Target for Overnight Rate

The target for the overnight rate-the main tool used by the Bank of Canada to conduct  monetary policy. The Bank carries out monetary policy by influencing short-term interest rates. It does this by raising and lowering the target for the overnight rate. The overnight rate is the interest rate at which major  financial  institutions borrow and lend one day funds among themselves; the Bank sets a target level for that rate. This target for the overnight rate is often referred to as the Bank's  key interest rate  or  key policy rate.Changes in the target for the overnight rate influence other interest rates, such as those for consumer  loans  and mortgages. They can also affect the exchange  of the Canadian dollar. In November 2000, the Bank introduced a system of eight fixed dates each year on which it announces whether or not it will change the key policy rate. The Target for the Overnight Rate is the main tool used by the Bank of Canada to conduct monetary policy f or this reason, it is also known as the policy interest rate.It tells major financial institutions the average interest rate that the Bank wants to see in the market where they lend each other money overnight. When the Bank changes the Target for the Overnight Rate, this change affects other interest rates in the economy. Canada’s major financial institutions routinely borrow and lend money overnight among themselves, in order to cover their transactions at the end of the day. Through the Large Value Transfer System (LVTS), these institutions conduct large transactions with each other electronically.At the end of the day, they need to settle with each other. One bank may have funds left over, while another bank may need money. The trading in funds that allows all institutions to cover their transactions at the end of the day takes place in the overnight market. The interest rate charged on those loans is called the overnight rate. The transmission mechanism of monetary policy The transmission mechanism is the complex chain of cause and effect that runs from the Bank of Canada's actions to changes in asset prices, aggregate demand, the output gap and, eventually, inflation.Among economists, there is some debate about the nature of the transmission mechanism. Engert and Selody (1998), for example, emphasize the important distinction between the passive-money and active-money views of the transmission mechanism and argue that the possibility of making policy errors can be reduced by paying attention to both views. Even among those who agree on the broad nature of the mechanism, there is recognition of considerable uncertainty regarding the timing and quantitative importance of specific linkages.A collection of speeches and research papers published by the Bank of Canada (1996) provides a mainstream  view  of the transmission mechanism. The transmission mechanism is best understood by tracing through the effects of a hypothetical policy decision. For ex ample, consider a situation akin to that in the autumn of 2004, when the Bank had good reason to expect that the solid economic recovery occurring both in Canada and in the global economy would create pressures for Canadian inflation to rise over the coming months. In this case, the Bank's policy response was to raise its target for the overnight interest rate.

Chem 130 Chp. 15

Chp. 15 Chemical equilibrium: Occurs when a reaction and its reverse reaction (opposing reactions) proceed at the same rate At equilibrium the rate at which products are produced from reactants equals the rate at which reactants are produced from products At equilibrium a particular ratio of concentration terms equals a constant The composition of an equilibrium mixture does not change with time Kc: equilibrium constant 15. 2 Law of mass action: expresses the relationship between the concentrations of the reactants and products present at equilibrium 5. 3 * * LARGE VALUE OF Kc: Equilibrium mixture contains more products than reactants = product side (right side) K > 1 *SMALL VALUE OF Kc: Equilibrium mixture contains less products than reactants = reactant side (left side) K < 1 The equilibrium-constant expression for a reaction written in one direction is the reciprocal of the one for the reaction written in the reverse direction Multiplying all the stoichiometric coefficients by a n umber gives the equilibrium constant for the original reaction raised to that number 15. 4Concentrations of PURE SOLIDS and LIQUIDS DO NOT appear in equilibrium expression L S 15. 5 ICE TABLS 15. 6 15. 7 Le chateliers principle: IF a system at equilibrium is disturbed by a change in temperature, pressure, or the concentration of one of the components, the system will shift its equilibrium position so as to counteract the effect of the disturbance % of NH3 at equilibrium decreases with increasing temperature and increases with increasing pressure * * Endothermic reaction: increase in temperature shifts equilibrium to right reactant bsorbs heat Increasing T results in an increase K * Exothermic reaction: Temperature increase shifts equilibrium to left product gives off heat Increasing T results in decreasing K * * Increasing pressure ( decreasing volume): equilibrium shifts in the direction producing the smaller number of moles of gas will reduce the pressure * * Decreasing pressure ( increasing volume): equilibrium shifts in the direction producing the larger number of moles of gas produces more pressure

What is Sociology?

We as human beings have always been curious about the sources of our own behaviour. Attempts to understand this relied on ways of thinking that were passed down from generation to generation. These ideas were often expressed in religious terms or drew from well-known myths, superstition and traditional beliefs. The objective and systematic study of human behaviour and society is a recent development dating from the 1700’s. A key development was the use of science to understand the world and this approach brought about a radical change in outlook and understanding.Just like physics, biology, chemistry and other disciplines, sociology emerged as part of this important intellectual process. The origins of sociology were the series of sweeping changes ushered in by the ‘two great revolutions’ of the 18th and 19th century Europe. These events transformed the way of life humans had maintained for thousands of years. The French Revolution, 1789 marked the ideas and value s, such as liberty and equality, over traditional social order.This was the Industrial Revolution, the broad spectrum of social and economic transformation that surrounded the development of new technical innovation. This caused an influx of migrants causing a rapid expansion of urban areas, forming new social relationships dramatically changing the face of the social world. There were a few individuals who contributed to early sociological thinking; one in particular was a French author, Auguste Comte (1798-1857) who actually coined the word ‘sociology’.He argued that sociology can and should study society and social phenomena following the patterns and procedures of natural sciences. Another contributor was Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) and he had a more lasting impact on modern sociology than that of Comte. Some regard Durkheim as the first sociologist to apply statistical methods to the study of social phenomena. Throughout his career, Durkheim was primarily concerned with how society would maintain integrity and coherence in the modern era, when things like religion could no longer be assumed.His book Suicide (1897) is a very well-known piece of literature. These sociologist developed ideas into how we could study humans and the world in which we live. Sociology is seen as being the study of human social behaviour and its origins, development, organizations and institutions. It is a social science which uses various methods of investigation and is to develop a body of knowledge about human social actions, social structures and functions. The traditional focuses of sociology include social stratification, social class, social mobility, religion, law and deviance.With all aspects of human activity it is affected by interplay between social structure and individual agency, which means sociology, has gradually expanded its focus to further subjects such as health, internet and political economy. There are two non-sociological explanations of human b ehaviour, naturalistic and individual explanations. The naturalistic approach suggest that humans behave as a product of inherited disposition; programmed by nature, e. g. / race, motherhood, gender (etc.)We take for granted that all women are maternal and want to become mothers and be just like their own mothers but this is not always the case. The individual approach is on that sees human behaviour as a result of psychological make-up of the individual person, eg/ people who commit suicide have their own personal reason for doing so. This persons suicide may not solely be a personal choice but may have other social factors associated like religion. This is what sociology is all about, challenging the unknown and looking at things from a different perspective, â€Å"Sociology defamiliarises the familiar† (Z.Baumen 1990 Thinking Sociologically p15)Sociologist look at these behaviours from all different perspectives and challenges what we believe to common sense theories. To m ake sense of human reality sociology attempts to make sense of the human condition through analysing the manifold webs of human interdependency as opposed to the naturalistic or individualistic approach. It disturbs the comforting quiet way of life by questioning what we usually take for granted. â€Å"It can be said that the first wisdom of sociology is this: things are not what they seem† (P Berger 1963 Invitation to Sociology p34)To gather information we use sociological methods called quantative and qualitative data. Quantative data is presented in the form of numbers and statistics; macro-sociological perspective. This helps to go beyond personal impressions and opinions and is done in the form of social surveys, questionnaires and structured interviews, e. g. / The Kinsey report on the sexuality of Americans (1948-1953) Qualitative data however is to tell us why and methods used are usually interviewing people to build up an understanding of a respondents point of view rather than a generalized opinion on their behaviour.There is also participant observation and this is observing someone in their own environment and learning what life is like for them, e. g. / The Paulo Case. â€Å"Sociology deals with a factually observable subject matter, depends upon empirical research, and involves attempts to formulate theories and generalizations that will make sense of facts† (Giddens Scope of Sociology p6) The use of concepts are needed to describe things accurately and precisely and to describe and address abstract and immaterial social phenomena such as individualism, social class and globalization, etc.As you can see from this essay sociology is a very important study and without it we wouldn’t question human behaviours or the society surrounding us. It helps us to gain a better insight into who we are and why we are the way we are and how others can have an effect on each and every one of us.

Religion and Law in U.S Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Religion and Law in U.S - Essay Example Though the government cannot interfere with religion itself, they may step in when and if they feel the need; especially if a certain ritual is putting a person at risk . An example of the conflict that is seen with the oxymoronic clauses which supposedly go hand in hand is in the religious cult refered to as the Jehova’s Witnesses. The government or authorities will not restrict the religion itself but the behavior and affects of the rituals can be brought to their attention. They therefore are obliged to restrict religious-related activities that interfere with the wellbeing of a person. Its’ all done in the name of â€Å"the law† Another example of the two clauses being inforced but yet scrutinized is in the prosecution of polygamy. The idea of polygamy states that as many can have more than one wife and father as many children as possible. The court upheld Mr. Reynold’s, in Reynold’s Vs. the United States, convition and they believed that if they did not stand up against such behavior, they were indirectly allowing other practices to take place such as human sacrifice. Combining both clauses together, the US has documented its existence in the 1st amendment and has named it the â€Å"religion clauses† because they both thereby state their involvement in protecting the human race while at the same time, giving freedom of religion itself and expression in a country and a land that is free. Without theses clauses, people would get away with murder claiming it was done in the â€Å"name of God or Allah.† Both clauses is an issue of preference allowing people to choose the religion they want to be involved in. Without their freedom, people are bound by regulations they perceived to have vanished before touching down on U.S. soil. The clauses also state that they cannot force anyone to worship a certain way nor can they create establishments favoring one form of religion or the other. With this

Report about the Federal Aviation Administration Essay

Report about the Federal Aviation Administration - Essay Example For instance, the tragedy that befell the nation on 11th September, 2001 asked for new and stringent approach to aviation safety. Airport, in-flight and passenger security became all the more important. The Aviation and Transport Security Act passed in November of the same year created Transportation Security Administration solely for aviation security. However, FAA remains â€Å"responsible for the certification, production approval, and continued airworthiness of aircraft; and certification of pilots, mechanics, and others in safety-related positions† (Federal Aviation Authority, n.d.). FAA regulates civil air space and provides air navigation services using Air Traffic Organization (ATO), its operations wing. With the latest technology and more than 30000 specialist personnel such as technicians and controllers, ATO ensures safe navigation in the USA skies. FAA reports that last decade has been the safest periods in aviation history. The system is proactive and using advanced technology collects, analyses, reports and identifies trouble spots, weather threats and other risks and acts accordingly. FAA’s Airports Organization inspects and regulates airports, their design, standards, safety, rates and charges as well as allocation of grants towards infrastructure development. The most recent initiative in improving travel experience is the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) that ropes in satellite and advanced digital communication. This improves safety, efficiency and minimizes environmental issues, such as emissions. FAA also has an academy exclusively dedicated to training its personnel as well as inducting new workforce into its culture of safety and efficiency. FAA carries out extensive research on all its areas of operation and continues to become more effective in its

Marketing and advertisement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Marketing and advertisement - Essay Example Advertisement is a detailed process and hence quite a bit of thought and planning goes into advertising campaigns, as a complete campaign comprise of print ads, radio ads and television ads, all meant to maximize results for the client or business being advertisement. This paper tries to understand the various ways through which the UK CAP Codes (CAP/BCAP Codes) can be reformed. Advertisement can be seen in different perspectives. As defined above, the purpose of advertisement increase the number of articles or products sold. As if this is not enough, advertisement is also a very important aspect in the political scene as politicians use ads to sell their manifestos (DYER 1988, pg67). Advertisement developed into a big business in the 20th century, creating numerous jobs in advertisement agencies and the marketing industry. The growth in advertisement has been made possible through advance use of the media like newspapers, television, radio, magazines, direct mails and the internet. Advertising has developed to an international business strategy, since producers and companies try to sell their products on a globalized market in almost every corner of the world (DYER 1988, pg112). Business is all about who knows you rather than who you know. Advertising generates sales and opportunities through building awareness of products and services. Identifying of the ideal customer and understanding their motivation behind buying the products is core to the advertising production process.... in advertisement has been made possible through advance use of the media like newspapers, television, radio, magazines, direct mails and the internet. Advertising has developed to an international business strategy, since producers and companies try to sell their products on a globalized market in almost every corner of the world (DYER 1988, pg112). Business is all about who knows you rather than who you know. Advertising generates sales and opportunities through building awareness of products and services. Identifying of the ideal customer and understanding their motivation behind buying the products is core to the advertising production process. It is a fact that the process of advertising is a complex one and is therefore characterized by some costs (PAGELL & HALPERIN 1997, pg45). Therefore advertising agencies should avoid cost overrun by reviewing their adverts before incurring additional charges. Good advertising process should also ensure that the final product includes the ne cessary contact information, together with any needed mention of pricing or a special offer. In this regard, the entire advertising process requires a lot of responsibility. Knowledge of the laws is important to advertisement planning because of complexity of communication and the diverse perceptions of customers in response to promotional communications (DYER 1988, pg63). Media ethics is an elusive topic that will change from medium to medium from audience to audience and from person to person. Thus, I cannot write this paper from the perspective of right and wrong (MARLIN 2002, pg34) .Whenever a group of individuals are poses some power to influence the lives of others, ethical obligations becomes domineering. Ethical issues are imperative in considering different courses of action, and

Accounting Proposal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Accounting Proposal - Essay Example The current revolution in the information technology industry has had an important impact on the accounting information systems (AIS).Traditional bookkeeping and accounting methods proved to consume more time and involved a lot of resources and in extension, led to high costs of production. Improvement in IT has led to the development of computers and thus facilitated the easy computerization of accounting (Prasad & Green, 2015). I intend to pursue an accounting project focussed on finding out effective and efficient ways through which small businesses can incorporate the usage of computerized accounting systems to reduce the accounting workload. My project will be titled â€Å"Integrating computerized accounting into small scale businesses.† The research study has a very broad scope. The project covers a variety of aspects that are useful in various ways to different people. It enables small scale businesses to find out the expectations of customers about tally accounting software. Moreover, it shows various reasons for selecting different accounting packages and also gives a representation of customer satisfaction after the usage of accounting software by the business. My project focuses on small businesses that do not see the need to incorporate computerized Accounting Information Systems because they are small and consequently will not benefit much. Computerized accounting information systems have caused the substitution of manual bookkeeping systems with digital ones. Manual processing of data is slow and prone to error, unlike computerized accounting (Prasad & Green, 2015). Improvements in technology have resulted in quicker ways of collecting, processing and retrieval of data. Automated accounting systems have taken over the functions of manual accounting systems. An example of such functions is the data input function. In manual accounting, the data capture happened together with the source documents

Tourism Operations Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Tourism Operations Management - Essay Example Task 1(L01) Tour operations sector In travel and tourism, tour operators are the ones which combine two or more businesses in a package which is ultimately offered to the consumer as a holiday package. In UK there are two kinds of tour operators- mainstream tour operators and specialist tour operators (Meyers, n.d, pp.8-9). Mainstream tour operators are the ones who sell mainstream tour packages like air, sea, sand sun to the customers while the niche tour operators serve highly specified tour packages like beaches but of a lower standard. The major mainstream companies in UK are Thompson or Thompson Holidays, Thomas Cook, Airtours and First Choice. The products offered by them are the beaches in locations like the Caribbean, Thailand and Malaysia. A number of specialist tour companies have also come up in UK as there is little competition among the specialist tour operators. Major tour operators- introduction Thompson or Thompson Holidays is a part of TUI travel PLC (Cruiseship rati ngs and reviews all cruises with operator Thompson Holidays, n.d). The company known originally as Thompson Tour Operations was renamed as Thompson Holidays in 1997. It was floated in the London stock exchanges in 1998. Thomas Cook was started in 1841 by a person named Thomas Cook. He floated his company commercially in 1845 for the first time. A travel brochure was also provided by it for the first time (Thomas Cook history, n.d). Airtours is well known for providing innovative tour packages to its customers according to the changing lifestyles. It targets the cheap or lower budget market but because of the high level of innovation and ideas it has become one of the top market leaders in UK. (Airtours, n.d). First Choice is the fourth largest tour operator in UK. It was established in the beginning of the 1970s when two companies named Continental Air Brokers and Economy World Travel decided to merge and form Owners Abroad (Wholesale) Ltd. in 1973. Later, the company decided to cha nge its corporate name and in 1994 the company was renamed as First Choice Holidays (First Choice Holidays PLC History, n.d). Since mid-1997, these four players occupy 53% of the holiday market in UK in 2000 (Pender, Sharpleyfirst, n.d, pp.48). Market Segmentation UK travel and tourism market is more oligopolistic in nature because of the presence of only four major players. The process of dividing the consumer base on the basis of common needs is known as market segmentation. The British travel market is divided into the following five segments. These five segments are categorized on the level of experience they have in traveling and the attitude and comforts they seek from the travel experiences. †¢ Self-Challengers †¢ Comfort Adventurers †¢ Cocoon Travelers †¢ Pushing Boundaries †¢ Taste & Try Self-Challengers are the groups who are more affluent economically and are highly educated. They are most likely to be unmarried and between 18 to 75 years of age. Australia seems to be the favorite holiday destination amongst the self challengers. They are the travelers who go to holidays with a learning quest. Comfort Adventurers are the ones who have the curiosity to visit the places before they are visited by the local market. They do not compromise with safety and comforts. Cocoon Travelers are the ones who take inspiration from newspapers and experiences of others. They are basically married, having

Debord, Rutherford and Giroux Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Debord, Rutherford and Giroux - Essay Example Nothing, not even an essay into the general nature of meaning of things, should be viewed out of its context. Thus, at the very onset, this essay admits that its purpose in being is to examine the political nature of the present age through the light of communication media. Probably the most emblemic symbol of the present age of international development is the media - electronic and otherwise. This is because the media sells things - goods, services, ideas, opinions, etc - all that is necessary to sustain this present generation of enhanced civilization in the present day and well into the future. Whether it is a commercial enterprise selling biscuits for profit or a politician selling him- or herself for self-aggrandizement the media is there to help do the job. Thus, it is necessary to know how the media views the nature of things and influences it so that it can be better understood how the media's pervasive influence on life in the 21st century moulds its modes of epistemology. This shall be done so now with the views of three European thinkers - Debord, Rutherford and Giroux - on how the individual consciousness thrives or languishes amid the greater world at large. The essay shall begin on the following very germane note - Hegemony, the rule of the dominant, in the individual consciousness is the subjectivity that the hegemony itself has instilled psychologically in it. This is so according to Louis Althusser (Lecture Notes 2) and quite in line with what Gramsci thought of it as the subjected class accepting the values and mores of the dominant class as 'common sense' and 'natural' to sustain hegemony - Gramsci's definition of the rule of the dominant class over the subjected one (Lecture Notes 2). The hegemonistic rule is thus natural and second nature in the subject, who may have been subjected to its influence right from birth, though it may not stand in his or her stead.DeBord and the 'Spectacle' To understand DeBord better it is necessary to understand his conception of what he terms as the 'spectacle' better - "The spectacle is not a collection of images; rather it is a social relationship between people that is mediated by images". And, - "The spectacle cannot be understood as either a deliberate distortion of the visual world or as a product of the technology of the mass dissemination of images. It is much better viewed as a Weltanschauung that has been actualized, translated into the material realm - a world view translated into an objective force". (Lecture Notes 2) So what do these two statement signify In terms of mass communications DeBord can be correlated with Gramsci in the following sense - The spectacle is the otherness that is imposed around the individual consciousness, the being-in-itself, that it must acknowledge all

Computers Science Essay Example for Free

Computers Science Essay Living just for existence has never been the objectives of my life.I have always looked forward to get the best out of my life. As a student of Bachelor of Technology in E.I.E(ElectronicsInstrumentation Engineering), I look to graduate study to widen my ken, which would facilitate in fulfilling my ambition of doing Master’s program in Computer Science Engineering. Technology and its myriad aspects fascinate me! Specifically the Computers stream that pervades all areas of business in today’s world. I have been interested in problem solving from a very young age, especially problems related to mathematics. Now that I have completed my bachelor’s degree, and working as a programming developer in Cloud computing Technology for 13 months,has made me to so fascinated for technology and moved my steps towards learning software languages.i feel pursuing masters in Computers would give me an ample scope in fullfilling my dreams as a good developer and have a research project in cloud computing. Deep in my heart, I feel this inordinate urge to do whatever possible within my reach for the less fortunate would take me forward in achieving my goals. Integrity, both in thought and action has meant everything to me. My strong set of value has helped me grow into a responsible citizen with a keen sense of duty. It has also furthered my thirst for newer horizon. This course is one of them. It’s a pathway to newer grounds, pivotal to both my professional and personal agenda. My objective for a masters degree is to get involved in such a course which could help me in achieving my ultimate goal. I believe that a career in such a field in an intellectually stimulating academic environment will offer me an excellent way to contribute my bit to the life long process of development and dissemination of knowledge. I am fully aware of the kind of dedication and hard work needed, and I am confident of meeting the challenges. Interactions with your theoretical technical expertise of the faculty and the environment in the University will add to my vision. Understanding this quest needs considerable persistence an infinite capacity to learn. And if at all I can assure you of anything, it is my desire to learn, evinced by the fact, that I have always tried learning, whenever an opportunity presented itself at all points of my life Why Computers Science? I was thoroughly fascinated by the Computers and technology from my teenage days I always thought that computers was my career option as I was greatly influenced by my brother who is a successful person in this field .But for my undergraduate course I opted for the electronics and instrumentation due to the recession at that time because of which the future in computers was unclear. It was easy for me to go for electronics as it has been my subject of interest next to computers. I was introduced to the subjects C, Computer Organisation,Micro Processor Micro Apllications, Java .Especially java in my 4th year of Btech and I started liking the subject instantly because during whole of my life I was amused with the OOPS concepts and its real time implementation in many domains,mobile applications. I wish to join the bandwagon in this field of study and would like to contribute something to it. It was only during my under graduate course that I discovered this to be an apt field of study that suited me and my passion for it grew much stronger and I felt reaching distances in this field is my destiny. so ,I have made ground myself and got successfully placed in multinational company(TCS). This is the place where i found myself and started developing penchant for programming and decided it as my career for future.As,I had my training in java and later my first project was on Cloud Computing technology,Salesforce( CRM tool) as a developer which has OOPS concepts with apex language as its programming core.My project was on insurance domain.I really felt that this is good opportunity to learn things and grabbed every opportunity to learn the concepts. As it was enterperneur tool , i had a good scope for analysing requirements and work accordingly to complete goals assigned to me on time . I had also pursued DEV 401 certification in Salesforce.This 13 months of job experience has made me to decide that programming would be my passion and decided have concrete skills in programming and decided to pursue masters in computer science. A thorough browsing through the web pages of your university helped me discover that your university is an ensemble of excellent faculty and innovative research facilities. An environment replete with extensive academic activity and a Master’s program at the cutting edge of every other sub-field further enticed me and motivated me to choose your university. I strongly feel that Masters in Computer Science Engineering Program from your University is a highly structured program because it provides the right balance between theory and practice.A premier seat of knowledge and information derived from the cream of intelligentsia coupled with excellent infrastructure is where I would get ample oppurtunities to apply knowledge and excel my programming skills to be a technical gem. I write to you with the earnest that my background and qualifications will be found suitable for admission to this prestigious program,Masters in Computer Science Engineering from your University. An assistantship besides providing financial support would give me an invaluable research/ teaching experience. I am keen to be a part of the student community at your esteemed university with suitable financial assistance. I am very much obliged to you for providing me with this opportunity to express myself.

Globalisation Of Culture Global Culture Cultural Studies Essay

Globalisation Of Culture Global Culture Cultural Studies Essay Thus, globalization is often constructed as an impersonal and inevitable force in order to justify certain policies or behaviors, however praiseworthy some of them might be. In a broader historical sense, Mazlish (1993:6-7) and Robertson (1992:68-71) cogently argue that not only capitalism or advocacy movements but also Christianity, Islam, and Marxism have made global claims and harbored global pretensions. The start of globalization is also a contested issue (Held et al. 1999). World-system theorists maintain that the expansion of European capitalism in the 16th century marks the start of globalization (Wallerstein 1974; see also Waters 1995:2-4). Robertson (1992:179) argues that globalization took off between 1875 and 1925 with the time-zoning of the world and the establishment of the international dateline; the near-global adoption of the Gregorian calendar and the adjustable seven-day week; and the establishment of international telegraphic and signaling codes. term globalization was first used around 1960 in its world-wide sense as opposed to its much older meanings of the global as something sphericalor universal. It is far from a uniform and inexorable trend. Rather, globalization is a fragmented, incomplete, discontinuous, contingent, and in many ways contradictory and puzzling process (Guidry, Kennedy, and Zald 1999; Held et al. 1999:43proponents of the feeble thesis focus almost exclusively on the economic and financial aspects of globalization to the detriment of political, social and cultural ones. The literature offers and discuss evidence in support of political and cultural globalization that is, on the whole, qu ite persuasive. (Castells 1996:66-147) The anthropologist Jonathan Friedman (1994:210-211) asserts that globalization is the product of cultural fragmentation as much as it is the result of modernist homogeneity, and that what appears as disorganization and often real disorder is not any the less systemic and systematic. At the ideological and cultural level, globalization has been observed as a symptom of late imperial culture as Aijaz Ahmad calls it as the most recent and highest stage of imperialism (Ahmad: 2002). Does Globalisation Produce Convergence? A second contested issue in the literature on globalization has to do with its consequences as to the convergence of societies towards a uniform pattern of economic, political, and even cultural organization. Most famously expressed in modernization theory, the spread of markets and technology is predicted to cause societies to converge from their preindustrial past, although total homogeneity is deemed unlikely. The critique of the presumed convergent consequences of globalization. Political scientist Robert Cox (1996:28, 30 n. 1) writes that the social and ethical content of the economy may be organized differently in various parts of the world. Historian Bruce Mazlish (1993:4) argues that no single global history is anticipated. So It should be noted that some sociologists reject the very terms of the convergence debate by arguing that globalization homogenizes without destroying the local and the particularistic. For example, Viviana Zelizer (1999) argues that the economyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ differentiates and proliferates culturally in much the same way as other spheres of social life do, without losing national and even international connectedness. Thus, globalization is not seen as precluding or contradicting diversity. Like Zelizer, Robertson (1995:34-35) sees the global as the linking of localities. A final aspect of the convergence controversy has to do with the impact of globalization on inequality across and within countries. The evidence unambiguously indicates that there is today more inequality across countries than ten, twenty, fifty or even one hundred years ago. Stunningly, the gap in per capita income between rich and developing countries has grown five-fold between 1870 and 1990 (Pritchett 1997; Temple 1999). There are, however, several noteworthy developing countries that have managed to close half or more of the gap since 1960, e.g. South Korea, Taiwan, and Ireland. Very few developing countries, however, have consistently grown faster than the most advanced ones since 1980. Thus, development levels appear not to be converging as a result of globalization. By contrast to cross-national UNDERSTANDING CULTURE: What is culture? Culture is itself is diacritical rather than a substantive concept. In Frederick Jamesons words, culture is not a substance or a phenomenon in its own right, it is an objective mirage that arises out of the relationship between atleast two groups.No group has a culture all by itself: culture is the nimbus percieved by one group when it comes into contact with and observes another one. In a globalise economy culture is deemed as a matter of choice as much as of inheritance, and thus as a potentially less oppressive, and hence less politicising, category of identification than colour or ethnicity, class or gender. (See, Bennette, 1993:3-4) CULTURE AND GLOBALISATION: Global Culture When we talk about globalisation, we are in a sense talking about unity of the states across the globe. How this unity is brought up? Then how does it link the states together? What are the major contributors in this unification process? Along with a myriad of intellectuals I will also sum- up with an answer, global- culture. However, it is one of the measures required for the unification process. One set of theorists, who are pro-global- culture say, that the global culture is making the world closer and more united. The people of the world are combining their differences and being more cooperative towards one and other. This process of emerging global culture can be seen in times of need when everyone has pulled together to strive for peace and freedom. Although, there exists a wide range of religions of which people are becoming tolerant, forming a homogenised society. On the other hand there are also philosophers who scorn global culture for the reason, that the local culture and morality are all at stake. If we say that the global culture is the synonym of the common culture, then there are wide range of opinion on it. Wight uses the term common culture so loosely that it is unclear whether he has in mind a deep, historic sense of culture, or the more superficial agreed rules that compose a contractual society. (James 1993: 277-8) Alan James, System or society?, Review of International Studies 19: 3, 1993. I argue that to certain extent global culture is a common culture among the people of the world. Further, Appadurai, Arjun in Difference in global cultural economy talks about five dimensions of the global culture 1) ethnoscape, 2) technoscape, 3)medioscape, 4) finanscape and 5) ideoscape. Origin of Global Culture: To get through the idea of the origin of the global culture, I am at consensus with Barry Buzan, the way he differentiates the origin of the global culture by the way of Vanguardist and Syncretist accounts. Vanguardist account emphasizes the centrality of Europe in the expansion story and projects a rather one-way view of cultural transmission from the West to the rest of the world. The Syncretist account puts more emphasis on the interplay of civilizations during the expansion process, and takes a more fluid and interactive view of cultural transmission generally. (Buzan:3 ) Buzan says, that before working through these two accounts and their consequences, it helps to keep in mind that prior to them there are two models of expansion by which a global international society could have evolved from the late classical world. In that world there were several centres of civilization whose degree of contact with each other ranged from quite intense (the Islamic world with both Christendom and the Hindu world) through fairly thin (Christendom and China) to more or less absent (the civilizations of Eurasia and those of Meso-America and the Andean highlands). From that starting point, one way of reaching a global-scale international society would have been for the various civilizational cores of the classical world to expand into increased contact with each other, so requiring that they develop rules of the game to mediate their relations in a polycentric international society. In such a case, global international society would have developed on the basis of cultu ral diversity, perhaps along the lines shown by the Indian Ocean trading system before the European arrival. The other way would have been the takeover of the whole system by one civilizational core, the imposition of one culture on the others, and the absorption of all the others into its particular rules, norms and institutions. This monocentric model is close to most historical accounts of what actually happened. (Buzan: 3) . In Vanguardist terms, the development of a global interstate society has been almost entirely a function of the expansion of the West. From the sixteenth century onwards, the rise of European power quickly crushed the two civilizational areas in the Americas and eroded, and eventually overwhelmed, the four in Eurasia. By the end of the nineteenth century virtually the whole of the international system was recreated in the image of Europe, as in the Americas and Australia; or directly subordinated to Europe, as in the African and Asian colonies; or desperatel y trying to catch up with Europe in order to avoid being colonized, as in the few most resilient parts of the classical world: the Ottoman empire, Japan and China. The triumph of European power meant not only that a sharp and permanent rise in the level of interaction took place, but also that western values and institutions-the so-called standard of civilization-dominated the whole system in imperial fashion. This mixture of coercion and copying runs in close parallel to Kenneth Waltzs idea that anarchy generates like units through processes of socialisation and competition. (Waltz 1979:74-79) Looking at this process in Wendtian terms.(Wendt 1999: 247-50) outsiders might emulate the core because of direct coercion, or by calculation or consent. Whatever the mechanisms and whatever the rationales, the effect is one of a sub-global Vanguard remaking the world in its own political image. This account rests on a sharp distinction between West and non-West, and less sharp differentiations among the different cultures and civilizations within the non-West. It has parallels with other stories of expanding imperial cultures where westernization is a similar process to Sinification, Romanization, Russification, Islamization and suchlike. In explaining the breakout of one culture to dominate others, a Vanguardist account inevitably puts a lot of emphasis on cultural difference generally, and on the exceptionalism of the Vanguard culture in particular. As in much nineteenth-century European imperial discourse, exceptionalism easily drifts not only into a ranking of cultures from superior to inferior (civilized, barbarian, savage) but also into a racist ranking of peoples as superior and inferior. (Hobson 2004: 219-42) Because it rests on differences of both culture and power. (Buzan:6) Robert ONeill and John Vincent also noted the unequal relations between the West and the Third World and the consequent regional diversity of international society, with some Third World unity around non-alignment, development, and the elimination of colonialism and racism. (O Neill 1990: 283-5) The challenges to the West come in two forms. The first is that non-western powers manage to reduce inequality by developing, and then use their new power both to assert different cultural values and to resist the solidarist western values of human rights, democracy and the liberal market. The West has lost the dominance of the second phase, and its prospect is one of continued relative decline as countries like China, India and Iran acquire the elements of modernity, and the corresponding power, that the West has made available. Its only hope is that the homogenizing effects of capitalist development will reduce cultural difference at the same time as they redistribute power. But if culture is viewed in essentialist terms as more or less fixed, then in terms of the instability hypothesis the move to a multicultural foundation and a redistribution of power spells permanent trouble and weakness for international society. (Buzan: 7) The second type of challenge comes not from opposition combined with strength, but from weakness, whether oppositional or not. Part of the legacy of decolonization is an array of weak and failed polities that are unable to play their part in the game of states. Somalia, Haiti, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan and other notional states represent holes in the fabric of international society. Their levels of internal disorder make it difficult to pursue the western agenda within them, and provide bases for criminals and terrorists acting against the West. (Buzan: 7) The Syncretist account is based on the idea that it is the normal condition of human affairs for cultural ideas to flow between areas of civilization. Cultures thus evolve not only in response to their own internal dynamics, but also because of encounters with other cultures, even remote ones. The Syncretist account challenges the strong Vanguardist distinction between West and non-West, and its corollaries of w estern exceptionalism and superiority. (Buzan: 11) Rather than European international society emerging pristine out of a unique and self-contained European civilization, in the Syncretist account the development phase in Europe involves very significant interaction with the other civilizations of Eurasia and North Africa. As Wight notes, during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the crusades brought Europe into close contact with the Islamic world, adding to the contact already created by the earlier Islamic occupation of Spain, the two episodes together serving as the channel for the acculturation of medieval Christendom. (Wight: 52). Almost at the same time, the Mongol conquest of much of Eurasia brought Europe into contact with China and enabled increased transmission of ideas. The rise of the Ottoman empire from the late thirteenth century, and its conquest of Constantinople in 1453, meant that a rising Europe was neighbour to, and in regular contact with, a hostile and powerf ul non-European culture. Given that classical Greece is sometimes used as a comparator for Europe in discussions of the relationship between culture and international society, it is a nice irony that the Ottoman modifier to the story of a pristine European development runs in close parallel to the way in which the Persian empire shared a system with the city states of classical Greece, initially as the greater power, and then as the victim of Greek expansion. (Wight: 46-109). To sum up: the Syncretist view is that culture and international society are both malleable. They can and do change; cross-cultural interactions are the normal condition of international society, and flow in many directions. The Syncretist account suggests that for two reasons there is less cultural difference between the West and the rest of the world than the Vanguardist account supposes. First, the emergence of European international society was not a pristine process but took place during a long period of s ustained cultural interaction with the other civilizations of Eurasia and North Africa. (Buzan: 19) This outcome envisages the triumph of the Vanguardist process. Either the Vanguard displaces and replaces other cultures, or it converts the rest of the world to its own standard of civilization, creating a universal culture based on a widespread acceptance of Western values, practices and institutions. We know that replacement did not and will not happen, so this outcome now rests on the success of westernization. The degree of cultural unity necessary to stabilize international society would come from the success of westernization, and would go a long way towards mitigating the contradiction between hegemonic practice and the legitimating principle of sovereign equality in present-day international society. This outcome would eliminate OHagans tension as to whether international society represents the values of a dominant culture or a neutral mode of communication across cultures. This outcome envisages the triumph of cultural mixing and adaptation. It is therefore in principle not wedded to any particular set of values, practices and institutions, but is normatively open, allowing these to emerge in the syncretic process. In practice, since the Syncretist account largely accepts the monocentric model, the actual homogenization would reflect the considerable success that the West has already had in projecting onto other cultures many of its values, practices and institutions: sovereignty, diplomacy, nationalism, the market and so on. The expectation here is also that international society will be strong and fairly uniform at the global level, but not exclusively based on western values. Rather, some mixture will emerge as western power wanes and the power and influence of non-western cultures rise. Here too we can find those who think that homogenization will result from the global operation of capitalism, though in this version the undoubted cultural carrying capacity of the global market will work both ways, with the West being as transformed as transforming by the cultural flows across the planet. There is plenty of Syncretist evidence to point to here, from the popularity of Asian food, fashion and film, and This outcome envisages the partial failure of both the Vanguardist project and the process of Syncretism. Such failure might occur for various reasons. The West might lose power before it can convert the rest. Political and cultural resistance in the non-West might be strong, particularly against the more recent and more liberal elements of Western international society. Global- culture and Religion Whether societies are becoming less or more secular? is another point of debate, but in the present context, to a certain extent, the societies are becoming secular . Religion became a categorical model for the ordering of the national society and their relations during nineteenth and early twentieth century. So it became an aspect of International law. The argument I want to raise here is there is a distinction between the culture and the religion? Some equate, culture with the civilisation and inturn, civilisation with the religion; which is not true practically. During seventies and eightees there were church and state conflict prevailing, in the same way as today we think of global culture and the religion. Here comes the issue of diffusion of the religion, and then its global- foci. I agree the way Robertson differentiates between the world and worldliness, on the similer terms as Max Weber does. (Robertson: 143) The major consequences of globalisation have been (1) the transmogrification of traditional religions and belief systems; (2) the beginning of the disintegration of the traditional social fabrics and shared norms by the invasion of consumerism, cyber- culture, newfangled religions, social fads, and changing work ethics and work rhythms; (3) the fast spreading anomie (in the Durkhemian sense) forcing an ever increasing number of individuals to fall back upon for moral and social support the easily accessible pretentious religious banalities; and (4) attributing to religion the creation and acceleration of extremist, fundamentalist, and terrorist tendencies in the third world countries, which are intended to destabilise them, and strike at the root of their civilisation, and multicultural and pluralist nature. (Radhakrishnan: 1403) The nature and functions of religion in society have been Under speculation and discourse for several centuries; the approaches to the understanding of religion philosophical, theological, anthropological, sociological and the related dimensions of religious ideas have been very old; and the nexus between religion and society has been very close, with wide, complex, intricate and elaborate ramifications: The role of religion in giving spiritual and moral sustenance to individuals, the related regulation of social life and moral order, creating and regulating cultural forms, and the inte- gration of society. One may go with the French sociologist Emile Durkheims postulate (endorsed by, among others, the English anthropologist A R Radcliffe-Brown) that the main role (or function) of religion [is] to celebrate and sustain the norms upon which the integration of society depends [Geertz 1968: 402]. While on religion and globalisation, it is important to know whether globalisation unites or divides religions; results in newfangled religions; and has a direct nexus with fundamentalism and religion-linked terrorism. It is also important to ascertain whether for its new imperialist project globalisation has been exploiting different religious forms; whether fundamentalism and religion-inspired terrorism have increased since the advent of globalisation; and whether religions, far from being belief sys- tems in their traditional sense, have spawned new dimensions which are far removed from the spiritual and religious realms. (Radhakrishnan : 1406) Challenges to the global culture: For Transnational corporations, However there are signs evidencing that the national culture no longer affects companies, when they enter other markets, because new global rules are becoming more important instead. Instances of Global- culture: To my way of thinking and after reading so many scholars, I come up with the following instances, which evidence the emergence of the global culture. People are having a shared belief of freedom, and safety across the globe. All do have some common issues like Human Rights, environment protection, Freedoms, technology- savvy practices, feminist issues, health- issues and all other who make the whole world unified in claiming them. Global culture is also emerging slowly in parts of the world. For example, Europe used to have different forms of money and now they have switched to one shared currency, the euro-dollar. Although there are many different form of money throughout the world, someday that might change. The world is shrinking. The things which were common to one particular country or region are now accessible to the world at large. Like Italian, Chinese, Mexican And Indian food. The world commercial market has given rise to the trans- national corporations. Although arranged marriage persists in many cultures today, as modernization proceeds and many areas become part of the global economy, parental influences on marriage continue to decline. Young people who work for wages rather than on the familys land no longer depend as highly on their parents resources. As Western popular culture-including motion pictures, television, music, and fashion-spreads around the world, many young people are drawn to Western notions of love, romance, and individual choice. In some places, such as Japan, people combine modern Western and older cultural practices. For instance, parents and computer matchmaking services help find prospective mates, and the individuals can accept or reject the proposed match. Since its inception in the 1950s, rock music has moved from the margins of American popular music to become the center of a multi-billion-dollar global industry. Closely connected with youth culture, rock music and musicians have helped to establish new fashions, forms of language, attitudes, and political views. However, rock music is no longer limited to an audience of teenagers, since many current listeners formed their musical tastes during the golden age of rock and roll. Similarly, while rock has historically encouraged new creative expressions, the innovations of Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, the Beatles, and Jimi Hendrix have defined a tradition to which successive generations of musicians have repeatedly turned for inspiration. Natural resources are conserved for their biological, economic, and recreational values, as well as their natural beauty and importance to local cultures. For example, tropical rain forests are protected for their important role in both global ecology and the economic livelihood of the local culture; a coral reef may be protected for its recreational value for scuba divers; and a scenic river may be protected for its natural beauty. The same is the case with conservation of Water, the whole world collectively is in favour of water conservation policies. Cultural exchanges, across the world, for example, the spread of islam or Christianity has been seen in last few years as increasing. Internationalisation of the Media like radio, television, newspaper and internet are linking together the world at large. Apperception of Western culture as an attribute of the world today, as an outcome of the global expansion of industrial capitalism, which for the first time integrated the world into a global system centered in Europe. Major constituent of Western culture have ceased to be ethnic and have become internationalized as intrinsic constituent of a world shaped by the development of the West. Even the idea of art as a self-sufficient activity based on aesthetics, is also a product of Westernisation. The traditional art of other cultures, as well as that of the West from earlier eons, was a different type of creation, determined by functions of a religious, representational, or commemorative nature. Is a Global Culture in the Making? Perhaps the most popular and controversial of the debates about globalization has to do with the rise of a global culture. Actually, there are only a few scholars who maintain that a global culture is in the making. The idea goes back to Marshall McLuhans slippery concept of the global village (McLuhan 1964) The global culture driven by symbols, images, and the aesthetic of the lifestyle and the self-image-has spread throughout the world and is having some momentous effects, including the standardization of tastes and desires, and even , anthropologist Arjun Appadurai (1996:4, 21) argues that individuals and groups seek to annex the global into their own practices of the modern, and that consumption of the mass media worldwide provokes resistance, irony, selectivity, and, in general, agency. Some of the most persuasive arguments against the idea of the emergence of a global culture come from anthropologist Clifford Geertz. He observes that the world is growing both more global and more divided, more thoroughly interconnected and more intricately partitioned at the same time [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] Whatever it is that defines identity in borderless capitalism. And the global village it is not deep going agreements on deep going matters, but something more like the recurrence of familiar divisions, persisting arguments, standing threats, the notion that whatever else may happen, the order of difference must be somehow maintain (Geertz 1998:107-110). Like Geertz, sociologist Anthony Smith is skeptical, and notes an interesting initial problem with the concept of global culture: Can we speak of culture in the singular? If by culture is meant a collective mode of life, or a repertoire of beliefs, styles, values and symbols, then we can only speak of cultures, never just culture; fo r a collective mode of life [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] presupposes different modes and repertoires in a universe of modes and repertoires. Hence, the idea of a global culture is a practical impossibility, except in interplanetary terms (Smith 1990: 171). However, I argue that this notion is wrong, and the global culture is not only in existence, but it is flourishing as well. LOCAL versus GLOBAL Local culture and social structure are now shaped by large and powerful commercial interests in ways that earlier anthropologists could not have imagined. Early anthropologists thought of societies and their cultures as fully independent systems. But today, many nations are multicultural societies, composed of numerous smaller subcultures. Cultures also cross national boundaries. Some people fear a loss of cultural diversity as U.S. media companies become dominant. Such companies tend to bundle their products so that a blockbuster movie is promoted by selling soundtracks, books, video games, and other. However, the under- developed countries companies do not have such a control, even any sort of control over the market. On the one hand, as world beat became a more visible feature of the international popular musical landscape in the late 1980s and early 1990s, popular music scholars began to analyze its economic and cultural implications. Most analyses focused on the inequalities characterizing the bilateral relationships between north and south and accused the industry of exploiting Third World cultural resources. Others were concerned about the potentially disastrous consequences of homogenization and westernization upon folk cultures being swept up in and transformed by what has been called global culture flows. The most trenchant critics also charged the world music industry with racism, for ignoring the harsh realities of economic and political subordination experienced by Third World peoples of color, and instead constructing images of cultural authenticity in order to satisfy the desires of northern whites safely to consume exotic otherness. More optimistic observers, for example, have sugges ted that the powerful forces of cultural and economic hegemony are being resisted by culturally and technologically savvy Third World musicians who are taking control of the production of their own music, revitalizing local musical traditions by modernizing them. Furthermore, the international popular musical landscape, so long dominated by U.S. and European pop and rock, has unquestionably been diversified and enriched by the increased circulation of musics from multiple locations around the globe. To better understand the national and global linkages, Some observers would argue that it is inappropriate to distinguish Afro-Brazilian from Brazilian music, since black expressive cultures have contributed so profoundly to what is understood to be national culture. Perhaps no other artistic field in Brazil has been so deeply influenced by black cultures than popular music. Nevertheless, it is useful and necessary to identify distinct styles and movements in Brazilian popular music that are associated particularly with black urban communities. The past 20 years have seen the proliferation of Afro-Brazilian social, political, and cultural movements that explicitly reject the traditional belief in a unitary national culture. Yet, for the most part, contemporary Afro-Brazilian musical countercultures continue to be racially inclusive. An increasingly globalized world economy has intensified the influx of African and diasporic musical cultures, particularly from the United States and Ja maica, to major Brazilian cities. These forms of music and their attendant cultural styles, modes of dress, and dance steps have been widely appropriated and transformed by young urban Brazilians. Several broad currents in contemporary Afro-Brazilian music may be identified: contemporary samba, soul/funk/hip-hop, reggae, axà © music, and mangue beat. (See, Encarta) Another example of globalised music culture Samba emerged in the 20th century as the preeminent national music of Brazil. Modern urban samba was developed in the predominantly black favelas (shantytowns) on the morros (hills) of Rio de Janeiro, and now globalised. In addition to music, there are plethora of dancing style,

Consumers Behaviour Shaped By The Media Advertising Media Essay

Consumers Behaviour Shaped By The Media Advertising Media Essay The mass media in todays society has shape the way we act, think and react to certain outcomes in our lives. It has such an impact on the choices we make and the choices that are available for us to make, that we sometimes dont even know its there. This often creates an awareness of the roles and attitudes we are expected to react to through commercialism. Advertising is the art of convincing people to spend money they dont have for something they dont need (Rogers, 2004 ) and these desires of wanting these certain products are largely the results made by the mass media. Perhaps, marketers should look at a different way of targeting consumers without having to mould their minds in such a way that has changed our uniqueness as an individual living in todays global world. Consumer behaviour is often described as the way we make decisions in purchasing specific products. Factors such as economic, demographic, psychological and social influences have played a major role in influencing our behaviour as consumers (Quester McCarthy, 2001). However, as we go into depth, the long term consequences of commercialism are much more serious than we imagine. So are we to blame the firms and organisations for manipulating our minds as consumers? Or are we too fragile to resist such temptation. According to the American Marketing Association (AMA), consumer behaviour is defined as the dynamic interaction of affect and cognition, behaviour, and environmental events by which human beings conduct the exchange aspects of their lives (American Marketing Association 2006). While another definition has defined consumer behaviour as The study of individuals, groups, or organizations and the processes they use to select, secure, use, and dispose of products, services, experiences, or ideas to satisfy needs and the impacts that these processes have on the consumer and society (Hawkins, Best, Convey Koch, 2004). So we ask, is this definition still effective in this scenario, especially when our attitudes and perceptions are being tampered with? Some people feel that they are not affected by advertising, but they are. The media not only advertises directly, but they also try to appeal to people on an unconscious level Its harder to persuade them when theyre thinking (The Ad and the Ego, 1997) shows just how manipulative the media can be. For example, in 2001 the tobacco industry tried persuading its customers by using terms such as light to mislead smokers into believing that those brands are safer. They also made it seem like smoking is a part of everyday life. In many ads that promote tobacco, smoking is introduced as a natural part of having a good time. This as a result encourages consumer into supporting tobacco companies by purchasing their light cigarettes. Advertising is the means by which goods or services are promoted to the public (Petley, 2003). The advertisers goal is to increase sales of these goods or services by drawing peoples attention to them and showing them in a favourable light (Petley, 2003). According to (Arens in Ayanwale, Alimi and Ayanbimipe, 2005), the mission of advertiser is to reach prospective customers and influence their awareness, attitudes and buying behaviour. They spend a lot of money to keep individuals interested in their products. To succeed, they need to understand what makes potential customers behave the way they do. Advertising is a marketing function, and Kotler (in Bokor, Werner and Richardsson; 2004) claims that advertising can have a number of different, possible objectives. One objective can be to inform customers about new product or a price change, while another objective can be to persuade. In this sense advertising is a phenomenon that aims to persuade or influence people (Bjurstrà ¶m, 199 4). Most of the critics today believe that the use of commercialism has dramatically changed the way consumers behave and the way they carry out their lifestyle. Looking at the examples present in todays society, its possible to say that these theories may be pretty accurate. For example, Advertisers often emphasize sexuality and the importance of physical attractiveness in an attempt to sell products. They often emphasise thinness as a standard for female beauty, and the bodies idealized in the media are frequently atypical of normal, healthy women. You are continually competing with everyone around you to be noticed, to be seen, to be admired, to be successful. Ads urge us to become what we behold. It is advertising which defines physical beauty for women. Modern advertising conditions women to strive for an unattainable standard of beauty all in the service of selling products. Women frequently compare their bodies to those they see around them, and researchers have found that exposur e to idealized body images lowers womens satisfaction with their own attractiveness (Magazine Models Impact Girls Desire to Lose Weight, Press Release, 2008). As a result, the depiction of thin models has adversely impacted womens body image, which has led to unhealthy behaviour as women and girls strive for the ultra-thin body idealized by the media. Advertising images have also set unrealistic ideals for males, and men and boys are beginning to risk their health to achieve the well-built media standard. Advertising that pushes people to be small and eat large supports eating disorder thinking and behaviour. The continual onslaught of emaciation, body surgery, and diet publicity actually convinces many people that the lifestyle being portrayed is normal. Such media portrayal validates starvation, cutting behaviors and binge and purge cycles. Plus, this portrayal can delay recovery work. If a person with an eating disorder is subjected to a barrage of images and messages celebrating the symptoms of her illness, she may believe she is living well and wisely and will not seek treatment. This is a cultural phenomenon that is tragic. It contributes to people taking pride in their illness, proselytizing eating disorders, destroying their health, ruining relationships and, in far too many cases, shortening their lives. So do advertisers see such an impact theyve done to consumers? The main objective of advertising is to convince the consumer to behave in a certain manner which is most favourable for the advertiser. It may influence the consumer in different ways, because the advertiser spends an enormous amount of money to sell his product in the most creative and persuasive manner possible. Before 1900 advertising was mostly informational. Ads described products and appealed to consumers logic and judgement. World War I and the 1920s saw advertising shift from text to more emotional and image-centered modes. Advertising became less about products and more about the emotional and social lives of the people buying the products. The growing industrial economy dictated that not only goods but also markets for goods needed to be mass-produced. Soon, advertisements began to promote anxiety, discomfort, and inadequacy among the population. Youre not OK the way you are, You need help. You need salvation Ads generate anxiety and doubts making us feel uncomfortable in our skins. This we call the production of discontent (Hawkins, Best, Convey Koch, 2004). Advertising sells more than products, it sells values, images, concepts, and above all, normalcy it tells us who we are and who we should be. Advertising teaches us above all to be consumers. It teaches us that happiness can be bought, that there are instant solutions to lifes complex problems, and that products can fulfil us and meets our deepest human needs. We live in a consumer culture, saturated with mass media images. Much of our physical, informational, and cultural space is for sale billboards, TV, magazines, newspapers, even the area behind home plate. All of these spaces pitch products promising to improve our lives. We are all, sometimes consciously, sometimes unconsciously, affected by this advertising, often in very subtle ways. Whats important is not our experience of any one ad but that of living in an advertising environment which repeats certain messages again and again. We dont see it very well because we re-surrounded by it all the time. Like Richard Pollay (in Pollay, W; 1979) explains that just as a fish dont think about the sea, we dont think much about ads because we are surrounded by this ad environment from birth to death. He argues that one of educations goals ought to be to get the fish to think about the water. In order to understand modern society, he concludes, advertising is the best place to look. Humans are meaning-making creatures, always wondering who i am? and why do things work the way they do? After a century of experience, advertisers understand the power of symbolism and strive to discover symbols that make people react in predictable ways. Advertisers try to create stimuli to make individuals salivate if you can grab people their emotions, you can get them to follow. We have a cultural disposition to believe what we see. The human brain processes images and words differently. What we reflect on, consider, and even argue with logical appeals built on words, but we dont talk back to images. Advertisers realize that people are more easily influences by images than words. Seeing advertisements on the television, billboards or hearing them on our favourite radio stations has become a part of our daily lives whether we like it or not. Being exposed to numerous advertisements do affect our behaviour in some way what so ever. As a consumer myself, I strongly believe that advertising has a detrimental effect to peoples behaviour in many ways. We tend to follow our primary instincts and forget the real values in life. By acting on our insecurity and self-consciousness advertising makes us more inclined to products we are once happy with. We covet and envy our friends. We become greedy and are never satisfy with what we have. Advertising has created consumerism which affects our ability to communicate with each other. Most people nowadays prefer sharing their thoughts through electronic mail or latest cell phones than personal contacts. We have definitely become more distant from one another and consumerism is probably the main cause of this social alienatio n. On the other hand, while advertising have a negative impact on our personality it may also have a positive impact on economy. The fewer commercials we see, the less amount of money we spend. For a large company and its competitors, advertising has become the only way of introducing products to the customers and for us sometimes it is the only way to learn about what they sell. One of the main indicators of a healthy and strong economy is the money flow or how much money is spent, in other words how much money advertising has succeeded to get out of our pockets. This results in low unemployment rate and increase in our standards of living. Despite the fact that advertising will be thriving on our weaknesses in the years to come, we should try not to become slaves to material things and do our best to retain core values which after all distinguish us as human beings.

Petroleum Crisis Essay -- Oli Shortage

Petroleum Crisis Everyone wants appliances such as toasters, microwaves and fridges to be cheap even though they are rich, but what about the poor people or so called middle class. What will they do if the prices are too high to afford? Petroleum is something that we all need to go from place to place, anyways most of us do; four to five years ago, when I first came to Canada, the gas prices were quite low, but in the past 2-3 years, it is still increasing up to date. Prices of toasters and petroleum etc shouldn’t increase because we are getting our taxes cut and on top of that our level of price for the gas has increased, which makes our lives hard and tedious. Gases, Petrol are essential tools for the 21st century. It is something that all the people need to go from places to places because using buses gets expensive in the long run. This crisis began only because the Middle East began to charge more for their barrel. This happened because they realized that they are giving their petrol for less, when they could be making much more selling the same quantity, which is fair. They can charge whatever they want because it is their own Gasoline and they can do whatever they want with it. Canada has Alberta to help them a lot with the losses of Petroleum and charges of it because it has it’s own oilrig, from where oil is produced, and can help them by giving the oil locally so that the gas prices will not be that high. The government for some unknown reason to the public ar... Petroleum Crisis Essay -- Oli Shortage Petroleum Crisis Everyone wants appliances such as toasters, microwaves and fridges to be cheap even though they are rich, but what about the poor people or so called middle class. What will they do if the prices are too high to afford? Petroleum is something that we all need to go from place to place, anyways most of us do; four to five years ago, when I first came to Canada, the gas prices were quite low, but in the past 2-3 years, it is still increasing up to date. Prices of toasters and petroleum etc shouldn’t increase because we are getting our taxes cut and on top of that our level of price for the gas has increased, which makes our lives hard and tedious. Gases, Petrol are essential tools for the 21st century. It is something that all the people need to go from places to places because using buses gets expensive in the long run. This crisis began only because the Middle East began to charge more for their barrel. This happened because they realized that they are giving their petrol for less, when they could be making much more selling the same quantity, which is fair. They can charge whatever they want because it is their own Gasoline and they can do whatever they want with it. Canada has Alberta to help them a lot with the losses of Petroleum and charges of it because it has it’s own oilrig, from where oil is produced, and can help them by giving the oil locally so that the gas prices will not be that high. The government for some unknown reason to the public ar...

Essay --

Dr. Seuss was one of the influential well known children's author. His books are still read to children today. My personal favorite book of his is "Horton Hears a Who!". His real name is Theodor Seuss Geisel. He was born on March 2, 1904. Was an a American writer, poet, and cartoonist. He was most widely known for his children's books written and illustrated as Dr. Seuss. He had used the pen name Dr. Theophrastus Seuss in college and later used Theo LeSieg and Rosetta Stone. Geisel Published 46 children's books, often characterized by imaginative characters, rhyme, and frequent use of anapestic meter. His most-celebrated books include the bestselling Green Eggs and Ham, The Cat in the Hat, The Lorax, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, Horton Hatches the Egg, Horton Hears a Who!, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas!. His works have spawned numerous adaptions including 11 television specials, four features films, a Broadway musical and four television series. He won the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1958 for Horton Hatches the Egg and again in 1961 for And to think That I Saw It on mulberry street. Geisel also worked as an illustrator for advertising campaigns, most notably for Flit and Standard Oil, and as a political cartoonist for PM, a New York City newspaper. During World War II, he worked in an animation department of the United States Army, where he wrote Design for Death, a film that later won the 1947 Academy Award for Documentary Feature. He was a perfectionist in his work and would sometimes spend up to a year on a book. It was not uncommon for him to throw out 95% of his material until he settled on a theme for his book. For a writer he was usual in that he preferred to be paid only after he finished his work rathe... ...heir original appearances. In May 1954, Life magazine published a report on illiteracy among school children, witch concluded children were not learning because their books were boring. Accordingly, William Ellsworth Spaulding, director of the education division at Houghton Mifflin, who later became its chairman, compiled a list of 348 words he left were important for first graders to recognize and ask Geisel to cut the list to 250 words and write a book using only those words. Spaulding challenged Geisel to make a children book that they cannot put down. Nine months later, Geisel, using 236 of the words given to him, completed The Cat in the Hat. It retained the drawing style, verse rhythms, and all of the imaginative power of Geisel's earlier works, but because if its simplified vocabulary it could be read by beginner readers. The Cat in the Hat

Life Meaning Essay

The definition of life is very difficult. Although dictionaries and encyclopedias say in general is the intermediate state between birth and death, I think it goes far beyond, is something deeper and we all want to know. By asking this question we faced is as if we ourselves, as research is about something I’ve always lived, after much thought and analysis that is life, in my point of view I think is that although many try to define life as commonly defined other terms, in my position, life is not a thing, but rather as a process. To truly know that life is all we can do is live and this is the only way and how life is lived? Maybe it’s the question we should ask ourselves, what can say to that is this: being alive, flowing, running with her, walking with her. Life is now, is now, life is what is happening to us, life is not something or someone or somewhere that we have to look, life is a gift that we already have. lama you can feel in your breathing, your blood circulation in the beating of your heart. What you are now, that’s your life what happened to you, what is to befall and what not, that’s your life. While humans try to find different meanings to what life is and try to give the concept deeper, scientific, philosophical or theological response will never be enough to describe the life, and while people look the concept of life are missing what it is, they have forgotten the real and have been replaced by concepts and explanations that my term, to take advantage of anything. We see what is actually already here, we rationalizations. Nobody can give you the meaning of your life. It’s your life and you have to give it meaning only you. No one but you can find it. It’s your life and only accessible to you. Only by living the mystery will be revealed. Life is not looking at other people or writings or intelligent explanations, these are only justifications that ultimately explain nothing. Life is already bubbling within. Only if you want her there. The temple is on the outside, you are his sanctuary. So the first thing we must remember to define ourselves is life is never look outside or try to discover somebody. And the second thing to remember is that when you finally discover in yourself that is life, you will find that is death. At the beginning I mentioned that life is a process, well, death is part of that process. Humans usually think that death is the enemy of life, which is the grand finale, which is the enemy to be feared but in reality it is not, death is not the enemy, and if you consider death as the enemy that just shows you have not been able to know what life is. Although it seems absurd, death and life have many things in common, both have the same energy is a phenomenon like day and night, as cold and heat, and summer and winter, life and death are rivals, not polar opposites, are not separated and are not contrary, quite the contrary, they are complementary. Death is not the end of life is actually a culmination of a life, the summit of life, the climax, the great final stage. And once you know your life and your process, then you understand what death is. Death is a part harmony, full of life and is very friendly with her. Without it life can not exist. Death is a renewal process. And death happens every moment. The instant you inhale and exhale the moment, life and death are passing, both are given. By inspiring, life goes; upon expiry death comes. So when a child is born the first thing he does is breathe life begins there, however when the old man dies the last thing you do is breathe, there is life. The exhale is death, life is inspiring. They are like the two wheels of a cart. Lives that inspire and breathe out, is part of the inhale exhale, you can not breathe if you stop inhaling, the exhaling is part of breathing. You can not breathe if you stop exhaling. You can not live if you stop dying. The man who has understood what is your life, let death happen, welcomes you. Dies every minute and every moment to life. LIFE is a process, a process in which the past is dying every moment and born again and again into the future. If you look at what life is like you know what death is. If you understand what death is, only then will you be able to understand what life is. Life is a gift, a gift of God, and have certain scents that make it magical, like love, like friends or family, life is full of little moments that make your story and each of these moments is good live them with people you love and who love you, life without love is like a box that looks beautiful on the outside but when you open it and find it completely empty with nothing of value, that’s love, which gives value to your life. Maybe we’ve heard many times the phrase â€Å"living dead† for my concept that is the perfect definition, a life without love makes us dead in life. When we say â€Å"live life†, we mean that, to love, that gives meaning to life, to love somebody to love many or love everyone, to love God and to love nature. Life is real is what is in you is what queeres, there are things unreal, superficial exterior such as money, money is something that absorbs life unreal how many times we have not worried about getting money and is scientifically proven that concerns cause disease and alters the body of people altering the normal functioning of this, while we worry about things more unreal wears more life and go to becoming a plant that interest only superficial things, fine work and make money, which is not right that this will become the center of your life and everything in you turn around money. If we look at the birds of the sky and see how they survive only with his life, feed and have the best clothes that anyone ever could have, with all those colors and how they sing every morning, the birds live their lives, not care about anything and are inferior to us. We should take example from them. Finally we can say that life does not have to investigate it or try to define it or worry about understanding it, life must be lived and enjoyed.

Issues Surrounding Masculinity in United States Essay

Our society today has little tolerance for men and masculinity in general. Masculinity can be defined as having qualities or appearance of male. It includes behaviors typically associated with men. In his book, Ferguson takes us into the world of a sole, municipal elementary school attended by students who have been labeled as troublemakers and potential jail inmates. She identifies how a group of young boys of African American origin aged between 11 to 12 years are identified by their school work force as lovers of jail (14). Over the years black Americans boys have been subjected to a kind of discrimination both in school and outside. There are claims that teachers treat these boys as if they are doomed to fail. Ferguson (26) goes on to criticize the form of punishment given to the boys which according to him does not instill discipline but simply perpetuating troublemakers and creating potential inmates (67). According to equality index carried out by Pascoe (114), black men in America have high chances of being unemployed than white men. The black men are seven times more likely more to be imprisoned with a jail sentence of above ten months over their white counterparts. The report also discloses other disparities ranging from unemployment, school drop out rates and annual income. While there have been some improvements on the gap between the black men and white men in United States of America, black masculinity is still being faced with greater problem. Despite the condemnation given to them, Ferguson argues that Black American boys look seriously at schooling and excelling in life. In addition she identifies how the whole society beliefs in a natural difference of black children from the white children. Most people according to him identify the black men as criminal and it is this view that disproportionately put them in danger of disappointment and punishment. this is a greatly interfere with the black American boys according who in future end up taking the negative behavior as implied by their mentors. Ferguson bases her argument on a fundamental theory of learning, drawn from two sources: Marxist & Bowles speculation view of society which gives school the task of reproducing the existing communal pecking order, and Foucault’s post-structural theory of disciplinary authority that views punishment as an instrument of social segregation (82). He contrasts this speculative frame to the commonly held liberal idea that schools are meritocratic (112). But the black American boys are hyper aware of their individuality pattern. According to Fergusson (123), they act upon their masculinity through impressive performances and disruptions in class work and they achieve their self worth for themselves by using hostility behavior strategy to regain their sense of self. Â  To identify themselves as resourceful, authoritative and knowledgeable in the face of the humiliation they encounter in school. By masculinity, Malin (36) seems to mean men who not only reveal the physical qualities of toughness but also who also possesses some noble principle. In his book, Malin claimed that Clinton has been shown as a conflicted and sensitive, yet strong man (42). It is these characters according to Malin (43) that helped him win presidential elections. Clinton’s personality remained a package of conflicts that variously embraced and overthrown different stereotypes of masculinity hence he was able to remain a strong man. Malin 2005 (78). Sonenstein associates masculinity with culture, and socialization and encourages men to try to live up to cultural standards of masculinity (342). According to Malin, men fraternity face pressures and dilemmas around race- and gender-based individuality structure is always a flagrant force that works against these students maintaining an obligation to schooling. This is why schools across the nation for example in US observe a continual attrition of schoolboys as they link the ranks of troublemakers (67). According to Ferguson (112), molding our boys viewing them as Bad Boys is a powerful challenge to current views on the setback of the black males in school. Currently black males are severely constrained by the society and culture of their high school and of American society in general. This form of treatment world neither favor girl child who is always more vulnerable to several situations. Due to this unhealthy treatment the black American Male end up performing poorly in their education which lead them to drug abuse and criminal activities which in future lead them to be on the wrong side of the law. Ferguson 2000 (P 139) Both black and white men have their roles to play as men in America. Ferguson advocates for need to change the social organization and the culture of the society so as to enhance a suitable learning environment of the African American males in particular and all children in general. Solutions begin from an assurance that slight inputs, short-term interventions and person prescriptions into schools are greatly sufficient to cure an organization that is mainly flawed. The organization should aim for metropolitan black kid who seems to be the formation of a community which will basically obey the rules of civilization. A reform of the whole educational system is what is urgently necessary according to Ferguson (234). Overhauling the whole school system is the only way according to Ferguson (113) for eliminating all kind of institutionalized discrimination. She states that significant changes may take position by altering the curriculum and establishing lesser classes whereby student gets enough attention from their trainers. In addition, antiracist education for student teachers and reciprocated respect among adults and youth will also form a very good base to eliminate society and cultural constrain. Schools that are reorganized in this way would help in bringing new meaning to the Black masculinity (235).

Nuclear Power: Problem or Solution

Nuclear power is complicated. A nuclear power plant provides energy that does not contribute to global warming. Climate concerns have seen a rise in the construction of new reactors to address growing demands of electricity worldwide. Currently the United States and Canada receive 20% of their electric power from nuclear plants. The rest of the world is at 6% but rising. The benefits drive the nuclear energy movement and continue to do so and the proponents of nuclear power see this as an indispensable solution in reducing the consumption of conflict-ridden fossil fuels. Opponents of nuclear power also make a strong case citing cost, safety and justified global concern of waste storage and the potential for nuclear weapons in areas where terrorism is a major concern. These plants provide the uranium and plutonium regarded as critical components of nuclear weapons. This will be discussed in depth in this paper. This paper will also detail the benefits and detriments of the future growth of nuclear power plants across the globe. The first uses of nuclear technology were the bombs dropped in Japan in the 1940’s. In the 1950’s physicists and engineers harnessed this power and presented it as a less costly and an alternative form of energy. Nuclear power plants were built with an eye to safety; this was the main concern early on. The 103 reactors in the U. S. today supply 25% more electricity than 109 reactors did a decade ago. This has been achieved through improvements in management, reliability and productivity. In 2010, Taking Sides, Clashing Views on Environmental Issues states that favorability to nuclear energy was running at 67% of Americans in favor of using this technology. The gap of people against this was closing. These companies were being seen as valuable and all operating licenses were being renewed. Impressive gains in output and reliability at many nuclear power plants have the industry looking to build more plants. Nuclear power is being accepted as the core strength of the U. S. electric supply. And in this â€Å"green† era, nuclear is seen as the main source of assisting the U. S. in meeting clean air goals. The Clean Air Act of 1970 set out to improve air quality and nuclear power plants are credited as one big reason that compliance was met. Electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles are becoming more in demand and the clean electricity from nuclear power is driving policymakers to continue to support nuclear technology. These vehicles reduce carbon emissions, noise, maintenance and reduced oil usage and reliance on foreign oil. Clean energy is paramount to a sustainable development globally. As the population continues to grow, the demand for energy increases and harnessing wind and solar should increase because they are good options and do not contribute directly to air or water pollution. These renewable fuels contribute in a positive way to a sustainable world but they just don’t produce enough electricity yet, they are considered good alternate options in conjunction with nuclear energy. The nuclear age started with the thought of this form of generating electricity being less costly. That did not prove to be the case, in the beginning, but today nuclear energy is once again being heralded as a value proposition. The volume of electricity that can be produced and done so in a clean and safe way is looked at as a way to provide environmental attributes and price stability. The Department of Energy’s Nuclear Power of 2010 program created a partnership between government and industry and ensured adequate funding for the building of new plants. The planned investment was $650 million dollars over several years and assists with the need of program stability and resources necessary to ensure future viability. The U. S. faces an imminent energy crisis and even though electric power is only 3 to 4 % of our gross domestic product, the other 96 or 97% depends on that to fuel our $11 trillion dollar economy. Nuclear energy will remain a front runner because of the reliable and continuous source of energy it provides and it allows us, as a nation, to lead the world in decreasing our dependence on fossil fuels. Coal is abundant across many parts of the globe but contributes to global warming (there is research and development in developing a â€Å"clean† coal and this has been proven viable but bringing it to market at a competitive price has not happened). Natural gas is also fairly abundant but unsustainable in power generation and makes little sense. This being said enhances the argument for nuclear energy plants to assume that the future plants being built will continue to grow worldwide and that as this continues, the industry will strive to address cost and bolster safety. The other side of this issue sheds a different light on the same subject. The expense of nuclear energy is measured differently. Financial expense is a factor but fear is the most major concern. Nuclear energy has no pollution or emissions but the by-products of the process namely waste, and how it is stored, transported and discarded is regarded by many as the downside of nuclear energy. The safety of power plants was the original concern but as these expanded across our country and the world, the waste has come to be a mightier concern from the holding and containing in plants, to the transporting over highways and ultimately the storage of these toxic materials, with a half-life of a thousand years. The potential harm of radioactive waste is to humans, wildlife and the environment. This waste contains plutonium, uranium and other elements along with parts of atoms. Nuclear waste needs to decay following a cooling process. Even after the waste has been out of the reactor for 10 years, a human coming within a meter of it would die in three minutes. Waste from the first generation of reactors has not been successfully dealt with and that said, this leaves all reactors that followed looking toward a solution and the prediction of over a 100,000 metric tons of waste by 2035 that needs to be completely isolated from the environment for tens or even hundreds of thousands of years because it is so deadly. Sendai, Japan had an 8. 9 earthquake on March 11, 2011 that was followed by a tsunami of immense proportions. There was a nuclear power plant in operation called Fukushima-Daiichi that continues to be in the news more than six weeks after the disasters and the story continues to unfold. The first thing to point out, in fairness, is that these were unlike Three Mile Island and Chernobyl because the problems that resulted were not the result of human error. The built in safety measures detecting an earthquake worked and as soon as the quake was detected, the plant started an automated, preprogrammed shut down and all the safety elements were working to achieve a cooling and treatment of the decay heat. Diesel generators provide the power to drive the pumps for the water coolant necessary to circulate through the reactors, removing the decay heat but when the tsunami hit, the diesel generators that were necessary to provide power necessary for the pumps was lost. There were other backup systems but they too were lost and the fear of melt down and radiation being spewed into the atmosphere ensued. Heat removal could have continued indefinitely if there was power but that was not the case due to the tsunami. Radiation levels are high and more than 6,000 families in surrounding cities have been told to leave the area. Minor traces of the radiation were found in the drinking water in my state, Massachusetts and this drives home the point of how small our world has become and why we all need to be better informed of the world around us. Radiation and its side effects are nasty and can take years to manifest illness and cancers. There are also some discrepancies on how much area should be evacuated and there are many varying reports. The U. S. cientists seem to share a common number of 50+ miles, Japan is saying 12. The Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear plant problems echo most people’s concerns about nuclear safety and have started a concentrated look at nuclear power plants that are built in earthquake prone areas. This concern has spread to Germany where more than 60,000 protestors have been assembling outside the major nuclear plants in that area. The IAEA (International Atomic Energy Age ncy) is trying to assure people around the world that new safeties were already on the drawing board addressing issues like the one in Japan. Nuclear energy had been enjoying resurgence with relative calm before the tragedy in Japan. India and China had a plan to add a thousand new nuclear sites in the next two decades. Japan nuclear facilities have withstood many earthquakes; the tsunami is what brought this one down. Opponents are still focused on the long term and the storage, handling, transporting and long term storage of the hazardous waste that is a lethal by-product of nuclear energy. The following is from www. wagingpeace. org and states the risks in a succinct way: ?Nuclear Waste ?Nuclear waste is produced in many different ways. There are wastes produced in the reactor core, wastes created as a result of radioactive contamination, and wastes produced as a byproduct of uranium mining, refining, and enrichment. The vast majority of radiation in nuclear waste is given off from spent fuel rods. ?A typical reactor will generate 20 to 30 tons of high-level nuclear waste annually. There is no known way to safely dispose of this waste, which remains dangerously radioactive until it naturally decays. ?The rate of decay of a radioactive isotope is called its half-life, the time in which half the initial amount of atoms present takes to decay. The half-life of Plutonium-239, one particularly lethal component of nuclear waste, is 24,000 years. ?The hazardous life of a radioactive element (the length of time that must elapse before the material is considered safe) is at least 10 half-lives. Therefore, Plutonium-239 will remain hazardous for at least 240,000 years. ?There is a current proposal to dump nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. ?The plan is for Yucca Mountain to hold all of the high level nuclear waste ever produced from every nuclear power plant in the US. However, that would completely fill up the site and not account for future waste. ?Transporting the wastes by truck and rail would be extremely dangerous. ?For a more detailed analysis of the problems of and risks incurred by the plan, see Top Ten Reasons to Oppose the DoE’s Yucca Mountain Plan ?Repository sites in Australia, Argentina, China, southern Africa, and Russia have also been considered. ?Though some countries reprocess nuclear waste (in essence, preparing it to send through the cycle again to create more energy), this process is banned in the U. S. due to increased proliferation risks, as the reprocessed materials can also be used for making bombs. Reprocessing is also not a solution because it just creates additional nuclear waste. ?The best action would be to cease producing nuclear energy (and waste), to leave the existing waste where it is, and to immobilize it. There are a few different methods of waste immobilization. In the vitrification process, waste is combined with glass-forming materials and melted. Once the materials solidify, the waste is trapped inside and can't easily be released. The final concern for the purpose of this paper goes back to the second to last point from wagingpeace. org. The U. S. is banned from reprocessing nuclear waste because those materials are necessary components when making a bomb. There is a volunteer group called the National Supplies Group (NSG) and they enforce guidelines to members and oversee exports to ensure that the technologies and materials are treated properly and are not being used to contribute to proliferation. The NSG has 46 member states but Israel, India and Pakistan are not among them. This is frightening and makes one question why it is not mandatory to be part of this NSG. It seems that the rules should be the same for each state or country when dealing with nuclear energy and makes one wonder what the IAEA contributes. Nuclear energy is complicated. If I was writing this before the March 11, 2011 disasters in Japan, I would be impressed by how far the industry has evolved. Natural disasters are just that, natural and occurring more and more. The strength of Hurricane Katrina was blamed on global warming and makes me wonder if we had more nuclear energy would the storm have been less severe. I don’t know that I gave a lot of thought to nuclear energy before this course and it seems that many movies I have seen over the years usually involves smuggling of components necessary for use in weapons of mass destruction. It now appears that this is a very real threat and one that needs full worldwide regulation. I think nuclear energy is here to stay and that the growth will be immense to keep up with the population and to decrease emissions. This product is a bit of an enigma to me. It strives to do good but has the potential to create so much evil. Nuclear energy and all it’s by-products are very complicated.