Monday, November 25, 2019

The eNotes Blog Math Brain Teasers 5 Famous Paradoxes that Will Make youThink

Math Brain Teasers 5 Famous Paradoxes that Will Make youThink Who doesnt love a good mathematical riddle? Challenge yourself to one of these brain teasers, and whip them  out at your next social gathering. The Potato Paradox Q: Say you have 100 pounds of potatoes, which are 99% water by weight. You let them dehydrate until they’re 98% water. How much do they weigh now? The surprising answer is 50 pounds! A: For 100 pounds of potatoes with 99% water weight, you have 99 pounds of water and 1 pound of solids. This is a 1:99 ratio. If the water decreases to 98%, then you have 2% of solids. This is a 2:98 ratio, which reduces to 1:49. The weight of the solids never changed, so you have 1 pound of solids and 49 pounds of water, so the new total weight is 50 pounds. The Birthday Problem Q: Imagine you have n randomly-chosen people in a room. What is the probability that some pair of them share a birthday? A: This problem has an interesting and unexpected solution. It follows from the solution that there’s a 50.7% chance that in a room with n=20 people, a pair will share a birthday. And there’s a 99.9999% chance that if you have n=200 people in a room, there will be a pair that shares a birthday.   So, if you’re ever in a room with 19 other strangers, there’s a greater chance that you share a birthday with one of them than if you were to flip a coin and get tails. The Monty-Hall Problem via clipartkid.com Q: Suppose youre on a game show, and youre given the choice of three doors: Behind one door is a car; behind the others, goats. You pick a door, say No. 1, and the host, who knows whats behind the doors, opens another door, say No. 3, which has a goat. He then says to you, Do you want to pick door No. 2? Is it to your advantage to switch your choice? A: Yes, you should switch! Counterintuitively, you would have a â…” chance of winning the car if you switch your choice, and a â…“ chance if you stick with your choice. Hilbert’s Paradox of the Grand Hotel Q: Consider a hypothetical hotel with a countably infinite number of rooms, all of which are occupied. Can the hotel accept any more guests? A: Yes, in fact, it can accept infinitely many more new guests. You can think about it this way: in order to make room for the new guests, move the guest occupying room 1 to room 2, the guest occupying room 2 to room 4, and in general, the guest occupying room n to room 2n. This would make all the odd-numbered rooms free. The Barber Paradox via Pinterest Q: The barber is the â€Å"one who shaves all those, and only those, who do not shave himself.† Does the barber shave himself? A: This is an application of Russell’s Paradox, which deals with sets that contain themselves. The answer to this barber question is contradictory. The barber can’t shave himself as he only shaves those who do not shave themselves. So if he shaves himself, then he is no longer a barber.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Civil War Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Civil War - Essay Example The Union used its military to bring the economy of the South to a stand still through having the coast blockaded. In addition, it took control of Mississippi and the Tennessee River system from the west as well as the Atlanta and captured the entire territory from Georgia to the Carolinas. The strategy from the east was to capture Richmond, which was under the supervision of Robert Lee before he was forced to surrender by Grant. This decisive Northern victory was followed by a Reconstruction period. By the time the war was over, approximately 970, 000 citizens had been left as casualties with more than 560,000 dead. The leading cause of the war, the nature of its outcome as well as its name have all remained topics of discussions and controversies since then (Cobbs 414). It is believed that the origin of the Civil War can only be traced within the complicated issues of politics, slavery and conflicts arising between the State’s rights scope and the federal powers, modernizati on, economics, sectionalism, expansionism, and Antebellum period competing nationalism. Despite the disagreements among historians on the causative events of the war and its relative importance, they all agree on the effects the war. War is considered as the most destructive consequent of the political mechanism of man and his ambitions. While all wars are taken as being equally horrific, one war that will always stand out of the rest is the Civil War. Taking place between 1861 and 1865, the war is remembered as being the deadliest war ever witnessed in the history of America. Reasons Why the North won the War Between the participating parts; the Northern States and the Southern States, the Union emerged as the victors and this victory has been associated with several reasons; The Northern States outnumbered their counterparts making the Southern unable to match the advancing force from the north. The north enjoyed a majority of States with the Union having at least 20 pure states w hile the South had only 11 states. This ensured that the Union’s manpower was greater thus automatically countering the strength of the Confederate army. The Northern State also had far much bigger number of soldiers approximated to be above 2, 400, 000 while the Southern States having an inferior number of soldiers that was bellow 1, 000, 000 (Boyer 500). The other factor that gave the Union an age over the Confederate was the industry superiority of the Union. Its industrial position ensured that the Northern States had more financial resources and money to see them through the war. This financial status meant that the union was well–off when it came to supplying its troops with arms which ensured that they kept fighting, constantly received medical attention and food supply was readily available. The industrial strength of the Union was far much superior. This was characterized a better number industries and factories that offered the necessary fuel, ammunition and weaponry equipment. The Southern States on the other hand were mostly plantation and cotton owners with insufficient advanced depots and suppliers (Cobbs 434). This left the south with limited supply and food resources as well as war equipment thus they had no chance of stopping the

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Health Service Administration Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Health Service Administration - Term Paper Example Trends in the hospital sector can be inclusive of both positive and negative trends, where the positive ones relate to demographics and the negative to compensations. These trends have their benefits and disadvantages thus influencing performance. One of the trends relates to technological advancements where most hospitals are yet to be equipped with the current technology (Duggan, 2000). This is due to the expense of the tools and the craftsmanship.Besides this the global reach and the personalized care. The treatment to disease has expanded to most regions in the world and yet most chronic diseases are still a major concern. Individuals in most countries are not able to access proper medical care and others seek personalized services based on the social status. Thirdly, the aging population, chronic diseases, obesity and diabetes epidemics are trends in the hospital sector. This are put in place to measure and control the diseases as well as to give a proper analysis to the sector. One of the most important roles of hospitals includes training. They are actively involved in the teaching and instruction to medical and nursing staff. This ensures that there is active provision of medical facilities, health and welfare (Kessler & McClellan, 2002). The nursing homes provide exercise facilities to the nurses on the discharge of their knowledge and skills acquired. On the ground, the hospitals provide care to those who cannot access it and also participate in educating the society.

Monday, November 18, 2019

Skype Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Skype - Essay Example right blend of a sound business vision and an exclusive access to the relevant technologies will dominate the economies in the times to come (Amor 2008: p.4). Since, in today’s info savvy world, every financial venture has a technological aspect associated with it, therefore the converse is also true. That is, every innovative technology has a commercial value associated with it, the right and timely exploitation of which can work wonders for a business. Skype is one such e-business that is based on the exploitation of the synergies existing between business and technology. Skype was founded by Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis in the year 2003 (Skype 2009). The ingenuity of Skype lied in inventing software that enabled its customers to make telephone calls via internet, anywhere in the world by paying a reasonable fee. Besides this, Skype offered additional features as file transfer, instant messaging and video conferencing. Thus Skype represented the long awaited convergence between the regular telephonic technology and the internet, which offered both the features of a regular telephone and the internet assisted communication. The headquarters of Skype are based at Luxembourg, with supporting administrative and software development facilities scattered all across the world. The USP of Skype lies in offering economical voice and video calls by means of voice over internet protocol (VoIP) (Ravindran 2008). Over the time, the accessibility of Skype has been extended to both the landline and cellular phones (Ravindran 2008). According to Chris Lewis, the head of strategy at Skype, right now Skype is vowing reputed hardware manufacturers like Nokia so as to expand the range of platforms from which their services can be accessed (Ravindran 2008). The ultimate cherry over the cake is that at Skype, Skype-to-Skype calls are offered for free (Ravindran 2008). It is not so with other VoIP providers. Thus this prerogative allows the businesses and individuals to save

Friday, November 15, 2019

Role Of Endorsers In Advertising Cultural Studies Essay

Role Of Endorsers In Advertising Cultural Studies Essay Perhaps most important role, an endorser must match up well with the endorsed brands (Shimp, 2003). As images of the personalities become related with products through endorsement, the meanings they attach to the products are conveyed to consumers through purchase and consumption (McCracken, 1989). Therefore, the practice of celebrity endorsement should be very much associated to the cultural perspective in which the images of celebrities are created and individual celebrities are selected to be linked with particular products. Studies outlined by Till and Busler (2000) suggest that the celebrity or product fit, also known as the match-up hypothesis, refers to the harmony of the match connecting the product being endorsed and the personality endorser. In addition to that, Shimp (2003) further states that there are 2 types of match-up, which are audience match up, where it deals with the endorsed brands target market along with brand match up, where celebritys values and decorum must be compatible with the image desired for the advertised brand. Product fit is thought to function as a main determinant of endorsement success (Friedman Friedman 1979; Kahle and Homer 1985; Erdogan et al. 2001; Batra and Homer 2004) although celebrity effectiveness does vary across different product types. Friedman and Friedman (1979) concluded that the better the celebrity or product fit, as professed by consumers, the higher the level of endorsement value. Nevertheless, Till and Busler (2000) argue that celebrity or product fit was effective for only certain measures of effectiveness such as brand attitude, but not for other measures such as purchase intention. Despite of the impact celebrity/product fit has on effectiveness Till and Busler (2000) c onsidered this factor should play a significant role in celebrity endorser usefulness. 4.0 CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT AND ADVERTISING EFFECTIVENESS 4.1 Factors / reasons Pickton and Broderick (2005) and Kelman (1998) considered 3 type of source attributes that are source credibility, attractiveness and expertness, where he believe may influence the recipients attitude which may explain why celebrity endorsement can be used as an advert tool. Erdogan (1999) also agreed with the theory and its positive consequence on the audiences reception to the conveyed message. According to him, the source is the person who is conveying a message to an audience. The Source Credibility Model In the context of celebrity endorsement, O Mahony and Meenaghan (1998) claim that credibility relates to the target audiences perception of the celebrity having sufficient knowledge or experience to provide accurate. The model contends that the effectiveness of a message depends on the perceived level expertise and trustworthiness in an endorser (Hovland et al. 1953). Consequently, the more favorably consumers assess the expertise and trustworthiness of a celebrity endorser, the more likely the celebrity is to be regarded as a reliable source of information on the product and thus the better the brand he/she endorses is represented (Ohanian, 1990). According to Belch and Belch (1998) spokesperson are regularly chosen because of their knowledge, experience and expertise in a particular product or service area. The importance of using expert sources was also shown in a study by Ohanian (1991), who found that the perceived capability of celebrity endorsers was more essential in explaining purchase intentions. Ohanian further states, endorsers are most useful when they are experienced, knowledgeable and qualified to talk about the product. In addition to that, while expertise is important, the target audience must also find the endorsers believable. Trustworthiness as define by Tellis (2004) is the willingness of the source to make true claims. The research conducted by Miller and Baseheart (1969) established that consumer behavior is openly related to the confidence they put in expert endorsers. The Source Attractiveness Model Another equally important attribute of the source of celebrity endorsement is its attractiveness. Langmeyer and Shank (1994) maintain that the concept of source attractiveness is not limited to good looks only, but also encompasses such non-physical characteristics as, for example, abilities in sports, grace, tact, charisma or intelligence. The theory is agreed by Shimp (2001) where he also affirmed that attractiveness multifaceted and does not include just physical attractiveness. The Meaning Transfer Model Unlike the Source Models, this theory proposed by Grant McCracken in 1989 contends that credibility and attractiveness do not sufficiently explain why celebrity endorsement works. According to this model, endorser effectiveness depends on the culturally acquired meanings he or she brings which may includes status, career, gender as well as personality and lifestyle. For example, from the celebrity athlete perspective, Roger Federer is publicly recognized from his career in the sporting arena since this is where he became known to the public. Martin (1996) concludes in effect the athlete becomes synonymous with the sport and the meanings become a part of the celebrity athletes image. Next, for the second stage, McCracken suggests endorsers will bring their meanings into the ad and transfer them to the product they are endorsing. Thus people evaluations of the celebrity endorsement, the measure of interest in this research occur when the advertisement is viewed by consumer. In the final stage, the meanings has given to the product are transferred to the consumer. As stated by McCracken (1989), this stage positively shows the importance of the consumers role in the process of endorsing brands with celebrities although Belch and Belch (1998) arguably said that this stage is complicated and difficult to achieve. 4.2 The timing According to Tellis (2004), the source credibility theory is most relevant for explaining the role of experts, while the source attractiveness is applicable in the case of lay endorses like fictitious individuals or characters. Furthermore, both Tellis (2004) and McCracken (1989), indicates that the meaning transfer theory suits the use of celebrities as endorsers, as it provides an insightful framework for using the complexity of meanings associated with celebrities. Celebrity endorsement is best used during the maturity phase of a life cycle (Anon, 2004). Promotion and advertising transfers from the scope of having new customers, to the extent of product differentiation in terms of reliability and quality. During this phase new brands are launched even when they compete with competitors, thus this is when celebrity endorsement can take place. Although, the use of celebrity endorsers is prevalent in advertising, however it is not without risk (Shimp and Till, 1998). When a company decides to use a celebrity, they should consider major factors ( Shimp, 2001 and Belch and Belch, 1998) as the timing might be in appropriate for an endorsement: Overexposure If a celebrity is overexposed, that is endorsing too many brands, his or her credibility may suffer ( Tripp et al. 1994). David Beckham, for example, may be somewhat overexposed. Cost consideration How much to acquire a celebrity`s services is an important consideration and unfortunately, it is not a simple calculation as it is difficult to project the revenue stream ( Belch and Belch, 1998). The Trouble factor As noted by Shimp (2001) celebrity behavior may pose a risk to a company. For example Gatorade had to drop Tiger Woods as its endorser due to the recent incidents. Target audience receptivity A study by Horowitz ( 2002),found that college-age students were more prone to have a positive attitude towards a product endorsed by a celebrity than were older consumers. This is supported by Belch and Belch (2001) where they indicates that this is because older consumers are more knowledgeable and has strongly established attitudes. 5.0 CONCLUSION This literature review aims to provide the assessment on the use of celebrity spokespersons in advertising to endorse brands. Through the findings the purchase intentions of consumers are closely related to the credibility of a celebrity endorser used in an advertisement, their perceptions of expertise of a celebrity endorser, the attractiveness and popularity of the latter as well as celebrity-product mix-match. However, as several failures show, it is essential for advertisers to be aware of the complex processes underlying celebrity endorsement, by gaining an understanding of the described concepts of source attractiveness and credibility, match-up analysis, and meaning transfer model. Further research efforts must be taken into consideration to develop a consistent, extensive and user-friendly tool to avoid wrong decisions and enhance the strategic quality of endorser decisions. Figure 1: Meaning transfer in the endorsement process (Adapted from McCracken 1989) Figure 2: The Five Components in the TEARS Model of Endorser Attributes

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Solitude of the Garage :: Descriptive Essay About A Place

Solitude of the Garage I walked outside into the cool April morning. The air around me was a slightly stinging cold; nevertheless, I took a big deep breath of the refreshing mountain air. I walked over to my dads red and white 1979 Ford F150 pickup and started it for him. I brought it around to the front of the house, put the transmission in neutral, and set the parking brake. After hopping out of the cab, I met my dad coming out of the house, and went around the front of the truck. I hopped into the passenger seat while my dad got into the drivers seat. We fastened our seat belts and we headed off to Paonia. I was looking for a new dirt bike, and I was going to Paonia to look at a 1990 Honda CR 125. I had owned three dirt bikes before, but I had sold each one in order to buy another one with more power, and here I was again ready to buy my fourth. When we arrived at Jared Morton's house, the owner of the bike, he already had the bike out. He was making sure that the bike was in perfect shape for me to see. My dad parked the truck, and we both hopped out to greet Jared. We walked over to his garage, where the bike was located. I examined the bike and asked him questions about it, like how long he had had the bike and how often he had ridden it. The bike had a seat height of 34 inches. The body of the bike was a dull orange color, with the frame being white. It had inverted racing forks that had fenders on them to protect them from dust and debris. The stock handle bars were replaced with Renthal bars for more precise steering. The front tire was good, but the rear tire was a little worn down as if he had drove it on the pavement too much. The bikes exhaust had also been replaced with a FMH racing pipe. Jared did all these modifications to the bike because he had competed in races, and he needed the bike to be in excellent mechanical shape. After I was done looking at the bike, Jared got on it, gave it a couple of kick-starts, and it started right up. He got off and let me test-drive the bike.