British South Africa Company (BSAC)

British South Africa Company (BSAC) The British South Africa Company (BSAC) was a mercantile company incorporated on 29 October 1889 by a royal charter given by Lord Salisbury, the British prime minister, to Cecil Rhodes. The company was modeled on the East India Company and was expected to annex and then administer territory in south-central Africa, to act as a police force, and develop settlements for European settlers. The charter was initially granted for 25 years, and was extended for another 10 in 1915. It was intended that the BSAC would develop the region without significant cost to the British tax payer. It was therefore given the right to create its own political administration supported by a paramilitary force for protection of settlers against local peoples. Profits form the company, in terms of diamond and gold interests were reinvested in the company to allow it to expand its area of influence. African labor was exploited partially through the application of hut taxes, which required Africans to look for wages. Mashonaland was invaded by a Pioneer Column in 1830, then the Ndebele in Matabeleland. This formed the proto-colony of Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). They were stopped from spreading further to the north west by King Leopolds holdings in Katanga. Instead they appropriated lands which formed Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia). (There were failed attempts to also incorporate Botswana and Mozambique.) The BSAC was involved in the Jamison Raid of December 1895, and they faced a rebellion by the Ndebele in 1896 which required the aid of British to quell. A further rising of Ngoni people in Northern Rhodesia was suppressed in 1897-98. Mineral resources failed to be as large as implied to settlers, and farming was encouraged. The charter was renewed in 1914 on the condition that settlers be given greater political rights in the colony. Towards the end of the last extension of the charter, the company looked towards South Africa, which was interested in incorporating Southern Rhodesia into the Union. A referendum of the settlers voted for self-government instead. When the charter came to an end in 1923, white settlers were allowed to take control of the local government as a self-governing colony in Southern Rhodesia and as a protectorate in Northern Rhodesia. The British Colonial Office stepped in 1924 and took over. The company continued on after its charter lapsed, but was unable to generate sufficient profits for shareholders. Mineral rights in Southern Rhodesia were sold to the colonys government in 1933. Mineral rights in Northern Rhodesia were retained until 1964 when they were forced to hand them over to the government of Zambia.

Writing Acrostic Poems Valentines Poetry Lesson

Writing Acrostic Poems Valentines Poetry Lesson Are you in need of a quick Valentines Day poetry lesson plan to share with your students? Consider practicing acrostic poetry with them. To begin, follow these steps. First you must start by modeling the format of acrostic poems with your students. Work together to write a collective acrostic poem on the whiteboard. You can start out simple and use a students name. As a class brainstorm words and/or phrases that correlate with how the students feel about the name you are using for the example. For instance, lets say that you use the name Sara. Students may say words like sweet, awesome, rad, etc.Give your students a Valentines-related word list so that they can write their own acrostic poem. Consider the words: love, February, heart, friends, appreciate, chocolate, red, hero, and happy. Discuss the meaning of these words and the importance of expressing their appreciation to loved ones on the Valentines Day holiday.Next, give your students time to write their acrostic poems. Circulate and offer guidance as needed. Be sure to offer students suggestions if they ask.If you have time, allow the students to illustrate their poems. This project makes a great bulletin board display for February, especially if you do it a few weeks ahead of time! Suggest that your students give their acrostic poems to family members as Valentines Day gifts. Valentines Acrostic Poem Sample #1 Here is a sample of just using the word Valentine from a teacher. V - Very important to me A - Always smiling at me L - Love and adoration is what I feel E - Every day I love you N - Never make me frown T - Too many reasons to count I - I hope were always together N - Now and forever E - Each and every moment with you is special Sample #2 Here is a sample of using the word February from a student in fourth grade. F - feels very cold E - every single day B - because its winter time in every single way R - red means love U - underneath the warm sun A - always dreaming of the warmer months R -ready to celebrate Valentines day Y - Yes, I love Valentines Day even though its cold outside Sample  #3 Here is a sample acrostic poem using the word love from a second grade student. L - laughing O -oh how I love to laugh V - valentines day is about love E - every day I wish it was Valentines Day Sample #4 Here is a sample poem by a fifth grade student using the word grandma. G - Grandma is special and kind and sweet R - rad like a biker and someone you want to meet A - awesome N - not to mention cool D - daring and sweet, she always M - makes me laugh A - and that just cant be beat Sample #5 Here is a sample poem written by a fifth grader for her best friend. In this poem she used the name of her friend. A - A is for awesome and for someone I want to be N - N is for nice, because shes like my family D - D is for dedicated, because she is always by my side R - R is for radiant, I will always have her pride E - E is for generic, shes always on the go A - A is for angelic, she always seems to glow.

Why do women have facial hair or body hair. What is causing this Research Paper

Why do women have facial hair or body hair. What is causing this phenomena. Can it be cured or changed - Research Paper Example All people have hormones in their bodies that stimulate growth of their bodies and facial hair. It hence depends on the level of hormones secreted, the number of the hair follicles in an individual’s body, and how sensitive they are to be stimulated for growth. Any other conditions or substances introduced into the body that trigger overproduction of the hormones could contribute to excess body and facial hair. This is normally associated to the male gender for its masculine effect. However, women also produce the sex hormone in their adrenal glands and ovaries. Androgen aids in production of oestrogen that serves a greater role in female sexual desires, emotions and satisfaction. Testosterone and adrenal androgens are the main types of the hormone in women; they are released into the blood stream and also produced at the body tissues (body fats and skin) after conversion of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and androstenedione (A) into androgens at the cells, skin, and hair follicles (Monash University, 2010, p.1). Male bodies produce more of the androgen hormone than women, which is necessary for development of their masculine features (muscles, deep voice, body hair on their chest, inner thighs, arms and lower abdomen and facial hair like mustache and beards among others). Similarly, a high level production of androgen (testosterone) hormone in excess would stimulate excess facial and body hair production in women among other masculine features, a condition termed Hirsutism (Jacoby and Youngson, 2005, p. 2196). As a result, the highly sensitive parts to androgen in women’s bodies have stimulated thick and darker hair growth. This is because the hair follicles in those parts are more sensitive and the higher the number of the follicles, the more the excessive hair on their bodies. Certain diets affect the production of testosterone hormone in a woman’s body. Diets that contain zinc minerals can help to activate testosterone production,

The role of retailer branding strategies in Singapore Research Paper

The role of retailer branding strategies in Singapore - Research Paper Example Product and brand are terms that are related because of several properties shared by them. Brand relies on the nature of the product or service. These attributes when used to market the product distinguishes it from its competitors, in the market, gives birth to Brand. Brand is linked with the product by relaying the attributes and character of the product. Additionally the characteristic of a product used to distinguish it from other product is termed as a brand. This means that the attributes associated with the product in terms of the characteristics of the product gives rise to brand. A brand deals with the identity of the product, which enables it to be distinguished from other products (Finskud, 2009, p. 34). A product currently may mean a good with physical characteristics or service or intangible goods such as software or algorithm. Therefore, a product can be described as a product, service or intangible good such as software that a firm produces and use it to generate incom e. Companies like Microsoft Corporation deal exclusively with software as their end product. Such software like Microsoft office 2010 is, therefore, a product of Microsoft Corporation. Brand deals specifically with the characters that distinguish the product in the market. It is the impression that surrounds the product. A brand can be categorized as a â€Å"strong brand† if it has several qualities or characters associated with strong brands (Finskud, 2009, p. 198)... Branding is vital in marketing because it enables the sales of all the company’s range of products. The success of many companies such as; Coca Cola, Adidas and Nike among other brands are based on use of brand image creation. Therefore, companies must be ready to venture in branding to be able to achieve success. Retailer branding in Singapore Retail branding is used by giant supermarkets in ensuring that the product sales are improved and outpace competition from other supermarket. The success is based on the ability to create a powerful strong brand. A strong brand is characterized by the ability to drive the shareholder value; therefore, it is managed by brand marketers who ensure an active buy-in from all stakeholders. The brand is valued in financial terms and is classified as an asset to the company during the calculation of profits and loss (Finskud, 2009, p. 45). As part of the organization, it is viewed as a part of the organization and covers a variety of business d imension. Additionally, customers are ready to pay consistently a higher price for the brand while ignoring the competing product or service. As a result of the strong affiliation to the brand, customers want to associate with the brand, it qualities, values and personality. Association with the brand gives rise to loyalty to the brand. Additionally, customers are ready to pay consistently a higher price for the brand while ignoring the competing product or service. As a result of the strong affiliation to the brand, customers want to associate with the brand, it qualities, values and personality. Association with the brand gives rise to loyalty to the brand. Due to the above characteristics the brand becomes a trademark protected by the firm and

Rbi’s Debt Management and Monetary Policy Essay Example for Free

Rbi’s Debt Management and Monetary Policy Essay I have shown you in class, using the IS-LM model, how the above two roles of the RBI presents a conflict between the desired positions of the LM curve and therefore the equilibrium interest rate. Some of you have expressed interest in knowing more about this debate. Therefore here are the two opposing points of view. For the motion: On this side of the debate is the government which supports an independent Debt Management Office (DMO) that is separate from the RBI. The government has received support from the Report of the Internal Working Group on Debt Management which has pointed out three conflicts that arises from the present arrangement: â€Å"If the Central Bank tries to be an effective debt manager, it would lean towards selling bonds at high prices, i.e. keeping interest rates low. This leads to an inflationary bias in monetary policy.† Second â€Å"if the Central Bank tries to do a good job of discharging its responsibility of selling bonds, it has an incentive to mandate that banks hold a large amount of government paper.† Third, â€Å"if the Central Bank administers the operating systems for the government securities markets, as the RBI currently does, this creates another conflict, where the owner/ administrator of these systems is also a participant in the market.† The Percy Mistry Committee on Making Mumbai an International Financial Centre (IFC) recommended the setting up of an autonomous DMO by saying that â€Å"looking ahead, a sound public borrowing strategy for India would incorporate three elements. . . An independent Indian â€Å"debt management office† operating either as an autonomous agency or under the Ministry of Finance that regularly auctioned a large quantum of INR denominated bonds in an IFC in Mumbai. The size of these auctions would be substantial by world standards and would enhance Mumbai’s stature as an IFC.† The Raghuram Rajan committee on Financial Sector Reforms (A Hundred Small Steps) has argued against RBI providing the â€Å"investment banking† function to the government as â€Å"this involves a conflict of interest, since the government would benefit from lower interest rates, which the RBI has some control over. Investors in the bond market may also perceive the sale of bonds by RBI to be informed by a sense of how interest rates will evolve in the  future. Finally, the RBI is the regulator of banks. Banking supervision could be distorted by the desire to sell bonds at an attractive price.† Media commentators have also supported the motion. See for instance Ajay Shah writing in the Business Standard,Ila Patnaik writing in the Indian Express, Shruthi Jayaram writing in the Financial Express, S. Narayan writing in the Mint. Also see what the Stanford University’s Policy Brief and the Bank for International Settlements feel about this issue. Against the motion: Predictably the RBI is opposing the above views. See this Business Standard report which quotes RBI Governor Dr Subbarao as saying that Only central banks have the requisite market pulse and instruments to aid in making contextual judgements which an independent debt agency, driven by narrow objectives, will not be able to do. The Governor further said that in order to achieve monetary and financial stability, separation of debt management from central bank seems to be a sub-optimal choice. The case for shifting debt management function out of the central bank is made on several arguments such as resolving conflict of interest, reducing the cost of debt, facilitating debt consolidation and increasing transparency. These advantages are overstated, Dr Subbarao said. He said market borrowings are the major source of deficit financing at state level and such borrowings are exceeding the absorptive capacity of the market. That makes it imperative to harmonise the market borrowing programmes of the Centre and the states. Separation of the Centres debt management from the central bank will make such harmonisation difficult, Dr Subbarao added. He said even internationally, there is closer association between the central bank with sovereign debt management for proper monetary policy and financial stability. Also see this Business Line report which quotes Dr Subbrao as saying that â€Å"the learning from the recent global crisis is that those systems where central bank manages government debt are more effective. When fiscal deficit is as high as it is in India, it is not only about debt management in the conventional sense. It has larger implications for liquidity management and monetary policy transmission. The balance of advantage would lie in the RBI continuing to manage public debt until fiscal deficit comes down to very comfortable levels.† RBI’s internal research  supports the above view by demonstrating that interest rates have not been affected by the government’s borrowing programme (a point made by some of you in class). Some media commentators have also supported RBI’s view (see this article in the Economic Times). You will be amused to know that Dr Subbarao himself was an advocate of an independent DMO when he used to work for the government! The confusion over this issue was evidenced by the Rakesh Mohan Committee on India’s Financial Sector Assessment which opined in favour of an independent DMO with the chairman (an ex-deputy governor of the RBI) disagreeing with the committee’s view! Tailpiece: The RBI seems to have reconciled to the setting up of an independent DMO but is insisting that they be in charge of running the office (so much for independence)! See this report from the Financial Express. Finally you may enjoy reading this article from the Economic Times on â€Å"Chidambaram vs Subbarao: How conflicts between govt and RBI could lead to better policy-making†.

Violent Video Games Raise Aggression Essay -- Gaming

Throughout history man kind has always searched for ways to entertain himself, each time developing new activities and games. Video games have become a very popular way to spend time and have fun from the 1970’s up to now. With new developments appeared different video game genres from adventure to racing, but the violent video games appear to be the most popular ones (Shin, 2003), for example: shooters, fighting and video games where you have to eliminate, destroy, or kill your enemies. Video games have become very influential on children and adults (Stafford, 1999). With violent video games humans are more prone to act aggressively, to have aggressive thoughts and become numb towards violence (Harding, 2009). Apart from these they are prone to develop antisocial behavior, depression and addiction. This means that future generations will be more violent and less sensible towards violence. Is this type of entertainment really worth a more violent world and future? B. The IT background of the issue Back in time input devices for video games were analog this means that data was very short ranged and limited like for example movements in the x-axis only, like in â€Å"Pong†. This is one of the reasons why before there were very few and not that violent video games such as â€Å"Space Invader†. But as technology developed so did the video game industry (Reynolds, 2004) and input devices became each time more complex. With more option in the input devices people can do more actions in the video games like for example combo moves or kill enemies in many other different ways (Stafford, 1999). Another development that has caused the appearance of violent video games is the increase in quality of the output. Before, the only VDU’s were C... ...1/2008. CNN. 24/05/2010 â€Å"Insert Coin: Part 5-Violence in Video Games†. Brent Stafford. Internet. Youtube, 02/11/2006 Shaky egg. Brent Stafford. 2004. Shaky Egg Communications Inc. 24/05/2010 Red3d. Craig Reynolds. 22/07/2007. None. 24/05/2010 About.com. Jennifer Rosenberg. 2003. The New York Times Company. 24/05/2010 Gamezero. Salamander. 08-09/1992. Game Zero Magazine. 24/05/2010 Tgorski. Terence Gorski. Unknown. GORSKI-CENAPS Team. 24/05/2010

How Was Sparta Governed

How was Sparta governed? The Spartan Government Ancient Spartan government was a complex system of intertwined elements, which affected the power control. In many ways, ancient Sparta was a communist state, with the lack of luxuries, other Grecian states enjoyed and the strict control for equality but was complicated with the almost religious need for a democratic vote. Sparta had three levels of government; the Kings’, the Gerousia, the Ephors and the Ekklesia, each having their own requirements, limitations and powers.The Spartan monarchy consisted of 2 kings which governed over Sparta. Unlike other Grecian kings, Spartan Kings had very little power and did not have an autocratic rule over day-to-day life. A Spartan kings’ duties were classified as religious, military, judicial roles. As the head figure of religion in Sparta, the kings were the priests of Zeus, Lacedaemonis and Zeus Uranius. The kings’ family would also worship these gods. As a monthly ritual, the kings were expected to make an animal sacrifice to the god Apollo, as to maintain the pleasure of the gods.This was similar to the sacrifice he would make prior to going to war. As a part of his religious role, the king would appoint two Pythioi who would travel back and forth to consult with the oracle (a possessed priestess whom was said to speak the words of the Gods) at Delphi. During a time of war, only one king would be sent with the battalions, and would be the supreme commander of the army. In the field of battle, the king would have ultimate power over his troops, including the life or death of his army. During the course of the war, the king would have a personal bodyguard of 100 men.Being a part of the royal bodyguard was considered to be one of the greatest honours. Amongst this body guard, 2 members of the Ephor’s would be in attendance, and keep an eye on his activities. They would record any failure or misconduct during a military campaign and could lead to the recall of the army, or punishment of the king. As stated above, the Kings’ power was strictly limited, which is seen in his judicial role. The king was responsible for all matters pertaining to public highways (e. g. the repairs, conflicts, etc).He was responsible for all legal matters in regards to the adoption of children and the power to decide upon the marriage partner of an heiress whose father died. Despite the extremities of limits the kings’ faced he had privileges which were considered as a ‘luxury’ in terms of Spartan society, such as the kings’ being supported at the expense of the state. They would also receive minor honours such as the best seats at religious festivals. During mealtimes, the kings were given the first seats at a banquet and were served first at the Syssitia.During the Syssition the kings would also receive double portions of a meal. Another privilege of the kings, following a successful war campaign, the king (who went to war) would be given a percentage of the spoils of victory. The kings could also receive the skins of any animal that had been sacrificed in a religious ceremony. At the event of a king’s death, all public business would be ceased for a 10 day period, where civilians would wear mourning clothing. During his funeral, the king’s reign would be lauded as being greater than any other previous king.Herodotus describes the role of the kings in The Histories in Book VI (6) as â€Å"The prerogatives of the Spartan kings are these: two priesthoods, of Zeus Lakedaemon†¦ and the power of declaring war on whom they please†. The kings’ role in governing Sparta was more of figure of status, that maintaining any real power outside the battlefields of war. Following the Kings’ power, were the Gerousia. The Gerousia was a group of 28 members (a total of 30, with addition of the kings’). The requirements to join the Gerousia was to be a man sixty years or older, and considered to be too old for warfare.Aristotle describes the Gerousia as â€Å"it might be debated whether they should be continued judges for life and so determine matters of the greatest importance, since the mind has its old age as well as the body†. Being a member of this particular government was considered to be prestigious and ensured the high status of the Spartiate as the position carried on until the death of the individual. The Gerousia was a body whose position it was to prepare and debate bills, which were then passed on to the lower levels of government.Their other main function was to be the head court of justice, and would decide upon treasonous crimes by the citizens. Unlike the kings’ powers having limitations, the Gerousia’s only main limitation was that although it was the court of Justice, it was the Ephors who were the Supreme court of Appeal. From this, the Gerousia is deemed a powerful level of government. The Ephors w ere next in power, below the Gerousia, but considered one of the most powerful bodies of government. The Ephors were a body of 5 men aged 30 and above who had full Spartiate citizenship.These men were supposedly representatives for every village in Sparta. The roles of the Ephors were monitoring the kings’, interactions with the Ekklesia, controlled the education and the Krypteia. As a part of the Ephors, or Ephorate, the citizen had an enormous power over the king. As such, they could monitor the king in his own home, 2 members would join a king should warfare occur and bring could bring him to an account, should he fail to have a successful war campaign. During a time of war, it was also the responsibility of the Ephors to organise the mobilisation of the army.A failure could lead him to defend himself in front of a court of Gerousia and Ephorate members, whose role it was to be the deciders of a king’s fate if prosecuted for wrong-doing. The Ephors were also the sup reme court and supreme court of appeal in Sparta, allowing them significant power over the Spartiates, Inferiors and Helots. In As an Ephor, a Spartiate held much control over the laws in which Sparta was governed. They could introduce legislation, which, without the permission of the Ephors, foreign envoys could not enter into Sparta.They could also create laws for foreign policies and control when meetings of the Ekklesia and Gerousia took place. They would oversee and preside over the meetings, introduce legislation and check on the numerous magistrates in Sparta. Ephorates had the power to control the Krypteia, a secret police for Spartiate boys aged 19 – 24 whose objective was to hunt and kill Helots. The Ephors also had the power to allocate Helots to Spartiate families, who would work domestic jobs for them as serfs. The Ephors also controlled the run the Agoge, or Spartan education system.This was a complex system where boys were sent out at the age of 7 until approxi mately 20 to learn to be warriors. Similar to the Gerousia, the Ephors had limitations to their powers. This included that their time in office was a single year and after that single term, they could not become an Ephor again. After their term in office, the Spartiate would revert to a citizen and it was said that if an Ephor behaved badly during his time in office, he could be trialled for his misdoings. Aristotle provides information on the Ephors stating; â€Å"†¦ he Ephorate†¦ has supreme authority in the most important matters†, which adds to the belief that the Ephors being a key part in government and the running of Sparta. The Ekklesia or as referred to in older books as the Apella, was the assembly of the Spartiate males, who were involved in Spartan politics. Any Spartiate male over the age of 30 who had retained his citizenship was eligible to sit in the assembly. The Ekklesia had the power for legislations, elections, warfare, kingships and Helots.When the Ephors presented legislations to the Ekklesia, the assembly had the right to vote on laws; and they could ratify treaties. The Ekklesia is also responsible for the elections of the Gerousia and Ephors, and deciding which king would go to war with the Army. Although it’s disputed, it was said from c. 700 BC onwards that the Ekklesia had the right to declare war on enemies. When the families of royal lineage disputed over the next monarch, it was the Ekklesia who would ultimately choose who would take the throne.Most disputes originated on the laws of succession, as a male son could not take the throne should he be born prior to his father succeeding the throne. Should that situation arise, it would be passed on to the next male heir. Other succession disputes originate from the lack of male heirs, in which case the throne would be passed on to the nephews of the late king. The Ekklesia was also responsible for the freeing of Helots, should they have done something extremel y courageous on the battle front, to earn their freedom.The Ekklesia had many limitations to their power, as they could not offer amendments to any of the presented legislations. Their democratic votes for laws could be ignored by the higher levels of government (Ephors or Gerousia) or be contradicted by Rider to the Rhetra which was introduced by previous kings, Polydorus and Theopompous. Although the Ekklesia was one of the largest bodies of government in Sparta, it very limited in the influences it could make on Spartan society. Spartan government was a complex set of layers, which had many limitations to the amount of power each layer had.

Criticism of Quitak’s Child observation Essay

Quitak first explains that she is â€Å"working on the assumption that the problematic aspects of our experience contain the maximum potential†. However I think it is important to clarify from the outset, how she reached this assumption, as the reader does not know whether she went into the observation with this belief or whether these assumptions were developed as a result of her observation. There is another important omission relating to who the author actually is. She hasn’t positively stated that she is a Social Work student, although this is implied when she states that her observations had â€Å"implications for social work.† Therefore it is difficult to ascertain her purpose for carrying out the observations. Furthermore Quitak fails to mention how she came to select the child included in her observations, how many observation sessions took place and the length of the sessions. Therefore the reader is unable to assess whether there were any issues of bias involved in her selection process. The fact that she is the product of English middle class parents means she may be going into the study with particular assumptions, as she is observing a child who has a Palestinian parent. A significant area which was lacking in her observations was her inability to â€Å"tune in to Selena’s inner world† (pg 250), although Quitak does acknowledge this omission. She didn’t really try to question and understand Selena’s behaviour or how she might be feeling when she demonstrated behaviour she didn’t like, which meant her observation suffered as a result. King (2010) stresses the importance of â€Å"to access the child’s emotional world†.

Vaccinations Autism Spectrum and Asd Essay

Vaccinations Autism Spectrum and Asd Essay Vaccinations: Autism Spectrum and Asd Essay Exposure to environmental toxins in developing human brains has strong implications to the cause and development of Autism Spectrum Disorders especially if when a genetic vulnerability is present. An Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is an incurable neurological disorder that impacts social connectedness, impairs communication and can exhibit repetitive patterns of behavior. The frequency of ASD has been on the rise since the 1970’s. In 1970 Autism was diagnosed for 3 in every 10,000, increasing to 66 in every 10,000 to about 1 in 88 children in 2008. The dramatic increase over the past 20 years has brought this disorder to national attention which has aided in awareness. This awareness helps parents learn the signs of an ASD so that they may achieve the help for their child that comes from a proper diagnosis at an earlier age. However, awareness and an increase in diagnosis alone can’t explain the huge increase and so doctors have tried to find other explanations. A deve loping brain being exposed to environmental toxins is greatly attributed to the development of Autism. The way the toxins weaken the developing immune system, toxins in food, gut dsybiosis, and excessive vaccinations that contain toxins like mercury all play a major role in whether or not a child develops Autism. Skeptics may say that it is genetics alone that cause Autism; however, genetics, like awareness, doesn’t explain the dramatic increase in cases seen over the past 20 years. Regardless, the risk is too high and the effects of these toxins are devastating for those individuals whose bodies can’t process it. Gastrointestinal involvement to ASD has been

The Easiest Ways to Embrace Big Trends in Digital Marketing

The Easiest Ways to Embrace Big Trends in Digital Marketing Digital marketing  is predicted to change a lot in the coming years and its moving fast. Technology is disrupting the way people discover your brand and consume your content, and now is the perfect time to prepare. At the beginning of this year, Sujan Patel did a great article looking at the  biggest and most exciting marketing trends  to adapt to. Feeling inspired, I decided to follow up giving actionable tips on how we can actually embrace those trends using emerging marketing software that is there to help content marketers to innovate. Check Out ’s Entire Marketing Toolstack Before digging into these actionable tips, check out s own marketing toolstack. Voice Search Becomes More Prominent With the ever-growing market of smartphones, as well as with the fast adoption of smart speaker assistants, voice search is quickly making it way into the online marketing world. Voice search growth presents a few challenges to content marketers, including: Organic search discoverability: Being #1 is the only way to get any exposure from voice search. New content consumption journey: On-the-go voice searchers need solutions immediately, right now. Performance tracking: Too much is going on to be able to effectively analyze what helps and what hurts your organic search visibility. Luckily, there are tools for all three challenges: Competing for #1 on Voice Search By default, there's only one search result being presented to a voice search user. While we were previously competing for top 5 positions, we are now going to compete for one. The good news, where there's a challenge, there's an opportunity. The searching behavior is changing: Search queries are getting longer, more varied and less predictable. We previously knew pretty well what we were optimizing our content for (and so did our competitors). Nowadays marketers are dealing with a much wider variety of ways our content can be discovered via search. Spoken speech is less standardized than written text. When speaking a search query to a machine, we are less confined by the rules of grammar and we are less influenced by popular search suggestions. Thanks to voice search, SEO relies more on natural language and less on SERPs design and algorithmic matching. With that in mind, what can really be done? Unlike what you may have heard, SEO is not going to die any time soon, neither is  keyword research. You still need to research keyword queries people use when searching. The difference is: (Even)  more attention to long-tail, less popular queries  (Those are more likely to be generated by voice search users). A wider variety of keyword research sources  allowing you to aggregate data and dig deeper into possible searching behaviors. These should include both standard keyword research tools (  Spyfu,  Majestic,  Ahrefs,  Wordstream, etc.) and non-SEO sources, like Twitter monitoring and customer support emails. Recommended Reading: The Most Massive SEO Copywriting Guide That Will Make Your Traffic Soar So with a wider variety of queries and more keyword data sources, how to make sense of those lists and turn them into actual content plans? Keyword clustering (i.e. grouping) is the answer. Keyword clustering  means grouping your keywords by relevance. Serpstat  offers a unique  clustering feature  allowing you to submit long keyword lists and breaking those queries into categories based on how similar Google SERPs for each of them are. The logic is as follows: The more overlapping results (i.e. pages) Google returns for two queries, the more related those queries (i.e. keywords) are,  so there's no reason to create two separate landing pages to catch each of those. Put simply, clustering helps you optimize one content asset for a wider variety of keywords making it possible to cater to a wider variety of voice-search-driven queries. Recommended Reading: What Are Topic Clusters (And How Can They Boost Your Traffic)? Optimizing for the Immediate Need Another opportunity brought forward by voice searching is optimizing for "on-the-go" needs.   Google  claims that more than 90%  of their users turn to mobile devices and voice search for inspiration while in the middle of the task. New consumers need information "right here" and "right now". Those brands that optimize their content for these searching "micro-moments" satisfying an immediate need at any given moment will win the organic search game. Micro-moment content optimization involves: Optimizing for featured snippets  (news outlets can also use  Google Speakable  to record an audio which Google will read in response to a voice query). Optimizing for questions, lots of them (this includes using "People Also Ask" boxes for inspiration). Optimizing for  search intent. All of the three tactics above are not isolated: There's no need to create a separate strategy to hit each of them. Featured rankings depend on your overall organic rankings, answering questions helps you get featured, and whether your content is satisfying the query search intent determines how high you show up in Google. In other words, it's all inter-connected and luckily today's SEO software can help you on all those fronts. Text Optimizer  is one of my recent discoveries that uses semantic analysis to help you create content that: Matches the search intent Includes related and neighboring terms Answers popular questions on each topic Using TextOptimizer is easy: Run your core query you are creating content around (TextOptimizer runs your query in Google, extracts search result snippet and comes up with related terms to help you match Google's expectations better). Select 20-25 of the suggested terms you feel will fit your future content best and include them in your copy naturally. Use suggested questions to cover in your copy and structure it better (using subheads). Run the tool again, this time using your written content, to see how well you did optimizing your copy. Google  claims that more than 90%  of their users turn to mobile devices and voice search for...Monitoring Your Efforts Closely Finally, with mobile and voice search on the rise, it has become much more challenging to monitor all your content marketing assets and, more importantly, identify the actual impact of each new (optimization) tactic you have experimented with. I am still trying to figure that part out (content analytics is never a finished task really), but what I started doing differently recently is recording all my content and website updates on a micro-level to see a bigger picture over time. Rankedy  is an interesting tool allowing you to create a micro-journal for each of your important queries allowing you to track if any of your content marketing tactics is bringing the desired ranking growth. I am using it to record everything I am doing to the site to later see the impact. Rankedy tracks both mobile and desktop rankings helping you understand the impact of your content marketing efforts. Video Marketing is Still on the Rise Video content has been on the rise for a few years now bringing in new customers' expectations. Your audience expects  to find your brand on Youtube and for many queries they expect to engage with the video rather than text content. Youtube being the second biggest search engine in the world and Google giving more and more organic search visibility to videos (through video carousels and video featured snippets), failing to embrace video marketing means failing to get found  online. There are a few reasons why many brands still shy away from video marketing: Video production is hard to scale. Video market seems already over-cluttered. Video marketing requires solid investment (either in time or money or both). Last year I did a detailed  step-by-step tutorial  on how to overcome all those challenges using content re-packaging tactics. The video creation tools that I listed there include: Blue Jeans to put together video interviews  with influencers  and customers. Filmora to create screencasts and how-to videos. Animatron to create professional entertaining or instructional videos. All in all, there are many more video creation tools (as well as both  video footage  and  free image  resources) allowing you to launch your video marketing strategy on a low budget and helping you find your style and voice in this fast-growing industry. When it comes to researching your video marketing opportunities, there's a tool for that too!   Video SEO Tool  (Disclaimer: This tool has been developed by the company I work for)  grabs your domain’s most important queries and returns the list of videos that rank for each of them stealing your clicks from organic search results. Simply enter your domain and see video opportunities for each high-performing page of your site: Now use the tools above to create better, more up-to-date, videos than those currently ranking in Google and you are in the video marketing game. Personalization Finally, another big marketing trend that is disrupting digital marketing in general and content marketing, in particular, is advanced personalization. While there's a lot being said about personalized marketing, not many businesses clearly understand the concept. Personalized marketing is often confused with these two older (but still valid) marketing tactics: Segmentation Persona building If you are doing either (or both) of the above (which you probably should), it doesn't mean you are embracing personalized marketing just yet. To help you out: Personalized marketing is not making other â€Å"customization-based† marketing obsolete. You still need to segment your optin lists to send more engaging emails. And persona building is still a valid way to better understand your target audience and create more relatable and engaging content. But what about personalized marketing? Is there any way to adopt this more complicated trend? While personalized marketing seems a bit intimidating, it's what your target customer may be expecting from you. With the biggest digital marketing players (e.g. Amazon and Netflix) already offering artificial-intelligence-driven personalized shopping experience and many digital brands offering on-demand and  over-the-top  content, more and more customers are willing to see the same level of personalization from other (smaller) publishers. The good news is, marketing technology is catching up: With tools like  Alter  you can offer personalized marketing experience to your audience on a small budget, with no in-house technology investment needed.

Importance of Smoke Alarms in Homes Research Paper

Importance of Smoke Alarms in Homes - Research Paper Example This paper will outline the significance of installing smoke alarms in homes as a means to secure them from risks of potential fires. A fire disaster is a dreaded situation, which can result from gas leaks, short-circuits or overheated appliances. Smoke alarms are very helpful in considerably reducing the chances of fire hazards in homes. However, there are many households that have neglected to install smoke alarms, despite their life-saving potential and low cost, or have been careless in maintaining the installed detectors. Like any other battery-operated device, smoke alarms also require regular maintenance to ensure that they are in good operating condition and have sufficient batteries at the time of a hazardous situation (UL 2011). Effective and reliable smoke alarms are easily available at reasonably low prices; whereas more advanced models can be linked to a security system that automatically notifies the fire department. According to a recent study by the US Fire Administra tion (USFA), the number of household fires has increased on a year-on-year basis by almost 2%, resulting in an overall loss of over 2,500 lives and 6.5 trillion dollars (USFA 2011). Another research, carried out by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has estimated that 96% of all households have a smoke alarm present, but only 70% of these are in working condition. However, from the 400,000 household fires that have been approximately reported, 72% of the deaths were caused by either an unmaintained or missing smoke alarm (NFPA 2011). Most of these fires also cause injuries, which may result in disfigurement and other mental effects (Miller et al. 1982). A working smoke alarm  doubles  the chances of survival from a fire (NFPA 2011). The majority of fire hazards take place at night, especially when people are asleep and may not detect the spreading smoke or fire. Smoke alarms keep that risk down by alerting everyone in the household when smoke is detected. It helps t he occupants find a safe passage out of their homes, before they become trapped in the fire. Most of the deaths that take place are usually due to suffocation from smoke or other gaseous substances, which are invisible to the human eye and can spread rapidly around the house. Hence, without smoke alarms, smoke is likely to go unnoticed, especially during the night, posing a great threat to the occupants of the house (DOS 2007). However, with a functioning smoke detector, the residents can easily discover and sense if there is smoke spreading in the house and save themselves and their loved ones from possible dangers. Smoke alarms do not prevent fires, but because they provide warnings of small fires, or smokes, that can be easily extinguished, they reduce the number of fires that become serious enough to cause injuries or burns, leading to fatalities. In a recent tragic incident, a family was using a space heater to heat their house. Their house did not have a smoke alarm installed. Unfortunately, the heater malfunctioned, causing a small local fire, which went unnoticed due to the absence of a smoke alarm. The fire spread rapidly, and in a couple of minutes, the fire had engulfed the house completely, trapping the whole family inside it. Sadly, by the time the fire department arrived at the scene, the family members were critically injured. They were immediately shifted to a hospital, where three children succumbed to their injuries and passed away. The parents are still recovering

Who Won the War of 1812 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Who Won the War of 1812 - Essay Example In fact, while the majority of Americans are familiar with the War of Independence and many can recite key events and turning points within it, few can do the same as regards the War of 1812, the second war with the British. Indeed, the War of 1812 appears to have been virtually ignored by historians. While determining the reasons for the aforementioned may be quite difficult, it can be argued that this is largely due to the fact that the war was inconclusive. In other words, not only does the war emerge as somewhat senseless but ended in a stalemate. A closer analysis of this particular conflict, however, exposes the aforementioned as a superficial understanding of the War of 1812. While it may have ended in a stalemate between the British and the American armies, an argument for the United States' victory can be made, both because of the Battle of New Orleans and the destruction of the Indian confederation. The War of 1812 was incited by nationalist sentiments and America's determined quest for independence. While the country had emerged victories from the American Revolution of 1783, Britain did not withdraw from the Great Lakes territory and provided the frontier Indians with quite significant backing against the American forces (Latimer, 2007).