War, Peace, the Homefront, and Uncle Sam :: Personal Narrative Writing

War, Peace, the Homefront, and Uncle Sam I. In our house when I was growing up, there were three WWI posters that my great aunt had saved in her attic. My father rescued and framed them, hanging the posters in the hallway at the top of the stairs. I walked past them on the way to my room which was at the end of this hallway. There was no way I could avoid Uncle Sam trying to recruit me every time I went up the stairs. He never budged, determined to enlist me before I could even read. I had the sense that he was measuring every ounce of my patriotism: I Want YOU for US Army, he called out, pointing and glaring straight at me as I made my way up the stairs. I always continued forward, nearing closer to that long, protruding finger as though responding to his beckoning, feigning my conscription, only to turn the corner to my room. There is some speculation as to whether Uncle Sam was a real person. (Many historians point their fingers to Samuel Wilson, a meat packer from Troy, New York, who during the War of 1812 provided large supplies of meat to the US Army. Soldiers noticed that the crates of meat were marked with the letters "U.S." and it was then said that the meat was from "Uncle Sam" Wilson.) I knew he was real because Uncle Sam appeared before me in many forms. At night, if the hall lights were not on, Uncle Sam’s white stars would stand out, glowing softly. When I was sick the red YOU became demonic, hurting me if I looked at it for too long. In the late afternoon when the sun had drifted into the hallway and hit the walls in a slant, half of the poster would be cast in shadow, sometimes leaving Uncle Sam’s face concealed in darkness, yet his hand would be exposed, dangling in the sun. In the morning if it wasn’t overcast, if the light filtering inside the house was bright enough, I could see my reflection in the glass as I came up the stairs, my face on top of his. II. Uncle Sam has disappeared. He no longer urges civilians to enlist in the military. Today, Uncle Sam has been replaced with slick, sensational ads, often enhanced with computer graphics. At the end of these commercials, the slogan "Be all that you can be" is sung, the last "be" drawn out so it lingers in your head after the commercial break is over.

Samsung Yemen Lcd Tv & Its Accessories

SAMPLE MARKETING PLAN FOR SAMSUNG 3D TV â€Å"Inspire the world, create the future. † 1. 0 Executive Summary Samsung Electronics has proven to the business world that they are one of the most prestigious technology companies in the industry. With more technology advancements than our market can handle at this point and time, Samsung has paved the way for the future in electronics. One of the most popular new â€Å"toys† in the market today, is the unbelievable 3D TV. The first 3D TV was launched in March of 2010, and has already had a major impact on the market.Samsung dominated the market, controlling nearly90% of the total share. Samsung’s  product, the 9000 series TV, is  incomparable to competition with its ultra-thin screen, measuring only 0. 3 inches in width. The 9000 series also comes with a full color spectrum that makes for an  incredible viewing experience. 2. 0 Situation Analysis Samsung’s current strategy in the 3D television market is t o seize a dominant market share while the market is being pioneered and to maintain the majority market share throughout the stages of the 3D television life cycle.With the recent release of 3DTVs into the market in early 2010, the product is still considered to be in the introduction stage of the product life cycle. While Samsung introduced its  new slogan, â€Å"Inspire the world, Create the Future,† the company's strongest emphasis in the last two years has been on convergence and  integration. Samsung has re-organized their  corporation to encourage cross-pollination and innovation. This is demonstrated by the progressive approach to the market that Samsung has taken, acknowledging the lack of immediate growth in the market, and innovating to prepare for the potential growth in the market.Targeted Segment With the development of 3D TV technology, Samsung’s target market is easily identified as the Early  Adapter. An early adapter is a  consumer who has a very quick rate of diffusion, the rate at which the market accepts a new product or product idea. One Strategy Analytics Survey identified â€Å"Cube Tubers† as the most likely consumers of  products available in the 3D  TV market. â€Å"Cube Tubers,† are twice as likely to express interest in receiving 3D TV  programming at home. These consumers represent a  rather small eight-ten percent of the overall  population.They are most likely  young, mid-twenties to late thirties Caucasian males,  educated and married. They seem to be the  most likely candidates to show interest in buying the newest generation of the television market. Along with the â€Å"Cube Tubers,† the broader target market tends to be families with young children. The target audience for 3D TVs will mostly be  found in or near  bigger cities. These locations must be  considered the prime market areas due to the likelihood of the availability of 3D content in urban areas rat her than away from cities in the more technologically  constrained rural areas. Competitive Analysis . Sony cooperation 2. Mitsubishi Inc. 3 . Panasonic Inc. 4 . LG Electronics Inc. 5 Vizio Inc. 1 Sony Corporation Sony is a Japanese company that uses web advertising as a dominant feature. They offer different videos and PDF documents on their websites to help customers understand their business. When typing into Google,  Sony does not come up  first, however, Best Buy was one of  the leaders, who sell  Sony TV’s. Sony finds itself in the top five of the market share of the previous trends of the television market, usually in the top three until recently being bumped down to fifth recently in the FPTV market. Mitsubishi Inc. Mitsubishi Inc. is also a Japanese company  with a Very broad product mix, and a marketing theory that anything is possible. They Aim to release their 3D TVs mainly through private company sales rather than in nationally acclaimed retail stores like most brands. Mitsubishi has continued to  use and perfect DLP technology, created by Texas Instruments, while Samsung has moved on from DLP and has released some beautiful Plasma, LCD and LED  3D TVs.Mitsubishi’s difference is  in its picture quality,  although DLP offers great picture quality the technology has many drawbacks such as bulb replacement and interior cleaning to maintain picture quality that hinder consumers from buying their product. Mitsubishi is the most recent follower of trends by recently adopting the Smart TV  idea and integrating Internet  connectivity into the unit. .3 Panasonic Inc. Panasonic, another Japanese company, is another competitor finding its way to the top three market shares in the TV market.Panasonic aims to be  the No. 1 Green Innovation Company in the Electronics Industry by 2018, the 100th anniversary of their  founding. After Samsung initiated an unexpected price war with Panasonic  at the opening of the 3D mark et, they announced an expectancy to miss sales targets for the first year. Demonstrating Samsung’s sound knowledge of good pricing strategies keeping competitors on edge. Panasonic’s premier 3D product differs in  the backlight composition, opting to use plasma for the  opening of the 3D market. LG Electronics Inc.LG Electronics is a Korean company. LG Electronics Inc. , ranking as the world's second-largest maker of flat-screen TVs,  said it aims to strengthen its presence in the burgeoning 3D TV market, seeking to grab a share larger than its target for the liquid-crystal display (LCD) TV market. LG is eyeing 25  percent of the global 3D  TV market this year, which amounts to 950,000 sales based on an annual market forecast of 3. 8million units. That compares with LG's 15  percent market share target for  LCD TVs, or  25 million units. LG had focused on the  mass market.Initially LG’s objective  was to create footprint among the sizable mid dle class, and other than its aggressive pricing, little to  distinguish it from  other consumer durable companies. 5 Vizio Inc. Vizio is a market share leader in the industry, but its claim to success is in its ability to follow  technology and market trends. Vizio’s vision is to be the industry leader  in consumer electronics by consistently delivering the latest technologies at the most affordable price. Vizio has developed cost efficient production methods that allow them to undermine the quality of the products slightly and the price for what they sell at  significantly.SWOT Analysis Strength A. High Quality Innovative Products – Brand Prestige Samsung’s 3D TV market products lead the  industry as they have pioneered the launch of the  new market segment in  early 2010. Samsung’s LED TV product line has earned the prestige of the best picture quality available in the market by Consumer Electronics Reports. Those very products are  a lso leading the  way in innovation in the way of style and appeal to consumers, as Samsung released the 9000Series, which is the  thinnest 3D TV available at  . 31 inches.Samsung is a strong corporate brand known  for its quality products and  advanced technology use. The brand prestige that Samsung looks to carry over from the LED, LCD  and Plasma markets, hoping consumers will easily identify the brand and associate it with it high quality products from an organization dedicated to providing  market leading products. B. Availability of Resources Samsung recently transferred 300 engineers from their very prominent semiconductor business unit within the organization, and established a new television business unit.The relocation of these engineers has  allowed SE to develop market products far beyond the technology and innovative capacity of competitors. C. Constant Focus on R;D Samsung Electronic has been regularly strengthening its research and developments (R;D) fu nction. The company devotes significant resources and attention to develop consumer-preferred  products with innovative and distinctive features. It is evident from the fact that, the company invested approximately 5. 0% of its revenue in R;D activities  over 2008 and 2009. 2 WeaknessesA. Lack of Association with 3D Gaming Content Unlike SE’s competitor Sony, Samsung does not have a direct association with content provider for 3D gaming. Acknowledging that the 3D gaming segment will account for a substantial market share, one could infer Sony’s association with gaming consoles like PlayStation as  a competitive advantage over Samsung. B. High Quality, High Price Understanding SE prides itself on having very high quality products, one can infer that SE can  justifiably charge the highest price for those renowned products.To maintain a dominant market share as the market for 3D TVs expands, SE’s establish target consumer will  have to expand. With the  target consumer established economically as the upper level of the middle class and all levels of the upper class currently, the target will have to expand to incorporate all members of the middle class. 3 Opportunities A. Strategic alliances that enhance the company’s product offerings Samsung Electronics has entered into strategic agreements with some of the well-known companies of the world in the recent past.For instance, during June 2009,the company signed a patent cross license agreement with Toshiba for semiconductor  technologies. Toshiba is the leading player in the NAND flash memory market with thousands of patens under its  name. Toshiba is also in the forefront of innovations in this product category with several new technologies under its credit. By signing the cross licensing patent agreement with Toshiba, Samsung Electronics continues to have access to important NAND flash process technology as well as multi level cell flash memory design IP relevant for f uture NAND flash generations.B. Partnership to access 3D gaming content Establishing a partnership with a company in the video game industry would be ideal to increase the amount of 3D gaming content. Although this segment of  the market is currently minimal, the surplus of content could influence consumers so that the segment could increase. A partnership with a company  like Microsoft could have an impact on the market  greatly. The timing of this opportunity would be immediately, the sooner the partnership begins, and the sooner the content could be produced, presenting an opportunity  for the market  to expand. . Threats A. 3D Gaming Market – Sony The fact that Sony offers the PlayStation gaming console, they have a foot in the door with the consumers who have interest in 3D gaming, which could potentially represent a significant share of the market. Sony’s PlayStation is the first gaming console to launch 3D gaming  content. This relationship between t he two products allows Sony to sell both products together at a discount offering not only a product to view 3D content, but also a gaming console with abilities that allow consumers to play3D games.

Factors That Impact Teacher Effectiveness - 2221 Words

Jacqueline Adams Dickey 03/11/14 EDUC 661 Literature Review The increasing focus by many policymakers and measurement experts on using statistical models to evaluate teacher effectiveness has led to heightened debate regarding the usefulness of these methods but little discussion of the possible sources of error inherent in value-added modeling. Even the most robust models for making high-stakes decisions about teacher effectiveness contain numerous sources of error that can lead to ill-founded interpretations of the data. Both teachers and schools can be negatively impacted by the errant use of value-added modeling; increased awareness of possible limiting factors present in these models is needed, both at the policymaker and at the†¦show more content†¦As of 2013, 43 states measure teacher effectiveness, at least in part, through student achievement; 25 of these states are in the process of instituting entire teacher evaluation systems that rely on student growth data to measure teacher impact (National Council on Teacher Quality, 2013). Within the larger classification of student growth measures is value-added modeling (VAM), a method that uses a statistical model to establish a causal link between teachers and the achievement of students within their classroom. VAMs are considered promising because, in a perfect world, they might have the potential to promote education reform and to create a more equitable accountability system holding teachers and schools accountable for the aspects of student learning that are attributable to effective teaching without burdening teachers and schools with responsibility for factors outside of their control. Value-added models are being used to evaluate teacher effectiveness in districts across the country, including New York City and Washington, D.C. Opinion on their potential for misuse and misinterpretation has been split, with some arguing that VAMs are inherently imprecise and ill-suited to measuring teacher effectiveness (Rothstein, 2008; Baker et al., 2010), while others posit that the possibilities for error are minimal (Kane and