Invisible Man Essay

Portrayal of Women In Invisible Man women were primarily given the role of prostitutes, caregivers and sex objects that presented them as inferior to men. The author fails to reflect on the struggles of women in the novel but encourages reflecting on the struggles of black males. In Invisible Man, written by Ralph Ellison, women are intensely stereotyped by the author and could also be characterized as â€Å"invisible† based on the author’s description of the main character and his experiences in the novel. White women in the novel were something that invisible man thought to be forbidden; they could be characterized as the forbidden fruit.Invisible man saw a blonde white woman at the Battle Royal who was beautiful in his eyes. Unfortunately, he could stare at her all he wanted but couldn’t touch the white woman. At the end of the novel he decides to use Sybil for his own greed, later he feels guilty and calls what he did a sin. It seems that in the novel white w omen are presented with higher regard than black women. During incidences in the novel white women were usually there to help invisible man with his journey to figure out who he is. They are given roles that are basically more important than the black women in the novel; but this is not always true.In the novel he was saved by a white girl during his eviction speech, a white women seduced him when she lied about having problems with the Brotherhood and a white woman saved him when he was made to sing for the white people. Women characters are given minor roles compared to invisible man and lead him on his journey in the novel. Sybil was the women that invisible man decided to use for his own intentions. Sybil showed to have stereotypical opinions about black men and invisible man understood what type of women she was.Invisible man decided that she was perfect to take advantage of because she was lonely when the Brotherhood took a lot of time. Sybil is a very weak woman and needs cer tain attentions in order for her to be completely satisfied. Invisible man strived to improve himself in the novel, which Sybil failed to do. He seeks out and â€Å"chooses to use Sybil precisely because she is â€Å"lonely,† â€Å"misunderstood,† â€Å"neglected,† and â€Å"wistful† (Sylvander 78). Invisible man manipulates this woman and takes advantage of her. In this sense Sybil is stereotyped as a weak woman who doesn’t improve herself.There was also another women whose husband was a member of the Brotherhood; even though she didn’t believe in the Brotherhood. She was interested in satisfying her emotional needs and tricked invisible man in coming over by saying she had questions over the Brotherhood. Invisible man portrays white women in the novel as beautiful and sensual; black women fail to have these characterizations. Black women in the novel such as Mary are limited to being caretakers and serving without the beauty that he chara cterizes the white women with. Invisible man presents the way black women were viewed in society compared to white women at the time.The women who lived with Trueblood, Kate and Matty Lou, lived a harsh life and experienced no happiness. Trueblood impregnated his own daughter, which shows how horrible women were treated in this novel. Trueblood tries to explain what he had done and how he tried to move without moving; a mere excuse for his actions. Mary played a significant role in the novel because she was the main character who helped invisible man find his identity. Unfortunately, in order to truly find himself the narrator had to leave Mary. Mary immediately came to his rescue after he was released from the hospital.She was a mother figure in invisible man’s eyes who agreed to nurture him until he could support himself. This is proof that women in the novel were given minor roles . Invisible man uses Mary until he leaves her for the Brotherhood. But it was Mary’s l ectures of leadership and helping the society that drove invisible man to the Brotherhood. Mary was â€Å"something out of my past which kept me from whirling off into some unknown which I dared not to face† (Stanford 29). The women in this novel basically helped the speaker find himself in society. The black and white women in the novel gave to the speaker and helped him throughout the novel.They are not unimportant in the novel but do not play any major roles as human beings. The narrator’s opinion regarding women always focuses on their physical appearances, which supports how he thinks they are no more than how they look or make him feel. The women never make their own decisions and only act out to help the narrator in his actions. Ellison’s invisible man does minimize the female experience by not having a main female character. There is an absence of female perspective in all decisions made about invisible man. Invisible man silences the voice of women and stereotypes them in the novel.

Hyundai Creative Brief

I. Market Info a. In September 2012, Hyundai had sales of 11,403 with YTD sales numbers reaching 107,612. This accounted for a 12. 9% Canadian market share to date. The YTD for September 2012 sales of the electric vehicles available in Canada are as follows: Nissan Leaf – 196 units (up 367% from 2011), Mitsubishi i-MiEV – 165 units , Chevrolet Volt – 927 units (up 548% from 2011). Of the 1,305,538 cars sold to date in Canada, electric car sales accounted for 0. 0099% of total car sales. According to these numbers, Canadians are not embracing electric cars at a significant rate, however the World Wildlife Fund of Canada is aiming to have 600,000 EV’s on Canadian roads by 2020, accounting for 10% of all car sales. The WWF intends to do this by: * highlight environmental benefits of EVs * support improved access to EVs and EV infrastructure achieve competitive pricing with conventional vehicles * expand travel freedom for EV users with infrastructure and trav el partnership options * provide Canadians with positive EV information and experiences Government agencies have also offered incentives for buyers and owners of EV’s for example; the Ontario government is offering a rebate between $5,000 and $8,000 as well as a Green license plate which enables owners to use High-Occupancy Vehicle lanes, even if there is only one person in the vehicle as well as future access to public recharging facilities and parking at GO station and government lots. . Brand Profile Hyundai vehicles run the gamut from budget cars to luxury sedans to commercial trucks. South Korea's leading carmaker, Hyundai Motor produces compact and luxury cars, SUVs, minivans, trucks, buses, and other commercial vehicles. Its cars are sold in 180 countries through some 6,000 dealerships. Hyundai generates about half of its sales in South Korea, but its vehicles are also popular in emerging markets such as China and India. The company operates a dozen manufacturing plant s in China, the Czech Republic, India, Russia, South Korea, Turkey and the US. Hyundai also owns a 34% stake in Kia Motors.Some key benefits of the Hyundai brand are: * Modern, premium, affordable mentality towards car design * Hyundai backs their product with an excellent warranty and service. * Heavy investment in design and promotion * Focus more on explaining a car's history, its value and its strengths, rather than just talking about price Hyundai’s brand reputation hasn’t always been the greatest and has only increased within the last 5 years or so as Hyundai made the switch from making cheap, economical cars to affordable, modern, premium and reliable cars that are fun to drive, luxurious and backed by an excellent warranty.Some issues Hyundai faces are: * Poor reputation in regards to reliability * Poor reputation in regards to build quality * Not known for making sporty or luxurious cars * Overcoming well-established brands such as Toyota, Honda and VW c. Bran d Proposition – Hyundai’s brand slogan â€Å"NEW THINKING. NEW POSSIBILITIES. † reflects the will of Hyundai Motor Company to create new possibilities to benefit the world and its people by encouraging and developing new thinking.All members of Hyundai have the brand slogan deeply engraved in their hearts as they move forward in their effort to provide new values and experiences desired by today’s customers through innovative ways that are unique to the brand, driven by new thinking about customers and cars. d. Brand Position – Hyundai’s brand direction â€Å"Modern premium† does not just mean luxury cars; it is about providing new values and experiences to yet more customers of today through ways that are unique to the brand and which go beyond what customers expect by combining exceptional performance with reasonable price and emotional elegance.Being simple but perfect, staying faithful to the basics yet different from the others, and not forgetting the big picture while paying attention to the smallest details; developing cars that cater to the diverse lifestyles of customers and propose an advanced automobile life and culture; enriching the lives of customers who have an active and positive approach to life—that is the Modern premium of Hyundai Motor Company. e. Positioning Statement – For the Earth-conscious, high-mileage driver who wishes to be whisked away in a safe, fun and environmentally responsible way.Hyundai Fuel-Cell powered cars will get you where you need to go, regardless of the distance, with very little impact on the environment and your wallet, giving you the confidence of knowing you’re the smartest person on the road. f. Competitor’s Profiles Honda – YTD for September 2012, Honda owned 9. 0% of the Canadian market. Some Honda brand strengths include: * Well known for reliability * Consumers will buy a Honda regardless of their level of luxury, sportiness, features or price. * Loyal customer base/repeat buyers * Consumers will rarely shop around if their first choice is a HondaBrand weaknesses include: * Have rested on their laurels * Very few innovative or exciting products * Redesigned the 2012 Civic after 1 model year because of lack of innovation * Rely on brand loyalty to drive sales Honda utilizes the same media as most other prominent brands in the industry. They have a strong presence both online (through social media websites as well as their own homepage) and in print (many ads in newspapers and magazines). They also invest heavily in televised ads and billboards. Honda has positioned themselves as â€Å"a company built on dreams.And these dreams inspire us to create innovative products that enhance human mobility and benefit society. † Toyota – YTD for September 2012, Toyota owns 11. 8% of the Canadian market. Toyota brand strengths – * Synonymous for reliable cars * diversified product range * highly targeted marketing and a commitment to lean manufacturing and quality * Loyal customer base * Customers will rarely shop around before purchasing a Toyota Weaknesses – * Massive recalls and lawsuits over the past few years * Boring styling and performance Recognized mainly for economy and not performance * Slightly older buyer demographic Toyota utilizes all of the traditional methods of media, much like Honda does. * Print * Social Media Networks * TV and Billboards * Own homepage g. Target Market Profile – * Similar to early adopters of hybrids, early adopters of EV’s will be young, very high income individuals — adoption is already being popularized by high-profile celebrities * Average incomes are expected to be in excess of $200K HHI who already own one or more vehicles Early Majority Profile * View the product as â€Å"Green and lean† * Top purchaser influence is: Reliability * Household income: $114K * Gender: 67% Male * Location: Urban and Suburban * Ages 40-45 Non-adopter profile * View the product as â€Å"Expensive† * Household Income $54K * Gender: 49% Male * Location: Suburban and rural Barriers to Adoption Include – * Price and cost of ownership * Familiarity with â€Å"clean† technologies * Size of the vehicle(too small) * Fuel cell infrastructure * Brand II. IMC Objective This IMC campaign must address the issue of the barriers to adoption that fuel-cell powered automobiles face.The IMC campaign must prove to the consumer that the high initial cost, range of the vehicle, fuel-cell filling station infrastructure and most importantly, that green technologies much different than the standard gasoline engine should not be a barrier to adoption as the cost of ownership is relatively low, the environment benefits greatly from zero-emissions vehicles, fuel-cell powered vehicles do not limit range like electric vehicles do and that a fuel-cell powered vehicle is a viable, and just as convenient al ternative to the gasoline-powered car. ——————————————- [ 1 ]. www. goodcarbadcar. net/2012/10/september-2012-canada-auto-sales-brand-rankings2. html [ 2 ]. http://www. goodcarbadcar. net/2012/10/september-2012-ytd-canada-auto-sales-rankings. html#more [ 3 ]. http://www. northumberlandview. ca/index. php? module=news&type=user&func=display&sid=17939 [ 4 ]. http://news. ontario. ca/mto/en/2010/06/ontario-paves-the-way-for-electric-vehicles. html [ 5 ]. ttp://worldwide. hyundai. com/WW/Corporate/CorporateInformation/BrandSlogan/index. html [ 6 ]. http://worldwide. hyundai. com/WW/Corporate/CorporateInformation/BrandSlogan/index. html [ 7 ]. http://www. goodcarbadcar. net/2012/10/september-2012-canada-auto-sales-brand-rankings2. html [ 8 ]. http://corporate. honda. com/about/ [ 9 ]. http://www. deloitte. com. br/publicacoes/2007/MFG. Gaining_Traction_customer_view_of_electric_vehicle_mass_a doption. pdf

Creating a Plan for a Culturally Diverse Essay

In the classrooms and schools today, cultural diversity is rising. The biggest challenge for teachers in our schools today and within the classrooms is how to amend their curriculum to meet all the needs of the students in the relation of culture. For a teacher in a multicultural diverse classroom, a teacher needs to augment their cultural understanding, shape their curriculum so that it is culturally related to all their students in the classroom, and to use supportive learning education. With these practices in place and along with other structural planning, it is important for the precise connection between multicultural teachings of students in a classroom (Merlino, 2007). The first step to accommodating students is to enhance cultural sensitivity from diverse cultural in the classroom. This requires teachers to interpret their multicultural diverse student’s behaviors within the cultural perspective of the child (Merlino, 2007). The environment in a classroom is an essent ial part to learning. The atmosphere in the classroom helps determine the accomplishment of the lessons being taught and the student’s behavior. All students are different, and therefore it is important for all students to respect one another in order for the efficiency of a classroom to be optimized (Ganly, 2008). The importance for a teacher is that they are able to create an atmosphere of tolerance, acceptance, and caring within the classroom. This is in order to provide for all the diversified needs for all students. Living in Melbourne which is located in Florida. Melbourne is about two hours from Orlando on the east coast. The population in Melbourne is Caucasian, Hispanic, Latino, African American, German, and Asian. In Melbourne, we have Christian and Baptist churches throughout the city. We also have Catholic, Islam, and Jewish churches as well. The people who live in Melbourne are of low, high, and middle class economic status, but many of the people who live here are middle to low working class. Melbourne seems like a quite little city outside of the busy, bigger city of Orlando, which have many tourists, but we are also diverse in several ways. Practicing tolerance and acceptance in classroom provides all students with the ability to be at ease with themselves. It will also help all students to release predetermined biases and teach the students to learn more about what is within another student instead of judging the student by their appearance. The use of tolerance, acceptance, and caring provides a nice, comfortable  classroom environment for all students that can be productive for their learning experience. This will help encourage teamwork, confidence, and respect that are all a part of the key factors for a flourishing classroom environment (Ganly, 2008). To construct a tolerate, accepting, and caring classroom atmosphere for my students in my classroom, there are many things I can do as a teacher. As a teacher in Melbourne, Florida, I would make sure to discuss diversity to my students and explain why it is an important, positive lesson in the classroom. I can create lesson plans that discuss the cultures of all my students in my classroom and the cultures within in our community. I would also discuss the different religious beliefs of our community. Discussing different religious beliefs in our community to my students lets us discuss their beliefs as well from the different cultures within my classroom. Discussing to my students about students with disabilities and students who are at risk, is a very important, necessary lesson that I would teach my students. The lesson would be to help my students comprehend that these differences do not make a person less of a person; but these differences make the person just as important as all students. Discussing with my students about socioeconomic issues and how they affect all students in many ways and the differences in gender is important. I believe teaching my students about gender issues is very important because of many gender stereotypes pressure how both females and males learn, and it is important for both genders to be given equal opportunities to learn inside the classroom. Discussing these issues is to help show all of my students that every person has needs, and I would stress that it is important for all students to recognize and help each other in order to benefit themselves along with the cultures that surround them. Being a teacher, I would want to discuss and teach that the differences in people make them interesting, and by creating lesson plans that would help show my students how their own distinctive differences that will help my classroom function appropriately. My lesson plans will be in place to help my students recognize and overcome their biases. During these lessons, I would also make sure to tell all of the students what I have learned from them by understanding their culture and their beliefs, and that they can find out about themselves and improve themselves. I feel that this is important for students to be conscious of the inequalities that  exist so that they can receive the education they deserve, and they can fulfill their educational goals. For me, being a teacher, it is important to make sure that my classroom atmosphere is comfortable to ensure the productivity of all my students. Teaching my students that differences learned from, is a way to help ensure a positive, comfo rtable, caring, and successful classroom. As a teacher, I will help all my students understand biases, and I will help them be able to accept the differences of the people and the cultures around them. I believe there are many ways a teacher can incorporate diversity lessons into their classroom. Getting to know your students is important to the understanding of their individual needs. I can learn about my students by working to assemble information about my students in the beginning of the course so that I can better meet their learning needs and their goals for learning, I can incorporate the experiences of nontraditional aged students into the classroom to develop classroom discussions and learning activities, I can recognize and provide assistance for my students with any physical and learning disabilities that they may have, such as test taking accommodations, supplemental class instruction, and reading (Stanley, n.d). Other ways to help me teach my diverse classroom are to: †¢Learn about my students’ different cultural backgrounds. This can be done by informally asking them about weekend plans or as simply reading historical books about their culture. †¢Giving all of my student’s equal amounts of respect. Avoid giving privileged treatment to anyone in the class, as this can easily be misinterpreted as discrimination. †¢Realizing that a student’s sexual preference has nothing to do with his or her ability to master material and contribute to classroom discussions. I would want to play it safe and do not ask about their private lives. †¢Avoid making assumptions about students’ attentiveness based on their physical appearance and behavior. Different cultures emphasize different ways of showing respect and attention. †¢Being sensitive to the students’ lives at home. A rough or distracting home environment can affect a child’s performance in school. Giving students the benefit of the doubt an d being as understanding as I can be is important. †¢Use a wide variety of teaching strategies that accommodate different learning styles. †¢Encouraging my students to respect and enjoy their diverse cultural heritages. Creating Food days and festivals is a way to celebrate diversity and also having fun  with all students in every culture (Stanley, n.d). In order to incorporate multicultural diversity in my classroom, I will create a bulletin board that will display multicultural diversity. The bulletin board will display the different cultures and religions in my geographic area. The bulletin board will also display many occupations that the student’s parents are currently involved in throughout the surrounding areas. I will also be sure to create an atmosphere of tolerance, acceptance, and caring in my classroom. This is important because I want all of my students to feel welcomed, and valued which I believe will promote fewer impulses to act out. With the atmosphere set for my classroom, it will make my students feel accepted, they will have no reasons to worry. I want my students to feel comfortable in their environment. After all, my classroom will be their learning environment for almost a year. For my bulletin board, I want to display the different ethnic backgrounds. I will make sure that the bulletin’s border will consist of different flags from around the world. In my area, there are many different cultures but the six main cultures are African American, Caucasian, Asian, Hispanic, Latino, and German. I will make sure that these flags are displayed on the border that and will be hung around the edges of my bulletin board. To display many different religions in my classroom, I will make sure that the different symbols will be displayed throughout the board. I will make sure that Christianity, Catholic, Islam, Baptist, and Jewish symbols are displayed correctly to district guidelines regarding religion in school. For my classroom bulletin board, it will also contain fun information for all of my students to learn from. This bulletin board will change every month, and it will contain all of the different cultural holidays that we as a class can celebrate each month. The bulletin board will also contain different images that are associated with these different holidays with information that describes these holidays. Within my bulletin board, I will also include the birthdays of each of my students to remind them that they are all special (Ganly, 2008). The challenge as a teacher, I will encounter in the increasingly diverse society that we have in our country today. It will require me to use many of the best practices that I know to accommodate all of my students. A culturally diverse curriculum is the necessity no matter who is sitting at the desks in my classroom. The humanity that our children  will enter when they leave my classroom will be different, by being more complex and considerably more diverse than it is today. Students that are taught to respect and be inquisitive about different cultures will eventually develop a better understanding of the cultural differences that exist all around them. With this understanding, it will help them to be enhanced citizens and be more productive members of their culture. Both teachers and students need to embrace cultural diversity. Professional, reflective practitioners need to lead the way by ensuring all students learn the suitable content within the context of their own culture and every culture (Merlino, 2007). References Ganly, S. (2008). The Benefits of Diversity in the Classroom on the Teaching Environment. Associated Content, Inc. Retrieved March 24, 2011 from www.associatedcontent.org Merlino, R. (2007). Addressing Cultural Diversity in the Classroom. Helium.com. Retrieved March 26, 2011 from www.helium.com Stanley, C. (n.d.). Teaching Tips for the Success of All Students in a Diverse Classroom. Retrieved March 30, 2011 from www.cte.tamu.edu

Comparison between the effects of globalization on the USA and Saudi Essay - 2

Comparison between the effects of globalization on the USA and Saudi Arabia economics - Essay Example Countries, which previously depended on their own resources for the production of goods and services, are now able to choose from one further option. They can purchase cheaper materials needed for production. Hiring cheaper or more highly skilled labor that is available in a different country is now a feasible option. Even simply buying finished products from different countries is possible due to globalization. While on the surface, this liberalization seems to help only the country that is able to avail these goods and services, this is not the case. It is true that the country importing the goods is able to take advantage of the lower prices of raw material, services, and products in the other countries. This country is most often a developed country. On the other hand, the country it imports these cheaper goods and services from are usually developing. This liberalization helps the exporting country as well. This is because these countries have excess of these goods and services. For example, many developing countries will have an excess of unskilled labors, and not enough employment opportunities for them. This would not only result in unemployment, but also an economy in recession. To be able to use this excess labor to fulfill the need for cheap labor in other countries is a considerable benefit to the developing country (Stallings, 2001). The liberalization that accompanies globalization can also result in several problems for the country, which need more immediate attention. For instance, the high growth that liberalization in trade will cause will result in that country’s carbon dioxide emission increasing inevitably. The emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) is an example of how this high growth in the world economy would be detrimental to the natural environment. Issues like global warming and pollution would only be aggravated due to this effect of globalization, and seems to decrease the importance of stressing on a high growth strategy. Another issue

Eduaction Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Eduaction - Assignment Example However, the data system is not a threat to traditional teaching styles. Traditional teachers have to be won over by impressing upon them the need to change over to the new system involving data which complements the traditional style by taking care of the important aspects of teaching that may not have been addressed by the traditional teacher. Involving digital data system enables getting hold of vast information on students in very short time without undue stress to the teacher and helps her arrange her teaching techniques in such a way that the less intelligent student is able to grasp the contents of what is being taught (McLeod, Dr Scott). Over a period of time, which may be quite short, the teaching community begins to settle down with the feelings that they are all right with their students. The good performance of the majority of the students in the periodical tests lull the teachers with the feelings that things are normal and they can continue teaching in their usual styles the students have become accustomed to. The current No Child Left Behind (NCLB) policy, however, demands stringent changes in the teaching standards to ensure no child gets left behind. The teachers have no option to update their skills with the latest standards and get whatever help available to ensure they get all the necessary assistance whenever needed to keep abreast the latest techniques. There are chances that teachers may not be able to keep in mind all the features of the latest techniques. Hence, it is essential that they have access to the digital data system for which they have to be initially trained (McLeod, Dr Scott). The data system demands a change in the entire method of teaching. It is result-oriented. "Schools and districts across the country are seeing substantial improvements in student learning and achievement as they incorporate data-driven practices. Teachers in these schools are finding that intelligent and pervasive use of data can improve their instructional interventions for students, re-energize their enthusiasm for teaching, and increase their feelings of professional fulfillment and job satisfaction" (McLeod, Dr Scott). Data-driven system of teaching is not optional. It is becoming mandatory quite fast. Therefore, it is necessary for teachers seriously contemplating to continue as teachers to get accustomed to this system of teaching. Actually, data-driven style of teaching is quite simple if teachers get accustomed to it. The problem is in the mind that anything other than teaching in the traditional way is cumbersome and difficult to comprehend. Initiates procedures and influences teachers to improve instruction inter-visitation and self-analysis techniques Educational institutions now initiate procedures to improve instructions, inter-visitations and self-analysis

How media artefacts affect our conception of reality Essay

How media artefacts affect our conception of reality - Essay Example We are placed in a consumer society and media, which brings in the importance of learning how to interpret, understand, and criticizing its messages and meanings. They participate in contributing to educate us on what we feel, fear, think, desire, and how to behave. They also show us how to consume, look, dress, avoid failure, and be successful/ popular (Verbeek & Slob, 2006). Cultural is one on itself that is focusing on the mass and media marketing. Due to extensive advertising and publicity, all the cultural products, which include human beings, are treated as commodities who share little to no meaning. This industry provides a reason to believe individual is an illusion manipulated by the authority of those in dominant class. Horkheimer and Adorno define cultural industry through its focus on the mass and media marketing. Technology, Monopoly, and Mass Production are three specific ideas of characterising cultural media. Horkheimer and Adorno addressed how big corporations contro l culture industry due to their large vertical and horizontal integration. Our society is representing a society which is heavily induced by cultural media and mass marketing. Cultural industry theory explains the concept of consumers selling out to the dominant cultures. In some aspects this is true but Adorno and Horkheimer gave much power to the class ruling and their abilities of producing ideal consumers. Media give us directions on ways to avoid failure, and conforming to various dominant systems of values, institutions, norms, and practices (Bishop, 2005). It is important to gain critical media literacy as a resource for citizens and individuals when learning to cope up with cultural environment. It is important to learn how to criticize, and read, socio-cultural manipulation to help in empowering in relation to the dominant culture and forms of media. It enhances sovereignty of individual as well as media culture by giving people power in cultural environment. The essay will feature most on contributions of cultural perspective to media literacy and critique. Recently, cultural studies have emerged as the best approach to study of society and culture. A project study was conducted in the University of Birmingham, which is the centre for cultural studies. This led to the development of various critical methods for the interpretation, criticism, and analysis of cultural methods. In 1960s and 1970s, there were internal debates and respondents to social movements and struggles. The group focused on interplay of ideologies and representations of gender, ethnicity, class, nationality, and race in cultural texts, which include media culture (Hillis, 1999). This group was among those who studied the effects of television, radio, film, newspaper and other cultural forms on audiences. The group also focused on the use of media culture and interpretation differently by various audiences. They analyzed on the factors, which made audiences respond to various media texts in contrasting ways. It is demonstrated by British cultural studies on how culture constituted distinct forms of the group and identity membership through the study of youth subcultures. Materials, which are used to construct views of identities, world, and behaviour, are provided by media culture for cultural studies. Those who follow the dictates of cultural media uncritically will mainstream themselves and thereby conforming to the dominant behaviour,

The Conflict between Profit-Making and Business Ethics Resulting in Essay

The Conflict between Profit-Making and Business Ethics Resulting in the Claims Made within the Article - Essay Example The report claims that by having the Olympic Branded products made within abusive sweatshops it makes a â€Å"mockery† of the claims made by London 2012 organisers that this summer’s Olympics will be the most ethical ever. 1.2- Who is the report intended for? The report is intended for the owner’s of the following six factories, PTShyang Yao Fung, Shyang Yao Fung, PT Parnarub Industry, PT Pancaprima, PT Golden Castle and PT Golden Continental. 1.3- Who asked for it? The Independent conducted the investigation. 1.4- What is the following report aiming to find out? The following report is aiming to examine the conflict between profit-making and business ethics whilst finding out if the claims made by The Independent’s investigation into the alleged sweatshops in Indonesia are making a ‘mockery’ out of the London summer Olympics and whether it is ethical. 2.0- Terms of reference: The report is intended for the owners of the Indonesian factories t o give findings and recommendations following an investigation from The Independent. The investigation was carried out because of claims from London Olympic organisers that ‘’this summer Olympics will be the most ethical ever.’’ 3.0- Procedure. ... 3.5- In total there were eleven people questioned within the article. 4.0- Findings: 4.1 –Indonesian factories have been contracted to produce Olympic branded clothing and shoes for the official sportswear partner of the London Olympics, which is the German company Adidas. These products are to be worn by athletes of Team Gb as well as games volunteers. 4.2 The German company Adidas hopes to make ?100 million pounds from its Olympic products. 4.3 An investigation carried out by The Independent has uncovered wide spread violations of workers rights in Indonesia. 4.4: From the investigation, The Independent has found out that the German company subjects its employees to long working hours, that is, they work for 65 hours which is 25 hours longer than what should be the case for a standard working week. 4.5 The employees of the German company are paid a very low pay and are mostly young females. 4.6 The German company is alleged to subject its employees to physical and verbal abu se and are punished in case they fail to achieve the production targets. 4.7 The Independent also found out that not a single factory among the nine factories of the Germany based company ensures that it pays its workers a living wage. 4.8 The report by the Independent unravelled that the Olympics Organising Committee (Locog) had adopted the base code set by the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) that a living pay should be approximately 20 percent more than the officially recognised minimum wage of a country. 4.9 The investigations also revealed that the employees in the nine factories live in deplorable conditions where they have to skip meals to save money. 4.10 The working conditions have affected the families of the workers where some are separated from

MIS Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

MIS - Research Paper Example An efficient MIS can be costly to incorporate in already existing businesses. However, they improve the coordination of different departments and the flow of the business processes and in so doing enhances productivity while simultaneously cutting down the costs of operation (Laudon & Laudon 2). The diagram below illustrates the 10-step traditional chain of process at a corn mill. There are five departments in this specific corn mill. These are the Procurement department, the Processing department, the storage department, the accounting department and the sales department. The corn is from suppliers who have been sourced by the procurement department. This department ensures that the corn is transported to the mill through the suppliers or procured transporters. The procurement department is responsible for making sure that enough corn is continuously supplied to the mill to avoid instances of shortage. After this, the corn is handed over to the processing department. Before anything is done to the corn, it is first of all graded. During grading, the corn is sorted based on its quality and fitness for consumption. After the corn has been graded, it is taken to the mill. Here it is grinded to cornmeal, processed and packed. The lower quality corn is taken to the animal feed mill where it is processed to animal feed. Waste is then disposed or stored for compost or energy generation. The ground corn is then handed to the storage department. In the storage department, the already packed cornmeal is counted and further packed into storage containers. This is as a quality control measure to avoid storing or selling damaged produce. Excess produce is in silos. The stock taking records are then forwarded to the accounting department. The accounting department ascertains the records provided are accurate. Records are duplicated and stored for future purposes. The accounting

What Steps Have Been Taken To Enhance The Stability Of The Financial Essay

What Steps Have Been Taken To Enhance The Stability Of The Financial System In Singapore What Are The Main Steps That Remain To Be Taken - Essay Example FSAPs are designed to assess the stability of the financial system as a whole and not that of individual institutions. They have been developed to help countries identify and remedy weaknesses in their financial sector structure, thereby enhancing their resilience to macroeconomic shocks and cross-border contagion. FSAPs do not cover risks that are specific to individual institutions such as asset quality, operational or legal risks, or fraud. The views expressed in this document are those of the staff team and do not necessarily reflect the views of the government of Singapore or the Executive Board of the Singapore; the name inspires respect and trust. Today, it is looked upon with awe by people from all over the world, both from developed nations and the developing world. It is considered as a role model by the Asian countries. This has been possible because of Singapore's stable and slightly conservative economy, which has withstood the test of economic downturns and sudden asset price declines. Singapore's financial sector, which is dominated by the banking sector, remains robust despite a series of economic downturns and substantial asset price declines. Even when faced with a series of economic jolts and decline in asset price, the economy has stood on solid ground in the past few years. The local banks and insurance companies are endowed with huge capital and making considerable profits. Stress test results indicate that Singapore's systemically important banks and insurance companies could withstand further significant shocks. -Problem Statement What steps have been taken to enhance the stability of the financial system in Singapore What are the main steps that remain to be taken It would be our endeavour here to analyse the running of the financial system in Singapore, study the factors that contribute positively to it and also try to find if anything else needs to be done to create a positive impact on the financial system. Singapore's financial stability can be attributed in large to the smooth running and well organized set-up of the banks and their branches; both local and foreign. The insurance sector also plays a major role in contributing to this stability as it is also capital rich and highly profitable. It has weathered three major shocks: the Asian crisis in 1997-98; a sharp drop in electronics exports in 2000-01 (resulting in the worst recession since independence); and the outbreak of SARS in early 2003. This stability in the face of such downturns can be contributed to sound fiscal and monetary policies, long-standing external current account surpluses, significant external assets and reserve positions, the healthy corporate sector high household wealth, and conservative financial regulatory and supervisory practices. Conceptualization The steps been taken to enhance the stability of the financial system in Singapore include the following: 1. Banks dominate the financial sector Local banks, which hold more than one half share of domestic banking assets, are profitable and well capitalized. They are also liquid, have enough back up for non performing asset exposures, and conservative in their management practices. The insurance sector, though contributes only 6% to the total assets of the system, too is well capitalized and doing good business. Systemically important banks (including major foreign bank branches) and insurance companies have been shown to withstand major shocks under test conditions. 2. Systemic liquidity is well managed The Monetary Authority of Singapore

Rin vs Tide Essay Example for Free

Rin vs Tide Essay In the first move of its kind by HUL, homecare brand Rin has openly taken on rival P6s Tide, without the typical airbrushing or pixellation to hide the rival brand name on TV and ads on radio. The current high profile aggressive stand of Rin has a background story. There was a proxy war going on between Rin and Tide since December 2009. In order to retain its market share, in December PG introduced a low-cost detergent, Tide Natural, claiming in its ads that it provided whiteness with special fragrance. The product was positioned against HI-ILs Rin and Wheel. Tide Naturals was priced significantly ower to the Rin. Tide Naturals was launched at Rs 50 per Kg , Rs 10 for 200 gms and Rs 20 for400 gms. Rin was priced at Rs 70 per Kg at that time. The reduced price of the Tide variant was an immediate threat to Rin. Since Tide already has an established brand equity, Rin was bound to face the heat. Although HUL had another low priced brand Wheel priced at Rs 32/Kg, Tide was not in the same category of Wheel. Rin had to cut the price to resist the market share erosion. HUL was facing a steady erosion in the market share in most of the categories. In the detergent category itself, he brand faced a market share fall of 2. 5% in December 2009. With P;G starting a price war, HUL had to react and it did by cutting the price of Rin by 30% to Rs 50 per Kg. HUL also reacted to the Tide Naturals price war in a Guerrilla Marketing way. It took PG to the court regarding the Tide Naturals advertisement. The contention was that Tide Naturals was giving the impression to the consumers that it contained natural ingredients like Sandal. The court ordered P;G to modify the campaign and While P;G opened a war in the price front, HUL retaliated by opening two war fronts. One was the direct comparative ad and other through the court order asking P;G to modify Tide Naturals Ad and to admit that Tide Naturals is not Natural. So we can that HUL retaliated with an aggressive two-pronged strategy. * First, it challenged Tides claim of whiteness with special fragrance in the Chennai High Court, which passed an order on 25 February 2010 (CS 189/2010), directing PG to modify the advertisement since it was not really able to substantiate the claim of whiteness with special fragrance. The court has granted an injunction and directed PG to respond within three weeks. Three days later on 28 February, HUL launched an aggressive TV campaign aired during prime time It was Rin which won the Round 1 of this war. It generated enough Buzz about the brand with all the media talking about the campaign. Rin was also able to neutralize the aggression of PG to certain extent. Tide chose not to respond because further fuel to the fight can highlight the fact that Tide Naturals does not contain any Natural Ingredients which may negatively affect the brands standing in the consumers mind. So it is better to play the role of a poor victim at this point of time. PG can celebrate because of the free advertisement it got for Tide Naturals because of the comparative ad of Rin. Although Indian marketing world have seen lot of comparative ads, the Rin Vs Tide is a rare case of direct comparative ad where the brand has taken the competitor brands name and challenging it head on. That is the main reason behind the media noise about the campaign. PG India always was a laid back competitor in the FMCG market. Despite having the product portfolio and market strength, it never realized its potential. The company was happy with their minuscule market share in the various categories in the FMCG usiness. For television viewers, it was hard to miss the now infamous Rin commercial, which was unleashed on Indian television screens on Thursday (February 25, 2010). Perhaps bombardment would be a better word: the high-voltage TVC was supported by a media plan that included primetime slots across all major GECs and news channels, in an effort to deliver maximum impact over the long weekend. The ad shows two mothers waiting at a bus stop for their children, who are returning from school. They spot each others shopping baskets one womans basket sports a packet of Rin, while the other has purchased Tide Naturals. The Tide lady looks proudly at her purchase and brags about Tides khushboo aur safedi bhi offering When the school bus rounds the corner and drops off the two children, the Tide ladys boy is wearing a visibly dull shirt, while behind him emerges a boy clad in a spotless white shirt, who runs past the shocked Tide lady, over to his Rin mother. To make things cheekier, the boy asks his mother, Aunty chaunk kyun gayi? (Why is aunty so shocked? ), where the word chaunk could easily be a reference to Tides punch line, Chaunk gaye? The voiceover concludes that Rin is behtar or superior to Tide, when it comes to whiteness, and at a chaunkane wala price of Rs 25, at that. A super, Issued in the interest of Rin users, completes the commercial. Comparative advertising is, quite obviously, not a new phenomenon by any standards. Every other brand has dabbled with it at some point, while it is almost formulaic for some categories. However, to make comparisons with competition involves discretion in execution, such as air-brushing or pixelating a competitors brand name/pack shot, and most definitely, keeping away from referring to rival brand names. With this ad, however, Rin seems to have broken every rule in the book. But what may seem like a publicity stunt to some, is, in all probability, a well-thought out strategy on the part of Rins makers, Hindustan Unilever (HUL). There are two debatable issues in this advertisement: * The advertisement clearly shows a packet of Tide Naturals, which has green packaging and is a cheaper extension of Tide, which orange packaging) whereas the woman in the commercial says Tide se kahin behatar safedi de Rin (Rin gives better whiteness than Tide)- Does this amount to misleading the public as per the Indian Law? At the end of the advertisement, a line is displayed on the bottom stating hat this claim is based on laboratory tests done through globally accepted protocols in independent third-party laboratories and Schematic representation of superior whiteness is based on Whiteness Index test of Rin Vs Tide Naturals as tested by Independent lab .

History Essays Bismarck German Empire

History Essays Bismarck German Empire Bismarck German Empire In what ways did Bismarck devote himself to the eradication of the ‘enemies within’ and how successful was he? Otto von Bismarck’s key role in the unification of Germany and subsequent creation of the constitution of the newly formed country ensured that his position as first Chancellor of the German Reich was completely secured. The German masses saw him as their national hero who had made possible the formation of a German Reich, established by an inspired victory in the 1870-71 war against France. His almost complete power is epitomised through the structure of the Reichstag, which enabled him to have the upper hand in all crucial decision making through his careful manipulation of Wilhelm I. At the time, the constitution was received by the German masses extremely well and most were happy to let Bismarck dominate over both foreign and domestic rulings for the next 19 years. Erich Eyck considers Bismarck’s position at the time â€Å"comparable only to that of Napoleon I during the Congress of Erfurt in 1808, when the Czar of Russia and all the German princes gathered round to do him homage†. However, despite the immense surge in nationalism that rippled through Germany and temporary economic boost from the French war reparations in 1871, Bismarck still faced many fundamental domestic problems. The years from 1871-1890 saw a series of vicious attacks on the newly formed Catholic Zentrum party and the Social Democratic Party (SPD); both essentially became Bismarck’s primary concern throughout his domestic policy. These seemingly incapacitating attacks on the political parties were designed to repress their influence in the Reichstag, however both actually gained support as a direct result of their persecution. This surely suggests that Bismarck’s devotion to the eradication of his political enemies within Germany ultimately failed. Yet, visible successes can be seen when looking at the Chancellors wider aims in the fact that he managed to further unite Germany from within, while arguably maintaining his immensely powerful position for the next 19 years. Historically it has been sighted that Bismarck’s primary domestic aim after the unification of Germany was to consolidate the Empire from within while maintaining the status-quo, and to uphold the Prussian dominated authoritarian system of ruling that had been instated in 1871. Ronald J. Ross makes the extremely valid point that â€Å"in 1871 the Bismarckian Empire was united only in its external form and that its internal consolidation, or refounding of the Reich as it is sometimes called, was not completed until 1878-79 or even as late as 1890†. Unification only solved the formal problem, by officially grouping together an extremely varied set of states, and not the practical issue of uniting the masses as one nation. Many still identified themselves as belonging to their particular state, rather than being German. To achieve this consolidation of power over his Empire, Bismarck sought to remove all opposition from within Germany that he saw as a threat to national unity or his position of ultimate power. However, war was never on the mind of Bismarck after 1871. He did not want to jeopardize what he had won for Prussia and Germany in three previous wars by foolishly waging a new conflict that could easily be avoided through careful political manipulation. By looking closely at Bismarck’s aims in these early years it is possible to judge how successful his devotion to the eradication of ‘enemies within’ was. Ultimately, his major concerns were with continuing to work towards a unified state, eradicating any form of disunity (chiefly the Catholics and Socialist) and doing both while maintaining the status quo. The constitution of the German Reich provided Bismarck with the means to essentially run Germany how he saw fit to do so and carry out his domestic policy completely unchallenged. It was presented to the German masses as a political structure where power was shared equally between the entire hierarchy; however, Bismarck had the upper hand in all crucial decision making as he was adept at convincing Wilhelm of the correctness of his policy. Prussian dominance held the key to authoritarian system, with Wilhelm, Bismarck and 17 out of the 58 deputies of the Reichstag all being Prussian, the system was always going to be run according to Prussian interest. Being responsible only to the Kaiser himself, Bismarcks policies were not threatened by the Reichstag which had relatively little influence. The only issue where the Reichstag could inflict severely on Bismarck was the alteration of the military budget, for this decision was, according to the constitution, in the hands of the Imperial Assembly. However, fear of a recurrence of the constitutional conflict of 1862, forced the Reichstag to approve the military budget envisioned by Bismarck himself from the years 1874 to 1881. This factor meant that Bismarck had completely unrivalled dominance over the ruling of Germany and indicates how it was almost impossible for any internal opposition to block his way in any way at all. Wilhelm was the only force that could really exert any influence over Bismarck’s reign; yet he never really held the desire to ever stop a man who united a country under the dominance of a Prussian authoritarian system. Perhaps most vital to Bismarck was the necessity to have an overwhelming dominance of support in the Reichstag. He achieved this through an alliance with the National Liberals up until 1879; a tactical move which further ensured his powerful position. The Liberals gained â€Å"about 120 out of 400 deputies† in the election of March 1871 so held the largest influence in the Reichstag. They were broadly sympathetic to the chancellor because he had brought about national unity, the partys major policy aim. They also shared interest in Bismarck’s anti-Clerical desires and the instatement of free trade. Bismarck was happy to work with the Liberals who were a very capable political party. According to Erich Eyck, their party consisted of â€Å"most of the leading parliamentarians, men of popular authority, of wide knowledge and political wisdom†. However, the collaboration was by no means a complete symbiosis. The foundation of the relationship rested solely on the fact that the Liberals could be relied upon to give their support entirely to Bismarck, especially in the implementation of the Kulturkampf. His willingness to switch alliances in 1879 to a Conservative Reichstag in order to focus an attack on the growing Social Democratic Party further highlights this point. He had no allegiance to the Liberals or in fact any political party and his association with both the National Liberals and Free Conservatives was simply only a way of strengthening his position and giving him a strong dominance in the Reichstag. His political flexibility throughout this time was a stroke of genius which paved the way for his future dealings with internal opposition within the country. It can also be seen as a move which prevented any further outbreak of opposition within the Reichstag itself. The proclamation of ‘Papal infallibility’ in 1870 was seen by Bismarck as a direct threat to German unity and formed the basis for his successive persecution of Catholics beginning in 1871. Forming one third of the German population, the Catholics were an inevitable problem for Bismarck due to the fact that they owed allegiance to the Pope. Bismarck saw this as undermining the political structure and a direct promotion of disunity. Along with this, and perhaps more influential, the Zentrum party, formed in 1870, were growing in popularity and in 1871 had 70 deputies in the Reichstag. Eric Eyck comments that â€Å"it was, from the outset, the second strongest party†, and held completely opposing views to that of the National Liberals, and ultimately Bismarck. They promoted church education, opposed civil marriage, promoted decentralisation and supported social reform, all of which were targeting throughout the Kulturkampf. They were fast growing under Ludwig Windthorst and were seen by many as Bismarck’s main threat in the early years after unification. After completely securing the National Liberals support, Bismarck began his attack on the Catholics with the abolition of the Catholic division of the Prussian Ministry of Culture in 1871. This was followed by the May laws in 1873, which restricted the Catholic Church in a number of ways, including the introduction of civil marriage and prevention of Catholic education. Looking back at Bismarck’s early aims, it is clear to see that he intended to purge foreign influence from German affairs. On the whole, he did not manage to achieve this with the Catholics and the Kulturkampf was generally a failure from the outset. Many German Catholics detested the pope’s assumption of infallibility but resented what Bismarck and the National Liberals did even more. Instead of going to Bismarck’s side, they rallied behind the Church. The Zentrum increased rapidly in support and the harsh persecution and imprisonment only strengthened their numbers to 94 seats by 1874. Jonathan Rose believes that Bismarck utterly misunderstood and underrated the power of the Church and caused a lot more damage to himself in terms of political opposition than to the Zentrum. This opinion is echoed by Ronald Ross who states that â€Å"persecution, if it did anything, became a spur to Catholic unity and determination†. However, although it is impossible to deny the failure of the Kulturkampf, it is important to remember that Bismarck still remained in political control through out the period. As soon as he could do so, he switched allegiances with the National Liberals and by 1880 the Kulturkampf was effectively over. Bismarck was adept enough in his abilities to realise that he had made a huge political mistake and reversed this to focus on his next targets, the Socialists. As noted by Carr â€Å"Socialism, like Catholicism, had allegiances beyond the Nation state which Bismarck could neither understand nor tolerate†. With new found economic prosperity in 1880, the Social Democratic Party grew rapidly in numbers and presented Bismarck with a real challenge to authority. A stark rise in the amount of working class meant that people were slowly becoming interested in social policy and state welfare. Bismarck regarded the SPD’s with severe ideological and personal contempt mainly as their policies collided with those of his conservative tendencies and that of his future allies, the Free Conservatives. His opportunity to attack the growing party came in 1878, when two attempts upon the life of the Kaiser enabled him to direct the nations patriotism against his political foes. He dissolved the Reichstag and put the blame solely upon that of the Socialists, which effectively resulted in the party being banned from all aspects of German politics up until 1890. In an attempt to further limit the party’s power, a series of anti-Socialist laws were introduced in October 19th 1878. Even though these measures did not ban the SPD completely, they prohibited the party from meeting and disseminating its doctrine. It also gave the government the power to expel persons from their residence who could be described as agitators. Although SPD deputies were allowed to sit in the Reichstag in effect socialism was banned in Germany. All Trade Unions associated with the SPD were also crushed. In 1880 the SPD, now in effect an underground organisation, met in Switzerland to resist Bismarcks measures. A new socialist newspaper was published in Zurich and smuggled into Germany. However, despite these incapacitating attacks on the SPD, once more the result only benefited the political party. Erich Eyck comments that â€Å"votes given to the Social Democratic candidates rose to 550,000 in 1884, to 763,000 in 1887, and to 1,427,000 in 1890†. Once again Bismarck had failed to achieve what he had set out to do in terms of limiting support for opposing political parties. Despite his contempt for socialism, Bismarck was aware that the demand for socialist reform was a threat that held severe potential for the creation of increased internal opposition. Due to the rise of industrialism and growth of the working class, living conditions began to falter. This presented the workers with an increased desire to support the SPD and perhaps more worrying for Bismarck, view his malicious attacks on the party with severe contempt. Bismarck realised that socialism could not be conquered by oppression alone and embarked on a program of state socialism which was to improve the conditions of the German workers. In 1883, medical insurance and sick pay were introduced, and 1889 saw the introduction of old-age pensions. Reforms brought about by state socialism were by no means as advantageous for the workers as similar reforms by the SPD might have been, but they sufficed to pacify the proletariat and those critics of the chancellor who had blamed him for disregarding public needs. This again epitomises Bismarck’s skill and flexibility throughout his years as German Chancellor. Despite his vicious attack on the Socialists, he had the political prowess to realise that without the introduction of state socialism, workers would rise up against him and rally behind that of the SPD. This is often seen as Bismarck’s greatest success in working towards his aim of limiting the support of his rival political parties. Bismarck’s methods of dealing with ‘enemies within’ during his reign as chancellor of the German Reich from 1871 to 1890 is best seen as a complete failure with several key successes. When comparing his initial aims to the actual results of both the Kulturkampf and anti-Socialist laws, there is no other way to describe Bismarck’s methods than a complete failure. Both party’s enjoyed greater success in the following elections and grew rapidly as a direct result of the persecution. However, although he devoted himself completely to the various attacks on both the Catholic Zentrum party and Social Democratic party, he still maintained wide ranging success in his many foreign policies. The constitution went along way to eliminate any threat to Bismarck’s total power and essentially paved the way for his many attacks on various forms of internal opposition. With the Reichstag unable to effectively oppose Bismarck, only the Kaiser had the power to dispose of the chancellor; a threat that, during the lifetime of Wilhelm I, did not exist. Bismarck’s opportunism was such that it allowed him to rely upon his political prowess to judge each situation on its own merit. Despite obvious failures in both the Kulturkampf and anti-Socialist laws, he still managed to maintain political control and effectively reverse attacks through careful political manipulation. The abrupt change from liberalism to conservatism, the swift change of heart towards the May Laws and the granting of socialist reforms support the view that Bismarck did not have a master plan; not even a firm ideological inclination, but did all he could, in order to remain the effective leader of the German Reich. His way of dealing with internal opposition was flexible and relied quite heavily upon careful opportunism. While it has to be admitted that he was unethical in his methods, he was succumbing to the broad demands of the public only to be able to carry out the foreign politics necessary to secure the German Reich for the future. By combining stubbornness with flexibility, Bismarck effectively kept the ‘enemies within’ under control between 1871 and 1890. Biography: Erich Eyck, Bismarck and the German Empire, George Allen Unwin (Publishers) Ltd., Fourth Impression 1980 Geoffrey Wawro, The Austro-Prussian War: Austrias War with Prussia and Italy in 1866, Cambridge University Press, 2nd Edition 1997 Gordon R. Mork, Bismarck and the Capitulation of German Liberalism, The Journal of Modern History, Vol. 43, No. 1 (Mar., 1971) Hans-Ulrich Wehler, The German Empire, 1871-1918, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire: Berg Publishers, 1985 Jonathan E. Rose, Otto von Bismarck, Chelsea  House  Publishers, (New York, 1987) Marjie Bloy, European History, A Web of English History, http://www.historyhome.co.uk/europe/bisdom.htm (date consulted 11/03/08) Ronald J. Ross, ‘Enforcing the Kulturkampf: The Bismarckian State and the Limits of Coercion in Imperial Germany’, Journal of Modern History, vol. 56, no. 3, 1984 William Carr, A History of Germany 1815-1990, 1996

Effect of Adrenaline on Cardiac Arrests Survival

Effect of Adrenaline on Cardiac Arrests Survival Effect of Adrenaline on Survival in Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrests: A Randomized Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Trial Hem Patel The study shepherded by Jacobs et al juxtaposed the effect of adrenaline on survival in out-of-hospital cardiac arrests with a randomized double-blind placebo controlled trial. This study was the first of its kind to address the knowledge deficit of two majors goals: survival of the patient to a hospital discharge and return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC). Cardiac arrest occurring out of hospital is a significant public health issue causing fatality rates upwards of 90%, although improving in the recent decades.1 Thus, the researchers analytically examined the relationship between the uses of adrenaline in such patients through a randomized control led trial (RCT) in the region of Western Australia (WA), under government contract with St John Ambulance Western Australia (SJA-WA). Being on top of the studies’ hierarchy, RCT studies like this one, quite evidently fortified the experiment’s internal validity. The creation of comparable groups in the study allowed the control of confounding variables enhancing the internal validity. An investigationRandomized controlled trials, such aslike RCTthis one, decreases the sampling bias by decreasing the likelihood of chance results occurring, thus enhancing the internal validity of the study. which was evident in the Jacob study. Logistic regression modeling further augmented this investigation The investigation was further augmented by logistic regression modeling which was undertakenin order to control for the effect of potential confounders1 (i.e. the patients’ initial cardiac rhythm, age and ambulance response time). on the relationship between study drug and patient outcome.1 Although, as a result of a small sample size, often the case with RCTs, and specific geographical demographics, limited external validity was a given. Low external validity was evident in this study as only one major hospital in the region of WA took part in it. The other hospitals requested did not participate due to rejection from their hospital ethics board.This was evident in this study as four of the five hospitals requested to participate felt the ethicality of the study superseded their own ethical board, negatively. Hence, the total number of patients being able to participate in this study had quite drastically decreased, in turn hampering the power of the study. However, two very crucial experimental qualities in high precision and internal validity were upheld consistently throughout the experiment, in spite of the very limited external validity. All out-of-hospital cardiac arrests attended by SJA-WA paramedics between 11 August 2006 and 30th November 2009 were screened into the experiment for entry into the trialwere entered into the trial.1.1 Patients suffering a cardiac arrest from any cause, aged 18 years or older with resuscitation commenced by paramedics were eligible for entry as well; indicating a moderately strict eligibility and inclusion criteria. Patients were excluded based on having no resuscitation commenced, were of an age less than 18 years, and eligible patients’ personal declination. n and randomization number of patient lost/As noticed, the external validity along with confounding bias of the study decreased due to the increased criterion required for a patient to take part in the trial. It may look as if few categories were used to determine the eligibility of the patient, though many factors such as patient age, male gender, bystander witnessed, response interval, and the study drug were accounted for through univariate analysis. The only confounding variable, which was accounted for, stated by the study is the factor of initial shockable rhythm (when a particular type of cardiac rhythm is treatable using a defibrillation) – one that is not very significant (p-Value of 0.24) in changing the efficacy of adrenaline in out-of-hospital cardiac arrests. Being able to eliminate thisese potential confounding variables and biases, internal validity increased showing that the lack of a causal relationship between effect of adrenaline and cardiac arrests was less likely to be an upshot of an uncontrolled confounding variable, rather than one accounted for. In regards to a This studyRCT study, has a sample size of 534 patients, one that is of a moderate size in comparison to other RCT studies., out of whichOut of 534 patients, 272 were randomly assigned to the group being treated with adrenaline and 262 to that of the placebo group.1.1 As eEach of the patients had an completely equal chance to be presented with either of the treatments, and this randomization of the participants controlled for a potentiality of a sampling bias – a chance yet again enhancing the internal validity. Additionally, although very diminutive confounding bias was associated with this study, the potential of selection bias was still present as the study took place only in Western Australia. it was unable to exclude the potential for selection bias as the participation in the study by the SJA-WA paramedics was voluntary, only 40% of eligible patients were recruited. However, trial patients were well matched on baseline characteristics (age p-value of 0.69, location of arrest p-value of 0.25, volume of trial drug versus placebo drug administered p-value of 0.28).1 , Henceforth, no reason to suggest that paramedics who participated in the trial were more likely to selectively enroll patients into the trial.1 . Furthermore, to reduce the possibility of confounding bias, all paramedics in WA underwent the same type of training familiarizing them of this trial protocol; even if they were not participating in the actual experiment. This further enhanced the internal validity of the study. As mentioned above, as resuscitation commenced by paramedics, the patients were eligible for entry, where if they were administered adrenaline it would be at a rate of 1mL every 3 minutes, with no other drugs entering through tracheal administration. Prior to the commencement of each trial to be presented with an equal chance of the level of treatment for each of these patients specific training of the pharmacology of adrenaline, familiarization with the trial protocol, further practice in intravenous cannulation and cardiac simulation exercises along with testing was undertaken to ensure the prerequisite resuscitation competency standard had been achieved. This training was provided to all of the paramedics in the WA area regardless of their intention to participate in the study; being able to decline confounding bias from the patient-care givers’ aspect, enhancing the internal validity.Analyzed above in this critical appraisal are many aspects of the study that allow for a s tudy it to be very well received by majority of the readers, although there were a couple of limitations. Firstly, the researchers were unable to achieve full patient recruitment as planned (4103 patients who had cardiac arrests attended by an ambulance). This study was designed as a multicenter trial involving a five-ambulance service. , Ddespite having ethical approval from the Human Research Ethics Committee of the University of WA, four out of five hospitals opted out.otherwise. Thus, giving this gave the study a moderate sample size, increasing the chance of making a type two error and ; essentially decreasing both the internal validity and the power of the study. The failure to achieve an adequate sample size left the trial underpowered (power of 40%) to detect significant effects on survival to hospital discharge.1 The second limitation to the study was the ability for it to continue, as the study experimental drugs had gone past their expiry date and no additional funding wa s available. Granted,ing the patient as well as researcher blinding was well preserved in this study such that, the researchers can consider the likelihood of these factors being differentially distributed between the two study arms (placebo vs. adrenaline) to be small.1 The researchers claim that there is a significant (3.4 times) increase in the likelihood of achieving ROSC pre-hospital if the patients were administered adrenaline versus the placebo (23.5% versus 6.4%; OR 3.4; 95% CI 2.0-5.6; p-value 1).1 They base this conclusion on the oOdds ratio (OR), which were used to quantify the odds of achieving ROSC pre-hospital depending on the administration of the placebo or the adrenaline. how strongly the presence of the outcome was associated with the presence of the administered adrenaline versus the placebo saline solution2. After adjustment for confounders (age, sex, initial rhythm shockable, ambulance response interval and study drug) using the logistic regression model, there was little change in the effect of adrenaline on ROSC (OR. 3.5; 95% CI 2.1-6.0).1 The degree of precision that a study maintains is defined by a confidence interval. The experimenters claim that they are 95% confident that the odds ratio of being ROSC pre-hospital with the administration of adrenaline is between 2.1 and 6.0 indicates a moderately definite statement (explained further). However, there was insignificant evidence (OR 2.2; 95% CI 0.7 – 6.3; p-value 0.15) of the patient administered with adrenaline versus placebo to survive until hospital discharge. Because 1.0 is included in the confidence interval, the researchers acknowledge it as not statistically significant. However, from a clinical standpoint, 3.5 times greater chances of the patient achieving ROSC are significant and one should definitely consider applying such a method, if in the position to do so. Results indicated the OR for ROSC achieved pre-hospital patients at 3.4 (95% confidence interval [CI] 2.0-5.6; P saline placebo. The outcomes dictate an approximate 16% greater advantage of a chieving ROSC pre-hospital with the administration of adrenaline than having the placebo. Statistical significance is generally considered at 20%, but in aspects dealing with topic as such, upwards of 5% could statistically mean more to the medical community; allowing to save more lives.3 At an OR of 2.2 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.7 – 6.3; P = 0.15) indicates no difference between the two testing groups with the p-value greater than that of the alpha value of 0.05. Results are further negatively supported by the CI including the value of 1, demonstrating statistical insignificance; decreasing the study’s precision in this aspect of the outcome, although balanced by the significance in the previous outcome. The findings of this study are equivocal to several other clinical trials designed the to assess the efficacy of adrenaline in cardiac arrest. The most dominant feature about this study is that it is the first ever-randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial of adrenaline in cardiac arrest, while others all have been non-randomized trials. Similar results were replicated through the Rresearch conducted by Olasveengen et al. also His study reported a doubling in the proportion of patients achieving ROSC with an OR of 1.99 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.48-2.67), and achieving similar non-significant increasing results in the proportion surviving to hospital discharge4..4 Although, Jacob’s study, although further expanded on the generality of the efficacy of drug to locations of arrests, ambulance response interval, cardiac arrest witnessed (bystander and paramedic) and airway management; bringing greater appreciation to this study..1 Three sources of Mill’s Canons were evidently utilized to support the causality. The strength of association was statistically significant, as noted by the greater effect of adrenaline in ROSC being achieved pre-hospital transportation. An increase dosage of adrenaline would directly increase ROSC, and possibly an increase number of patients survive to hospital discharge.1, 5Adrenaline stimulates ÃŽ ²-adrenergic receptors which stimulate the increase of blood flow indicates the final Mill’s Canon in biological plausibility. Thus, it can be noticed that a causal relationship can be agreed upon adrenaline and increased ROSC being achieved pre-hospital. Jacobs points out the importance of his study’s contribution to clinical research on adrenaline usage during cardiac arrests, and at the same provides suggestions to further research avenues. To be able to determine the optimal dose or timing of adrenaline administered during cardiac arrest are the two main areas of further research. In my opinion, the study was done welldone, extremely well, providing sufficient evidence for a relationship between the adrenaline and an increase ROSC in 18 and above out-of-hospital cardiac arrests. With the elimination of a majority of the biases, through the use ofwith logistical regression and creating comparable groups (placebo versus adrenaline), internal validity and the precision of the study was enhanced. .The findings of this study are clinically important in that it established efficacy for the continuous use of adrenaline in cardiac arrest as currently recommended.5 With a study related to such a topic, the sample size should adequa tely be increased to allow for a greater power and external validity in the study; allowing a generalization to a greater portion of the public. References Jacobs IG, Finn JC, Jelinek GA, Oxer HF, Thompson PL. Effects of adrenaline on survival in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial.resuscitation2011; 82: 1138-1143. Szumilas, M. Explaining odds ratios.National Center for Biotechnology Information2010; 19(3): 227-229. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2938757/ (accessed 28 October 2014). Pocock, SJ. Clinical trials with multiple outcomes: a statistical perspective on their design, analysis, and interpretation.Elsevier1997; 97. Olasveengen TM, Sunde K, Brunborg C, Thowsen K, Steen PA, Wik I. Intravenous drug administration during out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: a randomized trial.JAMA2009; 302: 2222-2229. Vandycke C, Martens P. High dose versus standard dose epinephrine in cardiac arrest a meta-analysis.Resuscitation2000; 45: 161-166

The Chechen Wars Essay -- Islam in the North Caucasus 2014

From Western audiences, Chechnya—whether as an autonomous oblast, a sovereign state, or a war zone—has never received much consideration. Just one of dozens of ethnic groups within Russia who have declared since the end of the Soviet Union their right to self-rule and self-determination, the Chechens’ struggle for independence was drowned out in the cacophony of calls for independence during the 1990s. However, in a world so greatly affected by the events of September 11, 2001 and given the role of Chechen separatist groups in bombings of Russian apartment buildings in 1999 (which killed more than 300) and the hostage-taking of a Russian theater in 2002 (which resulted in the deaths of 130 Russians and 30 rebels), the rhetoric of Islamic fundamentalism and the terminology of terrorism has brought the Chechen people to the forefront of international concern (Trenin & Malashenko, 2004, p. 45). Yet the roots of the conflict in Chechnya, which have spurned two wa rs with the Russian Federation over the past two decades, are defined neither by terrorist activities or the Islamists who have recently come to typify the most virulent of the separatist rebels; rather, the origin is in the centuries long forging of a group that has faced common persecution from the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union, and the Russian Federation. Ethnicity compounded with a new emphasis on fundamentalist religious ideology has greatly complicated a struggle that has benefited the economic and political interests of groups as disparate as elected officials, crime bosses, business leaders, and international governments (Politkovskaya, 2003). War has wrought the economic and social collapse of Chechnya and simultaneously embarrassed a Russia giant whose parti... ...thcaucasus.pdf Jaimoukha, A. (2005) The Chechens: A Handbook. New York: Routledge. Meier, A. (2005). Chechnya: To the Heart of a Conflict. New York: W. E. Norton & Company. Nikolaev. Y. V., Ed. (2013). The Chechen Tragedy: Who is to Blame? Cormack, New York: Nova Science Publishers, Inc. (March 19, 2013) Oliker, O. (2001). Russia’s Chechen Wars: 1994-2000. Washington: RAND. Politkovskaya, A. (2003). A Small Corner of Hell: Dispatches from Chechnya. University of Chicago Press Tishkov, V. (2004). Chechnya: Life in a War Torn society. Berkeley, California: The University of California Press. Trenin, D. V. & Malashenko, A. V. (2004). Russia’s Restless Frontier: The Chechnya Factor in Post-Soviet Russia. Washington: Carnegie Endowment for Peace. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/j.1538-165X.2005.tb01379.x/abstract

Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg :: World War II WWII

Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg From autumn 1943 on, Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg becomes a decisive factor in the struggle against Hitler. In 1933, he initially feels that National Socialist policy offers Germany favorable opportunities but is soon alienated by the regime's racial ideology. Yet Stauffenberg only assumes an active role in opposing the regime once he realizes the consequences of German policy in eastern Europe and can estimate the full extent of the damage that Hitler's war has brought upon Germany and Europe. Under the influence of Henning von Tresckow, General Friedrich Olbricht, and First Lieutenant Fritz-Dietlof Graf von der Schulenburg of the army reserve, Stauffenberg becomes a focal point of the military conspiracy. He establishes important links to civilian resistance groups and coordinates his assassination plans with Carl Friedrich Goerdeler and Ludwig Beck, and with the conspirators waiting in readiness in Paris, Vienna, Berlin, and at Army Group Center. Stauffenberg's Way to the Assassination Attempt of July 20, 1944 In early April 1943, Stauffenberg is severely wounded in Tunisia, barely escaping death. During the months of his convalescence, he gradually comes to realize he must take an active part in resistance. Even in earlier years, the church's struggle, the persecution of the Jews, and the crimes in eastern Europe have alienated Stauffenberg from the National Socialist state. His closest confidant is his brother Berthold, who has had contacts to the opposition for a long time. After an extended period of convalescence, Colonel Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg is appointed to the post of chief of staff of the General Army Office in October 1943. From June 1944 on, he also serves as chief of staff for the commanding officer of the Ersatzheer (Reserve Army), General Friedrich Olbricht, at Olbricht's request. In this position he has clearance to attend briefings at Hitler's headquarters in the so-called "Wolf's Lair" near Rastenburg in East Prussia. Olbricht informs Stauffenberg of his plans for a coup and introduces him to members of the resistance groups around Ludwig Beck and Carl Friedrich Goerdeler. Stauffenberg has a great deal of charisma and is valued for his professional expertise. He brings many opponents of the regime together and makes close friends among them not only military officers but also Social Democrats like Julius Leber, members of the Kreisau Circle like Adam von Trott zu Solz, and representatives of the labor union movement like Jakob Kaiser and Wilhelm Leuschner. The Planning of Operation "Valkyrie" The conspirators from the civilian and military resistance groups realize that the military leadership cannot be induced to act in concert. They concentrate their efforts on eliminating Hitler, gaining control of the military chain of command, and assuming the

Essay on A Literary Report on “The Nightingale and The Rose” By Oscar Wilde

‘Nineteenth Century Short Stories' is a collection of tales from the nineteen hundreds. This essay will concentrate on just one of these stories. It will include a thorough analysis of the story including my views and opinions towards the language, imagery and setting that the author uses. The story I have chosen to analyse is ‘The Nightingale and the Rose', by Oscar Wilde. This is one of many children's stories that he wrote, as he is well known to have ‘used the form of fairy tale to reflect on modern life and to debate ideas'. ‘The Nightingale and the Rose' is a very poignant story following the theme of love.The theme is conveyed in this story through the actions of the Nightingale. It demonstrates how one life would sacrifice itself in order to make another happy. From the Nightingale's point of view, this is a tragically ironic story. For she thinks that the Student must be a ‘true lover' – she thinks that he would give anything for one nigh t with the Professor's daughter. ‘She said that she would dance with me if I brought her red roses†¦ yet for want of a red rose is my life made wretched', the Nightingale hears him cry; and on this evidence alone she bases her opinion: ‘Here at last is a true lover.‘ When in fact the only feelings the Student has for the Professor's daughter are those of material love. He is only interested in her beauty. He says to himself ‘She has form – that cannot be denied to her' but then he says ‘She would not sacrifice herself for others', which is exactly what the Nightingale is about to do for him. She is willing to sacrifice her life for love; for the Student to be able to spend one night with the girl he supposedly admires. An interesting point to note is when the Student mentions that the Professor's daughter ‘has some beautiful notes in her voice.What a pity it is that they do not mean anything, or do any practical good. ‘ Now Night ingales are renowned for having beautiful voices, but the Student does not appreciate the wonderful art of music. A few paragraphs before these lines the Nightingale sings to the Student telling him of how she intends to sacrifice her life for him; ‘be happy; you shall have your red rose. I will build it out of music by moonlight, and stain it with my own heart's-blood. ‘ Although he cannot understand them, these words are, in fact, deeply meaningful to the Student.And as for music doing no ‘practical good', well, what would you call the outcome of the red rose? The Nightingale died and the rose was born. Music made that red rose. The Student does not realise how wrong his judgements are. We find out that the only ‘true lover' was in fact the Nightingale. She was the only one with sincere feelings, and she was prepared to sacrifice her life for those feelings, even though she knew she would not gain anything from it. The fact that she was doing it for love, a nd that she was making someone happy, was enough for her. She was really the only one who deserved love – the only one worthy of it.The Nightingale was love. She went to the greatest extremes to find a red rose for the Student to give to the Professor's daughter. She flew all around the garden trying to find a red rose. She flew to ‘the centre of the grass-plot', and 'round the old sun-dial', and finally ‘beneath the Students window', where she eventually found a red rose tree. But the tree was damaged, and would not bear a red rose. the only way the Nightingale could obtain a red rose from this tree, would be to ‘build it out of music by moonlight', and stain it with her ‘own heart's-blood'; and that is what she did.The story is set in a garden of fantasy – it is full of talking creatures and trees; not unlike the Garden of Eden in the Bible, which had a talking snake. Perhaps the author used a garden because in the Bible it is very symbolic, a nd its story has many lessons and meanings. Maybe that was what Oscar Wilde was trying to convey in his writing. Although this story was meant as a fairy tale for children, it contained a large range of vocabulary and many detailed descriptions; suggesting that perhaps the story was actually aimed at adults, but

International Communication Focusing on Fifa 2014

Vuvuzelas sound and it fills the stadiums with a noise that is still heard ringing in the ears of millions days later, even months after it has ended. The overwhelming feeling of excitement spreads through the veins of everyone watching and those on the edge of their seats just waiting for the next goal to be scored, determining who wins the world cup and takes home the famous gold â€Å"FIFA World Cup Trophy. † The World Cup is a tournament that comes every four years and lasts a month long with tournaments every day from June 13th- July 13th The World Cup brings in a whirlwind of excitement and emotions. This victorious event will be held in Brazil in the year of 2014 but before June 13th hits, there is a massive amount of planning to be done. With all the preparations leading up to the World Cup we will capture the trials and tribulations through the eyes of four locals in Rio de Janeiro. First, we will film one year before hand and capture everyday life without the World Cup. We will take a look at how Brazilians live their lives on a day to day basis without the chaos and media attention of the event. We will do this by following four individuals, interviewing them about how they feel about the World Cup and how it is affecting their daily routine. Our second round of filming will place our crews with the same four peole on the day of the first game in Rio de Janeiro. The World Cup takes the world by storm every four years. While in America, soccer has just recently gained a large following, it has been a way of life for generations in many countries throughout the world. We can identify with this phenomenon somewhat if we relate it to the impact of the Olympics when they were held in Atlanta, Georgia in 1996. An event of this scale becomes all-consuming and places the city and country under a worldwide microscope. The World Cup produces a whirlwind of excitement with years of preparation that costs and generates millions of dollars. Many sports in America have a strong following and fan-base, but nothing can truly be compared to that of soccer overseas. Countries such as Mexico, Spain and Brazil look at soccer, its players, and the games, as a way of life. Brazil especially has been known for its talented and renowned soccer (â€Å"futebol†) team throughout the years and they have won five World Cups. From the outside looking in, Brazil has been known as one of the powerhouses, if not the powerhouse of soccer worldwide. The fact that FIFA and all of the other governing and deciding bodies have chosen to place the World Cup 2014 in Brazil generates further excitement, but also places this country under close watch from viewers worldwide. As we saw with the World Cup 2010 in South Africa, a country can be drastically altered and affected by such a large-scale event. We want to create this documentary to shed light on the impacts, trials and jubilation of such an incredible event. While many see the benefits of hosting such an event, there are plenty of drawbacks as well. We want to create an in-depth look of this phenomenon, the World Cup, and show also how it affects the country that is producing the event. So much goes on behind the scenes and many lives are impacted, whether negatively or positively. By following four real people with everyday jobs and average, normal lives, we hope to inform the public of the on-goings of the preparation for the World Cup, as well as how individual lives are impacted. We want to follow four people; a ticket scalper, police officer, a fan and a street vendor. Through this we hope to achieve a more personal view of such an immensely grand event. We want to inform the public of the preparations involved in the World Cup as well as the madness that ensues once it all begins. We will chronicle this massive worldwide soccer tournament through the eyes of normal everyday Rio de Janeiro citizens in the attempt to show a real-life perspective of a fantastical and media-centric event. While there are documentaries aplenty, ours is unique in that it shows the impact on a country and its citizens, something many viewers of the World Cup never consider. By creating a personal and impactful narrative that comments on economic repercussions, nationalism and pride, we hope to appeal to viewers who want to see a cultural view of soccer that has never before been created. Nicknamed â€Å"Cidade Maravilhosa† — Portuguese for â€Å"marvelous city† — Rio de Janeiro conjures many images including Ipanema Beach and the famous Cristo Redentor statue atop Corcovado Mountain. But in 2014, one of the most important global sporting events, the World Cup, will arrive in Brazil where soccer — or futebol as they know it — is the lifeblood of the culture. After FIFA announced Brazil as the hosts of the 2014 World Cup on October 30, 2007, a different set of images would materialize for the population of Rio de Janeiro. Once upon a time it was the site of the final match of the 19 50 World Cup in Maracana Stadium. Uruguay came from behind to beat its host 2-1, even though Brazil was heavily favored after eliminating previous opponents Spain and Sweden. Since then, Rio de Janeiro has been home to some of Brazil’s most popular soccer clubs: Botafogo, Fluminense, Vasco da Gama and Flamengo. With a past and present such as this, tensions and expectations will undoubtedly be high, especially where soccer is so inter-meshed with their culture. Choosing to film in Rio de Janeiro will capture much of this drama associated with the World Cup as we follow our four subjects: the police officer, the fan, the street vendor and the ticket scalper. In general, we want to keep the area surrounding Maracana Stadium as our locus of interest, but this isn’t necessarily realistic. The subjects have dynamic lives each and every day, especially as the World Cup draws closer, so it may be difficult to remain under the shadow of the venue. As each subject travels through different areas of the city, the camera crews will have to make critical judgment calls about when to uncap the lens. Our film crews can expect to capture the best footage in some of Rio de Janeiro’s most exciting sites. The city is known for its soccer, tourism, night life and beaches, but we will want to focus on the North Zone. It contains several neighborhoods and important tourist attractions, including our primary filming location, Maracana Stadium, which is located in the Tijuca neighborhood. It is home to many of the middle class residents and also the lower class favelas, which are crime-ridden neighborhoods filled with poorly built shanties. Our police officer will certainly be answering calls from this poor section of Rio de Janeiro where our ticket scalper is a resident. Our street vendor and soccer fan will also be residents of the Rio North Zone. It is there in the North Zone that we will want to follow each of our characters into their homes. Once inside their homes, our camera crews can film the effects of the World Cup on the Brazilian household unit. We will discover just how the home family life is transformed both demographically and psycho-graphically. Questions can be answered such as: a) Has new disposable income, as provided by the World Cup’s economic opportunities, increased the family’s standard of living? b) Has Brazilian pride in its national sport entered the home life? c) Has the importance of home security changed due to the hysteria associated with the World Cup? Once these questions are answered, a more complete view of the character is revealed and analyzed by the audience. Another set of important sites will be public centers for transportation. The primary modes of transportation are by municipal train and bus lines since driving by car is very difficult. Due to a great deal of highway congestion, cars often move at a snail-like pace. Important themes will manifest themselves as we travel to and from each location. These places, which are usually replete with a colorful culture, will be amplified in the presence of the World Cup. The documentary will actively connect the dots between Brazil’s national pride and their national sport at these various locations. The Maracana Stadium will be the most important site. There we will capture each of our characters’ paths intersecting outside and inside the venue. The fan will obviously be destined for the stadium itself; the street vendor will set up shop as close to the stadium as possible so as to snag the most consumers as possible; and the policeman will have critical interactions with the ticket scalper, who will be acting against the law. Many memorable characters exist in a documentary just like any other genre of film. The goal is to capture reality but there is no need to move away from the act of story telling. The idea behind the characters of our documentary is that they are all connected through each other by the duties they perform throughout the documentary.. Our first character to appear is the police officer. Juan Sminho is 38 and works for the Rio de Janeiro tourist police. He performs regular policing in the streets of Rio by assisting tourists and pointing them in the proper direction to where they are headed. Juan also performs similar duties to what the united states police force does but he is not as involved with crime as our police forces are. He lives on the north side in a two bedroom apartment with his wife and brother. He does not come from a wealthy family but did inherit some from his parents when they were murdered 10 years ago in a robbing which pushed him to become part of the Brazil police force to keep things like that from happening to other families. He will show the audience what it is like in everyday life as a tourist officer, then there will be a dramatic change of pace a year later on the chaotic streets of Rio where his duties are truly put to the test with all the tourist in town for the World Cup games. Juan’s duties will be to perform crowd control, assist tourists and seek out ticket scalpers; this is a highly illegal offense in Brazil. Most everyone has seen a ticket scalper before, but if not, they are the ones that stand on the corners of concert/sport venues and sell those last minute tickets needed for the fans. Ticket scalping is very illegal in Brazil and punishable by jail time, but that does not stop our scalper from risking it all for some extra cash. We will follow Gustavo Silva, a thirty-four year old Rio native who has never left the North region. He works as a ticket scalper primarily, but during the slow months tries to make ends meet by helping out at his parents' modest fruit stand in the outskirts of Rio. The popularity of soccer as a sport, particularly in Brazil, directly effects his livelihood and well-being. Seeing Gustavo in his element both before and during the World Cup will create a dynamic story for the viewers. Viewers will identify with Gustavo's endearing and persuasive personality because of his hard-working attitude. Ticket scalping just became illegal in Brazil, which is obviously a threat for Gustavo. The documentary will show the discrepancies in this law as it is not seriously enforced until the World Cup in 2014. The effects of this on Gustavo will prove to be detrimental. With money being tight and having to find work wherever possible, some residents of Rio do not have a choice. Our team has high hopes for our scalper that he will sell a ticket to our next character, the fan. What is a team without its fans; similar to a sandwich without bread. A sandwich does not exist without bread much like a team would be nowhere without fans. Soccer fans have been seen taking their â€Å"fandom† to the extreme, but the more extreme it is, the more the team feels honored and welcome. Brazil soccer fans are famous throughout the world for their enthusiasm and carnival atmosphere at the World Cup. Many soccer managers will often claim that soccer fans can act as an extra man or the infamous â€Å"12th Man† and this is certainly the case when Brazil plays in front of over 100,000 soccer fans at the famous Maracana Stadium. The fans are not always as supportive though, in fact, they can be rather harsh. This was shown when the team came home after the 2006 world cup without a win, according to Kevin McNally of E-zine Articles. We hope to capture all this excitement while following around our dedicated fan, if Brazil loses then it is possible that our film gets even more interesting with the outrage that the country will have on them. Choosing a fan for our documentary was tough but we have found one who truly shows the spirit needed to connect with our audience. Paulo Cardoso is originally from Rio and lived there until he was 18. Once old enough, he moved to the United States to attend college but soon wanted to return to his home country after graduating. Paulo is a business major but is currently working at his parents coffee shop as a manager to help them out. He is 28 and has been an avid futebol fan since he was born, according to him. Every four years he gathers around the big screens in Rio to watch Brazil triumph, or try to, over their competitors. He will take us through the festivals in Rio including â€Å"Fan Fest Rio 2014. † His grandfather attended the World Cup in 1950 when it was last held in Brazil followed by the World Cup in 1978 held in Argentina and this time Paulo’s father went alongside. Paulo has been saving as much money as he can to be able to hold the tickets that so many others strive to have. He does not plan on buying a ticket before the games due to hopefully cheaper prices on game day. He will be a huge help on guiding us around Rio due to our unfamiliarity to the city. Paulo brings to the documentary the familiar language of English but with the Brazilian traditions that we could all stand to learn from. He as well as many other fans will interact with many people but as always, he will buy some form of merchandise from a street vendor before the game. This will allow for our fan and street vendor to interact with one another. There will be a numerous amount of street vendors trying to sell anything they have that represents the world renowned Brazil â€Å"Futebol† Team. Our film crews will follow around one vendor who sets up shop close to the stadium in hopes of catching the most business. Gearing up for the World Cup takes a lot of preparation, which is why it is imperative that we catch her one year before hand before she starts ordering merchandise and preparing for the mass amounts of fans to flood the city of Rio. Claudia Trigoso, 26, lives in the favelas in the North Zone of Rio de Janeiro. Under normal circumstances Claudia deals with irregular employment due to his low socioeconomic standing, but the arrival of the World Cup will give her the opportunity to transform her situation. She has applied to Eurosport catalog to sell some of their merchandise near Maracana stadium. Soon, with the proper licenses, she will be cleared by Rio’s municipal administrators to set up in this area. Claudia hopes she can make enough profit to start a business of her own after the World Cup and its excitement wane. With this in mind, she might someday have the opportunity to move out of the North Zone favelas into a safer, more affluent neighborhood where she hopes to start a family of her own. In addition to highlighting the changes from life before the World Cup to life uring the tournament from the perspective of our four main characters, our camera crew will venture out into the streets and local pubs. Our crew will conduct first-hand interviews with everyday citizens to get a better grasp on the impact of the World Cup on the people of Rio. The filming crew will ask the public questions pertaining to how the World Cup has economically impacted their businesses, their transportation around the city, and whether or not they will be watching or attending the World Cup. There are many components that go into making a documentary outside of the characters, locations and themes. While the overarching themes will make a large impact on our viewers, the intricate details disbursed throughout the film will contribute drastically to the overall feel of the documentary. Throughout the documentary our characters and locations will be introduced using typewriter text as it is typed across a blank screen. The segments will not necessarily be rigidly formatted but the characters will be introduced as they fall into place in the documentary. Aside from the interviews included in our film it will primarily remain in the observational category of documentary film making. By taking a third-party neutral approach to the film the audience will get a realistic and personal view into the lives of the residents of Rio. Our documentary will target a large demographic due to the emotional and sports aspects as well as the excitement generated from the FIFA World Cup overall. We hope to target ages eighteen to fifty by placing this sixty minute documentary on a major network such as ABC. We initially contemplated airing the documentary on ESPN because of its sports focus, but eventually agreed that ABC would be the best choice. Not only is it a well-respected major network, but our aim is to capture the World Cup viewers for our documentary. By airing Joga Bonito on the network that is already broadcasting all of the World Cup games, we will grab the attention of the avid soccer fans who will hopefully already be watching ABC (the World Cup games will be used as somewhat of a lead-in for our documentary). In order to generate even more viewers, we will air advertisements throughout the month of the World Cup tournament to create buzz and excitement. Throughout this month, the public will have plenty of time to hear and read about our documentary. The documentary â€Å"Joga Bonito† will air as a prime-time special a few days before the World Cup finals. The title of our documentary, Joga Bonito, is meant to evoke the spirit and essence of soccer and of Brazil. This term is Portuguese for â€Å"The Beautiful Game† which is commonly used to describe Association football, also known as futebol or soccer. When soccer was originally created and rules were formally established, it was referred to as â€Å"The Simplest Game†. This eventually evolved into The Beautiful Game, or Joga Bonito, when a famous Brazilian player named Pele named his biography The Beautiful Game. Because this term is now widely used when referring to the sport of soccer, and because of its roots and foundations in the country of Brazil, we saw Joga Bonito as a fitting title for our documentary. Joga Bonito will, as previously stated, offer to its viewers a discourse of national identity and the impact of the World Cup on the citizens of Brazil within the context of an emotional adventure through the streets of Rio. The juxtaposition of a personal look at the four characters and the mainstream international media event known as the World Cup will create a unique and powerful documentary. This concept appeals to the masses because it addresses a worldwide event. Within this discourse, however, we visit the personal implications of such an event and the role of nationalism and pride within an international context. By contrasting life before the World Cup with life during one of the first games, the drastic cultural and societal changes that occur in preparation of such an event will be highlighted. The emotional appeal of this documentary will intrigue viewers while informing them of international life and the results of an event that thrusts a nation into the international spotlight.