The Bottom Billion

Table of Contents Introduction Elements Solutions Elements That Do Not Match With Liberalism Realism Constructivism Works Cited Introduction The Bottom Billion was authored by Paul Collier and was published in two 2007. In his book, Collier explores the reasons behind persistent poverty in developing countries. The citizens of these countries continue to live in abject poverty in spite of the international aid. He points out that, in more than fifty-eight countries, there are an approximated one billion people who seem to be irredeemably stuck in poverty. Some of this people have never felt the impact of foreign aid.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Bottom Billion specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More According to him, these people are trapped in poverty. Their living standards are plundering when the living standards of other people in other nations are improving. Life expectancy has sharply dropped to forty y ears as compared to sixty-seven years in the stable nations. Child mortality has grown up. The percentage of children who do not live to see their first birthday now stands at fourteen percent in comparison with a four percent in developed countries. Collier explains how the western governments give misplaced assistance to the poor nations. He argues that they have to do much more than giving them money. These developed nations and the aid agencies must shift from the traditional approaches of poverty alleviation. The methods have seemingly failed to work. The poverty syndrome has defeated them and, therefore, a new prescription has to be found. He puts forward solutions both to the developing countries and the western powers over what he feels should be done to pull these people out of poverty. Elements Paul Collier believes that these people are trapped. In his examination of the causes of poverty level among the bottom billion, he says that these people are concentrated in Africa and central Asia. He outlines the following as his reasons for stagnancy. The Conflict trap There are persistent civil wars and repeated military coups in these nations. These wars eat too much into funds that would have been directed to other sectors of the economy for development. The wars are extremely costly and incur large economic costs to these nations. Similarly, years after the war or coups are extremely delicate and fragile. These countries easily and painfully slip back due to the wars. This causes a recurrent situation with wars or coups succeeding other coups. During wars, a clique of people from poor countries and foreign countries strike out a beneficial deal, whereby they benefit from the war. They supply either arms or ammunitions to the fighting groups. In return, they are allowed to extract the natural resources that they export hence enrich themselves. These actions aggravate the situation, which ensures that conflicts are sustained. In most cases, the corrupt keep winning, making it extremely impractical for these nations to develop.Advertising Looking for essay on government? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The Natural Resources Trap The bottom billion nations have peculiar characteristics. Some of these are extremely ironical. The abundance of natural resources has become a curse. Nations endowed with resources have the worst instability as compared to those that have few resources. Collier attributes this to various reasons. The availability of the resources creates room for conflict. There are competing interests over the same resources, which is a cause of conflict. The second point he puts forward is that the presence of resources is a source of income to governments. The government, therefore, does not tax its citizens. This makes the population lack the necessity to hold their government accountable as far as financial spending is concerned. This is an open window for go vernment officials who would be handed a blank check when it comes to expenditure. Most of these officials misuse the opportunity to satisfy their selfish interests. The presence of valuable natural resources that are exploited impacts negatively on other competitive sectors of the economy. Generation of income from this exploitation leads to currency valuation and other industries are affected. In Collier’s opinion, globalization has made matters worse. The resources that are extracted in these nations end up in stable countries. This contributes to the persistence of problems. Landlocked countries Some countries that fall in the bottom billion category are landlocked. This comes in two perspectives. The naturally landlocked nations do not have a coastline. This restricts their accessibility to the world through the seas. This means that they only access the world via their neighbors. Poor infrastructure network makes their link with neighbors inaccessible. This hinders su ch countries from fully exploiting their economic potential. The other problem comes when the nation is landlocked, and furthermore its neighbors have serious instabilities. This bit cuts off the developing nation from the rest of world. These challenges pose a serious threat and make it extremely impractical for these nations to tap from the world economic growth. Bad governance Paul Collier argues that poor governance critically affects small countries. This is caused by regular military coups that overthrow legitimate government. Another effect is that corruption tilts the electorate to lean towards poor leaders. It is also said that some stable nations literally interfere with these nations by funding politicians who cannot run an economy. He explains that unstructured governments with incapable leaders destroy economies of the countries at an alarming speed. Developing nations have a low cost of living. This should be an exceptionally good ground for investors with a labor-in tensive work. However, investors are scared due to the unpredictability of the security condition.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Bottom Billion specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More These nations are also unknown. Investors, therefore, opt to invest in more development countries such as China. Investment that would have served to improve these nations is channeled elsewhere (Collier 26). Solutions Paul Collier clearly explains that the development and political stability of these nations are essential to the stability of the world at large. Therefore, the West has a moral responsibility to put to an end the problems and sufferings that people of these nations face. Collier, in his book, proposes measures that are pragmatic financially, but quite challenging to governmental institutions. He believes that in order for these nations to succeed the following measures should be considered. The aid agencies should ta ke risks. He elaborates that the agencies have to concentrate on extremely risky and difficult environments. For instance, the population may not be knowledgeable enough to question the accountability of their governments. This may require among other things educating the citizenry on accountability. The governments of the poor nations would fight these steps hard. They may respond by deporting foreign staff. However, if there is unity of purpose among these agencies, they will succeed. The second measure that he outlines is appropriate military intervention. He avers that, during these persistent civil strives, the western powers should launch a carefully calibrated assault on the warring factions. He gives the example of the British intervention in Sierra Leone. This will guarantee democratic governments success over the militia groups that are corrupt and only seek to mismanage the economy through misappropriation of funds for personal gain. The newly instituted governments ought to bring in new laws, which should be against corruption. The third approach proposed by Collier addresses the international organizations. He urges the organizations to ratify charters with the ethics of protocol. The charters are to be drafted and enforced to encourage good governance. He finally urges the western powers to adopt free trade policies with the bottom billion getting preferences for their export products. The external market will be opened to these nations, and in the process, they will learn a lot.Advertising Looking for essay on government? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Elements That Do Not Match With Liberalism Paul Collier may have discussed exceeding many factors that favor liberalism. However, some of his arguments do not categorically match with liberalism. Taking a position to explain that the availability of resources reduces the citizens’ capacity to hold the government accountable is vague. The resource availability, however, much they generate an income, can never influence the government to a level that it can stop taxing the population. The government has to tax its citizenry in order to get adequate finances. His explanation of this point leaves us with a notion that nations in the bottom billion are ruled through laissez-faire. This form of leadership no longer exist Some of his proposed solutions will not work towards liberalization, particularly military intervention in the civil war times. The aim of his proposals is to save the citizenry from the cruelty of these countries. Regular military action, however, well choreograph ed, will attract resistance from the population. When the troops are in war, citizens will feel the heat. This will be referred to as collateral damage. Examples can be drawn from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia. The US intervened, but it faced roadblocks from the population. War will also destroy the infrastructure, which he points out as a necessity. NATO attacked Libya to help the rebels overthrow Ghaddafi’s government. He was toppled, but the country was left with serious infrastructural problems. Realism Looking at Paul Collier’s arguments that lean towards liberalism, some of his evaluations and proposals conflict sharply with some realism facts. While Collier lays his foundation on striving to ensure equality among all nations, realists believe that world politics are guided by self-interests. Collier’s bottom billion argues with the mind that the western powers can pull the poor states from poverty for the benefit of the poor states stability. Realists ju stifiably argue that self-interests dictate the engagement with other nations. Collier quotes the British involvement in Sierra Leone. He does not state the British interests in the involvement. There were British interests. That is why realists had justifiable reasons to assert that states engagements with others are based on self-interests. By recommending military interventions, Collier is insinuating that other states can control other sovereign states. This is not practical. In realism, sovereign states cannot be dictated. For example, The British intervened in Sierra Leone. The nation still fights to date. The US intervened in Iraq and Somalia, but the civil wars persist to date. The main reason is that once the citizens sink to the idea that they are sovereign, and then will resist any attempt by foreign powers to interfere with the domestic affairs. He disagrees with the idea that states will always attain resources. He does not state the role of the US in the Democratic Rep ublic of Congo. The reasons behind government treaties and too much allocation of cash for exploration clearly approve the realist approach that nations are constantly seeking to increase their resources. Whereas Collier wants both the Western powers and International organizations to take serious steps to change the bottom billion, he forgets that these multinational organizations are run by the sovereign states. These states choose the officials and fund them. It is, therefore, in order to concur with realists that multinationals do not have independent influence. The West must determine what multinationals do because they give the funds to them. For several years, donors have demanded that the government of Ghana should align and harmonize its programs to suit their rules. There have been calls from donors to change the funding modalities from focusing on one sector to a budget support modality. In 2006 and 2008, donors contributed an approximated 13.8 percent and 14.33 percent o f the budget respectively Neo-realism also called structural realism states that nations are primary actors because no political monopoly is above existing states. Collier encourages the west to intervene militarily in the civil war cases. He forgets that they have failed before and will fail again if the same mistakes are repeated. If citizens reject then it is over. Collier cries out that war is costly, and the money should have done better projects had the regions been peaceful. This is quite intriguing because he goes ahead to call for military intervention. The question is who foots the costs of the war by the West. Realists assert that Countries must constantly prepare for conflict through economic and military buildup. Constructivism Paul Collier’s ideas happen to cut across the human life. He puts forward some ideologies that conflict with the constructivism theory in international relations. Collier lays almost all the problems of development on resources. He forgets to evaluate the hidden factors such as competition for natural resources. Constructivism holds the view that primarily shared ideas rather than material forces determine associations. There are goals, needs, and intentions behind the rivalry over resources. This is a fact that constructionists hold dearly. Collier fails to capture the interests of other states in the nations in the bottom billion. He notes that the third support persistent civil strives that would lead to fragile conditions immediately after the war. This makes countries constantly at war. The best example is the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, and Sudan. Proponents of constructionist state that international relation is a social construction. This is built over time. In Collier’s bottom billion, he believes that all solutions to problems of the third world rest with the Western powers and international organizations. It is impractical for a western government to move into one of the countries that fal l in the bottom billion and install changes with an immediate impact. Therefore, social constructionist becomes more applicable. The ideologies have a great effect and can easily trump the materialistic power. The effects are far reaching. This is why the perception is very important. Collier opposes this by proposing actions that seek instant material changes. Instead of suggesting institutional changes, he agitates for military deployment to install democratic governments. These attempts have failed elsewhere due to what constructs call perception. The effectiveness of the donor-funded project is evaluated using the indicators designed by citizens. For instance, the community might use scorecards to establish the effectiveness of the project. Works Cited Collier, Paul. The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries Are Failing and What Can Be Done About It. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. Print This essay on The Bottom Billion was written and submitted by user Nickolas Roth to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Thinking and Decision Making Essay

Thinking and Decision Making Essay Thinking and Decision Making Essay Thinking and Decision Making The basic concept of critical thinking is to simply take charge of your own mind. Many believe that if a person can do just that; take charge of their mind, they can take charge of their lives by making improvements and ultimately placing themselves in the proper or desired direction. To do this requires a great deal of self-discipline and the ability to look at yourself and examine how your mind works; looking to fine-tune or modify certain aspects to change for the better. We would all have to constantly reflect on our minds impulses day in and day out to tackle our ways of thinking. Thoughts are greatly influenced by our gender, race or ethnicity, religion, and economic status, etc. Each person has an accustomed way of thinking that affects how our problems and situations are rationalized and decided upon. The way in which our issues are resolved and chosen, stems from those attributes that were of influence to the lives of us all. The various forms of thinking: Open questionin g, Inductive, Emotional, and Pessimistic will be examined along with its comparisons as well as each thinking style will be related to how they are handled in the workplace or in everyday life. When it comes to thinking and decision making, there are styles that can affect the critical thinking process. Two of the styles that will be compared and contrasted have to deal with open and closed questioning. Using the appropriate question can help uncover information or find answers needed to complete the critical thinking process (Paul & Elder, 2006). With closed questions, the question can be answered with a short phrase or single word. An example of a closed question would be, â€Å"How are you?† Typically closed questions are fairly easy to answer and provide facts. It doesn’t force deep thought or require the individual to reveal too much information about them right away. Some other uses for closed questioning are to test and individuals understanding of a particular topic. Open questions are used when trying to a more detailed response. Open questions require the individuals think and sometimes reflect. These types of questions also tend to bring to the surface opinions and feelings. Many open questions tend to begin with, how, what, and why. An example of an open question would be, â€Å"What would an education do for you?† Comparing open questions to close, you can easily see that they both differ in the responses that received and the purpose which the type of question is used. Questions are used to seek out information and details used to better solve a piece in the critical thinking process. Using open and closed questions to my career is very important. More often than not open questions are preferred because if you want to better try and understand a potential student, you will want them to talk about their needs and wants. Uncovering these needs and wants sometimes require questions that target true feelings and motivation (Changing Minds, 2010). These open ended question focus on depth and getting to the core. Knowing what, or how a particular situation could affect and individuals outcome is important. When I think about all the areas that decisions can be made by thinking, it is easy to spend all our time just thinking. In my business as clergy have come upon many ways of the thinking process and can see how they have been used in ministry. Some of the styles that have been used are emotional, logical, inductive, and deductive. Everything accomplished in ministry relies on critical thinking and how it can inter-proceed, with the others as the subject of being discussed to come to an understanding. First the use of critical thinking comes into play when talking and listening. Listening is the first of the styles that comes out. By trying to help the person whom I am working with the first part of the conversation is emotional. When, by thinking about the situation the part of the emotional needs is to move on

Employee Participation and Organisational Performance Essay

Employee Participation and Organisational Performance - Essay Example The many forms of employee involvement can be grouped into two basic categories. The first (more common) approach consists of suggestion systems, quality circles, ad-hoc participation groups, and cross-functional task forces. These programs are part of the parallel organization structure and thus can be called supplemental initiatives. The parallel organization co-exists with the formal organization structure and is intended to facilitate communication, coordination, and opportunities for change (Chan & So, 1997). The second employee-involvement approach includes replacement initiatives, which modify or replace the formal organization structure. Essentially, these initiatives become institutionalized; they involve employees in decision making regarding how work is performed and how jobs can be made more effective. An example of a replacement initiative is self-managing work teams, which are different from quality circles and other problem-solving groups in that they make problem solving, decision making, and managing the work process part of the day-to-day job (Chiu, 1998). Let's first take a look at how employee involvement has been defined. ... avid Schweiger's (1979) explanation of participative decision making as "joint decision making." Another definition of employee involvement describes it as a systematic approach to redistributing the responsibility and accountability for problem solving and decision making to the lowest appropriate level. One could also look at the dimensions of participation that have been identified in the literature: the degree to which it is formal, versus informal; the degree to which it is direct, versus indirect; the level of influence that employees have; and the nature of the decisions they make. Clearly, the definitions of participation do not inherently exclude white collar and knowledge workers, although many definitions tend to emphasize involving lower level employees (Chu, 1997). An Affinity Group Model To examine the affinity group process, it's important to begin with a definition. Specifically, an affinity group is a collegial association of peers that meets on a regular basis to share information, capture opportunities, and solve problems that affect the group and the overall organization (Dale, Cooper, & Wilkinson, 1997). Affinity groups are a horizontal, cross-cutting mechanism. Among their key characteristics: Group members have the same job position or title; group-member roles are formalized; group meetings are regular and frequent; the group has a charter stating its mission and domain; and the group is self-managing, in that it is responsible for managing its processes and output. Within an organization's infrastructure, affinity groups are a supplemental initiative, since they are not part of daily production/service responsibilities. The parallel organization structure provides unique problem-solving and improvement opportunities for these groups, whose

Essay 2 Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 13

2 - Essay Example However, Etzioni claims that these jobs do not provide educational advancement due to their highly structured nature (Etzioni 303). The jobs offer many skills without considering the length of time the employees need to acquire these skills. In addition, there are evidences of many students dropping out of schools to take up the low-skill jobs on full-time basis. Supporters of teen jobs claim that the jobs help poor performing students in academic and those from lower-class families get income and some training. However, Etzioni refutes the claim by arguing that the jobs only perpetuate the students’ unfortunate statuses. Many teens in these part-time jobs also work for too long, approximately 30 hours per week. Hence, they lack enough time to attend to their schoolwork. Others also claim that teen jobs offer an opportunity for teens to learn teamwork and work under supervision. However, they tend to teach the wrong kind of compliance. Furthermore, the control is tight and inappropriate because most places of work try to save on cost by employing teens instead of an adult figure in the supervising position (Etzioni 305). Thus, the teens cannot get a chance of learning from an elderly, more knowledgeable, and stricter supervisor. Consequently, inappropriate teen values dominate in these places, fueling degradation of values among young sters. Additionally, parents cannot precisely evaluate the money that the youths receive. In most cases, the teens channel most of their earnings to purchasing youthful status symbols that cannot contribute to any meaningful developments. Etzioni’s essay clearly reflects some of the experiences I went through in paid teenage jobs. Most teen employments only provide an opportunity for students to escape responsibilities and school to gratify their desire to embrace the American adult consumerism. In one of my junior years in high school, I Essay 2 Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 11 2 - Essay Example On the other hand, Immanuel Kant developed the Kantian ethics which refers to deontological ethical theory that was developed as a result of enlightenment rationalism which looks at the intrinsic value of an act. If the act is intrinsically good, then it can be decided that the act has good will in it and it can be adopted as a good act. Kant developed categorical imperatives which are commands that determine the actions that will be accepted or rejected in a given societal set up. In deciding whether to do an action or not, one must decide whether anyone else will choose your line of thought if faced by a similar dilemma. If the choice would be different then the action should not be done. One should also ensure that the action done is in respect to human beings and not just self-centred. The two theories have a number of things in common. First they uphold doing what is good to humanity. Unitarianism ensures that one evaluates the magnitude of the consequences and whether the positive results will out-weigh the negative ones. Kantian ethics emphasizes on the need to do good to the society and doing the actions that are not self-centred. On the contrary the actions done should always reflect on the betterment of the whole societies’ living. This means that the two theories ensures that the actions that individuals will do in a given situation must be analysed well and if the consequences will be positive to the individual and the society then it should be done. For instance, our leaders are often faced with situations where they have to make decisions that can either be of benefit to themselves or the whole society. Being the lawmakers in parliament, they can use their mandated powers to draft laws that can increase their salaries and benefits at the expense of the tax-payers money. In such a situation the decision to do such an act should be driven by an evaluation of the

American Indian History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

American Indian History - Essay Example One of the common complaints in all the colonies was their policies on land ownership and governance. The policies and land rates imposed by the colonies were diminishing to the American Indian community who were the original owners. American Indians only had their land to show for their wealth, and that is what colonies were after. In another similarity, all the three colonies wanted to change the cultural and religious preferences of the Indians which the American Indians were against (Calloway, 2012). European and American policies on land ownership denied the Native Americans the right to own land in United States (Calloway, 2012). This made the American and European policies dictate the use of the lands. The Native Americans were denied the right of exploiting land with their cultural and religious activities. Additionally, Native Americans were against the development of land in their community since the lands were the source of their food. The developments of these lands would reduce the number of buffaloes available for hunting. Native Americans used the land mostly for farming. With the introduction of American and European policies, they were forced to pay taxes for their land and what the produced from the fields (Calloway, 2012). This was one of the main sources of conflict. The policies of removal, detribalization and Americanization were not received well by the Native American population. The Americans felt threatened by the compact religious and cultural background of the American Indians. For this reason, they set to stop the practicing both their religious and cultural practices. However, this move was not successful as Native Americans put up a strong opposition on the issue. The Native American population formulated ways in which they practiced their religious and cultural practices without the recognition of the government. Since the twentieth century, Native Americans decided to take control of their lands and lives. Firstly, many

Child Labour in the Industrial Revolution | Essay

Child Labour in the Industrial Revolution | Essay Nardinelli (1980; pp.739-55) argues, contrary to popular opinion, that the employment of children in the early Industrial Revolution was not ceased by the Factory Acts of 1833[1] and 1844[2], but rather that the Factory Acts simply speeded up a process that was already underway, in terms of technological changes and increases in family incomes, which meant that child labour was no longer necessary (Nardinelli, 1980; p.739). Using data from school enrolment rates, Nardinelli (1980; p. 751) shows that, following the introduction of the Factory Acts, no difference between school enrolment rates existed between the textile districts and the rest of the country. Nardinelli (1980; p.755) concludes that the textile industry, which used child labour, was only one of the industries that formed the Industrial Revolution, and, indeed, was almost the only industry to use child labour, and that, as such, the issue of child labour and its role in the success of the Industrial Revolution is diminis hed. Verdon (2002; pp.299-323) also discusses child labour, in rural areas, and its relation to women’s employment, family income and the 1834 Poor Law Report. As Verdon (2002; p.299) argues, it is important to take a regional approach to studies of the Industrial Revolution, and its effect on the lives of children throughout the nineteenth century, as child labour levels, family incomes and social class relations varied widely from region to region during the time of the Industrial Revolution. Verdon (2002, p.322) concludes that region, gender and age were all key determinants of labourers’ experience of work in nineteenth century rural areas, with children contributing a substantial proportion of the household income in 1834, across every region. At this time, therefore, rural child labour was an important source of childhood income. How this was affected by the introduction of Factory Acts (which, of course, would not directly have affected rural employment, outside of ur ban factories) is not discussed. Horrell and Humphries (1995; pp. 485-516) look at child labour and the family economy during the Industrial Revolution, using data from household budgets of this period, and found that during the period of early industrialisation, the number of children working and the number of children working in factories increased, and the age at which children started work decreased, due to the fact that older children became economically independent from families at an early age, thus leaving younger siblings to work to increase the household income. Horrell and Humphries (1995; p. 510) conclude that, indeed, during the early Industrial Revolution, little children were exploited, in that there was an â€Å"enormous growth in the employment of children in factories† during this period. Horrell and Humphries (1995; p. 511) show, supplementing the work of Verdon (2002), that there was an â€Å"intensification of child employment in the factory districts† during the early Industrial R evolution and that this was in stark contrast to the under- and unemployment of children in the rural South East during the later Industrial Revolution. In contrast to Nardinelli (1980), Horrell and Humphries (1995; p. 511) conclude that the Factory Acts did have the effect of reducing children’s employment in factories, but that this doesn’t seem to have had any effect on the numbers of children within families who were expected to work, and that â€Å"legislation†¦.may have displaced more girls than boys†, who then, it is hypothesised, moved into domestic service, for example, thus remaining in employment. Horn (1974; pp.779-796) looks at child workers in the pillow lace and straw plait trades in Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire, stating that the cottage industries in the regions outside of the urban centres of the Industrial Revolution (i.e., the towns across Lancashire) provided employment for many female workers, who, otherwise, would have been employed in domestic service. Thus, again, a regional view of child labour during the Industrial Revolution proves important, as this work of Horn (1974) essentially goes against the conclusions of Horrell and Humphries (1995). Horn (1974; p.795) concludes that cottage industries, such as these two industries, gave much-needed supplement to the household incomes of working-class families in these counties, and that similar cottage industries in other rural areas must have had the same effect too. Horn (1974; p. 795) notes that â€Å"the general education of the children (who worked in the cottage industries) was neglected† and the next section will look in further detail at how the education of children changed during the period of the Industrial Revolution. Johnson (1970; pp.96-119) looks at educational policy and social control in early Victorian England, showing that educating the poor seemed to be one of the strongest of early Victorian obsessions, with concern for education figuring largely, for example, as we have seen, in the Factory Act of 1833, and with private institutions, such as the National Society, launching many educational projects during the period 1838 and 1843 (Johnson; p.97). Johnson (1979; p.119) concludes, essentially, however, that the concern for educating the poor as expressed by early Victorian governments was more about controlling the working class population than it was about providing opportunity for the working classes, although issues surrounding what he terms the ‘educational problem’ of this time were hotly debated[3]. Reay (1991; pp.89-129) looks at the context and meaning of popular literacy in nineteenth century rural England, and shows that functional analyses of literacy tell little about the actual educational state of people living and working during the Industrial Revolution (Reay, 1991; p.128) as recorded declines in illiteracy amongst rural child workers, for example, often reflect the acquisition of a new skill, such as writing, rather than a shift towards full literacy. Analyses of signatures and marks are also not particularly useful, argues Reay (1991; p.129) as these can tell us little about the actual literacy level of the signatory, especially, as he argues, for much of the nineteenth century population, reading equalled literacy, in its correct cultural context, such that â€Å"the ability to sign one’s name is, actually, one of the least interesting aspects of literacy† (Reay; 1991; p.129). Snell (1999; pp.122-168) looks at the role Sunday Schools played in the education of working class child labourers during the Industrial Revolution, and shows that Sunday Schools were widespread around both the urban centres of the Industrial Revolution and across the English regions, and that Sunday Schools, essentially, through a religious educational policy, taught many nineteenth century child labourers the value of education, and also about civic responsibility, although often, as Snell (1999; p. 168) notes, â€Å"clerical control was strict and the syllabus narrow†, such that, much as Johnson (1979) argued, at this time, education for working class child labourers was as much about social control as it was about providing opportunity to this section of the population. Thompson’s (1981) paper looks at the issue of social control in Victorian Britain, arguing that social order in Britain was â€Å"subject to strains imposed by the dual processes of urbanisation and industrialisation† (Thompson, 1981; p.189), arguing that social control led to social transformation in Victorian society, throughout the course of the Industrial Revolution, not through legal systems, police forces and the threat of prisons, but through social control (Thompson, 1981; p.207) exercised from within each social class almost as an internal ‘thermostat’ of order, with social organisms such as community being important in defining, adapting and shaping popular culture (Thompson, 1981; p.208). This social control also included controls over relaxation and pleasure, with football, social clubs and music halls arising as a way in which the working classes could find release from their daily grind (Thompson, 1981; p.208). Conclusion This paper has looked at the issues of child labour, home life (in terms of household incomes and household demographics), and education in nineteenth century Britain, showing that successive changes in legislature provided better working conditions for child labourers during the nineteenth century, and that these changes in legislature meant that children were, at least to some extent, better educated towards the end of the period of the Industrial Revolution than they had been at the beginning of this period of history. This education, which, although, as we have seen, seemed to have been designed with the explicit purpose of exerting social control, did push forward some changes to child labour, in terms of shifting work from full-time to half-time, and, as we have seen, shifting the demographics of work, with younger children entering work in order to provide supplemental household income, as the older children of the household, during this period, had a tendency to become indepe ndent more quickly, leaving the household to enter in to domestic service, for example, which left a hole in the household’s purses, which needed to be filled. Education, during the nineteenth century was formulated through the Education Act of 1870, and was provided both by government institutions, as we have seen, and also private and religious organisations, through the Sunday School network, for example. As suggested, there is, perhaps, no consistent way in which to measure the effect of schooling on the literacy levels at the time, except to say that perhaps more children were able to write. It is clear, from the reviews of the articles presented here, that the working class developed as a clear cultural phenomenon, with social control coming from within this class, as a response to community expectations of behaviour. Thus, in sum, child labour was prevalent throughout the nineteenth century, across Industrial Britain (i.e., both in the urban centres and in rural areas) but this labour was, towards the end of the century, better regulated, in conjunction with increasing educational opportunities and standards, which led to the rise of a clear, self-controlling, working class. Bibliography Gordon Baker, The Romantic and Radical Nature of the 1870 Education Act, History of Education, 30,3 (2001), pp.211-232 Pamela Horn, Child Workers in the pillow lace and straw plait trades of Victorian Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire, Historical Journal, 17 (1974), pp.779-96 S.Horrell Jane Humphries, The Exploitation of little children: Child Labour and the family economy in the Industrial Revolution Explorations in Economic History, 32 (1995), pp.485-516 Richard Johnson, Education Policy and Social Control in Early Victorian England, Past and Present, 49 (1970), pp.96-119 Clark Nardinelli, Child Labour and the Factory Acts, Journal of Economic History, 40 (1980), PP.739-55 Barry Reary, The Context and Meaning of popular Literacy: Some Evidence from Nineteenth-Century Rural Ireland, Past Present, 131(1991), pp.89-129 K.D.M. Snell, The Sunday-School Movement in England and Wales: Child Labour, Denominational Control and Working-Class Culture, Past Present, 164 (1999), pp.122-16 F.M.L Thompson, Social Control in Victorian Britain, Economic History Review, 34,2 (1981) pp.189-208 Nicola Verdon, The rural labour market in the early nineteenth century: womens and childrens employment,family income, and the 1834 Poor Law Report, Economic History Review, LV,2 (2002),PP.299-323 Footnotes [1] which limited the employment of children to children over nine years of age (see Nardinelli, 1980). [2] which established the half-time system, whereby children worked half-day and went to school half-day (see Nardinelli, 1980) [3] Baker (2001; pp.211-232), for example, takes Johnson’s (1970) work further, and looks in detail at the 1870 Education Act and the consequences of this Act, in terms of what he terms ‘the distribution of life chances’ (Baker; p.211). Memory Consolidation and Reconsolidation: Drug Addiction Memory Consolidation and Reconsolidation: Drug Addiction Memory Consolidation and Reconsolidation: Implications for Drug Addiction Jayan Samarakoon Abstract This paper looks at the current knowledge and debate surrounding memory reconsolidation. After a brief overview of consolidation and reconsolidation including the associated theories of each process the paper delved into the literature surrounding reconsolidation and critically evaluated research articles which either reinforced or shed doubt onto the physiological mechanisms of reconsolidation. The paper then discussed possible applications of this knowledge in the treatment of drug addiction, in particular the efficacy of blocking NDMA receptors to disrupt reconsolidation. Guidelines for future research concerning human trials were outlined. Memory Consolidation and Reconsolidation: Implications for Drug Addiction Memories affect human behaviour (Nader Einarsson, 2010). An understanding of how memories are formed would give insight into the mechanisms that underlie behaviour. This paper will look at the physiological processes that affect memories such as consolidation and reconsolidation in particular the current knowledge and debate surrounding these memory processes. The paper will then delve into how this knowledge could affect psychology, in particular the realm of drug addiction. This will be done by critically evaluating the current literature and outlining areas for future research. Memories are believed to be located in the synapses between neurons of the brain (Nader Einarsson, 2010). New memories change the strength of the synapse which results in an adjustment of the specific memory (Clopath, 2012). Memory is categorised into two forms, short-term and long-term memory. The difference between the two is a process called consolidation which affects information stored in long-term memory via strengthening the neuron pathways affected by the memory called the memory trace (Nader Einarsson, 2010). Consolidation is the process of stabilizing a memory trace after the initial behavioural experience (Dubnau Chiang, 2013). Many different studies have found that several types of interference such as inhibiting protein synthesis, disrupting the function of specific proteins, and brain lesions or trauma can disrupt the process of consolidation (Alberini, 2011). These studies have formed the basis of understanding the different consolidation models. Consolidation consi sts of two distinct processes, synaptic consolidation and system consolidation (Clopath, 2012). Synaptic consolidation involves repeated stimulation of a neuron called long-term potentiation, which results in stable changes at the synapse over time while systems consolidation is a process where memories that are dependant of the hippocampus become independent and move to a separate brain region. Synapses can vary in strength, which is referred to as plasticity (Clopath, 2012). A change in synaptic plasticity can be a short-term change which lasts a few minutes to a long-term change which can last up to a life-time. A long-term change in plasticity is the basic definition of synaptic consolidation. This process allows memory to be consolidation within a single synapse, which cannot be altered by any new memories (Clopath, 2012). Synaptic consolidation usually occurs within the first few minutes to hours after the memory encoding has happened (Dudai, 2004). The physiological conditions that cause synaptic consolidation involve many different processes which result in a physical change of the synapse (Dubnau Chiang, 2013). They include modification and reorganisation of the synapse protein including the membrane receptors. Intracellular signalling proteins such as cAMP and MAPK are recruited to activate cellular remodelling and growth during synaptic consolidation (Dudai, 2004). The standard model of system consolidation posits that memory is dependent on the location of the encoding in the mediotemporal lobe (Dubnau Chiang, 2013). Initial memories are formed in the hippocampus via synaptic consolidation and then over a period of weeks or more the memory trace reorganises so that the retention is maintained by the neocortex and is not dependent on the hippocampus anymore (Dudai, 2004). There are some criticisms with this model of systems consolidation. For starters only declarative memory is processed by the hippocampus and as such this model cannot apply to non-declarative memory. An alternative view is called multiple trace theory. Multiple trace theory proposes that the hippocampus region is always involved in the retention and retrieval of episodic memories and that semantic memory follows the standard model of system consolidation (Dubnau Chiang, 2013). These models of consolidation assume that the process of consolidation occurs just once. This assumption is currently undergoing some criticism and debate on whether it is valid or not. Research has shown that the retrieval of a memory trace can induce a phase where the memory is malleable to change (Tronson Taylor, 2007). One paper proposed that memory was a dynamic process with two different states, an active state where memories both new and reactivated are labile to change and an inactive state where the memories stabilise over time (Nader Einarsson, 2010). Memory reconsolidation is induced by the reactivation of a specific memory (Reichelt Lee, 2013). This reactivation process causes the memory trace to become destabilised into a ‘labile’ state, a state where the memory pathway can be changed. The process to return the destabilised memory into a stable form is called reconsolidation and is dependent on protein synthesis (Reichelt Lee, 2013). Destabilisation occu rs when L-type voltage-gated calcium channels and cannabinoid CB1 receptors are activated, along with synaptic protein degradation in the dorsal hippocampus (Reichelt Lee, 2013). A study examined if it was possible to reactivate a consolidated memory into a labile state and introduce new information (Forcato, Rodrà ­guez, Pedreira, Maldonado, 2010). Participants were asked to learn an association between five cue-syllables and their respective response-syllables. 24 hours later the memory was reactivated and the subjects were given additional information, in this case three extra syllable pairs. The participants were tested on their knowledge the third day. The results showed that the new information was successfully incorporated into the former memory since both sets of syllables were successfully retained in memory when the instruction stated to add the new information to the old memory, unlike the condition where the instruction was omitted. This condition showed evidence that the two sets of information were encoded independently from each other due to interference in retrieval. The study used a verbal reminder (briefly mentioned the previous pairs) to try and trigger reconsolidation. They did not asses if retrieval of the memory actually occurred. One method of bypassing the requirement of assessing if memory retrieval occurred is to design an experiment where the process of memory reconsolidation is interrupted, which should impair memory retrieval at a later date. A study conducted in 2010 successfully demonstrated that if the reactivation of a memory is followed by an emotionally aversive stimulus results in impairment when recalled at a later date (Strange, Kroes, Fan, Dolan, 2010). This study gives evidence that memories can be impaired following their retrieval. Reconsolidation has been found to occur not just in humans but in other animals as well (Robinson Franklin, 2010). A Considerable amount of research exists which indicates that when an animal is reminded of a previously learned experience the memory of that experience undergoes reconsolidation. This is supported by findings which show that treatment with a protein synthesis inhibitor immediately after re-exposing the experience can produce amnesia of the memory itself, due to the fact that recalling a memory triggers reconsolidation which requires the production of new proteins (Cai, Pearce, Chen, Glanzman, 2012). One study looked at how the amnestic drugs propranolol and midazolam would affect reconsolidation in rats (Robinson Franklin, 2010). They did this by exposing the rats to a box which contained both morphine and a saline solution in separate areas. The rats were exposed to this apparatus either four or eight times depending on the experimental condition. Afterwards the ra ts received either no dosage, or an injection of an amnestic drug. The rats were retested two and seven days after the dosage in the four pairings condition and with the eight pairings condition they were tested eight times in 48 hour blocks. The result showed that the amnestic drugs disrupted reconsolidation for weak memories (four pairings condition) and had little effect for strong memories (eight pairings condition). A study conducted by Cammarota, et al. (2009), examined if reconsolidation would occur in an inhibitory avoidance task using rats. The rats were trained in an inhibitory avoidance task and 24 hours later were exposed to the task again. After the exposure the rats were injected with a protein synthesis inhibitor and tested on the avoidance task for the third time. The results revealed that the protein synthesis inhibitor had no effect on memory retention. If reconsolidation had occurred there would have been a change in memory retention. This study used a short time period to measure reconsolidation. In the study conducted by Robinson Franklin (2010), there was evidence that reconsolidation had occurred yet in the study by Cammarota, et al. (2009), there was no evidence of memory reconsolidation occurring. There are two major differences between the two studies which may shed light into the discrepancy regarding the results. The study which showed reconsolidation used many repeated exposures to the memory stimulus and measured the possible effects of reconsolidation over a period of two weeks (Robinson Franklin, 2010), unlike the other study which only had two training sessions (as opposed to four or eight) and tested for any reconsolidation effects within 24 hours of the last training session (Cammarota, Bevilaqua, Medina, Izquierdo, 2009). These findings show evidence that memory reconsolidation may only occur in specific instances, with the two studies giving evidence that training strength and time may be two factors which affect reconsolidation. Research into finding the prerequisites of reconsolidation would be beneficial. One study looked at the limitations or boundaries of memory reconsolidation (Wang, De Oliveira Alvares, Nader, 2009). In the study Wang, et al. (2009) looked at the effects of strong training on fear-associated memory and reconsolidation. The data suggested that when 10 pairings were used instead of one the memory did not undergo reconsolidation until after thirty days have passed. By looking at the molecular mechanisms the researchers found that certain NDMA receptor subunits have to be stimulated in the BLA during reactivation of the memory to begin reconsolidation. They found that strong training could inhibit the activation of the NR2B receptor subunit which resulted in the fear stimulus not triggering reconsolidation. These results suggest that even though reconsolidation exists there are certain prerequisites that have to be met to start the process, such as the strength of the training and the time that has elapsed since encoding. These limitations may be the reason why some studies have not found a reconsolidation effect. These research articles show that reconsolidation is an actual process of memory. Reconsolidation can be the mechanism which enables our memories to be modified or updated since the memory that undergoes the process is activated often in situations which present additional complementary information (Lee, 2009). Since old, well-established memories can undergo reconsolidation there exists the possibility to exploit the destabilisation of the memory and either disrupt or even erase it completely (Milton Everitt, 2010). Therefore reconsolidation could be seen as an adaptive technique which can potentially affect or guide future behaviour. This has many potential applications. Many psychiatric disorders are due to underlying aberrant memories, such as drug addiction (Milton Everitt, 2010). Drug addiction is a chronic and relapsing disorder whereby the main risk of relapse comes from the presentation of environmental cues which have been previously associated with harmful drug use (Font Cunningham, 2012). These cues are memories which can possibly be targeted and changed by memory reconsolidation to influence future behaviour. One study looked at reconsolidation and alcohol dependence in mice (Font Cunningham, 2012). The mice were trained with either a strong or weak conditioning process. The animals were then given an injection of propranolol, a receptor antagonist and tested for memory consolidation a day later. The test found that memory retention was not affected by the antagonist. The study examined the effects of propranolol after the reactivation of the memory therefore the antagonist was introduced after reconsolidation had started. A study that looks at the effects of an antagonist that has been introduced before reconsolidation has started may yield different results. One study looked at drug-associated memories and their relationship with amygdala NMDA receptors (Milton, Lee, Butler, Gardner, Everitt, 2009). They hypothesised that NMDA receptors in particular glutamate receptors within the amygdala are crucial for the consolidation between environmental conditioned stimuli and the effects of addictive drugs, therefore the NMDA receptors must be crucial for the reconsolidation of drug-associated memories (Milton, et al., 2009). The study used a behavioural task that measures the conditioned reinforcing properties of a drug-paired stimulus by first exposing the stimulus, then injecting a NMDA receptor antagonist before a memory reactivation session. They found that the antagonist disrupted drug-associated memory and decreased the conditioned reinforcement effect. This effect lasted four weeks which was the length of the experiment. Although there was a link found when the receptor antagonist was injected before the reactivation session there was n o difference when the drug was introduced after the session which indicates that the receptor may only have a limited role in reconsolidation. These results suggest that controlling the glutamate levels at the NMDA receptor may be useful in preventing relapses although further research has to be done, particularly on the actual effect of NDMA receptors on reconsolidation and the length this effect lasts for. In summary the current knowledge of reconsolidation is quite sufficient to have an impact in psychological applications such as treating drug addiction. Knowledge about the specific physiological mechanisms of reconsolidation from animal studies is a good foundation to advance towards human experiments. Further research into the specific physiological mechanisms which underlie reconsolidation would help create effective treatment plans as would moving from animal studies to human trials. References Alberini, C. M. (2011). The role of reconsolidation and the dynamic process of long-term memory formation and storage. Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience, 5, 12. doi:10.3389/fnbeh.2011.00012 Cai, D., Pearce, K., Chen, S., Glanzman, DavidL. (2012). Reconsolidation of long-term memory in Aplysia. Current Biology, 22(19), 1783-1788. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2012.07.038 Cammarota, M., Bevilaqua, L. R. M., Medina, J. H., Izquierdo, I. (2009). Retrieval does not induce reconsolidation of inhibitory avoidance memory. Learning Memory, 11(5), 572-578. doi:10.1101/lm.76804 Clopath, C. (2012). Synaptic consolidation: an approach to long-term learning. Cognitive Neurodynamics, 6(3), 251-257. doi:10.1007/s11571-011-9177-6 Dubnau, J., Chiang, A.-S. (2013). Systems memory consolidation in Drosophila. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 23(1), 84-91. doi:10.1016/j.conb.2012.09.006 Dudai, Y. (2004). The neurobiology of consolidations, or, how stable is the engram? Annual Review of Psychology, 55(1), 51-86. doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.55.090902.142050 Font, L., Cunningham, C. L. (2012). Post-retrieval propranolol treatment does not modulate reconsolidation or extinction of ethanol-induced conditioned place preference. Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior, 101(2), 222-230. doi:10.1016/j.pbb.2012.01.009 Forcato, C., Rodrà ­guez, M. L. C., Pedreira, M. E., Maldonado, H. (2010). Reconsolidation in humans opens up declarative memory to the entrance of new information. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 93(1), 77-84. doi:10.1016/j.nlm.2009.08.006 Lee, J. L. C. (2009). Reconsolidation: maintaining memory relevance. Trends in Neurosciences, 32(8), 413-420. doi:10.1016/j.tins.2009.05.002 Milton, A. L., Everitt, B. J. (2010). The psychological and neurochemical mechanisms of drug memory reconsolidation: implications for the treatment of addiction. The European journal of neuroscience, 31(12), 2308. doi:10.1111/j.1460-9568.2010.07249.x Milton, A. L., Lee, J. L., Butler, V. J., Gardner, R., Everitt, B. J. (2009). Intra-amygdala and systemic antagonism of NMDA receptors prevents the reconsolidation of drug-associated memory and impairs subsequently both novel and previously acquired drug-seeking behaviors. The Journal of Neuroscience, 28(33), 8230-8237. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1723-08.2008 Nader, K., Einarsson, E. Ãâ€". (2010). Memory reconsolidation: an update. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1191(1), 27-41. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.2010.05443.x Reichelt, A. C., Lee, J. L. C. (2013). Memory reconsolidation in aversive and appetitive settings. Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience, 7, 118. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2013.00118. Robinson, M. J. F., Franklin, K. B. J. (2010). Reconsolidation of a morphine place preference: Impact of the strength and age of memory on disruption by propranolol and midazolam. Behavioural Brain Research, 213(2), 201-207. doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2010.04.056 Strange, B. A., Kroes, M. C. W., Fan, J. E., Dolan, R. J. (2010). Emotion causes targeted forgetting of established memories. Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience, 4, 175. doi:10.3389/fnbeh.2010.00175 Tronson, N. C., Taylor, J. R. (2007). Molecular mechanisms of memory reconsolidation. Nature Reviews. Neuroscience, 8(4), 262-275. doi:10.1038/nrn2090 Wang, S.-h., De Oliveira Alvares, L., Nader, K. (2009). Cellular and systems mechanisms of memory strength as a constraint on auditory fear reconsolidation. Nature Neuroscience, 12(7), 905-912. doi:10.1038/nn.2350

Othello Comparison of Themes :: essays research papers

Themes Envy and jealousy are the catalysts for Hugo’s desire to hurt Odin and Mike. Hugo envies Mike for Odin choosing him over Hugo to share the coveted Most Valuable Player award (MVP). At the presentation Hugo’s own father, Coach Duke Goulding states boldly, â€Å"†¦And I’m not ashamed to say this in public but, I love him like a son.† The camera shows the dismay displayed on Hugo’s face. From this point on Hugo envies both Mike and Odin and pledges to do whatever required of him to ruin both their lives. Just as Othello prefers Cassio as his lieutenant rather than Iago. Iago also mentions in a soliloquy that, â€Å"  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I hate the Moor, And it is thought abroad that ‘twixt my sheets He’s done my office. I know if’t be true.† Iago is suspicious of his own wife being unfaithful and is jealous of Othello, even though it is only rumour not truth.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hugo’s plan is to fill Odin’s mind with doubts of infidelity about Mike and Desi’s relationship. Hugo first mentions his suspicions in the gym where the two are alone. He tells Odin, â€Å"If there’s one thing I know it’s white girls, they’re like horny snakes.† Hugo asks if there’s anything going on between Desi and Mike and if Odin trusts Mike. If Hugo hadn’t of warned Odin, the thought would’ve never have occurred to him as he said to Mike, â€Å"What I’m gone a few hours and you’re already stealing my girl big Mike?† This was said sarcastically by Odin after he was admitted to hospital after retaining an arm injury playing basketball. Iago questions Cassio and Desdemona’s relationship just as Hugo did.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"†¦I speak not yet of proof. Look to your wife, observe her well with Cassio; Wear your eyes thus; not jealous, nor secure.† Eventually Odin becomes so envious and jealous of Mike and Desi’s supposed affair he is so motivated to kill Mike. â€Å"How can I kill this mother fucker Hugo?† But Hugo mentions Desi, which only places the idea in Odin’s mind, and shows Hugo’s powers of manipulation. â€Å"But what about Desi.† He replies. Othello reacts in the same manner as Odin. â€Å"†¦Within these three days let me hear thee say That Cassio’s not alive.† Iago’s agreeingly replies but also manipulates Othello by mentioning Desdemona.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"My friend is dead; ‘Tis down at your request. But let her live.† â€Å"Damn her, lewd minx! O, damn her, damn her!† Also included in this cycle of envy and jealousy is Roger who is envious of Desi and Odin’s relationship and is ever willing to help Hugo in his plan to break them up.

Evaluating Advertising Campaign

Evaluating Advertising Campaigns It is through the process of review and evaluation that an organization has the opportunity to learn and develop. In turn, this enables management to refine its competitive position and to provide for higher levels of customer satisfaction. The use of marketing communications is a management activity, one that requires the use of rigorous research and testing procedures in addition to continual evaluation. This is necessary because planned communications involve a wide variety of stakeholders and have the potential to consume a vast amount of resources. The evaluation of planned marketing communications consists of two distinct elements: The first element is concerned with the way the ad communicates. Thus, it deals with the development and testing of individual messages. An advertising message has to achieve, among other things, a balance of emotion and information in order that the communication objectives and message strategy be achieved. To accomplish this, testing is required to ensure that the intended message is encoded correctly and is capable of being decoded accurately by the target audience. This testing could be pre or post testing. The second element concerns the overall impact and effect that a campaign has on sales once a communication plan has been released. This post-test factor is critical, as it will either confirm or reject management’s judgement about the viability of their communication strategy. THE ROLE OF EVALUATION IN PLANNED COMMUNICATIONS The evaluation process is a key part of marketing communications. The findings and results of the evaluation process feed back into the next campaign and provide indicators and benchmarks for further management decisions. The primary role of evaluating the performance of a communications is to see that the advertising objective has been met and that the strategy has been effective. The secondary role is to ensure that the strategy has been executed efficiently, that the full potential of the individual promotional tools has been extracted and that resources have been used economically. TOO MUCH OR TOO LITTLE? Companies are generally interested in finding whether they are overspending or underspending in advertising. One way to figure that out is to use the formula given below. Share of voice is the company’s share of advertising expenditure that earns a share of the consumer’s mind, and ultimately the market. Comparing that to market share provides an idea as to the feasibility of the company’s ad spend. An advertising effectiveness ratio of 1 means an effective level of ad expenditure, while a ratio less than 1 indicates a relatively ineffective advertising level. As can be seen from the above table, firm A spends Rs. 20 lakhs of the total industry expenditure of Rs. 35 lakhs. Thus, its share of voice is 57. 1%. However, its market share is only 40%. So we can say that firm A is either overspending or misspending. Firm B has a market share equal in proportion to its share of voice. It spends effectively on advertising, while firm C is super efficient, and could probably increase expenditures.

Global Warming: The Government’s Little White Lie

Devin Good Persuasive Essay Period 7 10-10-12 Global Warming: The Government’s Little White Lie â€Å"Would you bet your paycheck on a weather forecast for tomorrow? If not, then why should this country bet billions on global warming predictions that have even less foundation? † (Thomas Sowell) The truth is that it’s hard to know whether or not our planet is heating or cooling. Global warming happens all the time and it’s not because of carbon dioxide or human interaction and is more of a political issue than reality.Even though temperatures are rising, it happens all the time. Global climate change is nothing new to our planet. According to Edmund Contoski global climate changes have occurred â€Å"63 times in the past 1. 6 million years,† (Contoski. n. p). So since our Earth is always rebounding from one change to another we have no need to worry. There is proof it’s warming but there has been evidence that the planet was once cooling. In t he early 1970s scientist thought the Earth was cooling but there predictions were proven wrong too.As famed writer Michael Crichton points out, â€Å"If scientist can’t accurately predict what next weekend’s weather will be like, how can they predict what the next centuries climate will be like? † (Crichton. n. p. ) Scientist do have proof that in the last few years the earth has warmed minisculely. However when compared to the entire 20th century, the earth’s temperature has only risen by 0. 6 ° C. This is barely a notable change and was wiped out by a drop of 0. 63 ° C in 2007. Scientist are trying to justify their idea of global warming by making many claims that are not scientifically backed up.They are claiming that animal migration patterns are changing as well. They also say that some species are migrating farther and sooner northern. When in reality migration pattern changes happen naturally and change year to year. Another common claim is tha t we are accelerating certain species extinction, but extinction occurs in nature without human interaction due to predation and lack of resources. The polar ice caps are another object that scientist like to grab ahold of to push their idea of global warming. The ice shelf fluctuates from year to year, causing it to appear to be shrinking ne year but the next year it may regain the ice it lost or gain more. The media however only likes to report on the loss of ice caps. Sadly it makes a better story about how polar bears are being killed by corrupt companies than how we regained 3% of the ice caps. Carbon dioxide is not causing global warming. Carbon Dioxide (CO() only makes up 0. 035% of our Earth’s atmosphere and is not even a powerful greenhouse gas. Human production of carbon dioxide has increased in recent years but humans are still not the biggest producers of CO(.Nature is ironically the largest producer, making up for 97% of all the CO( on Earth. Volcano eruptions an d swamps make up a large portion of this. A large part of this blame is just the use of a scapegoat. If an answer can not be easily identified and put to blame then the most infamous one is chosen. Many large and widely known companies choose to go along with this proposed ideas to appeal to the common people who then also choose to believe that the companies know best. An example of this is the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, when many well known companies wasted millions on fruitless research projects.It was originally wrote to reduce fossil fuels consumption but was proven to just be a stunt to gain image as wanting to save the planet. Consumers would much rather buy a drink from the company that claims it saves the planet than buy one from the company that a random scientist says kill baby seals. Global Warming is based on political ideology rather than reality. The media and elite groups control what the public knows and does not know in today’s world. If they want you to believ e in global warming just so they can con you out of $25 a month, they will.When in reality scientist who report to these companies with their findings are corrupt themselves. They will follow the money flow, even if it means lying and destroying evidence. When it was proven that Earth was not cooling and in fact heating, a large sum of carbon dioxide reports were deliberately ignored when filing a report about global warming being caused by CO(. If the paper does not support the present idea then the paper and research must be false. The miss-use of computer programs is common too. Humans program the simulations after all, so they can not be exact.Then with the falsified proof scientist can influence the population to anything they want. Now you have proof that global warming is more political and is not caused by humans or CO(. It is not a global crisis but rather natural phenomenon that the â€Å"man† wants to use to control us. So do you believe what the government wants y ou to believe or will you stand up for truth? Works Cited Bova, Ben. â€Å"Global Warming Is Real. † Global Warming. Ed. Cynthia A. Bily. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2006. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from â€Å"Facts Show Global Warming Is Real. † NaplesNews. om. 2008. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 1 Oct. 2012. Contoski, Edmund. â€Å"Global Warming Is a Myth. † Global Warming. Ed. Cynthia A. Bily. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2006. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from â€Å"Global Warming, Global Myth. † Liberty 22 (Sept. 2008). Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 1 Oct. 2012. Cooper, M. (2001, January 26). Global warming treaty. CQ Researcher, 41-64. 2 Oct. 2012. Retrieved from http://library. cqpress. com/cqresearcher/ Global Warming 101. National Geographic, 18 May 2007. Youtube. Web. 18 Sept. 2012. .

Dead People Rule

Dead People Rule I write about dead people. And get paid. But I didn’t set out to write about dead people. Mitty Ann Medlin captured my attention at a local historic cemetery. She arrived in Texas in 1848, at the age of 18, in a covered wagon train from Missouri. She married here and died in childbirth in 1850. I was intrigued. I wanted to write her story. I researched. And researched more. Yet, I didn’t feel ready to write the book. But, as with most writing, it doesn’t have to be an all or nothing venture. Mitty Ann, and a Texas full moon, was the inspiration for a blog hop a few years ago. That blog led to a request from the city of Trophy Club for an article. Medlin Memories: Winds of Change appeared in Discover Trophy Club. A few months later, Guardian Angel Kids published Sarah’s Journey in their ezine. I chose Mitty’s younger sister, Sarah, to tell the story to a younger audience. Another month, Guardian Angel Kids ‘Aviation’ theme stumped me. Story ideas were fleeting. But †¦ I had a list of remarkable Texas women from another project. Katherine and Mary Stinson, two sisters, had numerous flying records in aviation’s early days. Sisters with Wings was born. I got paid again for writing about dead people. A set of 1934 quilt squares I acquired at a yard sale ten years ago filled another niche. The blocks had names embroidered on them. I discovered their origins a small, now nonexistent, town in Iowa. Calico Connections appeared as another children’s story. With some supplemental quilting information, the story was reborn as Doris’s Christmas Legacy for Quilters World. (A follow up about delivering the quilt squares to Iowa will appear in the Summer 2015 issue.) Queries are out to other publications, such as Our Iowa, and Iowan. Short stories were also submitted to Ladies Home Journal and Chicken Soup for the Soul. Writing about people from the past is more than

The Development of American Film Music Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

The Development of American Film Music - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that during the first half of the twentieth century, the American cinema was born in the laboratories, and grows as a means of expression and serves as a means to entertain the masses. American people thanks to three factors: The scientist, artist, and businessman. Each of these factors contributed to their configuration, stating his physiognomy and strengthens its power. It became one of the largest industries within the short span of time. In a new art, emerging from science and traditional arts, it became a powerful social factor. From 1896 to 1903 saw the genesis of the film, and successfully fulfilled its three objectives, the juicy field of business, a technique peculiar and a large audience. Littman discusses that the first civic screening of a film in the United States occurred in 1896 in New York. The projector had been developed by the inventor Thomas Alva Edison, whose company was also the producer of the shorts. The paternity of the American fiction film is often attributed to Edwin S. Porter, who in 1903 used an innovative technique of montage in the film 8 minutes Assault and robbery of a train by which different fragments from different shots of the same film come together to form a whole narrative. David Wark Griffith, a disciple of Porter developed using the principles of this panoramic shots and close-ups, as well as parallel assemblies as a means of expression to maintain dramatic tension, which became the most important pioneer of silent movies in States United.... The Birth of Hollywood Between 1915 and 1920, the film industry was gradually shifted from the East Coast to Hollywood, where new studies emerged. Film production has become an important economic sector and imposed their dominance beyond the country's borders. At that time came the major genres: the western, detective films, adventure, science fiction and terror, who lived a time of splendour with directors like Cecil B. De Mille, John Ford, Frank Capra, William Wyler and King Vidor, like most serious works by Ernst Lubitsch and Erich von Stroheim-two directors considered the best time - or documentaries by Robert Flaherty. A peculiarity of the American film was the slapstick, a gender-based persecution disparate comedy and gags or comic situations. The person responsible for the emergence of this kind in 1912 was Senett Mack, whose school was, formed Charlie Chaplin, author of The Gold Rush (1925). Other important representatives of slapstick were Buster Keaton (The driver of the overall 1927), Harold Llo yd (The student beginner 1925) and the duo formed by Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy (From soup to nuts, 1928). The Sound Films With the introduction of talkies in the late 1920 emerged film genres: the screens began to be dominated by musicals (with many dance movies, particularly Busby Berkeley) and films by gangsters, who tried two other themes Today: the Great Depression and the Law Seca (e.g. golden Hemp, Mervyn Le Roy in 1930, or Scarface, the terror of hemp, Howard Hawks, 1932) (Grimes, 2005, pp. 15-22). The Decades Of 1940 1950 In 1941, the premiere of Citizen Kane, Orson Welles, marked a turning point for American cinema. Welles abandoned the chronological narrative and created a work of art that shook the cinematic

Algeria's Economy Paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Algeria's Economy - Research Paper Example However, the sector does not provide enough employment opportunity for the large Algeria’s population, which mainly comprise of youths. Constant and rapid fluctuations in oil prices directly results in budgetary imbalances. This paper focuses on poverty levels, nutrition, and population growth, history of economic development and urban-rural issues, as well as land issues in Algeria. The paper also compares the economy and other aspect of Algerian economy to other countries in Africa, particularly in the North African region. Algeria’s Economy from the Beginning To 1960 By the start of 20th, Algeria was a French colony and was mainly dependent on agriculture for revenue generation. The settlers had invested in large agricultural territories, constructed manufacturing industries, opened up businesses, and made use of cheap available labor from the locals. The French colonial policies within Algeria calculatingly destroyed of the country’s native social system, whi ch had been built to cater for society’s basic needs. The settlers owned most of the Agricultural land, which resulted in high poverty levels among the Algerians. In the 1940, the population grew vastly which endangered the livelihood of most Algerians. Before Algeria’s independence in 1960, Algeria depended vastly on agriculture in addition to oil export. After independence, Algeria’s agricultural growth slowed down and oil as well as other hydrocarbons became an important source of income. Between 1950 and 1960, new land rights were introduced in which land became nationalized (Colombo, Caridi, & Kinninmont, 2012). Algeria’s Economy between 1960 and 1980 Before its independence in 1962, the minority of European colonizers and their progenies controlled the Algerian economy. The Algerian economy has essentially depended on oil exportation for revenue generation hence for economy development. The economy is thus considered a market based economy. During t he seventies, the economic policies were grounded on the command economy style (Paciello, Ayeb, Gillot, & Moisseron, 2012). The macroeconomic policies were flaccid and highly dependent on central organization and administrative guidelines. Market prices remained constant for long periods, while basic requirements were heavily subsidized, which resulted in repressed inflation and superfluous demand for the consumer goods. Public division investment was apportioned centrally by managerial schemes. Utmost investment funding was provided by the treasury and distributed to other subdivisions through the Algerian Bank for Development. The entire investment expenses in infrastructure, agricultural sector, and social schemes were dependent on the budget (Paciello, Ayeb, Gillot, & Moisseron, 2012). The distorted prices, poor infrastructure led to neglect of small enterprises. The industrial sector faced numerous managerial problems attributed to bureaucratic and inflexible management structu res. Inadequate marketing facilities, poor transport systems, and unsuitable management resulted in widespread wastage of limited resources, which gravely impaired the long-term welfare of the Algerian economy (Europa Publications, 2012). Algeria’s Economy from 1990 Until Now Agriculture remains a highly valued economic activity in Algeria though it currently provides employment to a small percentage of about 5% of the population.