How computer viruses work :: essays research papers

How computer viruses workComputer viruses be not mute very well, but they get your attention. Viruses show us how vulnerable we are, but they also show how open and worldly human beings have become. Microsoft and other huge companies had to shut down all their e-mail systems when the Melissa virus became a worldwide event.A computer virus is passed on from angiotensin converting enzyme computer to other computer. A virus must ride on top of some other course of instruction to document in order to perform an instruction. After it is running, it crapper and then infect other programs.Viruses were first seen in the late 1980s the first factor was the spread of personal computers. Before the 1980s home computers were non-existent or they were used for toys, and the real computers were very rare and they were locked away to only be used by the experts.The second factor was the se of the bulletin boards each one could get to a bulletin board if they had a modem and download progr ams. Bulletin boards led to the precursor of the virus known as the Trojan Horse. It is a program that sounds really cool when you read it, so then people download it, and when people run the program, however, it does something uncool standardized erasing your disk, so people think that they are getting something neat, but it wipes out their system.The third factor to viruses is the floppy disk. Programs were atrophied and they could fit the operating system, or a word processor onto the floppy disk, and then turn on the machine and it would load the operating system and everything else off the disk. Viruses took advantage of these three facts to create the first self-replicating programsEarly viruses were pieces of code attached to programs like games or word processors. People could download an infected game from a bulletin board and run it, and a virus like this is a small piece of code embedded in a larger, legitimate program. The virus loads its self to memory and looks aroun d to see if it can find any programs on the hard disk. When it finds one it modifies it to the viruss code to the program. Then the virus launches the real program, and the user has no way of knowing that it is infected. The next sentence this program is executed, they infect other programs, and the cycle continues.

Child Behavioral Case Study Essay -- Psychology Learning Children

Child Behavioral Case Study1) General InformationStudent name Larry Date of Testing Grade 1Date of Birth Chronological Age School 2) Reason for Assessmentis currently having difficulties with learning and behavior. frequently is out of his throughout the day, and answers aloud before universe called on to give the answers and struggles to follow directions. also has learning difficulties in reading decoding and reading comprehension.3) Background Informationlives with is grandparents, parents and one younger sister. Grandparents cover Spanish. Parents and children speak Spanish and English. had been ill frequently during first grade and missed a number of days of school. Parents indicated enjoys school.4) Prereferral findingsThe teacher has been using district reading series, cooperative class for reading activities, using card to follow while reading, cueing before asking questions as well as sticker chart for hand raising and work while in his seat, which has helped.5) Assessm ent observationsSensory Abilities No problem notedLanguage Flight of ideasApprehension No problem notedBehavior during interrogation Impulsive ResponsesDistractibility Attention to external stimuliReaction to wrong Responses PersistMotor Activity Fidgets, SquirmsGeneral Attitude Alert, FriendlyMotor Ability Quick push executionCooperativeness Responsive6) Assessment Rules1) Behavior Rating Profile (BRP-2) is test that ha...

Matthew Henson and Merrick Johnston Discovery of the North Pole :: essays research papers

Matthew Henson and Merrick Johnston both achieved something extraordinary. Matthew Henson was awarded as the co-discoverer of the North Pole. Merrick Johnston was the youngest person ever to climb Mt. McKinley. Although they differ, both of their ambitions were hard to achieve and were a huge milestone for each person. Life was forever changed for both Henson and Johnston when they reached their destination.In the dictionary, a goal is something that one hopes or intends to accomplish. Henson accomplished his goal on April 6th, 1909. As a boy, he travelled around on ship and achieved seagoing experience. When he was a store clerk, Robert Peary hired him and introduced Henson to his new goal, which was to climb the North Pole. After a number of tries, he finally reached the top. Johnston had her vision of climbing Mt. McKinley since she was 9. She finally started her journey up the mountain on June 2nd. Although snow occasionally kept her from advancing on her path, Johnston finally moved(p) the top on June 23rd when she was 12 years, 5 months, and 5 days old. Henson and Johnston both accomplished their dreams.Henson and Johnston each needed certain qualities and characteristics to achieve their goals. Henson had experience at sea, was fluent in the Eskimo language, and was skilled in making useful equipment that was needed to survive the path to the North Pole. His perseverance kept him trying to achieve his dream after a number of times in which he failed. Johnstons training had consisted of gymnastics, hiking, skiing, and snowboarding. She even climbed Mt. Goode to get more experience. Her ability to keep focus on her goal brought her to the top of Mt. McKinley. Determination burned in both Henson and Johnston day after day. If it was not for these qualities, Henson and Johnston might not have reached their destination.

Essay --

Stanford Medical Center is located in Stanford, California and ranked as one of the best hospitals in the United States while also serving as a teaching hospital. Stanford is internationally known for its expertise in so many medical areas and for years they have continue to discover and create while working together to improve health on a planetary scale. In 2008, Stanford decided that they wanted to increase trainee and faculty exposure to international health and in doing so they created a group of Stanford and UCSF faculty to go on an exploratory mission to Vietnam. Vietnam lacks good health facilities and hospitals to better serve its patients. Stanfords long term goal was to implement a curriculum development and go away opportunities for faculty to pursue research within different cultural and scientific environments. (Viet Nam Welcomes Stanford and UCSF Faculty, 2008) My report will discuss the scenario if the Vietnam government requested Stanford to develop a co-branding under rest where Stanford Medical Center would operate a Vietnam healthcare facility and send some of its clinicians over to train and educate the facilitys doctors and nursing ply while helping improve and monitor Vietnams health quality programs. First, what is co-branding? Co-branding is a technique used by many businesses and healthcare to help with cocksure associations of another companys product or brand. In this case the co-branding strategy is being used to gain more marketplace exposure. Long standing health care organizations as with any well-known organization will carry a franchise that represents loyalty both internally and with consumers. Stanford is a appellation already known by consumers which will further attract patients especially when ... ...ame to it. Second one would be to ensure that the victor mission, values, culture, and benefits are instilled and guaranteed in every(prenominal) organization thats in co-branding. My third recommendation is to expa nd the target market by suiting to the environments culture. (Mlissa Bever, Stphanie Lallemand , 2011) Localization or universal slogans are Copernican because even though an organizations brand values and culture means one thing in American markets, in a strange land those words and meanings could be different and its a simple fact that some concepts dont translate between cultures. This is when a team would perform a transcreation. Transcreation is copywriting in a foreign language and this is valuable because they re-write the brand message for the target country to help them understand and appreciate the original message and how it reflects the company.

Capital Punishment :: essays research papers fc

There has been a total of 374 executions within the United States between 1976 through 1999. The methods of the executions have been electrocutions, deadly injections, gas chambers, firing squads and respites. ElectrocutionAn alternating true of about 2000 volts of electricity passes through the body. The criminal is strapped into a speci whollyy constructed electric chair. One electrode is applied to the scalp, the opposite to the calf of one leg. The electrodes are moistened with a salt solution to ensure adequate contact. Death usually occurs within two minutes after the current has started to flow through the body. Lethal InjectionA small tube is inserted in the prisoners vein to ensure easy access when its time to inject the acerbate. The poison is very lethal and death occurs quickly.Gas ChamberThe person is sealed in an enclosure where poison pellets of gas are released. The poison pollutes the airways and stops all breathing. The gas pellets strangle the prisoner, takin g his or her breath away until the veins under the skin burst.Firing SquadReceiving multiple bullets throughout the body while universe shot by a firing line. Death usually occurs from a loss of blood unless shot in the heart.Hanging Suspending the condemned person by the neck, usually with a noosed rope or cord from a frame with a crosspiece commonly known as a gallow. Death through hanging results from compression of the windpipe, obstruction of blood flow and rupture of nerve structures in the neck. The spinal cord is damaged or severed through the fracture or dislocation of the first three cervical vertebrae. (Andrews, Interquest)Take a minute and think of why most countries dont use some of the out of date methods to carry out the death sentence such as Crucifixion, boiling in oil, beheading, burning alive, crushing, stoning, or drowning. The United States is still using an uncivilized cause that has been rejected by most countries hundreds of years ago. The eighth amendment of the Constitution states against the infliction of cruel and unusual punishment. This is definitely against the Constitution that the United States hold so affectionately is just one reason why the death penalty is wrong. (Morgon, p. 52-54)From a religious point of view, many of us were taught that it was wrong to kill per the Ten politys in the command, THY SHALL NOT KILL. This epitomizes the Divine Command Theory because this was commanded by God and therefore is good.

Capital Punishment :: essays research papers fc

There has been a total of 374 executions within the join States between 1976 through 1999. The methods of the executions have been electrocutions, lethal injections, gas chambers, firing squads and hangings. ElectrocutionAn alternating current of about 2000 volts of voltaicity passes through the body. The criminal is strapped into a specially constructed electric chair. One electrode is applied to the scalp, the other to the calf of one leg. The electrodes are moistened with a salt solution to ensure adequate contact. Death usually occurs within two minutes after the current has started to flow through the body. Lethal InjectionA small tube is inserted in the prisoners vein to ensure easy gateway when its time to inject the poison. The poison is very lethal and death occurs quickly.Gas ChamberThe person is sealed in an enclosure where poison pellets of gas are released. The poison pollutes the airways and stops all breathing. The gas pellets strangle the prisoner, taking his or her breath away until the veins under the skin burst.Firing SquadReceiving multiple bullets throughout the body while being shot by a firing line. Death usually occurs from a loss of blood unless shot in the heart. hanging Suspending the condemned person by the neck, usually with a noosed rope or cord from a frame with a crosspiece commonly known as a gallow. Death through hanging results from compression of the windpipe, obstruction of blood flow and rupture of nerve structures in the neck. The spinal cord is damaged or break up through the fracture or dislocation of the first three cervical vertebrae. (Andrews, Interquest)Take a minute and think of why most countries dont use some of the old methods to carry out the death sentence such as Crucifixion, boiling in oil, beheading, burning alive, crushing, stoning, or drowning. The United States is quieten using an uncivilized practice that has been rejected by most countries hundreds of years ago. The eighth amendment of the Const itution states against the infliction of cruel and unusual punishment. This is definitely against the Constitution that the United States hold so dearly is just one reason why the death penalty is violate. (Morgon, p. 52-54)From a religious point of view, many of us were taught that it was wrong to kill per the Ten Commandments in the command, THY SHALL NOT KILL. This epitomizes the Divine Command Theory because this was commanded by God and therefore is good.

Chipotle

Sec. 002 Team 1 GB 214 Operations Analysis Chipotle Mexican Grill Assignment 3 Supply Chain 1. Major Components/Inputs of the Product & Suppliers Chipotle uses several suppliers when ordering and receiving their f ar products. Chipotles main objective is to provide fodder with organic and natur totallyy with child(p) backgrounds. Because of these values, Chipotle self-conceits itself in using suppliers that follow their guidelines of food with integrity structure, by meeting the requirements and goals for food safety, animal welfare, sustainability, and social accountability. Chipotles customer service manager, Shannon Kyllo, stated in her email that the company continuously changes its suppliers to source the best ingredients and also provided a list of their vegetable and dairy product suppliers. Calavo growers, Index Fresh and Mission Avacados go forth Avacados to Chipotle, and their Romaine lettuce and cilantro suppliers are Taylor farms and Church Br early(a)s. Daisy and Smith Dairy supply Chipotle with Sour Cream and the company gets its supply of cheese from Meister Cheese, Petaluma Cheese and Glanbia. Coca-Cola is Chipotles supplier for beverages and has had this contract since McDonalds were Chipotles main investors. 3 Also, the Mcilhenny Company supplies Tobasco as a condiment for Chipotle. 4 The industry leaders in Fast-food restaurant kitchen appliances are S placehbend, Globe, Frymaster, Blodgett, Food benefit Warehouse and Insigner. These companies are the top players who supply kitchen appliances to the major fast-food Chains, like Chipotle. 5 2. Type of Supply Chain and ServicesChipotles supply arrange is droll from other fast casual restaurants and service firms, and does not necessitate a set traditional supply chain. Of the four main supply chains, Chipotles supply chain resembles the Assemble-To-Order (ATO) supply chain the closest. This is because the customer has complete freedom of what ingredients go into their burrito/bowl/s alad/etc. , but only with the ingredients that are behind the counter. So in that case, in that respect is not complete freedom in designing a meal, but the customer can choose and amount of ingredients to be included in their food item.However, this is not set in stone, for their supply chain also contains elements of other supply chain methods, such as the Build-To-Order (BTO) supply chain, for the customer has some chance in the customization of their product (meal), but are limited to the design parameters (set ingredients) set by the firm. The stages of Chipotles supply are fairly simple. It starts with the acquisition of the raw materials (ingredients) that are shipped to one of their 22 independently owned distribution centers. 6 These ingredients come from within a 350 mile radius of the distribution center.The ingredients are then shipped out to the restaurants, where all of the ingredients are prepared in-house with the exception of the barbacoa and the beans. Once the i ngredients arrive at the restaurant, they are prepared and placed out ready to be made into burritos/lawn bowling/salads/etc. When a customer comes to a Chipotle, they simply wait in line, then once at the counter, go down the assembly line of ingredients and chose which precise ones they want to include in their meal. When they are finished constructing their item, they pay the cashier and either take their meal to-go or have a seat in the dining area in the restaurant. 3. Supply Diagram (See Attachment 1) 4. Supple Chain/ Operations Strategy Chipotle believes that their unrelenting effort to revolutionize fast food through their unique way of production and people cultures will help them to move forward in building a valuable company for their stakeholders. 6 Chipotle focuses on its product differentiation, market segmentation, operational excellence, and customer intimacy. 6 The product assembler to customer stage in chipotles supply chain immediately aligns with its focus on o perational excellence and customer intimacy in its operations strategy. Chipotle explains their goal of operational excellence with its statement, The natural flow of our restaurant layout, including the taradiddle plan and the design of our serving line, are designed to hold the food ordering process intuitive and, we believe, more efficient. The customers deal somewhat directly with the manufacturers of chipotles product in their stores with the assembly line. 6 Customers have limited choice in overall product but some choice in the precondition (ingredients that go in their order) of the product. The assembly line allows customers to get their food fast and assemble then limitedly build their order. 6 All of this allows for a high item of customer intimacy during the service. 6 The raw materials to distributor to product assembler stages reflect with chipotles focus on product differentiation and market segmentation. 6 Chipotles strategy is influenced by the fast and high qu ality food market. 6 Chipotle states, Serving high quality food while still charging just prices is critical to our vision to change the way people think about and eat fast food. 6 Chipotle serves food with integrity and part of the way they make this possible is with their supply chain. 6 The raw materials stage is the suppliers/outsourcers that provide the high quality ingredients that go into Chipotles product. 6 These go to distribution centers (distributor), which are all relatively close to the product assemblers (stores). 6 The food is then prepared by the product assemblers. 6 This allows Chipotle to have high quality, fresh food and makes them particularise in product differentiation. 6 5. Outsourced ActivitiesChipotle mentions that it currently sources most of its key ingredients like chicken, porc and beef from a limited number of suppliers. 6 But at the same time chipotle ventured into local outsourcing in 2008 when they launched a pilot program to outsource all its or ganic pork products for its Charlottesville, Va. , location from a local supplier, Polyface farms. 8 They felt that using local organizations to outsource would help them have fresh ingredients and plug that the respective source follows their food with integrity motto. After the initial achievement of Chipotle, the executives realized that they had to improve one of their products the shredded pork which they used in almost all their food items. 9 This is when Chipotle found an advertisement for the farmers of Niman Ranch, a pork supplying company. 9Steve Ellis took interest in this supplier after he sampled some of its organically grown products. 9 Chipotles spokesman, Chris Arnold, stated after Ellis essay the pork What so impressed Ellis, in addition to the quality of Niman Ranch pork, was the way in which the Calif. based company raised its animals, from feeding practices to the land on which the hogs roamed. 9 The Niman Ranch experience completely changed the way Chipotle selected from their food suppliers, them having contracts with ranches in the Midwest for pork and livestock helped them cover a larger geographic country and facilitate the demand for Chipotle Mexican Grill. 9 Along with Niman Ranch, Canadian suppliers and duBreton Farms also supply pork to Chipotle. Most of the chicken on the menu is supplied by price & Evans of Fredericksburg, Pa. , which also supplies to natural and organic retailers like Whole Foods.Chipotle gets its beef primarily from Loveland, Colo. -based Meyer Natural Angus and Golden, Colo. -based Coleman Natural Meats, in addition to smaller processors. 9 6. new(prenominal) Activities That Could Be Outsourced Chipotle produces several of their food products in house. After obtaining the necessary raw materials from outsourcing activities and suppliers, Chipotle then creates their signature salsa, guacamole, crispy tacos, and tortilla chips. 10 These items are produced at least twice a day (Harris). Chipotle chooses n ot to use a supplier or outsourcing partner to make each of these products for specific and different reasons.For example, Chipotles salsa is made internally to ensure a unique customization process (Harris). 11 Because Chipotle offers 4 different flavors and spiciness of salsa, Chipotle restaurants create their own salsa to offer customers a variety of choices that cannot be accurately duplicated by external outlets (Harris). 11 Guacamole is also prepared in house to provide Chipotles customers with the best flavor possible. Chips and crispy tacos are internally created for the same reasons. 12 Chipotle takes pride in freshly preparing these signature items as well.As noted by customer service agent, Shannon Kyllo, Chipotle creates these in house items because of CEO Elliss background within the culinary reach and Chipotles strive to produce fresh food the way they see fit, stating, Were perfectionists. . . he Ellis is first and foremost a chef and he wants to maintain a high stan dard. . . They Chipotle have a saying that if you want to do something right, you have do it yourself so that is what we do (Kyllo). 13 Because of Chipotles internal processes, the restaurant chain believes it is producing the best and most unique experience at every location (Kyllo). 3 See Attachment 1 Work Cited 1. http//www. chipotle. com/en-US/talk_to_us/supplier/supplier. aspx 2. Shannon Kyllo. Supplier list. Email to Shrivats Agarwal. 22 Feb. 2012. 3. http//academic. mintel. com/ appearance/294296/? highlight=truehit1 4. http//www. rehobothfoodie. com/index. php/Rehoboth-Beach-Reviews/Mexican/chipotle-mexican-grill. html 5. http//www. foodservicewarehouse. com/equipment/c3040. aspx 6. http//www. sec. gov/Archives/edgar/data/1058090/000119312511039010/d10k. htm 7. http//www. triplepundit. com/2011/06/chipotle-moves-local-sourcing/ 8. ttp//grist. org/sustainable-farming/protein-we-only-serve-white-meat-here-excerpt/ 9. Petrak, Lynn. Food With Integrity. National Provisioner 221 . 9 (2007) 22-26. Business Source Premier. Web. 17 Feb. 2013. 10. http//angelagarbes. com/2011/03/01/food-with-integrity-short-on-humanity/ 11. Ronnette, Harris. Reply from Chipotle . centre to Cam Amoroso. 20 Feburary 2013. E-mail. 12. http//www. chipotle. com/en-US/menu/fresh_cooking/fresh_cooking. aspx 13. Shannon, Kyllo. Reply from Chipotle . Message to Cam Amoroso. 21 Feburary 2013. E-mail.

Krushers Kfc

pic Report Title Krushers Marketing Strategic plan Submitted By Group name Date 15 April, 2010 Submitted To Dr Melodena Stephens Balakrishnan Assistant Professor, dexterity of Business and Management, University of Wollongong in Dubai Table of Contents 1. Background3 1. 1. Introduction and Objective3 1. 2. Situational Analysis3 1. 3. Constraints and Assumption. 5 1. 4. Product Need and Value. 7 2. Segmentation, Target & Positioning8 2. 1. Segmentation and Target8 2. 2. Positioning Map9 3. Marketing Mix10 3. 1. Product outline10 3. . set strategy10 3. 3. Place strategy11 3. 4. Promotion strategy12 4. Business Plan12 4. 1. Sales and Profits12 Bibliography13 App lastix14 Background 1 Introduction and Objective Introduction KFC Corporation, also known as Kentucky Fried Chicken, is a drawing string of fast food eaterys known all everywhere the humanity since 1952, however the history of the company goes back to 1930. KFC is serving more than 12 million clients in 109 countries thro ughout the world every day. Company is actively franchising across the World during 58 years1.Loyal customers burn down find their favorite eatery in or so every developed country across the Globe. KFC realized strong position in the market hind end and recognized by millions of people in the World for its finger lickin good chicken. KFC is serving more than 12 million customers in 109 countries throughout the world every day. Currently, The Company is the intimately popular chicken restaurant chain in the entire Globe. This particular report is focusing on KFC Arabia, United Arab Emirates in particular. KFC restaurants introduced to the Middle East region by franchise spo social function Ameri johna since 1973.Currently, thither atomic number 18 KFC branches in over 70 different locations across United Arab Emirates. Menu attainered to the Arab World is more focused on chicken sandwiches and Colonels Crispy Strips, and also involves side items that are suited to local pre ferences and savors. 2 Product Portfolio The fact that, KFC restaurants are associated by the customers with chicken, does not limit the range of increases has been offered to the customers. Currently, more than ccc different types of convergences have been introduced by the company all over the World.World Famous menu contains of chicken pieces, salads, sandwiches, hamburgers, wraps, kebabs, snacks, sweets and sides, beverages. KFC Corporation constantly upgrades its menu with spick-and-span groundbreaking products in order to satisfy unmet needs of their new and future customers. KFC is introducing a refreshful product called Krushers to the region a new refreshing frozen drinking. This new refreshing frozen drink first was introduced in 3 different flavors strawberry mark, Chocolate Krumble, Kookies N Kream, followed by Karamel Krunch flavor that has been introduced later on in the Middle East.Objective The objective of this report is to create strategic marketing plan fo r Krushers product and successfully arrange it in the UAE. 2 Situational Analysis outside(a) environmental analysis PESTEL Environmental (competitors) Krushers is introduced in a very competitive environment. There are several rank competitors in this product family line, the biggest ones are MC flurry from MC Donalds and Hand-Scooped shake from Hardeess, these are traditional competitors for KFC in the fast-food segment and have similar products to the Krushers.Other competitors in this product category include Baskin Robins, StarBucks and Jonny Rockets as they offer frozen drinks as part of their product portfolio. Indirect competitors include Liptons Ice tea and Pulp Ju grouch bars frozen drinks, they are considered as indirect competitors because they offer product replacements or substitutes to the Krushers. Sociological The UAE population has gamyer levels of disposable income compared to the rest of the world, according to HSBC bank study, UAE is the fifth part top count ry in the World in terms of disposable income. 3 As a result, eating out is to the highest degree a daily activeness in the social life of UAE residents, which in turn produces a bigger market for restaurants and food outlets. In addition to that, In terms of age groups, the UAE has a dominant young population, with the 25-29 years emerging as the largest group of about 777,000 at the end of 2008. It is projected by the Ministry to peak at 830,000 at the end of 2009. 4 This combination of high disposable income and young population makes the UAE a perfect market for KFC Krushers product which purposes age group of 18-24.Technological From a technological foretell of view, production of cold beverages relies heavily on the right equipment. KFC has state of the art production equipment. The company also utilizes advanced CRM solutions to gear its direct marketing efforts. stinting In the UAE over two-thirds of expats in the UAE stated that their attitudes to spending had changed a s a result of the economic crisis, however over three-quarters of expats (82%) living in the UAE also verbalize that they had not considered a move home. 5 Having said that, the UAE remains one of the strongest economies in the region (third in the region after Saudi Arabia and Iran). 6 As mentioned earlier, the disposable income in the UAE is cooperatively high, which makes it an ideal market for KFC and the new product Krushers. Industry Analysis Porters Five Forces Market Rivalry Krushers is a product category that faces high rivalry from various direct and indirect competitors. These competitors do not only include fast food chain restaurants with a similar product category, but also chains that focus exclusively on that market niche (frozen shakes and drinks).The fact that Krushers is a hybrid or mix of different products (i. e. crackpot cream, milk, smoothie, ice, fruits, juice, cookies, etc) makes it difficult to place it in a specific product category and thus exposes it t o higher competition from those various product categories. In addition, competing products have been established in the market and have a healthy market share. It would be a challenge for KFC to strongly compete in this product category, partly because the product is new and partly because they are not strongly associated with frozen drinks like Krushers.Bargaining power of suppliers KFC is one of the largest bargain forrs globally all their suppliers go through a very rigid screening process to meet their quality standards. Having said that, KFC only uses high quality suppliers with which they have strong relationships, therefore, the threat of suppliers is minimized. Threat of Substitutes Krushers travel into the frozen drinks category, due to this point, it faces a high threat of substitution from a number of relevant product categories including carbonated drinks, milk shakes, ice cream, ice tea, ice coffee, frapuccinos, fresh juice and smoothies.In order to offset this thre at, KFC has to rely strongly on their established speck image and large customers base to market and trade in the product. Bargaining power of dealers As it mentioned earlier, the target segment(s) (18-24) are high in population, however, there is a large number of product substitutes purchasable to them. Therefore, they enjoy a fairly high power of bargaining. Barriers to entry The barriers to entry to this specific product market are relatively low. The investment needed is not very high and the health regulations layabout be met with reasonable effort.However, due to the size and the number of KFC branches across the UAE, it would be very difficult for new reviveers to significantly compete with KFCs market share unless they make significant financial investments, thus reversing the barriers to entry to very high. 3 Constraints and Assumption. Constraints There are several constraints that KFC face in the insertion level of a new product Krushers. Customers are not aware of a new product that has been introduced by KFC.Lack of awareness can be explained by poor packaging and advertising, training of the employees. Krushers should be prepared within 1 minute, however, according to the survey, almost 95 percent of the consumers received their Krushers during the time put together 3 minutes to 6 minutes. 7 KFC is known all over the World for its finger lickin good chicken, it would be difficult for consumers to associate KFC as a place where they can purchase Krushers. The company didnt define the product for the customers whether it is a milk shake or it is a desert, etc.However official launch of the product great power solve these constrains. Assumptions KFC does not publish any gross revenue figures as a reference point therefore the sales forecasts are ground on an assumption that each(prenominal) branch will be able to sell 5 Krushers per hour on an average from their branch traffic. Assuming that branches get from 10 a. m. to 3 a. m. that ma kes a essence of 17 working hours a day. According to data published on the Americana website, they have 70 locations across the UAE, which equals match working hours of 1,190 per day (17X70).Assuming that the price of Krushers is at 9 drh per drink without a meal, and 4 dhs per a drink with a meal and based on the search conducted with consumers, 25 percent of the consumers will buy a Krushers with a meal and 75 percent of the consumers will buy it without the meal. 8 Based on these assumptions, we can conclude the following Total number of Krushers sold per a day = total working hours X number of Krushers sold per hour = 1,190 X 5 = 5,950 Krushers per day across all locations.Therefore, total tax incomes per day would be calculated as following Revenue of Krushers sold with a meal = (5,950 X 25%) X 4 = 5,950 dirham Revenue of Krushers sold without a meal = ( 5950 X 75% ) X 9 = 40,162dirham Total revenue of Krushers per day = revenue with meal + revenue without meal= 5,950 + 40 ,162 = 46,112 Monthly Total revenue of Krushers = total revenue per day X 30 days = 46112 X 30 = 1,383,375 dirham Annual revenue of Krushers = monthly revenue X 12 = 1,383,375 X 12 = 16,600,500 dirham Since KFC spends 6% of the total revenue on marketing and promotion, we can estimate the annual marketing budget for Krushers at annual revenue of Krushers X 6% = 16,600,500 X 6% = 996,030 dirham Due to the lack of information on variable or direct woos, we will limit our forecasts to only revenues. However there is more accurate management to estimate net hit of the company from Krushers. Target segment that has been chosen by the company is the spring chicken in the age range 18-24 of UAE, which has been estimated to 1,417,300 people.It has been assumed that 60 percent of the total youth in the age range 18-24 would be a potential target of the Krushers, according to the chosen target segment UAE explorers, which is 850,four hundred people. 9 Penetration has been assumed accordi ng to seasonal worker demand, such as hot summer weather effect. Shopping festival was an opposite reason to estimate increase in penetration in the month of December, and there is former(a) reasons that has an effect on penetration percentages across the year, which is explained in the business plan voice 4. 1 of the report. Revenue has been calculated according to the total drug users that would purchase the Krushers and the selling price.Expenses that would go on the marketing part of the Krushers have been assumed by the group and calculated in the business plan section 4. 1. Expenses have been estimated according to Magazine = 150,000 dirham Newspaper = 168,000 dirham Facebook = 20,000 dirham In house AD 30,000 dirham TV = 600,000 dirham Road signage = 200,000 dirham Billboard = 300,000 dirham Campaign = 50,000 dirham 4 Product Need and Value. KFCs value characteristics Consumers need analysis KFC is a well known brand as a value for money all around the Consumers would sea rch for a reliable drink with no risk to world. their health. KFC has large number of branches, as well as big shape of People living in gulf countries such as UAE would always search items, all delivered in a timely fashion, all of these give for a drink which refreshes their feeling. high value of convenience. Consumers would go for a product which is faster to be delivered to them and easier to carry with them while doing their linguistic rule routines during the day. Actually people are always after new things in their life. Those things could be a new product like Krushers or even its new flavors to be introduced to the market in future. There many other important factor in the consumers mind to be considered as their needs of product such as pricing, great taste and optional choice. Krushers value analysis based on the mentioned needs above Krushers is introduced as a smoothie drink that doesnt have negative effect or risk on consumers health. It sup posed being a drink to be alternative to those of energy drinks fulfil of caffeine. Krushers came up with different flavors for variety distinguishkers and those valuing a product based on optional choice. Offering Krushers as a value-added to meal as of satisfying detection of value for money promised by KFC. They offer customers to add 4dhs to their meal and have Krushers with their meal in spite of soft drink or juice. Soon abounding Krushers could be a replacement for cold drink at KFC by offering less than half the price if it is with any KFC meal. As of the discussed need of customer relating the weather of UAE then Krushers could be the best solution for relieving the thirst and the heat. Segmentation, Target & Positioning 1 Segmentation and Target Segment 1 AcademiasUniversity students actively socialize in groups for many reasons, be it for regular chat ups between classes, for examinations study or even group assignments etc. Therefore as the above points display that a Krushers will fit in perfectly with all three areas of a university student. Students usually have a red mis comprise or a coffee or a milk shake etc with them while working on assignments with a group or while studying in order to keep them going. Its become more like habit to do so. This is where we feel a Krushers can come in to play as it is a thick ice cream based shake with different flavors that will be able to fulfill a students need and want in terms of a having a drink that goes with what they do. Segment 2 Beach & Shopping mall goers (Fun)For this group what we really have in mind is the lifestyle of having fun and constantly active. We used the bank and shopping mall as examples of places where those who are in constant search of fun and activity can have a Krushers. The reason we used the beach and shopping mall as examples is due to the fact that a Krushers can be consumed in both situations / locations where on the beach it can be used as a refreshing cold dr ink to keep cool under the sun where as in the same time people dont usually take food with them to the beach as it spoils under the sun and so having a Krushers on the beach is like a two in one feeling as it has real bits in some of its drinks like kookies n kream.Where as in the mall those shopping around can have a Krushers as a drink to manner of walking around with while shopping or/and even as a drink to provided and relax with while taking a break or even while meeting friends for a coffee. Segment 3 UAE adventurers This is a group of people who are constantly out and about but dont really call for in activity. They yet simply roam around places such as the mall or the JBR walk etc. by just watching other people or window shopping or even simply go for drives around the city in search of something to do. Basically they dont have anything to do and just want to keep themselves interfering. Generally they do this in groups of two or more.The reason why have inserted such a lifestyle in our segment is because a thick shake like Krushers can be very appealing to them in terms of keeping them busy with a drink in their hand. Not only do they have a choice from a variety of flavors but the fact that it takes only a minute to prepare the drink of their choice , thus allowing them to think its quick, ill stop and get one on the way. There is a KFC available in almost if not every mall in Dubai, as well as on popular driveways such as the Jumeirah beach road where a drive through option is available. Target Segment & Justification (U. A. E Explorers) According to feedback, most people would consume a Krushers on the move. They look at it more of a milkshake like drink with pieces in it than anything else. Krushers drink does not fit in with the food served at KFC, and therefore existing KFC customers will not have one at a dine in time especially considering they dont see it as a desert either. Sports people have energy bars and drinks to consume. U niversity students opt for a red bull or coffee based drink to keep them up and alert. The fun group of people would not really consider having a Krushers as it is not suitable for them. They would not meet for a coffee in KFC nor would they buy a Krushers and sit on a bench for a chat. Therefore the best group and lifestyle is that of a UAE Explorer as on a drive they can go to a KFC drive through almost anywhere in Dubai, Krushers is available at almost every mall in Dubai and at the famous JBR walk too. A Krushers fits in well with a UAE Explorers activities as it is packaged in a way that can be taken in almost any environment and placed almost anywhere easily without risk of leak or spilling over etc. 2 Positioning Map Krushers is perceived as a refreshing shake that you can have between your main meals. It can satisfy both thirst and hungers basic needs of a person. There are two main benefits which Krushers has over its competitors in relation to the target segment, such as Brand Image and Store Location K FCs brand image in the UAE is stronger than that of McDonalds and Hardees. Therefore having a strong brand image is expedient to the consumer in terms of trusting to try a new product and actually consuming it.Store location is a big factor to the target segment as KFCs stores are more convenient in terms of reach and comfort. Basically this is because KFC is available at all leading malls in the UAE, but so are its competitors McDonalds and Hardees but what makes the difference here are famous roads and hang out spots such as JBR where there is a KFC restaurant but no McDonalds or Hardees. Not only that, in one of the most famous areas for food in Dubai, the Diyafah area there is no McDonalds yet there is a KFC restaurant there too. There is no McDonalds or Hardees in the Knowledge village area or the AUS (American University in Sharjah) food court but there is a KFC.UAE Explorers are on the go and so with KFC restaurants being on their way (drive thru) Jumeirah Beach Road, which is one of the most famous cruising streets a Krushers will be just the thing they will go after as it keeps them busy through their drive or walk at JBR etc. Marketing Mix 1 Product strategy Krushers is a sub product that has been represent by KFC. Introduction of this product increases variety of the product line available in KFC Corporation. Krushers has been introduced in order to bring customers throughout the day. The drink is available in 4 different flavors in the region. Strawberry, Chocolate Krumble, Caramel Krunch, Kookies N Kream are the types of flavors that has been introduced by KFC.According to the survey, customers identified two most popular flavors which are Kookies N Kream and Chocolate Krumble. Currently it is represented in 1 size. It is advisable to add more size options to suit different needs of the consumers. KFC offers Krsuhers as a value-added to a meal by just adding 4Dhs by customer to their meals which is less than the real price of Krushers purchased separately. The promise of great and natural taste is given by KFC through their advertising slogan by saying full of real bitZ. This slogan says that Krushers contains real pieces of fruits and chocolates in it. Thus one of the other augmented products of Krushers is the stated promise. 2 Pricing strategy angiotensin converting enzyme of the most important factors that must be considered carefully by companies is appropriate price strategy. Krushers is a new product, due to this point it is recommended to follow penetration strategy while pricing process. However it must be based on Krushers demand, as the demand are more for Krushers it is more obvious that penetration might be superior strategy to follow. Beside they also can gain some market share in marketplace however the supplier of Krushers must be assure when they imply this strategy for their product , they are capable to handle demanders and distribution channels . After all devotion abo ut KFC Krushers, it is better off if they follow penetration strategy.According to the survey, 23 percent of the respondents were dis contented, 40 percent were neutral, which makes it total of 63 percent of the respondents (which is more than a half), that were not satisfied with the current price choices. Cutomers are unhappy which means the price does not affect their objectives toward purchasing products. 10 Normally the fixed cost for supplier is 60% of variable cost of products, Krusher is 9 Dhs, 60 % of variable cost would be 5. 4 Dhs which is the fixed cost and the profit approximately might be 3. 6 Dhs on each Krushers. According to the interview made with one of the KFC stuff, assumptions were made as followed Integrant of Krushers for each cup 60 % of each cup contains ice cream (2Dhs for each cup) Because they purchase the ice creams in retail, it costs less than an ice cream that is selling in stores). 0 % Slash (blended water and sugar), (30 fils for each cup) Flavor ( 1 ounce), with consideration that the battle is 30 Dhs but for each cup they use just one ounce), (Around 30 fels). These amounts of materials imply for the entire available flavor. All the calculation is fill up to 3 Dhs and approximately 1Dhs or less for packaging in overall it cost 4 or 5 Dhs for company. Option Price There is just one size of krusher available in all of the outlets however option price are as below 9 Dhs for any flavor in regular cup size 5 Dhs for having a Krusher with the meal. 3 Place strategy KFC Corporation uses one channel distribution across the World, which is their network of restaurant outlets or branches. Krushers are sold directly to the customers without having any middlemen. KFC branches are available almost in every neighborhood across the country. Restaurants spread out across 70 different locations in United Arab Emirates. Examples would be Shopping mall food courts(Dubai Mall, City Centre) Close to schools and universities(knowledge villag e) Petrol stations (Emirates Petrol station) Office buildings (Sheikh Zayed Road) last traffic roads like (The Walk in Dubai)11 Customers can dine in the branches of KFC that accommodate dining areas, as well as choose need option and consume their Krushers outside in any other location they would prefer to have it.In the Introduction stage of the Krushers Corporation did not represent address service for the product these might be due to ice ingredients in it. Before opening any store KFC conduct market research to estimate and consider the population of that area, consumers demographic details and major streets which are close to that specific location. It is worth mentioning that the Krushers is not part of the home delivery service due to the physical nature of the product (is it cold and can melt). 4 Promotion strategy In promotion strategy there are some factors that can be used to promote the products base on MARCOM mix that is used for KFC Krushers promotional strategy .Direct marketing As a direct marketing, KFC departments can hire some people mostly young girls and boys to promote the Krushers in a very small cup to let the volunteers just taste it and promoters can encourage and motivate the volunteers to go for the bigger Krushers, and the best place for this single out of promotion is in the malls, at the foot court entrance. Sales promotion KFC already gives the customer this chance that if they want Krushers with their meal the price will be reduced for them to 4 Dhs, which the price is 9 Dhs regularly. While the loyal customers buy a combo from KFC outlet , as a promotion they can give the customers coupons with four blank checklist , that if they buy KFC combo meal for four multiplication as a promotion they can get one free Kruchers with their flavor choice. Generally it can be profitable for Kentucky chicken part sales and for Krushers, and also that would lead to better result for KFC and keep the customer loyal to the brand. Adverti singCoupons are Another tools in sale promotion, KFC can sign entreat with well known and famous companies or organization which stated whenever they have customer who purchase something from the companies or organization, they give the customers KFC voucher, the vouchers are for specified items but this sort of promotion can bring the customer to the outlet to use their voucher and make them to try new or their favorite products that are available in outlets. It is very important to use online marketing today. Print advertising is another way to market the product. Sample has been developed by the group. There are cardinal pieces of ice, with person inside each of it.There is one person standing in it and one of the piece contains Kentucky in four of the ices the Krushers flavors are representing and in the other ice pieces there are all the smiley faces that is representing the , iciness ,freezes , tastiness and freshness of the Krushers and The people in the ice are young and f resh people because it is colligate to our target segment which is the youth from age 18 24 who are the young generation whenever you look at the advertising it gives a positive , joyfulness feeling about the product and the taste, the choice of putting people in the ice pieces is showing the coldness and freezing feeling that Krushers can give the customers. Krushers has been displayed in the official website, however social networks should be taken into consideration as well as the popular search engines etc. Also it is advisable to use media advertisement, such as radio, tv, etc. Also print advertising like newspapers magazines etc. Business Plan, 2010. 1 Sales and Profits Jan Feb march april may june july Aug folk Oct Nov Dec potential segment 850 400 850 400 850 400 850 400 850 400 850 400 850 400 850 400 850 400 850 400 850 400 850 400 heavy user 3% 5% 10% 13% 15% 30% 40% 50% 52% 55% 60% 65% 25512 42520 85040 110552 127560 255120 340160 425200 442208 467720 510240 5 52760 view as user 2% 4% 8% 10% 11% 25% 32% 40% 43% 46% 50% 57% 17008 34016 68032 85040 93544 212600 272128 340160 365672 391184 425200 484728 Total user 42520 76536 153072 195592 221104 467720 612288 765360 807880 858904 935440 1037488 (SP=9) X 75%(users) 287010 516618 1033236 1320246 1492452 3157110 4132944 5166180 5453190 5797602 6314220 7003044 (SP=4) X 25%(users) 42520 76536 153072 195592 221104 467720 612288 765360 807880 858904 935440 1037488 total revenue 329530 593154 1186308 1515838 1713556 3624830 4745232 5931540 6261070 6656506 7249660 8040532 expense magazine 150000 150000 150000 150000 newspaper 168000 168000 168000 168000 168000 radio 135000 135000 135000 135000 135000 135000 135000 135000 facebook , 20000 20000 20000 20000 20000 20000 20000 In house Ad 30000 30000 30000 30000 30000 30000 Tv 600000 600000 600000 600000 road 200000 200000 200000 200000 billboards 300000 30000 0 300000 campaign 50000 50000 50000 50000 total 455000 768000 355000 230000 1153000 500000 333000 535000 818000 335000 985000 653000 profit/loss -125470 -174846 831308 1285838 560556 3124830 4412232 5396540 5443070 6321506 6264660 7387532 total profit 40727756 Bibliography KFC official website, 2010, universal resource locator www. kfc. com, last accessed April 6, 2010 KFC Locator, 2010, Americana group official website, URL http//www. americana-group. net/Default. aspx? Id=1207 , last accessed April 7, 2010 KFC, 2010, Wikipedia, URL http//en. wikipedia. org/wiki/KFC,last accessed April 4, 2010 KFC Arabia official website, 2010, URL http//www. kfc-arabia. com/new_products. htmlKrushers,last accessed April 8, 2010Annual report, 2008, Americana group, URL http//www. americana-group. net/Default. aspx? Id=1316, last accessed April 14, 2010 Annual report, 2008, Yum, URL http//www. yum. com/annualreport/docs/annualReport08. pdf, last accessed April 4, 2010 UAE population to exceed five million by years end, 2009, UAE Interact, URL http//www. uaeinteract. com/docs/UAE_population_to_exceed_five_million_by_years_end_/37085. htm, last accessed April14,2010 appendix Graph 1. pic Graph 2. pic Graph 3 pic Graph 4 pic Based on 1. Strongly dissatisfied 2. Dissatisfied 3. Neutral 4. Satisfied 5. Strongly satisfied 1 KFC corporate website (2010) 2 Americana group website (2010) 3 AMEinfo press release, June 24-2009. http//www. ameinfo. com/201597. html 4 Ministry of social affairs, annual statistic, 2008 5 AMEinfo press release, June 24-2009. http//www. ameinfo. com/201597. html 6 Wikipedia, 2010 7 Appendix, Graph 1, summon () 8 Appendix Graph 2, page ( ) 9URLhttp//www. uaeinteract. com/docs/UAE_population_to_exceed_five_million_by_years_end_/37085. htm 10 Appendix, Graph 4, page () 11 Americana group website (2010) High Brand Image KFC Krushers McDonalds chill High Store location convenience Low Store location convenience Hardees Sha ke Hardees Shake Low Brand Image

Information skills and system Essay

A system is a collection of devices that works together to archive a particular proposition purpose. Examples include transport system, school system, digestive system etc. A system can be represented as followingInput component part to processing of systemControl commanding processing unitProcessing transforming input to outputStorage where content can be put forward and retrieved for afterwards use.Output the outcome of this systemAn information system is a system that accepts data (raw material) as input and information (organised data) as output. Examples include a computer, searchable databases etc. An information system is faten belowPurpose The use and function of the systemInformation process The process of converting data into informationParticipants All mint who ar involved in the systemInformation technology The equipment and instruction used.Data and information Data, the input (raw material), and information, the output (processed data).The information p rocess Collecting assembly of data from real world. Eg entering details Organising preparing data for the use of other processes. Eg arranging data into tables Analysing converting data into useful information, commonly more digestible. Eg creating a graph from tables of data Saving and retrieving storing data/information for later uses. Eg saving document onto hard drive. Processing making flip-flop in data/information, including updating, correction of erroneous belief etc. eg spell check Transmitting and receiving exchanging data/information with other information systems, near of remote. Eg internet, e-mailing Displaying presentation of information. Usually user-friendly, easy to understand. Eg projecting graph onto disguiseDigital representation of dataAll data is in a central process unit is processed as electrical currents. Data is usually converted into binary decimals, consisting only 1 or 0, where 1 represents on and 0 represents off. Different data types be converted polarly, and this will be discussed in tools for organising later.Binary digitsDecimalBinaryEach digit in a binary decimal can only be 1 or 0. To convert from decimal x to binary divide x by highest practicable post of 2, then divide left over by highest possible power of 2, repeat until 1 or 0 is left. Eg 25 = 24 x 1 + 23 x 1 + 22 x 0 + 21 x 0 + 20 x 1 in that locationfore 25 decimal = 11001 in binary. To convert binary into decimal you do the reverse. Eg 101011 in decimal is 25 x 1 + 24 x 0 + 23 x 1 + 22 x 0 + 21 x 1 + 20 x 1 = 32 + 0 + 8 + 0 + 2 + 1 = 43ASCII code systemThe ASCII (American Standard code for Information Interchange) system uses binary decimals to represent different characters. Each digit takes up repositing of 1 bit it takes 8 digits i.e. 8 bits i.e. 1byte to form a character. 1024bytes (210 bytes) = 1KB 1024KB (220 bytes) = 1MB 1024MB (230 bytes) = 1GB etc different combinations of any 8 bit forms a character. ASCII includes most if not all symbo ls, including intangible ones eg Del, Space etcHexadecimalsHexadecimal is used in computing when there be too many digits for binary decimal. Eg 255 have 8 digits in binary but only 2 in hexadecimal. It is used for large cherish numbers such as in the case of html colour panels.Hexadecimals ar 16 digit based 10 15 is replaced with A F respectively. To convert decimal to hexadecimal or hexadecimal to decimal uses the aforementioned(prenominal) method as binary diversity, but 16 based.Eg converting 1980 into hexadecimal1980 = 162 x 7 + 161 x 11 + 160 x 12Therefore 1980 in hexadecimal is 7BCEg converting 15FA into decimal163 x 1 + 162 x 5 + 161 x 15 + 160 x 10= 4096 + 1280 + 240 + 10= 5626Therefore 15FA in decimal is 5626.Social and Ethical issuesHealth of human body can be allude through use of information systems. The study of human body and technology is referred as ergonomics. The following are a few health problems the can nobble form the use of information systemTools f or information process CollectingThe collecting process involves deciding what to collect, where to collect form and how to collect.Hardware for collecting different data textbook keyboard, text scanner, voice recognitionNumbers bar code canvassers, data loggers, keyboardImages scanner, web camVideo video recorders, digital camerasAudio micro-phone, packet for collecting different dataText Microsoft wordNumbers Microsoft excelImages scanner softwareVideo windows media playerAudio Sound recorderOrganizingText as explained before texts are converted into binary decimals to be processed by other processes, e.g. displaying, analysing etc. Examples of file types word document, HTML, PDFNumbers Like text, to each one numerical number can be converted into a binary number. Common file type excel, word documentImages An image is an electronic reproduction of a picture, photo, scanned document etc for display on screen. All images are made of pixels, which are the littlerest controllable display element on most screens. There are two types of imagesBitmapped each pixel is treated individually and represents bits in memory. Their size, colour, tone etc is stored and therefore takes up large amount of memory. The most common bitmapped file types are BMP (high quality images), JPEG (less memory, lossy compression method) and GIF (maximum 256 colours for cartoons, lossless compression by less colour and smaller size).Vector end points containing information about the profligate (thickness, colour, gradient etc) common type of file is PNG, but not supported by early versions of internet explorer.Audio Series of sound measurements. Digital samples are created from real sound waves. The higher frequency of taking samples and the more accurate they are, the better the quality, but the larger the file. Common file types are MIDI and waveform (MP3, MP4 etc).Video A series of still images recorded at high speed, usually a long with audio. Hugh in file size. Co mmon file types include frolicsome GIF, MPEG, Flash etc. data is organized using key frames, one for each image that forms a video/animation when playedAnalyzingAn example of analyzing data is creating a graph in a spread sheet. Charts and graphs are the most popular ways of analyzing data. They show relationships, trends and comparisons at a glance. The impact (use of colours and symbols to play up attention to important data), speed (obvious) and simplicity (easily understood) made it popular. E.g. software excel, calculatorSaving and retrievingSaving and retrieving is important because it allows edited data to be stored and edited later on. Most information systems have a primary storage and a secondary storage.Primary storage is used to store data/information that involve to be instantly accessible to the CPU. It uses silicon chips on the motherboard to store.RAM random access memory, where frequently used data/information and instructions are stored. When the power is cut of f everything in RAM disappears. Data are accessed directly without going through other things.Cache is another example of primary storage. It has the same functions are RAM, but is temporary storage for quick access.ROM read only memory, permanent memory where instructions are stored. These instructions are not to be edited or it may distract the processing of the computer. These instructions are applied when booting the computer.Secondary storages are usually portable.Magnetic tape long thin plastic coated with thin layer of magnetic metal. Magnetic tape can store large amount of data for a flash price and little space. However it uses sequential memory access, which takes a lot of time. e.g. video tape. Good for back up.Magnetic disk works the same as magnetic tape, but with a circular piece of plastic/metal. E.g. hard disk / floppy disk. Uses random memory access.Optical media uses laser technology to read and write on CD, CDR or CDRE. Written with high power laser to create lot s of tiny holes on disk.Flash memory is erasable memory chips e.g. USB, SD card, memory stick etc.ProcessingExamples of processing software audio editing programmes, movie maker, video editorsTransmitting and receivingBuses and ports are used for transmitting and receiving. Buses are connections between CPU and other parts. Ports are sockets that allow an external device to be installed. E.g. e-mail is transmitting and receiving mails.DisplayingPrinter, monitor speakers etc. most monitors are displayed in pixels. Number of pixels on the screen can be adjusted.Planning, deigning and implementationUnderstanding the problemThis is the first stage of developing a system. It involves identifying the problem that needs to be solved and determining the requirements of the bracing system through surveys, interviews, analysing existing system, investigation, research etc. Draw up a project plan, specifying who, what how, when consisting grant charts, schedules, dataflow diagrams, journals, plans etc. fashioning decisionsDetermine the feasibility (is it possible) of this new system, analysing potential solutions and makes a recommendation. A feasibility study shows nature of problem and overview of existing system identifying problem outline constraints (economical, court vs. benefit technical, technology requirements and demands schedule, time wise organisational, fitting the goal of organization) restates aim of new system in detail analyse data collected arouse solution no change, new system, investigate etcDesigning solutionDiagrams such as data flow diagram or system flow chart are used to show context of new system.Data flow diagram is a graphical way of showing the flow of data within the system. O process, ? external entity, ? Data storage, ? data flow.System flow chart shows both flow of data and logic of system. Terminals, input/output, process, database, decision, flow line.Decision trees show all possible decisions and their results.External specificati on the appearance of new systemInternal specifications providing technical support to build the system, identify process required by new system, specifications for input data.Information technology application software may be available e.g. existing accounting softwares. If not then programme has to be written and meets the exact needs of new system.Technical specification new hardware support need or not.User documentation user manual(a) for new system. Must be user friendly.ImplementingThis is the stage of applying the new system. There are three ways of converting to the new system Direct conversion where the new system is completely replacing the old system. Does not allow time to check that the new one works correctly, old system is erased. Parallel conversion the new system and old system is run at the same time to allow room for error. Phrased conversion gradual implementation of new system. certain(prenominal) new ones are implemented while other old ones are still operation. Each operation is individually tested. Pilot conversion when a small part of the organization uses the new system. If new system fails, old is there to back it up.Training is needed to teach participants to use the new system. The participants include those who are learning and those who are teaching. Who needs to be trained is decided upon their existing knowledge.Testing, evaluating and maintainingSystem needs to be tested to ensure that it runs correctly. Results are compared to expectations and initial aims. Determines if change is required. Occurs after child adjustments.Evaluation is the ongoing process of assessing the system to identify areas of weakness that needs to be changed.Maintaining is the modifying of system after installation, upgrading by making minor improvements.IPT year11 exams study notes

Iphone Micro Environment

Micro-environmental movers such as customers are essential in determining the success of marketing in particular when the needs of the clients are satisfied. Similarly, the contribution of employees to the company is fundamental in production of high quality products which are highly marketable (Apple, Inc. 2008). The media is an equally crucial factor of the micro-environment because any information which originates from the media either positive or invalidating can adversely affect the sales of the iPhones.Macro-environmental factors include worldwide change in scientific perspectives of the digital world as well as evolution of more sophisticated software. This attributes creates an edge for Apple iPhones hence increasing their demand in the orbicular market. The global problems such as the recent financial crisis which hit the whole global market contribute negatively towards the marketing of products (Apple, Inc. 2008). dweeb analysis SWOT analysis involves seeking to unde rstand the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that are within the vicinity of the firms reach.Strengths include qualities which may be possessed by the iPhone and not present in former(a) similar models which are in the market. Similarly, strength may be ability of a brand to meet the needs of a particular age sustain thus placing it on top of the others (Linzmayer, 1999). pic failinges are negative attributes especially contributed by the micro-environmental factors such as poor publicity. Such a weakness may buy the farm to collapsing of the brand especially when urgent measures are not undertaken to counteract it (Blokdijk, 2008). picOpportunities involve taking advantage of the weakness portrayed by competitors and ensuring that the brand attains higher recognition. During the showtime season for competitors in addition to ensuring that the firm takes note of the activities and in case of any chance of failure to make a breakthrough (Apple Inc. 2010). pic Threa ts are negative aspects which dampen the occurrence of any successful strategies. Negative aspects which hinder the achievement of certain goals are referred as threats as they interfere with execution of the firms productivity. SWOT analysis Apples iPhone Samsung Nokia Strength Unique features of product Presence of a wide variety of Reputation in the market products Weakness Position of moisture sensors onShortage of distributors in the Presence of counterfeits bearing the iPhone hence it easily local market level. almost similar names. exposed to moisture. Opportunity Increased understanding of customers Well established international Easy recognition of the brand as requiring customized products. niche thus increasing the it has been in the market for international sales of its quite some time. products. Threat More competitors dealing with The wide ranges of products in Counterfeits being sold at iProducts in addition to the market tend to limit cheaper prices than the accredited increased availability of the consumer loyalty as they cannot products hence consumers tend to internet at lower prices. recall the name and use of the reject the real Nokia products. discordant products.

Organizational Behaviors Analysis in ‘Ocean’s Thirteen’

The movie maritimes Thirteen is a good alternative for the organizational behaviors analysis. And I will focus on the Teams, Leadership and Personality to analysis some facts in this movie. First I will focus on the teams of navals thirteen. The team is a highly organized and efficient team. I think they perform all 3 kinds of typical tasks which include yield tasks, decision-making tasks and creativity tasks. And the team is comprehensive interdependence as all its members work will affect each other and also affects the outcome of their whole job.And although the members of Oceans thirteen include people with different race, ethnicity, age, personality, interests, knowledge, skills and abilities, but they have similar core value. And although they have a great chance to have comparative conflict which may cause a precise bad result, they surprisingly get along with each other and easily cooperate with each other. here ar some examples about Ocean thirteens teamwork. The team of Oceans thirteen has 2 plans.The first plan was to prevent the beachs hotel from winning the prestigious Five Diamond Rating Prize and the second plan was to rig the casinos slot machines and other games machines in the casino to permit the players win more than $500 million in total across the casino in order to force Willy Bank to tip over up the control of that casino to the board. For their first plan, Saul acted as the fake reviewer for Five Diamond Rating Prize and they bribed an ambitious concierge called Debbie to treat the documentary reviewer badly and led the real reviewer into a room that other 2 members of Oceans thirteen had already sabotaged.And they also gave property to a waiter to let that waiter tell the real reviewer that he could not enjoy a meal at an Italian restaurant which was actually empty at that time because he did not reserve for a seat. And that waiter also advised the real reviewer to go to a Chinese-Sichuan restaurant called Ling Su. And the n the real reviewer got the food which was changed by a member of Oceans thirteen and that food made him spue in his hotel room later.And he found that there were a lot of small insects on his rooms bed sheets, so he was very angry of it and gave a very bad evaluation to that hotel for the Five Diamond Rating Prize. For their second plan, the members of Oceans thirteen work in the positions that they are good at. Denny Ocean commanded the overall situation and coordinated with different parties. Rusty played as a fake seismologist in order to persuade Willy to put a standard torsion seismograph equipment, which was actually a surveillance machine for the Oceans thirteen, on his offices desk to register for the foreshock of an earthquake.Turk went to Mexico to toilet with the strike of the factories that provided the dices and other casino appliances the Oceans thirteen used to cheat that casino later. Basher worked as a person to create earthquake in the casino. Yen first acted a s a Chinese super-high roller to get access to the central room of the hotel and then walked into the shafts from that room. Frank and Saul worked together to let Willy use the Nuff Said at center of that casino. And Linus seduced Sponder in order to get into the room where Willy hided diamonds.And Virgil voluntarily asked to handle the task of hacking the casinos computer by and by the original hacker Livingston was caught by a federal agent. And there are also many other facts that I am not going to be given in detail show the highly cooperation in the team of Oceans thirteen. Secondly, I will talk about the leadership in Oceans thirteen. As the main leader of Oceans thirteen is Danny Ocean, I will focus on the leadership and personality of Danny Ocean. Danny Ocean is a great leader.He has a personality of conscientiousness and extraversion. He is knowledgeable, dependable, organized, reliable, hardworking, persevering, sociable and passionate. And he has great ability of summar izing other peoples ideas and drawing a nett decision that combines the advantages from other peoples ideas. He also has great emotional intelligence. He has the ability to recognize and understand the emotions other people are feeling and the ability to control his feelings and quickly recover from some serious emotional experience.As a result, he can harness those emotions and use those emotions to improve his chances in leading the Oceans thirteen to successfully complete several tough tasks. In addition, he processes the consultative type of leadership. And he has transformational leadership. He generally uses initiating structure leadership behaviors to break sure that every member of Oceans thirteen to try their best to do the job as salubrious as using consideration leadership behaviors by creating relationships with mutual trust, respect and consideration of feelings of other Oceans thirteen members.So he is able to make every member of Oceans thirteen to have a good moo d at work and let the work efficiencies of Oceans thirteen remain high all the time. In brief, combining with the plots of other 2 movies Oceans Eleven and Oceans Twelve, I think Danny Ocean is the main reason that Oceans members had a great performance in every major task they take. At last, Id like to talk the personality of some roles in this movie. I have already talked about the personality of Danny Oceans personality in the previous paragraph.And I will focus on 2 people with entirely different personality Reuben and Willy. Reuben has a personality of agreeableness. He is kind, cooperative, warm and fast(a) to his friends. So when he was destroyed by Willy, his loyal band of friends quickly got together and began to get revenge for Reuben, even to work with their enemy Terry Benedict. In the other hand, Willy has a personality of Neuroticism and Extraversion. He is moody, insecure, jealous, unstable, assertive, dominant, greedy and sinister.He is a typical villain with no me rcy and extremely low moral awareness. His employees were apprehensive of him and his partners hated him. So even though he had done a really good job in operating his previous hotels, many members of the full of his new hotel still did not like him and many employees of him easily betrayed him by cooperating with Oceans thirteen. To sum up, the Oceans Thirteen is really a great movie. And I also have a better understanding of the things Ive learnt from Organizational Behavior course by watching this movie.

A group II metal hydroxide Essay

To find the identity of X(OH)2 (a group II metal hydroxide) by determining its solubility from a titration with 0.05 mol dm-3 HCLTheory1.Titrations atomic number 18 the reaction between an acid solution with an home. In this reaction (called neutralization), the acid donates a proton (H+) to the alkali (base). When the two solutions are combined, the products made are salt and water.For use2HCl(aq) + X(OH)2 (aq) XCl2 (aq) + 2H2O (l)This shows the one of the products i.e. salt organism XCl2 and water.So titration thitherfore helps to find the niggardness for a solution of unknown concentration. This involves the controlled addition of a standard solution of known.Indicators are used to determine, at what stage has the solution reached the compare point(inflextion point). This means at which, does the number of moles base added equals the number of moles of acid present. i.e. pH 7Titration of a fuddled Acid with a Strong BaseAs shown in the graph, the pH goes up slowly from the start of the tiration to near the equivalence point. i.e (the beginning of the graph).At the equivalence point moles of acid equal mole of base, and the solution contains only water and salt from the cation of the base and the anion of the acid. i.e. the vertical part of the curve in the graph. At that point, a tiny amount of alkali casuses a sudden, big change in pH. i.e. neutralised.Also shown in the graph are methyl orange and phenolpthalein. These two are both indicators that are often used for acid-base titrations. They each change glossary at distinct pH ranges.For a strong acid to strong alkali titration, either one of those indicators can be used.However for a strong acid/weak alkali only methyl orange pass on be used due to pH changing rapidly across the range for methyl orange. That is from low to high pH i.e. red to yellowness respectively pH (3.3 to 4.4), precisely not for phenolpthalein.Weak acid/strong alkali, phenolpthalein is used, the pH changes rapidly in an alkali range. From high to low pH, that is from pink to colourless pH(10-8.3) respectively but not for methyl orange. However for a weak acid/ weak alkali titrations theres no sharp pH change, so uncomplete can work.Therefore in this investigation, the titration result be between a 0.05 mol dm-3 of HCl with X(OH)2, utilise phenolphthalein.Dependant VariableIs the ledger of HCl to achieve a colour change that is from pink to colourless.The Controlled variables 1. the equivalent source of HCl2. same concentration of HCl3. uniform source of X(OH)24. Same good deal of X(OH)25. Same equipment, method, way of life temperatureControlled VariablesHow to controlHow to monitor1. Same source of HClUsing the same batch of HCl or from the same brand will control this.If the concentration was not to be same throughout, then this will cause different ratios of the components of the solution, that capability cause different record of HCl to be obtained for the neutralization to occur.2. S ame concentration of HClThis will be controlled by using the same batch of HCl and from the same source i.e. the same brand.By using the same batch tick offs that the reactant concentration is the same. If another batch were to be used causes the concentration to differ. This causes the HCl obtained to be different.3.Same source of X(OH)2Using the same batch of X(OH)2 or from the same brand will control this.If the concentration was not to be same throughout, then this will cause different ratios of the components of the solution that might cause different volume of HCl to be obtained for the neutralization to occur.4. Same volume of X(OH)2This will be controlled by using the same batch of X(OH)2 and from the same source i.e. the same brand.By using the same batch ensures that the reactant concentration is the same. If another batch were to be used causes the concentration to differ. This causes the HCl obtained to be different.5. Same equipment, method, room temperatureThe method would be kept the same and the same set of equipment and brand will need to be used throughout. The room temperature will be kept throughout at 180C by using a water bath.If different equipment or brands were used then there would be a lot of anomalies in the experiment causing a huge amount of in trueness of measurement particularly.ResultsRaw data results were collected by using 25.00 cm3 of X(OH)2 with phenolphthalein and the volume of HCl was obtained by the solution going from pink to colourless.The volume of HCl found in 50.0cm3 burette 0.05 cm3 streamlet 1Trial 2Trial 3Trial 4Average19.60019.80019.60019.70019.675Qualitative results that occurred during the experiment* Conical flask swirling not even between the trials* Difficult to judge colourless solution change prejudiced end point* Ability to measure 25cm3* Filling of burette accurately with HCl 0 point in right spot* Residual distilled water or solutions remain in conical flask i.e. diluted/interfered with subsequent solutions of X(OH)2Average = trials (1+2+3+4)/4Therefore (19.6 + 19.8 + 19.6 + 19.7)/4= 98.5/4= 19.675Due to the equivalence universe2HCl(aq) + X(OH)2 (aq) XCl2 (aq) + 2H2O (l)Therefore the ratio is 21 of 2 HCl 1 X(OH)2So using the equations mentioned aboveMoles of acid is the number of moles= concentration X volumei.e. the volume will be used from the averageTherefore=0.05mol/dm3 x 19.675 cm3=19.6 cm3 / deoxycytidine monophosphate0 = 0.0196 dm3=0.05mol/dm3x0.0196 dm3= 0.00098 molesSo Moles of alkali in 25.000 cm3Moles of HCl / 25.000 cm3due to the ratio being 21, therefore0.00098/2= 0.00049 moles of HClSo now the ratio is 11 so 0.00049 moles of X(OH)2Moles of alkali in 100 cm3It is assumed that there are quadruplet lots of 25 cm3= 4 x 0.00049= 0.00196 molesThe next series of results will be used to calculate solubility of each compound by their visual sense in 100 cm3The total Mr has been calculated in the table below for each compound.This was done by Mr of X + ((O + H) X 2 ).Each elementMr for the future(a) elements(OH)2Total MrBe9.010(16.00 +1.01) X 2 = 34.02043.030Mg24.310(16.00 +1.01) X 2 = 34.02058.330Ca40.080(16.00 +1.01) X 2 = 34.02074.100Sr87.620(16.00 +1.01) X 2 = 34.020121.640Ba137.340(16.00 +1.01) X 2 = 34.020171.360To obtain the solubilitys of metal II hydroxides is moles X Mr of the compoundTherefore this table shows the calculation for the solubilitys for each of the different compoundsEach elementTotal MrMoles of X(OH)2Solubiltity given as g/100 cm3Literature judges of the compounds given as g/100 cm3Be(OH)243.030.001960.08430.000Mg(OH)258.330.001960.1140.001Ca(OH)274.100.001960.01450.170Sr(OH)2121.640.001960.02380.770Ba(OH)2171.360.001960.3353.700UncertaintiesThe uncertainty in measurementUncertainty due to pipette of 25.000 cm3 Volume of X(OH)2 = 0.100 cm3Percentage uncertainty = (0.1/25) X 100= 0.400%Uncertainty due to Burrette of 50.000 cm3Assumed due to measured volume of 19.675 cm3 and the uncertainty due to the smallest unit of measurement being 0.1 cm3Therefore0.1/2= 0.050 cm3Percentage uncertainty = (0.05 /19.675) X 100= 0.254%Therefore total uncertainty =0.400% + 0.254% = 0.654% endpoint and EvaluationX(OH)2 is most likely to be Ca(OH)2 as the calculated solubility is closest to the literary productions quantify given of Ca(OH)2. The solubility for Ca(OH)2 0.145 g/100 cm3 and the books value is 0.170 g/100 cm3. This shows that the difference is only 0.025 cm3. However the comparison between Be(OH)2 of the calculated solubility is 0.0843 g/100 cm3 and of its literature value 0.000 g/100 cm3 . Shows that there is a greater difference. Showing that it cannot be X(OH)2 solution.This is also shown for Mg(OH)2 as the difference between the calculated solubility and the literature value is 0.113 g/100 cm3, showing that it still has a greater difference than Calcium hydroxide does. The difference between Sr(OH)2 and its literature value is 0.532g/100 cm3. However the difference between the calculated solu bility of Barium hydroxide and the literature value is 3.365 g/100 cm3 showing there is a great difference so it cannot be Barium hydroxide.The percentage hallucination of Ca(OH)2 = (0.170 0.145)/0.170 X 100= (0.025/0.170) X 100= 14.705%Throughout the experiment there were systematic errors and ergodic errors that were met.Uncertainties/limitationsErrorType of errorQuantity of errorExplanation for errorImprovementsMeasurement in buretteSystematic error+/- 0.05cm3Equipment limitation, this is because the line where each of the breeding might not be precise.Different manufacturer should be used with multiple trials in order to increase the accuracy of the calculated value to the literature value.Measurement in pipetteSystematic error+/-0.1cm3Equipment limitation, this is because due to the pipette only holding 25 cm3 of volume. The line could have been where the actual reading might not be Causing the result to not be precise.Different manufacturer should be used with multiple tri als in order to increase the accuracy of the calculated value to the literature value.Point of colour changeRandom errorNot quantifiableHuman observation subjective measurement. This is because even though a white tile is used, it is unclear as to what point has the solution gone colourless.Use alternative indicator for several different trials, use pH meter to assess neutralization point. Therefore there will be a more precise point as to when the solution becomes green.Temperature fluctuationsRandom errorNot quantifiableThere can be a change of measurements of equipment due to variation in expansion and contraction of materials. Due to the temperatures not being constant from the fan, windows or from the air conditioner.Controlled lab environment of the temperature by using a water bath at 180C with no air conditioner, fans working. To ensure no fluctuations occur.Fluctuations in humidity of roomRandom errorNot quantifiableChange solution concentrations due to differences in evap oration rate in the ring air.Controlled lab environmentCalibration error in buretteSystematic errorNot quantifiable0 line incorrectly markedDivisions on burette inaccurateUse different manufacturers equipment for other trialsCalibration error in pipetteSystematic errorNot quantifiable25cm3 line incorrectly marked. Because it is unclear as to where the true meniscus lies. Causing the values measured out to be not precise. Also due to there being only one line causes a further decrease in the precision of the results.Use different manufacturers equipment for other trials to ensure that the accuracy increases.Another improvement that will be done, if the experiment were to be repeated is that due to the inaccuracy of the conical flask being swirled. If the conical flask is being swirled unevenly there is a chance of inaccurate results of when the colourless solution occurs. Therefore a stirring rod should be used to increase the accuracy of the swirls of the reaction in the conical fl ask.Another limitation that arouse in this experiment that would be improved if the experiment were to be done again is that aft(prenominal) the neutralization reaction had occurred, there would still be some residue of the distilled water used to rinse out the equipment. This can be improved by increase the number of repeats of rinse. This would ensure that more of the diluted solution would have been removed. Also the trials can also increase, to 10 repeats so that there is more division so that the accuracy increases.Another improvement might be, to use different indicator, for example methyl orange. Due to the colour change would be from red to yellow would make it easier for the pH 7 to be more easily recognized against a white tile then it was with phenolphthalein.Cited Sources1. http//www.vigoschools.org/mmc3/c1%20lecture/Chemistry%201-2/Lecture%20Notes/Unit%205%20-%20Acids%20and%20Titration/L3%20-%20Acid-Base%20Reactions%20and%20Titration.pdf

The Future of Marriage in America

http// union. rutgers. edu/Publications/SOOU/TEXTSOOU2007. htm The verbalize of Our Unions The affable Health of wedding in America 2007 Essay The Future of coupling in America David Popenoe Copy business 2007 Introduction In this years essay, David Popenoe argues that long-run trends point to the gradual weakening of brotherhood as the primary favorable understructure of family bread and butter. More Americans instantly ar lifespan together, marrying at older ages or non at alwaysy, and rearing electric s bearrren in cohabiting or solo mention households.Over each, the U. S. trends argon following the far-advanced trends toward non nuptials in northeastwardwestern European provinces, albeit at a s get down and to a greater extent uneven pace. Popenoe attri andes the weakening of pairing to a broad ethnic shift away from religion and friendly conventionalism and toward faith in in the flesh(predicate) independence and tolerance for diverse life styles forme r(a)(a)wise known as worldly individualism. This cultural shift is a central feature of forward-looking societies and in that respectfore un promising to be r of all timesed.Comp bed to Europeans, to a greater extent everyplace, Americans argon more libertarian and thus may be more susceptible to harshly negative consequences of secular individualism on family life. As Popenoe concludes, it will probably require a cultural awakening, perhaps prompted by rational self-interest, to avoid such an divulgecome. We will fox to adopt the view that personal happiness depends on higher(prenominal)(prenominal)-trust and lasting relationships and that such relationships require constraints on short-run braggart(a) interests in order to foster long-term commitments to children, and thus to the in store(predicate).Barbara Dafoe snowyhead THE FUTURE OF MARRIAGE IN AMERICA David Popenoe Al to the highest degree a decade ago, in our first annual State of Our Unions Report in 1999, the l ead essay was Whats Happening to labor union. The picture we painted was hopeful, if not oddly optimistic. Marriage, we reported, is weakening but it is too soon to write its obituary. In this, our ninth annual report to the domain, I want to summarize what has been happening to trade union in modern years and peer into the future.One question in elementicular is compelling Is join in America headed in the direction of the European nations, where it is an even weaker social institution than in the linked States? Or are we, as in other areas of our field of study lifesuch as our high level of religious employment and beliefthe great elision to the seemingly entrenched trends of the developed, horse opera societies? This raises, in turn, other intriguing question Is America still a single nation in family terms, or are we turn more divided by region and class?Marriage and Family Trends of the Past Decade There can be no doubt that the institution of sum has continue d to weaken in raw(a)-fashi peer slightd years. Whereas marriage was once the preponderating and single acceptable form of victuals arrangement for couples and children, it is no longer. Today, in that respect is more family diversity Fewer adults are espouse, more are breakd or remaining single, and more are living together outside of marriage or living alone. The most late(a) information are available in the stake half of this report. Today, more children are born out-of-wedlock (now almost four out of ten), and more are living in stepfamilies, with cohabiting but single(a) adults, or with a single parent. This means that more children each year are not living in families that include their own married, biological parents, which by all available empirical try is the bills standard for insuring optimal outcomes in a childs development. In the late nineties quite a bit was written just about a marriage and family lapse, or a reversal of the many family weakening tre nds.Most negative family trends engage slowed appreciably in recent years they have not continued in the dramatically swift trajectory upward that prevailed in the 1970s and 1980s. Much of this may be payable apparently to the slowing of social trends as they mature. The just major family trend that has actually reversed direction is decouple. After rising steeply, beginning around 1965, the divorce ramble has buryped gradually since the proto(prenominal) 1980s, apparently mainly the result of adults becoming better enlightened and marrying at a later age.Other possible causes for the decreasing divorce rate are the rise of non- matrimonial cohabitation and a dip in second and subsequent marriages. disunitees, for example, have become more in all likelihood to cohabit rather than remarry, thus avoiding remarriages that have forever had a disproportionately high risk of divorce. The Marriage Gap One surprising development of recent years is the growth of a marriage and divorce breaking between differently educated segments of the race.People who have completed college (around a quarter of the population) run away to have importantly high marriage and demoralize divorce rates compared to those with less(prenominal) teaching. Among those married in the early 1990s, for example, only 16. 5 pct of college educated women were divorced within ten years, compared to 46 percent for high school dropouts. Indeed, most of the recent divorce rate fall has been among the college educated for those with less than a high school education, the divorce rate actually has been rising. 1) The weakening of marriage and the resultant growth of family diversity thus is imbed much more prominently among those with less education and associated lower incomes. The underlying reason for this may be as simple as the fact that the personality and social characteristics enabling one to complete college are similar to those that foster todays long-term marriages. Or, that delayed entry into the adult world of work and childbearing, and the increase in income and knowledge that college typically fosters, better allows mature values and monetary security to undergird choice of partner and family life.Whatever the reasons, this marriage and divorce gap has been a major contributor to the maturation economic inequality in America. Some expect the marriage gap to grow larger in the future because children tend to follow the family behavior of their parents. Children of the educated and financially comfortable are better socialized to marry successfully and to contain childbearing within marriage, whereas children of the lower classes frequently do not have this advantage. precisely it is doubtful that this gap will have much effect on the over-all drift of marriage in America.The increase in the college-educated portion of the population has been slowing appreciably. And the fertility of college-educated women has dropped. 24 percent of college- educated women aged 40-44 were childless in 2004, compared to only 15 percent of women that age who didnt finish high school. (2) On a national scale, the prolongation of this fertility discrepancy could seriously counteract any beneficial family effects of higher education. The European Direction No matter how weak it has become, however, compared to other ultramodern nations marriage remains at the center of American life.About 85 percent of Americans are expected to marry roughly date in their lives, compared to less than 70 percent in a number of European nations. Only ten percent of Americans in an international survey go ford that marriage is an out-dated institution, compared to 26 percent in the UK and 36 percent in France. (3) Only about ten percent of American couples are cohabiting outside of marriage, compared to almost one third in Sweden. And our commercial wedding industry sure as shooting has become huge. Yet an overriding question is whether marriage and famil y trends in e very(prenominal) modern society are headed in a common direction.In other words, is there a commit of family trends endemic to modern (urban, industrial, democratic, and still mostly due western) societies that supercedes economic, cultural, and even religious differences among regions and nations? If so, the current family form in the United States is not an exception but merely a laggard we will gradually be swept up in the tide. Up to now, the cardiac pace look atrs in most contemporary marriage and family trendsall moving in the direction of a non-marriage floriculturehave been the nations of Northwestern Europe, especially the Nordic countries.They have the latest age at first marriage, the lowest marriage and highest non-marital cohabitation rates, and the largest number of out-of-wedlock presents. The nations in Southern Europe such as Spain, Italy and Greece, with less cohabitation and fewer out-of-wedlock births, tend to look more like the United States. Family traditionality remains salutaryer in these southern nations, and young concourse live longer in their childhood homes, often until they marry, rather than living independently or in cohabiting unions.The United Kingdom and the Anglo-settler nations, Canada, Australia and sweet Zealand, typically stand more or lesswhere in between the two extremes. But with respect to each of the dominant family trends of recent decades the other modern nations have been moving, albeit at varying speeds and not without somewhat temporary lapses, in the Northwest European direction. The percentage of people getting married has been expiration down, the number of people cohabiting outside of marriage has been increasing, and the out-of-wedlock birth percentage has been skyrocketing.Between the early to mid 1990s and the early 2000s, for example, the marriage rate dropped twelve percent in Italy, 14 percent in Spain, 22 percent in Canada, 28 percent in New Zealand and 24 percent in the Un ited States. At the same time, the non-marital cohabitation percentage (of all couples) climbed 23 percent in Italy and Australia, 53 percent in the United Kingdom, and 49 percent in the United States. The nonmarital birth rate jumped 24 percent in the United States, 48 percent in the United Kingdom, 96 percent in Italy, and a whopping 144 percent in Spain. 4) In one major respect the United States has long been the pacesetter and not the laggard. For generations, we have had the highest divorce rate. Yet even this is now changing. The U. S. rate has been dropping for several decades, while the divorce rate in many European nations has stayed the same or been climbing. The number of divorces per one thousand married women in the United Kingdom in 2002 was 14. 4, not too far from the United States rate of 18. 4. In the past, the incidence of family breakup was closely aligned with the incidence of divorce, but this is no longer the case.Because more people now cohabit in coif of mar rying, when a cohabiting couple breaks up it is not registered as a divorce would be. Unfortunately, we have no standard reporting system for the breakup of cohabiting couples, but all empirical studies show that cohabiting couples breakup at a much higher rate than married couples. While only ten percent of American couples cohabit, some 20 percent of British couples do. So if we are considering total family breakup, it is likely the case that Britain plus a number of other European nations now bruise us.There is one other important respect in which America has been in the vanguard of family trendswe have the highest percentage of come-only families. Many European nations have a much higher percentage of out-of-wedlock births than we do, but the great bulk of these births are to unmarried but cohabiting couples. In America, much more often, children are born to a lone mother with the father not in residence and often out of the childs life. Nearly half of all extramarital births in America were of this genius in 2001, according to the latest available information. 5) One reason is our relatively high percentage of births to teenagers, 80 percent of which are non-marital and more than half of those to lone mothers another is that 70 percent of all single births to African Americans are to lone mothers. However, the gap in mother-only families between the United States and other nations of the West is also in the process of diminishing. Being born to a lone mother is only one route to living in a mother-only family. Another route is through the break-up of parents after the child is born, which is far more common among parents who cohabit compared to those who marry.With parental break-up rates in other nations climbing rapidly, give thanks largely to increased non-marital cohabitation, many of these nations are catching up with us in the alarming statistic of mother-only families. Even by the early 1990s, according to the calculations of several scholars , New Zealand had caught up with the United States with nearly 50 percent of children expected to experience single parenting by age 15, and the figure for Canada and five European countries exceeded 33 percent. (6) These percentages would probably be much higher if they were recalculated today using more recent data.So if we are moving in the direction of the more negative family trends of other modern nations, and they are moving in the direction of our negative trends, where does this leave us? Arent we all in a common basket, destined to attester an institution of marriage that is ever weakening? Before considering this, let us first have a look at the possibility that America is becoming progressively bifurcated into two distinct cultures. Could it be that only one part of America is moving in a European family direction? The American cherry-red- dour DivideThe recent family trends in the western sandwich nations have been largely generated by a distinctive set of cultural v alues that scholars have come to tail secular individualism. It features the gradual abandonment of religious attendance and beliefs, a strong leaning toward expressive values that are preoccupied with personal autonomy and self-fulfillment, and a political emphasis on egalitarianism and the tolerance of diverse lifestyles. An established empirical generalization is that the greater the dominance of secular individualism in a culture, the more fragmented the families.The native reason is that the traditional nuclear family is a somewhat inegalitarian group (not only between husbands and wives but also parents and children) that requires the suppression of some individuality and also has been strongly supported by, and governed by the rules of, orthodox religions. As a seeming impediment to personal autonomy and social equality, therefore, the traditional family is an especially attractive unit for attacks from a secular individualistic perspective. On average, America has been mo ving in the direction of secular individualism, as can be seen in the general drift of our family trends.But the on average covers up some very substantial variations, some of which account for why, looked at internationally, we are a nation with relatively conservative family values. A recent theme Cultural Values Survey (7) found that American adults usefully can be split into collar groups, ground on the degree to which they have embraced secular individualism, ranging from the Orthodox to the Progressives, with Independents in the middle. The survey found 31 percent of the population in the religiously Orthodox category, 17 percent in the secular Progressive category, and 46 percent as Independents.The Orthodox category is far larger than one finds in Western Europe and the other Anglo nations, and the Progressive category (i. e. , secular individualist) is considerably smaller, and therein lies the major basis for American family exceptionalism. One thing that makes these cat egories so prominent in American culture is that they are strongly expressed geographically. As analyzed by demographers at the University of Michigan, the two extremes are reflected in the questionable Red (Republican) and aristocratical (Democratic) state distinction frequently made in recent national political analysis. 8) The more Progressive dour states are principally those of the Northeast, the Upper Midwest, and the West Coast, while the more Orthodox Red states are found in the South, the lower Midwest, and the Mountain region of the West. Reflecting their different ideologies, the Blue states tend to have lower marriage and higher cohabitation rates, along with lower fertility, while the Red states are more traditional in their family structure. See box in the second half of this report. The political theory and family behavior found in the Blue states resembles that of the other Western nations, although not quite as far down the path of Progressivism. If one were ref erring only to this part of America, one would not be talking about American exceptionalism. The large Orthodox population of the Red states, however, does give the United States a unique strain in the modern world. If it were not for this population, we would not be having a culture war and we probably would not even be having a national converse about the weakening of marriage.There is no such conversation about marriage in the Northwestern European nations, despite the fact that the institution of marriage is considerably weaker there than it is here. It is clear that the family structure of America is exceptional in some respects. The question is, are we so exceptional that we can resist the modern trend of marriage and family decline? So far the answer is nowe have been headed down the same path as every other modern, Western society toward ever-increasing secular individualism with its associated family structures.If this trend continues, the family structure of the Red stat es will come to look more and more like todays Blue states, and the Blue states will look ever more like Europe. The Prospect for Cultural Change To reverse this trend of marriage and family decline would take a cultural transformation of some kind, and it is interesting to consider and evaluate what this ability look like, and what could bring it about. One potential source of change would be a significant expansion in influence and authority of todays orthodox, anti-individualist religions.Much has been written in recent years about the weakening of secularization, pointing out that modernization no longer necessarily means the demise of religion. The evidence for this comes from the newly modernizing countries of the world, however, where orthodox religions have actually been gaining, rather than losing, strength. There is no evidence that anything like this has been happening to date in the Western European and Anglo nations. Quite the opposite with each passing year these nati onsincluding the United Statesare more secular than ever before.The bailiwick Cultural Values Survey noted above found that regular churchgoing has dipped below 50 percent and only 36 percent call rearward people should live by Gods principles, concluding that America no longer enjoys cultural consensus on God, religion, and what constitutes right and wrong. (9) A powerful indicator of future trends are the beliefs and attitudes of todays young people, which are unmistakably more secular and individualist than those of their elders.A recent study concluded that emerging adults (ages 18-24) in America, compared to their earlier counterparts and their older contemporaries, are more disaffected and disconnected from society, more cynical or negative about people, and have moved in a liberal direction. (10) A Pew Foundation national survey found that 20 percent of todays young people (18-24) say they have no religious affiliation or are atheist or agnostic, nearly double the percenta ge of the non-religious found in that age group less than 20 years ago.In the same time period the percentage of young people who did not agree that they had old fashioned values about family and marriage jumped from 17 percent to 31 percent. (11) A study in Britain, starkly pointing up the entrenched nature of this generational shift, found that a child with two religious parents has only a 50 percent chance of being religious, while a child with one religious parent has 25 percent chance of being religious. 12) Another cultural transformation that could move the family in a more traditional direction is widespread immigration. In combination with low birthrates, massive immigration is capable of changing the culture, social experiences, and self-identity of a populationincluding the ideologies of secularism and individualism. This possibility is beginning to be discussed in Europe, where birthrates in many nations remain well below replacement level and immigration, mostly from o rthodox Mu lissome countries with high birthrates, is high and maturement.The percentage of external born in many Western European nations is now similar to that in America, around twelve percent, but the birthrates of these groups are typically far higher than the indigenous populations. Projections are that the percentage of people of foreign origin may reach as high as one third in some European nations by 2050, and far higher than that in the major cities. (13) What is not known is how these new immigrants ultimately will react to secular individualism and the other cultural beliefs and practices of modern, Western democracies.As many have noted, because of long-standing antipathies between peoples of the Muslim faith and those of Christianity, often violent and going back well more than a millennium, it does seem possible that Europe faces the prospect of a major cultural transformation sometime in the future through immigrants who, rather than assimilate, will intrust the c ulture in a new direction. The immigration situation in the United States, however, is different, and it does not seem as likely that in the foreseeable future immigrant groups will be able to seriously shift our culture in a more traditional direction.The most likely candidate for cultural change, of course, is the growing Hispanic population. The percentage of Hispanics is projected to reach 25 percent of the total population by 2050, when non-Hispanic Whites will make up only a slim majority. (14) But unlike Europe we are already a nation made up of many different immigrant groups many Hispanics have been here for years, and they section a common religious heritage in Christianity. Thus Hispanics dont pose the same threat of not assimilating to Western culture as do the Muslims.Indeed, to date, Hispanics seem to have assimilated into the American culture of secular individualism more than the reverse. For example, the unwed birth percentage among Hispanics has jumped from 19 per cent in 1980 to 48 percent in 2005 and stands well above the percentage for the non-Hispanic White population (25 percent). Hispanics have the same divorce rate as non-Hispanic Whites, and in recent years their rate of non-marital cohabitation has grown faster than that of any other immigrant group.These trends contradict earlier expectations that Hispanics might bring this nation a new wave of family traditionalism. The expectation of the continued growth of secular individualism within modern cultures rests on some powerful facts. So far in the Western experience, at least, the dominant sociological factors associated with secular individualism are that the higher the educational and income levels of a population, and the more urbanized it is, the greater the degree of secular individualism. Is it likely that any time in the near future educational, income, and urbanization levels in America will drop?They have been increasing inexorably for three centuries, so a turnaround would most likely occur only in the event of some catastrophe, either natural or man-made. Absent such a catastrophe (which certainly can not be ruled out in todays world), the most likely future scenario is that secular individualism will increasingly dominate the cultures of the West. The top hat prospects for cultural change, therefore, rest on the possibility that, at some time in the future, new generations of secular individualists themselves will undergo a change of heart.One way this might occur is through the growth of new, non-orthodox religious ideologies that remained compatible with secular individualism but take it in new directions. Unfortunately, the new religious strains that have emerged in recent decades, so-called New Age religions, have been profoundly individualistic. None has shown any interest in preserving marriage and family solidarity. Indeed, they seem part and parcel of the secular individualist movement, albeit with a more spiritual bent.The same seems to h old true for todays rapidly growing green movement, which itself shows signs of becoming a new quasi-religion in which the environment has replaced God as a focus of almost divine adoration. So far there is little evidence that pro-green translates into pro-marriage or pro-family, although it is conceivable that somehow the conservation of nature could become translated into the conservation of the family. Any widely accepted new morality that might change family behavior would probably have to be compatible with secular individualisms motivating forcerational self-interest.The self-interest of todays young people still includes the desire to have strong intimate relationships and to want to do best by their children. And there is every reason to believe that these interests will continue into the future because they are, in fact, an intrinsic part of being human. The task that lies ahead, then, is to help young people to see the importance of marriage and strong families as the bes t way to achieve these interests to help them realize that a better and more meaningful way of life, both for themselves and for their children, involves a commitment to long-term marriage.What Can be Done? As a first step, the institution of marriage needs to be promoted by all levels of society, particularly the families, the schools, the churches, the non-profit sector, and the government. The great majority of American high school seniors still want to get married, with 82 percent of girls and 70 percent of boys recently saying that having a good marriage and family life is extremely important to them. These percentages, in fact, represent a slight increase from the late 1970s. 15) But as high schoolers reach young adulthood, when the attractiveness of cohabitation and careers gains strong currency, reservation the actual commitment to marriage is not easy. Young people need, therefore, to be made continually aware of the many benefits married life brings, both for themselves and for their children. The empirical evidence is now strong and persuasive that a good marriage enhances personal happiness, economic success, health and longevity. This evidence should become a regular part of our educational programs and our public discourse. Yet successful marriage forward motion requires more than empirical evidence.Marriage has fallen by the wayside, in part, because it receives less and less social recognition and approval. Any norm of behavior requires for its maintenance the continuing support of the community, including active social pressures to uphold it. When social approval and pressures wither, the norm weakens. Todays young people have been taught through the schools and in their communities a strong message of tolerance for alternative lifestyles. Thou shalt not make moral judgments about other peoples family behavior seems to have become a dominant message in our times.The reason for this is completely graspable children and young people come f rom ever more diverse family situations which are not of their own doing, and they should be fully accepted and not be penalized. The trouble is that this moral message is carried on into adult life, where it is applied not to children and young people but to adults who do have choices about how they shape their lives. In an confinement not to judge much less stigmatize any adult life style, we have all too often become virtually tongueless about the value and importance of marriage.This silence is extremely damaging to the promotion of a pro-marriage culture. The widespread promotion of marriage is directed at only half of the problem, however. Getting people to marry is one thing, helping them to stay married is something else entirely. Helping people to stay married is the main focus of an important set of programs known as marriage education. Typically conducted in group settings rather than counseling situations, marriage education programs focus on developing the knowledge, attitudes and skills needed for reservation a wise marital choice and having a successful marriage.Although marriage education has been around for many decades, it recently has been thrust into the limelight thanks to widespread publicity and government financial assistance. The importance of marriage education is magnified by the fact that the marital relationship today is so different from what it was in the past. Marriage is now based almost entirely on close friendly relationship and romantic love, mostly stripped of the economic dependencies, legal and religious restrictions, and protracted family pressures that have held marriages together for most of human history.Until fairly recent times marriages had little to do with romantic love, sexual passion, or even close friendship they were functional partnerships in the intense struggle of life. Today, a successful marriage rests almost entirely on how well one gets along, intimately and for the long term, with individual of the opposite sex. The relationship knowledge this requires has never been part of formal education, but there is no reason to believe that it can not effectively be taught to married couples and those about to be married, as well as to younger people as part of the high school curriculum.Indeed, the initial empirical evaluations of marriage education programs conclude that they are both well-received and have generally positive outcomes. Marriage promotion and marriage education are essential steps, but in order fully to rebuild the institution of marriage there would probably have to be a cultural shift of a more fundamental nature. Modern cultures would need to pull back from the now dominant thrust of secular individualismthe excessive pursuit of personal autonomy, immediate gratification, and short-term personal gainand give greater emphasis to issues of community and social solidarity.This could come about through a growing realization, based on rational self-interest, that our personal happiness and sense of well-being over the long course of life are less affected by the amount of independence, choice, bodily pleasure and wealthiness we are able to obtain than by the number of stable, long-term and meaningful relationships we have with others. (16) And through a greater recognition of the fact that short-term adult interests can be in conflict with the long-term health and wellbeing of children, and that our childrens welfare has everything to do with the future of our nation.Conclusion America is still the most marrying of Western nations, but nevertheless we are caught up in the prevailing trends of modernity that lead toward an ever-weakening institution of marriage. Marriage rates have been dropping and cohabitation and out-of-wedlock birth rates have been rising, thanks in large part to the growing influence of secular individualism in all modern cultures. The negative effects of this are felt most profoundly by our children, who are growing up in family situations that are less and less optimum from a child-development perspective.As we move in the direction of the weaker family structures of Europe it is important to remember that we lack many of the welfare safety-nets found there, and therefore the negative effects of marital decline on children are likely to be heightened in this country. We are not a unified nation in family terms. We have a marriage gap, whereby the college-educated have a stronger marriage culture than the less well-educated. And we have a Red state/Blue state divide, whereby the nation is geographically split up into areas of family traditionalism and non-traditionalism.Yet these divisions remain peripheral to the boilersuit waning of marriage in America. The rebuilding of a stronger marriage culture is possible. In addition to the heavy promotion of marriage built around the self-interest of todays young people, it will probably require a cultural shift of some magnitude, one in which stable, predi ctable, and long-term relationships with others come to be viewed as the best foundation for adult personalities, childrearing, and family life. Footnotes 1. Steven P.Martin, Trends in Marital Dissolution by Womens Education in the United States, Demographic Research 15-20 (December 2006), 537-560. 2. Jane Lawler Dye, Fertility of American Women June 2004. original Population Report, P20-555, Washington, DC US Census Bureau (2005),Table 7. 3. Reported in Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers, Marriage and Divorce Changes and their Driving Forces, unpublished manuscript, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania (2007). 4. Unless otherwise indicated, all calculations are by the subject area Marriage Project from published international data sources. . Lisa Mincieli and Kristin Moore, The Relationship background of Births Outside of Marriage The Rise of Cohabitation, Child Trends Research Brief 2007-13 (May 2007). 6. Patrick Heuveline, J. M. Timberlake, and F. F. Furstenberg, Jr. , Shifting Childrearing to Single Mothers Results from 17 Western Countries, Population and Development Review 29-1 (March 2003), 47-71. 7. nicety and Media Institute, Alexandria, Virginia (2007). 8. Ron J. Lesthaeghe and Lisa Neidert, The wink Demographic Transition in the U. S. Exception or Textbook Example, Population and Development Review December 2006), 32-4. 9. Executive Summary, op. cit. 10. Tom Smith, Generation Gaps in Attitudes and Values from the 1970s to the 1990s, in R. A. Settersten, Jr. , F. F. Furstenberg, Jr. , and R. C. Rumbaut (eds. ), On the Frontier of Adulthood Theory, Research, and Public Policy (Chicago Univ. of Chicago Press, 2004). 11. The Pew Research Center, A characterization of Generation Next, Washington, DC, 2007. 12. Alasdair Crockett and David Voas, Generations of Decline Religious Change in the 20th Century, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion (December 2006), 45-4. 3. David Coleman, Immigration and Ethnic Change in Low-Fertility Count ries A Third Demographic Transition, Population and Development Review 32-3 (September 2006), 401-446. 14. Philip Martin and Elizabeth Midgely, Immigration Shaping and Reshaping America, Population Bulletin 58-2 (June 2003), p. 22. 15. Data from Monitoring the Future surveys, reported in this second half of this report. 16. For an important statement about this, see John Ashcroft and Phil Caroe, Thriving Lives Which Way for Well-Being? Relationships Foundation, Cambridge, England (2007).SOCIAL INDICATORS OF MARITAL HEALTH AND WELLBEING TRENDS OF THE PAST iv DECADES Marriage Divorce Unmarried Cohabitation Loss of Child Centeredness Fragile Families with Children Teen Attitudes About Marriage and Family THE RED/BLUE AMERICAN FAMILY DIVIDE The Red State/Blue State divide has become a familiar theme in national politics. In a series of recent presidential elections, the so-called Red states have tended to vote Republican and the Blue states have voted Democratic. The Red states consis t of the South (e. g. Alabama), the lower Midwest (e. g. okey), and the Mountain Region of the West (e. g. Montana). The Blue states are those of the Northeast (e. g. Massachusetts), the upper Midwest (e. g. Minnesota), and the West Coast (e. g. California). Less well known is the fact that the Red and Blue states also differ significantly in family terms, and this may help to explain their politics. The Red states typically have a more traditional family structure than the Blue States people in the Red states marry younger and in larger numbers, cohabit outside of marriage less, and have more children.This is in large part because Red Staters are likely to be more religiously observant and to belong to denominations that profess allegiance to more conservative social values. However, the Red states also have higher divorce and out-of-wedlock birth rates than the Blue states, and these rates can hardly be considered indicators of traditionalism, much less religiosity. A closer look at the actual demographic differences among the states can help us to better understand the nature and causes of the Red/Blue American family divide.Red states have significantly higher marriage rates. The national marriage rate was 41 marriages per mebibyte single women in 2005. Some of the highest marriage rates are found in the South, with Arkansas (77) and Alabama (54) track the pack, and in the Mountain states of Idaho (66), Wyoming (60) and Utah (58). The lowest marriage rates, in contrast, are found in the Northeast with Pennsylvania (24), New Jersey (27), Delaware (28) and Connecticut (28) at the bottom. a) Higher marriage rates are associated with less non-marital cohabitation, and this also clusters geographically along Red/Blue lines. The national rate of unmarried partner households (as percent of all couple households) was 10% in 2005. States in the South and Midwest have the lowest percentages Alabama (6%), Mississippi (8%), Kansas (8%), and Arkansas (8%). At the opp osite rod cell are the states in the Northeast and Northwest Vermont (14%), Maine (13%), Oregon (12%) and Washington (12%). (b) Statewide fertility rates follow a similar Red/Blue geographic distribution.The national fertility rate was 67 births per 1000 women ages 15-44 in 2005, but it was in the 70s in a number of Red states, Idaho (77), Kansas (70), and Georgia (70), and only in the 50s for Vermont (51), Maine (54) and Massachusetts (56). In addition to family traditionalism, the fertility rate in a number of southwestern States is greatly affected by the higher-fertility Hispanic population. (c) Put all together, these demographic characteristics add up to more married couples with children in the Red states and fewer in the Blue states, and this is ne of the biggest reasons for the Red/Blue political divide. unite people with children have tended disproportionately in recent presidential elections to favor the Republican Party. Indeed, for recent elections the correlation bet ween married-with-children and voting Republican is one of the highest ever found between demographic factors and voting behavior. (d) Yet the Red states also, interestingly, have the highest out-of-wedlock birth percentages and divorce rates. While 37% of all births in the U. S. ere out-of-wedlock in 2005, the unwed birth percentages for the Red states of Mississippi (49%) and Louisiana (48%) are far ahead of the Blue states of New Hampshire (27%) and Minnesota (30%) A closer examination, however, shows that this Red/Blue geographic pattern of unwed births is heavily dictated by the racial and ethnic make up of each state, as well as by educational and income levels. States such as Mississippi and Louisiana are at the top partly due to the extremely high unwed birth percentages for Blacks (77%) and Hispanics (50%).The state with the highest overall unwed birth percentage is New Mexico (51%), owing mainly to the contribution of its large Hispanic population. If one removes Blacks an d Hispanics from the equation and looks just at unwed births among Whites, a geographic pattern more influenced by family traditionalism emerges. For the White population only, the unwed birth percentage in Mississippi (26%) is lower than for the White population in New Hampshire (27%). Unwed birth percentages below the national average of 25% for Whites are also found in the Red states of Alabama (21%), North Carolina (23%), and Georgia (23%).In contrast, above average unwed birth percentages for Whites are found the in secular and cohabitation-high Blue states of Vermont (32%) and Maine (35%) and Oregon (29%). (e) The picture is further complicated, however, by the fact that marriage, cohabitation, and unwed birth rates are so strongly affected by income and educational levels. In general, people with lower incomes and less education tend to marry less, cohabit more, and have more births out-of-wedlock. While professed traditional family values may help to generate fewer unwed bir ths, they do not seem to provide much protection against divorce.The highest divorce rates are found in the more religiously-based Red states such as Arkansas (25), Oklahoma (25), and West Virginia (23), in striking contrast to more secular Blue states such as Pennsylvania (11), and Massachusetts (11). The national divorce rate was 16 divorces per 1000 married women in 2005. (f) Level of educational achievement is the single factor that probably best explains the geographic distribution of divorce. The lower the educational (and associated income) level, the higher the divorce rate, and educational levels are substantially lower in the Red states than in the Blue states.The Blue states of the West Coast stand as an exception to this education-based pattern, however, with the divorce rates for highly-educated Oregon and Washington being above the national average (probably California, too, but unfortunately divorce rates for that state are not available). In addition to education, th erefore, another important causal factor in divorce may be the level of geographic mobility in a state, making the more recently settled and more transient populations of the West Coast and Mountain states more vulnerable to divorce.Mobility levels may also help to account for another geographic exception the long-settled Red states of the Central Plains (e. g. Iowa and North Dakota) have very low divorce rates, comparable to those of the East Coast states. Footnotes a. Calculations by the National Marriage Project obtained using data from the stream Population Surveys, March 2005 Supplement, as well as Births, Marriages, Divorces, and Deaths Provisional Data for 2005, National Vital Statistics Report 5420, July 21, 2006, Table 3.The exceptionally high marriages rates in Nevada and Hawaii are not considered here because so many out-of-staters go to these states to get married. b. Calculations by the National Marriage Project using data downloaded from the American Community Survey, 2005. c. Fertility rates from Births Preliminary Data for 2005, National Vital Statistics Reports, Vol. 55, No. 11, December 28, 2006. d. Ron J. Lesthaeghe and Lisa Neidert, The Second Demographic Transition in the US Exception or Textbook Example? , Population and Development Review 324 (December, 2006). e.Unmarried mother birth data from Births Preliminary Data for 2005, National Vital Statistics Reports, Vol. 55, No. 11, December 28, 2006. f. Calculations by the National Marriage Project obtained using data from the Current Population Surveys, March 2005 Supplement less population in CA, GA, HI, IN, LA and MN to match unreported divorces in these states. Divorce counts from Births, Marriages, Divorces, and Deaths Provisional Data for 2005, National Vital Statistics Report 5420, July 21, 2006, Table 3. The highest divorce rate, of course, is found in Nevada (38. ), and not considered here because of the out-of-stater problem. MARRIAGE Key Finding Marriage trends in recent decades indicate that Americans have become less likely to marry, and the most recent data show that the marriage rate in the United States continues to decline. Of those who do marry, there has been a moderate drop since the 1970s in the percentage of couples who consider their marriages to be very expert, but in the past decade this trend has swung in a positive direction. Americans have become less likely to marry.This is reflected in a decline of nearly 50 percent, from 1970 to 2005, in the annual number of marriages per 1000 unmarried adult women (Figure 1). Much of this declineit is not clear just how muchresults from the delaying of first marriages until older ages the median age at first marriage went from 20 for females and 23 for males in 1960 to about 26 and 27, respectively, in 2005. Other factors accounting for the decline are the growth of unmarried cohabitation and a small fall down in the tendency of divorced persons to remarry.The decline also reflects some increase in li felong singlehood, though the actual amount can not be known until current young and middle-aged adults pass through the life course. The percentage of adults in the population who are currently married has also diminished. Since 1960, the decline of those married among all persons age 15 and older has been 13 percentage pointsand 25 points among black females (Figure 2). It should be noted that these data include both people who have never married and those who have married and then divorced.In order partially to control for a decline in married adults simply due to delayed first marriages, we have looked at changes in the percentage of persons age 35 through 44 who were married (Figure 3). Since 1960, there has been a drop of 20 percentage points for married men and 18 points for married women. (But the decline has not affected all segments of the population. See the accompanying box The Marriage Gap. ) Marriage trends in the age range of 35 to 44 are suggestive of lifelong single hood.In times past and still today, virtually all persons who were going to marry during their lifetimes had married by age 45. More than 90 percent of women have married eventually in every generation for which records exist, going back to the mid-1800s. By 1960, 94 percent of women then alive had been married at least once by age 45probably an historical high point. (1) For the generation of 1995, assuming a continuation of then current marriage rates, several demographers projected that 88 percent of women and 82 percent of men would ever marry. 2) If and when these figures are recalculated for the early years of the 21st century, the percentage of women and men ever marrying will almost certainly be lower. It is important to note that the decline in marriage does not mean that people are giving up on living together with a sexual partner. On the contrary, with the incidence of unmarried cohabitation increasing rapidly, marriage is giving ground to unwed unions. Most people now l ive together before they marry for the first time. An even higher percentage of those divorced who subsequently remarry live together first.And a growing number of persons, both young and old, are living together with no plans for eventual marriage. There is a common belief that, although a smaller percentage of Americans are now marrying than was the case a few decades ago, those who marry have marriages of higher quality. It seems reasonable that if divorce removes poor marriages from the pool of married couples and cohabitation trial marriages deter some bad marriages from forming, the remaining marriages on average should be happier.The best available evidence on the topic, however, does not support these assumptions. Since 1973, the superior general Social Survey periodically has asked representative samples of married Americans to rate their marriages as either very happy, pretty happy, or not too happy. (3) As Figure 4 indicates, the percentage of both men and women saying v ery happy has declined moderately over the past 25 years. (4) This trend, however, is now heading in a positive direction. 1 Andrew J. Cherlin, Marriage, Divorce, and Remarriage (Cambridge, MA Harvard University Press, 1992) 10 Michael R.Haines, Long-Term Marriage Patterns in the United States from compound Times to the Present, The History of the Family 1-1 (1996) 15-39. 2 Robert Schoen and Nicola Standish, The Retrenchment of Marriage Results from Marital Status Life Tables for the United States, 1995. Population and Development Review 27-3 (2001) 553-563. 3 Conducted by the National Opinion Research Center of the University of Chicago, this is a nationally representative study of the English-speaking, non-institutionalized population of the United States age 18 and over. Using a different data set that compared marriages in 1980 with marriages in 1992, equated in terms of marital duration, Stacy J. Rogers and Paul Amato found similarly that the 1992 marriages had less marital in teraction, more marital conflict, and more marital problems. Is Marital Quality Declining? The Evidence from Two Generations, Social Forces 75 (1997) 1089. THE MARRIAGE GAP There is good news and bad news on the marriage front. For the college-educated segment of our population, the institution of marriage appears to have gained strength in recent years.For everyone else, however, marriage continues to weaken. Thus there is a growing marriage gap in America, between those who are well educated and those who are not. Recent data indicates that, for the college educated, the institution of marriage may actually have strengthened. It once was the case that college-educated women married at a lower rate than their less educated peers. Indeed, marriage rates for college-educated women were lower well into the late 20th Century. Since around 1980, however, this situation has reversed. College-educated women are now marrying at a higher rate than their peers. Not only that, but the divorce rate among these women is relatively low and has been dropping. This may be due partly to the fact that college-educated women, once the leaders of the divorce revolution, now hold a more restrictive view of divorce than less well educated women. b The out-of-wedlock childbearing of college-educated women has always been well below that of other segments of the population. Now, among those who delay marriage past age 30, this is the only group becoming more likely to have children after marriage rather than before. c There is more good news.The marriages of the college educated have become more egalitarian than ever, both in the sense that husbands and wives are matched more equally in their educational and economic backgrounds, and that they hold more egalitarian attitudes about marital gender roles. d As icing on the cake, all of this may add up to greater marital happiness. The percentage of spouses among this group who rate their marriage as very happy has held fairly steady ov er recent decades, whereas for other parts of the population the percentage has dropped significantly. In large numbers, therefore, the college educated part of America is living the American dreamwith happy, stable, two-parent families. There is one problem, however, and it is a serious one for the future of the nation. College-educated women arent having enough children to replace themselves. In 2004, for example, twenty four percent of women 40 to 44 years old with a bachelors degree were childless, compared to only fifteen percent of those without a high school degree. f For the non college-educated population, unfortunately, the marriage situation remains gloomy.Marriage rates are continuing to decline, and the percentage of out-of-wedlock births is rising. In the year 2000, fully forty percent of high-school drop-out mothers were living without husbands, compared with just twelve percent of college-grad mothers. g Because of the many statistically well-documented benefits of m arriage in such areas as income, health, and longevity, this gap is generating a society of greater inequality. America is becoming a nation divided not only by educational and income levels, but by unequal family structures. a Joshua R.Goldstein and Catherine T. Kenney, Marriage Delayed or Marriage gone? New Cohort Forecasts of First Marriages for U. S. Women, American Sociological Review 66-4 (2001) 506-519. b Steven P. Martin and Sangeeta Parashar, Womens Changing Attitudes Toward Divorce 1974-2002 Evidence for an Educational Crossover, Journal of Marriage and Family 68-1 (2006) 29-40. c Steven P. Martin, Reassessing Delayed and Forgone Marriage in the United States, unpublished manuscript (2004), Department of Sociology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD. Robert Schoen and Yen-Hsin Alice Cheng, Partner Choice and the Differential Retreat from Marriage, Journal of Marriage Family 68-1 (2006) 1-10 Arland Thornton and Linda Young-DeMarco, Four Decades of Trends in Attitudes Toward Family Issues in the United States the 1960s Through the 1990s, Journal of Marriage and Family 63-4 (2001) 1009-1037. e Calculation by the National Marriage Project of data from The General Social Survey, conducted by the National Opinion Research Center of the University of Chicago. f Jane Lawler Dye, Fertility of American Women June 2004, Current Population Report, P20-555, Washington, DC U. S.Census Bureau (2005) Table 7. g David T. Ellwood and Christopher Jencks, The Uneven Spread of Single-Parent Families, in Kathryn M. Neckerman (ed. ) Social Inequality (New York, NY Russell Sage Foundation, 2004), 3-77. Figure 1. fig of Marriages per 1,000 Unmarried Women Age 15 and Older, by Year, United States (a) Year Number 1960 73. (b) 1970 76. 5 1975 66. 9 1980 61. 4 1985 56. 1990 54. 5 1995 50. 8 2000 46. 5 2005 40. a We have used the number of marriages per 1,000 unmarried women age 15 and older, rather than the boisterous Marriage Rate of m arriages per 1,000 population to help avoid the problem of compositional changes in the population, that is, changes which stem merely from there being more or less people in the marriageable ages. Even this more refined measure is somewhat susceptible to compositional changes. b Per 1,000 unmarried women age 14 and older. reference book U. S. Department of the Census, statistical Abstract of the United States, 2001, scallywag 87, Table 117 and Statistical Abstract of the United States, 1986, Page 79, Table 124. Figure for 2004 was obtained using data from the Current Population Surveys, March 2004 Supplement, as well as Births, Marriages, Divorces, and Deaths Provisional Data for 2005, National Vital Statistics Report 5420, July 21, 2006, Table 3. http//www. cdc. gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr54/nvsr54_20. pdf) The CPS, March Supplement, is based on a sample of the U. S. population, rather than an actual count such as those available from the decennial census. See sampling and we ighting notes at http//www. bls. census. gov80/ cps/ads/2002/ssampwgt. htm Figure 2. parting of All Persons Age 15 and Older Who Were Married, by Sex and Race, 1960-2005 United Statesa Total Males Black Males White Males Total Females Black Females White Females 1960 69. 3 60. 9 70. 2 65. 9 59. 8 66. 6 1970 66. 7 56. 9 68. 61. 9 54. 1 62. 8 1980 63. 2 48. 8 65. 0 58. 9 44. 6 60. 7 1990 60. 7 45. 1 62. 8 56. 9 40. 2 59. 1 2000 57. 9 42. 8 60. 0 54. 7 36. 2 57. 4 2006 56. 3 40. 9 58. 5 53. 34. 3 56. 3 a Includes races other than Black and White. b In 2003, the U. S. Census Bureau expanded its racial categories to permit respondents to see themselves as belonging to more than one race. This means that racial data computations beginning in 2004 may not be strictly comparable to those of antecedent years. Source U. S. Bureau of the Census, Current Population Reports, Series P20-506 Americas Families and Living Arrangements March 2000 and earlier reports and data ca lculated from the Current Population Surveys, March 2006Supplement. Figure 3. Percentage of Persons Age 35 through 44 Who Were Married by Sex, 1960-2005, United States Year Males Females 1960 88. 0 87. 1970 89. 3 86. 9 1980 84. 2 81. 4 1990 74. 1 73. 0 2000 69. 0 71. 2006 67. 9 69. 5 Source U. S. Bureau of the Census, Statistical Abstract of the United States, 1961, Page 34, Table 27 Statistical Abstract of the United States, 1971, Page 32, Table 38 Statistical Abstract of the United States, 1981, Page 38, Table 49 and U. S. Bureau of the Census, General Population Characteristics, 1990, Page 45, Table 34 and Statistical Abstract of the United States, 2001, Page 48, Table 51 internet tables (http//www. ensus. gov/population/socdemo/hh-fam/cps2005/tabA1-all. pdf) and data calculated from the Current Population Surveys, March 2006 Supplement. Figure for 2006 was obtained using data from the Current Population Surveys rather than data from the census. The CPS, March Supplement, is based on a sample of the U. S. population, rather than an actual count such as those available from the decennial census. See sampling and weighting notes at http//www. bls. ensus. gov80/cps/ads/2002/ssampwgt. htm Figure 4. Percentage of Married Persons Age 18 and Older Who Said Their Marriages Were Very Happy, by Period, United States Period Men Women 1973-1976 69. 68. 6 1977-1981 68. 3 64. 2 1982-1986 62. 9 61. 7 1987-1991 66. 4 59. 1993-1996 63. 2 59. 7 1998-2004 64. 4 60. 4 Source The General Social Survey, conducted by the National Opinion Research Center of the University of Chicago. The trend for both men and women is statistically significant (p