Prader willi syndrome Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Prader willi syndrome - Essay Example However it is believed that the disease occurs in the children whose family shows history of chromosomal aberrations (Kumar et al 2005). Signs and Symptoms The signs and symptoms of Prader Willi syndrome change over time as it is seen that toddlers and adolescents behave differently when suffering from it. The infants suffering from the syndrome have a poor muscle tone with poor reflexes such as the sucking reflex. They also suffer from lethargy and usually have a retarded growth. As these children grow up they show different signs and symptoms. The toddlers show delayed development of the body lacking language and walking skills. The toddlers also show behavioral problems such as high temper and rudeness. As the child further grows up he faces from other problems. The primary problem that these children face is obesity which is caused by the increasing urge to eat. The behavioral problems with the children have worsened by this time and they tend to be more inflexible. These childre n also face learning disabilities because of which they are not competitive enough. They also show loss of sexual functions which is because of the loss of hormones in these children (PubMed Health 2009; NYU Languone Medical Center). Diagnosis The diagnosis of children with Prader Willi would be done on the basis of the symptoms of the disease. Hypotonia and almond shaped eyes are some of the symptoms which can lead to the diagnosis of the disorder. In some male infants it is also seen that they have an undescended testis which is a characteristic feature of the Prader Willi syndrome. The laboratory tests can further help to confirm the onset of the syndrome in a child. The tests would confirm the level of obesity in the child. Abnormal glucose and insulin tests are used to confirm the level of obesity. The level of hormones is also checked in the child to confirm that he is suffering from the syndrome. Children with Prader Willi syndrome show decreased functionality of the sexual h ormones (Mayo Clinic 2011; Pub Med Health 2009). Treatment of the Prader Willi Syndrome Many researches are being carried out to find out the viability of the treatment options offered to treat the syndrome. It has been found that these treatment options help in improving the conditions of the children suffering from the syndrome. Children suffering from the syndrome usually suffer because of their low caloric diet and thus their diet should be maintained such that their body can grow with ease. Hormonal treatment is considered to be one of the most important in treating the Prader Willi syndrome. Research has shown that growth hormone is very effective in treating children with the Prader Willi syndrome. The treatment of the syndrome by growth hormone in United States was approved in the year of 2000 and ever since the treatment option is considered by many of the physicians. Growth hormone helps to decrease the bodily fat and increase the metabolic rate of the body. Hence in other words the hormone helps to decrease the level of obesity in the children. However on the other hand research has also shown that in some cases growth hormone may worsen the condition of these children. Sleep Apnea or difficulty in breathing while sleeping can be triggered because of growth hormone therapy. It is because of these side effects that in some cases it is recommended that a growth hormone therapy is not given to the child suffering from th

Tono-Bungay by H.G. Wells Essay Example for Free

Tono-Bungay by H.G. Wells Essay Tono-Bungay narrates the story of George Ponderevo and how his childhood was developed at the Bladesover House and in other places that he went to after his experience at the said house. Chapter 1 showed his relationship with his mother and gave the readers a glimpse of his personality and what the thought of England and London. He also related how his mother went through her job and how she brought up the narrator as he was growing up. Chapter 2 then showed the narrator’s experience at the Bladesover House, particularly his cousin Nicodemus. George Ponderevo gave a critique of religion by depicting his cousin Nicodemus and his wife as a superstitious lot and how Nicodemus lost his spine and how he could not stand up to his wife.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   After George’s experience at Bladesover House, his mother brought him to Wimblehurst where he became an apprentice to his uncle. During this time, his worldview developed by his stay at Bladesover House was being changed thanks to his uncle. In the end, however, George became disappointed with his uncle. He saw his uncle as somebody with big promises but with no capability in fulfilling them. The adventures of George continued as he became a student in London. He also witnessed the rise of Tono-Bungay and its money making schemes. As he went through school, he also learns about social norms and the difficulties of relating with the aristocracy. The narrator presents a criticism of the social norms and the lifestyles of the people in London. Yet, as he goes through his education, he also realizes how out of place he was and he thought of ways to improve his lot even with the repeated calls of people that he failed. Work Cited Well, H. G. Tono Bungay. New York: Kessinger Publishing, 2003.

Aesthetics and Sound of Japanese Horror Films 1990s-2000

Aesthetics and Sound of Japanese Horror Films 1990s-2000 Analyse the aesthetics and sound of Japanese horror films from late 1990s to early 2000s World Cinema is typically used to refer to films of non-English speaking countries and has a representation to take the least amount of dominance in popularity compared to the works of Hollywood cinema. However, since the evalutiton of cinema My critical analysis will be viewing the television programme as a representation of escapism from real life events by considering the ways in which media texts change our perspective on entertainment through the codes and conventions of narrative and genre.  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   I will take the Waking Dead series and look at what drives the narrative forward in which the story, characters and sequence of events, is put together within the script. The effects of this will come in to play as I list the relative media theorists such as, Vladimir Propp and Barthes to gain a better understanding. The horror genre has been utilized especially in film as a way to startle viewers as its primary objective. Consistently, its most used ordered structure of a: beginning, middle and end can be argued as unsurprising. Over time, in order to bring in new audiences, the horror genre has been forced to adapt its context by perhaps a use of hybrids or a new type of subgenre to suit a particular need as well as continuing to scare and entertain. A case of this can been seen through an examination of the American horror film Scream (released in 1996) and Japanese Horror Ringu (1998) as noted, Hollywood horror films are generally overwhelmed by the slasher subgenre as it depends on gore and physical brutality while, the Japanese, utilized the mental or rather psychological subgenre that ordinarily include ghost, spirits and possession. As mainstream Ring seemed to be, it turned into the first western remake of a Japanese awfulness great, entitled: The Ring (2002), this made ready for some J-horror revamps that started a worldwide enthusiasm for the Japanese wide screen and culture now with the term J-horror turning into its very own category outside Japan.   In the past decade, few countries have received more attention from Hollywood than Japan. Indeed, its folkloric legends and eerie aesthetics have in many ways revolutionised the horror genre. This essay will look at the relationship between American and Japanese cinema and explore how the two countries overcame cultural differences in order to develop a successful horror film cycle. The first section will describe how American and Japanese cinema have influenced each other over the years. In the second part, the phenomenon of J-horror will be analysed in order to demonstrate how remakes have contributed to the Western understanding of Japanese horror films. Ultimately, the final section will look at the implications of this interrelationship in terms of the accessibility of Japanese films in Western culture, and the growing importance of transnational cinema. Although the recent embrace of J-horror by American filmmakers and audiences has received a great deal of media and critical attention, Hollywoods affinity for Japanese cinema is in no way a new phenomenon. In fact, both countries have influenced each other for many decades. This led to the 1917 version of his own film The Loyal Forty-Seven Ronin (Japan 1912). Incidentally, after many adaptations this film is now being remade for the American public as 47 Ronin (Carl Rinsch, USA 2012). Similarly, after the Second World War, some Japanese films began to attract the attention of the American audiences, particularly Gojira (Godzilla, Ishiro Honda, Japan 1954) which mirrored the apocalyptic cultural fears of the 1950s American science-fiction films, and Shichinin no Samurai (Seven Samurai, Akira Kurosawa, Japan 1954), a film that influenced a number of Hollywood adaptations. Interestingly, it was around this time, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, that anime became extremely popular in the Western culture (Napier 2005: 22). Writing about the global success of anime, Susan J. Napier points out that: Anime is indeed exotic to the West in that it is made in Japan, but the world of anime itself occupies its own space that is not necessarily coincident with that of Japan. [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] It is thus a particularly apt candidate for participation in a transnational, stateless culture (2005: 24). The popularity and critical attention that anime has received introduced many Western viewers to Japanese cinema. It can then be suggested that this trend has opened a Japanese niche market in America, indirectly contributing to the introduction of what has come to be known as J-horror. This Hollywood take up of Japanese films which were strongly inspired by the American horror genre, constitutes an unprecedented example of the cross-fertilisation between Hollywood and Japanese cinema. At the turn of the century, as Steffen Hantke explains in his study of Japanese horror, America was in need of a new horror film cycle (2005: 54). Franchises like Halloween (John Carpenter, USA 1978) and Friday the 13th (Sean S. Cunningham, USA 1980) had countless remakes, and the industry would only produce horror films like Scream (Wes Craven, USA 1996) that were so filled with self-referential humour that the genre had lost its terrifying appeal. In 1998, the horror film Ringu (Hideo Nakata, Japan 1998) was extremely successful in Japan. Hollywood producers saw an opportunity for a return to a more gothic form of horror with an exotic twist. Gary G. Xu explains the appeal of the Japanese horror genre to Hollywood: There is a certain aura in Japanese ghost fiction and films, often filled with womens grudges against men who deserted or injured them. Unlike most ghost stories in the West that seek moments of shock and harmless thrills, the Japanese ghost stories tend to allow the aura to linger, to permeate, or to literally haunt the audience (2008: 192). In order to adapt the film successfully, the Japanese specificities of Ringu, such as the slow atmospheric pace and the compassion with wronged spirits were adapted for a more Western audience: more closure was added and the ghost became a manifestation of evil. The remake that followed, The Ring (Gore Verbinski, USA 2002) grossed $250 million worldwide (Xu 2008: 192), encouraging a franchise and numerous subsequent remakes of Japanese horror films. This enthusiasm has encouraged many Western horror fans to watch the original movies and to seek out more Japanese films. Consequently, scholars have questioned this new-found popularity, including the ways these films could translate to the common Western spectator. Indeed, the Japanese culture is known to be extremely rich and different from the Western one. Although Japan is a highly modernised country, traditional values remain that might not be understood by every Western viewer. One of these scholars, Ruth Goldberg, discusses two ways for audiences to read foreign films: in terms of cultural specificity or as acts of translation to foreign audiences (2004: 371). Similarly, Hantke quotes Masao Miyoshi who speaks in terms of domestication and neutralization (2005:62): To restore the accustomed equilibrium, Miyoshi writes, the reader either domesticates or neutralizes the exoticism of the text. The strategy for domestication is to exaggerate the familiar aspects of the text and thereby disperse its discreteness in the hegemonic sphere of first world literature, [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] the plan for neutralization [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] operates by distancing the menacing source, defusing its otherness with [s]uch pseudocomments as delicate, lyrical, or suggestive, if not illogical, impenetrable, or incoherent (Miyoshi quoted in Hantke 2005: 62). Simply put, the films cultural specificity can be either recognised by the viewer, dismissed as exotic, or they can be replaced altogether by a universal reading which makes the text more accessible when it does not lead to misinterpretations. For example, Ringu is culturally specific in the sense that is part of the Japanese kaidan (ghost story) genre which derives from the traditional plays of the Noh and Kabuki theatre (McRoy 2008: 6). As the writer of Ringu, Koji Suzuki explains, this folklore has a different perspective on ghosts than the Western tradition: In America and Europe most horror movies tell the story of the extermination of evil spirits. Japanese horror movies end with a suggestion that the spirit still remains at large. Thats because the Japanese dont regard spirits only as enemies, but as beings that co-exist with this world of ours (Suzuki quoted in Branston and Stafford 2006: 98). Furthermore, Ringu reveals national fears related to the increase of divorces and the new gender roles: nowadays, Japanese women often have careers and are no longer full time mothers. As Goldberg puts it, Ringu reflect[s] in microcosm the anxious tension between tradition and modernity that looms large in the nations sensibility (2004: 371). On the other hand, using Myoshis expression, the film can easily be domesticated by Western audiences: Nakata has named The Exorcist (William Friedkin, USA 1973) and Poltergeist (Tobe Hooper, USA 1982) amonghis influences (Branston and Stafford 2006: 98). Moreover, Ringu refers to the teen culture that is so common to the American horror film, comprises the typical final girl and the themes of technophobia and broken families that have populated cinema for the past two decades. In this way, it has been suggested that Nakata manages to strike a genuinely alarming balance between the cultural depths of Japanese folklore, and the surface sheen of l atter day teen culture (Kermode 2000). In adapting the film for Western viewers, Gore Verbinski ignored the Japanese cultural specificities and focused on fully domesticating the film. However, as the following will demonstrate, he preserved some memorable and eerie images from the original production which would become the markers of J-horror. Drawing its inspiration from A Nightmare on Elm Street (Wes Craven, USA 1984) and Friday the 13th(see McRoy 2005: 176),   Ju-On (Takashi Simizu, Japan 2002) is a similar hybrid between American horror classics and the kaidan tradition. When Simizu remade the film as The Grudge (Takashi Simizu, USA 2004) for an American audience, he filmed the ghost of Kayako in the same way as Sayakos in The Ring: a faceless head covered by long black hair that reveal only one eye. In imitating this successful film, it can be suggested that Simizu was constructing a deliberate relationship between the two films and, as such, conforming to Western expectations about a vengeful ghost in the Japanese horror film (Balmain 2008: 189). This new symbol of horror began to appear repeatedly not only in Japanese films like Honogurai Mizu no Soko Kara (Dark Water, Hideo Nakata, Japan 2002) but also in other East-Asian films like Janghwa, Hongryeon (A Tale of Two Sisters, Jee-woon Kim, Korea 2003). When p ut in its original linguistic and cultural context, the characteristic appearance of this spirit is understandable. Indeed, in Japanese, the term kurokami is a homonym meaning both black hair and black spirit. In addition, Jay McRoy describes the cultural significance of the hair and single eye: These physiological details carried a substantial cultural and aesthetic weight, as long black hair is often aligned in the Japanese popular imaginary with conceptualisations of feminine beauty and sensuality, and the image of the gazing female eye (or eyes) is frequently associated with vaginal imagery (2008: 6-7) Consequently, it only makes sense that a ghost with bad intentions, especially a beautiful woman that has been wronged and seeks revenge, would be represented with long black hair. By repeating this image across films, it was slowly converted into Western culture from a culturally specific symbol to an immediately recognisable piece of horror iconography. This image could very well have participated in making J-horror a cult phenomenon. On the other hand, this repetition was quickly starting to remind audiences of the overly repeated American horror franchises and raised criticisms, such as Grady Hendrixs, who has seen enough of the long-haired-dead-wet-chick (quoted in McRoy 2008: 173). The never-ending American remakes have also exasperated Japanese filmmakers like Ju-On director Simizu. In response, he released the short film Blonde Kaidan (Takashi Simizu, Japan 2004) which portrays a Japanese filmmaker haunted by a blonde spirit, parodying the obsession of American producers for interchangeable blonde heroines. The upside of this recurring visual trope is that it has helped popularise the Japanese horror film and positioned the genre into the mainstream. In fact, studying the American horror fans reception of J-horror, Matt Hills points out that: The remakes success is viewed positively, as providing a platform for the cult texts wider availability [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦]. Hollywood remakes are thus positioned as relatively inauthentic/inferior texts that nevertheless allow the cult original to move beyond its initial underground status, a shift that is embraced, as if culturally validating the fans love of Ringu et al (2005:164). With Japanese horror becoming a bigger part of popular culture, Western audiences encouraged the distribution of more violent and original Japanese horror films that often offer more thrills and depth than the popular likes of Saw (James Wan, USA 2004-2010) and Hostel (Eli Roth, USA 2005-2007). Indeed, as Jay McRoy puts it, these disturbing films offer visceral visions interlaced with a degree of stinging social satire rarely seen in works of Western horror directors (McRoy 2008: 10). For example, new cult films include the shocking social satire Batoru Rowaiaru (Battle Royale, Kinji Fukasaku, Japan 2000) and the disturbing and genre-bending Odishon (Audition, Takashi Miike, Japan 1999). As a result, it can be argued that the multiplicity and repetition of American remakes have familiarised their viewers with elements that used to be typically Japanese. Their cultural specificity has become more transparent, and in this way, they have come to transcend their original folkloric refere nces. The fact that genre films from distant cultures have nowadays become so accessible to popular understanding is a sign of the increased transnationalism of film culture. As Elizabeth Ezra and Terry Rowden explain: Without succumbing to the exoticizing representational practices of mainstream Hollywood films, transnational cinema which by definition has its own globalizing imperatives transcends the national as autonomous cultural particularity while respecting it as a powerful symbolic force. The category of the transnational allows us to recognize the hybridity of much new Hollywood cinema (2006: 2). This transnationalism is therefore characterised not only by the American remakes or re-interpretation of foreign films, but also by the ability of foreign films to represent universal issues and thereby transcend their cultural specificity. Ruth Goldberg, who is quoted above as saying that the Japanese horror film can be read as culturally specific or as an act of translations to foreign audiences, ultimately adds that a third possibility can be to use elements of both approaches (2004: 382). This more balanced mode of spectatorship could be referred to as the transnational reading. As suggested earlier, the cycle of Japanese remakes in America is very likely to have educated audiences to this broader reading of Japanese films. This worked to strengthen the foreign film market in the United States, a country that has been long renowned for its aversion to subtitles. In fact, not only did Hollywood never hide that their new cycle of horror films were remakes of Japanese movies, but t he viewings of the original versions were encouraged through cross promotion. For example, while discussing the special features on the DVD of the Hollywood remake The Ring, Chuck Tryon observes that the selection Look Here invites viewers to watch a trailer for the Japanese original, which was distributed in conjunction with the DVD version of the American remake (2009: 24). The remake, in this way, acted as a transition between American and Japanese horror. Interestingly, the advent of the DVD format proved to be fundamental not only to the popularity of Japanese horror, but to its transnational reading. Indeed, the availability of subtitles on DVDs makes it easier for people to acquire movies that are not available in their country or language. If the original Japanese versions are distributed in Western countries, the films are usually complemented with special features to allow a better understanding and reading of the cultural specificities. For instance, the 2 Disc Special Collectors Edition DVD of Ju-On offers a large number of special features including: interviews and commentaries with the director and a selection of actors, a Ju-On True Stories Featurettes and an Exclusive Feature-Length Audio Commentary with Asian Cinema Expert, Bey Logan. These features are included to educate the viewers in their transnational reading of the film, giving them a clearer understanding of the Japanese culture in order to approach the cultural s pecificities of the movie with an informed mind. In addition to the remakes and the transnational format that is the DVD, many Japanese films owe their success to the Internet. Indeed, this medium provides endless possibilities for film discoveries and international communication. One can, for instance, mention the emergence of the online grassroots participatory culture, which Henry Jenkins describes as a bottom-up consumer-driven process (2006: 18): consumers can now actively influence the production and distribution of films by highlighting the existence of niche markets. Other benefits of the Internet in terms of promoting transnational cinema are the unlimited availability of short films from all over the world, and the forums where international users are given the opportunity to discuss their opinions on films and share their interpretations. In this way, they encourage transnational readings of films along with the expansion of the foreign film market in America. Japanese films have inspired the American movie industry for decades. However, their films were always adapted for the Western culture and stripped of their deeper cultural meanings.   Apart from a handful of productions that became international classics like Godzilla and Seven Samourai, Japanese film culture remained quite obscure until the success of Japanese horror. A series of American remakes called attention to the existence of this genre that portrayed terrifying horror filled with deep significance: either specific to the Japanese culture or universal. Some factors such as DVD distribution, the Internet and active fan culture led to the increased distribution of these films in America, and strengthened viewers involvement in transnational film culture. Thus, through its multitude of adaptations and hiring of international filmmakers, Hollywood has become central to the crossover of cultural boundaries at a time of rapid globalisation.

John-O-Lanterns :: essays research papers

â€Å"Witchcraft,† answered the seventeen year old honor student, Sebastian Holmes, at Lincoln Woods High.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Correct,† replied Lady Talla, the elderly Mythology teacher who also owned the town brothel, â€Å"Drec, wake up and pay attention!†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"How can I pay attention to the same thing every year? You teachers need to teach us new things,† Drec barked.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It was the day before Halloween and since this was the first year that Drec was too old to go Trick-or-Treating, he and Sebastian decided to dress up and petrify the local kids. They climbed into Sebastian’s Bronco and headed for the local costume parlor. Drec bought a very expensive, very gory costume of a man with a nail through his eye. Sebastian bought a costume of a skunk with a bow in its hair. Drec was never one to retain his opinions, so he told Sebastian that his skunk costume was the gayest thing he’d ever seen. Sebastian being the kind hearted person that he was, just ignored the comment and proceeded to the door. If it weren’t for Sebastian, Drec’s mouth would get him into all sorts of trouble.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  On the way home Drec saw something that he didn’t see on the way to the costume shop, it was a humongous field full of pumpkins. Sebastian pulled over to check the prices because his family still didn’t have any pumpkins for Halloween. There wasn’t anyone there, so the boys decided to â€Å"borrow† a couple of them. They weren’t going to waste them, they were going to carve them and put them out on Sebastian’s front porch. So they didn’t feel as bad about stealing. They loaded up the Bronco and headed home, hoping nobody saw them take the pumpkins. The first thing that they did when they got home was carve the pumpkins that they came across. It was late, so Drec went home and prepared for the next day of complete excitement. Little did they know, three hundred miles away, two men were planning to â€Å"borrow† a few things of their own. The next morning Sebastian’s parents were missing; there was no note or anything. So he called Drec, Drec has the same problem. Fifteen minutes later, Drec and Sebastian arrived at an empty police station with no clue where anyone is. They have already tried making calls on the radio and over the town broadcast system, but they had no luck.

IT Development in Major Business Firms

The purpose of this White Paper is to inform you on the Information Technology situation at Enqvist Int. Information Technology is all the hardware, software, telecommunications, database management, and other information that we use to process technology using computer based information systems. IT helps create business strategies in many business fields, including Business Management. In this white paper, you will be presented with the current standing of our IT development as well as improvements that can and should be make to increase company productivity. By further developing our IT infrastructure, Enqvist Int. an improve so that we have the most up to date technology available in our field. More specifically, I am going to present to you the possibilities associated with upgrading our current software, databases as well as our telecommunications network within the organization. A few of the benefits that will be received will be increased collaboration, quicker, easier access to customer information as well as to supplier information. These details are discussed in depth in the scope of this white paper. Enqvist Int. is a manufacturing company that produces office equipment. The production plant is based in New Albany and we distribute mainly to Indianapolis, Louisville and Cincinnati. We also do business with other companies in between these metropolitan areas. At Enqvist Int. , our products are sold to other businesses that use our equipment in their offices as well at to retailers for resale. We have offices in all three major cities that set up sales with possible clients. It is important that all three locations share common information with each other as well as with the plant in New Albany to make sure that there will be enough equipment to meet the demand for those cities as well as the surrounding areas. A close eye is always kept on inventory at Enqvist Int. as we pride ourselves in having what consumers want when they want it. Management of this inventory is currently done by hand at the plant in New Albany before the products are shipped to their designated location. In the following pages of this white paper I will present to you the current situation of Enqvist Int. in the IT fields of software, databases and telecommunications. After discussing how we currently use these technologies I will follow up with some developments that can be made in each field to improve the way we do business. After discussing these issues I will give my recommendations on what I think the appropriate action would be to increase the productivity of Enqvist Int. I will conclude with what we can hope to expect from IT in the future. Scope of Situation in Business Management I have been working with an IT Specialist from Cisco. com discussing with him the alternatives of the way we are currently using IT in our company. He has been giving me suggestions along the way with what to offer you in this white paper. Again, I will focus on three major areas, software, databases and telecommunication. At the present time Enqvist Int. does not have any particular software suite common to the three major offices. All three locations have access to the Internet and internally in the three organizations there is access to an Intranet. Product inventory is kept by hand with the information being stored on a hard drive in computers. There are relatively few computers on hand at the plant in New Albany while each employee has their own workstation at each of the three metropolitan locations. According to my IS source, we have an array of options for improving out software condition. In today†s IT world, the trend in software is away from custom design programs and towards of the shelf software suites that are user friendly to our employees. The trend is leaning away from procedural and machine specific programming and towards specific business application uses. Speaking in terms of productivity, we can upgrade from our current software to software that will increase productivity. To continue doing business as usual we need to have a software suite that has the major types of software already installed and ready to use. Remember that we will need a system that meets our requirements of how we do business. Some of the basic software necessary will be a Web browser, e-mail, desktop publishing and word processing. These are all included in several suites such as Microsoft 2000. For example, 2000 has several business specific applications like Word and Excel just to name a couple. These applications can help keep track of our inventory as well as the product schedule of what we will be running on the production line at the plant. E-mail and other forms of virtual groupware will help increase communications between employees at all locations. Another alternative would be to implement a new operating system into the organization to meet our increasing software needs and requirements. An operating system is an integrated system of programs and software that manages the operations of computers. It controls the inputs/outputs and storage of information. In our case the primary reasoning behind an operating system would be to maximize productivity in a more efficient manner. An operating system has four major characteristics that help this process; User Interface, Resource Management, File Management and Task Management. These qualities will help Enqvist International†s management team accomplish specific tasks such as checking to see how much inventory is in stock for a particular product. An operating system will also help with basic business management functions such as storing and retrieving customer information. That is an overview of the software standing at Enqvist Int. and what is available for us to implement to improve they was we use software. Implementing this system at all locations of Enqvist Int. will be costly but the benefits derived should offset those costs. Some benefits will include efficient work, easy interaction with other software, reliability, and application specific programs. Enqivst Int. currently has a strong database infrasturcture but there is room for improvement. We currently have three separate databases, one for each metropolitan location. Each location can run several applications to find and configure data needed for themselves or to relay to customers. There is one big step we can take to improve our overall schema of Database Management systems. After consulting with my IS agent, I have discovered a more error free way to keep track of data. Instead of having the three databases scattered throughout the company, we could have one main database that can be accessed by all three locations. For example, when an employee is running an application to find data on a customer, he will be able to find all data about them in one place instead of going to different databases for pieces of information. A Database Management System (DBMS) is a set of computer programs that control the creation, maintenance and use of data. This DBMS will consolidate records previously stored in separate files into a common file. The benefits of this include the ability for ad hoc queries. These are unique unscheduled information requests from the DBMS, easily capable if we have the newest innovations in DBMS. Forming one main database will also reduce redundant data and errors about those data. For example when information is stored in separate files you need to change customer information in all areas, this problem is eliminated with what I am offering, once you change the information in one area it is automatically done in every aspect of that customer. This will be favorable for Enqvist Int. because customer information will always be up to date. We will have all our entities kept together with the proper attributes to those entities easily accessible to our employees. DBMS will also allow us to build new applications to apply to the way we do business. For example, we will have all of our customer information in one area as well as information on suppliers to the plant in New Albany. DBMS will improve our efficiency and possibly help Enqvist Int. expand to new markets. There are four major benefits we can receive from DBMS. They are: Database Development, Data Interrogation, Data Maintenance, and Application Development. These benefits will help Enqvist Int. keep track of data about the business as well as being able to interrogate the data to be displayed in forms desired by our end users and employees. All this is available just by sharing a common database. The overall organization will be better informed about company data to provide better quaility decision making. There are issues to consider before changing our database infrastructure. We know that this system is able to update the database to reflect new transactions but we also need a DBMS that is reliable, secure and has a large capacity as we are a growing company. Determining who has access to what information in the database will be an important decision that will be made by upper management. Enqvist Int. employees currently have accessibility to a local area network (LAN) within the organization they work for depending on the city. Employees at the three respective stores have all their computers wired together within the office. While this has enabled the employees to communicate with each other and retrieve information about their office transactions, it does not allow them to communicate and have access with possibly needed information from the other two stores. We already have the basic components needed to improve our telecommunications network. We have the computer terminals and processors and the control software to manage the functions for which we use telecommunication. We could however take advantage of a more powerful channel over which our date is transmitted and received. We could also have this channel run fiber optic lines to connect the organizations three LANs creating a Wide Are Network (WAN). A WAN allows connection for large geographical areas, perfect for our situation. We could also form a VPN but our locations are close enough to form a WAN. Implementing a WAN will enable managers, end users, employees and workgroups to electronically exchange data and information from any of three stores with anyone in the company. This will increase collaboration between employees but can be costly. However, the benefits are incredible. Office workers will still be connected internally but also with all other offices including the plant in New Albany. By having all the offices connected to the production plant, employees will no longer have to send e-mails to find out information regarding product inventory or when shipments are being sent and arrived at their location. This takes time and may possibly cost us customers who will look elsewhere. With a WAN, employees could have access to this and other information to use in increasing customer service, another issue associated with business management. The speed and connectivity allowed through a WAN are just a few of the benefits that can be received from implementing one. Managers will have to take some things into consideration when implementing a WAN. With information so accessible to employees we must make sure it is secure so no one else can hack into our network. There are also the issues of who in the company can see and use what information. Employees at all locations are now able to work together on team projects and connect to the plant to check product information but their accessibility will have to have some end. Only office managers and management members above them should have access to company information such as income statements kept on our software programs and total operating cost or per unit costs, other important issues in business management. Once these rules are set, a WAN can increase our company productivity greatly. After informing you on the current situation that Enqvist Int. egarding Information Technology, I will now relay some suggestions that I feel can help this company improve and grow. Working with my IS consultant has helped me tell you the possible ways we can improve the current way we use IT at Enqvist Int. I feel that we could increase productivity to its maximum by using an operating system as our software suite. We could use this system to keep track on product inventory so that fewer errors occur in calculating inventory. Another advantage to Enqvist Int. from an operating system is that our employees will have access to user friendly, application specific business programs. I also feel that we should combine our organizations databases into one common database accessible to our end users. Keeping customer information as well as information on employees and data about the plant in New Albany will help our employees work better to improve customer service. A DBMS also reduces errors that may be in our data. All employees will see that same thing when they look up a common file where as when the information was stored separately two different users might see two different descriptions for the same customer. In reference to our telecommunications network, I think I already made my recommendation known in the scope of this white paper. I feel that implementing a WAN to connect our organization three current LANs will help Enqvist Int. improve in many areas by collaborating with each other. Connecting them with fiber optic lines will increase the speed at which this can be done. It will help us overcome geographical barriers and possibly expand to new markets. The recommendations made to you in this white paper won†t come cheap to Enqvist Int. ut I feel that the benefits we can receive from doing so will outweigh these costs and in time pay for themselves in increased employee productivity. Enqvist Int. has shown in the past that we can survive in our highly competitive market but to stay that way we need to improve our IT situation. By following some or all of the recommendations made to you Enqvist Int. will likely continue to thrive into the future with the help of IT. It seems as if the Information Technology world is changing everyday, which it is. By improving our IT infrastructure as mentioned in this paper, we will reap the benefits of what IT can do for business today. We can only wait and see what IT will have in store for us into the future, creating new innovating ways to manage data and help with business needs. It is likely that the IT tools we have today will be compatible with what will happen in to future thus allowing us to take advantage of those changes in IT. Into the future I think we should also start an Internet site to try in increase sales by expanding our market and also to add advertising. I know that the managers at Enqvist Int. ave been thinking on this for awhile now and with the help of my IS consultant, we could implement it relatively soon. Something that we could see in the future of IT is increased voice recognition. It is already possible for users to talk over the Internet to each other and hear each other. Something that we can look forward to in our computers is their increased voice recognition. We will be able to talk to our computers to accomplish tasks hands free. The computer may actually be able to communicate back with us in the future making working a computer easier and more productive than ever. Also in the future of IT we can expect to see increase in flexibility regarding what IT can do with increased power. This flexibility will open an expanding range of IT applications that help business processes. We will also experience increasing bandwidth making connection over networks faster and more reliable to access information. The future still remains to be seen but with IT, the possibilities are endless, I have only named a few. From writing this White Paper I learned that it is essential for today†s businesses to have IT has a backbone of their operations. To be competitive in today†s market, businesses need to have a strong IT infrastructure to assist them in running their organization. I also strengthened my understanding of how IT can help businesses expand and grow by making them accessible all over the world via the Internet. They can do business now with people anywhere but this is also something that many companies are having trouble doing today. However, I understand that by using IT to help you manage you information and to create the ability to work and collaborate together, it can help to improve your business and now I realize how this works a lot more in depth.

Influence of Advertisement on Brand Preference Essay

Vithya Vivekananthan, Faculty of Commerce and Management, Eastern University, Vantharumoolai, Sri Lanka vcvithya@gmail. com ABSTRACT Measuring the influence of Advertisement in Consumer Brand Preference is very essential for every marketer. If advertisement does not create any positive change in consumers’ brand preference, all the resources such as money, time and efforts spent on advertisement will go in vain. Most of the marketers use Advertisement as a tool to attract substantially new customers and to retain the existing customers. This research studies about the â€Å"Influence of Advertisement in Consumer Brand Preference in the Soft Drink Market†, which is one of the most competitive markets in Batticaloa. Every Brand in this market use Advertisement as a major weapon to overcome the fierce Competition. There are numerous Advertisements of different Soft drink brands exposed in Television. But, the main thing here is, the marketer want to identify that, do all these advertisements positively influencing the consumers’ brand preference. In order to study the influence of Advertisement in Consumer Brand Preference, three main variables are considered with appropriate dimensions. They are; Information, Communication and Comprehension. The structured questionnaire was used to collect primary data from 200 respondents. The study found that all three variables indicate high influence of Advertisement in consumer brand preference. Even though it has high influence in overall view, the advertiser wants to consider the indicators, which have low and moderate influence in their future developments of the Advertisements to maintain its position in the market in the long-run. Eventually, this study recommends some actions for improving the influence of Advertisement in consumer brand preference. – 2 – Introduction The importance of sales on business survival and the connection between customers and sales, it is expedient for organizations to engage in programmes that can influence consumers’ decision to purchase its products. This is where advertising and brand management are relevant. Advertising is a subset of promotion mix which is one of the Four ’P’s in the marketing mix i. e. product, price, place and promotion. As a promotional strategy, advertising serve as a major tool in creating product awareness and condition the mind of a potential consumer to take eventual purchase decision. Marketers’ survival depends on consumer satisfaction. Consumer satisfaction depends on their perception and brand preference of the particular brand. In brand preference, advertising plays a major role. Nearly everyone in the modern world influence to some degree by advertising. Organizations in both public and private sectors have learned that the ability to communicate effectively and efficiently with their target audiences is important to their success. In today’s world, there are a myriad of media outlets-print, radio, and television are competing for consumers’ attention. There are number of creative and attractive advertisements we can see and hear in television, Radio, newspapers and in magazines. Within these media, television advertisements are more attractive and interestingly watched by mass audience. It has often been said that television is the ideal advertising medium where the consumer spends the most â€Å"attentive† time. However, the main thing here is, the marketer want to identify the influence of advertising in consumers brand preference. Nowadays soft drinks have become essential part in lifestyle of the people in the society. There are number of soft drink brands are available in the market. In those brands, some brands are very famous not only in Sri Lanka but also globally. For the research purpose Coca-cola, Fanta, Elephant, and Ole are selected. These are the most preferred brand of the consumers in Sri Lanka. For these brands, different advertisements are available in Television. Some brands’ advertisements are more attractive than others are and some are new creative advertisements. There is no any television advertisement regarding Pepsi during the research period. Therefore, Pepsi was not take into consideration. – 3 – It is very hard to find people who never consume any brand of soft drink. Everyone in the society prefers a particular brand. We can see frequent advertisements for Soft drinks in Television. Companies spend much on their advertisements to attract more customers. So it is very important to study its’ influence in consumer brand preference. Problem statement There are numerous advertisements in Medias; television, radio, newspapers and magazines but, the important question for a marketer is â€Å"do all these advertisements positively influence the consumers’ brand preference?If advertisement is not create any positive change in consumers’ brand preference, all the resources such as money, time and efforts spent on advertisement will go in vain.