Private security Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Private security - Research Paper Example The study by the Small Business Administration (SBA) in 2002, showed that 23.7% of small businesses fail within two years of start-ups, 51.7% fails after 4 years, 62.7% fails after 6 years and 80 % fails after 10 years (Rogers and Makonnen, 2002, p. 15). The latest statistics from the SBA shows that seven out of 10 new businesses survive at least two years and about 50% survive for only five years. As for 2008, there were 627,200 new business startups and 595,600 small business closures and 43, 546 bankruptcies. These success and failure trends do not vary greatly across different industries and sectors (score.org, 2009). Schaefer (2006) found that many entrepreneurs fail because they start their business for wrong decision and they run it with poor management. Those who failed with new businesses have been fund that they lack sufficient capital and proper planning. Many businesses fail due to its overexpansion and location factor as well. Small businesses failing mainly because it experiences a number of problems related to money, capital, management and planning as these are the key components to the success (Pride, Hughes and Kapoor, 2009, p. 142). As detailed above, improper planning, insufficient capital and poor management are the major reasons for the failure of most small businesses. The major red flags or alerts of the failure of a business are high debt ratio, because giving too much credit to the customers will eventually cause business failure. Inadequate stock, poor management, declining working capital and selling the goods below the cost price due to fierce rigorous competition are some other factors that very often cause failure of small businesses. Strong cash flow is critical to the business success and thus many businesses fail because it lacks sufficient cash flow. When the business is experiencing gross loss and net loss, the outcome is that business will ultimately fail. Better management skill is

High School Exit Examinations Essay Example for Free

High School Exit Examinations Essay In order to evaluate the educational ability of students Standardized Tests or examinations, have been designed, which do so in an unbiased manner, irrespective of social background and educational experience. One such test is the multiple-choice examination, wherein the students have to make a selection from a number of answers for a particular question and indicate their choice on a test form. Such tests are frequently given to students who study in elementary and secondary schools (Standardized Tests, 2006). These examinations benefitted students to a large extent, because they had to take just one set of examinations, in order to apply for admission to different schools. The College Board initiated the Scholastic Aptitude Test or the SAT in 1926. The SAT is a multiple choice test that was based on the psychological tests given to US Army recruits. The SAT, by the year 1940, was being widely employed by educational institutions in the US (Standardized Tests, 2006). Standardized tests are taken by elementary school and high school, and undergraduates and graduates. The majority of these tests are controlled by the Educational Testing Service or ETS and the American College Testing or ACT Program. The results of these tests help educational institutions to assess scholastic performance and to ascertain the suitability of a student for a particular undergraduate or graduate degree program (Standardized Tests, 2006). The Center on Education Policy or the CEP had made it mandatory for fifty two percent of the students studying in the public schools to take the high school exit examinations. However, the implementation of this policy became difficult as the CEP had realized that opposition from the public towards this compulsory high school exit examination had been on the increase. It was also decided that students who failed to obtain a pass mark in this examination would not be awarded the high school diploma. This decision to withhold high school diplomas to students who failed in the exit examination was greeted with a great deal of resistance (Darling-Hammond, Rustique-Forrester, Pecheone, 2005). The implementation of the exit examinations also caused a gradual reduction in the number of graduate students. This was evident in the Afro – American and Latino students, English language learners and students with disabilities. This reform would result in reduced incentives for students who had been striving to remain in school, a reduction in the curriculum and a disregard for higher order performance skills, because of the utilization of limited measures and irrelevant judgments regarding student learning (Darling-Hammond, Rustique-Forrester, Pecheone, 2005). The use of exit examinations varies from state to state. Some states have already implemented them, whereas other states have not implemented them. A majority of states have put forward several options and alternatives. So far only eight states have implemented the mandatory exit examination as a compulsory requirement, in which the student has to obtain a pass mark, in order to obtain a high school diploma. Further, this system does not take cognizance of the excellence of performance of the students and their academic record and is solely guided by whether the students have obtained a pass mark in the exit examination or not (Darling-Hammond, Rustique-Forrester, Pecheone, 2005). Most of the states have implemented multiple measures of performance in order to evaluate the student’s capability of learning. The student requires a pass mark in the state examination, which is used as an indicator for the student’s ability to obtain a state diploma. Moreover, the student is also required to obtain a pass mark in other alternatives that test the student by using a wide range of methods so as to establish their academic learning. In these states, there is not just a single test to disqualify students from graduation but there exist an array of indicators to determine the knowledge of the students (Darling-Hammond, Rustique-Forrester, Pecheone, 2005). In an important report relating to the implementation of the high school exit test in the state of Mississippi, sixty five recommendations had been proposed. Some of these are, it would be totally inappropriate to require students to obtain a pass mark in an examination that contained material that had not been taught to the students. Further, the exit examination should be based on a multiple choice system, which would test thinking skills. Moreover, the exit examination would be undesirable for the students of the state of Mississippi. In addition, the national – level exit examination would require a total restructuring of the curriculum of the district schools, which would create serious difficulties. Furthermore, measures that evaluate the student’s skills and performance should be segmented. Moreover, great care would have to be taken while implementing tests that evaluate the performance and skills of students (ED384990 – Issues To Consider in Moving beyond a Minimal Competency High School Graduation Test, 1995). The states of Arizona, California and Utah introduced high school exit examinations, in which high school students from the year 2006 have to obtain a pass mark, in order to be awarded a high school diploma. In most of the states of the Union that enforce such high school exit examinations, students are required to take it in the sophomore year. The level of these tests is of the tenth grade and students who are unable to obtain a pass mark are provided with a number of opportunities to again take this test. Sixteen of the twenty three states that have made these tests compulsory have directed the schools to provide remediation to students who fail to obtain a pass mark. Furthermore, in states that are introducing these examinations, financial help for such remediation has in most of the cases been provided by it (David, 21st June, 2006). In the state of New York students have taken these high school exit tests with a very high degree of success and have obtained a large number of diplomas. However, this has not proved to be applicable to students belonging to the minority communities. The Education Commissioner disclosed that eighty one percent of white students obtained their diplomas in due course, whereas the students of minority communities found the obtention of pass marks in English, mathematics, global history, geography, US history and science to be a daunting task. Consequently, only forty two percent of the Hispanic students, forty five percent of African American and sixty eight percent of Asian students obtained their diplomas within the stipulated time (Hoff, 23rd of March, 2005). A survey conducted by the National Center on Educational Outcomes has revealed the fact that fifty percent of the states of the Union have made it mandatory to obtain a pass mark in the exit test, in order to be eligible to obtain a high school diploma. However, very few states have implemented an alternative procedure for evaluating disabled students, which is of an equivalent standard in comparison to the test applied to regular students. This report goes on to state that the absence of tests for the disabled and regular students that are of equivalent rigor, gives rise to the impression that disabled students are not competent to undertake grade level work (Samuels, 4th of May, 2005). In the state of California, the Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger passed a law that exempts disabled students from taking and obtaining a pass mark in the high school exit test. This new law states that if a student had been permitted to follow an individual education plan and if such a student had satisfied all other criteria for being awarded with a high school diploma and further if that student had received remediation for the exit test, then that student would be allowed to graduate, irrespective of having obtained a pass mark in the exit test. The objective of this law was to enable the state of California to provide better instructions for disabled students (Jacobson, 8th of Februray, 2006). In the state of Utah, even if students who do not obtain a pass mark in every portion of the high school exit test, they are awarded the high school diploma. However, such diplomas contain a statement that the student had not obtained a pass mark in the high school exit test. Several states of the Union are having second thoughts about continuing with such high school exit tests and at the same time a several students have proved to be unsuccessful in obtaining a pass mark in their graduation examinations. The law in the state of Utah has made it mandatory for high school students to obtain a pass mark in mathematics, reading and that part of the Utah Basic Skills Competency Test that comprises of tests on writing skills, in order to be awarded with a high school diploma (Olson, 25th January, 2006). In another study it was established that states of the Union, in which high school exit tests are in vogue, have a graduation rate and college entrance examination marks that are significantly lower than states that do not have such tests. In particular, students from states of the Union, that had made it mandatory to obtain a pass mark in the high school exit examination, fared worse than students from states of the Union that did not insist on such a condition, in the internationally acknowledged Scholastic Aptitude Test. Moreover, such students had a significantly lower rate of graduation (Viadero, 2nd of February, 2005). It has been opined by many people that high school exit examinations result in an increase in the number of students who discontinue their studies, before obtaining a high school diploma. The detractors of such exit examinations have very pertinently pointed out the fact that the already low graduation rates are being forced down to a much lower level. Many critics have stated that it would be patently unfair to deny a student who had completed thirteen years of schooling a high school diploma, merely because that student could not obtain a pass mark in the high school examination. Moreover, many persons consider such a denial of a high school diploma to be ruthlessly unjust, because such a diploma is essential for ensuring a bright future.

Soldier Suicide as Political Statement Essay -- Politics Army War Essa

Soldier Suicide as Political Statement At least twenty-nine U.S. soldiers stationed in Iraq and Kuwait committed suicide between March 2003 and March 2004. Even the Pentagon considers this an "alarmingly high" suicide rate. It lead the military to commission a morale poll to be completed by Stars & Stripes (August 2003) and to send in a special mental health advisory team to assess the situation. In April 2004, military officials reported the team's conclusion: while the suicide rate for soldiers overseas is almost double that of the civilian population, is not considered a "crisis". (1) Perhaps these suicides tell us more about how the implementation of "democracy" and "freedom" in Iraq is going than we learn from other (government sanctioned) reports. "What might we gain if we considered [suicide], however tentatively, as a kind of an achievement, even... as a kind of gift... not the one we might have wished for, but the one [they give] us when [they do] not have anything to give," writes Peggy Phelan, "A more expansive consideration of suicide might help make an intervention into the usual story of shame, failure, and anguish that all too frequently dominates the relationship of the living with those who kill themselves." (2) Let us listen to the self-inflicted deaths of U.S. soldiers in Iraq as statements of resistance that highlight problems with the United States' "all volunteer" military system. Many soldiers (particularly members of the Reserves and National Guard) are driven to enlist for financial/economic reasons. Faced with limited options, they may have purposefully kept at bay any serious consideration of the possibilities of combat so that they would be able to sign on. These soldier... ...nic dimensions of those inequities. When one considers that for many members of our "volunteer" army, their decision to enlist was made because it was one of their only options for stability, employment, college funding, citizenship... "supporting our troops" takes on different meaning. Soldiers in Iraq who took their own lives are calling out to the wider community to investigate why so many find themselves in a situation where death is their most empowered choice. Works Cited: 1 Statistics compiled from multiple news sources listed in the Media Analysis section that follows. 2 p.6-7, 24, Peggy Phelan, "Francesca Woodman's Photography: Death and the Image One More Time," Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society , vol. 27, no. 4, The University of Chicago, 2002. 3 Stanley Aronowitz, "Curb Your Enthusiasm," First of the Month , Winter 2004.

The Aging Process and Caring For the Elderly Essay -- The Aging Body,

Abstract This report presents several aspects of aging. The report looks at a number of theories of why we age, the physical and mental changes we undergo as we age, and ways of caring for the elderly. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION......................................................1 THEORIES OF WHY WE AGE............................................2 Genetics.....................................................2 Cellular.....................................................2 Physiological................................................2 PHYSICAL CHANGES..................................................2 MENTAL CHANGES....................................................5 Alzheimer's Disease..........................................5 Senile Dementia..............................................5 CARING FOR THE OLD................................................6 Retirement Communities.......................................6 Life-care Facilities.........................................6 House Sharing................................................6 Group Homes..................................................7 Low-cost, Government Subsidized Housing......................7 Foster Care..................................................7 Nursing Homes................................................7 CONCLUSIONS.......................................................9 WORKS CITED.......................................................10 INTRODUCTION The purpose of this report is to discuss several aspects of aging. Several theories of why we age, based on genetic research, cellular research, and physiological research will be examined, along with physical and mental changes that are the result of aging. Specific mental changes that will be explored are Alzheimer's Disease and Senile Dementia. The final aspect to be looked at will be the care of the elderly in retirement communities, life-care facilities, house sharing, group homes, low-cost government subsidized housing, foster care, and nursing homes. THEORIES OF WHY WE AGE Since research into aging is not guided by any one universally accepted theory, genetic, cellular, and physiological studies have yielded several hypotheses. Genetics The most popular genetic theory, the Error Theory, assumes that aging is the result of the accumulation of random genetic damag... ...cannot afford to stay for any long period of time. Probably the most unfortunate aspect of these homes is the focus in the news on abuse of the patients. This is the most important thing to research when you are looking at a nursing home. CONCLUSIONS 1. There is no one theory about why we age, but the subject is currently being researched in several areas. 2. The body goes through many changes as it ages, some of which can be slowed or prevented through the use of modern medicine. 3. Alzheimer's Disease is probably the most prominent mental disorder in elderly people, but research has found what it does to the brain, so a cure may be in the future. 4. There is a large range of establishments where elderly people can spend the later years of their life, depending on how self-sufficient they are, and how much they are willing to spend. WORKS CITED Maddox, George L. (Editor), The Encyclopedia of Aging. Springer Pub Co; 3rd edition. 2001. Web. 17 Apr. 2014. Poehlman E, Danforth E. The Aging Body: Physiological Changes. Am J Appl Physiol. 2012 Social Issues Resources Series. "Ways & Means: Options for Aging." Article #39, Vol. 3. Aging. 2014

The dramatic presentation of justice and morality in The Crucible Essay

Sin and Struggle is one of the most common things we can come across in our life. This concept of Sin and Struggle is presented very dramatically in the play of The Crucible. The play describes the fury mass hysteria, which took place in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 and shows people’s self-centred attitude. The dictionary definition of sin is any serious offence, as against a religious or moral principle. As The Crucible is set in a very strict Puritan community, anything, which is done as an offence will be regarded as a sin against Christianity. In the play, there is verification that there are struggles within the community and within characters themselves. Examples of these characters are John Proctor. Proctor is unable to agree with Danforth or his inner self and is a character that will go to any extent to prove what he says is right. In the other case, Mary Warren is incapable of standing in opposition to Abigail in the courtroom. The other main sources of dispute are also land, money, and religion. For example, Giles Corey and Thomas Putnam have an argument over private land. In the play of The Crucible, the first sin we come across is dancing. The event occurs when Betty, Abigail, and her friends are dancing and conjuring up spirits in the wood with Tituba. According to Puritan Law, neither children nor anyone are admitted to dance. You can see that in the final court scene. DANFORTH: â€Å"What is this dancing? â€Å"(Act 3) You can see from this that dancing is a forbidden sin. The main event from the damnation is the sin of lechery between John Proctor and Abigail. We come to know this from Abigail and Proctor’s secret meeting. This is also the main sparking event for the witchcraft, which took place. You could say that this sin is the catalyst. The sin of lechery then triggers a lot of resentment between Elizabeth and Abigail. Therefore, many events after this are always to get rid of Elizabeth so she could fulfil her dreams with John Proctor. As this spell casting and witchcraft led to more and more dilemma, false accusations were starting to be made. The main cause of this complication is Betty Parris. She is in some sort of coma and that is when Parris calls for Reverend hale who is intellectual in witchcraft. Parris was not popular member in the community and he is a severe man who said that his ministry is much more important than his daughter’s life. Now that Abigail does not want the blame, false accusations were made. This is an advantage for Parris because this meant he was able to defend himself from other reverend’s fallacious talk. E

Early Mesoamerican and South-West Cultures

Early Mesoamerican and South-West Cultures Free Online Research Papers The people of the Americas all had unique characteristics because of their environment. There were the Mayas, the Incas, the Aztecs, and the Anasazi. The Maya were a tribe far to the East of Mexico. They had a polytheistic religion which had the same characteristics of gods that the nearby cultures had. There was a supreme god, Itzama, and the rest of gods were ranked in importance. Most gods had human characteristics and needed human sacrifices to propitiate them. It is said that rivalry among the Mayan city-states often involved bloody fights. Painting show a society bent on war and using captives as sacrifices. At the top of the society was a ruler and around the ruler were a class of aristocrats whose wealth was determined by ownership of land. Eventually many aristocrats became priests and the rest turned into a middle class. The rest of the population were farmers. Their ruler was of great importance and was able to construct a palace using 30,000 people. The Aztecs lived in the valley of Mexico. They too had a polytheistic religion. Some of their gods were nature deities and other were patron deities. They had a supreme god, but he wasn’t as important compared to others. They also needed human sacrifice. The Aztecs had a monarch that had religious and secular powers. Around was the royal family who elects the next monarch. To advise him into doing the right thing were a small group of lords headed by a prime minister who was at the top of the government and a bureaucracy. Their power was limited past the capital. All that was left were tax collectors who got tribute from the people. The government’s succession was hereditary. The noble families were either in the bureaucracy, in the military, or became a priest. The rest of the population was indentured workers, slaves, and commoners. The Inkas were a tribe in South America. They had three main gods, the sun, the moon, and the day-star. It was serviced by women who were virgins. They were never allowed to speak to men and known for their beauty. Some of these chosen also worked in the palace as concubines. They also loved war. They had a 200,000 soldier army, the largest and best armed in the region. They moved rapidly using a highway system and carried their supplies on llamas. The Inks were a monarchy too. They had provinces with 10,000 residents ruled by a governor related to the ruler. The capital was divided into four quarters and social status was rigidly defined. It was built on forced labor. The rural population were farmers. The Anasazi was a tribe in southwestern Colorado. Community religious functions in these two big circular chambers called kivas were celebrated often. It was a very agricultural community. Most of the society and political structure was equal. The exception was a leader of their community inside the pueblo and other priests. They had several thousand residents. There was internecine warfare and a bitter rivalry with the south. This may have led them relocating. There is also a theory of them relocating because of cannibalism which probably has to do with their religion. They mostly were farmers and had many irrigation canals. Even though there is not that much of the Anasazi to compare, there is a lot of differences as you go South into the Americas. There was the Anasazi who was a desert and united culture and then there was the Inkas with the monarchy. America is truly a North-South, environmentally and community wise, land. Research Papers on Early Mesoamerican and South-West CulturesCanaanite Influence on the Early Israelite ReligionQuebec and Canada19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraCapital PunishmentWhere Wild and West MeetPETSTEL analysis of IndiaThe Effects of Illegal ImmigrationGenetic EngineeringRelationship between Media Coverage and Social andAssess the importance of Nationalism 1815-1850 Europe

FGM

FGM Female Circumcision and Child Mortality An understanding of the causes of mortality in the country will help in the formulation of a policy that will directly influence mortality. The struggles and overcoming of sych a horrible process is hard and painful but to only be considered pure if important to the women in Somalia, and other aftican cultures.Circumcision Variables There are many different variables that contribute to infant mortality. First, there is low female education attainment. Other variables include the introduction of breast milk substitutes, short inter birth spacing, and the reduction of breast feeding. In Somalia, an additional factor may affect both early infant and late child mortality. This factor is circumcision is suspected that female circumcision is a primary cause of infertility, infant, child, and maternal mortality. In this paper, I intend to discuss what female circumcision is, explain the reason for circumcision in Somalia, and describe the effects that is has on women.English: A campaign against female genital mutilat...Female Genital Mutilation (circumcision) is a destructive procedure that is usually performed on females before they reach puberty. This is when part or all of the clitoris is surgically removed and leaves the young female with little or no sexual feeling. The procedure is done to reduce women to become sexual active before marriage. After this procedure takes place, many health problems occur.Age groups of Circumcision Women between the ages of fifteen and forty-nine years old have undergone one type or another of circumcision. Sixty-eight percent of the women are circumcised with the Pharaonic style. This is complete mutilation of female genital. Twenty-four percent are circumcised by the excision of the clitoris, and seven percent is completes by the Sunni procedure.A large percentage of young children die within the first three months due to tetanus, septicaemia, hemorrage or some type of...

Free Essays on Here I Stand

Martin Luther was born to Hans and Margaretta Luther in 1483. According to Bainton Martin Luther was â€Å"highly esteemed at home. His parents looked to him as a lad of brilliant parts who should become a jurist, make a prosperous marriage, and support them in their old age.† (p.24,25). Which explains why Hans Luther was upset at his son for taking the cowl. Bainton explains Luther’s reasons for this. In the first chapter of the book, The Vow, as Luther gets struck by lightening he screams out â€Å"St. Anne help me! I will become a monk.† Luther was determined to keep his vow and he felt that this would earn his salvation. Bainton explains why earning ones salvation was very important in these times†¦ The Church taught that no sensible person would wait until his deathbed to make an act of contrition and plead for grace. From the beginning to end the only secure course was to lay hold of every help the church had to offer: sacraments, pilgrimages, indulgences, the intercession of the saints†¦And what better could he (Luther) do than take the cowl?† p. 30-32 This is the part of Luther I respect the most, his sincere plight to salvation. I admit it seems to be driven by fear, which was imbedded into him from a very young age and through school and throughout his life, but never the less I find the drive and motivation of his plight very admirable. If not for Luther's depth of brutal honesty in his own struggle to know God many of the people in America today would still be living in times when what the priest said is what God said. Which I have to admit, I feel many people are content being spoon-fed. But for those of use will not settle for the word of the priest Luther is a pioneer. Luther ineffectually fought his way toward God through "works". His father brought to his attention that circumstances surrounding his vow could be the work of God, but it could also be th... Free Essays on Here I Stand Free Essays on Here I Stand Martin Luther was born to Hans and Margaretta Luther in 1483. According to Bainton Martin Luther was â€Å"highly esteemed at home. His parents looked to him as a lad of brilliant parts who should become a jurist, make a prosperous marriage, and support them in their old age.† (p.24,25). Which explains why Hans Luther was upset at his son for taking the cowl. Bainton explains Luther’s reasons for this. In the first chapter of the book, The Vow, as Luther gets struck by lightening he screams out â€Å"St. Anne help me! I will become a monk.† Luther was determined to keep his vow and he felt that this would earn his salvation. Bainton explains why earning ones salvation was very important in these times†¦ The Church taught that no sensible person would wait until his deathbed to make an act of contrition and plead for grace. From the beginning to end the only secure course was to lay hold of every help the church had to offer: sacraments, pilgrimages, indulgences, the intercession of the saints†¦And what better could he (Luther) do than take the cowl?† p. 30-32 This is the part of Luther I respect the most, his sincere plight to salvation. I admit it seems to be driven by fear, which was imbedded into him from a very young age and through school and throughout his life, but never the less I find the drive and motivation of his plight very admirable. If not for Luther's depth of brutal honesty in his own struggle to know God many of the people in America today would still be living in times when what the priest said is what God said. Which I have to admit, I feel many people are content being spoon-fed. But for those of use will not settle for the word of the priest Luther is a pioneer. Luther ineffectually fought his way toward God through "works". His father brought to his attention that circumstances surrounding his vow could be the work of God, but it could also be th...

H.W Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 10

H.W - Essay Example 29 years after the tragic event, it is but right that a new generation of people come to learn of the facts surrounding an event that redefined the way that governments respond to chemical explosions. This paper will also look at the after effect of the explosion on the judicial system and take a look at how the victims have benefitted or not from the court decisions. It is important to understand that the Bhopal tragedy did not fall squarely on the shoulders of Union-Carbide, a mere stock holder in the Union-Carbide plant. Rather, Union-Carbide India was owned and operated by the Indian company of the same name. In a statement on their website, Union - Carbide explains that: â€Å"Union Carbide India Limited designed, built and managed the plant using Indian consultants and workers. In 1994, Union Carbide sold its entire stake in UCIL to Mcleod Russel India Limited of Calcutta, and UCIL was renamed Eveready Industries India Limited (Eveready Industries). As a result of the sale of its shares in UCIL, Union Carbide retained no interest in - or liability for - the Bhopal site. The proceeds of the UCIL sale were placed in a trust and exclusively used to fund a hospital in Bhopal, which now provides specialist care to victims of the tragedy. â€Å" After the explosion, Union Carbide hired the independent firm of Arthur D. Little, Inc. to undertake a thorough investigation as to what caused the explosion. The findings of the investigators was clear. There was sabotage involved as water backed into the tank that caused a chemical reaction, leading to the explosion. ( Bhopal Information Center, â€Å"Statement of Union Carbide Regarding The Bhopal Tragedy†). Safety precautions have since been taken on a world wide scale to prevent the occurrence of another explosion stemming from a similar cause. The Supreme Court of India saw just cause to hold Union-Carbide partly responsible

The Behavior of the Marketer Both Before and After the Purchase Research Paper

The Behavior of the Marketer Both Before and After the Purchase - Research Paper Example Purchasing was not a big task around two-three decades before. The only thing the consumers thought before purchasing a product earlier was about the necessity of the product and the financial abilities of the consumer. But at present, the consumer needs and the behaviours have changed a lot. The living,g standards and the levels are changed a lot and based on that the consumer behaviours also changed. Moreover, the competition is so stiff nowadays that even for a particular product, dozens of options are available for the consumers. Because of this increased availability of different brands of products, consumers are more selective nowadays. They compare the features of a product with competing products before taking their purchasing decisions. Marketers found it extremely difficult to convince the current consumers. Current Consumers consider so many factors before making a purchasing decision. Two of my neighbours recently purchased two cars from different suppliers. I have interv iewed them to learn more about the current trends in the consumer behaviours before the purchasing. I have asked the same questions to both of them their responses taken as the base for writing this paper. For convenience, I call them consumer A and consumer B in this paper. Consume,r A was richer and more educated than Consumer B. Moreover, consumer A was working in the city as a system analyst in a multinational company whereas consumer B was a teacher in a rural school. For convenience, I have used the responses of both the consumers to each question alternatively to get a good comparison about the different purchasing behaviours of people.

The Nightmare by Fuseli and Death of Marat by David Essay

The Nightmare by Fuseli and Death of Marat by David - Essay Example Fuseli’s Nightmare in of the Romanesque/Romantic/Gothic style. As expected of many paintings produced in Romantic style, the Nightmare portrays some level of sexuality. In fact, this painting is cloaked in mystery yet dripping with scandalous sexuality. Romanticism involves the use of decorations, light colors, and smooth surfaces. These features are brought out well in the Nightmare. The woman is depicted as wearing a white, light nightdress and has a smooth body (Detroit Institute of Arts).      In this piece of art, it is evident that the movements and the gestures of this figure are exaggerated. Fuseli produced this painting as a reaction to the rejected marriage proposal. He wanted to marry a woman called Miss Anna Landholdt. Fuseli, therefore, presents himself as the demonic incubus perched on the woman's chest. This was a great expression of jealous and emotional revenge. The Nightmare exemplifies Fuseli’s style and romanticism in general by bringing out elements of passion and lust. This is evidenced by the type of dressing the woman is wearing and the blood red curtain behind the scene. These features create a light contrast which intensifies the woman’s eminent glow. The woman also lies in a vulnerable position. In this painting, Fuseli has also used chiaroscuro style to add to the effects of the contrast created by dark and light colors. This has given the scene an eerie glow (Detroit Institute of Arts).David’s work, the Death of Marat, drew from Neoclassicism. This style emerged as a result of the reaction of artists to Rococo style. The style was meant to do away with Rococo features which included being gaudy, cluttered and over-decorative. The painters were also receiving inspiration from the archeological digs of Pompeii and Herculaneum. In terms of theme, paintings produced under neoclassicism typically presented a narra tive with a flair for the dramatic (Berghe and Plesca 97). Neoclassicism uses styles and subjects from the past and applied them to the current situations for every theme ranging from decoration to propaganda. This feature made David’s Death of Marat one of the most instrumental commentary and propaganda during the French Revolution.

The Iraq War Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The Iraq War - Research Paper Example Without a doubt, the Iraq War was one of the more hotly-contested wars—many people arguing that this was the next Vietnam. Some eleven-thousand American lives later, it’s possible that some people would not agree. But the Iraq War, no matter how much precedent the U.S. had to invade, will always remain in the American mindset as a colossal financial drain. Here it will be attempted to: identify and describe the Iraq War; analyze the historical and contemporary causes of the Iraq war; analyze different historical interpretations of the Iraq war; and evaluate the positive and negative outcomes of the Iraq war. II. Identification and Description of the Iraq War The Iraq War was an armed conflict that took place beginning in Iraq in 2003. Although people now state that the Iraq War is technically over, there are still U.S. troops which are occupying Iraq. It was technically supposed to have ended a few years ago, but realistically, there are still American forces there, and there probably will be for some time to come. So, even though the war is technically designated as finished, it is still not finished—if that makes sense. There is no â€Å"over† for this war. The war began when President Bush acted (without Congressional authority) to unilaterally declare war on Iraq. According to Kelly (2001), â€Å"A huge controversy arose when President Bush sent troops into Iraq on March 19, 2003 claiming that the country led by Saddam Hussein was developing weapons of mass destruction and aiding Al Qaeda operatives†¦[however,] time passed and no evidence of those weapons were found in Iraq†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (pgh. 7). It was especially distressing to the American public to find out that there were, indeed, no weapons of mass destruction found in Iraq. This angered much of the public and made many Americans feel like they were tricked into going into an armed conflict without all of the available evidence laid before them first. This was a major faux pas that continues to be rehashed in the media whenever people argue about whether or not the U.S. should have invaded Iraq; it will probably be a sore spot for years to come. III. Analysis of the Historical and Contemporary Causes of the Iraq War Historically speaking, the rationale that President Bush used for going to war with Iraq was the advent of 9/11. According to Hanson (2004), â€Å"[T]here is a direct connection between Iraq and our current war on terror†¦Whether or not one believes Iraq was involved at the planning in 9/11, there is proof that it had something to do with the first World Trade Center bombing, had intelligence meetings with†¦Al Qaeda [members], [and] tried to assassinate a former president of the United States†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (pp. 245). Although 9/11 is traditionally associated with the main reasons for why Bush began his â€Å"war on terror,† another reason that many people feel he went to war with Iraq was to settle an old score with Saddam Hussein for having engaged in conflict with his father (Bush 41) in Operation Desert Storm. Many people feel that one of the sole reasons that Bush went to war with Iraq was so that he could feel vindicated on the behalf of his father. One of the contemporary causes of the Iraq War was also the fact that U.S. companies stood to make millions of dollars off of the war. Vice President Dick Cheney’s construction company Halliburton was called into Iraq for most of the reconstruction of the

Competition in School Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Competition in School - Assignment Example Some feel competition helps each person to hone their creative skills. For students who study in design schools, the nurturing of individual creativity is important because they must continually innovate. When competition is involved, students take risks they might not otherwise take to create something unique enough to be noteworthy. It means students summon their most creative talent. Many students like Elizabeth Young, a former student of the University of California, argues students learn more about their natural talent in competitive environment. It is considered as the "whetstone of talent." Competition also helps the students to work as teams and create success together. Competition affects the general welfare of society. Competition leads to jealousy and envy among people. It is true that competition may be helpful in giving people the drive to design better projects, but this is not really where the story ends. People may actually turn against each other personally due to professional competition. Educator Mary Pat Lynch shares that in such harsh competition winning becomes the focus instead of learning. All students care about is the grade and no effort is made to actually understand the ideas involved.

590-1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

590-1 - Essay Example According to a report, Philip H. Knight, the CEO of Nike Inc. had felt that the University of Oregon (UO) had â€Å"broken chain of trust† by deciding to join the Workers Right Consortium which opposed the Fair Labor Association (FLA) as supported by Knight. The UO raised a dispute with the support of the student activists and the faculty that the Nike’s products which were sold in the stores of university campus, bearing the university logo apparel were manufactured by not abiding the sweatshop terms and conditions. In this connection it is worthy to mention that ‘Workers Right Consortium’ or WRC is identified as an independent labor rights organization which keeps an eye on and focuses on protecting the rights of the workers those who generally sews apparel and manufactures other products especially those which bears university and college logos being sold in the markets of United States. The FLA is a joint effort of socially responsible companies, colleges, civil society organizations and universities intended to recover the working conditions of the factories operating worldwide. It is a brand accountability system providing the responsibility towards companies for accomplishing the FLA’s labor standards as maintained in the factories which is involved with manufacture of their products. Their mission is to protect the workers and improve the working conditions of the workers globally. Their objective is to end up the sweatshop standards being followed worldwide. FLA’s code of conduct includes; abolition of child labor, discrimination, intimidation of those workers who seeks to organize unions, improving hazardous work conditions, settling payments for over time (Fair Labor Association, 2008). Whereas, WRC being a non-profit organization supervises the manufacturing of university apparel in order to make sure that

How Culture affects Anthropology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

How Culture affects Anthropology - Essay Example Culture and society are different notions. If culture is a system of learned behavior perceptions and patterns, society is a group of interacting beings.   So animals also have societies. Though it is one of the prerogatives of human societies the ability to interact directly or indirectly with each other.   And one human society is distinguished from another one in terms of shared traditions and expectations.Despite the difference between human societies and cultures, they are closely interrelated because culture is created and transmitted to others in a society.   Cultures are not the product of separate individuals.   They are the permanently developing products of people interacting with each other.   Cultural patterns such as language and politics are useless except if they are not engaged in the interaction of people.   If you were the only human on earth, language or government would of no effect (Bernard, 1998, p. 14).The notion "culture" can be interpreted many d ifferent ways.   Some understand it as an opportunity to insight into a high-quality literature, art, music. Each science has its own understanding of culture. Cultural dimensions of logic, values and aesthetics are indeed of a great concern for philosophers. Social workers and people concerned themselves with the practical problems of minority groups also use this notion as a part of their stock in trade. Important research in medicine and in nutrition is oriented in cultural terms. On the other hand for anthropologists the notion "culture".... Cultures are not the product of separate individuals. They are the permanently developing products of people interacting with each other. Cultural patterns such as language and politics are useless except if they are not engaged in the interaction of people. If you were the only human on earth, language or government would of no effect (Bernard, 1998, p. 14). The notion "culture" can be interpreted many different ways. Some understand it as an opportunity to insight into a high-quality literature, art, music. Each science has its own understanding of culture. Cultural dimensions of logic, values and aesthetics are indeed of a great concern for philosophers. Social workers and people concerned themselves with the practical problems of minority groups also use this notion as a part of their stock in trade. Important research in medicine and in nutrition is oriented in cultural terms. On the other hand for anthropologists the notion "culture" generally means the full range of learned human behavior patterns (Bernard, 1998, p. 27). The term was first used in this meaning by the English anthropologist Edward B. Tylor. He defined culture as a complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society. Of course, it is possessed and created not only by men but by women as well. The decisive term in this definition is "acquired." This underlines the feature that, as humans, we are not born with culture itself, but with the ability for culture. That is what we learn it, through our interactions and communication with other people in general. We practice the fundamental constituent of this learning in our childhood,

590-1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

590-1 - Essay Example According to a report, Philip H. Knight, the CEO of Nike Inc. had felt that the University of Oregon (UO) had â€Å"broken chain of trust† by deciding to join the Workers Right Consortium which opposed the Fair Labor Association (FLA) as supported by Knight. The UO raised a dispute with the support of the student activists and the faculty that the Nike’s products which were sold in the stores of university campus, bearing the university logo apparel were manufactured by not abiding the sweatshop terms and conditions. In this connection it is worthy to mention that ‘Workers Right Consortium’ or WRC is identified as an independent labor rights organization which keeps an eye on and focuses on protecting the rights of the workers those who generally sews apparel and manufactures other products especially those which bears university and college logos being sold in the markets of United States. The FLA is a joint effort of socially responsible companies, colleges, civil society organizations and universities intended to recover the working conditions of the factories operating worldwide. It is a brand accountability system providing the responsibility towards companies for accomplishing the FLA’s labor standards as maintained in the factories which is involved with manufacture of their products. Their mission is to protect the workers and improve the working conditions of the workers globally. Their objective is to end up the sweatshop standards being followed worldwide. FLA’s code of conduct includes; abolition of child labor, discrimination, intimidation of those workers who seeks to organize unions, improving hazardous work conditions, settling payments for over time (Fair Labor Association, 2008). Whereas, WRC being a non-profit organization supervises the manufacturing of university apparel in order to make sure that

16 Questions to be Graded Essay Example for Free

16 Questions to be Graded Essay 1. The researchers analyzed the data they collected as though it were at what level of measurement? a. Nominal b. Ordinal c. Interval/ratio d. Experimental 2. What was the mean posttest empowerment score for the control group? 97.12 3. Compare the mean baseline and posttest depression scores of the experimental group. Was this an expected finding? Provide a rationale for your answer. The mean baseline for depression 14.00 and the post-test for depression was 13.36. The post-test score is 0.64 lower than the baseline score which is what the study hypothesized. The study results state â€Å"This study found that there were significant differences in improvement of empowerment, self-care self-efficacy, and depression in patients who were in the intervention group using empowerment strategies than with the control group patients† (Grove, 2007). 4. Compare the mean baseline and posttest depression scores of the control group. Do these scores strengthen or weaken the validity of the research results? Provide a rationale for your answer. The mean baseline and post-test depression score was 10.40. These scores strengthen the validity of the research results because it shows that depression did not improve for the patients within the control group but the scores did change for the patients in the experimental group. 5. Which groups test scores had the least amount of variability or dispersion? Provide a rationale for your answer. The control group had the least amount of variability with the depression  score which stayed with a SD of 10.4. 6. Did the empowerment variable or self-care self-efficacy variable demonstrate the greatest amount of dispersion? Provide a rationale for your answer. The empowerment variable demonstrated the greatest amount of dispersion because the mean not only went up by 6.64 the SD also went down by 1.91 suggesting the scores are also closer to accurate. 7. The mean () is a measure of __central__ __tendency__ of a distribution while the SD is a measure of __dispersion_____ of its scores. Both and SD are ____descriptive_____ statistics. 8. What was the mean severity for renal disease for the research subjects? What was the dispersion or variability of the renal disease severity scores? Did the severity scores vary significantly between the control and the experimental groups? Is this important? Provide a rationale for your answer. The mean severity for renal disease for the research subjects was moderately severe with a mean of 6.74, SD of 2.97, from a range of 0-10. The severity scores did not vary significantly and it is important to have the same severity of disease across the board so the outcomes can be true. 9. Which variable was least affected by the empowerment program? Provide a rationale for your answer. The mean for the control group was least affected by the empowerment program only rising 0.4. 10. Was it important for the researchers to include the total means and SDs for the study variables in Table 2 to promote the readers’ understanding of the study results? Provide a rationale for your answer. Yes it was important to include the totals so at a glance anyone can see that even when the experimental and control groups are combined the results still show an improvement in all three categories. References Grove, S. K. (2007). Statistics for Health Care Research: A Practical Workbook. [VitalSource Bookshelf version]. Retrieved from http://pageburstls.elsevier.com/books/978-1-4160-0226-0/outline/16The citation provided is a guideline, please check each citation for accuracy before use.

Economic Analysis Of The Us Airline Industry Economics Essay

Economic Analysis Of The Us Airline Industry Economics Essay An economic analysis on the nature of competition, collusion and pricing in the US domestic airline industry was conducted primarily on the nature of the oligopoly market structure of the airline industry. The impact of deregulation was performed and analysed including mergers and acquisitions. An analysis on the prospect for low-cost carriers (LCCs) was also conducted including measures to ensure their long term survival when competing with full fledged carriers. Finally, an impact analysis of the global recession on the airline industry was conducted. Measurements that could lead to a sustainable recovery for the airline industry was reviewed and highlighted. INTRODUCTION The airline has experienced phenomenal growth since the first US airline began operating between Tampa and St Petersburg, Florida on January 1st 1914. Today, supersonic aircraft fly routinely across the oceans, providing travel and employment to many travellers. The airline industry has global operations and the competition between them is extremely high. During the early days, strategic interest in aviation outpaced the financial viability of fledging airlines. Government support intensified worldwide as financial instability deepened due to the Great Depression of 1930s. During this period, military interest in aviation received further boost from rising geopolitical tensions. International service was governed by tightly controlled bilateral agreements, restricting the number of cities that could be served typically by a single carrier from each country. In many cases, these agreements negotiated market allocations across carriers that were enforced through capacity restrictions or revenue division agreements. Prices generally were established jointly by the airlines themselves in consultation with the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the industrys largest trade group, subject to approval by each carriers government. Nevertheless, government intervention failed to achieve satisfactory results in terms of overall economic performance. With deregulation in 1978, it has helped to stimulate more competition in the US airline industry with the influx of small, low-cost carriers. A recent National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) working paper analysed the changes that have occurred in pricing, service and competition in the airline industry since the industry was deregulated in 1978. The study found that fares have declined since deregulation and efficiency has improved, but the volatility in industry earnings has continued and average earnings have declined. The average returns that the airlines have earned since deregulation are almost certainly insufficient to sustain the industry in its current state. The profitability of the airline industry is quite cyclical because travellers demand is sensitive to the overall performance of the economy. Yet, airlines must predict this demand accurately because of the lead time required to acquire aircraft. When airlines over predict demand, they would suffer losses. The IATA has recently doubled its forecast for losses in 2009 to US$9 billion and warned that the economic problems would continue for some time. The forecast was slightly better than the loss last year. But it was significantly worse than the associations projections in March this year that estimated a loss of US$4.7billion for 2009. Coupled with competition from low-costs carriers (LCCs) could further undermine the profitability of full-service carriers (FSCs). However, some industry experts believe that both will survive in parallel without losing many customers to each other. It is argued that LCCs induced either an additional demand or won clients for the air traffic, which would have gone otherwise by train or car. There is however, a concern that LCCs have turned the luxury service of fast travel with its implicit environmental damages into a day to day service for more and more people. The airline industry is in the midst of a dramatic restructuring. Many reasons have contributed to its fall in revenue. Some key success factors determine the success of the airline industry. Analysts say that the airline industry is likely to remain unstable and price increases are inevitable due to increasing costs. Furthermore, the rising concern for global warming and IATAs recent decision to cut emissions by 50% by 2050 is also likely to have some implications for cost of flying and profitability of the airline industry. The report has reviewed the structure of the airline industry and the nature of its competitions with specified focused on the airline domestic market including emerging competition from LCCs and the impact of globalised recession on the airline industry. NATURE OF COMPETITION, COLLUSION AND PRICING The enactment of the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 eliminated price and entry regulation of the US domestic airline industry. [1] Since then it has grown tremendously. The US domestic market basically competed in an oligopoly landscapes. Hence there is certain level of barriers to competition like control over the computerised reservation systems used by travel agents have provided main carriers with a powerful weapon for disadvantaging smaller competitors. For example, American Airlines Sabre system and Uniteds Apollo system together accounted for three quarters of all national computer reservation systems in the late 1980s. Control of this important avenue for travel agents to make reservations enabled the majors to discriminate against smaller firms in a variety of ways from instituting screen bias favouring the on-screen presentation of the controlling firms flights, to charging exorbitant fees to other carriers for displaying their flights on these computer systems (transferr ing upwards of a half-billion dollars annually from the smallest to the largest carriers). [2] More recently, the Big Five carriers have joined together to collectively market their tickets online through their Orbitz Travel Web site [6], an alliance that may enable them to better coordinate their non-competitive oligopoly pricing and to circumvent rules put into place to prevent them from anti-competitive using their computer reservation systems while, at the same time, disadvantaging competing distributors of air tickets. [3] Predatory Pricing Dominant carriers were suppressing competition through predatory pricing. For example, when Spirit Airlines attempted to penetrate Northwests Detroit hub with a one-way Detroit-Philadelphia fare of $49, Northwest Airline responded by slashing its average fare on the route by 71% (from $170 to $49) and scheduling 30% more seats. Once Spirit abandoned the route, Northwest raised its fare to $230 and cut its seat capacity.[4] Similarly, when Frontier Airlines initiated service from Denver (United-dominated hub) to Billings, Montana, it offered an average fare of $100 which was half the prevailing fare charged by United. United, in turn slashed its fare to match Frontier. When Frontier exited the route, United raised its fare above its original level. [5] Collusion Collusion is a difficult game to play when the number of conspiring rivals is large. It is hard to keep a hundred firms in line when their cost structures differ, when their production facilities vary, and when some have an incentive to cheat on a price agreement or to violate output restrictions. Numbers make a difference. When numbers are large, conspiracies are difficult to organize, difficult to conceal, and difficult to enforce. However, public policy faces a serious challenge in oligopolistic industries like the case of the Airline industry where major carriers eschew outright collusion and rely instead on a course of conduct characterised as tacit collusion, or recognition of mutual interdependence to resemble the effects of outright conspiracy. The mechanics of tacit collusion is apparent particularly in an oligopoly market dominated by a few major players. Each carrier naturally recognises the mutual interdependence between it and its rivals. For example, Carrier X knows that it if were to cut price in order to increase its market share, its aggression would immediately be detected by carriers Y and Z, which would respond with retaliatory price cuts of their own. Market shares would be unaffected, but all carriers would now operate at lower prices and profits. Henceforth, Carrier X cannot expect to increase its market share or revenue at the expense of its rivals. It cannot afford to calculate in terms o f maximising its own profits in isolation but instead must constantly ask whether a particular decision on price or output will be not only in its own self-interest, but also in the best interests of its rivals. By recognising mutual oligopolistic interdependence, it must be concerned with group profits and group welfare. In other word, under oligopoly landscape, independent, aggressive, genuinely competitive behaviour is perceived as counterproductive-an irrational strategy for the individual carrier. In an oligopoly, groupthink will influence a carriers strategy when it is contemplating price increases as it cannot act alone. Hence, groupthink replaces the calculus of individual advantage, and each carrier must behave as a responsible member of the oligopoly group rather than as a reckless, self-seeking competitor. In oligopolies, this recognition of mutual interdependence may extend to non-price competition. For instance, if carrier X refrains from aggressive price competition but seeks to increase its market share through aggressive innovation program, it cannot expect its rivals to sit idly by. It must expect them to increase their research efforts as a simple matter of self-defence, th ereby nullifying its expected gains. Anticipating such retaliation which could erode oligopoly profits- carrier X might refrain from innovation for the same reasons it would avoid price-cutting. Rationality again commands responsible nonaggressive behaviours; the most effective profit-maximisation rule under oligopoly is to get ahead by getting along. Nevertheless, the level of oligopolistic interdependence and collusion varies from situation to situation.[8] It depends on such factors as whether the oligopoly is tightly knit (small number of firms) or loosely knit (a larger number);whether it is homogeneous or heterogeneous; whether it is symmetrical (having firms of roughly equal size) or asymmetrical (with one firm disproportionately larger); whether or not the industry is mature (having had time to develop its internal arrangements and institutions to promote cooperation); whether the industry is populated by reasonable managers or by a few mavericks. [9] In the US domestic market, the advent of the Internet has increased the efficient of signalling or collusion. Carriers can see what the competition is doing immediately by going to the Internet that allows them to react quickly to adjust their own prices. This is a far cry from the days when price books were set in type and could not be changed for months. Now most prices can be adjusted several times a day, if needed. Apparently, this is a game that the airlines are particularly adept at. As consumers have more transparent access to real-time flight pricing through online services like Orbitz Travel [6], the airlines are almost obligated to adjust to each other. This is particularly apparent on routes where there is no rogue player, like Southwest Airlines or JetBlue as they are (within limits) free to adjust prices upward. As long as the members of the oligopoly with real selling power tacitly agree that a major price war is not in their interest, chances are that prices can quickl y readjust themselves, keeping in mind the balance of costs and optimal prices for maintaining profitable sales levels. Fortunately, the combined market share of the Big Five network airlines (Delta, United, American, US Airways, and Northwest) that peaked in 1992 has been declining since deregulation. [7] Furthermore, with the influx of several low-cost carriers, tacit collusion is becoming difficult to organise, conceal and enforce even though oligopolistic rationality and its collusive consequences are inevitable concomitants of oligopoly industry structure. Pricing Pricing is important for the carriers. If prices are too low or too high, it can drag down profits. Thus, it is important for the carriers to derive profitable airfares and discourages unprofitable one. To maximise profits, the carriers should set prices so that marginal revenue just equals marginal cost. In other words, it should use profit-maximising prices as the starting point based on the economic model of pricing as shown in Diagram 1.0 which is called marginal cost pricing that clearly identifies a pricing strategy that will maximise profits. This pricing strategy also identifies the information needed to set prices, thus simplifying the process. In other words, the profit-maximising price is where the incremental margin percentage equals the reciprocal of the absolute value of the price elasticity demand. [8] Based on pricing rule, the carriers should adjust its price where there are changes in the price elasticity of demand or marginal cost since the carriers compete under oligopoly landscapes with homogeneous services. Airfares have dropped significantly over the years [10] since deregulation which helped to simulate competition resulting in the entrance of several low-cost carriers. This could partially be due to regulator and oligopolies increase efficiencies, putting direct or indirect price pressure on their suppliers as well as putting pressure on the wages and benefits of their employees. Hence, there is growing belief that oligopolies can be price-neutral as opposed to manipulating prices. The strategic variable for airline carrier is pricing in the short run. Generally without product and service differentiation, the basic service offered by the carriers would be rather homogeneous. Under the Bertrand model, the carriers which produce at constant marginal cost and compete aggressively on price in order to gain a bigger share of the market. Under such condition, the market equilibrium is perfectly competitive pricing. However, in a loosely knit oligopoly structure as in the case here, the individual carrier has incentive to offer heterogeneous services. Through heterogeneous services, it can charge personalised pricing or group pricing [9] based on passenger willing-to-pay to achieve higher profits. For example, if carrier X sells its airfares at a uniform price, it loses in two ways. Firstly, some passenger would be willing to pay more than $80 for a ticket during the last hour of the flight. Secondly the carrier does not sell to passengers who are willing to pay more than $50 but less than $60. This is illustrated in Diagram 2 below. By charging passengers at different price, the carrier could profitably sell to a much larger passenger base. Furthermore, with differentiated services, should one carrier cut its price below other carriers price; it would take away only part of the other carriers entire demand. Thus, carriers should have strong incentive to differentiate its offering in order to raise their equilibrium prices. However, there is a risk of loosing the market if the services are not on par with its pricing and demand. The carriers must balance their desire for market share at the same time avoid head-to-head price competition since the less differentiation in their services, the more direct will be in price competition among them and the lower would be incremental margins. IMPACT OF DEREGULATION ON THE US AIRLINE INDUSTRY The 1978 deregulation has path the way that allowed competition to begin to function as the prime regulator of decision making in the airline industry. Competition would allow the airline industry to develop and maintain an air transportation system that rely on actual and potential competition to provide efficiency, innovation, low prices, variety, quality air transportation services at the same time, emphasising safety as the highest priority in air travel.[11] In addition, carriers are free to determine their prices in response to particular competitive market conditions on the basis of such air carriers individual costs.[12] With deregulation, the number of certificated carriers offering passenger service in US has grown rapidly; in real terms after accounting for inflation, airfares averaged 13% lower by 1982; the proportion of air travellers flying on discount fares grew from 48% in 1978 to 80% by 1982. [13] The airline industry expanded at rates significantly greater than before. In fact, its load factors rose to the highest levels in fifteen years while industrys productivity increased with an estimated cumulative savings of some $10 billion. SUBVERSION OF COMPETITION Due to the lack of regulation or antitrust laws to regulate the newly deregulated airline industry, it has allowed large carriers to systematically acquired smaller, regional carriers that were rapidly expanding their routes and competitiveness in the newly deregulated environment. For example, Northwest acquired Republic Airlines, one of its major competitors in the upper Midwest; as a result of the merger, Northwest controlled more than 80 percent of the Minneapolis market and in excess of 50 percent of air travel in and out of Detroit [14]. Texas Air, which earlier had acquired Continental and New York Air, purchased Eastern Airlines and Peoples Express. In all, the Transportation Department approved every airline merger proposed to it once it had been assigned antitrust oversight of the field.[15] This has resulted in large carriers erecting additional barriers.[16]][17][18], obstacles[19][20] and predatory pricing[21][22][23][24] thus crushing what competition might appear. Subj ected to such predation, only thirteen new start-up airlines have emerged in the industry since 1989 and that only eight of these have managed to survive as independent entities. [25] By 1988, the major carriers had reportedly gained control over 48% of the nations fifty largest commuter lines, either through outright ownership or through operating and marketing links. [26] Table 1 show the downward trend of concentration in the immediate aftermath of deregulation was reversed after 1985 and trend upward. At the same time, a powerful system of fortress hub monopolies was erected across the United States as shown in Table 2. Table 1: Airline Concentration, 1978-2001 Combined Share of U.S. Market (%) 1978 1983 1992 2001 Four Largest Carriers 57.7 54.7 69.9 63.1 Eight Largest Carriers 80.4 74.1 95.7 90.3 Source: U.S. Congressional Budget Office, Policies for the Deregulated Airline Industry, Washington, DC, July 1988; Aviation and Aerospace Almanac (Washington, DC: Aviation Week, various years). Table 2: Airline Hub Monopolies, 1980 and 2001 Airport Leading Carrier Market Share (%) 1980 2001 Atlanta 52.5 79.2 Chicago OHare 31.6 45.9 Cincinnati 38.1 92.2 Dallas/Ft. Worth 36.0 61.6 Denver 27.3 65.1 Detroit 20.9 77.1 Memphis 41.6 62.1 Minneapolis 41.7 80.4 Pittsburgh 53.4 75.9 St. Louis 43.3 73.0 Salt Lake City 28.4 61.8 Source: Julius Maldutis, Airline Competition at the 50 Largest U.S. Airports-Update, Salomon Brothers, Inc., May 6, 1993, and Aviation and Aerospace Almanac (Washington, DC: Aviation Week, 2003), pp. 373-80. Nevertheless, it should be noted that the fault is not with deregulation. Instead, the main issues have been the failure of US government to enforce antitrust laws to enable competition to effectively regulate the field. It failed to recognise that deregulation is not synonymous with laissez-faire and that antitrust enforcement is vital if competition is to perform its function in a newly deregulated industry. Effective competition would prevent carriers from charging high and highly discriminating airfares. This is simply because passengers have the option of patronising competing air carriers. Effective competition would prevent carriers from offering deteriorating service at higher fares, which again, because passengers could choose to fly on alternative carriers. An effective competition would surely prevent an industry from being dominated by carriers with the highest costs rather than the lowest. [27] Therefore, a new regulation regime like antitrust law from the Justice Department is necessary to promote and protect competition. [28] With Antitrust law, mergers and alliances by the carriers could have been blocked to prevent any artificial barriers to competition and prosecuting any predatory practices or actions by carriers to ensure competition function effectively. PROSPECTS FOR LOW-COST CARRIERS AND PRICE-CUTTING WARS Low-cost carriers (LCCs) have experienced phenomenal growth in recent years in term of load factors, airlines launched, aircraft order and worldwide distribution. Its growth has come to a momentous point where LCCs is posing exciting challenges and opportunities to the airline industry. According to IATA and ICAD projections, LCCs will outpace their full service rivals in terms of traffic growth and earnings in 2009. With tougher economic conditions and lower fuel prices, LCCs will have a major advantage Ten years ago, LCCs did not have access to as many cities. Now, their reaches are broader thus making it easier for passengers to turn to them as choice selection. Moreover, the amenities cut by larger airlines mean that their offerings are not all that different from their low cost competitors. [29] Cost-conscious mainstream airlines are cutting cost in order to provide the lowest fares. As mainstream airlines slim down, it has given passengers more option to fly both comfortably and affordably. LCCs are able to keep their prices down by flying out of low cost terminals. In other words, it is very much dependent on the airport that can lower its charges [30]. It also relied on the Internet for online booking and providing very basic onboard services. Furthermore, LLCs usually stock their fleets with one type of aircraft to minimise the amount of training for crews. [31] With fluctuating fuel prices, economic downturn and continuing environmental pressures, LCCs need to be able to continue to create value to their target customers in order to gain the market trust. It must continuously evaluate its models carefully in order to identify new revenue streams, attract profitable customers to ensure its long term survival in a highly challenging and competitively industry. The bigger challenge will come from mainstream airlines as they embark on low fares flights. As more and more countries are adopting an open sky policy, this has opened up new routes for LCCs amid tough competition and new entrants. [32] As low cost carriers, it has to constantly keeps it cost down. One of the fundamental issues with LCCs is economies of scale. By exploring new routes, it can enjoy increasing returns to scale; the marginal costs will be lower than the average costs. Since the marginal units of production or service costs less than the average, any increase in production will reduce the average cost. Therefore, the average cost cure slopes downward as shown in diagram 3. This will be more apparent if the aircrafts, maintenance and crews have minimum fixed costs including a fixed quota on the airports charges. Apart from economies of scale, LCCs like JetBlue offers a relatively simple product, with little meal service, at relatively low fares. This helps JetBlue distinguishes itself from other carriers like Southwest by offering reserved seating, leather seats, and LCD TV at every seat. [31] Furthermore, it has offered a more traditional hub-and-spoke route structure and a more traditional mix of long and short-haul flights. Coupled with its friendly service and hassle-free technology (ticketless travel), no discount seats, all fares would be one-way with a Saturday night stay over never required. It strive to be truly customer-friendly with computer terminals that could be rotated to show the customer what the agent was looking at, giving a $159 voucher whenever a flight was delayed for more than 4 hours for reasons other than weather or air traffic, and giving a $25 voucher for misplaced bags. Its attempts to bring humanity back to air travel. JetBlues target market was people who are no t going to travel, people who are disgusted with their current choices, people who would drive, or people who would not go at all. Another differentiation was that JetBlue used new airplanes as opposed to other LCCs that used second-hand planes. In another words, it provided passenger another layer of comfort and safety factors. IMPACT OF GLOBAL RECESSION ON THE AIRLINE INDUSTRY Global recession and rising oil prices have major impact on the airline industry. Industry passenger revenues have declined nearly 15% which is equivalent to $80 billion. The impact was far greater than September 11 disaster. According to International Air Transport Association (IATA), the forecasted revenue loss has gone up by 50% from $4.7 to $9 billion. [33] Generally, first class and business class fliers have switched to economy class. Many businesses have freeze travelling and instead used video conferencing for meetings etc On top of this, cost pressures from rising jet fuel prices in 2008 forced up the industrys fuel bills to $165 billion and precipitated losses  of about $10.4 billion. Coupled with softer travel demand due to the spread of the H1N1 virus, have created a difficult business environment. [34] These forces that are affecting the industry are creating significant headwinds for the industry. SUGGESTED MEASURES Several carriers have taken the following measures: Reduce capacity on domestic and international routes. Aircrafts were grounded as a result including crews taking no-pay leave or shorter working week. Suspending non-stop services to certain routes. For example, Delta airline suspended its flight between Atlanta to Seoul and Shanghai. Reduce weekly frequencies of flights to certain destination while extending more flights to profitable routes Move quickly to rebrand and consolidate facilities, repaint aircraft and ramp-up our frontline training activities. accelerate integration like mergers and acquisitions MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS In time of tough operating environment, merger makes more sense than ever particularly for air carriers. This would provide competitive advantage and strengthens its financial foundation. It also will maintain tight controls on its costs and capital spending. [8] Mergers acquisitions (MAs) is the easiest way to add to gross income is through mergers. By buying an established business with developed services and markets is a lot easier than focusing on internal innovation or better business processes. Many companies add 30 percent, 50 percent, even 100 percent to the gross income line simply by making a strategic purchase. Furthermore, there is synergies like greater economic efficiency, economies of scale, critical mass or greater customer base. At the same time, with lesser competition, it helped to stabilise airfares. CONCLUSION The airline industry operates in an oligopoly structure. By recognising mutual oligopolistic interdependence, it must be concerned and be aware of the group profits and group welfare. Under oligopoly landscape, independent, aggressive, genuinely competitive behaviour is perceived as counterproductive-an irrational strategy for the individual carrier. With declining market share by the Big Five network airlines and influx of several low-cost carriers, tacit collusion is becoming more difficult to organise, conceal and enforce. Through innovative and differentiated services, airline carrier could increase its equilibrium prices and avoid head-to-head price competition. New regulatory regimes like Antitrust laws is necessary to promote and protect competition. With Antitrust law, mergers and alliances by large carriers could have been blocked to prevent any artificial barriers to competition and prosecuting any predatory practices or actions to ensure competition function effectively. The prospect of LCCS can be sustained if can offer differentiated services like JetBlue which differentiated itself from the suite of no-frill services to its passenger that is niche and unique. LCCS should focus on cost efficiency and economies of scale by exploring new routes so that marginal costs will be lower than the average costs. The global recession has severely reduced the revenue of the airline industry. Several measures have been taken and adopted by many carriers in order to pull through the bad times. However, to ensure long term survival and competitive edge, carriers need to consolidate through merger and acquisition in order to enjoy greater synergies like greater scale, economic efficiency, economies of scale, critical mass or greater customer base and keeping airfares stable.

Music Censorship Essay example -- essays research papers fc

After killing you loudly with rhymes, beats, and rhythms, the music industry as a whole has gone through many trials and tribulations. Society has shifted in such a manner that allows and encourages freethinking and abstract arts and with those great things we face the problem of censorship. From an artist’s perspective it’s their â€Å"work,† but from another’s point of view that same piece of â€Å"work† can be garbage to another. Now in the 21st century we face an artistic crossroads. We are left with the question how far can an artist go? In addition, when we do go too far, do we censor? Censors are now disguised as retailers and distributors, special-interest groups, and less influential but passionate religious groups, and government authorities. Ultimately, when all is said, there remains one question and that question is does censorship conflict with the first amendment? The First Amendment states, â€Å"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.† (Beahm, 1993, p. 79) The court, in FCC v. Pacifica, said that although the First Amendment protects indecent speech, the commission could regulate the airwaves with only a few exceptions. In Pacifica, the court ruled in the FCC's favor, allowing it to curb utterances of the famous seven words that cannot be said on the air. The Pacifica case has remained substantially unchanged, despite a few lower court challenges and the Supreme Court's decision in Reno v. ACLU striking down an indecency standard for the Internet but not for on-air broadcasts. The current ban on indecent broadcasts applies strictly to those between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., when children are most likely to be li stening to the radio or watching television. Many would say that buying a CD or an adult film is much different than having a medium that is easily accessible such as radio, but others would counter that censoring lyrics abridges freedom of speech and that if someone is offended by the music on a station, that they should change the station. The owner of a Florida record store was convicted of obscenity charges for selling a recording by the rap group 2 Live Crew that had been declared obscene by a Federal judge. â€Å"As Nasty ... ...can government wants Americans to be sparred from obscenities in movies, TV, CD’s, and milder obscenities on the censored radios, they should alter the wording of the 1st Amendment to allow for blocking of obscenities when the government deems necessary. As the 1st Amendment states now, â€Å"Congress shall make no law†¦ abridging the freedom of speech.† That means no law can be passed that abridges of the freedom of speech and freedom of speech entails that Americans can say as they please. Anything calling for someone not to be able to say as they please abridges the principle of the 1st Amendment. Bibliography Beahm, George. War of Words: The Censorship Debate. Kansas City: Andrews and McMeel, 1993. Carter, T. Barton. Mass Communication Law In a Nutshell. St. Paul, Minnesota: West Group, 2000. Creech, Kenneth. Electronic Media Law and Regulation. Boston: Focal Press 2000. Daily, Jay E. The Anatomy of Censorship. New York: Marcel Dekker, Inc., 1973. Menconi, Al. Today’s Music: A Window To Your Child’s Soul. Elgin, Illinois: David C. Cook Publishing Co. 1990 Perkins, Erin. Droppin’ Science: Critcial Essays on Rap Music and Hip Hop Culture. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. 1996

Free Narrative Essays - I Was Poor, Not Low Class :: Example Personal Narratives

I Was Poor, Not Low Class Remember as a child people would tell you, "You are what you eat." When you are fed fat, you will become fat. When fed violence, you become violent. A diet of anger will make you hate. Hunger will make you hungrier, or so it would seem. I think it is ironic that we teach children at a young age to judge people by means other than the content of their character. Then, we expect children to be honest and loving after being labeled by how others view them. After all, how many people, besides your closest friends and family, can walk into your room and point to items that give a reflection of who you really are? The thought of being that shallow and simple is unthinkable for most of the human species. Instead of being labeled by the world as it sees me, I plan to introduce myself to the world for who I really am. I have eaten from the plate of materialism, only to find that it tasted foul in my mouth. I bought the high-end stereo and the large television. I soon realized these possessions made me feel guilty because I was ignoring my upbringing. I was betraying all of the feelings that I felt as a child in a poor family. Now, my walls are bare because I do not like to surround myself with propaganda. The same propaganda advertisers flaunted in front of me while I was growing up in a lower income family, not lower class. The notion that the country's population is separated into classes by wealth, with the least wealthy deemed the lower class, is repulsive to me. I refuse to conform to the typical American consumer stereotype who needs material possessions to feel validated, ever again. My dorm room is highlighted by a loft I built myself. The loft was not purchased from a hardware store or from a designer catalog. I used my carpentry knowledge and my own two hands to carefully construct the perfect loft. The loft does not symbolize convenience or organization as most may think. It is a symbol of my incredible independence, even to a fault.

A Personality Development Theory Applied in Choosing Career Essay

This paper attempts to look at the Big Five, a personality development theory that is used in studying the dimension of one’s personality. The Big Five model is a product of empirical research and at present, the most accepted approach among psychologists in studying personality traits. 1 The five factors are known as OCEAN- openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism. 2 It is said that theses possession of these traits may be stable for over 45 years that can start from early adulthood. 3 Parts and portion of traits are also heritable genetically. In addition, the traits are result of adaptation to the environment. Generally, these factors are viewed as universal and have been found in languages of different nations. Knowing where one’s place in the dimension can be very useful for one’s improvement and realization of skills, talents and abilities. The Case Dave has long been dreaming of putting up his own business. After several years of working in the job which he definitely did not like, he finally decided to pursue his dream. At this point in time, Dave was not sure of what enterprise will best fit his personality. Applying the Big Five Personality Development Theory, we carefully examine Dave’s personality in order to see what are his dominant traits and characteristics, his weaknesses and   1Buss, D. M. (1996). Social adaptation and five major factors of personality. In J. S. Wiggins (Ed. ), The five-factor model of personality: Theoretical perspectives (pp. 180-207). New York: 2Guilford. Soldz, S. , & Vaillant, G. E. (1999). The Big Five personality traits and the life course: A 45-year longitudinal study. Journal of Research in Personality, 33, 208-232 3Buss, D. M. (1996). Social adaptation and five major factors of personality. In J. S. Wiggins (Ed. ), The five-factor model of personality: Theoretical perspectives (pp. 180-207). New York: unleashed talents if ever to be able to fit it with the kind of business that will best suit him. This is for the purpose of finding the better enterprise that will complement to his overall personality. This is important because the idea of putting up a business is much of a risk to take and Dave cannot afford not to be successful in his new chosen field after leaving his long time job. This is somehow a prelude to the future of his business because as the business and manger and owner to be, he will direct the efficiency and effectiveness of his business. To start with, traits and characters must be identified. In this case Dave provided us with some of his characteristics that are assumed to be relevant in helping him determine the best business for him. Dave mentioned that he was previously a paralegal and he had worked with attorneys and several clients in their law firm. He claimed that he often acts as a leader and in fact he formerly managed a staff. He added that he posses various leadership qualities though if given a choice, he would rather work alone. Applying the Big Five Personality Earlier, it has been mentioned that Dave, if given the chance will rather work alone, hence, we can conclude that he is an introvert. But since, he had longed desire to have his own business, it is inevitable to work with other person or to a group of person. By the word business, he is going to put up an organization. Building an organization means continuous interaction with other people and all the accompanied activities will operate in a relational or in a dynamic manner. Example of introversion is being independent and often being quiet. Introvert people prefer to do things by themselves and refuses to be helped by others and also disregard group activities because they see themselves more productive if they are alone. They are also the type who minimizes social involvement, in other words they prefer less socialization. Some of them are deliberately shy and some extreme cases found depression. Given that Dave wanted to put up his business and he also wanted to be alone if possible, I think the best business that will suit him is a coffee shop. Maintaining a coffee shop is not that difficult. Three to four people can be able to organize the business accordingly. If he will put up a coffee shop, he can be the one at the counter or he can hire another person to do that and all he needs to do is to supervise. Unlike his previous job wherein he had staff to lead to and attorneys and clients to deal with, a coffee shop business will put him in less trouble. If he has a passion in bartending, he can be the one to do it and all he needs to face is the waiter who will be passing the orders to him. As for agreeableness, undoubtedly, Dave has established leadership qualities necessary to operate a business. It will not be hard for him to deal with his employees to be, since he had his fair share on this matter on his preceding occupation. On the other hand, Dave showed did not mention about openness but I think it is safe to say that he is an open person because even if he has introvert qualities he bear with his colleagues for a long period of time and he tried to be a good leader and showed exceptional qualities of leadership in the law firm. Another proof of his openness is his likeness to have his own business. This means that he is open for new changes in his life to happen. Meanwhile, Dave has finally become assertive departing from his old reticent way. This is because at last he had the courage to left his job and starts a new with a business. Lastly, after evaluating the four factors of the Big Five, we can conclude that Dave is in the mid of imaginative and conventional dimension since he had let several years to past before actually realizing his wants, nevertheless he also posters creativity side as he was able to think of another form of occupation. In this activity, I learned the importance of knowing your personal traits and characteristics. Being familiar with your limitations and advantages may help you in various ways, likewise, it can help you understand others as well as to deal with them accordingly. Being acquainted with these traits will improve your relationship to other people and most of all it will contribute a lot in realizing your own potential and developing you as a person. References About. com Website (2008). The â€Å"Big Five Personality Model. Retrieved on January 17, 2008 from http://psychology. about. com/od/personalitydevelopment/a/bigfive. htm Buss, D. M. (1996). Social adaptation and five major factors of personality. In J. S. Wiggins (Ed. ), The five-factor model of personality: Theoretical perspectives (pp. 180-207). New York: Guilford. Soldz, S. , & Vaillant, G. E. (1999). The Big Five personality traits and the life course: A 45-year longitudinal study. Journal of Research in Personality, 33, 208-232

Aspects of Literary History: Spring and Summer Terms 2008 Essay

Welcome to the Aspects of Literary History course. This is an ambitious course with a number of separate but interwoven strands: 1) The course will introduce you to some of the key concepts of literary history. 2) The course will enact literary history by examining the history of a particular mode of writing from its Greek origins through the seventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth, twenty and twenty-first centuries. You will be asked to think in terms of specific literary historical periods. 3) The course will make you more familiar with the reading and interpreting of poetry, with particular attention to improving your skills in close reading. 4) The course will examine pastoral poetry from its origins in the Greek Idylls, its dissemination through Roman models and its diversification into many forms: the elegy, the country house poem, the love lyric, the poem of reflection, the philosophical poem, the nature poem and the satire. 5) The course will focus historically on the pastoral not simply because it provides the originating mode for these diverse forms but because it is the product of a specific political and social culture: an elite form produced originally in a slave culture (Greek) and disseminated through another slave culture (Roman). This will give you the basis for thinking about the historical contextualization of the pastoral as a form. 6) How have later English poets – from the seventeenth century onwards – made use of the political and social entailments of the pastoral form? How have they expanded it by the introduction of a Christian content? How have American poets made use of the form in response to the colonization of the New World, a process seen by many (at the time and subsequently) through the means of the pastoral? 7) The analysis of pastoral will enable you to undertake the most subtle intrinsic literary historical analysis, the most ambitious and the most ranging extrinsic literary historical analysis and the most effective combination of intrinsic and extrinsic modes. The Aspects of Literary History course will be taught by lecture and seminar in the spring term and the summer term. You will use the Aspects of Literary History course reader for preparation and for seminar discussion. The poems for discussion in the lectures and in the seminars are all printed in the course reader and the course supplement. The lectures for the course will be held in Chichester Lecture Theatre on Mondays 12-1. The seminars for the course will take place later in the week. Please check the timetable for your individual tutor and for the time of your seminar. There are four secondary texts we would also like you to read during this course: Paul Alpers’ What Is Pastoral?, Raymond Williams’ The Country and the City, Jonathan Bate’s The Song of the Earth and Chris Fitter’s Poetry, Space, Landscape. There are multiple copies of these in short loan and you should be able to read these during the vacation and during the spring and summer terms. You can borrow short loan books over the vacation and renew on-line. Essential secondary material is available in the Reserve Collection or in the Artsfac part of the Reserve Collection. [Ask at the Reserve Collection Counter: this material is stored under the name of the course convenor, Alistair Davies]. The seminar strand will support the lecture series by ensuring that you have grasped the literary historical topic of the week (definitions and information are set out in the reader). But it will function principally a) to improve your confidence and skill in reading poetry and b) to encourage you [if you wish] to explore your own creative response in poetry to the themes and topics of the course. We hope that you will become more proficient, more imaginative and more self-assured readers of poetry. Your written course work will be two 1000 word course work essays [20% each]. We are hoping to encourage you to be concise, focused and lucid in your writing. You will have the opportunity, if you wish, to submit one piece of creative writing out of two pieces of written work for the course. Remember to check your written work against the criteria set out in the ‘Feedback and How to Make Use of It’ document you were given last term. To underline the importance we attach to your creativity, we draw your attention to details of the Stanmer Prize on page 4 of the course reader. You can read the poems produced by previous winners on the English web-site. The course will also be examined by an unseen in the summer term [60%]. You will be required to comment closely on three poems or passages of poems in ways that reflect upon the literary historical topics covered in the course. You can consult past examination papers through the Sussex web-site. You will find below a detailed plan of the course. You will be able to see how lectures prepare you for seminars in each week; and you will be able to plan your work for the course from the beginning to the end of the course. We hope that you will find this course informative and enjoyable. If you have any queries, do not hesitate to contact your course tutor or the course convenor, Dr Alistair Davies [H.A.Davies@sussex.ac.uk] The course will be taught in the following order [the order in which it is set out in the course reader]: Week 1:Genre and Conventions The first lecture by Professor Norman Vance will focus on Milton’s Lycidas and Paradise Lost and will explore Milton’s use of classical genre(s) and conventions. Prepare for the lecture by reading the ‘Genre and Conventions’, ‘The Origins of the Pastoral’ and ‘the Pastoral Elegy’ sections of the course reader and the section of the Aspects Course Supplement. Week 1: Norman Vance: ‘Pastoral Genre and Convention: Milton’s Lycidas and Paradise Lost In your first seminar, you will focus on two poems — Herrick’s ‘To Daffodils’ (p.33) and Elizabeth Bishop’s ‘North Haven’ (p.5). What are the generic constituents of Herrick’s poem? What makes Bishop’s poem a) a pastoral elegy and b) how does it differ as a modern pastoral elegy from Milton’s Renaissance pastoral elegy? Paul Alpers’ study of pastoral cited in the course reader will be helpful here. You may wish to read Alpers’ discussion of Lycidas in What is Pastoral [there are copies of this in reserve and in short loan; copies too in Artsfac]. We begin with pastoral and we will focus on pastoral; but one presupposition we will explore in the course is that the pastoral idyll provides the matrix out of which the elegy, the love poem, the poem of philosophical reflection, the subjective lyric, the love poem, the satire and the nature poem are developed within the western and within the English traditio n. Week 2: Intertextuality. The second lecture will be given by Professor Andrew Hadfield and will focus on Jonson’s To Penshurst. Prepare for the lecture by re-reading Virgil’s first eclogue and Horace’s second epode in the course reader. You will find To Penshurst in the course reader (pp.29-31). Read the ‘Intertextuality’ section of the course reader, pp.26-32. Week 2: Andrew Hadfield: ‘Intertextuality: Ben Jonson’s ‘To Penshurst and the Country-House Poem’ For your seminar, read Yeats’ ‘Coole Park, 1929’ and Walcott’s ‘Ruins of a Great House’ in the course reader (pp.31-32). How does Yeats relate to Jonson; how does Walcott relate to Yeats (who was an important early influence)? What does it tell us about history and about the history of literature that a poet of the English renaissance, an Irish poet of the 1920s and a Caribbean poet of post-war period should use a form established by Roman poets in the first century BC. What are the links between pastoral, the country-house poem and empire? Week 3/: Literature and Social Change The third lecture of the term will be given by Dr Sophie Thomas on the topic of the eighteenth century prospect poem. Week 3: Dr Sophie Thomas: Politics, Poetics and Landscape For this lecture, Sophie Thomas will explore the changing modes of the prospect poem in works by Pope, Gray, Cowper and Smith printed in the course reader (pp.36-45) and Wordsworth’s Tintern Abbey printed on pages 47-48. Please read the section Literature and Social Change, pp.33-48 of the course reader. In her lecture, Sophie Thomas will explore the so-called prospect poem, raising questions about the class and the gender position of the viewer and about the different ways in which nature is re-presented. Will you please read carefully Gray’s ‘Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College.’ In your seminar, your tutor will either focus on one or more of the poems by Gray, Cowper and Smith in the reader. How important is it to take into account the gender of the poets discussed? Does a female writer have a different sense of the possession of a landscape to a male writer? Week 4: Literature and Social Change The fourth lecture of the term will be given by Dr Sophie Thomas. Please prepare by reading the poems by Wordsworth and Coleridge in the course reader, pp. 45-48. Week 4: Dr Sophie Thomas: The Landscape of the Imagination: Wordsworth and Coleridge In your seminar, you will read Wordsworth’s Tintern Abbey (p.47). How does the tradition of the pastoral poem enable the poet to write here a poem of psychology, a poem of philosophical reflection and a poem of relationship [remember it is addressed to the poet’s sister]. Even though it is written [for us] in heightened diction, this was written as an example of a form Coleridge and Wordsworth admired, the so-called conversational poem. Of course, The Prelude is one, very long conversational poem. Week 5: Research Break Week 5 will be a research break for your seminar (this will allow you to catch up with your reading and your writing). You will write your first assignment. Your first written assignment will be due in week 6 [check on Sussex Direct] : one 1000 word essay — 1) a reading of either a) Jonson b) Bishop c) Yeats or d) Walcott in the light of questions of genre, convention and intertextuality or 2) a reading of the prospect poem, with reference to Gray, Cowper, Smith or Wordsworth) or, if you wish, 3) you may write an account of George Herbert’s ‘Life’ and Andrew Marvell’s ‘The Garden’ in the supplement in relationship to ideas of melancholy and of loss, pp. 6-7. The poetry of the English renaissance provides the models from which the English poets of the Romantic period develop the religious, philosophical and psychological preoccupations of their verse. Your seminar tutor will set you specific titles for this assignment. Week 6: Literary History and Periodisation (pp.37-40) The fifth lecture will be given by Dr Alistair Davies on Goldsmith’s ‘The Deserted Village’ pp.53-58 of course reader). Please read this poem closely before the lecture. Week 6: Dr Alistair Davies: ‘Goldsmith’s The Deserted Village: Literary History and Periodisation. To prepare for the topic for week 6, read the section on Literary History and Periodisation (pp. 49-58) in the course-reader and the section on Literary History and Periodisation in the course supplement. The lecture will set the poem in the context of the construction of an eighteenth century landscaped estate and house. The University of Sussex is built in the eighteenth-century country-park of Stanmer House. Please take a stroll around this park (or its remnants) and have a look at the Palladian-style Stanmer House (see final page of course reader). In your seminar, you will discuss the Virgilian and Horatian intertexts of The Deserted Village, relate the poem to questions of globalisation and migration, and explore the links between Goldsmith’s poem and the English landscape and pictorial tradition of the eighteenth century represented by Gainsborough’s painting in the course reader and on its back cover. Please also read the account of Michael McKeon’s article ‘The Pastoral Revolution’ cited in the course reader. There is a brief prà ©cis in the course reader but you should make every effort to read the whole of this important article in Kevin Sharpe and Steven N.Zwicker (eds): Refiguring Revolutions. You would also benefit, if you have not yet done so, from reading the recommended chapters in Raymond Williams’s indispensable The Country and the City [there are many copies of this in reserve and in short loan] and Jonathan Bate’s The Song of the Earth. Week 7. Literary History: Politics and the Subject of Modernity The sixth lecture of the course will be given by Dr Alistair Davies on The Prelude. Week 7: Dr Alistair Davies: ‘Wordsworth’s The Prelude: Politics and the Subject of Modernity’ For your preparation, please re-read The 1805 Prelude, with particular reference to Books 1, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13. For the seminar, we want you to read A.R.Ammons’s ‘Corsons Inlet’ (pp. 77-8). In what ways can you read Ammons’s poem as a post-Romantic rejoinder to ‘Tintern Abbey’? In what way is twentieth century American poetry, as we find it instanced in Ammons’ poem, a critique of the English Romantic tradition and of the American nineteenth century transcendental tradition it helped to shape? Remember that Wordsworth is a fundamental precursor figure for the modern American lyric poet as he is for the modern English lyric poet. Remember too that the pastoral is a fundamental form in American self-identification in the founding and settling of the New World. Sylvia Plath’s has written wonderful and little known sonnet ‘Mayflower’ on this topic, which you will find on page 49 of the course reader. Week 8. Feminist Literary History. The seventh lecture will be given by Dr Jenny Taylor on Christina Rossetti, concentrating on ‘Goblin Market’, pp. 66-71 of the course reader. Please prepare for the lecture by reading Goblin Market and the section on Feminist Literary History in the Aspects course reader, pp.63-71. Week 8: Dr Jenny Taylor: ‘Christina Rossetti and the Question of Feminist Literary History’ For your seminar, we want you to work through the three poems by Rossetti in the course reader in the light of the questions raised by the lecture and to compare them to the contemporaneous poems by Emily Dickinson in the Atlantic Studies and American pastoral section of the course reader, pp. 96. Second assignment for delivery in week 2 of the summer term. [see Sussex Direct]. What we want you to do for your second essay is to explore the idea of loco-descriptive verse and the walking or ‘ambulatory’ poem, examining the ways in which Wordsworth and Ammons have used these forms for metaphysical and religious explorations. You may write a walking poem for your final submission (no more than 30 lines) but with an auto-critique or justification amounting in total to 750 words. Or you may write a sonnet in the same on the building a) of Stanmer House in the 1700s or b) the University of Sussex in the 1960s — to explore a moment of profound historical transition. It would be useful to re-read Goldsmith’s The Deserted Village and the material on Enclosure and Emparking in the course reader before you embark on this (pp.53-58). You might take Sylvia Plath’s ‘Mayflower’ on page 49 as your model. Otherwise, you may write a comparative analysis of Wordworth’s ‘Tintern Abbey’ and of the Ammons poem. Or your tutor may set you an exercise which has arisen from discussions in your final seminar on Hardy. This exercise is 1000 words long. Week 9. Literary History: Transmission and Dissemination The eighth lecture will be given by Professor Norman Vance on pastoral and the loss of faith reflected in and through attitudes to nature in Romantic and post-Romantic poetry, focusing on the poems by Wordsworth, Shelley and Hardy in the course reader, pp.72-77. Please read the section on Literary History and Dissemination in the course reader, pp.47-51. Week 9: Prof Norman Vance: ‘The Decline of Nature: from Wordsworth to Hardy’. For your seminar, you will read the series of poems about birds and bird-song in the course supplement, [as well as poems by Hardy and Yeats in the course reader] linking the poet’s concerns with bird song and with flight to the possibility [or impossibility] of preserving the poetic tradition. How do scientific ideas – particularly those of Darwin – affect nineteenth century poetry? You will also consider the links between literary and intellectual history. Q. What do you think are the relationships between the Samuel Palmer ‘Pastoral Scene’ (1835) on the front cover of the course reader and nineteenth century preoccupations with secularisation? The Jo Francis essay cited in the course reader is useful for reading ‘Mont Blanc’; the Picot essay (like Francis’s essay in Artsfac in the Reserve Collection) is also very helpful. Summer Term: 2008 We expect you to undertake some preparation for the summer term by reading the ‘Atlantic Studies and American Pastoral’ section of the course reader and the ‘Atlantic Studies and American Pastoral’ section of the course supplement. The lecture titles for the summer term are as follows. You will be given details about the work to be undertaken during the vacation and in your term-time seminars at the end of the spring term.