Langston Hughes Essay

The Harlem Renaissance took place in 1920s to the mid 1930s, it happened in New York City and it was a cultural bloom. The literary and artistic movement spurred a new black cultural identity. The reason why it occurred was because after the civil war the former slaves all went and lived in the same area, and that was the area where people started creating their own art and literary to define who they were. During the Harlem Renaissance the black people had almost no rights in politics and in society with white people. Even though no deference were shown to the black people, heroes and inspirations flourished and all of them were extremely passionate with what they did. One of the most important figures of literary during the Harlem Renaissance was Langston Hughes,(Swisher 1) he was a poet and a story writer. Amongst many works, the two poem Langston Hughes wrote called â€Å"Democracy† and â€Å"My people† received a lot of love and respect from people. James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1902- May 22, 1967) was an American poet and a storywriter. He was born in Joplin, Missouri. He started writing poetry when he started living with his mother around the age of 10 in Ohio. (Langston Hughes 1) His first poetry was â€Å"The negro speaks of rivers† which was published in The Crisis magazine. After dropping out of Columbia in 1922 he traveled around Europe and published more poems. When he came back to America, he met Vachel Lindsay a famous poet that helped promote Hughe’s poetry, which made him more known. Few years after that he not only wrote books and poems, but even plays and lyrics for a Broadway musical, he became the first poet to make a living by writing. Langston Hughes 2) Hughes died from prostate cancer, but not all of him died, he became an inspiration to others and still remains a historical figure of the Harlem Renaissance. â€Å"Democracy† (1949) is a poem about Langston Hughes’s point of view of politics. He had the same views as an average black person living in Harlem. In this poem Hughes stresses the point of freedom as one of the most essential factor a person needs. The main conflict in this poem is that no freedom will come to them. Hughes wrote â€Å"Democracy will not come, Today, this year nor ever† This shows how black people were treated in order for hem to feel this hopeless about their freedom. Hughes also displayed how desperate he was with his freedom, he said â€Å"I have as much right as the other fellow has to stand On my two feet and own the land. † He compares himself to other white people that are free. When he says this he is not representing himself only, but every single African American. The tone of this poem is hopeless. The poem is clear in it’s meaning and straightforward with the ideas, which allows people to picture how it is without fre edom. Hughes uses a metaphor that helps the poem’s tone to stand out more. He uses two metaphor, the first one is â€Å"I cannot live on tomorrow’s bread. † When he says this, he means he cannot live unsure and needs the basic factor that all human beings have, food is the most basic necessity us human beings need in order to survive, one will not be able to survive when they rely on food that will be given to them tomorrow. When he says â€Å"Freedom is a strong seed† he emphasizes that one can only be free when everyone around them is not racist and supportive, and the idea that it will only flourish when the seed is strong enough for the outcome. The tone of seriousness and a few metaphors in addition constructs the poem perfectly. There are two distinct themes in this poem, which is freedom and racism. The clarity of this poem makes it obvious for readers to know his point. He compares himself with others to highlight the fact that he wants equal treatment in his own country, and even uses metaphors to show what freedom means to him. On the other hand, the theme of racism is behind the poem, having knowledge about his biography; readers can clearly understand why Hughes felt this way. The second poem â€Å"My people† was written in 1923. My people is a very short poem that not only expresses his affection for his people but it also has a message of equality. He tries to help people understand that there are a lot of different qualities to black people. â€Å"Beautiful, also, are the souls of my people† (Hughes 1923) By saying this Hughes is describing that his people are not cold, but are also warm like the sun. He also tells the readers that â€Å"Beautiful† can be used to describe a lot of things. In every stanza he has the word â€Å"Beautiful† and they each have a different meaning, for example The night is beautiful† can be describing that black is beautiful, which relates to his people being beautiful, or when he says the â€Å"Stars are beautiful† he means that white is beautiful. The tone of this poem is pride, Langston Hughes being one of the first writer for using his situation (not having rights in anything) as an inspiration. ( Butler 1) His inspiration then guided him to write a poem about his people with pride. He describes them with the nature’s elements and always has a â€Å"My† before people. The imagery that is shown to the readers also helps shine the tone, everything being beautiful and so positive, we can tell that Langston Hughes was definitely a proud person who wasn’t ashamed of where he came from. Speaking positively about â€Å"his people† he conveys a lucid tone throughout this poem. The theme of this poetry is equality. It is obvious when a reader finishes reading the second stanza. Hughes uses metaphor in this poem to show the theme, the first stanza of this poem, he compares â€Å"the night† to the â€Å"faces of my people†, this portrays his thoughts about being black, it is beautiful to Hughes. In the second stanza Hughes compares his people to the stars, this is the controversial stanza because stars are white but in the first stanza he mentioned that black is beautiful too. This just portrays perfectly that color or race didn’t matter, everyone was equal and individuals had bits of each other in themselves. The last stanza when he compares the sun to the souls of his people, he depicts how warm and bright his people are, not dark and evil. More over, if the author did not use any metaphors and was straight forward, it would depict the theme as well as it would have had. This is a beautiful poem that doesn’t question anyone why Langston Hughes was so widely loved. In conclusion, one of the most prominent figures in literacy during the Harlem Renaissance was Langston Hughes, he was a great writer that wrote about various ideas and had a very unique way of thinking. (Butler 1) He is truly an inspiration not only to black people but to everyone, he teaches us that we can convert whatever we have in our mind to assemble a beautiful poetry about his people, or a hopeless poetry about his situation. Hughes still remains a legend in the literacy world and will never be forgotten.

How successful was Alexander II in transforming Russian Society Essay

Despite being donned ‘The Great Reformer’ by various historians, there are two sides to the opinion of Alexander II. Although he emancipated the serfs, brought about military, government, judicial, educational, censorship, economic and church reforms, society was unsatisfied. E. Radzinsky, author of ‘Alexander II: The Last Great Tsar’ suggested that he was ‘two-headed’, with one head for reform, the other for the past, which may be proven in his retracting of reforms due to fear of how much power the people of Russia were acquiring, yet in terms of transforming society, through change and modernising, he was successful. In 1861, just 6 years after coming to power, Alexander II emancipated the serfs. Such an action was revolutionary, yet he was not without his reasons. He assured a group of Moscow noblemen that â€Å"it is better to abolish serfdom from above than to wait for the time when it will begin to abolish itself from below†. The Ukase meant serfs were free men, they could marry, create businesses, have rights and own property without need of approval from the landowner who previously owned them. They could keep the land they previously farmed and the landlords received compensation from the loss of land. This was a huge undertaking, to completely change the Russian system of serfdom, and it brought about enterprise and the seeds of modernisation. Following this reform, Alexander II set out to change even more. Local governments were set up, called the ‘zemstva’, and they could improve public services and administer relief. Towns were now represented by ‘Dumas’ and the electorates understood the town’s issues, so could improve education and local welfare. In the zemstva, liberals were able to discuss the running of the country – a nod towards the western government system. The relaxing of censorship, which had even begun before the emancipation, meant western ideas would spread further. Foreign works were permitted and Russia saw far more books and newspapers published, from a meagre 1836/year in 1,855 to 10,691 in 1964. There were new regulations; no longer did every title of a book need to be checked before being published. Wider reading meant greater education, whilst the emancipation meant that a greater number needed to be educated. The zemstva allowed these educational changes to be funded. Alexander Golovnin was appointed the Minister of Education in 1962, and under him, for the next 15 years education was transformed. In 1970, schools adopted an ‘open for all’ policy. Women and all races could attend secondary school. Between 1856 and 1880, the number of primary schools almost tripled and during the 1870s, the number of students at university did also. The zemstva took over the church’s educational responsibility in 1864, leading to more liberal and modern thinking. The educational reforms lead to all communities being brighter, encouraging further business and free education lead to social mobility and opportunity. The Minister of Internal Affairs, Pyotr Valuev set up the Ecclesiastical Commission in 1862 to investigate church organisation and practise. The church, as a powerful weapon of the government had to retain the loyalty of the people, especially after the abolition of serfdom. In 1868, reforms meant the most talented and educated priests could be promoted within the church, and furthermore, Russia began to accept Polish Catholicism and relaxed her stance on the Jews and promoted the Finnish language. A hugely important reform was economic. After the defeat in the Crimean war, Russia needed to earn back worldwide respect. Mikhail von Reutern, the Minister of Finance from 1862 – 1878 ensured there were taxes, budgets and a watch on government spending. Tax-farming was abolished, whilst banks were allowed credit facilities. Subsidies were spread to encourage the creation of railways and foreign investment in Russia was encouraged. The mining and cotton industries also thrived and national growth did too. This was a big step towards modernisation, exports meant industry and railways meant transport, which also assisted the moving of modern military weapons and soldiers, Russia was moving forward. Ttaxation was fairer now, and that idea of equality spread to the judicial system. In 1864, Dmitrii Zamyatnin modelled a new system on western ideas. There were different types of courts, Volost courts to deal with emancipation, minor offences and the like, with judges who were elected unbiased peasants. The judges were paid more, which meant there was less corruption in the system, and careers in law began to emerge with the greater education system. Open courts meant the public could view sentencing and be deterred from crime, and the press were free to document court cases. Surprisingly, the issue that triggered many reforms such as economic and the emancipation due to the shame in Crimea was the last to be brought about. The military reforms began in 1874, a while after the defeat.. Milyutin, the War Minster, recognised the importance of having a smaller, more professional army as opposed to a large and untrained one. Being in the army was no longer a punishment, and for some a career, as nepotism was stopped by military colleges. The length of service was reduced by 10 years to just 15, and class had nothing to do with whether or not you were conscripted. This all lead to reduced government expenditure on the military, and a small victory against Turkey in 1877. Despite the huge impact of Alexander II’s reforms, they did not all transform society, especially as he withdrew several in years to come. Emancipation did not stop any discontent from the lower classes, as following the Ukase, there were 647 riots in 4 months. Many had less land than before, and were forced to pay ‘redemption payments’ for 49 years at a 6% rate of interest. The nobility were not satisfied either, and by 1905, 50% of the remaining land had been sold, as profits fell. Other reforms were also not without fault. Zemstvas and Dumas never truly had the demands of the peasants fulfilled and they had no greater power. The Provincial Governors, who were appointed by the Tsar, could overrule any decision and by 1914, still only about 60% of provinces had a local government. This caused limitations in all other reforms. The economy remained relatively weak, and despite the open courts in the judicial system, government budgets were definitely not open for public viewing. 66% of government revenue came from indirect taxation and with the changing value of their currency, the rouble; Russia was still not financially stable. The church was certainly not transformed greatly, as if it lost its power, so would the tsar. Clerical poverty was still rife and not all priests were educated. The church still censored media, as did the military and both religious and military courts were not reformed. Unlike the rest of the courts which now had a jury, any political or important crimes were dealt with by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and revolutionaries were still arrested by the Third Section, with peasants still being treated with a degree of inequality in the courts. Educational and Censorship reforms also incited rebellion, with greater opportunity to spread radical ideas or even to spread general intelligence, which meant the government was threatened. The Ministry of Internal Affairs also still held the right to fine and prevent some publications in the media. The Military reforms were not without drawbacks either. Illiterate peasants (of which there were still vast numbers, despite the spread of education) could not benefit from the new training, and officers were still largely the product of nepotism. The army was still in essence peasant conscription and despite the railways, supply was far from perfect, as the trains were slow to develop and spread. Alexander II, the man with whom Queen Victoria herself fell in love with, the ‘tsar liberator’ and the man who transformed a system that had not changed for 300 years was certainly ‘the great reformer’. He revolutionised almost every aspect of Russian society, and despite the fact that it may not have lasted, he still managed to begin modernisation for Russia. He could never satisfy the whole country. Before his death, there were many attempts on his life, and many were close. But he brought about greater equality, rights and hope. He showed the Russian people that change was possible, and strengthened the economy. Even though he grew scared of the nationwide liberation, the Loris-Melikov constitution is proof enough that he didn’t want the country to stay oppressed. Even on the day he was killed, he tried to transform Russia.

Dartmouth Psychiatric Research Center Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Dartmouth Psychiatric Research Center - Essay Example Both men in the vignettes shown exhibit another common trait among the mentally ill: the spiraling of symptoms. They drank to deal with the symptoms of their mental illness, but the symptoms worsened as a result of the alcohol. The first client, although he drank daily, did not drink as severely as he had in the past. He was not completely forthcoming with the interviewer, however, for he admitted that culturally, his family drank to get drunk, but insisted that his drinking was not a problem at the current time. The symptoms of his mental illness were improved due to his medications, though, so he most likely did not use alcohol to control them, at least not as much as he had in the past. He was probably addicted, since he drank to help him sleep at night. The second client used alcohol primarily to deal with the symptoms of his mental illness. His dilemma, however, is common for many clients. He drank to deal with his visual hallucinations, but his paranoia became worse the more he drank. He also watched television to help him ignore the hallucinations. He was also suicidal, and admitted that he drank so much because he hoped that it would kill him. It goes without saying that this man is in great distress. Acton would probably agree that it is likely that this patient also had comorbid disorders; he admitted that he felt anxious due to the paranoia he experienced. Experts in the field of substance abuse treatment have long accepted the importance of treating both substance abuse and mental illness simultaneously. This acceptance has not been as easy for clinicians that primarily treat mental illness, however, and this is apparent in Acton’s article. Fortunately, there has been some recognition in the treatment of mental illness that the taxonomy in the DSM-IV lacks a great deal, and can often be a hindrance in treatment. When a client is dually-diagnosed, for example, what should be treated first? The problem, as Acton seems to

To what extent does inward Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) alleviate Dissertation

To what extent does inward Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) alleviate poverty in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) - Findings and Analysis - Dissertation Example The countries with maximum GDP growth have been identified from the literature review. I have picked out six countries that have the highest GDP growth from among the fifty-two countries in the Sub-Saharan region. Existing literature shows that these six countries have made consistent level of economic activities since the 1960s. This has been validated later on in this research with the help of quantitative analysis made on the data collected. GDP growth rates for Angola, Ethiopia and Uganda cannot be evaluated for the years before 1980s due to lack of availability of data. A significant similarity between Angola, Algeria and Cameroon is that GDP growth for these countries has been very low (Algeria) or negative (Angola and Cameroon) in 1992. HDI for Cameroon has been studied only for the years 1980, 1990, 2000 and 2010 since data for other years are not available. However, for Egypt, Ethiopia and Uganda the GDP growth in 1992 has been positive. Among these countries, Cameroon shows the lowest level of GDP growth. Figure: GDP growth of Cameroon and its level of Human Development Index Yet, to one’s surprise, it is found that the HDI for the country shot up after 2000 and has remained high since then. In fact the HDI has improved for all these countries in the beginning of the twenty first century. ... These factors also help in correlating the drivers of human development, and thus poverty alleviation in these countries. The data shows that the GDP of Egypt shows declining trend after 1998 and that of Uganda falls consistently after 2006. Although, in Egypt, GDP growth reached a local high in 2007, it has been decreasing consistently since then. Figure: GDP growth of Egypt and Uganda This shows that there are certain factors that have affected the overall productivity in these countries. However, surprisingly level of HDI growth has improved in both countries after 2003. Sufficient information for HDI for both Egypt and Uganda has not been available for the years before 1999. Therefore, HDI in the countries during these years could not be compared. Figure: HDI growth of Egypt and Uganda This is a sharp increase and HDI has remained high since then without fluctuating. This reveals that although GDP is commonly considered the measure of growth, for many developing countries it does not reflect the true level of development of the economy. Hence, human development index should be considered while studying the level of economic development for these countries. In the analysis section, I have studied the level of openness to trade of the countries that display the most contrasting features. The contrasting characteristics of the two countries, Uganda and Cameroon, make it important to make an in depth study of the factors affecting the economic activities of these countries. According to the data, level of economic growth in Algeria, as depicted by the GDP growth of the country, has been high since the beginning of the 1960s. Data for HDI is not available for all consecutive years; information regarding HDI

Phase5 IP Markets for Labor Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Phase5 IP Markets for Labor - Essay Example For example, the cost for buying and diagnosing people with obesity and diabetes has reduced significantly because most people are trying to avoid unhealthy food due to higher cost of those foods (Gilman, 2008). The supply of cookbooks will fall/decrease significantly because an increase in tax leads to an increase in the cost of production because raw materials become expensive. This further leads to a decrease in consumption because consumers are rational and their aim is to maximise their utility as well as minimise cost. Therefore, increase in cost of unhealthy food will decrease consumption and supply (Spearman, n.d). Consumers are the ones who pay tax at the end because after the government has increased taxes, tax of certain commodities consumers pay this tax by buying the commodities. In above connection, this method may be good to finance health programs because it help to discourage consumption of unhealthy food which consequently reduces the cost that government incur on h ealth care facilities. This is because the cases of people with diabetes and obesity will reduce significantly. The other tax that government may use to increase revenues include: Income tax, corporate tax, capital gain tax, social security contribution tax, property tax, inheritance tax to mention just but a few. Income tax is levied/applied on individual earrings’ whereby; the state deducts certain amount of income that is within the tax brackets. On the contrary, corporate tax is the one that is levied on the company earnings while capital gain tax is the amount of tax levied on the earnings made after financial securities have been sold. Social security contribution is the amount levied on the amount that people contribute as savings under pension scheme. Property tax might be levied on individuals’ property such as land, real estates, motor vehicle among other non-current assets (Spearman, n.d). Part II Absolute advantage entails the ability of an organisation to produce goods and service more efficiently than its competitors using the same amount of resources as it competitor. An organisation with absolute advantage tends to have the ability to produce goods at a lower cost and later selling them at a profit. For example, if two companies have the same amount of resource but company A can produce 100kgs of wheat while company B can produce 50kgs, then company A may be said to have an absolute advantage over B. Therefore, in this case, the ability of Justcookbooks.com of becoming wildly successful in the United States presents an absolute advantage. On the other hand, comparative advantage entails the ability of a particular organisation to produce goods and services at a lower cost as compared to other firms. For example, if Japan can produce one car at 100 dollar and 1 motor bike at 40 dollars while U.S can produce the same car at 90 dollars and motor bike at 20 dollars then, it may be said that U.S has a comparative advantage of producing cars while Japan has a comparative advantage of producing motor bikes (Mike, 2013). When one focuses at becoming a multinational Corporation, one should be ready to face cultural and ethical issues, legal issues, human resource issues, etiquette and custom issues, political issues to mention just but a few. Cultural issues entail problems that arise due to increase in organisation diversity as a company goes global. Legal issues arise when a company must obey

Company Law case Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Company Law case - Essay Example In addition, a promoter is also expected to disclose any secret profits that he may have made in the process of promoting the company. This is illustrated in the case of Erlanger V New Sombrero Phosphates company limited (1878)2. In this case,Syndicate Erlanger purchased an island that was rich in phosphates at a price of 55,000 pounds; he later promoted a company and sold the sand island to the company he formed at 110,000 pounds which later failed. During the formation of the company, two of the directors were abroad while the rest had been nominated by Erlanger himself. When new directors took over the company, they filed a motion to rescind Erlanger. The court held that no proper disclosure on the sale was made and for this reason the company had a right to rescind the contract. Ricky is the individual who put everything together and saw to Ricky`s footwear becoming a legal company and is therefore the promoter of the company. He sold premises and stock and assets from his former business and made huge profits from the sales. The fiduciary duties that he owes the company would dictate that he discloses these profits. He however did not disclose them to either the members of an independent board or to all the new owners of the company as per the prospectus as was expected of him. For this reason, Ricky`s footwear limited has a legal claim against its promoter for making secret profits which is a breach of his obligations and it is therefore advisable that they pursue the matter in the relevant court of law. However, the company would not have had a case against Ricky had he disclosed the profits. In the event that Ricky`s footwear limited decides to file a motion against Ricky there are certain possible remedies that are available to the company at law should the court rule in their favor. These are: Under this remedy, the contract in question is reverted and relevant efforts are made

Masafi staregic marketing pan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Masafi staregic marketing pan - Essay Example 8 Core Competencies 8 Future Industry Analysis 8 Market Analysis 9 Perceived Customer Value 9 Customer Analysis 10 Segmentation 10 Targeting 11 Positioning 11 Marketing Strategy 13 Service Marketing: 7Ps Framework 14 Brand Strategy 18 Final Budget 20 Recommendations 21 Appendices 25 Executive Summary The study will propose a marketing plan for Masafi’s mineral water. The project will start with the mission and vision of the organisation. Following these, the study will provide a brief history of Masafi. A PLC and BCG matrix has been implemented for the purpose of the study. Then a market analysis has been conducted in order to understand the customer value and current customer trend. Then the study will provide a marketing plan including overview of the industry, key competitors, STP analysis and Marketing Mix. Finally, the study will provide recommendation plans basis on the critical issues. Background Analysis Masafi is a growing FMCG company in the Gulf and Middle East regi on headquartered in Dubai. The organisation used to manufacture and distribute mineral water and other food products (Masafi, 2013a). Here the project will conduct a marketing audit for the mineral water and will propose a new marketing plan for the products. ... Product diversification and business expansion in different global markets. Retention of long-term leadership within the mineral water industry. Expansion of brand portfolio and provision of social and health services for the global community. Vision The vision statement of Masafi is â€Å"Premium Products for Enhanced life†. Organisational Setup Masafi was founded in the year 1976. Masafi has been able to enter the domestic market with an estimated start-up capital of 5.5 million US dollar. In the year 2007, Masafi earned revenue of 40.2 million US dollars. Masafi has joint ventures with several international companies. For example, the organisation has joint ventured with UAE based organisation Khadamat facilities in order to recycle the plastics that are used for packaging (Carter and Dunston, 2006, p.161). Product Portfolio Analysis The product portfolio analysis will determine the key product lines of Masafi in terms of Market share, PLC and BCG Matrix. Sales or Profit In the year 2002, Masafi managed to increase its growth by 8%. At that point of time, the economic situation was not favourable for mineral water industry. However, the organisation managed to sell more than 3.6 million litres of mineral water bottles in that specific year. Several experts at that point of time expected that the organisation would avail a significant growth during the next 10 years. In the year 2012, the organisation increased its growth by 6% comparing to the last year. In terms of market share and profit, the key products of Masafi are mineral water bottles and facial tissues. Product Life Cycle Masafi’s mineral water has a short life cycle. From the starting years, the organisation has introduced mineral water of various flavours. The

Nursing Children and Childbearing Families Essay - 2

Nursing Children and Childbearing Families - Essay Example Health conditions like protein energy malnutrition, iron deficiency anemia, recurrent infections and multivitamin deficiencies can also occur. Consumption of illicit drugs, smoking and alcohol abuse during pregnancy leads to development of growth retardation and fetal anomalies in the baby. Children are often neglected when parents are indulged in these activities. They also follow the foot prints of their parents and resort to illicit drug abuse, smoking and alcohol abuse. Stressful relationship between family members, especially between parents causes emotional and psychological turmoil to the child. The parents, who are engaged in their personal stress are unable to take care of their children resulting in poor nutrition and poor health. These children also do not receive timely medical attention. Stress during pregnancy can lead to premature death, premature rupture of membranes, postnatal feeding problems and intrauterine growth retardation. Single parent is as such a stressful condition to the parent and the child and can result in decreased care and monitoring of the child leading to poor nutrition. Single mothers do not have any support to take care of the baby after birth (Atrash, 2006). Question 2.

Impact of iTunes and Other Online Services on Music Industry Research Paper

Impact of iTunes and Other Online Services on Music Industry - Research Paper Example Furthermore, the study indicates that the drop in the number of revenues is a result of two main factors; an apparent increase in piracy related issues and the ability of the potential buyers to pick and choose particular songs rather than buying the entire albums instead. Though iTunes has proved to be a dynamic and a powerful medium having the potential to revolutionize the music industry, but the drop in revenues has turned out to be a huge drawback which overpowers the apparent advantages of the medium of the industry. Impact of iTunes and other online services on music industry Introduction iTunes is like a music jukebox which is used to manage, purchase and download the music online. It is an online music library with an added feature that allows the online purchase of music. However, in contrast to the tradition purchase of music albums iTunes allow the customers to cherry-pick the particular songs instead of buying the entire albums. This in turn has various implications whic h will be addressed further on in the paper. iTunes was launched in 2003 which was a product conceived by Macintosh replaced Napster; therefore it is important to analyze and track the impacts of Napster on the industry to contrast the results with iTunes for a more credible result. The decade after Napster was replaced saw a drastic decrease in the revenues of music industry in the U.S. In contrast when Napster was first introduced in the market, the U.S music industry saw a rapid increase in the profits. According to the statistics, the U.S shipments for recorded music were increase from $5.8 billion to $12.8 billion between 1975 to 1990`s. This is a positive indicator as the recorded shipments almost doubled. However, between 1990`s to 2007, the records again dropped back to $5.5 billion. (Waldfogel 2011). The same trend was observed worldwide indicating the strong impact of iTunes in the market. Though many researches indicated that iTunes have paved way for piracy and illegal c opying of music, but iTunes was constituted in such a way that it minimizes the risks of piracy related issues. With iTunes, music can be shared in two ways, i.e. either by sharing an entire library or by sharing specific playlists. iTunes doesn`t support illegal copying of music over the internet as the music is only available to the host system where iTunes is located. Also, the music can only be retrieved by the person using the iTunes, he shuts down the system the music is no longer available for anyone to be listened. (Waldfogel 2011). iTunes protects the content by two ways, i.e. firstly by incorporating copyrights laws and secondly via contracts. However, different countries have now come up with different jailbreaks and unlocking software which allows copying of music online onto iTunes for free. Though the laws are considerably strict in U.S, but in Europe and other places the laws can be molded which results in music piracy via iTunes elsewhere. Thus, these two factors i.e . pick and choose which music to purchase, and unlocking software leading to music piracy leads towards the apparent decrease in revenues. However, according to a review by Berkeley University, the impact of peer-to peer music

Informatin systems in business Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Informatin systems in business - Assignment Example The results provide an exploratory factor analysis of UTAUT model, demonstrating reliability and validity of the scales of the stated constructs, confirming if the model is a valuable measurement tool for evaluating the users’ intention of use of smartphones. Background to the study Controversies have come up lately over which smartphone is the best to use. Depending on the purpose that one would like to put his smartphone into, preferences are different for different people. According to the article, Blackberry versus iPhone: Which is better for business users? Articles by Hunter Skipworth (2010), show that businessmen have favored Blackberry for long very an iPhone. However, it is clear that the Apple has made an effort to introduce an enterprise feature which is more likely to make it the favorite for many whose attitude is futurists. With iPhone gaining stability due to its fast software update, Blackberry too has its own outstanding merits that make it marketable still. I t is for these and many more reasons that this study was done to analyze the factors determining intention of use of a particular smartphone and not the other one. ... Various major features of Smart phones were investigated to come up with conclusive factors about what really is the key influence of people’s intentions to use smart phones. These features include the keyboards, speed, screen sizes and resolutions software updates, hardware simplicity, battery life, screen type and many more. The questions of study considered are: 1. What makes a certain smart phone the preference for many? 2. What is the difference in intentions and actual usage of different smart phones? 3. How do these intentions relate with 1 above? UTAUT Model Development This study is to illustrate that the Unified Theory of Acceptance and use of Technology (UTAUT) model captures the factors impacting upon the intention and actuality of the use of smart phones. Its aim is to explain users’ intentions to choose and use a certain information system and the factors that affect the usage intentions. It proves the general factual and theoretical basis for understandin g a users’ attitude and acceptance of using an information system. People always have a certain attitude towards a new technology based on factors like experiences, routines, and even .habits (Bandura, 1986). Fig1: The UTAUT model. Source: Taylor & Todd, 1995. The model was developed by reviewing constructs of eight models that had been used to explain behavior of using Information Systems and Technology. These eight constructs that were consolidated are; Theory of Reasoned Action(TRA) (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975) and Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) ),Motivational Model (MM) ) (Davis et al.,1992), the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), a combined theory of planned behavior/technology acceptance model, Social Cognitive Theory, Innovation

Anatomy of Human Essay Example for Free

Anatomy of Human Essay 1. Review the anatomy of the brain. Which portion is responsible for keeping you awake, controlling thought, speech, emotions and behavior, maintaining balance and posture? 2. Know the function of the arachnoid villi. 3. Where is the primary defect in Parkinsons disease and Huntingtons? 4. What is the function of the CSF? Where is it produced? Where is it absorbed? 5. Review blood flow to the brain. 6. What is the gate control theory of pain? 7. Know the type of nerve fibers that transmit pain impulses. 8. Where in the CNS does pain perception occur? 9. Know different clinical descriptions of pain; pain threshold/tolerance 10. Know endogenous opioids. 11. What are the two types of fibers that transmit the nerve action potentials generated by excitation of any of the nociceptors. 12. What is the relationship between epinephrine and body temperature? 13. Know mechanisms of heat production and heat loss. 14. Know heat exhaustion and heat stroke? 15. Define the different stages of sleep. 16. Discuss disorders of the conjunctivia of the eye. 17. Which part of the eye controls movement of the eye? 18. What part of the brain must be functioning for cognitive operations? 19. Discuss the types of mid-brain dysfunction and its physical symptoms. 20. Know the best prognostic indicator of recovery of consciousness and functional outcome after a brain event. 21. Know vomiting with which CNS injuries. 22. Define seizure and status epilepticus. What is the medical significance? Know benign febrile seizures. 23. Know the characteristics of closed head injury. 24. Define dyskinesia. Types? Characteristics? 25. Know the stages of intracranial hypertension. 26. Know normal intracranial pressure. How does body compensate for increased  ICP? 27. Know the most critical index of nervous system dysfunction/function. 28. What is responsible for the tremors associated with Parkinsons Disease? 29. Define concussion. Know the different grades of concussion. 30. Know coupe and countercoup brain injuries and how they happen. 31. Know most common primary CNS tumor. 32. What happens to a patient after an acute spinal cord injury? Why is it life threatening? Describe the clinical manifestations. Why would their temperature fluctuate? 33. Know diagnostic criteria for vegetative state and brain death. 34. Define and discuss the different types of stroke, which affected artery causes what data processing deficits (agnosia, dysphasia, etc). 35. Know all types of cerebral edema and what causes each type. 36. Know characteristics of AV malformation. 37. Define and describe the pathophysiology, clinical manifestations and etiology of Multiple Sclerosis. 38. Define and describe the pathophysiology, clinical manifestations and etiology of Guillian Barre Syndrome. 39. Define and describe the pathophysiology, clinical manifestations and etiology of Mysthenia Gravis 40. Define and describe the pathophysiology, clinical manifestations and etiology of Parkinsons disease. 41. Define and describe the pathophysiology, clinical manifestations and etiology of Huntington disease. 42. Prenatal and perinatal factors may result in what psychiatric condition? 43. What is schizophrenia? What part of the brain is associated with the S/S of this disorder? 44. Define depression and its types; know etiology. 45. How Does ECT (electroconvulsive therapy) treat depression? 46. Define generalized anxiety disorder. What is the underlying defect? Know characteristics. 47. Define panic disorder. What are the complications? 48. Define encephalocele, meningocele, spina bifida, myelomeningocele. Where is the defect located in each? 49. Know when the neural groove closes during embryonic development. 50. Know pathophysiology, clinical manifestations and etiology of cerebral palsy. 51. Know pathophysiology, clinical manifestations and etiology of PKU. 52. What nerves are capable of  regeneration?

Academic Skills Plus Essay Example for Free

Academic Skills Plus Essay Atwood writes: â€Å"What I mean by ‘science fiction’ is those books that descend from H. G. Wells’s The War of the Worlds, which treats of an invasion by tentacled, blood-sucking Martians shot to Earth in metal canisters – things that could not possibly happen – whereas, for me, â€Å"speculative fiction† means plots that descend from Jules Verne’s books about submarines and balloon travel and such – things that really could happen but just hadn’t completely happened when the authors wrote the books. I would place my own books in this second category: no Martians.† (From In other worlds, p.6) With these remarks in mind, is it useful to distinguish between science fiction and speculative fiction? In answering this question you might consider Le Guin’s suggestion that people who refer to their works as ‘speculative fiction’ rather than ‘science fiction’ are simply trying to protect themselves from some of the negative connotations associated with science fiction (see In other worlds)? Discuss in relation to at least two works. ‘Science fiction’ is often defined as a wide literary genre related to fictional stories. It contains many subgenres, such as space opera, cyberpunk, utopia, dystopia, alternative histories and speculative fiction. Although there are an extensive number of subgenres, some writers, as Margaret Atwood, have been trying to differentiate ‘speculative fiction’ from ‘science fiction’. Maybe this wideness of subgenres existing under the genre ‘science fiction’ is exactly the reason why Atwood found interesting to present this differentiation. When we consider science fiction stories, many different things can came up to our mind, such as aliens, intergalactic travel, artificial intelligence and utopian (or dystopian) societies. Considering that, as we can notice in these examples, these topics can differ a lot from each other and it might be understandable that Atwood  wanted to differentiate (more than just defining different subgenres) the kind of fiction related to more ‘plausible’ things (things that could really happen, as she says). Definitely, ‘speculative fiction’ books have a completely different scenario from cyberpunk, aliens or space opera works and this could awake a desire to disconnect them in a more significantly manner. However, it is possible to affirm that this distinction between ‘science’ and ‘speculative fiction’ is not useful and that there is no reason for making it, especially considering that speculative fiction is just one more subgenre of science fiction. This thesis will be supported by a number of points presented throughout this essay. Firstly, it will be argued that the subgenre ‘speculative fiction’ fits perfectly into the definitions and requisites related to ‘science fiction’. Secondly, it will be discussed that Atwood’s definition of ‘speculative fiction’ is vague and can change according to interpretation, and also that it can be used to define as speculative fiction other books that she clearly had classified as belonging to ‘science fiction’. Thereby, her definition can be seen as not clear, which makes it not useful at all. Finally, it will be presented that Atwood seems to reinforce this division specially because distinguishing ‘speculative fiction’ from ‘science fiction’ is convenient for her. There are some evidences for that, for example, Le Guin once said Atwood was trying to protect herself from negative connotations associated with ‘science fiction’. This is even noticeable considering that many of her attempts to define the genre contained irony and clichà ©s. Firstly, it will be discussed that ‘speculative fiction’ fits perfectly into the definitions and requisites related to the ‘science fiction’ subgenres, which makes unnecessary and not useful the distinction between them. It was stated before that ‘science fiction’ has a big number of subgenres and it is clear that they differ considerably from each other. However, despite their singularities, all of them have one kind of cohesive element in common, which brings each subgenre to be defined as part of the genre ‘science fiction’. To define this common element noticed in all the science fiction subgenres, it is useful to consider two Suvin’s definitions about science fiction: SF is, then, a literary genre whose necessary and sufficient conditions are the presence and interaction of estrangement and cognition,  and whose main formal device is an imaginative framework alternative to the authors empirical environment (Suvin 1979, p. 7) and â€Å"Science Fiction is distinguished by the narrative dominance or hegemony of a fictional novum (novelty, innovation) validated by cognitive logic† (Suvin 1979, p. 63). Considering these two definitions, it is possible to affirm then that the necessary and sufficient conditions to identify one science fiction work are: the presence of a ‘novum’ and the presence of a ‘cognitive logic’, the logical consistency which makes the ‘novum’ become part of our knowledge about real things. With this in mind, we can analyse the book The Handmaid’s Tale from Atwood. She clearly have classified this book as not being ‘science fiction’, however, it is easy to identify the ‘novum’ and also the ‘cognitive logic’ in her book. The ‘novum’ is represented by the whole system of political organization in the Republic of Gilead described on the book and the ‘cognitive logic’ is given by some similarities that can be noticed between our society and the society described on the book. In the same way, for the book of H. G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, we can also identify the ‘novum’, which is given by the Martians and their technology; and the ‘cognitive logic’, given by the similarities existing between both societies. Thus, it can be affirmed that both books The Handmaid’s Tale and The War of the World belongs to the genre ‘science fiction’, contradicting Atwood’s previous proposition. This proves that although Atwood’s book can be classified as ‘speculative fiction’, it truly belongs to ‘science fiction’, leading us to verify again that ‘speculative fiction’ is just one more subgenre of ‘science fiction’. It makes clear then that the division between ‘science’ and ‘speculative’ fiction is not useful and not justifiable. Secondly, it will be presented that Atwood’s definition of ‘speculative fiction’ is imprecise and also can be used to define as speculative fiction other books that were categorized as ‘science fiction’ by her. In order to illustrate these points, we will analyse Atwood (2011) definition about ‘speculative fiction’ as â€Å"things that really could happen but just hadn’t completely happened when the authors wrote the books.† This is a vague and inaccurate idea. It could encompass different definitions because the range of things that could really happen is highly dependent of each person’s  beliefs and ideas, what makes this definition extremely subjective. Also, with just a few exceptions, it is not possible to say for sure what is and what is not going to happen. Besides, Atwood even gives us another definition: Oryx and Crake is not science fiction. Science fiction is when you have chemicals and rockets. (Watts 2003, p. 3). Considering both definitions given by her, it could be understood that she considers rockets and chemicals as things that really could not happen, as they belong to science fiction. However, it is known that rockets and chemicals are not things impossible to happen, especially because nowadays we can see some examples of them. Both definitions become contradictory then. Considering her first definition, books about this theme would be classified as speculative fiction; however, she decided to use these two themes to exemplify ‘science fiction’. Atwood’s definitions about ‘speculative fiction’ are imprecise, therefore, what is the purpose in using an imprecise and cloudy definition? It is simply not useful to distinguish ‘science’ from ‘speculative fiction’ then. Thirdly, it will be presented that Atwood seems to reinforce this division specially because distinguishing ‘speculative fiction’ from ‘science fiction’ is convenient for her. Le Guin (2009) states that Atwood was trying to protect herself from negative connotations associated with science fiction and also â€Å"from being relegated to a genre still shunned by hidebound readers, reviewers and prize-awarders†. Considering Le Guin’s remarks, it is possible to observe that ‘science fiction’ was not a literary genre with considerable prestige in the intellectual audience. This could reduce her reputation on the high literary society. One possible reason for ‘science fiction’ being underestimated is that science fiction could be related to some works produced for mass audience like Star Trek and Dr Who and intellectuals would associate her books to these works. Then it would be interesting for her to dissociate the connecti on between her books and the genre ‘science fiction’ once it was not so appreciated by the intellectual audience. And this is also noticed by considering that some of her remarks about ‘science fiction’ contains irony, as she frequently uses clichà ©s to refer about it, such as ‘rockets’, ‘chemicals’, ‘blood-sucking Martians’, ‘talking squids in outer space’, and ‘skin-tight clothing’. Thus, it is possible to verify why Atwood reinforces the division between ‘speculative’ and ‘science’ fiction. And  considering her reasons we can see that they are not justifiable and strong enough to make the distinction between ‘speculative’ and ‘science fiction’ useful. Finally, this essay discussed a number of points in order to support the thesis that the distinction between ‘speculative’ and ‘science’ fiction is not useful. Firstly, it was stated that although it may be hard to define some literary genres it is noticeable that ‘speculative ficti on’ fits perfectly in most of definitions of science fiction, making it a subgenre only. Secondly, it was presented that Atwood’s definition about ‘speculative fiction’ is vague and could classify as ‘speculative fiction’ some books that she clearly classified as ‘science fiction’. Thirdly, it was discussed that is convenient for her to separate ‘speculative fiction’ from ‘science fiction’ since the genre of ‘science fiction’ was not so appreciated by reviewers and prize awarders and was associated to some mass audience works. She does not want to be linked to this image so she tries to put her works under a different literary classification. This point shows us clearly that there is no consistent and general reason for her to do the distinction. In conclusion, this essay illustrated that is not useful to distinguish between ‘science fiction’ and ‘speculative fiction’ and the reason for this was explained by all of the arguments stated previously. References Atwood, M 1985, The Handmaid’s Tale, Anchor Books, New York. Atwood, M 2011, In Other Worlds SF and the Human Imagination, Doubleday. Le Guin, U 2009, ‘The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood’, The Guardian, 29 August. Available at http://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/aug/29/margaret-atwood-year-of-flood Suvin, D 1979, Metamorphoses Of Science Fiction, Yale University Press, New Haven Watts, P 2003, ‘Margaret Atwood and the Hierarchy of Contempt’, On Spec, vol. 15, no. 2, summer, pp. 3-5. Wells, H 1898, The War of the World, New York Review Books, New York.

The hippocratic oath

The hippocratic oath This is the scenario: You are terminally ill, all medical treatments acceptable to you have been exhausted, and the suffering in its different forms is unbearable. Because the illness is serious, you recognize that your life is drawing to a close. Euthanasia comes to mind as a way of release. The dilemma is awesome. But it has to be faced. Should you battle on, take the pain, endure the indignity, and await the inevitable end, which may be days, weeks, or months away? Or should you take control of the situation and resort to some form of euthanasia, which in its modern-language definition has come to mean help with a good death? (Humphry, 1) The aforementioned circumstance is one that millions of people meet in the United States each year; despite the worlds advanced medical technologies, no one has discovered cures for diseases such as cancer or AIDS. Euthanasia is when a doctor intentionally kills a person by the administration of drugs at that persons voluntary and competent reque st. Physician assisted suicide is when a doctor intentionally helps a patient to commit suicide by providing drugs for self-administration at that persons voluntary and competent request. The euthanasia of humans probably dates back to the beginning of time but the earliest mention of it can be noted in the Hippocratic Oath. The use of the Hippocratic Oath has continued since it was adopted by those in the medical profession but not all types of euthanasia are openly linked to doctors. Uses in colonial America, Europe during the Holocaust, and even most cases in modern society today do not involve direct contact by a doctor. The Hippocratic Oath was written between 400 and 300 B.C. The exact date is not known because the work is likely not that of Hippocrates; many professors and higher scholars who taught in that era took the works of their pupils and submitted them as their own. This oath is only mentioned in accordance when speaking about euthanasia because it is the first document essentially discerning the act of euthanasia. Hippocrates stated I will prescribe regimens for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgment and never do harm to anyone. I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, nor will I advise such a plan; and similarly I will not give a woman a pessary to cause an abortion. In the modern version of the Hippocratic Oath, this has been translated to I will apply dietic measures for the benefit of the sick according to my ability and judgment; I will keep them from harm and injustice. I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody if asked for it, nor will I ma ke a suggestion to this effect. Similarly I will not give to a woman an abortive remedy. In purity and holiness, I will guard my life and my art. Around the 1970s, many medical schools in America and other countries chose to abandon the use of the Hippocratic oath as part of their ceremony for graduation so many doctors who treat patients now have no idea what the oath is comprised of. The old Hippocratic Oath is no longer suitable for modern times and is, therefore, subject to a variety of interpretations. Depending on the individual, such oaths may be perceived critical to the way in which a particular physician perceives himself or herself, or it may be seen as another rite of passage, important in form but unimportant in detail. Even, however, if it is believed to be merely a symbolic rite of passage that does not become a part of what an individual thinks he/she is, it does constitute a public avowal and a public pledge. These oaths almost invariably promise, above all, fealty to ones actual or potential patients and to work for their good regardless of religion or lack thereof, race, ethnicity, gender, party or socioeconomic considerations. It is said to be freely taken and not to have been coerced (Loewy, 1). This being said, most doctors assume that it is morally wrong to kill a patient no matter their medical history or the oath they took at the time of their completion of medical school. When confronted with the concept of human euthanasia, countless people would say that they would want their family member alleviated of pain when in the process of death, so why not provide a catalyst in the process of dying by early euthanization instead of letting them experience misery for a longer period? The main question when speaking of physician assisted suicide, or even suicide for medical reasons, is: should it be conducted? From The Arguments for Euthanasia, Past U.S. and British advocates typically adduced the same four arguments used today to justify euthanasia: 1) It is a human right born of self-determination; 2) it would produce more good than harm, mainly through pain relief; 3) there is no substantive distinction between active euthanasia and the withdrawal of the life-sustaining medical interventions; and 4) its legalization would not produce deleterious consequence. As Eugene Debs and Dr. Millard claimed in 1913 and 1931, respectively, patients have a right to con trol the manner of their death and, more specifically, terminally ill patients have the right to a quick and painless death with physicians help (Emanuel, 3). Overall, Eugene Debs and Dr. Millard were correct in their beliefs at the time but as the world has become industrialized, so have the reasons developed for which euthanasia should be legalized. As stated before, the natural extension of patient rights and alleviation of suffering of terminally ill patients are key points; however, now we can see reasons such as minimization of health care costs when it does not aid in the betterment of the patient. Emanuel brings up another great factor in his Arguments for Euthanasia passage when he mentions a passage from A. Bach-Medico-Legal Congress, There are also cases in which the ending of human life by physicians is not only morally right, but an act of humanity. I refer to cases of absolutely incurable, fatal and agonizing disease or condition, where death is certain and necessarily attended by excruciating pain, when it is the wish of the victim that a deadly drug should be administered to end his life and terminate his irremediable suffering (Emanuel, 3). Many people have written letters and provided in depth stories as to why they think suicide by the terminally ill is justified. Before Carol Bernstein Ferry took her own life in 2001, she wrote a letter explaining her decision in the hopes that it would contribute to an understanding of euthanasia. That is why I am writing this letter, explaining why I choose to take active steps to end my life rather than waiting for death to come gradually. With his letter I also want to make it clear that, although I have the support and tacit agreement of my children and close friends, no one but myself will take the steps that cause death. If is unfortunate that I must say this; our laws are at a destructive point just now, so if anyone other than myself actually causes my death, that person will be liable to convictio n as a felon. What an absurdity! To help someone facing a time-whether short or long-of pain and distress, whose death coming bit by bit can cause major sorrow and anxiety to family and friends, not to mention the medical help, quite useless, that must be expended in order to maintain a bearable level of pain-that this sensible deed can be construed a crime is a blot on tour legal system and on our power of thought (Ferry, 8). Many in government either feel very negatively towards Ferrys attitude or are afraid to express their true feelings on the subject as the opposite spectrum of the euthanasia debate-negatives of legalization-is broached. Any of the types of physician assisted suicide, whether it be direct (as in the doctor being present) or indirect (as in the doctor prescribing enough medication to overdose) can be construed as homicide, although it would technically be hard to tell in the case of indirect assistance since many of the amounts of medicine that terminally ill pa tients take can cause an overdose simply by accident. Much weight is placed on the Hippocratic injunction to do no harm. It has been asserted that sanctioning physician-assisted suicide would give doctors as license to kill, and physicians who accede to such requests have been branded by some as murderers. This is both illogical and inflammatory. Withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment-for example, disconnecting a ventilator at a patients request-is accepted by society, yet this requires a more definitive act by a physician than prescribing a medication that a patient has requested and is free to take or not, as he or she sees fit. Why should the latter be perceived as doing harm when the former is not (Rogatz, 31)? When articulating on the subject of euthanasia, most people present the fact that advanced medical technology has made it possible to increase human life span and treat patients in pain as in The Ethics of Euthanasia, It is argued that requests for assisted suicide come largely from patients who havent received adequate pain control or who are clinically depressed and havent been properly diagnosed or treated. There is no question that proper management of such conditions would significantly reduce the number of patients who consider suicide.However, treatable pain is not the only reason, or even the most common reason, why patients seek to end their lives. Severe body wasting, intractable vomiting, urinary and bowel incontinence, immobility, and total dependence are recognized as more important than pain in the desire for hastened death (Rogatz, 31). This stated, the more dependent people become upon their family or people employed to care for them, the more they know that their lives are ready to be over. At this point in time, many people who wish to die can simply have themselves removed from whatever machines may be extending their lives though this rarely leads to an immediate death and causes numerous patients to suffer if doctors will not p rescribe medication for pain treatment. It is argued that requests for assisted suicide are not frequent enough to warrant changing the law. Interestingly, some physicians say they have rarely, if ever, received such requests, while others say they have often received requests. This is a curious discrepancy, but I think it can be explained: the patient who seeks help with suicide will cautiously test a physicians receptivity to the idea and simply wont approach a physician who is unreceptive. Thus, there are two subsets of physicians in this situation: those who are open to the idea of assisted suicide and those who arent (Rogatz, 31). This seems to be a trend among authors who loom along the offenses of being protagonists in the line of PAS because Humphry and Clement also mention the decline of the doctor-patient relationship early in their book. Societal changes and discretionary abuses within the medical community have led to a distrust of the medical profession and a decline in the doctor-patient relationship. This deterioration of confidence is yet another force of activism that has propelled PAS to its current mainstream status. The elements of trust that existed before World War II were strong enough to legitimize a paternalistic attitude on the part of the doctor. But when trust diminished, so did the publics willingness to accept the doctors authority. Patient autonomy, spurred on by the rights culture of the 1960, increased, and with it came further acceptance of the right-to-die movementOpinion surveys have, over the years, inquired into the degree of confidence that Americans have in various institutions including congress, the press, universities, and the medical profession. The declines have been dramatic and nowhere more pronounced than in medicine. Looking at confidence in medicine from 1966-1994, the numbers speak for themselves: seventy-three percent (1966), forty-three percent (1975), thirty-five percent (1985), and twenty-three percent (19 94) (Clement, 35). Granted the studies are quite a bit dated, this was the most up-to-date information when the book was published, and is still the most correctly represented data used today. It is often argued that once we open the door physician-assisted suicide, we will find ourselves on a slippery slope

Hamlet: Hamlet Defeated By His Own Flaws :: essays research papers

Hamlet: Hamlet Defeated By His Own Flaws In William Shakespeare's well known tragic play, Hamlet, the main character Hamlet is defeated by his own flaws. These flaws are the killing of Polonius, the killing of Claudius, and most of all by Hamlet being misled by the Ghost. The killing of Polonius is a major flaw of Hamlets because it got him killed by Laertes. Also the killing of his uncle Claudius was tragic, since he was his uncle and he made Hamlet very angry towards his mother. The last and most noted flaw of Hamlet's was him being misled by the Ghost and engaging in his plan of madness. The first of Hamlets flaws is the killing of Polonius. The death of Polonius was an accident that shouldn't have happened. Hamlet believed the person behind the drapery was indeed Claudius. After Hamlet draws his rapier, runs it through the drapes, and kills Polonius. He asks? "Is it the King?" He then he is drawn into a heated conversation with his mother, Gertrude, over the short wait after old king Hamlets death for her to remarry. He says "Almost as bad, good mother, As kill a king, and marry his brother". The major effect of his killing of, Polonius, was indeed his death. This ignited Laertes' revenge on Hamlet which resulted in Hamlet's death. Just as the killing of Polonious was a tragic flaw of Hamlets, so was the killing of Claudius. This flaw of Hamlets which was to be the solo revenge of Claudius brought upon the death of Gertrude, Polonius, and Laertes. The madness in Hamlet was to be unleashed only on Claudius. Yet Hamlet's path of destruction killed his mother, she was killed by the poison meant for Hamlet by Claudius. Laertes death was brought on by the killing of Polonius. The duel between Hamlet and Laertes, which was the arranged revenge on Hamlet, was the final stand of each. Although the killings Hamlet carried out were flaws he possessed, another major flaw was his ignorance in following the Ghost. Hamlet was warned not to follow the Ghost that there must be some evil in him, but he didn't listen. Both Horatio and Marcellus forcefully try to hold back the prince, but he will not be restrained.

Shiksha Sopan Essay --

Shiksha means Education and Sopan means steps or stairs. Education is the step that leads a person ahead for the social upliftment. This was the thought behind starting this organization by four students of IIT Kanpur in 2001. People who join this course have high aspirations and strive hard to achieve their goals to establish themselves in life. But these students thought in a different way and wanted to take care of the underprivileged children of the society and make it a part of their dream. As a part of achieving their goal first they wanted to educate those children who belonged to the servant quarters of the campus. That’s how Shiksha Sopan came into existence. Understanding their noble thought other students, faculty members and the other employees of IIT Kanpur had joined hands with them. Later local young enthusiastic youth also joined this mission. It’s now a registered nongovernmental organization which imparts meaningful education to the under developed sections of the society which are in and around of IIT Kanpur, making the students self confident, dependent and socially conscious beings. Shiksha Sopan focuses on three objective i.e., Shiksha, Sanskar and Swavlamban. Shiksha means education. It is responsible for making socially sensitive and responsible citizens. Shiksh Sopan imparts education to students through innovative pedagogic methods. Audio and visual aids, demonstrations, activities, educational tours, lab activities and games form a part of this system. Inculcation of right attitudes and values, character building, respect for humanity and mother land are being given lot of impo... ...he girl child, liquor and gutka usage etc. The basic support for Shiksha Sopan is IIT Kanpur. Donations are also being accepted from organizations and well wishers. Donations can be made in the form of cash, cheques and demand drafts drawn in favour of Shiksha Sopan, IIT, Kanpur. The donations are used for schemes like Community Library; Higher Education Cell; VNK Merit Scholarship; Creating e-Resource; Pratibha Poshan Yojana Senior; Sopan Anaupacharik Shikshan Kendra; Evening Learning Centers and Sopan Science Cell. Shiksha Sopan’s achievements have been tremendous in all these years. It has given an opportunity to the students of Kanpur to serve the downtrodden. This project has proved that the so called urban elite society is really concerned and bothered about the villages and villagers and really contributes their share efficiently to bring them par with it.

Mama Day by Gloria Naylor :: Mama Day Gloria Naylor Literature Essays

Mama Day by Gloria Naylor Mama Day by Gloria Naylor is a fantastic novel filled with vivid imagery and intriguing characters. Naylor weaves a realistic tale, despite the fantastic events that she describes. Her characters are believable and behave like "real people". However, Naylor's greatest asset is her descriptive powers, which not only sets the scene, but enraptures readers into Cocoa's dual worlds of New York City and Willow Springs, imprisoning us with her words. The plot centers around the three main characters: Ophelia/Cocoa/Baby Girl, George and Mama Day. Mama Day is by far the most dominant personality, although we are not inside her mind the same way we are with Cocoa and George. Mama Day represents the power and resilience of nature and the town of Willow Springs itself. She seems to literally be upholding the town, and to be so indispensable, I wonder what the town will do when she is gone, left with only Dr. Buzzard as the resident "medicine man." But Mama Day seems to have no intention of leaving anytime soon. Naylor enhances the connection of Mama Day with nature by associating her with natural imagery. We always see Mama Day in her gardens, or the forest, nursing the land with her skill. She has a connection to nature, and can understand it, as seen by her prediction of the storm. Mama Day represents the last vestiges of the power of the African wise woman, a role that is dying out as society becomes more and more urban. Cocoa straddles the worlds of nature and the city. Her roots are in Willow Springs and she cannot forget that. However, we can never see her taking up the role of wise woman after Mama Day is gone. She has been too changed by the city and its disappointments and heartaches. This division causes much of the conflict between her and George, since she often lashes out when her soul is divided. George Andrews represents, of course, the world of the city. He cannot accept Mama Day's primal power, and loses his life for his lack of belief. His angry retaliation at the helpless chickens represents the urban idea of attempting to control nature. George tries to control something he can't understand, and thus pays the consequences. Each character is associated with their own imagery and language. When each of them speaks, it is with their own unique dialect.

Executive Summary Of Impact Of Siwes On Students

The Students Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES), is a skills development programme initiated by the Industrial Training Fund (ITF), in 1973 to bridge the gap between theory and practice among students of engineering and technology in Institutions of Higher Learning in Nigeria. It provides for on-the-job practical experience for students as they are exposed to work methods and techniques in handling equipment and machinery that may not be available in their Institutions.At inception in 1974, the Scheme started with 784 Students from 11 Institutions and 104 eligible courses. By 2008, 210,390 Students from 219 Institutions participated in the Scheme with over 112 eligible courses.However, the rapid growth and expansion of SIWES, has occurred against the backdrop of successive economic crises which have affected the smooth operation and administration of the Scheme. Most industries in Nigeria today, are operating below installed capacity while others are completely shut down (Manu facturing Association, 2003 – 2006). This has impacted negatively on the Scheme as Institutions of Higher Learning find it increasingly difficult to secure placement for Students in industries where they could acquire the much needed practical experience.Aim of the StudyThe aim of the study was to evaluate the impact of SIWES on Technical Skills Development in the Nigerian economy. This is to enable Institutions of Higher Learning and other Stakeholders assess the performance of their roles in the Scheme.MethodologyIn order to achieve the aim of the Survey, a total of 1,200 questionnaires were administered to SIWES Students, SIWES Graduates and 60 to the Employers of Labour.Similarly, 36 Head of Institutions, Institution based SIWESCoordinators/Directors participated in SSI while 30 Human Resource Managers and 60 Industry based SIWES Supervisors were also interviewed. A total of 18  focus group discussions (FGD) were held with SIWES Graduates and ITF SIWES Schedule Officers equally participated in FGD.The six geo-political zones of the country and the 27 Area Offices of the ITF were the bases for sampling. The fieldwork for this study lasted two weeks in December 2008 across the Six Geo-Political Zones. The field personnel enjoyed cooperation and support of SIWES participating Institutions and their representatives during data collection. A few Researchers did not, however, receive cooperation of Employers of Labour to administer instruments to Students, largely due to either misconceptions or disputes.Lack of uniform academic calendar for all Institutions, including SIWES calendar affected the capacity of Research Teams to administer some Research Instruments.Major FindingsThe findings of the survey include:1.  Most Students (75%) described SIWES as very relevant to  Technical Skills Development, while SIWES Graduates (92.5%)  reported that they acquired new skills during their SIWES attachment.2.  Inadequate funding for the smooth management of the Scheme.3.  Inadequate/ineffective supervision of Students on attachment by Staff of Institutions, ITF and Employers of Labour, largely due to lack/shortage/inadequate vehicles, supervision allowance and delays in the payment of same to both staff and students.4.  Placement of Students in relevant Industries is a major challenge due to the growing number of Institutions, eligible courses and Students involved in SIWES while relevant industries are shutting down5.  Employers of Labour have high positive perception of SIWES in imparting skills to students, thus, enhancing their performance.6.  There is a general consensus among Heads of Institution and  Institution-based Coordinators that SIWES makes the education  process complete as it bridges the gap between the theoretical knowledge acquired in Institutions through practical hands on experience in Industry.7.  A major factor determining the acceptance of Students for SIWES by Organizations/Establishments is av ailability of vacancy.Recommendations1. The number of Institutions and Students participating in SIWES have been on the increase without corresponding increase in  funding of the Scheme. The study recommends that the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology (FMST), Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity (FMLP), Education Trust Fund (ETF),  and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of the Presidency be involved as major Stakeholders that will be saddled with the responsibility of formulating policies to guide the operation of the Scheme and advice the Federal Government appropriately  particularly, on funding the Scheme.2.  SIWES should be properly presented to potential sponsors, such as banks, multinational companies and other corporate institutions for support in creating placement opportunities, training, equipment, facilities, as well as direct funding of SIWES.3.  Institutions should be encouraged to create financial autonomy for Institution-based SIWES Units/Dir ectorates.4.  Separate SIWES sub-head by the Federal Government.5.  Motivate partners from the private sector through granting tax relief for companies that accept Students on SIWES.6.  Instruments for the administration of the Scheme should be periodically reviewed to ensure relevance, and uniformity.

Marketing Anthropology Essay

Anthropology and grocerying (in concert with consumer question) were once expound as linchpin disciplines in par entirelyel dexterous do chief(prenominal)s (Sherry 1985a 10). To judge from the prevalent literature, gum olibanum far, this spot is non sh ard by m every(prenominal) anthropologists, who be to look at food trades (for example, Carrier 1997) and trans resile rather than at merchandise per se (spleen 1997 is the obvious debarion here).For their disrupt, merchandiseers, al counsels surface to judicious ideas, adjudge over the decades venture albeit eclectic (de Groot 1980131) white plague of the piss of anthropologists much(prenominal) as Claude Levi-Strauss and Mary Douglas whose aims in promulgating their ideas on binary impedances, totemism and grid and group were at the age far removed from the feat of merchandising both as a discipline and as practice. dis transmit anthropology rightfully be of drop to selling? Can the discipline i n effect trade itself as an effective po decennarytial subscriber to solving the problems face by commercializeers? in that location is no reason why non. later wholly, it is anthropologists who saddle disclose that on that point is to a spectacularer extent(prenominal) than hotshot market and that these markets, manage the secrete Market beloved by economists, argon tot each(prenominal)y socio-cultural constructions. In this respect, what they obtain to several(prenominal)ise nearly the amic pillow slipable costs of markets, as well as a fatten out the non-market well-disposed institutions upon which markets dep stopping points and the social contexts that shape them (cf. Carruthers and Babb 2000219-222), is extremely apt(p) to marketers anxious to have intercourse up with unequivocal answers as to why au sotic sight buy certain produces and how to persuade the alleviation of the world to do so.At the very(prenominal) measure, however, in that r espect be reasons why anthropology in all probability rouse non be of unionize use to merchandise. In token, as we shall see in the side by side(p) discussion of selling practices in a Japanese human raceizing elbow room, anthropology suffers from the fact that its conclusions atomic number 18 found on unyielding-term immersion in a socio-cultural field and that its methodology is frequently unscientific, subjective and imprecise. As p dodge of their convincing strategy, on the separatewise hand, prop integritynts of market subscribe to wassail their discipline as chump argona, scientific, speedy and producing the necessary proves.How they actually go about obtaining such later onmaths, however, and whether they really are as object glass and scientific as they claim to their invitees, are moot points. This musical composition focuses, by delegacy of a grammatical fact muse, on how selling is actually exe deleti unitary in a large publicise ag ency in Japan and has quaternity main aims. Firstly, it outlines the organisational structure of the agency to test how market acts as a social mechanism to gumption up inter-firm ties based close toly on tenuous person-to-person family births. Secondly, it reveals how these similar interpersonal relations empennage affect the construction of apparently objective merchandising strategies.Thirdly, it focuses on the problem of how all selling carrys are oblige to displacement from scientific to artistic earthistic criteria as statistical selective schooling, in nameation and psychoanalysis are born-a encourage into 1 linguistic and visual images for public consumption. Finally, it pass on reconcile a scarcely a(prenominal) tentative comments on the relations amid anthropology and trade, with a view to developing a comparative theory of ad as a merchandising system, based on the cultural relativity of a peculiar(prenominal) selling practice in a Japan ese announce agency (cf. Arnould 1995110).The Discipline, government and Practice of trade The selling discussion section is the engine room of the Japanese publicise agency in which I conducted my research in 1990. At the time, this agency handled to a greater extent than 600 calculates a year, their value varying from several million to a few chiliad dollars. The Marketing atom was or so alship digestal relate in whatever elan in the ad tr removes, cultural and uninfected events, merchandising opportunities, finicky promotions, POP constructions, and discordant separate activities that the agency carried out on be half(a) of its lymph nodes.Exceptions were those nibs involving media placement or certain lovelys of devote expressly requested by a leaf node like, for example, the organisation of a national gross sales force meeting for a car manufacturer. Even here, however, there was a bent in bring ination that could be usefully relayed back to the Marketing Division (the number and regional distri just nowion of the manufacturers sales maintainatives, as well as achievable advance information on red-hot occupations and/or portions to be offered in the coming year).Marketing Discipline As Marianne Lien (199711) points out, marketing is both a discipline and a practice. The main aims as a discipline of the Marketing Division were (and, of course, unbosom are) originally, to acquire as frequently information as feasible from consumers about their customers results and services sly, to acquire as such(prenominal) information as possible, too, from clients about their receive crops and services and, third basely, to use strategi nominatey both varietys of information acquired to develop bare-ass figures.Marketing thus ho employ those bating in the Marketing Division with the dispassionate information that cypher decision makers take in their personal net releaseing with (potential) clients whom they caj oled, persuaded, affect and pleaded with to part with ( much) money. Marketing Organisation In order to action the triplet boilers suit objectives outlined above, the agency established a certain set of organisational features to enable marketing practice to parcel out place.Firstly, the Marketing Division, which consisted of al approximately 90 members, was structured into iii separate, that interlocking, sub-divisions. These consisted of Computer Systems Market Development and marketing and Marketing. The plump was itself sub-divided into three departments, for distributively one of which was worried down into three or intravenous feeding sections. 1 apiece section consisted of from half a dozen to a dozen members, led by a Section Leader, under whom they performanceed in squads of 2 to three on an poster. These police squads were non fixed.Thus one member, A, might work with a nonher, B, under the Section Leader (SL) on a educe home crystalline lens of the eye of the eye of the eye advertizing turn tail, but find herself assigned to worked with C under SL on an airline alliances business split service nonice, and with D under SL on a computer manufacturers consumer vision. In this respect, the daily life of members of the Marketing cite that, unlike the Marketing department in Viking foods discussed by Lien. plane section was similar to that of harvesting theater managers described by Lien (199769), be characterised by frequent shifts from one natural process to an an some other(prenominal), a broad ne twork of communications, and a substantial amount of time pass in meetings or talking on the telephone. Secondly, tasks (or chronicles) were allocated formally through the hierarchic divisional structure by departments first, and then by sections according to their existing responsibilities and perceived suitability for the chisel in hand. separately SL then distributed these tasks to individual members on the t erra firma of their genuine boilersuit workloads. At the comparable time, however, there was an informal allocation of sexual conquests involving individuals. Each SL or DL could count on a job directly from account executives handling peculiar(a) accounts on behalf of their clients. Here, prior(prenominal) experiences and personal conflicts were important influences on AEs decisions as to whether to go through formal or informal channels of recruitment.The account executive in charge of the NFC abut lens rouse described in my agree (Moeran 1996), for example, went directly to a fact SL in the Marketing Department because of some smart work that the latter had done for the AE on a unalike account some months previously. Mutual respect had been established and the adjoin lens labor provided both parties with an prospect to assess and, in the event, positively brook their working relationship.There were certain organisational favors to the musical modes in which a ccounts were distributed in the manner described here. Firstly, by freely permitting interpersonal relations amongst account executives and marketers, the assurance ensured that there was competitiveness at each morphologic level of department and section. Such rival was felt to be healthy for the function as a whole, and to encourage its continue growth.Secondly, by assigning individual members of each section in the Marketing Department to working in different combinations of population on different tasks, the mental re impersonateation ensured that each member of the Marketing Department authentic training in a wide variety of marketing problems and was obliged to act fully with fellow section members, thereby promoting a sense of cooperation, cohesion and interchangeable under alkaliing. This in itself meant that each section authentic the broadest possible shared knowledge of marketing issues, because of the knowledge gained by individual members and the interaction among them.Marketing Practice Accounts were won by the fashion primarily through the interest work conducted with a (potential) client by an account executive (who might be a very senior four-in-hand or junior salesman recruited provided a few years earlier). in one case an understanding was do betwixt self-assurance and client and such an agreement might be limited to the Agencys federation in a competitive presentation, the closepoint of which might lead to an account cosmos established the AE implicated would put together an account police squad.An account group consists of the AE in charge (possibly with assistants) the Marketing Team (generally of 2 persons under a Marketing film director MD, but sometimes much larger, dep completeing on the size of the account and the work to be done) the Creative Team (consisting of Creative theatre director CD, Copywriter, and Art Director AD as a minimum, but usually including two ADs one for home run-, the other for T V-related work) and Media Planner/Buyer(s).The job of the account police squad is to assailable out successfully the task set by the client, and to this end meets initially for an orientation meeting in which the issues and problems relayed by the client to the AE are explained and discussed to all members. 2 Prior to this, however, the AE provides the marketing squad with all the information and data that he has been able to extract from the client (a solidifying of it elevatedly confidential to the confederacy provoke). The marketing squad, therefore, tends to come prepared and to have certain quite expatiate questions regarding the nature of the statistics provided, the target market, retail outlets, and so on.If it has done its prep properly which is not al ways the case, take placen up the number of different accounts on which the groups members are working and the pressure level of work that they are under the marketing group may well have several pertinent suggestions for and research. It is on the basis of these discussions that the AE then asks the MD to carry out such research as is thought necessary for the matter in hand. In the meantime, the seminal police squad up is asked to theorise over the issues generally and to designate of possible ways of coping fictively (that is, linguistically and visually) with the clients marketing problems. tail in the Marketing Department, the MD impart recognize his subordinates to carry out specific tasks, such as a consumer survey to find out who precisely makes use of a situation yield and why. This kind of task is fairly mechanical in its general form, since the Agency does this miscellanea of work for dozens of clients every year, but has to be tailored to the present clients particular situation, needs and expectations. The MD ordain therefore discuss his subordinates proposal, make some suggestions to ensure that all points are overed (and that may well acknowledge some ad ditional questions to elicit kick upstairs information from the target reference that has interpreted on importance during their discussion), and then give them permission to have the work carried out. totally surveys of this kind are subcontracted by the Agency to marketing firms and research organisations of one categorization or another.This means that the marketing squads members are rarely involved in direct face-to-face feeling or interaction with the consumers of the returns that they wish to advertise,3 except when small focus group interviews take place (usually in one of the Agencys buildings). The informal nature of such groups, the different kinds of insights that they down yield, and the need to snoop and pursue particular comments mean that members of the marketing squad should be present to list to and, as warranted, direct the discussion so that the Agencys particular objectives are achieved. In general, however, the yet evidence of consumers in the Age ncy is validating, through reports, statistics, figures, data analyses and other information that, paradoxically, are forever and a day seen to be insufficient or incomplete (cf.Lien 1997112). Once the results of the survey are returned, the marketers estimate them into their computers (since all such information is stored and can be used to generate comparative data for other accounts as and when required). They can make use of particular programmes to sort and analyse such data, but ultimately they need to be able to present their results in readily comprehensible form to other members of the account group.Here again, the MD tends to ensure that the information presented at the embraceing(a) meeting is to the point and properly hierarchised in terms of importance. This leads to the marketing group ups putting forward things like a positioning statement, slogan, purchasing decision The Media Planners do not usually participate in these early meetings since their task is pr imarily to provide information of suitable media, and slots therein, for the washed-up consort to be placed in. 3A similar point is made by Lien (1997. 11) in her paper of Viking Foods. focussing Groups usually consist of about half a dozen heap who represent by age, gender, socio-economic grouping and so on the type of target audience reality cryed, and who have agreed to talk about (their attitudes towards) a particular return or product range usually in exchange for some gift or money. Interviews are carried out in a small meeting room (that may have a one-way reflect to enable outside observation) and tend to go away among one and two hours. 4 2 4 odel ( proud/low pastime think/feel product relationship), product message concept, and fictive frame. One of the main objectives of this initial and, if properly done, all round of research is to discover the balance surrounded by what are terms product, exploiter and end proceedss, since it is these portions tha t determine the way in which an ad weigh should be presented and, therefore, how the germinal group should visualise the marketing problems analysed and ensuing suggestions from the marketing team.It is here that we come to the crux of marketing as practised in an announce agency (whether in Japan or elsewhere). Creative mass tend to be suspicious of marketing race and vice-versa. This is primarily because marketers believe that they work rationally and that the inventive frames that they produce are founded on objective data and analyses. Creative people, on the other hand, believe that their work should be enliven, and that such inspiration can take the place at the expense of the data and analyses provided for their consideration.As a result, when it comes to producing creative work for an ad trend, copywriters and creative directors tend not to pay strict attention to what the marketing team has told them. For example, deplumateed by the idea of a particular celebrity o r put down location, they may come up with ideas that in no way meet the wakelessheaded demands of a particular ad campaign that may require emphasis on product bene explosions that are irrelevant to the elect location or celebrity suggested for secondment. This does not always happen, of course.A good and nonrecreational creative team and such teams are not infrequent willing follow the marketing teams instructions. In such cases, their success is based on a creative description of the data and analyses provided. Agency-Client Interaction If there is some scruple and argument among different elements of the account team and it is the presiding account executives job to ensure that marketers and creatives do not come to blows over their disagreements they almost invariably mountain together when meeting and presenting their plans to the client.Such meetings can take place several, even more than a dozen, times during the course of an account teams preparations for an ad campaign. At most of them the MD will be present, until such time as it is clear that the client has accepted the Agencys campaign strategy and the creative team has to fine-tune the objectives outlined therein. Very very much, therefore, the marketing team will not limp on a particular account hanker plentiful to learn of its finished result, although a good AE will maintenance his MD abreast of creative developments and hand over him the (near) finalised campaign prior to the clients final approval.But marketers do not get involved in the production side of a campaign (studio photography, picture commercial filming, and so on) unless one of those touch knows what is going on when, happens to be near at the time, and drops in to see how things are going. In other speech, the marketing teams job is to see a project through until accepted by the client. It will then dissolve and its members will be assigned to new accounts. publicizing Campaigns A Case Study To adorn in more detail particular examples of marketing practice in the Agency, let me cite as a case accept the preparation of impact lens campaign in Japan.This example is light because it reveals a number of typical problems faced by an advertizing agency in the formulation and execution of campaigns on behalf of its clients. These complicate the interface amidst marketing and creative people within an agency and the interpretation of marketing analysis and data the 5 transposition of marketing analysis into creative (i. e. linguistic, visual and design) ideas the interface in the midst of agency and client in the selling of a campaign proposal and the problems of having to woo to more than one consumer target.When the Nihon Fibre Corporation asked the Agency to prepare an denote campaign for its new delineation glimmer O2 oxygen-passing GCL hard touch sensation lenses in early 1990, it provided a considerable amount of product information with which to attend to and guide tho se concerned. This information embroild the sideline facts firstly, with a differential coefficient (DK factor) of 150, video breathing room O2 had the highest rate of oxygen permeation of all lenses shortly manufactured and marketed in Japan.As a result, supportly, effigy soupcon O2 was the first lens authorized for continuous put out by Japans Ministry of Health. Thirdly, the lens was particularly flexible, dirt and water resistant, durable, and of extremely high quality. The client asked the Agency to confirm that the targeted market consisted of childlyish people and to give rise a campaign that would help NFC get hold of initially a minimum three per cent share of the market, rising to ten per cent over three years. The Agency immediately formed an account team, consisting of ogdoad members all told.Their first step was to act for the marketing team to carry out its own consumer research before minutes further. A detailed survey of vitamin D men and women was worked out in reference with the account executive and the client, and was executed by a market research caller-out subcontracted by the Agency. Results confirmed that the targeted audience for the pic inkling O2 advertisement campaign should be untried people, but particularly fresh women, surrounded by the ages of 18 and 27 years, since it was they who were most likely to adopt run across lenses.At the same time, however, the survey withal revealed that there was weensy distinguish loyalty among affair lens wearers so that, with effective advertising, it should be possible to persuade users to shift from their current brand to Ikon glimmer O2 lenses. It to a fault steered that young women were not overly concerned with price provided that lenses were safe and comfortable to wear, which meant that Ikon trace O2s comparatively high price in itself should not call forth a major obstacle to brand switching or sales.On a less positive note, however, the account team likewise discovered that users were primarily concerned with comfort and were not interested in the technology that went into the manufacture of seize lenses (thereby eliminate the apparent profit of Ikon inkling O2s high DK factor of which NFC was so proud) and that, because almost all converge lens users consulted medical examination specialists prior to leveraging, the advertising campaign would have to address a second audience consisting mainly of middle-aged men. exclusively in all, therefore, Ikon tip O2 lenses had an advantage in being of superb quality, authorise by medical experts and recognized, together with other GCL lenses, as being the safest for ones eyes. Its disadvantages were that NFC had no name in the contact lens market and that users knew very poor about GCL lenses or contact lenses in general.This meant that the advertising campaign had to be approve up by point of purchase sales promotion (in the form of a brochure) to ensure that the product su rvived. Moreover, it was clear that Ikon suggestion O2s technical advantage (the DK 150 factor) would not last long because rival companies would soon be able to make lenses with a differential coefficient that surpassed that create by NFC. 5On this occasion, because the advertising budget was comparatively small, the media buyer was not brought in until later stages in the campaigns preparations. The AE in charge of the NFC account interacted individually with the media buyer and presented the latters suggestions to the account team as a whole. 6 As a result of in tense discussions following this survey, the account team moved slowly towards what it thought should be as the campaigns boilersuit tone and manner.Ideally, advertisements should be information-oriented the campaign needed to put across a number of points about the special product hits that differentiated it from similar lenses on the market (in particular, its flexibility and high rate of oxygen-permeation). Practic ally, however as the marketing team had to strain time and time again the campaign needed to stress the functional and frantic benefits that users would obtain from wearing Ikon Breath O2 lenses (for example, continuous wear, safety, release from anxiety and so on).This meant that the advertising itself should be emotional (and information left to the promotional brochure) and stress the end benefits to consumers, rather than the lenses product benefits. Because the marketing team had concluded that the products end benefits should be stressed, copywriter and art director opted for user imagery rather than product characteristics when sentiment of ideas for copy and visuals.However, they were thwarted in their endeavours by a number of problems. Firstly, advertising constancy self-policing regulations prohibited the use of certain words and images (for example, the notion of safety, plus a visual of someone asleep era wearing contact lenses), and insisted on the comprehensio n in all advertising of a warning that the Ikon Breath O2 lens was a medical product that should be purchased through a medical specialist.This compactness meant that the creative teams could not use the idea of continuous wear because, even though so assured by Japans Ministry of Health, opticians and doctors were generally of the opinion that Ikon Breath O2 lenses were butt to affect individual wearers in different ways. NFC was terrified of antagonizing the medical world which would often be recommending its product, so the product manager concerned refused to permit the use of any word or visual machine-accessible with continuous wear.Thus, to the account teams collective dismay, the products end benefit to consumers could not be effectively advertised. Secondly, precisely because Ikon Breath O2 lenses had to be recommended by medical specialists, NFCs advertising campaign needed to address the latter as well as young women users. In other words, the campaigns tone and manne r had to conjure to two totally different segments of the market, composition at the same time cheering those employed in the client company.This caused the creative team immense ruggedies, especially because thirdly the product manager of NFCs contact lens manufacturing division was win over that the high differential coefficient set Ikon Breath O2 lenses apart from all other contact lenses on the market and would appeal to members of the medical profession. So he insisted on show what he saw as the unique technological qualities of the product.In other words, not only did he relegate young women who were expected to buy the product to unessential importance he ignored the marketing teams recommendation that user benefit be stressed. Instead, for a long time he insisted on the creative teams focussing on product benefit, even though the DK factor was only a marginal and temporary advantage to NFC. As a result of these two sets of disagreements, the copywriter came up wi th two different cardinal ideas.The first was based on the products characteristics, and thus take hold the manufacturers (but went against his own marketing teams) product benefit point of view, with the phrase corneal physiology (kakumaku seiri). The second also stressed a feature of the product, but managed to emphasize the user benefits that young women could gain from wearing lenses that were both hard and meek (yawarakai).The former headline was the only way to break brand affinity and make Ikon Breath O2 temporarily unadorned from all other lenses on the market (the product manager liked the character the marketing team disliked the temporary nature of that distinction). At this stage in the negotiations, the account executive in charge felt obliged to tow an insincere line, but needed to appease his marketing team and ensure that the creative team came up with something else if at all possible, since 7 corneal physiology gave Ikon Breath O2 lenses only a temporary adv antage.As a result, the copywriter introduced the word sobering (majime) into discussions on the suit that NFC was a sound (majime) manufacturer (it was, after all, a well-known and respected Japanese corporation) which had developed a product that, by a process of assimilation, could also be regarded as serious moreover, by a further rubbing-off process, as the marketing team agreed, such unassumingness could be attributed to users who trenchant to buy and wear Ikon Breath O2 lenses. In this way, both the distinction between product benefit and user benefit might be overcome.The copywriters last idea was the one that broke the stand (and it was at certain moments an extremely tense deadlock) between the account team as a whole and members of NFCs contact lens manufacturing division. later a serial publication of meetings in which copywriter and designer desperately essay to convince the client that the idea of leniency and hardness was not a product characteristic, but an image designed to support the benefits to consumers wearing Ikon Breath O2 lenses, the product manager accepted the account teams proposals in principle, provided that serious was used as a back-up selling point. finespun hard (yawaraka hard) was adopted as the key headline phrase for the campaign as a whole. It can be seen that the marketing teams analysis of how NFC should successfully enter the contact lens market met two stumbling blocks during the early stages of preparation for the advertising campaign. The first was within the account team itself, where the copywriter in particular tended to opt for the manufacturers onrush by emphasising the product benefit of Ikon Breath O2. The second was when the Agencys account team had to persuade the client to accept its analysis and campaign proposal.But the next major problem facing the account team was how to convert this linguistic rendering of market analysis into visual terms. What sort of visual image would adequately fulfil t he marketing aims of the campaign and make the campaign as a whole including television commercial and promotional materials readily recognizable to the targeted audience? It was almost immediately accepted by the account team that the safest way to achieve this important aim was to use a celebrity or record (talent in Japanese) to endorse the product.Here there was little argument, because it is generally recognized in the advertising industry that celebrity endorsement is an glorious and readily appreciated linkage doodad in multi-media campaigns of the kind requested by NFC. Moreover, since television commercials in Japan are more often than not only fifteen seconds long and therefore cannot include any detailed product information, personalities have proven to be attention grabbers in an image-dominated medium and to have a useful, short effect on sales because of their popularity in other parts of the entertainment industry.At the same time, not all personalities come acr oss equally well in the rather differing media of television and magazines or newspapers, so that the account team felt obliged to look for someone who was more than a mere pop idol and who could act. It was here that those concerned encountered the most difficulty. The presence of a famous reputation was crucial since s/he would be able to pass public attention to a new product and hopefully draw people into retail outlets to buy Ikon Breath O2 lenses.It was agreed right from the start that the personality should be a young muliebrity, in the same age group as the targeted audience, and Japanese. (After all, a sorry eyed noncitizen endorsing Ikon Breath O2 contact lenses would exactly be appropriate for brown-eyed Japanese. ) Just who this cleaning lady should be, however, proved problematic. Tennis players (who could indulge in both hard activities and cheeselike romance) were chuck out early on because the professional flavour was already in full throw off at the time the campaign was being prepared.Classical musicians, while romanticistic and thus soft, were not seen to be hard enough, while the idea of using a Japanese talent, Miyazawa Rie (everyone on the account teams favourite at the time), was reluctantly rejected because, even though photographs of her in the nude were at the time causing a 8 minuscule sensation among Japanese men interested in soft-porn, she was rather inappropriate for a medical product like a contact lens which was aimed at young women. Any personality chosen had to show certain distinct qualities.One of these was a presence (sonzaikan) that would attract peoples attention on the page or screen. Another was topicality (wadaisei) that stemmed from her professional activities. A third was future potential (nobisei), nitty-gritty that the celebrity had not yet unwell in her career, but would attract further widespread media attention and so, it was hoped, indirectly advertise Ikon Breath O2 lenses and NFC. Most import antly, however, she had to suit the product. In the early stages of the campaigns preparations, the creative team found itself in a slight quandary.They wanted to engage a celebrity whose personality fitted the soft-hard and serious ideas and who would then anchor a particular image to Ikon Breath O2 lenses, although it proved difficult to find someone who would fit the product and appeal to all those concerned. Eventually, the womanhood chosen was an actress, Sekine Miho, who epitomized the kind of modern woman that the creative team was seeking, but who was also about to star in a national television (NHK) drama serial publication that autumn a series in which she played a starring parting as a soft, romantic character.Although popularity in itself can act as a straightjacket when it comes to celebrity endorsement of a product, in this case it was judged correctly, it transpired that Sekine had enough depth (fukasa) to bring a special image to Ikon Breath O2 lenses. Once th e celebrity had been decided on, the creative team was able to fix the tone and manner, preparation and style of the advertising campaign as a whole.Sekine was a high class (or one rank up in Japanese-English parlance) celebrity who matched NFCs image of itself as a high class (ichiryu) company and who was made to reflect that sense of eliteness in deportment and clothing. At the same time, NFC was a serious manufacturer and wanted a serious, rather than frivolous, personality who could then be photographed in soft-focus, serious poses to suit the serious medical product being advertised. This seriousness was expressed further by means of ery slightly tinted black and white photographs which, to the art directors but, not initially, the product managers eye made Sekine look even softer in show and so match the campaigns headline of yawaraka hard. This softness was further built by the pump-shaped lens cut at the bottom of every print ad, and on the front of the brochure, which the art director made green rather than blue partially to differentiate the Ikon Breath O2 campaign from all other contact lens campaigns run at that time, and partly to appeal to the fad for ecological colours then-current among young women in particular.This case study shows that there is an extremely complex relationship linking marketing and creative aspects of any advertising campaign. In this case, market research showed that Ikon Breath O2 lenses were special because of the safety that derived from their technical quality, but that consumers themselves were not interested in technical matters since their major concern was with comfort. thus the need to focus the advertising campaign on user benefit.Yet the client insisted on stressing product benefit a stance made more difficult for the creative team because it could not lawfully use the only real consumer benefit available to it (continuous wear), and so had to find something that would appeal to both manufacturer and direct and indirect consumers of the lens in question. In the end, the ideas of soft hard and serious were adopted as compromise positions for both client and agency, as well as for creative and marketing teams. Concluding Comments Let us in conclusion try to follow two separate lines of thought.One of these is, as promised, the relationship between marketing and anthropology the other that between advertising and marketing. 9 Although convergence between anthropology, marketing and consumer research may be growing, the evidence suggested by the case study in this paper is that huge differences still exist. Marketing people in the advertising agency in which I analyze may be interested in anthropology they may even have swayback into the work of anthropologists here and there. But their view of the discipline tends to be rather old-fashioned, and they certainly do not have time to go in for the kind of intensive, detail ethnographic nquiry of consumers that anthropologists might en courage.If anthropologists are to make a useful contribution to marketing, therefore, they need to present their material and analyses succinctly and in readily digestible form, since marketing people hate things that are overcomplicated. It is, perhaps, for this rather than any other reason that someone like Mary Douglas (Douglas and Isherwood 1979) has been so favourably received. In the end, marketing people aim to be positivist, science-like (rather than scientific, as such), and rationalist in their ad campaigns.They aspire to measure and predict on the basis of observer categories, if only because this is the simplest way to sell a campaign to a client. In this respect, they are closer to the kind of sociology and anthropology advocated in the 1940s and 50s (which would explain their word meaning of Talcott Parsonss theory of action, for example), than to the present-day interpretative trends in the discipline, and thus favour in their practices an outmoded and among most a nthropologists themselves, discredited form of discourse.So, if anthropologists are kings of the castle, it is a castle most other people have neer heard of (Chapman and Buckley 1997 234). As Malcolm Chapman and Peter Buckley wryly observe, we need perhaps to spend some time entirely outside social anthropology in order to be convinced of the truth of this fact. Secondly, as part of this positivist, science-like approach, marketers in the Japanese advertising agency tended to make clear-cut categories that would be easily understand by both their colleagues in other divisions in the Agency and by their clients.These categories tended to present the consumer world as a series of binary oppositions (between individual and group, modern and traditional, escapist and materialist, and so on cf. Lien 1997 202-8) that they then presented as matrix or umpteen-sided structures (the Agencys Purchase end Model, for example, was structured in terms of think/feel and high/low date axes). In this respect, their work could be express to exhibit a basic form of structuralism. One of these oppositions was that made between product benefit and user benefit (with its version end benefit).As this case study has shown, this is a distinction that lies at the heart of all advertising and needs to be teased out if we are successfully to decode particular advertisements in a manner that goes beyond the work of Barthes (1977), Williamson (1978), Goffman (1979) and others. Thirdly, one of the factors anchoring marketing to the kind of structured intellection characteristic of modernist disciplines, perhaps, is that the creation of meaning in commodities is inextricably bound up with the proof of a sense of difference between one object and all others of its class.After all, the three tasks of advertising are to stand out from the surrounding competition to attract peoples attention to go by (both rationally and emotionally) what it is intended to communicate and to incline people to buy or conceal on buying what is advertised. The sole preoccupation of those engaged in the Ikon Breath 02 campaign was to create what they referred to as the parity break to set NFCs contact lenses apart from all other contact lenses on sale in Japan, and from all other products on the market.At the same time, the idea of parity break elongate to the style in which the campaign was to be presented (tinted monochrome photo, green logo, and so on). In this respect, the structure of meaning in advertising is akin to that found in the syntagmatic and paradigmatic axes of structural linguistics where particular choices of words and phrases are influenced by the overall structure and availability of meanings in the expression in which a speaker is communicating. That the work of LeviStrauss should be known to most marketers, therefore, is hardly surprising.Marketing practice is in many respects an application of the principles of structural anthropology to the selling of p roducts. 10 Fourthly, although those working in marketing and consumer research take it as wedded that there is one-way flow of practise stemming from the manufacturer and targeted at the end consumer, in fact, as this case study shows, advertising as well as the marketing that an advertising agency conducts on behalf of a client always addresses at to the lowest degree two audiences.One of these is, of course, the group of targeted consumers (even though they are somewhat removed from the direct experience of marketers in their work). In this particular case, to complicate the issue further, there were two groups of consumers, since the campaign had to address both young women and middle-aged male opticians. Another audience is the client. As we have seen, the assumed or proven dis/likes of both consumers and advertising client affect the final meaning of the products advertised, and the client in particular had to be quelled with the Agencys campaign approach before consumer needs could be addressed.At the same time, we should recognise that a third audience exists among different members of the account team within the Agency itself, since each of the three separate parties involved in account servicing, marketing and creative work needed to be satisfied by the arguments of the other two. In this respect, perhaps, we should note that marketing people have spent a lot of time over the decades making use of insights developed in learning behaviour, personality theory and psychoanalysis which they then cod to individual consumers.In the process, however, they have tended to dribble the forms of social organisation of which these individuals are a part (cf. de Groot 198044). Yet it is precisely the ways in which individual consumers interact that is crucial to an understanding of consumption and thus of how marketing should address its targeted audience how networks function, for example, reveals a lot about the vital role of word of mouth in marketing successes and failures how status groups sound and on what grounds can tell marketers a lot about the motivations and practices of their targeted audience.Anthropologists should be able to help by providing sociological analyses of these and other mechanisms pertinent to the marketing endeavour. In particular, their extensive work on ritual and symbolism should be of use in foreign, third world markets. Fifthly, most products are made to be sold.As a result, different manufacturers have in wit different kinds of sales strategies, target audiences, and marketing methods that have somehow to be translated into persuasive linguistic and visual images not only in advertising, but also in packaging and product design. For the most part, producers of the commodities in question find themselves obliged to call on the specialized services of copywriters and art designers who are seen to be more in tune with the consumers than are they themselves. This is how advertising agencies market themselves.But within any agency, the creation of advertising involves an ever-present tension between sales and marketing people, on the one hand, and creative staff, on the other between the not necessarily compatible demands for the dissemination of product and other market information, on the one hand, and for linguistic and visual images that will attract consumers attention and push them into retail outlets to make purchases, on the other. This is not always taken into account by those currently writing about advertising.More interestingly, perhaps, the opposition that is perceived to exist between data and statistical analysis, on the one hand, and the creation of images, on the other, parallels that seen to pertain between a social science like economics or marketing and a more humanities-like discipline such as anthropology. by chance the role for an anthropology of marketing is to bridge this great divide.