World Religions Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

World Religions Report - Essay Example Marriage of non-Filipinos to those belonging in Iglesia families is just one of the examples of how those comprising the minority of the Iglesia population have been involved in the religion (Catholic Answers, 2004). Despite the widespread estimate of the number of the constituents (which is between three million and ten million including those outside the Philippines), the Iglesia conceals their real population. It has a larger population than the more known Jehovah’s Witnesses, which also assert their being the genuine Church of Christ (Catholic Answers, 2004). Indeed, unlike most of the other cults which have Western origins, Iglesia ni Kristo (INC) or the Church of Christ has its roots from the Philippines with Encyclopedia Britannica (2007) describing it as indigenous. Historically, it was a small church founded by Felix Manalo in July 27, 1914 (Elesterio, 1988). Thus, he was considered by his followers as the messenger of God. After the fast expansion 1945, the number of members reached the 600,000 mark by the end of the 20th century (â€Å"Iglesia ni Kristo†, 2007). This has also led to the building of chapels throughout the country and to their being a well-heeled federal religious organization. However, the foundation of INC was not an easy task; it was a great struggle for Manalo. Yet, Harper (2001) noted that one thing is certain: preliminary association with the Bible pushed him to impugn what has been taught to him regarding religion and God in the Roman Catholic Church. According to her research, Manalo had joined other religious groups before he finally established INC. At the age of 18, it was found out that he joined the Methodist Episcopal Church where he trained about the Bible and become a lay preacher. At 22, he also studied with the Presbyterians and joined Mision Cristiana, the Christian Mission of the

FMLA (DB4) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

FMLA (DB4) - Essay Example Therefore, taking care for a newborn, a serious health condition, and any qualifying emergency arising out of the fact that the employee’s family. In addition, the eligible staffs are entitled to 26 workweeks of leave per annum. This is to care for a covered service member with a serious illness or injury. Not every employee is eligible because working does not necessary means that the worker is protected for extended leave under the FMLA. Organizations should put consideration and believe that the FMLA is a helpful law that has aided workforces reasonably well. Although employees often articulated a desire for greater leave powers, employers frequently expressed frustration about problems in preserving the required staffing levels and managing attendance in their workplaces. Mostly, when employees take work leave on an unscheduled basis with no advance notice (Washington, DC 2014). For instance, the RFI Report indicated that time-sensitive companies, for example, public health, transportation operations, and safety operations might be especially impacted by employees taking unplanned and irregular FMLA leave. If a worker is having a very difficult pregnancy, and advised by a doctor to take off time before delivering the baby FMLA Act covers her. Any pregnancy-related leave that is medically necessary one is eligible to take a leave under the FMLA she can do so at the time it is medically necessary, intermittently or all at once. Secondly, when the employees are adopting a child, they are permitted to leave under the FMLA, and are paid. Like biological parents, adoptive and foster parents who are entitled to FMLA leave may take up to 12 weeks of leave. In order, to help the worker to care for her child when he or she arrives as part of the adoption (Washington, DC 2014). This also applies to a child for whom you recently assumed parental responsibilities such a s a foster child. Washington, DC 20009, Questions and Answers. (2014).

The College Culture Essay Example for Free

The College Culture Essay One of my most distinct characteristics is that I am a Born Again Christian. Being a Christian is a way of life not just a set of practices. My religion defines who I am and dictates my actions. Being a Christian influences how I speak, what clothes I wear and what activities I engage in. Our church is an evangelistic church and so we’re encouraged to invite people to church activities. One goal of this study is to find out how an outsider receives these invitations. It will also be found out what factors determine the non-Christians’ response to such invitations. Being a Christian has changed how I act in situations and most people I know have adjusted to my principles. Some have also generalized my personal principles such that when they meet other Christians they assume the latter will act the same way as I do in a given situation. Thus another aim of this study is to see the effect that interactions with Christians has on the perception of Christians as a whole. In order to achieve these goals interviews will be undertaken: one with a person practicing a different religion and another with a person with no professed religion. The interview will start with a discussion of what, in the interviewee’s perspective, is a Christian. Questions pertaining to how Christians may be differentiated from non-Christians will also be asked. This will be followed by whether or not the interviewee has ever been invited to a Christian gathering before and how he or she responded to this invitation. Next, the interviewee will be asked to relate a memorable experience with a Christian. Finally, the interviewee will be asked to assess based on his interactions with Christians how he believes Christians perceive non-Christians of the same religious belief or non-belief as him. It must be borne in mind that the interview itself might be misconstrued as a means to invite the non-Christian to church. The interviewee of another religion may even become defensive and this would confound the answers given. Therefore, from the onset it should be made clear that the purpose of the interview is to improve Christians’ relations with non-Christians and to correct any Christian practices which promote negative impressions. As Patton stated in his work, an interviewer must be able to build trust at the onset of the interview and the purpose for the interview must be made clear to the interviewee (1987). The topic of religion isn’t so much a welcomed concept particularly because of the rivalry and conflicts that have arisen â€Å"for the sake of religion. † In order to prevent the interviews from being another venue for such arguments, a collaborative approach will be encouraged through the research. As it has been emphasized in other studies, research isn’t a means to exploit the â€Å"other† rather it is a means to reach a mutually beneficial conclusion regarding overlapping interactions of different cultures (Fitzgerald 2005; de Munk Korotayev 2000). Analysis of Interview Material Interviews were conducted with two non-Christians (see Appendix A and B). As was indicated to the respondents, this research has been conducted in order to improve interactions of Christians with non-Christians. As has been discussed by past researchers, a cross-cultural study should benefit not just the researcher but also the person studied (Gibbs 2001). The very essence of collaborative research is that all parties to the study are benefitted by the findings. Such a conclusion may be reached through the results of the present study. The responses of the respondents may be classified into several dimensions. The first is how past interactions with Christians have affected the respondents’ perception of Christians. One respondent showed that a positive experience with a workmate allowed him to see Christians in a better light. Despite having had many negative experiences with Christians, a positive personal experience with several Christians was able to lessen his negative impression of Christians in general. On the other hand, the other respondent whose personal experience with Christians was negative has now generalized the impression and applied it to all Christians. Therefore, the personal experience with Christians is more important in forming an impression of what a Christian is. However, for persons with deep-rooted biases against Christians due to external factors, such as intercultural conflict, the personal experience only tempers the bias but doesn’t altogether eliminate it. This is the case with the Moslem respondent interviewed. It must therefore be asked what qualifies as a positive experience. In the case of the Moslem respondent, the positive experience consisted of the Christian attempting to understand the former’s religion. It can be seen from the second appended interview that one of the reasons why a negative impression was held of Christians is because â€Å"I leave them alone to believe what they want. They could at least extend the same courtesy. † This shows that the respondent also hopes for some tolerance from the Christians she encounters. Furthermore, when asked how she felt regarding being invited to her mother’s Christian gatherings, the respondent showed that she felt irritated because she had already made it clear that she didn’t wish to go. From the above, it can be seen that a first step towards a positive impression is a manifestation of tolerance on the part of the Christian. This tolerance required in cross-cultural interactions of religions aids in the facilitation of interactions between their subcultures (de Munck Korotayev 2000). This is important particularly since the growing complexity of society ensures that the religious cultural units will interact in one regard or another. However, as evidenced by the Moslem respondent, this tolerance is not sufficient to overcome the in-bred conflicts that religious differences have fostered between cultural units. Therefore, a greater level of understanding between cultures is necessary in order to bridge the gap between religions. In order that this might be achieved the respondents reflect some insight. The agnostic respondent stated, â€Å"But the fact is that they can’t explain why they believe what they do. They can’t even explain half of what’s written down in the Bible. † The Moslem respondent on the other hand stated, â€Å"But there are those who seem to know about the love that their Jesus taught. I have no problem being friends with people like that. † The above statements show that Christians need to know about the foundation of their own faith in order to be able to preach it to others. A failure to understand their own religion comes across to non-Christians as insincerity. This insincerity renders the religion in itself doubtful. Non-Christians would thus be even more unwilling to learn about a religion which was understood and misapplied by its own followers. Finally, the interview shows that in order that Christians might become more effective in interacting with non-Christians they should be able to engage in a bottom-up process. What normally occurs when Christians invite other people is that they become imposing yet they don’t make the effort to understand the factors which the person being invited must consider before giving a response to the invitation. In order that they would be able to connect with the person being invited they must be able to understand how the other perceives them as Christians. The Moslem respondent stated, â€Å"I think they think the same we do about them. That we are wrong in our belief. I think that a lot of Americans are afraid of Moslems though. † This shows that he believes that Christians are as stubborn in their belief as he is. Therefore, an invitation from them would mean an attempt at conversion. Being a firm believer of Islam, he would of course say no as he would have no desire to be converted. Therefore, the Christian should be able to explain to the non-Christian the purpose of the invitation, particularly if it is for the reason simply of being able to get to know the other person better. In answer to the question of how she felt when being invited, the agnostic respondent was able to intone a similar response, â€Å"Annoyed. I mean, they just don’t seem to get a clue. If I wanted to go to church I’d do it without any prodding. † This shows that the method being employed by the Christian mother was no longer effective. In fact, it hadn’t been effective for a long time already. And yet, she didn’t change her approach or try to talk with her daughter in a more personal manner in order to understand the daughter’s aversion to religion. The respondents gave answers regarding how they defined what a Christian was. In both answers it is evident that they perceive Christianity as a set of practices and rituals. The essence of Christianity as a lifestyle and as a relational interaction was lost to them. Having learned about their experiences with Christians, it isn’t surprising that they feel this way. It’s clear therefore from this study that in order to improve cross-cultural interactions between Christians and non-Christians a more personal interaction should be encouraged. This interaction should be imbued with a sense of tolerance for the other and a desire to understand the situation and motives of such other. References De Munck, V. A. Korotayev (2000), â€Å"Cultural Units in Cross-Cultural Research,† Ethnology, 39(4), 335-448. Fitzgerald, T. (2005), â€Å"Cross-Cultural Research Principles Partnerships,† Management in Education, 19(1), 17-20. Gibbs, M. (2001), â€Å"Toward a Strategy for Undertaking Cross-Cultural Collaborative Research,† Society and Natural Resources, 14, 673-687. Patton, M. Q. (1987), â€Å"How to Use Qualitative Methods in Evaluation,† CA: Sage Publications. Appendix A: Interview with a non-Christian practicing a different religion Interviewer: Good afternoon. First, thank you for agreeing to meet me for this interview. Before we begin I just want to remind you that the purpose of this study is to better understand the interactions of Christians with members of other religions. Your answers will be used only for the purpose of this study and for no other purposes. Having said that, are you willing to participate in this study? Respondent: Yes. I: Thank you. First let’s start with some information about you. Is there a religion that you practice? R: I’m a Moslem. I: How long have you been a Moslem? R: Well, I was born into a Moslem family so I can say that I have been practicing my faith since I was born. I: In your perspective, how would you define a Christian? R: Well, Christians are people who believe that Jesus is God and not Allah. We Moslems also believe in Jesus but he is only a prophet and only Allah is God. I: Have you ever interacted with Christians? R: Of course. Most people here are Christians and so I have to deal and talk with them every day. I: Have you ever been invited to attend a Christian gathering? R: I work with some Christians who have once or twice asked me to go to an activity or concert. I: Did you go with them? R: No. It’s not allowed in Islam to acknowledge other gods. I don’t see the point of going anyway. It would be a lie for me to pretend to believe what they would say there. I: How did you feel when you were invited? R: It was a little awkward. I didn’t understand why they would want to. It’s not like I would go with them. But at least they don’t give me a hard time about being a Moslem. I: Are there Christians who do? R: Sure. It’s not new. There are really those types. I: That’s interesting because I also wanted to find out how you think Christians view Moslems. How do you think Christians view Moslems? R: I think they think the same we do about them. That we are wrong in our belief. I think that a lot of Americans are afraid of Moslems though. Everyone seems to be afraid we’ll turn into Osama Bin Laden or something. I: Thank you for sharing that. I’d like to ask you now about some personal experiences you’ve had with Christians. Is there any particular instance, good or bad, that you shared with a Christian that sticks out from your other interactions? R: I remember this one guy at work, the same guy who invited me to that concert at their church, he asked me once about Islam and he seemed genuinely interested. He tried finding similarities between Islam and Christianity. He was pretty nice. He just struck me as different from most Christians and I appreciated that he tried to understand my religion and didn’t just base his impression on what other people were saying. I: Alright, you’ve been very responsive so I have only one last question left. As a whole, how would you describe Christians? R: Well, most Christians don’t know their own religion. There are some who take it too far and they can be really condescending. But there are those who seem to know about the love that their Jesus taught. I have no problem being friends with people like that. I: [Respondent] that concludes our interview. Thank you very much for your time. Appendix B: Interview with a non-Christian without any professed religion Interviewer: Good morning. First, thank you for agreeing to meet me for this interview. Before we begin I just want to remind you that the purpose of this study is to better understand the interactions of Christians with members of other religions. Your answers will be used only for the purpose of this study and for no other purposes. Having said that, are you willing to participate in this study? Respondent: Sure. I: Thank you. Let’s start with some information about you. Is there any religion that you practice? R: I don’t exactly believe in organized religion. I: Was there any religion that you used to practice? R: Well, we used to say a prayer at the dinner table before dinner. But that was a long time ago. I just don’t see the need to anymore. I: Alright. Well, as I told you earlier, the focus of this interview is Christians and their interactions with others. So to start off, how would you define a Christian? R: Well, Christians are people who read the Bible, believe in God, pray, sing praise songs, all that. I: Have you ever been invited to a Christian gathering or activity? R: Sure. My mom used to make me go to church with her. She hasn’t stopped pestering me about it yet. I: Do you ever go? R: Not since I could say no without getting grounded. I: Why don’t you? R: Like I said, I don’t see the purpose. I mean look at my dad, he doesn’t go and he’s alright. If prayer is all there is to it then my mom is probably praying enough to save all of us. It just doesn’t seem important. I: How does it make you feel when you’re invited? R: Annoyed. I mean, they just don’t seem to get a clue. If I wanted to go to church I’d do it without any prodding. Besides, if God were real then they wouldn’t have to work so hard to make the rest of us believe in Him. It all just seems like a whole bunch of lip service. It gets tiring. I: It’s very helpful that you’re talking about your family and how they are active in practicing Christianity. But apart from your family have you had any other interactions with Christians? R: Sure. They’re all the same. Preachy. When you ask them about why they’re doing it though it all boils down to cop-out faith. Who can argue with that? I: Is there any particular experience you’ve had with a Christian that strikes out? R: I have this housemate who’s all about religion. She keeps leaving little cards with psalms on them in my things. I just find it a little irritating that she can’t just accept that I don’t do that kind of thing. I: The interview is going well so far so I only have one last question. How do you describe Christians in general? R: Well, Christians can be really devout about their faith and about having other people believe the same thing. But the fact is that they can’t explain why they believe what they do. They can’t even explain half of what’s written down in the Bible. Even worse, they can’t understand that other people just don’t want to believe the same things that they do. I mean, it’s not that I hate god. I just don’t believe he exists. And they act like that makes me the worst scum on earth. I leave them alone to believe what they want. They could at least extend the same courtesy. I: Thank you so much. Your responses have been really helpful. That concludes our interview.

Effects of Viral Marketing

Effects of Viral Marketing Viral Marketing 1.1 Viral Marketing These years, the competitions among companies become more and more furious. Song (2004) pointed out that many companies in order to survive even to develop, they try to make good use any way that can help them to enlarge their market share and build a strong brand. The traditional Medias such as television, newspaper, radio and printed Ads were over used in the last decade. This view was supported by Mogg (2006) who believed that using these traditional ways to promote a product or service not longer can stimulate audiences’ passion and urge effectively. Because in some extent, audiences were get used to receive information of these ways, they need something new, need a new â€Å"flavor† of the information they receive (Sally, 2006). The era that customers rely on marketers’ suggestions or advertising to make a purchase decision was gone. Czinkota (2007) argued that only supply the information that you think customers would need is not working, not enough to persuade customers, and can not fulfill their needs and satisfy them. Customers already become smart enough; they do not like to be persuaded by marketers or advertisings in many situations. They prefer to be active in the buying process and use their own knowledge and standards to decide what they need, and what they happy to buy (Grewal, 2008). A strong brand can make customers have faith in a company and its products. This view seems acceptable for Fill (2005) who agreed that building close relationship with customers is vital; companies try their best to pursue the best marketing strategies with the purpose to be strong and profitable. Word of mouth is one of the effective ways for a company to promote its products (Anderson, 1999). Word-of-Mouth (WOM) was described as oral, person-to-person communication between a receiver and a communicator which the receiver perceives as a noncommercial message, regarding a brand, product or service (Haywood, 1989, pp53-66). It can help a company use less money to do the mass promotion. This view was supported by Buttle(1998), he believed that customers are easier to be persuaded through this way as they think it is a noncommercial way. They consider that they are on the active position to receive information and make a buying decision, not be persuaded to do that. With the evolution of technology, and the growth of the internet, the arena of many companies have move from realistic world to a new world—the internet (Castells, 1997). Word of mouth has upgrade through internet, and gets a new name â€Å"viral marketing† these years (Modzelewski, 2000). Base on Dicher’s (2001, pp47) research, â€Å"viral marketing is a strategy that companies use to stimulate their customer to pass on something about their products to their network of colleagues and friends†. For the company, viral marketing can help a company use a little budget to promote itself sharply, since the information you send out, customers would pass them on by themselves. In the customers’ side, viral marketing help customers feel better as they think that they make the purchase decision by themselves, and they get information from their friends who seem more reliable than marketers or advertisings. (Wangenheim, 2007, pp131-146) Base on the advantages of internet, using viral marketing relate to internet can make the promotion effect like a nuclear bomb. Internet can make the information deliver very fast, even exceed your expectation. Sudaraman and Rajagopalan(2003) found that since you use viral marketing to send out your information, it may reach every corner of world that has internet connections only need a few days. Internet seems something bring information deliver from the â€Å"Stone Age† to â€Å"21st century†, it acting like a pair of wings of information delivery, make information deliver reach to an incredible speed. Considering the effective of viral marketing strategy, this report decides to examine the effects of viral marketing that can make to a company. The author is very interested in the effects of viral marketing, as it is a trend for future business; it is so useful to company’s promotion and information delivery. To know clear about the viral marketing can help author to enrich his marketing knowledge, and will be very helpful in his future job or business, even can help readers of this report to know more about viral marketing. In order to make the research more reliable and get accurate analysis, this report would choose MySpace, an online company which seems to be success on using viral marketing strategy to assist the analysis. 1.2 MySpace Tom Anderson (born November 8, 1970) is the President of the social networking website, MySpace. He is one of the people identified as a founder of the site, along with CEO Chris DeWolfe (Boyd, 2006). At the beginning, it was a website with a small number of users, which used to make friends. Then they invite some famous people to join in, these famous people bring many fans in. since more and more bands build up their website on this station, MySpace becoming bigger and get huge number of users. It develop from a music wed station to a core of young people’s live in America, then explore all over the world(Diving into the Myspace Pool, 2006). It chooses to give users enough freedom to build what they like in this wed station, and this freedom and right make it explore so quickly. People can use their email address to sign up as the user of it. (Source from Dwyer, 2007) Every user can upload the things they like, such as video and sound clips, pictures and many other things. MySpace listen to their users and improve the wed station, like increase blogs, message board, discuss rooms, and online communications. Users can talk to their friends there, play games together, even use wed camera to meet each other when they talking.(source from Boyd, 2006) This wed station can make users feel so free in it; they can talk what they like with their friends here. So users invite their friends to join in MySpace (Diving into the MySpace Pool, 2006). In such a way, MySpace reach to a great success. Until 2006, MySpace only set up three years, but its development speed was faster than any wed station in history, it is a myth of the internet development history. It already beyond Yahoo and Google to be the biggest wed station in USA. It was set up with a very small cost, but in 2005, Rupert Murdoch, the CEO of The News Corporation Limited, use 580 million dollar to buy it. One year after it was purchased, it earn 900 million dollar from Google for advertising fee. (Source from Hempel and Lehman, 2005) It seems that MySpace really a success example to make good use of viral marketing strategy, that why this report choose UK MySpace as the case study to assist the research and analysis. 1.3 Research Objectives a. Examine the effects that viral marketing can make to a company, associate with case studyUK MySpace b. Access to customers attitude and reactions to viral marketing through primary and secondary data analysis c. Find out the effects of viral marketing for a company’s success at last. Chapter 2 Literature Review 2.1 The Background and Development of Viral Marketing Marketing is a social process which satisfies consumers needs. The term includes advertising, distribution and selling of a product or service. It is also concerned with anticipating the customers future needs and expectations, often through market research (Frenzen and Nakamoto, 1993). This view was supported by Eugene (1998) who believed that marketing is the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational objectives. Pamela (2000) pointed out that traditional marketing is the marketing techniques that are used for many years, it mainly using mediums such as, television, newspaper, telephone and radio. Nowadays, there are many new technologies are used to replace the traditional mediums to do promotions: Internet, multimedia mobile phone, blogs and so on. These new mediums can help marketers to reach more customers and cut cost. This view was supported by Wegert (2004) who believed that the traditional mediums do not work effective as before, they make many audiences feel boring and many offers what they dislike. Customers want to see something new and soothing, really make them interesting and happy, so the new mediums may work effective and can catch their eyeballs (Anderson, 1998, pp104-141). These years, more and more people like to surfing on internet (Wangenheim, 2007). This situation leads to many marketers focus on internet to promote their products and services. Especially, young people prefer using internet to traditional mediums. For a company’s future development, holding the young people now can make them get a big market share in the future (Bayus, 1985). So to make good use of the internet to do promotion is vital for many companies, especially the company which rely on internet to do business. There are many advantages to use internet as an advertising medium: message can change quickly and easily; create own page cheaply; low cost; direct sales possible and so on (McWilliams, 2000). Base on its advantages, more and more companies choose to use internet to do advertisings. Several main online promotion techniques are recognized by marketing researchers, viral marketing will be the focus of this research as it can reach mass consumers in a short time with a low cost. 2.2 From WOM to Viral Marketing During the last decade, customer satisfaction and perceived service quality have been important topics in the marketing literature. This is due to the empirically verified belief that increases in satisfaction and quality will finally result in higher profitability (Wangenheim, 2007). Over the past 10 years however the focus of research on satisfaction and quality has slowly shifted from understanding how â€Å"service quality perceptions and satisfaction judgments† are formed to a more â€Å"outcome-oriented view† of assessing the returns on service quality and satisfaction based on a thorough understanding of the associated costs and benefits (Buttle, 1998, pp76-89). A strategy called â€Å"viral marketing† was used by many companies to pursue the profit. Before the â€Å"viral marketing† appears, a marketing strategy called â€Å"word of mouth† was used in that way. Haywood (1989) believed that Word-of-Mouth (WOM) refers to oral, person-to-person communication between a receiver and a communicator which the receiver perceives as a noncommercial message, regarding a brand, product or service. Even though WOM strategy can bring huge benefits to a company, the development of technology usage has upgraded the word of mouth strategy to a new one call â€Å"viral marketing† (Richins, 1999). These years, stationary Internet consumers’ communication environment has been changed and enriched. As a result WOM has gained new significance and WOM on the stationary Internet was termed â€Å"viral marketing†. This view was supported by Godes and Mayzlin (2004), that Viral or word-of-mouth marketing has become very popular because it has a new medium—the Internet. According to one venture capital firm, 76 percent of new business plans have the words viral marketing in them (File, Cermak and Prince, 2000). Using e-mail makes it incredibly easy to pass information on to a friend or colleague, especially if it involves something fun or free. With millions using the Internet all over the world, the potential for exponential growth is quite huge. 2.3 What is Viral Marketing Since the term viral marketing was introduced in 1997, many disagreements exist about its definition. Subramani and Rajagopalan (2003) view it as word-of-mouth advertising in which consumers tell other consumers about the product or service. Yang and Allenby (2003) argued that true viral marketing differs from word-of-mouth in that the value of the virus to the original consumer is directly related to the number of other users it attracts. Shirky (2000) suggests that, in generally, viral marketing would be word-of-mouth advertising to most people. More importantly, however, he adds that the concept describes viral marketing as a way of getting new customers by encouraging honest communication among consumers. The originator of each branch of the virus has a unique and vested interest in recruiting people to the network. (Modzelewski, 2000, p.30). According to Senecal and Acques (2004) suggestion, purchasing is part of a social process, it involves a one-to-one interaction between the company and the customer and many exchanges of information and influence among the people who surround the customers. They also suggest that many effective networks comprise hubs, clusters, and connections among clusters. In these networks, people will notice a constant flow of green sparks between certain nodes. Wilson (2000) said that viral marketing is sort of this explosion that you start with one customer and he/she will tell people and pass it on continuously. In Dichter’s (2001, p47) opinion, â€Å"viral marketing is the idea that you incite your customers or referral sources to pass on something about your business to their network of colleagues and friends†. There is a similar saying that viral marketing describes any strategy that encourages customers to pass on a marketing message to others, creating the potential for exponential growth in the messages exposure and influence (Hogon, Lemon and Libai, 2004). Nalor (2002) claimed that viral marketing is a marketing tactic relying on some aspects of the system to promote itself as initial targets pass the promotion on to others. Depend mostly on Hogon, Lemon and Libai’s perspectives, the current article views viral marketing as the process of encouraging honest communication among consumer networks, and it focuses on email as the main channel. One example of viral marketing is encouraging current and potential customers to tell others about a companys products and services, and then encouraging those others to tell even more consumers, make the information go forward continuously (Subramani and Rajagopalan, 2003 ). These strategies like viruses, can take advantage of rapid multiplication to explode the message to thousands even to millions customers in a short time. â€Å"The term viral marketing is also used to refer to stealth marketing campaigns—the use of varied kinds of astroturfing both online and offline to create the impression of spontaneous word of mouth enthusiasm†(Hennig-Thurau, Gwinner, Walsh and Gremler,2004, pp 95). Out of the internet, viral marketing has been described as â€Å"word of mouth†, â€Å"creating a buzz†, â€Å"leveraging the media†, â€Å"network marketing†. However, on the internet, whatever, it was called â€Å"viral marketing† (Helm, 2000, pp 57-71). Datta, Chowdhury and Chakraborty (2005) used the term as â€Å"network-enhanced word of mouth† to describe the then high innovative marketing strategy of the free email service Hotmail. For other words, such terms as propagation, aggregation or organic marketing are used. Successful viral marketing is characterized as â€Å"strategies that allow an easier, accelerated, and cost reduced transmission of messages by creating environments for a self-replicating, exponentially increasing diffusion, spiritualization, and impact of the message†. (Hogan, Lemon and Libai, 2001) 2.4. Forms and Categories of Viral Marketing 2.4.1 Forms There are many forms of viral marketing; these include images, jokes, reality TV show transcripts, digital video clips, e-cards, interactive microsites, advergames, and alternative reality games (Modzelewski, 2000). The list is continuously growing as the development of viral marketing. 2.4.2 Categories There are several ways to categorize viral marketing. First, difference between â€Å"intentional and unintentional message† delivery and used a â€Å"motivational classification†. Secondary, difference is between â€Å"service-based and incentive-based†. In the first situation, viral effect was decided by the quality of offer, another one means that company uses monetary incentive to stimulate customers so that they would pass on an advertiser’s message. Base on the differences between private and public recommendation, the categorization between â€Å"high (active) and low (passive) integration strategies are varying in the degree of requiring the consumer’s activity in passing on the ‘virus’ †. (Source from Goldenberg, Libai and Muller, 2001, pp 209-257) 2.5 Viral Marketing in B2B Beside the explanation of viral marketing base on B2C, many authors get another similar definition for it on B2B side. In B2B, viral marketing means the rapid spread of a message about a new product or service, in a similar way to the spread of a virus (Yang and Allenby, 2003). Viral marketing can be word of mouth; however, it is particularly common being use on the Internet, where messages can be spread easily and quickly to reach people all over the world. Products can become very famous in this way with very little advertising cost. Carrabis (2006) has proved that viral marketing rely on social networks in order to function. Linking is also an effective viral marketing tool, as is the provision of free products or services. The Hotmail free e-mail service, for example, grew quickly with little marketing investment (Tafe, 2007). In B2B area, viral marketing works well in the following circumstances: (a) when a product is genuinely new and different, and it is something that opinion leaders want to associate with;(b) when the benefits of the product are real; (c) when the product is relevant to a large number of people, and the benefits are easy to communicate (Bansal and Voyer, 2000, p26-63). 2.6 Why Viral Marketing These years, online social networks are increasingly being considered as an important source of information to affect the adoption and use of products and services (Mac, 2006). Viral marketing as the tactic of creating a process where interested people can market to each other, is therefore emerging as an important marketing strategy to spread-the-word and stimulate the trial, adoption, and use of products and services. (Herr, Kardes and Kim, 1999) What is new about viral marketing is not word of mouth, but the way people are spreading it (Hogan, Lemon and Libai, 2004). Web users have the ears and eyes of hundreds, even thousands of people. They are in contact with an International crowd they would never have met otherwise. Most significantly, they can reach people they do not really know. That is why several weeks after a people sent the first Hotmail message into India; thousands of Indian users had Hotmail accounts (Kuruvilla, 2007). It is believed that a satisfied customer tells an average of three people about a product or service he likes, and nine people about a product or service which he dislikes (Sudaraman, Mitra and Webster, 1999). Viral marketing is based on this natural human behavior to conduct its campaigns. Domingos (2006) believed that the purpose of marketers interested in making a successful viral marketing campaign is to identify customers who with high social networking potentials, and then created viral messages that can attract this segment of the customers and have a high likely to keep the message spreading. Viral marketing has received extensive attention from both academics and practitioners these years (Jurvetson, 2000). Base on the analysis before, many authors form their standpoints about the effect that viral marketing strategy can bring to a company. They argue with other authors’ opinions base on their own standpoints. 2.6.1 Positive Effects of Viral Marketing Viral marketing facilitates spreading commercial information and content within the desired target group (Hogan, Lemon and Libai, 2001)). Another advantage of it is that advertisers can expand the promotion reach significantly at a very low company expense (Baker, 2005). According a survey of Duhan, Johnson, Wilcox and Harrell (1997), 35% of the 3000 respondents said a friend’s recommendation would convince them to visit a website they do not know before. These results illustrated the huge potential of viral marketing for communication and distribution purposes. What is great about viral marketing is that it is low cost and works virtually by itself. Once you make an offer and provide the facility, for referrals, viral marketing spreads by itself very faster, just like a virus (Hogan, Lemon and Libai, 2004). Just like Tafe (2007) said that, Hotmail only cost 18 months to get 12 million users by using viral marketing that let users to referral users, it cost nothing to do Ads, only use free email account. Viral marketing has been studied both as an input into consumer decision-making, and as an outcome of the purchase process (Holmes and Lett, 1997). In the pre-purchase stage, as a risk reducing strategy, consumers seek product information by participating in the viral marketing process. Positive and negative messages are examples of exit behaviors exhibited by consumers at the conclusion of a service encounter ((Hogan, Lemon and Libai, 2004) or usage of a product (Naylor and Kleiser, 2000). Anderson (1998) pointed out that viral marketing could â€Å"influence consumers’ choices and purchase decisions, and shape consumers’ expectations, pre-usage attitudes, even post-usage perceptions of a product or service†. It is believed that the influence of viral marketing is much greater than that of classic advertising media (Gremler, Gwinner and Brown, 2001).BMW is a good example, it supply 5 video clips to watch and download for free, and then get over 11 million visitor in 4 months. The sales of BMW car are increase 12.5% in the next year (Hespos, 2002). It seems that video clips and internet can make viral marketing working effectively. Viral marketing has been referred to as product-related conversation, personal recommendations, informal communication, and interpersonal communication (Jacob, Barak and Muller, 2001). There are one big distinction between viral marketing activities and commercial mass communication. As viral marketing is a consumer-dominated channel of information, the communicator is thought to be independent of the marketer (Lau and NG, 2001). As a result, it is recognized by customers as a more reliable, credible, and trustworthy source of information. It provides information concerning product performance and the social and psychological consequences of a purchase decision (Naylor and Kleiser, 2000). For example, Myspace use viral marketing to make the users to referral itself and make a big success (Dwyer, 2007). Viral marketing can convert lower order cognition and affect to higher order cognition and affect, which in turn can lead to committed behaviors of receivers (Baker, 2005). The credibility of viral marketing, coupled with the probability that a receiver will be more highly involved in a viral marketing message than an advertisement, lends itself to the formation of such higher order beliefs and cognition. Through multiple dyads and retransmission, one message can reach and potentially influence many receivers (Henning-Thurau, Gwinner, Walsh and Gremler, 2004). Make good use of the customers’ internet social networks, like using free email referrals and internet chat rooms, the information can spread sharply (Domingos, 2006). The effectiveness of viral marketing can also be explained by the accessibility-diagnosticity model (Hogan, Lemon and Libai, 2004). Some findings suggest that vividly (face-to-face) presented information is more memorable to customers and is weighed more heavily in their judgments (Henning-Thurau, Gwinner, Walsh and Gremler, 2004).such as Myspace, it use the chat rooms that users can talk to each other, even face-to-face through PC camera, and then its information become more reliable and memorable for users (Boyd, 2006). Because of internet, information accessibility increases, it is high likely that this information is used by customers as an input for their judgments and choices also increases (Hogan, Lemon and Libai, 2004). 2.6.2 Negative Effects of Viral Marketing For all its advantages, viral marketing also has many unexpected pitfalls. Most important, companies have almost no control over the viral spread since it was send out, and therefore they can do little if the viral turns to against them and their products (Jurvetson, 2000). â€Å"The action most frequently reported by consumers who are dissatisfied with a purchase or who have rejected or discontinued using a product is telling friends about the experience and urging them to avoid it† (Weinberger and Lepkowska-White, 2000 ). Many researchers have suggested that negative information tends to cause many attention to and weighting of that information (Bristor, 1990). For example, Naylor and Kleiser (2000) found that negative messages destroy the image of a brand are more than twice as strongly as positive WOM promoted sales of that product. Negative message has also led to the failure of many companies’ promotion. Wilson (2000) argues that negative messages would be communicated to more people than positive messages. According to much previous evidence about the spread of marketing information, it is suggested that a negative message may travel farther than a positive message through retransmission. In previous research; the influencer was oft en considering to be an opinion leader. However, a dissatisfied customer who initiates negative message need not be an opinion leader, and yet his opinions can have adverse effects on the marketer (Richins, 1999). For example, Sony try to use Youtube to promote its Playstation consoles, it created an imaginary character called Peter and tried to make the character as a hip -hop shark. However, some clever users soon discovered the wile, and tell many others. Many people then angary with what SONY done, and refuse to buy the playstation consoles. In the end, Sony had to make a public apology to delighted and hold the customers. (Source from Kuruvilla, 2007) 2.6.3 Viral Marketing Effects in B2B For business-to-business companies, it makes sense to begin with a product or service offer that has real, free value to prospects. Examples: an e-mailed newsletter that can easily be forwarded to colleagues, or a product that comes with an incentive, such as gift certificates or coupons, sent via e-mail, which can be passed along to more than one person. Viral marketing can work effective for B2B providers, since the following is true. One very significant effort of viral marketing is to allow others to post articles that you have authored on their Web sites (Lau and NG, 2001). Another way to encourage visitors to spread the word about your product or service is to provide a link or button on each Web page that they can click on to forward your wed site (Goldenberg, Libai and Muller, 2001). While some people may use viral marketing only as buzzwords, there is another significance for B2B marketers. Companies can encourage satisfied customers and referral sources in a credible way and persuade them to spread the positive words for their products. Keep the reward combined with your business and appropriate for the size and type of referral. Ensure that your offer adds value or reward for the referrer and for those people that are referred to you, and then you will have a cost-effective marketing tool to grow your business (Herr, Kardes and Kim, 1999). 2.6.4 Factors Motivating Viral Marketing According to Chen, Iyer and Padmanabhan (2002), viral marketing involves two parties: the communicator and the receiver. Viral marketing will only start when the communicator is motivated to speak and the receiver is motivated to listen. Therefore, in order to understand how the process works, it is very important that understand the inherent motives. In the case of the receiver, motivation to listen may be affected by: (a) source reliability (Blodgett, Granbois and Walters, 1998); (b) interpersonal ties between the sender and receiver (Goldenberg, Libai and Muller, 2001); (c)product and purchasing situation characteristics such as high perceived risk (Bristor, 1990), newness, .and intangibility associated with services (Weinberger and Lepkowska-White, 2000); and (d) situational factors such as conditions where product information may be hard or impossible to get from the marketer, or where there is a shortage of time. In the case of the communicator, motivation to speak may be influenced by: (a) the personality of the communicator, for example, self-confidence (Bristor, 1990) and sociability (Richins, 1999); (b) the attitudes of the communicator, for example, a desire to help others (Lau and NG, 2001) and attitude towards complaining (Singh, 1990); (c) involvement with the product and with the purchase decision (Henning-Thurau, Gwinner, Walsh and Gremler, 2004); and (d) situational factors like â€Å"proximity of others during dissatisfaction† (Lau and NG, 2001). Viral marketing has quickly been recognized by many companies because of many successful examples: Marketers proved that a little budget they could motivate millions customers. They did so by encourage customer-to-customer communication to increase sales, brand awareness, and market share. Seth Godi uploads his ebook on the internet and the people can download for free and has the right to send to their friends. If they like, they can buy a print copy. Only three months, nearly one million people download the e-book. (Source from Tafe, 2007) Receivers getting a marketing message from familiar communicators participate more frequently in a campaign as initial contacts. Because the personal message which come from friends or people you know would be more credible than that coming directly from the self-interest advertiser (Goldenberg, Libai and Muller, 2001). Taking advantage of the inherent nature of internet as communication vehicles viral marketing enables consumers to share information and content within their social network easier and faster, there are without time and location limitation for internet communications (Naylor and Kleiser, 2000). Money incentive can works very effective when a viral marketing not clever and attractive enough for customers. Give referrers a reward can encourage fast spread of the marketing information. Those people who pass on your information can get something in return can encourage their passion to pass on the information. That something may be a gift or service related to your business or simply the knowledge that they have added value for others. 2.7 Measuring Success and Effective Many authors argue that what is a successful campaign? Can it based on the amount of number of people who positively interact with the campaign’s content or the sales created by the campaign? Although no a single measurement system has build up for viral marketing, measurement tools do exist, allow the markers use to tracking the process and effects of viral marketing. It is hard to know whether audiences care about the contents behind the campaigns, what ensure about the marketers maybe how many people see the campaign (Goldenberg, Libai and Muller, 2001). Shirky (2000) believed that viral marketing not always effective as it also have many disadvantages, and many situations would make it fail. The difference between a successful and unsuccessful viral marketing campaign is the campaign’s ability to connect with audiences and persuade them to pass on the message and ultimately the product or service (Kirby, 2006, p.92). Kirby (2006) recognizes that in order to increase the chances of a successful viral campaign many companies are starting to invest more into the planning and implementation of it. Freedma

Abortion Policy Essay -- Rights Birth Pregnancy Papers

Abortion Policy Abortion is one of about six major issues that the public considers when voting (Witwer). It is a complex issue that has been passionately debated for centuries. The various methods used to carry out the procedure range from disassembling the fetus and crushing the skull in order to suck it all out of the woman’s womb to the procedure called RU-486, that gives the woman a pill to prevent her body from giving the fetus the nutrients to stay alive. Also, some consider certain forms of birth control, Norplant, IUD, and emergency contraceptives to be abortions as well. Many people argue about when in the pregnancy abortions should be allowed, if there should be an age limit, if abortion should be allowed only in certain circumstances, if states should decide the legality of it, and if only certain procedures should be allowed. However, the key issue is: should abortion be totally legalized, totally banned, or remain the way it is? Numerous people have a stake in this issue. The issue of abortion affects every woman worldwide as well as men who find themselves involved in a situation related to abortion, and/or men who choose to concern themselves with such an ever-growing issue (Wlezien). Also, this issue affects the fetuses aborted, or permitted to live. There are generally two opposing sides to the issue where most people find themselves: the pro-life side and the pro-choice side. While it is true that men may find themselves involved in a situation related to abortion, the debate over it still remains predominantly female (Wlezien). Surveys, facts, and figures have indicated that the two sides are made up of vastly dissimilar people and their lifestyles (Wlezien). Pro-choice usually consists of young... ...89), pp. 229-230{primary scholarly, print via internet in original, authoritative} Wlezien, Christopher B.; Goggin, Malcolm. â€Å"The Courts, Interest Groups, and Public Opinion about Abortion†. Political Behavior, Vol. 15, No. 4. (Dec., 1993), pp. 381-405. {primary scholarly, print via internet in original, authoritative} â€Å"Unjust Punishment, Forced Contraception, and Poor Treatment of Women by the Courts and Prisons.† NARAL Pro Choice America Foundation. 27 April 1999. 22 March 2004. http://www.naral.org/facts/loader.cfm?url=/commonspot/security/getfile.cfm&PageID=1784. {unrestricted, internet publication, apparently credible} U. S. National Library of Medicine. Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA. 2002. www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002398.htm - 29k - Mar 8, 2004. {primary scholarly, print via internet in original, authoritative}

Probability and Genetics Essay -- Mathmatics Math Papers

Probability and Genetics Probability theory is the study of the likelihood of an occurrence of random events in order to predict future behaviors of a system (2). The principles of probability are widely used. In genetics, for example, probability is used to estimate the likelihood of gene distribution from one generation to the next. In business, insurance companies use the principles of probability to determine risk groups. Probability is closely related to statistics since uncertainty always exists when statistical predictions are being made. A number between 0 and 1 represents the probability of an outcome (1). The probability of an impossible event is 0. Where as the probability of something that is certain to occur is 1. The theory of probability is recognized as being developed by Blaise Pascal with help from his friend Pierre de Fermat. Blaise Pascal was born at Clermont, France on June 19, in 1623. He was the third child of Etienne Pascal, and his only son. Blaise was only 3 when his mother died (3). In 1631, his family moved to Paris to carry on the education of Blaise, who had already displayed exceptional ability. Pascal was home taught, and to ensure that he was not overworked, his father decided that his studies would only involve the languages, and should not include any mathematics. At the age of twelve, Pascal demonstrated to his tutor an interest in geometry. He was stimulated by the subject, and gave up his playtime and chose to study geometry instead. In a few weeks, he discovered the many properties of geometric figures, in particular, that the sum of the angels of a triangle equals180 degrees. Impressed by Pascal’s display, his father gave him a copy of Euclid's Elements, which Pascal read and soon ma... ...volve money. By playing the odds right, someone could win big, either at a card table or on Wall Street. Probability makes random events look like very predictable ones. Work Cited 1. Campbell, Neil, Jane Reece, Lawerence Mitchell. Biology fifth edition. Addison Wesley Longman, Inc., 1999 2.Interactive Mathematics Miscellany and Puzzles, Probability. http://www.cut-the-knot.com/probability.html.( 12/5/99) 3. Pascal. http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Pascal.html. (12/5/99) 4. A Short History of Probability. From Calculus, Volume II by Tom M. Apostol (2nd edition, John Wiley & Sons, 1969 ) On line: http://www.cc.gatech.edu/classes/cs6751_97_winter/Topics/stat-meas/probHist.html. (12/5/99) 5.Wilkins, D. R. Blaise Pascal (1623 – 1662) http://www.maths.tcd.ie/pub/HistMath/People/Pascal/RouseBall/RB_Pascal.html. (12/5/99)

Enthalpy of Combustion Lab Report Essay

Aim: The aim of the following experiment is to determine the enthalpy change of combustion of ethanol when one mole of ethanol is burned completely with the help of a spirit lamp for a time period of one and a half minutes. Background: Specific Heat Capacity is the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1g of a substance by 1K. ? à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Differs from substance to substance. ? à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Water = 4.18 J g-1 K-1? à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ Ethanol = 2.4 J g-1 K-1 The data booklet value for the standard enthalpy of combustion of ethanol is -1371 KJ/mol. Apparatus: Instrument / Chemical: 1. Spirit lamp containing ethanol 2. Copper Calorimeter 3. Distilled Water 4. Stop Watch (?0.01s) 5. 1?50cm3 beakers 6. Retort Stand 7. Digital Thermometer (?0.1) 8. Digital Electronic Balance (?0.01g) 9. Stirring rod Method: 1. The mass of the spirit lamp containing ethanol is first determined accurately with the help of the digital electronic balance and is recorded as M1 (?0.01g). 2. Then a copper calorimeter is taken and the mass of the empty calorimeter is first determined. Then the calorimeter is filled with distilled water and the mass of the calorimeter along with water is then recorded. The two readings are then subtracted to determine the mass of the distilled water used in the experimental procedure with the help of the digital electronic balance and is recorded as M3 (?0.02g). 3. Then the calorimeter containing the water is placed on top of the retort stand and the digital thermometer is used to record the initial temperature of the water alone with the help of the digital thermometer and is recorded as T1 (?0.1). 4. Then the spirit lamp is lit and is placed on top of the beaker below the retort stand in order to maintain a steady position of the lamp underneath the calorimeter containing the distilled water. 5. The spirit lamp is allowed to burn for a fixed time period of one and a half minutes while the water in the calorimeter is continuously stirred using the stirring rod; after which the final temperature of the water in the calorimeter is measured with the help of the digital thermometer and is recorded as T2 (?0.1). 6. After the entire procedure the final mass of the spirit lamp containing ethanol is measured with the help of the digital electronic balance and is recorded as M2 (?0.01g). Hypothesis: The given experimental procedure is hypothesised to be a highly exothermic reaction as when ethanol is burnt in air the reaction gives out energy in the form of heat. When the spirit lamp (ignited) is placed directly below the calorimeter containing water, the heat energy released will result in a rise in temperature in the distilled water in the calorimeter. Variables: a). Independent Variables: 1. The amount of ethanol used in the experimental procedure is an independent variable. In each of the five trials, the amount of ethanol used differs and this helps in providing a variety of results and making the experiment more accurate. 2. The calorimeter in which the distilled water has been placed for each trial in the experimental procedure is an independent variable. This has been changed for each trial in order to provide more accuracy to the experiment. 3. The mass of the distilled water used in the experimental procedure is an independent variable. This has also been changed for each trial in order to provide a variety of results and cover all aspects of the experimental procedure. b). Dependant Variables: In the conducted experimental procedure, the temperature of the measured mass of water in the calorimeter is the dependent variable. As the amount of ethanol used in the experimental procedure differs, the temperature of the mass of water will also change depending on the amount of ethanol used. c). Controlled Variables: 1. The time for which the measured mass of distilled water is heated is kept constant as one and a half minutes throughout the experimental procedure. This is done to provide an accurate experiment. 2. The entire experiment is conducted in the same environment on the same day and in a secure room. 3. The stopwatch used for each trial has also been kept constant throughout the experimental procedure. 4. The thermometer used for each trial has also been kept constant throughout the experimental procedure. Observations: 1. The ethanol was burnt with a yellow flame. 2. Some black soot was formed on the bottom of the calorimeter after the spirit lamp was placed underneath it in the experimental procedure. 3. It was noted that when the mass of the spirit lamp was noted in the beginning of the experiment, the lamp was not warm. However after the ethanol was burnt and the mass of the spirit lamp was once again being recorded, the lamp was warm at the end of the experiment. 4. It was noted that while the spirit lamp was placed on the beaker perpendicularly below the calorimeter containing the distilled water, one could feel the warmth of the flame when one put out the flame after a period of one and a half minutes. Raw Data: Initial mass of spirit lamp = M1, Final mass of spirit lamp = M2, Mass of distilled water used in the experimental procedure = M3, Initial temperature of water = T1, Final temperature of water = T2, The following table N1 shows the raw data that has been recorded in order to determine the enthalpy change of combustion of ethanol while conducting the following experimental procedure: Processed Data: Mass of ethanol that has been used and burnt completely = M1 – M2 = MF, Rise in Temperature of the distilled water when the spirit lamp is placed directly below the calorimeter = T2 – T1 = TF, The following Table N2 gives the values of the mass of ethanol that has been used and the change in temperature of the distilled water solution. Sr. No. MF (?0.02g) TF (?0.2) 1. 168.50 – 166.85 = 1.65 38.2 – 27.2 = 11.0 2. 166.85 – 165.61 = 1.24 45.4 – 37.4 = 8.0 3. 159.00 – 157.50 = 1.50 36.2 – 26.5 = 9.7 4. 157.50 – 155.75 = 1.75 45.8 – 35.8 = 10 5. 155.75 – 154.44 = 1.31 51.1 – 44.3 = 6.8 For all five cases, molar mass of ethanol Mm, C2H5OH Amount of ethanol burnt = MF/Mm = A1, Heat energy required to raise the temperature of water by TF = M3 ? TF ? 4.18 = H1, Heat energy evolved by burning A1 moles of ethanol = H2, Heat energy evolved by burning 1 mole of ethanol = H2/A1 = H3, Enthalpy change of combustion of ethanol = The following table N3 gives the processed data for the enthalpy change of combustion of ethanol: Sr. No. A1 (mole) H1 (Joule) H2 (Joule) H3 (Kilo Joule) (KJ/mole) 1. (1.65 ? 46.1) = 0.00358 (4.18 ? 11 ? 78.22) = 3597 3597 (3597 ? 0.00358) = 1005 – 1005 2. (1.24 ? 46.1) = 0.00269 (4.18 ? 8 ? 78.08) = 2611 2611 (2611 ? 0.00269) = 971 – 971 3. (1.50 ? 46.1) = 0.00325 (4.18 ? 9.7 ? 82.73) = 3354 3354 (3354 ? 0.00325) = 1032 – 1032 4. (1.75 ? 46.1) = 0.00380 (4.18 ? 10 ? 82.55) = 3451 3451 (3451 ? 0.00380) = 908 – 908 5. (1.31 ? 46.1) = 0.00284 (4.18 ? 6.8 ? 82.3) = 2339 2339 (2339 ? 0.00284) = 823 – 823 Since the combustion of ethanol is an exothermic reaction, the sign of is negative. Hence from the above five trials an average value of the enthalpy of combustion can be taken as the following: Fair Test: 1. The experimental procedure is carried out in a safe environment under the same environmental conditions on the same day. 2. The time taken for each trial i.e. one and a half minute time period was followed as accurately as possible and with as much efficiency to avoid errors. 3. The stopwatch is used accurately and was reset after each trial reading. 4. While stirring the water alongside the experimental procedure one made sure that one did not disturb the digital thermometer in any possible way as even a small disturbance could affect the temperature readings obtained. Safe Test: 1. One used safety glasses and goggles while conducting the experiment to protect oneself from any chemical hazards. 2. Once the time period of one and a half minutes has elapsed, the cap of the spirit flame was placed over the wick of the spirit lamp with precision and safety. 3. Before starting the experiment, one made a double check about all the equipment being used in the experiment and whether the equipment is efficient or not. 4. One made use of the experimental hazcards that were given to one in order to prevent any chemical hazards from occurring. Errors and Analysis: The data booklet value for the standard enthalpy of combustion of ethanol is -1371 KJ/mol. Hence the percentage error for this experimental procedure is: = [(1371 – 948) ? 1371] ? 100 = 30.9? This error is large and cannot be accounted for by the uncertainties in the experimental measurements. The major uncertainties lie in the underlying assumptions used in the experimental procedure such as the following: 1. It is assumed that complete combustion of ethanol takes place. However the fact that when ethanol was being burnt in air, it burnt with a yellow flame and the black soot on the calorimeter indicated that carbon, one of the products of incomplete combustion was also formed. 2. It is assumed that all the heat from the reaction was transferred to the distilled water in the calorimeter. It is true that some of the heat would have indeed been lost round the sides of the calorimeter and also from the inner system to the surroundings. 3. It is assumed that the glass stirrer, the digital thermometer and the calorimeter were not absorbing any heat but in reality these instruments are also being heated. 4. It is assumed that none of the ethanol escaped through evaporation during the time the flame was extinguished and the spirit lamp and its contents were reweighed. However, ethanol is a volatile liquid and the fact that the spirit lamp was hot indicates that some of it would have evaporated. Conclusion: In the carried experimental procedure one has determined the enthalpy change of combustion of ethanol when one mole of ethanol is burned completely with the help of a spirit lamp for a time period of one and a half minutes. One has successfully proven the hypothesis that has been made earlier. I had predicted beforehand that the reaction-taking place in the experimental procedure is an exothermic one. The fact that heat is given out when ethanol is burnt has been depicted by the temperature rise of the distilled water present in the calorimeter. Hence it is clearly evident that the combustion reaction of ethanol is an exothermic reaction. Suggestions for Improvement / Evaluation: 1. There should not be any disturbance in the room where the experiment is being conducted as one is trying to prevent any interference to the internal system. 2. While conducting the experiment, one should use a shield like device in order to cover the entire apparatus and prevent any heat transfer between the surrounding and the internal system. 3. More efficient equipment should be used in the conducted experimental procedure.