Spyware on Children’s Computers; Regorian Rhetoric

Parents as Undercover Cops Spyware is any technology that aids in gathering information about a person or organization without their knowledge. On the internet, spyware is programming that is put in someone’s computer to secretly gather information about the user and relay it to advertisers or other interested parties. In this case, the ‘other interested parties’ are parents. Parents are becoming more and more protective of their kids. Many are now becoming open to the idea of putting spyware on their children’s computers when previously that was unthought-of.No matter what ones particular outlook on this subject is, there are pros and cons of each side, and most seem to lean largely on one side or the other, as opposed to being more in the middle. There are many harmful traps on the internet, but does that justify tracking children’s every keystroke on their computer? Harlan Coben believes spyware is more than justified. In Coben’s article, à ¢â‚¬Å"The Undercover Parent,† Coben states that parents are overprotective of their kids in many other aspects, such as knowing their passwords to their phones, supervising them at all events, and so on.So why give them their independence when it comes to the internet? I understand what he means and even agree with his reasoning in some ways. Coben says that the ones doing the surveillance are not some government officials; they are loving parents trying to protect their offspring. This argument is valid because it shows that the parents who choose to put the software in computers are really just trying to keep their kids best interest in mind, and those who compare it to being surveyed by a government agency or something of the like is ludicrous.Some children are at risk of being harmed through the internet, and do require that surveillance. The children that are unknowingly communicating with a pedophile, or the â€Å"43% of teens [that] have been victims of cyber bullying in the last year,† could have had a possibility of being helped if their parents had spyware software downloaded onto their computer. (Stop Cyber Bullying Before it Start’s) Of course, ‘what-if’s’ are always going to be asked, and there is no way that spyware can solve these problems fully. Pedophilia and cyber bullying are both serious issues and need to be stopped.Yes, spyware could help the problem. Yes, spyware could alert or notify a parent if one of these two activities is going on, which could be extremely beneficial. I agree that spyware should be used in these very specific situations. Coben also believes that having this program reinforces to children the fact that the internet is not a haven of privacy. In an academic journal article regarding Facebook, a website that many children and teens are using, it is written that â€Å"We need to teach them that NOTHING IS PRIVATE online, especially their social networks† (Fodeman).All child ren need to understand and acknowledge that the internet is not private, but even more so those who use social networking, because once something is typed and sent, uploaded, or anything, it can never be taken back or deleted. Sure you can remove certain things, but somewhere it is still out there, and it can be retrieved if deemed necessary. Everyone has access to posts online, and if the reason they are not misusing the internet is because of their fear of the spyware, then so be it.There is a fine line between being responsibly protective and irresponsibly nosy, Coben argues. If a parent is going to have spyware on their children’s computer, they need to be doing so for the correct reasons. Doing so because there is a harmful behavior being engaged without another way to stop it is sufficient enough of reasoning. However, trying to be filled in on the latest gossip and happenings in the child’s life is not going to cut it. Parents are supposed to be responsible and looking out for harmful and negative behaviors.They should not be abusing their powers or the tools given to them to help ensure their loved child’s online safety and protection. I do tend to agree with the various arguments that Coben uses to validate his claims, yet I have two different opinions on the use of spyware technololgy. If ones child is dishonest, engaging in suspicious or risky behavior, install the spyware. If a parent has real evidence that their child is harming him or herself, then the parent has a responsibility to help and protect the child even though their child may not want the watchful eye.It is more than fair for parents whose children have engaged in some kind of dangerous behavior, to tell them â€Å"If you don’t meet your responsibilities to take care of yourself and to stay safe, then I’m going to take whatever steps necessary. If that means looking in your room, looking in your drawers and looking on your computer, that’s exa ctly what I’m prepared to do† (Lehman). That way the child will know there is a possibility of a spyware being put on their computer and are not caught off guard if something from the spywares report were to be brought up in the future.The safety of one’s children should be number one on the parents list and they need to be able to do what is deemed necessary in order to protect. Reading emails, having the knowledge of what they search for online, and seeing all of their communications may be necessary for certain situations. The situations where spyware should be put on children’s computers are only in extreme cases of dishonesty, incriminating behavior, or suspicious activities. Spyware may not be the most effective way to protect children, but in such cases the spyware could definitely help the situation.Besides extreme cases, ultimately parents having spyware on their children’s electronic devices without their knowledge are more harmful than be neficial. A survey conducted of undergraduate students in the United States showed that â€Å"64% indicated they strongly disagreed with the statement that ‘spyware is more beneficial than harmful. ’†(Freeman) The main reason putting spyware on a child’s computer that has done nothing wrong is harmful, is because the relationship between parent and child will most likely be impacted negatively when the child figures out there is spyware on their computer.If parents have children that meet their curfew, take care of their responsibilities, and the like, there is no reason to snoop on them. Good behavior should be rewarded, and telling your child that the lack of interference in her personal space is a direct result of her good behavior reinforces the trust given to that child. Spyware does not aide in creating independence or individuation. A goal of parenting should be to raise a young adult who can make independent decisions and who can have a life of the ir own. Teenagers are always trying to be individuals and want more independence.Part of having a life of their own is having a space of their own. When parents spy on their responsible child, the message they are sending is that even though the child has not done anything wrong, the child still needs to be watched and is not trustworthy. Also, children and teenagers usually know an awful lot more about computers and technology than adults do. Because of the difference in generations, most teens and children know how to check for spyware, how to disable it, and how to get around it, more often than not without the parent knowing what has happened.It is impossible for a parent to keep tabs and know absolutely everything their child does, which they should not, and sometimes it is better this way. Even if a child does not find a way around the spyware, are parents really prepared to know their child's secrets that are not harmful to themselves, such as sexual activity, although can be harmful in some cases, or sexual orientation? Sometimes it is best to be ignorant. Parents should not go looking for things that if they knew would cause issues in the family tearing them apart.What is the worst that children can get into on the internet? Parents have to understand that their kids are human, and in turn let them be human. They are going to want to try new things, and exploring the internet is probably going to be one of those things. What is so bad about that anyway? It will not corrupt them; nothing â€Å"corrupts† people but other people. It is not the internet doing the corrupting, it is those behind what is being shown and put out there, those that are typing in chat rooms and writing their blogs.It is easy to view kids as possessions, like pets that have to be pampered and hidden from the world, but they are people just the same, and they have to make their own decisions even if they aren't â€Å"good† ones. A teenager deserves their privacy just as much as anyone, including their parents. I believe that if parents have taught their children well, with morals and the ups and downs of life and the internet, they need to trust that their child has been taught well enough to not misuse the internet and all of its capabilities.Joe Kelly, founder of a national advocacy group called Dads and Daughters, states that â€Å"Markets play on this fear that something horrific is going to happen to your child, when the odds of that are minuscule. It might happen, but to have their whole childhood predicated on this remote possibility is, in the aggregate, even more damaging. â€Å"(Crary) Spyware really undermines all of the trust that the parent and child have with one another. In a survey of 1,006 AOL users, â€Å"74. 2% said they perceived spyware to be a personal threat. (Poston) Spyware is seen as a personal threat to so many citizens because of its demoralizing and disrespectful nature. I would not want it done to me, my parents would not want it done to them, and I do not think teaching children that it is okay to have a spyware on someone else is healthy or just. The choice between installing spyware on a child’s computer or not too, can relate to one another and meet in the middle. In some extreme cases where there is no longer an ounce of trust, spyware should be put on children’s computers to protect them from themselves and others.Although in most cases, spyware is not acceptable because of the harm it does to the relationship between parent and child, and the toll it takes on trust, individualism, and privacy. Parents should have some type of control over their child’s internet usage. Blocking some sites, such as porn or self-harm/suicide related sites, is beneficial and sufficient. Having the computers in the house being put in open areas, such as an office or living room, can also control what children do on the computer because of the fact that they are aware that anybody can walk by and see what is on the screen.There are also parental controls that make it so the internet is only available at the times set up by the parents. Parents that are still uncomfortable with these alternatives could also have a password set up that one would need to log onto the computer, and only the parent would know that password. That way, if a child wants to use the computer, the parent will always know if they are on it. You should also talk to your children about the dangers of the internet so that they recognize suspicious behavior or activity.In order to teach more about internet safety instead of simply trying to avoid it, parents need to â€Å"Discuss the risks of sharing certain types of information (e. g. , they they’re home alone) and the benefits to only communicating and sharing information with people they know. † (Householder) All of these alternative suggestions, used solely or by incorporating them all, is a much more useful tool in monitoring computer and internet usage rather than using a spyware. The alternative to spyware does not damage trust, lets the child have needed amounts of privacy, and yet still lets the reins be in the parent’s hands.Works Cited Coben, Harlan. â€Å"The Undercover Parent. †Ã‚  New York Times  16 Mar. 2008: n. pag. Print. Crary, David. â€Å"USA TODAY. †Ã‚  USATODAY. COM. N. p. , 05 Sept. 20122. Web. 17 Mar. 2013. Fodeman, Doug, and Marje Monroe. â€Å"The Impact Of Facebook On Our Students. †Ã‚  Teacher Librarian  36. 5 (2009): 36-40. Academic Search Premier. Web. 21 Mar. 2013. Freeman, Lee A. , and Andrew Urbaczewski. â€Å"Why Do People Hate Spyware? †Ã‚  Communications Of The ACM  48. 8 (2005): 50-53. Academic Search Premier. Web. 21 Mar. 2013. Householder, Allen, and Mindi McDowell. Security Tip (ST05-002). † Keeping Children Safe Online. US Department of Homeland Security, 16 Feb. 2013. Web. 20 Mar. 2013   Lehman, James. â€Å"Newslette r Signup. †Ã‚  Empowering Parents. N. p. , n. d. Web. 21 Mar. 2013. Poston, Robin, Thomas F. Stafford, and Amy Hennington. â€Å"Software: A View From The (Online) Street. †Ã‚  Communications Of The ACM  48. 8 (2005): 96-99. Academic Search Premier. Web. 21 Mar. 2013. â€Å"Stop Cyber bullying Before It Starts. †Ã‚  NCPC. com. National Crime Prevention Council, n. d. Web. 17 Mar. 2013.

Tda 3.7 Unit 1.1

TDA 3. 7 Unit 1. 1 Both teachers and TAs play an important role in monitoring and assessing the children’s learning. Assessments are carried on daily, throughout the day. It is the responsibility of the teacher to know how each child in the class is progressing, how to ‘push’ the children to reach age related levels and to be able to set achievable targets in order for the children to progress. Assessment is an aid to this and is an ongoing process used in many ways. As TAs we need to be able to support teaches in this process. Teachers should plan lessons and set out clear S. M. A. R. T learning objectives so that learners’ progression can be measured. TAs must be aware of these objectives in order to support the children with their learning. Example: On arrival into the classroom, it is my responsibility to have dialogue with the teacher of her expectations, of me, in the day’s activities. We discuss the learning objectives, the aims of the lesson, groups I will be working with and how and why objectives are differentiated to suit ability groups. It is also my responsibility to gather materials or resources which I may need to support the lesson. At the end of each lesson, the teacher and I have a formal discussion where we identify any gaps, barriers, difficulties and/or progression made by pupils. These points can also be identified through marking of work. At this stage, amendments will be made to the planning, for the following day/week, to ensure effective teaching and learning can be implemented.

Work Right ( marketing plan) Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Work Right ( marketing plan) - Research Paper Example In career counseling we can help students figure out the kind of job they want. In training services, we will introduce courses where student can learn communication skills, computer skills etc. This start up will be for a good cause as it creates employment opportunities for students who have to pay their tuition fee and support their families. Market Research is a strategy that ensures an entrepreneur’s safety before he starts a new venture. It is important because the entrepreneur can weigh the pros and cons of doing business in a particular industry before making an important business decision. Market research comes before finance and legal formalities as it is the starting point for any enterprise. The nature of our service will be that it will consist of a website that will help students of Texas A&M University-Commerce (TAMU-C) to find jobs. This is an important service as it generates employment for fresh university students as well as for people who want to switch their present jobs. It depends on the producer how narrowly or widely he defines his target market and audience and it is this target market or audience that determines the amount, type and price of the producer’s output. My brand is a website for students at TAMU-C so that they can find jobs that match their degrees and skills. The name of my brand is WorkRight and the webpage will be hosted by the university. From the inception of a product till the end, a thorough analysis of the market is done and demand conditions are determined. The young students that WorkRight is targeting have a sophisticated demand for jobs (as they are educated and well-informed) and they keep themselves abreast with the changing employer requirements. I conducted surveys and handed out questionnaires to students at TAMU-C in order to see whether they liked the idea of a website that can help them in getting employed. The primary focus of WorkRight will be the students who do not have a family

Children's testimony as evidence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Children's testimony as evidence - Essay Example In this respect the query about reliability of child’s words can be rather controversial. As a rule child’s vision of the surroundings differs from the view of adult person. Children have peculiar perception of the world. Combining their plain and rather naive comprehension with rich imagination, children are prone to exaggerate or even concoct some facts. Judicial practice shows that sometimes children are able to add false details to the description of the case or, on the contrary, pass over in silence crucial information. This happens because of the several reasons. First explanation is child’s personal feelings of fear or embarrassment. Second one is emotional surge that overcomes a child in a moment of analyzable event, after which he or she may have obstacles to remember everything that has occurred. However, when children deal with private insult, their testimonies may really help to achieve closure. History knows a lot of cases when hearing child’s testimony about sexual abuse, representatives of courts have not doubted the truth of stated words. In such particular cases all emotions, anxiety, offence and pain that is impossible to counterfeit can be seen on the face of the child.

Strategic Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Strategic Plan - Essay Example Because of this, there is almost nothing organizations that deal in the same merchandise can do to specialize in the market, apart from riding on market forces (of demand and supply) to stay afloat. By being innovative, Joe’s Electric Cigar will be able to come up with unique and customer-friendlier models. This will in turn help the firm realize and maintain its niche in the market, increase its market share and widen the scope of its profitability. By studying the progress of Joe’s Electric Cigar, an analyst also gets the gist on the importance financial goals and preparations. This is because Joe’s Electric Cigar is a fledgling organization with minuscule financial resources, albeit the operations of this firm are financially very demanding. Thus, Joe’s Electric Cigar presents an ideal case study on the essence of management and financial planning as key ingredients to success. III. General Company Description Joe's Electric Cigar is a company that was formed in 2000, with a multipronged purpose: satisfying the needs of the clientele; abating environmental pollution; and assuaging health complications that accompany smoking. While all these multipronged aims of Joe's Electric Cigar (JEC) are geared towards helping smoke addicts quit smoking in a healthier manner, they ensure that the feat is exacted in a healthier and hygienic manner. JEC ensures that it achieves this hydra-headed feat by introducing into the market, an electronic cigarette, a personal vaporizer or an electronic nicotine delivery system. An e-cigarette is an electronic inhaler which simulates and thus acts as a substitute for tobacco smoking. This equipment uses a heating element which vaporizes a liquid solution to release either a flavored vapor, or nicotine. These e-cigarettes are designed like cigarettes, to allow them to mimic conventional smoking implements such as cigars and cigarettes, in their appearance or use. IV. Products and Services JEC has simply sp ecialized in the making and selling of electric cigar, meaning that the products that JEC deals in, and seeks to distribute in the market is solely, the electric cigar. However, the provision of electric cigarette in the market is characterized by an attempt to diversify the brand by including e-cigars, electronic delivery systems and personal vaporizers, alongside the provision of electronic cigarettes. V. Marketing Plan JEC intends to increase its market share and curve itself a niche in the market by introducing and bringing unique merchandise into the market. The introduction and maintenance of e-cigars which have a touch of uniqueness is in turn to be realized through the reinvention of the design of Joe’s electric cigar/ cigarette. This involves remodeling the cartridge so that the sponge which holds the liquid in place is totally eradicated. In light of this, in place of the sponge holder, there is a tank which holds the fluid and connects the atomizer with another tun nel. Some of the ways through which the reinvention of JEC’s e-cigar model helps JEC strengthen its hold in the market are: the

The Stag Hunt Game Models Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Stag Hunt Game Models - Essay Example Mainly, games such as Battle of Sexes, Prisoners Dilemma, and so on have been investigated by researchers. However, there have been very few mentions and applications of the Stag Hunt game. The Star Hunt game was a story told briefly by Rousseau. In its sense, it represents a social contract prototype (Skyrms, 2004). According to Rousseau’s story, the Star Hunt Game raises many questions such as an individual’s share of a successful deer hunt and values of a hare, will the hunt be successful if all those participating in the deer hunt remained faithful, and is there a chance that two hunters would opt to chase the hare? (Skyrms, 2004). In this paper, we look at the choices provided by the Stag Hunt game where each player can either choose to act on their own, or, to collaborate with the other party. This being an example of the games in game theory, we will try to find out whether it would be possible, through game theory, to predict a unique result of which everybody w ould choose. Discussion Game theory represents a very good way of analyzing the type of interdependence and relationship between firms in an oligopoly market. This type of market contains various small numbers of large enterprises practicing competition. Normally, when one firm in this market setting undertakes an action, other firms may be prompted to counter. For instance, if one firm rebrands its packaging and lowers it price, a competing firm is also prompted to do the same (Amos Web LLC, 2012). If one of the firms in the market decides to advertise a given product and launches an advertising campaign, the other firms in the market also prompted to make plans of stepping up their advertising campaigns. Game theory tries to explain these kinds of moves, and the counter moves that firms in an oligopolistic market make in trying to outdo each other for financial and market share gains. John Nash, the person who came up with game theory, was a Nobel Prize winning mathematician and e conomist (Shafer & Pearl, 1990). In the application of game theory in the moves and counter moves of firms in an oligopolistic market, analysis of standard game theory is on the basis of the alternative outcomes which arise when offered the choices that every one of the two players in the game face. It is worthy to note that when a player makes a choice, it definitely affects the result that the other or both of the players get in the end (Colman, 1995). In a game theory, if a player decides to cooperate with another player, the results they get form the endeavor definitely favors both of them (Shafer & Pearl, 1990). The rewards of cooperation are good. Nonetheless, there are times when cooperation is part of the game yet the individual interests are not the same as those of the team or the cooperating unit, like in the case of a soccer match. People form a team to get a favorable result at the end of the game. However, an individual may agree to be part of the team to get the resul ts but at the same time aim for personal glory. These are some of the choices that game theory offers the players or the playing teams as in the case of a soccer match (Bacharach, 1987). Experts have suggested that, it might be in the best interests of the players, in a game like the stag hunt to agree to cooperate with each other and go for the stag; as it gives more rewards in the end. However, there are times when the players wish to have outcomes that favor each of them in their own right without the

Is hosting the olympics a good investment Essay

Is hosting the olympics a good investment - Essay Example The host city becomes the centre of world attention as hosting Olympics is a serious event and requires great responsibility. Not only this, it is a highly expensive event and the host city’s economy bears the entire burden. Hosting the Olympics is debatable and many analysts argue that it provides a great boost to the city’s economy. For example, it has been estimated that London has acquired a magnanimous economic boost with the total benefit reaching up to ?41 billion by 2020 (The Huffington Post, 2013). The city hosting the event gets a chance of promoting its tourism, promotes sports and as a result the economic conditions improve over the long-term basis. Although, being a part of the Olympics’ legacy is desired by many countries but with the benefits of hosting there are certain points which are debatable and questionable. Olympic events are considered to be beneficial to the host country but experts have highlighted that there are many drawbacks associate d with the hosting of these events which should be considered. Cities go to extreme lengths to earn the privilege of hosting the Games. One of the main reasons is that the host city wants to gain a sense of popularity amongst the masses. And most of the times, Olympic Games are hosted with internal agendas. For example, the London games were hosted with the intention of bringing back to life a relatively poor existence of the capital. The Beijing Games wanted to represent the China’s improving and flourishing organisational power and spending capacity. The Tokyo 2020 games intend to boost up Japan’s monotonous economic state. However, the cities have to realise that hosting Olympics is not the same as before. The London 1948 Olympics cost ?732,268 which is equivalent to ?20 million in today’s currency rate. The Beijing Games in current times have cost an approximate of $40 billion (T. W. 2013). Hence, it should be considered by the cities which are volunteering to host Olympics, quite enthusiastically, that the trends of Olympic business has changed now. It is considered that hosting Olympics will bring a turbo-charge to the city’s economy. However an in-depth analysis reveals that this is not entirely true. Researchers have not been able to find a positive correlation between the Games and economic improvement. The city’s developers and local construction companies might benefit because of the new improvements made in the infrastructure. Moreover, the cost usually turns out to be more than it was actually bid in the first place. London bid $4-6 billion and the Games turned out to cost three times more than that amount. Recent studies also revealed that every Olympic Games between the time periods of 1960 to 2012 turned out to be more costly than planned (Fenno, 2013). The estimate of $1.6 billion made by Athens was overrun by an actual price of $16 billion. Beijing spent $40 billion. Many cities are also left in debt rather than achieving an improvement in their economies (Fenno, 2013). Olympics Games are supported by the construction of many new infrastructures which become useless or lose their worth after the Games. Many venues which were constructed in Athens and Beijing for the purpose of Olympic adventures are now propped up without any public use or support. Various specialized venues have to be built such as for mountain biking, Slalom kayaking, beach volleyball and shooting ranges (Fenno, 2013). Twenty one out of the 33 stadiums, sport halls, arenas and

Role of the federal Goverment on the lives of the American Citizens Research Paper

Role of the federal Goverment on the lives of the American Citizens - Research Paper Example Era of Civil War or Reconstruction (1860-1877) The American Civil war occurred in USA during 1861-1865. Simultaneously, a period of Reconstruction began during the Civil War and lasted till 1877, which represented one of the most controversial periods in the history of the nation. During this time, the US Federal Government’s role expanded in safeguarding the rights of the US citizens and ensuring financial and racial justice to the cosmopolitan American society. During this time, the Federal Government formulated new legislation and enacted some amendments in the American constitution. These brought about a permanent change in the system of governance and altered the features of US citizenship. In an unprecedented move, the Federal Government took over the fundamental duty of enumerating and safeguarding the civil rights of the American citizens. In the Southern US States, the African-American men were accorded the right to cast their votes and assume a position of political authority. This was not allowed in the days prior to the Civil War. As a result, the African American community in Southern states along with the white population exercised their voting authority to bring the Republican Party to power. The Federal Government had also banned the slavery system in the country which generated a huge influence in the lives of the American citizens (Foner & Mahoney, 1997). The African-American people, most of whom had been slaves formerly liberated themselves from the control of the whites and established their independence in various spheres of life. The Progressive Period (1910s) The Progressive period during the 1910s, represents an important chapter in American history which heralded the entry of the American political system into a developed industrial society. The USA, as a country was experiencing a major change in its national and international priorities and the Progressives demanded that the Federal Government was required to play a more active role in this context. Both the US presidents at that time: Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson were influenced positively by the ideas of the Progressive strand of thought. They presented the office of the US President as the sole representative of the national interests of the American citizens. They criticized the role of the US Congress declaring that the legislative body only pursued materialistic interests. Therefore, the executive and the legislative branches of the US Government assumed a clear-cut division during this period. (Rae, 1998, p.7-9) The Era of New Deal (1932-1936) The significance of the US Federal Government again expanded during the period of the New Deal in the decade of the 1930s. The New Deal changed the traditional connection among the national government, the local state governments and the American private sector. During the period of the New Deal, the Federal Government assumed more responsibility in governing the economy. The American economy

Rhetorical Analysis (Ad Critique) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Rhetorical Analysis (Ad Critique) - Essay Example The advertisement may look silly and nonsensical. It showed how everybody was moved to dance including the characters in the video game and painting but this silliness made the audience immediately understand what the ad is all about – that it is an energy drink. The audience may not understand what is in the drink or what the ingredients are, but they know that whatever is in the energy can surely make one move. Of course the audience know that the advertisement is exaggerated. But they do not necessarily believe whatever was shown in the ad that even the animals, painting and video character dance. The ad may not be physically feasible but it appealed to the audience’s tickle bone that made the advertisement funny and memorable. In this advertisement, the pathos or emotional is taken to the extreme because other rhetorical device were discarded particularly the logos or logic. In an effort of the advertisement to make an impression to its audience through the use of pathos, it disregarded the consideration of logic. Such, the advertisement did not mind if it made any sense or not. It just wanted to sell its product after all and not to make sense. Mountain Dew knows that it is not reason that makes people buy but rather their emotion. So the approach of the advertisement is to make a point that the audience understands that the product that the advertisement is trying to sell will make them energetic. It was able to achieve this by showing that everybody in the ad danced after the main characters drank the energy drink. Never mind if it is impossible or silly to see a painting dance or a mounted deer or even a dog to dance. As long as the audience finds it cute and made them smile or laugh, then the ad had served its purpose of appealing to the emotion of the audience and most likely, they will buy the product when they see one. The Mountain Dew Kickstart

I Have a Dream Essay Example for Free

I Have a Dream Essay Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia on January 15th 1929. He was a pastor, activist and the prominent leader in the African American civil rights movement and is often presented as a heroic leader in the history of modern American liberalism. He is most famous for his speech called â€Å"I have a dream†. It is about not being segregated or discriminated against and to have equal rights between white and black people. It is now recognized as one of the greatest speeches in history. Martin Luther King used a number of rhetorical devices in his speech. The main rhetorical device used throughout the speech is repetition and parallelism. In each paragraph he repeats different sentences to emphasize what he is saying. He repeats phrases such as ‘one hundred years later’, ‘we can never be satisfied’, ‘I have a dream’ and ‘now is the time’ to make the listener remember the parts he wants to emphasize. It is effective because the people are anticipating it so then they can join in. Also later on in life people will look back at the speeches and remember it for certain phrases because of the repetition. Martin Luther King also uses inclusive pronouns in his speech, for example we, our and addressing the audience as brothers and sisters. ‘The sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.† He makes the audience feel as though it is there duty as well to overcome the discrimination and try and make all the southern states of America united and equal. He also makes the audience feel like it is their dream too and not just his. Martin Luther used different parts of the English language to enhance the meaning of his speech and bring out the details. The different rhetorical devices, allusions to historic documents, and metaphors seemed to have brought about the emotions that King was trying to arouse in his listeners. This helped him influence his listeners towards wanting equality for all and changing what was happening in the present so they didnt repeat things in the past.

Enron Scandal: Impact on Accounting

Enron Scandal: Impact on Accounting Accounting for Enron 1. Why is accounting being blamed for the losses sustained by investors as a result of the collapse of Enron? Is this criticism fair and do financial accounting and reporting practices need to be reformed? Accounting has been blamed for the losses sustained by Enron, as it allowed the company to hide details of its dealings from its investors, until the company’s financial situation was so bad that the firm was forced to go bankrupt almost overnight. Enron’s downfall has been characterised as â€Å"excessive interest by management in maintaining stock price or earnings trend through the use of unusually aggressive accounting practices.† (Healy, 2003) As part of this, Enron used â€Å"‘mark-to-market accounting’ for the energy trading business in the mid-1990s and used it on an unprecedented scale for its trading transactions.† (Thomas, 2002) Under mark-to-market accounting practices, companies with outstanding derivative contracts or purchases on their balance sheets when accounts are being prepared must adjust them to â€Å"fair market value† (Thomas, 2002) As a result, predicted long term gains or losses on these contract are applied to the company’s profits immediately, similar to depreciation, or asset write downs. The main difficulty encountered when doing this for long-term futures contracts in energy markets is that â€Å"there are often no quoted prices upon which to base valuations. Companies having these types of derivative instruments are free to develop and use discretionary valuation models based on their own assumptions and methods, as Enron did.† (Healy, 2003) Another accounting technique Enron used to hide significant debts was the use of special purpose entities (SPEs), which Enron took to â€Å"new heights of complexity and sophistication, capitalizing them with not only a variety of hard assets and liabilities, but also extremely complex derivative financial instruments, its own restricted stock, rights to acquire its stock and related liabilities.† (Thomas, 2002) Enron also used these SPEs to hide details of assets which were excessively declining in value, thus avoiding having losses from asset write down and depreciation charges on the company books. This practice was applied to â€Å"certain overseas energy facilities, the broadband operation or stock in companies that had been spun off to the public.† (Thomas, 2002) The accounting treatments around SPEs meant that the losses sustained on these asset write downs would not appear on Enron’s accounts. Enron promised share issues to the investors in the SPEs to co mpensate them for taking these assets on but, as the value of the assets fell even further, Enron found itself unable to meet these commitments from share issues. These creative accounting techniques began to be suspected by investors in October 2001, when Enron several new businesses failed to perform as well as expected. Enron was hoping these new businesses would cover its losses on the SPEs but, in October 2001 the company was forced to announce a major series of write-downs of its own assets, including â€Å"after tax charges of $2.87 million for Azurix, the water business acquired in 1998, $180 million for broadband investments and $544 million for other investments.† (Healy, 2003) These write downs amounted to twenty two percent of the capital spent by Enron on developing its business between 1998 and 2000. In addition, Enron sold Portland General Corp., the electric power plant it had acquired in 1997, for $1.9 billion, at a loss of $1.1 billion over the acquisition price. (Healy, 2003) The losses incurred as a result of this caused investors to question whether Enron’s strategy was feasible in the long tem, and in market s other than derivatives. In summary, whilst the accounting concepts and strategy underlying the gas derivatives trading was a reasonable attempt to produce value for investors, â€Å"extensions of this idea into other markets and international expansion were unsuccessful.† (Healy, 2003) However, whilst the mark to market and SPE accounting techniques used by the company helped hide this fact from investors, the stock markets as a whole were guilty of â€Å"largely ignored red flags associated with Enrons spectacular reported performance† (Thomas, 2002). This aided and, in the eyes of the management at Enron, vindicated the company’s expansion strategy by allowing Enron access to plenty of capital cheaply and easily. As such, accounting cannot be entirely blamed for the losses sustained by investors, as the investors themselves simply assumed that the value Enron appeared to be generating â€Å"would be sustained far into the future, despite little economic basis for such a projection.â €  (Thomas, 2002) As a result, whilst accounting made it easier for Enron to mislead its investors, the facts show that investors themselves were more concerned with Enron’s reported profits and growth, than analysing the roots causes and business model. 2. Does it matter what accounting policies are adopted by a company as long as they are adequately disclosed? A â€Å"very confusing footnote in Enrons 2000 financial statements† (Thomas, 2002) described the transactions in question one, however according to analysts, â€Å"most people would be hard pressed to understand the effects of these disclosures on the financial statements, casting doubt on both the quality of the companys earnings as well as the business purpose of the transaction.† (Thomas, 2002) By early 2001, several market analysts had begun to question the clarity and transparency of Enron’s disclosures. One analyst was quoted as saying, â€Å"The notes just dont make sense, and we read notes for a living.† (Thomas, 2002) Enron publicly denounced and abused these analysts however, because of these actions, investors began to view Enron’s accounting policies, and disclosures, with greater and greater scepticism. Indeed, despite the fact that Enron’s disclosures were adequate in the regulatory framework, they were still not in the spirit of managerial responsibility to shareholders. In another example of inadequate disclosure policies, Satava et al (2003) examined the celebrated Royal Mail Case and the implications of the case for the accounting practice today. Satava’s arguments claimed that the case was â€Å"not about the utilization of secret reserves, but about the non-disclosure of repayments by the Inland Revenue of over provisions for tax, and that defence counsel for the auditor succeeded because of the weak factual case presented by the prosecution.† (Satave et al, 2003) In summary, the duty of accountants to adequately disclose their accounting policies can often conflict with attempts by the same accountants to use these policies to benefit the company. As a result, these conflicts of interest often result in only materially adequate disclosures of substandard accounting policies. 3. To what extent did Enron use off balance-sheet financing in its operations? Were these transactions appropriately treated and adequately disclosed in the financial statements of the company? What consequences did the accounting treatment of these transactions have for Enron and its investors? The main way Enron used off balance sheet financing was in its extensive use of SPEs to give it ready access to finance without having to report any debts it incurred in its accounts. The company contributed assets, and debt secured against those assets, to an SPE in exchange for control of the SPE, and the SPEs then borrowed large amounts of capital which was used to finance Enron, without any debt or assets showing up in Enron’s accounts. Enron also sold assets to the SPEs at above market value, and thus reported profits on these sales. Enron used huge numbers of SPEs in this way, the most well known of which were LJM Cayman LP and LJM2 Co-Investment LP. â€Å"From 1999 through July 2001, these entities paid Enron managers more than $30 million in management fees, far more than their Enron salaries, supposedly with the approval of top management and Enrons board of directors.† (Healy, 2003) The SPEs in turn created yep more SPEs, known as the Raptor vehicles, which enabled Enron to invest heavily in a bankrupt broadband company, Rhythm NetConnections, during the dotcom boom. To finance this investment Enron made a share issue worth $1.2 billion. However, in order to complete this deal, Enron increased shareholders’ equity to reflect this transaction, which has been claimed to violate accounting standards and principles. Additionally, accounting rules actually meant that Enron should have included information from the LJM and Raptor SPEs in their accounts, rather than continue to use them as off balance sheet financing. (Healy, 2003) In addition to these minor violations, Enron revealed in October 2001 that several other SPEs had violated the accounting standard that required at least 3 percent of the entities to be owned by other investors, with no interest in the parent company. Again, by ignoring this requirement, Enron kept the financing it obtained from these entities off its balance sheet, enabling it to understate its liabilities and losses on this source of financing. However, on October 16, 2001, Enron announced that â€Å"restatements to its financial statements for years 1997 to 2000 to correct these violations would reduce earnings for the four-year period by $613 million (or 23 percent of reported profits dating the period), increase liabilities at the end of 2000 by $628 million (6 percent of reported liabilities and 5.5 percent of reported equity) and reduce equity at the end of 2000 by $1.2 billion (10 percent of reported equity).† (Thomas, 2002) In addition to the accounting failures, Enron only disclosed the minimum amount of details on its investments in the SPEs, and the amount of financing it had gained from them. The company claimed that it had hedged some of its investments using special purpose entities, but failed to inform investors that Enron shares were being used as part of this hedge. Moreover, Enron allowed several of its senior managers, including its chief financial officer Andrew Fastow, to become partners of the special purpose entities. Thus, these employees were able to make large amounts of profit, in both cash and shares, from the off balance sheet financing provided by companies they partly owned. (Thomas, 2002) This was a clear failure to fulfil their fiduciary responsibility to Enrons stockholders, and contributed to the extent of the company’s downfall. 4. Would similar treatment of off balance-sheet transactions be permissible in the UK? Tollington (2001) is one of the foremost academics claiming that financial accounts no longer provide a true and accurate representation of the value of a business, due to the widening between the values accounting policies place on assets, and the market values of said assets. His paper argues that â€Å"the definitional requirement for ‘transactions or events’ appears to restrict their recognition,† and therefore disclosure on balance sheets, which enables similar off balance sheet transactions in the UK. Equally, ‘white-collar crime’ has massively increased in recent years, with some estimates stating that over half a trillion pounds of criminal proceedings are laundered through the world’s financial markets each year. (Mitchell et al, 1998) The majority of this is moved in large quantities, and this cannot be done successfully without willing accountants, who can use creative accounting to hide any money laundering outside the scope of company accounts. However, new money laundering regulations mean that accountants, and related professionals, are now supposed to report any fraud or money laundering wherever they find it, and this applies as much to illegal activity the UK as to anywhere else. Whilst securitization, which incorporates the use of SPEs for off-balance-sheet financing, has been extensively reviewed in recent years, there are still concerns over the extent to which off balance sheet financing can be abused, both in the UK and abroad. The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the US Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) recently introduced new standards, and modified their existing standards, in order to more rigorously define the acceptable accounting treatments for securities. (Satava et al, 2003) Whilst some accountant and analysts are still hoping to move towards a single, global, set of accounting standards, this is likely to take several times. Other jurisdictions are also keen to create a globally accepted set of standards, and in the UK the Accounting Standards Board (ASB) is converging with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), commonly referred to as IAS, to minimise the extent to which off balance sheet financing can be practiced. Two other factors have combined with the restructuring of financial and other industries in a way that has placed additional stress on the corporate governance function, and off balance sheet transactions: greater complexity of business structures and greater emphasis on stock prices. In the last decade or so, business has experienced a surge of fluid organizational arrangements as well as a routinisation of complex transactions, with alliances, joint ventures, multifaceted sale arrangements and hybrid, structured finance arrangements becoming commonplace. (Monks and Minow, 2003) The net effect is the economic boundaries of the firm have become ambiguous and extremely fluid, a phenomenon reflected in the wonderfully euphemistic phrase â€Å"off balance-sheet financing,† where the firm structures transactions and relationships to avoid their explicit recognition in traditional accounting displays. A typical example is a firm that holds a portfolio of mortgages. It places the po rtfolio in a free-standing legal entity with distinctly limited scope, a Special Purpose Entity, but continues the transaction processing and possibly provides credit enhancements. In different variations, inventory, research and development or even rights to future revenue cash flows are parked in Special Purpose Entities (Griffiths, 1995). Reporting regulations allow the Special Purpose Entity to be kept off of the firms formal financial statements; as long as it is disclosed, provided substantive risk has been shifted to an independent third party. (Nelson, 2003) General Electric, an aggressive purveyor of these arrangements, for example, reports sponsored Special Purpose Entities with assets in excess of $50 billion in its 2001 financial report. The â€Å"independent third party† must have (among other things) a minimum of 3 percent ownership of the Special Purpose Entity’s equity and debt, although the Financial Accounting Standards Board in the US has recently tightened these requirements to resemble that of the UK. (Demski, 2003) However, Special Purpose Entities are only one aspect of this wave of organizational and financial innovation. This greater degree of complexity has interacted with a corporate governance environment that has been placing heightened emphasis on shareholder value (Nelson, 2003), including an explosion in the use of option-based compensation. A substantial portion of the greater complexity appears to be motivated by a concern for financial presentation, for example, â€Å"beautifying† ones balance sheet In some cases, the effect may be as simple as a matter of timing: for instance, the timing of selected expenditures and shipments can affect current period financial results, just as can the time at which a sale is formally booked or a loan is consummated. With the assistance of hybrid financial and organizational transactions, a lease can be structured so it does, or does not, show up on the lessees balance sheet, thereby affecting the total debt that a firm reports, through other methods than off-balance sheet financing. However, fundamentally, Enron, used Special Purpose Entities to di sguise significant amounts of debt as commodity prepay transactions. Through a series of circular or round-trip prepaid transactions, this Special Purpose Entity was the centerpiece in â€Å"allowing† Enron to borrow money but to record the amount borrowed as cash generated by operations, because prepaid commodity contracts are generally booked as trades, not loans, a distinction which would have been clearer in the UK (Deminski, 2003). 5. Are principle based types of accounting standard like FRS 5 more effective in dealing with accounting abuses than the more rule based standards of the US? Although the foundation of financial accounting and auditing has traditionally been based upon a rule based framework, the concept of a principle based approach has been periodically advocated since being incorporated into the AICPA Code of Conduct in 1989. Enron and similar events indicated that the accountants and auditors involved have followed rule based ethical perspectives, however these rule based standards have failed to protect investors from accounting abuses. Satava et al (2003) thus described how â€Å"rule based traditions of auditing became a convenient vehicle that perpetuated the unethical conduct of firms such as Enron and Arthur Andersen.† They presented a model of ten ethical perspectives and briefly described how these ten ethical perspectives impact rule based and principle based ethical conduct for accountants and auditors, concluding by identifying six specific suggestions that the accounting and auditing profession should consider to restore public trus t and to improve the ethical conduct of accountants and auditors. Their conclusions showed that principle based standards were less open to abuses that rule based standards, provided the principles were well defined. Indeed, the publication of a recent amendment to Financial Reporting Standards (FRS) 5 by Great Britains Accounting Standards Board, sought to clarify how to account for SPEs and similar entities, with emphasis on how the principles of the FRS 5 will apply to transactions conducted with these entities. Accountancy (2004) claimed that by publishing an amendment to FRS 5, the United Kingdom Accounting Standards Board was attempting to stop the flow of off balance sheet accounting, despite concerns expressed surrounding the amended FRS 5. The article provided information on an amendment to FRS 5, â€Å"Reporting the Substance of Transactions†, namely the addition of â€Å"Application Note G, Revenue Recognition†. The note has been prepared in response to the need for clarity in respect to questions that arise concerning the treatment of revenue and, in particular, the treatment of turnover. The amendment was published as an Exposure Draft in February 2003 for public comment and, in finalizing the document; the Accounting Standards Board took into consideration the comments received in response to the draft and has consulted interested parties. In FRS 5, in the list of contents immediately preceding the summary, the list of Application Notes is extended by adding at the end, G Revenue Recognition and sets out basic principles of transaction and revenue recognition which should be applied in all cases This thus has increased the extent to which the principle based accountancy legislation in the UK can control the extent of off balance sheet transactions, and correspondingly increased the necessary amount of disclosure. (Accountancy, 2004) However, it has been argued by some theorists that the reform efforts may have been unwise (Culp and Nickanen, 2003), due to a need to recognise that accounting is retrospective, and Enron’s problems were evident to investors if they used more forward looking information. The share price was declining long before the disclosures, quick surveys of four issues: the state of wholesale electric markets before and after Enron, the state of regulation of wholesale electric markets before and after Enron, online trading before and after Enron, and whether swaps need regulation, shows that accounting abuses must still have an underlying business reason. It has also been argued that Enrons use of special entities for off-balance-sheet financing is a perversion of a useful, and often appropriate, accounting technique and such perversions can equally be applied to other techniques under principle-based standards. Equally, it has been recognised that the latitude inherent in principles, or concepts, based standards can be a double-edged sword. â€Å"Such latitude allows managers to choose accounting treatments that reflect their informed understanding of the underlying economics of transactions.† (Nelson, 2003) This latitude, however, also permits managers to â€Å"advocate reporting treatments that do not reflect the underlying economics of a transaction.† (Maines et al, 2003) Both managers and accountants must have strong ethical principles in order for their accounting under principle based standards to reflect the true value of their business, especially in difficult times Both the SEC and the Auditing Standards Board in America support this view with their focus on the quality, as opposed to simply the acceptability, of financial reporting, as well as placing strong emphasis on â€Å"the need for expert judgment and unbiased reporting† (Maines et al, 2003) Concepts-based standards have the potential to promote the financial reporting goals of the regulatory bodies in ways that rules-based standards cannot. However, in order for this to happen, individuals must possess a conceptual framework for financial information in order to use this information appropriately in decision making. Principle-based standards reflect a more consistent application of conceptual framework, and thus enhance individuals’ understanding of the frameworks. Thus, a concepts based approach is consistent with the FASBs stated goal to â€Å"improve the common understanding of the nature and purposes of information contained in financial reports.† (Maines et al, 2003) Also, principle-based standards are consistent with the stated goal of the FASB to promote convergence of accounting standards worldwide. The European Commission has recently proposed that the U.S. abandon GAAP in favour of the more flexible IAS, which emphasizes ‘substance over form’ in auditors inspection of the accounts. (Ampofo and Sellani, 2005) As a result, a concepts-based approach likely will lead to greater agreement in standard setting between the FASB and IASB and thus will also promote international harmonization. (Maines et al, 2003) 6. What has been the overall impact on corporate reporting of Enron and other recent financial scandals? The events surrounding the demise of Enron have led to corporate reporting procedures being called into question all over the world. It resulted in critics questioning how adequate the disclosure legislation was at the time, and also to query how a major accounting firm could conduct independent audits of a firm they were engaged in major consulting work for, when the audit fees were tiny in comparison to the consulting fees. The â€Å"scandal threatened to undermine confidence in financial markets in the United States and abroad; and the accounting profession and regulatory bodies were forced to act.† (Swartz, 2005) In a characteristic move, the SEC and the public accounting profession were among the first to respond to the Enron crisis. In a piece for the Wall Street Journal, the SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt called the outdated reporting and financial disclosure system the financial â€Å"perfect storm.† (Thomas, 2002) He stated that â€Å"under the quarterly and annual reporting system in place at the time, information was often stale on arrival and mandated financial disclosures were often, ‘arcane and impenetrable’† (Thomas, 2002) In order to reassure investors and restore confidence in financial reporting, Pitt called for â€Å"a joint response from the public and private sectors to strengthen regulations and prevent a recurrence of these events.† (Thomas, 2002) As a result, since the Enron debacle, the global corporate reporting regulators were quick to move to stem the rising tide of public interest against their profession, displaying the banner â€Å"Enron: The AICPA, the Profession, and the Public Interest† on its Web site. (Shwarz, 2005) It announced the imminent issuance of an exposure draft on a new audit standard on fraud, the third in five years up to 2002, providing more specific guidance on corporate reporting standards than was found at the time in SAS no. 82, ‘Consideration of Fraud in a Financial Statement Audit.’ The Institute also promised a â€Å"revised standard on reviews of quarterly financial statements,† (Thomas, 2002) as well as the issuance, in the second quarter of 2002, of an exposure draft of a standard to improve the audit, transaction reporting and disclosure process. The major piece of legislation to come out of the Enron scandal was the Sarbanes Oxley (SOX) report, which was passed by the U.S. Congress in 2002 in response to the demise of Enron and the WorldCom scandal. SOX requires firms to vouch for accounting controls and disclose weaknesses to shareholders, and almost all concerned parties have agreed that the SOX was a necessary and useful piece of legislation, that helped restore faith in U.S. companies and their financial statements. (Swartz, 2005) However, whilst no one disputes the benefits, business leaders have often complained that â€Å"the costs associated with Section 404 compliance are much higher than expected, and are an undue burden on most companies.† (Swartz, 2005) Many major companies, and some analysts, have criticised the large increases in auditing expenses, as these expenses create no direct value for businesses, and act to remove money from the economy which would otherwise be invested. Business lobbyists have a lso begun lobbying government bodies in the major financial centres, claiming that SOX slows business expansion and the growth in the number of available jobs (Swartz, 2005) The level of complaints from companies about the increased costs associated with the new corporate reporting standards prompted U. S. auditing regulators, in May 2005, to move to ease the auditing expenses companies were forced to engage in, however regulators also said that the law has greatly benefited investors and there is no need for the U.S. Congress to change it at this time. (Swartz, 2005) Despite the obvious benefits that the increased level of reporting and disclosure provides to investors, many companies have complained that the compliance costs are too high, and that auditors force them to go through expensive corporate reporting procedures that accomplished little than to line the auditor’s pockets. References: Accountancy (2004) November 2003 Amendment to FRS 5 ‘Reporting the substance of transactions’: Revenue recognition. Vol. 133, Issue 1325, p. 128. Ampofo, A. and Sellani, R. (2005) Examining the differences between United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (U.S. GAAP) and International Accounting Standards (IAS): implications for the harmonization of accounting standards. Accounting Forum (Elsevier); Vol. 29, Issue 2, p. 219. Culp, C.L and Nickanen, W.A. (2003) Corporate aftershock: the public policy lessons from the collapse of Enron. Demski, J. S (2003) Corporate Conflicts of Interest. Journal of Economic Perspectives; Vol. 17, Issue 2, p. 51. Griffiths, I. (1995) New Creative Accounting. London: MacMillian. Healy, P. M. and Palepu, K. G. (2003) The Fall of Enron. Journal of Economic Perspectives; Vol. 17, Issue 2, p. 3. Maines, C. L. A. Bartov, E. Fairfield, P. Hirst, D. E. Iannaconi, T. E. Mallett, R. Schrand, C. M. Skinner, D. J. and Vincent, L. (2003) Evaluating Concepts-Based vs. Rules-Based Approaches to Standard Setting. Accounting Horizons; Vol.17, Issue. 1, p73. Mitchell, A. Sikka, P. and Willimott, H. (1998) Sweeping it under the carpet: the role of Accountancy Firms in Money Laundering. Accounting, Organizations Society; Vol. 23, Issue 5/6, p. 589. Monks, R. A. G. and Minow, N (2003) Corporate Governance: 4th edition Oxford: Blackwell. Nelson, M. W. (2003) Behavioural Evidence on the Effects of Principles- and Rules-Based Standards. Accounting Horizons; Vol.17, Issue 1, p91. Satava, D. Caldwell, C. and Richards, L. (2003) Ethics and the Auditing Culture: Rethinking the Foundation of Accounting and Auditing. Journal of Business Ethics; Vol. 64, Issue 3, p. 271. Swartz, N. (2005) Executives Praise SOX but Seek Changes. Information Management Journal; Vol. 39, Issue 4, p. 22. Thomas, C. W. (2002) The Rise and Fall of Enron. Journal of Accountancy; Vol. 193, Issue 4, p. 41. Tollington, T. (2001) UK Brand Asset Recognition Beyond â€Å"Transactions or Events†. Long Range Planning; Vol. 34, Issue 4, p. 463.

Fredrick Douglas Essay -- Biography Biographies Slavery Slaves Essays

Fredrick Dougalas Is it possible for one of our times, living in the free United States, to be bonded in the institution of slavery? One hundred and fifty years have past now since slavery was abolished. The institution of slavery kept the deprivation of women legal and the learning of the mind illegal. Among the slaves, there could be no men, or else that slave would not be a slave. Frederick Douglas existed among slavery only to later on escape and gain his freedom from those who oppressed and enslaved him. The masters of slaves were determined to keep their slaves ignorant so that they would not even think of freedom or the joys it. Slaveholders tried to keep their slaves happy, but yet under their control. Douglas would not stand for this. It was his intelligence, bravery, and determination that made Frederick Douglas a man and not a slave. Frederick Douglas was born and raised a slave. He had no other life in his youth. The harsh conditions of the institution forced Frederick to crawl into a bag at night and sleep on the cold ground with his head in the bag and his feet outside of it. This form of sleeping led his feet to be cracked with frost so badly that one could stick a pen into the gashes. Douglas and the other slaves were not fed a regular allowance of food. Him and the other children were called and eat coarse corn meal from a large wooden tray that was put on the ground. The children would be forced to eat like pigs gathered around left over mush. At the age of seven or eight years old, Frederick left Colonel Lloyd’s (a prominent slaveholder) plantation to live in Baltimore, Maryland with Mr. Hugh Auld. Mr. Auld was a man who had never bonded a slave and knew very little of the keepings of them. Neither did his wife, who (without the knowledge of its repercussions) taught Frederick how to read. After Mr. Auld forbade his wife to teach Douglas, Frederick decided he would learn anyway. He tried to read newspapers and was forbidden. Whenever Frederick was left alone, he would attempt to read only to have Mr. Auld come and snatch away whatever reading material he had. The little that Frederick was taught was enough for him to go into the streets and receive his lessons from the boys whom he was acquainted with. Though Mrs. Auld refused to teach him, Douglas was determined to learn and he did. Determination was the firs... ...me that turning point in his career as a slave. It revived his sense of manhood. Douglas was determined to live a free life. He tried to escape from bondage not once, but twice. After betrayal the first time, Douglas was sent to the city once again to live with the Auld family. Douglas picked up a trade and worked to gain wages. He devised a plan where he would contract his time and would pay Mr. Auld six dollars a week to allow him to do this. He would allow Mr. Auld to trust that he would not run away. He did this by working hard and giving Mr. Auld all of his wages. He would make Mr. Auld very happy and content with this agreement. At the height of this, Douglas escaped bondage. He was able to outwit his master and escape from the hells of slavery. Among the slaves, there were few who one could point out to be men for they lacked the intelligence, determination and bravery. Douglas was able to open his eyes and see that this life was not right. He viewed slavery as the greatest evil of his time. His successful escape proved him to be the man that a slaveholder could never keep. Bibliography: Narrative of the life of Fredrick Dougalass, Fredrick Dougalass

Stem Cell Research Under Fire Essay -- essays papers

Stem Cell Research Under Fire Stem cell research should be continued so that it will one day lead to cures for the world's worst diseases, such as Alzhiemers, heart disease, Parkinsons, and diabetes. The stem cells are taken from a human embryo and placed in a petri dish, where scientists can manipulate them to produce whatever cells are needed (Blumenstyk, 2004). Stem cells can be used to regenerate bones, organs, tissues, and can even aid in treating such diseases as listed above. Many universities, such as Vanderbilt and Case Western, are participating in the research for two main reasons. One, to help contribute to the research to manufacture drugs to help the sickly, and two, to share in the profits of the quickly growing industry. Eventually, scientists will have figured out how to use stem cells from another donor, and not just of the diseased or injured person, to regenerate cells and/or muscle tissues. As an embryo is in its development stage inside of the womb, there are different chemicals that ar e exposed to the stem cells, which in turn â€Å"tell† the stem cells what type of neuron to be. Stem cells are the body’s master cells. They can renew themselves indefinitely and can even turn into any number of different types of cells needed in the body such as muscles, nerves, bones or even blood. Stem cells can be â€Å"molded† into what type of cell our bodies need. This makes them essential to repairing and renewing bodily tissues throughout our lives. Our body retains stem cells that are formed at conception, and store them in various parts of the body so as to have a reserve that can be accessed at any point in time later on in life (World Almanac & Book of Facts, Science News of 2003, p670 ... ...opic† until something else remotely controversial comes alone for people to be up and arms about. No matter what, you cannot please everyone all the time, and with as many billions of people in this world, someone is bound to do something that someone else does not like. Stem cell research is and will be for a long time a big breakthrough in the field of bio-Medicine. Whether funding come from the state itself, the federal government, or even the private sector, these promising ideas should not be stopped. For chance of sounding ignorant, you cannot make an omelette withou breaking a few eggs. Many lives could be saved if this research found a way to cure and treat some diseases. If this research is stopped at its relatively early age now, then we may never know what might be. If we do not at least try, then we are not bettering our race for future generations.

The Nature of Love Explored in A Midsummer Nights Dream Essay

â€Å"The course of true love never did run smooth,† comments Lysander of love’s complications in an exchange with Hermia (Shakespeare I.i.136). Although the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream certainly deals with the difficulty of romance, it is not considered a true love story like Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare, as he unfolds the story, intentionally distances the audience from the emotions of the characters so he can caricature the anguish and burdens endured by the lovers. Through his masterful use of figurative language, Shakespeare examines the theme of the capricious and irrational nature of love. As the play opens, Theseus, Duke of Athens, and Hippolyta, his fiancà ©e discuss their upcoming wedding. With the introduction of Theseus and Hippolyta, Shakespeare presents the backdrop for the multi-faceted love relationships which take place in the play. In an effort to celebrate the occasion with â€Å"pomp, triumph and reveling†, (Shakespeare I.i.20) Theseus instructs Philostrate, Master of the Revels, to â€Å"stir up the Athenian youth to merriments† (Shakespeare I.i.13) as well as to provide entertaining distractions for him and Hippolyta until their wedding. These simple, innocent instructions for merriment and entertainment set the stage for Shakespeare to intricately weave the young lovers, the fairies and the rustics into the story. Introducing the main conflict, Egeus, an Athenian citizen seeking the wise counsel of Theseus, arrives. Egeus’ complaint is against his daughter, who refuses to wed Demetrius, the suitor he has chosen. Although Demetrius loves Hermia, she has given her heart to Lysander and therefore refuses to obey her father and Athenian law. Interestingly, Demetrius not too long ago professed his love for Helena,... ...ss of love. The audience must wonder if Demetrius will have another change of heart or if he has truly matured. Thomas Marc Parrott asserts of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, â€Å"It is his use of language, as in so much else in this play, that Shakespeare shows himself the master† (Kehler 22). Through Shakespeare’s intricate weaving of figurative language throughout the play, he leads the audience on an imaginative, melodramatic, and enchanting parody of exploration into the complexities of love. As Parrott contends, Shakespeare’s true expertise lies in his artful handling of the complexities and subtleties of both the written and spoken word. Work Cited Shakespeare, William. â€Å"A Midsummer Night’s Dream.† The Norton Shakespeare: Based on the Oxford Edition, 2nd ed. Eds. Greenblatt, Stephen et al. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc, 2009. Print.

A Farewell to Arms Summary and Critical Analysis Essay

Ernest Hemingway was born on July 21, 1899, in suburban Oak Park, IL, to Dr. Clarence and Grace Hemingway. Ernest was the second of six children to be raised in the quiet suburban town. His father was a physician, and both parents were devout Christians. Hemingway had an aptitude for physical challenge that engaged him through high school, where he both played football and boxed. Because of permanent eye damage contracted from numerous boxing matches, Hemingway was repeatedly rejected from service in World War I. Hemingway also edited his high school newspaper and reported for the Kansas City Star, adding a year to his age after graduating from high school in 1917. After this short stint, Hemingway finally was able to participate in World War I as an ambulance driver for the American Red Cross. He was wounded on July 8, 1918, on the Italian front near Fossalta di Piave. During his convalescence in Milan, he had an affair with a nurse, Agnes von Kurowsky. Hemingway received two decorations from the Italian government, and he joined the Italian infantry. Clarence Hemingway had been suffering from hypertension and diabetes. This painful experience is reflected in the pondering of Robert Jordan in For Whom the Bell Tolls. In addition to personal experiences with war and death, Hemingway’s extensive travel in pursuit of hunting and other sports provided a great deal of material for his novels. Bullfighting inspired Death in the Afternoon, published in 1932. In 1934, Hemingway went on safari in Africa, which gave him new themes and scenes on which to base The Snows of Kilamanjaro and The Green Hills of Africa, published in 1935. In 1950 he published Across the River and Into the Trees, though it was not received with the usual critical acclaim. In 1952, however, Hemingway proved the comment â€Å"Papa is finished† wrong, in that The Old Man and the Sea won the Pulitzer Prize in 1953. In 1954, he won the Nobel Prize for Literature. On July 2, 1961, he died of self-inflicted gunshot wounds. He was buried in Ketchum. â€Å"Papa† was both a legendary celebrity and a sensitive writer, and his influence, as well as some unseen writings, survived his passing. In 1964, A Moveable Feast was published; in 1969, The Fifth Column and Four Stories of the Spanish Civil War; in 1970, Islands in the Stream; in 1972, The Nick Adams Stories; in 1985, The Dangerous Summer; and in 1986, The Garden of Eden. Hemingway’s own life and character are as fascinating as in any of his stories. On one level, Papa was a legendary adventurer who enjoyed his flamboyant lifestyle and celebrity status. However, deep inside lived a disciplined author who worked tirelessly in pursuit of literary perfection. Being married before or after doesn’t effect the child physically or delays its birth. Marriage in this sense is the outward form of their love. Marriage in the physical sense before or after the fact means nothing as with Catherine’s early comment of â€Å"I couldn’t be any more married. † Henry and Catherine surely learned that they were in love no matter married or not. Having a ring on the finger doesn’t make the love any stronger it just a psychical representation of their love. Henry ignores the temptations of the outward forms of religion, love, and symbols as he achieves becoming authentic. The conclusion of â€Å"A Farewell To Arms† with all its death is marked by a rebirth. Henry looses his child and his lover. He finally achieves the status of being authentic in the final scene â€Å"It was like saying good-by to a statue. After a while I went out and left the hospital and walked back to the hotel in the rain. † Henry prior to Catherine death was seeking hope. During Catherine’s final hour Henry prayed to God once more only to go unanswered:Please, please, please, dear God, don’t let her die. Dear God, don’t let her die. Please, please, please, don’t let her die. God please don’t make her die. I’ll do anything you say if you don’t let her die. You took the baby but don’t let her die. That was all right but don’t let her die. Please, please, dear God, don’t let her die. He now knows all the things around him are false. Henry now knows the true forms of religion,patriotism, and love are empty forms of hope. He know knows that any hope must only comefrom within. Henry is now an authentic in that â€Å"He walks quietly back to the hotel in the rain. † andknows that only he can shape his destiny.

Hurricane Sandy: What Went Wrong Essay

Hurricane Sandy introduced herself to the United States in October of 2012. The super storm began its course in the Southeast, and moved all the way up to the Mid-Atlantic. The aftermath of this storm caused massive amounts of devastation to homes, businesses and shore areas. It left families grieving for those who were lost, and left a nation feeling sorry for those that were now homeless. The preceding actions that took place after the storm are what might be remembered most about this devastating storm. Epic Failure The post storm relief effort of Hurricane Sandy or lack of it is what is making news today. The lack of both a tactical and strategic plan from important leaders of our country has left victims of the storm still struggling to pick up the pieces nearly three months affect the storm. With strategic planning, â€Å"issue x is staring us in the face and we need some way to help us think about its resolution, or else we will be badly hurt.† (Bryson, 2011) But months after the storm it seems that our leaders are still thinking and not reacting. In parts of Long Island, many are still without power. New York councilmen, Mark Cuthbertson was quoted saying, â€Å"This was among other things an epic failure of communication.† (Cuthbertson, 2012) A failure of communication all comes back to a lack of planning. Everyone knew this storm was coming and the possible effects it could have so there really shouldn’t have been an excuse for a lack of communication. A benefit concert held at the famous Madison Square Garden was held to give relief to those affect by the storm. The concert producers announced the benefit performance â€Å"raised about $50 million for people affected by Hurricane Sandy.† (Mckinley, 2012) To this day however, no one really knows where that money has gone. Perhaps there giving little by little to victims but not a significant amount to start the rebuilding process. Everyone has begun to assume where the money has gone. This money was raised to help the victims out immediately, but no one has seen anything yet. Organizations like FEMA have also made mistakes after hurricane Sandy. While FEMA did give some emergency checks to some victims, the process to get any money from the organization was faulty. Many of the victims lost a lot of property if not everything. FEMA seemed to be giving a lot of the victims the run around. They were asking for documentation that many lost in the storm, which allowed FEMA to slow down the process of giving this relief money. Instead, Joel Rose of the National Public Radio reported, â€Å"FEMA is encouraging victims to apply for a low-interest loan from the small business administration.† (Rose, 2012) Many victims choose not to do this, because they were out of work and would have to pay back the loan. Relief efforts were also interrupted by politics. President Obama passed a bill giving 50 billion dollars in relief money. Many Republicans voted against this bill because they felt it puts the country into more debt. Republicans argued, â€Å"it’s spending that’s traditionally been untouchable, but it’s still spending.† (Keith 2013) They agreed to vote for the bill as long as the bill was offset by cuts elsewhere. Conclusion/ Summary The hesitation of the United States leaders in regards to planning are the key to what went wrong after Hurricane Sandy. The inability to show us where relief money is going has caused uproar. The faulty application process of FEMA has caused more headaches then relief. If money was raised it should be spent and spent on relief immediately. A plan should have been outlined and shown to the victims with a timeline of when, how and where the relief effort and rebuilding will occur. Hesitation only gives doubt to Americans, and that seems to be what is happening. References Bryson, John. M. Strategic Planning For Public and Nonprofit Organizations (4th ed.). Jossey-Bass, 2011 Cuthbertson, Mark. N.P.R. Group Probes Delayed Power Restoration Post Sandy, December, 2012, http://www.npr.org/2012/12/12/167029241/commission-probes-n-y-power-loss-after-hurricane-sandy Keith, Tamara. N.P.R. House Takes Up Sandy Relief Bill After It Was Dropped By Previous Congress, January, 2013, http://www.npr.org/2013/01/15/169452224/house-takes-up-sandy-relief-bill-after-it-was-dropped-by-previous-congress Mckinley, James. The New York Times. 12-12-12 Producers Say Concert Brought In $50 Million, December, 2012, http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/19/12-12-12-producers-say-concert-brought-in-50-million/ Rose, Joel. N.P.R. Some Sandy Victims Tied Up With Bureaucracy, November, 2012, http://www.npr.org/2012/11/15/165233716/some-sandy-victims-tied-up-with-bureaucracy

Discuss Emma from Jane Austen s’ ‘Emma’ Essay

Emma is a well know novel written by Jane Austen, it’s based on the woman`s status at that time period and on the concept of the Augustan era. Jane Austen wrote Emma in the time period of when she grew up, It Took Jane Austen 15 Months to Write Emma. This Novel helps us understand the status of a woman at that time when women weren’t allowed to vote, wasn`t entitled to substandard education and were limited to housework. Jane Austen is trying to explain to us that in those days women had two choices to get married or to become a governess, and by understanding the way society was at the time, it will help us appreciate Emma. Jane Austen only wrote 6 novels and 5 of them are based on young women whose chances of marriage were very dependent on their status in society. However, Emma was different; she was her own woman who didn’t see the need in having to marry. The Character of Emma â€Å"with an alacrity beyond the common impulse of a spirit†¦ with the real good-will of a mind delighted with its own ideas† (Chapter 3, Page 15) was different from other women at that time, Jane Fairfax & Harriet Smith Play a big part in The noel, they are used manipulatively as clever devices to show that Emma`s ideas were not only based on reality but her own ideas that she decided herself. Jane Austen makes it clear to us from beginning of the novel that Emma is not a character that compiles with the flaws of her century. Emma is Strong-witted and can be very arrogant towards other people, she is also patronizing and presumptuous. She isn’t a typical woman of her status at her time as women`s lives were very quite controlled and restricted at the time of Jane Austen. The Novel Emma gives us the insight on Jane Austen`s Feelings and point of view on women living in that era. It Changes Emma from being a typical young woman of her time to her own woman who makes her own decisions and isn’t worried about the consequences. Although these flaws make Emma unique and independent and can be praised, they can also be criticized â€Å"Was one of the few people who could see faults in Emma Woodhouse, and the only one who ever told her of them, and tough this was not particularly agreeable to Emma† (Page 5) Emma seems very strong-witted, confident and proud of herself and doesn’t like to be criticized unlike most of the other woman of her time. Out of all Jane Austen’s Heroines, Emma is the most flawed and frustrating but in the end is the most endearing. As a character Emma matures towards the end and realises the folly and misguidance of her actions towards other people. At the beginning of the novel Emma Likes To Think Of Herself as independent and doesn’t want to marry this could be because she`s comfortable with her status in society. We are made to think that Emma is a selfish young woman who is proud of herself and feels no need to marry. Later on in the novel we begin to realize that Emma`s match-making and interfering is causing no good and Emma Realizes this too. She then comes to realize her feelings for Mr. Knightly and starts to see the possibility that she needs to marry. There`s a lot of irony in Emma`s beliefs as she is the centre of everyone`s attention and interferes in other peoples relationships so much that she doesn’t realize her feelings for Mr. Knightly. Mr. Knightly is the only person in the whole novel that criticizes Emma other characters don’t really talk much about Emma except chapter 5 were Mr. Knightly and Mrs. Weston Discuss Emma. Emma thinks of herself completely different what others think of her, this also makes the novel more ironic. Emma thinks so highly of herself she doesn’t take any notice of what others might think this is a very cleaver device that Jane Austen uses. Emma and Harriet become friends so Emma tries to fins Harriet a husband that she thinks will be suitable. Emma doesn’t take any notice that Harriet if from a different class to her and looks for a husband for Harriet of her own class. Emma also carelessly starts a rumour about Jane Fairfax whilst flirting with Frank Churchill. However, Emma doesn’t do this on purpose and towards the end of the play Jane Austen shows us that Emma learns from her mistakes. Emma has many weaknesses and one of them just as Mr. Knightly had predicted â€Å"She will never submit to anything requiring industry and patience and a subjection of the fancy to the understanding† (Volume 1, Chapter 5). Emma is the cleverest in her family and is idolized by a lot of Highbury, this may be why she is so confident and convinced that she`s always right. Emma always seems to see the need to reshape things to suit herself this shows that Emma`s imagination has too much impact on her actions. Jane Austen makes it clear to us that Emma has a lot of imagination and this causes a lot of problems. Mr. Knightly states that imagination is nonsense; this is ironic as it opposes â€Å"sense† against â€Å"imagination† Jane Austen lets poetic justice take place in the novel towards the disclosure at the end, as this shows the procedure Emma needs to go through and the developments that need to be made in order to get the ‘perfect ending’. There were quite a few times in the novel when Jane Austen made Emma go through emotional and frustrating situations, which had been caused by herself, in these situations Emma, had to look back on her actions and be remorseful. Jane Austen shows us that the greatest threat to achieving happiness is ourselves. Towards the ending of the novel, there are quite a few examples when Emma has to me sorry for her actions. Mr. Knightly rebukes Emma for her bad-mannered conduct towards Miss Bates and Box Hill, He says, â€Å"I will tell you truths while I can†, she was â€Å"vexed beyond what could have been expressed,† and then she weeps. â€Å"Emma felt the tears running down her cheeks almost all the way home, without being at any trouble to check them, extraordinary as they were† (Page 376)Because Emma is crying this shows that she is starting to realize her mistakes and that she is feeling pain. It is only when something bad happens when Emma reacts to her bad actions, and when she realizes that she may lose Mr. Knightly she changes â€Å"†¦My blindness to what was going on, led me to act in a way that I must always be ashamed of, and I was very foolishly tempted to say and do many things which may well lay me open to unpleasant conjectures†. This shows that Emma feels embarrassed and humiliated and realizes her faults and mistakes and tries to fix them. We begin to see that Emma is slowly changing from being strong-witted, proud of herself, patronizing and confident to a more compassionate and honest character. Jane Austen has Emma go on an emotional rollercoaster towards the ending to create the ‘perfect happiness’ through poetic justice. In the end Emma is rewarded with the ‘perfect happiness’ and not the punishment she is afraid to get. We admire Emma as a character because of her flaws at the beginning and how they were changing throughout the novel, towards the end of the play she realizes her faults and mistakes and tries to fix them and changes her ways. Towards the ending we begin to see the more compassionate and honest side of Emma that wants to help people rather than the patronizing and self absorbed Emma she was in the beginning. This helps us appreciate Emma and lets us see that she has learnt from her mistakes and that she is maturing. Emma isn’t a typical woman of her time and tha`s why we love her because of her imperfections and her mistakes and the way she is able to turn things around to get her ‘perfect happiness’ that she has being searching for.

Lab 3 Determinates of Water Hardness

Determination of Water Hardness Using a Titrator Heather Crall Chemistry 1 SMT- 271044 10/17/2012 Abstract From seeing all of my results and conclusion I now see that I didn’t understand this lab very well and that its not easy when others try to help. Since I have hard water it tells me that my water flows over and through rocks and minerals, like limestone. Purpose The purpose of this lab is to become familiar with the concept of water hardness. We learn that hard water contains high levels of dissolved minerals that are in the form of metallic ions.Most of Ohio which is the state I live in either has moderately hard water or hard water. For as my town the city is moderate and the country is hard. Procedure 1) Put safety things on 2) Place the stopcock in the closed position on the end of the titrator and fill with 10 mL of EDTA solution. 3) Put a crumpled up paper towel under the titrator and allow a few drops of the solution to fall into the towel. This way it fills the ti p of the titrator then close and throw the towel away. Then place the 100 mL beaker under the setup. 4) Use the graduated cylinder to measure exactly 10 mL of tap water from your sink. ) Pour the tap water into the beaker then add 5 drops of pH 10 buffer solution. Swirl carefully the mixture in the beaker. 6) Read the volume of EDTA in the titrator and record the initial volume. Then slowly open the stopcock and add 1 drop at a time while swirling the mixture.7) Once the solution turns a pale blue-gray color turn the stopcock off then record the final volume in the titrator. 8) Repeat steps 4-7 and fill in Table 1. 9) Pour the rest of the contents down the drain Data Data Table 1: EDTA titration volume| | Initial EDTA Volume (mL)| Final EDTA Volume (mL)| Total Volume of EDTA Used (mL)| Trial 1| 9 mL| 7. mL| 1. 6 mL| Trial 2| 8 mL| 6. 6 mL| 1. 4 mL| Trial 3| 7mL| 5. 2 mL| 1. 8 mL| Average Volume of EDTA Used (mL): 1. 6 mL | Data Table 2: Water Hardness| Average Volume of EDTA Used (m L)| Concentration Ca^2+ ions per Liter of Water (mol/L)| Water Hardness (ppm CaCO3)| 1. 6 mL| 0. 015 mol/L| 1,500. 9 ppm CaCO3| Results A) Based on the analysis of your local water, would you classify its hardness as soft, moderate, hard, or very hard? Explain your answer. My water is moderately hard even though it’s the city we still have plumbing problems due to our soil and the minerals in our town.The country all has hard water so the deal with rust and bigger clogs than the city. B) Approximately how much calcium would you ingest by drinking eight 8-oz glasses of your local water? HINT: 1 oz(fluid ounces) =29. 57 mL 8oz= 236. 56 236. 56*8= 1,892. 48 mL Conclusion In conclusion it seems as though my results have come to show that I have very hard water when looking at the last graph but to have it say 1,500 tells me that my results is potentially incorrect. From what I understand it shows that the calcium carbonate is very high in my town.

Exports are good for the U.S. economy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Exports are good for the U.S. economy - Essay Example In 2010, exports employed approximately 10 million people. It is clear that export is a source of employment. Creation of employment reduces the dependency ratio. Most people get employed thus able to earn a living. To the government, the money that would have been used to feed the unemployed population is reduced and utilized in other sectors such as health care. It ensures a good health of workers (Brux, 298). Secondly, in the US, firms that export their products are motivated to improve the quality of their products by high-income levels. The companies expand and employ more workers. When these companies are motivated to produce more, the US government earns more in terms of taxes. The amount earned indirectly from the exports contributes to the government’s growth domestic product. The money will in turn boost the government’s economy (Palmer). According to the US statistics, jobs that are export-intensive pay well. Huge salaries have enabled individuals to live an extravagant life. On similar lines, the US government benefits from these huge taxes from these huge salaries. It is clear that the higher the individual’s income, the higher the amount of tax levied. The huge taxes collected contribute to the government revenue thus used in the development (McEachern, 523). The fact that the US is known to export quality goods and services, many people believe that it is due to high skilled labor force and nearness to the raw materials. For this reason, it has called for direct investors who propose on setting up firms in the US. The firms create employment for the jobless but skilled individuals. More so, it results in the development of infrastructure such as road. In addition, the government maximizes its revenue by taxing these foreign direct investors (Turco and Maggioni 4). In summary, all countries should appreciate the exporting processes. More so they should ensure that exports exceed imports for the country’s economy to

Media for Marketing and Advertising Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Media for Marketing and Advertising - Essay Example The report includes a comprehensive SWOT analysis including charts and relevant diagrams. Also, this paper exhaustively examines the target market and their needs as well as any possible stumbling blocks that the company may encounter when dealing with this particular niche. In addition it conclusively discusses the marketing mix that is the product, the place, promotion and the price of the toy in the UK market. Company’s Overview Hangzhou Kebo factory limited was established in the year 2004 with the main aim of developing and producing better quality toys professionally as explained by Hangzhou Kebo Toy Factory INC. Their toys are aimed at promoting creativity in children and have a high education value. Since then the company has spread its wings to countries outside Asia to as far as Europe. As a matter of fact, the company claims to export up to 80% of what they manufacture. Their biggest importers are the United States of America, Australia, Japan, West Europe and Korea where they have managed to attain a significant market share in these particular countries. The company takes pride in the quality as well as creativity of their products not to mention their expanding popularity. Hangzhou Kebo factory limited boasts of producing many major products including; educational toys, plastic toys, wooden toys and promotional gifts. Toys exported from China The graph above shows the value of toys exported from China. ... The products are designed to assist children to learn about different colours and shapes as well as helping them develop their capability for logical thinking and keen observation. Additionally, their toys can help children learn scientific concepts and this helps to develop their creativity, flexibility, self- confidence and intelligence in their early years. Versatile products Not only can their products be used for games, they can also be used as teaching aides. This ensures that their users get to enjoy both sides of the coin without a hassle. This is both convenient and helps to save time. It also ensures that learning is fun and acts as a measure to avert boredom. Brand reputation Their products have reported high sales and have been well received by customers globally. The company has worked with some of the renowned games and toys producers including Wonderland in Thailand and HABA in Germany (Trader China 2011). The company has secured a considerable market share not only in Asia but also in the Middle- East, U. S. and Europe. Weaknesses The company faces a major challenge as it will be introducing a new brand in the market not just a new product (Alibaba.com 2011). Acquiring new customers will most likely prove to be difficult as the target market already has a brand of their choice (Brassington and Petit 2003). Therefore, it will take a lot of advertising and marketing to sway the customers to take up this new brand as the brand of their choice. The product’s characteristics do not differentiate as much from other existing products in the market. As such the company’s products, that is, the toys they manufacture may not be that different from those already in circulation (Trader China 2011). This will result in the company’s loss if