Accomplishing Goals

Donnaree Allison I have always been told the choices I make now are going to determine my future. Everyone goes through a struggle and I have had my fair share, but no matter how hard I knew exactly what I wanted. I wanted to succeed. I was struggling in High School and decided to give up. It didn’t take long for me to realize this is not what I wanted. By dropping out of High School I wasn’t succeeding. I thought to myself how could I accomplish any of the goals I set for myself? So I decided to enroll in Job Corps and attained my G. E. D within two months. That wasn’t enough. I wanted to go to college.Choosing a college was hard. Then it dawned on me what better college than the one my mom attended, and so I chose Monroe. Goal is a very important subject for me. I have already planned and completed some of my goals, which improved me a lot, however, my long time goals in the future are not easy as the past; it will take a longer time to complete and will be the most challenging mission for me, but with determination and hard work I will pull through. The first thing I am doing is complete my education. I plan to put my best foot forward excelling through each college course.I want to absorb as many learning opportunities and experiences as possible. In conclusion no matter how old or young one is; it is never too late or too early to start working towards an educational goal in becoming a college graduate! Like My Mother always said it is only the lack of belief in ourselves that stops us from achieving those things and it is only through our own understanding, ability and perseverance that we see them become realities until then, they are little more than visions in a crystal ball, with no chance of development.

Collusion Between British Airways and Virgin

The tacit collusion case to be discussed involves the illegal collusion and setting of fuel surcharges to commercial and cargo transatlantic fares between British Airways (BA) and Virgin Atlantic Airways (Virgin). The factors which contributed to its success will be discussed, as well as why, and its implications, of becoming public. To begin with, it would be beneficial to define both collusive behaviour and the nature of the competition involved in the aviation industry. Collusion is the act of a number of firms within an industry agreeing to set a certain price, output or another parameter and is almost always against the law.This is as they all compete in the given industry, with the setting of prices or outputs done in favour of the companies, and is therefore anti-competitive behaviour, as this moves the outcome away from the market equilibrium. The generated inefficiency is considered illegal by The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) within the UK, who’s mission is to protect consumer welfare whilst ensuring businesses remain competitive and fair (OFT,2011). A brief overview of the UK aviation industry will help in explaining and justifying certain factors which led to the successful collusion.Aviation is key not only for transportation purposes but for commercial flights, employing around 234,000 staff and contributing ? 18. 4 billion to Gross National Product (GNP). The industry is not only essential for global business and trade, but 75% of all visitors to the UK travel by air and adds a further ? 14 billion towards GNP (BATA, 2011). The USA and the European Union have signed an ‘open skies agreement’ allowing full access to all routes between the two continents, although is more restrictive to EU airlines (IACA, 2007).In the specific case of BA and Virgin, oil price rises based on the price of barrel oil as shown in ‘Appendix 1’, created rising fuel costs and uncertainty over future profit levels. Several airlines in the UK and global aviation industry brought in flexible fuel surcharges for passengers and cargo planes. The tacit collusion case of Virgin and BA showed that through communication, and agreeing to certain price rises at a given date, the negative impacts on production costs can be in part offset direct to the consumer. Through the formation of such an agreement, a ‘prisoner’s dilemma’ game scenario is formed.This game revolves around joint outcomes based on individual actions, and the payoffs which are created from this. The choice to co-operate in decision making proves to be more beneficial than the absence of any collusive behaviour, although there is always the threat of deviation to add even more uncertainty to the question. Carlton and Perloff (2003) describes how in such a game, both firms must consider each rival’s actions when making their own, and relate the combination of actions to determine best policy. Airline Market – Transatlantic flights | | | | Virgin Atlantic| | | | High surcharge| Low surcharge|British| Higher surcharge| 25,25| 15,30| Airways| Lower surcharge| 30,15| 10,10| | | | | | | Profit from Cooperation = 25 + Profit from deviation= 30 + Note: ? D > ? C if r > 1 will prove that deviation from collusion unlikely This constructed game holds several assumptions which may be of use to explain the relative success of the collusive agreement. To begin with, it involves the firms meeting and setting prices more than once, in a repeated game, as fuel surcharges are relatively flexible prices which were changed to relate to the price of fuel, which was extremely volatile as shown in Appendix A.Following on from this repeated game, it is also for an undefined period. As the price rises came very suddenly, it created an uncertain future with no foreseeable end. Carlton and Perloff (2003) agree with the theory that in a multi-period game, deviation becomes much more costly, and through signalling can lead to suc cessful collusion to benefit both parties. Edgeworth (1897) touches upon capacity constraints which are relative here in the theoretical success of this collusion, when based around the residual demand faced by both firms when looking at its pricing strategy (Carlton and Perloff, 2003).As the nature of the good is a seat on a plane, clearly capacity constraints are present in the form of the limited seating on aircraft, as well as the inability to in the short run increase output beyond full capacity. During the setting of price, clear communication will most likely result in a non-static equilibrium. As well as this, the symmetry in terms of the market and cost structures has played a part in creating a successful cartel. Each firm produces a relatively homogenous good in terms of economy, business or first class, with a limited amount of features it can differentiate itself from its competitors.As well as this, using Figure 1, which will be discussed later on, demonstrates that th e main costs to an airline are those which cannot be easily reduced or offset, most notably the cost of fuel and aircraft maintenance. Therefore both firms have near perfect knowledge of the cost structure and revenue through observing prices, and will aid in choosing a certain pricing strategy. What follows will be a detailed discussion of the specific market conditions which lead to the successful collusion between BA and Virgin.The UK Transatlantic Flight market as a whole can be said to hold many key factors which have led to successful collusion. The first is due to the high levels of barriers to entry; the level of costs specific to new entrants in the market. Barriers to entry show that new entrants find it extremely difficult to raise the financial capital needed to establish themselves as long term competitors. The nature of these costs also plays a part, with a high amount resulting in ‘sunk costs’ which are not transferable to any other industry such as an ae roplane and machinery specific to air travel.Emphasis also has to be placed on barriers to entry which do not take a physical form, with the restricted capacity of many major airports and regulation within the aviation industry significantly limits the ability to expand operations. An airline company needs to purchase several assets in order to offer the product of a transatlantic flight to a HUB in the USA. The first begins with the licence to operate in an airport and the parking/docking bay such as Manchester or Gatwick. With limited capacity at many leading airports both in the UK and the USA, they become extremely costly.With Heathrow being used as the main airport for comparison, due to the fact both BA and Virgin primarily operate there, Appendix B shows the extensive capacity constraints for all slots throughout each day. The purchase and maintenance of aircraft is clearly an essential fixed cost, and with strict litigation procedures meaning that there is little opportunity to save costs. The last main fixed cost is in the form of landing fees and en route charges, which each airline needs to pay. Figure 1 (British Airways, 2010)Figure 1 attempts to demonstrate these barriers to entry, which prevents new firms from entering the market after the monopoly pricing of fuel surcharges sends a signal to potential competitors for the opportunity of supernormal profits. The largest growth in the cost structure for British Airways has been in the sections discussed which pose the biggest barriers to entry; fuel and oil costs at 44. 5%, landing fees at 14. 2% and engineering and other aircraft costs at 13. 1%, placing ever more emphasis on the difficulty for new firms to compete in this market (British Airways, 2010).Another key factor which contributed to the successful collusion was the weak buyer power in the demand for air travel, and in this specific case for transatlantic flights. The nature of the good is long distance travel, both for leisure and busine ss with no other direct substitute in terms of time and comfort of travel. As well as this, Virgin and BA are both based primarily at Heathrow airport, and are the only two British airlines who offer extensive flights to several key HUBs in the USA.Along with three U. S airlines they make up the total flights offered to the USA from the busiest airport in the world in terms of international passengers (ACI, 2011). The two combined impact upon the price elasticity of demand, a key concept which may help illustrate why the collusion was a success. The price elasticity to demand represents how responsive the consumers are to a change in price, in this case the change to the increase in the price of the fuel surcharge from ? 5 to ? 0 between the period August 2004 – January 2006 (OFT, 2007). The nature of the good is relatively price inelastic as no low cost airline or competitor can offer the same flight schedule to the important airports in the US, such as New York (JFK). Going hand in hand, this type of travel cannot simply be postponed or chosen differently, especially for business people who have little power over the price they will pay but quite significantly have less financial constraints than those travelling for leisure.There have been many cases of tacit collusion which have been broken down within the UK, through the act of the Competition Commission (CC) and the OFT investigating what it deems could be found to be collusive, illegal behaviour. The case of BA and Virgin is a unique one as to how it was broken down. The agreement ended directly through Virgin Atlantic Airways admitting to the collusive behaviour directly to the Office of Fair Trade. There may be both relevant theoretical and practical explanations as to why Virgin deviated from co-operation, which will be outlined briefly.Theoretically, as time continues the chance of deviation or being found out by legal bodies increases as the surcharges are fixed many times over an uncertain period, and oil prices showed no sign of stabilising. With no foreseeable end to the game leaving both firms with an area of uncertainty, and the threat of punishment playing an ever more important role, certain strategies in the game may have been altered. However, practically it may prove to offer a more credible reason as to why Virgin ended the collusive agreement by going to the relevant authorities.With the fine by the OFT standing at ? 121. 5 million, and the Department of Justice fining BA ? 148 million as the case was co-ordinated between both countries, the cost of colluding was severe (OFT,2007 BBC, 2007). As well as this, the timeline constructed in Appendix C highlights the previous hostile relationship of the two parties. Even though Virgin cannot compete financially or in number of flights/routes, a fierce rivalry and competitive relationship has always existed with Virgin Atlantic being the only British non-flag carrier to survive the transatlantic flight market.This collusive agreement then goes exactly to the contrary of what has just been set out, so it may lead to one believing Virgin set out with this goal from the start, or once it became clear a court case would mean the parties involved would financially suffer, Virgin used the immunity clause to allow the collusion became public knowledge. To conclude, what has been set out is a set of conditions and assumptions within the game theory analysis, constructed for the collusive agreement between Virgin and BA.It aided in discussing the collusion itself, and the nature of which resulted in its success. Following on, the most significant market structural conditions were discussed relating to how they facilitated the successful collusion between the two parties. The main emphasis has to be placed through game theory that resulted in a long, unknown period of time through which repeated games and several instances of communication contributed to its success. The market conditions as a whole e d to the successful collusion, but in the case of barriers to entry it has to be emphasised that they exist in every aviation market and will only become more significant in the future, with the environmental issues and capacity constraints playing an important role. The weak buyer power of consumers contributed hugely, to not only the surcharge actually being introduced, but following on to at least 6 occasions of joint price increases. The amount BA was fined is a clear signal to all other firms that collusive behaviour will be punished severely, and therefore promotes its own punishment strategy.References ACI, 2011 – ‘Year to date International Passenger Traffic December 2010’, Airports Council International accessed from http://www. aci. aero/cda/aci_common/display/main/aci_content07_c. jsp? zn=aci&cp=1-5-212-1376-1379_666_2 as of 22nd March 2010 BATA, 2011 – ‘Welcome to the British Air Transport association’, British Air Transport As sociation accessed from http://www. bata. uk. com/Web/Default. aspx as of 21st March 2011 BBC, 1993 – ‘1993: BA dirty tricks against Virgin cost ? 3m’, accessed from http://news. bc. co. uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/11/newsid_2520000/2520189. stm as of 24th March 2011 BBC, 2007 – ‘BA's price-fix fine reaches ? 270m’, British Broadcasting Association accessed from http://news. bbc. co. uk/1/hi/business/6925397. stm as of 24th March 2011 British Airways, 2010 – Chief Financial Officer’s Report, 2008/09 Annual Report and Accounts, Table from page 14 accessed from http://www. britishairways. com/cms/global/microsites/ba_reports0809/pdfs/CFO. pdf as of 22nd March 2011Carlton and Perloff, 2003 – Modern Industrial Organization, Chapter 6: Oligopoly, pages 160-192, Pearson Education; 4 edition (1 May 2003) Europa, 2000 – ‘COMMISSION DECISION of 14 July 1999 relating to a proceeding under Article 82 of the EC Treaty (IV/D-2/34. 780 . Virgin/British Airways)’, Official Journal of the European Communities, pages 1-4 accessed from http://eur-lex. europa. eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ. do? uri=OJ:l:2000:030:0001:0024:en:PDF as of 24th March 2011 IACA, 2007 – Press Releases: ‘EU-US Open SkiesDeal – Not So Open for European Airlines’, International Air Carriers Association accessed http://www. iaca. be/index. cfm? 79FD0308-BDBE-2776-0614-E6942D8F1AB5 as of 26th March 2011 Mongabay,2009 – ‘10-year commodity price chart for Crude oil’, Compiled by mongabay. com using figures from World Bank Commodity Price Data, accessed from http://www. mongabay. com/images/commodities/charts/crude_oil. html as of 11th March 2011 OFT, 2006 – Report on Transport, ‘UK airports: Report on the market study and proposed decision to make a market investigation reference’, page 139 accessed from http://www. ft. gov. uk/shared_oft/reports/transport/of t882. pdf as of 23rd March 2011 OFT, 2007 – The Office of Fair Trading, Press releases 2007: ‘British Airways to pay record ? 121. 5m penalty in price fixing investigation’, accessed from http://www. oft. gov. uk/news-and-updates/press/2007/113-07 as of 23rd March 2011 OFT,2011 – The Office of Fair Trading, ‘Making markets work well for consumers’, accessed from http://www. oft. gov. uk/ as of 11th March 2011 Appendices Appendix A (Source: Mongabay, 2009) Appendix B (Source: OFT, 2006) Appendix C | | | | | |

Culture and Ikea

International Management Bermet Kanybekova 20113658 Assignment 5: IKEA 1. What has allowed IKEA to be successful with a relatively standardized product and product line in a business with strong cultural influence? Did adaptations to this strategy in the North American market constitute a defeat to their approach? IKEA has become the world's largest home furnishing retail chain with its international expansion in three major phases. Its mission is to offer a wide variety, good design and value for â€Å"young people of all ages†.IKEA is determined to maintain a standardized product strategy with a universally accepted assortment around the world, now carrying a variety of different home furnishings. It has limited number of manufacturing, however, designs all of its furniture. IKEA's cost leadership strategy through high volume production and standardized items enabled it to sustain its business. Consumers are expected to become â€Å"prosumers†, in the meaning of half producers and half consumers, thus supplying their time for assembling work after their purchases.Consequently, IKEA's success is due to its customer focused strategy. The principal market target is composed of â€Å"people, who are young, highly educated, liberal in their cultural values, white-collar workers, and not especially concerned with status symbol†. Therefore, consumers with low status concern and low conservatism enabled IKEA's success in strong cultural influences. Moreover, high income groups have fewer cross-cultural differences and more open to adapt values to new beliefs.As a result, with their right consumer target, IKEA was able to succeed with their relatively standardized product line. North American market proved that standardization is not a key to success in an American market; therefore adaptions have been made that clearly changed IKEA’s strategy. IKEA with its standardized market changed to a global market strategy and implemented new ideas t hat fit American taste in their market. Adjustments were made to their furniture that created and targeted more American consumers.Moreover, some adaptions might have been transferable to other targeted markets around the world. Consequently, the North American experience has caused IKEA to blend in their ideas and start remixing its formula elsewhere. For instance, these changes were implemented to the European market, changing furnishing concepts such as making sofa beds in Europe. 2. Which features of the â€Å"young people of all ages† are universal and can be exploited by a global/regional strategy? The â€Å"young people of all ages† share similar features internationally that enabled IKEA to maintain its target universally.However, not all of the targeted features were shared among various cultures. Hence, there were some adaptations according to various cultures and the relative importance of these features varied between countries and their consumers. Nonethel ess, the majority of the targeted consumers liked to perceive themselves as practical, modern and non-traditional. In other words, these consumers didn’t stick to the traditional way of furniture, instead saw IKEA’s designs as good, modern and practical that allowed them to afford their products.In this sense, simplicity and practicality was more important than traditional styles of furniture. With this concept, IKEA was able to specifically target those consumers who vied their products as fitting their taste with different features. Therefore, this concept with being practical and simple instead of traditional is an example of universal feature that can be further developed. IKEA’s targeted market like shopping for good value; therefore, they are ready to contribute their time and energy to get satisfaction out of assembling their work.Consequently, this willingness to contribute more and achieve better value is another feature that is shared among IKEAâ€℠¢s universal target. These new changes in IKEA’s strategic plan have brought it to a new level of international business with better customer satisfaction and greater value. 3. Is IKEA destined to succeed everywhere it cares to establish itself? Is IKEA destined to succeed depends on how flexible its concept is in various countries. However, I believe that IKEA will not succeed everywhere it establishes itself.The concept of IKEA can slightly be changed and adapted according to various cultures, but I strongly believe that certain changes cannot be implemented fully. This changing concept will have limitations when it is further taken globally and need to meet the standards universally according to various economies of countries. For instance, value of a certain sofa in a certain country is totally different in another country. If we take a sofa in America for $300, the same product must be sold at a lower price in a developing country due to its value differences in their ec onomy.Therefore, not all of IKEA’s concepts can be fully changed if they want to maintain its original formula. Moreover, customer expectations are different in various countries, thus, IKEA would have to consider new changes and flexibility in their concept to meet customer expectations and their value for products offered. In conclusion, I would like to point out that there is always a limit in adapting and changing concepts to meet various customer values and their desires to create profitable sustainability.

Verdict Of The Coroner's Inquest Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Verdict Of The Coroner's Inquest - Essay Example a dependent position." (Matthews, 2010) The law does draw a distinction between neglect and the negligence While essentially accidental, a failure by caregivers was the actual causative agent. The medical staff failed in their essential duties towards this patient, but health care was provided although the proper precautions were not taken to ensure that the prescribed treatment was administered correctly. It is noteworthy that the specialist pharmacist stated that no single person w as completely responsible for the death, in the capacity of sole culprit. ?he system was in place, not wholly effective.There were mistakes made by several parties. Yet it is clear that the mistaken dosage was clearly an error, per the professional diagnosis by Dr. R, where he described the dispensation of the medication as 'glaringly wrong', and a 'huge aberration.' Furthermore, investigations of medical findings pertaining to nodular sclerosing Hodgkin's disease will reveal that the condition is not in variably fatal. (van Spronsen et al., 2000) The inevitability of J's death is not to be taken for granted with absolute certainty. While a doctor had predicted the patient's present status to most likely result in mortality, the death of this individual was not unavoidable from this condition, nor should the consequences of his demise be viewed as less severe, on account of J's age or health status. Even should the physician's estimate of 27 months have been accurate, negligence is still apparent, and the patient was not entirely beyond hope. And while the Dr. has noted that J's condition was terminal, with a 27 month probable lifespan based on medical precedent for others suffering from nodular sclerosing Hodgkin's disease, the five-year survival rate ranges from 90 to 60%, depending upon... This essay analyzes that there are no apparent incentives that would suggest the error to be the result of deliberate action on the part of the patient, or on the part of the pharmacist. Thus negligence contributed to the accidental death of the patient, J. in the absence of actual malice, or evidence of deliberate denial of care and the narrative verdict is warranted in the case of J.  This essay analyzes that there are no apparent incentives that would suggest the error to be the result of deliberate action on the part of the patient, or on the part of the pharmacist. Thus negligence contributed to the accidental death of the patient, J. in the absence of actual malice, or evidence of deliberate denial of care and the narrative verdict is warranted in the case of J.   The purposes of this inquest require an exhaustive summary of the circumstances surrounding the death of the patient, ways in which that death might have been prevented and contributing factors. This verdict has a ttempted to give a factual account of the demise of J, in the absence of deliberate, premeditated actions that were intended to cause death. This would also C exclude the deliberate withholding of sustenance or treatment. The narrative is an accounting of events and contributing factors, but it is not appropriate in this instance to make a definitive attempt to assign blame in the criminal sense. The pharmacy staff could have double checked their assumptions. The chief pharmacist could have ensured that those under him operated in accordance with the proper protocols. Nurses at the rest home should have had an opportunity to at least question the dosage, should any of them have been familiar with the standard dosages of this sort of chemotherapy. The principal pharmacist should in all probability face sanction, but his actions were not deliberate, and an attempt was made to provide care albeit grossly incorrect.

Child hood obesity Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Child hood obesity - Assignment Example Child obesity rates in the U.S. have more than trebled in the previous 30 years, and one of every three kids is obese, counting the children in Ohio.   Obesity of such prevalent proportions can lead to innumerable negative implications on children’s health, and the health of the adults they develop into.  Around one-third of Ohio children are obese or overweight, and that number has been growing over the years. Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Centre and the Ohio Children’s Hospital Association have powerfully reinforced this bill from thebeginning. According to the 2008 Ohio Family Health Survey, around 500,000 children between the age 10-17 (35.6%) are regarded as overweight or obese according to BMI-for-age values. Moreover, the National Survey of Children’s Health implies that 37.1% of children ages 10-17 in Kentucky are overweight or obese, positioning Kentucky as the 48th in the nation. These general statistics disguise the greater burden of obesity among low income as well as minority populations. It is a common fact that physically fit and active children actually do better educationally, and that large and overweight children are 30% more likely to repeat a grade and nearly 60% more probable to miss more than two weeks of school. It is indications like these that support policy makers comprehend why action is needed. The wide spread epidemic of obesity will require an intensive comeback on the part of families, communities, practitioners as well as policy makers at the local, state, and national points. Focus should linger on generating the evidence base to notify policy decisions, creating timely data available to support and assist in monitoring progress, serving practitioners in improving their ability to stop, recognize, and cope with children who face obesity, and associating with community organizations to improve synchronised, multi-sectorial responses. A specific importance in our work will

Econ Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Econ - Essay Example However, this policy has some disadvantages worth mentioning. For instance, it can cause a more volatile inflation. It can also create an opposite force in the economy when the Federal Reserve wants to do a monetary policy. Moreover, it can potentially widen the national’s budget deficit. Hence, the proposal on having an automatic trigger for discretionary fiscal policy may not be necessary, since the cons outweigh the pros. To have a better understanding on how an automatic trigger of discretionary fiscal policy can affect the economy, some changes in the basic IS-MP model must be made. At present, since there is going to be an automatic increase in government purchase and decrease in taxes whenever output decreases, government purchase, denoted as G, will be made into a negative function of output and taxes, denoted as T, which is a positive function of output. Hence, if there is a decrease in output that is caused by any shock, then government purchase will increase and the tax will decrease immediately. Thus, this modification can be incorporated into the Keynesian cross diagram. Now, the expenditure function will be: E = C(Y-T(Y))+G(Y)+I(r) This change will affect the shape of the expenditure curve in the Keynesian cross diagram. The expenditure curve becomes flatter as output becomes less responsive. By virtue of this new expenditure function, the new IS curve can also be derived by simply looking at the relationship between the level output and the real interest rate. As a result, the new IS curve will be: IS = C(Y-T(Y))+G(Y)+I(r) Following this equation, the IS curve will be steeper because now, the change in output is less responsive. This change in the IS curve will affect how the economy will behave in the presence of an exogenous shock. By having this new modification for the basic IS-MP model, the AD-IA diagram can also be derived, where the new AD curve is steeper compared to the initial one [Figure 1]. Figure 1. Keynesian Cross, IS-MP, and AD-IA Diagrams with an Automatic Trigger for Fiscal Stimulus. By having the newly modified IS curve, output is going to be more stable if there is an IS or MP shock. This can be demonstrated clearly with some examples. For instance, in Figure 2, it can be assumed that the economy is at the potential output and there is a negative IS shock, such as a decrease in consumer confidence. As a result, IS curve will shift leftward and output will fall, forming a negative output gap in the economy. However, since the new IS curve is steeper, the decrease in output is not as large as when there is no automatic trigger for discretionary fiscal stimulus

Discuss the definition and Sources of Christain Theology and how is Essay

Discuss the definition and Sources of Christain Theology and how is Systematic Theology related to Christain Ethics - Essay Example 578). The word theology is made up of two words that have a Greek origin: theosthat means God whereas logos means study. In brief, theology is the study that is aiming at knowing more about God. Systematic has a Greek origin; synistemimeaning to comprehend or in other word to organize. Therefore, systematic theology is the organization of the information about God (Webster, Tanner & Torrance 2007, p. 648). Systematic theology integrates many aspects of historical, biblical and philosophical theology. The aim of the systematic theology is to get clear knowledge of the Biblical teachings towards particular doctrines (McGrath 2001, p. 115). The theological disciplines that are in relation to the systematic theology are historical theology, apologetic theory, practical theology, exegetical theology, biblical theology and practical theology. Apologetical Theology deals with the questions arising from the Christian faith. The many questions that arise from the apologetics one being, how can they know if Christianity is right? Through a clear understanding of Christian apologetics, one can defend Christianity. The fact that the years use Before Christ (BC) and After Christ (AC) is a hint to show that Christ existed. It makes the Christian faith real (Grenz & Placher 2003, p. 283). The main agenda of the apologetics is to build a foundation that has the facts of theism. Through the systematic theology, one can gather the facts and organize them as evidence towards defending the Christian faith. It is a discipline that is focusing mainly on what the text says. It is an extensive subject that has several sub-disciplines. These are biblical languages, canonic, Biblical history and archaeology, textual criticism, exegesis proper and hermeneutics. Canonic discipline focuses on the 66 books of the Holy Bible where the New Testament has 27 books, and the Old Testament has

Parents who neglect their children due to methamphetamine addiction Assignment

Parents who neglect their children due to methamphetamine addiction - Assignment Example The new changes in the law clearly show that using or possessing methamphetamine in the presence of a child is child abuse under the abuse and neglect code. In addition, the same law extends to indicate that manufacturing methamphetamine in the presence of a child is felony (Doerner & Lab, 2012). If the mother is petitioned in the new law, it will not serve under the former but it will apply under the latter give that the mother allowed the drug to be manufactured by the boyfriend in the presence of the children and cause bodily harm to the infants. If the boyfriend if proved guilty because of the methamphetamine lab evidence, the mother is likely to bear the same penalties which in my case may be charges for felony. All the children will be withdrawn and placed under foster care (Reardon & Noblet, 2009). As the sole responsible adult to the 2, 5 and 7 year old children, the mother is actually a victim of the case. The mother owes the children a duty to care as a mother hence had the sole responsibility to guard the children against the violent boyfriend after consuming methamphetamine (Doerner & Lab, 2012). Incase the mother is not petitioned, the children according to the law must be kept safe by the department of Health and welfare which is responsible for keeping children safe. The services that the department will offer to the children are designed to assist in children protection while strengthening families to block abuse and neglect (Doerner & Lab, 2012). The department looks into the concerns, notifies the family while assessing the situation and offer services to reduce safety concerns. Among the concerns will be removing the child from the family until it is safe for them to be returned back (Pelton, 2001). According to the US department of Health and Human services, several states define how drug is used,

1947 U.N.'s Special Commission on Palestine Essay

1947 U.N.'s Special Commission on Palestine - Essay Example The government of British had earlier also made a recommendation to establish a special committee which was to prepare a report for General assembly. UNSCOP was set up by the General Assembly to investigate the root and possibly a solution for the Palestine’s conflict. UNSCOP is making up of representatives from 11 nations. Our visit as a commission included gathering of testimonies from organization of Zionists was boycotted by the higher committee of Arab. This paper work gives the assessment of the four options, which are Arab rule; Zionist rule; a bi-national state. Discussion The 19th century came with it the Palestinian- Israel conflict. In 1920 this conflict bore violence which is still continuing today. The Jews and the Arabs formed movement in the 29th century. These movements fought towards attaining their respective people’s sovereignty. Hallowed land and Zionism are some of the major causes of this conflict. The Great Britain allowed the Jews to immigrate to Palestinian land on which they had control. This conflict escalated when over 6 million Jews lost their lives on the hands of the Nazis on a Holocaust. Afterwards the Jews were allowed to migrate into Palestine. It was then that Israel was established, on Palestine’s land. This led to onset of a war that has born various battles and attacks of land in the region. Lots of Palestine citizens have become refugees in Middle East since 1948. It was in 148 that Israel established itself as a nation. Palestine use force to try and reclaim a land that was once theirs from the Jews. They also fight for the refugees who are still suffering yet they have their lands (Zanotti, 2010). During a talk with the British, the Arabs insisted on a unitary majority state for Arabs. Officials representing Palestine from the Jewish Agency opposed the Arabs and preferred partitioning Palestine. There are four options of potential rulers of the Palestine, which are Zionist rule, Arab rule, partitione d, and a bi-national state (Tal, 2000). Zionism rules the world and this is much reflected in the United States of America. It was in 1997 when the Zionist Congress was convened by Theodore Herzl. All that has happened to the Human race since Herzl is traceable to the world conquest protocol plan. Before Herzl, political Zionism was unpopular. Zionism is accountable to all that has occured in the United States of America. Most effects of Zionism rule are negatively felt. Zionism is believed to have been sacrificing Jews for several years now, and it is still dong it up to date. There are notable achievements in the United States as a result of Zionism, but the negativities shadow them. Zionism is hence not the best preferred rule for Palestine (Hurewitz, 1998). Arabs felt that the British had unfairly favored the Jews outside Palestine and did not like foreign rule. As a result of these frustrations, the Arabs planned and attacked the Jews. To Arabs Palestine was more of a battle fi eld and its people were seen as a source of man power and taxes. The Arabs there have never been interested in Palestine as an empire. They never saw any value attached to Palestine, and that explains why there is no Palestinian Jew. Arabs rulers use Palestine as a leverage. This way, they use it to control their population by drifting their people’s anger away from their backward and oppressive regimes (Akasaka, 2007). The ongoing war in Palestine is, however, not for overcoming Israel, but it is for defining the strongest tribe among the fighters. Hence this is the main Objective of Human involvement in the war. After considering the reasons of Arabs fight in Palestine, we, as a committee does not see Arabs rule as the best suited to rule Palestine (Tal, 2000).

Should Women Be Allowed in Combat Essay Example for Free

Should Women Be Allowed in Combat Essay For centuries our women have been going into combat, so how come all of a sudden the conflict on whether they should or shouldn’t has become such an uproar. When the women in tribes fought over food and men during our beginnings, those women were undoubtedly in combat. And as the centuries went on, women warriors were not considered that unusual, for example at least 400 women soldier fought in the civil war along side their male comrades, only to be know there gender once killed. So how is it that in today’s society, we are so caught up with the though of women making their way into a male dominant world. Some say it is that women could not deal with the emotions of killing another human being, that we are not mentally strong enough to handle the conditions of a war zone, and although physically they may not be a mans equal but when shooting a gun and being shot at there is no difference. Statistics have not been able to prove that men would be better at the military jobs, but only that history shows the solitary members of the army being men. However with modern technology warfare has greatly evolved and it relies more on So how is that our on There fore howcome, our main arugment is that â€Å"women are not strong enough to fight, women are not capable of the emotions brought through war† This helps to show that women in combat are nothing new, and it is only modern times that we have thought of women as fragile and over emotional. Real women have saved lives, gone in to space, fought wars, invented, financed and designed everything from nuclear fission to radium, and from DNA to COBOL. Real women have overcome as many, if not more, obstacles and hardships than have men. Women pioneered, starved, reigned, battled, spied, strategized, and taught, doctored, nursed, reared families, started churches, and won political rights, yet few magazines, books, movies and television productions tell these stories. Its not a gender thing, its not a sex thing, its not a strength thing a highly trained, highly intelligent, strongly motivated person can do any job the military has to offer and do it well. After all, the Amazons didnt cut off their breasts any more than the Legion of Thebes cut off their testicles and both groups won battles galore! Women have been fighting for the right to be seen mentally and physically equal to the men in the Military, however how can they be seen as equal when the basic physical test has been altered so there is a chance for some women to be accepted in. Women on average only have 60% of the physical strength of men, and when put to the test the top 20% of women equaled to the bottom 20% of men. Men are taught to honor and protect women, boys are taught not to hits girls. I think this makes good sense and is an essential element of our civilization. Sending women into combat utter destroys those values and morals. Women are not suited by temperament or by physical characteristics for the highly aggressive, ultra-violent pursuit of victory in battle. Much of an army’s success depends upon intimidation of the enemy. A force composed of women is far less intimidating than one consisting of macho men. Intimidation of the enemy saves lives in wartime. Already, the side effects of abandoning traditional female sterotypes – likes the notiona that giels are extremely sensitive or have a unique role in nurturing an protecting children are apparent however girls are increasing becoming more in touch with their aggreseive instincest, leading to more girl on girl physical violence. Women should have every right to serve the country, however I do feel that service should stop when it come to front line battle. And those determined to make it to the front line should have to meet the exact same physical and mental critera of those as men. Australia is so terrified of being accused for sexism that we refuse to acknowledge that most of us shudder to the idea and thought of women being sent of to war. If a draft was reinstated, the women who have so called fought to show how men and women can be equal have now placed every other women in a position they were not fighting for.

Human Superiority Over Animals

Human Superiority Over Animals Superior is a relative term. Humans are capable of doing advanced things, which set us apart from other species on earth, such as using tools. We have the physical advantage of using our hands, which due to our opposable thumb makes it much easier for humans to use tools compared to a bird, or a four-legged animal. Hands also allow the human race to compensate for their inherent lack of anti-predator adaptations, such as camouflage, venom, claws and general muscle mass by building weapons and protective shelter. Humans consider these adaptations to be far superior to any other species on earth, and this certainly goes a long way to the feelings of dominance over animals. Most people would agree that humans differ from other animals in terms of intelligence; however, biologically speaking humans are classified as animals. Dictionary.com (2010) describes an animal to be A multicellular organism of the kingdom Animalia, differing from plants in certain typical characteristics such as ca pacity for locomotion, nonphotosynthetic metabolism, pronounced response to stimuli, restricted growth, and fixed bodily structure. All of these qualities apply to humans and other animals alike. As plain as it is to see the similarities between humans and chimpanzees, with which we share 98% of our genetic information (Science Museum, 2010), there is no doubt that humans have pedestaled themselves above the animal kingdom. We generally use the term animal to describe a creature that is not human. For example, you would never see RSPCA(EH) Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Excluding Humans). Hunting Humans have hunted wild animals since the beginning of the Homo genus 2.5 million years ago, long before civilizations were formed (Holzman, 2003). From hunting solely for survival, ensuring that every part of the captured animal was put to good use, to trapping live prey to sell and ultimately becoming a sport, huntings role in society has changed and evolved dramatically throughout history (Lewis, 2009: 49). Hunting with horses and dogs is emblematic of how hunts in modern Britain are typically perceived, but this has not always been the case. Horses and sometimes dogs were an important part of our food chain long before they were partnered with man (Lewis, 2009:50). Although it is unclear when man started to work along side the original wolf descendents of the 10.5 million estimated canine pets in the UK alone (Browne et al., 2010), it appears that they developed their relationship around 20,000 years ago (Serpell, 1995: 7). The domestication of wolves was a natural and logical st ep in improving early mankinds hunting development. Wolves have a strict natural order in their packs identifying one leader that they will all follow, a position that was taken by Late Stone Age man (Lewis, 2009: 54). Wolves superior senses were hugely beneficial to humans. Smell, sight and hearing coupled with their instinctual need for protecting their pack would have provided man with excellent added protection from carnivores and hostile groups of other humans. Apart from the advantages these senses would give humans during a hunt, all of these reasons helped to form the foundations of their symbiotic relationship. There are many possible processes that may have lead to the domestication of the wolf with the most popular theory having a basis in natural selection (Serpell, 1995: 7-21). This hypothesis maintains that wolves ventured into human communities to feed from their left over food waste. Over many generations these wolves would have become more comfortable and less fearful of humans resulting in greater sustenance. Natural selection would favour the wolves less inclined to flee the humans, and this lack of fear would have been learned by the wolf cubs. This process would have eventually led to the domestication and introduction of dogs. Once these dog ancestors were inducted into communities, humans would have begun to breed the animals selectively to produce traits specialized in hunting local prey. Selective breeding from early prehistory was the basis of the huge variations in dog breeds that we see today. As hunting became a sport rather than a life duty, the role of dogs continued to evolve and certain groups of dogs were specifically bred developing strong bloodlines (see Appendix one) There are two main types of hunts typically associated with Britain. The most popular is fox hunting which is an activity that involves tracking, chasing, and sometimes killing of a (traditionally red) fox. A group of followers are led to the fox on horseback or on foot by the trained scent hounds. Deer hunting is also enjoyed by many and either involves the chasing and killing of deer with a pack of hounds or deer stalking and shooting. This is usually done just with human participation as dogs can cause too much of a disturbance (Bateson and Bradshaw, 2000). Bow hunting deer is also a recreational sport that can be seen all over the globe. Although 10,000 deer per annum are thought to be killed by this method in the EU alone, the UK is one of two countries worldwide (the second being Senegal) where the practice is illegal due to welfare implications (Gregory, 2005). Hunting has long been a fashionable British pastime for royal and rural society. William the Conqueror was a keen huntsman who supposedly loved red deer as much as if he were their father (Griffin, 2007: 15). He realised that in order to maintain a huntable population of red deer in this country he needed to ensure their protection and conservation. He introduced control over when and where hunting was acceptable, which included the prevention of deer hunting during their mating season. This ensured a new generation of the animals to replace those killed. He established royal forests for the preservation of deer, which consisted not just of woodland, but also common land, arable land, moors and heaths. These royal forests lay outside of common law and became subject to forest law, placing them directly under the personal rule of the king. This action caused new ideas concerning ownership of the wild animals to come to life. Where it had once been the case that the hunted deer belonge d to whomevers land they lived on, William I declared that only he had the right to hunt wild deer as they belonged solely to him (Griffin, 2007: 20). Ultimately the kings laws made it very difficult for all those living in woodland areas. He prohibited hunting of all animals so as not to disturb his royal game and ruled that all dogs living in or around woodlands must be mutilated in order to prevent them chasing his deer. The necessary toe-removing procedure was known as lawing, and was later described by an authority as follows: The mastive being brought to set one of his forefoot upon a piece of wood eight inches thick and a foot square, then one with a mallet, setting a chisel two inches broad upon the three claws of his forefoot, at one blow doth smite them cleane off (Griffin, 2007:18) Hunting animals for food is often seen to be much more acceptable than hunting purely for the sake of killing (Lewis, 2009: 181). Foxes are largely thought of as vermin and for generations farmers had regularly killed them as a form of pest control. It wasnt until a decline in the UKs deer population in the eighteenth century that foxhunting evolved into its modern incarnation and was considered a sport in its own right (Craig, no date given). The activity grew in popularity with dogs being bred specifically for their scent tracking abilities, speed and stamina. The specialized breeding of the dogs resulted in longer, more exciting hunts, which were more attractive to those involved. The expansion of the British Empire under the reign of Queen Victoria spread fox hunting to far reaches of the globe. The European fox was introduced into Australia during the nineteenth century solely for recreational hunting (Dickman and Glen, 2005). Fox hunting in Britain continued to grow in populari ty well into the twentieth century despite the sport being banned in other European countries such as Germany (BBC, 1999a). In recent years however, the sport has undergone much controversy and has been involved in a great deal of debate between those who support the activity and those who oppose it. Many believe that fox hunting, in particular with mounted hunters and dogs, is cruel and outdated (BBC, 1999b). Foxes are considered to be vermin by some farmers and country folk who experience/fear loss of livestock due to these wild animals (Baker et al., 2000). Foxes are also known to kill many animals but only take one for feeding, which does not help improve farmers opinions of them when they are faced with so much unnecessary waste of livestock. Because of this, it is common practice for some farmers to shoot a fox on sight. This can have further consequences, such as the case of Edward Tibbs, a farmer who works in Essex. He was arrested on the grounds of attempted murder in Augus t 2010 as he shot two human trespassers with a shotgun after mistaking them for a fox. His gun licence has since been removed as the police consider him a danger to public safety and peace (Twomey, 2010) (See appendix 2 for full article). The argument that mounted fox hunting is performing an important role in the British countryside by helping to control huge numbers of foxes is an idea that sits uneasily for many people. It has been suggested that the method of this process is more uncomfortable than the principle of killing (Baker et al., 2003). Commonly a pack of dogs is used to chase a fox through the countryside, until it is either caught, manages to escape the scenting abilities of the hounds or until it reaches its den (but even then it can be flushed out and shot). It is argued that by using dogs, the hunt is made fairer by giving the fox the opportunity to escape rather than been located by humans and shot outright. Another justification behind this method is that the heal thier the fox is, the more likely it is to out run the hounds, therefore only the elderly and infirmed foxes are captured which helps to maintain a healthy population (Support Fox Hunting, 2010). It is also argued that mounted hunts are not an effective form of population control. The number of foxes killed during hunts are insignificant when compared to those killed in road accidents. The pest control argument has also been discredited by the fact that there have been times when there has been a shortage of foxes in Britain and that they have had to be imported from Europe to maintain a huntable population (May, 2010). Scientific research performed during the nationwide one-year hunting ban in 2001, during the foot-and-mouth disease crisis showed that the ban played no significant impact on fox populations (Baker et al., 2002). With talks of introducing a ban on hunting the Burns inquiry was commissioned in 1999 to establish the facts about fox hunting (Lord Burns, 2000). The report found that there were over 200 active hunting packs in England and Wales and that the number of foxes killed annually was between 21,000 and 25,000, around 6% of the 400,000 foxes estimated to di e annually (Leader-Williams et al., 2002). The report also established that there were a high number or foxes being dug out and shot by individual landowners and farmers on top of those being hunted. There are many jobs dependent on fox hunting ranging from kennel workers to clothing industries that make the pinks for the huntsmen. The report found there is still a great deal of support for the hunts especially in the rural communities. The hunts provided a very important social function, bringing together vast networks of otherwise isolated people. Although it claimed that hunting with dogs seriously compromises the welfare of foxes, it did not outright support a ban on the activity (Lord Burns, 2000). The government introduced an options bill in 2000, which led to the House of Commons voting for a ban of the sport and the House of Lords voted for self-regulation. In 2004, The Hunting Act was passed to protect foxes (BBC, 1999). As of February 2005 it has been illegal in England an d Wales to hunt animals with more than two dogs, which is a step towards giving foxes similar legal protection against cruelty that other, more popular animals have received for generations. The Hunting Act affected not only hunters and the hunted, but reached contemporary art practice. Scenes of fox hunting have traditionally focused on the aesthetics of the chase. Detail would go into the beautiful countryside, the red coats that the hunters wore, the powerful horses or the groups of hunting dogs. The depiction would be centred on the prestige and glory of the hunters, with nothing for the brutality of the victims death (Fig. 1). Generally, they do not show the full truth or the outcome of the hunt. This is something that animal rights activist and artist Angela Singer feels very strongly about. Her works centre on the violence and pointlessness of the hunt that is rarely seen in art as well as the relationships humans share with animals. We cherish and adore those animals that we choose to share our lives and homes with, yet mass-produce others in predominantly appalling conditions purely for consumption. The majority of the animals are caged indoors for their entire lives and some get so bored and agitated by the intense overpopulation and lack of external stimulation, they fight and ultimately end up eating one another (Channel 4, 2008a,b). Singer maintains that hunting in modern day western society represents a disgraceful attitude toward animals, which reinforces the idea that these animals are disposable, soulless creatures and promotes human superiority towards them (Duffy, 2009). In reaction to the thought of the country woman sitting at home, waiting for her hunter husband to return, oblivious to the reality and brutality of the hunt, Singer created a piece of work entitled, Fall (Fig. 2). It is a twist on traditional cross-stitch designs. These designs tend to show an idealistic interpretation of what would happen during a hunt. The hunted animal is shown rather content being run down by packs of dogs and men with guns (Duffy, 2009). The tapestries would not show blood, massively reducing the evidence of the animals violent death experience. Singers tapestry depicts a more authentic and genuine representation of a hunted games death. It shows a duck that has been shot, falling from the empty sky surrounded by blood red woollen spray. The work is made much more interesting by Singers choice of medium. By using cross-stitch she accentuates the different traditional roles of men and women: the hunter man, and supposedly naive cross-stitching woman. Singer does nt want her viewers to be like the wife, unaware of the animals senseless death. By showing a truthful representation of the killing she is in some way honouring the animals death and by the nature of tapestry she is literally bringing home the truth about the hunt. The historic looking frame also highlights the out-dated way humans regard animals. Singers more recent works have focused on using taxidermy to reflect on issues surrounding hunting. Singer lives in New Zealand where hunting for sport is very common and as a result so are hunting trophies (Potts, 2009). She recycles donated hunting souvenirs to challenge the publics attitudes towards these sports (Baker, 2008). Taxidermists traditionally try to make the animal look alive, all traces of the animals death are removed and the creature is placed into a serene pose. Singers approach to the frozen animals is what she describes to be de-taxidermy (Mudie, 2007). She strips back the taxidermists work to expose bullet wounds and scars, revealing the evidence of the aggression inflicted upon on the animals. By undoing the taxidermists work, Singer forces the viewer to confront their own attitude toward hunting. It can be easy to forget what the animals must have gone through in the name of sport, when they are positioned into these calm poses; this is something Singer wishes to address. She is surprised by how indifferent the majority of people seemed to respond to the presence of hunting trophies being hung in bars and resturants. Singer said that, It seems to me very disturbing that an enormous dead animal in a room could be ignored in that wayà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ It gave me the idea to use old hunting trophies to explore the human-animal relationship. I hoped to be able to make the trophy more controversial, it gave it a greater presence and makes it not so easy to ignore (Pacheco, 2009) One of her works titled Brand New Wilderness shows just how powerful using taxidermy can be (Fig. 3). There is one image of a rabbit included in the work that is particularly disturbing to look at. The rabbits formerly concealed wounds have been reopened and adorned with red beads and buttons symbolizing the blood and suffering the animal went through in its death. When first looking at the piece, the viewer instantly feels disgust and then guilt; the audience is forced to question how and why the animal was killed. After the initial shock has worn off the viewer then has the opportunity to see the beauty and care that has gone into creating the work. There is a huge contrast between the aesthetics of the beads, which are traditionally used to make jewelry and other attractive objects, and the morbid nature of the work which confronts the observer to deal with creutly involved. Singer is also inspired by the way in which the animal has been killed to influence her work. For example, her piece entitled Sore (an archaic name for a fallow deer (Baker, 2009)) shows a stag trophy head covered in blood like red wax (Fig. 4) (Aloi, 2008).The piece relates to the history of the stags death. When the hunter had originally killed the deer and sawn off its antlers, both he and the deer would have become covered in blood. Antlers contain a blood reservoir so naturally when cut blood pours out. The resultant work is alarming and hard to look at. The stags gaze creates unease in the viewer as it glares accusingly. This is undoubtedly not a piece of subtle, serenely posed taxidermy. Sore certainly makes the observer question the morality of hunting and forces them to think about their own feelings and relationships toward animals. Polly Morgan is another artist who uses dead animal bodies as her raw material. Her work is much more focused on preserving the animals in death, compared to Angela singer, whose work is a celebration of the animals life. Singer uses recycled taxidermy to create her pieces, whereas Morgan taxidermys her animals freshly after they have died. Unlike Singer, Polly Morgan does not want to make political comments on animal welfare through her artwork. She is interested in how the animals look when they are brought to her, not in what sort of life they might have lived, nor how the animals came to die (Pengilley, 2010). Morgan admits to not being sentimental regarding the animals that she uses: I confess I think less about their souls the more I handle them. I prefer live animals but I have this selfish overbearing urge to hold them and examine them and just generally do all the things they hate. Dead, I can spend as long as I like looking (Morgan, 2010: 89). Polly Morgan recently put on her first solo show, titled Psychopomps at the Haunch of Venison gallery (Eyre, 2010). One piece of work that she exhibited was a large birdcage suspended from the ceiling, seemingly being held up by an array of orange finches and canaries. The birds are attached to a burnt cage-like flying contraption inspired by an old Victorian image (Fig. 5) (Morgan, 2010: 7). The birds, in various stages of flight are tethered to the contraption, supposedly flying it through the gallery space. Systemic Inflammation (Fig. 6) is a re-visioning of an earlier, larger work titled, Departures (Morgan, 2010: 39). The idea of the artworks is that the space inside the cage is large enough for a man to fit. The man can be transported around by the birds but he is himself trapped inside the cage, while the birds have the real freedom of flight despite the fact that they are bound to the structure. The charred and distressed human cage, coupled with the birds dyed various shades of orange (Fig. 7) creates a surreal and slightly nightmarish atmosphere in the gallery. This piece coupled with the two suspended spheres, each made of 60 right wings, makes the space feel fantastical, yet very macabre. This feeling is clearly her intention; all of the pieces shown in the exhibition are named after deadly afflictions or illnesses. Blue fever (Fig. 8) the first hanging orb is made entirely of pigeon wings and Black fever (Fig. 9) crow. In both objects the wings are positioned in different stages of flight, causing the work to feel organic, as though it has a pulse. By discarding most of the birds bodies and only using the right wings, Morgan helps the viewer to detach from their feelings and emotions regarding the animal as a whole [Collinge, 2010]. By only seeing an explosion of wings, the audience is less distracted by what the work is made of allowing them to appreciate the animals as the objects they become in death. Animal Testing As well as using animals for sport we have for a long time used them for scientific purposes. Physiological research has been common on animals for centuries, but the event that is considered by many to have sparked the British debate on the subject came in the 19th century. In 1874 a French scientist Eugene Magnan gave a lecture to the British Medical Association which culminated with a demonstration where he induced epileptic seizures in a dog by injecting it with Absinthe. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Creulty to Animals (formed 50 years previously (RSPCA, 2010)) brought legal charges against Dr Magnon who fled prosecution by returning to France (Matfield, 2002a). The press ran the story with enthusiasm and the worlds first anti-vivisection group was formed in London a year later, The National Anti-Vivisection Society (Matfield, 2002b). With the wars of the 20th century the issue was put on the backburner, as the general public became more understanding towards military development and had more pressing welfare issues of their own (Matfield, 1991). The public backlash returned with greater force than ever before in the 1970s and reached its peak at the end of the millennium. In 1997 peaceful protests lost their media coverage in favour of a few extremist acts (Matfield, 2002a). Consort, a laboratory dog breeder ceased trading following continuous harrassment and attacks of staff members, as did Hillgrove farm, a cat supplier, Regal Rabbits and other animal breeders (Davies, 1999). In 2000 animal rights extremists focused their attention on Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS), the company that has since become synonymous with this issue. Several videos, filmed by hidden cameras were released which severely dented the companies reputation (see supplementary CD for examples). The extremism continued to escalate until, amongst other illegal activites, activists almost blinded HLSs marketing director and broke several ribs of the companies managing director (Anon., 2001). These actions were interpreted in the media as a step too far, and damaged the fight against animal testing. Along with greater police powers to crack down on extremists (Abbott, 2010a) and counter campaigns set out by the lobby group Understanding Animal Research in 2005 (Campbell, 2010), the British public seems to be rather more neutral towards the subject. In 2010, Lord Drayson, the UKs science minister who was the chief executive of a biotechnology company at the height of the violence, said about animal testing and the British publics opinion: The picture is much better nowà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ I think we have made and won the argument, but we have to continue to make the argument (Gray, 2010). However around the world, scientists still clash with politicians on the content of ethical laws. For example, in 2008, Switzerland banned the use of macaque brains in research as the fundamental understanding gained had no immediate advantages. The Swiss courts consider this t o be unconstitutional as the benefit to society is not worth the burden placed upon the animals. Kevan Martin, a leading Swiss researcher in the area argues that We need to understand the basic biology of our brains in order to be able to successfully treat brain diseases such as Parkinsons (Abbott, 2008). EU laws on the issue are constantly being redrafted to varying degrees of strictness. Currently the proposed laws allow moderate pain to the animals and have recently scraped the condition that animals must be destroyed immediately after a single procedure. It also introduces benefits to lab animals such as minimum cage sizes for all species (Abbott, 2010b). Animal testing is essential in the development of new drugs. Take for example the steps involved in bringing new cancer medicines to market. First a compound has to be designed and synthesized. This process usually involves a trial and error system of slightly changing existing drugs, or making a molecule that will specifically target a part of a cancer cell. This drug will then be incubated with specifically grown cells of different forms of cancer. If it kills a certain proportion of these cells then it will enter clinical trials. Here, animals, most commonly mice, with cancer are exposed to various quantities of the future drug. This plays two essential roles. Firstly, it shows whether the drug actually works in a real biological system or if it kills a large amount of healthy cells as well. Secondly it sets a benchmark for how much of the drug can be administered to a person before serious side effects occur. After this the drug is tested on critically ill human patients, paid vo lunteers and eventually is licensed for prescription by doctors (Nako, 2010). Larger animals, such as dogs and monkeys, are often necessary in the drug development process and after a walk around Parliament Square, London it seems apparent that graphic images of these animals are used more than those of mice in protester art (Fig. 10). According to a chart taken from the HLS website shows that in 2003, mice, fish and birds account for the vast majority of regulated procedures on animals in the UK. (Fig. 11) These animals are generally perceived by the British public as being superior, or perhaps dogs are seen as pets, and monkeys as too humanoid. Some scientists, having become aware of the role that public opinion can have in their research (Hobson-West, 2010), have embarked on the RETHINK project which is designed to help reduce, replace and refine animal testing by using a special breed of pigs called minipigs (Bode et al., 2010a). Pigs have remarkably similar toxicology to humans and until recently slightly altered pig insulin has been given to Type I diabetics (Norman, 2009). Currently over 60,000 pigs are used per annum in the EU alone as they have similar skin, cardiovascular and digestive systems to humans (Svendsen, 2006). The pig is a food animal, bred in their millions for worldwide human food consumption, they hope that the British public will be even more understanding and sympathetic to future research (Bode et al., 2010b). Studies suggest that with further education, public attitudes could change dramatically. 84% of people surveyed in 2000 called themselves conditional acceptors of animal research. This means that they would accept the research if there was little burden on the animals and that the experimentation was for a serious purpose. The study also found that the vast majority of those questioned did not realise that these conditions have been met and thoroughly enforced since the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act of 1986 was passed by the UK government(Matfield, 2002b). An assessment of the standard of laboratory mouse welfare in the UK was conducted in 2008 and was considered to be good, with generally good health and often much more living space than legally required. Some units were found to have an excess of negative environmental factors, such as noise and light intensity, but it could be argued that, to some extent, these factors are far from ideal for wild mice living in some parts of the country (Leach, 2008). Another study has shown that due to strict animal testing rules, laboratory animals may get a better standard of welfare on average than pet, farm, or wild animals (Honess and Wolfensohn, 2007). The researchers claim that there are little restrictions placed upon who can keep pets unless the person has already been caught committing an offence, such as Mary Bale, a woman who caused a media storm in 2010 after being caught on CCTV placing a cat in a wheelie bin. (Fig. 12) She was made to pay costs of almost  £1,500 and has been banned from keeping pets for 5 years (Cooper, 2010). A pet owner also has no legal commitment to take their pet to a vet when they become ill, no commitment to pay for the necessary treatment and even the most loving and devoted owner may cause welfare issues, for example, overfeeding the animal until it is obese. Farm animals were found to often suffer more discomfort over prolonged periods of time as the welfare of the animals becomes a profit issue. Although fundamental research may have no immediate advantage for society, animal products are needed in day to day diagnostic techniques. Animal blood is vital in diagnosing many diseases, ranging from the relatively benign to life threatening. According to Elizabeth Nakoneczna (2010), senior microbiologist at St. Thomas hospital, London Horse blood is used as an essential ingredient in the routine culture of bacteria. Some pathogens such as Neisseria meningitidis, the most dangerous form of meningitis, require blood to grow and many of these require the detection of haemolysis, the break down of red blood cells, for correct diagnosisà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦I am not sure how the horse blood is obtainedà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Some diagnostic tests have improved significantly since I was a trainee 25 years ago. For example, to test for TB, microbiologists used to take a sample from the patient and inject it in a rabbit. After a month or so the rabbit would be killed and scientists would look for signs of the disease. Although now the test still takes up to six weeks, specialist culture media is used instead of live animals. When asked if she can foresee an end to animal participation in hospitals within her lifetime, she replied With rapid scientific progression, The use of polymerase chain reactions for the detection of bacteria is already starting to replace the need for blood infused agar. With rapid scientific progression it seems reasonable to imagine a future where animal products are no longer necessary in diagnostic medicine. (Nakoneczna, 2010) Scientists try to use computer modeling and other research techniques that exclude animals (Dolgin, 2010), but there are still plenty of studies that need them (Coghlan, 1996). Amongst these are experiments into sheep with human livers. Human bone marrow stem cells are injected into fetal sheep so that when the lamb is born its liver is made up mostly of the humans cells. The lamb is then sacrificed and its liver transplanted into the human. The bodys immune system quickly eliminates the lambs liver cells resulting in a brand new organ, perfectly matched for the human. Because the liver is made predominantly of the humans cells, it makes the body much less likely to reject the organ, potentially saving hundreds of human lives, but at the cost of those of hundreds of sheep (Bailey, 2004). Scientists have really begun to obscure boundaries between animals and humans by creating hybrid creatures. In 2005 human cells were successfully fused with rabbit eggs to create the first human-anim al chimeras. The resulting embryos were then allowed to develop in a laboratory dish for a number of days before they were destroyed to harvest stem cells (Mott, 2005). Another artist that q

Export Potential of Halal Food Industries

Export Potential of Halal Food Industries 3.1  Total Exports and Share of Halal Food As per authentic statistics of Economic-Survey of Pakistan 2013-14, total exports of the country during July 2013-Apr 2014 were USD 20.997 billion[1] whereas total imports were USD 37.105 billion[2]. There is no separate data available on Halal food exported during last few years. However, as per SBP report, food group exports of last two years are tabulated below: Table-B: EXPORT RECEIPTS BY COMMODITY (Thousand US Dollar) (Thousand US Dollar) Commodity Jul-Jun Aug Jul ( R) Aug (P) Jul-Aug FY12 FY13 FY14 (P) FY14 FY15 FY15 FY14 P FY15 P A. Food Group 3,789,373 4,142,290 4,233,395 278,676 293,128 301,541 609,560 594,669 01. Rice 2,075,415 1,876,229 2,099,719 133,431 135,732 134,068 287,340 269,799 A) Basmati 1,064,366 822,420 993,794 70,169 80,177 73,809 148,448 153,986 B) Others 1,011,049 1,053,809 1,105,925 63,262 55,555 60,258 138,892 115,813 02 Fish Fish Preparations 338,959 336,151 366,403 21,523 26,389 22,298 45,780 48,687 03 Fruits 243,107 283,758 310,131 21,059 22,484 24,788 47,553 47,271 04 Vegetables/Leguminous Vegetabl 118,904 139,980 145,909 10,989 8,589 11,287 22,927 19,876 05 Tobacco 23,170 27,842 26,077 3,886 1,015 2,265 8,485 3,279 06 Wheat Unmilled 62,344 29,702 3,197 361 0 0 1,592 0 07 Spices 37,664 41,071 56,697 2,806 2,644 5,816 6,592 8,460 08 Oil Seeds, Nuts and Kernals 27,291 49,759 69,478 2,083 1,273 1,533 3,870 2,806 09 Sugar 20,659 431,161 304,816 8,914 11,982 22,427 37,298 34,409 10 Meat and Meat Preparations 212,106 224,432 237,120 18,200 23,653 22,206 40,952 45,859 11 All Other Food Items 629,753 702,204 613,849 55,424 59,369 54,854 107,171 114,223 Legend:P: Provisional, R: Revised,Source: http://www.sbp.org.pk/ecodata/index2.asp There are approximately 50 Halal certified companies operating in Pakistan[3]. The Al-Shaheer Corporation, PK Livestock and Zenith Associates are prominent meat exporters of the country. Meat-one, the subsidiary organization of Al-Shaheer has significantly enhanced the exports of halal food i.e. beef and mutton, particularly to Gulf countries. On the poultry side, KN’s is a big name. It is exporting chicken to the West and also opened branch in the USA. As per full year statistics of 2013-14, exports of more than 74,000 tonnes of meat and its products grabbed about $230m, up from about 63,000 tonnes worth $211m in 2012-13[4]. Meat is mainly exported to Saudi Arabia followed by Kuwait, UAE, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, China and Afghanistan. Similarly, exports of milk and cream (not concentrated/sweetened) also witnessed significant growth during 2013-14 by fetching $50m in comparison with previous year figure of $20m[5]. While, the exports of concentrated or sweetened milk and cream, during 2013-14, stood at same level of $9m[6] as in 2012-13. Increasing exports and parallel rise in demand of processed milk and meat, are suggestive of sharp potential growth of both the sectors, in near future and calls for investments in dairy and meat industry. 3.2  Govt. policies for promotion of Halal products Government of Pakistan is striving to promote Halal food industry. The government has announced that 50 percent subsidy[7] shall be provided in order to enable businessmen and producers to explore the Halal market for Pakistani products. Pakistan National Accreditation Council (PNAC) is facilitating Halal Accreditation Scheme on the pattern on OIC Halal Guidelines developed by the SMIIC for promotion of Halal products in the international market. Similarly, PSQCA has also introduced Halal Standards i.e. PS-3733: 2010 for the companies in Halal food sector and PS-4992: 2010 regarding the authorized organizations dealing with certification of Halal[8] products. In May 2014, the Science and Technology Ministry GoP finalized the draft Bill to establish Pakistan Halal Authority (PHA) at the federal level to guide and facilitate the business of Halal products and processes. Moreover, PCSIR has recently established a state-of-the-art halal authentication laboratory at Lahore[9]. Despite passing of sufficient time, PHA Bill 2014 is still in pipeline and not approved, so far. 3.3  World Halal Assembly On 3-4 June, 2014, first World Halal Assembly with event them â€Å"Asia-Future of World Halal Trade† organized in Islamabad. The event was hosted by PSQCA and Halal Products Services Association of Pakistan (HAP). Over 250 scholars and expertise hailing from 40 different states attended the event[10]. At the occasion, Mr. Zahid Hamid, Federal Minister for Science Technology, vowed to provide complete support to private sector in Pakistan to boost Halal products. Participating scholars and dignitaries including Mr. Haluk Dag, Secretary General-SMIIC in his address underscored the importance of cooperation and coordination to accomplish the objective of ‘One Halal’ logo and ‘One Halal’ standard[11]. Global experts also shared their valuable information/ideas and discussed issues/challenges concerning with the Halal trade, certification, accreditation and marketing. Number of cooperation agreements were also signed in the gathering, which is likely to help local companies to enhance their exports of halal food items. Section-IV: International Market of Halal Food 4.1  Size of Global Halal Food Market The global Muslim population estimates stand at 1.8 billion[12], this represents 26 % of the total global population (6.8 billion), whereas share of worldwide halal food market is about 16 % of the aggregate food market, which means that a minimum space of at least 10 % is available to be filled by halal food companies. News story published in renowned TIME Magazine (May 2009 issue) suggests that total volume of global Halal food market[13] is worth about US$ 632. Market size of Halal food in Europe is about $66 billion[14], with France havingthe largest share of approx.$17 billion. InUnited Kingdom, only the Halalmeat sale is worthover $600 million annually.Muslims residing in the USA spend about $13 billion on Halal food products every year. It is worth mentioning that GCC countries’ aggregate exports of Halal food is approx. $44 billion. Similarly, in the neighboring India, worth of Halal food business is about $ 21 billion, per annum[15]. Worldwide halal food market is depicted in following global map with the help of circles[16]. 4.2  Stakes of Pakistan in the Global Halal Food Market Presently, Pakistan is the second largest Muslim country in the world with population of over 180 million, while Indonesia stood at first place. But according to a news story on website of TIME magazine[17], Pakistan is likely to overtake Indonesia and become the largest Muslim nation by 2030 with expected population over of 256 million. Thus, Pakistan has to aim for leading global Halal food market in the future. Unfortunately, the current share of the country in international halal food market is mere 0.5 %[18]. Pakistan has direct access to the markets of Central Asia, Middle East. On the other hand, Pakistan is not only the 6th largest cattle breeder but also world’s leading poultry breeder. Following table depicts the unprecedented vertical growth of poultry sector in Pakistan which has outpaced other sectors of livestock. Table C: Livestock Population in Pakistan Growth Livestock Population (In million) Year Buffaloes Cattle Goats Sheep Poultry 1990-91 17.8 17.7 37.0 26.3 146.9 1991-92 18.3 17.7 38.7 27.4 156.2 1992-93 18.7 17.8 40.2 27.7 182.6 1993-94 19.2 17.8 42.0 28.3 250.0 1994-95 19.7 17.8 43.8 29.1 318.8 1995-96 20.3 20.4 41.2 23.5 350.0 1996-97 20.8 20.8 42.6 23.7 382.0 1997-98 21.4 21.2 44.2 23.8 276.0 1998-99 22.0 21.6 45.8 23.9 278.0 1999-00 22.7 22.0 47.4 24.1 282.0 2000-01 23.3 22.4 49.1 24.2 292.4 2001-02 240 22.8 50.9 24.4 330.0 2002-03 24.8 23.3 52.8 24.6 346.1 2003-04 25.5 23.8 54.7 24.7 352.6 2004-05 26.3 24.2 56.7 24.9 372.0 2005-06 27.3 29.6 53.8 26.5 433.8 2006-07 28.2 30.7 55.2 26.8 477.0 2007-08 29.0 31.8 56.7 27.1 518.0 2008-09 29.9 33.0 58.3 27.4 562.0 2009-10 30.8 34.3 59.9 27.8 610.0 2010-11 31.7 35.6 61.55 28.1 663.0 2011-12 32.7 36.9 63.1 28.4 721.0 2012-13 33.7 38.3 64.9 28.8 785.0 Source: Pakistan Food Journal, Nov-Dec 2013 issue. 4.3  Leading Countries of Halal Food trade It is strange that non-Muslim nations like Brazil, France, the USA, New Zealand, Thailand, Philippines, etc. are leading the international Halal food market, whereas, Muslim countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, etc. come later in the list. Australia, Canada, Singapore, India are also known as major exporters of Halal food. With 01 million MT export of frozen Halal chicken, and 300,000 MT of Halal beef products, Brazil is the leading the Halal food market[19]. France is second major player. It exports 750,000 MT Halal frozen chickens annually to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, etc. United States is the third largest beef exporter in the world and more than 80 percent of its frozen beef is Halal. Fourth largest beef exporter is New Zealand and 40 percent of its beef products exports are Halal[20]. 4.4  Windows of Opportunities for Pakistan. There are number of opportunities for Pakistan to grab its share in global halal market. Owing to its geo-strategic location Pakistan can easily become leader of Halal food market in the South Asia, later on, it can lead the global markets of halal food commodities. Population wise different global markets are mentioned: Asia[21]: Number of Muslim countries are situated in Asia. In Middle-East and western parts of Asia, aggregate population of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, UAE, Syria, Iraq, Turkey, Jordon, Azerbaijan, etc. is more than 190 million. They constitute highly fertile Halal food market. In East Asia and ASEAN Market,Muslim population is more than 360 million including Indonesia (195million), China, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Myanmar, etc. ASEAN countries are unique in the sense that they not only supply halal food products but import as well. For instance, Malaysia exports Halal food items to Indonesia. China possesses immense potential as a market of Halal food and local companies can focus on this untapped market, besides covering nearby countries of Indonesia and Malaysia. Importantly, our own region i.e. South and Central Asia is thickly populated with more than 600 million Muslims (including Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Iran, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, etc. It is a massive market for Halal products as food items are available in Muslim countries but without any HALAL certification. Africa[22]: North African countries like Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia and Libya share population of more than 181 million Muslims. In West African nations i.e. including Nigeria,Niger, Mali, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Guinea, Ghana, etc. more than 150 million Muslims are residing. Whereas, East African countries including Ethiopia, Tanzania, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, Mozambique, and other countries have population of more than 92 million Muslims. Similarly, Central African countries including Congo, Chad, Cameroon has Muslim demography of about 17 million. In South Africa, though Muslim population is about 1.2 million but Muslims consumers are very particular on HALAL products which creates an opening for Pakistan to harness the potential for Halal products. Europe[23]:  More than 50 million Muslims are residing in different European countries like UK, France, Russia, Germany, Bosnia, Kosovo, Albania, Russia, etc. It is an important market for Halal food as consumers have high purchasing power and possess strong eager to buy those food brands which contain â€Å"Halal† logo. North South America[24]: Total population of Muslim residents in both Americas is about 10 million (USA 6.4m, Brazil 1m, Canada 0.8m and other countries). Muslims dwelling in the USA also possess high purchasing power and always prefer HALAL products. Conclusion Despite a predominant Muslim country, share of Pakistan in global Halal food market is very insignificant. Sindh province has considerable industrial base and some of the local companies are major players of Halal food market within country and export their products as well. However, a lot of potential in international Halal food trade is yet to be harnessed by local business organizations. Absence of central Halal food authority to guide and channelize the Halal food business is primary hurdle in promotion of Halal food exports throughout the world. It is strange that non-Muslim nations like Brazil, France, USA, New Zealand, etc. are currently leading the market of Halal products. There are number of potential markets which can be focused by local businessmen for exporting Halal food items. Pakistan falls at 6th rank in the growth of livestock, however, lack of necessary infrastructure and seriousness of investors has resulted into very low exports. The existing problem of negative trade balance of Pakistan can easily be addressed by focusing on Halal food markets and making local products equally compatible in the international market. There is need of structured approach of the rulers to carryout detailed study in global Halal industry and promote it, which would result into not only boosting of exports but also allied benefits like provision of employment opportunities. Recommendations The pending bill of Pakistan Halal Authority has to be converted into implementable legislation, at the earliest. Government of Pakistan has to devise short term and long vision plans for converting the country into hub of global Halal food market. In this regard, Vision-Halal 2020, as well as Vision-Hub of Halal-2030 as short and long term plans to achieve the goals like attaining significant space in international market by 2020 and then journey to become global leader of Halal food by 2030. Halal Certification bodies are to be established in line with international standards of Halal food and to meet the standard of hygiene food for western world. The Government has to extend financial and technical help to producers and encourage the local businessmen to participate in international exhibitions where they not only find buyers for their Halal products but also learn from the experience of established producers and suppliers of Halal products. Establishment of Halal food export zones in Sindh province, with tax rebates is need of the hour. In order to boost Halal food exports, the government will have to make investment in dairy farming infrastructure, cold chain and veterinary services and farm management systems. Private Banks can also introduce new financing schemes to encourage the Halal food industry throughout the country. Public-Private Partnership schemes in Halal food sector aiming at export of the value added products would also provide an impetus to the food industry. [1] Economic Survey of Pakistan 2013-14, Page 117 [2] Economic Survey of Pakistan 2013-14, Page 119 [3] Interview with Mr. Akram Khan, of HIRCP, dated 12.09.2014 [4] http://www.dawn.com/news/1130468 (accessed on 15.09.2014) [5] ibid [6] ibid [7] http://www.pnac.org.pk/index.php?PageId=110 (accessed on 01.10.2014) [8] http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2014/05/08/business/bill-drafted-to-establish-pakistan-halal-authority/ (accessed on 01.10.2014) [9] Ibid. [10] http://halalfocus.net/pakistan-oic-smiic-world-halal-assembly/ (accessed on 01.10.2014) [11] Ibid. [12] http://www.pnac.org.pk/index.php?PageId=110 (accessed on 07.10.2014) [13] http://www.halalpakistan.com/html/halal_market.htm (accessed on 07.10.2014) [14] Ibid. [15] Ibid. [16] Global Halal Food Industry Guide to tapping the fast growing Halal Food Market, Singapore (SPRING 2011), 06. [17] http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/01/27/2-2-billion-worlds-muslim-population-doubles/ (accessed on 25.10.2014) [18] http://nation.com.pk/business/24-Mar-2014/pakistan-shares-0-5pc-only-in-halal-food-market-zahid (accessed on 07.10.2014) [19] Ibid. [20] Ibid. [21] http://www.halalpakistan.com/html/halal_market.htm (accessed on 08.10.2014) [22] Ibid. [23] Ibid. [24] Ibid.

Tuesdays With Morrie :: essays research papers

TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Tuesdays with Morrie is a short narrative dealing with the last few months of an amazing man’s life, Morrie Schwartz. Mitch Ablom, the author, has written this novel documenting his experience of spending every Tuesday, during his last few months, with Morrie. It is a sad yet inspiring chronicle concerning the great relationship built between the two men, Morrie Schwartz and Mitchell Ablom.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  From the beginning, as the novel opens, Mitch Ablom writes as if he were speaking to the reader. By using this first person point of view, Ablom is able to connect, and communicate, easily with any that picks up this book. In addition, Ablom is also able to become close and almost personal with the reader. With this type of narrative, where one is documenting an entire day spent with another, it is necessary for the author to write in this fashion in order to convey his message clearly. Ablom does not, however, write the entire novel in first person. In instances where Ablom is describing the memories of Morrie, he uses a third person point of view in which Morrie engages in a dialogue. Using the first person point of view, and toggling back and forth with a third person point of view, Ablom’s style is effective in presenting his thoughts and ideas.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As Ablom is â€Å"talking† to his reader, he also displays his thoughts. Many of these thoughts set the tone of the novel by providing an image of exactly what he is thinking. â€Å"It cracks me up. The whole time I know him, I have two overwhelming desires: to hug him and to give him a napkin. (p.31)† Without these thoughts shown to the reader, one cannot understand how much love Mitch Ablom has for his teacher, Morrie. The relationship between the two is an everlasting one that will last forever.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The entire narrative is in a very quick pace. Many different things contribute to this. First of all, being the obvious, the plot and story of this novel is engrossing and absorbing. Secondly, the structure and way in which the book was written contributes to its fast pace. The novel is broken up into short chapters. A novel that contains short chapters always seems to move in a quick tempo. However, although there are many chapters, there are no breaks in which the reader can get lost in. The novel is extremely fluid and continuous. Tuesdays With Morrie :: essays research papers TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Tuesdays with Morrie is a short narrative dealing with the last few months of an amazing man’s life, Morrie Schwartz. Mitch Ablom, the author, has written this novel documenting his experience of spending every Tuesday, during his last few months, with Morrie. It is a sad yet inspiring chronicle concerning the great relationship built between the two men, Morrie Schwartz and Mitchell Ablom.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  From the beginning, as the novel opens, Mitch Ablom writes as if he were speaking to the reader. By using this first person point of view, Ablom is able to connect, and communicate, easily with any that picks up this book. In addition, Ablom is also able to become close and almost personal with the reader. With this type of narrative, where one is documenting an entire day spent with another, it is necessary for the author to write in this fashion in order to convey his message clearly. Ablom does not, however, write the entire novel in first person. In instances where Ablom is describing the memories of Morrie, he uses a third person point of view in which Morrie engages in a dialogue. Using the first person point of view, and toggling back and forth with a third person point of view, Ablom’s style is effective in presenting his thoughts and ideas.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As Ablom is â€Å"talking† to his reader, he also displays his thoughts. Many of these thoughts set the tone of the novel by providing an image of exactly what he is thinking. â€Å"It cracks me up. The whole time I know him, I have two overwhelming desires: to hug him and to give him a napkin. (p.31)† Without these thoughts shown to the reader, one cannot understand how much love Mitch Ablom has for his teacher, Morrie. The relationship between the two is an everlasting one that will last forever.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The entire narrative is in a very quick pace. Many different things contribute to this. First of all, being the obvious, the plot and story of this novel is engrossing and absorbing. Secondly, the structure and way in which the book was written contributes to its fast pace. The novel is broken up into short chapters. A novel that contains short chapters always seems to move in a quick tempo. However, although there are many chapters, there are no breaks in which the reader can get lost in. The novel is extremely fluid and continuous.

Explain how Golding describes the setting of the novel in chapters 1 :: English Literature

Explain how Golding describes the setting of the novel in chapters 1 and 2 of The Lord of The Flies Golding has a style of contrasting the good things and the bad things about the island in ‘The Lord of The Flies’. The author also describes the setting by using imagery extensively. The author develops a positive ambience of an uninhabited island by giving the island features that the reader knows are more positive than negative. An example of this is when the author describes a cirque on page 25. The author describes the boys position using: â€Å"They were on the lip of a cirque†. The use of personification makes the reader identify that the island is more like a person and not an evil thing. If Golding had used a sentence such as â€Å" They were on the knife edge of a cirque†, then the reader would have identified the island with images of danger and negativity. The author later similarises the cirque with a waterfall. He uses the words: â€Å"Filled†, â€Å"Overflow† and â€Å"Spilled† to make connections with a waterfall. A waterfall is usually a thing of beauty, which can be found in national parks, and people do not identify a waterfall as being a bad thing. The words also come in chronological order. For example something cannot be spilled before it is filled. This gives the reader a sense of natural series of events, the feeling as if everything is occurring the correct order and therefore the island is normal and passive. However, if the author had mixed the words in the incorrect order then the reader might have felt a bit confused and wondered about the safety of the island. In contrast, the author describes the island as the children’s worst enemy. On page 4 the author uses negative words to describe the setting. Golding uses the words; â€Å"Coarse†, â€Å"Torn†, â€Å"Upheavals†, â€Å"Fallen†, â€Å"Scattered† and â€Å"Decaying† to describe the shore and its contents. Under analysis the words, â€Å"Torn†, â€Å"Upheavals† and â€Å"Fallen†, mean that something is not in the correct position, that the island does not seem to be right, that the island has an air of animosity. The words are not pleasant words and hint to the reader that neither is the story. The author describes how the coconuts are slowly dying by using the word â€Å"decaying†. This poses the question: If things that live on the island cannot survive how can a group of young school boys from a different region? It suggests that the children are going to die, just like everything else on the island. Eventually everything on the island dies, the island dies from the uncontrollable fire, the