Object-oriented Programming and Data Member

Lab Task Q1: Create a class that includes a data member that holds a â€Å"serial number† for each object created from the class. That is, the first object created will be numbered 1, the second 2, and so on. To do this, you’ll need another data member that records a count of how many objects have been created so far. (This member should apply to the class as a whole; not to individual objects. What keyword specifies this? ) Then, as each object is created, its constructor can examine this count member variable to determine the appropriate serial number for the new object.Add a member function that permits an object to report its own serial number. Then write a main() program that creates three objects and queries each one about its serial number. They should respond I am object number 2, and so on. Use copy constructor for this task both deep and shallow copy. Q2: Create a class calculator. It would have two data members, both integer types. There would be four functio ns add(), sub(), mul() and div(). The mul() and div() functions would be friend functions. Create four objects of the class. Also use copy constructor both shallow and deep copy.There would be a static data member which would count the number of objects. Q3: Create a class GPACalculator. This class would have gpa, cgpa, sessionalMarks, midMarks and finalMarks data members. There would be two functions calculateGPA() and calculateCGPA(). calculateCGPA() would be friend function. You need to create an array of GPACalculator class. The array would be of 5. You also need to give the user option of whether he wants to calculate gpa or cgpa. The grades are as follows: 50 and 53 and 57 and 61 and 64 and 68 and 72 and 75 and 80 and 86 and

India 2014 Elections Essay

Congress had an emphatic victory in 2009 Lok Sabha elections. UPA-2 started on a high by winning almost full majority on its own. However, their second term has been marred with controversies and corruption allegations. Starting with Commonwealth Games scam, every few months saw a new scam coming out like Adarsh Society scam and the biggest of all, the 2G scam. Fuel and commodity prices have risen sharply in the past few years adding to the woes of common man. Crusade against black money and corruption by Anna Hazare and to some extent baba Ramdev has only added to the woes of Congress. But Congress is shrewd and knows politics quite well. They know that offense is the best way to defend. For every scam or corruption news that comes out, they bounce back with equally controversial news against rival parties. Their projection of Rahul Gandhi, who has not yet proved any political sense, as a Prime Ministerial candidate may help them in their campaign build up to 2014 polls. [pic][pic]M ain opposition party Bhartiya Janata Party was left down and out after the 2009 polls. BJP’s arch enemy is not Congress but BJP itself. It’s leaders have failed to capitalize on core issues of price rise and corruption against the Congress. They should have learned from how Congress and some smaller parties have been able to successfully use the anti-minority tag against the BJP for over two decades now. BJP has also lost a lot of mass appeal leaders over the years. Most popular elader in india Atal Behari Vajpayee has now retired from active politics. Charasmatic leader and face of modern India, Pramod Mahajan was killed in a tragic incident. Stalwarts like Govindacharya and Jaswant Singh were thrown out. Prime Ministerial candidate Murli Manohar Joshi has been made to sit on the sidelines with no influence on national level politics. L K Advani is close to retirement years and firebrand Sushma Swaraj hasn’t proved to be a winner yet. That leaves the party with only one leader of mass appeal, Narendra Modi, who may not yet be ready to leave Gujara t and join National level politics. Besides, everyone knows Congress will play the anti-minority tag aginst him quite well. BJP has also destroyed its chances by not forming strategic alliances with other parties in states. It used to ahve an allaince with AIADMK in Tamil Nadu, Mamata Banerjee’s TMC in West Bengal and BJD in Orissa, but they have all left BJP group now. BJP’s loss has been Congress’s gain. Third Front parties have been reduced to play a minority role at the center over the past few years. Leaders like Lalu Yadav, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Jayalalitha, Mayawati are no longer king makers. Most of them have been left with no option then to support the ruling Govt, in this case the Congress. Left Front has already become non-existent after the debacle in 2011 Assembly elections and it’d be highly unlikely that they’d make any comeback by 2014. FOr the past few years, most third Front allies have been hob-nobbing with the Congress, which raises doubts on their very existence. Third Front was formed to combat BJP as well as Congress, but if you are going to chose Congress after the polls every time, then won’t it better for people to vote for Congress directly? Third Front needs to get its priorities right and decide on thei future survival options, because as of now their future looks bleak. The Contenders for India Elections 2014: Though Congress may not admit it yet, but Manmohan Singh may be shown the door out, and Congress may prefer to field Rahul Gandhi as its Prime Ministerial candidate in 2014. it may be too ealryfor Rahul to lead the nation as he has not proven his political accumen yet, but after the negative reviews UPA-2 is gathering, Congress amy want to chnage Manmohan Singh. As for BJP, the choice may be between one last try for L K Advani and popular leader Narendra Modi.

Nonpoint Source Pollution

Nonpoint source pollution is land runoff from drainage, rain, and seepage and hydraulic modification. It is caused by rain or snow melt that moves through and over the ground. When the runoff moves, it collects and picks up manmade and natural pollutants and ends up spilling into lakes, rivers, streams, and coastal waters. Nonpoint source pollution can include things like motor oil, toxic chemicals, animal droppings, trash and even insecticides. Our drinking water needs to be protected. It takes the help of the community, public water systems and resource managers.We can do small things such as posting signs in our community to let others know that any pollution in the area can contaminate our everyday drinking water. You can also be careful as to how much fertilizers and pesticides you use because the more you use, the more runs off when it rain and it is in the soil as well so when the rain washes the soil, it flows through storm drains. A great plan is to get a group together and help clean up along local rivers and streams and along side of the road.It helps to limit the trash and bacteria that contaminates our water. Other solutions to help prevent non point source pollution and help keep our water clean is to keep all harsh chemical substances stored away from the ground and in their original containers. Also, If you happen to wash your car, don’t allow the runoff to drain into the streets or the sewage system as it will contaminate it. Opposing views of these issues are perhaps people not agreeing to get up and go volunteer because they have better things to do.Some people see it that the city is supposed to take care of it. Some people won’t want to change the location of where they wash vehicles at. They all want convenience of course. Many people do not have proper inspections of their lawns that have been fertilized. They can be tested by professionals but people will oppose to because it will come with a fee, and others do not have the ir septic tanks cleaned out every few years because of the price as well.Non point source pollution also contributes to eutrophication which is runoff that has nitrogen and phosphate in it and it stimulates the growth of algae and it can harm and kills fish and organisms. The algae grow to make a mat over the water and on the floor of the water that diminishes the light through the water so it lowers the growth and productivity of other plants. â€Å"The water becomes depleted in oxygen. When the abundant algae die and decompose, much oxygen is consumed by those decomposers.Oxygen in the water is also lowered by the lack of primary production in the darkened, deeper waters. Lowered oxygen results in the death of fish that need high levels of dissolved oxygen such as trout, salmon and other desirable sport fish. The community composition of the water body changes, with fish that can tolerate low dissolved oxygen, such as carp predominating. As you can imagine, changes in fish commun ities have ramifications for the rest of the aquatic ecosystem as well, acting at least in part through changes in food webs. (Muir, P. 2009)Some challenges that my plan faces is that it’s not very easy to get others to partake in community service and to also notice the small things they do really contribute to non point source pollution in my community. It takes a group effort to raise awareness on this issue, but if everyone pulls together, our drinking water will be cleaner, our lakes ponds and rivers will be safer to swim and fish in and the plants and animals in the habitats of our waters will be safer and not endangered by our hazardous wastes.This plan effects the entire community and can become a very productive and positive way to protect our environment and ourselves. Our children drink the water we contaminate, even though it has passed through water treatments, it is still not clean enough to drink safely. We can also consider raising awareness groups and contact ing your local news stations to get the word out to your community and also have your coworkers get involved as well. References Muir, Patricia. Oct. 2009. Eutrophication. At people. oregonstate. edu

Curriculum Review Schedule Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Curriculum Review Schedule - Research Paper Example The schedule therefore provides a timeline as outlined in the review cycle of how the same will be implemented. The schedule thus goes a long way to ensuring that whatever was planned for is surely implemented. There are different ways through which one may develop the schedule and the interpretation is equally important. The developers of the schedule thus need to ensure that the implementers will be able to understand the schedule and follow it easily (Boarman & Kirkpatrick, 1995). To show following differences the following schedules are used The first important aspect of the schedule is the time aspect. The time provided for each phase must be; edequate to carry all the activities of the phase, fully observed as there is no extra time allowance and must tally with the allocated time in the review cycle. While carrying out the research, each phase is allocated specific period of time in the various schedules. However, that of the Naperville Community Unit School District 203, the time allowance is too general without specific time limits. This makes it hard to follow on as the time frame is not specified. A look at the Stillwater Area Public Schools schedule shows some differences in the way it is arranged. The various units that are taught within the schools are run at different stages for different course units. For example a look at the 2011-2012, there will a course such as Social Studies which will be in the first stage that is Study, Audit and Alignment while another course such as Math will already be at the implementation and monitoring stages. This shows that the curriculum review needs not to be carried out in the similar phases for all the courses. Another notable difference with the Stillwater Area Public Schools schedule that is different from the other two is on the determination of the various activities that need to be carried out in each stage. While the activities may be outline in the cycle well, the outlay of the various

Human resources Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Human resources - Assignment Example Interpersonal skills of different level of employees must be observed and analysed randomly. A lower level of interpersonal skills in more number of employees is indicative towards the need of team building. After the need assessment, the next step is checking the adaptability of existing training modules within the organisational structure of the department to be trained. A general approach must include trainings on interpersonal skills, leadership skills, communication skills and ‘motivation’. The need assessment should develop a picture on how the employees are going to perceive the activities and content of each of these modules. Motivation and aspiration of employees are two important factors to be considered while planning a team building training. The hierarchical structure of employees is also to be understood before finalising the need of team building training. The observations out of this need assessment exercise can be used to decide whether team building is needed or not. Thus any request for team building training must be preceded by a need assessment. However, it is advisable to brief the organisation with the structure of the training and the importance of need assessment before committing the

Health and Women as Healers in the African American Culture Research Paper

Health and Women as Healers in the African American Culture - Research Paper Example African Americans have a long health tradition and practices of health that shape what they do to care for themselves today. According to Becker, Rahima, and Edwina (par. 9), the traditional medicine of African Americans can be traced back past enslavement in America to their native cultures in Africa. Fundamental facets of the African American culture are key self-care strategy development. There is a basic self-care approach that builds on extensive values and practices. These practices and values comprise of social support, spirituality and traditional medicine. Each of these practices of culture is vital in shaping the understanding of an individual of self-care. Together, they form the foundation for the activities of self-care that are cultured further so as to manage illnesses. Nonetheless, when the cultural approach to self-care was applied to particular health concerns, the establishment of additional self-care strategies was impacted by access to health care. Health care accessibility made a difference in how individuals managed their illnesses Healing has a long alliance with faith, spirit, family support and altered consciousness state. Women have traditionally been healers in the society in all cultures, as healing has been viewed as the natural duty of wives and mothers. Healing has also been regarded as a natural display of the feminine principle. Healing is the return toward the integrity natural state and individual wholeness. Healers facilitate the process of healing. The woman healer learns or inherits skills and abilities of healing from family, apprenticeships or spirits. The woman healer can holistically observe the intricate nature of the illness. Then, she treats the mind, body and spirit with stress in the spirit and practice prevention of disease. Moreover, their clients trust them. These women have a distinct connection to the spirit world that empowers them to heal. Additionally, they are wise to

The Role of Human Resource Management in a Healthcare System with Research Paper

The Role of Human Resource Management in a Healthcare System with Employee Unions - Research Paper Example Employee unions in the U.S grew from 1950 to 1970 during which industrialization was at its peak (Shi and Singh, 2008). Towards the end of 1980s and 1990s, Malvey (2010) believes there was a change in this trend because the U.S economy was taking a different direction of production; from manufacturing industries to service industries, hence the decline in the number of workers registered under unions. This research paper presents the role played by HR management in improving the general delivery of healthcare services and patient outcomes in organizations that have employee unions. Methods This research paper was compiled with help from published literature. Data collection was through secondary sources. Results This paper is expected to reveal the role played by HR management in organizations that have employee unions and health organizations in general. The Role of HR Management in a Healthcare System with Employee Unions This section describes the specific work areas in which the roles of HR management are integrated to ensure that these aspects are taken into consideration during any organizational activity. Labor Unions and Healthcare Labor unions have one major objective: to protect the rights of the members and ensure their fair treatment (Dessler, 2012). The early 1990s saw a rise in unions due to industrialization and persistent unfair employee treatment by the management in the U.S. According to Dessler (2012, p. 404), the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) was passed in 1935 and it protected workers’ rights to formation of unions, defined labor practices that were unfair and formed the National Labor Relations Board liable for NLRA regulatory oversight. A shift in the U.S economy from manufacturing to service during the 1980s and 1990s saw a decline in union membership following a remarkable rise that saw 25% of the U.S workforce represented by unions between 1950 and 1970 (Malvey, 2010). Healthcare industry is a target service sector by unio n leaders for they feel it is an untapped potential union membership source. According to Malvey (2010), the healthcare sector had 12.9% of its workers registered under unions in the year 2000, a percentage that rose in 2009 to 13.6%. The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) formed a separate union in 2007, SEIU Healthcare, which happens to be the largest national union (Dessler, 2012). This union represents nursing, hospital, long-term care and other outpatient facilities while those representing physicians are associated with SEIU. The largest union of nurses sin the United States is the National Nurses United (NNU) which was formed when three unions, the United American Nurses, the California Nurses Association, and the National Nurses Organizing Committee, merged and it represents an estimated 150,000 members (Dessler, 2012). The role played by the HR department and management is to engage in labor negotiations with these labor unions in order to provide employee ample t ime and place for work. Handling of Legal, Ethical, and Healthcare Safety Issues In all organizations all employees at different levels must understand the basic and ethical values that have particular effects in the healthcare working environment (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, and Wright, 2011). The legal relationship that exists between the healthcare institution and the client, or rather the nurse practitioner and the patient is the back-bone relationship of all medicares. It is not just the law’s requirement that healthcare providers maintain ethical behaviors but this must be addressed as the medical industry is full of tough situations that involve ethical problems.

Employer Policies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Employer Policies - Essay Example Based on ethical basis, an employer should provide retirement plans for the employees. An example is the 401 (k) plan or the IRA plan that is most suitable for small businesses (Steingold, 2015, p. 118). An employer, however, should not promise an employee a specific income level after retirement. Instead, an employee earns his or her contribution to the plan. Based on good managerial skills, an employer should consider all the administrative requirements. That complies with the ERISA that requires employers to have plan administrators. Participating employees must have a copy of the summary plan description, summary annual report and survivor coverage data. An employer must not fail to file Form 5500 with the IRS, annually (Steingold, 2015, p. 122). A key employer policy in the field of technology management is the Affordable Health Care Act. The Act has diverse legal, ethical and managerial dimensions. It is beneficial to women through because it provides insurance options for women covering preventive services at affordable costs. It is suitable for young adults through its coverage provided to them up to when they are 26 years of age. There are several benefits from the various annual wellness visits provided under the Act. In addition, there are preventive services offered for seniors who have Medicare. Front-line supervisor or manager benefits from provisions of the Act that places accountability to insurance companies for any increase in premium by

Statistical Reasoning in public Health Math Problem

Statistical Reasoning in public Health - Math Problem Example The children were followed for one year after randomization, and monitored for AOM during this period. 262 children were randomized to the vaccine group, and 150 of these children experienced at least one incident of AOM during the follow-up period. 134 children were randomized to the placebo group, and 83 of these children experience at least one incident of AOM during the follow-up period. (a) Report a 95% confidence interval for the proportion of children experiencing at least one incident of AOM during the follow-up period in: 1) the group randomized to receive AOM 51.2% to 63.1% 2) the group randomized to receive a placebo 53.5% to 69.7% 3) How do these 95% CI’s compare? (similar range of values? Overlap?) There is an overlap of values. (b) 1) Report a 95% confidence interval for the difference in proportions of children experiencing AOM over the follow-up period. (you may choose the direction of comparison – ie: placebo to vaccine or vice-versa) . Placebo to vacci ne: 47.3% to 63.1% 2) Interpret the confidence interval in a sentence. At the 95% confidence level, those who use a placebo have 47.3% to 63.1% chances of experiencing AOM over the follow-up period compared to those who have taken the vaccine. ... Yes, the p-value is consistent. (d) 1) Give an estimate of the relative risk of AOM (in the follow-up period) for children in the vaccine group compared to those in placebo. 0.92 2) Interpret this estimated relative risk. Those who are in the vaccine group are .92 times as likely to suffer from AOM than those in placebo. (e) 1) Give an estimate of the odds ratio of AOM (in the follow-up period) for children in the vaccine group compared to those in placebo. 0.82 or 50:41 2) Interpret this estimated odds ratio. Those who are in the vaccine group are .82 times more likely to suffer from AOM than those in placebo. 3) How does it compare in value to the estimate of relative risk from part d1? They are almost similar. (f) 1) Is this a randomized study? Yes 2) What does this study design suggest when translating the statistical result from part (b) into a substantive/scientific conclusion? (Note: this is an extension question, we have not covered this in detail, I just want you to think ab out it) A randomized study minimizes allocation bias and thus makes the statistical result from part (b) a substantive, unbiased, scientific conclusion 2. A study was done to investigate whether there is a relationship between survival of patients with coronary heart disease and pet ownership. A representative sample of 101 patients with CHD was taken. Each of these patients was classified as having a pet or not and by whether they survived one year following their first heart attack. Of 52 pet owners, 50 survived. Of 49 non-pet owners, 28 survived. Suppose you were interested in doing a statistical analysis of these study results. Answering the follow questions to help you with this goal! (g) Using Stata (or the posted Stata output) , report

HIS 202 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

HIS 202 - Essay Example In the two documents, Hamilton is seen to have drawn his arguments to Washington’s request much more deliberately than Thomas Jefferson (Hofstedter, pg. 164). Hamilton was capable of giving best answer because he had papers written from Virginians Thomas Jefferson and Edmund Randolph against the creation of the Bank of the United States. According to the American history regarding the Bank of the United States, Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton were the most studied and beloved figures. And today, standard bearers of conservatism, radicalism as well as liberalism are utilizing their complex views to legitimize their arguments. The study also shows that various laws, values and customs have shaped the development of banking institutions in the United States in a distinctive way; however, it is evident that none has done so more than the vicious debate between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson over the development of the bank in 1791. Jefferson argues that, the issue on the constitutionality of the bank may be a question does not extend the power of the government beyond the prescribed limits given that it only affirms a power to incorporate specified powers (Hofstedter, pg. 168). ... 52)†. From this quote, it can be evident that Jefferson condemns the system of banking as being corrupt, and that the long-term government debt was going to swindle the future generations. He goes on and says that the incorporation of a bank, and powers assumed by the bill have not been and his opinions are that it has been delegated to the United States by the constitution (Heffnerer, pg. 54). He further argues that the circumstances that powers of sovereignty in America, the country will still remain divided between the national as well as the state government since they does not afford the distinction which is required (Heffnerer, pg. 55). Jefferson opinions were that, the constitutionality of the Bank of the United States were not among the powers specially enumerated since these were only a power to lay taxes for the purposes of paying the debts of the United States, but no debt was to be paid from the bill nor any tax levied and so, this was a bill to raise money hence it s origination in the Senate would condemn it by the constitution (Heffnerer, pg. 52). Thomas Jefferson continues to argue that the situation that the powers of the sovereignty are in the United States and are divided between the national as well as, the state governments does not necessarily afford the distinction which is required. For instance, this does not follow from each of portion o powers delegated to one or to the other is not sovereign in regard to its proper objects. Alexander Hamilton, Opinion on the constitutionality of the Bank Hamilton’s opinion on the bank laid classical arguments of the people who favored an effective central government as well as, a national power.

William Kozol Essay Example for Free

William Kozol Essay In the article â€Å"Still Separate, Still Unequal† written by Jonathan Kozol, Kozol expose and expresses his concern of unequal treatment in the schools according to whether they are in an urban or suburban area. Using a series of reasoning and logic techniques, he then proves his argument that because of the segregation in schools, minorities are not receiving the same education and opportunities as predominantly white schools. Kozol uses statistic, one on one interviews with students and personal reflections to bring insight to the reader, and why he is asking for a change for equal opportunity. Right away Kozol uses statistic from city to city to grasp the readers attention. With doing so, he is showing the reader how â€Å"real life† this issue is. He uses statistics such as â€Å"In Chicago 87% of public-school enrolment was black or Hispanic; less than 10% was white. In Washington D.C., 94% black or Hispanic; to less than 5% white. In New York City, nearly three quarters of the students were black or Hispanic.† (41) to give the viewers an idea of how isolated the schools in the urban areas are. One teacher even stated how of all the years she’s been teaching she has only seen one or two Caucasian kids in her class. Throughout the article, Kozol goes on to compare the type of education that is being given in the urban schools to those of suburban. Also how they portray many of the schools to be diverse but in all reality there is no such thing. By the statistic given in the beginning of the article, that is merely enough proof to show there is no diversity in the schools today; which brings us to the main point of the article of schools being separate. Before we can even focus on the part of education, it seems as if the students were more focused on the appearance of their institutions. If an institution looks and feels great, then the students would be more encouraged to learn. Students should never have to bring forth asking questions like why don’t they have a garden, nice parks to play in, or why aren’t they using their gym for extracurricular but more so to just line up. In their minds, they should be entitled to these opportunities. Why? Because they see the schools in the suburban areas have these things, all the things that they don’t. Moving deeper along the issues that this article expose, he quotes an essayist and novelist by the name Marina Warner, and she states, â€Å"There are expensive children and there are cheap children.†(45) This simply opens up the argument that in order for your child to have a good education you must have a lot of money, and to have a lot of money you must fall somewhere between middle and upper class. Education is supposed to help us better our lives and enhance our ways of living. Therefore, educational opportunities should be equal for all no matter the age, race, or social status. Kozol uses his first hand experience with visiting schools and talking to teachers and students on how they feel about their education. Using quotes from the kids and the teachers, Kozol is helping us use our emotion to feel and understand where they are coming from. With him showing his sympathy and concern towards the issue, that same feeling began to overpower his audience. He even refers to court cases that eventually led minorities to experience education period (Brown vs. Board of Education and Plessy vs. Fergueson). Pathos and ethos are some of the persuasive techniques he uses heavily as the high school students who express to him â€Å"of the limited number of bathrooms that are working in the school, â€Å"only one or two are open and unlocked for the girls to use†. Long lines of girls are â€Å"waiting to use the bathrooms†, which are generally â€Å"unclean† and â€Å"lack basic supplies†, including toilet paper.†(51) There is enough to visualize that those are unlawful conditions that will raise a red flag with the readers. A lot of imagery and repetition is used by Kozol. More so repetition because everyone from a range of grade school to high school is raising the same concerns they have within the school system. From the type of education, to how it is being taught and also the appearance of the institution; which most feel that the appearance plays a big part in students being motivated. It seems Kozol chose his techniques very closely for the matter that his argument can come off much as a bunch of personal opinions. The breakdown of using statistic in the opening of the article played a major part of gaining the readers trust. From that point on, it would be trusted that anything that is stated is nothing but facts. Whether it’s from firsthand experience or acknowledged through third party. It’s pretty obvious that Kozol would like for something to be done about the issue so he targeted people who are educated and who would be willing to step in and help make a change. Works Cited Kozol, Jonathan. Still Separate, Still Unequal. Harpers Magazine (2005): 41-54.

Education Timeline Essay Example for Free

Education Timeline Essay Education Timeline Antiria Jenkins HIS324: History of American Education Instructor: Timothy Kilgore November 12, 2012 http://prezi. com/vcesi_y4xome/history-of-american-education-timeline/ Education in the United States has faced great changes toward development in the past hundreds of years. At the beginning, during the Colonial Era, the principles of education were mainly based on those already used by European nations at the time. However, the country began to adopt its own approaches toward teachings given different social, political and religious practices (Rippa 9). 1635The first Latin Grammar School (Boston Latin School): Founded on April 23, 1635, in Boston, Massachusetts, it is known as the first public school and oldest existing school in the United States. The Latin grammar curriculum was designed for boys 8 to 15, based on European Schools in a Puritan area. Schools were to prepare boys for college and the service of God. Protestantism believed that education was needed so that individuals could interpret the bible. 1751American Academy founded by Ben Franklin: The demand of skilled workers in the middle of the eighteenth century led Benjamin Franklin to start a new kind of secondary school, thus, the American Academy was established in Philadelphia. American high schools eventually replaced Latin grammar schools. Curriculum was geared to prepare students for employment. Academies eventually replaced the Latin Grammar Schools and some admitted Women. 783Introduction of Noah Webster’s Speller: Noah Webster published the A grammatical Institute of the English language, also known as, â€Å"the blue-back speller. † This was the most widely circulated of the early American textbooks and like Webster’s American Dictionary it strived to establish a national identity as well as the United States’ linguistic and cultural independence of England. As the first popular American textbo ok, the introduction of Noah Webster’s speller stands as a significant event in the history of American education. 817(April 15, 1817) Connecticut Asylum for the Education and Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons: The Connecticut Asylum at Hartford for the Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons opens. It is the first permanent school for the deaf in the U. S. Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc are the schools co-founders. In 1864, Thomas Gallaudets son, Edward Miner Gallaudet, helps to start Gallaudet University, the first college specifically for deaf students. 824First State-Supported School Established: Originally named the Boston English Classical School and established in 1821, the school was renamed the English High School in 1824 and also, during that year, became the first-state supported common school. The adoption of the English High as a state-supported common school is a significant event in the history of American education as it was, essentially, the first public school. 1855Abolition of Segregation of Schools in Massachusetts: Following the case of Roberts v. Boston, the state of Massachusetts abolished segregation in their schools. The victory would be the first in a long battle lasting nearly an entire century. This was the first law to oppose segregated schools in the United States and is, therefore, a significant event in the history of American education. 1856The First Kindergarten: In the United States Margarethe Schurz founded the first kindergarten in Watertown, Wisconsin, in 1856. Her German-language kindergarten impressed Elizabeth Peabody, who opened the first American English-language kindergarten in Boston in 1860. The kindergarten was much more influential in the United States and in the northern part of Europe which encouraged the National Education Association to begin a kindergarten department in 1874, and later, teachers founded the International Kindergarten Union in 1892. 1896The Laboratory School of the University of Chicago (First Progressive Laboratory):John Dewey, the father of the progressive education, established the first laboratory school for testing the progressive educational method. This would lead to a popular trend in education adopted by schools during the first half of the twentieth century. Progressive education emphasizes cultivation of problem solving and critical thinking skills through hands-on learning activities. 1905 Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching: Founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1905 and chartered in 1906 by an act of Congress, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching is an independent policy and research center. The Foundation encouraged the adoption of a standard system for equating seat time (the amount of time spent in a class) to high school credits which is still in use today. This system is known as the Carnegie Unit. 1939 The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (first called the Wechsler- Bellevue Intelligence Scale): This scale was developed by David Wechsler and is intended to measure human intelligence reflected in both verbal and performance abilities. It introduces the concept of the deviation IQ, which calculates IQ scores based on how far subjects scores differ (or deviate) from the average (mean) score of others wh o are the same age, rather than calculating them with the ratio (MA/CA multiplied by 100) system. Wechsler intelligence tests, particularly the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, are still widely used in U. S. schools to help identify students needing special education. 1944 The Servicemens Readjustment Act of 1944 (GI Bill of Rights): Bill signed into law on June 22, 1944 by President Franklin Roosevelt during World War II. The GI Bill affords military veterans government funding to pursue or continue educational goals following their service. The GI Bill not only compensates veterans for their service, but has also been responsible for the growth of American colleges and universities. 1954 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka: On May 17, 1954, The U. S. Supreme court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that separate schools did not provide equal education to students and therefore banned the segregation of schools nationwide with a ruling of (9–0) decision stated that separate educational facilities are inherently unequal and declared unconstitutional. 1958 Defense Education Act of 1958: The Defense Education Act of 1958 was signed into law on September 2, 1958 by the United States government during the cold war in reaction to the successful launch of the Soviet satellite Sputnik. The Soviets’ scientific success motivated the U. S. government to fund the U. S. Office of Education’s establishment of scientifically and mathematically centered curriculum. The act contained ten titles designed to improve the nations schools. 1964 Civil Rights Act of 1964: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 signed on July 2, 1964 by President Lyndon B. Johnson banned discrimination in all federally funded programs and outlawed major forms of discrimination against racial, ethnic, national and religious minorities, and women. This law helped to further the ruling of Brown v. Board of Education as many schools had continued segregation. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 financially, â€Å"cut-off,† institutions, such as public schools, which promoted discrimination of any and all types and gave leverage to the movement. 1965 The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA): The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was passed on April 9, 1965 s a part of the War on Poverty. It emphasizes equal access to education and establishes high standards and accountability as well as provides federal funds to help low-income students, which results in the initiation of educational programs such as Title I and bilingual education. 965 The Higher Education Act: The Higher Education Act was signed on November 8, 1965 to strengthen the educational resources of colleges and universities and to provide financial assistance for students in postsecondary and higher education. It increased federal money given to universities, created scholarships, gave low-interest loans for students, and established a National Teachers Cor ps. 1965 Project Head Start: The Head Start program started in the summer of 1965 as an eight week summer program for children from low-income communities going into public school in the fall (Styfco and Zigler, 2003). The program provided preschool classes, medical care, dental care, and mental health services (Kagan, 2002). 1975Education for All Handicapped Children Act now known as The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA): requires public schools to make available to all eligible children with disabilities a free appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment appropriate to their individual needs and requires public school systems to develop appropriate Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) for each child which will reflect the individualized needs of each student. 002 The No Child Left Behind Act: On January 8, 2002, NCLB was signed into law. NCLB supports standards-based education reform based on the premise that setting high standards and establishing measurable goals can improve individual outcomes in education. The Act requires states to develop assessments in basic skills. States must give these assessments to all students at select grade levels in order to receive federal school funding. All students are required to meet the standards establish by NCLB at the accountability of educators. 2004 H. R. 350, The Individuals with Disabilities Improvement Act (IDEA 2004): reauthorizes and modifies IDEA. Changes, which take effect on July 1, 2005, include modifications in the IEP process and procedural safeguards, increased authority for school personnel in special education placement decisions, and alignment of IDEA with the No Child Left Behind Act. The 2004 reauthorization also requires school districts to use the Response to Intervention (RTI) approach as a means for the early identification of students at risk for specific learning disabilities. RTI provides a three-tiered model for screening, monitoring, and providing increasing degrees of intervention using â€Å"research-based instruction with the overall goal of reducing the need for special education services (Re-authorization, 2004). The history of education has been influenced multiple times over the past years. In some shape, form, or fashion, the many changes have affected many lives, especially those with disabilities. Going from segregation to desegregation, women involvement in education and fighting for equal education of those individuals with disabilities has not only marked historical events but has brought togetherness among all races and genders. Without these historical events in shaping education, the world would be at a standstill. References Dewey, John. 1938 (1963). Experience and Education. New York: Collier Books Kagan, J. (2002). Empowerment and education: Civil rights, expert-advocates, and parent politics in Head Start, 1964-1980. Teachers College Record, 104(3), 516-562. Re-authorization of the IDEA 2004. Retrieved November 5, 2012 from http://www. nj. gov/education/specialed/idea/reauth/ Rippa, Alexander. Education in a Free Society. Eighth Edition. New York: Longman, 1997. 3-107. Print. Styfco, S. , amp; Zigler, E. (2003). Early Childhood Programs for a New Century. Reynolds, A. , amp; Wang, M. (Eds. ) The federal commitment to preschool education: Lessons from and for Head Start (pp. 3-33). Washington, D. C. : Child Welfare League of America, Inc.

Social and Ethical Responsibility: New Belgium Brewery

Social and Ethical Responsibility: New Belgium Brewery Introduction How do we judge if a company is good or bad? There are many ways that can be used to define greatness. The company might pay out high dividends to investors or the company may have a huge net income on its monthly yearly statements. Really there is an endless amount of ways to judge how good or bad a company is doing, but probably one of the most critical ways to decide if a company is first-class is how ethically and socially responsible the company is. One such company that not only meets these standards but exceeds them is New Belgium brewery. In the following case study we will answer the following questions, how would you describe operations management at new Belgium, why is it important to engage employees in ownership to enhance quality and efficiency, what does alternatively empowered mean to you, and do you think New Belgiums focus on environmental responsibility and sustainability in its production process is a major cost or benefit that enhances profits of the company. Aft er reading this case study you will be able to judge for yourself if New Belgium is a great company by meeting its social responsibility be lessening the companys ecological foot print. 1. How would you describe operations management at New Belgium Brewing? New Belgium Brewery has an open book management policy which means that its employees can see the companys financial statements, and can take part in making decisions for the company. New Belgium Brewery provides financial training to its employees, in order for them to understand how to make sense of the business side of business. The employees also have a say in the production of new types of beers that are being introduce to the public. Employee contribution affects the companys profitability, from the different brewed beers they choose to produce to their vote on company projects. In 1995, New Belgium Brewery designed themselves a state of the art custom-built facility. They ensure quality and productivity in their products, and also the efficient and environmentally friendly way the beer is produced at their plant. Quality assurance is critical in operations management, especially when it will be produced in large volumes. It is difficult to maintain a consistent product, but in the brewery employees constantly monitor every step, from receiving the hops, to brewing and finally bottling to ensure the highest possible quality of its product. At New Belgium Brewery their employees expertise, knowledge and their passion helps the companys profitability. By having cutting edge technology implemented in their plants thanks to the vision of the companys management and employees has helped the company to cut costs and also help the environment in the process. 2. Why is it important to engage employees in ownership to enhance quality and efficiency? Employee involvement is creating an environment in which people have an impact on decisions and actions that affect their jobs. Employee engagement is not the goal nor is it a tool, as practiced in many organizations including The New Belgium Brewery. At New Belgium Brewery employee engagement is the key ingredient in High Involvement Culture. They consider ideas from over 300 unique perspectives with their coworkers. This helps the Brewery to operate more intelligently while recognizing everyones unique gifts. Forty three percent of New Belgium is owned by the employees through an ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan). After one year of employment with the company, employees become employee-owners, which give them an interest in the success of the company. Source: Textbook pg 404 New Belgium opens all of the books to employees and provides financial training so people can understand the business of doing business. Trusting each other with this level of detail also helps them to feel appreciated, empowered, and ultimately more fulfilled. Employees have the opportunities to ask questions, provide feedback and share their ideas with one another. Engaged employees create loyal customers who in turn create Bigger Profits. Richard Branson at Virgin says: We embarked on consciously building Virgin into a brand which stood for quality, value, fun and a sense of challenge. We also developed these ideas in the belief that our first priority should be the people who work for the companies, then the customers, then the shareholders. Because if the staffs are motivated then the customers will be happy, and the shareholders will then benefit through the companys success. Sources: www.maganement-issues.com The New Belgium Brewery employees are considered area leaders, and everyone is responsible to ensure that each product is of the highest possible quality and ensuring that quality remains high. In other words, it is very important to New Belgium Brewery to engage employees in ownership to enhance quality and efficiency for the companys success and benefits for everyone who worked hard to improve and growth of the company. 3. a) What does Alternatively Empowered mean to you? What being alternatively empowered means to me is doing activities in a way that minimizes social and environmental impacts by protecting natural resources. For instance activities like reusing and recycling bottles and cans, reducing paper by using e-bills and turning off equipment not in use to save energy, and reduce water by reprocessing and filtering. These three examples reduce costs while allowing them to carry out tasks efficiently and productively. Respecting coworkers and employees is also important, this gives motivation to everyone involved in a business to feel responsible and get involved in their job. Utilizing and preserving natural, technical, human resources by minimizing the costs to ensure quality and progressive results while making any business decisions. Therefore, coming up with quality outcomes in an effective way is what alternatively empowered means to me. b) Comment on New Belgium Beliefs are related to being Environmental Stewards? Todays growing industrialization and development has resulted in pressures on the environment. Therefore its a businesss responsibility to conserve them, New Belgium Strives to care for the planet on which they sustain their business. New Belgiums method of reducing coal-fired electricity prevents air pollution. Burning coal is the leading cause of smoke, acid rain and global warming; most heart and breathing disorders results from coal power. New Belgium supports innovative technology by utilizing their facilities, they have also employed an innovative waste water reclamation plan, and this allows them to use waste water to create some of its own energy. New Belgium also supports involvement of their employees, each employee acts as an owner within their own departments, which contributes to their successful environmental project implementations. c) Utilized Green Design throughout our Building By starting so small, New Belgium was able to be more focused into the quality of the beer and any decisions that needed to be made almost in an instant. But with a lack of resources, their process at the time was not efficient in meeting their demands from consumers. By the time they were able to purchase a new location; they designed a state-of-the-art custom built facility and is considered more efficient than standard brewers. With the new available resource, they were able to increase production efficiently while maintaining the quality their customers expect. Taking advantage of the abundant sunshine in Fort Collins, the company maximizes the amount of light produced by the sun with sun-tubes, UV blocking windows, and light shelves. Using evaporative coolers to condition their 55,000 square foot packaging hall instead of compressors uses less energy which lowers the power consumptions, and in it return reduces costs. Pine beetles kill 98% of their lodge pole pines, so New Belgi um uses the fallen trees as materials for various jobs. Maximizing their productivity, the company can fully utilize their facilities and employ new and innovative technologies such as the waste water reclamation plan, which converts the waste water from the plant into energy that can be used in the factory. With other major brewers already established, the technology New Belgium acquired goes a long way in giving the company an edge over its competitors by lowering their power consumption, reducing their costs, carbon foot print, and being recognized within their community as a green company. d) Wind -Powered Electricity since 1999 Becoming the largest private consumer of wind-powered electricity in 1999, New Belgium made a ten year commitment to buy all of their electricity through the city-sponsored wind program in Colorado. Un-wanted judgment from the community reflexes bad on a company and destroys its reputation so New Belgium goes out of their way and employs wind power as a source of power. Instead of polluting the environment and continuing their commitment, also reducing unnecessary cost and improving efficiency. Sustaining this mandate as a leader in green efficient energy brewers, many other brewers may follow in their carbon free foot prints and continue to grow and expand as a newer, smarter, and greener industry. As a work in progress, there are many other technologies that can be implemented in the business as another step to be more green such as solar panels on the roof from the sun, or capture heat underground as geothermal and reducing their heat bill while staying nice and toasty during the winter times. With much improvements over the years as a green leader in the brewing business, leaving the pollutant past behind and leading the way with a greener future is beneficial for both the industries and consumers. 4. Do you think New Belgiums focus on the environmental responsibility and sustainability in its production process is a major cost or benefit that enhances the profits of the company? New Belgium Brewerys focus on environmental responsibility and sustainability during its production process is a major benefit that enhances the profits of the company. New Belgiums focus on the environment has helped the company grow their customer base as well as their brewery, by using such technologies as wind power, water recapture, turning waste water into energy, energy efficient brew kennels, spent grain going to a local cattle farm, 98% landfill diversion rate, constructing the factory from reclaimed timber, and recapturing steam are among some of the methods New Belgium uses to be environmentally friendly. These choices that New Belgium brewery has made have helped to grow the brewerys clientele. This has been done with much success because of all the attention that is being given to the health of our planet. By being the first brewery to adopt such methods in the United States, New Belgium was able to gain consumers from other more prominent breweries through environmental stewardship, and in turn the customers have given New Belgium their unwavering support. As it turns out going green does cost money, but it actually saves money in the long run, and has made New Belgium extremely profitable. This is obvious from New Belgiums humble beginnings in a basement to its new brewery state of the art brewery; this can also be seen because New Belgium is the third largest craft brewery and ninth largest brewery in the US. New Belgium Brewery has secured its place in the American brewing industry and will continue to gain a loyal following in the future thanks to cutting edge technology, it can produce the highest quality product while at the same time being sustainable. The outcome of this is very big profits Conclusion To wrap things up, New Belgium Brewery is ethically responsible to its employees and socially responsible through its environmental stand point that is instilled in the company from its infancy to maturity. New Belgium is a first-class company by these standards of being ethically and socially responsible as was shown through the management, employee ownership, environmental responsibility sustainability, and earning profits at the same time. Will New Belgium be able to meet and exceed its ethical and social responsibilitys? That remains to be seen, but if New Belgium Brewerys past and present have bearing on the future then the company probably will.

Literature in No Drama Essays -- Literary Analysis

By nature, Japanese No drama draw much of their inspiration and influence from the classics. Many are based on episodes from the most popular classics, like Atsumori, based on the Tale of Heike, or Matsukaze, which was actually based on a collage of earlier work. Even within these episodes do we find references to yet more classic works of literature, from the oldest collections of poetry to adopted religious texts. That isn’t to say that No is without its own strokes of creativity—the entire performance is a unique adaptation, and the playwrights had to be both highly educated in the classics, yet geniuses at the creative aspect of weaving song/poetry, dance, religion and literature together into a heart-wrenching spectacle. It might be easier to behold the similarities between no plays than the differences. The basic plot changes little: there is a traveler or monk who encounters a restless ghost or ghosts whose restless souls must be put to rest. The religious implications here are major, and become a central theme of No. In both Atsumori and Matsukaze, the monk chants â€Å"Namu Amida Bu,† for the Pure Land sect of Buddhism, as well as recites verses from the Lotus Sutra. The commentary mentions that â€Å"†¦The monk invokes Amida for the spirits of the dead, although the dead are comforted more often with passes from the Lotus Sutra.† (p.41) Atsumori’s ghost, as character â€Å"youth,† and Rensho, a monk, both quote together: â€Å"If I at last become a Buddha/then all sentient beings who call my Name/in all the worlds, in the ten directions/will find welcome in Me, for I abandon none,† which is from the sutra known as Kammuryojukyo. The chorus expands o n this quote until the end of the scene, the song being the playwright’s own creati... ... have a friend.† (p.40) Matsukaze’s text refers to a great deal more older poetry than Atsumori, perhaps simply because it is more relevant and appropriate in the context of the story: Matsukaze is a love story, and there is a lot present in the classics about love. Another kokinshu poem found in Matsukaze: â€Å"From the pillow/from the foot fo the bed/love comes pursuing,† (p.202) for example. The examples of the samples of poetry, and allusions to other works of literature, are so numerous and some so subtle that they are countless in No drama. No could not exist without the classics that it constantly draws upon. This calls for a highly educated audience to enjoy the play in its entirety. However, for the medieval age, it was new and exciting to see these classics woven together in a stage performance, so gracefully and creatively by the playwrights of old.

Essay --

Bullying is a very negative action and creates major problems in our society. Nothing good ever comes out of bullying someone. It can however change someone’s life forever. It actually does ruin many lives both of the bully and of the victim. The bully if caught and punished will then have a criminal record for the rest of their life. Unless they get psychological help, they will probably end up being a repeat offender. The victim often becomes depressed, withdrawn and often times either commits suicide or becomes a bully themselves. Bullying is more than just a part of growing up. It is a very violent form of aggressive behavior. Anti-bullying Laws will never completely solve the problem; only mask it temporarily until everyone starts working together to stop the root of this cruel behavior. Adults know that this behavior is wrong but many time don’t know when or if they should step in and do something. The important thing to remember when deciding to step in is how the adult feels about taking control of the situation versus how the victim might feel about having a parent or elder stick up for them. Sometimes the victim feels that elder involvement may make the situation even worse. They often feel the only way to solve the problem is to handle it themselves. Anti-bullying laws are being enacted in almost every state in the U.S. However, they are not being enforced and are nowhere near strong enough to identify and make the abuser stop or continue to repeat his/her actions again on someone else or even sometime the same victim they began with. Only 44 of our 50 states currently have anti-bullying laws in place. Ohio does have a law in place and is found in the Ohio Revised Code, section 3313.666. The law prohib... ...r high and high school which needs to be stopped. In one of the journals I was researching on this topic it stated that this type of behavior stems from many different things, life at home, poverty, depression. And that stopping those symptoms at a young age will help prevent these troubled kids from doing these acts. Of course you do not see these bad of events going on in the younger schools but when they start young like in elementary school what they think and do only gets worst with age. That’s why I wrote this paper in order to open not only the eyes of parents but as well as anyone that is ever around kids at all. And also to not only help the victims but also the offenders, it’s not always their fault. And lastly to stand up for a good cause such as this and help pass the laws against bullying to not only prevent it but in hopes of stopping it all together.

The Evolution of Minorities in Film Essay -- Movie Film Essays

The Evolution of Minorities in Film Back in the 1800’s, when calculating the population, African Americans were counted as 3/5 of a person (Antonia, p2). One would think that in the past two hundred years people’s beliefs would have changed a little bit, but the general white public are stuck into believing the common stereotypes commonly portrayed in movies. In films and television shows blacks are almost always portrayed as murderers, robbers, rapists, pretty much anything negative, like American History X, for example. Two black men are shown breaking into a white man’s car. People see this, and in turn believe that all black men will try and steal their car; as stupid as it may seem, it is true, and as a result, film producers try to incorporate this into their films. Very rarely, if ever, is it possible to see a minority depicted as a hero-type figure. Every once in a while, there will be an independent film from a minority director, but as Schultz states in Lyon’s piece, â€Å" We [blacks] are still being ghettoized in Hollywood, a serious black project of any scope is as difficult to get marketed today as it was in the ‘70s.† By making a barrier to entry for minorities in the film industry, it’s almost as if America is trying to keep black films out of the popular media. At first glimpse, it may appear that minorities are very hard to be seen in the filming industry, when in reality, they are becoming more and more apparent in America’s mainstream media culture, particularly in action movies. MacDonald stated in Allan Smith’s essay, â€Å"American mass culture continued to operate as an assimilative force, seeking to maintain social stability while gradually merging people of different backgrounds into the cult... ...ral trend of how minorities are making a bigger and bigger impact on American mainstream culture. All America can do is smile and be content at the fact that minorities are finally getting the respect they deserve.    Works Cited    Antonia, Kathleen. â€Å"A Lesson Before Living† Humanist, March/April 2001, Volume 61 Issue 2, p.43.    Beck, Bernard. â€Å"What Price Glory?† Multicultural Perspectives, 1999, Volume 1 Issue 1, p.26.    Brinkley, Douglas. â€Å"Edward Norton’s Primal Fear† George, October 1998, Volume 3 Issue 10, p.110.    Lyons, N.L. â€Å"From Race Movies to Blaxploitation to Homeboy Movies† American Visions, February 1992, Volume 7 Issue 1, p. 42.    Smith, Allan. â€Å"Seeing Things: Race, Image, and National Identity in Canadian and American Movies and Television† Canadian Review of American Studies, Autumn 1996, Volume 26 Issue 3, p. 367.

Task Switching

Running Head: Time Cost, Task-Switching, Repeating Tasks Task Switching Cost’s Time Brooklyn College City University of New York Abstract A replication of Task Switching Monsell 2003 experiment was done, which predicts a time cost when switching tasks. 18 participants had to complete 100 randomized trials, switching between task-repeat and task-switching trials. Reaction Times (RT) were recorded and reflected by experimenters, to determine that there is a time cost involved when switching tasks as opposed to repeating the same task. Task-Switching Costs TimeMany people take pride in the fact that they can multitask. A study â€Å"Task Switching† conducted by Monsell concluded that multitasking, or switching between tasks actually costs us time. Our brain is complicated machinery, which requires a specific program for a specific task to be loaded in to our computer, the brain, to complete a task. Switching between tasks takes more time than repeating the same task. Monse ll demonstrated that when presented with one task, our brain responds faster in completing the task, rather than switching between tasks.In a task-switching experiment subjects are first pretrained on two or more simple tasks afforded by a set of stimuli. Each task requires attention to, and classification of, a different element or attribute of the stimulus or retrieval from memory or computation of a different property of the stimulus. (eg. , Monsell 2003) In the study the subjects were presented with a series of trials (eg. , Monsell 2003) and completed the task at hand on a random trial basis. The participants had to repeat the same task or switch between tasks to complete each trial.By conducting these trials the researchers tried to examine performance or brain activation on and following trials when the task changes for evidence of extra processing demands that are associated with the need to reconfigure task-set (eg. , Monsell 2003) The study concluded our brain requires a à ¢â‚¬Å"task-set reconfiguration† a sort of mental â€Å"gear changing† (eg. , Monsell 2003) In prospective this means that our brain loads a different program every time we need to complete a separate task.When switching between tasks our brain goes between two different programs one for example for counting and one for reading, therefore costing us time to switch between these two tasks. In this experiment we tried to replicate the Monsell 2003 Task Switching experiment. 18 Participants took a brief task-switching test via program Revolution Maker ©. Each trial was randomly assigned. The participants were presented with numbers one through nine and on each trial had to react to the number, to identify either its odd or even or if the magnitude was either less than 5 or more than 5.We hypothesis that when individuals are engaged in a cognitive task there is a time cost that occurs when asked to switch between tasks as opposed to repeating tasks. Methods Participants: 1 8 undergraduate students from Brooklyn College participated in this study. Materials: A task switching experiment designed on the computer program Revolution Maker © Procedure: Participants were led to an isolated lab room were they participated in a task-switching experiment. They were involved in 2 tasks a magnitude test and an odd even task.There was 100 randomly assigned trials 50% task-switch and 50% task-repeat that were completed by the participants. There were different type keys presented to the participants such as: z for an odd number, x for an even number, m for a number (>) than 5, and n for a number (

Harry Potter Essay

There are so many things one has to do to be considered a hero. For instance, the stereotypical hero is strong, handsome, and does something spectacular like saving someone’s life or a scientific breakthrough. However, not all heroes have to have these traits. Harry Potter is not a stereotypical hero by any means. He isn’t strong, or handsome, but he is very much a hero. Many heroes’ lives follow a pattern. As a hero, Harry Potter follows the same cycle. In the beginning, Harry Potter is living with his Aunt, Uncle, and cousin, the Dursley’s. He soon finds out that he is eligible to go to Hogwarts. The School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He accepts the invitation after much confrontation with his Uncle about the subject, and a little help from his friend, Hagrid, a fellow wizard. He then finds out about how he got the â€Å"z† shaped scar on his forehead. Voldemort, the most powerful dark magic wizard, gave it to Harry Potter after killing his parents. Once Harry Potter arrived at the school, Voldemort began to wreck havoc on the school and this is where Harry Potter’s journey begins. Harry Potter undergoes so many challenges, some more important than others. One miniscule challenge for him is to get accustom to magic and learning and remembering many spells that will come in hand later. He was somewhat isolated from the rest of the wizards and witches since it’s his first year at Hogwarts, but he befriends Ron Weasley and Hermoine Granger. Along the way they definitely help him in his quest. After spending so much time with Hagrid, Harry finds out that Nicholas Flamel is the maker of the sorcerer’s stone, which gives people unlimited life. Harry originally thought that Severus Snape, the defense against the dark arts teacher, was after the stone. He then finds out that Voldemort is after that stone and is very weak and needs that stone so he can live forever and fulfill his dream of taking over the wizarding world. Harry Potter’s final test was when Hermione, Ron, and he, had to maneuver their way past fluffy, the three- headed, giant dog, catch a snitch (a golden ball used in the game of quidditch), and play a life- sized game of chess to reach the chamber which held the sorcerer’s stone. Once he reached the chamber, he found Professor Quirrell trying to steal the sorcerer’s stone because he is possessed by Voldemort. Harry then fought Voldemort, retrieved the stone, and destroyed it, along with Voldemort. When Harry woke up he realized he was in the hospital , and Dumbledore, the headmaster, was there to congratulate and thak him for stopping Voldemort, and revealed to him that he was prone to Voldemort’s deadly spells because his mother sacrificed herself for Harry when he was a child which put a protective shield around Harry. Once back to health, Harry was proclaimed a hero by all. In conclusion, heroes come in all shapes and sizes. It’s not all about looks, money, and possessions. It’s about what they did to become a real hero. Many still believe that stereotypes will always be right and that’s the only way you can be a hero, but even then, people still have different opinions on who is good-looking, or how much money you have to have to be considered rich.

Maf 635 E Commerce

PART 1 CHAPTER 1 The Revolution Is Just Beginning CHAPTER 2 E-commerce Business Models and Concepts Introduction to E-commerce C H A P T E R 1 The Revolution Is Just Beginning LEARNING OBJECTIVES After reading this chapter, you will be able to:  ¦  ¦  ¦  ¦  ¦  ¦  ¦  ¦ Define e-commerce and describe how it differs from e-business. Identify and describe the unique features of e-commerce technology and discuss their business significance. Describe the major types of e-commerce.Discuss the origins and growth of e-commerce. Understand the vision and forces operating during the first five years of e-commerce, and assess its successes, surprises, and failures. Identify several factors that will define the next five years of e-commerce. Describe the major themes underlying the study of e-commerce. Identify the major academic disciplines contributing to e-commerce research. A m a z o n a t 1 0 : Profitable At Last A mazon. com is one of the Web’s most exciting and instr uctive stories.Started in a garage by Jeff Bezos in 1995, it has since grown to become the largest Internet retailer, with the highest levels of customer satisfaction, the fastest revenue growth rates, and finally, after nine years, profitable. One of the Internet â€Å"Big Four† companies, along with Yahoo, eBay and Google, few would have thought it possible when Amazon first opened for business that an online bookstore would become one of the premiere general retailers in the world. But Amazon’s ability to maintain operations at a sufficiently profitable level is a fact that continues to worry investors in 2005.Critics are of two minds: either Amazon will become the online Wal-Mart (and suffer from its huge size just as WalMart does) or it will fail to deliver superior growth and profits because it has spread itself too thin, taken on too many product lines, and given away too much revenue to customers by offering free shipping and superior service. Supporters, and B ezos himself, counter that Amazon has become the Web’s largest retailer on a revenue basis by focusing on the customer, not short-term profits, and that it will ultimately become one of the most profitable by following the same strategy.Amazon certainly has had a roller coaster ride in its ten brief years. In December 1999, Jeff Bezos graced the cover of Time magazine as its Person of the Year. In the same month, Amazon’s stock reached a peak of $113 per share. In January 2001, Amazon reported a whopping $1. 411 billion as its overall loss for the year. Its stock hit a low of $6 a share. Amazon laid off 1,300 employees, constituting about 15% of its workforce. Questions about its long-term viability abounded. Bezos promised he would make the company profitable in two years, but few believed this was possible.But, in 2003, Amazon reported soaring sales; it achieved its first annual profit ever (about $35 @ Amazon. com’s first Web site 3 4 CHAPTER 1 The Revolution Is Just Beginning million), and its stock price more than doubled to $25 a share. The good news continued into 2004 when Amazon reported profits of $588 million on $6. 92 billion in revenue. How was Amazon able to turn around its business from a $1. 4 billion annual loss to a $588 million profitable operation despite the dot. om stock market crash and the withdrawal of venture capital funding for e-commerce companies? The story of Amazon. com, the most well-known e-commerce company in the United States, in many ways mirrors the story of e-commerce itself. So, let’s take a closer look at Amazon’s path to preview many of the issues we’ll be discussing throughout this book. In 1994, Jeff Bezos, then a 29-year-old senior vice president at D. E. Shaw, a Wall Street investment bank, read that Internet usage was growing at 2,300% per year.To Bezos, that number represented an extraordinary opportunity. He quit his job and investigated what products he might be able to sell successfully online. He quickly hit upon books—with over 3 million in print at any one time, no physical bookstore could stock more than a small percentage. A â€Å"virtual bookstore† could offer a much greater selection. He also felt consumers would feel less need to actually â€Å"touch and feel† a book before buying it. The comparative dynamics of the book publishing, distributing, and retailing industry were also favorable.With over 2,500 publishers in the United States, and the two largest retailers, Barnes and Noble and Borders, accounting for only 12% of total sales, there were no â€Å"800-pound gorillas† in the market. The existence of two large distributors, Ingram Books and Baker and Taylor, meant that Amazon would have to stock only minimal inventory. Bezos easily raised several million dollars from private investors and in July 1995, Amazon. com opened for business on the Web. Amazon offered consumers four compelling reasons to shop ther e: (1) selection (a database of 1. million titles), (2) convenience (shop anytime, anywhere, with ordering simplified by Amazon’s patented â€Å"1-Click† express shopping technology), (3) price (high discounts on bestsellers), and (4) service (e-mail and telephone customer support, automated order confirmation, tracking and shipping information, and more). In January 1996, Amazon moved from a small 400-square-foot office into a 17,000-square-foot warehouse. By the end of 1996, Amazon had almost 200,000 customers. Its revenues had climbed to $15. 6 million, but the company posted an overall loss of $6. 24 million.In May 1997, Amazon went public, raising $50 million. Its initial public offering documents identified several ways in which Amazon expected to have a lower cost structure than traditional bookstores: it would not need to invest in expensive retail real estate, it would have reduced personnel requirements, and it would not have to carry extensive inventory, sin ce it was relying in large part on book distributors. During 1997, Amazon continued to grow. It served its one-millionth unique customer, expanded its Seattle warehouse, and built a second 200,000-square-foot distribution center in Delaware.By the end of 1997, revenues had expanded to $148 million for the year, but at the same time, losses also grew, to $31 million. In 1998, Amazon expanded its product line, first adding music CDs and then videos and DVDs. Amazon was no longer satisfied with merely selling books. Its business strategy was now â€Å"to become the best place to buy, find, and discover any product or Amazon at 10: Profitable At Last 5 services available online. † It also opened Web sites in Great Britain and Germany. Amazon, pundits noted, was planning to be the online Wal-Mart. Revenues for the year increased significantly, to $610 million, but the osses also continued to mount, quadrupling to $125 million. The year 1999 was a watershed year for Amazon. Bezosâ €™s announced goal was for Amazon to become the â€Å"Earth’s Biggest Store. † In February, Amazon borrowed over $1 billion, using the funds to finance expansion and cover operating losses. During the year, it added electronics, toys, home improvement products, software, and video games to its product lines. It also introduced several marketplaces, including Amazon. com Auctions (similar to that offered by eBay), zShops (online storefronts for small retailers), and sothebys. amazon. om, a joint venture with the auction house Sotheby’s. To service these new product lines, Amazon significantly expanded its warehouse and distribution capabilities, adding eight new distribution centers comprising approximately 4 million square feet. By the end of 1999, Amazon had more than doubled its 1998 revenues, recording sales of $1. 6 billion. But at the same time, Amazon’s losses showed no signs of abating, reaching $720 million for the year. Although Bezos and Ama zon were still riding high at the end of December 1999, in hindsight, it’s possible to say that the handwriting was on the wall.Wall Street analysts, previously willing to overlook continuing and mounting losses as long as the company was expanding into new markets and attracting customers, began to wonder if Amazon would ever show a profit. They pointed out that as Amazon built more and more warehouses brimming with goods, and hired more and more employees (it had 9,000 by the end of 2000), it strayed farther and farther from its original vision of being a †virtual† retailer with lean inventories, low headcount, and significant cost savings over traditional bookstores.The year 2000 ended on a much different note than 1999 for Amazon. No longer the darling of Wall Street, its stock price had fallen significantly from its December 1999 high. In January 2001, it struggled to put a positive spin on its financial results for 2000, noting that while it had recorded a s taggering $1. 4 billion loss on revenues of $2. 7 billion, its fourth-quarter loss was slightly less than analysts’ projections. For the first time, it also announced a target for profitability, promising a â€Å"pro forma operating profit† by the fourth quarter of 2001.Few analysts were impressed, pointing out that the method by which Amazon was suggesting its profit be calculated was not in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. They also noted that growth had slowed in Amazon’s core books, music, and video business, and profit margins were slim in the faster-growing categories, such as consumer electronics. In 2001 and 2002, Bezos and fellow executives began to implement their strategy for profitability: cut prices, offer free shipping, and leverage Amazon’s investment in infrastructure and consumer brands, while lowering costs of operation significantly.By evolving and leveraging the existing business model, Amazon hoped to do what analysts thought was impossible. The â€Å"easy† part of the strategy was driving business revenues higher by offering customers the â€Å"lowest possible prices† for a broad range of goods, providing free shipping for orders greater than $25, and then multiplying sources of revenue. Amazon’s 6 CHAPTER 1 The Revolution Is Just Beginning SOURCES: â€Å"Amazon Announces Free Cash Flow Surpassed $500 Million for the First Time; Customers Joined Amazon Prime at an Accelerated Rate,† Amazon. com, February 2, 2006; Amazon. om Form 10-Q for the nine months ended September 30, 2005, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on October 27, 2005; †Amazon Faces the Challenges of Its Second Decade,† by Paul Festa, Cnetnews. com, July 15, 2005; â€Å"A Retail Revolution Turns 10,† by Gary Rivlin, New York Times, July 10, 2005; â€Å"Tabs on Tech: The Internet,† by Laurie Kawakami, Wall Street Journal, June 1, 2005; â€Å"Internet Big Four: Worth a Look As Growth Stocks,† by James B. Stewart, Wall Street Journal, May 4, 2005; â€Å"Amazon Net Falls As Rivals Take Toll, by Mylene Mangalindan, Wall Street Journal, April 27, 2005; Amazon. om, Inc. Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2004, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 11, 2005; â€Å"Amazon Gets the Last Laugh,† by Chip Bayers, Business 2. 0, September 2002. [email  protected] and Amazon Marketplace allow other businesses to fully integrate their Web sites into Amazon’s site to sell their branded goods, but use Amazon’s fulfillment and payment infrastructure. Nordstrom, Toys â€Å"R† Us, Gap Inc. , Target, and many other retailers use Amazon to sell their goods and then pay Amazon commissions and fees.Amazon also offers its expertise in Web site hosting through its Merchant. com program to national brands such as Target. In the Amazon Marketplace program, individuals are encouraged to se ll their used or new goods on Amazon’s Web site even when they compete directly with Amazon’s sales of the same goods. Amazon reports that sales by third parties now represent 27% of revenues and that it makes as much profit on commissions from other vendors as it does from its own sales. Lowering costs proved difficult, but not impossible.In early 2001, Amazon closed two of its eight warehouses and laid off 15% of its workforce. It hired 35-year-old engineer Jeffrey Wilke and a half-dozen mathematicians to figure out how to cut costs. The team found a way to redistribute book inventory among the warehouses to reduce shipping costs; used Six Sigma quality measures to reduce errors in fulfillment; consolidated orders from around the country prior to shipping (adding an extra day to fulfillment of â€Å"free shipping† orders); and further lowered shipping costs by using its own trucks to deliver orders to postal system centers.Wilke and his team reduced fulfillmen t costs from 15% of revenue in 2000 down to 10% by 2003. The effort contributed to Amazon’s first ever annual profit in 2003: $35. 3 million on revenues of $5. 26 billion. The results were even better in 2004: a $588. 5 million profit on revenues of $6. 92 billion. Looking back on the last ten years, it’s clear that Wall Street and Main Street have differing views on Amazon. Amazon has been a tremendous Main Street e-commerce success story even if it took nine years to achieve profitable operations.It has changed its business model several times, focused on improving the efficiency of its operations, and maintained a steady commitment to keeping its 49 million customers satisfied. In 2005, Amazon was one of the leaders in a survey of customer satisfaction with retail Web sites, while traditional bricks-and-mortar retailers such as Target and Costco received low marks for their online offerings. Right now, Amazon must be counted as an online retailing success story. Few would have predicted this outcome in 1995, or even in 2000.For the future, however, Amazon faces powerful competitors who keep innovating, such as eBay and Yahoo! Shopping. eBay has been profitable from its first day, while Yahoo achieved profitability in 2002. But despite Wall Street critics, Bezos has not changed his original vision: in 2005, for instance, he announced additional expenditures to increase customer convenience, such as a flat-fee shipping membership program (Amazon Prime). And although Amazon’s revenues continue to grow, profits in 2005 were down compared to 2004.So the Amazon roller coaster ride continues, and what’s around the next curve remains to be seen. E-commerce: The Revolution Is Just Beginning 7 T 1. 1 he Amazon story is emblematic of the e-commerce environment of the past ten years: an early period of business vision, inspiration, and experimentation, followed by the realization that establishing a successful business model based on those v isions would not be easy, which then ushered in a period of retrenchment and reevaluation, ultimately leading to a more finely tuned business model that actually produces profits.During the last two years, the fortunes of the ecommerce revolution once again have been contrary to what many people thought would happen after the stock market crash of March 2001, when the stock market value of e-commerce, telecommunications, and other technology stocks plummeted by more than 90%. After the bubble burst, many people were quick to write off ecommerce and predicted that e-commerce growth would stagnate, and the Internet audience itself would plateau. But they were wrong. E-COMMERCE: THE REVOLUTION IS JUST BEGINNING The e-commerce revolution is just beginning.For instance: †¢ Online consumer sales expanded by more than 23% in 2005 to an estimated $142–$172 billion (eMarketer, Inc. , 2005a; Shop. org and Forrester Research, 2005). †¢ The number of individuals online in the U nited States increased to 175 million in 2005, up from 170 million in 2004 (The total population of the United States is about 300 million. ) (eMarketer, Inc. , 2005b; U. S. Census Bureau, 2005). †¢ Of the total 112 million households in the United States, the number online increased to 71 million or 63% of all households (U. S.Census Bureau, 2005; eMarketer, Inc. , 2005b; Pew Research Center, 2005). †¢ On an average day, 70 million people go online. Around 140 million send e-mail, 8 million have created a blog, 4 million share music on peer-to-peer networks, and 3 million use the Internet to rate a person, product, or service (Pew Research Center, 2005; Pew Internet & American Life Project, 2004). †¢ The number of people who have purchased something online expanded to about 110 million, with additional millions shopping (gathering information) but not purchasing (Pew Research Center, 2005). The demographic profile of new online shoppers broadened to become more like ordinary American shoppers (Pew Research Center, 2005; Fallows, 2004). †¢ B2B e-commerce—use of the Internet for business-to-business commerce— expanded about 30% in 2005 to more than $1. 5 trillion (U. S. Department of Commerce, 2005). †¢ The Internet technology base gained greater depth and power, as more than 42 million households had broadband cable or DSL access to the Internet in 2005—about 38% of all households (eMarketer, Inc. , 2005c). 8 CHAPTER 1 The Revolution Is Just Beginning Initial public offerings (IPOs) returned, with 233 IPOs in 2004—more than the number of IPOs in 2002 and 2003 combined. The Internet stock group rebounded in value, along with the entire NASDAQ stock exchange, which is primarily composed of technology stocks. The rebound in Internet stocks was led by Google’s IPO, which raised $1. 67 billion. Google’s stock opened at $85 on the first day and has since rocketed to the $300 range (Hoovers, 2005; Riv lin, 2005; Elgin, 2005). These developments signal many of the themes in the new edition of this book (see Table 1. 1).More and more people and businesses will be using the Internet to conduct commerce; the e-commerce channel will deepen as more products and services come online; more industries will be transformed by e-commerce, including travel reservations, music and entertainment, news, software, education, and finance; Internet technology will continue to drive these changes as broadband telecommunications comes to more households; pure e-commerce business models will be refined further to achieve higher levels of profitability; and traditional retail brands such as Sears, J.C. Penney, and Wal-Mart will further extend their multichannel, bricks-and-clicks strategies and retain their dominant retail positions. At the societal level, other trends are apparent. The major digital copyright owners have increased their pursuit of online file-swapping services; states have successfull y moved toward taxation of Internet sales; and sovereign nations have expanded their surveillance of, and control over, Internet communications and content. In 1994, e-commerce as we now know it did not exist.In 2005, just ten years later, around 110 million American consumers are expected to spend about $142–$172 billion purchasing products and services on the Internet’s World Wide Web (eMarketer, Inc. , 2005b; Shop. org and Forrester Research, 2005; Rainie, 2005). Although the terms Internet and World Wide Web are often used interchangeably, they are actually two very different things. The Internet is a worldwide network of computer networks, and the World Wide Web is one of the Internet’s most popular services, providing access to over 8 billion Web pages.We describe both more fully later in this section and in Chapter 3. In 2005, businesses are expected to spend over $1. 5 trillion purchasing goods and services from other businesses on the Web (U. S. Departm ent of Commerce, 2005). From a standing start in 1995, this type of commerce, called electronic commerce or e-commerce, has experienced growth rates of well over 100% a year; although the rate has slowed and is now growing at about 25% a year. These developments have created the first widespread digital electronic marketplaces. Even more impressive than its spectacular initial growth is its future predicted growth.By 2008, analysts estimate that consumers will be spending around $232 billion and businesses about $3 trillion in online transactions (eMarketer, Inc. , 2005a; 2003; U. S. Department of Commerce, 2005). E-commerce: The Revolution Is Just Beginning 9 TABLE 1. 1 BUSINESS MAJOR TRENDS IN E-COMMERCE, 2006 †¢ Retail consumer e-commerce continues to grow at double-digit rates. †¢ The online demographics of shoppers continues to broaden. †¢ Online sites continue to strengthen profitability by refining their business models and leveraging the capabilities of the In ternet. The first wave of e-commerce transformed the business world of books, music, and air travel. In the second wave, eight new industries are facing a similar transformation: telephones, movies, television, jewelry, real estate, hotels, bill payments, and software. †¢ The breadth of e-commerce offerings grows, especially in travel, information clearinghouses, entertainment, retail apparel, appliances, and home furnishings. †¢ Small businesses and entrepreneurs continue to flood into the e-commerce marketplace, often riding on the infrastructures created by industry giants such as Amazon, eBay, and Overture. Brand extension through the Internet grows as large firms such as Sears, J. C. Penney, L. L. Bean, and Wal-Mart pursue integrated, multi-channel bricks-and-clicks strategies. †¢ B2B supply chain transactions and collaborative commerce continue to strengthen and grow beyond the $1. 5 trillion mark. TECHNOLOGY †¢ Wireless Internet connections (Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, and 3G telephone) grow rapidly. †¢ Podcasting takes off as a new media format for distribution of radio and user-generated commentary. †¢ The Internet broadband foundation becomes stronger in households and businesses.Bandwidth prices fall as telecommunications companies re-capitalize their debts. †¢ RSS (Really Simple Syndication) grows to become a major new form of user-controlled information distribution that rivals e-mail in some applications. †¢ Computing and networking component prices continue to fall dramatically. †¢ New Internet-based models of computing such as . NET and Web services expand B2B opportunities. SOCIETY †¢ Self-publishing (user-generated content) and syndication in the form of blogs, wikis and social networks grow to form an entirely new self-publishing forum. Newspapers and other traditional media adopt online, interactive models. †¢ Conflicts over copyright management and control grow in significance. †¢ Over half th e Internet user population (about 80 million adults) join a social group on the Internet. †¢ Taxation of Internet sales becomes more widespread and accepted by large online merchants. †¢ Controversy over content regulation and controls increases. †¢ Surveillance of Internet communications grows in significance. †¢ Concerns over commercial and governmental privacy invasion grow. Internet fraud and abuse occurrences increase. †¢ First Amendment rights of free speech and association on the Internet are challenged. †¢ Spam grows despite new laws and promised technology fixes. †¢ Invasion of personal privacy on the Web expands as marketers find new ways to track users. 10 CHAPTER 1 The Revolution Is Just Beginning THE FIRST THIRTY SECONDS It is important to realize that the rapid growth and change that has occurred in the first ten years of e-commerce represents just the beginning—what could be called the first thirty seconds of the e-commerce re volution.The same technologies that drove the first decade of e-commerce (described in Chapter 3) continue to evolve at exponential rates. Changes in underlying information technologies and continuing entrepreneurial innovation promise as much change in the next decade as seen in the last decade. The twenty-first century will be the age of a digitally enabled social and commercial life, the outlines of which we can barely perceive at this time. It appears likely that e-commerce will eventually impact nearly all commerce, or that most commerce will be e-commerce by the year 2050.Business fortunes are made—and lost—in periods of extraordinary change such as this. The next five years hold out extraordinary opportunities—as well as risks—for new and traditional businesses to exploit digital technology for market advantage. For society as a whole, the next few decades offer the possibility of extraordinary gains in social wealth as the digital revolution works its way through larger and larger segments of the world’s economy, offering the possibility of high rates of productivity and income growth in an inflation-free environment.This book will help you perceive and understand the opportunities and risks that lie ahead. By the time you finish, you will be able to identify the technological, business, and social forces that have shaped the first era of e-commerce and extend that understanding into the years ahead. WHAT IS E-COMMERCE? e-commerce the use of the Internet and the Web to transact business. More formally, digitally enabled commercial transactions between and among organizations and individuals Our focus in this book is e-commerce—the use of the Internet and the Web to transact business.More formally, we focus on digitally enabled commercial transactions between and among organizations and individuals. Each of these components of our working definition of e-commerce is important. Digitally enabled transactions incl ude all transactions mediated by digital technology. For the most part, this means transactions that occur over the Internet and the Web. Commercial transactions involve the exchange of value (e. g. , money) across organizational or individual boundaries in return for products and services.Exchange of value is important for understanding the limits of e-commerce. Without an exchange of value, no commerce occurs. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN E-COMMERCE AND E-BUSINESS There is a debate among consultants and academics about the meaning and limitations of both e-commerce and e-business. Some argue that e-commerce encompasses the entire world of electronically based organizational activities that support a firm’s market exchanges—including a firm’s entire information system’s infrastructure (Rayport and Jaworksi, 2003).Others argue, on the other hand, that e-business encompasses the entire world of internal and external electronically based activities, including e-c ommerce (Kalakota and Robinson, 2003). E-commerce: The Revolution Is Just Beginning 11 FIGURE 1. 1 THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN E-COMMERCE AND E-BUSINESS E-commerce primarily involves transactions that cross firm boundaries. E-business primarily involves the application of digital technologies to business processes within the firm. We think that it is important to make a working distinction between e-commerce and e-business because we believe they refer to different phenomena.For purposes of this text, we will use the term e-business to refer primarily to the digital enablement of transactions and processes within a firm, involving information systems under the control of the firm. For the most part, in our view, e-business does not include commercial transactions involving an exchange of value across organizational boundaries. For example, a company’s online inventory control mechanisms are a component of e-business, but such internal processes do not directly generate revenue for the firm from outside businesses or consumers, as e-commerce, by definition, does.It is true, however, that a firm’s e-business infrastructure provides support for online e-commerce exchanges; the same infrastructure and skill sets are involved in both e-business and e-commerce. Ecommerce and e-business systems blur together at the business firm boundary, at the point where internal business systems link up with suppliers or customers, for instance. E-business applications turn into e-commerce precisely when an exchange of value occurs (see Mesenbourg, U. S. Department of Commerce, August 2001 for a similar view).We will examine this intersection further in Chapter 12. e-business the digital enablement of transactions and processes within a firm, involving information systems under the control of the firm WHY STUDY E-COMMERCE? Why are there college courses and textbooks on e-commerce when there are no courses or textbooks on â€Å"TV Commerce,† â€Å"Radio Commerce,à ¢â‚¬  â€Å"Direct Mail Commerce,† â€Å"Railroad Commerce,† or â€Å"Highway Commerce,† even though these 12 CHAPTER 1 The Revolution Is Just Beginning information asymmetry any disparity in relevant market information among parties in a transaction echnologies had profound impacts on commerce in the twentieth century and account for far more commerce than e-commerce? The reason, as you shall see, is that e-commerce technology (discussed in detail in Chapters 3 and 4) is different and more powerful than any of the other technologies we have seen in the past century. While these other technologies transformed economic life in the twentieth century, the evolving Internet and other information technologies will shape the twenty-first century. Prior to the development f e-commerce, the process of marketing and selling goods was a mass-marketing and sales force-driven process. Consumers were viewed as passive targets of advertising â€Å"campaigns† and brand ing blitzes intended to influence their long-term product perceptions and immediate purchasing behavior. Selling was conducted in well-insulated â€Å"channels. † Consumers were considered to be trapped by geographical and social boundaries, unable to search widely for the best price and quality. Information about prices, costs, and fees could be hidden from the consumer, creating profitable â€Å"information asymmetries† for the selling firm.Information asymmetry refers to any disparity in relevant market information among parties in a transaction. It was so expensive to change national or regional prices in traditional retailing (what are called menu costs) that â€Å"one national price† was the norm, and dynamic pricing to the marketplace— changing prices in real time—was unheard of. E-commerce has challenged much of this traditional business thinking. Table 1. 2 lists seven unique features of e-commerce technology that both challenge traditiona l business thinking and explain why we have so much interest in e-commerce. SEVEN UNIQUE FEATURES OF E-COMMERCE TECHNOLOGYEach of the dimensions of e-commerce technology and their business significance listed in Table 1. 2 deserves a brief exploration, as well as a comparison to both traditional commerce and other forms of technology-enabled commerce. marketplace physical space you visit in order to transact Ubiquity In traditional commerce, a marketplace is a physical place you visit in order to transact. For example, television and radio typically motivate the consumer to go someplace to make a purchase. E-commerce, in contrast, is characterized by its ubiquity: it is available just about everywhere, at all times.It liberates the market from being restricted to a physical space and makes it possible to shop from your desktop, at home, at work, or even from your car, using mobile commerce. The result is called a marketspace—a marketplace extended beyond traditional boundarie s and removed from a temporal and geographic location. From a consumer point of view, ubiquity reduces transaction costs—the costs of participating in a market. To transact, it is no longer necessary that you spend time and money traveling to a market. At a broader level, the ubiquity of e-commerce lowers the cognitive energy required to transact in a marketspace.Cognitive energy refers to the mental effort required to complete a task. Humans generally seek to reduce cognitive energy outlays. When given a choice, humans will ubiquity available just about everywhere, at all times. marketspace marketplace extended beyond traditional boundaries and removed from a temporal and geographic location E-commerce: The Revolution Is Just Beginning 13 TABLE 1. 2 SEVEN UNIQUE FEATURES OF E-COMMERCE TECHNOLOGY BUSINESS SIGNIFICANCE The marketplace is extended beyond traditional boundaries and is removed from a temporal and geographic location. â€Å"Marketspace† is created; shopping can take place anywhere.Customer convenience is enhanced, and shopping costs are reduced. Commerce is enabled across cultural and national boundaries seamlessly and without modification. â€Å"Marketspace† includes potentially billions of consumers and millions of businesses worldwide. There is one set of technical media standards across the globe. Video, audio, and text marketing messages are integrated into a single marketing message and consuming experience. Consumers are engaged in a dialog that dynamically adjusts the experience to the individual, and makes the consumer a co-participant in the process of delivering goods to the market.Information processing, storage, and communication costs drop dramatically, while currency, accuracy, and timeliness improve greatly. Information becomes plentiful, cheap, and accurate. Personalization of marketing messages and customization of products and services are based on individual characteristics. E-COMMERCE TECHNOLOGY DIMENSION U biquity—Internet/Web technology is available everywhere: at work, at home, and elsewhere via mobile devices, anytime. Global reach—The technology reaches across national boundaries, around the earth. Universal standards—There is one set of technology standards, namely Internet standards.Richness—Video, audio, and text messages are possible. Interactivity—The technology works through interaction with the user. Information density—The technology reduces information costs and raises quality. Personalization/Customization—The technology allows personalized messages to be delivered to individuals as well as groups. choose the path requiring the least effort—the most convenient path (Shapiro and Varian, 1999; Tversky and Kahneman, 1981). Global Reach E-commerce technology permits commercial transactions to cross cultural and national boundaries far more conveniently and cost-effectively than is true in traditional commerce.As a resul t, the potential market size for e-commerce merchants is roughly equal to the size of the world’s online population (over 1 billion in 2005, and growing rapidly, according to the Computer Industry 14 CHAPTER 1 The Revolution Is Just Beginning reach the total number of users or customers an e-commerce business can obtain Almanac) (Computer Industry Almanac, Inc. , 2006). The total number of users or customers an e-commerce business can obtain is a measure of its reach (Evans and Wurster, 1997). In contrast, most traditional commerce is local or regional—it involves local merchants or national merchants with local outlets.Television and radio stations, and newspapers, for instance, are primarily local and regional institutions with limited but powerful national networks that can attract a national audience. In contrast to e-commerce technology, these older commerce technologies do not easily cross national boundaries to a global audience. Universal Standards One striking ly unusual feature of e-commerce technologies is that the technical standards of the Internet, and therefore the technical standards for conducting e-commerce, are universal standards—they are shared by all nations around the world.In contrast, most traditional commerce technologies differ from one nation to the next. For instance, television and radio standards differ around the world, as does cell telephone technology. The universal technical standards of the Internet and e-commerce greatly lower market entry costs—the cost merchants must pay just to bring their goods to market. At the same time, for consumers, universal standards reduce search costs—the effort required to find suitable products.And by creating a single, one-world marketspace, where prices and product descriptions can be inexpensively displayed for all to see, price discovery becomes simpler, faster, and more accurate (Bakos, 1997; Kambil, 1997). And users of the Internet, both businesses and individuals, experience network externalities—benefits that arise because everyone uses the same technology. With e-commerce technologies, it is possible for the first time in history to easily find many of the suppliers, prices, and delivery terms of a specific product anywhere in the world, and to view them in a coherent, comparative environment.Although this is not necessarily realistic today for all or many products, it is a potential that will be exploited in the future. universal standards standards that are shared by all nations around the world Richness richness the complexity and content of a message Information richness refers to the complexity and content of a message (Evans and Wurster, 1999). Traditional markets, national sales forces, and small retail stores have great richness: they are able to provide personal, face-to-face service using aural and visual cues when making a sale.The richness of traditional markets makes them a powerful selling or commercial env ironment. Prior to the development of the Web, there was a trade-off between richness and reach: the larger the audience reached, the less rich the message (see Figure 1. 2). interactivity technology that allows for two-way communication between merchant and consumer Interactivity Unlike any of the commercial technologies of the twentieth century, with the possible exception of the telephone, e-commerce technologies allow for interactivity, meaning they enable two-way communication between merchant and consumer.Television, for instance, cannot ask viewers any questions or enter into conversations E-commerce: The Revolution Is Just Beginning 15 FIGURE 1. 2 THE CHANGING TRADE-OFF BETWEEN RICHNESS AND REACH E-commerce technologies have changed the traditional tradeoff between richness and reach. The Internet and the Web can deliver, to an audience of millions, â€Å"rich† marketing messages with text, video, and audio, in a way not possible with traditional commerce technologies such as radio, television, or magazines. SOURCE: Evans and Wurster, 2000. ith them, and it cannot request that customer information be entered into a form. In contrast, all of these activities are possible on an e-commerce Web site. Interactivity allows an online merchant to engage a consumer in ways similar to a face-to-face experience, but on a much more massive, global scale. Information Density The Internet and the Web vastly increase information density—the total amount and quality of information available to all market participants, consumers, and merchants alike. E-commerce technologies reduce information collection, storage, processing, and communication costs.At the same time, these technologies increase greatly the currency, accuracy, and timeliness of information—making information more useful and important than ever. As a result, information becomes more plentiful, less expensive, and of higher quality. A number of business consequences result from the gro wth in information density. In e-commerce markets, prices and costs become more transparent. Price transparency refers to the ease with which consumers can find out the variety of prices in a market; cost transparency refers to the ability of consumers to discover the actual costs merchants pay for products (Sinha, 2000).But there are advantages for merchants as well. Online merchants can discover much more about consumers; this allows merchants to segment the market into groups willing to pay different prices and permits them to engage in price discrimination—selling the same goods, or nearly information density the total amount and quality of information available to all market participants 16 CHAPTER 1 The Revolution Is Just Beginning the same goods, to different targeted groups at different prices.For instance, an online merchant can discover a consumer’s avid interest in expensive exotic vacations, and then pitch expensive exotic vacation plans to that consumer at a premium price, knowing this person is willing to pay extra for such a vacation. At the same time, the online merchant can pitch the same vacation plan at a lower price to more price-sensitive consumers (Shapiro and Varian, 1999). Merchants also have enhanced abilities to differentiate their products in terms of cost, brand, and quality. Personalization/Customization ersonalization the targeting of marketing messages to specific individuals by adjusting the message to a person's name, interests, and past purchases customization changing the delivered product or service based on a user's preferences or prior behavior E-commerce technologies permit personalization: merchants can target their marketing messages to specific individuals by adjusting the message to a person’s name, interests, and past purchases. The technology also permits customization— changing the delivered product or service based on a user’s preferences or prior behavior.Given the interactive n ature of e-commerce technology, much information about the consumer can be gathered in the marketplace at the moment of purchase. With the increase in information density, a great deal of information about the consumer’s past purchases and behavior can be stored and used by online merchants. The result is a level of personalization and customization unthinkable with existing commerce technologies. For instance, you may be able to shape what you see on television by selecting a channel, but you cannot change the contents of the channel you have chosen.In contrast, the online verson of the Wall Street Journal allows you to select the type of news stories you want to see first, and gives you the opportunity to be alerted when certain events happen. Now, let’s return to the question that motivated this section: Why study e-commerce? The answer is simply that e-commerce technologies—and the digital markets that result—promise to bring about some fundamental, u nprecedented shifts in commerce. One of these shifts, for instance, appears to be a large reduction in information asymmetry among all market participants (consumers and merchants).In the past, merchants and manufacturers were able to prevent consumers from learning about their costs, price discrimination strategies, and profits from sales. This becomes more difficult with e-commerce, and the entire marketplace potentially becomes highly price competitive. In addition, the unique dimensions of e-commerce technologies listed in Table 1. 2 also suggest many new possibilities for marketing and selling—a powerful set of interactive, personalized, and rich messages are available for delivery to segmented, targeted audiences.E-commerce technologies make it possible for merchants to know much more about consumers and to be able to use this information more effectively than was ever true in the past. Potentially, online merchants could use this new information to develop new informat ion asymmetries, enhance their ability to brand products, charge premium prices for high-quality service, and segment the market into an endless number of subgroups, each receiving a different price. To complicate matters further, these same technologies make it possible for merchants to know more about other merchants than was ever true in the past.This presents the possibility that merchants might collude on prices rather than compete and drive overall average prices up. This strategy works especially well when there are just a E-commerce: The Revolution Is Just Beginning 17 TABLE 1. 3 MAJOR TYPES OF E-COMMERCE EXAMPLE Amazon. com is a general merchandiser that sells consumer products to retail consumers. ChemConnect. com is a chemical industry exchange that creates an electronic market for chemical producers and users. eBay. com creates a marketspace where consumers can auction or sell goods directly to other consumers.Gnutella is a software application that permits consumers to share music with one another directly, without the intervention of a market maker as in C2C e-commerce. Wireless mobile devices such as PDAs (personal digital assistants) or cell phones can be used to conduct commercial transactions. TYPE OF E-COMMERCE B2C—Business-to-Consumer B2B—Business-to-Business C2C—Consumer-to-Consumer P2P—Peer-to-Peer M-commerce—Mobile commerce few suppliers (Varian, 2000b). We examine these different visions of e-commerce— friction-free commerce versus a brand-driven imperfect marketplace—further in Section 1. 2 and throughout the book.TYPES OF E-COMMERCE There are a variety of different types of e-commerce and many different ways to characterize these types. Table 1. 3 lists the five major types of e-commerce discussed in this book. 1 For the most part, we distinguish different types of e-commerce by the nature of the market relationship—who is selling to whom. The exceptions are P2P and m-commerce, w hich are technology-based distinctions. Business-to-Consumer (B2C) E-commerce The most commonly discussed type of e-commerce is Business-to-Consumer (B2C) e-commerce, in which online businesses attempt to reach individual consumers.Even though B2C is comparatively small ($140–$170 billion in 2005), it has grown exponentially since 1995, and is the type of e-commerce that most consumers are likely to encounter. Within the B2C category, there are many different types of business models. Chapter 2 has a detailed discussion of seven different B2C business mod1 Business-to-Consumer (B2C) e-commerce online businesses selling to individual consumers Business-to-Government (B2G) e-commerce can be considered yet another type of e-commerce.For the purposes of this text, we subsume B2G e-commerce within B2B e-commerce, viewing the government as simply a form of business when it acts as a procurer of goods and/or services. 18 CHAPTER 1 The Revolution Is Just Beginning els: portals, onlin e retailers, content providers, transaction brokers, market creators, service providers, and community providers. Business-to-Business (B2B) E-commerce Business-to-Business (B2B) e-commerce online businesses selling to other businesses Business-to-Business (B2B) e-commerce, in which businesses focus on selling to other businesses, is the largest form of e-commerce, with over $1. trillion in transactions in the United States in 2005. There was an estimated $13 trillion in business-to-business exchanges of all kinds, online and offline, in 2002, suggesting that B2B e-commerce has significant growth potential (eMarketer, Inc. , 2003). The ultimate size of B2B e-commerce could be huge. There are two primary business models used within the B2B arena: Net marketplaces, which include e-distributors, e-procurement companies, exchanges and industry consortia, and private industrial networks, which include single firm networks and industry-wide networks.Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C) E-commerce C onsumer-toConsumer (C2C) e-commerce consumers selling to other consumers Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C) e-commerce provides a way for consumers to sell to each other, with the help of an online market maker such as the auction site eBay. Given that in 2005, eBay generated more than $44 billion in gross merchandise volume around the world, it is probably safe to estimate that the size of the global C2C market in 2006 will be over $50 billion (eBay, 2006).In C2C e-commerce, the consumer prepares the product for market, places the product for auction or sale, and relies on the market maker to provide catalog, search engine, and transaction-clearing capabilities so that products can be easily displayed, discovered, and paid for. Peer-to-Peer (P2P) E-commerce Peer-to-peer technology enables Internet users to share files and computer resources directly without having to go through a central Web server. In peer-to-peer’s purest form, no intermediary is required, although in fact, most P 2P networks make use of intermediary â€Å"super servers† to speed operations.Since 1999, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists have attempted to adapt various aspects of peer-to-peer technology into Peer-to-Peer (P2P) e-commerce. To date there have been very few successful commercial applications of P2P e-commerce with the notable exception of illegal downloading of copyrighted music. Napster. com, which was established to aid Internet users in finding and sharing online music files, was the most well-known example of peer-to-peer e-commerce until it was put out of business in 2001 by a series of negative court decisions.However, other file-sharing networks, such as Kazaa and Grokster, quickly emerged to take Napster’s place. These networks have also been subjected to legal challenge. For instance, in 2002, the Recording Industry of America, a trade organization of the largest recording companies, filed a federal lawsuit against Kazaa and Grokster for violating copyri ght law by enabling and encouraging members to exchange copyrighted music tracks without compensation to the copyright holders. The Supreme Court issued a decision in the case against the file-sharing networks in June 2005.Read the case study at the end of the chapter for a further look at how file-sharing networks work and the legal issues surrounding them. Peer-to-Peer (P2P) e-commerce use of peer-to-peer technology, which enables Internet users to share files and computer resources directly without having to go through a central Web server, in e-commerce E-commerce: The Revolution Is Just Beginning 19 Mobile Commerce (M-commerce) Mobile commerce, or m-commerce, refers to the use of wireless digital devices to enable transactions on the Web.Described more fully in Chapter 3, m-commerce involves the use of wireless networks to connect cell phones, handheld devices such Blackberries, and personal computers to the Web. Once connected, mobile consumers can conduct transactions, includ ing stock trades, in-store price comparisons, banking, travel reservations, and more. Thus far, m-commerce is used most widely in Japan and Europe (especially in Scandinavia), where cell phones are more prevalent than in the United States; however, as discussed in the next section, m-commerce is expected to grow rapidly in the United States over the next five years. obile commerce (m-commerce) use of wireless digital devices to enable transactions on the Web GROWTH OF THE INTERNET AND THE WEB The technology juggernauts behind e-commerce are the Internet and the World Wide Web. Without both of these technologies, e-commerce as we know it would be impossible. We describe the Internet and the Web in some detail in Chapter 3. The Internet is a worldwide network of computer networks built on common standards.Created in the late 1960s to connect a small number of mainframe computers and their users, the Internet has since grown into the world’s largest network, connecting over 500 million computers worldwide. The Internet links businesses, educational institutions, government agencies, and individuals together, and provides users with services such as e-mail, document transfer, newsgroups, shopping, research, instant messaging, music, videos, and news. Figure 1. 3 illustrates one way to measure the growth of the Internet, by looking at the number of Internet hosts with domain names. An Internet host is defined by the Internet Software Consortium, which conducts this survey, as any IP address that returns a domain name in the in-addr. arpa domain, which is a special part of the DNS namespace that resolves IP addresses into domain names. ) In January 2005, there were over 317 million Internet hosts in over 245 countries, up from a mere 70 million in 2000. The number of Internet hosts has been growing at a rate of around 35% a year since 2000 (Internet Systems Consortium, Inc. , 2005). The Internet has shown extraordinary growth patterns when compared to other e lectronic technologies of the past.It took radio 38 years to achieve a 30% share of U. S. households. It took television 17 years to achieve a 30% share. Since the invention of a graphical user interface for the World Wide Web in 1993, it took only 10 years for the Internet/Web to achieve a 53% share of U. S. households. The World Wide Web (the Web) is the most popular service that runs on the Internet infrastructure. The Web is the â€Å"killer application† that made the Internet commercially interesting and extraordinarily popular. The Web was developed in the early 1990s and hence is of much more recent vintage than the Internet.We describe the Web in some detail in Chapter 3. The Web provides easy access to over 8 billion Web pages created in a language called HTML (HyperText Markup Language). These HTML pages contain information—including text, graphics, animations, and other Internet Worldwide network of computer networks built on common standards World Wide Web (Web) the most popular service that runs on the Internet; provides easy access to Web pages 20 CHAPTER 1 The Revolution Is Just Beginning FIGURE 1. 3 THE GROWTH OF THE INTERNET, MEASURED BY NUMBER OF INTERNET HOSTS WITH DOMAIN NAMESGrowth in the size of the Internet 1993-2005 as measured by the number of Internet hosts with domain names. SOURCE: Internet Systems Consortium, Inc. (www. isoc. org), 2005. objects—made available for public use. You can find an exceptionally wide range of information on Web pages, ranging from the entire catalog of Sears Roebuck, to the entire collection of public records from the Securities and Exchange Commission, to the card catalog of your local library, to millions of music tracks (some of them legal), and videos. The Internet prior to the Web was primarily used for text communications, file transfers, and remote computing.The Web introduced far more powerful and commercially interesting, colorful multimedia capabilities of direct relevance t o commerce. In essence, the Web added color, voice, and video to the Internet, creating a communications infrastructure and information storage system that rivals television, radio, magazines, and even libraries. There is no precise measurement of the number of Web pages in existence, in part because today’s search engines index only a portion of the known universe of Web pages, and also because the size of the Web universe is unknown.Google, the Web’s most popular and perhaps most comprehensive Web search engine, currently E-commerce: The Revolution Is Just Beginning 21 FIGURE 1. 4 THE GROWTH OF WEB CONTENT AS MEASURED BY PAGES INDEXED BY GOOGLE The number of Web pages indexed by Google has grown from about 1 billion in 1998 to over 8 billion in 2005. SOURCE: Based on data from Google Inc. , 2005. indexes over 8 billion pages. There are also an estimated 600 billion Web pages in the so-called â€Å"deep Web† that are not indexed by ordinary search engines such as Google.Nevertheless, it would be accurate to say that Web content has grown exponentially since 1993. Figure 1. 4 describes the growth of Web content measured by the number of pages indexed by Google. Read Insight on Technology: Spider Webs, Bow Ties, Scale-Free Networks, and the Deep Web on pages 22–23 for the latest view of researchers on the structure of the Web. ORIGINS AND GROWTH OF E-COMMERCE It is difficult to pinpoint just when e-commerce began. There were several precursors to e-commerce.In the late 1970s, a pharmaceutical firm named Baxter Healthcare initiated a primitive form of B2B e-commerce by using a telephone-based modem that permitted hospitals to reorder supplies from Baxter. This system was later expanded during the 1980s into a PC-based remote order entry system and was widely copied throughout the United States long before the Internet became a commercial environment. The 1980s saw the development of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) 22 CHAPTER 1 The R evolution Is Just Beginning INSIGHT ON TECHNOLOGYSPIDER WEBS, BOW TIES, SCALE-FREE NETWORKS, AND THE DEEP WEB The World Wide Web conjures up images of a giant spider web where everything is connected to everything else in a random pattern, and you can go from one edge of the web to another by just following the right links. Theoretically, that’s what makes the Web different from a typical index system—you can follow hyperlinks from one page to another. In the â€Å"small world† theory of the Web, every Web page is thought to be separated from any other Web page by an average of about 19 clicks.In 1968, sociologist Stanley Milgram invented small-world theory for social networks by noting that every human was separated from any other human by only six degrees of separation. On the Web, the small world theory was supported by early research on a small sampling of Web sites. But recent research conducted jointly by scientists at IBM, Compaq, and AltaVista found some thing entirely different. These scientists used AltaVista’s Web crawler â€Å"Scooter† to identify 200 million Web pages and follow 1. 5 billion links on these pages.The researchers discovered that the Web was not like a spider web at all, but rather like a bow tie (see figure below). The bow-tie Web had a â€Å"strongly connected component† (SCC) composed of about 56 million Web pages. On the right side of the bow tie was a set of 44 million OUT pages that you could get to from the center, but could not return to the center from. OUT pages tended to be corporate intranet and other (continued) E-commerce: The Revolution Is Just Beginning 23 Web site pages that are designed to trap you at the site when you land.On the left side of the bow tie was a set of 44 million IN pages from which you could get to the center, but that you could not travel to from the center. These were recently created â€Å"newbie† pages that had not yet been linked to by many center pages. In addition, 43 million pages were classified as â€Å"tendrils,† pages that did not link to the center and could not be linked to from the center. However, the tendril pages were sometimes linked to IN and/or OUT pages. Occasionally, tendrils linked to one another without passing through the center (these are called â€Å"tubes†).Finally, there were 16 million pages totally disconnected from everything. Further evidence for the non-random and structured nature of the Web is provided in research performed by Albert-Lazlo Barabasi at the University of Notre Dame. Barabasi’s team found that far from being a random, exponentially exploding network of 8 billion Web pages, activity on the Web was actually highly concentrated in â€Å"very connected super nodes† that provided the connectivity to less wellconnected nodes.Barabasi dubbed this type of network a â€Å"scale-free† network and found parallels in the growth of cancers, disease transmiss ion, and computer viruses. As its turns out, scale-free networks are highly vulnerable to destruction. Destroy their super nodes and transmission of messages breaks down rapidly. On the upside, if you are a marketer trying to â€Å"spread the message† about your products, place your products on one of the super nodes and watch the news spread. Or build super nodes like Kazaa did (see the case study at the end of the chapter) and attract a huge audience.Thus, the picture of the Web that emerges from this research is quite different from earlier reports. The notion that most pairs of Web pages are separated by a handful of links, almost always under 20, and that the number of connections would grow exponentially with the size of the Web, is not supported. In fact, there is a 75% chance that there is no path from one randomly chosen page to another. With this knowledge, it now becomes clear why the most advanced Web search engines only index about 6 million Web sites, when the o verall population of Internet hosts is over 300 million.Most Web sites cannot be found by search engines because their pages are not well-connected or linked to the central core of the Web. Another important finding is the identification of a â€Å"deep Web† composed of over 600 billion Web pages that are not indexed at all. The pages are not easily accessible to Web crawlers that most search engine companies use. Instead, these pages are either proprietary (not available to crawlers and non-subscribers, such as the pages of the Wall Street Journal) or are not easily available from home pages. In the last few years, new search engines (such as the medical search engine Mamma. om) and older ones such as Yahoo! have been revised to enable them to search the deep Web. Because e-commerce revenues in part depend on customers being able to find a Web site using search engines, Web site managers need to take steps to ensure their Web pages are part of the connected central core, or super nodes of the Web. One way to do this is to make sure the site has as many links as possible to and from other relevant sites, especially to other sites within the SCC. SOURCES: â€Å"Deep Web Research,† by Marcus P. Zillman, Llrx. com, July 2005; â€Å"Momma. om Conquers Deep Web,† Mammamediasolutions. com, June 20, 2005; â€Å"Yahoo Mines the ‘Deep Web,’† by Tim Gray, Internetnews. com, June 17, 2005; Linked: The New Science of Networks by Albert-Lazlo Barabasi. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Publishing (2002); â€Å"The Bowtie Theory Explains Link Popularity,† by John Heard, Searchengineposition. com, June 1, 2000; â€Å"Graph Structure in the Web,† by A. Broder, R. Kumar, F. Maghoul, P. Raghaven, S. Rajagopalan, R. Stata, A. Tomkins, and J. Wiener, Proceedings of the 9th International World Wide Web Conference, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, pages 309–320.Elsevier Science, May 2000. 24 CHAPTER 1 The Revolution Is Just Beginning FI GURE 1. 5 THE GROWTH OF B2C E-COMMERCE In the early years, B2C e-commerce was doubling or tripling each year. This explosive early growth rate has since slowed. Currently, B2C e-commerce is growing at about 25% per year, with seasonal spikes showing stronger year-to-year gains. [Note: Revenue shown includes retail sales, travel and financial services revenues. ] SOURCES: Based on data from eMarketer, Inc. , 2005a;