A Spot of Bother - Mark Haddon - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 2 Words: 689 Downloads: 2 Date added: 2017/09/26 Category Literature Essay Type Book review Did you like this example? A Spot Of Bother Review Mark Haddon A Spot Of Bother jumped onto the book scene thanks to Mark Haddon in 2006. Its his second book after the hugely popular â€Å"A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night† so he had a lot to live up to. The book its self is a great read with an open style of writing that makes it really easy to read. The story is fictional comedy. It is written in 3rd person so we see into all of the characters lives so we get a good sense of how they feel and what they get up to, which makes us as a reader feel involved in the book. The story is set around the city of Peterborough but we are unsure of the time, because Haddon uses the likes of videos instead of DVDs â€Å"George was propped up in bed watching videos† and the characters seldom use their mobile phones so the story could be based anywhere between the 1980s up un until now. The lack of use of mobile phones makes the story more interesting because the characters wouldn’t end up running all over the place trying to catch up with people, which certainly add to the comedy/entertainment aspect of the book. Things are going well in George Hall’s life. He has just retired in the lovely English city of Peterborough. His children aren’t his responsibility anymore and his wife seems to be loving, and caring Everything was perfect until he spots a growth called a lesion on his hip whilst on a shopping trip. George then jumping to conclusions decides he must have cancer, and even after his doctor tells him its eczema, he realizes there can only be one solution: He would have to kill himself. He says nothing about it to his wife Jean, herself a little annoyed that Georges retirement makes it more difficult to carry on her affair with Georges former colleague, David. George and Jeans daughter Katie, meanwhile, has just announced shes getting married to Ray, of whom everyone in the family disapproves, apart from the couple. Meanwhile we have Jami e, the homosexual brother of Katie. Jamie looses his boyfriend Tony after a series of rows about weather Tony would be allowed to come to the wedding because George and Jean don’t seem to approve, much to Jamie’s dismay. Later on in the book we find out that Ray grows concerned that Katie only loves him for his house and his ability to be a good father to her son Jacob. Katie wonders if he might be right. With all the commotion going on George silently becomes increasingly worried about the â€Å"cancer† on his hip and slowly goes insane, all this was made worse after he found Jean in bed with David (former work colleague). Overwhelmed by a fear of dying, he tries to cut off the lesion with a pair of scissors and just about bleeds to death in his cellar/ garage in Jamie and Katie’s old paddling pool†¦ The book is a great read and will have you chuckling away in places and at other times its serious because of the real life situations that are t aking place in the book, but what’s surprising about the book is that its rather unsurprising its one of those typical books that works out okay in the end but I loved it because Haddon takes us on a journey in the book and we really get into it. In the end we know everything will be alright, in a way this comforts us as a reader to know that everything will be okay, because that’s who we are, we want things to be normal. That’s what I like about it; you get all the twists and turns you expect in a book along with a comforting ending. The book also has the type of things you would expect from a normal family of our time the cheating the lies the arguments, things we can relate to. So I would give Haddon an 8/10 for this book Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "A Spot of Bother Mark Haddon" essay for you Create order

The Effects Of Fossil Fuels On The United States - 1926 Words

In the United States, a sustainable society is desired by virtually every citizen, especially the ones informed of the consequences caused by our wanton use of fossil fuels and the detrimental methods used to extract them from the earth. Nevertheless, despite almost universal acceptance of the need to turn away from nonrenewable and polluting energy sources, there are forces preventing that switch. One of those forces is the megalith that is our current energy paradigm, or the existing energy production/consumption infrastructure that we’ve built which runs largely on nonrenewable resources. Yet, as daunting as a transition to a world run on renewable energies like solar, an energy source with significant growth-potential, may seem from a technological and logistical standpoint, it is eminently feasible. The most problematic hurdle the United States faces is, in truth, political stagnation. While intense lobbying efforts from the fossil fuel industry and public utilities donâ €™t help, the gridlock caused by the inherent framework of the U.S. political system is principally to blame for governmental malaise when it comes to investing in green technology. However, with increasing concerns over environmental degradation and impending climate change, progress has been made. The U.S. Department of Energy (USDE) has appointed 25 cities across the country to be part of its â€Å"Solar America City† initiative, including Philadelphia. Philadelphia, which aims to become the leading city inShow MoreRelatedThe Effects Of Fossil Fuels On The United States2566 Words   |  11 PagesAdministration, the United States consumed a staggering 6.89 billion barrels of oil (U.S.EIA). Which in fact, equates to 18.89 million barrels being consumed every single day. That is a vast amount of petroleum products being consumed on a daily national level. If the calculation is made, based on a barrel equaling forty two gallons, it would come out to 289,583,700,000 gallon s per year, or 793,380,000 gallons per day. The amount is incredible, almost unbelievable. If the United States continues its useRead MoreUnited States Energy Crisis During 1970 Essay examples1271 Words   |  6 Pagesforeign fuel. According to Merriam Webster dictionary, a crisis is a â€Å"difficult or dangerous situation that needs serious attention.† The energy crisis of the 1970’s produced a backlash that affected much of the economy and spread fear and panic over the United States. 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Fossil fuels are critical to global energy infrastructure due to their inherent advantages and generate significant economic value as a result. However, the negative economic and environmental implications of fossil fuels demands a permanent transition towards alternative energy. The world will continue to investigate alternative energy sources and must commit to them to avoid long-term environmental degradation. Ultimately, fossil fuels are on the way out, butRead MoreViable Alternative Energy For Replace Fossil Fuels1724 Words   |  7 Pages Viable Alternative Energy to Replace Fossil Fuels Nauman Syed Zia University of Houston Nearly all of the United States production of energy comes from non-renewable sources, also known as fossil fuels. However, the problem with using fossil fuels to satisfy the United States ever-growing demand for power is that they are a limited resource and their production and usage cause a myriad of harmful environmental effects. 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After realizing the effect engineers come up with solar panel, an alternative to fossil fuel energy but less harmful for the environment and the pocket. Solar panels which uses renewable energy like the sun to light homes heat and produces electricity. Unlike fossil fuel solar panels are less harmful for the environment. From it creationRead MoreFossil Fuel Subsidy Reform :1504 Words   |  7 PagesFOSSIL-FUEL SUBSIDY REFORM Intro The US spent 699 billion dollars to subsidize the fossil-fuel sector in 2015. The removal of fossil-fuel subsidy will enormously benefit energy markets, strengthen climate change policy and government budgets. Not only do fossil-fuel subsidies undermine global efforts to mitigate climate change, but they also aggravate local pollution problems, causing further damage to human health and the environment. They represent a considerable strain on public budgets asRead MoreThe Effects Of Fossil Fuel Energy On The Environment And The Pocket987 Words   |  4 Pagesclimate changes and the effect of fossil fuel energy for not only being environmentally destructive, but also causing Global warming (the warming that occurs as a result of increase emissions of greenhouse gases) has become a very big issue worldwide. The fossil fuels (Oil, Coal, and Natural Gas) which is the main sources of the world’s energy sources, is also one of the main causes of the climate change. In addition with some human activities (e.g. through burning fossil fuels), they have contributedRead MoreFossil Fuels : The World s Primary Energy Source952 Words   |  4 PagesFossil fuels are currently the world s primary energy source. Fossil fuel includes coal, natural gas, and oil. In 2015, The United States consumed 97.7 billion btu of energy, 81% of that was from fossil fuels (U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2016). Fossil fuel use will cause air and water pollution that will negatively affect all life on Earth. In 2012, it was estimated that air pollution caused 6.5 million deaths worldwide (WHO, 2016). These pollutants can worsen or cause respiratory and

The Failed Offensive Free Essays

The year 1961 saw the attempt of Cuban exiles to replace the Cuban government led by Fidel Castro, and it was on April 17 on the same year when aerial bombings were launched as an attack by a coalition backed by the United States against Cuba which later came to be known as the Bay of Pigs Invasion. Although the United States helped in the planning and in the funding of the invasion, it failed right after the night landing of the invasion was discovered which led to the defeat of the invasion just within three days. It is because of the immediate discovery and the reports about the invasion which practically enabled the Cuban government of Castro to frustrate the invasion and capture a large number of invaders. We will write a custom essay sample on The Failed Offensive or any similar topic only for you Order Now The consequence of the failed invasion is for Castro to start obtaining nuclear warheads from the Soviet government in the fear of another invasion backed by the United States, thereby leading to the Cuban Missile Crisis. History The history of the Bay of Pigs invasions stems before the time of the Kennedy administration. Miller and Miller observe that the strains between the relations of Cuba and America stems back from immigration issues. They observe that: As the number of immigrants increased, relations with Cuba began to deteriorate after 1959. In June 1960 U. S. oil refineries in Cuba refused to process Russian crude oil. The Cuban government retaliated by nationalizing the oil refineries. On July 5, 1960, the Cuban government nationalized all U. S. property in Cuba. In retaliation, the United States canceled Cuba’s sugar export quota. This action amounted to an economic sanction against Cuba (Miller and Miller, p. 53). In the following years, the tension between the two countries grew and the desire to free Cuba from the leadership of Castro intensified. Miller and miller notes: Attempts to free Cuba from Castro’s regime began under the Eisenhower administration, and under the Kennedy administration, U. S. -Cuban relations continued to deteriorate. Less than three months after becoming president, Kennedy authorized an invasion of Castro’s regime by Cuban exiles on April 17, 1961. Regrettably for the United States, the 1,500-man exile force was defeated in less than 72 hours. The invasion increased Castro’s political power and popularity. As William Goodwin, a White House advisor, stated: â€Å"It made him even more of a hero as the man who had defended Cuba against the greatest power in the world (Miller and Miller, p. 54). â€Å" Almost a year before the actual Bay of Pigs Invasion, the U. S. Central Intelligence Agency recommended to then-President Dwight Eisenhower a plan to equip Cuban exiles and use them for action against the newly established socialist Cuban government led by Fidel Castro. Since it was the policy of the American government to provide military, logistics and strategic assistance to guerilla forces fighting the government of Castro, the CIA pursued to train Cuban exiles for the mission. Among the first plans to be adopted for the invasion is to land the Cuban exiles near the city of Trinidad, Cuba since the site gave a handful of choices for the brigade of Cuban exiles to exploit at the height of the invasion in the coming days. At the least, the site gave the exiles the advantage of a beach landing and of returning to the mountains for a possible retreat as the necessity would arise. However, the progress of the plans to invade Cuba led to several changes such as the change in the landing spot for Brigade 2506 from Trinidad to the Bay of Pigs. As a result, contacts with the rebels situated in the Escambray Mountains were cut thereby reducing the military support the Cuban exiles needed. Further, senior KGB operatives Osvaldo Sanchez Cabrera and â€Å"Aragon† warned the Cuban government about the forthcoming invasion, thus giving Castro and his military men the time to anticipate and plan their counter moves against the U. S. -backed offensive. All these changes in the invasion plan under the helm of President Kennedy after seeking information to his advisors if the overthrow of Fidel Castro could be tied with weapon shipments. The Invasion The invasion could be divided into at least three actions: sea, air and land offensives. The invasion was initiated with three flights of B-2B bombers on the early hours of April 15, 1961. As aircrafts with the markings of the Cuban Fuerza Armada Revolucionaria (CRAF) flew over and bombarded the airfields of Antonio Maceo International Airport, San Antonio de los Banos and Ciudad Libertad, counter air attacks against the CRAF, named Operation Puma, were also formed. In the attempt to paralyze the air force of the Cuban government through the air attacks, the first air operations failed primarily because the air strikes were discontinued as opposed to what was original intended. There was a second attempt to foil the air force of the Cuban government by launching another air attack. However, the second plan was cancelled because President Kennedy hoped to make the operation look as if the Cuban exiles were the ones responsible in the attacks and not the U. S. government. By doing so, the American government can easily deny accusations of being held responsible for the operation. The cancellation of the air assaults on the air fields of Cuba largely contributed to the failure of the invasion and the deaths of many Cuban exiles. Almost two days after the failed air strikes, approximately 1,300 Cuban exiles landed at the Bay of Pigs situated at the Cuban southern coast. Armed with weapons provided by the American government, the exiles intended to proceed to Havana in the hopes of gaining local support. At first, the invaders were able to suppress the ground militia at the beach, forcing the Cuban forces to surrender. It was under the prerogative of President Kennedy to use air force to support ground troops but he never opted to do so. As a result, the armies of the government of Castro were able to stop the invading forces at the Bay of Pigs. Naval offenses also took a crucial role in the offensives, with the invader ship Blagar fighting off Cuban aircrafts and with the naval forces of Castro losing at least one ship, the P. C. Baire. The aftermath Although the exact number of deaths for the Cuban government is widely disputed, it can hardly be argued that the death toll went by the thousands. Interestingly, even though the casualties among the Cuban government were higher in contrast to the invading forces, the Castro government ended up gaining as much as $53 million worth of food and medicine in exchange for the lives of the captured exiles who were sentenced to thirty years in prison for treason. However, negotiations for the release of the captured exiles took almost twenty months which started from the demand of Castro for 500 large tractors to his demand of $28 million. In the end, 1,113 prisoners were released in exchange for $53 million worth of food and medicine; the funds were supposedly obtained from private donations. It was also reported that President Kennedy hesitated to back the ground forces of the Cuban exiles with further air strikes because Kennedy did not want a full scale war. In doing so, Kennedy effectively abandoned the Cuban exiles fighting on the ground against the forces of Fidel Castro. More importantly, the CIA believed that the invasion would lead to a spark in the sentiment of the people against the government of Castro thereby gaining the support of the Cubans with the offensive. In its entirety, Erich Weede observes that the failure of the invasion reinforced the ironies in the decisions and motives of the United States. Weede argues that: The Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961 was the most important case of vacillation and inconsistency: President John F. Kennedy would have liked to get rid of Fidel Castro and to replace him by a more friendly government, but he did not want to send in U. S. troops when Cuban exiles were not up to the task. The Bay of Pigs disaster only reinforced Castro’s hostility toward the United States (Weede, p. 136). Thus, one of the consequences of the failure in the Bay of Pigs is the increased hostility of Fidel Castro towards the United States, which also led to his forging an informal alliance with the Soviet Union, a nation which has been a firm opponent of America. The observation of Weede reinforces the idea that Kennedy was playing things safe, owing to the fact that Cuban exiles were the primary ‘tools’ in engaging the Cuban government into a hostile battle. Piero Gleijeses further notes that one of the causes of the failure of the Bay of Pigs invasions is the â€Å"miscommunication between the CIA and the White House† and that it would have been â€Å"politically costly for Kennedy to have aborted the operation† (Gleijeses, p. 2). He stresses the point that: The Bay of Pigs was approved because the CIA and the White House assumed they were speaking the same language when, in fact, they were speaking in utterly different tongues (Gleijeses, p. 2). Gleijeses’ observation indicates that the â€Å"miscommunication between the CIA and the White House (Gleijeses, p. 2)† contributed to the failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion, stemming back to the discontinuation of the plans first determined prior to the attacks at the Bay. At the aftermath of the failed attempt to invade Cuba right from the Bay of Pigs, Lucien Vandenbroucke observed that Kennedy and his advisers â€Å"did not carefully weigh competing alternatives and then select the invasion of Cuba as the best policy† without taking into account the fact that â€Å"Castro had over 200,000 men in arms and the benefit of the Guatemalan precedent† (Vandenbroucke, p. 472). He further noted that: Carried out deftly enough to conceal the American hand, [the Bay of Pigs invasion] promised to deal with Castro while preserving the United State’s image. In short, then, the rational actor model suggests that the lack of other viable alternatives prompted the choice of the invasion, which appeared best in terms of a rational cost-benefit analysis (Vandenbroucken, p. 472). There is little or no disagreement over the failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion which resulted to the increased tension between the United States and Cuban governments. As the tensions increased, Fidel Castro apparently looked for ways to strengthen his military capabilities and, thus, the military aid by the Soviet Union in terms of nuclear warheads was a tempting option to be easily discarded. The years that followed soon paved the way for the Cuban Missile Crisis which further smeared the capabilities of the Kennedy administration to handle tough situations which involve the security of the United States. Had the Bay of Pigs invasion been a success, there were promising chances for the American government to further launch successful offensives against the Castro government with the aid of the Cuban exiles (Dominguez, p. 20). Works Cited Dominguez, Jorge I. â€Å"Us-Cuban Relations in the 1980s: Issues and Policies. † Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs 27. 1 (1985): 20. Gleijeses, Piero. â€Å"Ships in the Night: The Cia, the White House and the Bay of Pigs. † Journal of Latin American Studies 27. 1 (1995): 2. Miller, Willard E. , and Ruby M. Miller. â€Å"The U. S. Invasion of Cuba: The Bay of Pigs. † United States Immigration: A Reference Handbook. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 1996. 53, 54. Vandenbroucke, Lucien S. â€Å"Anatomy of a Failure: The Decision to Land at the Bay of Pigs. † Political Science Quarterly 99. 3 (1984): 472. Weede, Erich. † Patterns of International Conflict During the Cold War and the Contemporary Challenge. † Economic Development, Social Order, and World Politics: With Special Emphasis on War, Freedom, the Rise and Decline of the West, and the Future of East Asia. Boulder, CO: Boulder Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1996. 136. How to cite The Failed Offensive, Papers

Organization for Economic Operation and Development

Question: Discuss about the Organization for Economic Operation and Development. Answer: Introduction Rental price control is the policy of the government fixing a cap on the rental price such that the house owners do not charge their tenants high price above the cap price. The government is mostly obliged to maintain a high standard of social welfare which is lost when there is a hike in housing prices (England, 2015). The reason why the government decides to impose a price cap on housing is because in the current period the economy has experienced rental and property prices hikes (Pettinger, 2013). The government is always scared of price hikes as they represent bubbles that eventually burst leaving the economy in a very bad situation. This paper will help in determining whether it is beneficial to impose a rental price cap or not. It will determine the winning party and the losing party; the parties involved are the tenants and their landlords. It will tell whether the landlords are more or less likely to observe the policy. Generally it can be argued that, the landlords would onl y observe the policy if it were beneficial to them; if its not, they are more likely to disregard it and engage in other black-market business which would be more profitable to them. The paper will provide the primary aim of imposing the cap and determine whether it is achieved. The price cap imposition is meant to increase the housing affordability. At very high prices, the lower income people cannot afford and this issue is a concern to the government. To create some equality, the price cap is imposed at an affordable price. Therefore, the cap is fixed below the current equilibrium point. Naturally, without the price cap, the premium areas are set only to people with a middle income and above (E.H, 2015). The lower income group are forced to move out many miles in order to find an affordable house. The free market equilibrium point is at price Pe and quantity demanded is Qe. This is the high price that the government is attempting to reduce through a price cap. Thus the cap is set at price Pc which is lower than Pe; it is the maximum rent to be charged for a rented property. At the lower price Pc, the affordability of households goes up creating an excess demand at the current supply level (McKernan, 2011). The excess demand is the extra demand beyond quantity Q1 which the suppliers are willing to supply at the lower price = (Q2 Q1). The cap results in the reduction of the landlords returns. Initially the returns to the landlord was equivalent to figure 0QeXPe; however, the new level of revenue is equivalent to figure 0Q1YPc. So this is a clear evident that the landlords are the losing party. Riley (2012) argued that these effects would cause a fall in the supply for rental houses causing the supply curve to shift up as indicated by the arrows. This is because some landlords wont be willing to continue supplying at the lower price and will thus exit the housing markets; (McKernan, 2011). This therefore means that a price cap cause shocks to the housing supply (Butler, 2016). Otherwise, the suppliers could exploit the consumers surplus by charging the tenants some additional costs by offering their houses at black-market rent (Pb). This rent is high and even above the initial equilibrium price, but the quantity supplied is still equal to the prices caps supply level as shown in the diagram. This possibility of the supplier exploiting the consumer surplus is undermining the effectiveness of a rental price cap. Owing to the problems associated with the price rental caps described above (i.e. shocking of supply and the charging of a higher black-market rent), the objective of the government to improve housing affordability is not achievable. The high black-market rent is even more troublesome than the current free market equilibrium price. The ineffectiveness of this policy is quoted by the statement by German Institute for Economic Research that Price capping treats the symptoms, not the disease, (Niewhner-Pape, 2014). It doesnt address the problem fully. The consumers who were intended to be the beneficially ends up being disadvantaged. The rent control may be useful in the short term but harmful in the long term since the shocking of supply would result in undersupply of rented houses. Since maintenance and upgrading of the houses may not fetch better returns for the landlords, the cap creates a disincentive for such improvement and the quality of houses deteriorates (OECD, 2010). Due to this deterioration, the tenants suffer external costs that are a negative externality from imposing the cap. Rent controls is only applicable to rental houses and not to luxury houses, thus, investors will shift from constructing rental to luxury houses to escape the rent control. Riley (2012) argued that the increment in affordability enables many people to live by themselves thus creating a shortage. Many teenagers live with their parents since they cant afford to pay higher rental prices; the lower price may change this situation. Due to the inadequacy of supply, the cap results in an opportunity cost of the increased search time (i.e. people take more time to trace a vacant house). The rent control does not improve the availability of quality housing and would be of most peoples expectations. Conclusion The rental price cap does not solve the problem of hiking rental and apartment prices; it even makes it worse. The major issue here is that market clearing cannot be achieved since it stimulates demand but on the other hand it shocks supply. The problems of allocative inefficiency still exists and equality is unachievable. Since cap rent is expected to continue even in the long run, the economy will be bad-off by then. Those who will occupy the capped rental houses will continue enjoying the benefits, but what about the future generation? The capped rental houses will be of no help to them as they will be fully occupied and there will be a shortage that will cost them dearly. The policy would only be effective if the government also came up with a policy to stimulate supply at the cap price to supplement the rental cap price policy. This would include subsidies on construction of houses and even lower taxes on building constructions. Else, the cap alone cannot improve housing afforda bility and hence it is not workable. References Butler, P. (2016). Benefit cap on social housing will leave thousands homeless, landlords warn. The Guardian. Retrieved 18 April 2017, from https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/jan/26/benefit-cap-on-social-housing-will-leave-thousands-homeless-landlords-warn. E.H. (2015). Do rent controls work? Economist.com. Retrieved 17 April 2017, from https://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2015/08/economist-explains-19. England, C. (2015). Here's Why a UK Rent Cap Could Make You Even Poorer. Vice.com. Retrieved 18 April 2017, from https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/would-a-rent-cap-actually-work-822. McKernan, S. (2011). Prohibitions, Price Caps, and Disclosures: A Look at State Policies and Alternative Financial Product Use (1st ed., pp. 8-10). DIANE Publishing. Niewhner-Pape, K. (2014). German Residential: Price cap will not halt demand for houses. Realestate.ipe.com. Retrieved 19 April 2017, from https://realestate.ipe.com/markets-/sectors/residential/german-residential-price-cap-will-not-halt-demand-for-houses/10004261.fullarticle. Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (2010). Paying for biodiversity: Enhancing the cost-effectiveness of payments for ecosystem services. Paris: OECD. Pettinger, T. (2013). Would a cap on house prices work? Economicshelp.org. Retrieved 18 April 2017, from https://www.economicshelp.org/blog/9140/economics/cap-house-prices-work/. Riley, G. (2012). Unit 1 Micro: Revision on Maximum Rents in Housing. tutor2u. Retrieved 18 April 2017, from https://www.tutor2u.net/economics/blog/unit-1-micro-revision-on-maximum-rents-in-housing.

Should Abstinence Be the Goal for Treating People with Alcohol Problems

Capitol punishment essays

Capitol punishment essays The Argument Against the Death Penalty The feeling of the condemned man was indescribable, as he was minutes away from being executed by an unjust decision. The verdict of his case was guilty on the grounds of circumstantial evidence. When in all reality, he was guilty because he was black, poor and socially unacceptable. His case never stood a chance, it was over before it started. The judge and jury sentence the man to die in the electric chair. The condemned man sat in the chair sweating profusely, waiting for a someone to wake him from this nightmare. A certain death awaited this young mans future. He could not believe that a country like ours upheld a system of such unfairness. Then as he was executed, he shouted his last plea, I am innocent, please wait... How can this innocent man be put to death in a system based on fairness, and a theory of innocent until proven guilty. There have been circumstances such as this, that were said to be true. This is one example why capital punishment should be abolished in our country. Or should it? Is capital punishment fair, and based on equality? Does it cost less than other alternatives? Is it considered cruel and unusual punishment? And does the presence of the death penalty deter crime? These are questions that need to be answered to determine whether capital punishment should be abolished or maintained in our society. To start, capital punishment is a racist and unfair solution for the criminals in our system. It discriminates toward individuals on the basis of their race, wealth or social standing in society. It is not right to kill nineteen men a year out of hundreds and hundreds of convicted murderers. These men are not being killed because they committed murder. They are being killed because they are poor, black, ugly or all of these things. As capital punishment becomes less and less likely to be applied, it becomes more likely to be used ...

Hypertext and information design Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Hypertext and information design - Essay Example far as hypermedia is concerned, hypermedia can be described as the documents that have the ability information associated to several media, due to which, the information is allowed to be linked by the help of associations. Hypermedia files can be called as multimedia files with hypertext links (Farkas 2004a). Hypermedia has various layers of information. Hypertext is a useful approach as there are many merits attached to it. Hypertext facilitates us with nodes, links and navigation due to which, we do not face the problem of being lost. We can revert to our position if we go wrong with the help of links and navigations (Conklin 1987). The nodes are small chunks of information. The information that is widespread is divided into nodes and those nodes are linked through links and to go from one link to another, navigations are employed. The hypertext documents can exist into two categories: static and dynamic. Static documents cannot be changed but only be read and viewed while dynamic documents can be changed according to the users’ needs. Due to hypertext, the users are helped with user interface due to which, they have a friendly view for information retrieval. Information design is a not an easy task and the designers and developers are required to arrange the nodes of information in a sequential and logical manner (Farkas 2004a). In hypertext, the user uses the tools due to which, he/she is facilitated with an efficient way to deal with information. Information design is facilitated because of hypertexts. Hypertext theory and concepts are useful to the theory and practice of information design. The information that is designed with the help of hypertext is in non-linear format (Conklin 1987). Also information that is designed is in dynamic style as well in static. The static hypertext documents show information design in a format that does not allow the user to input his/her requirements or criteria in the web page. The dynamic hypertext documents show

Critical Art Theory Of Raja Ravi Varmas Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Critical Art Theory Of Raja Ravi Varmas - Essay Example However, it should be noted that Raja Ravi Varma was noted for this realistic depiction of scenes from epics like the Mahabharata and Ramayana. He was recognized as a painter who made a fusion between Indian and Western art forms in terms of academic art. His talents were highly recognized in the west because of the depictions of bright colors and stylishly postured women in the sari. One such recognition came in 1873 with the Vienna Art Exhibition first prize. To the western world, he is regarded as one of the most prolific painters of the Indian tradition. But this could be termed as a bit exaggerated in the sense that during his time (1848- 1906) there were other stalwarts of the artists whose philosophies were not completely understood or conceptualized by the western art connoisseurs. During the period Raja Ravi Verma was working the most prominent of his contemporary colleagues were Abanindranath Tagore, Gaganendranath Tagore, Nandalal Bose, Jamini Roy and Gopal Ghosh of the 'Bengal School'. This was a school of thought process that was deeply influenced by the philosophic revival or renaissance of ancient Indian learning or values by the poet Rabindranath Tagore. These people choose subjects from both Indian history and mythology and juxtaposed them with the modern nationalist feeling of the time in the late 19th century. Their approach was guided by the philosophical essence of the philosophies of Hinduism with relevance to the political drifts and agitations against the British Raj in India. It was a form of painting with a mission of an extended approach of non-violence. (King, 2001, 143) So much is narrated about the Bengal School because at the same given point of time Raja Ravi Verma's approach towards painting was more religious than nationalist which stands a stark difference with his contemporary artists as he chooses to neglect the philosophical and the most important part of Hindu or Indian painting. Religion and philosophy are completely two different aspects of the trade. The religion of Hinduism is supposed to be formulated at around BC 2500 with the advent of the Aryans into the Indian subcontinent. But the religion in the context of a Hindu is not so much faith but mostly a way of life. It could be safely mentioned that Hinduism does not speak of a specific faith or code of conduct but is basically an accumulation of various school of philosophical thoughts. Under this perspective, a Hindu is free to choose his mode of philosophy where even the existence of a God is not mandatory. There are six main schools of thoughts called "sadadarshan" within the parameter of a Hindu philosophical essence and four of these schools overlook the need of a God altogether. (Fletcher, 2003, 276) Â  

Argument paper, against Obamas health plan Essay

Argument paper, against Obamas health plan - Essay Example However, the so called reform will have far reaching adverse effect on the nation’s socio-economic features. To begin with, Obama’s plan offers a public insurance firm in the form of a cooperative which will ensure affordable health insurance coverage for all, irrespective of age, sex or risk factors (The Obama Plan). Obviously, a subsidized coverage option will enhance public interest, which is expected to beat private insurance companies. Since The United States spends a higher proportion of its gross domestic products on healthcare services, Mr. Obama thinks that his plan would help people save considerable amount of their healthcare expense every year. Although it seems to be significant, the ultimate effect of premium deduction and subsidies inevitably result in tax hike. The President puts an estimate of $900 billion as ten year cost limit for the proposed package; whereas, experts believe that it would exceed $1 trillion (Pear R., Calmes J., 9 Sept., 2009) Mr.Obama reiterates that the public insurance will only be an option; and people will have the freedom to choose private plan if they think it suits them. Although he says that the government will not administer the health care system, his plan has all features of single payer system. For instance, regarding the high risk pool he says â€Å"for those Americans who can’t get insurance today because they have pre-existing medical conditions, we will immediately offer low cost coverage that will protect you against financial ruin if you become seriously ill.† (Pear R., Calmes J., 9 Sept., 2009). Under this system people have almost complete medical coverage and free access to healthcare. This approach will plunge the public insurance firm into big loss. In addition, this concept of ‘socialized medicine’ is against the social privileges of the U.S. citizens. Regardless of its high cost, the U.S. health care system is highly competent and people have the

Growth Factors in Periodontal Regeneration

Growth Factors in Periodontal Regeneration GROWTH FACTORS IN PERIODONTAL REGENERATION ABSTRACT : Periodontitis and all periodontal diseases are bacterial infections that destroy the attachment fibers and supporting bone. Left untreated, these diseases can lead to tooth loss. The main cause of periodontal disease is a bacterial plaque, many options are available to treat this disease including non-surgical,surgical,and recent regenerative materials. GFs are natural biological mediators that regulate key cellular events that are part of the process of tissue repair and regeneration. Recent advances in the areas of cellular and molecular biology allowed better understanding of the functions of GFs and their participation in the different phases of wound healing. In vitro and in vivo studies have confirmed that GFs can enhance the capacity of tissues to regenerate by regulating cell chemo attraction, differentiation and proliferation. This review focuses on five growth factor families that have potential for inducing periodontal regeneration based on their ability to stimulate osteo blast and periodontal ligament cells in vivo and vitro. Key words: platelet-derived growth factor, insulin-like growth factor, transforming growth factor-beta, fibroblast growth factor, and bone morphogenetic protein. INTRODUCTION : Periodontitis is a widely prevalent inflammatory disease of the tissues supporting the teeth, characterized by a progressive loss of bone and attachment. The ultimate goal of periodontal therapy is the regeneration of periodontal tissues, which consists in stimulating new cementum formation, new alveolar bone apposition, and a functionally-oriented periodontal ligament reconstruction. Conventional treatment procedures may be ineffective in achieving bone regeneration, leaving both the clinician and the patient dissatisfied with the outcome. Growth factors (GFs) have long been believed to have the potential to accelerate the healing process and, therefore, enhance tissue regeneration in challenging clinical scenarios.1 MODE OF ACTION OF GROWTH FACTORS: To evoke a biologic effect, a growth factor must be synthesized by an originating cell, travel to its target receptor, interact with target receptor, or binding protein, and activate second messengers or terminal effectors.2,3 Local mode of action is more associated with the term growth factor and involves Paracrine, Autocrine, Juxtacrine, and Intracrine modes. Autocrine mode of action – Growth factors synthesized by one cell, secreted in a soluble form outside the cell and then bind to surface receptors on the same cell to evoke an effect is autocrine mode of action. Example includes: TGF ÃŽ ², which are produced and act on epithelial cells, and BMP’s, which are produced and act on osteoblastic cells. (fig 1) Intracrine mode of action–Growth factors produced by one cell and not secreted, but acts intracellularly to facilitate its effects is intracrine mode of action. (fig 2) Paracrine mode Growth factorsproduced by one cell, with receptors present on another cell in the local micro environment is the paracrine mode of action. Here the mediators are secreted in soluble form and binds to its receptors on the target cell to evoke its effect. (fig 3) Juxtacrine mode It is similar to paracrine effects except that the factor produced by the cell of origin is cell surface bound and requires cell contact by the target cell to evoke a response. (fig 4) RECEPTORS FOR GROWTH FACTORS:4,5 For a growth factor to exert an effect, its designated receptor must be present in sufficient quantity, orientation, and functional activity to transmit appropriate stimuli. Growth factor receptors can be divided into 2 broad categories: Cell surface receptors Intracellular receptors The most common prototype growth factor receptor is the cell surface receptor, which can be further divided into three main categories: G- protein linked Receptor tyrosine kinases Serine threonine receptor kinases POTENTIAL ROLES OF GROWTH FACTORS IN PERIODONTAL REGENERATION: To stimulate cell proliferation. E.g. Platelet derived growth factor (PDGF). To enhance function of cells and cell differentiation. E.g. Bone morphogenetic protein (BMP). To stimulate matrix synthesis. E.g. Transforming growth factor- ÃŽ ² (TGF- ÃŽ ²). To act as co-factors for gene expression. DISADVANTAGES OF GROWTH FACTORS: They were intended to be made by cells, stored than used locally. They have short half-lives i.e., when used as drug, doses must be greater than actual in vivo concentrations. They affect various cells in individual ways i.e., cells growing in high concentrations of growth factor had an increased susceptibility to cell death upon growth factor withdrawal. They need a delivery system for sustained or, controlled release (in low concentration) of a biologically active growth factor or, cocktail of growth factors. POLYPEPTIDE GROWTH FACTORS : Polypeptide growth factors are a diverse group of hormone-like agents that regulate growth and differentiation through cell surface receptors. They are generally represented by homologous families containing several members with distinct overlapping receptor interactions and hence, responsive tissue specificities. Similarly, their receptors are also clustered in family groups of sequence-related proteins. COMMON FEATURES OF POLYPEPTIDE GROWTH FACTORS :6 Natural cell products: Growth factors are natural cell products that are released or activated when cell division is needed.This action typically occurs during such events as wound healing or, tissue regeneration. Local actions: With few exceptions,growth factors are locally acting. Receptor activity: Because growth factors cannot diffuse across the cell membrane, growth factors must exert their activity by first binding to high-affinity cell membrane receptors.The capacity of a cell to respond to a given factor is therefore dependent on the presence of these receptors. Regulation: The production of polypeptide growth factors is tightly regulated in normal cells. In contrast, unregulated production of growth factor is thought to be an important component of proliferative disorders, such as fibrotic disease and cancers. Multifunctional activities: Polypeptide growth factors are multifunctional, meaning that they may stimulate a wide variety of cellular activities, which include growth, migration, differentiation and production of extracellular matrix proteins. Mechanism of action: In some cases, growth factors can stimulate the same cell that synthesizes the molecule (autocrine stimulation) or can affect nearby cells (paracrine stimulation). Regeneration: Tissue regeneration in vivo probably reflects the combined effect of several different growth factors. GROWTH FACTOR APPLICATIONS FOR ORAL AND PERIODONTAL TISSUE ENGINEERING : Therapeutic application of growth factors to restore damaged tissues aims at regeneration through biomimetic processes, or mimicking the processes that occur during embryonic and post-natal development.7 The complexity of these events suggests that creating an optimal regenerative environment requires the combination of different growth factors as found in natural reparative processes. The use of a single recombinant growth factor may also induce several molecular, biochemical and morphological cascades that will result in tissue regeneration.8 The most studied growth factors for periodontal regeneration have been PDGF, IGF, FGF-2, TGF-ÃŽ ² and different BMPs. SI. NO GROWTH FACTOR ALTERNATIVE NAMES SOURCE 1 Platelet-derived growth factor Fibroblast-derived growth factor. Glioma-derived growth factor Degranulating platelets Endothelial cells Smooth muscles Macrophages- Fibroblasts 2 Insulin-like growth factor Erythropoetic factor Growth-promoting activity for vascular endothelial cells Macrophages- Osteoblasts- Plasma stored in bone 3 Transforming growth factor-ÃŽ ² Epithelial cell specific growth inhibitor Tumour-inducing factor-1 Platelet ÃŽ ± granules 4 Fibroblast growth factor family Heparin binding growth factor Macrophage and osteoblasts stored in bone. PLATELET DERIEVED GROWTH FACTOR: The PDGFs are a family of dimeric disulfide – bound growth factors that exert their biologic effects by activating 2 structurally related tyrosine kinase receptors, the PDGF- ÃŽ ± and PDGF – ÃŽ ² receptors. PDGF was the first growth factor to be evaluated in preclinical periodontal and peri-implant regenerative studies. Proliferation, migration and matrix synthesis were observed on cultures of periodontal cells stimulated by PDGF, including gingival and PDL fibroblasts, cementoblasts, preosteo-blasts and osteoblastic cells [9-14]. These effects were shown to be time- and dose dependent 14. The PDGF family is composed of four growth factors: PDGF- A, -B, and the most recently discovered PDGF-C and -D 15. All of these participate in the wound-healing process, but, until now, only the three isoforms PDGF-AA, BB and AB were evaluated in periodontal therapy. PDGF-BB is the most effective on PDL cell mitogenesis and matrix biosynthesis 16,17. INSULIN LIKE GROWTH FACTOR: These are a family of single chain serum proteins that share 49% homology in sequence with pro- insulin. IGF-1 and IGF- 2 are two polypeptides from this group. IGF-1 acts as progression factor, also stimulates bone formation and have an effect on periodontal ligament cells. IGF-I is also important for bone remodeling and maintenance of skeletal mass and plays significant role in age-related osteoporosis. IGF-1 is capable of preventing apoptosis in fibroblasts by activation of multiple signal transduction pathways. IGF-1 has also been shown to regulate DNA and protein synthesis in periodontal ligament fibroblasts in vitro and to enhance soft tissue wound healing in vivo. Furthermore, studies have suggested variable responses of periodontal tissues to IGF-1 depending upon anatomical sites and a differential involvement of IGF-1 in periodontal wound healing and regeneration.18 FIBROBLAST GROWTH FACTOR: The angiogenic and fibroblast stimulatory properties of FGF-2 during wound healing and its chemotactic and proliferative effects on PDL cells suggest its use for periodontal regenerative therapeutic approaches19,20. In preclinical studies, this growth factor was evaluated for the treatment of different types of periodontal bone defects, in dogs and non-human primates. Despite different concentrations of FGF-2 and different delivery systems used in the studies, all showed an improvement in the periodontal tissue regeneration, compared with control groups. Studies that evaluated more than one concentration of FGF-2 suggested that its effects are dose dependent.21,22 TRANSFORMING GROWTH FACTOR ÃŽ ²: It is a member of a large family of biologically active protein hormones that are structurally related but differ markedly in their function. TGF ÃŽ ² consists of 2 subunits held together by covalent bonds. Five different genes are identified that encodes TGF- ÃŽ ² polypeptide TGF-ÃŽ ² has 5 closely related isoforms in vertebrates, out of which 3 are found in mammals (TGF-ÃŽ ²1, TGF-ÃŽ ²2, TGF-ÃŽ ²3). The three major activities of TGF-ßinclude inhibition of cell proliferation, enhancement of extracellular matrix deposition and the exhibition of complex immune regulatory properties. It is a major regulator of cell replication and differentiation. It can stimulate or inhibit cell growth. It can also modulate other growth factors like PDGF, EGF and FGF. It inhibits epithelial cell proliferation and stimulates mesenchymal cells. TGF-ÃŽ ²1, the most abundant isoform of the TGF-ÃŽ ² family and found primarily in the platelets and osseous tissue, has been used for this application.It has a role in recruiting and stimulating osteoprogenitor cells to proliferate and suggests to support periodontal wound healing and regeneration.23 BONE MORPHOGENETIC PROTEINS: The name Bone Morphogenetic Protein was given in 1965 by Urist .Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) are a group of regulatory glycoproteins that are members of the transforming growth factor-beta superfamily.24They stimulate angiogenesis and migration, proliferation and differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells into cartilage and bone forming cells. More than 20 BMP-related proteins have been identified, several of which induce bone formation.25 In the field of periodontal regeneration, much of the research interest has focused on BMP-2, BMP-3 (osteogenin), and BMP-7. Recent studies have utilized recombinant human BMP to determine their potential for correcting intrabony, supra-alveolar, furcation, and fenestration defects. BMPs also show much promise in promoting dental implant wound healing.24 GROWTH FACTOR DELIVERY SYSTEMS: Several matrices and delivery systems have been used and evaluated for their efficacy and biocompatibility as carrier for growth factors. Two common types of polymeric materials used in growth factor delivery strategies are natural collagen-derived materials and synthetic polymers of lactic and glycolic acid (i.e., Poly [lactide-co-glycolide]). Extracellular matrix-derived macromolecules such as collagen have been used for many years in biomaterial application, and it is now possible to create artificial analogues of extracellular matrix proteins using recombinant DNA technology.1 Carriers can be of different types such as solids, gels or combinations.25A variety of new injectable materials such as hydrogels are also being developed for growth factor delivery applications and have been of special interest. These injectables are especially attractive because, in clinical application, they can allow for minimally invasive delivery of inductive molecules.1 CONCLUSION: Growth factors may regulate the repair and/or regenerative process which are impaired in presence of bacteria and their products in periodontal disease. Thus, the objective of growth factors administration in the treatment of periodontitis is to mimic the normal developmental process enhance normal wound healing response to promote complete regeneration of all attachment structures. Basic and clinical research is in progress to evaluate the role of growth factors in periodontal wound healing. BIBLIOGRAPHY: DARNELL KAIGLER, GUSTAVO AVILA, LESLIE WISNER-LYNCH, MARC L. NEVINS, MYRON NEVINS, GIULIO RASPERINI. Platelet-Derived Growth Factor Applications in Periodontal and Peri-Implant Bone Regeneration .Expert OpinBiolTher. 2011 March ; 11(3): 375–385 RIPAMONTI U, HERBST NN, RAMOSHEBI LN. Bone morphogenetic proteins in craniofacial and periodontal tissue engineering: experimental studies in the non-human primate Papioursinus. Cytokine Growth Factor Rev 2005;16(3):357–368. ANUSAKSATHIEN O, GIANNOBILE WV. Growth factor delivery to re-engineer periodontal tissues. Curr. Pharm. Biotechnol 2002;3(2):129–139. FRECHETTE JP, MARTINEAU I, GAGNON G.Platelet-rich plasmas: growth factor content and roles in wound healing. J Dent Res 2005; 84(5): 434-439. LAURIE K. MC CAULEY MARTHA J. Somerman. Biologic modifiers in periodontal regeneration. Dent Clin N Am , Advances in Periodontics, part I 1998; 43(2): 361-387. GARRY R. GROTENDORST. Connective tissue growth factor : A mediator of TGF- ÃŽ ² action on fibroblasts. Mini Review. Cytokine and growth factor reviews 1997, 8(3); 171 – 179. SCHILEPHAKE H. Bone growth factors in maxillofacial skeletal reconstruction. Int. J. Oral Maxillofac. Surg 2002;31(5):469–484. RIPAMONTI U, HERBST NN, RAMOSHEBI LN. Bone morphogenetic proteins in craniofacial and periodontal tissue engineering: experimental studies in the non-human primate Papioursinus. Cytokine Growth Factor Rev 2005;16(3):357–368. NISHIMURA F, TERRANOVA VP. Comparative study of the chemotactic responses of periodontal ligament cells and gingival fibroblasts to polypeptide growth factors. J. Dent. Res 1996;75(4):986–992. SAYGIN NE, TOKIYASU Y, GIANNOBILE WV, SOMERMAN MJ. Growth factors regulate expression of mineral associated genes in cementoblasts. J. Periodontol 2000;71(10):1591–1600. STRAYHORN CL, GARRETT JS, DUNN RL, BENEDICT JJ, SOMERMAN MJ. Growth factors regulate expression of osteoblast-associated genes. J. Periodontol 1999;70(11):1345–1354. CANALIS E. Effect of platelet-derived growth factor on DNA and protein synthesis in cultured rat calvaria. Metabolism 1981;30(10):970–975. BARTOLD PM, RABEN A. Growth factor modulation of fibroblasts in simulated wound healing. J.Periodontal Res 1996;31(3):205–216. OJIMA Y, MIZUNO M, KUBOKI Y, KOMORI T. In vitro effect of platelet-derived growth factor-BB on collagen synthesis and proliferation of human periodontal ligament cells. Oral Dis 2003;9(3): 144–151. REIGSTAD LJ, VARHAUG JE, LILLEHAUG JR. Structural and functional specificities of PDGFC and PDGF-D, the novel members of the platelet-derived growth factors family. FEBS J 2005;272 (22):5723–5741. BOYAN LA, BHARGAVA G, NISHIMURA F, et al. Mitogenic and chemotactic responses of human periodontal ligament cells to the different isoforms of platelet-derived growth factor. J. Dent. Res 1994;73(10):1593–1600. MATSUDA N, LIN WL, KUMAR NM, CHO MI, GENCO RJ. Mitogenic, chemotactic, and synthetic responses of rat periodontal ligament fibroblastic cells to polypeptide growth factors in vitro. J.Periodontol 1992;63(6):515–525. XIAOZHE HAN AND SALOMON AMAR. Role of Insulin-Like Growth Factor-1 Signaling in Dental Fibroblast Apoptosis. J Periodontol 2003;74:1176-1182. TAKAYAMA S, MURAKAMI S, MIKI Y, et al. Effects of basic fibroblast growth factor on human periodontal ligament cells. J. Periodontal Res 1997;32(8):667–675. TERRANOVA VP, ODZIEMIEC C, TWEDEN KS, SPADONE DP. Repopulation of dentin surfaces by periodontal ligament cells and endothelial cells. Effect of basic fibroblast growth factor. J. Periodontol 1989;60(6):293–301. ROSSA C JR. MARCANTONIO E Jr, CIRELLI JA, et al. Regeneration of class III furcation defects with basic fibroblast growth factor (b-FGF) associated with GTR. A descriptive and histometric study in dogs. J. Periodontol 2000;71(5):775–784. TAKAYAMA S, MURAKAMI S, SHIMABUKURO Y, KITAMURA M, OKADA H. Periodontal regeneration by FGF-2 (bFGF) in primate models. J. Dent. Res 2001;80(12):2075–2079. KI-TAE KOO,CRISTIANO SUSIN, ULF M.E. WIKESJOÂ ¨, SEONG-HO CHOI, AND CHONG-KWAN KIMI. Transforming Growth Factor-b1 Accelerates Resorption of a Calcium Carbonate Biomaterial in Periodontal Defects. J Periodontol 2007;78:723-729. KARUPPANAN P. SASIKUMAR, SUGUMARI ELAVARASU, AND JAYAPRAKASH S. GADAGI. The application of bone morphogenetic proteins to periodontal and peri-implant tissue regeneration: A literature review. J Pharm Bioallied Sci. Aug 2012; 4(Suppl 2): S427–S430. SUBRAMANIAM M RAO, GAURI M UGALE, AND SHIVARAJ B WARAD. Bone Morphogenetic Proteins: Periodontal Regeneration. N Am J Med Sci. Mar 2013; 5(3): 161–168.

How Moods Are Affected By The Sun :: essays research papers

How Moods Are Affected By The Sun Thesis: The amount of sun people receive affects their mood. A young woman lies asleep on a cold, overcast winter morning. At 4 A.M., a faint incandescence radiates from a light bulb placed near her bed. The light gradually gains intensity and covers until 6 A.M., when the woman awakes. She had just experienced a simulated dawn of a new day. After being treated with this for several days, the woman's annual winter depression slowly goes away. Does this mean that the less sun you get the worse you feel, or perhaps the more you get the better your mood? It is very possible that you may feel this way as millions of people worldwide have experienced it first-hand. This phenomena is still sort of a mystery as many researchers don't completely understand why this happens. "It may be that certain individuals have inherited vulnerability that causes them to develop depression in the absence of exposure to sufficient environmental light"1. Frederick A. Cook, the arctic explorer, provided a vivid description of the effects of prolonged darkness on the human psyche: "The curtain of blackness which has overfallen the outer world has also descended upon the inner world of our souls," Cook wrote in his journal on May 16, 1898, "Around our tables . . . . men are sitting about sad and dejected lost in dreams of melancholy. For brief moments some try to break the spell by jokes, told perhaps for the 50th time. Others grind out a cheerful philosophy; but all efforts to infuse bright hopes fail."2 Some believe that light affects the body's ability to make serotonin, a neurotransmitter that helps induce feelings of calm and well being. The eye's sensitivity may also play a part in sun/mood relations. A study was done to a group of people in the winter and summer. In the winter the many individuals experienced much more difficulty seeing dim light after sitting in the dark for a while.3 Another study done in Vancouver shows that electrical activity in the retinas when a bright light is shone, is significantly less in winter4. As much as 5% of Americans suffer from Seasonal Affective disorder, also known as SAD5. SAD is an illness in which the sufferers feel depressed, feel lethargic, and they overeat . There is no known cause for this widespread illness. Many researchers of SAD are speculating on the idea that SAD patients might have seasonal variations in their melatonin secretions. A study of melatonin patterns in SAD sufferers was done to determine if melatonin was a

Attitude of the Filipino Essay

I was raised as a simple women and I seldom think of my â€Å"caprechos† even though I’m deprived with so many things. Although I’m earning my own money, I seldom think of my WANTS. That’s why I dont know how to react or feel on this kind of stories. But you know what I think? Some Filipinos who acts as if they’re filty rich have many debts! They show the fruit of their labor, oops! My mistake, the fruit of their â€Å"utang† (debt) You can’t measure sucess with what you have alone, but how many lives you’ve touched. hmm, i don’t think that a success story. for me, it really depends on the attitude formed and not on the nationality. Its sad to know that if someone sees for example a filipino nurse behaving against the norm set in their place, they would take it against most or all of the filipino nurses and stereotype them. every basket has a couple of rotten apples but the sad thing is the basket is known for having 2 rotten apples than having 98 good ones. what id like to read in this thread are the real success stories that they had after all those negativities they’ve encountered. there’s a lot of success stories about filipino nurses. but the recent post was very TRUE.. here’s another story†¦. – my mom is a CNA in chicago and she’s working in a nursing home. Im expecting to hear good values coz filipinos are very much known for good character. my mom was handling a 70 yr. old man and my mom maked sure that she took care of that patient and gave the old man a warm bath. she talked to the patient and asked if he wants to take his dinner. My mom lift the bed side rails and checked if its good enough to put the old man in bed. she endorsed the patient to her co-cna’s and her nurse buddy before taking her break.. job well done. but after 30 minutes during my mom’s break nurses on duty run to the old man’s room and found the patient lying on the floor and screaming for help. my mom maked sure that before her break bedside rails were lift but the filipino nurse didnt took care of the patient (my mom’s buddy and team for that shift) and instead of doing the rounce that nurse and her girlfriend sleep†¦. †¦ The incident was reported to the dna and both of the filipino nurse yelled that they didnt want that to happen.. and refused to talk w/ my mom.. duh..!!.. my mom is a good employee for 25 yrs. i dont know waht happened to the so called TLC is it only for the green bucks or tired of worked.. dont know†¦ i was really sad to hear that some filipino nurses were that arrogant and very iresponsible.

The handmaid’s tale: chapter 2 commentary

This passage from `The Handmaid's Tale' by Margaret Attwood uses stream of consciousness as a narrative technique to portray the thoughts of the main character, Offred, is going through. Attwood does this very realistically; in the sense that she writes in the way a human mind works, by describing the setting of the room. Thus the setting of the room is vital as it is through the setting that the themes are explored. The main theme of freedom in the passage is shown through the objects described in her room. The style of writing is structured in a way which reflects the minor details of the human mind ith the lack of movement in passage to put emphasize on how Offred refuse to let her mine wonder from the things that are around her, in her room. The tone of the passage changes, first it is more uncertain and unsure but later changes to a more certain tone, this shown through the diction used. Attwood structures her narrative technique in such a way that it creates a uniform setting and creates a sense of everything being controlled or repressed. The sense of freedom that Atwood restricts from Offred in the passage is shown through the description of the room. The narrator focuses on hat she `can' do rather then what she can not do. â€Å"I can sit in the chair† This is ironic because although she is focusing on what she is able to do, yet she is reinforcing how limited the things she can do are. â€Å"Air can come in and make the curtains move† The sense of freedom is shown through the movement of the curtains and the flow of the air; these objects have a sense of movement whereas her thoughts don't because she can not escape through the â€Å"partly open window†. Attwood uses the repetition of window to emphasize how Offred can see beyond the window but can not do anything about it. This depicts the vindication shown in the passage as the slightly open window can be seen as Serena joy taking pleasure in watching the handmaid's suffer, as they are not able to attain freedom but just have the slightest taste of it. Offred can not escape but she can feel the wind slightly touching her. Attwood portrays Offred's thoughts in contrast next to each other to reinforce the lack of freedom. â€Å"Where I am is not a prison but a privilege, as Aunt Lydia said†¦ † This depicts that she feels she is in a prison because of her lack of freedom but then Attwood abruptly nds saying that Aunt Lydia says this, and doesn't allow Offred to think about it much further. Offred is presenting her room to sound like a prison but then quickly says that Aunt Lydia told her to see it as a privilege. This shows how Aunt Lydia feels this not her, because of the authorization given to Aunt Lydia. This use of juxtaposition reemphasizes how her room is actually more a prison then a privilege. Offred is portrayed as only a spectator who can see through the window; this also shows her position in the society of Gilead as she is limited to what she is aware of and she can only reconstruct what he knows. The lack of freedom is hinted throughout the passage â€Å"I know why there is no glass†¦. Why the window opens only partly and why the glass is shatterproof† This implies she is aware of why her freedom is being restricted and reinforces that everything in her room is controlled and unified. The role of the main character, as a handmaid and women and how they can't have there own thoughts are also depicted through the passage. One of the main elements, the floor is being described as â€Å"highly polished† The wood is something that is natural in the room, but it has too been polished. This indicates that everything that is natural is changed in the society she lives in, emphasizing how women are also changed and treated like objects. This is reinforced in † waste not want not† this has certain subdued hint of cynicism in it, as it should be used to describe an object but it reflects who she is and how she is detached as she is treated like an object or a property of someone. â€Å"Why do I want† Implying that she doesn't want to be treated like the `polished' object she is being treated as. â€Å"Sunlight comes through the window too, and falls on the floor† This is the whole oncept of something welcoming entering through the window, yet it doesn't fall on her but on the floor. Attwood is trying to portray how everything just bypasses Offred and ignores her, which symbolizes how everyone ignores or bypasses Offred. The role of Offred is also hinted throughout the passage. Attwood uses the repetition of â€Å"white† to do this. White symbolizes something which is pure, which can also mean being virgin, which shows how the women role in the book has a sexual aspect to it. This is further revealed when the `bed' is described as a place where â€Å"nothing takes lace in the bed but sleep; or no sleep† This seems like pun; with a play on word bring in a hint of sarcasm highlighting the change of tone in the passage. This then highlights the theme of the lack of freedom within the society and emphasizes her role is related to sexual activity. The idea of â€Å"think of it as being in army† again puts emphasizes on her role, of doing something as a service and being forced in to doing it. Attwood perceives the role as something that has been â€Å"in reduced circumstances†, implying that there was something before this time and it was better. Attwood deals with the concept of â€Å"thoughts being rationed† and the desperation of the main character not to think throughout the passage. The narrative technique of juxtaposition is used in a sense, as Attwood allows her to think so much and then restricts her from going beyond the setting of the room. This desperation of not wanting to think is shown through the use of short sentences, which helps not getting involved and stops the thinking process. The language used is very powerful but precise making the tone sound bored but yet it is more detached. Thinking can hurt you chances, and intend to survive. † The idea of the whole passage is shown, as Attwood tries to focus on the small objects in the setting rather then letting Offred thoughts wander away because she knows that everything must be controlled in the society. The theme of repression and everything being controlled, is also shown in the passage through the uniformity â€Å"does each of us have the same print, the same chair, the same white curtains,† this suggests that everything is meant to be the same. The author depicts how the theme is shown in the portrayal of the room. Things in the room have to be controlled as â€Å"thought must be rationed† thus highlighting the society at the time and its ideals. â€Å"there is no glass, in front the water-colour picture of blue irises, and why the window opens only partly and why the glass is shatterproof† The change in the mood is clearly shown here, as the passage starts with a more detached, uncertain tone of what she can do or rather not do which leads to the hint of sarcasm and the tone of being more confident and certain about something. The repression is also stressed through the use of the haracter, Aunt Lydia who has an authoritative voice and tries to control the thoughts. â€Å"Think of it as being in a army† and â€Å"where I am is not a person but a privilege, as Aunt Lydia said,† Attwood first uses the imperative tense to show the power and control that the Aunt has, she also makes what Aunt Lydia says seem like a chant and by using the comma to separate what is said with Aunt Lydia she emphasizes this is what â€Å"Aunt Lydia said† and not what she thinks. The passage from `The handmaid's tale' by Margaret Attwood focuses on the setting of the room which is shown as a symbol of her capture. The theme of turning something bad into something good is explored all throughout the passage. This is shown through juxtaposition, â€Å"braided rags† Attwood portrays turning rags into something beautiful which is what she is trying to create throughout the passage by restricting the thoughts of Offred, so that her thoughts don't wander away. The beginning of the passage shows a more uncertain tone, where the thoughts are more restricted but towards the end of the passage the tone is changed to a more cynical tone which implies more of her thoughts.

Serpent handing Essays

Serpent handing Essays Serpent handing Essay Serpent handing Essay The book contributes greatly to the society in different ways. The major is a learning tool for Universities. The Archives of Appalancha at East Tennessee universities contain approximately 100 audio tapes and 50 video tapes on serpent handling services. The author according to me pays much attention to spiritual concerns other than the social change. The dynamic theory used to argue for the University of the Serpent as a means of body projections is directly related to death and resurrection.Despite the current modernization even in religion, the development of charismatic practices, some part of the United States is very strong on holiness sect. they are still practicing and following sings such as serpent handling. Although not all holiness sects handle serpents it is indeed an important act as described in mark 16:17 – 18.The Author focuses on Saylor family to illustrate the evolution of the snake handling movement which intensified as the economy and lifestyle of the Appa lachian Mountain Region moved from Agricultural subsistence to Industrial capitalism.

Influence of Culture on Accounting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Influence of Culture on Accounting - Essay Example Uniform implementation of International Accounting Standards is taking a long time mainly for this reason. The concerns and constraints of each country are different and most of the countries have well developed accounting norms and standards which they feel are quite adequate for their needs. It is another story that a reader from an alien culture might find the accounts presentation style too elaborate or too brief Dieter Ordelheide (2004 p.269) states that accounting is a social institution. He further states that Accounting is concerned with nothing less than the conceptualization of capital, its concrete expression in numbers, as well as its budgeting and monitoring, and thus with a societal institution that is so central to our economic system that it has given it its name. We might talk of global and market driven economies, the ways and means of determining the income or assets are the core of the entire financial and economic set up. Each cultural group uses these to tray and better their financial position within the culture they belong to. "Professionalism versus Statutory Control-a preference for the exercise of individual professional judgment and the maintenance of professional self-regulation as opposed to compliance with prescriptive level requirements and statutory control. Uniformity versus Flexibility-a preference for the enforcement of uniform accounting practices between companies and for the consistent use of such practices over time as opposed to flexibility in accordance with the perceived circumstances of individual companies. Conservatism versus Optimism-a preference for a cautious approach to measurement so as to cope with the uncertainty of future events as opposed to a more optimistic, laissez-faire, risk-taking approach. Secrecy versus Transparency-a preference for confidentiality and the restriction of disclosure of information about the business only to those who are closely involved with its management and financing as opposed to a more transparent, open, and publicly accountable approach." Thus as per this hypothesis each of these conflicting factors have influenced the development of the accounting standards depending upon their prevalence and dominance in the cultures being referred to. To take the example of Greek economy where the businesses tend to be closely held and public participation is indirect at its best mainly in the form of lending by banks, the need for disclosure or window dressing balance sheets is negligent. So the accounting systems which developed were fairly simple such that the limited number of stakeholders can understand the basic numbers. Of course with integration within the EU the disclosure norms have become more complex still not as complex at other developed countries say USA or Canada. In Greece one suspects that the tax bureaucrats have had a strong hand in dictating the shape of accounting conventions which are still followed. The Greek business houses being closely held tend to be wary of disclosing information to competitors so it is uncommon to see segment

DB7&8 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

DB7 - Essay Example It should not be the case where trainers boss trainees around rather than that, they should interact as friends and knowing one another by names. Studies have shown that even a simple thing like addressing trainees by name boosts the relationship between them and the trainer (Wexler& Garry 2002). When dealing with a conflict involving trainees, a trainer has to come up with several strategies to solve it. In this case, the best conflict manager always comes out with a perfect way to stop the conflict and make sure that it may never happen in future. When solving a conflict, the trainer is supposed to be of sound judgment and be as fair as possible. This can only be achieved if the trainer is following the proper conflict management strategies. On the contrary, I experienced one incident where the trainer would shout at the trainees who were conflicting and order them stop and be friends or else he would expel them. My suggestion to resolving such a conflict will involve listening, understanding and trying to resolve the conflict. First and foremost, listening involves summoning both trainees and let them narrate their side of story. In line with that, a trainer should also ensure the other trainer is listening; this way he is sure they are communicating on the same page. After both trainees have narrated their stories, make it clear that you are there to help resolve the conflict. It is important for the trainees to understand that you don’t have a magical solution to their conflict rather you are there to help them find a solution. It is important to make sure that you maintain your objectivity even when you know 100% that it is trainer B that wronged trainer A. jumping to trainers A side will make trainer B feel like you are both ganging against him/her (Wexler& Garry 2002).. Maintaining the calmness is vital: Anger blurs ones judgment. In other words since both parties are angry and maybe almost

Hypertension Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Hypertension - Research Paper Example Should the blood pressure hit 140/90 and above, one is considered to have hypertension. The two major classifications of hypertension are secondary and essential hypertension. Whereas essential hypertension refers to a high blood pressure case whose cause is unknown, secondary hypertension refers to high blood pressure caused by tumors, kidney disease, and birth control pills (Falvo, 2009). The essential type of hypertension has been identified to cause about 95% of all hypertension cases. That is, among the about 73 million adults in the United States suffering from hypertension, 69.35% have the essential hypertension (Falvo, 2009). Although the exact causes of hypertension are generally unknown, several risk factors have been associated with hypertension. These factors include diabetes, sedentary lifestyle, and lack of physical activity, smoking, vitamin D deficiency, stress, aging, excessive alcohol consumption, genetics, and medications such as birth control pills, obesity, and e xcessive consumption of salt. Others are chronic kidney disease and insufficient consumption of minerals such as calcium, potassium, and magnesium. The symptoms of the condition are rather hard to identify and quite a big percentage of hypertension victims do not know that they have the condition. Because this ignorance about one’s hypertension status could last years and endanger lives, it is recommended that people continually go for screenings. Included in these symptoms are problems with vision, breathing problems severe headaches, fatigue or confusion, nausea, blood in the urine, dizziness, irregular heartbeat, and chest pains (Falvo, 2009). This paper explores the subject of hypertension with regards to its statistics, prevalence, psycho-social challenges, lifestyles, treatment, researches, and community programs. Statistics on Hypertension That hypertension is a major health concern in the United States is evidenced by the statistics made available by federal, state, a nd local government agents as well as private citizens, community-based groups, and non-governmental organizations. For instance, that as many as one in three American adults are at risk of contracting chronic kidney disease, stroke, and heart attack/heart failure makes them highly likely to develop hypertension as well. Evidently, hypertension prevalence is rather alarming. It has also been noted that more than half of hypertension patients have not managed to put it under control, resulting in severe health and psycho-social problems, reduced control rates, and high prevalence across the population. According to the American Society of Hypertension (ASH), more should be done regarding the establishment of educational, prevention, treatment, management and research programs to address hypertension, which has been a national health concern for quite some tine. These programs should specifically target hypertension prevention, treatment, awareness, and the reduction of hypertensionâ €™s consequences. To meet these objectives, these programs will have to initiate

Synthesis and Purification of Acetylsalicylic Acid Essay Example for Free

Synthesis and Purification of Acetylsalicylic Acid Essay Synthesis and Purification of Acetylsalicylic Acid (ASA or Aspirin) Background Salicylic acid is a phenol as well as a carboxylic acid. It can therefore undergo two different types of esterification reactions, creating an ester either with the hydroxyl or with the acid. In the presence of acetic anhydride, acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin or ASA) is formed. Correspondingly, an excess of methanol will form methyl salicylate, which is also an analgesic. In this experiment, we shall use the former reaction to prepare aspirin. Salicylic acid will not react significantly with acetic acid to produce aspirin. Acetic acid anhydride, however, is more reactive than acetic acid because the acetoxy group (-O2CCH3) is a much better leaving group than the OH- of acetic acid. The reaction has one complication, however, in that an esterification can occur between the phenol and acid portion of adjacent salicylic acid molecules. Further, more molecules can bind to the remaining free substituents on these molecules to create a macromolecule, or polymer. The polymer is formed as a by-product. Acetylsalicylic acid will react with sodium bicarbonate to form a water-soluble sodium salt, whereas the polymer remains insoluble. This difference can be used to purify the aspirin product. The most likely impurity in the final product is salicylic acid, which can be either unconsumed reactant, or the result of hydrolysis of the aspirin product. Salicylic acid is removed during the purification steps as well. Salicylic acid, like most phenols, forms a highly colored complex with ferric chloride, and is easily detected. Aspirin does not form the colored complex because the hydroxyl has been acetylated. Provide tabulated and experimental MP’s for product. Report mass and moles for the reactant and product, and calculate yield % on a molar basis. Mechanism The mechanism is called nucleophilic acyl substitution. It is similar, but not identical, to the hydrolysis on pg 802. The entering nucleophile is salicylic acid, not water. On the resulting tetrahedral intermediate, the H from salicylic acid moves to the middle O on the anhydride. Finally, the leaving group is acetic acid, not chloride. No base is involved. Provide structures of all intermediates in your lab report.

Analysis of the E-brokerage Industry

Analysis of the E-brokerage Industry Executive Summary The financial brokerage industry has undergone dramatic changes worldwide in the last decade, due to the rise of the Internet. E-brokerage brought huge opportunity to the industry as it introduces enormous amount of on-line traders but at the same time posted serious threat as it open up the market to new competitors. In this thesis, we investigate past and current challenges the brokerage industry faced. From our literature review, we studied the impact of online trading to the brokerage industry and the online traders, and proposed solutions pinpointed to the facts we found. We studied the challenge the brokerage industry faced from the perspectives of strategy, marketing and technology and carried out strategic analysis using value chain and framework of five forces by Michael E. Porter. A small scale survey was conducted to collect local people attitude towards online/mobile trading and we used the data collected to justify the information we found during our literature review. F inally, we proposed a basket of suggestions for the brokerage industry in various aspects including product enhancement, customer education, partnership, differentiation, customer segmentation and more. An in-depth interview with a local broker firm was organized to value our suggestions, their feedback are positive. Introduction The tough challenge among e-brokerage industry is still going on and in fact, it is getting even more furious. The situation was more rigorous during bearish market after the burst of IT foams, SAR outbreak and the recent financial tsunami. The strategy the brokerage firms adopted to handle the challenges they faced determine who will survive the competition and stay in the market. Losers will soon be squeezed out of the market. This is especially true for small to median size local brokerage firms who are now facing new competitors like direct banks and oversea online trade provider like E-Trade. Confronted with growing competition, old-guard brokers are being forced to restructure and re-focus their market offerings. Various strategies were adopted, some brokerage firms seek to maintain their lead in value-added services through a focus on knowledge/advise more financial planning and investment advice rather than transactions -processing trades. Other firms attempted to comprehen d how to offer on-line services without alienating their brokers, to minimize channel conflict. The purpose of this article is to analysis the current e-brokerage practices and device new service directions and enhancement to existing products to increase competence of our local brokerage industry. We will first present the evolution of security trading in Hong Kong and characteristic of different types of brokerage firms and customers. From our literature review, we found that online trading exerted great impact on both brokerage industry and online traders. For brokerage firms, they faced vigorous competition due to new competitors, reduced customer loyalty and market fragmentation due to low entry barrier. While illusion of knowledge and control, lack of personal advice and overwhelmed by information were the hurdle online traders faced. We have presented the strategic challenge faced by the brokerage industry and analysis their strategy using value chain and framework of five forces algorithm. We have devised a basket of suggestions and discussed with a brokerage firm the f easibility to comprehend our research. Financial Broker Industry In Hong Kong Evolution of security trading in Hong Kong The ultimate goal of a well-functioning stock market is to bring together all possible buyers and sellers, so that the market price reflects the combined preferences of all participants. The history of securities trading in Hong Kong can be traced back to 1866. The present Sock Exchange of Hong Kong (HKEx) was established as a result of the unification of four exchanges during the big market boom in 1986, while the first stock exchange began its operation in 1891. Exchange System Architecture Computerized trading system was first introduced on 2 April 1986 and in 1993 the exchange launched the Automatic Order Matching and Execution System (AMS), which was replaced by the third generation system (AMS/3) in October 2000. AMS/3 is the core system used to serve securities trading which has significant enhancements in central market functions, open connectivity and system capacity as compared with AMS/2. AMS/3 supports multiple trading facilities for market access. Most of the participants developed their own Broker Supplied System (BSS) which interfacing with AMS/3 via the Open Gateway (OG) facility for greater control to the front-end solutions instead of the Multi-workstation System (MWS) by HKEx. The open connectivity of OG has made possible the large-scale automation of Participants operations, enabling Participants to offer new investor services and experience efficiency gains. In 2002, a new generation of the system, CCASS/3, was launched for clearing and settlement. MD S (Market Data Feed System) is the key system used for delivery of securities price data to about 60 local and international information vendors. HKATS (Hong Kong Futures Automated Trading System) is the electronic order matching system operated for the derivatives market. Advancement in information technology, especially the Internet, is revolutionizing traditional commerce. Obviously the securities industry, and in particular the on-line brokerage, is at the forefront of this revolution. Here in Hong Kong, retail online trading as a proportion of total retail investor trading continued to grow in 2008/09, reaching 43 per cent from 39 per cent in 2007/08. Its contribution to total market turnover was 10 per cent, up from 7 per cent in 2007/08. For stock options, retail online trading contributed 23 per cent of total retail investor trading (up significantly from 15 per cent in 2007/08) and 2 per cent of product turnover (1 per cent in 2007/08). For other derivatives, retail online trading contributed 49 per cent of total retail investor trading and 18 per cent of total product turnover (up from 44 per cent and 15 per cent respectively in 2007/08). Types of Brokerage Firm The basic function of a brokerage firm is to execute buy and sell orders for clients. Traditionally these firms have offered the investigation of the quality and the possibilities of investing in a variety of investment products. It is still accustomed for brokerage firms to offer information about possible investments free of charge. This activity of bringing free of charge stock investment reports is one of the main tools that are utilized by brokerage houses to compete against other firms. To investors, it continues to be an important service. However, with the bloom of communication technology, especially the Internet, more and more investors rated that investment reports as less important service. Instead, those investors preferred other types of services that charged less commission and service fee, by forfeiting those investment reports. In order to capture this vast diverse clientele, the brokerage industry segmented itself. After the restrictions in commissions were eliminat ed, several brokerages began to open up their doors as discount brokerage firms. At that time, brokerage firms were classified into two types: full service brokers and discount brokers. Full service brokerage firms continued to offer informative stock reports and a level of service much higher than other brokerage houses. They looked for purchasing and selling opportunities for clients and offering more customer and portfolio advisory service than was available from discount brokers. Discount brokerage houses, on the other hand, only dedicated themselves to execute orders for clients with minimal services. These differences in services and philosophies led to great differences in commission costs. It was evident that these differences were an important factor in the return of an investment. Type of customers in brokerage industry In Hong Kong customers of brokerage firm can be divided into three typical categories: l Prestige Group: These are customers with large amount of capital put in to the brokerage firm for investment. They have granted total authority to the brokerage firm to execute trading decision on behalf of them. Although they are minority in terms of the customer base of brokerage firm, they contribute a great portion of revenue to the brokerage firm. l Middle Group: Customer of this group usually trade through account agent of the brokerage firm. They utilities financial information, report and analyzing tools provided by the brokerage firm to make trading decision. Account agent will also actively contact these customers whenever they see an investment opportunity fit for them. l Basic Group: Customer mostly uses service of brokerage firm to maintain account balance and execute trading order on the own. Although multiple channels are supplied to them, they mostly adopt on-line trading as their first choice of trading media. Although the first two groups of customers contribute quite a large portion of the revenue of brokerage firm, we will concentrate our research on the third group for two reasons. First, there is a clear trend that this group of customer is increasing in a fast pace. Second, by investing and improving the on-line system, the other group will also be benefited. Literature Review Online-Brokerage Simply put, â€Å"On-line brokerage† can be defined as selling of securities which encompasses equity like stocks and warrants and derivatives like bonds, mutual funds etc, on the Internet. Although traditional banks and brokers also provided online trading after year 2000, new entrants like direct banks and new brokers offered a genuine e-commerce business model. Direct banks are internet-only banks or virtual banks. These banks were designed without a traditional banking infrastructure with physical branches. This cost-saving advantage enabled many of them to offer savings accounts with higher interest rates, loans with lower interest rates and minimal management fee and commissions than most traditional banks. More and more customer joined in as online trade and a peak was hit on year 2000. At the same time, new competitors like traditional brokers and virtual banks joined in proactively by acquiring existing brokerage firm or using their own business model. At that time, t hen customer base and knowledge of the traditional institutions was still advantages for online trading enhancement. The strategy online brokers adopted was customers segmentation and directed their offer to the most preferred customer group, the active private investors, which allowed them to swiftly catch up the market. Compared with banks, absence of physical branches thus low overhead costs gave these internet brokers an advantageous in cost structure. They competed with each other rigorously to achieve the biggest market share in the shortest time frame to reach the break even point. The strategy to conquer and develop loyalty of new customers was invested massively in marketing. They also adopted a cut-throat commission rate to attract private individuals who were more sensitive to this cost of investment. The position of banks and traditional brokers in the brokerage business was deeply undermined by the pressure caused by these new entrants. Bloom of on-line trading For the first time ever, investors could, from the comfort of their own homes, accessed a wealth of financial information including breaking news developments and market data on the same terms as market professionals did. In addition, on-line brokerage provided investors with tools to analyze this information, such as research reports, calculators, and portfolio analyzers. Finally, on-line brokerage enables investors to act quickly on this information. The technological and regulatory barriers that gave traditional brokerage and securities companies edges were rapidly becoming extinct. First, new provider quickly gained access to the market by leveraged on the use of Internet technology. Without expensive branch networks and labor-intensive advisory services, new competitor like direct banks and new online brokerage firms were able to process retail clients orders in relatively low cost. Second, the bull markets in year 2000 attracted large number of new online customers. For example , lot of local residents became online investors and started to hold security when frequent and gigantic scale IPO activity were taking place during 2006. These new customers welcomed the new internet investment style that encompassed vast amount of free of charge real time information, enhanced market transparency, convenience and low commission. Together with the rising share prices in bull market atmosphere, these new customer, in particular, heavy traders quickly got accustomed to doing online trade. The Internet also made other comparisons easier. For example, it increased price competition for products for which price comparison was previously more difficult. New information applications enabled investors to compare the quality of trade execution provided by different brokerages and thus extend the trading costs that investors consider beyond commissions. Companies scrambled to create viable strategies that balance many priorities. Typical considerations included: Should they defend their existing customer base or enter into new customer segments? Grow their existing business or expand into new products? Acquire, partner or go alone? Basically, companies were competing not only to offer different and better products and services, but to design robust, lucrative business models that took advantage of emerging forms of electronic commerce. Electronic commerce the facilitation of exchange of value over computer networks fundamentally changed the brokerage business in part by increasing the velocity of financial services [1]. Impact of on-line brokerage Hurdle on brokerage firm Rigorous competition With the advancing Internet technology, investors had became less reliant on stockbrokers for trade execution or obtaining research information as such services were readily available on the Internet. In addition, the Internet was a convenient and efficient channel for doing stock trade transactions and for providing information support to investors. Indeed, the trend of self-investing led to the proliferation of Internet brokerages around 2000, offering trading services on the Internet at very low commission rates compared to using traditional brokerages. Reduced customer loyalty Lower transaction costs online led many investors to e-brokerages and away from traditional brokers to place their trades Another concern was that since investors feel that they can distinguish between the good and bad advice that they find on the Internet, they therefore were not be willing to continue to pay a financial planner solely for their expert opinion. This was in part due to the information illusion discussed in next section: illusion of knowledge and control, where investors feel that since they have access to so much information that they had no need to pay for such service and can do it better on their own. Reduced customer-broker cohesiveness Before on-line trading is prevalent, a single stock trade typically involves multiple telephone conversations between a customer and a broker. The broker may take the opportunity to reinforce the personal relationship with the customer by discussing pros and cons of the trade or offer tailor-made investment package. On the contrary, on-line traders are more on their own. Together with the convenience to switch broker, the loyalty of the customer to the brokerage firm is largely weakened. Although transactions are the bread and butter of brokerage companies, brokerage firms were also strived to developing client relationships in order to provide total solution to their customers. The income by providing strategic planning, advisory services, financial advices, margin loan and other client services are also vital to brokerage companies.. Market fragmentation Market fragmentation occurs when too many competitive suppliers enter an active or new market. It happened starting from 1998 and peaked around 2001, when online trading started to take off and attracted many different competitors. They all aimed attract on-line investors and to achieve the largest possible market shares by all means, for example, by giving them some extra bonuses. However, the sudden downturn of the market quickly turned a lot of these new investors to passive customers, if not entirely retired, due to lack of knowledge and experience. This phenomenon was even more obvious after market started to plunge beginning at 2001. As a matter of fact, it is too risky for e-brokers to over-rely on commission as the main source of revenue. After all, the demand for brokerage services highly depends on investment atmosphere of stock market. The number of on-line executed orders during bullish and bearish market varies significantly. These large variation experts high risk for those who base their income on commission. In order to safeguard possession of active traders during both bullish and bearish market, it is very important to educate them and foster a correct investment culture. Lower entry barrier The Internet changed how information is delivered to investors and the ways in which investors can act on that information. On-line brokerage provide a effective and convenient access media between customers and the brokerage firm, the unit cost of operations is much reduced. It had lowered both the fixed and marginal costs of producing financial services, thus enabling newer, smaller companies to challenge established providers of these services. On-line brokerage firms, such as E*Trade, are among the most vivid and successful financial service firms to provide on-line financial advice, research tools, and financial information that emerged in the last decade. These e-commerce firms transformed the way traditional services were delivered and offered a vast assortment of new services. Hurdle on customer Investors in general and on-line investors in particular now make decisions in a very different environment than investors in the past. They have access to far more data. They often act without personal intermediaries. They can conduct extensive searches and comparisons on a wide variety of criteria. Although the quantity they can produce may be large, it is the quality that matter. As a consequence, they trade more actively, more speculatively but less profitably than before. On-line trader stress heavily on commission and management cost when choosing broker firm to use. However, there are other unobservable costs that are unaware by them: information-processing costs, information illusion, illusion of control, frequent trading behavior, and the lack of personal advice. Information-processing costs Information-processing costs are the costs that online investors sustain before they actually make a transaction and it is defined by the time and energy that the investor expands trying to reach an investment decision. Because of the huge volume of information found on the Internet that it can take investors a lot of extra time to find, sort, and analyze all of the relevant information. This in turn can out-weigh the benefits of online trading for some investors because they might not be able to afford the opportunity. In fact, the overwhelmingly huge amount of information available on the Internet scales many investors away, let alone their validity or intentional hoax. Illusion of knowledge The proposition that more information leads to better decision-making is intuitively appealing. But the truth of the proposition depends on the relevance of the information to the decision and on how well-equipped the decision maker is to use the information .The vast amount of on-line investment data available will enable investors to confirm their prior beliefs and may lead them to become overconfident in their ability to pick stocks and other securities. Faster feedback may focus investors attention on recent performance. Psychology shows that when people who initially disagree on a topic are given arguments on either side of the issue, they become further polarized in their beliefs. They are impressed by the arguments with which they already agree and they discount opposing views. Not only are people more impressed by arguments they favor, but they actively seek out confirming evidence. For this reason, investors are more likely to visit chatrooms or forum of like-minded investor s. If controversies ensue, they are likely to be convinced by those with whom they already agree. Investors who believe that additional information makes them better investors are unlikely to seek out or attend to evidence that indicates otherwise. Thus, on-line investors are likely to become overconfident. They may believe that they have more ability to perform tasks such as stock-picking than they actually do. In theoretical models, overconfident individual investors trade more actively and more speculatively than they otherwise would, hold under diversified portfolios, have lower expected utilities, and contribute to increased market volatility. In an empirical study of investors at a large discount brokerage who switched from phone-based to personal computer-based trading by Barber and Odean, they find that after going on-line, investors tend to trade both more actively and more speculatively. Illusion of control This illusion results when investors think that because they have access to so much information via the Internet that they have an advantage over the entire market and this can lead them to make bad investment decisions. These investors then have an exaggerated sense of control over the outcomes of their investments. Frequent trading is another cost associated with online investing. Low transaction costs can encourage frequent trading and day-trade strategy according to Konana, Menon and Balasubramanian. As an example, in Singapore, 71.1 per cent of online investors say that they trade more frequently than they did prior to online trading (Teo, Tan, Peck, 2004). Researches show that most of the on-line traders adopt short term trading strategy: a risky strategy rather than the believed buy and hold strategy. The Internet also seems likely to change what information investors focus on, because it reduces the cost of some kinds of information more than others. For instance, the Intern et especially facilitates comparisons of real time data, and thus has changed investors focus by emphasizing the importance of speed and immediacy. While the serious individual investor of a decade ago may have checked stock positions once a day in the morning paper, casual investors now may check theirs several times an hour. Many more investors pay attention to short term-even intraday- return trends than ever before. Worse still, many firms advertise their ability to deliver real time data or to execute investors orders rapidly, making the situation even worse. Lack of personal advice The downside of investing online is the lack of personal advice from those in the financial field (Vakil Lu, 2005). According to Phelan (2001), the Web will never be able to substitute for the judgment and expertise of financial planners, nor will it be able to protect investors from all of the scams that are abundant on the Internet. In reality, the news and new information people found on the internet might not be as new as they think. Moreover, many online traders only focus on the here and now and do not look at the whole picture or at the future as financial advisors are trained to do, thus jeopardizing their investment. Challenge Our research examines the pressures for change over the past decade that was overcoming the inertia in the brokerage industry. We viewed the challenge from the perspectives of traditional brokerage firm and electronic brokerage firm. Traditional brokerage firm To provide online trading, traditional brokerage firms were forced to decide on which of the two approaches to go, either establishes new subsidiary with a new brand name or provide under its own name. For the first case, brokerage firm suffer from overlapped company structure and considerable marketing expenditure to build the new name, which prolonged the period to reach break even point. The later case, though easier to setup, brokerage firm is putting their reputation at stake when the service do not meet customers expectation. The strategy adopted was to have differentiated brands serve the younger, more tech-savvy investors that gravitated to on-line trading without nibbling full-commission business. With the advent of the World Wide Web, discount brokerage firms face a comparable disintermediation dilemma. Commissions were suddenly under pressure, customers wanted to trade directly, and competition is coming from non-traditional sources like direct banks. To address the competitive threat, some entrenched firms adopted the supermarket approach by providing other supplementary services like providing financial information and news. However, such approach was in fact a typical re-intermediation path that directly competed with full service brokerage firm which offered a wider portfolio of products and services. Nevertheless, creating a financial services supermarket was a misguided strategic choice for three reasons: First, many successful 1990s businesses have rediscovered the virtues of adhering to their core competencies and the power of strategic outsourcing in order to gain agility. Most of the conglomerates which attempted to enter the financial services arena learned the hard way that adding unfamiliar lines of business can dilute their ability to compete, weaken shareholder and customer loyalty and multiply management complexity. The reason for failure was economic. Risk and cost sharing in the production or delivery process can enable better time to market and make providing a product/service bundle more efficient than integrating everything in-house. Second, offering additional products to an existing customer base does not prevent customers from leaving. Also, the decision to add new products to an existing portfolio is complicated by an uncertain environment such as the Internet. In an uncertain techno-marketplace, a firm is often making an informed guess about what it thinks is best for a customer without fully knowing what that customers preferences and goals are. Third, technology-enabled firms like ETrade were taking the â€Å"re- intermediation† path in a new way by providing customers with interactive and personalized services at little or no cost. This branding and trust-building approach enables the service providers to learn directly and accurately from each customer whats actually important to him or her. Armed with this intimate customer knowledge, these companies are better positioned to build loyalty and increase profits for the long term. Clearly, re-intermediation was a difficult strategy as sustainable competitive advantage was becoming rare in the on-line environment. High performers today look for a series of short-term advantages over a long period of time instead of attempting to plot a far-sighted course in an environment with too many unpredictable variables. Innovative Internet-based intermediaries were the real threat to the entrenched players. These firms were adopting dramatically more effective means of forging interactive relationships with customers added value, which was essentially the incremental benefit that the new in the middle firm brings to the customer. They were looking to exploit synergism across different product lines. They innovated more frequently and organized to seize opportunities much faster than their competitors. The reason was: concentrated focus on traditional sources of competitive advantage such as cost, technology, and differentiation was inadequate because competitors were quick to replicate advantages. They seek to identify and rapidly responded to subtle changes to the finest ingredient: the individual customer. To sustain competitive advantage, it was important to embrace business practices that encourage deep customer insight and thinking about how to materially improved the customers value proposition. Electronic brokerage firm Online brokers rushed to pour money to increase their capacity to absorb the fast growing demand during dot.com boom in 2000. The only way considered effective to increase market share at that time was advantageous offers and promotions, combined with enormous marketing expenses exposing them to a very high costs. The development of the online brokerage market was highly dominated by such marketing approach. Absence of physical branches and thus reduced operation cost entitle internet brokers the advantageous cost structure. Instead, they allocated this saving and invested on massive marketing campaign in order to achieve the biggest market share as soon as possible. By attracting and developing the loyalty of new customers, these brokerage firms were expecting soon to reach the break-even point. The bull market during the dot.com boom had dusted the eye of these online brokers. They failed to anticipated adverse situation when significant downturn in capital investments occurred and stroke their over investment. The stock markets had proved its volatility in a year time, when the dot.com boom burst in 2001. The serious regression caused by global slump of economy and the later SAR outbreak during 2003 had made the situation even steeper for the industry. The depression lasted for a couple of years before reaching a rising track started on 2007. Stock market transaction was drastically dropped from hundreds of billion down to tens of billions and last for years. Investors were either scared away or suffered from great lost by the sudden market plunge and prolonged recession. The once admirable capacity had turned into the biggest burden for brokerage firm. Naturally, all of them suffered from great investment lost, if not bankrupted altogether. All the internet brokerage firms had paid a huge price for this costly experience. The lesson they learnt made them re-evaluated the challenges ahead and the goals to attain. They have learnt that low commission rates or excessive marketing expenses would not give them competitive advantages and made the break-even point harder to reach. Instead, they had to revise the services they offered and discover alternative source of revenue. Suffered from the great impact of market volatility, they were looking for a flexible enough business models that is able to cope with the huge capacity demand during a bull market while enable them to safely transit bearish market. We can classify the challenges facing online brokerage firms into three categories: strategy, marketing and technology. Strategic challenge The characteristic of online brokerage had fundamentally changed the brokerage industry. New competitors like insurance companies, banks and financial portal had entered the arena. With the competitive advantage in possessing technology, a large customer bases and knowledge of their customers, they posted great threat to traditional brokerage player who want to participant in online brokerage. The large customer bases not only significantly reduced marketing cost but also helped to minimize development and operation cost due to economy of scale. Coupled with the open standard characteristics, traditional brokerage players had an up hill battle to fight. The value chain of the brokerage was invaded by these new competitors, forcing traditional p