Safe Injecting Facilities Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Safe Injecting Facilities - Term Paper Example These Safe infusions locales otherwise called tranquilize utilization rooms (DCRs), safe infusion rooms, and regulated infusion destinations/offices/focuses, started in Europe during the 1980s. They currently exist in urban communities in Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Australia. The primary safe infusion site in North America, Insite, started working as a pilot venture in Vancouver, BC in 2003, and was as of late given the thumbs up to stay open after a Supreme Court fight with the central government (Keen, 2003). Infusion sedate use keeps on being related with a variety of critical wellbeing and social results all through North America. These outcomes are tied legitimately to the utilization of unlawful medications of obscure strength and piece, and the sharing of sullied infusion hardware; and in a roundabout way, through unprotected sex with sedate injectors, and through injectors’ submersion in underground market interests that outcome much of the time in vicious trades with hoodlums and the police. Sharp (2003) states that in the United States, infusion tranquilize use represents roughly 25% of every single combined Aid cases across the nation, however closer to half of all cases in a few northeastern States. The quantity of new HIV diseases revealed across the nation among injectors expanded 300% during the 1990s, from 6,474 new contaminations in 1993, to 13,969 out of 1995, 17,344 out of 1998 and 18,882 of every 1999. Malady Injectors likewise experience the ill effects of extremely high paces of hepatitis C contamination †90% of individuals who have infused for a long time or more are tainted - and from endocarditis, an intense disease of the heart valves that isn't regularly observed among youthful grown-ups. Lethal and nonfatal medication overdose (OD) is likewise a pervasive clinical issue among injectors, and emergency clinic crisis rooms all through the nation take care of ODs for all intents and purposes regular. Crisis room (ER) visits including heroin alone mult iplied from 33,900 out of 1990 to 70,500 of every 1996. Some clinical specialists have as of late pronounced that the United States is amidst another heroin pestilence. Then again, injectors are known to utilize essential consideration benefits inconsistently and simply after they are wiped out, which drives up medicinal services costs (Drug Policy master Committee, 2000). The contention for safe infusion locales Several examination contemplates have indicated that protected infusion destinations have focal points for tranquilize injectors and for the network remembering decrease for a considerable lot of the unsafe parts of medication use on the individual (spread of diseases, danger of overdose) and to society (sedate related wrongdoing, open introduction to medicate infusing gear), just as positive advantages (increment in instruction about security among injectors, more medication clients getting to treatment and different administrations). Broad examination has been led at Insi te in Vancouver, with positive outcomes. The contention against safe infusion locales Critics have contended against the presentation of safe infusion destinations to a great extent dependent on the rule that illicit drug use isn't right, and ought not be supported at all. The political spotlight on lessening damage to medicate clients redirects the concentration from where it has a place, which is on the anticipation and treatment of medication misuse. Presenting safe infusion locales is viewed as a stage towards medicate authorization, and subverts law requirement standards and practices. Specialists infer that police reconnaissance may wind up driving off the very individuals North America's originally endorsed more secure infusing office is planned to help. While there have been methodological reactions of the assessment contemplates supporting safe infusion destinations, and Insite specifically, pundits on the opposite side contend that there is no generous reason for these rea ctions. At last, the solid perspectives on the two sides

Ca essays

Ca articles For what reason was the Great Leap Forward a disappointment and how was the Cultural Revolution idea of uniformity not quite the same as the U.S.s idea of correspondence as reflected by the undeniable truth that all individuals are made equivalent? For quite a long time China had been either at war with or involved Japan. Mao and the Communists moved quickly to reinforce their standard over Chinas 550million individuals. The Communists professed to have another Mandate of Heaven. Furthermore, they intended to reestablish China as an incredible country. The Great Leap Forward would before long end up being an extraordinary jump in reverse for China. The Cultural Revolution of China equity would likewise separate between the United States equity ideas. In 1957, after China's initial Five-Year Plan, Mao Zedong required a speed up development of genuine communism in China (instead of tyrannical communism). To achieve this objective, Mao started the Great Leap Forward, setting up extraordinary cooperatives in the wide open through the utilization of aggregate work and mass activation. The Great Leap Forward was expected to expand the creation of steel and to raise horticultural creation to twice 1957 levels. The Great Leap transformed into an express catastrophe. Ventures went into strife since workers were creating nothing, however steel. Besides, the laborers, as ranchers, were sick prepared and not well prepared to deliver steel, depending on such systems as lawn heaters. In the interim, cultivating executes like rakes were liquefied down for steel, making rural creation inconceivable. This prompted decreases underway of everything, except steel. To exacerbate the situation, so as to maintain a strategic distance from discipline, nearby specialists consistently revealed terribly unreasonable creation numbers, which concealed the issue for quite a long time and aggravated it. The Chinese economy, which had scarcely recouped from many years of war, was going into disaster.The government formally ended the program in 196 ... <!

End-Stage Alcoholism Support for Families

End-Stage Alcoholism Support for Families Addiction Coping and Recovery Personal Stories Print End-Stage Alcoholism Support for Families There are few resources for those dealing with terminal loved ones By Buddy T facebook twitter Buddy T is an anonymous writer and founding member of the Online Al-Anon Outreach Committee with decades of experience writing about alcoholism. Learn about our editorial policy Buddy T Updated on January 21, 2020 Hes Not Going to Make it. © Getty Images More in Addiction Coping and Recovery Personal Stories Methods and Support Overcoming Addiction Alcohol Use Addictive Behaviors Drug Use Nicotine Use For friends and family members who have loved ones experiencing the end stages of alcohol use disorder, the experience can be frustrating and lonely. The feeling of powerlessness is stifling as you watch someone you care about slowly die while they may even refuse to admit their drinking is problematic. Its not often talked about, but left untreated, alcohol use disorder can be a fatal disease.?? The alcoholic in blogger Lindas life is one of those terminal cases. Eight times she has been told that he would not live another six months. Three times hes had hospice involved in what seemed like would be his final days, but he kept coming back, going through detox and recovering. Hes Not Going to Make It The ups-and-downs of her partners alcoholism make it difficult to cope. I anticipate and plan for the end which, unfortunately, always feels as though it would be a blessing, Linda writes on her blog. Weve been through the hes not gonna make it ordeal many, many times. But he keeps making it, hence the title of her blog, The Immortal Alcoholic. Alcohol Use Disorder Is a Progressive Disease As you begin to read Lindas story, you want give her a big hug, although probably she would prefer that you merely leave a comment. But for those of us who have seen or are watching loved ones die slowly because of their alcohol use, her story is both heart-breaking and edifying. A Navy wife, Linda dealt with her husbands progressive alcohol use disorder for 20 years while raising a family, but then left him after her daughter was grown. During the 15 years they were separated (but not divorced) his alcohol use disorder progressed to the point that it was affecting his brain and his internal organs. Research has shown that long-term alcohol misuse can have a lasting impact on the brain, although some areas may recover with abstinence.?? Protecting Her Daughter When her daughter made the decision to take her ailing father into her home to care for him, Linda stepped in to protect her daughter. My daughter wanted him to come live with her family. I said no, Linda writes. I had stayed married to him in order to have my military benefits. He was my responsibility. I had to protect her by stepping up and doing what needed to be done. Challenges of Caregiving Somehow Linda has managed to emotionally detach herself from the alcoholic while at the same time caring for him. He is living with her in the Southeastern United States in her rural home miles from the nearest liquor store. At The Immortal Alcoholic, Linda posts frequent blogs about her daily life struggles with an end-stage alcoholic, who, at this writing, has been dry for more than three months, but makes it clear almost daily that one day he will drink again. Hard to Find Information Her blog deals with the ordeal of living with someone whose mind and health has been devastated by alcohol misuse, but she also has pages of resources for other non-alcoholics like her, who may be going through the same situation. As she explained in an email, I have had problems with finding people who understand end-stage and all the things that go along with it. Even the doctors really dont know what to do... End-Stage alcohol use disorder Information Her website has information she has gathered while dealing with end-stage alcohol use disorder, including: Stages of an Alcoholic LifeLinda outlines the progression of alcohol use disorder from just a few beers to the hes not going to make it stage and everywhere in between.The Truth About DetoxWhat they dont tell you about the detoxification process until the patient is already in the program.The Medical DilemmaMost family doctors are either not trained to deal with end-stage alcohol use disorder or they are just not willing to be that honest with the alcoholic or their families.Alcohol and BiologyWhen the liver can no longer metabolize alcohol fast enough and sends it back into the bloodstream over and over, it causes all kinds of problems in the body. If you or someone you know is dealing with alcohol use disorder, you might find Lindas blog a glimpse of what the end stages look like, a source of encouragement and enlightenment, or an affirmation that you are not alone.

Economists Estimate Wealth And Poverty - 1736 Words

Bishoui Fahim Prof, Brian Curtis English Comp 2 April 23, 2016 Wealth and Poverty Economists estimate wealth and poverty in many ways. The most three common measures are income, possessions (accumulated wealth in the form of money, securities, and real estate), and socioeconomic metrics. Actions in the last category go beyond financial data to account for health, food, infant mortality, sanitation, and other phases of human well-being. Usually, wealth and poverty measured regarding income. Information on income is readily available, credible, and relevant, particularly in discussing poverty in the United States, wherever the inherited wealth is a small factor, and most people live on wages and salaries. It s beneficial to think of wealth and poverty about one another. That s because income inequality is truly the underlying issue in poverty, particularly in developed countries. In the economic talk, income inequality indicates to the variation of revenue between and among several groups of people and households in an economy. Frequently the diff erences in wealth that effect people feel wealthy or poor. In a developed country, any family inside a house with indoor plumbing, decent food, and clothes, running water, and education and access to health care. This kind of life will be considered as a luxury. In the United States, millions of people who are enjoying these things are considered poor people, and those things constitute the essentials in America. In developedShow MoreRelatedPoverty in the U.S.961 Words   |  4 PagesAccording to a 2013 article in the Economist, the US currently boasts the highest post-tax level of income inequality of any high-income country in the world (Economist 2013). The nations Gini Coefficient – a measure of wealth inequality – currently stands at .42, well above that of other nations such as Switzerland and Sweden, which have Gini Coefficients of .31 and .33 respectively. Unfortunately this high level of income and wealth inequality is growing. Between 1979 and 2011, American earnersRead MoreThe Problem Of Income Inequality1159 Words   |  5 Pagessignificantly, while the low skilled workers’ incomes have been declining (The Economist, â€Å"Wealth Without Workers†). According to The Economist, real median wages have been decreasing since 2000 in half of the member countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). In the United States, there was a 4% increase from 1980 to 2012 in the share of national income that was distributed to the top 0.01% (The Economist, â€Å"True Progressivism†). Canada is facing a similar problem of risingRead MoreEconomic Inequality And Its Effects On Economic Growth1709 Words   |  7 Pagesbetween the rich and the poor. The direct relationship between inequality and poverty has shown that while inequality increases, so too does poverty. Increased inequality is harmful for economic growth and its effects also bear social implications. Although there are arguments on the consequences of wealth redistribution and its unintended impact on economic growth, wealth should be redistributed to reduce inequality and poverty, sequentially leading to more economic development and a higher standardRead MoreGross Domestic Product And Gross National Income858 Words   |  4 Pagesan inaccurate summary of a nation’s wellbeing as it neglects to account for levels of poverty and wealth distribution. As reported by the U.S. Department of Commerce5, the latest estimated values of GDP, GDP per capita, and GNI are 17.914 trillion as of the second quarter in 2015, 53,041.98, and 18,272.1 billion respectively.6 Furthermore, according to the national income and product accounts estimate of the fourth quarter in 2015, the real GDP increased at an annual rate of 0.7 percentRead MorePoverty And Poverty : America s Income Inequality1127 Words   |  5 Pagescountries in terms of wealth would be affected by the issue of poverty at such high levels. While much has said regarding the poverty levels, many economists, educators and scholars feel that the income inequality in America may be the reason why it is difficult to live and maintain a middle class lifestyle or to rise out of poverty into the middle class in the current economic state. With this in mind, the only way America, has a chance of lessening or eliminating poverty altogether is by understandingRead MoreArticle Rebuttal: Minimum Wage Essay1192 Words   |  5 Pageswage to two levels, $9.00 and $10.00 an hour. On February 18, 2013 the CBO report concluded that at $9.00 300,000 workers’ wages would rise over the poverty line; however 100,000 jobs would be eliminated by employers to maintain profitability. The impact of a $10.10 an hour minimum w age on these numbers would be 900,000 workers moving above the poverty line while 500,000 jobs would be eliminated. Numerically this seems to support the lower wage. The spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, a RepublicanRead MoreLeaving Mexico To Fin For Its Self Even With All The Debt1373 Words   |  6 PagesBy teaming with two of the most powerful nations in world Mexicans would be able to grab hold or its own country and form a Mexico is a middle-class. businesses. As a result, modern Mexico is a middle-class country (Steffan, 2017). The World Bank estimates that some 95 percent of Mexico s population is in the middle or the upper class. (O’Neil 2013) Mexico was able to utilize its resources to help fulfil needs from the United States. This made it so there was an industry to focus the succeeding inRead MoreThe Housing Bubble During the Great Recession Essay1072 Words   |  5 Pagestechnically making profits when the house values increased; however, when the house values started to decrease, those securities became worthless, thus people were not able to pay for the house—many people had their house confiscated. As a result of this wealth loss, consumer spending decreased sharply and many banks collapsed. The U.S. government tried to combat this issue, but many of the fiscal policies they had created were controversial because of their interference in the economy. One debate sparkedRead More Nineteenth Century Industrialization in the United States Essay1439 Words   |  6 Pagesnineteenth century, the United States experienced an urban revolution unparalleled in world history up to that point in time. As factories, mines, and mills sprouted out across the map, cities grew up around them. The late nineteenth century, declared an economist in 1889, was â€Å"not only the age of cities, but the age of great cities.† Between 1860 and 1910, the urban population grew from 6 million to 44 million. The United States was rapidly losin g its rural roots. By 1920, more than half of the populationRead MoreEssay about Illegal Global Trade1137 Words   |  5 PagesThe wealthier countries exploit innocent people for economic growth and create unequal distribution of wealth, which leads to a decrease in over economic productivity and slows economic growth. Low-skilled workers in developed countries who will see a decrease in wages due to the competition that they face from low-skilled workers in developing countries who will see an increase in wages. Economists have come up with an idea that trade liberalism is the force behind the rise of inequality in the United

The Anatomy Of Criticism By Northrop Frye - 991 Words

Structuralism’s overriding focus is an aspiration to be an objective, almost scientific, analysis of literary texts. In The Anatomy of Criticism, Northrop Frye explains that myths and binary pairs in opposition are a significant class of structural elements of literature that give meaning, both in a fixed and relational manner. In particular, he voices, â€Å"Shakespeare s type of romantic comedy follows a tradition established by Peele and developed by Greene and Lyly†¦ We may call it the drama of the green world, its plot being assimilated to the ritual theme of the triumph of life and love over the waste land† (Frye). This structuralist approach is crucial to analyzing Shakespeare s comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream. One finds that the play revolves around many different pairs of oppositions, in particular that of the court and the forest. Analyzing the play with this structuralist point of view underscores the archetypal qualities of the court (the real w orld) and the forest and provides a deep contrast between both mythic locations. A Midsummer Night’s Dream begins in the real world: a world governed by the laws of the time in Athens. Theseus, as the ruler of Athens, embodies law and authority in the mortal realm and enforces the law and order that rule the Athethian court. Theseus enforces these rules at the beginning of A Midsummer Night’s Dream with an iron first. Firstly, under the law, Theseus declares he will marry Hippolyta, the queen of the Amazons, as a spoil ofShow MoreRelated Anatomy of Criticism Essay example1249 Words   |  5 PagesAnatomy of Criticism  Ã‚   Introduction In his Anatomy of Criticism, Northrop Frye offers a complex theory that aspires to describe a unifying system for literary criticism. It can be argued, however, that in attempting to delineate such an all-inclusive structure, Fryes system eliminates identity in literature. The present essay takes up this argument and offers examples of how identity is precluded by Fryes system as outlined in Anatomy of Criticism. Structure Vs. Identity In Fryes systemRead MoreArchetypal Literary Criticism Essay1614 Words   |  7 Pages In Literary Criticism, there is an idea that believes that Archetypes make up literature’s meaning. The concept of Archetypes in literature has been the subject of extensive examination in Literary Criticism. â€Å"Criticism can be broken down into two broad categories: evaluative and interpretive† (Gardner 1287). The criticism is based on Literary Theory, which is composed of ideas that help interpret, and analyze literature. Everything in literature has a meaning, and many different people cameRead MoreVictor Frankenstein: a Tragic Hero Essay759 Words   |  4 PagesCritic Northrop Frye once commented that Tragic heroes are so much the highest points in their human landscapes (Frye 1). Few characters illustrate this characteristic of a tragic hero better than that of Victors Frankenstein, the protagonist of Mary Shelleys Frankenstein. His story is one of a brilliant man whose revolutionary ideas brought suffering to himself, his family and friends, and his creation. Victor is an instrument as well as a victim to this suffering throughout his story. FromRead More Definition Essay - Genre1750 Words   |  7 Pagesgenre in terms of both convention and historical observation, and defines genre in terms of both convention and purpose. In Anatomy of Criticism (1957) Northrop Frye wrote, We discover that the critical theory of genre is stuck precisely where Aristotle left it. The very word genre sticks out in an English sentence as the unpronounceable and alien thing it is (Frye, 13). It is a French word imported directly into the English language, derived from the Latin genus (the stem is gener-), itselfRead More The Romance of Travel Essay examples1504 Words   |  7 PagesThe Romance of Travel Romance, as it confirms human agency with regards to understanding the world and organizing ones existence, is an enabling genre. Northrop Frye identifies romance in its questing, adventurous, persistently nostalgic, and perennially child-like quality as the nearest of all literary forms to the wish-fulfillment dream (186). Arguably, many of the texts that we have examined over the course of the term can be understood as (more or less) participating in the affirmativeRead MoreThe Educated Imagination3194 Words   |  13 PagesStudy Guide for The Educated Imagination Northrop Frye (1912-1991) read his  Massey Lectures  over the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC radio) in 1962. First published by Indiana University Press in 1964, the six lectures present key concepts from Frye’s  Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays  (Princeton University Press, 1957). Chapter One. â€Å"The Motive for Metaphor.† Frye begins by exploring the relation of language and literature. â€Å"What is the relation of English as the mother tongue to EnglishRead MoreIntentional Melodrama Forms in Brechts The Jewish Wife Essay1159 Words   |  5 Pagesdramatic revolutionary and cynic of all things contrived found promise in the melodramatic presentation. Brecht examined and manipulated the various superficial and spectacular aspects of theatre, establishing a synthesis of entertainment and social criticism as his fundamental goal. Bertolt Brecht employs various facets of melodramatic technique in The Jewish Wife, ultimately reconfiguring the genre and conveying his central theme; a society rendered immobile at the will of a totalitarian regime. Read More Archetypes in John Keats La Belle Dame Sans Merci: A Ballad1393 Words   |  6 PagesBelle Dame sans Merci: A Ballad,† Keats uses various archetypes which provide added meaning and depth to this work of literature. The archetype may be defined as â€Å"the original model from which something is developed or made; in literary criticism, those images, figures, character types, settings, and story patterns that†¦are universally shared by people across cultures† (Murfin and Ray 29). Analytical psychologist Carl Jung believes that archetypes are â€Å"embedded deep in humanity’s collectiveRead MoreArchetypal Criticism in The Road by Cormac McCarthy Essay1643 Words   |  7 PagesArchetypal criticism follows a basic rule of categorizing or relating any work of literature into a set framework. It works from a subjective basis, it is used to determine and grasp the ideas of universal truths messages through literary work. The universal truths and messages are determined by identifying patterns like character types, storylines, settings, symbols. The Road by Cormac McCarthy is a novel that accurately exemplifies the principles of archetypal criticism. This narrative accountR ead MoreThe Glorious Faculty: a Critical Analysis of Addison’s Theory of Imagination in ‘the Pleasures of Imagination’2701 Words   |  11 PagesAddison’s contributions in opening up a new vista of criticism can be recognized. The intention of this term paper is to re-instate the critical relevance of Addison’s theory of Imagination not just in the light of other critiques of Imagination, in terms of its individualistic fervor also. As a man of the Eighteenth century, the Age of Prose and Reason, Addison dared to go against the wind and delved into a different school of thought and criticism. While the others were busy in criticizing the social

Foreign Films and Society Free Essays

The world is diverse in several ways, each country possessing its’ own culture and set of values, which can portrayed through cinema. In America, freedom of speech is applied to cinema, therefore there are not any subjects off-limits to be filmed, but this could not be said for foreign countries. Jafar Panahi, an radical Iranian filmmaker, has received much criticism for his liberal portrayals of Iranian society, such as in the movie â€Å"Offside†, where a group of women disguise themselves as men, in order to attend a football match and are caught and arrested. We will write a custom essay sample on Foreign Films and Society or any similar topic only for you Order Now In addition, â€Å"The Year My Parents Went On Vacation† by Brazilian filmmaker Cao Hamburger, is an auto-biography which clearly depicts how instable the Brazilian government was during his childhood. These films are unique because they seem to have a documentary perspective, helping the viewer analyze different societies and showcasing how different the culture is in that respective country. From watching these two films, I have learned a lot about Iran and Brazil and how different these societies are from America.Firstly, in Panahi’s â€Å"Offside†, the title is fitting because the women who dress up as men and sneak into the football game are literally â€Å"off-sides†. In Iranian society, it is deemed inappropriate for women to attend live men sporting events. In the Middle East, it is commonly known that women wear burkas (a garment that serves as a head-cover) because they are not allowed to show their skin, because Muslims place importance upon purity and are very conservative towards females.Therefore in Iran, they believe that it is not acceptable for women to enter the football stadium because cheering, cursing, and possible fights will take place, and that does not fit the standards of what a lady should be in Iranian society, although this conservative standard is not held for men. Men allowed to paint their faces, curse, and shout during the game all they want.I noticed this in the very beginning of the film, when one of the women sat on bus filled with men, she was politely sitting down trying not to be noticed, while all the men were standing up on a moving vehicle, shouting and sticking their heads out the windows, acting like animals. Furthermore, one of the girls tried to sneak into the stadium, she persuaded one of the vend or’s to sell her a ticket, but he overcharged her and forced her to buy expensive merchandise from him as well.This seemed very unfair because he charged extra because she was a women and took advantage her situation, knowing she was in dire need of a ticket. Contrastingly, in America, women are welcome to attend men sporting events and are even encouraged to play sports themselves. Although, women and men are placed in separate teams based on gender, they are still able to play sports that men originally played, such as basketball. The WNBA (women’s basketball league) is very big, but in Iran it would not even be possible for women to play.Iranian society places traditional values upon women and believe that is it their duty to serve as only mother-wives and to cater to their families. Personally, I have never encountered this degree of sexism before, I have even participated in sport games with my male friends. In addition, Panahi dares to challenge the way Iranian society functions by portraying how unfair the government is towards women who simply want to enjoy the fun festivities of football, and shows how a desire for fun turns unnecessarily criminal when they are arrested and sent to the vice squad for punishment.It is obvious that Panahi disagrees with the treatment of women in Iran because the film is based on the experiences of the five arreste d women and does not spend any time on the football game and filming of the athletes. In America, while women reign positions as doctors, lawyers, and politicians, women in Iran are struggling for equality and independence and simply to attend events such as football matches. I have learned a lot from this film and being a women, I am more grateful of the privileges I hold in America.Secondly, in Hamburger’s film â€Å"The Year My Parents Went On Vacation† portrays Brazil during his childhood and how the country was under military dictatorship and shows the consequences if you openly rebelled against the government. Mauro, the child protagonist, was abruptly abandoned by his parents and it was unclear why, but the reason arose when Shlomo, the elderly man who takes care of Mauro during his parents‘ absence, walks passed a fence, spray-painted with graffiti which represents rebellion against the Brazilian military government.Therefore, it was obvious that Mauro was suddenly abandoned by his parent’s because they were trying to hide from the government due to their participation in political rebellion. In addition, it seemed that many citizens stayed away from radical affairs because they were scared of the government, and only t he university students were very active in politics. And further into the film, the university was raided by officers and many students were arrested, but a friend of Mauro’s parents managed to escape arrest but told Mauro he had to soon go on â€Å"vacation† just like Mauro’s parents.In addition, Shlomo was taken captive and questioned by the police because they believed he knew information about political affairs, although Shlomo was innocent his capture illustrates how any opposition towards the Brazilian government will not be tolerated. Also, it shows that the citizens were not allowed any representation in how their country was ran because the military controlled everything. Contrastingly, any American could criticize the government and will not be arrested.For example, in Michael Moore’s â€Å"Capitalism: A Love Story† he directly criticizes the U. S. government and many American businesses without any legal punishment, but Brazilians do not experience this luxury. From this film, I have learned how corrupt foreign governments are, and how they dictate society and culture. In Brazil, although communities are very diverse and consist of many ethnicities, such as Jewish, Latinos, and even Africans, the government does not acknowledge these different cultures, but only the military dictatorship. Before this movie, I never viewed Brazil as a corrupt country, although this was film was a portrayal of Hamburger’s childhood, I never perceived that they struggled with their politics so harshly in the past. I did not know much about Latin-America beforehand, but this film allowed me to shed light on how different Brazilian society is from America and how the government greatly influenced society and the way people acted. These films share many commonalities; they both have radical views upon society.Both Panahi and Hamburger portray negative aspects of their countries and dare to criticize society through their artwork. I learned a lot about Iranian society and how women still struggle for gender equality, which is legally-based from Iranian culture, but in Brazil, it is the opposite, the government is the one that influences society, not society influencing the government because during military-dictatorship, Brazil was under the strict influence of the government.These so cieties are diverse from American society and I have learned a lot about these two foreign nations simply by watching these films. Cinema has a unique way of sharing cultures through media in a very engaging way and I am encouraged to continue to learn about foreign societies through film. How to cite Foreign Films and Society, Papers

Speaker Notes of Innovation and Sustainable Business

Question: Discuss about the Speaker Notes of Innovation and Sustainable Business. Answer: Introduction: Business sustainability refers the model of business and the decision of manager regarding financial, social and environmental concern. Sustainable companies focuses on financial value of company, take care of their actions and their impacts on market, put efforts to make positive change in the organization and try to feel comfortable to their employees. They make plan for long terms and forge for effective relationship with employees. Innovating for sustainability defines the required change in the organization intentionally so that organization can grow further efficiently while making changes in the organization environmental and social value is being considered. Business model is a process which enhances the revenues of the company. It is a kind of representation which reflects the details of financing. It is being taken in use by all size of companies because it just the way to show the current situation and provide information regarding possible changes. Business model as a system is very effective. It contains two elements in it that is design theme and design elements. Both are performing their role to improve the business. Design theme refers the complementary or efficiencies while in the context of design elements, the mode of treating the business, structure and content are involved. It gives permission to the manager to make changes in business model as per the requirements of the business. Static business model is a time invariant model. It gives preference to the need of the customers by using resources of firm appropriately. It is the model which focuses on monetary and non-monetary both terms while making strategy. The system of calculation of static view is equilibrium. It is the approach which allows business to make decision quickly regarding changing in business model. It is very understandable approach. Various business models contains in it. The major focus of dynamic view of business model is to earn profit for the short term basis. The strength of dynamic view of business model is highly adaptable which defines that participants make rapid changes even in the condition of low latency. The building block of business model contains 9 elements. Customers are being targeted by this model and divided as per their requirements. Distribution channel is the way of communication. Value proposition refers the complete perspective of services and products of the firm. Customer relationship refers the connection of various segments. Key activities contain managing the customers, maintenance, collection and selling. Key resources defines the trust and repudiation, talent of entrepreneurial and logistic and management skill. Partner network refers the agreement with other companies. Cost structure is the monetary term of business and it includes upfront investment, labor cost and salary of the franchise. The revenue stream reflects the more revenue by using the various revenue flows. It is important for the business to reconfigure the value chain on time to time. Changes should be made on the need of the customers. Market boundaries have been blurred if changes in value chain does not make as per requirement. The diagram of value network is different for every industry. Value creation through business model makes the business perfect. It focuses on the customer relationship because customers are the centre of thinking for the business. Value creation is categorized into two terms that is specific and fundamental. Value of customers should be done in an appropriate manner. It is very helpful for a specific model. It is important for the business to start the business by considering the customers empathy. Along with value creation, value appropriation is important because it is the medium to bring the advantage in the company. Conclusion: The article of Itami and Nishino refers the categorization of business model that is profit model and business system. Profit model consider as the assumption of earning more profit in certain time. Business system targets the customer and takes care of their need by providing good services and products. It gives preference to the dynamic approach. To make sustainability in the business it encourages business to produce products at the level of inter-house as well and refers a well maintain business system. This article elaborates the business model in effeceint manner. Google and Toyota two main example based on this business model has been elaborated by this model which give proper understanding towards both kind of part profit model and business system. The process of innovation through business model is very challenging task. It is the form of transformational but it can be threaten for the firm if the use of innovation process ineffectively. The quality of innovation process is that generates new values and ideas for the customers. It finds the more opportunities for growth.

Buddhism Essays (1164 words) - Indian Religions, Buddhism, Religion

Buddhism Buddhism has a very long drawn out origination starting in about 565 B.C. with the birth of Siddhartha Gautama. The religion has guide lines in two forms in which Buddhist followers must follow the "Four Noble Truths" and the "Eightfold Path" There are many aspects of this religion that can be explored but the one that is most interesting seems to be it origination and it's beliefs. In about 565 B.C. Siddhartha Gautama was born, a young Indian prince born to the ruler of a small kingdom that is now known as Nepal. Gautama's birth is described as a miraculous event, his birth being the result of his mother's impregnation by a sacred white elephant that touched her left side with a lotus flower. The scriptures claim that when Gautama was born ?"immeasurable light spread through ten thousand worlds; the blind recovering their sight, as if from desire to see his glory" After birth the future Buddha (Gautama) supposedly talked and walked while lotus leafs formed in his footprints. Gautama's father was said to have been told his son's destiny for greatness, either as an emperor or as a religious leader. Therefore Gautama's father decided to isolate his son from the outside world, where he might "see how the other half lived" and maybe even be tempted to belong to a different religion. ?pg 141 "What man Believes" Evans, Allan E., Moynes, Riley E., Martinello, Larry Since the complete seclusion as Gautama's father had wished was impossible and Gautama was a curious young man he did venture out and that is when he eventually say the four sights, which would, if experienced as it had been told to Gautama's father, lead the young prince to a religious life. These sights or as how Buddhist refer to them "The Four Signs" were in turn, a sick man covered with terrible sores, an old man, a corpse, and a wandering monk. The sightings of these men made Gautama think of the suffering and inevitable death which comes to all people great and small. This brought further questioning such as the meaning of life and the ultimate fate of man. As time passed these thoughts became great burdens upon Gautama and he increasingly became dissatisfied with the shallow dissolute life of the royal court in which he lived. Therefore at the age of 21, although married with a beautiful young son and also the heir to a very rich throne he forsook it all and became a travelling holy man. After a while of travelling as a holy man there was a great even that transformed Gautama into the Buddha (or the Enlightened One). It all began at dusk on Gautama's thirty-fifth birthday. While sitting under a tree it is said that he thought a break through was obvious and here again is where the legend takes over. It says that the evil one, Mara tempests him with beautiful Goddesses and attacked him with tempests, flaming rocks and other devices, all of which Gautama blocked himself from. Eventually at dawn Gautama finally realized the essential truth about life and about the path to salvation. Because of this Gautama then became the Buddha and remained this spot for many days while remaining in a trance-like state for many weeks. This experience made Gautama feel a desire to share his knowledge with others and he did so very well, as a preacher and a teacher until his death in about 483 B.C. Buddhism is a lot like other Indian religions based upon the beliefs. Such as the beliefs in reincarnation, dharma, karma and Nirvana. But mostly in Raja Yoga the profound meditation which holds the key to enlightment and therefore to the salvation of Nirvana. Buddha himself expressed the base of his beliefs when he said ?"I teach only 2 things, O disciples, the fact of suffering and the possibility of escape from suffering. These ideas are expanded upon in the "Four Noble Truths" and the "Eightfold Path". The "Four Noble Truths" can be summarized by saying, life is suffering (dukkha), the cause of suffering is desire (tanha) the way to end suffering is to overcome desire, and to overcome desire on must follow the "Eightfold Path" Buddha taught that man is a slave to his ego . That man wishes happiness, security, success, long life, and many other things for himself and his loved ones. However, pain, frustration, sickness and death are all inevitable and the only way to eliminate these evils is to overcome desire. The "Eight Fold Path" is a

Day of Infamy by Walter Lord essays

Day of Infamy by Walter Lord essays (New York: Henry Holt Walter Lords Day of Infamy traces the drama of the massive aerial attack of Pearl Harbor on the morning of December 7, 1941. In this book, Lord painstakingly reconstructed not just the why and the way of the attack, but also how it happened, how people could have been so unaware of what might happen, and the slowness to regroup when it did. He begins with the innocence (and evils) of the night before the tragedy. He ends with the famous national radio address of President Franklin D. Roosevelts speech before Congress the following day. Lord is also known for his bestselling book A Night to Remember, which was written in the same style as this book, with minute-to-minute accounts of the sinking of the Titanic. Walter Lord reminds the reader of just how innocent people are in the moments before history is changed forever. How untrained they are at putting the clues together, and just how unprepared they can be, until after the fact- when they become fiercely patriotic and regroup. He does not spend a lot of time pointing fingers or placing blame, but remains on the raw human experiences of the day. As author James Michner wrote in The New York Times, It stuns the reader with the weight of reality. Lord shows the way Americans believed that no one had the ability to reach them, let alone attack the U.S. This is obvious in Chapter VIIs title: I Didnt Even Know They Were Sore At Us!, p 64. He illustrates how everyone was oblivious to extreme nature of events going on around him or her, even after the bombs were dropped. Lord goes into meticulous detail to recount the day all the way from the Japanese build up of a secret mission, to the Americans living and stationed on the Hawaiian Island of Oahu. He interviewed 577 people to recount the events from as m ...

Abortion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 16

Abortion - Essay Example The focus in the essay "Abortion" is on this operation that allows a woman to put an end to a human life. Abortion gives a woman the right to terminate a pregnancy if she feels that she is not in a position to give birth to a child owing to emotional, psychological, social, medical or financial reasons. There are people who say that abortion is immoral and should be made illegal because it violates the rights of a fetus (Maguire 155). These people believe that actually speaking human life does not begin at birth, but it begins right from the time when two people conceive a fetus. Hence, a fetus is as much a human as any other individual. Thereby, by the virtue of being a human, a fetus does have the right to life and aborting a fetus deprives it of the right to life (Maguire 155). So women should not be allowed to have an abortion and if possible, abortion should be made illegal. However, on a closer analysis, one finds that this line of argument is also utterly wrong and faulty. Even if one assumes that a fetus is a human and has the right to life, the rights of an unborn fetus could not be given precedence over the rights of a woman who carries that fetus. No individual can be given a right over another individual’s body. Hence, it would be logical to say that a fetus does not have the right to occupy a woman’s body and to draw sustenance from her body, against her wishes and desires. Therefore, the right to life of a fetus is subject to the will and intentions of the woman that carries that fetus.

Evaluations of Interactive Internet Technologies Essay

Evaluations of Interactive Internet Technologies - Essay Example In addition, when we wish to make a real API call, we will need to use the method name, the session key, a number of other additional parametric values in accordance with what presented in the Web-API Reference like the query parametric values of the Uniform Resource Locator (URL). Moreover, the Web-API is capable of informing and collecting a lot of EditGrid data, comprising workspaces, users, permissions, workbooks and share relations, as well as data inside a spreadsheet comprising sheet items (diagrams, remarks, etc.), and worksheet cells (Sung, 2008). One most popular example of Web API application is Google Maps framework. In this scenario whether we are looking for high quality hotels, best restaurant or discovering the nearby bank, millions of individuals all through the world get Google Maps to perform this difficult task for them. In this scenario the Google Maps API is one of those elegant bits of Google based complicated technology that facilitates us to get the influence of Google Maps and place it openly on our own website. In addition, it allows us to introduce allied data and information content that are quite supportive to our clients and visitors to view and search for map, with an ideal fit through their website. Furthermore, more than 150,000 websites are already making use of this technology (The Google Maps Team, 2011). Google initiated an assignment which engages incorporating all the accessible satellite images of our earth into one large map, and allowing the facility of access to the common people all through the world. Additionally, the Google Maps were released in the February of 2005 and from that time the initiative has evolved into a huge unit. After that Google management recognized that it would be an enormous plan to truly produce it into an Application-Programming-Interface (API). In addition, the management of Google uses the idea of making Google Maps into a more pliable daily usage service that could be utilized using websi tes by all people all through the world according to their requirements. Furthermore, this thought comprehended effectively and nowadays there exist thousands of websites which are extensively utilizing the application of the Google-Maps-API (Khan, 2011). In the same way Nestoria Real Estate business has identified and implemented the modified adaptation of Google Maps and made use of it for supporting its clients, who are now able to make use and know correct position of the business rental as well as for sale land. In this scenario, it has become very simple for the clients to select home or office places as they are able to perceive the environment while using their personal computer from anywhere. In addition, there is another example of Nike Run London that has an online website which is developed and designed to facilitate city resident’s map operating directions. In this scenario an internet user is able to see paths prepared by other people. Moreover, within the initi al ten months there were more than 40,000 dissimilar kinds of paths designed by inhabitants (Khan, 2011). Another example is of Chemical Brothers that has made use of Google Maps API for their online business website to inform supporters where they would hold their imminent performances. In this scenario, this web based system facilitates the users to post snapshots and clips of their performances and

Candide Is A Humorous Satire About Young Candide Religion Essay

Candide Is A Humorous Satire About Young Candide Religion Essay Criticism of religion is a reappearing topic in Candide. After the great earthquake that destroys Lisbon, agents of the Inquisition capture Candide and Pangloss. Pangloss is charged with speaking his mind and Candide for seeming to approve what he had said. Eight days later, they are prepared for an auto-da-fe where Candide is whipped and Pangloss is hanged. The very same day, there is another earthquake. Voltaire intended this event to show the foolishness and ineffectiveness of the Church. The auto-da-fe is organized because the Inquisitors believe that by punishing offenders, they can save the city from any additional damage. The reader sees through the closely following earthquake that the Church made no difference with their impractical solution. One also sees the cruelty shown by the Inquisitors, the intended servants of God that in Candides reality only harm. They wickedly torture and execute their fellow citizens over philosophical disputes, many of which cannot be backed up by Scripture. Voltaire strongly emphasizes the hypocrisy shown by the Church officials that Candide encounters. The Grand Inquisitor captures a man for marrying his godmother, and yet he himself is guilty of several crimes. He threatens to use his influence with the Church to punish Don Issachar for his Jewish religion if he does not share Cunà ©gonde with him as his mistress. The Inquisitor plainly shows his hypocrisy through this blackmail and unchaste behavior. Cunà ©gondes own brother, the baron, becomes a Jesuit priest. He is guilty of having homosexual tendencies, as implied throughout his part in the book. Even the most prominent Church figure, the Pope, has a role in Candide, even though Candide does not meet him directly. Candide meets an old woman who is the daughter of a Pope. Simply the fact that the Pope has a daughter makes him a sinner and a hypocrite, for he violated his vows of celibacy. These themes of sin and blatant hypocrisy appear in connection with the Churc h throughout Candide. As a well-known philosopher, Voltaire had his own specific beliefs about life and human nature, many of which he expressed in Candide. One of his major ideas throughout the book is a question of philosophy, but in a different sense than one would think should come from a man of his time. Voltaire still channels Enlightenment thought as he argues against philosophy as a pattern for life and instead promotes practical action and hard work. Candides mentor, Pangloss, believes in unrestrained optimism. This is shown though his constant assertions that everything is for the best. Pangloss is Voltaires burlesque representation of a group of philosophers during the Enlightenment known for their optimism. As crisis and calamity repeatedly befall Candide and Pangloss, his never-wavering optimism appears self-indulgent and senseless. Voltaire supplies a polar opposite to Pangloss in Martin. Also a philosopher, Martin is an internally scarred man who advocates complete pessimism. His negativity is so absolute that he disagrees with Candides statement that there is some good in the world. Martins philosophy appears to be more reasonable. This could be because his character is more knowledgeable, or simply because the philosophy itself is more suited to human nature. Voltaire himself leans more towards Martins views in his personal thinking, but he points out that Martins philosophy is also flawed. Because Martin believes that nothing happens for the better in the world, he cannot see it as it really is. Although the many tragic events that happen support Martins pessimism, Voltaire denounces this philosophy as asinine as well. Coming from a philosopher, condemnation of a philosophic lifestyle, both optimistic and pessimistic, creates a heavy emphasis on the virtues of hard work and action instead of unreasonable thoughts. In Candide, Voltaire champions honest hard work. His character Cacambo is a reliable, practical man. In contrast to the philosophers, Pangloss and Martin, Cacambo inspires confidence and optimism, although he is neither an optimist nor a pessimist. When Candide gets into trying situations, Cacambo repeatedly helps him. Through this, Voltaire shows that action is more beneficial and practical than ideas are. Cacambo disagrees with Pangloss opinion that the world is created perfect by his own experiences, saying that the law of nature teaches us to kill our neighbor. He directly disproves Martins view of the world through his trustworthiness. Cacambo is responsible for reuniting Candide with his love, Cunà ©gonde. Instead of taking advantage of Candide as so many others did, Cacambo stays true to his word. Many misfortunes befall Cacambo, as with most other characters in the book, but he manages to lessen the ill effects of these events through his intellect and willingness to work in order to improve the world. Cacambo restores the readers faith in human nature after so many other characters have destroyed it. Voltaires Candide is a masterpiece of the Enlightenment, championing the ideals of hard work and morality. Voltaire takes a traditional Enlightenment perspective on the corruption within the organization of the Church, exposing the guilt and hypocrisy he sees in Church officials. While Voltaire condemns philosophy as a basis for life, he does not denounce it completely. He elevates Cacambo above the other characters because he uses thought in a practical way, while Pangloss and Martins philosophies prevent them from seeing the true world and living in reality. Voltaire masterfully manipulates his characters to reflect Enlightenment values and his personal beliefs pertaining to them.

Amazon.com †a case study Essay

Amazon’s Mission â€Å"Our vision is to be earth’s most customer centric company; to build a place where people can come to find and discover anything they might want to buy online.† Amazon.com’s quest to become earth’s most customer centric company is largely driven by its use of technology. In fact, its continuous innovations are all driven by huge investments in information systems (Laudon and Laudon 2005). Information systems not only support their mission, but in fact drive their business strategy. In this paper , Amazon’s use of information at each stage of Porter’s value chain will be considered. Their innovative and forward looking use of information systems to generate competitive advantage will be analysed in the context of Porter’s five forces and we will also have a look at how they have formed Amazon have formed strategic alliances to overcome certain competitive forces. Future plans to sustain competitive edge will be examined; Amazon not only continue to use technology to improve their customer centric operations, but are now in fact opening up this technology and providing technical and logistics solutions to other firms. The Value Chain The concept of ‘Value Chain Anaylsis’ is described at length by Michael Porter (1985). He notes that every firm is a collection of activities that  are performed to design, produce, market, deliver and support its products or services. He identifies specific, critical-leverage points where a firm can use information technology most effectively to enhance it’s competitive position (Laudon and Laudon , 2005). In his value chain model, ‘Primary Activities’ such as inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, sales and marketing and service, are seen as basic activities that add a margin of value to a firm’s products and service. Since Amazon’s inception in 1995, they have used information technology to manage each stage of the value chain. Inbound logistics – including receiving, storing, inventory control – are managed by sophisticated technology such Transportation Optimization and Management Systems (TOMS). They, us e a set of applications for accepting and validating customer orders, placing and tracking orders with suppliers and managing and assigning inventory to customer orders. In fact in 2007, Amazon’s systems have become so efficient in managing inventory that they generally collect from customers before their payments to suppliers come due (SEC1 2007). Amazon’s marketing strategy is designed to increase customer traffic to their websites, drive awareness of products and services, promote repeat purchases, develop incremental product and service revenue opportunities, and strengthen and broaden the Amazon.com brand name. (Amazon Annual Report 2007). Technology, again, is the conduit for their marketing strategy. Amazon were the first to deliver personalized Web pages and services. For instance, their technology keeps track of user preferences for books and CD purchases etc, and can recommend titles purchased by other customers. Their advertising consists primarily of online advertising, including through their Associates program –Amazon.com’s affiliate marketing program, where web developers, by linking to Amazon products and services to their sites, can receive up to 10% in referral fees, – sponsored search, portal advertising, e-mail campaigns, and other initiatives. Customer service is another key area where technology adds value to Amazon’s offer. From the outset, in line with their customer-centred mission, Amazon  tried to provide superior customer service through email and telephone customer support, online tracking and shipping information, and the ability to pay for purchases with a single click of the mouse using credit card and personal information provided during a previous purchase. This was called â€Å"1-click† express shopping, and was considered so attractive that Barnes and Noble, Amazon’s direct competitor in the online book retailing markets attempted to ape it with its â€Å"Express Lane† system (McAfee 2005). Amazon later obtained an injunction on Barnes and Noble and sparked a huge debate around the question of which software, and even business processes can or cannot, be patented. (http://www.oreilly.com/news/patent_archive.html) The Extended Value Chain in e-Business In their book, Strategic Planning for Information Systems, Ward, J and Peppard, J (2002), discuss how the value chain information flow is now being challenged by e-Business They refer to Rayport, J.F and Sviokla (1995), who have identified two crucial new areas in this information flow, namely ‘promotional’ information flow and ‘intelligence gathering’ information flow. These two areas seems to be paramount in Amazon’s value chain management.. According to Ward and Peppard, the implications of the promotional flow of information which informs customers further down the chain of the products and services available have to be understood. David Chaffey (2007) speaks of Amazon’s automated email measurement and optimization system. As users of Amazon will know, once we’ve bought something on Amazon, we are regularly sent emails with information on books or product recommendations. In order for this promotional system not to descend into what one might call Spam, and for it to remain relevant and customer centred, Amazon have put IS systems into place to control this activity. A new system: automatically optimizes content to improve customer experience; avoids sending an e-mail campaign that has low clickthrough or high unsubscribe rate; includes inbox management (avoid sending multiple emails/week); has growing library of automated email programs covering new  releases and recommendations. In this way, Amazon add value to the promotional flow of information through their value chain, and intelligently use and disseminate the information provided to them by their technology. Ward and Peppard conclude that E-business offers huge potential to gather information and intelligence about consumer and customer preference and attitudes online, rather than through traditional market research. When customers shop on Amazon, their choices are stored in the information systems which can then use this intelligence to forecast future demands. Industry Value Chain – Supply Chain Management The Value Chain of the business unit is only one part of a larger set of value-adding activities in an industry – the â€Å"Industry Value Chain† (Ward & Peppard 2003). A firm’s value chain is linked to the value chains of its suppliers, distributors and customers, and each of these players can add, or indeed take away from advantage which has been earned along the way. (Laudon & Laudon 2006). Amazon has one of the most-sophisticated supply chain systems in the world. Proprietary applications handle nearly every aspect of its supply chain: warehouse management, transportation management, inbound and outbound shipping, demand forecasts, inventory planning, and more. (Information Week) Amazon’s supply chain is so tightly integrated that when an online customer buys a book, for example, the order-management system communicates with inventory- and warehouse-management systems to find the optimal distribution centre or centres for fulfilling the order. The customer knows in less than a minute how long it will take to ship the items and whether they will come in one package or separately. Effective supply chain management, has been identified in a survey by The Economist, as being an essential contribution to gaining competitive advantage. It says that all market leaders have supply chains that are more responsive to customer demand. And effectively managing the informati on flow throughout the supply chain is key to gaining competitive advantage. Porter’s Five Forces As we have seen, competitive advantage can be gained through effective use of information systems at each stage of the internal and the external value chain. The other value creation dimension, as defined by Porter is the â€Å"Market/Industry Attractiveness†. He has identified five forces affecting the latter, namely, the bargaining power of suppliers, the bargaining power of customers, the threat of new entrants, the threat of substitute products and competitive rivalry within an industry. E-commerce and the internet provide customers with the ability to search the whole chain for information directly or via intermediaries (Ward and Peppard 2003). The internet provides consumers with near perfect product and price visibility. Customers are free to use any internet portal they choose to search for goods, and can use price comparison portals such as www.kelkoo.com to compare prices between suppliers. Changing suppliers will cost the buyer nothing – switching costs are l ow – and alternative suppliers are plentiful. Consequently, Amazon are forced to keep their prices down and accept lower margins. In the context of Porter’s five forces, the facility for customers in changing suppliers can be classified as high customer bargaining power. Mr Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, saw this threat coming and prepared for it – in 2000 he invited other retailers to sell their goods on his website (The Economist). No traditional seller had ever done this before – to allow others to sell second-hand books on their own door step, was indeed a revolutionary move by Mr Bezos, and many people, even some within the company, thought this would cannibalise Amazon’s own sales. Yet it eventually helped to lift overall sales. Amazon says sales of third-party items, from which it takes a commission, have increased from 6% of all items sold in 2000 to 28% in 2005. Over that time, the company says its own retail revenues were up three-fold (BusinessWeek). Bezos claims that by keeping custome rs on the Amazon site buying other retailers products, Amazon’s direct revenues also increased. This is because with the help of some sophisticated technology driven marketing techniques, customers having already chosen something from Amazon’s partners, are at the same time tempted by Amazon’s own offerings. Today, hundreds of thousands of retail brands and individual sellers reach new customers by leveraging the power of the Amazon.com e-commerce platform. In 2006 Amazon went further with this concept and launched their â€Å"Fulfilment† program, which allows businesses to  use Amazon’s own order fulfilment and post-order customer service infrastructure, and enables Amazon.com customers to receive the benefit of Amazon.com shipping offers when buying from third-party sellers. In this way Amazon, seem to be effectively combating a number of competitive forces, including the threat of substitute products and the threat of new entrants to the market. Due to the low cost for new-entrants to e-Commerce – it requires relatively little capital investment to set up an e-Business- the threat of competing websites is omni-present for Amazon. Amazon’s challengers come from two directions. First, other online retailers are growing rapidly. As people become more accustomed to shopping on the internet, they are ordering a greater variety of goods and services from a wider range of websites. From auctioning people’s second-hand goods, eBay now also hosts fixed-priced virtual shops offering new goods for sale. (The Economist). Google, for one, has replaced retail sites such as Amazon as the place where many people start their shopping. And more personalized and social upstarts such as News Corp.’s, MySpace and YouTube, which Google has bought, have become the prime places for many people to gather online – and eventually shop. Microsoft’s taking of a 5% stake in Facebook, the online networking website, last Friday, which now values the two year old networking website at a whopping 15b$ -, could also be perceived as a potential threat to Amazon. People may choose to start their shopping from their social networking sites, rather than from the mor e traditional retail or portal site. Says consultant Andreas Weigend, Amazon’s chief scientist until 2004: â€Å"The world has shifted from e-business to me-business.† (Businessweek and The Economist). Secondly, traditional retailers are rapidly moving part of their trading online. This pits Amazon against giant retailers with huge purchasing power, like America’s Wal-Mart and Britain’s Tesco. These â€Å"multichannel† retailers make a virtue of their ability to offer both â€Å"bricks and clicks†. Many provide online customers with the option of picking up goods from the shop down the road. This is proving popular with web buyers who want things immediately or are keen to avoid shipping costs and staying in to accept a delivery. Amazon may be attempting to fight off this threat with their AmazonPrime program, which allows customers unlimited shipping for $79 per year. As we have seen, the relatively low costs of setting up business on the Internet, means that the  threat of substitute product/ services and the threat of new entrants also become more apparent. Internet technology is based on universal standards that any company can use, making it easy for rivals to compete on price alone and for new competitors to enter the market (Laudon and Laudon 2006). Clarke (2001) says that consequently, if we are competing in an industry where all our competitors have access to the same technology, it follows that competitive advantage comes from the use of information, as opposed to technology, and sustainability of advantage lies in an organisation always being better at this than its competition. Amazon would appear to be doing a fairly good job in keeping up – for instance with the technology enables personalization of the customer – but as Jeff Bezos reiterated in the reprinting of his 1997 letter to shareholders for the Amazon 2006 Annu al Report, â€Å"It’s all about the long-term†. Sustainability of Competitive Advantage – The Future for Amazon In the long-term, Amazon are aiming to re-invent themselves. An article in the Economist claims the e-commerce giant wants to be more than just a retailer. Having established the internet as somewhere to buy things, Amazon is again spending heavily on development in anticipation of consumers wanting to download music, video and books instead of having them delivered in the post. In September, the company introduced the Amazon MP3 digital music store to sell tracks without the anti-piracy technology known as digital rights management, or DMR. The music companies EMI and Universal are participating in Amazon’s store, making the service a significant competitor to Apple’s iTunes service. Unless the Amazon, the pioneer of online retailing can provide downloadable media it risks being â€Å"disintermediated†2 —just as only a decade ago high-street bookshops, music and video stores were disintermediated by Amazon itself. Amazon, in fact have a history of strateg ic alliances with various firms – Borders and SmugMug, to mention just a few. A strategic alliance is a partnership of two of more corporations or business units to achieve strategically significant objectives that are mutually beneficial, Wheelan and Hunger (2005). These alliances have allowed Amazon to use their established technological lead in the e-Commerce platform to generate revenues as well as their other strategic objectives. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is another example of a  strategic move to maintain advantage. With AWS, Amazon say they are building a new business focused on a new customer set †¦ software developers. They currently offer ten different web services and have built a community of over 240,000 registered developers. In order to cope with the Christmas rush, Amazon has far more computing capacity than it needs for most of the year. As much as 90% of it is idle at times. Renting out pieces of that network to other businesses, such as SmugMug, an online photo site that uses the S33 service, is a way to get extra return on Amazonâ⠂¬â„¢s $2 billion investment in technology (The Economist). Conclusion In this paper, a number of ways in which Amazon add value to their internal and external value chain have been identified. We have looked at how they optimize their utilisation of information in forging closer relations with their customers; operate a lean supply-chain management strategy and fight off numerous threats posed by competing in the e-Business environment with strategies such as offering new services to smaller retailers, digital downloads, and opening up their technologies to developers. However in a fast moving global economy, no future is certain. Amazon are conscious of the threats posed by failed alliances (Border’s will pull out of their agreement to use Amazon’s e-commerce platform in 2008, www.bloomberg.com) and the constant threat posed by Google, even Facebook and other technology driven Web2.0 companies. Jeff Bezos will be hoping to overcome these threats by, as he says, by â€Å"opening up the guts of his organisation† to developers (Busin essWeek). Information systems are at the core of Amazon’s business, and going forward, as Jeff Bezos said in his 2007 SEC filing, their biggest challenge â€Å"will be to continue to build and deploy innovative and efficient software that will best take advantage of continued advances in technology†. Amazon have made massive investments in technology – $186 million in the last quarter alone – (The Economist), and with 2007 3rd quarter sales up 41% and a quadrupling of profit, it looks like these technology investments may finally be paying off! References â€Å"Amazon.com – Click to download†, The Economist, Aug 17th 2006 Amzn Investor Relations http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?p=irol-irhome&c=97664 Accessed 28th October 2007 â€Å"Borders to Introduce New Internet Site in Early 2008 (Update3)† www.bloomberg.com Accessed on 28th October 2007 Clarke, Stephen (2001) Information Systems Strategic Management –an integrated approach, Routledge, London David Chaffey: â€Å"Amazon Case Study 9.1 Learning From Amazon’s Culture of Metrics† www.davidchaffey.com Accessed on 13th October 2007. â€Å"Friend Accepted†, The Economist, Friday 26th October 2007 â€Å"From scratch: Amazon keeps supply chain close to home†, Beth Bacheldor, InformationWeek, March 5, 2004 â€Å"Jeff Bezos’ Risky Bet† Business Week, Cover story, November 13, 2006 www.businessweek.com â€Å"Jeff Bezos’ Risky Bet† www.businessweek.com November 13, 2006. Accessed 27th October 2007 â€Å"Lifting the bonnet† The Economist Oct 5th 2006 Porter, Michael E. (1985) Competitive advantage: creating and sustaining superior performance pg 33 The Free Press Laudon, J and Laudon K (2006), Management Information Systems: Managing the Digital Firm (10th Edition) Prentice Hall R. Preston McAfee (2005) Competitive Solutions: The Strategist’s Toolkit, Princeton University Press Rayport, J.F and Sviokla (1995) ‘Exploiting the virtual value chain’, Harvard Business Review, November – December, 1995 SEC (2007) United States Securities And Exchange Commission submission Form 10-K from Amazon. For the quarterly period ended September 30, 2007 Ward, J and Peppard, J (2002) Strategic Planning for Information Systems, 3rd Edition John Wiley & Sons, Bedfordshire. Wheelen, T and Hunger J, (2004) Strategic Management and Business Policy, 9th Edition, Pearson/Prentice Hall, New Jersey.

Adam and Eve: an Epic Poem Essay

What makes Adam different from Eve and vice versa? Is it because Adam happens to be a man, and Eve is a woman? Even though this happens to be a true fact, there is a deeper meaning to contrasting Adam and Eve. John Milton’s epic poem, Paradise Lost, gives key differences when contrasting Adam and Eve. Paradise Lost can be summed up as being about the creation of the world, which is known as â€Å"the paradise† and the events before and after that surrounded the creation. Along with the creation of the world came the creation of the first two human beings known to mankind, better known as Adam and Eve. Although Adam and Eve were created equally by GOD, these characters shared different thoughts and performed different actions that distinguished them from one another, which lead to them having contrasting strengths and weaknesses. When GOD was in the process of creating the first two human beings, one would predict that they would be very similar. From the physical outlook, differences between Adam and Eve could be seen easily, simply because of the physical characteristics that differentiate man and woman. But if the human eye were to somehow dig deeper beneath the skin of Adam and Eve, one could see how the two were fairly different. One way of distinguishing one from the other and contrasting the two would be the strengths that each of them possessed. With the strengths, Milton not only showed the differences through the personality, but through the actions as well. The stronger of the two or the character that possessed the most strength was Adam. Even though this choice is very much debatable, Milton backs this up with examples within Paradise Lost. Both Adam and Eve possessed thoughts, and performed actions that one would consider strength. But there are certain strengths that stick out to one’s mind, and that had an effect surrounding the story. Eve’s greatest strength was her capacity for love, emotion, and forbearance. In contrast to Adam, Eve possessed a large amount of love in her heart, which leads her to curiosity and being able to think â€Å"outside the box†. Adam did have a great capacity of love foe Eve, but it is nothing compared to the capacity that Eve held. â€Å"She as a veil down to the slender waist Her unadorned golden tresses wore Disheveled but in wanton ringlets waved As the vine curls her tendrils, which implied Subjection, but required with gentle sway And by her yielded, by him best received Yielded with coy submission, modest pride, And sweet reluctant amorous delay† (IV, 304-311). This quote lists characteristics of Adam and Eve, but what separates the two qualities is Adam ’s â€Å"reluctant amorous delay†. These quoted words describe Adam’s struggling for position in with love, which proves the point that he had a smaller capacity for love than Eve. Adam on the other hand possessed more strengths than Eve. This is believable because Adam was naturally built by GOD to lead Eve, as Milton proclaimed in the epic. For one, Adam was strong, intelligent, and rational. Milton also claimed Adam as being â€Å"the most perfect as any human being would ever be.† But the strength that set him apart from Eve and that contrasts his strength from hers, was his capacity for reason. He could understand the most sophisticated ideas instantly. Eve did not possess this; therefore she was easily influenced and deceived. Proof of her being easily fooled, would be how she was the first to eat from the Tree of Knowledge. Adam tended to take his approach on problems by thinking critically and asking help from GOD. So although Adam and Eve were created equally by GOD, each of them possessed different strengths that distinguished them from one another. Along with the strengths of Adam and Eve, there also came weaknesses. Between Adam and Eve, Eve possessed more weaknesses than Adam. Again this is a debatable opinion, but in the case of Paradise Lost, Milton portrayed this. Eve was created to be led by Adam, but did not do so because of her lack of learning. Milton portrayed Eve as being slightly inferior to Adam. Even though she was in love with him, she resented him because she fell in love with her own natural beauty. One case of this is a part in the epic poem when Eve began gazing at her reflection in the water. It was then that she became somewhat conceited, and one of her greatest weaknesses became her assets and vanity. Another form of Eve’s weakness was her lack of intelligence. She did not approach situations that called for reason, correctly. An example of this is the way she was easily seduced by Satan. â€Å"The varieties of hatred and revenge exhibited by the demons during their infernal council are rooted in fallen human experience† (Ryken 103). This quote connects to the point that Milton portrayed the fall of Eve and mankind, through her experience with Satan. She had a weaker mindset than Adam because Satan seduced her into eating from the Tree of knowledge. From reading Paradise Lost one could possibly blame Eve for the downfall of Adam. But what makes Adam’s weakness different from Eve is the person that he had loved for. Eve fell in love with her own assets and vanity. In contrast, Adam did not fall in love with himself, but instead fell in love with Eve. â€Å"Adam’s desire for Eve in Paradise Lost is nothing if not honorable, and, indeed, it does induce in him the gravest perturbations. He yields to his desire and suffers calamity as a result† (McMahon 51). That happened to be Adams greatest weakness and his downfall; his great love for Eve. As a result for his strong infatuation for Eve, she could easily persuade him, as Satan persuaded her. Adam did not want to lose and upset Eve, so Eve’s love lured Adam into eating from the Tree of Knowledge. Another weakness that Adam possessed was his thirst for knowledge. This also contributed to his downfall because he was always willing and wanting to know more. An ironic comparison is how Adam’s â€Å"thirst for knowledge† led him to the â€Å"Tree of Knowledge.† So in summation Adam’s weaknesses led him to disobey GOD for Eve. Although Adam and Eve were created equally by GOD, their different thoughts and actions led to a contrast in each other’s weaknesses. In the final analysis, one can see how similar characters from birth, grew to be different characters with time. Although Adam and Eve were created equally by GOD, these characters shared different thoughts and performed different actions that distinguished them from one another, which lead to them having contrasting strengths and weaknesses. Neither of the characters were heroes nor satanic figures, even though they contributed to the downfall of man. â€Å"Paradise Lost is a Christian epic and Christ is the hero. Milton has laid the classic epic under tribute for details that adorn a new and in most respect modern type† (Woodhull 256). This quote shows how others see the detail that Milton put in to describing Adam and Eve, and making it more understandable in today’s world. In closing, the synopsis of Paradise Lost is very debatable when comparing or contrasting Adam and Eve. They were the two first human beings known to mankind, and set the stage for the rest of the world. Milton portrays each Adam and Eve to the fullest that gives readers a chance to have their own clear views about each. Work Cited McMahon, Robert. The Two Poets of Paradise Lost. Louisiana: Louisiana Tate University Press, 1998. Milton, John. Edited by Teskey, Gordon. Paradise Lost. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc, 2005. Ryken, Leland. The Apocalyptic Vision in Paradise Lost. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1970. Woodhull, Marianna. The Epic of Paradise Lost Twelve Essays. New York: The Knickerbocker Press, 1907.

How to Use the Past Participle in Italian

In Italian grammar, the participio or participle, is, together with the infinitive and the gerund, an unfinished verb mode: On its own, it does not define the person doing the acting or even the tense of the action, until it is put to use in a sentence. Almost all verbs have participles, present and past (there are exceptions, and some have one but not the other). Some examples of those that have both are parlare, with parlante (present) and parlato (past); sapere, with sapiente (present) and saputo (past); agire, with agente (present) and agito (past). The participio presente is used a bit less frequently and generally as an adjective or a noun (for example, amante: lover as a noun or as an adjective). The participio passato, on the other hand, is hugely important: it is used, together with conjugations of the auxiliary verbs avere or essere, to create all compound tenses of all verbs. It is also used as a noun, an adjective, and in many secondary clause constructions. How to Form the Participio Passato Regular past participles are formed by dropping the infinitive endings -are, -ere, or -ire and adding, respectively, the suffixes -ato, -uto, or -ito. Among regular past participles of verbs in -are: camminare (to walk): camminato (walked)imparare (to learn): imparato (learned)lavare (to wash): lavato (washed) Among verbs in -ere: credere (to believe): creduto (believed)sapere (to know): saputo (knew)tenere (to keep): tenuto (kept) Among verbs in -ire: capire (to understand): capito (understood)finire (to finish): finito (finished)sentire (to hear, to feel): sentito (heard/felt) But many, many verbs have irregular past participles, and this fact alone suffices to make an Italian verb irregular (though the rest of the conjugation may be entirely regular—in the case of scrivere, for example, or offrire). Among the many irregular past participles are, just to mention a few: vissuto for the verb vivere; cotto for cuocere; messo for mettere; rotto for rompere; preso for prendere; perso for perdere; and, in the case of scrivere and offrire as mentioned above, scritto and offerto. Because of the frequency with which past participles are used, as you learn your verbs it merits spending some time looking them up in an Italian dictionary (to see if they are regular or irregular) and committing the past participles to memory. In Compound Tenses Past participles are part of every Italian compound tense, together with a conjugation of the auxiliary verb essere or avere: the indicative passato prossimo, trapassato prossimo, trapassato remoto, and futuro anteriore; the congiuntivo passato and trapassato; the condizionale passato, the past infinitive, and the past gerund. As you know, some verbs use the auxiliary essere in their compound tenses and some take avere: transitive verbs (with direct objects) mostly take avere; verbs of movement, reflexive and reciprocal verbs, and some other intransitive verbs use essere. But there are many intransitive verbs that take avere—lottare, to struggle, and ridere, to laugh—and many verbs that, depending on their mode, can take either. The auxiliary affects the participio only when verbs conjugate with essere, in which case the participio passato in the compound tenses must agree with the number and gender of the subject, or in compound tenses of verbs with avere with direct object pronouns. Lets look at a verb that can be transitive but also reflexive—vestire—and see how its past participle behaves in one of the compound tenses, the passato prossimo: Vestire Vestirsi Io Io ho vestito la bambina. Io mi sono vestito/a. Tu Tu hai vestito la bambina. Tu ti sei vestito/a. Lui, lei, Lei Lui/lei ha vestito la bambina. Lui/lei si à ¨ vestito/a. Noi Noi abbiamo vestito la bambina. Noi ci siamo vestiti/e. Voi Voi avete vestito la bambina. Voi vi siete vestiti/e. Loro, Loro Loro hanno vestito la bambina. Loro si sono vestiti/e. As you can see, in the case of the transitive use (dressing the little girl), the past participle vestito goes unchanged through the conjugation; in the reflexive form (to dress oneself) with essere, the past participle changes, much like an adjective. Other Uses of the Participio Passato Aside from this very important clear verbal function (used like a verb), the past participle in Italian also serves other purposes: Ho visto uno sconosciuto. I saw a stranger. There, sconosciuto, the past participle of sconoscere, is used as a noun. Hanno preso una macchina rubata. They took a stolen car. There, rubato, the past participle of rubare, is used as an adjective. And as an anchor to secondary clauses, a bit like a gerund, or, again, like an adjective: Mangiata la pizza, andarono a casa. Having finished eating the pizza, they went home.Nel tempo assegnatogli, gli studenti fecero i compiti. In the time that was given to them, the students did their homework.Stabilita la pace, ricominciarono il lavoro. Peace having been established, they began work anew.Offeso dal professore, lo studente uscà ¬ dallaula. Having been offended by the professor, the student left the classroom.Arrivata a casa, mi sdraiai sul letto. Once home, I lay down on the bed.Date le circostanze, sono partita. Given the circumstances, I left. In those sentences, the past participles of mangiare (mangiato), assegnare (assegnato), stabilire (stabilito), offendere (offeso), arrivare (arrivato), and dare (dato) have relative, temporal, or causal value in the subordinate clauses. Buono studio!