Metabolic syndrome and its management in schizophrenia Essay

Metabolic syndrome and its management in schizophrenia - Essay Example Among other symptoms that are interrelated with schizophrenia is metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome is a complex of certain risk factors that are likely to cause a person to develop cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, and it traditionally includes abdominal corpulence (with waist circumference more than 88 or 102 cm with women and men correspondingly), hypertriglyceridemia, high blood pressure, increased blood sugar level, and others. A patient's having the majority of these factors is considered a risk to the health, however it has not been discovered how each of the above mentioned symptoms influences the development of diseases. (Thakore 2005) People suffering from schizophrenia are said to be in more danger of cardiovascular diseases than the rest of the population. Taking into account that these diseases are affecting the life of the society the most, this problem is very topical. What is the connection between schizophrenia, cardiovascular diseases and metabolic syndrome With patients suffering from schizophrenia, there are certain risk factors associated with cardiovascular diseases, and many of them are of a metabolic character. Such elements of metabolic syndrome as high blood pressure, dislipidemy, increased blood sugar level, abdominal corpulence - all these stimulate the development of cardiovascular diseases, for example myocardial infarction.

Personal Statement for Transferring to University of California

For Transferring to University of California - Personal Statement Example My belief in accomplishing lofty goals has been developed over the years through national level basketball competitions. I grew up in Guangzhou, China. My uncle was a professional basketball player in China. He began to teach me how to play basketball at a very early age. His workouts were grueling. I would run, jump and sprint for hours before I even touched a basketball. He had a very strict methodology he followed when training me. I can remember wondering, while I ran through all sorts of weather in Guangzhou Province, why I was doing all of this training. Was it worth it? I could see as I entered High School that I was worth it. We were a very successful team. We won the Guangzhou Province High School league championship. This was an amazing accomplishment considering the competition is fierce and we were not a very tall team. Our tallest player was only 6’5† and our average height was only 6’2†. Every team we played was taller than us. The difference w as no team we played was better prepared than we were. We practiced for three hours every school day and for five hours every weekend and holiday break. We were better conditioned and had developed better skills than our opponents. After winning the High School championship, I also participated in two three-on-three basketball tournaments featuring international players. Kentucky Fried Chicken sponsored one and Gatorade sponsored the other. We came in first in the tournament sponsored by Kentucky Fried Chicken and second in the one sponsored by Gatorade. As I grew older, I realized that lessons my uncle and coaches were teaching me were great for my basketball skills, but were even more important for my life. If I had not seen that hard work and superior skills bring success, I would never have developed the confidence to apply for an institution like the University of California. I am sure that I will experience challenges after I transfer colleges, but I am confident that I can ri se to meet these challenges. I am equally dedicated to realizing my academic goals as I am to by educational goals. In addition to learning from my uncle and coaches, my family has been a great inspiration to me. My parents are very wonderful role models. My father works for the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade. He is very hard working and intelligent. He has the ability to look at any situation and analyze it deeply and succinctly. He is well regarded by his colleagues. He has taught me many things about life and about working with other people over the years. He is probably the smartest man I know and I have a great desire to make him proud of me. My mother is the manager of a cabin crew for South Chins Airlines. She loves me very much and has always treated me well. She has taken me on trips every summer and winter break since middle school. As a result, we have been able to see many places in China and several European countries as well. Transferring to the University of California to become an Economics major will require me to use all of these good habits I have developed over the years so I could be a successful basketball player and a good son. Economics is a challenging course of study that will require me to think about things in a way that is new. Understanding global economic systems will require the same dedication that is required in learning to sink a three-point

Non organic growth strategy

Non organic growth strategy Abstract : As microfinance industry has been growing rapidly, in many places the market of this sector becomes relatively mature and lies in competitive situation. Some of microfinance institutions start thinking, exploring and doing non organic growth strategies. This paper presents the idea of non organic growth strategies in microfinance whether through strategic alliances or mergers and acquisitions which can be a choice for achieving rapid growth and expansion. One of the key success factors in doing such strategies in microfinance could be the comprehensive assessment to the similarities and differences of organizations characteristics, such as their structure and culture. BACKGROUND In the recent years undoubtedly that microfinance has become a diverse and growing industry. This sector has been attracting many eyes for several reasons. One of the reasons can be said that on one side microfinance business is not only based on financial motive, but also on other side used as means for social development, as many called double bottom line principal. Many microfinance institutions (MFIs) have been placing and operating the business in the area where there has been potential market of microenterprises and low-income households. Consultative Group to Assist The Poor (2010) , broadly defined microfinance institution (MFI) is as an organization that deals with the provision of financial services mainly for the benefit of the poor. These organizations vary in their legal structure, mission, and methodology. Generally there are four categories of microfinance providers, namely informal, member-owned organizations, NGOs and Formal financial institutions ,such as Regulated MFI and Commercial Bank (Helms, 2006). All categories of those microfinance institutions are struggling to grow and survive in the arena. As the market is facing the maturity and fierce competition, many microfinance institutions keep trying to expand their portfolio by providing financial services to a larger number of clients while at the same time fulfilling an MFIs social mission. Some of them explore to alternative means for reaching rapid growth by formulating and doing better strategies. They have been trying to adapt non organic growth strategies whether through doing strategic alliances or mergers and acquisitions. Generally speaking in the world of business, we have been witnessing with a lot of examples of many firms achieving growth by creating alliances/collaboration with other parties and mergers and acquisitions. Both strategies are common done by many firms in the world since these can help the firms to covering each own weaknesses and combining each own different resources as well as facing challenges much more powerful. But in microfinance those two kind of strategies are still newly developed. In authors opinion, the issue of non organic growth strategy chosen by MFI whether they want to decide to do strategic alliance/collaboration or merger and acquisition is interesting due to the fact of unique characteristics of the players in microfinance arena as mentioned above. For example, we find that Microfinance Formal Financial Institution (MFIF) comparing to Microfinance NGO is more financially oriented rather than socially. In MFIF, the organization goals are always associated with the financial indicators and sales indicators. Whereas in microfinance NGOs are closely related to the non financial changes, particularly in the social changes of community, such as household income changes, effects of loan to women empowerment, health etc. These differences are very important to be understood considering that the differences inherent to those two institutions will affect to the successful or the failure of doing non organic growth strategic. Therefore,this paper presents the idea for MFIs, mainly for MFIF and Microfinance NGO types, in choosing such non organic growth strategies, whether they want to create a strategic alliance or merger and acquisition. The structure of this paper will be presented as follows : Section 1 provides the background regarding to authors opinion to raise the issue of non organic growth strategy in microfinance. The section 2 elaborates the conceptual background about the definition of strategic alliance and the merger and acquisition, and points out motives and diffrences behinds these strategies as well as the explanation of success keys. Then institutional features of players in microfinance arena is presented in the section 3. In the section 4, we try to give the idea to answer the question which strategy chosen by MFIs based on the different characteristics of those non organic growth strategies and distinctive features of microfinance institutions as explained in section 2 and 3, and thi s section leads to the conclusion as section 5. At the end references are appeared in the section 6. The limitation of this paper is not addressing the issue of alliances or mergers and acquisitions between MFIs which formed in informal and member-owned organizations or cooperatives. This paper only focuses on the basic idea of doing alliances or mergers and acquisition for MFIFs and NGOs form and doesnt explain quantitatively in details. Conceptual Background The words of organic growth and non-organic (external) growth are common known in the corporate growth discussion. Organic growth is usually defined as a companys growth rate excluding any scale increases from takeovers, acquisitions, or mergers. Growth of this type is also referred to as a companys core growth. Organic growth is generated, for example, by selling more product (services as well) to current customers, selling product to new customers, or selling product at a higher price ( Dalton and Dalton, 2006) .Whereas non organic growth obviously can be defined as a strategy to obtain companys growth through alliances, mergers and acquisition and takeovers. Many firms decide to do alliances /collaboration or merger acquisition to survive and to grow rather than to run business relying on the individual efforts. These non growth strategies are done by many firms to form powerful energy in managing difference resources owned by each party. As Zhiang et al (2009) notes that resources are heterogeneously distributed across firms, therefore some important internal resources can be obtained from external sources via inter organizational relationships such as alliances, or by engaging in mergers and acquisitions. Compared to internal development or organic growth, strategic alliances as well as mergers and acquisitions strategy is a much faster way to build organic capabilities. Strategic Alliances A strategic alliance is defined as an arrangement between two or more independent companies that decide to carry out a project or operate in a specific business area by coordinating the necessary skills and resources jointly rather than operating on their own or merging their operations (Dussauge et al,1999) . It can be a contractual arrangement to collaborate on one or all levels without any intended change in organization legal structure (McCarter, 2002). Strategic alliance occurs for a certain period of time whether short or long time. According to Koza and Lewin (1998), there are two main motivations for the decision of doing alliances, namely exploitative and exploratory. Exploitative means that in the agreed alliance, each party seeks to leverage their own resources and capabilities in order to enhance revenue or reduce cost, whereas exploratory each collaborating party willing to create new opportunities, markets, product and technologies. From the conceptual point of view, Sudarsanam (2003) lists some factors potentially conducive to successful alliances: Each party should bring complimentary skills, capabilities and market to the alliance Market overlap between partners should be minimal to avoid conflict of interest Alliance should be based on balance of business strength and ownership interest among partners The alliance must have a degree of autonomy with strong leadership and continual commitment and support The alliance must build up trust and confidence between the partners and not depend only contractual right and obligations Divergence of management styles and corporate culture must be handled with sensitivity, and a new common style and culture distinct. Merger and Acquisition Merger and acquisition is defined as the combination of two companies or firms to achieve certain strategic and business objectives forming a great significance transaction not only to the companies but also to many constituencies, such as share holder, workers, managers, competitors, communities as well as the economy as whole (Sudarsanam, 2003). Schoenberg (2003) notes that firms often use mergers and acquisitions in order to achieve such diverse strategic goals , for example, increasing market power, expanding to new product markets or geographical territories, or gaining access to valuable resources. From this point, even though it seems we can see that strategic alliance and mergers and acquistions have the similar purpose but we noticed that mergers and acquisitions may create some different change concerning the business, organization, ownership and legal status in the result company. Furthermore, Damodaran (2002) describes the term of merger,consolidation, tender offer, acquisition and buy out as all parts of merger and acquisition parlances, and a firm can be combined by another firm by 5 ways : Mergers , when a target firm become part of acquiring firm and stockholder approval needed from both firms. Consolidation, when target firm and acquiring firm become new firm and stockholder approval needed from both firms. Tender offer, when firm continues to exist, as long as there are dissident stockholders holding out. Successful tender offers ultimately become mergers and no shareholder approval is needed. Acquisition of asset , when target firm remains as shell company, but its assets are transferred to the acquiring firm and ultimately target firm is liquidated. Buy Out, when target firm continues to exist but as a private business usually accomplished with tender offer. There are several and diverse motives for mergers and acquisitions, Johnson et al (2005) grouped under three headings. They are environment, strategic capability and expectations: Environment. The need to keep up with a changing environment can dominate thinking about acquisitions. Some major aspects which influenced the changing environment are the need of business speed, competitive situation and deregulation. Strategic capability. Achieving cost efficiency, developing innovation and learning organization are some reasons behind mergers and acquisitions in many industries. Expectation. In some ways, stakeholders have highly expectation and interest to give insight for the growth of company. In this case, mergers and acquisition may be perceived by many stakeholders as a quick way to deliver companys growth. Mark and Mirvis (1993), from their research have summarized that one of the key success for establishing the desired combination between two companies is the assessment of two sides companys structures and cultures. They suggest that in mergers and acquisitions efforts, each party should be proactive in the pre combination phase; planning and preparation are integral to success when companies join forces At least there are different aspects to be taken into account carefully in steering a combination toward the successful path: purpose, partner, parameter and people. But it doesnt end up to the planning and preparation. The most important thing to be taken into account for achieving successful mergers and acquisitions is post-merger combination. All these efforts may help to overcome the most commonly cited reasons for failures: conflicting corporate cultures, over estimation of synergies, inadequate due diligence, slow/poor post-merger combination and poor leadership or management ( McCarter, 2002) The Differences From the explanation about two kinds of non organic growth strategy above, we can note the main difference between strategic alliances and mergers and acquisitions. It can be said that creating strategic alliances is not as difficult as mergers and acquisitions. It is because of making the mergers and acquisition work successfully is complicated process which involves not only putting two organizations together but also involves integrating people of two organizations with different cultures, attitudes and mindsets (Mallikarjunappa and Nayak, 2007). Meanwhile, in the strategic alliances, each company is still independent and it seems to need less effort in term of cost and time. Therefore, Reuer (1999) differentiates alliances and merger and acquisitions in four dimensions which strategic alliances may be preferred: Infeasibility: acquisition may not be feasible for regulatory, political or legal reasons. Information asymmetry : the partners have access to different information sets making it difficult to value their relative contributions Indigestibility: post mergers and acquisition integration of the acquirer and the acquired firms poses problems so severe as to prevent value creation from the acquisition. When indigestibility is substantial, alliances can be attractive because they allow companies to link their resources selectively. Even when acquired assets can be divested this alliance advantage remains. Strategic flexibility: it is more important than commitment of the partners. Now, how we relate this conceptual background of those strategy into the idea of impelementing these to the microfinance industry. However, we should better know the two kind of institutional features of microfinance as explained below. Institutional Features : MFIFs and MFI NGOs As mentioned in the previous page, there are some players in the microfinance arena and they obviously have different characteristics. However, there are basically two main different characteristics in the discussion about players in microfinance industry, namely for profit or financially oriented, and non profit or socially oriented The financially oriented institution, mainly private enterprises/ companies, could be Microfinance Formal financial institutions (MFIF) such as bank and regulated MFI or non bank financial institution. Mean while the socially oriented institutions, most of them are NGOs. What makes different between two types of MFIs? It may be better to look at a table presented by Estallo et al (2006) indicating the differences between private enterprise and NGO types: All these factors make different structure and culture of those two organizations. In the case of MFIs, another important distinctive feature between private MFIFs and MFI NGOs is concerning with the ownership. As Lauer (2008) stated that ownership structure is one of the critical issues to consider in the specific context of each type transformation of such institution. MFIs ownership structure encompasses the ensemble of mechanism by which stakeholders define and pursue the institution vision and mission and ensure its sustainability. Alliances or Merger and Acquisitions ? As whole, from the conceptual background section, we have seen that strategic alliances and mergers and acquisitions might have some similarities and some principally differences. In other section, we have also already known the main difference characteristics of the microfinance players. Then now it raises a question how does an MFI choose a choice between two? MFIF NGO Alliances There have been some evidences that alliances can help the collaborative firms or institution to expand its business. Strategic alliances are able to scale up access to financial services in rural areas in term of the outreach to new clients and markets as well as the introduction of new products (Gallardo et al, 2006). Rondinelli and London (2003) noted that Alliances, in fact, may be the only option for companies interested in accessing the knowledge held by (NGOs), since internal development of such expertise may be too costly, inefficient and time-consuming for most companies and merger with or acquisition of an (NGO) is highly unlikely. While Kramer and Kania (2006) also stated with a similar view that nonprofits often have much deeper comprehension to solve the social problems, which enables them to help companies determining comprehensive strategies and set more ambitious and goals. Strategic alliances are also important in the public sector as a means of addressing particula r social outcomes (Johnson et al, 2005). This also could happen in the alliance MFIF-NGO. Dahan et al (2009) gives examples of MFIF NGO strategic alliances. HSBC Amanah (HSBCs global Islamic banking division) has partnered with, an international development and relief organization, the Islamic Relief, to provide financial services to Muslims in accordance with Islamic Shariah law. Another example is In Dominica. MasterCard builds on an affinity card relationship with Banco Popular Dominicano and Asociacion para el Desarrollo de Microempresas, Inc. (ADEMI), a micro and small-scale lender .This partnership is aimed at providing unbankable entrepreneurs using MasterCard-ADEMI- BancoPopular Dominicano credit cards to withdraw cash and to pay utility and other bills in order to support the micro entrepreneurs in Dominica to run their business. However, this does not close the possibility of the combination between MFIF and NGO in mergers form. For example, McCarter (2002), gives two mergers between MFIF with NGO. In Nicaragua, the Interfin, a licensed Nicaraguan financier, in January 2000 merged with NGO Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA) Chispa microcredit program, forming Financiera Confia. Another example in Guatemala, there was a merger between Bancasol, a local commercial bank, with ACCION Internationals affiliate NGO to form Genesis. Meanwhile in 2007, Sonata, a start up MFI in Northern India purchased of Jeevika Livelihood Support Organization to expand its microfinance operation (Tiwari and Chasnow, 2009). Mergers and Acquisitions between MFIF and MFIF or between NGO and NGO As stated on the previous page, making the mergers and acquisition work is complicated process rather than strategic alliances, but this doesnt mean that this strategy is far away from success. Mergers and acquisitions can be used by MFIs to create new capability to survive and achieve significance growth. Mergers and acquisitions are not only about the combination between two organizations which merely based on financial aspect but also the structure and culture of two organizations combined. It takes much more energy, cost and time. It may be the similarity of structure and culture of organization used as a good starting point to think about mergers and acquisitions in the arena of non growth strategy of MFIs. So doing MFIF-MFIF merger or NGO-NGO mergers is more appropriate combination than creating strategic alliances. However, it doesnt mean that MFIF-MFIF strategic alliances cannot be implemented to reduce the competition tension. There are some examples mergers and acquisition in the microfinance industry around the world as summarized and showed in the annex of this paper. Conclusion As the microfinance sector matures, non organic growth strategies mainly strategic alliances and mergers and acquisitions can be a choice for achieving rapid growth and expansion in microfinance. Of course, this effort actually is not easy to be implemented. But it is also not to say that making work such strategies is impossible to be realized. By analyzing the differences between two non organic growth strategies above as well as the different characteristics between MFIF and NGO, on the one hand we may conclude that strategic alliance will likely to be considered for both rather than mergers and acquisitions. However, this does not close the possibility of the combination between MFIF and NGO in mergers and acquisitions form. A strategic alliance between MFIF and NGOs is less effort in term of cost and time but still can result in the growth of the organization. On the other hand, mergers and acquisition can also be created for combining MFIF with MFIF or NGO with NGO. Some evidences showed that the similarity of the structure and culture of those organizations can be used as the good starting point to do mergers and acquisition. It is very important to be considered because mergers and acquisitions are not only about the marriage between two organizations which merely based on financial aspect but also the structure and culture of two organizations combined. One of the key success factors for the future microfinance non growth strategy should be based on the assessment of characteristics of the similarities and differences of organization (i.e structure and culture) before choosing strategic alliances or mergers and acquisitions strategy. For those microfinance organizations who intend to do a non growth organic strategy but both of them have highly different structure and culture, it may be a strategic alliance is more suitable to be created. But in the case, there are some similarities in term of organizations characteristics, merger and acquisition could be an option. REFERENCES Dussauge, O, Garrette B and Mitchell W (1999) Learning from Competing Partners: Outcomes and Duration of Scale and Link Alliances in Europe, North America and Asia, Strategic Management Journal, vol. 21, pp. 99-126. Damodaran, A. (2002), Investment Valuation , Tools and techniques for determining the value of any asset (2nd ed) , John Wiley and Son, New York. Dalton, D.R., and Dalton, Catherine M. (2006). Corporate growth: our advice to directors is to buy organic. Journal of Business Strategy, Vol .27 No.2, pp. 5-7. Dahan, Nicholas. M., Doh.Jonathan.P, Oetzel.J.,and Yazji.M.,(2009), Corporate-NGO Collaboration: co-creating new business models for developing markets, Long Range Planning. Estallo, Maria de L .A .G , Fuente., Fernando .G.D.L, and Miquela, C.G (2006), The Strategic Social Map of Nongovernmental Organization, International Advances in Economic Research, Vol.12 pp.105-114. Gallardo, J.,Goldberg,M. and Randhawa, B.,(2006), Strategic Alliances to Scale Up Financial Services in Rural Areas, World Bank Working Paper No.76, The World Bank, Washington D.C. Helms, Brigit. (2006), Access for All: Building Inclusive Financial Systems, World Bank, Washington DC. Johnson, G., Scholes, K. and Whittington, R. (2005), Exploring Corporate Strategy. Text and Cases. Seventh Edition. Prentice Hall. Koza,M.P.,and Lewin A. (1998), The co-Evolution of Strategic Alliances, Organization Science, Vol.9,pp 255-264. Kramer, M. and Kania, J.,(2006),A New Role for Non Profit , Stanford Social Innovation Review, Vol.4 No.1 pp.32-41. Lauer, K., (2008), Transforming NGO MFIs: Critical Ownership Issues to Consider, CGAP Notes No.13. Marks.M.L, and Mirvis.P.L (1993), Making Mergers and Acquisitions Work : Strategic and Psychological Preparation, Academy of Management Executive, Vol.15 no.2 pp.80-94. McCarter, E. (2002), Tying the Knot: A Guide to Mergers in Microfinance , Catholic Relief Services. Mallikarjunappa, T., and Nayak,P., (2007) Why Do Mergers and Acquisitions Quite Often Fail? Association of Indian Management Scholars, Journal of Management , Vol.15 no.2 pp.80-94. Reuer,J.(1999), Collaborative strategy : The Logic of Alliances , Financial Times, Mastering Strategy series part 2. Rondinelli. D.A, and London, T.,(2003), How Corporations and Enviromental Group Cooperate : Assesing Sector Alliances and Collaborations, Academy of Management Executive, Vol.17 No.1 pp.62-76. Sudarsanam. S., (2003). Creating Value from Mergers and Acquisitions : The Challlenges, Prentice Hall, England. Schoenberg R.(2003). Mergers and acquisitions: Motives, value creation, and implementation. Oxford University Press: Oxford. Tiwari, A., and Chasnow.M.,(2009) ,A Closer Look at Consolidation: The Sonata-Jeevika Acquisition, Center for Microfinance, Insitute for Financial Management and Research, Chennai, India. Zhiang (John) Li, Haibin.Yang and Bindu, A (2009), Alliance Partners and Firm Partnership Resource Complimentary and Status Association, Strategic Management Journal, Vol.30 No.9 pp: 921-940. http://www.cgap.org/p/site/c/template.rc/1.26.1308/, Last accessed: March 18, 2010

Steps to Implement Organizational Changes Essay -- leadership, transfo

Explain fully what you believe are the most important features in the successful implantation of organisational change. In an organisation, there are many variables. These include leadership, those who are involved such as employees, motivations for example financial gain and current economic climate along with many others, for organisational change to be successful there are many features and criteria’s that must be fulfilled before it can lead to success. Organisational change is when a â€Å"Company or organization going through a transformation. Organization change occurs when business strategies or major sections of an organization are altered.†[1] This means that areas of an organisation progress from one position of action to another in the attempt to improve an areas efficiency or ability. The motivation for change can greatly impact on the support of those involved, this could be due to extrinsic factors such as financial gain or intrinsic factors such as ethical practise, this motive however must be strong enough and required with a realistic view for success will promote support from those in the organisation who care for the causation of the change. Those it does not affect will often be ambivalent to the effort required to make the change. To decide on the action needed to be taken before implementing any change requires great amounts of thought and consideration as each change made is a potential risk for an organisation and some changes may mean interference or conflict between departments of the organisation thus creating an inharmonious mechanism which in turn can seriously affect the performance of an organisation. It is a common analogy that an organisation or business is like a clock, with varying cogs and mechani... ...ement Model - Change Management Training from MindTools.com. n.d.. MindTools.com. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newPPM_94.htm . [Accessed 20 January 2014]. Forces for and resistance to organisational change- 2010. Fred C.Lunenberg. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.nationalforum.com/Electronic%20Journal%20Volumes/Lunenburg,%20Fred%20C.%20Forces%20For%20and%20Resistance%20to%20Change%20NFEASJ%20V27%20N4%202010.pdf. [Accessed 20 January 2014]. What is organization change? definition and meaning. n.d. Business dictionary [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/organization-change.html. [Accessed 20 January 2014]. Top-down organisational change initiatives n.d. Emerald insight . [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.emeraldinsight.com/learning/management_thinking/articles/pdf/top_down.pdf. [Accessed 20 January 2014].

An Analysis of the Social Gradient of Health in Relation Essay

An Analysis of the Social Gradient of Health in Relation to the Australian Indigenous population â€Å"The demonstration of a social gradient of health predicts that reducing inequality itself has health benefits for all, not simply for the impoverished or deprived minorities within populations. † (Devitt, Hall & Tsey 2001) The above quote from Devitt, Hall and Tsey’s paper is a relatively well grounded and well researched statement which draws on contemporary theoretical sociological concepts to support the assertion that reducing inequality is the key to improving health for all. However the assertion that the demonstration of a social gradient of health predicts that a reduction in inequality will lead to health benefits for all is a rather broad statement and requires closer examination. The intention of this essay is to examine the social gradient of health, whose existence has been well established by the Whitehall Studies (Marmot 1991), and, by focusing on those groups at the lower end of the social gradient, determine whether initiatives to address inequalities between social classes will lead to health benefits for those classes at the lower end of the social scale. The effectiveness of past initiatives to address these social and health inequalities will be examined and recommendations made as to how these initiatives might be more effective. The social gradient described by Marmot and others is interrelated with a variety of environmental, sociopolitical and socioeconomic factors which have been identified as key determinants of health. These determinants interact with each other at a very complex level to impact directly and indirectly on the health status of individuals and groups at all levels of society; â€Å"Poor social and economic circumstances affect health throughout life. People further down the social ladder usually run at least twice the risk of serious illness and premature death of those near the top. Between the top and bottom health standards show a continual social gradient. † (Wilkinson & Marmot 1998) In Australian society it is readily apparent that the lower social classes are at greater disadvantage than those in the upper echelons of society; this has been discussed at length in several separate papers on the social gradient of health and its effects on disadvantaged Australian groups (Devitt, Hall & Tsey 2001, Robinson 2002, Caldwell & Caldwell 1995). Within the context of the social gradient of health it can be inferred that Indigenous groups, for example, are particularly susceptible to ill health and poor health outcomes as they suffer inordinately from the negative effects of the key determinants of health. A simple example of this is the inequality in distribution of economic resources: â€Å"Average Indigenous household income is 38% less than that of non-Indigenous households. † (AHREOC 2004). The stress and anxiety caused by insufficient economic resources leads to increased risk of depression, hypertension and heart disease (Brunner 1997 cited in Henry 2001). Higher social status and greater access to economic resources is concomitant with a reduction in stress and anxiety levels, as individuals in these groups have more control over economic pressures which create this stress. This simple comparison proves that the social gradient of health accurately reflects how socioeconomic determinants affect the health of specific social classes at the physiological level. An extension of the research into the social gradient and the determinants of health is the examination of the pathways through which specific social groups experience and respond to these determinants. These ‘psychosocial pathways’ incorporate psychological, behavioural and environmental constraints and are closely linked to the determinants of health; â€Å"Many of the socio-economic determinants of health have their effects through psychosocial pathways. † (Wilkinson 2001 cited in Robinson 2002). These pathways have been demonstrated by Henry (2001) in the conceptual model of resource influences (Appendix A), a model which illustrates the interaction between the constraints mentioned above and their impact on health outcomes. Henry states that a central differentiator between classes is the amount of control an individual feels they have over their environment. Whereas an individual from a lower class group holds a limited sense of control over their well being and consequently adopts a fatalistic approach to health, those in higher classes with a stronger sense of control over their health are more likely to take proactive steps in ensuring their future wellbeing. This means that both individuals will cope differently with the same health problem. This is partly as a result of socioeconomic or environmental determinants relative to their situation, but it is also a result of behavioural/physical constraints and, most importantly, the modes of thought employed in rationalising their situation and actions. In essence these psychosocial pathways occupy an intermediate role between the social determinants of health and class related health behaviours.

The Unusual Experience

The Unusual Experience It was the same bus I got onto every morning, but today, I fell asleep in the bus. When I woke up, I sensed something was unusual. The bus took me to a strange place that I had not seen before. Before I managed to ask the bus driver, it vanished. Wandering around aimlessly looking for anybody, the place seemed weird. Some crows were flying above me. There was an old building on the waste land. When I reached the building, a girl tapped me from behind. Liz was wearing a school uniform.She looked very beautiful as she gestured me towards the building. When I got into the building, there were many people. They were wearing the same uniform as Liz. I realised that it was a school. The students were going to their classes. Being a new student, Liz brought me to see the principal. I followed her without saying any word. In the spacious principal’s office, I was welcomed by En. Juhair. He told Liz to bring me to Class A. It was overcrowded. We took our seats at the back row. Everybody stood up and said â€Å"Sam!Welcome to Monster School! † I was so shocked to hear that. I could hardly believe my ears and eyes. All of a sudden, the students and teachers looked like monsters. Looking closer at Ms. Munirah, I noticed she wore a tail. I had an unpleasant feeling in my stomach. I turned to face pretty Liz and felt relieved that she was still the same, she was just smiling. The very thought of this bizzare place made me feel like running away. Nevertheless, I kept the thought to myself. When the school bell rang, I planned my escape route.I couldn’t leave LIz behind and decided to invite her along. She happily agreed to my infamous plan because she knew that the monsters would kill me for being a human. We rushed out of school quickly. I showed her the bus station where I got down in this morning. Apparently we had been spotted by the monsters. They were trying to catch us. As we were beginning to feel helpless, fortunately the b us came into the station. Both Liz and I boarded the bus. It was going at a maddening speed. Feeling exhausted, I dozed to sleep .When I got up, I was surprised to see a vacant seat next to me. â€Å"Did you see the girl next to me? † â€Å"Which girl? You were alone. † The bus driver looked at me with cynical eyes and shook his head unbelievingly. It was 2. 30 pm when the bus stopped in front of my house. I still could not understand what had happened to me until now. Maybe to some people this seems like a joke; to others, it is just a fantasy. However, to me, this has been a very shockingly unexplainable experience in my life.

Swiss Army Knife for Writers

Swiss Army Knife for Writers Swiss Army Knife for Writers Swiss Army Knife for Writers By Maeve Maddox Until now, the only Thesaurus on my shelves was Rogets, and it was gathering dust because I quit using it years ago. I found it more useful to look up a word in a regular dictionary and see what synonyms were offered. Not ideal, but it gave me more options than Rogets. Now, however, Ive found a reference that is a thesaurus and then some: Oxford American Writers Thesaurus. 2nd edition. Compiled by Chrstine A. Lindberg. The title says it all. Its a writers tool that, for practical versatility, compares to a campers Swiss Army Knife. The main section contains about a thousand pages of entries. Unlike Roget, the OAWT gives the word in context before offering synonyms. Do you ever have a word on the tip of your tongue, but you cannot think of it? You cant even remember what letter it begins with, but youd know it if you saw it? Theres a section for that. In the Word Finder section words are arranged in categories: animals, architecture, food, music, etc. Then there are sections for Archaic Words and Literary Words. Maybe you want to remind yourself what a dangling modifier is, or review how to punctuate titles. Go no further than the Language Guide, nearly 50 pages of clearly presented rules of grammar, spelling, punctuation, plus tips for avoiding common errors. And, wait, as they say on the infomercials, theres more! Scattered among the entries in the main section are boxes containing helpful and entertaining notes on usage and connotation. Theres so much good stuff in this reference book that Ill probably want to tell you more in a future post. For now, a comparison of one entry in the Oxford American Writers Thesaurus with the same word in Roget will explain some of my enthusiasm. Rogets II, The New Theaurus, 1980 (the one on my shelf) aback adverb without adequate preparation unawares Rogets 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition Copyright  © 2008 by the Philip Lief Group. (online) Main Entry: aback Part of Speech: adverb Definition: taken unawares Synonyms: confused, surprised, thrown off, thrown off guard Oxford American Writers Thesaurus, 2nd edition aback adverb -PHRASES take someone aback everyone in the church was taken aback when the grooms ex-wife stood up and objected to the marriage: surprise, shock, stun, stagger, astound, astonish, startle, take by surprise; dumbfound, stop someone in their tracks; shake (up), jolt, throw, unnerve, disconcert, unsettle, bewilder; informal flabbergast, floor, bowl over. Click here to check Oxford American Writers Thesaurus on Amazon. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Book Reviews category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:10 Rules for Writing Numbers and Numerals8 Types of Parenthetical PhrasesIs Your Novel "Mystery," "Thriller," or "Suspense"?

Why Funding for Art Education is too Low essays

Why Funding for Art Education is too Low essays Why Funding for Art Education is too Low Many public schools have significantly reduced or completely cut funding for art education programs. Officials at state or city levels may feel the need for art education is not as significant as the need for more academic based programs like mathematics, history and science. Officials see art education as something that is impeding on their student's academic careers, rather than helping them flourish. Many who argue against funding arts education need to take a closer look at what art education does for a child. At a School Board meeting, Mr. Whyte (1996) first heard an argument against art education in schools: A well-dressed, well-spoken woman stood to complain that children graduating from schools were inadequately prepared to take their places in an ever more demanding labour market. Too many resources and too much instruction time, she maintained, were wasted on frills like music. Not enough attention was being paid to math and the sciences, computers, and technology, which she cited as the future keys to employability (p.13). The emphasis on academics is indeed important. Preparing students in certain subjects helps them achieve the standards set by school or government officials. Standardized testing has become the "golden rule" of school systems in the curriculum taught. Children are required to learn the curriculum and pass these tests in order to meet the standard of knowledge, or even to graduate. By funding these teaching methods and standardized tests, schools become accredited and therefore eligible to receive more funding for the school. The "real world" is not always composed of multiple choice questions, and rarely is there a certain right or wrong answer. Students who participate in art programs apply acquired thinking skills learned through art, to exceed in standardized testing as well as many other subjects in school, and life practices in genera...

Individual Adaptations Versus Population Evolution

Individual Adaptations Versus Population Evolution One common misconception about evolution is the idea that individuals can evolve, but they can only accumulate adaptations that help them survive in an environment. While it is possible for these individuals in a species to mutate and have changed made to their  DNA, evolution is a term specifically defined by the change in DNA of the majority of a population. In other words, mutations or adaptations do not equal evolution. There are no species alive today that have individuals that live long enough to see all of the evolution happen to its species- a new species may diverge from an existing species’ lineage, but this was a build up of new traits over a long period of time and did not happen instantaneously. So if individuals cannot evolve on their own, how then does evolution occur? Populations evolve through a process known as natural selection which allows individuals with beneficial traits for survival to breeding with other individuals who share those traits, eventually leading to offspring who only exhibit those superior traits. Understanding Populations, Evolution, and Natural Selection In order to understand why individual mutations and adaptations are not in and of themselves evolutionary, its important to first understand the core concepts behind evolution and population studies.  Ã‚   Evolution is defined as a change in the inheritable characteristics of a population of several successive generations while a population is defined as a group of individuals within a single species that live in the same area and can interbreed. Populations of individuals in the same species have a collective gene pool in which all future offspring will draw their genes from, which allows natural selection to work on the population and determine which individuals are more â€Å"fit† for their environments. The aim is to increase those favorable traits in the gene pool while weeding out the ones that not favorable; natural selection cannot work on a single individual because there are not competing traits in the individual to choose between. Therefore, only populations can evolve using the mechanism of natural selection. Individual Adaptations as a Catalyst for Evolution This isnt to say that these individual adaptations do not play a role in the process of evolution within a population- in fact, mutations that benefit certain individuals may result in that individual being more desirable for mating, increasing the likelihood of that particular beneficial genetic trait in the collective gene pool of the population. Over the course of several generations, this original mutation could affect the entire population, eventually resulting in offspring only being born with this beneficial adaptation that one individual in the population had out of some fluke of the animals conception and birth. For instance, if a new city was built on the edge of the natural habitat of monkeys that had never been exposed to human life and one individual in that population of monkeys were to mutate to be less afraid of human interaction and could therefore interact with the human population and perhaps get some free food, that monkey would become more desirable as a mate and would pass those docile genes onto its offspring. Eventually, the offspring of that monkey and that monkeys offspring would overwhelm the population of formerly feral monkeys, creating a new population that had evolved to be more docile and trusting of their new human neighbors.

Answer the following questions in one paragraph each Assignment

Answer the following questions in one paragraph each - Assignment Example special and that the United States wanted to show their might over the Soviet Union in that only one atomic bomb could have caused Japan to surrender and advocate for respect of international law by all (The New York Times, n.d). According to â€Å"Morality Reduced to Numbers† by Holt, the doctrine of double effect allows the use of methods that can bring harm to a small number of people for the purpose of saving many lives. This doctrine applies to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki where many innocent Japanese citizens lost their lives. Although the bombings caused some deaths on the military, most of those who died were innocent children, women and men. This was the United States’ decision to end the war which could cause more deaths than what was witnessed in the two cities. It also is explained that the attacks made Japan to surrender and this prevented further destructions of lives as it has been explained that the Japan military had organized to invade the United States. However, many people have had different opinions whether that was the only way to stop and make Japan to surrender (Holt, 1995). In â€Å"The Biotech revolution† (2012), Dr. Michio Kaku explains the negative future developments that are going to be encountered by human. Kaku explains that technology causes some problems on human health that can be long term. The health effects are as a result of the impact of the Atomic bombs. Kaku explains that the elements from atomic bomb chemicals are going to cause future problems that will affect the children born. The New York Times. (1995). HIROSHIMA; Justified Bombings? A Survivors Reply. Retrieved on 16th May 2014 from

Gasland by Josh Fox Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Gasland by Josh Fox - Movie Review Example The thesis of the documentary seeks to inform the audience about the environmental effects and human effects from natural gas drilling. Indeed, the documentary uses dark humor to discuss a detailed analysis of the broader effects of the controversial extraction method, hydraulic fracturing, or fracking that is rampant across the globe. The documentary seeks to negate the assertion that natural gas is a clean and safe alternative to oil. In addition, the documentary confirms that the fracked wells leak more often thus polluting the environment through water and air pollution, which endangers the environment and disturbs families (Fox Film). Rhetorical (persuasive) Strategies in the Documentary Notably, the documentary uses the three persuasive strategies, which include logos, pathos, and ethos. Moreover, the documentary uses rhetorical devices to apply the persuasive strategies to support the argument. In this context, I will focus on sound, speech, and visual images in discussing the rhetorical (persuasive) strategies in the documentary... The speaker further says that â€Å"a great deal of faith in people that we wouldn’t succumb to frenzy, or rage, or greed; that we’d figure out a solution without destroying the things that we love (Fox Film).† This comes in a convincing tone that asserts respect for the environment. More so, Josh Fox says that the proposal from the natural gas company to lease Fox’s family land for purposes of drilling natural gas generated a debate in the family. Indeed, Fox’s father initially had the thought of leasing the land for the $100,000 offer (Fox Film). On the other hand, Fox tells his father, ‘I think I have to look into this, so give me some time to go ahead and get the facts.† Indeed, even though, Fox said this in a commanding voice, Fox’s father allowed him to seek for facts and evidence regarding the effects of hydraulic fracturing on the community neighboring the drilling site. In fact, Josh Fox is the dominant narrator in the do cumentary where he gives a personal story. He engaged in interviews, discussions, and debates seeking to unearth the possible environmental effects of hydraulic fracturing. As a result, the film offers facts and evidence in spoken form through the interviews. We can actually experience Josh Fox talking with residents suffering from chronic health ailments that relate to air pollution and water contamination from the drilling of the natural gas using the hydraulic fracturing (Fox Film). This offers facts and evidence in spoken form through the discussions. More so, the residents report on their quest for justice where they visited the court to get an injunction seeking damages from the natural gas companies.  Ã‚  

Company Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Company Law - Essay Example The factual scenario raises various issues in company law relating to the legality of proposed transactions. With regard to the proposed transactions and dissatisfaction of Ergan,Arif and Moshe as minority shareholders in the actions of Pedro and Morgan;this initially raises issues of breach of directors’ duties under the Companies Act 2006. Section 171 of the Companies Act 2006 (CA) provides that â€Å"a director of a company must- a) act in accordance with the company’s constitution, and b) only exercise powers for the purposes for which they are conferred† (CA). Section 175 of the CA further imposes a positive obligation on directors to â€Å"avoid a situation in which he has, or can have, a direct or indirect interest that conflicts, or possibly may conflict, with the interests of the company† (Section 175 of the CA). If we apply this by analogy to the current scenario, it is evident that Pedro and Morgan have awarded themselves pay increases despite t he fact the company is making marginal profits. As such, this would suggest a conflict of interest with the interest of the company. Moreover, the common law and equity impose duties on directors and section 179 of the CA expressly states that â€Å"the consequences of any breach†¦ of sections 171 to 177 are the same as would apply if the corresponding common law rule or equitable principle applied†.... k v Deeks ([1916] 1 AC 554) asserted that directors cannot take advantage of an opportunity or information that belongs to the company without prior approval of the company. The common law fiduciary duty is further bolstered by the provisions of the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986, where the courts can disqualify directors whose companies have failed as a direct result of their misconduct for periods up to 15 years. Moreover, under section 172 of the CA, there is a new duty deriving from the equitable fiduciary duty principle expressed as a duty to promote the success of the company. To this end, Section 172(1) sets out a non-exhaustive list of guidelines that directors should refer to including (without limitation) the relationship with suppliers and customers, impact of decision on environment and members of the company. It is important to ensure compliance with this and failure to comply cannot only result in exposing the company to potential claims, but can also lead to piercing of the corporate veil for potential actions against the director (Wild, 2009). Furthermore, section 173 of the CA 2006 imposes a positive duty on a director of a company to exercise independent judgment. Section 174(1) sets out the common law duty of care and skill and section 174(2) sets out an objective test similar to the dual obligations test extrapolated under section 214 of the Insolvency Act 1986 in relation to the wrongful trading provisions. In context of the current scenario, this will have a bearing in relation to the concerns regarding the sale of the company’s property at undervalue. Firstly, it is evident that the proposed sale of the company property must be in the best interests of the company under Section 172 of the CA 2006. If the sale at undervalue is not

Describe and evaluate the main macroeconomic policies used by the Essay - 2

Describe and evaluate the main macroeconomic policies used by the Government and Central Bank of China over the last two years - Essay Example Resultantly, China made an agreement with the International Monetary Fund that saw it joining the World Trade Organization and from then, the country has world-record economic advancements from dominating in foreign trade and multiple influxes of extraneous nonstop investments. In the management of any economy, the state and authority have the obligation of approving the contradictory policies (especially for currency) because failure to this results to instability of currency both at home and around the globe, mostly a decrease in value. This is a nightmare for any country or market so the monetary authorities enforce all the conflicting policies to avoid such a situation. Most of the business gurus and specialists argue that it is impossible for a country or economy to have utter investment suppleness, stable exchange rate and sovereign pecuniary policy all at the same time; definitely, at a particular time, one of these three factors changes. For the last two years, they has been a steady rise of influxes of international capital into China with the above issue of having all the three factors emerging everywhere around the country; however, the core facilitator of this is the projected escalation in value of the RMB chattels after its rise (Flassbeck 20 14). As of mid-2013, China’s extraneous exchange investments were over three thousand billion dollars, which was around three quarters of the assets of the core bank in China, PBC; resultantly, the government has contributed greatly to this, especially with its increased persistence on the matter of appreciating RMB. During a period of ten years (2003-2013), China’s funds multiplied by eleven times with a greater increase margin for foreign exchange; obviously, this development over such a period is impressive for any economy. Decisively, the central bank of China (People’s Bank of China) lay out policies and initiatives for stability

Mergers and Acquisitions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Mergers and Acquisitions - Essay Example It is done either through merger and acquisition where one company either devours another one or decides to merge together and form a new entity (Andrews and Smith, 2006). A significant number of these mergers and acquisitions either goes smoothly whether the companies emerge victorious and successful in the process, while in other case the deal fails to get through, and the companies suffer massive financial damages. a) Increased globalisation across the world has increased the number of across borders mergers and acquisitions around the world. The authors of the article named 'Dubious Logic of Global Mega-Mergers’, argue that most of the time the megamergers that take place, does not substantiate into something extra ordinary, as was thought to be. The article represents how the mega companies are still living under the shadows of the age old theory of the capitalists (Benner and Sandstrom, 2012). Most of the mighty and strong companies in and around the world strongly belie ve that the prevalence of one can only be guaranteed, if the prevalence of the others can be weakened. For example most of the big companies resort to constant and innumerable number of mergers and acquisitions in order to stay big and strong. ... As companies engage in innumerable cases of mergers and acquisitions the length and breadth of the industry begins to get shortened. Thus slowly the industry begins to shrink and thus there remains only limited number of players. These players happen to call the shots. This argument is favoured by various researchers. Although the authors Cravens (2010) state that in reality there is no cause and effect relationship between globalisation and mergers and acquisitions. In fact globalisations after the World War II has lead to decreased concentration in certain industrial sectors. Companies engage in engage in merger and acquisition to take advantage of the economy of scale. Apart from that the other advantages are transfer of technical know-how, sharing of intellectual resources and other strategic advantages. The authors are right in their view that the history of merger and acquisitions is strewn with numerous failures but close review of the failures will indicate that the failures were partly due to the management incompetency (David, James and Arthur, 2011). Due to incompetency, the management of the acquiring companies could not evaluate the exact economic value and the subsequent risks. Despite the fact that the history of mergers and acquisitions are riddled with innumerable failures but there are various successes stories also. The following table indicates the mergers and acquisitions in and round the world. It is indicated that the number of cross border as well within the border mergers and acquisitions increased by almost 100 times in the last period 1995 to 2000. If there were no successful cases of cross border mergers, then the number of cross border mergers and acquisitions would not have

Illicit Trafficking of All Types Research Paper

Illicit Trafficking of All Types - Research Paper Example The activities along these ports have attracted human traffickers, drug barons and even terrorists. Many South American illegal goods find their way in Africa through the ports in the Indian Ocean. This may be attributed to corruption and poor custom laws and regulations (Ploch, 2010). With the effects of the trafficking activities affecting many international countries the sensitivity of the matter has increased. In this paper I will focus on Kenya activities along the Kenyan coast. The paper will focus on human, drugs and weapon trafficking in Kenya. Additionally, it will focus on the effects of these activities in the country and the international community. The paper will have an insight on how the trafficking activities affect the United States. Kenya’s port city of Mombasa is one of the largest cities along the coast of the horn of Africa. Neighboring countries like Uganda and Rwanda use the port for export purposes since they are landlocked. This has made the port becom e the largest port in East Africa. This has attracted interests from many illegal stakeholders. First on focus is the issue of weapon trafficking. According to Shelly (2010) about 5,000 illegal firearms enter the country on an annual basis. These weapons find their way into the hands of interested people in the country. They are later sold at cheaper prices to pastoralist communities and other illegal gangs. In other instances, the firearms end up in other neighboring countries. Apart from the trafficking of firearms, explosive devices in Kenya are also on the increase. During this year, the country has had about seven explosive attacks in major cities. The explosives used in the scenes are said to have originated from a foreign country. Most firearms in Kenya are usually from the neighboring Somalia or destined to Somalia. Somalia is an unstable country, hence, traffickers find it an easier route to smuggle weapons to Kenya. Weapon trafficking in Kenya also involves top government officials. These powerful individuals are usually the masterminds of trafficking activities in the country. This hinders any investigative procedures from taking place. Weapon trafficking in Kenya has greatly affected the United States. In the year 1998 the US embassy was a main target in a terrorist attack in Nairobi. The terrorist attack was the worst attack experienced in the country. The Al- Qaeda group claimed responsibility for the attack and said it was aimed at destroying the US embassy. This was evidence that weapon trafficking in the country is a more complicated and strategized crime (Clinton, 2010). The United States government had to highly compensate the victims of the attack. Drug trafficking in Kenya has also been an emerging issue as far legality is concerned. Through its coastal town Mombasa, drugs enter the country from South American countries. Large consignments of drugs find their way to Kenya through various entry points. Entry points include border with neigh boring countries, through airports and majorly through the port of Mombasa. In the coastal city, many youths are now in rehabilitation centers after being exposed to drugs at a very young age. Many youths turn into small scale peddlers. They sell the drugs to school students and other young people. This has destroyed the young generation in Kenyan coastal region. Just like the weapon trafficking menace, powerful personalities are greatly involved in the smuggling of drugs into the country (Ploch, 2010). From the coastal

Mergers and Acquisitions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Mergers and Acquisitions - Essay Example It is done either through merger and acquisition where one company either devours another one or decides to merge together and form a new entity (Andrews and Smith, 2006). A significant number of these mergers and acquisitions either goes smoothly whether the companies emerge victorious and successful in the process, while in other case the deal fails to get through, and the companies suffer massive financial damages. a) Increased globalisation across the world has increased the number of across borders mergers and acquisitions around the world. The authors of the article named 'Dubious Logic of Global Mega-Mergers’, argue that most of the time the megamergers that take place, does not substantiate into something extra ordinary, as was thought to be. The article represents how the mega companies are still living under the shadows of the age old theory of the capitalists (Benner and Sandstrom, 2012). Most of the mighty and strong companies in and around the world strongly belie ve that the prevalence of one can only be guaranteed, if the prevalence of the others can be weakened. For example most of the big companies resort to constant and innumerable number of mergers and acquisitions in order to stay big and strong. ... As companies engage in innumerable cases of mergers and acquisitions the length and breadth of the industry begins to get shortened. Thus slowly the industry begins to shrink and thus there remains only limited number of players. These players happen to call the shots. This argument is favoured by various researchers. Although the authors Cravens (2010) state that in reality there is no cause and effect relationship between globalisation and mergers and acquisitions. In fact globalisations after the World War II has lead to decreased concentration in certain industrial sectors. Companies engage in engage in merger and acquisition to take advantage of the economy of scale. Apart from that the other advantages are transfer of technical know-how, sharing of intellectual resources and other strategic advantages. The authors are right in their view that the history of merger and acquisitions is strewn with numerous failures but close review of the failures will indicate that the failures were partly due to the management incompetency (David, James and Arthur, 2011). Due to incompetency, the management of the acquiring companies could not evaluate the exact economic value and the subsequent risks. Despite the fact that the history of mergers and acquisitions are riddled with innumerable failures but there are various successes stories also. The following table indicates the mergers and acquisitions in and round the world. It is indicated that the number of cross border as well within the border mergers and acquisitions increased by almost 100 times in the last period 1995 to 2000. If there were no successful cases of cross border mergers, then the number of cross border mergers and acquisitions would not have

Electric Vehicles Technology Analysis Essay Example for Free

Electric Vehicles Technology Analysis Essay Hybrid electric vehicles are one of the applications of hybrid technology in real modern life; in which it’s currently a high demand technology and is growing rapidly. Although hybrid vehicles weren’t the latest type of transportation technology to be discovered, since they appeared earlier than gasoline vehicles, because of the cost of research and technology they disappeared a prosperous century of gasoline vehicles began. Nowadays, when the world needs green transportation because of high fossil costs and political reasons, hybrid vehicles returned and development into that type of technology is kicking back to full speed. Hybrid vehicles are the combination between electric engines and gasoline engines. Therefore, they inherit all the characteristics of traditional vehicle and add new functions of electric motor to help the vehicles save energy as well as reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Many vehicle manufacturers such as BMW, GMC, and Toyota are applying hybrid technology in producing their cars. One of the main reasons that hybrid vehicle are not as popular as regular gas powered vehicles is their prices. Most consumers don’t want to pay the extra $5,000- to $8,000 price tag to buy a vehicle that they don’t see the instant benefits of. Nevertheless hybrid vehicles will bring the benefits to their users and the environment, but not immediately when they buy the Hybrid vehicle. While in use, Hybrid vehicles will reduce the fuel consumption by an average of 42% which in return would be also good for the environment as it reduces greenhouse gas emissions by about 42% than the usual amount. However, in addition to what Hybrid vehicle offers the public in money savings by consuming less fuel and supporting a greener environment, it also made it possible for the public to accept alternative power sources for their vehicles. Also, hybrid technology has helped expand the research into battery power, battery life and battery size which helped in emerging of newer technology of fully electrical cars that doesn’t use any gas, for example: The Nissan Leaf. In the meanwhile, currently the available fully electrical vehicles (Nissan Leaf) on the market have advantages of totally being gas independent, and faster acceleration than some of the hybrid cars (I personally test drove the Nissan Leaf both on city streets and on the highway and I think it accelerated a lot better than my 2010 Toyota Prius hybrid. ). In my opinion the technology still not fully developed to be the most reliable form of transportation for an individual or a house hold use, since you can’t drive more than 100 miles per full charge as advertised; which I am sure it’s a little bit less based on consumers review (around 75-85 miles per full charge. ) In the near future I can imagine that fully electrical cars be more reliable and go in between 700 to1000 miles per full charge, of course it will take its course of development just like any other new technology that starts small and gets bigger by time. I imagine in the next couple years electrical cars will be able to go anywhere in between 100 to 200 miles per charge, then in the following few years from 200 to 300 miles per full charge, etc†¦ Furthermore, in my opinion I think that gas engines are a thing of the past and I can see in the future Hybrid engines and electrical engines replacing everything that we are using today, from gas powered vehicles to airplanes, from motorcycles to scooters and lawnmower to children toys. In conclusion, the human race is using new technologies to try to fix the harm they caused the environment by creating products that don’t contribute to the pollution of our environment and many consumers hope that hybrid and electrical motors technology would help reduce the pollution and contribute to help save our environment.

Crisis of Low Morale in Nursing Staff

Crisis of Low Morale in Nursing Staff Introduction of Firm This case study describes Los Rayos a medical center that is in a nurse crisis not only for their high turn over rate but for their low morale among its nursing staff. Although the hospital works diligently to provide quality care to its patients it is failing in many areas due to understaffed and overworked nursing staff. Mandated to keep up government regulations, the hospital understands the importance of not compromising quality even though it has had to minimize quantity in staff. The hospital requires nurses to come up with strategies to be implemented to help improve not only working conditions and quality control but patient care and ideas to help increase personal job performance. Over the last eight years the hospital has enforced some of the changes suggested but it finds itself still with the issue of nurses who feel that they are overextending themselves. Nursing staff is still in the position of trying to keep up with the demand of continuous educational conditioning an d development while performing on the job tasks in addition to extra curricular activities. Overview of Firm Competitive Advantage In order to have a firm competitive advantage an organization has to possess something unique that its competition does not have. What makes one different from another? This question is what separates groups and classes and makes one stand out among the rest. At Los Rayos they have qualified staff just not enough of it. Partnering with another major medical facility was a good business move as it can serve the purpose of showing Los Rayos ways it can improve on its functions within the facility. A normal turnover rate for hospitals is at 14% while Los Rayos is at 21%. Changes in an industry can affect bases and balance among it (Porter, 1985). Job satisfaction will make the difference on the advantage another medical facility will gain when nurses are looking upon where they would like to settle for a career. Some nurses will take a salary cut or drive further in order to work within a medical facility that offers them more than an opportunity to use their credentials. As the medical environment is forever changing one thing that may give a hospital a firm competitive advantage would be their values. Having an expectation of learning within the organization lets nursing staff know that they will be encouraged and required to continue to advance in their field and stay current on all resources and advancements in medicine. Having a competitive advantage means that you make it more difficult for competition and shake up the level playing field. According to Michael Porter (1985), if an organization can achieve and maintain differentiation they will be an above average performer in their industry and exceed competition. In order to be successful in this strategy Los Rayos will have to identify attributes and qualities among their nursing staff that are different from their rivals who are the organizations who benefit from their high turnover rate. They need to identify the factors that contribute the turnovers and come up solutions to keep nursing staff from leavi ng and also keep staff happy on the job. Problem statement The problem with Los Rayos medical facility is management does not resourcefully use staff, which leads to a high number in turnovers. The facility is understaffed and overworked and they promoted housekeepers to health techs and provided no skill training leaving nurses to double work as they would need to perform the patient care tasks that the health techs: were promoted to do. The hospital also dropped moral amongst staff as they took away appreciation events such as the employee picnic and Christmas party that gives staff something to look forward to every year. It is highly noted that when employees feel they are appreciated on the job it reflects in their job performance. The hospital reduced its nursing staff to double patients per nurse and increased shifts from 8 hour to 12 hour. This tedious and exhausting work schedule not only creates a hostile work environment as staff are reluctant to go the extra mile or over achieve for patients and colleagues. The hospital requires a lot from its nursing staff and where a raise or an on the job leisure activity would have compensated for the tedious job detail, management has taken those tokens away. Alternative Solutions/Opportunities a.) Create a rewards system to retain staff -there should be a work environment where staff have materials and training to properly perform tasks and should be awarded for productive performance. Evaluations should be done quarterly on staff to review job performance and adhere to what can be done better but also praise what has been done successfully. During this process not only is staff being rewarded for their accomplishments but also they acquire new knowledge and education that helps expand their skill and personal development. i) Build moral in the workplace ii) Cause discord among staff b.) Regular Shifts- Staff has become overwhelmed by the hours they spend on the job. If they had shorter shifts they would have time to reprogram and detox and come back refreshed eliminating turnover and burnouts i.) Gives staff a chance to unwind from a days work and not have to report right back for duty ii) Staff may call out or take more time off with shorter shifts Decision and Support In order to create a work environment that constantly develops nurses skills so that they can efficiently perform job tasks management needs to create a rewards system to help retain staff. Management has to recognize the nurses core commitment is to provide quality care to their patients and they need to help reduce job related stress by ensuring that supporting staff such as health techs are properly trained and skilled in work related duties. Nurses need to feel important, valued, and appreciated by their organization, as they love their job and they just want working conditions to improve. Action Plan Moving to implement the rewards system and shorter shifts for staff should take place immediately to ensure that staff understands management understands their concerns and have worked to rectify their issues. To implement successful changes, management must play an active role in the entire change process. It is the managers responsibility to understand how to address and put the change into action along with properly overseeing resistance from the staff. It is the managers responsibility to understand how to address and put the change into action along with properly overseeing resistance from the staff. Identifying potential risks, anticipating risks, estimating impact of risks, and managing risks successfully are all accomplishments and work towards building moral and retention. Scundra (2016) explained the importance of leaders understanding how to deal with different people and personalities hence the importance of the quarterly evaluations so management can provide feedback to each nurse and staff member personally. Once nursing staff feels compensated for their diligent work they will be eager to preform on the job and happy to work at Los Rayos now and in the future. REFERENCES Drucker,P. (2009). Management Cases.New York, NY. Harper Collins Publisher Porter, M. E. (1985). Competitive Advantage . Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance , 1-30. Retrieved January 22, 2017. Sacndura, T. A. (2016). Essentials of Organizational Behavior. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

School Safety and the Tragedy at Columbine High School :: Argumentative Persuasive Argument Essays

Unlike most of the country, I knew about Columbine High School on April 19, 1999. I knew that the Columbine Rebels had a good football team, I remembered how they beat Cherry Creek for the 1999 football championship. I knew what Columbine's building was like from when I was inside it in January for a debate tournament. I had friends that went to CHS. We had gone on a trip to Hawaii together to learn about biology. The rest of the country found out about Columbine High School on April 20, 1999. They didn't hear about their football team, the debate tournament they hosted, or my friends, though; they heard about two angry students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, that went on a killing rampage killing 12 other students, a teacher, and themselves. The nation, the media, the killers, my friends, and me all have their own view of what happened that day. Many people tried to understand how something so terrible could happen, while the killers thought that the killings were a wonderful thing , and still other students were trying to comprehend that this tragedy had actually happened so close to home. At 11:19 in the morning of April 19, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold stood at the west entrance of Columbine High School preparing for the deadliest shooting in American school history. One of them yelled, "Go! Go!," and then the two pulled out their shotguns and began firing, killing two students almost immediately (Jefferson County 3). Harris and Klebold began moving through the school randomly shooting students, detonating pipe bombs, and yelling about how much fun they were having. While this was happening, Coach Dave Sanders and other heroes were frantically trying to get students out of harm's way. At 11:26, while running past the library warning students of the killers, Sanders was shot by one of the shooters. He made it into a science room where first aid was administered by students. He died several hours later in that same room. The worst killing took place in the library during a span of about eight minutes starting at 11:29. Ten students were killed and twelve others were wounded. After leaving the library, Harris and Klebold wandered around the school in movements that appeared to be "extremely random" (Jefferson County 18). They eventually returned to the library at about 12:08 and killed themselves. In 49 minutes, 14 students were left dead, one teacher was left dying, 23 people were injured, and an entire community's sense of safety and security was shattered.

The Internet: Few Rules and No Ethics Essay -- The Wild Wild West, 201

Laws regulate what we do in our everyday life. These rules, however can not keep up with technology. Laws existing to regulate the internet are few and difficult to enforce. A crackdown on internet misuse has begun with the creation of filtering software and the prosecutions of internet offenders. Issues such as child pornography and seducing children over the internet, the downloading and manipulation of copyrighted files and images, and the sharing or accessing of people’s private and personal information are just some of the ethical challenges we face in cyberspace. According to Maxwell Taylor and Ethel Quayle in â€Å"Child Pornography: An Internet Crime†, individuals who are involved in the world of internet child pornography are escaping from their real world lives. The two authors interviewed 13 different convicted offenders in order to understand what happens in this fantasy world and why so many are being lured in (victims, as well as offenders). Through their many conversations they discovered that there is a kind of community created over the internet. One where adult males (and a few adult females) collect and trade pictures of kids and teenagers (of all ages, sometimes including babies) who are posing nude or even involved in any sexual act with an adult. Most of these images are used for personal sexual gratification. There are some who use them like money to get more of these kinds of images, and like money in the physical world, the more you have the higher you are in status. The internet makes their interest readily available, giving them access to this kind of information in massive amounts and in seconds. This underground world becomes an addiction, and often leads to interaction w... ...ng doing, that there is harm being caused, and that they are responsible for their actions is, in my opinion, the first step that needs to be taken to solve this ethical dilemma. Works Cited Taylor, Maxwell and Ethel Quayle. Child Pornography: An Internet Crime. New York: Brunner & Routledge, 2003. Williamson, Larry and Eric Pierson. The Rhetoric of Hate on the Internet: HatePorn’s Challenge to Modern Media Ethics. Journal of Mass Media Ethics. Volume 18, pp.256-267. Tompkins, Paula S. Truth, Trust, and Telepresence. Journal of Mass Media Ethics. Volume 18, pp.194-212. Kitross, Michael John and A. David Gordon. The Academy and Cyberspace Ethics. Journal of Mass Media Ethics. Volume 18, pp. 286-307. Nissenbaum, Helen. Hackers and the Contested Ontology of Cyberspace. New Media and Society. April 2004 volume 16, pp. 195-217.

Prejudice and Stereotypes in 12 Angry Men Essay

Stereotypes use generalisations to characterise people, and 10th juror is particularly prone to stereotyping the defendant based on socio-economic background. He regularly makes generalised statements about ‘those people’ (p. 6), without ever justifying his opinions with concrete details. Examples include: .I’m tellin’ you they let the kids run wild up there’ (p. 6). . ‘†¦ You’re not going to tell us that we’re supposed to believe that kid, knowing what he is. Listen, I’ve lived among ’em all my life. You can’t believe a word they say. I mean, they’re born liars. ‘ (P. 8) .The kids who crawl outa those places are real trash. I don’t want any part of them, I’m telling you (p. 12) . ‘Let’s talk facts. These people are born to lie’ †¦ ‘I’ve known some who were OK, but that’s the exception’ (pp. 51-52) . ‘They’re violent, they’re vicious, they’re ignorant, and they will cut us up’ (p. 53) The one instance where 10th juror uses details is when he argues ‘his type, they’re multiplying five times as fast as we are. That’s the statistic. ‘ (P. 53). Yet he only uses this statistic to ground his own fears: ‘They’re against us, they hate us, they want to destroy us †¦ If we don’t smack them down whenever we can, then they are gonna own us. They’re gonna breed us out of existence. ‘ (P. 53). 10th juror is not the only one guilty of such generalisation and stereotyping. For example, 4th states: The boy †¦ He’s a product of a filthy neighbourhood and a broken home †¦ Slums are breeding grounds for criminals. I know it. So do you. It’s no secret. Children from slum backgrounds are potential menaces to society. (P. 12). Similarly, 3rd juror muses: .. sometimes I think we’d be better off if we took these tough kids and slapped ’em down before they make trouble, you know? Save us a lot of time and money. (P. 3) Neither 4th nor 3rd jurors make reference to specific details of the defendant’s situation, but rather rely on generalised stereotypes which support their own prejudices against ‘those people’. In fact, 8th is the only juror to carefully review specific details from the case rather than resorting to general class stereotypes. He notes: †¦ This boy’s been kicked around all his life. You know – living in a slum, his mother dead since he was nine. He spent a year and a half in an orphanage while his father served a jail term for forgery (p. 8). This lists specific facts and variables about the boy’s upbringing, rather than distilling him into a non-specific member of a socio-economic group. Similarly, in 8th juror’s speech on page 23,he lists specific details of the victim’s rough existence – his gambling, his convictions, his employment history. This can be contrasted with 10th juror’s simplistic and prejudiced attitude: ‘listen, we know the father was a bum’ (p.24). This contrast between these two attitudes is that 8th juror is attempting to form his opinions based on the specific factors affecting the defendant and the victim, and trying to focus on the human beings in the case at hand. 10th juror is content to convict the defendant based on stereotypes and generalised tendencies of others in similar situations. Once again, by aligning the less simplistic attitude with 8th juror, Twelve Angry Men endorses compassion and condemns prejudice and stereotyping.

Political Economy Theory Essay

The political economy in mass media theory argues that â€Å"the structure of the industry influences content.† _(Andrejevic M, 2007)._ This theory will be demonstrated by analysing an article entitled _'†Sky’s the limit† for MySpace’_, published on _News.com.au_ on August 10th 2007. The presumption of the theory is that media content is influenced by a combination of the media owners (individuals or corporations), advertisers, competitors/other media, government regulations and viewers or readers. In the case of media ownership, â€Å"Private individuals decide what information should be provided to the public based on what earns them the most money.† _(Andrejevic M, 2007)_ The _News.com.au_ article on _MySpace_ appears in the National News section and describes the firm grasp and incredible influence the social networking site, established in 2003, has on the internet and throughout the business world. The article is saturated with references to the innovations and stunning success of _MySpace_. For example the opening sentence reads â€Å"Social networking website _MySpace_ has more than 115 million members around the world and already plays a key role in launching music careers, political campaigns and the way people communicate in general.† _(Gadd M, 2007)_ At this point a discerning reader should recall that _News Corp_ bought _MySpace_ from its co founders Tom Anderson and Chris DeWolfe in July 2005. _(Malick O, 2006)_ The propaganda model developed by Edwards S Herman and Noam Chomsky asserts that information presented to the general public via mainstream media outlets will be biased in relation to the interests of the multinational organisations or media conglomerates that own them. _(Herman & Chomsky, 1988)_ By publishing an article promoting the dominant discourse that _MySpace_ is a popular, thriving production with unlimited potential, _News Limited_ are encouraging awareness of the website, which in turn provides it with traffic and publicity. Since _News Corp_ owns _MySpace_ and is a holding company for _News Limited_, this is a chief example of the  propaganda model and reinforces the political economy theory that media content is affected by media owners. The positive language used in the article demonstrates the power of linguistic controls in promoting a discourse. The writers of the article use phrases such as â€Å"it’s just the tip of the ice berg† _(Gadd M, 2007)_ to imply there is a wealth of possibilities for _MySpace_ to accomplish. The website is described as â€Å"a platform for individuals to express themselves and socialise.† _(Gadd M, 2007)_ This quote is relevant to today’s society as ideas of non-conformity, individuality and creativity are attractive to today’s youth. Of all the quotes available from the interviews with the co founders, there is a deliberate choice on behalf of _News.com.au_ to feature words such as ’emerging’, ‘prominent’, ‘innovate’, and ‘evolve’ that connote ideas of positive change and progression. This gives the impression that _MySpace_ is at the forefront of the online social networking phenomenon with millions of individuals flocking to be involved. These terms are deliberately chosen by _News Limited_ to appeal to advertisers who wish for their products to be seen and purchased by the â€Å"trend-setters† in society, and this will consequently benefit its parent, _News Corp_. The article also suggests the potential power MySpace has for advertisers in the future. â€Å"Mr DeWolfe said mobile advertising would be a lucrative fund source and video would take a more prominent place in the way people communicated and shared their art.† _(Gadd M, 2007)_ It should be noted that _News Corp.,_ along with other media conglomerates, is ultimately a commercial organisation. By using _News Limited_’s article to draw attention to the incredible infiltration ratio of _MySpace_ (four million unique accounts in Australia, and 50% of all internet users in America) _News Corp_ is securing advertisers’ interest in _MySpace_. The statement by Walt Disney Corporation CEO, Michael Eisner, is particularly powerful in demonstrating the reality of what drives media conglomerates: â€Å"We have no obligation to make history. We have no obligation to make art. We have no obligation to make a statement. To make money is our only objective.† _(Andrejevic M , 2007)_ Newspapers, TV networks and magazines rely on advertisers to finance their business, so to encourage advertisers to buy space in their publication they commodify and promote their audiences. According to Dallas Smythe â€Å"audiences are bought by advertisers on the basis on income, age, sex, ethnic and class specifications.† _(Stevenson N, 2002:10-11)_ Rupert Murdoch outlined his plans for the future of _MySpace_ in a 2006 interview at the Citigroup Entertainment, Media and Telecommunications Conference. He revealed that an instant messenger client with voice capabilities, increased worldwide penetration, and free video downloads were in the works. (The free video downloads have been successfully incorporated into the website since the interview.) Following this, Mr Murdoch said â€Å"We’ve got the biggest mass of unsold inventory. We have the third most page views of the Internet in America,† and explained that _News Corp_ had met with advertising networks to â€Å"judge whether they can sell it better than we can.† _(Burns E, 2006)_ In conclusion, the political economy theory, which highlights the a link between â€Å"ownership and †¦ content of media production† _(Stevenson N, 2002: 41)_, can be applied to the _News.com.au_ article about _MySpace_ to reveal how much ownership, among other things, can affect the information the public receives from mass media outlets. As demonstrated in the way that _News Limited_ portrayed _MySpace_ in a positive light for the economic benefit of its parent firm _News Corp,_ it is important for audiences to be aware of the political economy theory, and to detect not only bias but the possible reasons behind such bias in media texts they consume. BIBLIOGRAPHY Andrejevic M (2007) _The Mass Media: A Political Economic Approach._ Lecture slides for JOUR2211 Week 2. Available from https://my.uq.edu.au/blackboard_frame.html Accessed on 12/08/07 Burns E (2006) _Murdoch discusses future of MySpace.com._ Available from Accessed on 10/08/07 Gadd M (2007) _’Sky’s the limit’ for MySpace._ Available from Accessed on 10/08/07 Herman E S and Chomsky, Noam. (1988) _Manufacturing Consent: the Political Economy of the Mass Media_. New York: Pantheon Books Malick O (2006) _Why Murdoch Really Bought MySpace._ Available Accessed on 11/02/03 McQuail D (2002) _McQuails Reader in Mass Communication Theory._ Sage publications. Stevenson N (2002) Understanding Media Cultures: Social Theory and Mass Communication. Sage publications. pp10-11

Cause and Effect Essay

CAUSE AND EFFECT ESSAY Outline: Thesis statement: Too serious to face this life is the most bad habit that people do in this life lately, which has many effects on their self. I. Can not feel relax A. Always negative thinking B. Be pessimistical C. Depressed II. Have many problems A. Tend to be alone B. No interaction with other C. Hate the society III. Dissapointed A. Broken heart B. Lost hopes C. Commit suicide ESSAY SOME BAD EFFECTS TOO SERIOUS TO FACE THIS LIFE Stress is a mentally or emotionally bad condition occuring because of difficult pressures.Many people especially who lived in a big city suffer everyday from stress and its effects. Day to day the amount of people that feel stress increase significantly, perhaps its because the condition that getting worst. However, too serious to face this life which is being stress has some bad effects especially effects to psycholigical condition. The first psychological effect of being stress is can not feel relax. The people who feel stress will always feel uncomfort with anything in their life. They will feel nerveous with no obvious reason.Second is they will feel have many problems. It happens because they always negative thinking so that everything that they do will seem so hard. The third is they will dissaponted. They will feel that their life is over because too many failure. It happens because they always be pessimistical. So stress can give so many bad effects for the people who feel it. Besides those psychological effects, stress also causes another psychological effects. One of the effect is the development of feel have many problems.They also tend to be alone, have no interaction with other and the worst effect is they will hate society. They tend to be alone because they feel there is no benefit of sharing to other and it makes them do not want to have an interaction with other. As a result they will hate the society. Another effect that related to the effect of dissapointed are they will feel broke n heart, lost their hopes and commit suicide. They feel broken heart because too many failure happen in their life, its also make them lost their hopes.Finally, because of those bad effects they will commit suicide. It is so ironic. In short, stress make some bad effects in our life like always feel uncomfort with anything, have many problems in their life and feel dissapointed with the condition. So we can manage our stress with not do the things like those what i mentioned in the beggining, its helpfull to avoiding stress. Color information: = general statement = thesis statement = transitional words = topic sentence = conclusion

Personal Statement about international relations and politics

About international relations and politics - Personal Statement Example For this reason, I seek to undertake a pathway that despite being long enlightens me regarding the complex nature of human interactions and the associated issues. No action can be considered good if it fails to align with the benefits of the society as a whole. My choice of studying humanities along with social science is largely based on these beliefs and I hope to excel in my subjects due to my immense interest in the subjects. I intend to pursue a career in the international relations and politics at the University of Edinburgh, for which I intend to stay at the university for an extended period of time. My willingness to take on this course stems from my natural inclination towards the issues pertaining to human beings. I strongly believe that the pains and sufferings of humans can only be relieved by the actions of other humans. Those who are politically empowered to take actions are in a better position to serve humanity. Also, since the modern world is rapidly transforming into a global village; the actions and interactions of various countries directly or indirectly affect the lives of individuals on a global scale. This extreme interconnectedness and the consequences of this phenomenon are manifested in the lives of people in shorter periods of time; and this trend is increasingly becoming a norm. In the ‘jungle’ of globe, everyone is your friend and everyone is your enemy – the only thing that guides the behaviors of countries towards others is ‘interest’. Moral values are set aside in matters of international level and it is the mutual interest that guides and runs the international businesses. I strongly feel that an understanding of the relationships of different countries is essential to understand the expected and unexpected upcoming events. Knowledge about the international relationships of