Teenage Prgnancy and Moral Panic Essay Example

Teenage Prgnancy and Moral Panic Paper Background, context and history of moral panic and teenage pregnancy. Teenagers have been seen as the cause of the problem and the victims for numerous moral panics including rave culture, mods and rockers and in more recent years hoodies and a number of violent related problems such as knife and gun crime. My focus is on the long running issue of teenage pregnancy and how in todays society the teen mother is seen as a folk devil and a stereotypical character. Jock Young first coined the term, moral panic whilst talking bout the social reaction of drug takers in Notting Hill. Stanley Cohen then explored the concept further. Moral panic has been defined as the intensity of feeling expressed by a large number of people about a specific group of people who appear to threaten the social order at a given time. (1972, Pg 9) Cohen Also stated that a moral panic has begun when a condition, episode, person or group of persons emerges to become defined as a threat to societal values and interests. (972, Pg 9) Those who start a panic do so when they fear a threat to prevailing social or cultural values, are known by researchers as moral entrepreneurs, while the people who supposedly threaten the social order are known as a folk devil. We will write a custom essay sample on Teenage Prgnancy and Moral Panic specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Teenage Prgnancy and Moral Panic specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Teenage Prgnancy and Moral Panic specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer The moral panic of teenage mothers came in to existence in the late 1970s and peeked in the 1980s and early 1990s with the new right and underclass theories of the conservative government led by Margaret Thatcher. Thatcher suggested that teenage and single mothers as the problem of the United Kingdom, thus creating mass panic and the demonisation on young and single mothers. Are the representations appropriate proportionate to the issue? Statistics for the national office of statistics reveal that since 1971 teenage pregnancy figures have either stayed roughly the same or have been decreasing slightly until 1999. There was a slight increase in younger teenagers getting pregnant in the 1990s. But quite a substantial decrease in the over 16s becoming parents. AS time went on there was a noticeable increase in the number of abortions for both under 16s and over 16s age groups. The media can be held responsible for amplification and exaggeration of the issue, which takes place through the medias work such as news papers and magazines being the most influential to the general public. Head lines and photos evoke the most social reaction, usually one of surprise and disbelief. This then creates more wide spread panic and concern resulting in a higher level of moral panic. Which serves to appeal to the public so that they concur with ready-made opinions about the course of action to be taken, and these opinions have been found from the members of what Cohen refers to as the moral barricade, i. e. bishops, politicians and editors. Combined with the opinions of the experts who are wheeled out to give their diagnosis, they reach an agreement about how to cope with the situation in hand, and the problem either disappears or at least deteriorates. In this case it was proposed that there should be more sex education with in schools, and for younger teenagers and older children. Just some of the headlines about teenage pregnancy from The Sun The Guardian and The Daily Mail. * Under-14 abortions soar 20%   Girls as young as 13 to get contraceptive jabs in a bid to tackle pregnancy hot spots Relentless rise in teenage pregnancies Mothers despair over pregnant teen   The girl of 18 who has had SIX abortions. These photos have been taken from the internet; the images evoke strong social reaction and concern as all three of the girls featured look very young and are dressed as children. The reason why so many people see teenage pregnancy as a problem is that, society as a whole paints a picture that childhood and its innocents should be protected against violence and sexual behaviour, getting pregnant during a girls teenage years forces them to grow up very quickly and deal with the adult responsibilities of bring up a child, cutting their own childhood short. What is seen as the cause of the problem? The cause of the problem was first thought to be lack of sex education for teenagers in schools and within the home. Parents felt embarrassed talking to their children about sex and intimate relationships. Although sex education became compulsory in schools the problem failed to get better and the figures remained the same. It was not ignorance that led to high numbers of teenage pregnancy; Teenagers know what precautions to take against getting pregnant but chose not to use them. Another reason is explored but the social exclusion unit, One reason why the UK has such high teenage pregnancy rates is that there are more young people who see no prospect of a job and fear they will end up on benefits one way or the other. Put simply, they see no reason not to get pregnant. (SEU, 1999a, p. 7) Many people blame the media for allowing young people to have access to content seen as explicit and of an adult nature, television shows are constantly making reference to sex despite there having a watershed from 9pm until 5. 30 am the next day, Programs still contain enough reference to make children aware of sexual activity. Hudson and Ineichen state that Movies, music, radio and TV tell them (Teenage girls) that sex is romantic, exciting, titillating; pre marital sex and cohabitation are visible ways of life among the adults they see and hear about; their own parents or their parents friends are divorced or separated but involved in sexual relationships. Yet at the same time they gat the impression that good girls say no. Almost nothing they see or hear informs them about contraception or the importance of protecting pregnancy. (1991 Pg 18) Magazines have been under scrutiny in most recent years teenage material such as Sugar Bliss and More aimed at young girls between the ages of 12 16 were available from any news agents or supermarket. These magazines made casual references to sexual behavior, using quizzes, polls, problem pages and sex and relationship tips. The content available to teenagers through the use of the internet has become an increased concern for parents, with the development of chat rooms, instant messaging and networking websites they could in theory be told anything by anyone, no matter how unsuitable for their ages as many of the chat rooms remain unmonitored. What has been suggested as a response or remedy?   Education Has to be given to young teenagers, and older children in the right way, make them aware not just of the biological aspects of sex but the emotional side too. Social attitude of teenager sexual behaviour Generally the social views about teenagers having sex, are bad ones, parents on the whole try and stop their children from having sex, which doesnt work teenagers will be having sex no matter what adults say, Concentrating o Lack of embarrassment is needed from peers and especially parents, so that teenagers can talk openly about sex and their experiences, also lack of embarrassment would encourage young people to go to family planning clinics and buy contraception over the counter. More contraception easily available The social exclusion unit states that teenage mothers are 4 xs more likely to live in social housing, and are more likely to be from deprived areas, the government should therefore target these areas with more facilities, first for prevention of teen pregnancy, with family planning clinics and relationships advice.   Careers advice centres in more deprived areas, to show young girls that there can be more to life than having a baby so young, and that a career maybe rewarding both financially and emotionally. Bibliography Brooks Gunn, J and Furstenberg, F and S, P Morgan.(1990) Adolescent Mothers: Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Campion, M, J. (1995): Whos Fit To Be A Parent? London: Routledge Cohen, S. (1972): Folk Devils and Moral Panics: London: MacGibbon and Kee F, Hudson, and B, Ineichen (1991): Taking It Lying Down: London: Macmillan Press Jones, M, and E. Jones. (1999) Mass Media. London: Macmillan Press V, Hey, New Labour, social exclusion and educational risk management the case of gymslip mums British educational research journal 26 (4) (2000) J, Musick (1993): Young, Poor and Pregnant: London: Yale University Press.

Macbeth Essay Essay Example

Macbeth Essay Essay Example Macbeth Essay Paper Macbeth Essay Paper Essay Topic: Trifles Macbeth: His Journey to the Dark Side Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, is one of the greatest Shakespearean tragedies written in the 18th century, a drama full of murder and revenge. By these mysterious prophecies of the three mystical witches, Macbeth is prompted to kill his dear ruler, and friend, Duncan, in order to seize the throne. This leads to ghosts, hallucinations, more murders, and other unnatural events, eventually resulting in the downfall of Macbeth. Macbeth develops and changes greatly, from a loyal, trustworthy person to corrupted and murderous man throughout the course of the play. Many factors affected the shaping of the character of Macbeth, including the witches prophecies and foil character, Banquo. This character shift caused by the witches prophecies and Banquo demonstrates how from supernatural powers to one of his closest friends, Macbeth is an easily affected person, which is leads to, and is the cause, of how significantly his character changes throughout the play. In the beginning of the play, Macbeth starts out as loyal and trustworthy person. To Duncan, he states, our uties / Are to your throne and state children and servants, / Which do but what they should, by doing everything / Safe toward your love and honor (Act 1 Scene 4, pg 10). Here Macbeth uses a literary device, analogy, where he compares the relationship between Duncan and himself to those of a child and father, or servant and master.

May Calendar of Famous Inventions and Birthdays

May Calendar of Famous Inventions and Birthdays May is National Inventors Month,   a  month-long event celebrating invention and creativity.  Discover which clever creations came into being or received patents or trademarks during the May calendar, and find out  which famous inventor shares your May birthday.  Ã‚   May Inventions and Birthdays May 1 1888 -  Patent #382,280 was granted to Nikola Tesla for the electrical transmission of power. May 3 1831 -  Jim Manning patented a mowing machine.  However, the very first patent for a machine for mowing lawns was granted to Edwin Beard Budding. May 4 1943 - A patent for helicopter controls was obtained by Igor Sikorsky. Sikorsky invented fixed-winged and multi-engined aircraft, transoceanic flying boats and helicopters. May 5 1809 - Mary Kies was the first women to receive a patent. It was for a process for weaving straw with silk or thread. May 6 1851  -  John Gorrie received the ice-making machine patent. May 7 1878 - Joseph Winters  received the fire escape ladder patent. May 9 1958 - Mattels Barbie doll was registered. The Barbie doll was invented in 1959 by Ruth Handler (co-founder of Mattel), whose own daughter was called Barbara. May 10 1752  - Benjamin Franklin first tested his  lightning rod. Franklin invented the lightening rod, iron furnace stove, bifocal glasses and  odometer. May 12 1885  - Ottmar Mergenthaler received a patent for a machine for producing printing bars. May 14 1853 - Gail Borden invented her process for condensed milk. May 15 1718 - James Puckle, a London lawyer, patented the worlds first machine gun. May 17 1839 - Lorenzo Adkins patented a water wheel. May 18 1827 - Artist Rembrandt Peale registered a lithographic portrait of President George Washington  based on his famous oil painting.1830 - Edwin Beard Budding of England signed a licensing agreement for the manufacture of his invention, the lawn mower. May 19 1896  - Edward Acheson was issued a patent for an electrical furnace used to produce one of the hardest industrial substances:  carborundum. May 20 1830 - D. Hyde patented the fountain pen.1958 - Robert Baumann obtained a patent for a satellite structure. May 22 1819 - The first bicycles, called swift walkers, were introduced to the United States in New York City.1906  - Orville and Wilbur Wright received a patent for a Flying Machine with a motor. May 23 1930 -  The Patent Act of 1930 permitted patenting of certain plants. May 24 1982 - Increased penalties for trafficking in counterfeit labels for certain works and criminal infringement of these works were added to the Copyright Act in 1982. May 25 1948 - Andrew Moyer was granted a patent for a method of mass production of penicillin. May 26 1857 - Robert Mushet received a patent for methods of manufacturing steel. May 27 1796 - James McLean was issued a patent for a piano. May 28 1742 - The first indoor swimming pool opened in Goodmans Fields, London.  1996 - Theo and Wayne Hart received a patent for a ponytail hair clasp. May 30 1790 -  The first Federal Copyright bill was enacted in 1790.1821 - James Boyd patented the rubber fire hose. May Birthdays May 2 1844 -  Elijah McCoy, the highly prolific African-American inventor, was born. May 12 1910 - Dorothy Hodgkin won the 1964 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her determinations by X-ray techniques of the structures of important biochemical substances. May 13 1857 - English pathologist  Ronald Ross won the Nobel Prize in 1902. May 14 1686 -  Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit  invented  the thermometer.1946 - Surgeon and  inventor  Robert Jarvik  invented the Jarvik 7 artificial heart. May 15 1859 - French physicist  Pierre Curie  shared the Nobel Prize in 1903 with his wife, Marie Curie.1863 - English toy inventor  Frank Hornby founded the legendary Meccano Toy Company. May 16 1763 - French chemist  Louis-Nicolas Vauquelin discovered chromium and beryllium.1831 -  David Edward Hughes  invented the carbon microphone and a teleprinter.1914 - American scientist  Edward T. Hall pioneered the study of nonverbal communication and interactions between members of different ethnic groups.1950 - German superconductivity physicist  Johannes Bednorz won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1987. May 17 1940 - American computer scientist Alan Kay was one of the true luminaries of personal computing.   May 18 1872 - English mathematician and  philosopher Bertrand Russell won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950.1901 - American biochemist  Vincent du Vigneaud won he 1955 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work in important sulphur compounds.1907 - Nuclear physicist  Robley D. Evans  helped to persuade the US government to allow the use of radioactive isotopes in medical research.1928 - Nuclear scientist  G.R. Hall was renown for his work in nuclear technology. May 20 1851 -  Emile Berliner of Germany was  the inventor of the  gramaphone. May 22 1828 - Albrecht Grafe was a pioneer eye surgeon who founded modern ophthalmology.1911 - Russian mathematician and  biologist Anatol Rapoport invented game theory.1927 - American scientist  George Andrew Olah was a chemist and Nobel laureate. May 29 1826 - Fashion business executive Ebenezer Butterick  invented the first graded sewing  pattern.

To what extend can it be said that the 'West' won the Cold War Essay - 1

To what extend can it be said that the 'West' won the Cold War - Essay Example Did the West Really Win the Cold War? It has to be explained first what was involved in the end of the Cold War, by determining the major components in the strategy of Gorbachev after 1985 and the unforeseen results of the course of internal and external reform. The policy reforms of Gorbachev occurred in four major domains; in each instance the policy acquired impetus and became more revolutionary commencing around 1987 (Geoffrey 2008). Primarily, the Soviet administration commenced after 1985 to reform features of its military strategy viewed as particularly hostile by the West, and at the same time to alter its method of arms control (Suri 2002). Gorbachev embarked on reassessing military principle, pioneering the notion of ‘reasonable sufficiency at the nuclear level’ (Juviler & Kimura 2009, 139) which indicates that ‘lower nuclear weapons levels would be required’ (ibid, 139) and advancing toward ‘defensive defence at the conventional levelâ€℠¢ (Juviler & Kimura 2009, 140), in an effort to suppress the apprehensions of the West about surprise assault. Subsequently, Gorbachev indicated a reform in the ideological scope and proclaimed objectives of Soviet foreign policy, distancing from an idea of global class conflict toward a more broad-minded idea of peace and alliance. Propaganda about peace had contributed in Soviet policy beforehand, but Gorbachev placed a new emphasis on the essence of the United Nations and on ‘human values’ (Keohane, Nye, & Hoffman 1997). The Soviet Union escorted a new ideological approach with actual hints of a real policy reform, for instance, fulfilling its financial obligations to UN peacekeeping activities and collaborating with the International Atomic Energy Agency (Keohane et al. 1997). The last and most remarkable decision by Gorbachev was to modify Soviet policy toward the nations of East Europe (Phillips 2001). In his address in the UN in 1988 he declared that the Brezhnev Doctrine, stating the privilege of the Soviet Union to occupy Eastern Europe within the flag of socialist internationalism, had been discarded (Suri 2002). At some point in 1989 Solidarity made a compromise with the Polish United Workers’ party and adhered to the regime in August; a new multiparty elections and constitution in Hungary were declared in September (Suri 2002). In these two instances the deviation from the rule of the Communist Party was the outcome of an extended course of internal tension and the rise of strong party leaders, but reform was apparently permitted by the Soviet Union (Leffler & Westad 2010). Gorbachev tried to affect the more unruly administration of the German Democratic Republic (Geoffrey 2008). The Brezhnev Doctrine was officially abandoned by the Warsaw Pact when in the 1989 convention foreign ministers highlighted the right of each nation to be independent (Juviler & Kimura 2009). In spite of the recommendation of Gorbachev of large-scale re form in Eastern Europe, it is questionable if he expected, or aimed for, the disintegration of the coalition which took place after the revolutions in 1989 (Juviler & Kimura 2009). The concluding phase in the ending of the Cold War, the steady collapse of the USSR itself and the abandonment of the rule

Value of IT to Richer Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Value of IT to Richer - Essay Example It is important to mention that large firm considers information technology to have strategic value and is used for attaining or realizing long term strategies of firms. The case of Richter also reflects the same. The aim to privatize the organization was realized through the implementation of the SAP financial module of an enterprise wide system. The success of the strategy to privatize the organization depended largely on the accuracy of financial information collected. The decision to implement SAP depicts the true value of IT that Richter held in realizing its long term goal to privatize. One of the strategic objectives of Richter was to increase revenues and reduce costs of the company. This required greater focus on materials management and production planning processes. It is seen that the major large organizations are able to increase efficiencies of their production processes and materials management processes through the implementation of IT infrastructure. Similarly, the i nstallation of MM module or the materials management module and the PP module or the production planning module was intended to bring about efficiency enhancement and productivity improvement in the organization. This was complimented with the establishment of a decision support system consisting of two production experts through whom doubts could be clarified, regarding data, definitions, procedures or information retrieval. The role of IT in improving revenues and costs also shows its value in Richter in meeting long term goals. Although installing the two production modules involved a cost of $2.12 million which comprised of an investment of $775,000 in equipments and $1.35 million on labour expenses. However, the employment of the internal IT staff saved the organization an amount of $525,000. Governance styles in use at Richter The case of Richter reflects the use of value based style of IT governance. The operational approach to IT governance describes governance as being inte ntional activity having its own artifacts and lifestyles. The value based IT governance style is based on the approach that desired outcomes can only be achieved through value based decisions. It tries to reject unnecessary activities and focuses more on high value projects. The value based style of IT governance begins from Richter’s decision making process regarding all the governance issues with beginning of the strategic plan of the company (CGI, â€Å"CGI’s approach to driving business value within managed services engagements†). The plan was aimed to involve all IT specialists within the organization as well as the IT mangers. The plan was primarily meant to focus on how IT could provide support to the business processes in the pharmaceutical company by stipulating the maintenance projects, investments along with changes in the staffing requirements and IT infrastructures. The IT governance includes the four stages of planning, implementing, managing and a ssessing. The planning stage necessarily involves identifying the governance requirement needs such as the meeting of compliance needs, adherence to policies, enhancing business values and meeting the service levels. The planning process in Richter begins with communication with the IT leaders about the infrastructural issues in the forthcoming

Fashion Blogging - the Impact on Sales Essay Example for Free

Fashion Blogging the Impact on Sales Essay Thus, we first investigate whether blogging activity leads to (differential) market outcomes. We then examine whether managerial communication (magazines advertising) and blogging are synergistic. We assemble a unique data set from fashion containing market outcomes (sales), new media (blogs) and traditional media (magazines advertising) for a brand of clothing, and a brand of shoes. Each category has at least one product launch during the duration of our sample periods. We specify a simultaneous equation log-linear system for market outcomes and the volume of blogs. Our results suggest that blogs are predictive of market outcomes, new and traditional media act synergistically, pre-launch magazines advertising spurs blogging activity but become less effective post-launch and that market outcomes have some effect on blogging. We find detailed support for some of these findings via a unique and novel text mining analysis. We discuss the managerial implications of our findings. I-Introduction Consumer generated media (CGM) such as blogs (a contraction of the term â€Å"Web logs†) have witnessed explosive growth in the last few years. For example, the number of blogs worldwide is estimated to be 184 millions with a readership of 346 million (March 2010). In contrast, in March 2003, the number of blogs was essentially zero. Other types of CGM have also seen similar growth patterns, e. g. , Facebook, which started in February 2004, now has about 400 million members worldwide (February 2011). There are also indications that blogs are now being seen as similar to mainstream media sites – the number of blog sites in the top 100 most popular sites (blogs and mainstream media) worldwide was twenty-two in 2008 and blogs were being viewed by consumers as â€Å"sites for news, information, gossip etc. † (2008). In 2010, four of the top ten entertainment sites were blogs (March 2010). It is clear from these statistics that there is considerable activity (multi- media posting, blogging, visits, traffic etc. ) on the part of consumers. However, an important question, from a managerial perspective, is whether this activity leads to (differential) business outcomes such as sales or profits. In addition, little is known about the relationship between traditional or old media (where the company creates content and delivers it to consumers) and consumer generated, or new, media (where consumers create content and there in an exchange of this content between other consumers and potentially, the company). That is, are there any synergies between new media and old media? In this research, we take the first step towards answering these questions. Blogging is perhaps the most established and largest form of consumer generated media at this point in time. The total worldwide viewership of blogs is estimated to be about 346 million (March 2010). Wikipedia defines as a blog as â€Å"a Web site, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. Blogging is a worldwide phenomenon with the two biggest blogging markets being the United States and Japan. The number of blogs in the United States is about 23 million (about 12% of all US Internet users) and about 8 million in Japan (about 5% of all Japanese Internet users) in 2009. However, if one examines the total number of posts by language, Japanese language posts account for 37% of all posts worldwide followed closely by English language posts at 36%. Fina lly, readership of blogs in these two markets is ery high about half of all Internet users in the US and about one-fifth of all Japanese Internet users have read a blog in the past year. While there are many informal opinions on the effectiveness of CGM in general (and blogs in particular) vis-a-vis market outcomes, there is limited empirical research that sheds light on this issue, especially for the launch of new products. The majority of the existing research has focused on online chatter (newsgroup postings, reviews and ratings) and its effect on market outcomes. There is some evidence that volume of online user ratings is positively correlated to sales. Blogging, on the other hand, has been seen as a unique type of user generated content as being a highly personal, non-directed communication tool. As Kumar (2005) note, blogs are unique for sociological reasons – they comprise a â€Å"highly dynamic, temporal community structure† that â€Å"focuses heavily on local community interactions† and for technical reasons – blogs â€Å"offer us a ready-made view of evolution (of content) in continuous time. † In addition, blogging activity was probably the most pervasive CGM activity on the web during the time of our data. Given these unique characteristics of blogs as opposed to reviews, it is not obvious that bloggers’ activity should affect market outcomes. Surprisingly, there is very little research that has tried to quantify the effect of blogs on market outcomes, especially in the presence of traditional media and/or an examination of pre- and post-launch changes in the role of old and new media. Two recent empirical papers have focused on blogs and market outcomes. Dhar and Chang (2009) explore the relationship between music album sales (imputed via sales ranks on Amazon. om) and online chatter (as seen in blogs and on social networks). Using 108 music albums in early 2007 (before four weeks and after four weeks of their release), they find a positive correlation between both the number of blogs and Myspace member intensity with future music sales. Gruhl (2005) propose a new methodology to automatically generate a query of blog keywords to detect spikes in Amazon. com’s book sales rank. They conclude that their new algorithm could adequately predict the changes and spikes of future sales ranks. Thus, while these two studies suggest that there may be a correlation between blogging activity and market outcomes, they do not use actual sales data but only sales ranks from Amazon. com. To the best of our knowledge, the second issue that we outline above the positive relationship between traditional media and new media has not been investigated in the literature. Our expectation is that there will be a positive correlation between the quantity of traditional media and new media as traditional media is likely to provide discussion materials for bloggers. From a managerial perspective this issue is crucial, as managers have no direct control over CGM (blogs in our case). However, if there is indeed a synergistic relationship between traditional media, which are under managerial control, and new media, which are outside managerial control, then managers can leverage this relationship. Specifically, they can carry out â€Å"better† resource allocation and media planning (to traditional media) as they can take the spillover effect (from traditional to new media) into consideration. We examine the role of new media with respect to market outcomes as well as the relationship between new media and traditional media using data of two different clothing and shoes brand that are both promoted in fashion blogs. We consider the number of units sold, customers or subscribers (all a proxy for demand) as market outcomes, blogs as representations of consumer generated media and magazines advertising as traditional media. We specify a simultaneous equation model that links sales to advertising and blogs as well as a model that links blogs to advertising. Our results, after controlling for many temporal and cross-sectional factors, suggest that first, the volume of Blogstock (cumulative sum of past blog posts) is positively correlated with market outcomes (volume of clothing sold, and the volume of shoes sold) post launch. Second, the interaction between blogs and magazines advertising has a positive effect on market outcomes. Third, we also find that traditional media (magazines advertising) positively affects new media (the volume of blogs) pre launch. In other words, bloggers consume advertising, independent of the product, and this ncreases their blogging activity. Finally, we find that the effect of blogs varies between pre and post launch. In general, the positive relationship between magazines advertising and the volume of blogs pre-launch becomes weaker after launch. This result suggests that while magazines advertising can independently increase blogging pre-launch via the provision of information and content, post-launch (i. e. , once the product is available), consumers may rely less on traditional media, leading to a much weaker relationship between new and old media at that point. These last three sets of results shed light on the possibility that, broadly speaking, advertising and blogs act synergistically (with the relationship changing somewhat post-launch). The process explanations for our findings is not obvious. We take the first step in eliciting process explanations by carrying out a novel text mining analysis of the blog posts for the two markets (shoes and clothing) for which we have access to the textual content data. The findings from the text mining analysis suggest that blogs may affect market outcomes as they represent a rich source of product information and consumer opinion for other consumers. Also, bloggers do use advertising as a subject for blogging pre-launch but turn their attention to product attributes post-launch. II-Data Our data come from fashion market. We consider data from two brands – clothing and shoes. We first describe the market outcome data for each product market and then we describe the measurement of traditional and new media. III-Market Outcomes The daily sales of clothings were made available for the total fashion market based on a nationally representative consumer panel. The data include daily sales of two new pieces of clothing introduced in the period from January 2013 to March 2013. For shoes, the outcome variable we use is based on the same principle. We have data of two new models that were released (launched) in the period from January 2013 to March 2013. IV-Traditional Media The traditional marketing variable we use is magazines advertising. This was measured in units of daily or monthly Gross Rating Points (GRPs). There are some differences in the patterns of magazines advertising pre and post launch across the two brands. For clothing, most of the advertising is post launch. Typically, commercial ads in this market begin to air about five days pre launch and then the heavier advertising kicks in post launch. In contrast, for shoes, pre-release magazines GRPs are larger (on average) than the post-release magazines GRPs. Specifically, peak advertising for shoes was, not surprisingly, a week before its launch date in order to generate high demand at the time of the opening. V-New Media We obtain blogging data from blog 1 (www. leblogdebetty. com) for clothing data and blog 2 (www. sorayabakhtiar. com) for the shoes data. Both the brands scan and index the two blogging sites on a daily basis using keywords with coverage of about 64% of all blog articles. They then aggregate the data and provide the count of the daily number of blogs that mention a particular keyword on a specific temporal period such as day or month (multiple mentions in the same temporal unit are counted as one). As is typical for most blogs, its contents appear in a reversal chronological order and also include the blogger’s profile, â€Å"trackbacks† (links showing other websites, typically other blogs, that a blog is linked to), and comments. Buzz Research archives the contents of all blog posts. It also carries out lexical analysis of the contents of each tracked blog by using a proprietary text- mining method and classifies each blog as positive, negative and/or neutral with respect to a given keyword. We therefore have access to the actual content of all posts as well as the daily percentage of positive, negative and neutral blogs for the movies and cellular phone service markets. There is big increase in the average number of blogs per period post launch in all two brands. Interestingly, for the two brands markets where we have valence data, the biggest growth is in the percentage of neutral blogs post launch. To illustrate the relationship between marketing outcomes and both traditional and new media, we pick a product across our two brand markets. The figure suggests that magazines advertising, blog volume and shoes buyer are temporally correlated. Dividing the data temporally at the date of release we see that magazines GRPs and the number of blogs exhibit an increasing trend pre-release, but a decreasing one post-release. While we illustrate a typical data pattern through this example, the pattern is not identical for all brands across product markets. In conclusion, these data are novel in the sense that they combine marketing data for both traditional and new media along with market outcomes from a market where new media have proven to be important (at least in terms of activity). Our data are also novel in the sense that they enable us to focus on new product launches. In addition, the fact that we have data from two different brand markets (frequently purchased consumer goods) with varying characteristics (e. . , more versus fewer new product launches) will help us determine if the relationship between market outcomes and new media as well as the relationship between new media and traditional media generalizes across product markets. Finally, the availability of the actual blog post text (for two categories) opens up the possibility to conduct a deeper text-mining analysis. VI-Managerial Implicati ons So far, we have discussed the findings purely from a statistical point of view. However, it may be useful to translate these findings in a manner that uantifies the effect sizes from a managerial point of view. We therefore ran two experiments – the first to get a sense of how managers could change resource allocation and the second to see how managers could use blog data to improve sales forecasts. In the first experiment, we use the estimates from the clothing market data. To illustrate short-term effects, in the experiment, we assumed there were only three periods, two in the pre-release and one in the post-release. Recall that blogging is outside the control of managers. We therefore used the marketing instrument under managerial control in our data set – traditional magazines advertising. In the experiment, we increased the Adstock by one percent in the first pre-release period. The output we measured was the percentage increase in the size of the daily volume sold in the post-release period. A ten percent increase in the Adstock results in a 3. 3 percent increase in the number of blogs at the second pre-release period. As a result of this increase in the Adstock, we find that the net increase in the sales volume is 2. 1 percent. A decomposition of this overall increase due to traditional media versus new media suggested that the increase in the Adstock directly enhances the sales by 0. 13 percent while the interaction between blogging and advertising increases the sales by 0. 1 percent. Furthermore, the largest and most significant increase in the sales volume at post-launch is led by the indirect impact from advertising via blogging activity, which accounts for 1. 9 percent. Similar experiment for the other product markets also support these findings with the overall effect being slightly smaller for shoes (0. 4%). In addition to simulating the short-term effects of advertising, we use a simulation setting similar to the above experiments and expand the time horizon from one period to ten periods. The largest indirect effect of the ten percent increase in Adstock decays slower than do the other two effects across two product categories. The peaks of the indirect effects are located at the third period for t he clothing and at the second period for the shoes. These are resulted from the larger estimates of the carry-over constants of Adstock and Blogstock at post-launch in the blog equations. In the second experiment, we hold out the last observation from each brand and re-estimated the model. We then use the model estimates for prediction and computed the difference in the predicted value and the actual data across all the held out observations. We do this for the full model and a restricted version of the full model where the response coefficients for the number of blogs and the cumulative number of blogs were set to zero. Thus, the difference in prediction (based on the Root Mean Square Deviation) between these two models shows the extent to which the use of blog data can improve sales forecasts. The improvement in RMSD is very high for shoes, and modest for clothing. VII-Conclusion, Limitations and Directions for Future Research This paper adds to the very limited, but rapidly growing field of research into the effectiveness of new media, especially in the case of new product launches. Using a unique dataset from two product markets (a major new media market), we are able to combine into a single source, data on market outcomes, traditional media (magazines advertising) and new media (volume and content of blogs). We used a simultaneous equation model to capture the effect of new media on market outcomes and the effect of market outcomes on new media. While this in itself is somewhat novel, we were also able to include the major marketing activity (mgazines advertising) in both equations, both directly and via interactions. Thus this allows us to investigate two open questions in this domain (a) whether new media (blogging activity in our case) leads to (differential) market outcomes and (b) whether traditional marketing actions (i. e. , magazines advertising) and new media act synergistically. We also make a first attempt, to the best of our knowledge, to use the content of the blog posts to shed â€Å"process† light on our econometric findings via a careful and methodical text mining analysis. Using data from clothing, and shoes brands, we find that patterns across the two categories showing clear linkages between traditional media, new media and market outcomes. In general, we find that cumulative blogs (Blogstock) are predictive of market outcomes, blogs and magazines advertising act synergistically, pre-launch advertising spurs blogging activity (that is predictive of marketing activity) but becomes less effective in inducing blogging activity post- launch and market outcomes also do have some effect on blogging activity. Our text mining results provide additional support for some of these findings. From a managerial point of view, in the experiment using clothing estimation results, we find that a one percent increase in the traditional marketing instrument (magazines advertising) leads to a median increase in market outcomes of 0. 2%, with a majority of the increase coming from the increase in blogging activity generated by the advertising pre-launch. Our analyses do also have a few limitations (driven mostly by the nature of the data). First, as noted earlier, the aggregate nature of our data makes it very hard to offer micro-level causal explanations of the effectiveness of new media and the synergistic relationship between new and traditional media. While our text mining analyses shed some light on our findings, it would be very beneficial to obtain datasets that link individual activity to market outcomes for a larger variety of new media. Second, our measures of new media are at present limited to blog content volume – and in two product markets, keywords and valence. ). Third, our model could be improved with the potential use of non-parametric models to model the effects of both old and new media and the associated interactions. Finally, our data do not contain information on all marketing instruments and hence we use proxies (such as lagged sales in the case of distribution). We hope that with better data, future research will be able to address these limitations.

The Force of Hydropulsion Essay -- Hydrogen Force Physics Essays Paper

The Force of Hydropulsion Executive Summary For our project, our client, gave us the task of designing and developing a teaching aid that uses hydrogen to power a mechanical device. This task led us to the construction of a hybrid fuel cell/battery-powered model hovercraft. The hovercraft, which we call â€Å"Hovercraftica†, uses a battery to power the lift fan and two hydrogen fuel cells to power the fan that provides thrust. Hovercraftica is a self-contained demonstration unit with every aspect of its propulsion onboard. The hydrogen for the fuel cells is produced through the electrolysis of water. This is achieved by collecting light energy via a solar panel and sending it through the fuel cells. In order to work as efficiently as possible, our team split into three different groups: writing/ presentation, construction design, and electrical. While the construction and electrical teams worked on building and testing the hovercraft, the writing/presentation group created a 220-page teaching manual with student activities, wrote the final proposal, and designed the final presentation. During construction, our team ran into several problems with the hovercraft. First, we had problems trying to find the necessary parts. Second, the parts that we needed (especially the fuel cells) were more expensive than our budget allowed. Third, we had problems with integrating the hovercraft and fuel cells, and lastly, with finding the motor speed that worked. Eventually we solved these issues, only to be set back again when we fried one of the fuel cells. After we had our parts, we tested each of them separately to make sure that they worked as needed. We also tested the hovercraft as a whole upo... ...ww.olshove.com/HoverHome/hoverfaq.html Quick Facts About Wind Energy. US Department of Energy: Wind Energy Program. Retrieved October 19, 2003, from http://www.eere.energy.gov/wind/web.html Solarbotics.net. Retrieved November 17, 2003, from http://www.solarbotics.net Solar Cars - Solar Energy and Photovoltics. What You Need To Know About. Retrieved October 14, 2003, from http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blsolarcar.htm Solar Energy†¦. SunWater. Retrieved September 18, 2003, from http://wave.prohosting.com/sunwater/solar.html Urban Air: Health Effects of Particulates, Sulfur Dioxide, and Ozone. World Resource Institute. Retrieved September 27, 2003, from http://www.wri.org Why A Hovercraft? Universal Hovercraft. Retrieved November 2, 2003, from http://www.hovercraft.com/menu_why_a_hovercraft.html The Force of Hydropulsion Essay -- Hydrogen Force Physics Essays Paper The Force of Hydropulsion Executive Summary For our project, our client, gave us the task of designing and developing a teaching aid that uses hydrogen to power a mechanical device. This task led us to the construction of a hybrid fuel cell/battery-powered model hovercraft. The hovercraft, which we call â€Å"Hovercraftica†, uses a battery to power the lift fan and two hydrogen fuel cells to power the fan that provides thrust. Hovercraftica is a self-contained demonstration unit with every aspect of its propulsion onboard. The hydrogen for the fuel cells is produced through the electrolysis of water. This is achieved by collecting light energy via a solar panel and sending it through the fuel cells. In order to work as efficiently as possible, our team split into three different groups: writing/ presentation, construction design, and electrical. While the construction and electrical teams worked on building and testing the hovercraft, the writing/presentation group created a 220-page teaching manual with student activities, wrote the final proposal, and designed the final presentation. During construction, our team ran into several problems with the hovercraft. First, we had problems trying to find the necessary parts. Second, the parts that we needed (especially the fuel cells) were more expensive than our budget allowed. Third, we had problems with integrating the hovercraft and fuel cells, and lastly, with finding the motor speed that worked. Eventually we solved these issues, only to be set back again when we fried one of the fuel cells. After we had our parts, we tested each of them separately to make sure that they worked as needed. We also tested the hovercraft as a whole upo... ...ww.olshove.com/HoverHome/hoverfaq.html Quick Facts About Wind Energy. US Department of Energy: Wind Energy Program. Retrieved October 19, 2003, from http://www.eere.energy.gov/wind/web.html Solarbotics.net. Retrieved November 17, 2003, from http://www.solarbotics.net Solar Cars - Solar Energy and Photovoltics. What You Need To Know About. Retrieved October 14, 2003, from http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blsolarcar.htm Solar Energy†¦. SunWater. Retrieved September 18, 2003, from http://wave.prohosting.com/sunwater/solar.html Urban Air: Health Effects of Particulates, Sulfur Dioxide, and Ozone. World Resource Institute. Retrieved September 27, 2003, from http://www.wri.org Why A Hovercraft? Universal Hovercraft. Retrieved November 2, 2003, from http://www.hovercraft.com/menu_why_a_hovercraft.html