Mass Media and Entertainment Essay

I’ll go ahead and say it: Neal Gabler’s â€Å"Life the Movie† makes valid points. Because of America’s dependence on technology-based media entertainment it is impossible not to interact with the distracting and alluring world of expressive communication. The world we live in today is sadly not the one that Henry David Thoreau was able to circumnavigate for two years in 1845. Today, to avoid media, is to be totally shut away from the world. Gone are the days of subtle newsprint and objective journalism. They have been trampled by 24-hour news cycles and narcissism-based social networking sights like Twitter and Facebook. While I can’t help but agree with Gabler on the media’s degenerative effects, there is a brighter side to a globalized system of entertainment. Entertainment can certainly ruin society if given the chance. Take for instance, MTV’s â€Å"Jersey Shore†. A show with absolutely no moral integrity, but simple humor and sex appeal can make money, so realistically; executives will invest in more of the same material. At the same time, hate/fear-mongering media moguls like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh have a devoted, if not cult-like following of 60-somethings that they control in the name of â€Å"entertainment†. Clearly, entertainment has the capacity to ruin the structure of society, for better or worse. Whereas sites like Twitter and Facebook can be detrimental to society, they can also cause positive progress. Very recently, young Iranian revolutionaries used Twitter as a means of communication, education, and unity. Videos of citizens beaten to death in the streets were accompanied by calls to action, as a youthful and courageous Iranian population revolted against its oppressive government on the computer and TV screens of the globalized world. Furthermore, recent crisis like the tsunamis in Indonesia, hurricane in New Orleans, and earthquakes in Haiti were brought into the homes of the prosperous and caring across the world. Although tragic, these events demonstrated the capacity that a connected human populous has for charity. Billions of dollars in relief money has been donated in the past decade, thanks to the stirring images captured not only by corporate cameramen, but also by civilian camcorder. Thus, to define entertainment as solely destructive or beneficial is unjust. People are not always wise enough to turn off what they know is subjective information, but they are no means praying to neon gods. In his book â€Å"Life the Movie,† Neal Gabler discusses how entertainment has taken over the reality. This is true in every way: people watch television or movies, listen to music, and Facebook stalk their friends just to get out of their own heads for a while. It is an escape from their realities. Gabler argues that the outlet the media has come to provide can potentially ruin society. This is true in many cases. Certain forms of entertainment can indeed â€Å"overturn all morality† and â€Å"poison the springs of domestic happiness.† Music, specifically, is one type of entertainment that has the capacity to cause people to compromise their morals. It has a sneaky way of planting new thoughts in our minds. Music artists think of lyrical euphemisms to subtly engrain an idea into their listeners minds. For example, in their song â€Å"Fast Blood,† the ingenious Scottish band Frightened Rabbit sings about a â€Å"midnight organ fight–† a clever euphemism for sex. Even if their listener wasn’t sure what that line meant, the rest of the lyrics would help him piece it together fairly quickly. It’s a beautiful song, and soon enough, the listener finds himself singing along, and the idea that sex allows a person to feel â€Å"reborn† has now become a belief of this listener. And, whabam, there we have a compromised moral resulting from the idea of one song. The characters and stories found in movies, books, and television are aspects of entertainment that most certainly have the ability to ruin society. They can jeopardize a family’s happiness by creating an image of the â€Å"ideal† spouse or significant other or family. Stefanie Meyer’s Twilight Saga, for example, creates the character of Edward Cullen: the perfect lover. Comedian Whitney Cummings made a good point in her stand up routine â€Å"Money Shot† when she said, â€Å"Women are obsessed with romance†¦we get brainwashed from romantic movies.† She said she went to go see the movie â€Å"Twilight† thinking it was just about high schoolers and came out thinking, â€Å"Ohh, I have to marry a vampire, oh my God,† and proceeded to address the males in her audience, â€Å"Guys, don’t let your girlfriends see this movie: she will leave your ass, okay?† Movies like â€Å"Twilight† create this image of the perfect man. If women see that and begin to compare their husbands to Edward Cullen, divorce papers will soon be a-rustling. Characters like these create impossible standards for men to live up to! And pornography does the same to women: men look at these beautiful women with perfect bodies and begin to idealize females. And then no woman is good enough for them because it is impossible for a woman to look like that without plastic surgery, a crapload of make up, and a whole hell of a lot of photoshop. Media like this has the potential to destroy relationships because it establishes an unreachable standard. So, yes, Gabler makes a good point. Although entertainment can be â€Å"fun, effortless, sensational, mindless, formulaic, predictable and subversive† and that is why people love it so much, it can be detrimental to society as a whole. In his 1998 book, Life the Movie: How Entertainment Conquered Reality, Neal Gabler makes the assertion that entertainment has the capacity to â€Å"ruin† society. Although plenty of entertainment features positive messages and portrays good role models, I completely agree with idea the entertainment can ruin society because a large percentage of entertainment and media can acclimate viewers’ minds toward violence and it can corrupt citizens’ views of society and of themselves. In our modern media there are thousands upon thousands of movies, tv shows, songs, and video games that encourage violence and other negative behavior. Many people believe this to be harmless fun, but in instances when consumers blur the line between fantasy and reality it can become very dangerous. One tragic instance of this occurred June 7, 2003, when 3 men, 2 police officers and a 9-11 dispatcher, were killed in an Alabama police station by 18 year-old Devin Moore, who had played Grand Theft Auto day and night for months before the shooting. During his arrest, Moore is reported to have told police, â€Å"Life is like a video game. Everybody’s got to die sometime.† Entertainment can also ruin society by destroying citizens’ views of society and of themselves. From magazines to movies to television, the media has created a standard of near perfection that many people struggle to live up to because they want to be accepted. For example, professional athletes like Lebron James, Payton Manning, and many others have caused many aspiring athletes to look down upon themselves because they are not able to perform to the same level as the pros. Although many celebrities have contributed great acts of charity to society, that does not change the fact that much of entertainment, which these celebrities are apart of, encourages negative behavior. If not brought under control, these negative behaviors can bring about the downfall of society as we know it. Entertainment can be in many different forms: television, magazines, books, the computer, music, etc. And according to Neal Gabor in his book, â€Å"Life the Movie,† all of these things are â€Å"fun, effortless, sensational, mindless, formulaic, predictable, and subversive.† The fact that because of these reasons, people like entertainment is true. However, just because people like something, or enjoy it, doesn’t mean it’s not harmless. People who go tan in tanning beds everyday enjoy doing it, but in reality it triples their risk of skin cancer. The social impacts of entertainment are already showing in today’s society. People are communicating less and less by person, and more and more by computers. When people lose their ability to communicate with the people around them outside of their entertainment bubble, the sense of community is lost, and is causing increased health risks. All this said, it is not true that ALL entertainment will completely â€Å"dissolve the ties of our social order†. If entertainment is used in moderation and people learn to make the distinction between entertainment and reality, then it can be an enjoyable experience. But because all people don’t do these things, entertainment does have the capacity to â€Å"ruin society†society falls apart. In addition, some of the things that entertainment exposes society to can alter the thoughts and decisions of Americans and cause problems for society. For example, TV networks are creating shows like â€Å"America’s Next Top Model,† and giving people the idea that in order to be beautiful you have to be dangerously thin and look like a model. This causes poor self-images, and causes people to be unhappy. To make matters worse, celebrities everywhere are getting cosmetic surgery. This gives audiences the idea that they shouldn’t be happy with who they actually are, and that in order to be happy, they have to waste tons of money on unnecessary procedures. Also, the percentage of people getting divorced in America has been increasing lately. This is most likely because of the fact that celebrities are getting divorced left and right, and it’s starting to become â€Å"the norm.† People are making money off of those divorces by selling the stories (in gossip magazines) as entertainment. Entertainment portrays false realities that have potential to crumble social aspects of society. Not only does entertainment have the capacity to â€Å"ruin† society socially, but it can also cause health related consequences. The percentage of Americans that are either overweight or obese is somewhere around 63% and that is constantly increasing. Though it is true that part of the cause for this is the amount of processed foods we eat, but another large part of it is the amount of time we spend sitting, a concept that goes along with entertainment. Today people don’t have the need to go out much to be â€Å"happy†. Children can sit andwatch TV or play video games for entertainment, and no longer need to go outside to play with their friends. Also, because of computers people don’t need to leave their house to communicate with friends, they can just do it on Facebook. People don’t even have to leave their house to grocery shop anymore; they can just use their computer. The fact is that entertainment has made America into a very sedentary country, which Just like a friend’s influence on one’s behavior, entertainment has the capacity to destroy or strengthen one’s character. Someone can choose between entertainment with fleeting pleasure or lasting value. i. Maybe entertainment can ruin society because it is so distracting. For example, if kids and teenagers fill all of their time with entertainment instead of education, then how might this ruin society? ii. Maybe entertainment can ruin society by overturning morality. What are some ways that entertainment might change a society’s moral principles for the worst? For example, do violent video games cause people to believe that killing is not morally wrong? If so, how would this ruin a society? iii. Maybe, as your quote above claims, entertainment does dissolve the ties of social order. Does entertainment contribute to increased crime or civil unrest? Can you think of ways that entertainment directly or indirectly causes a society’s rule of law to break down?

How to Manage International Joint Venture Successfully Essay

There is serious increase in the number of organisations seeking to operate in today’s highly competitive global markets with sustainable competitive advantage. (Taylor, 2004; Ernst & Halevy, 2004). In order to achieve this international expansion, companies use different market entry strategies. Earlier study on IJVs reveals that international joint ventures are the most common means of internationalization (Ernst & Halevy, 2004). This paper shall present a review solution on how to achieve successful IJV alliance In general, international joint venture (IJV) is an equity sharing arrangement between a local firm and a foreign cooperation (government or private) coming together by putting all necessary resources together, sharing risk and operational controls to operate as one independent business entity to accelerate profit and growth or in order to achieve some strategic goals. (Craig C. Julian. 2000). In most IJVs, two companies merge together for the matter of ease and con venience, the two companies involve become the parent of the organization that surface from the merger (Geringer & Hebert, 1989). But there are situations where more than two companies form IJV, this is true in cases where already merged companies try to merge with other bigger companies to establish a single organisation â€Å"T0o compete in an international business environment, firms are forming joint ventures as a mechanism for the enhancement of global competitiveness.† (Cyr, 1995)† IJV can aid an organisation in achieving their business objectives in hostile and uncertain markets (Miller et al., 2007). Clayton-Smith (2012). Suggest that IJV â€Å"offer a great opportunity for multinational businesses to facilitate growth, to gain skill, capabilities, market access, etc.† (For example businesses can cut cost and boost growth by using the same human resources, deliver services with the same computing facilities and even share office infrastructures). IJV comes with many benefits, Kumar &Pavan (2012) describe benefits of IJV to an extent, that is, when companies partner together, they pro vide themselves strength, capacity and expertise to conquer new geographical markets, expand their product portfolio and also for diversification. There are few success stories associated with IJV, (Xerox &Fuji) decade of stormy partnership has survived well, with both companies praising their success on IJV alliance IJV alliances over the past decade have shown a promising future (Kumar&Pavan, 2012). Earlier research on IJV growth and risks by KPMG supports Kumar &Pavan (2012) claims. In (2005), A KPMG finding showed that 64% of US companies will opt for IJV alliances, and Also 52% decided to create a new alliance within two years. Various studies on IJV partnership showed a very optimistic future. Vast majority of executive’s reports show that their IJV alliance has generated about 40% in their annual revenue, Most times, IJVs are created so as to gain access into hostile and uncertain markets (Abroad), which might not be possible otherwise. Definitely two heads working together are better than one, in the same philosophy; two companies would work better than one. Obviously, there will be more resources available when you have two or more companies merged together This optimism of IJVs comes with huge risk, IJVs suffer from several draw backs, these draw backs are the primary reason behind the failure of a large number of IJV partnerships. Research by Kalmbach & Roussel (1999) reveals that 80% of IJVs have failed and only 20% were successful. Another similar study by Neal R. Goodman (2011) estimated 50 to 70 percent failure in International Joint Venture. Matthews (2001). produced a great piece of literature on the reasons behind the failure of IJVs, Matthews (2001) stated the following as defining characteristics of IJVs, â€Å"IJVs need strategic objectives, IJVs are full of management problems, IJVs need to adopt a viable organisation form, IJVs are always transitional structures You have to inject stability into IJVs- it is not there naturally† These characteristics can serve as possible drawbacks of IJVs. Hence giving room for criticism We can shuffle out some vital points from the above mentioned characteristics. The most important one of them is the â€Å"difficulty at the level of operation†. The concept of power control from multiple firms creates troubles and as a result affects the administration of the organisation. Before a merger, each company operate differently with their own set of policies, methods and strategies, when they merge and these fundamentals clash, it might result to problems within the organisation such inter- Organisational issues need serious attention and need to be dealt with in order for the venture to last. So, IJVs can serve as a backbone of organisational problems. These problems can as well cripple the growth of the organisation. Sometimes IJV fails due to the collaboration, culture, structured plans, control procedures, financial and legal mechanisms, and consensus management agreements in place (M.Nixon et al., 2012). Many of the Case Studies on IJV all tend to point to conflicts with vision ,trust, corruption , leadership struggles between both firms and as a result of this, troubles begins to fly in the face of IJV success, Typically. The company with the most shares in any IJV set up tend to have the highest form of authority or sometimes it is decided by voting, these are the methods used in setting up the management of the organisation in most cases. However this can be quite problematic in situations where companies involve have equal shares or even when one company has the minority. Proper representation of each company’s ideals and policies is off course a difficult job it becomes more difficult when the companies involve wide cultural differences. Failure to understand the ethics, values and norms of each other result to IJVs failure. Furthermore, Stability is always not associated with IJVs as it is very difficult to sustain stability in a venture. Many academics associate IJVs with a lifecycle, It is said that any organisation comprising of many different firms tends to be unstable short lived, Multiple firms forming an organization impart this inherent stability simply because of the variation in their individual nature, their culture, their role and their attitude. These cultural issues that adhere to IJV remain a major concern for an effective IJV collaboration. After a serious pounder on the drawbacks of IJVs, There are quite a few theories in place that can help achieve a successful IJV partnership. Kumar&Pavan (2012) defines collaborative strategy as the essential supporting structure for building successful alliances. According to Kumar&Pavan (2012), â€Å"collaborative strategy defines the factors the companies need to look at before forming a Joint Venture alliance. The following are the ‘Golden rules of partnership success’ as given by Cyr (1995)- * A balance of trust and self interest * Anticipation of conflicts * Clear definition of strategic leadership * Flexibility * Acceptance of cultural differences at the level of both the national culture and the corporate culture * Orchestration of technology transfer * Learning from the partner’s strengths In other to deal with some of the challenges that face IJVs today, it is very necessary to have a very strong strategic leadership in place, a leadership that is based by rules and procedures. With a stable leadership clearly in place, chances of conflict are minimized. The leader most be able to incorporate all the attitudes and views of both patties into policies and strategies that will help the organization prosper as a single entity Obliviously, when there are two or more companies within the alliance, every individual will be after the interest or profit that emerge from the venture, this is where the second point drift in, which is â€Å"Balance of self interest and trust† even supposing the international joint ventures has a dominant parent company in control, then interest of all companies involved must be kept intact. The companies involve must have a mutual trust in place and at all times be ready to share risk for the benefits of the organisation as a whole. The organisation at all time must be ready to resolve conflict between firms when they arise and also developing long term strategies for the future of the organisation. With trust in place within the organisation, companies tend to adjust to accommodate and have a clear understanding of each other’s nature of business. A clear understanding of each other’s nature of business (culture) can give a useful insight on how to create newer ways of operation in the organisation. In situations where companies come from different countries, National cultured is there to be coped with. Companies may emerge from the same country but different regions with different cultural setups, even in such cases the difference of cooperative culture is still there to be dealt with. Fair enough, this issue of culture difference can positively turn out as innovations in the field by learning from each other’s strength and weaknesses. Flexibility is a key to creating successful joint vent ures. Variation in cultural backgrounds is seen as a threat to the success of IJV, but it is as well considered that, the more the gap between the cooperating countries less is the chance of survival of the IJV (Barkema & Vermeulen, 1997). Adaptation is very important here. Obviously cultural variation can be quite problematic, but at the same time they can be useful when taken as lessons, and when mixed together to derive newer and better strategies of operation, by putting two or more cultures together not only will it boost growth but can also add to the consumer base. There is issue of management too, the management problem happen to be the most troublesome in IJVs, It is not the control that is the problem but the lack of effective communication. One of the industries that excel in IJV venture is the insurance industry, and good communication channel is among all partners is among the characteristics that contribute to the success of insurance IJVs, They try to maintain viable and con sistent internal harmony that is base on rules and procedures. Effective communication must be maintained at all time and throughout decisions making so that policies don’t appear unilateral or one sided More examples of successful IJVs emerge from Hungary where Hungarian companies inherit experience and knowledge from the parent companies. This is true of several companies from Hungary that have partnered with western organisation (Lyles & Salk, 2007). The western companies come in with new and better technology and also better ways of management and production, and this method have worked for the Hungarian companies with them having good results in return. So, it depends on the level of understanding and adaptability between the companies. Information, market and raw materials are mostly the necessary resources that are available during an IJV alliance.Utilization and circulation of these resources depend on the companies involved. However, the company that fails to utilise these resources end up getting terminated from the Venture alli ance. In 1997-98 up to 20000 IJVs deals were sealed in China (Zhang & Rajagopalan, 2002). One characteristic that help all these IJVs survive was that they were all formed under a governmental pressure. In this case, the intervention from government brought about stability within the organisation. Also companies were relieved off the tension of mutual dependencies which made the inter organisational relationships much easier. In this manner Inter partner credible threat was largely reduced. The rise of globalization and emerging economic power houses of Brazil, Russia, India, and China is seeing more new markets created. IJV will play a commanding role for multinational companies looking to partner with domestic businesses in those markets. As this review has shown the history of IJVs has not always been clear cut (it is a very difficult task to build a successful international joint venture alliance). The 80% failure in IJVs (Kalmbach & Roussel 1999) should not scare multinational companies as there are many different ways of facing this challenges that adhere to IJVs. Management and operation of the organisation must be clearly understood and controlled in a proper way and by the most appropriate individuals. All companies must involve in the operation of the organisation. No firm should be excluded in the affairs of the organisation. The companies involved should be open to change and adaptability so as to combine the best they can all offer. If these few aspect are properly practiced the IJV is doomed to survive Clayton-Smith, . (n.d). What makes a successful joint venture?. Available: http://www.growingbusiness.co.uk/how-to-make-your-joint-venture-work.html. Last accessed 10th Dec 2012. T.K. Das, Rajesh Kumar, (2010) â€Å"Interpartner sensemaking in strategic alliances: Managing cultural differences and internal tensions†, Management Decision, Vol. 48 Iss: 1, pp.17 – 36 KPMG International & IESE Business School. (2009). Joint Ventures: A Tool for Growth During the Economic Downturn. Available: http://www.kpmg.com/LU/en/IssuesAndInsights/Articlespublications/Documents/Joint-Ventures-2010.pdf. Last accessed 4th Dec 2012. Killing,P (1983). Strategies for joint venture success. Westport, CT : Praeger Publishers Inc . p13-38. Gomes-Casseres, B. (1997). Competing in Constellations: The Case of Fuji Xerox. Available: http://www.alliancestrategy.com/PDFs/BGC%20Fuji%20Xerox%20%20SnB97.pdf. Last accessed 4th Dec 2012. M I L L E R , R., G L E N, J., S P E R S E N, F., A N N I S K A R M O KO L I A S, A.. (1997). International Joint Ventures in Developing Countries . Available: http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/1997/03/pdf/miller.pdf. Last accessed 10th Dec 2012. Perkins,S., Morck,R., Yeung, B.. (2008). INNOCENTS ABROAD:THE HAZARDS OF INTERNATIONAL JOINT VENTURES WITH PYRAMIDAL GROUP FIRMS. Available: http://business.illinois.edu/ba/seminars/2009/perkins_paper.pdf. Last accessed 7th Dec 2012. Gomes-Casseres, B. (2004). Strategy:Managing Beyond the Alliance. Available: http://www.alliancestrategy.com/PDFs/BGC%20AllianceStrategy%20CriticalEYE04.pdf. Last accessed 4th Dec 2012. Girmscheid,G., Brockmann,C.. (n.d). Trust as a Success Factor in International Joint Ventures. Available: http://crgp.stanford.edu/publications/conference_papers/Brockmanntrust.pdf. Last accessed 3d Dec 2012. Ernst, D ., Halevy T . (2005). When to think alliance. Available: http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/When_to_think_alliance_941. Last accessed 4th De 2012.

Introduce About Myself Essay

About Myself, My Hobbies – Interests and My Future Plans My name is Long. I am 25 years old. I just got married about 3 months. Now my wife and I are living with my parent, my young brother, my young sister and my gran in my parent’s house at Tan Binh district. I was born in Ho Chi Minh city, but my hometown is Quang Nam, because my parents were born in there. I have worked as import & export assistant in 4 years at an Indian company. Regarding my hobbies, although I’m 25 years old, but I really like reading comics, I read it on the book, on the internet, on the magazine, and I read it anywhere, at home, at office, at coffee shop and at class. Moreover I also like playing games; it likes computer games and video games. I don’t only like playing games but also I like playing toys, some toys likes models kits of mechanics, cars, battle ships, planes†¦ In addition I like traveling also, specially, I very love sea, I like going anywhere, where has sea, and I can swim in there all day. Beside, earning lot of money is my hobbies too. In future, I want to become a successful businessman, I will open a series coffee shop, it like Gloria Jean’s Coffees, but I think I just can make it with small scale, honestly, I also like drinking coffee. Moreover I want to open a flower shop for my wife, she really love flower. In addition, I’m going to live abroad, because my father and mother in law are living in US, and they want my wife and me to live with them.

Book Review . Discuss the process of maturation of Frederick Douglass Essay

Book Review . Discuss the process of maturation of Frederick Douglass from childhood to adulthood. Make sure that you employ a - Essay Example The first theme that manifests in Douglass’s narrative is that of inequality. African American slaves got treated cruelly by their slave masters who viewed them as not being human beings. He begins his narrative by stating that he was not aware of his birth date. He states that neither did he ever meet a slave who could tell his or her birth date (Douglass 1). Meanwhile, the white children could tell their birth date. This shows the inequality that slaves got born into. He narrates of how when his master died they got valued together with livestock as his family shared property. He states how slaves of all kind got ranked with sheep, swine, and horses (Douglass 51). This shows that slaves got viewed as equal to animals by their masters. This was a form of racial inequality. Another theme that manifests itself is that of the path to freedom. Douglass aims to show that he believes education and a progressive urban environment as the keys to freedom. He remarks that a city slave is freer than a slave on a plantation. He notices this when he gets moved to Baltimore, Maryland. He views a city slave as getting fed and clothed better than a slave on a plantation (Douglass 38). In spite of the decency accorded to the city slave, he later notes that there still was much injustice to the slaves whether in the city or plantation. Douglass also believes that education can play a key role towards the freedom of the slave. He strives to learn as much, but again the more he learns, the further he casts doubts on whether knowledge would earn his freedom. He remarks that the more knowledge he acquires, the more his eyes open to the endless evils of slavery (Douglass 47). When Hugh Auld forbids his wife from teaching Douglass, he realizes that this was a witty way through which slaveholders kept their slaves. Auld tells his wife that education ruins slaves. Douglass views that slaveholders hide knowledge from slaves to keep them unaware of the evil that is slavery. Dougla ss embarked on self-education as the key towards his ability to free himself. In his narrative, Douglass also shows the theme of Christianity. He highlights that there exists two forms of Christianity at the time; the real and hypocritical form of Christianity. According to him, there exists Christianity of the land and that of Christ (Douglass 95). Douglass believes the real Christianity gets practiced by him and the whites who preach against slavery. The hypocritical Christianity gets practiced by whites such as Mr. Covey who totally ignore and hide the real ideals of Christianity. He makes a distinction between the two by stating the real Christianity was based on charity and peace. The false Christianity revolves around the immoral and violent actions of slaveholders. Douglass, through his narrative, shows how the slaveholding masters in the south use Christianity to spread their evil deed of slavery. Conclusion The narrative by Douglass presents an emotional and quite moving st ory about his life as a slave until he becomes a free man. He is born a slave and recounts losing his mother at a remarkably young age. He encounters the brutality of slavery at a very early age when he witnessed his aunt Hester getting whipped. He undergoes harsh treatment and cruelty from his slave masters and whites while growing up. In spite of all this hardships, Douglass still manages to remain upbeat and pursue self education even when Mrs. Auld stops teaching

The KT600 Chipset Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The KT600 Chipset - Essay Example In this article, the KT600 chipset from Via Technologies will be investigated with its operations, configurations and the layout demonstrated to understand the operations and configuration of the chipset (Via Technologies, 2012). The general arrangement of the KT600 chipset in relation to other PC components (Source: DragonByte technologies, 2012) The above chipset consist of the north and south bridge as shown in the diagram above. In the KT600 chipset, the Northern bridge handles all data from graphic ports, the AGP, or PCI express, and then from memory consisting of Front Side Bus, FSB (Via Technologies, 2012). Although the two chips are essential from the chipset, mostly, the Northern chipset handles most of the essential tasks, which include connection between the main memory bank and he CPU. On the other hand, the Southern bridge is responsible for data from PCIx1 slots and may even have some integrated components such as audio or onboard graphics. As shown on the figure above, the North and South bridges have different chips names though they are often paired with the same opposite bridges, to be referred to with the collective name of a chipset. The diagram shows all the components of a PC, and how these are connected to either the north or south bridges of the KT600 chipset. The main functions of the above chipset are to manage data throughout the PC. Data is transported throughout the PC through a bus. The bus is responsible for carrying data to its right location via the chipset. However, the Backside Bus (BSB); the bus between the cache memory and the CPU does not follow this rule. Some PCs today may have the cache memory, which makes it not necessary to go through the chipset when carrying this information in the PC. The BSB is however different from the main memory bus in that it only dictates the speed between the cache memory and the CPU. The memory bus speed is usually a different bus, with the ability to change the speed independently. Apart f rom the BSB the other buses go through the chipset to get required direction where to take the data. This implies the huge amount of data that goes through the chipset requires it to be up to speed. Speed is one of the important aspects that have to be considered when considering the above chipset, as poor choice of speed may severely hamper the performance of a computer. For example, with the advanced Fast stream 64 DDR400 Memory Controller on the VIA Apollo KT600 interweaves used together with the 400MHZ FSB, this results to a perfectly balanced subsystem that greatly reduces data latency and enhances searing performance from the latest processors, such as the AMD Athlon XP Processor. Moreover, the KT600 supports the AGP8X, which offers the chipset maximum performance from one of the most powerful graphic controllers (Via Technologies, 2012). A Figure of Gates diagram for KT600 Chipset The chipset operates according to the logic diagram portrayed above. The High Voltage Gate Drive rs are strategically designed and arranged to drive both high and the low side N channel MOSFETs in a half bridge synchronized configuration (Texas Instruments, 12). The floating high speed driver can operate with a supply voltage of up to 100V. Moreover, the A version provides a full 3A of gate drive, while the B and C provide the 2A and 1A versions respectively (Texas Instrument

The Internet Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

The Internet - Essay Example The World Wide Web is ccessible vi the Internet, s re mny other services including e-mil, file shring, nd others described below. Virtully ll of the services nd products relted to the Internet were originlly defined to stisfy demnds emnting from the cdemic nd reserch world. We re only just entering into the er where the min driving force for new developments is coming from the commercil sector. The originl users of the Internet were drwn from nrrow segment of the populce. They hve recently been joined by the new genertion of users with wider rnge of bckgrounds thn cdemi nd reserch. The club-like nture of the Internet is fst disppering s the ese nd cost of ccess mkes it ccessible to much greter udience. (John, 2001) The two Internet pplictions tht re most likely, in the short term, to hve n impct on the non-IT mnger re e-mil nd the world wide web (WWW). E-mil provides very simple nd effective wy of sending both simple text messges nd computer files (for exmple spredsheets nd word processed documents) to one or number of recipients. The WWW enbles individuls nd orgnistions to provide globl udience with full gmut of multimedi informtion tht cn be ccessed esily. ... The WWW enbles individuls nd orgnistions to provide globl udience with full gmut of multimedi informtion tht cn be ccessed esily. The benefits of ll of these Internet services re vilble t locl telecommunictions chrge rtes. The Internet's potentil to chnge the wy we conduct business is only just beginning to be understood. lredy it is cler tht mngers must orientte their thinking to dpt to the opportunities (nd threts) tht re being creted. 3. Security on the Internet Internet security, or more ccurtely the lck of it, is one of the topics most likely to generte concerned comment from the press. The volume of medi coverge given to computer hckers nd the potentil dmge they cn cuse, tends to be out of proportion to the relity of the sitution. This not to suggest tht the issue of security is not extremely importnt. When breches occur they cn cuse finncil loss nd severe embrrssment. The British Lbour Prty, currently forming the UK government, ws forced to close its WWW site temporrily becuse of mlicious tmpering with the contents. (Hrtmn, ckermnn, 2005) n inventive mind hd chnged both the text nd grphics with the im of cusing severe embrrssment. There hve lso been mny instnces where finncil institutions hve suffered finncil loss due to their security being compromised, lthough losses re very smll when compred to other sources of frud. 4. dvntges of the Internet The Internet hs the potentil to deliver unique set of business benefits over nd bove existing IT technologies. There re number of resons for this: 1. It is simple to use compred to most of the ppliction softwre tht we normlly encounter in the business environment. This ese of use spns the different types of computer nd operting system

Analyze how innovation, design, and creativity at Mcdonalds support Research Paper

Analyze how innovation, design, and creativity at Mcdonalds support the organizations goals and objectives - Research Paper Example When it comes to its design of leadership, McDonalds top management has ensured that they are customer oriented and hence has engaged in corporate social responsibility to work hand on hand with its customers who are part of the larger community in order to fulfill its values and objectives. This step has increased the fame of the food stores and even increased its customer base. McDonalds have also invested in having different designs of their worker’s uniforms depending on the occasion or where they are serving their customers, this range from entertaining children in their numerous playgrounds and even serving customers in their dinners. Their creativity is evident from their logo which is unique and identifies it wherever it is. They are also creative in their advertisements and in the advertisements they sponsor. McDonald’s different designs of their restaurants including drive-in ones that serve the customer needs wherever they are is also an indication of their creativity and which goes a long way to fulfill the goal of McDonalds of serving fast food to all people and at their own

Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis - Research Paper Example Epidemiology The incidence of this condition in the United States is 4-14 per 100,000 children of less than 16 years of age, per year (Rabinovich, 2010). The prevalence rates are estimated to be 9-113 cases, per 100,000 population in general (Rabinovich, 2010). Internationally, it has been found that this condition is more prevalent among certain populations like Native Americans (Rabinovich, 2010). Etiology More often than not, the cause of this condition is idiopathic and most researchers are of the opinion that the disease occurs due to interaction of multiple factors, the environmental, genetic and infectious factors (Ringold et al, 2005). The gene which has been implicated for this condition is IL2RA/CD25 gene. Another gene which has been implicated is VTCN1 gene (Rabinovich, 2010). Pathophysiology The pathogenesis is not well understood. Most of the experts opine that an external trigger, in the form of trauma or infection triggers autoimmune reaction and this leads to synovial hypertrophy and inflammation of the synovium. The inflammation extends further and affects other organs too (Rabinovich, 2010). ... The onset is either abrupt or insidious. other symptoms include limping, gastrointestinal symptoms, redness of eye, fever, photophobia, orthopnea, weight loss, systemic illness and shortness of breath (Ringold et al, 2005). Children with this condition usually have history of school absences. They are unlikely to participate in physical education classes. In many children, a triggering factor, either in the form of infection or in the form of trauma may be noted. History of travel to regions endemic for ticks can point to a diagnosis of Lyme's disease. In some children anemia may be present. Illness in home pets is significant and can point to the diagnosis of reactive arthritis (Rabinovich, 2010). Physical examination may reveal arthritis, macular rash, hepatosplenomegaly, lymphadenopathy, muscle tenderness, serositis and pericardial rub (Rabinovich, 2010). Types There are mainly 5 types of juvenile idiopathic arthritis which have been described. These are based on the number of joi nts involved within 6 months of presentation and associated involvement of other organs in the body (Ringold et al, 2005). They are: 1. Oligoarthritis: This is the most common type of juvenile idiopathic arthritis and accounts for more than 50 percent of the cases. It involves less than 5 joints. Uveitis is commonly associated with this type (Ringold et al, 2005). 2. Polyarthritis: More than 5 joints are involved in this type (Ringold et al, 2005). 3. Systemic arthritis: Systemic involvement is predominant in this type and presents as fever, generalised rash and inflammation of various other organs along with arthritis. 10- 20 percent cases of juvenile idiopathic arthritis present with systemic involvement (Ringold et al, 2005). 4. Enthesitis-related

Case Study International Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Case Study International Business - Essay Example int in time, the only way of achieving such a goal was to integrate with the market in the same way that IBM was operating within the domestic market. One of the main reasons for why this classical approach was no longer working for IBM as soon as the early 1990s had to do with the fact that the world was becoming increasingly globalized. In addition to the collapse of the Soviet Union, the interaction and integration between economies and business entities throughout the world had been on a dramatic increase; so much so that continuing to operate by the classical model with no longer yield the same level of profitability that IBM had been able to appreciate in the past. Naturally, in order to survive in this new climate change, IBM saw it necessary to integrate a more global Outlook. In much the same way that certain businesses fail due to the fact that they are not able to change with the times, IBM’s on the necessity of change and instantly integrated with it so that the risk of not changing could be ameliorated. The first and most obvious strategic advantage to IBM of globally integrating its strategy has to do with the fact that it will be able to take advantage of the unique aspects that certain markets exhibit. For instance, within China, a relatively low cost level of production has been established. By means of comparison and contrast, expertise and development has been created within India. By utilizing these unique realities within the global market, IBM’s strategy can be more closely honed to the expertise that it can draw from as well as the unique dynamics and demands of its consumer base. From an analysis of the framework, it is clear and apparent that IBM is wholeheartedly pursuing a level of diversification, change, globalization, and development. Even though the industry could clearly be categorized as an established firm that has been able to accrue a wide level of profitability from various consumers in the past, it understood the fact

Money supply Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Money supply - Essay Example Money can be held in three common forms; paper money, metallic coins and money deposits to banks. Measurement of money supply is a critical act and various ways have been developed by economists to measure the level of money supply in the economy. The high-powered money multiplier approach is an approach that considers the level of bank deposits by the private sector while determining money supply (Werner, 2005). According to this approach, the level of cash deposits held by the bank plays the major role in determining money supply. High-powered money multiplier approach to credit creation The high-powered money multiplier is denoted by the letter ‘H’ and is measured in terms of the summation of notes and coins held by the common population (C) and notes and coins held by the banks plus deposits maintained by banks at the central bank (R). The mathematical formula for the stock of high-powered money: H = C + R The level of money supply (M.S.) in an economy is measured by : M.S. = C + D; where C denotes notes and coins held by the common population and D denotes bank deposits made by private individuals or agents (D'Souza, 2009). We can represent money supply in terms of the stock of high-powered money (denoted by ‘H’) and the high-powered money multiplier (denoted by ‘h’). The formula for high-powered money multiplier can be derived from the formula for the stock of high-powered money and the high-powered money multiplier (D'Souza, 2009). M.S. = C + D -----------(1) H = C + R ------------(2) On dividing equation (1) by equation (2) we get equation (3): On dividing the numerator and denominator of the right hand side of equation (3) by D we get: Or, Or, Or, M.S. = h* H (7) Where, Therefore, M.S. = h* H, i.e, the level of money supply in the economy is the product of the high-powered money multiplier (h) and the stock of high-powered money (H) (D'Souza, 2009). A number of assumptions are made prior to the development this mod el measuring money supply. These assumptions have been described below: Firstly, the stock of high-powered money (H) is considered as exogenously determined. It is not dependent on the functioning of the market forces. Secondly, C/D ratio is either a constant or is stable and predictable. If the rates of return on these investments remain constant, then the ratio of C/D would also remain constant. However, in reality, bank deposits offer interest rates whereas cash holding does not. Therefore, households as well as firms would be interested to make more deposits than hold liquid money. Thus, the C/D ratio is not a constant, but, is predictable. Sometimes the C/D ratio becomes unstable and unpredictable due to changes in financial culture of the economy or high end technological innovations and changing trend in spending methods towards use of plastic money (mostly due to technological advancements) leafing to a fall in C/D ratio or lack of confidence on the banking system in the eco nomy leading to an increase in liquid money holding and a subsequent rise in C/D ratio. The final assumption is related to the R/D ratio. It is the ratio of the reserves held by the banks at the Central bank and the liabilities of the bank and is considered as stable and predictable. The banks often try to keep a high reserve with the central bank by acting in a risk-averse manner in order to protect itself in a situation of large sudden withdrawals by depositors. However, depending on the rate of interest, banks decide the amount of money they would hold as interest bearing asset and the amount they would hold as reserves (earning no interest). The stock of high powered money also changes due to the change in government policies or total liabilities of the central bank and daily operations of the central banks. Change in high powered money is denoted by ?H. The value of ?H is given by the following equation: Or, ?H = DEF – ?GD + ET + MMA Where, Budget deficit (DEF), net sale s of

Cultural Experience Essay Example for Free

Cultural Experience Essay 1. The museum I visited was the Smithsonian mem  orial holocaust museum in DC. http://www.ushmm.org/ 2. The museum had very informational facts of the challenges faced for victims of the holocaust. There are many educational pieces all throughout the museum. 3. Upon entering the holocaust museum, you will notice the dim lights and eerie sounds coming from the speaker. Also, the walkway is actually a timeline beginning with WWI. There are many artifacts of victims on display. 4. Walking through the museum, I felt a lot of remorse and emotions for the victims of the Holocaust. The most influential moment of the tour is a pile of shoes worn by the victims. The shoe pile is stacked very high and ranges in many sizes. I was emotional of the encounter because it showed me a real example of men, women, and children innocently killed for a radical idea. 5. During week two of our class, we had read about the differences of religion and the culture it brings. We also discussed about the challenges people would face based on their religion. I think this tie in with my topic for this report. The challenge Jews had faced during the holocaust had left an imprint in history. They were out casted in most of central Europe during the Nazi rule. I also believe that the Holocaust ties in with the discussion of humanities because it is a life lesson that had a major impact in history. It has taught us the significance of what a radical idea can do and how it affects people. 6. Here is a link to the â€Å"ID cards† used in the museum but can also be found online. http://www.ushmm.org/remember/id-cards Collection of shoes found in the Smithsonian Holocaust Museum. 7. This experience had really affected my feelings toward genocide victims. I felt lots of remorse and sadness for the people who had to endure the pains of the holocaust. With this experience, I view the human culture of the past to be different of todays. I believe as time progresses, and the learning of past mistakes, we try to and become more positive of ethics. 8. Although this experience does not directly affect me, I understand more of what is going on around the world. My experience here as opened my eyes to genocide and the horrid effects of what it can do to a population. During WWI and WWII, there were many deaths because of a radical ideological man, Adolf Hitler. He was the supreme leader of the Nazi forces and had envisioned to rule the world. Aside from the deaths of combat, there was a mass genocide of innocent Jews which accounted for more than five million deaths. Many of the victims ranged from the youngest to the eldest with executions of the most horrid way imaginable. Many Holocaust memorials were built around the world to remind people of the cruel event to which the Jews had to endure. My experience in the Smithsonian Holocaust Museum was very interesting. I have only heard of the Holocaust in grade school and textbooks. However coming here, I was hit with a big impact of emotions from the display of antiques from the victim. In the museum there are authentic photograph and artifacts used and worn by Jews during the genocide. With tons of information and videos, I felt like I understood more and more the anguish the victims had to endure. I also learned of the torture devices used by soldiers to kill the victims. Cold blooded methods such as gas chambers, fire pits, and death squads are only a few of the many tactics used during the mass genocide. Walking through the museum, I found the most influential section to be a room filled with old shoes piled high. I was particularly focused on it because the shoes were worn and used by actual victims in concentration camps. The shoes were collected after the executions and were reissued to other prisoners who would cycle through. It was a hard sight to see because some of the shoes had dried blood which signified the torture they had gone through. I was literally speechless with  the sight. Genocides are still happening today all over the world. Although the ban of genocide is an international law created by the Geneva Convention, mass killings have since continued after the holocaust. The most notable places are in rural Africa. Many victims are living in constant fear because of their belief in their religion.

The Invisible Poor Essay Example for Free

The Invisible Poor Essay There have been many writers, columnists, politicians, sociologists and economists who have written about the concept of poverty in the United States. Though their views often differ as to the causes, and solutions, the underlying commonality between all of those who have written about this issue remains that the current state of the American public is poorer than it has been in decades. The comparison of the following writers enables a reader to gain perspective on issues such as this. The ways in which different writers address, define, and respond to issues such as poverty, can allow for a reader to find their own understanding of the issue – as well as its possible cure.    The following paper will seek to examine the lives of the invisible poor, the sociology behind such a society and at the end of the paper give a suggestion as to how poverty can be cured.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Margaret Andersen, Eugene Lewit, and James Fallows address the issue in differing ways – however with much the same message. There is a problem with poverty in the United States. The concepts of the â€Å"working poor† the â€Å"disenfranchised† as well as the general â€Å"impoverished† peoples of the United States are growing.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   According to Andersen, the main problem is rooted in the residual effects of the pre-Civil Rights era. The accumulation of wealth over time, through inheritance and long term investment is lost on the groups which have been discriminated against since the dawn of the Untied States. Andersen states that â€Å"racial exclusion in lending, housing segregation, and historical patterns of discrimination have created significant differences in the contemporary class standing of blacks and whites†. (Andersen 184) This racial disparity was not limited to black and poor whites; it also included Hispanics and Asian-Americans. (Anderson 185) In the inequality involved in poor women in the workforce there is a sociological view of how this inequality is categorized:   Kinglsey Davis and Wilbert Moore gave sociology the theory of functionalism.   This theory states that every society separates its products, its money, and its services on the grounds of job difficulty and relevance to a society, or on the function that a specific job provides more for a society.   Due to a job and what gender performs that job function being more important to society or more functional, then society is willing to play the stratification game.   Since these functional jobs and the difference between the assumed capabilities of men or women performing them there is also stratification in monetary reward.    Society has a top echelon of jobs which they consider able to be filled only by a man or only by a women: The lower rung of this system includes mostly the feminine persuasion.   Functionalism fully believes in the rat race of society and exemplifies it through the power elite system and through gender inequality.   Functionalism states that there are critical jobs, ones so important to society (like saving a life) that the measurement of that person’s importance has to be reflected monetarily.   Functionalist expresses inequality through the bases of the nature of the occupational system.   As Davis and Moore state, â€Å"Social inequality is thus an unconsciously evolved device by which societies insure that the most important positions are conscientiously filled by the more qualified persons†(Baldridge, 158).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   With this reality it becomes increasingly clear that women are being discriminated against in the workforce, but more so if they are mothers.   Just because families, or single mothers are moving from welfare to work does not mean that they are above the poverty line.   Although earnings are seemingly increasing mothers who try to live on minimum wage cannot support a family of even one child. In the late 1990s, the study shows, families headed by working single mothers experienced rising earnings due to the strong economy, work supports like the Earned Income Tax Credit and child care, and a reformed welfare system. Yet these increased earnings were fully offset by a decline in the benefits that government safety net programs provide, leaving these families no better off as a group and pushing those who remained poor deeper into poverty (CBPP 2001). The rise in crime, increased rates of teenage pregnancy, drug use and the increased numbers of children and adults on government assistance are all attributed to the decline of the American family – according to Popenoe. However, his assertions lacked any empirical support. This issue was taken up by Sharon Houseknecht and Jaya Sastry in 1996. The study conducted by the research team looked at the state of the family unit, and sought to find whether the â€Å"decline† that Popenoe described was evident or not (Houseknecht 1996). The model that the research team used was based on Popenoe’s assertions that those family unites that are furthest away from the â€Å"traditional† view of family are â€Å"more in decline†. The group took samples from four countries, Sweden, the United Stated, former West Germany, and Italy. Looking at non-marital birthrates, divorce rates, crime rates and child-wellbeing, the group found that, according to Popenoe’s model, Sweden had the greatest decline in the family unit – followed by the United States in second. The problem that Andersen addresses is further exacerbated by the decline in â€Å"real wages over the period from the 1970s to the late 1990s†. (Anderson 185) The fall in the value of the American dollar, coupled with the increased inflation meant that a worker making the median wage in 1989 made $13.22 an hour; however by 1997 that same level wage was only worth $12.63. (Anderson 185) The lower 80% of wage earners suffered more with a loss of 6.7% of their total wage power.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Eugene Lewit addresses the issue of poverty by writing about the number of children living in poverty. Lewit begins his appeal against the growing problem by noting that in 1991 there were 13.7 million children living in poverty in the Untied States – a number that included an increase of nearly one million from the previous year. (Lewit 176) Lewit also noted that the total number of Americans living in poverty in 1991 was over 35 million people – more than 10% of the total population.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The next issue that Lewit addresses is the number of problems faced by the impoverished children in comparison to their affluent counterparts. According to Lewit, â€Å"poor children face increased risk of death, infectious and chronic illness, and injury from accidents and violence†. (Lewit 176) These children also tend to live in conditions which are filled with violence, deteriorating housing, and disrupted living conditions – which increase the likelihood of depression, low self-confidence, and conflict with peers and authority figures. (Lewit 176)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Lewit also bring attention to the problems in the definition of poverty. The federal thresholds which define poverty according to income, family size and location, suffer from, according to Lewit, â€Å"inadequate adjustments for changing consumption patterns, inflation, and differing family sizes and structures†. (Lewit 177) Lewit also states that the poverty guidelines fail to â€Å"account for the substantial geographic variation in the cost of living†. (Lewit 177)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Like Andersen, Lewit addresses the â€Å"poverty gap†. According to Lewit, the amount by which the total poverty gap resided upon in 1991 was $37.2 billion. This meant that the lowest portions of the population of the United States were making nearly forty billion dollars less than the federal poverty level. This gap has long reaching repercussions, as these members of society also, as Lewit stated before, are more likely to become ill, injured or involved in violence – which amounts to a further burden on the overall economy and social standing of any given area.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Fallows describes the technology boom of the early 1990s as â€Å"the same disproportionate, commanding-heights effect on todays culture as Wall Streets takeover-and-junk-bond complex had 15 years ago, and as the biotech-financial complex presumably will 15 years from now† – and it grants large fortunes to small groups of people, many of whom began in lower or middle class families. The boom took people who were living as, or at least identifying with the impoverished members of American society and catapulted them into the ultra-elite – amassing fortunes which often topped 100 million dollars.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Between these three writers, there is a common thread of though – the poor are getting poorer. This fact is made worse by the disconnection of the wealthy and the poor. This disconnection is caused by the growing gap between the haves, and the have-nots. This gap increases the burden on the poor, mentally, as well as increases the difficulty in finding ways to remedy the causes of the vast amounts of poverty in the Untied States.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Fallows ended his article with the realization that problems, like poverty, â€Å"are one thing when considered abstractly – â€Å"poverty, inequality, racism, problems stated as if they were debate topics. They can be altogether different when connected with human beings real or fictional†. This is true in the fact that all too often the only time poverty is truly addressed in a forum which can eliminate it is during election campaigns – and then only until that election is won. Experiment   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In order to better provide housing, jobs, healthcare, etc. to the invisible poor the following experiment should be considered.   Take two groups of poor families; one as control, the other as a variable.   The control family will continue working the system for government aid, or living according to how they have always been living.   The second family, the variable family, will be given three items: a new housing unit (in a different part of the city or in the suburb), $2,500 for beginning expenses and getting out of debt expenses (with a one time meeting with a financial advisor), and a job interview for a qualifying job for each capable working member of the family.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The experiment will take place over a two year period, with updates on the family the first month, the third month, the sixth month, one year, one year and six months, and two years.   The elements of the experiment which will arise are amount of debt, if any family member has gone to college, where family members are in their schooling (i.e. grades, extra curricular activities, etc), how the jobs are going, if they’ve advanced, if they’ve maintained their job or gotten hired at a different place for a higher payer job, and finally their finances will be looked at.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The differences between these two families will be the backdrop to how, with a little bit of help, a family can overcome poverty.   The control group will give a recognition to how a family will continue to struggle without any help, or with the same maintenance from the government which they are already receiving.   The contrast of these two families, will hopefully, allow for a way in which other government programs can better assist getting rid of the invisible poor, and to strike a balance of wealth and financial freedom for families.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This experiment will seek to prove that the invisible poor is a great problem that needs to have an immediate solution.   The poor across the world is only increasing and it is with this experiment that a way in which to curtail poverty and give families and individuals hope to an economically fruitful future is found. WORKS CITED Andersen, Margaret. â€Å"Restructuring for Whom? Race, Class, Gender, and the Ideology   of  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Invisibility†. Sociological   Forum. Vol. 16, No. 2. June 2001. p. 181-201. Baldridge, J. Victor.   â€Å"Sociology: A Critical Approach to Power, Conflict, and Change.†Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   John  Ã‚  Ã‚   Wiley Sons, Inc. 1975. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP).   â€Å"Poverty Rate Among Working Single Mother   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Families Remained Stagnant in Late 1990’s Despite Strong Economy†.   (Online).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Available: http://www.cbpp.org/8-16-01wel-pr.htm. Fallows, James. â€Å"The Invisible Poor†. The New York Times   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Magazine. March 20, 2000. Date of  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Access: March 3, 2008.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   URL:    http://www.courses.psu.edu/hd_fs/hd_fs597_rxj9/invisible_po  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   or.htm Houseknecht, Sharon; Sastry, Jaya. â€Å"Family â€Å"Decline† and Child Well-Being: A Comparative  Ã‚   Assessment. Journal of Marriage and the Family. 58 (3) (1996). Pp.726—739. Lewit, Eugene M. â€Å"Children in Poverty†. The Future of Children.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Vol. 3, No. 1.   Spring 1993.  Ã‚   p. 176-182.

Non Financial Performance Measures: Summary and Analysis

Non Financial Performance Measures: Summary and Analysis Total quality management and non financial performance measures In order to answer the first, fundamental, question of using non financial performance measure: why should companies use non-financial reporting, it is necessary to look at the relationship between market value and book value. The market value of a company reflects the investors’ perception of the company’s present, and future, value, as manifested by stock prices. The book value, on the other hand, reflects the value of the company as reported in the official balance sheet: assets less liabilities, or net assets. Thus book value represents, in a way, the official company value and is reported to shareholders and the financial community. The market and book values for companies were very close by the end of the 1970s. The picture has, however, changed dramatically, and one estimate from the current level of stock market valuations says that book value now represents on average just around one quarter of the market value (Dutta and Reicheistein, 2005). Other data indicates an even more dramatic change in companies with valuable brands, a reputation for high quality or technical expertise, for example, in individual companies, e.g. Microsoft, the estimated book value portion is around 9%, for SAP around 5%, and for Coca-Cola around 7%. (Daum, 2002) The ratio of book value to market value is often so small that the relevance of the balance sheet to modern has often questionable. It is, of course, crucial to understand the gap between market and book values, as the market value comes from the intangible assets, such as the customer, human resource, partner, and brand assets. In order to understand the gap, there is an ob vious need for relevant and reliable information on these intangible assets, thus non-financial performance measures aim to providing such information to the stakeholders, and in particular, to the present and future investors. Lack of reliable and relevant information on intangible assets implies there is no basis for non-financial reporting, which in turn implies that market values will change over time in a less well-founded way. There is always a certain level of volatility on the stock markets, and the increasing relative importance of intangible, non financial performance measurements that has emerged over the last few decades, in combination with a persistent lack of reliable and relevant information on these assets, and no systematic non-financial reporting, is expected to create an increasing volatility. This is clearly seen, for example, on the trends in the NYSE over the past three decades (Kristensen and Westlund, 2003). It is, naturally, expected that a lack of non financial reporting will imply a significant portion of unnecessary volatility, which is clearly demonstrated by the stock price development for technology stocks (Kristensen and Westlund, 2003). For example, the IT ‘bubble’ to a significant extent was built up by a lack of proper information and analysis of intangible assets in these companies, due to a lack of non financial performance measurement and thus an overvaluing of intangible technology assets, such as AOL’s telecommunications distribution networks at the time of the AOL-Time Warner merger (The Economist, 2002). It is clear that this demonstrates a malfunctioning of the capital markets, causing significant negative consequences by destroying values in the short term, as well as long term. As such, the main purpose of non financial performance measurement is to provide the market investors and analysts with information to verify the present and expected future value of a company. Ultimately, the process of verifying the market value at a certain time will then be more fact based, thus reducing the unnecessary price volatility. In order to accurately achieve this, the key predictors of a company’s future financial performance: revenue, profits and market share, are crucial. Most recent research identifies these predictors as being primarily intangibles, non financial assets, thus explaining why market value today is basically determined by intangible assets. (Kristensen and Westlund, 2003) In particular, indicators related to the customer asset: the size and ‘quality’ of the customer base, the human capital, the brand assets, the value of corporate citizenship, and the firms product quality and expertise, will dominate. If such an indicator is a reas onably stable, strong and sustainable predictor of future financial performance, it should be called a ‘Value Driver’ (Kristensen and Westlund, 2003). Non-financial reporting aims at disclosing information on value drivers, which must be operationalised and transparent and, ideally, verifiable according to new accounting standards in order to become true non financial performance measures. Total quality management (TQM) practices have been implemented by firms interested in enhancing their survival prospects by including quality and continuous improvement in their strategic priorities. As such, they often have to be measured using both financial and non financial measures, as the expertise and cultural aspects of the TQM process are often difficult to measure by purely quantitative, financial means. One of the key measures of the success of TQM is the balanced scorecard (BSC) approach, which appraises both the four key dimensions of firm performance: customers, financial, learning and growth, and also the internal business processes. The main advantage of this is that TQM does not consider employee satisfaction in its search for continuous improvement, but the BSC does consider employee satisfaction. (Hoque, 2003) Therefore, by adopting a BSC a firm that has adopted TQM will overcome this oversight which will in turn increase employee satisfaction and subsequently firm performance. Indeed, in the modern business context, employee satisfaction is key to firm performance, and so the BSC is an important non financial performance measure. TQM’s relentless pursuit of quality demands that firms identify all non-value adding waste in the manufacturing process and implement procedures to eliminate, or at least reduce, such activities. This implies better production planning to limit over-production and excessive inventory and improved product and plant design to eliminate wasteful movement and handling. (Smith, 1997) Substandard items must be eliminated and a changed attitude reinforced which is customer-focused and adopts ‘the next person on the production line is my customer’ approach (Hoque, 2003). The cost of quality is a potentially important component of management accounting systems which may facilitate the implementation of total quality management, despite being difficult to measure in absolute financial terms. The costs of prevention, appraisal and failure are all aspects of the cost of quality, and it is often necessary to use non financial performance measures to assess these. Prevention costs include the costs of plant, product and process planning, preventive maintenance, training and the implementation of statistical process control systems, and appraisal costs include the costs of inspection and testing of both incoming and outgoing materials, and the cost of maintaining and administering appraisal systems and equipment, both of which can be measure financially However, whilst failure costs include, at the internal level, the financial costs of scrap, rework, redesign and safety stocks necessary to provide a buffer against such failure; at the external level they include losses associated with customers, goodwill and reputation, all of which require non financial performance measurements. Analysis of the costs of external failure is increasingly becoming the focus of attention in this area, reflecting the current trend towards increasing customer orientation of management accounting. (Smith, 1997) Quality considerations also extend beyond those focused on the difficult ‘cost of quality’ question, and non financial reporting is useful in providing measures of other aspects of quality, such as the quality of purchased components, equipment failure and maintenance efforts. As a result, it is necessary for TQM practitioners to consider the relationship between the types of targets or benchmarks used in the two main contrasting performance improvement strategies continuous improvement and radical change. (Johnston et al, 2001) hypothesised that the process of target setting and the reward structures adopted would be different between the two strategies, proposing that organisations involved in continuous improvement of a process will base their performance targets on past performance and internal benchmarking, arrived at through consultation and with a mixture of financial and non-financial measurements of targets. However, for processes involving radical change, targets will be based on external benchmarks imposed by senior management, with purely financial targets, and financial rewards for their achievement. However, research showed that financial measurement and reward strategies predominated in both improvement strategies, thus implying that the pot ential benefits of adopting process changes are being constrained by only considering the financial side. However, whilst academic research and other research activities among accounting organisations on intangible assets has so far mainly focused on creating awareness of the significant importance of intangibles on future financial performance, to a lesser extent, research has dealt with the serious information deficiencies related to intangible assets (Hothorn et al, 2005). In particular, the research focus seems to have been on studying the dramatic shift in production functions and asset composition of the economy, rather than the underlying problems associated with measuring intangible assets, especially in cases such as Enron, where derivatives were grossly overvalued (Wilson et al, 2003). This research involves a multitude of research activities, including the macroeconomic theory of growth, as well as empirical studies on individual companies. The growing importance of intangible assets has already been demonstrated, and one rationale behind this development is the fact that the annual United States investments in intangible assets are of approximately the same magnitude as investments in physical assets: approximately $1.2 trillion (Lev, 2001). These activities have clearly led to a rather general acceptance that traditional, financial, accounting-based, information systems fail to provide investors and policy makers with insights on the impact on the economy from intangibles. This is of increasing importance, given that the volatility of stock prices is becoming abnormally high, and this raises many serious consequences, including systematic inefficiency in managerial decisions. The recommendations so far from researchers seem to be voluntary disclosure of information on intangibles, and indeed, some companies now report externally on various aspects of intangible assets, but this happens in a very non-standardised way and seems to be of limited value for investors’ decisions. Consultants, in particular linked to the accounting industry, are empirically analysing causes and consequences of investments in intangible assets, but this research provides only marginal guidelines in identifying best practice for non financial reporting (Kristensen and Westlund, 2003) Different suggestions have been presented by researchers to identify the new research agenda to understand better and manage intangible assets, with Lev (2001), for example, suggesting a focus on research related to organizational structures. The obviously incorrect validation of intangible assets in the cases of Enron and WorldCom (The Economist, 2002), shows that another focus of research mus t be to identify best practice methodology to measure intangible assets, and to measure the main intangible value drivers for future financial performance. Indeed, the sustainability of non financial reporting is completely dependent on how it will be accepted by the stakeholders of the business community: investors, analysts, customers, boards, management, employees, the accounting profession, etc This, in turn, completely depends on the ability and willingness by the accountants to provide a formal verification of the process to generate information, as well as on the information itself. Finally, this in turn depends on the quality of the information: â€Å"Companies must start by first identifying their true value drivers both financial and non-financial within the context of their business model, and by ensuring they have defined the right metrics as well as the measurement methodologies and systems to capture the right information for internal management† (PriceWaterhouseCoopers, 2001). Recognising that the treatment of non financial performance is a key current issue in accountancy, accounting associations have already identified a number of criteria and principles to secure and describe the quality of non-financial information. This process, however, appears far from being finalised, and in particular lacks a focus on the statistical characteristics of the information, and there is also a need for further operationalisation and transparency of the quality principles (Lev, 2001) As a general principle, any verification process should verify that non-financial reporting includes the right choice of information, has the necessary degree of relevance, and that the information provided has a reasonable level of reliability. If these three requirements are not sufficiently fulfilled there is unlikely to be a sustainable future for non financial performance measurement, in TQM or any other business aspect. Further to this, information that does not say anything or very little about future financial performance should not be included in non-financial reporting. All the included information must manifest the so called Value Drivers (Kristensen and Westlund, 2003) and such value drivers should be either directly linked to future financial data, or they could be indirectly linked, through a direct value driver. Thus, relevance should be defined by the existence of verified links to future financial numbers; however this raises a number of pertinent questions to be answered by the accounting profession. Mainly, they would need to decide which financial criteria should primarily be considered to secure relevance; and which future time period is of interest to investors. For the moment, it is probably worthwhile to have a very broad scope here, as this would mean that any financial information of interest could be used and, in addition, the future time period is defined in a very generic way. Of course, it is much more difficult to verify links to financial numbers if the lead time is substantial, and so care should be taken that the data will have a recognised financial impact within a reasonably short period of time. Indeed, whatever financial criterion and time period is chosen, it is crucial to be able to verify a strong enough and stable likely future financial impact from the non financial data. In order to better, and more accountably, measure this, such impacts should be statistically significant according to a standard statistical measurement, written into the accounting standards. However, the question that remains is still whether impacts should also exceed a certain financial level, as well as a statistical level, in order to qualify as a significant non financial value driver. In this context, it is also difficult to decide whether these qualifying criteria should also involve the extent to which a value driver will explain any likely variation in the future financial criterion. There are many potential principles to be found in information theory and statistics that might be used here, such as direct explanatory power (Kristensen and Westlund, 2003), but unfortunately the requirement levels necessary to use these principles are not very easy to determine, and could be open to abuse. In summary, in almost all modern industries, the book value of a company does not reflect the actual market value of the company, due to the increasing importance of branding, technology, knowledge and reputation. Whilst the market and book values were still very close at the end of the 1970s, since then the picture has changed dramatically, with estimates stating that book value now represents just one quarter of the market value. As a result, it is reasonable to conclude that the measurement of intangible, non financial factors is now roughly three times as important to investors as the measurement of financially measured, tangible assets. As the market value comes from intangible assets, like the customer, human resource, partner and brand assets, in order to understand the gap there is an obvious need for relevant and reliable information on these intangible assets, which is best provided by non financial performance measures. In the context of TQM, a large portion of the process improvements seen due to TQM initiatives will not have a definite financial effect; rather they will improve a product’s attractiveness to customers, or improve the efficiency of a firm’s processes. As a result, their primary impact will be difficult to measure by financial measures, and so non financial performance measures will be most relevant. From this, it follows that the accountancy profession needs a new reporting system and also need to define a best practice of measurement for these non financial performance measures, in order to reflect the true value of initiatives such as TQM. This system has a number of requirements, including causality, standardisation, relevance or link to financial results and reliability. The prevailing opinion appears to be that it is time that new reporting systems are introduced and implemented, as the discrepancy between the importance of intangibles and the ability to account for these types of assets constitutes a growing challenge for companies, investors and for society in general. The relevant people, including academics, managers, accountants, practitioners and auditors, should thus come together and formulate a new charter for future reporting of non financial performance measures. References: Daum, J. H. (2002) Intangible Assets or the Art to Create Value Wiley. Dutta, S. and Reicheistein, S. (2005) Stock Price, Earnings, and Book Value in Managerial Performance Measures. Accounting Review; Vol. 80, Issue 4, p. 1069. Hoque, Z. (2003) Total Quality Management and the Balanced Scorecard Approach: A Critical Analysis of their Potential Relationships and Directions for Research. Critical Perspectives on Accounting; Vol. 14, Issue 5, p. 553. Hothorn, T. Leisch, F. Zeileis, A. and Hornik, K. (2005) The Design and Analysis of Benchmark Experiments. Journal of Computational Graphical Statistics; Vol. 14, Issue 3, p. 675. Johnston, R. Fitzgerald, L. Markou, E. and Brignall, S. (2001) Target setting for evolutionary and revolutionary process change. International Journal of Operations Production Management; Vol. 21, Issue 11, p. 1387. Kristensen, K. and Westlund, A. H. (2003) Valid and reliable measurements for sustainable non-financial reporting. Total Quality Management and Business Excellence; Vol. 14, Issue 2, p. 161 Lev, B. (2001) Intangibles: Management, Measurements and Reporting Brookings Institution Press. PriceWaterhouseCoopers (2002) Value reporting, Forecast 2002 Bringing Information out into the Open. Smith, M. (1997) Putting NFIs to work in a balanced scorecard environment. Management Accounting: Magazine for Chartered Management Accountants; Vol. 75, Issue 3, p. 32. The Economist (2002) A steal? Vol. 365, Issue 8296, p. 57. Wilson, A. Key, K. G. and Clark, R. L. (2003) Enron: An In-Depth Analysis Of The Hedging Schemes. Journal of Applied Business Research; Vol. 19, Issue 4, p. 15.

The Great Gatsby :: Essays Papers

The Great Gatsby Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was influenced by eastern society during the roaring 20’s. He portrays his knowledge of eastern morality in the novel The Great Gatsby. In The Great Gatsby the corruptive effect of wealth is the cause of the most conflict regarding the morals of Nick Caraway and the morals of Daisy and Tom Buchanan, Jordan Baker, and Jay Gatsby. Daisy Buchanan has a very little moral value for herself and others. She is very careless. These low morals show throughout many parts in the story. For instance, her attitude toward Jay Gatsby – she doesn’t want him for what he is, but for the superficial illusion of what he is. The ultimate act of carelessness by Daisy, however, is the violent death of Myrtle. Daisy never thought twice about the night she hit Myrtle with the car, and never looked back. She never even bothered to tell Tom the truth that she was driving the car, not Gatsby. They move away before Gatsby is even dead. Tom Buchanan is so much like Daisy, which is why they will never be separated from each other. Tom Buchanan’s outlook is much like Daisy’s, Tom cares only for himself. Tom believes that cheating on his wife is perfectly normal. This is a very prominent example of Tom Buchanan’s low Morals. Tom views Daisy as a possession rather than a person. Tom did not marry Daisy because he loved her. He married her for her beauty, as a prize, to show that he had the best of everything. The low morals of Jordan Baker are what hurt Nick the most. Although Nick realizes he will never be with Jordan, he still has his hopes. He knows that Jordan’s â€Å"wealthy morals† will not allow this. Jordan can never be with Nick simply because she is rich and Nick doesn’t have money. Rich girls don’t marry poor boys. Jay Gatsby’s actions conflict with his morals. Gatsby’s fortune did not come from â€Å"old money.† Most of his fortune was obtained trough illegal activities. This conflicts with how Jay portrays his morals. He portrays himself as being morally sound, but throughout the book Nick can sense the reality of Gatsby. Gatsby’s affair with Daisy also conflicts heavily with his moral values. He feels he is doing the right thing, but at the same time he feels guilty about what he is doing.

The Soldier :: essays research papers

Travis was a quite a bit older than the other soldiers who enlisted for service during World War 11. He was in his early thirties, but most of the soldiers were in their late teens or early twenties. Travis had been working since he was a boy, so he felt that he knew something about how the world worked. He enlisted because he not only felt it was his duty to do so, but he also was looking for adventure. He was a tall, friendly man, with a booming voice and a good sense of humor. Soon, the younger soldiers were coming to him for advice or just to talk about how homesick they were. When his platoon needed a leader, Travis was chosen.It wasn’t long before Travis’s unit was shipped overseas. They eventually wound up on an island in the Pacific, far different from any place that the soldiers had ever seen. Snakes, monkeys, and bugs were everywhere, and the heat was almost unbearable. Many of the men quickly became sick, but their biggest problem was the enemy fire that con stantly surround them. Travis had been looking for adventure, but he had to admit that this was not the kind of adventure he had hoped for. Still, he found himself doing things he never thought he would or could do : bandaging wounds, planning attack strategies, thinking up camouflage ideas, and even writing letters home for the wounded soldiers. He knew that the men in his platoon trusted him and relied on him, and he was determined not to let them down.Travis served nearly four years in the army, all during World War 11. When he finally returned home, he was welcomed with great excitement and joy by his family and friends. Travis was glad to be home, of course, but he knew he was not the same person who set out adventure years before. The Soldier :: essays research papers Travis was a quite a bit older than the other soldiers who enlisted for service during World War 11. He was in his early thirties, but most of the soldiers were in their late teens or early twenties. Travis had been working since he was a boy, so he felt that he knew something about how the world worked. He enlisted because he not only felt it was his duty to do so, but he also was looking for adventure. He was a tall, friendly man, with a booming voice and a good sense of humor. Soon, the younger soldiers were coming to him for advice or just to talk about how homesick they were. When his platoon needed a leader, Travis was chosen.It wasn’t long before Travis’s unit was shipped overseas. They eventually wound up on an island in the Pacific, far different from any place that the soldiers had ever seen. Snakes, monkeys, and bugs were everywhere, and the heat was almost unbearable. Many of the men quickly became sick, but their biggest problem was the enemy fire that con stantly surround them. Travis had been looking for adventure, but he had to admit that this was not the kind of adventure he had hoped for. Still, he found himself doing things he never thought he would or could do : bandaging wounds, planning attack strategies, thinking up camouflage ideas, and even writing letters home for the wounded soldiers. He knew that the men in his platoon trusted him and relied on him, and he was determined not to let them down.Travis served nearly four years in the army, all during World War 11. When he finally returned home, he was welcomed with great excitement and joy by his family and friends. Travis was glad to be home, of course, but he knew he was not the same person who set out adventure years before.

Matelda ?a Lady Moved by Love? :: essays research papers

In Dante’s Divina Commedia, he takes on a journey with unforgettable characters, from the poets from antiquity, demons, giants, and finally too famous saints. Dante’s and the character interaction with them are what make this story. They are the legs on which this work was able to stand for so many years as a masterpiece. It was the characters that I most enjoyed it this work, you find yourself loving and hating the different shades you meet during Hell, the penitents of Purgatory and the saints of Heaven. The most developed characters we find in Commedia are Dante, Virgil and Beatrice. Yet there are several minor characters that if one looks more closely are just as interesting as our main stars. One such minor character is my favorite Matelda, and also a perfect example of Dante’s brilliance in characterization.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Matelda is a minor guide that helps Dante after Virgil disappears, and until Beatrice takes him to heaven (Cantos XXVIII- XXXIII). Although Matelda may look like a plain old static-stock character , her motives are pure, her actions consistent and she is plausible as a guardian angel type whose actions are moved by the Divine love in her. Dante the Character at this point in the story is about to leave the world literally and to meet his love Beatrice (who actually yells at him for his sin, before taking him to heaven). He has been left by his faithful guide, Virgil (which he doesn’t even notice at first has been gone for a few cantos) and finds himself in the hand of a loving and beautiful hands of Matelda.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Matelda is a perfect guardian angel for Dante at this point in his journey, and faithful to helping him during this transition. Are her actions consistent? Yes. all are in line with Divine Love. We see this trough her actions. We first meet her she is the lovely creature that resides in the Garden of Eden. At Dante’s request she explains all of his questions. She guides him through the Garden and then washes him clean and helps him to drink from the rivers of memories, all after he gets reprimanded by Beatrice. All this is done out of Love, for it is ultimately Divine Love that motivates her, motives that are pure in guiding her charge. For example â€Å"Why are you so intent on looking only at those living lights? Have you no wish to see what comes behind?† This encouragement will help Dante to move forward to his goal. Yet I think it’s her purity of motives that make her a static character because

Genetically Modified Foods Should Be Promoted Essay

Thank you members of the FDA for letting me speak today regarding the morality of genetically modified foods. Different bioengineering, better known as genetically modified, methods have been prevalent in modern society for almost half a century. It has allowed scientists to transfer genes that would have never been able to interbreed in nature but with the help from scientists, can breed as naturally (Harvard Law). The technology that describes this is known as biotechnology. When somebody is asked what are they afraid of, a common response might be, â€Å"I’m deathly afraid of spiders† or â€Å"I’m afraid of heights. I can’t look off the edge†. The response that is never heard is the unknown and I believe that â€Å"the unknown† is something that many people are afraid of. The unknown is simply a scary thing because it is impossible to tell the future. People say that cell phones may cause cancer, but in reality, this will not be known for decades and people surely will not stop talking on them. GMF’s scare people because they don’t know what the future holds. The future holds an agricultural revolution that could never have been predicted and will open many doors that were thought to not have existed. The United States federal government should promote the purchasing of genetically modified foods by the public that can be done by educating the public with the benefits of genetically modified foods In a poll done by ABC regarding the skepticism of genetically modified foods, 52% of people believed them to be dangerous and 13% were unsure about them (Poll). The public should not be so confused regarding the safety of the food that they eat on a daily basis. The majority of all cultivated food has been genetically modified in some way by the time of its production (Harvard Law). This means that the public eats genetically modified food every single day without knowing it. If the public was to be better informed about GM foods then they would support them. The public really does not know so much about the technology surrounding bioengineered food. Biotechnology can be defined as the genetic manipulation of organisms for a common goal, in this case, food. Genetic engineers have successfully been able to introduce methods to be able to combine genes of species by selecting certain genetic material from each organism. This results in a new organism that contains traits of both preceding organism (Harvard Law). A solution to the unawareness of the United States’ public would be to advertise the benefits of genetically modified food. If the public were more educated on the topic of genetically modified foods they would support it because the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. The government needs to introduce a series of advertisements regarding GM foods. Every man and woman in this country has the ability to vote for who they want, say what they want, write what they want. Although not written in the constitution, all people are also given the right to eat what they want. Whether cheap, expensive, healthy, or unhealthy, we are all given the choice to make those decisions for ourselves. In a poll done by ABC news asking if people would be more inclined to buy genetically modified food, 57% said they’d be more likely to purchase untouched food (Poll). If the federal government were able to make the public more aware of the advantages of genetically modified foods people would be more inclined to buy them and support the industry. As of now, the public chooses non-GM foods over GM foods. They need to be introduced to the positive aspects of bioengineering. If the federal government wants to revolutionize the agricultural industry, consumers need to be in favor of GM foods. If more than half of the consumers said they’d be less likely to purchase GM foods then how can food companies put GM foods on the shelves of super markets knowing that not enough will be sold? Little does the public know, but about 60-70% of processed foods do contain genetically modified ingredients (Web MD). The FDA states that there is no new safety concerns introduced into the food (Harvard Law). The FDA’s purpose is to deem food safe or dangerous and whether or not the public should be eating it. The FDA constantly argues that there are no safety risks when eating GM Foods. The public needs to trust them on this topic just like they do with all other foods. As previously stated, most people are scared of the unknown, and in order to make this industry a well working one, consumers need to be in favor of genetically modified food. Genetically modified food is safe. People are eating GM food at every meal and there have been no outbreaks of any diseases related to the introduction of GM food. Genetically modified food is the future. In developed countries, crop yield was increased by 6% and in undeveloped countries; crop yield was increased by 29% (Wikipedia). A very well known example of a genetically modified food is golden rice. It was introduced to the world as a solution to the extremity of morbidity from lack of vitamin A, iodine, iron, and zinc. The lack of these fundamental dietary components is the root cause of disease worldwide. Golden rice offers a solution that contains these lacking components. Many things can be made possible in the future with an increase in support for genetically modified food. If scientists were able to create a gene that could be put into all cultivated crops that would allow them to grow throughout the winter, they could end world hunger. World hunger being solved would mean one of the utmost impossible puzzles has been solved. The two things that most people would likely to fix in this world are world peace and an end to hunger worldwide. No this government can’t solve world peace. Yes this government and others do produce enough food to feed the every human on this planet. However, if enough cheaply grown crops were produced throughout the whole year, governments will be more inclined to try to feed the world. With climate change being a really evident effect from global warming, it is nearly impossible to predict what Mother Nature holds in store for mankind. With the technology available, the United States’ government must issue out more patents for scientists to increase and continue the research surrounding GM foods to make them the food of this world. The government should and would only issue out more patents to scientists if the United States’ consumers would buy GM food and support the industry. This is the sole reason that this federal government needs to make aware the public, of the advantages from GM foods.