Case study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 24

Case Study Example The advent of the internet has enabled the book publishers as well as book retail stores like B&N to sell e-books, devices to read them on, and apps that improve the reading experience. The publishing companies have been forced to commence releasing books as apps in addition to physical books. Book apps are adding new features, such as flip through photo albums, image enlargement, listen to music characters within the book, and read instant messages. The online booksellers as well as e-books do not have overhead costs. Following Porters value chain analysis, the primary activities are directly associated with physical creation, sale and support of the product (Porters, 2006). They comprise of: inbound logistics are processes related to receiving, storing and distributing inputs internally. The publishers print the books and store them internally; operations involve the activities that change inputs into outputs sold to consumers. This entails transformation of content to digital form; outbound logistics entails delivering the product to the customer. This is usually attained through apps; marketing and sales of e-books has been very competitive with firms like Amazon and B&N outdoing each other; service involves maintaining the value of the product. The booksellers have ensured that they develop an e-reader, market it, and set manufacturing and retail operations for the device. The publishing industry has been significantly affected by the new market entrants. The major competitors of B&N in the e-selling of books include Google, Amazon and Apple. The publishing companies are investing in resources like Kindle and iPads as delivery platforms for their books. In order to gain market share, a company needs to contend with increased competition. In the case of B&N, for them to gain market share and stay afloat they needed to contend with stiff competition from Apple, Google, and Amazon. Competitors such as Amazon aims at eliminating the publishers

Automobile Essay Example for Free

Automobile Essay Experimental Question: What are the effects of different types of antifreeze on the physical appearance on pansy plants? Most people could not imagine there lives without some sort of motor vehicle transportation. Although motor vehicles are great for getting around and getting around quickly, they take a lot of maintenance and also have a permanent effect on the environment. Motor vehicles take a lot of different products to assure smooth travels. One of these products that help your motor vehicle run smoothly is antifreeze. Antifreeze is made of substance called ethylene glycol. Although antifreeze is a very helpful product for humans there is a lack of its overall effects upon the environment. This is defiantly a problem, due to its lack of research we decided to conduct an experiment; what are the effects of different types of antifreeze on the physical appearance on a pansy plant? Ethylene glycol is actually metabolized in plants and plants have a hormone inside of them called ethylene. Inside of plant cells this substance is turned into ethylene glycol and broken down again. Most people believe that this substance cannot harm plants since it is already present within plants, but this belief is false. In large substance this substance can become deadly. One of the reasons why we decided to conduct this experiment is to show people the immediate effects there motor vehicle products can have upon the environment. Our goal is to inform vehicle owners of the harmful effects there products can have on the environment and what you can do to help improve our environment.

The Return Of Martin Guerre Film Studies Essay

The Return Of Martin Guerre Film Studies Essay To begin, film can be a dangerous method if audiences intend is to study history. Films can really persuade audiences to the direction of the perspective of filmmaker; this can be seen optimistically or pessimistically. If one does not have any formal knowledge of characters in the movie, how one visualize the characters are influenced by the interpretation of the filmmaker themselves. Films can manipulate and control the minds of the audiences; producers can make audiences adore, hate, sympathize or be terrified with specific characters in the film. Furthermore, film assigns specific character for an antagonist or a protagonist. Personally thinking, the film made Arnaud du Tilh, the imposter of Martin Guerre, to look as the protagonist of the film. In comparison to the book, Arnaud appeared to have truly fallen in love with Betrande and acted like a good husband and father to her and her son. Unlike Arnaud Martin du Tilh, Pierre Guerre was the character that appeared to be aggressiv e and money-hungry who did not want to inherit any money to his long lost supposed nephew. But in contrast, films allow audiences to empathize with a character from the past. When viewers create strong relationship with a character, viewers enter the film as if it is part of their life; audiences may believe they indeed understand characters action and thoughts. Throughout the film, I came to love, hate, and sympathize Martin Guerre du Tilh. I felt attached to the character and had hopes that he was the true Martin Guerre though I knew he was not. I felt the strongest connection to Arnaud when he confessed that the reason why he pretended to be Martin Guerre was because he fell in love with Betrande at the first sight. When the audiences get to see emotions and body language of a character, it creates stronger connection between the audience and the character. Another key disadvantage of learning history through film is that it adds a lot of inaccurate but entertaining twists to mak e the film more attractive. Unfortunately, some audiences become completely absorbed and believe what is projected without any doubt. Nonetheless, these inaccurate twists bring entertainment and spark to history, luring the audiences attention. While the film allows us to sympathize and connect with historical characters, books allow audiences to interpret characters to audiences perspective. Audiences get to imagine characters rather than being influenced by the visual interpretation the filmmaker projects throughout the story. With film, audiences are trapped with the image that they see in the film; with book, audiences get to imagine visual appearance and personality of a character. In other words, each audience can interpret the storyline and the characters on their perspective. In the book, The Return of Martin Guerre, Arnaud du Tilh appeared to be more as an antagonist rather than a protagonist as interpreted in the film. Since the book focused on broader issue; for example, explaining how Guerre family settled in Artigat and the life of Bertrande, Arnaud du Tilh did not seem as important character as shown in the film. I could only imagine him to be a fraudulent, pretending to be Martin Guerre to take the familys in heritance. Furthermore, unlike the film, where it focuses on Martin du Tilh and Betrande de Rols, the book went beyond and explained the lives of other characters. For instance, Jean de Coras, the Toulouse judge who documented the infamous trial of the Sixteenth Century. Like Davis mentions in the preface of her book, she explains that the film failed to point out some historical record of the case such as the abandonment of the Basque background of the Guerres, and the rising of Protestantism from Catholicism in the rural area. Regarding accuracy, books always reveal the underlying historical truths broader and more accurately than films can ever. Written work explains all the possible details that most films ignore due to its dullness and the time limit. Learning history through written works, in general, seem more reliable and accurate compare to films produced for mass audience. Essentially, the film Le Retour de Martin Guerre is mostly true, except the fictional account of Bertrandes motives at the end of the trial. In the book, Arnaud du Tilh insisted on being the real Martin Guerre till his death. Bertrande, in the end of the film, confesses that Arnauds eyes told her to give up and admit the newly claimed Martin as real Martin Guerre. In addition, Davis, a script consultant of the film, decided to write a more scholarly version of Martin Guerre after producing the film to assure a more historically accurate and detail work is available to public. However, she mentions in the introduction that she tried to look beyond the historical facts to unravel and understand the motivation behind the characters pursuit. This might input Daviss opinion on possibilities and ideas that Betrande knew that the new Martin Guerre was not her husband and secretively agreed to help him become Martin Guerre. But essentially, this is only a theoretical guess and no one really knows if Betrande actually knew Arnaud du Tilh was her husband or not. Personally I prefer the film over the book. The book was dull and uninteresting than the film. The film made me think the storyline is actually entertaining. The suspense created in the film really made me wonder if the man that claimed to be Martin Guerre, was indeed himself though I knew he was a fraudulent prior to watching the film. The film made the whole historical phenomenon to look real -the atmosphere, buildings, and even the lives of townsmen of Pyrenean village of Artigat seemed real. These really helped me to connect with the characters and the plot. Furthermore, media sources in general are a great way to introduce learners to historical events. Though there can be certain historical flaws, it still gives audiences a general storyline and visual interpretation of how life looked in certain periods. For example, the film, Le Retour de Martin Guerre, really presented the peasant life in the Sixteenth Century in France, while exhibiting the case of Martin Guerre. A person can say that the movie is lacking historical detail; however, the meaning, lesson, and the essence of the storyline were presented in the movie. It is my opinion, the film could be rather boring and long if all the historical details were added. Unlike the book, audiences get to see and learn the life of the peasants. Although both reading the book and viewing the film helped me enhanced my understanding of the historical event, I would choose to show the film if I had to teach history to students. Reading a historical book may not be as thrilling as watching a film and students might not get enough messages from the book as they are supposed to. But prior to or after viewing the film, I would teach the students some foundation and historical flaws which would help them learn the knowledge of the historical event and characters. In The Return of Martin Guerre, Davis went beyond the historical facts and tried to comprehend the possibilities behind the characters actions and pursuits. Both the film and the print amazingly delivered the historical information of the infamous case of Martin Guerre, a man who lived three years of another mans life by cheating the village of Artigat. Unlike many other historical films, Le Retour de Martin Guerre remained mostly true to the historical facts and told the audiences a fiction-like real story in the Sixteenth Century. Both mediums did excellent job informing historical occurrence to different types of learners. The book allowed us to learn broader and deeper into the roots of the content and taught audiences more in-depth view of each characters. However, my opinion is that the film did even better job at communicating the message of the content to audiences in such a short time limit.

Philosophy of Classroom Discipline Essay -- essays research papers

Philosophy of Classroom Discipline â€Å"Power is exercised only over free subjects, and only insofar as they are free. By this we mean individual or collective subjects who are faced with a field of possibilities in which several ways of behaving, several reactions and diverse compartments may be realized.† (Foucault) Foucault and Heidegger, modern philosophers, both describe power in these terms, as the facility to manipulate an object without force. Understanding this point of view is important, not only for state institutions who attempt to exert power over citizens and deviants, but also for teachers as they try to use disciplinary power to control the events in their classroom. Unfortunately, the majority of status quo disciplinary systems are entrenched in the mindset that power can be exerted over individuals through the use of coercive punishments and threats, actions which usually have the complete opposite result, less control over the students. A system that more closely mirrors Thomas Gordon’s view of discipline as self-control would be a far superior disciplinary model because it recognizes the true nature of power. Thomas Gordon’s disciplinary model specifically critiques the use of coercion and intimidation to exert power and control over students. Coercion to Gordon only reinforces a notion that violence is an acceptable form of control. Additionally, coerced and intimidated students will often retaliate against authority figures who attempt to exert coerciv...

The Effects of Pornography Within Society

The history of pornography has been dated back to prehistoric times. The actual word is derived from the Greek language. The date of when the word pornographic was first used in Greek is not known but a related word â€Å"pornography† meaning â€Å"someone writing of harlots† was used in a writing called Depositories of Athenians. In the French language the word â€Å"Pornographic† was in used during the sass. The word did not enter the English language as the familiar word until 1857 or as a French import in New Orleans in 1842. Rossini, 2007) It is believed that the people of ancient societies felt it was not worthy to preserve pornography because it was customary in their society. Even though the early history of pornography is unclear there is artwork from many ancient civilizations like ancient Greece, Ancient India, and Rome where erotic pictures often appeared in religious context. (Godson) In ancient Greece the idea of pornography was very different from ours. Even though the Greeks had artwork such as paintings and pictures that depicted nudity, they were more tolerant and have different views on what was considered to be immoral and obscene.There were prostitutes that were used where the women were used and raped against their will and the men who raped them would become their husband. This was all considered to be k under the Goddess Aphrodite. There were also religious ceremonies where a woman and her partner would perform sex in public to help the crops grow. (Klutz, 2009) In ancient India nudity in art was acceptable in southern India. In Junta, India there are sculptures and pictures that depict this type of art. Historical evidence showed that most countries that are in tropical climates have people who do not wear clothes other than for fashion.The need to cover the upper halve of the body was unnecessary, only in certain parts of ancient India was the upper halve of the body dressed with precious stones or gold while the w omen would wear expensive silks and shares (Godson) In Ancient Roman society the role of pornography in society was portrayed in the form of art and in writings such as poetry. Some of the poetry that depicted pornography was in Odes to Piraeus showed descriptions of intimate sexual relationships and Catcalls and Ovid who wrote about a cruel and demanding mistress.Roman pornography was different from the Greeks because there was no entailment value and reasoning behind the porn that was depicted. Roman pornography was considered to be more towards annalistic portrayals and being purely sexual. The sexual drive for the Romans were very strong and one of their mottos was to divide and conquer in the bedroom as well as in the battlefield. (Scarping, 2012) The different forms of pornography are in writings, images, sculptures like art. In 18th-century Europe, pornography became a way for protest for people against royalty and other aristocrats.During the 20th century, restrictions on po rnography were more relaxed throughout much of Europe and North America, Hough regulations remained strict in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. In our modern culture viewing pornography in private may be considered to be offensive but there are still laws that restricts the viewing of certain types of pornography such as child porn Oinks, 2014). Depending on the culture pornography is viewed in different ways. For instance people may look at pornographic images as a religious aspect while in another culture pornography may be considered to be more erotic.Some may feel that it is completely absurd. The different parts of the world have different ways that pornography is incorporated into their societies. The perspective against pornography brings up an important issue that includes violence against women, men, and children. They also cite issues of demutualization of sex, addiction, health concerns, and relationship issues. The demutualization of sex has been linked to the overwhelm ing amount of pornography that is available for the consumer.It has been shown in studies that the amount of porn available on the Internet is directly related to the way humans hunter-gatherer brains work and the novelty of viewing person after person in a sexual encounter. This fast paced viewing overload dads to spending more time alone, voyeurism, constant novelty, and the need for shock and surprise. These types of ‘sexual encounters' leave out some important aspects of real relationships such as pheromones, emotional connection, being touched, and interacting with another person.One can easily see how this could lead to the inability to have meaningful sexual relationships due to the gradual demutualization of sex as well as being desensitizing to sexual violence. (Tessellated, 2012) A study done on the effects of pornography confirmed the idea that there is a link between high consumption of pornography and the prediction of sexual aggression. They studied the percentag e of sexual perpetration, perspectives on intimate relationships, and beliefs of the rape myth (the rape myth is belief that belittles rape and tends to blame the victim for the crime).In every area of this meta- analysis they found that exposure to pornography increases the risk for an individual to commit sexual offenses, experience struggles with intimate relationships, and have higher acceptance rates of the rape myth. â€Å"Another meta-analysis examined 30 different studies with a total of 2,040 participants and concluded that exposure to pornography increases behavioral aggression†¦ He researchers conclude that a connection between exposure to pornography and subsequent behavioral aggression exists† (Allen, Deadlines, Breezes, 1995).The sexual aggression quantities are four times higher in an individual who consumes pornography habitually. The health effects that have been associated with Internet pornography addiction include social anxiety, depression, performan ce anxiety, and erectile dysfunction. ADD, COD, social anxiety, depression, and performance anxiety are thought to be possible precursors to the addiction and can be reversed by changing their behaviors. In a study done called, â€Å"Predicting compulsive Internet use: it's all about sex! † they found that out of all the activities on the Internet, porn has the highest addictive rate.They believe this is due to the brains reward circuit and how it drives us towards natural rewards like food, close personal relationships, and sex. These drives produce the secretion of dopamine and if too much dopamine is released it can override our natural satiation mechanisms. For instance, with excess high calorie food consumption, an individual ‘s ability to feel full' becomes harder to satisfy and major health concerns an ensue. In comparison to natural reward addictions, unnatural rewards like drugs or alcohol only make addicts of about 10% of users.The more the consumption over ti me, the more the dopamine surges; this then causes the binge mechanism that causes Delta-Foss to accumulate. The build up of Delta-Foss creates the cravings for more and alters the brain with a cycle of binging and craving. If this cycle continues, the brain will have structural changes that result in a numbed pleasure response, overexcited reactions to porn, and diminished self-control. In a study done with roomer Internet porn addicts, they found that these changes in the brain can reverse back to normal once the behavior is under control.The number one reason men try to stop their consumption of porn is directly related to erectile dysfunction and sexual performance. In these cases, the Delta-Foss build up and structural changes cause the erectile dysfunction. (Tessellated, 2012) The perspectives that support pornography are some of the following: it can facilitate healthy views on sex, reduce crime or aggression, and be economically beneficial. A study, done at the Pacific Cente r for Sex and Society at the University ofHawaii, looked at the sexual violence rates in countries where pornography is legalized. They found that with the increased popularity and consumption of pornography, that rates of sexual violence were reduced. The study concluded that this could be evidence that viewing pornography can provide a ‘catharsis' for individuals who have predispositions of hostile behavior. (Pappas, 2012, Para. 4) In a Danish study done with more than 600 men and women aged 18-30, they found that that the overall consensus was that viewing pornography had a positive effect on their lives.They stated that it was beneficial for ‘sexual knowledge, attitudes toward ex, perceptions of the opposite sex, healthy sex lives, and general quality of life' (Langley, 2012, Para. 4). The economical benefits of pornography include its extensive revenue and employment. In the United States, Internet porn acquires $2. 84 billion each year, and worldwide it brings in $ 4. 9 billion. (â€Å"Porn Addiction Statistics,† n. D) The sociological implications that are intertwined with sociology are the following: Economy Although there are benefits economically, there is a decline in Jobs because of the amount that is available for free.This as a result brings a downfall in the economy of the pornographic industry. The top adult entertainment companies include Vivid Entertainment in the United States, Playboy also in the United States, Airstreams in the Netherlands and Freeness Films in Brazil. Some of the major porn producing nations are Russia, Spain, Germany, and Japan. According to topdressings. Com, in 2006 the countries that had the largest revenue from the porn is the US $13. 33 billion, South Korea had $25. 73 billion, China had $27. 40 billion, and Japan $19. 8 billion. (Cruz, 2010) The porn industry is a major part of the world economy, creating employment and large-scale revenue. According to topdressings. Com, there is over 3,000 spent every second on pornography across the world. However, it is difficult to estimate the accurate statistics for the entire industry as a large part of the industry operates underground. (Cruz, 2010) There is a problem with the pornography being watch at work. Companies are losing money on the how much time their employees spend watching at work.According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics on March 30, 2012 a study that looked at how much money was being lost because employees of an undisclosed employer. There was about 28% of people using the computers to look up porn and showed an average of $23. 3 per hour by 1 hour and 38 minutes of watching porn came up with $38 a month and $456 a year per employee. If the 132 million people who were reported as workers in March 2012 and divided to represent the 28% of people who watch porn at work ended up with 37 million people who watch porn at work causing an annual productivity loss for companies around $16. Billion. (Godliest, 2012) The re is a lot of money being spent on pornography. Some hotel chains have pornography delivered to them by one of two major distribution companies, which are Lodgment and On Command. The hotel chains have reported that there is a 5%- 0% in profit Just from pornography purchases. On the Internet search engines like Yahoo made money off selling ads and links to porn websites. The price for getting a website listed that did not have porn on it was about $200 where porn sites were $600.Yahoo had suffered a lot of criticism about a sex shop that was opened up in 2001 but closed in January 2002 because there was legal action taken against them Patrick Truman a former Chief of Justice for child exploitation and obscenity section. (Herd, 2002) On the Internet there are websites that are very popular for their pornography. The top websites are Pronoun which gets 2. Billion views monthly page views, Weaponry getting 2. 1 billion, Tube 8 getting 970 million, compared too website like Wisped whic h gets about 8 million page views monthly.The actual amount of money that porn companies are really making is not easy to find because the info is not traded in public. Although there are estimates that show since 2006 out of $3. 62 billion in rentals and video sales, pornography created $2. 84 billion. The industry is headed in a whole new direction from renting videos to digital video streaming. (Rosen, 2013) Although there is so much money being produce by this industry there re some problems that arise with all the new technologies that come along with it. The bootlegging or pirating of porn that is copy written and sold takes away from the money that can be created.The increase of free porn websites also makes it more convenient (Rosen, 2013) for someone to get hold of pornographic material in way that doesn't cost them anything but a computer and a internet connection. All of these factors play an important role in the economy of the pornographic industry. (Rosen, 2013) Famili es Pornography can have a negative impact on families and children. It can affect all members of the family. Pornography can cause a lack of interest in the conjugal relations between spouses. Couples affected by one spouse's addiction usually experience a loss of interest in sexual intercourse and good family relations.Pornography can be a gateway to infidelity and is often a main cause for divorce. Pornography can cause Just as much pain and devastation to a marriage or family as actual infidelity. It can cause divorce or separation from which deep psychological and emotional ramifications could arise for the victimized spouse and children. Children of families who are broken apart from pornography grow up with a countermanding of sexuality and can develop trust and relationship issues of their own. Children can experience traumas related to encounters with their parents' pornographic material. A study of adolescents revealed that viewing sexually explicit internet materials signi ficantly increased their uncertainties about sexuality, and it can lower their self-esteem and bring about feelings of loneliness and depression. † (Fagan) When a child lives in a home where an adult is consuming pornography, there is a risk of the child suffering from a decreased amount of time ND attention from that parent leading to emotional and psychological issues. The child is also at an increased risk of encountering pornographic material that he or she may not be sexually mature to enough to view.It is not Just the person with the addiction or compulsion of watching pornography who suffers from the negative effects it can cause. The entire family involved can be effected and is at risk for the detrimental results that can occur. Health The are many health implications that come along with the use of pornography ranging from mental and psychiatric to medical and physical health risks. The most prevalent being the psychological effects porn can have on consumers and the ir families. Some psychologists refer to the over-use of pornography an addiction while others call it a compulsion.Either way it is labeled; too much porn can have psychological ramifications that lead to serious mental health issues. Another health risk for individuals who consume pornography is an increased likelihood to engage in risky sexual behaviors that are portrayed in various films and photographs. People may not understand that the behaviors seen in pornography are acted out in a enthroned setting and attempt to reenact such behaviors in dangerous ways. Pornography does not exactly promote safe sex concerns and may cause people overlook the importance of using protection against sexually transmitted diseases.Pornography can cause people to engage in sexual activity with numerous partners because they have been desensitizing to the importance of having one meaningful partner. They seek fulfillment in many different partners and this can lead to easy spread of sexually tran smitted infections. The lack of use of protection and the involvement of numerous partners can lead to the easy spread of sexually reanimated infections. Physical injuries can occur from individuals and couples reenacting what they observe in pornography. Some people use pornography as a sort of training video.Inexperienced couples and individuals try to act out scenarios and end up physically injuring themselves. Thirty- three percent of Americans each year suffers from physical injuries during sexual activity. A portion of those incidents occurs because of pornographic influence. All of these are important health implications that need to be considered. The numerous amounts of research that have been done on the effects of orangeroot conclude with conflicting outcomes. The data found in one study can be completely different from another study.Paul Wright, who has studied sex in the media and is the assistant professor of telecommunications at Indiana University said, â€Å"It's v ery easy if you want to support one side or the other, to pull a particular study†¦ Anybody can support one side or another by simply isolating a particular study and talking about it†(Pappas, 2012, Para. 1). This misalignment of information makes the topic a still heated debate. The discrepancies on the studies have to do tit the lack of a control group. (Tessellated, 2012) Pornography has been a part of society almost as long as society itself.It affects different cultures in various ways in both positive and negative aspects. It is a sociological aspect that has been under heated debate for the different implications that are involved in the topic. There are many negative attributes that come along with pornography that have adverse affects on society but there are positives that come along with it as well. While the negative seems to outweigh the positive, pornography is an industry that is here to stay for the mime being. There is not enough scientific research to pr ove that it is unhealthy enough to remove or ban it.However, there is enough information to show it is a subject that needs to be addressed and the risks need to be made known. If proper knowledge of the consequences of pornography are more commonly known, the amount of people affected in a negative way might be significantly reduced. Work Cited: Allen, M. , Deadlines, D. , and Breezes, K. â€Å"A Meta-Analysis Summarizing the Effects of Pornography II,† Human Communication Research, Volvo. 22, Number 2 (December, 1995): up. 258-283. Fagan, P. F. (n. D. ). The Effects of Pornography on Individuals, Marriage, Families, and Children.

Night World : Witchlight Chapter 4

Winnie's jaw dropped. â€Å"You-you-keep away from me!† Iliana said, and then she got another breath and started shrieking again. She had good lungs, Keller thought The shrieks were not only loud, they were piercing and pitched high enough to shatter glass. Keller's sensitive eardrums felt as if somebody were driving ice picks through them. â€Å"All of you!† Iliana said. She was holding out both hands to fend them off. â€Å"Just let me go! I want to go home!† Winnie's face cleared a little. â€Å"Yeah, I'll bet you do. But, you see, that place is dangerous. We're going to take you somewhere safe-â€Å" â€Å"You kidnapped me! Oh, God, I've been kidnapped. My parents aren't rich. What do you want?† Winnie looked at Keller for help. Keller was watching their prize Wild Power grimly. She was getting a bad feeling about this girl. ‘It's nothing like that.† She kept her voice quiet and level, trying to cut through the hysteria. â€Å"You-don't you even talk to me!† Iliana waved a hand at Keller desperately. â€Å"I saw. You changed. You were a monster! There was blood all over- you killed that man.† She buried her face in her hands and began to sob. â€Å"No, she didn't.† Winnie tried to put a hand on the girl's shoulder. â€Å"And anyway, he attacked me first.† â€Å"He did not. He didn't touch you.† The words were muffled and jerky. â€Å"He didn't touch me, no, but-† Winnie broke off, looking puzzled. She tried again. â€Å"Not with his hands, but-â€Å" In the front seat, Nissa shook her head slightly, amused. â€Å"Boss-â€Å" Tm way ahead of you,† Keller said grimly. This was going to be difficult. Iliana didn't even know that the dragon was the bad guy. All she had seen was a boy trying to talk with her, a girl inexplicably flying against a wall, and a panther that attacked unprovoked. Keller's head hurt. â€Å"I want to go home,† Iliana repeated. All at once, with surprising speed, she lunged for the door handle. It took Keller's animal reflexes to block her, and the movement sent another pang through her injured shoulder. Strangely, as it happened, pain seemed to flicker across Galen's face. He reached out and gently pulled Iliana back. â€Å"Please don't,† he said. â€Å"I know this is all really strange, but you've got it backwards. That guy who was talking to you-he was going to kill you. And Keller saved you. Now they want to take you somewhere safe and explain everything.† Diana raised her head and looked at him. She looked for a long time. Finally, she said, still almost whispering, â€Å"You're all right. I can tell.† Can she? Keller wondered. Does she see something in his eyes? Or does she just see that he's a handsome blond guy with long lashes? â€Å"So you'll go with her?† Galen asked. Iliana gulped, sniffed, and finally nodded. â€Å"Only if you go, too. And only for a little while. After that, I want to go home.† Winfrith's face cleared-at least slightly. Keller stopped guarding the door, but she wasn't happy. â€Å"Straight to the safe house, Boss?† Nissa asked, swinging the car back toward the freeway. Keller nodded grimly. She glanced at Galen. â€Å"You win.† She didn't have to say the rest. The girl would only go if he went. Which made him a member of the team. For the present. He smiled, very faintly. There was nothing smug in it, but Keller looked again. Nothing was going the way she'd planned. And Winnie might still have faith in her Witch Child, but Keller's doubts had crystallized. We are all, she thought, in very big trouble. And there was a dragon that might start looking for them at any minute. How fast did dragons recover, anyway? Big trouble, Keller thought. The safe house was a nondescript brick bungalow. Circle Daybreak owned it, and nobody in the Night World knew about it. That was the theory, anyway. The truth was that no place was safe. As soon as they had hidden the limo in an ivy-covered carport in back and Keller had made a phone call to Circle Daybreak headquarters, she told Winnie to set up wards around the house. â€Å"They won't be all that strong,† Winnie said. â€Å"But they'll warn us if something tries to get in.† She bustled around, doing witch things to the doors and windows. Nissa stopped Keller on her own trip of inspection. â€Å"We'd better look at your arm.† â€Å"It's all right.† â€Å"You can barely move it.† Til manage. Go look at Winnie; she hit that wall pretty hard.† â€Å"Winnie's okay; I already checked her. And, Keller, just because you're the team leader doesn't mean you have to be invulnerable. It's all right to accept help sometimes.† â€Å"We don't have time to waste on me!† Keller went back to the living room. She'd left Iliana in the care of Galen. She hadn't actually told him that, but she'd left them alone together, and now she found he'd gotten a root beer from the refrigerator and some tissues from the bathroom. Diana was sitting huddled on the couch, holding the drink and blotting her eyes. She jumped at every noise. â€Å"Okay, now I'm going to try to explain,† Keller said, pulling up an ottoman. Winnie and Nissa quietly took seats behind her. â€Å"I guess the first thing I should tell you about is the Night World. You don't know what that is, do you?† Iliana shook her head. â€Å"Most humans don't. It's an organization, the biggest underground organization in the world. It's made up of vampires and shapeshifters and witches-well, not witches now. Only a few of the darkest witches from Circle Midnight are still part of it. The rest of them have seceded.† â€Å"Vampires†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Iliana whispered. â€Å"like Nissa,† Keller said. Nissa smiled, a rare full smile that showed sharp teeth. â€Å"And Winnie is a witch. And you saw what I am. But we're all part of Circle Daybreak, which is an organization for everybody who wants to try to live together in peace.† â€Å"Most of the Night People hate humans,† Winnie said. â€Å"Their only laws are that you can't tell humans about the Night World and that you can't fall in love with them.† â€Å"But even humans can join Circle Daybreak,† Keller said. â€Å"And that's why you want me?† Iliana looked bewildered. â€Å"Well, not exactly.† Keller ran a hand over her forehead. â€Å"Look, the main thing you need to know about Circle Daybreak is what it's trying to do right now. What it's trying to keep from happening.† Keller paused, but there was no easy way to say it â€Å"The end of the world.† â€Å"The end of the world?† Keller didn't smile, didn't blink, just waited it out while Iliana sputtered, gasped, and looked at Galen for some kind of sanity. When she finally ran down, Keller went on. â€Å"The millennium is coming. When it gets here, a time of darkness is going to begin. The vampires want it to happen; they want the darkness to wipe out the human race. They figure that then they'll be in charge.† â€Å"The end of the world,† Iliana said. â€Å"Yes. I can show you the evidence if you want There are all sorts of things happening right now that prove it The world is falling into disorder, and pretty soon it's going to fall apart. But the reason we need you is because of the prophecies.† â€Å"I want to go home.† I bet you do, Keller thought. For a moment, she felt complete sympathy for the girl. â€Å"Like this.† She quoted: â€Å"Four to stand between the light and the shadow, Four of blue fire, power in their blood. Born in the year of the bund Maiden's vision; Four less one and darkness triumphs.† â€Å"I really don't know what you're talking about-â€Å" â€Å"Four Wild Powers,† Keller went on relentlessly. â€Å"Four people with a special gift, something nobody else has. Each one of them born seventeen years ago.If Circle Daybreak can get all four of them to work together-and only if Circle Daybreak can get them to work together-then we can hold off the darkness.† Iliana was shaking her head, edging away even from Galen. Behind Keller, Winnie and Nissa stood up, closing in. They faced her in a solid block, unified. â€Å"I'm sorry,† Keller said. â€Å"You can't escape it. You're part of it. You're a Wild Power.† â€Å"And you should be happy,† Winnie burst out, unable to contain herself any longer. â€Å"You're going to help save the world. You know that thing I did back in the Hallmark shop? With the orange fire?† She cupped her hands. â€Å"Well, you're full of blue fire. And that's so much stronger-nobody even knows what it can do.† Iliana put out her hands. â€Å"I'm sorry. I really am. But you guys are nuts, and you've got the wrong person. I mean, I don't know, maybe you're not completely nuts. The things that happened back at that store†¦Ã¢â‚¬  She stopped and gulped. â€Å"But I don't have anything to do with it.† She shut her eyes, as if that would bring the real world into focus. â€Å"I'm not any Wild Power,† she said more firmly. â€Å"I'm just a human kid-â€Å" â€Å"Actually, no,† Nissa said. â€Å"You're a lost witch,† Winnie cut in. â€Å"You're a Harmon. A Hearth-Woman. That's the most famous family of witches; they're like-they're royalty. And you're the most famous of all of them. You're the Witch Child. We've been waiting for you.† Keller shifted. â€Å"Winnie, maybe we don't need to tell her all of this right now.† But Winnie was racing on. â€Å"You're the one who's going to unite the shapeshifters and the witches. You're going to marry a prince of the shapeshifters, and then we're all going to be like this.† She held up two intertwined fingers. Iliana stared at her. â€Å"I'm only seventeen. I'm not marrying anybody.† â€Å"Well, you can do a promise ceremony; that's binding. The witches would accept it, and I think the shapeshifters would.† She glanced at Keller for confirmation. Keller pinched the bridge of her nose. â€Å"I'm just a grunt; I can't speak for the ‘shifters.† Winnie was already turning back to Iliana, her curls shaking with earnestness. â€Å"Really, you know,† she said, â€Å"it's incredibly important. Right now, the Night World is split. Vampires on one side, witches on the other. And the shapeshifters-well, they could go either way. And that's what could determine the battle.† â€Å"Look-â€Å" â€Å"The witches and the shapeshifters haven't been allies for thirty thousand-â€Å" â€Å"I don't care!† Full-blown hysteria. It was about as scary as a six-week-old kitten hissing, but it was the best raving Iliana could manage. Both her small fists were clenched, and her face and throat were flushed. â€Å"I don't care about the shapeshifters or the witches. I'm just a normal kid with a normal life, and I want to go home! I don't know anything about fighting. Even if I believed all this stuff, I couldn't help you. I hate PE; I'm totally uncoordinated. I get sick when I see blood. And-† She looked around and made an inarticulate sound of exasperation. â€Å"And I lost my purse.† Keller stood up. â€Å"Forget your purse.† â€Å"It had my mom's credit card in it. She's going to kill me if I come home without that. I just- where's my purse?† â€Å"Look, you little idiot,† Keller said. â€Å"Worry about your mother, not about her credit card.† Diana backed up a step. Even in the middle of a hysterical fit, she was beautiful beyond words. Strands of angel-fine hair stuck to her flushed, wet cheeks. Her eyes were dark as twilight, shadowed by heavy lashes-and they wouldn't quite meet Keller's. â€Å"I don't know what you mean.† â€Å"Yes, you do. Where's your mom going to be when the end of the world comes? Is a credit card going to save her then?† Iliana was in a corner now. Keller could hear both Nissa and Winnie making warning noises. She knew herself that this was the wrong way to get someone on their side. But patience wasn't one of Keller's great virtues. Neither was keeping her temper. â€Å"Let's see,† Galen said, and his voice was like cool water flowing through the room. â€Å"Maybe we could take a little break-â€Å" â€Å"I don't need advice from you,† Keller snapped. â€Å"And if this little idiot is too stupid to understand that she can't turn her back on this, we have to show her.† â€Å"I'm not an idiot!† â€Å"Then you're just a big baby? Scared?† Iliana sputtered again. But there was unexpected fire in her violet eyes as she did it. She was looking right at Keller now, and for a moment Keller thought that there might be a breakthrough. Then she heard a noise. Her ears picked it up before either Winnie's or Nissa's. A car on the street outside. â€Å"Company,† Keller said. She noticed that Galen had stiffened. Had he heard it? Winnie was moving to stand behind the door; Nissa slipped as quietly as a shadow to the window. It was dark outside now, and vampire eyes were good at night. â€Å"Blue car,† Nissa said softly. â€Å"Looks like them inside.† â€Å"Who?† Diana said. Keller gestured at her to be quiet. â€Å"Winnie?† â€Å"I have to wait until they cross the wards.† A pause, then she broke into a smile. â€Å"It's her!† â€Å"Who?† Iliana said. â€Å"I thought nobody was supposed to know we were here.† Good thinking. Logical, Keller thought. â€Å"This is someone I called. Someone who came all the way fromNevada and has been waiting to see you.† She went to the door. It took a few minutes for the people in the car to get out-they moved slowly. Keller could hear the crunch of footsteps and the sound of a cane. She opened the door. There was no light outside; the figures approaching were in shadow until they actually reached the threshold. The woman who stepped in was old. So old that anyone's first thought on first seeing her was How can she still be alive? Her skin was creased into what seemed like hundreds of translucent folds. Her hair was pure white and almost as fine as Diana's, but there wasn't much of it. Her already tiny figure was stooped almost double. She walked with a cane in one hand and the other tucked into the arm of a nondescript young man. But the eyes that met Keller's were anything but senile. They were bright and almost steely, gray with just the faintest touch of lavender. â€Å"The Goddess's bright blessings on you all,† she said, and smiled around the room. It was Winnie who answered. â€Å"We're honored by your presence-Grandma Harman.† In the background, Diana demanded plaintively for the third time, â€Å"Who?† â€Å"She's your great-great-aunt,† Winnie said, her voice quiet with awe. â€Å"And the oldest of the Harmans. She's the Crone of all the Witches.† Diana muttered something that might have been, â€Å"She looks like it.† Keller stepped in before Winnie could attack her. She introduced everyone. Grandma Harman's keen eyes flickered when Galen's turn came, but she merely nodded. â€Å"This is my apprentice and driver, Toby,† she told them. â€Å"He goes everywhere with me, so you can speak freely in front of him.† Toby helped her to the couch, and everyone else sat, too-except Diana, who stubbornly stayed in her corner. â€Å"How much have you told her?† Grandma Harman asked. â€Å"Almost everything,† Keller said. â€Å"And?† â€Å"She-isn't quite certain.† â€Å"I am certain,† Diana piped up. â€Å"I want to go home.† Grandma Harman extended a knobby hand toward her. â€Å"Come here, child. I want to take a look at my great-great-niece.† Tm not your great-great-niece,† Diana said. But with those steely-but-soft eyes fixed on her, she took one step forward. â€Å"Of course you are; you just don't know it. Do you realize, you're the image of my mother when she was your age? And I'll bet your great-grandmother looked like her, too.† Grandma Harman patted the couch beside her. â€Å"Come here. I'm not going to hurt you. My name is Edgith, and your great-grandmother was my little sister, Elspeth.† Diana blinked slowly. â€Å"Great-grandmother Elspeth?† â€Å"It was almost ninety years ago that I last saw her. It was just before the First World War. She and our baby brother, Emmeth, were separated from the rest of the family. We all thought they were dead, but they were being raised inEngland . They grew up and had children there, and eventually some of those children came toAmerica . Without ever suspecting their real heritage, of course. It's taken us a long time to track down their descendants.† Iliana had taken another involuntary step. She seemed fascinated by what the old woman was saying. â€Å"Mom always talked about Great-grandmother Elspeth. She was supposed to be so beautiful that a prince fell in love with her.† â€Å"Beauty has always run in our family,† Grandma Harman said carelessly. â€Å"Beauty beyond comparison, ever since the days of Hellewise Hearth-Woman, our foremother. But that isn't the important thing about being a Harman.† ‘It isn't?† Iliana said doubtfully. â€Å"No.† The old woman banged her cane. â€Å"The important thing, child, is the art Witchcraft. You are a itch, Iliana; it's in your blood. It always will be. And you're the gift of the Harmans in this last fight Now, listen carefully.† Staring at the far wall, she recited slowly and deliberately: â€Å"One from the land of kings long forgotten; One from the hearth which still holds the spark; One from the Day World where two eyes are watching; One from the twilight to be one with the dark.† Even when she had finished, the words seemed to hang in the air of the room. No one spoke. Diana's eyes had changed. She seemed to be looking inside herself, at something only she could see. It was as if deeply buried memories were stirring. â€Å"That's right,† Grandma Harman said softly. â€Å"You can feel the truth of what I'm telling you. It's all there, the instinct, the art, if you just let it come out. Even the courage is there.† Suddenly, the old woman's voice was ringing. â€Å"You're the spark in the poem, Iliana. The hope of the witches. Now, what do you say? Are you going to help us beat the darkness or not?†

Arab

Arab Introduction No conflict can be uni-polar and always have a root cause, which may have initially instigated the beginning of the divergence. The Arab-Israeli conflict is no different. The existing tension and the perception of conflict existing in the mind of the various parties based on class, religion, gender lines creates tension on both the Israeli and Arab front.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Arab-Israeli Conflict specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The causes of the conflict and the ingrained reason for the conflict have been an issue of debate in the political and scholarly arena over many years. An inquiry into the area to understand the real reasons for the conflict is important from the point of view of international relation scholars. From the very basic understanding, two parties engage in conflict when their point of views differs to the point where no mutually beneficial solution can be attained . Such c onflicts may arise from two close allies or two mutually irreconcilable foes. Therefore, one must understand that social science research on conflict demonstrates various levels of reasons. This multifaceted nature of the causes of conflict makes it one of the most intriguing areas of research for social scientists.  This paper is an attempt to understand the root cause of the conflict between the Arabs and Israelis. In order to delve into the topic one must be aware of the historical background of the conflict and the recent events that have developed related to the conflict. Studying the events related to the conflict is important for it will show the reasons, which are responsible for such a prolonged clash. The paper evaluates the reasons that may have caused the conflict and how researchers today evaluate the causes of the conflict. It will also show the current state of the conflict. Historical Background of Arab-Israeli Conflict Religious Causes The inception of the conflic t was from religious inclinations. The conflict’s root may be found in the difference in religious beliefs that is, Ishmael and not Isaac was the favourite child of Abraham . The myth of the conflict had its origin in the basic beliefs of the Jews and the Muslims. However, this paper cannot dwell any further into the mythological or theological basis of the conflict but rather try to find more concrete, political reasons why this conflict still dominates the scene as one of the longest ongoing political conflict of the world .Advertising Looking for essay on international relations? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The historical beginning of the Arab-Israeli conflict was in the nineteenth century when the Arab national Movement and the Jewish National Movement gained prominence. The quest for the Jewish homeland begun as a secular movement initially, as it did not receive the commendation of the Jewish religio us sect, for many believed it to be a direct confrontation of the God to establish a state for them and not wait for the Messiah to arrive to show them the right path. However, with the advent of the Zionist movement, the focus of the homeland movement gained greater momentum. In the late 1880s, when the Zionists arrived in Palestine, the two movements were brought in direct altercation for the first time . At the time, Palestine was still under the Ottoman Empire and the success of the Jews settled in the area was determined largely on the policies of the empire. The then ruler, Sultan Abd al-Hamid II, negatively received Zionism and the Jews’ attempts to settle in Palestine. Zionism was viewed with negative attitude even after 1908 for it was believed to be a vehicle of the Europeans to encroach in Middle East and destabilize Istanbul’s position in the region. The end of the Ottoman Empire was marked by political instability, and the central government’s inabi lity to establish its authority on various districts of Ottoman Palestine . The Zionists used various means to establish their movement in opposition to the Ottoman government and established the Jews in Palestine. Therefore, the base for the Jewish homeland was laid in the late Ottoman Empire. However, when the Zionists first tried to settle in Palestine, they faced difficulties from Palestinians. In addition, from the late 1880s, there were reports of increased communal difference between the Palestinians and the Jews in Palestine. Moreover, in 1886, the Palestinians staged the first protest against Jewish settlement efforts in the region. The Muslim leaders like Thir al-Husayni, the Mufti of Jerusalem in 1893, saw the Jewish attempts to buy land and settle in Palestine as an attempt by Jewish settlers to increase their presence in Palestine and were perceived as a direct threat to the Arab community, which then was almost 75% of the total population . Tel Aviv, a completely Jewis h inhabited town was founded in 1909. This was one, among many, demarcations to separate the Jews from the Arabs. The Jews bought land from the Arabs and settled together to build their own community. Only in bigger cities like Gaza, did the two live together.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Arab-Israeli Conflict specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The Palestinian national force formed its prominence not until Second World War. However, in the first half of the twentieth century, there evolved another side to the conflict, the incumbent Arab nationalism. In 1901, the ideology of the Arabs towards an Arab Fatherland was developed and discoursed by Negib Azouri, a journalist in the magazine named Arab Independence . British Intervention The beginning of the 1920s saw increased tension in Palestine as the Jewish immigrants grew wary of the way they were treated by the British government and the way the latter had handled the situation. In 1922, Winston Churchil, the then British Colonial Secretary, issued a white paper that further restricted the interpretation of the Balfour Declaration. The white paper directly limited the scope of the Jews making Palestine their â€Å"homeland† and implicitly suggested to restrict migration of Jews into Palestine. This was done by inclusion of an â€Å"economic absorption capacity† in the regulatory policy controlling the immigration of Jewish immigrants in Palestine . The League of Nations too issued its mandate on Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine in 1920 . The British mandate was also approve by the League. The Arab-Israeli conflict reached a new epitome with the First World War that marked a new beginning in the conflict as Great Britain captured the Middle East, including Palestine. Based on their promise of a Jewish homeland to the Zionists in 1917, the British Government through the Balfour Declaration, divided the Palestinians state into Arab an d Jewish territory. This was reestablished through an endorsement by the League of Nations.  This led to greater conflict between the Arab and the Jews in Palestine. The latter faced increased resistance from the Palestinians when they went to purchase land. These protests often took a violent turn.  The ridge drawn by the British deepened the conflict in an already divided region. This was evident in letters written by the High Commissioner of Cairo, Sir Henry McMahon. He, in one of his letters wrote, â€Å"portions of Syria lying to the west of the district[s] of Damascus †¦ [as they] cannot be said to be purely Arab† . The British had already entered into a negotiation with Husseign Ibn Ali, the Sharif of Mecca, and had promised to make him the leader of the first free Arab states. But when Britain defeated Turkey, it did not keep its promise to Hussein .  Further, Britain went into negotiations with France in 1916 to determine how the Turkish borders could be d ivided to form a complementary position for both the European countries.Advertising Looking for essay on international relations? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This was established through a Skyes-Picot agreement of 1916 . In the agreement, it was agreed that the British, French, and the Russians would govern the region around Palestine. However, no mention was made of Jewish homeland or the promised rule to Hussein. This further complicated the Arab situation. In 1917, however, when the cost of the war weighed on British government, Arthur Belfour, the British Foreign Minister sent a letter to a prominent Jewish banker in support of Zionism. The Balfour letter offered support on part of the government for a Jewish homeland in Palestine . The Formation of Israel Israel was formed in 1948 and since then its relation with its neighbour-states has been embittered. One of the main reason for this is possibly the origin of Israel was through war. This war led to almost half of the Palestinian Arabs to migrate from their home and had to move to West Bank and Gaza Strip . These migrants also sought refuge in the neighbouring Arab states like Syri a, Jordan, and Lebanon. The Arab countries in the region were unhappy with the unfolding of the treatment of Israel of fellow Muslims.  Relationship of Israel with neighbouring countries has been strained. In 2003, there was an uneasy peace between Israel, Egypt, and Jordan; however, there was no agreement with Syria and Lebanon . An estimated number of 750,000 Palestinians were displaced in the 1947-49 war from their homes, and none were allowed to return . The Israeli argument was that Palestinians should have taken help from their neighbouring Arab states and not from Israel, which is a Jewish state while the Palestinians argued that they have a rightful place in their own land. Process to ensure peace in the region has been ongoing for a long time, with little result. International community too has shown eagerness and interest to solve the conflict. However, many believe that the corrupt and undemocratic Arab states in the Middle East have given rise to greater conflict in th e region . A possible solution to end the problem would be to bring the Palestinians to justice without hampering the interest of the Israelis, which, however, is almost impossible, as this would also include settling the dispute of Israel with its Arab neighbours. The Arab Israeli war of 1948 was fought between Israel and five other Arab states. This occurred when the Arab nations invaded the territories of Palestine immediately after the declaration of Israel as a free state on 14 May 1948. The United States recognized Israeli Provisional Government in 1947; however, it remained neutral in the 1948 war, through a proclamation of an arms embargo on all the warring nations. The Partition Resolution was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1947 that divided the Great Britain’s Palestinian directive into Jewish and Arab states in 1948 . The full-scale nature of the conflict that we know today, evolved after the formation of Israel as a Jewish state . Six Day War On ce Israel was formed as an independent Jewish state, the Arab world in unison rejected to accept the existence of the state. They also threatened with violent attack and pledged to destroy the state. During this time, many organizations were formed to counter the creation of Israel like Fatah in 1959 and PLO in 1964 under the leadership of Yasser Arafat . In 1967, the tension aggravated as Egypt along with other Arab nations stopped all bilateral talks with international and Israeli counterparts, and stationed a large number of troops along the Israeli border. The tension between the two parties escalated, and in the same year, Israel attacked and won Gaza Strip and Sinai desert from Egypt, West bank from Jordan, and Golan Heights from Syria . After the war was over, Israel was willing to return the acquired lands to Palestine peacefully, but the Arab countries refused to negotiate and continued their fatwa against Israel .  The Six Day War brought a large number of Palestinians u nder the Israeli governance, and there emerged a religious-political debate in Israel aimed to decide on the fate of the newly acquired land. On the other hand, the Arab movement against Israel took a new turn, and it was decided to liberate West Bank and Gaza Strip as the first step to liberating Palestine.  Arthur Goldschmidt pointed out that the US policy in terms of the Israel-Arab conflict was in form of â€Å"shuttle diplomacy† designed by Henry Kissinger, the then Secretary of State of US. The political succession and war that operated in Iraq, Israel, and Syria led to the Rogers Peace Plan prompted by the US .  In 1974, the PLO gave UN an observer status to the Palestinian Arabs and in 1975, the UN declared Zionism as a form of racism . These actions by the UN were considered biased by Israel and it went ahead to recognize UNRWA as a separate organization that was used to send back the Palestinian refugees. In 1979, Egypt and Israel signed a peace treaty in which the US played the role of a mediator. However, the negotiation fell apart due to the limited autonomy presented by the Israelis. In the 1990s, Israel denounced to accept PLO as a negotiating agent. In the same decade, PLO left violent movement and strove to form an independent Palestine . In 1994, the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) was formed with Yasser Arafat as its appointed leader. A negotiation in Oslo led to the negotiation that Israel had to transfer Palestinian land slowly to the PLO. In a period of five years, more than ninety percent of the Palestinian land went under the control of PNA. However, it had a separate repercussion. When Israel withdrew from Palestine, it led to the formation of an extremist organization called Hamas in the mid-1990s that started carrying out a number of terror attacks within Israel. PNA under Arafat did not take any action against these terror groups, instead helped them financially. This continued violence by Palestinian extremist group s led to another obstacle towards a peace process between the Arabs and Israelis.  The failure of the Oslo peace process was mainly due to the inability of both the sides to adhere to the agreement. Protests were voiced on both sides against the negotiating process. The negotiation held at Camp David in 2000 failed too . The process took a violent turn when Ariel Sharon visited the holy temple of Jerusalem, the second Intifada was declared by the Palestinian Authority (PA) .  In 2000, the US mediated to form a final compromise between the two parties. In this negotiation they annexed 97% of Palestine and Gaza to Israelis and gave no right to the Palestinians to return to Israel . The Taba negotiation of 2001 where these points were forwarded ended in another failure . The areas were transferred to PA that was later re-occupied by Israel in 2002 . Israel started construction of a barrier in 2003 in Palestine, which led to a series of suicide attacks on Israel by Palestinian extre mist groups .  In 2005, a new aspect emerged in the tension between Israel and the Arab world when Hamas won the elections in Palestine, which was followed by a series of attacks on Israel from south Lebanon, which led to the Second Lebanon War in 2006. In a more recent development in 2009, US President, Barack Obama, tried to mediate a negotiation between Israel and Palestine . However, during the negotiation the Palestinians maintained that the Israelis had to totally freeze â€Å"the building and expansion of Jewish settlements on Palestinian land, if they are to secure that elusive long-term peace† . This too led to an inevitable failure. The long peacemaking process mediated by the international players, international organizations, and within the two parties have failed again and again over the years. The departure from any potent solution is based on various reasons. The next section is a discussion on the different causes that still afflicts the two parties and hind ers a peacemaking process. An Analysis of the Causes of the Conflict From the review of the past historical events that led to the unfolding of the present Arab-Israeli conflict, the causes for the tension are further presented in this section.  The first root cause for the conflict that is evident from the analysis of the historical facts is the gap in views of the two parties. The wide divergence in the views of the Israeli Jews and the Arabs is one of the main causes of the continued conflict. Palestinians Arabs believe that the Israelis wrongly administered the dispersal of their kin from Palestine in order to meet their end desire of territorial acquisition. On the other hand, Israel’s continuously belligerent and expansionist policies has led to another dilemma. On the other hand, the Israelis believe that the main cause of the problem is the rejection of the Arabs to recognize Palestine as their homeland and the Israelis’ right to exist as an independent state . A second reason that highlights the causes of the conflict is the foreign policy adopted by the Arab countries of the region . Most of the Arab states in the Middle East united in their fight against the Israelis in order to liberate the fellow Palestinians Arabs. However, their ideological unity shattered when one reached the operational level. The states, which were conservative in nature, acknowledged the existence of Israel while the states governed by radical ideologies dismissed Israel’s existence and relied on confrontation. Many scholars believe the continuous confrontation with Israel of the Arab world has also created a divide amongst themselves and the partisan view of the Arabs also lead to continued resistance . The third reason for the instability is the involvement of the international mediators like Great Britain, the US, and the UN. As the Middle East is strategically important for the developed countries, for its abundant oil resources, the great powers ha ve tried to take either side in order to gain favours from the ruling side . For instance, the presence of Great Britain and France in the 1918s has been instrumental in shaping the conflict during the time. Further the involvement of the US and the UN in the 1990s and then in 2000s show how the involvement of the foreign parties has been instrumental in carving the Middle Eastern political scenario .  The repeated involvement of the foreign powers, the ingrained differences between the Arabs and the Israelis, and the inter-Arab relations encumbers the total of the reasons for which the conflict has been going on for so long. Many of the disturbances and wars fought in the region have been due to these factors. For instance, in Gulf War, the involvement of the developed countries has been a salient feature while that in the Six Day War shows the inter-Arab conflict. References Abu-Lughod A., I 1971, The Transformation of Palestine: essays on the origin and development of the Arab -Israeli conflict, Northwestern University Press, Chicago. Attar, R 2009, Arab Israeli conflict, Contributions to Conflict Management, Peace Economics and Development 13, pp. 35-64. Bar-Tal, D 2001, Why Does Fear Override Hope in Societies, Political Psychology 22(3), pp. 601-627. Beydoun, C, Martin, M, Rosenberg, S Smith, E 2009, The Arab-Israel Conflict, The Middle East Journal 63(1), p. 169. Ghazi, AA 2009, Arab-Israeli Conflict, Middle East Journal 63(3), pp. 520-526. Goldschmidt, A 1991, A concise history of the Middle East, Westview Press, Boulder, Col. Liebes, T 1997, Reporting the Arab-Israeli conflict: How hegemony works, Routledge, London. Mahler, GS Mahler, ARW 2010, The Arab-Israeli Conflict: An Introduction and Documentary Reader, Taylor Francis, New York. Pappà ©, I 2006, The Making of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1947-1951, I.B.Tauris, London. Quandt, WB 1977, Decade of decisions: American policy toward the Arab-Israeli conflict, 1967-1976, University of California Press, Los Angeles. Quandt, WB 2010, Peace process: American diplomacy and the Arab-Israeli conflict since 1967., 2010., Brookings Institution Press, Brookings. Ross, S 2004, Causes and Consequences of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, Evans Brothers, London. Safran, N 1969, From war to war: the Arab-Israeli confrontation, 1948-1967: a study of the conflict from the perspective of coercion in the context of inter-Arab and big power relations, Pegasus, New York. Senker, C 2005, The Arab-Israeli Conflict, Black Rabbit Books, North Mankato, MI. Shlaim, A 1996, The Middle East: The Origins of Arab-Israeli Wars, in Explaining International Relations since 1945, Oxford University Press, Oxford. Smith, CD 1995, Palestine and the Arab-Israeli conflict, St. Martins Press, New York. The Economist 2006, Discrepant historical rhythms. Web. The Economist 2009, No time for Barack Obama to give up. Web. Touval, S 1982, The peace brokers: Mediators in the Arab-Israeli conflict, 1948-1979, Princeton Univer sity Press, Princeton, NJ. United States Department of State 2013, The Arab-Israeli War of 1948. Web.

7 Formatting Errors That Make Your Book Look Unprofessional

7 Formatting Errors That Make Your Book Look Unprofessional More and more writers are taking advantage of the new tools of publishing to create and publish their own books. This has led to an explosion of creativity, as writers are able to move their own books to market without the long delays and uncertainty of trying to get a traditional publisher to offer a contract. Of course, there are also lots of authors who publish some of their books with traditional publishers, but still want to issue backlist, experimental, or non-commercial books themselves. This is all good news for authors. But one of the consequences of authors becoming do-it-yourself publishers has been the proliferation of books that dont look quite right. Although our books may be self-published, we sure dont want them to look sub-par, do we? For many years Ive helped authors get their books produced so they can compete with the books coming from traditional publishers. And while many authors hire professional book designers to create their books for them, this isnt practical or desirable from some people. Some of the errors I see when reviewing self-published books are very easy to correct, if you only know how. So to help out, Ive compiled here a list of the most common book formatting errors. If youre doing your own formatting, make sure you pin this article up near your workstation. Youll be needing it. 7 Formatting Errors to Avoid 1.  Putting page numbers on blank pages. Blank pages have no text or images on them, and that means they should be truly blank. If you think about it, having a page number on a blank page really doesnt make sense, since theres nothing for the page number to refer to. 2.  Using running heads on chapter opening pages or blank pages. This is probably the most common formatting mistake of all, and I see it often in books from do-it-yourselfers. Just like page numbers, running heads (the type at the top of a page that shows the book title, author name, or chapter title) have no place on a blank page, just leave them off so the pages are truly blank. 3.  Using rag-right typesetting. Sometimes authors think they can make their pages look better 4.  Double spacing between sentences. Many of us learned to type quite a while ago, and many typing instructors told us to hit the space bar twice after a period. This is perfectly fine for business reports or memos, but it has no place in a book and can potentially cause problems when your book is typeset. So only one space between sentences. 5.  Using both indented AND block style spaces between paragraphs. Since weve started reading so much on web pages, weve grown accustomed to the block style of paragraph formatting. This is when paragraphs are separated 6.  Putting the odd numbered pages on the left. When you open a book, it just makes sense that the first page is page number 1, and that has to be a right-hand page. This rule is absolute, and you should never, ever number your pages with even numbers on right-hand pages. 7.  Making super small margins to save pages. Lots of authors who use print on demand services like CreateSpace know that they will be charged based on how many pages are in their book. But thats no reason to shortchange your readers Paying attention to these details of book formatting will help ensure that your books look and work the way they are supposed to. Your readers will thank you for that, and its your readers you should keep in mind throughout the publishing process. Another way to solve a lot of these formatting problems while also getting a well-designed, industry-standard book is to use one of our book templates. They will save you an amazing amount of time and frustration, while making sure your book looks the way it should. You can find out more and see the available designs at: BookDesignTemplates.com.

People who contribute to social security should have the right to Essay

People who contribute to social security should have the right to choose how their money is invested - Essay Example Neither is social security a financially secure program as the office itself has a problem collating funds in order to fund itself. The program is basically bankrupt. Knowing that social security is in dire straights due to the U.S. economy, one cannot help but wonder, maybe the system will be better off if it is privatized and the members are given the opportunity to invest the money they contribute to the system themselves? With the annual return of social security contributions pegged at about 1.2. % this means that is has the lowest ROI prediction of all the retirement investments of an individual. The expected ROI from the stock market averages 6.34 %. As such, if a social security account is converted into a private account, the FICA taxes could give a maximum return on the investment upon the retirement of the member. The social security system would then actually be in a position to help supplement the retirees income in a significant manner. (â€Å"Should Social Security be Privatized?†). ... y accounts were privatized by allowing individuals to have their own private accounts, the member will be able to maximize the full potential of his membership with the system. Keep in mind that when the Social Security Act was set into place by congress back in 1935, Pres. Franklin Roosevelt signed a document that merely stated that the program would provide old-age benefits for its members. This was amended in 1956 to include disability benefits for its members (Agresti James, & Cordone Stephen â€Å"Social Security Facts†). The structure by which the program is created shows that the system is not in the control of the members, but rather in the hands of politicians who have the ability to format and reformat the program as they deem fit. To be clear (Tamny, John, â€Å"The Ugly Truth About Social Security is Revealed†): ... the money we pay into Social Security is not ours, meaning politicians can reduce or confiscate the dollars withheld from our paychecks as they see fit. They can also reduce our retirement by simply raising the retirement age. And then as evidenced by the collapse of the dollar since 2001 (a dollar in ’01 bought 1/250th of an ounce of gold, today it buys 1/1600th), another way they can eviscerate their obligations is to debase the dollars they are presumed to owe. Our politicians are not currently in the position to invest our hard earned dollars in any system that is meant to help alleviate the lives of the people. It was too much governance in the financial aspect of individual lives that brought us to this point in this first place. The government has shown us that they cannot even work together to put together a cohesive budget for our country, how can we trust them to develop a cohesive investment plan for the future and current retirees of

Engineering Challenges Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Engineering Challenges - Assignment Example Thus, this poses as great challenge to world since it is the world’s responsibility to liberate everybody so that they can achieve their full potential. To do so, the engineering aspect has to come in handy to provide a solution in this thorny issue. Water is available in large amounts underground. This water can only be made available by use of sophisticated equipment to drill the ground in some parts of the world that are rocky. Thus mechanical engineering comes in handy by providing these services. Further, mechanical engineers have come up with a machine that can be used to clean contaminated underground water. The machine cleans the water by hydrolysis hence removing impurities and salt that may have long term effects on the health status of the individuals. Furthermore to make the process affordable and sustainable, the mechanical engineering students from MIT have come up with a machine that uses solar energy to clean water that can be used by up to 5000 people in one village (Hoek and Ghosh, 40). Thus this cuts down on costs that could have been used to run big machines using electricity form the

Benefits And Necessity Of Bilingual Education In Schools And Essay

Benefits And Necessity Of Bilingual Education In Schools And Universities - Essay Example The broader view perceives bilingual education as the presence of double languages, and, hence, tasks for students, in an instructional environment. However, while many people think bilingual education is ineffective and unnecessary, I have discovered it to be otherwise. Critics have opined for long that bilingual education is financially beyond most foreign parents and, therefore, unnecessary. Their view has always been that the cost of educating the minority-language learners in classes undertaking bilinguals in foreign countries is more than that it requires educating students in dominant-only language programs (Crawford 71). A political view has also stated that encouraging bilingual education in universities encourages minority-language students to go against assimilation initiatives as they protest the teaching of the dominant language (Crawford 39). Although most of them are willing to live as part of mainstream society, they are not as ready to let go or alter their culture a nd native languages. This aspect is further compounded among the more informed university students who tend to associate the term â€Å"bilingual student† with uneducated or poor backgrounds as it has been stereotyped in the US or Europe (Lindholm-Leary 68). Furthermore, a public perspective of government-implemented programs on bilingual education has been of that intended to assimilate immigrants into the American culture hence, working in an opposite direction as to its intended outcome. Most foreign students are welcomed with the idea of being isolated linguistically, limiting their learning and earning potential while in foreign countries.

Physics midterm Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Physics midterm - Essay Example How does the weight of an object affect its motion? And finally what is the effect of other forces other than gravity on the objects motion? The following measurements were taken in the lab: The objects displacement over time during the fall and the Carts displacement over time starting from rest. The time interval for the cart for five different inclination angles and the time interval when the angle of inclination for the cart is constant, and the mass is varied were noted. The measurement taken in the lab relate to the principals used in the experiment. Using the measurements and the basic kinematic equations we have calculated displacement, velocity and acceleration. Therefore the motion of the object in free fall and an inclined plane has been described. The lab relates to the material covered in class since using the data we have confirmed the expected results from theoretical analysis using the actual results. Real world applications of this lab include orbit calculations, explorations of oceans resources, satellite launch, exploration of natural resources and isometric height measurements. Bjà ¶rk, B. C. (2012). The hybrid model for open access publication of scholarly articles: A failed experiment?. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 63(8),

Ethics Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 5

Ethics - Assignment Example Employers cannot limit individual liberties even if the same possesses a proven cause. Symbolism for a drug search cannot qualify an unwarranted search. This widespread practice can be damaging to an employee. It constraints personal privacy and triggers emotional trauma in employees (Miller, 2010). This means that it may lead to a loss of reputation in circumstances whereby an employee could rescue the same. It is vital to note that there are reasonable ways to address substance abuse in workplaces. For instance, employers could invest in education of employees to remedy the situation. In this perspective, employees could engage in awareness programs (Delpo, 2009). It is agreeable that drug awareness programs have been responsible for reduction in drug abuse since its inception. As regards the theory of utilitarianism, polygraph tests become unethical practices. In this theory, every act should be aimed at the satisfaction of an individual. This constraints the basis for drug tests which normally propos on the idea of protecting a company’s

Strategic Management, What Is It Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Strategic Management, What Is It - Essay Example Essentially, strategic management is a vehicle for giving forward-looking leadership concerning the most essential issues of concern to an organization and its surroundings in a very determined, efficient, and valuable manner. At the heart of the progression is "the communal management of a strategic agenda that transforms as an organization's problems and opportunities transform. Effective strategic management needs intensive, continuous, and collective concern of senior management" (Eadie and Stein bacher , 1985, p. 425 ). The purpose of strategic management is to help formulate, implement, and evaluate cross-functional decisions in such a way as to assist the organization in achieving its long-term objectives. The strategic management process is seen as "an objective, logical and systematic approach for making major decisions in an organization" (David, 1997: 6) in which both analysis and intuition have a role to play. Effective strategic management entails the configuration of a strategic management group to give leadership for the process. Characteristically, the framework of this group will comprise the C.E.O., top-line managers, and key executive staff members. In a small organization, for example, the strategic management group might comprise the mayor or the city manager and the heads of numerous operating departments. It is the responsibility of the strategic management team to give the configuration for developing and modernizing strategic plans and for guiding their realization in all areas. As strategic management is a continuous process, the strategic management group must meet on a usual basis to confer strategies, monitor development, evaluate efficiency, and generally sustain a shared focus on the strategic agenda. This comprises identifying newly promising strategic issues, estimate problems and opportunities as they develop, adapting strategies, and giving direction and control over completion plans to preceding the strategic agenda efficiently. Sporadically, it may consequence in the development of new strategic initiatives. The strategic management process also may rivet a strategic planning systems approach in which planning efforts at different levels are centrally coordinated within the frame of an organization wide strategic planning process. With the acceptance of this overall plan, the strategic management group might well direct the operating departments to originate their own strategic plans, which counter to mandates established in the overall plan and also address strategic concerns at their own level. The strategic management convenes cross-departmental task forces or action teams to plan more

Physics midterm Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Physics midterm - Essay Example How does the weight of an object affect its motion? And finally what is the effect of other forces other than gravity on the objects motion? The following measurements were taken in the lab: The objects displacement over time during the fall and the Carts displacement over time starting from rest. The time interval for the cart for five different inclination angles and the time interval when the angle of inclination for the cart is constant, and the mass is varied were noted. The measurement taken in the lab relate to the principals used in the experiment. Using the measurements and the basic kinematic equations we have calculated displacement, velocity and acceleration. Therefore the motion of the object in free fall and an inclined plane has been described. The lab relates to the material covered in class since using the data we have confirmed the expected results from theoretical analysis using the actual results. Real world applications of this lab include orbit calculations, explorations of oceans resources, satellite launch, exploration of natural resources and isometric height measurements. Bjà ¶rk, B. C. (2012). The hybrid model for open access publication of scholarly articles: A failed experiment?. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 63(8),

Strategic Management, What Is It Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Strategic Management, What Is It - Essay Example Essentially, strategic management is a vehicle for giving forward-looking leadership concerning the most essential issues of concern to an organization and its surroundings in a very determined, efficient, and valuable manner. At the heart of the progression is "the communal management of a strategic agenda that transforms as an organization's problems and opportunities transform. Effective strategic management needs intensive, continuous, and collective concern of senior management" (Eadie and Stein bacher , 1985, p. 425 ). The purpose of strategic management is to help formulate, implement, and evaluate cross-functional decisions in such a way as to assist the organization in achieving its long-term objectives. The strategic management process is seen as "an objective, logical and systematic approach for making major decisions in an organization" (David, 1997: 6) in which both analysis and intuition have a role to play. Effective strategic management entails the configuration of a strategic management group to give leadership for the process. Characteristically, the framework of this group will comprise the C.E.O., top-line managers, and key executive staff members. In a small organization, for example, the strategic management group might comprise the mayor or the city manager and the heads of numerous operating departments. It is the responsibility of the strategic management team to give the configuration for developing and modernizing strategic plans and for guiding their realization in all areas. As strategic management is a continuous process, the strategic management group must meet on a usual basis to confer strategies, monitor development, evaluate efficiency, and generally sustain a shared focus on the strategic agenda. This comprises identifying newly promising strategic issues, estimate problems and opportunities as they develop, adapting strategies, and giving direction and control over completion plans to preceding the strategic agenda efficiently. Sporadically, it may consequence in the development of new strategic initiatives. The strategic management process also may rivet a strategic planning systems approach in which planning efforts at different levels are centrally coordinated within the frame of an organization wide strategic planning process. With the acceptance of this overall plan, the strategic management group might well direct the operating departments to originate their own strategic plans, which counter to mandates established in the overall plan and also address strategic concerns at their own level. The strategic management convenes cross-departmental task forces or action teams to plan more

Should abortions be legal Essay Example for Free

Should abortions be legal Essay Abortion should be legal, because there are too many things that go wrong. A women could be raped and need to get one because she doesn’t want to look at the child and doesn’t want to feel it grow, freedom of choosing what to do and how government involvement in personal decisions such as this could lead to potentially having the government deem how many children you can have or even how many pregnancies you are allowed, medical reasons for abortion, and the ability of a woman to have control of her body is critical to civil rights. There is a freedom of choosing what to do, and how government involvement in personal decisions such as this could lead to potentially having the government deem how many children you can have or even how many pregnancies you are allowed. The numbers of the abortions in China in 1979 spiked to very high numbers. â€Å"According to a government tally, 9. 2 million abortions were performed in 2008, up from 7. 6 million in 2007. But the count only includes hospitals, and state media report the total could be as high as 13 million. If accurate, that would give China among the highest abortion rates in the world. (4) All of these abortions are because of the government taking control and saying that females could only have one child. If something like that happens here in America numbers would spike from the â€Å"2009-2011 estimates of 1,212,400 annually†(5) to around the same as China. â€Å"Medical conditions can arise during pregnancy that may pose a danger to the mothers life. Some of these conditions may result from the pregnancy itself, while others may be medical problems that require immediate treatment that cannot be done while pregnant. For example, if aggressive cancer is discovered during pregnancy, it may be necessary to treat the cancer immediately, posing a danger to the fetus. Some women may opt for abortion in order to receive treatment that could save the womans life. Continuing the pregnancy in some of these instances could result in death, stroke or infertility for the mothers. This is common in cases in which the fetus has already died in-utero. † (3) There are times in a pregnancy when doctors know that a miscarriage is going to happen, this normally happens in the first 16 weeks. They then tell the mother that there is no fetal heartbeat on the monitor or the level of HCG decreases in the blood because the baby is not alive. When some of the women find out they decide to have an abortion because it is less stress and it has less health risk. If the woman has to carry until the miscarriage happens the health risk are very high. The women could hemorrhage, or even greater problems like infertility. When a rape or family pregnancy happens it is a true crime. Making a woman carry the child full term would cause more harm to the woman. There are women out there that are too afraid to go to the police or to a hospital about a rape. Some choose to wait a few weeks after finding out and go in saying they just don’t the child. Some women don’t find out about the pregnancy until it is too late and have to choose abort after 13 weeks or carry to full term. †Only one percent of abortions happen from rape victims. (2) â€Å" â€Å"Control over her body and the freedom to decide the course of her life is critical to a womans civil rights. When a woman is pregnant it is her body that goes through all the stress of pregnancy. If she decides not to have a pregnancy she should be able to do so. Denying her the right to her body is violating her most basic freedom. One of the most pertinent questions regarding abortion is when does life begin. A fetus may be alive but so are sperms and eggs. It is true that life in every form should be respected. However, should the right of a fetus be greater than that of a woman who in majority of the cases would bear the responsibility of the unplanned child? One of the important abortion facts is that most of the abortions take place in the first trimester when the fetus cannot live independent of the mother. It depends on the mother through the placenta and the umbilical cord for nutrition and health and hence should not be considered a separate entity. †(1) In conclusion abortion should be legal in order to help the people who need it. Yes with the good there comes bad. Some people are always going to use the abortion like a morning after pill; there is nothing we can do about it. If it was to be made illegal than what about the women who are going to die giving birth to an already passed child because she was made to carry to term from this? What about that one percent of women that are actually not scared to say something about the rape and get an abortion? Should we deny them their rights? Should abortions be illegal? Abortions should be illegal because abortion should not be used as another form of contraception, those who choose abortions are often minors or young women with insufficient life experience to understand fully what they are doing many have lifelong regrets afterwards, and adoption is a viable alternative to abortion and accomplishes the same result. With 1. million American families wanting to adopt a child, there is no such thing as an unwanted child. (1-1) In the U. S. A. 2 out of 100 women who get pregnant have an abortion which is more than 40 percent. It is like abortions are being used as if they were getting your teeth cleaned 2 times a year. Abortions should not be just a get out of jail free card. When you decide to lay down in the bed with your partner you should be ready for what comes next. Within the first 8 weeks of pregnancy more than 85 percent of the abortions in the U.  S happen. Women should not be a loud to just kill a child like that its old trash. â€Å"Of teenage women who become pregnant, about 35% choose to have an abortion rather than bear a child. One or both parents of 61% of minors know about their daughters abortions. The younger the teen, the higher the likelihood that she has told her mother about the situation. Many states have enacted, or are considering, laws that restrict teenagers access to abortion by requiring parental involvement in the abortion decision. Such laws include: Parental notification laws that require medical personnel to notify a minors parent(s) of her intention to obtain an abortion; Parental consent laws that require medical personnel to obtain written permission from the parent(s) before providing an abortion; Almost all of the parental notification and consent laws have judicial bypass options that allow a teen who feels she cannot involve her parent(s) to get a judges permission to proceed with her abortion. Some states allow a physician to waive parental involvement, and some allow professional counseling instead of parental involvement. â€Å"(1-2) More than 46 states do this so we can stop the use of abortion by kids so their parents will not know. Low-income women (as an example, those earning $17,170 or less in a three-person household) accounted for 514,040 abortions, or 42% of all abortions, in 2008. Is this just because they feel like they can’t afford it? There are so many families that are unable to have children and just to be blessed with one or two of the children that are killed every day would be so great for that family. â€Å"About 30 percent of Americans have considered adopting (Harris, 2007), but as of 2002, only 2. 0 percent have done so (Jones, 2009). Somewhere between those percentages lies the number of people seeking to adopt—that is, those who have taken concrete steps to adopt a child. (1-3) Even though there is over 115,00o children in the public child care waiting to be adopted, most people looking to adopt are looking for younger than 3 kids with† characteristics that are less common in children in the foster care system than other traits. But while high percentages of women would accept a child with other characteristics, they expressed concern about adopting children with health or behavioral problems. †(1-3) So there are more than plenty of people wanting to adopt younger children so abortio n should be made illegal.

Integrated Marketing Brand: Monster Energy Drink

Integrated Marketing Brand: Monster Energy Drink Monster energy drink is marketed and distributed by Hansen Natural Corporation, and at the beginning, Hansen Natural Corporation was distributed by PepsiCo Canada on November 10, 1986, and then transferred the distribution to Coca-Cola Enterprises (just-drinks.com), Coca-Cola United, and other Coca-Cola bottlers in many markets. Contracts with current distributors were bought out in these markets. In 2010, Monster Energy will expand their market and release their products to other countries, in order to grow their business. For instance, in Germany, Pepsi is the Producer of Monster energy drink, and it is available there since Summer/Autumn 2010, also in Australia, Monster Energy drink is distributed by Schweppes as Coca-Cola Amatil manufactures Mother energy drink, which is an exclusive energy drink sold only in Australia and New Zealand. In addition, most companies spend their money on ad agencies, TV commercials, radio spots, and billboards to tell customers how good their product s are, but Monster does not, they choose to support scene, bands, athletes and fans. Monster sponsors athletes so they can make a career out of their passion. Monster is way more than an energy drink. Led by our athletes, musicians, employees, distributors and fans, Monster is A lifestyle in a can.(Monster,2009) Section One Brand campaign descriptors 1.1 Brand information Monster energy drink is belonging of Hansen Natural Corporation manufactures natural including Hansens Natural Soda, Hansens Energy, Hansens Junior Juice, Peace Tea, and Blue Sky. The company is a leading natural soda brand in southern California for the past 30 years (Bowden, 2008). Hubert Hansen began selling fresh ,non pasteurized juices to film studios and retailers in Southern California under the Hansens name in 1930, developed and marketed a variety of Natural sodas and pasteurized shelf stable, 100 percent juices also under the Hansens label. Monster receives a large amount of recognition from its sponsorship of various sporting especially X sports events such skateboard competition. 1.2 Agencies associated with the campaign The brand of Monster would be promoted through the whole campaign. In order to organize a successful brand campaign, several agencies in different areas would be used to associate the campaign. Firstly, Ogilvy Mather Shanghai, a 4A company, would be used as the advertising agency to help the brand design all the advertising products which would publish to public such as posters on the streets, advertising in magazines and newspapers, TV commercials and products on social media to attract audiences. DUSHOW Shanghai branch exhibition services company is another agency that would be used in this campaign. DUSHOW is a company with the experience of helping REDBULL energy drink doing the similar campaign in Shanghai before. The company would help the company find the place for the event is going to be held. 1.3 Brief description of the campaign Monster Company would run a street skating event to promote the brand image in Shanghai market. When mentioned sports especially X sports, people would think about passion and exciting. This fits to the brand image of Monster energy drink. This campaign would deliver the culture and information about the Monster Company and Monster energy drink. At the event, Monster would invite Greg Lutzka, who is one of the best skateboarder and sponsored by Monster, to the event to give fans a fantastic show. What the campaign wants to achieve is to increase the awareness of Monster energy drink in Shanghai market and try to build brand loyalty among regular customers. This campaign of skateboard event would be held in the first two Saturday of July. In Shanghai, the summer holidays will begin in the first of July of 2011. Therefore, our target market would be available when the campaign is running. The campaign would run for three hours from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM for both Saturdays. It would be super hot at that time in July. In that case, the brand image would be left in peoples mind very deep when they try the Monster product with icy cold in hot weather. 1.4 Visions of the campaign Before the campaign is going to be held, the Monster would have advertising on sports newspapers and X sports magazines. Both of them would be the same vision expect the size. The advertising on magazine would be a full color page and it would be a half color page advertising on news paper. Also, Monster Energy drinks would use Internet to interact with customers and provide them with extra information about the campaign, be it through Monster Energy drinkss official website or through social media such as social websites like of Facebook or Twitter, which are the most two popular social website among teenagers (Qualman, 2011). The reason why using social media as a tool of promotion the campaign is to achieve to teenagers or young couples (including people within the 15 40 years old cohort). Finally, an official website notice vision of the campaign would be on the most clearly position of the website to make sure everyone can notice this information as they open the official webpage of Monster energy drink. The official website is especially useful as it can reach not only the target segment (i.e. youth as buyers), but also an expanded scope of spillover audiences (i.e. motor enthusiast, older sports supporters as users). These tools can be used to gauge the degree of popularity of the campaign as well as provide some feedback from the consumers, which is another reason the company using social media. The campaign would be held in Xu Jia Hui Sports Park which is located in the center of Shanghai and it is one of the most popular sports park and famous for street skate facilities. In that sports park, there is no need to worry about lacking of audience, because that is the place where all the young people are going in Shanghai especially for people who like sports. Furthermore, the location of the park is closed to several big shopping malls. There would be a huge number of people walk by that area. Also, before, the event be held, the company would choose Eastern Morning Sports Daily as the sports newspaper that the advertising going to be put on. It will appear on the second page of the paper an on the bottom of the page. For the TV commercial, Five Star Sports channel is chosen at the TV channel which plays the TV commercial and it will be played before the 6:30 PM sports news. 1.5 Media Company The media company that the Monster energy drink is going to use for this campaign is Focus Media Group. Focus Media Group is Chinas largest Digital Media Group in China. Focus Media could provide a broad portfolio of media advertising forms. This could help the Monster Company running the campaign easier and more efficient. Section Two Campaign analysis Sources: Monster Energy Drink 2.1 Particularly striking about the campaign The skateboarding campaign in Shanghai is planned by Monster Energy Drink. Under this campaign, the company uses a event sponsorship as an approach to achieve their desire. The skateboarding campaign offers opportunities to assess customer response to product immediately. The campaign could be pretty effective as a marketing tool because it can be a means of accessing a wide range of audiences such as decision makers in business, government entities and customers. It is very helpful for the company that take part in international trade, because sports events sponsorship transcends cultural and language barriers (morebusiness.com). The main feature of this campaign is that it uses extreme sports, skateboarding, to establish a link between Monster products with its targeted teenage segment. Teenage segment does not like other age segments. They have their own life style and personalities admiring exciting things and cool events. Therefore, this skateboarding campaign could effectively bridge Monster products to the young customers and reach potential ones. 2.2 Why does it works Although Monster has operated successfully in Europe nations, America and Australia ranking the second largest energy drink company just behind Red Bull. In order to successfully accessing to a new foreign Asian market in China, Monster needs to conduct some activity to see the reflection of the local customer. This skateboarding campaign gives local customer the opportunities to try out the product of Monster firsthand and make the effectiveness measureable for Monster. If its core ideology fit with local culture well, the campaign will gain a active response. And if the response is negative, the corporation still have chance to adjust its strategy before it lose money. So this campaign is worthy to be executed and it improves Monsters awareness and the recall voice of Monster. 2.3Specific factors lead to success 2.3.1 Choice of target audience Unlike the other industries, energy drink is still a new and developing industry and its target market is different and distinctive as well. The target market Monster aimed at is not various, wide and capacious. Although everyone is susceptible to the fatigue of the super-charged, over-worked lifestyle, young people are especially vulnerable to persistent exhaustion and insufficient energy. This group of people, more specifically male teenagers and people in their 20s, are also most likely to believe in the veracity of the energy drinks claims (oppapers.com). Therefore, the Monster Energy Drink is no exception to advance for and advertise to the certain age group. To stressing on the certain young generation, Monster Energy Drink Corporation should be even more particular in their marketing efforts, promoting its products and advertising to attract very specialized consumers base, such as gamers, extreme enthusiasts and the hip-hop crowd. And the influences of this focus on such a ta rget audience could be found in the advertising campaigns of most energy drinks. The marketing strategies that revolve around sponsoring public events or celebrity endorsements reflect this focus (oppapers.com). The skate boarding campaign in Shanghai is also a reflection of the emphasizing on specific customers. Through organizing and sponsoring this extreme sports campaign, the Monster Company could well appeal to Chinese young customers especially Shanghais younger generation. Choice of media Because the Monster Energy Drink focuses on urban market and young customer base, the media choice and media strategy adopted should reach its aims. Brand awareness and image are necessary to succeed. Campaign must connect with the target to encourage trial purchase and eventually brand loyalty. In order to gain enough attractions for this campaign, rational investment in media and unremitting efforts for advertising are demanded. There are some effective ways helping for advertising this campaign. Firstly, television, as a major staple in any campaign, gives a direct demonstration of the advantages of Monster. A profile match strategy will be implemented in TV media approach. Prime time television advertisement in Teens channels and X sports programs is very efficient, such as Adventure and Skate board TV show. Secondly, mobile Billboard is a good choice of advertising. It draws attention to a message by sending it directly to the customer. It could reach a particular demographic ta rget and achieves market saturation. Thirdly, well use of transit is very important too. Through penetrating every part of community, it delivers high-profile exposure near point-of-purchase location. Outdoor advertising offers the lowest cost per thousand, while maintaining the highest frequency (slideshare.net). Electronic direct mail also could demonstrate the benefits of Monster and the information detail about the campaign by sending to target audience and people who enjoy sports or sportsman into extreme action. Finally, Internet and website advertisements are suitable for attracting young age groups attention. As surfing Internet has become a way of life and nearly all teens are accustomed to know events from Internet. Internet advertisement, as a new approach of media advertising, is more likely to reach the young customer base. And it is a more economical way contrasting to the traditional media choices. Good choice of media could help monster to increase top of mind recall , change customers perception and increase share of voice which will in turn facilitate increasing its share of market. 2.4 What could be done to improve its execution? Many young customers and young adults are confused energy drink with sports drink. During the campaign, the demonstration about the differences and the advantages should be revealed. Campaign is a process that Monster Corporation communicates with its consumers. It is important to communicate that Monster energy drink can maintain metal awareness generate energy pulse and it also a good tasting alternative for other caffeinated beverage containing all natural elements. Although it is critical to focus on marketing communication, the frequency of advertising should be managed efficiently to avoid annoying audience. Some extreme sports stars could also be invited into this campaign. Therefore, more extreme sports fans could be attracted and the atmosphere can be boosted and driven. Section Three Brand analysis 3.1 Brand Personality Brand personality is described and measured by those human personality traits that are relevant for brands (Kapferer 2008). The brand characteristics come from different kinds of human personality. Therefore, the brand characteristic creates to achieve them differently in terms of different types of packing and advertising. Monster energy drink has been re-creating the band which is refreshing their brand to reinforce more target customers under new campaign. Monster energy drink has no exception to target to the certain age groups. Especially, teenager and youth groups are the most important groups for company to design the extremely targeted marketing strategy to gain more market share. On the other hand, individuation could represent the brand personality of Monster energy drink. To build the brand, the company should think different to capture more targeted customers. It promoted its products and advertising to attract very specialized consumers base, such as gamers, extreme enth usiasts and the hip-hop crowd. 3.2 Brand Identity Brand identity is a unique set of brand associations implying a promise to customers and includes a core and extended identity (Ghodeswar 2008). Brand Identity is represented by colors, design, logotype, name, and symbol which are brand components in customers mind. The packing of Monster is quite different to other energy drinks. For example, the logo has a claw of Monster. It represents the powerful energy for young people. Also, the name is important factors to influence the awareness of this product. The color of Monster makes consumers to create more imagination and attract more attentions. Monster in advertising campaign is trying to cause consumers to challenge themselves and gain more emotional resonance. Also, the capacity of bottle is installed with the same price. More capacity of bottle is the important marketing strategy to catch more consumers. 3.3 Brand Relationships A brand is an active relationship that customers know the value. A significant brand provides meaning and is important to a person because it connects with their life, and they have behavioral, attitudinal and emotional involvement (Varey 2002). The set of associations linked to a brand is the key components of brand relationship. Marketers work to connect a particular lifestyle or personality with their specific brand. Monster use the typically advertising strategy on social events help consumers link the advertising and packaging with the brands. The target consumer of Monster energy drink is teenager and youth. To reach this two segment, company uses different strategies to communicate with their potential consumers and create more new customers with the same interests. For example, they provide more opportunity to communicate with customer by brand celebration ceremony, sponsor sports competition such as surfing, gaming and racing, doodle exhibition. In addition, the subsidiary c ompany of Monster offers the derivative products to gain more market share such as hats, T-shirts, watch and sports products. Also, Monster energy drink established the plan to promote their products in several ways such as social commercial advertising on roadside, shops refrigerator and back of vocal concert tickets. 3.4 Brand Community The importance of brand community has already become the major trend for company to communicate with their consumers. The famous advertising spokesperson for company could enhance the effectiveness of advertising. For example, Michelin sponsored the races around the world. A numbers of marketers use Tiger Woods as an endorser for their brand. These are the classical tools to implement the brand community as the new strategy and share the brand value through servicing or animations. Wiegandt (2009) claimed that the existence of brand communities has the potential to reduce the cost of advertising, brand communities not only provide firms with a pool of suitable and highly motivated customers to choose from, but also to learn the social knowledge from brand communities. Monster energy drink has built many monster sports communities for their consumers. The Monster Army is one of the largest communities for great numbers of athletes and fans Monster Army could make people get insider ac cess to the Monster Energy lifestyle Athletes, Sponsorship, News, Music, Contests and Events. The Monster Army is a legion of athletes and fans that represent the brand all over the world. People could get together to share the information and experience from the brand communities and they provide a convenient way of communicating to its customer such as Facebook, Twitter, iTunes and YouTube. 3.5 Brand Stakeholder Relations Stakeholders contribute to companys business in exchange for the value that it delivers to them (Finskud 2009). Company need to secure the value of their stakeholders in order to gain more profit from existing market. Successful branding can have a dramatic impact on consumers by providing the opportunities to offer the brand to appropriate stakeholders. Monster is concerning the connection with their stakeholders. They created the new plan for their stakeholders. Monster energy drink has a strong relationship with their rock bands partner. It provides more opportunities for their loyalty consumers to see the great rock singer. Also, it still sponsored some special sports event to attract more potential customers and support their brand communities become successful. 3.6 Brand Semiotics Monster Energy is a brand of energy drink manufactured by Monster Beverage Company of Corona, California. It was one of the first drinks marketed in a 16-ounce can. It is available at most supermarkets and convenience stores in the U.S. and Canada. The original Monster energy drink comes in a black can with a green M logo. Monster pull tabs are unique from standard pull tabs in that they are punched with an M instead of a large hole (Energysip.com 2011). The semiotics is important because its identify Monster energy drink to the world. Monster energy drinks semiotic is all about building brand awareness and people trust about its products. This semiotics will be showed on all promotional item and document so it will support companys image. Also, the attractive semiotics of Monster energy drink could influence the imagination of consumers and pulling the attention of consumers. 3.7 Typography Typography is a design of the text, which covers a wide range of things, such as books, poster and website which are textual. Also, the words on paper or screen affects on the area around the words, the size and proportions of those channels (Friendsofed, 2011). The main job of typographer is to make things clear and to make things work, to make sure that the text is legible and that the underlying structures in the authors manuscript (such as headings, chapters, and sections) are accurately reflected in the final work (Friendsofed, 2011). Typeface is a set of characters drawn from the same design. Times and Arial are typefaces. Strictly speaking, Times Regular and Times Bold are different typefaces, but theyre part of the same typeface family. Typeface is a significant of the visual component (Friendsofed, 2011). 3.8 Brand Strategy Brand strategy is a plan of the brand which will concern with the objectives. As well as, the strategy should be differentiate and maintain the customer which relate to the brands vision. The brand strategy is affect on the brand behavior and brand experience of the business. (Brandchannel, 2010). Developing a brand strategy can be one of the most difficult steps in the marketing plan process. Its often the element that causes most businesses the biggest challenge. Teenagers and young adults are undoubtedly the core consumer group for monster energy drinks. Brand strategy of monster is focus on teens and youths segments. Monster reached its core market of males aged 18 to 32 by flooding retailers with giant cans of its various energy drink offering, in essence supersizing the much smaller cans sold by Red Bull. Its aggressive image, striking packaging, and oversized cans have helped monster expand its position in growing energy drink market. With such a young core consumer base, Mons ter energy drink marketing focuses on youth themes and strategies. Monster improves their brand image through sponsorships of extreme sporting events and lifestyles, such as wakeboarding, skateboarding, motocross, and surfing (Simon, 2007). The most current trend in energy drinks marketing is from its users in cyberspace. Thus, monster energy has created their webpages to show their drinking products and their events. This kind of exposure is a boon to marketers, because they are in effect advertising the products. Moreover, it improve brand image and reflects strong grassroots support. 3.9 Employer Branding It can be defined the Employees branding as an image of the company which will effort to communicate with the current and future employees to make them satisfy with their workplace (Reach Information, 2008). An employer brand is a collection of ideas and beliefs that influence the way current and potential employees view an organisation and the employment experience that organisation is offering. It communicates the companys culture and values and helps to ensure employees are passionate about, and fit in with, the organisational culture to help move the company forward. For an employer brand to be successful, it should focus on the entire employment experience, organisational personality, goals and values. Therefore, the monster corporate brand supports the employer brand. Monster used peers influence to attract great people who have the passion and positive attitude in the job. Also, interview is often the most important battle to win. An organisations employer brand and reputation go a long way in attracting people and this is particularly beneficial for many larger companies. Monster should work harder on their employer brand and promote their image through public relations, advertising and word of mouth. 3.10 Brand culture Brand culture is the cultural dimensions or code of brand history, image, myths, art, and theatre that influence brand meaning in the market place (Schroeder 2008). Monster brand cultural is a company culture in which employees live to brand values, to solve problems and make decisions internally. Monster Energy Drink is one of the newer breed of soft drink. Monster energy is the No. 1 Energy brand in the USA. First launched in the USA in 2002, Monster energy has been the innovator in the energy category in the USA, pioneering the 473ml can, 710ml resalable can, 946ml can, Juice + Energy and Java Monster. Monster energy builds a close and credible association with its core target market through its sponsorship of athletes and events that generate media coverage and re-enforce brand imagery (Schweppes, 2011). Section Four Agency Pitch 4.1 Situational analysis In the future, we would like to choose a new branding approach which promotes Monster into Chinese market. Because China is thought to be the center of the Earth and the third largest country in the world (after Russia and Canada).The country has the largest population in the world. China is a time-honored country; it has more than 5000 years history. The culture of china is more traditional and conservative. After China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO), many retail investors from all over the world are developing quickly in China. They are expanding their market size and share, thus Chinese retailers are facing more severe competition. Chinas economy under the past 30 years has changed from a centrally planned system that was huge closed to international trade to a more market-oriented economy. It has a rapidly increasing private sector and is a major player in the global economy. China is a rapidly rising global economic power. Overall growth has an average which between 7 to 8 percent for more than 10 years, with some markets expanding much more rapidly; In terms of the population of 1.3 billion, China presents the largest consumer market which is the most populous nation in the world. According to The World Factbook (2010), the labor force in China is 813.5 million in 2009 and it is the first rank if compare to the world.The government of China is very stability for foreign company to do international business in these days. In June 2010, China raised their foreign investment to the second-highest even the global economic recovery show signs of weakening. 4.2 Competitor media analysis Monster has a competitor-Red Bull functional/energy drink. Red Bull energy drink is one of the earliest brand names in the field of functional/energy drinks in the world. Through the long-term development and publicity, the Red Bull has been spread into the countries of Asia. It coming into being 40 years ago in the beautiful South East Asian countryThailand, is one of the earliest brand names in the field of functional/energy drinks in the world. Through the long-term development and publicity, the Red Bull has been spread into the countries of Asia. Although the other energy drinks such like Red Bull has already spread in Chinese market. Through Medias and promotion, the Red Bull brand had been widely known in China within two years. 4.3 All about Monster Unlike Most companies, monster energy drink has their characteristics, they did not spend plenty of money to advertising and promotion to tell customers how good their products are, they choose to support scene, bands, athletes and fans. Monster sponsors athletes so they can make a career out of their passion. Monster is way more than an energy drink for customers. Energy drink is the quite new Market in China, and the assumed competitor is Red bull, thus Monsters package will be very different from red bull as it is in U.S.A now. Marketers will also do the localization to fit in the one of largest market in the world, for example: using Chinese character. According to the income level in China, marketers will decide an acceptable price, and the red bulls price in china is definitely our reference, we will make the price 5% lower than red bull. In 2010, Monster Energy will expand their market and release their products to other countries. most companies spend their money on ad agencies, TV commercials, radio spots, and billboards to tell customers how good their products are, but Monster does not, they choose to support scene, bands, athletes and fans. Monster sponsors athletes so they can make a career out of their passion. Because the Monster Energy Drink focuses on urban market and young customer base, the media choice and media strategy adopted should reach its aims. Brand awareness and image are necessary to succeed. Campaign must connect with the target to encourage trial purchase and eventually brand loyalty. In order to gain enough attractions for this campaign, rational investment in media and unremitting efforts for advertising are demanded. There are some effective ways helping for advertising this campaign. Firstly, television, as a major staple in any campaign, gives a direct demonstration of the advantages of Monster. A profile match strategy will be implemented in TV media approach. Prime time television advertisement in Teens channels and X sports programs is very efficient, such as Adventure and Skate board TV show. Secondly, mobile Billboard is a good choice of advertising. It draws attention to a message by sending it directly to the customer. It could reach a particular demographic target and achieves market saturation. Thirdly, well use of transit is very important too. Through penetrating every part of community, it delivers high-profile exposure near point-of-purchase location. We will find the largest drink distributor in the world which is also running business in China to support Monster energy drink, therefore Coca cola will also be our partner in China, same as in U.S.A. In terms of Promotion, we will follow the same methods what Monster now is doing in U.S.A, which is not doing advertising much, but sponsor and support the local athletes, bands, and sport events. 4.4 Limitation Energy drink is a quite new product in the world, thus a lot of information is too hard to reach, and there are rare studies related to energy drink, so the resources researchers can get is limited. In addition, according to our research purpose, during the seminar, all of researchers have agreed that Energy drink is a specific market and different from other soft drinks, it should be individual analyzed, hence, we set up Monsters opponents which are energy drinks companies only. And this decision has become our restriction during the research, because we all focused on energy drink companies, and assumed them as Monsters only opponents. CONCLUSION To sum up, Energy drink is a new campaign in drinks companies, and this market is not only enlarging, but lucrative. Everyone drink company wants to be the first brand in this field. As previous chapters discussed, Red-bull and Monster are considered to be the first-two brands in energy drinks. The competition between them is keen. How can Monster be won in this campaign? In this study, researchers all agreed that Monster should pay more attention on overseas markets, and the reasons is, the endorsers of Monster are all based in USA, but worldwide famous in their own audiences, on the other words, their followers are everywhere crossing over the world, thus Monster should utilize this opportunity to introduce their product broadly, and build up their brand image as well. For example, Energy drinks in most oriental countries is not common at the moment, consumers there are still need to be developed, Monster should try to be there as the first arrived energy drink, and then proceed to branding themselves as the first brand energy drink through most common social medias, meanwhile doing the same method as they are still working on in USA, sponsor the local stars and sport event, localizing themselves, furthermore, while Monster is worldwide everywhere, they can earn not only income but also the reputation, this could be another positive instrument for Monster to win the competition in their hometown USA. Researchers believe this way could be help for Monster energy drinks future business