Guns in School Essay

There should be no guns in class room. Because it may cause more violence in the school and cause more school shootings. Kids may find the gun and use it against others. Also some younger kids may feel threatened with a gun in the class room. However assuming that any teacher and kid would not go on a killing spree yes it could be a good idea, but considering most school shooting are caused by children/teens it is not a logic idea. We do not need more guns in schools I personally think that we need less guns in schools these days. There is no valid reason for there to be guns in schools unless it is owned by a police officer. Guns in schools lead to negative things and it should not happen. Say you have a fresh-faced, doe-eyed new teacher, 22 years old and starting their first day as a teacher. Now you’ve handed them a firearm and tell them that they have to have this gun with them at all times. Now the teacher might have a background with guns and be OK with that, but maybe they don’t. Perhaps they’re one of these ‘pansy liberals’ that get so much flack in the circles that think they should be armed. Well this teacher now has to make a decision, should they carry a gun on themselves and be forced to keep the student at arms length, thus hampering the learning environment, or should they simply let a multitude of kids get right up against the weapon? Well obviously we shouldn’t be giving kids the opportunity to get at the weapon, and we don’t want to hamper the learning experience, so let’s give the teacher a gun safe to put it in. Now a few months pass and this safe is opened once or twice to check on the gun, because after all gun violence is still very minimal in the US despite what people on FB might shout. However this safe has to be readily available so that the teacher can get to it in times of emergency, but that means it’s also readily available to curious and mischievous kids too. A kid will find a way to get into any locked compartment if they are determined to. Anyone who thinks this isn’t the case hasn’t been around kids. So now we have a kid with a gun, maybe the kid shoots a friend, maybe themselves, maybe the teacher. The point is this policy introduced the capability for gun violence. Now of course you can argue that ‘good’ kids wouldn’t do this. And maybe you’re right, but the schools that people always say are most in need for this sort of thing (impoverished, urban, etc) are also those that have the highest amount of children with various mental and behavioral disabilities. If you really think that it is a good idea to bring a gun into a classroom to ‘protect’ students, you haven’t been in a classroom in a long time, or you’re still an ignorant child.

Character Analysis of Emily Grierson: “A Rose for Emily” Essay

Emily Grierson was a southern belle who represented the old ways of the south. A woman, who was stubborn, unchanging and unable to let go of her haunting past took both her burdens and the old ways of the south to her grave. Throughout the story the narrator refers to her as â€Å"Alive, Miss Emily had been a tradition, a duty and a care, a sort of hereditary obligation on the town.† tradition meaning that she was sort of royalty to the towns people because her father was the mayor of the town. This â€Å"royalty† gave Emily a sense of entitlement which could be seen throughout the story. An example would be when we she went to the store to buy some poison, she wanted the strongest poison the owner had to offer which was arsenic, a type of rat poison. Although the druggist, by law has to know what she is going to use the poison for, Emily refuses to answer and continues to stare at the man until he decides to give her the arsenic. This is one of the many examples of how Emily thinks she is somehow above the law and should not be questioned for her actions. Another example of her stubborn ways would be a few years later when she refuses to pay her taxes because Colonel Sartores said that she didn’t have to. She states that â€Å" I have no taxes in Jefferson. Colonel Sartores explained it to me.† The sheriff continues to reason with her by informing her that the colonel sent a letter saying that she did in fact have to pay taxes but once again, she refuses to believe it because she is stubborn and stuck in her own ways.   This attitude of authority and entitlement was due the fact that her father was the mayor of the town and it was expected of everyone to showed respect. Not only was Emily entitled but she was also mentally unstable. It was thought that mental disorders ran in the family because her aunt was also mentally unstable as well. It seems that she has this need to want to control everything because she had an aunt who was mentally unstable. Going back to the tax incident it turned out that the colonel has been dead for ten years and there would be no way of checking with him because of this, this apart of the story reveals that she seems to be living in her own reality that she is living in the past. Another example of this is when  her father died, her father sheltered her a lot shooing away boys so she became very isolated early in life. When her father died, she clinged on to the very thing that kept her from living a life of her own because that was the only life she had ever had. This event seemed to have left her in a depressed state where she would never leave the house until she meets a man named Homer Baron. Baron was a Yankee or a man from the north who took an interest in Emily, they were often seen together in town and most people thought that they were married. When Emily found out that baron w as not the â€Å"marrying type† she decided to take matters into her own hands and killed baron with arsenic so that he would never leave her. Emily Grierson was an example of a way of life that was withering away. Miss Emily represented the old ways of the south and how they were dying off throughout the story. One prime example of this is when the Yankees from the north to help build new sidewalk for the town showing the readers that the times are changing and that the old ways of life are dying. Emily’s refusal to let go of the past and traditions represents what the old ways of the south were everything is preserved. The old ways of the south dealt with keeping up with tradition and preserving the past, which Emily, was also trying to preserve the shattered life that was left behind when her father died and any attempts to try and drag her out of the past and into the future were futile. Works-Cited Cheuse, Alan, Delbanco, Nicholas (2012): Literature: Craft and Voice (second edition). New York, NY. McGraw-Hill. Faulkner, William (1932): A rose for Emily:Literature: Craft and Voice (second edition). New York, NY. McGraw-Hill. Maimon, E.P., Peritz, J.H., Yancey, K.B. (2012): The McGraw-Hill Handbook (Third edition). New York, NY. p.417; â€Å" Referencing a book with two or more Authors†

Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement

Care should be taken, however, to ensure that deals are accurately valued, taking into account all considerations, such as relationship value, time value of money and the likelihood that the other party will live up to their side of the bargain. These other considerations are often difficult to value, since they are frequently based on uncertain or qualitative considerations, rather than easily measurable and quantifiable factors. The BATNA is often seen by negotiators not as a safety net, but rather as a point of leverage in negotiations. Although a negotiator’s alternative options should, in theory, be straightforward to evaluate, the effort to understand which alternative represents a party’s BATNA is often not invested. Options need to be real and actionable to be of value,[1] however without the investment of time, options will frequently be included that fail on one of these criteria. [citation needed] Most managers overestimate their BATNA whilst simultaneously investing too little time into researching their real options. [citation needed] This can result in poor or faulty decision making and negotiating outcomes. Negotiatiors also need to be aware of the other negotiator’s BATNA and to identify how it compares to what they are offering. 2] BATNA was developed by negotiation researchers Roger Fisher and William Ury of the Harvard Program on Negotiation (PON), in their series of books on Principled negotiation that started with Getting to YES, unwittingly duplicating a game theory concept pioneered by Nobel Laureate John Forbes Nash decades earlier in his early undergraduate research. [citation needed] Contents [hide] 1 Definitions 2 Examples 2. 1 Selling a car 2. 2 Purchasing 3 See also 4 References 5 External links [edit]Definitions BATNA An acronym defined by negotiation researches Roger Fisher and William Ury which means Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement. 3] It is the alternative action that will be taken if your proposed agreement with another party result in an unsatisfactory agreement or when an agreement cannot be reached. Historical Theories The Nash Equilibrium as developed by John Forbes Nash, the father of Game Theory, is described in Getting to YES[3] as the underlying idea for the concept of BATNA in negotiation (Roger B. Myerson, April 1996). [4] In a nutshell, Nash Equilibrium theory explains that, if in a group of players, each player has in consideration the other player’s decisions, then no one will benefit from altering their decisions, if the other players haven’t either. 5] Example of Nash Equilibrium Theory Amy and Phil are in Nash Equilibrium if Amy is making the best decision she can, taking into account Phil’s d ecision, and Phil is making the best decision he can, taking into account Amy’s decision. Likewise, a group of players are in Nash Equilibrium if each one is making the best decision that he or she can, taking into account the decisions of the others. We cannot think of BATNA without first understanding the notion of negotiation. Negotiation has been part of the â€Å"business† mentality of human beings as we know it, since the beginning of mankind. Take for example the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, one of the longest ongoing negotiations of the kind, based primarily on the dispute over land (UN, 1948). We negotiate every single day of our lives; whether it is goods, commodities, ideas, positions, or money. The list could be endless. For this reason knowing how to negotiate is very important. The idea is to have all parties mutually satisfied with the results achieved through the highest standards of (Ethics) and legitimate standards. In no other time of world history as the modern days, has the ability and the necessity of knowing how to negotiate, using sophisticated tools and civil discourse been so essential to society. As explained in Getting to YES, â€Å"We are each participants in a pioneering generation of negotiators†¦ it is central to human life and the survival of our species. â€Å"[3] Negotiations Concepts Leading to Good BATNA A ruthless, aggressive and cold blooded negotiation style is the framework approach most people have when it comes to negotiation,[6] a theoretical example of that is Adversarial Approach Style Negotiation. 6] But in reality, as mentioned by experts and researchers such as Fisher and Ury [3] it doesn’t have to be that way. As the world moves to more sophisticated platforms of communication, negotiation follows the trend and Problem-Solving Approach(citation) is in a way, the â€Å"antidote† of Adversarial Approach Style Negotiation. Getting to YES[3] sugge st an Interest-Based Model for the use of Problem-Solving Approach. Interest-Based Model focus on separating the person (positional) from the problems (resolution) and then concentrate on the resolution. This way allowing for both parties in a distributive way to get the results they both want. ABC’s of BATNA Having a BATNA (Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement) as part of the negotiation is imperative as the name explains. No one should come to the negotiation table without a BATNA. [7] This will allow for intelligent negotiation and bargain zones. In addition to having a BATNA, parties should have a Bottom Line or Reservation Price. What this prevents is that neither party will come out with agreements they don’t need[3] Often, parties go to the negotiation table with what they imagine is a great BATNA. For example, how many times have you walked into a job interview with no other solid job offers in hand, let alone perspective of solid salaries, benefits and other great things you are looking for in a job. [3] The ability to be in a powerful position so the negotiation can be intelligent and satisfactory to both parties requires preparation and research. So do not cut yourself short for the lack of having a better BATNA at all times. [3] If having a good BATNA in essential, developing a BATNA is equally important. Let’s assume that you are going to work for a company that is not offering you the salary you desire. Instead, you know that they offer other perks such as, company cars, luxurious vacation homes, and state-of-the-art computers and laptops to their employees. In other words, Alternatives. [3] Attractive Alternatives is what you want to explore in order to develop a very strong BATNA. In Getting to YES, the authors give 3 suggestions of how you can accomplish this: Inventing a list of actions you might take if no agreement is reached Converting some of the more promising ideas and transforming them into tangible and partial alternatives Selecting the alternative that sounds best BATNA rules Parties should never disclose their BATNA, unless, the alternative is better. In other words, if your best alternative to a negotiated agreement is better than what the other party is offering, then disclosing it, is to your advantage. If on the other hand it is worse, then do not disclose it. BATNA in Cross Cultural Frameworks Currently in the United States and due to recent world events, there are more and more individuals with a different cultural background and approach to negotiation. When individuals come to the negotiation and bargaining table ready to use their BATNA, and one of the parties is from a different culture, there is a tremendous game change in approach. Both parties need to think and account for cultural cognitive behaviors. Both parties must expand their thinking negotiation hats by not allowing external judgment and biases to affect the negotiation. As mentioned earlier, separate the individual from the objective[3] For example imagine you are negotiating with a party from an Arab Nation. Is this going to effect your view of how you are going to negotiate? Or even if you are the party from that nation, are you prepared to receive an offer lower than your BATNA because you know you are from a different culture. The previous is a very simple example, but the purpose here as Gulliver[8] mentioned, is for negotiation parties to be aware. Disclosure This is a very new topic in negotiation and there aren’t many frameworks in place to help this scenario. Nonetheless, preparation at all levels, including prejudicial free thoughts, emotional free behavior, biases free behavior are just a few ways according to the Handbook of Negotiations and Culture[9] that can helps in the right direction. edit]Examples The following examples illustrate the basic principles of identifying the BATNA and how to use it in further negotiations to help value other offers. [edit]Selling a car If the seller of a car has a written offer from a dealership to buy the seller’s car for $1,000, then the seller’s BATNA when dealing with other potential purchasers would be $1,000 since the seller can get $1,000 for the car even without reaching an agreement with an alternative purchaser. In this example, other offers that illustrate the difficulty of valuing qualitative factors might include: An offer of $900 by a close relative An offer of $1,100 in 45 days (what are the chances of this future commitment falling through, and would the seller’s prior BATNA (the $1,000 offer from the dealership) still be available if it did? ) An offer from another dealer to offset $1,500 against the price of a new car (does the seller want to buy a new car right now, and the offered car in particular? ) [edit]Purchasing Buyers are often able to leverage their BATNA with regards to prices. This is done through buying from the lowest cost or best value seller. [edit]See also Getting to YES Getting past No Conflict resolution research Alternative Dispute Resolution in a Nutshell [edit]References ^ Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement | Negotiation Experts ^ Negotiation, Readings, Exercises and Cases, Roy J. Lewicki ^ a b c d e f g h i j Fisher and Ury, Roger and William (2011). Getting to YES. Penguin Books. pp. 1–170. ISBN 978-0143118756. ^ Myerson, Roger B. â€Å"Nash Equilibrium and the History of Economic Theory†. Nash Equilibrium and the History of Economic Theory. Journal of Economic Literature. Retrieved 1 October 2012. ^ Hawkins and Steiner, Jeff and Neil. â€Å"The Nash Equilibrium Meets Batna†. Gamed Therory Varied Ueses in ADR. Harvard University Press. Retrieved 1 October 2012. ^ a b Nolan-Haley, Jaqueline M (2001). Alternative Dipute Resolution in a Nutshel. Thomson West. pp. 39–50. ISBN ISBN 978-0314180148. ^ Honeyman and Schneider, Andrea and Chistopher (2006). The Negotiators Fieldbook: Desktop Reference. American Bar Association. pp. 200–300. ISBN 978-1590315453. ^ Gulliver, P. H (1979). Disputes and Negotiation: A Cross Culture Perspective. Academic Press. p. 287. ^ Brett and Gelfand, Jeanne and Michael (2004). The Handbook of Negotiations and Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement Care should be taken, however, to ensure that deals are accurately valued, taking into account all considerations, such as relationship value, time value of money and the likelihood that the other party will live up to their side of the bargain. These other considerations are often difficult to value, since they are frequently based on uncertain or qualitative considerations, rather than easily measurable and quantifiable factors. The BATNA is often seen by negotiators not as a safety net, but rather as a point of leverage in negotiations. Although a negotiator’s alternative options should, in theory, be straightforward to evaluate, the effort to understand which alternative represents a party’s BATNA is often not invested. Options need to be real and actionable to be of value,[1] however without the investment of time, options will frequently be included that fail on one of these criteria. [citation needed] Most managers overestimate their BATNA whilst simultaneously investing too little time into researching their real options. [citation needed] This can result in poor or faulty decision making and negotiating outcomes. Negotiatiors also need to be aware of the other negotiator’s BATNA and to identify how it compares to what they are offering. 2] BATNA was developed by negotiation researchers Roger Fisher and William Ury of the Harvard Program on Negotiation (PON), in their series of books on Principled negotiation that started with Getting to YES, unwittingly duplicating a game theory concept pioneered by Nobel Laureate John Forbes Nash decades earlier in his early undergraduate research. [citation needed] Contents [hide] 1 Definitions 2 Examples 2. 1 Selling a car 2. 2 Purchasing 3 See also 4 References 5 External links [edit]Definitions BATNA An acronym defined by negotiation researches Roger Fisher and William Ury which means Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement. 3] It is the alternative action that will be taken if your proposed agreement with another party result in an unsatisfactory agreement or when an agreement cannot be reached. Historical Theories The Nash Equilibrium as developed by John Forbes Nash, the father of Game Theory, is described in Getting to YES[3] as the underlying idea for the concept of BATNA in negotiation (Roger B. Myerson, April 1996). [4] In a nutshell, Nash Equilibrium theory explains that, if in a group of players, each player has in consideration the other player’s decisions, then no one will benefit from altering their decisions, if the other players haven’t either. 5] Example of Nash Equilibrium Theory Amy and Phil are in Nash Equilibrium if Amy is making the best decision she can, taking into account Phil’s d ecision, and Phil is making the best decision he can, taking into account Amy’s decision. Likewise, a group of players are in Nash Equilibrium if each one is making the best decision that he or she can, taking into account the decisions of the others. We cannot think of BATNA without first understanding the notion of negotiation. Negotiation has been part of the â€Å"business† mentality of human beings as we know it, since the beginning of mankind. Take for example the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, one of the longest ongoing negotiations of the kind, based primarily on the dispute over land (UN, 1948). We negotiate every single day of our lives; whether it is goods, commodities, ideas, positions, or money. The list could be endless. For this reason knowing how to negotiate is very important. The idea is to have all parties mutually satisfied with the results achieved through the highest standards of (Ethics) and legitimate standards. In no other time of world history as the modern days, has the ability and the necessity of knowing how to negotiate, using sophisticated tools and civil discourse been so essential to society. As explained in Getting to YES, â€Å"We are each participants in a pioneering generation of negotiators†¦ it is central to human life and the survival of our species. â€Å"[3] Negotiations Concepts Leading to Good BATNA A ruthless, aggressive and cold blooded negotiation style is the framework approach most people have when it comes to negotiation,[6] a theoretical example of that is Adversarial Approach Style Negotiation. 6] But in reality, as mentioned by experts and researchers such as Fisher and Ury [3] it doesn’t have to be that way. As the world moves to more sophisticated platforms of communication, negotiation follows the trend and Problem-Solving Approach(citation) is in a way, the â€Å"antidote† of Adversarial Approach Style Negotiation. Getting to YES[3] sugge st an Interest-Based Model for the use of Problem-Solving Approach. Interest-Based Model focus on separating the person (positional) from the problems (resolution) and then concentrate on the resolution. This way allowing for both parties in a distributive way to get the results they both want. ABC’s of BATNA Having a BATNA (Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement) as part of the negotiation is imperative as the name explains. No one should come to the negotiation table without a BATNA. [7] This will allow for intelligent negotiation and bargain zones. In addition to having a BATNA, parties should have a Bottom Line or Reservation Price. What this prevents is that neither party will come out with agreements they don’t need[3] Often, parties go to the negotiation table with what they imagine is a great BATNA. For example, how many times have you walked into a job interview with no other solid job offers in hand, let alone perspective of solid salaries, benefits and other great things you are looking for in a job. [3] The ability to be in a powerful position so the negotiation can be intelligent and satisfactory to both parties requires preparation and research. So do not cut yourself short for the lack of having a better BATNA at all times. [3] If having a good BATNA in essential, developing a BATNA is equally important. Let’s assume that you are going to work for a company that is not offering you the salary you desire. Instead, you know that they offer other perks such as, company cars, luxurious vacation homes, and state-of-the-art computers and laptops to their employees. In other words, Alternatives. [3] Attractive Alternatives is what you want to explore in order to develop a very strong BATNA. In Getting to YES, the authors give 3 suggestions of how you can accomplish this: Inventing a list of actions you might take if no agreement is reached Converting some of the more promising ideas and transforming them into tangible and partial alternatives Selecting the alternative that sounds best BATNA rules Parties should never disclose their BATNA, unless, the alternative is better. In other words, if your best alternative to a negotiated agreement is better than what the other party is offering, then disclosing it, is to your advantage. If on the other hand it is worse, then do not disclose it. BATNA in Cross Cultural Frameworks Currently in the United States and due to recent world events, there are more and more individuals with a different cultural background and approach to negotiation. When individuals come to the negotiation and bargaining table ready to use their BATNA, and one of the parties is from a different culture, there is a tremendous game change in approach. Both parties need to think and account for cultural cognitive behaviors. Both parties must expand their thinking negotiation hats by not allowing external judgment and biases to affect the negotiation. As mentioned earlier, separate the individual from the objective[3] For example imagine you are negotiating with a party from an Arab Nation. Is this going to effect your view of how you are going to negotiate? Or even if you are the party from that nation, are you prepared to receive an offer lower than your BATNA because you know you are from a different culture. The previous is a very simple example, but the purpose here as Gulliver[8] mentioned, is for negotiation parties to be aware. Disclosure This is a very new topic in negotiation and there aren’t many frameworks in place to help this scenario. Nonetheless, preparation at all levels, including prejudicial free thoughts, emotional free behavior, biases free behavior are just a few ways according to the Handbook of Negotiations and Culture[9] that can helps in the right direction. edit]Examples The following examples illustrate the basic principles of identifying the BATNA and how to use it in further negotiations to help value other offers. [edit]Selling a car If the seller of a car has a written offer from a dealership to buy the seller’s car for $1,000, then the seller’s BATNA when dealing with other potential purchasers would be $1,000 since the seller can get $1,000 for the car even without reaching an agreement with an alternative purchaser. In this example, other offers that illustrate the difficulty of valuing qualitative factors might include: An offer of $900 by a close relative An offer of $1,100 in 45 days (what are the chances of this future commitment falling through, and would the seller’s prior BATNA (the $1,000 offer from the dealership) still be available if it did? ) An offer from another dealer to offset $1,500 against the price of a new car (does the seller want to buy a new car right now, and the offered car in particular? ) [edit]Purchasing Buyers are often able to leverage their BATNA with regards to prices. This is done through buying from the lowest cost or best value seller. [edit]See also Getting to YES Getting past No Conflict resolution research Alternative Dispute Resolution in a Nutshell [edit]References ^ Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement | Negotiation Experts ^ Negotiation, Readings, Exercises and Cases, Roy J. Lewicki ^ a b c d e f g h i j Fisher and Ury, Roger and William (2011). Getting to YES. Penguin Books. pp. 1–170. ISBN 978-0143118756. ^ Myerson, Roger B. â€Å"Nash Equilibrium and the History of Economic Theory†. Nash Equilibrium and the History of Economic Theory. Journal of Economic Literature. Retrieved 1 October 2012. ^ Hawkins and Steiner, Jeff and Neil. â€Å"The Nash Equilibrium Meets Batna†. Gamed Therory Varied Ueses in ADR. Harvard University Press. Retrieved 1 October 2012. ^ a b Nolan-Haley, Jaqueline M (2001). Alternative Dipute Resolution in a Nutshel. Thomson West. pp. 39–50. ISBN ISBN 978-0314180148. ^ Honeyman and Schneider, Andrea and Chistopher (2006). The Negotiators Fieldbook: Desktop Reference. American Bar Association. pp. 200–300. ISBN 978-1590315453. ^ Gulliver, P. H (1979). Disputes and Negotiation: A Cross Culture Perspective. Academic Press. p. 287. ^ Brett and Gelfand, Jeanne and Michael (2004). The Handbook of Negotiations and

Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 2

Research Paper Example (â€Å"Smith et al†). Many organizations feel irritated by the changes which they have to make in order to be compliant. Even when many companies carry out the required changes and achieve compliance they usually feel that there is no more need for change. Basically most organizations see compliance as an imposition. However compliance is only the bear minimum level of competency and organizations should ideally never tire in making improvements upon this. 3. The City of Scottsdale has initiated many environmental leadership policies. What are the City’s two most well recognized (nationally and internationally) initiatives? What is the next planned step to enhance one of the policies? Please cite your sources. 50 words or less. In 1997 Scottsdale initiated the EPA EMS municipal pilot proframme.In 2001 the Scottsdale environmental management system (EvMS) was implemented in five continents: North America;Europe;Africa;Asia and South America.(Scottsdale, 2008) Their next objective is to create a â€Å"greener Scottsdale†(OEIS) There are three pillars to creating a workable environmental management system (EMS).These are: compliance; improvement and prevention. The organization must be compliant with existing legislation and guidelines. Furthermore there is no perfection in EMS so there must always be a movement towards improvement and regarding prevention it is far easier to protect the environment through prevention rather than through a clean up operation. Also it is important to build a set of objects and targets based upon the three pillars but geared around the unique circumstances presented by your organization. These must be regularly reviewed. (â€Å"Stapleton and Glover†) Wilcox and Theodore quote Carter’s ( Wilcox and Theodore,xxviii) point out that in order for people to do the right thing they need not only be honest, rather they must have integrity and this integrity must be combined with social

Critical analysis or explain some important point about a piece of Essay

Critical analysis or explain some important point about a piece of literature - Essay Example The story mocks at the innocence and niceness, and proves that too much simplicity becomes serious obstacle in personality development, and the progress of the simple people appears to be struck and stopped. On the contrary, the people who take timely decisions by revolting against the unnecessary domestic and social rules make their sure headway towards progress, independence and success in life; the same can be observed by going through the personalities of Dee and Maggie, the two daughters of a single mother, Mrs. Johnson. Published in 1973, the novel under the title â€Å"Everyday Use† is one of the most influential works created on the topic of the adherence and emotional attachment of the African Americans to their traditions, customs, conventions and values. The author, Alice Walker, has skillfully elaborated the very reality that the dedication and affection for the cultural heritage and ancestral norms can be found in the attitude and behavior of even the most modish, trendy and voguish individuals of society. Consequently, the African Americans have not forgotten their cultural values and traits even after four centuries of their migration from their motherland. The same is applied on the elder sister Dee, which abhors the name her Mama has given to her, and replaces it with Wangero, as she views: â€Å"I couldn’t bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me.† (Christian 29) Additionally, the novel also supports the very idea that innate characteristics dominate over personality throughout human life. Hence, the children of the same parents are also different from one another in liking, disliking, tastes and habits. The main theme of the story is this that man is valued as he makes himself valuable. Consequently, the individuals, who take initiative, establish goals and make struggle to achieve the same, are looked at with unabated admiration and respect. On the contrary, the simple, innocent and extra-obedient and complying members of society lag far behind them in the race of accomplishments and achievements; the same can be observed by getting oriented with the personalities of Dee and Maggie in the story under examination. It is therefore instead of being grateful to the innocent and simple Maggie, the Mama also admires the qualities Dee possesses: â€Å"She used to read to us without pity; forcing words, lies, other folks’ habits, whole lives upon us two, sitting trapped and ignorant underneath her voice.† (Christian 229) The story also throws light on the problems faced by the US population including single motherhood, class discrimination, racial and ethnic conflicts and socioeconomic situation etc. Moreover, the author has also highlighted the shabby abode and dilapidated environment in which the lower stratum of the US society lives and strives in order to make its both ends meet on the one hand, and keep the wolf from the door on the other. The story focuses upon th e character of the middle-aged lady, called Mrs. Johnson, and her innocent daughter Maggie, who are leading a miserable and lonely life in the southern part of the USA. Being the member of lower middle class, Mrs. Johnson had led a very hard and pathetic life and had brought up her two daughters by toiling hard throughout the week in her youth. Not only this

Strategic management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Strategic management - Essay Example Strategic analysis of Johnston Press Plc business enviroment using PESTLE and SWOT analysis; PESTLE Political. Besley (2008) emphasized the company’s political environment is stable. The United Kingdom government is one of the most stable and easily predictable governments in the world today. Economic. Economically, the year 2010 is characterized by retrenchment. The company’s Limerick plant at Leader Print Ltd has finally closed shop after several years of trying to keep its revenues higher than the company’s daily operating expenses. Social. Gibson sings (2010) The company has been in the forefront of the United Kingdom society. The society has been used to reading the news from the Johnston Press printing plants for several years. In fact, Johnston Press is the second largest printing company in the United Kingdom today. Technological. The company has incorporated digital advertising as one of its biggest revenue generators. Digital advertising and publishing has many advantages. One such advantage is the company’s borderless sales probabilities. Clients from any part of the world can visit the company’s website and patronise the company’s publishing and other related services. Legal. The company has been complying with all the employments laws, work-related laws and other statutes. Environmental. The company continues to adhere to the environmental laws of the United Kingdom. The company does not pollute the country’s pristine rivers with its printing company’s waste products. SWOT Strengths. Johnston, (2010) reiterated during 2010, advertising categories and geographic market segments have performed profitably well. Property advertising has bounced back to a 9.5 percent growth from the 2009 accounting period’s property advertising debacle. Consequently, house sales have started to increase as compared to the 2009 house sales. Understandably, the 2009 low house was had been triggered by the Unit ed States-based financial crisis. Further, cost reduction that included a reduction from 5,640 heads to only 5,417 heads, has augmented the company’s profitability ratio. The company’s single editing process has increase production performance. The company’s newspaper titles include Batley News, Halifax Courier, Glasgow South and Eastwood Extra, Carrick Gazette, and Isle of Man Courier. Weaknesses. Johnston (2010) emphasized the company’s print advertising industry is been set to second place. The Johnston Plc’s print advertising has been losing to the new and innovative digital advertising market segment. The economic debacle has cut the company’s advertising revenue by a significant percentage. Opportunities. Johnston (2010) explained the company should focus on increasing digital sales performance, the internet and computer technology has metamorphosed the printing business into the digital age. In fact, the company’s digital sales growth had increased by ten percent during 2010 when compared to the digital sales growth in 2009. The company should increase its focus on selling of its display inventories. The early part of 2010 shows a slow but sure recovery from the debilitating crunch of the prior year’s unprofitable economic depression. Threats. Johnston (2010) theorized the lack of any influential increase in the economic activity in the Republic of Ireland threatens the company’s plans to increase it overall sales performance. Using Porter's five forces

Reflective Questions That Require to Think Critically Essay

Reflective Questions That Require to Think Critically - Essay Example The essay "Reflective Questions That Require to Think Critically" offers a comparison and contrast of provided articles with regard to their purpose, organization, data compilation, analysis, and conclusions. The paper also differentiates correlation research from other research types and offers a description of a study plan for studying. The following is an overview of a World Bank research titled ‘World Bank policy research on vocational education and training† the purpose of this article is to establish whether it is important for the World Bank to fund educational projects. The study focuses on vocational education and training with an aim to identify benefits of such projects to young people. Concurrently, the provided article equally focuses on deductive processes within the education process. The organization of the study is as follows; first, the article begins by citing the origins of different educational projects, which are funded by the World Bank. There is a highlight of the assumptions considered before undertaking of the research. The article offers an explication of different challenges, which arose during the conduction of the study. The provided article deduces the background, methodologies; furthermore, it focuses on literature prior to presenting the postulations. There is a further exp lication of how the scope of the study was limited and how the entire project was structured. There is a provision of the research literature and ground study results that are significant to the study.

Symbolism in Edgar Allan Poe's The Masque of the Red Death Essay

Symbolism in Edgar Allan Poe's The Masque of the Red Death - Essay Example Some people would stop reading a cruel story if the writer does not cover his story using symbolic language. In this essay, I intend to illustrate various instances of symbolism portrayed in Allan’s â€Å"The Masque of the Red Death†. A reader of Poe story would ponder about the symbolic language from the time that he or she reads the title of the story. â€Å"The Masque of Red Death†, this title illustrate that Poe has used color to symbolize events in his story. In addition, the name used in the title has a symbolic meaning to reader. Since this is the title of the story and the reader is yet to explore the content of the story. He or she will develop great interest in the story in order to know the deeper meaning of the story and the symbols used by the writer of the story. Poe’s story has three distinct instances in which applications of symbolism appear. The main occurrences are name, number, and color. Poe used color to symbolize emotions, attitude, or feelings of the occurrences in the story. For example, in the story the writer talks of black chamber, which symbolizes death. The writer mentions six other chambers which he gives various colors to illustrate various meaning to the story. ... The red color frightened many characters in the story. The characters tried their best to keep off from the red color because they felt they would bleed to death. It is also important to note that Poe symbolism of color illustrated different moods and meaning to the story. Prince, the chief character in Poe’s story ran through the six chambers at different instances. Notably, each of the six chambers had different colors. This illustrated different moods, which the prince acquired in the story. Human emotions in the story appear to the reader using color. When the prince entered each room, he changed his emotions. It is arguable that in the story, Poe successfully used color to illustrate various stages in life. Red color portrayed a terminal disease, which would eventually lead to the death of the prince as illustrated in the black room. Characters in the story feared red color because they knew it represented a terminal illness that would wipe them from earth. Poe uses numbe r in the story to influence the emotions of the reader. Seven appears as a holy number associated with wonders of the world. Determination of evil in the story is clear as it struggles to destroy the holy number. Probably, the plague of red death occurred in the seventh chamber. In the story, characters are vigilant when it comes to observations of numbers because they knew that each number had a symbolic meaning. As the clock tickled, the characters in the story observed the number that the clock pointed. A change of emotions is evident in their faces in each number that the clock points. At 12 midnight, sad mood engulf the room because red death occurred at this hour. Evidently, life would be good for the characters, as long as the clock hand does not

Personalised Learning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5500 words

Personalised Learning - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that globalisation and the rapid changes and developments in the information and computer technology have created demands and challenges that necessitate the adoption of policies and programmes that will equip children with necessary learning and skills needed as they respond to the demands of the time. In this context, the government, through its various institutions, continue to come up with public policies aiming for the establishment and development strategies and course of action which are geared towards addressing these issues. DfES recognise the insufficiency and ill-adaption of traditional educational structure in addressing the changing demands of the global society. The ‘one-size fits all’ approach in education is no longer appropriate in responding to individual needs and society’s demands for knowledge. As such, through personalise learning, students become engaged and empowered as they take the path towards learning. While at the same, time their parents and the entire community become partners in the establishment of an education that recognises and is built on the individual gifts and prowess of children. In this regard, personalised learning is a learning system approach that caters to the personal and intellectual needs of the children and listens to their voices as it re-affirms the uniqueness of each child as they embark on learning. However, it has been observed that personalised learning is difficult to define (Pollard and James 2004). In fact, Beach and Dovemark (2009) in study have found out that there are teachers who find it difficult to distinguish between differentiation and personalised learning. They have also observed that there are teachers who are not familiar with personalised learning. In addition, it has been claimed that most discourses regarding personalised learning are drawn from â€Å"commentary rather than empirical research, highlighting that there are lim ited studies providing evaluative data on personalised learning† (Sebba et al., 2007, p. 8). In these circumstances, this research will undertake a conceptual analysis of personalised learning. This is done in order to arrive at a clearer understanding and perception of the concept, and at the same time, contribute to the endeavour of establishing more comprehensible parameters for personalised learning. Moreover, this research seeks to know how personalised learning has been concretely adopted in schools. Finally, this study aims to apprehend how personalised learning becomes the 21st century approach to learning. This study will address the following questions. (1) What is personalised learning? (2) How is personalised learning concretely adapted in school/classroom set-up? (3) How personalised learning becomes the ‘system of learning’ that can adequately respond to the challenges of 21st century global society? In order to answer these questions, a documentary analysis of secondary materials relevant to the subject matter of the research will be conducted. For the library research, the electronic databases Academic Source Complete, Jstor, Google Scholar, PsycheInfo, Business Source Complete, and ERIC were searched using a combination of the following key terms: education, personalised learning, 21st century, customised learning, individualised learning, differentiation, multiple intelligence, policies and globalisation. Articles written in English had been selected. Moreover, articles that provided a conceptual anal

Ethical Dilemma Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 10

Ethical Dilemma - Essay Example As a result of such actions, I am forced to deal with the outcomes of someone else’s decision leading to a threat of a damaged reputation of a plant or even a criminal responsibility. Having found myself in such a situation, I would definitely inform management regarding the issue. I would do this for two reasons. First of all, because making a decision to bury the information once again would mean supporting a tendency of lying at a workplace. Second of all, because not revealing the truth might negatively affect my own career and put in danger employees working under inappropriate conditions, which might negatively affect their health. Thus, I would inform the management team about my finding, and negotiate with them the best possible way out of the situation. Thus, I would inform the remaining employees about the problem and then set an obligatory rule to wear hearing protection at work. Apart from it, I will gather all six workers and Frank and ask them to write an officia l explanation of the situation. As a result, the gap in an operating charter will be filled in order to avoid similar situations in the future. Although such a decision might negativly affect the reputation of Frank, the truth needs to be revealed for a sake of employee's well-being and enterprise's security not even mentioning that such a decision is the only possible one I can make if I want to be honest and dedicated to my work. Frank has made a mistake that affected other people as well, and it is fair to call him to account.

Who Is Jesus Christ Essay Example for Free

Who Is Jesus Christ Essay Jesus is the central figure of Christianity. For some believers, Jesus is the son of God and the Virgin Mary, who lived as a Galilean Jew, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and rose from the dead. Even for many non-believers, Jesus is a source of wisdom. In addition to Christians, some non-Christians believe he worked healing and other miracles. Believers debate issues of the relationship between Jesus as God the Son and God the Father. They also debate aspects of Mary. Some believe they know details about the life of Jesus not recorded in the canonical Gospels. Debates sparked so much controversy in the early years that the emperor had to convene gatherings of Church leaders (ecumenical councils) to decide the course of Church policy. More than two thousand years ago God sent Jesus Christ into this world. He became one of us, but he did nothing wrong. He showed us what God is like merciful and kind. He healed the sick people, the blind were made to see, the deaf to hear, the lame to walk. Some people followed him, and to them he gave a new way of life God’s way. But others hated Him because He was so good, and he exposed their evil ways. He gave his own life as a sacrifice, a payment for our sins. He died on the cross to save us. Three days after he died, Jesus Christ came back from the dead. Now He lives in the power of an endless life to meet your need, to be your Savior, to forgive your sins. Jesus Christ is the only one who can do this for you. Most evidence for Jesus comes from the four canonical Gospels. Opinions differ on the validity of apocryphal texts like the Infancy Gospel of Thomas and the Proto-Gospel of James. Perhaps the biggest problem with the idea that Jesus is an historically verifiable figure for those who do not accept the validity of the Bible is the lack of corroborating evidence from the same period. The major ancient Jewish historian Josephus is usually cited as mentioning Jesus, yet even he lived after the crucifixion. Another problem with Josephus is the issue of tampering with his writing. Here are the passages attributed to Josephus said to help substantiate the historicity of Jesus of Nazareth.

Pacific Healthcare Essay Example for Free

Pacific Healthcare Essay He now has the opportunity to authorize the use of any X ray film other than Kodak. An investigation was complete in where Mr. Rubble had a reason to believe that the current Kodak price was above that of possible competition. There was an existing agreement with Kodak calls for furnishing X ray equipment along with maintenance and service, at a considerable discount for using Kodak as a single supplier of the X ray film. Kodak refused to provide those services if they were not their only source for X ray film. II. Major Problem Kodak has been Pacific HealthCare’s main supplier for X ray film. Now that Mr. Howell has pasted it is Mr. Rubbles’ responsibility to either decide to keep the Kodak for the X ray film or change to a different X ray film supplier. What needs to be kept in mind is that Kodak was also offering Pacific Healthcare discounts for furnishing X ray equipment along with maintenance and service. This was all because they were their only X ray film supplier. If Pacific Healthcare switches to a different X ray film supplier they will lose those discounts. Obtaining the highest quality with the best service at the lowest price is Pacific Healthcare’s supply strategy for medical supplies. Their objective is to find a single source supplier for a one year contract. III. Possible Solutions A. There are four other companies that make X ray films DuPont, Agfa, Fugi, and 3M. The quality of DuPont and Agfa are consistent with Kodak. Mr. Rubble can choose to go with DuPont since it holds the standard of Kodak and cost less than Agfa. The price of DuPont $1. 50 per sheet of X ray film. B. There are four other companies that make X ray films DuPont, Agfa, Fugi, and 3M. The quality of DuPont and Agfa are consistent with Kodak. Mr. Rubble can choose to go with Agfa since it holds the standard of Kodak. The only real issue I see here is that there is another company that makes the same quality of X ray film than both Kodak and Agfa. DuPont make the same quality of film for a lower price. The price of Agfa is $1. 58 per sheet of X ray film and DuPont offers it for $1. 50 per sheet. C. Mr. Rubbles can choose to stay with Kodak. The price for Kodak is higher than the other competition but they give Pacific Healthcare discounts on other services. Kodak furnishes Pacific Healthcare with X ray equipment, along with maintenance and services at a substantial discount for using Kodak as a single supplier for X ray film. I have found three issues with this possible solution. One, I do not know how much of a discount they are getting for the X ray equipment, along with the maintenance and services they are receiving from Kodak. With that I also need to know how much the competitors are willing to give Pacific Healthcare for those additional services that Kodak is offering to them. Last, but not least there are other competitors that are at a lower price range with the same quality as Kodak. DuPont offers their X ray film for $1. 50 per sheet and Agfa offers theirs at $1. 8 per sheet. Kodak is charging Pacific Healthcare $1. 80 per sheet of X ray film. With this solution we have to keep in mind that Pacific Healthcare uses approximately 1,500 sheets of X ray film per day. That is approximately $2,700 per day. If Mr. Rubbles chooses to go with DuPont which is the same quality as Kodak that would be approximately $2,250 per day. By choosing DuPont Pacific Healthcare with be saving about $450 a day. That is $3,150 per week and $12,600 a month by switching to DuPont. That is a huge saving for Pacific Healthcare. Pacific Healthcare can save money as well as keeping the same high quality as Kodak. IV. Choice and Rationale After reviewing all of the possible choices I chose to go with choice A. I chose A, because it saves Pacific Healthcare a lot of money as discussed in choice C. By choosing DuPont the company would save $450 a day compared to Kodak. That is $3,150 per week of savings and $12,600 a month by switching to DuPont. Also in choosing Agfa which is the same quality as Kodak, Pacific Healthcare would save $330. Keep in mind that Agfa and DuPont have the same quality as Kodak. Why choose Agfa over DuPont if they have the same quality of X ray film? That is why I chose DuPont. It is a smart solution, because it saves Pacific Healthcare money while also keeping the same quality as Kodak. Moving on two the other choices Mr. Rubble has. In the beginning I mentioned that there were four competitors that offered X ray films at a much lower rate than Kodak. The competitors were Agfa, DuPont, Fugi, and 3M. I have discussed Agfa and DuPont. The reason for not adding Fugi and 3M to my possible solutions is because Pacific Health care wanted to keep the same high quality in X ray film. Even though Fugi and 3M met minimum requirement they were thought of as having lower quality. Pacific Healthcare was looking for obtaining the highest quality with the best service at the lowest overall cost. To me they did not meet the requirement of Pacific HealthCare’s goal. V. Implementation I would let Pacific Healthcare know of my overall decision. In this brief, I would brief all my possible choices I had and why I chose to go with my choice. If we are in agreement my next step would be to contact DuPont and request their service for X ray film. From there I would let Kodak know that we appreciate their business, but we no longer are in need of their X ray film service. Of course I would make sure that DuPont has agree to be our single source supplier for X ray film prior to finishing the contract with Kodak. Appendix A What alternatives should Barney Rubbles consider when addressing the problem? Barry Rubbles should consider the high quality that Pacific Healthcare would like to keep as well as the best service with overall lower cost. He should consider which one would give the overall high quality as well as trying to save money. Should Pacific’s’ supply policies allow for any medical staff personnel to control sourcing decisions? In my personal opinion no, because they may not have the proper training or know what the companies needs are. I would like the professionals handle that. This case does not show a good example, because Mr. Howell chose the highest competitor. I would definitely have had both Mr. Howell and Mr. Rubbles work together. Sometimes one may come up with a different solution. What are the advantages and disadvantages of staying with Kodak—or changing suppliers? How would you evaluate these? If the Pacific Healthcare would stay with Kodak they could keep receiving their discount for the other services that Kodak provides. This includes the X ray equipment, maintenance and, service for being their only source for X ray film. Like previously stated, I am not sure exactly how much that discount was. Nor did I know how much the competitors were willing to give those services to Pacific Healthcare. With changing suppliers Pacific Healthcare would definitely save a lot of money. This would include changing to DuPont or Agfa. With DuPont the company would save $450 a day and by switching to Agfa the company would save $330 a day. Mr. Rubble has to keep in mind that both have the same quality of X ray film as Kodak. What action could Mr. Rubble have taken prior to Mr. Howell’s death to obtain reduced film prices? Mr. Rubble should have conducted a research just like he did when they put him in charge of the X ray film ordering. He should have presented this information to Mr. Howell and if he had disagreed Mr. Rubble should have taken it up to the company.

Fast Food Marketing for Children

Fast Food Marketing for Children INTRODUCTION Overview and Background of the Topic Fast food came around after the after the Second World War and has come a long way since then. In the past it was a mere convenience provider and time saver, the easiest and fastest way to fill appetites, as the name suggests. It has now evolved into a premium luxury item. It is now very popular amongst all ages of people, especially children. Fast food Marketing is a necessity for Fast Food brands these days. Fast Food despite being a treat to the taste buds is hazardous to health and comes bearing a plethora of ailments. Therefore, it must essentially be advertised and marketed in order for businesses to make sales and be profitable. Fast food sales are increasing at a rapid pace mainly due to effective marketing strategy. Edwin Land rightfully said  Marketing is what you do when your product is no good which holds true in this case. Marketing camouflages the dangerous truth and sways the consumer into thinking that the temporary taste is worth more than the life-long disease. Marketers hence must undergo the pain of coming up with a successful marketing campaign using the various advertising methods to manipulate customers because this very art of creating an artificial need out of a want or a desire is what fast food marketers like Coca Cola do, for e.g. Food is askin for Coca-Cola, a thousand calories are finge r-lickin good by Kentucky Fried Chicken and the mounds of cheese that come with Im lovin it by McDonalds. Children are a very lucrative market for fast food brands because they are young and impressionable. Children are easier to target as they see color and sound and are wooed. This study will examine the various Fast Food Marketing Methods used; both above the line and below the line and explore their various impacts on childrens consumption of fast food. Importance of the Study Fast Food originated from the West particularly the U.S and spread throughout the world until it became a craze. It gained popularity in the East rapidly due to the ease of communication globally.  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  The success of Fast Food chains relies heavily on their marketing and thus they vest everything in it. The scarce information that there is available suggests that children form a large proportion of the fast food target market and a major reason for their families consuming fast food too. Also as John Scully says, no great marketing decisions have ever been made on qualitative data, thus in order to aid fast food chains this substantially quantitative research must be conducted. A few examples of the marketing methods used are television commercials, billboards, print ads like posters, banners, flyers and standees, internet ads via websites, blogs and social forums and radio ads. The topic has a lot of scope considering the number of fast food chains that exist in todays t ime and the fact that more and more keep opening every day. Fast Food is an immensely successful business in Pakistan where majority comprises of foodies. Therefore the study has relevance to Pakistan as Fast Food businesses continuously use a variety of marketing strategies and advertising campaigns to sell their products and services and reap more profits. Research Question Very few people have endeavored to undertake such a research. However in order to under why marketing of fast food has the impact that it has on children and how fast food chains can take advantage of it, this topic needs to be addressed. Therefore the study aims to answer the following Research Question: What is the most effective fast food marketing method catered to children? LITERATURE REVIEW The literature review will set the context for and inform the study by examining previous research on this topic. The aim of the literature review is to evaluate the existing literature on the importance of fast food marketing to children in order to do an analysis of the advertisements being used to fulfill the purpose. Fran Lowry (2010) in a study for the assessment of total annual exposure to food advertising for 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2007, television ratings data from Nielsen Media Research were used. Three different age groups of children were assessed using the data, i.e. 2 to 5 years, 6 to 11 years, and 12 to 17 years. Exposure to advertisements for beverages, sweets and fast food restaurants was also examined. In 2003, it was found that children aged 2 to 5 years, 6 to 11 years and 12 to 17 years were exposed to 13.3, 13.6 and 13.1 food advertisements per day on the average respectively. In all three age groups the exposure to beverage advertisements underwent a decrease from 27% to 30% with a lump sum fall in advertisements of sugar-sweetened beverages like fruit drinks and regular soft-drinks. Fast food advertisements most frequently targeted to all ages of children and seen most by children of 6 to 11 years were those of McDonalds. This showed targeted branding according to the authors. Bur ger King similarly also targeted mostly the 6- to 11-year-olds. Exposure to advertisements for Subway, Taco Bell, and KFC also rose among 2- to 5-year-olds and 6- to 11-year-olds, but advertisements seen by children in these age groups continued to be dominated by McDonalds and Burger King, according to the authors. The study also found that black children in all age groups in 2003, 2005, and 2007, saw more food advertisements per day when compared to white children. Also, the racial gap in exposure to food advertising grew between 2003 and 2007, particularly for fast food advertisements. By 2007, black children aged 2 to 5, 6 to 11, and 12 to 17 years saw 1.5, 1.4, and 1.6 times as many food advertisements per day, respectively, compared with white children of these ages and they also had more than double the rate of increase in exposure to fast food advertisements. According to the study, exposure to television advertisements for fast food among children increased by as much as 20 .4% between 2003 and 2007, whereas advertisements for beverages and sweets declined, The results of the study was that many positive changes have occurred in childrens exposure to food advertising, consistent checking of this exposure as well as the nutritional analysis is required to further appraise self-regulatory pledges. Lisa Powell (2006 ) and her colleagues from the University of Illinois in Chicago write that there has been a rising trend in total energy intake derived from away-from-home, specifically fast food, outlets and also that excess fat and sugar intake and consumption of items such as sugar-sweetened beverages and fast food have been linked with higher energy intake and obesity. Television is a major advertising medium to reach children, and there is strong evidence that television advertising influences childrens dietary intake. Jennifer L. Harris et al. (2010) in the study answered the research question: Do these actions have a positive impact? Or, does the sheer volume of fast food marketing eclipse any of these industry initiatives? They base their analysis on the twelve restaurants; McDonalds, Burger King, Wendys, Taco Bell, Subway, Pizza Hut, KFC, Dominos, Dairy Queen, Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks and So nic.They assess the marketing practices and strategies of all these and compare it with the industry in totality. The methods included analyzing the nutritional quality of restaurant menu items; analyzing data on media exposure and spending from syndicated sources (i.e., The Nielsen Company, Score Inc. and Arbitron Inc.)They studied three components of their marketing plans i.e. menu composition, external advertising and in-store marketing. The three criteria to identify marketing that were targeted to children, teens, and African American and Hispanic youth. Children were exposed to more than 1,200 traditi onal fast food ads per year and this strategy was used a lot by fast food restaurants to encourage potential customers to visit. Many fast food restaurants have expanded into newer forms of marketing that are relatively inexpensive and more difficult to give numerical value to. McDonalds and Burger King indulge in web-based marketing starts with children as young as 2 at Ronald.com, McWorld.com, HappyMeal.com, and ClubBK.com. KFC.com and Starbucks.com also appeared in the top 10 most frequently visited fast food websites in the study. Banner ads from these restaurants reached up to 70 million unique viewers every month. Social and viral media used by fast food restaurants has also increased largely. The use of mobile marketing by fast food restaurants has also begun but most restaurants placed banner ads on third-party mobile websites, eight have introduced downloadable iPhone applications, and a few have begun to conduct text message advertising to customers who opt-in to this feat ure. Fast food marketing is becoming omnipresent. These restaurants also purchased more than two-thirds of fast food radio and outdoor, there was little variation in their marketing messages and the products they promoted. Restaurants appeared to compete primarily by introducing new menu items and promoting the value of their foods. A few restaurants (Subway and Wendys) promoted their food quality. Banner advertising and social media marketing also predominantly emphasized special offers, and value/cheap and new/improved messages; and promoted new menu item introductions, dollar/value menus, and combo meals. Licensed characters were meant for children. Eight restaurants offered kids meals catered specifically to children, while four used external marketing to address children i.e. McDonalds, Burger King, Subway, and Dairy Queen . McDonalds and Burger King had maximum advertising targeted to children. Children viewed approximately one child-targeted ad per day for these two restauran ts (in addition to ads for other products not exclusively targeted to children). The McDonalds Research by Grier (1996) and colleagues demonstrated that higher exposure to fast food advertising by parents was associated with increased frequency of taking their children to these restaurants because the advertising influenced their beliefs about how often other parents took their children. The authors recommended that fast food restaurants build better standards for every item in child-targeted marketing that applies to every fast food restaurant and also in all of kids meals served. Shin Yi Chou et al. (2005) in the study shed light on the link between television fast food advertising and the consequent childhood obesity around the world especially in the United States. The aim of the paper is to utilize the 1979 Child-Young Adult National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to explore the effects of fast-food restaurant advertising on children and adolescents being overweight. The results showed that a ban on these advertisements would decrease the number of overweight children ages 3-11 in a fixed population and overweight adolescents ages 12 to 18 years by 10 and 12 percent respectively. The absence of tax deductibility of this kind of advertising would lead to lesser decreases of between 3 and 5 percent in these outcomes but would result in lower costs on children. The 1997 sample consisted of 8,984 respondents from 6,819 different households, ages 12 to 18 years. There were two sub-samples: one consisting of 6,748 respondents born between 1980 and 1984. The second comprising of 2,236 oversampled black and Hispanic respondents. A survey was conducted on them. Television watching time and advertising messages were found to be positively correlated. Results also reflected that the number of hours of messages seen on television has a long impact on both children and adolescents. It could also be seen that fast food restaurant advertising has a larger effect on the Body Mass Index of adolescents than on children, despite children being expose longer to fast-food restaurant advertising due to longer television viewing time. In totality the results showed a direct lasting effect of exposure to fast-food restaurant advertising on the body mass index for children. Lesser impact on the probability of being overweight is less important. Thomas N.Robinson et al. (2007) in his experimental study on fast food branding aimed to explore how cumulative real-world marketing and brand exposures influence young children by means of testing the effects of branding on taste preferences through extensively marketed sources. The sample comprised of sixty- three children from low-income preschools, whose average age was 3.5 to 5.4 years. They had to taste 5 identical food items with beverages in matching McDonalds packaging but were actually not branded and to compare the taste of each. A summary total taste preference score (ranging from -1 for the unbranded samples to 0 for no preference and +1 for McDonalds branded samples) was used to test the null hypothesis that children would express no preference. The results of the study showed that average total taste preference score across all foods and beverages compared was 0.37  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚ ±Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  0.45 (median, 0.20; inter-quartile range, 0.00-0.80) and much more than zero (P Sharon Beder (1998) in her study aims to examine four aspects of marketing to children i.e. the development of a consumer, forms of marketing, advertising on the Internet and concerns. Advertising takes advantage of individual insecurities, creates artificial needs and offers quality solutions. It leads to consumption. Children specifically are the target. In Australia, an average $31.60 is spent weekly by children below18 have and they control above 70 per cent of their parents fast food purchases. Children and teenagers between the ages of 10 and 17 spend n the US there are over 57 million school age children and teenagers who spend about $100 billion yearly of personal and family money on sweets, food and drinks. Brandweek magazine pointed out that even in China where children save most of the little income they get and their total spending amounts to $2.6 billion yearly, second only to the US. Brandweek cited a survey showing McDonalds was the favorite fast food worldwide and Cok e was the favorite drink. It argued:If it is possible to create global preferences with food productswhere obstacles like differences in local cuisine and culture existtranscending cultural boundaries with toys, clothing and entertainment products should be considerably easier. Television ads account for almost 70% of the total amount spent on advertising to children in the US. Total advertising expenditure accounts for almost 15% of the total budget for marketing to children. A new trend in advertising is the internet. The authors question the ability of the young to understand advertising and its purpose and not be impressioned by it. The study thus emphasizes Fast food marketing and how it is a vast industry. Mary Story and Simone French (2004) in a study aimed to appraise the food advertising and marketing channels used to target children and adolescents in the US, the effect of food advertising on eating habits, and current policies. The youth is a major profitable target market for food and beverage industries. Consequently children and adolescents are now marketed to extensively. Food marketers are interested in youth as consumers because of their spending power, their purchasing influence, and as future adult consumers. Multiple techniques and channels are used to reach youth, beginning when they are toddlers, to foster brand-building and influence food product purchase behavior. These food marketing channels include television advertising, in-school marketing, product placements, kids clubs, the Internet, toys and products with brand logos, and youth-targeted promotions, such as cross-selling and tie-ins. wide range of food advertising techniques and channels are used to reach child ren and adolescents to foster brand awareness to encourage product sales. Marketing channels include television advertising, in-school marketing, product placements, kids clubs, the Internet, toys and products with brand logos, and youth-targeted promotions. Experimental studies continuously showed that children exposed to food advertising prefer advertised food products more often than those not exposed to such ads. Studies with children under age 11 have found strong links between television watching time by children and number of childrens requests to parents for those foods, and availability of those foods in their homes. African American and Hispanic children watch more television when compared to white children and so viewed more food ads. Various studies have established that children under 8 years of age are developmentally unable to understand the purpose of advertisements and consider advertising claims as factual. V. Henderson and B. Kelly (2005) in their study documented the sorts of foods advertised nutritional claims made whilst advertising on African American television as well as the general market. The sample comprised of 553 advertisements that were analyzed for their content during 101.5 prime-time Television hours. This resulted in classification of advertisements according to fast food restaurant, sit-down restaurant, packaged food), specific food type, and the presence of a weight-related nutritional claim.T and Chi-square tests were used to make comparisons. The results showed that more advertisements were aired on the African-American Television than on general market. These were mostly for fast food, fizzy drinks, candy, meat, and were rarely for cornflakes, grains and pasta or fruits, vegetables, desserts or liquor. People framing policies need to have a greater awareness of the prevailing advertisements for food and their possible effect on behavior as well as knowledge and thu s should seriously work with manufacturers of food to pave way for the creation and promotion of healthy food according to the authors. Hill, J. M. and Radimer, K. L. (1998) in a study examined food advertisements aired on Australian television during programs for children below 10 years of age. Kinds of foods that were promoted linked messages and the impression of food and eating habits in comparison to current dietary recommendations. 239 advertisements were appraised, of which 25% were for fast food restaurants and 22% for chocolate. Of the main foods advertised, 11% were for cereal products, 8% for fruit and only 1% for vegetables. Main tactics used by advertisers to sell foods were give-aways (20%), taste (16%) and fun (14%). On the contrary, advertisements for breakfast cereals often used nutritional claims and often contained messages that were in line with current dietary guidelines for Australians. Generally, the complete dietary picture shown to children through advertisements was said to be poorly balanced and only included a narrow range of foods. Michele Roberts and Simone Pettigrew (2007) studied behaviors modeled in food advertising are influencing childrens diets. They conducted a food advertising audit targeted to children find out aspects that affect childrens food socialization. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used to provide (1) descriptive statistics of incidence and (2) a thematic analysis of messages contained in a sample of food advertisements screened in Perth, Australia, during childrens morning television programming. In 28.5 hours of childrens television programs, 950 advertisements were broadcasts, 212 of which were for food. The Qualitative aspect observable in the ads were the existence of grazing, the denigration of main foods, exaggerated health claims and the implied ability of specific foods to emphasize popularity, functionality and mood. The most popular advertising appeal was fantasy, present in 57% of the campaigns. The outcomes of the study are of interest to many stakeholders, including the food and advertising industries, policy makers, child health advocates and academic researchers. Driven by concerns about childhood obesity, there is escalating demand for responsible food advertising to children (McDonald 2003). According to the authors advertisers must respond to these issues. Kay M. Hammond et al. (2008) aimed to expose internationally, the balance of television advertising for healthy and less-healthy foods to which children and adolescents are exposed. The sample comprised 9-17 year old New Zealanders to explore the extent to which they were exposed to advertising for a variety of food groups over a year and compared New Zealand rates of advertising with a 13-country study. The method used was People meter data collected over three months May and September 1995 and February 1996 and food advertising from a sample week of television during hours when children were likely to be watching were also examined. The Comparison was made with a similar 1989 South Australian study and an international study covering 13 countries.The results showed that the exposure estimated for a year and the opportunities for exposure in the sample week were maximum for sweet snacks, drinks, fast food/takeaways and breakfast cereals. There were very low levels for fruit, vegeta bles, and meat/fish/ eggs and water was not advertised in any sample month. Comparisons with the 13-country study showed New Zealand had the third-highest rate of food advertising, the highest rate of confectionery and drinks advertising, and the second-highest rate of restaurant advertising which included fast food restaurants.To conclude the authors suggest that the immediate trends in food advertising create a difference in interest between public health and commercial interests. Regulation of food advertising may be required to solve this problem. METHODOLOGY Research Type I will be conducting Primary/Field or Quantitative Research, gathering first hand data from my sample population about how the fast food marketing methods used by marketers influence their children or children around them. I will later be quantifying the results. Data Type and Research Period The study is based on peoples perceptions and how they feel they are influenced by advertisements and how these fast food marketing methods are a major contributing factor in their childrens consumption of fast food. Therefore Primary or Field Research which is basically quantitative in nature is more suitable. Sources of Data The sources will be questionnaire surveys and focus groups targeted to the sample population. Operational Definitions Dependant Variable: Fast Food Consumption This variable addresses the Fast Food Purchases by consumers. It is the result of Fast Food advertising and the ultimate motive of Fast Food sellers. It basically deals with fast food sales. Therefore it is the consequence of Fast Food Marketing through various mediums. Independent Variables Television Advertisements: This variable is an integral means of marketing Fast Food to consumers considering its reach and ease of access in todays time. The more people watch Television and are exposed to advertisements of fast food, the more they consume fast food. It thus has a positive relation with fast food consumption. Billboards: This variable sheds light on yet another Fast Food Marketing medium. It is a physical medium for people to be exposed to frequently. It has a positive relation with fast food consumption as the more billboards people see the greater will be their fast food consumption. Internet Advertisements: This variable appraises a combination of official websites as well as social website mediums like Facebook and Twitter used by Fast Food marketers to reach consumers. The greater the amount of fast food advertisements people are exposed to on the internet, the more they will purchase or consume fast food, thus it denotes a positive relation between the dependant and the independent variable. Print Advertisements: This variable comprises of the various print mediums like the newspapers, posters, flyers and banners that fast food marketers use to advertise the fast food to consumers. Naturally the more peoples exposure to these is the more they end up consuming fast food, indicating a positive relation. Radio: This variable emphasizes the use of broadcasting to market fast food to consumers. It is a cheap means to reach more people. The frequency of advertisements on the radio is usually more due to the low cost. Therefore people are exposed to more fast food advertisements and thus consume more of it and this also has a positive relation with the dependent variable. Population, Working population and planned sample The target population for the research will be people living in Lahore who have children of ages 3 to 17 years, in their families who consume fast food. The working population will be targeted specifically. The planned sample will include people ranging between the ages of 20-40 years, including working adult males and females from Lahore who have kids and as well as working youngsters or students with younger siblings who consume fast food. Research hypothesis Ho-Frequent exposure to Fast Food marketing methods leads to increased Fast Food Consumption by children H1-Television is the most influential Fast Food Marketing Method for children H2-Billboards are very appealing to children and lead to frequent fast food consumption H3-Print advertisement doesnt influence childrens purchase of Fast Food so much H4-Internet is not a very effective medium for Fast Food marketing to children H5-Radio is not a very effective medium of Fast Food marketing to children Techniques Cross-Tabulation was done due to using the statistics from the questionnaire surveys. Data analysis A cross-tabulation was done using the SPSS software 17.0 and frequency charts were also made. Data interpretation After gathering first-hand information from the sample population, the data was quantified and the statistics were used to make cross-tabulations and frequency charts. The results were then analyzed using tables and charts results. RESULTS Demographics The primary research for the study comprised of questionnaire surveys that were floated amongst 50 respondents, both married and unmarried, falling in the age bracket of 20 to 40 years. 25 of the respondents were male and 25 female in order to eliminate gender bias. The people with children were targeted to find out more about their childrens fast food consumption resulting from advertising exposure. The working population was targeted to specifically because they have a need for fast food. This was done with the purpose of finding out the most effective method of fast food marketing that results in consumption of fast food by children in Lahore. Most of the married respondents were bankers, doctors, engineers and teachers who had children, whilst the unmarried respondents were mostly students at the Lahore School of Economics and had younger siblings between the ages of 3 to 17 years, who consume fast food. The target population for the research will be people living in Lahore who h ave children in their families who consume fast food. 75% fell in the age group of 20 to 29 years, whereas the remaining 25% were aged between 30 to 40 years. Most of these individuals belonged to the upper and upper middle class with lump sum pocket monies or household incomes, and had exposure to all sorts of fast food advertisements. A majority fell in the 30,000-40,000 income range. The five independent variables were separately analyzed to determine their impact on the dependant variable. The results have been analyzed below. Independent Variable: Television Ads Ho-Frequent exposure to Fast Food marketing methods leads to increased Fast Food Consumption by children H1-Television is the most influential Fast Food Marketing Method for children TVADSQ1a Frequency Percent Valid Percent Valid 1.00 21 42.0 42.0 2.00 25 50.0 50.0 3.00 2 4.0 4.0 4.00 1 2.0 2.0 5.00 1 2.0 2.0 Total 50 100.0 100.0 The above table shows the frequencies of responses when people were asked whether they thought images of food were an important element of a fast food advertisement. It can be seen that 21 people out of 50 i.e. 42% strongly agreed that images of food are important to children. 25 respondents or 50% also agreed with this.2 people or 4% remained neutral. 1 out of 50 respondents or 2% disagreed while another 2% also strongly disagreed with the statement. TVADSQ1b Frequency Percent Valid Percent Valid 1.00 11 22.0 22.0 2.00 25 50.0 50.0 3.00 13 26.0 26.0 4.00 1 2.0 2.0 Total 50 100.0 100.0 The table illustrates the frequencies of the responses for the importance that a catchy slogan holds for children in a fast food television commercial.11 out of 50 respondents i.e. 22% strongly agreed that a catchy slogan is very important to children whilst 50% also agreed with this.26% remained neutral about it and 2% disagreed and didnt think that a catchy slogan is important to children. TVADSQ1c Frequency Percent Valid Percent Valid 1.00 14 28.0 28.0 2.00 17 34.0 34.0 3.00 13 26.0 26.0 4.00 6 12.0 12.0 Total 50 100.0 100.0 As per the above frequencies 14 out of 50 respondents i.e. a celebrity endorser was very important to children according to 28% or 14 out of 50 respondents and 34% also thought the same.26% were neutral about it and 12% disagreed. TVADSQ1d Frequency Percent Valid Percent Valid 1.00 15 30.0 30.0 2.00 23 46.0 46.0 3.00 10 20.0 20.0 4.00 2 4.0 4.0 Total 50 100.0 100.0 The frequency table shows that the jingle was very important to children according to 30% of the respondents who strongly agreed along with the 46% majority who agreed with this. 20% remained neutral to it and only 4% disagreed. TVADSQ1e Frequency Percent Valid Percent Valid 1.00 3 6.0 6.0 2.00 9 18.0 18.0 3.00 11 22.0 22.0 4.00 19 38.0 38.0 5.00 8 16.0 16.0 Total 50 100.0 100.0 According to the above table, the frequencies of responses showed that 6% of the respondents strongly agreed that price matters to children in a fast food television commercial and 18% also agreed.22% remained neutral about it. However 38% and 16% disagreed and strongly disagreed respectively that children do

Mycobacterium tuberculosis :: Essays Papers

Mycobacterium tuberculosis Introduction Mycobacterium tuberculosis has been present in the human population for thousands of years; fragments of the spinal column from Egyptian mummies from 2400 BCE show definite pathological signs of tubercular decay. Called "consumption," tuberculosis was recognized as the leading cause of mortality by 1650. Using a new staining technique, Robert Koch identified the bacterium responsible for causing consumption in 1882. While scientists finally had a target for fighting the disease, they did not have the means to treat patients; the spread of infection was controlled only by attempting to isolate patients. At the turn of the twentieth century, more than 80% of the population in the United States was infected before age 20, and tuberculosis was still the leading cause of death. The production of antibiotics in the 1940’s allowed physicians to begin effectively treating patients, leading to huge drops in the death rate of the disease. Tuberculosis is still a major cause of mortality in young adults worldwide, but is less of a problem in developed countries. Microbiological characteristics Mycobacterium tuberculosis is a nonmotile, acid-fast, obligate aerobe. The bacilli are 2-4 um in length and have a very slow generation time of between 15 and 20 hours. The cell wall of the mycobacterium is unique in that it is composed mainly of acidic waxes, specifically mycolic acids. M. tuberculosis is unusually resistant to drying and chemicals, contributing to the ease with which it is transmitted. Encounter/Entry Tuberculosis is transmitted by inhalation of aerosols containing the tubercle bacilli. The required inoculum size for infection is usually high, but easily occurs with exposure to a patient who is currently infected. The products of dried aerosols, droplet nuclei, are particularly infectious because they remain in the air for an extended time, and upon inhalation easily move to the alveoli. The severe damage related to infection is caused by the reaction of the host. The tuberculosis infection has two phases, primary and secondary. Primary infection Primary tuberculosis is the initial infection of the host, usually being mild and asymptomatic. A healthy person recently infected with the mycobacterium may exhibit flu-like symptoms and has no reason to suspect tuberculosis. Left untreated, the bacilli infect and multiply within pulmonary alveolar macrophages, migrating to the hilar lymph nodes. An immune response is exhibited by the T-helper cells, and inflammation develops at multiple sites. A person may test positive in the tuberculin skin test at this point, and a chest x-ray may shows opacities in the lungs.

The Search for Utopia in The Great Gatsby Essay -- The Great Gatsby F.

  Ã‚  In Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, the reader discovers multiple interpretations of utopia. Each character is longing for one particular paradise. Only one character actually reaches utopia, and the arrival is a mixed blessing at best. The concept of paradise in The Great Gatsby is â€Å"a shifting, evanescent illusion of happiness, joy, love, and perfection, a mirage that leads each character to reach deeper, look harder, strive farther†(Lehan, 57). All the while, time pulls each individual farther from the moment he seeks.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There is Myrtle Wilson's gaudy, flashy hotel paradise in which she can pretend that she is glamorous, elite, wanted and loved. She clings fiercely enough to this threadbare dream to brave the ire of Tom Buchanan by voicing her jealous terror that he will return to his wife. There is a desperation to her full, vivacious style of living, she wants so much to escape the grey, dead land of the Valley of Ashes that she colors her life with any brightness she can find, be it broken glass or diamonds. Nick describes land she finds herself in as a wasteland, a desert, saying "this is the Valley of Ashes -- a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens, where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air" (Fitzgerald, 27).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It is from this that Myrtle is trying to escape, this life-in-death valley that epitomizes the underbelly of New York's glitter and lights and finery, and this that she is dragged back to by the dawning jealous rage of a normally unassuming husband. To run away from the grey and the death, the colo... ...any falls from grace, Nick alone resurfaces, burdened by his understanding of the entirety of the tragedy.    Works Cited and Consulted: Claridge, Henry, ed. F. Scott Fitzgerald: Critical Assessments. 4 vols. Robertsbridge, UK: Helm, 1992. Donaldson, Scott, ed. Critical Essays on F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby." Boston: G. K. Hall, 1984. Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. Ed. Matthew J. Bruccoli. Toronto: Simon & Schuster Inc, 1995. Lehan, Richard D. F. "The Great Gatsby": The Limits of Wonder.   Boston: Twayne, 1990. Rowe, Joyce A. â€Å"Delusions of American Idealism.† In Readings on The Great Gatsby. edited by Katie de Koster. San Diego, California: Greenhaven Press. 1998. 87-95. Trilling, Lionel. "F. Scott Fitzgerald." Critical Essays on Scott Fitzgerald's "Great Gatsby." Ed. Scott Donaldson. Boston: Hall, 1984. 13-20.

Urban Legend of the Goatman of Beltsville, Maryland :: Urban Legends Ghost Stories

Goatman of Beltsville, Maryland The storyteller told the story of the Goatman from Beltsville story to me. On a summer night in 2005, she and her friend were driving back from a mall. Her friend took a shortcut home to Beltsville, Maryland by way of Callington Road Bridge. While on this shortcut home, her friend stopped the car on the side of road and turned off the headlights. She proceeded to tell the interviewee the story of the Goatman, emphasizing its truthfulness the entire time. After she heard the story, the interviewee never drove across Callington Road Bridge again. The storyteller told me the story of the Goatman in a mutual friend’s dorm room at night. I had come to the dorm room to ask my friend if he knew any urban legends of ghost stories from around campus or the state of Maryland. The storyteller, a 21-year-old biology major, shouted excitedly from the couch that she knew one. She is from Beltsville, Maryland. Her mother is a lawyer and her father is a math professor. My friend and I sat down on the couch and listened intently as she told the story: The Goatman from Beltsville. In the 1970s, a crazy doctor did a genetic experiment. The doctor bred a goat with a human by fusing the two embryos. A baby was born half human and half goat. It had horns, really thick hair on its face, a tail, sharp teeth, and a temper. The deformed baby grew into a really gross guy. As Goatman grew older he became more and more violent until finally the doctor kicked him out. After that, the Goatman retreated into the forest to live. He eats cats and dogs as his main source of food, and from time to time he eats humans walking alone at night along this one road commonly known as Goatman Hallow (Callington Road Bridge). Goatman is bloodthirsty, fearless, and always on the prowl. Sometimes he wanders into people’s back yards and eats their pets. Owners will find their pets the next day with only the carcasses remaining. Kids are warned not to take the shortcut home through the forest because Goatman might eat them. One time a few kids took the shortcut home at night and this one kid fell behind.

Microserfs

In Microserfs Douglas Coupland attempts to analyze the lives of people whose work is closely associated with most advanced machines that have yet been made: computers. The title of the novel Microserfs introduces the two main ideas of the novel: it is a play on the dominant force within the computer industry (Microsoft) and the word serfs, which refers to the semi-slave groups who existed within feudal societies in medieval times. Coupland suggests that the people who work for companies like Microsoft are essentially a king of voluntary serf. The characters within this novel want to be machine-like for a number of reasons. First, that seems to be the characteristic which has enabled Bill Gates (the founder and CEO of Microsoft) to rise to the top of the industry. While they apparently hate their jobs at Microsoft, leading to their leaving them and attempting to set up their own company, they also greatly admire the machine-like quality that Gates brings to his work.   Secondly, a machine is totally involved with what it is doing – it has no distractions that will take it away from the task at hand. Third, there is the beautiful logic of software code which contrasts with the often chaotic nature of their personal and professional lives. In Microserfs the great spur for activity is the search to be â€Å"One-Point-Oh†, that is â€Å"to be the first to do the first version of something†(Coupland, 1995). Computer software is normally identified according to which version of the program it is, so to be â€Å"one-point-oh† (1.0) is to be the best. There is a machine like logic to this idea which is of course not really based upon reality: normally the first version of any program is crude and ineffective compared to later versions which are more sophisticated and have been adapted according to the real-world experience of the software being used. In many ways the main characters of the novel such as Daniel, Susan and Todd are removed from the real world to the extent that they need to employ someone from that world to be their â€Å"reality-check†, that person being Daniel’s mother. The characters are obviously satirical in nature, and are taken to such an extreme that they almost seem like people who inhabit a video game. Take for example Michael, who is a brilliant but awkward programmer who leaves Microsoft to start his own company, and decides to adopt a â€Å"Flatlander diet† (Coupland, 1995). This involves only eating â€Å"two-dimensional food† (Coupland, 1995) which means food that can be slid under his door, He has a screen name of â€Å"Kraft Singles† (Coupland, 1995), an ironic comment upon his peculiar diet. Michael is just one example of the tendency to take matters to an extreme among the characters. Todd is not just a body-builder, but an obsessive body-builder. Bug is not only experienced, older and a little more cynical than his younger fellow workers, he calls himself â€Å"the World’s Bitterest Man† (Coupland, 1995). All of these characterizations make the people who inhabit the novel seem essentially machine-like: they are one/two dimensional, relentless in their pursuit of an end and often limited in outlook.   A software program is designed to do one thing extremely well, but nothing else. In the same way the characters attempt to do one thing, or be one thing, extremely well. The constant conflict between the need for a pure existence as a designer, body-builder, bitterest man etc. comes up against the natural human tendency to diversify and to be multi-faceted. While Microserfs was written before the massive explosion in Internet usage, the manner in which people are now essentially locked to their computers:- constantly checking e-mail even in the most remote locations – is a natural development of the kind of process that Coupland sees in this novel. The ongoing discussion between machine and human being, something which is reflected within Coupland’s novels, continues unabated. In conclusion, the characters of Microserfs seek to be machine like because they see this as a route to success. Their â€Å"king†, Bill Gates, who they leave, is nevertheless an icon to be aimed at. He seems more like a machine than a human being according to Coupland, and has all the strengths and weaknesses that are associated with this identity. The characters of this novel, wonderfully funny, but often very sad at the same time, reflect this search to be the perfect human machine.   The fact is that they seem to lose their humanity along the way. Works Cited Coupland, Doug