To what extent does the media represent people/places by using stereotype?

Lady Gaga's music video ‘LoveGame' was directed by Joseph Kahn in 2009. The video starts with the heading ‘Streamline presents' and shots of Lady Gaga naked with purple and blue paint and glitter all over her body. The lighting is dark and there are flashing lights. She is seen fooling around with two fully clothed men on a bench. The two men have the words ‘Fame and ‘Love' shaved on their hair. In many music videos this is evident as women are normally perceived as sex objects and drive home the message that exposed bodies and looks are what count. The scene changes to a subway where Gaga is intimidating a group of men who are a crowded around her. She starts singing in a grey leotard with a hood and wears chain-linked glasses. She carries her trade mark ‘disco-stick' which is mentioned a lot lyrically in the song. This scene subverts many stereotypes in the music industry. In music videos it is common to see men surrounded by lots of semi-naked women. However in this video Kahn has switched it up and has put Gaga surrounded by men, making her dominant. The next seen shows Lady Gaga making her way through the subway and dancing with three other men at the bottom of the staircase. The subway seems damaged, used and neglected, very similar to those found in cities and other urban places. It is a very realistic representation of train stations/subways as there is also pieces of rubbish lying about and ticket machines in the background/ The scene then shifts to a train where Gaga is dancing amongst male dancers, The train is also a very standard train commonly found in cities, there is nothing luxury about it which makes it very familiar to the audience. She is wearing a different colour to the dancers so she stands out. However she dancing on the same level as them which could represent equality. She soon changes her attire to a black jacket and black leotard, she is now wearing the same colour as the male dancers which show that neither one of the sexes is dominant and that they are equal however this is very short lived as she gets lifted to a higher platform which shows her as powerful and dominant. One element in Lady Gaga's video that conforms hugely to the stereotype of pop videos/music is the amount of choreographed dancing which is commonly used in pop videos. This may have been done to remind the viewer that it is a pop music video and so it complements the upbeat vibe of the music. It may also encourage viewers to join in and dance along. Gaga and her dancers move on to an under-ground car park. She is seen dancing on a top of a car and her dancers are shown dancing on the floor. This represents status and that Gaga is yet again more dominant than the male dancers and that she is in control. By putting Lady Gaga on a higher platform than the male dancers it she is very clear that she is constantly in control and is just as able as the male dancers around her. She is then shown entering a ticket booth with a male inspector. The ticket booth scene shows Gaga and the inspector kissing, however Gaga is then shown kissing a female inspector in the booth. The inspector changes from a man to woman in each frame. This sexual reference subverts the typical ‘male and female' stereotype. This scene shows the audience that Gaga clearly does not have a ‘preference' when it comes to her sexuality. This could connect with an audience who are either bi-sexual or homosexual. It does not have a bias towards any certain type of sexuality and does not discriminate either. This could also create a larger fan base of people who are gay as it is showing that it is acceptable in today's society. However it may cause controversy and would most likely be discussed in certain magazines and the news in particular countries, the reason for this is that homosexuality has not yet been embraced in every country/society, and it is only just starting to be accepted in certain communities and certain places. The final scene shows Gaga in a choreographed dance routine with her male dancers. As the artist, Gaga is placed at the forefront of the dance crew so that the audience are not side tracked from the main aim of the video which is naturally to promote Lady Gaga and this new style of music. She is dressed in a similar type of outfit as her male dancers and is pulling off the exact same dance moves. This could represent as women being as equivalent to men. The ideology of this video is to show that not all women are subservient to men. Gaga is used as an example to show that women can be sexy, provocative yet powerful. Gaga is shown in a positive light as someone new and fresh and also very unique in her sense of fashion. By the amount of choreographed dancing in this video it also implies that perhaps she wants to be viewed as more than just a singer but also an entertainer and someone who is talented in more ways than others. However this music video can have quite a few negative points to it, such as the sexual references throughout the video, visually as well as lyrically. This video could easily be portrayed as a bad influence to the younger audience. The way Gaga has been represented could go either way, many people will embrace the fact she is empowering women and on the other hand, many will criticise her for being very sexual and explicit. Now that Lady Gaga has begun to subvert stereotypes, it can give other similar artists a reason to be edgy and individual. Many critics will look to these artist and debate whether or not it is suitable way of women to act and be shown in the media behaving in an independent and unique way. This constant debate can seep into the average person's everyday life; they may discuss certain music videos with friends, especially if they have controversial issues such as ones raised in Lady Gaga's music videos. It can start conversations, discussions and build the relationship between the groups of people.

ABC, Inc. Case Study Analysis Essay

Carl Robins, a junior recruiter for ABC, Inc, with only a limited amount of experience, commendably retained 15 new employees in April. The newer employees were hired to work for Monica Carrolls, the Operations Supervisor. Carl Robins set up new recruit’s orientation to begin 06- 15 with the objective of having the new employees working by July. On 15 of May. Monica Carrolls called Carl about fixing several issues for the new employees, such as policies, drug tests, and manuals. He stated to Monica that everything would be in place and it would all be completed by the deadline. When Carl started reviewing June, the new employee file, He found numerous of issues. Some applications were unfinished, drug screenings were not done, and orientation manuals were not completed and missing pages, while the room for training had been held in reserve for technology services. Issues When Carl’s had his first recruitment training, he encountered many difficulties that need to be brought to the senior recruiters to resolve these issues. Incomplete employee applications Mandatory drug screening was not arranged Employee transcripts were not on file Inadequate orientation manuals Shortage of orientation manuals, Resource scheduling conflicts. Carl has to address the issues at hand in order to have the new recruit’s working by July, so he must move expeditiously. He must move swiftly in order to inform the new employees and make it stat that they finish their employment applications and confirm his or her transcripts on file. Subsequently, Carl has to arrange appointments through the clinic for all  the new recruits for the obligatory drug screen and have the results sent over right away. At this point, Carl must evaluate the orientation manuals to its entirety and make sure there are a substantial amount of copies for all the recent recruits. Carl has to harmonize with technology services to come up with a solution to share the training room. If that is not feasible, Carl must find another fitting location for the new hire training class. These issues seem like simple problems with quick and easy solutions, but clearly show problems with the current hiring process that need to be addressed to keep similar issues from arising in the future. An entry level recruiter should work directly with more experienced recruiters during the first recruitment process. Skill, putting forth the effort, and practicing will go a long way in overcoming these types of issues. ABC, Inc must develop a helpful to do list or procedure to follow for hiring new employees. It must be explained to the employee and the recruiter exactly what must be completed before and after the hiring process. The checklist should cover not only hiring procedures, but also in-processing and merging into the company. ABC, Inc also needs to develop a training center; with company policies, orientation manuals, and other training materials should be complete and readily available at all times. In the intent of saving money and breathing space, it is suggested that at least one physical copy of each reference should be available, while digital copies are kept on file and can be easily apprehended when necessary. Company management solution should be established to p revent spare reservations for the same resources. This can be a simple database or reservation system that is easily accessible by all employees who will be responsible for scheduling resources. Findings/ Considerations ABC, Inc’s efforts to hire new employees, handling and attempting to solve these problems could raise more problems. Foremost, easy solutions could entail a significant financial investment to get the new employees hired on time. For instance, the clinic may charge extra for last minute drug screens or for expediting the results. If the orientation manuals cannot be reproduced internally or the training cannot be conducted on company  property, the cost of out-sourcing would be much higher than normal. Proper implementation of the long-term solutions may also incur some initial expense; however the increased efficiency will be a great benefit to ABC, Inc in the long run. It is also important to note that an inefficient and complicated hiring process may eventually detract from the company’s image and ability to attract worthy employees Conclusion As stated previously, this was a relatively easy problem to fix, however it exposed deeper issues and could present a significant expense to ABC, Inc to resolve all the problems in time to meet the July goal. It is recommended that Carl Robins and ABC, Inc take the initiative to implement all of the short and long-term goals. In doing so ABC, Inc will insure that this problem will be eliminated in the future. References Case study www.Studymode.com Case study analysis Comm215 www.writework.com Writing a Case study Analysis http://college.cengage.com/business/resources/casestudies/students/writing.ht

Civil War Essay

The aftermath of the Civil War brought in major industrial expansion and significant economic growth for New England, the middle Atlantic states and the mid-west – more so with the completion of the transcontinental railroads years later. In contrast, the same Civil War brought in economic depression for the south. (Slavin, 2008) 3) The 1920s began with a brief depression which was completely forgotten between 1921 and 1929 when America enjoyed economic prosperity. The stock market crash in 1929, however, ended the abundant times and brought in the â€Å"Great Depression†. Similarly, there was a brief economic recession in the early part of the 1990s – it began in early 1992 and ended later that same year. With the end of such recession, the stock market soared and the years that followed witnessed economic expansion in America until the index reached its peak in March 2001 and then dove deep, signaling the end of the good, profitable days of the bourse. The economy worsened in September 2001 after the World Trade Center Tragedy. (Slavin, 2008) The opportunity cost of attending the concert using a free ticket is less time spent on studying. Having to leave for the concert venue earlier than planned and then getting home much later because of the miserable weather would further increase the opportunity cost of attending the concert, since it would mean more study time spent on something else. 5) Last summer, I incurred opportunity costs by cancelling plans to take a summer job and choosing, instead, to spend my summer bumming around with friends. Under no circumstances can we operate outside our production possibilities curve. It would mean generating an output that is more than what results from full employment and full production. Such a scenario is not attainable. (Slavin, 2008) 7) a) According to the Occupational Outlook Handbook, â€Å"economists study how society distributes resources, such as land, labor, raw materials, and machinery, to produce goods and services. They may conduct research, collect and analyze data, monitor economic trends, or develop forecasts. † (U. S. Department of Labor) b) According to the College Majors Handbook and as cited in the article, the top three types of jobs for economics graduates are as follows: â€Å"1) Top- and mid-level managers, executives, administrators; 2) Insurance, securities, real estate, business services; and, 3) Accountants, auditors, other financial specialists. † (Schwartz) WORKS CITED Slavin, Stephen L. Economics 8th Edition. McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2008. U. S. Department of Labor. Occupational Outlook Handbook. (http://www. bls. gov/oco/ocos055. htm#nature) Schwartz, Shelly K. â€Å"Economics Grads Face Strong Job Market, but Higher Degrees Still Help. † CNNMoney Personal Finance. (http://money. cnn. com/2000/08/18/career/q_degreeeconomics/)

The massacre of the innocents by Francois Joseph Naves during Essay

The massacre of the innocents by Francois Joseph Naves during - Essay Example The picture has a hidden story and acts as a narrative of the whole massacre event. Firstly, the characters in the picture are in a sorrowful and worried mood. The painter has used the facial expressions to reveal sad moods that prevailed in the city after King Herod ordered the killing of all the male infants. It had happened after his appointment as King of the Jews. From the use of facial characteristics, one can also tell that the female gender suffered from most of the stress after the death of their children. The women and children are hiding from Herod’s soldiers while trying to keep the baby girls silent for their own safety. According to the background, it is because most of the men had either peacefully of forcefully joined Herod’s army after he became the king. From the window, one can also see the soldiers trying to struggle with women so that they would search the houses for male children. Joseph has also used the portrait to show that a prophecy from the O ld Testament had been fulfilled where Christian martyrs had to be executed. It also reveals the fear in the female children most of whom did not understand the whole occurrence. The work can be based on the Bible as the only source. The massacre has been highlighted in the Book of Mathew in the New Testament. He has also used knowledge from the book to reveal his characters in the painting. By analyzing the portrait, one can tell that Joseph was emotionally. Additionally, he also had a specific reason as to why he chose the massacre by King Herod. The physical positions of the characters represent what they were saying based on the Bible. From the portrait, one can tell that Elizabeth is the lay dressed in yellow because after hearing the news on the executions, she hid her child in an ox-stall. On close examination, one can tell that the painting has been worked on by an expert. The clarity of the cloth color and the texture

Open Door Policy US & China, Roosevelt Era Research Paper

Open Door Policy US & China, Roosevelt Era - Research Paper Example To add to this, after the Russians were replaced by the Japanese at the end of the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, the United States heavily demanded the concordance to the principles of the Open Door Policy upon Manchuria (Sugita, 3-20). The Open Door Policy had gone through a plentiful that explains many about the imposition of the American policy of free trade and open market towards the strong economies in Asia. However, this also reveals some problems that the policy’s principles and ideological stand had encountered during its time in China. Hence, this paper will argue that the Open Door Policy during Theodore Roosevelt’s regime had encountered conflicting disputes upon its implementation in China. It will first explain a brief background to the Open Door Policy’s birth. It will then narrate the developments that led to the fortification of the Open Door Policy before and during Roosevelt’s era. In relation to this, it will discuss the problems that the policy had encountered during its imposition upon the Chinese economy. ... Their conquest of the Western Frontier urged them to expand their power towards the Eastern Frontier. The United States based their eastern expansion in the desire to bring education and religion to the greater Pacific. More importantly, the purpose of commerce was the primary mover of the expansionist theory. With trade in the minds of these expansionists, the Americans saw China as its potential â€Å"partner† in the Eastern Frontier (Israel, 7-9). James W. Bashford, a Chinese historian, stated that, â€Å"the Chinese themselves, in breaking away from an ancient civilization can readily be led to accept a western, Christian, Protestant civilization.† (Israel, 9). At this stage in history, the Americans saw the potential contained within the huge realm of the Chinese. It can be implied that the superior nature of the United States government had already recognized the advanced Chinese civilization. Hence, the justification for an expansion in the Eastern Frontier can b e seen through the nation’s decisions. In this way, the Open Door Policy was a concrete manifestation of what the American wanted for their eastern conquest. An important catalyst to the implementation of the Open Door Policy in China can also be evidenced in one of the United States’ most useful expansionist doctrines at that time – the theory of Mahanism. Mahanism, formulated by Alfred Mahan, decreed that the might of a nation can be seen through its power in naval forces. With relations to the eastern expansionist desires of the United States, its government was aimed at the procedure of a gunboat diplomacy where China would be submitted under the might of America’s sea power (Israel,

TAO Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

TAO - Essay Example Thus, being human, one should be able to adjust to the seasons of life, and should always be responsive to one’s place within the scope of life. When we experience the seasonal changes, the ups and downs of life, according to the principles of TAO (Reninger, 2011), we should be able to practice sincerity, spontaneity and naturalness in the issues that we are facing. TAO principles are based on truth which is interpreted as pure and sincere to its utmost degree, and being true in words and in deeds. It is my view that if one is not pure and sincere, how he can move others? For instance an insincere person may force himself to mourn, and may be able to resonate sadness, but will not gather sympathy. And when one forces himself to look loving, although he may smile, his effort will not create harmony. People around will sense the true feelings; true sadness does not need any sound or effort to encourage grief, one does not have to fake a smile to have harmonious relation. I think that when a man is truthful within himself, the true spirit will be manifested and be able to move external things. As a way of life, TAO creates relationships with one another. We are a part of a great nation, America that exercises political authority to every citizen within its sphere of domination. We partake on the principles the government creates to encourage peace, stability and harmony in the state. Therefore relationship roles imply the way of doing things beyond our own pattern because the government is the source of power and ease, and it becomes a conduit of economic strength. Belief in Taoism encourages us to cooperate with the political trend designed by America whose principles flow in the pattern of democracy and are subsequently crafted in the American

Cultural and social experiences - Body image Essay

Cultural and social experiences - Body image - Essay Example The essay "Cultural and social experiences - Body image" discovers the concept of body image in the fashion. Examining the importance of body image and how it relates to society creates a specific association with society, culture and the associations which are made among individuals who are searching for different ideologies about how to approach their personal identity. The concept of fashion and body image in society links together through the use of mass media and the associations as a part of the cultural order. This begins with fashion and dress becoming a way in which one operates with their body and how one shows their level of health. The concept of fashion becomes associated with society specifically because of the fashion system that is surrounding fashion and dress. These are interrelated to the ideas of body image through the structure of fashion and the importance of the body in defining how the body should look. When associating with fashion, there is also a specific l ink to one being a part of the right social order while defining identity, personality and a sense of attractiveness within society. The belief of attractiveness comes from the definition of what beauty means, specifically which correlates with the ideas of fashion and how these link to society. The definition of beauty and links to social order come from fashion and further with the beliefs that are created from fashion and dress. The ideology of human beliefs and values comes from not only the ideologies. that an individual has within the family or experience. The environment of culture and social order also creates different standards about what one believes and the self – image which they carry. The association is one which is created from the psychological beliefs that are a part of society and the way in which this builds and develops with needs for a culture to hold specific standards. The individual then creates the same beliefs based on the influences from society, s pecifically which come from industries, media and other components within society. The result is an understanding of attitudes and values that are surrounded around a consumer society and which create an understanding that fashion builds a sense of identity, value and belief in one’s role within society (Porter, 2000:15). The Body in Society and Psychology The structure and beliefs within society and culture are furthered with the way in which the body image becomes linked to psychological beliefs about the body. The concept of fashion is one which has a specific link to body image and what it means to be beautiful. The image begins with adornments, fashion statements and dress that define the latest trends in society that one will look the best in. This is followed with models that are required to have a thinner figure or which have to be fit at a certain level. This creates a sense of what it means to have the right body image and figure while discounting other images that are within society. The result is the concept of idealizing the different factors that are stressed in society and from the fashion that is a part of the main image. As this occurs, there is a sense of internalization that occurs with women and men with what it means to look beautiful and in the best fashions (Thompson, 2001: 91). There are a variety of examples that lead to the internationalization of what it means to be thin and the pressures which come from the models in fashion that all have the same look. Figure 1 shows a series of models that depict the ideology of remaining thin while

Economic viability of the shale gas boom in the US Literature review

Economic viability of the shale gas boom in the US - Literature review Example economy, environment as well as political status in the future. Natural gas is known of reducing air pollution as a result of using coal by 30 percent (Energy Information Administration 2009 and Energy Information Administration (US) 2009). As a result of this, majority of the people believe that the use of natural gas will aid reduce pollution of air by fossil fuels such as coal and oil. The production and utilization of domestic fuels will have a significant impact on the economy of any state by creating job opportunities as well as increasing income through royalty payments (Energy Information Administration (US) 2011 and Schlumberger 2011). Additionally, the use of natural gas will enable the U.S. utilize the money used to be spent on fuel imports on other valuable goods (Energy Information Administration (US) 2010 and Energy Information Administration (US) 2011b). Although there are many shale gas reserves in the U.S., the most important is Marcellus Shale (Bloomberg 2011). Marc ellus Shale is located in Pennsylvania as well as Upstate New York. It has gained significant attention because of its closeness to most populated areas, its huge deposit size, and the amount of recoverable gas it has. Some of the factors that affect the productivity of the Marcellus Shale include â€Å"the drop in natural gas prices, overproduction claims, a decade of rising costs and apparent production declines in the shale gas wells† (Energy Information Administration 2012b). Economic analysis of this circumstance will enable the examination of the profitability of the shale gas well in the Marcellus Shale through looking at production as well as variables (Schoen 2011). The results gotten will then aid in evaluating whether producers are in a position to profitably extract natural gas despite the current market conditions. Profitability will then be measured by calculating crucial metrics such as internal rate of return of the chosen

Examine some of the issues raised by Domer in this statment Do so with Essay

Examine some of the issues raised by Domer in this statment Do so with reference to specific practitioners - Essay Example Several philosophies and thoughts have emerged over the years. In his book The New Ceramics: Trends and Traditions, Author Peter Domer (1994) asserted that: With hindsight it is discernable that in the 1980's ceramics existed in a middle house between craft and art rather than design and art. In the 1990's this situation has become strongly apparent. The contemporary fine art world is centred on the galleries and the museums.......ceramicists want to join this enclosed, increasingly private realm of art...an art that has successfully disconnected itself from the responsibilities of the outside world and where practitioners deny any role to do with design, function or common meaning. But in artists, curators and other priests of art I'm not keen to embrace clay workers. (p.196) In examining the issues raised by Domer we must not forget our world is constantly evolving and developing new ways of doing things. We will take a look at the his assertions, searching for common ground or difference(s) in opinions or beliefs under the following headings; The notion thatCeramics as Craft and Art;The notion that craft is art has generated numerous comments; in describing the differences between craft and art against their functionality or usefulness, Kevin A. Hluch (1990), Professor of Art, quotes from Octavia Paz book In Praise of Hands that "there was a constant shifting ....between usefulness and beauty. This continual exchange has a name: pleasure. Things are pleasing because they are useful and beautiful. This copulative conjunction defines craftwork, just as the disjunctive conjunction defines art and technology: usefulness or beauty" (1). To buttress this point Kevin Hlutch (1990) stated that fine art is defined by contemporary art orthodoxy as that type of human expression that is at its core functionally useless (1). Hlutch further contends that to "equate craft as art and crafts people as artist" misses the point because craft and art have different aesthetics (1990, 1) He somewhat concludes that "as the original definition of craft looses credence in the craft world, the ceramic form that signifies that definition, utilitarian pottery has lost its 'market share' in that world" (Hluch, 1990). Ceramics as Design and Art If defining a place for ceramics in Arts and craft posited debates, as Domer himself pointed out, ceramics should have been seen as design and art, not as craft and art. Kevin Murray (2003) a ceramicist believes that the terms 'craft' and 'design' rest on a continuum and the continuum is understood as the degree of responsibility by the individual for the physical construction of a work. In the case of craft, it is assumed that an individual has made the work him- or herself, whether by hand or machine [while] design in contrast is often executed by others (9). He claims that "the design aura is an obvious advantage to those wanting to give their products extra value and protect their intellectual capital" explaining that "It is reasonable for designers to develop their 'brand identity' as much as their 'product'" (Murray,

Animal captivity Essay Example for Free

Animal captivity Essay TI am a lifelong fan of good zoos (note the adjective) and have visited dozens of zoos, safari parks and aquaria around the world. I also spent a number of years working as a volunteer keeper at two zoos in the U.K. and my own interests now span to the history of zoological collections and their design, architecture and research so it is probably fair to say I’m firmly in the pro-zoo camp. However, I am perfectly willing to recognise that there are bad zoos and bad individual exhibits. Not all animals are kept perfectly, much as I wish it were otherwise, and even in the best examples, there is still be room for improvement. But just as the fact that some police are corrupt does not mean we should not have people to enforce the law, although bad zoos or exhibits persist does not mean they are not worthwhile institutes. It merely means we need to pay more attention to the bad and improve them or close them. In either case, zoos (at least in the U.K. and most of the western world) are generally a poor target for criticism in terms of animal welfare – they have to keep the public onside or go bust and they have to stand up to rigorous inspections or be closed down. While a bad collection should not be ignored, if you are worried the care and treatment of animals in captivity I can point to a great many farms, breeders, dealers and private owners who are in far greater need or inspection, improvement or both.

High Level Programming Language Of Java Computer Science Essay

High Level Programming Language Of Java Computer Science Essay Java technology is a combination of programming language and a platform. This technology supports the state of art programs assisting the games, utilities also services related to the business applications. As of 2012, Java was one of the most important and wanted programming language, in particular for client-server based applications, with more than 10 million users. Java has become the most important part of performance operations for lots of applications and websites. Without Java being installed, it might not be able to run or operate them, as it provides much secure, speed and efficiency. The Java programming language is an authentic and object-oriented high level language. This language evolved from a language called Oak, which was developed in early 90s as a mode of communication involved in entertainment appliances such as video games animation also in VCRs. Java is also addressed as interpreted language because of its byte code, which is created by the compilation of source code. This compiled source code is interpreted by JVM and is then converted to a machine dependent code which is also called as Native code. The High-level programming language of Java is characterized by all of these following listed buzzwords: Simple Architecture neutral Object oriented Portable Distributed High performance Interpreted Multithreaded Robust Dynamic Secure With most programming languages, you either collate or depict a program so that you can run it on your computer. But, Java is particularly designed to reduce the number of dependencies as less as possible, during the process of implementation. The Java programming language is unusual, wherein a program is both compiled and interpreted. With the compiler, first program is first translated into an intermediate language called Java byte codes -the platform-independent codes interpreted by the interpreter on the Java platform. The interpreter determines and runs each Java byte code instruction on the computer. Compilation happens just once; interpretation occurs each time the program is executed. The following figure illustrates how this works. Description: g1 Fig: 3.3 .1 Java is an Object oriented Programming concept which guides us to the core ideas concepts behind object-oriented programming such as: Objects, messages, classes and interests. A clear picture of what are they, why you would want to write one and how to write is described clearly using the interfaces inheritance, which are few among those object-oriented concepts of Java. You can think of Java byte codes as the machine code instructions for the Java Virtual Machine (Java VM). Every Java interpreter, whether its a development tool or a Web browser that can run applets, is an employment of the Java VM. Java byte codes help make write once, run anywhere possible. The program can be congregated into byte codes on any platform that has a Java compiler. The byte codes can then be run on any implementation of the Java VM. That means that as long as a computer has a Java VM, the same program written in the Java programming language can run on Windows 2000, a Solaris workstation, or on an iMac. Description: helloWorld Fig: 3.3.2 The Java Platform A platform is the hardware or software environment in which a program is set to run. The makers construct applications to match the actual requirements of users. An application may be created to provide service for one user at a time, many users at once or even to serve users at different locations at any given time. This platform of Java apprehends the various challenges that are generally faced by the developers and gives out a proposal of various choices of different technologies based on necessity of users needs. The two important aspects of this Java platform are the Java runtime environment (JRE) and the Java Development Kit (JDK). The Java runtime environment when equipped on to a computer provides the operating system with the means to run the programs of Java, whereas Java Development Kit is the combination of the tools that are being used by a programmer creating the Java based applications. The Java platform versions contain additional Java APIs for generating various types of applications such as Java Standard edition, Java Enterprise Edition Java Micro Edition. Java standard edition (Java SE) helps in creating desktop applications applets. Basically this application is created to serve small number of users at once. Java enterprise edition (Java EE) is mended for complicated applications to make it more suitable for both medium and large business units, and this is designed as server based application so as to focus on serving the needs of more number of users at a time. Java Micro Edition is implemented on mobile and entrenched devices such as PDA, Printers, tuner box, Cell phones, etc. Weve already mentioned some of the most popular platforms like Windows 2000, Linux, Solaris, and MacOS. Most platforms can be characterized as an amalgamation of the operating system and hardware. The Java platform varies from most other platforms in that its a software-only platform that runs on top of other hardware-based platforms. The two components of Java platform are: The Java Virtual Machine (Java VM) The Java Application Programming Interface (Java API) Java VM is already introduce in previous sections as a base for the Java platform and is ported onto various hardware-based platforms. The Java API is a huge assembly of ready-made software components that contributes many useful capabilities, such as graphical user interface (GUI) widgets. The Java API is grouped into libraries of related classes and interfaces; these libraries are known as packages. The next section answers, What Can Java Technology Do? This Section highlights what functionality some of the packages in the Java API will provide. The following figure given below depicts a program thats running on the Java platform. As the figure shows, the Java API and the virtual machine shields the program from the hardware. Description: g3 Fig: 3.3.3 Native code is code that after the completion of compilation, the compiled code is further processed or run on specific hardware platform. As a platform-independent environment, the Java platform is relatively slower compared to that of native code processing. However, smart compilers, well-tuned interpreters, and just-in-time byte code compilers combination would perform very close to that of native code without menacing the portability. What Can Java Technology Do? The most common types of programs written in the Java programming language are applets and applications. If browsed through net for related data, it makes it much easier and reliably familiar with applets context. An applet is a program that sticks to particular type of conventions that allow the Java enabled browser to run the applications faster. However, the Java programming language is not just for writing cute, entertaining applets for the Web. The general-purpose, high-level Java programming language is also a powerful software platform. The generous API can also be used to write different types of programs. Being a strong and most used programming language in day to day activities, the features gained by implementation of Java platform are development tools, Application programming interface (API), deployment technologies, user interface toolkits integration libraries. These features provide all necessary tools needed for compiling, running, monitoring, debugging, and documen ting the applications. API was the key provider of core functionality which provided a vast cluster of useful classes ready for implementation in the users applications. The core concept of API is extremely wide so as to provide the different classes that are very much necessary for creation of an applet and the further classification of these applets were used to communicate with the applet contexts. It also helped in providing the standard mechanism for extending the applications to the end users. To make the creation of complicated Graphical User Interface more simple, user interface toolkits were used such as Swing Java toolkits. To have an easy access to the database and collaboration of remote objects integration libraries feature was used. An application is a stand-alone program that runs directly on the Java platform. A special kind of application known as a server serves and supports clients on a network. Examples of servers are Web servers, proxy servers, mail servers, and print servers. Another specialized program is a servlet. A servlet can almost be thought of, as an applet that runs on the server side. Java Servlets are a prevailing choice for building most interactive web applications, by replacing the use of CGI scripts. Servlets are much similar to applets, where in the only difference between these two is that they are runtime extensions of applications. Instead of working in browsers, the servlets run within Java Web servers, configuring or tailoring the server. How does the API support all these kinds of programs? It does so with packages of software components that provides a vast options for the functioning of applications. Every full implementation of the Java platform gives you the following features: The essentials: Objects, strings, threads, numbers, input and output, data structures, system properties, date and time, and so on. Applets: The set of conventions used by applets. Networking: URLs, TCP (Transmission Control Protocol), UDP (User Data gram Protocol) sockets, and IP (Internet Protocol) addresses. Internationalization: This helps in writing the programs that can be locally available for all the users worldwide. Programs can automatically adapt to specific locales and can also be displayed in the appropriate language according to the user requirements. Security: Both low level and high level, including electronic signatures, public and private key management, access control, and certificates. Software components: Known as JavaBeans, can plug into existing component architectures. Object serialization: This feature allows the lightweight persistence and communication via Remote Method Invocation (RMI). Java Database Connectivity (JDBCTM): Provides uniform access to a wide range of relational databases. The Java platform also has different types of APIs that includes 2D and 3D graphics, accessibility, servers, collaboration, telephony, speech, animation, and more. The following figure depicts what is included in the Java 2 SDK. Description: gs5 Fig: 3.3.4 Java Technologys Impact on Users: Even though Java technology cannot promise its users the fame, fortune, or even a job, it helps the users to learn the Java programming language. Java technology is one of those programming languages which has wide acceptance all over the world, with its huge amount of important and robust features. Still, it is likely to make the programs better and requires less effort than other languages which simplifies the process of understanding and implementing Java technology without any complications and confusions. Wide variety of dynamic, completely secured and safe independent applications can be created by implementing Java, which is the main reason behind that gradual and rapid increase in the number of users; and it is also believed that Java technology will help in doing the following functions/actions more effectively: Get started quickly: Java being a user friendly programming language, it is very easy to write and understand. As the programming doesnt need any pointers or memory to be managed explicitly, highly secured applications can be used without any interruptions. Although the Java programming language is a powerful object-oriented language, its makes the program or application easy to learn, especially for programmers already familiar with C or C++. Write less code: Comparisons of program metrics (class counts, method counts, and so on) suggest that a program written in the Java programming language can be four times smaller than the same program in C++. Different rules of OOPs (Object Oriented Programming) like inheritance, encapsulation, and polymorphism are followed during the processing/ while running the operation which makes Java different from other languages such C and C++. Write better code: The Java programming language encourages good coding practices, and its garbage collection helps you avoid memory leaks. Its object orientation, its JavaBeans component architecture, and its wide-ranging, easily extendible API let you reuse other peoples tested code and introduce fewer bugs. Develop programs more quickly: Your development time may be as much as twice as fast versus writing the same program in C++. Why? You write fewer lines of code and it is a simpler programming language than C++. Avoid platform dependencies with 100% Pure Java: You can keep your program portable by avoiding the use of libraries written in other languages. The 100% Pure Java Product Certification Program has a repository of historical process manuals, white papers, brochures, and similar materials online. Write once, run anywhere: Because 100% Pure Java programs are compiled into machine-independent byte codes, they run consistently on any Java platform. Distribute software more easily: You can upgrade applets easily from a central server. Applets take advantage of the feature of allowing new classes to be loaded on the fly, without recompiling the entire program. ODBC Communicating with remote objects distribute over the network is set through the Java programming. It contains all required data base in its libraries with sources such as RMI and CORBA which are very much essential to develop any network applications. All Primary data types can be considered as objects using covering classes to make Java a dully Object oriented, wherein class is considered a basic unit of Java and Objects are the entities which follow the prototypes that are defined by class. Java applications are more reliable in different ways. It helps compile time checking to identify at early stages the causes of bugs, run time checking, eliminated the use of pointers which can usually cause the corruption of memory or unnecessary access of memory, waste/garbage collection management to free the unused memories automatically, barring handling to handle the situation at the time of occurrence of any error and a lot more. Microsoft Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) is a standard programming interface for application developers and database systems providers. Before ODBC became a defacto standard for Windows programs to interface with database systems, programmers had to use proprietary languages for each database they wanted to connect to. Now, ODBC has made the choice of the database system which is highly irrelevant from a coding perspective, which is as it should be. Application developers have much more important things to worry about than that of which syntax is needed to port their program from one database to another when business needs that sudden change. Through the ODBC Administrator in Control Panel, one can specify the particular database that is associated with a data source, wherein a ODBC application program is written to use. Think of an ODBC data source as a door with a name on it. Each door will lead the users to a particular database. For example, the data source named Sales Figures might be a SQL Server database, whereas the Accounts Payable data source could refer to an Access database. The physical database referred to by a data source can reside anywhere on the LAN. The ODBC system files are not installed on users system by Windows 95. Rather, they are installed when the user setup a separate database application, such as SQL Server Client or Visual Basic 4.0. When the ODBC icon is installed in Control Panel, it uses a file called ODBCINST.DLL. It is also possible to conduct the users ODBC data sources through a stand-alone program called ODBCADM.EXE. There will be a 16-bit and a 32-bit version of this program and each of them are maintained as a separate list of ODBC data sources. From a programming perspective, the beauty of ODBC is that the application can always be written to use the same set of function calls to interface with any data source, irrespective of the database vendor. The source code of the application doesnt change whether it negotiates to Oracle or SQL Server. The only two examples that can be used at this point are as follows. There are ODBC drivers available for various dozen popular database systems. Even Excel spreadsheets and plain text files can be changed over into different data sources. The operating system implicates the Registry information written by ODBC Administrator to determine which low-level ODBC drivers are needed to talk to the data source (such as the interface to Oracle or SQL Server). The loading of the ODBC drivers is transparent to the ODBC application program. In a client/server environment, the ODBC API even controls many of the network issues for the application programmer. The advantages of this scheme are various, this make the users to think that there must be some catch. The only disadvantage of ODBC is that it isnt as efficient as talking directly to the native database interface. ODBC has had various detractors make the charge that it is too slow. Microsoft has always proved that the critical factor in performance is the quality of the driver software that is used. In our humble opinion, this is true. The availability of good ODBC drivers has improved a great deal recently. And anyway, the criticism about performance is somewhat analogous to those who said that compilers would never match the speed of pure assembly language. Maybe not, but the compiler (or ODBC) gives users that opportunity to write cleaner programs, which means the users can finish their programming sooner. This faster compilation of program or application makes the computers get faster every year. Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) JDBC is a Java-based data access technology from Sun Microsystems. . In an accomplishment to set an independent database standard API for Java; Sun Microsystems developed Java Database Connectivity, or JDBC. This technology is an API for Java programming language that characterizes how a user gets access to the database. This connectivity offers various methods for challenging and updating the data into the users database. Aside from being easy to write, using the JDBC API, it is robust, secure, and automatically downloadable. Also, JDBC automatically appreciates these benefits of Java, by virtue of being written in Java. JDBC is determined towards relational databases, and this bridge of JDBC ODBC accredits the connection to any other ODBC accessible data source in the actual JVM host ambiance. JDBC provides a comprehensive SQL database access mechanism that offers a dependable interface to a variety of RDBMSs. This consistent interface is gained through the use of plug-in database connectivity modules, or drivers. If a database vendor chooses to have JDBC support, he or she must provide the driver for each platform that the database and Java can use to run the application. To gain a wider acceptance of JDBC, Sun based JDBCs framework on ODBC. As you discovered earlier in this chapter, ODBC has widespread support on a variety of platforms. Basing JDBC on ODBC will allow vendors to bring JDBC drivers to market much faster than developing a completely new connectivity solution. JDBC was announced in March of 1996. It was released for a 90 day public review that ended June 8, 1996. Because of user input, the final JDBC v1.0 specification was released soon after. The remainder of this section will cover enough information about JDBC for you to know what it is about and how to use it effectively. This is by no means a complete overview of JDBC. That would fill an entire book. JDBC concedes multiple applications to exist and to be used by the same application. To support this, API allows a mechanism for dynamically filling the reliable Java packages, followed by registering them with the driver manager of JDBC. Driver manager acts as a connection factory for developing different connections of JDBC. There are different sets of drivers for JDBC, which are client-side adapters, which is already equipped on to client system, and not on the server. These drivers then convert the requests from Java programs to a detailed protocol that can be easily understood by Data-Base management system (DBMS). These drivers of JDBC are further classified into commercial and free drivers that are easily applicable for most of the relational database servers. The drivers usually fall into one among these types: Type 1 which calls the native code of locally available ODBC driver.

The Need For Employee Motivation In Mexico Commerce Essay

The Need For Employee Motivation In Mexico Commerce Essay It is impossible to understand a Mexican worker without understanding the Mexican history and culture in its basic aspects. The Mexican culture is a very traditional, family oriented, religious and also nationalist organisation in corporate identity. This is to the extent of, the only way of knowing the person is by knowing the family and without knowing the person they wont do business with the person. The Mexicans given more importance to the time they spend with their family and do not reduce that time at any cost. The close family concept includes the parents, children, grandparents, uncles, aunties and cousins and the weekend recreation includes relatives and friends also in the above said. This kind of extended family gives them a sense of stability. The culture is more of traditional gender egalitarianism with the father as the authority and the decision-maker. The Mexican males believe nothing must be done in such a way that it would tarnish their image as a man. The role of Mexican women has been homemaking and family, regardless of their great position in workplace. Education, title and family background provide social status, as they value title and position as important as money. In organisational structures Mexicans accept a large power distances and emphasize hierarchical relationships. In Mexican culture they are used to work like, company and society as a unit. They avoid uncertainty and respect their authorities, expect them to guide and take decisions. But still personal relationships must be nurtured and maintained carefully to get commitment from the working Mexicans. The personal respect and recognition motivate Mexicans. The Mexican cultural employees are very diplomatic, very courteous and have fixed loyalty towards the organisation they work. The Mexican culture is not task oriented. They are more punctual and optimistic in calculating time. They are warm and gracious and give respect to their sense of time and traditions. It is also imp ortant to give more stress on friendship in Mexican culture. There are staffing practices such as internal recruitment, personal references, succession planning, psychometric tests, and elaborate bio-data associated with these cultural dimensions, e-recruitment and panel interviews are not predominant in Mexican culture. After the basics in the Mexican culture and outline knowledge of how it works in the organisation, now we are going to see on the hurdles that it causes in the implementing an environment with learning strategy focussed on employee involvement and empowerment. On global focus organisational learning is very important in an organisation not only for the progress of the individual but also for the organisation attain a steady growth as the organisations are dependent on individuals. The organisational learning strategy focussed on employee involvement and empowerment gives more focus on the growth of the individual in accordance with the growth of the organisation. But the Mexican culture does not give or very less room in organisational learning or in a strategy of it focussed on employee involvement. The employees in the Mexican work very much dependent on the hierarchical structure in their organisational culture. They dont take any decisions on their own and relay on their immediat e boss for everything they do. If they take also the decisions are very conscious in relevance to their bosss decision making. They listen to the boss very carefully without any intervention and also with full consciousness and do what the boss recommends. This procedure in an organisation will not give any space for organisational learning or individual learning as the decision making process facilitates a lot in it, by which you can learn by mistakes and experiences. There is no way for knowledge diffusion inside the company or organisation. In the western organisation they persuade what they think, listens half to boss and learn a lot in experiences and mistakes. The acceptance of status in the organisation is very much and not demanding for human rights. Next is about communication styles, in the Mexican culture the way of communication to the top management is indirect as they have to communicate through their immediate boss. They have lots of inequality in the organisation and because of that they become very reserve, introvert less expressive of their views to the management of their organisation. In the highly stratified and vertically structured way of organisation promotions are not performance based and are on age and seniority based which does not facilitate any learning. The learning strategies relay heavily on the employee involvement in everyday decisions and experimentation but all the above said factors does not involve employees in anyway resulting in no room for organisational learning. There is lots of importance given to relationships than to the facts and figures within an organisation. Their organisation is more focussed on collectivism than on individualism which is again a hurdle for learning. They also take contracts inside the organisation for renegotiation than taking them as binding with and working on them by learning more new concepts. Moreover to all these Mexican organisational structures are more male dominant making the views of one gender of the society less or non expressive. This also contributes to the hurdles. All these factors make the Mexican culture as a less ideal environment in which to implement a learning strategy focussed on employee involvement and empowerment. EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION TO ENGAGE IN LEARNING: Equipos is a plastics producing company in an industrial city in the Gulf of Mexico. This plant is a technology-driven plant with employee strength of 170. In 1995 the company was bought by the American partner which was initially a joint venture with a Mexican partner. Initially there were Mexican managers heading the plant and the organisation was in the Mexican was of organisational culture. Then the employee empowerment began resulting in implementing self-managed teams. The teams divided functional roles within the team and the role of team leader changed every three months. The plant was down to three managers others becoming the team facilitators and served as team leaders in the absence of team leaders. Then the interviews were conducted asking the managers, facilitators how to reduce the cultural difference and the barriers in implementing learning. The interviewed Mexican managers, facilitators and employees who attended the meeting were asked for the direct feedback reduci ng the communication gap and also making them responsible towards the company. The teams also gave issues inside the plant with the problems they have and the management also believed in the employees and consequently trust built between the employees and the managers. By the way of having both horizontal and vertical way of communication and facilitating the reduction of hierarchical and moving towards flat organisational structure. There are lots of factors that surfaced in the process of doing the interviews and few of the important factors are going to be discussed. Environmental factors are being one of the most important factors in this case. The work stability over the region, the plant had an advantage of permanent work-force due to the family atmosphere in their region while others have high turnover rate due to constant mobility. Education was another factor as there was a low level of education as the average level of education for the manufacturing sector in Mexico is 5 to 6 years. They hired younger age employees who are more open to change and wanted to learn new things. Finally they also came up with powerful unions and Equipos chose to work with unions providing high wages and cooperative relationships, these unions dint have any objection to the use of teams and increased participation. The primary organisational factor they found was the joint venture between an U.S and a Mexican partner. The joint venture gave a Mexican top management team to afford a thorough understanding of the Mexican culture and aide in the implementing if these programs. The other factor is, the top management gave a management philosophy that geared towards the empowerment and learning. This was first initiated by the Mexican top management by approaching the U.S partner for management aide. One of the important factors in this case is the size of the plant with strength of 170 facilitating the implementation such programs. Equipos had basically three sets of H.R practices that facilitated the learning. First set of practices were the standard H.R practices that equipos implemented were self-managed team works, setting up clear goals, open communication, ongoing training, reward system, managers were given new roles. To attract and retain the skilled labour they gave the highest pay in the area. The second set of practices to say on a whole were on setting culture specific H.R practices such as retaining the Mexican managers and the other advantageous environmental factors that aided their implementation. The third set of practices was the most important one as it dealt with the translation of U.S MNCs practices to fit in with the Mexican. These three sets of practices contributed to the human resources practices of equipos. INTEGERATED MODEL: This integrated model of the relationship between organisational, environmental and HR practices on employee behaviour show the important environmental and organisational factors that influence the choice of HR practices to be implemented in these kind of culture adopting processes. These variables are similar to the exogenous and endogenous variables given by the Schuler, Budwar, and Florkowski but still the model is based on a case described in the articles by Negandhi and Prasad-1971, schuler-2002. This model highlights the critical importance of the HR practices that support the theories of IHRM that propose the HR practices that can be used to align the MNE goals and objectives with the host-country affiliate dynamics. This also shos the importance of HRM in the task of implementing practices that strategically deal with the challenges provide by the foreign environment. The model first the organisational factors that are to be taken into consideration, they are method of foundi ng joint venture play an important role in the understanding and getting adopted to the foreign environment. The management philosophy and management attitude towards the culture also plays key role in adopting or implementing new culture into an existing one. In addition to all these the ability to deal with the culture size is also given high priority. The environmental factors like national values, regional values, education also play a vital role. Here the socioeconomic and industrial factors also are added as factors in the environmental factors. Now keeping these organisational and environmental factors as variables important HR practices have been selected, first are the standard practices and then the culture-specific practices as the influence the people and can well understand the locals than anybody else. For this they retained the local managers and given them all the freedom to develop a trust between the employees and management. The final and the most important one is the translation of U.S MNC practices into such practices that can suite into the Mexican environment as the practices implemented as like the same will not be accepted in any foreign environment. All the factors, human resource practices all integrated together give a model that was very helpful in implementing organisational learning. CONCLUSION: From the case study we saw how a foreign organisational culture can be implemented into an existing culture. This is to the extent that the management culture which is not congruent to the countrys culture can be also implemented with the help of HR practices. Even though both the organisational and environmental factor are taken as variables for the deciding of HR practices, the environmental factors have influence on the organisational factors or it can also be said it is highly influenced by the environmental factors. This is also shown in the model as the flow from the environmental factors goes to all the boxes in the model, to HR practices, to organisational factors and also to the organisational employee behaviour and culture. The high light of this study is importance of joint venture in the cross-culture management. But when ever implementing cross-cultures the size and the age of the plant must be taken into account as an important caution factor. Thus we studied about the Equipos case study and how it motivated its employees in becoming engaged to an unfamiliar strategy. Also thus we studied about the different cultures and how to manage changes in cross-culture making us easy to implement any strategies in a management in any culture.

Solutions to the Church Music Controversy Essay -- Music

Solutions to the Church Music Controversy There are many different approaches churches are taking to solve the controversial issue of the use of instrumental accompaniment to singing and contemporary ways of worshiping in churches. Contemporary churches are encouraging the use, whereas traditional churches are preaching against the use and are educating the people of their churches with what God and the Bible say about music. Some churches that use instruments in their services are holding different services for different types of audiences, like one for the elderly that will use the more traditional songs and hymns, and then another for the youth, or divorced, or the single people, or the married. Then there are those who say that this should not be something churches should even be arguing about, and that there are worse things happening in the church that should be focused on eliminating. In the article, â€Å"Churches Use Hip-Hop to Draw Teens† of the Rockford Register Star, reporter Edith Webster writes from an interview with minister Ralph Hawthorne, director of Let’s Talk It Out; which was part of the ‘Summer Showcase 2003’ program in Rockford, Illinois, â€Å" ‘Summer Showcase 2003’ includes free food, giveaways, a puppet show and a variety of gospel music for the entire family, but the young people will most likely be all into the gospel rap. ‘There is a generation of people who are unreached,’ said minister Ralph Hawthorne,’ † and to justify his actions he claims, â€Å" ‘To get the gospel out and to be relevant, we need to not change the message but maybe change the method’ † (Webster). Assuming that this is how God wants His message to be taught, I think there exists a tremendous amount of wrong in this way of think... ...Works Cited Deville, Nancy. "Gospel Singing at Mass is Break from Tradition." The Tennessee [Nashville, TN] 24 Jul. 2003: M1. InfoTrac Custom Newspapers. TexShare. Mary and Jeff Bell Library, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. 29 Oct. 2003. Furr, Joe E. "Working Around Tradition."17 Nov. 2003. Christian Homesite. 29 Oct. 2003 . Smith, James B. Rich Mullins His Life and Legacy: an Arrow Pointing to Heaven. Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2000. Webster, Edith C. "Churches Use Hip-Hop to Draw Teens." Rockford Register Star 2 Aug. 2003: 6C. InfoTrac Custom Newspapers. TexShare. Mary and Jeff Bell Library, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. 29 Oct.2003. Zondervan Study Bible: New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1985, 1999, 2002.

Tobacco Advertisements Essay -- Marketing, Legal Issues, Smoking

Tobacco advertisements have been a sensitive subject in America especially among parents who do not want their children to become smokers. I know from personal experience that tobacco is extremely toxic and can do major bodily harm. My grandfather was a chain smoker for over twenty years. He started smoking in his late teens and he died from lung problems that were caused by his addiction to cigarette smoking. My father is also a chain smoker and he started smoking when he was sixteen. He is starting to experience the same problems that my grandfather had due to his chain smoking. This history of smokers in my family has struck a cord in me. It has caused me to look further at the history of tobacco advertisements aimed to people under the age of eighteen, past precedent in court that was passed based on these advertisements, and current trends in tobacco advertisements today. The first print tobacco advertisements that used celebrities as the main focus of the advertisements came about during the 1950’s in America. Huge celebrities such as Phillip Morris would endorse cigarette smoking in print advertisements. This type of marketing technique involves many social psychological theories. One theory is the Social Impact Theory. According to three authors the Social Impact Theory is, â€Å" . . . interprets â€Å"social pressure† quite literally: people experience psychological forces pressing on them, just as they experience physical forces such as sound and weight† (Breckler, Olson, and Wiggins 431). One sub-category of this theory is the Liking Technique. According to Steven Breckler, James Olson, and Elizabeth Wiggins the Liking Technique is, â€Å" A strategy to increase compliance, based on the fact that people are more likely ... ... that they must â€Å"spend $500 million a year on anti-tobacco advertising† (397). The problem with this is that some people such as McLaren question if these â€Å"anti-tobacco advertisements† really have an effect on the consumers in specific, consumers under the age of eighteen. (See exhibit B). Language in tobacco advertisements have certainly evolved and adapted itself since the 1950’s. It is under constant watch by the FDA, which was made possible by class action suits that ultimately led to legislation such as the Tobacco Control Act, and the FDA Tobacco Regulation Bill. If people under the age of eighteen become more informed on the facts of language in tobacco advertisements, then they will probably be less likely to smoke a cigarette. So hopefully future generations will be the solution to this controversial subject of language in tobacco advertisements.

Consumer Advertising Ethical Essay

She then pulls out a magazine and begins to turn through the pages when she find an advertisement for a prescription drug to treat migraines. This drug could ease her pain and let her resume her normal activities. Is it wrong for her to see this ad? Absolutely not. ?Sharing information with the public about possible cures is morally right. Withholding information that can save someone’s life is morally wrong. Direct advertising to consumers of pharmaceutical drugs is ethical based on a deontological perspective. Kant considered what is â€Å"right† over what is â€Å"good† to be   superior (wikipedia). In the case of direct-to-consumer drug advertising, the right of sharing information about cures and possible ailments outweighs any possible â€Å"good† that can be made on behalf of the advertisers. It does not matter that the advertising companies and the pharmaceutical companies will make money off of the patients purchasing the drugs. What is most important is sharing the knowledge with those patients. When the general public is presented with information about pharmaceutical drugs not only are they given information about something that can provide treatments for symptoms they may be having, but it also informs them about what certain groupings of symptoms may be. For example, a person having strange pains in his/her legs and doesn’t know what it is and might not seek medical attention. However, if he/she sees an advertisement on television that describes those exact symptoms he/she is experiencing, the advertisement would give the ailment a possible name. This information could help that person when he/she goes to see his/her doctor. The patient can describe what he/she is experiencing and tell the doctor about the ad that made him/her think there was a reason to visit the doctor for treatment. Some cases will be serious and others will be minor, this is not important. What is important is that the public was granted this information in an easily accessible format – the advertisement. ?The United States and New Zealand are the only two developed countries that allow direct-to-consumer advertising of pharmaceutical drugs (DeGeorge 320). Health care works differently in the U. S. than in other parts of the world like Europe and Canada. Because of the major differences in health care, DTC is more welcomed in these countries than in others. Here in the U. S. many people are paying for their own health care out of pocket unlike other places where it is provided at no cost. In other countries you don’t have to worry about whether or not you can afford to go to the doctor and/or pay for the visit and prescriptions. DTC advertising is more welcomed in the U. S. because people want to feel empowered and be given choices. Here there are a lot of options because people pay for what they think they need even if it is not the best option for them. ?People make decisions based on what they are convinced they need. In the U. S. you, or your insurance that you most likely pay for, have to pay for every lab and every doctor visit. So in the U. S. many people would rather treat symptoms than fix a problem. DTC advertising knows this and uses it to their advantage. Canadian Medical Association president  Henry Haddad, M. D. stated, â€Å"The message U. S. consumers are getting is that pharmaceuticals are simply consumer commodities rather than complex therapeutics. We think that interferes with the physician–patient relationship by raising the expectations of patients and pressuring physicians to prescribe drugs. † (Fintor) This is a prime example of why other developed nations are not proponents of DTC advertising. ?When you look at direct-to-consumer advertising based on a utilitarian perspective it would be considered morally wrong. In utilitarianism you can only judge something’s moral value once you know all of the consequences (wikipedia). This means that every consequence needs to be examined and weighed. As a result of DTC advertising of pharmaceutical drugs, not only is the pubic informed about illnesses and a variety of ways to treat said illnesses, but also a plethora of other consequences that add negatively to the moral value of the action. ?One negative consequence to seriously consider is the money that is gained by pharmaceutical companies, advertisers, and doctors. Money will drive people to do almost anything regardless if it is morally right or wrong. When consumers see an advertisement for a drug they might try to identify with the ad and feel it necessary to visit their doctor. Once they visit the doctor they will claim to have symptoms that were described in the advertisement and then ask for a prescription to the drugs that were shown. Once the doctor prescribes these drugs the money is gained by all the involved parties and is lost by the patients. ?Many of the drugs prescribed have harmful side-effects that are downplayed by the advertisements. It’s all about the money and not the well-being of the patients. This is clearly displayed in a study that showed that a pharmaceutical company saw a return of $4. 0 for every dollar spent on advertising (DeGeorge 319). That’s an incredible 420% percent profit margin. With profits like that it’s easy to understand why the moral consequences have been ignored. It would be morally wrong for people to take advantage of consumers and capitalize on their illnesses. If the pharmaceutical companies were really all about informing the public about illnesses and treatments they would do it without receiving any money. Taking away the profit aspect of the pharmaceutical world would change the advertising and probably the drugs themselves. With no profits involved there would not be the push that there is to find something that could work to treat an illness regardless of the consequences. Scientists would strive to find treatments that would help people and not harm them; this is the basis of utilitarianism, weighing all of the good and the bad. In conclusion, direct-to-consumer advertising of pharmaceutical drugs has both positive and negative consequences. Do I believe people making money off of the misfortune of others is right? No. However, I do believe is our duty to inform and educate people about illnesses and possible treatments.The health and well-being of the population of the world is much more important than someone making a dollar.

‘Lord of the Flies’ by William Golding Essay

‘Lord of the Flies’ by William Golding describes a group of schoolboys’ means of life when they become stranded on a desert island after a plane crash which killed all other passengers and crew, with only vast jungle and sandy shores around them. During their unusual experience, one of the main characters – Ralph – learns thing about himself and the others that no other twelve year old would ever imagine. With â€Å"a mildness about his mouth and eyes that proclaimed no evil†, Ralph seems the laid-back sort, confident and trustworthy. Although when he first meets Piggy, another schoolboy, this all changes and the immaturity of a typical child of his age shines through. When finding out that his new friend used to be nicknamed ‘Piggy’ as a result of his short and fat appearance, â€Å"he dived in the sand at Piggy’s feet and lay there laughing.† Ralph thinks of Piggy as a paranoid wimp, and relishes in the fact that they have a whole island to roam around on, with no grown-ups to tell them what to do. Piggy, however, instantly realises the severity of what has happened, and panics at the thought of the future: â€Å"We may stay here till we die.† As far Ralph is concerned, the island is paradise. He is glad when he meets Jack, another one of the bunch of schoolboys with an obsession for hunting, but who is out to have fun on the island. Things get off to a good start, but when their new way of life descends into disaster, Ralph’s relationship with Piggy grows as it comes clear that Piggy is actually a very wise person, and Ralph’s relationship with Jack turns to rivalry, Ralph finds himself having to grow up quickly and reinforce his position as leader to restore civilisation – a fast fading luxury: â€Å"We need an assembly. Not for fun†¦..but to put things straight.† When Jack becomes fed up with Ralph’s rules and leadership tactics, he decides to break away from the crowd and forms his own tribe of ‘hunters.’ By this point Ralph grows aware that trying to persuade them to stay with his tribe, he is fighting a losing battle, and discovers that he may not be as good a leader as he thought he would be: â€Å"Only, decided Ralph as he faced the chief’s seat, I can’t think. Not like Piggy.† The death of Simon, a quiet, subdued fellow schoolboy, really disturbs Ralph, as he faces up to reality. Simon’s death was a consequence of Jack’s tribe getting overexcited about â€Å"the beast† and was a mistaken identity case involving the beach, many spears, and a chorus of youngsters wildly chanting â€Å"Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood! Do him in!† The realisation of the awfulness that occurred affects all of the boys not in Jack’s tribe, and in a moment of sheer alarm, Ralph almost snaps: â€Å"That was murder.† Piggy, now the most faithful and loyal friend Ralph has left on the island, can’t bear to even think about it, let alone discuss it: â€Å"You stop it! What good’re you doing walking like that?† By this time, the relationship between Ralph and Jack has deteriorated so much that bitterness from power-possessed Jack is all that is left. By the end of the novel, it is clear that the relationship between Ralph and Jack has no amiability in it whatsoever. The power and authority that Jack enforces over his tribe portrays him as a king to the reader: â€Å"Power lay in the brown swell of his forearms; authority sat on his shoulders and chatted in his ear like an ape.† After Simon’s untimely death, Jack and his tribe seem somewhat unaffected by what they have done, and become even more uncivilised, to the extent that they cause another shocking and unexpected death. Piggy is killed by a rock that Roger pushes over the edge of the cliff, near the beach. This event shows just how disconnected with reality Jack and his tribe have become, and now Ralph is on his own. His only friend’s death has made him now completely alone and so vulnerable. Ralph feels like he is the only one left with any sense of the real world. The shock of what has happened since they first explored the island scares Ralph and fear of the future kicks in. â€Å"These painted savages would go further and further. Then there was that indefinable connection between himself and Jack; who therefore would never let him alone; never.† Jack discovers that Jack and his tribe are planning to kill him the next day, and now survival is the only thing that matters to Ralph. Realisation of his desperate situation comes to Ralph when he is told by one of the twins â€Å"Listen, Ralph. Never mind what’s sense. That’s gone.† A lonely, terrified, weak and exhausted Ralph wakes the next day to noises of every other child on the island hunting him down. They set fire to the island and eventually locate Ralph, and then the chase begins. Ralph reaches the end of island, and the end of his sanity. He literally runs into a naval officer and recognition of everything hits the twelve year old. Shock of the circumstances is all too much for Ralph to bear, and he falls to his knees and breaks down. â€Å"Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of a man’s heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy.† Ralph takes responsibility for the chaos and collapse of civilisation, as he believes that if he had been a better leader, none of this would have happened. He realises just how far things can go when there is no order imposed, and that he alone couldn’t change that. Throughout the novel, Ralph makes a journey towards self-discovery, and witnesses behaviour no other person, like the naval officer, would believe if he explained them. His relationships with the other two main characters influence the horrific events that took place on the island, and at the end of ‘Lord of the Flies’ Ralph sees that man can lose all sense of civilisation when no rules and order are in place.

Biographical Analysis of the Crucible Essay

What lies deep down in the Crucible characters that not everyone can see? The former husband of Marilyn Monroe managed to keep one aspect of his life private from the media for over four decades. Was it because of shame, selfishness, or fear? The Crucible is based on the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Miller has read all about the Witch Trials, but has never really understood it until he read the book published by Charles W. Upham, the mayor of Salem at that time (â€Å"Why I Wrote The Crucible†). He knew right away that he had to write about that time period. Even though the play provides an accurate representation of the trials, the truth lies in Arthur Miller’s past history. Pursuing this further, Arthur Miller has hidden a life-long secret that recently has come out. When his son, Daniel was born, Miller was very happy, but immediately knew something was wrong. The doctors had diagnosed the baby with Down syndrome. He was the son of Miller’s third wife, Inge Morath. Miller said. â€Å"I’m going to have to put the baby away†, but Inge wanted to keep him (â€Å"Arthur Miller’s Missing Act†). Within days the baby was gone. They sent him to one of the Connecticut institutions for the mentally retarded. Inge went to see him every day, but Arthur never wanted to set eyes on him. Afterwards, nothing was mentioned of Daniel. He was cut out from Miller’s life. Was it because of selfishness, or fear that the world will know? His personal story seems to contradict his theme in The Crucible. Through the character Abigail Williams, we can see that people are willing to give up and abandon their connection with their own values in order to protect themselves. Just as Abigail hid the fact that she had an affair with John Proctor, Arthur Miller has hidden the fact that he also had a brief affair with Marilyn Monroe. Abigail William is the girl who leads this play into disaster. She is most responsible for the meeting in the woods and when Paris finds out, she tries to conceal it as fast as possible, because if she reveals that she has cast a spell on Elizabeth, it will reveal the affair she had with Elizabeth’s  husband, John Proctor. To protect herself from future punishment that may come, she starts to accuse others of witchcraft. By telling lies, that is how she manipulates the whole town into believing that she is innocent (Miller 114-115). Abigail is independent and she knows that nothing is out of her grasp. Once she finds herself attracted to Proctor, she won’t suppress her desires that she wants him. However many times she reviews her memories, the more she is sure that she is the ideal wife for John. The only thing in the way is Elizabeth. Declaring witchcraft among the majority will keep the secret out of reach. She uses this to create fear and intimidation among the townsmen people. The only reason her evil little plan is working is that the girls have got her back. She has threatened them with violence if they refuse to do as she says. â€Å"Now look you. All of you. We danced. And Tituba conjured Ruth Putnam’s dead sisters. And that is all. And mark this. Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you. †¦ And I can make you wish you had never seen the sun go down!† (Miller 20). In order to get Proctor, she must eliminate Elizabeth and choose her individuals she will accuse wisely. She thinks nothing of the fact that the individuals will be hanged based upon her accusation. When she sees her plan failing, she will react the same by not showing any signs of fear. She has condemned Proctor to hang and flees right away from the town, leaving all the action well behind. John Proctor is the protagonist of the play, while Abigail is the antagonist. One of his flaws is his temper. Proctor leads to shouting and even physical violence. There are occasions in the play where he threatens to whip his wife, servant, and even his ex-mistress, Abigail. He was the average good man, who owned a farm and was respected by everyone he knew. He had three children a good wife to raise a family with and all was well until Abigail came into his life. At first Abigail was the housekeeper, who has quietly come into the life of Proctor. He must have been tempted by her fiery personality, which he cannot resist. This affair only happened, because at that time Elizabeth was sick, which allowed Abigail to make her  first move. John may have also been attracted to Abigail’s personality shown in Act 1. She tells John that the witchcraft isn’t true and that the girls were just having a party with Tituba. â€Å"PROCTOR, his smile widening: Ah, you’re wick ed aren’t y’! You’ll be clapped in the stocks before you’re twenty† (Miller 22). From this line we can conclude that Proctor is charmed by Abigail’s naughty tricks. The temper of John Proctor ties into the anger of Arthur Miller towards the McCarthy hearings. The Crucible relates to the McCarthy hearings, because Arthur Miller claimed to have written The Crucible to criticize the theme, while many people saw the resemblance between the Salem Witch Trials and the McCarthy Hearings. Just like McCarthy, the people of Salem were not interested in facts; instead, they took their hatred towards the people of their community. Miller himself was brought to the House of Un-American Activities Committee and was falsely accused of Communism. (â€Å"Fear as Governance: Arthur Miller The Crucible as Contemporary Reflection†). For the first two acts we see John doing little effect to the play. However, when Act 3 comes into play, he is there to protect his wife. He has three weapons that he can use against the court. First is Abigail’s admission that there was no witchcraft, proof from Mary Warren that the girls were faking, and the fact that he had an affair with Abigail. All this declines in the favor of Abigail. He only ends up ruining his name and getting himself condemned for witchcraft. The only way to save him from being hanged is by admitting that he is with the Devil and that he justifies that he was a bad person anyway. Horror struck when asked to sign his name. By signing his name he believed he will be signing his soul away. Even though, he is so close to being free once again, he refuses to sign his name. He says, â€Å"I do think I see some shred of goodness in John Proctor. Not enough to weave a banner with, but white enough to keep it from such dogs.† (Miller 144). At first we may believe that The Crucible is just a story about witch trials that took place in Salem, but by paying a greater attention to the  minor details we can understand that the book has another meaning to it. Every detail can be connected to Arthur’s personal life.

Crime against Humanity Essay

In the history of International laws, the foundation of the term â€Å"crime against humanity† can be said to be weak. The concept of the term has also been changing overtime. The term has also been interpreted differently through generations. The confusions and the unresolved principle of the crime were burdened by its features common to war crimes. Aside from that, traditional laws were controlling and perceived as the most applicable law during war times. However, through the development of war, crime against humanity has finally been clarified through the several laws adopted and cases decided during the period of wars. Hence this paper will present crimes against humanity, its origin, elements, and its development. Body The term â€Å"crime against humanity† was created as a result of the mass killings perpetrated against Armenian in 1915. The massive killings in the Ottoman Empire were strongly condemned by the governments of Russia, British, and France by branding the acts as â€Å"crime against Christianity† (Cassese, 67). However, such term was perceived to be discriminatory as it implies excluding Muslim. Eventually, the term â€Å"crime against humanity†, which was suggested by French Minister Delcasse was adopted (Cassese, 67). However, the problem with the term was its implication as it does not specify clearly the meaning humanity, if it refers to human being or to the philosophical concept of humanity. Eventually, an international tribunal was established primarily to hear and try offences in violation of the laws of humanity. Crime against humanity was, however, confused with war crimes under the customary laws because of several similarities. Some of the common features include odious offences constituting as a serious attack on human dignity or â€Å"grave humiliation of one or more human beings† (Cassese, 64). In addition, the events of killing were systematic or sporadic. More importantly, such acts should be punished even if perpetrated in time of peace (Cassese, 64). Furthermore, the victims should be civilians and does not necessarily include military men. Despite the initiative to punish crimes which are perceived as inhumane, many still committed barbaric acts and acts that are strictly prohibited by the traditional international law for political and racial reasons (Cassese, 68). As a result, the 1945 London Agreement, embodying the International Military Tribunal Charter, strengthened the campaign against commission of crimes against humanity (Cassese, 69). Interestingly, elements of the crime against humanity were established. The subjective elements of the crime include murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation or forcible transfer or population, imprisonment, torture, sexual violence, persecution, enforced disappearance of person and other inhuman acts of similar character and gravity. Meanwhile, persecution is defined as â€Å"gross or blatant denial, on discriminatory grounds, of a fundamental right, laid down in international customary or treaty law, reaching the same level of gravity as the other prohibited acts† (Cassese, 80). Crime against humanity has also subjective elements which are necessary to be established in order to make the perpetrator liable. The first element is intent which refers to the perpetrator’s intention of committing such act. Second element is the perpetrator’s awareness of the serious consequences of his acts (Cassese, 81). Third element is the agent’s awareness of the relationship between his misconduct and a policy or systematic practice (Cassese, 81). Last element is that the perpetrator must possess a racist or inhuman mind. Underlying these elements is mens rea which is the intent and awareness of the inhuman act and its consequences in a broader context (Cassese, 82). Furthermore, the intent must be criminal, specifically discriminating, harassing or causing the victim or a religious, political or cultural group to suffer serious injury. Notably, an individual acting in his own private capacity may commit crime against humanity. However, it is necessary that the act has been done in unison or is supported by a general state policy (Cassese, 83). The crime can also be perpetrated by state officials in their own private capacity but should be supported by an â€Å"explicit or implicit approval or endorsement by state or governmental authorities† (Cassese, 83). On the other hand, victims are traditionally civilians. Meanwhile, civilian refers to â€Å"persons other than lawful combatants, whether or not such person were civilians fighting alongside enemy military forces† (Cassese, 86). However, through development, military men were also considered as victims of the crimes against humanity. It is also noteworthy 1949 Geneva Convention included unarmed military combatant due to injury or imprisonment under the concept of victim of crimes against humanity (Cassese, 90). Furthermore, the inclusion of the military combatant as victims is applicable even during time of peace. The reason behind it is because military combatant are merely protected by the international laws of warfare but are not protected from the abuses acts from individuals or state authorities. Hence, the protection afforded by the law on crime against humanity should extend to civilians, including military combatants and even in time of peace. Additionally, through the adoption of international treaties protecting human rights and prohibiting crimes that amount to violation of rights. Through the laws adopted by the United Nations, crimes such as torture, apartheid, and genocide, has already been proscribed and made strictly punishable. With regard to element of mens rea, crimes against humanity must be coupled with knowledge of the attack and that it must be part of the widespread attack on civilian population (Cassese, 93). As to the requisite of attack, customary law requires that an attack against civilian should be promoted actively by the state. But under the new law, the requisite has been narrowed down because an attack that has been condoned or tolerated by the state does not automatically become an attack amounting to crimes against humanity. The attack should also involve multiple commissions. Interestingly, the concept of persecution has also been narrowed by the new law. Under the new law, persecution will only fall as a crime against humanity if such would result in the egregiously violate the basic human right, part of widespread or systematic practice, and if discriminatory intent is involved. It can be observed that several drastic changes had been made in the crimes against humanity. Conclusion The historical development of crimes against humanity shows that the term has been established on a weak foundation. Apart from that, the purpose of the term was merely to define the mass killings committed by the Ottoman Turks against Armenia. The statement was originally use for the purpose of defining such crime. But then, changing â€Å"Christianity† into â€Å"Humanity† has complicated several international laws. However, through the weak foundation of the â€Å"crime against humanity† a stronger law to proscribe inhuman, illegal, and lawless actions by private individuals and government authorities has been established. It is also noteworthy that in order for an act to fall as a crime against humanity, several essential elements. It noteworthy that despite customary laws governing the acts of states and people during wartime, the massive killings were not prevented. However, it is also worth noting that the Allies were vigilant enough to act on the abuses committed, especially by Germans. Today, the historical background of crime against humanity and its principle itself has been serving relevant role in the international law. Work cited Cassese, Antonio. International Criminal Law. London: Oxford University Press, 2003.

Chaos in the Caribbean Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Chaos in the Caribbean - Case Study Example In addition, Avey’s responsibilities as the Jamaican government expertise witness involved giving forensic examination and audit assistance. He employed professional examination techniques to carry out an investigation in a way that his findings would be relevant when presented to a court of law (De-Carmoy, 1990). An alert expert witness declaration is essential in any investigation. Avey had an adequate comprehension of the legal course, regulatory and statutory issues of compliance, and pertinent rules of evidence. This made him the most suitable candidate to be appointed by the Jamaican government. Moreover, he investigated evidence that regarded affirmations. This was to determine the evidence association to ascertained criteria performed as required by a court of law. Avey carried out his research on the basis of reliable principles of accounting. This assisted him hastily find out misdealing in Blaise Merchant Bank and Trust Company where finances were lent from a single Blaise financial unit to corporations managed by its main shareholders. In the case involving Century National Bank and its associated financial units, he established dishonesty was the main reason for the issues (McLaughlin, 2006). Question 2 Avey employed professional forensic accounting techniques to investigate the link between Blaise Merchant Bank and Trust Company, Eagle Merchant Bank, and Century National Bank and its associated financial units. Avey may have used source and application of funds technique. This method is utilized when enormous amounts of finances are used for personal gain or growth as a substitute of buying investments or assets. For example, in the Century National Bank and its associated financial unit’s case, the bank used depositors’ money to obtain assets like real estate for the possible personal benefit of the people who managed the financial institutions instead of the benefit of the institutions (McLaughlin, 2006). In addition, the ap plication of funds technique may have been applied in the Eagle merchant Bank case. Here, instead of the depositors’ funds being used for the benefit of the financial institution, the money was misused. This was in connection with the building of a hotel that was intended as an apartment complex with 130 room suites. Avey may also have used analytical tools during his investigation. Forensic accountants make use of trending to examine financial numbers within a period (De-Carmoy, 1990). Trending entails performing indicators ratio analyses, for example, working capital and inventory turnover to ascertain deceitful financial statements. Avey used trending to detect self-dealing in Blaise Merchant Bank and Trust Company. In this case, finances were given out from a sole Blaise financial unit to corporations managed by key shareholders. Donald Panton and his wife’s funds were utilized to finance the institution’s owners businesses. Question 3 The troubles in the fi nancial sector began when Blaise Merchant Bank and Trust Company was temporarily managed by the Finance and planning minister.