India ‘s regional disparities Essay

India’s economy hit a major turning point in 1990 when the government started the Economy Liberalization. Its effect is the significantly high economic growth when the GDP greatly rose from $316.9 (1990) to $1001 (2010), but along with that, it also brought about the increasing poverty and the widening income gap. After 1990, poverty, religious conflict, corruption, income inequality and regional disparity are the main problems facing India’s economy while Bollywood and IT sector and software service became the highlight of India’s economy. Speaking of India, we can relate to one country, China because of their similarity in population, their growth in GDP and several historical links. Despite having many things in common, they focused on different development paths. While China’s main focus is manufacture and infrastructure, or in short : hardware, India excels in Service and technology : software. So, because of those features, a tight partnership with s trong potential is called Chindia. In this report, I will expand my thought on the regional disparity in terms of literacy, economic distribution and healthcare sector and regional income convergence of India. Up to 2011, India has seen an improvement in Literacy rate when it rose from 65.38% (2001) to 74.04% in 2011. The government has taken several measures to improve the literacy rate in rural areas, so by 2011, the gap between urban and rural areas has slightly declined, but the gap still remains relatively large with Kerala being the state with the highest literacy rate (94%), followed by Lakshadweep (92.3%) and Mizoram (91.06%) and lastly Bihar with the lowest literacy rate (64%). In spite of the government’s providing free education programs to poor people living in rural areas, the amount of  schools and education centers are still not very considerable compared to urban areas and the people in poor villages, town could not get access to free education because they are not aware of that (media isolation). Also, about 42% of the population of India live on less than $1.25 a day, especially in rural areas, there are a large amount of people below the poverty line. Thatâ€⠄¢s why education becomes unreachable for them. The considerably high economic growth of India seems like it only benefits the rich in the high-income states. While convergence between countries is a crucial issue in the analysis of a country’s economy, regional income convergence – convergence between regions of a given country is also very important. Regional convergence are defined by observing that whether initially poor regions have a tendency of developing faster than initially rich regions. In the case of India, Manipur which in 1961 had real per capita income of below-averaged level (1,438) and grew relatively fast (3,893) in 1991 was catching up to Delhi, the highest income state in 1961 (6,236) which had the close growth rate until 1991 (10,177). Therefore, there is regional convergence in India. According to an article by Paul Cashin, the regional convergence between initially poor states and initially rich states is the rate of 1.5 % per year. Nevertheless, this speed of regional convergence is slower when compared to Japan, USA †¦ – the industrial countries earlier. India is famous for its healthcare system which fulfills the needs of metropolitan cities only if they are able to afford it. Based on a report by the United Nations, 75% of the health infrastructure in India is used to serve in urban areas where account for only 27% of India’s population. Whereas, the rural areas which account for 72% of the population (around 716 million people) lack the basic medical treatment. Manpower including doctors and medical specialists is one of the fundamental components of the healthcare system and rural areas are now lacking an estimated number of 12300 doctors (64%), which is six times lower than in urban areas. Moreover, the number of beds in hospitals is 15 times lower than in urban areas. Also, urban areas (specifically high-income states) have access to more amount of  hospitals, dispensaries, expenditure on medical and public health as well as vaccines and instrumental medicine. In short, healthcare resources distributed by the government are available to more people in urban areas than those in rural areas. This disparity has led to a series of difficulties and problems for rural areas. Life expectancy of people in rural areas are much lower than in urban areas. Crude death rate (8% compared to 6%) and still birth rate (9% compared to 8%) are both higher in rural areas. Infant morality rate is the most notable because rural areas account for 61%, more than 24% when compared to urban areas. The number of malnourished and underweight children in rural areas is also higher than in urban areas. The healthcare disparities has created more and more clusters of regions with poor infrastructure and this made rural areas much more vulnerable to diseases and contagion, which then creates greater burdens in treatment cost for the government. The healthcare disparity has a strong relation to the literacy disparity and economic disparity stated above. Because health is a crucial factor in school attendance, the healthcare disparity has prevented people and children in rural areas from having a decent, healthy education’s time. Lacking health care means that not many people in rural areas can have the ability to learn efficiently and effectively. Also, because investments in health and education can lead to a higher future income, these disparities in literacy and healthcare sector can harm the rural areas’ economy further more. Therefore, without implementing a proper and immediate policy, the widening gap between rural and urban areas may get bigger in the future. REFERENCE http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/india/overview http://www.census2011.co.in/literacy.php https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/1996/03/pdf/cashin.pdf http://media.economist.com/sites/default/files/media/2011InfoG/Interactive/Ind ia_20110620/India_Equiv.swf http://databank.worldbank.org/data/download/GDP.pdf

Age of the Universe Essay

The age of the universe is said to be about 13.75 billion years old. The method used in determining this age would be attempting to find the age of chemical elements, oldest star clusters, as well as white dwarf stars. Scientists also try to find the universes rate of expansion, and behavior of globular clusters, which are spherical collection of stars. In order to find this, scientists can use radioactive decay to determine how old a given mixture of atoms is in rock samples. In order to find the rate of expansion of the universe, The Hubble constant was the basic cosmological model dependent on density and composition of the universe. Some formulas used by The Hubble Constant is that the earth is composed of primary matter and the age of the universe is 2/3(Ho) with Ho being The Hubble constant (1). Another formula is that the earth is said to have very little matter and the age of the universe is 1/ Ho, which is now considered to be more accurate (1). The age of the earth is approximately 4.54 billion years old, about 9.21 years after the universe was formed. The main theory of how the earth was formed is the Big Bang Theory, or a star explosion. Some also call is a supernova. This happens in the universe when the wreckage from an explosion crashed into a cloud of gas, bringing in the ingredients for our solar system. The formation of our sun came first from the collapse of a solar nebula. After about ten to twenty million years after this collapse, dust then clustered to grains, to lumps, to boulders, to planetesimas. Soon it became chunks of rock big enough to have their own gravitational field. So, some plantesimals became the embryonic form of planets in our solar system today. As more asteroids and other planets collided with planet earth, crust began to cool and water began to form and collect on the surface. References Age of the Earth . (2007, July 9). USGS. Retrieved January 16, 2013, from http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/geotime/age.html Age of the Universe . (2012, December 27). The Age of the Elements . Retrieved January 16, 2013, from http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~wright/age.html How did the Earth form? | The Planets and our solar System. (2013, January 1). UK2Planets | The Planets in our Solar System. Retrieved January 16, 2013, from http://www.uk2planets.org.uk/how-did-the-earth-form/ How old is the Universe?. (2012, December 21). Universe 101 . Retrieved January 16, 2013, from http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/uni_ag Life’s Origins Early earth was not a place for ideal living because it was a fire and hell-like environment. So much so, that scientists even called it Hadean eon, which is an ancient Greek word for down under. It was a place with many volcanoes and some scientists even say there were continental crusts and oceans. Even though it was extremely hot, scientists have found that some bacteria could survive these extreme conditions. According to Watson, by using zircon crystals, they could tell that early earth had a definite wet temperature. The atmosphere consisted of carbon dioxide, water, and volcanic gases. Today, not as many volcanoes exist. No one really knows when life was originated. Asteroids may have hit from time to time, having an effect on life’s atmosphere by causing organic molecules to synthesize. RNA and DNA are the genetic material for all life, and they are made up of long chains of nucleotides. Nucleotides are made up of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, and phosphorus atom s. An important step in the origin of life is the ability of all living things to reproduce. Starting with RNA being able to self-replicate itself, we then evolve into being able to pass genetic material onto offspring, and then natural selection. Miller and Urey built an apparatus filled with water, methane, ammonia, hydrogen, but no oxygen. They hypothesized that this was the mixture of the atmosphere of early earth and boiled and condensed the water to keep it circulating. Miller and Urey kept this going for a week and used paper chromatography to be able to show that many amino acids and some other organic molecules were now in the flask. Many other scientists have tested this experiment and found that amino acids, protein molecules, adenine, and other nucleic acid bases were present. Some theories suggest an electric spark could have helped generate these amino acids and sugars in the atmosphere, others suggest the first origins of life could have met on clay. Alexander Graham Cairns- Smith says clay could help the organic compounds become concentrated and organize into patterns similar to genes today. Some scientists theorized that life was brought from somewhere else in space rather than beginning on earth, which is also known as panspermia. In reality, no one is sure of how life began because no one was around to know, but these theories have helped us gain a sense of fascination and knowledge of how life was originated. References 7 Theories on the Origin of Life | LiveScience . (n.d.). Science News – Science Articles and Current Events | LiveScience . Retrieved January 14, 2013, from http://www.livescience.com/13363-7-theories-origin-life.html Early Earth Not So Hellish, New Study Suggests | LiveScience . (n.d.). Science News – Science Articles and Current Events | LiveScience . Retrieved January 14, 2013, from http://www.livescience.com/241-early-earth-hellish-study-suggests.html How did life originate?. (n.d.). Understanding Evolution. Retrieved January 14, 2013, from http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/origsoflife_04 Miller and Urey’s Experiment and Molecules of life. (n.d.). Anthropological Study of Workers, Occupational Health, Public Health, Textile Workers. Retrieved January 14, 2013, from http://anthropologicalstudy.blogspot.com/2011/03/miller-and-ureys-experiment-and.html The Origin of Life. (n.d.). RCN D.C. Metro | High-Speed Internet, Digital Cable TV & Phone Service Provider. Retrieved January 14, 2013, from http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/A/AbioticSynthesis.html Ancient Life Radiometric dating is used to date materials based on comparison between the observed abundance of a naturally occurring radioactive isotope and its decay rate (1). Some different types are radiocarbon dating, potassium-argon dating, and uranium-lead dating. They provide important information about fossil ages and the rate of evolutionary changes. Radiocarbon dating is used to estimate the remains of materials with carbon as of 58000 to 62000 years ago (2). Potassium-argon dating is used to measure the product of radioactive decay of an isotope of potassium into argon. This method works for calculating the age of samples a little over a few thousand years. Uranium-lead dating on the other hand, can estimate the age range of a sample from about 1 million to 4.5 billion years ago (3). This method has two separate decay chains, uranium series, and actinium series, occurring by a series of alpha decays. It is important to have different types of radiometric dating because the earth has b een around for quite some time and a lot of changes has happened in each era, epoch, and eons. There was not as much oxygen dependency in earth’s early atmosphere as there is today. The result of oxygen presence is mainly because of volcanic activity as well as oxygen producing organisms like cyanobacteria, in the oceans of early earth. Cyanobacteria as well as blue-green algae produced their energy anaerobically, releasing oxygen and taking in CO2, and releasing oxygen. Oxygen gained a permanent presence in earth’s atmosphere 2.45 billion years ago for the aerobic organisms that inhabited. When the plates of earth’s crust shift, along with their liquid layers below, this is called plate tectonics. This results in how our continent and land mass appears throughout time. Kenorland, one of the first supercontinents of early earth broke up about 2.6 billion years ago. Another supercontinent called Columbia then formed about 1.8 years ago, and after that Rodinia formed from Columbia’s remains, that broke 550 million years ago. The breaking of these supercontinents caused the earth to have freezing temperatures. Oceans broke out and then Pangea formed and split into two supercontinents called Laurasia and Gondwana. Laurasia consists of what is now North America, Asia, Europe, and Gondwana of South America, Africa, India, Antarctica, and Australia. These continents in time spread and broke to form what we have today. Mass extinctions are when a species has become wiped out. There have been about five mass extinctions that have occurred so far. The first that occurred was during the Paleozoic era which was the end of the Ordovician. Scientist found that 60% of terrestrial and marine lives had disappeared out of nowhere. The next mass extinction was the late Devonian. The environment no longer provided enough for the survival of these organisms. The third mass extinction was the end of the Permian during the Mesozoic era, where scientist found that 85.5% of all marine species became extinct. The Triassic extinction is the fourth one that happened in the Mesozoic era. Marine invertebrate’s population decreased by 50%. The last mass extinction caused the dinosaurs, as well as plants and other tropical marine life to die out during the Cenozoic era. Global temperature and oceans caused flooding for 40% of all continents. One theory is that because of the quick change of CO2 in the atmosphere, mass extinction occurred. While CO2 in the atmosphere changed, surface layers in the deep oceans began to sink. CO2 increased too rapidly for creatures to adapt in time. Some theories suggest an asteroid caused some mass extinction, hitting the earth. The asteroid might have blocked the sun’s rays or cause the earth’s temperature to rise too high. Periods of intense speciation happens because of mutations. Mutations come from ionizing radiation and other factors. Species that do survive, mutate and cause this speciation. Some researchers say that Earth is hitting the sixth mass extinction because many species are endangered and decreasing population. Researchers also found that major mammals have become more and more rare that they could be extinct in about 30 years. These endangered species, researchers found, may be the result of human activities like habitat destruction and hunting. So, we are b asically in a sixth mass extinction, because human play the main cause. References Biello, D. (2009, August). The Origin of Oxygen in Earth’s Atmosphere. Scientific American. Retrieved from: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=origin-of-oxygen-in-atmosphere Plastino, W.; Kaihola, L.; Bartolomei, P.; Bella, F. (2001). â€Å"Cosmic Background Reduction In The Radiocarbon Measurement By Scintillation Spectrometry At The Underground Laboratory Of Gran Sasso†. Radiocarbon 43 (2A): 157–161. Parrish, Randall R.; Noble, Stephen R., 2003. Zircon U-Th-Pb Geochronology by Isotope Dilution – Thermal Ionization Mass Spectrometry (ID-TIMS). In Zircon (eds. J. Hanchar and P. Hoskin). Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry, Mineralogical Society of America. 183-213. Wilkins, A. (2011, January). A History of Supercontinents on Planet Earth. io9. Retrieved from: http://io9.com/5744636/a-geological-history-of-supercontinents-on-planet-earth

Mass Media and Its Influence in Shaping Ideas Essay

Dramatic advances in mass communication and transportation during the past 50 years have truly created a global village; a mass society. Things occurring anywhere are now quickly known everywhere. Mass media both overwhelm us with information and help us to sort it out. The development of mass media has had a great influence on our lives. We have come to depend on it for information and so forth. In doing so, we allowed it to affect important aspects of our lives. Media, why is it has been a hot topic of discussion in our nowadays society? We find that in our country, Malaysia, the mass media plays a very crucial role in influencing and changing the thinking of our current society. Taking this one issue as an example; the issue that has been a viral recently, which is Public Resurrection Rally or also known as Himpunan Kebangkitan Rakyat. Apart of being famously spread through media in internet such as online news and videos, surely the main mass media including television, radio and newspaper also made a wide coverage on this issue no matter they are supporting it or not. However, for sure when they differ in their goals and interests, hence the way they report about the issues also differ. This different ways of reporting thus causes varying acceptance in society. Quoting one finding by Shanto Iyengar in his book entitle ‘Is Anyone Responsible? ’ while he was doing an evaluation on the effects brought by news on television concerning political issues, he found that the carriage of the issue through the news on the TV has developed an understanding of the general public towards the political problems occurred. Meaning to say here, it could be the media who the one creating the issue permitted, or it could be media too who provides the solution for it. We cannot deny the enormity of the power and influence of the media in shaping the flow of thinking of our society. When there is only one issue raised by the media, then the issue will also be followed by the society either through their leisure or through serious discussion, through their words, as well as through their status shared on Facebook or Twitter. And that’s why, Iyenger again mentioned together with his friend; Donald Kinder in ‘News That Matters’, â€Å"when television news focuses on a problem, the public’s priorities are altered, and altered again as television news moves on to something new. † Sometimes, the issue raised is only one. However, different ways of putting up the stories may cause different way of viewpoint. It may be that with dealing on an issue will make people have a good look toward one party or side. Meanwhile, it can also be that with another way of handling an issue may causes people to have bad sentiment at one side. Mass media, if they are honest, thus the true way of thinking can be mould among the society. Conversely, if they deviate and go off from the principle they should be, then so goes the pattern of thinking that will exist in the community. Thinking of how great is the influence of media in determining the current mindset of society; media thus should be honest and trustworthy in carrying any issue or theme into the community. Seeing the reality of nowadays media, it is not easy for them to stand as a natural institution or unequivocal to any party. When the media were in favour of any party, then the way they play with an issue or problem will always favour to the side they support. Sometimes, mistakes and glares made by the side supported no matter how big would it be are usually hidden or removed by creating offense related to the other side which have different ideology or schools of thought. Any media if it is used for the benefit of one party, surely it will be a mouthpiece of the party. Hence, all reports, news, issues taken will surely favour them. Media should act as a tool to educate the community. Media plays an important role in developing the mindset of society, whether to form a good and clean mindset or the other way around. Media should not be exploited to manipulate people to have the wrong way of thinking. The effect will lead to duping of the society itself.

SHORT STORY QUESTIONS Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

SHORT STORY QUESTIONS - Assignment Example In â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper,† there are lines that show how the narrator (Jane) inconsistently describes her perception of the wallpaper in the room. This makes obvious her slow and continuous descent into madness. Jane, through the wallpaper, realizes that it is impossible for her to accept living life locked up in some room. In â€Å"A Jury of Her Peers,† the men take in the detail of the messy housekeeping abilities of Mrs. Wright, seeing it as laziness, while the women see it as Mrs. Wright being unhappy in the marriage. There was also a parallelism between the murders of Mr. Wright to the murder of their pet bird, as both were strangled to death. This is somewhat a common concept in marriage during that era, as men usually view women as clueless creatures who are merely capable of doing housework. In all three stories, the endings were usually death or horrible separation from the spouse. This is symbolical of the way marriages were viewed during that era. It was like there is always one partner who is unhappy, while the other is

Research report-Tour Down Under Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Report-Tour Down Under - Research Paper Example Some of the notable events include AFL Grand Final, Clipsal and Tour Down Under. Based on its popularity among Australians and foreigners, Tour Down Under has been recognized as a major sport tourism event. Tour Down Under (TDU) is a cycling event held in South Australia. Based on its popularity in the country and across the globe, TDU attracts large numbers of tourists thus having a positive implication for the South Australia economy as well as social and cultural aspects of the region. Being held in January each year, the event has continued to attract a large number of participants thus making it act as a major source of tourism attraction. To the residents of Australia, TDU is not only seen as a sporting activity but also as a charity and international event that greatly benefit local people and the government (Hall, 1992). This paper seeks to evaluate the impact of the Tour Down Under on different stakeholders. In addition, the paper will discuss a strategy of using the event t o attract more tourists to South Australia. ... For instance in 2011 and 2013, 782,300 and 760,400 spectators respectively experienced the Tour Down Under. Due to the large number of spectators who come from various countries, the event was recognized by the Qantas Australia Tourism Awards in 2011 and 2012 as the best festival event. In order to attract more spectators, the Australia government in collaboration with Mike Turtur, the Tour Down Under directors, undertakes extensive promotion strategies. For example, in 2013 event the organizers held that when the Tour Down Under would hit the Adelaide Hills all the spectators would experience a European-style treat (John, 2013). In this way, the event has benefited from a strong loyalty from the spectators thus making it more popular. A notable aspect of the spectators is the creation of festival atmosphere by creating strong friendship with the visitors thus leading to visitor satisfaction. 3.0 Impacts on participants Tour Down Under participants include all 19 UCI WorldTour. Once the teams are ready, they join the Australian National UniSA team thus forming the Australian National UniSA team. Each team consists of seven riders (Gammon and Robinson, 2003). One of the major factors that enable the event to attract a large number of participants as well as spectators is the visual attributes of the landscape within which the event is held. The natural environment, the scenic vineyard and the sea, make the event provide a strong experience to the participants (Gibson and Heather, 1998). Some of the major regions that make up the tour include Barossa, Clare Valley, urban circuits, Saddleworth, Norwood and Hahndorf among other towns. Tour Down Under invites the winners of each year to join other

The development of Blues and Jazz Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The development of Blues and Jazz - Essay Example Like jazz, the blues originated in the Deep South and had its roots in folk and popular culture, namely African American spirituals, gospel music or folk ballads (Culture and Change: Black History in America). Ironically while the proverbial Jazz Age celebrated the material excess and splendor of the years of economic boom which preceded the Great Depression, jazz and the blues had their roots in the melancholy and suffering which typified the lives of African Americans in the plantation society of the Deep South. The sadness of these musical forms, though it speaks tacitly of the pain of separation and exploitation, does not diminish its aesthetic beauty. In fact, perhaps quite paradoxically, jazz speaks of sadness even as it embraces an extremely life-affirming spirit. Perhaps the most important characteristic of jazz is its emphasis on artistic freedom. Improvisation is the most central facet of this musical genre. Improvisation which is essentially the act of creating melodies an d lyrics in the flow of a performance debunks the very idea of the normative in creative expression. Improvisation is seen in the solo performances of the best known jazz artist, Louis Armstrong as well as in the â€Å"free jazz† styles of artists such as Albert Ayler, Ornette Coleman, and John Coltrane (ibid). The trajectory of jazz and the blues is many pronged. ... are many factors which imbue jazz with not merely artistic importance but also cultural and sociopolitical importance and an analysis of these is important to this discussion. Jazz was brought to the fore in the American society shortly after the end of World War I. It celebrated, thus, freedom, happiness and the hope for peace, all things that the annihilation of war destroys. Furthermore, the Jazz Age coincided with a crucially important literary and political movement in the U.S.A.-the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance, predominantly an African American movement emphasized the literary and intellectual achievements of blacks and called for social and political equality for the colored people of the country. Jazz and the blues and their multifarious manifestations, formed a major part of the movement. It was celebrated in its most immediate form, music, but its beats and themes were also incorporated in dancing and literature. Above all, by celebrating the folk roots of ja zz, the movement upheld black pride and the civic equality of all Americans. In terms of its beginnings, jazz is similar to the minstrels, ballads and spirituals which have existed in every society since time immemorial. These forms are what Mikhail Bakhtin characterizes as â€Å"low† or â€Å"carnival†; they do not adhere to normative strictures of the â€Å"high† arts and seek an audience that is usually not amongst the socially and economically privileged in society (Mikhail Bakhtin). Jazz is unique by the virtue of the fact that it transcends its folk roots to enter the popular imagination of not merely the U.S.A. but many European nations as well. In fact, in the 1940s when jazz had already enjoyed a decade of dizzy popularity, jazz musicians were willing to explore in other directions

Cadbury Schweppes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Cadbury Schweppes - Essay Example Aside from pivoting around these two elements, its responsible role is backed by CSR vision and strategy. Additionally, Cadbury Schweppes responsible role comes from the systems it has in place along with the company's pledge to live by its values. Through these steps the company strives to promote a brand that people love.1 The idea of promoting a brand that people love is fuelled by the idea that the more people love the brand, the more likely it is for Cadbury Schweppes to retain their position and do even better. In order to promote a brand that people love, the company listens to what people want. The company also learns from its past experiences with products that people easily take to. Through this simple process, Cadbury Schweppes has managed to successfully launch many products in the global market, as they know what people want.2 Acting responsibly is one aspect that Cadbury Schweppes continues to emphasize on. This aspect has permitted the company to place great value on its shareowners. This has allowed the company to put further thought into its CSR strategy that has Five Pillars. These include: Cadbury Schweppes continues to renew its commitments towards responsible growth of its business. Renewed commitments allows the company to be prepared for future CSR journey, which is termed as the company's 'Goals and Commitments on Sustainability.' Cadbury Schweppes has goals set for each of its Five Pillars for CSR strategy that is in sync with its approach to sustainability.3 The Problem Cadbury Faces Currently: Until recently, Cadbury Schweppes had little problem with its reputation. However, in June 2006, questions were raised regarding the ethical standards and social responsibility that the company preached for so long. According to the health department, Cadbury Schweppes has circulated stock that was contaminated4. This was discovered because of few cases of food poisoning that were traced back to Cadbury Schweppes. It was discovered that there was a leaking waste pipe that dripped some contaminants into Cadbury Schweppes' chocolate fudge. This is one of the ingredients used in many Cadbury products. After the investigation, it was determined that Cadbury Schweppes stood to lose 20 m because they had to recall the stock that was affected by the contamination5. Aside from the financial loss, there is also a risk of the company losing the trust of many customers. A Strategy to Counter Cadbury's Contamination Issue: Given that there are other top companies in the market today that have suffered breakdowns in ethical procedures, Cadbury Schweppes can recover from its position. It must be remembered that there are two things that Cadbury Schweppes stands to lose with its contamination issue; 20 m in circulated stock, and the trust of its customers. By already delaying recalling this circulated stock Cadbury has done itself damage. The strategy that Cadbury needs to adopt is: saving the company from long-term damage.6 Strategy Implementation: In order to save itself from long-term damage, Cadbury Schweppes

Critically discuss the view that capital markets created the Essay

Critically discuss the view that capital markets created the conditions that led to the new economy bubble and the banking crisis - Essay Example While the bailouts were seen to greatly help in preventing the financial depression from spiraling out of hand, the economic recovery is seen to be quite feeble as compared to the other previous post-war upturns. By using different concepts and theories, this paper will show how the capital markets were responsible for creating both the conditions that led to the â€Å"new economy† bubble and the banking crisis. A record is seen to have been set by the Dow Jones when it closed at 14,047 on October 9, 2007, however, just one year later, the Dow Jones was seen to be just above 8,000, after it happened to drop by a staggering 21% in the first nine day of October 2008. Across the world, most major stock companies had also experienced huge plunges alongside the Dow Jones. Numerous companies began to start laying off their workers in droves as they were force to put off any capital investments that they might have had. Credit markets became nearly paralyzed as individual consumers in the United States were systematically denied loans for college tuition and mortgages. The effects of this crisis are still being felt in most rich countries and especially so in those located in Europe, where the financial crisis eventually evolved into the euro crisis. The 2007-09 global financial crisis is viewed to have been a very powerful reminder of the fact that crises can often have a multifaceted nature. The recent global financial crisis is perceived to have been triggered as a result of a combination of various complex factors that included relatively easy credit conditions seen in the period ranging between 2002 through to 2008. These conditions are seen to have encouraged a large number of high risk borrowing and lending practices without the capital markets first assessing factors such as international trade imbalances, default risk, government revenues and expenses fiscal policies and real-estate bubbles among other factors. New

Luxury e-commerce advantages & disadvantages Essay

Luxury e-commerce advantages & disadvantages - Essay Example Though advancements like e-commerce or e-business has favored to an extent, but there are some drawbacks too, which often gets sidelined by the human setting of the present world. This study will give a critical view of how luxury e-commerce is important and what are the gaps that need to be covered in the modern business system (Okonkwo, 2007). Background As trends changed it brought changes in the human setting, like people got more to the use of e-commerce and e-business. On a similar node, luxury is part of the glimpse where e-commerce brought luxury brands on high human accessibility. There came up luxury e-portals like Net-a-Porter which facilitated buyers on luxury boutique and designer clothing. Net-a-Porter being UK’s top selling online forum stocked 3000 brands at one time of selling, which was all to favor the luxury patrons on the internet (Roberts, 2010). On the earliest luxury facilitated people where it became more than a necessity and something associated with the desires. Luxury was first sought as an idea of a peculiar, but later as fashion industry revolved and brands came up luxury became part of peoples’ lives (Danziger, 2005). The same perception revived on e-commerce where an estimated 95% buyers’ populace was only on the luxury. ... Today consumers not only trace luxury in goods or service, but they also expect luxury in the method of deliverance and service (electronic trade and provision). It was the year 1990 when Amazon gave origin to the concept electronic trade and distribution. Ebay was the second major contributor to e-commerce, a competitor of Amazon which evolved in the same year of e-business (Schneider, 2011). It was the start of electronic based distribution (1995) when AltaVista, Lycos and Yahoo! came more with the luxury brands on their distribution and selling (Schneider, 2011). Later on MSN and Hermes also promoted luxury on the online buying and selling, as they were on a great response from luxury excavators (Okonkwo, 2010). Apart from all the persistence of luxury on e-commerce and trade has also aware the modern business specialists (Schneider, 2011). They have understood that luxury is a core preference of the buyers, where e-commerce is the right forum to distribute it. This is how luxury is widespread to all parts of the business system, from buyers to sellers and from marketers to branders respectively (Danziger, 2005). Definition to E-Commerce and E-Business With the plethora of globalization and internationalization, small and large business firms have identified e-commerce as a forum to exchange (Saunter, 2012). The core activities of a business like supply, distribution, promotion and marketing of goods have become achievable on the e-commerce and e-business. E-commerce is a term that indicates electronic business commerce, where businesses are sold, expanded and developed on the basis of large consumer presence on the internet (Dave, 2008). E-commerce is a combination of two things,

Science and Technology Essay Example for Free

Science and Technology Essay Although Kerala had been existing from pre-historic times under various other names like Malabar, Malankara, Malayalam, Chera-nad, Cheralam, etc. it had not been a single political unit ever. The narrow strip of land, forming Kerala was divided into a number of small princely states till 1956, when various regions inhabited by Malayalam-speaking people, were unified. Even though, people in this territory dreamed of a single, united political unit for a long time, realization of that dream was impossible in earlier centuries, as different dynasties and local war-lords and European empire-builders, kept the land divided. Boundaries of the princely states changed, as wars between them were frequent. Thus, Kerala, throughout its history had been a divided land till half-a-century ago. Kerala being geographically isolated from the rest of India due to the long mountain range along its eastern border (The Western Ghats), had never become an integral part of any of the numerous empires and kingdoms which ruled the rest of India. Invaders like Hyder and Tipu Sulthan could not succeed in conquering the entire stretch of land and make it part of their empire. Cholas and Pandyas also could not keep Kerala under their power for long. Europeans also could possess only portions of Kerala, under them for limited periods. Thus, there never was a unified Kerala, as a political entity, in the long history of India, till unification in modern times. When finally it happened, unification of Kerala was enforced. Travancore wanted to become an independent nation with sovereignty – a sovereign state, fully self – governing and independent in foreign affairs. Advocating an American model government, Travancore had declared independence unilaterally just before the British granted freedom to India. But, that dream of a separate country in the Indian sub – continent, did not become a reality. Other princely states in India also had to abandon their dreams similarly. Under the new set-up that was emerging in India, all princely states had to give up their claims to sovereignty and merge with the Indian Union. So, under pressure, Travancore and Cochin princely states were unified in 1949. And it was made a state in the Republic of India on 26 January 1950. Still, only about half of Kerala was unified. The other half, called Malabar Revenue Division, continued to be part of Madras state, till re-organization of states on the basis of language, was carried out on 1 November 1956. Formation of modern Kerala, on the basis of the language (Malayalam) spoken in the territory,  was thus an enforced affair. Even though the privileged people in the old regimes tried to resist the unification and formation of Kerala, the majority of the people welcomed it.

Dichotic Listening Experiment

Dichotic Listening Experiment George Papamanolioudakis Dichotic listening Abstract: In this experiment we collected data from seventeen (17) first year psychology students in order to identify the differences in speech recognition between the left and the right ear. Based on previous findings we expect that there will be a significant difference between them, as the left hemisphere of the brain which controls the right side of humans bodies, contains major areas controlling speech producing and recognition (Gallese Stamenov, 2002). A dichotic test was produced, using headphones, presenting the participants nonsense syllables such as â€Å"ka† and â€Å"ta† at the same time to both left and right ear. Our goal was to analyse scores from both ears and confirm if there would be a difference between them. The data we collected was ratio, within participants, and they were analyzed using a non-parametric test (Man-Whitney) due to the small sample given. The results have shown that we can confirm the above hypothesis, although later research with higher sam ple, would help as finalize the findings, and provide evidence with different methods. Introduction: In this study, we are going to examine whether people’s ability to report words accurately, is affected by which ear they hear them in. In order to investigate this, we are going to perform a dichotic listening task. Previous research (Kimura, 1961) on this subject, showed that the left hemisphere recognizes speech sounds better than the right. As the brain is connected with the body almost contra-lateral we assume that the right ear will be more capable of receiving words than the left. We can question this experiment, as it was performed to patients with epileptogenic foci, in different parts on the brain. Later on, based on an annual meeting of the academy of Aphasia in Chicago 1966, Doreen Kimura (1967) reviewed all evidence relating the asymmetry in speech recognition between the two hemispheres of the brain, confirming that the right ear of all humans was more able to recognize verbal stimuli due to better connections with the left hemisphere of the brain. Another experi ment (Molfese, Freeman, Palermo, 1975), which recorded auditory evoked responses from both cerebral hemispheres of humans in all ages, agreed that the left hemisphere responded more dynamically in speech stimuli, than the right which responded better in non-speech stimulus. The reason that makes the left hemisphere more accurate in verbal – speech stimuli, is that many areas related to speech are located there. Variety of evidence can prove that, such as many case studies of damaged brain cells on the left hemisphere of individuals that caused speech dysfunctions. More specific Broca’s area among other areas of the left hemisphere, has been repeatedly reported to be very important in the verbal domain (Gallese Stamenov, 2002). All these studies would not be so accurate if scientists were not able to analyze brain activity through specialized technology such as Magnetic encephalography (MEG), FMRI and PET scans. Using FMRI scientists Embick, Marantz, Miyashita and Oâ⠂¬â„¢Neil (2000) concluded that Broca’s area is specialized in the syntactic process of our brain, therefore there is a certain correlation given. Another area of the brain seems to play a crucial role on language understanding. Scientists found that when they increased the mean arterial pressure (pharmacologically) of a patient with a left frontal-temporal stroke, they managed to improve his language deficits as the Wernicke’s area (located on the left hemisphere) had improved perfusion (Hillis, et al., 2001) Other interesting findings have been discovered by examining patients with â€Å"split brain†. These patients had their corpus callosum removed (the part that unites the left with the right hemisphere), for other medical reasons, and gave scientists the opportunity to explore the differences between the â€Å"connected† brain and the â€Å"split brain†. Those findings showed that in the split brain condition the individual could not identify verbally an object presented on his left eye only, (left eye – right hemisphere) because there was no connection between the two hemispheres (Gazzaniga, 1967). Many researchers have used the dichotic listening test in order to examine whether the left or the right ear (right or the left hemisphere of the brain) would analyze better speech stimulus or other sounds (birds, music etc.). In this experiment we will introduce the same method in order to come up with a conclusion, as we expect that there will be a significant difference between the left and the right ear. Method: Participants: Seventeen first year undergraduate psychology students participated in this experiment. Ten (10) males and seven (7) females. Mean age =22.3, and the range was eighteen (18) to twenty-nine (29). All participants were right – handed. Design: The independent variable of this experiment was the left and the right ear, and the dependent was the correct identifications of the syllables provided both from the left and right ear. The experiment was within participants, as we measured correct answers from each participant individually. Materials: Each participant used a pair of headphones which provided stimuli for each ear. The stimuli was 15 combination of nonsense syllables, consisted of one of a series of consonants (b, d, g, k. p, t) paired with the vowel â€Å"a†. These sounds were recorded in 16 bit mono-aural mode and edited to 500 millisecond duration. Each person listened 30 presentations of the stimuli, carefully balanced for both ears, each one providing a different consonant – vowel pairing. For example the sounds â€Å"ka† and â€Å"ta† were presented at the same time on a different ear. The presentation of the sounds was reversed for a total of 30 trials. For example the sounds â€Å"ka† and â€Å"ta† were presented in both ears equally. Here is the link to the test (Dichotic Listening) Procedure: All participants arrived on CityU on time. They were welcomed by the instructors and placed on their seats. They were asked to read the information sheet and after all questions were answered they signed the consent form. Each participant used his/her own computer with her/his own headphones. They were asked to visit the link to the test, and when everyone was ready they completed the dichotic listening test individually. The test that was used was from APA webpage: ( http://opl.apa.org/Experiments/AlphabetList.aspx) on the â€Å"experiments† section located under word â€Å"d† (for dichotic listening). After clicking in the test they were asked to put the class ID number in order to collect the data from each of them. After they finished, they were thanked for their participation in the study and left. Results: This experiment took place in order to confirm that the right ear would recognise better syllables due to the immediate connection to the left hemisphere, than the left ear. The data we collected was ratio, within participants, and a non-parametric test was carried out (Man-Whitney) because of the small number of participants. The data shows that there was a significant difference understanding syllables from left and right ear. More specifically the right ear scored much higher (m=11,76 sd= 3,63) than the left (m=6,71 sd=3,08). The hypothesis was two tailed, and based on Man –Whitney’s non parametric test z=3,64 p Discussion: Based on previous research, we were able to perform a dichotic listening test in order to confirm that there would be a difference understanding syllables from right to left ear. As Doreen Kimura suggested (1961) the right ear was more capable recognising verbal stimulus as it is connected directly to the left hemisphere of the brain. Assumption which was made after many dichotic listening tests (Kimura, 1961), brain dysfunctions especially in the Broca’s and the Wernicke’s area (Gallese Stamenov, 2002), and specialized brain scanning through MEG, FMRI and PET technology (Embick, Marantz, Miyashita O’Neil, 2000). The absence of corpus callosum in many case studies confirmed that after separating the two hemispheres of the brain (split brain), the patients were not able to recognize verbally an object presented on their left eye, as the connection to the left hemisphere was lost (Gazzaniga, 1967). Our hypothesis was that there would be a significant difference understanding speech stimulus from the left to the right ear, and our findings can confirm those differences showing a huge possibility to find the same results to the whole population p References: Embick, D., Marantz, A., Miyashita, Y., ONeil, W., Sakai, K. L. (2000). A syntactic specialization for Brocas area. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 97(11), 6150-6154. Etard, O., Mellet, E., Papathanassiou, D., Benali, K., Houdà ©, O., Mazoyer, B., Tzourio-Mazoyer, N. (2000). Picture naming without Brocas and Wernickes area. Neuroreport, 11(3), 617-622. Gallese, V., Stamenov, M. (2002, April 1). Mirror Neurons and the Evolution of Brain and Language. Retrieved from ebscohost: http://web.a.ebscohost.com Gazzaniga, M. S. (1967). The split brain in man. Scientific American, 217(2), 24-29. Hillis, A. E., Barker, P. B., Beauchamp, N. J., Winters, B. D., Mirski, M., Wityk, R. J. (2001). Restoring blood pressure reperfused Wernicke’s area and improved language. Neurology, 56(5), 670-672. Kimura, D. (1961). Cerebral dominance and the perception of verbal stimuli. Canadian Journal of Psychology/Revue canadienne de psychologie, 15(3), 166. Kimura, D. (1967). Functional asymmetry of the brain in dichotic listening. Cortex, 3(2), 163-178. Molfese, D. L., Freeman, R. B., Palermo, D. S. (1975). The ontogeny of brain lateralization for speech and nonspeech stimuli. Brain and language, 2, 356-368.

History Of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Psychology Essay

History Of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Psychology Essay Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a syndrome of emotional lability, Parkinsonism, ataxia, and cognitive impairment suffered by athletes who undergo repetitive concussive and subconcussive blows to the head (Cantu 2007). Owing to its initial discovery in boxers, CTE has been various known as punch drunk, dementia pugilistica, and psychopathic deterioration of pugilist. This paper will discuss the history of research into this fascinating topic, starting with the first descriptions in the medical literature and covering the progress made in understanding the clinical presentation, epidemiology, neuropathology, and genetics of the disease. CTE was first described by the American pathologist Martland in a 1928 article on the punch drunk syndrome in boxers. Martland noted that for years boxing fans and promoters had observed cuckoo or goofy behavior in fighters. The fighters most often affected were poor boxers who would take considerable head punishment, seeking only to land a knockout blow. Punch drunk was also common among second rate fighters used for training purposes, who may be knocked down several times a day. Martland described the symptoms of punch drunk based on his examination of five boxers. The early symptoms of punch drunk were unsteady gait and slight mental confusion. Some boxers did not progress beyond this stage, while others went on to develop slow movements, hesitancy in speech, and hand tremors. In severe cases, boxers would develop a propulsive gait, Parkinsonian facies, and marked mental deterioration. Martland speculated that the mechanism of brain injury was traumatic cerebral hemorrhages follow ed by gliosis. This conjecture was based on his observation of multiple cerebral hemorrhages in people who died from acute traumatic head injury (Martland 1927). Building on Martlands work, researchers investigated the clinical course and epidemiology of CTE. Critchley observed that CTE can progress in many boxers even after they had retired, a phenomenon that to this day eludes explanation (1957). Corsellis noted that emotional lability and violent behavior tended to precede the Parkinsonian symptoms, ataxia, and cognitive decline mentioned by Martland (1973). Roberts studied the prevalence of CTE in retired professional boxers and found that 17% of subjects exhibited brain damage as determined by neurological exam and EEG abnormalities. Just as Martland observed that boxers who took more hits to the head were more likely to be punch drunk, Roberts showed that career length and number of professional fights were risk factors for CTE. Indeed, 47% of boxers whose careers were longer than 10 years suffered brain damage, compared with 13% of boxers with careers shorter than five years. Likewise, about 50% of boxers who had fought over 150 bouts had brain damage, compared with 19% of those with 50 to 150 bouts and 7% of those with less than 50 bouts (Roberts 1969). This idea of a dose-response relationship between repeated trauma and CTE was supported by the observation that amateur boxers did not suffer neuropsychological deficits due to boxing (Butler 1993). CTE is not unique to boxing, but has occurred in other sports with high rates of head trauma such as wrestling, horseracing, and parachuting as well as a case of battered wife syndrome (Corsellis 1976). Research into the gross neuropathology of CTE was spearheaded by Corsellis, who studied the brains of 15 deceased boxers, eight of whom were world or national champions (1973). Corsellis identified four common areas of brain damage and their associated clinical symptoms and signs. First, cavum septum pellucidum with fenestrations in the leaflets was a common finding. In addition, the lateral and third ventricles were enlarged and the frontal and temporal lobes were atrophied. These changes were associated with emotional lability and memory impairment. Second, degeneration of the substantia nigra, as evidenced by the loss of pigmented neurons, was associated with Parkinsonian symptoms like tremor, rigidity, and bradykinesia. Third, gliosis and neuronal loss in the cerebellar tonsils was associated with loss of balance and coordination. Fourth, diffuse neuronal loss was associated with an Alzheimers-like dementia. Eight of the fifteen cases Corsellis studied exhibited all four types of brain damage. The link between CTE and Alzheimers was strengthened when in 1967, Constantinidis showed the presence of neurofibrillary tangles in brains affected by traumatic injury (1967). Subsequent research showed that the microscopic pathology of CTE differed from that of Alzheimers in two important ways. First, CTE exhibited a unique distribution of neurofibrillary tangles in the neocortex. Neurofibrillary tangles in CTE were preferentially distributed in superficial layers of the neocortex layer II and the upper two thirds of layer III. In contrast, in Alzheimers they were located primarily in deeper layers the lower third of layer III and layer V (Hof 1992). Second, whereas beta amyloid plaques are an important feature of Alzheimers disease, they are not an essential part of CTE. One study showed that fourteen out of the fifteen brains studied by Corsellis stained positive for beta amyloid deposits (Roberts 1991). However, in a series of 51 CTE cases, McKee found that beta amyloid plaques were present in only 47% of cases (2009). The pattern of neurofibrillary tangles observed in CTE overlaps with the areas of neuronal loss identified by Corsellis. McKee observed neurofibrillary tangles and tau-immunoreactive astrocytes in parts of the neocortex, basal ganglia, cerebellum, brainstem and spinal cord. The density of neurofibrillary tangles was particularly high in the hippocampus, entorhinal cortex, and amygdala. This suggests involvement of the papez circuit and may explain the emotional lability observed in CTE. In addition, neurofibrillary tangles have been found in the substantia nigra and cerebellum. (McKee 2009). Recent research has suggested several mechanisms for brain injury in the setting of repeated trauma. Neurofibrillary tangles in CTE have a characteristic perivascular distribution, grouped around small intracortical vessels (Geddes 1999). This finding suggests that trauma may damage the blood-brain barrier, releasing neurotoxins that promote the formation of neurofibrillary tangles around blood vessels. In a similar vein, another study found that in many areas of CTE-affected brains the microvasculature was less dense and tortuous than normal. In addition, the distribution of this pathological microvasculature was highly correlated with the distribution of neurofibrillary tangles. The proposed explanation was that trauma damaged the microvasculature and led to the growth of neurofibrillary tangles. (Buee 1994). On a related note, neurofibrillary tangles in CTE were found to contain higher levels of iron and aluminum than those in Alzheimers disease, possibly due to damage to the bloo d-brain barrier (Bouras 1997). Diffuse axonal injury is a second possible mechanism of injury. After a concussion, disruptions in axolemma permeability and in axonal transport can lead to axotomy within 24 hours (Maxwell 1995). Indeed, in one study eighty percent of patients who died from acute head trauma showed immunocytochemical evidence of axonal injury (McKenzie 1996). A third mechanism of brain injury is the deposition of beta amyloid. Although beta amyloid plaques are present in only half of CTE cases, studies have shown that beta amyloid deposition increases after head trauma (Gentleman 1993). In addition, beta amyloid concentration in the brain is correlated with neurological recovery following head trauma (Brody 2008). Genetic studies suggest that the apolipoproteinE e4 allele predisposes to worse outcomes after traumatic brain injury. One study finds that patients with the APOE e4 allele have a two-fold higher risk of death, vegetative state, or severe disability compared to those without the allele (Teasdale 1997). The mechanism by which APOE e4 influences recovery from traumatic brain injury is unclear, though a role in neuronal repair has been suggested (Chen 1997). There are many unanswered questions regarding CTE. First, recent case reports indicate that CTE can occur in professional football players and soccer players (Omalu 2005, Matser 1998). The prevalence and risk factors for developing CTE in populations other than boxers are unknown and require further investigation. On this front, public awareness is increasing and more than 250 current and former NFL players have pledged to donate their brains to the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy (CSTE) at Boston University School of Medicine (CSTE 2010). Second, the observation that CTE can present years after retirement from sports cannot be explained by current theories of CTE pathophysiology. Third, there has been no research into potential treatment options, though Parkinsons and Alzhemiers drugs have been used speculatively. Fourth, current preventative measures consist of return to play guidelines that sideline players who suffer concussions until their symptoms resolve. This is based on the finding that the risk of a second concussion is increased in the period following a concussion (Cantu 2003). However, no protocols for measuring degree of neurological impairment and reinjury risk in athletes have been developed. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy is a progressive neurodegenerative disease marked by emotional lability, Parkinsonism, ataxia, and cognitive decline. Since its first description by Martland, much has been learned about this disease. CTE occurs in professional athletes who suffer repeated head injury in a variety of sports, but has not been found in amateurs. Pathologically, CTE presents with neurofibrillary tangles in a distribution unique from Alzheimers and with beta amyloid deposits in about half of cases. Various mechanisms of injury have been proposed, though none have been proven. Genetic studies suggest that APOE e4 may promote CTE. Areas ripe for future research include the prevalence of CTE in sports other than boxing and the pathophysiology, treatment, and prevention of this disease.

Existing Global Institutions and their problems :: Essays Papers

Existing Global Institutions and their problems In an increasingly connected and interdependent world, global institutions play an important role in promoting stability and guiding developing countries towards becoming market economies. This process and the importance of this role was never more clear than during the 1990s. In Eastern Europe, a host of new countries appeared on the world map franticly began running towards capitalism and prosperity. The premier international institution, the International Monetary Fund, was given the difficult task of crediting emerging economies and providing the western know-how to build strong market economies. Alas, in many cases, it failed. Possibly, the most tragic example was that of Russia. Some argue that the fund had modest desings and was fundamentally uncapable of this great project. This essay will explore why the fund failed, how its decisions were made, and what must be done in an ideal institution that would be able to accomplish the task. Currently, or over the last decade, the fund was in a peculiar situation. It essentially gave loans to countries that were politically important to the west, such as Russia and Brazil, repeatedly bailing them out of crises which their poor policies led it to. The fund also prescribed certain reforms and policies that should improve the economy over the long tuerm. Unfortunately, these recommendations were all too often either incorrect, as in Asia, or were ignored altogether, as in Russia. The reason is the simple moral hazard. There was no real reason to comply and change inside, when a state knew that they will be given the loan anyway, for the west had political reasons such as the fear that the country will renounce democracy and the like. It is important to refute the illusion early on that the IMF was truly international or independent body. It was, and is massively underfunded ant the result is that its directors have to ask the US treasury department for funds, giving the bosses of the treasury such as Robert Rubin and Larry Summers immense influence over the fund's policies. Therefore, while the fund essentially promoted policies of the American government, or the "Washington concensus", it was often used as a scapegoat. Whenever something was wrong, such as a crisis precipitating due to poor and not peer-accepted recommendations, as was the case in Asia in 1998, few blamed the department of the Treasury of the Clinton administration. Problems were attributed to the fund, which is labeled as international, and to such mysterious and ill-understood phenomena such as globalization.

Juvenile Bootcamps Essay -- Teens History Boot Camp Essays

Boot camp is an alternative to incarceration. In this paper I will prove that Boot Camps for youthful offenders are effective. Boot camps started in the year 1888 by Warden Zebulon Brockway at the Elmira Reformatory located in Elmira, New York. The warden did this because he wanted to invoke a new way of disciplining and keeping the inmates active. The reasoning that this style of imprisonment worked was because there were virtually no prison guards which saved thousands of dollars. Another reason that it worked was because the men would work day and night producing quality goods that were much less then the competitors. Yates Law prohibited the inmates from competing in the open market which eventually lead to the end of the military like structure. Another reason for and end of this type of incarceration was due to World War I. Prior to the war local citizens were invited to the facility to witness the military like drills and ceremonies. As soon as the war ended the people didnâ €™t like the military which shut down the program.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The United States Army used basic training to rehabilitate soldiers who committed crimes. They used this system because prisons were overcrowded and very expensive. This way reduced the cost and allowed the return of 42,000 soldiers into active duty.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In 1965 shock incarceration was developed in Ohio. This was an attempt to â€Å"shock† inmates by making them think twice about what they were going to do. The length the incarceration was on for 90-180 days. An analysis of the program in Ohio proved to be successful. There was a 130 percent less recidivism then those with prior records.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In Kentucky they had the highest rates of rearrest, reconviction and the return to prison. There reincarceration rare was only 21.4 percent. This was consistent with the finking form other shock probation programs that were heralded as effective (Vito and Ellis).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The First Juvenile boot camp was established in 1985 in Orleans Parish, Louisiana. The kids who were accepted into boot camps were between the ages of 17-26 and the offence had to be one that was nonviolent or less then one first degree offense.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Boot camp incorporates military drill and ceremonies and physical training. After care is now one of the steps in a successful program. Most states now believe that group counseling are vital for the inmates succ... ... graduates of boot camps and the recidivism rate was at 21 percent but the prison rate is at 34 percent. This seems to be the key when wanting to help and lower the rate of recidivism. Proper aftercare and close monitoring will in fact help these troubled teens as you can tell by the number stated above.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The future of boot camps as well as shock incarceration will grow because of their success. My feeling is that if one troubled teen is helped then it is all worth while. Why stop trying to help if the majority is not willing to change but if that one will work hard and follow what they have learned in the boot camps then we should continue what were are doing. References   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Anderson, J. , Burns, J. , & Dyson, L. , (1999). Boot Camps: An Intermediate Sanction. New York: University Press of America. Hebert, E. , & MacKenzie, D. , (Eds.). (1996). Correctional Boot Cmaps: A Tough Intermediate   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sanction. New York: Russel.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Vito, G. F. And Ellis, J. (1985). An offender-based tacking system study of three districts in the commonwealth of Kentucky Research Report Series: No. 4). Louisville, KY: University of Louisville, College of Urban And Public Affairs.

The Golden Lily Chapter 24

BECAUSE THIS DAY couldn't get any weirder, I decided to stop by Adrian's. There was something I was dying to know but hadn't had a chance to ask. He opened the door when I knocked, a paintbrush in hand. â€Å"Oh,† he said. â€Å"Unexpected.† â€Å"Am I interrupting anything?† â€Å"Just homework.† He stepped aside to let me in. â€Å"Don't worry. It's not the crisis for me that it would be for you.† I entered the living room and was happy to see it filled with canvases and easels once again. â€Å"You've got your art studio back.† â€Å"Yup.† He set the brush down and wiped his hands on a rag. â€Å"Now that this place is no longer research central, I can return it to its normal artistic state.† He leaned against the back of the plaid sofa and watched me as I strolled from canvas to canvas. One of them gave me pause. â€Å"What's this? It looks like a lily.† â€Å"It is,† he said. â€Å"No offense, but this lily is kind of more badass than yours. If the Alchemists want to buy the rights to this and start using it, I'm willing to negotiate.† â€Å"Noted,† I said. I was still smiling from Brayden's breakup, and this only added to my good mood. Although, admittedly, the painting kind of lost me a little – as the abstract nature of his art often did. The lily, despite being more stylized and â€Å"badass† than the prim one on my cheek, was still clearly identifiable. It was even done in gold paint. Splashes of free-form scarlet paint surrounded it, and around the red was an almost crystalline pattern in ice blue. It was striking, but if there was some deeper meaning, it was beyond me. â€Å"You're in an awfully good mood,† he observed. â€Å"Was there a sale at Khakis-R-Us?† I gave up on my artistic interpretation and turned to him. â€Å"Nope. Brayden broke up with me.† Adrian's smirk faded. â€Å"Oh. Shit. I'm sorry. Are you†¦ I mean, do you need a drink? Do you need to, uh, cry or anything?† I laughed. â€Å"No. Weirdly, I'm fine. It really doesn't bother me at all. But it should, right? Maybe there's something wrong with me.† Adrian's green eyes weighed me. â€Å"I don't think so. Not every breakup is a tragedy. Still†¦ you might be due for some kind of comfort.† He straightened and walked over to the kitchen. Puzzled, I watched as he pulled something from the freezer and rifled through his silverware drawer. He returned to the living room and presented me with a pint of pomegranate gelato and a spoon. â€Å"What's this for?† I asked, accepting the offering out of shock alone. â€Å"For you, obviously. You wanted pomegranate, right?† I thought back to the night at the Italian restaurant. â€Å"Well, yeah†¦ but you didn't need to do this†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Well, you wanted it,† he said reasonably. â€Å"That, and a deal's a deal.† â€Å"What deal?† â€Å"Remember when you said you'd drink a regular can of pop if I didn't smoke for a day? Well, I calculated the calories, and that's the same as a serving of this. If you can believe there are four servings in that tiny thing.† I nearly dropped the gelato. â€Å"You†¦ you went a day without smoking?† â€Å"Almost a week, actually,† he said. â€Å"So you can eat the whole thing if you want.† â€Å"Why on earth would you do that?† I asked. He shrugged. â€Å"Hey, you laid out the challenge. Besides, smoking's an unhealthy habit, right?† â€Å"Right†¦Ã¢â‚¬  I was still stunned. â€Å"Eat up. It's going to melt.† I handed the gelato back. â€Å"I can't. Not with you watching. It's too weird. Can I eat it later?† â€Å"Sure,† he said, returning it to the freezer. â€Å"If you'll really eat it. I know how you are.† I crossed my arms as he stood opposite me. â€Å"Oh?† He fixed me with a disconcertingly hard look. â€Å"Maybe everyone else thinks your aversion to food is cute – but not me. I've watched you watch Jill. Here's some tough love: you will never, ever have her body. Ever. It's impossible. She's Moroi. You're human. That's biology. You have a great one, one that most humans would kill for – and you'd look even better if you put on a little weight. Five pounds would be a good start. Hide the ribs. Get a bigger bra size.† â€Å"Adrian!† I was aghast. â€Å"You†¦ are you out of your mind? You have no right to tell me that! None at all.† He scoffed. â€Å"I have every right, Sage. I'm your friend, and no one else is going to do it. Besides, I'm the king of unhealthy habits. Do you think I don't know one when I see it? I don't know where this came from – your family, too many Moroi, or just your own OCD nature – but I'm telling you, you don't have to do it.† â€Å"So this is some kind of intervention.† â€Å"This is the truth,† he said simply. â€Å"From someone who cares and wants your body to be as healthy and amazing as your mind.† â€Å"I'm not listening to this,† I said, turning away. A mix of emotions churned in me. Anger. Outrage. And weirdly, a little relief. â€Å"I'm going. I never should have come by.† His hand on my shoulder stopped me. â€Å"Wait†¦ listen to me.† Reluctantly, I turned. His expression was still stern, but his voice had softened. â€Å"I'm not trying to be mean. You're the last person I want to hurt†¦ but I don't want you hurting yourself either. You can ignore everything I just said, but I had to get it out, okay? I won't mention it again. You're the one in control of your life.† I looked away and blinked back tears. â€Å"Thanks,† I said. I should have been happy he was going to back off. Instead, there was an ache inside me, like he'd torn something open that I was trying to ignore and keep shut away. An ugly truth I didn't want to admit to myself, which I knew was hypocritical for someone who claimed to deal in facts and data. And whether I wanted to agree with him or not, I knew without a doubt he was right about one thing: no one else would've told me what he just had. â€Å"Why did you come by anyway?† he asked. â€Å"You sure you don't want to make my awesome painting the new Alchemist logo?† I couldn't help a small laugh. I looked back up at him, willing to help him with the abrupt change in subject. â€Å"No. Something much more serious.† He looked relieved at my smile and gave me one of his smirky ones in return. â€Å"Must be really serious.† â€Å"That night at the compound. How did you know how to drive the Mustang?† His smile vanished. â€Å"Because you did,† I said. â€Å"You drove it without any hesitation. As good as I could have. I started to wonder if maybe someone else had been showing you how to do it. But even if you'd had lessons every day since you got the car, you couldn't have driven like that. You shifted like you've been driving manual your whole life.† Adrian turned abruptly away and walked to the opposite side of the living room. â€Å"Maybe I'm a natural,† he said, not looking at me. It was funny how quickly the tables had turned. One minute he had me backed into a corner, forcing me to face issues I didn't want. Now it was my turn. I followed him over to the window and made him meet my gaze. â€Å"I'm right, aren't I?† I pushed. â€Å"You've been driving one your whole life!† â€Å"Not even Moroi give licenses to infants, Sage,† he said wryly. â€Å"Don't dodge this. You know what I mean. You've known how to drive stick for years.† His silence answered for him, telling me I was right, even if his face was hard to read. â€Å"Why?† I demanded. Now I was nearly pleading. Everyone said I was so exceptionally smart, I could string random things together and make remarkable conclusions. But this was beyond me, and I couldn't handle something that made so little sense. â€Å"Why would you do that? Why would you act like you didn't know how to drive?† A million thoughts seemed to cross his mind, none of which he wanted to share. At last, he shook his head in exasperation. â€Å"Isn't it obvious, Sage? No, of course it isn't. I did it so I'd have a reason to be around you – one I knew you couldn't refuse.† I was more confused than ever. â€Å"But†¦ why? Why would you want to do that?† â€Å"Why?† he asked. â€Å"Because it was the closest I could get to doing this.† He reached out and pulled me to him, one hand on my waist and the other behind my neck. He tipped my head up and lowered his lips to mine. I closed my eyes and melted as my whole body was consumed in that kiss. I was nothing. I was everything. Chills ran over my skin, and fire burned inside me. His body pressed closer to mine, and I wrapped my arms around his neck. His lips were warmer and softer than anything I could have ever imagined, yet fierce and powerful at the same time. Mine responded hungrily, and I tightened my hold on him. His fingers slid down the back of my neck, tracing its shape, and every place they touched was electric. But perhaps the best part of all was that I, Sydney Katherine Sage, guilty of constantly analyzing the world around me, well, I stopped thinking. And it was glorious. At least, it was until I started thinking again. My mind and all its worries and considerations suddenly took over. I pulled away from Adrian, despite my body's protests. I backed up from him, knowing my eyes were terrified and wide. â€Å"What†¦ what are you doing?† â€Å"I don't know,† he said with a grin. He took a step toward me. â€Å"But I'm pretty sure you were doing it too.† â€Å"No. No. Don't get any closer! You can't do that again. Do you understand? We can't ever†¦ we shouldn't have†¦ oh my God. No. Never again. That was wrong.† I put my fingers to my lips, as though I would wipe away what had just happened, but mostly I was reminded again of the sweetness and heat of his mouth against mine. I promptly dropped my hand. â€Å"Wrong? I don't know, Sage. Honestly, that was the most right thing that's happened to me in a while.† Nonetheless, he kept his distance. I shook my head frantically. â€Å"How can you say that? You know how it is! There's no†¦ well, you know. Humans and vampires can't†¦ no. There can't be anything between them. Between us.† â€Å"Well, there had to have been at one point,† he said, attempting a reasonable tone. â€Å"Or there wouldn't be dhampirs today. Besides, what about the Keepers?† â€Å"The Keepers?† I nearly laughed, but no part of this was funny. â€Å"The Keepers live in caves and wage campfire battles over possum stew. If you want to go live that life, you're more than welcome to. If you want to live in the civilized world with the rest of us, then do not touch me again. And what about Rose? Aren't you madly in love with her?† Adrian looked way too calm for this situation. â€Å"Maybe I was once. But it's been†¦ what, nearly three months? And honestly, I haven't thought much about her in a while. Yeah, I'm still hurt and feel kind of used, but†¦ really, she's not the one I'm always thinking about anymore. I don't see her face when I go to sleep. I don't wonder about – â€Å" â€Å"No!† I backed up even further. â€Å"I don't want to hear this. I'm not going to listen to any more.† With a few swift steps, Adrian stood in front of me again. The wall was only a couple inches behind me, and I had nowhere to go. He made no threatening moves, but he did clasp my hands and hold them to his chest while leaning down to me. â€Å"No, you will listen. For once, you're going to hear something that doesn't fit into your neat, compartmentalized world of order and logic and reason. Because this isn't reasonable. If you're terrified, believe me – this scares the hell out of me, too. You asked about Rose? I tried to be a better person for her – but it was to impress her, to get her to want me. But when I'm around you, I want to be better because†¦ well, because it feels right. Because I want to. You make me want to become something greater than myself. I want to excel. You inspire me in every act, every word, every glance. I look at you, and you're like†¦ like light made into flesh. I said it on Halloween and meant every word: you are the most beautiful creature I have ever seen walking this earth. And you don't even know it. You have no clue how beautiful you are or how brightly you shine.† I knew I needed to break away, to jerk my hands from his. But I couldn't. Not yet. â€Å"Adrian – â€Å" â€Å"And I know, Sage,† he continued, his eyes filled with fire. â€Å"I know how you guys feel about us. I'm not stupid, and believe me, I've tried to get you out of my head. But there isn't enough liquor or art or any other distraction in the world to do it. I had to stop going to Wolfe's because it was too hard being that close to you, even if it was all just pretend fighting. I couldn't stand the touching. It was agonizing because it meant something to me – and I knew it meant nothing to you. I kept telling myself to stay away altogether, and then I'd find excuses†¦ like the car†¦ anything to be around you again. Hayden was an asshole, but at least as long as you were involved with him, I had a reason to keep my distance.† Adrian was still holding my hands, his face eager and panicked and desperate as he spilled his heart before me. My own heart was beating uncontrollably, and any number of emotions could have been to blame. He had that distracted, enraptured look†¦ the one that he held when spirit seized him and made him ramble. I prayed that's what this was, some spirit-induced fit of insanity. It had to be. Right? â€Å"His name is Brayden,† I said at last. Slowly, I was able to quiet my anxiety and gain some control. â€Å"And even without him, you have a million reasons to keep your distance. You say you know how we feel. But do you? Do you really?† I pulled my hands from his and pointed at my cheek. â€Å"Do you know what the golden lily truly means? It's a promise, a vow to a lifestyle and a belief system. You can't throw something like that away. This won't let me, even if I wanted to. And truthfully, I don't want to! I believe in what we do.† Adrian regarded me levelly. He didn't try to take my hands again, but he didn't back away either. My hands felt painfully empty without his. â€Å"This ‘lifestyle' and ‘belief system' you're defending have used you and keep using you. They treat you like a piece in a machine, one that's not allowed to think – and you're better than that.† â€Å"Some parts of the system are flawed,† I admitted. â€Å"But the principles are sound, and I believe in them. There's a divide between humans and vampires – between you and me – that can never be breached. We're too different. We're not meant to be†¦ like this. Like anything.† â€Å"None of us are meant to be or do anything,† he said. â€Å"We decide what we're going to be. You told me once that there are no victims here, that we all have the power to choose what we want.† â€Å"Don't try to use my own words against me,† I warned. â€Å"Why?† he asked, a slight smile on his lips. â€Å"They were damned good ones. You're not a victim. You're not a captive to that lily. You can be what you want. You can choose what you want.† â€Å"You're right.† I slipped away, finding no resistance from him at all. â€Å"And I don't choose you. That's what you're missing in all of this.† Adrian stilled. His smile dropped. â€Å"I don't believe you.† I scoffed. â€Å"Let me guess. Because I kissed you back?† That kiss had made me feel more alive than I had in weeks, and I had a feeling he knew that. He shook his head. â€Å"No. Because there's no one else out there who understands you like I do.† I waited for more. â€Å"That's it? You're not going to elaborate on what that means?† Those green eyes held me. â€Å"I don't think I need to.† I had to look away, though I was unsure why. â€Å"If you know me so well, then you'll understand why I'm leaving.† â€Å"Sydney – â€Å" I moved quickly toward the door. â€Å"Goodbye, Adrian.† I hurried toward the door, half-afraid he'd try to hold me again. If he did, I wasn't sure I could leave. But no touch came. No effort at all was made to stop me. It wasn't until I was halfway out on the lawn in front of his building that I dared a peek back. Adrian stood there leaning against the doorframe, watching me with his heart in his eyes. In my chest, my own heart was breaking. On my cheek, the lily reminded me who I was. I turned from him and walked away, refusing to look back.

Essay on Family Supper

A Family Supper The Japanese fighter pilots in WWII committed suicide attacks on allied forces aka kamikaze; it was considered an honorable service to the Empire of Japan. Death instead of defeat and shame is the primary tradition in the Japanese samurai culture. They lived with the bushido code: â€Å"Loyalty and Honor before death†. The short story in discussion is â€Å"A Family Supper† written by Kazuo Ishigoru.This story tells us about an evening when the son-the protagonist and the narrator of this story, returns to Japan to meet his family after spending two years in United States, and the unsaid tension between him and his father. This story is about loss; Loss of family, friends, love and hope. The author shows the father as lost, hopeless and desperate. The loss of his wife, firm and children and the hopelessness leads him to consider suicide. The setting of the story symbolises the father’s worries and disappointments.The dusk, dimly lit rooms, the gar den and the ghost story is a major part of the setting that the author wants the reader to imagine in order to predict how the story will unfold. The narrator’s state of mind is never really told directly, but the readers can judge it by the way he behaves with his family. The repetition of death and loss; the mother’s death, the fathers loss of firm, his friend’s mass family suicide, the loss of his son and his daughter which he probably foresees, results in father’s depressed and disappointed state of mind.The author starts the story with death of the mother by fish poisoning, usually if death is mentioned in the beginning, the reader braces himself for a story involving death, and the way the story unfolds there had to be at least a death if not a mass suicide. The setting of the story symbolises the father’s worries and disappointments. The narrator describes his father as a â€Å"formidable-looking man with a large stony jaw and furious black eyebrows† (338) tells the reader about the generation gap between the father and son.The story is set in dark and dimly lit backgrounds; the sun was setting by the time they reach home. The Garden in which Kikuko, the sister and the narrator take a stroll is probably the darkest part of the setting, they discuss their childhood memories of the ghost in the garden; at that time he casually finds out about his sister’s plans to leave Japan to be with her boyfriend, perhaps the father foresees her intensions, it is not conclusive. The dark garden symbolises the anxiety of the sister, the mother’s beliefs in ghosts and her disappointment to the narrator’s actions.She blamed herself as she thought she was not a good parent, though this matter was not elaborated by the siblings as they thought it was useless to bring it up and won’t change anything. The narrator says â€Å"My relationship with my parents had become somewhat strained around the period of time. †(338). Later, when the narrator looks around the house, the large dark empty rooms, or overly cramped room shows how the father has acted all these years by keeping off his emotions and secluding himself from the rest of the family.The awkward long pauses between him and the father, the father’s inquisitiveness about his (sons) future plans, demonstrates the unsaid tension between the father and son. By this setting, the author wants the reader to feel the menacing effect of the story. The narrator’s character can be judged by his thoughts. By his conversations it can be said that he does not feel the love and emotions that one should feel for family.The battleship shows that the father had a lot of time in his hands, but when he says: â€Å"these little gunboats here could have been better glued, don’t you think†(342), he is perhaps comparing the battleship to his broken family , and asking if it could have been better, but the son did not realize this or perhaps he may have understood what his father was asking and answered â€Å"it looks fine†(342), Later in the story he looks at his mother’s photograph but he cannot recognize his mother and asks, â€Å"who is the old women in the white kimono? (343), first he mentions that his mother looks a lot older, later he says, â€Å"it’s dark. I can’t see well† (343). These incidents show that he has truly been an irresponsible son, nobody talks about their dead mother like he just did; he does not care about his family, their love that his parents expect from him and he fails to see the misery of the father.Moreover, the father looks like he is willing to forgive his son, though the story does not give any hint of his compromise on the Japanese values and traditions, it does show that he wants his children to be a part of his life. Death was mentioned repeatedly in the story. Starting with the mother’s death by fugu, the partner Wa tanabe’s suicide was mentioned three times at different scenes in the story. The father acknowledges that he likes Watanabe’s ethics in general; he calls him â€Å"a man of principle and honor† (339).The father says he wishes to be a pilot because â€Å"in an airplane there is always the final weapon†, this shows that the father’s state of mind was no different from that of his partners, the father thought dying in an airplane by kamikaze was a better way to go, this shows that his father is considers death as a means to unite the family. The Japanese traditions do not look down upon suicide. In the Japanese culture people don’t live in shame and dishonor. It’s far honorable die then to live in shame. The dead business partner has been glorified by the father in more than one occasion. A family supper† is not a story of just one family, it is a story that separates two generations, and it is a story of the father who was once a hero to his children. This story tells us about the older generation’s honor and sacrifice to their values, culture and traditions on the other hand it demonstrates how the world today has changed to be practical and not tied up with relations; how the younger generation sees today’s seniors as empty and dimly lit rooms. In this story the father was lonely, he lost his wife, his firm, his son and very soon he will be losing his daughter.The father always wanted his children to be with him, he offers the narrator to stay with him, he is desperate to see his family united, and is afraid that his family can never be happy as he wanted. This desperation mixed with the Japanese philosophy of pure blood samurai; leave the father an option of suicide. This way he can be with his family and leave this disgraceful life. The need for love and bonding is demonstrated in this story. Japanese traditions like many Asian traditions dictate that you satisfy the elders with respect and happiness and never leave them to be alone.

Coach Handbag analysis Essay

Company overview Designing and marketing of accessories and gift products for women and men. The company primarily operates in the US and Japan. It is headquartered in New York City, New York and employed 18,000 people as of June 30, 2012. 36% market share as accordance of Marketline In just two years (2003–2005), Coach’s market share has increased from 18 percent to 23 percent. TARGET MARKET DISCRIPTION men and women aged between 20s- 40s who possess mid to high levels of disposable income, seeking distinctive, easily recognizable, accessible luxury products that are relevant, well made, and provide excellent value (2012, 03). Mkt 501 Case Study Module 1 Target Market Coach Handbags. Retrieved 03, 2012, http://coachinc.wordpress.com/assignment-1/brand-positioning/competitor-analysis/ Product Life Cycle Shorten new-product cycle time (releases every four to five weeks, up from twice a year). Learn through multiple new-product variations (12 to 28 per release, up from two to three). http://mmoore.ba.ttu.edu/ValuationReports/Coach.pdf SWOT ANALYSIS – MARKETLINE UNDER COACH 2 STRENGTHS Strong focus on the handbags category Consistent revenue and profit growth Multi-channel distribution strategy WEAKNESSES Dependence on independent manufacturer for procuring merchandise OPPORTUNITIES Expanding presence in China Joint ventures with international partners in Europe Increasing online sales THREATS Counterfeit goods Ban on advertising of luxury products in China Intense competition started MISC INFO: Coach was launched in 1941 in a loft in New York’s Soho district by a leather craftsman named Miles Cahn, who created ladies’ purses designed in elegantly understated black or brown and featuring simple brass turnlocks and little other decoration. The bags were expensive but so well made that they were considered an excellent value. Coach was able to present the brand from head to toe, including products from hats and outerwear to handbags and accessories. One major breakthrough was the â€Å"wristlet,† a zippered rectangular bag just 4 by 6 inches. This new product grew out of Coach’s research into how women were using their purses. Coach spends over $5 million per year on marketplace testing of new products research shows that the best Coach customers visit the store every four to five weeks. This dictates the rhythm at which Coach rolls out its own products and floor-set changes.

Who doesn’t love Disneyland?

Who doesn't love Disneyland? Some of the best memories in my life were taking my kids there. The excitement and anticipation of meeting the characters, going on the rides, the shows, the parade, and fireworks, Disneyland truly is the happiest place on earth. I remember my first trip to Disneyland, I was 10 and my best friend Nikki invited me to go with her family. I can remember not being able to sleep the night before we were to leave, the butterflies in my stomach were relentless and would not allow me to sleep.As an adult, I know that is how my children felt the night before we left for Disneyland. The hardest part was waiting until the next day to head to the park; we didn't want to waste a ticket on a partial day. So we fell asleep to the booms and crackles from the fireworks, but I am not sure any of us truly slept. We woke up early the next morning and headed out, but of course we were too early to get in and had to stand in line forever, or so it seemed, time does tend to mov e slowly when you are as excited as we all were.It is all part of the experience though, standing in line, being able to see the beautiful flowers just inside, arranged to spell out Disneyland in various colors. Standing in the warm California sun, the smell of sunscreen being generously applied by parents, hearing the giggles and seeing the excitement on the faces of everyone else in line with us, there is nothing better. When the gates finally open and the line begins to move, the anticipation builds; where will we go first? What characters will we run into?I recommend â€Å"It's a Small World†, as you slowly cruise in a boat, you see all the lovely dancing animatronic dolls, dressed in bright colorful costumes, representing the various countries around the world. You also hear singing and music in coordination with each individual country. Seeing the glimmer in the eyes of my kids and the other children is priceless. The line for Splash Mountain is usually long, but worth the wait, and it allows the anticipation to build. When you finally reach the front of the line, you climb into a log flume, and so begins an exhilarating ride.There are twists and turns and characters from Disney's 1946 film â€Å"Song of the South† around every corner. You get splashed from time to time, and then you begin to climb, slowly, almost straight up, when you reach the peak and crest the top, you plummet 53 feet, where, guaranteed, you will get wet. One of the best parts of Disneyland is meeting the characters; Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, and Pluto are the main characters everyone must meet. The Disney Princesses, dressed beautifully, gowns shimmering in the sunlight, smiling at the little girls who truly believe they are the â€Å"real† princesses, are well worth the wait.To see the wonder on your little girls face when she finally sees her favorite princess, or when your son first meets his hero, Buzz Lightyear, larger than life, wearing his space suit , and Sheriff Woody, in his cowboy hat and boots, all ready to sign autograph books, is priceless. By the end of the day, you feel exhausted, but still excited; it is time to watch the parade. Different every few years and always filled with bright and colorful floats carrying guests of the park and Disney characters.You will also see characters dancing and singing and interacting with the hundreds of people lining Main Street. There is a buzz in the air, it is almost electric, and you can feel the excitement, especially from the kids. As the parade draws to an end, and the sun begins to sink in the western sky, a new energy begins to build; the fireworks show will start soon. It is difficult to describe the fireworks, they are amazing; brilliant explosions of color, set in time with music, ending with Tinkerbells flight.When the show is over, you see parents scooping up their kids, some already asleep, and carry them to the gates to head home or back to the hotel. For many, the adv enture is over, for others, it will repeat for a few days, but it is bittersweet when the trip is over and you know you won't be returning for a while, if ever again. The characters, the rides, the shows, the parade, and fireworks, feeling the excitement and creating memories to last a lifetime, no matter how you look at it Disneyland is by far the happiest place on earth.

U.S. Border Security Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

U.S. Border Security - Essay Example We pride ourselves on our profound and almost unique commitment to liberty, and the legal institutions and civic culture that have made America probably the freest society in history" (Herman Schwartz, Security and liberty in an age of terrorism). Immediately after September 11, President George W. Bush proclaimed a "war on terrorism" that would be global struggle and would continue far into the future. After hours of the attack, Attorney General John Ashcroft made the Department of Justice prepare legislative proposals. Prosecutors denied their old wish lists and created a large proposal, which, with other provisions, became the 342-page USA-Patriot Act. When it was forced through just six weeks later, not many members of Congress had read this bill, and many voted for it with doubts. So great was the pressure to take some protective action against terrorism, however, that only one senator and 66 House members voted against it. The most important point of the proposal was dedicated to United States Border Security; and after the eleventh of September some measures have been taken. The author of this research is going to descry the situation of United States border security, clarify the advantages and weaknesses of American security system. I would like to concentrate on United States Mexico and Canadian borders. The United States Mexico barrier The United States Mexico barrier is in fact several separation barriers planned to prevent illegal immigration into the United States from the territory of neighboring Mexico. Its key target is Mexican nationals and other Latin Americans, though in recent years other groups (for instance Asians of different nationalities) have also been using the porous Mexican border to make safe access to the USA. The barriers were designed as part of three larger "Operations" to prevent illegal immigration, Operation Gatekeeper in California, Operation Hold-the-Line in Texas, and Operation Safeguard in Arizona. The purpose of these barriers is to make immigrants cross the border with numerous difficulties, in order to reduce migration. Several scholars, who scrutinized this subject, state that these operations are just a public relations strategy used to persuade U.S. citizens that the border is "secure", while the economy benefits from the continuing flow of cheap labor across the border. The 3140 km (1,951 mile) border between the United States and Mexico crosses a variety of terrains, including urban areas and deserts. The barrier is situated in the urban sections of the border; actually the great number of migrations took place in this location. These urban areas include California, Texas, San Diego and El Paso. The success of the barrier led to a noticeable increase in the number of people trying to cross the Sonoran Desert and the Baboquivari Mountains in Arizona. Such migrants