Global Media Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Global Media Management - Essay Example However based on the target audience the product display and message varied for majority of the companies. There are some aspects of any website that determine its satisfaction such as navigability, playfulness, information quality, trust, personalization and responsiveness. According to Todaro (2007) the value prepositions offered by website is interactivity, integration of multimedia, real-time buying behavior of the consumers and consumer response, electronic commerce and return on investment. Internet marketing consists of search engine optimization, online advertisement, pay per click campaigns (PPC), e-commerce, online permission marketing and promotional e-mail (Todaro, 2007). However the website or virtual presence is usually practiced with the other strategies for by the marketers today. In the case of skin care products, the consumer involvement increases with increasing price of the product and brand name. Consumers may be involved in the point of purchase behavior where they buy product when it is physically displayed in a retail outlet. In the case of online purchasing, it can be more for the repeat purchase that a consumer can place an order. The websites ranking high in terms of traffic are effective in their product display, gaining viewers’ attention and retaining the attention by providing informative content to them. Most of the popular skincare companies provided details on the product effectiveness, how it works and what is special in it which makes it effective. On the other hand the websites with low traffic have dull presentations of products; information is very limited or presented in uninteresting manner and dull color scheme of the website. There were visible difference in the way products were displayed and web pages were navigated in the websites that were receiving heavy flow of traffic. There were some known brands which have market reputation and

Financial Markets and Institutions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Financial Markets and Institutions - Essay Example The derivative market can be further sub-divided into the OTC (over the counter) market and the exchange traded derivatives market. While the former is more customized and offers tailor made innovative instruments in the later all transactions take place via exchange. The OTC market transactions are done mainly by the investment banks that heir traders or agents to market derivative instruments to clients. Some instruments of OTC market include forward contract, swaps (interest rates and currency), credit derivatives, and hedge funds. The derivative market transactions in US are mostly dominated by large multinational financial institutions. The global economic importance of derivatives market is that they are important instrument for determining current and future prices of underlying asset. In addition, a derivatives market also helps to reduce the risk of transaction by bringing certainty in to expected cash flows. The derivatives market encourages speculative trading and arbitrag e. A derivatives instrument reduces transaction costs and also offers liquidity of the instrument in market (Parsons, 2013, pp.2-6). Factors Affecting Interest Rates Interest rates are amount payable by the borrower to the lender for using capital for certain amount of time. They are also referred to as financial cost of borrowings. Generally the federal bank or the central bank of a country determines the rate of interest on borrowing. Interest rates are determined primarily from the forces of supply and demand. Inflation plays a very important role for determining the interest rates since almost every lender expects to be compensated after considering the purchasing power of money. Thus, the rate of interest is also driven by the market trends and corresponds to changes in inflation levels. The credit of the borrower is also taken into consideration while determining the interest rates. For instance, entities with good credit ratings are able to enjoy debt at cheaper rates compare d to entities with bad credit ratings. This is mainly because the entities with poor credit rating have more chances of defaulting both in terms of regular fixed interest payments as well as the principal. Another important factor that determines the rate of interest is the duration of debt. Generally, the short term rates are less costly since predicting risk factors and inflation levels are more accurate for shorter time frame. However, the same is not true for long term rates since the future is uncertain and only expected or probabilistic returns are possible. Forecasting of Interest Rates Changes Forecasting the changes in interest rates is an important factor for determining the bond prices. When the interest rates are expected to appreciate in future, the objective of the investor should be to hold bonds with shorter maturity and not to hold long term bonds so as to minimize losses. Conversely, when the interest rates are expected to decline in future, it is an opportunity fo r the investors to invest in good credit bonds. Hence, interest rates directly influence the market value of debt instruments including bonds, money market securities, mortgages, and so on. By determining the key factors that have significant influence on interest rates, the interest rates for future can be forecasted. Some of the important factors that influence interest rates are economic growth rates, inflation rates, monetary policy, and budget deficit

Van Goghs Starry Night: Analysis

Van Goghs Starry Night: Analysis Introduction â€Å"Starry Night† is one of the most popular canvasesin modern-day philosophy along with being one of the most simulated and pursued after images. This painting was done by Vincent van Gogh when he was at an asylum in Saint-Remy in 1889.It is said that this painting is a view out of Van Gogh’s asylum window. The painting shows swirling clouds in a starry night and a bright crescent moon, overlooking perhaps a village. This shows a contrast between the bright night sky and the silence of the village which is supposed to be Van Gogh’s hometown Netherland. The painting also consists of a cypress tree which is typically found in graveyards . This might have something to do with the artist’s perception of the inevitability of death and how close it is on Earth. Starry Night is just one example of Vincent Van Gogh’s numerous painting which show night life, from which it can be presumed that the artist loved night time. Vincent van Goghs art is generally observed by criticizers as Early Post-Impressionism. The artist was inspired by the innovative ideas of Paul Gauguin and Camille Pissarro, and wanted to bring out something innovative of his own because their works were being called repetitive and limiting. In his asylum, Vincent van Gogh was not allowed to paint in his room on the second floor. He was given a separate room and some charcoal and paper on which he used to do his work and then improve it later. Van Gogh used to write about his painting to his brother however, there does not exist a particular reason for the creation of this painting as the artist only wrote about Starry Nights twice. A letter to his brother contained the following words: â€Å"This morning I saw the country from my window a long time before sunrise, with nothing but the morning star, which looked very big,† This is a very vague statement regarding the painting, hence the reason for its creation remains unknown. I, as a night lover myself, feel very strongly about the painting Starry Nights. The imagery of clouds painted in a swirling motion create a magnificent affect and brings out the beauty of the night which can only be seen from the eyes of a true lover of night time. I am particularly impressed by the unique use of colors in the painting. Which most people’s perception of the color of stars would be white, Van Gogh has painted them a bright yellow, and yet they appear to be a beautiful shining sight. 2. Body Vincent van Gogh was going through a serious medical condition at the time he painted Starry Nights. This might be one of the reasons why his brush strokes are very thick and prominent in the painting, which give a sever sense of drama in the painting. His brush strokes have an unrelenting rhythm, which creates the illusion of the image being in motion. Moreover there is a certain consistency in his procedure that adds extra depth to the work. The most prominent shapes in the painting are of the circular motion in which the stars and the clouds are portrayed. Normally, clouds are never given the shape of circles in painting but in Starry Nights, Van Gogh has shown them as swirling clouds forming a perfect circle and appear to be in motion. The stars are also painted in a circular form, rather than the typical pointed star form. This results in the painting looking consistent as the stars and the clouds are both circular shapes. The main sources of light in the picture are the luminous stars and the hemispherical moon. It is evident that the artist had a passion for night life, as the painting shows a silent village resting underneath a dominant sky. All the light sources are present in the sky as compared to in the village at the bottom. The darkness is reflected in the village at the bottom half of the painting. It represents how gloomy the world looks as compared to the bright night sky. Moreover the cypress tree is also a dark figure in the painting. As cypress trees are mostly found in cemeteries, this element of the painting is meant to show a connection between life and death and how close they are. Hence this is one of the darker elements of the painting. In Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Nights, there is a dominance of the color blue which is visible in the sky as well as in the village shown in the bottom of the picture. The artist’s strange use of colors is sometimes associated with his medical condition, perhaps he might have been a patient of lead poisoning or a kind of brain disease. Van Gogh’s use of yellow and white to represent the stars draws the viewer’s attention to the sky. Perpendicular lines for example the cypress tree and church tower gently disintegrate the structure without withdrawing from the influential nighttime atmosphere illustrated in Starry Night. The reflection of the moon is shown by streaks of dark blue and greens, complemented with a touch of mint green. The houses of the village in the painting are small blocks of greens, oranges and yellows with a hint of red towards the left of the church. The bright blue colors of the sky are carefully balanced by the orange of some of the elem ents of the night sky. The rich colors used in Starry Nights are used to portray emotions and show the real love of night time of Van Gogh. Starry Nights was created in June 1889. It is made on a canvas of height 73.7 cm and length 92.10 cm. Oil paints have been used for this painting. Starry Nights can be characterized as a landscape painting as its main focus is the natural element the sky. This oil painting is framed and is currently owned by and displayed in New York in the Museum of Modern Art. One of the various interpretations of Starry Nights by Van Gogh is that it is a depiction of hope. Van Gogh has shown that even in such a dark night, the sky is illuminated by the bright shining stars, which can be seen as a ray of hope from the silent village underneath. The sky is filled with shining stars that show that even in complete darkness, there is a light to guide you. Van Gogh had been severely sick at the time he made this painting. We can assume from his work that he was at last being treated of his sickness and he saw a hope of a new life, which he so masterfully illustrated in his painting. Also, the cypress tree shows that he knows death is inevitable but when it does come, it will give him eternal peace. Van Gogh mentioned the painting to his brother in a letter, in the following words: I should not be surprised if you liked the Starry Night and the Ploughed Fields, there is a greater quiet about them than in the other canvases. Later in the same letter, Vincent van Gogh referred to a book by Leo Tolstoy â€Å"My Religion† and talked about its lack of belief in resurrection. This shows how Van Gogh was at war with himself regarding the topic; he could neither accept that death was coming, nor was he able to completely forget about it. Concluding, it can be said that the night sky made him feel at peace with himself and calmed his heart. (Artble, 2014) Conclusion: It can be concluded from the analysis that Vincent van Gogh was a nighttime lover and saw the inner beauty in the night sky which people usually overlook. He has communicated from the painting that night time is not just about darkness; it can sometimes be so illuminating and can contain a ray of hope which leaves the worldly things looking dark and dull in its comparison. The painting also contains a link between life and death which is present there due to the artist’s ill health and his knowledge about death being inevitable. Though he was not looking forward to it, he had accepted the idea that death might be coming soon and he would eventually have to come to terms with it. http://www.artble.com/artists/vincent_van_gogh/paintings/starry_night/more_information/analysis

The Story of Cain and Abel(Summarized) Essay -- Essays Papers

The Story of Cain and Abel(Summarized) Generally, when believers in Christianity hear the word "Cain," they immediately think of "brother-slayer," "hell," and all sorts of evil. Who was Cain and what led him to be a "brother-slayer"? In my essay, I shall tell the tragic story of two brothers and how their brotherhood ends in utter destruction. This story shows how just one ounce of jealousy can cause cold-blooded murder. Cain was indeed the cause of his brother's brutal murder. The story of Cain comes from the Old Testament in the Bible. Adam's wife, Eve, becomes pregnant and has her first child, who is truly insincere, selfish, and later on, commits the ultimate taboo; he murders his own flesh and blood. This child's name is Cain. Some time later, she gives birth to another son, Abel, who, unlike Cain, is very genuine, selfless and who can never think of hurting someone, let alone murdering him. When the two children grow up, Cain is a farmer, and Abel is a shepherd. They are both asked by their parents to give offerings to the Lord whenever possible, but only without any expectation or selfish desire in return. It is not possible for Cain to be so selfless and kind. One day, Cain brings some of his leftover harvest as an offering to the Lord, whereas Abel brings one of his first lambs born to his sheep, kills it, and gives it to the Lord as a sacrificial offering. The Lord is very much pleased with Abel and rejects Cain's offerings, since the Lord knows that Cain ...

Information Policies in Organizations

The information age has brought about rapid changes to the ways in which businesses conduct day to day operations. Although this move to electronic commerce has resulted in extraordinary advantages in terms of speed and cost-effectiveness of business, it also presents new challenges in the workplace. The information that is available to everyone on the internet, and more particularly to individuals within an organization is far greater now than it was just a few years ago. Despite the obvious advantages of this forward movement of technology, it creates a severe problem with control of information. Whereas organizational information in the past would typically follow a formal chain of command or an informal office communication network, it can now be passed around the world in milliseconds over the internet. Implementing and maintaining a set of checks and balances to ensure that e-mail and other means of electronic communication are used only in an acceptable manner can prove to be a difficult, time-consuming and costly endeavor. Therefore it is critical for any organization to establish policies and procedures for dealing with these problems in order to ensure the company is not faced with a liability problem for the distribution of indecent, harassing or protected information. A good starting point for an organization to try to minimize exposure to these sort of problems is by defining what is and what is not acceptable use of e-mail and other office communication systems. Policies and procedures can then be developed around this definition. Acceptable use is defined as the use of e-mail and other company information systems for business purposes. The policies and procedures regarding acceptable use must be in writing and be communicated to all the employees of the organization. A written policy should include some of the following the key elements which are necessary for a typical organization entering the information age. Define what is and is not appropriate use of company communication systems. This definition must be congruent with other company policies. For example, it should outline what is considered to be offensive or harassing material and the policy should clearly state that the company lines of communication are not to be used to distribute this sort of material. Furthermore, this definition should be all-inclusive in that it must cover all types of potential problems; from discrimination, to individuals personal information rights. The reason this is so critical is because this definition will form the framework of the company's information policy and will therefore be the critical legal element which stands to prevent these potential problems and serves to protect the company from liability should problems occur regardless of existing policies. In order to protect the company further from exposure to legal action, the formal policy must also include the procedure that employees can follow should their rights be infringed upon. Not only should victims of e-mail harassment or discrimination be encouraged to come forward and report the problem, they must also be assured that the company will not let such action affect the employee in any negative way. Otherwise the organization is leaving themselves open to allegations of covering up or failing to follow through on employee complaints. The policy must state that such reports will be kept in the strictest confidence and that victim is free to report an incident to someone other than their direct supervisor if necessary. Generating the confidence necessary for someone to come forward with allegations of harassment involving misuse of company information systems can be improved by clearly stating in the company policy that each complaint will be investigated thoroughly. Although the previous policies may foster openness with regard to reporting problems in the organization, they do not do a great deal to prevent the problem. Therefore it is crucial that the policy state the legal implications for everyone involved in such an incident. This portion of the policy should state that victims will be free from retaliatory actions from management and other employees and that those responsible for investigation will keep all information as confident as possible and conduct the investigation as objectively as possible. Most importantly however, the consequences for those who are guilty of causing the problems must be clearly outlined. Prompt and decisive disciplinary action should be administered as soon as anyone in the company is found guilty of wrongdoing. It would be foolish for management to expect that such a policy would exempt the organization from minor complaints or even large scale law suits resulting from information systems misuse. It is necessary for organizations to educate their employees on the proper use company communication systems and it is best to do this at the initial orientation phase of an employees career. Since most companies hire on a continual basis, it would be tedious to train new employees using a standard lecture method. The use of programmed instruction and computer based training can help to alleviate this problem through the use of pre-programmed software specific to the companies needs. This sort of training would save time by introducing new employees to standard procedures such as logging on and conducting daily communications. Computer based training can also make reference to company policy and procedure including rights of victims and consequences of those guilty of misuse. A self-administered computer based training program can be developed using standard office applications such as Microsoft Office and can be generated by a knowledgeable user in just a few days. This type of training program must be supplemented by a hardcopy of standard rules and procedures for use of company e-mail and also include a copy of the company's policy as previously outlined. Each new employee would be required to complete the self-administered training program and to sign a copy of the company's polices and procedures before receiving e-mail authorization. Once in place, this programmed instruction can be further modified to include guidelines for storing classified documents and messages. Certain information that is passed through company information lines is not intended to go outside of the organization and it is important for management to make sure all employees are aware that they are responsible for protecting company information. Computer based training can also teach new employees how to manage their e-mail files so that important messages are stored in a received file in which only that employee can access with their personal password. It is very difficult to ensure all employees follow e-mail polices and procedures, particularly if the company's computers have internet access and can sent e-mail to outside organizations from within the company. Periodically reminding staff about the sensitive nature of company information and frequent changing of passwords can help to prevent distribution of important information to those with no need or right to the information. In the case of highly sensitive documents, it is possible to arrange communication networks so that the important documents or data can only be accessed on certain computer terminals. This will allow the company to install firewalls, which can be useful for guarding the integrity of the information.

Explain How Christian Charities and Communities Essay

May put these Ideas into Practice Christian charities and communities put these ideas into action by devoting time to those who are less fortunate than themselves. They may work abroad as a doctor or nurse, or as an aid worker in a refugee camp. They may also provide help from their own homes by not being wasteful and donating old clothes and books and other objects that could be of use. There are certain organisations set up for Christians to help those less fortunate. These include organisations such as Voluntary Service Overseas which offers service to people with the will to help and it helps set them up with some work to do abroad. Other people will make donations to charities or even set aside some of their monthly income to make sure that they give something each month to help thise less fortunate than themselves. Christians are obligated to work towards helping those less fortunate than themselves. Charities such as Oxfam, Save the Children Fund and Comic Relief are all based to eliminate world poverty. However, they are not based on any religious beliefs. Christian charities include the Salvation Army, Christian Aid, Tear Fund and CAFOD. Christian Aid was organised just after the Second World War as many people had lost all their possesions and loved ones, including their home and family. Many people were left with nothing. That is when ‘Christian Reconstruction in Europe’ was set up, which raised a massive one million pounds! This helped people start to build up their lives again. Once the citizens in Europe started to become more settled, the attention was drawn to other countries where there was still a huge problem with poverty and injustice, such as Africa. The name of the organisation was then changed to ‘Christian Aid’ and has been known as that ever since. Christian Aid has helped those in natural disasters (such as the war in Lebanon, the famine in Sudan and East Pakistan and others), by sending over money, doctors and medicines, clothes and food. The money sent over is used to build hospitals, education centres and wells for clean water. Most recently Christian Aid has campaigned for fair trade and for an end to Third World dept. Christian Aid works in more than 70 countries, and on more than 700 local projects. There are four main areas to Christian Aid, the first of which is fund-raising. Christian Aid Week started in 1957 and is a major nationwide event. Churches are given a number of towns to manage between them, of which all houses in them have an envelope posted through. In this envelope are the aims of Christian Aid, along with the explaination of the work and asks for a donation. In 1995 à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½8,600,000 was raised. Christian Aid provides emergency aid to deal with natural disasters and refugees- this takes priority over long-term projects due to the extreme nature of the situations. This type of aid involves sending food and medicine as well as providing shelter for those affected. About 10-15% of its funds are spent on emergency aid each year. Long-term projects such as in Bangladesh where a basic drugs factory has been funded have the aim to continue helping the country in the future. This is the main area of Christian Aid’s work, which encourages people in LEDC’s to work themselves out of poverty, so that they will not need aid in the future. The final area of Christian Aid’s work is education (in the UK mainly), where 5% of the budget is spent. ‘Christian Aid News’, a quarterly newspaper gives information on their developments as well as explaining the need for world development and ways in which Christians can help those in LEDC’s. Christianity tries to make people in the west aware of the conditions in the Third World. They do this by running advertising campaigns and educatory packs for schools. They believe that increased awareness will mean that Christians and others will be more prepared to give to Third World charities. The Salvation Army began in 1865 when William Booth, and his wife Catherine, realised that the poor were not being treated equally to the richer and they were not even allowed into churches. He believed the ‘church needed to go to the people, rather than the people coming to the church, to be touched by the Christian message.’ By 1900 the Army had spread around the world to 36 countries.The aim of The Salvation Army is ‘the advancement of the Christian religion†¦of education, the relief of poverty, and other charitable objects beneficial to society or the community of mankind as a whole.’ The Salvation Army are also aiming to reach out to others, in order to encourage them to do the same. The ‘community outreach team’ aims at doing just that, making people aware of the hundreds of people who are homeless in London alone! Caritas is a world-wide Roman Catholic organisation which believes that it is not enough to give people in need material help. It believes in ‘providing the solidarity needed to nourish that hope which alone will enable our less fortunate brothers and sisters to take personal charge of their own lives and destiny and thus achieving that liberty which is their inalienable right as children of God.’ In England and Wales, Caritas is represented by CAFOD (Catholic Agency for Overseas Development). CAFOD is considered one of the United Kingdom’s leading development and relief organisations, and funds over a thousand projects in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America, the Caribbean and Eastern Europe. Not only does CAFOD help those less fortunate but they also work within parishes, schools and community organisations to help teach others about poverty and it’s causes. They also run many fund raising projects through schools and otherwise, such as sponsored sports events to raise money. CAFOD aims to get rid of poverty in the Developing World, and aims to bring about justice and fair shares for everyone. CAFOD also does a lot of emergency work when it is needed. When there is a natural disaster incident, such as a flood, hurricane, or earthquake they provide food and then help with rebuilding. Some Christians donate one tenth of their earnings as their duty towards helping the poor. Christian’s faith teaches that the wealth is by no means bad but they must learn the right purposes for earning it and using it, and would argue that they should give money to charity rather than spending it all on luxuries. This is illustarating the Eye of the Needle; â€Å"it is easier for a camel to go through a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God† as in the story of The Rich Man †¦ If the world were like it should be according to Christian teaching then the world would probably be a better place. The problem is that God gave men and women free will. If all of the world’s wealth was divided up equally between each person then not before very long the rich would be rich once again and the poor would be back where they were.

One Fell Swoop

One Fell Swoop One Fell Swoop One Fell Swoop By Simon Kewin Its quite common for people to use the phrase one fowl swoop (or even one foul swoop) when they want to convey the idea of an event taking place all at once and very suddenly. But why do we say this? Is the phrase something to do with birds swooping to the ground in a great rush? In fact the phrase does have some connection to birds but both one fowl swoop and one foul swoop are incorrect. The original phrase is actually one fell swoop. The phrase is an old one. It may have been coined by Shakespeare in 1605, or he may merely have popularised it. In any case, the following lines can be found in Macbeth (Act 4, scene 3). Macduff has just heard that his family have been killed: All my pretty ones? Did you say all?- O hell-kite!- All? What, all my pretty chickens, and their dam, At one fell swoop? So Shakespeare does employ the image of a bird of prey, a hell-kite, swooping to the ground to kill all his pretty chickens. But the word he uses is fell. This, of course, is still a common word, but Shakespeare is using a rather obscure sense of that word, meaning of terrible evil or ferocity. Its source is the same as felon, a wicked person. So, â€Å"one fell swoop† originally meant a sudden, ferocious attack, although the sense of savagery in the phrase has been lost over the years and people now use it to mean, simply, all at once. Footnote : the dive of a bird of prey is more accurately referred to as a stoop rather than a swoop as in, for example, â€Å"the peregrine falcon can reach speeds of over 200 mph in a stoop†. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:12 Signs and Symbols You Should KnowRunning Amok or Running Amuck?Shore It Up

War and Peace essays

War and Peace essays War and Peace one of the greatest novels in the world, written by giant of Russian literature count Leo Tolstoy. Leo Tolstoy, the son of Count Nicholas Tolstoy, was born in 1828 at the family estate Yasnaya Polyana about 100 miles south of Moscow. His greatest novel War and Peace was published in 1869, after his work had undergone several changes in conception and he had spent five years of uninterrupted and exceptionally strenuous labour. The epic War and Peace describes the lives of five aristocratic families during the Napoleonic Wars between Russia and France. His subtle psychological insights and realistic details create an entire world from various points of view. Tolstoy summarizes the moral evil of the war in these words: An event took place opposed to human reason and to human nature. Millions of men perpetrated against one another such innumerable crimes, frauds, treacheries, thefts, forgeries, issues of false money, burglaries, incendiarisms, and murders as in whole centuries are not recorded in the annals of all the law courts of the world, but which those who committed them did not at the time regard as being crimes. There are three main screen versions of War and Peace: the 1956 version by King Vidor, 1967 Russian version and another American movie of 1973. The 1956 version is not the best ever done but it was the first significant screening of the novel. The director of this movie is King Vidor, cast: Audrey Hepburn as Natasha Rostova, Henry Fonda as Pierre Bezukhov, and Mel Ferrer as Andrew Bolkoski. The script was done by six writers including Vidor and, in general, follows the plot of the novel. However, a lot of scenes from the novel are omitted and some minor characters are not shown. Thou I think it is a good adaptation, considering the length of the book and the short length the movie actually had to be. Star-studded cast and spectacular battle scenes (directed by Mario Soldati) certainl...

Ancient Homosexuality Essay Example for Free

Ancient Homosexuality Essay The modern self is primarily built up of one’s history, body, religion, politics and entertainment – a Freudian composition of what identity is. And all of these things, the very factors that make the modern self the way it is, roots from the ancients. Cicero once thought that without the knowledge of the past, once shall remain a child, hence, Simon Goldhill’s Love, Sex and Tragedy: How the Ancient World Shapes Our Lives. With Cicero’s principle in mind, Goldhill wishes his readers to have a full understanding of who they are and how they came to be the way they are. Among the very controversial societal issues that Goldhill discussed pertained to homosexuality. Sexuality, in the time of the Greco-Romans, meant a love-affair with the phallus. They paraded it in the theatres, processions, public road, and even public memorials. The phallus was part of the classical man’s body, sexuality and sensuality – which, by the way, not only applies to men, but for females as well. The Greco-Romans had a profound relationship with sexual organs and acts, which, the modern man – apparently influenced by the rules of Christianity, might find obscene. A part of Simon Goldhill’s discussions on sexuality is the root of homosexuality. The Greeks had a particular fondness over a scenario where a bearded male desires a beardless lad. In today’s terms, this is the so-called pedophilia, as practiced through the inter-crural activity. This involves the placing of one’s penis between the partner’s thighs, may it be front or rear, followed by thrusting to attain sexual pleasure. Greeks from the seventh century, reinforced pederasty among men from the upper-class society, especially in their twenties, to acquire a young boy approximately aged 12 to love and nurture until he grows to marry at age 30, and later take a boy of his own. Practicing pederasty reinforced late marriage for these males, in the hopes of reducing the possibility of overpopulation, as well as to improve the education – initiation and instruction, of the ancient Greek youth. On Greek vases, one can find a picture of the bearded man – erastes, and the beardless youth – eromenos, as the erastes touches the eromenos’s genitals. The erastes takes the intiative as the eromenos remains passive. But, the ancient Greeks prohibited the relationship between a bearded man with yet another bearded man, and it was shameful that a bearded man becomes the passive one – or pathikos. The pedagogical pederasty is an illustration of a father-son relationship, where the erastes acts as a substitute father to help the young lad on his way to manhood, maturity, and to orient him to become a productive part of the society. The erastes demonstrates this affection by little presents ranging from a bottle of oil to money. The relationship was beneficial in both parties – the erastes provides education, protection, love and a role model for the eromenos – who offers beauty and admiration in turn. In modern theory, this is called sexual reciprocity. Gay does not necessarily mean one is less man or woman than a heterosexual. The ancient Greeks have never defined it in that way. Pedagogical pederasty and the sexual reciprocity that follows it are acts that only show the so-called love – in whichever form you wish to see it, may it be erotic or platonic. However, if we do know the origins of homosexuality, how does it actually affect us as individuals? We do obtain the full understanding of our identities in terms of our sexuality, and the understanding of others’ sexuality. This book simply implies the basic lesson of respect. Ancient Homosexuality. (2017, Mar 09).

Classical Islamic Modernism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Classical Islamic Modernism - Essay Example However, Islamic dispensations experienced a myriad of occurrences that were characterised by serious philosophical disagreements and spiteful deliberations that preceded socio-political catastrophes. Moreover, this terminated in revolutions and transformation levying or military coup d'etats. Furthermore, one of the chief quandaries in creation of an agreement was that the crisis between the Islamic orthodoxy and the worldly discourse. This discourse greatly spread into the Islamic dispensation either failed to elicit a new synthesis or eliciting one that was not immensely institutionalized. Furthermore, in the 19th century, Muslim learners initiated serious endeavours to fill the gap between Islam and the renowned Euro-Enlightenment. This prospect resulted into Islamic modernism. Furthermore, associated with this revolutionary group to some extent was noninterventionist patriotism, whose chief prospect was to create the contemporary state. ... In this study, we aim at uncovering the fundamental parameters of the social statuses that levied for the upsurge of the Islamic modernism, noninterventionist and Arabism among others. To this prospect, we extend a sociological design to explicate on the proximate statuses of ideology. Moreover, we then include our sociological explication in a historical account of the progression of chief occurrences that happened in the Islamic dispensation, the inculcation of a Europocentric commencement of the widespread advancement in this progression, the way secularism was perceived by the original logical directors, the way in which it moulded the strategies of the contemporary state, and how this particular prospect elicited its retribution in the mode of Islamic fundamentalism. In the course of the 19th century, a new and widespread cultural occurrence began between the Islamic world and the West. Virtually, all aboriginal scholars aimed at conceptualizing the state of this occurrence, its involvement to the distressing waywardness of their homeland and its position in offering resolutions to the quandary of Muslim down surge. Moreover, the highbrow ethnicity producers went ahead to formulate notion to address the detriment of their society. Additionally, they strove to create a design that would restructure the system of the leadership, for offering groundwork to craft a new society, and for constructing the fundamental ideologies of stipulation making. This occurrence was versatile, and the aboriginal philosophical resolutions were definitely diversified, though religion remained one of the occurrence’s most disputed scholarly divisions. Additionally, Islamic modernism was the initial

The concept of Strategic Planing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

The concept of Strategic Planing - Essay Example As explained by Creswell & Clark (2007), research is conducted to gain the missing information and knowledge that is needed to solve a problem. There are various techniques available to conduct researches. This report aims at understanding in detail one of the methods – Qualitative research. Before moving into the meaning of qualitative research, it is important to cite the available methods. These methods include qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods (Jobber, 2004). David Jobber (2004) highlights in his book the need for market research. Jobber has highlighted the importance of market research and has also emphasizes on how the research provides for accurate and correct results. Jobber (2004) also discusses that the results will help gain the view point of both the company as well as the customers. The information gained from these researches allows the companies to incorporate the suggestions and feedback into the daily processes and thereby improve the overall business making them more successful. A research design strategy is one which includes collection, measuring and analysis of data. â€Å"Quantitative versus qualitative research methods—two approaches to organization studies† (Lee, 1992). The quantitative research method is a conventional method to study organizations and is considered objective. Qualitative research has been noted to be subjective and descriptive, â€Å"its legitimacy often needs to be proven in organization studies† (p. 87). It is apparent that qualitative research methods differ from quantitative research methods. Cooper and Schindler (2008) defined qualitative research as an collection of interpretive practices that describe, decode and translate the meaning of naturally occurring phenomena in the social world. This means that qualitative research is subjective and deals with words. In contrast, quantitative research has a cause and effect association and deals

Minerals (Geology) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Minerals (Geology) - Essay Example Moreover, there are some minerals that are required to improve our nerves and hormone system. To be more precise, minerals can be defined as those analogous inorganic substances that occur in nature, have a specific chemical form, and have attributes of crystalline constitution and color. The goal of this paper is to bring forward complete and comprehensive information about minerals. Minerals have more than a thousand diverse shapes, colors, potencies, mass, and separating centers. Crystals, metals and rocks are all minerals, but they occur in different forms naturally. Crystals have refined appearance. For example, metals have a glossy look, and they are flexible and soft as they can resist the hard strength. Coal, graphite and gold are three such minerals that play a variety of vital roles. Gold is one of those valuable and precious metals that one wears for one’s individual manifestation. It is really important for all of us as the currency rate of the whole world depends on it. It seems as if the whole world is rotating around this metal. Also, our paper money is based on hard currency (gold) that is stored in Fort Knox (USA). â€Å"Gold also occurs in seawater to the extent of 5 to 250 parts by weight to 100 million parts of water† (Cash Gold Tree, para.3). Graphite has its own significance. It is used in pencils. Furthermore, there are two basic kinds of minerals biologically. They are macro-minerals and trace minerals. Macro-minerals group is composed of calcium, phosphorus, sodium, chloride, potassium, sulfur and magnesium. Group of trace minerals includes iron, manganese, copper, iodine, zinc, cobalt, fluoride and selenium. According to a scientific point of view, our body needs more macro-minerals rather than trace minerals. Calcium is the most important macro-mineral as it helps to strengthen our bones and teeth. Sources of calcium are milk, animal protein, leafy green vegetables, and etcetera. Iron is also essential for human body as it helps

Thomas sankara the upright man review Term Paper

Thomas sankara the upright man review - Term Paper Example Do not expect any change of heart from such powers; their circumstances might have changed and their position to defensive at present. Thomas Sankara’s mind must be thinking on similar lines when he thought of self-reliant economy and he was averse to receive loans from the World Bank. He did not want any traces of colonial empowerment in his land. His acts of promotion of local food and textile production are a precedent-shattering commercial move, which gave great fillip to rural employment and provided recognition and status to the local artisans. That was a leader who had confidence in himself and in the capacity of his people to build the nation. The scene in the movie when I saw the how local African textile designs was encouraged was great. Not only his country, but the entire African Continent had a leader worth the whole-hearted support. 2. What men and women in a country that owns newly tasted independence want is confidence—the feeling that they are being car ed for and their voice is being heard in the new set up. Sankara was a great psychologist, besides being a man with the practical vision. He hit the right spot when he addressed the poor peasantry of the Nation and outlawed compulsory payments and labor (a sort of a bonded labor) to village chiefs. Rural poll tax was done away with. His most daring step in the tradition-fearing and male dominated African Society was to promote gender equality by outlawing polygamy and female circumcision. He often appeared in media to announce his popular measures. How women must have felt elated when he instructed the men to do shopping so that women had enough time as home makers. Some of his progressive measures were, the extraordinary immunization program, building new railway lines and public housing building programs. Literacy initiatives got a strong push, he addressed the issue of river blindness seriously and his most important measure—hard steps against corruption in the administrat ion, was the master-stroke and this well-meaning initiative made him popular amongst the masses. To Sankara, reformation and rehabilitation was a way of life and not mere political propaganda. He cut short the luxuries that go with the bureaucracy and urged them to be simple in their lifestyles. He advised that his picture should not be displayed in public buildings and put a ban on chauffeur-driven Mercedes and first-class airline tickets to his ministers and top bureaucracy. 3. Where is the scope and honorable place for principled politicians? Sankara was a dynamic leader who was in a hurry to show the results. His politics was unconventional. He was a planner and creative man. A man who would decide and act start and finish. His socio- economic reforms have no precedent in any African country. Some undemocratic principles crept into his style of functioning. But what he did was not for self-interest but for the overall welfare of the Nation. He was the envy of the fellow military leaders; he challenged the former colonial masters and the French hegemony. By 1987, opposition to his leadership was both from local leaders and the fresh establishment. He had humiliated President Francois

Effects of Hurricane Katrina on the gulf coast Essay

Effects of Hurricane Katrina on the gulf coast - Essay Example Effects of Hurricane Katrina on the gulf coast To understand what happened to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast during Katrina, however, one must first understand a bit about hurricanes, tropical storms, and their classifications. Storm occur when there are four specific weather conditions present – low air pressure, warm temperatures, moist ocean air and tropical winds blowing near the equator. Hurricanes begin as a tropical depression, with wind speeds of 23-39 mph, and falling air pressure. Once the wind reaches speeds of 39-73 mph, it upgrades to a hurricane. Category 1 hurricanes have winds from 75-94 mph, which does not cause real damage to structures, only to mobile homes, trees and shrubs, and flooding is kept to a minimum (Brinkley , 2006, p. 17). Category 2 hurricanes have winds from 96-100 mph (Fradin & Fradin, 2010, p. 14). Category 3 is much stronger, with winds from 111-130 mph, which causes some structural damage to small residence, destroys mobile homes, and more flooding (Brinkley, 2006, p. 15). Category 4 hurricanes have winds from 131-155 mph (Fradin & Fradin, 2010, p. 14). Category 5 has winds in excess of 155 mph, which causes â€Å"complete roof failure on many residences and industrial buildings. Some complete building failures with small utility buildings blown over or away. Major damage to lower floors of all structures located less than 15 feet above sea level and within 500 yards of the shoreline. Massive evacuation of residential areas on low ground within five to ten miles of the shoreline may be required†.... Some complete building failures with small utility buildings blown over or away. Major damage to lower floors of all structures located less than 15 feet above sea level and within 500 yards of the shoreline. Massive evacuation of residential areas on low ground within five to ten miles of the shoreline may be required† (Brinkley, 2006, p. 17). Beginning as a tropical depression over the Bahamas on August 23, 2005, then gaining strength while hitting landfall in Florida (Hoffman, 2005, p. 4), Hurricane Katrina began hitting the Gulf Coast as a Category 3 Hurricane, with winds up to 141 mph (DesRoaches, 2006, p. 1). The original reports were that Katrina might only hit the Gulf Coast as a Category 1, which is the lowest grade of Hurricane, but, even while reports were that she was a Category 1, there was apprehensiveness that she would pick up fury and steam before hitting the Gulf region (Reid & Theiss, 2005, p. 4). As Hurricane Katrina hit the mainland of America, in Florida, she was only a Category 1, with wind gusts of 80 MPH, but picked up strength as she passed the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, which put the Gulf states of Mississippi and Louisiana into a state of emergency (Rodger, 2006, p. 11). While the devastation in New Orleans is what attracted the most attention, and is what will give Hurricane Katrina its most notoriety, Hurricane Katrina was a devastating storm all around, as it damaged 45 bridges, destroyed railroad tracks and caused debris to fall into the road which cost $200 million in cleanup costs (Rodger, 2006, p. 1). Of course, Katrina was not the only hurricane during the 2005 hurricane season, although she was easily the most famous of that bunch. 15 hurricanes

Role of Employees is Formulating Organizational Culture Research Paper

Role of Employees is Formulating Organizational Culture - Research Paper Example The organizational culture of an organization can be defined as the values which contribute to the creation of a conducive psychological and social environment within which to work. These values are based on the previous and existing knowledge of the organization which forms the philosophies that hold the organization together. There may however be many different conflicting cultures within an organization, especially the large ones, due to the different characteristics displayed by the various management teams that work in the organization. Organizational culture may have both positive and negative effects on the individuals involved and these among others will be discussed in this paper. While the management of an organization plays a major role in the formulation of organizational culture, the employees of such an organization also have a role to play in its formulation. According to the book Changing Organizational Culture: The Change Agent's Guidebook by Marc Schabracq, the orga nizational culture involves the social expectations and standards which determine the values and beliefs which hold the people working within an organization together. ... Organizational culture is the single most important thing that determines whether and organist ion will be successful or not. There are four major elements of culture which determine the success of an organization: the values which define the beliefs at the heart of corporate culture; the individuals within the organization who embody its values; the routine interactions between members of an organization which are full of strong symbolic qualities to make them feel like part of a family; and finally, the informal communication system within the organization. Although it is a very difficult thing to happen, the culture of a particular organization is subject to change. This does not come easily and may require a very competent person or people to succeed in changing it. In order to change organizational culture, one has to be aware of what exactly it takes to change the existing culture. Moreover, the ability to change the culture is in the hands of the top management of the organiza tion and it is they who are responsible for the institution of such change. Lastly, organizational structure helps to resolve the dilemma of bureaucracy because although formal procedures are necessary for business integrity, bureaucracy also ends up stifling autonomy and creativity. The organizational culture consists of many subcultures which interact with one another for the sake of the running of the organization. It can be said that this culture is not as homogenous as one would expect and may, in fact, consist of many coexisting cultures which work hand in hand out of necessity.  

Effects of Hurricane Katrina on the gulf coast Essay

Effects of Hurricane Katrina on the gulf coast - Essay Example Effects of Hurricane Katrina on the gulf coast To understand what happened to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast during Katrina, however, one must first understand a bit about hurricanes, tropical storms, and their classifications. Storm occur when there are four specific weather conditions present – low air pressure, warm temperatures, moist ocean air and tropical winds blowing near the equator. Hurricanes begin as a tropical depression, with wind speeds of 23-39 mph, and falling air pressure. Once the wind reaches speeds of 39-73 mph, it upgrades to a hurricane. Category 1 hurricanes have winds from 75-94 mph, which does not cause real damage to structures, only to mobile homes, trees and shrubs, and flooding is kept to a minimum (Brinkley , 2006, p. 17). Category 2 hurricanes have winds from 96-100 mph (Fradin & Fradin, 2010, p. 14). Category 3 is much stronger, with winds from 111-130 mph, which causes some structural damage to small residence, destroys mobile homes, and more flooding (Brinkley, 2006, p. 15). Category 4 hurricanes have winds from 131-155 mph (Fradin & Fradin, 2010, p. 14). Category 5 has winds in excess of 155 mph, which causes â€Å"complete roof failure on many residences and industrial buildings. Some complete building failures with small utility buildings blown over or away. Major damage to lower floors of all structures located less than 15 feet above sea level and within 500 yards of the shoreline. Massive evacuation of residential areas on low ground within five to ten miles of the shoreline may be required†.... Some complete building failures with small utility buildings blown over or away. Major damage to lower floors of all structures located less than 15 feet above sea level and within 500 yards of the shoreline. Massive evacuation of residential areas on low ground within five to ten miles of the shoreline may be required† (Brinkley, 2006, p. 17). Beginning as a tropical depression over the Bahamas on August 23, 2005, then gaining strength while hitting landfall in Florida (Hoffman, 2005, p. 4), Hurricane Katrina began hitting the Gulf Coast as a Category 3 Hurricane, with winds up to 141 mph (DesRoaches, 2006, p. 1). The original reports were that Katrina might only hit the Gulf Coast as a Category 1, which is the lowest grade of Hurricane, but, even while reports were that she was a Category 1, there was apprehensiveness that she would pick up fury and steam before hitting the Gulf region (Reid & Theiss, 2005, p. 4). As Hurricane Katrina hit the mainland of America, in Florida, she was only a Category 1, with wind gusts of 80 MPH, but picked up strength as she passed the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, which put the Gulf states of Mississippi and Louisiana into a state of emergency (Rodger, 2006, p. 11). While the devastation in New Orleans is what attracted the most attention, and is what will give Hurricane Katrina its most notoriety, Hurricane Katrina was a devastating storm all around, as it damaged 45 bridges, destroyed railroad tracks and caused debris to fall into the road which cost $200 million in cleanup costs (Rodger, 2006, p. 1). Of course, Katrina was not the only hurricane during the 2005 hurricane season, although she was easily the most famous of that bunch. 15 hurricanes

Sociology GCSE mass media notes Essay Example for Free

Sociology GCSE mass media notes Essay New media – anything that uses new technology that usually involves some process of convergence e.g. phones as they can now access the internet. New media is likely to be digital, interactive and dispersed (not controlled by a single source of professionals). Democracy – rule by the people for the people Consumer society builds as it is cheaper and quicker for companies to advertise on the internet Exploits WC and MEG’s through news, stereotypes, folk devils and media ampflication Faster for many functions such as advertising and research etc Reinforces digital divide as the RC are more likely to posses new media The internet enables us to be democratic as it allows us to see and research information Increases social isolation as those without new media feel less ‘involved’. Allows us to have more knowledge and enhances us intellectually Higher risk of criminal behaviour happening e.g. fraud, illegal downloads and paedophiles of children’s websites Widens consumer choice Lack of regulation – many things go uncensored and undiscovered Infotainment – the replacing of news information by entertainment Enhances the power of the powerful, risking democracy as we only see information from the side of those in power Theoretical views Functionalist – media reinforces social order through the NV’s system Marxist – division of labour is kept as WC cannot become socially mobile due to poor access to information Feminist – dislike how women are portrayed; women that go against portrayal are seen as deviant Functionalist – socialises us with NV’s, gender roles etc Marxist – selective as it exploits the WC; it is always from the point of view of the RC and those in power Feminist dislike how women are portrayed; women that go against portrayal are seen as deviant Functionalist – no problem with it as it provides information Marxist – dislike as it benefits the RC and reinforces the digital divide Feminist – dislike as it present women in a derogatory way e.g. pornography The Press – privately owned media that primarily communicates the news; they are profitable organisations Broadcasting – lots is financed privately: PBS is not profit making, CSB is private and the BBC make profit through TV licenses with prices decided by the government. Media affect on behaviour The hyperdermic syringe model – The media has power over its audience: it can control and persuade people. The audience receives its daily injections of information from the media and this determines behaviour. It has an immediate effect o the audience as the media controls us. Evidence to support the HSM Lab experiments were conducted by Bandura Ross and Ross Liebert and Baron. Bandura: children who watched violence were more likely to hit the doll with a mallet. However, there were no other toys to play with and the children were aware this was wanted from them. Liebert and Baron: Children that watched violence were given the option to help or hurt someone when light came on, indicating a child in another room needed help with a game. Many clicked hurt, which sent an electric shock. However, lab experiments do not measure long term affects and we cannot isolate media as a variable. The uses and gratification model is used to argue against the HSM. The uses and gratification model – The media does not use us; we use the media. This theory is how the media is used to actively satisfy peoples needs based on their ability to exercise choice and control. Audiences actively seek media for specific gratifications and this theory deals with why media is chosen, what purpose media serves, and how media competes with other media sources to meet satisfaction. We retain information from the media based on five factors: Information e.g. wildlife programmes Personal Identity e.g. religious TV Personal relationships e.g. Jeremy Kyle Entertainment e.g. Big Brother Diversion/Escapism e.g. soaps The decoding approach – We use the media to support the values we already have, not give us new ones. McQuall suggests that the audiences are active decoders of the content of the media and have different interpretations in terms of: Selective retention – remembering certain information if it has significance to you Selective exposure – only exposing yourself to what you want or need; we’ll only watch things if they support our values Selective perception – we all understand parts of the media in different ways and use it in different ways The media has an immediate effect on the audience The media does not have an immediate effect on the audience Marxist – it has a negative immediate effect on the audience as they control us to have particular behaviour e.g. hierarchy Decoding approach – we expose ourselves to what we chose so only learn what we wish to learn Hyperdermic syringe model – the media controls our behaviour as we are given daily injections Selective retention – we only remember the information that means something to us Imitation – we copy what we see Selective exposure – we only expose ourselves to the media that interests us Functionalists believe values are learnt through the media Selective perception – we all interpret the media in different ways, so our behaviour is not immediately or directly affected in the same way Media can also be to blame for deviant and criminal behaviour: Media affects Explanation Imitation The audience are influenced by what they see to the extent that they copy the images and messages they are exposed to. Children in particular are prone to imitation and often engage in violent and inappropriate behaviour as a result. Sensitisation The audience hears and sees a lot of images in the media that makes them more aware of the consequences of the behaviour. They are less likely to engage in the behaviour and instead are likely to report to the police or intervene if the behaviour is witnessed. For example, child abuse reports went up due to coverage in soaps Desensitisation If an audience is exposed to violence in most of the media output, they begin to believe what they see is normal and are therefore no longer shocked by it in real life Cathartic effect Sex and violence in the media helps the audience to release inbuilt tensions and anxieties. By watching the behaviour there is no need to engage in it. Sex offenders are treated with pornography Disinhibition Violent and sexual images become so common that the audience no longer feels embarrassed or ashamed to behave in this way as they think it is normal Moral panic – the false worry about people and deviance/crime in society Deviance amplification model 1) A small group of people commit some act of deviance 2) The media pick up on the interesting story: a ‘problem group’ is identified 3) The media sensationalise the news to grab the attention of the audience 4) Causes of the deviant behaviour are simplified for easy explanation e.g. bad parenting 5) The group is labelled as folk devils and stereotyping occurs; other incidents of this deviant behaviour are made into news and it seems more common than it really is 6) A moral panic develops and the public’s concern is aroused at the real or imaginary ‘threat’ posed to society; the media campaign for action to be taken against the perceived threat 7) More social control – politicians, police and magistrates respond to public demands as shown in the media, and law-and-order campaigns are begun to stamp down on the deviants The impact of media on society today Primary socialisation – the first place to learn the norms and values of society; the family Secondary socialisation – other areas of your life in which the value system is reinforced or, in some cases, contradicted Functionalists believe the media is beneficial as it reinforces social order Marxists dislike the media as they reinforce the hierarchy of the RC over the WC and false class consciousness Feminists dislike the media as it reinforces gender roles and patriarchy What the media reinforces Through Gender roles Children’s programmes adverts Patriarchy Soaps music videos Political socialisation Debates the news Glamorisation of violence Soaps video games Hegemonic masculinity Competition between men soaps Stereotypes Soaps Global culture – when the culture of one community spreads worldwide through media and, globally, people are exposed to this culture. It is also known as media imperialism. Mass culture – the culture shared by the majority of society due to a general interest in certain things the media presents Media dominates family life; whereas before families were hardworking, hierarchical and communicative around the hearth, families today have their living rooms organised around the TV (the substitute hearth) and other media devices dominate leisure time. Identity – who you are as a person; this can be influenced by what we see in the media as, nowadays, people use the media to confirm and explore their identities. The media shapes our views on what we should be consuming and what we should be like. The media’s representation of age, gender ethnicity Children Rogers argues that children are presented as either angels or devils. The impact of this is that children are not held accountable for their actions if they are angles. However, it they are devils, they experience negative interaction as they are to blame. These stereotypes lead to labelling Youths The news amplifies stories on youths to make their devious and criminal behaviour appear more common. Teens become folk devils as they are all believed to be delinquent. Cohen says that the young as used as scape goats for society’s own issues and this can lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy. Age As children are easily manipulated, gender stereotypes are reinforced through TV programmes. This is known as age patriarchy. Elderly Grumpy – conservative, stubborn and resistant to social change Mentally challenged – deteriorating health Dependent – burden on the younger generations as they are weak Elderly women – grey hair, old clothes; being different is being ‘mutton’ Men have higher status as world leaders, politicians etc We are an age denying society Ethnicity People are free to upload on the internet as they wish so racism can happen on the internet or dangerous cults can start online YouTube is not moderated so various videos can be uploaded Impact of media on society 1) Socialisation 2) Mass culture 3) Effects family life 4) Reinforces and causes stereotypes on age gender and ethnicity 5) Effects behaviour and can create violence – audience effect models 6) Politically socialises us Political socialisation – your learning of political values, beliefs and preferences Whipping system – when an MP is told they need to vote in favour of their party or they will no longer be a part of it Rebel MP’s – Mp’s that do not vote the way of their party Political spin (spin doctors) – write speeches with ‘sound bites’ that can be used as newspaper headlines Curtis and Mair (2008) believe that: The press has too much influence on how people vote Negative coverage of politicians and politics has discouraged people from voting If readership of newspapers declines then: Newspaper’s ability to influence the outcomes of general elections will also have declined Fewer people will be exposed to the press’ supposedly negative coverage of politics and politicians that discourages people from voting at all The media promote democracy The media restrict democracy Because the media in Britain are not controlled by the state, the risk of censorship by governments is reduced, and free speech is protected. Journalists are free to report as they wish – within legal limits The media reflect the conservative views of their wealthy owners. While journalists are often critical and expose wrongdoing, they will frequently avoid issues which might cost them their jobs by upsetting newspaper owners or TV station bases The wide variety of privately owned media means a range of opinions are considered and public debates take place. By criticizing the actions of governments, the mass media can play an important ‘watch-dog’ role and keep governments in touch with public opinion The variety of opinion presented is limited. Working-class political views – such as strikes – are rarely reported. The ideas and actions of the least powerful groups are the most likely to be excluded. Those who in some way present a challenge or threat to the existing way society is organised are presented as irresponsible or unreasonable extremists The media give an unbiased account of news. TV news has to be impartial News values, agenda-setting, norm-setting and other sources of bias mean only some issues are covered, and these are not presented in neutral ways. The media choose what to report and how to report it, and therefore provide a biased view of the world The media accurately reflect public opinions that already exist in society rather than creating new ones. People wouldn’t read newspapers or view TV and websites unless they were providing what their audiences wanted The media do not simply reflect public opinion, but actively form and manipulate it. People can only form opinions on the basis of the knowledge they have, and the media are primarily responsible for providing this knowledge. The owners of the mass media hold overwhelmingly conservative views, and their ownership gives them the power to defend their position by forming favourable public opinion Anyone can put his or her views onto the internet via blogs, social networking sites etc Only the rich have the resources necessary to publish and distribute a newspaper on a large scale, or to set up a television or radio station, and it is the wealthy that own and control the main means of electronic communication. The concentration of ownership of the mass media is a threat to democracy, as a small powerful group of media owners can control access to ideas, information and knowledge. Those who wish to put forward alternative views to that presented in the mass media may not be allowed access to the media b their owners, and will therefore be denied any real opportunity to persuade public opinion of their ideas Concentration of press ownership Functionalists take the pluralist approach and they believe that the media isn’t used by owners to control the audience but is available for secondary socialisation. Marxists take the conflict approach as they believe that the media is used by its owners to control the audience. Pluralist approach Conflict approach A range of interests exist in society and no single group dominates Society is based on conflicting interests between different groups Media represents a range of different interests within society e.g. Woman’s Weekly, The Pink Paper and the Financial times Owners of the media are part of a minority who use their power to influence opinions in their own best interests Newspapers only give the audience what they want to receive i.e. the Sun does not have much international news because readers of the Sun do not want to read it, not because Rupert Murdoch does not want them to know Press owners have intervened directly to control content e.g. Harry Evans was hired as editor of the Sunday Times and was then allegedly fired from his post by Rupert Murdoch as a result of Evans’ political policy If owners of the media tried to give us something we did not want, consumerism would decrease; this is known as consumer power and would cause a decrease in companies’ profit m argin The Big Six – the few companies that own a vast majority of the press and world media. This is problematic as these companies can promote their own political beliefs and values through everything they own, meaning we are exposed to the owners’ own beliefs and values. They have the power to influence our views and beliefs. Consequences of press ownership Political socialisation – influences us to believe certain things and therefore affects the voting pattern and behaviour Negative portrayal of MEG’s Support those in power and authority to reinforce capitalism Presentations of different groups within society – age, gender, ethnicity Ethnic presentations in the media Black populations are presented as criminals. Cottle (1994) believes that this representation effectively hides racism and, through the hyperdermic syringe model, they believe they are criminal and this leads to self-fulfilling prophecy Sociologists argue that people from the groups internalise – from the media – that their lives are restricted and so they live the lives shown to them by the media Agenda setting – the media can focus attention on some issues and ignore others. They don’t tell us what to think but what to think about. This can affect political views and voting habits. Those who decide what makes the news are called gatekeepers as they have the power to influence what we think about. Norm referencing – the media reinforces norms and values so we conform. Those who conform are viewed and shown in a positive light and those who don’t in a negative light. This causes us to label people, leading to stereotypes. The cameras are always from the point of view of those in authority, giving a very selective view on what is happening. Defining ‘New Values’ – News doesn’t happen; journalists make news and have a list of things that ‘make news’. These are news values and, the more that are satisfied, the better the news is. This affects our understanding of events. Profit motive – Media is about money; owners and companies get this from advertisers. The advertisers must be satisfied with what goes on the news and the media listen because they want the money. Laws – there are laws in place saying what the media can and can’t share, so laws have a large impact on what goes on the news and how the news is presented. Digital natives – have grown up in the digital world using new media to communicate; there is a digital divide between digital natives and novices. Digital novices – have been born into a generation that used old media to communicate and new media has been introduced within their lifetime, meaning they have to learn how to use it and have not grown up with it. The mass media and power Press ownership In Britain, press ownership is concentrated in a few hands; this could give some individuals in the media the ability to influence mass opinion. Some argue that, in order to keep democracy, press ownership should be spread between larger numbers of individuals. The pluralist approach to press ownership According to the pluralist approach, a range of views and interests exists in society and no single group dominates. This range of views is reflected in the wide variety of newspapers and magazines available, so all political viewpoints are represented within the various publications that consumers can choose to buy. The pluralist approach rejects the idea that press owners control content. Instead, it suggests that newspapers simply give people what they want to read as, companies that fail to do so, are unlikely to succeed in competitive market and are more likely to go bankrupt. So, this view states that consumers are the ones who influence content through their market power. The conflict approach to press ownership According to the conflict approach, press owners are in a strong position to put their own political views across. This is because, as owners, they are able to control content and they do so in favour of their own political and economic interests. Supporters of this approach point to several developments within the media to support their position. These include the increasing concentration of press ownership in the hands of a few companies and individuals and the emergence of multimedia (or cross-media) conglomerates (such as News Corporation) that operate on a global, rather than national, scale. As a result of such developments, much of what people read comes from a few multinational media empires. The exercise of power within the media The media have the power to select which issues are ignored and exploited. In doing so, they direct public discussion and therefore affect what people think about it. This could give the media influence over people’s political views and their voting behaviour. The news media also have power in relation to norm referencing; they are able to outline the acceptable boundaries of behaviour. The views and behaviour of some groups and organisations are presented positively, whilst others are presented negatively. Through nor referencing, positive images of some groups ad negative images of others are created, and this helps to shape public opinion. The internet and the distribution of power Some sociologists argue that digital technology will lead to a reduction in power and influence of media power as it allows everyone to produce media content, rather than just consume it. For this reason, the internet could help to safeguard democracy by spreading the power to communicate and to exert influence more widely among different individuals and groups. Because anyone can upload information, comment on information given, contact politicians etc, they can exert influence. They can also find out about pressure groups (such as Greenpeace) or issues such as global warming. In this way, the internet could empower people and provide them with more opportunities to participate in politics. Other approaches, however, question how far the internet has increased political participation and empowered people as most people use the internet for things like shopping rather than for political reasons. Critics also argue that ‘e-democracy’ requires expensive technology and funding to start up and maintain so not everyone can get involved. The press is free because The press isn’t free because Members of the public exercise control through our market power. We can easily switch newspapers if we are unhappy with what we read. Hence, the market controls content and the consumer is sovereign There has been an increasing concentration of press ownership in the hands of a few companies and individuals meaning smaller companies have been swallowed by media giants Owners cannot simply dictate content but have to give us what we want to buy Multimedia conglomerates operate on a global rather than a national scale so a small number of multinational companies now have interests in media across the globe There is freedom to set up new newspapers if existing ones do not meet market demands Multimedia conglomerates such as News Corporation have emerged as a result of other companies merging together The media is an ISA used to teach us the norms and values of a capitalist society. The media is controlling us.

Analysing The Hotel Industry Of Singapore Tourism Essay

Analysing The Hotel Industry Of Singapore Tourism Essay Introduction: the hotel industry of Singapore is suitable and adoptable for kind of customers having right from the minimum budget to star rated. The challenges exists in the Sing htl ind is purely based on the price, location and convenience because all the facilities are mostly provided by all the hotels so it is very difficult for the customers to differentiate the service provided by the hotels. Since it is tough to differentiate the service rendered by the hotels, many hotels are involved in creating a niche market, like providing unique facilities to the customers for example honeymoon packages, specialists holidays, etc. The Singapore hotel industry experiences a very high growth rate in luxury travel market, high -end travelers market and family travel market in the past months. The recent economy reveals the restaurant sector has market Growth rate of sixteen percentage because of the increase in the consumer spending on sit down meals. The eating out habit has become a life style for the youth and even for the middle aged married couples with their children and these aspects stresses on the importance of healthy food. Nowadays, the consumers are expecting different styles of food and drink from the various parts of the world and all these shows if the hotel provides a variety and healthy food and drink, it will be able to attract more customers in the future. The Singapore travel and tourism market shows a high growth by having the occupancy rate of 90% in the past one year. The Singapore governments effort in providing low cost service airlines and its efforts to triple the tourists to Singapore in the coming up years. The 30% increase in the trade conferences and exhibitions conducted in Singapore has also revealed that the hotel industry in Singapore has very good business opportunities in the coming up years and if proper, good development strategies are adopted by the hotels, they will be able to earn a large market share in turn more profit. Backgrounds: . The MHCCH is located in three acres of prestigious land in Singapore. The hotel is very near to the tourist attractions like a theme park, a museum, etc. The management has made many changes in the infrastructure facilities of the hotel by adding luxury bedrooms, a bistro; a beauty salon .The hotel has also purchased a land near to that for expansion and modernized the hotel for creating new business opportunities. In order to give a luxurious appearance for the hotel, the management has created a new spacious foyer and the hotel has also started a beauty salon to offer beauty treatments to its customers. Problem of the case: By analyzing the scenario of hotel industry, i undertake SWOT analysis of the hotel MHCCH and help the newly joined partner of MHCCH to select the best strategy out of the below mentioned strategies namely sell the cash cow, undertake no serious steps or undergo diversification in business so that he will be in a position to convince the other partners of MHCCH. In this case , the challenges in the external and internal environment industry and the analysis regarding the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats of the MHCCH is to be done. In the second part of the study, with the help of utilizing Ansoff matrix and Porters Grid, how the management can improve the profit in the next two years and for that what strategic decisions it has to take are discussed. Challenges in the micro and macro environment: Business environment is classified into three environments namely Internal environment, Market environment and External environment.Many variables which are existing in the internal and external environment affects the company (MHCCH) either positively or negatively. So before taking strategic decisions, it is important to analyze these environments to find out the factor which highly influences the customers of the hotel industry. The following table focuses on the key factors of the three environments. Micro Environment Market Environment Macro Environment Vision, Mission, Objectives of the Hotel Climate Assets Capability of the management Consumers Suppliers Competitors Intermediaries Social Technological Legal Political Economic Physical The main challenges which need to be assessed in the internal and external environment are that hotel has to concentrate on different type customers like corporate guests and other kind of guests like nature lovers, family oriented and managing the hotel to delight these customers becomes a challenging work in the field of marketing. So in order to delight these consumers, the hotel should monitor the changing expectations of these customers and should try to delight them. The employees of a hotel play a major role in attracting the customers. The hotel should try to recruit skilled persons because the quality of service rendered by the employees acts as an important factor in delighting the customers. So getting skilled and qualified employees is another challenge in the hotel business environment. The hotel should try to have good suppliers (Electricity, soft drinks carbonated water, Perfumes, cosmetics other toilet preparations, different kinds of liquors, Soap and detergents, etc) who provide products/ services with good quality and good intermediaries who are in direct contact with the customers before they enter into the hotel. Apart from these challenges, the hotel should also focus on the socio- cultural changes (changes in the preferences of the customers), political changes (changes in the law), and technological changes (providing variety food, appearance of the hotel, introducing packages, etc,). SWOT Analysis: Before selecting a strategic option for the marketing plan of MHCCH, the hotel should do SWOT analysis to find out its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Strength deals with the hotels core competencies and the weaknesses of the hotel deals with the present drawback which has to be rectified in order to capture the customers in the future. Strengths and Weaknesses mainly focus on the factors which are fully under the control of management but the opportunities and threats focuses on the business environment. Opportunity deals with the market which yields more profit to the hotel that is the area to be covered by the hotel to earn more customers in turn more profit. Threat deals with the factors which are to be considered seriously before taking any business decision. SWOT analysis of MHCCH is discussed below. Strengths of MHCCH: The employees of the hotel are having good experience in customer care in order to provide quality service; the MHCCH has invested a lot in changing the appearance of the hotel and in providing different styles of food and also already the MHCCH is having satisfied customers ( revealed in the table non-business guests occupancy rate). The hotel is situated very close to other entertainment locations. The credit worthiness of the hotel is high that we can take the fund from bank in order to do the successful performance of the hotel. Weaknesses of MHCCH: Corporate and family non business guests occupancy rate is low and so the company has to invest a lot in adding facilities to the hotel. Opportunities of MHCCH: Nowadays consumers like to eat outside in restaurants rather than before and they dont hesitate in spending more money tasting different varieties of food. Eating out style of the youngsters and middle aged married people has become very common. Singapore governments decision to triple the investment in the tourism industry shows that there are large opportunities for MHCCH to capture more customers and in turn to improve profit. Threats of MHCCH: Competitors are the major threat of MHCCH. Due to the lack of differentiation in the hotel industry, the competition is fully based on the price, location and convenience. The hotel has to face competition from the hotels of same infrastructure and also from motels. The hotels which are dealing with niche markets will also acts as a good competitor for MHCCH. In order to attract the customers of different age group, the hotel has to focus on changing the appearance of the hotel, providing food of different countries, etc costs more but still the hotel has to invest and at the same time the hotel cannot fix a high price for its services because the competition mainly focuses on the price. The hotel has to focus on the packages too because the small hotels may capture the market by providing specialized facilities in one area alone like for example honeymoon packages alone. Conclusion: Thus the challenges in the micro, market, macro environments of hotel industry are discussed. The SWOT analysis revealed that the MHCCH has more strengths and opportunities when compared to weaknesses and threats. Since the opportunities are high, revealed by increase in the market growth rate and the capacity of the MHCCH to raise fund from the banks and the availability of space for further expansion activities to be carried out by the MHCCH is good and with this strength, the MHCCH has more power to capture the market share. The MHCCH need not worry about the threats posed by the competitors if MHCCH have an eye on competitors price and variety of services provided by them. So with the help of its strengths, the MHCCH can move forward to attract more customers. b) Ansoffs Matrix: The Ansoff matrix is a technique that aids people in the business field to take decisions regarding product development and market growth strategy. Ansoff matrix focuses on the new products and the product already in the market in order to increase the profit of the business. The Ansoffs 3* 3 box grid or matrix: Markets Market Development Partial Diversification Diversification Market Expansion Limited Diversification Partial Diversification Market Penetration Product Expansion Product Development Products The major four boxes are Market Development, Market Penetration, Product Development and Diversification. Market Penetration: It suggests the business people to focus on existing customers and on their own products what they are producing currently. If the business person adopts this strategy then his major objectives will be Improve the market share of current products by fixing lower prices when compared to the competitors, advertising and sales promotion, etc. There are many advantages in introducing low prices , they are capturing more market and the low profit earned by the existing players makes the new entrants to have fear in starting the business in that sector. The MHCCH can go for introducing lower prices for the services but it should not incur any loss. The price reduction strategy to be adopted by MHCCH will not yield any benefit because already the hotel is having good occupancy rate in the case non business guests. And also the hotel is planning to invest a lot in the improvement of the hotel, so all these costs will be reflected in the price of the services rendered by the MHCCH. Even though the price war exists among the players of the hotel industry, for MHCCH, since it is having loyal customers, it is better to go for introducing new packages for the customers, rather than reducing the price. Market Development: It suggests the business people to focus on new customers and the existing products. Finding out new customers for the product. The MHCCH can also go for identifying the new customers like honey moon packages, etc. Product Development: It suggests the business people to focus on the existing customers and new innovative products. (MHCCH) can focus on this aspect. it can select the last option specified in the case, expand the business by investing in buying an external property that means the expansion of a bar or restaurant to capture the customers. By providing healthier, tasty and variety food style and drinks to the different country people, the MHCCH will be able to capture more customers (corporate guests) from different countries .And also the table revealed that the corporate guests occupancy rate is very low and so by implementing the above mentioned facilities, it will be able to capture more corporate guests and if they are satisfied ,the corporate guests will come and stay with their family, profit will be improved. Diversification: It suggests the business person to focus on the new customers and the new products that is entering into an entirely different field. Business people will take up this strategy when they want to diversify the risk of loss in the existing business. This case revealed that the competition is more and there are more prospects to earn a very high profit. Selling a cash cow and entering into diversification is not good because this hotel business itself has lot of prospects which is revealed by the Singapore governments decision to spend more than $4 billion in order to attract more and more number of tourists to singapore. So its good for the MHCCH to be in the business rather than diversification. Porters Grid: Threats of New Entrants: More number of business conferences and meetings are being held in Singapore. the occupancy of hotel room rate being as high as in the past few months, Government of Singapore effort to improve the tourism industry attracts more players into this field. Infrastructure facilities, scale of economies and differentiation of product may act as entry barriers and so the MHCCH has to focus on these aspects. Bargaining Power of Buyers: Presence of more competitors in the Singapore hotel industry makes the consumers to demand more from the hotels regarding price, quality and innovative (variety of food, other facilities, etc) products. From the case, it is revealed that a tough competition occurs in the Singapore hotel industry, price plays a major role and its root cause is the customers expectation regarding quality and price and this strengthens the buyers power. Bargaining Power of Suppliers: The hotel industry is having a very high relationship with the other industries and so the supplier bargaining power is high in the hotel sector but if the competition is more in the other industries too then the supplier bargaining power can be reduced in the hotel industry and it is essential to study still more regarding the prevalence of competition in the suppliers industries. Threat of substitutes products / services: The economic hotels and motels may be the threat for the product of the substitute to MHCCH but concentrating on factors like fast food establishments which includes the surrounding environment, services provided by the catering department at the affordable price. Conclusion: Since the corporate guests occupancy rate is very low, the MHCCH can focus on the area of amenities and services provided in order to capture more customers and in turn to improve profit. The MHCCH can go for providing different styles of food in order to attract the customers from foreign countries. According to my views , I suggest the MHCCH to select the last option expand by investing in external property and after getting some returns it can slowly move on to the third option -expand by investing in the site. The MHCCH can carry out the survey in order to search new facilities expected by the customers and also what the MHCCH s competitors are doing to attract the customers and based on the results the MHCCH can decide the strategy to be adopted by the hotel in future. Since there are a lot opportunities in the hotel industry, the MHCCH can go for making investments in order to earn profit in future. The MHCCH can convince the other partners by explaining the payback period of the investments to be made by it.

Essay --

Introduction Social media is a very prominent and growing online trend that is being utilized for professional career profiles (LinkedIn), as a personal site to â€Å"pin† favorite links (Pinterest), and to watch streams of home videos of funny dogs (YouTube). Because of this hot craze, organizations are implementing these tools into their marketing strategy to assimilate and engage with their constituents. The main reason why social media is an effective tool for nonprofit marketing is because of its mobility and virtual way of creating a community of supporters. Additionally, nonprofits often face financial restrictions or lack of funding and require creative mechanisms to fulfill their mission. Consequently, social media has greatly impacted the development of spreading awareness by providing an online â€Å"word-of-mouth† channel that for the most part is free. While there are numerous outlets online (websites, blogs, forums), the purpose of this paper will explore an article by Chao Guo and Gregory Saxton, Tweeting Social Change: How Social Media Are Changing Nonprofit Advocacy. The goal is to examine specifically how Twitter is utilized for the initiatives and mission of advocacy-based nonprofits (2013). Additionally, this paper will cover related nonprofit marketing course content, how social media is useful and how it will impact the future for nonprofit marketing. Article Research Summary & Analysis Guo & Saxton’s (2013) main focus addressed â€Å"how nonprofit organizations are using social media to engage in advocacy work.† About 93% of the 188 investigated organizations adopted some kind of social media platform (Guo & Saxton, 2013). Following, 87% use Facebook, 80% mobilize through Twitter, 42% of users leverage on YouTube, and last... ...followers, maintaining up-to-date information, incorporating continuous dialogue, and managing to get others to share the message. Guo & Saxton addressed a number of communication messages that nonprofits use specifically through Twitter to target and attract different audiences; from â€Å"information†, â€Å"community-building† and â€Å"action† based messages, each of these contributed towards the marketing strategy (2013). Throughout the article, the authors identified that Twitter was used mainly as an information distributor and a space prominently filled with messages to educate others about the nonprofit. Nonetheless, regardless of which social media platform an organization chooses to use, Twitter or not, social media has the potential to educate many, recruit new members, get others to take action and ultimately advance the organization mission, with just a simple click.

Anthrax Prevention :: Anthrax Vaccine

Aside from treatments of the disease, there is also another way to fight anthrax: an anthrax vaccine. For some time now, a vaccine to protect animals from anthrax has been available. It wasn’t until â€Å"†¦1970, when a human vaccine was licensed called Anthrax Vaccine Adsorbed (AVA)† (Joellenbeck). It was licensed for workers at high risk for occupational exposure to anthrax. The vaccine is â€Å"†¦a cell-free filtrate containing protective antigen as the principal immunogen† (Joellenbeck). The vaccine also was â€Å"†¦found to be 93% effective in preventing both cutaneous and inhalation anthrax† (CDC). Starting in the 1990s, the U.S. military created a vaccination program that required all active duty members to receive the anthrax vaccine due to the threat of infection in the battlefield as well as using a biological weapon in warfare. The vaccination involved a series of six shots within 18 months, followed by yearly boosters. For  "†¦the Persian Gulf War, 150,000 America soldiers were inoculated with the anthrax vaccine in 1991† (Joellenbeck). In 1998, the FDA halted production at its manufacturer’s facility due to safety violations. It wasn’t until 2002, when the manufacturer of the anthrax vaccine was â€Å"†¦finally able to meet all FDA production and licensing requirements and was permitted to continue full-scale vaccine production† (Darling). Even though the vaccine is being produced, it is not available to the general public. The closest thing to the anthrax vaccine the â€Å"†¦CDC has offered was part of an investigational new drug (IND) protocol† in response to the bioterrorism events in 2001. Currently, the only allowed people to receive the vaccination are â€Å"†¦those who work with animal tissue imported from areas where anthrax is endemic, military personnel deployed to areas with a high risk of exposure during an attack, and persons who work directly with the organism in a laboratory† (CDC). This is due to a low but significant chance of side effects from using the vaccine as well as a short supply of it. Many groups claim that the vaccine was somewhat responsible for â€Å"Gulf War Syndrome† but a study done on it found that â€Å"†¦the available evidence from studies with humans and animals, coupled with reasonable assumptions of analogy, showed that AVA as licensed is an effective vaccine for the protection of humans against anthrax, including inhalational anthrax caused by any type of engineered strain of B. anthracis† (Joellenbeck). This comes as good news considering the ever-increasing fear of bioterrorism prevalent in the world.