Courage

Courage is not a lack of fear; it is doing something in spite of fear. This type of courage is exemplified in the book The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini when Amir Jan, the main character, risks his life for another. Amir truly reflects the qualities of a courageous person. One way Amir confronts his fears and acts courageously is when he puts his own life in danger to save the life of a child. He willingly disguises himself with a beard and travels to Afghanistan to free his best friend’s son from captivity.He knows upfront that if he is caught in a disguise, he will probably be executed, but he goes anyway. He stands up to the Taliban believing in his heart that it is the right thing to do. Another way Amir Jan shows bravery is when he starts arguing and making demands for the child’s release. He does this knowing that confrontation is not tolerated in Afghanistan. Making any type of demand almost always means death, but Amir refuses to back down. He perseveres knowin g he will probably lose his life.Some may not agree that Amir is really a hero because he spent most of his childhood hiding behind the courage of others. Although this is true, it has no bearing on whom he is as an adult. Most people would agree that a person should not be judged solely by his past failures, but rather on the strength of his developed character. Amir truly is a man of honorable character. He shows first hand how people can change when he stands up for what is right. Mankind needs to look at the good deeds that come out of past failures.Amir certainly has changed, and his actions reflect this change. He overcomes the fears and failures that haunt his past, and becomes a person of great courage, one who is truly respected because he is willing to do what others would not do. Thus, in the end Amir Jan shows who he really is. He is a brave, heroic character. He risks his life for the love of another human being, and he brings freedom to an innocent child. What a remark able feat! Thank God for the courage of Amir Jan!

Memory Joggers to Frame Your Lessons

Memory Joggers to Frame Your Lessons A difficulty that many students have after spending a day in class is crystallizing the key points and retaining the information taught. Therefore, as teachers we should devote time in each lesson to helping students see through the details to the core of what is being taught. This can be done through a combination of verbal and written cues. Following is a look at some of the ways that you can help students as they work through daily lessons in your class. Start With the Focus for the Day State What Students Will Be Able to Do at the End of the Lesson objectives convert fahrenheit to celsius temperature scale celsius Daily Agenda Posted With Topics/Subtopics Provide Students With a Notes Outline Materials and Equipment Lists Activity Structure End of the Day Review Relevance for Tomorrows Lesson Just like television shows end seasons with cliffhangers to whet the appetite and excite viewers for the next season, ending lessons by building interest for the next day can serve the same purpose. This can also help frame the information taught in the larger context of the unit or overall topic being taught.

Catchy Blog Titles 5 Steps, 100+ Formulas, 500+ Words

Catchy Blog Titles 5 Steps, 100+ Formulas, 500+ Words Do you like catchy blog titles like these? What 10 Studies Say About The Best Times To Post On Social Media How To Attract An Audience With The Best Blog Photography Tips (+128 Free Images) 21+ Easy Ways To Build An Email List That Will Skyrocket By 552% In 1 Year The 10-Minute, 10-Step Solution For The Best Blog Outline Data and psychology say you do. And so will your audience when you apply this method to your own blog posts. So would you like to learn how to write catchy blog titles like that? If youre genuinely interested in writing better, catchier, and awesome-r blog titles for your already great content, youre in the right place.  This post is going to help you maximize the time you invest in writing your  awesome content to help you get more social media shares and traffic from your blog titles. Youre going to learn how to use  the four pillars of awesome content in  your blog titles, how to  use psychology to increase shares and clicks, and how to use the best words to capture your audiences unique interest. To top it off, youll even get a ton of  proven catchy blog title templates, formulas, and structures weve seen work for getting more social shares and traffic. Lets do this thing. 5 Easy Steps And 100+ Formulas For The Best #BlogTitles That Will Quadruple Traffic3 Free Resources to Write Catchier Blog Titles Start writing better headlines now with these three free downloads: A Catchy Blog Titles inforgraphic that breaks down the elements of strong blog headlines. A Blog Title Performance Tracking Template to help you A/B test blog titles when shared on social media. A Content Calendar Excel Template to store your headline ideas and plan every blog post you write. Step 1: Write Catchy Blog Titles With The  4 Pillars Of Successful Content A very basic principle in content marketing is to  look back at your  best content and repeat its success. I've recently taken this idea to the next level at to help us use our data from past content to help us plan better content and actually predict future growth. That analysis revealed that top-performing content reflects four key traits extremely well. On the other hand,  worst-performing content does  poorly in all four areas. Simply rank each blog post according to four questions, giving each question a 1–3 ranking (meaning a top post according to your  gut would be a 12 whereas the worst would be a 4.) Was this a topic your readers would be deeply interested in learning more about? Was this post deeply researched to share unique and better information than any other source on the Internet? Did the post turn the research into actionable, exhaustive how-to advice? Was the keyword well-chosen and optimized throughout the post to help you  experience long-term traffic? After you rank them, compare each blog post's score to its page views to translate your  gut into actual data. The results should show that  most  of your  high scoring content ends up being your  best performing blog posts. If not, you just learned a lot about how your gut is off, and you can use your new knowledge backed by data to  strategically choose to publish better content. You can do this process for your content, too. But the point is: Since the idea of solid topic, research, depth, and keywords define success for content, your blog titles should reflect those qualities to connect with your audience from the moment they see your headlines. Translate your gut into data to strategically create better #content. #bloggingShare The Value Your Readers Will Get Behind The Click. The #1 thing that will help you write successful blog titles is by first creating content your audience will be deeply interested in learning more about. It makes sense, right? That's why this post kinda started off with that tangent, but it's coming full circle right now: Use the words  that describe the topic in your blog title. Avoid ambiguity. Ask yourself the question, "If I were a member of my audience, why would I read this blog post instead of any others like it? Why?" Then, like a little kid,  go down the why rabbit hole to get to the core value you're providing to your readers. Just like you would with marketing a product, define the value proposition for your blog posts and include that in your blog titles. From there, define the single best value proposition for your content. For example,  after a ton of brainstorming, this blog post's value proposition is to increase traffic. Recent research shows 29% of content marketers measure success primarily through social media and 38% see traffic as their #1 form of measurement. This blog post helps both of those groups of content marketers reach their goals. Pro Tip: Write your blog title  before you write your blog post. This practice will help you define the value proposition so you can connect it into the blog post, which guarantees your blog title will deliver on its promise. Use Numbers And Facts To Get 206% More Traffic To Your Blog Posts. ^See what I did there? The second pillar of successful content is to back up  the claims  you made in your value proposition with research. This is where you prove to your audience that your blog post is different because it's actually based on real success they could also experience if they just read your blog post. Use Numbers And Facts In Your #BlogTitles To Get 206% More Traffic To Your Blog Posts.Informal research from Canva and Ian Cleary of Razor Social suggests that including numbers in your blog titles  can double your social shares. Data from Brian Dean at Backlinko also suggests that including numbers in your blog titles  can increase your clickthrough rate by 36%! There are a few  ways to do this: Outline your blog post in the form of a list. Use the number of points from your list in your headline. Put a  real number to your value proposition. If your value proposition is to save time, your number could be  save 30 minutes of time. If your value proposition is to generate more sales, your number could be  generate 32% more sales. Share the sample size of your data to increase your credibility. For example, if your  post is about managing multiple projects at once and you sourced tips from 100 industry experts, include that number in your blog title. You get the picture. The blog post you're reading right now has several numbers; I chose to focus on 500 words, 100 templates, and the results you could achieve if you follow this advice with 438% more traffic.  We drew those 500 words from more than 1 million of the most-shared headlines we've seen go through , so I could have also included that number. Pro Tip: If you  have multiple numbers to increase your credibility and your audience's perception of success, write several headlines  with multiple numbers.  Then  A/B test them to eventually choose the best one and change your blog title even after your post publishes. That will give you more initial shares and click-throughs and  will boost your long-term traffic to that blog post. This is not blowing smoke. Seven  of our top 10 posts on the blog have at least one number in the blog title, if not more. And of those seven, six are in the top six positions and  they get on average 206% more traffic than an average blog post. Tell The Story And Deliver On The Expectation. The third pillar of awesome sauce content is depth and delivering on the promises you made in your blog title with your value proposition and research. Good #blog titles  are only as good as the extensive  advice that follows the click. #bloggingWhen you translate this to your blog title, it means telling the story truthfully and as clearly as you can. If your blog post doesn't follow through on the value proposition or you can't back up your number, you're doing it wrong. This is where you translate your actionable, in-depth, how-to advice into a few words that help your readers understand what to expect after clicking through to read your content: Critically analyze the words you use to make sure you deliver on your promise. For example, if you use the word template in your blog title, your audience will likely expect a free download of some kind. Make sure your blog post delivers on that promise. Consider searcher  intent when you write your blog titles. Ask yourself, "As a user, what would I expect to read if I clicked through on this blog title?" Critique the way you  include numbers to make sure you deliver on the promise. It seems obvious, but it's incredible how often blog titles  don't deliver on the promises they make. I wanted to include examples of successful blog titles  outside the marketing industry to complement this post. Unfortunately, I was super dismayed by the sheer lack of quality behind the headlines I found because they were purely click bait. Here are some things to look out for: I searched for "manage multiple projects" and clicked through to see the headlines: How to Manage Multiple Projects – 5 Things You Need 5 Most Common Mistakes in Managing Multiple Projects: Micromanagement Leadership (Part 1) How to Manage Multiple Projects Managing Multiple Projects, Objectives and Deadlines 7 Ways to Juggle Multiple Project Tasks- and Get Things Done The top five search results promised how to resolve my challenge to manage multiple projects at once, but they barely scratched the surface. You can avoid situations like these for yourself by thinking of searcher intent: As a searcher, I want to know how to manage multiple projects at once. As a searcher, I want detailed information on process- so a step-by-step procedure would be great. As a searcher, I don't care about your blog's word count goals but rather  getting all of the information I need to do my job better. If you were to click-through the top five search results for this example,  most of the blog posts don't deliver on these three searcher stories (to use a term  from agile project management). In fact, #2 only delivers one  mistake instead of the five it promises while all of the others neglect the how to nature they promise. That causes poor  reader experience  that could  increase your bounce rate and cause you to lose fans like my friend John here who commented on a recent post Ben wrote: Good blog titles  are only as good as the actionable, in-depth, and how-to advice that follows  after the clickthrough. Takeaway: Write blog titles  that tell the complete story in your posts, and deliver on the promise you make. If you're not sure if you're making this mistake, take a look at your bounce rate in Google Analytics. If it's more than 5%, you  can use the advice from this post to help you work through even better blog titles. Use The Keyword In Your Blog Title. The fourth pillar of great content is  optimizing it for your audience to find it via search engines.  The 17% of you who put 5–10 hours into writing blog posts can get more traffic from your content if you simply optimize it so people can find it when they need it. I say it that way because Google seems to reward longer content with better rankings. And if time is an indicator of length, depth, covering everything having to do with that topic and giving actionable stories, then those who spend more time creating content have  more opportunity to get traffic and social shares from this pillar of successful blog posts. Relating that back to your blog titles, Brian Dean recently researched the top 200 ranking factors that make Google tick, and one of them was this: H1 tags are a â€Å"second title tag† that sends another relevancy signal to Google, according to results from this correlation study. What Brian is trying to say, is  that when you target a keyword in your  blog posts, it makes sense to include that keyword  in your blog titles for your page title and H1. Brian also notes that including the keyword closer to the beginning of your blog title (specifically in your page title) helps search engines understand the importance of it in relation to your post. Step 2: Use Psychological Triggers In Your Blog Titles To Encourage More Social Shares Jonah Berger is the author of Contagious: Why Things Catch On, and found there are six STEPPS behind the psychology of contagious content: Social currency: People talk about things to make them look good. Triggers: Topics  that are at the top of your mind are at the tip of your tongue. Emotion: When you care about something, you share it. Public: When you see people doing something, you'll imitate it. Practical value: You share things to help others. Stories: You like to share things that are wrapped in narratives. I'll let Jonah himself explain his research a little more thoroughly: Neil Patel also  researched a few different studies to find five  key elements that help  influence social shares: Curiosity Amazement Interest Astonishment Uncertainty And when the New York Times analyzed why their readers were sharing content, they found people share: Valuable and entertaining content to change opinions or encourage action. Content that helps define who they are and what they care about. Information that helps them stay in touch with people  and maintain relationships. Content that helps them feel involved in the world. Content that supports causes or brands they care about. Now, all of  this  goes way beyond writing catchy blog titles, and it's  all great advice you can use to craft even better content.  But let's take all of  this research  and apply it to your blog titles specifically: Appeal To Your Audience's Emotional Need For Resolution. Appeal to  the emotional reasons people would read your content. Understanding your readers' challenges  and suggesting your blog post offers a solution immediately from your headline will encourage clicks and shares. For example, think of headlines that include  that will messaging in them:  21+ Easy Ways To _____  That Will Skyrocket Your Followers By 552% In 1 Year. Recommended Reading: Proof that Emotional Headlines Get Shared More on Social Media Focus On The Remarkability Within Your Content. Take advantage of trendy words and appeal to entertainment, amazement, and astonishment. Jonah uses the word remarkable often to describe content that gets shared- so include noteworthy information in your blog titles that shows the remarkable information your readers will get after they click. For example, Neil Patel offers this example for a blog title that amazes:  How Spending $162,301.42 on Clothes Made Me $692,500. That  blog title also has numbers as proof that you can experience the same success as Neil if you just follow his advice. Make Your Audience Feel Like Rock Stars Among Their Peers. Write  your blog titles to help people look good. Your readers  want to feel successful, engaged in the world, and be supportive. Your readers  feel as though the blog titles from the content they share- like yours- define who they are as people. A great way to connect this emotion to your blog titles is through uncertainty.  When someone reads your blog post, they know the answer to something others don't- so let them boast their knowledge while also encouraging more clicks back to your content. Do this by asking questions. And not just any questions. Close-ended questions that essentially cause your readers to answer with yes or no. In a recent case study, I found that social messages with close-ended questions get more clickthroughs than any other type of social message we shared. In fact, close-ended questions get 255% more clickthroughs than open-ended questions! For example, write a blog title like: Are You Using _____  To Get 277% More _____?  Blog titles like this suggest that the sharer knows the answer and is getting the kind of success your headline promises. It also makes anyone seeing that blog title feel the fear of missing out (FOMO) that will encourage them to click through just to know the answer. And hey, you might get the snowball effect of yet another share. Provide A Practical Way To Solve A Problem. Blog titles that focus on practical value are those that offer how-to, actionable, and oftentimes  step-by-step solutions to problems. They cover information that is interesting- not the same-old thing that feels like it's been done over and over again. You can do this by differentiating your  blog titles by including your value proposition in them directly. For example, this blog title includes the value proposition of doing something super quickly (because who has time these days) coupled with a promise of doing it in 10 quick steps:  The 10-Minute, 10-Step Solution For The Best _____. Step 3: Use Catchy Words That Are Proven To Increase Action So other than focusing on telling  a complete story with your blog title and connecting it to your audience's emotional needs, what specific words make certain blog titles catchier than others? Do You Use The Words Your Audience Uses In Your Blog Titles? That's a good question  and one that Joanna Wiebe from Copy Hackers has an answer to. Joanna is a copywriting genius. When I read her Headlines, Subheadlines, and Value Propositions  book recently, one very interesting point really stuck with me (among tons of others- you should totally check out her  book since you're interested in writing better blog titles): Use the words your audience uses in your blog titles. That's a very simple idea, and it's one that can help you connect with your audience immediately because it's exactly how they think. While planning  a headline test with Crazy Egg's website, Joanna surveyed their users by asking them to describe Crazy Egg in two to three words. From there, she worked  the most-used words into her headlines to connect with  an audience like Crazy Egg's existing users. That. Is. Brilliant. So when we launched a new course recently, I took Joanna's advice  and  used the words from our audience's biggest challenges in the headline to connect with their lingo immediately: The words were:  on track, organized, and save time. The result? For an initial launch just to our existing email subscribers, 2,181 people signed up with page view to signup conversion rate of 27%! You can apply that same strategy to the words you use in your blog titles  by sending a simple survey to your existing email subscribers. Just promise them a reward (a free e-book or  exclusive content of some kind is perfect for this), that it'll only take two minutes, and ask one simple question: "What is your biggest professional challenge as a (insert job title here)?" That will  not only give you tons of blog post ideas; you'll also have their own words you can use in all of your copy- and blog titles- moving forward. Use Words Proven To Increase Your Social Media Shares. Since is a social media editorial calendar tool, we have access to millions of blog titles. Literally. So, being the data nerds we are, we looked at more than 1 million headlines and found the words used most often in the top shared content. From there, we compiled a list for you of those 500 words to use as a tear sheet for inspiration  the next time you're writing blog titles: Pro Tip: Use these words with the headline analyzer to increase  your grade and score as you write your blog titles. Step 4: Rock These Catchy Blog Title Templates To  Jumpstart Your Creativity So you could take  all the advice from this post and start writing catchy blog titles right now. You know the background of your four pillars of successful content, how to connect to your audience emotionally, and how to use catchy words in your headlines. Or you could get a little more advice from the headline pros out there with some formulas so you don't have to come up with everything from scratch. Sound good? Let's take a look at the best blog title templates from around the Interwebs. Write better headlines with formulas from Joanna Wiebe of Copy Hackers:  Joanna wrote an amazing post with every copywriting formula you could imagine. In it, she says she keeps a swipe file handy for when she sees cool headlines she'd like to use for inspiration later on. Might be something for you to consider, too. :) Write magnetic headlines with templates from Brian Clark of Copyblogger: Brian is a genius when it comes to writing pretty much anything. He has some great advice for using social proof, insider knowledge, and appealing to ease to get more traffic. Get attention with headline templates from Michael Hyatt:  Michael is a friend of who's built a platform of 615,597 fans to date. His blog titles definitely tie into the information throughout this post, and his templates- though simple- are extremely effective at getting more readers. Increase conversions with  headline formulas from Sherice Jacob on the Crazy Egg blog:  Sherice takes the stance that  writing great copy is an art and a science. She's helped a bunch of folks increase conversion rates with her headline writing skillz. Since Crazy Egg- a tool that helps people get better conversions- thought this information was awesome, I thought you gals and guys would enjoy it, too. Get more social shares with a little advice from users: We recently analyzed the 4,302,684  blog titles in our database, focusing on the headline structure behind the 1,000 most popular posts that got the most social shares of any content we've ever seen. Those formulas are proven to increase your chances of getting more social shares from your blog titles. To top off that list, I'd also like to share the blog title structures from our top-performing content on the blog: What {#}  Studies Say About  {Subject} {#} {Noun}  That Are Proven To  {Desirable Outcome} {#} Ways To Be {Adjective}  When You Don’t  {Verb} {Adjective} How To {Verb}  An {Audience} With The Best {Subject}  Tips (+{#} Free {Resources}) {#} Data-Driven {Noun}  From {#}  Of The Most Popular  {Noun} {#}+ Easy Ways To {Verb  A  {Noun}  That Will Skyrocket By {#}% In 1 Year How To Use {Noun}  To Increase Your  {Desirable Outcome} The {#}-Minute, {#}-Step Solution For The Best  {Noun} How To Rock A {Noun}  That Will Save You Tons Of Time How To {Verb}  Your {Noun}  For Massive Growth If you start with these ten blog title formulas and write  'em in the headline analyzer, I can nearly guarantee you'll get an awesome grade and score which means you'll get more social shares for your hard work. Which brings me to the last step here... How To Write Catchy Blog Titles With 100+ Proven Templates That Increase Social SharesStep 5: Use 5 Blog Title Tools To Take Your Headlines To The Next Level Woohoo! You made it and understand the best ways to write  super catchy blog titles. Let's  just say you're having a bit of trouble staying inspired.  There are some great  tools out there to help you out: Impact has a blog title generator that helps you insert a topic you'd like to write about and spits out all sorts of headlines to get the inspiration going. Similarly, HubSpot as a blog topic generator that will help you enter in a couple nouns that you might use in your blog post (think about using the keyword), and generate a bunch of topics based on your nouns. Where HubSpot starts, SEOPressor takes it a step further and literally asks you to enter a keyword into their blog title generator to get the ideas flowing. And if you're looking for something a little more humorous and trendy, the content idea generator by Portent is the one for you. Last but not least, once you come up with your headline through any of these generators, run it through the headline analyzer  (which is now built directly into your editorial calendar, too). While your blog title might be close, you could probably use a few of the lessons you've learned from this post- along with the huge list of emotional words- to improve your blog title even further to increase your social shares. How To Use What You've Learned In A Meaningful Way You're a headline  maniac now with your 5-step process for writing a super catchy blog title. I wanted to recap with a bit of advice you might have seen from us in the past because if you're serious about improving your blog titles, this is how to take what you just learned to the next level: Write your headline first- before writing your post. That will help you focus on the value proposition to keep your writing on track. Write at least 25 headlines for every post. Your first take at this might feel awkward, and this process gives you the chance to work through tons of ideas to find the best ones you can use in A/B tests. When you put the time into writing great blog titles, use them for multiple purposes. Share alternative versions you came up with in your blog title brainstorm on social media, and A/B test your headlines in your email subject lines. Download and use alternative headlines throughout your post to encourage more social shares. Don't worry so much about the mechanics. Word count and length- though important in some contexts like subject lines- don't matter as much as the catchiness factor you learned about in this post. If you decide to write catchy headlines  through this process, make sure the content behind the click is just as powerful as your promise. Plan time to improve your blog titles by analyzing  data from your own audience. This  process definitely works for increasing traffic and social shares- but you may have to adjust the pillars according to your own findings. You've got this. :)

Strategic Management and Leadership Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Strategic Management and Leadership - Assignment Example Product mix of the company is essentially constituted of a larger percentage of beverage products followed by food items and also other exclusive coffee products. The company also exclusively works to sell equipments and accessories relating to the production of coffee thereby diversifying on its product mix. Moreover the company management works to administer the operation of the stores on their own rather than depending on franchisees. Success for Starbucks can also be measured by its market size and growth rate as the coffee brands has developed itself and become a global brands. Starbuck presently holds 30% of market share second to Costa Coffee in the UK market and market share of 74330.7% (Neate, 2012). Sales of Starbucks coffee generated 26.5million in 2012 and continued to introduce variants of different type and thus earn profits and increase market share (Restaurants Brands, 2012, p. 8) Starbucks also focuses on enhancement of market share and penetration of larger markets through focusing on conducting sales through other co-branded outlets. Similarly the company also focused on reaching to target consumer bases like youths and children in the form of conducting sales through use of kiosks. ... The marketing strategy of the firm greatly depends on activities like referrals in the form of word-of-mouth and also through the gaining in of support by other partnership companies and alliances in the industry. The company markets its message to the customers through the use of electronic mails rendered in by the people in their visits to the different stores. Further the company also works through the formation of strategic business and promotional alliances with other firms to gain on in distribution and marketing efforts (Larson, 2009, p.3-6). Another secret for the success of Starbucks in the global market for specialised coffee products counts on its enhanced social media marketing efforts. The social media networking activities of the company helps in gaining a large number of followers both in Facebook and Twitter where these people tend to post a large number of messages about their experiences on Starbucks’ products and services. The company through the use of soci al networking sites focuses on gaining a large number of potential feedbacks and recommendations. Through the use of such open communication networks the company tends to enhance its relationship with the consumers while operating in the global market. Similarly the company also encourages sharing videos and experiences on the web thereby focusing on to develop an emotional relationship with its target consumer base. Moreover the company through the use of different social networking sites focuses on empowering the consumers to render potential decisions about business, service and product development categories. These ideas being incorporated in its operational and service dimensions thereby create a sense of belongingness among the consumers relating to the

Buildng construction for fire services (Brannigan & Corbett) Final Research Paper

Buildng construction for fire services (Brannigan & Corbett) Final - Research Paper Example The changes to these codes is expected to make tall buildings safer around the world and better equipped to handle a disaster. Building codes have been in use in the US for over 100 years since the first model code was written by the National Board of Underwriters in 1905. These codes have been revised and updated based on new materials and construction methods as they became available. Building damage during natural events like hurricanes, tornadoes and earthquakes led to revisions and upgrades of the building codes. The codes are written to establish the minimum requirements but the construction industry has often treated these as the maximum requirements (Dehring, 2006, p10, 11). Two comparatively recent major building disasters have led to the coining of the term â€Å"progressive collapse† and have led to the modification of building codes to prevent these from happening. In 1968, a gas explosion in a kitchen on the 18th floor of the 22-story Ronan Towers Apartment Building in London, UK knocked out pre-cast concrete load bearing panels in a corner of the building and that loss of support caused an entire corner bay of the building to collapse. The Murrah Federal Office Building in Oklahoma City was destroyed in 1995 by a bomb in a truck in the basement of the building. The bomb explosion damaged or destroyed three columns which led to the failure of a transfer girder. This caused the columns supported by the transfer girder and the floor areas supported by those columns to collapse causing a general collapse (Nair, 2004, p 1, 2). In both cases, the structural collapse is considered disproportionate to the trigger and the engineering community and the codes have attempted to change design codes to prevent such disproportionate damage. In general, codes attempt to improve building safety using three approaches – increasing local resistance, creating redundancy or improving interconnection (Nair, 2004, p2, 3). Increasing local

Gentiva Health Services Financial Analysis Report Term Paper

Gentiva Health Services Financial Analysis Report - Term Paper Example The paper is divided into the following sections: background information, revenue analysis, financial analysis and management. Finally, the last section gives a conclusion based on the author’s point of view on the soundness of the company’s activities. Outline Outline 3 Background Information 4 Operating Revenue 5 Financial Management 7 Sources of capital 8 Capital Expenditure Management 9 Financial management analysis 9 Conclusion 11 Background Information Gentiva health services provider is one of the largest health care and hospice providers in the majority of the states in America. In 1971, Gentiva launched its home healthcare business and under the umbrella of Olsten Corporation, a split took place in March 2000 separating Olsten and Gentiva Health services, which is now one of the largest health service providers in the nation and ranked among the ten largest after acquiring The Health field Group, Inc., in 2006. Gentiva Health Services provides hospice services throughout 420 locations and at least forty-one states. These services include skilled nursing, hospice services, nutrition, social work, and disease management education. The company also takes part in assisting needy people in their daily living activities. The proposed introduction of the health services reform that requires health service providers to cut down service charges has tremendously affected the organization’s business. In response to the proposed regulation, the organization sold thirty-four of its branches in 2011 and has sold another bunch of ten branches in 2012. As a result of these sales, there are short lived and long-term effects on the expenditures and revenues earned by the company (financial performance). The effects of the recent acquisitions and dispositions on short term securities are evident on the balance sheet totals. These dispositions have reduced the short term securities owned by the company. Part of the accrued benefits from the sale of it s branches has been directed to make strategic acquisitions in pursuant of increased fixed assets portfolio. Following the closure of some branches, there is a reduction in accounts receivables as a result of reduction in numbers of customers served by the closed branches. Newly acquired branches may take time before they build a substantial number of customers. Gentiva company endeavors to venture into new market niches, this implies an increase in the inventory of the company. Overall cost of running the company may immensely reduce as a result of the reduction in the workload due to closure of some branches. Closed branches will reduce accrued revenue and expenses for the company. New business ventures require new employees; initially this may raise the running expenses especially due to training costs. With the expansion, the company will reduce operational costs and expenses and claim a high market niche. To retain its relevance in the presence of the reduced health service cha rges as indicated by the health reform, each service provider must engage extra efforts; else, most of the service providers may find it difficult to cope with the incorporation of the new law. This paper gives an analysis of the activities of Gentiva Health services in relation to revenue management, financial analysis and financial management with an aim to evaluate the soundness of the organization’

Social Issues Essay Example for Free

Social Issues Essay 1) What social issues do I feel strongly about? I feel strongly that the minimum wage should be raised because the lower class will be able to provide for themselves and their families.The government feels the lower your class, the lower the cost of living , which is not necessarily true. I think that it’s more expensive to live in a lower class area.For example in Dayton,Ohio, the cost of living is â€Å"low† as opposed to Atlanta,Georgia, and the high expense of living. At the wage it is at they will never be able to rise out of the poverty stricken levels. It seems like the cost of living and food is steady rising but the pay is slowing rising. Companies are making millions and even billions and its employees are barely able to make a decent living, while the higher ups need to take a pay cut. Employees who make minimum wage have a much higher stress load and are at the crossroads between paying the light bill or putting food on the table. Then you have the higher ups who seems to only have to decide where they want to go for vacation or what new car or house to buy. 2) How do I go about solving personal problems? When I need to solve a personal problem I try to first figure out what is causing the issue and what I can do to eliminate it. If that doesn’t help I seek help from family and friends who have the same issue or issues. I try to find someone who has experience and ask them what they have done to help them out. I also seek help from professional doctors, therapists, instructors and or counselors. I understand that some problems will not go away on their own or overnight so I make sure to not get overwhelmed. It was suggested that I take it one problem , one step and one day at a time. I have also learned that writing in journal or notebook has helped as well. I believe that listening to music and meditating are also great ways to reduce stress and solve problems. A lot of people tend to use violence as away to escape there problems. I on the other hand am totally against violence unless its really called for. When I feel overwhelmed, frustrated, angry,  stressed and hurt, it cause anxiety to kick in fullest extreme. 3) Do I readily seek help from others when I need it? I do not always seek help from others when i need it because I have found that a lot of people tend to give their personal opinions versus helpful advice. I do however seek help from a few individuals when every other option hasn’t helped or worked out. It depends on the issue and the person in whom I am asking. For example if I was in a situation and I needed advice I would probably sit and think of ways of figuring it out for at least three days before I would even consider seeking additional help. It’s not so much that I’m independent. I dont mind receiving help , I just rather be able to say I did this on my own. Some individuals end to feel that they are better than you when you seek help from them. 4) Which of my values would I like to change? I would like to change my focus and my ambition for my youngest son to go to college because I want that to be his decision.I do not want my focus and what I want for him to drown out his own focus or dreams in life. Of course, I want him to do well and excel in life but I want him to make his own decisions and choices so he does not resent me when he gets older. As his mother it is easy to want to plan his life, career choice, mate, house car, etc etc but I understand that he will be an adult and make his own choices and all I can do is raise him to be a respectable young man and teach him good home values. Also as his mother , I can be a positive role model for him. Some mothers tend to get angry with their children , when they see them doing the same behaviors they were showing. As my son gets older i wont do things around him, that i wouldnt want him doing as a man. I do know he will do what he feels is best for him. I just have to accept that my focus and ambition is to be the b est mother I can be for him.