Counter-Terrorism Strategies

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam were founded in 1976 with the aim of championing for the Tamil people of Sri Lanka-Hindus who comprise about 18% of the total population against the Buddhist Sinhalese who make up the majority of the population (Rabasa, pp. 68). To fight for the formation of an independent state curved out from Sri Lanka, they have repeatedly waged war using guerrilla, conventional, and terrorist tactics and have attacked military, government and civilian targets.One major unit that specializes in terrorist attacks is the Black Tigers who often commit suicide during such attacks. The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a terrorist organization founded in the year 1916 and has conducted many violent and terrorism campaigns against the British authorities in the Northern Ireland for a long time since 1916 . The current operations of the army is based on a kind of rules of war in which for instance warnings of an imminent bomb attack are provided followed by a certain cod e that acts as a verification of the legitimacy of the warnings.The bombings have been targeted to disrupt the lives of British people so that the organization can continue obtaining financial support from associate countries though this is anticipated to change. The range of bombs used by the terrorists include small devices made from high explosives which have been provided by foreign associates or stolen and large improvised bombs based on Ammonium . A renewed ceasefire declared in 1997 by the IRA was far from being comprehensive since it only refrained them from attacking the security forces and therefore the IRA continued to launch brutal attacks against Roman Catholics .Different strategies have therefore been employed to combat terrorism both in Sri Lanka and Northern Ireland. These strategies exhibit some differences as well as a number of similarities. This paper will compare and contrast these strategies adopted by the authorities to suppress acts of terrorism propagated b y the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka and the IRA in Northern Ireland. The strategies adopted by the authorities to suppress acts of terrorism in Sri Lanka and Northern Ireland differ on several facets.Firstly, the authorities in Sri Lanka have predominantly used military force to combat the violent acts propagated by Tamil Tiger rebels. In contrast, the British government have applied extensive legislative measures to suppress the terrorist organization, the Ireland Republican Army in Northern Ireland. There are several examples of legislation by the British government. It is worth noting that since its formation, Northern Ireland has been in a state of emergency and the Civil Authorities Act of 1922 was passed only a year after its partition .In the 1970s the British government perceived an imminent possibility of the violence in Northern Ireland spiraling out of control and therefore it expeditiously introduced the Northern Ireland Emergency Provisions Act (EPA) in 1973 . This Act was a milestone since it paved way for a number of new measures including increased power for the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and Army to arrest any terrorism suspect.In addition, the Act allowed the formation of non-jury courts specially for conducting trials on those accused of terrorism and also it provided for the prohibition of all terrorist organizations. As another and more advanced measure to suppress acts of terrorism, the British Parliament quickly passed the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) in 1974 after the deadly Birmingham pub bombings by the IRA . The PTA also served to extend the measures undertaken by the EPA throughout the UK by the virtue of introducing more powers with regard to interrogation and detention.These two major Acts had extreme provisions and therefore they were originally designed to be temporary though the government fully understood the dynamic nature of terrorism and therefore was committed to renew them until they were eventually replaced by more permanent provisions of the Terrorism Act of 2000 . The effectiveness of such legislation can be seen particularly from the implementation of Northern Ireland Emergency Provisions Act in 1973 which gave the military power to arrest and detain suspects temporarily and also search homes in the absence of warrants.The culmination of such a move was that hundreds of people were detained and more than 250,000 homes searched during which thousands of hidden weapons were discovered and seized by the military . These legislation paved way for a number of methods in curbing terrorism in Northern Ireland. These methods include criminalisation, internment without trial, Diplock courts and the supergrass system in which the policies of each focus on punishing those accused of crimes related to terrorism with unwanted or unforeseen effects .Therefore, the legislative measures adopted by the British government to combat Ireland Republican Army’s terrorist actions forced it to alter its ow n legislative avenue to make it commensurate with the political violence in the Northern Ireland by both taking extreme steps and first making their provisions temporary. In contrast to such legislative approaches to ending terrorism, the government of Sri Lanka can be said to have mostly applied military force combined with very few harsh legislative measures when compared to those adopted against IRA by British government.It is important to remember that when it attained its independence in 1948, Sri Lanka was not prepared to deal with even minor protests leave alone such large terrorist groups as Tamil Tigers which developed gradually over time. This was due to the small number of police and military in addition to inadequate equipment and lack of a firm organizational structure. There are several incidences which demonstrate that the government has employed force in terms of military action as well as legislation as major strategies against the Tamil rebels.In 1977, before a mon th was over after the UNP government coming to power, an army was sent to wipe out all the people who were organizing a movement to demand for a separate Tamil state . This was purposed to stop the secessionists before the movement became a threat to the government. A similar attack in August 1977 resulted in hundreds of Tamils being killed and thousands left homeless. This was done through the use of force by the police and the military.An example of a legislation against terrorism is the Prevention of Terrorism Act which was passed in 1979 and whose provisions included confessions made out of torture, detention without trial, and conducting searches without warrants . In addition, the Act made crimes such as kidnapping, murder, and abduction punishable by life imprisonment. This legislative approach can however be compared to the one used in Northern Ireland by the British government though it has passed many legislation compared to the situation in Sri Lanka with regard to counte r-terrorism.In the mid 1981, another military-initiated attack against the Tamils occurred which left the group devastated. A major preventive war in 1983 was waged against Tamils by the government to crash them completely following a shift in the balance of power between the Tamils who were secessionists, and the Sri Lankan government . This pogrom had a lot of effects compared to the previous incidences of military action since it was accompanied with the use of violent attacks by organized mob groups which left over 3,000 Tamils brutally killed and 150,000 left homeless .These events are examples which demonstrate the difference in the way the two governments have dealt with terrorism propagated by the two groups. Another major contrast in the strategies to combat the activities of both the Tamil Tigers and the Ireland Republican Army is that the British government in the Northern Ireland has extensively applied contingency measures which include legislation aimed at dealing with biological, chemical or radiological attacks .In Sri Lanka, such measures have hardly been used and instead, legislation to curb terrorism by the Tamil Tigers have been predominantly those that give the military more power and authority to use force. However, a similar case applies in Northern Ireland with regard to use of harsh tactics to arrest and suppress the members of the Ireland Republican Army. The major measure used between 1971 and 1975 was that of using torture during interrogation of suspects who had been subjected to internment without trial .The measure was particularly applied on suspects whom the authorities believed they were potential sources of valuable information which could possibly enable them apprehend more suspects including the masterminds of the terrorist attacks by the IRA. The in depth interrogation as an example of using force on suspects entailed five main techniques including exposure of the terror suspects to a monotonous and continuous loud voice w ith the head covered with a black hood and being forced by means of a button to stand for about six hours at a time against a wall, hands raised above the head with the legs apart for a period of several days.The suspects were also subjected to severe deprivation of food and water and also sleep was denied. However, the European Commission on Human Rights later on judged the method as one constituting an inhuman practice of treating people who have been arrested. This led to the discontinuity of the use of the five techniques following unfavorable publicity . A major similarity in both counter-terrorism strategies is with regard to the attempts to use peaceful means or dialogue which has seen several treaties being signed between the IRA and the British government and between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers.The peace agreements have been accompanied by certain promises and conditions such power sharing deals, surrendering of weapons by the rebelling groups including o ther conditions with the purpose of seeking peace. However, a similar scenario witnessed in both cases is that most of the attempts to initiate sustainable peace agreements have in most cases failed due to diverse political, economic or social reasons.A major attempt and a good example of a peace agreement in the Northern Ireland is the Downing Street Declaration which was initiated in December 1993 and which signaled readiness for more dialogue to break the stalemate between all the sides involved in the resolution process including the IRA and Sinn Fein, the Ireland’s oldest political movement . In Sri Lanka, since a new government came to power in 2001, the government has adopted a peace approach to suppress terrorism by the Tamil Tigers in which at least three breakthroughs have been achieved.Among the peace talks have been a disarmament process, agreement on humanitarian measures and most importantly, the readiness of the Tamil Tigers to welcome a federal structure . It can therefore be clearly deduced that there have been practical and viable approaches to counter acts of terrorism by both the Ireland Republican Army and the Tamil Tigers which have been implemented by the governments concerned to try and improve the situation in these countries. A good similarity is that both governments have tried peace agreements though most have not elicited sustainable outcomes.Another similarity is seen in the use of force though the kind of force used against IRA is seen to be mostly applied after suspects have been apprehended in an effort to gather useful information from them. The force used on Tamil Tigers is predominantly military action. The biggest contrast between the strategies in both situations is that a lot of sustainable legislative measures have been adopted against the IRA with only one major legislation being implemented against the Tamil Tigers. Bibliography Bjorgo, Tore. Root causes of terrorism: myths, reality and ways forward.New York: Ro utledge, 2005. Brenner, Edgar H and Yonah Alexander. Uks Legal Responses to Terrorism. New York: Routledge, 2003. Derkins, Susie. The Irish Republican Army. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, 2003. Dos Santos, Anne Noronha. Military intervention and secession in South Asia: the cases of Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Kashmir, and Punjab. New York: Anne Dos Santos, 2007. Geraghty, Tony. The Irish War: the hidden conflict between the IRA and British Intelligence. New York: JHU Press, 2000. Houen, Alex. Terrorism and modern literature, from Joseph Conrad to Ciaran Carson.New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. Martin, Gus. Essentials of Terrorism: Concepts and Controversies. New York: SAGE, 2010. Rabasa, Angel. Beyond al-Qaeda: The outer rings of the terrorist universe. New York: Rand Corporation, 2006. Shanahan, Timothy. The provisional Irish Republican Army and the morality of terrorism. Salt Lake City: Edinburgh University Press, 2009. Sluka, Jeffrey A. Death squad: the anthropology of state terror. Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, 2000. Wallis, Geoff, Mark Connolly and Margaret Greenwood. Rough guide to Ireland. Dublin City: Rough Guides, 2003.

Pillsbury Case Marketing

Mike Johnson Pillsbury Case Beth Gallant 1) What are the challenges that Ivan Guillen faces in his role as marketing manager of the RBG business? As marketing manager of the RBG business, Ivan Guillen must propose a solution to repair Pillsbury refrigerated baked goods (RGB)’s business performance. Since the refrigerated-cookie product line consisted of 62% of RBG’s unit sales and over 75% of the company’s profits, Guillen found it appropriate to alter this segment in the market.Proposing this idea to GMCC would require Guillen to consider all the challenges he faces. Guillen will have to discover a strategy to increase household penetration since it has fallen to 24% in the past few years. The lack in market penetration has caused a miniscule growth of only one percent in the past three years. In order for Guillen to increase the penetration percent, he will need to reevaluate the â€Å"Kisses† commercial. The assessment of this advertisement revealed the lack of effectiveness for brand recognition and relevance. Introducing.Also, when reviewing the â€Å"Purchase Drivers In Canada As Compared To The US† it is apparent that consumers are concerned with the quality of the dough, the flavors offered, and the amount of cookies offered. Either Guillen is going to need to draw up a marketing plan that addresses these issues are alter the cookie in some way. Lastly, Guillen will have to conduct marketing research to understand the difference between Canadian and US markets. The â€Å"Kisses† commercial was adopted from the US and slightly changed for the Canadian market.Seeing as it failed to generate the projected annual growth of five to seven percent, there is a clear difference between the Canadian and US advertising markets. 2) What are consumer insights (in general)? What types of business challenges can benefit from consumer insights? How are these insights obtained? Consumer insight is when a marketer researches unid entified/unmet needs in the marketplace or a new/better way to satisfy an existing need. The job of the marketer is to analyze the information and capitalize on the identified need.There are two main types of research, quantitative and qualitative. Quantitative research revolves around the measurement and analysis of relationships between variables. Random sampling techniques, like questionnaires and surveys, provide marketers with results that can be generalized to a larger population. Qualitative research, on the other hand, takes on a more understanding and conceptual approach. Through focus groups, marketers can gather an in-depth understanding of consumer behavior.The most common type of research used at GMCC are the focus groups. Focus groups are where a small group of people have a moderated discussion about a marketing-oriented issue. The group then summarizes its opinions and eventually comes to a solution they find fit. Summarizing all of the opinions of the focus groups c an aid in new product development, brand messaging, and promotional campaigns. Another type of marketing research GMCC uses are concept tests. Concept tests are commonly used to improve new product development and develop brand messaging.Concept tests provide an image of the product, pricing information, instructions, and key benefits to a consumer in verbal or visual form. The consumer then quantitatively evaluates the product by stating their degree of purchase intent. Lastly, GMCC also performs creative testing in order to evaluate the effectiveness of ads. When an add is put through the creative test, they are being judged on their purchase intent, relevance, and brand linkage scores. Having a powerful add that influences the consumer can significantly increase brand recognition.This â€Å"Kisses† commercial that Pillsbury had launched in Canada did not meet its expectations due to the lack of creative testing. 3) Given the key learnings from the usage and attitude study on pp 6-7 of the case, what are the corresponding implications for what actions the team should take? (Format this into a chart of key learning, implication, action) Key Learning| Implication| Action| Scratch baking is the dominant method of baking cookies in Canada. In Canada, 56% bake only from scratch. In the US, use of refrigerated dough is the most popular baking method. The refrigerated dough market does not seem to have a strong presence in Canada. It seems as if people are either unaware of refrigerated dough or they just do not prefer it. | Either research how to make refrigerated dough more appealing to Canadian consumers or ignore the Canadian market and focus on the US market (since it has a stronger demand for refrigerated dough). | Top four purchase drivers are the same in both countries. Convenience and taste are at the top of both lists. The quality of the cookie dough is not valued as highly in Canada and kids have more of an influence in driving purchases. Clearly there is a big gap between the quality perception in Canada and the United States. Canadian consumers are implying that they want a higher quality product and a product that is more convenient for children. | Propose a marketing strategy that addresses the quality of the cookie or targets children. Since children have a stronger influence in Canadian markets than US markets, reaching out to them could increase brand recognition and sales. | Both users and lapsed users perceive refrigerated cookie dough as convenient.Lapsed agree that RBG cookies are convenient, but non-users do not rate them as convenient. | Lapsed and current users agree on convenience, leaving marketers to believe this is actually true. Non-users, however, are not receiving this message. Non-users in Canada are not as aware of the product as they should be. | Reaching out to non-users through ads and commercials can increase the convenience recognition for RBG cookies. If non-users considered the cookies convenien t they would be more likely to purchase them. | 4) Why did Guillen and his team conduct the in-home and discovery workshops?To find out what? Conducting a qualitative research was proposed in order to gain a better understanding of consumer perceptions, beliefs, and feelings towards RBG cookies. The usage and attitude study portrayed the differences between Canada and the United States, whereas this study will determine which aspects of the baking experience are most appealing to consumers. The ethnography study RBG conducted, In-home Immersions, sought to gain an in-depth understanding of personal motivations and actions towards a particular product. RBG entered the homes of two lapsed users and wo brand champions while the consumers were baking the good. During the visit, the marketers hoped to develop an understanding of the consumer-brand relationship, what surrounds it, the environment around it, and the bigger-picture influences. For example, RBG found out that when it came to feeding the family, the solutions had to be easy, quick, and pleasing to children. It also showed the sense of happiness that arises when baking occurs. Knowing this information could help propose the idea of implementing comfortable implications in future ads.The discovery workshop was similar to the ethnography study, except the study group consisted of 18-27 consumers working together. This comfortable environment allows consumers to discuss opportunities and criticize issues of the product. 6) What actions would you suggest that Guillen and his team take? a. What should their value proposition be? b. Which consumers should they target? Why? c. What should the brand messaging be? Guillen has numerous tough decisions ahead of him when proposing his new marketing strategy.However, Guillen conducted a multitudinous of studies to provide him some insight on what an appropriate solution would be. In terms of the product itself, there are many alterations that could be made. Children have more of an influence in Canadian markets than in US markets. Providing kid themed offerings could increase brand recognition and demand from children. Simple ideas such as adding famous cartoon characters or sports themes could sway a child to want RBG cookies. Also, adding new flavors/types of cookies could increase the width of customers.Providing healthier options, dietary restrictions (gluten free, low sodium), and new flavors would reach out to more consumers. Expanding new product development would also be benefit to brand recognition. Providing Pillsbury baking tools like cookie cutters, timers, oven mitts, and aprons would cause the experience of baking to be more enjoyable. Another recommendation to Guillen would be to re-new and strengthen relationships with consumers. In doing so, Guillen should stress the nostalgic and experiential aspect.Through the in-home study, it has been concluded that baking introduces a sense of happiness in the kitchen. Having this percepti on instilled in a consumers mind may persuade them to purchase the refrigerated dough for themselves or as a gift. Having a celebrity spokesperson influence consumers can have a positive impact as well. In previous commercials, RBG cookies solely relied on the Pillsbury doughboy. Although he is a very recognizable character, maybe the consumers do not find him as trustworthy as they would a celebrity.The celebrity could stress the easiness, convenience, and â€Å"homemade† feeling RBG cookies provide. In-store display and packaging also has a significant impact on the consumer. Having a brand portrayed in a positive way gives the consumer the feeling that he or she is making the right choice. Research showed that most purchases of refrigerated dough were out of impulse. Sales can simply increase by strategically placing the product to locations where consumers frequently buy on impulse. Increasing the visibility with the doughboy logo would have the consumers more likely thin king about the product.If the cookies are going to be strategically placed and visible, then they are going to need to have attractive packaging. Offering trial packages with three different flavors would also allow consumers to have the opportunity to try out new flavors. Offering different serving sizes and holiday themes also expands the horizon of consumer tastes and preferences. In the short run, investing in social media, advertisement, and a spokesperson is most beneficial action to take. It is a quick opportunity for consumers to be persuaded into purchasing the object.However, in the long run it would be most beneficial to introduce new product flavors and healthy and dietary restrictive options. By renewing and strengthening its relationship with existing and lapsed consumers, Pillsbury can increase household penetration. Changing the perception of the product in the minds of the consumer from food to family activity/gift can influence the non-users to sample the product. Lastly, acknowledging new 21st century dynamics of healthy lifestyles and smaller servings can appeal to new market segments and eventually increase sales.

Immigration Act of 1924 Essay

From the late 1800s to mid 1900s there were many Acts and restrictions for foreigners to come into the United States. The Immigration Act of 1924 was very important because it had many effects on immigration and in US population. There were three factors that probably influenced Congress to pass the Immigration Act of 1924. These three factors were due to ethnic control, economic issues, and political control. First of all, Americans wanted to stay â€Å"white†, they did not wanted aliens to come and mix with their culture to produce an inferior race. â€Å"Many of these alien people are temperamentally and racially unfitted for easy assimilation† (Document F). In other words they were inferior to Americans, their race did not fit with the one of Americans. Also, they were not â€Å"temperamentally† capable to live in American society. â€Å"Thank God we have in America†¦ the largest percentage of†¦ pure unadulterated Anglo-Saxon stock; certainly the greatest of any nation in the Nordic breed† (Document I), said Ellison D. smith in 1924. Again in this phrase we can find Americans finding themselves superior to any other type of race. The same year in which the Immigration Act was passed Mr. Keaton from the Department of Adjutant of the American Legion of California wrote to John Raker in the House of Representatives in Washington, DC that he was â€Å"standing behing†¦ 100 per cent in the fight to make this a white man’s country† (Document G). Once again we can find proof that one of the most important reasons why the Immigration Act of 1924 was passed was because the United States wanted to have control over ethnicity. Secondly, Congress had to study very well how would immigrants affect US economy. The United States Bureau of the Census shows a table from 1919 to 1925 showing national and personal income during those years. In here we can se the sharpest declines between 1920 and 1921. By 1924, the year in which the Immigration Act of 1924 was enforced, economy was getting better, but not fast enough, and so they thought immigrants were affecting economy. (Document D). â€Å"There is not now the relative advantage for the peasant of England, Germany, or Scandinavia†¦ As regards the new immigrants†¦the one great reason for their coming is that they believe that on the wage which they can receive in America they can establish a higher standard that the  one to which they have been accustomed† (Document C). Congress was limiting more Southern Europeans than Northern because they were poorer and could not bring any benefits to the country. â€Å"We need three generation to educate, to crossbreed with Western strains and to assimilate a large number of those that we have here now† (Document F). This suggests that inferiority is would not last forever but the bulk of the argument indicates clearly that the effort to â€Å"Americanize† the new, particularly the â€Å"new immigrants† will exhaust America’s resources had ultimately prove impossible. Thirdly, having political control was very important also. Congress felt that by allowing people from different countries with different government will try to change the way America was governed. For example, communism was something Congress was afraid. It was the time when Bulsobism was trying to infest the US with its communism. The US was afraid that in those immigrants a group of Bulsobist could sneak in introduce bad habits to Americans. Philadelphia inquirer, 1920 (document E), shows a communist immigrant under the US flag trying to get it through the United States boundaries. Concluding, we find proof, once again, of the fears that the United States has and this is why American Congress takes drastic caution towards immigrants who could affect the US. â€Å"Under the act of 1924 the number of each nationality who may be admitted annually is limited to 2 per cent of the population of such nationality resident in the United States according to the census of 1890† (Document A). This Act was mostly influenced by the factors of economy, ethnic and political control.

Existentialism and Phenomenology Research Paper

Existentialism and Phenomenology - Research Paper Example    It includes work of many philosophers who are co-related to the concept of the existentialism. These include Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Jaspers, Sartre and Merleau-Ponty. It also includes the works of the less popular philosophers namely Paul Tillich, Keiji Nishitani, Colin Wilson, de Unamuno, Marcel, de Beauvoir, Hazel Barnes, Martin Buber and Viktor Frankl. And lastly it has the works of those who have the concept of existentialism embedded in their literary genres who are Beckett, Borges, Pinter, Heller, Roth, Turgenev, Dostoyevsky, Hesse, Rilke, Kafka, Camus, Marquez and Miller. This essay will talk about the philosophical beliefs of Nietzsche and Karl Jaspers. Nietzsche was not in favor of immorality and he was not even against morality, he initially thought that life is devoid of any objective meaning, value, or purpose .His basic area of interest was the Judeo-Christian morality. He was in favor was aristocratic and independent master morality. Nietzsche acknowled ged fate and fatalism, and was also in favor of self-realization. He was struggling with Schopenhauer’s glumness. He basically stressed a lot on stylizing our character in order to become what we are, it is important to mould our character in a way which depicts our originality. Nietzsche is popular for his inventions and his one invention which gained a lot of popularity although it just appeared in one book was the â€Å"Ubermensch† which is also a substitute and hateful last man. Ultimately, both the  Ubermensch  and the spiritualized will to Power that he embodies symbolize passion and the love of life. Throughout the book we can see some points which holds importance in the eyes of the philosophers, for Nietzsche of the belief is described as "The greatest recent event- that "God is dead" that the belief in the Christian god has become unbelievable -is already beginning to cast its first shadows over Europe." (Solomon 1974 p 67)  It clearly depicts that the European culture is no longer placing God in the center of thing they are doing , he is saying that the value and the importance of God is decreasing in Europe and that we are cast adrift , even if we live in a world of denial. He later on in the book talks about his reaction to this as "Indeed we philosophers and "free spirits" feel, when we hear the news that "the old god is dead", as if a new dawn shone on us, our heart over flows with gratitude, amazement, premonitions, expectations." He here is saying that with the death of god, Christianity form of anti strength and the way value is created has been eliminated and there are no particular ways of replacing it. Nietzsche in the book also talks about his point of view regarding the consciousness and its affect on men, he says that.†That consciousness does not really belong to mans individual existence but rather to his social or herd nature." (Solomon 1974 p 71)  Here Nietzsche stresses on the point where life holds the b asic value. He talks about the social values and other worldly values; he is denying the existence of other heaven or society without classes. He wrote about the way people should live a life and the decisions they should take regarding their lives and the way they spend their life. His way of leading life was not the traditional one which involved the existence of morals because for him he was not sure about the right and wrong. He

Over Representation of Learning-Disabled Students in the Public Research Paper

Over Representation of Learning-Disabled Students in the Public Education System - Research Paper Example The education of learning –disabled students is a big problem in many countries. The question of whether these students should be permitted to educate along with the normal students or in separate classes is a big question. Some psychologists and educationalists argue that learning-disabled students should be educated along with the normal students in order to avoid any feeling of discrimination. However, many others are of the view that separate classes are required for educating learning-disabled students properly since the educational methods used for the normal students may not be suitable for learning-disabled students. Because of the above contrasting views, the current public education system gives overrepresentation to the educational needs of the learning disabled students.   Overrepresentation of learning disabled students can result in the creation of stereotypes. Stereotyping is perceived as a big problem in contemporary society. â€Å"Stereotypes are generalizations, or assumptions that people make about the characteristics of all members of a group based on an image (often wrong) about what people in that group are like† (Inaccurate and Overly Hostile Stereotypes, 1998). Stereotyping or classification of people based on their peculiarities can create both positive and negative changes. It is easier to create stereotypes when there is a clear distinction between people which can be easily recognized. In the educational system, stereotyping may cause the destruction of the self-esteem of the students. Students always compare themselves with the peers. If they feel that they are some way inferior to others, their self-esteem may not develop properly. In fact, uniforms and other measures are implemented in schools in order to eliminate the possib ility of the creation of unwanted feelings in the minds of the students.

Reading response 4 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Reading response 4 - Assignment Example However, when a learner is giving a speech, then errors in using language forms can lead to confusion. The authors have also pointed that â€Å"the identity of the researcher has an impact on the speech of second language learners† (Bayley and Tarone, 2013, p.43). For instance, a L2 learner uses more native accent in their second language speech when interviewed by their native people than by foreigners. It has also been stated that people living in a community have the same style of variations in their language. This theory is not clear since each individual may have difference in variation degrees. The authors have also used Liu’s longitudinal study of L2 variation on a five year old Chinese immigrant â€Å"Bob† to Australia (Bayley and Tarone, 2013, p.46). It was observed that in his developmental stage of learning English, Bob used more complex sentences when conversing with friends and peers, and simpler sentences when conversing with teachers. It proved tha t Bob’s L2 acquisition is faster in informal environment. In the fourth chapter which is on sociocultural theory (SCT), the author Lantolf has said that â€Å"although SCT is a general theory of human mental development, it has been productively extended to include the investigation of second language development† (Lantolf, 2013, p.57). The basic concept of this theory, according to the author, is how a speaker masters â€Å"narrative performance through private speech† (Lantolf, 2013, p.57). Therefore, it can be observed that the level of second language acquisition does not depend only on internal ability of the learner, but also the external interactions that have a major impact on the learner’s ability to learn. The major question explored in this chapter is the extent to which an individual uses his second language for cognitive thinking. It has been found from various

Buyer Behaviour Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Buyer Behaviour - Case Study Example The youth today is not lured by goods that are merely expensive. They want value for money and they purchase luxury goods for self-identity and well-being. Purchasing certain branded luxury goods help them to display their own tastes and values. For some it serves to fulfill the emotional needs where they see luxury as an indulgence of their senses. Luxury goods are premium goods with high quality products, aesthetic design supported by excellent service, purchased by people from the higher income bracket (Cheng, 2006). In the earlier days the term ‘luxury’ was applied to products that were rare and scarce and available to a small segment of the people. The luxury items were out of reach of the ordinary people and considered rare. Today the luxury product market has increased manifold. The young are spontaneously aware of the luxury brands with the men focusing on cars and motorbikes and women’s focus on beauty and food. These reflect the desires and fantasies tha t are conditioned by the social environment and associations with well-being.Interpretation of the word ‘luxury’ depends upon their socio-economic background. The youth greatly represent the hedonistic effect in their attitude towards luxury items. This implies that they are not influenced by group norms. On the other hand they purchase luxury goods that give them self-fulfillment. They look for exclusive benefits and if products create an emotional value for consumers it represents that the product has been beneficial. The emotional value that the youth look for include pleasure, excitement and aesthetic beauty. They indulge in luxury items as it gives them a sense of well-being and self-respect and would also go the extent of using their credit cards for them. They prefer these luxuries against bringing up a child while the elders indulged in luxury only after their basic responsibilities were fulfilled (Hamilton, 2004). The elders seek more than value when considerin g purchasing a luxury brand. They try to balance the product’s tangible and intangible value with price. They assess discretionary purchases as either dispensable or indispensable, based on more deeply held core values (Salzman, 2009). While the youth focus on increasing their influence, power and wealth, the elders seek new priorities driven the fundamentals of human development. The traditional materialistic values are less important for the elders. The elders look for self-actualization in the luxury brand which as per Maslow’s hierarchy of needs comes only after all the other needs have been satisfied. Culture has a strong impact on the purchasing decisions. The youth are well aware of the luxury brands in areas like perfumes, clothing, fashion, leather goods, accessories, costume jewelry but not so in tableware. However they are very conscious of the modern sports cars and other different models of cars that emerge everyday. The attitude of the youth towards cars has definitely undergone a sea change from the 1980s. Marketing communications used by car

Case Study( Paramedics assessment) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Case Study( Paramedics assessment) - Essay Example However, it should be realized that this is not the sole cause of chest pain, and that it may be due to â€Å"classical angina† (Devonshire Lodge Practice, 2011) whose symptoms generally appear during, or immediately after exercise and subside after resting. However, it must also be said that where someone complains of â€Å"discomfort across the center of the chest coming on during exercise that stops on rest and then GTN [glycerine trinitride] tablets relieve the pain within 5 minutes he/she is going to have ischemic heart disease almost without doubt† (Devonshire Lodge Practice, 2011). ... It is hoped that the task will be made easier by paramedic assessment, which should be thorough enough to eliminate many uncertainiies. That is why a systematic stepwise series of protocols such as those advocated by Domanovits et al. (2002) and Anderson (2002) is essential. 2. Case History of paramedic’s assessment of ischemic chest pain Complete History & Assessment of Patient Presenting Complaint Chest Pain Allergies None Communicable Diseases None PHx- Past History O/A – On Arrival O/E – On Examination Med’n- Medication Patient’s Name: William Templeton: Age 57 Address: 12 Andover Terrace, STAINES Bucks. SL4 3TR O/A - Emergency services called by patient’s family at 0956 hrs, arrived at patient’s home 1015 hrs..William, a white male, complained of severe chest pain, breathlessness, nausea and dizziness. He also appeared pale and slightly sweaty. PHx – Patient was normally in good health, a non-smoker, moderate drinker and at e healthy meals at home. He also took regular exercise. His grandfather had been gassed in WWI and his grandmother had suffered intermittent asthma attacks in her later years. As to childhood illnesses, William reported German measles, two bouts of chicken pox, and tuberculosis at the age of 6, which had affected stomach and neck glands and also the lungs. Chicken pox and TB raised alarm signals since the former could have returned as shingles (pain comes some time before the rash, and lung damage may have contributed to ischemic heart disease. O/E – The assessment procedures followed the guidelines established by the York Region Base Hospital Program (Anderson, 2002). For clarity and consistency during patient questioning the following mnemonic

Public Policy Implementation Theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Public Policy Implementation Theory - Essay Example Hill and Hupe stated that oftentimes, the informational bases are basically incomplete, and these cannot be totally identified and revealed ex ante. The main sources of this plurality are to be found in the combination of the agents' practices and of the beneficiaries' individual situations which goes against the top-down rules that major institutions strike to impose. In effect, the assessment aspect to be done by local actors cannot be specified prior to the action on the basis of predefined categories. Hence, it is inherently important to take into consideration the black box of implementation, where indigenous informational bases emerge, either as routine actions in order to support the outer informational bases of judgement in justice, or so as to change the sense of action (Hill and Hupe 2002). The studies of policy implementation are done by those who have an interest either in political science, or in public administration and public policy. This assertion stems from the fact that a core understanding of implementation as an inherent portion of the public policy process must gather and connect theories from these fields of knowledge. The Hill and Hupe reference material basically summarizes the implementation research and link it to som... There is an enormous and diverse research literature on public policy implementation research. However, the major problem is the process of extracting knowledge from the available information that is already documented. Given the phenomenal growth in the implementation research literature, the need for knowledge extraction is acute. The procedures and techniques have been developed for the past 25 years. The time to initiate efforts toward synthesizing the policy implementation literature is now.Another area of concern in public policy is the translation of a new policy into local behavior. This is also a major concern for the implementation literature, which tackles change from an administrative perspective. The concept of an implementation deficit implies that the introduction of a new policy also signals the start of a complicated process of effecting genuine change in behaviour (Hargrove, 1985). The key questions posed there are: why is successful implementation difficult to achi eve How are unique changes in behavioural patterns attained after the introduction of a new policyIn related studies, the national government has been seen as the policy formulator and local governments the implementers (Li, 2005). Hence, change failed to take place either because there is a dearth of good ideas from the national government (due to incapable policymakers, evolving power struggles among politicians and party members), or because the ideas are not implemented to the lower levels of the state hierarchy. Policy implementation had failed because local agents pursue their personal goals and self-interests and monitoring from the national leaders had failed. The Hill and Hupe argument

Second World War Essay Example for Free

Second World War Essay The First World War was truly a significant event in history. The tension that began in Europe evolved into a global conflict which lasted for four long years. The war claimed the lives of both soldiers and civilians, and resulted in the massive destruction of property. After the war ended, the countries involved undertook measures which sought to avoid another global conflict. One of those measures was the drafting of several peace settlements, including the Versailles Treaty. This agreement punished Germany and made it solely responsible for the occurrence of the war. Unfortunately, the treaty caused bitterness from the Germans and paved the way for another world war to occur. Coincidentally, it was the Second World War which resolved the unaddressed issues of the first Great War. Indeed, the Versailles Treaty caused the occurrence of the Second World War, which ended the problems of the First World War. The Versailles Treaty considered Germany to be the only nation liable to the occurrence of the First World War. It must be noted that Germany did initiate the establishment of the alliance system, which guaranteed increased conflict in Europe (Perry, 1989). As an outcome of its triumph in the Franco-Prussian War, Germany acquired the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine. In an attempt to secure these former French territories and prevent France from regaining them, the Chancellor of Germany Otto von Bismarck allied with Italy and Austria-Hungary. Germany continued its aggression after Bismarck was removed from office. When William II assumed the throne, Germany demanded more territory and began to increase its naval strength. However, Germany was not the only nation to blame for the First World War. In fact, Serbia was responsible for starting the war. It was a shooting incident which triggered the widespread conflict: a Serbian named Gavrilo Princip shot Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary and his wife (Heyman, 1997). Austria sought to attack Serbia in return, and turned to Germany for assistance. Hence, the starting point of the First World War was the conflict between Austria and Serbia (Perry, 1989). The end of the First World War brought about several attempts at the restoration of peace, but it was prevented by intentions of the affected parties. Prior to the end of the First World War, U.  S. President Woodrow Wilson had already drafted a program for peace which he presented in Congress through the â€Å"Fourteen Points† speech (Perry, 1989). One of the major points he suggested in his speech was â€Å"peace without victory† (as cited in Perry, 1989, p. 647). Wilson wanted the other countries to practice fairness towards Germany, for he thought that severely penalizing the nation would only force it to avenge their losses. He simply wanted a fair settlement which would guarantee improved foreign relations between the victors and the defeated countries. Unfortunately, Wilson’s hopes ran against the bitter feelings which were developed during the war. The European Allies suffered massive losses, which in turn caused hatred between countries. Among all Allies, France was most affected by the First World War; majority of the battles which happened in the western front took place in French territory. While more than three million French citizens were wounded, more than a million French soldiers died in the war. Hence, it was to be expected that France desired severe punishment for Germany and sought to be compensated for its damaged properties (Perry, 1989). The Versailles Treaty did not guarantee fair treatment towards Germany, as it imposed harsh sanctions on the defeated nation. The settlement was evidently disadvantageous for Germany; it was created to decrease their power and territory. The treaty was beneficial for France; not only did it regain Alsace-Lorraine, but it also obtained control over the Saar coal mines (Halsall, 1944). Germany also lost territory to Poland and Britain (Perry, 1989). In addition, the Versailles treaty significantly reduced the military capability of Germany. The agreement required the German army to be limited to 100,000 people, all of which were to be volunteers (Halsall, 1944). Germany was also asked to demilitarize their territories in both sides of Rhine River. More importantly, the treaty demanded Germany to pay other nations due to the damages which resulted from the war. Germany was supposed to pay $33 billion worth of reparations, an amount only determined two years after the nation signed the treaty (Perry, 1989). In general, the Versailles Treaty blamed Germany for the First World War and severely punished it as a result. Consequently, the Germans were angered by the conditions of the Versailles Treaty and provoked them to start yet another world war. Germany was enraged by the demands for reparations; they thought that the amount given for them to pay exceeded the nation’s financial capacity (Perry, 1989). Germans also disagreed with treaty on grounds of being solely responsible for the outcome of the war. They upheld the belief that Germany must not be singled out, for all the nations involved in the war must be held accountable for its consequences. After the First World War, Germany became a part of the League of Nations, the organization which was created for the purpose of developing peace and cooperation between countries. The country also participated in other postwar activities directed at maintaining peace. Despite these efforts, majority of the Germans were still not ready for peace. Most of them remained bitter towards the Versailles Treaty. The animosity was derived from humiliation after defeat; after all, the settlement disarmed their nation, reduced their territories and required them to pay a great sum (Bergen, 2002). The Weimar government attempted to modify the treaty through peaceful means. When Adolf Hitler came into power, he completely undermined the Versailles Treaty (Perry, 1989). With Hitler as leader, Germany violated the Versailles Treaty and started the path to the Second World War. Hitler quickly broke the conditions of the treaty; he disregarded the limitations imposed on the country. He immediately increased the army to 550,000 men and rearmed it (Sulzberger, 1985). Hitler also sent troops in Rhineland; this action was clearly a violation of the demilitarization in the area as demanded in the treaty. In what seemed to be a response to the loss of lands due to the Versailles Treaty, Hitler sought to expand German territory by uniting all German-speaking people (Sulzberger, 1985). All of the aforementioned aggressive acts committed by Hitler sparked another global conflict and eventually resulted in what everybody feared: the Second World War. Ironically, the problems of the First World War were resolved by the Second World War. One of the problems of the Great War was self-determination, the principle wherein national groups choose their own political state (Perry, 1989). The reason behind Archduke Ferdinand’s assassination was the Serbs’ desire to unite all Slavic peoples. President Wilson included the principle of self-determination in his â€Å"Fourteen Points,† yet it proved to be problematic. Hitler even used the principle to invade other countries. After the Second World War, self-determination was no longer proposed. Instead, the Atlantic Charter drafted by U. S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill proposed the self-government to peoples. Meanwhile, the restoration of peace was also a dilemma after the First World War. The nations tried to restore peace through various peace settlements, including the Versailles Treaty. However, the treaty exacerbated the war problem. After the Second World War, there was already an international organization established to maintain peace among countries. Rather than make individual peace treaties to each Axis power, the Allied countries sought peace as the United Nations. This move proved to be more effective in restoring global peace and order (Perry, 1989). The First World War was a genuinely significant experience. The armed conflict was caused and characterized by tension, so there were many efforts to avoid yet another war from taking place. The Versailles Treaty was a peace settlement, but it did not contribute to the restoration of peace. Rather, it caused the Second World War by provoking Germany to seek revenge over its sanctions. Fortunately, with the occurrence of the Second World War, the problems of the Great War were settled.

Globalization Strategies In Hollywood

Globalization Strategies In Hollywood Hollywood acts an important role in globalization and Americanization. Hollywood movies not only create the profit of economics, but also produce the global fun which is a form of Americanization. Meanwhile, Hollywood regards Chinese film industry as the most potential international film market. Obviously, Hollywood is drawing support from the strength of the US economics to extend market. After China has participated in WTO, Chinese film and the culture sovereign is confronted to the challenge. As a result, taking Hollywood an example would study the culture globalization and culture Americanization. Furthermore, it could benefit from successful Hollywood movies to find out the strategies of Americanization in order to develop the vitality of Chinese film industry. Current situation of Chinese style movies in Hollywood From Luise Rainer who patted locusts in movie The Good Earth in 1937 to Ingrid Bergman who put on bamboo hat in The Inner of the Sixth Happiness in 1958, and Tom Cruise had jumped down from a high building in Shanghai in Mission Impossible à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã‚ ¢, Chinese culture has affected Hollywood for more than seventy years. In 2008, Kung Fu Panda was coming. Obviously, it utilized more Chinese styles, but the whole film was produced by western teams and Hollywood patterns. Kung Fu Panda occurred in China, where have high mountains and lofty hills, indeed, it is like a traditional Chinese landscape paintings. Moreover, the roles in this film are also attracted audiences, such as the leading charactera lovely panda Bo and others like monkey, snake, tiger and red-crowned crane. All of these elements constitute this film which possesses the romantic charm with WuShu. It happens that there is a similar case, 2012 has showed in 2009. Some of the scenes have taken place in China. Due to the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army and civilians, human beings in the world could be rescued. Even though it is a story, it is no doubt that Chinese style is increasingly significant than before. From this view, Chinese style has two meanings which contain nature sightseeing and human flavor. On one hand, the wilderness in the west and the views which is charming and graceful in south of the Yangtze River constitute the nature sightseeing in Hollywood movies. On the other hand, from some westerns view, swordsmen films represent the typical model of Chinese culture. Therefore, in terms of Chinese style, the human flavor is another central issue of Hollywood. As some researcher has pointed out that film is like a specific culture product (Abercrombie and Longhurst, 2007), in fact, besides its material properties, films draw support from sounds, images, pictures and languages, these elements produce the symbolic signs and ideologies. Meanwhile, it connects with culture fields because films might shape to a sort of power which relates to collective values of society and the politic fields which includes culture intension. Obviously, the globalization in Hollywood has impacted Chinese domestic film industry. More importantly, it distributes American commercial, culture, politics, lifestyle and values to worldwide. Finally, Americanization will affect culture identity in order to achieve the future of world film industry. Due to that, the topic of Hollywood and Chinese film is emerging. Some concepts Globalization and Americanization In the previous articles, the concept of globalization was explained by which meant the expansion of European countries, thereby, achieving the global economics integration (Modelski, 2008). At present, this concept is quoted steadily which states that globalization represents a new phenomenon (King, 1991). Indeed, economic globalization is the core of globalization, and it consists of the multi- concept such as politics, culture, technology, military, security, ideology, lifestyle and the values. Americanization is not a new phenomenon. Even though Stead (1902) has stated that the concept of Americanization for more than hundred years, the real Americanization should be a kind of phenomenon in the middle of twentieth century. Storey (2005) brought up the features of Americanization is people who live all over the world drink Coco-cola every day, eat McDonalds, wear American style or the clothes which are made by America, see Hollywood movies and watch NBA, save and make use of dollars, speak American English, pay more attention to America no matter politics, economics and entertainments. Besides that, Americans export their values, ideas, policy and weapons to worldwide. After all, these features are only existed in studies; in fact, most of people all over the world even interested in Americanization. Above all, globalization is a kind of objective process; it describes the development of the world, as a result, it has undergone a deeply transformation. Although after 1990s, globalization has little changed by Americanization, the characters would not be altered. Americanization just limits the effect of communication in terms of American popular culture, in other words, it might transform the direction of culture in some countries which affected by American. However, Americanization could not completely influence. From this point of view, globalization and Americanization are two completely different notions. The former one is objective, and the latter one is a description of tendency which is in process. Culture globalization and culture Americanization Culture globalization is a kind of tendency which accompanied by the development of association. It seems that different culture exchange and culture identity has increased deeply, thereby, shaping the culture consistency which has the similar value and lifestyle. However, Crane (2002, p.2) stated that the best known model of culture globalization is cultural imperialism theory. Indeed, culture globalization has expressed two aspects (Gang, 2002). On one hand, at present, the content and the space of culture communication is increasingly widely, the acceptance of new culture and traditional one has risen gradually. From the previous development of human beings, due to the limitation of regions, communication of different groups were not active. However, accompanied by the technology and transportation, people in different places are more closed than before. In other word, people are not only confining the trade, but also developing religions and cultures. In general, the culture betw een different groups has already not restricted by region, meanwhile, the level of communication has enhanced. Therefore, globalization is concentrated on the phenomenon of cross-cultural exchange. On the other hand, every nation culture and region culture would reach an overlapping consensus. As I mentioned before, previous human culture had developed with geographical isolation, due to that, the culture difference is obviously. Firstly, globalization brings the circulation of capital, and then different nations would crash by different culture and values. These changes make people possess a wider horizon. As a result, people would adopt and improve their domestic culture, and they would tolerant with other different culture. In this process of seeking common ground while reserving differences, some advantages would be absorbed into the domestic culture system. By contrast, culture Americanization is a sort of phenomenon which makes American mass communication spreads to different countries in order to converge on domestic culture to American culture. It seems that this phenomenon tries to transform a multicultural society to a single culture. Compare to the definition of culture globalization, culture Americanization has changed a tendency which shapes some universal cultural characters, such as the assimilation of values and lifestyles into some specific tendency of American. However, the society of American has existed one kind of ideology. In general, due to the attraction of American culture, it has shaped a new former of global culture which concentrates on American values. Some researchers have upheld this point urgently and expect to achieve their wishes. Charles Krauthammer who is a columnist in Washington Post has written that it has no global mass culture before, therefore, the present culture is forming, and it is the specific American mass culture (Krauthammer, 2006). Hall (1991) argued that globalization is Americanization. It is determined by film and other culture terms. All of these points belong to mass culture, and American has the advantages rather than other countries. In fact, except American, there is no countries would like to become the reproduction of American culture. Culture Americanization has hit the point of researchers who want to product their domestic culture out of America. Some of them have overstated the influence of Americanization so that people are boycotting the cultural Americanization. Especially, few people have distinguished the concept of culture globalization and culture Americanization. Therefore, only understanding the basic notions of globalization and Americanization could study the American phenomenon, such as Hollywood more deeply. Successful reasons why Chinese style is so popular in Hollywood Kung Fu Panda has won the successful achievement no matter in China or in America. Audiences are intoxicated with the Chinese styles. Due to the shape, spirit and meaning, plus the creation, Kung Fu Panda is so popular in China and all over the world. Consequently, Hollywood producers have concentrated on Chinese style in order to attract audiences to appreciate Hollywood films. People feel that the distance of different culture has cut down. More specifically, someone has pointed out that the Hollywood production has overstepped the understanding of domestic culture for Chinese. The reason why Hollywood captured the marrow of Chinese culture is that Hollywood has developed the strategies in China. The Chinese film market in Hollywood eyes Due to China has amount of populations and the economics has grown, China has acted an important role in current society. Indeed, China possesses a significant position in terms of politics, economics and culture. When China wanted to join in WTO in 1999 ¼Ã…’film is an important topic. Because China always has limited foreign investment to enter the domestic film market, America expected Chinese government to admit more America film entering into China. Besides that, some America film company could invest and build new modern cinemas in China. On November 15th, 1999, China and America has reached the agreement which permits foreign company which invests 50 percent stocks engaging the cinema buildings and managements after three years. In fact, from 1920s, Hollywood had entered into China. During 1930-40s, Hollywood film had occupied 75 percent of Chinese market. More apparently, Hollywood was opened by Cecil B.Demille, Ernes Lubitscht and Mickey Mouse. To be honest, the direct result is that Hollywood has cultivated amounts of audiences. Most audiences in these year liked Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks rather than Hu Die or Jin Yan. More interesting, some fans assorted Chinese and Hollywood stars in pairs. However, at that time, some directors also imitated the Hollywood. In 1934, Han Langen acted Song of the Fishermen, from that, he worked with Yin Xiucen so that copied Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Until 1949, because China has embarked on an independent, self-reliance road, Hollywood films were stooped. Therefore, Hollywood faded out gradually the entertainment in China. After 1980s, when the reform and open policy has suggested in China, meanwhile, with the relationship between China and the whole world h as increasingly closed than before, Chinese culture industry brought the moment for Hollywood, and then Hollywood paid attention to China again. With joined into WTO and one fifth percent of population in the world, even though there are some limitations of laws, cultures and ideology, the Hollywood producers are even addicted to China. As for America, the culture industry in China has not been developed at all. Because China culture industry has not enough investments, technology and regular companies, American producers are so interested in it. Consequently, as for Hollywood, Chinese film market is not only a gold ore, but an undeveloped diamond ore. Almost 1.3 billion potential audiences in China is a temptation for Hollywood. Indeed, when the Chinese film market opens, it will supply a fresh export film market for America, more importantly, China will probably be the second film market in the world, which beyond Europe and Japan. More specifically, in the future, every four Hollywood films would have one subject for China at least. Due to develop the Chinese film market, Hollywood film companies started to research Chinese market in the middle of 1990s. Some of them had established Chinese department, others had employed Chinese students going back to China which assumed an important position. Every film company has got in touch with the organizations which managed films in China. In 1999, Twentieth Century of Fox Film Corporation received the Chinese film delegation. In 2000, Warner Bros. provided financial aids to China in order to hold Chinese Culture in United States in America. Moreover, all of film companies such as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayes (MGM), Paramount Pictures, Inc., Warner Bros., Universal Pictures Co., tried to imagine how to enter into Chinese film market. Larry Gleason who is the CEO of MGM said 55 percent of America film incomes were from out of America; meanwhile, China has the most population in the world, it is no doubt that Hollywood must enter into China. Developing the potential of Chinese mar ket will be the aim of MGM. In fact, the points of Larry Gleason have represented most of Hollywood companies. The strategies of Hollywood in China As a developing country, on one hand, China insists on the policy of reform and open, on the other hand, China should retain the socialist system. Due to the political environment of China, Hollywood might confront some barriers if it will get into Chinese market. First of all, Chinese government even keeps the film administrative limitation. Second, there are some differences between Chinese unique culture and Hollywood culture. Thirdly, Chinese film market is in disorder status. Because of that, Hollywood has a clear awareness. Therefore, from these years, Hollywood adopted sorts of strategies to try to overcome and reduce these barriers, thereby, preparing getting into China for maximum effect. Firstly, Hollywood expected to utilize America political power to expand their survival space. Moreover, Hollywood tried to invest and manage the film production industry, distribution industry and project industry, so that it could establish the Chinese film market. Thirdly, Hollywood want ed to take pictures which are acted by Chinese producers or actors or utilize the Chinese style in order to cater to the Chinese audiences. Finally, with other media formers, Hollywood tried to cultivate audiences to possess wider interests in Hollywood, thereby, developing the potential Hollywood market. In general, these strategies had been used in Hollywood history, and it gained the success. As for Hollywood, China is the second Europe, and it would be the new world from their expectation. From the views of promoting Hollywood, America government always acts the role of guard. As for a product, America government sales films to worldwide. Instead of how to make films, government would think about what should they do first in order to create condition for producing. In 1922, America film production has set up The Motion Pictures Producers and Distributors Association (MPPDA) ¼Ã…’this association has cooperated with government, thereby, striving for abroad benefits. After World War à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã‚ ¡, The Motion Pictures Exports Association of America (MPEAA) was built. This association was duty to address the external transactions. These organizations often kept in touch with the Department of Commerce. Obviously, political factors are always the reinforcements of Americanization. As a result, in the future, America government must strive for the rights through the politics. To some extent, Hollywood is a new force for Americanization. The second strategy of Hollywood globalization is investing other countries film industry in order to set up an organization which is duty to manage it, thereby, controlling foreign film market. In fact, when Hollywood occupied the Europe film market, the first step was co-production and distribution. At present, Hollywood tried to adopt the same method to enter Chinese film market. For instance, Hollywood needs make films with Chinese, on one hand, Chinese film produce system could be bring into Hollywood; on the other hand, it could make a similar pattern which based on Hollywood, and the audiences could be cultivated by the this new pattern film. Take Kodak for example, they once considered choosing one of five countries or districts where has the biggest potential of film industries, Chinese mainland is in it. Fortunately, they have chosen Chinese mainland because they believe film business opportunities in China are the best. Furthermore, Kodak has planned to build up 6 to 8 mod ern cinemas in Beijing, Guangzhou and other big cities. Besides that, Kodak initiated that they would show both foreign language films and domestic films in order to cater to the requirements of Chinese audiences. Consequently, the reason why Hollywood and other film companies would get involved with Chinese film industry is one of the strategies to enter into Chinese film industry. Through the history of Hollywood, it is very fruitful that Hollywood used foreign directors, actors/actresses and subjects to conquer the hearts of foreign audiences. On one hand, all of these foreign sentiments have poured Hollywood into cultural nutrition; on the other hand, it would bring the culture sympathy from foreign countries. To illustrate, Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Li represent the Chinese style influences of Hollywood. This strategy has increasingly covered the brand of Hollywood. At the same time, it regards global film to enter into the Chinese film market. The globalization of Hollywood has not only limited the export of films. Every year, there is a grand ceremony in Hollywood which is called Oscar. Meanwhile, Hollywood is utilizing the auxiliary product of film, such as DVD, books, toys to expand the infiltration of Hollywood. In general, Hollywood has stared at the Chinese film market. For the strategies of globalization in America, Hollywood has not only opened up the second market which is inferior to America, but also weaved many America fables through the American love story and hero story. Therefore, Hollywood would conquer the foreign nations. Hollywood has altered the America to the world; meanwhile, the world is changing by America. Discussions The strategies of Americanization and films With the strategies of Americanization, culture industry, especially the film part is a significant chess for America. When culture has become an industry, the functions of economics and culture have overlapped. Indeed, the exports of cultural product have expanded the economic market, also gains the profits. At the same time, on one hand, these culture products could be sold by America lifestyle or values, on the other hand, culture is like a product and product would express culture, they are interaction. Due to culturae products have gained profits and they also create the meaning of advertisement, all of these elements which contain images, sounds, words, pictures and models have exploited the huge market of America politics and economics. As culturae products have its special meanings, America is making great efforts to be Americanization, especially the Americanization of Hollywood films. Early in 1930s, America government realized that film and other formers of mass culture not only possessed the meaning of industry, but conducted America culture, economics and politics. These mass culture and film would possess a priority function. The export of culture might affect other countries, districts and the awareness of nations, religions, culture even languages, in order to weaken their traditional culture, thereby, creating the memory of nation culture and promoting the mixture of America values and beliefs. Consequently, from World Warà ¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã‚  , America spread films, TV programmes, records and other mass cultural products to all over the world. During in World Warà ¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã‚ ¡, Hollywood became an important tool which helped the government conduct America. Films which become the most international media industry play a significant role in culture industry. To some extent, from beginning, Hollywood has spread America to the world and America movies possessed an international horizon. The first ten years of twentieth century, Hollywood producers have begun to set up offices out of America. From World Warà ¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã‚  , America films have replaced by France, British and Germany, became an international film market. From 1919, foreign film markets have brought into the budget of American films. After 1930s, the income of foreign film market already has accounted for one third to one half profits in total of American films. In other words, World Warà ¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã‚  and World Warà ¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã‚ ¡placed American films into the leader of the world in terms of economics and produce. After that, this priority position has not been wavered. Although the sound film had emerged, and the language barriers also had brought some threatens for American fi lms, Hollywood had adapted this method of art and technology changes, thereby, consolidating its powerful position. Until 1995, Hollywood films have possessed almost 75 percent of Europe box office income in total. Moreover, Hollywood even owns film market in Canada, Latin America, Oceania and Asia. Even though in Hong Kong where has been called Eastern Hollywood, American films have consolidated its domestic position. In the late of twentieth century, Hollywood has gained 7.5 billion dollars in America as well as over 6 billion dollars from overseas film markets. It became an important component in America new economics (Rao, 2009). After a half century of international efforts, nowadays, American films have been the world film and Hollywood is prevalent. Hollywood films no longer seemed only in America; instead, it became a byword for films. Consequently, America mass culture does not like an imports objective. Indeed, Hollywood has conquered the whole world, and we are becoming a Hollywood star. In the past ten years, due to commerce and military, the debate of information era and information society has become the main struggle of international politics, economics and culture. In fact, the competition of countries depends on information creation and the speed of circulation. Therefore, dominating the media is controlling the benefits of politics and economics. In other words, creating the media industry is producing the benefits of politics and economics. Due to this global competition, in many developing countries, culture nationalism is emerging. Consequently, because of the conflicts of nationalism and global tendency, how Chinese films would maintain its national orientation under the impact of Hollywood is becoming an inevitable thinking. From a higher level, this is a question which deals with globalization of Chinese culture. The vitality of domestic movies in China Even though Hollywood is a huge threatens for the domestic films, Hollywood would not become the gravedigger of domestic films, especially for China which has oriental culture for thousand years of history as well as suffered from vast disaster. As a matter of fact, Hollywood is impossible to replace the domestic culture in China. Even if in 1990s, Hollywood films had entered into China, it was still a number of domestic films had a higher market allotment in Chinese film market. For instance, in 2000, the income of Mulan and Notting Hill has less than ten millions, but the income of Chinese film Be There or Be Square has over 39 million (Rao, 2009), which had exceeded any of Hollywood films in that years. It seems that the domestic films in China are also having a place to live in after Hollywood is getting into China. The key point of Chinese film industry needs to exploit, cultivate and expand its advantages as well as reduce the disadvantage, thereby, strengthening the vitality o f domestic films. As for China, the Chinese films advantages could provide buffer of space, and they also require a kind of potential. For Chinese films, the most obvious advantage is China has a long history as well as the specific culture tradition. Though from 19 century, western culture has affected China, it also has a large difference between western and China in terms of lifestyles, values and languages. Due to that, film Star Wars which made a great sensation in Europe and United States has not accepted by Chinese audiences. Furthermore, the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon which was directed by Ang Lee was well liked by western audiences rather than China. These examples have showed that China and western countries even has existed the difference, it means Hollywood cannot replace the domestic films, in other words, Chinese films possess their special characters that Hollywood would never have. Therefore, if Chinese films may utilize Chinese traditional resources of culture creatively, the domestic films would occupy an important position in China even in Asia and Chinese culture space in the world. From another point of view, oriental culture tradition might provide a fresh cultural reference to western audiences, thereby, entering into the mainstream of Hollywood. More importantly, China has special condition. Compare to western countries, China is experiencing the transitional era, which transforms traditional society to modern society. Any of the transitional eras are the golden eras of the domestic films, in other words, the transition promotes society relations, interpersonal relations and family relations, due to that, the destiny and values have been altered. Indeed, the true life has provided the materials which are full of dramatic rather than drama as well as it requires much fresher life legend instead of stories. Thus, as for Chinese audiences, on one hand, they need Hollywood produce momentary of imagines; on the other hand, they also use film which is like a mirror to reflect the variation of soul. It should be said that from 1990s, such as The Story of Qiu Ju, Lovers Grief Over the Yellow River, The Treatment have fully utilized the domestic, actual cultural resources to reflect the situation at that moment. All of them are good at combing the social pictures, the ordinary civilians fate to the popular movie patterns. Not only expresses the experiences of transition eras, but also the desire of survival and wisdom, thereby, obtaining the audiences. Therefore, the domestic reality is the cultural superiority of Chinese films. According to the process of globalization, Chinese films also have a significance domestic superiority which is the potential film consumption market. Take Beijing for example, if resident see five films per year, it will reach 6 million RMB in total. Indeed, China has more than 12 million populations, if everyone sees one film per year, though the price is 5 RMB, the income of the whole year should achieve 60 million RMB. This income would support Chinese producers make the excellent domestic films. Moreover, China owns three hundred thousand employees and over hundred years film history, most importantly, there are amounts of talented person who are interested in films, all of these are the advantages of competition. Especially, because China has lower lever economics, the cost of films would less than Hollywood. Therefore, it would become an important strategy of contending for Hollywood. Above all, as I mentioned before, all of them should based on the root, once they come true, the fate of Chinese films would tend to be a bright future. Even though film which is a culture industry would not adapted by all market principles, if Chinese films would not run into market, Chinese films will not be paid attention by the world. Therefore, due to adapt to the market requirements, Chinese film industry must carry on the reformation of industrialization. Overall, Chinese films should make efforts from four aspects in order to open up the international space of Chinese films. First of all, China should establish film produce and distribution organizations which possess the international marketing, thereby, shaping a professional film enterprise. Furthermore, recruiting a number of film management persons who has professional quality of movie as well as carrying on the transitional economics. Thirdly, supporting film companies which produce films according to the requirement of international market, so that film companies could create the domestic film brands which are made in China. Finally, film companies should develop the products which are related to films, with TV, videos, DVD and networks to increase the added values. Conclusion It is no doubt that many people blamed the cultural invasion, even some pointed out that the whole world would be brought into the capitalism system which was hold by powerful capitalism countries. However, some researchers argued that globalization has affected domestic films. Obviously, with the development of globalization, the properties in different countries would not distinguish. When international films become an international culture, it is a risk of cultural environment. Indeed, Chinese film is confronting some challenges and threatens not only from Hollywood. Nevertheless, WTO and Hollywood are just providing an opportunity to refer. As for China, the domestic films must reform to themselves rather than imitating. More precisely, reformation is the only way to live and develop, otherwise, whether Hollywood entered into China or not, Chinese film has no way to go. Consequently, China should explore a kind of film industry and market which is suitable for the condition of China in terms of adapting Chinese politics, economics and cultural principles. The future of globalization not only means the choices of hegemony, but also obtains the equal rights of weakness. To some extent, the diversity of culture is the prerequisite of cultural vitality.

Paradigm Transitions in Education

Paradigm Transitions in Education Introduction professional context For this piece I will look to investigate the transition to paperless education to coincide with the opening of a new sixth form centre. Alongside the research question I will look into the relevant epistemological, ontological and methodological paradigms and how they influence my professional practice. During this piece I hope the reflexly look into my personal experience, my Habitus (Bourdieu, 1993) and how this has affected the decisions made in the pursuit of this goal to become paperless. I have worked with education for the last 11 years having the predominant section of ,my career being in the secondary education sector. I was recently appointed to the position of Head of Deeside Sixth form centre, which is a brand new  £15 million build the enhance the provision of A levels for North Wales and beyond. The building is a XXX square feet and is part of Coleg Cambria, which is one of the largest Colleges in Wales with some 20,000 students. The new role has not only changed my lens in terms of sector, with a move from secondary to further, but also significantly changed my role within the organistion, by moving from a position of middle management to senior management. This has challenged my epistemology of A level provision, specifically within the field of preparing students for positive progression to employment or university. With the building of this new Sixth form centre, I made the claim that we would have cutting edge IT facilities (Deeside Sixth Website), and this gave me the perfect opportunity to make large investment in ILT (information for learning technologies). The centre had a large budget of IT facilities with some 800 log-ins around the building. Because of the large investment I was able to look at ways of developing pedagogy to best suit 21st century education. This large investment coupled with the overarching drive to become more sustainable as a college, made me look into the options of reducing paper use. In order to allow this reduction in paper use and to prepare current A level students for future employment and education, as a new Sixth form centre I have decided to make a transition from a paper based curriculum to an electronic curriculum, which makes use of Goolge as a learning platform including google classroom as a VLE, thus allowing online work submission, marking and feedback. This should best prepare students for university, where their studies will be largely dependant on this format and an employment world, which is under rapid change and has a growing reliance on technology. As head of a brand new sixth form centre this decision has fell solely with me and during the planning phase there has been no staff engagement or student voice, due to not having a staff team or student body during the planning phase. To allow retrospective planning and ensure smooth future transition this piece will look at staff and student opinion of the transition to paperless and outline stage for further progress to the Holy Grail of paperless education. Paradigms Having come from a natural science background the idea of paradigms is a novel idea, which has made me challenge my own thoughts and feelings about epistemology and how the phenomenology as opposed the the cartesian philosophy may be more applicable to the social world of a school or college. To start with a definition of a paradigm, Oxford Dictionary defines it as a world view underlying the theories and methodology of a particular scientific subject. A more grounded description would be simply a belief system that moulds the way we think and act about all aspects of life. Upon commencement of this unit I was faced with the philosophical viewpoint that There is no such thing as absolute truth and absolute falsehood. (Rowland, H, 1899), which brought about some dissonance in my understanding of the world. Previously, the idea of my research falling into a certain ontological perspective other than positivist seemed absurd, however upon making my way through some of the numerous philosophical opinions and approaches within the area of educational research, my lens has widened and allowed me to embrace some of these theories and their application in the social setting. The term paradigm, which can largely be derived from the work of Kuhn (and his  book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions published in 1962) and can broadly be described as the ways in research be investigated and interpreted. Further work by Patton (1978) in Sparkes (Ed.) (1992, p.11) takes the idea of a paradigm a step further and refers to it as a world view. This world view has shifted throughout the progression of this unit to acknowledge the strengths and applications of the interpretivist paradigm. This paradigm shift, would show strength for the work of Kuhn, Kuhn argues that changes in paradigm is brought about by a series of peaceful interludes punctuated by intellectually violent revolutions, and in those revolutions one conceptual world view is replaced by another. (Kuhn, T 1962). I dont feel I am in a position to fully move away from the positivist paradigm, but I feel my Lens has significantly altered. As previously mentioned, my natural science background has largely ingrained the positivist paradigm with my outlook and this has embedded in my professional practice. Positivism is an epistemological standpoint that looks for experimental testing , where controlling bias and the importance of subjectivity is vital. Ledoux (2002, p. 34) defines natural sciences as disciplines that deal only with natural events (i.e. independent and dependent variables in nature) using scientific methods. According to work Bà ¼chel (1992), the birth of natural science was initated by those who questioned earlier explanations about the world and wanted systematic / scientific methods for research.

Critiques of Frederick Douglass Work, from The Narrative to the North

Critiques of Frederick Douglass' Work, from The Narrative to the North Star "Right is of no sex-Truth is of no color-God is the Father of us all, And all we are brethren." A brief biography of Frederick Douglass Some historical criticisms of Douglass' Narrative New criticisms of Douglass' work Frederick Douglass Links See the First edition of The North Star, Douglass's newspaper A brief biography of Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass was born into the institution of slavery in 1817, in Tuckahoe, Maryland. Frederick Douglass did not know the exact date of his birth so he adopted February 14th, because his mother used to call him her "little valentine." Douglass knew very little about his mother since she was a field hand on the plantation some twelve miles away, and tragically she died when he was a very young boy. Douglass did not know who his father was, but it was rumored he was the son of his white slave master, Aaron Anthony. As a child, some cruel slaveholders mistreated him. At times, to keep from starving, he competed with his master's dog for table scraps and bones. In 1825, he was sent to serve as a houseboy in the home of Hugh and Sophia Auld in Baltimore, Maryland. Mrs. Auld grew fond of Douglass and decided to teach him how to read and write. When Mr. Auld discovered this, he soon put a stop to it; however, Douglass had already acquired enough to carry on by himself. In 1832, Douglass went back to the harsh life on the plantation in Tuckahoe. For years later, along with several other slaves, Douglass attempted to escape, however the attempt was unsuccessful because one of the slaves revealed their plan. Viewed as a "bad slave," Douglass was sent to Mr. Covey's plantation. Covey was ... ...eated. Douglass made poignant points about manhood, Christianity and literacy that helped the freedom bells ring for all mankind. He did so in a peaceful and Christian manner that was exemplary and repeated in later years by civil rights activist Martin Luther King. Douglass opened the eyes for many both black and white to the shadows and indignities that slavery cast on all that were involved with it. Through his hard work, dedication and sacrifice he helped bring an end to the demon of slavery. Bibliography Almanac, Afro-American, "Biography of Frederick Douglass."(1996): 7 paragraphs.[On-line] Available: www.toptags.com/aama/bio/men/freddoug.htm File:bio Davis, Charles T., Henry Louis Gates Jr. The Slaves Narrative.London:Oxford Press Sundquist, Eric J., ed. Frederick Douglass: New Literacy and Historical Essays. Boston: Cambridge Press, 1990. Critiques of Frederick Douglass' Work, from The Narrative to the North Critiques of Frederick Douglass' Work, from The Narrative to the North Star "Right is of no sex-Truth is of no color-God is the Father of us all, And all we are brethren." A brief biography of Frederick Douglass Some historical criticisms of Douglass' Narrative New criticisms of Douglass' work Frederick Douglass Links See the First edition of The North Star, Douglass's newspaper A brief biography of Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass was born into the institution of slavery in 1817, in Tuckahoe, Maryland. Frederick Douglass did not know the exact date of his birth so he adopted February 14th, because his mother used to call him her "little valentine." Douglass knew very little about his mother since she was a field hand on the plantation some twelve miles away, and tragically she died when he was a very young boy. Douglass did not know who his father was, but it was rumored he was the son of his white slave master, Aaron Anthony. As a child, some cruel slaveholders mistreated him. At times, to keep from starving, he competed with his master's dog for table scraps and bones. In 1825, he was sent to serve as a houseboy in the home of Hugh and Sophia Auld in Baltimore, Maryland. Mrs. Auld grew fond of Douglass and decided to teach him how to read and write. When Mr. Auld discovered this, he soon put a stop to it; however, Douglass had already acquired enough to carry on by himself. In 1832, Douglass went back to the harsh life on the plantation in Tuckahoe. For years later, along with several other slaves, Douglass attempted to escape, however the attempt was unsuccessful because one of the slaves revealed their plan. Viewed as a "bad slave," Douglass was sent to Mr. Covey's plantation. Covey was ... ...eated. Douglass made poignant points about manhood, Christianity and literacy that helped the freedom bells ring for all mankind. He did so in a peaceful and Christian manner that was exemplary and repeated in later years by civil rights activist Martin Luther King. Douglass opened the eyes for many both black and white to the shadows and indignities that slavery cast on all that were involved with it. Through his hard work, dedication and sacrifice he helped bring an end to the demon of slavery. Bibliography Almanac, Afro-American, "Biography of Frederick Douglass."(1996): 7 paragraphs.[On-line] Available: www.toptags.com/aama/bio/men/freddoug.htm File:bio Davis, Charles T., Henry Louis Gates Jr. The Slaves Narrative.London:Oxford Press Sundquist, Eric J., ed. Frederick Douglass: New Literacy and Historical Essays. Boston: Cambridge Press, 1990.

Pay-For-Performance and Productive Workforces Essay -- business, compe

The company did not truly have a pay-for-performance process. In fact, what it did have was a pay-for-profitability process, commonly known as a profit sharing program. There is a substantial difference between pay-for-performance and profit sharing, both in terms of how the process is structured and how the payouts are determined. Profit sharing is a program based quite simply on how much profit the company makes, regardless of performance. In certain times, a company may not perform very well yet still make a profit. For example, on organization may incur large expenses, have inefficient use of resources and incomplete accounting of internal asset allocation. However, it may also have huge sales volumes, little competition and an enviable and desirable product. It is virtually successful in spite of itself. Can that actually occur? Examples abound: Circuit City, AOL, Xerox and so on. All quite successful companies, initially, but almost destined for problematic existence as a re sult of growth that occurred too fast too soon. They did not perform very well, yet were able to generate considerable profitability. A pay-for-performance program, on the other hand, is designed to reward measurable performance against certain standards. It is created by establishing measurable goals and objectives, assigning individuals to the goals with time bound periods of measurement and finally an evaluation of that individuals’ performance against those goals. The company may make a profit, but if the employee does not meet or exceed their performance goals, they may not receive any reward, or what is commonly viewed as a raise or bonus. True pay-for-performance does not just take profitability into account, unless generating profit was t... ... their office.(Robbins& Judges,2007) The benefits of telecommuting reduces absenteeism and tardiness. In addition, it also contributes to the green initiative by cutting down the amount of pollutants from motor vehicle travel. According to recent estimates indicate that between 9 million and 24 million people telecommute in the United States (Kurland & Bailey, 1999). Fortune 500 companies such as AT &T, IBM, and Merrill Lynch are just a few. In conclusion, if Sean Neal utilized the options listed, he could create a more productive workforce through incentives without affecting the company’s bottom line. In addition, Mr. Neal could boost morale which would create a more experienced work force through longevity of employment. By having an experience workforce Mr. Neal should see a significant increase in production and profit over a short period of time.

Contracts Business Law Essay

Contracts are often viewed as unnecessary in the eyes of the public. Most people think that they live their lives doing what they want, when they want with little regard for contractual law. In reality, contracts bind the decisions that most people make on a regular basis. By writing this article I will demonstrate the usefulness of contracts and how they relate to everyday life. I also intend to provide a reasonable idea of what would happen if we did not have contracts guiding decisions made. Because without contracts, the law would not know who to rule in favor of should the need arise, which happens on a daily basis all around the world. The basic definition of a contract is an agreement between two or more parties. This definition encompasses a great many things. If you take a look at the life of an average consumer, from the beginning of their day to the end of it, they make decisions based on factors that have been put in place by contracts. Our consumer wakes up in his home, which was bought from K. Hovnanian, a company that is well known for the designing homes and making people’s dream homes come to life. That house was built by contractors. By definition a contractor is a person or firm who contracts to build things. Electricians, carpenters, stonemasons, plumbers, home audio technicians, Sheet-rockers, painters, and floor specialists are all examples of contractors that were involved in making the consumers dream home come to life. However, K. Hovnanian does not have a contract with each of these types of contractors. Instead, they have a contract with a general contractor, who has agreed to hire each of the other types of contractors to complete the work necessary to make the house come to life. Our consumer works out a deal with K. Hovnanian for a certain price, which becomes the binding contract that K.  Hovnanian agrees to build the house for. The trademarks that K. Hovnanian uses to define who they are, is bound to them by a trademark agreement with the United States. According to the Legal Information Institute of Cornell University, A trademark is defined as â€Å"Any word, name, symbol, or design, or any combination thereof, used in commerce to identify and distinguish the goods of one manufacturer or seller from those of another and to indicate the source of the goods. † By registering this trademark our consumer is able to safely say that it is K. Hovnanian they are dealing and not someone who is pretending to be them. Once the home is completed then, the consumer would then bring in a third party, to the agreement: Bank of America. Bank of America has entered into an agreement with our consumer to pay K. Hovnanian for the home built. In turn, the consumer must pay back Bank of America over the next twenty years at a fixed interest rate the amount of money borrowed. This becomes a mortgage contract. According to the Legal information institute at Cornell University, â€Å"A mortgage contract, involves the transfer of an interest in land as security for a loan or other obligation. this is the most common method of financing real estate transactions. The mortgagor in this case K. Hovnanian is the party transferring the interest in land. The mortgagee, Bank of America, is the providing the loan given in exchange security. â€Å"Normally, a mortgage is paid in installments that include both interest and a payment on the principle amount that was borrowed. † Now that our consumer has bought his home and is moving in, a decision is made to buy items for the home that will be necessary for the consumer to live comfortably. Our consumer goes to Kmart and uses their Visa credit card to pay for a number of items such made by brand name companies such as Martha Stewart Living or Craftsman, the bill of sale, otherwise known as the receipt, is an agreement to pay the store for the amount of goods purchased. However, that is only the basics of the idea. The long process of agreements that we do not see and probably do not think about is there is a contract for every minor detail, allowing this transaction to happen. The consumer uses their Visa to purchase these goods up to a pre-determined dollar amount. Therefore, a request was made by the consumer to purchase the merchandise being sold by Kmart using Visa and, in turn an agreement was made with Visa to pay back in due time the amount for the goods purchased, plus interest of course. In turn, Kmart has agreed to honor Visa as per their contract with Visa. They worked out an agreement before hand to accept Visa, which would increase their sales and Visa would be allowed to keep a small percentage of the sale for the ability to use their services. However, to use the services provided by Visa, Kmart must have an agreement with a company that allows them to go beyond their store via electronic communications. The use of services through a company such as Verizon would be necessary. Verizon provides high speed internet as well as telephone services to companies like Kmart to allow them to access outside of the walls of the business. Therefore, Kmart enters into a binding contract with Verizon, for a pre-determined amount of time and a pre-determined amount of money allowing Kmart to use the services Verizon provides. Now that Kmart has the means to reach the outside world, they must purchase equipment, such as MagTek equipment, that would allow Kmart to use the Visa card allowing consumers to make a purchase on credit for goods that Kmart Provides. According to MagTek’s Website, â€Å"MagTek is a manufacturer of electronic devices and systems for the reliable issuance, reading, transmission and security of cards, checks, PINs and other identification documents. † Among the electronic devices, is a magnetic strip reader allowing consumers to use Visa credit cards to make purchases. Kmart also has an agreement with Omnimedia, the owning entity of the Martha Stewart living products, and Craftsman, a company that makes tools for everyday use. This type of agreement is known an exclusive dealing arrangement. According to the Legal Information Institute at Cornell University, â€Å"Exclusive dealing arrangements are, essentially, requirement contracts in which a seller agrees to sell all or a substantial portion of its products or services to a particular buyer, or when a buyer similarly agrees to purchase all or a portion of its requirements of a product or service from a particular seller. This means that Kmart buys all of its tools from craftsman or all of its household items from Omnimedia. The reverse to this, is that Craftsman or Omnimedia may have an exclusive dealing arrangement in which they agree not to sell their products to competing companies or franchises. As you can see, there is much more going on in behind the curtains of a typical day, so that the consumer is able to live their life. These are only a handful of examples of what parts of our lives contracts have an impact on. There are many more out there. The opposite of having a life filled with contracts, is having one without them, which would likely be a life filled with chaos. Imagine the same scenario in the last few pages, but without contracts binding the many parties involved. Our consumer would set out to buy a home which they decide to do business with K. Hovnanian. On a handshake and a smile K. Hovnanian agrees to build the home, but changes things that the consumer specifically said he wanted to alter the price of the home. After a couple of weeks K.  Hovnanian contacts our consumer to let them know that they were able to secure the land, but the price will be higher. Reluctantly, the consumer agrees, after all this is a dream home that is being built. Another two weeks goes by, and K Hovnanian calls and says construction is right on schedule and that the house will be completed within the next couple of weeks. K Hovnanian and our consumer come to an agreement of money and the consumer has his bank give the money to K. Hovnanian as agreed. After a couple of Months of communication silence, the consumer gets agitated and goes to the lot where his house was being built. There is no house and no construction crew. He goes to the location where K. Hovnanian was only to find out they have closed their doors and left. After contacting some sources to find out the whereabouts of K. Hovnanian, the consumer finds out that the company he has been dealing with was not K. Hovnanian at all, just someone taking advantage of people using the K. Hovnanian name to get money for free. The one contract in all of this that our consumer did setup was with Bank of America for his Mortgage, which is now legally binding. The consumer cannot pay the mortgage and therefore his credit gets destroyed because of a failure to pay and a foreclosure on a home he never saw, which makes it so he never had a Visa card to pay for the purchases from Kmart. Because there was no contract, there was no crime. The company doing business as K. Hovnanian was not wrong because there is no copyright or trademark contract protecting the K. Hovnanian name. The consumer gave them money even though nothing had been in writing and no formal contract was made. In the end, this consumer was taken advantage of because contracts for the situation did not exist. The United States has placed many laws to protect the rights of companies and the trademark they possess. â€Å"Section 1127 Construction and definitions; intent of chapter,† is the chapter in US Code that defines the parameters in which a company may define or lose definition of their trademark. In turn, â€Å"The Lanham Act† protects the owner of a federally registered trademark from anyone not authorized, to use it (http://www. gpoaccess. gov/uscode/). Also under United States Code under section 1454, is the protection of consumer’s rights when making purchases of land by obtaining a mortgage. These rights are put in place to protect the Bank issuing the mortgage, as well as, the consumer. All in all, Contracts are a part of our everyday lives whether we want it to be or not. They may not always be seen nor the effects of it so obvious, but they are there, and their purpose is to protect all parties involved from entering an agreement without understanding and respecting the rights of the other parties of the contract.