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Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Junk Food Essay

Junk food is considered an unhealthy food which only contains a small amount of nutrients, or provides much more energy than body needs. Examples of junk food include frozen desserts, hamburgers, pizzas, carbonated beverages, fried chickens. Nowadays, a great many individuals buy junk food frequently. At the same time, people are overweight from day to day. This essay will analyse why junk food is particularly popular. To some extent, junk food has negative effect on health and eating less junk food might be better. Firstly, junk food is harmful to people’s health. It is not only non-nutritious but also including a large sum of oils, sugars, fats, salts, calories and antiseptics. Some serious problem will be generated with eating numerous junk foods for a long time, such as obesity, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, hypertension and heart disease. My experience is a convincing example. When I was a freshman in the university, my course schedule was extremely busy. I ate Junk Food for lunch everyday. Fresh food was replaced by junk food and my weight rose sharply. At the beginning, I did not realize that it really made me overweight until the semester finished. I found junk food can increase people’s excess weight. It can be seen that junk food has many disadvantages as previous study. However, why do people buy it frequently? On the one hand, an increasing number of fast paced life makes people have to choose the junk food as their daily diet. It is obvious that eating junk food is a time-saving and money-saving way to resolve their problem perfectly, when they working and studying very busily, which makes people ignore the fact that junk food is frequently harmful. The awareness of individuals need to be improved on behalf of people’s health. On the other hand, why do individuals buy junk Food is the result of excellent marketing strategy. Firstly, people are usually misleaded by overwhelming advertisings. For instance, the advertisement of vitamin water from the Coca-Cola always repeats that it just contains vitamin and nothing  about sugar. In fact, the main component of the vitamin water is the fructose which is the major cause of obesity and drinking a bottle of vitamin water is equal to drinking a can of coke almost. It is witness that the advertisings make up the misleading to consumers. In addition, some brand of junk food, like KFC, McDonald’s, push out a meal with toys for children. There is a straightforward purpose to attract children’s attentions. Thirdly, some junk food restaurants have a playpark which supplies several small slides and plentiful plastic balls for children. Parents prefer to choose a table near by the playpark to take care of their children in the McDonalds’ or KFC. Apart from above examples, there are a variety of marketing methods or skills, which influences individuals imperceptibly. Despite the fact that junk food is not only non-nutritious but also destructive, individuals often choose to eat it, due to a series of extraordinary marketing strategies which is hard to resist and fast paced life makes people just have limited choices. Therefore, trying to eat less junk food as far as possible is beneficial to people’s health.

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Electrolux Case Summary Essay

As the largest domestic products manufacturer in the world, Electrolux has about 70000 employees all around the world in about 150 countries, making 14 billion euros in sales in 2005. However, an acquisition case from its main competitor, Whirlpool, is challenging the ? rst place of Electrolux, at the time Electrolux has just decided to divest its outdoor division. A huge decrease in sales in the following years is expected. Starting from 1920s, Electrolux has been famous for its expertise in industrial design on products such as vacuum cleaner and refrigeration. The products quickly got popular not only in its home country in Sweden, but in other western countries such as Germany, France, USA and UK, due to the homogeneous culture of these countries. A major growth in demand after World War II contributed a lot to its growth. With a large amount of accumulated cash of the past decades, Electrolux decided to expand quickly through a number of acquisitions for more market share and diversi? cation. In late 20th century, Electrolux discovered new markets in developing countries when the market in western countries was already very mature and was even showing a sign of going down. It also went through a phase of restructuring the segmentations of products as well as abandoned some less important activities. Up until 2006, the company has addressed its new strategies mainly on functional level to correspond to the challenges. To maximize the pro? t, the production would be outsourced to developing countries with lower labor costs. More ef? ient logistics has made the globalization more feasible and cost-saving. On the product market level, due to the market polarization, a more distinguishing product segmentation would be applied. While keeping the basic low-price products, Electrolux is launching a series of products with higher prices to satisfy the high-end market. On the other hand, 2% of sales would be put in R&D to keep a high rate of new products launches. The supply chain management has always been vital when it comes to consumer goods industry. When Electrolux is outsourcing more of the productions, it is also hifting the strategy of distribution channels. Instead of traditional dealers, big chains with large volume and high geographical coverage are brought up front because of lower serving cost. Above all these, the company keeps making efforts on brand-building by investing at least 2% of the sales every year. With more products are sold under Electrolux’s name, the company is also improving its brand image by stressing more on their culture through internal and external relations among employees, suppliers and retailers, etc.

Monday, July 29, 2019

Financial statment analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Financial statment analysis - Essay Example An attempt is also made to correlate the performance of the companies and the share price movements at the stock exchange. The profitability of a firm is usually evaluated in terms of the gross margin, net margin, earnings per share and payment of dividend. Over the last three years the gross profit of the company has been showing both upward and downward trend. In the first year (2006), gross profit has shown a decrease of 1.12 percent from that of the year 2005. In the next year also, the profit has shown a significant setback, which accounts for around 79 percent. However, it was corrected in the third year, where the firm could achieve an increase of around 29 percent when compared to the year 2007. This is because of the reason that in the first and second year (2006 and 2007), cost of goods sold has shown a significant increase which is not in proportion to the change in sales. However, the net profit figures over the period show a different picture. The firm could achieve a positive figure in all the three years which indicate that the firm is in a position to meet the interest of all its stakeho lders, particularly that of shareholders. The profit after tax, which represents the amount available to ordinary shareholders (investors) for all the three years, shows an increasing trend. ... It is given in the Task II that how good is the return on capital employed of the firm. It is evident from the table (please include table No. Here) that return on capital employed has been good for the form for the last three years. Apart from not being it stable, return on capital employed shows an increasing trend. From the year 2005 to 2006, there is an increase of about 7 percent. From the year 2006 to 2007, it is further increased by another 8 percent. It was again increased from 8 percent to 11.6 percent in the year 2008. This state of affairs is really a green signal for the investors to ensure themselves that they will be assured a happy return. Analysis of Financial Status Financial status of a firm is the financial position or condition that the firm has on a particular date as a result of business operations. Financial position of a firm is usually described the balance sheet and other analytical tools like common size balance sheet, balance sheet ratios etc. When balance sheet exhibits the list of assets a business owns and liabilities that the business owes, common size balance sheet and balance sheet ratios provide a detailed picture of the financial position of the concern. Therefore, it is better to describe the common size balance sheet and important balance sheet tools to know more about the firm's financial condition. In the common size statement all important items in the balance sheet are expressed as a percentage of shareholders' equity. The statement reports that current liabilities are regularly paid out by the firm as it shows a decrease from year to year. In the first year, current liabilities accounts for around 50 percent of the shar eholders' equity. However, it was reduced to 47 percent and then to 32 percent in the

Sunday, July 28, 2019

Use of new technologies by traditional businesses-Information Essay

Use of new technologies by traditional businesses-Information technology management - Essay Example The state of competition requires that the business use some of the most inexpensive business tools technology available in the market and in the internet world. Some of these technologies are even costless. Many of them are inexpensive and can be afforded by small businesses. What are some of the most modern internet communication technology and services that can be accessed by a small business firm, particularly that one that is engaged in motorcycle sales and repair business? In short, what are some of the technological tools available for a motorcycle sales and repair business? How can one access the technology? How much would the technological tools costs? What are the applications for the business? These are the key concerns of this short report. We focus on five tools that can be used by small firms engaged in motorcycle sales and repairs businesses: the social networking sites, website, softwares for motorcycle diagnostics, Iphone, and the iPads. Description. Social networking sites are sites from which one can reach thousands of people on a daily basis. The social networking sites are many. One of the groups monitoring the social networking sites, the Selfgrowth.com, reported that the top social networking sites are Facebook with 500 million members, MySpace with 130 million members, and Friendster with 90 million members. Self-growth.com mentioned that Twitter is a fast-growing networking site that managed to grow so fast in a matter of a few months. Twitter allows one to send messages of more than 140 characters through SMS but current improvements in Facebook allows the user to change â€Å"status† or â€Å"messages† via SMS on a 24-hours/7-days-a-week basis. Cost. The additional cost of using the social networking sites are practically costless. Businesses usually have a computer and usually have access to the internet. A business can allocate one or two hours for social networking and it is feasible to pay the person executing

Saturday, July 27, 2019

Event Studies and the Measurement of Abnormal Returns Essay

Event Studies and the Measurement of Abnormal Returns - Essay Example This paper is aimed at identifying the events of stock market and making a case study of one of the events. Many studies were carried out for the events of stock market. Study was made on the influences of stock splits and stock prices by Dolley (1933). Publication of papers in the leading business journals indicate that the event studies were done by Myers (1948), by Barker (1956), (1957), (1958) and by Ashley (1962). Event studies were introduced to the financial experts and managers through two papers first by Ball Brown in 1968 and second by Fama et al in 1969. The methodology of studying events of the capital markets have developed and advanced manifold since then and yet the two papers of Brown and Fama provide the core elements of an event. MacKinlay (1997) The market model developed by Ball Brown and Fama contributed in their success. Their model was patterned after the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) developed in 1964 by Sharpe. The data from the Center for Research in Se curity Prices (CRSP) at University of Chicago was used by Ball Brown and Fama which also made it a standard source for research for the entire capital markets. The development of computer hardware and statistical analytical software and its increasing access and usage also played important role in the success of event studies. The key issues of capital structure market were made prominent by papers of Modigliani and Miller (1958), (1961) and (1963) which made studies of event a key empirical tool. The events that can impact capital market include declaration of dividends or earnings, splits of stock, mergers of two or more companies, listings of new companies in exchanges, initial public offerings (IPO) and changes of people at key management positions. The impact of such events can be underreaction, overreaction, abnormal returns and reversals. Corrado (2011) Literature Review There are many types of event studies in the literature such as examination of Return Variances by Beaver (1968), and Patell (1976), studies on volume of stock trading by Beaver (1968) and Campbell and Wasley (1996), analyzes of operating performance by Barber and Lyon (1996) and management of earnings through discretionary accruals by Dechow, Cloan, and Sweeney (1995) and Kothari, Leone, and Wasley (2005). However our paper is focused only the mean stock prices. Corrado (2011) The researches during past thirty years have not changed the basic statistical format and it still concentrate around the measurement of mean and cumulative mean of abnormal return before and after the event. The only major changes that took place are the periods of the data for which mean is calculated. Earlier data of returns were used on monthly basis but today data are used on daily and intraday basis. This helps in measuring the abnormal returns more accurately and determines its effects more descriptively. The second change which has come in the event studies is in the ways of estimating the abnormal return s for events that are long-horizon. The new development of French 3 factor model in pricing asset by Fama also brought some changes in event studies methodology. In spite of these changes, there are serious limitations in the methods of long-horizon and extreme caution is required while making any inferences from it. (Kothari and Warner, 1997, p.301) The model of event study constitute examination of behaviour of the stock

Friday, July 26, 2019

How important are the opinions of experts in the search for knowledge Essay - 1

How important are the opinions of experts in the search for knowledge - Essay Example When we know a subject ourselves, things are less complicated. For example, when a child learns counting, she can count the fingers in her hand. Generally, a human child has five fingers in each hand. Exceptions apart, the child counts her fingers in each hand and obtains the knowledge herself that she has got ten fingers in her two hands. Similarly, when the child looks at the sky, she finds the birds flying and learns that birds fly. However, this perception may not be very much true. The reason is that all birds do not fly. Now the child needs a source of information which will tell her that all birds do not fly (For instance, Kiwis don’t fly). Hence the child needs to know that where can she find complete information and true knowledge, and that’s why she needs to be sent to a school. In the school, the teacher of Life Science would tell her that generally birds fly, but all birds do not fly. Else, she can gather this information by reading books, watching education al television channels, etc. Either we can discover things ourselves, or we need a guide to help us comprehend the world around. This guide can be a book or a journal, or an expert. An expert in a field is a valuable source of information concerning that field. When I was in the primary school, I had an interesting incident in my life. One day in science class, Mr. Williams, our science teacher, told us that the plants cannot survive without light. Plants need light energy to manufacture their food. I raised my hand and argued that watering the plants was enough for their survival. The plants in the garden needed only water to grow, and nothing else. Mr. Williams was patient and he asked the other children that whether they agreed with me or not. Some of my classmates were confused. Mr. Williams understood that mere theoretical knowledge was not enough. Immediately, he brought a plant in a pot from the garden, wrapped it in a black wrapper, and kept it in a corner of the

Discussion Week 1b Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Discussion Week 1b - Assignment Example The first written language of accounting systems constitutes the use of symbols in various memoranda such as goods and business ideals (Albu, 2013). In early Babylonia and ancient Egypt society, a number of stone transaction dated back to 3600 BC were recorded indicating the beginning of auditing in the past centuries (Stone, 2014). In Ancient Egypt and Babylon there are a lot of evidences indicating that the scribes were well educated and involved in finances systems, businesses, auditing, accounting and other inventory balances in the Pharaoh government. Scribes had the ability to do simple arithmetic’s, read and write various government revenues policies (Albu, 2013). In the early Persian civilization system, tax collection and finance auditing were done by the king empire agencies (Stone, 2014). Furthermore, in Hebrew civilization, the scribes involved in financial auditing for goods received by the king. A number of scholars also argued that the Ancient Greece society uses slaves in order to conduct and embrace accounting and auditing practices (Boyd, 2004). The Athens uses around ten accountants and checking clerks in tax collection as well as reporting income profits and government revenues to the general public (Stone, 2014). The Roman Empire also practiced a number of accounting procedures including the provision of checks, financial recordings as well as counter checks practices (Stone, 2014). In the Middle Ages accounting system decline but was later reestablished in many European countries. It is also clear from the articles that the private sectors also involved in auditing and accounting systems in early centuries. Accounting system was not properly recorded in the early civilizations but from the Middle Ages onwards most of the accounting systems were well recorded (Stone, 2014). Therefore, from these articles it is clear that accounting is one of

Thursday, July 25, 2019

Optimal Number Of Firms In The Market Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Optimal Number Of Firms In The Market - Essay Example Imagine if the world is consuming what has been given to them, the world is being operated on daily basis, such as a limited amount of food is prepared daily and in order to prevent the food from getting stale, people consume every unit of it, is it possible Of course there is no chance for such situation, so we have to consider even bigger policies for production and consumption, may be we can use the past records of what is the optimal level of production and consumption or at which particular level firms are having maximum profit and minimum loss. We now have to consider the importance of the circular flow or economic cycle, the market system heavily relies on the supply and demand to solve the three major arising problems that are What goods and services will be produced, it is determined by the daily purchasing decisions of the customers as keeping it on the yearly basis can be very risky, one can see that over the past few years the bird flue took place significantly, therefore we cannot rely on yearly basis as the behavior of consumers can change unpredictably. The second problem is How things or goods produced would be rated in terms of pricing, of course there is a competition everywhere, so the problem of differentiating the product arises. Taking the example of bird flue there are many other issues that are very common in every day life such as at times there is drastic change in the technological market, such as everyday a new computer technology replaces the old one which eventually results in greater competition and brand switching. The third issue is For whome things are produced, here the focus is obviously on consumers and their level of consumption, but supply and demand has a major role to play here. The immediate task the companies have to face is to determine the wages, land rents, interest rates and many factors related to everyday life, it is explained thoroughly later in this discussion. The circular flow is all based on the previously d iscussed three problems. What the flow intends to show is that all the money is constantly moving within a frame of a country, there are minor changes but over all the flow is constant until and unless some big change takes place such as war. The circular flow is all comprised of four things, those are product markets (prices are set by the markets keeping in view the scenario), Household markets (the buyer behavior which keeps on shifting but over all the money utilization and spending is unchangeable), the business sector (which pays the rents and wages to the people working, who are also at the same time are households) and the factor markets (which keep on changing the rents, wages, interests but over all the wealth remains within the country, if less rent for one person may be much higher for another person). Until and unless these problems would not be solved which of course cannot be solved the firms would find it impossible to be operated at an optimal level. "Dollar votes of households interact with business supply in the product markets at top, helping to determine what is produced.

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Fans Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Fans - Research Paper Example However, some fans behave in a violent manner thus being regarded as hooliganisms (Keys 23). A variety of sports has different fans who offer help and support for the various sporting clubs. However, fans of these sports vary in terms of their character and passion for the game. For instance, baseball fans to some extent have more passion for the sport compared to soccer fans. Therefore, I believe that baseball fans do enjoy watching the sport compared to soccer fans. First, the purpose of attending games is to watch the game and enjoy oneself. The need to seek entertainment from watching sport from the stadium or even a sport center makes fans sacrifice and pay for tickets in order to enjoy the sport. However, I do believe that some fans do not derive satisfaction from attending some sporting events. Most of the soccer fans are stubborn and keep moving up and down in the stadium (Zathras 1). In most instances, fans move seeking to be let out of the row thereby disturbing the sited fans. By moving around, soccer fans prove that they do not enjoy the game. This is because fans that enjoy the game sit and concentrate the entire sporting period (Zathras 1). This is contrary to the baseball fans that in most instances remain calm and concentrate during the sporting event. Since they are calm and concentrate in the period of matches, baseball fans, therefore, do enjoy baseball games and remain proud of the game compared soccer fans. Secondly, most soccer fans attend soccer matches since it is a routine and thus, provides a place to be. Instead of concentrating on the match, most of them move around, meet, and talk with other fans instead of focusing on the game (Hilaire 12). This means that soccer matches are entirely organized to act as a mingle venue whereby various people meet and spent part of their time despite the amount of money used to purchase the tickets as well as other resources used when in the stadium. Soccer

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

2.1 External Environment Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

2.1 External Environment - Research Paper Example Through environmental scanning, the organization will identify strategic factors that affect its operation. This enables the organization to adjust to the current trends in external environment factors, as it will influence its strategic decision-making process. The sociocultural factors consist of various dimensions that affect the health care organization. These include population growth rate, the population level of education, population employment pattern, the age pattern of the population, lifestyle choices and culture. All these factors interact together to affect the operation of the organization. Today, the number of educated individuals has continued to increase. Many people have access to education due to the various legislations that have subsidized education in different parts of the world. Armed with knowledge regarding their health due to increasing access to the internet, the educated population has demanded quality health care services from the health care organizations. This put pressure on the organization to purchase technologically sophisticated equipment for diagnosis and treatment so as to achieve the needs of the population (Zeshan, 2012). The age population pattern has been changing over time. The population increased over time due to the scientific advances that have led to the development of life-saving medications. These older populations have unique health care demands due to their diversity in terms of, age, life experience, aging process, health habits, attitude and response to illness. This put pressure on a health care organization to come up with services that specifically caters for this population. The world population is made of people with diverse culture in terms of value and beliefs. The values and beliefs affect their health seeking habits. Therefore devising health care services that caters for the unique cultural needs of these populations

Monday, July 22, 2019

The Importance of Socialization Essay Example for Free

The Importance of Socialization Essay The Importance of Socialization In my research I used Down to Earth Sociology as well as the video on Genie. Socialization is important for children weather they are retarded or â€Å"normal†. These three stories of Genie, Anna, and Isabelle I think show just how important socialization is, and how a lack of socialization can affect a child. All three areas of language, intelligence, and emotion are affected when a child does not receive socialization. There are some similarities and differences in each of these three cases. Genie was in isolation until the age of ten, whereas Anna and Isabelle were in isolation until the age of six. All three girls were able to gain physical motions and learn to walk. Language however was different. Genie was only able to say words and associate their meanings, but never able to properly form sentences. Also, her progress was like the progress a normal child would have in a year, but she was behind ten years from her isolation. Anna could carry on a conversation through phrases, but not sentences. Isabelle was able to form sentences and ask complicated questions and even attended junior high. I do think that the age in which the girls were found was a factor in their language abilities. It is hard to say either way considering no tests can be done, but Anna came from a family with very low IQ’s and appears to have achieved more than Genie in a shorter time period. It appears to me that Genie may have been able to broaden her vocabulary, had she been found at six rather than ten. It is suggested in the text and movie that all three girls may have had some retardation even without their extreme isolation. This of course is next to impossible to state for a fact for any of the girls, but from my readings I would conclude that Genie and especially Anna may have had some retardation and Isabelle most likely would not have. The reason I believe Genie may have had some retardation is because of the readings they found on her when she was sleeping. Even if a child was in extreme isolation, I don’t think those readings would have been found, unless she was predisposed to retardation. The one psychologist that tried to say that Genie was not retarded said so because Genie was improving every year. While she was improving every year she did hit a point where she no longer achieved any higher forms of intelligence. Also, she reached these levels at a much slower rate than both Anna and Isabelle. Anna I believe to be predisposed to retardation because both her mother and her father had very low IQ’s. The age old dispute between nature vs. nurture has been concluded that both are important for a child’s development. In Anna’s case, both were poor to say the least. In Isabelle’s case she only had a poor nurture setting and considering Isabelle achieved more than Anna in the same time period at the same age is why I believe Anna was most likely predisposed to retardation. Another factor is the girl’s emotional states. Genie was abused when she made noise and was in a lot of different homes and settings after she was found. Anna was left in dirty clothes and was also put in many homes, before and after she was discovered. Isabelle was left in a dark room with her mother who was both deaf and mute. People that are put in consolatory confinement as punishment as adults suffer many psychological issues, so it is no surprise that these girls would suffer even more as children. Also, children that are in many different foster homes, or abused also have many emotional difficulties. Then you add to that Genie and Anna’s isolation and I am sure that affected their emotional state in who they became. Another area that may have affected Genie is all the tests that were done and how hard she was pushed. Any child in a home where the parents push them to be something are stressed out and I think Genie may have been from the way she reacted in tantrums. I believe these stories prove the importance of socialization. In all three cases the girls never reached the capacity to communicate on a level past junior high. Although it is questioned why some of the girls reached a further level then the others, there is no doubt that had the girls been socialized to begin with, they would have reached a higher level of intelligence regardless of any predisposed retardation. The emotional struggles these girls had to go through most adults would struggle with, so it is no shock to me that all three girls died before their time. Something that I think could have been done differently is for a child that is found in this type of situation should be given a loving environment and not foster homes. If a child has an environment that is like a home, but is monitored by a therapist I think the child can thrive more. Isabelle had a therapist who worked with her one on one and was not tossed from home to home and she turned out the best of the three girls. If one person had genuinely cared for Anna or Genie their situations may have had a happier ending. How can you be that one person that makes a difference in someone’s life to give them a happier ending?

Google Inc. is an American multinational corporation Essay Example for Free

Google Inc. is an American multinational corporation Essay These include search, cloud computing, software, and online advertising technologies. Most of its profits are derived from AdWords. Google was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin while they were Ph.D. students at Stanford University. Together they own about 16 percent of its shares. They incorporated Google as a privately held company on September 4, 1998. An initial public offering followed on August 19, 2004. Its mission statement from the outset was to organize the worlds information and make it universally accessible and useful, and its unofficial slogan was Dont be evil. In 2006 Google moved to headquarters in Mountain View, California, nicknamed the Googleplex. Rapid growth since incorporation has triggered a chain of products, acquisitions and partnerships beyond Googles core search engine. It offers online productivity software including email, an office suite, and social networking . Desktop products include applications for web browsing, organizing and editing photos, and instant messaging. The company leads the development of the Android mobile operating system and the browser-only Chrome OS for a netbook known as a Chromebook. Google has moved increasingly into communications hardware: it partners with major electronics manufacturers in production of its high-end Nexus devices and acquired Motorola Mobility in May 2012. In 2012, a fiber-optic infrastructure was installed in Kansas City to facilitate a Google Fiber broadband service. The corporation has been estimated to run more than one million servers in data centers around the world and to process over one billion search requests and about 24 petabytes of user-generated data each day. In December 2012 Alexa listed google.com as the most visited website in the world. Numerous Google sites in other languages figure in the top one hundred, as do several other Google-owned sites such as YouTube and Blogger. Its market dominance has led to criticism over issues including copyright, censorship, and privacy. History Google began in January 1996 as a research project by Larry Page and Sergey Brin when they were both PhD students at Stanford University in Stanford, California. While conventional search engines ranked results by counting how many times the search terms appeared on the page, the two theorized about a  better system that analyzed the relationships between websites. They called this new technology PageRank; it determined a websites relevance by the number of pages, and the importance of those pages, that linked back to the original site. A small search engine called RankDex from IDD Information Services designed by Robin Li was, since 1996, already exploring a similar strategy for site-scoring and page ranking. The technology in RankDex would be patented and used later when Li founded Baidu in China. Page and Brin originally nicknamed their new search engine BackRub, because the system checked backlinks to estimate the importance of a site. Eventually, they changed the name to Google, originating from a misspelling of the word googol, the number one followed by one hundred zeros, which was picked to signify that the search engine was intended to provide large quantities of information. Originally, Google ran under Stanford Universitys website, with the domains google.stanford.edu and z.stanford.edu. The domain name for Google was registered on September 15, 1997, and the company was incorporated on September 4, 1998. It was based in a friends . In January 2013, Google announced it had earned $50 billion in annual revenue for the year of 2012. This marked the first time the company had reached this feat, topping their 2011 total of $38 billion. Financing and initial public offering The first funding for Google was an August 1998 contribution of from Andy Bechtolsheim, co-founder of Sun Microsystems, given before Google was incorporated. Early in 1999, while graduate students, Brin and Page decided that the search engine they had developed was taking up too much time and distracting their academic pursuits. They went to Excite CEO George Bell and offered to sell it to him for $1 million. He rejected the offer and later criticized Vinod Khosla, one of Excites venture capitalists, after he negotiated Brin and Page down to $750,000. On June 7, 1999, a $25 million round of funding was announced, with major investors including the venture capital firms Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers and Sequoia Capital. The company offered 19,605,052 shares at a price of $85 per share. Shares were sold in an online auction format using a system built by Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse, underwriters for the deal. The sale of $1.67 billion gave Google a market capitalization of more than $23 billion. The vast majority  of the 271 million shares remained under the control of Google, and many Google employees became instant paper millionaires. Yahoo!, a competitor of Google, also benefited because it owned 8.4 million shares of Google before the IPO took place. There were concerns that Googles IPO would lead to changes in company culture. Reasons ranged from shareholder pressure for employee benefit reductions to the fact that many company executives would become instant paper millionaires. As a reply to this concern, co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page promised in a report to potential investors that the IPO would not change the companys culture. In 2005, articles in The New York Times and other sources began suggesting that Google had lost its anti-corporate, no evil philosophy. In an effort to maintain the companys unique culture, Google designated a Chief Culture Officer, who also serves as the Director of Human Resources. The purpose of the Chief Culture Officer is to develop and maintain the culture and work on ways to keep true to the core values that the company was founded on: a flat organization with a collaborative environment. Google has also faced allegations of sexism and ageism from former employees. The stock performed well after the IPO, with shares hitting $700 for the first time on October 31, 2007, primarily because of strong sales and earnings in the online advertising market. The surge in stock price was fueled mainly by individual investors, as opposed to large institutional investors and mutual funds. The next year, against Page and Brins initial opposition toward an advertising-funded search engine, Google began selling advertisements associated with search keywords. When the company changed names to Overture Services, it sued Google over alleged infringements of the companys pay-per-click and bidding patents. Overture Services would later be bought by Yahoo! and renamed Yahoo! Search Marketing. The case was then settled out of court; Google agreed to issue shares of common stock to Yahoo! in exchange for a perpetual license. In 2001, Google received a patent for its PageRank mechanism. The patent was officially assigned to Stanford University and lists Lawrence Page as the inventor. In 2003, after outgrowing two other locations, the company leased an office complex from Silicon Graphics at 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway in Mountain View, California. The complex became known as the Googleplex, a play on the word googolplex, the number one followed by a googol zeroes. The Googleplex interiors were designed by Clive Wilkinson Architects. Three  years later, Google bought the property from SGI for $319 million. By that time, the name Google had found its way into everyday language, causing the verb google to be added to the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary and the Oxford English Dictionary, denoted as to use the Google search engine to obtain information on the Internet. 2013 onward Google announced the launch of a new company called Calico on September 19, 2013, which will be led by Apple chairman Arthur Levinson. In the official public statement, Page explained that the health and wellbeing company will focus on the challenge of ageing and associated diseases. As of September 2013, Google operates 70 offices in more than 40 countries. Google celebrated its 15-year anniversary on September 27, 2013, although it has used other dates for its official birthday. The reason for the choice of September 27 remains unclear, and a dispute with rival search engine Yahoo! Search in 2005 has been suggested as the cause. The Alliance for Affordable Internet was launched in October 2013 and Google is part of the coalition of public and private organisations that also includes Facebook, Intel and Microsoft. Led by Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the A4AI seeks to make Internet access more affordable so that access is broadened in the developing world, where only 31% of people are online. Google will help to decrease internet access prices so that they fall below the UN Broadband Commissions worldwide target of 5% of monthly income. The corporations consolidated revenue for the third quarter of 2013 is reported in mid-October 2013 as US$14.89 billion, a 12 percent increase compared to the previous quarter. Googles Internet business was responsible for US$10.8 billion of this total, with an increase in the number of users clicks on advertisements. Acquisitions and partnerships Since 2001, Google has acquired many companies, primarily small venture capital-funded firms. In 2004, Google acquired Keyhole, Inc. The start-up company developed a product called Earth Viewer that gave a three-dimensional view of the Earth. Google renamed the service to Google Earth in 2005. Google acquired Urchin Software in April 2005, using their Urchin on Demand product to create Google Analytics in 2006. In October 2006, Google announced that it had acquired the video-sharing site YouTube  for US$1.65 billion in Google stock, and the deal was finalized on November 13, 2006. Google does not provide detailed figures for YouTubes running costs, and YouTubes revenues in 2007 were noted as not material in a regulatory filing. In June 2008, a Forbes magazine article projected the 2008 YouTube revenue at US$200 million, noting progress in advertising sales. On April 13, 2007, Google reached an agreement to acquire DoubleClick for $3.1 billion, giving Google valuable relationships that DoubleClick had with Web publishers and advertising agencies. Later that same year, Google purchased GrandCentral for $50 million. The site would later be changed over to Google Voice. On August 5, 2009, Google bought out its first public company, purchasing video software maker On2 Technologies for $106.5 million. Google also acquired Aardvark, a social network search engine, for $50 million, and commented on its internal blog, were looking forward to collaborating to see where we can take it. In April 2010, Google announced it had acquired a hardware startup, Agnilux. In addition to the many companies Google has purchased, the company has partnered with other organizations for research, advertising, and other activities. In 2005, Google partnered with NASA Ames Research Center to build of offices. The offices would be used for research projects involving large-scale data management, nanotechnology, distributed computing, and the entrepreneurial space industry. Google entered into a partnership with Sun Microsystems in October 2005 to help share and distribute each others technologies. The company also partnered with AOL to enhance each others video search services. Googles 2005 partnerships also included financing the new .mobi top-level domain for mobile devices, along with other companies including Microsoft, Nokia, and Ericsson. Google would later launch AdSense for Mobile, taking advantage of the emerging mobile advertising market. Increasing its advertising reach even further, Google and Fox Interactive Media of News Corporation entered into a $900 million agreement to provide search and advertising on the then-popular social networking site MySpace. In 2007, Google began sponsoring NORAD Tracks Santa, displacing former sponsor AOL. NORAD Tracks Santa purports to follow Santa Claus progress on Christmas Eve, using Google Earth to track Santa in 3-D for the first time. Google-owned YouTube gave NORAD Tracks Santa its own channel. In 2008, Google developed a partnership with GeoEye to launch a satellite providing  Google with high-resolution imagery for Google Earth. The satellite was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base on September 6, 2008. Google also announced in 2008 that it was hosting an archive of Life Magazines photographs. Some of the images in the archive were never published in the magazine. The photos were watermarked and originally had copyright notices posted on all photos, regardless of public domain status. In 2010, Google Energy made its first investment in a renewable energy project, putting $38.8 million into two wind farms in North Dakota. The company announced the two locations will generate 169.5 megawatts of power, enough to supply 55,000 homes. The farms, which were developed by NextEra Energy Resources, will reduce fossil fuel use in the region and return profits. NextEra Energy Resources sold Google a twenty-percent stake in the project to get funding for its development. In February 2010, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission FERC granted Google an authorization to buy and sell energy at market rates. The order specifically states that Google Energy—a subsidiary of Google—holds the rights for the sale of energy, capacity, and ancillary services at market-based rates, but acknowledges that neither Google Energy nor its affiliates own or control any generation or transmission facilities. The corporation exercised this authorization in September 2013 when it announced that it will purchase all of the electricity produced by the not-yet-built 240-megawatt Happy Hereford wind farm. Also in 2010, Google purchased Global IP Solutions, a Norway-based company that provides web-based teleconferencing and other related services. This acquisition enabled Google to add telephone-style services to its list of products. On May 27, 2010, Google announced it had also closed the acquisition of the mobile ad network AdMob. This occurred days after the Federal Trade Commission closed its investigation into the purchase. Google acquired the company for an undisclosed amount. In July 2010, Google signed an agreement with an Iowa wind farm to buy 114 megawatts of energy for 20 years. On April 4, 2011, The Globe and Mail reported that Google bid $900 million for six thousand Nortel Networks patents. On August 15, 2011, Google made its largest-ever acquisition to-date when announced that it would acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion subject to approval from regulators in the United States and Europe. In a post on Googles blog, Google Chief Executive and co-founder Larry Page revealed that the acquisition was a  strategic move to strengthen Googles patent portfolio. The companys Android operating system has come under fire in an industry-wide patent battle, as Apple and Microsoft have sued Android device makers such as HTC, Samsung, and Motorola. The merger was completed on the May 22, 2012, after the approval of Peoples Republic of China. This purchase was made in part to help Google gain Motorolas considerable patent portfolio on mobile phones and wireless technologies to help protect it in its ongoing patent disputes with other companies, mainly Apple and Microsoft After the acquisition closed, Google began to restructure the Motorola business to fit Googles strategy. On August 13, 2012, Google announced plans to layoff 4000 Motorola Mobility employees. On December 10, 2012, Google sold the manufacturing operations of Motorola Mobility to Flextronics for $75 million. As a part of the agreement, Flextronics will manufacture undisclosed Android and other mobile devices. On December 19, 2012, Google sold the Motorola Home business division of Motorola Mobility to Arris Group for $2.35 billion in a cash-and-stock transaction. As a part of this deal, Google acquired a 15.7% stake in Arris Group valued at $300 million. On June 5, 2012, Google announced it acquired Quickoffice, a company widely known for their mobile productivity suite for both iOS and Android. Google plans to integrate Quickoffices technology into its own product suite. On February 6, 2013, Google announced it had acquired Channel Intelligence for $125 million. Channel Intelligence, a technology company that helps customers buy products online, is active globally in 31 different countries and works with over 850 retailers. Google will use this technology to enhance its e-commerce business. The official confirmation of Googles acquisition of the Israel-based startup Waze occurred in June 2013. Waze is promoted as a community-based traffic and navigation app. Following the acquisition of Waze, Google submitted a 10-Q filing with the Securities Exchange Commission that revealed that the corporation spent US$1.3 billion on acquisitions during the first half of 2013. The filing also revealed that the Waze acquisition cost Google US$966 million, instead of the US$1.1 billion figure that was initially presented in media sources. The 2012 acquisition of WIMM Labs, a company that previously made an Android-powered smartwatch, was confirmed in August 2013. As of August 31, 2013, Google has not publicly commented on the news concerning WIMM Labs. The acquisition of  Flutter, a creator of hand gesture recognition technology, was confirmed by the corporation in early October 2013. The reported price is US$40 million and Google spokesperson stated: Were really impressed by the Flutter teams ability to design new technology based on cutting-edge research. Flutters technology allows users to enact hand gestures to control navigation for apps such as iTunes, Windows Media Player, and Winamp. Google data centers As of 2011, Google Inc. owned and operated six data centers across the U.S., plus one in Finland and another in Belgium. On September 28, 2011, the company announced plans to build three data centers at a cost of more than $200 million in Asia and purchased the land for them. Google said they will be operational within two years. Products and services Advertising For the 2006 fiscal year, the company reported $10.492 billion in total advertising revenues and only $112 million in licensing and other revenues. In 2011, 96% of Googles revenue was derived from its advertising programs. Using technology from the company DoubleClick, Google can determine user interests and target advertisements so they are relevant to their context and the user that is viewing them. Google Analytics allows website owners to track where and how people use their website, for example by examining click rates for all the links on a page. Google advertisements can be placed on third-party websites in a two-part program. Googles AdWords allows advertisers to display their advertisements in the Google content network, through either a cost-per-click or cost-per-view scheme. The sister service, Google AdSense, allows website owners to display these advertisements on their website and earn money every time ads are clicked. One of the criticisms of this program is the possibility of click fraud, which occurs when a person or automated script clicks on advertisements without being interested in the product, causing the advertiser to pay money to Google unduly. Industry reports in 2006 claimed that approximately 14 to 20 percent of clicks were fraudulent or invalid. In February 2003, Google stopped showing the advertisements of Oceana, a non-profit organization protesting a major cruise ships sewage treatment practices. Google cited its editorialpolicy at the time, stating Google does not accept advertising if the ad or site advocates against other individuals, groups, or organizations. The policy was later changed. In June 2008, Google reached an advertising agreement with Yahoo!, which would have allowed Yahoo! to feature Google advertisements on its web pages. The alliance between the two companies was never completely realized because of antitrust concerns by the U.S. Department of Justice. As a result, Google pulled out of the deal in November 2008. In an attempt to advertise its own products, Google launched a website called Demo Slam, developed to demonstrate technology demos of Google Products. Search engine According to market research published by comScore in November 2009, Google Search is the dominant search engine in the United States market, with a market share of 65.6%. Google indexes billions of web pages, so that users can search for the information they desire through the use of keywords and operators. In 2003, The New York Times complained about Googles indexing, claiming that Googles caching of content on its site infringed its copyright for the content. In this case, the United States District Court of Nevada ruled in favor of Google in Field v. Google and Parker v. Google. The publication 2600: The Hacker Quarterly has compiled a list of words that the web giants new instant search feature will not search. Google Watch has criticized Googles PageRank algorithms, saying that they discriminate against new websites and favor established sites. The site has also alleged that there are connections between Google and the National Security Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency. Google also hosts Google Books. The company began scanning books and uploading limited previews, and full books where allowed, into its new book search engine. The Authors Guild, a group that represents 8,000 U.S. authors, filed a class action suit in a New York City federal court against Google in 2005 over this service. Google replied that it is in compliance with all existing and historical applications of copyright laws regarding books. Google eventually reached a revised settlement in 2009 to limit its scans to books from the U.S., the UK, Australia, and Canada. Furthermore, the Paris Civil Court ruled against Google in late 2009, asking it to remove the works of La Martinià ¨re from its database. In competition with Amazon.com, Google sells digital versions  of new books. On July 21, 2010, in response to Bing, Google updated its image search to display a streaming sequence of thumbnails that enlarge when pointed at. Though web searches still appear in a batch per page format, on July 23, 2010, dictionary definitions for certain English words began appearing above the linked results for web searches. The Hummingbird update to the Google search engine was announced in September 2013. The update was introduced over the month prior to the announcement and allows users ask the search engine a question in natural language rather than entering keywords into the search box. Productivity tools Gmail, a free webmail service provided by Google, was launched as an invitation-only beta program on April 1, 2004, The service was upgraded from beta status on July 7, 2009, at which time it had 146 million users monthly. The service was the first online email service with one gigabyte of storage. It was also the first to keep emails from the same conversation together in one thread, similar to an Internet forum. The service offers over 15 GB of free storage, shared with other Google Apps, with additional storage ranging from 20 GB to 16 TB available for per 1 GB per year. Gmail uses AJAX, a programming technique that allows web pages to be interactive without refreshing the browser. Steve Ballmer, Liz Figueroa, Mark Rasch, and the editors of Google Watch have criticised the privacy of Gmail, but Google claims that mail sent to or from Gmail is never read by a human being beyond the account holder and is only used to improve relevance of advertisements. In 2004, Google started opensource software project hosting, called Google Code, which allows developers to download incomplete programs at no charge. Google Docs, another part of Googles productivity suite, allows users to create, edit, and collaborate on documents in an online environment, similar to Microsoft Word. The service was originally called Writely, but was obtained by Google on March 9, 2006, and was released as an invitation-only preview. On June 6 after the acquisition, Google created an experimental spreadsheet editing program, which was combined with Google Docs on October 10. Enterprise products Google Search Appliance was launched in February 2002, targeted toward providing search technology for larger organizations. Google Apps allows  organizations to bring Googles web application offerings, such as Gmail and Google Docs, into their own domains. The service is available in several editions: a basic free edition, Google Apps for Business, Google Apps for Education, and Google Apps for Government. In the same year Google Apps was launched, Google acquired Postini and proceeded to integrate the companys security technologies into Google Apps under the name Google Postini Services. Other products Google Translate is a server-side machine translation service, which can translate between 35 different languages. The software uses corpus linguistics techniques, where the program learns from professionally translated documents, specifically UN and European Parliament proceedings. Google launched its Google News service in 2002, an automated service which summarizes news articles from various websites. In March 2005, Agence France Presse sued Google for copyright infringement in federal court in the District of Columbia, a case which Google settled for an undisclosed amount in a pact that included a license of the full text of AFP articles for use on Google News. In 2006, Google made a bid to offer free wireless broadband access throughout the city of San Francisco along with Internet service provider EarthLink. Large telecommunications companies such as Comcast and Verizon opposed the efforts, claiming it was unfair competition and that cities would be violating their commitments to offer local monopolies to these companies. In his testimony before Congress on network neutrality in 2006, Googles Chief Internet Evangelist Vint Cerf blamed the tactics on the fact that nearly half of all consumers lack choice in broadband providers. Google currently offers free wi-fi access in its hometown of Mountain View, California. In 2010, Google announced the Google Fiber project with plans to build an ultra-high-speed broadband network for 50,000 to 500,000 customers in one or more American cities. On March 30, 2011, Google announced that Kansas City, Kansas would be the first community where the new network would be deployed. In July 2012, Google completed the construction of a fiber-optic broadband internet network infrastructure in Kansas City, and after building an infrastructure, Google announced pricing for Google Fiber. The service will offer three options including a free broadband internet option, a 1Gbit/s internet option for $70 per month, and a version that  includes television service for $120 per month. The project, called Android, turned out not to be a phone but an operating system for mobile devices, which Google acquired and then released as an open source project under the Apache 2.0 license. Google provides a software development kit for developers so applications can be created to be run on Android-based phones. In September 2008, T-Mobile released the G1, the first Android-based phone. On January 5, 2010, Google released an Android phone under its own company name called the Nexus One. A report in July 2013 stated that Googles share of the global smartphone market, led by Samsung products, was 64% in March 2013. Other projects Google has worked on include a new collaborative communication service, a web browser, and a mobile operating system. The first of these was first announced on May 27, 2009. The company described Google Wave as a product that helps users communicate and collaborate on the web. The service is Googles email redesigned, with realtime editing, the ability to embed audio, video, and other media, and extensions that further enhance the communication experience. Google Wave was initially in a developers preview, where interested users had to be invited to test the service, but was released to the general public on May 19, 2010, at Googles I/O keynote. On September 1, 2008, Google pre-announced the upcoming availability of Google Chrome, an open source web browser, which was then released on September 2, 2008. On July 7, 2009, Google announced Google Chrome OS, an open source Linux-based operating system that includes only a web browser and is designed to log users into their Google account. Google Goggles is a mobile application available on Android and iOS used for image recognition and non-text-based search. In addition to scanning QR codes, the app can recognize historic landmarks, import business cards, and solve Sudoku puzzles. While Goggles could originally identify people as well, Google has limited that functionality as a privacy protection. In 2011, Google announced Google Wallet, a mobile application for wireless payments. In late June 2011, Google soft-launched a social networking service called Google+. On July 14, 2011, Google announced that Google+ had reached 10 million users just two weeks after it was launched in this limited trial phase. After four weeks in operation, it reached 25 million users. At a launch event on July 24, 2013 in San Francisco, U.S., a newer version of the Nexus 7 Google tablet device was released to the public, alongside the  Chromecast dongle that allows users to stream YouTube and Netflix videos via smartphones. In 2013 Google launched Google Shopping Express, a delivery service initially available only in San Francisco and Silicon Valley. Moto X  Speaking at the D11 conference in Palos Verdes, U.S. in late May 2013, Motorola CEO Dennis Woodside, a former Google employee, announced that a new mobile device will be built by his company, which is wholly owned by Google, at a 500,000 square-feet facility in Texas, U.S. formerly used by the Nokia company. The facility will employ 2,000 people by August 2013 and the new phone, named the Moto X, will be available to the public in October 2013. The Moto X features Google Now software, and an array of sensors and two microprocessors that will mean that users can â€Å"interact with in very different ways than you can with other devices,† in the words of Woodside. Media reports suggest that the phone will be able to activate functions preemptively based on an awareness of what the user is doing at any given moment. Corporate affairs and culture On Fortune magazines list of best companies to work for, Google ranked first in 2007, 2008 and 2012 and fourth in 2009 and 2010. Google was also nominated in 2010 to be the worlds most attractive employer to graduating students in the Universum Communications talent attraction index. Googles corporate philosophy includes principles such as you can make money without doing evil, you can be serious without a suit, and work should be challenging and the challenge should be fun. Employees After the companys IPO, founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page and CEO Eric Schmidt requested that their base salary be cut to $1. Subsequent offers by the company to increase their salaries have been turned down, primarily because their main compensation continues to come from owning stock in Google. Before 2004, Schmidt made $250,000 per year, and Page and Brin each received an annual salary of $150,000. In 2007 and early 2008, several top executives left Google. In October 2007, former chief financial officer of YouTube Gideon Yu joined Facebook along with Benjamin Ling, a high-ranking engineer. In March 2008, Sheryl Sandberg, then vice-president of global online sales and operations, began her position as chief operating officer  of Facebook. At the same time, Ash ElDifrawi, formerly head of brand advertising, left to become chief marketing officer of Netshops. On April 4, 2011, Larry Page became CEO and Eric Schmidt became Executive Chairman of Google. In July 2012, Googles first female employee, Marissa Mayer, left Google to become Yahoo!s CEO. As a motivation technique, Google uses a policy often called Innovation Time Off, where Google engineers are encouraged to spend 20% of their work time on projects that interest them. Some of Googles newer services, such as Gmail, Google News, Orkut, and AdSense originated from these independent endeavors. In a talk at Stanford University, Marissa Mayer, Googles Vice President of Search Products and User Experience until July 2012, showed that half of all new product launches at the time had originated from the Innovation Time Off. Googleplex  Googles headquarters in Mountain View, California, is referred to as the Googleplex, a play on words on the number googolplex and the headquarters itself being a complex of buildings. The lobby is decorated with a piano, lava lamps, old server clusters, and a projection of search queries on the wall. The hallways are full of exercise balls and bicycles. Each employee has access to the corporate recreation center. Recreational amenities are scattered throughout the campus and include a workout room with weights and rowing machines, locker rooms, washers and dryers, a massage room, assorted video games, table football, a baby grand piano, a billiard table, and ping pong. In addition to the recreation room, there are snack rooms stocked with various foods and drinks, with special emphasis placed on nutrition. Free food is available to employees 24/7, with paid vending machines prorated favoring nutritional value. In 2006, Google moved into of office space in New York City, at 111 Eighth Avenue in Manhattan. The office was specially designed and built for Google and houses its largest advertising sales team, which has been instrumental in securing large partnerships. As of February 2012, a significant engineering team is based in New York City, and has been responsible for more than 100 engineering projects, including Google Maps, Google Spreadsheets. As of September 2013, Googles East Coast office is located at 76 Ninth Ave, New York City, New York. In November 2006, Google opened offices on Carnegie Mellons campus in Pittsburgh, focusing on shopping-related advertisement coding and smartphone applications and  programs. By late 2006, Google also established a new headquarters for its AdWords division in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Other office locations in the U.S. include Ann Arbor, Michigan; Atlanta, Georgia; Austin, Texas; Boulder, Colorado; Cambridge, Massachusetts; New York City; San Francisco, California; Seattle, Washington; Reston, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. Furthermore, Google has several international offices. In October 2006, the company announced plans to install thousands of solar panels to provide up to 1.6 megawatts of electricity, enough to satisfy approximately 30% of the campus energy needs. The system will be the largest solar power system constructed on a U.S. corporate campus and one of the largest on any corporate site in the world. The idea of trimming lawns using goats originated from R. J. Widlar, an engineer who worked for National Semiconductor. Google has faced accusations in Harpers Magazine of being an energy glutton. The company was accused of employing its Dont be evil motto and its public energy-saving campaigns to cover up or make up for the massive amounts of energy its servers require. Easter eggs and April Fools Day jokes Google has a tradition of creating April Fools Day jokes. On April 1, 2000, Google MentalPlex allegedly featured the use of mental power to search the web. In 2007, Google announced a free Internet service called TiSP, or Toilet Internet Service Provider, where one obtained a connection by flushing one end of a fiber-optic cable down their toilet. Also in 2007, Googles Gmail page displayed an announcement for Gmail Paper, allowing users to have email messages printed and shipped to them. In 2008, Google announced Gmail Custom time where users could change the time that the email was sent. In 2010, Google changed its company name to Topeka in honor of Topeka, Kansas, whose mayor changed the citys name to Google for a short amount of time in an attempt to sway Googles decision in its new Google Fiber Project. In 2011, Google announced Gmail Motion, an interactive way of controlling Gmail and the computer with body movements via the users webcam. Googles services contain easter eggs, such as the Swedish Chefs Bork bork bork, Pig Latin, Hacker or leetspeak, Elmer Fudd, Pirate, and Klingon as language selections for its search engine. The search engine calculator provides the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the  Universe, and Everything from Douglas Adams The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. When searching the word recursion, the spell-checkers result for the properly spelled word is exactly the same word, creating a recursive link. When searching for the word anagram, meaning a rearrangement of letters from one word to form other valid words, Googles suggestion feature displays Did you mean: nag a ram? In Google Maps, searching for directions between places separated by large bodies of water, such as Los Angeles and Tokyo, results in instructions to kayak across the Pacific Ocean. During FIFA World Cup 2010, search queries including World Cup and FIFA caused the Goooogle page indicator at the bottom of every result page to read Gooooal! instead. Philanthropy In 2004, Google formed the not-for-profit philanthropic Google.org, with a start-up fund of $1 billion. The mission of the organization is to create awareness about climate change, global public health, and global poverty. One of its first projects was to develop a viable plug-in hybrid electric vehicle that can attain 100 miles per gallon. Google hired Larry Brilliant as the programs executive director in 2004, and the current director is Megan Smith. In 2008 Google announced its project 10100 which accepted ideas for how to help the community and then allowed Google users to vote on their favorites. After two years of silence, during which many wondered what had happened to the program, Google revealed the winners of the project, giving a total of ten million dollars to various ideas ranging from non-profit organizations that promote education to a website that intends to make all legal documents public and online. In 2011, Google donated 1 million euros to International Mathematical Olympiad to support the next five annual International Mathematical Olympiads . On July 2012, Google launched a Legalize Love campaign in support of gay rights. Tax avoidance   Google uses various tax avoidance strategies. Out of the five largest American technology companies it pays the lowest taxes to the countries of origin of its revenues. The company accomplishes this partly by licensing technology through subsidiaries in Ireland, Bermuda, the Bahamas, and the Netherlands. This has reportedly sparked a French investigation into Googles transfer pricing practices. Following criticism of the amount of  corporate taxes that Google paid in the United Kingdom, Chairman Eric Schmidt said, Its called capitalism. We are proudly capitalistic. During the same December 2012 interview Schmidt confirmed that the company had no intention of paying more to the UK exchequer. In 2013, Schmidt responded to questions about taxes paid in the UK by pointing to the advertising fees Google charged UK companies as a source of economic growth. Google Vice president Matt Brittin testified to the Public Accounts Committee of the UK house of commons that his UK sales team made no sales and hence owed no sales taxes to the UK. Environment Since 2007, Google has aimed for carbon neutrality in regard to its operations. In June 2013, the Washington Post reported that Google had donated US$50,000 to the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a libertarian think tank. In July 2013, it was reported that Google had hosted a fundraising event for Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe, who has called climate change a hoax. See also Comparison of web search engines Criticism of Google Dont Be Evil Google Google Balloon Internet Google Catalogs Google China Google Chrome Experiments Google logo Google platform Google Ventures – venture capital fund Google X Google+ Googlebot – web crawler Googlization List of Google domains List of mergers and acquisitions by Google Ungoogleable References External links not add links at the Internet Archive at Hoovers Bibliography: Wikipedia

Sunday, July 21, 2019

Relationship Between Family Poverty and Child Development

Relationship Between Family Poverty and Child Development How is family poverty related to childhood development? It is well documented that family poverty has a negative effect on childhood development (Horgan, 2007) but the many variations in how family poverty is related to childhood development via various pathways is of great importance to parents, health and education professionals as they work to improve the outcomes for children; â€Å"maximising the opportunities open to them – improving their life chances and changing the odds in their favour.† Every child matters. When considering how family poverty is related to childhood development, it is firstly important to define poverty. Engle Black note that this is a difficult task and question whether it should be ‘defined in economic terms, or as part of a broader social disadvantage’. In economic terms, the UK government, the European Union and many other countries use 60 per cent of median household income as the poverty ‘threshold’. (Poverty and Social Exclusion poverty.ac.uk) although by their own admission ‘without validation from direct measures of people’s living standards, is essentially arbitrary’. Sen describes poverty as ‘capability deprivation’ and argues that we should take a more ‘activity-oriented view of human beings’. These activities can vary from ‘physical ones as being well nourished, being adequately clothed and sheltered, avoiding preventable morbidity, and so forth, to more complex social achievements such as taking part in the life of the community, being able to appear in public without shame.’ As a result of this, when considering how family poverty is related to childhood development this essay will consider both direct economic effects and also the effects of broader social disadvantage. Similarly it is also difficult to define ‘childhood development’. Indeed Engle et al note that ‘there are no globally accepted indicators for child development’ They do however concede that ‘child development is often measured through individual assessments of developmental changes in multiple domains (eg, cognitive, language and social-emotional)’. One measure of cognition is academic achievement and this is used by various studies as a measure of child outcome (CITE). One of the main reasons for family poverty can be the family unit itself. Fiori (2005) states that â€Å"Economic theory predicts that the two-parent family is among the best-functioning forms of capitalist society because it allows for the provision of household services by one partner and economic resources by the other, and as such it is an efficient system for maximising utility and the human capital of children† Consequently, supporting evidence has found that children from a lone parent family generally have a poorer academic outcome but do not fare poorer psychologically (Mclanahan and Sandefur, 1994). The reason for this is often attributed to the ‘pathology of matriarchy’ hypothesis (Moynihan) which suggests that the absence of a father is destructive to children, particularly boys, because children will lack the economic resources, role models, discipline, structure and guidance that a father provides. The effects of family structure on family poverty and subsequently child outcome is of high importance, with marriage emerging high on the U.S. policy agenda in recent years as a tool for improving child outcomes (Nock) and marriage allowance in the UK allowing a person to reduce their spouses’ tax bill if one partner earns an income below the personal allowance limit (CITE), again alleviating financial stresses which can have a negative effect on child outcome. Hann et al (2003) found that when controlling for income, single-mother families were not significantly different from two-parent families for child outcome. This suggests that it is family poverty itself (that typically results from family disruption) that is the major explanation for children’s lower attainments. Direct effects of family poverty affect childhood development by increasing risk factors, limiting protective factors and reducing opportunities for stimulation and enrichment. Children from low-income families are more likely to receive insufficient nutrition and also be overweight, two factors commonly associated with food insecurity (Cook). The amount of families in the UK struggling to buy basic items such as food is increasing. The Trussel Trust reported that their 445 foodbanks fed 913,138 people nationwide from 2013-2014 and of those helped, 330,205 were children.’ A lack of a balanced diet can affect childrens development both directly and indirectly. Innis has shown that fatty acids such as those found in certain types of fish and nuts assist healthy brain development and reductions in these fatty acids is associated with cognitive and behavioural impairments; the effect of family poverty on childhood development via a poor diet is a very real possibility even in a country such as the United Kingdom. Another direct effect of poverty is the fact that parents in low-income families often have lower levels education and this has a negative impact on their ability to provide a positive, intellectually stimulating environment for their children (Coleman). Hart Todd found that children from professional families that were strongly associated with higher parent education levels and higher family income were spoken to more than children from working class or welfare recipient families and so had a larger cumulative vocabulary. By the age of just three, Hart Todd observed â€Å"the cumulative vocabulary for children in the professional families was about 1,100 words. For children from working class families, the observed cumulative vocabulary was about 750 words and for children from welfare-recipient families it was just above 500 words†. Hart Todd conclude that the most important element of a child’s language development is quantity of conversation and thus it is easy to see how in a ‘traditional’ two-parent family (as previously mentioned) the division of responsibilities allows for increased time to talk to children. Hart Todd also found that children from professional families heard a higher ratio of encouragements to discouragements than their working class and welfare-supported counterparts. Henderlong Lepper found that encouragement is beneficial to the intrinsic motivation of a child (provided it is perceived as sincere) and this will also have a positive effect on child development. Baumrind (1971) defined three parenting types: permissive: parents who are more responsive than demanding; authoritarian: parents who are demanding and directive, but not responsive, and authoritative: parents who are both demanding and responsive. Hoff et al found that in all cultures parents with lower socio-economic-status (SES) are more likely to use ‘authoritarian’ parenting styles than those in higher SES brackets. They are also less likely to be nurturant or to supervise their children adequately, and more likely to use inconsistent, erratic and harsh discipline (Elder et al., 1985); adversely affecting child development. As well as the direct effects of family poverty on child development, as suggested by Engle and Black it is also important to consider moderated effects of poverty and how these can vary across characteristics of families and children. Whilst considering how family poverty affects childhood development, it is important to fully consider the many varying reasons as to why a family may be experiencing poverty. Some of the varying reasons found by Hobcraft for family poverty include: non-traditional structures; lone parents and parents in reconstituted families, households where no adult is in employment or are in poorly paid employment, households headed by a teenage parent, households that include a sick or disabled child, have a child or children under five or have a large number of children. Given this, it is quite understandable that families can find themselves in a state of poverty through no fault of their own. However, their background will affect how they deal with this experience of poverty and more importantly how this poverty will affect the development of any children. Parents of children who are poorly educated or have poor decision making skills could find it more difficult to protect their children from the effects of poverty than families who are better educated, with rational decision making skill and in a similar situation. Cooper Stewart demonstrate using the Family Investment Model that parents who are better educated or have more money are able to financially invest in their children more, either because they have more disposable income or because they choose to forgo other expenses for the sake of purchasing their children educationally enhancing materials such as books. This is supported by the findings of Davis-Kean who found that family income and education had a positive impact on parental educational expectations and resultantly reading (which is strongly correlated to child achievement), with children reading more for pleasure and having more books in the house. Similarly the work of Bradley, Whiteside and Mundfrom that found that children living in poverty who were showing early signs of resilience compared with other children also living in poverty received ‘more responsive, accepting, stimulating and organised care’. Another way that family characteristics moderate the link between family poverty and child development is via social selection. Conger Donnellan consider poverty as â€Å"a constellation of outcomes that are potentially influenced by individual differences in traits such as intelligence and personality† that subsequently affects childhood development. Mayer (1997) proposed that â€Å"parental characteristics that employers value and are willing to pay for, such as skills, diligence, honesty, good health, and reliability, also improve children’s life chances, independent of their effect on parents’ income. Children of parents with these attributes do well even when their parents do not have much income†. These characteristics can be passed on either genetically or through nurture and can act as a ‘buffer’ to the damaging effects of poverty on childhood development. This is supported by the work of Davis-Kean who found a significant correlation between parental warmth (how nurturing parents are towards their children involving desirable traits such as positive feelings, praise, responding) and child achievement (although interestingly, only within African American families as opposed to European American families in this study). Alongside the direct and moderated effects of poverty on childhood development it is also necessary to consider the mediated effects of family poverty on childhood development. As demonstrated by Engle Black, in mediated models it is through disruptions in family function that the effects of poverty are felt and result in negative effects on childhood development. Conger Donnellan reviewed seven papers that have applied the Family Stress Model (FSM) across a widely varying demographics. The FSM overwhelmingly supports the view that poverty leads to family stress and this has a negative impact on parental mental health and increasing the likelihood of parents using harsh authoritarian parenting styles. There is strong evidence for parental mental health impacting on child behaviour. The work of Weissman et al (2006) who found that the children of mothers who remained depressed were far more likely to develop their own symptoms and diagnosis than children of parents who went into remission. This is similarly supported by Galler et al who found that postpartum maternal mental anxiety (PPMHA) was a significant predictor of lower exam scores at eleven to twelve years of age. Importantly, Galler et al found that background variables such as young maternal age at the time of her first pregnancy, more children in the home, less maternal education, and fewer home conveniences (all indicators of family poverty) were closely correlated with PPMHA, but crucially they found that PPMHA was still a significant predictor of lower exam scores even when all these background variables were controlled for. Ram and Hou suggest that lone parents—usually mothers—must spend longer hours outside the home working to offset the economic losses they have suffered from the marital breakup and consequently do not spend enough time with their children. More importantly however, when considering mediated effects of poverty, they also found that depression and lower levels of psychological well-being occur more often amongst these parents and also negatively influences the quality of parenting and children’s behavioral problems, explaining why children in disrupted families experience severe emotional and behavioral problems. Interestingly however, Ram and Hou found that parental depression and low levels of psychological well-being have almost no effect on cognitive development; highlighting the many varying elements of childhood development. Finally as noted by Engle and Black it is important to consider transactional models, where the effects of poverty interact between families and children. As previously noted, families can moderate and mediate the effects of poverty on children, similarly the children’s characteristics can have a similar effect. Whilst typical family structure can positively affect family poverty and childhood development, evidence also suggests that the quality of family relations can also play a large part in childhood development. Children whose parents often argue (independent of divorce) score worse on measures of academic achievement, behavior problems, psychological well-being, and adult relationship quality; they are also more likely to form families early and outside of marriage (Musick Meier). One of these reasons is low levels of parental education. Belsky (2013) has subsequently found a correlation between childhood obesity and intelligence in children as young as three; highlighting the relationship between poverty and child development. Evans et al found that families experiencing poverty are more likely to face chaotic living conditions than are their middle- and upper-income counterparts. Chaos is characterised by â€Å"high levels of ambient stimulation (e.g., noise, crowding), minimal structure and routine,and considerable unpredictability and confusion in daily activities.† Maslow’s hierarchy of needs suggests that the most basic needs: physiological (food, shelter etc) and safety (security of body, employment, family etc) love and belonging (friendship, family intimacy etc) and esteem (self esteem, confidence, respect of others etc) must be met before the individual will strongly desire (or focus motivation upon) the growth need of ‘self actualisation’. Childhood development can be largely grouped into two categories: psychopathology e.g. internalising (emotional problems) and externalising (behavioural problems; and academic achievement). References Horgan, G. (2007). The impact of poverty on young childrens experience of school. Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Engle, P. L., Black, M. M. (2008). The effect of poverty on child development and educational outcomes. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences,1136(1), 243-256. Sen, A. (1992). The political economy of targeting. Washington, DC: World Bank. Engle, P. L., Black, M. M., Behrman, J. R., De Mello, M. C., Gertler, P. J., Kapiriri, L., International Child Development Steering Group. (2007). Strategies to avoid the loss of developmental potential in more than 200 million children in the developing world. The Lancet, 369(9557), 229-242. Broadhead, P. (2007). A Vision for Universal Pre-School Education-by Edward Zigler, Walter S. Gilliam and Stephanie M. Jones. British Journal of Educational Studies, 55(2), 227-229. Cook, J. T., Frank, D. A., Levenson, S. M., Neault, N. B., Heeren, T. C., Black, M. M., Chilton, M. (2006). Child food insecurity increases risks posed by household food insecurity to young childrens health. The Journal of nutrition, 136(4), 1073-1076. Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological review,50(4), 370. Belsky, D. W., Caspi, A., Goldman-Mellor, S., Meier, M. H., Ramrakha, S., Poulton, R., Moffitt, T. E. (2013). Is obesity associated with a decline in intelligence quotient during the first half of the life course?. American journal of epidemiology, 178(9), 1461-1468. Trussell Trust Foodbanks Use Tops One Million. (2015). Retrieved May 24, 2015, from http://www.trusselltrust.org/stats Innis, S. M. (2007). Dietary (n-3) fatty acids and brain development. The Journal of nutrition, 137(4), 855-859. Flouri, E. (2005). Fathering and child outcomes. John Wiley Sons. McLanahan, S., Sandefur, G. (2009). Growing up with a single parent: What hurts, what helps. Harvard University Press. Moynihan, Daniel Patrick. 1965. The Negro Family: The Case for National Action. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Labor Nock, S. L. (2005). Marriage as a public issue. The Future of Children, 15(2), 13-32. Marriage Allowance https://www.gov.uk/marriage-allowance-guide Musick, K., Meier, A. (2010). Are both parents always better than one? Parental conflict and young adult well-being. Social Science Research, 39(5), 814-830. Han, W. J., Huang, C. C., Garfinkel, I. (2003). The Importance of Family Structure and Family Income on Familys Educational Expenditure and Childrens College Attendance Empirical Evidence from Taiwan. Journal of Family Issues, 24(6), 753-786. Henderlong, J., Lepper, M. R. (2002). The effects of praise on childrens intrinsic motivation: a review and synthesis. Psychological bulletin, 128(5), 774. Conger, R. D., Donnellan, M. B. (2007). An interactionist perspective on the socioeconomic context of human development. Annu. Rev. Psychol., 58, 175-199. Bradley, R. H., Whiteside, L., Mundfrom, D. J., Casey, P. H., Kelleher, K. J., Pope, S. K. (1994). Early indications of resilience and their relation to experiences in the home environments of low birthweight, premature children living in poverty. Child development, 65(2), 346-360. Cooper, K., Stewart, K. (2013). Does Money Affect Childrens Outcomes?: A Systematic Review. Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Shipler, D. K. (2008). The working poor: Invisible in America. Vintage. Chicago. Mayer S. 1997. What Money Can’t Buy: Family Income and Children’s Life Chances. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press Weissman, M. M., Pilowsky, D. J., Wickramaratne, P. J., Talati, A., Wisniewski, S. R., Fava, M., Rush, A. J. (2006). Remissions in maternal depression and child psychopathology: a STAR* D-child report. Jama, 295(12), 1389-1398. Galler, J. R., Ramsey, F. C., Harrison, R. H., Taylor, J., Cumberbatch, G., Forde, V. (2004). Postpartum maternal moods and infant size predict performance on a national high school entrance examination. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 45(6), 1064-1075. Evans, G. W., Gonnella, C., Marcynyszyn, L. A., Gentile, L., Salpekar, N. (2005). The role of chaos in poverty and childrens socioemotional adjustment.Psychological Science, 16(7), 560-565. Ram, B., Hou, F. (2003). Changes in family structure and child outcomes: Roles of economic and familial resources. Policy Studies Journal, 31(3), 309-330. Hyde, J. S., Elseà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Quest, N. M., Goldsmith, H. H., Biesanz, J. C. (2004). Childrens temperament and behavior problems predict their employed mothers work functioning. Child Development, 75(2), 580-594.

Saturday, July 20, 2019

How Teachers Can Help Essay -- essays papers

How Teachers Can Help Attention Deficit Disorder can lead to several different problems such as slow work completion, inconsistent accuracy in class work and homework, and poor study skills (DuPaul & Stoner, 1994). In order to decrease the problems that result from the disorder, teachers must accommodate and assist the children by using various techniques and ideas. Even though medication is widely used as an intervention for students with ADD, training in â€Å"organizational strategies, self-monitoring, self-evaluation, and self-instruction procedures can also help these students to perform better in general and special education settings (Shimabukuro & Prater, 1999).† Children with Attention Deficit Disorder need structure placed in their lives by the instructor because they can't provide it for themselves (Shore, 1998). The teacher can provide this by making the rules in the classroom clear to everyone and strictly enforcing them. They should have a predictable schedule each day because ADD students don't handle change very well. Another strategy to be used in the classroom is placing the student in a location of the room where he/she will not easily be distracted and position him/her beside a peer partner who can assist them with their assignments (Parker, 1996). Such a student should not be placed beside an air conditioner, pencil sharpener, window, etc (Kidsource, 2000). An ideal place may be by the teacher's desk where he/she can be readily monitored. Organization is a crucial component that a teacher should include when trying to instill the student with structure. In order to do this the teacher may pair the student up with a peer for assistance. The child should also be equipped with a pocket folder, and a three-... ...h improve concentration. Robbins, J. (2000). On the track with nuerofeedback. Newsweek, 135 (25) p76. Retrieved November 28, 2001 from Academic Search/EBSCO database. This journal contained information information on increasing beta waves and the statistics on who benefited form such a treatment. Fister, S. & Kemp, K. (1995). Academic strategies for children with add. Intervention in school & clinic, 30 (4) 8p. Retrieved November 27, 2001 from Academic Search/EBSCO database. Kai, L. (April 20,2001). Kids with attention deficit disorder can learn. P.27. Retrieved November 21, 2001 from Lexis-Nexis The article talks about how student scan learn through visual forms of teaching. Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica Online. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Retrieved November 30, 2001 from http://search.eb.com/bol/topic?eu=42727&sctn=1&pm=1

Friday, July 19, 2019

Norman Bridwell Essay --

"Sometimes you'll do something that you really like and no one else does,† said Norman Bridwell. Norman Bridwell has proved that if you like something you just go with what you want. He proved it when he was in high school; he liked to write but the teachers didn’t appreciate it. After taking a look at the life and work of Norman Bridwell, it is apparent that this writer deserves recognition as a profound American author. Norman Bridwell was born on February 15, 1928 in Kokomo, Indiana (TEACHERS). He always dreamed of going to college to study to be an instructor but he never had enough confidence to do it (About the Clifford). It took him a long time to get his confidence back; once he got his confidence back he went to college and studied what he wanted. He was not good at any sports, he was a nerdy kid in highschool so he was bullied a lot. One day his gym teacher gave him a pencil and a notebook so when he had gym he would draw or write stories (TEACHERS). Norman always had time to write and draw and if he didn’t have time he would make time. Norman had a lot of things that infl... Norman Bridwell Essay -- "Sometimes you'll do something that you really like and no one else does,† said Norman Bridwell. Norman Bridwell has proved that if you like something you just go with what you want. He proved it when he was in high school; he liked to write but the teachers didn’t appreciate it. After taking a look at the life and work of Norman Bridwell, it is apparent that this writer deserves recognition as a profound American author. Norman Bridwell was born on February 15, 1928 in Kokomo, Indiana (TEACHERS). He always dreamed of going to college to study to be an instructor but he never had enough confidence to do it (About the Clifford). It took him a long time to get his confidence back; once he got his confidence back he went to college and studied what he wanted. He was not good at any sports, he was a nerdy kid in highschool so he was bullied a lot. One day his gym teacher gave him a pencil and a notebook so when he had gym he would draw or write stories (TEACHERS). Norman always had time to write and draw and if he didn’t have time he would make time. Norman had a lot of things that infl...

Life is Glamorous Essays -- essays research papers fc

â€Å"Life Is Glamorous†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Whether you wander down random roads or plan precise paths, the exciting journey we call life involves many choices. The decisions we make on a day-to-day basis affect everything. Questions such as, â€Å"What should I wear today?† or â€Å"Should I really be eating this?† are asked by many people everyday. Sure, a simple beauty magazine could probably answer both questions in one article, but in order to live a happy, healthy life there are more important questions to be resolved. Glamour magazine answers every question, and includes unique highlights. Because of its superiority in the periodical market, Glamour has won over 75 editorial awards since 1990 (PRNewire 2). Much of this is due to its effective design in which the magazine is split up into seven main sections: beauty, fashion, health & body book, [men, sex & love], life & happiness, glamour news, and glamour buzz. Although there are numerous sections, they all tie into helping educate wom en on how to be happy with who they are and how to also make the most of what that is. Each part proceeds to give detailed professional advice on these topics. Also by understanding the broad range of potential readers, this periodical includes less inappropriately intimate articles like some other fashion/beauty magazines do. By providing factual information that is also interesting, Glamour makes it easy to find the answers to every quintessential question one might have about being a woman, and in doing so, empowers them with the knowledge needed to enhance their lives   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A visible enhancement Glamour can provide deals with physical appearance. Beauty is a very important part of womanhood. Many people weight their self-esteem solely on this alone, and although this may be unhealthy, it is a common occurrence in today’s society. To help relieve some of the pressures of societal demands, Glamour features articles that inform readers of the most recent methods to help them look their best. In the beauty section, the magazine includes reviews on new beauty products and the latest technology. This proves to be very helpful when purchasing cosmetics, moisturizers, and cleansers, or when pondering a surgical enhancement of some kind. The product reviews detail how effective each product is and if the dollar value is reasonable for t... ...en need someone to tell them they are beautiful just the way they are (Bear 1). Glamour knows that with exceptional beauty, fashion, and health knowledge every woman can look and feel their best. The professional advice on men and relationships helps a woman expand socially, as do the various styles of news. By educating them on all of these levels, the magazine empowers women with the knowledge and capability to improve their quality of life. In doing this, Glamour magazine proves to be comprised of quality worthwhile journalism, equipped with factual and entertaining information that profoundly benefits all women. Works Cited 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Bear, Merryl. Friend Indeed. Winnipeg; Jul/Aug 2003. Vol. 20, Iss. 3; p.1, 1p. 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Craig, Courtney. Great-fitting Jackets for All Shapes; Feb 2005. p.77, 1p. 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hudephohl, Dana. The Dangers of Yo-yo Dieting; Feb 2005. p.92, 1p. 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ostrow, Melissa. Jamie Lee Curtis: No Barbie doll. Mar/Apr 2003, Vol. 33 Iss. 3/4, p7, 1p. 5.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  PRNewswire. The American Society of Magazine Editors; Mar 21, 2004. p.2, 2p.