Proposal for Research on Fast Foods Essay - 912 Words

Proposal: Change in the fast food industry (we can take a specific restaurant like McDonald’s) to fight obesity Fast food and obesity The relationship between a nations fast food consumption and its rate of obesity has been studied. Schlosser said it seems wherever Americas fast food chains go, waistlines inevitably start expanding. Schlosser argues that the North America has the highest obesity rate of any industrialized nation. More than half of all adults and about one-quarter of all children are now classified as obese or overweight. Those proportions are believed to have increased dramatically during the last few decades, along with the consumption of fast food, with the rate of obesity among North American children twice as†¦show more content†¦* Discourage consumption of poor foods through a fat tax, earmarking the funds for nutrition and recreation. Here are some changes that McDonald’s implemented as a response to critique its unhealthy foods to give consumers more choices and healthier alternatives. Such initiatives include: * The introduction of the Salads Plus menu. This is now a permanent feature on the McDonalds menu, which brings a healthier, lighter focus to the original menu, consisting of a range of products that have 10 grams of fat or less, per serve. * Introducing nutrition information panels on the packaging of regular menu items. This allows for enhanced consumer information and education, enabling individuals and families to make better dietary choices. * Introducing hamburger buns that are low in sugar. * Reducing the calorie / kilojoule (energy) and sugar content of Salads Plus muffin and yoghurt menu items. * Launching an alternative (healthier) Happy Meal for children, containing fruit and vegetables. * Using a liquid canola cooking oil blend in restaurants, to aim for enhanced cooking methods. * Intro ducing a new breakfast menu known as â€Å"Quickstart†. McDonald’s have teamed up with some of Australia’s favourite brands to launch this new menu, which offers cereals, fruit, yoghurt and juices (that’s an example of what was done in Australia, we can offer to implement it here, in Canada). * In America, McDonald’s has made availableShow MoreRelatedResearch Proposal for Fast Food Consumption1143 Words   |  5 PagesIntroduction to Statistics Research proposal To: Mr. Yaseen Ahmed Meenai. Date: 9th June 2012. 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While many Republican politicians feel that an increase in minimum wage would be devastating to the economy in terms of job security and , in fact many fast-food and retail workers earn below the poverty level and rely on public assistance. An increase in minimum wage would not only help service employees earn a livable wage but it would also help the taxpayers in paying less for government funded programsRead MoreShould Government Regulate Unhealthy Foods?824 Words   |  4 Pages Allysia Broome ENG 1123, Period D Research Proposal Dr. Smith 11 February 2015 Food Policy Debates CQ Researcher Question Should government regulate unhealthy foods? CQ Researcher 2014 Short Report Inspired by a movement that touts healthy eating and warns of danger from an industrialized food supply, millions of Americans are cutting back on processed and fast foods and sugary soda. 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Premium2383  Words10  Pages Healthy Food The  Healthy Eating Pyramid  is a simple, trustworthy guide to choosingRead MoreWith There Being So Many Restaurants Open For These Fast1096 Words   |  5 Pages With there being so many restaurants open for these fast food chains, it s so hard to resist a burger. Many fast food companies give teens a taste of real life by providing a job for them at a restaurant. Because there are so many chains and cheap foods within fast food companies, workers are paid the minimum to work at these occupations. With the increase in business for fast food restaurants, workers are demanding for higher wages. However, if wages were to increase, something elseRead MoreMKTG 4110 Coop Case Study1332 Words   |  6 Pagesï » ¿Marla Nichols Professor Elizabeth Lowry MKTG 4110-21 4 February 2015 The Coop: Market Research Daryl Buckmeister was facing a difficult problem that many business owners encounter. After much success, his quick-service chicken restaurant, The Chicken Coop, was seeing a sales decline in 20 of The Coop’s 76 stores. The average decline in sales for these 20 stores was 6%. His top two managers, Anita McMichael, VP of Quality and Trevor Wallace, VP of Marketing, were working with Buckmeister to figure

Media Bias in the Election of 2008 Free Essays

Connie Zhang Media Bias Against Hilary Clinton in the Election of 2008 The election of 2008 was monumental in many respects, the most significant being the fact that there was a chance that the first woman or African American would become president of the United States. After Obama won the nomination, claims that the media had been negative and unfair to Clinton were examined. In earlier studies conducted by D’Alessio and Allen, it was concluded there were no significant biases in most forms of media. We will write a custom essay sample on Media Bias in the Election of 2008 or any similar topic only for you Order Now However, from the focus of her marriage to the questioning of her social conduct, Clinton was definitely treated differently than Obama was. It is very evident that there was, in fact, negative bias towards Clinton, although it was not as numerous and severe as it seemed to be due to historical, situational, and personal matters. Using meta-analysis, a method that allows for the combination of many studies from relatively few media outlets, D’Alessio and Allen revealed no significant net amount of gatekeeping bias and no significant coverage bias. However, statement bias found in newsmagazines was pro-republican, and those found on TV were pro-democrat. The key here is that the â€Å"net† amount of gatekeeping bias was equal to zero. What this meant was that the number of conservatively biased forms of media was equal to the number of liberally biased forms of media. If someone only read a republican-favoring newspaper, then individually, he would be experiencing media biases which would impact his voting choices despite the fact that â€Å"net† amount of gatekeeping biases was equal to zero. Another important fact demonstrated in this study is that Americans are increasingly relying on TV for campaign information, so they are increasingly exposed to liberal biases, further affecting their political choices. Although D’Alessio and Mike Allen are certainly correct in their claim that the identities of the presidential candidates changed many times, biases most definitely existed in the election of 2008. Using a positive versus negative coverage analysis, Moldovan found substantial evidence that Clinton received less coverage than Obama did. Historically, this trend has been recorded, and in 2008, it held true even when the female candidate, Clinton, was a front runner. Six top newspapers ran 59 stories with Obama being mentioned in the headline, while only 36 mentioned Clinton. Between January 2007 and June 2008, 343 articles were written about Obama, while only 293 were focused on Clinton. In Time magazine, 2 covers featured Clinton, 2 covers featured both Clinton and Obama, and a whopping 25 covers featured Obama only. Clearly, there is a bias favoring Obama in the case of agenda setting. Additionally, Moldovan found that coverage of Clinton was more negatively framed than Obama’s was, in both specific cases and in general. When Clinton cried after winning the New Hampshire primaries, there was plenty of coverage deeming her a phony trying to rally emotional support as a woman, whereas her victory was extremely likely due to her administration’s superior organization in that state. In contrast, Obama’s condescending â€Å"You’re likeable enough, Hillary†, remark, received substantially less time and focus. Another example where treatment of Obama was not was not as harsh or prolonged as it could have been was in regards to Michelle Obama’s remark about being proud of her country â€Å"for the first time in her life†. Furthermore, the treatment towards Obama’s connections to anti-American individuals, such as his former reverend Jeremiah Wright, was softer in comparison to criticism of Clinton’s fashion, lack of womanly characteristics, and marriage. Overall, Clinton’s coverage was more negative than Obama’s, from the amount the media covered her weaknesses to the way it framed them. But all the biases claimed to have existed may not really have been actual biases, as Moldovan further explains. Some may have only been believed to been there as a result of historical, situational, and personal situations. The year 2008 was a crucial time. The country was in the worst recession since the Great Depression, with foreign tensions only aggravating the situation. Despite Clinton’s political prowess, her marriage to Bill Clinton and its scandalous complications gave her a very â€Å"yesterday† feeling that Americans did not need in such a dire time. Additionally, her refusal to disclose her tax returns increased the feelings of secrecy that retrogressively reminded people of the Nixon and Bush administration. Furthermore, coming out of George W. Bush’s rule, the fact that she was a Clinton added to the feeling of the persistence of a family dynasty that Americans did not want again. Finally, Clinton’s approach to the campaign itself was not only perceived negatively, but was in fact negative. Clinton’s method to winning focused on questioning Obama’s foreign policy experience, military capabilities, and economic policies. Her offensive remarks about Obama’s kindergarten essay and her red phone call ad were things that didn’t need the media’s framing or bias for people to recognize that they were disrespectful and unappealing. Although the press unnecessarily focused on these negative aspects, it cannot be denied that most of Clinton’s campaign was, in fact negative in itself due to the fact that it had been an attack on Obama’s flaws as a person, rather than a logical and fair assessment of his abilities and potential as a leader (Moldovan, 2009). When coupled with the fact that Obama revealed his maturity and professionalism by focusing on substance rather than resorting to mud-slinging, the situation worsened for Clinton. Additionally, the most negative coverage about Obama may have emphasized a trait that would have been unattractive in other times, but in this situation, served to help him. The media revealed Obama’s â€Å"elitism†, from his food choices, to his education, to his up-scale Chicago neighborhood. Normally, this would have harmed a candidate’s campaign, but in 2008 when Americans really needed a talented and intelligent president, it seemed to make sense to want more than just an average American candidate. Despite his race and lack of professional experience, in contrast to Clinton’s feelings of backwardness and her attack tactics, Obama’s youthful charisma and focus on hope were simply more appealing to the American people, and although the media did give him an unfair amount of attention in his positive traits and was biased in focusing on his image rather than his experience, Obama didn’t need the media’s framing for it to be known that the way he approached the campaign was much more mature and professional then Clinton. Because people tend to react much stronger to emotional appeals rather than dense, political facts, the fact that Obama handled the campaign better as a person really assisted him to victory (Moldovan, 2009). Clinton’s circumstances may have been further exacerbated not by the media’s bias, but by the fact that in general, people are just harsher when judging a woman. In a representative national sample, 51 percent of the surveyed believed that Americans were not â€Å"ready to elect a woman into high office† (Lawless 74). In general, women are more likely to receive media coverage based on their appearance, feminine traits, and ability to handle women’s issues. The situation was worsened by fact that Clinton was not the average female candidate. From the perceived lack of affection towards her pets to her hard, tough demeanor, Clinton lacked many of the stereotypical womanly characteristics people expected from her. But as soon as she cried after her New Hampshire victory, the press had an unnecessarily generous and negative focus on these womanly qualities. Although there is a general and accepted consensus that Clinton did not lose the race because she was a woman, she was forced to operate in a sexist environment and deal with different expectations and standards. Thus, her campaign in general was more difficult as voters relied on stereotypical ideas of women and men’s attributes, affecting the way people judged and viewed her differently from Obama. In this case, the media may not have been biased against Clinton, but simply reinforcing these sexist norms (Lawless 2009). A further reason why these biases may not be as strong as they are claimed is demonstrated by Watts, Domoke, Shah, and Fan. After examining shifts in public perception of media bias, press coverage of media bias, and coverage in presidential campaigns, they concluded that the rise in the belief of media bias is a result of increasing news self-coverage focusing on the topic of news content bias itself. These authors discovered that a lot of people’s evaluation of media credibility is misinformed, especially when comes to political news and campaign coverage. In presidential campaigns, candidates may merely be attempting to generate support for themselves and opposition for their opponents, not intentionally wanting to create bias. With the increase in these patterns, allegations of biases may now be a part of the presidential campaign rhetoric, and journalists feel increasing pressure to make these claims of the existence of biases to prove that they are not biased themselves. The rise in media sources has further contributed to the pressure traditional media sources have felt to reinforce their reliability by supporting claims of biases. Doing so not only generates credibility from their audience, but their peers as well. In consequence, a cyclic effect has taken place in which news media find their attention as sources of information in political campaigns to be of increasing importance. In these ways, biases that are claimed to exist may not be as severe—or even existent—as people believe them to be. Due to these historical, situational, and personal matters, the negative biases against Clinton may not have been as frequent and harsh as they seemed, although biases against her existed for sure. In both agenda setting and framing, the media seemed to be against her as she received less coverage overall, and the coverage she did received tended to be harsher than the coverage on Obama. Other biases that were claimed to exist, however, such as emphasis on her marriage to Bill Clinton, however, may not really have been biases, but true, negative facts that just didn’t help her campaign. In addition, she was operating under a sexist environment, so it cannot be said that the media was being biased against her gender since everyone else was too. Finally, assertions of biases may not have actually arisen from real biases, but could have been a result from increasing news self-coverage focusing on the topic of news content bias. Overall, as Moldovan points out, the press’ true biases lay in conflict, because conflict generates both viewers and revenue. It just happened to be that out of the two candidates, Hilary Clinton had more problems to talk about. Works Cited Lawless, Jennifer L. â€Å"Sexism and Gender Bias in Election 2008: A More Complex Path for Women in Politics. † Politics Gender (2009): 70-80. Print. â€Å"Media Bias in Presidential Elections: A Meta Analysis. † Journal of Communication 50. 4 (2000): 133-56. Print. Miller, Melissa K. , Jeffrey S. Peake, and Brittany Anne Boulton. Testing the Saturday Night Live Hypothesis: Fairness and Bias in Newspaper Coverage of Hillary Clinton’s Presidential Campaign. † Politics Gender (2010): 169-98. Print. Raluca, Moldovan. â€Å"A TALE OF TWO CLINTONS: MEDIA BIAS IN THE COVERAGE OF HILLARY CLINTON’S 2008 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN1. † Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai. Studia Europaea (2009): 41-59. Print. Watt s, Mark D. , et al. â€Å"Elite Cues and Media Bias in Presidential Campaigns – Explaining Public Perceptions of a Liberal Press. † Communication Research 26. 2 (1999): 144-75. Print. How to cite Media Bias in the Election of 2008, Papers

Edith Newbold Jones Whartons Essay Example For Students

Edith Newbold Jones Whartons Essay All literary critics and sources that give accounts of Edith Newbold Jones Whartons life seem to agree on the basic facts. Wharton was born in 1862 into a wealthy family and raised during Americas Guilded Age. She was born into the lavish world of inherited wealth, one which she benefited from greatly. This life of luxury provided Wharton with a rich source of material which she used to challenge the attitudes of Americas Guilded Age in her novels (World,p. 1). She spent portions of her childhood growing up in places like Paris, Rome, and London, but received most of her education in he United States. Wharton exhibited her talents in writing at a very early age. I cannot remember a time when I did not want to make up stories Wharton said in her In 1885 Edith Wharton married the very well-to-do Edward Wharton and the couple continued to live in American high society. However, Whartons marriage proved early on to be an unhappy one, and she was to suffer a series of nervous breakdowns as a result (DeCecco, p. 1). In order to ease the strains of her marriage, Wharton began to write again like she did as a child. Her first work was published in 1889; it was a book on nterior decorating. Sixteen years later Wharton would write her first best seller, House of Mirth. In the year 1911, she departed from her usual themes of jealousy, class system, and the condition of women in society to write Ethan Frome , possibly her most famous piece of writing (DeCecco, p. 2). However, The World of Edith Wharton disagrees with this fact saying that Ethan Frome was written in the year 1912. Two years later Wharton got a divorce from her husband which would end their disconsolate marriage. Edith Wharton won the Pulitzer Prize in the year 1921 for her novel, Age of Innocence. Shortly after winning the Pulitzer Prize, she became the first woman to receive an honorary degree from Yale University in 1924 (World, p. 2). Whartons last novel, The Buccaneers, was written after she took up residence in France, but the book was never finished. Edith Wharton died shortly after starting it in the year 1937. Critic DeCecco stresses the unhappy childhood Wharton had growing up while The World of Edith Wharton portrays it as rather carefree and pleasant because of the Although hers was a life of privilege, Whartons life was not a happy one. Her father, though affectionate, was often absent, leaving the running of he family to Lucretia, her mother, a stern, uninvolving woman who rejected this daughter born to her in late life. In addition to the cold climate of her home, the society in which Wharton was born offered her no opportunity for emotional or intellectual development Wharton was excepted to be pure, young, and innocent and to remain the passive object of mens wishes, however, she refused. Some of her later works reveal this tension brought on by these expectations and constraints. The source, The World of Edith Wharton does not comment on her personality. The biography written by DeCecco does hint at the fact that Wharton was a little bit ebellious and independent. She wrote many novels which challenged the turn-of-the century New York society values; especially concerning women. Edith Wharton was forced to grow up somewhat independent since her father was rarely present and her mother was very distant. She exhibited her independence after divorcing Edward Wharton and living better on her own. Wharton was a keen observer and chronicler of her The novel Ethan Frome was not typical of Whartons writing style and themes. In first telling and then writing stories about the grown-ups in her parents world, her arly literary efforts became her way of dealing with her mothers lack of love and the crippling code of behavior imposed by the society in which she lived (DeCecco, p. 1). Wharton, up until 1911, wrote of infidelity, jealousy, class system, and the condition of women in society over which they had little control. .uaf708b442d51a46061842e5bd4b924b9 , .uaf708b442d51a46061842e5bd4b924b9 .postImageUrl , .uaf708b442d51a46061842e5bd4b924b9 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .uaf708b442d51a46061842e5bd4b924b9 , .uaf708b442d51a46061842e5bd4b924b9:hover , .uaf708b442d51a46061842e5bd4b924b9:visited , .uaf708b442d51a46061842e5bd4b924b9:active { border:0!important; } .uaf708b442d51a46061842e5bd4b924b9 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .uaf708b442d51a46061842e5bd4b924b9 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .uaf708b442d51a46061842e5bd4b924b9:active , .uaf708b442d51a46061842e5bd4b924b9:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .uaf708b442d51a46061842e5bd4b924b9 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .uaf708b442d51a46061842e5bd4b924b9 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .uaf708b442d51a46061842e5bd4b924b9 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .uaf708b442d51a46061842e5bd4b924b9 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .uaf708b442d51a46061842e5bd4b924b9:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .uaf708b442d51a46061842e5bd4b924b9 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .uaf708b442d51a46061842e5bd4b924b9 .uaf708b442d51a46061842e5bd4b924b9-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .uaf708b442d51a46061842e5bd4b924b9:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Future Of E-Commerce EssayEthan Frome was a stark tale about the ordinary lives of an isolated, rural people living in the harsh New England countryside (DeCecco, p. 3). While Ethan Frome, the stark New England tragedy, is possibly her best-known work, it is the least typical of her art (Erlich, p. 1). Ethan Frome is widely seen as the best and most popular novel of Edith Wharton while also being the most different from her others. It is a tragic tale of two lovers, Ethan and Mattie, who never are able to spend their lives together despite their efforts. Zeena, Ethans dictatorial and authoritarian wife, stands in their way throughout the entire novel. Mattie was the woman he wanted and Zeena was the woman he needed (Bjorkman, Critic Gore Vidal agrees with the common conception of Wharton as a stuffy, Grande dame whose work is analogous to that of Henry James. Vidal believes that she tands outside of the world that she describes in Ethan Frome, but is still able to convincingly describe a bleak, New England town and its people. He refers to the first few pages of the novel as a prime example of Whartons wonderful descriptions that produce a perfect image of Starkfield and Ethan in the readers head. Critic Elizabeth Ammons agrees with Vidal in saying that the mood is dark and pessimistic in the town of At the time when Wharton wrote Ethan Frome, she was under the influence of French realists, but still pays homage to American classics. Several critics including Vidal nd Ammons compare Ethan Frome to one of Nathaniel Hawthornes novels, The Blithdale Romance. The two books both take place in the same New England territory and Wharton named Zenobia after a heroine of Hawthornes novel. Most critics agree that love is the key subject and verdict of Ethan Frome. It is both simple and harsh; complex, but not subtle (Ammons, p. 495). Ammons believes that the novel dramatizes sexual repression and bitter disillusion with love. Ethans character, throughout the novel, realizes that love is not accommodating or easy. He is forced to choose between two different women which he loves, but in different ways. The love triangle going on between Zeena, Mattie and Ethan present stirring questions of morality. Is it allowable behavior for Ethan to leave Zeena the revolting nag and spend his time with the warm and affectionate Mattie (Poepsel, p. 1)? When Ethan and Mattie decide to sled into a tree and kill themselves, they are trying to escape that situation which so complicates their lives and challenges their morals. Their quest ultimately fails when they are merely hurt in the accident. After this event, the roles reverse and Zeena is forced to take care of the two while they have to live through a painful existence apart and rippled. In the beginning of Ethan Frome, Zeena appears to be totally dependent on Ethan and Mattie, but the question posed by critic Mark Poepsel is: Was Zeena really dependent on Ethan all those years? The answer is no. Zeena is a hypochondriac who finds the wrong in nearly every situation. When she doesnt have someone else to care for, she finds disease in herself (Poepsel, p. 1). As Ammons said, Prince charming, properly understood, liberates his heroine into a life of permanent dependence. I could only find one point in which the novel Ethan Frome was criticized negatively. Critics Bjorkman and Poepsel both commented that the novel lacks in suspense. From the start, the smash-up lies over the pages of the book (Bjorkman, p. 50). However, I believe that this was merely foreshadowing used by Wharton and it adds to the story. As well, I found the pages preceding the smash-up to be very suspenseful because one cannot predict what the outcome might be. I do not agree with Poepsel and Bjorkman when they say that the novel lacks suspense and has too much In conclusion, most critics concur on the fact that Ethan Frome is one of Edith Whartons greatest novels and also the most deviant fr om her usual style. .uc3b48a58b14c3f19e68814e9a2a7d4d1 , .uc3b48a58b14c3f19e68814e9a2a7d4d1 .postImageUrl , .uc3b48a58b14c3f19e68814e9a2a7d4d1 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .uc3b48a58b14c3f19e68814e9a2a7d4d1 , .uc3b48a58b14c3f19e68814e9a2a7d4d1:hover , .uc3b48a58b14c3f19e68814e9a2a7d4d1:visited , .uc3b48a58b14c3f19e68814e9a2a7d4d1:active { border:0!important; } .uc3b48a58b14c3f19e68814e9a2a7d4d1 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .uc3b48a58b14c3f19e68814e9a2a7d4d1 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .uc3b48a58b14c3f19e68814e9a2a7d4d1:active , .uc3b48a58b14c3f19e68814e9a2a7d4d1:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .uc3b48a58b14c3f19e68814e9a2a7d4d1 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .uc3b48a58b14c3f19e68814e9a2a7d4d1 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .uc3b48a58b14c3f19e68814e9a2a7d4d1 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .uc3b48a58b14c3f19e68814e9a2a7d4d1 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .uc3b48a58b14c3f19e68814e9a2a7d4d1:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .uc3b48a58b14c3f19e68814e9a2a7d4d1 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .uc3b48a58b14c3f19e68814e9a2a7d4d1 .uc3b48a58b14c3f19e68814e9a2a7d4d1-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .uc3b48a58b14c3f19e68814e9a2a7d4d1:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: The main function of religion is to provide people EssayInstead of concentrating on the hardships of women in the upper class society of New York, Wharton explores the new, uncharted territory of New England. Ethan Frome is a story of two star crossed lovers, not unlike Romeo and Juliet, whose family situation will not allow them to be together. Wharton probes the questions of rectitude and morality in this novel and forces the characters as well as the reader to make a choice between loyalty and true love. In an effort to escape this difficult choice, Ethans choice is made for him and he is forced to live on enduring pain and misery.

Knights And Knighthood Essays - Holy Grail, , Term Papers

Knights And Knighthood What is a knight? What is the concept of knighthood all about? Knighthood exists in two places simultaneously--in the world and in our imagination. We can speak of ideals versus realities, probably the central problem with knighthood and the chivalric ideals. Swords, horses, jousts, armor, castles, fair maidens, kings, queens?these are the words that come to mind when people mention the word knight. The mental image of a knight embedded in everyone's minds shows an armor-clad man on a horse. The noble beings beneath the armor are virtually unknown to many. Behind every knight's intimidating physical appearance lay the values, morals, and history of chivalry that has made these people great historical figures. In the fourth century A.D. the Roman Empire fell and various barbarian tribes invaded Europe. One of the dominant groups was the Franks of central and Western Europe, who gradually expanded their power until, in A.D. 800; their leader Charlemagne became emperor of the West. Charlemagne and his forebears added to the number of horsemen in their army, giving land to mounted warriors. In the ninth century the empire, torn by civil wars and invasions, broke up. Powerful local lords and their mounted warriors offered protection to peasants, who became their serfs in return. In this feudal system, which first developed in Western Europe, the lords themselves owed allegiance to greater lords, and all were bound by oaths of loyalty. All these lords, and some of the men who served them, were knights ? warriors who fought on horseback. By the 11th century, a new social order was formed by armored knights, who serve a local lord, count, or duke, and were in turn served by serfs (Gravett, 40). How were knights made? When boys of noble birth who were going to become knights were around seven years old, they were usually sent away to a nobleman's household, usually of his uncle or great lord, to be a page. There they were taught how to behave and how to ride. When they reached the age of fourteen, they were apprenticed to knights to whom they would serve as squires. Then, they could learn to handle weapons and how to tend to their masters' armor and horses. Sometimes, they would even go to battle with their masters, to help if they were hurt or unhorsed. They were taught how to shoot a bow and to carve meat for food. When they were twenty-one years old, successful squires were knighted (Gravett, 48). After years and years of training, they then were faced with high expectations and a code of honor to act by. A knight's code of chivalry was made up of a number of rules. They were to possess certain qualities such as prowess, justice, loyalty, defense, courage, faith, humility, largesse, nobility and franchise. Due to its high demand, the code of chivalry caused the knights to perform many a noble deed and to always be available to lend a helping hand. The lady and the demands of court also shaped what the knight was to become. She demanded, through the romance literature that remains a powerful influence today, that the knight act with strength on one hand, and courtesy and respect on the other. A knight should respect women; he should defend them in their hour of need, eschewing the magnetic gravity of mere lust. Love could be a powerful influence over the knight, a strengthening force that could propel the knight to greatness beyond his own capability. The church agreed, arguing only that the spiritual love of Christ was superior to the love of a woman; but the important detail was that love as an ennobling motivator was added as a chivalric element that was to stay. As a nobleman and dispenser of justice, the knight was required to seek justice, to defend the right, and to dispense of his wealth with largesse, showing the generosity that thwarted greed and thus helped the knight to ennoble himself in deed as well as blood (Pric e, 1996). A knight, under the rules of courtly love had to prove his devotion through heroic deeds and by amorous writings presented anonymously to his beloved, often a married woman of equally high birth or

Film Production essays

Film Production essays In the period previous to the 1930's, the predominant form of filmmaking was that of the crank camera. This is not to say that motor-driven cameras were not possible. However, the motors to advance the film were so large that they were simply too cumbersome to be effective. Thus, it was the cameraman himself who would crank the film at a steady rate to expose the frames. When it came to showing the film, on the other hand, motor driven projectors were quite convenient, and by the 1920's a standard 24 frames per second was established for projecting films. Filming, however, remained unstandardized due to the inherent variation in recording speeds, since it depended directly on the cameraman. An experienced cameraman was capable of filming an entire film at approximately the same speed, yet often variations were made in the recording speed for dramatic effect. Decreasing the number of cranks, for example, exposed fewer frames and thus when projected at the standard 24 frames created the frenzied action that characterized much of the Vaudeville cinema. The French filmmaker Georges Melies was among the first to employ changing backdrops and costumes to tell his story. Up until that point many film were only a few minutes long taking place on a single set. Changing sets and costumes opened a vast range of new possibilities and spurred further growth in the fledgling industry. As the film industry expanded in America, filmmakers found and increasing need for to establish a single location at which they could build sets and film ...

Definition and Examples of Premodifiers in English

Definition and Examples of Premodifiers in English In English grammar, a premodifier is a modifier that precedes the head of a noun phrase. Most often, premodifiers are adjectives (a beautiful day), participles (broken heart), or other nouns (time management). Premodifers are sometimes referred to as epithets. As noted by Douglas Biber et al., Premodifiers and postmodifiers are distributed in the same way across registers: rare in conversation, very common in informational writing (Longman Student Grammar of Spoken and Written English, 2002). Examples and Observations The next morning, Lonsdale was spotted coming out of a nearby house.Indeed, it is a commonplace observation that a truly intelligent youth is aided but little by the average college education.(H.L. Mencken)We have enjoyed some extremely varied and consistently excellent performances at this theater.The road deteriorated until it resembled a casually discarded trail of large and sharp stones.The problem is not just our junkie-like behavior; it is that there is another energy junkie in the neighborhood with a growing habit- China.(Ed Schultz, Killer Politics: How Big Money and Bad Politics Are Destroying the Great American Middle Class. Hyperion, 2010)Younkers was the most elegant, up-to-the-minute, briskly efficient, satisfyingly urbane place in Iowa.(Bill Bryson, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid. Broadway Books, 2006) Four Major Types of Premodifiers There are four major structural types of premodification in English: - general adjective: big pillow, new pants, official negotiations, political isolation- -ed participial modifier: restricted area, improved growth, fixed volume, established tradition- -ing participial modifier: flashing lights, growing problem, exhausting task- noun: staff room, pencil case, market forces, maturation period In addition, . . . determiners, genitives, and numerals precede the head and modifiers, and help to specify the reference of noun phrases. Premodifiers are condensed structures. They use fewer words than postmodifiers to convey roughly the same information. Most adjectival and participial premodifiers can be rephrased as a longer, postmodifying relative clause . . .. (Douglas Biber, Susan Conrad, and Geoffrey Leech, Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English. Pearson, 2002) Premodifiers and Compounds Premodifying elements in prehead position are often used as qualifiers, which means that they restrict the reference of the head of the noun phrase to a subset of the things it denotes. In many cases the resultant expression is fairly permanent, and is used regularly. Eventually the meaning of the combined expression may differ from the meaning that is derivable from the meaning of its constituents. In this case the term compound or nominal compound is often used. . . . (29) lighthouse- light music(30) software- soft option(31) hothouse- hot house(32) blackbird- black bird(33) darkroom- dark room The first element in these examples is always the compound which is contrasted to the second element that is not usually regarded as a compound. Compounds tend to have a primary stress on the first element, whereas noun phrase combinations are written as two words. (Andreas H. Jucker, Social Stylistics: Syntactic Variation in British Newspapers. Mouton de Gruyter, 1992) The Problem of Stacking: Excessive Premodification A particularly disturbing feature of scientific writing is excessive premodification- the piling up of adjectives, or words being used adjectivally, in front of a noun: a mobile hopper fed compressed air operated grit blasting machine. . . . As a general rule, we recognize that listeners find it difficult to cope with the delivery of so many qualifications before the main noun. So we put some of our modifiers before it, and most of them after it. . . . a mobile grit-blasting machine, fed from a hopper and operated by compressed air (John Kirkman, Good Style: Writing For Science And Technology, 2nd ed. Routledge, 2005)

DQ 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

DQ 2 - Essay Example There are three main financial statements that are usually affected when a company makes any transaction. Purchase of an asset does not qualify as an expense, since it is a financing activity, which means that the income statement is not affected or changed. The balance sheet is used to record the final balances in the asset, liability and equity accounts of a firm, which means that this transaction will affect the balance sheet. When the company takes the loan, the cash account (current asset) increases by $150,000, and the loan account (Liability) also increases by $150,000. When the company purchases the asset, the cash account (current asset) reduces by $150,000, and the equipment account (Long-term asset) increases by $150,000. The other financial statement that is affected is the cash flow statement, since the transaction of purchasing the asset is a cash flow for an investing activity. In this case, the cash flow for investing activities will be increased by

Public Finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Public Finance - Essay Example It would also include government’s initiative and legal foundations established for such programs. The second part would be dealing with the effect of such welfare payments and programs on the labour supply decisions, and the last part would consist of the economic theory for explaining the effect of labour supply incentive of these social welfare programs, which is designed for the low income household. Empirical evidence would be also included to support such viewpoints. In order to understand the concepts of welfare payments and its relation to labour supply, firstly one needs to understand the concepts of welfare economics. Welfare economics utilises the perspectives and procedure of microeconomics, but the concepts can be exploited to derive macroeconomics assumptions. It assists in analysing and measuring social welfare, in terms of the economic society. The concept of welfare economics lays down welfare improvement framework in term of Pareto efficiency. The two convent ional approaches in welfare economics are: a) The New Welfare Economics Approach, and b) The Neoclassical Approach. Neoclassical approach was formulated by Marshall, Edgeworth, Pigou and Sidgwick. This theory assumes that utility is a scalable measure by judgement or observation. The preferences are stable and the additional consumption would increase the utility successively. This concept is also known as diminishing marginal utility. However, the new welfare economic theory is based on the studies of Parato, Kaldor and Hicks. This theory specifically explains the difference between the efficiency aspect and the distribution aspect of a discipline. The criteria of efficiency are treated with Parato’s efficiency and the compensation tests of Hicks-Kaldor. The concepts of welfare economics would be included in the study to understand the concepts of social welfare. Let us understand it with the help of utility function, which can also be derived from points on the contact curv e. So abundant utility functions can be derived from the production possibility curve, stated in figure 1. Figure 1 Figure 1 is a combined graph which would explain the efficiency between consumption and production and also include the ingredients of maximising social welfare. Each point on the curve represents the allocation of efficiency of the economic resources. It is Pareto optimum in the factor allocation, in consumption, in the interaction and in production. The curve MN represents a social utility frontier curve. Point D on the MN curve corresponds to Point C. Point D lies on the social utility frontier, as the marginal rate of substitution (MRS) of C is equal to the MRS of A. Similarly Point B corresponds to point E and both of them lie within the social utility frontier, which signifies inefficiency. This is because the MRS at C is not equal to Marginal rate of transformation (MRT) at point A. Although this was Pareto’s way of presenting the points of efficiency, bu t there is one point where the social welfare has maximized and that point can also be called as the point of bliss. This point is Z, where the MN curve is tangent to the highest possible indifference curve. After discussing welfare economics through graphical representation, the basic concepts of providing welfare payments to the low income households, would be studied. The term welfare is used to denote minimum level of social support and wellbeing for all

Bob Dylan Poetry Essay Example for Free

Bob Dylan Poetry Essay A comparison of recordings of Bob Dylans All along the Watchtower by Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix offers a vivid case study of what Samuel Floyd characterizes as the complementary oppositions of African- and European-derived musical processes and events. The song itself draws together elements of ballad and blues traditions; and the two recordings treat this synthesis in very different ways even as they share the common ground of late 1960s rock. Dylans is a spare, acoustic folk-rock rendition, while Hendrixs is an opulent electric spectacle whose sonic and syntactic conception npacks the latent drama only suggested by the original. In the process, Hendrix offers an alternative answer to the songs existential dilemma implied in its lyrics and emphasized in its musical setting. This paper examines the elements and the workings of the dialogic interaction represented first of all in Dylans song, and then in the transformation it undergoes in Hendrixs version. His use of language was unusual, and called attention to itself by Juxtaposing words and images not usually associated with each other. In contrast, All Along The Watchtower is spare and restrained. The song consists of only three verses, with no chorus. The language is simple. Yet the three verses are packed with meaning and drama. Lets see how it starts. There must be some kind of way out of here, OSaid the Joker to the thief. Notice how Dylan starts the song by throwing us into the middle of a conversation, and begins with an urgent statement. We dont know where the here is from which the speaker wants to escape, but we know he wants out. The sense of drama is immediate. We find out that the two people speaking are the joker and the thief. These are archetypal characters that have existed in one form r another for thousands of years. By identifying them in this way, Dylan invokes a sense of timelessness. Because these fgures are broad archetypes, there is already a suggestion that this might be a parable of some sort, a story whose essence remains the same over many different times, places and characters. The Joker, or Jester, can be seen in general to represent the artist: s omeone whose role is to amuse other members of the established order, but also to provoke them, to suggest alternate ways of looking at reality. And, of course, the Joker and the thief are both outsiders of sort, united in their separation from more ordered segments of society. Theres too much confusion, 01 cant get no relief. 0Businessmen, they drink my wine, OPIowmen dig my earth. ONone of them along the line 0Know what any of it is worth. The rest of the verse tells us why the Joker wants to escape: there is too much confusion. But what is confused? Others are benefiting from his labors, and working for him to help produce the results. But neither understands the worth of their efforts. So the confusion is about values: what is valuable and what is not. No reason to get xcited, 0The thief he kindly spoke. 0There are many here among us OWho feel that life is but a Joke. 0But you and l, weve been through that, OAnd this is not our fate. So let us not talk falsely now, 0The hour is getting late. The second verse begins with the thief speaking kindly to the Joker. This adverb lets us know that he is sympathetic and that he, perhaps, understands the worth of the Joker and his efforts. the thief and the Joker know better, having lived through that. So while others may still be confused, these two are not. Since they understand the value of life, it is mportant for them to be truthful with one another. Then the last line of the verse brings us back from exposition to a sense of drama and movement, and impending action: the hour is getting late. All along the watchtower, OPrinces kept the view, 0 While all the women came and went † 0Barefoot servants too. 00utside in the cold distance, OA wildcat did growl. 0Two riders were approaching, and 0The wind began to howl. The beginning of this final verse suddenly shifts the scene, without at first giving us any sense of how this new setting connects to the first one. In contrast to the first two verses, which were full of conversation, this verse unfolds almost cinematically, full of visual imagery. This new scene is populated with princes, women, and barefoot servants, establishing a time and place in the past, although again using enduring, archetypal fgures. These fgures guarding their castle seem to represent established society, and the existing power structure. But what are they guarding against? A wildcat growls from a distance, suggesting the savage, untamed power of nature lurking Just beyond the well-ordered lights of the castle. Then we see the two riders approaching. Suddenly, in only four words, the first two verses are connected with the last. With a sort of cinematic establishing shot, but used at the end of the story rather than the beginning, we see the thief and the Joker approaching the castle. We already know that they want to establish a different set of values, one based on the worth of human life. Their approach towards the guarded castle suggests an impending confrontation. And then the last line of the song strengthens this suggestion with imagery of a furious storm starting to build. Note how this last verse has made physical the relationships suggested in the previous lines. The thief, Joker and wildcat are all placed outside the castle, which is occupied by princes and servants. So we now have, in a very concrete sense, independent outsiders and a rigid power hierarchy. Dylans accomplishment here is nothing less than amazing. In the space of a few verses, in a song so spare it could almost be missed as a throw-away, Dylan manages to accomplish all of the following. Summarizes his own life to date. Given his earlier efforts to make pointed fun f almost everything around him, and his near-fatal motorcycle crash that marked a turning point in his career, it is hard not to see the Joker as Dylan himself. He has now learned that life is not a Joke, and distinguishes between artists and outsiders who understand the seriousness of life, versus the businessmen and fans who treat his art as simply a marketable commodity. Identifies the primary issue of our time as one of values. Modern thinkers such as Ken Wilber, with his image of our contemporary flatland, in which everything is seen as neutral, and devoid of value, are brought to mind. In earlier songs Dylan talked tirelessly of modern fgures misunderstanding the significance of issues such as war, freedom and poverty. Here Dylan stands back from these specific issues and reduces the confrontation to its essential element: human values against the established order. Propels his theme with a powerful dramatic structure. From a traditional dramatic viewpoint, almost nothing happens in this song: two riders talk to each play. Yet by repeatedly hinting at the intensity of a coming confrontation, and by identifying the two opposing forces, Dylan keeps us on the edges of our seats, ondering what will happen next. The effect at the end is comparable to the conclusion of William Butler Yeats famous poem, The Second Coming: And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, slouches towards Bethlehem to be born? In both cases, there is a perceptible chill creeping up the spine, as the poet leaves his reader to contemplate the inevitability and intensity of the coming confrontation, and its consequences. Well, so much for the lyrics. Dylans original reading of the song is as spare and compact as his words, with the music adding little. Hendrix treatment is whole different matter, though. The first element to note is how the music here parallels the dramatic structure of the song. Listen to the opening drums and guitars, as one example. (Audio clip 44K. ) The beat starts, intensifies, and then stops. As in the lyrics, the power is hinted at, but not unleashed. The music, like the words, points towards some future action, presents the tension, but does not resolve it. This device is repeated throughout the song, with Hendrix mostly holding back, repeatedly returning the song to its basically quiet pace. The second element I want to note is Hendrix use of guitar to represent the confusion that the Joker is experiencing. This is a perfect role for Jimi, of course, since his guitar parts often defy our normal expectations for the instrument. He uses bent notes, a wah-wah pedal, and other devices to represent a disorienting, almost inhuman sonic landscape. Here is one example. (Audio clip 128K. ) The third musical element I want to comment on, and the one that really frames and defines the whole song, is Jimis repeated, gradually progressing ascents up the scale with blistering notes. Here is what I mean, the first ime it appears, at the beginning of the first guitar break, between the first and second verses. Audio clip 16K. ) Here is what it sounds like at the end of the second, and longer, guitar break, between the second and third verses. (Audio clip 40K. ) And here, finally, is the way it sounds at the end of the song. (Audio clip 220K. ) Notice how Jimi seems to be gradually reaching for a note that he only finally hits at the end of the song. And then when he gets there, he repeats it, over and over, making a high keening sound, representing not only the howling wind referred to in the last line, ut that coming conflict that the song so clearly prepares us for. And the music ends on this note, as do the lyrics, without resolution, but clearly pointing forwards to some anticipated future act of liberation. This is simply a brilliant collaboration between songwriter and musician, the accompaniment extending and reinforcing the meaning and drama of the lyrics, and showcasing the unique possibilities of the electric guitar along with nothing more than a bass, drum kit and acoustic guitar. Listening to this song is like trying to find your way through a washed-out desert at unset. Hes making some harsh criticisms of American society during the Vietnam era, but the music is so mellow and the lyrics so strange its like hes daring you not to pay attention. Aside from that, All Along the Watchtower is a song that defined the late 1960s, when the calm, disciplined protests of the early decade were degenerating into violence and confusion. No wonder Dylan ends the song with a howling wind. Hendrix got around to covering this song, it sealed the deal: the guitar solo at the end has come to embody the splitting apart of order into screeching, and possibly iberating, chaos. Hendrixs version has been used in countless movies and television shows, from the Spike Lee Joint Clockers to Forrest Gump to the episode in The Simpsons when Homers mother, an ex-hippie terrorist, returns to Springfield. And, if nothing else, its cool to think that Dylan has performed this song more than any other. Not many people are aware that Bob Dylan was the original writer and singer of All Along the Watchtower. Since Bob Dylan wrote the song, two other widely known artists have done their own version of this song: Jimi Hendrix and The Dave Matthews Band. Although it is the same song Just done by different singers, each song has its own characteristics which makes them appear as very different songs. In this paper, I will compare how each of these artists adds their own touch to the song by the use of their instruments. If you have ever heard any of Bob Dylans songs, you know that he as a very mellow tone to all of them. All Along the Watchtower is no different. Dylan uses only a very few instruments. At the very beginning of the song, you will hear a harmonica which immediately makes you want to hear the rest of the song. The only other instruments I can hear in Dylans version of the song are a guitar and drums. Throughout the song you hear Bob Dylan. An influential poet, writer, and musician who redefined American pop music. Dylan was able to use his skills to successfully reach an outstanding degree of accomplishments. Being able to take the term literature and give it a whole new meaning, Dylan has made a significant change in todays music listeners. Dylan was capable of taking his ability to write, his ability to perform, and putting them with the time he had to spare to become one of the most enigmatic, prolific performers in the world. In the time of Bob Dylans music, the world separated literature and music. Music included lyrics, beats, rhythms, and instruments. Literature, on the other hand, was strictly for poetry, ballads, letters, and stories. Never before had anyone considered the opportunity for song lyrics to be considered literature. People strongly thought of the two as being very different categories. With both literature and music being respected in their own unique way, Bob Dylan came along to add a new element. During his time, Dylan was known for his touching songs, however, many did not onsider him a poet. This thought was false. Dylan was a poet first aln meetings, Bob Dylan had raised an interesting question. Is it possible for a performance art to be considered literature (Marcus 119)? Bob Dylans music was unique; he was able to intertwine his lyrics through the life he had lived and through the events of the world around him. Some events in Dylans life were the Kennedy assassination and the Vietnam War. Dylan would come to be known for playing at concerts that were protesting the war at hand. Many young adults would flock to hear the man who new Just how to express the words. The words that expressed his deeper most feeling were the same words that comforted these many young adults by the mass. With people feeling the same sorrows as Dylan himself, it was his words that little significance. It was all in the words. l wanted Just a song to sing, and there came a point where I couldnt sing anything. I had to write what I wanted to sing cos what I wanted to sing, nobody else was writing (Spitz 407). Dylan shared this feeling with others everywhere. It is possible that him writing songs was the only way to say what needed to be said.

America Needs The Death Penalty Essay example -- pro-capital punishmen

The death penalty has been a heated topic of debate for many of years. Some people believe that the death penalty is unconstitutional in that it is cruel and unusual punishment. Many people also think that the states do not have the authority to take a life. They think that it is god’s responsibility to judge life and death not mans. So they look at the death penalty from a religious view point. Items that this commission will consider in evaluating the humanity and constitutionality of the death penalty, are is lethal injection a humane way to put an offender to death. We will also consider the constitution to ensure the state follows the constitution. Further, consideration will be given to if the state ensuring that all death penalty offenders being given proper DNA testing to prove their guilt or innocence. One of the most important things that this commission needs to decide is whether the death penalty violates constitutional rights. Many people have claimed that the death penalty is unconstitutional because the death penalty is cruel and unusual punishment. An example of this is in California when the state delayed the date an inmate was sentenced to die because his lawyer said that the death penalty by lethal injection was cruel and unusual punishment (Hooper, 2006). Michael Morales’ (the man sentenced to death by lethal injection) lawyers state that there were cases with other inmates that did not receive enough anesthetic and therefore felt too much pain while being put to death (Hooper). This doubt raised can create a great concern for any state and that is why the governor has decided to hault executions and put this panel in place. A good portion of this cruel and unusual punishment will be explaine... ... Constitution. However, even though the death penalty is more costly, there are people that are simply too dangerous to remain alive. The death penalty also offers deterrence for people who may be considering an awful act. It may prevent someone from robbing a store because there is a chance someone could die in the act, therefore making it a capital punishment. There are pros and cons to the death penalty, but in the end I believe that it should be considered when dealing with the most serious and gruesome criminals. Works Cited Allen, H. E., Latessa, E. J., & Ponder, B. S. (2010). Corrections in America (12th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. Hooper, R. (2006). US States Face Dilemma Over Death Row Injections. New Scientist. 189(2541). P. 10. McGraw, D., & Locy, T. (2000). DNA and the Death Penalty. U.S. News & World Report. 128(23). P.20-21 America Needs The Death Penalty Essay example -- pro-capital punishmen The death penalty has been a heated topic of debate for many of years. Some people believe that the death penalty is unconstitutional in that it is cruel and unusual punishment. Many people also think that the states do not have the authority to take a life. They think that it is god’s responsibility to judge life and death not mans. So they look at the death penalty from a religious view point. Items that this commission will consider in evaluating the humanity and constitutionality of the death penalty, are is lethal injection a humane way to put an offender to death. We will also consider the constitution to ensure the state follows the constitution. Further, consideration will be given to if the state ensuring that all death penalty offenders being given proper DNA testing to prove their guilt or innocence. One of the most important things that this commission needs to decide is whether the death penalty violates constitutional rights. Many people have claimed that the death penalty is unconstitutional because the death penalty is cruel and unusual punishment. An example of this is in California when the state delayed the date an inmate was sentenced to die because his lawyer said that the death penalty by lethal injection was cruel and unusual punishment (Hooper, 2006). Michael Morales’ (the man sentenced to death by lethal injection) lawyers state that there were cases with other inmates that did not receive enough anesthetic and therefore felt too much pain while being put to death (Hooper). This doubt raised can create a great concern for any state and that is why the governor has decided to hault executions and put this panel in place. A good portion of this cruel and unusual punishment will be explaine... ... Constitution. However, even though the death penalty is more costly, there are people that are simply too dangerous to remain alive. The death penalty also offers deterrence for people who may be considering an awful act. It may prevent someone from robbing a store because there is a chance someone could die in the act, therefore making it a capital punishment. There are pros and cons to the death penalty, but in the end I believe that it should be considered when dealing with the most serious and gruesome criminals. Works Cited Allen, H. E., Latessa, E. J., & Ponder, B. S. (2010). Corrections in America (12th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. Hooper, R. (2006). US States Face Dilemma Over Death Row Injections. New Scientist. 189(2541). P. 10. McGraw, D., & Locy, T. (2000). DNA and the Death Penalty. U.S. News & World Report. 128(23). P.20-21

Erich Fromm’s Conception of the Art of Being

Fromm situates the role of social psychology as attempting to resolve the Marxian dialectical contradiction that history constructs ‘man’ while placing ‘man’ as the main source of such a construction [that being the construction of history]. In addition to this, Fromm focuses on the manner in which one can understand how passions and anxieties are molded by the social process. The importance of social psychology, within this context is thereby evident if one considers that the function of social psychology is to show how those energies [passions and anxieties] become productive forces capable of molding the social process [that of the social construction of man as well as man’s construction of history]. Fromm recognizes that social character refers to that part of the character structure of individuals which is common to most members of a particular social group, developed in response to their conditions of life. Character is shaped by the dynamic ada ptation of needs to social reality, and, in its turn, character conditions the thinking, feeling, and acting of individuals.Despite his use of the word ‘determines’, Fromm consistently stresses the dynamism of human nature whereby individuals and groups are able to resist the seduction of certain enslaving adaptations and open up the possibility of positive freedom through self-realization. The concept of social character helps to explain the link between the material basis of society and the ideological superstructure. It is, in this sense, the intermediary between the socio-economic structure and the ideas and ideals prevalent in society. The economic basis conditions social character, which determines the ideas and ideals of a class or a group. In turn, these ideas help to mould the social character and, indirectly, influence the economic structure.In comparison to Freud’s notion of human psychology, Fromm was able to keep open the possibility that, on the bas is of what we all share as human beings, we are capable of creating a society in which the prevalent relationship of domination and submission is rejected in favor of a relationship of solidarity (Fear 228). His analysis of the psychology of socio-economic change in various social classes from the time of the Reformation through to the twentieth century reveals a variety of ways of suppressing the freedom which was on offer as a result of the break from the political, economic, and spiritual shackles that bound people in pre-modern times. According to Fromm, modernity involves a breakdown of old securities which is so frightening that different social groups resort to belief systems and movements which bind them to new forms of domination and submission.In relation to Fromm’s conception of human existence within the context of the aforementioned conditions, Fromm considers the notion of existence [ethical existence] in terms of virtuosity. Fromm notes, â€Å"The virtuous or vicious character rather than single virtues or vices is the true subject matter of ethical inquiry† (Man 33). Character ethics reach back to the philosophy of Ancient Greece, and Fromm’s debt to Aristotle is freely acknowledged.The abandonment of the idea of an essential human nature striving towards a telos leaves conventional moral philosophy the impossible task of deriving moral precepts from a view of ‘untutored’ human nature (MacIntyre 54-55). Fromm explicitly criticizes this internalized authoritarianism wherein the pursuit of one’s own happiness has no positive ethical value as supreme happiness can only be found in the fulfillment of one’s duty (Man 121-3).This idea that there is a natural propensity for evil and that the moral law is necessary to suppress it is anathema to Fromm, for whom loving one’s self and loving one’s neighbor is not a phenomenon transcending humanity but rather an inherent attribute of that humani ty (Fear 98-99). Fromm notes that it is the power by which we relate to and enable solidarity with our fellowmen. Within this contextual background what is human nature for Fromm.In The Art of Being, he poses the question of what it is that distinguishes the human being from other animals. For Fromm self-awareness, reason and imagination merely disrupt the harmony which characterizes animal nature. The human being is at once part of nature and yet transcends the rest of nature. Reason drives us to endless striving for new solutions to the problems which we continuously need to confront.The human life is one of unavoidable disequilibrium in which there can be no return to a pre-human state of harmony with nature but only a development of reason towards mastery of nature, including human nature. Only by recognizing that the only meaning to life is that which is given by humans through productive living can the possibility develop of achieving happiness through the full realization of the faculties which are peculiarly human. In Man for Himself, he cites Aristotle and Spinoza as the leading humanist philosophers, but also endorses Marx’s comment in Capital that it is vital to distinguish between human nature in general and human nature as modified in each historical period.For Fromm, humanistic ethics is based on the principle that ‘good’ is what is good for us as human beings and ‘evil’ is what is detrimental to us, and the sole criterion of ethical value is human welfare. ‘Good’ is regarded as the affirmation of life through the unfolding of man’s powers and ‘virtue’ is regarded as responsibility to our own existence, whereas ‘evil’ is perceived as the crippling aspect of our power and vice is an instance of our irresponsibility toward ourselves.Drawing on Aristotle and Spinoza, Fromm commends ‘productiveness’ and the ‘productive orientation’, involving the full development of the human capacities for creativity, love, and reason. Failure to live in this way results in ‘dysfunction and unhappiness’ for the individual the occurrence of which leads to a ‘socially patterned defect’. Hence, in the aforementioned work [The Art of Being] Fromm notes that it is important to recognize the existing law [universal law] that governs all forms of human relations. Such a law ensures the necessity that we should be mindful that â€Å"there is no contact between human beings that does not affect† all human beings (13).In To Have or To Be? he contrasts the being mode with the having mode. The being mode is a situation in which activities are productive in the sense of being consciously directed at the enrichment of human existence, as opposed to the having mode in which activity is directed to acquiring wealth and power over others (33). Although he accepts that the having mode is socially dominant, he argues that, onl y a small minority are governed entirely by it. There are still aspects of most people’s lives in which they are genuinely touched by non-instrumental feelings for their fellow human beings.One of the problems in establishing pictures of the productive individual and the being mode is that psychoanalysis has traditionally focused on neuroses rather than well-being. The problem is made more complex by the theoretical move from the consideration of the mental health of the individual to that of society. Utopian thinking traditionally addresses the possibility of a happy society, but often this is seen merely as the removal of anxiety caused by material oppression or deprivation. Despite these difficulties, a clear picture of the emancipated individual in the  free society does emerge from Fromm’s work, with the emphasis on a productive disposition and social relations infused with solidarity and love.In relation to this, how is it possible to understand Fromm’s conception of the necessity to enable the individual to live a life of virtue [and hence to ‘realize’ his being or his existence] within a world dominated by various forms of simulacra enabled by mass media? In order to ensure the realization of an individual’s existence [and hence that of his being] psychology’s role, in this sense, involves the production and implementation of various methods that will enable an individual to develop his virtue and as a result of this develop the existence of solidarity and love within society.Such methods include that of enabling self-awareness amongst individuals. Self-awareness in this sense must be understood in relation to the manner in which man stands as a social constructor of both man and culture [and hence society] beyond being a mere political, ideological, or religious individual. Art of Being, in this sense, [in relation to and along Fromm’s philosophy] opts to enable the realization and the affirmati on of the self through the development of virtue in order to ensure the existence of solidarity within the human community.Works CitedFromm, Erich. The Art of Being. London: Routledge, 1993.The Fear of Freedom. New York: Routledge, 1984.Man for Himself: An Inquiry into the Psychology of Ethics. New York: Routledge, 1990.To Have or to Be? London: Routledge, 1993.McIntyre, Alasdaire. After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory. London: Np, 1995.

Unexpected Benefits

In the fourteenth century, the face of Europe was forever changed by a devastating event known as the Black Plague. This plague would rear its ugly head time and again throughout Europe in lesser outbreaks right up through the eighteenth century, when it finally disappeared from the continent for good. However, its initial appearance happened in the fourteenth century, and this debut performance was its most dramatic and destructive.Called the â€Å"great mortality† by contemporary writers1, for the great number of people killed in the outbreak, the term â€Å"black plague† or â€Å"black death† became more commonly used later on as more outbreaks hit the European continent. Carried by fleas on rats, the Black Plague is now commonly thought to be bubonic plague, a disease characterized by sub-dermal hemorrhages that blacken the skin; it is highly contagious and has a high mortality rate. It is thought that Black Plague first entered Europe from Asia, along the si lk roads that merchants used to travel between the continents for the purposes of trade. 4 1Boccaccio, Giovani.The Decameron. Signet Classics: New York. 2002 (reissue). 4Kelly, John. The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time. Harper Collins: New York. 2005. When the Black Plague first hit Europe, the conditions in Europe were ripe for a devastating outbreak. Warfare and a widespread famine that lasted nearly a century had weakened the population of Europe to the point that the people were extremely vulnerable to disease. Famine also hurt productivity by weakening workers, thus further reducing the output of food and other necessary goods; it was an ugly, self-perpetuating cycle.In a population already suffering and on the brink of disaster, the Black Plague, which first made its European appearance in 1347, was a final push toward a dramatic re-alignment of society. Over one-third of the population of Europe was killed by th e Black Plague (and over half the population in Britain). It wiped out entire families, and even entire communities. When it was over, the stunned and decimated population had to face a virtual rebuilding of their entire society from scratch.However, as devastating as the Black Plague was on the inhabitants of Europe, and as hard as things were on the survivors, the Black Plague did have some unexpected benefits for the survivors and their descendants, benefits that would improve the overall quality of life for everyone in Europe, peasants included, for generations to come. One of the most immediate benefits to survivors of the Black Plague was an increase in wages. Before the population was decimated by the Black Plague, Europe had been drastically overpopulated for its resources, resulting in widespread poverty, especially among the peasants.After the Black Plague, however, labor came at a premium, due to the reduction in the population. There were not nearly as many people availa ble to do much-needed work, and therefore those who were available to do it were more sought-after. As a result, wages increased, because employers were now competing for the smaller pool of workers, rather than workers competing for a smaller pool of jobs, as had been the case before. With higher wages, survivors were better able to provide for their families, and the standard of living for many families dramatically increased.In fact, some families fortunes increased so dramatically that they began to live as the nobility did, dressing in fine clothes, living in fine houses, and even employing servants of their own. In some European countries, the nobility were so threatened by the new upward mobility of the peasants that laws were enacted that regulated just what the peasant class could wear and where they could live, so as to prevent the peasant class from mingling with the nobility or trying to become part of the nobility2.In fact, increased opportunities for social advancement were another unexpected benefit of the Black Plague for survivors. Before the Black Plague, Europe was fairly 2Cantor, Norman. In the Wake of the Plague: The Black Death and the World it Made. Harper Perennial: New York. 2002. entrenched in the feudal system, whereby peasants worked the land for wealthy nobles, being allowed to take only a small portion of the harvest they worked to bring in for their own use, and being pretty much tied to the land of their patron for life.After the Black Plague, the surviving population realized it now had options. With so few peasants available to work the land, landlords began competing to attract tenants to their estates, a phenomenon that was new in Europe. Previous to the Black Plague, landlords had a self-propagating population of peasants on their land, generation upon generation of families that stayed on the same land, on the same estate, and worked under whatever conditions the landlord set, as there was nowhere else for them to go.Howev er, after the Black Plague, landlords offered incentives for peasants to come work their land, incentives ranging from actual wages to improved living conditions to increased freedoms. In fact, some historians believe that the conditions in Europe just after the end of the initial Black Plague laid the roots of what was to become capitalism centuries later. A reduction in the population also meant that there was an increase in the amount of fertile land available to the population.With entire families wiped out, sometimes noble or land-owning families, their land became available, land that had often been in the same family for centuries. This opening up of new land created opportunities not only for landlords to increase their holdings and attract new peasants to work for them, but also created opportunities for upwardly mobile peasants to become landowners in their own right. With land available for those who could afford to purchase it, many peasants found that their newfound inc rease in wages also bought them the opportunity to become settled on their own land, and, in effect, their own masters.The Black Plague also, in effect, put an end to the century-long famine in Europe. With fewer people to feed, there was more food available for those who were left. The opening up of new, tillable land on which to grow food, the demand for labor that produced more food, and the increase in wages that allowed a family to buy more food, all led to an increase in consumable food available for everyone. As a result of the Black Plague, the survivors became better nourished and healthier, and thus better able to work to produce more food, as well as better able to fight off new outbreaks of disease as they came.Even with an increase in wages and other benefits attracting most of the available workers after the Black Plague, there were still too few people around to work to do everything that needed to be done in the time in which it needed to be done. Therefore, out of n eed, a plethora of labor-saving devices began to be invented following the Black Plague. These devices helped to speed along necessary work, and reduced the number of people necessary to complete certain jobs. The spinning wheel is an excellent example of this.The spinning wheel was a post-Black Plague invention that dramatically reduced the time and effort involved in turning wool into thread. 3 With more thread able to be produced more quickly than by traditional methods, cloth was able to be weaved quicker and in greater quantities, thus creating an abundance of fabric available for sale and for personal use. Springs and gears were invented to control the hands of clocks. Horseshoes and spring carriages were invented that eased the burden of travel and increased its efficiency.Three-crop field rotation was invented, which increased farming efficiency by dropping the old idea of individual farming plots and introducing the idea of open-field communal farming. In addition, heavier plows with wheels and horizontal plowshares were invented, which saved much time and labor in the process of farming. Finally, the ultimate of all medieval inventions, the printing press, was invented post-Black Plague, an invention that saved an enormous amount of time and energy by ending the need of copying books by hand, thus making the written word more widely available to the general public.3 3Herlihy, David. The Black Death and the Transformation of the West. Harvard University Press: Cambridge. 1997. The effects of the Black Plague were felt in every facet of life, not just social and economic. The Black Plague utterly changed the face of life in Europe forever. The plague even affected the art of the times. Whereas before the Black Plague, religious themes were the most common topic of art, after the Black Plague, a more pessimistic feeling pervaded a society that was terrified of the plague returning.As a result, themes of death became dominant in the artwork for more than a century after the plague. The prestige and authority of the Church were also negatively affected by the Black Plague. Because the church was not able to cure victims of the plague, or even explain what was causing the plague, cynicism of the church grew among the populace. As a result, many sought out alternatives to the traditional church, particularly through smaller religious cults such as self-flagellants (who flogged themselves in atonement for the sins that supposedly brought on the plague).Others sought out secular solutions to ending the plague. Further, because so many monks died in the plague (from living in close quarters and from generously tending the sick), the church experienced an influx of new, less dedicated clergy, who were more opportunistic than the old guard, and contributed to an upcoming period of severe corruption within the Catholic church that eventually led to the Protestant Reformation. 2While the Black Plague was a devastating event for all of Europe , killing millions, it left behind conditions that lead to some positive changes in European society. While wiping out entire families and towns, the Black Plague nonetheless created a fertile ground for economic improvement and upward social mobility for the underclass in its wake. The Black Plague led to the downfall of the feudal system and created the conditions that later ushered in the Age of Enlightenment.It ushered in a new age of labor-saving inventions that changed the face of production in the world. Because it was such a powerful force on both society and the psyche, the Black Plague also ushered in an era of change in both art and religion, changes that eventually led to the Protestant Reformation, which in turn led to the founding of America by the Puritans. The Black Plague, though it destroyed, also provided the seeds of sowing something new and good. 2Cantor, Norman. In the Wake of the Plague: The Black Death and the World it Made.Harper Perennial: New York. 2002. B ibliography Boccaccio, Giovani. The Decameron. Signet Classics: New York. 2002 (reissue). Cantor, Norman. In the Wake of the Plague: The Black Death and the World it Made. Harper Perennial: New York. 2002. Herlihy, David. The Black Death and the Transformation of the West. Harvard University Press: Cambridge. 1997. Kelly, John. The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time. Harper Collins: New York. 2005.

Fed And Monetary Policy Essays - Economy, Money, Macroeconomics

Fed And Monetary Policy Essays - Economy, Money, Macroeconomics Fed And Monetary Policy Justin McVay Period 4 Macroeconomics Term Paper FEDERAL RESERVE AND MONETARY POLICY Monetary policy affects the economic and financial decisions of virtually all of us from workers to borrowers to investors (Rukeyser 105). Louis Rukeyser wrote, If we want monetary policy to play its proper role in a true national economic reconstruction, the authentic task is to get the Fed to stop bouncing like a Chinese Ping-Pong ball, switching every few months between the inflationary effect of pumping far too much money into the economy and cramping, recessionary effect of supplying far to little (Rukeyser 104). And, because the US is the largest economy in the world, its monetary policy also has significant economic and financial effects on other countries. The object of monetary policy is to influence the performance of the economy, as reflected in such factors as inflation, economic output, and employment. It does so by affecting demand. Most people are familiar with the fiscal policy tools that affect demand, such as taxes and government spending. Less familiar is monetary policy; it is conducted by the Federal Reserve System, the nations central bank, and it influences demand mainly by raising and lowering short-term interest rates. The Federal Reserve System (the Fed) is the nations central bank. It was established by an Act of Congress in 1913 and consists of the seven members of the Board of Governors in Washington, DC and twelve Federal Reserve District Banks. Congress structured the Fed to be independent within the government. What that means is although the Fed I accountable to Congress, it is insulated from day-to-day political pressures. This reflects the conviction held both the US and in many other countries that the people who control the countrys money supply should be independent of the people who frame the governments spending decisions. Most studies of central bank independence rank the Fed among the most independent in the world (World 68). Each reserve bank President is appointed to a five-year term by that banks Board of Directors, subject to final approval by the Board of Governors. This procedure adds to independence, because the directors of each reserve bank, who are not political appointees, provide a regional cross-section of interests, including depository institutions, nonfinancial businesses, labor, and the public. The Fed is structured to be self-sufficient in the sense that it meets its operation expenses primarily from the interest earnings on its portfolio of securities. Therefore, it is independent of Congressional decisions about funding. Even though the Fed is independent of Congressional funding and administrative control, it is ultimately accountable to Congress and comes under government audit and review. The Chairman, other governors, and Reserve Bank Presidents report regularly to the Congress on monetary policy, and a variety of other issues, and meet with senior Administration officials to discuss the Federal Reserves and the federal governments economic programs (World 67). Within the Fed, the Federal Open Market Committee, or FOMC, has the primary responsibility for conducting monetary policy. The FOMC meets in Washington eight times a year and has twelve members: the seven members of the Board of Governors, the President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and four of the other Reserve Bank Presidents, who serve in rotation. The remaining Reserve Bank Presidents contribute to the committees discussions and deliberations. In addition, the directors of each Reserve Bank contribute to monetary policy by making recommendations about the appropriate discount rate, which are subject to final approval by the Governors. The goals of US Monetary Policy according to the Federal Reserve Act states that they are to promote maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates. The goals of monetary policy are inconsistent. The belief that a 4% unemployment rate and stable prices are inconsistent is shaped by the widely accepted natural rate hypothesis. It argues that monetary policy has no effect on the economys long-run equilibrium unemployment rate, which is often called the natural rate of unemployment. The reason is that, in the long run, unemployment depends on so-called real factors such as technology and peoples preferences for saving, risk, and work effort; these factors are beyond the reach of monetary policy. Most current estimates place the natural rate of unemployment in the range 5.75%

Alexander Nevsky - Prince of Novgorod and Kiev

Alexander Nevsky - Prince of Novgorod and Kiev The son of an important Russian leader, Alexander Nevsky was elected prince of Novgorod on his own merits. He succeeded in driving invading Swedes from Russian territory and fending off the Teutonic Knights. However, he agreed to pay tribute to the Mongols rather than fight them, a decision for which he has been criticized.  Eventually, he became Grand Prince and worked to restore Russian prosperity and establish Russian sovereignty. After his death, Russia disintegrated into feudal principalities. Also Known As Prince of Novgorod and Kiev; Grand Prince of Vladimir; also spelled Aleksandr Nevski and, in Cyrillic, Ð Ã »Ã µÃ ºÃ' Ã °Ã ½Ã ´Ã'€ Ð Ã µÃ ²Ã' Ã ºÃ ¸Ã ¹ Alexander Nevsky was noted for Stopping the advance of the Swedes and the Teutonic Knights into Russia Occupations Roles in Society Military LeaderPrinceSaint Places of Residence and Influence Russia Important Dates Born:  c. 1220Victorious in battle on the ice:  April 5, 1242Died:  Nov. 14, 1263 Biography Prince of Novgorod and Kiev and Grand Prince of Vladimir, Alexander Nevsky is best known for stopping the advance of the Swedes and the Teutonic Knights into Russia. At the same time, he paid tribute to the Mongols instead of attempting to fight them off, a position that has been attacked as cowardly but which may have been simply a matter of understanding his limits. The son of Yaroslav II Vsevolodovich, grand prince of Vladimir and foremost Russian leader, Alexander was elected prince of Novgorod (primarily a military post) in 1236. In 1239 he married Alexandra, the daughter of the Prince of Polotsk. For some time the Novgorodians had moved into Finnish territory, which was controlled by the Swedes. To punish them for this encroachment and to bar Russias access to the sea, the Swedes invaded Russia in 1240. Alexander scored a significant victory against them at the confluence of the Rivers Izhora and Neva, whereby he got his honorific, Nevsky. However, several months later he was expelled from Novgorod for interfering in city affairs. Not long afterward, Pope Gregory IX began urging the Teutonic Knights to Christianize the Baltic region, even though there were Christians already there. In the face of this threat, Alexander was invited to return to Novgorod and, after several confrontations, he defeated the knights in a famous battle on the frozen channel between Lakes Chud and Pskov in April 1242. Alexander eventually stopped the eastward expansion of both the Swedes and Germans. But another serious problem prevailed in the east. Mongol armies were conquering portions of Russia, which was not politically unified. Alexanders father agreed to serve the new Mongol rulers, but he died in September 1246. This left the throne of the Grand Prince vacant, and both Alexander and his younger brother Andrew appealed to Khan Batu of the Mongol Golden Horde. Batu sent them to the Great Khan, who violated Russian custom by selecting Andrew as Grand Prince, probably because Alexander was favored by Batu, who was out of favor with the Great Khan. Alexander settled for being made the prince of Kiev. Andrew began to conspire with other Russian princes and western nations against the Mongol overlords. Alexander took the opportunity to denounce his brother to Batus son Sartak. Sartak sent an army to depose Andrew, and Alexander was installed as Grand Prince in his place. As Grand Prince, Alexander worked to restore Russian prosperity by building fortifications and churches and passing laws. He continued to control Novgorod through his son Vasily. This altered the tradition of rule from one based on a process of invitation to institutional sovereignty. In 1255 Novgorod expelled Vasily, and Alexander put together an army and got Vasily back on the throne. In 1257 a rebellion broke out in Novgorod in response to an impending census and taxation. Alexander helped forced the city to submit, probably fearing that the Mongols would punish all of Russia for Novgorods actions. More uprisings broke out in 1262 against the Muslim tax farmers of the Golden Horde, and Alexander succeeded in averting reprisals by journeying to Saray on the Volga and speaking to the Khan there. He also obtained an exemption for Russians from a draft. On the way home, Alexander Nevsky died in Gorodets. After his death, Russia disintegrated into feuding principalities but his son Daniel would found the house of Moscow, which would eventually reunite northern Russian lands. Alexander Nevsky was supported by the Russian Orthodox Church, which made him a saint in 1547.

Business Strategy for Nucleon Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Business Strategy for Nucleon - Essay Example This favors Nucleon building its own plant which means higher costs and more time, although it also implies greater control. Contracting also involves more time and an estimated expense of about 4 million dollars. Moreover, there is the danger of confidential information about manufacturing leaking out, although it would free Nucleon’s R&D people to focus exclusively on their specialty which is research – this is also the factor that has propelled Nucleon to the top.   However, in my view, vertical integration is not favored in this case. The reason is that Phase I and II trials are still an experimental stage of development of the drug and all investments made on the pilot plant could be lost, while also deflecting funds from other research work. Contracting out is not a good option due to loss of confidentiality. However, the licensing option offers an excellent situation because it allows risks associated with clinical trials and expenses related to development, marketing and sales of the drug to a third Company, while also protecting Nucleon’s patent on the product. This will allow the Company to focus on its core competencies, i.e, research, and development. One of the developments in management theory is the belief that most firms have only a few â€Å"core competencies† where they possess exceptional skills and abilities.