Saudi Arabia and The United State of America PowerPoint Presentation

Saudi Arabia and The United State of America - PowerPoint Presentation Example In United States the companies are privatized and the government has less control over it. While in Saudi all the economic activates of the country is controlled by the government alone. Obviously the country is a kingdom where in the royals has the say on the functioning of the political activities of the country. Saudi is ruled by King whereas America has election which selects the President of the country. The country has central and federal government and a legal body to govern the nation. America is a democratic country whereas,Saudi Arabia is a monarchy. However, Saudi Arabian GDP is less than America as latter is a country depended on its oil reserve rather than employed nationals. Saudi has a smaller economy than America as latter is a large country. America is a country which can be considered as the melting pot of culture. It has a wide variety of people belonging to various religion, ethnicity race and nationality .American culture encompasses the customs and traditions of the United States, including language, religion, food and the arts. According to (Zimmerman,2013) â€Å"Nearly every region of the world has influenced American culture, as it is a country of immigrants, most notably the English who colonized the country beginning in the early 1600s.†.Contradictory to this, the Saudi Arabian culture is traditionally linked to the Islamic laws and guidance. There is strict prohibition regarding alcohol consumption, pork and rights of women. Saudi Arabia is the most strict nation in the world and it is functioning according the laws of Quran as Prophet Mohammed is from this region. Also the holy pilgrimage happens in Mecca which is a privileged region for Muslims. When we look at the culture of America and Saudi there is a wide gap between them. Saudi can be nowhere compared to America as the former is restricted nation whereas latter is free country with liberal human rights and freedom. Saudi has

Analysis fo the Dairy Industry in Pakistan

Analysis fo the Dairy Industry in Pakistan Introduction The prospering dairy industry of the country seems an embryonic market for branded dairy products, especially in the urban areas, where branded and packed milk, curd and butter are rapidly capturing the market. In fact, the consternation of adulteration, germs, decades-old style of improper handling of dairy products, particularly loose milk and curd by milkmen and shopkeepers, are impelling a large number of consumers in the country to bid adieu to the traditional milkman. Consumer preferences have changed in the favor of packaged dairy products, which ensure better hygiene and good value for money. In Pakistan when we talk about adulteration in loose milk. These kinds of fears and health hazards relating to loose dairy items are steadily changing the mindset of the consumers. Seeing this change and an enormous untapped potential of growth in packaged dairy products in the country in future, several local and multinational companies have introduced their branded dairy items in the r ecent past. In Pakistan, when someone talks about branded milk and curd, the name of Haleeb and Nestle comes to the mind of the people as they have emerged as two strong market leaders, who have swiftly captured the unexplored business of packed milk, curd, butter, margarine, etc. The emergence of these two brand leaders in the country has also encouraged several others to introduce branded dairy products. At present over a dozen companies are actively marketing branded dairy items in the country and among them the most famous are CDL Foods Limited, Bhaipheru; Idara-e-Kissan, Pattoki; Kabirwala Dairy; Lahore Milk Plant, Lahore; Millac Food (Pvt) Ltd., Lahore; Monnoo Dairies, Bhowana; Nestle Milkpak Ltd., Sheikhupura; Noon Pakistan Ltd., Bhalwal; Pakistan Milk Food Manufacturers, Jhang; Prime Dairies, Manga; Royal Dairy Products, Karachi; Ravi Dairies, Jaranwala and Unilever Pakistan Ltd., Sheikhupura, Bhaipheru, Karachi. Besides marketing milk and curd most of the companies are sell ing dairy products with innovation such as yogurt (natural and flavored), sweetened milk, UHT and pasteurised cream, butter, ghee, cheese and ice cream. In Pakistan Nestle is a great success story for establishing the largest milk collection network and setting new trends in dairy sector. On the one hand, it has proved a regular source of income for farmers through an assured and growing income resulting from the sale of their milk, and on the other, it has enabled Nestle to collect better quality milk in the quantities it needs. The basic unit of Nestle milkmans milk collection system is the Village Milk Collection Centre where farmers deliver milk, morning and evening. A trained milk collection agent who tests and records every supply for quality and fat content collects the milk. Over three thousand such centres operate throughout Punjab. This milk is then transported to the nearest sub-centres for mechanical chilling and then to the main centres where it is consolidated and chil led further, before being transported in specially designed insulated tankers to the factories in Sheikhupura and Kabirwala. According to background, dairy is one of the growing segment of livestock sub-sector and important component of Pakistans economy. Pakistan is the fifth largest producer of milk in the world. The per capita availability of milk at present is 185 litres, which is the highest among the South Asian countries. Milk production in Pakistan has seen a constant increase during the last two decades. The production has increased from 8.918 million metric tons in 1981 to 27.031 million metric tons in 2001-02. Milk production for the year 2002-03 is estimated at 27.811 million metric tons. Investment Prospects: There is a large and untapped potential in the dairy industry. With a population of 160 million, a significant demand for dairy products exists in Pakistan. There is a need for establishing modern milk processing and packaging facilities based on advanced technolog y to convert abundantly available raw milk into high value added dairy products. In addition, with improved conditions for milk pasteurisation, availability of chilled distribution facilities and consumer preference for the low cost pasteurised milk, the sector provides unique opportunity for investment in establishing pasteurised milk production plants. There is also great scope for establishing related industries in the form of an efficient milk collection system and refrigeration transportation facilities. The sector offers opportunity to foreign investor for establishing a joint venture for the production of dairy products, particularly dried milk and infant formula milk for which great demand exists in the neighboring countries like Iran, UAE and Saudi Arabia. The dairy industrys main ingredient is milk, which is processed at the dairy plants to produce variety of dairy products. The average daily production of milk in Pakistan is estimated at approximately 95 million litres. Punjab is the leading province in milk production with a share of around 80%. Out of the total production of 95 million litres of milk per day, about 55% is consumed at source in the countryside while the remaining 45% is traded in urban centres. Most of the traded milk is marketed un-processed and currently only about 2.5 to 3 per cent of the traded milk is processed by the dairy industry in Pakistan. Processed liquid milk in the form of Pasteurized or Ultra Heat Treated (UHT) milk is the main dairy product in Pakistan while other products include Dry Powdered Milk, Cream, Butter, Butter Oil, Yogurt, Cheese and ice cream. Presently, about 13 units in the organised sector are engaged in the production of various dairy products. Majority of the dairy plants are located in the vicinity of Lahore, which serves as the hub of this industry Milk Processing Out of the 28 million tons of milk produced in Pakistan, only 2.5 to 3 per cent reaches the dairy plants for processing into variety of dairy products. Pakistans dairy industry produces Ultra Heat Treated (UHT) Milk, Pasteurized Milk, Dry Milk Powder, and Condensed milk. Other major milk products produced by the dairy industry include butter, yogurt, ice cream, cheese, cream and some butter oil. Approximately half of the 0.3 million tons of milk available to the industry is processed into UHT milk, 40 percent into powdered milk, and the remaining 10 percent into pasteurised milk, yogurt, cheese and butter etc. Dairy plants in Pakistan Of the 38 major dairy plants established in the country with a capital investment of Rs. 2.392 billion and having a daily rated capacity of 2,180,000 litres, only 13 plants are currently in operation. The rated milk processing capacity of the 13 plants in operation is estimated at a little over one million litres per day. In addition, two dairy farms of the Pakistan military operating on non-commercial basis have raised Pakistans daily production of processed milk, yogurt and butter. The reasons for failure of large number of dairy plants are several and may differ from plant to plant. The most common reasons include an over estimation of demand for processed milk, too rapid investment in UHT technology, lack of consumer education, high price of UHT processed milk, non development of sustainable milk collection system, lack of trained manpower and insufficient operational funds. For the same reasons, the capacity utilisation of dairy plants in operation is around 40 per cent. The low capacity utilisation prevents most UHT milk processing plants from recovering much more than their variable costs. Next to the raw material i.e. raw milk cost available to the plants for Rs. 14 per litre on average, packaging is the most important cost element. Expensive packaging forms part of UHT technology. Despite immense potentials the dairy sector in Pakistan has been victim of criminal neglect by the successive governments in the country. Even at its present lowest-in-the-world yield per milk cattle, Pakistan is surplus in milk production; but due to lack of proper planning, collection and distribution facilities, a major portion of the total production is consumed, per force, by the producers in the far-flung areas. As against this we are importing 25000 tonnes of powder milk annually to meet the demand of the urban areas at a cost of above 300 million dollar. Pakistan ranks 7th among milk producing countries, with an estimated 21 billion liters of milk produced annually. A lthough this level of milk production is more than adequate on a per capita basis for todays population, lack of processing and poor distribution system in a long hot weather (milk has a shelf life of only four hours under moderate temperatures) keeps it from reaching consumers in areas that are either deficient in milk production, particularly the urban centres, or those that are difficult to access. The milk yield per cow in the neighbouring country is about 3000 liters per lactation period as against 1000 liters in Pakistan. In Western Europe the average exceeds 5000 liters, in USA 9000 and Israel exceeds 7000 liters per lactation period. After extensive research Indian Livestock Ministry has introduced a programme to gradually replace buffaloes with cows, which give more milk, by educating their farmers through their well-established cooperatives and successfully carried out the replacement programme during the last decade or so. During this period India has almost doubled its m ilk production from 38 to 72 billion liters and now ranks at No. 2 after USA with 74-billion liters in milk production. Despite feeding its huge population, India is exporting huge quantity of powder and processed and packed milk. To increase its yield of milk, India has made full use of Israeli expertise who have been trained by the US. Through artificial insemination India had developed a new breed of cows which yield 3000 liter per lactation period instead of previous record of 1200 liters. Pakistans tremendous potential to increase its milk production has so far remained unexplored due to the inactivity of the government and the related bodies which were created with much of fanfare. This neglect appears criminal in view of the fact that milk production despite its lowest yield, is even today far ahead of the major cash crops such as wheat, cotton, rice and sugarcane Conclusion There is huge demand of both powdered and packed milk in the neighbouring countries of Iran, UAE, Saudia Arabia beside Malaysia, and Philippine which Pakistan can successfully harness to its advantage if due attention is paid to this sector. By copying Indian plan, Pakistan can also develop a new breed of cows within a period of about 4/5 years and thereby increase its production by over 100 per cent. Pakistan can become a big exporter of dry and processed milk provided due attention is paid to this sector. Presently in Pakistan only about 22 per cent of milk production is processed, about 57.5 per cent is supplied to urban areas in raw form in most unhygenic conditions causing real health hazards. Rest is consumed by the farmers, mostly per force, specially in the far-flung areas for lack of proper facilities to take it to deficient areas. About 75 per cent of the total production of raw milk is produced in Punjab, 14 per cent in Sindh 10 per cent in NWFP and only 1 per cent in Balo chistan. In Punjab we have more buffalos than cowl in about 60-40 ratio, in Sindh it is 50-50, in NWFP dead 20 per cent buffalos and 80 per cent cows. In Balochistan there are mostly cows. Unlike other progressive countries where sale of raw milk is disallowed by law and processing is mandatory due to milk being one of the two major carriers of diseases (water being the other), Pakistan continues to allow 97-5 per cent milk to be distributed through the traditional gawala system. To the bacteria of tuberculosis and hepatitis that naturally occurs in milk, the gawala adds many more varieties through the addition of contaminated water for its dilution. The contractors, who collect milk in bulk from villages in Punjab through the dodhis the middlemen, and sell it to the urban consumers, go a step further. They add unhygenically produced ice slabs, caustic soda and sometimes formaline to the milk they collect to prevent it from going bad due to intense heat in summers. The UHT process, although expensive, has proven to be a success in Pakistan as it increases milks shelf life to 12 weeks. On the other hand, the pasteurization process inspite of its low procession cost, had not made much of a headway due to the short shelf life of its product and its dependence on old chain from production to consumption. Taking advantage of this cost factor, some milk marketers have begun marketing loose milk in urban areas which they claim to be pasteurized. The UHT process add heavily to the cost of milk as it requires huge investment to set up the plant, production of packing material and above all the collection cost of the milk making it beyond the purchasing power of poor and even lower middle class. Pasteurization process is much cheaper comparatively as the process is much simple and packing material much cheaper. Small pasteurization plants can play an important role to meet the milk demand of cities and towns provided there is a strong and efficient organization to ensu re that all necessary precautions are taken and hygienic requirements for pasteurization process are met before supplying milk to the ultimate consumers. Village cooperatives in India have efficiently handled this problem and about 80 per cent of the milk requirement of urban areas are met through pasteurized milk at an average selling rate of Rs. 15 a liter as against Rs. 24 per liter in case UHT processed and packed milk. Nestle Milk Pak. Ltd., a joint venture with the reputed multinational Nestle of Switzerland operating in over 80 countries around the globe, has done the poineer work in the field of milk collection UHT processing on most modern and state of art machines and quality packing. Nestle has almost the monopoly of UHT processed milk in Pakistan. It is a household name in our affluent families. Poor and lower middle class cannot afford the price and for them it is still a luxury which they can enjoy only once a while. The price of Rs. 28 per cent for Nestle UHT processe d and packed milk appears high, but if you consider the cost of infrastructure manpower and middle men involved in the whole process the selling price is justified. Nestle is concentrating only in Punjab and has developed a remarkable set up to collect milk from areas stretching about 80,000 KMs, and keeping the collected milk chilled in the most hygenic conditions until it reaches the processing factory which may take 8 to 12 hours. They have set up over 2500 milk collection centers from where it is transported to the 520 chilling centres within less than 3/4 hours. Chilled milk is then transferred to the two factories at Sheikhupura near Lahore and Kabirwala near Multan in special trucks with freezing arrangements. It sounds unbelievable but it is a fact that all this organizational structure for collection of milk has been set up by a Swiss expert who arrived in Pakistan only seven years back. To meet J. Moser Head of Milk collection department of Nestle at one of Milk chilling c entre at Mandi Bhauddin was one of most exciting experience of my life. By any standard. J. Moser is an authority on milk production and milk cattle. He can talk for hours on various breed of cattle around the world, their milk yield, how they increased the yield and their future plants, domestic consumption of milk, pattern of consumption and capacity to export milk and milk products to deficient countries. In order to keep his knowledge up-to-date he frequently goes on tour of different countries. He has worked in Sri Lanka, frequently instead India since posted in Pakistan in 1993. In this region he is most impressed by the work done by India to increase their milk production, manage its collection and distribution to its ultimate consumers at an affordable cost. The cooperative societies in Indian rural areas have played a very significant role in developing the dairy sector in India. Hundreds of thousand milk collection centers have been set up to supply milk in bulk to thousan d of pasteurization plants under required unhygienic conditions in the outskirts of almost every city to ensure supply of good milk in abundance. Through artificial insemination programme going on for over a decade with the help of Israel and United States they have developed a special breed of cows with yield of over 3000 liter of Milk per lactation period as against 1000 about 12/13 years back. Mr. Moser told this correspondent that he developed his milk collection and chilling centres on the pattern of Indian cooperatives. A business organization, whatsoever bigger size it may have cannot meet the national requirements. We are concentrating only on the central parts of Punjab which is densely populated and where more milk is available. For other areas in Punjab, Sindh, N.W.F.P. and Balochistan no such arrangement exists. This huge task cannot be done without the financial assistance, help and cooperation of the government. With proper planning and financial support of the governm ent Pakistan Milk production can be doubled in 10 years time and country can become a big exporter of milk and milk products, Mr. Moser said disclosing that by giving shorts of seaman imported from Europe we have successfully carried out artificial insemination programme in Pakistan on experimental basis. Our experiment proved successful as some of the cows conceived and nurtured through this system are giving 18 liter milk a day instead of normal 10 liters. The work has to be done at a large scale for which Nestle is not equipped, he added. It is imperatives, therefore, that the issues of increase in its production, and distribution are tackled on progressive line. The federal government may appoint a task force to study the various aspect of the disarray sector, identify the factors which has hampered growth sofar and recommend measures to develop this sector properly to harness its tremendous potential for the betterment of national economy. Inclusion of a person like, J. Moser i n the proposed task force can be a real help. With the every passing day, dairy products are becoming costlier because live stock farming has not scientifically grown with the increase in population and also it did not match with the pace of urbanization. Recently, milk prices in Karachi increased without any reason. In a short time of two years, milk prices have gone up from Rs 20 per liter to Rs 25, showing a 25 percent increase. Moreover, meat prices have also risen to about 25 percent in the last six months. In such a situation, the only way to control prices is to develop the dairy industry on scientific lines, which will not only provide meat and milk in abundant quantities to the domestic consumers but extra quantities can also be exported. In spite of having a large population of LIVESTOCK, the country is spending some $40 million annually on the import of formula milk only, which is the highest amount spent by any country in the world on this particular commodity. Pollution affecting the Pakistani Dairy industry Seventeen units, including three run by multinational companies, are engaged in the manufacture of dairy products in Pakistan, but environmental pollution, as well as an inadequate supply chain, is hampering the growth of the dairy industry. Noise pollution is one of the factors. Pakistan exports meat to Saudi Arabia but is yet to export dairy products to it, although that is a possibility, said Ibad-ur-Rehman, an executive of Cleaner Production Programme, a private-sector company based in Karachi that offers environmental solution packages to the industry in the backdrop of rising local and international competition. The growth necessitates consistent and adequate supply of raw material, and this is possible in contract production. This is being done by at least one multinational company. Balochistan and Tharparkar district in Sindh, which have a sizeable livestock population, are some of the ideal locations for dairy farming, besides Punjab, he said. Milk, by and large, is the main ingredient of almost all dairy products. Average daily production of milk in Pakistan is about 130 million litres. Most of the traded milk is marketed unprocessed, and hardly two percent of the traded milk is processed by the dairy industry in Pakistan. Processed liquid milk in the form of pasteurised milk or ultra-heat-treated (UHT) milk is the main dairy product in Pakistan. Other products include dry powdered milk, cream, butter, butter oil, yoghurt, cheese and ice cream. The milk-manufacturing process includes pasteurization, homogenization, UHT treatment and packing. Through little additional work, cream is also produced during the pasteurization cycle. Pasteurized cream is churned to make butter. In order to obtain butter oil, butter is heated to 90C degrees in ghee-melters and then liquefied. The milk powder-making process primarily involves evaporation and drying. The main steps around which whole ice cream manufacturing process revo lves are pasteurization, homogenization, freezing and packing. But CPP findings show that the major environmental problem of the dairy industry is wastewater, while solid waste, soil pollution and noise pollution are potential aspects of environmental pollution. Wastewater generation at a dairy industry is characterized by very large volumes of discharge besides the pollution loading from various dairy processes. Estimates show that the proportion of the waste discharge at a typical dairy industry per unit of processed milk ranges from 12:1 to 24:1. This is a very high figure considering the typical ratio of 3:1 in cleaner factories in the developed countries. In modern plants this ratio gets as low as 1:1

Analysis Of Star Wars Essay -- Papers

Analysis Of Star Wars This essay will be analysing the opening sequence of Star Wars. It will be focusing on camera angles, binary opposition and codes and conventions. This film is a typical example of sci-fi, we can tell this by the use of visual codes and convention. The film is set in space and Spaceships are in conflict with each other, there are lazers being fired, robots are running around and there is a clear divide between good and evil. At the beginning of the sequence there are words scrolling back into the distance telling a story. This sets the scene and lets the audience know what is happening. When the last of the words have faded the camera tilts down to reveal the surface of a planet. A small ship flys by, then a much larger ship follows. This second ship almost fills the whole screen, which gives a sense of fear and feels slightly intimidating to the audience. Whilst the two ships are battling, the Rebels ship has its main reactor shut down; the Rebels ship is the smaller of the two, and is now unable to move anywhere; we know this because of the first two characters we meet, C3PO and R2D2, these are the two main robots in the film. C3PO is a narrator figure, he tells the audience what is going on and what could happen; He is also the one in panic whereas R2D2 is very calm and laid back. There are many close ups of each robot so the audience feels connected to them, especially C3PO because he seems human. But even though R2D2 is not human people can still connect with him because he is slightly comic in the way he makes noises and the way he talks to himself. Also each robot has its own colour t... ...if that is spiralling too. The camera cuts to outside the Pod; from here it is very clear that the Pod is spiralling down almost out of control. It fades into the distance until it can't be seen. Cutting between characters is sometimes quite rapid in a time of panic of confusion. It's used to show different emotions in the same situation. The camera angles in the film are varied to show different feelings and emotions. For example, when Darth Vader is introduced the camera is tilted up to show he is tall and powerful. Colouring is also very clear, right from the time the audience board a ship it is clear which ship they are on, this is because of the robots colouring and the humans' clothes. The robots are decorated with friendly colours, white, blue and gold, and the humans' clothes are plain with no armour.

Are the Marketing Schemes of Innocent Effective? Essay

1. Introduction Innocent is a non-alcohol beverage company, which makes smoothies, juices, juices for kids and veg pot. Innocent started in 1999 from selling smoothies in music festival. Now Innocent, one of the subsidiary brands of Coca-Cola, has become UK number 1 smoothies brand. Innocent sales in 2012 increased significantly by more than 35% while Coca-Cola, majority stakeholder in Innocent, increase merely 0.8% in the year. Another beverage market leader, Pepsi sales rose gradually by 7.4%. It seems possible that these results are due to the extraordinary marketing management of Innocent founder. Innocent has been a unique-identity healthy and social responsible brand. The increase in innocent sale could be attributed to its unique marketing strategy. This essay would investigate marketing schemes of Innocent that could contribute to this success. This will include background of the brand, marketing schemes based by demography, company social responsibility and recommendation from this study Background Innocent was started in 1999 after selling their smoothies in a music festival. (Innocent,1999) It began with smoothies and expanded into food, juice and juicy water for kids. The name Innocent comes from the main characteristics of drink, which are pure, fresh and unadulterated. (Cheesman,2007) In 2009, Coca Cola Company bought stake from Innocent with 18% stake, Coca-Cola has then gradually increased its share, into 58% in 2010, and a more than 90% shareholding in 2013. (Price,2013) And since the deal with Coca- Cola, â€Å"Innocent has flourished: we’ve doubled in size, improved the social and environmental standards of how fruit is grown, got  our natural, healthy food and drink to more people across Europe and donated millions of pounds to charity† (Innocent, 2013) , (mintel,2013) Innocent is the number-one smoothie brand in the UK and in many of the European territories where the product is sold. (Williams,2014) Now Innocent is available in UK and other 14 count ries. Consumers could find innocent products in Supermarkets and coffee shops. With the good responsible to society, Innocent has donated 10% of profits everyyear to charity since 2004. Main competitor of Innocent is Tropicana, which own by PepsiCo. Tropicana and Innocent have been ranked as top brand of juice and smoothie over this century. Figure 2‑ Leading manufacturer’s shares in the UK’s off-trade fruit juice, juice drink and smoothies market, by value, 2011/12 and 2012/13 (mintel,2013) Figure 2‑ Pie chart of numbers of users of juice and smoothies (Kantar Media,2013) 3. Analysis SWOT analysis of Innocent Brand STRENGTH: S Leading smoothies brand in UK 100% from pure fruit – healthy brand identity Wide distribution channel Ethical brand ïÆ'   environmental, social Various product ranges WEAKNESS: W High price compare to other brands Coca-Cola hold share –> negative effect to healthy brand image OPPORTUNITY: O Lower the price to expand consumer market base Promote innocent as ‘quick and easy smoothies’ instead of ‘do it yourself’ smoothies. Expand market to emerging market THREAT: T Price sensitive market instead of premium product image Substituted products e.g. green tea High competition Table : SWOT analysis of Innocent Brand Table 1 shows the main characteristics of the innocent company, based on SWOT analysis. Segmentation and Target market of Innocent Consumer market segment Innocent main target market Product for target market Concern for Audience Innocent Marketing Approach Children Parents Kid’s beverages Child’s health and well-being Labeling, TV advertisement, Olympic sponsorship Children Fun, Toys Outstanding packaging (plus magnet) , game Teenagers X Juice, Smoothie Sports, Music Olympic sponsorship Young professionals Professional Health (Nutrition) Labeling Online Marketing Olympic sponsorship Middle ages Health (Nutrition), Ethical Corporate social responsibility (CSR) , Online Marketing Olympic sponsorship Seniors Seniors Labeling , TV advertisement, Corporate social responsibility (CSR) Table Analysis of marketing approach by marketing segment From the Table 2, it illustrates the variety of product line and the target customer ranges. Each specific marketing approach could get into most of the target segments. The Innocent product lines consist of smoothies, juice, kid’s beverages and food. From the table, main market target could be divided into 4 groups, which are parents, children, professionals and seniors. Marketing approaches are used differently regarding to the concern of each target segments. Healthy product, or a ‘healthy’ brand identity is a concerned issue for most of Innocent’s target market. Not only do adults buy themselves, Innocent, healthy brand identity products, but adults who have child will also buy their child Innocent because of its healthy brand identity. Promoting the product, which is good for health, can bring a trust to parents. (Mae, 2011Smith,2011) Mothers has also been the innocent target on television advertisement in order to significantly boost on the sales growth of children range . (O’Reilly,2011) With the strong brand identity, Innocent has got the hearts and wallets of the British public. (William,2013) Another outstanding marketing approach of innocent is corporate social responsibility (CSR). CSR has become an essential part of a social-institutional framework. More and more people has experience growing  interest in CSR (Berger, Steurer, Konrad, Martinuzzi,2007) Figure 3‑ Fruit juice ,juice drink and smoothies usages 2013 (mintel,2013) From figure 3-1 brand usage(mintel,2013) , the number of ‘simple the best’ group is the majority of ‘fruit juice, juice drink, and smoothies customer. This group of people, with greater financial freedom than other groups, worries about their look and status. CSR create the positive brand image to consumer, which leads to the positive personal identity of this group customer. (Naqvi,Ishtiaq,Kanwal,Ali,Inderyas,2013) The CSR is then adding more prestige to the product, which this target group loves to buy. Innocent became an official sponsor of London 2012 Olympic game with Coca-Cola, its stakeholder. Smoothies and juices were served to athletes and to visitors in London 2012 Olympic game. (Baker,2011) As the result of the Olympic game, one of the most world popular event, Innocent took advantages to promote their unique brand to great number of people. Within a year of being an Olympi c sponsorship, Innocent sales had boosted by more than 35%. Innocent also provides fun to kids. Children could be attracted naturally with fun games and activities. Not only does Innocent provide entertainment activities to kids but it also provides fun learning resources to perfectly capture parent’s hearts. For instance, Innocent offered one of the various 6 easy to grow seeds within every box of kid’s smoothies and fruit tubes. (thedrum,2012) Compare strategies with competitors Cooperate Social Responsibility (CSR) Cooperate Social Responsiblility (CSR) might not be the most important of every business, although 97% of people would be more positive with the company. From MarketingWeek research(Tesseras,2013), more than 50% of people will buy product or service from a business that are contributing more to the communities. â€Å"Big Knit† the campaign since 2003 thatInnocent work with the Age UK, which is a charity for the aged, to keep elderly people across UK warm & healthy during winter. There has been a fundraising event in every year, which  Innocent has provided the pattern for consumers to knit the tiny hats. Then Innocent puts the hats on the smoothie bottles and sells in supermarket normal shelf. Every bottle sold, 25p goes to age UK. On the other hand, Pepsi and Coca-Cola focus on eco-conscious consumers. Both Pepsi and Coca-Cola have invested significant resources in order to develop and launch environmentally friendly bottles. These two companies try to prove their method to tackle waste and improve renewability. (packaging gateway,2011) Although Innocent, Pepsi and Coca-Cola are all beverage brand, they use different Corporate Social Responsibility dimensions as analyzed in the below parameter table Innocent Pepsi + Coca-Cola Product Juice/smoothies/veg pot Cola drinks CSR dimension (Dahlsrud,2008) Social dimension Environmental dimension Who involve in this activities ‘- Everyone who want to knit ‘- Consumers who buy smoothies with tiny hat ‘- Company’s employee How does the CSR promote ‘- Social media ‘- Company’s website ‘- Company’s website Who gain benefits from this CSR ‘- Age UK ‘- Innocent -> Positive to company + Sale increase from product difference ‘- Environmental ‘- Pepsi /Coca-cola -> Positive to company + Sale increase from environmental awareness person How’s the feedback ‘- Become viral ‘- Brand recognition ‘-This fierce rivalry create potential to effect genuine environmental improvements worldwide. Table CSR parameter table Since Innocent CSR dimension are in social dimension, people could deeply understand and follow more than in environmental dimension which might lead to more easily of the brand recognition in positive way. Big knit donation idea is concrete for customer to know the exactly amount of money they contribute for one product purchase. This can give rise to customer feeling of involvement. Both brands messages of CSR are added on the products. One is labeled on the bottle that it states greener product, while another one is wearing distinguished hat, which built audience a social responsible awareness. The Innocent campaign has become viral starting from official website to personal Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. The photos of knit hat were spread without active pushes from Innocent Company. It is barely seen such a campaign that can connect to its consumers and have consumer’s engagement as same as this before. Feedback and result Figure 3‑ Leading soft drink brands ranked by buzzscore in UK 2013 (statista,2013) Regarding to Big knit, Innocent has a very strong brand reputation. It ranked as the highest with a score of 5.5, followed by Robinsons and Tropicana. The scores based on a survey of respondents that asks: â€Å"If you’ve heard anything about the brand in the last two weeks, through advertising, news or word of mouth, was it positive or negative?†Ã¢â‚¬ ¨(Statista, 2013). The score show between January and December 2013. Table Leading brand juice market value (Mintel,2012) From many strategies of Innocent show the outstanding differential to other brands, as seen in table 3, and also the unique ability to make consumer trust. With consumer trust and innovative marketing, Innocent improves their market share of juice market every year. Innocent stands out the most; especially for women under the age of 35 .The simple idea is always differentiated with the use of dynamic marketing. However, Tropicana get the most trust from consumer. It is the number one fruit juice brand in usage, and this helped to boost trust within it. (Mintel, 2013) Figure 3‑ graph shown differentiation vs trust (Mintel,2013) (Statista, 2013) Recommendation With a strong CSR reputation of Innocent brand, other company can study and take innocent as an example to get the noticeable consumer involvement in CSR campaign. With the similar strategy, not only company will get positive image as an advantages, it will be also consumer market expansion. To clarify more, the similar social CSR dimension campaign will be used as an example. Thai Bev Company, which produces Chang beer in Thailand, distributes blankets to disadvantaged people during the winter. The beer company spread its awareness of CSR efforts via mass media that make lots of people know about the CSR campaign. However, the consumers do not felt into the social contribution while purchasing the product as same as the consumers of the innocent do in the BIG KNIT campaign 4. Conclusion After analyzing all the relevant information, it can be concluded that the market scheme of innocent is very effective in many aspects. Firstly, according to brand identities, innocent has its own unique style, which differentiate to other brands and make its product stand in the premium segment. Secondly, with creative style of CSR strategy, this not only makes the name of the brand spread rapidly, but also increases sales and positive image of the brand in the same time. Lastly, innocent CSR strategy may be one of the groundbreaking campaigns, which will be noticeably beneficial case study that other company should follow. References: Academic.mintel.com,. (2014). Login to Mintel Reports – Mintel Group Ltd. [online]. Available from: http://academic.mintel.com/display/660486/?highlight [Accessed August 25, 2014]. Academic.mintel.com,. (2014). Login to Mintel Reports – Mintel Group Ltd. [online]. Available from: http://academic.mintel.com/display/686853/?highlight#hit1 [Accessed August 23, 2014]. Academic.mintel.com,. (2014). Login to Mintel Reports – Mintel Group Ltd. [online]. Available from: http://academic.mintel.com/display/686851/?highlight#hit1 [Accessed August 25, 2014]. Anon. (2014). [online]. Available from: )http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/article/1059824/Innocent-plots-mums-drive-kids-line [Accessed August 24, 2014]. innocent – little tasty drinks,. (2014). innocent – little tasty drinks. [online]. Available from: http://www.Innocentdrinks.co.uk/us/our-story [Accessed August 24, 2014]. innocent – little tasty drinks,. (2014). innocent – little tasty dri nks. [online]. Available from: http://www.Innocentdrinks.co.uk/us/our-investor [Accessed August 25, 2014]. innocent – little tasty drinks,. (2014). innocent – little tasty drinks. [online]. Available from: http://www.Innocentdrinks.co.uk/london2012 [Accessed August 25, 2014]. Johnson, S. (2014). Case study-Innocent Drinks Ltd. cimaglobal. [online]. Available from: http://www.cimaglobal.com/Documents/About%20us%20docs/Case%20study/Case_Study_Innocent.pdf [Accessed August 25, 2014]. Marketingweek.co.uk,. (2013). CSR: Making business personal | Trends | Marketing Week. [online]. Available from: http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/trends/csr-making-business-personal/4006563.article [Accessed August 25, 2014]. Marketingweek.co.uk,. (2011). Innocent joins Coke as Olympic sponsor | News | Marketing Week. [online]. Available from: http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/Innocent-joins-coke-as-olympic-sponsor/3032450.article [Accessed August 25, 2014]. Marketingweek.co.uk,. (2011). Innocent to roll out more products in 2011 as  £2.7m ad campaign launched | News | Marketing Week. [online]. Available from: http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/Innocent-to-roll-out-more-products-in-2011-as-27m-ad-campaign-launched/3021959.article [Accessed August 25, 2014]. Naqvi, S. et al. (2014). Impact of Corporate Social responsibility on Brand image in Different FMCGs of Pakistan. journal-archieves32. [online]. Available from: http://journal-archieves32.webs.com/79-93.pdf [Accessed August 26, 2014]. Packaging-gateway.com,. (2014). Bottle of the brands: Coke and Pepsi go green – Packaging Gateway. [online]. Available from: http://www.packaging-gateway.com/features/featurebottle-of-the-brands-coke-and-pepsi-go-green/ [Accessed August 22, 2014]. Santanderbreakthrough.co.uk,. (2014). Innocent Drinks Masterclass | Breakthrough. [online]. Available from: http://www.santanderbreakthrough.co.uk/inspiration/masterclass/Innocent-drinks-masterclass [Accessed August 25, 2014]. Statista,. (2014). Top soft drink brands ranked by Buzz score UK 2013 | Statistic. [online]. Available from: http://www.statista.com/statistics/310339/leading-soft-drink-brands-ranked-by-buzz-score-in-the-united-kingdom/ [Accessed August 25, 2014]. Statista,. (2014). UK leading brands of ready-to-drink fruit & vegetable juice 2013 | TGI survey. [online]. Available from: http://www.statista.com/statistics/308483/leading-brands-of-ready-to-drink-fruit-and-vegetable-juice-and-smoothies-in-the-uk/ [Accessed August 25, 2014]. Steurer, R. et al. (2014). Analysis of national policies on CSR. sustainability.eu. [online]. Available from: http://www.sustainability.eu/pdf/csr/policies/CSR%20Awareness%20Raising_final%20report_31%20May%2007.pdf [Accessed August 26, 2014]. Writer, S. (2014). Innocent marketing campaign aims to get kids into gardening with free seed packs.The Drum. [online]. Available from: http://www.thedrum.com/news/2012/02/22/Innocent-marketing-campaign-aims-get-kids-gardening-free-seed-packs [Accessed August 25, 2014].

Obesity: Nutrition and Fast Food Essay

Throughout the past ten years, childhood obesity rates have skyrocketed in the United States. Many experts and studies claim that parents are the ones to blame for their children’s unhealthy eating habits. However, today kids live in a world where marketing innovations have made eating fast food the norm, so how much influence do parents really have on their children? In my view, America’s childhood obesity epidemic is a direct result of fast-food marketing techniques that expand advertisements throughout schools, promote junk food on television, and increase portion sizes in restaurants. Schools are powerful marketing sites of fast food, seeing as they provide students the option of eating from outlets such as McDonald’s and Pizza Hut on a daily basis. Writer, David Barboza claims how numerous schools have special agreements with fast-food chains to sell their products. For example, he mentions how, â€Å"Vending machines now dominate school corridors. Coca-Cola and PepsiCo have pouring rights contracts in hundreds of schools nationwide,† (2). By offering sugary beverages and other snacks all over campuses, schools are advocating unhealthy eating habits that in turn lead to obesity. When educators make fast food available at their schools, they are increasing funding yet they are providing students with meals that contain hundreds of calories. Although many schools do not have contracts with fast food companies, they still make junk food accessible by having special days dedicated to fast food. For example, writer Barboza describes how a school in Garden City, Kansas has â€Å"Pizza Hut Days,† (2). Ultimately, by virtue of scheduling days where fast food is often the only lunch option, schools are forcing students to decide between preparing their own meals or simply consuming the junk food that they offer. Since many students are not able to prepare their own meals, they end up consuming an incredible amount of calories from the fast food offered at the school that eventually leads to obesity. All over the United States, schools advertise fast food in order to make profits and do not pay attention to how they are influencing  childhood obesity rates. Apart from schools, television is one of the most influential marketing mediums for the selling of fast food to children because advertisements are constantly impacting kids via children’s networks such as Disney Channel or Nickelodeon. Barboza claims that fast food advertisements using program characters as pitchmen are taking over television channels. For instance, he describes how â€Å"SpongeBob SquarePants has his own show, but also sells Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, Popsicles, Kleenex, etc,† (2). Barboza then discusses how Nicky Greenberg who is six years old knows the SpongeBob SquarePants song and eats Kellog’s Cinnamon Toast Crunch because she loves the commercials that feature SpongeBob (2-3). Through the use of a Nickelodeon characters such as SpongeBob, television is influencing young kids to develop unhealthy eating habits that can lend to obesity or Type 2 Diabetes. Fast food companies take advantage of these well-known television characters and use them as pitchmen to increase their profits, without caring that by promoting their high calorie foods they are in turn expanding waistlines. All in all persuasive fast-food advertisements on television are making kids believe a lie: that the consumption of junk food does not lead to obesity. Another significant advertising technique that contributes to childhood obesity is the increase of portion sizes. Writer David Zinczenko describes how fast food companies add on various ingredients and sugary beverages that make even a healthy meal unhealthy. For example, he describes a chicken salad that initially contains 150 calories, but turns out to be more than 1,040 calories with the additional almonds, noodles, dressing, and Coke (10). Not only are portions increased in fast food restaurants by adding more ingredients to the meal, but also by super-sizing foods. For instance, writer Susan Brownlee communicates how McDonald’s supersized its products when they introduced the 32 ounce â€Å"super size† soda and â€Å"super size† fries (5). Whether fast-food restaurants add more items to the overall meal or make food bigger, kids essentially end up consuming unnecessary calories and this gives rise to obesity at an early age. As soon as fast food restaurants change their portion sizes, childhood obesity rates will begin to decrease because kids will consume fewer calories. Although an increased portion  sizes bring in high profits now, this process will deteriorate when consumers see how the extra calories are affecting their lives. Overall dozens of fast-food marketing techniques are at fault for the childhood obesity epidemic in the United States. Yet the most influential of these techniques are the advertisements in schools and on television, as well as the increase of servings at chain restaurants. Critics might say, that parents must take the personal responsibility to prohibit children from watching certain channels or going to certain places. However, what happens when children are at their friend’s house where there are no restrictions on T.V., or out and about with their friends at the mall’s food court, who protects them then? One way to resolve increasing childhood obesity rates due to persuasive fast food promotions is to inform kids how to prepare healthier meals. Unless people take action against fast food marketing, childhood obesity will remain a problem across the United States.

The Effects of Nuclear Weapons on Plants, Animals and Humans

The Effects of Nuclear Weapons on Plants, Animals and Humans Purpose of the research: The purpose of this research is to evaluate the effects of nuclear weapons on plants, animals and humans. The hypothesis for this research is that nuclear weapons-related radiation has far reaching consequences on the health and the general welfare of the affected human population, and also affects animals as well as plants in the affected area.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on The Effects of Nuclear Weapons on Plants, Animals and Humans specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Research Methods: This research paper is based on a review of literature. My point of research will be internet data gathered from different websites, which have documented research findings on the subject of nuclear weapons and their effect on the plants, humans and animals. The research paper is based on the facts found during the research. Introduction To date, Hiroshima and Nagasaki goes down in history as the two surviving cities where nuclear weapons were used during the World War 2 and to devastating effects. Apart from the instant deaths that occurred right after Americans bombed Hiroshima and three days later, Nagasaki, thousands of deaths have been registered due to radiation related illnesses occurring from the two bombs. Although there are no accurate numbers of the deaths in Hiroshima, the United Nations estimates that by December 1945, the death count was at about 140,000 people (Sublette, 1997; Walker, 2005). The Nagasaki death count on the other hand is estimated at 70,000 people. Apart from the deaths, the survivors and their descendants continue registering bodily injuries and other damaging effects to date (US dept. of Energy, 2007). Literature review According to D’Arrigo (2004), radiation is â€Å"energy that travels in waves†. Unfortunately for humans, radiation can not be smelled, felt, seen or heard. In a nuclear weapon blast, nuclear radiation is usually 15 percent of the activity, with 50 percent of the explosion being presented as blast energy and the remaining 35 percent as thermal energy (atomic archives, 2008). Of the 15 percent nuclear radiation, 5 percent affects animals, plants and humans as the initial radiation. Such occurs within a very short period of the explosion usually less than three minutes (atomarchive.com, 2008, p.1). The remaining 10 percent nuclear radiation is gradual, which involves radioactivity of fission products usually present in the weapon debris, residue and explosion fallout. Fallout radiation usually occurs minutes after the nuclear explosion and happens from radioactive distributed in the air above the explosion site during the explosion. Advertising Looking for research paper on environmental studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The radioactive particles eventually fall to the ground. In the rainy season, the rain water carries t he contaminated water to wider areas therefore causing more radiation effects to plants and animals. Naturally, the earth releases natural radiation that affects human being, animals and plants and can lead to cancers in both animals and humans. In the case of the World War II bombings, the radiation that occurred during the two bombs led to fatalities within a 500 meters radius of where the bomb was dropped. However, people as far as five kilometers from the bombing place would later start developing symptoms of radiation poisoning, which included radiation related cancers. According to Linsley (1997), the environment has cosmic radiation that exposes all organisms to natural radionuclide. However, nuclear weapons contain artificial radionuclide, which have higher adverse effects than those that occur naturally. D’Arrigo (2004), states that uranium that is usually found in the ground lacks in the concentration and the interactivity that would negatively affect the environmen t to great levels. However, human beings have over the years learnt the art of mining the same, enriching it and converting it to gaseous forms such as Uranium-234, Uranium-235 and Uranium-238 among others (Auxier, 2004). The enriched Uranium is then used as nuclear reactors, nuclear power or fuel. While the fuel form may seem like the least harmful to human beings, D’Arrigo (2004) states that every link in the fuel chain creates radioactive emissions, which are released into the environment consequently adding to the background radiation that affects human, plants and other organisms. That aside, there is growing concern that the nuclear weapons even though never used on the human population again since World War II, continue releasing radiation to the environment during creation and testing. The negative effects in radiation comes from ionized radiation, which according to D’Arrigo (2004) breaks molecular bonds hence causing erratic chemical reactions. According to D’Arrigo (2004), ionizing radiation is the energy or matter produced by an unstable atom’s nucleus as it decays or tries to reach a stable state. The energy released is either in form of waves (X rays or gamma rays) or subatomic particles (beta and alpha). Uranium, which is used in the production of nuclear weapons, is among the radioactive elements that result in man-made radiation and radionuclide.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on The Effects of Nuclear Weapons on Plants, Animals and Humans specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More When radiation hits the cells or tissues of living organisms, it either damages or kills it. According to D’Arrigo (2004), a damaged cell is well able to rejuvenate and heal correctly. However, this does not happen all the time. In some cases, the cells or tissues repair incorrectly thus impairing their ability to grow or reproduce or it can repair incorrectly, but still reproduce. When the latter happens, the defects of the cell or tissue are passed over to subsequent generations. Nuclear radiation has also been found to reduce the immunity of animals and human beings drastically thus compromising their ability to fight off diseases (Sublette, 1997). More to this, radiation causes mutations in the body cells, and especially in the defective body cells thus meaning that the spread of cancer is more probable in people and animals exposed to nuclear radiation than people in normal environments (D’Arrigo, 2004; Pike, 1998). Testing of nuclear weapons continue releasing ionizing radiation pollutants into the environment. According to Catcott (2003, p. 228), the effect of ionizing radiation released by such tests takes two forms; 1) acute radiation effects, 2) long-term or delayed effects. In Acute radiation effects, signs of injury develop within hours and could last up-to weeks after exposure. Such effects occur to areas close enough to the testing sites. Long term or delayed effects on the other hand are not immediately noticeable, but eventually, the effects lead to the development of different types of cancers among the affected population, shortened life spans, which involves non-specific aging and/or mutation effects in the genes of the affected population. The latter could last for generations following the initial exposure to ionizing radiation. According to Glasstone Dolan (1977, p. 542), radiation in nuclear weapons either occurs as nuclear radiation or thermal radiation. Of these, nuclear radiation is the most intense, often palling in comparison to the effects of the blast and the thermal radiation. This however greatly varies according to the position of the nuclear attack. An air bust, a surface burst and an underground burst would all have different levels of radiation. Using the World War II airburst nuclear attacks on the two cities in Japan as an example, Glasstone Dolan (1977, p. 543) concludes that the kind of shelter that people (and animals) are during nuclear attacks affect the level of their exposure to radiation. Statistics on deaths and injuries during the Japanese attacks indicate that people who were outdoors died most, while those inside wooden structured suffered more casualties than those housed in brick or concrete buildings. Research findings Burns According to Glasstone Dolan(1977, p. 560), nuclear weapons-related thermal radiation causes burns on people and animals directly through the absorption of radiant energy through the skin or indirectly through heating and consequent of ignition of clothes. Advertising Looking for research paper on environmental studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Direct burns are referred to as â€Å"flash burns† since they are caused by the flash that occurs when the nuclear fireball releases the thermal radiation. Indirect burns on the other hand are known as â€Å"flame burns† or â€Å"contact burns†, and are similar to skin burns sustained during ordinary fires or through contact with hot objects. In the Japanese case, Glasstone Dolan (1977, p. 565), notes that the flash burns were more than flame burns. This was especially because the two bombs targeted highly populated areas, and the fact that the weather in Japan at that time was warm. In Nagasaki alone, it is reported that 42,000 people suffered flash burns in areas as far as 1.1 miles away from the nuclear bomb. Less serious cases of flash burns were reported as far as 2.6 miles from the nuclear bomb site (Glasstone Dolan, 1977, p. 566). Radiation contamination According to Catcott (2003, p. 227), radiation from nuclear weapon testing contaminate human and ani mals’ food chain. The radioactive elements deposited in the soil, are eventually taken up by plants or washed into the water bodies. The plants may be eaten directly as human food, or are eaten by animals, which may end up on the dinner table. While current statistics indicate that contamination through such means is negligible at the moment, not research has ever found how much the human body can tolerate the contaminated food supply chain. Researchers however indicate that there is bound to be some long-term biological effects on animals and humans if the radiation-contaminated food continues to be eaten (Catcott, 2003, p. 230) Eye Injury According to Glasstone Dolan (1977, p. 567), nuclear radiation can also cause Keratitis- an eye condition where the cornea becomes inflamed. In cases where thermal radiation exposure to the eyes is high, permanent cornea opacity can occur. This happens because the cornea is the transparent part of the eye, which registers thermal energy received as part of the spectrum by the eye in normal circumstances. This is however a reversible condition and most people regain normal eyesight in approximately three years (Glasstone Dolan, 1977, p. 570). Researchers however suggest that if a nuclear explosion is to be conducted in the night, when it is usually dark and hence the eye pupil is bigger, the thermal radiation would be more intense. More to this, they also suggest that if the nuclear fireball occurs near the visual proximity of most people, the effects of the thermal radiation would also be dire. According to the researchers however, the fact that the pupil is often shielded from intense light from the eyelids comes as a mitigating factor since it the lids would prevent the inner eye from too much exposure to the thermal radiation (Glasstone Dolan, 1997, p. 571). The bright flash that accompanies a nuclear weapon detonation usually produces two effects to the eyes: retinal burns and flash-blindness. Retinal burns are permanent injuries to the eyes, which happens when the retinal tissue if exposed to excess temperatures. This is especially the case when a person looks directly at a fireball thus exposing their eyes to the intense heat generated by the fireball. According to Glasstone Dolan (1977, p. 571), the primary pigmented cells in the eye absorbs most of the radiation energy generated during a fireball explosion and consequently increases the temperature in the eye. Temperature increases of between 12 to 20 degrees centigrade in the eye, causes thermal injury, which injures not only the pigmented layers, but the adjoining rods and cones. This in turn causes permanent visual loss in the affected part of the retina. According to Glasstone Dolan (1977, p. 571), humans are naturally inclined to look at an exploding fireball thus increasing their chances of suffering retinal damages. However, unless the damage to the retina is expansive, some people rarely notice they have suffered any d amages. This is especially the case when the damage is minor and centrally located along the central axis of one’s vision. The latter is the temporary impairment of sight, which occurs from the bleaching â€Å"rods and cones†, which act as the light sensitive elements in the retina. This condition can occur in people and animals that look directly at the fireball, or from scattered light affecting the eyes of people and animals that were looking elsewhere when the fireball exploded. Sufferers of flash blindness (even in cases where nuclear weapons are not involved), state that their entire visual fields are blurred out and in their place the bright afterimage of the fireball or any other bright light remains as the constant image. This however only last for a few minutes before the affected people regains their normal vision. Ionization and its effect on living organisms According to Glasstone Dolan (1977, p. 575), the harmful effects registered in nuclear weapons-re lated radiations are mainly from the ionization and excitation processes, which occur in cells of a living organism once it is exposed to the radiation. When ionization occurs, some cell constituents responsible for its normal functioning are either destroyed or altered. More to this, the products that are formed as cells react to the radiation may be poisonous to the cell, and may result in chromosome breakages, swollen nucleus, swollen cells, increased cell fluid viscosity, weaker cell membranes and hence higher permeability, or even overall destruction of the affected cells. Iodizing radiation not only breaks or damages the chromosomes but also damages the DNA when the unstable compounds and free radicals are formed when molecules in the body react with the radiation compounds. More to this Sublette (1997), states that the reactions in the cells interfere with the normal cell chemistry hence resulting in immediate effects on both the replication and metabolic processes. The lon g term effects mainly relate to the genetic structure of the affected population, and this is usually passed over to their offspring’s. Further research suggests that when a cell is exposed to radiation, mitosis (cell division) is less frequent. In such a case, the normal replacement cycle for the cells in inhibited this affecting the general well being of the organism. In the event of a nuclear explosion, the immediate radiation would cause burn and eye infections as discussed above, but the long-term effects would take anything between several weeks to almost a millennia in plants, animals as well as human beings (Glasstone Dolan, 1977. P. 576; Pike, 1998). In addition to the burns and the effects to the eyes, animals and humans suffer other symptoms immediately or weeks after suffering the radiation exposure. Such include nausea, vomiting, malaise and loss of appetite. Glasstone Dolan (1977, p. 583) states that the higher the doses of radiation exposure one experiences, the higher the intensity of the symptoms. Usually, these symptoms disappear within a day or two of development only to re-appear after two or more weeks. This time however, they may include fever and diarrhea. Glasstone Dolan (1977, p. 583) further indicates that more often than not sufferers of nuclear radiation poisoning will start to hemorrhage in various body organs including the skin. Blood in the urine usually suggests that the kidneys too are bleeding. When hemorrhage occurs, it is an indication that the radiation affected the blood platelets and the clotting mechanism. Other symptoms seen as a result of nuclear weapons related radiation include loss of hair, and the body becoming more susceptible to disease, which it would normally be able to deal with. This is mainly because the radiation affects the white blood cells as well thus jeopardizing the body’s immunity. Bioaccumulation The radioactive materials released in the event of a nuclear explosion leads to the re lease if radionuclide into the environment. Accordingly, this leads to an increased circulation of the same in the biosphere. In such a case, the radionuclides end up in water bodies, plant tissues and animal tissue. According to D’arrigo (2004; Bushberg, 2009), this bioaccumulation of radionuclide ends in the biosphere affects animals on the high part of the food chain. Further, the effects to human beings who eat vegetables and meat from the same biosphere are undeniable. An example of the radionuclide harmful to both human and animal health is Strontium 90, which according to D’Arrigo (2004), mimics calcium and is thus deposited in the bones consequently causing leukemia or bone cancer. Cobalt on the other hand mimics vitamin B6. Conclusion The effects of nuclear weapons on human, animal and plant lives were laid bare by the Hiroshima and Nagasaki incidences in 1945. Research into the same subject suggest that nuclear radiation is able to cause short-term and long term misery to human and animal lives. As such, it is comprehensible even to the layman the fear that nuclear weapons elicit even to the world powers. Regulatory agencies have been put in place to ensure that necessary measures are put into place in order to protect human beings as well as animals from radiation. However, different experts allude that enough protective measures are not in place yet. Whether this is true or not remains to be seen. References Atomic archives (2008). The effects of nuclear weapons. Retrieved from: atomicarchive.com/Effects/index.shtml Auxier, J. A. (2004). The effects of Nuclear Weapons. Retrieved from: hps.org/hsc/documents/effects_of_nuclear_weapons.pdf Bushberg, J. T. (2009). Radiation exposure and contamination. The Merck Manuals. Retrieved from: merck.com/mmpe/sec21/ch317/ch317a.html Catcott, E. J. (2003). Effects of Air Pollution on animals. 221-232. Retrieved from http://whqlibdoc.who.int/monograph/WHO_MONO_46_(p221).pdf D’Arrigo, D. ( 2004). Ionizing radiation from nuclear power and weapons and its impacts on animals. Retrieved from: nirs.org/radiation/radstds/radiationandanimals.pdf Glasstone, S. Dolan, P. L. (1977). The effects of Nuclear Weapons. United States Department of Defense and The Energy Research and Development Administration. 276-316. Retrieved from: princeton.edu/sgs/publications/articles/effects/effects-5.pdf Linsley, G. (1997). Radiation and the environment: Assessing effects on plants and animals. IAEA Bulletin. 16-20. Retrieved from: iaea.org/Publications/Magazines/Bulletin/Bull391/39102681720.pdf Pike, J. (1998). Nuclear Weapon Effects. Federation of American Scientists. Retrieved from: fas.org/nuke/intro/nuke/effects.htm Sublette, C. (1997). Effects of nuclear explosions: nuclear weapons frequently asked questions. Retrieved from: http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Nwfaq/Nfaq5.html US dept. of Energy. (2007).The Atomic bombing of Hiroshima. The Manhattan project: an interactive History. Retriev ed from: cfo.doe.gov/me70/manhattan/hiroshima.htm Walker, G. (2005). Nuclear weapons: history, technology and consequences in historic documents, photos and videos. Trinity Atomic Website. Retrieved from: cddc.vt.edu/host/atomic/accident/index.html

Canaanite Influence on the Early Israelite Religion

Canaanite Influence on the Early Israelite Religion Free Online Research Papers The humble origins of the bible and the religion of the Israelites belie the significant impact it has had on the history of mankind; crusades, genocides, and political insurrection have all occurred in its name. While few would refute the influence it has had, many of the parables and histories portrayed in the Bible are by no means original. General story lines and motifs from ancient writings are spread throughout the Old Testament. Possibly no culture played a more noteworthy role in the development of this monotheistic writing and religion more than the contemporary culture and cult of the Canaanites. The use of the term â€Å"Canaanite† is ambiguous and can be slightly misleading. In modern biblical readings, it is often used to classify a tribe or ethnicity of people. However, it does not appear that was its original meaning. The name Canaanite, scholars’ agree, refers to a group of independent city-states in an area extending from Lebanon in the north to the Nile in Egypt and from the Eastern Mediterranean coast to the Jordan River Valley. The simplistic view of the Canaanites as a homogenous ethnically similar group of people must therefore be abandoned and replaced with a more accurate portrayal as a loose affiliation of city-states, competing against one another for lucrative trade routes between Ancient Egypt and other major civilizations in Mesopotamia. In spite of this competition (or perhaps because of it), interactions amongst the various city-states did lead to similar cultural motifs, the most addressed of which were their religious beliefs. The peoples of Canaan, along with most other civilizations of the time, had a belief system that at first appears to be based on highly diverse pantheons of distinct gods (polytheism). Original support for this view of Canaanite religion came from archeological evidence like the cuneiform tablets found at Ugarit which contain lists of numerous gods, their histories and place in the pantheon, and descriptions of rituals to appease them. Written down by Ilimilku from Shubbani through the dictation of the head priest, Attanu-Purlianni, in the early 1300 BCE, it gives us important insight into the beliefs purported by the priesthood. It is important to remember though that nearly all the commoners at this time were illiterate and therefore, unable to utilize these tablets.2 The writings were the product of the elite for the elite. Once modern misconceptions of ancient people are removed, the polytheism recorded and thus preserved by the Canaanite elite does not seem to represent the religion of the masses. For the vast majority of people living in the land of Canaan during the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age, life was filled with political insurrection and societal infighting. The Egyptian New Kingdom, most notably under Thutmose III in the mid 14th century BCE, campaigned and eventually integrated much of southern Canaan into its empire for a time. Adding to this disarray, pastoral tribes present in northern Canaan began settling in the urban areas of the Canaanite city-states as well as several coastal areas, bringing their conflicting religious practices and culture.3 Under this backdrop, the people of the land of Canaan could not be taken from their toils to appease the hundreds of gods their religion posited. Possibly in order to simplify matters or to have a more personal connection to a divine being, each city-state had a patron deity or couple deities that protected and controlled their interests. The royal families of each city-state were incorporated to a great extent into this religious system. Divine patronage, a religious practice in which the king derives his power from the patron god, was utilized in most Canaanite city-states (as well as Old Kingdom Egyptians).2 By this claim, the king was given legitimacy to rule and his commands were unquestionable. In return for the people’s obedience, the king was expected to be just and bring peace and prosperity to his people. When the king failed in these duties, the patron god brought retribution in the form of outside enemies and crop failures. An example of this belief is described by Professor Noll of Brandon University; King Mesha of Moab claimed his cities own deity brought outside invaders to destroy the people because of t he actions of his predecessor. Only his divine ascendancy to king saved the people.2 If one was to consider the extent to which the patron god was worshipped, the Canaanite religion might be better classified as a henotheism (the elevation of one deity over all the others). In a similar way, according to Dr. Weippert as cited by Othmar Keel, the Israelite people in pre-exilic times were polytheistic but with the majority of veneration and sacrifice directed toward the national deity Yahweh.4 In his divine capacity, like their contemporary Canaanite city-state patron gods, Yahweh communicated his will and justice to the people through various kings and prophets. An example of this can be found in 1 Kings 3 where Solomon receives guidance from god in a dream after a thousand sacrifices to appease Yahweh had been burnt at Gibeon. In addition, Yahweh punished his kingdom when they did not abide by his wishes. The Israelite God represented in the Bible is in many ways similar to the patron gods of Canaan with one major exception. The covenant with Yahweh was between the people of Israel and not their king. Going even further to assert the similarities between Canaanite and early Israelite religion, Dr. Weippert proposed, â€Å"Yahweh, the national god of Israel did not stand alone in pre-exilic times he had a goddess [Asherah] next to himself.†4 Asherah was Yahweh’s consort and as such carried significant power. It is important to note that the Canaanite’s originally worshipped Asherah as the consort of their high god El. The temples dedicated to her were home to the prostitutes and sacred fertility rituals later staunchly denounced in the Bible. The downfall of the significance of Asherah by the early Israelites is asserted by many feminist theologians to be the direct result of an emerging patriarchal society that wished to downplay the role women had in religious affairs. 2 4 In many ways, religious beliefs of the day were a foundation by which the morals and customs of the society could be justified. By removing the fertility goddess Asherah, and thereby any female divinity, priests were able to justify the subservient role women played in the new society. According to Dr. Weipper, his hypothesis that pre-exilic Israelites were polytheistic is supported by inscriptions at the archaeological site of Kuntillet Ajrud in Sinai.4 Along the unearthed sanctuary walls, inscriptions can be found of both the Canaanite gods (El, Baal, and specifically Asherah) and the Israelite god Yahweh. However, there is a large amount of disagreement about the significance of these inscriptions. Biblical scholars dismiss the findings at Kuntillet Ajrud contending that, while pre-exilic Israelites were aware of the Canaanite religious pantheon, they did not share in the worship of them. Dr. Weippert rejects this theory by noting the familiarity with which the inscribers wrote of Baal and El, as well as certain characteristics later ascribed to Yahweh that were originally meant to represent Baal.4 Notable similarities between the storm god Baal and Yahweh appear in Deuteronomy 33:26-27. â€Å"Ancient sources demonstrate that both gods control the weather, ride on clouds, defeat mythical beasts that symbolize the chaotic floodwaters threatening the earth, and rule as divine king.†2 In name only was there a significant distinction between Yahweh and Baal to the people of Canaan. This must have been noticed by early biblical writers, as many parables and much rhetoric revolved around proving the Canaanite gods false.2 The similarities between Baal, El, and Yahweh are part of a larger trend of adaptation and manipulation of Canaanite deities’ names and attributes occurring well before the Early Iron Age. Whether or not the Israelites and their religion were descended from an earlier tribe of Canaan or were simply influenced by a contemporary society, it is undeniable that the religion of the people of Canaan had a significant impact on the formation of the Israelites monotheist belief structure. The Canaanites city-state patron god framework created a template that was later built upon by the Israelites. Evolving from a polytheist pantheon of gods, into a henotheist view of an omnipotent Yahweh with his consort, the early Israelites ultimately reformed their ideas into a practical monotheistic view that allowed for no other gods but Yahweh. References: Coogan, Michael David. 1978. Stories from Ancient Canaan. Westminster: John Knox Press. Gnuse, Robert. 1999. â€Å"The Emergence of Monotheism in Ancient Israel: A Survey of Recent Scholarship.† Religion 29: 315–336 Golden, Jonathan Michael. 2004. Ancient Canaan and Israel. ABC-CLIO Othmar Keel, Christoph Uehlinger, Thomas H. Trapp. 1998. Gods, Goddesses, and Images of God in Ancient Israel. Continuum International Publishing Group. Noll, K. 2007. Canaanite religion. Religion Compass 1:61–92. Research Papers on Canaanite Influence on the Early Israelite ReligionAssess the importance of Nationalism 1815-1850 EuropeBringing Democracy to Africa19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraRelationship between Media Coverage and Social andEffects of Television Violence on ChildrenInfluences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesMind TravelPETSTEL analysis of IndiaQuebec and CanadaComparison: Letter from Birmingham and Crito

Abuse of elderly - Smart Custom Writing Samples

Abuse of elderly - Smart Custom Writing French architectureReliable history of French architecture begins with the Middle Ages, from the XI century, as reliable information about the earlier Celtic and Frankish cultures did not survive. In France, mainly in the south, in Provence and Dauphine, the remains of temples of the Gallo-Roman period are saved. Among numerous places of worship and fantastic beauty are two buildings – Chartres Cathedral and Pantheon. From the point of view of Art History these masterpieces attract universal attention. For this paper just these very buildings were chosen because of great popularity, unique history, out of the ordinary design etc. All these factors make the work given unusual, interesting for readers and informative for those who studies Art History. As France is home to the Gothic style, it is considered that foundation is the church architecture, French Gothic reaches its peak in the era of "rayonnat" style, vivid example of which is the cathedral of Chartres; Pantheon, in tu rn, is one of the most magnificent buildings in Paris of neoclassical style. This significant difference, which is expressed in design, materials, technology, lay-out, decoration and function was the reason for writing such paper. It also can be considered as a comparative characteristic among the reasons of showing the interest to this topic. Chartres Cathedral shows the highest achievements of Gothic architecture. The three-building plan is a Latin cross with a short three-nave and transept deambulatory. The eastern part of the temple has several semi-circular radial chapels. Three of them were markedly in favor of the boundary of semicircle deambulatory, the four other are less deep. At the time of construction the vaults of Chartres Cathedral were the highest in France, which was achieved through the use of based on the abutment of flying buttresses. Additional flying buttresses supporting the apse, appeared in the XIV century. Chartres Cathedral was the first in the construction of which was used this architectural element, which gives it a completely unprecedented external shape, increased the size of windows and the height of the nave (36 feet).[1] Feature of the appearance of the cathedral are its two very different towers. 105-meter spire of the south tower built in 1140 is in the form of unpretentious Romanesque pyramid. North tower of 113 feet has a base, the remainder of the Romanesque cathedral and the spire of the tower appeared at the beginning of the XVI century in the style of Flamboyant Gothic. Chartres Cathedral has nine portals, three of which have survived from the old Romanesque cathedral. Northern portal dates from the year 1230 and contains a sculpture of the Old Testament characters. South Portal, created between 1224 and 1250 years, using stories of the New Testament to the central composition, dedicated to Judgment. Western portal of Christ and the Virgin Mary, popularly known as the Royal, is dated 1150 and is known for depicting Christ in glory, established in the XII century. Entrances to the north and south transepts are decorated with sculptures of the XIII century. Total decorations of the cathedral ha ve about 10,000 sculptures of stone and glass. On the south side of the cathedral are astronomical clock of the XVI century. Before the failure of the mechanism in 1793, they showed not only time but also the day of the week, month, time of sunrise and sunset, moon phases and the current zodiac sign.[2] The shape of Pantheon is also the cross (pic. 2). It is located on top of the hill of Saint Genevieve. Pantheon is a temple with a large dome, built in honor of the patroness of Paris, St. Genevieve. It was built in 1758-1789 under the project of Soufflet in the heart of the Latin Quarter. During the French Revolution, it was decided to use it as a shrine to the outstanding French. It is a huge structure: its length of 110 meters, width 82 m, height 83 m. crosswise building is topped by a huge dome. Huge powerful facade, on the pediment is the famous inscription â€Å"AUX GRANDS HOMMES LA PATRIE RECONNAISSANTE† ("Grateful motherland to great people"). Soufflet decided to recreate the typical Gothic architecture sensations of light, space and proportion in the classic (if not Roman) forms. To this end, he took advantage of the plan in the form of a Greek cross, the nave and chapels which were designed as a system of flat arches and semicircular arches, supported by rows of colu mns in the interior. Bulk composition of the building develops the idea of central-domical facilities, of having in terms the outlines of a Greek cross. Central dome rises to a height of almost 120 m. Its goal in this project was the combination of strict regularity and monumental Romanesque vaulted ceilings with graceful ease of supporting columns and freestanding Corinthian columns. In its plan the church had the form of a Greek cross, with a facade placed huge temple pediment. Free-standing columns were unable to maintain the dome of the building, and it eventually had been propped up. The outer surfaces of the walls almost without decoration solved using the classical contrast of dismembered and undifferentiated mass.[3]   As it can be seen, both the Pantheon and Chartres Cathedral have the shape of cross in their planning and Gothic style of building in the base. No less remarkable is the interior of the Chartres cathedral. The spacious nave, unmatched in all of France, rushes to the magnificent apse in the eastern part of the cathedral. Between the arcades and rows of the upper windows of the nave is trifory, massive columns of the cathedral are surrounded by four powerful pilasters. Arcade of deambulatory surrounds the choir and altar area, which are separated from the rest of the carved wall. The wall appeared at the beginning of the XVI century and during next two centuries was gradually decorated with carved figures depicting scenes from the life of Christ and the Virgin. (pic. 3) The central part of the facade has retained a heavy Romanesque wall, which is embedded in the three magnificent portals, belonging to the XII century. In the central portal of the Royal track is "Christ in Glory" - on both sides of the figure of Christ are fantastic winged animals and beneath them is a wide belt with sculpted figures of saints. In the central p ortal of the south facade you can see the relief of "Judgment Day" (about 1210-20), differing with forms of generosity and deep spirituality of the images. It is considered as one of the best reliefs the heyday of the Gothic (pic. 4). In the center of the cathedral floor is designed as a circle inscribed in the "labyrinth" - figured laying of multicolored stones, which has been preserved only partially. The circle has a diameter of 12.89 meters and the length of the labyrinth is 261.5 m. The size of the labyrinth is almost identical to the size of the window rose of the western facade, and the distance from the western entrance to the maze is exactly equal to the height of the window. (pic. 5,6) Chartres Cathedral is one of the few Gothic cathedrals of France, who kept almost unchanged its glazing. It is decorated with stained glass of 12-13 centuries, occupying an area of about 2600 sq.m., it is the largest extant ensembles of stained glass of that era. In the cathedral there are 146 stained glass windows, which, except for some figures are shown in 1359 different story. (pic. 7) Stained glass windows decorate with "roses" of the main transept. Stained glass windows of Chartres Cathedral are extremely intensity a nd purity of color and range of subject images. Along with scenes from the Old and New Testaments, the prophets and saints - they take advantage of the upper band – at the bottom is about a hundred scenes from the life of kings, knights, artisans, who sacrificed stained glass windows in the cathedral, and one of the "roses" is dedicated to the peasants. Particular performance skill, memorable power of the image are windows depicting the Virgin Mary, stained window with scenes from the life of St. Evstafy and a portrait of Charlemagne. The richest external and internal decorations of the cathedral have a total of about 10,000 sculptures. The cathedral has a huge carved wooden altar, which shows forty stories on evangelical issues. A distinctive feature of the stained glass windows of Chartres Cathedral is an extraordinary richness and purity of the colors, the secret receipt of which was lost. For images typical extraordinary breadth of subject matter: scenes from the Old and New Testament stories of prophets, kings, knights, artisans, and even peasants. [4] Chartres Cathedral is built of very durable sandstone, which is mined in quarries of Bersher, 8 km from Chartres. Some blocks of stone in the cathedral walls are 2-3 feet long and a meter in height. Columns of the Pantheon create a prospect of a spectacular interior, richly decorated and refined with classical ornamentation and relief. The building is perceived as a monument to enlightenment, a bright mind, citizenship. Soufflet really managed to reach the Gothic lightness in classic guise. Numerous sculptures and murals on the walls are devoted to the history of St. Genevieve - the memory of a time when the building was of her name. To the central dome a huge Foucault pendulum showing the rotation of the Earth is suspended. Staircase at the entrance to the temple leads to the "pronaos" (porch) with 22 columns, which support the pediment. On the pediment is sculpture of the allegorical story of David d'Anzhera 1831, representing France, between Freedom and History. The walls are decorated with frescoes, the most famous of which are scenes from the life of St. Genevieve, executed by Puvis de Chavannes. The crypt, which is located under the church, keeps the ashes of many famous p eople: here the tomb of Victor Hugo (placed here in 1885), as well as the tombs of Emile Zola, Voltaire, Soufflet, Carnot and Mirabeau. 425 steps lead to the summit of cathedral, where magnificent panorama of the city is opened to the eye. At the exit from the Parthenon the semi-circular area with two symmetrical buildings on the right and left overlooks, and stretching far out Soufflet street between them with rising above the Eiffel Tower in the distance. Such a triumph of symmetry arose here at the behest of Soufflet, which was concerned not only about building the church, but also the spectacular organization of space around it. [5] To understand the function and value of construction of these buildings we need to turn to history. At the place of modern Chartres Cathedral were a lot of the churches. From 876 year the Holy Shroud of the Virgin Mary is kept in Chartres. Instead of the first cathedral, burned down in 1020, a Romanesque cathedral with huge crypt was built. He survived a fire in 1134, which destroyed almost the entire city, but was badly damaged in a fire of June 10, 1194. From the fire, made by lightning, survived only towers with the western facade and crypt. Miraculous escape from the fire of the sacred shroud was considered a sign from above, and prompted the construction of a new, more ambitious building. Chartres Cathedral preserved to this day virtually untouched. It escaped the devastation and plunder, was never restored and rebuilt. As to the Pantheon, it is of no less value. The Pantheon was built in 1758-1789 under the project Soufflet in the heart of the Latin Quarter. The building is conceived as the Church of St. Genevieve, but already in 1791 it was decided to turn the building into the Pantheon, a monument to the great men of France. In two-plus centuries this building became a classic, which was followed and subverted by next generation of architects. For the Baroque, with its pomp, pretentiousness and decorative fancifulness, the return to the strict simplicity of ancient Greece was almost a shock. Therefore, the project angered conservatives and delighted progressives. Soufflet decided to join in its creation the best achievements of world architecture, accumulated by that time. He created a magnificent six-Greek portico, crowned with a dome building, which the ancient Greeks did not know, made the interior a light and bright, as in the Gothic style but used vaulted ceilings of Romanesque. 5    Coming to conclusion we can say that both buildings are of great historical value and have a lot in common: both are cathedrals (in first planning), the lay-out is cross-formed shape with decorations and elements of corresponding era, decorations and frescos depict the scenes from the life. Architectural images are less unique, embody not private, transitory "spirit of the times", but more typically, the leading art sights and tastes of society. These qualities determine the value of outstanding architectural monuments as a historical source: they bring to us in its content not random, but typical, not private, but the main feature views of the era.

Paper on Abuse Reporting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Paper on Abuse Reporting - Essay Example This paper will supply an overview of the child reporting laws of the state of California. This paper will further discuss these laws in relation to my thoughts on confidentiality and the duty to protect others from harm. It will refer to ethical standards of human service s professionals and other codes of ethics. The Office of Child Abuse and Prevention under the California Department of Social Services, is responsible for executing the child abuse and neglect reporting law. According to a Summit (1983), California enacted its first child abuse reporting law in 1963. Earlier laws mandated that physical abuse should only be reported by physicians. The definition of child abuse has however been expanded by the numerous amendments that have been taking place over the years. Laws have also clarified the procedures for reporting various categories of child abuse (Summit, 1983). In California, there are certain professionals who are required to report known cases or suspected cases of child abuse. However, other citizens who are not required by law to do so may also be allowed to do so. Mandated reports and practitioners must therefore be kept updated on amendments made to these laws from time to time so that they can be well informed on what is required of them under all circumstances (Gil, 2001). The California laws on abuse reporting provide for why reporting is necessary, what should be reported, who should report, when reporting should be done and to whom it should be done. The laws also give ways of identifying incidences that need to be reporting and signs to look out for to know when to report. There are guidelines to determine suspicion of the various forms of abuse such as physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect and emotional abuse among others (Summit, 1983). In relation to my thoughts on confidentiality and protecting the rights of others, I am of the opinion that it

A Person who Had a Significant Influence on You Essay

A Person who Had a Significant Influence on You - Essay Example It is much harder for outsiders to make their mark in an established market, and so I admire him particularly for achieving this, and for making it possible for others to follow in his footsteps. Sebastian Kaindl has always believed in my ability, and I have been working with him very seriously since 2009. At first I noticed mainly that he knew all about the various skills and techniques that a professional footballer needs to work on. I valued him for his knowledge, and I followed his instructions very closely. He invented a special training system to build explosive, fast and strong athletes, and I was extremely keen to follow this career path, and so I concentrated on the detail of the footwork, on building up speed, and understanding the difficult arts of changing direction and sprinting mechanics. These are subjects which I had found quite boring in school, but when they are understood in the context of football it becomes very clear why we need to know about them. Sebastian Kai ndl has a great enthusiasm about the knowledge that lies behind the game, and this enthusiasm is evident in all the classes that he takes. For someone who is so successful, he is also quite a modest guy. He told me that other people have done excellent work in designing training methods in the past, and that we should never give up learning how to improve what we do. He incorporated some of Louie Simmon’s techniques, for example, because thought that this was the best approach for strength techniques. I noticed also that Sebastian Kaindl takes notice of the individual needs and situation of each athlete. In the past I have taken part in training squads where one set of exercises was designed for the whole group, and no variation was allowed. This might be good for creating team spirit but it is not the best way to achieve individual excellence. Thanks to Sebastian Kaindl I have learned to believe in myself, and to push always for a training regime that is ideally suited for m y needs. The mix of exercises that I have been doing with him ranges from Boxsquatting with bands, to Olympic lifts, medicine ball work and a wide variety of different jumps. I don’t know where he learned all these different techniques, but he certainly knows how to pick them and build them into a tailor-made regime for each person. When I was younger I used to think that being good at football was all about technique and fitness. Thanks to Sebastian Kaindl’s training and personal example I have learned that there is a lot more to it than that. Some of the things that make the difference between a good player and a great player are more to do with how a person thinks. One of the first lessons I learned from him was that discipline has to come from inside yourself, and that developing self-discipline leads on to reliability, dedication continuity and all the qualities that football managers and leaders look for in their players. I have seen so many examples of exception ally talented players who have ruined their chances through lack of discipline for example in terms of sticking to the prescribed diet or attending all of the sessions. I used to watch him as he prepared for a session and it was clear that he came with his mind already fully focused on the task ahead. He was not late for appointments and he treated people with

Wedding Trends and Financing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Wedding Trends and Financing - Essay Example In sum, for many young people today, formal weddings are ill-advised from a financial point of view. Weddings have not changed that much in recent times. Young couples still buy rings, arrange formal receptions, and arrange for bridal clothing and accessories. There are cakes and food to prepare. What has changed, however, is the cost associated with formal weddings. Indeed, there are a number of worrisome trends associated with wedding planning and finances. As an initial matter, weddings are becoming more cost-prohibitive for young couples with modest incomes. A recent Conde Naste study demonstrates that more couples in this demographic group are choosing, both out of pride and out of necessity, to finance their weddings without direct assistance from parents (Hefty Price: 13). For young couples with modest savings, this has resulted in an additional trend. Many modern weddings are being financed on credit; that is, couples are using their credit cards and their personal credit lines to finance an event which is very brief and which has no return on investment. As stated in a recent investigative study, "Consolidated Credit, one of the country's five largest accredited agencies, reports that so far this year 5.2 percent of its 6,000 new customers have cited wedding debt as a reason for seeking credit counseling, double the rate of wedding-related cases the company took on in 2000, just before the last recession began" (Bayot: 1.1). It can be seen, therefore, that an additional trend is for wedding financing to cause young couples to turn to credit counselors and other external advisors. Significantly, there is no corresponding trend to seek professional financial advice earlier in the wedding planning process; instead, the trend is for the couples to recognize after-the-fact that they may have overextended themselves financially. Even when couples recognize beforehand the importance of creating a reasonable budget, there are other pressures which encourage extravagant spending. Some people have justified excessive spending as a matter of pride or as a matter of tradition. This gives rise to another trend, which is the desire of young couples to have a formal wedding in order to please older family members and friends. In sum, it can be seen that these trends, increasing costs and risky financing methods, can have several negative impacts. How the marriage handles these pressures and burdens is increasingly relevant. 1.2 Impact on Subsequent Marriage One study has stated that, "There has been no data collected on whether wedding debt is a factor in the increase in personal bankruptcies. But in some cases, such counseling is a step on the road toward bankruptcy" (Bayot: 1.1). Clearly, however, the new marriage is burdened with higher levels of debt. This makes the couple more vulnerable to downturns in the economy, more vulnerable to minor changes in interest rates, and less able to begin investing in productive assets. These debts may take from between five and ten years to pay off in their entirety. In the meantime, the subsequent marriage is characterized by sacrifice rather than growth. Disposable income is allocated to credit card interest and principal. It may become more difficult to have a child in the short-run. It may be impossible to purchase a house or to attain additional credit on favorable terms. In addition to these financial consequences, there may also be significant impacts on the emotional health of the spouses and the durability of the marriage itself. The financial strains may result in feelings of insecurity,