The Best Fish and Chips Shop in 2003 Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Best Fish and Chips Shop in 2003 - Article Example Mr. Jones drew on his past experience as a customer and asked himself what he actually wants from a fish and chips product. All of the little things and ideas he and the staff have was put together to come up with better ways of improving both services and product. Some of their core products are the batter less Cod and Chicken Goujons which stands out among competitors. The staff has a way of reinventing some processes such as a certain way of washing the fryer so old starch would not stick to the new batter. Such things may seem little but they do go a long way in satisfying customer’s tastes. In fact, customers pass 8 more fish and chips shop before reaching Finnegan’s which shows how strong Finnegan’s brand loyalty is. Additionally, customers do not mind waiting for half an hour just to grab the favorite takeaway – fish and chips. There are several factors that can contribute to the future success of the organization, namely: focus on main products, creative marketing, and innovation. The owner himself doesn’t want to diversify too much when it comes to product development. He believes that diluting the focus of the business by offering too many products would not be advantageous in terms of profitability. Instead, current products are marketed in a different way so customers have better choices. For example, they created a kiddies’ serving for children which is not common among fish and chips shops. Also, they often ask the opinion of customers which is a good way of getting feedback. Even the packaging of the product is taken into account which just shows how keen the owner is in satisfying his customers. Simple things such as food warming process are also considered so eventually, everything ends up as the added value to the brand Finnegan. An obstacle that could limit their growth in terms of core competencies would be cutting costs. Although Mr. Jones saves as much as 10,000 pounds a year due to his good bidding skills.

Prejudice And Discrimination Article Essay Example for Free

Prejudice And Discrimination Article Essay One of the most interesting places to visit in this world is India. Located in South Asia it is officially called the Republic of India. India is well-known for being the second most populous nation in the world next to China.   There are many diverse ethnic groups among the people of India. The six (6) main ethnic groups are Negrito, Proto (Australoids or Austrics), Mongoloids, Mediterranean or Dravidian, Western Brachycephals and the Nordic Aryans (â€Å"People of India,† n.d.). India is also known to be the country from which one of the world’s largest religious congregations has originated, Hinduism. Thus, â€Å"about 80% of the population is Hindu, and 14% is Muslim. Other significant religions include Christians, Sikhs, and Buddhists. There is no state religion (â€Å"India,† n.d.).† India and the large number of its population is home to a vast array of culture and people, and a distinct classification of its Hindu believing population of the structural and hierarchical classification of its own members known as the caste system.   Ã¢â‚¬Å"The caste is a closed group whose members are severely restricted in their choice of occupation and degree of social participation. Marriage outside the caste is prohibited. Social status is determined by the caste of ones birth and may only rarely be transcended† (â€Å"Caste,† n.d.). The caste system is an intricate classification of its population and many people can directly associate the said term with the â€Å"untouchables† or the Panchamas or Dalits who are the lowest ranked within the system and are tasked to perform the most menial tasks of the community (â€Å"Caste,† n.d; â€Å"Dalit,† n.d.). Even though the Constitution of the Republic of India disallows â€Å"untouchability† the caste remains to be very influential in Indian Society (â€Å"India,† n.d.). Likened to other countries or states, India is also home to its own indigenous people, one of which is the so called Adivasis or literally the original inhabitants† who comprise a substantial indigenous minority of the population of India.   These Indian tribes are also called Atavika (forest dwellers, in Sanskrit texts), Vanvasis or Girijans (hill people, e.g. by Mahatma Gandhi) (â€Å"Adivasi,† n.d.).† Together with the Dalits, the Adivasis form the most discriminated group of people in the Indian community. These groups of people are said to be constantly subjected to ridicule and shame all over India in a constant basis. A study conducted by Mayell, H. (2003) has chronicled some atrocities committed particularly against the Dalits who are historically the only   ones referred to as â€Å"untouchables† by citing that â€Å"Statistics compiled by Indias National Crime Records Bureau indicate that in the year 2000, the last year for which figures are available, 25,455 crimes were committed against Dalits. Every hour two Dalits are assaulted; every day three Dalit women are raped, two Dalits are murdered, and two Dalit homes are torched.† Furthermore, she stated that â€Å"No one believes these numbers are anywhere close to the reality of crimes committed against Dalits. Because the police, village councils, and government officials often support the caste system, which is based on the religious teachings of Hinduism, many crimes go unreported due to fear of reprisal, intimidation by police, inability to pay bribes demanded by police, or simply the knowledge that the police will do nothing (Mayell, 2003.)† The Dalits can trace its being oppressed from the fact that India being largely a country of people adhering to Hindu beliefs from which the caste system is derived, are the people who are supposed to be the untouchables or, as discussed, ranked at the lowest. As a result of this, naturally the Dalits are can be rightfully perceived and treated the way religion, tradition and history has treated them, which is sadly bordering on slavery.   However, without passing judgment, albeit being quite possibly insensitive, the plight of the Dalits can easily be viewed as part of the natural made up of the Hinduism belief from which any non-Hindu society member can not and should not question. Religiously speaking, based on the Hindu belief a Dalit is a person who has does not have any varnas. Varna refers to the Hindu belief that most humans were supposedly created from different parts of the body of the divinity Purusha. The part from which a Varna was supposedly created defines a persons social status with regards to issues such as who they can marry and which professions they could hold (â€Å"Dalit,† n.d.). For their parts, the Adivasis being the original dwellers of India had their own unique way of societal structure, culture and tradition which has like most indigenous tribes all over the world become outmoded as the modern world around them evolved. The discrimination and pitiful situation of the Adivasis are not directly rooted to Hinduism but possibly to a mix of modernization and the former. This possible mix can not be easily discounted knowing the fact that most people in India are Hindu or believers of Hinduism. It is important to stress that the Adivasis as a classification within the Indian population is not brought about or classified as such by Hinduism per se or as part of its caste system. As discussed, the Adivasis is an ethnic group who are original inhabitants of India possibly even prior to the birth of Hinduism whose culture has failed to completely cope up with the modern world. Thus, Bijoy, C. (2003) said â€Å"relegating the Adivasis to the lowest rung in the social ladder was but natural and formed the basis of social and political decision making by the largely upper caste controlled mainstream. The ancient Indian scriptures, scripted by the upper castes, also further provided legitimacy to this.† Hence, even though that the Adivasis can mostly trace their own problems from the failure of their culture and practices to conform to the modern world, as contrast to that of the Dalits, which can easily trace their own problems from its religion, the Adivasis by simply being not well-equipped enough to cope with the modern world are easily lumped together with the Dalits. As a result, together the Dalits and Adivasis form the most oppressed people in India who are more known as the untouchables. According to Tarique (2008) it is not only a struggle for dignity and self-respect that these poor groups of Indian people are fighting for. They are also engaged in the â€Å"struggle for their rights and entitlements for land, access to natural resources, livelihood, employment and to market in general. (Tarique, 2008.)† It is sad to note that these said factual happenings in a modern world such as ours are still happening.   It is but a semblance of irony knowing that the problems that these people are facing and fighting everyday are rooted to one of man’s most sacred possessions, his religious beliefs, which in itself has taught us notions of goodness and the proper way to which we should live our lives; religion, from which ideas of turning away from sin and helping one’s own fellowman being the exact cause of a structuralized system of discrimination and oppression.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Strictly speaking it is difficult to question the plight of these untouchables more so with the Dalits than the Adivasis because the former’s pitiful situation can be justified by the fact that society has adapted it as part of its religious beliefs. An outsider or any non-Hindu looking into the said situation may not have the proper perspective to look into the plight of these untouchables.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   However, it is without a doubt that when one adapts the globally accepted notion of humane treatment, the sorry plight of these untouchables more so that of the Adivasis who are clearly not directly   Hindu in origin, but more of an â€Å"accidental untouchables†, are well   below the world standards of humane treatment.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Today as the world has chosen to progress and adapt globally its own evolving norms of legal and illegal, acceptable and taboo, good or bad, the world has given more emphasis to equality among ALL MEN without qualifications based on race, gender, birth, color of skin and etc. It is without a doubt that the untouchables of India both the Dalits and Adivasis are victims of a society who have failed to progress with the times.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Adapting the global perspective and the trend to which modern world is predominantly practicing, today’s world would put any country into shame when one does not act upon or even question the sad and pitiful plight of the Dalits and the Adivasis, the so called untouchables, the accidental slaves of society, people who are as early as birth are discriminated.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In fact as already pointed out, it shall be everyone’s dream to realize and fulfill the perceived mandate of the Indian Constitution itself that outlaws this form of treatment of the so called untouchables. Perhaps only then one can give more emphasis and be prouder to claim India as a country truly rich in culture and proud history. References: Adivasi. (n.d.). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved January 8, 2008, from Reference.com website: http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Adivasi Bijoy, C. (2003). The Adivasis of India. A History of Discrimination, Conflict and Resistance. PUCL Bulletin. Retrieved January 8, 2008, from http://www.pucl.org/Topics/Dalit-tribal/2003/adivasi.htm Caste. (n.d.). Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia. Retrieved January 8, 2008, from Reference.com website: http://www.reference.com/browse/columbia/caste Dalit. (n.d.). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved January 8, 2008, from Reference.com website: http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Dalit India. (n.d.). Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia. Retrieved January 10, 2008, from Reference.com website: http://www.reference.com/browse/columbia/India Mayell, H. (2003). India’s â€Å"Untouchables† Face Violence, Discrimination. National Geographic News. Retrieved January 9, 2008, from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/06/0602_030602_untouchables.html People of India. (n.d.). People of India. Retrieved January 9, 2008, from http://www.webindia123.com/india/people/people.htm Tarique (2008). Fact Finding Mission on the Violence against Dalit and Adivasis Kundahamal District. India News. Retrieved January 10, 2008, from http://www.indianmuslims.info/news/2008/jan/09/fact_finding_mission_violence_against_dalit_and_adivais_kundahamal_district.html

More Reserach Is Needed Before Marijuana Is Legalized :: argumentative essay, against legal pot

The effect of drugs can be harmful to the body. They can damage nerves that are used for thinking. According to the "Nation Institutes of Health"(NIH), cannabis is one of the most popular used drugs in America ranking third after tobacco and alcohol. Marijuana (the most common form used in America), is made of the dried leaves and flowers of the female cannabis sativa plant, and looks like oregano. It is usually smoked in a pipe or in hand-rolled cigarettes. Hashish (hash) is a dried-caked resin from the flowers and leaves of the plant. It is sold in chunks and cubes, and its color range from light brown to black. Hashish is often blended with tobacco and smoked. It is more potent than marijuana because it contains a higher concentration THC (abbreviation for delta-nine-tetrahydrocannabinol). THC is the main psychoactive ingredient in all cannabis preparations (NIH). The more THC cannabis contains, the stronger it is. The existance of the plant has been reported as early as 1500-1200 B.C. in China. Since then, an overwhelming number of studies have attempted to explain the physical and psychological effects of cannibis on humans. According to "The National Clearinghouse," (NCH), the effects of cannabis are similar to alcohol intoxication. Small amounts can make you relaxed and generally less inhibited. Some users say that it enhances the experiences of music, food and sex. Logical thinking tends to be slowed, but cannabis smokers often believe that their minds are flitting from thought to thought with great speed (NIH). Intoxication is more intense during the first hour after smoking, although the drug's effects may persist for three to five hours, depending mainly on the dose. According to " CESAR," regular users often develop a psychological dependence on cannabis. They have a strong desire to continue its use, to get through the day. Without the drug, they can feel anxious, or panicky. Some heavy users of cannabis experience physical dependence. Their bodies become use to the drugs. When they do not have the drug, they may go into withdrawal. Symptoms include sleeping problems, anxiety, sweating, and loss of appetite and upset stomach. Although most symptoms usually disappear within a few days, sleep disturbances may last longer. Regular use may cause a general loss of interest, motivation, memory and concentration. The user may also show a lack of concern for the future, and have problems with abstract thinking. These effects may be harmful for young people, who are still making choices about the future. Once a person stops using cannabis, symptoms tend to disappear gradually, but problems

Slavery by Another Name

Matt Henderson Dr. Hilbert The Cigarette Century March 23, 2009 The Cigarette Century Book Review The Cigarette Century, the undisputed rise and dramatic decline of cigarette consumption in the United States. There are powerful cultural values that account for the resilience of the cigarette and the all the drama that comes along with it. The once ever popular and more noticeable behavior smoking had as we have seen it progress and sometimes decline has eventually become a marginalized and often stigmatized practice. The modern cigarette, was born in the late 19th century in the U.S, but for the longest time remained the industry's neglected and undersold user placing 2nd under chewing tobacco and pipe tobacco. The rise of the cigarette simply changed the American Culture, burning through the nations industry, government, and obviously the science and health organizations as well. Cigarettes has more than fifty illnesses and twenty causes of death associated with it. It’s abso lutely insane to think at one point America saw smoking as glamorous or even a symbol of elegance, devastating millions of people with the effects of smoking and the cancers it holds as well.During World War I and World War II, cigarettes were rationed to soldiers. In some countries as well as the U. S, made cigarettes a state monopoly, which the Unites states determines certain cigarette taxes and where tobacco for the cigarette is considered an essential product which tends to get the least taxed. In this case, the government says that tobacco for the cigarette is a necessity because so many people buy them and essentially helps America grow stronger and in a lot of cases weaker along with the cigarette.Giant pieces of culture, science, politics, law and global spread of the cigarette doesn’t even pause to analyze the paradox of smoking that ultimately turns into your death. Smokers in America are ambushed with a wide variety of overwhelming tobacco advertising; cultural ae sthetics, peer pressure, the ever addicting nicotine, and turning to the youth urging for rebellion against the normality’s of society. The boom in smoking after World War I was recognized as well seen as a relaxant in order to combat the scalding stress of trench warfare.The cigarette dawned with the age and support from substantial manufacturing advances in technology and marketing strategies, which was further moved along by dramatic shifts in American culture and social norms following the end of World War I. The cigarette and tobacco industry engulfed the entire nation in a single heartbeat. In the early 1900’s, cigs accounted an astonishing 5% of all domestic tobacco that is until the near midcentury and the outbreak of the second World War nearly half of all adults smoked and even more for the enlisted men and women of the armed forces.All of a sudden cigarettes were everywhere with ashtrays littering every room: offices, clubs, and practically every American ho me as well. As Brandt describes that the tobacco companies were the rotten eggs from the start, they began to exploit and expand their product to the waiting hands of Americans. No health hazards of smoking were ever proven so it just seemed to add to the fact that smoking was ok and were readily available to all who wished to purchase them.However the cigarette and its mothering tobacco companies took a devastating blow after World War II when the connection was made between smoking and lung cancer. Being faced with crushing news the tobacco industry constructed a formidable defense not denying the health risks of smoking, but illustrated another side to the story stating pleasurable affects and other broad statements that people were skeptical about. Brandt also writes that his book, â€Å"The Cigarette Century† breaks out into a meticulous record of numerous courtroom clashes that basically defined the life of a cigarette and its place in American society.However these inf amous trials have yet to cripple the industry as Brandt and many others had hoped to happen, but they have delivered mortal wounds more effectively in the beginning which brought upon years of documentation on the industries personal outlook on health concerns. Brandt Quotes â€Å"Create an even Bigger Monster (AIDS) that has made every transaction since then feel like a deal with the devil, on top of a dance of death. † He also concludes that cigarette tobacco is cancer causing and promoting, extremely poisonous, and unfortunately stimulating, pleasurable and lavorful. No other domestic or imported has even come close to being so heavily promoted or so deeply interlocked with the American consciousness. Also the invention of mass marketing ultimately lead to cigs being presented in advertising and film having deep ties and connections with fame and sex appeal. Even more surprising is that this product, cigarette tobacco has endured more scrutiny and criticism than any other product in the world. New medical research and pure knowledge of tobacco has also shaped the evolution and creation of modern medicine as well.In a last ditch effort Brandt tells the audience that these tobacco companies are trying to delay and disrupt these studies that could potentially destroy the cigarette industry. But even as American culture has begun to show dominance and declined consumption cigarettes look to expand into new global markets. Before the cigarette thee was tobacco. Having being domesticated by early Native Americans tobacco and its many products would remain a foundation in our nation’s economy. Tobacco played a central role in behaviors, rituals, and social activities of the modern American.James Duke almost single handedly invented the modern day cigarette. U. S manufactures deployed hundreds of cig rollers in an effort to increase the demand; however there were many attempts to replace these workers with machines; however the machines proved no matc h against the speed and precision of the human hand. Although the breakthrough came when James Bonsack introduced a rolling machine that could produce 200 cigs per minute basically as much as a human hand could produce in an hour’s time thus came the end of human rollers in the late 1800’s.It would be almost 2 decades later that the tobacco companies and congress would collide under the violation of the Sherman Act with basically sets limits on cartels and monopolies which fall under the antitrust laws. These laws created by congress established free trade amongst companies, banning anti-competitive practices that tend to lead to such a dominant position, and supervising the mergers and acquisitions of large corporations. In May 1911, The American Tobacco Company was found guilty of violating the Sherman antitrust act and was ordered to dissolve.More court cases would present themselves under violation of the Sherman antitrust act as key elements of cigarette consumpti on had been clearly established. Many of these attributes went hand in hand with the increasing aggressiveness of the promotion of youth. The cigarettes dangerously addictive ingredients assured that once people became a smoker, you’d most likely remain a smoker. Duke never realized that cigarette would dominate the tobacco industry for decades to come as others thought it was just another fad in tobacco’s long history.What he failed to realize was that this product, which he had done so much to invent would be a stepping stone of its modern development. Economic success and its material trappings of the cigarette invited moral failure. As the growing popularity of the cigarette threatened to shatter aspects of these threatened values, their guardians, the antitobacco movement would mount a defense against this upcoming threat. Brandt, states that it’s a fight to free our beloved nation from a form of mental slavery.In Los Angeles people that believed in the ant itobacco movement were drawn into its cause and decided to seek treatment for their tobacco addictions thus changing American culture and promoting the idea of self-awareness of an individual’s health. Although in New York petitioned to repeal a law that had banned cigarettes on the rear bumpers of their cars in which tobacco companies supported. This very act of more public space marked a critical attribute to the rise of the cigarette. The use of cigarettes in the military became the frontlines of this epic battleground.The cigarette to un-enlisted men seemed to project an image of military decorum as they were soon quick to enlist, however the military recommended that enlistees under the age of 21 be prohibited from smoking which rapidly ran into harsh resistance. By the time the United States entered World War I opposition of any age in the military seemed to cease to exist as the high risk of death throughout the was seemed to have some gratification when it came to smo king cigarettes in the trenches. The moral threat of smoking seemed just fine and seemed positively safe in the short run compared to all the violence and war going around the men.General Pershing of the United States Army pleaded back to the home front that they needed tobacco as much as bullets in order to win the war clearly showing the government yielding to cigarettes and its tobacco. Soldiers and pro-smoker activists agreed that tobacco may not be a necessity in life but it sure helps ease the hardships of war as nothing else could do making it seem like the culture now resided around the cigarette. During the war the American public combined its resources and shifted its views towards smoking and actually started to construct funds or smoking comforts for the boys overseas. The Army being surprised by the public effort began to issue out tobacco rations. Both World Wars would now mark the critical point in establishing the cigarette as the most dominate product of the modern American consumer culture. Rather than disrupting the rise of the consumer culture, both wars actually seemed to be accelerating the process. More overwhelmingly due to promotional efforts being closely tied to patriotism and morale, was proving to be incredibly successful transforming the cigarette into an ultimate cultural icon.After the war, people were committed to the cigarette and the taste that came with it. The â€Å"Coming of the Camel† by R. J Reynolds was the first to jump on the bandwagon and go after the taste of the cigarette being that the taste depended as much on the American culture as it did on the blend of tobacco. It was here that Camel became the first truly national cigarette brand covering the nation with its new taste and style. The ongoing attacks led by non-smokers paradoxically made the cigarette even more powerful symbol of the modern culture and polished its appeal to all ages.More importantly the more violent and aggressive the attacks on cigare ttes occurred the more popular it came. This cigarette century has finally arrived in America. Cigarettes and smoking quickly spread through the culture and into gender sexuality, new manufacturing agencies and in a new age of consumer consumption and its design. These companies soon realized that smoking had become the social norm and they soon grew eager to shape the new territory. Going after the women smokers companies advertised using women in frequent tobacco ads in an attempt to conjure both the female and the male.The goal of the ads were simply to transform the young school girls and boys of America and convert them into cigarette addicts regardless of the already established medical and health findings on smoking dangers. Political figures and policy makers seemed to approve the creation of the product because of its increasingly positive effect on the nation’s economy. The cigarette really suggested too many that its demand could be recognized and shaped by the tec hniques of advertising simply finding out Americas likes and dislikes and wants and what it doesn’t want from the cigarette.The cigarette in this case simply reflected on the importance of its design in order to organize the new consumer consciousness for both male and female along with constructing the meaning and purpose of their product. There was intense competition as aggressive tactics copy and packaging were crucial in the destruction of all the competing tobacco companies. Companies invested millions into advertising their product through TV or even through the daily newspaper in order to reach out to their consumers. As new advertising media became available the industries moved quickly to seize these promotional opportunities.During the 1930’s tobacco companies became the most famous and prolific advertisers on the commercial radio broadcasting to millions of Americans nationwide. By the 1930’s it became eminently clear that cigarettes would once again dominate over all the other forms of tobacco consumption. The cigarette had surprising reverberated throughout the entire economy pushing tobacco to be the 4th largest cash crop in the nation and in some states it was the 1st. It had deeply seeded itself in the American culture and by the middle of the century had become central command in the modern nation’s industrial economy.Even as the consumer culture flourished, criticism remained, not only to the cigarette but the cultural norms as well. It would only become later in the century that health risks of smoking would present themselves in very powerful ways. The cigarette, the ultimate icon of our consumer culture, serves as a vehicle for people to explore critical aspects of American life. From agriculture to big business, from medicine to politics, The Cigarette Century shows how smoking came to be so deeply implicated in our culture, science, policy, and law.Now The World Health Organization now predicts 1 billion deat hs over the next hundred years; ten times as many as died in the 20th century. Smokers have a harder time healing from surgeries, and have more overall health issues than do nonsmokers as many people die every year from illnesses caused by smoking. Smoking increases your chances of getting cancer. Cigarette smoking may play a role in developing many kinds of cancer. Lung cancer is the most common kind of cancer caused by smoking. As the risk of losing your unborn baby or having a stillborn baby is higher if you are pregnant and smoke.Babies born to smoking mothers often weigh less, and are at a higher risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Cardiovascular diseases are the main cause of death due to smoking being that 90% of lung cancer cases are due to smoking. Cancer can start in many areas of the mouth, with the most common being on or underneath the tongue, or on the lips. Cigarette smoking was such a normal thing and had been for such a long time it’s difficult to ev en have considered that it could be associated with any sort of disease.Children and teens are especially vulnerable to the hazards of smoking. Because their bodies are not fully mature, smoking interferes with normal lung development in those who begin smoking as children or adolescents. Young people who smoke may become even more strongly addicted to cigarettes and face a greater risk for developing lung cancer than those who start smoking later in life. Teens who smoke are also more likely to have depression or other psychological problems. They are also more likely to engage in other dangerous behaviors like alcohol and/or experimenting with new drugs.Many people in this book did all they could to stop smoking however they were too little to late as soon many of them died as they had fallen victim to the very product that had been the center of their lives. The root causes of cigarette smoking sent shockwaves to the tobacco companies into its core. Physicians advised individuals to cut down on smoking however they couldn’t guarantee anyone that any level of smoking would even be considered as safe. Cigarettes were tied as being the most feared disease of the century placing 2nd only to cancer.Research companies then banded together to focus on product design and make new modifications and small changes to enhance the mildness and try to vary the taste. Tobacco companies soon realized they had lost control of the cultural processes they had utilized in their creation of the modern cigarette. Basically the industries found themselves in uncharted waters and the boat in which they were in was beginning to take on water fast. Having dealing with all these issues corporations responded with unethical disruptions and intrusions into the medical and scientific processes and procedures that were combating the cigarette.The scientists retaliated back by stating, â€Å"If the tobacco people are smart, as we all know they are because they have been enormously successful, then they will support research to find out what the cancer-producing substance is, and then take measures in trying to remove it. † Hill ; Knowlton was one of the world’s five largest public relations firms. The tobacco companies however had taken some precautionary measures of their own being that some local newspapers supported them stating that tobacco companies were taking the right steps in finding out if there was any truth or not in the recent scares about cigarette smoking and lung cancer.Despite all the attention that smoking was getting and accused of factoring human lung cancer, no one has yet established that cigarette smoke, or any of its known ingredients, was cancer causing to humans as research has shown us. Tobacco companies would repeatedly insist that the evidence for the relationship between smoking and lung cancer was based on statistical data and it fundamentally misrepresented the emerging scientific data. As we can conclude that the tobacco industries had used Hill ; Knowlton to its fullest potential placing the harms and health risks of smoking back in the realm of doubt amongst Americans.The industry’s of course maintained its posture of scientific doubts that really created a shield that protected them against new regulatory initiatives. The identification of the cigarette as well as the causes of serious diseases has marked a critical turning point in history regarding public health. Just as the tobacco industry’s had before created technology for mass producing cigarettes they had know developed new techniques of mass producing controversy and doubt into the public. The public health service concluded that the evidence at hand places smoking as the primary factor in the increased incidences of lung cancer.Government agencies had now stepped in and begun to recognize and publicize the harms of cigarettes as well. With the huge amount of evidence from scientists and the government presented to the people it’s only logical for them at the time to draw their own conclusions regarding the concerning effects of cigarette smoking. Reports soon began to fall into the hands of the consumers as the industries sought an opportunity to change its course and begin to warn its consumers about the risks of using their product.Following the releases of these reports the government would assert new authority and take responsibility for the important health concerns during this time. It seemed like now the American public now looked to the government for scientifically public health policies concerning the cigarette. The cigarette seemed to now cower behind our constitution in order to shell itself from persecution now only from the government, but the American consumer. However it’s clear to the udience and the reader as well that Brandt wants us to realize that the cigarette smoker is aware of the medical evidence that clearly indicates cigarettes as the cause of cancer and yet the consumer continues to smoke. Nevertheless, the consumer is aware that a moderate smoker substantially increases his chance of an early death. We can see that the tobacco industries have the power and use their power to shape opinions, behaviors, and actions, in ways that go completely against an individual’s interests in health.For years it was seen that these companies have been completely exempt from our standards of responsibility and accountability when their product causes harm. It should be the right of the individual and consumer to demand that when problems arise the companies be held responsible and accountable for their harmful creation. Time and again, somehow the tobacco industry proves them as remarkable and more evidently successful in finding new ways to evade public health regulations and promote their own death-taking product.It’s clear that they have all means to soil themselves deep into our country and more importantly our pockets. Itâ⠂¬â„¢s important to realize that in the process of recognizing dangers of the cigarette come the strategies for controlling them. Brandt finally concludes that its clear now that with disappointments and failure in the courtrooms comes the responsibility and more importantly the power in a role society must play that could ultimately decide the future and possibly fate of the tobacco industry.

Pest Analysis for market occupying Essay

Pest analysis: The following pest analysis has been created for three markets separately. Pest analysis stands for political, economic, socio-cultural and technological environment. Use of the pest analysis guides our company to work according to the changes taking place in these categories. Moreover good use of the analysis assist the company to avoid taking action that is condemned to failure from the outset, for reason beyond its control. The following is a pest analysis created for the market occupying Dubai and London. Socio-cultural: There is vast cultural difference in regard to locals in these countries. Both the countries’ population consists of various other nationalities. Dubai and London has tolerance of other religions and culture. Population density: London (12,450/sq mi (4,807/km2), Dubai 408.18/km2 (1,057/sq mi). Political: Legal and regulatory bodies: Both the countries share strict aviation based regulation and laws. Regulatory body for London: CAA (civil aviation authority) Regulatory body for Dubai: DCAA (Dubai Civil aviation Authority) There is no such political conflict in this market, which makes business between these two countries quite versatile. Market: Dubai and London Economical: London: Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased 0.8 per cent Dubai: finance official predicts the UAE economy will top US$272 billion (S$361 billion)- 2010 Foreign exchange market: Pound sterling- 12.9% (daily share). London’s largest industry is finance. Tourism is one of London’s prime industries. Dubai is also an international financial centre and has been ranked 37th. Technological: Dubai’s industry growth had given way for technological advancement. Use of  technology has increased: London based companies in Dubai. London has various companies advising on the use of new technologies to other companies. Airlines based in Dubai use advanced technology to operate their businesses in London and Hong Kong. Pest analysis occupying the market in Dubai and Hong Kong: Socio-cultural: Hong Kong: the culture is a mix of the Chinese roots with influences from its time as a British colony. Dubai: Dubai is a highly cosmopolitan society with a diverse and vibrant culture. Honk Kong Population density: 6480/km2 16,576/sq mi. Dubai 408.18/km2 (1,057/sq mi). Dubai and Hong Kong has an established business link, which is an advantage to the aviation industry. Political: Legal and regulatory bodies: Dubai’s aviation regulatory body: DCAA (Dubai Civil aviation Authority), Hong Kong: Civil Aviation Administration of China. Government of Hong Kong: Non-sovereign partial democracy with unelected executive. Hong Kong continues to follow the English Common Law tradition established under British rule. Dubai and Hong Kong has no existing political conflicts. Market: Dubai and Hong Kong Economical: Hong Kong: an important centre for international finance and trade. Hong Kong dollar: 2.4% (daily share) Hong Kong GDP growth rate: economy is expected to grow 5 percent in 2010, may shrink 2 percent this year. Unemployment: 4.3% (July 2010). Main exports partners: China, US and Japan. Technological: Dubai’s industry growth has given way for technological advancement. The Innovation and Technology Commission (ITC) in Hong Kong supports applied  research and development (R&D) and technology transfer and application. Hong Kong has seen a rise in technological advancement which has contributed to economic and social development. Pest analysis for market occupying in London and Hong Kong: Socio-cultural: Hong Kong: the culture is a mix of the Chinese roots with influences from its time as a British colony. In terms of population, London is the 25th largest city. London is also home to sizeable Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, and Jewish communities. Social trend (London and Hong Kong): career oriented, working class, low level of death rate. Technological: The Innovation and Technology Commission (ITC) in Hong Kong supports applied research and development (R&D) and technology transfer and application. Hong Kong has seen a rise in technological advancement which has contributed to economic and social development. London has a vibrant and growing IT sector. The region boasts over 350 companies with approximately 8000 employees. Economical: The Hong Kong Stock Exchange is the 6th largest in the world. London is a major financial centre for international business and commerce. Public debt: London: 68.5% of GDP (2009 est.). Hong Kong: 14.5% of GDP (2008 est.) Labor force: Hong Kong: 3.64 million (2007 est.) London: provincial unemployment rate fell from 8.9% to 8.6%. (2010) Market: London and Hong Kong Political: Legal and regulatory bodies: Hong Kong: Civil Aviation Administration of China. London: CAA (civil aviation authority) Hong Kong follows a free trade policy and hence  maintains basically no barriers on trade. There are various laws and regulations implied on businesses being set up in London, even for trading as well.

A Clean, Well-Lighted Place by Ernest Hemingway Essay Example

A Clean, Well A Clean, Well-Lighted Place by Ernest Hemingway Paper A Clean, Well-Lighted Place by Ernest Hemingway Paper Sadness, frustration, or discontent, however it’s put, there is an obvious difference with the characters in, â€Å"A Clean, Well-Lighted Place† by Ernest Hemingway, and their ideas of mortality and old age. The short story shows the concept of â€Å"nothingness,† displayed through a very depressing view on life. This suggesting that all people, even those who are happy and content, will eventually end up lonely, drunk, or unhappy. By allowing a reader to view this from three diverse perspectives, Hemingway is able to render how someone’s attitude of their own life can go from one extreme to another. Allowing suicide as a final option to surface for some. The story is told from a total omniscience narrator, allowing the reader to gain better knowledge of the three main characters; the two waiters who work at the cafe, and the deaf old man who enjoys looking out upon the empty street, as well as their lives outside of the cafe. â€Å"In the day time the street was dusty, but at night the dew settled the dust and the old man liked to sit late because he was deaf and now at night it was quiet and he felt the difference† (152 Hemingway). This quote comes from the second line of the story, creating a sense of theme on the idea of â€Å"nothingness†. The dust from the daytime pedestrians has settled. The dew from the late night has appeared, and here he sits in the trees shadow, sipping on his Brandy. For a lonely, old man, this clean, well-lighted cafe is a chance to escape the darkness himself. He continues to drink Brandy, hoping that sleep will come soon, allowing him a momentary get away from the empty and silent despair that has already caused him to attempt suicide once. The views in regard to the old man vary significantly between the waiters. Just because the old man is financially stable, the younger waiter believes that he should have nothing to despair. For the young waiter money and material objects are everything, so he views him with disdain because of his inability to look past the old man as a drunk who is holding him up from going home. The young waiter has a harsh view of him as well because on occasion the old man has been so drunk he walks out on his bill. The younger waiter has a different respect for time, it’s precious to him and he values t. â€Å"I wish he would go home. I never get to bed before three o’clock. What kind of hour is that to go to bed? † â€Å"He stays up because he likes it. † â€Å"He’s lonely, I’m not lonely. I have a wife waiting in bed for me. † â€Å"He had a wife once too† (153). The older you get, the more time wears down on you, and you begin to now, gr eater than ever, feel your mortality. This theme is used to help the reader understand the older mans pain and that no matter how young and confident someone is, they will eventually grow old and die. There is an apparent unity seen between the old man and the older waiter. Opposite from the young waiter, the older waiter and old man seem devastatingly lonely and worn out by life. While the young waiter is rude and insistently talks down to the old man, the older waiter defends him. He too understands and appreciates a clean, well-lighted cafe opposed to a bar or bodega. The older men understand each other without there being any communication between them. In the final line the reader is able to truly understand the older waiters view of his own morality, â€Å"He disliked bars and bodegas. A clean, well-lighted cafe was a very different thing. Now, without thinking further, he went home to his room. He would lie in the bed and finally, with daylight, he would go to sleep. After all, he said to himself, it is probably only insomnia. Many must have it† (155). The two older gentlemen have found a way of coping with their morality and old age, as well as the idea of â€Å"nothingness† that is a result of life’s hardships. Both cope in a very dignified, and graceful manners. Even though the old man is drunk, he is never disrespectful or disorderly, but yet polite and well mannered. Both show signs of previous hardships, the older waiter tries to explain he once had a wife, and the old man attempted suicide. Yet, neither of them ever lose their tempers, but instead stay calm and collected. Hemingway, Earnest. â€Å"A Clean, Well-Lighted Place†. Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Ed. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 11th ed. New York: Pearson Longman, 2010. 152-155.

Which Promotions Work and Which Dont

Which Promotions Work and Which Dont Im of the mind, these days, that ninety percent of promotional efforts are wasted. The world is choked with books, writers, people fighting to make a living with their words. Anyone can write a book, and anyone can post one for sale. After years of promoting novels, even from a platform such as FundsforWriters, Ive learned a hard lesson: Most promotional efforts do not work. We read blogs and ask for advice, trying to figure out which marketing tools work best. Well, guess KONICA MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA what? Any tool being touted as the best, any trick being shouted as effective, or any method being taught as the way to sell the most books . . . does not work. Why? Because everybody wants to do what works, and if everybody is doing it, then it becomes white noise and it quits working. Those people telling you the best way to sell are making more money telling you how to sell than selling their own books, unless they are selling how-to-sell books. Who wants to be a party to feeding that monster? Twitter is clogged with people shouting to buy their book. Sit back and watch your Twitter feed. Its been proven that saying buy my book never works, yet thousands continue to spew it. Facebook has groups that do nothing but post books for sale, and a zillion people keep posting their books on those groups like they are going to sell those books to all those other authors trying to sell their books. Goodreads is noisy with readers and authors trying to figure out what to do with Goodreads. Nobody has been able to say theyve made tons of sales via Goodreads. Do the Google search if you dont believe me. The bottom line is there is no one way to promote yourself, but you better be sure of the following no matter how you go about marketing: 1) Whatever you do has to be original, or originally implemented. 2) You better write a lot of books, because for someone to like you, they have to know they can binge on you if they find you interesting (a la Netflix Syndrome). Having one book only pisses them off. 3) You best be genuine in whatever you do. Its just so sad to see writers travel from event to event, sitting at lines of tables, in a room of several dozen authors, thinking they will stand out. They might as well be hiding. Quit asking others what they did, because its already been done. Quit following the crowds. Write your books. Promote in a manner that makes you feel good about yourself. And finally, be yourself. Readers are hungry for fresh and real. Thats hard to find because everyone is struggling so hard to be like everyone else. Get real.

Dissertation Service

Dissertation Service Dissertation Service Dissertation Service Our time is running out, our time is running out These words by English musical band Muse are no more than a song, but for some students they are becoming a horrifying reality. Indeed, time goes by too fast, how is your dissertation progressing? If you are stuck with your dissertation, maybe it is high time to address a dissertation service. Do not worry, you are not alone in your trouble. Luckily, our experienced writers are ready to provide you with any kind of dissertation writing assistance. Why do people decide to contact a dissertation service? The reasons for this are many:Lack of time. With your busy schedule it is impossible to devote about 2 hours to writing your dissertation every day. Sometimes to be able to devote time to dissertation writing you have to sacrifice something. It is difficult to choose between your studies and part-time job, isnt it? Not enough sources. Your topic may turn out to be not well explored, and you might have failed to find the needed amount of material. Problems with your supervisor. Your supervisor rejects your work time after time and you do not understand why.This list may be even longer, as many students have troubles of their own. Many problems, one solution. When you choose to address our dissertation service for assistance, you may relax and forget about your anxiety, as the fate of your dissertation is in reliable hands. Each of our dissertation writers is an expert in a definite field of science. We have been working with our dissertation writers for some years on end, that is why we know you can rely on them. A qualified writer from our dissertation service will send you definite chapters of your dissertation on the interim deadlines, so you will be able to see the progress. In the process of dissertation writing you will contact your writer, you will always know on what part of your dissertation the writer is working at the moment. We guarantee that our dissertation expert wil l deliver your dissertation by the time specified by you. When you order a dissertation from our dissertation service, be sure that your dissertation will be free of plagiarism. This means that your university dissertation will be 100% unique and authentic. So, why keep worrying and losing your precious time? Order your dissertation now and you will forget about your problems.

Prosthetic Dentistry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Prosthetic Dentistry - Essay Example Several chemical denture cleansers are commercially available. Since MRSA isolate of Staphylococcus aureus is resistant to penicillin's, including methicillin, we investigated the bactericidal effects of two different denture-cleansing agents including Milton (composed of 2% sodium hypochlorite, Ceuta Healthcare, Bournemouth, UK) and Perform (composed of Potassium Peroxomonosulphate, Sodium Benzoate, Tartaric Acid, Schlke and Mayr UK Ltd., Sheffield, UK) on the growth of MRSA 16 on the denture surface acrylic and visco-gel. Results from a 10 minute exposure to cleanser, Milton and perform, on the survival of MRSA 16 biofilms at 3, 24 and 72 hours of growth suggest a significant decrease in the survival of MRSA 16 on acrylic surface at all time points viz., 3, 24 and 72 hours of growth, as assessed by colony forming units per ml of cell suspension from this surface (Figure 2). ... While there seems to be some recovery of growth at 24 and 72 hours after the initial decrease in survival at 3 hours using Milton for 10 minutes, Perform was very efficient in almost complete eradication of MRSA at 72 hours post treatment. Table 1 MRSA % kill 3 hours 24 hours 72 hours Milton 10 min 99.97 99.88 99.95 Perform 10 min 99.97 99.90 100.00 Effect of denture cleansers Milton and Perform on growth of MRSA 16 on visco-gel: Results from a 10 minute exposure to cleanser, Milton and perform, on the survival of MRSA 16 biofilms at 3, 24 and 72 hours of growth suggest a significant decrease in the survival of MRSA 16 on visco-gel surface at all time points viz., 3, 24 and 72 hours of growth, as assessed by colony forming units per ml of cell suspension from this surface (Figure 3). Perform was more effective in decreasing the survival of the cells at 3 and 24 hours. However, both the reagents were similarly effective at 72 hours of growth of MRSA 16 on visco-gel (Figure 3). Calculation of percent cell killing by these cleanser as seen in Table 2 clearly shows that these agents, particularly, Perform, are very effective in controlling the MRSA 16 strain. Table 2 MRSA % kill 3 hours 24 hours 72 hours Milton 10 min 42.86 68.11 99.58 Perform 10 min 99.81 99.34 99.53 Discussion: The ultimate goal of dental prosthetics is the development of surface material that is bactericidal and least supportive of growth of any type of bacteria, particularly, that of super bug, MRSA 15 and 16. Our experiments to identify such an ideal surface lead to identification of molliplast as a denture surface that is least supportive of the growth of MRSA

Is the EU merger control regulation necessary Is it a good system Dissertation

Is the EU merger control regulation necessary Is it a good system - Dissertation Example The European Merger Control Law is designed to protect European consumers against unnecessary price increases or fluctuations as by-product of monopolies or companies gaining total control of the free market. Theorist opines that total control of the market of a single company can lead to economic dislocation if not contribute heavily to the economy’s collapse. The Merger Control Law prevents monopolistic prices to reign and ensures that the market is always at its equilibrium prices2 (Navarro, Font, Folguera, & Briones, 2002). Companies with vast financial resources use mergers and acquisitions as a strategy to control a substantial portion of the market instead of using the product’s merit to gain a good hold of the market. By buying off the competition and then killing that competitor’s product ensures total control of the primary product by the purchasing company. This would enable them to dictate the price of their product in the market by regulating its sup ply. Another strategy is to make use of the production or manufacturing facility of the purchased company to produce its product, thereby killing the presence of the competitor’s product in the market3 (Serdareviaa & Teply, 2010). However, not all mergers and acquisitions are intended for these purposes as some mergers and acquisition are conducted to ensure the survival of a product line as a viable alternative to the main line or flagship line of the company. These refer to products that are basically the same but cater to different market demography. Normally, in these instances, brand names are different but the products are basically the same only leveraged and marketed for a specific market segment4 (Hawk & Huser, 1996). The creation of the European Union saw the emergence of more laws and restrictions to regulate mergers and acquisitions of companies within the same industry covering the whole European market. Recognizing the potential and actual possibility of larger corporations merging or acquiring smaller companies from developing nations within the European Union, more stringent laws were enacted to regulate, control and govern merger and acquisition. Symmetrical laws from member nations already existing were aligned or harmonized with the European Union Law on Competition. The rules of procedure for the determination of whether the merger or concentration falls within the allowable parameters was laid down, including modes upon which to ventilate any opposition or dispute to the merger, suspension or annulment thereof. The purpose of the merger law is laudable but nonetheless it has been criticized as anti-establishment and counter-productive. Critics have postulated that the law impedes the natural progress or evolution of the free market as its protectionist nature favours smaller companies or shields those companies that are hard-pressed from competing against larger corporations from take-over whether hostile or friendly. If this line o f reasoning is followed however it is manifest that merger control is not necessarily advantageous as the options available for smaller companies to find other resources to enhance its market viability is similarly impeded or limited. There would be no other recourse

DNA fingerprinting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

DNA fingerprinting - Essay Example It helps in identification of an identity with full confirmation (Brinton, K., & Lieberman, K).Scientists use the unique markers, match them up in order to form a permanent fingerprint. It is useful in obtaining the identification needs and it also helps in providing information in case of missing people. We can find out through the samples that they belong to one person, related people or non related people. There are various forms of DNA fingerprinting which includes Southern Blot, through which scientists analyze the genetic pattern which is a part of a person’s DNA. In it the isolation of DNA from rest of the cellular material is done followed by cutting the DNA into several pieces and then gel electrophoresis is done and finally the blotting of the DNA is done (National Health Museum). Another kind of fingerprinting includes Restriction fragment polymorphism which analyzes the lengths of the strands of DNA. Polymerase chain reaction was used in laboratories for hereditary authentication. Amplified fragment length polymorphism is also an important kind of fingerprinting. The most widely used kind of DNA fingerprinting is the short tandem repeat method which helps in extracting the DNA. ADVANTAGES AND APPLICATION OF DNA FINGERPRINTING: DNA fingerprinting helps in determining Paternity and maternity, as a person inherits the VNTRS from his mother and father that’s why it helps in finding biological parents. It also helps in finding personal identification. the fingerprints which are formed from the genetic bar codes helps in identifying individuals. It is very important in criminal suspects and criminal identifications. DNA material which is from blood, hair, skin cells and other genetic proofs are available at the crime scene. These DNA fingerprinting is thus helpful in finding the criminals, guilty people and the innocent people. DNA fingerprinting also helps in testing for the ethnicity. Overall the tests are very helpful in finding deceased people identification (Benefits & Limites of DNA Fingerprinting) It is a very helpful method in finding bodies and identifications of soldiers who are killed in wars. It also helps in finding inherited disorders in new born babies and prenatal babies. DISADVANTAGES OF DNA FINGERPRINTING: Fingerprinting process requires proper quality control methods and regulations along with proper standardization in order for it to be accepted universally. There are not many places and labs which can conduct the DNA fingerprinting process well, overall there are only few proper labs who can provide accurate results for DNA fingerprinting. The probability of DNA sequence of being similar is just one in 50 billion which is extremely low. There is also a problem of population genetics as the genetic inheritance are not distributed evenly and they are not the same overall across the human beings. There are few technical difficulties as well in DNA fingerprinting process, It required to be run on vario us samples and twice. There is another important disadvantage of threat of the results being used for privacy concerns. Complete confidentiality is required and the information should not be shared with anyone except the owner. REFERENCES: Benefits & Limites

Crowdsourcing Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words - 2

Crowdsourcing - Term Paper Example The paper will further offer solutions concerning generating design interest from online communities and evaluation of skill set and quality of codes submitted by potential unknown users. Lastly, legal, societal and ethical issues related to outsourcing will be discussed, and possible recommendations offered to the solutions. With the invention and growth of outsourcing, online communities have introduced attractive human-like platforms that directly conduct experiments with the aim of controlling over participants and the environment. This concept operates on the notion of tapping as much knowledge and intelligence as possible from the public to complete complex business-related tasks that would require hiring of third parties or outsourcing. The same sentiments are echoed by Brabham, (2010) who defines crowdsourcing as an ‘online distributed problem solving and production model largely used for business† (para.1). The collective intelligence of the online community is controlled through soliciting of organizational ideas and solutions from such communities through models of open calls. Thus, successive crowdsourcing operates on the assumption of ‘collective intelligence’ and ‘crowd wisdom’. According to Nakatsu and Grossman (2013), the process of crowdsourcing involve individuals / organizations who request and identify problems to be solved or tasks to be performed, broadcasting tasks online by requestors in order to get attention of the online crowds to perform tasks and/or solve already identified problems, and the submission of solutions to the problems by the targeted crowd. After receiving solutions, the requestor carefully examines solutions into meaningful ways especially in cases where there are numerous responses (Allahbakhsh et al., 2013). Crowdsourcing offers a channel through which human computation is utilized as a substitute to solve complex problems that are

Spam (Computing) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Spam (Computing) - Essay Example Proponents of permission-based emails argue that the receiver can simply hit the delete button or use an opt-out option listed in the electronic advertisement if they do not want to view the email. (Godin, 1999, pg. 43). Opponents charge anything that arrives in the inbox that the recipient didn’t request is spam and that just because a purchase is made doesn’t give that company the right to inundate them with junk mail. The debate is joined whether this tactic serves to generate trade or to drive potential customers away. Spam is considered not only intrusive but is generally viewed as a scheme of some kind. Those that don’t differentiate between the two are driven away from these emails thus questioning their effectiveness. The question then becomes are permission based emails an unwanted and ineffective or a necessary and reasonable method of advertising? Argument Spammers have long attempted to justify their intrusive form of advertising. So-called permission -based marketing is just another example of spam. According to their logic, if a person forgets to check a button at the end of an online order form requesting no further correspondence, this constitutes permission. If a lawn care or maintenance man had access to your property does that give implied permission to sell you Viagra? When a service or product is purchased on the Internet, does this give implied permission for the company to suggest sell on a daily basis via your email account? If a consumer is required to type in an email address to visit the site or bought a related product from another company that, in turn, sold their email lists, this is all considered permission to inundate an email box with spam. An opt-in list can be purchased, on the Internet, of course, thus making even a respectable company’s permission list suspect. Many companies, including utility and service companies assume that an individual has granted spam permission if they have used a product or service of that company. These emails typically announce that this email is not spam; you have opted to receive this information. It goes on to espouse the company’s spam policy and that it’s policy prohibits spam of any kind. There seems to be a perception chasm between marketers and the consumer. (Dean, 2003). If the old adage ‘time is money’ is correct, then stolen time is stolen money. The theft of a few seconds will not cause a person to lose their livelihood but that is similar to saying stealing one item from a chain store won’t bankrupt the company. Wrong on a small scale is still wrong. Spammers may argue that junk mail does not have the same effect as stealing because there is an opt-out option choice on the email, but the time spent reading, following the link and then the steps necessary to stop the spam is time lost. Multiply that 30 seconds of effort by 100’s of spam emails and that is significant money stolen from an individ ual and/or their employer. (Rhode, 2003). Adopting Opt-in anti-spam email rules worldwide would limit spam messages, perceived or otherwise, as the consumer would have to make a deliberate choice to receive company generated email. The Opt-out option addresses the spam issue only after the unwanted message was sent. The loss of time and irritation to

Crowdsourcing Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words - 2

Crowdsourcing - Term Paper Example The paper will further offer solutions concerning generating design interest from online communities and evaluation of skill set and quality of codes submitted by potential unknown users. Lastly, legal, societal and ethical issues related to outsourcing will be discussed, and possible recommendations offered to the solutions. With the invention and growth of outsourcing, online communities have introduced attractive human-like platforms that directly conduct experiments with the aim of controlling over participants and the environment. This concept operates on the notion of tapping as much knowledge and intelligence as possible from the public to complete complex business-related tasks that would require hiring of third parties or outsourcing. The same sentiments are echoed by Brabham, (2010) who defines crowdsourcing as an ‘online distributed problem solving and production model largely used for business† (para.1). The collective intelligence of the online community is controlled through soliciting of organizational ideas and solutions from such communities through models of open calls. Thus, successive crowdsourcing operates on the assumption of ‘collective intelligence’ and ‘crowd wisdom’. According to Nakatsu and Grossman (2013), the process of crowdsourcing involve individuals / organizations who request and identify problems to be solved or tasks to be performed, broadcasting tasks online by requestors in order to get attention of the online crowds to perform tasks and/or solve already identified problems, and the submission of solutions to the problems by the targeted crowd. After receiving solutions, the requestor carefully examines solutions into meaningful ways especially in cases where there are numerous responses (Allahbakhsh et al., 2013). Crowdsourcing offers a channel through which human computation is utilized as a substitute to solve complex problems that are

Types of Erosion and Transportation of Materials by the River Essay

Types of Erosion and Transportation of Materials by the River - Essay Example Erosion takes place hand in hand with transportation. Transportation of materials in a stream or a river starts when water overcomes friction. Material that has been set loose through erosion is then transported along the stream. There are three main processes by which water in a stream or river transports material; suspension, traction and saltation, and solution. Suspension occurs when material composed of the finest particles such as silt and clay is lifted by the turbulence of water and transported away. Rivers that are more turbulent and fast-flowing carry more suspension. This explains why a stream or river gets muddy towards its mouth. The velocity of the water is greater here. Traction and saltation occur when larger particles are carried away. Saltation refers to when a material such as gravel and pebbles that are too heavy to be carried away in suspension are bounced along by the water force. Traction, on the other hand, occurs when larger material like boulders is pushed and rolled along the river or stream bed by the force of the water. The third process, solution, occurs when materials such as minerals and dissolving rocks dissolve in the water and are carried along. This happens mostly in areas whose geology is limestone with water that is slightly acidic. Stream capacity refers to the sum capacity of residue that a stream can move, transport, or carry. Water streams carry sediment. Different streams carry different amounts of sediment. This capacity depends on the velocity and volume of water that is being channeled. Stream competence, on the other hand, refers to the sedimentary particle size that a stream can move, transport, or carry. Again, each stream has its competency for the sedimentary particle size it can move by its velocity and volume. This competency changes with changes in velocity and stream volume. Such changes are caused by a variety of topography factors and seasonal flooding.

Martin Luther King Jr Essay Example for Free

Martin Luther King Jr Essay Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia on January 15, 1929. He was born during a time when black people did not have the rights which they have today. He experienced racial discrimination when their white neighbors refused to let him play with their boys. When he was five years old his mother persuaded the first grade teacher, Miss Dickerson, to make room for him in her class. Even though he started several weeks after the other children, he soon caught up with them academically and even surpassed them before the year was over. Miss Lemon, his teacher taught him to be independent. She taught him if there was an injustice, he could rebel, but still keep his dignity and find quiet ways to resist. She inspired her students to learn about black history and take pride in their heritage. When he was 15 years old he entered Morehouse College. After two years in school he decided he could best serve others by becoming a minister. He became assistant minister of the Ebenezer Baptist church where his father was minister. The following year he graduated from college, being only 19 years old. He then attended Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania. While he was at Crozer he began to study the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi urged people to not fight, but to protest peacefully. Martin saw this method of non-violent resistance as the answer to the unfair treatment blacks received in America. At Boston University he met Coretta Scott who became his wife. They had four children.When he graduated from Boston University he became the minister of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. On August 28, 1963 Martin Luther King and other leaders led a march into Washington D.C. Over 200,000 people marched from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial. It was here where Martin Luther delivered his I Have a Dream message.

Rural Transport Modes in Auchi and Environs

Rural Transport Modes in Auchi and Environs ELEMENTS AND CHARACTERISTICS OF RURAL TRANSPORT MODES IN AUCHI AND ENVIRONS BY ATUBI, AUGUSTUS .O. (Ph.D) INTRODUCTION In as much as it is easier to define the concept ‘transport’, the word ‘rural’ is a bit more difficult. Like its urban concept, there have been problems with definitions of ‘rural’ since no single criterion could be used because some countries use low population figures while other use high population figure in determining ‘rural’. There is a demographic definition of ‘rural’ using minimum population thresholds. Often the minimum population figures that a place must have to qualify as a rural area is specified. This minimum population size varies from one place to the other depending on the situation of the country concerned. It has been noted that a population of 2,500 and below is the distinction on which rural areas are recognized in the United States of America. However, the figures used in other countries vary remarkably from that of the U.S.A. In Denmark, a rural place is an agglomeration of 250 or less people. Gr eece, rural places include agglomerations of 10,000 or less, whereas Guatamala has considered places as rural if they have 2,000 or less inhabitants, plus places with 1,500 or less inhabitants of which running water service is provided in their houses (Ola, 2000). According to the Nigerian (1952) census, a rural place is an area having a population of less than 5,000. By contrast, the 1963 census fixed 20,000 or less people. In Canada, it is below 1,000, in France, it is 2,000 and below and in Japan it is below 3,000. Thus, rural population is defined in terms of settlement below 20,000 population as in Nigeria. The term ‘rural’ has therefore, generated more controversy in the literature and involves economic, sociological, ethnic, racial and numerical dimensions. In Nigeria, rural areas are inhabited by people whose occupations are primarily agriculture (Aloba, 1986). The spatial nature of resources in rural areas made the provision of rural roads network necessary factor for development. As a result of the neglect, the rural areas have always been associated with under-development as well as classified as zones of high propensity for out migration (Udo, 1975; Uyanga, 1980; and Makinwa, 1981). Rural area can therefore be defined as an area dominated by extensive land uses such as agriculture and forestry or large space of under-developed land. The term ‘rural transport’ can be defined as short-distance movements between an urban centre and the surrounding rural areas, between two rural settlements or between a rural settlement and the farmland that belongs to it (Aloba, 1986; Aluko, 2000). However, the modes, routes and traffic of rural transport may depend to some extent, on the prevailing geographical, environmental and technological development of the area under study. Rural transport therefore, means movement of people, goods and services within rural areas and between (rural areas) and urban centres that will afford the rural areas the opportunity to reach their economic growth and trade potential to enable them attain their desired quality of life. CONCEPTUAL AND METHODOLOGICAL ADVANCES INFRASTRUCTURAL PROVISION APPROACH The search for a new rural transport planning paradigm in developing countries began in a some what unfocused manner. The initial point of departure was simply dissatisfaction with the existing implied policy – reliance on infrastructure investment for conventional motorized vehicles as both the catalyst for economic and social change, and the prime means of enhancing accessibility and personal mobility, with vehicle supply being left to the private sector (Howe, 2001;Atubi and Ali, 2008). Early criticism focused on the unnecessarily high design standards applied to local feeder, penetration or development – roads, and the resulting slow and uncertain rate of network development (Stuckey, 1973); the in-affordability and indeed non-availability of motor vehicles to the mass of population, and the neglect of effective policies for the development of the local transport and vehicle system (Howe, 1975). HOUSEHOLD TRAVEL ANALYSIS The substitution of household for the transport system as the fundamental unit of travel analysis enabled a conceptual leap in rural transport studies to take place. The first systematic use of the travel characteristics of the household as the basic unit of travel study and analysis in developing countries took place during the mid-1980’s in the course of two studies, one in Tanzania and one in Ghana (Bawell and Malmberg- Calvo, 1986; Barwell and Howe, 1987). The core of the method was a structured interview, which recorded basic data about a household and the local and external travel activities of its members. It required a broadening of the notion of transport which was defined as travel from home for any purpose and by any means of movement, including walking or carrying loads on the head and back. The result was a quantification of household movements in terms of trips, time spent traveling and distance traveled to various facilities such as supplies of water, firewood, health clinic, grain grinding mills, markets etc, tonne and tonne-km of effort, modes used, and the gender and adult child involvement split. Methodologically the technique was a significant advance since a degree of precision in quantifying household travel demands was achieved (Barwell, et al, 1987). ELEMENTS OF RURAL TRANSPORT IN AUCHI AND ENVIRONS Approach to rural transport study requires a holistic understanding of the mobility and access needs of the rural communities. It is a demand – led, or people – centred approach with emphasis on the need expressed by affected communities (i.e. Auchi and environs). In context, rural transport is more broadly seen as an input into successful rural livelihood strategies, within which access consists of three complementary elements – (a) rural transport services and intermediate means of transport, (b) location and quality of facilities and (c) Rural infrastructure as show in figure 1 (Lebo and Schelling, 2001). RURAL TRANSPORT SERVICES AND INTERMEDIATE MEANS OF TRANSPORT This deals with availability, affordability of rural transport services and intermediate means of transport in rural areas and their role in promoting rural economic development (Slack, 1990; Riverson and Carapetis, 1991). The knowledge base covers information on rural travel patterns and surveying the role of government in creating an enabling environment for the services (establishing import duties and licenses, taxes, tariff and route regulation, safety measures and subsidies), the role of the private sector (acting as operators, manufactures and credit institutions) and social and cultural aspects. Other issues include the provision of vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and their application (Melmberg-Calvo, 1994b; Barwell, 1996). Fig. 1: The Elements of Rural Transport (Adopted from Lebo and Schelling, 2001) LOCATION AND QUALITY OF FACILITIES The second element of a comprehensive rural transport framework is the location and quality of facilities. The distance from households to facilities such as wells, forest, grinding mills, schools, and health centres determines the amount of time rural dwellers spend on transport activities. Numerous studies on rural transport have shown that rural households, and particularly women, spend a substantial amount of time and effort on transport activities (McCall, 1985; Malmberg-Calvo, 1994a, 1998). The bulk of these efforts are required for domestic subsistence activities. In view of planners, this time is unproductive and wasted, and a drain on potentially productive labour – the principal economic resource for most rural households (Edmonds, 1998). Thus improved quality and better locations of facilities are important to consider when examining alternative access improvements in rural areas. RURAL TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE Complementing means of transport and the location and quality of facilities is the third element of rural transportation – rural transport infrastructure. Rural transport infrastructure is the rural road, track and path network on which the rural population performs its transport activities. Other issues of rural transport infrastructure include the framework for management and finance, ownership and responsibility, local capacity, design appraisal and traffic characteristics (Malmberg-Calvo, 1998; Cannon and Lebo, 1999). There is also transport policy and strategy to address the issues mentioned above. CHARACTERISTICS OF RURAL TRANSPORT MODES IN AUCHI AND ENVIRONS The rural transport road mode in Auchi and environs could be classified into two major parts: Non-motorized Motorized 1.Non-motorized system: This includes: i.Head porterage ii.Bicycle carriage Head Porterage: This is the traditional way of carriage in most rural areas. It is the oldest mode so far and always meant for subsistent, purposes. Trekking from one place to another in the rural areas is limited by the distance and capacity of the journey maker both in carriage and walking. It is assumed that the maximum distance an average man can trek is about 3km per hour and the maximum load capacity is 40kg which when carried over a long distance reduces the journey rate to about 2km/hour (Aluko, 2000). Bicycle: Bicycle is also classified as an un-motorized system of rural transport system. It is a bit better than the head porterage mode for its improvement in speed and carriage capacity. The bicycle’s speed can be estimated as 20km/hour and with a carrying capacity of between 80kg and 100kg (Aloba, 1986; Ikporukpo, 1987; Aluko, 2000). 2.Motorized Modes The motorized mode of rural transport is the use of auto-engines to transport both human and freight in the rural areas. The commonest type of motorized modes are: Motorcycles Motor cars Pick-ups Mini bus Lorries/tippers Motorcycles: The motorcycles are found very commonly in rural areas but are not usually as common as bicycle because of the high cost involved in procuring one and which can only be afforded by very few people in a rural set up. By and large, a motorbike is more powerful than the bicycle and so the speed is far higher than the bicycle in folds. Motor cars: These exist in term of taxi or cabs which usually have a capacity of four passengers, but which in most cases are overloaded with either passengers or freights or both in few places where they are found. The types of cabs found in the rural areas are vehicles, which are not road worthy in any form. They are found at road junctions connecting different villages to carry passengers in these rural sets up; or better still they could be found at some designated areas called â€Å"garages† (Motor parks) where such exists. Pick-ups: This is another motor vehicle designed for freight transportation and in few occasions may as well transport the rural people. Farm produce are transported from the farm or village to the urban centres in large quantities. Mini-buses: The mini-buses are used for human transportation. They are of the exact distinct option given to the cabs but in this case mini-buses are bigger than buses for its carrying capacity. It is usually a 16-seater bus (urvan) and the 14-seaters (c.20). They are known for their van-pulling purpose while their journey time is usually more than the cabs in that they stop in virtually all the villages and junctions reached. Lorries: The Lorries are another motorized mode used in the rural areas. They carry passengers but their major purpose is to transport rural freight from place to place. In most cases, the 10 tonnes and the 15 tonnes Lorries are commonly found. In this case, they are mostly used to evacuate the farm produce to the urban centres where they are disposed for prices. Farmers of varying number can come together to hire a lorry for this purpose POLICY IMPLICATIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS For a tremendous improvement of rural transport in Auchi and environs in particular and Nigeria in general to take place, the following strategies and useful recommendations might help in the development of rural transportation. There should be a well-articulated rural development policy that would spell out the necessary strategies that are properly conceptualized. Special fund should be made available for rural development. This should be structured (if possible) in such a way that it will be administered from the federal level. Also, budgetary allocations to rural transport must be disbursed and on time for the implementation of proposals. There should be a department of rural development or federal ministry of rural development that will oversee the state and local government rural departments. That is, these must be well-defined authority at all levels of governments solely for the enhancement of rural transport. The duties of the authority in the planning implementation and maintenance of the roads must be well spelt out. CONCLUSION Transportation is one of the various elemental factors in rural development and it is necessary to understand its role in rural development and particularly how transport and other factors for development interact to produce the resulting structure of the rural economy and society. Rural transportation is also very important for the growth and development of any rural area (i.e. Auchi and environs) and as well as for the efficient movement of people and goods throughout the country. REFERENCES Aloba, O.O. (1986) â€Å"Rural Transportation† in Falola, T. and Olunrewaju, S.A. (eds) Transport System in Nigeria. Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, University of Syracuse, Syracuse. Aluko, O. (2000) Rural Transportation and Development Planning in Nigeria. Kins book Publication Series, Ibadan, Oyo State. Atubi, A.O. and Ali, A.N. (2008) Development in Conceptual and Methodological Advances in Rural Transportation. International Journal of Development Studies. Vol. 3, No. 4, Pp. 79-82. Barwell, I. (1996) Transport and the Villages. World Bank Discussion Paper, 344, Washington DC. Barwell, I. and Howe, J. (1987) Study of Potential for IMT: Executive Summary and Main Report (Ghana). I.T. Transport Consultancy Commissioned by World Bank Washington D.C. Barwell, I. and Malmberg-Calvo, C. (1986) Market Integrated Rural Transport Project: Preliminary Findings from a Village Level Transport Survey. Ilo Rural Transport Paper 4, I. T. Transport Consultancy, Geneva. Barwell, I.; Howe, J. and Zille, P. (1987) Household Time use and Agricultural Productivity in Sub-Saharan African: A Synthesis of I.T. Transport Research. I.T. Transport Ltd, Washington DC. Cannon, C. and Lebo, J. (1999) â€Å"Design and Education of vary low-volume Rural Roads in Developing Countries: Transportation Research Record. 1652, Transportation Research Board, Washington DC. Edmonds, G. (1998) Wasted Time: The Price of Poor Access. International Labour Organization. Office, Geneva. Howe, J. (1975) â€Å"The Future of Surface Transport in Africa† African Affairs, Vol. 1, 74, No. 296, Pp. 134-325. Howe, J. (2001) Village Level Transport. Rural Transport Knowledge Based Rural Travel and Transport Programme. Ikporukpo, C.O. (1987) â€Å"An Analysis of the Accessibility of Public Facilities in Nigeria† Socio-Economic Planning Services. Vol. 21, Pp. 61-69. Lebo, J. and Schelling, D. (2001) â€Å"Design and Appraisal of Rural Transport Infrastructure: Ensuring Basic Access for Rural Communities† World Bank Technical Paper. No. 496. Washington DC. Makinwa, P.K. (1981) Internal Migration and Rural Development: Lesson from Bendel State. Heinemann, Ibadan. Malmberg-Calvo, C, (1994b) Case Study on Intermediate means of Transport: Bicycle and Rural Women in Uganda. World Bank Sub-Saharan African Transport Policy Program, Working Paper No. 12. Malmberg-Calvo, C. (1994a) Case Study on the Role of Women in Rural Transport: Access of Women to Domestic Facilities. World Bank, Sub-Saharan African Transport Policy Program, Working Paper, No. 11. Malmberg-Calvo, C. (1998) â€Å"Options for Managing and Financing Rural Transport Infrastructure† World Bank Technical Paper. No. 411, Washington, DC. McCall, M. (1985) â€Å"Accessibility and Mobility in Peasant Agriculture in Tropical Africa† in Cloke, P. (ed.) Rural Accessibility and Mobility. Institute of British Geographers, Rural Geography Study Group, Lampeter, pp. 46-63. Ola, A. (2000). Rural Transportation and Development Planning in Nigeria. Kings Book Publications Series, Ibadan. Riverson, J.D.N. and Carapetis, S. (1991): Intermediate means of Transport in Sub-Saharan Africa: Its Potential for Imposing Rural and Transport† World Bank Technical Paper. 161 Washington DC. Slack, B. (1990) â€Å"Intermodal Transportation in North America and the Development of Inland Load Centres† Professional Geographer 42, Pp. 72-83. Stuckey, B. (1973). Transportation and African Development: The land-locked Countries. Institute for Economic Development and Planning, Ibadan. Udo, R.K. (1975) Migrant Tenant Farmers of Nigeria: A Geographical Study of Rural Migration in Nigeria. African University Press, Ibadan. Uyanga, J.I. (1980) A Geography of Rural Development in Nigeria. University Press of America, Washington DC. 1

Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations Essay -- identity, struggle, purpos

The perennial pursuit of humankind is finding and establishing a unique identity while still maintaining enough in common with others to avoid isolation. This is the central pursuit of many of the characters in Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations, and it shapes the way that characters feel and interact in profound ways. Those who are certain of their selfhood are the most successful, and the acquisition of an identity is fundamental to achieve happiness and satisfaction for characters in Great Expectations. Miss Havisham, perpetually unhappy, is a woman who is stuck in the past. She once had a sense of who she was, but after being abandoned by her fiancà ©, she can’t move on. From that moment forward, she is only seen in â€Å"â€Å"a long white veil† and a â€Å"splendid† wedding dress, with â€Å"but one shoe on† (Dickens, 143). Havisham lives in a blend of fantasy and reality, in both the past and the present. Her inability to move on interferes with her identity because the world around her changes continually while she makes an effort to stay the same. She no longer knows who she is, and the resulting emotional trauma hinders her ability to empathize. Her lack of empathy negatively affects how she interacts with people, especially Estella. Miss Havisham believes she is God, and uses her influence to breed Estella into a numb, unfeeling heartbreak machine. Miss Havisham’s self-proclaimed purpose is to make Estella â€Å"break [men’s] hea rts and have no mercy†, in an enraged revenge plot to get back at the universe for her misfortune (Dickens, 238). Miss Havisham lives in a world far from reality, and cannot accept who she is or the circumstances that she finds herself in. As a result, she is heinous, vengeful, and malicious in every action she perfor... ...e purposelessly until the bitter end. Works Cited Capuano, Peter J. "Handling The Perceptual Politics Of Identity In Great Expectations." Dickens Quarterly 3 (2010): 185. Literature Resource Center. Web. 22 Apr. 2014. Cohen, William A. "CRITICAL READINGS: Manual Conduct In Great Expectations." Critical Insights: Great Expectations(2010): 215-268. Literary Reference Center. Web. 22 Apr. 2014. Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. 1860-61. Project Gutenberg. Etext 1400. Project Gutenberg, 1998. Web. 22 April 2014. Lecker, Barbara. "The Split Characters of Charles Dickens." Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 19.4 (1979): 689-704. Print. Pickrel, Paul, "Great Expectations." Dickens, a Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. Martin Price. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1967. 164. Print.

From Marketing Mix to Relationship Marketing Essay

This report discusses how the marketing mix management paradigm has dominated the marketing thought, research and practice since it was introduced almost 40 years ago, but today new marketing approaches are being introduced and used. The globalization of business and the evolving recognition of the importance of customer retention and market economies and of customer relationship economics, among other trends, reinforce the change in mainstream marketing. Marketing Mix The term â€Å"marketing mix† is probably one of the most famous marketing terms used by millions of people. Its elements are known as the Four P’s, which are price, place, product, and promotion. These four variables are the variables that marketing managers can control in order to best satisfy customers in the target market. Figure 1: Marketing Mix Model – 4Ps Marketing the way most textbooks treat it today was introduced around 1960. The concept of the marketing mix and the Four Ps of marketing – product, price, place and promotion – entered the marketing textbooks at that time. Quickly they also became treated as the unchallenged basic model of marketing, so totally overpowering previous models and approaches, such as, for example, the organic functionalist approach advocated by Wroe Alderson as well as other systems-oriented approaches and parameter theory developed by the Copenhagen School in Europe that these are hardly remembered, even with a footnote in most textbooks of today. (Gronroos, Toward a Relationship Marketing Paradigm, 1994) The marketing mix refers to variables that a marketing manager can control to influence a brand’s sales or market share. Traditionally, these variables are summarized as the Four Ps of marketing: product, price, promotion, and place (i. e. , distribution). Product refers to aspects such as the firm’s portfolio of products, the newness of those products, their differentiation from competitors, or their superiority to rivals’ products in terms of quality. Promotion refers to advertising, detailing, or informative sales promotions such as features and displays. Price refers to the product’s list price or any incentive sales promotion such as quantity discounts, temporary price cuts, or deals. Place refers to delivery of the product measured by variables such as distribution, availability, and shelf space. The 4Ps model is just one of many marketing mix lists that have been developed over the years. And, whilst the questions we have listed above are keys, they are just a subset of the detailed probing that may be required to optimize your marketing mix. Amongst the other marketing mix models have been developed over the years is the 7Ps, sometimes called the extended marketing mix, which include the first 4 Ps, plus people, processes and physical layout decisions. Another marketing mix approach is Lauterborn’s 4Cs, which presents the elements of the marketing mix from the buyer’s, rather than the seller’s, perspective. It is made up of Customer needs and wants (the equivalent of product), Cost (price), Convenience (place) and Communication (promotion). Cultural policies to promote diversity of cultural expressions today must deal with numerous factors and needs, some of which concern the right of all groups to their forms of expression, and others strictly with business feasibility and the possibility of marketing on a global scale. These different factors may be difficult to reconcile but they are complementary as none can survive and be managed without referring to or involving the other. From the perspective of production development, it is frequently stated that cultural expressions need to find their market in order to survive, but it is also the case that the sacrificing of cultural content with little market value lowers the value of cultural production overall. From the perspective of rights to and processes of identity construction, culture generates services that cannot be governed exclusively by the market, especially in view of the marginality of subaltern groups. Nevertheless, it is almost impossible to think of cultural practices and consumption today without involving the market in some way. For marketers in the cultural industry it is important to identify the factors influencing consumers’ purchasing. Cultural factors are essentially important in selection of the two elements of â€Å"place† and â€Å"product†. For example, someone brought p in an environment that values art would be more likely to buy artistic products. Even it may be important considering customers in terms of their sub-culture. One may be surrounded by people who not only value art but place a higher priority on paintings as opposed to the music. As a result, they will be more likely to buy paintings rather than musical instrument. â€Å"Pr icing† the artistic products and activities should also follow a logic trend. This practice may be done through some standards set among artists of the same class or by the very artist creator of his work. In general, as it can be seen, due to the difference. (Shahhosseini & Ardahaey, 2011) The Four Ps of the marketing mix became an indisputable paradigm in academic research, the validity of which was taken for granted. For most marketing researchers in large parts of the academic world it seems to remain the marketing truth even today. The Four Ps of the marketing mix had been even referred to as â€Å"the holy quadruple†¦of the marketing faith written in tablets of stone. (Gronroos, Toward a Relationship Marketing Paradigm, 1994) The marketer plans various means of competition and blends them into a â€Å"marketing mix† so that a profit function is optimized, or rather satisfied. The â€Å"marketing mix†, concept was introduced by Neil Borden in the 1950s, and the mix of different means of competitions was soon labeled the Four Ps. (Gronroos, Toward a Relationship Marketing Paradigm, 1994) Any marketing paradigm should be well set to fulfill the marketing concept, i. e. the notion that the firm is best off by designing and directing its activities according to the needs and desires of customers in chosen target markets. Gronroos, Toward a Relationship Marketing Paradigm, 1994) American Marketing Association, in its most recent definition states that â€Å"marketing is the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion and distribution of ideas, goods and services to create exchange and satisfy individual and organizational objectives† (emphasis added) (Gronroos, From Marketing Mix to Relationship Marketing: Towards a Paradigm Shift in Marketing, 1994) The problem with the Marketing Mix One can easily argue that the four Ps of the marketing mix are not well able to fulfill the requirements of the marketing concept. As Dixon and Blois put it, â€Å"†¦indeed it would not be unfair to suggest that far from being concerned with a customer’s interests (i. e. somebody for whom something is done) the views implicit in the Four P approach is that the customer is somebody to whom something is done! † (emphasis added) . To use a marketing metaphor, the marketing mix and its four Ps constitute a production-oriented definition of marketing, and not a market-oriented or customer oriented one. Moreover, although the interactive nature of the Ps is recognized, the model itself does not explicitly include any interactive elements. Furthermore, it does not indicate the nature and scope of such interactions. (Gronroos, Toward a Relationship Marketing Paradigm, 1994) Van Waterschoot and Van den Bulte recognize three flaws in the Four P model: * â€Å"The properties or characteristics that are the basis for classification have not been identified. * The categories are not mutually exclusive. * There is a catch-all subcategory that is continually growing† . Many marketing-related phenomena are not included. Moreover, as Johan Arndt has concluded, marketing research remains narrow in scope and even myopic, and methodological issues become more important than substance matters. Gronroos, From Marketing Mix to Relationship Marketing: Towards a Paradigm Shift in Marketing, 1994) The Nature of the Marketing Mix The usefulness of the Four Ps as a general marketing theory for practical purposes is, to say the least, highly questionable. Originally, although they were largely based on empirical induction and earlier lists of marketing functions of the functional school of marketing, they were probably developed under the influence of microeconomic theory and specially the theory of monopolistic competition of the 1930s, in order to add more realism to that theory. However, very soon the connection to microeconomic theory was cut off and subsequently totally forgotten. Theoretically, the marketing mix became just a list of Ps without roots. (Gronroos, Toward a Relationship Marketing Paradigm, 1994) Managing the marketing mix makes marketing seem too easy to handle and organize. Marketing is separated from other activities of the firm and delegated to specialists who take care of the analysis, planning and implementation of various marketing tasks, such as market analysis, marketing planning, advertising, sales promotion, sales, pricing, distribution and product packaging. Marketing departments are created to take responsibility for the marketing function of the firm, The marketing department approach to organizing the marketing function has isolated marketing from design, production, deliveries, technical service, complaints handling, invoicing and other activities of the firm. As a consequence, the rest of the organization has been alienated from marketing. Therefore, it has made it difficult, often even impossible, to turn marketing into the â€Å"integrative function† that would provide other departments with the market-related input needed in order to make the organization truly market oriented and reach a stage of â€Å"co-ordinated marketing† the marketing specialists organized in a marketing department may get alienated from the customers. Managing the marketing mix means relying on mass marketing. Customers become numbers for the marketing specialists, whose actions, therefore, typically are based on surface information obtained from market research reports and market share statistics. Frequently such marketers act without ever having encountered a real customer. The marketing department concept is obsolete and has to be replaced by some other way of organizing the marketing function, so that the organization will have a chance to become market-oriented. A traditional marketing department will always, in the final analysis, stand in the way of spreading market orientation. The use of the marketing mix management paradigm and the Four Ps has made it very difficult for the marketing function to earn credibility. Some firms have solved this problem not only by downscaling or altogether terminating their marketing departments but also by banning the use of the term marketing for the marketing function. (Gronroos, Toward a Relationship Marketing Paradigm, 1994) What is the History of the Marketing Mix? A paradigm like this has to be well founded by theoretical deduction and empirical research; otherwise much of marketing research is based on a loose foundation and the results of it questionable. Let us look at the history of the marketing mix paradigm and the four P’s. The marketing mix developed from a notion of the marketer as a â€Å"mixer of ingredients†, which was an expression originally used by James Culliton (1948) in a study of marketing costs in 1947 and 1948. The marketer plans various means of competitions and blends them into a â€Å"marketing mix†, so that a profit function is optimized, or rather satisfied. The marketing mix is actually a list of categories of marketing variables, and to begin with, this way of defining or describing a phenomenon can never be considered a very valid one. A list never includes all relevant elements, it does not fit every situation, and it becomes obsolete. And indeed, marketing academics every now and then offer additional P’s to the list, once they have found the standard â€Å"tablet of faith† too limited. (Gronroos, Toward a Relationship Marketing Paradigm, 1994) Kotler has, in the context of megamarketing, added public relations and politics, thus expanding the list to six P’s. In service marketing. Booms and Bitner (1982) have suggested three additional P’s, people, physical evidence and process. Judd (1987) among others, has argued for just one new P, people. Advocators of the marketing mix paradigm sometimes have suggested that service should be added to the list of P’s (e. g. Lambert and Harrington 1989 and Collier 1991). J It is, by the way, interesting to notice that after the four P’s were definitely canonized sometime in the early 1970s new items to the list are almost exclusively put in the form of P’s It is also noteworthy that Borden’s original marketing mix included 12 elements, and that this list was not intended to be a definition at all. Borden considered it guidelines only, which the marketer probably would have to reconsider in any given situation. In line with the â€Å"mixer of ingredients† metaphor he also implied that the marketer would blend the various ingredients or variables of the mix into an integrated marketing program. This is a fact that advocators of the four P’s (or five, six, seven or more P’s) and of today’s marketing mix approach seem to have totally forgotten. In fact, the four P’s represent a significant oversimplification of Borden’s original concept. McCarthy either misunderstood the meaning of Borden’s marketing mix when he reformulated the original list in the shape of the rigid mnemonic of the four P’s where no blending of the P’s is explicitly included; or his followers misinterpreted McCarthy’s intentions. In many marketing textbooks organized around the marketing mix, such as Philip Kotler’s well-known Marketing Management (e. g. 991), the blending aspect and the need for integration of the four P’s are discussed, even in depth, but such discussions are always limited due to the fact that the model does not explicitly include an integrative dimension. (Gronroos, Toward a Relationship Marketing Paradigm, 1994) Contemporary Theories of Marketing In most marketing textbooks the marketing mix management paradigm and its Four Ps are still considered the theory of marketing. Indeed , this is the case in much of the academic research into marketing; however, since the 1960s alternative theories of marketing have been developed. As Moller observes in a recent overview of research traditions in marketing, â€Å"from the functional view of marketing ‘mix’ management our focus has extended to the strategic role of marketing, aspects of service marketing, political dimensions of channel management, interactions in industrial networks; to mention just a few evolving trends. The interaction/network approach to industrial marketing was originated in Sweden at Uppsala University during the 1960s and has since spread to a large number of countries. Between the parties in a network various interactions take place, where exchanges and adaptations to each other occur. A flow of goods and information as well as financial and social exchanges takes place in the network. In such a network the role and forms of marketing are not very clear. All exchanges, all sorts of interactions have an impact on the position of the parties in the network. The interactions are not necessarily initiated by the seller – the marketer according to the marketing mix management paradigm – and they may continue over a long period of time, for example, for several years. The seller, who at the same time may be the buyer in a reciprocal setting, may of course employ marketing specialists, such as sales representatives, market communication people and market analysts but in addition to them a large number of persons in functions which according to the marketing mix management paradigm are non-marketing, such as research and development, design, deliveries, customer training, invoicing and credit management, has a decisive impact on the marketing success of the â€Å"seller† in the network. In the early 1970s the marketing of services started to emerge as a separate area of marketing with concepts and models of its own geared to typical characteristics of services. In Scandinavia and Finland the Nordic School of Services more than research into this field elsewhere looked at the marketing of services as something that cannot be separated from overall management. (Gronroos, Toward a Relationship Marketing Paradigm, 1994) The New Approaches and the Marketing Mix The interaction and network approach of industrial marketing and modern service marketing approaches, especially the one by the Nordic School, clearly views marketing as an interactive process in a social context where relationship building and management is a vital cornerstone. They are in some respects clearly related to the systems-based approaches to marketing of the 1950s (compare, for example, Alderson 1957). The marketing mix paradigm and its four P’s, on the other hand, is a much more clinical approach, which makes the seller the active part and the buyer and consumer passive. No personalized relationship with the producer and marketer of a product is supposed to exist, other than with professional sales representatives in some case. The development of innovative theories, models and concepts of industrial marketing (interaction/network approach) and service marketing has clearly demonstrated that the marketing mix paradigm and its four P’s finally have reached the end of the road as the universal marketing theory. From a management point of view the four P’s, undoubtedly, may have been helpful. The use of various means of competition became more organized. However, the four P’s were never applicable to all markets and to all types of marketing situations. The development of alternative marketing theories discussed above demonstrate that even from a management perspective, the marketing mix and its four P’s became a problem. Their pedagogic elegance and deceiving sense of simplicity made practical marketing management look all too clinical and straightforward even for actors in the consumer packaged goods field where they were originally intended to be used. Consumer goods amounts to a considerable business, and there the four P’s could still fulfill a function. However, many of the customer relationships of manufacturers of consumer goods are industrial-type relationships with wholesalers and retailers, and the retailers of consumer goods more and more consider themselves service providers. In such situations the four P’s have less to offer even in the consumer goods field. Moreover, as far as the marketing of consumer goods from the manufacturer to the ultimate consumers is concerned, there is a growing debate whether one can continue to apply marketing in the traditional mass marketing way. Gronroos, Toward a Relationship Marketing Paradigm, 1994) The Future: The Relationship Marketing Concept In the relationship marketing concept to be presented here the core variables are relationships, networks and interaction. The choice is not arbitrary; these variables recurrently emerge in the new marketing theories that have challenged the reigning marketing management paradigm during the past twenty-five years. These variables are not new; they were there thousands of years ago and they present themselves ‘‘here and now. ’ They will be here in the future, no matter if they are represented by relationship marketing or something else. They are part of society. In fact, society is nothing less than a network of relationships within which we interact, and marketing is a dimension of society. Research and education in business have only recently begun to acknowledge the existence of relationships, but have not as yet understood their omnipresence and deep impact on marketing. Although it is encouraging that relationships have been made visible and that the interest in them is soaring, major problems follow. One is that those who start to explore and implement relationship marketing techniques are often not sufficiently familiar with the foundations of relationship marketing, its paradigm. Furthermore, relationship marketing is put under siege by the traditional marketing management paradigm, and the techniques used in relationship marketing implementation are often more grounded in marketing management values than in relationship marketing values. (Gummesson, 2002) An integral element of the relationship marketing approach is the promise concept, which has been strongly emphasized by Henrik Calonius According to him the responsibilities of marketing do not only, or predominantly, including giving promises and thus persuading customers as passive counterparts on the marketplace to act in a given way. Fulfilling promises that have been given is equally important as means of achieving customer satisfaction, retention of the customer base and long-term profitability (compare also Reichheld and Sasser). He also stresses the fact that promises are mutually given and fulfilled. (Gronroos, Toward a Relationship Marketing Paradigm, 1994) Relationship Marketing There are many definitions of relationship marketing, most of them stressing the development and maintenance of long term relationships with customers and sometimes with other stakeholders. Total relationship marketing is marketing based on relationships, networks and interaction, recognizing that marketing is embedded in the total management of the networks of the selling organization, the market and society. It is directed to long term win-win relationships with individual customers, and value is jointly created between the parties involved. It transcends the boundaries between specialist functions and disciplines. Total relationship marketing embraces not just the supplier-customer dyad as does one-to-one marketing and CRM (customer relationship management) but also relationships to a supplier’s own suppliers, to competitors and to middlemen; these are all market relationships. (Gummesson, 2002) Is There a Paradigm Shift in Marketing? Relationships do not function by themselves. As McInnes said already three decades ago, â€Å"the existence of a market relation is the foundation of exchange not a substitute for it†. Only in extreme situations, for example when the computer systems of a buyer and a materials provider are connected to each other in order to initiate and execute purchase decisions automatically, the relationship, at least for some time, may function by itself. In such situations one comes close to what Johan rndt called â€Å"domesticated markets†, where â€Å"transactions†¦are usually handled by administrative processes on the basis of negotiated rules of exchange†. Normally, advertising, distribution and product branding, for example, will still be needed, but along with a host of other activities and resources. (Gummesson, 2002) However, what marketing deserves is new perspectives, which are more market-oriented and less manipulative, and where the customer indeed is the focal point as suggested by the marketing concept. Conclusion Marketing mix as a general perspective evolved because at one time it was an effective way of describing and managing many marketing situations. Before the marketing mix there were other approaches. Now time has made this approach less helpful other than in specific situations. New paradigms have to come. After all, we live in the 1990s, and we cannot for ever continue to live with a paradigm from the 1950s and 1960s. However, bearing in mind the long-term damages of the marketing mix as the universal truth, we are going to need several approaches or paradigms Relationship marketing will be one of them.