An Enlightening Experience

How often do we appreciate our parents for the advice they gave us? Hardly ever! How often do we turn a deaf ear to their advice? Very often! I believe that is a unanimous answer given by most of us and very often, we will get ourselves into serious trouble or land ourselves in a situation where we greatly regret our act of not having listened to the advice of the wise. I can vividly recall such an unforgettable experience that I had when I was a young child of 12 years old and since that experience, I will never go against the wishes of my mother. When I was a child, I had lived in Georgetown with my mother. Our house was right next to the woods which had always stirred up great curiosity in me in wanting to find out what dwelt within. My father had deceased by the time I was 12 and I had lived alone with my mother. I supposed it was because I was the only child; she had loved me greatly and was very protective over me. She did not like the idea of me wandering off on my own and always ensured that I was in the safety region of her sight. Even if she allowed me to explore the vicinity on my own, it was only to be somewhere within the circumference of the house. Being as curious as the cat, I had always desired to explore the interior of the woods next door. It was as if my mother had understood my desire, she had warned me on numerous occasions never to enter the woods. â€Å"Mum, can I go out and play in the garden? † I asked. â€Å"Donnie,† she would reply each time. â€Å"You can play in the garden but you must promise me never to go into the woods next door where the loggers are cutting and clearing the land. It is too dangerous for a little girl like you. † â€Å"Sure, you’ve said that many times! † I answered in amazement at her repeated reminders. â€Å"You know I’ve always stayed away from there! However, curiosity got the better of me one day. I was playing near the woods as usual when I heard laughter and people talking loudly. I listened intently and discovered that it was coming from within the woods. I wondered who that could be. Ignoring my mother’s constant reminders, I decide d to enter the forbidden world. For once, I had disobeyed my mother but I was filled with great excitement. Very cautiously, I crept towards the sound. I came to an area where there were around six brawny men having their tea break under a tall tree and next to them were many felled trees. Not far from them, there were also many colourful flowers with beautiful butterflies flittering around them. At that moment, I still had no inclination of the trouble that would soon befall on me. I was filled with awe at the beauty of the miniature garden before me. I skipped over to the flowers and started chasing after the butterflies. I was filled with elation and started to become braver as I frolicked gaily in the woods. The men did not bother about me as they thought I was not in their way and they continued with their tea and conversation. The beautiful and gigantic butterfly that I was chasing after started to fly over to the felled trees. Not wanting to lose sight of it, I decided to follow suit. I had even climbed up and walked along a downed log in an attempt to catch the butterfly when suddenly I lost my footing and fell off the log. I screamed in agony when I landed because I was not on the hard forest floor as I had expected to. Instead, I had fallen on an axe that was facing up. Apparently, the loggers had left their axes on the floor when they went for their break. When they saw me playing earlier, they had not expected me to go so near to the downed logs. My cries of pain and fear had undoubtedly attracted their attention and concern as they rushed over to my side. By then, blood was flowing profusely from my left leg where a three inch cut had appeared. The pain was unbearable and I almost fainted from the sight of the fresh blood. However, what was more horrifying was the thought of how I should tell my mother about the incident! I had disobeyed her and landed myself in harm’s way. I should have listened to her sound advice and stayed far away from the woods. I was afraid to face my mother but I know the blood had to be stopped and the wound need to be treated. As I thought of the situation I had landed myself into, I started to howl loud which terrified the men who thought I must have been in tremendous pain and shock. The men tried to sooth my loud crying and to stop the blood flow at the same time. Instantly, there was panic among them as each of them tried to help but in vain. Finally, one of them tied my handkerchief around the wound and the blood was temporarily stopped but it was obvious that I needed some stitching for my deep cut. He carried me out of the woods and took me back to my house. Along the way, I was sobbing quietly, petrified with the thought of facing my mother and what she would say to my mischief. Fortunately for me, my mother was too concern with my injury to reprimand me. After thanking the logger for his help, my mother rushed me to the nearest hospital where I received eight stitches on my left leg. I also received a punishment of not being allowed out of the house for an entire month but I know I had deserved it. I could not believe that an innocent walk in the woods could have landed me in such a plight where I could even have been killed by the axe had it pierced right through my heart! The mere thought of the close shave still sends shudders down my spine. The scar on my left leg is not only a permanent reminder of the incident but also a deterrence for me from any further desire to turn a deaf ear to my mother’s advice. Needless to say, she never had to remind me again of the need to stay away from the woods for I never step foot into it ever again. Nor does she ever have to repeat her advice for me as I know that Mum will always know what is best for me because she is the more experience one.

Good in the Moral Context

GOOD IN THE MORAL CONTEXT i. e. OBJECTIVISIT, SUBJECTIVIST AND FUNCTIONALIST ‘Good’ can be described from three views: †¢Objectivist †¢Subjectivist †¢Functionalist Objectivist point of view One main philosopher who defended the objectivist point of view was George Edward (G. E. ) Moore. In his book Principia Ethica, Moore discussed the definition of the word ‘good’. With this book he influenced the philosophers who came after him. The objectivist point of view is naturalism i. e. (what moral law predictates, usually from the natural law). In defining the word ‘good’, G. E. Moore attacks the objectivist point of view.He criticizes the naturalistic point of view. Moore, an intuitionist (meaning he is someone who decides if something is good or wrong by reflecting on his own, without anyone explaining to him) disagreed that good could be explained objectively. Moore criticised Utilitiarians as they were emotivists, i. e. depending on feelings. Thus they defined ‘good’ according to feelings. So good = pleasure. Thus utilitarians do not judge whether an action is good or bad by the quality of the action but by the consequence of the effects. Moore also criticised Christian morality, because these reason an action is good because it pleases God.He said, something is not defined as good because it pleases someone else. Moore invented an interesting term called ‘The Naturalistic fallacy’. Naturalistic fallacy, according to Moore, is to define a term, in this case ‘good’ by means of something which is a state of fact. To explain ‘good’ in terms of pleasure, is committing a Naturalistic fallacy. His reasoning is as thus: if something gives me pleasure, and thus because of this feeling, I say it is good; I conclude, since it is good, then I ought to do it – this is a wrong conclusion. ‘Is’ is a statement of fact, while ‘ought’ is a mor al statement.Moore was an intuitionist. Moore says that the word ‘good’ is not defined by its natural qualities (the qualities which are natural to something and which describe the object e. g. a red, juicy strawberry. If someone is asked why the strawberry is good, his answer will be, ‘because it is red and juicy’ thus defining ‘good’ by its natural qualities). For Moore, good is good and cannot be defined. The objectivists say that moral terms are explained by means of natural qualities. Objectivism is the view that the claims of ethics are objectively true. They are not relative to subject or culture.A term is defined as thus because it is as thus. So good is good not because of feelings or situations, the definition of which would be from a subjectivist point of view, giving rise to relativism. ‘Good’ is defined as thus, because the actions showing good are inscribed in us in the natural law. So according to objectivists, †˜good’ is described by its natural qualities. Naturalism, which the objectivists used, is a term which interprets the word as it is standing for natural characteristics. This may be misleading as good might stand for a quality of pleasure or for something to be desired, and this is not always right.Something pleasurable may in actual fact be wrong. One argument against naturalism, which the objectivists use, is that attribution (is) is confused with identity (ought). ‘Is’ is a statement of fact, while ‘ought’ is a moral statement. These (‘is’ and ‘ought’) are sometimes confused. Thus if something is pleasurable, thus it is good, thus it ought to be done, is (1) a wrong definition of ‘good’, (2) a wrong assumption as not all pleasures are good. One cannot equate good with solely pleasure. Moore goes deeper. In defining a word, he tried to split it into simpler terms.According to Moore, ‘good’ cannot be split into any simpler terms as it is already in the simplest term. So Moore’s philosophy states that ‘good’ is ‘good’. ‘Good’ is indefinable. Subjectivist point of view Subjectivism means that what is right or wrong is defined from the perspective of one’s attitudes, one’s theories and one’s emotions. Subjectivism is based on feelings, and as a result of emotivism. Subjectivism may also be called emotivism. Subjectivism is ethical values expressed in emotional values; personal emotions which can differ from one person to another.Thus there is no fixed standard, no norm, no mean. David Hume He is a basic figure in subjectivism. He was a 17th century philosopher. Hume was also an empiricist (tries to tie knowledge to experience) as he did not use rationalism (reason) but got experience from things around him. Hume said that all we know comes from around us, from our senses 9what we see, what we feel). Decante on t he other hand used rationalism. Kant tried to fuse empiricism and rationalism. Hume thus says that a person, basically, is a bunch of sense experiences. He also says that the senses can never lead us to the universal truth.We cannot say that something is right or wrong just from our senses. According to Hume, ethics is not built on reason (which is what Aristotle says) but on the senses. The universal truths (which are basically what the natural law states – do good to others, harm no one etc) are simply cut off by Hume’s subjective approach. Hume emptied ethics from any rational foundation – he shifted ethics based on reason (like that of Aristotle) to ethics based on emotions or feelings. Hume says not to look for reason but for sentiments – thus if something feels good – do it.He said that passion not reason is what leads us to do something – reason alone is ineffective. According to Hume, it is sentiments and not reason which are the fou ndations of morality. Hume said that statements like ‘This car is red’ (descriptive) and ‘This action is good’ (evaluative) are statements both of the same nature. He mixed descriptive and evaluative argument. In the statement, ‘This person is good’ one is not saying something about the person, but it is my reaction towards that person. Three philosophers affected by Hume were AJ Ayer, CL Stevenson and Hare.AJ Ayer According to Ayer, when we make a judgement, it can be classified as 1. empirical or factual 2. logical or analytical 3. emotive Ayer said that ethical statements are non-statements because you cannot verify them (as in analytical statements) and you cannot make them as a statement of fact (empirical statement or factual). Ethical statements such as good, just expresses one’s emotions (emotivism) – a statement depending on one’s feelings. For Ayer ethical statements are meaningless. Ethical concepts, such as good , cannot be analysed because they are not real oncepts at all – they are false concepts. He stated, ‘The presence of an ethical symbol (good is an ethical symbol) in a statement adds nothing to its factual content, meaning nothing is stated about the nature of the ethical symbol. Thus ‘good’ has no value when describing someone or something – for Ayer ‘good’ was just a way of expressing a feeling about the person/object concerned. CL Stevenson Statements such as ‘good’ do not say anything about state of facts but says only about one’s behaviour, one’s attitudes and one’s feelings.Ethical statements such as ‘good’ do not express a belief, only attitudes. Beliefs are based on reason, attitudes and one’s emotions (emotive). ‘Moral discourses are primarily not informative but influential’, says Stevenson. Thus when I say ‘John is good’, I am expressing my feeling s and at the same time influencing others by my statement. Stevenson, being emotive, says that ethical language, such as good, does not give us information about the person or object – they simply express one’s emotions. They simply intent to inform, they do not say anything about the nature.Hare While Ayer and Stevenson said that ethical statements are non-rational, non-logical, Hare is introducing rationality. He says that by a statement one influences another person, if the latter accepts it, and to do so he must understand it and he has to use his reason. Another point that Hare brought up is that an ethical statement can be 1. emotive 2. action guiding To guide it involves rationality. So ethical statements are not simply giving a piece of information, but action guiding (presciptivism – moral commitment to the giving or accepting of a command).Hare says that ‘a right action is one which ought to be done’ while ‘a wrong action is one that ought not to be done’. The prescriptive theory holds that the words ‘good’ or ‘bad’ are used not simply to command but to comment (=give an advice to do or not to do). ‘Good’ as applied to objects. It is important to distinguish between ‘meaning’ and ‘criteria’. Meaning always has a value, but criteria (the description) is different. ‘This marker is good’ or ‘This microphone is good’. The meaning is the same as the marker writes and the microphone amplifies sound. As applied to people, if I say, ‘John is a good man’.If we stick to the idea of Hare, that moral discourse, ethical statements, are action guiding, am I saying that ‘if you want a good man choose John’. It does not make sense. So when we place human beings as morally good, we are not talking about use or function. Hare deals with the distinction of the function and by treating the moral sense of good , it becomes an advice for imitation rather than a choice. A weak point of Hare: he still says that moral statements (such as good) still not saying anything about the person, but simply is a matter of influencing others and telling others to imitate him.Moral discourse is not only influential but action guiding – brings in rationality. He is still an emotivist saying that if an object is good, I am action guiding you; if a person is good I am just telling you to imitate him. Functionalist approach The functionalist approach is defining good in terms of aim and purpose. Good is the fulfilment of a function. For example a marker is good because it fulfils its function – it writes. If you are saying something is good, you are saying something about the object. O am not reflecting my emotions on an object (thus not an emotivist).A functionalist approach is based on its function. An emotivist approach is based on the attitude. A person chooses the good from the bad chooses a good life, because we are aiming at a ‘goal’ at an ‘end’. Aristotle is saying that there is something in-built in every object, in every person, to seek the good – the good being that at which all things aim. For a person to live a good life, he must understand the purpose of the human life. The purpose of human life is common to all humans, from a philosophical point of view – to have a good life.Aristotle defined end or purpose as ‘that for the sake a thing is done’ and good ‘as that at which all things aim’. Aristotle aid that God and nature do nothing in vain – that everything in the universe has been created to achieve a particular purpose. According to Aristotle the purpose of all human beings is the same. To understand the meaning of the word ‘good’ and of the ‘good life’, we have to understand the purpose of the human life and thus the metaphysics of the universe. In attempt ing to answer the meaning of ‘good’, Aristotle looked at the dynamic elements of the world around us (oak tree, chimpanzees, humans and so on).This is the general characteristics which defines Aristotle’s philosophy (metaphysics and ethics) and teleological (the study of the ends and purpose of things). According to Plato’s metaphysical views, he came with two kinds of worlds, the world of ideal and the world of reality. What we see is not the real world but an imitation of the ideal world. So substance in the ideal world is not included in the real world. Aristotle was Plato’s student but he still rejected Plato’s approach. Aristotle brought together the world of ideal and the world of reality.What we see is not an imitation – it is real. To explain the universe, Aristotle gave the theory of the four causes. 1. natural cause 2. formal cause 3. effective cause 4. final cause The theory of the four causes explains the dynamic nature of all the animate objects including human beings. In that way we can understand the goal, the purpose of the life of a human being, thus the meaning of a good life and the meaning of the word good. Metaphysics gives us a way of understanding reality how the human person acts and behaves, this behaviour can be living a good or a bad life.Ethics and metaphysics are distinct but interrelated. The theory of the four causes goes to explain, that if we think of an example of something which is produced by an agent such as a statue – then Material cause – that which constitutes the statue eg marble Formal cause – the pattern or blue print determining the form and the result Efficient cause – agency producing the result eg tools, sculpture Final cause – the sake for which the cause is produced ie the end towards which the production is directed In the case of humans: Material cause – genes Formal cause – humanEfficient cause – freedom, i ntention, responsibility, practical reasoning Final cause – the good life In humans the efficient cause and final cause are dependent of the formal cause – the fact that I am a human being. We are free to make choices in the efficient cause, choosing responsibility or lack of it, thus effecting the final cause. Aristotle also spoke about potency and actuality. Potency is the potentiality of something or someone – characteristics, which if cultured, become actual. Actuality means when something, which is potential, becomes actual. So we have to ask†¦what is our potentiality?We have a potential to reach our goal in life. Conclusion Having been exposed to these three views, in the definition of the word ‘good’, I think that subjectivism is the view which least defines well the word ‘good’. This view shows relativism and emotivism. To define a word well, especially one with a moral value/a virtue, there has to be a norm, a mean, a stan dard and subjectivism fails to do this. On the other hand, the functionalist definition of the word ‘good’ is the best definition of all as it shows a standard – its function; so there is no relativism involved.

Adoption of New Innovations

Consumers go through five stages in the process of adopting a new product: 1. Awareness: The consumer becomes aware of the new product, but lacks information about it. 2. Interest: The consumer seeks information about the new product. 3. Evaluation: The consumer considers whether trying the new product makes sense. 4. Trial: The consumer tries the new product on a small scale to improve his or her estimate its value. 5. Adoption: The consumer decides to make full and regular use of new product. This model suggests that the new-product marketer should think about how to help consumers move through these stages. Individual differences in Innovativeness People differ greatly in their readiness to try new products. In each product area, there are â€Å"consumption pioneers† and early adopters. Other individuals adopt new products much later. Time of Adoption of New Innovations The five adopters groups have differing values. Innovators are venturesome—they try new ideas at some risk. Early adopters are guided by respect—they are opinion leaders in their communities and adopt new ideas early but carefully. The early majority is deliberate—although they rarely are leaders, they adopt new ideas before average person. The late majority is skeptical—they adopt an innovation only after a majority of people have tried it. Finally, laggards are tradition bound—they are suspicious of changes and adopt the innovation only when it has become something of a tradition itself. This adopter classification suggests that an innovating firm should research the characteristics of innovators and early adopters and should direct marketing efforts toward them. In general, innovators tend to be relatively younger, better educated, and higher in income than later adopters and non-adopters.

Is Apple Inc the Most Innovation Organization Essay

Is Apple Inc the Most Innovation Organization - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that Apple Inc is one of the most reputed American multinational organizations that develop and designs varied types of consumer electronics, personal computers, and computer software. Its head office is in Cupertino of California but it excellently controls the entire globe with its inventive product lines iPad, iPod, iPhone, Apple TV, Mac Computers and many others. Due to which, the total revenue and total equity increased by US$ 170.910 billion and US$ 123.549 billion by the year 2013. However, such a reputed image and position is attained by the organization of Apple Inc mainly due to its numerous innovative hardware, software’s and varied internet presentations to its customers so as to fulfill their requirements. Only then, it becomes successful in amplifying its brand value and market share to a significant extent among many other rival players such as Microsoft, IBM, Dell, Acer, HP, Lenovo etc. Other than this, the organizati on of Apple Inc always desired to offer best computing practice to its target customers through its high-quality products, services, and techniques so as to position itself as the dominant one, in this segment. Bargaining power of the customers: the bargaining power of the customers is extremely high. This is mainly due to the presence of numerous rival players as well as substitute products. Moreover, as the technology is advancing at a fast rate, the demand and desires of the customers are also advancing rapidly and so in order to retain its image and dominance, the organization of Apple Inc tried to offer varied types of inventive product lines such as I-phone, Ipad, Ipod etc. Introduction of these product lines proved extremely effective for the organization that amplified its market share, which is presented below. Bargaining power of the suppliers: the power of the suppliers is moderate as they had to obey the rules and regulations of the recognized organizations like Apple In c, Microsoft, Dell etc and had to offer the best quality of raw materials to their products. So that the reputation and loyalty of the brand organizations like Apple Inc remains extremely high within the minds of the customers.

Exxon Mobile and Shell Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Exxon Mobile and Shell - Research Paper Example Shell is also engaged in same type of oil business as Mobil did even though their abilities are comparatively less than that of the Exxon Mobil Company. This paper briefly compares Exxon Mobil and Shell in terms of their current policies, the way of operation, marketing strategies and international expansion etc. Record oil prices for the past few years helped oil companies in general and Exxon Mobil in particular to accumulate huge profits. The financial conditions of Exxon Mobil is far better than Shell. â€Å"Exxon Company has nearly $40 billion in cash reserves and another $225 billion in repurchased stock. Thats enough money to pay a nearly 60 percent premium, in cash, for every share of its next largest competitor - Royal Dutch Shell† (Daily News). In short Shell is nothing in front of Mobil as far as the market capitalization or financial abilities are concerned even though Shell is placed second behind the Exxon (see the figure given below for more details). According to many economical and business analysts, Exxon may buy the Royal Dutch Shell Oil Company in the near future itself in order to establish an absolute monopoly in the oil market. Even though the oil prices were rising up, Shell like oil companies failed to develop new projects to take advantage of the favorable business climate. On the other hand, Exxon Mobil succeeded developing new projects for the maximum exploitation of the higher oil price. Both shell and Exxon Mobil give more priority to the evaluation of market interests as part of their marketing strategies. The call for energy efficient vehicles and environment friendly energy sources is growing in the world because of the severe environmental problems caused by the burning of fossil fuels. Under such circumstances, it is not advisable for these oil companies to increase their production beyond certain levels. They are closely watching the market trends and making changes in their oil prices

How to run a simulation company Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

How to run a simulation company - Essay Example Fundamental areas within which marketing objectives may be theoretically defined include; Achieving marketing share growth or maintenance, the maintenance or important of profitability; establishing an opening market position and maximizing cash flow, harvesting. The most important marketing objective of starting a business is to achieve marketing share growth and be able to maintain it. Where the business is entering into a market where there are already established businesses, it is difficult to penetrate the market and worse to be the market leader. As such, the business should establish market strategies which will allow it to enter into the market and tactfully compete with other established companies without being ousted out of the market. Market expansion strategies should be aggressive and should include high levels of defense for the acquired market while expanding into the target market. The business objects to establish an opening market position by providing services and products which are highly perceived by the customers. This includes; identifying the departing point between the products of a company and other brands of the industry. The brands should not only be different but also be attractive and distinct from those of the rivals companies. The company should also determine the target market which they should be able to serve the best. This is done by analyzing their strengths and weaknesses. A market position is aided by conducting consumer analysis so as to identify what the consumer expect different what is being offered by the rival companies. Establishing a market position enables the business to survive despite stiff competition in the market. Simventure should object to increase their market share on the new products. The most effective way is providing high quality products at an affordable price which should be able to compete with the rival companies. Advertisement should also be used

Ancient Greece and Rome on film Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Ancient Greece and Rome on film - Essay Example Nero eventually threatened to destroy the peaceful order of the Rome and the main issue was the conflict between Christianity and debauchery of the Roman Empire (LeRoy, 2008). The film narrates the story of Roman military commander who fell in love with a devout Christian woman known as Lygia, who was a Roman captive because she was raised up as an adopted daughter of Aulus Plautius. The military commander, Marcus Vinicius slowly became intruded by the religion of Lygia. Their love story is narrated in a broader historical context of earlier Christianity and its persecution by Nero (Scodel and Bettenworth, 2009, p. 9). The acts of Nero became highly outrageous; thus he ended up burning Rome and started blaming Christians. Marcus went to save Lygia and her family but Nero captured them and demand both of them, as well as, Christians to be killed. However, Petronius, the trusted consultant of Nero cautioned Christians that they will be made martyrs and since he was tired of madness act s of Nero, Petronius decided to kill himself (Scodel and Bettenworth, 2009, p. 11). Marcus was later arrested due to an attempt of saving the family of Lygia and another person known as Peter was killed by being crucified upside down. Peter returned to Rome and married the couple arguing that it was a sign of the lord but he was eventually killed. In short, the story ends where Marcus is released from the prison and marries Lygia. Marcus replaced Nero and eventually people realized that he was the one who burnt Rome but not the Christians. People wanted to kill Nero but he escaped into the palace where he strangled Poppaea to death claiming that he was the one who attempted to scapegoat the Christians. In the palace, the slave of Nero appeared and offered to help Nero to terminate his life. After the death of Nero, Marcus and Lygia became free; thus they left Rome. By the roadside, the crosier that Peter had left after his return to Rome had already miraculously sprouted flowers; th us the radiant light uttered â€Å"I am the way, the truth and the life† (Scodel and Bettenworth, 2009, p. 12). The Way Filmmakers Use Roman Stories to Discuss Christianity Themes Filmmakers use Roman stories in order to discuss Christianity themes in diverse ways. One of the filmmakers that attempt to reveal the themes of Christianity is the Quo Vadis, which is an American epic film of 1951 that was directed by Mervyn LeRoy. An epic movie is a kind of film, which lays emphasis on human tragedy on a grand level and it is more ambitious in scale that any other genre films. Quo Vadis is one of the epic films because it attempts to reveal real human dramatic events or actions that took place in the ancient Roman. It attempts to reveal the way Christians were persecuted by some powerful leaders of the historical era in Rome. Quo Vadis is a Latin idiom meaning that â€Å"where are you going† but the modern usage of the idiom refers to a Christian tradition regarding Saint P eter (Scodel and Bettenworth, 2009, p. 21). The Filmmakers use Roman stories to discuss the theme of persecution or martyrdom in the life of Christians. For Christians, persecution or martyrdom is one of the significant aspects that strengthen their faith. The crucifixion of Christ and his death at the cross is what altered everything including the live of Christians. For instance, the epic film of Quo Vadis offers an example of people like Saint Peter and among other Christians who were persecuted because of their

Marketing Strrategy of Tourism Destination Coursework

Marketing Strrategy of Tourism Destination - Coursework Example The research is therefore subjective to interpretation, as it does not seek to explain how much money was (or will be) used, but the manner in which funds, policy, and rational marketing plans are being utilised by Beijing to promote economic wealth. The research approach is descriptive and based on the idea of a rational planning paradigm. It asks what Beijing's prior planning policies were, how these have changed, and what the future implications are. The research study utilises several schools of thought regarding marketing strategy to form the final conclusion that Beijing's marketing strategy has responded effectively to several marketing ideals. The results are the assurance of an environmentally conscious marketing plan has strong potential towards a global initiative of Beijing as a 'new' city with the foundation of historical regional culture. The final recommendation is for Beijing to establish their post-Olympic vision; maintain consistence in the application of resources; look for innovative ways to exceed the Olympic expectations. In 2001, after much debate and deliberation, the Beijing bid to host the 2008 Olympics was approved. ... The research study utilises several schools of thought regarding marketing strategy to form the final conclusion that Beijing's marketing strategy has responded effectively to several marketing ideals. The results are the assurance of an environmentally conscious marketing plan has strong potential towards a global initiative of Beijing as a 'new' city with the foundation of historical regional culture. The final recommendation is for Beijing to establish their post-Olympic vision; maintain consistence in the application of resources; look for innovative ways to exceed the Olympic expectations. Chapter 1 Introduction In 2001, after much debate and deliberation, the Beijing bid to host the 2008 Olympics was approved. While this sparked some controversy amongst several nations (United States and Taiwan) and human rights activists, the emergent marketing strategy Beijing utilized to promote its place as a world-leading, global technology, and environmentally sound nation has been nearly unparalleled by any other tourism marketing initiative. The municipal city government has allocated billions of funds, derived from public, corporate and private resources, to develop and implement an international marketing strategy. This strategy includes several dimensions that will likely have a permanent impact on the economic and political stages for Beijing. The following research paper explores these economic and political histories, resources, and strategies that existed prior to, and because of, the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The research first explores the background and history of Beijing, followed by an analysis of the current marketing strategy components. This is followed by a review of the

Maxim Magazine The Company Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Maxim Magazine The Company - Essay Example The success of the magazine in its primary market has resulted into expansion into other countries including US, Argentine, Canada, India and other countries. This success of the magazine therefore has made it one of the strongest brands in the industry which firm is also utilizing in its other projects. Such success and brand development also outlines that the Maxim as an organization is also becoming successful and the overall systems , procedures and culture of the organization has resulted into its success over the period of time. The question of whether Maxim is a closed system therefore depends upon a closer analysis of the overall system of the organization, its values as well as culture. It is also important to understand the peculiar dynamics of the media industry in which Maxim works. This also signifies that impact of the industry can have important significance for the organization as a closed system. Within the norms of the public media, the companies work as a closed system owing to the fact that message or output is communicated from a single source to potentially passive audience. This suggests that the output of the closed systems like Maxim entirely depends upon the Maxim’s management’s decision as to what to target and what to deliver. Further, it is argued that the contents of the Maxim are relatively irrelevant as well as the informal. (Proffitt) One of the essential characteristics of closed systems is based on the fact that closed systems are owned by single company. Maxim is a subsidiary of the US based Alpha Media Group. Single ownership of the company suggest that the Maxim is a closed system given the fact that its overall output is more direct and lack openness in terms of the its audience. It is however, critical to understand that the services or businesses related with internet are often considered as the closed systems. Organizations like Facebook are treated as closed systems

Iceland volcanic Essay Example for Free

Iceland volcanic Essay Natural disasters and their atrocities are but bitter facts of life: we keep hearing about natural disasters taking place all around our world. For example, two year ago in China, a deadly earthquake of magnitude 7. 9 left more than 80,000 people killed which included 18,000 persons officially missing. During this earthquake, many Chinese lost their families and homes. Moreover, in January 2010, Haiti had a 7. 0 Mw earthquake; between 217,000 and 230,000 people were identified dead and 1,000,000 people became homeless. The incidents of earthquakes like these have the tendency to frighten the world: however, the aggregate impact of these on the world is not as intense as in case of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull. The earthquake in Eyjafjallajokull resulted in the cancellation of more than 100,000 flights stranding hundreds of thousands of travelers in airport around the world. To worsen this, it happened to shut down a third of industry such as farmer, airline or other industries relying on the air transportation. According to TIME, it was the most severe global travel disruption since World War II. Although we have state-of-the-art technology to predict the incident of earthquakes and thus protect human life before the tragedy happens, we have to understand very well that the mother earth keeps surprising us: one of such reminders comes from the Iceland. Iceland is located on the both Iceland hotspot and the Mid-Atlantic Ridge with highly geological active volcanoes. It has 130 volcanoes out of which 18 have erupted. In June 1783, Laki volcano erupted with devastating effects not only on Iceland but the entire world. To start with, it caused such a famine that became the reason of the death of nearly one fourth of the Iceland people. Furthermore, the ash and dust clouds kept covered most of the Europe and parts of Asia and Africa for several months. In addition to these, it also impacted the global climate, for instance, after the Laki eruption, North America had the longest and coldest winter. Eyjafjallajokull, meaning ‘island mountain glacier’ in Icelandic, is a smaller ice cup in Iceland. The volcanic events are considered to be a single eruption with different phases. In fact, it began to erupt since the Ice Age; whereas, according to available record, the recent eruption of Eyjafjallajokull occurred in 920, 1612 and from 1821 to 1823. The first-time eruption, anyhow, started on March 20, the volcano began to eject olivine basaltic andesite lava which led to a volcanic eruption of Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) 1. After almost a month, the earth didn’t get quite yet, instead the eruption became stronger and throwing a vast plume of glass- rich ash to over 7 miles into the atmosphere which rises to VEI 4. The ice and air are the main reasons for such devastating eruption. The weight of the glacier atop the volcano helps the magma inside build to a higher pressure. So when the mountain had eruption, the high pressure can send the volcanic gases and ash miles into the sky. However fortunately for the USA, the ash cloud is travelling east- southeast toward Europe even Asia. Since the eruption is very strong, the ash clouds have already reached North America, as the western part of Canada’s Labrador Peninsula, the Newfoundland Island and small islands. Besides, the volcanic melted a part of a glacier causing heavy and large flooding and, resultantly, 600 people living around the area had to move to a save place. Today, there is no such evidence to show the volcano has calmed down. Scientist said that, under the limited technology of volcanic, it is difficult to predict the development of the volcanic. According to the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, the Icelandic volcano eruption would last for two year and then the ash will stop until the glacier melted. As a matter of fact, no one can tell how long the eruption had lasted for as by May 14, the volcano eruption was still increasing. The scientists are concerned about the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull that it may lead to Katla erupted too as tested through events in the past. â€Å"There have been three Eyjafjallajokull eruptions and Katla has followed each time† said geophysicist Sigrun Hriensdottir, at the Earth Science Institute. Sigrun Hriensdottir believes that the volcanoes are directly linked underground in a way that the magma from one can flow into the other. Therefore, the eruption of Katla may cause heavier and larger flooding that can influence more Icelanders. The Icelanders are themselves worried owing to the fact that the Eyjafjallajokull eruption is a small rehearsal before the eruption of Katla and they fear that the eruption of Katla may take place anytime: on two months later or tomorrow. The airline industry, already pummeled by the recession, has lost nearly $2 billion. Almost 100,000 fearful customers marooned overseas and the industry lost $9 million a day that stranded vacationers would spend on their extra accommodation, catering etc. Thus in this very connection, Thomas Grindle, chief of aircraft maintenance at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, Calif warns that the ash can definitely do some real damage to airplane’s engines; it can get sucked into the hot combustion chamber without being noticed by the pilots. Although the pilots can fly around or under the ash cloud, the problem is that it’s difficult to measure the amount of ash in the air and to worsen this we don’t have the complete measurement of the ash for flying. A deeper lesson, human learns from such disasters that we can’t fight nature. The only thing we can do is to wait for the earth to become quiet again. We also realize how limited knowledge we have about the volcano: we, resultantly, can’t do anything with the volcano and we cannot predict when it will stop or what will happen next. However, there are three things we can do: get prepared to deal with it, do more research, and above all, pray fro the best.

Effect of Eccentricity on Nonlinear Galloping of Cables

Effect of Eccentricity on Nonlinear Galloping of Cables The Effect of Eccentricity on the Nonlinear Galloping of Cables under Combined Wind Flow and Support motion in 1:1 Internal, External and Parametric Resonance Condition Amir Jalali Saman Sadripour Department of Mechanical Engineering, Shahrood University of Technology, Shahrood, Iran. Galloping of cables is a kind of self-excited vibration and characterized with high amplitude and low frequency. In this paper for investigating the nonlinear galloping of an inclined cable, considering flexural and torsional stiffness, a cable-beam model is used. The iced cable is formulated under the effects of combined wind flow and support motion. Assuming low sag to span ratio and using physical parameter values of the cable, the governing equation of motion is obtained as a classical equations of the perfectly flexible cable, plus a further equation governing the twist motion. These two degrees of freedom system is discretized via the Galerkin method, by taking one in-plane and one out-of-plane modes as trial function. Two resulting non-homogeneous ordinary differential equations are coupled and contain quadratic and cubic nonlinearities in both velocity and displacement terms. By using multiple scale method for 1:1 internal resonance and 1:1 external resonance, a first order a mplitude-phase modulation equation, governing the slow dynamic of the cable, is obtained. In this paper the wind speed and the eccentricity of the iced section are set as control parameters. Without consideration the eccentricity, the value of amplitude is increased as the wind speed is increase. But considering the eccentricity reduced to firstly increasing and then decreasing the amplitude. Keywords:Galloping, Stiff Cable, Wind Flow, Eccentricity, Perturbation method Introduction Cables are light and flexible structures which are used commonly in many engineering structures. Because of their low inherent damping, Cables are exposed to wind-induced vibration. Galloping is a classic phenomenon of aerodynamic instability of slender structures having non-circular cross sections [analytical]. A circular cylinder, with perfect symmetry will not exhibit galloping, though galloping is a common occurrence of on ice-laden cables, where the ice introduces the required asymmetry [1]. Galloping is characterized by low frequency and high amplitude vibration and has many roles in the field of cable vibration. The effects of galloping on a transmission line is dependent upon the severity and duration of the galloping event but typical problems are phase to phase flashover causing outages and arcing damage to conductors, loosening of tower bolts and damage to suspension and tension clamps, spacers and vibration dampers and, in some critical cases, structural damage to towers [1]. In order to prevent these damages, it is important to study on this kind of vibration. The initial galloping model was proposed by Irvine [1], this model is based on the low sag to span ratio. The first studies of galloping considered it to be single degree of freedom (mono-modal galloping); Den Hartog [1] and Parkinson [1] introduce a model by consideration the vertical direction for galloping motion. Jones [1] and Luongo [1] proposed a two degree of freedom model by consideration vertical and horizontal motion and the interaction between them. In a major advance in (2010) Blevins [1] and Yu et al. [1] analyzed the effect of rotation on galloping and have found that the rotation plays an important role on the initiation of galloping under certain conditions. After that Yu [1, 2] proposed a three degree of freedom galloping model (vertical, horizontal and rotational) by consideration eccentricity of ice. The 3-DOF models have been used widely in galloping analysis using analytical and finite element methods. All these models consider the cable as a flexible structure a nd cannot consider the bending effects. Luongo [10-12] proposed a new model for considering both bending and rotation. This new model is based on the curved-beam theory and importance of consideration bending effects has been proved in linear [1] and nonlinear regime [1] under internal resonance conditions, devoting attention to the comparison between analytical and numerical approaches [1]. In the present paper, to investigate the effect of eccentricity on the iced cables which exposed to wind flow and support motion simultaneously, a nonlinear curved beam model [1] is introduced. The proposed model in this paper, is a nonlinear model of an inclined cable which able to twist and displacement in three normal, bi-normal and tangential directions. By using strain-displacements relation and based on Hamilton principle equations of motion can be derived. The aerodynamic forces are modeled referring to the quasi-steady theory, and they depend on the mean wind speed and on the angle of attack. Moreover, according to the property of the sample cable and Galerkin method, by considering one in-plane and one out-of-plane modes, a simplified two-degree of-freedom (normal and bi-normal) model with consideration of torsion, bending and eccentricity has been obtained. The two resulting equations are second order, non-homogeneous, time-periodic, ordinary differential equations and coup led with quadratic and cubic nonlinearities, both in the displacements and velocities. By using multiple scale method for 1:1 internal resonance between the in-plane and out-of-plane modes, and 1:1 external resonance between forcing and natural frequencies, a first order amplitude-phase modulation equation, governing the slow dynamic of the cable, is obtained. In this paper the wind speed, the eccentricity of the iced section and the amplitude of the support motion are set as control parameters. The paper is organized as follows: In the section 2 the equations of motion are formulated based on Hamiltonian theory. The reduced equations of motion are derived with simplifying assumption in section 3. By defining the non-dimensional parameters, Dimensionless equations are obtained in section 4. In the section 5 aerodynamic forces are formulated based on quasi-steady theory. Discretizing via Galerkin procedure is performed in the next section and the perturbation analysis is carried out in section 7, where the amplitude modulation equations are derived. Finally for a sample system, some conclusions are drawn in section 8. Mechanical model The cable is modeled as a body made of a flexible centerline and rigid cross-sections restrained to remain orthogonal to the axis (shear-undeformable beam). It is assumed to be uniformly iced and loaded by a wind flow of mean velocity , blowing horizontally. For better description of cable-beam model, the choice of coordinates is made as following: directions 1,2 and 3 denote tangential, normal and bi-normal directions of transmission line, respectively. Four different configurations are considered. (a) the configuration, taken by the body at time and the cable is under the action of gravity including ice, in this configuration the cable is in a vertical plane belong to (x,y) plane so the cross-section is in the (y,z) plane. (b) the configuration, in this configuration the eccentricity of cross-section due to ice layer is considered. Because of eccentricity of iced transmission line, the configuration rotates the initial angle from shape . (c) the reference configuration is con sidered by the body at time , it is assumed in which static aerodynamic forces act on transmission line. Due to static aerodynamic forces the cross section rotates the angle from the shape , this configuration is described by planner curve and by the cross-section inertial principal triad assumed to be coincident with the Frenet triad [1]. (d) the actual configuration is considered at time , it is assumed all forces including static and dynamic forces and support motion act on the body, The actual configuration of the body is described by the non-planar curve and the inertial principal triad . Because of the dynamic part of aerodynamic force, the dynamic rotation and transport is described by and the displacement vector field , respectively. (1) (2) According to [2, 3], assuming low sag to span ratio, the Lagrange strain-displacement relationship can be calculated as below: (3) (4) (5) (6) Where is stretching, is torsion, and are bending strains, respectively and are the components of displacement vector in basis . Is the initial curvature of the cable and is the twist of the cross section. All the displacements and twist depends on the curvilinear abscissa and time . Based on [1] the equations of motion were derived via extended Hamilton principle by ignoring the shear resistance of the curved beam. (7) Where ; ; , are the first moment of area about and axes. Is tensional, is the torsional, and are the bending forces all at time . The sign . denotes derivation with respect time ; and represent eccentricity of cross section about the and axes, respectively; is the density of transmission line; is the area of cross section; , , , and are the axial, bending and torsional stiffness, respectively; , and are aerodynamic forces; , , and are structural damping coefficients; denotes the cable length. Represents the horizontal distance between adjacent towers; is sag at the mid-span. Based on [1] by reducing strain-displacement equations (1) (1) to equations (1) (1) and substituting them into equation (1), the equations of motion (1) (1) with boundary condition (1) (1) can be obtained in the four directions. (8) (9) (10) Tangential direction: (11) Normal direction: (12) Bi-normal direction: (13) Torsional direction: (14) (15) (16) (17) (18) Where sign ÂÂ ´ denotes differentiation with respect to . Reduced equations of motion Since the transversal-to-longitudinal (or torsional) squared frequency ratio is small, stretching and torsion are quasi-steady, so that inertial and damping forces can be neglected in the relevant equations. By substituting Longitudinal displacements are consequently statically condensed as (1) where the boundary conditions (1) have been used. Furthermore , in equation (1) are assumed as and respectively. Thus equations (1) and (1) can be simplified as: (19) (20) According to the actual transmission line properties, and are very small compared with area of cable cross section , therefore and in equations (1) and (1) can be ignored. Since the equation in twist direction cannot be condensed such a simple way, it is convenient to use twist equation as an ancillary equation in the following. By substituting (1) in equations (1) to (1), the equations of motion can be obtained as equations (1) to (1) by boundary condition (1) to (1). (21) (22) (23) (24) (25) (26) Since the equations of motion (1) to (1) have non-homogenous boundary conditions, by considering transformation (1) the system can be transform into an equivalent system with homogenous boundary condition. (27) In which is quasi-static and is dynamic component of the solution and they can be obtained by solving the linearized, non-homogenous system that is describe planner, linear, static of the cable, when a vertical unitary time-independent motion of the support is applied [1]. (28) (29) The particular solution of equation (1) can be obtained as follow: (30) (31) (32) Dimensionless form of equations By defining non-dimensional parameter (1), dimensionless forms of equations of motion are obtained as follow: (29) (30) (31) (32) In which all * Superscripts have been eliminating in order to simplicity and non-dimensional parameters are introduced as follow: (33) Where the index n used instead of value and . Aerodynamic forces In order to gain a simple aerodynamic model, simplifying assumption should be considered. a) The quasi-steady theory is adopted [1], b) the curvature of cable is neglected, c) the twist angle is accounted in loads but the effect of flexural rotation is neglected, d) the ice is uniformly cover the cable surface and e) the aerodynamic couples are neglected. Based on these assumptions aerodynamic forces and can be obtained. As shown in figure (1) wind blow with speed to cable plane, expression (1) denotes projection of this speed on the plane of cross section. The angle of attack introduced by the angle between direction of the component of wind speed on the cross section and a reference direction (hear the reference direction is adopted axis ), equation (1) and (1) express these concepts. (34) (35) Based on quasi-steady theory the aerodynamic force can be calculated by (36) Where is angle of attack, is the relative velocity between the wind speed and structure speed, is air density, is characteristic radius of section, the modulus of relation speed, and are lift and drag coefficient respectively and theyre dependent on the angle of attack and written as (37) (38) In which is defined as relation (1) and are the aerodynamic coefficients in reference configuration that are obtained by experimental results. (39) By substituting these expression into (1) and projecting this equation on direction and the components of aerodynamic force and can be calculated as follow: (40) For and where is a vector that collecting all the invariable components, , and are the coefficients that depend on the , and their derivati

Emily Brontes Wuthering Heights - A Truly Romantic Novel Essay

Wuthering Heights - A Truly Romantic Novel    Wuthering Heights embodies the idea of a classical Romantic novel.  Ã‚   Written at a time when the novel was just becoming a popular form of entertainment/writing Wuthering Heights employs many of the typical elements of the Romantic writers.   There are elements of innovative experimentation in subject, form, and style, a mixing of genre's, use of powerful emotions, and several traits that could also classify Wuthering Heights as a "Dark" Romantic piece.   The "Dark" Romanticism is revealed within the strange/ non-normative story, super-natural elements, and the Gothic setting.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   When originally printed the author of WH (Emily Bronte under the pseudonym Ellis Bell) was widely criticized for authoring a piece of work with such blatant tones of mental disturbance.   One reviewer, compared Wuthering Heights to Jane Eyre saying that, "Wuthering Heights casts a gloom over the mind that is not easily dispelled" (WH 300) while Jane Eyre manages to provide some cathartic element that offers its reader a release.   While, obviously not loved by all, the subject matter of WH was new and unique to the time, offering a break from the traditional literary works such as Paradise Lost or Gulliver's Travels that often included a strong underlying moral or political message.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The book also possesses a unique style; it is a story within a story.   Lockwood is the narrator that has direct contact with the audience while Nellie Dean is carries the bulk of the tale, though she never directly conveys information to the readers.   Most stories, before Wuthering Heights, had a single narrator, typically a first person account, that walked the readers through the story... ...ce as reflected by the time it was written.   One reviewer criticized it for its lack of realistic elements saying that a "few glimpses of sunshine would have increased the reality of the picture and given strength rather than weakness to the whole" (WH 300).   Unfortunately these could be very realistic pieces of a person's life if they were to fall in love with the wrong person in that time.   Revenge is also a predominant theme; perhaps few people would be so willing to take it as far as Heathcliff but the general theme is very realistically inspired.    Works Cited Damrosch, David, et al., ed.   The Longman Anthology of British Literature: Vol. B.   Compact ed.   New York: Longman - Addison Wesley Longman, 2000. Bronte, Emily.   Wuthering Heights. Norton Critical ed.   3rd ed.   Ed. William M. Sale, Jr., and Richard J. Dunn.   New York:   W. W. Norton, 1990.

Research Paper -- essays papers

Research Paper In the United States, starting salaries for teachers who have completed a four-year degree are far lower compared to many other professions, which also require a four-year degree. In most states, teachers must undergo testing and other rigorous certification requirements, but they are given the same consideration or status as beginning professionals in other areas. Although attractive incentives are offered, the compensation does not compare to the long hours of work and schooling required for a teaching career. A four-year degree is a requirement in most various professions although the salaries show a significant range in the pay scale. In order to become a teacher in any state a Bachelor’s Degree must be completed from a four-year program at one’s college. Each state has its own set of requirements for its students to complete in order to teach therefore the degree earned is not compatible from state to state (ERIC, 2000, par. 6). Teachers are also limited in the degree earned because they are only able to teach in certain levels (early, elementary, secondary, etc.) and are not able to move around. A paralegal is able to enter their field with just a two-year degree and earn almost $10,000 more then a beginning teacher. With comparison to a computer programmer, a Bachelor’s Degree is required in any computer related field, not limiting the students to a specific program. Also, since computer programmers are in such high demand, companies will higher people with Associates Degrees or provide incentives for non-computer degree people in return for schooling them while they work for their computer degree (Lincoln University). This is unfair and limits teachers to only having one specific career choice... ...stock of options trend. (2000, February 21). Electronic Engineering Times. Retrieved April 7, 2003, from http://www.eetasia.com Greenhouse, S. (2002, October 21). Teachers’ pay: The impact of raising salaries? The New York Times. Retrieved April 5, 2003, from http://walkingbear.com Litke, G. (2002, October 21). Teacher shortage sets stage for salary increase. WCBD-TV Charleston, South Carolina. Retrieved April 5, 2003, from http://www.wcbd.com/education NEA debate demonstrates complexity of teacher pay issue. (2000, July 5). National Education Association. Retrieved April 29, 2003, from http://www.nea.org Social workers. (n.d.). U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved April 21, 2003, from http://www.stats.bls.gov So you want to be a teacher. (2000). ERIC Digest #282860. Retrieved April 12, 2003, from http://www.ericfacility.net/ericdigests

The Immigration And Asylum Debate :: essays research papers

Russian nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky has once again horrified the politically correct and "culturally sensitive" by suggesting that White people, who comprise only eight percent of the world's population, should unite to keep from being overwhelmed by non-Whites. The reaction from Western governments and the news media to their current archdemon has been predictable. Any attempt to preserve the integrity of the White race, in their view, constitutes the most vile form of racism and bigotry, and anyone advocating such a plan must be pilloried as a dangerous criminal. It is, therefore, no surprise that only a few farsigà itical philosophers have addressed the looming American immigration crisis. Our elected officials have failed for more than two decades to act to control immigration. As a result, demographers are already taking note of the dramatic changes occurring in the population of the United States. Leon Bouvier and Cary Davis, respected demographers with the Population Reference Bureau, prepared population projections demonstrating the changes which large-scale Third World immigration is causing. They warn that projections are not predictions. Immigration could increase or decrease. The future will never turn out to be exactly like the projections. Yet projections by the population experts are important because they give an approximation of future population demographics if immigration continues at current high levels. What do the experts' predictions show? Current levels of immigration are transforming the United States from a predominantly European-descended, English- speaking nation into a melting pot, a land in which Asians, non-White Hispanics, Blacks and Whites are all minorities. This transformation is happening fastest in the states favored by immigrants, such as California, Texas, Florida and New York. The speed with which this change occurs depends on the level of immigration. Because most immigration to the United States is now illegal, no precise figure can be given for annual net immigration. However, Immigration and Naturalization Service officials and leading scholars are able to make educated estimates. Legal immigration is currently in excess of 600,000 persons annually. Illegal immigrants fall into two broad categories: (1) visa abusers/fraudulent document users and (2) surreptitious border crossers. The latter category is well known to the American public. Chiefly Mexicans and others from Central America, these illegal aliens cross the border without visas or other documentation -- usually under cover of darkness. More than 1.2 million such aliens were captured this year, and Border Patrol agents estimate that two to three illegal aliens slip by for each one that is apprehended.

Proliferation of Global Terrorism Essay

The Second Indochina War, popularly known as the Vietnam War, took place from 1965 to the 30th of April in 1975. It is a very memorable moment for the North Vietnamese military for they have achieved victory, which is in fact, the first ever major defeat of the United States in the field of military. The defeat of the United States, even with their remarkable military munitions and superiority, created a place in the minds of historians, teachers, students and other people. As such, political activists, contemporary journalists, militant teachers and socially conscious generation of students are inspired by this event to fight back against the Vietnam War (Gilbert, 2000). These people or generation, especially those who are intimidated and did not hold onto the leftist political agenda, generally is destructive and utilizes violent protests. Subversive propagandas are also used by these people to voice out their anger against the Vietnam War (Heineman, 1993).   It would be good thing for these young people to give their supports in order to achieve a military victory, but violence is not the means or should not be considered as an option. It is unnecessary for violence would only provoke another one to occur. Violence would only occur and reoccur, from one side to the other, resulting to a vicious cycle; something that is greatly unnecessary. It would be best if all the peaceful means would be exhausted first. If all fails, then we can consider violence as an option. But, as long as there are still other means, ways or options to take or consider, violence should not be considered. A well-thought action, not a reckless one, often results to greater achievements, if not the best. Part II – Dangers on a Global Scale   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Six-Day War which is commonly known as the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, is a major conflict that occurred between and fought by Syria, Egypt and Jordan, all which are Israel and Arab neighbors. In this war, soldiers or military forces from other countries also joined the battle and helped the Arab forces, such as those from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Algeria and Kuwait.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   After the war, in 1967 where the Israel defeated the Arabs, the Palestinians who were displaced, tried to live in the places where they fled. The Palestinian population feared for their lives and wanted to live. They were also in state of calamity because of the strength of the troops and military forces from Israel. To run and conserve their lives was the best option that the Palestinians could do. The predominant Palestinian Population continued their lives in the West Bank. Almost 4,000 Palestinians stayed in the West Bank; all of them are refugees or those who fled to save their lives. Some stayed, and tried to fight back with the hope of winning, and greatly showing these people’s Palestinian nationalism, but their efforts were futile. The predominant Palestinian population that fled, may have contributed to their cause for they ensured to save their lives; the lives that would later on increase and ultimately create new Palestinian nationalists or future heroes of their people.   Those who stayed and fought back may not have been totally successful, but they contributed as well in buying time for their people to run and survive. World Politics Complex Interdependence Counter independence refers to the international relations. In circumstances, this affirms to the fortunes and inextricabilities of Robert Keohane’s and Joseph Nye’s ideas. These two theorists accepted that in the counter independence, the diverse and intricate connections and the interdependencies of the present states and the respective societies are increasing. On the other hand, while the complex interdependencies increase, the utilization of the state or societies military force decreases. Along with the decline of military usage, is the decrease of its force and power, which oftentimes becomes unbalanced though still important. There are three characteristics of the complex interdependencies which were determined by the theorists. These characteristics would be necessary for analysis. The first characteristic is the multiple channels which connect societies and may also include informal ties. The informal ties may occur between governmental elites and the nongovernmental elites. An example would communication of one government to the advanced industrial countries or non governmental elites meeting frequently. The second characteristics include the agenda of the interstate relationships. These relationships include multiple issues which are generally not arranged. There is a link of the issues regarding prioritization and the objective of the third characteristic. An example may include the foreign affairs agenda wherein the relevant issues regarding the government and foreign policies are tackled. The third characteristic brings about the decrease in the dependence on the military force and power in dealing with the international relations. The government does not use its military capabilities to resolve issues towards other governments within the region when the complex interdependence prevails (Baaklini and Desfosses, 1997). An example would be the use of peaceful means or negotiations to resolve a conflict.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Globalization and complex interdependence may be similar or would relate to one another in that an intricate relationship is formed or that there is an increase in the interconnections between people. In globalization, there is a need for advancement of the technology, transport and communication that would later on cause an economic, cultural or political junction, not unlike the complex interdependence which does not necessarily need any advancement in technology for a convergence may occur. References Baaklini, A. I., & Desfosses, H. (1997). Designs for Democratic Stability: Studies in Viable Constitutionalism. Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe, Inc. Gilbert, M. J. (2000). Vietnam War on Campus: Other Voices, More Distant Drums. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group Incorporated. Heineman, K. J. (1993). Campus Wars: The Peace Movement at America State Universities in the Vietnam Era. New York: New York University Press.

Indigenous Peoples Essay

The peak of the globalization is mostly felt when every culture around the world is integrated into a centrally focused ideal that encapsulates each unique cultural set-up practiced around the world. When all these cultures are somehow connected in something that both caters to each need of the various cultures of people and introduces an open understanding and tolerance to all the available sub-cultures within a particular state or nation, there is no question that globalization has taken its effect to its most fundamentally successful level. Such is the case after reading the book A Global History of Indigenous Peoples by Ken S. Coates that, according to some reviews, â€Å"examines the history of the indigenous/tribal peoples of the world and the work spans of the period from the pivotal migrations which saw the peopling of the world, and further examines the processes by which tribal peoples established themselves as separate from surplus-based and more material societies (Barnes and Noble). † The book is also a successful introduction to how the impact of the differing policies of global struggles of cultural domination takes place in the world and how the colonization of these changes has impacted the indigenous cultures. As a form of analysis in the chapter of the book entitled Continuing the Struggle: Indigenous Protests, Legal Agendas, and Aboriginal Internationalism, it would be great to highlight how the impact of globalization made the integration of the different indigenous cultures in some leading countries successful. In this aspect, no country is better to analyze and cite as an example than the great cultural history of the indigenous rights movement in Canada. Moreover, the analysis in this given area should focus both on how the indigenous rights movement in Canada has been integrated into the globalization integration of cultures and to how this degree has been made manifest in the uniqueness of the indigenous rights culture of the particular state. Secondly, an analysis on how this uniqueness has been able to relate to the international scenario of protests and processes that are forming the cultural integration of all the major cultures practiced in our time, is also very important. Degree of the Indigenous rights Movement in Canada When we discuss the indigenous rights movement in Canada, the most immediate things we can think about and can connect to the book of Ken S. Coates are the aboriginal nature of Canadians to value the basic human right of living, the practice of democracy in their lifestyle and the value of the self-respect and integrity among their people. In the first indigenous rights movement, the main concern is essentially concentrated on the discrimination shown by the non-indigenous people to the basic rights of living of the indigenous ones. This is mostly felt by the Canadians in the aspect of their housing plans and the way they construct and develop the indigenous livelihood and community. With this problem, the degree of the indigenous rights movement in Canada is in a level so widespread, that it has already caught the attention of the United Nations. In this aspect alone, it could be said that the indigenous rights movement in Canada has been made unique because of its unrelenting value for the preservation of the rights of indigenous living. The second indigenous rights movement that is unique to Canadians is mostly concerned with the practice of democracy in the lifestyle of the indigenous people. The Amnesty International Canada article report laying out the legislative proposals for the respect of the rights of the Indigenous rights of Canadians is one of the great examples on how this movement is unique to the Canadians living an indigenous lifestyle. (Amnesty International Website) The third indigenous rights movement that has created a certain level of high degree of respect and practice among the indigenous Canada is the respect for the rights of women and the condemning of any type of human abuse. This indigenous rights movement is one of those unique Canadian struggles that have been recognized so greatly by the world, the U. N. even made sure that these new requests by the indigenous people would become part of the new legislation addressing indigenous rights across the globe. Connection to broader international protests and processes In a great general approach, it would be safe to say that these unique indigenous rights movement have been so great and effective in attempting to universalize all the other international protests on human rights, that many of the breakthrough movements across the world have already used these ideas as an ideal platform for all future proposals of addressing indigenous rights. One of the many examples we can cite for this connection is the creation of the Indigenous people’s legislation concerning the ratification of ILO Convention 169 (the Indigenous and Tribal peoples) of the United Nations. This, along with the many global movements in addressing the global challenge of integrating indigenous cultures across the globe, is a significant international political process that, among many other things, gives light to the many demands of universalizing the indigenous rights of people in different nations. Secondly, it would also be great to highlight that many of the legislation found in the proposals advancing the rights of ownership, the respect for the rights of women and the anti-discrimination act of Canadian indigenous communities have also become great tools in understanding the great resolution of the differing conflicts between the different religions globally that have been caused by the great misunderstanding of cultures. These are the clear international process that have been caused by the Canadian indigenous rights movement.

Children Obesity Essay

The problem of childhood obesity in the United States has grown considerably in recent years. Between 16 and 33 percent of children and adolescents are obese.From Environmental Health Perspectives website, the recent data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey estimate 17% of youths ages 2-19 years old to be overweight compare to just 5% a few decades ago(â€Å"Child obesity†). This data shows we should act urgently to rescue children because the percentage of child obesity is increasing rapidly.According to Answer.com website, using the BMI (Body Mass Index) calculation, overweight is between 25-30, obese is 30-40 and extremely obese is 40 and up. This calculation is a height and weight comparison (BMI = weight in pounds X 705 / height in inches squared). By usingbody fat analysis, for a woman’s obesity starts about 33% body fat, for a man, it is about 24%(â€Å"How do you know†).Weight and shape of children are affected by hereditary factors from their parents. However, most of unhealthy weight gain is due to poor diet. Children who have obesity have bad habits; for example, they prefer to eat fast food such as hamburgers with french fries and coke than healthy food such as vegetable and multi-grains. Fast food is very tempting to children and theirparents because of its cheap price, taste, and convenience. The reason children like hamburgers is high levels of salt and sugar content found in most fast food items. So far, unhealthy food leads children to become obese which causes various health problems. Overweight children, when compared to healthy weight children, are more likely to develop many health problems such as depression, diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure, which are associated with heart disease in adults. Thepurpose of this paper is to reviewhow children obesity effects on physical and mental health. First, children obesity and overweight have been found to be at an increased risk of depression. Obese children get stress from change of their body shape, perspectives from other people’s awareness that leads to poor self-esteem or social phobia which are related to the cause of depression. [ì ¶Å"ì ²Ëœ][ë ¹â€žÃ« §Å'ìš °Ã¬Å¡ ¸Ã¬ ¦ ] ë ¹â€žÃ« §Å'ê ³ ¼Ã¬Å¡ °Ã¬Å¡ ¸Ã¬ ¦ , ë ¹â€žÃ« §Å'ê ³ ¼Ã¬Å¡ °Ã¬Å¡ ¸Ã¬ ¦ Ã¬ ËœÃª ´â‚¬Ãª ³â€ž – ìž  Ã¬â€¹ ¤Ã¬Å  ¤Ã­  ¬Ã¬ ¸  Ã¬ ¢â€¦Ã­â€¢ ©Ã¬Æ' Ãª °â‚¬Ã¬Å  ¤Ã­  ¼|ìž‘ì„ ±Ã¬Å¾ spom4237236The following article, â€Å"Childhood Obesity and Depression: Connection Between These Growing Problems in Growing Children,† shows how depression is diagnosed in youths. Youthbecome depress if they gain weight more than they expected. Also, obesity and overweight are connected to sleep problem which is associated with increased risk of depression. In study of 400 adolescents with a primary diagnosis of major depressive disorder, change in sleep was most common symptom remaining depression in youths. Relationship between sleep and obesity is intervened at least in part by insulin resistance. In a study of obese children, insulin was connected with shorter sleep duration according to thepolysomnography (Reeves M. G., Postolache T. T., Snitker S.).In addition, that child obesity cause depression is obesity makes children a target for bullying. According to Medscape Medical News, â€Å"Obese children are more likely to be bullied than their non-obese peers regardless of sex, race, socioeconomic status, social skills, or academic achievement† (Harrison).Because childhood and adolescent are a sensitive period, and they focus on other’s appearance, obese children can be targeted of bullying that makes them get hurt and depress. To prevent the depression, children need to eat health food and exercise. In addition to obesity causes depression, the second health problem is obesity causes diabetes. The dietary habits of obese children are eating a lot of sugar and salt which are excessive caloric intake. Being obese means you have more fatty tissue, having more fatty tissue causes the body to become insulin resistant and becoming insulin resistant causes the body to put on more weight. Becoming more insulin resistant and at a certain level of resistance, it becomes known as diabetes. Obese children also are twice as likely to have diabetes than children who are of normal weight, according to a new study from the University of Michigan Health System. The study, published in the February issue of Diabetes Care, is the most recent national study to estimate the prevalence of children with diabetes. It found that more than 229,000 children, approximately 3.2 cases for every 1,000 American children under the age of 18, currently have diabetes. And one-third of those children are obese(â€Å"Obese Children Twice†). Obesity causes the build-up of fats around cell walls. The liver loses the ability for the metabolism of glucose. Glucose is supplied with the help of the insulin hormone. In essence, obesity reduces the body’s ability to use insulin properly. A glucose build up is deposited in the urine.In addition, diabetes is explained from Washington University in St. Louis website. Diabetes mellitus is a group of disorders that have in common high blood sugar and the risk of damage to tissues and organs. There are two major types: Type1, juvenile diabetes and Type 2, adult-onset diabetes. In Type 1 diabetes, the cells of the pancreas that make insulin are destroyed. Often, the body’s immune system destroys these cells, sort of like friendly fire. Without insulin, blood sugar rises and complications occur. Lifelong insulin treatment is required. In Type 2 diabetes, organs and tissues are resistant to insulin; that is, more insulin is needed to have the same effect. When the insulin-making cells can no longer keep up with the extra insulin needed, blood sugar becomes high and diabetes occurs (â€Å"Obesity, Type 2 diabetes†). Overall, children should avoid eatingso muchunhealthy food that contain of high sugar, salt and fat that causes diabetesto continue into adulthood. In addition to obesity causes diabetes, the third health problem is obese puts children at risk for high cholesterol levels and high blood pressure that cause heart disease. Children’s diets have changed dramaticallybecause it is influenced by television commercials and the convenience of fast foods that have too much sugar and salt that leads high cholesterol level. In â€Å"Cholesterol in Childhood† by Vincent Iannelli, M.D., the author reported â€Å"The effects of cardiovascular disease is something that will especially be a problem once an overweight child grows up, when he will be at risk for a heart attack or stroke.†Also, the article exposes children who have heart disease with high cholesterol was 2.3 times as likely to have died early. These factsgive a warning to how obesity is related to serious health problem to children. The connection between high cholesterol and high blood pressure was explained on Livestrong.com website, â€Å"Cholesterol is a soft waxy material in the blood that mixes with lipids. It shapes membranes and some hormones but does not dissolve in the blood. Since it does not dissolve, lipoproteins carry it to and from cells. Blood pressure is the force that pushes blood through blood vessels, then to all body organs. When these two functions of the body are not working correctly, it can be devastating to overall health.†(â€Å"Connections Between†).According to Webmd.com website, when there is too much cholesterol in blood, it builds up in the walls of arteries, causing a process called atherosclerosis, a form of heart disease. The arteries become narrowed and blood flow to the heart muscle is slowed down or blocked. The blood carries oxygen to the heart, and if enough blood and oxygen cannot reach the heart, it may cause chest pain (â€Å"Heart disease†).Because ofhigh cholesterol, high blood pressure that are related to the heart disease, obese children need dietary changes and weight loss to help lower their cholesterol. In conclusion, children obesity is an increasingly prevalent health disorder and is of particularly concern because children who are obese are more likely to continue to become obese through adolescence and into adulthood with various health problems. Eating unhealthy food and lack of exercise lead to most of child obesity and overweight. Obesity can cause mental and physical problemsinchildren. According to â€Å"Child obesity ‘time bomb’ a threat to life expectancy†, Food Standards Agency chairman, John Krebs, told: â€Å"We already know that many children’s diets contain more fat, sugar and salt than is recommended. We know that the level of obesity in children is rising and, in the words of the chief medical officer, is a health time bomb that could explode.† (Carey). Also, children obesity can be targeted of bullying and give rise to diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and heart diseases. Also, child obesity has high probability to become an obese adult. Therefore, we need to accept the children obesity as a serious problem in current society in the United States and seek the solutionsto make children free from obesity and being overweight. Works Cited Brown, Joni.â€Å"Connections Between High Blood Pressure & Cholesterol†. livestrong.com, 17 Dec. 2010 Web. 22 May 2012 Carey, Dorothy. â€Å"Child Obesity ‘Time Bomb’ A Threat To Life Expectancy.† Nutridate 15.1 (2004): 8. Web. 22 May 2012. Harrison, Pam. â€Å"Obesity Makes Children a Target for Bullying.† Medscape Medical News. 4 May 2010. Web. 22May 2012. â€Å"Heart Disease and Lowering cholesterol†.Webmd.com,Web. 22 May 2012 Iannelli,Vincent. â€Å"Cholesterol in Childhood†.About.com, 13November 2011 Web. 22 May 2012 â€Å"Obese Children Twice as likely to have Diabetes†. University of Michigan, 2 Feb. 2006. Web. 22 May 2012 â€Å"Obesity, Type 2 Diabetes Growing rapidly among Children†. Washington University in St. Louis., 11 March 2005. Web. 22 May 2012 Reeves, Gloria M., Teodor T.Postolache., and Soren Snitker. â€Å"Childhood Obesity and Depression: Connection between these Growing Problems in Growing Children.† NIH Public Access. Aug. 2008. Web. 22 May 2012

Owner-Manager Types Essay

Cranfield School of Management has been studying the behaviour of entrepreneurs and their relationship with key staff in some thousands of growing UK companies. Cranfield study has concluded that it is the entrepreneurs themselves who are the most likely to be the biggest stumbling block to the growth and development of their own company. Cranfield grouped entrepreneurs into four dominant types of relationship with their staff, mainly: Heroes, Artisans, Meddlers and Strategists. Past Cranfield studies shows that most small firms do not think very much about their future strategy. In fact, less than a third of small and medium enterprises across Europe set their objectives in terms of profit and margins. This is somewhat surprising as profit and profitability are the key measures of business success. However, as over two-thirds of owner-managed companies with a turnover of i 10 million do not have a plan at all, it should come as no surprise that few entrepreneurs are strategists. Other research has uncovered the shocking fact that 60 per cent of senior staff in small firms leave within two years of their appointment. Some of these early departures can be put down to poor recruitment. The researchers studied two important elements of this relationship. The first element studied was how much time the owner-manager spent on routine management tasks such as marketing, selling, analysing figures, reviewing budgets or arbitrating between managers. The second one examines what level of business skills has been attained by the key staff. Heroes Probably the Heroes undertake one management function such as sales or production. The Heroes’ time is now spent on managing the business. As the level of business skill throughout their employees is still relatively low, the Heroes will take the lead in starting routine management procedures. They will introduce ideas from the courses they attend to the firm and be the only persons who really understand them. That is the reason why they will be considered as Heroes from the rest of the employees. Unfortunately, this leads to the Heroes taking the Herculean role on their hands. In this case, allocating operations to the employees is relatively simple as the working skills in most businesses are either readily available in the local community or the people can be trained up without too much difficulty. On the other hand, passing out routine management tasks will almost always require that the owner or manager trains up his own management teams. There are few well trained managers available to the small company because of two main reasons. Firstly, the overall pool of such people is small as training in the small business sector until recently has been almost exclusively concentrated on the Entrepreneur. Secondly, well trained managers usually seek jobs in larger firms with more opportunities for advancement and more resources to practice the â€Å"art of management† on. The Heroes have a high capacity for improving the firm performance but still have low growth prospects when compared to their market. They have no time for strategic thinking and no depth of management to handle growth effectively. Artisans In the Cranfield model, the Artisans are characterized by low occupation with routine management tasks. The reason is that most of their time is spent producing a product or delivering a service. The level of business skills in the company is also low as most of the Artisan’s staff is employed helping in â€Å"production† or performing primary duties, such as book-keeping or selling. Artisans can include professional firms, such as architects and surveyors, manufacturers, sub-contractors or small building firms, owners of small retail chains such as chemists, video stores and proprietors of hotels and restaurants. Little time is available either for routine management tasks such as examining performance or reassessing methods. Every hour that can be sold is sold and little time is left over to either improve the quality or profitability of today’s business or to consider strategy for tomorrow. The Artisans have low growth prospects in relation to their market. Their training and development needs are to raise their awareness of the management significance as a business task of equal importance with daily revenue earning. Meddlers The Meddler increases the level of management skills either by training or recruitment but then fails to delegate routine management tasks. At this stage, according to the Cranfield model, the owner-managers probably have no operative responsibilities and have assumed the role of managing directors. Typically, they spend much time anticipating subordinates, introducing more refined, but largely unnecessary management systems. They also go on courses or read books that make them even more well-informed and sometimes better at routine management tasks than their own employees, who anyway are by now doing a perfectly satisfactory job of managing today’s business. They get in early and leave late and practice â€Å"management by walking about†. The Meddlers’ problem is that they cannot delegate routine management tasks because they feel useless. They have been used to a 70-90 hour week with only 10 days holiday each year. Once their management team is in place and trained, they are out of a job. Until they reduce their involvement with routine management tasks, they will limit the growth capacity of this firm for two reasons. Firstly, their management team will not take on more duties if the reward for taking on the last lot of responsibility was being irritated and criticised. Secondly, they are too busy checking on people to develop sound strategies for growth. Strategists The Strategists are the most desirable type of entrepreneurs to develop a growing business. They develop the management skills of their team to the highest appropriate level and in depth. They may introduce a staff duty to help their line managers in such areas as personnel and market research. This will free-up their key managers to think strategically too. They will dedicate roughly a third of their time to management tasks such as monitoring performance, co-ordinating activities, resolving conflict and helping to manage today’s business. A third of their time will be spent motivating, counselling, developing management teams and helping them to manage change. This activity is aimed at improving the existing business. The final third of their time will be devoted on developing strategic thinking to form the shape of the future business. Their training needs will be to continuously update their core leadership and motivation skills and to increase their depth of knowledge on strategic issues, acquisition or divestment activity and financing sources. Relationship between the Owner-Manager and His Key Staff in a Growing Firm The natural path of development for the relationship between the owner-manager and his team is to pass from Artisan to Hero to Meddler and for the lucky few to become Strategists. Why Family Businesses Die The family business is deeply rooted in the sense of pride of the owner like most of other forms. Schein (1998) said that this is reinforced by a desire for autonomy which forms part of the five â€Å"career anchors†. This becomes possible with the combination of vision, energy and dedication. Moorman and Halloran (1993) stated that there are more businesses that fail than they succeed in this competitive market place. Twenty-four from one hundred start-ups fail in the U. S. , within the first two years and more than sixty within the first six years. This happens due to lack of planning and preparation which is the most common reason. The second is the lack of creativity which is important to survive. Some businesses offering the same product may succeed because they are doing something better and more innovative than competition. The â€Å"Copy Cat† approach lacks creative skills to turn its product into a unique selling proposition. This can be harmful for family businesses.

Analysis of the Film American Beauty Filmed in 1999 Essay

Analysis of the Film American Beauty Filmed in 1999 - Essay Example â€Å"American Beauty† is a remarkable achievement in several ways. Despite having somewhat traditional cinematography, the artistic accomplishments of this movie in other aspects of film making and its following critical acclaim (including all of the awards that it won upon its release) led directly to widespread commercial success. Many aspects of the cinematography of â€Å"American Beauty† are somewhat traditional while avoiding cliche – at very least they are very far from experimental in any real way. The film, for instance, follows the rule of thirds nearly dogmatically, always maintaining action along the imaginary lines that would divide the screen vertically and horizontally. It tends to avoid extreme close-ups and distant medium shots while focusing on close ups and long shots, which all conspire to give this film something of a classical Hollywood look. This traditional Hollywood look that pervades the movie is useful, however, in differentiating the ‘produced’ aspects of the movie which has a generally negative tone, focusing on emotions and ideas such as despair, and ugliness, from other aspects of the film which focus on the polar opposite of these ideas, namely hope and beauty. Hope, one of this films major themes, is consistently connected a certain kind of shot: aerial shots of the suburbia in which the central family of the show lives. These aerial shots, frequently featuring excellent narration by Kevin Spacey, usually focus on the chances of life to expand beyond the mundane and reach into the ethereal. These shots are especially effective because they invoke an otherworldly quality, almost of a being in an afterlife looking down benevolently onto the town. By evoking the afterlife these shots give an underlying feeling of hope and possibility in the crowd. These shots, by departing so drastically from more traditional Hollywood cinematography, draw attention to themselves and their departure from the darke r themes of the rest of the movie. This departure from the traditional Hollywood style for the purpose of aerial shots has one other major parallel in the film, the classic and oft referenced (and mocked) handheld shots of a bag blowing through the breeze. These shots focus on beauty that can be found anywhere in the world, even in the most basic events throughout life. The shots are not only of bags blowing in the wind, but also show one of the main characters, Jane Burnham, portrayed by Thora Birch, disrobing and exposing her breasts to another person for the first time. This openness and beauty juxtaposes her general shyness and awkwardness, showing that even in her somewhat un-perfect packaging beauty can be found. The use of a grainy and unsteady handy-cam to display these signs of beauty, contrasting the high quality shots of ugliness not only draws attention to the shots, but also highlights a final of the film’s major themes: conflict and juxtaposition. One of the ess ential aspects of â€Å"American Beauty† is that there are incredible amounts of contrast within everything from characters (such as a homophobic gay man) to the world itself, which is both ugly and beautiful. Beauty displayed by an ugly handycam video contrasts with ugliness from a high quality video camera to show the essential conflict between opposing