INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL MARKETS Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL MARKETS - Assignment Example These incentives provide new revenue opportunities for Acme in the United States. Countries in the EU that can provide these incentives are backed by the strong power of the euro currency and it also creates a linkage between other European countries that are already developed with a quality infrastructure for manufacturing and distribution. Being able to rely on these networks and existing business expertise makes JEL Industries a much better option than trying to work from the ground-up at DBC Industries outside of the EU. The strong euro has also provided developing countries in the European Union with knowledge of metallurgy, motor vehicles, glass production and heavy machinery production (Weidenbaum). Therefore, if Acme desires ample raw materials or the ability to select from a skilled labor pool of talented individuals, the EU is the most vital option for long-term growth and security for the business. Further, the value of the U.S. dollar is currently falling compared to the euro, therefore there are some cost advantages to selecting JEL Industries over DBC Industries. When consumers or industrial buyers make purchases of Acme products, they are using currency that will provide a higher profit. Why is this? The business can establish a higher pricing policy on its products to offset the costs of operations and/or distribution, and when the exchange between the EU and the U.S. dollar occurs, there will be more profit than if the products were sold domestically. Because the EU value is relatively stable, there is not the concern of sudden economic collapse that might occur with a more self-contained currency outside of the European Union. Thus, for profit purposes, JEL Industries is the recommended choice. Because more communications occur between EU partners, there will be less long-term costs associated with

Immigration in the United States, information on the National Term Paper

Immigration in the United States, information on the National Immigration Policy and will need tocreate a new policy proposal fo - Term Paper Example Illegal immigration to the US A. Magnitude, composition and dispersal B. Conflicting public views about illegal immigrants C. Economic views about illegal immigrants IV. Illegal immigrants and the American Economy A. Type of immigrants required by the US 1. Immigrants with low schooling 2. Highly skilled immigrants B. How illegal immigrants serve the interests of the national economy V. Recommended Policy Proposal A. Provisions for immigrants with varied terms of stay in the US B. How to evaluate the recommended policy proposal VI. Expected outcomes and benefits of the recommended policy proposal VII. Conclusion National Immigration Policy and Illegal Immigration Introduction Illegal immigration in the United States of America is an issue that has evolved into a source of prime concern for the policy makers throughout the nation. Varied monitoring agencies and concerned institutions are of the opinion that in the last three decades there has been a gargantuan rise in the number and p roportion of illegal immigrants in the country (Haerens 11). In 2006, the Congress authorized and put in place several measures with the intention to tighten the enforcement mechanisms and procedures on the US borders, and especially along the US-Mexico border (Haerens 36). There is a broad consensus in the country pertaining to the benefits and advantages of legal immigration. However, there exists also a gradually building up opinion amongst the varied strata of the American political and civic life that the nation could enhance its economic welfare and growth by controlling and reducing the number of illegal immigrants sneaking in through its borders. However, nobody has ever bothered to pragmatically analyze and weigh the relative benefits and disadvantages associated with legal and illegal immigration. In an economic context, it would be beneficial for the country to allow for immigrants whose skills are in a short supply and whose contribution in terms of taxes to the national exchequer is considerable. This would not only include the highly educated and skilled professionals like IT experts and technology related engineers, but would also include low skilled workers that could serve the labor starved economic sectors like food processing, construction industry and cleaning services. It would be surprising to realize that the flow of illegal immigration is more in consonance with the nation’s market trends and economic cycles (Mills 42). Common sense has proven time and again that the levels of illegal immigration in the US do always rise during the boom times and the flow of illegal immigrants is mostly directed at the places where there is a strong demand for labor (Mills 34). In contrast, legal immigration is determined and controlled by varied time consuming bureaucratic and legal hassles, which to a great extent dissociate the flow and composition of the legal immigration from the national markets trends and requirements. Besides, the selecti on of more than half of the legal immigrants is linked to the fact that they already have close relatives residing in the US. So irrespective of the need for coordination between the US economic requirements and the national immigration policy, there exist grave discrepancies between the education and skill composition of the legal immigrants and the needs of the local employment trends and preferences (Mills 53). Even those legal immigrants who come to the US on the invitation of some specific employer are subject to time consuming visa

Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 6

Research Paper Example The procurement industry takes care of the acquisition process that is involved with the goods and services right from order placement down towards invoice and payments. It is also known as the sourcing industry. The important phases of a procurement industry bank on the purchase planning phase, the determination of the standards which essentially need to be followed, the development of proper specifications, supplier research and selection methodologies, the analysis based on the provision of value, the financing measures, the price negotiation terms and conditions, the eventual purchase, the supply contract administering, the inventory control and storage methods and lastly the disposals and related functions. There are certain specifications which essentially define the basis of process capital equipments. These requirements are specified by an engineer as he tries to bring forward a need and thus ask the vendors who are aspiring to sell him the goods and services. These vendors also suggest equipments that could fill the need which arises on the part of the engineer or the buying party. The process capital equipment therefore comes about in full circle when all the needs are fulfilled and met in a holistic way. This brings to light the notion of procurement which is deemed as very essential right from the outset. Process capital equipment touches the salient basis of procurement regimes and hence asks for the relevant equipments so that the pertinent needs and requirements could be met in a corrective fashion. This is important as it sets the ball rolling for the procurement process and indeed helps in completing the process capital realms as well. Bulk solids handling allows for provision of comprehensive knowledge as well as timely information regarding the different aspects of dry bulk materials that are essentially handled

What does the nature of statebuilding in Bosnia tell about sovereignty Essay

What does the nature of statebuilding in Bosnia tell about sovereignty during its post war reconstruction - Essay Example Earlier in the process of state building, there was an understanding that non-western states were autonomous and independent entities, and did not require western interference. However, in the post-Cold war era, in cases of domestic conflict, the issues of development and security have broadened to such an extent that non-western states cannot prevent the interference of foreign bodies in their domestic processes (Chandler, 2006). Bosnia, after the end of the civil war, was a transition state, and hence fragile in nature. In such cases, while helping to rebuild a fragile nation, the response from the international communities is often based on the establishment of new political orders and a new constitutional mechanism. Not promoting notions of state fragmentation through secession, the global community looks to pacify all parties that were at strife during the civil war by advocating agreements that make sovereignty a shared right amongst the existing warring factions within the sta te. Those in the arena of international relations often term this form of state sovereignty as internal self-determination (Cassese, 1995). This comprises the rights of different nationalistic groups within the realms of a multi-ethnic state that aims at preserving all the existent socio-cultural, language and religious identities, equal participation of these groups in state politics, with even a certain extent of regional autonomy (Hannum, 1990). Thus, to bring in peace initiatives for helping states in transition, experts in the line of international relations bring forth the notions of ‘consociational democracy’ that advocate a moderate form of political attitude (Lijphardt, 1969, 207). In real practice, various instances have shown that post-conflict reconstruction cannot be based only on establishing a new constitutional mechanism. In a fragile state, when a new constitutional mechanism is place, there are chances that the newly formed social and cultural institut ions and political framework may fail to form a sustaining framework. According to a report by the World Bank, chances of a conflict breaking out again after the close of a civil war, in a fragile state, is nearly 40 % (Collier, 2000, 6). Even with extensive negotiations with various concerned parties, undertaken by any international peace mission to prevent a fragile state from regressing back into armed conflict, there are substantial barriers in establishing an effective sovereign state. In case of Bosnia, we find that even after 16 years of large-scale efforts from the global community to reconstruct Bosnia and bring in socio-political stability in the country, the state is yet to achieve an established form. In 2009, after 14 years since the Dayton treaty (1995) heralded the end of a near four yearlong violent ethnic civil war, Bosnians again faced a serious threat of another civil war (McMahon and Western, 2009). In this context, keeping Bosnia as a frame of reference, this pa per will explore concepts associated with modern notions of state building, whether international form of state building is actually a way of assuming control over state functioning, the differences between peace building and state building, and viable alternatives to the current form of international state building. Discussion Viewing state building as regards its effectiveness in case of post-war Bosnia The Dayton peace agreement signed in 1995 is often viewed as a treaty, which was â€Å"designed to end a war, not build a state† (Ashdown, 2004, 15). Various scholars contend that leaders of ethnic

Tech changes education system Essay Example for Free

Tech changes education system Essay Teaching and learning process will change significantly due to the technological innovations in daily education activities. Learning platforms, software tools developed to support the different stages of education, personal devices like PC tablets and e-book readers and displaying devices like interactive web boards will have an impact on how educators plan programmes and how students receive information. 1)Positive Effects of Technology on Education Talking in a positive sense, the impact of technology on education has been phenomenal. Using Internet and computers as en effective medium to establish communication between schools, teachers, students and parents; educational institutes have been able to handle many issues that were previously not handled with ease due to geographical limitations or lack of adequate training technologies. 2)Enhanced Teaching and Learning Technological developments like digital cameras, projectors, mind training software, computers, PowerPoint presentations, 3D visualization tools; all these have become great sources for teachers to help students grasp a concept easily. It has to be understood that visual explanation of concepts makes learning fun and enjoyable for students. Theyre able to participate more in the classroom and even teachers get a chance to make their classes more interactive and interesting. The importance of technology in schools can be understood from the fact that it empowers the educational system and produces better students. 3)No Geographical Limitations With the introduction of online degree programs there is hardly any need of being present physically in the classroom. Even several foreign universities have started industry oriented online degree courses that aspirants can join. Distance learning and online education have become an integral part of the education system nowadays. Certainly, the value of off-campus education may never be equal to that of on-campus training but for diploma and other courses, when the student is thousands of mile away from the educational institute, these online courses can be of great advantage. Negative effects 1)Poor Teacher Student Relationship any teachers have a common complaint that negative habits of students are more exacerbated due to the use of technology. In countries like the US, where assignments and homework are required to be submitted online, students tend to forget common email etiquette like salutation and sometimes, even adding texts in the attachments! Moreover, the trend of last day submissions has now transformed into last hour, last minute submissions. Students submit their assignments even hours after the time for submission is over and their emails dont contain any explanation or a note of apology. Moreover, questions, queries and problems regarding any topic in assignments that should reach to the teacher within 24 hours of submission of the homework, remain due for days. Not many students are even bothered to get their queries cleared. Those few who raise questions want them to be answered online which is not always possible, as teacher student interaction is something that is vital to understand intricate topics. The trend of blackboards wherein, teachers post online notes, lectures, assignments and other information has cultivated the habit of skipping college lectures amongst students. The belief that Google is always there, has made students disorganized and impatient. They just want to copy and paste the information, so that they can finish the assignment. Going to the college library, searching for information from books or even online library facilities seems to be a daunting task for students. Teachers have expressed concern that not many students are productively utilizing technology for their growth. Teachers are also concerned about the fact that students dont fix appointments with them to seek answers to queries or to know something more about the subject. 2)Lack of Focus SMS or text messaging has become a favorite pastime of many students. Students are seen playing with their cell phone, iPhones day and night, right from crossing a street, or driving and very often even between lectures. Being ever-connected to the online world has resulted in lack of focus and concentration in academics and to some extent, even in sports and extra curricular activities. It is certainly not possible to read a difficult subject and at the same time, chat with a friend, and remain logged in on facebook. These are very obvious distractions that have eroded the sense of mental focus, peace and concentration ability from students life. Video gaming for instance has become the greatest distraction for students. Teenagers are easily influenced by any new gadget and technology being introduced in the market and this has also made them splurge unnecessarily. 3)Poor Reading and Writing Skills Reading seems to be a lost hobby in this age. While there is a plentiful of information in the form of free ebooks available on the Internet, anybody who likes reading will agree that reading a book online and reading a printed form of book certainly has some prominent differences. Even if students were reading books online, it would have been fair but the fact is that owing to bombardment of information, the moment a teenager opens a website, he is lost elsewhere, either searching for new games or opening his or her facebook profile. Since assignments are mostly done online, hand writing skills of students have become pathetic. It is understandable that in this age of computers, there is hardly any requirement of hand writing skills but still, a good hand writing is an integral part of learning. It improves our eye to hand coordination, makes us more focused and gives us an opportunity to express ourselves, more profoundly. Writing skills also convey deeper aspects about our personality like our organizational abilities and ability to express our ideas in a refined manner. Certainly, typing on a keyboard doesnt impair creativity in writing (in fact they are useful, as using a backspace, one can easily change previous sentences). Nevertheless, hand writing skills are certainly an integral part of good education. Since technology has both positive and negative dimensions, we must make efforts to help students and kids realize the potential in the proper use of technology. Since kids always love freedom, respective authorities must ensure that they are not overdosing students with strict rules and regulations regarding using technologies in schools and colleges. But, certain rules are essential to avoid overuse of technology in education. That will ensure that technology is used for improving a students life and not wasting valuable resources like time and money.

John Lewis Partnership Analysis

John Lewis Partnership Analysis This paper focuses on the strategic formulation of John Lewis partnership in initial phases of the firms online services, Ocado the online service that delivers Waitrose groceries) and the online shopping (johnlewis.com) website development from the 2000 to 2010. In the first instance, account of the company will be briefly discussed, together with the main activity, market share, key stakeholders and also financial overview of the company. Secondly, the identification of its generic strategy by using Porters model of generic strategy will be clearly defined. This will follow the discussion of the key activities that underpin the chosen generic strategy, a value chain analysis and how the added value creates a distinctive competence which leads to competitive advantage of the business. Companys overview John Lewis was first founded in 1864 by John Spedan Lewis partnered with his two brothers in Oxford Street, London. Waitrose joined the partnership in 1937 as a chain of 10 specialist food, followed shortly in the John Lewis partnership is Greenbee which is now called John Lewis Insurance and partnership card (John Lewis Partnership, 2010). Main activities of the company include providing customers with high quality groceries and non grocery items such as electrical goods, furniture, fashion, flowers and also financial services such as insurance and credit card services. As one of UKs top ten retailers, the company has about 31 John Lewis and 235 Waitrose supermarkets, an online and catalogue business, a direct services company, one production unit and a farm and continues to grow at a rapid pace (John Lewis Partnership, 2010). John Lewis Partnership argues to have a visionary and successful way of doing business, boldly putting the happiness of Partners at the centre of everything it does (John Lewis Partnership, 2010). It strives to differentiate itself from competitors by giving 100% ownership to partners who are also permanent staff of the company who are committed to serve customers with flair and fairness.(John Lewis Partnership, 2010, Bloomberg Business Week, 2010, Hambrick Fredrickson, 2005, Times Online, 2008). In addition, due to the Partners dedication and hard work, the company was ranked as the 3rd of the top 100 biggest privately owned companies in the UK during the year 2008 (Times Online, 2008) despite the economy downturn which led to drop one rank from previous year (Times Online, 2008). However, in the survey conducted by Which? revealed that in January 2009 John Lewis was ranked at the top of the list and also was voted as the Britains favourite retailer in 2010 the UK Consumer Satisfaction Index from the Institute of Customer Service (ICS) (John Lewis Partnership, 2010). Never Knowingly Undersold is the companys motto that has been used over 75 years, to promise customers that the company will always sell the lowest price in town (John Lewis Partnership, 2010, Bloomberg, Business Week, 2010). Charley Mayfield, the chairman of John Lewis partnership reports a strong performance within the first six month of 2010, an increase of gross sales by 12.4% and operating profit by 15.1% compared to last year (London Stock Exchange, 2010). Mayfield further reported a market share gain and strong growth in both John Lewis department store and Waitrose, one of the most notable increases was the underlying operating profit which rose by 59.4% (Bloomberg, Business Week, 2010) despite of the credit crunch. The benefits and profits gained from the business are shared equally among partners who are also permanent staff and co-owner of the business (John Lewis Partnership, 2010). The Formulation of strategy: Strategic aims Strategy is defined as the direction and scope of an organisation over the long term, which achieve advantage in a changing environment (Scholes et al., 2008). It is important for all organisations to have a strategy as without it, time and resources can easily be wasted (Hambrick Fredrickson, 2005). Organisations should analyse the competitive position of the market, formulate strategic aim then acquire the needed resources for implementing those chosen strategies (Porter, 1980). Furthermore, it is possible for the organisation to increase its resources and capabilities through sharing and generation of knowledge, learning and redeployment of existing resources in a new and more effective ways (Steve B. Alex H., 2007, Barney, 1991). In 1929, the founder of John Lewis partnership gave up the ownership of the company to the employees for the purpose of balancing the employees happiness and successful business (John Lewis Partnership, 2010). John Lewis (2010) had an ambitious vision of co-ownership by making employees happiness whilst developing steady business profit at the same time. This assertion has left a remarkable commercial history and is as alive today as it was 80 years ago (John Lewis Partnership, 2010). In addition, the founder created a governance system that is both commercial and democratic which will allow the company to gain competitive advantage by moving ahead quickly and also giving voice to every Partners who also co-owned the company (John Lewis Partnership, 2010). A recent study conceded that the more satisfied workers are with their jobs, the better the company is likely to perform in terms of profitability and particularly productivity (Hobson, 1998) with a variation of between 19% profitability and 18% productivity which are accounted in the way people are managed (Hobson, 1998, Steve et al.). According to the John Lewis partnership (2010) financial statements as shown on Table 1 below, illustrates that the business has grown significantly over the past 10 year, the turnover increased by 50% and net profit were also increased by 96% over the past 10 years. Therefore, the findings of the study (Hobson, 1998) conceded with the performance outcome of John Lewis (2010). At the onset, the strategic aim of the partnership was to experiment in industrial democracy and to establish a better form of business (John Lewis Partnership, 2010). As first movers of employee owned-business model, the partnership takes advantage of the resource and capability extending sources as the company was already in maturity. The resources that the company possessed extended the advantages of co-ownership structure that the partnership needed to sustain and enhance the strategic position as an outstanding retailer and a thriving example of employee ownership (John Lewis Partnership, 2010). Many public sector workers are now consider utilising John Lewis employee owned-business model after John Lewis staffs who are also partners embrace a big bonus of 15% that is equivalent to almost twice of monthly salary whilst public sector workers are threatened for a job loss due to government spending cuts (Julia, 2010). Therefore, the companys key strategic aims were built around the capabilities that employee owned-business model offered for creating added value to partners and customers (John Lewis Partnership, 2010). However, the long term strategic aims of John Lewis partnership were to give personal satisfaction to Partners by becoming members of a co-owned enterprise, retain customers loyal by giving value, choice, service and honesty, and create real influence over working lives whilst sustain business strength and gain competitive advantage which will allow continued development. To achieve these aims John Lewis Partnership would have to demonstrate the benefits of co-ownership and competitive behaviours that will differentiate the company from its competitors including outperforming the conventional companies. Internal Analysis: Generic strategy How firms compete and what strategies they choose are important questions for the economy (Ormanidhi Stringa, 2008) and a vital decision have to be made in order to determine the generic strategy of a business (Porter, 1980). In the case of John Lewis Partnership the choice was relatively simple. Although the Partnership sought to create a happy working environment, the key to competitive advantage lay in the real influence over working lives whilst providing added value and unrivalled service to the customers. The employee-owned business model for the retail venture entailed employees ownership and responsibilities for the business success by delivering the right experience for all customers whilst generating profits for the partners to share. In effect, John Lewis Partnership is a top ten retail company in the UK. It operates department stores, supermarkets chain and John Lewis Direct website which focus on home and giftware that have been ranked UKs top online shopping destinations consistently. A well known for its high customer satisfaction rating, upmarket chain targeted middle to upper class customers. However, the Partnership expanded its marketing strategy and has recently introduced a Value and Essential range to target all types of customers (John Lewis Partnership, 2010). The ability and efficiency to engage customers loyalty and trust by providing outstanding value, choice and service, the more customers would be retained and attracted to their departments, supermarkets and websites. The key to achieving this was to differentiate the benefits of co-ownership and partners behaviours against rivals including conventional retail companies. The key differentiators were to offer security, stability and fulfilling employment for the Partners who are also permanent employees of the company. Another compelling differentiator was the lower prices John Lewis could offer using Never knowingly undersold slogan. It was the first mover retailer to offer its customers the confidence that promised the customers cheapest price in the town. This principle has been used to monitor competitors and reduce own price if being undersold. Thus, this allows the Partnership to retain customers loyalty and trust by giving them confidence that they will never purchase similar product elsewhere which is undersold and if that is the case, then the customer is guaranteed to get a refund. As the employee-owned business model continue to grows in a rapid pace, in 2000 the Partnership successfully managed a network of over 31 major department stores and over 235 supermarkets stocking around 350,000 products. Particularly, the launch of Ocado online service that delivers Waitrose groceries and online shopping site (Johnlewis.com) led the business to be complex. The Partnership incorporate the use of RedPrairies Warehouse and workforce management system in order to build and retain customer loyalty whilst increase sales growth by maximise efficiency, ensure the product availability and speed delivery. This was another differentiator that underpinned the companys strategy for competitive advantage. John Lewis Partnership noticed that the cost reduction, sales growth and make the business profitable can be gained through the use of warehouse and workforce management system. Thereby, this allows them to practice Never knowingly undersold slogan thus reducing the cost burden to customers and offer products at a lower price. The Partnership and customers relationship depends on the ability of the company to sustain its competitive advantage (Scholes et al., 2008) despite many potential rivals imitating their business model (Pearce Robinson, 2008). Internal Analysis: Value chain analysis The value chain analysis focuses on how much value an organisations activities add to its products or services compared to the costs incurred in utilising resources in the productive process (Scholes et al., 2008, Raypor, 1995). Rayport (1995) further states that efficiency and effectiveness can be improve significantly if managers redesign their internal and external processes by doing value chain analysis. As value chain analysis helps managers to focus attention on configuring and coordinating resources on those activities that produce the product in the most efficient and effective way (Scholes et al., 2008, Pearce Robinson, 2008). Porter (1980) states that in order for the company to achieve competitive advantage, the managers should focus on two main areas when conducting a value chain analysis, one is the identification of the activities in which the company should perform and also the configuration of the firms activities that best enables added value to the product and allo ws the firm to compete. As previously mentioned, John Lewis Partnership can be described as a retailing company conducting its businesses online and in store. Primary activities have been described as directly concerned with the creation and delivery of product and services (Sholes, 2008, Porter, M. 1980). Thus, the key value adding activities that is associated with John Lewis Partnership can be identified using Porters Value Chain model (1985) are inbound and outbound logistics. Service can be added to these as ultimately, the success of the business model is determined by the superior service provided to customers. The use of warehouse and workforce management system allows optimisation in people, inventory and equipment to create a more agile, efficient and least distribution and also focus on performance culture. The Partnership in return, sees the productivity increased by 16%, labour costs reduced by 8%, enhanced stock availability, 40% improved of warehouse order picking and also delivery time decrease by 25%. Thus, the support activity underpinning the added value is in technology development. The ease of use system allows the company to cut overheads thus led to business growth and value-added developments that increase customer service and also when combined with other attributes as illustrated earlier creates a distinctive capability that rivals find difficult to match and hence lead to a competitive advantage. Conclusion The strategic aims of John Lewis Partnership depicts high level coherence between the partnership and the strategic choices, resources and capabilities that have been used to achieve its aims. The strategic choice of differentiation/narrow focus has enabled the company to focus on developing capabilities that improve performance and add value to customers. This, in turn, has led to the exponential growth of the business throughout the period 2000 to 2010 evidenced by increasing market share, turnover, profit, (as shown on Table 1) including increase in sales of products and services and strategic alliances and partnerships were also increased. Therefore, the key findings of the work clearly show that a competitive advantage has been achieved.

Effect of the Internet on Brain and Cognition

Effect of the Internet on Brain and Cognition Robert Deichert Research Article Review Article 1: â€Å"Searching for Explanations: How the Internet Inflates Estimates of Internal Knowledge† (Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. Published online March 30, 2015) Matthew Fisher, Mariel Goddu, and Frank Keil, the three researchers in charge of this study, were interested in studying the Internet’s effects on the brain and cognition. More specifically, they wanted to find out if having access to the Internet for the purpose of searching for answers to general knowledge questions would increase one’s self-assessment of confidence in answering other questions unrelated to the original Internet-based questions. In introducing the topic, the researchers introduced the idea of a transactive memory system a system wherein multiple individuals encode and retrieve memories and information as a whole. This allows individuals in a group to divide cognitive tasks between group members, and it reduces the mental load on each individual within the group. As an example, in the case of a three-person hunting and gathering group, one individual may be responsible for remembering where to find food, another with how to hunt animals, and another with how to cook the food. Each individual does not have to remember all three the entire set of information is stored across the memory systems of all three individuals. All individuals are required to work together and piece together their individual stores of knowledge to hunt and gather food, and all individuals rely on each other for information. This is a transactive memory system. The idea behind this study is that, theoretically, one individual and the Internet can form a sort of transactive memory system in which the individual feels that the vast stores of knowledge on the Internet are readily accessible at any time, and the individual will feel much more confident in his or her ability to answer general knowledge questions simply because he or she can query an Internet search engine (the other party in this sort of transactive memory system) at any time and access the knowledge stored on the Internet. To test this hypothesis, the researchers used a between subjects design with two groups of participants and two conditions. Participants in the first group were asked a series of general knowledge questions and told to use the Internet to find answers. Participants in the second group were asked the same set of general knowledge questions; however, they were told not to use the Internet to find answers. After this, participants from both groups were asked to rate their ability to answer unrelated questions from various subjects. The study didn’t test actual ability to answer subsequent, unrelated questions, but rather perceived ability, or confidence. The resulted showed that participants who used the Internet to look up general knowledge questions prior to being asked to rate their confidence in answering other questions were significantly more confident in their ability to answer the subsequent, unrelated questions than the individuals who did not use the Internet to search for answers to the initial knowledge questions. Various additional experiments were performed by the researchers to account for time spent answering questions while searching the internet and whether participants were considering Internet knowledge when self-assessing confidence. Additionally, the study showed that this confidence-boosting effect is a result of having access to and using an Internet search engine. After using an internet search engine, participants were much more confident in their own knowledge and in their ability to answer any other general knowledge question, even though the knowledge was not stored in their mind but on the Internet. Article 2: â€Å"Narcissism and the Use of Personal Pronouns Revisited† (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Published online March 30, 2015) In this study, researchers wanted to determine whether or not a connection exists between an individual’s usage of â€Å"I-talk† and his or her level of narcissism. â€Å"I-talk† is the use of first-person singular pronouns such as I, me, and my. It is a commonly held belief that individuals who talk about themselves frequently and use a large amount of I-talk are more narcissistic than those who do not. However, this intuitive relationship between I-talk and narcissism hasn’t been thoroughly tested and concretely proven or disproven. The goal of this study was to definitively identify a relationship between the two, if such a relationship exists at all. Very few studies have been done on this topic, and the results of those studies have been inconsistent. Additionally, previous studies on this topic have not employed very large sample sizes. This research study’s goal was to come to a concrete conclusion on the topic by employing a very large sample size and answering a few related questions concerning the relationship between gender, I-talk, and narcissism and context, I-talk, and narcissism. To accomplish this goal, researchers set up a large database of information from over 4,000 participants and 15 individual samples collected across five laboratories in the US and Germany. Each sample contained anywhere between 68 (in the case of Sample 2) and 1,209 (in the case of Sample 14) participants. Each sample was assigned to participate in a different activity designed to identify usage of I-talk in participants. For example, in Sample 1, university Psychology students videotaped self-descriptions that were later transcribed and analyzed for I-talk. In Sample 4, university Psychology students were seated in a classroom at random and asked to individually step forward and introduce themselves to the other participants in the classroom. They also participated in various other tasks, including writing down attributes about themselves and rating the other students’ presentations. Everything was transcribed, recorded, and analyzed for I-talk usage. Other samples involved a nalyzing participants’ Facebook status updates, performing a stream-of-consciousness recording task, and other various activities designed to allow for the measurement of I-talk. Additionally, each group’s assigned task was categorized based on the context of the activity prescribed by the task. These included identity, personal, impersonal, private, public, and momentary thought contexts. After each participant in each sample group participated in the prescribed activity, he or she completed a narcissistic personality questionnaire and a self-esteem test. Most participants were administered the 40-item or 16-item Narcissistic Personality Inventory and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem test. After analyzing the data, the researchers found that there is not a statistically significant connection between I-talk and narcissism. Participants’ self-esteem and narcissism scores had no significant correlation with their usage of I-talk. Additionally, the context of the activity did not affect this finding. There was a slightly higher correlation between male participants’ use of I-talk and narcissism than females’ use of I-talk and narcissism, but it was still statistically insignificant and near-zero, just as for the female participants. The researchers found that, contrary to popular belief, there is no connection between I-talk and narcissism, and this applies to all conversational contexts and genders. Article 3: â€Å"Finding a Needle in a Haystack: Toward a Psychologically Informed Method for Aviation Security Screening† (Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. Published online November 3, 2014) The researchers involved in this study identified a significant problem with current aviation security screening procedures and introduced a new security screening method of their own creation. They provide experimental evidence suggesting that their method is much more accurate and consistent in detecting deceptive passengers passing through airport security checkpoints. Currently, most aviation security checkpoints employ a behavioral method of deception recognition. Security screeners look for nonverbal behavioral cues from passengers that may indicate that the passenger is trying to deceive the security screener, including twitching, nervousness, aggressiveness, fidgeting, and some verbal indicators such as stumbling over words and hesitating while speaking. This method results in an alarmingly low rate of passenger deception detection of 5%. This is, according to the researchers, a result of the failure of this method to account for the real content of the passenger’s verbal account and the truthfulness of his or her statements. The researchers proposed an alternative method of screening called Controlled Cognitive Engagement (CCE), which was developed based on laboratory studies done on veracity testing techniques in two-person verbal exchanges. CCE does not focus on behavioral cues, but rather on the actual verbal exchange and conversation content between screener and passenger. CCE involves a security screener conducting a short, one-on-one interview with a passenger. The interviewer does not ask scripted questions; instead, the interviewer uses a process to create new questions in real time for the passenger that are based on the conversational context of the interview. CCE is trained to security screeners as an algorithm that the screeners can use while conducting an interview to create unique questions for each passenger that are designed specifically to test for passenger truthfulness. Interviewers can then analyze a passenger’s answers to all of the question for consistency and, thus, truthful ness. To experimentally test CCE and compare it to the traditional, behavioral method of aviation screening, the study employed two groups of security agents and two groups of passengers. The first group of security agents was assigned to use traditional behavior-based screening at a checkpoint, and the second group was assigned to use CCE screening. The first passenger group was a genuine group of passengers selected from individuals passing through the airport checkpoint. The second group of passengers was a sample of individuals chosen by the researchers to pass through the same security checkpoint, but with a deceptive cover story being told to screeners. The two passenger groups were matched in composition by the researchers. The researchers measured the rate of detection of deceptive passengers for non-CCE security agents and CCE security agents. The results of the study show that veracity testing methods, like the CCE method developed by the researchers, are significantly more effective at detecting deceptive passengers. Traditional behavior-based screening methods only detected about 5% of deceptive passengers in this study, but CCE, a method of veracity testing, detected 66% of deceptive passengers.