American Concepts of Property and State Development

The development of the American state has been heavily influenced by different understandings of property over time. What the founding fathers felt about property is not how all leaders have always thought about it, and their opinions regarding private property significantly influenced the choices they made in developing the country and its systems. This is reflected in their early writings. At the beginning, property was considered public for all. Some still feel this way. Today, however, and for the founding fathers, property became privately owned.Early notes show that there was some confusion in who could own property or if, in fact, anyone could own property at all. Most of the writers in the time of the founding fathers believed in God and felt that all of the world was given to man, in general, and so owning any property individually was a difficult idea to grasp. However, they conceded that man did own some things, such as anything he had worked on himself. A man who farmed l and owned what he produced, and could, to some degree, also own the land that it came from because the land was tied to the production itself.Locke covers this idea in chapter 5 of his writing. Initially, all land did belong to all men, who were, in fact, created equally. This idea was featured prominently in the Declaration of Independence. â€Å"All men were created equal,† states the Declaration. If, then, the founding fathers were thinking like Locke, owning property would be a difficult concept to grasp. It may not have been easy in America, either, where all of the land was new and free to the colonists. There was so much land for the taking, since Native Americans did not concern the colonists at all.Westward expansion allowed for all men to have property which they could farm and live on without needing to officially own it. They â€Å"owned† the property via natural law, that if they took care of the land and produced from it, that it would become theirs. Lock e has this to say about the natural rights of property: â€Å"Though the water running in the fountain be every one's, yet who can doubt, but that in the pitcher is his only who drew it out? His labour hath taken it out of the hands of nature, where it was common, and belonged equally to all her children, and hath thereby appropriated it to himself.† That is, anything that comes from nature or is a part of nature belongs to anyone and everyone, but when someone reaps from the land, or draws some small bit of it for himself, it belongs only to him. Locke is convinced that property is a general concept, whereby everything that doesn’t belong to someone personally (and then only because he possesses it) belongs to everyone. However, should someone gather food or drink for himself, to which is naturally entitled, he then owns what he has gathered.This leads to the idea that property is allowed when a man works the land. If he works it, and he can use what he produces, then he owns it. In America’s beginnings, nearly all men would have had to work land to some extent in order to survive. They would also need land on which to house their families. So, the view of property originally grew out of sheer need. The small government expected that men would need to work land to survive. This was especially true when the immigrants were few and there was no nearby central government to care for them.At first there were barely even real civilizations, so very little division of labor could take place. A man’s life was defined by working his land and supporting his family that way, and so he would come to own the property he occupied. This definition of property owning would persist well into America’s history in certain circumstances. For example, during Westward expansion, all a man had to do to own the land was to live on it and work it for several consecutive months, and then he owned it. In addition to this natural law of who could own property, there were certain considerations.A man should not take more than he can reasonably use, because it would deny another man land that he could use. Instead, the first man should take only what he needs, so that all men could have a chance to have their needs met through the use of property. This was, of course, more of an ideal than an actual law at this time, but considered a necessary courtesy. It was also a reaction to the tyranny of the king of England. In the development of the owning of property in the new United States, the founding fathers were reacting very strongly to the tyranny of the king.The king, many writers felt (including Thomas Paine, who saw government as a necessary evil and nothing better), had taken what was naturally available and made it his own when he should not have. The king was abusing his power, Paine wrote, and although God had given him some power, He had not given him as much as he had taken. Because this feeling about the power was prevale nt, the new government did not want to take away these natural laws that held that men were equal and were entitled to land they worked. The government strongly opposed intervention and a major central government.Paine in particular was so opposed to strong government that he wrote this: â€Å"Monarchy is ranked in scripture as one of the sins of the Jews, for which a curse in reserve is denounced against them. † Monarchy especially was seen as wrong, because it destroyed the very nature of men as equal in the eyes of God. Of course, Paine, and other writers of the time, were heavily concerned with the power of any strong central government, because these governments had greed for land and power, and used one to get the other. Otis was especially concerned with this connection.Another concern for the founding fathers was the nature and necessity of property in a government. Some seemed to feel that property was a necessary part of the government. That is, in order to really e xist, the government had to own and deal with property. But in â€Å"Otis Rights,† the author claims that that isn’t true. He writes, â€Å"†¦therefore government is not founded on property or its security alone, but at lest on something else in conjunction. † That is, the government might have a need to deal with property, but owning property does not define a government.He goes on to say that a government need not be based on property, which is likely also a reaction to the British rule. The British â€Å"owned† the land for what became the United States, and therefore they had a right to govern it. This author does not agree with that philosophy. British rule used the fact that they â€Å"owned† the land in their own country, and the land in this â€Å"new world† to their advantage, politically. Their empire had expanded, and they saw fit to treat the colonies in any way that would grant them more power.Many of the ways they treated the colonies – soldiers constantly occupying their territory, for one – were to maintain their dominance and keep hold of their territory. Otis and others were very concerned about this misuse of power and property. With the Declaration of Independence, the founding fathers were declaring that, in fact, England did not own them, and could no longer do the things that they were unhappy with, including high taxes; governance without representation; occupation during peace times; forcing citizens to quarter soldiers, and more.England did not have rights to their property or anything in this country, and so would have to relinquish the control they had. In this way, citizens were declaring their own right to have property because of the natural rights that existed, and that God had given them as equal men. The political consequences of this move were obviously huge. The Declaration itself brought about the American Revolution, in which the newly formed United States fought for these rights against the British.Additionally, not all men within the colonies would have agreed, which is why the Declaration itself went through so many versions before it was finalized. Having so many different definitions of property was tough on the new Americans. Britain told them they did not own their land, while Americans felt that they did, since they lived on it and worked it. This of course led to a huge power struggle and ultimately the war between England and the colonies. It also led to struggles between colonists who supported the war and those who remained loyal to England.Some in the colonies certainly felt that they were not entitled to own the property; that because they had left England to help England expand its empire, they owed what they had to the country. After the war was over, the government was left in pieces in America. The rulers were still determined to have no strong central government, to avoid the tyranny that they had just escaped from. Inste ad, states and individuals were given power. The focus was on the natural rights of man rather than any major leading body. This gave the American states a large amount of power in and of themselves.As they were developing, boundary lines began to be drawn, which essentially designated certain land as the individual states’ property. The states then took it upon themselves to create other arbitrary rules that citizens, and other states, would have to follow. They created their own money, and certain tariffs on trade between the states. Effectively, the states became drunk with their own power. It is interesting that in trying to limit the power of large, overbearing system that the government created many small systems of power that made life even more difficult for some.There is, however, another major problem with the original idea of property. Locke is absolutely certain that whoever works the land and makes use of what it produces is the owner of the land. He is also cert ain that whoever does this should be praised for his efforts, because developed land cares for many and yields nourishment for citizens. God, he says, intended man to use what He had given them. However, in the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson originally intended to put in a section that showed he abhorred slavery and it would not be tolerated.All men were not only equal, he wrote, but also â€Å"independent. † In deference to a couple of southern states, namely North Carolina and Georgia, this part was removed from the Declaration. It was not the only concession made, but it was an important one. Slaves were not considered to be men who were equal under the law, and they had no rights. However, they worked the land and they produced, so by Locke’s argument, they should own the land on which they worked. Of course, they did not.Slaves themselves were owned as property, and could not own property themselves. This meant that their land owners should not own the lan d because they did not work it themselves, but they came to own both the land and the slaves. This was a point of contention in the original Congress, but as the Declaration could not be finished and signed until the delegates all agreed on something, the issue of slavery (despite its obvious contradictions) was left alone for the time being. Despite its general evils, writers believed that some form of government was necessary.In â€Å"Otis Rights,† the author states â€Å"†¦I affirm that government is founded on the necessity of our natures; and that an original supreme Sovereign absolute, and uncontroulable, earthly power must exist in and preside over every society†¦. † This view of government did fly in the face of many others, including Paine, who still believed that the government was a barely necessary evil, and should not have much control over what went on. As Otis points out, though, due to the nature of man, some kind of government was necessary. Without a strong, but fair government, the country would find itself in trouble again.Of course, within only a few years, the country realized (despite their initial thoughts on the matter) that a complete lack of a central government was really no better than an overly strong central government. States squabbled amongst themselves over money, property rights, and more. The government had to step in and do something about it. The states were finding themselves doing what the British government had: owning property for the sake of owning it, rather than using it as a natural right that God had given them, and to be used for the protection and enhancement of all men.In this time, there were a lot of logical fallacies that would have great political consequences in the future, such as in the late 1700s when the central government realized that it did need to take a firmer role in running the country. Later on, the Civil War would result. Overall, the development of the American state t ook time, but boundary lines were drawn, and property was divided up for those states. This in itself was an interesting problem, as drawing boundary lines violated what many writers felt at the time.The states did not and could not really â€Å"own† the land by the arguments the writers gave, yet they did own the land. Within those states, men owned individual parts of the land, and that agreed with the natural laws as stated. In general, the American views on property took awhile to develop, and were very much in reaction to the British stronghold in the beginning. Differences in ideas necessitated the beginning of the Continental Congress, the drafting of the Declaration, and the war itself.However, it also led to the development of the American states, regardless of any problems that they had initially. Reacting solely to Britain’s tyranny was not the best way to make decisions about a new government. Rather, the writers needed to take into consideration what their people currently needed, the way that Otis did in his writings. The nature of man is such that a government needs to watch over the people so that bad things do not happen to them, even if the government is a potential evil to them.Once the colonists realized this, things ended up fine for them, and the states developed a healthier relationship with one another and with other sources. Politically it was a fascinating time, no more so than any other in history, but one that shows the growth of a new country out of small, humble beginnings, belonging to another country entirely. Americans pushed for growth, freedom, and independence for all, even if the final version of the Declaration did not explicitly say so.This thirst for what was right, for restoring man’s natural rights of property and of equality led the Americans to the political juncture they faced with England, and it led them to freedom as independent states. America would never be the same once the Declaration was written, not with all of the strong rebels that lived in the country. They persevered, and the result is the great country that we all now live in, a country where every person has the right to own property, and every state has some of its own rights.The early days factored heavily into today’s current perception, and it is good that it did. America is a country of freedom. Sources Jefferson, Thomas (1776). â€Å"The Declaration of Independence. † Locke, John (1776). â€Å"Second Treatise on Civil Government. † Accessed December 2, 2007. Website: http://www. constitution. org/jl/2ndtreat. htm. Otis, James (1776). â€Å"The Rights of the British Colonists Asserted and Proved. † Paine, Thomas (1776). â€Å"Common Sense. † Accessed December 2, 2007. Website: http://www. constitution. org/civ/comsense. htm.

Both Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Kate Chopin

Both Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Kate Chopin give the reader a taste of what marriage must have been like and is still like for some. Both the narrator in Gilman’s â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† and Mrs. Mallard in â€Å"Story of an Hour† are repressed wives. The society they live in and gender roles contribute to their repressed states. Both Chopin and Gilman write of women’s’ issues in many of their works and explore the roles and lives of women but in very different ways. Both authors show us women who feel very trapped and do not have control of even the most obvious aspects of their lives.Freedom is achieved in very unconventional ways in both these stories, but the kind of freedom these narrators achieve is not available to most women of the time. In Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper,† the narrator, who significantly is never named, is significantly repressed by her husband. Her husband is a doctor who is at bes t patronizing and at worst demeaning to her For example, â€Å"John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage† (Gilman). This quote is included to make the reader question this relationship.Were women supposed to be laughed at in marriage? Another example of this would be â€Å"Then he took me in his arms and called me a blessed little goose† (Gilman). Again, her husband is patronizing her. It is not that she doesn’t love her husband or even that he doesn’t love her. It is simply that this is the way marriage is expected to be. She must bend to his every whim and do exactly what he tells her. She doesn’t even have control of her own body or her own medical treatment in this story. Her husband is a man and a doctor, both of which make him â€Å"right.† The reader infers that the narrator has recently had a baby and is suffering from post-partum depression, which is undiagnosed at the time Gilman writes. Her husband John has ta ken her to a vacation home/mental health facility for the summer. She has no say in this decision but is only told to rest and recover. When she wants to go visit her cousins Henry and Julia, she is again turned down. Her husband really plays more of a parental role with her. Eventually she begins to peel the wallpaper to give her something to do, and she sees a woman trapped behind the wallpaper. This woman represents her.She is trapped in this house, in this life—only she has no one to help her escape. She sets about freeing this woman; only when she does, she suddenly becomes the woman. The narrator says, â€Å"I've got out at last,† said I, â€Å"in spite of you and Jane! And I've pulled off most of the paper, so you can't put me back! † (Gilman) Significantly, she has escaped although she has lost her sanity as well. Charlotte Perkins-Gilman herself tells us why she wrote this story, and that is to stop women from going crazy. Women need to free themselves from the bonds of men. In â€Å"Story of an Hour,† Kate Chopin’s narrator seems like a typical wife.Her husband has gone on a hunting trip, and when she gets news of his death, she is at first very sad. Then she begins to understand the ramifications of him being gone, the idea that she can now live for herself, and she celebrates. â€Å"She said it over and over under her breath: â€Å"free, free, free! † (Chopin) The narrator realizes exactly what her husband’s death means. â€Å"There would be no one to live for during those coming years; she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature.† (Chopin) However, this celebration is brief because she then gets news that in fact, her husband is still alive. She dies of heart failure. Everyone believes that she has died from â€Å"the joy that kills,† (Chopin), but the reader knows that she has died over the unpleasant shock that her husband is still alive. Kate Chopin, of course, is implying for us that â€Å"real happiness cannot exist without the necessary conditions of freedom and equality. † While Mrs. Mallard has not been miserable in her marriage, nor did she spend her time thinking about whether her marriage was happy, she has now had a glimpse of what her life would be like alone.She loved the thought and was excited about facing life alone. The reader understands that while the narrator did not necessarily know it at the time, she was still repressed by her marriage and that constant bending of her will to another human being. Both of these authors provide us with a realistic picture of what marriage could and can be like. They are repressed and trapped in their relationships, but each author shows us a different way out. In Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper,† ironically the na rrator escapes through insanity.She frees the woman in the wallpaper, thereby freeing herself of societal expectations. In Kate Chopin’s â€Å"Story of an Hour,† the narrator first escapes through the death of her husband and then through her own death. It isn’t that she doesn’t love her husband. She does experience momentary grief, but through her grief and fear, she gets a glimpse of what her future could look like. She understands that she will finally be able to live for herself. So, when she finds out her husband is alive, she dies of a heart attack. How sad it is that these women can escape in no other ways.Both Gilman and Chopin were masters at allowing the reader to see the way that women were repressed in their society. We don’t hate the men; we just wish women did not have to be so subservient. Works Cited Chopin, Kate. â€Å"The Story of an Hour,† http://classiclit. about. com/library/bl- etexts/kchopin/bl-kchop-story. htm Esch, S tacy Tartar. http://brainstorm-services. com/wcu-2005/poe-story-hour. html 2001-2005. Accessed March 18, 2007. Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper,† http://classiclit. about. com/library/bl-etexts/cpgilman/bl-cpgilman-yellowwall. htm

Power breakdown in Pakistan

With drying of sea water, touching of oil prices to its peak, damaging of roads and streets, disappearing of electricity in cities is clearly giving idea of present condition of Pakistan. According to revolutionary Russian leader Lenin defined socialism as, â€Å"the electrifician of the whole country and the transfer of power to the people’s representatives† (cited by Kabir, 2002). For revolutionary development of any country, it is important that the country should be electrifying. As all industries and business which help to rise economy of country depends on energy in one form or another. Since many years, the looming energy crisis in Pakistan has covered us like spider net but, in recent months it has been increased and got a massive shape that could damage the economy and autonomy of the country. According to one report in The News, â€Å"this summer, the country faced an electricity deficit of over 2,500 megawatts (MW) †¦ it is feared that by 2010 the gap between demand and supply could reach up to 8,000 MW† (Asif, 2007). Breakdown of power supply to cities has devastating effects on economical and social aspects of country, which could reduce by some strategies and principles. According to environment report given by Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (2005), â€Å"Pakistan has 18 gigawatts of electric generating capacity. † This power generating capacity has been increased in few years with aids of foreign investors. Blackouts and transmission losses are still in tradition in some areas due to inefficient quality of infrastructure, illegal power supply (Kunda system), water shortage, poor co-ordination between power supply agencies, extraneous electricity decoration. There are only two main state-owned power sector in Pakistan i. e. Water and Power Supply Authority (WAPDA) and Karachi Electricity Supply Cooperation (KESC). Cooperation of these two sectors makes electricity able to transmit and distribute in all region of Pakistan.

Melton A. McLaurin's book Celia, A Slave Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Melton A. McLaurin's book Celia, A Slave - Essay Example â€Å"Quit the old man† (McLaurin 30) her boyfriend encourages Celia, but she is in a dilemma because she knows either way she will still lose him and endanger her life. 3. What did Celia have in common with Robert Newsom’s daughters Virginia Waynescot and Mary Newsom? During the period of slavery, all women were the weaker sex and were made to subdue to men’s ways. In this regard, Robert Newsom’s daughters, Virginia Waynescot and Mary Newsom were not equal to their father in terms of advocating for issues. Similar to Celia they also depended on their father on food, shelter and they little rights he would accord to them. Due to this experience Celia and the master’s daughters seem to share a bond of oppression. A relationship based on moral comfort and mutual understanding in isolation. Celia pleaded with them to talk with their father on her behalf and they seem to agree but, it is not known whether they did so, but the sexual demand continued. 4. Why did Celia go on trial? It would not have been surprising if Celia had been declared guilty by a judge and executed without a trial. Celia had to be taken to trial just as a formality so that she could get a hearing just like everyone else. This had been due to the political struggle that was apparent in the neighboring state of Kansas (McLaurin 46). There was a voting process that was taking place on whether to include the state into the union as a free nation or a pro slave state. This process also included the slavery supporters and freedom supporters in a bid to try and sway the votes on their side and as such, divided the country. This sort of division threatened in Missouri if care was not taken in punishing slave wrong doers and as such Celia was taken to trial. 5. How could Celia be â€Å"morally innocent of murder†? In trying to give Celia a fair trial, the judge presiding over her case appointed three supremely competent attorneys to her defense which were chose n on the basis that they were neutral on the issues on slavery. The attorneys in their defense tried to prove that Celia was not guilty of the murder. To their defense, they brought up the issue of sexual abuse between Cecile and her then master. This was to indicate that she committed the act of murder in order wade off the master’s sexual advancements that left her in a lot of pain both physically and mentally. This is also true due to the fact that as a slave, she had been raped for years, and this justified her intent to hurt the master to protect herself (McLaurin 43). Unfortunately in trying to hurt him, she killed him; it was all in self defense. 2. Could a slave master trespass on his own property? How an innocent verdict would have struck a â€Å"devastating blow to the authority of Slave-owners† and set a controversial legal precedent Celia’s trial of guilt or innocence in the case against the state for the murder of her master was of keen interest to the majority of the society. The slave owners were particularly concerned with this due to the fact that it would spell out their rights. Most of people were aware of the existence of sexual offenses towards slaves, but no one talked about it probably because they viewed it as the right of the owner on his/her property (McLaurin 67). This meant that they owned the

Aerodynamics and Propulsion Principles Coursework - 2

Aerodynamics and Propulsion Principles - Coursework Example An example of using this technique is Bell X – I which is the first airplane to break the sound barrier. The achievement of this amazing feat, considered impossible until then, is attributed largely to its ‘super thin wings’ (Bell X-I). The supercritical airfoils differ from the conventional airfoils such that they have comparatively flat at the top. Their unique design limits the rise of drag forces even after the critical Mach number is reached. Such airfoils have successfully been utilized in TACT aircraft program run by NASA Dryden Flight Research Center (Cury). The figure shows the above-mentioned control surfaces and the functions they perform. All the control surfaces work on the principle of creating drag for the incoming wind thereby changing the direction of the wind. Due to this change in velocity, a momentum change occurs which causes a force to act on the control surface and the desired movement of the aircraft is achieved this way. The ailerons tilt the aircraft around the longitudinal axis. They are always installed in pairs. The opposite motion of the two ailerons creates a couple which acts on the longitudinal axis to cause the desired motion. Anderson defines static stability in these words â€Å"If the forces and moments on a body caused by a disturbance tend initially to return the body towards its equilibrium position, the body is statically stable†. Hence a statically stable plane will be that aircraft which can maintain a continuous balanced flight with a constant angle of attack. In case of a wind gust causing the angle of attack to increase, the resultant center of pressure (the point where resultant lift force acts) will shift forwards from the center of gravity of the aircraft and a resultant moment will act that will restore the initial position of the aircraft.

A letter Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

A letter - Essay Example It transforms fishing into a share system that promotes consideration of long-term profits versus the short-term profits of overfishing. My classmates and I have been conducting research on our proposal, and we considered its strengths and weaknesses. We realized that one of its weaknesses is lack of political support and leadership, which we hope that you, as our Representative, can provide. The advantages of this fishing program cannot be undermined: â€Å"With a secure share of the catch, fishermen no longer need to race: incentives change from spurring fishermen to capture the most fish they can, to spurring them to maximize the value of their share instead† (â€Å"How Catch Shares Work†). Fishers and companies will understand that they do not need the most number of fish, but the greatest efficient sharing that they can profit from. Moreover, the program aims to enable fishes to recuperate and to allow for steady demand. The Catch Share Program gives an incentive f or fishers and fishing companies to wait because of higher future revenues. The result is sustainable fishing that benefits fishers, consumers, and the environment. Thus, the Catch Share Program maximizes profits, while minimizing the impact of fishing on our already strained marine resources. A win-win solution for overfishing problems that do not overlook the economic needs of fishers and fishing companies is presented through the Catch Share Program. California can set the benchmark for sustainable fisheries, which other states and nations can emulate. As overfishing continues, I urge you to take a stand for the environment and long-term sustainability of our fisheries. Without any viable program, it is not impossible that overfishing will push our fisheries to extinction for the next decades. You can propose a bill that adopts the Catch Share Program and help innovate how we fish and ensure the efficiency of our fishing industry. Thank you for your attention to this important ma tter. Sincerely, Your Name Your Title Your Address Your City, State, Zip Your Phone Number From a General Audience to the Representative: Shifting to Logos, Pathos, and Cause-And-Effect Analysis In writing the letter to our Representative, I realized the differences in what lay people want to hear and what a Congressperson wants to hear. A Representative is a politician. He has political motives that are connected to his self-interests, though he is mandated to serve the public interest. Californians want their local issues to be resolved, but they have diverse interests as individuals too. Because of the identity of my new target audience, I understood that successful persuasive writing is audience-focused, so I concentrated on what a Congressman wants to know, in order for him to take action. I made changes in my writing style, logos, pathos, and cause-and-effect analysis because of the differences in

Summary on Russia Country Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Summary on Russia Country Report - Essay Example The government remains especially intolerant of political protest, as illustrated by its response to a recent small-scale incident in Tibet, which is reported to have prompted many arrests. International Relations. China's co-operation with its neighbors to the North and West is strengthening. The most recent illustration of this came in August, when the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO), a group consisting of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, held joint military exercises for the first time. Over the outlook period, co-operation among SCO members will continue to develop. Joint military exercises held under the auspices of the Shanghai Co-operation Organization (SCO) in August prompted some observers to comment that the group could come to rival the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as a military alliance. Tibet Outfalls. The claim to sovereignty over Tibet has implications for China's complicated relations with neighboring India. China maintains a claim to the entire Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, an area of 90,000 sq km running between Bhutan and Myanmar. The state includes a large area around the Tawang monastery that was previously under Tibetan control, but China's claims have broadened out to encompass the entire state, possibly as a method of forcing territorial compromises from India in the disputed Aksai Chin area of the western border near Kashmir. Although India has been careful not to overreact to Chinas more assertive pushing of its claim to Arunachal Pradesh, border issues between the two countries remain far from resolution. Economic Policy Outlook. In August, the government unveiled a scheme that would allow individual investors to invest in equity securities in Hong Kong. This move marks a further step towards liberalization of the capital account. Fiscal revenue growth outpaced expenditure growth in the first half of 2007. Monetary policy continues to be tightened, with increases in interest rates and bank reserve requirement ratios and a reduction in the tax on deposit interest earnings. Real year-on-year GDP growth reached 11.5% in the first half of 2007, up from 11.1% in 2006 as a whole. Soaring agricultural prices, notably for pork, forced consumer price inflation to a ten-year high in July. China's foreign-exchange reserves grew to US$1.3trn by end-June, an increase of 41.4% on the same month in 2006. The government has begun investing China's massive foreign exchange reserves in companies abroad. The stock market continues to rise despite a rise in stamp duty on share transactions. Reforms to the export tax rebate regime in the first half of 2007 boosted export growth, contributing to a massive surplus of US$155.6bn in January-July. Economic forecast. The underlying objective of economic policy remains the need to achieve strong rates of growth in order to create jobs and reduce the unrest associated with the massive changes that society is undergoing. The government will also seek to upgrade the quality of economic growth, promoting more research and

Commnuincation skills Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Commnuincation skills - Essay Example Passive listening is one directional communication whereby the receiver does not give feedback or make inquiries and probably may or may not comprehend the message of the sender. Passive listening is known to lead to mistakes that are costly, employees being unhappy and customer dissatisfaction. Some passive listening examples include listening to radio and television. Passive listening is one of the most common forms of listening in today’s world. While active listening is a two directional communication where both sides are contributing, as well as engaging in conversation. Furthermore, in order to become a better active listener, studying and training are necessary (Shwom and Snyder 36). Therefore, it is safe to utter that the listening skill that would enhance better communication would be active listening. In order to develop better active listening skills as well as bring success within a workplace of which every employer seeks, they are three main categories that need e mphasis, namely; accurate hearing, comprehension and interpretation, and lastly response. For example, distractions from the environment like noise from vehicles or ongoing construction sites can be considered a hindrance to accurate hearing while for comprehension and interpretation, which would include the language factor. An example to this would be if someone speaks in a different language, like say Spanish it is impossible to comprehend and interpret what has been said if the person does not know Spanish. In order to combat this, one needs to be multi-lingual, and this is where employers’ of multinational companies invest in, as well. In addition to being a more effective listener in comprehension and interpretation, the in cooperation of non-verbal communication and verification of personal understanding through queries and paraphrasing is necessary. Some examples of non-verbal communication would include voice of tone, facial expression, body language, as

Digital System Applications Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Digital System Applications - Essay Example Though, they can also be mechanical, pneumatic or even magnetic. Digital computers along with calculators, digital video and audio equipment as well as the telephone system which is the globe’s leading digital system are a few examples of the most familiar digital systems around the globe1. There are however various benefits that are obtained from digital systems. They have been mentioned as follows: The digital systems are mostly very convenient to design. The main reason is that in digital system only switching circuits are used which use the array that is high or low in which they lie and it does not take into account the exact value of voltage or the current. Moreover, it is very easy to store information in a digital system. It is carried on by certain special devices or circuits which can grab digital information and retain it for as long as necessary. In addition, the mass storage of the techniques can store billions of bits of information in a relatively small physical space1. It is easy to maintain accuracy and precision throughout the system because once a signal has been digitized the information contained by it does not deteriorate as it progresses. The operations in a digital system can also be programmed. It is easy to design the digital system whose operations are managed by programs (a set of stored instructions). Digital systems are also less affected by noise. Spurious fluctuations in the noise are not as critical in a digital system as the exact volume of the voltage is not that important as long as the noise does not stop individuals from distinguishing a high from a low. More digital circuitry can be fabricated on an Integrated Circuit (IC) chip. Even though analog system has also been benefited from the massive development of IC technology, its relative complexity and also the usage of the devices cannot be economically integrated. This limitation has prevented the analog system from obtaining the same degree of integration as that of the digital system1. There are very few limitations which are inherent in the digital system. The two biggest among them are as follows: Firstly, most of the physical quantities are analog in nature and therefore these quantities are mostly the input and the output that have been monitored, operated on and controlled by a system like temperature, pressure, flow rate, liquidity level, and velocity among others. These quantities can be expressed in the digital way when there is a need to make it more precise and specific. However, a digital approximation is generally made in the analog quantity. Secondly, the other limitation is that the whole world is analog and as a true fact processing digitalized signals indeed takes a very long time1. In order to take advantages of the digital techniques when dealing with the analog inputs and outputs the four steps which must be followed are as follows: 1. The first step includes converting the physical variable to an electrical signal (analo g). 2. The second step is transforming the electrical (analog) signal into the digital signal. 3. The next step that follows is processing or operating on the digital information. 4. The last step is converting the digital outputs back to the real world analog form1 With

Obstacles Facing Women Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Obstacles Facing Women - Coursework Example Women are their worst enemies and lack financial aid to empower themselves. The novel talks of children living with their parents. The mother in law is a reckoning force in persecuting her fellow women in the house. This reveals many similarities that the women in Asia face with monetary institutions. The women complain of the tough conditions that are put in place to get a loan in Asia (Bhagwati, 2004). There are also good fortunes that befell women in Asia, hard work focus and dedications, make the women be successive. The young boy that survives in the city and become successful falls in love with a young woman who strongly works her way through to became successive. There is corruption, cartels lack of funds and unemployment that face women in Asia. This is told through the young man’s interaction with women in the streets. The wrong influence of globalization and the acquiring of negative is the main catalyst in the hurdles facing women. However, through perseverance there is

Festivals and Events. The New Age Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Festivals and Events. The New Age - Essay Example This concept has become so popular in recent years, however, that there is now the danger of having a glut of such events that are aimed at the same demographic group (Santino, 2009). This has been a most interesting development in regards to the creation of even more specialized festivals and events that are truly unique to one particular geographical region. This is showing great signs of success and is likely to be a trend that will continue into the future. This report at three different such festivals and events in the nations of England, Wales, and Scotland. Focused on will be the background to such events, the type of tourist that is target, and its economic and tourism related benefits that are arising in the region as a result. 2. The Green Man Festival - Wales 2.1 Festival Background The Green Man Music Festival is generally held over a four day period in the Black Mountains of Wales. It has been in existence for only ten years and was formed in response to the increasing d esire to host a truly independent music festival within the region. It is quite an eclectic event that definitely appeals to a particular demographic group. The event was the brainchild one family from Wales, and the festival now truly takes on a family type atmosphere, as many of the visitors come year after year, creating a reunion type atmosphere. The festival itself is designed to have quite an intimate feel to it, yet it has multiple attractions and performers to keep things going around the clock. The location itself is also another unique component of the festival, as it is in the wilderness, yet is only 3 hours away from either London, Manchester, or Brighton, and only 90 minutes away from Bristol. The developers and designers of this particular festival wanted to provide a unique and different experience, realizing that not everyone can travel to multiple festivals each and every year. From the reality that this is one of the only festivals in the entire United Kingdom to h ave a 24-hour alcohol beverage license to the reality that they have developed many options for children to enjoy as well, the Green Man Festival has developed a truly niche market that has positioned itself for future growth despite its young age. 2.2 Linkage to Tourism Development (Visitor Numbers and Economic Impact) The Green Man Festival began as a small and intimate event on the Wales calendar, but today is by far the largest music festival in the country. The first year, the festival attracted 300 people, yet it received rave reviews from most in attendance, and the festival even had to move locations in its second year in order to accommodate all of the interest. Now in its tenth year, the Green Man Festival attracts more than 15,000 people annually, and its economic impact is felt far and wide. While the event itself has grown into four days of music and festivities, permission has recently been granted to allow attendees to remain on the festival ground for an entire seven days (Frost & Laing, 2013). This has allowed the surrounding areas in Wales to benefit from this tourist event as well, as thousands of travelers now descend on the region annually. The Green Man Festival is about more than just music. The organizers of the event have created an event that is known region wide as being non-corporate and ethnically minded. They have

Role of ATP in Supporting Energy to the Body Essay Example for Free

Role of ATP in Supporting Energy to the Body Essay When food is ingested, it is broken down into components and utilized in a specific manner in three major cellular pathways to provide energy for the cells and the body.   Ultimately, these pathways involve the breakdown and utilization of food, the utilization of O2 and the production of CO2, the generation and regeneration of ATP and the production of water.   Therefore, these processes involve respiration as well as the breakdown and utilization of food and oxygen. Three major pathways are involved:   glycolysis which takes place in the cellular cytoplasm and breaks down glycogen and glucose from food, the Krebs Cycle which occurs in the mitochondrion and oxidative phosphorylation which occurs in the mitochondrion.   Ã‚  Ã‚   These three pathways occur in two cellular locations.   Glycolysis takes place in the cytoplasm and The Krebs Cycle and oxidative phosphorylation take place in the mitochondria.   During these three pathways, there is a utilization and production of ATP that biochemists follow closely.   It results in the net production of 36 molecules of ATP.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   To understand the entire process that illustrates how food is broken down and utilized in the body, it is instructive to follow a bolus, that is, food consumed, chewed and swallowed.   Each step involves some aspect of digestion that breaks down complex sugar and protein molecules into smaller units.   Proteins are broken down into peptides and amino acids while starches and other complex sugars are broken down into glucose. The glucose undergoes glycolysis in the cellular cytoplasm beginning with the enzyme hexokinase, and the entire process of glycolysis is controlled by the rate limiting enzyme phosphofructokinase (PFK).   Kinase enzymes (enzymes that break down ATP) are common all along the three pathways involved, glycolysis, the Krebs Cycle (also called the Citric Acid Cycle and the Tricaroxylic Acid Cycle) and phosphorylative oxidation.   Kinases are enzymes that break down or utilized ATP, ADP and AMP as their substrate or one of their substrates.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Fiske and Subbarow discovered and characterized ATP in 1929.   At that time, the work of some demonstrated that the breakdown of ATP provided energy for muscle contraction, but other studies demonstrated that there was ATP synthesis during glycolysis and during electron transport.   Although ATP is made throughout the cell, the cellular location of ATP synthesis varies with the biochemical pathways associated with ATP synthesis.    Although one common pathway of ATP synthesis and breakdown is associated with the adenylate kinase reaction that forms two ADP molecules from ATP and AMP, studies in the late 1920s and beyond demonstrated that ATP synthesis was also associated with glycolysis and during electron transport.   In 1949, Kennedy and Lehninger demonstrated that ATP synthesis and the citric acid cycle occur in the mitochondria.   We now recognize that ATP synthesis and breakdown can be associated with specific biochemical pathways in the cell cytoplasm and in the mitochondria.    Some enzymes are sensitive to the ratio of ATP to AMP and to the presence of ADP.   This realization led to the concept of the energy charge, the relative concentration of ATP to ADP to AMP in the cell.   An energy charge of 1.0 represents all ATP, and energy charge of 0 represents all AMP and an energy charge of 0.5 represents all ADP or equal amounts of ATP and AMP or some combination of the two.   These ratios, and thus the energy charge are important to the cell because many cellular enzymes such as PFK are sensitive to and regulated by the relative amounts of the adenine nucleotides, ATP, ADP and AMP. Glycolysis   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Glycolysis, also referred to as the Embden-Meryhof-Parnas pathway (figure 1), is essentially the breakdown of glucose in the cytoplasm of the cell.   The glycolytic process can begin with glucose or glycogen.   During the process, glycolysis generates the high energy compounds ATP and NADH that serve as the energy sources in the cell.   Among the many cellular roles for glycolysis, it serves three central cellular functions.   First, it generates high energy molecules such as ATP and NADH. It also produces pyruvate for the Krebs cycle and a variety of three and six carbon compounds involved in the intermediary metabolism of the cell.   The rate limiting enzyme for glycolysis, that is, the key enzyme that controls the glycolytic pathway, is phosphofructokinase (PFK).   PFK is feedback inhibited by high levels of ATP which acts by lowering the affinity of the substrate F6P for PFK.   AMP can reverse the inhibitory effect of ATP rendering PFK, and thus the control of glycolysis very sensitive to the ratio of ATP/AMP in the cytoplasm.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The final product arising from glycolysis depends on the cellular conditions.   Whereas glycolysis begins with glucose or glycogen, it ends with the production two molecules of the three carbon compound pyruvate.   Under anaerobic conditions, pyruvate is reduced to form lactic acid or ethanol and under aerobic conditions pyruvate loses CO2 and forms the product acetyl-coenzyme A as a result of oxidation of pyruvate to carbon dioxide and water in the citric acid cycle within the mitochrondia.   Glycolysis occurs in the cellular cytoplasm and the Krebs Cycle and oxidative phosphorylation occur in the mitochondria.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Glycolysis results in the formation of fructose from glucose and the formation of glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate, 3-phosphoglycerate and compounds along the pathway on the way to splitting the resulting 6-carbon compound into two three carbon units of pyruvate.   In the process, NAD+ serves as a hydrogen carrier and is reduced to NADH, the oxidized form of NAD+. In the cell, the oxidation of aldehyde to carboxylic acid is very complex and strongly exergonic and is generally coupled to ATP synthesis.   Glucose goes to Glu-6-P to Fructose with the breakdown of two ATP molecules.   Fructose gives rise to glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate which is ultimately splite in a complex reaction chain to phosphoglycerate, phosphoenolpyruvate which is finally split into two molecules of pyruvate by pyruvate and the regeneration of the two ATP molecules previously utilized. Glycolysis Figure 1. Embden-Meryhof-Parnas pathway, also known as glycolysis.   Reproduced from Michael W. King, Wednesday, 22-Mar-2006. The Citric Acid Cycle   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Citric Acid Cycle (Figure 2) is the most complex of the three components associated with carbohydrate metabolism and the consumption of food.   It involves the following eight enzymes and the components they use as substrate:   Citrate Synthase, Aconitase, Isocitrate Dehydrogense, alpha-ketoglutarate Dehydrogenase, Succinyl-CoA Synthetase, Succinate Dehydrogenase, Fumarase, Malate Dehydrogenase.   The generation of acetyl-CoA from carbohydrates is a major control point of the Krebs cycle.   Therefore, glycolysis and the rate limiting enzyme of glycolysis, PFK, play a role in the control of the Krebs cycle.   The oxidation of an acetyl group is a difficult chemical process and may be the reason that nature developed the Tricarboxylic Acid Cycle (TCAC), also known as the Citric Acid Cycle and the Krebs Cycle. The Krebs cycle begins when the products of glycolysis leave the cytoplasm (cytosol) and enter the mitochondria.   Once glycogen or glucose have been broken down into two three carbon units of pyruvate, the pyruvate can be further broken down into a high energy compound called acetyl-CoA resulting in the production of CO2 and water.   Acetyl-CoA combines with oxaloacetate (also spelled oxalacetate) to form the 6 carbon compound citrate.   From this condensation reaction, a complex array of biochemical reactions take place that involve various molecular transformations such as isomerizations and molecular rearrangements. These various steps result in transformations from the 6-carbon condensation that gave rise to citrate and subsequent 6-carbon units of cis-aconitate, isocitrate to a five carbon unit of alpha-ketoglutarate to the four carbon units of succinate, fumarate, malate and oxaloacetate which, once regenerated is available to combine with another high energy acetyl-CoA and form another unit of citrate under the influence of the enzyme citrate synthetase.   After citrate is formed, two carbon atoms are removed as CO2 as the various TCAC intermediates are formed leading to the regeneration of the 4-carbon oxaloacetate. There are several oxidation steps on the way to the reformation of oxaloacetate.   Each step feeds reducing agents, either NADH or FADH, into the cycle on the way to regenerating oxaloacetate from citrate.   The reducing agents (or reducing equivalents) remove hydrogen from the enzyme substrates.   So, the reducing agents serve as a pool of hydrogen carriers and allow for the further synthesis of ATP during electron transport.   The TCAC results in the production of 2 ATP molecules, 10 carrier molecules and CO2 from each molecule of glucose. Glycolysis and the Krebs Cycle Figure 2. Glycolysis and the Krebs Tricarboxylic Acid Cycle (TCAC).   Reproduced  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   from David R. Caprette, 2005. Electron Transport   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The complex molecules that were reduced during the Krebs Cycle are re-oxidized by means of the electron transport system. (Figure 3)   Although TCAC results in the production of 2 ATP molecules from each molecule of glucose, electron transport gives rise to 34 ATP molecules and water from the carrier molecules.   Therefore, the majority of the ATP in the cell must be produced in the mitochondria.   The re-oxidation of reduced NADH and FADH2 by O2 involves a sequence of electron carriers in what has become known as the electron transport chain.   It ultimately results in the generation of three molecules of ATP from ADP and inorganic phosphate for every oxygen molecule involved. This process is called oxidative phosphorylation and is the principal source of usable energy (in the form of ATP) in the cell.   It is provided by the breakdown of both carbohydrates and fats.   In the process, reduced NADH transfers a hydrogen atom plus two electrons (a hydride ion and H-).   Two complex molecules, NAD+ and FAD+, serve as the pool of hydrogen carriers and thus act reducing agents in the mitochondria; NAD+ is reduced to NADH and FAD is reduced to FADH2.   These compounds serve as electron carriers because their oxidation or reduction, the transfer of H+ (a proton), is accompanied by one or two of the electrons. The electrons donated from NADH or FADH2, upon entering this complex, travel from one carrier to the next, with each carrier being a somewhat more powerful oxidant than the previous one.   The hydrogen donated by the reducing agents combines with O2 such that with each molecule of O2 combines with 4 H+ to form water.   Therefore, two molecules of NADH must pass four electrons down the electron transport chain for each reduced oxygen molecule (O2). The chemical structures of the components of the electron transport chain fall into several distinct classes.   Most are proteins that contain special coenzymes called prosthetic groups.   Although they differ in chemical structure, a major difference between NADH and FADH2 is that NADH difuses freely between the dehydrogenases transfer hydrogen to it whereas FAD+ and FADH2 do not.   Another class of electron carriers in the mitochondrial membranes is iron-sulfur [Fe-S] clusters that are bound to proteins and release Fe3+ or Fe2+ plus H2S when acidified.   All of the carriers only appear to carry one electron at a time.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Ubiquinone or Coenzyme Q is a third hydrogen carrier localized in the mitochondrial membranes.   It is a common electron carrier that collects electrons from three or more points of input along the electron transport chain and passes them to molecular oxygen.   Unlike the other mitochondrial electron carriers, ubiquinone is not uniquely associated with proteins.   The cytochromes are a final class of electron carrier localized in the mitochondrial membrane.   Cytochromes are small, chemically distinct proteins that contain heme.   Like the other electron transport agents, the cytochromes only carry a single electron.   Cytochromes pass electrons from cyt bcyt ccyt acyt a3O2 Electron Transport/Oxidative Phosphorylation Figure 3.   Electron Transport during Oxidative Phosphorylation.   Reproduced from M. W. King, 2001. Summary   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The pathways discussed here involve food consumption and energy utilization arising from food consumption.   Once food is taken in and reaches the stomach, it enters the body and the cells of the body.   Before digestion, food consists of complex, long chain molecules that must be broken during digestion beginning in the mouth and continuing in the stomach.   Once digested food reaches the cells, long chain molecules such as starch and other complex carbohydrates are further broken down into glucose.   Glucose, a six carbon compound, undergoes the process of glycolysis in the cellular cytoplasm to become two three carbon units of pyruvate. Under anaerobic conditions, pyruvate goes to lactic acid or ethanol, but in the presence of oxygen, pyruvate breaks down into a two-carbon compound, Acetyl-CoA and enters the Krebs Cycle.   There, food can be used to form energy for the cell in the form of ATP.   In the mitochondria, 36 molecules of ATP are formed for each molecule of O2.   Two ATP molecules arise from the Krebs cycle and 34 molecules arise from electron transport for each molecule of oxygen.   Thus, food consumed and oxygen taken in combine to replenish the energy supplies in the body in the form of ATP. References Caprette, David R.   Substrate Oxidation:   Krebs Reactions.   Experimental Biosciences 31 May, 2005.   The Krebs Cycle:   http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~bioslabs/studies/mitochondria/mitokrebs.html, Thursday, 7 June 2007. King, Michael W. Digestion of Dietary Carbohydrates.   Wednesday, 22-Mar-2006 Glycolysis: http://web.indstate.edu/thcme/mwking/glycolysis.html, Thursday, 7 June 2007 King, Michael W. Principals of Reduction/Oxidation (Redox) Reactions. Friday, 30 Mar-2007.   Oxidative Phosphorylation:   http://web.indstate.edu/thcme/mwking/oxidative-phosphorylation.html, Thursday, 7 June 2007.

Conflicts in Romantic Relationships: A Literature Review

Conflicts in Romantic Relationships: A Literature Review Amanda Bjork Conflict. We all experience conflicts, arguments, or fights in our lives and in our relationships. It is present for and affects everyone, whether they have have platonic, intimate, close, friendly, or other types of relationships. Conflict exists whether someone is fifteen or fifty five years of age, but what does change are the topics causing the conflict. Conflicts within romantic relationships can lead to yelling, tears, hurt feelings, and sometimes even broken things, including broken hearts. Understanding the topics of conflict within romantic relationships is important because people sometimes express their frustrations as a way to produce a desired change to meet their personal needs within the relationships. My own relationships have brought this to my attention. I have started fights because I want something to change, because I wasn’t happy with how things were. Disagreements and conflicts are inevitable, but vital to the evolution of any relationship. According to Jaelline Jaffe, Ph.D and Jeanne Segal, Ph.D (2007), disagreements will occur in any intimate relationship because it just isn’t realistic (or possible) for two people to have the same expectations, ideas, needs, and/or opinions all of the time. Successfully resolving these relational disagreements is crucial for the development and continuance of all successful relationships. It is essential to ponder the topics of argument and then conflict management within relationships since literally everybody is involved in and needs relationships in one way or another. If we can better recognize the topics that create conflict within relationships, we could theoretically decrease the amount of conflict that is present and thus increase relationship satisfaction overall. Guerrero et al. (2001) have identified conflict to be a â€Å"disagreement between two interdependent people who believe that they have dissenting goals.† Conflict plays a very significant role within romantic relationships. Not only does it potentially affect the duration of said relationship, but also the level of satisfaction each person has within that relationship. Julia T. Wood (2007) stated that â€Å"conflict affects the power dynamic between couples by forcing them to negotiate and renegotiate the extent to which they share power.† Guerrero et al. (2001) also said that close, romantic relationships that are devoid of conflict are rare, unrealistic, and highly extraordinary. Essentially, relationships just cannot exist without some kind of conflict. â€Å"In truth, satisfied couples are more likely to discuss issues of discrepancy, whereas discontented couples are more likely to abate or elude conflict† (Guerrero et al., 2001). Even though conflict is so prevalent in relationships, very few scholars have actually done significant research on the subject (Walker, 2000). The â€Å"dark side† of relationships, that much of the research refers to, is generally considered to be the â€Å"bad† things; fighting, disagreement/arguments, and conflict. It is very difficult to understand conflict within relationships and how to manage it since scholars have not yet completely broken into the realm of interpersonal conflicts. Guerrero et al. state, â€Å"the need to examine the dark side of close relationships is more important than focusing on the positive aspects of interpersonal relationships.† Walker goes on to say that studies have a â€Å"Pollyanna-like perspective which only highlights that individuals need to be open, honest, polite, and attractive in relationships, while ignoring other negative relational dynamics.† As Walker also states, conflict is just as essential (and common) in relationships as the pos itive aspects, thus creating validity and the necessity to cultivate a better understanding of the topics that people fight about in relationships (Walker, 2000). There are not many things in this world that are more communicative than emotions can be. â€Å"A rapidly growing body of research indicates that the transition from casual dating to serious commitment is marked by intensified emotions, increased emotional jealousy, greater reactivity to conflict and uncertainty, and more negative appraisals of irritations† (Theiss Soloman, 2006). The first fight a couple might have may occur at this point in their relationship progress, the beginning. The couples who dissolved their relationship after the first big fight reported having been feeling chaotic or ambiguous about their relationship as a whole (Guerrero et al., 2001). Accordingly, the partners who stayed together gained a greater comprehension of their emotional state with regards to each other, felt like they were well suited to problem solve together, and were assured that both would be willing to make sacrifices for the relationship/each other. Guerrero et al. (2001) estimated that â€Å"most romantic couples have somewhere between 1-3 disagreements per week, of which 1 or 2 disagreements each month is particularly unpleasant. Additionally, couples who are dissatisfied often experience 5.4 incidences of conflict over a 5-day period.† Guerrero et al. (2001) state that â€Å"most disagreements are related to the fair division of household labor, jealousy and possessiveness, sex, money and possessions, the social network (including families), and children.† More research has shown that work has an effect on relationships, including unearthing stressors such as low support from partners, the amount of time devoted to relationship activities, and even issues such potential children and their ages/names (Cinamon, 2006). In addition, partners might complain about the amount of time spent together and justify engaging in infidelities (Guerrero et al., 2001). Arguments about sex, household chores, money, jealousy, possessions, social media, the futu re, and children are of course not the lone or single sources of disagreement that couples can experience, but they tend to be the most frequent types of conflict within intimate and romantic relationships. After distinguishing what types of conflict can arise, it is particularly important to also understand that there are different levels of conflict as well. Guerrero et al. (2001) claim that there are four levels of conflict. As defined by Guerrero et al. (2001), the first conflict level is when couples argue about â€Å"specific, concrete behaviors such as how to specifically clean the kitchen. The second level of conflict is when couples argue about relational rules and norms such as working late without informing your partner or forgetting your significant other’s birthday or anniversary† (Guerrero et al., 2001). Thirdly, Guerrero et al. define the third level of conflict to be when partners argue about their varying personality traits. Finally, the fourth level of conflict is when couples â€Å"argue about the process of conflict itself, otherwise known as metaconflict. This may also include accusing your partner of pouting, nagging, throwing a temper tantrum, not l istening, or fighting unfairly† (Guerrero et al., 2001). In conclusion, the research reviewed in this literature review has suggested that conflict within relationships occurs very commonly and in nearly all relationships. We can assume that the majority of couples involved romantically will experience 1-3 disagreements per week (Guerrero et al., 2001). These studies also suggest that a majority of arguments among couples are a product of money, sex, household duties, jealousy, social media, the future, and children. Additionally, the research demonstrated four levels of conflict, which can be alleviated once the topics are identified and conflict management employed. References Cinamon, R. (2006). Anticipated work-family conflict: effects of gender, self-efficacy, and family background. Career Development Quarterly, 54(6), 202-216. Gere, J. U. (2013). When Romantic Partners Goals Conflict: Effects on Relationship Quality and Subjective Well-Being. Journal of Happiness Studies, 14(1), 37-49. Guerrero, L., Andersen, P. (2001).  Close Encounters: Communicating in Relationships. Mountain View, Calif.: Mayfield Pub. Keener, E., Strough, J., DiDonato, L. (2012). Gender Differences and Similarities in Strategies for Managing Conflict with Friends and Romantic Partners. Sex Roles, 67(1/2), 83-97. Mackinnon, S.P., Sherry, S.B., Antony, M.M., Stewart, S. H., Sherry, D. L., Hartling, N. (2012). Caught in a bad romance: Perfectionism, conflict, and depression in romantic relationships. Journal of Family Psychology, 26(2), 215-225. Segal, J., Jaffe, J. (2007). Conflict Resolution Skills. Retrieved February 10, 2015 from http://www.helpguide.org/mental/EQ8_conflict_resolution.html Theiss, J. A., Solomon, D. H. (2006). A relational turbulence model of communication about irritations in romantic relationships.Communication Research,33(5), 391-418. Walker, K. (2000). The Dark Side of Close Relationships. The Southern Communication Journal, 65(4), 340-342. Wood, J. (2007).  Gendered Lives: Communication, Gender, and Culture. Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth Pub.

Westernization of Japanese Culture

Westernization of Japanese Culture Daniel Gonzalez Is Japan Losing its Heritage? The Japanese people, have always been recognized for their rich cultural history. With rising concerns regarding population problems and pollution that culture may not be around for much longer. It is no secret that Japan is considered the technological Mecca of the modern world. With the race toward artificial intelligence, can too much of a good thing be a bad thing? How does one thing relate to another? With all the technological breakthroughs seen from Japan in recent years, one can only imagine that these advancements would benefit a society as diverse as the Japanese. With incredible pioneering advancements in robotics and technology such as Honda’s ASIMO, and the Lexus LFA, research and scholars believe that it may be losing its rich cultural history. One can follow Japanese culture back centuries. Having been influenced by its natives as well as foreigners has developed into one of the most diverse cultures in the world. When one thinks of Japan and may think of high-speed magnetically levitated trains, fast cars and vending machines with Wi-Fi. However, much of Japan is still stuck using old technology such as fax machines and computers from the late 1990s. It is not uncommon to see people who traveled to Japan return claiming that most of the technological advancements made in Japan are often enjoyed in the Western world more than they are in Japan. Perhaps this is a s ign of a culture realizing that it is advancing and morphing far too quickly. When one hears the words â€Å"population problem† overpopulation immediately comes to mind. However, Japan has the opposite problem. In 2013, Japan had 238,632 more deaths than births. Japan’s population decreased by over 210,000 compared to the previous census. As it stands Japan has a population of 127.3 million people, but studies suggest that this population may shrink to as little as 86 million in the next 50 years. Court’s cause of death in Japan is cancer at nearly 30% followed by heart disease and 15% and pneumonia at 10%. Japan’s unwillingness to accept its own technology may be its downfall, as many of these diseases are considered preventable, and many times treatable by Western medicine, given that many of the advancements in Western medicine, are a direct result of the contributions Japan has made to medical imaging and diagnostic machines. Another predominant issue affecting the decline of Japanese population is suicide. In 2013, suicide was singled out as the leading cause of death for the age group 15 – 29. It was also determined that twice as many men as women died in that age group. With only 1,029,800 births in 2013, researchers determined that this has been the fewest amount of live births on record since World War II. There has yet to be an increase in births since 1973, called â€Å"the second baby boom of Japan.† The most obvious cause for this decline in population is the total fertility rate. In 1947, at the end of World War II, there were nearly 4.5 children for every woman in Japan. As of 2013, the last official statistic, there were only 1.5 live births per woman. In order to keep the population steady, there needs to be at least 2.0 live births per woman. The number must be higher, however Japan hopes to see an increase in the coming years, rather than a decrease. The marriage rate has also seen a decline. 661,000 marriages were recorded in 2013. Again, a record low since World War II. It is evident that women are hesitating time married at a younger age and are delaying the process. In 1993, the average marriage age was 26 years old. In 2013, the average was nearly 30. Women are delaying having their first child as well, as the average age for the first child is now close to 31, instead of the age of 27 it was approximately 2 decades ago. Ironically, it is young Westerners were more open and susceptible to accepting Japanese culture than the Japanese themselves. Many believe that this is actually because Japan is westernizing its own culture. In the 15th century, Japan passed a law forbidding the Japanese to leave the country and severely limiting the negotiations that it could have countries outside of Asia. This is largely been attributed to have been done out of fear of westernization. Western countries began having relations with Japan once more as a result of the invention of the steam engine and advances in transportation. Early attempts were made by King William the Second of Holland to establish negotiations by sending a letter to the show gun of Japan in 1844 advising him that keeping this ban in place would affect the economic and cultural advancement of the country due to the astounding increase in agricultural, technological, and industrial advancements. While the implications of this letter was deliberate d among Japan’s highest ranking officials they decided to take no action. And it was not until 1853, when President Millard Fillmore sent Commodore Matthew Perry as an arbitrator in an attempt to begin negotiations and commercial relations with Japan. This prompted Japan and the United States to sign the treaty titled the â€Å"Treaty of Friendship†. Nearly 2 decades after the treaty was signed Japan began implementing more westernized styles of education and was recognized by many as â€Å"the first and most striking example of westernization in the non-Western world.† It was not until 1872, however, that Japan passed a formal law titled the â€Å"Fundamental Law of Education† Which set forth the standards for the Japanese education system. During the interim twenty-year period, there was much trial and error regarding the types of educational systems and at times Japan seem motivated to revert to its original Eastern – based educational system. T his trial and error was exacerbated by attempting to mimic the educational systems of many different countries including Holland and Germany. The foundation of the educational system finally found a compromise with predominantly French influences. In 1890, the â€Å"Rescript on Education† politicized and organized the 1872, law by appointing teachers as servants of the state. A system titled the Mombusho, devised by Japanese Statesman Mori Arinori, widely considered to be the father of the modern Japanese educational system, was established to dictate which textbooks and standardized tests would be part of Japanese curriculum, very much like the French and American education system. The negotiations of Commodore Perry in 1853 sparked a change in Japan that paved the way for the changes it still sees today. In 1872, the same year the educational legislation was passed, a regulation ordered that the court nobles wear westernized clothing. Japanese commoners began to take after the rulers of the nation as they changed their hairstyles from the traditional topknot to shorter hairstyles. Dental hygiene in women increased as well. By the 1890’s, it was uncommon to see women with diseased teeth. The rich began wearing wool coats and accessorizing with umbrellas and pocket watches, a practice that was considered taboo before the arrival of Commodore Perry, as the educational system before then taught that Japanese men and women should not preoccupy themselves with matters is trite as the time. The transformation, however, was not yet complete. Japanese officials were said to wear their Western clothing to work and then change into their kimonos and traditional Ja panese clothing after they went home, again, showing that Japanese culture was still somewhat resilient and resistant to change and in the early years it may have been purely for a political purpose. Japanese construction is an area that saw major change in the late 19th and early 20th century. Tatami, a Japanese advancement replaced dirt and wood floors. Kerosene lighting replaced traditional rapeseed lighting with its promise of convenience and portability. Before then, most Japanese homes only knew the kitchen stove as the central source of lighting. Sanitation practices from the Western world were being implemented as well as a result of the new, portable lighting. Concrete buildings became increasingly common and architects from other countries were commissioned to design important buildings such as the Bank of Japan and the Tokyo central station. In contrast with the issue of modernity, the integration of Westernization and modernization has a long history in Japan. In the article WITHOUT MODERNITY: Japans Challenging Modernization, Dana Buntrock mentions that â€Å"leaders accepted that industrialization and Westernization were reciprocal and that both were necessary for development.In addition to actively promoting telegraph, lighthouse, and railroad construction, for example, the government also used Western buildings and institutions to advance its modernization program. Japan employed Western engineers to build the nations infrastructure and Western architects to design offices, banks, universities, and schools; these specialists were collectively referred to asoyatoi. In more isolated areas, where Western architects were not present, indigenous carpenters attempted to reproduce the finishes and spatial characteristics of Western architecture, particularly in the construction of government offices and primary schools† These advancements in construction technology began to make Tokyo look more like industrialized Western cities such as San Francisco. The prefabricated style of construction more recently implemented in the United States is also influenced modern Japanese construction. In industrial Japanese areas, it is not uncommon to see b uildings erected in less than a week. Buildings are constructed in a piecewise fashion at an off-site factory and then trucked in to the construction site and put together by construction workers. This alleviates the many problems that come along with construction sites such as traffic jams, lower speed limits, noise levels, and inconvenience to residents of the area, given that traditional building construction can take anywhere from two to ten years depending on the architectural complexity of the building. The largest and most long-lasting change that Western influences brought to Japan is a culture that strives to advance technologically. As Akira Goto says in his study, Technology and Industrial Development in Japan: Building Capabilities by Learning, Innovation and Public Policy, â€Å"Japan was the first major non-Western nation to take on board the Western technological and organizational advances of the century after the first industrial revolution. It subsequently proved fully able to exploit and contribute to the broad, sustained technological advances that began in the 20th century, as science became harnessed to technology.†

Shakespeares Othello - Abnormal Psychology and Iago Essay -- Othello

Abnormal Psychology and Iago in Othello  Ã‚        Ã‚  Ã‚   When the Bard of Avon created the evil Iago in the tragedy Othello, he entered into the area of irrational behavior and abnormal psychology. This essay will examine this branch of science as it relates to the play.    David Bevington in William Shakespeare: Four Tragedies describes the irrationality and self-destructiveness of the ancient’s behavior:    Emilia understands that jealousy is not a rational affliction but a self-induced disease of the mind. Jealous persons, she tells Desdemona, â€Å"are not ever jealous for the cause, / But jealous for they’re jealous. It is a monster / Begot upon itself, born on itself† (3.4.161 – 163). Iago’s own testimonial bears this out, for his jealousy is at once wholly irrational and agonizingly self-destructive. â€Å"I do suspect the lusty Moor / Hath leaped into my seat, the thought thereof / Doth , like a poisonous mineral, gnaw my innards† (2.1.296 – 298). (223)    Blanche Coles in Shakespeare’s Four Giants affirms the Bard’s commitment to abnormal psychology, and his employment of same in this play:    That Shakespeare was keenly interested in the study of the abnormal mind is commonly accepted among students. [. . .] The suggestion that Iago may have been intentionally drawn as a psychopathic personality is not new. [. . .] Even a casual scrutiny of a book on case histories of psychopathic patients will find Iago peeping out from many of its pages. Still more, Iago’s name will be found appearing occasionally in bold print in books on abnormal psychology.(89-90)    Evidence of his psychopathic personality is seen early in the play. He manipulates the wealthy Roderigo into awakening the senator Brabantio (â€Å"Ro... ...hall ne'er look back, ne'er ebb to humble love,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Till that a capable and wide revenge   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Swallow them up. (3.3)    Iago is so in control of the general’s contorted mind that he specifies how the Moor should kill Desdemona: â€Å"Strangle her in her bed, even the bed she hath contaminated.† And the general dutifully responds, â€Å"Excellent good!† The enthusiastic answer causes one to suspect that the ancient’s psychopathology has taken possession of the Moor.    WORKS CITED    Bevington, David, ed. William Shakespeare: Four Tragedies. New York: Bantam Books, 1980.    Coles, Blanche. Shakespeare’s Four Giants. Rindge, New Hampshire: Richard Smith Publisher, 1957.    Shakespeare, William. Othello. In The Electric Shakespeare. Princeton University. 1996. http://www.eiu.edu/~multilit/studyabroad/othello/othello_all.html No line nos.

Brave New World - How Does Society Treat Death In Chapter 14? :: essays research papers

The Brave New World treated death much as they did birth, this was in contradiction to the way the savage felt death should be Death in the Brave New World is not important, it is simply something that happens to your body when it has got worn out. In chapter 14 the nurse thought that the savage was â€Å"Undoing all their wholesome death-conditioning with this disgusting outcry as though death were something terrible, as though anyone mattered as much as all that!† Clearly she too had been death conditioned, to accept that death was certain, but she knew that she could be assured that her minerals would be recoverd after her death and used again. Societies views of death were extremely different, and even the hearses were â€Å"Gaily coloured† and the ward that Linda was on was called the â€Å"Galloping senility ward† suggesting that they had no fear of going senile. I think that the colour of the building and the size clearly represents what society thinks about death.â€Å"Primrose†,â€Å"60-Story† and the wards were â€Å"Bright with sunshine† these aren't the coulors or size modern society would use, but because of their conditioning in The Brave New world they are taught to like it, have happy thoughts about death, and are reassured by the fact, that when they die their bodies can be recycled and turned into chemicals. What the nurse says to the savage on page 163 also says something about the way that society treats death. She says â€Å"You are in a hurry!† after probably expecting him to be less anxious. She then goes on to say â€Å"You’re not feeling ill are you?† due to his abnormal (for a conditioned world) behavior and his concern for Linda which, as we can see was highly unexpected as few visitors ever came. The words â€Å"Number 3 might go off any minute now† tell us something because the people have lost their identity and because they are dying are now only refereed to as numbers, it is as if no one cares. But saying this the situation around the bed where Linda is dying, with the TV, and scent spraying into the air, tells us that people weren't just left to die, but were given some comforts but they were forgotten. Bodies were cremated not buried and there was no book of remembrance because this is the Brave New World and they are trying to forget the past, and only look on to the future

Local Fundraising :: essays research papers fc

Running an election campaign is very strenuous and time consuming. In many ways it is a balancing act. One must deal with maintaining public visibility, appealing to the voters, developing a platform, kissing disgusting babies, and meeting as many people as possible. However, one of the most important and difficult parts of the job is raising money. Money is necessary for all parts of the campaign, and without it, a campaign can grind to a halt. In this paper I will attempt to explain how a candidate gets the money to campaign.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The first thing to do, whenever one runs for any office, is to check all local laws pertaining to elections and contributions. In any county, there often are obscure laws that affect a myriad of subjects, elections being among them. These laws usually state who can give money to whom and how much can be given by any one person or organization. Violating these laws may result in an automatic forfeiture. Another important step is to make sure that you, yourself, contribute to your own campaign. It does not have to be much, as many candidates do not come from wealthy backgrounds, but enough to show that you are serious about winning the election. After all, if you are not confident enough to contribute your own money, how can you expect others to contribute for you? The third step that many hopeful candidates use is to approach their friends and family for money. While some may be hesitant to do this, one expert, who curiously did not leave his name (Basic Fundraising, n.d.), says that this is important. Your friends and family should be asked, firstly, for the reason outlined in the preceding paragraph, and secondly because this is where a candidate gets much of his or her initial seed money. A viral approach, according to Garecht, should be used when asking associates for money (n.d.e). Ask your family and friends to ask all their family and friends, who should, in turn, ask all of their family and friends. Of course, not everyone will contribute, but by playing the percentages, a candidate can expect to receive thousands of dollars, even if he or she is not from a particularly affluent social circle. If a person is unwilling to contribute monetarily, ask if he would like to volunteer either his time or services, or even there lawn for use as signage.

Create and sell an accessory collection (starting a small business) Essay

The main reason I’ve chosen this topic is because as you will also read in the introduction, making accessories is something I really like doing; It is the first time I can accomplish a school task that has been given to me, doing something that I enjoy. It is just perfect! It will not only help me with my school life, but it could also be the beginnings of a promising future. The aim of my project, parallel to the fact of making accessories and selling them is to see if determination and skills are enough to start a business of my own. I do not believe it would be difficult to design and sell the new collection. What I have to see is how I will finance the whole process. But I am really enthusiastic about it and I will really try hard to put all my ideas into action. Since we had to do a project to pass the middle age program I tried to do a project that nobody else has ever done and something I really liked to do, so the best thing I could think was this topic I’ve chosen, I love doing accessories, it is very original, and I get a profit from it. Every day I work a little bit on this project since October of 2002 when they told us about it. I’ve been designing, creating, promoting, and selling my creations. But in order to do it right, I take down notes of every single thing I do as regards this job. How much I sell, I buy, I design, etc. I have divided my project into subtitles to organize the information in the way it will be easier for the reader to understand the whole process. The areas of interaction related to my project is: Approaches to learning, I had to do methodological work, my sense of effort, being able to hand in a project that hasn’t got any mistake, order of the project, communication and expression of experiences and searching for information and summarizing it. Homo Faber, I started a project of a small business and crated a project that is relatively new, inventing designs, and putting into practice purposes of Homo Faber. Environment, accessories are really involved with fashion and I take the designs from my surroundings, what is fashionable, styles, etc. Social Education, to show people that teenagers can start their own little business and to encourage young people to develop what the really like since they are little because maybe when they grow up they can still do what they did when they were young and to develop their ideas and imagination. In my opinion Homo Faber is the predominant area of interaction because I am starting a business with its pros and cons, also I am working with my imagination and time in order to accomplish my objective. When they told me that I had to write a personal project in Level 4, I wanted to do something different, something that nobody else had ever done before, and it had to be personal, something that I really like doing and what I really like is to design accessories When I was only eleven (11) years old, my mother brought home some big beads and some elastic. I started playing with them and I made my first bracelet. I realized it was entertaining and I preferred spending my time making accessories instead of watching TV. My grandmother gave me some more money and I bought my first working material, since then I have spent days and nights making accessories. My parents complained because they said that because I devoted all my time and energy to this, I did not study. But now I have my opportunity to do both things. Do what I really like doing that is beaded accessories, and also comply it with my schoolwork. This is really great! The idea is not only to design my own accessories but also to see if an adolescent can handle and manage a small company. This of course meant a lot of work, because I have to design the accessory, then promote it and sell it etc. In October 2002 Miss Pat O’Malley told us that we had to chose a tutor for our projects, she said tutors could only have 4 or 5 students, I choose Miss Claudia Zacarian but she already had her 5 students, but after talking to Pat O’Malley they allowed me to be with her. We started working and giving a little bit of shape to the project, I plan the whole essay with her. At March 2003 for my surprise, I got the news that Miss Claudia was not working at school any longer. I felt disappointed because of all the work we have been doing we came to trust ourselves and got to know us better. I had to chose someone else, but it was quite difficult because most of the teaches I Level 5 were new and I wanted to choose a tutor who liked what I was doing and that could help me with my project because she is interested and not because is a school task, so I asked Gabriela Flaiban the level 5 coordinator to be my new tutor, I asked her because I knew she liked accessories. I kept on working with her and she showed me several projects to organize myself better and what was that I had to include in the different sections and to give me a guide on what to do as regards my written work, also she proposed many things (I will explain later) which were really useful to me. It was very difficult for me to organize my work. I told my tutor and she advised me to go slowly. I wanted to sell the accessories I had to think about the colors, shapes, sizes, etc. My tutor told me to start doing surveys and end up doing the design that was the most voted in order of not loosing time or money. But I had to make a difference between people of 12- 20, 25-40, and more than 40 years old. The first thing I had to do was to design the accessories, I drew on a paper different designs and I showed them to different people with different ages and evaluate their opinion and if they will succeed or not. The results are attached at the annexes pages†¦. I went shopping, visited different places and read piles of magazines, and keep doing it actually in order of having buyable. I could get to the conclusion that on the first part of my project, spring- summer collection I stepped against a romantic, and hippie style with lots of colors. But on the other side the autumn- fall collection is full of yellow, red, orange and brown. And both of them had bright colors such as pink turquoise, blue and green in all their varieties. By doing surveys and consulting people I can get to do things that people can get identified with, and as a result they will buy it, this is a tactic that many enterprises use in order to evaluate how much will the selling be so as to produce an amount of products that is adequate to the amount of demand it has. The first thing I did after meeting with Gaby Flaiban (tutor) was the survey. The survey was organized in the following way. It was repeated several times with different accessories. There were 10 (ten) accessories and I showed them to different people of different ages, they had to put them in order from worst to best. In that way I could see which were the three accessories people different ages liked the most. After choosing the final designs, to start businesses, I must have a budget; even tough it is a small one. Five years ago I asked my mother and Grandmother for money, they gave me $100 (mom $75 and grand mother $25). So I went to buy all my working material, and started working. Time made me perfection my style, and neatness but, no matter how good the beaded crafts were I was scared that I will never return my credit, it is very common that when you start a business you can be scared or believe that it won’t be good. So I had to work really hard. Now, five years after, I also asked for a credit, this time a little bit bigger than the first inversion, I had my savings, I used $100, and asked my mother for another $100, my grandmother didn’t keep behind and bought me beads, and wool. After I do an accessory I immediately cost it, the things I take into account are: the cost of materials, hand labor, and how many exemplars I do of it (obviously if I do 10 of them and if there is a big offer of them I will price it less in order to sell it). Cost is very important because if I sell the final product in less money that the one I invested, I’ll be loosing money, but I must have an idea of how much I’ve spend on doing it because the price must be reasonable. Hand labor is also important in this branch there are included several things, time I have spent on doing it, work I had to do and promotion of the product. Offer and Demand are really important. If I do something really exclusive, I will cost more that if I do a dragonfly that are seen everywhere. And if there are lots of demand of something the price will be higher (this is the ABC, of economy) Promoting is as important as doing it, because if I do and don’t sell is the same as if didn’t do anything. As regards the estrategical view where to sell is a very big deal, especially nowadays. Propaganda is extremely important. I could say vital for this job. I usually give a certain amount of accessories to people that are close to me, like friends or relatives so whenever they go to parties or places where there are lots of people they are able to promote my collection, and that creates very good results because sometimes I get a phone call asking me to do a very important request of accessories or maybe people ask who was the one that did the accessory and when they get to see me they are still wishing to buy it, like the one they seen or maybe another they liked best. I also created a web page; you can find it at www. . com. In this web page which I specially created I will show every design I made and the final selling price, so if people like any accessory they can contact me by sending me an e- mail or calling me and buy any piece that has caught their attention. Web pages are a very interesting way of attracting people because as Internet is very used and calls a lot the attention, mainly because of the animation and colors. A very important fact is that being on the net creates a professional image, and that is what I want the customer to think about me because if people think I am professional they will believe that the quality of the accessories are better and that I am a person to trust on because a good image is really important. As an example we have Kosiuko the quality of clothes is not that good but as they do very good graphics, the clothes is original and they promote themselves very good by using very famous people as models such as Britney or Pampita they succeed on the industry. Nevertheless the most important way of selling is to get in contact with a boutique or a fair because I can leave my material and they sell it for me, in a way they make me save a step. As I said before promoting is really important. I tell everybody I do beaded crafts, and they ask me to show them, but it is not enough, shops are really important they make you save time and steps. Having good contacts is important too, the fact of having a friend working in a magazine or being a friend of somebody who is famous, can help me to sell better. This is the part I hate the most and I really don’t like it because I have problems telling the price, and persuade people to buy. I ask them if there’s a possibility of leaving them some of my accessories at their store and if they allow me to do so, they charge them a little bit, for them to be able to get profit out of it (usually 20% -25% of the price I ask for). To be able to keep continuity with the boutiques I am always renovating my stuff for them to keep calling and asking me to do different designs, keep doing that accessory that was very successful or maybe to invent new things such as napkin holders, handbags, sandals or belts, because continuity is very important if not you loose a contact and loosing contacts is a pity. I am actually giving my things to Cool Site, to Captiva and to different fairs in San Isidro. In the economical, fashionable, and practical view there are lots of advantages, but also disadvantages. To start with the disadvantages, the price of the material in Argentina has raised a lot and now I can do less with the same amount of money, materials raised 350% comparing to the past yea, with all the default problem, so it is really difficult to buy the same peaces of material I bought before with the same price or less charged as possible. Besides they are brought from, Brazil, Indonesia, china, and Thailand. A very important issue is that economical problems here in Argentina are serious; people won’t spend money buying accessories if they suffer from hunger. But in order to sell I must sell very cheap knowing the cost of the material for not to loose any money, because nowadays the hand labor cannot be well paid, as it was before. The advantages are that beads are very fashionable, so they are sold a lot, they stick to the fashion and they are really trendy, for every age since 5 to 99 but for each age there are different designs and that is something I like, I do different models following a trend and if they are for old or young people, and I can do with the same beads accessories dedicated to any age or style because it depends the person who is wearing them to see if that is an accessory is for her/him or not. Another advantages is that the crisis has pushed and prohibited people on buying new clothes and also the commodity of cotton has decreased 50% comparing to last year so every piece of clothes is really expensive, specially cotton clothes, that’s why people use old attires but they modernize them by using a beaded handbag or a big pin that calls more the attention than the attire itself so the attire doesn’t look old anymore and the whole outfit is brand new because of a little change, because beaded accessories are very cheap comparing them with the price of clothes. Another advantage is as I sell a lot I have my savings and I can use it for buying things for me like clothes or going on a trip, etc. This is a hobby that gives me money and that is really important for me. I like it and also can get a profit from it. When I started on October I asked the girls of my class, shop owners and my family what they would like me to do, it was an informal survey, because I haven’t wrote it down as a survey actually. But nevertheless I put it into practice. They asked for peace signs, lots of colors, many stars, and many earrings and pins. I kept everything I sold on a diary (annex page†¦) I worked September, October, November, December, and January. February was my holiday month so I didn’t work at all, also march, April, May, June and July. On that summer- spring collection I earned $520 with a mean of $100 a month and my expectations for the autumn-fall collection is better yet. Because I added one more store to give my accessories and promoted myself even better. BOOKS: * â€Å"Bead lings† BY Julie Collins and Candice Elton, Klutz editorial Magazines * Revista † mostacillas† 4th edition Evia ediciones * Internet * http://www.eviaediciones.com * http://www.klutz.com * http://www.mujer.tercera.cl/2001/10/27/moda.htm * http://www.derrochasvip.com.ar/latrama/canutillos.htm