Prostitution And Its Effect On Public Health Essay

Prostitution is defined as â€Å"the practice or occupation of engaging in sexual activity with someone for payment.† It is commonly referred to in the media and among society as the â€Å"oldest profession in the book†. This is easily explained by the ancient references that are present in religious tales of the Old Testament in the bible to modern day â€Å"red light districts† across the United States. Prostitution and its legality have always stirred up a mixture of emotions across countries, cultures and populations. In different periods of time it has gone from being praised, to being prosecuted, to being tolerated in some areas or simply overall evading the social topic. Some of the proponents like Amnesty International, believe that the legalization of prostitution would decrease crime rate, and improve public health. The opponents however like the Christian Legal society, believe that sexually transmitted diseases, human trafficking and rape would incre ase. Research organizations that advocate human rights like Human Rights Watch believe that prostitution should be decriminalized and regulated in order to create safer conditions for sex workers and ensure their security and well-being. When Rhode Island legalized prostitution from 2003 to 2009 statistics showed that sex worker rape cases and sexually transmitted infections significantly decreased. Additionally, it is estimated that if prostitution were legalized in the United States, the rape rate would decrease byShow MoreRelatedShould Prostitution Be Legalized? Essay724 Words   |  3 PagesShould prostitution be legalized? There are many reasons why prostitution should be legalized because it will have many positive effects. Legalizing prostitution would reduce crime, improve public health, increase tax revenue, help people out of poverty, get prostitutes off the streets, and allow adults to make their own choices. People say that prostitution is a victimless crime, especially in the 11 Nevada counties where it remains legal. There are ways that prostitution can be fixed to help theRead MoreThe Moral Right...or The Greater Good? Essay1176 Words   |  5 Pagespuritan settlers. Sex for pay or prostitution, is one concept so at odds with this taboo that it has been declared immoral and illegal. Forty-eight out of fifty states have decided that prostitution should be illegal. On the surface, this widespread ban on prostitution may appear to combat the spread disease and sex slavery, but, upon further inspection, this assertion might not be supported by facts. The creation of a legal and highly-regulated form of prostitution in the United States could helpRead MoreProstitution as a Form of Deviance Essay examples634 Words   |  3 PagesProstitution as a Form of Deviance In sociology, the term deviance refers to all violations of social rules, regardless of their seriousness (Essentials of Sociology 136). Deviance is an individual or organizational behavior that violates societal norms and is usually accompanied by negative reactions from others. According to a sociologist S. Becker, he stated that it is not the act itself that makes an action deviant, but rather how society reacts to it. A particular state of being thatRead MoreShould Prostitution Be Legalized? Canada?1379 Words   |  6 Pagessexual intercourse. Over time, the subject of prostitution has surfaced in spiritual and social discussion, and more recently into legal and moral discourses with an emphasis on the rights of sex workers. Since the recent phenomenon of advanced women’s rights through rigorous activist groups in the late nineteenth to early twentieth century, propelling the advancement of women’s rights movements began to immerge in the first world. At its core, prostitution is not an individual issue, but rather, a societalRead MoreShould Prostitution Be Beneficial For Our Nation?1176 Words   |  5 PagesProstitution is one of the oldest occupations of all time. Brothels have always been around since ancient times. So this deviant act is nothing new in the world we live in today. Prostitution shouldn’t be deemed deviant. Prostitution is often said to be the oldest profession, and there is a lot of evidence that this is true. The earliest texts we have reference prostitutes, either sacred ones working for a temple or common street prostitutes. Throughout the Bible, prostitutes played greater or lesserRead MoreProstitution Should Not be Legalized Essay1407 Words   |  6 PagesProstitution should not be ‘Legalized’ Sexual objectification of women is viewing them solely as de-personalized objects of desire instead of as individuals of complex personalities, which is done by speaking or thinking of women solely by their physical attributes. Sexuality has been a controversial topic for a long time, and there have been many thinkers pondering on its effects on societies and cultures all over the world. The physical expression of sexuality is fundamental and universal. WhatRead MoreBad Dates And Street Sex Trade1294 Words   |  6 Pagesin this business typically turn to prostitution for economic purposes as a result from poor education and poverty. Sex work is often linked to violence and victimization from clients and other perpetrators, but even so, it is not always true. The expectation that Bill C-36 will prevent harm to the susceptible portion of the population from acts of violence and exploitation will result in prostitution being criminalized. However, the criminalization of prostitution w ill lead to increased violence andRead MoreTo what Extent Are Prostitution and Drug Use Associated with Sociological Variables?1214 Words   |  5 Pagesextent are prostitution and drug use associated with sociological variables and are they truly victimless? Prostitution and illicit drug use are contentious topics, not only in North America but around the world. The issues of how to police, as well as whether or not to decriminalize prostitution and drug use are multifaceted and encompass sociological, economic, and health factors. Although there is a general understanding amongst the public concerning the definitions of prostitution and drug useRead MoreProstitution, Drugs And Money Laundering922 Words   |  4 Pages Prostitution, drugs and money laundering are all tied together in the underground world of the public crimes arena. In fact, acts are all influenced by the political, economic, and social relations intertwined with organized crime resulting in violence, public health issues, and money laundering schemes. Markets can be found online, on the streets, and through legitimate and illegitimate practices. The very nature of prostitution and drug crimes are considered victimless crimes, resulting in collateralRead MoreLegalizati on Of Prostitution : The United States From The Beginning Of English Settlements1542 Words   |  7 PagesProstitution has underlyingly lingered in the history of the United States from the beginning of English settlements. In the industrial times, five percent of the population of women working were prostitutes. During the migration to the West, prostitutes were the majority- if not the only women in boom towns. Not until 1875, were there any laws officially banning prostitution. The Page law was created when Chinese immigrant women become prostitutes or second wives to European men. The law banned

Geography Coursework †Methodology †Centre Of Leeds’ CBD Free Essays

For my geography project I visited Leeds to try and find the economic centre of the CBD of Leeds. I needed to collect land use data as this would help me investigate the first of my hypotheses which is the nearer to the centre of the CBD, the taller the buildings as I counted the heights of buildings in my area on the geography field trip and with the groups data of the building height of the whole CBD. Also I would have needed to count the pedestrian flow as this would help me investigate the second of my hypotheses which is there will be a higher volume of pedestrians nearer the centre of the CBD . We will write a custom essay sample on Geography Coursework – Methodology – Centre Of Leeds’ CBD or any similar topic only for you Order Now The data collection area was near the centre of Leeds CBD as I collected my data around Briggate as the edge of the Leeds CBD is near the tall office buildings. a map to show the buildings that our group had counted in our square B2 and shows numbered square The two pieces of individual data that I collected was: 1. traffic count 2. Environmental quality assessment The two pieces of group data we collected was: 1. Pedestrian flow 2. Land use 3. Building height The individual secondary data that I will be collecting is: 1. Land values The structure of the day was that we were going to split the day into two halves. We collected the group data in the morning and the individual data in the afternoon so we had much more time to collect our individual data. Group data For our group data we split the CBD into grid squares and two people were responsible for recording the building height and land use for the buildings in the given area and to do four pedestrian flows and we did the pedestrians flow outside the Town Hall on Westgate. We did this so we could cover more area and therefore the data collection techniques had to be the same throughout the whole year. For the group data we calculated the Pedestrian flow in a certain area at four different times also we calculated of the building height of the buildings in my groups square and started straight after we got out off the coach. Also we did land use of the buildings for this we calculated what particular use a building would be. We put letters on a map of Leeds that sod for type of the building e.g. a=commerce, b =administration etc. All the data in the Group Data was to be shared between all the groups. The image on the left to shows my square which was B2 and the image on the right shows the building we had to investigate Building Height To collect data for building height I worked with a partner and we counted the number of windows of each building in our grid and used this as the height, we did this because we didn’t have the time or equipment to measure the exact heights. We then collected the whole of the year’s data and have a good number of buildings from each grid to see where the tallest buildings are also the Building Height was fairly easy at times as you had to count the floors on the outside of the buildings, but there were problems counting the building height as we agreed not to count the cellars, but some buildings on slopes had cellars at the back and ground floors at the front of the buildings and we did not agree to count these aswell. Pedestrian flow We marked out four points on our maps equally distant apart and took counts of people who pass us. One of our pair counted right to left and the other counted left to right so we could efficiently record everyone. We went to the Town Hall on Westgate and we counted the number of pedestrians who were walking either in or out of the CBD. We thought this was an ideal to do our pedestrian count as we were near the edge of the CBD, so it was an ideal place to count the number of pedestrians walking in and out of the CBD. Land Use For this we used the ground floor land use of each building on our maps; we had certain categories and we put them in the ones which best fitted the land use. We did this because the categories gave an idea of the type of land and what it was used for. We then collected them with the rest of the year’s data on a database to see the different land uses around the CBD. We had filled in the land use of the buildings in a table which has all the number of the buildings. I think that the amount of categories that sort out the buildings was the right amount because if there were more categories it would have made it more complicated to organise the Land use on GIS, if there was less categories then it would have made it hard to organise the different types of buildings in the categories. Luckily we had successfully had no problems classifying the buildings into different categories. Individual data For individual data I collected raw data for the two options I chose. I did this by going round Leeds CBD and recording the data. In the second part of the day we did Individual Data. I did 10 environmental quality assessments and I did 2 traffic counts as they took 5 minutes each and the environmental quality assessments were scattered around the Leeds CBD. Showing the whole map of Leeds CBD Environmental quality survey I did many of these all around the CBD of Leeds as I had done 10 environmental quality assessments and I had done many of these near the centre of the CBD as my investigation is to find the centre of the CBD of Leeds. I did many of the environmental quality assessments around the centre of the CBD (which I think it is near or on Briggate) and I did the rest of the environmental quality assessment sheets around the edges of the CBD. The reason I did the survey in different areas of the CBD was to see the difference of the quality of the environment throughout the CBD of Leeds. I also thought that this survey was important as the centre of the CBD is supposed to have the best quality of environment in the whole CBD of Leeds. As the table shows this is not true and the cleanest area is in Gourmet Pizzeria, St Paul’s Street. Shows the Quality of environmental survey I used Traffic count Our group did the Traffic count in a busy location. We did our traffic on Bishopgate Street, beside Leeds Train station. The reason of us choosing the location was because it was at the edge of the CBD meaning the traffic that we had counted had been going in and out of the CBD. We did 3 traffic counts at different times but at the same location as we wanted to see the change of the traffic flow throughout the day. In our traffic count we had counted all the vehicles that came passed the road, cars, buses, taxis e.t.c. The most amount of traffic that had come past our point (the highest number of vehicles an hour) was at 2.30 pm and there was 1524 Vehicles an hour. How to cite Geography Coursework – Methodology – Centre Of Leeds’ CBD, Papers

Global Business Of Organic Wines Of Sunshine Company †Free Samples

Question: Discuss about the Global Business Of Organic Wines Of Sunshine Company. Answer: Introduction The study focuses on the product profile and its business objectives of Sunshine wine situated in Queensland. The sunshine coast in Queensland is considered as the one of the diverse developing wine regions in Queensland that encompasses boutique wineries as well as vineyards manufacturing award-winning products of wine (Rossi et al. 2012). The microclimate diversity helps to produce huge range of variety of grapes to be grown in Queensland. This attention in Vineyards helps in producing wines that have distinctive character. The report also highlights on the economic, political and business environment of Singapore and Sweden and their market potential for producing wine products. Economic Environment The wine industry in Australia has been ranked fourth in terms of wine exports by an amount of 750 million liters to the international market with approximately 40% of wine production consumed within the nation (Pethig 2013). This industry is a vital contributor to the total productivity, trade and employment of this economy. The wine industry in Australia contributes to $40.2 billion in the total output of the economy. This sector includes direct employment of approximately 68395 people to this economy. Recent statistics reflects that the wine industry has grown over the years in this nation. It has been noted that variation ion business cycles influences the wine industries in Australia. Theeconomic environment refers to the external factors including the broader nation influences the business environment of the wine industry. It includes both microeconomic as well asmacroeconomic environment. Microeconomic environment also influences the decision in business making that includes actions of the entities as well as the consumers whilemacroeconomic environment affects the entire Australian economy and the participants of the business. The macroeconomic factors include interest rates, taxes, currency exchange rates, inflation rate, unemployment rate, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and savings rate of the consumers. On the other hand, microeconomic environment factors involve size of the market, demand as well as supply of wine products, rivalries and distribution chain. Therefore, economic environment influences the success as well as failure in this wine industry in this nation. Moreover, the size and features of the Sweden and Singapore economy, FDI inflows and trade barriers influences the business of Sunshine wine in this nation. As recessionary phase affects both these countries, the Sunshine wine faces difficulty in selling their wine products and services to the customers. However, during this period, this firm cut the wages of the workers and hence disposable income of the consumers becomes less. As a result, the consumers purchase fewer products and this leads to decrease in sales and reduction in profitability level in this business. In addition, inflow of FDI plays a crucial role in expansion of wine business and hence increases the exports to these two nations. Inflow of investment improves the capital infrastructure in the business and helps in expanding into foreign markets. Therefore, it can be noted that sales of wine in Sweden and Singapore is affected by the wine market of Australia. Australia has been ranked fifth as accounted by market share as the Aussie wine value that is exported to Sweden increases to 26%. However, Sweden is known worldwide because of organic wine consumption and is aiming to raise its sales in the upcoming years. Australia contributes to 14% in the wine market of Singapore, as this nation is considered as the key wine suppliers in Singapore. Thus, the economic environment in Sweden and Singapore influences Sunshine Wine in Queensland. Political environment and Risk The political environment in Sweden and Singapore wine business involves certain political set of factors and other government activities in the international market. This can either aid or hamper the business activities in the global market (Hannah et al. 2013). However, there is certain uncertainty degree while conducting business in other nations and hence involves risk that is often termed as sovereign risk. Some of the political factors that influence the wine industry in Australia include the economic system, intervention of the government, tariffs, control of trade, tax policies and restrictions of import on product quality (Ferraro and Briody 2017). Adoption of tax policies by the government of these two nations restricts the business activities of wine companies and hence this adversely affects Australia as they are the main exporter of wine in these countries. In addition, there is no such trade barriers for the wine companies of Sweden and Singapore and hence this improves the economic growth of these nations. Hence, this influences the performance of the wine business in these two nations. Moreover, restriction of import of wine products adversely affects the revenue of wine companies owing to decrease in sales. Business Environment Business Environment refers to external as well as internal factors that affect the business activities of the organizations. The internal factors involve the strength and weakness of the wine companies while external factors has been grouped into opportunities and threats (Chong 2014). Singapore wine industry is relatively small with respect to Sweden wine market. The strength of the wine companies in these two nations includes innovative wine products, attaining good reputation by producing good quality wines, brand value, implementation of new technology for increasing productivity. The weakness of the wine companies in these nations includes poor promotional activities in promoting wine products, manufacturing poor quality wine, high cost of wine, poor distribution networks. In addition, opportunities of these companies involve advancement of technologies, ineffective rivalries and variation in social patterns etc improves the wine business of these two countries (Christ 2013). I n addition, new entrants, rising trade barriers and price wars between the companies poses threats to the wine entities in these two nations. Thus, wine companies in Sweden and Singapore poses threats from other countries. Overall the business environment of both the companies helps in expanding their business globally and achieve the highest rank. Market Potential Market potential refers to total market size of the products during a particular period. It is usually determined by volume of sales and value in the market. Australian wines have huge popularity in Sweden and Singapore market. However, Sunshine Wine faces several challenges from other nations in order to maintain its position in the markets of these two nations. The retailers provide wine products to these nations according to their market demands. The wine market in Sweden and Singapore has generated huge investment on the Sunshine exporters of this product. Though the wine market of these two nations are dominated by other nations, Australia holds price advantage over its competitors due to free trade agreements with these two countries. It has been opined by (Cassi 2012) that free trade agreements increase the size of the market for a particular product in the respective nation. Recent study also reflects that the market potential for wine of these two nations improved during the years. Country Choice Wine market in Singapore is considerable smaller as compared to wine market in Sweden. Although the wine sector in Singapore has grown over the years, the size of the wine market expanded in Sweden. The reason behind the expansion in Sweden wine market is the increase in sales of organic wine over the last ten years. In addition, Swedish wine industry has a monopoly market structure and hence the retailers benefits in this market structures by setting the price owing to increase in demand. Sweden wine companies purchases Australias exported wine according to the needs and preferences of the customers. Thus , the total sale of wine in this country increases during the period 2006 to 2016 and thus leading to expansion of wine market in Sweden (Anderson and Nelgen 2015). Moreover, it creates huge opportunities to the entities that includes introduction of internet wine shops. On the contrary, free trade agreements throw little positive effect in the Singaporean wine industry. As stated by (), Singaporean wine sector will expand in upcoming years owing to increase in demand for red wine. Weighted index refers to market value index in which the components are weighted based on the companys market value of their shares. As the wine companies in Sweden has shown huge sales of organic wine for the past few years, their market share value is high as compared to Singaporean wine companies. Thus, Sweden wine market is chosen over the Singaporean market owing to high market value of the shares of their companies. Conclusion From the above assignment it can be concluded that Sunshine Wine in Queensland contributes to Australias GDP growth and reduces the unemployment in the country. Additionally, as they are main exporters of wine in Sweden and Singapore, this company attains huge profit in terms of trade. Moreover, it is recommended that the Sunshine Wine Queensland must focus on their marketing strategies and free trade agreements with other nations in order to expand their business in other nations. As a consultant, it can be suggested that this company must focus on their wine packaging and taste according to the market demand of other nations including Sweden and Singapore. References Anderson, K. and Nelgen, S., 2015.Global wine markets, 1961 to 2009: a statistical compendium(p. 468). University of Adelaide Press. Cassi, L., Morrison, A. and Ter Wal, A.L., 2012. The evolution of trade and scientific collaboration networks in the global wine sector: a longitudinal study using network analysis.Economic geography,88(3), pp.311-334. Chong, S., 2014. Business process management for SMEs: an exploratory study of implementation factors for the Australian wine industry.Journal of Information Systems and Small Business,1(1-2), pp.41-58. Christ, K.L. and Burritt, R.L., 2013. Critical environmental concerns in wine production: an integrative review.Journal of Cleaner Production,53, pp.232-242. Duarte Alonso, A., Bressan, A., OShea, M. and Krajsic, V., 2014. Exporting wine in complex times: A study among small and medium wineries.Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development,21(2), pp.345-364. Ferraro, G.P. and Briody, E.K., 2017.The cultural dimension of global business. Taylor Francis. Hannah, L., Roehrdanz, P.R., Ikegami, M., Shepard, A.V., Shaw, M.R., Tabor, G., Zhi, L., Marquet, P.A. and Hijmans, R.J., 2013. Climate change, wine, and conservation.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,110(17), pp.6907-6912. Jones, G.V. and Alves, F., 2012. Impact of climate change on wine production: a global overview and regional assessment in the Douro Valley of Portugal.International Journal of Global Warming,4(3-4), pp.383-406. Martin, J.S. and Chaney, L.H., 2012.Global Business Etiquette: A Guide to International Communication and Customs: A Guide to International Communication and Customs. ABC-CLIO. Overton, J. and Murray, W.E., 2013. Class in a glass: capital, neoliberalism and social space in the global wine industry.Antipode,45(3), pp.702-718. Pethig, R. ed., 2013.Valuing the environment: methodological and measurement issues(Vol. 2). Springer Science Business Media. Rossi, M., Vrontis, D. and Thrassou, A., 2012. Wine business in a changing competitive environmentstrategic and financial choices of Campania wine firms.International Journal of Business and Globalisation,8(1), pp.112-130.

Searching For Controversial Research Paper Topics

In writing a research paper, the most basic thing is the topic. It works as the building block of an excellent research paper. It is rightly said that if the foundation of something is strong, then the building remains for a larger time and retains its value. Same is the case in writing a research paper. If the topic is chosen carefully and keenly, the research is effective and attracts the attention of the readers. The aptitude to build up a good research subject is an imperative ability. Sometimes, the professor assigns a specific topic to the student himself. On the other hand, most often the professors ask the students to choose their own subject of interest or a specific topic for writing a research. Elena at says: â€Å"Topic for the research paper writing has to be narrow as well as sufficiently focused to be attractive, yet wide enough to discover adequate knowledge and information.† Tips to handle your topic Brainstorm the thoughts which are around you Look out for the topics on which literature readings and study can be done Make sure that the title is convenient and manageable Formulate a list of keywords Try to be flexible and supple with your ideas Remain unbiased with your topic Develop a research question that why are have you selected the particular idea Read as much as you can, about your topic Research from different sources Conduct some interviews with the related personalities Do pay visits to the related places Consult the experts Give time for developing your topic Controversial and Diverse choice of Topics according to the Subjects Subject: ANTHROPOLOGY The subject of anthropology deals with the study of human cultures and the comparative study of customs, traditions, actions, ideas, institutions and experiences. Language and linguistics are also related to this field. Anthropology is a diverse field which can create a lot of topics for research purposes. Students in the field of Anthropology can merge the different topics to create a novel-fangled title and can do deep study in research paper writing. Some of the topics related to anthropology are jotted down below: The history of monarchy system and the implementation in today’s world Reasons of AIDS in America Treatment of HIV/AID in West America Sub-continent partition and the amalgamation of Cultures The trend of Chinese language and effect to English’s popularity Influence of Hollywood on other cultures Communication and Media Studies In this particular field of social sciences, theories of communication, ways to do effective communication, strengthening of speaking, listening and writing skills are focused. Also, the studies related to media technologies and the effect on the logical, regional and cultural aspects are done. Influence of media on our daily life and youth is also concerned in this field. The topics related to this field are: Hollywood’s influence on diverse cultures Communication gaps between parents and children Impact of social media on teenagers Impact of electronic games on childhood lifestyles Liberty to media and its aftermaths History of press media and its decline with the passage of time Relationship of USA with Iran and role of media Afghanistan’s civil war and role of media History It is related to the past of any area, any field, any theory, any movement, any revolution or any other thing. History is a vital part of something either culture, language, politics, science, etc. It helps the students to see that how the particular thing has evolved with time and how it affected the lifestyle of human beings and the living system in the particular area. The topics which can be considered for writing research paper under history are: French politics Russian history How USA was born? How Britain ruled and invaded many regions? How Turkish Empire was evolved? Impact of Hitler on various leaders The movement for Black Americans and its implementation The Mexican Drug war Cold war and its effect on the regional history Literature It is the study of the written material in form of prose, poetry, theories, observations as well as experimentation. It may include the learning of biographies, autobiographies, fiction, non-fiction, novels, short stories and history related texts. The genres may include: romance, adventure, history, religion, mystery, etc. The topics for the research writing under this subject may include: Comparison of writers of different eras Common themes presented in a specific time period The writing styles of English authors versus American authors The impact of poetry on our thoughts and lifestyles Impact of culture and brought up in the writing styles Other topics from different subjects and courses include: Trend of voters turnouts in 1900s versus 2000s Evolution of Democracy Effect of music on our emotions and our sentiments Depression: the mounting trend Trend of youth in politics The inclination in rate of abortion Drug addiction and its assorted consequences Gender inequality and the movements to promote Gender equality Why is USA still behind in Women Empowerment?

Free Essays on James Madison And The Enlightenment

Enlightenment was a movement that prevailed ideas about nature. This happened around the 1700’s. This movement played a major part for the world at that point in time. There were many enlightenment personalities that influenced this movement. The person that I would like to enlighten you about is James Madison. Along with that, I would like to share with you how he contributed to the enlightenment. James Madison first interaction with the enlightenment was when he made up the Virginia plan. The reason for the formation of this plan was to give fair representation to the larder and smaller states. In 1776 he made his first contribution which was, that the exercise of religion is a right not a privilege. He served in Congress since March of 1780. He was one of a few who thought the confederation Government needed to be invested with more power at the state’s expense. Though he engineered compromises, the confederation continued using power. Before he took up the task of reformulating the American government system, he left the national office and served in the Virginia House of delegates. He did this to block the establishment of states supporting churches. In 1787 Madison drafted a plan for a more powerful national government. He took s leading role in shaping the constitution. He devoted himself fully to the constitution being ratified. Then he and some colleagues wrote The Federalists. James Madison helped Virginia become the tenth ratified state. He promised his Virginia Constituency that he would sponsor a series of amendments. These amendments in return would provide a safeguard for the people. Ten of these amendments were ratified and is now know as the Bill of Rights. With Madison and Hamilton in a middle of a dispute, it lead to the formation of two groups; the Federalist and Republican parties. He drafted the Virginia Resolutions. During his final years, he paid attention to the domestic affairs. He establishe... Free Essays on James Madison And The Enlightenment Free Essays on James Madison And The Enlightenment Enlightenment was a movement that prevailed ideas about nature. This happened around the 1700’s. This movement played a major part for the world at that point in time. There were many enlightenment personalities that influenced this movement. The person that I would like to enlighten you about is James Madison. Along with that, I would like to share with you how he contributed to the enlightenment. James Madison first interaction with the enlightenment was when he made up the Virginia plan. The reason for the formation of this plan was to give fair representation to the larder and smaller states. In 1776 he made his first contribution which was, that the exercise of religion is a right not a privilege. He served in Congress since March of 1780. He was one of a few who thought the confederation Government needed to be invested with more power at the state’s expense. Though he engineered compromises, the confederation continued using power. Before he took up the task of reformulating the American government system, he left the national office and served in the Virginia House of delegates. He did this to block the establishment of states supporting churches. In 1787 Madison drafted a plan for a more powerful national government. He took s leading role in shaping the constitution. He devoted himself fully to the constitution being ratified. Then he and some colleagues wrote The Federalists. James Madison helped Virginia become the tenth ratified state. He promised his Virginia Constituency that he would sponsor a series of amendments. These amendments in return would provide a safeguard for the people. Ten of these amendments were ratified and is now know as the Bill of Rights. With Madison and Hamilton in a middle of a dispute, it lead to the formation of two groups; the Federalist and Republican parties. He drafted the Virginia Resolutions. During his final years, he paid attention to the domestic affairs. He establishe...

Tips to Help College Students Sleep

Tips to Help College Students Sleep College students and sleep dont often go together. In fact, when things get stressful, sleep is often the first thing to get trimmed from the to-do list of many college students. So when you finally do find the time to sleep, how can you make sure you can sleep well? Use Earplugs Theyre cheap, theyre easy to find at any drugstore (or even the campus bookstore), and they can block out the noise from your residence hall and your noisy, snoring roommate. Make Things Dark True, your roommate may need to be up all night writing the paper, but ask him or her to use a desk lamp instead of the main light for the room. Or, if youre crashing in the afternoon, close the blinds to help darken the room. Listen to Relaxing Music (Softly) Sometimes, turning out the outside world can be challenging. Try listening to some relaxing music to help you focus on calming down instead of everything going on around you. Appreciate the Sound of Silence While music can help, silence can sometimes be even better. Turn off your phone, turn off the music, turn off the DVD you wanted to watch as you fall asleep. Exercise Being physically healthy can help you sleep better, too. Try to get some exercise during the day not too close to when you want to sleep, of course, but even a brisk walk to your morning classes for 30 minutes in the morning will help you later that night. Avoid Caffeine in the Afternoon That cup of coffee you had at 4:00 p.m. could very well be keeping you up 8 hours later. Try water, juice, or any other caffeine-free option instead. Avoid Energy Drinks Sure, you needed that energy boost to make it through your evening class. But getting some exercise or eating a piece of fruit would have worked better than that energy drink and not kept you from sleeping later. Eat Healthy If your body is in a funk, it can be hard to sleep at night. Remember what your mama taught you and focus more on fruits, vegetables, water, and whole grains than coffee, energy drinks, fried food, and pizza. Lower Your Stress It may seem like Mission: Impossible, but reducing your stress can help you sleep. If you cant lower your overall stress level, try finishing a project or task no matter how small before you crawl into bed. You can feel accomplished instead of stressed about all you have to do. Relax for a Few Minutes Before Going to Bed Reading your cell phone, checking email, texting friends, and doing all kinds of brain-busy tasks can interfere with your ability to truly relax and rewind. Try reading a magazine for a few minutes, meditating, or just resting quietly with no electronics you might be surprised at how quickly you end up catching some zzzzzs.

In recent years, honeybee colonies have been experiencing Colony Essay

In recent years, honeybee colonies have been experiencing Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Given the key role of honeybees - Essay Example The honey bees that leave for the forage largely do not return back to their hives and this is especially witnessed to a large extent with migratory bees which are trucked from one country to another for pollination purposes. Scientists have begun to unravel the causes behind this phenomenon as it is a major source of income for the beekeepers and also the farmers depend on it for crop production (Johnson, 2010). In the earlier times a 10 percent loss in honey bee population in a season was considered to be normal, which then rose to 30 percent due to infection by parasitic mites and beginning from 2006 many commercial beekeepers have reported a loss of 30 to 90 percent average colony loss with the onset of CDD. Even the surviving colonies showed weak viability. Though a majority of the losses have been attributed to known causes about 25% of the loss is estimated to have occurred due to CCD. These losses of colonies occur throughout the year and are not seasonal. The major symptoms of this condition are the rapid loss of adult bee workers without any accumulation of dead bees in the hive which is an indication that these bees are not retuning back to the hive that is highly unusual in case of the bee population. These adult bees leave behind their brood which is generally inactive. In addition, there is also the presence of food stores that includes both honey and bee bread. The queen bee is generally present and actively laying eggs (Johnson, 2010; Colony Collapse Disorder, n.d). In case of actively collapsing bee colonies, only an insufficient workforce of young adult bees will be present and though the queen is present the population does not show an inclination to consume food (Colony Collapse Disorder, n.d). Research carried out to determine the causative factors for this condition has found out that CCD could be a syndrome which is not caused by any one particular factor but a combination of several factors (multifactorial). Some of the major possible fa ctors that threaten the bee population are viruses, parasites and microbes, pesticides, antibiotics, miticides, radiations, genetically modified crops and climatic and other environmental changes (Johnson, 2010; Colony Collapse Disorder, n.d). The USDA’s Agriculture Research Service, the Pennsylvania State University and several other universities are conducting most of the current research to unravel the cause of this phenomenon (Johnson, 2010). A recent study carried out by the Washington State University has shown that CCD could be caused due to a combination of toxic chemicals and pathogens present in honeycombs as the bees present in such combs had reduced longevity (Gutierrez, 2010). Of these, chronic exposures to pesticides, miticides and antibiotics have been shown to have an impact on the immune system of the honey bees and hence on their response to infection. In addition, bees have a reduced number of genes which offer resistance to various diseases and toxins thus making the bee population more vulnerable to such problems (Colony Collapse Disorder, n.d). These toxic chemicals are believed to cause the colony to collapse either by themselves or by combining with each other, which would result in increased toxicity to the hive. In addition scientists are also studying the combinatory effects

Word Processing Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Word Processing - Assignment Example Many people therefore access PCs since they are affordable rather than purchasing the Mac computers. In another case concerning better variety aspects, PCs are available with numerous configurations compared to Mac computers which have less variety because of being limited to only Mac Mini, iMac and Mac Pro (Towers, 32). The PCs have a better broadband support which involves the Internet Service Provider (ISP) compared to Mac machine which do no effectively work with the ISP. On the other hand Mac allows running windows via Boot Camp in a way which is legal as PCs posses a support system which is wide in terms of freeware and ecosystem options. The Internet Service Provider (ISP) such as broad bands has been introduced in relation to PCs and Mac computers usage (Towers, 12). There are many pros and cons in relation to PCs and Mac machines such as computers. In respect to pros of the PCs, compatibility is enhanced since every application; either game or driver will work on windows in context. Another pro of the PCs is that there is enhancement of technical support since there are many users who can offer one help with windows. The cons of the PCs include, the availability of viruses making individuals to buy anti-virus programs although free ones are available (Towers, 18). Another con is that PCs be come slow since their windows require a lot of computer resources such as processor. On the other hand, pros of the Mac computer include, Apple Macs almost having no viruses compared to PCs. One of the cons of the Mac computers is that they are expensive compared to PCs and they are only available on Apple computers. I recommend that one should use the Mac computers since they are more convenient compared to PCs. The PCs are old-fashioned and traditionally based while the Mac computers are the modern ones technologically. When Mac computers are purchased, they are not pre-loaded with trial ware and crapware unlike PCs which need new pre-installed programs.

12 Angry Men by Sidney Lumet Essay Example for Free

12 Angry Men by Sidney Lumet Essay In the field of psychology and psychiatry, the trend has always been towards individual therapy. The trend in psychoanalysis has always focused in the individual that the individual role and participation in society has been deemed as secondary. However, recently the trend has been moving towards the group with consideration to an individual’s psychology having full bearing to the manner in which he interacts and participates in his society. Irvin D. Yalom has stated that there are 12 therapeutic factors involved in group psychotherapy. To be able to fully understand these concepts, a study of the movie 12 Angry Men will be analyzed in the point of view of Yalom’s factors. The movie 12 Angry Men by Sidney Lumet is about a jury of 12 men trying to decide the fate of an 18 year old boy who has been accused of murdering his own father. The whole movie takes place in the jury room where all 12 men are locked inside until such time that a unanimous verdict has been reached. The movie begins with 11 of the members of the jury voting that the child is guilty. The story then revolves on the process by which the 12th member, played by Henry Fonda, is able to change the verdict into a not guilty decision. See more:Â  The 3 Types of Satire Essay The movie becomes a perfect example of Yalom’s factors as well as group therapy as the dynamics that occur within the group slowly shows how each person’s subjective psychology and personality is brought into the interaction of the group which eventually finalizes the decision of the group. Four of Yalom’s factors are most apparent in the movie Group Cohesiveness, Interpersonal Learning, and Catharsis and Existential factors. Group cohesiveness. There are two kinds of cohesiveness and what differentiates the two is the reason for which that group stays together. The two kinds are emotion-related and task related. Emotion-related is the kind of group cohesion founded on emotional connection and feelings members have for the other members of the group. Task-related cohesion is founded on the goals that the group has set for themselves and the achievement of these goals is what makes the group cohesive. In the case of 12 Angry Men, the only similarity that these 12 men have is that they are all members of the jury for this particular case. In the beginning, as each member enters the room, a discussion of past jury duties are discussed and this duty served as a commonality between all the members of the jury. This commonality is a superficial factor that added to the group’s cohesion. The main factor is that they all share the same goal which is to reach a verdict. The cohesion of the group is further enforced by the fact that the door is locked and the group cannot leave until such time that they all agree on the verdict without contest. The locked door forced them to become cohesive as well as the duty to decide on the fate of the 18year old boy. Interpersonal Learning. Interpersonal learning can be achieved with either an input of information, wherein people learn from the feedback that the other members in the group provide, or from an output of information wherein the environment provides an outlet where members can interact with each other openly and adaptively. Without the output Interpersonal Learning, the ability for the members to open up will be hindered and thus input interpersonal learning will be greatly limited as the people will hold their thoughts and not give the proper feedback required for the others to be able to learn from the experience. In the case of the movie, the initial environment was conducive to any of the jury members to open up. As a matter of fact, the initial environment was quite aloof to the point of hostile. The hostility burst forth as one member dissented from the majority vote. This same factor that caused the hostility, however, is the same factor that created the environment for the members of the jury to open up. Because of Henry Fonda’s character who refused to give a guilty verdict, a discussion ensued which allowed every single person in that jury to give his reasoning as to why a guilty verdict should be decided upon. With every single justification, more information is given out by the people from which the others give a reaction. This reaction serves as the feedback required for people to learn from. Within the group there are passive members who just listen instead of fully participating in the interaction. Although, they remain passive, learning is still occurring. Through the interaction of the others in the group, individuals are allowed to assess their own beliefs passively in relation to the discussion going on. This passivity was most apparent in the characters of John Fiedler (Juror #2), Edward Binns (Juror #6) and Robert Webber (Juror #12). They were not fully active in the discussion but whose decisions were based on the learning that occurred due to the interaction of the other members around them. Catharsis. Catharsis is the purging of strong emotions regarding the past or the present. There are different ways to achieve catharsis. Some express their emotions through art and literature. The most common, however, is just simply talking about it and having a good cry about the situation. In the case of a group, catharsis can occur through the constant interaction that comes into a group. In a sense, to fully achieve catharsis in a group setting, interpersonal learning is required. It is only through an environment when people are open and are allowed to give feedbacks that the opportunity to let go of strong emotions occur. In the movie, 12 Angry Men, a lot of the jurors have their own personal problems. The characters of Lee Cobb (Juror #3), Jack Klugman (Juror #6), Ed Begley (Juror #10) and George Voskovec (Juror #11) all had strong emotions rooted in their past that was brought to the fore because of the case of the 18 year old boy and the discussion to reach a verdict. Klugman, Begley and Voskovec’s issues were mainly rooted in discrimination and prejudice. Klugman had issues about slum children being discriminated as criminals when he was brought up in the slums; Begley based on his experiences, had a strong prejudice against poor people; while Voskovec’s issues deal with the fact that like the poor he is being discriminated as a foreigner/immigrant. The one who achieved the strongest catharsis was the character of Cobb has he experienced problems with his own son and was still having problems with his son. With Cobb, he was trying to get his anger towards his son out on the 18 year old boy who he found ungrateful for killing his father. He didn’t care much about the facts but cared only of exacting his revenge towards ungrateful children on the accused. With the constant deliberation as to the verdict, eventually, the truth came out and he was able to fully purge his emotions and give a rational verdict of not guilty. His breakdown was a sign of his complete catharsis regarding the matter of his son as this showed the realization of his problem as well as the release of it. Existential factors. Existential factors refer to the group’s acceptance of life responsibilities. Initially, the jury was not accepting the responsibility of deciding on the life of the 18 year old boy. They casually decided that he was guilty simply because they had better things to do. It is only Henry Fonda’s character that made them realize the gravity of their decision. He alone made them accept the group’s responsibility over the life and death of an 18 year old boy. As this was accepted, the group in earnest was able to weigh the pros and cons of the situation, re-assess the case in depth as well as analyze their selves and their own lives and make a true decision based on all these factors that affect both their life and the life of the accused boy. In conclusion, the trend in psychology is changing from individual psychoanalysis to group psychotherapy and rightly so as in the present group interaction and group dynamics can be found in almost any institution of society. Moreover, these groups have a great bearing on the lives of the people both as individuals as well as a whole society. The movie 12 Angry Men is a perfect example of the necessity of group psychotherapy as well as an example of how the therapeutic factors work in a given situation for a group. Sometimes, these factors are unconsciously done without the presence of a supervisor or counselor as witnessed in the movie. Notwithstanding, the movie has shown how important it is to have group psychotherapy as there are times where a group can decide on whether or not a person should continue living or should be punished by death.

The Electric Chair is Fair Punishment :: Death Penalty, Capital Punishment

This topic is a very controversial one. The paper you are about to read could cause intense arguments between some groups of people. All that doesn’t matter to me because when you finish reading this, you will agree with me if you don’t already. First off, many people consider the electric chair cruel and unusual punishment. What I don’t get is that people think this even though in order to be eligible to get sentenced to the electric chair, they have to be proven guilty of killing someone. Don’t you think that is cruel and unusual punishment? I certainly do. In my eyes, if they don’t get sentenced to the electric chair or some other form of guaranteed death (lethal injection, the gas chamber, etc.) it becomes cruel and unusual punishment on the victim’s friends and family, not physically but mentally. Secondly, in my eyes it is one of the only fair punishments allowed by the judicial system. Personally, I think that the murderer should suffer the exact fate that their victim did. Some people might say to give the murderer life in prison. This is hardly a punishment at all. Today, due to overcrowding in prisons, a lot of prisoners don’t serve their full sentence. Would you want one of these convicts to be a murderer? I can honestly tell you, "no, I wouldn’t." Another thing about today’s prisons is that the prisoners get free meals, clothes, bed, electricity, air conditioning and heating, cable and many other luxuries that make it a comfortable place to live if you get used to the people. My last point is that these criminals should have thought of what the consequences would be before they killed someone. If they didn’t do this or did and still killed someone, they probably aren’t intelligent enough to make any positive impact on the world or they are mentally unstable. They shouldn’t get off the hook for killing someone. You might feel that sentencing them to life in prison is punishment enough but no, not to me.

Marketing: Sense and New Balance Essay

New Balance has been in business for 103 years. The company started in Boston manufacturing shoes of police officers, waiters and any other occupations that kept people on their feet all day. In the 1970’s New Balance switched its focus and decided to make athletic shoes for all athletes. New Balance marketing department decided it was time to go overseas and to make money so, they open retail store in 2010. The stores are called Experience Stores located in Beijing and Shanghai. New Balance stores decoration emphasizes on the company’s heritage and accomplishment over the years. The marketing team of New Balance uses five senses to market the Experience Store in China. From the time customer walk in the door they get the feeling they’re in a different era from the music to smell of the store. A DNA ribbon† in each Experience Store accents the company’s history and accomplishments. The store setting promotes DNA concept and brings customer to the second floor where the store has a more modern setting. New Balance was planning its entry to China the Experience stores shows the concept of sensory branding that is the process in which is a brand experience that calls upon all of the senses in reflecting a company’s brand. To keep the concept of Total Fit the stores include healthy running tips, pointers on foot care and input from well known runners in China. Questions: 1. Do you think opening retail stores in China is a good move for New Balance? Why or Why not? I think it was a good move for New Balance to move to China. It’s a good idea for any company or any company to expand their business overseas it is just good business practice this day and age. 2. New Balance calls its new retail stores â€Å"Experience Stores† in your opinion what does the company mean by experience and how does that experience translate to sales? I think New Balance call its retail stores Experience Store because they have been in business for a long time. Experience is a good teacher with that been say New Balance should know how to generate sales.

Healthcare Difference Between Us and India

Health Care in the United States is described as the â€Å"cottage industry† it has been fragmented at the national, state, community and practice levels. There is not one single entity or set of policies guiding the health care system; Furthermore, this fragile primary care system is on the verge of collapse according to the Commonwealth Fund Commission. (A. Shih, 2008) The fragmentation of our delivery system is a fundamental contributor to the poor overall performance of the U. S. health care system.In our fragmented system: * patients and families navigate unassisted across different providers and care settings, fostering frustrating and dangerous patient experiences; * poor communication and lack of clear accountability for a patient among multiple providers lead to medical errors, waste, and duplication; * the absence of peer accountability, quality improvement infrastructure, and clinical information systems foster poor overall quality of care; and * high-cost, intensiv e medical intervention is rewarded over higher-value primary care, including preventive medicine and the management of chronic illness.No single policy will fix the fragmentation of our health care system. Rather, a comprehensive approach is required—one that might lead progressively to greater organization and better performance. The following strategies were recommended: (A. Shih, 2008) * Payment reform. Provider payment reform offers the opportunity to stimulate greater organization as well as higher performance. The predominant fee-for-service payment system fuels the fragmentation of our delivery system.We recommend that payers move away from fee-for-service toward bundled payment systems that reward coordinated, high-value care. In addition, we recommend expanding pay-for-performance programs to reward high-quality, patient-centered care. The more organization in delivery systems, the more feasible these payment reforms become (Exhibit ES-1). These payment reforms also could spur organization, since they reward optimal care over the continuum of services. Specifically, we believe that: Patient incentives. Patients should be given incentives to choose to receive care from high-quality, high-value delivery systems. This requires performance measurement systems that adequately distinguish among delivery systems. * Regulatory changes. The regulatory environment should be modified to facilitate clinical integration among providers. * Accreditation. There should be accreditation programs that focus on the six attributes of an ideal delivery system we have identified.Payers and consumers should be encouraged to base decisions on payment and provider networks on such information, in tandem with performance measurement data. * Provider training. Current training programs for physicians and other health professionals do not adequately prepare providers to practice in an organized delivery system or team-based environment. Provider training programs should b e required to teach systems-based skills and competencies, including population health, and be encouraged to include clinical training in organized delivery systems. Government infrastructure support.We recognize that in certain regions or for specific populations, formal organized delivery systems may not develop on their own. In such instances, we propose that the government play a greater role in facilitating or establishing the infrastructure for an organized delivery system, for example through assistance in establishing care coordination networks, care management services, after-hours coverage, health information technology, and performance improvement activities. Health information technology. Health information technology provides critical infrastructure for an organized delivery system. Providers should be required to implement and utilize certified electronic health records that meet functionality, interoperability, and security standards, and to participate in health info rmation exchange across providers and care settings within five yearsThese do not necessarily mean it will fix the health care system as we know it, but could generate, a better understand on what is expected of the United States as a whole, when the Medicare and Medicaid system is done away with, those born in the late 60’s to 2000’s will probably not benefit from the Medicare or Social Security system, when they reach the age of 65, Why you might ask, because the way the economy is going these systems will be obsolete in the future, while the Government is trying to build a better ntity, they will probably in fact, not accomplish this, it is my understanding that they will be doing away with the Medicaid program by the year 2012, this will be a great burden to those who are currently on this, If the Government could make it easier for those who can’t afford insurance to acquire commercial insurance at a lesser cost, then the majority would be get these types o f insurances, (ex Cigna, Humana, Aetna, BCBS, United Healthcare)I work in the medical field, I see daily the abuse some of these patients are taking from the Government in regards to their medical care, one month they have the insurance, the next they are on what is called â€Å"Share of Cost†,(SOC) this is just like an HMO or PPO, you have a deductable to reach every month, the only problems is, these patients do not have any money to pay, so they have to go to the local Hospital, to get their SOC covered, the patient see’s is as a convenience while the Hospitals sees it as a nuisance. Our fragmented health care delivery system delivers poor-quality, high-cost care. We cannot achieve a higher-performing health system without reorganization at the practice, community, state, and national levels.This report focuses on the community level, for which we have identified six attributes of an ideal delivery system. Our vision of health care delivery is not out of reach; some delivery systems have achieved these attributes, and they have done so in a variety of ways. We can no longer afford, nor should we tolerate, the outcomes of our fragmented health care system. We need to move away from a cottage industry in which providers have no relationship with, or accountability to, one another. Though we acknowledge that creating a more organized delivery system will be difficult, the recommendations put forth in this report offer a concrete approach to stimulate greater organization for higher performance. (A. Shih, 2008)In India, Primary Health Centers (PHCs) are the cornerstone of rural healthcare; a first port of call for the sick and an effective referral system; in addition to being the main focus of social and economic development of the community. It forms the first level of contact and a link between individuals and the national health system; bringing healthcare delivery as close as possible to where people live and work. (Patel, 2005) Primary healt hcare services substantially affects the general health of a population, however many factors undermine the quality and efficiency of primary healthcare services in developing countries. In India, although there are many reasons for poor PHC performance, almost all of them stem from weak stewardship of the sector, which produces a poor incentive framework.The World Health Organization (WHO) specifically points out that to some extent, the deterioration in health status is attributed to inadequacies in PHC implementation, neglecting the wider factors that have been responsible for this deterioration such as lack of political commitment, inadequate allocation of financial resources to PHCs and stagnation of inter-sectoral strategies and community participation. The main ones being bureaucratic approach to healthcare provision, lack of accountability and responsiveness to the general public and incongruence between available funding and commitments. The current PHC structure is extreme ly rigid, making it unable to respond effectively to local realities and needs. For instance, the number of ANMs per PHC is the same throughout the country despite the fact that some states have twice the fertility level of others.Moreover, political interference in the location of health facilities often results in an irrational distribution of PHCs and sub-centers. Government health departments are focused on implementing government norms, paying salaries, ensuring the minimum facilities are available rather than measuring health system performance or health outcomes. Further, the public health system is managed and overseen by District Health Officers. Although they are qualified doctors, they have barely any training in public health management; strengthening the capacity for public health management at the district and taluk level is crucial to improving public sector performance. Patel, 2005) Primary, secondary, generalist and specialist care, all have important and inclusive roles in the healthcare system and should be used to create a comprehensive and integrated model; one that combines universalism and economic realism with the objective of providing coverage for all. (Patel, 2005)| | The majority of these countries are trying to make it better for all to achieve the best health care entity possible; we are trying to make sure that everyone is covered by insurance.REFERENCES A. Shih, K. Davis, S. Schoenbaum, A. Gauthier, R. Nuzum, and D. McCarthy, Organizing the U. S. Health Care Delivery System for High Performance, The Commonwealth Fund, August 2008 (A. Shih, 2008) Express Healthcare Mgmt. Business Publications Division, Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd. , Express Towers, 1st floor, Nariman Point, Mumbai 400 021 (Patel, 2005)

The 9 Most Common Shapes and How to Identify Them

The 9 Most Common Shapes and How to Identify Them SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips You’ve probably learned a lot about shapes without ever really thinking about what they are. But understanding what a shape is is incredibly handy when comparing it to other geometric figures, such as planes, points, and lines. In this article, we’ll cover what exactly a shape is, as well as a bunch of common shapes, what they look like, and the major formulas associated with them. What Is a Shape? If someone asks you what a shape is, you’ll likely be able to name quite a few of them. But â€Å"shape† has a specific meaning, too- it’s not just a name for circles, squares, and triangles. A shape is the form of an object- not how much room it takes up or where it is physically, but the actual form it takes. A circle isn’t defined by how much room it takes up or where you see it, but rather the actual round form that it takes. A shape can be any size and appear anywhere; they’re not constrained by anything because they don’t actually take up any room. It’s kind of hard to wrap your mind around, but don’t think of them as being physical objects- a shape can be three-dimensional and take up physical room, such as a pyramid-shaped bookend or a cylinder can of oatmeal, or it can be two-dimensional and take up no physical room, such as a triangle drawn on a piece of paper. The fact that it has a form is what differentiates a shape from a point or a line. A point is just a position; it has no size, no width, no length, no dimension whatsoever. A line, on the other hand, is one-dimensional. It extends infinitely in either direction and has no thickness. It’s not a shape because it has no form. Though we may represent points or lines as shapes because we need to actually see them, they don’t actually have any form. That’s what differentiates a shape from the other geometric figures- it’s two- or three-dimensional, because it has a form. Cubes, like those seen here, are three-dimensional forms of squares- both are shapes! The 6 Main Types of Two-Dimensional Geometric Shapes Picturing a shape just based on definition is difficult- what does it mean to have form but not take up space? Let’s take a look at some different shapes to better understand what exactly it means to be a shape! We often classify shapes by how many sides they have. A â€Å"side† is a line segment (part of a line) that makes up part of a shape. But a shape can have an ambiguous number of sides, too. Type 1: Ellipses Ellipses are round, oval shapes in which a given point (p) has the same sum of distance from two different foci. Oval An oval looks a bit like a smooshed circle- rather than being perfectly round, it’s elongated in some way. However, the classification is imprecise. There are many, many kinds of ovals, but the general meaning is that they are a round shape that is elongated rather than perfectly round, as a circle is.An oval is any ellipses where the the foci are in two different positions. Because an oval is not perfectly round, the formulas we use to understand them have to be adjusted. It’s also important to note that calculating the circumference of an oval is quite difficult, so there’s no circumference equation below. Instead, use an online calculator or a calculator with a built-in circumference function, because even the best circumference equations you can do by hand are approximations. Definitions Major Radius: the distance from the oval’s origin to the furthest edge Minor Radius: the distance from the oval’s origin to the nearest edge Formulas Area = $\Major \Radius*\Minor \Radius*Ï€$ Circle How many sides does a circle have? Good question! There’s no good answer, unfortunately, because â€Å"sides† have more to do with polygons- a two-dimensional shape with at least three straight sides and typically at least five angles. Most familiar shapes are polygons, but circles have no straight sides and definitely lack five angles, so they are not polygons. So how many sides does a circle have? Zero? One? It’s irrelevant, actually- the question simply doesn’t apply to circles. A circle isn’t a polygon, but what is it? A circle is a two-dimensional shape (it has no thickness and no depth) made up of a curve that is always the same distance from a point in the center.An oval has two foci at different positions, whereas a circle's foci are always in the same position. Definitions Origin: the center point of the circle Radius: the distance from the origin to any point on the circle Circumference: the distance around the circle Diameter: the length from one edge of the circle to the other $\bo{Ï€}$: (pronounced like pie) 3.141592†¦; ${\the \circumference \of \a \circle}/{\the \radius \of \a \circle}$; used to calculate all kinds of things related to circles Formulas Circumference = $Ï€*\radius$ Area = $Ï€*\radius^2$ Type 2: Triangles Triangles are the simplest polygons. They have three sides and three angles, but they can look different from one another. You might have heard of right triangles or isosceles triangles- those are different types of triangles, but all will have three sides and three angles. Because there are many kinds of triangles, there are lots of important triangle formulas, many of them more complex than others. The basics are included below, but even the basics rely on knowing the length of the triangle’s sides. If you don’t know the triangle’s sides, you can still calculate different aspects of it using angles or only some of the sides. Definitions Vertex: the point where two sides of a triangle meet Base: any of the triangle’s sides, typically the one drawn at the bottom Height: the vertical distance froma base to a vertex it is not connected to Formulas Area = ${\base*\height}/2$ Perimeter = $\side a + \side b + \side c$ Type 3: Parallelograms A parallelogram is a shape with equal opposite angles, parallel opposite sides, and parallel sides of equal length. You might notice that this definition applies to squares and rectangles- that’s because squares and rectangles are also parallelograms! If you can calculate the area of a square, you can do it with any parallelogram. Definitions Length: the measure of the bottom or top side of a parallelogram Width: the measure of the left or right side of a parallelogram Formulas Area: $\length*\height$ Perimeter: $\Side 1 + \Side 2 + \Side 3 + \Side 4$ Alternatively, Perimeter: $\Side*4$ Rectangle A rectangle is a shape with parallel opposite sides, combined with all 90 degree angles. As a type of parallelogram, it has opposite parallel sides. In a rectangle, one set of parallel sides is longer than the other, making it look like an elongated square. Because a rectangle is a parallelogram, you can use the exact same formulas to calculate their area and perimeters. Square A square is a lot like a rectangle, with one notable exception: all its sides are equal length. Like rectangles, squares have all 90 degree angles and parallel opposite sides. That’s because a square is actually a type of rectangle, which is a type of parallelogram! For that reason, you can use the same formulas to calculate the area or perimeter of a square as you would for any other parallelogram. Rhombus A rhombus is- you guessed it- a type of parallelogram. The difference between a rhombus and a rectangle or square is that its interior angles are only the same as their diagonal opposites. Because of this, a rhombus looks a bit like a square or rectangle skewed a bit to the side. Though perimeter is calculated the same way, this affects the way that you calculate the area, because the height is no longer the same as it would be in a square or rectangle. Definition Diagonal: the length between two opposite vertices Formulas Area = ${\Diagonal 1*\Diagonal 2}/2$ Type 4: Trapezoids Trapezoids are four-sided figures with two opposite parallel sides. Unlike a parallelogram, a trapezoid has just two opposite parallel sides rather than four, which impacts the way you calculate the area and perimeter. Definitions Base: either of a trapezoid’s parallel sides Legs: either of the trapezoids non-parallel sides Altitude: the distance from one base to the other Formulas Area: $({\Base_1\length + \Base_2\length}/2)\altitude$ Perimeter: $\Base + \Base + \Leg + \Leg$ Type 5: Pentagons A pentagon is a five-sided shape. We typically see regular pentagons, where all sides and angles are equal, but irregular pentagons also exist. An irregular pentagon has unequal side and unequal angles, and can be convex- with no angles pointing inward- or concave- with an internal angle greater than 180 degrees. Because the shape is more complex, it needs to be divided into smaller shapes to calculate its area. Definitions Apothem: a line drawn from the pentagon’s center to one of the sides, hitting the side at a right angle. Formulas Perimeter: $\Side 1 + \Side 2 + \Side 3 + \Side 4 + \Side 5$ Area: ${\Perimeter*\Apothem}/2$ Type 6: Hexagons A hexagon is a six-sided shape that is very similar to pentagon. We most often see regular hexagons, but they, like pentagons, can also be irregular and convex or concave. Also like pentagons, a hexagon’s area formula is significantly more complex than that of a parallelogram. Formulas Perimeter: $\Side 1 + \Side 2 + \Side 3 + \Side 4 + \Side 5 + \Side 6$ Area: ${3√3*\Side*2}/2$ Alternatively, Area: ${\Perimeter*\Apothem}/2$ What AboutThree-Dimensional Geometric Shapes? There are also three-dimensional shapes, which don’t just have a length and a width, but also depth or volume. These are shapes you see in the real world, like a spherical basketball, a cylindrical container of oatmeal, or a rectangular book. Three-dimensional shapes are naturally more complex than two-dimensional shapes, with an additional dimension- the amount of space they take up, not just the form- to include when calculating area and perimeter. Math involving 2D shapes, such as those above, is called plane geometry because it deals specifically with planes, or flat shapes. Math involving 3D shapes like spheres and cubes is called solid geometry, because it deals with solids, another word for 3D shapes. Because solids are even more complex than the 2D shapes discussed above, they’re worthy of their own discussion in a separate blog post coming soon! 2D shapes make up the 3D shapes we see every day! 3 Key Tips for Working With Shapes There are so many types of shapes that it can be tricky to remember which is which and how to calculate their areas and perimeters. Here’s a few tips and tricks to help you remember them! #1: Identify Polygons Some shapes are polygons and some are not. One of the easiest ways to narrow down what type of shape something is is figuring outif it's a polygon. A polygon is comprised of straight lines that do not cross. Which of the shapes below are polygons and which are not? The circle and oval are not polygons, which means their area and perimeter are calculated differently. Learn more about how to calculate them using $Ï€$ above! #2: Check for Parallel Sides If the shape you’re looking at is a parallelogram, it’s generally easier to calculate its area and perimeter than if it isn’t a parallelogram. But how do you identify a parallelogram? It’s right there in the name- parallel. A parallelogram is a four-sided polygon with two sets of parallel sides. Squares, rectangles, and rhombuses are all parallelograms. Squares and rectangles use the same basic formulas for area- length times height. They’re also very easy to find perimeter for, as you just add all the sides together. Rhombuses are where things get tricky, because you multiply the diagonals together and divide by two. To determine what kind of parallelogram you’re looking at, ask yourself if it has all 90-degree angles. If yes, it’s either a square or a rectangle. A rectangle has two sides that are slightly longer than the others, whereas a square has sides of all equal length. Either way, you calculate the area by multiplying the length times the height and perimeter by adding all four sides together. If no, it’s probably a rhombus, which looks like if you took a square or rectangle and skewed it in either direction. In this case, you’ll find the area by multiplying the two diagonals together and dividing by two. Perimeter is found the same way that you would find the perimeter of a square or rectangle. #3: Count the Number of Sides Formulas for shapes that don’t have four sides can get quite tricky, so your best bet is to memorize them. If you have trouble keeping them straight, try memorizing the Greek words for numbers, such as: Tri: three, as in triple, meaning three of something Tetra: four, as in the number of squares in a Tetris block Penta: five, as in the Pentagon in Washington D.C., which is a large building in the shape of a Pentagon Hexa: six, as in hexadecimal, the six-digit codes often used for color in web and graphic design Septa: seven, as in Septa, the female clergy of Game of Thrones’ religion, which has seven gods Octo: eight, as in the eight legs of an octopus Ennea: nine, as in an enneagram, a common model for human personalities Deca: ten, as in a decathlon, in which athletes complete ten events What’s Next? If you're prepping for the ACT and want a little additional help on your geometry, check out this guide to coordinate geometry! If you're more the SAT type, this guide to triangles on the SAT geometry section will help you prepare for the test! Can't get enough of ACT math? This guide to polygons on the ACT will help you prepare with useful strategies and practice problems!

Top 7 Job Skills You’ll Need in 10 Years To Stay Up To Date

Top 7 Job Skills You’ll Need in 10 Years To Stay Up To Date There’s an awful lot of doomsday chatter about the future of the workforce and how all our jobs will be replaced by robots by 2020. A lot of that might be true. The World Economic Forum’s 2016 Future of Jobs Report estimated that over 5 million jobs will be lost to automation by that time- and that number will only continue to grow. Your usual fall back jobs- you know those â€Å"safe bets† your parents always lectured you about: manufacturing, law, administrative jobs, etc.- these will probably suffer the most cuts. But the good news is this: in times of great change, there’s always room for the enterprising and entrepreneurial to clean up. It’s just that there will be new and different skills to master- skills that will be most valuable in a new economy and in a changing world.Here are some of the top skills you’ll need if you want to get a leg up on the future of the workforce.1. TechTech skills will of course be in high demand, as will an ything to do with â€Å"computational thinking.† If the world is being taken over by computers, you’ll need to think like one. Learn to manage and synthesize the massive amounts of data we already process daily- and make sense of patterns.Jobs that will be fairly secure include: software developer, computer systems analyst, market research analyst, and marketing specialist- among other positions. In short: boost your analytical skills.2. Soft SmartsIf you’re just not a techie person, never fear. It will take a very long time for robots to be as emotionally intelligent as people, or as socially savvy. Focus on social intelligence and literacy with new media forms and platforms and you’ll be just fine. Sales, marketing, customer service, etc. are all the new â€Å"safe bets.†3. World BuildingVirtual reality already feels like a retro technology, but it’s here to stay. And it’s appearing more and more in everyday use. If you have skills that can lead to creating, managing, and manipulating virtual worlds, you’re golden. Also, storytelling skills will prove to be invaluable. It’s not all CGI bells and whistles. Someone has to make the worlds believable.4. AdaptationUnfortunately, â€Å"being adaptable† isn’t really a thing you can get paid to do exactly, but it is a skill you’ll need for almost anything in the changing workforce. Expand yourself and your mind, get outside your comfort zone and stay there- comfort zones will be disappearing altogether.Also make sure to learn and understand deeply how business works. Figure out ways to make a living as an independent contractor, or scout jobs in management analysis, accounting, and auditing.5. Constant LearningWith so much information, data, and constant change, those who keep on top of the latest trends and information will have a major leg up. Don’t rest on the laurels of what you know. Keep learning, even if only in 10 minu te chunks while commuting. Learn coding. Refresh your C++. Try a new language. And if you can do all this and teach or train, then you’re in great shape to stay employed.6. CaregivingAgain, if you’re just not that into business or tech, remember there will always be a need for caregivers- especially as the human lifespan lengthens. You’ll be relieved to know that nearly half of the hottest sectors for jobs through 2025 are health care or caregiving related. Anything in the fields of medical tech, physical therapy, workplace ergonomics, veterinary medicine, etc. Even medical secretaries and medical assistants will stay employed.7. Shallow ExpertiseThere will always be a need for specialists. But if you aren’t one, or you don’t care to become one, the new world will also require a host of people who can be ready to be a â€Å"shallow expert† on nearly anything at a moment’s notice. The sooner you can become well-versed on a wide variety of software programs, platforms, systems, and services, the more likely you are to stay on top.

Business planning Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Business planning - Assignment Example The food purchasing pattern of consumers is not only driven by the taste of the food but the food and the store should also have a pleasing impact on the aesthetic senses of the consumers. Since 2009, the food service and fast food industry is growing at a rapid rate and interestingly growth is high in the fast food sector. Quick Pizza is expected to attract significant number of consumers as a result of its high quality pizzas, cost effectiveness and innovative nature of business (Market Line, 2011). The pizza industry can be classified into three segments, such as, dine-in, takeout and home delivery services. According to market report, delivery services and takeouts form a major share of the industry revenue. Dine-in choices are presented by most adequately sized establishments while takeout is a convenient choice presented to consumers by mobile vendors as well as restaurants. The proposed business idea comes under the purview of quick service business model where the overall cost associated with the business is minimised because of lack of fixed establishment. The current consumer trend suggests that consumers are increasingly becoming health conscious and most fast food sellers are incorporating this requirement in their food menus (IBIS World, 2015). The United States is slowing recovering from the devastating recession and economic slowdown. In last half decade, the fiscal position of the country has improved considerably but the economy is still struggling with income inequality and unemployment issues. The purchasing power of consumers continues to be all time low but is expected to improve in recent time. The cost of infrastructure is increasing in an abrupt manner and the gross domestic product of the country is relatively low among other developed economies. Besides these, the labour wage and price of commodities are increasing at a rapid rate. The consumption pattern in the food service industry has been affected by present economic scenario and

Polluters pays principle Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Polluters pays principle - Essay Example It is this relentless pursuit of growth around the world that is causing increasingly dangerous levels of environmental degradation and giving rise to the phenomenon of climate change with all its consequences. Environmental concerns of the earlier years that focused on adverse effects on human health have since long moved to the more universal concerns regarding the very survival of life on this planet. These concerns have led to concerted efforts at national and international levels to enact stringent laws to safeguard our environment. These laws embody the principle of ‘polluter pays’ and are intended not only to control and regulate emissions / discharges (including, due to unforeseen incidents) from any economic activity, but also to forewarn the businesses of the penal liabilities for failing to confirm to regulations. However there are arguments supporting and opposing the effectiveness of this principle. This article examines them in the light of specific incidents and proposes that the principle of ‘polluter pays’ is a sufficient and necessary deterrent for any The polluter pays principle came into vogue in 1973 and was incorporated into the European Communities Treaty in 1987 (Coffey and Newcombe, 2002, p.1-3). The European Communities Act, 1972 (UK) enabled the government of UK to implement European Community Law as a domestic law through regulations brought before the Parliament to make the necessary changes to the UK laws (UK Law online, 2009). The Environmental Damage (Prevention and Remediation) Regulations 2009 is one such instance concerning the UK environmental laws and it came into force on March 1, 2009 embodying the polluter pays principle. By using the terms remediation and liabilities, the concept of making good any damage to the environment / suffering penalties, is brought forth through these regulations. In other words, businesses that conduct specified activities in all the three

The Concept of Linear Regression Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Concept of Linear Regression - Essay Example However, a multiple regression models comprises of a single independent variable with multiple independent variables. For instance, stock returns are dependent on interest rates, risk, dividend payout ratio and various other variables. The most common example of simple linear regression is market index model. It assumes that the returns on the stock are only dependent on market returns (Elton & Gruber, 2007). Observations of the market often reveal that as the market goes up, the stock also follows the same direction. This implies that stock returns are correlated with market returns thus we can relate it to the stock market index. An example of multiple regression is cited in the literature by Lusztig & Schwab (1970), where multiple regression analysis was used to estimate the insurance expenses (dependent variable), through commission, profit and contingencies and premium taxes (independent Variables). Minimum least (sum of squares) method is used to estimate the model for regression equation. The values are chosen in such a way that the (vertical) distances from the data points to the fitted lines are minimized (so that the line fits the data as closely as possible). The figure below shows the best-fitted line for a simple linear regression model. For instance, there is a general perception that there are indications that "soda and sweetened drinks are the main sources of calories in American Diet," therefore most of the nutritionists recommend that soft drinks can be detrimental to health if they are consumed excessively.

Role of Media in Society

Role of Media in Society Media is considered to be the 4th pillar of the society while the other three being legislative, executive and judiciary. It plays an important role in the welfare of the society, working as an informer, an educator, a form of entertainment and an opinion influencer. In Malaysia, media and politics are co-dependent because through this, democracy is formed. Mustafa (1999) stated that in this broad context of democracy, the mass media plays an important role by supplying media users with a platform to obtain information, exchange views and at the same time give feedback to the government; however this is overshadowed by the states official view that the media should be functioning as an essential tool to promote national development, national harmony and national security. The Mainstream Media and Politics The Malaysian mainstream press can be categorised as having gone through a major period of change since the early 1980s in terms of ownership and well as flourished amendments and policies that serves as a form of gate-keeping and control over the media. All forms of media introduced, newspaper, radio and television, directly went under the control of the government or companies that were aligned with the government. In Malaysia, obtaining information is often a tedious affair and can be frustrating applied not just for journalists but for the public because there are no Freedom of Information (FOI) laws. One of the events that aided towards a tight control over the mainstream media was during the 1969 elections, Barisan National while retaining a majority, lost many seats to extremist Chinese and Malay parties Yesudhasan Wong (2010) stated that Malaysia experienced one of the worst incident of ethnic violence in its history that came to be known as the May 13 incident. As part of the governments plan to sustain social order then, the government suspended the publications for all newspapers for two days starting from 16 May 1969, subsequently introduced a censorship law and banned the circulation of certain foreign magazines and newspapers that contained reports of the violence in Kuala Lumpur (Mustafa, 1999) Due to the incident, the government declared to have the rights to censor items that were deemed dangerous to national security. The Malaysian government appears to be misusing arguments of religious sensitive and cultural issues to manipulate the political system by limiting political freedom of the opposition and civil society which makes Malaysia a less democratic state (Azizuddin, 2008) Then, a new established body, the National Operations Council (NOC) was formed to resuscitate parliamentary democracy, rebuild public confidence and engender ethic harmony and a form contributing towards forming ethic harmony; an amendment was form whereby it prohibited any act, speech or publication that has a tendency to bring feelings of ill-will and enmity between the various ethnic groups (Zaharom, 1999) Thus the strong hold over the mainstream media begins. Many government leaders in the developing world justify their control over the media in terms of jealousy guarding and guiding its members towards the supposedly noble path of national development and to ensure that the media does not fall into the wrong hands or in other words, state control over the mainstream media has clearly been justified in the name of national development and national security (Mustafa, 2004) During elections, the media plays an important role in publicizing as well as plays a part in advertising politicians as well as their campaign. The mainstream media is fully controlled by Barisan Nationals needs to not only publicise but as Mustafa (2005) stated, flaunt to the whole country BNs achievements, particularly in the area of socioeconomic development. A wide coverage would done on the pro-government and minimal reporting would be done on the opposition. Media ownership generally plays in role in why Barisan national is constantly being flaunt and portrayed as the political party to vote for. After Malaysia gained independence in 1957, the mainstream print media was owned by private sector companies. Then the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) made a successful bid for the Utusan Melayu a few years afterwards. Over the years, the major English newspaper, The New Straits Times was also taken over by UMNO of the ruling National Front, while The Star was bought over by the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) and mainstream television channels like TV1, TV2 and TV3 were born, controlled by the government. According to an analysis on the coverage of Malaysias 2004 general elections by four mainstream newspapers (The Star, the New Straits Times (NST), Berita Harian and Utusan Melayu), the total number of news items that were positive towards BN among all four major newspapers were roughly 40% and above. The other part of the percentage went straight to new items that were negative towards the opposition. Only a slight number of news (4% and below) were negative new items towards BN. Mustafa (2005) also highlighted sample of headlines used by these newspapers that gave an idea of slant news reporting; Malaysians prefer Pak Lahs vision of Islam (NST, March 15 2004), Perlis merana jika pilih pembangang (Perlis suffers if opposition is voted) (Utusan Melayu, March 16 2004 ) This shows a high level of bias coverage within the highly influential mainstream newspapers during the 2004 general elections. Alternative Media and Politics With an obvious slant reporting and biasness from the mainstream media, cyber news is slowly taking over, becoming a more focused, better written, more informative and alternative to the mainstream newspapers and media. Like in the case of Marina Mahathir with The Column that wasnt; this piece was spiked by the Star because it touched in issues that were sensitive but since The Malaysian Multimedia and Communication Acts of 1998 promises that No censorship would be applied on Internet content, Marina published her column online together with ranting on why her column was spiked. What would stop the public now from reading that column online and have the same reaction if it was published in the mainstream newspaper? A study conducted by Zentrum Future Studies Malaysia in 2008 involving 1, 500 respondents between the age of 21 and 40 showed that the alternative media holds a big influence on young Malaysians. In the study, 64.5% of those ages from 21 to 30 years old trusted blogs and online media for reliable information. Those between 31 and 40 years old, 61.7% believed that information in blogs and online media are true. (Study Shows Why BN Lost the War, 2008) Yesudhasan Wong (2010) said that the young readership in Malaysia believes that the mainstream media are under the control of the government, always working continuously to ensure that the news are pro-government and has no or limited reports on sensitive issues. Various alternative news portals such as Malaysia Today, Malaysian Insider, Harakah Daily and MalaysiaKini provide media users with the alternative source to obtain political news or for those who have generally lost faith with the mainstream media. The parliamentary elections in 2008 brought the alternative media to a different level when weblogs, text messages and copies of Internet-streamed videos became the most influential information sources for voters ahead that resulted in a surprise blow to the Barisan National (BN) party, which has ruled the country for more than 50 years. After BNs worst election showing, in which it lost its two-thirds majority in the parliament, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi acknowledged March 25 that his coalition certainly lost the Internet war, and added that it was a serious misjudgement for his party to rely solely on government-controlled newspapers and television in its efforts to attract voters, (Kaufman, 2008). The alternative media gave media users a chance to hear what opposition parties have to say as it is not controlled by the government. Due to this, the government realize that the new media or alternative media is an important impartation in the political scene. Now, politicians are looking into the internet to gain communicate and display information to the mass society of internet users. Parti Keadilan Rakyat, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is in the blogspere at www.anwaribrahim.com, with regular updates on PKR as well as him opinions on what Malaysian the government should be doing. SMS is also another form of alternative media, in fact; it is a rather powerful form of communication tool if used wisely. Generally, there has been a passive use of SMS for politicians to pass on messages as well as information to voters from a national voter database, as well a more interactive use of it for politicians to communicate with party representatives, voters or the media (Kaur and Halimahton, 2004) A research done by Kaur and Halimahton (2004) analysed contents of several election-related SMS for the 2004 general election sent from the nomination date until a few days after the election ended that were being sent among 238 respondents. This number was the final sample for the pilot study. According to research, 51 general election-related messages sent by friends, colleagues, family members, political party members and NGOs were collected between nomination day, 13 March 2004, and polling day, 21 March 2004. Only one message could categorized as informative, provided by communication provider MAXIS, informing voters that they should check their voting status and voting location through SMS. Only a few proved to be informative and useful in helping voters with information on the general election. 19 out of 50 were shown to be ridiculing or condemning messages towards Barisan National. 60.5% of the respondents found the election-related messages to be useful and informative. 27% found the messages to be funny where as about 6% found the messages to be a nuisance. Thought most found the SMS to be useful and informative, only 31.9% were influenced to support a party of individual base on what they received. Data collected showed that the public primarily uses SMS to for jokes or to criticize certain candidates or political parties, no serious discussion was found among the sample of SMS messages to persuade voters to vote in a certain way. Another form of alternative media, Al-Jazera English (AJE) believes in their mission to provide voice to the voiceless. In a survey done by AJE on how AJE is perceived by participants, the respondents of the survey gave a ranking of more positive than negative, showing the respondents had a favourable perception of AJE with regard to how it performed the conciliatory media functions (Mohammed and Power, 2010) Among the points that participants agreed on was that AJE provided a public place for politically underrepresented groups, AJE provides multiple view points on a diversity of controversial issues and that AJE represents the interests of the international public in general rather than a specific group of people. During the protest that broke out in November 10, 2007 organized by BERSIH with the aim of reforming the electoral process, up to an estimated of 40,000 protestors came with force to draw attention from the government. What began as a peaceful protest, the Malaysian police tried to vanquish protestors with tear gas and fire hoses. The image of such going ons were shocking and while, the mainstream broadcast and print failed to cover the protests but obtain minimal coverage, AJE covered the whole thing live and in detail (Mohammed and Power, 2010) The coverage done by AJE was then placed online, on YouTube, receiving more than 250,000 viewers within the first week of the protest resulting in a largely stated influenced media resulted in the Malaysian mainstream medias largest credibility crisis to date (Mohammed and Power, 2010) Media, Politics and the Public Sphere The role of the media is to act as a safety valve to release any pent-up emotions on any issue or combination of issues facing our country; with the heavy ownership by government, the credibility and reliability of our mainstream media might die out one day. The media also acts as a public sphere that is critically important for modern societies as it serves as a forum whereby the public can communicate collectively on relevant issues as well as allowing citizens to inform or update themselves on societal developments to observe and control political, economic and other elites (Gerhards and Schafer, 2010) However, due to the hold back and tight gate-keeping from the mainstream media, Mustafa (2005) stated that the public sphere in Malaysian society has been further constrained so that ordinary citizens and concerned civil have not been able to fully express their views and to directly participate in the countrys democratic process. Earlier this year, NTV7 producer resigned in protest over his companys decision to stop his talk show from commenting on the upcoming by-election at Hulu Selangor, following pressure said to have emanated directly from the ruling coalition. A TV2 documentary on the controversial Bakun Dam and the forced relocation of Sarawaks natives was forced off the air, just before the Sibu parliamentary by-election took place. It is clear that open debate has little room to flourish in Malaysia, (Yeoh, 2010) Malaysiakini, an example of a alternative publication that flourished tremendously after the 2008 general elections. Steele (2009) stated that it is not the Internet that challenges the Barisan Nationals stranglehold power but it is actually the norms and values of independent journalism that have made MalaysiaKini such a threat to government authorities. This ideology of creating independent journalism with the alternative media not only changes those who work within the public sphere but also creates a democratic space for public discourse, one that the Malaysian society lacks. It not only gives voice to the voiceless but concrete prove or forms of information through video, audio and feedback tools. It shows media users sides of stories that they may not see. The seemingly mechanistic tools of fairness and balance, did you get the quote from the other side? become a means of guaranteeing that all voices will be heard (Steele, 2009) Conclusion The media plays an important role in the welfare of the society, working as an informer, an educator, a form of entertainment and an opinion influencer. With the current media ownership that poses credible threat and questions the credibility to the role of the media; media users need to consider, who to trust now? Political issues are highly dependent on the media as it is highlights what is important and is highly influential thus it works as a form to influence the political mind-set of media users. With the mainstream constantly bombarding pro-government issues towards society, media users now yearn for a different point of view, shifting to the alternative media to abstract that diverse opinion. In sight of how the media and politics are inter-wined, it is important that the opinions and comments of the public take place to form a democracy, in the words of Abraham Lincoln; for the people, by the people and of the people. Thus, the public sphere is important in the role to colle ct or obtain the voices of the public. The alternative media has already taken the role in proving that space for the public to take part in forming the countrys democracy; it is now up to the mainstream media to do the same, for a better political constitution of the country.