Pakistani Girl Got Shot

Pakistani girl got shot In the last century,women empowerment movements swept across Europe clamoring for gender equality. The successful struggle granted girls and women the right to education in many countries. Nevertheless,until today,the blessing hasnt reached Pakistan. Falling into the shadow of Taliban,universal education is nothing more than a pipe dream to many girls there. Malala,a 15-year-old activist who promoted women's right to education in Pakistan was shot in the head by Taliban militants on her way home on October 19th.Despite being swiftly sent to a hospital in Britain,the life of the young heroine was at stake. The heinous attack sent shock waves through the nation and fanned up the indignation of the international community. ‘ believe while international community should fght against the Taliban militants ,the Pakistan government and people are responsible for the tragedy Mingled with rage and appal,' found the case of Malala was Just the tip of the iceberg i n Pakistan. ‘ condemn the unforgivable acts of the Taliban militants and believe theInternational community shall counteract these subversive beasts at all costs. Education is a universal right and nobody should be denied access to it. lt is never confine to a gender or race. Therefore,for the sake of Justice and peace,The international community should follow the Taliban millitants to the end of the Earth while giving profuse support to the victims. The Pakistani government,though menaced by the Taliban militants,should not watch the battle with folded arms. Apart from lives and properties,a responsible overnment should safeguard the rights and freedom of its people.Education,without doubts,is among the basic rights. Sadly to say,the education system in Pakistan is still a crawling toddler. People languish at the bottom of the world literacy list due to the fact that the government drains away immense resources on military defense. Without the government's sincere support of education for its people,no wonder terrorist suppression on girls' education remains unchecked for ages. In addition,the deprivation of education of many girls has much to do with the vicious ocial practice in Pakistan.Girls drop out of school early to Join parents at work while some are married off as teenagers. consequently,girls could not climb up the social ladder when they grow up and poverty haunts them for good. The lack of support from parents is also a decisive factor favoring the Taliban's crackdown on education. To save countries like Pakistan from miseries,' hope the international peacekeeping values. Last but not least,may Malala and other victims speedy recovery,may education become universal and may the world a long-lasting peace.

1949 and the early 1960s in Communist China: Women; Landlords and Businessmen; Peasants Essay

How far did life improve for the following groups between 1949 and the early 1960s in Communist China: Women; Landlords and Businessmen; Peasants. The years of 1949-1960 in China were indeed ‘Years of Great Change’. Who could have predicted a civil war, a Communist takeover, a complete turnaround in the land ownership system (and the economy in general) and the launch (and failure) of a near-Industrial Revolution? Mao and co heralded a headfirst launch into the twentieth century for China’s governmental system, that’s for sure. But amid all the â€Å"reforms†, how much did life actually improve for the Chinese population? This essay aims to examine what reforms were made, and how they affected the peasants, women, landlords and businessmen of China. Before China’s Communist â€Å"liberation†, it had been ruled by Chiang Kaishek and the Guomindang. Their Nationalist regime had favoured the businessmen and landlords of China. Chiang Kaishek ruled as a dictator and had his army of â€Å"blueshirts† to enforce order, just like Hitler and Mussolini. By the late 1940s, however, his rule was starting to become unstable, with massive inflation causing poverty for many people in the cities. He realised that his regime was doomed, and retreated to the island of Taiwan, leaving the Communists to rule China. Nearly everyone, even the landlords and businessmen, would have been happy about any kind of takeover at the time, as everyone’s future looked bleak under the collapsing Guomindang government. The Communists came as a breath of fresh air. But were they? The Communists were not exactly verbose in their Common Programme when they said â€Å"Women shall enjoy equal rights with men†. Likewise, Mao wasn’t when he said â€Å"Women hold up half the sky†. Yet that was the Communist attitude towards women: equal to men, no more, no less, and it was a refreshing one at the time. The traditional attitude to women was that they were strictly possessions of their husbands. Consider that women had been oppressed virtually since the start of Chinese society: it was traditional to practice such things as foot-binding and child prostitution. Under the Communists, the 1951 Marriage Law abolished both of these barbarities, as well as arranged marriages, child marriages and bigamy. Two of the most significant events equality-wise were the property and divorce law changes: husbands and wives now jointly owned property and either one could divorce the other (before only men could divorce women). Nearly all women would have been pleased about this, and the Party now had a whole gender, so to speak, on its side. However, there were downsides. For the older generation, who were fierce traditionalists, this would have been shocking and disruptive, and since they had not much time left to enjoy the newfound freedoms brought by Communism, they might be opposed to these changes. The only women not affected at all by these reforms were those living in the remote parts of China. These places refused to break with tradition, even under pressure from the Communists. Also, the Marriage Law and social reforms meant that women were now treated exactly the same as men; i.e. they were expected to work just as hard regardless of their state of fitness. A lot of the Maoist policies towards women were fuelled by the wish to turn the currently unworking half of the nation into a productive force; for example, the crà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ches organised for children were designed not really for the benefit of the women as such, but to get them out working in the fields again. Not to be unfair to them though, some policies were selfless: the law to give mothers maternity leave with full wages for two months does seem to be fully aimed towards helping women. In general, I believe that life for women definitely improved under the Communists. There was still quite a way to go, but Communist policy in this area was in many ways quite prescient. Landlords and businessmen probably came off the worst under the Communists. Under the Common Programme, they were defined as being â€Å"capitalists† and â€Å"reactionaries†. The same document stated that they would be â€Å"deprived of their political rights†, so their harsh treatment did not come entirely as a surprise. Under the Agrarian Reform Law, landlords lost an average of 93% of the land they had own. They were also subject to abuse, heavy fines and sometimes, in cases where they had been particularly cruel to their tenants, execution, at â€Å"speak bitterness† meetings. Around three million landlords were killed during these meetings. Businessmen had it nearly as bad. If you had business with the Guomindang or had ripped off the peasantry, you could be sure of at least re-education, if not complete deprivation of any form of rights (in society; no-one in Communist China really had any â€Å"political rights†). Even if you hadn’t committed any â€Å"offences†, you would face fines. Life wasn’t good if you were either a landlord or a businessman in China. It was probably worse if you were a landlord; businessmen at least weren’t executed. At least, not very often; the Communists had something nasty against anyone who had dealings with their old enemy, the Guomindang. Considering that most of Mao’s Communist policies were targeted towards peasants, they are the most important part of this essay. Under Mao, there were three types of peasants, â€Å"rich†, â€Å"middle† and â€Å"poor† peasants. Rich peasants meant those who could afford to hire other peasants to work for them. Middle peasants were those who could afford some basic equipment, while poor peasants formed the vast majority of China’s agricultural system, and were employed by landlords who paid them a pittance to work the land. Mao was very ambitious when it came to China’s work system. First he turned the land-ownership system around full circle. Then he launched the country into the industrial era of the twentieth century. He had to start somewhere, however, and that place was the Common Programme, where it was stated that â€Å"[the party] must systematically transform†¦the land ownership system into a system of peasant land ownership†¦It must steadily transform the country from an agricultural into an industrial one†. This was some goal, considering that the years of warring between the Communists and the Guomindang had lain waste to farms and peasants, causing the agricultural output to drop radically. And through all this there was massive population growths, so there were more mouths to feed with less crops. Mao and his ragtag band of Communist officials had the peasants’ support, though. Many peasants supported the Communists already; after all, they were the original worker’s party, and they had been very popular in the liberation areas, respecting the locals and trying out some reforms with regard to land and women with great success. The first step he took towards his agricultural revolution was by profiling all the peasants and teaching them how to sort themselves into the classes mentioned above. Land was then redistributed between the peasants evenly. This table illustrates how the land reform system changed: % houses % crop area owned Before After Landlords 2.6 28.7 2.1 Rich peasants 3.6 17.6 6.3 Middle peasants 35.8 30.2 44.8 Poor peasants and others 58.0 23.5 46.8 The Agrarian Reform Law turned the land ownership system on its head. Rich peasants lost land, poor peasants gained the rich peasants’ lost land and middle peasants stayed roughly the same (the increase is due to the heavy imbalance between landlords and poor peasants; there was almost too much land to go round after the landlords had been stripped of their land). The peasants had troubles, however: they found that they hadn’t enough money or equipment to cultivate the land. Mao suggested that peasants therefore organise themselves into Mutual Aid Teams, groups of peasants who would share each other’s land and equipment. So far, Mao’s plan was going extremely well; he was popular with the peasantry, having given them the land that had been their dream, and allowed them a chance to get back at their landlords (the â€Å"speak bitterness† meetings were known for becoming quite bloody). The Communist government, however, refused to leave its land reform manifesto at this stage. The Five-Year Plan to revolutionise China’s economy was underfoot, and mutual aid teams were not efficient enough to hit the high economic targets that Mao had set for China. So the co-operatives were introduced: first lower and then higher stage. The lower-stage co-operatives were simply an extension of the mutual aid teams idea, only with many families (around forty) pooling their resources. Only when the higher-stage co-operatives went into action was what Mao probably would have called true Communism in action achieved: two to three hundred families, all having surrendered land, animals and equipment to the co-operative and being paid nothing except for what they earned in the fields for it. The immense pressure and control on Chinese society (wall-posters, censorship and propaganda everywhere) was borne out by the fact that by 1956 ninety-five percent of Chinese peasants had joined higher-stage co-operatives, an idea that must have looked unattractive even then. As you can see, even for peasants Communism was not without big downsides. Perhaps one of the biggest was the onslaught of conformity and control inherent in the whole Maoist idea. â€Å"Propagandists† ensured a constant stream of pro-Communist posters. The media broadcast tutorials on how to defeat American imperialist pigs. Anyone who might be anti-Communist was either forced to leave the country or sent to a camp to be â€Å"re-educated†. And what happened when the censorship was relaxed? Mao decided to let the people say what they wanted about the Communists for a while. From 1956 people said exactly what they pleased, and many of them were rather vocal in their criticisms of the regime. In June 1957 Mao suddenly stopped the period of free discussion, known as the Hundred Flowers period, and clamped down on the more vocal opposition to his regime. Chinese society was back to its closely-controlled state, and if anything, the censorship was even harsher than before. â€Å"Perhaps†¦because of the steely control, China was more stable in 1956 than at any time this century. Foreign occupation, civil war, widespread death from starvation†¦inflation –all seemed to be things of the past. Stability, the dream of the Chinese, sustained the faith of people.† Perhaps the Chinese forgave all of the Communists’ flaws just for a little stability. They abided by their standards and conformed purely to stop any of these other tragedies occuring, and the Communists realised this, and even called meetings to remember how bad things were under the Guomindang. Overall, peasants would have been initially pleased but quite dubious in the long term about the benefits of Communism. They would have enjoyed the land – for the short period that it was available to them. By the end of the first period of land reform, the Communists would be losing their popularity. Mao liked the peasants to seem selfless, and working towards a common good, and depending on how brainwashed they truly were, this might have been the case to an extent. But I am sure that peasants secretly longed to have back the privately owned land it felt like they’d fought for. Some of them would also be unhappy about the repression and censorship, but this would have been even harder for most to see because of the controlled media’s constant presence. In 1958 a â€Å"Great Leap Forward† was announced: a plan to make China into a competent world power, both industrially and agriculturally. It was similar to the first Five-Year Plan in that it relied heavily on the organisation of society into steadily larger parts. These parts were called â€Å"communes†, and were created as groups of villages containing about 5000 families who gave up land, animals and equipment to common usage and ownership by the members of the commune. This was the ultimate unit of control in Chinese society: it was something that was everywhere you went, you ate there, you worked there, you slept there, and anything you felt was also felt by your whole commune. Or so Mao hoped. Posters, speeches, newspaper articles and all the other standard propaganda mechanisms were much more effective there because there really was no escape. The communes were a great success, producing things in record time, and the workers were well motivated. The Communist brainwashing was so total that people were working harder and were motivated because of the propaganda and censorship. However, only a year later, the honeymoon period was over, the Great Leap Forward was having serious marital issues, and the only marriage counsellor was too busy telling his workers to work harder. In short, Mao pushed too hard. Equipment fell apart. Workers fell asleep at their tasks. To add to this, lack of field workers, bad weather two years running and government lies caused a horrific famine, killing over twenty million people. Mao Zedong really should have been forced to resign after this; indeed, if Chinese society had not been so utterly brainwashed I believe he would have. Instead, he was forced to step down slightly, but was still a very prominent figure. And, crucially yet unbelievably, he retained the public’s support after all his crimes against them. The peasants were still with him. But I do not believe life got better for peasants under the Communists during the period I have described. An improved living standard cannot justify the removal of identity from an entire nation and a famine killing millions. I do not believe that the Communists did a lot of good for the vast majority of China. The only segment of Chinese society whose lives improved markedly were women, and when evaluating the importance of the reforms to end sexism, you have to take into account that most women were also peasants. So, whilst they were freed from being killed at birth and so on, they were also left to die later on in the famine, or through overwork, since women now had to work just as hard as men. The lives of landlords and businessmen could hardly be expected to get better under the Communists. However, perhaps they were unnecessarily cruel; execution hardly seems necessary. But Mao’s regime’s performance regarding peasants is unforgivable. A peasant-focused regime making thing worse for peasants is unforgivable, and life indeniably was worse for peasants by 1961.

Causes of the Euro Debt Crisis, Its Impact on International Financial Assignment

Causes of the Euro Debt Crisis, Its Impact on International Financial Markets, Including the US, the Eurozone and Asia, and Ways to Resolve It Euro Debt Crisis Causes and salient events leading to the present crisis Euro debt crisis is a financial situation facing the euro zone comprising of 17 member states that use the euro currency where some member countries have worsening sovereign debts borrowed from financial institutions. These countries pose a credit risk if they default on their obligations to the detriment of the monetary union. The case is more severe for member countries like Greece, Italy, Ireland and Spain. Various causes and events have been pointed as leading to the present crisis. For example, according to the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe- ALDE (2008, 11) structural factors that encouraged free market, deregulation of markets, self-regulating market virtues and increased use of new global financial instruments as a major cause. Extensive leverage on a large scale by market participants and enhanced systemic risk due to reduced transparency and contagion effects. The extensive sovereign bor rowing, slow or stagnant economic growth rates by Greece and Italy and lowering of credit rating for Greece from A- to Triple B plus are some of the events that have worsened the crisis (VoA news, 2011). How does the debt crisis in some countries within the Euro zone, such as Greece, Italy etc. impact on the international financial markets, including US, Euro zone and Asia? As indicated on the figure on nytimes.com, the world has become a global village and is much interconnected. Severe debt crisis shocks in Greece and Italy are likely to result into continental contagion because financial institutions holding their sovereign debts have origins and investments in different continents (New York Times, 2011). Both US and Asia heavily trade with Europe and the euro debt crisis is likely to slow down their economic growth and possible down-grading of financial institutions that hold sovereign debt instruments. Due to possibility of high credit risk, interest rates are also likely to go up for both the private and public sector complicating the case further. High sovereign debts among Greece, Italy and Spain could force financial institutions to write off some debts or a bailout plan by able countries like Germany and France. Possible collapse of the euro would result into financial loss for among banks (Yahoo news, 2011). How does the crisis impact the valuation of Euro as against other major currencies in the world? Worsening debt crisis would mean slow economic growth among member states and high credit risk associated with holding the Euro resulting to low demand. This makes the euro to depreciate among the major currencies and players prefer to hold safer currencies like the US dollar and Swiss franc. For example, the euro lost 25% of its value against the U.S. dollar since November 2009 to June 2010 (Kolb, 2011, 389) How, in your opinion, would the crisis be resolved? First, the countries have to embrace better fiscal management to avoid unnecessary national expenditures among. Rationalization of fiscal income, better tax collection and cuts in civil servants salaries among member states to avoid higher heterogeneity should be embraced (Kolb, 2011, 390). Member states should also allow the central European authority to have some control over their sovereign budgets in order to create better fiscal and monetary policies. Currently, the monetary policy is joint while fiscal policy is not creating a mismatch. Allowing the European Central Bank (ECB) to have control over spending taxation would help the union to monitor and influence recovery among debt ridden countries (Yahoo news, 2011). High political goodwill and financial transparency among member states to support each other would help to reduce the global fear of a possible collapse. Initiating policies that boost economic growth in countries where its slow or stagnant would also ease the cris is. Finally, issuance of a single euro bond where member states co-guarantees their debt would lower borrowing as strong economies like Germany and France would reduce default risk. Work Cited ALDE. The international debt crisis: its causes and what to do about it. Liberals and Democrats workshop, February 27th , 2008. www.alde.eu/fileadmin/webdocs/key-docs/finance-book_EN.pdf, 2008 Keller, Greg, Pylas, Pan and Wiseman, Paul. Euro in danger, Europe races for debt solution. Yahoo News. www.news.yahoo.com/euro-danger-europe-races-debt-solution 29th Nov. 2011 Kolb, R.W. Sovereign debt: from safety to default. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2011 Marsh, Bill. It’s all connected: An overview of the Euro crisis. New York Times www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/10/23/sunday-review/an-overview-of-the-euro-crisis.html 29th Nov. 2011 Melvin, Don. Eurozone ministers meet to build Euro rescue plan. Yahoo News www.news.yahoo.com/eurozone-ministers-meet-build-euro-rescue-plan. 29th Nov. 2011 VoA News. Key dates, events in European debt crisis. VoA News. www.voanews.com/english/news/europe/keydates-events-in-european-debt-crisis.html 29th Nov. 2011

External Macro Environment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

External Macro Environment - Essay Example These factors influences a business through causing some major influences on it like competition, changing the interest rates payable by a business on loans and other debts that it, owes, changes in the cultural tastes and preferences of the society, as well as a change in the government regulations, regarding the conduct of such businesses (Porter, 1998 p33). Thus, the external macro environment of a business refers to all the political, social, economic and the technological events, occurrences and trends, which impacts on a business or its market. These factors affect the business indirectly, but the business can only respond to these factors through adopting changes and strategies that will be favorable for its operation, amidst these factors. Therefore, the decision making of a business has to rely on such factors, since they highly determine the success or failure of a business. However, the macro environment creates both favorable and unfavorable environment for the business t o operate on, thus a business has to take advantage of the favorable ones, while strategizing on how to handle the negative influences of this environment. There are various ways in which these external environment factors affect a business and consequently its HR function. Owing to the changes in the business environment that requires that the business costs must be reduced to the lowest possible level, so that the profits earned by the business can reach the expected targets, the HR function of any business has to strategies appropriately towards lowering such costs (Kendon, 190 p13). Notable of these factors that have a great impact on the HR function of a business are the technological and the social factors. Under the social factors, there are such elements as the educational levels, the diversity of the work place employees as well as religion influences. On the technological front, there are elements such as technological changes, improved knowledge and communication channels , and the moral factors (Adams, 1990 p28). There are major changes that have occurred in the HR function, within organizations in the recent past years. These changes are geared towards the decentralization of the HR function within organizations to create a less centralized HR department (Porter, 1998 p45). As a result, the HR functions have been shared within the organization to include other segments and departments of the organization, and thus change the concentration of all the HR activities from the HR department to the other functional department within an organization. This sharing of the HR functions have gone a long way in reducing the costs associated with the depart within organizations, in that the manpower required in this department as well as other tools and equipment has been reduced, by having such functions being undertaken in other segments of the organization (Kendon, 190 p22). The advancement in technology has made this transfer of HR functions to other depart ments and organizational segments possible. Recent social changes have also created several challenges to the HR functions, forcing it to be integrated into the business strategies, to overcome such challenges. The changes that have occurred in the HR function within the last 10 years include, shared services, where, those working under the shared services segment of the organizati

Should life imprisonment without the possibility of parole replace the Research Paper

Should life imprisonment without the possibility of parole replace the death penalty in California - Research Paper Example Proponents of the Death penalty believe that people fear death and if death is the punishment for killing someone, they would refrain from it. They believe that in order to have a just system in place where the victim’s family is put to ease it is important to have an eye for eye approach. The criminal is guilty of taking someone’s life so he is liable to give up his. If the person is mentally unstable to have done so it makes him more dangerous to the society’s well-being and putting him to death is the only way to ensure such crimes do not take place through his hands again. However, opponents of the death penalty have a strong viewpoint as well. They believe that every life is precious and shouldn’t be given up on. If taking a life is a crime, no one should be allowed to do it, including the government. If a criminal is guilty committing of capital offense he should subjected to punishments that take away his life figuratively, not literally. Also, many believe that taking away a criminal’s life is too easy on him, the real punishment would be him leading a hard life that prologs his sufferings for the crime he committed. Executing a death penalty is costly for the governments as such cases are tried for a long time resulting in jury expenditures and security arrangements for the courts. Lastly and most importantly, it is morally wrong to take a life to stop crimes when the same purpose can be achieved through other means effectively like life without parole. The enforcement of death penalty is highly dependent on the society’s co nstruct and the public opinion (Wood 63). If a society holds strong political and ideological interest, it is likely that capital offenses are awarded strict punishments like death penalty to keep up the societal balance and sanctity of its socio-political ideology. Secondly, public opinion is a determinant of having the death penalty in place. Where many people have a humanitarian approach with a soft spot for life in general, whether a convict’s or a victim’s, many people still believe that the death penalty is the only way to keep crimes at their minimal and bring relief to the victims’ family. In the developing world, death penalty is seen to be an active form of justice, but the developed countries also have a hard time putting it to an end. As far as the US is concerned, 31 states out of 52 states in the U.S. still practice the death penalty, including California. In 2006, the District Court judge declared that the death penalty was against the eighth amen dment of the United States constitution that states that the federal government is liable to refrain from cruel punishments including torture and unusual punishments. The then governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, took this declaration

Police Discretion Position Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Police Discretion Position - Essay Example One will find that it is very common throughout the country that virtually all of police work involves discretion, with the exclusion of mandatory arrests. Furthermore, it is not just the police officer who has to use discretion, but it is also the prosecutor deciding what charges to file or how the offender should be sentenced, and the judge who has the most discretion of all when it comes to setting the ultimate punishment at the culmination of the case. Therefore, it is unlikely that discretion is a myth. It simply must exist for the criminal justice system to function as is. Laws cannot be passed to cover every possible scenario, which makes the practice of using discretion necessary in law enforcement. According to Maggs (1992, pg. 1), "Few issues in criminal justice presently arouse the public's attention more than how much flexibility and discretion the police should have. Police departments and their officers traditionally have had broad authority to decide how to perform their work, and most people simply have trusted that they will exercise their powers in a professional manner. Yet, acceptance of the traditional arrangement has diminished, perhaps more in the past year than ever before. Disturbing incidents of misconduct, incompetence, and unresponsiveness have suggested to many a need for closer control over individual officers and for external constraints on departmental policy-making." There are a number of causes of discretion that should be taken into consideration. They are commonly grouped into three categories: offender variables, situation variables, and system variables. There are stern but true facts that surround each of these variables (APSU, 2007). The first group is offender variables. Juvenile complaints are taken less seriously than those made by adults. African Americans are more likely to receive excessive force or be arrested than other races. People who are polite and cooperative with police are treated better by them. Better police service is given to individuals with middle to upper income levels than other those in lower income brackets. Police also tend to handle situations involving individuals suffering from mental illnesses differently. Gender plays a role in how individuals are treated by police. Only some offenders are lectured and sympathized with by police (APSU, 2007). The second group is situation variables. Matters involving crime are taken more seriously by police than matters not involving crime. Police often overact to the presence of weapons or to resistance by an offender. Police actions are also affected by the type of property that is involved in a property crime and their decision whether or not to pursue any investigation on that crime. If a police officer initiates an act versus a citizen, it is more likely to be acted upon. When it comes to vice enforcement, visibility of the vice is the major factor in acting upon it. When the media, an audience, or witnesses are present, the police are far more likely to behave more bureaucratically than they would otherwise (ASPU, 2007). The final category is system variables.

Information on DBMS of Microsoft SQL Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Information on DBMS of Microsoft SQL - Essay Example Other users can read and modify the record anytime while the main user is performing operations on the output displayed. Shared locks allow concurrent users to read data. They are released when the data is read. Exclusive locks do not allow concurrent transactions on the data. Update locks are used to prevent deadlock where if a transaction updates data, it becomes exclusive lock else shared lock. Intent locks signify which granular level the SQL server wants to acquire lock. This technique uses logs to record the updates. The update log defines a single write on the table. This log contains the identifier for the transaction, the data item, the old and the new value updated. Once a transaction performs a write, log record for it is created. This log helps in recovering the data. This method also uses log to record the data but the write action is deferred until the transaction is partially committed. Once the transaction partially commits, the data on the log is executed in deferred writes. In case the system crashes, the data on the log is ignored. Two page tables (Current page table and shadow page table) are maintained in this technique. Each time a write occurs in the current page, it points to a page in the disk and a copy of it is made in the shadow table. When a system crashes, data is recovered from shadow table. It is a point where all the transactions are updated to reflect the data in the log. This updates the data properly to all the transactions ensuring no conflicts occur. This checkpoint ensures that all the data is committed in the SQL

The Faster Flow of New Information in Order to Ensure Proper Learning Essay - 9

The Faster Flow of New Information in Order to Ensure Proper Learning - Essay Example Learning ought to be an active process whereby students come up with constructive ideas depending on their current or past events. Research proves that interactions and motivation influences construction. Teacher’s focus is to create a connection between facts and to ensure better understanding among learners. This approach gives learners the opportunity to analyze, predict and interpret information. It means that students are involved fully in finding solutions to the problem. Consequently, interactive learning proves effective in education. Information is easily absorbed by the memory for the purpose of filtration. The teacher wanted the information that he was passing to be store on the short-term memory by letting the learners draw the ball. Primarily, short term memory is where the controlling takes place in terms of rehearsal, coding, decision and retrieval strategies of the information. It allows learners to relate past events with the present; hence improves their abil ities to accommodate fresh ideas. Most importantly, the information is easily transferred to the long-time memory store for encoding and retrieval. Admittedly, the use of techniques that link short-term memory with long-term memory is effective in education (Cole, 2008). Learners are required to be able to use the approach of processing information. In addition, learners must be able to absorb and accommodate new facts. At first, when Lucy encountered the word platypus, she enquired from her father what it meant. Her father told her that platypus was an animal. By relating the word platypus to her prior knowledge of what animals are, she can then classify the information.

Thomas Wolsey Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Thomas Wolsey - Essay Example However, Wolsey was no false-faced upstart, but a highly intelligent fellow. It is reported that, "he took his degree as a Bachelor of the Arts at the very early age of fifteen, which so impressed the scholars at Oxford that he was called the 'boy-bachelor'" (Ridley, 1982, p. 18). Later he also took an M.A. and became a headmaster. True, Wolsey had ambition, and his education, entry into the priesthood, and transitional positions were stepping-stones to a power, but who can fault ambition in a man of humble origins His father sent him to Oxford because he wanted a better life for his son. The law at the time was still skewed against the lower classes. Only a complete fool would not desire to move up in the socio-economic hierarchy, and Wolsey was far from a fool. He never had difficultly impressing his social superiors, beginning with his first patron, the Marquess of Dorset. Even though Dorset died shortly after appointing Wolsey rector, Wolsey had made other powerful friends, and soon became chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury and then the Governor of Calais, giving "Wolsey a wide experience of many sides of government, especially of relations with foreign countries, and a foothold in the government service" (Ridley, 1982, p. 22). In this politically sensitive outpost of English rule, Wolsey had "the opportunity to learn about the problems of many aspects of government administration and to show his efficiency in dealing with them (Ridley, 1982, p. 23). He must maintain the lines of communication between the Crown and those owing allegiance to England in Calais; he must keep an eye on the French military and guard against French spies. These things he did without Henry VIII, who was not yet king. In fact, as a result of his skillful work in Calais, Wolsey became a chaplain in Henry VII's court and worked with those who made foreign policy. He succeeded, on his own, on sensitive diplomatic missions to Scotland, Austria, and the Netherlands, while receiving special dispensations from the Church. Prior to Henry VIII's ascension, Wolsey garnered remarkable power and prestige by navigating his responsibilities and balancing his social connections, for which reasons alone we must discard the idea that his later power and prestige sprung directly from manipulation and deceit toward the King. When Henry VIII came to power, "The accession of a handsome and dashing young king in place of his cautious and money-grasping father was welcomed by the people" (Ridley, 1982, p. 28), but it was the differences between the two kings that allowed Wolsey to rise through the ranks. The old King had been conservative and dedicated to his role as King. The young King was fiscally liberal and immediately began taping the coffers for clothes, jewels, and parties. He resented boring duties and disliked those who advised him to spend more time at them. Wolsey knew how to please the king. While others "urged Henry to preside at Council meetings, as his father had done, and to devote his time to affairs of the state, Wolsey offered to carry out all the work of government while Henry hunted and amused himself[Wolsey] found out what the king wanted, and did it" (Ridley, 1982, p.

Compulsive sexual behavior to avoid memories of combat Research Paper

Compulsive sexual behavior to avoid memories of combat - Research Paper Example The case study is based on Jim, a soldier who served Marine combat duty in Iraq. He is twenty three years old and a Caucasian male. He is married and has a son. Howard (2007) is part of a team that provided a comprehensive treatment for Jim’s addiction and emotional problems. He collected qualitative data from Jim through counseling sessions. Findings showed that combat experience produced traumatic experiences for Jim, which resulted to his emotional and relationship problems. At the same time, Jim went through problems at home, which reinforced his need to escape his pain. Howard (2007) stressed that Jim self-medicated through the use of pornography, which became a sexually compulsive behavior. His sex addiction became a source of immediate temporary happiness that numbed him to pain. Howard (2007) also described the addiction cycle. Then, he recommended measures that can deal with the diverse components of addiction. He emphasized the importance of treating trauma, not just the addiction, through a systemic approach, which includes the wife/partner in the healing process. Howard (2007) concluded that sexually compulsive behavior can be an escape route for other traumatic experiences, such as rape and events of terrorism. ... The military sampling includes soldiers who are deployed or have come from deployment. Anderson (2010) explained how technology assisted the ease of developing pornography addiction. He interviewed Navy Lt. Michael Howard, a licensed therapist and chaplain, who has a specialty in sex addiction. Howard stated that twenty percent is a conservative estimation for soldiers who are addicted to porn. Anderson (2010) described the flourishing industry of Porn 2.0, as well as the practice of using social networking sites and â€Å"sexting† as means of porn addictions. Access to technology made porn addiction a convenient form of instant pleasure. Porn, as a kind of sex addiction, is similar to other forms of addiction, where it titillates the pleasure centers of the brain. Anderson (2010) talked to Robert Weiss, director of the Sexual Recovery Institute in Los Angeles, who described what happens to the brain while consuming pornography. Watching porn releases dopamine, a neurotransmit ter that activates pleasure centers and blocks pain sources in the brain. Weiss added that masturbation increases dopamine levels and reinforces porn addiction. Porn addiction has numerous psychological and social effects. Anderson (2010) interviewed soldiers, who were fired because of storing child pornography images in their computers or accessing child porn websites. Soldiers also complained of how porn addiction affected their relationships and work performance. They admitted that porn became a way of dealing with their stress. The wives of soldiers addicted to porn expressed distress too because they felt betrayed when they learned of the porn addiction of their spouses. These interviews assert the individual, family, and organizational consequences

Traits That a Good Teacher Should Possess Essay Example for Free

Traits That a Good Teacher Should Possess Essay The word good can have quite a few interpretations. For the purpose of this essay, it is assumed that good here means, effective that is, a teacher can impart his knowledge and whatever other value it is his responsibility to spread to his charges. It is also assumed that the teacher under discussion is one who teaches secondary school. First of all, a teacher must know his profession thoroughly. He must know his subject beyond the point he intends to teach. He needs to be an expert. For example, if he is teaching literature, he should know all the plays of Shakespeare or at least most of them, rather than just the play he is teaching. He can then make cross references and answer all the questions that arise in the minds of his students. Knowing his subject is of no use if he does not know how, or not bother to, to teach it most effectively to his students. Though it is true that in a secondary school, student should take the responsibility for their own learning, it would be dull and boring to learn from a teacher who does not present his subject in an interesting manner. It is the teachers duty to promote love of his subject among his students. This he will do first by loving the subject himself. His enthusiasm and love for his subject will catch on with his students and if they learn to love a subject they can learn it better. A bad teacher, usually by his lack of enthusiasm and interest, will cause his subject to be hated. it is fir such reason that a teacher should adopt good teaching methods instead of resorting to easier methods like just reading out of textbook. Every teacher must be genuinely interested in his job. He must feel that it is his calling to develop young minds, and through them, to actually shape the destiny of the country and the world. He must be dedicated and caring at least to the point that it matters to him that his students learn all that they need to know. Over and above teaching his subject, a teacher has the responsibility to develop characters of the students in his life. Quite often, a teacher is a students role model. All of us who go through school, hero worship at least one teacher whom we would like to emulate. A teacher should always be aware of this responsibility. If by chance he were to show flexibility in ethics and morals, he is more or less giving a sanction to his charges that it is acceptable for them to e like that too. This applies to simple vices like smoking and more serious errors where the teacher fails to draw a clear line between good and bad behaviour. From this time immemorial, teachers have been the pillars of society. Staying in the background, at least for most of the time, they have been indirectly responsible for the advancement of the race. Often, it is their lot to go unnoticed. But time and again, all great men and women have been unsparing in their praise of teachers. this is by far their greatest responsibility: teachers are the ones who guarantee that our tomorrows will be as hood as, id not better than, our todays. By shaping characters they ensure that the world continues to be.

Product, Pricing, and Channels Paper Essay Example for Free

Product, Pricing, and Channels Paper Essay The following paper reviews how the Magnolia Bakery, offers its products and services to a target markets that are considering fresh bread from the oven every day delivery at the customers’ doors, early in the morning, for family breakfast. This discussion reviews include several areas such as the product features and benefits; the phases of the product’s lifecycle; the packaging of the product; the pricing strategy, and the channels of distribution. Product Features Magnolia Bakery offers four new items on its already extended list of products. These are four different kinds of bread. The choices of bread were carefully chosen to offer quality and healthy benefits. The choices are: Baguette, Black Bread, Focaccia and Bagels. Each one of these types of bread has a particular texture and taste that will give to the customer a great breakfast experience: Baguette is a thin loaf of French bread with a crisp crust, very characteristic of France. The Baguette is made with wheat flour and no added additives; Black Bread, or Rye Bread, is made with various quantities of flour from rye grain. Rye is a cereal grain, which gives a dark color and more dense texture from the wheat flour breads. This bread has important qualities because it holds a substantial amount of fiber and small amount of fat. This is good bread for diabetic patients since it doesn’t cause a spike in blood sugar, as the other breads do. Focaccia Bread is another option. This is a more flat bread topped with olive oil and herbs. The texture of Focaccia Bread is similar to the pizza dough, and it is made with high-gluten flour. Our Focaccia will be have supplements with nutritive value and low calories using little amount of olive oil. And for last, but not least-the Bagel-all American breakfast bun. Bagel is yeasted wheat dough bread first boiled and then baked. Bagel will be a product that can be offered to the Jewish community. With these new items, that Magnolia Bakery wants to provide, it will offer a new service of delivery, from 5:00 to 10:00 am, directly to the door of the customer. Product Life Cycle The lifecycle of the bakery would have started with the introduction stage and that would have consisted of the target marketing, price, distribution, and promotion. The price had to be adjusted around the culture and the quality of the product. The distribution step would have included on how they would make the bread and where they would make bread in order to give it to the customer. The next that the bread company experienced in the beginning would have been the marketing part. Now with marketing is where they figured out who, what, and whys of who they would want to market too. This stage is important because if a customer like the service that is being provided, word of mouth travels fast. The information that is gathering through marketing and the customer is what products they like and how often certain breads or pastries are purchased. The growth stage is vital because this is where the company depends on the customer and the company pushes forward their name within the indu stry. In this stage there should be an increase in marketing, distribution, promotion, and pricing. Pricing is a big deal because the product should never be over priced however, the bakery is indebted to the investors for some years so this should evaluated. The items that are baked are done within the store and they are not resold. Within the maturity stage is could be a long wait because this is where over cost has subsided and the bakery will begin to see the fulfillment of their hard paying off. The business began to become more lucrative and the business can began to look within some other options. The options could include building another store in other states or around town. The decline stage is not necessarily a company closing its door, but it could also mean it is being sold off to a corporate minded company and being able to grow. This could include a name change for them or relocation. In could also mean changing the color of a product and making if different. However, with a bakery they could do a face lift on the building and do a reopening. It is vital that all the se stages have a plan to go along with it, because if not during the decline a business can close their doors forever. The cycle may not always go in this order but it will give a good idea of what may happen. Packaging With packaging for backed good there are many ways to add value to the  product. Going green: the company can purchase boxes and bags for their bread products that are recycled, the use of pot consumer materials can reduce the carbon footprint and this is something that some consumers look at in recent years. Coupons: the addition of coupons to the packaging can help to gain reoccurring business, if you buy a loaf of bread and the box has a coupon for a free loaf when you buy 2, this could help to expand on other products as well. (Imagine a coupon for a free dozen muffins when you buy 2 dozen at regular price) Vibrant designs: the use of vibrant colorful designs on the packaging may help to peak interest in the product contained within. If you are at a neighbor’s home and they have a beautiful blue and gold box sitting on the table, this may peak interest in what is inside the box. Other ways to increase the value of a product in this case could be to have a menu on the box, perhaps you open the bag and printed on the inside (safely) is a copy of the menu of products sold by the establishment, and this can be a constant reminder of what other products are available every day. Though some of these ideas may cost more than others, the ideas to draw the consumer in, so they will consume more product the appeal is one way to increase consumer traffic. One last way to increase value of the service would be to include a survey with the delivery; this survey could help critique the performance of the delivery driver as well as the quality of product. This kind of feedback can always help to improve the business and help make it better. Pricing Strategy Magnolia Bakery will need to implement a pricing strategy when launching its new delivery service. Magnolia should consider how much consumers, specifically in its target market segments, will be willing to spend for the value this service provides. Since this new service being offered gives Magnolia the capability to reach a greater number of customers, management should focus its strategy on attracting these new customers. This means Magnolia Bakery should take a sales-oriented approach to its pricing strategy, meaning a strategy with a goal of increasing sales by getting customers â€Å"in the door.† There are a couple of different ways this can be done. Magnolia could provide incentives for customers to start using its service through a limited time introductory offer, such as free delivery for the first 30 days. Magnolia could also offer discounts to existing  customers in exchange for bringing in business from a friend, providing them with an incentive. Once it establi shes a customer base, Magnolia will also want to look at maximizing its profits. Prices for the product should match in-store prices, as the costs of producing the product are not affected by the distribution method, with the exception of volume discounts. The increased costs come from transporting the goods to the customer. There should be some charge for the convenience of the delivery service to offset costs, but this charge should not be so high that it discourages customers from using the service. A reasonable starting point would be $10 per week, with distance from the store as a consideration. Magnolia should also consider that higher volume orders bring in more profit. An offer of no delivery charge for orders over $50 dollars per week, for example, may encourage larger orders. However, not everyone in Magnolia’s target market segments has an income that would be sufficient for them to take advantage of volume discounts. Senior citizens are a group that would find the service useful, but would be more encouraged to use it if Magnolia offered a senior discount or sent out coupons in the mail. Finally, Magnolia will need to factor in competition with regard to its pricing, as there are others who could offer the service as well. Too high of a price compared to competitors would reduce sales, while too low of a price could start a price war. Distribution Channels In the four â€Å"P’s† of marketing, placement is a very important element in the marketing strategy. Multiple distribution channels will aid Magnolia Bakery in expanding our reach and also grow revenue from the sale of the bakery’s fresh bread and other products. Offering direct delivery in the neighborhoods of our shops will continue with our focus of personalized service to loyal customers. Building distribution channels using local retail grocers and specialty markets will allow us to sell through value added resellers (VAR). Members of our sales team have already contacted several wine and gift related boutiques that have an interest in Magnolia Bakery’s breads and desserts, to include in gift baskets and special picnic baskets. When working with value added resellers such as these shops specializing in food baskets, we will be able to work together to find the right products to complement the others goods joined in the baskets. While considering all distribution channels, including those of our value added resellers, we need to know that we will meet the needs of consumers. Our bakeries and production plants will need to be able to handle the increase of sales and that of certain products during times of peak demand. The value added resellers will be the places where our customers will be coming in contact with our goods and we will need to be able to deliver to the VAR to complete the delivery channel. Our level of service will play an important role and we must do it in ways that are preferred by customers. How we deliver our baked goods to our customers is just as important as the products themselves. We need to supply the right products at the right times, to the right places. Whether we are using a direct distribution channel delivering products through our stores to customers, or through value added resellers, we must have consistently quality products every time. Conclusion There are still a lot of questions to answer and decisions to make from the concept of an idea to introducing the product to the customer. Before launching the fresh baked bread to the customer, Magnolia Bakery has to check that everything is in position so it goes efficiently. What if one of these questions, not answered, or a decision made before the release of the product causes dissatisfaction? The product may not reach expected sales goals. Many aspects play into the success of the final product and whether if fails or thrives. The product, pricing, placement, and promotions, as well as the channels in which Magnolia Bakery is delivered are important parts of launching any new product. References Focaccia Bread Nutrition Facts. (2013). Retrieved from weight loss answers.com: http://weightloss.answers.com/nutrition/focaccia-bread-nutrition-facts Jr., D. P., J.P. Cannon Jr., E.J. McCarthy. (2011). Basic marketing: A marketing strategy planning approach (19th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin. Nathan, J. (2014). www.slate.com. Retrieved from A short history of the bagel: http://www.slate.com/articles/life/food/2008/11/a_short_history_of_the_bagel.html Taste Williams-sonoma. (2012, February 28). Retrieved from blog.williams-sonoma: http://blog.williams-sonoma.com/focaccia-bread-basics/

Drinking And Smoking In Students

Drinking And Smoking In Students This chapter reviews the literature in relation to drinking and smoking behaviour. It also looks at the concurrent use of alcohol and tobacco within student life. For the purpose of this study the author had two research objectives, which were, to explore the reasons students consume alcohol and smoke tobacco and to investigate the relationship between both. Numerous studies have shown an association between cigarette smoking and alcohol drinking. The National Institute of Health (2010) found that even small amounts of alcohol boost the pleasurable effects of nicotine, inducing people to smoke more when drinking alcoholic beverages. Medical profession have highlighted that the alcohol dose dependent effect increases the urge to smoke. Data from epidemiological studies have shown that people who drink alcohol are more likely to smoke and the heavier the drinking pattern, the heavier the smoking. (King, 2005) (Page number) Findings from Kings study (2005) indicate that smoking urge is higher after consuming four alcohol drinks in comparison to the lower urges after consuming two alcohol drinks, and increases were not observed after consuming a placebo beverage In other words, The greater the alcohol consumption, the greater the urge to smoke (Page Number) Research has indicated that links to alcohol addiction may be heredity. Findings from the Granada study believe that heredity may be responsible for almost 50% of the likelihood that a person will become addicted to alcohol. Alcoholism and Drug Addiction group whom carried out the study at the University of Granada revealed that the lack of beta-endorphins, which is hereditary, marks a genetic weakness to alcoholism. The studies findings indicate that an individuals brain with low beta-endorphin levels becomes accustomed to the presence of an external surplus, diminishing its own supply and triggering dependence on the external source -in this case, alcohol. Beta-endorphin is a kind of morphine released by the brain in response to several situations, such as pain. In this way, beta-endorphins can be considered an endogenous pain reliever to numb or dull pains. According to Josà © Rico Irles (Year and page number) head of research at the university, although alcohol consumption does not affect all people in the same way, differences in beta-endorphin levels make some subjects more vulnerable to alcohol. Therefore, they are more likely to become alcohol dependent. 1.2 Alcohol Behaviour According to Alcohol Action Ireland (2010), over one in four accident and emergency cases have alcoholà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœrelated injuries. Alcohol is also a factor in one in four traumatic brain injuries. Research carried out by Alcohol Action Ireland found that alcohol related deaths increased between 1995 and 2004. Ethanol (found in beer, wine and spirits) is the most commonly used alcohol consumed by humans. (International Centre for Alcohol Policies) According to Gossop two thirds of the US population drink alcohol. The average American spends more than 5% of their annual budget on alcohol, consuming 2.6 gallons of spirits, 2.2 gallons of wine, and 26.6 gallons of beer every year. Almost half of the UKs population over the age of 16 drink alcohol. (Gossop, 2007). An Irish survey carried out by CLAN indicates high-risk alcohol use is prevalent among college students, to the extent that profound binge drinking is seen as the norm of college life. The results from this survey demonstrate that this drinking culture is promoted in college, often with heavy drinkers being praised as die-hard revellers instead of being critiqued. The CLAN goes on to state that Irish third-level students spend more money a month on alcohol than they do on food and it clarifies speculation that regular binge drinking can wreck havoc on academic performance, as well as on social relationships. Controversially although Ireland has the highest rate of non-drinkers in Europe, (20%, in comparison to Germanys 5%) it also has one of the highest rates of alcohol consumption, at present topping the poll for binge-drinking statistics. (Alcohol-statistics-in-europe.com) According to Hope, Dring and Dring (2003) there were both positive and negative reasons as to why students drink. Positive reasons such as sociability relaxation and enjoyment occupy the dominant number of reasons people drink. One in four students reported having a drink with there meals, of which more females than males reported such a practice. However one in ten students used alcohol to forget worries and one in twenty used alcohol when they were anxious or depressed. More males than females said they drank just to be polite. Hope et al (2003) 1.3 Tobacco Behaviour The World Health Organisation (2010) states that tobacco is one of the greatest causes of preventable and premature deaths in human history and that it kills up to half of its users. The annual death toll of more than five million could rise to more than eight million by 2030 unless urgent action is taken to control the tobacco epidemic. According to the WHO, smoking is estimated to be the cause of approximately 7000 deaths in Ireland each year, chiefly by illness such as lung cancer, heart disease, stroke and emphysema. Smoking can also cause gum disease, bad breath, poor skin and yellow teeth. (WHO, 2010) According to Chick Cantwell, (2001) evidence suggests that smoking is mainly initiated originally by teenagers. The onset is usually the result of one or many of the following factors; curiosity, assertion of independence, rebelliousness, stress, and perhaps more than any other factor by peer pressure (Chick Cantwell, 2001). The CLAN surveys research findings show that everyone knows smoking is bad for your health, but there seems to be many harmful effects to which many smokers all around the world are still oblivious. For example; a survey in china found that only 68 percent of current smokers in China believe that smoking leads to lung cancer and only 36 percent believe that smoking causes coronary heart disease (Hope, et al. 2003). Another survey carried out in Britain showed that a shocking 99% of woman surveyed were unaware of the direct link between smoking and cervical cancer. (Gossop, 2007) 1.4 Alcohol and tobacco go hand in hand Mckee, Hinson, Rounsaville, Petrelli (2004) state that although research has shown that many young people dabble with substances such as alcohol and tobacco from as young as 13, substance use in relation to tobacco and alcohol has been reported to peak in early adulthood. The college years appear to be a time of increased risk for smoking initiation and movement into regular patterns of use. College smokers are more likely to be non-daily smokers, also known as party smokers. Alcohol and tobacco are known to be strongly related behaviours and the association between both substances seems to get stronger with the heavier use of either substances. Recent studies have found that smoking urges increase rapidly following heavy drinking, even among light smokers (King Epstein, 2005) Nichter, Nicthter, Carkoglu and Lloyd-Richardson (2010) suggests that virtually every college event and social occasion revolves around drinking and there is a significant distinction between party time and normal time, According to Nichter, et al (2010) (page number) parties were viewed as places to kick back, relax and chill and where everyday rules for behaviour didnt apply. The majority of party smokers believed that smoking while drinking was not really smoking and was therefore socially acceptable. This research highlights the commonality of smoking cigarettes as a behaviour that goes along with drinking. They found that some party smokers described drinking and smoking as going together like peanut butter and jelly or like milk and cookies. Nitcher explains at college parties and particularly in your freshman years, focus is on creating an image, getting noticed and also trying to fit in and be cool. For college males, smoking while having a drink helped a guy look really manly and gave off a bad boy image. Among females there is a powerful focus on being liked and a need to engage in similar behaviours to ones friends (Nichter et al., 2010). There are numerous functions of smoking and drinking described by Nitcher et al. (2010). One of which is Social Facilitation. A key reason for having a cigarette with a drink at parties is because smoking is usually done outside. Having a cigarette provides a reason to go outdoors with an individual or a group, therefore, the co-consumption of alcohol and tobacco aids social interaction. Alcohol diminishes ones level of willpower giving an individual the confidence to do things they would not normally do. The best crack at parties is usually outdoors so when individuals go outside to socialise with peers, instead of doing nothing, they are faced with the opportunity to join in with the rest of the crowd. Nichter et al. (2010) observed that when males were drinking with females it was sometimes difficult to maintain a conversation, but smoking a cigarette with a female, who was also smoking, seemed to smoothen out the conversation. One male interviewee noted: Its just easier to talk when Ive been drinking and smoking. A cigarette honestly just gives you a buzz and boosts your self confidence. It also gives you a minute to get your thoughts straight. Several party smokers described how the urge to smoke just comes when drinking. Nitcher et al. (2010) found that for novice smokers, after a couple of drinks, smoking cigarettes became physically easier to do. They tended to suffer less from throat irritation and coughed less. Drinking and smoking together also washed away the cigarettes bad taste. This research also found that another useful function of the concurrent use of alcohol and tobacco is the physical sensations experienced. Alcohol and smoking together create a buzz that is unattainable when either substance is taken separately. However, having a cigarette, while drinking, can also help an individual feel calmer, relaxed and more sober. Research has shown that despite the amount of social smoking party smokers might be involved in most party smokers did not want to become regular or real smokers. In fact, they believed that they were at little risk of dependency upon alcohol and tobacco. As one woman in a focus group commented People like me and my friends dont get addicted to either substance (Nichter et al., 2010) Given this naÃÆ' ¯ve belief among students, that they were not at risk for transitioning from social smoking to more regular patterns of use, it seems critical to educate students about the possibility of addiction, even if smoking at low levels. 1.5 Conclusion The above research indicates that there is a correlation between student drinking and smoking and it would appear that alcohol consumption can often lead to students use of tobacco. This is a prevalent health concern which the proposed research aims to explore. Research availability concerning levels and concurrent use of alcohol and tobacco is limited in an Irish context. The proposed research aims to highlight this relationship and

The Minimum Wage and Social Security are Bad for America :: Minimum Wage Essays

"A close examination of America's unemployment rates suggests that minimum wage laws deserve a big share of the blame. Businesses are not charities, they only create jobs when they think a worker will generate net revenue. Higher minimum wages are especially destructive for people with poor work skills and limited work experience." -- Dan Mitchell, senior fellow, Cato Institute. In Henry Hazlitt’s book Economics in One Lesson, he explains some basic differences in which a good economist is separated from a bad economist. Hazlitt conveys that, â€Å"the art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups† (Hazlitt, 2)1. Hazlitt’s theory that the â€Å"bad† economist looks only at the immediate impact of an act or policy and does not evaluate how it effects all groups in the long run, goes hand in hand with the law of unintended consequences. The law of unintended consequences can be described as, â€Å"actions of people, and especially government, always have effects that are unanticipated or unintended† (Norton).2 In other words when the short run effects on one specific group is all that is taken into consideration, down the road consequences that can affect other g roups will arise. One thing is for certain; unintended consequences come forward in the long run in all facets of the economy. In many ways economics is a balancing act, and with any policy or act somewhere down the road consequences will show themselves that were not necessarily intended from the get go. One economic policy that proves to show unintended consequences over time is the raising of minimum wages in the workforce. The immediate impact that takes place in some economist’s eyes is the fact more money is being placed in the pockets or lower income struggling households. However, looking at it this way causes the unintended consequences to be overlooked. Furthermore, in the long run a large hike in minimum wage would actually cut jobs, thus putting those looking to benefit from a higher hourly wage out of work. As explained here, â€Å"Duke researchers have found that after an increase in the minimum wage, the least skilled 3 employees are crowded out of their jobs as better educated teenagers are drawn into the work force† (McDonald).4 Now the same employees and families who were targeted to benefit from a minimum wage increase our now suffering.

Flower Imagery in The Stone Angel :: Stone Angel

Flower Imagery in The Stone Angel Margaret Laurence uses flower imagery in her novel The Stone Angel to represent Hagar's way of life. There are two types of flowers, wild and civilized. These two types of flowers are associated with the educated, controlled way of life and the material way of life. In summer the cemetery was rich and thick as syrup with the funeral-parlor perfume of the planted peonies, dark crimson and wallpaper pink, the pompous blossoms hanging leadenly, too heavy for their light stems, bowed down with the weight of themselves and the weight of the rain, infested with upstart ants that sauntered through the plush petals as though to the manner born . . . But sometimes through to hot rush of disrespectful wind whtat shook the scrub oak and the coarse couchgrass encroaching upon the dutifully cared for habitations of the dead, the scent of the cowslips woud rise monentarily. They were though-rooted, these wild and gaudy flowers, and altough they were held back at the cemetery's edge, torn out by loving relatives determined to keep the plots clear and clealy civilized, for a second or two a person walking there could catch the faint, muskey, dust-tinged smell of things that grew and had grown always, before the portly peonies and the angels with rigid wings, wh en the prarie bluffs were walked though only by Cree with enigmatic faces and greasy hair. (p. 4-5) Hagar was the lucky one in her family. She was able to go to college where she learned how to be more cultivated and civilized and how to act like a lady. Nothing seems to be natural about her, she criticizes everything that seems to be wild or out of control. When Hagar marries Bram Shipley, she is content and in love. It was spring that day, a differnt spring from this one. The poplar bluffs had budded with sticky leaves, and the forgs had come back to te sloughs and sang like choruses of angels with sore throats, an th mars marigolds were opening like shavings of sun on the brown river where the dadpoles danced and the bloodsuckers lay slimy and low, waiting fo the boy's feet. And i rode int blacke-topped buggy beside the man who was no my mate. (p. 50) After the wedding, Hagar becomes determined to change the way her husband behaves.

A Night to Remember in Mexico Essay -- Mexico Personal Narratives Viol

A Night to Remember in Mexico When the event was over, it all seemed like a blur. I didn’t know what had just happened but I knew that I didn’t like it. The night was filled with frenzy in the air and liveliness in the streets. The Security guards, and for that matter the people that we had come with, departed. My friend and I, although surrounded by masses of people, stood alone on a street corner. There I was, standing in a place that was foreign to me, in which I had only two companions. The night air slapped me in the face, and I awoke to reality. I was surrounded by drunken Americans laughing and enjoying themselves on the streets. This is a night that would be burned into my memory forever; an event that would change who I am and how I looked at life, but for now it was time to figure out how to get out of Mexico. Earlier that week I had hopped in my car and headed for my friends house in Tucson. He had told me to meet him the night before we were supposed to leave so that we could pack and then get going early the next day. When I arrived at his house, still early in the day, I greeted my friend and then proceeded to throw my bags into the back of his truck. We gathered all of our things and made sure that we had all of our items. We settled in for the night at his house, excited about what was to come. Maybe these expectations would be falsified later on sure but for now all that was in our minds was the salty sea air, and the electrified dance clubs. The next day my friend Danny and I got up early to meet the people that we would be staying with, in the house we had rented in Mexico. When Danny and I arrived at the house where these people lived, I exited the truck and looked around. From first glance there s... ...he face numerous times. This problem between the group left us all defenseless in an area where none of us could let down our guards for fear of what might happen resulting from our presence in a foreign land. The three of us were able to find a cab to take us back to the house we had been staying at. Danny told me that we needed to leave that night before Mike and Matt got back. He then continued to inform me that the two had carried guns across the border and would have no qualms with coming into the house and using them on myself and the other involved in the conflict while we were asleep. We went back to the house, packed our things and headed for the border. As a result of this experience I have started to look more carefully at my first perceptions of people and going with what I believe. I was lucky to escape from this situation, not in jail and not dead.

Alienation and the Search for Identity

Modernist literature reached its peak between 1900 and 1920’s. Alienation was one of its characteristic themes. Described as either the separation from the self or from the world, alienation, soon, will drive an individual to look for his/her niche in this world. The concept of alienation will be examined through the literary works of Frost, Hemingway, and Hurston. Robert Frost was known for his works depicting realities of rural life. This, he clearly portrayed in his poem Out, Out. The title was elicited from the end of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth: Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player.That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, And then is heard no more. It is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing. We see here in Macbeth and in Out, Out the fragility and the seemingly insignificance of life. Life was taken and it was gone in the world. Frost used narrative to create a clear and objective picture of each event in Out, Out. This poem illustrates the difficulty of life in farmlands. The poem begins with the introduction of the snarling and rattling sound of the buzz saw. It implies the danger it can bring to anyone near it, most especially to the boy operating it.The scene was described as beautiful and pleasing. From the yard was the view of five mountain ranges, each one behind the other. The family and the scene seemed to be the world in which the boy’s life revolved around with. Nonetheless, the family was too busy too relish all these. Soon, the boy’s sister was finished preparing supper. When she summoned everyone to eat, the boy lost attention of what he was doing and the saw accidentally cut through his hands. The boy knew too well that even though he was young, he was fulfilling an important role in the family.He foresees a grave future if loses his hand and so he tells her sister to tell the doctor not to cut his hands out. It was seen that the boy was more con cerned with his responsibility in the family than his self. If he loses his hand, he knows that he will be of great burden to his family. He will feel alienated from the family who does hard work everyday. By the end of the poem, the boy dies after the removal of his hand and this served to be his escape from estrangement. His family, on the other hand, since they were alive, continued with their concerns.Earnest Hemingway is known for his simple and short sentences bearing complex ideas. One of his classic short stories is Hills Like White Elephant whose main theme revolved around the conflict between the intentions of two people. The story occurred beside a train station in the Ebro River valley in Spain. Hemingway used the third person point of view limiting the readers to read the thoughts of the main characters. Through the exchange of words between the American and the woman named Jig, the readers will soon realize the issue that they were discussing.Aside from the discussion, the use of symbolism enhanced the mood of the story and complemented the words spoken and feelings of the main characters, especially those of Jig. The story begins with the description of the scene: ‘.. there was no shade and no trees and the station was between two lines of rails in the sun. Here, the opposing directions suggest that one is in the midst of perplexity and is needed to decide before long. Following this, the two main characters were introduced. Through their dialogue, it was implied that the characters were discussing about abortion.The day grew hotter which indicated the pressure that builds within the characters. The narrator describes the observation of Jig: The girl stood up and walked to the end of the station. Across, on the other side, were fields of grain and trees along the banks of the Ebro. Far away, beyond the river, were mountains. The shadow of a cloud moved across the field of grain and she saw the river through the trees. The natural imagery f ormed leads the readers to Jig’s emotions. She sees her current state as the fertile field along the river.On the other hand, in the shadow of the clouds across the field, she sees the despondency abortion will bring to her life. The American wants Jig to pursue abortion so that he can continue with his senseless life of drinking and relentless travelling. Jig, conversely, prefers to deviate from the usual and start settling down. Jig knows what she wants but feels having no sense of self-government. It is as if the American has the last say for whatever she does to her own body. Jig may have her reasons for these. The story concludes with the couple waiting for their train turning up in five minutes.Zora Neale Hurston is a renowned anthropologist and writer of African-American Literature. Her short story Sweat is about a strong woman who has endured fifteen years of hardship from his husband Syke. The story is in narrative form and the use of the third person point of view j ust like the two other literary works mentioned above, created an impartial and rich picture of the scene and the characters. The use of symbolism and allusion provided added meaning to the dialogues. Delia Jones was described as a hardworking woman who worked all week to be able to earn a little.She had been able to put up their house and provide for herself and her husband. She was the representation of goodness in the story while Syke, her husband was the image of evil. Syke was brutal to his wife; he wanted Delia dead so that he could remarry. The townspeople knew what Delia was going through but they remained indifferent. Nothing could help Delia but herself. Her unyielding faith in God had kept her moving on each day of her life. One day, Syke brought home a box containing a six-foot rattlesnake. Delia was furious. Her husband wanted to scare her to death; it pleased him when he sees her terrified.One day the same snake will be the one to reap the life of Syke. Syke was drunk and did not know that the snake escaped from the box. He jumped to the bed where the snake was and it all happened. The snake bit him and then he died. Those fifteen years of marriage and suffering from Syke came to an end. After years of being separated from herself and the world, she was finally free. Free from brutality and distress; she was alive again. She can have what was left of herself and start a new life. Syke’s death served as the solution to Delia’s seclusion from herself and the world. The death of one brought back the life of the other.In the works of Frost, Hemingway, and Hurston, the use of the narrative form and the third person point of view were observed as to have enhanced the ideas presented. Symbolism and the use of figures of speech paired with the dialogues between characters have enabled readers to see the thoughts of the protagonists. In these three literary works, alienation brought the same feelings to the person affected. Fear and wretched ness were felt by the boy in Out, Out; by Jig in Hills Like White Elephant; and by Delia in Sweat. Their lives and decisions are influenced by the world that surrounds them.Both the boy and Delia were able to escape alienation. It was through death that they were able to avoid the feeling of nothingness. In the case of Jig, Hemingway gave the reader the opportunity to conclude the story. Would death be the key for this one, too? References: Frost, Robert. 1916. . Hemingway, Ernest. â€Å"Hills Like White Elephants†. 1927. May 31 2009. . Hurston, Zora Neale. â€Å"Sweat†. 1926. .

Michael Obi Essay Essay

Michael obi in Dead Mens agency is an excit fitted young man who gets a chance to get his hopes of progressing the Ndume Central take aim fulfilled when he is appointed headmaster.His obsession with newfangled slipway and extreme cockiness to make changes negatively affect his decision making on how in-chief(postnominal) the street is to the towns natives. His dismissal and refusal to certify the tradition is the inevitable means to the end up of the story.Obi is so focused on his assignment of bringing the direct into the fresh world that he is blind to how big the traditional tribal ways and beliefs argon to the townspeople he needs to fashion with in order for the school to be successful. He is very stubborn and refuses to view as an open mind close the path. His lonesome(prenominal) focus is making the school as modern as possible and to opinion place anything old and traditional.He ignores the warnings from the bronco buster determineers and signs from the villagers about the path. When another teacher warns him about how there was a big course of action the last time someone try to close the path, he brushes it off and decides to close down it off anyways.Even when the village priest calls on Obi to tell him how a good deal the village depended on the path and how important it is to their tradition, he would still not attend and evaluate what the priest has to say. After a young woman dies during childbirth Obi finally has to face the consequences of his stubbornness to agree with the villagers.Obi shows an inability to compromise with the villagers because of his screw belief in modern ways and his negative military position towards the primitive (as he sees them) beliefs of the villagers. Obi will not take the villagers to make a highway out of the school.He feels that his goalwith the school is to teach students through modern ways to antic at the idea of tradition. He doesnt think that students can be taught in these modern ways and still respect their ancestors tradition. This ultimately leads to the schools downfall. closeIn the end, Michael Obi is not able to accomplish his goal of creating a modern school from an unprogressive one. He is so focused on his goal that he will not listen to the villagers or respect their cultural tradition. He ignores the warnings teachers and villagers fuddle him about the importance of the footpath and shows a complete inability to compromise with them because of his attitude towards their beliefs. This in the end leads to the destruction of the school and Michael Obis dream with it.