disparity within certain regions and between different parts of the world, in terms of overall existence and usage of water is ultimately a predicate of the wealth that individuals within these regions/nations are able to exhibit. Illustrating the case of California, the filmmaker makes the case that the regions which received a disproportionately larger share of water resources are inherently those that haven’t overall higher income as compared to the average of incomes within other regions (Bozzo, 2010). Expanding this to a more supra-national

Sunday, November 17, 2019

The Impact of Counsellor Training on Students Essay Example for Free

The Impact of Counsellor Training on Students Essay The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) define counselling, along with psychotherapy, as being â€Å"umbrella terms that cover a range of talking therapies† (BACP, 2012: 1). In addition, counselling is provided by practitioners who â€Å"work with people over a short or long term to help them bring about effective change or enhance their wellbeing† (BACP, 2012: 1). Those who practice counselling in a professional manner undergo intensive training and personal development, the latter of which has been â€Å"defined in terms of self-awareness and change† (Wheeler, 1996: 75). These changes, according to Johns, â€Å"influence the whole person† (Johns, 1997). This research proposal highlights how student counsellors’ significant relationships can be impacted by this intensive training regime. After discussing the literature on this topic, the aims, objectives and rationale for this research will be provided. 1. Research Aims and Objectives The aim of this small scale qualitative research is to explore the impact of the personal development element of counsellor training and how this affects the student counsellor’s significant relationships. The focus will be on, though not solely, student counsellors’ relationships with partners. However, reference will be made to other types of relationships. This aim will be achieved via semi-structured interviews examining the specific concepts of personal development, self-awareness, changes in personal relationships, as well as a full comprehensive exploration of student responsibilities in significant relationships. The data will be analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) (Smith, 2003), which will provide the lived experiences of participants. 2. Rationale The rationale for conducting this research is that personal development and self-awareness are key elements of counsellor training programmes designed to promote the trainee’s personal and professional development. Counsellor training has had both a positive and negative impact on many trainees’ significant and close relationships and this may be due to the amount of time spent by trainees engaging in self-awareness and personal development sessions. This study is designed to explore this issue in more detail using the lived experiences of counselling trainees. 3. Research Questions The following research questions are to be explored via semi-structured one-to-one interviews: * Have students noticed a change in their own personal development whilst training as a counselor? * Have students noticed any impact, positive or negative, of personal development and self-awareness training on their significant close relationships? * Is the student counsellor aware of any significant changes to these relationships and has help been available from the university? * Is the student counsellor aware of any help available for student’s families? * Is the student aware of the extent of their responsibilities to significant relationships? 4. Literature Review Using several different electronic databases, research has been conducted to find journal publications that are relevant to the aims and objectives of the proposed research. 4.1 Search Strategy A search of the literature was undertaken using Boolean logic, which allowed for a more sensitive search of the title and abstracts of the following databases: PsychInfo, Embase, Medline, and The Cochrane Library of systematic reviews. There were a number of keywords and phrases utilised to identify literature pertinent to this proposal, including: â€Å"counsellor training† OR â€Å"counselling training† â€Å"student counsellors† OR â€Å"trainee counsellors† AND â€Å"impact of training on significant relationships† OR â€Å"personal development† OR â€Å"personal relationships† OR â€Å"significant relationships.† The words ‘counselling’ and ‘counsellor’ were also searched with one ‘L’ in order to address differences in English and American spellings. 4.2 Results of Literature Review There is a considerable amount of information related to counsellor training and its impact on society (Scholl and Cascone 2010). There is, however, a paucity of research examining the impact of counselor training on student counsellors’ significant relationships (Macran and Shapiro, 1998). In 2012, the paucity of research in this area is as surprising as reported by Flynn-Piercy (2002) 10-years previously. It has long been established that personal development is a core aspect of counselor training (Wheeler, 2000), and yet the topic remains relatively under-researched, especially in terms of the impact this personal development has on trainees significant relationships. The changes that occur to student counsellors as a result of personal development can be likened to the same changes that occur in counseling clients. Indeed, Flynn-Piercy (2002) state that it is very similar to the therapeutic process, which is supported by observations from trainers (Mearns, 1997) and feedback from students (Harding Davies et al., 2004). Such changes are likely to impact significant relationships, as is also the case with clients who receive counselling (Fear, 2004). This was first highlighted by Mearns (1997), with there being a specific emphasis on the problems that might arise between student counsellors and their partners as a result of their training and subsequent personal development. Although this can introduce crisis, it can also, according to Mearns (1997) introduce opportunity. According to the literature, however, it is not clear whether crisis or opportunity is the predominant outcome in such circumstances (Looney et al., 1980; Guy, 1987). The literature suggests that one of the key issues that can impact student counsellors relationships is the anxiety that arises in partners as students develop close attachments to others (Cawkhill, 2002). In particular, confidentiality is a big part of these new relationships and can spark jealousy or feelings of exclusion from partners. As a result, it has been argued that students need to accept responsibility for helping their partners or significant others cope with any changes that will inevitably result from their training (Cawkhill, 2002). Flynn-Piercy (2002) conducted a heuristic study examining the impact of Relate counsellors training on their relationships with their partners. It was found that there was a significant impact on these relationships, which trainees had been unprepared for. The advantages of their training included improved communication, a disadvantage was that partners became â€Å"personally de-stablised† (Flynn-Piercy, 2002: 55). Despite the advantages, there was an overall threat to the relationships. This study is, however, not generalisable to all trainee counsellors since it only examined those training as Relate counsellors who specifically work in the area of relationships. A quantitative study conducted by Wright (2004) supported the findings of Flynn-Piercy’s (2002) qualitative study as it was found that student counsellors (n=200) did change as a result of their training and this did impact their relationships. Changes occurred in relationships with partners, friends, and family, but most markedly with partners. It was concluded, however, that changes were primarily positive. Again, however, there was a lack of preparation for these changes. As has been demonstrated, counseling training can have both positive and negative outcomes in the trainee counsellors relationships. To expand further on the positive, Crews et al. (2005) conducted a study to examine self-monitoring combined with counselling skills. The purpose of this study was to examine student counsellors who were undergoing training with responses to actual counselling performance. Results indicated that regardless of personal background or traits, counselling training improved social- and self-awareness for the participants involved. Despite the paucity of research on the impact of counseling training and, in particular, personal development on student counsellors relationships, the literature clearly shows that an impact is evident. This impact can be positive and negative, but more research is needed to establish details pertaining to the positive and negative impact, as well as the specific components of personal development that appear to have the most impact. This supports the need for the proposed research. 5. Methodology 5.1 Sample The sample will be purposive and will comprise four student counsellors who have undergone counsellor training on the BA (Hons) Counselling Studies Final Year Top-up programme. This sample size, although small, is sufficient for the chosen method of analysis, which is interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) (Smith, 2003). In respect of confidentiality, pseudonyms will be used in any written documents referring to each student. 5.2 Semi-Structured Interviews Semi-structured interviews lasting 30-45 minutes will be conducted by the researcher and taped for data analysis. If participants would like to speak for longer than 30-45 minutes, this will be allowed in order to gain as much rich data as possible. Potential interview questions, designed to address the research questions in 3, will be tested within a small focus group, with all questions being formed on the basis of evidence within the literature. Questions will be open-ended and non-leading, in line with best practice. Potential questions include, but are not restricted to: * What changes have you noticed in your personal development whilst training as a counsellor? * What changes have you noticed in your self-awareness whilst training as a counsellor? * Have these changes had any positive impact on any of your significant close relationships? * Have they had any negative impact on any of your significant close relationships? * What, if any, have been the key changes in any significant relationships since you started training? * Have you received any help from the university in terms of preparing for or coping with these changes? * Are you aware of any help available for student’s families? * What do you feel is the extent of your responsibilities to significant relationships?

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Antonin Scalia :: essays research papers fc

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was born on March 11, 1936 in Trenton, New Jersey to a Sicilian immigrant father and an Italian-American mother and was raised in Queens. He attended Catholic schools in New York City as a child and teen. Scalia then attended Georgetown University, spending his junior year at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland, and graduated at the top of his class with an A.B. (Sorry, I don’t know what that means) in 1957. He also attended Harvard, serving as the editor for Law Review. Scalia graduated from Harvard in 1960. On September 10, 1960, Scalia married Maureen McCarthy, and the two went to go live in Cleveland, Ohio. While in Cleveland, Scalia was admitted to the Ohio Bar and worked for the law firm of Jones, Day, Cockley, and Reavis until 1967. The Scalias then moved to Virginia, and he was admitted to the Virginia Bar in 1970. While In Virginia, Scalia taught law at the Virginia Law School until 1974. In 1971, Scalia became General Counse l of the Office of Telecommunications Policy for the White House, and from 1972 to 1974, he was the chairman of the Administrative Conference of the US. Scalia was then appointed the assistant attorney general of the Office of Legal Counsel for the Department of Justice. In 1977, Scalia returned to teaching after 6 months serving as the resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute in DC. Him and his family picked up and moved again to Chicago, Illinois. While In Chicago, Scalia taught at the University of Chicago’s law school (he was also a visiting professor of law at his alma mater, Georgetown University, and also at Stanford University during that time) until President Ronald Reagan appointed him to the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit in 1982. Scalia took his oath of office on August 17 of that year. Four years after Scalia began working at the Court of Appeals, President Reagan then chose him to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court. The Senate conf irmed Reagan’s appointment on September 17, and Scalia took his oath of office on the 26th of that month. In the year 2000, Scalia has made decisions in two Supreme Court cases, Troxel vs. Granville and California Democratic Party vs. Jones. I will discuss the Troxel vs. Granville case. Troxel vs. Granville is in violation of "The Washington Rev.

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Business Enviroment Assignment Essay

Pl- Describe the type of business. M. Whitfield Pharmacists LTD M. Whitfield pharmacists are a large company around the north east of England. They are situated at seven different branches, Gilesgate, Thornley, Coxhoe, Blackhall, Wheatley Hill, Horden and Victoria Rd. The pharmacists and there staff are members of your local healthcare team. They aim to provide you with the highest quality of healthcare. To do this they need to keep records about you, your health and the care we have provided or plan to provide to you. We know that you value your privacy and he security of personal information held about you. You can download our information leaflet here which explains how we safeguard information about you. M. Whitfield LTD offer a wide range of drugs that can be offered either over the counter or prescribed by a consultant at your local medical surgery or hospital, this is depending on the strength and reason of the drug. Also inside the chemist it has advertisements for mobility scooters and other helpful things that can aid elderly or sick people around the local area. Inside all of the branches there is a consultant oom where one of the fully qualified Pharmacists will have a one to one about what drug is best for you. The purpose of this company is that it delivers high quality medical drugs and health care which is proscribed by a doctor or a medical consultant. Medical care is given either paid or free depending on financial status or education. M. Whitfield is a sole trader this means that the company is not very large however it has a large amount of branches around the northeast of England. To make this company bigger the owner will need to bring in some investors which could expand the company and ove more branches around the nation. The owner will have to work a lot of hours and he will find it hard to take holidays as he has a lot more responsibility then if he was in a partnership. P3 – Describe how two business are organised M. Whitfield LTD is organised as a small company, most of the branches are occupied with four to five assistance to control the branch whilst two to three pharmacists working on the behind the counter packing the drugs. All of the staff in the chemist will have different set shifts usually Monday to Friday. M. Whitfield is a private company not run by the government and will not be on the stock pile. The owner will have to maintain regular check-ups to make sure everything is running smoothly in all branches and the staff are doing their Job correctly. However the NHS is a much larger company and is run by the government. There is no actual owner of the NHS it is set out in departments which have directors in each department. Compared to M. Whitfields the NHS employs a lot more employees in for all citizens, based on need, not the ability to pay. The NHS is made up of a wide range of health professionals, support workers and organisations. The NHS is funded by the taxpayer and is therefore accountable to Parliament. It is managed by Department of Health – which is directly responsible to the Secretary of State for Health. The Department sets overall health policy in England, is the headquarters for the NHS and is responsible for putting policy into practice. It also sets targets for the NHS and monitors performance through its four directors of health and social care. Around one million people work for the NHS in England and it costs more than E50 billion a year to run. This will rise to E69 billion by 2005. Regional assemblies control health services in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The NHS aims to bring about the highest level of physical and mental health for all citizens, within the resources available, by: promoting health and preventing ill-health diagnosing and treating injury and disease caring for those with a long-term illness and disability P4- explain how their different style of organisation helps them to fulfil there purpose The NHS is a fast paced

Sunday, November 10, 2019

The Plot Line for Esperanza Rising

Severance's rich and loving father was murdered by bandits. Spenserian and what is left of her family are threaten by her dad's wicked stepbrothers that may have had a hand in his death. In order to get away from their evil grasp they ran to the US Of A. Working as plantation workers with their servants. Amidst all this she had to leave behind her grandma due to injuries probably caused by her wicked stepsons. Also like Spenserian Diego De la Vega's family was taken away from him, his daughter stolen, wife murdered, and sent to a Mexican equivalent of Augmentation Bay to plot his revenge.Rising action Spenserian has to learn how sweep, care for babies, and take care for her mom that has valley fever who need to go to the hospital. She is having a hard time to adjust having living a life envied by princesses to a life that is hard not to pity upon, her bratty side is shown. Unlike Spenserian who deals with cleaning Diego escapes from prison with only one objective find his daughter, b ut his got sidetracked only to find a man who he help back in the days when he was Zero named Alexandra. As Hollywood would have it this man's brother was murdered and now he is plotting to avenge him.So Diego sakes him in and trains him to become a new Zero. While training Diego makes Alexandra go to a ball and tells him to spy on Don Rafael who stole Doggie's daughter and basically killed his wife. Alexandra goes to the ball meets meet Elena Doggie's long lost daughter and Don Rafael. After the ball Don Rafael invites Alexandra to see his â€Å"vision†. Climax At this crucial point in the story Spenserian learns how to care for her mom, she gets a job to pay for her mother's hospital expenses and a ticket for her grandma who she left back in Mexico, and she learns how to deal with all the racism that goes on in the camp.Also she has a argument with her former servant now plantation colleague. He gathers all the money she been saving and runs away. While Spenserian adjusts t o her new life, Alexandra learns of a plot to buy California from the Spanish with gold mined from California worked buy orphans, and random hobos, even a priest. Denouement Severance's mom gets healthier enough to come home, and the servant who ran away with her money came back with Severance's grandma. Now everyone is happy and reunited. As Spenserian is being reunited with her family Diego tries to get reunited with his family. With the help of AlexandraDiego invades the home of Don Rafael discovers a plot to destroy the gold mine with all the workers tank tries to tell Elena the she IS his daughter and he succeeds but Rafael throws him in confinement. Elena rescues her newly discovered father and brings him to Alexandra where he is with Captain Love the psychotic man who killed Alexandrine brother and then made him into a beverage. Diego then confronts Rafael as he tries to get his gold to the governor of California. As both of them win their own duels for Hollywood forbid them to lose, Elena finally does something she helps the workers with he help of Alexandra.

Thursday, November 7, 2019

Free Essays on The Doctrine Of George Bush

will later justify the military invasion of the US troops into Iraq, known as the â€Å"Iraqi Freedom Operation†. Many people believe that the measures taken by the US government were necessary and therefore absolutely excused, while others are convinced that the actions of the Bush administration contradict the international law. In the closer analysis it is seen that the Bush Doctrine of pre-emptive self-defense is inconsistent with the international law. The Wikipedia (Free Encyclopedia) defines pre-emptive war as â€Å"waged in an attempt to repel or defeat an imminent offensive or invasion, or to gain strategic advantage in an impending (usually unavoidable) war.† Article 51 of the U.N. Charter acknowledges the right to self-defense "if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations until the Security Council has taken measures necessary to maintain international peace and security." Do the definitions of Encyclopedia and of... Free Essays on The Doctrine Of George Bush Free Essays on The Doctrine Of George Bush â€Å"†¦.Given the goals of rogue states and terrorists, the United States can no longer solely rely on a reactive posture as we have in the past. The inability to deter a potential attacker, the immediacy of today's threats, and the magnitude of potential harm that could be caused by our adversaries' choice of weapons, do not permit that option. We cannot let our enemies strike first†¦.The United States has long maintained the option of pre-emptive actions to counter a sufficient threat to our national security. The greater the threat, the greater is the risk of inaction-and the more compelling the case for taking anticipatory action to defend ourselves, even if uncertainty remains as to the time and place of the enemy's attack. To forestall or prevent such hostile acts by our adversaries, the United States will, if necessary, act pre-emptively.† –those were the words from the Doctrine on the pre-emptive self-defense of the President George Bush, proclaimed on September 2002. Those words will later justify the military invasion of the US troops into Iraq, known as the â€Å"Iraqi Freedom Operation†. Many people believe that the measures taken by the US government were necessary and therefore absolutely excused, while others are convinced that the actions of the Bush administration contradict the international law. In the closer analysis it is seen that the Bush Doctrine of pre-emptive self-defense is inconsistent with the international law. The Wikipedia (Free Encyclopedia) defines pre-emptive war as â€Å"waged in an attempt to repel or defeat an imminent offensive or invasion, or to gain strategic advantage in an impending (usually unavoidable) war.† Article 51 of the U.N. Charter acknowledges the right to self-defense "if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations until the Security Council has taken measures necessary to maintain international peace and security." Do the definitions of Encyclopedia and of...

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

Evolution of the Human Heart into Four Chambers

Evolution of the Human Heart into Four Chambers The human heart does not look much like those Valentines Day candies or the pictures we drew on our love notes when we were in elementary school. The current human heart is a large muscular organ with four chambers, a septum, several valves, and other various parts necessary for pumping blood all around the human body. However, this amazing organ is a product of evolution and has spent millions of years perfecting itself in order to keep humans alive. Invertebrate Hearts Invertebrate animals have very simple circulatory systems. Many do not have a heart or blood because they are not complex enough to need a way to get nutrients to their body cells. Their cells are able to just absorb nutrients through their skin or from other cells. As the invertebrates become a little more complex, they use an open circulatory system. This type of circulatory system does not have any blood vessels or has very few. The blood is pumped throughout the tissues and filters back to the pumping mechanism. Like in earthworms, this type of circulatory system does not use an actual heart. It has one or more small muscular areas capable of contracting and pushing the blood and then reabsorbing it as it filters back. However, these muscular regions were the precursors to our complex human heart. Fish Hearts Of the vertebrates, fish have the simplest type of heart. While it is a closed circulatory system, it has only two chambers. The top is called the atrium and the bottom chamber is called the ventricle. It has only one large vessel that feeds the blood into the gills to get oxygen and then transports it around the fishs body. Frog Hearts It is thought that while fish only lived in the oceans, amphibians like the frog were the link between water-dwelling animals and the newer land animals that evolved. Logically, it follows that frogs would, therefore, have a more complex heart than fish since they are higher on the evolutionary chain. In fact, frogs have a three-chambered heart. Frogs evolved to have two atria instead of one, but still only have one ventricle. The separation of the atria allows frogs to keep the oxygenated and deoxygenated blood separate as they come into the heart. The single ventricle is very large and very muscular so it can pump the oxygenated blood throughout the various blood vessels in the body. Turtle Hearts The next step up on the evolutionary ladder is the reptiles. It was recently discovered that some reptiles, like turtles, actually have a heart that has a sort of a three and a half chambered heart. There is a small septum that goes about halfway down the ventricle. The blood is still able to mix in the ventricle, but the timing of the pumping of the ventricle minimizes that mixing of the blood. Human Hearts The human heart, along with the rest of the mammals, is the most complex having four chambers. The human heart has a fully formed septum that separates both the atria and the ventricles. The atria sit on top of the ventricles. The right atrium receives deoxygenated blood coming back from various parts of the body. That blood is then let into the right ventricle which pumps the blood to the lungs through the pulmonary artery. The blood gets oxygenated and then returns to the left atrium through the pulmonary veins. The oxygenated blood then goes into the left ventricle and is pumped out to the body through the largest artery in the body, the aorta. This complex, but efficient, way of getting oxygen and nutrients to body tissues took billions of years to evolve and perfect.

Sunday, November 3, 2019

Organizational Structure and Performance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Organizational Structure and Performance - Essay Example For any organizational structure to  succeed  towards  performance, it needs to  have  outstanding  leadership skills and strategies such as those depicted by Rossetti’s organizational leadership in the agency (Rainey and Thompson, 2006). Through exemplary leadership techniques, performance can be improved within an  agency  but  again  the  employment  of such techniques requires the  application  of appropriate organizational structures that are in accordance with the nature and missions of the agency. In his time at the IRS Rossetti applied various  leadership  techniques in implementing reforms and a new organizational structure to change the  face  of the  agency  and improve performance.  In this  paper  I  relate  how Rossetti integrated  the use  of his outstanding leadership strategies in implementation of the new organizational structure.  The manner of functioning of this new organizational structure and the  difference  from the  past  organizational structures and Rossetti’s strategies in ensuring the success of this organizational structure in the  agency  and improvement of performance in customer services  delivery  and dealing with complaints. ... He further enhanced communication within the structural levels of the  organization  upon taking the leadership role. He depicted  leadership  through being the first to leave his office door open throughout as a symbol of openness in communication. This  effective  communication strengthened the relationship among the different department of the organization and in the overall improving the performance. He  further  embraced participation and  partnership  both within the organization and with outsiders. He ensured this through the buildup of  activity  teams and groups within the employees to facilitate  aid  and decision making among the employees. He also made the decision to  bring  professional outsiders within the  organization  to  aid  in the running of the organization in  completion  of its mission. Throughout and after his employment period Rossetti became a legend in the IRS for his ability to  depict  keen  intellect and analytical abilities within the organizational structure. Through this, he became a staunch analyst in the management and running processes of the  organization  and later became referred to as â€Å"a  genius† and â€Å"management  genius† by his colleagues in the IRS. Upon the employment of Rossetti in the IRS, various structural and reforms changes authorized with his innovation and commitment to make the n  succeed  in spite many people’s  criticism  of his plans and  ability  to  ensue  change within the IRS.  Before his employment, the IRS was incorporating the use of a fragmented organizational structure. On his emergence into the IRS, Rossetti regarded this  use  of fragmented organizational structure as a

Friday, November 1, 2019

Music Jongleur Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Music Jongleur - Essay Example During the 9th century, the song â€Å"Veni creator spiritus† has been utilised in various kinds of religious observances. Apart from the Religious observances which commonly haunted the music in medieval periods, there also exists some place for the love songs which dominated spiritual music. The composer has composed the love songs in his native language where he lived (usually in Old Occitan or Latin or Old French).One of the best example of love song is â€Å"Sic Mea Fata† which was written in latin and was seen in a manuscript from the abbey of St.Martial in Limoges. Jongleurs usually perform their work along with some dance. One of them is ‘estampie’. The above mentioned form consists of two successive melodies which was given a name as ‘puncta’ of which the first part ends with an unclosed ending and the second part ends with a concluded ending. Therefore ‘La Uitime Estampie Real’ meaning ‘The Eighth Royal Estampieâ₠¬â„¢ was one among those French dances which was performed by the Jongleurs in the early period. ‘Souvent Souspire’ is also one of the famous French dance song performed by Jongleurs. Also earlier Jongleurs commonly came across ‘hurdy-gurdy’ type of music supplemented with dance.

Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Literature review about a journal article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

About a journal article - Literature review Example 50 - 64). For a certain amount of time, now, the activity of marketing is long being attributed with understanding environmentally aware consumers as well as devising strategies to connect with such consumers. In the domains of marketing as well as strategic management, it is often highlighted that the process of decision making by the managers should also include the environmental issues which include ideas on sustainability of the environment as well as conservation of the resources. It is important to state that by the process of addressing the worries of both the consumers as well as the manager in regards to natural as well as physical environment, the organizations can expect to attain a better performance in business along with the enhancement of its reputation. In the current days, while the significance of sustainable environment in connection to competitive advantage and business performance is better perceived, the research initiatives for various strategies to implement s ustainable environment based corporate programs for the business to business segments are in their stages of infancy. This particular paper on industrial marketing management shed light on the domain of business to business marketing and intends to develop a framework which highlights the marketing role in sustainable supply chain strategies. Summary From the theoretical aspects, sustainable development is explained as the line of development which fulfils the needs of the current generation without destroying the capacity of the upcoming generation to fulfil their needs. However, some experts feel that the factor of business interest as well as the society’s interest overlap with each other to a great extent. This process of overlapping is referred to as the sustainability sweet spot. In linking environmental sustainability with marketing, it needs to be stated that the large business customers are often more credible in implementing environmentally friendly policies in othe r firms with which they are engaged in a transactional manner (Drumwright, 1994, p. 1- 19). The business customers often has the larger power in creating the pressure on multiple smaller and dependent firms to opt for environmental friendly measures and thereby develop and build eco-friendly products. Critique From the critique’s point of view, it is important to focus on the sustainable market framework that is discussed in this paper. The framework is being built by relying on two very important objectives of sustainable environment. The first objective is that when firms do manufacture optimum number of units with regards to the demand in hand, the factor of over production is being negated which helps in lower levels of product disposition. This creates a sustainable environment, which is commonly referred to as the reduced surplus supply strategy. The second objective is in connection to the reduction of number of products which requires recycling. This strategy which is termed as reducing reverse supply, highlights that firms should concentrate on developing repairable products along with more extensive recycling as well as remanufacturing strategies. The implementation of the reduced surplus supply strategy, which is based on the Build To Order (BTO) concept, brings into focus that the challenges associated with inculcating changes in the product design and manufacturing process. The set up costs are

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Understanding Health Food Drink Consumers

Understanding Health Food Drink Consumers Health Food Drinks I. Problem definition 1.1 Background India, the worlds largest malt-based drinks market, accounts for 22% of the worlds retail volume sales. These drinks are traditionally consumed as milk substitutes and marketed as a nutritious drink, mainly consumed by the old, the young and the sick. The Health food drinks category consists of white drinks and brown drinks. South and East India are large markets for these drinks, accounting for the largest proportion of all India sales. The total market is placed at about 90,000 ton and is estimated to be growing at about 4%. These Malt beverages, though, are still an urban phenomenon. White drinks account for almost two-thirds of the market. GSK Consumer Healthcare is the market leader in the white malt beverages category with a 60.7% overall market share. Heinzs Complan comes in second (in this segment, third overall) with a market share of 12-13%. Market leader GSK also owns other brands such as Boost, Maltova and Viva. Currently, brown drinks (which are cocoa-based) continue to grow at the expense of white drinks like Horlicks and Complan. The share of brown drinks has increased from about 32% to 35% over the last five years. Cadburys Bournvita is the leader in the brown drink segment with a market share of around 15%. Other significant players are Nestlà ©s Milo and GCMMFs Nutramul. 1.2 Problem Statement The project had been undertaken with an objective to understand the customer behaviour in the â€Å"Health Food Drink (HFD)† product category. The objective of the study also included identifying the determinant purchase factors, the customer segments and the sources of information they rely on. The existing positioning of prominent brands and the perceptions among different segments were also covered under the study. The brand loyalty and switching were also studied. The brand personality was also studied as a part of the project. II. Literature review Nutrition In India After 4 years of age, a childs energy needs per kilogram of bodyweight are decreasing but the actual amount of energy (calories) required increases, as the child gets older. From 5 years to adolescence, there is a period of slow but steady growth. Dietary intakes of some children may be less than recommended for iron, calcium, vitamins A and D and vitamin C, although in most cases -as long as the energy and protein intakes are adequate and a variety of foods, including fruit and vegetables, are eaten- deficiencies are unlikely. Regular meals and healthy snacks that include carbohydrate -rich foods, fruits and vegetables, dairy products, lean meats, fish, poultry, eggs, legumes and nuts should contribute to proper growth and development without supplying excessive energy to the diet. Children need to drink plenty of fluids, especially if it is hot or they are physically active. Water is obviously a good source of liquid and supplies fluid without calories. Variety is important in childrens diets and other sources of fluid such as milk and milk drinks, fruit juices can also be chosen to provide needed fluids. In India, each State is practically equivalent to a country with its specific socio-economic level, different ethnic groups, food habits, health infrastructures and communication facilities. Thus, the nutritional status of the population shows significant variation between states since it results from a varying combination of factors. In the last 20 years, there has been an improvement in the nutritional status of the Indian population. This improvement results from not only changes in food intake but also socio-economic factors, increased availability of potable water, lower morbidity and improvement of health facilities. In children under five years of age, the marked improvement in nutritional status is shown by the reduction of the prevalence of underweight from 63%, in the 1975-79 period to 53% in the 1988-90 period. The under-five mortality rate (U5MR), an important indicator of the socio-economic development, and health and nutritional status of a society, declined from 282% in 1962 to 115†° in 1994. However, a multitude of infectious diseases such as respiratory and intestinal infections as well as malaria remain the main cause of death in children under five, with malnutrition being an aggravating factor. Measles, tetanus, typhoid and hepatitis are also frequent causes of death during infancy and childhood. In the last 20 years, there have been no significant changes in patterns of dietary intake. Cereals remain the staple food in India providing most of the energy intake. Since the seventies the consumption of foods like pulses, roots and tubers has fallen, while those of other foods like sugar, jaggery (unrefined brown sugar), fats and oils and green leafy vegetables have slightly increased. The average Indian diet remains largely deficient in green leafy vegetables, meat, and fish, milk and milk products. Moreover, it also remains deficient in some micronutrients such as vitamin A, iodine and iron. Adolescents who are undergoing rapid growth and development are one of the nutritionally vulnerable groups who have not received the attention they deserve. In under-nourished children rapid growth during adolescence may increase the severity of under-nutrition. Early marriage and pregnancy will perpetuate both maternal and child under-nutrition. At the other end of spectrum among the affluent segment of population, adolescent obesity is increasingly becoming a problem. Pre-school children constitute the most nutritionally vulnerable segment of the population and their nutritional status is considered to be a sensitive indicator of community health and nutrition. Over the last two decades there has been some improvement in energy intake and substantial reduction in moderate and severe under- nutrition in pre- school children India has enormous under-nutrition and over-nutrition problems Asia has the largest number of malnourished children in the world. The Double Burden of Malnutrition in Asia was inspired by the massive challenge that this situation currently poses for Asia. It describes the main driving forces behind the groundswell of under-nutrition, while shedding light on the emerging double burden of co-existing underweight and overweight, and the linkages between these two different forms of malnutrition. There are two types of nutritional problems one is under-nutrition and another is over-nutrition. Emphasis should be given not only to food but also to care and health, the reason being that even if children in the age group of 0-2 years are able to get food, they may have mothers who do not have enough time to pay attention to their children. Similarly, if there is no health-guaranteeing environment, and children suffer from diarrhoeal diseases, no amount of food will help prevent malnutrition. Over-nutrition, on the other hand, means either too many calories or the wrong types of calories such as saturated fats or highly processed sugar that lead to obesity, vascular diseases, etc. Many developing countries have under-nutrition and those in Europe and North America have over- nutrition problems. There is this in-between category with countries like India that still have an enormous amount of under-nutrition and significant over-nutrition problems. In India, for instance, around 50 per cent of its children under the age of five are undernourished or malnourished. But in urban areas, the over-nutrition problem is shooting up, thanks to the change in lifestyle and food habits. As a result, health systems are under huge stress. When there is malnutrition, there is a higher level of lower birth rate. One in three babies born in India weigh significantly low because their mothers are undernourished. Some low-weight babies die and some survive and those who survive adapt to malnutrition and scarcity. That is, the biological adaptation is programmed to maximize every calorie the body gets. This adaptation that helped a malnourished baby survive suddenly turns out to be a mal-adaptation when the baby becomes an adult. The adult, who was malnourished in the past, gains extra weight even when he takes only normal amount of food because of the biological adaptation. Brand Loyalty Selling to brand loyal[1] customers is far less costly than converting new customers (Reichheld 1996, Rosenberg and Czepiel 1983)[i]. In addition, brand loyalty provides firms with tremendous competitive weapons. Brand loyal consumers are less price sensitive (Krishnamurthi and Raj 1991)[ii]. A strong consumer franchise gives manufacturers leverage with retailers (Aaker 1991) 1. And, loyalty reduces the sensitivity of consumers to marketplace offerings, which gives the firm time to respond to competitive moves (Aaker 1991) 1. In general, brand loyalty is a reflection of brand equity, which for many businesses is the largest single asset. Perhaps the most cited conceptual definition of brand loyalty comes from Jacoby and Chestnut (1978, p. 80)[iii]: â€Å"The biased, behavioral response, expressed over time, by some decision-making unit, with respect to one or more alternative brands out of a set of such brands, and is a function of psychological (decision-making, evaluative) processes.† Consistent with this definition are two broad categories of operational definitions. The first stresses the â€Å"behavioral response, expressed over time†Ã¢â‚¬â€typically a series of purchases. As Day (1979) observed[iv], however, the major limitation of behavioral measures is the failure to identify motive and the resulting confusion between brand loyalty and other forms of repeat buying. The major alternative operational definition is based on consumer attitudes, preferences, and purchase intentions. These measures stress the cognitive â€Å"bias,† and the â€Å"psychological (decision-making evaluative) proc esses† underlying loyalty. Health Related Expenses KSA TECHNOPAK has conceived an innovative product called Health Outlook 2003, which provides strategic insights to consumer shopping and buying behavior. Apart from the consumer insights, complete health profiling is also done for providing derived disease incidence and prevalence in the country. This Pan Indian research model provides large research depths by covering about 10,000 households across cities like Chandigarh, Delhi, Jaipur, Lucknow, Ludhiana, Calcutta, Patna, Bangalore, Chennai, Cochin, Hyderabad, Madurai, Ahmedabad, Indore, Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune and Surat. The rich respondent profile includes SEC A, B and C giving a good coverage for demographic types. Health Outlook shows that health enjoys about 9.4 per cent share of the wallet of Indian consumer and is on the rise for the last three years. This spend includes health supplements, health drinks, doctors and consultants fees, medicines, medical insurance, regular check ups etc. About 91 per cent of this was out-of-pocket expense and only 9 per cent came from employers and insurance. Analysis of the consumers drug purchase behaviour shows that 59 per cent use old prescriptions and 29 per cent use over-the-counter drugs, meaning 88 cent of the consumers indulged in self-medication. Consumer attitudes to health drinks are mainly influenced by quality attributes. Ethical factors are important in some cases, but they may be overstated. The relationships between consumers awareness of health drink, price and perceived quality of food were investigated by tests involving series of consumer panels and sensory evaluation. Sensory responses were also matched to instrumental analysis data. Results indicated that overall there was no relation between panelists views about health drinks and their sensory perceptions. Eighty percent of the panelists felt that organic products were too expensive, but would buy them if they were cheaper. However the study showed that most of the people would not be likely to change their preference once they had made a product choice based upon sensory attributes. This has important implications, indicating that not only price, but also sensory quality of health drink must be considered in order to maintain repeated purchases by most consume rs. It is widely accepted that consumer acceptance of drinks is mainly determined by their sensory perception, while choice is strongly influenced by the perceived value for money. Ethical factors are important in some cases, but they may be overstated. Although comparisons between organic and conventional drinks have been reported for a range of attributes, measures of the quality of health drinks as perceived by consumers using objective sensory evaluation methods, or the relevance of any preconceptions in perception have not been studied. This study aimed to investigate the relationship of objective quality measurements including sensory attributes and consumer perception of organically and conventionally produced health drink products. About two thirds of the consumers that participated in the survey believed that health drink is good for the environment, and 55% thought that it is healthier. However there was some confusion relating to the use of pesticides and chemicals in that. Few consumers distinguished health drinks by appearance or taste. Buyers of health drinks were more likely to indicate that the appearance and taste are better, but environmental protection was still the dominant perceived benefit. Buyers who believe that health drink is better also think that it is expensive (p II. Approach to the problem Objective or theoretical framework The objective of this research is to identify the factors that influence a person into making a decision to buy a certain brand of malt-based health drink. As mentioned in the Literature Review, according to industry analysts, this category has grown only on promotions and for now, except for promotions, nothing seems to be working. Therefore, ideally, this research should be able to bring to the fore, certain other factors that could lead to a growth of this segment. At the very least, the research should corroborate the existing assumptions regarding the influencing factors. It should be in a position to verify that the steps various players are taking to stimulate volumes are in the right direction, and would eventually lead to an increase in market share. Research Questions I. What are the different â€Å"Customer Segments† depending upon the preferences? II. What is the perception of people towards the leading brands of Health Food Drinks? III. What are different factors that influence the customer when He/She buys a Health Food Drink? IV. Who are the major Influencers in the purchase decision of Health Food Drinks? Identification of information needed After fixing the objective, we started an extensive reading on the topic. The very first question we needed to clear in our mind was: â€Å"What does Health Food Drinks mean?† Therefore we narrowed down to the malt-based Health drinks like Bournvita and Horlicks. The subsequent readings helped us understand the consumer patterns and perceived needs of the consumers from a health drink. Depending upon that, we listed down several factors that can influence a consumer in buying or not buying a health drink. The study on â€Å"Consumer Behaviour† throws light on the prevalent consumer purchase influencers like Price, Nourishment, Palatability, and Packaging which are included in the purchase influence factors in the questionnaire The Literature on â€Å"Indian Nourishment† shows that the Indian consumer is getting more and more health conscious and thus there is huge potential for the health drinks in the Indian market. Nowadays there can be a number of sources that influence a family in buying a Health Drink. These sources can be promotions, Doctors Advice, Peer Group talks ( word of mouth) and choice of the children themselves. Since the malt-based health-drink segment is broadly divided into 2 categories brown (cocoa-based) and white, therefore it was decided to study the leading brands available in both these categories. We visited retail outlets in different parts of South Delhi to determine the most popular brands. We have assumed that brands that are most visible and widely available are the most popular, as retailers would stock only those brands that invoke maximum sales All identified factors were discussed and screened by the research team. In this process, factors that did not convey much, did not sound authentic or did not differ much from other factors were eliminated. III. Research Design The methodology followed for analyzing the consumer behavior of health food drink customers. 3.1 Preliminary Investigation This phase involved preliminary investigation of the various factors which could possibly affect the consumers perception about the various brands and in turn influence the purchase decisions of the consumer. We primarily used three methods to identify the various factors. The Secondary data gathered was analyzed to understand the current scenario of the Health drinks segment. The analysis of the secondary data also helped us find different attributes which affect the health drinks segment. 3.2 Collection of Quantitative data Measurement and Scaling Procedures: Non-Comparative Rating scale is used in which respondents evaluate only one object at a time, and for this reason noncomparative scales are often referred to as monadic scales. Noncomparative techniques consist of continuous and itemized rating scales. We have used continuous rating scale in order to rate the choices for purchase considerations and the sources of purchase decisions. Questionnaire Design: This phase involved the design of the questionnaire on the basis of the potential factors identified as influencing the customer behavior. Research problems were listed and then the information needed was identified. The questions were then prepared in order to fulfill the information requirements as identified earlier. Survey: Different Survey methods were used for collection of data. The principle method used was Personal Interviewing of the respondents. In-Home interviews were conducted by us at various locations in Delhi. We also did Mall Intercept at popular markets like Sarojini Nagar and Malviya Nagar. Due to the shortage of time, we conducted a few telephonic interviews to maintain diversity in data. 3.3 Sampling Process Target Population: The target population is the collection of elements or objects that process the information sought by the researcher and about which inferences are to be made. Our target population involves the users, deciders and buyers of health food drinks. The users include the old and the young population. The deciders and the buyers mostly include the house wives who buy the product from the market. Sample Size: It denotes the number of elements to be included in the study. Due to time constraints the sample size chosen is very small. Sampling Technique: A mixture of quota and stratified method was used for sampling, with care being taken to get responses from customers of different age groups and different family sizes. iv. Fieldwork The survey was conducted keeping in mind the users and deciders of the health drinks. The survey was conducted in the Paschim Vihar and Ranibagh Areas of Delhi. We made several trips to the local market (Sarojini Nagar and Malviya Nagar) and the nearby households to gather information from relevant people. V. Data Interpretation and Analysis 5.1 Data Analysis Plan This chapter shows how the information needed to answer the three key research questions have been extracted via the questionnaire. Q1 explicitly asked the respondents if a health drink is used in the family or by them. The questionnaire was not administered to the respondents that answered NO to this question. Such respondents have not been included in the sample size of 60 that has been mentioned. Q2 to Q6 of the questionnaire are used to get the general details about the respondent (age, educational qualification, annual income, family size and number of children in the family. Q4 explicitly asked the respondents about the size of the family and Q6 asked about the number of children in the respondents family. Q7 explicitly asks the brand preference of the respondent about the health drink. Q8 asks the respondents to rate the importance of the following purchase considerations on a scale of 1(Very unimportant) to 5 (Very Important): a) Nourishment b) Colour c) Palatability d) Economy e) Shelf-presence f) Packaging g) Brand Image h) Promotions These attributes were decided after a thorough secondary data analysis. However some of these attributes might have similar effect on the consumer preference. Therefore we conduct a factor analysis to find out the factors to which one or more of the above variables belong. Q9 asks the respondents to rate the Sources of Information influencing the Purchase Decision. The following sources were considered: a) Advertisement b) Children c) Doctor d) Family e) Past experience f) Retailer g) Word of mouth The respondents were asked to rank the factors in order of importance. Q10 ask the respondents to score each of the brands on the various product attributes on a scale of 1 5. Five major selling brands were tested on the various product attributes mentioned. The brands included in the test were: a) Boost b) Bournvita c) Complan d) Horlicks e) Milo Q11 and Q12 are used to determine the brand loyalty of the respondent towards the health drink, thus asking the switching pattern of the users. Q13 in the Questionnaire attempts to find the Brand Personality by asking customers the perceived traits of each of the leading brands of health drinks available in the market today. It is very important to realize that these are not the attributes that the drink claims to possess, via its advertisements and other promotional activities. For e.g. Boost in its campaign claims that â€Å"Boost is the secret of my energy†, but rather the attributes the customer feels that the drink possesses. Therefore, if respondents identify spiritedness with Boost it would imply that Boost is successful in its marketing strategy. The responses to this question would also be important to other players in this segment, as they would realize that their promotions are not being effective and hence this would encourage them to redirect their marketing efforts. Apart from spiritedness, the other important traits have been identified as Modesty, Honesty, Cheerfulness, Boldness, Spiritedness, Reliabil ity, Sophistication, Toughness, and Ruggedness. 5.2 Methodology Questionnaire Checking/Editing: The questionnaire is checked for completion and interviewing quality. Editing is the review of the questionnaire with the objective of increasing accuracy and precision. Collation of Data: The data is collated in the excel sheet and prepared for statistical analysis. An SPSS view of the data was also taken for further analysis. Choice of Statistical Analysis Techniques: T-statistic: A t-test was conducted on the results of the survey in order to compare the means of the ranks for the factors or sources of information to find out the most important influencing the purchasing decision. T-test was also conducted on the various product attributes for different brands. Anova: It is carried to study the variance of the factors or product attributes that influence the most among the various demographic groups by conducting the one way Anova test on the scores of these 8 factors. Factor Analysis: The various variables that denote the product attributes that determine the purchasing decision can be actually factored using factor analysis. This factoring of the variables helps in easily studying the consumer behaviour. Cluster Analysis: The set of respondents was segmented on the basis of the demographic information namely ‘age-group, ‘income-group, ‘education, ‘family size etc using cluster analysis so as to identify the distinct clusters depending upon these demographic factors. Multi Dimensional Scaling: This analysis was performed on the overall samples as well as on the 2 segments individually so as to gauge the difference in their perceptions. The selection process depends on the fact that it is conducted on the aggregate level data, i.e. that on the two clusters formed after cluster analysis. This is due to the fact that all market strategies are typically formulated at the segment or aggregate level. 5.3 Analysis and Interpretation Sources of Information influencing the Purchase Decision h) Advertisement i) Children j) Doctor k) Family l) Past experience m) Retailer n) Word of mouth The respondents were asked to rank the factors in order of importance. A t-test was conducted on the results of the survey in order to compare the means of the ranks for the factors. The results of the test are as shown in the Exhibit 1. We can say from the results that there is a significant difference between the ranks of the factors with a 95% confidence. The two most important factors that emerge out of the tests overall are the â€Å"Family doctor† and the influence of the â€Å"Family†. This finding is an important implication for product placement. We can say that the health food drinks should appeal to the complete family rather than only a particular age group. Doctors can also be an important influencer or opinion leader and hence should be targeted in the product promotions. Some products have been promoting their products using comparative advertisements including testifications by the doctors. A second test can be conducted in the same manner taking only the cases where the people are having kids in the family. The results are shown in the Exhibit 2. We observe that the two most important factors differ from the first scenario. The two most important factors that emerge out of the test are â€Å"Family Doctor† and â€Å"Advertisement†. Thus it can be concluded that advertisements have an important influence on the families having kids or in turn the kids. This can be easily observed from the large number of advertisements directed towards the well being of kids. Product Attributes Influencing the Purchase Decision The following product attributes were identified as influencing the purchase decisions of the customers: a) Nourishment b) Colour c) Palatability d) Economy e) Shelf-presence f) Packaging g) Brand Image h) Promotions The respondents were asked to score the importance of the factors on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the most important. A t-test was conducted on the scores of the factors in order to find the most important factors. The t-test shows there is a significant difference between the scores of the various factors with a 95% confidence. The results of the test are shown in Exhibit 3. We observe from the results that the two most important product attributes in making a purchase decision are the â€Å"Palatability† and the â€Å"Nourishment† perception in the minds of the customers. These factors turn out to be the same irrespective of whether there are children in the family or not. We then study the variance of these factors among various demographic groups by conducting the one way Anova test on the scores of these 8 factors. We studied the variance of the mean scores of these attributes among the various groups differentiated by the following factors:- a) Income b) Education c) Age d) Family size The results of the Anova tests which were conducted on the data are as shown in the Exhibits 4-7. We observe that there are no significant differences in the scores of the product attributes in different groups as classified by â€Å"Income†, â€Å"Education† and â€Å"Family size† within a 95% confidence interval. However there is a significant different on the â€Å"Nourishment† and â€Å"Economy† product attributes of health food drinks. As is observed from the mean scores, the â€Å"Nourishment† aspect becomes particularly important for people above the age of 60. It is also important for people who are young in age i.e. less than 20. However it does not seem to be very significant for people in the age group 33- 45. The factor analysis of these attributes is done in the following section. Factor Analysis of Purchase Considerations The factor analysis of the 8 product attributes yields the following 3 factors: Factor I: Promotion, Shelf-Presence, Packaging Economy Factor II: Palatability, Brand Factor III: Nourishment, Colour (For the output of factor analysis, refer to exhibit 8.) As factor I encompass the accessibility and affordability of the product, it can be termed as ‘Purchase Feasibility. As factor II encompass the palatability and brand value of the product, it can be termed as ‘Likeability. As factor III encompass the nutritional value and colour, an indicator of quality, of the product, it can be termed as ‘Utility. Customer Segmentation The set of respondents was segmented on the basis of the demographic information namely ‘age-group, ‘income-group, ‘education, ‘family size etc. The cluster analysis on these demographic variables yields the following 2 clusters: * Cluster 1: The members are almost uniformly distributed across all age segments except under-20 in which no member lies. However, the family size is large than 3 for all the members and a majority of members having 1-2 child in the family. The cluster size is 27 respondents. * Cluster 2: All the members in this cluster are less than the age of 32 yrs, with the majority being less than 20 yrs. Around 90% of the members were either single or couple thus suggesting that the members were either students, or bachelor/newly-married young working professionals. The cluster size is 30 respondents. * As the consumption in cluster 2 would be lower than the large families comprising kids older persons because of less health concerns and preference for alternative beverages, the price sensitivity of cluster 2 would be low while cluster 1 is concerned about economy. (For output of cluster analysis, refer to Exhibit 9). Thus, cluster 1 could be termed as ‘value-seekers while cluster 2 could be termed as ‘quality-seekers. Different Brands on Product Attributes Five major selling brands were tested on the various product attributes mentioned. The brands included in the test were: f) Boost g) Bournvita h) Complan i) Horlicks j) Milo The respondents were asked to score each of the brands on the various product attributes on a scale of 1 5. T-test was conducted on the various product attributes for different brands. The results have been shown in Exhibit 11. The number of respondents who were consuming the various brands is as shown in the pie chart. As we can observe from the graph, Bournvita is found to be the leading brand closely followed by Horlicks, while the other brands do not have a large taking from our survey. The results of the various brands on different attributes are as follows: a) Nourishment: Horlicks scores well above all the b Understanding Health Food Drink Consumers Understanding Health Food Drink Consumers Health Food Drinks I. Problem definition 1.1 Background India, the worlds largest malt-based drinks market, accounts for 22% of the worlds retail volume sales. These drinks are traditionally consumed as milk substitutes and marketed as a nutritious drink, mainly consumed by the old, the young and the sick. The Health food drinks category consists of white drinks and brown drinks. South and East India are large markets for these drinks, accounting for the largest proportion of all India sales. The total market is placed at about 90,000 ton and is estimated to be growing at about 4%. These Malt beverages, though, are still an urban phenomenon. White drinks account for almost two-thirds of the market. GSK Consumer Healthcare is the market leader in the white malt beverages category with a 60.7% overall market share. Heinzs Complan comes in second (in this segment, third overall) with a market share of 12-13%. Market leader GSK also owns other brands such as Boost, Maltova and Viva. Currently, brown drinks (which are cocoa-based) continue to grow at the expense of white drinks like Horlicks and Complan. The share of brown drinks has increased from about 32% to 35% over the last five years. Cadburys Bournvita is the leader in the brown drink segment with a market share of around 15%. Other significant players are Nestlà ©s Milo and GCMMFs Nutramul. 1.2 Problem Statement The project had been undertaken with an objective to understand the customer behaviour in the â€Å"Health Food Drink (HFD)† product category. The objective of the study also included identifying the determinant purchase factors, the customer segments and the sources of information they rely on. The existing positioning of prominent brands and the perceptions among different segments were also covered under the study. The brand loyalty and switching were also studied. The brand personality was also studied as a part of the project. II. Literature review Nutrition In India After 4 years of age, a childs energy needs per kilogram of bodyweight are decreasing but the actual amount of energy (calories) required increases, as the child gets older. From 5 years to adolescence, there is a period of slow but steady growth. Dietary intakes of some children may be less than recommended for iron, calcium, vitamins A and D and vitamin C, although in most cases -as long as the energy and protein intakes are adequate and a variety of foods, including fruit and vegetables, are eaten- deficiencies are unlikely. Regular meals and healthy snacks that include carbohydrate -rich foods, fruits and vegetables, dairy products, lean meats, fish, poultry, eggs, legumes and nuts should contribute to proper growth and development without supplying excessive energy to the diet. Children need to drink plenty of fluids, especially if it is hot or they are physically active. Water is obviously a good source of liquid and supplies fluid without calories. Variety is important in childrens diets and other sources of fluid such as milk and milk drinks, fruit juices can also be chosen to provide needed fluids. In India, each State is practically equivalent to a country with its specific socio-economic level, different ethnic groups, food habits, health infrastructures and communication facilities. Thus, the nutritional status of the population shows significant variation between states since it results from a varying combination of factors. In the last 20 years, there has been an improvement in the nutritional status of the Indian population. This improvement results from not only changes in food intake but also socio-economic factors, increased availability of potable water, lower morbidity and improvement of health facilities. In children under five years of age, the marked improvement in nutritional status is shown by the reduction of the prevalence of underweight from 63%, in the 1975-79 period to 53% in the 1988-90 period. The under-five mortality rate (U5MR), an important indicator of the socio-economic development, and health and nutritional status of a society, declined from 282% in 1962 to 115†° in 1994. However, a multitude of infectious diseases such as respiratory and intestinal infections as well as malaria remain the main cause of death in children under five, with malnutrition being an aggravating factor. Measles, tetanus, typhoid and hepatitis are also frequent causes of death during infancy and childhood. In the last 20 years, there have been no significant changes in patterns of dietary intake. Cereals remain the staple food in India providing most of the energy intake. Since the seventies the consumption of foods like pulses, roots and tubers has fallen, while those of other foods like sugar, jaggery (unrefined brown sugar), fats and oils and green leafy vegetables have slightly increased. The average Indian diet remains largely deficient in green leafy vegetables, meat, and fish, milk and milk products. Moreover, it also remains deficient in some micronutrients such as vitamin A, iodine and iron. Adolescents who are undergoing rapid growth and development are one of the nutritionally vulnerable groups who have not received the attention they deserve. In under-nourished children rapid growth during adolescence may increase the severity of under-nutrition. Early marriage and pregnancy will perpetuate both maternal and child under-nutrition. At the other end of spectrum among the affluent segment of population, adolescent obesity is increasingly becoming a problem. Pre-school children constitute the most nutritionally vulnerable segment of the population and their nutritional status is considered to be a sensitive indicator of community health and nutrition. Over the last two decades there has been some improvement in energy intake and substantial reduction in moderate and severe under- nutrition in pre- school children India has enormous under-nutrition and over-nutrition problems Asia has the largest number of malnourished children in the world. The Double Burden of Malnutrition in Asia was inspired by the massive challenge that this situation currently poses for Asia. It describes the main driving forces behind the groundswell of under-nutrition, while shedding light on the emerging double burden of co-existing underweight and overweight, and the linkages between these two different forms of malnutrition. There are two types of nutritional problems one is under-nutrition and another is over-nutrition. Emphasis should be given not only to food but also to care and health, the reason being that even if children in the age group of 0-2 years are able to get food, they may have mothers who do not have enough time to pay attention to their children. Similarly, if there is no health-guaranteeing environment, and children suffer from diarrhoeal diseases, no amount of food will help prevent malnutrition. Over-nutrition, on the other hand, means either too many calories or the wrong types of calories such as saturated fats or highly processed sugar that lead to obesity, vascular diseases, etc. Many developing countries have under-nutrition and those in Europe and North America have over- nutrition problems. There is this in-between category with countries like India that still have an enormous amount of under-nutrition and significant over-nutrition problems. In India, for instance, around 50 per cent of its children under the age of five are undernourished or malnourished. But in urban areas, the over-nutrition problem is shooting up, thanks to the change in lifestyle and food habits. As a result, health systems are under huge stress. When there is malnutrition, there is a higher level of lower birth rate. One in three babies born in India weigh significantly low because their mothers are undernourished. Some low-weight babies die and some survive and those who survive adapt to malnutrition and scarcity. That is, the biological adaptation is programmed to maximize every calorie the body gets. This adaptation that helped a malnourished baby survive suddenly turns out to be a mal-adaptation when the baby becomes an adult. The adult, who was malnourished in the past, gains extra weight even when he takes only normal amount of food because of the biological adaptation. Brand Loyalty Selling to brand loyal[1] customers is far less costly than converting new customers (Reichheld 1996, Rosenberg and Czepiel 1983)[i]. In addition, brand loyalty provides firms with tremendous competitive weapons. Brand loyal consumers are less price sensitive (Krishnamurthi and Raj 1991)[ii]. A strong consumer franchise gives manufacturers leverage with retailers (Aaker 1991) 1. And, loyalty reduces the sensitivity of consumers to marketplace offerings, which gives the firm time to respond to competitive moves (Aaker 1991) 1. In general, brand loyalty is a reflection of brand equity, which for many businesses is the largest single asset. Perhaps the most cited conceptual definition of brand loyalty comes from Jacoby and Chestnut (1978, p. 80)[iii]: â€Å"The biased, behavioral response, expressed over time, by some decision-making unit, with respect to one or more alternative brands out of a set of such brands, and is a function of psychological (decision-making, evaluative) processes.† Consistent with this definition are two broad categories of operational definitions. The first stresses the â€Å"behavioral response, expressed over time†Ã¢â‚¬â€typically a series of purchases. As Day (1979) observed[iv], however, the major limitation of behavioral measures is the failure to identify motive and the resulting confusion between brand loyalty and other forms of repeat buying. The major alternative operational definition is based on consumer attitudes, preferences, and purchase intentions. These measures stress the cognitive â€Å"bias,† and the â€Å"psychological (decision-making evaluative) proc esses† underlying loyalty. Health Related Expenses KSA TECHNOPAK has conceived an innovative product called Health Outlook 2003, which provides strategic insights to consumer shopping and buying behavior. Apart from the consumer insights, complete health profiling is also done for providing derived disease incidence and prevalence in the country. This Pan Indian research model provides large research depths by covering about 10,000 households across cities like Chandigarh, Delhi, Jaipur, Lucknow, Ludhiana, Calcutta, Patna, Bangalore, Chennai, Cochin, Hyderabad, Madurai, Ahmedabad, Indore, Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune and Surat. The rich respondent profile includes SEC A, B and C giving a good coverage for demographic types. Health Outlook shows that health enjoys about 9.4 per cent share of the wallet of Indian consumer and is on the rise for the last three years. This spend includes health supplements, health drinks, doctors and consultants fees, medicines, medical insurance, regular check ups etc. About 91 per cent of this was out-of-pocket expense and only 9 per cent came from employers and insurance. Analysis of the consumers drug purchase behaviour shows that 59 per cent use old prescriptions and 29 per cent use over-the-counter drugs, meaning 88 cent of the consumers indulged in self-medication. Consumer attitudes to health drinks are mainly influenced by quality attributes. Ethical factors are important in some cases, but they may be overstated. The relationships between consumers awareness of health drink, price and perceived quality of food were investigated by tests involving series of consumer panels and sensory evaluation. Sensory responses were also matched to instrumental analysis data. Results indicated that overall there was no relation between panelists views about health drinks and their sensory perceptions. Eighty percent of the panelists felt that organic products were too expensive, but would buy them if they were cheaper. However the study showed that most of the people would not be likely to change their preference once they had made a product choice based upon sensory attributes. This has important implications, indicating that not only price, but also sensory quality of health drink must be considered in order to maintain repeated purchases by most consume rs. It is widely accepted that consumer acceptance of drinks is mainly determined by their sensory perception, while choice is strongly influenced by the perceived value for money. Ethical factors are important in some cases, but they may be overstated. Although comparisons between organic and conventional drinks have been reported for a range of attributes, measures of the quality of health drinks as perceived by consumers using objective sensory evaluation methods, or the relevance of any preconceptions in perception have not been studied. This study aimed to investigate the relationship of objective quality measurements including sensory attributes and consumer perception of organically and conventionally produced health drink products. About two thirds of the consumers that participated in the survey believed that health drink is good for the environment, and 55% thought that it is healthier. However there was some confusion relating to the use of pesticides and chemicals in that. Few consumers distinguished health drinks by appearance or taste. Buyers of health drinks were more likely to indicate that the appearance and taste are better, but environmental protection was still the dominant perceived benefit. Buyers who believe that health drink is better also think that it is expensive (p II. Approach to the problem Objective or theoretical framework The objective of this research is to identify the factors that influence a person into making a decision to buy a certain brand of malt-based health drink. As mentioned in the Literature Review, according to industry analysts, this category has grown only on promotions and for now, except for promotions, nothing seems to be working. Therefore, ideally, this research should be able to bring to the fore, certain other factors that could lead to a growth of this segment. At the very least, the research should corroborate the existing assumptions regarding the influencing factors. It should be in a position to verify that the steps various players are taking to stimulate volumes are in the right direction, and would eventually lead to an increase in market share. Research Questions I. What are the different â€Å"Customer Segments† depending upon the preferences? II. What is the perception of people towards the leading brands of Health Food Drinks? III. What are different factors that influence the customer when He/She buys a Health Food Drink? IV. Who are the major Influencers in the purchase decision of Health Food Drinks? Identification of information needed After fixing the objective, we started an extensive reading on the topic. The very first question we needed to clear in our mind was: â€Å"What does Health Food Drinks mean?† Therefore we narrowed down to the malt-based Health drinks like Bournvita and Horlicks. The subsequent readings helped us understand the consumer patterns and perceived needs of the consumers from a health drink. Depending upon that, we listed down several factors that can influence a consumer in buying or not buying a health drink. The study on â€Å"Consumer Behaviour† throws light on the prevalent consumer purchase influencers like Price, Nourishment, Palatability, and Packaging which are included in the purchase influence factors in the questionnaire The Literature on â€Å"Indian Nourishment† shows that the Indian consumer is getting more and more health conscious and thus there is huge potential for the health drinks in the Indian market. Nowadays there can be a number of sources that influence a family in buying a Health Drink. These sources can be promotions, Doctors Advice, Peer Group talks ( word of mouth) and choice of the children themselves. Since the malt-based health-drink segment is broadly divided into 2 categories brown (cocoa-based) and white, therefore it was decided to study the leading brands available in both these categories. We visited retail outlets in different parts of South Delhi to determine the most popular brands. We have assumed that brands that are most visible and widely available are the most popular, as retailers would stock only those brands that invoke maximum sales All identified factors were discussed and screened by the research team. In this process, factors that did not convey much, did not sound authentic or did not differ much from other factors were eliminated. III. Research Design The methodology followed for analyzing the consumer behavior of health food drink customers. 3.1 Preliminary Investigation This phase involved preliminary investigation of the various factors which could possibly affect the consumers perception about the various brands and in turn influence the purchase decisions of the consumer. We primarily used three methods to identify the various factors. The Secondary data gathered was analyzed to understand the current scenario of the Health drinks segment. The analysis of the secondary data also helped us find different attributes which affect the health drinks segment. 3.2 Collection of Quantitative data Measurement and Scaling Procedures: Non-Comparative Rating scale is used in which respondents evaluate only one object at a time, and for this reason noncomparative scales are often referred to as monadic scales. Noncomparative techniques consist of continuous and itemized rating scales. We have used continuous rating scale in order to rate the choices for purchase considerations and the sources of purchase decisions. Questionnaire Design: This phase involved the design of the questionnaire on the basis of the potential factors identified as influencing the customer behavior. Research problems were listed and then the information needed was identified. The questions were then prepared in order to fulfill the information requirements as identified earlier. Survey: Different Survey methods were used for collection of data. The principle method used was Personal Interviewing of the respondents. In-Home interviews were conducted by us at various locations in Delhi. We also did Mall Intercept at popular markets like Sarojini Nagar and Malviya Nagar. Due to the shortage of time, we conducted a few telephonic interviews to maintain diversity in data. 3.3 Sampling Process Target Population: The target population is the collection of elements or objects that process the information sought by the researcher and about which inferences are to be made. Our target population involves the users, deciders and buyers of health food drinks. The users include the old and the young population. The deciders and the buyers mostly include the house wives who buy the product from the market. Sample Size: It denotes the number of elements to be included in the study. Due to time constraints the sample size chosen is very small. Sampling Technique: A mixture of quota and stratified method was used for sampling, with care being taken to get responses from customers of different age groups and different family sizes. iv. Fieldwork The survey was conducted keeping in mind the users and deciders of the health drinks. The survey was conducted in the Paschim Vihar and Ranibagh Areas of Delhi. We made several trips to the local market (Sarojini Nagar and Malviya Nagar) and the nearby households to gather information from relevant people. V. Data Interpretation and Analysis 5.1 Data Analysis Plan This chapter shows how the information needed to answer the three key research questions have been extracted via the questionnaire. Q1 explicitly asked the respondents if a health drink is used in the family or by them. The questionnaire was not administered to the respondents that answered NO to this question. Such respondents have not been included in the sample size of 60 that has been mentioned. Q2 to Q6 of the questionnaire are used to get the general details about the respondent (age, educational qualification, annual income, family size and number of children in the family. Q4 explicitly asked the respondents about the size of the family and Q6 asked about the number of children in the respondents family. Q7 explicitly asks the brand preference of the respondent about the health drink. Q8 asks the respondents to rate the importance of the following purchase considerations on a scale of 1(Very unimportant) to 5 (Very Important): a) Nourishment b) Colour c) Palatability d) Economy e) Shelf-presence f) Packaging g) Brand Image h) Promotions These attributes were decided after a thorough secondary data analysis. However some of these attributes might have similar effect on the consumer preference. Therefore we conduct a factor analysis to find out the factors to which one or more of the above variables belong. Q9 asks the respondents to rate the Sources of Information influencing the Purchase Decision. The following sources were considered: a) Advertisement b) Children c) Doctor d) Family e) Past experience f) Retailer g) Word of mouth The respondents were asked to rank the factors in order of importance. Q10 ask the respondents to score each of the brands on the various product attributes on a scale of 1 5. Five major selling brands were tested on the various product attributes mentioned. The brands included in the test were: a) Boost b) Bournvita c) Complan d) Horlicks e) Milo Q11 and Q12 are used to determine the brand loyalty of the respondent towards the health drink, thus asking the switching pattern of the users. Q13 in the Questionnaire attempts to find the Brand Personality by asking customers the perceived traits of each of the leading brands of health drinks available in the market today. It is very important to realize that these are not the attributes that the drink claims to possess, via its advertisements and other promotional activities. For e.g. Boost in its campaign claims that â€Å"Boost is the secret of my energy†, but rather the attributes the customer feels that the drink possesses. Therefore, if respondents identify spiritedness with Boost it would imply that Boost is successful in its marketing strategy. The responses to this question would also be important to other players in this segment, as they would realize that their promotions are not being effective and hence this would encourage them to redirect their marketing efforts. Apart from spiritedness, the other important traits have been identified as Modesty, Honesty, Cheerfulness, Boldness, Spiritedness, Reliabil ity, Sophistication, Toughness, and Ruggedness. 5.2 Methodology Questionnaire Checking/Editing: The questionnaire is checked for completion and interviewing quality. Editing is the review of the questionnaire with the objective of increasing accuracy and precision. Collation of Data: The data is collated in the excel sheet and prepared for statistical analysis. An SPSS view of the data was also taken for further analysis. Choice of Statistical Analysis Techniques: T-statistic: A t-test was conducted on the results of the survey in order to compare the means of the ranks for the factors or sources of information to find out the most important influencing the purchasing decision. T-test was also conducted on the various product attributes for different brands. Anova: It is carried to study the variance of the factors or product attributes that influence the most among the various demographic groups by conducting the one way Anova test on the scores of these 8 factors. Factor Analysis: The various variables that denote the product attributes that determine the purchasing decision can be actually factored using factor analysis. This factoring of the variables helps in easily studying the consumer behaviour. Cluster Analysis: The set of respondents was segmented on the basis of the demographic information namely ‘age-group, ‘income-group, ‘education, ‘family size etc using cluster analysis so as to identify the distinct clusters depending upon these demographic factors. Multi Dimensional Scaling: This analysis was performed on the overall samples as well as on the 2 segments individually so as to gauge the difference in their perceptions. The selection process depends on the fact that it is conducted on the aggregate level data, i.e. that on the two clusters formed after cluster analysis. This is due to the fact that all market strategies are typically formulated at the segment or aggregate level. 5.3 Analysis and Interpretation Sources of Information influencing the Purchase Decision h) Advertisement i) Children j) Doctor k) Family l) Past experience m) Retailer n) Word of mouth The respondents were asked to rank the factors in order of importance. A t-test was conducted on the results of the survey in order to compare the means of the ranks for the factors. The results of the test are as shown in the Exhibit 1. We can say from the results that there is a significant difference between the ranks of the factors with a 95% confidence. The two most important factors that emerge out of the tests overall are the â€Å"Family doctor† and the influence of the â€Å"Family†. This finding is an important implication for product placement. We can say that the health food drinks should appeal to the complete family rather than only a particular age group. Doctors can also be an important influencer or opinion leader and hence should be targeted in the product promotions. Some products have been promoting their products using comparative advertisements including testifications by the doctors. A second test can be conducted in the same manner taking only the cases where the people are having kids in the family. The results are shown in the Exhibit 2. We observe that the two most important factors differ from the first scenario. The two most important factors that emerge out of the test are â€Å"Family Doctor† and â€Å"Advertisement†. Thus it can be concluded that advertisements have an important influence on the families having kids or in turn the kids. This can be easily observed from the large number of advertisements directed towards the well being of kids. Product Attributes Influencing the Purchase Decision The following product attributes were identified as influencing the purchase decisions of the customers: a) Nourishment b) Colour c) Palatability d) Economy e) Shelf-presence f) Packaging g) Brand Image h) Promotions The respondents were asked to score the importance of the factors on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the most important. A t-test was conducted on the scores of the factors in order to find the most important factors. The t-test shows there is a significant difference between the scores of the various factors with a 95% confidence. The results of the test are shown in Exhibit 3. We observe from the results that the two most important product attributes in making a purchase decision are the â€Å"Palatability† and the â€Å"Nourishment† perception in the minds of the customers. These factors turn out to be the same irrespective of whether there are children in the family or not. We then study the variance of these factors among various demographic groups by conducting the one way Anova test on the scores of these 8 factors. We studied the variance of the mean scores of these attributes among the various groups differentiated by the following factors:- a) Income b) Education c) Age d) Family size The results of the Anova tests which were conducted on the data are as shown in the Exhibits 4-7. We observe that there are no significant differences in the scores of the product attributes in different groups as classified by â€Å"Income†, â€Å"Education† and â€Å"Family size† within a 95% confidence interval. However there is a significant different on the â€Å"Nourishment† and â€Å"Economy† product attributes of health food drinks. As is observed from the mean scores, the â€Å"Nourishment† aspect becomes particularly important for people above the age of 60. It is also important for people who are young in age i.e. less than 20. However it does not seem to be very significant for people in the age group 33- 45. The factor analysis of these attributes is done in the following section. Factor Analysis of Purchase Considerations The factor analysis of the 8 product attributes yields the following 3 factors: Factor I: Promotion, Shelf-Presence, Packaging Economy Factor II: Palatability, Brand Factor III: Nourishment, Colour (For the output of factor analysis, refer to exhibit 8.) As factor I encompass the accessibility and affordability of the product, it can be termed as ‘Purchase Feasibility. As factor II encompass the palatability and brand value of the product, it can be termed as ‘Likeability. As factor III encompass the nutritional value and colour, an indicator of quality, of the product, it can be termed as ‘Utility. Customer Segmentation The set of respondents was segmented on the basis of the demographic information namely ‘age-group, ‘income-group, ‘education, ‘family size etc. The cluster analysis on these demographic variables yields the following 2 clusters: * Cluster 1: The members are almost uniformly distributed across all age segments except under-20 in which no member lies. However, the family size is large than 3 for all the members and a majority of members having 1-2 child in the family. The cluster size is 27 respondents. * Cluster 2: All the members in this cluster are less than the age of 32 yrs, with the majority being less than 20 yrs. Around 90% of the members were either single or couple thus suggesting that the members were either students, or bachelor/newly-married young working professionals. The cluster size is 30 respondents. * As the consumption in cluster 2 would be lower than the large families comprising kids older persons because of less health concerns and preference for alternative beverages, the price sensitivity of cluster 2 would be low while cluster 1 is concerned about economy. (For output of cluster analysis, refer to Exhibit 9). Thus, cluster 1 could be termed as ‘value-seekers while cluster 2 could be termed as ‘quality-seekers. Different Brands on Product Attributes Five major selling brands were tested on the various product attributes mentioned. The brands included in the test were: f) Boost g) Bournvita h) Complan i) Horlicks j) Milo The respondents were asked to score each of the brands on the various product attributes on a scale of 1 5. T-test was conducted on the various product attributes for different brands. The results have been shown in Exhibit 11. The number of respondents who were consuming the various brands is as shown in the pie chart. As we can observe from the graph, Bournvita is found to be the leading brand closely followed by Horlicks, while the other brands do not have a large taking from our survey. The results of the various brands on different attributes are as follows: a) Nourishment: Horlicks scores well above all the b