Saturday, August 31, 2019

Portrayals of Minorities in pop culture

1. ) One example of how minorities are portrayed in popular culture is on the TV show, The Simpsons. Apu Nahasapeemapetilon is portrayed as your typical Indian convenience store owner. He speaks in Indian English, owns a convenience store, his marriage was arranged, he has a strong work ethic, and he has a large number of children. He is portrayed this way in every episode that he appears in. The portrayal is negative and is stereotyping people who are Indian. The portrayal reinforces the stereotypes that Indian immigrants own convenience stores and work all of the time. Personally, I would not want other members of societies receiving this image of me as a member of this group because it paints a negative picture of the culture. It stereotypes all Indian immigrants as the same. This reinforces the idea that race plays a major role in status in our society and people are looked at differently based on their race. On the show, this stereotype is perceived as humorous and people who watch this show are receiving little knowledge about the actual group of people. 2. ) An example of how minorities are portrayed in popular culture is shown on the TV show, Cops. This show portrays people who are minorities to be violent, drug dealers, unintelligent, poor family members. Almost all of the drug deals that go on and the violence that goes on is between blacks and other minorities. This is a negative portrayal and it reinforces these certain stereotypes. It showcases blacks and other minorities as being violent and involved with drugs. If I were a member of this group, I would not want other segments of societies receiving this image of me as a member of this group because I would not want to be known as an unintelligent, violent drug dealer who can't get along with his family. It is a very negative stereotype. 3. ) On the TV show, South Park, minorities are negatively portrayed in almost every single episode. One episode in particular is called, â€Å"The Passion of the Jew. † This episode was a satire of the movie, The Passion of the Christ, but also made fun of people who are Jewish. This show negatively portrays people who are Jewish as being cheap, overprotective, nagging, and pokes fun at their religion. It reinforces these stereotypes and also goes further by negatively talking about the Jewish religion and their practices. If I were a member of this group, I would not want other segments of societies receiving this image of me as a member of this group because it portrays me as being stingy and makes jokes about my religion. Based on this portrayal, it seems as though some television shows are able to make fun of any race that they please. 4. ) Another example of how minorities are portrayed in popular culture is in the movie, The Perfect Score. One of the students in the movie who is Asian is portrayed as being a drug user but extremely smart. He uses drugs all of the time but is still able to get good grades in school. This is a negative portrayal of people who are Asian and it stereotypes them as drug users and of having above average intelligence. If I were a member of this group, I would not want other segments of societies receiving this image of me as a member of this group because I would not want to be perceived as a person who smokes marijuana and is a stoner. I would want to be portrayed as intelligent but not a drug user. Based on this portrayal, I feel that race plays an important part in statuses because different races are thought to be of higher statuses. 5. ) An example of how minorities are portrayed in popular culture is on the TV show, Beverley Hills 90210. People in this show, who are mainly white, are viewed as being extremely rich, affluent, greedy, and having a ton of drama in their lives. It stereotypes the typical â€Å"California teenager. † It is a negative portrayal of young people who live in California. It reinforces the stereotypes of the typical California surfer and teenager. All teenagers who live in California don't act this way, but they are portrayed as being like this. This portrayal can also be seen in newer shows such as Laguna Beach and The Hills. If I were a member of this group, I would not want other segments of societies receiving this image of me as a member of this group because I would not want to be seen as a rich snob who relies on their parent's money. I would want to just blend in with society. I feel that people who are white are sometimes given a higher status then people of other races. . ) In the movie Soul Man, minorities are portrayed as having an easier time of getting into college. In this movie, a student who wants to get into a particularly difficult school dyes his skin a darker color so he can hopefully get in. This is a negative portrayal of minorities because it is saying that they have an easier chance of getting into college because they are a minority. It reinforces the stereotype that colleges have a certain quota to fill and that minorities sometimes do have an easier time getting into a certain college. If I were a member of this group, I would not want other members of societies receiving this image of me as a member of this group because I would not want them to think that I got accepted into a college because of my race. I would want my acceptance into college to be viewed as an achievement because I worked hard in high school. This portrayal sends out the message that minorities are sometimes given extra benefits because of what colleges have to do. 7. ) An example of how minorities are portrayed in popular culture is on the TV show, Family Matters. This show is about a middle-class African American family that lives in Chicago. I believe this show is a positive portrayal because it shows a functional black family with goals and aspirations. Other shows that I have watched unfortunately present blacks as violent people who are often linked to crime. They are portrayed as â€Å"gangsters† in many shows, and it seems as though their only aspirations are to become a rapper or a basketball player. However, in Family Matters, there is a middle class black family that is portrayed in a very positive light. There are no violent acts being committed, and as a matter of fact, the father is a policeman who helps prevent violent acts. If I were a member of this group I would approve of this portrayal because this family is not being portrayed as a dysfunctional black family. This show was able to incorporate comedy in the episodes without being demeaning. 8) In the movie Mean Girls, there is a group of Asians called the â€Å"Asian Nerds† and they are constantly studying. Asians are often linked with the stereotype that they are superior students. I feel as though this could be both a negative and positive stereotype. It is good to be seen as successful and smart but not all Asians should be perceived to be academically exceptional. I would not want to be perceived in this way because then it seems like you have an expectations to live up to and what if you cannot live up to them? What if you are Asian and you are not a â€Å"genius†? I would constantly feel pressure and if I was unable to live up to that expectation I can only imagine the anxiety that I would feel and I would most likely be embarrassed to get help. It is true that it is positive thing to be seen as a successful race but it comes along with too many expectation and negative stereotypes such as being uninterested in having fun. ) This cover of Vogue magazine can be interpreted negatively because some people believe that Lebron James is standing in a gorilla-like pose. This cover can be traced back to days when scientists were claiming that blacks are linked to apes. This is a negative stereotype because it dehumanizes black. Researchers say that even though depictions of blacks as apes have disappeared; it is still in the subconsciouses of others. Society may be more likely to link blacks with crime and violence because they still don't accept blacks as fully human. The fact that blacks are still being associated with apes is very distressing. Clearly, if I were in this group I would not want other members of society viewing me as â€Å"ape-like. † It dehumanizes blacks and links them to negative actions such as crime. 10. Another example of how minorities are portrayed in the media is through a show called The Office. In one of the episodes, the main character Michael is forming a basketball team and he immediately recruits one of his employees named Stanley, because he is black. He automatically assumes that Stanley is good at basketball because he is black even though Stanley tries to tell him otherwise. However, Michael clings onto the stereotype that all blacks are good at basketball and in the end he is proved wrong. I do not think this is a good stereotype because you cannot group everybody that belongs to a certain race into one category. Not all blacks are going to be good at basketball, just like not all Asians are going to be smart. We develop pre-conceived notions about people based on their race, and it is not good. I would not want other members of society perceiving me in this way because the stereotype does not hold true for all blacks.

Friday, August 30, 2019

Business process reengineering Essay

1) Why are information systems (IS) essential in organizations? Information systems are the modern approach to data organization. It allows an effective and efficient way to store, modify, retrieve and manipulate data and information for a specific business or organization. 2) Why do systems analysts need to know who the stakeholders are in the organization? One of the major task and responsibilities of the system analyst is to bridge the connection of all the stakeholders in the organization. The system analyst has experience and/or knowledge in every perspective in a system and delivers their expertise in whatever section the analyst is analysing. Along with this, the system analyst must have good interpersonal communication and relation skills in order to have effective communication/relation with the stakeholders. 3) Who are the typical stakeholders in an information system? What are they roles? Besides the system analyst, the major players in an information system is the project manager, the system owners, designers, builders and users. The project manager is an experience professional who takes on the monitoring of the course of the project being in terms of scheduling and budget. The project manager also ensure quality and standards upon his team. The system designer uses the project requirement and plans out the design of the system. Its their responsibility to create the architecture of the business plan over the database(s) and the network. They visualize the process from input to output which is used by the system users but created by the system builders. The system builders will make the necessary tools that the system users will require. The system users are the ones who put into effect the outcome of the information system. They manipulate data with day-to-day tasks such as entering, storing, validating and exchanging information. System users may be internal or ex ternal (ESP). 4) Please explain the consequences are if an information system lacks a system owner? Many stakeholders are crucial to the development of the system and without a system owner, the project may not come to realization. To start, the team will require funding and without proper financial management, the team members will need to cut corners and may not have the proper equipment or tools to establish the project requirements. To add, without a system owner, the project manager must take on more responsibilities to ensure correct operations and maintenance is being held through the systems development. 5) What are the differences between internal users and external users? Give examples. Internal users take up the majority of the population of workers involved in the system. Internal users are ones to remain in the facilities of the project while external users could either be temporary workers or workers in a different location that the building that holds the business. Internal users can be categorized into clerical/service, technical/professional or supervisor/management workers.Temporary workers may be experts brought in for advice or other external users may be considered remote or mobile users having new or different location than their previous post. 6) What are the differences between the role of system analyst and the rest of the stakeholder? The system analyst has many more responsibilities than a single stakeholder because the system analyst needs to understand each point of view to fill in the communication gaps. For example, a system analyst must understand the responsibilities and view of the system users in order to visualize help for system builders. 7) What skills and knowledge must a system analysts posses The goal of the system analyst is to improve the system. In order to facilitate this burden, the analyst must know how to ‘system think’ and improve their mind into a problem-solving state. To start, he/she must have a vast knowledge in technology and should stay on top of the game by learning new and emerging technologies. In order for the analyst to be able to give expertise to programmers, the analyst must itself have great experience in multiple languages of programming. A system analyst must also be able to connect the bridges from technology to business and to be able to communicate with the business side of the organization. 8) In addition to the business and computing knowledge the system analysts should possess, what are the other essential skills that they need to effectively complete their jobs? 9) Why are good interpersonal skills essential for system analyst? Although an analyst has great practical skills, he also must have a great character and leadership skills to develop a more important skill: communication. It is crucial to be able to reach out to the other stakeholders with qualities such as great interpersonal social, communication and relation skills. A system analyst cannot be someone who isn’t able to handle dynamic groups and must be ready for change with flexible flexibility. Finally, a system analyst must be a respectable worker with good moral ethics. 10) What are some of the business drivers for today’s information systems? Globalization of the economy The information system must be globalized to support access from any country/language/culture. Situation are resolved with international stakeholders who can read/write/communicated in the desired language Electronic commerce and business the information service of a commerce or business going to the internet in order to either buy/sell/exchange goods or inform the public about the business. It modernizing things out in the market, onto the virtual platform for simplicity in accessing information Security and privacy As users/customers raise awareness in security and privacy online, companies/businesses must keep up with preventing a security breach. Information and data must only be viewed with users and/or managers with permission. Collaboration and partnership Within one’s business, it’s necessary to open the connections between departments and outside a single business, its important to establish partnership to have easy cooperations with other organizations and to make better business sense. Knowledge asset management Knowledge is the combination of data into useful information and these three are considered as an importance in business resource Continuous improvement The system analyst is always making the effort to add to process improvement which can be either making price reduction changes or adding value to the current process Total quality management A true key of success is overall quality which can only be achieved by the quality factor of each stakeholders. TQM is approach that is acknowledge by the workers to ensure sastifying quality in the system Business process redesign This is the approach to improvement in business process in effect to cheaper cost and additional value. This differs than CPI by modifying bigger changes in the business 11) What are the difference between electronic commerce and electronic business? E-commerce has the goal of making a financial profit by the sell/buy/exchange of products or services. E-business may be an informant website to display electronic support directly to one’s business. 12) What are the difference between information and knowledge? Both information and knowledge comes from raw data, but it’s information that comes out of the process and organization of data. Considering stand-alone data has no relative meaning, it is formed and group in such that information may be achieved. Knowledge is the deep form of information that may be interpreted as facts, truths, beliefs, judgments, experience or/and expertise. 13) What are the most important technology drivers for today’s information systems? Network and the Internet System informations will use the internet with all their tools which can consist of the languages (HTML, XHTML, PHP, javascript, perl, etc†¦), Intranets and Extranets, portals and web services. Mobile and wireless technologies with nowadays hardware, mobile gadgets are becoming increasingly popular because wireless technologies are becoming more efficient and practical Object technologies The use of high-level programming involved in object-oriented design. The use of objects as data are more efficient and reusable Collaborative technologies consist of technologies to aid communication with tools such as emails, instant messaging, groupware and workflow Enterprise applications business will develop custom software and application in order to achieve desired results with better compatibility than to buy a license for an application

Thursday, August 29, 2019

“A Peace to end All Peace”: The Treaty of Versailles Essay

Recently, historian David Fromkin wrote a book about the Treaty of Versailles, arguing that it was ‘A Peace to end All Peace,’ hence its title. This is so all the Treaty really offered was only an amicable, short-term, settlement between the warring powers that placed Germany in a disadvantageous position. Eventually, this resulted to a sentiment of retribution among the Germans, which backed the rise of Hitler and the start of another World War. How was the Treaty of Versailles flawed? Below are several aspects for discussion.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   First are the military aspects of the treaty. â€Å"Germany’s army was reduced to 100,000 men; the army was not allowed tanks. She was not allowed an air force. She was allowed only 6 capital naval ships† (Trueman, n.d.). However, this happened â€Å"only in paper† a Germany â€Å"side-stepped† the rule and signed her soldiers only for a short contract of service (ibid.). Once the contract is done, she put the soldiers in reserve, successfully carrying out the term of having no more than 100,000 soldiers at any one time, while still having a substantial amount of reserve troops that helped Hitler rise later (ibid.). Also, although Germany was not allowed an air force, she trained potential pilots, as well as submariners, abroad (ibid.). This did not break the treaty as there were no provisions regarding it in the first place.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Second are the financial and territorial aspects of the treaty. Germany was demanded to cede all of its colonies, to pay financial penalties linked to war destruction, and to not unite with Austria all at the same time (Trueman, n.d.). The Treaty also â€Å"provided for the delivery of capital goods and raw materials to the Allies† (Sage, 2006). To the Germans, these terms offered them severe economic restrictions with possibly no chance of rehabilitation. Nonetheless, â€Å"Germany was still the strongest power in Europe economically, so that the unwise thing about Versailles was that it annoyed the Germans yet did not render them too weak to retaliate† (Lowe, 1982). Third and most importantly are the political aspects of the treaty. Germany was not even included, much more consulted, in its drafting. She was left all alone, with even the membership to the League of Nations banned against her. Most importantly, she was even made to admit â€Å"full responsibility for starting the war† – a term explicitly written in Clause 231 of the treaty, the War Guilt Clause (Trueman, n.d.). With her admitting full responsibility, she had to pay for reparations, which are well beyond her ability to pay. The Allies literally pushed Germany to the ground when they made her sign a blank cheque for the reparations, â€Å"which the Allies would cash when it suited them† (ibid.). Again and again, Germany’s opinion was never asked nor even heard of while the treaty was drafted until it was carried out. The most the Allies did was to convince her that she will be consulted after the Armistice in November 1918 (ibid.). The Germans did not like the treaty forced on them. But as the war had rendered them incapable of starting another war, they had no choice but to sign it, lest they be invaded by the Allies. At the end, Germany was the victim. The supposed victims, i.e. the Allies, emerged as victors as the terms of the Treaty worked greatly to their advantage, leaving Germany bruised and battered more than ever. However, some scholars would argue that the treaty was not that bad after all. For instance, Jaron Sandy (1999) believed that it was the â€Å"best compromise possible,† though it â€Å"was certainly not the best one could hope for.† He agrees that it was â€Å"comprehensively harsh† on Germany, but it did not fail as a solution for peace, because there was a â€Å"period of relative stability† in Europe from 1924 to 1931. But considering the discussions above, the Treaty of Versailles was proven to be a â€Å"Peace to end all Peace.† Some scholars would even say it â€Å"was no peace treaty† at all, but just â€Å"an indictment of Germany† (Sage, 2006). All it left was â€Å"a mood of anger throughout Germany as it was felt that as a nation Germany had been unfairly treated†(Trueman, n.d.). REFERENCES: Lowe, N. (1982). Mastering Modern World History (excerpt). Retrieved July 14, 2008 from http://www.johndclare.net/peace_treaties1_Answer.htm Sage, HJ. (2006). Versailles 1919. Retrieved July 14, 2008 from http://www.sagehistory.net/worldwar1/topics/versailles.htm Sandy, J. (1999). Personal Conclusions about the Treaty of Versailles and Its Effects (excerpt). Retrieved July 14, 2008 from http://www.johndclare.net/peace_treaties1_Answer.htm Trueman, C. (n.d.). The Treaty of Versailles. Retrieved July 14, 2008 from: http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/treaty_of_versailles.htm

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

The century of a detective Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The century of a detective - Essay Example Some of the covered works in the book are Alphonese Bertillon, Scotland Yard, Doctor Crippen, Bernard Spilsbury and valentine day massacre among others. On the work by Alphonese Bertillon, the book looks at his contribution to Anthropometry. His contribution served as a great step in forensic science. The criminals could be identified by mug shot which is still used today in crime scene photography. The book is a great help in studying and applying forensic science. The book then gives details on how discovery of fingerprinting led to reduction of use in Bertillon work. Before the discovery of Bertillon system, the system used by Scotland Yard was chaotic. Use of finger prints in crime identification later overtook use anthropometry in forensics due to accuracy. One of the approaches that make the book resourceful is use of history to explain the development of forensic science. Another area that the book looks at is forensic medicine dealing with how a body decomposes toxicology and ballistics. One of the most compelling disciplines of forensic science that I found interesting was anthropometry. This was a discovery made by Bertillon who was an assistant clerk in the criminal records office of the Paris police department. His work mostly involved transferring criminal background data from various sources into standard forms. One of the problems that were in the system was that the arrestee physical descriptions were too vague. The offenders could use means of contorting their faces in an attempt to hide the identity. This is when he started to think of using measurement to classify a criminal. According to the book, no two human beings are alike physically in their measurements traits. The skeletal development even in identical twins differs to some degree. This leads to the success of Anthropometry. The idea by Bertillon was based on the fact that the skeletal structure of a living person is fixed from the age of twenty up to death. Personnel who deals with a nthropometry is well trained in biological variability, racial morphology and human osteology. The Anthropometric characteristics of an individual are related to sex, shape and form. Using this science of identification, the forensic expert is able to have a concise identity of the offender. The system allows the forensic expert to differentiate the degree of similarity or difference between the offenders. In some instances, anthropometry is used in identifying unknown variables. This occurs when examining the skeletal remains of a person. The forensic expert can estimate the age, sex, body build and ethnicity of a dead person based on the remains. Some of these details help in investigating the cause of death as deformities and fractures can also be accounted among others. One of the fields that have been closely associated with anthropometry is archeological science. This is due to the analysis that is done on the human body skeletal system. One of the most important knowledge tha t a forensic scientist must have is good skeletal biology. This helps in skeletal reconstruction in post mortem examination. Using the details collected from the examination and reconstruction, it becomes possible to know the cause of death. The field of anthropometry can be divided into to somatometry and osteometry. Somatometry deals with measurements taken from a living body and cadaver which include head to face. This is a vital tool in anthropometry as it is used in morphological variation. The branch is used in determining the age among the individuals. Osteometry includes measurements from the skeleton and its parts. Forensic scientists use this method in taking the measurements of the skeletal bones which includes the skull. This is the method has been successfully used in determini

Ownership in creationg Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Ownership in creationg - Essay Example Bringing the dream of the dreamer into he mind of the listener requires scores of unsung people that have all made a contribution to our favorite songs. In the medium of modern technology and the minds of the audience, the ownership of the creation belongs to all of us in some small way, but the profits belong to a record company. The public mistakenly believes that he latest hit song by a popular artist found its genesis in the mind of the artist, took form, and became an original work of art. In fact, the song had its beginnings years before as the songwriter was influenced by the music of the world around them. The artist will take the familiar sounds, forms, chord progressions, and melodies that they know and add their own dimension to come up with a new piece of music. Igor Stravinsky once commented that "A good composer does not imitate; he steals". From this standpoint, all music is a collaboration between the artist and the past, and no one has a title to its ownership. Once the artist has created the music, it becomes subjected to the process of reproduction and distribution. The artist will have an agent that will handle the business arrangements, contracts, and obligations as they work towards the goal of getting signed to a record label. The record company, known as the 'label', will get the song recorded, reviewed, promoted, and distributed for sale. By way of a contract, the record label and producer literally owns the artist and the music. While music is easily shared with everyone via reproduction and radio broadcasts, the label owns the artist, the music, and the profits. Getting a song from the artist to the public requires that it gets recorded in a studio and reproduced onto a compact disc (CD). The artist will go into a recording studio where the song is brought to life. Often, the artist writes the song on an acoustic guitar or piano, and without the full instrumentation that will later be heard by the public. These pieces are all added later in the studio. The recording of a hit song in a studio involves scores of singers, arrangers, and musicians that are often hired to work on a specific piece of music at an hourly rate of pay. Known as 'studio musicians', they are heard on hundreds of recordings, yet get little or no notoriety or fame for their performance. Recently, the union pay scale for a studio musician was $181 for a three-hour session (Baker). They also get no royalties or income from the future sale of the CD. The studio musicians own a part of the record, and it is a part of their soul, but they do not own the profits that it generat es. Engineering a song entails far more than simply placing a microphone in front of the singer and hitting the record button. Modern technology allows the recording engineer to record each individual part separately and mix it together at a later date. Known as 'tracks', the engineer may have hundreds of individual tracks that make up a song. Occasionally, the parts of a song may be recorded at different locations at different times. The legendary album All the Roadrunning by Emmy Lou Harris and Mark Knopfler was assembled a piece at a time with the help of engineer-mixer Chuck Ainlay, as well as guitarist Richard Bennett and Dire Straits keyboardist Guy Fletcher (Hill).

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Technology Impact on Retail Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Technology Impact on Retail - Research Paper Example Telephone, fax, and non-cash payment systems such as credit cards have existed for quite some time. However, the introduction of computers and internet has changed the face of retail industry in America immensely. Internet related technologies have revolutionized the retail sector like no other technology before. Instead of cash payments, credit card payment systems started to conquer the retail sector in America. Moreover, online purchasing started to dominate offline purchasing as a result of the introduction of new technologies. Amazon, Ebay etc like online retailers started to dominate American retail industry in recent time at the expense of many of the prominent offline retailers. Skorupa (2012) mentioned that Amazon’s forecasted revenue for 2012 is $60 billion (Skorupa, 2012). eBay is also not far behind. The popularity of online retail business forced offline retailers such as Wal-Mart to expand their operation in virtual world. This paper analyses the impacts of techn ology in American retail sector. Technology in American retail sector Internet technologies are being employed at every stage in the retail industry in America at present. Majority of the consumers are using credit cards for paying their bills even though the concerns about credit card forgery like crimes are there. Modern internet technologies are capable of reducing the threats from credit card forgeries up to certain extent which encourage people to increase their cashless transactions in retail sector further. Earlier, it was difficult for retailers to manage their supply chain effectively because of lack of communication channels or ineffectiveness of existing communication channels. However, at present supply chain management in retail industry have been improved a lot with the introduction of internet related technologies. It is easy for the supply chain managers to know the actual inventory of goods at a particular place with the help of a finger touch. Earlier, the informat ion supplied by the managers of the retail shops was used by the supply chain managers to know the inventory of a particular product in a shop. At present, supply chain managers need not wait till the information reaches their table from the retail shop mangers to know these details. Selling statistics of different goods from different shops may reach the table of supply chain manager at the very moment of selling of certain item. For example, a retail shop owner needs to register the details of the customer at the time of selling of Samsung/Apple mobile phones. Thus the supply chain managers will get the information about the present inventory of an item in a particular store any time they want. Current customers have more shopping choices like brick & mortar stores and e-shops. â€Å"Brick & Mortar stores refers to retail shops that are located in a building as opposed to an online shopping destination, door-to-door sales, kiosk or other similar site not housed within a structure †(Waters, 2012). One of the major drawbacks of online retailing is the inability of purchasers to get the physical presence of the product. Brick & Mortar stores help consumers to get the physical presence of the product before they take any purchasing decisions. Ghemawat & Nueno (2006) pointed out that current inventory management systems are leaner due to better forecasting and communication tools. They cited Spanish retailer Zara as an

Monday, August 26, 2019

Finance and Accounting Assignment Research Paper

Finance and Accounting Assignment - Research Paper Example Irrespective of such disruptions, in the year 2011, Ford completed its consecutive three years of earning profit in relation to its operating costs and, therefore, announced the payment of dividends to its valued shareholders in five years, which, in turn, has significantly motivated the company to preserve its financial efficiencies in the long run (Ford Motor Company). Thesis Statement The report will analyze various divisions and departments of Ford where costs are allocated currently. Furthermore, it will provide recommendations based on the importance of divisions and departments about effective allocation of costs. Allocation of Costs The automobile industry is facing continuous challenges due to the increasing fuel prices, uncertain economic conditions prevailing in the international arena, rising commodity prices and the growing need to reduce CO2 emissions in order to protect the environment. Thus, Ford has been allocating huge amount of revenues to the Research and Developm ent (R&D) department in order to develop best-in-class vehicles that will provide superior quality, efficient fuel economy, safety, value for money and attractive design which best satisfies the consumer preferences. Furthermore, the company has been doubling its investment in innovating advanced technologies in order to maintain a high degree of competitive edge over its global competitors (Ford Motor Company). Although the automobile industry is facing fierce competition due to the presence of large number of competitors, Ford can utilize its brand recognition and strong financial resources to expand its global presence and increase the volume of sales. Sudden shifts in demand have also been identified, from hybrid cars to small cars due to the non-availability of parking spaces and traffic congestions. Thus, the sudden increase in demands disrupted the process of production as the company had to make major changes in order to shift its manufacturing concentration solely to small cars segment. Furthermore, the introduction of advanced technologies has emerged as a growing trend among the car manufacturing companies across the globe. Thus, Ford should emphasize more on its technology development department in order to introduce unique technologies integrated with modern vehicles: parking assistance, car tracking device and GPRS among others (Ford Motor Company). Moreover, the company can invest its capital for expanding its production facilities in countries where Ford’s market share is considerably lower than that of other car companies even though the markets are promising. Hence, the establishment of manufacturing units will lower the logistics costs and enable the company to have greater profit margins. Furthermore, the company may allocate additional funds to the marketing segment in order to promote the uniqueness of its technologies. Notably, the recovery of the global economy from the financial downturn has provided consumers around the world w ith an increasing purchase power, which has been reflected through the increased demand across the globe. People are comfortable in spending money for luxurious products, especially those with integrated technologies which have not been introduced earlier (Humphrey and Memedovic). Benefits of

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Role of Examination in Education Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Role of Examination in Education - Assignment Example Whether physically, mentally, emotionally, and even in the spiritual and financial, it plays a big part on the success of the examination. As Physical education's primary goals include: the development of motor skills and physical fitness; and with the inclusion of growth in the cognitive and affective domains; social interaction and the encouragement to appreciate the successes and achievements of others. It is therefore, worthy to try to understand one's self and the pressures and forces which makes one respond or react, and be able to prepare for it. Mental preparation or the kind of mind setting is important in taking an exam. A mind that is already defeated beforehand would of course produce a negative result. Worrying on whether to pass or not tends the body to get tensed and muscles tighten. The state of being of an individual before taking an exam matters for it stabilizes one's focus and concentration, and be able to filter information needed to answer most especially essay questions. An examiner is able to organise insights and ideas needed to explain or support his propositions thus, making a desirable or excellent result. With the very nature of time that it cannot be recycled, time management is very significant to an examination result. ... Though some are wise in time management, constraints happen when less time is left to complete the answers. Reading Comprehension/Understanding instructions/Vocabulary Instructions direct the orderliness of an examiner's answers, and poorly constructed instructions would lead to failing examination result - both on the teacher's and the examiner. However, part of the instruction is the ability to understand the requirement of the question. Wherein in most cases, and as a result of the examination, uninformed candidates made little analysis or careful reading on questions and attempted to use whatever knowledge they had regardless of the question. As it is considered to be one of the common hindrances in producing good examination results, students suffering from it are the ones that fail. Reading may be a skill, but common problems during examinations, many students fail to achieve marks because of the inability to understand terminology with specific words or phrases highlighted in the question. It is often misunderstood especially those relating to work covered in the AS course. With the exception of the few, there were candidates who found it difficult to describe terms and consequently gave rather vague and rambling responses. The use of technical language, particularly in the synoptic questions, remains weak for many candidates. Using non-technical language will often result in candidates giving vague and generalised responses that normally fail to answer the question. As questions should be clear resulting to 'clear' answers, there was a fairly even spread between candidates who were able to identify particular body types and those

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Cybersecurity Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 7

Cybersecurity - Coursework Example This is because it is distinctive to a message, small changes to a message causes a different has, therefore, warning of interference. Symmetric methods may be the most suitable for securing movie videos from unlawful viewing while kept on servers in the cloud. A sender may use a key to program a message into cipher text. The receiver may employ the identical key to decipher it. This will permit only individuals who have authorization to the movie videos to view them. (Delfs & Knebl, 2007). Yes. The American government can employ a cloud-based model to enhance its operations. This is because applications of cloud technology do not rely on on-site staff or agency servers. A cloud-based computing model is beneficial in several ways. One, it will reduce governmental cost. Payments are made incrementally. Two, the government can save more information than on private systems. Third, government officials can access data from any place. Fourth, government agencies can collaborate and communicate efficiently (Rabkin & Zaharia, 2010). Community cloud model should be utilized for inter-agency connections. This is because this model shares resource among a number of organizations from an area with mutual interests, for example, jurisdiction, compliance, and security, whether managed by a third-party or internally and hosted outwardly or inwardly. The expenses are shared among less people than a public cloud (Zittrain, 2008). Meaning, only certain cost savings ability of cloud computing are fulfilled. Hybrid Cloud should be utilized for the public-private partnership critical infrastructure. A hybrid cloud entails a blend of a private and public cloud that work together, but remain sole units. This provides the advantage of numerous deployment models. Public-private partnerships are able to get levels of locally immediate usability and fault tolerance without depending on the connectivity of the internet when they use hybrid cloud for its critical

Friday, August 23, 2019

International Relations (The Caspian Sea Dispute) Essay

International Relations (The Caspian Sea Dispute) - Essay Example The interest encompassing oil extraction in Caspian region are commonly existent in several countries of the world in view of its significance to each individual country's benefit. For instance, the Caspian states regard the extraction of oil as a bonanza of future riches, potency and control. However, Caspian states are not the only ones to conceive these purviews, beside these interests are also cherished by the giant international oil companies such as BP, Amoco and Exxon etc with a view to boosting profitability. Besides, countries like United States, Russia, China, Iran and Turkey. All guided by the objective to gain maximum possible geopolitical advantages out of the region's oil exploration and exploitation. Hence, this paper sharpens the significance of this region for several interested parties and also explores the arousing international level conflicts concerning the geographic expedition and utilization of Caspian Sea's abounding oil resources. The internal and external politics in the Caspian region have led to the enormously growing contention among several countries. The internal importance of oil reserves in the region arises in Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, where the oil is expected to free the countries from the claws of poverty, economic backwardness and Russian influence. The other country having substantial concerns for the region is Russia, which regards the exploration of oil in the region to be severely yoked with Russian 'internal security' matters. Finally the Caspian region is of international interest because of the region's potential to have ample reserves of unexplored oil, which can shape the fortune of several countries connected with it. As Frank Viviano (1998, pA1) propounds, "The oil boom in the Caspian basin promises to alter everything in its path- to erect a new El Dorado in desert wasted, fuel the economies of US and Europe, and re-order the global economy. It will also imperil thousands of years of tradition, setting its defenders against the tide of a glittering but deeply uncertain future." The foremost problem with the Caspian Sea's oil resources is that these reserves are not distributed equally across the sea, which has inseminated conflicts among the countries bordering it on the issue of maximum access to amplest oil. The major dispute held by the countries bordering the Caspian Sea i.e., Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Iran is the application of international law for the usage of Caspian resources, arguing on the treatment of Caspian as sea or lake. Brice Clagett (1998, p4) illustrate that if the Caspian is to be handled as sea, the eminent beneficiaries would be Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, as the resources of the sea would then be utilized by each country to the extent of a specified zone off the seashore under the international law. Both Russia and Iran, who had been historically sharing the Caspian Sea reserves, do not contain sufficient oil resources within their specified limits off the seashore. Therefore, they prefer the Caspian to be treat ed as a lake, enabling the countries to equally share the resources beneath the sea. Besides Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and other Caspian States, the most evident interest in Caspian Sea reserves is that of the Russian. Ozden Oktav (2005, p21) illuminates that "Russia has many economic and

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Ethnic and Religious Conflict in Nigeria Essay Example for Free

Ethnic and Religious Conflict in Nigeria Essay Basically, Nigeria is a plural society and heterogeneous in virtually all the facet of life. The custom and tradition of Nigerians is so diverse to the extent that Nigeria as a country is now confronted with the problem of religion and ethnicity towards their political stability. The origin and history of ethnic conflict (societal wars and violence) can be traced from eternal (internal) state rivalry to external (physical). And its root cause is not very far from power competition and decision making over economic resources and other important human factor, like position. The implementation process has always involved more than one or two persons. In general concept, the author of this work traces conflict back to the first and early Patriarchal of human history and ever since then, there has been an increase (in various dimensions) of Conflict in the face of human world. Some are personal (internal) conflict, family, community, and group, intellectual, state, national and international in nature, to mention but few. In conforming to this idea, Badawi (2006) in his statement titled â€Å"World Apart† stated thus, â€Å"indeed the greatest discord today is among the descendants of Abraham. These are the people of the book, the followers of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, who had in fact shared a common beginning in the religion of Abraham†. In shedding more light in the above statement, Badawi statement goes far beyond religion, rather, he was tracing one of the earliest source of conflict which Badawi mentioned the off-springs of the said Abraham. Even before Abraham, there had been conflict, so it is as old as human history down to the Abrahamic period, to ancient kingdoms, Dukes, and Kings. In about 88 B. C. , King Mithriadates VI of Pontus invaded Roman territory in Asian Minor. He advised Asian debtors to kill their Roman creditors. Happy to reduce their credit card bills, the Asians massacred 80,000 Romans. Ethno-political conflicts have greatly shaped our present world and of course have its structural phenomenon, (William Easterly, 2001). For instances, the conflict we now call Israeli and Palestinian war, has been an ever-lengthening sort. The Assyrian, Babylonian war, by King Nebuchadnezzar of the hanging Garden in history, the Persia war, Alexander the Great (the Macedonian mad man in history), the German war of Adolf’s. Hitler, the Roman wars, narrowing all these down, we came to the horn of African continent which seem to be an epidemic field of conflicts of diverse kinds till date. The giant-lion of African continent, just like the origin of conflict is said to have stated very old in human history, even so in the case of Nigeria, which can be traced to the colonial period of history. Conflict takes different sizes and shapes with diverse reasons and purposes. Majority of the conflicts takes time before their escalation and at such, could have been transformed right at their respective early stages. The history of ethnicity and ethnic conflicts in Nigeria is also traced back to the colonial transgressions that forced the ethnic groups of the northern and southern provinces to become an entity called Nigeria in 1914. In the case of Nigeria situation, disturbing history of colonialism, this generated hatred and conflict among different ethnic groups. The task of addressing this seed of conflict planted by the British has been a complex one. After weakening the former diverse kingdoms, Emperors, etc now called Nigeria and reordering the groups’ politics, the colonial powers failed in nation building and providing for the peoples basic needs. Hence, unemployment, poverty increase, and due to these, conflict over scarce resources ensue. The Southern and Northern protectorates were also being amalgamated into a nation. Thereafter, the merging of different colonies into one country called Nigeria was forcefully done without the peoples consent. This was a major seed of conflict that is still troubling Nigeria today. This article is focused on the historical incidents of ethnic conflicts in within Nigeria societies, the cause of the conflicts and perhaps, the government actions towards ethnic conflict in the country. In conclusion, this paper will explore into decision-making (by the elites and those in authority) process has contributed immensely in generating the syndromes of conflict in the said state. The Nigerian political situation has witnessed more breaking of heads, than counting them. In fact, even when it has been convenient for heads to be counted, the outcome has always been the breaking of heads instead. Conflict in Nigeria is so intense because of lack of democratic behaviour. The head of the individual in the democratic context signifies citizenship. So when heads are broken in the Nigerian political community, the issue in respect of broken heads is citizenship. If conflict in Nigeria means the absence of democratic behaviour, it follows, therefore, that conflict in Nigeria is interwoven with the absence of democratic governance. Gurr (2000): has also shown that the incidence of conflicts at the global level declined in recent years with the deepening of democratisation. Nation-states where conflicts persist are those where what obtains is the democratisation of disempowerment (Ake 1996). Beyond the veneer of elections, the state remains ambushed, privatised, repressive and unpopular. The people who were tantalised by the prospect of a democratic revolution that would terminate decades of alienation and pauperisation have been short changed and given a ‘choice less democracy’ (Mkandawire 1999). The ‘credibility gap’ which fostered the De-linkage of the people from the state, and ignited social forces to struggle for democracy, is not being bridged (Rothchild 1995: 58). African peoples out of clear rational calculations sans atavistic attachments have turned their backs on the state ‘and given their loyalty to sub-national social formations such as the community, the sub nationality or ethnic groups’ (Ake 2000: 114). It is against this backdrop that the proliferation and exacerbation of violent ethno-religious conflicts in Nigeria in the post-transition period can be appreciated. This article adopts an analytical framework that holds that The interface between ethnicity and democratisation is found in absence of effective citizenship and good governance in post-transition societies. In the circumstance that democracy does not go beyond the conduct of multiparty elections to include improvement in the quality of life of the people, there is frustration, and people who already feel alienated from the state are vulnerable and likely to be mobilised around counter-elites who exploit extant popular alienation from the state by whipping up sectarian sentiments. This has been the case in Nigeria and several multi-ethnic states of Africa (Osaghae 1994). Although the foregoing theoretical discussion has focused on ethnicity, the term ethno-religious is adopted because some of the recent violent conflicts to be examined were triggered by religious issues. The relevance of religion is also underlined by the fact that in Nigeria ethnic boundaries tend to coincide with religion, with the exception of the Yoruba ethnic group (Ibrahim 1999). The Nigeria state was amalgamated in the year 1914 by lord lugard. The various geographical areas or territory which was amalgamated to form Nigeria by the colonialist comprises of various cleavages, clans, towns even there were kingdoms and chiefdoms with diverse culture, language, religion, norms values, customs and political structures etc. The focus of the research monogram is to examine the role of religion and ethnicity in Nigeria nascent democracy. In Nigeria especially, religion plays a very vital and influential role in the society that has manifested itself as a potent force in the political development of the Nigerian state from pre-independence to post-independence. Hardly can the Nigerian state be talked about without reference to religion (Kukah, 1994; Falola, 1990; Kenny, 2006; International IDEA, 2000; Suberu, 2009). However, religion in Nigeria, at different levels, is mostly mentioned in negative terms. Or rather, historical events linked to religion tilts more towards its negative than its positive contribution to the Nigerian state. The Jihad, the civil war propaganda, the Sharia law controversy, the tensions provoked by the Nigerian accession to the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) and the incessant religious crises that have engulfed the Northern part mainly indicate that religion cannot be ignored or wished away in the Nigerian political development. Several religious crises have occurred in Nigeria. They have been documented as academic dissertations for some of them. This piece of work does not intend to start the discourse on religious violence anew but only recognizes the fact that as a recurrent phenomenon it is worth being explored further. Thus â€Å"Boko Haram† menace which gained global recognition and even press support ranging from July 2009 till date is a the central focus of this study together with other riots which has engulfed the Nigeria state from 1999 till date which most Nigeria educated elite believed that religion and ethnicity were the basic causes. The educated elite have conducted series of research on what the causes of this violent riots maybe. Most have concluded that it can be traced and linked to the failure of governance in Nigeria. 1. 2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEMS The mistake of 1914 has polarised the Nigeria society together with its citizens in which loyalty to the State is a mirage instead people pay loyalty to their various families and ethnic groups the effect of this can be traced to 1967 civil-war which disintegrate the country or in the political system which almost lead to secession of the country with the easterner believed to be the aggrieved ethnic in the war. Similarly Nigeria has a long history of religious crisis which has affected the political instability of Nigeria. The maintasine riot of 1980 can be said to be the first major religious riot in Nigerian history, claiming about 800 lives. The Boko Haram insurgence in the northern part of the country which has been directed mainly against the Christians, they have suffered a lot both physically, psychologically, economically, spiritually and even politically in the far North which has led political writers and pundits to affirm that Boko Haram conflict has its roots in Religion. The thrust of this work will be to examine the underlying reasons behind political instability in Nigeria using religion and ethnicity as a paradigm. 1. 3 SCOPE OF THE STUDY. The study will cover the impacts of religion and ethnicity towards the stabilization or in- stabilization of the Nigeria political system it will cover how religion and ethnicity have impacted on the political stability of Nigeria. Furthermore the study will emphasize more on the role the government is playing in stabilizing the un-stabilized country. 1. 4OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY The following can be regarded as the aims and objective of the study 1. To know the meaning of religion, ethnicity, political stability, and political instability 2. To know how religion and ethnicity have negatively impacted on Nigerian political development 3. To develop possible solutions and panaceas to the problems of religions and ethnicity to Nigerian political in-stability 1. 5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS 1 What meaning does religion, ethnicity and political instability carries 2 How has religion and ethnicity impacted on the political stability of Nigeria 3 what are the possible solutions to the problem of religion and ethnicity in Nigeria political system 1. 6 JUSTIFICATION OF STUDY Many a developing countries of the world are currently experiencing the problems which ethnicity and religion have caused. The ethnic problem which led to the apartheid era in South Africa is also the same ethnicity and religion problem which has almost disintegrated the Nigerian State. Recalling back to what happen during the civil war in the late sixties and early seventies which led to the introduction of the national youth service corp. by the then military president General Yakubu Gowon which aim at integrating back the almost disintegrated country. Books, Journals, Magazines, Pamphlets, and lot of researches have been written and carried out respectively on the issue of ethnicity and religion, and its impact on the Nigeria political stability. This research work will serve as an additional material to the issue on ethnicity and religion to political instability in Nigeria, this work will focus more on ethnicity and religion and its impact on Nigerian politics 1. 7RESEARCH METHODOLOGY The research methodology will be based on secondary data collections ranging from books, Journals Newspapers, News Magazines, Pamphlets and even the Internet. In conducting any research basically there are two methodologies employed by researchers which are the primary and the secondary methods. This research work will be basically conducted using the secondary methodology as earlier mentioned. 1. 8DEFINITION OF TERMS Ethnicity: According to the oxford advance learners dictionary ethnicity can simply mean â€Å"the fact of belonging to a particular race† from the dictionary meaning we can deduced the fact that Humans believed in race and they have passion for race which leads to humans ethnocentrism i. e. highly ethnocentric in nature. Ethnicity has a strategic interaction of persons and other actors, who have different beliefs, attitude’s, values and goals as they decide particular conflict the distribution of resource’s and general issues of political rules within a context of norms, expectations and institutions. Any of the rule, expectation and institutions may be reversed, maintained or inverted by the individual who win the right to control them, in the course of those political negotiations that are sometimes called cooperation, and sometimes called war, and are usually somewhere between the two. In another sense, ethnic identity are political resources just like money or vote. Instrumentalist like Micheal Banton and Micheal Hecthtar, argue that ethnic identity are not inherent in group or socio-formation of people. They see ethnic identity as socio-capital brought to bear on the political negotiation table by different groups and at different times. Hutchinson and Smith also argue that ethnic identity are an important resource that political Elite employ in securing the support of the masses as a strategy for gaining a desired good. These goods and or goals are â€Å"measured in terms of wealth, power, and status and†¦ joining or national communities helps to secure these ends either by influencing the state, or in certain situations, through secession. Religion: religion on its own part can be regarded as the belief in the existence of God or gods and the activity that are connected in the worship of them. Religion can also be stress further by meaning one of the system of faith that are based on the belief in the existence of a particular God or gods. For example the Jewish religion, Christianity Islam and other world religion. Furthermore in the classical and ancient ages religion has achieved a lot in their politics for example the doctrine of Islam was used in many Arab nations has their constitution even up till the present age. The Ancient Romans, also, during the time of Constantine accepted Christianity as a religion and a mode of life which also affected their political terrain. Religion in the 21 century is now used narrowly towards Christianity and Islam even though other religion still exist but the former two religion have elevated to prominence that other religion are now beneath them. For instance about Political stability: can depict the mean of a system of politics in which the government of that State is experiencing a stable government and peaceful existence in the State or in otherworld’s a legitimately accepted government by the people. Democratically governed States are believed to be stable. In the global sense every political entity must be ruled democratically without internal oppression or external aggression. Any country of the world that is free from the aforementioned point are regarded as stable political system in other words internal oppression has cause a lot of havoc to many democracies of the world which has infringed on their stability as noted by Ojo 2002. Descent Rule: These covers a larger set of cases that we commonly understand to be ethnic than the rules that ethnic groups must have a myth of common ancestry or common origin. But it excludes several cases in which individuals routinely consider themselves, and are considered as members, of a group that we classify as ethnic even when their parents were not coded as members of this group. Take for example the category â€Å"Yoruba† when it was invented in Nigeria in the nineteenth century. At this time period, the parents of those who were classified as Yoruba were not themselves classified as Yoruba for the reason that this category did not exist during their lifetimes. According to Descent Rule, then, the category Yoruba in the nineteenth century would not be coded as ethnic. But the category Yoruba is universally coded as an ethnic category by all comparative political scientists, without making a distinction between time periods. As another example, consider the category â€Å"Backward Caste† in India, which included as members individuals who possessed a given set of last names and/or ancestral occupations. The category was introduced by the Indian Central Government in 1990. Within a few years, 52% of the Indian population classified itself and was classified as backward. Yet the parents of those who termed themselves â€Å"Backward Caste† were not coded by themselves or by others as â€Å"Backward Caste† because, as in the case of the first generation of Yoruba’s, this category did not exist during their lifetimes Democracy: According to Abraham Lincoln he defines democracy as the government of the people by the people and for the people. In this wise democracy connotes a system of government in which all the people in a country will have the outright say on the government of their country although in a representative manner meaning that they will elect representatives that will represent their interest in the government. Advanced countries if the world where democracy is practiced completely they have national identity as opposed to the developing world where they have ethnic identity. Advanced democracies always believe in secularism in which every religion is accepted and embraced not a system in which part will have cognisance to a religion and the other will believe in other religion causing serious tension in such states like Nigeria. Federalism : Elasar (cited in Akande, 1996:1)† the formation of European union (EU) which simply begun as a trading partnership for coal and steel is now moving towards a more integrated political union founded upon federal principle of governance†. The African union (AU) which is the federation of African counties where a central government intended to be created with sharing or division of power among the federating unit, even the world highest organization body united Nation have in some little degree, evolved the principle of federalism. Federalism is a system of government which embraces unity in diversity. Federalism as a system of government is one in which there will be central and regional governments each one autonomous of each other.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Why the USA got out of Vietnam Essay Example for Free

Why the USA got out of Vietnam Essay Some describe the Vietnam conflict as a promise â€Å"to guarantee liberties in Southeast Asia† (Martin Luther King), but instead Martin Luther King’s other description of the war as a â€Å"†¦cruel irony of watching Negro and white boys on the TV screen as they kill and die together for a nation that cannot even seat them together in the same schools†¦Ã¢â‚¬  can be seen as more relevant. The US public carried a strong voice throughout this conflict and were able to change decisions and inevitably cause the withdrawal of US troops from Vietnam. The unpopularity of the war can be split into a number of sections. Unpopularity came about through the media coverage given to the actions of US troops and the barbaric acts that were being carried out in Vietnam. Examples of these were the development of napalm and Agent Orange. Napalm was jellied petroleum which was used to burn anything which came into contact with it; it had a devastating effect and often destroyed whole parts of the forest killing everything within it. Agent Orange was a chemical which was designed to kill plants, including tree’s and crops, and this didn’t have a positive effect on the hearts and minds of the South Vietnamese peasants, the people who were in the firing line for Communism. After these events the war became increasingly dirty and barbaric. Events such as such as the CIA’s Operation Phoenix in 1968, which consisted of VietCong suspects, often on bad evidence and the torture of them. Most famously, for the wrong reasons, the incident in My Lai in 1968 where US troops wiped out an entire village with extreme brutality. With households commonly having TV sets in their homes in America it was there to be seen by the US public, who no matter how anti-communist they were, were shocked and disgusted by the actions their troops had committed. This set the ball rolling for the tide of anti-war feeling within the USA. During this period half of the American public were against the war and wanted to pull out. It was all members of US society who wee beginning to feel the tide of anti-war feeling. 1968 signalled the start of when black people began to demonstrate against a blatantly unfair draft system. The draft system was meant to call up young Americans to fight in the war; however it always seemed to pick a disproportional amount of black Americans. With the civil rights movement at the time and the emergence of prominent black figures such as Martin Luther King it meant there were demonstrations against the government. This meant that the government had to deal with a group within their society, who had nothing to lose; therefore, they were able to wield great pressure on the government to withdraw. It was also military mistakes and failures which aided the call for a pullout by the USA. The key example of this is the Tet Offensive in 1968. This highlighted the policy failures of McNamara and his generals. The VietCong launched this against every city in South Vietnam taking large portions of each one. Even though they were retaken later on it still illustrated to the US public that even though US generals such as General Westmorland were pulling out statistics such as â€Å"10 VietCong killed for every US casualty† it showed them that the conflict was far from over. The US public again viewed these events on TV and this graphic detail meant that it only strengthened the anti-war feeling. The cost of this whole operation was beginning to show strains upon the US public. Due to the high costs money had to be detracted from programmes such as Johnson’s â€Å"Great Society Programme† which targeted poverty in America’s cities and the plight of Black Americans. It was planned to produce new homes, schools and roads. Therefore, due to the higher costs, money had to be retracted from the â€Å"Great Society Programme†. These cutbacks caused riots in the inner city areas with a dash of civil rights movement, due to the high number of black people living within those areas. This all posed the questions to the American whether all this was all worth it. The high number of coffins returning whilst living standards were in a downward spiral left Americans angry and change was wanted. However there were other factors which resulted in the call for a pullout from Vietnam. One of these was America’s actual economic situation. Even though the war was expensive, an economically strong USA would have been able to afford the operation. However, this wasn’t the case with America during this period. As taxes went up due to the â€Å"Great Society Programme† American workers began to demand higher wages causing general prices to increase. This caused high inflation meaning taxes weren’t what they were valued at before. In addition to that the fact that America had to cut expenditure in the arms sector meant that the military-industrial complex, the arms industry, suffers. This combined with inflation at the time meant that economy was in bad shape. This forced the US government to reconsider its position in Vietnam. This had political casualties too, due to the resignation of President Johnson. It wasn’t only because of economical reasons that there was a pullout from Vietnam. There were also political reasons too. After Johnson’s resignation, Nixon came into power. Nixon was a realist and knew victory was possible in Vietnam and he knew that doubled up with the political divisions and economical problems that it was best to pull out. He announced â€Å"peace with honour† which followed in with the withdrawal of US troops, who wee replaced with South Vietnamese forces (Vietnamisation), this then bought about the end of the war. This helped ease the political squabbles back home and it also proved to be a bit of a money saver as it cut back expenses. I have come to conclude that the most important reason for the pullout from Vietnam is due to the US public. With the satellite age in full flow at that time the TV proved to be a massive tool for the average American at the time as it allowed them to be able to fully see what their troops were really doing there. This proved to be a bad tool for the government as their mistakes came to light. Also the US government wasn’t helped by the civil rights movement at that time which created figures like Martin Luther King who spoke critically of the war and the discrimination of young black men. The economic problem and the breakdown of the â€Å"Great Society Programme† meant that the average Americans were beginning to feel the effects of the war at home even though the battles were being fought miles away. However there were some factors which weren’t down to the American public. The stagnant economy meant that the high costs of the war were more harshly felt by the American public. Also the pullout was achieved by Nixon due to him realising that Vietnam was a lost cause with more good coming if there was a pullout from there.

An analysis of sex tourism: Issues and critique

An analysis of sex tourism: Issues and critique Introduction Leisure and tourism is considered as one way of getting away daily routines. Numerous tourists feel bored and tired of their everyday life so they travel to escape those environments. Their jobs and duties have become a hindrance to joyful feelings in life. Tourism is not merely an economic activity, but it is not all of the host culture, elements of culture and cultural guest that comes and accepts that culture. ÃŽâ„¢n the Tourism Industry, a dark sector raises called Sex Tourism. Martin (1998) state that, look back to the history the first signs of sex tourism began to appear on first and second World Wars through of the soldiers who needs a place to relax and recreate after a long walk and trajectories in camps. When the military started developing into seas, such as trade trips, the cities changed into busy roads with places of entertainment for sailors and dealers. Sex tourism is a constantly developing phenomenon which defined as â€Å"trips organized from within the tourism sector, or from outside this sector but using its structures and networks, with the primary purpose of effecting a commercial sexual relationship by the tourist with residents at the destination (World Tourism Organization). Sex tourism also furthers gender inequalities and promotes violence towards women. There are two forms of sex tourism: 1) Sex tourism â€Å"promoted† by those countries in which prostitution is legally recognized and considered as a professional activity; 2) Sex tourism taking place in states that are often considered as developing countries, where prostitution is not regulated by a specific law, but by an illegal system. This particular type of tourism has both social and cultural effects on the countries of origin and destination, particularly in those situations in which differences related to sex, age, social and economic status of the populations living in such countries are exploited. The diversity of modern activities is causing impacts on the cultural environment: a common example is the use of cultural as a trade good for the tourism industry. The host community is generally the weak part of the relationship host-guest: taking any influence from the guest side in order to fulfill is requirements (unep 2015). The impacts arise when changes in the cultural v Globalization in the field of economic, cultural, social and political, have a positive relationship and in the field of the environment but a negative relationship with the development of tourism. Tourism can cause change or loss of local identity and values, as well as can convert local cultures into commodities. Tourism can cause change / loss of local identity and values by: COMMODIFICATION STANDARDISATION LOSS OF AUTHENTICITY / STAGED AUTHENTICITY Commodification Tourism can turn local cultures into commodities when religious rituals, traditional ethnic rites and festivals are reduced and sanitized to conform to tourist expectations, resulting in what has been called reconstructed ethnicity (unep 2015). Once a destination is sold as a tourism product, and the tourism demand for souvenirs, arts, entertainment and other commodities begins to exert influence, basic changes in human values may occur. Standardization Destinations risk standardization in the process of satisfying tourists desires for familiar facilities. While landscape, accommodation, food and drinks, etc., must meet the tourists desire for the new and unfamiliar, they must at the same time not be too new or strange because few tourists are actually looking for completely new things. Furthermore, tourists often look for recognizable facilities in an unfamiliar environment, like well-known fast-food restaurants and hotel chains. Loss of authenticity and staged authenticity Adapting cultural expressions to the tastes of tourists or even performing shows as if they were real life constitutes staged authenticity. As long as tourists just want a glimpse of the local atmosphere, a quick glance at local life, without any knowledge or even interest, staging will be inevitable. Cultural clashes: Cultural clashes, promoted through of convergence of cultural, and can arise from economic inequality which based on consumption patterns and local community. The result can be an overexploitation of the social carrying capacity (limits of acceptable change in the social system inside or around the destination) and cultural carrying capacity (limits of acceptable change in the culture of the host population) of the local community (unep 2015). Economic inequality Like all transactions, sex-tourism is both an economic and political phenomenon, this because it must have a market and the transactions must be considered indirectly or directly socially and politically legitimate (Outshoorn 2004 p 267). Many tourists come from societies with different consumption patterns and lifestyles than what is current at the destination, seeking pleasure, spending large amounts of money. Especially in less developed countries, there is likely to be a growing distinction between the haves and have-nots, which may increase social and sometimes ethnic, tensions (unep 2015). Ethical issues Finally, ethical issues are also the aspects as crime generation, the practice of child labour and prostitution. With the growth, urbanization of an area, and growth of mass tourism is often the main reason that crime rates typically increase. Furthermore The presence of a large number of tourists with a lot of money to spend, and often carrying valuables such as cameras and jewelry, increases the attraction for criminals and brings with it activities like robbery and drug dealing. Job level friction In developing countries especially, many jobs occupied by local people in the tourist industry are at a lower level, such as housemaids, waiters, gardeners and other practical work, while higher-paying and more prestigious managerial jobs go to foreigners or urbanized nationals. Due to a lack of professional training, as well as to the influence of hotel or restaurant chains at the destination, people with the know-how needed to perform higher level jobs are often attracted from other countries. This may cause friction and irritation and increases the gap between the cultures. Child labour The United Nations has defined child sex tourism as tourism organized with the primary purpose of facilitating the effecting of a commercial sexual relationship with a child. For children from families too poor to send them to school, tourism can present opportunities to earn an income. In many destinations, this is a stark example of how the supposed wealth generated by tourism is not being equally shared across society. It can also leave children open to one the most abhorrent forms of exploitation such as child sex tourism. Every year, countless numbers of children are sexually abused by tourists. Child sex tourism is the commercial sexual exploitation of children in tourism. Despite concerted international efforts to combat child sex tourism, it is an increasing phenomenon. Factors such as internet, low cost travel, border relaxations and visa free travel are making it more challenging to monitor and prevent. Prostitution and sex tourism Though tourism is not the cause of sexual exploitation, it provides easy access to it. The lure of this easy money has caused many young people, including children, to trade their bodies in exchange for some money and many times for some material goods such as clothes and food. In other situations children are trafficked into the brothels on the margins of the tourist areas and sold into sex slavery, very rarely earning enough money to escape. Certain tourism destinations have become centers for this illegal trade, frequented by pedophiles and supported by networks of pimps, taxi drivers, hotel staff, brothel owners, entertainment establishments, and tour operators who organize package sex tours. Philippines Philippines has become one of the most popular destination with 40 percent of the visitors are sex tourists. The last years while the Philippines economy has made a big progress, a quarter of the population still lives below the international poverty line of US$1.25 per day. Today Philippines has over 300 bars clubs that offer sexual liaisons. An alarmingly problem to the country is that the fathers often don’t take responsibility of the child with result the mothers to can’t take care of the child because of economic issues. This kind of social circumstance usual force the children too in prostitution, with many of them facing such ordeals at an incredibly young age with result to trap the young generation in the sex industry. Moreover, must to be note that $400m spent on prostitution each year in Philippines. There are 500k workers which almost a fifth of whom are minors. Owners of sex bars in the Philippines often use fake identification documents in order to employ minors. Some former child victims have reported being offered jobs as waitresses in â€Å"red light† districts and then being coerced into providing sexual services to customers. Prostitution of children in the Philippines is in some cases associated with domestic work. It has been estimated that in Manila alone there are 1.5 million street children with result to increase the vulnerability of children to all forms of commercial sexual exploitation of children, in particular, child prostitution, pornography and trafficking for sexual purposes. John Hopkins University state that the number of minors exploited in the commercial sex industry in the Philippines is between 60,000 and 75,000. Trafficking of children According to the US Department of State, the Philippines are mostly a source country, and to a lesser extent a transit and destination country for children subjected to sex trafficking. Domestic child trafficking in the Philippines presents more challenges than cross border trafficking. Internally, women and children are trafficked from poor farming communities and rural areas to urban areas such as Manila, Angeles City and Cebu City. Men are subjected to forced labor and debt bondage in agriculture, including on sugar cane plantations, and in the fishing industry. Women and children were trafficked within the country for forced labor as domestic workers and small-scale factory workers, for forced begging, and for exploitation in the commercial sex trade. Hundreds of victims are subjected to sex trafficking each day in well-known and highly visible business establishments that cater to Filipinos’ and foreign tourists’ demand for commercial sex acts. Filipino migrant workers, both domestically and abroad, who became trafficking victims are often subjected to violence, threats, inhumane living conditions, nonpayment of salaries, confinement, and withholding of travel and identity documents. Traffickers, at times in partnership with organized crime syndicates and corrupt government officials, recruit family and friends from villages and urban neighborhoods, sometimes masquerading as representatives of government-registered employment agencies. Apart from poverty, the main causes of child trafficking in the Philippines are low economic development in communities of origin, gender inequalities, limited employment opportunities, large family sizes, inadequate awareness among families, and sex tourism. Also persistent law enforcement officials’ complicity in human trafficking and corruption at all levels of government enables traffickers to prosper and exploit children in the sex industry Trends The last years in Philippines has emerged a new form of online child exploitation which seems to have devastating effects. The people who promote child sex tourism in Philippines usually offer money or other rewards to the victims in order to promote direct live streaming videos of children. Since there is no direct sexual contact, often parents see it not as a problem but the damage which webcam sex make to the children in fact is large. Legislation and mechanisms to protect children from sexual exploitation In 2004, the Interà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Agency Council Against Trafficking in Persons (ACT), in collaboration with other government agencies, NGOs and other stakeholders, created a six year (2004-2010) Strategic National Plan of Action against Trafficking. This specific plan is split into three components: Prevention protection, including law enforcement and prosecution repatriation, recovery and reintegration In relation to the prevention of trafficking, relevant objectives of the plan include: 1) Increasing public awareness of trafficking 2) Undertaking research on the root causes of trafficking in women and children 3) Instituting programs at the local level to prevent women and children from being procured by traffickers. Conclusion and recommendation Many question the Filipino Government’s lack of involvement in reducing the accessibility of the sex trafficking and sex tourism industry. Currently, the punishment stands at a  £12 fine for the bar or club where the girl is taken from to have sex. Furthermore, being a deeply religious country, access to contraception isn’t widely available and therefore increases the chances of pregnancy among the women. In conclusion, we have seen that the existence of child sex tourism in the Philippines is directly related to the inequalities in wealth that are present between the developing and developed world. Additional factors include the historical context of foreigners in the islands and the images and stereotypes of Orient sexuality. The way forward must include all actors shows as local people, governments and the tourism industry. However these do not necessarily have the opportunity or motivation to act. Therefore there is a crucial campaigning role to be played by civil society and, in particular, the media. Philippines must to realize that their image such as tourism destination has been damaged by the negative publicity for child sex tourism in order to take drastic measures. the UN refer that Decriminalization enables sex workers to organize within their communities and register their organizations, obtain identification documents so that they can fully access services and entitlements, engage in advocacy and respond to the health and safety needs of their peers. By legalizing prostitution, a government can help bring sex workers under labor protections offered to other workers. Some claim that prostitution in inherently unsafe and so should not be sanctioned by labor laws, but many other industries are unsafe such as the mining industry, and this was precisely the reason why government labor laws and unions were created to protect them. Moreover, a legalized form of prostitution will help lessen the incidence of human trafficking through of the rules which will be applied with result to reduce sex trafficking and take out prostitution of the black market. Legalization won’t cure all of the buses involved in the sex industry. But, if it will make the environment marginally safer, which is an appropriate step in the right direction. In other words, legitimizing prostitution in the Philippines will pave way to equal treatment to sex workers. Reference: Martin Oppermann (1998). Sex Tourism and Prostitution: Aspects of Leisure, Recreation, and Work (Tourism Dynamics). Edition. Cognizant Communication Corp Outshoorn, Joyce (e.d), 2004. Politics of Prostitution: Womens movment, Democratic states and the Globalisation of sex commerce, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. UNEP, (2015). United Nations Environment Programme: environment for development. [ONLINE] [Accessed 29 April 2015]. Available at: http://www.unep.org/resourceefficiency/Business/SectoralActivities/Tourism/FactsandFiguresaboutTourism/ImpactsofTourism/Socio-CulturalImpacts/NegativeSocio-CulturalImpactsFromTourism/tabid/78781/Default.aspx. The Lost Generation Sex Tourism in the Philippines. The Global Panorama. 2015. [ONLINE] [Accessed 29 April 2015]. Available at: http://theglobalpanorama.com/the-philippines-generation-of-sex-tourism-children/. ECPAT Website http://www.ecpat.net/ Trinidad, A.C., University of the Philippines, and UNICEF Manilla. (2005). Child pornography in the Philippines. Psychosocial Trauma and Human Rights Program, UP Center for Integrative and Development Studies and UNICEF Manila. USA department of state, DIPLOMACY IN ACTION case Philippines, (2015). [ONLINE] [Accessed 29 April 2015]. Available at: http://www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/countries/2013/215544.htm. TRAVEL Health Clinic: sex tourism. WLV Article Linker Results (2015). [ONLINE] [Accessed 29 April 2015]. Available at: http://wk6kg9sd8m.search.serialssolutions.com/?ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004ctx_enc=info%3Aofi%2Fenc%3AUTF-8rfr_id=info:sid/summon.serialssolutions.comrft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journalrft.genre=articlerft.atitle=Sex+tourismrft.jtitle=Practice+Nursingrft.au=Willcox%2C+Adriennerft.date=2009-05-01rft.issn=0964-9271rft.volume=20rft.issue=5rft.spage=251rft.epage=255rft.externalDBID=n%2Farft.externalDocID=10_12968_pnur_2009_20_5_41986paramdict=en-US Exploitation of children (2015). [ONLINE] [Accessed 29 April 2015]. Available at: http://tourismconcern.org.uk/exploitation-of-children/. SEX TOURISM AS ONE FACTOR OF TOURISM INDUSTRY (2015) [ONLINE], Available at: http://www.academia.edu/4067691/SEX_TOURISM_AS_ONE_FACTOR_OF_TOURISM_INDUSTRY Sex tourism, (2015). [ONLINE] [Accessed 29 April 2015]. Available at: http://www.osservatoriopedofilia.gov.it/dpo/en/turismo_sessuale.wp;jsessionid=1E5E9596040D117D8397640725FC2AEF.dpo1. Schuster Institute Investigative Journalism (2015). [ONLINE] [Accessed 29 April 2015]. Available at: http://www.schusterinstituteinvestigations.org/#!human-trafficking-boston-to-bangkok-3/c4jy. Who is to blame for sex tourism. Al Jazeera English, (2015). Who is to blame for sex tourism? Al Jazeera English. [ONLINE] [Accessed 29 April 2015]. Available at: http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/insidestory/2011/10/201110992858495767.html. Michael, S. Elsa, J. Eike, A. (2004). Implementing Strategic Environmental Assessment (Environmental Protection in the European Union). 2 end vol 2 . Springer.

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Bartleby the Scrivener A Strange Relationship :: essays papers

Bartleby the Scrivener A Strange Relationship The Webster's New World Dictionary defines "folie a deux" as "A condition in which symptoms of a mental disorder, such as delusive beliefs or ideas, occur simultaneously in two individuals who share a close relationship or association." (231) In Melville's "Bartleby, the Scrivener" this concept of coinciding peculiarity, or obsession is demonstrated quite vividly throughout three different stages. The first, Bartleby's unwavering preoccupation with his employment, followed by his decision to do no work whatsoever, and finally Bartleby's determination to accomplish nothing at all, not even partaking of the basic functions required to sustain life. During each of these phases, Bartleby's actions are met with limited efforts on the part of the narrating lawyer, who endeavors to 'help' his odd employee. It is this interaction which poses the question of how much responsibility a human should have for his or her fellow man. Bartleby's focus passes through three main stages before his death, the first of which is his obsession with performing a single action to the exclusion of everything else. Initially, Bartleby works day and night, "as if famished for something to copy." (Melville paragraph 18) His goal, it seems, is to single-mindedly to accomplish as much copying as is humanly possible. The first few attempts on the part of the narrator to tell Bartleby to do something else, no matter how moderate the task, are met with the simple refusal, "I'd prefer not to." (Melville paragraph 21) The narrator reasonably chooses not to punish this insubordination because of both the quality, and the quantity of Bartleby's regular work. After a series of requests from the narrator that all end in noncompliance, Bartleby shifts his focus from the intensive copying of documents to simply doing nothing at all. This, of course, is a kind of obsession that is not acceptable in the modern work force, and can not feasibly be tolerated by the narrator. As the agent of punishment, the narrator is at this point stuck with making the decision to either sympathize with Bartleby, or lose his professional reputation. In a final attempt to clear his conscience, the lawyer proffers both alternate employment options, and temporary housing arrangements. Once again, all efforts on the part of the narrator to offer genuine help are rebuffed, and the narrator at last "proposes to remove his offices next week. Bartleby the Scrivener A Strange Relationship :: essays papers Bartleby the Scrivener A Strange Relationship The Webster's New World Dictionary defines "folie a deux" as "A condition in which symptoms of a mental disorder, such as delusive beliefs or ideas, occur simultaneously in two individuals who share a close relationship or association." (231) In Melville's "Bartleby, the Scrivener" this concept of coinciding peculiarity, or obsession is demonstrated quite vividly throughout three different stages. The first, Bartleby's unwavering preoccupation with his employment, followed by his decision to do no work whatsoever, and finally Bartleby's determination to accomplish nothing at all, not even partaking of the basic functions required to sustain life. During each of these phases, Bartleby's actions are met with limited efforts on the part of the narrating lawyer, who endeavors to 'help' his odd employee. It is this interaction which poses the question of how much responsibility a human should have for his or her fellow man. Bartleby's focus passes through three main stages before his death, the first of which is his obsession with performing a single action to the exclusion of everything else. Initially, Bartleby works day and night, "as if famished for something to copy." (Melville paragraph 18) His goal, it seems, is to single-mindedly to accomplish as much copying as is humanly possible. The first few attempts on the part of the narrator to tell Bartleby to do something else, no matter how moderate the task, are met with the simple refusal, "I'd prefer not to." (Melville paragraph 21) The narrator reasonably chooses not to punish this insubordination because of both the quality, and the quantity of Bartleby's regular work. After a series of requests from the narrator that all end in noncompliance, Bartleby shifts his focus from the intensive copying of documents to simply doing nothing at all. This, of course, is a kind of obsession that is not acceptable in the modern work force, and can not feasibly be tolerated by the narrator. As the agent of punishment, the narrator is at this point stuck with making the decision to either sympathize with Bartleby, or lose his professional reputation. In a final attempt to clear his conscience, the lawyer proffers both alternate employment options, and temporary housing arrangements. Once again, all efforts on the part of the narrator to offer genuine help are rebuffed, and the narrator at last "proposes to remove his offices next week.

Monday, August 19, 2019

Faustian Deal in The Woman in White, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and D

The Faustian deal and subsequent fall is a common theme throughout literature, and with each new iteration sheds increased light on the character of the individual and of society. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson are all texts which exhibit the Faustian deal and descent, complete with Doctor Faustus and Mephistopheles counterparts. Sir Percival Glyde, Dorian Gray, and Dr. Edward Hyde are all characters who are ultimately lead to their moral downfalls by their respective Mephistopheles counterparts. Specifically, the characters of Sir Percival Glyde, Dorian Gray, and Dr. Henry Jekyll fulfill and contrast the Faustian archetype, who are aided in their moral descent by their Mephistopheles foils, Count Fosco, Lord Henry Wotton, and Mr. Edward Hyde respectively. The characters of the different novels will be compared against one another and a discourse about what their varying motivation s reveal about their respective moral compasses will be conducted. Among other vices the characters exhibit, vanity plays a prime part in their individual development. Vanity is a detriment on the individual, and serves as a driving force behind the three character’s motivations, ultimately leading to their respective downfalls. At its core, the Faustian deal is a contract between an individual who aspires to be or achieve a type of greatness and a devil who enables the individual to do so at a severe cost. There are different versions, including the original German legend, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Faust and Christopher Marlowe’s The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus. Most typically, as in the case of the titular Faust of leg... ...pr. 2014. Marlowe, Christopher. Doctor Faustus. Ed. Sylvan Barnet. 2nd ed. New York: Signet Classics, 2010. Print. Puhvel, Martin. "Mephostophilis's Manipulation of Faustus." English Studies 71.1 (1990): 1-5. Literary Reference Center. Web. 02 May 2014. Sanyal, Arundhati. "Taboo in The Picture of Dorian Gray." The Taboo. Ed. Harold Bloom and Blake Hobby. New York: Bloom's Literary Criticism, 2010. 147-56. Print. Stevenson, Robert Louis. Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. New Lanark: Waverley, 2008. Print. Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. Ed. Joseph Bristow. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2008. Print. Yirinec, Jennifer A. "Re-Envisioning the Faust Legend: Christopher Marlowe's The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus and Richard Burton and Nevill Coghill's Doctor Faustus" Literature Film Quarterly 41.1 (2013): 67-76. Literary Reference Center. Web. 03 May 2014.

Sunday, August 18, 2019

A Career as a Public Health Specialist Essay -- Occupational Issues

There is no doubt with the advances in technology that, as a population, we are continuing to live longer; yet with the cost of medical care constantly on the raise, is it any wonder an industry would develop out of the concept of â€Å"preventative† maintenance? We are after all, all too aware of this concept; from large corporations who strive to maintain their expensive equipment in an attempt to secure the bottom line, to the local neighbor who would rather afford the costs of preventative maintenance over the expense of replacing a broken down vehicle. To that effect, automobile manufacturers have even begun to include major necessary â€Å"preventative maintenance† items in their â€Å"owner’s manuals.† For instance, I have to replace my timing belt and water pump every 75k miles in my Nissan. Interestingly enough, while we were focused on maintaining everything else around us, somehow we forgot to consider our most valuable complex asset, our bo dies. How is it that the maintenance of a human health and its performance somehow got left over looked and left to fall through the cracks? The need for public health specialists†¦ Until till recent years the thought of humans not only living well in to their 80’s and 90’s, but living vibrant lives was concept that did not appear to go hand-n-hand. However, today the thought is not only real but, the concept and relevance of â€Å"quality of life,† both before and well into the twilight years, is more important than ever before thus making the demand for, and need, of educators and health advocacy even greater. So, what is public health†¦? The concept of public health is not a foreign one; it ultimately emerged from the practice of heroic medicine. Yet today it has evolved into something ... ... us, knowingly or unknowingly, at greater risk that can and possibly will lead us to a dark place. If this trend is allowed to continue or, perhaps revelation through education suffices and people start making their health a priority, one thing is for sure, either way, the future of the public health professional is not only bright but it will only continue to get brighter. Sources: 1. www.whatispublichealth.org/what/index.html; Title: What is Public Health 2. www.healthstate.mn.us/pathways/specialtyareas.html ; Title: Public Health Career Specialty Areas; Sub-Specialties of Public Health 3. www.whatispublichealth.org/faqs/index; Title: What is Public Health? – Frequently Asked Questions 4. www.pzfizerpublichealth.com/publichealthbooks.aspx 5. www.whatispublichealth.org/impact/achievement.html; Title: What is Public Health? – Impact of Public Health