Adolescent psychology Essay Example

Adolescent psychology Essay The following paper will deliver research on the area of adolescent psychology with the theme of self-mutilation or self harm that occurs with adolescent girls.   This concept of masochism will be dissected in the essay using peer reviewed journal articles.   The psychosis behind this action will also be explored and the impetus of the problem will also be given in this paper.   The history of the subject will be given as it relates not only psychologically with adolescence but also some sociology will be incorporated into the paper to give it a fair balance of prognosis. Adolescence is a period of socialization where children develop relationships outside of the family.   These relationships further fuel or enhance their perceptions of the world, their bonding with surrounding society members and their view of human interactions.   In an environment where there is a distant mother or absent father, where the child is found to have problems acting socially normal with other people, the person is defined as a deviant.   Not everyone who has been subjected to the above findings will go on to become a self-mutilator, but these types of adolescent girls are or have been defined by these terms.   Body image in the media is intended to represent a product and to sell that product.   The media gurus choose thin models not as attesting to how women should look but rather as a tribute to how they want their product to appear to the audience.   The idea of thinness is misconstrued on the idea that women’s bodies are too thin and thus those to o thin bodies present to the advertising world what their body should look like, but this is not true.   Thinness is in the eye of the beholder, â€Å"When individuals evaluate their appearance, they can either concur or disagree with other evaluators.   If dissensus occurs its direction can be either self enhancing or self-denigrating† (Levinson 1986; 330).   It becomes apparent then, that early childhood development is essential to creating an identity and furthermore to creating a sound human being who is not prone to acts of aggression We will write a custom essay sample on Adolescent psychology specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Adolescent psychology specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Adolescent psychology specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Thus, the act of bloodshed is art, thereby attributing self-mutilation as a means of reinvention of self, not only as punishment but an endeavor to transform the self due in part to low esteem, predisposition, or other abnormalities.   Often times this sacrifice of the adolescent’s blood is equated with Christ’s sacrifice for redemption of humankind, thus, the mutilation is cleansing of their sin (Hewitt 1997; 104).   The adolescent girl is using this pain and sacrifice for the importance of self expression.   Thus, mutilation becomes associated with salvation.   Masochism becomes equated with sacrifice, and blood is equated to a necessary part of this ritual.   The adolescent girl feels more human, less mundane when mutilation occurs, and thus she feels as though she were finding an inner truth to herself, one that the pedestrian tantrums that other adolescent girls indulge did not deliver to her.   (Hewitt 1997; 104). In Pipher’s studies (1994) she recognizes that female deviance is formed not only from interaction or lack of interaction from family, but also to the deliverance of aggression from friends and kids at school.   Girls will call other girls sluts (the manifestation of anger through verbal outbursts) and do mean things to them while they ‘aren’t looking’.   Boys do not verbalize their malice but act upon it by physically abusing their supposed assailant.   These two areas of socialization are prevalent in the various typological profiling for self mutilation.   An abusive environment will generate different responses from men and women.   Men, with an abusive childhood will transgress their behavior in terms of killing, raping or violent crimes.   Women are more likely to internalize their reactions and become self-destructive, turning to drug abuse or prostitution.   The internal deviance of women causes most people to disbelieve their capabili ty of being hands-on violent or self aggressive.   Thus, mutilation becomes associated with body image, and control.   Dittmar and Howard go on to state that roughly 20% of models in the fashion industry are underweight which in turn clinically diagnosis them with the condition of anorexia nervosa.   These conditions give further rise to other women’s problems.   Since the cultural idea of thinness as perpetuated by the media and the fashion industry is to have increasingly thin body types, the average woman or man tries dieting and exercising to keep up with the ‘standard’.   When the average woman or man finds that they are still not ‘normal’ according to the cultural guidelines of the word, they begin to be dissatisfied with their bodies which leads to low self-esteem, â€Å"Thus it stands to reason that women are likely to experience body dissatisfaction, low self-esteem and even eating disorders if they internalize and strive for a be auty ideal that is stringently thin and essentially unattainable† (478). Adolescent girls use pain as a gateway of understanding life.   Common mutilations practices include the performance of burn their limbs and slicing themselves with sharp razors.   In more dire, or ritualistic mutilations, the adolescent girl will use her own blood and outline her physiognomy on the plane of a mirror, at which she is peering.   She would take blood from her sliced open eyelids and trace her face in the glass.   By performing in this fashion the girl was able to visually and metaphorically re-engineer the product of artistry in her shedding of her own blood which in turn become a dichotomy of both process and product (Hewitt 1997; 103). Patricia Pearson, in her book, When She Was Bad, describes early acts of aggression by women as being a verbal attack demonstrating manipulation to an astounding degree.   Name-calling is the epitome of this action or lack of action.   Women are renowned for the pressures they present each other in early adolescence.   This verbal act of abuse is amplified in self mutilation through their indirect aggression to the themselves, Self-mutilative behavior (SMB) refers to the direct and deliberate destruction of one’s own body tissue without suicidal intent.   SMB is a pervasive public health problem occurring at a rate of 4% in the genera adult population and 21% in adult clinical populations.   Adolescence is a period of significantly increased risk for SMB, as is evidenced by rates of 14%-39% in adolescent community samples and 40%-61% in adolescent psychiatric inpatient samples (Nock Prinstein 2005; 140). The sociology involved with delinquent girls can be linked most especially to peer associates and to the culture at hand for delivering a message of women as â€Å"Other† and viewing women as unable to commit such a heinous crime as serial killing. Social bonding is more prevalent for females than males, and because there is a lack of support for women to be aggressive or to commit crimes then there are less female criminals if one is to believe serial killing is a cause of socialization.   Passivity is a ‘trained’ female trait, which enables them to not break out into fits of rage but to internalize the problem (and if aggression is addressed it is done so verbally).   Women are not seen as aggressive or as criminals.   Culture would believe that female serial killers are against nature. Men are the war makers, the abusive husbands, and the dirty side of society waiting to pounce on victims from the crevice of a dark alley. Men are the hunters and women are the gatherers as is historically thought for agriculturally based societies.   But this kind of thinking is phallic and has been thought too long.   Although self-mutilation is thought of as control over the self, the fringes of this definition incorporate the less noticeable mutilation of eating disorders.   Anorexia and bulimia are also forms of control over the self through the vehicle of the body.   The detriment of this fact, the fact that thinness is amounting to such problems as anorexia nervosa raise many social and cultural issues.   The cultural issue may best be summarized in Dittmar and Howard’s article as they quote Naomi Campbell and Claudia Schiffer, both spokespersons for top models, â€Å"†¦(s)tatistics have repeatedly shown that if you stick a beautiful skinny girl on the cover of a magazine you sell more copies†¦Agencies would say that we supply the women and the advertisers, our clients, want.   The clients would say that hey are se lling a product and responding to consumer demand.   At the end of the day, it is a business and the fact is that these models sell the products† (478).  Ã‚   Thus, the opposite side of the spectrum is arguing that businesses or model clients are merely representing something that already exists within the cultural dynamic.   The argument is that thin models represent what people want to see and so the products the models are advertising sell more copies.   The clients of the modeling agencies are merely tied into the vicious cycle of believing what they want to believe.   Although this point seems somewhat valid, the validation stops when such perpetuating leads to serious illnesses (in some cases anorexia or bulimia have lead to death). It can plainly be deciphered from the above text that body image is created by the media, as Guttman quotes in her article â€Å"Advertising, My Mirror† in an interview with Christian Blachas, â€Å"That image comes to us from the fashion world.   People like to say advertising starts trends like the recent wave of ‘fashion pornography.’ But this came straight from designers and fashion journalists.   The job of advertising is to pick up on trends.   It’s rarely subversive because brands don’t gain anything from shocking people too much.   Advertising’s a remarkable mirror, but it doesn’t start fads† (25).   Consequently, Blachas is stating that if fault is to be placed anywhere for the over correction of dieting, then the blame is not on the fashion industry but on advertisers who are the ones who pick up trends and allow these trends to filter down to every consumer; thus, while 20% of models are diagnosed as too â₠¬Ëœthin’ this relevant percentage can be related to the American public. Women and men are sensible enough to know what is too thin to be realistic; often times media transform their model’s bodies and digitally enhance or decrease the model’s body thus presenting a false image.   This is not done in order to impress upon young girls that their bodies should be thin but merely in keeping in mind with the best possible way to present the product of the advertisement.   The fact that such images are digitally enhanced in one way or another is no secret and therefore the justification that such images produce too thin body ideals does not hold against the argument that they indeed do, I mean we can alter that body shape definitely†¦I mean the computer can pretty much do anything.   You can alter it†¦they don’t tend to †¦but its kind of up to the model editor†¦You make ‘em†¦sort of squish them together to make them look thinner (Milkie 2002; 851). Another argument against the too thin body image presented in the media is that this is more of a cultural attitude.   In The body of the beholder the authors highlight that more often than not Caucasian women have poor images of themselves while African American women do not; this is attributed to culture and not to media; in other words, the body image is in the eyes of the beholder and not in the eyes of the media, â€Å"Quite commonly researchers restrict samples to white subjects or ignore race as an independent variable in their designs.   However, existing anecdotal and case studies report that blacks assign positive qualities of well-being and power to heavy-women† (Levinson et al. 1986; 331). This argument however is hard to accept since the media drenches the advertisting world with continuous images of the thin model as is seen with CK models, Victoria’s Secret models, and especially in layouts of Sports illustrated. The adolescent girl sheds blood in order to be human, to physically feel something because often times the emotional part of the brain is cauterized from one event (i.e. divorce, death, disassociation, etc.).   The adolescent girl sees the body as a vehicle, a tool of expression through pathological masochism.   Thus, she is making a succinct statement to society and the self, not only of sacrifice and redemption but also in an egotistical fashion she is stating that her arms are hers to do with what she pleases.   If she wants her arms to be scarred then that is how they will be and this message is delivered to herself or society as control. Adolescent girls engage in SMB for a myriad of reasons which may entail doing it for personal boundary definition, to relate to power in being the one to penetrate which involves various other sexual reasons behind SMB, and it also relates, or could relate to the sense of mastery of death (Nock Prinstein 2005; 140).   These reasons all point to one fact; control.   The adolescent girl becomes affluent in SMB in order to gain control or have some sense of control over herself and what is done to her body.   With the changes that are natural during this period of an adolescent girls life SMB correlates for psychological reasons that the girl wants to combat nature and individualistic if masochistic in order to have control. Thus it may be surmised that SMB is automatic, that is, there is little socializing that contributes to the action.   On the contrary however socialization, especially with adolescent girls, is an area in which they definitely feel as though they are not in control of their environment or themselves.   Self mutilation can be done using cutting, burning or by inserting objects under one’s skin (Nock Prinstein 2005; 141).   The participants in Nock and Prinstein’s study included 66 girls ages 12-17 who were studied for a period of twelve months. The results discussed in this study included the participation in SMB while not indulging in alcohol or drugs.   The participants reported that they felt no pain during self mutilation, even with lack of alcohol or drugs; what further perpetuated the act of SMB as Nock and Prinstein report, â€Å"A substantial proportion of adolescents reported that their friends had also engaged in SMB.  Ã‚   Friends’ behavior may increase adolescents’ access to SMB through prming as apotential strategy for achieving automatic and social contingencies.   Results indicated that the number of SMB incidents among friend was significantly associated with a social positive reinforcement function of SMB suggestion that some adolescents may believe that their friends’ behavior was successful in eliciting specific social behaviors from others in the interpersonal context† (Nock Prinstein 2005; 144). SMB is often also seen as an escapist route for adolescent girls.   With the fact that they feel no pain when they perform SMB it may indicate that they will increase their cutting or burning in order to feel something or also in order to exude proper control of their neuron stimulus.   When this is achieved adolescent girls often times experience a period of euphoria because they exerted complete control not over their emotions but over their physical threshold of pain which signifies to them a certain strength.   If an adolescent girl indulging in SMB is able to continual to do harm to herself without feeling pain or without stopping the performance of self infliction then she is exhibiting to herself that what physical torment she can endure.   Followed by euphoria and coupled with the body’s natural adrenaline levels and its ability to produce natural relaxers in times of stress, the adolescent girl feels as though she has accomplished a goal. As Nock and Prinstein state the act of SMB may be an unintentional act to begin with but the symbolism of control through inflicted pain and the threshold of that pain are too enticing for an adolescent girl and she indulges increasingly in SMB, â€Å"The initial act of SMB may occur nonimpulsivley , but subsequent acts may occur without substantial planning.   Examination of antecedents to initial SMB episodes as compared with factors that serve to maintain or reinforce ongoing SMB is a high priority for future research†¦this impulsiveness and lack of physical pain is of high concern as this suggests SMB is difficult to prevent and treat given the limited time frame for intervention and the lack of naturally occurring aversive consequences† (Nock Prinstein 2005; 143-144). Adolescent girls who participate in self mutilation often have associate feelings of emptiness, detachment, anhedonia, and ‘a restricted range of affect may increase the likelihood of engaging in SMB for automatic positive reinforcement to generate certain sensations of feelings’ (Nock Prinstein 2005; 144).   Thus it may be surmised that not only is SMB a reason enforced with the concept of control but it also alludes to adolescent girls trying to engage in the bridge between sensation and reality.   Adolescent girls want to feel something through their act of SMB; although this may seem contrary to the above statement of adolescent girls wanting to have control over their pain, it is subsequent to this reason in that adolescent girls participate in SMB to both have control over how they feel but also to initiate some sort of feeling.   Often times if pain is the only feeling which becomes synonymous from SMB then they are achieving their goal even if they remain stoic during the process. Ingrassia Springen further emphasize that white culture teaches that it is okay and even normal to have an eating disorder such as anorexia or bulimia, but in black culture these are even more of a phenomenon as black girls do not succumb to this masochism since their culture does not present it as a strong factor to be considered normal, â€Å"Black teens dont usually go to such extremes. Anorexia and bulimia are relatively minor problems among African-American girls. And though 51 percent of the black teens in the study said theyd dieted in the last year, follow-up interviews showed that far fewer were on sustained weight-and-exercise programs. Indeed, 64 percent of the black girls thought it was better to be a little overweight than underweight. And while they agreed that very overweight girls should diet, they defined that as someone who takes up two seats on the bus.†Ã‚   (Ingrassia Springen 1995; 66). The origins of self-mutilation arrive to the Western world from ritualistic practices in which body scarring and tattooing were emphasized.   During these rituals the person having the scarring done to them or the tattooing had to exhibit complete control of emotions and not let on that they were in pain.   This was a mark of pride, this theme of control.   The adolescent girl’s delivered message to society is found inside the fact that she does not exhibit pain nor fear during her mutilation, but complete control.   This action thereby makes the body a canvas, a conduit of self, masochism, and deliverance. Despite the strength that these adolescent girls surmise that they may be gaining from building up a threshold for SMB, the fact remains that it is a serious health detriment.   These adolescent girls are becoming habitually reliant on an insalubrious action whose causes are imbedded in detached human emotions and controlling psyches.   This paper has presented the facts of the socialization of adolescent girls and the genderizing of them as well as has dedicated its research to the automatic causes of SMB as well as the initial stages of the disorder which to reiterate are within oneself or else outside of oneself and thereby in society.   The impulse to be masochist resides in the fact of both following the peer influences crowd under the guise of fitting in and having a proneness to commit SMB because that is what friends are doing , as well as SMB being committed in order to achieve a personal goal.   That goal, for adolescent girls resides in the fact of them building a threshold of pain and dominating themselves through cutting, or burning.   SMB is thus both a psychological as well as a sociological phenomenon.

An Assortment of 30 Synonyms for Assortment, Mixture, or Variety

An Assortment of 30 Synonyms for Assortment, Mixture, or Variety An Assortment of 30 Synonyms for â€Å"Assortment,† â€Å"Mixture,† or â€Å"Variety† An Assortment of 30 Synonyms for â€Å"Assortment,† â€Å"Mixture,† or â€Å"Variety† By Mark Nichol This post lists thirty words to employ as alternatives for assortment, mixture, and variety, accompanied by brief definitions. 1–2. An agglomerate or agglomeration is a jumbled collection or mass, and the first variant also serves as a noun and an adjective (and can also refer to a volcanic rock consisting of various combined fragments). Agglomeration can also refer to the action or process of massing. 3. To botch is to bungle, or make a mess of, but the word can also describe the mess itself as a noun. 4. Clutter implies a concentrated assortment that impedes effectiveness or progress. 5. A collage is an artistic composition consisting of assorted elements or materials, but by extension the word can also refer to an assortment of any kind. 6. â€Å"Crazy quilt† implies a random assemblage of parts, from the original notion of a quilt consisting of odds and ends of fabric, though quilts are generally now assembled to create a pattern. 7. A farrago is a confused assortment. 8. A grab bag was originally a prize handed out at a fair or another event and consisting of a small sack with assorted toys and/or treats. Now, the phrase refers to any random collection. 9. Jumble suggests a disordered assortment. 10. Jungle, besides its primary meaning of â€Å"a region of tropical vegetation,† by extension can refer to a confused mass as well as a complex process. 11. Litter, from the Latin word for bed, came by extension from the sense of animal bedding material or organic matter on a forest floor to refer to accumulated objects strewn about. 12. Though medley is primarily understood to mean â€Å"a series of portions of two or more songs compiled as a single composition,† its original meaning is â€Å"mix.† 13. Mà ©lange refers to a usually incompatible assortment. 14. Cognate with manage, menagerie first applied to management of a farm and its livestock, then to a collection of or place for keeping animals for exhibition, and then, by extension, to any assortment. 15. A miscellany or miscellanea is a collection of various compositions or things. 16. A mishmash is an assortment of things literally or figuratively mashed together. 17. â€Å"Mixed bag† in similar to â€Å"grab bag† in current meaning, although the phrase more often refers to something with both positive and negative impacts. 18. Montage usually refers to a visual medley, but it can also be directly synonymous with medley in both artistic and general senses. 19. Motley originally had a sense of â€Å"multicolored† and described the variegated-pattern attire of the stock theatrical character Harlequin or a court jester, but it later came to describe a varied assortment. 20. To muddle is to make confused or unclear, and the noun refers to being mentally confused or to objects being in a state of confusion. 21. An olio is a collection or mixture. 22. A hybrid Latin/English term that literally means â€Å"gather all,† omnium-gatherum suggests a collection. 23–24. Patchwork, and â€Å"patchwork quilt,† denote a disordered collection, from the notion of a quilt made of assorted patches of fabric or something analogous to it in appearance. 25. A ragbag was originally a sack containing scraps of fabric, and by extensive the word came to refer to an assortment. 26. Rummage is primarily employed as a verb meaning â€Å"search,† but as a noun it refers both to a search through an assortment of objects or such a collection itself. 27. Similarly, to scramble is to rush or to make a difficult, energetic effort, but as a noun, the word pertains to a disordered collection that would require such activity when searching for something in it. 28. Shuffle describes the action of rearranging or moving back and forth, and a shuffle is an assortment of things messily rearranged. 29. A tumble is a careless, disordered, or sudden fall, and based on the middle sense, the word may also refer to a collection of things in disarray. 30. A welter is a chaotic assortment. Synonyms for assortment, mixture, and variety derived from names of food dishes are discussed in this post. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:70 "Home" Idioms and ExpressionsDifference between "Pressing" and "Ironing"Comment, Suggestion, and Feedback

FISCAL POLICY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

FISCAL POLICY - Essay Example 3). Towards meeting the objectives, the UK government adopted two fiscal rules (HM Treasury 2008, p. 3). The first rule is â€Å"the golden rule† that holds government must borrow only to invest and not fund current spending (HM Treasury 2008, p. 3). The second rule is described as the â€Å"sustainable investment rule† and requires that the â€Å"public sector as a proportion of GDP would be held over the economic cycle at a stable rate and prudent level† (HM Treasury 2008, p. 3). In general, under the second rule, â€Å"net debt would be maintained below 40 per cent of GDP over the economic cycle† (HM Treasury 2008, p. 3). The Economist Online Magazine reported January 20th this year that an important component of UK’s fiscal management is the UK government’s policy of â€Å"opening up the public services to competition and private providers to much greater extent than any of its predecessors†. As shown by the graph captured by Figur e 1, however, despite opening up the public services to competition and private providers, both the real and nominal value of public services have been on the rise in the United Kingdom since 1996. ... According to Adam et al. (2010, p. 2), UK taxation in the last thirty years is not much different from the policies that other countries have implemented worldwide: government has increased the share of value added taxes but reduced both specific and income taxes. Yet at the same time, Adam et al. (2010, p. 2) described the UK taxation has been unusual to some extent in the following respects: UK imposed zero VAT to many goods compared to other countries. UK abolished tax relief for mortgage interests. UK has only a small share of tax revenues from social security contributions. UK has an â€Å"unusually† large share from recurrent taxes on buildings. Even if indeed there was redistribution in favour of the poor through taxation, Adam et al. (2010, p. 3) were unsure if inequality in the UK has decreased. This observation appears indicative that reduction of inequality does not constitute to be a main cornerstone of the UK’s tax policy in the UK’s fiscal framework . According to Adam et al., the redistribution in favour of the poor that has taken place was done to strengthen financial work incentives before anything else (2010, p. 3). In summarizing the main tax reforms from 1978 to 2008, Adam et al. (2010, p. 11) pointed out the following: The basic rate from income tax was reduced from 33% to only 20% The top rate of 98% from unearned income and 83% of earnings was reduced to a significantly low 40%. The higher value-added tax higher rate of 12.5% was abolished but the standard rate increased from 8% to 17.5% (recall however that there are relatively many item that are zero-rated in terms of VAT taxes). Capital gains taxes returned to a flat rate. Inheritance taxes replaced capital transfer

The dust bowl of the 1930s Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The dust bowl of the 1930s - Research Paper Example The Dust Bowl caused losses amounting to millions of dollars in the process drying up the already depressed the economy of the United States in the 1930 through the damages created. The advancement in technology has made NASA believe that Jet Stream could have partly contributed to the drought. The decade of the 1930s was opened with unparalleled growth and prosperity. During the decade, the demand for wheat in the word was high making most farmers purchase tractors, one way plows and combines as a result of making a big chunk of the available land to be under the wheat plantation and with little regard being given to the damage that was being done to the environment (Siegfried, Max, Philip, Randal, and Julio 2004). The grasslands that should have never been plowed being plowed up, in the process breaking millions of acres of land meant for farming in the Great Plains. The year 1930 despite being dry, most farmers made wheat crop. As a matter of fact, in the year 1931, the wheat crop was mostly considered as a bumper crop largely due to the existence of over twelve million bushels of wheat. Wheat could be found everywhere be it in the elevators, in the roads and even on the ground. This increased supply in wheat resulted into prices of wheat going down hence most farmers incurring massive losses and going broke forcing a big number of the farmers to abandon their fields. Between the years 1934 to the year 1936, three record drought were experienced with the year 1936 experiencing a more severe storm that was even more severe and spread out of the plains and across all over the nation. These years of drought were accompanied by what we can consider as record breaking heavy rains, tornados, blizzards and flash floods. In the month of September in 1930, a rain of over five inches was experienced within a very short time in the Oklahoma Panhandle (Siegfried, Max, Philip, Randal, and Julio 2004). This flooding in Cimarron County was further accompanied with a dirt s torm which had profound damage on several small buildings and granaries. Additionally, during the same period, the region was whipped again by a strong dirt storm originating from the southwest until when the winds gave way to a blizzard from the north. The drought began after the blizzards in the winter between 1930 and 1931 which was first experienced by the northern plains feeling the dry spell and immediately followed by the southern plains in mid-July (Siegfried, Max, Philip, Randal, and Julio 2004). The ground as a result dis not have enough water that would necessitate planting until the late September during the same period. As a result of this, there was late planting characterized with early frost and with much of the wheat being small and weak, the wheat was beaten by dirt from the abandoned fields when in 1932 the spring winds began to blow. Various causes can be traced to the Dust Bowl experienced in the US Midwest during the 1930s. Amongst the causes could be the preva iling unstable ocean temperatures in the 1930s. this can be scientifically be explained by the fact that when the temperatures are cooler than normal in the tropical Pacific Ocean while on the other hand the Atlantic Ocean temperatures are experiencing ideal drought conditions as a result of the unstable sea surface temperatures, dry air coupled with high temperature could

Introduction to International Business Global Marketing Assignment

Introduction to International Business Global Marketing - Assignment Example Furthermore, as the retail market of China is growing rapidly just as United States, so, the organization of Wal-Mart desired to penetrate Chinese Markets (Yates, 2013). The Chinese retail market is recognized as one of the most growing market, with estimated revenues of $ 860 billion in the year 2006. Moreover, it is estimated that the retail revenue of the Chinese market might increase to $ 2.4 trillion by 2020. This estimated attracted the world’s leading retailer, Wal-Mart to penetrate into the market of China as compared to others. However, it had to face wide range of challenges or risks at the time of penetration or expansion. These are stated as below. Customer Preferences: this is recognized as one of the most important challenge that the organization of Wal-Mart had to face at the time of penetrating the market of China. However, in order to mitigate the challenge, the organization decided to implement the strategy of ‘go-native’, i.e. local adoption. The organization of Wal-Mart decided to implement the taste and preferences of the local customers so as to attract a wide range of customers of varying income groups and cultures. For example: Wal-Mart decided to offer fresh foods for dining purposes so as to enhance the reliability and loyalty of the customers towards the brand (Gereffi & Ong, 2012). Culture: the organization of Wal-Mart adopts the local culture of China at the time of promoting the products so as to attract a wide range of customers towards the brand that might amplify its brand value and market share. Logistics and supply Chain: in order to mitigate the logistics and supply chain issues, the organization of Wal-Mart recruited a wide range of suppliers in order to attain the ingredients very easily (Gereffi & Ong, 2012). Economic risks: inflation rates acted as one of the biggest economic risk for the organization

The meaning of childhood and the ideal childhood meaning

The meaning of childhood and the ideal childhood meaning What does childhood means and what would be considered an ideal childhood? The period of time between the childs birth till the child reached adulthood, its experiences and quality of those years sums up childhood. For children to develop to their optimal, they would need loving, warm and responsible caregivers, within an environment that stimulates their growth. They should be living in lives free from fear, violence and exploitation. Unfortunately, this is not always so. It was reported that 90% of the world children were born into poverty. They live in poorly sanitized areas and suffered from malnutrition. They are exposed to diseases such as malaria, polio, tuberculosis and Aids. They lived in fear of war and famine. Their life expectancy is only of 40 years (Gammage P. 2008) Millions of children suffered in poverty depriving of their many rights including health and education, protection from exploitation and harm. Childrens rights are being denied and are robbed of their childhood. On the 20 November 1989, the United Nations adopted The Convention on the Rights of the Child and ratified all countries except the United States of America and Somalia. The Convention set standards concerning children and their rights. In this essay, I will discuss about the need to protect childrens rights, the aims of the Convection on the Rights of the Child and the difference it makes to childrens lives. The need to protect children Poverty threatens all aspects of childhood, it deprives children of their chance to grow and develop to their full potential. Lives of poor children in Honduras are examples of children whose childhood are being compromised and needed help and protection. Hurricane Mitch in 1978 has caused serious damages to Honduras. Families live in poverty while the city is on the road to recovery. In order to provide basic needs like food, clothing and shelter, both parents would need to work. Young children are being left at home without adequate care. Their health and development were seriously affected. Some even resort to taking the older sibling out of school to help look after the younger ones. Similarly in Botswana, parents had to bring their children to work when faced without support from extended family or money to pay for childcare services. These children are at risks of being exposed to sudden life threatening injuries. For some parents, they engage cheaper inexperienced babysitters to mind their children. Young children were being neglected. There were also many cases of children being left alone at home w ithout any supervision or care by adults. It was not a surprise for surgeons in the hospitals to attend to children who were involved in accidents at home. In Mexico, due to the lack of affordable childcare, mothers bring their young children along to their work. Once again, these childrens lives are constantly at risks. Their health and development will be affected. Research showed that 19 percent of the working parents in Vietnam and 27 percent in Mexico, left their children alone or in the care of another child at home. A high of 48 percent of the working parents in Botswana without support left their children home alone or in the care of another child. These parents were poor and had little education had no choice as they could not afford any childcare services ( Heymann, J. 2006) Children living in poverty are exposed to diseases and malnutrition. In Africa, children live in overcrowded shacks with no running water or electricity. They live and play in alleyways that are covered with sewage and trash. Their parents cannot afford to feed them or parents themselves are ill. Due to poor diet and weaken immune systems, many African children died. Poverty increases childrens vulnerability to other dangers including violence and exploitation. Child labour and child trafficking prevails. In Asia, it was reported that there were more than a million child prostitutes. Parents who are heavily burdened with debts sold their children into the sex trade. There were also many who were kidnapped and forced into prostitution. The aims of the UNCRC In 1989, United Nation adopted the Convention on the rights of the child. It is an international treaty that defines persons aged below 18 years as children. It aims to safeguard childrens rights, welfare, interests and development. All governments have acceded to the Convention except the United States of America and Somalia. There are a total of 54 articles stating the basic human rights of all the children in the world. The right to survival; the right to physical and mental development; the right to protection from harm and the right to be involved in family, social and cultural activities are some of childrens entitlements. Since 1989, there is a significant change in the attention given to early childrens rights. Various laws and policies in countries have been reframed to accommodate the convention. In UK, laws that govern health, housing and welfare benefits have a profound impact on the childrens lives. Children are affected by laws governing the Education and employment rights. The Children Act 1989 put in place the relationship between children, parents and the state. Local authorities were given the power to look after the welfare of childrens lives and provide safeguards against poor care. The Children Act 1989 calls for the reform in child care law pertaining to child services and child protection. Children are protected from harm, with local authorities investigating their situations of risk. Other Agencies like the housing, health and education authorities were involved in assisting the local authorities with their enquiries. Inter-agency work is a distinctive UK response to protecting childr en from harm (Thomas, N. 2009). In 1999, the Sure Start Local Programme (SSLP) had most of the deprived areas in England covered. This programme was designed to provide support for families and parents. It supports good-quality play and learning experiences for children under 4 years of age. Childs health and development, including family health were looked into (Thomas, N. 2009). In recent years, the Childcare Act 2006 requires English local authorities to look after the well-being of young children and provide specific services (Thomas, N. 2009). In acceding to the UN convention, UK has made provisions for areas such as the right to a good education, to participate in cultural and recreational activities, the disable childs right to care and education. Article 12 of the UN convention states that the child has the right to express an opinion, and his voice should be heard in any judicial and administrative proceedings which affects them (Thomas, N. 2009) On 2 October, 1995, Singapore acceded to the UNCRC and came into effect on 4 November 1995. Singapore is a nation without any natural resources. Our people are our only asset, children are our future, and thus their well being is our main concern. As reported in MCYS press release, there are several different government agencies with its policies which formed the Inter-ministry committee (IMC) on the Convention on the Rights of the Child. IMC serves as an inter-agency platform for deliberation and coordination of various issues concerning children. Childrens rights and interests are respected and protected. The government also take a serious view on any child abuse or ill-treatment of a child. However, in special circumstances, slight canning is permissible. Children who misbehave may also be given slight canning on the palm of the hand. Corporal punishment is prohibited especially towards females. Canning can be administered by the headmaster. Singapores education system aims to acquire not just academic knowledge, but also impart values and increase the sense of rootedness in our children. These aims are articulated in our Desired Outcomes of Education. Children with special needs are not left out. The government has implemented the Integrated Childcare Programme, helping childcare centre to equip their staff and the centres to accommodate children with special needs. The discussion above are examples to shows Singapore commitment to uphold the rights and best interests of children. Singapores vision for our children and youth is to be a confident nation full of compassion and committed to social responsibilities, yet developed strong ties with their family and community. UNRC weaknesses The United Convention on the Rights of the Child is not without its weaknesses. According to Vanessa Pupava, children viewed as priceless may not be good all the time. There may be negative consequences for both child and parents. As defined by World Health Organisation, harm to child includes physical and emotional ill-treatment, abuse, neglect and exploitation. All these would affect the mental health and development of a child. In such broad terms, raising a child would become a very problematic task for parents. Parental authority may become abusive in itself. Parents would become paranoid; parents may also become overparented (Furedi F 2002). These children would lose their freedom to play and learn about risk. In other cases, parents and educators may lose sight of their commitment towards children. They are afraid of infringing the rights of the children and may they feel that they cannot attain the ideal way of upbringing the children, in the end, they may transfer their duti es to other institutions or even specialist services (R.Roose and M.Bouverne-De Bie, 2007 p.431-443). In UK, childrens rights can sometimes be seen as problematic. Adolescents may become aggressive and demanding. Parents and teachers fear of losing control with their teens. When children are given the right to participate in decision making, it may seem to discard the traditional notions of parents control over their children (R.Roose and M.Bouverne-De Bie, 2007 p.431-443). Conclusion Best interest of the child is one of the focal point in the convention on the rights of the Child. The childs rights include protection, prevention and participation in decision-making. It would be still a long way for successful implementation of the convention as adults still hold their own perceptions of children. This concept would also have different meanings for different countries in their own context. It would require the joint efforts of all for successful implementation of the convention and tackling with the constraints and shortcomings that comes alongside with it.

Modern Day Relevance of The Declaration of Independence Essay -- Decla

Modern Day Relevance of The Declaration of Independence The Declaration of Independence is one of the most important documents produced by an American thinker. Reading The Declaration of Independence presents the reader with a window into the world of revolutionary America. It conveys the dynamic nature of the time better than any written work of the period. The real importance of The Declaration of Independence lies not in the purpose for which Jefferson created it, to declare independence from Great Britain, but rather how future generations have interpreted Jefferson's words. Jefferson's document originally guaranteed basic rights for a select segment of the American population. Today it has become a document which has been interpreted to guarantee the basic rights of everyone living in America and abroad. In a way it has become a document with a life of its own. It has become something far more substantial than anything Jefferson or his contemporaries, writing within an eighteenth century mindset, could ever have believed it would bec ome. When Jefferson first stated in The Declaration of Independence that, "All men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights," he most certainly did not mean "all men." If he had then it would be hard for him to justify the fact that a sizable percentage of the American population was enslaved. He meant that all white, property-owning Americans were equal to their British counterparts. No consideration was given to women in The Declaration of Independence, they did not hold an equal status with men in the Jeffersonian model of an American republic. "All men," was certainly not the all-encompassing phrase that has been circulating in America ... ...England's policies on the American colonies. There was no way for him to know that The Declaration of Independence would be used to give, and preserve, basic rights for all people; American citizens or not. It is as if The Declaration of Independence has matured along with the United States. America is a country that has been home to a diverse population since its founding. The Declaration of Independence is interpreted in such a way that it has become a tool to accommodate America's heterogeneous population. The poetic nature and riveting tone of the document has inspired the generations of the past to gain and protect their "unalienable rights". What those rights are has been subject to change with each passing generation. 1. Much of this information has been taken from John C Miller's, The Wolf by the Ears: Thomas Jefferson and Slavery. (NY, 1977), pp. 52-53.

Politics and society in Italy during World War 2 Essay

Roberto Benigni’s movie â€Å"Life is beautiful† was a successful attempt of making a tragic-comedy. Roberto Benigni directed the movie, wrote it and acted in it. Previously, he worked as a comedian in several movies. The movie won many awards including, Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1998 and an Oscar award for the best actor. The movie makes sure that as Benigni can very well make people laugh, he can also be a serious actor at the same time and is able to entertain people with his serious acting as well. Before I start writing about the movie, I would like to discuss the main idea of it. World War II, its disasters, its effects on the people and of course on the country – both physically and psychologically is being discussed in the movie and Benigni was successful in depicting it in the movie. George Holmes in the chapter 10 of his book â€Å"The Oxford Illustrated History of Italy† has excellently defined that period of Italy’s history on which the movie was made. According to Holmes: â€Å"Italy had entered the war both materially and psychologically unprepared, uncertain about her war aims and about how they were to be achieved. None the less the conviction that the war was represented some kind of spiritual apotheosis for Italy had been common to many interventionists, whether rightwing authoritarian like Salandra or democratic and reformist socialist like Bissolati. † (pg 265) The movie’s first half was really comic and enjoyable but the second half, according to many critics, was very tragic as the most of it was shot in concentration camps, showing all the miseries people had during that period. But on the other side, a good compensation for the second half is the sweet love story of a lady Dora (Nicoletta Braschi, Benigni’s real-life spouse) and a man (Benigni). The love story prepares the viewers for the upcoming tragic drama. In short, the movie is a good way of informing about the daily life during war and how the victims have to bare the pains and pressures. It seems that the movie is a mixture of two movies, a comedy and a very light one in the first half and a very tragic and to some extent indigestible in the other half. The movie starts with a powerful comedy which had an impression that the movie contains humor, comedy, romance and nothing else. The credit for this pretension goes to the production and direction team completely which did not let us think that the movie could contain those wretched scenes. The reason of plotting the movie this way might suggests that in the first half it prepares the viewers for the second half. It might be possible that the first half gives the viewers clue of attaching their sympathy with the main characters which would help them in understanding the last part of the movie. Roberto Benigni was successful in depicting the tragedy and sorrowfulness into comedy. As in Nazi death camp, the way he turned that calamity into adventure is really admirable. In fact, this is the basis of the plot and all the characters did their best in it. The relationship of the father and a son sometimes brought tears into the eyes of the viewers as they were suffering from the torture and sometimes it also brought a smile on the positivity they kept throughout the movie. The name of the movie really meant it. â€Å"Life is Beautiful† doesn’t mean that whatever life gives to us is always beautiful, but how we perceive it actually make it beautiful or ugly. It is always on the person that how he’s reacting to the events in the life he’s coming up to, and this is what this beautiful movie is trying to make us understand. The starting fifty minutes of the movie has a beautiful and a very pretty girl called la Principessa (the Princess) who is an elementary school teacher and is engaged to some Fascist officials. That was those fifty minutes which was the development of the movie. Viewers had to change their attitude towards the movie in those fifty minutes. It was a shift from an imponderous effect of movie to a farce. No doubt, it could a shock for some people for a sudden change in the movie, but I think this is a best part of it and it’s also an essence of a good plot. A good plot doesn’t allow viewer or reader to predict its climax but yes, can give sometimes a clue. In this movie, â€Å"Life is beautiful†, the happiness in the starting till its fifty minutes, in a sense give a clue that the disaster and woefulness is still waiting for its turn! The credit of the shift of the movie goes to the xenophobic uncle of Guido. He is prejudiced and a narrow-minded guy for which Guido and his family had to suffer later. The writer of the movie wrote this event and about his uncle in a very light manner, although its not. Guido’s shop was sooner labeled as a â€Å"Jewish store†. The couple has a five year old baby boy now named, Joshua (Giorgio Cantarini). This is the year 1945. â€Å"Jews and dogs aren’t allowed into the pastry shop†, this is what the son asks his father to be explained. The father was very well conscious of whatever was happening during the time. He had to protect his son from the mental disturbance in anyway and he started telling his son that whatever is happening is only a drama and has no reality in it. â€Å"Tomorrow, we’re going to write: ‘No Spiders and No Visigoths Allowed†, father replied to son as he never wanted his son to be pressurized in that political situation. George Holmes says: â€Å"Emblematic of the Italian authorities’ attitude to its own soldiers was its behavior in respect of those Italians who had fallen prisoner to the Austrians and Germans. Of the 600,000 soldiers who became prisoners in the course of the war, more than 100,000 died in captivity-a far higher proportion than for any other country. † (pg 267) The Guido’s family soon became imprisoned by the police. They were taken to some prisoner-of-war camp. Dora took a difficult decision to move with her family instead of following them in the train. It was an abhorrent place. People there were made to perform laborious work like melting down the weapons and the weak ones, old ones and the children were made pouring down the water. According to George Holmes: â€Å"The war proved to be a shock of massive proportions, which tried the politically unstable, economically backward, and weakly united society to its limit and which bequeathed a legacy no one had been able to predict. Indeed, the divisions which the war exposed and the lacerations which the conflict provoked would have consequences which went well beyond the Armistice of November 1918. † (pg 264) The best thing of the movie which kept the interest of the viewers till the end is the fatherhood which never let his son feel fearful although living in the death camp. He kept on explaining that it was just a game and we are not supposed to lose it at any cost. He made sure his son by showing the numbers on his arm. He told him that the bad people were not letting them to register them but he did it so that they can also enjoy the game. The son assimilated all as he is a child of five year only and he hasn’t learnt not to trust his father until now. Father told the son that the goal of the game is to score 1000 and the winner will get an original tank and not the toy with which Joshua plays with. The rules of the game kept on changing as the story moves on and the torture increases but mostly they used to play hide-and-seek, make believe and a rule called â€Å"silence†. Simultaneously, the father kept on making sure the son that the police, in reality aren’t bad, and the way they behave is only because of the game. This attitude of a father of never letting a child know that from what torture they have been going through suggests a very pure, strong and trustworthy relationship of a father and son. Father also prepares his son for the future if he doesn’t get the food. He says that if he cries for the food, he’ll be failed. Throughout the time the father and son spend in the death camp, Guido made his son feel that they are on vacations. â€Å"†¦Camp prisoners are all going to be â€Å"cooked in the oven† to become â€Å"buttons and soap† is one of the examples form the movie which Guido tell his son, almost depicting the tragedy into comic. Benigni deserves a special award on the part when he shows that he knows German and translates the orders to his son. When death was announced to the prisoners, the father introduced three new and FINAL rules to his son: â€Å"There are three cases in which you lose all your points,† he says. â€Å"One: Those who cry. Two: Those who want to see their mamma. Three: Those who are hungry and want some snack. Forget about it! † According to some people it’s a cheapo way of letting the kid into dark till the end. Viewers have remarks that he should have told him at the end about the actual thing happening to them. But its too late to tell anything to the innocent kid now because it’s the end. An American was driving that tank which was arrived, and yes, Joshua really played well. In World War II, about 8,000 Italian Jews were imprisoned and murdered. The criticisms on Benigni are open after the movie. He depicted himself as an inhuman person who couldn’t feel the territory which the people went through during the World War II. But on the other side of the picture, we also see people’s remarks saying that a person without a brave heart cannot think, write and act in a manner he did. He, through the period of World War II is trying to tell that no matter what circumstances you are present in, don’t let the life go out of your hands, as your life really worth to be lived! The theme of the movie â€Å"Life is beautiful† is also that a person will always try to protect his loved one in the difficult situation and never let him go in depression and this is what a father did to his son. Benigni also depicts the value of family in this movie. He showed the real essence of fatherhood, a husband and a lover. Self sacrifice and believe in one-self is the other minor theme of the movie which kept the last part of the movie really active. It also gives us the lesson of being calm, active and reality based in all odds of the life. Although there was a terror and horror all around, he knew how to use his brain and where. It’s not easy for a person to maintain his spirits and powers in such a hectic situation of life. This is not at all easy for a person to act like him in other situations, keeping the spirits and hopes high but what he tries to convinces is that its not even impossible. A person can make his life beautiful if he wants to, it’s all in his hands how he values the time he has. According to George Holmes: â€Å"The enthusiasm which greeted the Italian decision to end neutrality and intervene in the First World War was something which left a profound impression on observers;†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (pg 264) The above extract is the very starting part of Chapter 10 of the book, the title of the chapter is â€Å"Italy 1915-1945: Politics and Society†. Just like the way viewers of the movie were drowned into the profound effect of the war, when we go through the book, the same way we indulge in the miseries of the War. Holmes has written it so well that a person could feel the pains himself as he’s experiencing it. As said earlier, the title â€Å"Life is beautiful†, is not just a title but it’s a message of Benigni to Holocaust. This is Benigni’s very positive approach that he is calling Life â€Å"beautiful† avoiding the facts that there are hell lot factors which can make a person perceive life very sorrowful and bad, especially a person who has tortured in a death camp. According to Gerald Peary, Benigni only wanted to depict father’s love in his movie and this was the best way of depicting it. If his main focus would only be on imprisonment of the victims of the wars, he would have made a documentary or a real imitation sort of a movie. But he was not failed in depicting the sorrows, tears and torture of the prisoners in World War II and side by side he also successfully portrayed the social and cultural decline in Italy during that period. George Holmes has written a very well-embellished book on the history of Italy. The book â€Å"The Oxford Illustrated History of Italy† has a rich material on whatever happened during World War II. It tells about the early days of Roman Empire in the beginning of 1990. He has given several pictures in the book to illustrate its culture and social ethical norms. The book tells us the story of the Italy from the Roman Empire till today. Italy did not exist as a separate individual political unit before a century ago but it had a rich culture. In fact, it always had a powerful culture which started from the period of Renaissance. During the middle ages, the exporter from Florence, Venice and Genoa started their trading with Asia and Europe. After the nineteenth century, Italy was actually created and their political establishment started transcending. The twelve great leaders captivate the history and culture of Italy which is very well written in the above discussed book written by George Holmes. â€Å"Problems of reconversions and stabilization were exacerbated by the political tensions created in course of 1919. Those tensions which had been present at the front between officers and soldiers were reproduced in civilian life in much of the same terms. Socialist party organizers never failed to point out that the war had been a useless slaughter, as they had always maintained, and that the Italian State before a heavy responsibility for this. † (Holmes pg 268-269) Works Cited Holmes, George. (2001) The Oxford Illustrated History Stone, A. A. (2000). Escape from Auschwitz: ‘Life Is Beautiful’ turned the Holocaust into a sentimental fable. Psychiatric Times. 17(4).

The results are in! Resume Format Rundown

The results are in! Resume Format Rundown Last week I introduced you to Loft Resumes, a service that provides custom-designed resumes to job seekers in a variety of industries. I also provided sample formats from some of The Essay Expert’s successful resumes. I then asked you to vote on which you preferred. Here’s what the survey looked like for those of you who missed it   Id still love your input! Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the worlds leading questionnaire tool. Thank you to the 25 people who responded to my survey! Here’s the tally: Do you prefer the designs of Lofts designs or The Essay Experts? 1 person preferred Loft Resume’s designs. [This person was in the insurance industry] 17 people (68%) preferred The Essay Expert’s designs. 1 person liked both equally. [This person was in the IT industry. Note that The Essay Expert has some   other formats you might like better!] 1 person did not like either one. [This response came from an attorney. I agree none of the formats presented would be appropriate for an attorney. For attorneys we use much more straightforward designs.] 5 people chose â€Å"Other† and provided the following feedback: ATS Concerns Essay Experts designs are better, but I fear the inserted box and other graphics might skew an Applicant Tracking System preventing the information from being read and stored, costing an applicant the job by not registering properly within its system. If physically scanned, the Essay Expert is more professional and provides information employers want. [from a career professional/resume writer] My response: It is true that text boxes and graphics can skew an ATS system. After posting my article, I was contacted by a representative of Loft Resumes who stated that their resumes do well in Applicant Tracking Systems as well. I would have to test a resume myself to know if that is an accurate statement (Loft does not advertise that their resumes are ATS-friendly). Keep in mind that every job seeker must have TWO resumes: one for the computer robots and one for humans. Hiring managers, in my experience, really love The Essay Expert’s resumes. I do not have any information on their response to Loft’s designs. Too Dense I dont like either one, they are both too dense with info, the eye doesnt know where to go to quickly pick up the pertinent details. [from someone in the High Tech industry] My response: Thanks for your feedback. Thankfully the hiring managers who looked at The Essay Expert’s resumes appreciated something in the resumes, since both of these candidates got job offers for their targeted positions! Neither was in High Tech, and we would certainly use a different format for a high-tech position. Industry-Dependent Design It greatly depends on the industry/position. If in creative industry would prefer LOFT.   AND I think Lofts resumes are a little too designy the design has more impact than the information contained within it. But Lofts could be very good for people in the arts, film production, etc. My response: In fields like marketing and sales, you might be right that LOFT resumes could be viewed more favorably. In a field like graphic design, of course, it would be preferable for the candidate him or herself to design the resume! Its position AND audience specific. My response: I couldn’t agree more. We use different looks and feels for every industry we work with. As stated above, if the audience is a hiring manager a highly formatted resume is generally viewed favorably; recruiters hate them. Even The Essay Experts samples here might be too â€Å"fancy† for an accountant, although two responders in Accounting and Finance stated they were very likely to purchase an Essay Expert resume and very unlikely to purchase a LOFT resume. One responder whose industry is aerospace/defense wrote, â€Å"The Loft’s [formats] would never work in my industry.† And I received one response from a person in â€Å"consulting† who stated he or she would be very likely to purchase from The Essay Expert and very unlikely to purchase from Loft. I like LOFT designs for their uniqueness. They are probably appropriate for someone in more in a creative field versus an executive position. I like Essay Experts designs for their clean, uncluttered appearance. They are easy to read and probably more scannable than the LOFT design. My response: Thank you! I believe I addressed this comment above. â€Å"How likely would you be to purchase a resume design by Loft Resumes, The Essay Expert, or Another Service?† Overall, my readers (who I admit might be predisposed toward resumes by The Essay Expert) are much more likely to purchase a resume designed by The Essay Expert than they are to purchase a resume from Loft or another service. It was also striking to me that 50% were very likely or somewhat likely to purchase a resume from The Essay Expert. A gift to you! Thank you for your support, and if you responded to this survey and are considering purchasing a resume package from The Essay Expert, I will be happy to offer you a 20% discount on any package (maximum discount $100), offer good through April 30, 2012. Note you must complete the survey to qualify for this offer! This is your reward for being a loyal reader and participant in my interactive media opportunities and for reading to the end of this lengthy article! Category:Resume TipsBy Brenda BernsteinApril 16, 2012 2 Comments Rebecca Robin says: April 26, 2012 at 3:39 pm I did not find Preptel to be particularly valuable. For another opinion, I shared the site with a friend who is the head of recruiting for a 900 employee organization. She agreed. While the concept is wonderful, the execution leaves much to be desired. Many of the suggestions to improve keyword matches were nonsensical and words that were important matches were ignored. For example, the program missed the term CAD (computer aided design) but picked up plan and lost the connection between them both. A site I do like is wordle.net, but I use it to get an impression of what words are used most frequently in a job description. I might exchange the words highlighted in wordle with those in my resume to get a closer match. Thank you for your posts, I find them quite helpful. Log in to Reply The Essay Expert says: July 17, 2012 at 4:14 pm Thank you for your comment Rebecca. The issue is that of companies who use ATS systems, about half of them enter the desired keywords by hand, thus making sense to a human, and half let the computers determine the keywords. For that second half, unfortunately the keywords are often non-sensical. Thats why a program like Preptel can be useful! Im glad you are getting value from my posts and appreciate your feedback! Log in to Reply

Barbie as the Epitome of Beauty essays

Barbie as the Epitome of Beauty essays Short skirts, tiny waists, large breasts, and flawless airbrushed smiling faces. These are the images of womanhood that I have seen while I was growing up. I see them on the television, on the sides of buses, on billboards, magazines, and everywhere else. And I wonder why so many female adolescents have self-image and weight issues? Add these limited images of feminine beauty a little baby pink, blond hair, blue eyes, and what do we have? I would have to guess the beloved plastic childhood toy that smiles out to us in the Pepto-Bismol coloured isles at Wal-Mart - Barbie. Since the time I was a toddler, I have witnessed the preaching of society that, features like Barbie's are the epitome of what it means to be beautiful woman. Tiny waists and large breasts were beginning to come out as the image of feminine beauty. Society has unconsciously made women focus their attention on their looks, which in my opinion has turned into a social disease. I think that Barbie was an early advocator of the "beauty myth". A doll who, if she were real, would be too thin to fit all of her internal organs and is too busty to stand under her own power. Barbie living in her pink palace and riding her pink corvette with her molded man Ken. Barbie had taught me that every member of society was living this very same life. I have to question if the weight of responsibility for this beauty myth falls only on Barbie's tiny plastic shoulders? But of course not! To be fair, Barbie was not the only culprit, I can remember getting dolls whose main purpose was to remove or apply make-up, style hair, or spend fake money with a fake credit cards, as if that's all it meant to be a woman! Barbie had now redefined what is was like to be a feminine in our society. Although today I can see more of an ethnic variety when it comes to dolls, but the majority has perfect white skin. I still believe that Barbie reigns as Queen of it all; queen of pink, of po...

A Clear Chapter by Chapter Synopsis of The President as Leader by Essay

A Clear Chapter by Chapter Synopsis of The President as Leader by Erwin C. Hargrove - Essay Example Case studies ÃŽ ¿f real-life leaders help clarify Hargrove's complex model: Franklin Roosevelt, whom Hargrove regards as the model modern president because he used rhetoric to gain support for such significant policies as social security and an end to isolationism; Lyndon Johnson, who, although he inspired the public on civil rights, was frustrated by Vietnam because ÃŽ ¿f his obsession with control; and Ronald Reagan, who connected with the public on values but faltered because he failed to verify the accuracy ÃŽ ¿f his rhetoric. Primarily ÃŽ ¿f interest to political scientists, the book is recommended for larger public and academic presidential studies collections.The chapter one of the book, Power and Purpose in Political Leadership, Hargrove defines characteristics of political leadership. As the title suggest, the chapter discusses as examples powers used by some American presidents. Hargrove argues that Carter's approach eschewed political advantage as a criterion for formulati ng policy, but that compromise might be necessary. The second chapter, Conceptions of Leadership, explains leadership qualities. The power ÃŽ ¿f the policy to sustain itself is strengthened by comprehensiveness, which implies a long-term view rather than a quick fix. The importance of culture is discussed in the third chapter of the book, Cultural Leadership, where Hargrove has discussed cultural background of many American presidents. For Carter, political leadership was not so much doing what's right instead f what's political as it was doing the political in the right way. Consequently, existing theory is hard-pressed to classify the Carter administration on the basis f a predisposition for or against centralization. As a Democrat and political leader following a public goods approach to governing, it would not be unreasonable to expect a tendency toward centralization f policy making in the White House, especially on domestic priorities. This would allow Carter to control the content f policy important for his substantive approach. On the other hand, like most presidents, Carter entered office with an eye toward cabinet government and a reliance on expertise as a guiding force for policy making. Carter's public goods philosophy led him to choose experts to head governmental departments. This foreshadowed an approach to governance based on specialization and on a willingness to formulate substantive policy addre ssing major problems. Neither politics nor the strategy f politicization had much to do with cabinet appointments. Nelson Polsby notes that the Carter cabinet in particular was characterized by curious neutrality...toward the vast stew f interest groups...that make up the traditional Democratic coalition. In sum, using Carter as a case study presents a theoretical paradox. On the one hand, his theory f governing leads to the expectation that policy making, especially on domestic priorities, would be centralized. On the other, he valued expertise, which leads one to expect that he would place a high value on policy developed by civil servants in the bureaucracy. Thus, the analyst f presidential administration can learn much by examining the Carter experience. The fourth, fifth and sixth chapters of the books, tiled Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lyndon B. Johnson and Ronald Reagan, respectively, have discussed three great presidents of the United States as case studies. In these chapters, the writer has explained leadership, decision making and some other qualities of these president. One successful case and

Business Environment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 2

Business Environment - Essay Example These elements may include leadership and management, clientele, technological factors, rules and regulations of a government, competition, financial planning. In addition, marketing strategies, demand and supply within the area of business, the economic inclinations are other factors that influence the business environment (McNamara 1999). Therefore, the is a distinction in both the purpose and objectives of different types of organizations within any business environment. This determines whether the organization is profit or nonprofit based (McNamara 1999). Profit organizations have the sole purpose of generating profits, such that the amount of money the organization is taking out should be less than the amount of money the organization is taking in (McNamara 1999). In addition, the organization leaders or owners may opt to hold s larger portion of the returns after deducting all the expenses such as salaries and benefits to employees, bills, among others (McNamara 1999). Addition ally, in the profit organizations, the management may choose to cut back on running costs in order to maximize profits. For example, the organization may choose to cut back on personnel in case the management feels that they do not require as much personal or in case they want to incorporate more technological advancements (McNamara 1999). In general, the management has the overall decision making capacity and formulate plans that enable the organization maximize on its returns as it acquires its market share within the economic sector. As a result, marketing strategies become vital for profit organizations as its main goal is to maximize its returns through reaching to a larger clientele (McNamara 1999). Examples of profit organization include Coca Cola, Microsoft, Apple, Samsung, among others. On the other hand, the sole purpose of nonprofit organizations is to benefit the society. They are mostly created for specific tasks such as religious, educational, or charitable (Carter 200 8). For the sole purpose of nonprofit organizations is to serve the community, they operate under strict rules and regulations that ban the owners of the organization from taking the profits for their own gain. This means that, nonprofit organizations have laws that allow them to operate some business activities although the proceeds obtained are to benefit the community (McNamara 1999). Therefore, the profits obtained from the business activities is recirculates into the organization in order for it to achieve its mission and objectives for the community (Carter 2008). Therefore, nonprofit organizations not only run some business activities but they obtain their funding from donations from the public or grants from other organizations. The examples of nonprofit organizations include research institutes, foundations, public schools, public universities, museums, public hospitals, professional associations, among others (Justia 2013). Typical real world examples include Red Cross, UN , (Justia 2013). Any organization, whether profit or nonprofit formulated objectives and missions targeting a particular group or clientele. Therefore, any organization has responsibilities to reach their targets. For instance, in case the organization is profit based, then its responsibilities will vary from making sure of the