Benedict’s Rule

â€Å"Benedict’s Rule†, a document that supposedly details the way a true Christian must behave to actually be a true Christian, and not a mere Sunday churchgoer, is a curious text. It is aimed mostly at those who wish to dedicate their whole lives to God, written mostly for monks. However, it is often taken to be a guide to how all Christians should behave despite the fact that there are quite a few things that differ rather drastically from what the Bible says. It is my opinion, thus, that this text cannot be used as a correct interpretation of God’s vision for Christians.Before beginning dealing with both this text and the Bible, I must note that the Bible contains controversial information. Sometimes the tales are of humans that strove hard and failed, and their failure – when taken literally and not as a lesson – can serve as a bad example. Other times, tales are shown to demonstrate how not to do, and there aren’t very many instances th at there are direct commandments towards humanity. That is why I have decided to use one particular section of the Bible – the Sermon on the Mount, as it is a depiction of Christ speaking directly and clearly to the people to show what he wants of them.It is a condensation of the Bible in many ways. And, as we shall see in direct comparison, what the Bible says are the direct words of God do not comply even closely what St. Benedict wants of the people. First of all, the text explicitly shows a bias towards monks. Even though it was written for monasteries, the author does not seem to accept any other kind of worshipper. Only those who are monks are actually pleasing to God – or, at least, such an expression I garnered from reading the text.And, even then, traveling monks, those, who have no stable monastery are frowned upon deeply and insinuated with all sorts of sins (â€Å"Always roving and never settled, they indulge their passions and the cravings of their appeti te, and are in every way worse than the Sarabaites. † BR, chapter 1). Elitism, however, is one of the things Christian doctrine rises against the most. Christianity is not the religion of some Elite, it is the religion of the many, and it is for everyone, who will take the time and trouble to know God.Any person can do it, and there is no need to lead a special, â€Å"especially righteous† life in a monastery. No, indeed, a true Christian is a man of the higher world, a man of heaven, who descends unto the Earth to aid those in need of guidance here. Someone might protest on this one that monasteries are of great value. I do not underestimate the importance of monasteries in the great work that is Christianity – scholars and keepers of lore are as valued in the Christian tradition as in any other. However, neither are they the most important.The most important is the average, everyday person, who has his or her own relationship with Deity. The aim of Christianity was never to create an elite, it was to have everyone transmute into an elite. This requires not monasteries as places of seclusion – a monk may not even eat outside of a monastery, as chapter 51 of Benedict’s rule states – but as schools admitting all those who wish to learn truly! A division between believers is not only unnecessary, but also harmful to the cause, and teaching it to the people who would be teachers is just plain evil, if an unintended one.Second, as we can see in Benedict’s rule, he depicts things such as humility, silence, and et cetera as being rather, well, showy. For instance, humility: Benedict shows that humility is to be spoken of out loud, at least in the middle degrees of it. This is not humility, but the opposite, exaltation. Even the he mentions greater humility later on; it still does not seem to be the most important. Formal observance seems to take precedence over the simple and honest, if at times clumsy, task of living a good life, shows seem to be more important than honest service.Monasteries are supposed to be quiet and devoted to their given tasks, not showing off their â€Å"more-humble-than-thou-art†. This is devoutly un-Christian. The Bible says, however, that things such as worship should be kept in secret – and not because of a fear of nosy neighbors, either! The mysteries of God are simple, yet, when occulted, they gain great power for the transformation of the one that works with these mysteries. However, as with any occult knowledge, when revealed, it becomes absolutely useless and even false.Like decorations out of a good drama, when brought to daylight, they are nothing but fool’s gold – and the alchemical transmutation of fool’s gold into real gold only occurs in solitude and darkness, only after a person has sought his on way to God and fought his own battles on it. One might oppose me in that monasteries are there to leave the lights within this darkness, for the lone traveler and neophyte to use. Monasteries are supposed to lead the exemplary life, one for which the average believer should strive. Yet how much of an example is it, if it is impossible to follow because of the elitism?A true teaching goes out to the students of this teaching, it does not attempt to shroud knowledge in baubles. Yes, showing an exemplary life originally was one of their functions – however, such things must be done very carefully, and never massively. Yes, certain shreds of enlightenment, certain way markers can be transplanted from one person to another; and a basic education is never a bad thing. However, usually such things are not given in monasteries. They are not careful enough, not competent enough, and too massive for their own good – and, even if they were good enough, what truth about God was ever learned in a classroom?It and the teacher in it can aid in pinpointing the way, not be the Truth itself. Added to the usuall y reclusive and yet arrogant life of the monasteries, what comes of it is more an indoctrination than anything else. And this leads us to the next un-Christian thing I found in Benedict’s Rule. Benedict speaks much of obedience. (â€Å"As soon as anything hath been commanded by the Superior they permit no delay in the execution, as if the matter had been commanded by God Himself. â€Å", chapter 5) However, he speaks of obedience to humans, not to God.He says that those high up in the Church are God’s chosen for this work, and should be obeyed as God would be obeyed, for they are always vessels for His will. We shall not even get into the whole discussion of where saying that the Church hierarchs lack the basic gift of God – Free Will – leads. Omitting that, we shall focus on the fact that everything is, in its own way, a test from God. If subscribing to the theodicy of the fact that evil exists as a tool for our learning and growth, the fallacies of an other can also be regarded in this respect.Preaching blind obedience, when one of the basics of Christianity is â€Å"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. † (Matthew 7:2)? The process of seeking has always involved thinking for oneself, separating the wheat from the chaff, deciphering the Holy Book that is Life and Christ itself – not merely obeying those who are also on this search, and may be going down a wrong alleyway, for to be human is to err! Christianity is a religion that is supposed to grant freedom, not to suffocate it within the throngs of hierarchy.In Benedict’s Rule there is much emphasis on formality. When prayers are to be said, how gifts are supposed to be given, and so on. (â€Å"CHAPTER XVI How the Work of God Is to Be Performed during the Day†, et cetera). The proper procedure for communion with God is quite important, that no one can deny, however, it is not by chance that the Sermon on the Mount focuses upon the inner motivations (â€Å"But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court;† Matthew 5:22) and not on the outer manifestation.One might say that an outer manifestation, such as the keeping of formalities, is important as well. After all, is it not by ceremony that we recognize and identify? Is it not the symbol that shows us the way? Is it not the atmosphere that is created with these symbols and formalities that first teaches us the essence of religion, is within them not the spirit of Christianity itself? Yes, and I do not mean to contradict that in any kind of way. However, as a word written on a page can never replace the object itself, so the symbols of religion should not become the core of religion, and this should be remembered.Christianity, when it first arose, was a religion of personal experience. It was something that you felt and worked with, and it – and its outer expression s – was individual for every believer. Everyone was his own judge, in the end. Any outer rules that came into existence for Christianity, though important, were secondary, not primary. The code of conduct is a useful thing, however, it – if the monks to whom it is addressed are good monks – has no value whatsoever. It would be valuable for those striving to be monks, for complete novices, but not for those who have done the inner work.For, if one heeds the Bible, which frowns even upon evil thoughts, good actions should follow. The formalities are a necessary subsequence to real inner faith. What would be good is advice on wisdom, on how to make decisions, and not on the formalities. Tradition is important and beautiful, but not to this extent. It should not become dogma, accepted on faith as Gospel – and as too many would want it to be. As we can see, the text †Benedict’s Rule†, if read with care, can be seen as even contradicting the Bible.Such is the price of human folly; such is the price of people attempting to judge the inner world by outer laws. Not a gentle mingling, growing into each other, which is done within every true individual’s hearts – but a forcible mashing together of the two things that should be one, yet are now separate. This task, to be done, must include letting go of the reins of society and entrusting the process within the hands of an individual human and God, though this is very difficult.Christianity is not supposed to force this relationship, as Benedict states, with punishments (â€Å"At the day hours, however, whoever doth not arrive for the Work of God after the verse and the Gloria of the first psalm, which is said after the verse, let him stand in the last place, according to the rule which we stated above; and let him not attempt to join the choir of the chanters until he hath made satisfaction, unless, perchance, the Abbot's permission hath given him leave to do so, with the understanding that he atone the fault afterwards† chapter 43).However, it is supposed to gently show those who made a mistake that it was a mistake. As Socrates said, â€Å"There is not one person that would do evil if they knew it was evil. † This is true, and Christianity’s function is to enlighten the people, to aid them in stopping making mistakes. How many times could a teacher force someone to learn? None. But a teacher who awakens within his pupils not fear, but a desire to learn, will succeed in being a good teacher. Benedict, though he tries valiantly, fails this difficult task.

The Use of Magical Realism in Gabriel-Garcia Márquez’s Chronicle of a Death Foretold

Gabriel-Garcia Marquez is an author known for the use of Magical Realism in his novels. Throughout the novel â€Å"Chronicle of a death foretold†, the novelist Gabriel-Garcia Marquez uses magical realism as a genre frequently. Magical Realism is defined as being the juxtaposition of realism with fantastic, mythic and magical/supernatural elements. Marquez reflects magical realism by exploring both natural and supernatural worlds and illustrating traces of the culture the characters have, which is Latin American. The magical elements that are present within the novel are: superstitions, exaggerations, dreams that come true and the coincidental bizarre situations. Exploring the use of magical realism will give an insight to the characters’ personality, thoughts and actions. On top of that, it will also give an insight to what the author’s thoughts are. Therefore, the thesis question will be answered and analyzed â€Å"The Use of Magical Realism in Gabriel-Garcia Marquez's Chronicle of a Death Foretold†. Gabriel-Garcia Marquez uses magical realism in Chronicle of a Death Foretold to illustrate the narrative in prose and verse or details about character that are not relevant. In the opening of the novel, the narrator discusses the dream that Santiago Nasar has right before his death. The narrator states â€Å"He’d dreamed he was going through a grove of timber trees where a gentle drizzle was falling, and for an instant he was happy in his dream, but when he awoke he felt completely spattered with bird shit†[1]. This cynical detail does not support the style of narrative of investigative journalism.

Matthew Carter Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Matthew Carter - Essay Example Carter visited New York four years after completing his internship at Enschede. The visit introduced him to the world of type designing, in which he soon developed intense interest. He was astounded by the positive advancement in typographic creations as evidenced in the compositions of designers like Milton Glaser, Herb Lubalin and others that contributed to the progressiveness of New York’s commercial art industry in 1960. When Carter returned to London from New York, he found that its commercial art scene lacked contemporary sans serif type. He joined forces with men such as Alan Fletcher, Bob Gill, David Collins, Colin Forbes and others to create many sans serif faces for the country’s young and inexperienced graphic design industry. One such sans serif face was made for Heathrow airport’s new terminal. Carter’s fascination with New York’s progressiveness lured him to the U.S again. He took up employment at Mergenthaler Linotype located in Brook lyn. While being intensely influenced by its director of typographic development Jackson Burke, Carter began threw his heart and soul into his work and started designing new typefaces for photocomposition. One of them was Snell Roundhand, a script face that he created in 1966 that exquisitely displayed the relative advantages of photosetting

Transmission Lines Easements and Personal Property Research Paper

Transmission Lines Easements and Personal Property - Research Paper Example As early as in 1625, Hugo Grotius has defined eminent domain as â€Å"The property under question is under the eminent domain of the government or state so that the government or anybody who functions for such a state may employ or even destroy or alienate such property, not only in the event of an extreme situation but also for the needs of public purpose or utility, to which ends those who have made civil society must have presumed to have meant that private purpose or ends should give away. However, it is to be noted that the government or state must be liable to make good the loss to the owner’s of the property which has been taken by the government.† Both federal and state governments have the privilege to take away the private property for public use with payment of just compensation to affected landowners. The Fifth Amendment to the American Constitution sets the tone for these seizures, and this power is widely known as eminent domain. In the historical decision in Kelo v. City of New London , U.S Supreme Court held that seizing the private property of land owners for economic development was entitled as a public use within the context of the Fifth Amendment. The above decision by U.S government has enlarged the both the federal and state government’s authority of eminent domain to unmatched areas. In Berman v Parker, in 1954, the U.S Supreme Court decided unanimously that the Fifth Amendment authorized governments to seize the private properties not for public use but for the public purpose. (scholarsandrogues.wordpress.com). U.S Supreme Court held in Kelo v. City of New London1, that the employment of eminent domain to convey rights of a land from one private owner to another one for the furtherance of the economic development. The appeal to U.S Supreme Court happened from the fact of censure by New London, Connecticut of privately owned real estate so that it could be employed as part of a widespread redevelopment scheme. In a 5- 4 decision, U.S Supreme Court held that general advantages a community savored from economic development qualified such redevelopment schemes as an allowable â€Å" public usage† under the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment. The Supreme Court verdict in Kelo was widely condemned by American general public and the politicians. American public is of the view that decision in Kelo is a gross infringement of property rights. They also allege that the Taking Clause of the Fifth Amendment was against general public’s interest as it would be beneficial to giant business houses at the loss of local communities and individual land owners. Further, some critics allege that Kelo decision has removed the constitution protection offered by Federal government to individual property rights and placed the issue back to the state governments to fix on if any protection remains on any state-level. In the above case , the Supreme Court deliberated whether the â€Å" public use  " requirement of the Fifth Amendment is satisfied in city’s decision to attach the private properties exclusively for the purpose of economic development. The City of New London, Connecticut wished to enlarge for the stated objectives of â€Å"revitalizing a distressed city by economically including its waterfront and downtown areas by taking over Kelo, which involved 90 acres of land owned by private owners. As per City, the development would foster in excess of 1000 jobs and an increase in taxes and other income. From the willing sellers, the City

Meaning of Dance in Moving Midway by Godfrey Cheshire Essay

Meaning of Dance in Moving Midway by Godfrey Cheshire - Essay Example Traditionally, dance has been the means of communicating amongst the people there as they used this to tell stories about their cultural heritage. It is therefore pertinent to analyze the value of dance as non-verbal communication. Dance as a nonverbal means of communication played very significant roles in Moving Midway. Through dancing in the documentary, people usually expressed their emotions without having to make any verbal communication with other people. The dancers in the movie are seen using their facial expressions, eye contacts, touches and body languages of people to manifest their emotions and let people know how they feel about a particular situation or circumstance (Cheshire, Hinton & Silver). A dance was also a way that the characters in Midway Movie tried to teach the people their rich cultural heritage and historical background. It is clear from the film that dances, which is a non-verbal means of communication breaks language and cultural barrier when it comes to the expression of emotions amongst the people that take place in this dance. The documentary also brings one to the fact that a person’s expression of anger or sadness through the use of dance as a means of non-verbal communication is the same all over the world.

Thermodynamic Cycle Analysis Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Thermodynamic Cycle Analysis - Coursework Example 2. You should set the initial conditions (green boxes) to reasonable values, explaining your choices. You should also explain the effects that increasing or decreasing these values have on the model. The initial conditions for density of air, ambient pressure, and ambient temperature for the engine have been input in the relevant green boxes in the excel file. The air pressure at sea level is 1.225 kg/m3, rounded off to 1.2 kg/m3 (Ahrens et al. 2012). This is at a temperature of 15Â °C (The Engineering Toolbox 2013). This air density is chosen because it is the density of air present at sea level. The ambient temperature is set at 300 K because this is generally taken as the average room temperature. The ambient pressure is chosen as 1.000 bar because the standard atmospheric pressure is generally indicated as 1 bar, which is equated to 100,000 Pa (Ahrens et al. 2012). Air density affects the pressure in the cylinder, ambient pressure affects the power generation and ambient tempera ture affects the efficiency of the engine. The effect of increasing the given value of air density would be that the pressure in the cylinder will increase for the compression ratio mentioned in the table. There will be more air to mix with fuel if the air density is high and therefore, there will be more power. Increase in the pressure at the same temperature will result in increase in power generation. Increasing the given value of ambient pressure will cause an increase in the maximum pressure in the cylinder. This will in turn increase the power and torque of the engine and vice versa. At low pressure, the air per cubic meter is lesser due to lesser pressure. This will lead to a reduction in performance of the engine. This effect is dependent on the speeds, as shown by Shannak and Alhasan (2002). At a low speed of up to 2500 rpm, volumetric efficiency and fuel consumption of the engine are found to decrease at with decrease in ambient pressure. On the other hand, at a higher spe ed of 3000 rpm, engine performance is found to decrease with increase in atmosphere pressure. Furthermore, while it can be assumed that at higher pressure the power and torque of the engine increases, there are more structural loads on the car and the fuel consumption is also increased (Ayers 1997). If the ambient temperature is reduced, the efficiency of the engine will increase. Increase in the ambient temperature results in a reduction in the engine efficiency as well as output (Energy and Environmental Analysis, Inc. 2008). All engines are known to have a better performance at lower temperatures (Ayers 1997). This will happen because reduction in ambient temperature will cause a higher energy transfer to the crankshaft. Thus, the energy loss will be reduced and the engine will have higher efficiency. 3. You now need to select suitable values for the polytropic index for compression and expansion (pink boxes) explaining your choices with reference to adiabatic, isothermal and pol ytropic processes and the differences between them. The suitable values for the polytropic index for compression and expansion have been input into the relevant pink boxes in the excel file. The values are given as 1.3 and 1.2 respectively for polytropic index of compression and polytropic index of expansion. The polytropic index of compression for petrol engines is generally reported as 1.3 (Huleihil and Mazor 2012). A polytropic index of 1 is considered isothermal while that of 1.4 is considered adiabatic (The Engineering Toolbox 2013). In our engine, the

Arabic News Channels Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Arabic News Channels - Essay Example "They're challenging the hegemony of the American media." Al Jazeera broadcasts 24/7, and is becoming increasingly present and important throughout the Arab world. It is Qatar-based and reaches out to over 45 million people that live in Arab nations. It also was the center of controversies during the Iraqi War. The first controversy accused Al Jazeera for broadcasting views of the conflict going on that were very different than media and news stations that resided in the United States (Sharkey, 2003). According to Sharkey (2003, pg. 1),"While U.S. television news media focused on military operations, Al Jazeera was "presenting something of the violence, the effects, the emotion" of the conflict, says Leila Hudson, assistant professor of Near Eastern studies at the University of Arizona, who monitored war news on U.S. and Arab networks. This led to charges by U.S. officials and conservative commentators that Al Jazeera was airing propaganda. Untrue, says Lamis Andoni, a journalist who has worked for print and broadcast media in the Middle East and the United States. Al Jazeera broadcast statements from U.S. government officials, showed the Central Command briefings and had a reporter embedded with U.S. troops, Andoni says. The network showed "a broader picture" of the conflict than U.S. news organizations, she says, because it also showed civilian casualties and the destruction of water, electrical and hospital facilities." Skeptics believe that neither Al Jazeera nor the United States demonstrated an accurate portrayal of the war in Iraq. They failed to analyze it properly, including the causes and reactions to it. People are concerned that Arab satellite stations are too busy broadcasting the prospective of the Iraqis without pretending to be objective, and that this in turn harms their own audience (Sharkey, 2003). According to Sharkey (2003, pg. 1), "Media analysts say television news operations in the Arab world and the United States would never present events or issues from the same perspective, because they are trying to reach audiences with different cultural experiences and frameworks. The fact that Al Jazeera offers "a different perspective than CNN" should not be regarded as a problem, says Mohammed el-Nawawy, a Stonehill College professor who has written about coverage of the Middle East. "Each network is trying to appeal to its audience." U.S. network executives say the different perspectives offered by Al Jazeera and other Arabic-language networks are valuable in their deliberations about how to cover events in the Arab world." News media stations in the United States keep a watch on Al Jazeera 24/7. He says this is done to remind them how other people in the world perceive the same news and stories. Believe it or not, Al Jazeera works with CNN and other United States networks. The same sort of scenario is present in the Arabic world. Footage from both sides could be seen on television for each area of the world. According to Sharkey (2003, pg. 1), "Although U.S. government spokespersons have disparaged Al Jazeera's coverage, it has been an intelligence tool for the United State

Explore the presentation of and possible difference between addiction Coursework

Explore the presentation of and possible difference between addiction and obsession in Winterson's 'Oranges are not the only fru - Coursework Example Christina Rossetti and Jeanette Winterson are two great writers who bought out the deep desires for women through their literary works. Christina Rossetti was one of the renowned female poets of the Victorian times, who explored the forbidden territory through her work. Rossetti was born in 1830. She was one of the earliest women writers to express the unquenchable feeling of search in her poems. She put desires and mistakes of mankind in common to both men and women in an era where spiritualism as well as passion was reserved only for the male gender. Her poems were perhaps the first to claim women had more needs apart from being the heartthrob of a brave man and mother of many. One other writer who explored the world of women in a way no one else did before is Jeanette Winterson. â€Å"Oranges are not the only fruit† is more or less Jeanette Winterson’s autobiography. She expresses the confusion of modern day women on realising her own self and the rules religion forc es her to follow. If Christina Rossetti’s poems are a mirror of the past century, Jeanette Winterson’s prose works are an exploration into the modern day woman’s position. However, there were a hundred years in the middle during when women evolved slowly through a harsh path. â€Å"A Streetcar Named Desire† written by Tennessee Williams with Blanche Dubois as the female protagonist is by far the best portrayal of women in that era in. Blanche, the heroine of the play is a person who explores her sexuality boldly with numerous people. She tries to protect herself from her own desires for the sake of maintaining sanity and social respect. The play portrays the dilemma of women in the transition era. Christina Rossetti published "Goblin Market and Other Poems" in 1862. Elizabeth Barrett Browning, one of the most prominent female poets of the Victorian era had died the previous year. Rossetti was looked upon as her natural successor partly due to her good fam ily background and its associations with numerous artists and writers. She started writing at a very young age and her first works got published when she was just 31. Rossetti explored the banned with her words in an era where women faced very strict confinements. Her poems were perhaps the first to claim women had more needs apart from being the heartthrob of a brave man and mother of many. Jeanette Winterson was bought up in a Pentecostal Evangelical family. She wrote her book in 1985 when the women writers were busy creating Harlequin romances. Readers bombarded by the Mills and Boon novels saw "Oranges are not the only fruit" as a fresh work done by a genius writer. She represents the confusion of modern day women on realising their own self and the rules religion forces them to follow. Rossetti’s works are known for beautiful rhyming and simile usage. Assonance and alliteration in certain verses of â€Å"Goblin Market† like â€Å"hoary roaring sea† and th e picture it creates in our minds with vivid descriptions are wonderful. In the passage where the goblins smear Lizzie with fruit all over her body, she places her rhyming lines ‘distance’ and ‘resistance’ nearly nine lines apart. But, it still sounds perfect. Making the rebellious heroine like Lizzie and Lara ready to try the banned emerge victorious is a rare thing to find in the early 19th century literature. Plays like â€Å"A streetcar named desire†

No topic Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

No topic - Essay Example The cytoskeleton is composed of three kinds of connective fibers, the smallest of which are microfilaments, then followed by intermediate filaments, and the largest kind of fiber are the microtubules. Of these three, the microtubules have the most involvement in the cellular processes within the cell, which can be attributed to the composition as well as the mode by which the network expands or retracts within the eukaryotic cell. Microtubules are made up of ?- and ?-tubulin dimers arranged in a lattice to create a series of protofilaments (Figure 1). 13 of these filaments are laid side-by-side to form 25nm tubes. Due to the head-tail arrangement ?- and ?-tubulin dimers, the whole microtubule network is considered to be polarized, with some of the tubules growing towards the nucleus (minus end) and some shrinking away from the nucleus and elongating towards the cytoplasm (plus end), making the tubules act like polarized particles (Galjart, 2010). The plus end of the microtubules cont ains a guanosine-triphosphate (GTP) cap that attracts tubulin dimers connected to GTP to expand as needed (Maurer et al., 2012). The expansion or contraction of the tubes is called dynamic instability, occurring through the hydrolysis of GTP to guanosine-diphosphate (GDP), which allows the tubules to alternate between elongating (called rescue) and shrinking (called catastrophe) even if the amount of tubulin dimers available in the cell is constant (Curriea et al., 2011). Figure 2 shows the head-and-tail arrangement of the dimers, as well as to how the hydrolysis of GTP to GDP causes the microtubule fibers to undergo rescue or catastrophe. Figure 1. Arrangement of the ?- and ?-tubulin dimers within the lattice of a protofilament, with the red arrow showing the direction of growth (Maurer et al., 2012). Figure 2. The formation of a microtubule fiber consists of a dimer bound with either GTP (straight) or GDP (curved), depending on whether the plus end undergoes shrinkage (catastrophe ) or elongation (rescue) (Galjart, 2010). As shown in figure 2, the plus end of an elongating microtubule fiber contains a GTP cap which attracts dimers with GTP. The straight arrangement of the GTP-containing dimers ensures that the elongating or rescuing tubules are stable enough while expanding. On the other hand, as the tubule shrinks or becomes catastrophic, the GTP-dimers undergo hydrolysis, forming GDP-dimers which curve backwards due to the dimers’ curved conformation from the loss of a water molecule. The de-polymerization of the tubule by reduction of GDP-dimers completes the shrinking process, allowing the free dimers to convert into GTP to be later used in tubule elongation processes in other parts of the cell. The polarized nature of the microtubules and the strong affinity of the GTP-caps to GTP-dimes help the microtubule-ends to actively select GTP-dimers instead of GDP-bound ones. Elongation or shrinkage of the microtubule fibers due to polymerization or addit ion of dimers, or de-polymerization or the reduction of dimers are able to generate forces that could push or pull the organelles within the eukaryotic cell. This alternate shrinking and elongating action by the tubules is an essential task especially during the stages of cell division when the organelles and the chromosomes are pulled towards the opposite sides of the dividing cell (Curriea et al.,

Ethical Dilemma Executive Summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Ethical Dilemma Executive Summary - Essay Example It is something which is very common in public sector and law enforcement firms, yet as a responsible citizen and police officer it is my duty to take necessary actions to stop this practice. As I am transferred to the current police department only recently, I must not show impatience in reporting the misconduct done by any colleague/police officer. I will secretly collect necessary facts and gather the past records of that officer on my own. I will wait till the time I have strong evidence that supports my claim. However, since that officer has strong connections and has established goodwill and PR among influential people while on the other hand, I have not yet built the integrity and trust which is required to challenge an experienced officer. Therefore, in this case I have several options: I will find out the name and designation of his immediate supervisor or the person whom he reports to; and I will quietly collect his/her views about bribery. I can send an anonymous letter to the internal affairs office of the police department which is responsible to carry out investigation about any misconduct or police abuse. Many countries have state police posts that can be used to report the cases of corruption. However, in case there is extreme violation of law, I will have to take serious actions by reporting anonymously to public safety board which deals with officer’s disciplinary actions and police corruption. Otherwise, I will try to find local FBI near my department from their official website i.e. http://www.fbi.gov/contact/fo/fo.htm. If the issue is not yet resolved then I will write an anonymous letter to the editor of the local newspaper and will send him/her the police disciplinary records because when media is involved serious efforts are made by concerned authorities to investigate the claims of corruption and breach of employment code of conduct. The professional implications of police reporting can be very serious especially when one is repo rting against some big fishes of the police department. In such situation following consequences may occur: If my name is revealed, my job will be at risk or perhaps I will be transferred to some other department/city. I may receive threats and the security of my family can be endangered. Police officer can send me behind the bars by putting false accusations against me or due to some false disciplinary charges. There are two ways to deal with these consequences; first is to report the corruption claims to the most trusted authority that ensures that my identity will not be revealed under any circumstance. Second condition is to challenge on the basis of strong evidence, public support and recordings of victims. Some countries use the tactic of â€Å"mystery audit† in which some senior police officials or people from investigating agencies disguise as common people and go to the police department for filing a complaint. They talk to the officers who are the suspects of corrup tion and create a situation of offering bribe or gifts. If officer(s) accept the bribe then the suspect is caught red handed. This method is very successful for conducting unbiased investigation. On the other hand, the liabilities of not reporting such acts are much greater than the consequences of reporting those acts. When an officer breaches the law, its impacts are not seen on the individual or departmental level only, rather it affects the whole system. The rights of the

The Media and Its Role Today Essay Example for Free

The Media and Its Role Today Essay The media has always been playing the main role in providing information to us. Whether it covers on education, information or entertainment, gaining the latest news on these topics has been made easier nowadays with the help of the media. There are a number of the types of media that could be obtained nowadays. This includes television, radio, newspapers, magazines and internet. Although the main idea of the media is to educate people on the latest happenings, and connect the people from different parts of the world, there is also a downside of it. Sometimes, the media could have an impact towards a person’s personal lifestyle. One of the many impacts that could be influenced by an individual due to the media is their state of health. Exposure of the media could influence us either mentally, physically and socially as well. 2. 0 So How Does the Media Influence a Person’s Health? 2. 1 Parent Child Relationship First of all, the media in a non obvious way is actually influencing its audience’s social relationship between parent and child. There is no doubt that when relating to the media, families are always getting together whenever they are watching a movie or enjoying their favourite sitcom aired daily. This is one of the healthy influences of the media as it helps to create closer bonds between parents and their children. A recent study estimated that 65 to 85 percent of young children’s viewing is with family members, where more than half viewing with their parents. (Van Evra 1998) But on the other hand, some people tend to misuse the media as a way to get out of family crisis. This could be seen normally among teenagers and young children where they turn to the media to avoid interaction between family members, especially their parents. It is indeed true that parents are the main contributors towards how their children behave. Nevertheless, it also could not be denied that the media is also one of the major influences of this matter as well. Nowadays, the younger generations are more advanced, in terms of how they think and act. It is due to the reason that they are too exposed to the media contents portrayed in films and music videos. The younger children as well as teenagers mostly, imitate these behaviours and adapt them to their everyday life. For example, if they were to see a scene where a child talks back to their parent, the child will tend to do the same thing to their own parent. Other than that, due to work load and inconsistent working hours, parents tend to use the media as a way to keep their children occupied. They will leave their children glued in front of the television or play station while they are away, whether for work or leisure. According to a recent study in the US, watching television often replaces the time for doing homework, playing and reading which is essential in creating closer bonds between a parent and child. This influences the child to become addicted to the media, and they will constantly be attached to it. Due to this matter, relationships between their parents will be reduced. Therefore, we could argue that relationships between a parent and child can be influenced by the media. 2. 2 Diabetes and Obesity It is agreeable that the media’s main role is to inform and educate its viewers on latest events happening around the world. Another main role of the media is to act as a medium for advertisers to advertise their products. Advertisements can be gained from different types of media. For instance we have newspapers, magazines, internet, radio and the most common medium which is the television. Fast food companies advertise their products often to attract viewers to buy them. It is true that advertising sells, but it may affect impressionable youngsters and self-conscious adolescents. An online survey showed that an individual watching television for 2 hours per day would have seen a total of 20,000 food advertisements in just one year. The most commonly showed commercials are food containing high sugar and fat, which is known to be dangerous to the human body. Without even noticing, the media is supporting the food industry which is contributing towards a significant effect on future problems involving weight issues. Besides that, children in particular are being exposed to the media without any parental guidance. Parents are letting their children having television sets in their bedroom, which is not a good thing as this promotes unhealthy habits, such as eating while watching television. A recent online study showed that children who have televisions in their bedroom are more likely to have weight problems, in this case obesity and diabetes than those who do not have televisions in their room. From that online research, the statistics showed that 27. 3% of children with a television in their room are overweight, which is high compared with 17. 7% of children who do not have a television in their bedroom. Therefore, it is also arguable that the media could influence the occurrences of diabetes and obesity. 2. 3 Anorexia Through out the decades, our definition towards beauty has been altered dramatically. We no longer value people from all shapes, sizes and skin colour. The underlying cause is the portrayal of beauty standards in the media in this generation. One of the focus on beauty standards is body image. In order to be accepted, you have to be thin or else there is no place for you in Hollywood or the world of modeling. These beauty standards set by the mass media has impacted women and young teenage girls especially to aspire to be as stick thin as celebrities in the media. Examples of stick thin celebrities are Nicole Kidman, Keira Knightley and Victoria Beckham. These days it is difficult to flip through a magazine or watch television without feeling bad about one’s body. The media’s portrayal of stick thin beauties has attributed to many young teenage girls and women developing a eating disorder. One of the eating disorder is anorexia. Anorexia is an eating disorder associated with women and young teenage girls to drive themselves to near starvation in order to be thin. Even though they are thin, they still see themselves as fat and drive themselves further by not eating or barely eating. In short, they have developed a fear for food and a fear for getting fat. The influence of media is on our daily lives, so often we are not aware how it is affecting us. Celebrities being the main focus of the media, how they portray themselves will indirectly influence their viewers especially young girls who are not old enough to make sound judgments. In the television series, Ally Mcbeal, apparently the show’s star refused to eat so that she could keep up with the thinness of her co-stars such as Lucy Liu, Courtney Thorne-Smith and Portia De Rossi. These little girls will grow up thinking that â€Å"thin is in† after watching shows that condone unhealthy body image. That is when they will most likely have a tendency to develop an eating disorder such as anorexia. Related statistics by the National Eating Diorder Association indicates that 40-60% of high school girls are on diet, 30-40% of junior high school children are concerned about their weight and 40% of 9 year olds have dieted. Lately the influence of celebrities such as Keira Knightly, Nicole Richie and Kate Moss with emaciated stick-thin bodies have inspired young girls and women alike to emulate their body type. Put it simply, the extreme exposure of celebrities with size 2 or less figures has made women and little girls unhappy or dissatisfied with their body image. However, parental influence can also plays an important part in contributing to a child’s idea of an ideal weight or size. Mass media may be bombarding young minds with unrealistic standards of beauty, but it is a parent’s job to educate the child from young to know what is healthy and what isn’t. If a parent is constantly dieting and complaining about unhappy body image, then a child will more likely be vulnerable to developing an eating disorder such as anorexia. Anorexia is a very serious mental illness as it has caused many deaths in women and teenage girls because of their refusal to eat. A study by the National Eating Disoder Association indicates that 5-20% of those with anorexia nervosa will face complications associated with the disorder such as kidney failure and heart problems. This means that among all the mental disorders, anorexia has the highest mortality rate. Their minds have been conditioned so badly to think that by eating the slightest bit that they will get fat. Their bodies’ lost of nutrients, fat and minerals can cause them to die unless they get treatment in time. Prevention can save lives by encouraging healthy, realistic attitudes towards weight and diet. 2. 4 Violence Let’s face it, the media is cool, whatever is being done on television is being emulated by the public. For example fashion trends, smoking habits, binge drinking and premarital sex. But what happens when violence as seen on television is being seen as the way to solve problems? Violence these days is on the rise. People think it is alright to solve problems using violence. For example solve a feud by firing fire arms at each, beat up someone for not giving money, or blowing up a public facility. These cases especially involve young adolescents who spend too much time viewing violence on television and video games. The problem with violence in real life is that one cannot escape getting hurt from a violent action. Most television dramas portray characters still end up alive or not hurt at all during a round firing bullets at each or that a character can survive a major bomb blast in a building by some stroke of luck. It is unrealistic that someone get up on his feet with just a few bruises after being bashed up by a bunch of gangsters. That is what has been aired on television time after time. For example, the latest popular drama TV series Heroes and Smallville show unrealistic events such as rising from the dead multiple times after being killed many times. The shows’ character flying into the sky might make children under 6 think that flying is possible as in the case of a boy who thought he could be Superman flew out the window and died. It is also unrealistic that people can develop supernatural powers by being infected by alien meteorites or through gene mutation. However, most viewers who are children and teenagers might not have good judgment to know that violence can’t solve anything would emulate their actions on television in real life. The case of two teenage boys who shot dead 13 people in a Columbine High School were fans of the highly popular video game DOOM. DOOM is a very highly violent video game where players go around building tiers to shoot characters in the video game. Analysts theorize that part of the killer’s problem may have desensitization due to the vast amount of time spent on video games, music and vidoes filled with violent imagery. Even violent music lyrics have been shown to instil violent thoughts and emotions in a person. A research conducted by New Scientist revealed that children who listen to violent music lyrics all the time were more likely to make aggressive association with words like animal, rock and stick. This is especially so with the availability of downloading softwares, whereby anyone can download violent songs and listen to it in a portable device such MP3, MP4 and Ipod anytime. Violent messages will constantly be bombarding their heads and more likely bringing out violent actions in chidren and teenagers. According to a survey carried out by American Academy of Pediatrics ( AAP ), studies have shown that excessive exposure to violent imagery in the mass media increases the likely hood of a child committing acts of violence. Base on statistics, nearly 2 out of 3 TV programs contain violent acts, averaging 6 violent acts per hour. An average child would have seen 10,000 violent acts per year by just watching 2 hours of cartoons a day. Teens who watch more than 1 hour of TV a day are four times more likely compared to other kids to commit violent acts. A typical kid who enters middle school would have seen 8000 murders and 10,000 more acts of violence aired on television. In another study, researchers found that by cutting down television and video game consumption to less than an hour a day decreases verbal aggression by 50% and physical aggression by 40%. This is very serious as violence is the leading cause of death for children, adolescents and young adults which is a higher cause compared to diseases, cancer or congenital disorder. In the past, violence was seen as a way to solve disputes as it was important to determine the survival of the fittest. However this media-exposed generation has been influenced to think that violence is cool and acceptable. We must remember that this is the real world, people can get injured and don’t heal miraculously or wake up from the dead. Destruction and chaos are the result of despicable violent acts committed by people. 2. 5 Racial and Ethnic Discrimination The media is so much part of young people’s lives these days that it is impossible to not base life and make judgments by comparing to the media. Media influence is so prevalent that when we look at a race with tend to stereotype them to what is being portrayed in the media. If are not careful, we will be growing up with a narrow mind by thinking everything the media says is true. For example, minorities such as the blacks and Latinos are always portrayed as the bad guys. When we meet one in real life, we tend to immediately shun them thinking they are not good people as seen on television. Another reason media influence has caused discrimination among certain races and ethnic groups is that the minorities are seldom cast as the lead character. Almost always they are second to the lead character, the victim, the bad guy or the first to die in the movies and television drama. Caucasians are mostly cast as the lead actor or actresses whether they are distress, out to save the world or leading a normal family life. This is a bad influence to the young generation who are exposed to the media 24/7 thinking that Caucasians or Americans will always be the superior person in power, never the minority. Discrimination among certain races and ethnic groups due to media influence has caused us to belief that Caucasian looks are all that. Media influence has caused us to believe that fair, big eyes, sharp noses and high cheek bones are standard beauties of today. We have ignored other qualities of other races to be deem as beautiful. These include people of colour, people with slit eyes, people with the big lips which is an attribute among the blacks and so on. Hardly do you see an African woman or man donning the covers of magazines. On the contrary, it is history that has influenced the media to portray a certain race or culture in a discriminated way. The blacks were brought to America as slaves in the olden days. Most cab drivers in New York are Indians. The Chinese culture believes that women cannot be independent and Indonesians in Malaysia are mainly maids and construction labourers. So, what the media has done is simply highlighting real life situations and portraying them as they are. Hence, a local movie would most likely portray the maid of a family as an Indonesian for this is common in Malaysian society. Therefore, we cannot argue the fact that it is the people who have instead influenced the media. In conclusion, media can influence people’s beliefs of a certain race or culture. However, we must not forget that it is people’s beliefs in the first place that has influenced the media to portray them in a certain way. This cycle can only stop if we change our own beliefs to influence the media on race and culture. 3. 0 The Media Does Influence a Person’s Health The mass media is a very powerful tool. It can shape our beliefs, influence our perspective and distort our views on anything and everything. In addition to that also, our state of health could easily be influenced by the mass media. We should always take extra precaution and note that the people ehind the media are just out to make big bucks, where they will portray whatever it is they want you to see and believe so that you will be obsessed with their product. Therefore, we must instill in children from young to always create a filter in their minds to differentiate right from wrong whenever they are exposed to the media. Although media influence is strong, with parental guide and the rig ht education, it can make all the difference in raising the next generation to make sound judgments about the contents in the media. Individuals should be exposed on the harms that media can cause, in this case towards our health in order to generate a better future.

A Study On The Social Policy Social Policy Essay

A Study On The Social Policy Social Policy Essay One definition of social policy is the legal framework from within which society, or in our sphere, medical professionals operate. In the UK social policy mainly consists of Acts of Parliament, although there is also an element of Common Law (laws that are made by the courts) and Ministerial Instruments (Instructions from Ministers that instruct). It is worth noting that all social policy that is passed is within the context of the UK being a western democracy and as part of the EU. The notion of western democracy is important. Parliament does not just pass legislation, it attempts to pass legislation that is either in the short term or long term interests of the electorate, us! We elect and lobby MPs, governments are formed and Bills are introduced and discussed in both Houses. In addition we join pressure groups and professional associations that attempt to exert influence on the legislative process. One of consequences of legislation is that society begins to work on behalf of individuals. John Locke introduced the idea of a Social Contract the relationship between the state and the individual; the idea that the state should provide a minimum standard of living for the individual. Poor Laws were introduced as far Back as 1536 an attempt by the state to provide work for the individual. Laissez Faire the idea that market forces should prevail was being questioned, Charities, the church and philanthropists began to provide for people. Samuel Greg, for example, founded Styal Mill in Cheshire, an industrial work place, but he also took in children and trained them to work in the mill as well as providing quality housing and health care provision for his workers. This approach took a while to bed in bed other captains of industry began to see the advantages of treating their employees with compassion and soon began to lobby government to organise this new interventionist approach t o society. In 1870 the Forster Act was passed, this was the turning point the state took responsibility for education for children between the ages of 5 and 12. Further changes to the education, pensions and benefits systems were introduced over the next 80 years but the main raft of social policies were introduced after WWII. During WWII William Beveridge conducted an audit into the state of the nation. He toured the country and was astonished with what he found. Britain was not a country fit for heroes. Change was needed. He identified 5 great evils: Want, Ignorance, Squalor, Disease and Idleness. Together these evils prevented Britain realising its potential, they were a cancer evident in the fabric of society. Together they negated any notions of meritocracy. With the end of WWII came great optimism, a new post modern society was the vision. Politicians saw their roles as architects of such a society. In July 1947 The Welfare State was officially launched. It aimed to provide a safety net for the population, to intervene in peoples lives and to provide where and when needed. The days of Laissez Faire were over the state would provide. The Welfare State also aimed to eradicate the 5 great evils in the following ways Want: A universal benefits system was introduced. No longer were those in poverty forced to go cap in hand to the church, family members or charities. Many benefits were not means tested they were universal, e.g. Child benefit is paid to all mothers irrespective of income. Ignorance: The Tri-partite system was introduced as a result of the Bulter Education Act 1944. All students sat the 11+ and the result of this exam determined what school they then attended; Grammar School, Secondary Modern Schools, or Secondary Technical Schools. All students attended school until the age of 15 and it was free. Squalor: Squalor means absolute and systemic poverty that is exacerbated by appalling living conditions, e.g. the Gorbals Tenements in Glasgow or the Victorian slums in many industrial cities e.g. Burnley, which were described as, crowded, one of the most filthy and one of the most unhealthy villages P144 Briggs. In addition there was the opportunity that was created by the bombings of the major cities during WWII. People needed housing and needed it fast. The result was The New Towns Act that were passed by Parliament in 1946. It enabled local authorities to build completely new towns in the following areas: England; Basildon, Bracknell, Corby, Harlow, Hatfield, Hemel Hempstead, Milton Keyes, Newton Aycliffe, Peterlee, Redditch, Runcorn, Skelmersdale, Stevenage, Telford, Washington, and Welwyn Garden City. Idleness: People faced crippling unemployment. The Great Depression started in 1929 in the US but continued well into the 1930s and 1940, real economic activity only came as a result of WWII. People needed jobs and the government proposed a policy called Jobs For All. Everyone who needed / wanted a job would be given a job by the government. This was relatively easy to achieve as the welfare state saw a massive building programme and subsequent job in health, education, benefits, etc. The following graph show unemployment rates since WWII: Disease: The government introduced the national Health System in 1947, for the 1st time ever all people had access to free GPs, Hospital care, midwives, Dentists, Opticians etc. Prescriptions were free, inoculations were given, the old killers; TB, Polio, etc were virtually eradicated. Infant mortality rates dropped, life expectance rose and it appeared that the initial spending by the state could be reduced as people were becoming dramatically healthier. All of the above was free at the point of access. The Welfare State was paid for initially by government borrowing and National Insurance contributions. One of the remarkable things about the Welfare State is that is saw the origins of Consensus Politics. Consensus Politics can be defined as the phrase used to describe the practice of government in Britain between 1945 and 1979. The phenomenon was observed by political scientists and media commentators; Britains two major political parties, the Conservative Party and Labour Party, were in agreement, or consensus, over certain basic government policies in the decades after World War II. The introduction of fundamental changes in government responsibility, such as the welfare state, the national health service (NHS), and widespread nationalization of industry, were effectively unchallenged by either party. Essentially this means that regardless of who was in power from 1945 to the mid 1970s both parties agreed to the broad principles of the Welfare State, Interventionism and State Control of Industry. Governments strived to be philanthropic in their nature, to support people, to enable people to realise their potential. Britain strived to become more meritocratic in nature. No longer would it be the case that people were given jobs due to their family, with a free education system according to, age, aptitude and ability theoretically anyone could rise from the lowest social class to the top jobs in society, John Prescott being a relatively good example of where this has been the case. What led to the end of consensus politics is a matter of debate. James Callaghans Great Debate Speech at Ruskin College Oxford is cited as a turning point. Essentially he asked the questions: what has the Welfare state achieved thus far and, more importantly, what is the future? Here both main parties went their separate ways. Thatcher was elected in 1979 and with her came politics of the market and the New Right. During the 1980 Labour wet left on the political spectrum Thatcher sold off the Industrialised industries, she also introduced the broad principles of the market into the various parts of the Welfare State. This policy is know as markedization. Essentially the five major components of the Welfare State were re-orientated in way to create a more flexible workforce, and a way where the principles of the market were the most important. The important policies that were introduced during this time were: Education: The Educational Reform Act 1988 introduced OFSTED, League tables, GM schools, competition between schools. Passing exams became more important that gaining an education. Health: Ken Clarkes mainly effective reforms. Health authorities were now purchasers buying broad block contracts from hospitals. Regional authorities took strategic decisions. Costs became more transparent; the one error was allowing competition on price. To ginger up the market, keen GPs held their own budgets to buy faster services for their patients, creating an unfair two-tier system. But this was a purely internal market with no private involvement and all cash staying in the NHS. The Guardian 7th October 2005 Housing: Council homes were sold off by Thatcher at greatly reduced rates, thus creating a need for more social housing and also a raft of new middle class propertied people who now may well vote Conservative. At its simplest, if the Welfare State were a safety net suspended beneath society to help people bounce back into work, affluence etc, the safety net was lowered, people would have to look after themselves again. The days of Big Interventionist Government were over as epitomised by Thatchers quote in 1987: I think weve been through a period where too many people have been given to understand that if they have a problem, its the governments job to cope with it. I have a problem, Ill get a grant. Im homeless, the government must house me. Theyre casting their problem on society. And, you know, there is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look to themselves first. Its our duty to look after ourselves and then, also to look after our neighbour. People have got the entitlements too much in mind, without the obligations. Theres no such thing as entitlement, unless some one has first met an obligation. The New right dominated through to 1997. Blaire was elected on May 2nd 1997, at the celebration party they played d-ream things can only get better. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHXA5GykEbw it appeared to be the start of a brave new era, underpinned by Giddens Third Way, neither left wing or right wing politics but a realistic and pragmatic combination of both and a smattering of blue skies thinking the challenging of paradigms. Thirteen years later, subsequent elections, wars in Iraq, sleaze and MPs and it would appear that there was very little difference between Thatcher, Major, Blaire or Brown. All we have seen is the consensus politics after WWII replaced with neo-consensus politics that is to the right of the political spectrum. At the very least politicians campaign in poetry and govern in prose, to be frank they are at least disingenuous, at worse they are mere puppets. The Marxist model of power advocates that power resides in the hands of the bourgeoisie, Britain is not a meritocracy of a democracy, and such notions are illusions perpetuated by the bourgeoisie to perpetuate false class consciousness. All the welfare state actually achieves is a proletariat who are educated, housed and healthy enough to be exploited by the bourgeoisie in the capitalist means of production. Politicians merely manage the affairs of the bourgeoisie. All legislation that has ever been passes is initially in the interests of the bourgeoisie. The welfare state for example is not some altruistic gift from government it is actually paid for by the proletariat. If one were to consider the works of Althusser, Illich, Bowles and Gintis etc, then one might actually conclude that the welfare state is actually against the interests of the Proletariat. To conclude one could look at Britain PLC. Postmodernism would argue that NGOs and TNCs are far more influential that nations particularly small nations like the UK. What politicians do needs to be as a consequence of global factors. Young people today are competing for jobs with people in their own town as well as those from India and China and the skills that they need must reflect this fact. Future social policy will be very similar to legislation passed in other countries. This can be seen with the Health care reforms advocated by Obahma, or the educational policies in operation in Australia, we are becoming similar, globalization is happening, IT is creating a homogenous mass. Biography http://www.manchester2002-uk.com/history/victorian/quarrybankmill.html Sociology in Focus. Haralambos. 7th Edition. 2008 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elementary_Education_Act_1870 Social Insurance and Allied Services. Sir William Beveridge. 1942. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_Act_1944 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorbals Victorian Cities by Asia Briggs 1993. http://www.budget.gov.au/2004-05/bp1/image/bst4-1.gif http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2005/oct/07/publicservices.health Giddens: The Third Way. The Renewal of Social Democracy. 1998

Healthy Biscuit Industry India

Healthy Biscuit Industry India India Biscuits Industry is the largest among all the food industries and has a turnover of around Rs.3000 crores. India is known to be the second largest manufacturer of biscuits, the first being USA. It is classified under two sectors: organized and unorganized. Bread and biscuits are the major part of the bakery industry and covers around 80 percent of the total bakery products in India. Biscuits stand at a higher value and production level than bread. This belongs to the unorganized sector of the bakery Industry and covers over 70% of the total production. India Biscuits Industry came into limelight and started gaining a sound status in the bakery industry in the later part of 20th century when the urbanized society called for readymade food products at a tenable cost. Biscuits were assumed as sick-mans diet in earlier days. Now, it has become one of the most loved fast food products for every age group. Biscuits are easy to carry, tasty to eat, cholesterol free and reasonable at cost. States that have the larger intake of biscuits are Maharashtra, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Uttar Pradesh. Maharashtra and West Bengal, the most industrially developed states, hold the maximum amount of consumption of biscuits. Even, the rural sector consumes around 55 percent of the biscuits in the bakery products. Health biscuits are also gaining speed in market. It has become the part of the diet of many health conscious people. Many brands like Britannia, sunfeast and Parle are coming up with their variety of health biscuits which are beneficial during sickness or for diabetic people of health conscious people. The following survey is on this section of biscuits. It is done on 200 consumers of health biscuits who are randomly selected. OBJECTIVE OF THE SURVEY The objective of the survey is to find the factor which influences the customers to buy health biscuits of a specific brand. To know the expectations and requirements of all customers regarding health biscuits To find out how the biscuits of different brands are rated by the cosumers.. Also to find out what improvements the consumer wants in this line of biscuits. LIMITATION OF THE SURVEY Some of the respondents were not responding to some of the questions. Some of the respondents dine have so much information about the biscuit and the brand. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY The methodology followed for conducting the study includes the specification of Research design, sample design, questionnaire design, data collection and Statistical tools used for analyzing the collected data. FINDINGS Britannia creamcracker is the most preferred health biscuits as most of the respondents buy this biscuits. Most of the respondents buying this biscuit are diabetic patients or they buy to keep themselves fit. Price of the biscuit is also satisfactory and quality wise also its good. Most of the respondents got aware of this biscuits by tv advertisements. The customers want more varieties in this line of biscuits. CONCLUSION After conducting this research it was found that the demand for the health biscuits is increasing and there is a lot of scope in this line. The current situation is that Britannia has the highest sales and demand for it health biscuits and the most demanded biscuit is nutri choise creamcracker. RECOMMENDATION AND SUGGESTIONS There should be more variety of healthy biscuits available. There packaging and advertisement should be taken care appropriately. Taste of these products should also be improved. They should also provide with more schemes and benefits Learning From this study I acquired the knowledge of different factors which affect the customer preference in biscuit market. Also how the respondents rate the product on the given factors.

Discrete Choice Experiment :: Analysis, Random Utility Theory

The CE is founded on neoclassical micro-economic consumer theory. It assumes that consumers are highly rational decision makers who seek to optimize their utility by selecting the best option among the available alternatives, subject to constraints such as time and income (Ben-Akiva & Lerman 1985). So, a consumer makes a decision by evaluating the costs and benefits of the given alternatives, and selects among them which yields the highest utility to him/her (benefits-cost). In the CE, the choice is discrete in nature (Hanemann 1984), that is, only one alternative from the given choice set can be selected. Therefore, it is also known as discrete choice experiment (DCE). The alternative j will be chosen over some option g, if expected utility for individual, i , (Uij) exceeds the expected utility (Uig) for all alternatives. This implies that the probability of selecting an option is likely to increase with utility from the option and probability (P) that individual, I, will choose option j over other options g in a complete choice set R, is given by: P (jïÆ' ·C) = P{ (Uij >Uig, s.t. ï€ ¢ g Є R, and j ≠ g)} (2) Usually, in non-market valuation studies using CE model, respondents are given a choice card containing three alternatives including status-quo (current situation) to select. These alternatives in the choice set are outcomes of policies or programs related to the problem being investigated and distinguished by different levels. The levels could be either qualitative or numerical. The effects of the alternatives are described based on the Lancaster’s characteristics theory of value (Lancaster 1966). The theory states that an individual derives utility from the attributes possessed by the goods rather than the goods per se. The choices; therefore, are considered as a function of the attributes that the given alternatives hold. Including the outcomes of policies or programs related to mitigate the damaged caused by invasive plant species, Mikania in particular, a monetary value is included as one of the attributes as the policy cost to the respondent. Since, the alternatives are evaluated indirectly through their characteristics; it may be possible that consumers may have preference ordering over the attributes included (Lancaster 1966). It is widely accepted that an increase in a level of the preferred attributes or positive externalities such as; biodiversity, forest products and income generating activities, will result, ceteris paribus, in high utility from the goods or services to respondents. On the other hand, the utility from the goods or services decreases with increasing the level of the unwanted attributes or negative externalities such as abundance of invasive plants, pollution and in most cases monetary value.

Decreasing Violence in America Essay -- Violence Media Crime Televisio

Decreasing Violence in America Today in St. Paul two people were murdered. It has been reported that the two were fighting with a third party about a phone call that was made. The suspect is in custody and the case is under investigation,† a reporter in the ten o’clock news reports. â€Å"Spouse and child abuse are on the rise. This year alone over ‘6 million men, women, and children were victims of severe physical attacks from their spouses or parents’(article 16)*,† another reporter reports. Is it just me or does this seem like something that is all too often heard on the news? The violent acts in the United States are out of control. But what can be done about it, and how much worse are things going to get? It seems to me that what is being done now isn’t enough, because things just keeps getting worse. There are twelve main things that have been being studied in depth lately by sociologists. They include: spanking, child abuse, spouse abuse, the punishment for the offenders, gun control, the media’s affect on violence, the role sports play in violence, the role religion plays in violence, pacifism, and international violence. My paper will discuss each of these aspects as well as my opinions and state some facts. Before I can say how I feel, I think there is a need to define violence, aggressiveness, and assertiveness and explain the difference between them. Violence is a physical act that intends to harm or hurt another person. Violence includes many things; such as, hitting, punching, biting, killing, stabbing, shoving, and so much more. Violence can be linked to two other words that have also become a part of every day life for many people; aggression and being assertive. Aggression is a hostile, or destructive act that is forceful. Aggression is usually related with someone being dominant. Being assertive is to stating something (i.e. your opinion) boldly. Both aggression and being assertive do not involve a physical force. Although these three words have different meanings, I think they very closely related. When a person is being assertive and not getting their way, or getting their point across, they can often become aggressive, and aggression often times leads to a violent act. This domino effect closely relates all these words. Violence, it has become something that society has to deal with every day now. â€Å"Much newspaper space is c... ...efend yourself or your team. What I do see a problem with is what sports figures do in their personal lives. When an athlete does something that is against the law they should lose the privilege of being a professional athlete. To get rid of international violence we need to have a peace conference where all the heads of the nations meet and work things out peacefully. I don’t really know what to predict when it comes to the future of the violence. It seems like whenever things seem to be looking up, something happens that makes the future of world peace look bleak. I think that if people start to care more and take action that things can change. We can no longer sit back and expect things to get better on their own. If any of my suggestions were to go into affect I think that a lot of the violence in America would decrease. I think the most important thing that needs to be done is outlawing of handguns. If this were to happen, I think the amount of violence acts would drop 50%. Unless this happens, violence will increase. Violence has become a problem that is way out of hand. Something needs to be done, and fast, or our once beautiful, peaceful country will go to ruins. Decreasing Violence in America Essay -- Violence Media Crime Televisio Decreasing Violence in America Today in St. Paul two people were murdered. It has been reported that the two were fighting with a third party about a phone call that was made. The suspect is in custody and the case is under investigation,† a reporter in the ten o’clock news reports. â€Å"Spouse and child abuse are on the rise. This year alone over ‘6 million men, women, and children were victims of severe physical attacks from their spouses or parents’(article 16)*,† another reporter reports. Is it just me or does this seem like something that is all too often heard on the news? The violent acts in the United States are out of control. But what can be done about it, and how much worse are things going to get? It seems to me that what is being done now isn’t enough, because things just keeps getting worse. There are twelve main things that have been being studied in depth lately by sociologists. They include: spanking, child abuse, spouse abuse, the punishment for the offenders, gun control, the media’s affect on violence, the role sports play in violence, the role religion plays in violence, pacifism, and international violence. My paper will discuss each of these aspects as well as my opinions and state some facts. Before I can say how I feel, I think there is a need to define violence, aggressiveness, and assertiveness and explain the difference between them. Violence is a physical act that intends to harm or hurt another person. Violence includes many things; such as, hitting, punching, biting, killing, stabbing, shoving, and so much more. Violence can be linked to two other words that have also become a part of every day life for many people; aggression and being assertive. Aggression is a hostile, or destructive act that is forceful. Aggression is usually related with someone being dominant. Being assertive is to stating something (i.e. your opinion) boldly. Both aggression and being assertive do not involve a physical force. Although these three words have different meanings, I think they very closely related. When a person is being assertive and not getting their way, or getting their point across, they can often become aggressive, and aggression often times leads to a violent act. This domino effect closely relates all these words. Violence, it has become something that society has to deal with every day now. â€Å"Much newspaper space is c... ...efend yourself or your team. What I do see a problem with is what sports figures do in their personal lives. When an athlete does something that is against the law they should lose the privilege of being a professional athlete. To get rid of international violence we need to have a peace conference where all the heads of the nations meet and work things out peacefully. I don’t really know what to predict when it comes to the future of the violence. It seems like whenever things seem to be looking up, something happens that makes the future of world peace look bleak. I think that if people start to care more and take action that things can change. We can no longer sit back and expect things to get better on their own. If any of my suggestions were to go into affect I think that a lot of the violence in America would decrease. I think the most important thing that needs to be done is outlawing of handguns. If this were to happen, I think the amount of violence acts would drop 50%. Unless this happens, violence will increase. Violence has become a problem that is way out of hand. Something needs to be done, and fast, or our once beautiful, peaceful country will go to ruins.

Character Traits In A Seperate Peace Essay -- essays research papers

In the book A Separate Peace by John Knowles, one of the main themes is the effects of realism, idealism, and isolationism on Brinker, Phineas, and Gene. Though not everyone can be described using one of these approaches to life, the approaches completely conform to these characters to create one realist, one idealist, and one isolationist; thereby providing the foundation of the novel. The realist is Brinker. Brinker's realism takes on a very morbid quality after Gene decides not to enlist with him, do to Phineas's return to Devon. Brinker still sees everything the way it is, but begins to think that the way it is, is bad. On page 122, he is quoted as saying, "Frankly, I just don't see anything to celebrate, winter or spring or anything else." Brin...

Plantation agriculture Essay

Plantation agriculture is a kind of commercial arable farming in the world. It is especially important in humid tropics with luxuriant growth of vegetation. Its economic effectiveness is always emphasized, bringing both positive and negative impacts. In recent decades, crop diversification is introduced and the ecological balance of the natural environment is greatly conserved. Plantation agriculture refers to the growing of cash crops on large foreign owned estates in countries of tropical environment. It is usually practiced in a large scale with monoculture, in which only a certain type of plant is dominant. Take Papua New Guinea as an example, in the area, cacao, coffee and rubber are mainly grown in the region for export to other countries. Under this kind of farming, there are positive impacts to the economy. Firstly, due to its large scale of operation and being export-oriented in Papua New Guinea, the supply of products is regular and of uniformly high quality. With high demand for the products, this attracts large amount of investment of capital from the foreign countries, such as Europe and North America, thus allowing the farmers being financially able to provide the expensive machinery capable of turning out a high grade product. Benefiting from economies of scale, this enables both the transportation cost and production cost to be lowered. Secondly, plantations are also able to undertake greater scientific research and the eradication of pests and diseases. For example, one large sugar company in the former British colony of Guyana was able to employ a large research staff to produce a strain of sugar cane resistant to leaf-scald disease. Besides, government assistance has brought improved crop varieties, scientific research, new pesticides and fertilizers and effective marketing, The government of Papua New Guinea launched The Cape Hoskins Oil Palm Scheme to solve land disputes of many small holdings, strengthening national self-reliance. With increasing demand for the plantation, the employment rate of Papua New Guinea is greatly increased as there are more needs for personnel to manage crop growing and researching. Some crop processing and manufacturing industries are set up to satisfy the demand for crops. The farm productivity is increased as well. As people can earn more income from this kind of farming, this stimulates the rate of urbanization, hence the development of infrastructure and improvement of public facilities, such as roads, railways, ports, towns, schools, hospitals and the supply of electricity and water. As a result, the living standard of the labour is greatly improved. Despite the economic benefits, plantation farming somehow brings negative impacts to Papua New Guinea. First is the reliance upon the protected markets in Australia. At present, about one-third of the copra, 40 percent of the coffee, most of the cocoa and rubber is exported to Australia, which is assigned to admit duty free. In return, Papua New Guinea has to pay taxes for any imports. This leads to outflow of capital to foreign countries because this kind of farming is highly export-oriented. Second is the problem of labour. Plantations require large amount of cheap labour, but the wage rate is progressively higher because of the rising living standard and commercialization of the country. This increases the cost of production and thus reduces the competitiveness among other countries for the same kind of farming. Apart from this, the risk of crop failure is an important factor for consideration. As plantation agriculture is highly specialized. People highly rely on monoculture to earn a living. When the price of cash crops falls drastically or there is a sudden of crop failure, the income of farmers will fall as well. As a result, the earning of farmers tend to be unstable and badly affected the national income of Papua New Guinea. Besides, people have to import other necessities from other countries instead of planting within their own country, self-sufficiency cannot be achieved. In this way, there is no other source to safeguard the return of farmers. To overcome the negative impacts, crop diversification is a good method to reduce the over-reliance on certain types of cash crops. Ecologically, this method can also be beneficial to the environment. Since different types of crops are grown, the risk of crop failure decreases. This can stop the spread of diseases and pests for a particular type of crops. The population of pests decreases. This in turn reduces the use of pesticides. Hence, the chance of stream pollution is smaller, the sea organisms will not be poisoned or suffocated so easily, the nutrient flow can be more stable. There will be greater diversity of species of biomass, so the ecosystem will be more stable. Furthermore, diversification of crops increases the vegetation cover. There will be less surface runoff and soil erosion, yet infiltration increases. The nutrients of the soil can be preserved. Crop diversification also reduces the exhaustion of certain type of nutrients, fertility can be maintained and thus the use of fertilizer will be less common as well. Climatically, because of less crop failures, the amount of biomass increases. The evapotranspiration rate and wind speed can be more stable, so the microclimate can be maintained constant, the risk of global warming will not be getting serious so fast. In conclusion, plantation of cash crops is significant in Papua New Guinea for economic development. Though crop diversification may not be as profitable as plantation agriculture, ecological environment should not be ignored. In long-term, diversification of crops is a good way to safeguard the natural environment and brings more stable income to the farmers as well.

The Systems Development Life Cycle

A structure that a business uses to collect, manage, store, process, retrieve, and report financial data to accountants, consultants, high ranking corporate officers, or tax agencies is the prime definition of an accounting information system. Accounting information systems are responsible for every facet of numerical data in a company and a malfunction could potentially cause a disaster within the corporation. Accountants have different roles in working with accounting information systems including design, implementation, usage, and ownership.These rolls help accountants keep track of a company’s budget and other financial documents such as quarterly reports. Accountants also use the different information technology systems in a company to put together reports to persuade investors to keep their money in the company stock or persuade potential investors why placing their money in this company is a good financial decision. Thoroughly studying a large accounting information sys tem can be a very tedious job; for this reason, companies put together teams to analyze and handle the development work implementations to the different information technologies in a corporation.Systems study groups begin with a formal analysis of the technology in order to see what issues are present in the software or hardware, what implementations need to take place, and how to proceed with the repair or update. This step is known as the planning and investigation stage and is the first stage when determining the route to take when working with the specific company technology. After this preliminary stage, and the systems study group is chosen, the analysis stage takes place to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the particular unit.The next stage, known in the book as â€Å"design,† is when the systems study group determines how to precisely remove a system’s weaknesses while maintain the system’s strengths. If I was working on a project for a company, I would follow this exact model in determining how to gain optimal output from an information system. The final stage in the systems development life cycle is implementation, follow up, and maintenance and in this stage the company periodically checks on the information system to make sure it is still performing optimally.After making sure the implementation is properly installed, I would do a follow up examination every six months to make sure the system in functioning properly and to determine if further implementation needs to take place to update the system. After the implementation is successfully installed and has been followed up on, the new mission is to locate further challenges the corporation may face, whether it be dated information systems, or the data produced by the information system that affects the company such as budgets and quarterly reports.Challenges that may face a company include: loosing capital on technology that is not the most efficient for the corporati on, loosing capital on an unnecessary implementation or company investment, internal fraud, unseen information system malfunctions. When a system study group is formed and the steering committee, high ranking group of top managers that lead the project or projects, determines the best route for the study group to proceed, data should be gathered to properly assess the situation.The five sources of data come from reviewing existing documentation, observing the current system in operation, using open and closed ended questionnaires, reviewing internal control procedures, and interviewing the different participants who have either worked with the system being implemented or done a similar job in the past. The data gathering and data analysis process can effectively reduce the chance of possible future challenges for the company or information system.Any system that is outdated, costing the company more money than necessary or malfunctions needs to be replaced or implemented. If a syste m is outdated, competitor companies who have the same technology will update their systems and be at an advantage thus, if the corporation I was working for had outdated software, I would recommend an upgrade or replacement. Some system operations fees have the potential to bankrupt a company, especially if the technology is drawing a large amount of energy.Malfunctions cannot be tolerated because they are a threat to important company data and financial paper work. The information held on an accounting information system is extremely important and any loss of documentation would result for a copious amount of which would have to be carried out by managers in the human and production resources department as well as a tedious job for the company team of accountants and executives.

Branding, Pricing, and Distribution Strategies

ASSIGNMENT 3 MARKETING PLAN FOR TEACH CHINA BRANDING, PRICING, AND DISTRIBUTION STRATEGIES This section of Teach China’s Marketing Plan will focus in on key factors related to branding, pricing, and distribution: creation and development of the domestic and global product branding strategy; determination of optimum pricing strategy; looking at how the pricing strategy supports Teach China’s branding strategy, preparation of a distribution channel analysis, justification of opting for a push or pull strategy; an overall look at how the distribution strategy fits the product/service target market.It is very important that a start-up company, such as Teach China, build and develop a strong product brand. It is essential that such branding solidify the link between the values of Teach China and its customers. Because of the competiveness of the education market branding the commodities and services of Teach China must be unique. Additionally, branding education is considera bly different than branding a commodity. [ (Gupta & Singh, 2010) ] According the Dr. ’s Gupta and Singh, the movement of a globalized world to a knowledge economy opens immense opportunities for building education brands. (Gupta & Singh, 2010) ] Gupta and Singh also warn against the tendency to confuse â€Å"branding in education as making enough noise to get people to enroll. † (2010) In determining a brand for Teach China it is imperative that the numerous stakeholders in this market are taken into consideration. Gupta and Singh suggest that a â€Å"careful balancing of the stakeholders’ interest is a key requirement of the leadership of each education brand. They identify the stakeholders as, students, faculty, prospective employees, parents and society.Research of current literature show that educational services earn their repeat business by word of mouth of well satisfied and well placed individuals. [ (Gupta & Singh, 2010) ] This idea is further supporte d by a feasibility study conducted by Bradley and Griswold who posit that â€Å"most Chinese are reliant on third-party endorsements from friends and colleagues. † [ (Bradley III & Griswold, 2011) ] The branding of Teach China must also take into consideration the fact that consumers are savvier, demanding value for their money and have little brand loyalty. (Abhijit & Chattopadhyay, 2010) ] Like other service providers, Teach China will have a logo, but its main source of branding, based on current literature will be through the use of social media and word of mouth. Additionally, Teach China’s partnering with an established educational institute, as stated in an earlier section of the company’s marketing plan, will have a direct impact upon branding. For its international market, Teach China will rely heavily upon business to business publications and its Web presence to promote services offered.Teach China will also target setting up a booth or kiosk at trade shows. Dr. Young-Han Kim, et al, writing for Managerial and Decision Economic, 2006 stated compelling reasons why optimal pricing is important: Of the four P's of marketing (product, place, price, and promotion), pricing is the only T' that generates revenue for a company. Although effective pricing can never compensate for poor execution of other P's, ineffective pricing can certainly prevent careful execution of other P's from bearing financial rewards for the company (Nagle and Holden, 1995).The role of pricing becomes even more critical in the context of global market entry. [ (Kim, Aggarwal, Ha, & Cha, 2006) ] Pricing services offered by Teach China is drastically different from pricing a product. There are three different pricing strategy options available to Teach China: cost-plus pricing, competitor’s pricing, or value added pricing. Cost-plus pricing is the standard used by many businesses. Elizabeth Wasserman, editor of Inc. s technology website, quoting Jerome Ost eryoung, a professor of Finance at Florida State University and outreach director of the Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship, states that when determining the cost of a service using this method, one must be certain to include a portion of your rent, utilities, administrative costs, and other general overhead costs. [ (Wasserman, 2012) ] This approach could return the greatest profit margin but would cause a fluctuation in price when other costs increase.According to Professor Osteryoung, one should be aware of what competitors are charging for the same service. Yet he cautions against competing on price. Instead, he suggests that service companies compete on service, ambiance, or other factors that set [them] apart,† [ (Wasserman, 2012) ] The other factor discussed by Professor Osteryoung is perceived value to customers. Osteryoung points out that setting a price for a service can be subjective.He rightly posits that pricing (for a service) becomes an art form whe n one considers that â€Å"the important factor in determining how much (a customer is) willing to pay for a service may not be how much time was spent providing the service, but what the customer perceives as the value of the service and the level of expertise,† [ (Wasserman, 2012) ] One method available for setting a price for the services offered by Teach China would be to use what has been called in some literature the â€Å"service pricing formula†.Simply put this method helps determine an hourly rate for services rendered. Desired annual salary + Annual fixed costs (overhead) + Desired annual profit ?Annual billable hour = Hourly rate The other method used by my most businesses offering a service is simply that of setting market-based rates. In the book, The Small Business Start-up Kit, the authors suggest that if your rate is too high it will result in not getting clients. (Pakroo & Repa, 2004) There is also danger in setting rates below the market value. A PDF document downloaded from www. edi. org, warns that â€Å"In a service business, people tend to think that something is wrong, if your prices are too low. They assume that the services are of inferior quality. † (Anonymous, 2012) Taking into consideration available literature research, Teach China will use a market based flat fee rate for services (including a 5% profit margin), with an offer of a discount for businesses enrolling five (5) or more employees. An internet search of prices for language courses returned a range of prices from $645 to over $2000.In order to be competitive in this market, Teach China will offer 20 courses for $1500 this will include study materials, for an additional fee students can spend two weeks in China practicing skills learned. Since these prices reflect doing business in one of China’s major cities, there will be a cost reduction of 10-20% for students from targeted cities. These projections will be adjusted as financial statements ar e prepared showing the cost of fixed assets, faculty and staff, and other operating expenses.The chosen pricing strategy for Teach China is designed to enhance customers’ perceptions about the service offered by the company (its brand). Teach China is selling a value service, offering expertise in language training and instruction. The pricing strategy chosen for Teach China will insure that the company can continue to afford and offer the best language instructors in the business. The target market of Teach China usually shop for similar services by listening to recommendation, reputation and testimonials of satisfied customers.The distribution channels most used by the industry include direct marketing via target mailing, the internet and broadcast media. Teach China will therefore follow the industry standard, specifically, the following strategies will be used to help accomplish the marketing objectives and business goals of Teach China: Direct Mail; Direct Sales; Televis ion programs; with infomercials; Internet strategies; Participation in business trade shows. In its international market, Teach China will benefit from its partnership with its designated education partner already in operation in mainland China.Chris Rimlinger wrote an article in 2011 in Franchising World in which he advocates a balance of both push and pull marketing strategies to â€Å"expand the brand's reach and attract new consumers, maintain lasting relationships with existing consumers, and meet sales goals by creating demand and satisfying existing market needs. † [ (Rimlinger, 2011) ] Teach China’s direct marketing tactics will be the push that gets the brand in front of the consumers. Teach China’s television, infomercials and internet strategies will be the pull that creates consumer demand for the service offered.Using a balance of both push and pull marketing strategies will facilitate Teach China’s brand being disseminated at home and abroad . The combination strategy will allow for specific target marketing to students, businesses and governments. Additionally, according to research conducted by Mike Sands, this type of combination strategy is the most effective way of harnessing technology to develop and control electronic customer relationship management. [ (Sands, 2003) ] Bibliography Abhijit, R. , ; Chattopadhyay, S. P. (2010). Stealth Marketing as a Strategy.Indiana University, Kelley School of Business. Retrieved May 07, 2012 Anonymous. (2012, May 9). PRICING METHODS. Retrieved from SEDI: www. sedi. org/DataRegV2-unified/capnet†¦ /pricing%20methods. pdf Bradley III, D. B. , ; Griswold, R. J. (2011). A Feasability Study to Develop a Foreign Language Academy in China. Journal of International Business Research, 19. Retrieved May 08, 2012, from http://go. galegroup. com/ps/i. do? id=GALE%7CA275130691;v=2. 1;u=tall18692;it=r;p=AONE;sw=s Gupta, M. , ; Singh, P. B. (2010).Marketing and Branding Higher Education: I ssues and Challenges. M. J. P. Hikhand University, Invertis Institute of Management Studies. Uttar Pradesh, India: Review of Business Reasearch. Retrieved May 07, 2012 Kim, Y. -H. , Aggarwal, P. , Ha, Y. -M. , ; Cha, T. H. (2006). Optimal Pricing Strategy for Foreign Market Entry: A Game Theorectic Approach. Managerial and Decision Economics. Retrieved May 08, 2012, from http://www. jstor. org/page/info/about/policies/terms. jsp Pakroo, P. H. , ; Repa, B. (2004). The Small Business Start-Up Kit. Ipswich,, MA: NOLO.Rimlinger, C. (2011, December). Push and Pull Marketing Strategies: Using Them to Your Advantage. Franchising World, 43(12), 15-16. Retrieved May 10, 2012, from http://search. proquest. com/docview/913283066? accountid=10913 Sands, M. (2003). Integrating the web and e-mail into a push-pull strategy. Qualitative Market Research, 6(1), 27-37. Retrieved May 09, 2012, from http://search. proquest. com/docview/213439175? accountid=10913 Wasserman, E. (2012, May 08). How to Pric e Business Services. Retrieved from Inc. Com: http://www. inc. com/guides/price-your-services. html .