Jewish Federation Apartments Essay

The Jewish Federation Apartments is a ‘humanitarian’ housing public service organization for the elderly, those who are 62 years and above, and those who may be impaired in terms of mobility, those who are 18 years or older. The Jewish Federation Apartments is a public service offering founded and run by the Jewish Federation of Greater Buffalo. Preservation of the elderly people’s dignity, safety and decency of the occupants of the apartments is the main aim for maintaining the Jewish Federation Apartments. Through the years of activity, the Jewish Federation Apartments offer not only housing but also integrated social activities that encourage the apartments’ occupants to integrate not only with their family members, if any, and the community. Jewish Federation Apartments 1) Describe the agency’s mission statement. Identify the client base of the agency including the cultural groups The Jewish Federation Apartments was started by the Jewish Federation of Greater Buffalo to offer housing and humanitarian care to the elderly as well as those who may be mobility-impaired. The main mission of the Jewish Federation Apartments organization is to offer public service to those aged 62 years and those who are 18 years and older and are mobility-impaired. The main mission is to safeguard the dignity, decency and safety of occupants while offering social services. In any given community or society the elderly and mobility-impaired may feel the need for loving care that would give them the feeling of being a ‘normal’ part of the community. As it may be noted, both the elderly and mobility-impaired may have a sense of need to move around like any other member of the community. The mission of the Jewish Federation Apartments is to ensure that those who qualify to be tenants in the apartments get affordable housing in a safe environment and that their dignity and decency is sustained. Only those who are successful in qualifying for tenancy based on the Jewish tradition would attain residence in the Jewish Federation Apartments. The Board of Directors’, all offering their services voluntarily, goal is to ensure that the personal dignity, physical, emotional and spiritual life is of enhanced quality. These are all in the fulfillment of the Jewish Federation Apartments’ mission. According to the president of the Jewish Federation Apartments, that I interviewed, the place is predominantly occupied by Jews but this may only be so due to the fact that the apartments are a public service offered by the Jewish Federation of Greater Buffalo. Another reason this may be so is due to the fact that qualification for occupancy/tenancy is guide by the Jewish tradition. This, and many factors, has seen the apartment’s occupancy be mainly of Jewish oriented persons, though there are other cultures and other religious occupants such as the Polish, Italians and Persians. The Jewish Federation Apartments has always advertised or sought to attract applicants from all cultures religions, ethnicities and communities and this has seen it achieve its current diversity of occupancy cultures. The Jewish Russian community seems to be one that has the highest occupancy numbers; however, other communities are also increasing in number. In the past approximately half of the Jewish Federation Apartments was from the Jewish Russian community that moved to America a long time back. However, in recent years, this has changed and the Jewish Russian community seems to be reducing to about 35-40% of the whole community says the Jewish Federation Apartments president. Despite having an open invitation to all ethnics and religions and communities, the Jewish Federation Apartments seems to have low attraction of the African American community. The main reason why there seems to be no African Americans is that, the community seems slow to accepting change from their communities and neighborhoods. The African Americans seem not too keen on moving from their neighborhoods. This then explains why Jewish Federation Apartments’ occupancy has no African Americans despite there being a waiting list of the community, reveals the Jewish Federation Apartments president during the interview. Current occupation in the apartments is mainly of whites as African American communities are slow in taking up the challenge of change that may come from moving from their communities. In the past the African American were tenants in the apartments, however, they seem to have moved out since currently there are only a white population of tenants remaining. All these were revelations from the interview that I carried out with the president of the Jewish Federation Apartments. Despite there being a waiting list from the African Americans at the Jewish Federation Apartments, they do not want to move there yet. 2) Describe the agency’s cultural and linguistic competency plan Culturally, the Jewish Federation Apartments agency has been diversified, however with a reduced attention and interest from the African American community. The agency’s efforts to attract all communities to consider occupancy at the apartments have been generally attractive and open to all. Advertisement for apartments is open to everyone who is over 62 years and those who are above 18 and are mobility-impaired. The culture of the agency is to care safeguard and ensure that every tenant’s decency and dignity is enhanced. The current situation seems to lean more on the Jewish setting. Since the agency is in a predominantly white community, the cultural orientation may be leaning to the whites’ culture. The African American community on the other hand seem to be holding on to their cultures since they seem adamant about moving to the Jewish Federation Apartments despite a past occupancy and application for consideration for tenancy. Jewish Federation Apartments agency culture is that of a friendly and social environment that allows the tenants to interact though there are policies that govern occupancy of the premises by ‘outsiders’. One may therefore be right to say that the agency is well out to protect the qualified tenants and the community of Jewish Federation Apartments. One culture that the Jewish Federation Apartments community seems to have adapted is that of organized friendly activities that ensure all tenants have some sought of meeting point to engage in friendly socializing activities. In this way, many who may be old and rather disoriented would be uplifted emotionally and spiritually. By using a clear and concise tenant handbook, the agency’s aim is to give clear tenancy regulations that must be followed. By doing this, the agency is able to enhance the culture of organization and responsibility. This means that tenants are able to correlate and live peacefully with one another. The cultural plan of the agency is to maintain an open community culture that would ensure that all tenant correlate and live with harmony under the rules and regulations. Adequate, clear and precise communication has been one main challenge for the agency. Clear communication among all thee different language speakers, understanding each other and having clear and understandable communication with the agency are among the language challenges the agency faced. The legal tenancy documents print language, as well as all kinds of communication have to be clear and understandable. Linguistically, there has to be clear communication in order for all to understand each other. In order to make this possible, the agency would have to produce/print communication materials in understandable tenants’ languages. In the past, the agency printed documents in two main languages; English and Russian. This may be a sign that other language speaker, though of minority groups, may also desire to be able to get materials written in their language so they can understand. Legal documents are important and crucial and must be well understood to avoid any legal or regulatory conflicts. The agency may make plans to ensure that all tenants get these legal tenancy documents in languages that they can understand, however, since people who speak other languages seem to be quite few to justify the cost of translating these documents to specific individual languages. Past translations made to Russian have proven challenging since Russian tenant challenge the agency for not giving accurate translations. This may be a challenge of language translation that may affect may other language translations unless there be a specialized organization making standard and accurate translations. Lack of an official translation made the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), want to translate English to other languages such as Russian, Spanish, French, Polish, Chinese and other languages. Though this has not been done by HUD yet, it would give positive response if done, says the agency president. If the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) translated, the tenants may feel that the translation was done accurately and of higher standard. In the past, the agency had tried to make Russian translations as this would seem cost effective considering the Russian population that justified the translation efforts. The main translators that the agency has used in the past for the Russian language were the language institute as well as Russian translators. This has however not proven to be fully accepted by the Russian community. The community claims that the translations are not accurate hence posing a translation challenge to the agency. The main plans made by the agency to bridge cultural and language barriers are: †¢ From the interview with the Jewish Federal Apartments’ president, it seemed apparent that language would be most tasking and most challenging to the agency to deal with. During meetings tenants have had to come with translator who would translate to them so they would understand the meeting proceedings. †¢ The agency has made efforts to have its notices written in Russian as well and placed on the bulletin board. This would be a sign that the agency is making an effort towards fulfilling the laid out cultural and linguistic competence outlined by the National Standards on Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CALS). †¢ In an effort to make communication between the agency and the tenants clear, when a tenant goes to the agency offices, he/she has to go with a translator who may be a relative, friend or fellow tenant. This, as easy as it my seem, is one of the many culturally and linguistically challenging issue that the agency may have to address urgently as availability of a good and accurate translator may require one who is neutral well versed with both languages i. e. the agency’s and tenant’s languages. †¢ English training is offered by the agency twice a week at the agency premises. This seems to be one of the agency plans to make communication with the tenant s easier and cost effective instead of having to translate all communication materials and finding a translator for each tenant speaking other languages. The main challenge with this kind of plan may be the ability, willingness and availability of the tenants to attend the classes. Great efforts were made in housing and urban development programs to facilitate affordable housing. Culturally competent services did not have a successful impact. To prove this, one may say that even with bilingual services and culturally appropriate information, caregivers do not consider that many minorities did not read or write in their native tongue, so that traditional mainstream communication methods were not reaching them. More importantly there were still not enough minority providers and caregivers (cited in Lecca et al, 1998). All plans by the agency to ensure that it conforms to the standards of CALS may seem rather wanting. However in order to ensure standard culturally and linguistically appropriate services, the agency would have to put more effort into ensuring that all tenants cultural and language needs are considered and integrated into the agency’s policies and culture. It may be recommended to the agency to work with HUD and CALS and other human service organizations to ensure a level of conformity to the standardized operational policies. Cultural competence is based on an organization’s policies, principles and structures working effectively across all cultures. Organizations have to contain the capacity to value diversity in cultures and linguistics, carry out self assessment to ensure they can manage the dynamics of visible diversity, have cultural knowledge and adapt to the diversity and cultural differences of the people and communities they serve/work with. In this way all individuals will have a sense of care and respect, decency and dignity as well as pride in their culture and language. This is the agency’s main objective and one that may help it conduct a self assessment to ensure conformity to these basin cultural competence guidelines . Organizational processes of policy making, management and administration as well as service delivery should be based on the foundation of cultural competence by considering and integrating the community or those they serve in all processes. The agency’s capacity to offer effective communication and convey information that is easily comprehended by all persons including those with low English proficiency, seemingly low literacy, and/or any form of disability would only be reviewed by the agency itself. The current situation at the agency implies a need for this to be accomplished to ensure all tenants’ cultural, linguistic and communication needs are well catered for. 3) Examine how the policies are implemented The Jewish Federation Apartments agency follows policies developed by the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The HUD leases are the ones that have to be implemented and used by every house and its rules have to be followed. Individual human and support services offered by the agency have to be in the preferred language and communication medium of the tenants and community served. For this to be accomplished, the human service organizations such as the agency have to ensure that the policies conform to the government and/or local mandates that may be governing language access. Besides the lease document developed by HUD, the agency has house rules it has developed and documented. This two guiding documents have used at the agency by all tenants and observed by the staff, all communicated in English and Russian. All documents pertaining to the lease and house rules are communicate and provided to all tenants so as to ensure smooth operations at the agency apartments. According to Lecca et al, the health social and human service practitioners of today are no longer faced with patients/consumers of only one culture, but also with those who are of different cultural backgrounds and with different needs. With the changing and current demographic settings, agencies and human service providers have then to be culturally competent so as to meet the rapidly growing minority population. 4) Design a cultural and linguistic competency policy for the agency and suggestions of implementation strategies to improve the cultural and linguistic competency of the agency. Most social scientists and human service experts agree that if our community is more educated, better trained and healthier, productivity is an inevitable result. Housing projects and alternative community training employment and educational services have also incorporated culturally based competence service and methodologies with some success. In order for the agency to be competent in cultural and linguistic policies, there has to be a level of commitment that is not dependent on the availability of resources but rather on the aim of equitable, respectful, understandable and effective human service delivery. In order for this to be effective, a change in policy and policy implementation processes has to be implemented. Linguistically and culturally all ethnic and religious communities must be equally considered and served. All services offered by the agency have to be equally and clearly communicated to all culturally and linguistically diverse tenants. This kind of communication must also be clear, concise and understandable in the tenants preferred language and mode. In a bid to make this quest for equal, clear and understandable communication, the agency must collect all relevant data and information on all the tenants’ ethnicity, religious, cultural and family background before the lease of tenancy is offered and tenancy in commenced. Culturally and linguistically competent policies and communication frameworks have then to be implemented to ensure that the agency is culturally and linguistically competent. A policy or policies that may be implemented would be: †¢ Board of Directors and staff must exhibit behavior that can help build trust and understanding in the diverse agency. †¢ The agency has to strive to promote a feeling of acceptance for all tenants and staff to ensure both do work together to make the agency culturally and linguistically competent. †¢ The agency must be culturally and linguistically sensitive to the values of its management and operational processes and techniques. †¢ When the Jewish Federation Apartments’ tenants express doubts, concerns and feelings of need for some help or action to be taken on any given issues, whether it concerns their tenancy, environment or service, the agency must demonstrate acceptance and understanding of the problems by identifying clearly, the employees concerns and discussing them thoroughly. †¢ The agency must show consideration, respect and understanding to all tenants at the apartments. †¢ Since minorities may not be prompt and willing to reveal that they may not understand the language of communication, all modes of communication such as diagrams should be used to ensure that agency-tenants communication is clear and understandable. †¢ All communication whether verbal or written should be in the tenant’s preferred language, respectable, concise and understandable. †¢ The agency should implement strategies to recruit, retain and promote at all levels of the organization, diverse staff and leadership that represents the demographic qualities of the Jewish Federal Apartments’ tenants. In the past the agency seemed to have been challenged by the notion or reality of having to conform to standard culturally and linguistically competence. Currently this may be achieved if only the agency would: †¢ Work with the existing standard and well known translators to make translation of all communication materials that all can understand. †¢ If translators are needed the agency should try and have staff be the ones translating other that tenants bringing their own translators. This would help them avoid situations where a tenant’s own translator, being a relative or friend, being unable to translate some word that may be embarrassing. †¢ The agency should offer language assistance at no cost and inform the tenants that this service is available by posting a notice on the notice board. This would ensure that all tenants are informed of the ‘right’ to language assistance. †¢ Knowledge and general understanding of the Jewish Federal Apartments tenants’ cultures should be encouraged for all staff. This would help them communicate effectively especially in case of an emergency. In conclusion, in order for the agency to attain effective and efficient culturally and linguistically competence, it will have to embrace the fact that diversity of cultures, languages, ethnics e. t. c. in inevitable. This will then help the agency ensure that its prepared for competent service delivery. References Jewish Federation Apartments (2007), Tenant Selection. Retrieved April 19, 2009, from http://www. jewishfederationhousing. org/selection. html Lecca, Pedro J. , Quervalu, I. , Nunes, J. V. , & Gonzales, H. F. (1998). Cultural Competency in Health, Social and Human Services: Directions for the Twenty-first Century. NY: Garland Publisher. Fong, Rowena (Ed). (2004). Culturally Competent Practice with Immigrant and Refugee Children and Families (Social Work Practice with Children and Families). NY: The Guilford Press. U. S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health (2001), National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services in Health Care. Retrieved April 14, 2009, from http://www. omhrc. gov/templates/browse. Aspx? lvl= 2&lvlID=15 U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Policy Development and Research (2009), About HUD. Retrieved April 16, 2009, from http://www. hud. gov/ about /index. cfm Personal communication, April, 2009

Funny Ads

â€Å"Humour certainly succeeds in getting people’s attention and is the most effective advertising strategy of our time. † Advertisement is one of the important things for a company’s marketing. It can say that in today’s modern life advertisement plays a key role in order for any company or product to succeed the advertisement must deliver a powerful message which attracts the consumer’s attention (Creativenerds 2010). That is because â€Å"advertising can achieve communications object such as informing people about brands, it can create awareness and it can move people closer to choosing one brand rather than another. (Blithe 2009) Humour has become a mainstay of advertising campaigns and has proven to be one of the most effective methods ever devised for selling products and creating a positive brand image (Clayton n. d. ). That is because Funny advertisements are a way to make sure they provide something different to the eyes of customers to s tand out in the crowd of products of services (SloDive n. d. ). Advertising is defined as a paid insertion of a message in a medium, and it is probably the most prominent of all marketing activities.Non-marketers often think that advertising is all that marketers do, which is of course not case the definition specifically excludes anything that is not paid for, or anything that does not pass through a medium, or anything that does not convey a message (Blithe 2009). However, it is true that using humour in advertisement can get people’s attention but it is not the most effective advertising strategy of our time. This essay will firstly show the disadvantages of using humour in advertising with some examples, and secondly, it also mentions some benefits of funny advertisement together with an example.The last thing is the recommendation about an advertising strategy. It is clear that the most obvious advantage of funny advertisement is that it does get more attention from cons umers and is better like. That is because humour is not only one of the best ways to captivate your audience’s attention but it also makes a product or service easier to recall or remember. People will probably love to  remember things  that make them smile or laugh and making people recognize a product is the most important thing for company’s marketing. The quote from presidiacreative is the good example. Humor is the best medicine, and this holds true in advertising as well, humor is one of the best ways to captivate your audience’s attention. Whether the humor is blatantly obvious, or a subtle joke, funny advertisements are always appreciated by the public, which is why so much effort goes into Superbowl ads. † (presidiacreative 2011) Furthermore, funny advertisement can get more attention because most people like funny things and it put them in a good mood. People love to be entertained that is why laughter has an enormous power when it comes to  advertisements.If asking some people about any advertisement that they seem to remember up to this day, more than 80 percents of them will think about  advertisements  that made them smile or laugh. They will relax and pay more attention when they know that advertisement has a sense of humor. Also, it create a more comfortable atmosphere and positive image for the company as Mr. Daboll, CEO of Ace Metrix, said â€Å"If you're equal on relevance and information, almost always funny will win over unfunny ads because it drives the other scores like likability and attention. (Neff 2012) Another advantage of using humour in advertising is that it can persuade people to buy products. Many people decide to buy the product because they like the advertisement. That is why the advertisement has a lot influence on circulation. According to Bhatti’s survey (2012), more than 50% of the current Vodafone customer is the result of effective funny advertisement created. Moreover, for a dvertisement, creativity is most important, and funniness is an extra added bonus for success. The Huggies advertisement is the very good example. It was successful funny advertisement because it conveys the message that a kid with a serious bladder problem can be contained. † (Hollis 2011). From two reason mentioned above it can understand that the advantages of using humour in advertisement are that people tend to enjoy it more, remember it, talk about it and then ultimately purchase a product. If a brand manager or a marketer always remembers that as long as people smile, they will surely buy. On the other hand, trying to use some serious approach in advertisement can make people find it boring and they will skip your advertisement (Sterling 2012).Although funny advertising has some advantages, it also has a lot disadvantages. The first one is that it can make consumers laugh but do not make them buy and the worst thing that could happen, and does happen, is for people to n otice the advertisement and remember the joke, but not the business (Theselfemployed n. d. ). It is true that funny advertisements are useful for entertaining viewers, but are not the most effective way for advertisers to convince those viewers to buy the product. There was a report about this point from Ace Metrix.It presented that â€Å"Funniness had little correlation with effectiveness in a scoring system that incorporates watchability, likability and persuasion among other factors. In fact, funny ads were slightly less likely to increase desire or purchase intent than unfunny ones. † (Neff 2012) These means that perfect ad is one that is appealing and memorable and effective all in the same breath (Pride et al. 2007). As Mr. Peter Daboll, CEO of Ace Metrix, said â€Å"Just being funny doesn't make an ad better, but being funny, relevant and informative are the things that really make an ad work† (Neff 2012).Secondly, some viewers cannot understand what those ads w ant to advertise. That is because there are a lot of jokes, slangs and spoken language in funny ads, so some people can understand but some people cannot. Nigel Hollis (2011), chief global analyst at Millward Brown, a global market research company, said that â€Å"Humor is culturally specific. Subtle references and puns tend to travel badly. † This is the example of one of the viewers’ opinion on the incomprehensible funny advertisement. I'm confused by the latest TV commercial for Adidas running shoes. The one that has the guy running through the city, and everything gets disrupted when he runs by it. Waterbeds explode, tractor trailer tires blow out, balloon floats deflate, a kid gets knocked off a pogo stick. At first I thought it was because the guy's feet smelled so bad he was causing all of this to happen, but the commercial is for a running shoe, so they wouldn't do that. † (Sassone 2005) This will make the company lose the group of people who cannot unde rstand he advertisement. A lot of people simply do not have a sense of humours, so if they think that the advertisement is not fun or they do not understand it, the company will lose these people immediately, and the potential size of the market will shrinks (Professional Advertising n. d. ). Thirdly, not all ads can be funny. It is believed that advertisement is a representative of company so if companies use funny things in ads that should not be funny, it will provide bad effect to companies’ images. In addition, advertising humor can backfire.If companies make a joke at the expense of any one group, they will surely alienate them. For example, many years ago, in Thailand, there was disrespectful act toward Buddha in one restaurant’s poster to make people fun. As a result, a lot of Thai people blamed on that restaurant and were banned it. This is because Buddhists who see a Buddha image placed in an improper place will feel very unhappy and may become subject to con flict arising from such situations. (Knowingbuddha n. d. ). Finally, some people cannot get any information from funny advertisement while some get bored with the same jokes.As the Professional Advertising said â€Å"The first time we see it we may laugh out loud. But after a while, although we still may smile at the joke, it’s not so funny anymore. Funny ads need to be replaced periodically. † (Professional Advertising n. d. ) Generally, when someone got the jokes, those jokes are not funny anymore. In the same ways as a funny advertisement, the first time people see the advertisement they will feel fun and interested, but they will find it not funny anymore when they see it again and again.Additionally, some advertisements have a lot of funny things but less information. In fact, giving information about a product is the most important of advertising and using humor is a supplement. Although funny advertisements drive the great advertising attributes such as attentio n and likeability, low information and relevance on many funny ads results in creating lower desire for the advertised products than non-funny advertisements (Tuttle 2012).This is the same concept as Michael Curran, Resource Manager at Capgemini, that â€Å"If an ad is merely funny and does nothing to bolster the featured product’s attributes, however, it’s probably a failure, no matter how funny the ad is. † (Tuttle 2012) In conclusion, Funny advertisement can get attention from viewers but it not always makes them buy a product. Besides, some people cannot understand what the ad wants to advertise and they sometimes cannot get anything about the product but fun. Also, not all ads can be funny.As a result, using humour in advertisement is one advertising strategy but it cannot be used with all advertisements and it is not the best way. It is recommended that companies should take care in considering what’s best for their brand. Don’t just jump on the funny band wagon because everyone is doing it. Every product must have its own proper way to advertise, so if a company can find that proper way, it will succeed in advertising. Some products are suited for funny advertisement but some are not, so companies should think carefully before advertising their product. Word count: 1670

Compare and Contrast Mesopotamia & Egypt

Compare & Contrast Essay Mesopotamia and Egypt By: Jessenia Carranza Egypt and Mesopotamia are similar because they share the same concept of having a single rule, although Egypt is a theocracy and Mesopotamia is a monarchy; and both are divided into social classes, the difference being that women in Egypt have more right than Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia and Egypt are both based upon a single ruler. The Akkedians, for example, had king Sargen, who formed the first empire; or even Hammurabi, the ruler of Babylonia, he created the fist code of laws, which were followed by his people.The Akkedians had to have a single ruler because an empire doesn’t form itself; it needs a leader, which is the king. Similar to this is Menes the king of Egypt, he united Lower and Upper Egypt and built the first dynasty. Although Mesopotamia and Egypt were both based upon a single ruler, Egypt was a dynasty and passed down the power to the son, whereas Mesopotamia was just a monarchy didn’t nec essarily pass down the power to the son.In Egypt the pharaohs, were believed to be gods, therefore it was a theocracy and he had total control. Unlike Egypt, Mesopotamia was a monarchy, and it was believed that their ruler descended from the gods, but they were not gods. Another similarity between these two societies is that they are divided into social classes. In both of them, the King is in the first class followed by wealthy merchants and then the farmers, unskilled workers, and all the other people.Basically the social classes in Mesopotamia and Egypt are based on power, money and skills. One difference between both of these societies is that they Egypt give women more rights then the women in Mesopotamia. In Mesopotamia women could only own property and could divorce their husbands. Meanwhile, in Egypt women could not only divorce and own property, but also they could also manage and sell properties and trade. In short, while in Mesopotamia women’s rights were restricte d, in Egypt women’s right were equal to men.

Chinese Movie review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Chinese Movie review - Essay Example , the movie follows the story of a crime lord (Tang) in Shanghai during in the1930s and his singer mistress (Xiao Jingbao) as revealed gradually by their new boy servant (Shuisheng). The boy servant provides the point of view in the movies, often detailing the dynamics off the relationship between the powerful triad boss and his unpredictable mistress. In all aspects, crime is involved in acquiring power and making it in life. Shuiseng uncle (also a city criminal) is the one that links him up with the opportunity to work for the triad boss after getting him from the countryside. In the cause of working for the crime boss, he becomes accustomed to the happenings of the crime world such as seeing executions, hearing disturbing conversations and noticing the struggles of eth boss in making his mistress conform to his will. This gangster movie plotline presents the crime scene in Shanghai during the early years but fails to bring something unique to the audience. The viewers are likely t o see it as pointless and repetitive when they compare the film with other works in the gangster Chinese movies. The movie was made after the Chinese authorities ensured that there was no external funding. Production would only go ahead after falling under the local production category. This means that the movie was funded locally. This was an effort to ensure that the external sources did not influence the plot to paint a bad image of the Chinese authorities in its communist ways. Though there is no heavy use of stereotypes, the film nevertheless alludes to a particular political message that concerns the nature of the pre-revolutionary Shanghai and China in general. It depicts the lawlessness that was in China at the time rendering crime as a way to active power and stakes a claim in the society. Zhang Yimou manages to insert the social effect the criminal underworld and point to the larger problem in the Chinese society. The Forbidden Kingdom is presumably targeted for the U.S

What do you understand by the term epistemology How can different Essay

What do you understand by the term epistemology How can different epistemological understandings influence choice of research method - Essay Example Epistemology seeks to explore or evaluate how knowledge is acquired, how much knowledge is understood, and knowledge is constructed within the realms of human mind. Epistemology tries to explain the relationship between depth of human understanding about a particular subject and the reliability of that understanding. It seeks to answer the question how what is known can be measured. Research aims at analyzing objects of nature in order to come up with a helpful conclusion. The researcher is thus at the discretion of using personal beliefs, understanding, and justification to influence the outcome of the research findings. A report by University of Oulu claims that the researcher is in a position to â€Å"influence directly only the epistemological basis of the research, not the evaluator’s bias, but of course clear criteria stated by the researcher makes it more valid for the reader to evaluate the trustworthiness of the research† (University of Oulu, 2003, p. 1). Seale echoes the same sentiments â€Å"it is true that certain epistemological and theoretical positions have influenced the character of both quantitative and qualitative research† (Seale, 2004 p. 506). Truthfulness of research is very important especially in the field of public health. For instance, I intend to use Quantitative analysis for my dissertation that aims at investigating public’s awareness of thalassemia syndromes in Jordans Capital – Amman. The study will collect information in form of questionnaires. Certainly, the questionnaires will be a reflection of my epistemological foundation. The questions will be formulated based on understanding of the topic. Although a lot of work on literature review will be done, interpretation of the literature work will depend on two main factors. First, it will depend on the line of thought of authors of the literature that I will review. Secondly, it will depend on my own interpretation of the literature work, which in turn will depend on personal

The Hunt for Red October Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Hunt for Red October - Movie Review Example Many captains have been coached by Ramius, and now, Ramius has gained the charge of Red October – the advanced submarine. Red October is special because it does not make any noise and yet, can be driven faster as compared to all ships under water. The sub vanishes after it has been once detected by the American intelligence upon its departure from the Soviet shipyard. This instigates a serious hide-and-seek game in the region of North Atlantic with the mobilization of the whole Soviet navy. The Soviets wanted Americans to think of Ramius as a person with lost senses that aims at hiding the Red October and target either Washington or New York for the nuclear missile attacks. Therefore, they seek help from the US Navy in finding and demolishing the Red October, though Ryan does not accede to their proposal because he thinks of it as a blunder. Accordingly, Ryan conveys the approach of Ramius to the superior. In this film, the audience has to make predictions for the underlying c auses of actions of Ramius quite often. The original novel written by Clancy from which the plot of this movie has been derived took a lot of time to develop the complexity of the plot whereas this has been achieved by the movie in much lesser time, even though, the clarity of expression has not been compromised upon. This is one of the strengths of this movie. In order to develop the plot of their stories in the Cold War era, a vast majority of the military thrillers made use of crude motivations and stereotyping. The Hunt for Red October contains a strong element of fun in that it tells that men can very easily go wrong, and that assumptions can be both false and seductive. Ryan spends too little time with Ramius to gain a rational understanding of his personality. Ryan’s knowledge about the personality of Ramius is based totally upon his meeting with Ramius on the dining table. All of the rest is exaggeration and skilled hunches. The previous movies by McTiernan that inclu de Die Hard and Predator projected both accurate timing and a good sense of style, though in The Hunt for Red October, McTiernan has projected the detached intelligence just like the one that Clancy had inculcated in the novel. There is much more than mere thrill in the movie. It essentially portrays a military exercise in which each and every action of the players is calculated and is not without a purpose. This movie contains a lot of speaking roles apart from the cast members that were hired only for one or two scenes. Typecasting plays a very important role in any movie with such a large cast. In this movie, McTieman has totally typecast and has not stereotyped. Sean Connery goes perfect with the role of Ramius, and his Scots accent makes him deviate a lot from a typical movie Soviet. Baldwin looks like a leader, but his character seems dialed down in the persona of a deck-bound bureaucrat who finds it hard to realize that he has entered the field exercise. Scott Glenn is more t alented than the conventional movie skippers. A lot of credibility of the movie can be attributed to its production design. Submarines in The Hunt for Red October are much glossier on the inside than what they are in the real life submarines, though the shots of underwater exterior are not at all impressive. The filmmakers have made use of various submarine models in order to portray the behemoths moving in the sea. Owing to the fact that a submarine’s exterior is not generally photogenic, these shots rather

Hinduism & Jainism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Hinduism & Jainism - Essay Example In Jainism, no practices of food are offered to God or the divine. Consequently, Hindus give offerings of gift and materialistic needs for the divine. Rituals and traditions of sacrifices also differ in both religions. Since Hinduism is more focused on sacrifice, the focus of sacrificing animals is prevalent in Hinduism. In Jainism, this form of practice is refuted and discouraged. As mentioned above, the theory of salvation and afterlife is quite essential in both religions. While the Hindus believe that only God can truly achieve salvation, Jainism insists that humans are the only creation that can reach that level of state. Karma is another focal point that differentiates the two religions. Salvation is another crucial concept in which both religions tend to have differences. Hindus believe that Gods can only achieve salvation. However, the Jainas consider this privilege of human beings only. While Hindus regard Karma as an invisible power, Jainas think that it is something that c omes from â€Å"within.† Clearly, both religions share many similarities but also possess many

BUSINESS LAW Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

BUSINESS LAW - Essay Example In these reports, they show their financial, social and environmental investment to mitigate the losses and harms caused by their corporate activities. These few pages provides a way to these companies to marketize their public image, avoid regulation, access to markets and gaining legitimacy for their corporate objectives. In this paper, corporate social responsibility is defined with emphasis on innovation, and subsequently companies publishing CSR are critically analyzed and discussed in a way to reach at a reasonable conclusion. Corporate Social Responsibility Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a concept whereby companies integrate environmental and social concerns in their business operations and in their interaction with their stakeholders on a voluntary basis (European Commission). Additionally, CSR has various definitions (Margolis and Walsh, 2003). Also, Wood (1991) provides that CSR is also called as corporate social performance, sustainable responsible business (SRB) , corporate responsibility, corporate citizenship or responsible business. ... The definition of CSR describes a wide range of stakeholders. Interestingly, each stakeholder does not have the same kind of interests in a company rather different. And these interests vary, as the currency of environmental and social issues revolves over a period of time ((Clarkson, 1995; Davis, 1973; Moskowitz, 1975; Wartick &Cochran, 1985). In the CSR reports, the companies incorporate their current corporate activities that harm environment and society. Besides, such reports contain the positive and negative effects of commercial activities. And, in such reports, the companies mention their current level of financial and non-financial investment in order to minimize the impacts of their commercial activities. As employees, suppliers, creditors, customers, social and environmental groups, governments, local communities can be stakeholders; the companies prepare their CSR reports with regard to the concerns of the related stakeholders. As a result, mostly they are identified as th e stakeholders. However, some companies have been publishing CSR for many years. And, their websites are filled with the material showing their policy to tackle the environmental and social concerns. For example, on the Seventh Generation website, it is mentioned they have been environmentally and socially playing their role and working with innovations to live better life. Environmentally, the company provides its Greenhouse Gas Accounting, carbon footprint reports and their strategies to minimize them. Socially, the website maintains that it has Seventh Generation supports the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund (OCRF) (7genreport, web). Additionally, Wal-Mart also publishes its sustainability reporting with

Human racial inequality from early colonization to Civil War Essay

Human racial inequality from early colonization to Civil War - Essay Example The act of enslaving other people, highlights on the paradox of the great American history, founded based on the ideals of fostering freedom and equality. In essence, the ramification of such paradox lingers in the American society, even at the present (Dempsey 129). Race as a term, defines a social category classified in terms of social conventions and in this light, racial boundaries, are often drawn to mean different things. In the United States, one may be categorized as â€Å"Black† incase that person belong to a lineage of African ancestry. In essence, such categorization or classification denotes an extreme type of binary racial categorization and reflects on the trend on how individuals were classified in the United States, after the end of the Civil War. In America, the act of propagating inequality during the period of colonies to the end of the Civil War did not affect only one group, the African Americans, but also, other minority groups as well. Racism, has a prof ound impact in the American society and continues to impacts on the lives of all American citizens including, the Whites (Seligman 78). The Whites, during this period, were oppressed in two different ways that includes a repeated division of political and social movements that undermines individual’s capacity to oppose the existing types of inequality and power. In this sense, the elite and those in power continue to capitalize on the race issue as a tool to divide people while, amassing more power for purpose of protecting the interests of their class. Around 1880s, there existed a political movement consisting of subsistence farmers and workers in the Midwest and the south. This movement appeared as though making some inroads in their quest against the elites in the south and other large landowners. This populist group, posed a challenge to the political elites of the time however, racial conflict, ended up disintegrating the unity among the agrarian populists thus contribu ting to the fall of the movement (Seligman 80). On the other hand, the second manner in which the existence of inequality affect the lives of the disadvantaged Whites of that period, involved, undermining the universalistic aspects related to the welfare state. This programs, are supposed to benefit everyone in the society, however, such programs, are contrasted with the identified programs meant only to benefit a designated group. At the period the welfare program was implemented in the United States, opposition emerged from the Democrats in the South concerning universalistic policies since, such policies may benefit both the White, as well as the African Americans. These in essence, are ideals propagated because of advancing racist notions as evident from the conservative Southern Democrats (Young 20). On another note, when the European settlers migrated to America, there was already an indigenous population residing in that region of the world and had control over their economic resource, which, was land. In order to amass this resource, the British colony engaged in acts of displacement to confiscate the land from the Native community. The government of the United States later used this practice as the saying

Conclusions with further remarks Essay Example for Free

Conclusions with further remarks Essay Undeniably, the factors that seemingly adhere onto the level of security of certain vicinities may be hard to simplify. Given the fact that individuals come in different ideals, beliefs and characteristics, the greed over power and sovereignty is implicitly the main reason why the issue on security and the plague on terrorism are undeniably swallowing the minds of the society (Laqueur, 1999). With such, it is an astounding standpoint that countries are now paying much attention on the ‘security’ of its people and the preparations onto competence in the arena of globalization (Buzan et al. , 1997). As the Australian Securitisation Forum Inc. notes in their mission: â€Å"To shape the future of the Australian securitisation industry for the ongoing benefit of its members,† piously, if the mission be fulfilled in the most ideal sense as it had been established, the attainment of the goals and hopes of the nation and of the world will be at reach in the most unifying array. Our purpose is an examination of the second issue—the politys response to the government’s move to the provision of security. Consequently, while passing reference may be made to causative factors (indeed, governmental response and the labeling of security may be viewed as causative) (Snyder, 1999), this work is most concerned with the manner in which conflict and consensus theories might interpret and predict governmental reactions to violence and other threats of the like. In essence, this horizon of defining the exactness of ‘security’ is still vague as of the time being because keeping up a nation under â€Å"maximum security† is vulnerable to jeopardizing consequences. References: BUZAN, B. W? VER, O. (2004) Regions and Powers: The Structure of International Security, New York, Cambridge University Press. BUZAN, B. , WVER, O. , WILDE, J. D. WAEVER, O. (1997) Security: A New Framework for Analysis, Florida, Lynne Rienner Pub. DEACON, J. (2004) Global Securitisation and CDOs, New York, Wiley. HAFTENDORN, H. (1991) The Security Puzzle: Theory-Building and Discipline-Building in International Security KRAUSE, K. WILLIAMS, M. C. (1996) Broadening the Agenda of Security Studies: Politics and Methods. Mershon International Studies Review, 40, 229-524. KUPCHAN, C. A. KUPCHAN, C. A. (1995) The Promise of Collective Security. 20, 52-61. MANWARING, M. G. (2003) The Search for Security, New York, Praeger Publishers. MORRISSEY, H. (1992) International Securitisation, New York NY, Ifr Publishing. PAQUETTE, L. (2002) Strategy and Ethnic Conflict: A Method, Theory, and Case Study, New York, Praeger Publishers. SNYDER, C. (1999) Contemporary Security and Strategy, New York, Routledge.

Impact of Greek and Roman Civilization

Impact of Greek and Roman Civilization INTRODUCTION There is no ancient history without the mention of Greek and Roman civilizations. Ancient civilization was part of the history that formed the basis of the world we know today. Many people would ask why Greek and Roman civilizations became so popular in the world. In Western culture and identity, Greeks occupy a very prominent place in conception. The Greeks have made generations of influential writers and scholars especially due to their Hellenic culture. Roman civilization on the other hand was founded in 800BC on an Italian peninsular (Spielvogel, 2008). Roman civilization, which is a mighty empire, started as a monarchy and then shifted to a republic before becoming an empire. Much of ancient Rome culture got inspiration from ancient Greece (Mahaffy, 2009). Collins Randal in the book The sociology of philosophies: a global theory of intellectual change points out that culture begets itself. He points out that culture is autonomous and that culture explains its changes, terms and forms (pg 9). Collins points out that, culture beliefs such as religion, ethnic consciousness and political ideologies are not correlated with social variables such as class. Collins says that intellectual activity is basis of intellectual communities. The various aspects that make up intellectual activities include religion, social knowledge and intellectual networks. RELIGION IN GREEK AND ROMAN CIVILIZATION Greeks and Roman are intellectual communities that believed in religion. Greeks believed that religion was important because it made their lives better. They believed in many gods and goddesses (polytheistic).They believed that gods would take care of them both when they were living and when they died. The Greeks believed that their gods and goddesses were very powerful that they controlled everything from the winner of a race to waves in the ocean (Mahaffy, 2009). Each god or goddess had one or two specific roles they performed and controlled in life. The Greeks built beautiful temples for their gods where they used to go pray, worship and offer sacrifices in form of animals. The Greeks prepared festivals in honor of the gods whereby they sacrificed animals as gifts to their gods. The Greeks made large festivals that included a feast with music, plays and dancing after which they paraded and made sacrifices. An example of a Greek goddess is Athena (goddess of wisdom and war). A temp le known as Parthenon, built for the goddess stands to date. The Greeks believed that Mount Olympus was where all their gods and goddesses lived. Examples of some of the gods the Greeks worshipped and their specific roles include Zeus-supreme leader of the Gods, Hermes-messenger of the gods and Poseidon- god of the sea. Collins stated that one of the intellectual activities relating to religion is giving intellectual rituals (pg 28).Greeks showed their solidarity through religious ritual of animal sacrifices and festivities. The Romans later worshipped the same gods as Greeks but under different names (Guaitoli, 2006). The Greeks could not worship at the temple only but there were holy sites referred to as oracles. The Greeks believed their gods used signs in nature to answer their questions. They used their priests to ask their question and listen to the answers through signs. Romans just like Greeks believed in religion and attached great importance to it. Just like the Greeks, they were polytheistic, they believed that their gods were responsible for their creation and controlled their lives. Romans classified religion in to state religion and household religion (Spielvogel, 2008).Household religion involved worshipping the gods that protected the family and house. Roman houses contained a sacred place regarded as altar where every family prayed to the gods each morning. Just like the Greeks, The Romans believed in gods and goddess that they believed controlled everything in life from killing for food to falling in love. Just like the Greeks, Romans honored their gods and goddesses by building grand temples. They also offered animal sacrifices to the gods and gave them gifts that they thought would please them. They believed that if the gods were happy with them, they would in return receive good luck but if they were angry with them, something would go wrong. Political institutions in Greek and Roman Civilization City-states divided Ancient Greece with Athens as the largest city-state (Liberati Bourbon2002). City-states were many small areas sub-dividing the state. The mountainous ecology of Ancient Greece separated the city-states making it very difficult to travel from one city-state to another. Everyone believed that their city-state was better than the other was although they all worshipped the same gods and had similar traditions. Initially a few wealthy men ruled the city-states before a government system was introduced. Each city-state had its own government who ruled through democracy. The democratic government allowed people to rule and to vote for their leaders. Athens subdivided their people in to three classes; the upper class that consisted of male citizens born in Athens, middle class consisted of male citizens not born in Athens while the lower class consisted of slaves. Voting in ancient Greece took place in public assemblies and only males born in Athens voted. The upper class group discussed the laws that benefited ancient Greece but not the middle class or lower class. Ancient Rome was an empire that had emperors as the leaders. Just like Greece, a government headed by an emperor ruled Rome. The power of the government in Rome was balanced between three branches; the executive, the legislative and the judicial (Guaitoli, 2006).The executive branch consisted of two leaders (consuls), elected by the upper class to serve for one year. Their role was to order Roman army during wars and supervise the senate. Mayors, tax collectors, city police among other superior person in cities formed part of executive branch. The senate consisting 300 male citizens who owned the land formed the legislative branch. The men appointed by the consuls controlled the consuls by telling them how much to spend and on what activities. The judicial branch consisted of six judges that decided on the punishments the criminals would receive. The judges elections occurred after every two years (Guaitoli, 2006).In Rome only adults had permission to vote and just like the Greek system, males who owned the land could only do amendment or criticize law. Role of Men and women in Greek and Roman Civilization Men, women and children had different roles and responsibilities in Greek and Roman culture. In Greek culture, men wore special clothes known as chitons. Chitons showed the man status in the society specifically through the decoration. The men mostly worked as farmers or businesspersons during the day and demanded great respect while at home. Men were the ones in charge of the house and the family. Women and children in Greek culture did not eat in the same room as men. The slaves fed and entertained men during dinner as they lay on couches. Women on the other hand were not given much responsibility, they were not allowed to go to Olympics, visit the city or even eat or sleep in the same room as men. Their work was to run the household, have children and manage the slaves if they were wealthy and if not work the fields. In the Roman culture, men wore clothes known as togas. The patterns and color of a mans togas showed what his status was in the society. Men in Roman culture were the masters of the family and the house. They worked during the day and socialize with other men in the afternoon and evenings. Men in Roman culture had different roles depending on whether you were rich or poor. The man main role was to provide for his family. Women on the other hand took care of the household and children. Women in Roman culture were not too restricted as some could hold jobs such as teaching. Comparing Religion and Political Institutions in Greece and Rome Greeks and Romans portrayed many similarities in their religion beliefs and rituals. Both cultures were polytheistic, believing in many gods and goddesses. Both cultures also believed that the gods and goddesses controlled everything in life from creation, their lives and everything that goes on. Greeks and Romans believed their goods were very powerful and that they gods took care of them both when they were living and when they died. Both Greeks and Romans believed in intellectual activity of religious rituals. Both cultures honored their gods and goddesses by offering animal sacrifices. Both Greeks and Romans built beautiful temples where they used to pray and offer sacrifices to their gods and goddesses. Both cultures believed that the gods answered their prayers through natures signs. Roman believed that gods would show a sign if they were happy and they were unhappy something bad would happen. Both cultures had many gods and goddesses with each god or goddess having a specific role to play or a specific place to control. Despite having so much similarity in the religion, Greeks and Romans also have some differences in their religious beliefs. Although both cultures believed in gods and goddesses, they had named them differently. Greeks believed that their gods and goddesses live on Mount Olives (Sansone, 2004) whereas Romans did not have a specific place where all their gods and goddesses lived. Greeks religion was not classified while Roman classified their religion as either state region or household religion. Greeks had set-up holy sites known as oracles where they used to pray in, while Roman has set places in their houses known as altars where they used to pray at as a family. Greeks and Roman civilizations were similar in the way their political institutions were made. They both believed in a government system of ruling. Both Greeks and Romans voted for their leader who was the head of the government. Both cultures regarded the upper class males citizens by birth as the only significant people in law making and amendment. In both cultures, women were not allowed to vote and only adults who had attained the legal age (18 years) could vote. The differences in political institutions included issues such as the Greeks believed in democracy while the Romans it depended on the political leaders chosen. The Roman government consisted of three branches, the executive, the legislature and the judiciary while the Greek government all people ruled. Greece had subdivision called city-states with each city-state having its own government while Rome there was only one government with three branches that rules the land. CONCLUSION Roman and Greek civilization form a part of ancient history of the world. They both greatly influenced the Western culture as some of the beliefs and culture followed today got inspiration from them. When we compare the two cultures to the Collins theories of intellectual activity, it is evident that the two cultures were rich in culture intelligence. They had deep respect in religion and rituals that brought them together socially (Collins, 2000 pg 28). The social problems the two cultures exhibit is division in to classes only males who are citizens by birth are allowed to vote. Women are not mentioned anywhere in any political decisions showing gender biasness. Just as most historians suggest, Greek culture highly influenced Roman culture. In terms of religion and political institutions, the two cultures can be classified as socially intelligent despite of social division and gender inequality.

Relationship Between Service Quality and Client Satisfaction

Relationship Between Service Quality and Client Satisfaction Clients: Satisfaction with the Service and Organizational Justice Researchers consider that the service quality theory is based on the literature of client satisfaction and product quality (Brady Cronin, 2001). Liljander and Strandvik (1995) observed that client satisfaction is determined by the overall perception of the service quality. This overall picture about service quality of the organization is reached easily if a client regularly uses service of the organization (Liljander Strandvik, 1995). Lagace, Dahlstrom, and Gassenheimer (1991) found that by including â€Å"ethics† as component of the quality of the relationship between pharmaceutical buyers and sellers, ethical behavior led to higher levels of relationship quality and ethical behavior has been positively associated with client satisfaction (Lagace, et.al., 1991). Also, the research conducted in bank sector by Emari, Iranzadeh and Bakhshayesh (2011) found a significant relationship between perceived quality and client satisfaction, and testing Gronroos three dimensions model – which consists from technical, functional and image, the research revealed that general perceptions of the service quality is influenced by the technical quality, in other words it is influenced by outcomes what one receives (Straiter, 2005). According to above mentioned, service quality evaluated by the client can be considered as related to their satisfaction level. Similarly, when considering the service quality gap between employees and clients, we assume that, service quality gap decreases the level of client satisfaction with the organization. We want to reveal the service quality gap relationship with client satisfaction with intellectual disability care centers: H2a: Higher is the gap in service quality evaluation lower is the relatives’ satisfaction with the organization (fig I). The relationship between service quality and client satisfaction has been reported to be different in terms of strength between industries as well as between contexts (Ame, 2005, 2009; Sureshchandar et.al. 2002). Accordingly, researchers consider that some factors must be responsible in influencing this relationship. These include, but not limited to, the type of industry studied, nature of service, income levels of client, management culture, client social culture, gender, etc, (Ame, 2005). The various empirical findings on studies about service quality and client satisfaction have suggested that relationships on these variables may be moderated by some factors. Client perceived justice is one of the popular factors among researches in the field of service. Liao (2007) confirmed client perceived justice mediation effects on client satisfaction and service recovery performance. Also the study conducted to determine the influence of emotions on justice for client satisfaction conducted by Ellyawati, Purwanto and Dharmmesta (2012) found that clients’ perceived justice impacts on clients’ satisfaction. According to the one of the Justice theories Equity Theory, the inequality can be observed when person perceives that he/she is putting more and is getting less value, and satisfaction much depends on how one perceives the justice, injustice can lead to dissatisfaction and anger (Adams, 1965). Clients’ perceptions of the input and output, and their perception about the fair distribution of resources, information etc. is expected to have a moderator role for their satisfaction. Accordingly we expect that organizational justic e perceived by the relatives of PIDs can moderate the relationship of service quality gap and relatives’ satisfaction with the center: H2b: Relatives perception of organizational justice moderates relationship between service quality gap and relatives satisfaction with the organization (fig I). We discussed the problems of ethic in service quality from the side of the employees and from the side of the client (relatives). However, the situation is getting more complex and critical especially when considering the primary goal of the organization oriented on mental health care: to increase the quality of life of people with intellectual disabilities (PIDs). We review this aspect in the next section. PIDs: Quality of Life and Service Quality Evaluation The World Health Organization (WHO) defines Quality of Life (QoL) as â€Å"individuals’ perceptions of their position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live, and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards and concerns† (The World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment WHOQOL, 1997, p. 1). We can say that QoL exists when one perceives that lives with dignity, feels that dreams and ideas are respected, and is an active handler and responsible of own life (Tamarit, 2002). QoL as usually includes subjective evaluations of positive and negative aspects of life (World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment 1998). Generally it includes health perceptions at physical and mental level and their relations—including conditions, social support, etc. (Kindig, Booske Remington, 2010). Organizations that provide services to people with intellectual disabilities (PIDs) also contribute to developing their QoL (FEAPS, 2010), and are designed to care the QoL of individuals with intellectual disabilities (Martinez-Tur, Peirà ³, Moliner, Potocnik, 2010). These organizations are the basic sources of QoL for people with intellectual disabilities (Moliner, Gracia, Lorente, Martinez-Tur, 2013). Since QoL of PIDs is directly derived from service quality that is provided for them, we suppose that it can be affected by the ethical challenges in services; service provided from professionals includes dilemma: to whom it must be ethical – to PIDs or to relatives? As we mentioned above service quality perceived by relatives and service provided by employees is related to challenges since they have different standards about how service should be provided. Usually for the mental healthcare service organizations a relevant source of information is the relative of the PIDs; QoL of Persons with Intellectual Disabilities can be evaluated from professionals/employees or from relatives. Since information which comes from external subject is more objective it is more relevant to use family member as the main evaluators to assess QoL of PIDs (Moliner, et. al., 2013). When there is a gap in service quality and QoL is evaluated by the relatives we argue that it can have influence on th e level of QoL of PID. Therefore in order to improve quality for future development in mental care related services the assessment of QoL is an important tool (Moliner, et. al., 2013). Our next hypothesis aims to find out this relationship among gap and QoL: H3a: Higher is the gap in service quality evaluation lower is the quality of life of PIDs’ perceived by their relatives (fig I). Any attempt to judge the service quality provided by mental healthcare services would be less complete not considering the experiences of people who use the product and receiving the service. By finding out what service users think, important information can be obtained which can have impact on other factors (National Institute for Health Clinical Excellence, 2012). National Institute for health and care excellence (NICE) claims that past years are characterized with more initiatives highlighting the importance of considering the service user’s experience about the service quality. E.g. Lord Darzi’s report on High Quality Care for All (2008) focuses on the importance of the entire service user experience to ensure that they are in a safe and well-managed environment (Darzi, 2008). To understand how center is operating to deliver high service quality to direct users (PIDs) it is important to understand what users think about their care and treatment. Our last hypothesis stresses on the effect of PIDs perceived service quality that can moderate the service quality gap effect on their QoL: H3b: PIDs’ service quality evaluation moderates the relationship between service quality gap and PIDs’ quality of life perceived by their relatives (fig I). With the almost universal increase the involvement and support for mental healthcare services more concerns are about the responsibility of the agencies and professionals who provide such assistance (Roth, Fonagy, Parry, 1996), the QoL of people with intellectual disabilities becomes a very important question nowadays. Specifically, social, educational and health services are focusing on providing services to people with intellectual disabilities, and establishing this subject as a specific goal of the organizational in order to find new ways of developing a QoL in the future (Schalock Verdugo, 2007). These questions and hypothesis give opportunities to orient organizations’ activities in order to improve the service quality, mental health, satisfaction and QoL at the centers for intellectual disabilities.

Animal Farm Relating To Russia :: Animal Farm Essays

Greed for Power, and Cruelty: Making Followers In Animal Farm, George Orwell demonstrates the danger of unquestioning acceptance of ideas and actions that are “supposed to represent'; a better way of life. Throughout the book there are many examples of hatred and evil undermining what sounds like a great utopia when introduced, but not when they are lived. The ideas are very familiar because they are based on those that drove the Russian Revolution, and what went wrong with it. The difference between a nice Utopian idea and what goes wrong in real life has to do with human nature. Greed is real, in that it drives people to do things. There is greed for power, greed for food, and greed for whatever a greedy person might want. While not everyone is greedy, some people are very much so. The very greedy people make life difficult for the rest of us. This is not such a big problem in democracies, which are constructed to balance any action with the ideas of many groups and rights. In a dictatorship, like the Soviet Union, a person like Stalin can determine every key aspect of most individuals’ lives. The more violent a Stalin is, the more power a Stalin has; and the farther from Utopia are the lives of the common people. Napoleon’s ideas and actions in Animal Farm were similar to those first of Lenin and later of Stalin during the development of the Soviet Union, which resulted in the deaths and terror that deeply affected the lives of tens of millions of Soviet citizens. For example, Napoleon had made other high-status animals confess to things they had never committed. When the eggs of the three hens were crushed really by Napoleon’s dog, they were forced to confess, “…Snowball had appeared to them in a dream and incited them to disobey Napoleon’s orders'; (93). The dogs were then murdered, making Napoleon the only ruler. Even though Napoleon clearly killed the hens’ eggs, they still confessed to something that was untrue, which made Napoleon’s “appearance'; better to those who had no direct knowledge of the incident. Joseph Stalin had appointed government officials, controlling their income, what they said, and of ten their death. Soon he made them confess to things that were untrue, such as being spies. Government officials were exiled, thrown in jail, or killed. Soon Stalin was the one, true ruler of

God I Hate... :: essays research papers

God I Hate†¦ God, I hate getting up this early. But I only got three months left; then I’ll never have to get up early again. Three more months and this time I graduate. Dads doing pretty good on the railroad job now. Hasn’t been laid off for a couple of years now. David is doing good in the Navy, and my future at Taco Bell is almost a guarantee. Don’t know why this diploma shit is so important to everyone, I’m making 165.00 a week now and I’m only 18! That’s better than some factories and I don’t work as hard as they do. If I wasn’t going to this dumbass high school everyday; I’ll bet I could make 200 or even 225 dollars a week. They’d let me work. I’m the best employee they got. Someday I’ll own Taco Bell. â€Å"Okay! Okay! I’m up damn it!† I yell at Mom as I stare at the clock. Jesus! She didn’t graduate, and she did okay. If she only knew how badly I hated that place! Nothing was the same as it was when I was a kid. Teachers taught for the money. They don’t give a damn about us at all. Suddenly all the guys I’d grown up with were â€Å"black†. That means they can’t be seen hanging with me because I’m now â€Å"white bread†. Don’t remember it bothering them when I’d spend the night at their house or they’d stay over at mine. Now I’m part of the race that owned and sold them. Go figure. I never owned a slave. Near as I could tell, no one in my families past had ever owned one either. Oh well, timed to get ready. School starts in 30 minutes. Mom is already to take me. I think she gets off pissing me off. Was I supposed to do some homework for today? Oh well, tough shit. They’ll get it when I give it to them. Now where are my jeans? God its cold! I hate mornings. I hate school. I hate the teachers. I hate most of the students. Why did I ever go back? Mom is taking me to school in her bathrobe again! Now ain’t that a cool look! Dingy pink nylon. Oh God! She even has the fuzzy pink slipper on! Oh this is a lovely sight. Pulling up to Marion High in a 1972 Ford station wagon driven by a crazy woman dressed in a nightgown and slippers! And pink, raggedy ones at that! Dad could get a better car now; but will he?

Development of New Space Vehicles for Future Space Tourism

A lot of people nowadays consider ordinary space travel and tourism as an outlandish vision for the next century and for the upcoming future. On the other hand, scientists and futurists say that space tourism is a possible subject and possibility that current aeronautics and space science will lead to in the next few years. Other people view space tourism as a complete waste of resources given the multitude of earthbound problems that needs to be solved before having a nice flight back and forth from space. In spite of all these foreseen problems, space tourism is a reality that many people await and envision. These people comprise of visionaries and business men who are currently building the required facilities to make space tourism possible and who also have the courage to believe in the idea that space tourism can be a reality.Space tourism is essentially spaceflight which has been funded by personal interests for the purposes of personal satisfaction. Likewise, space tourism is very similar to any tourist vacation in the Bahamas or in the Caribbean or in any destination in Earth. Some of the personal reasons for spending on space tourism comprise the very unique experience of having been into space, the experience of weightlessness, the ability to view the curvature and disk of the earth, as well as the status of having been one of the few people who have been space tourists.ObjectivesTo be able to gain knowledge from the space travel and tourism. To be able to explore the different possibilities in travelling through space. To be able to assess and evaluate current space travel methods and technology available today. To be able to assess the output of space tourism as a business. To be able to identify the problems encountered as a consequence to space travel and tourism proposals. To be able to briefly name and briefly discuss the possible future technologies for space travel. Literature CitedSpace Tourism is the term that's come to be used to mean ordin ary members of the public buying tickets to travel to space and back. Many people find this idea futuristic. But over the past few years a growing volume of professional work has been done on the subject, and it's now clear that setting up commercial space tourism services is a realistic target for business today.(Virgin Galactic Website. 2008)The first steps will just be short sub-orbital flights, like Alan Sheppard made in 1961, since these are easier than getting to orbit. But the technical know-how to make passenger launch vehicles and orbiting hotel accommodation is available, and there is enormous unsatisfied demand market research has revealed that most people, at least in the industrialized countries, would like to take a trip to space if it was possible. This gives huge scope for reducing the cost of space travel by large-scale operation like airlines. (Boyle, 2008)One of the main challenges is merely the conservatism of the space engineering as it is today. Since Sputnik w as launched in 1957 almost all space launches and activities are government related. This race to the space has created many activities that projected an image of space exploration and tourism which almost all people kept thinking about. People like – writers, journalists, politicians, scientists and engineers, and the general public give their own insights to the exploration of space and space tourism.Developing low-cost passenger launch vehicles is not just to create a pastime for the rich. In business, the companies that make big money are the ones that serve big markets. Like tourism on Earth, there will be a small expensive segment for the rich – but the great majority of space tourists will be middle-class customers – the greater majority of us. ( Dignan, 2008)The utilization of the space is endless but it is very much dependent on access. Until admittance will become cheap, we can't make use of the unlimited resources and supplies that are available in sp ace for us to have a solution to the problems of our over populated Earth. When the time comes that access will be cheap, admittance to space will much more be easier. Making space travel cheap will require large turnovers of cash and money. Tourism can generate the large-scale launch activity needed to reduce costs sufficiently to start to use space resources – and so it's one of the most important projects in the world today. ( Dignan, 2008)Commercial space activities today include satellites being used for communications, broadcasting and photography (remote sensing). But these are small businesses – no more than a few $billions per year – that will never need humans in space. So â€Å"commercial space activities† today are not leading towards space tourism. (Virgin Galactic Website. 2008)Moreover, if certain companies and people would want a better space travel and tourism adventure, then we should expect that more technologies and activities related to building space vehicles and other will be put in to place.Some people say â€Å"Developing space tourism is very difficult, so it'll take a long time. Leave it to the government space agencies.† But the agencies already spend $25 billion per year on â€Å"space activities† – and they are not trying to develop launch vehicles that could open space up to the public. Barely 2% of their budgets are used for this purpose – although even just one year of their huge funding would be plenty! (Space.com, 2007)The Space Future is playing a vital part in the development of a more accessible space by collecting all the work needed. This includes technology, logistics and others critical factors for the exploration of space.Stages of Space TourismSimilar to any other business franchise, the moment that space tourism begins it will develop and improve dramatically. Today, we can only think of the different stages of space tourism once it gets started and all.. Begin ning with a small-scale and relatively expensive â€Å"pioneering stage†, the scale of activity will develop and prices will go down as it matures. Finally it will become a mass-market business, like airplanes today. (McKee, 2005)Pioneer StageThe phrase â€Å"space adventure travel† has been recommended by Gordon Woodcock of Boeing and is a convenient one to describe the first phase. Customers will be relatively few – from hundreds per year to thousands per year; prices will be lofty, $50,000 and up; and the service will be nearer to â€Å"adventure travel† than to extravagance hotel-style. Orbital accommodation will be safe but â€Å"spartan†. (Virgin Galactic Website. 2008)Mature StageThis will see demand growing from thousands of passengers per year to hundreds of thousands per year. Tickets to orbit will cost less and flights will depart from many different airports. Orbital facilities will develop from being just clusters of pre-fabricated mod ules to large structures constructed in orbit for hundreds of guests, permitting a range of orbital entertainments. (Virgin Galactic Website. 2008)Mass StageTicket prices will go down to the equivalent of a few $ thousand, and customers will from hundreds of thousands to millions of passengers per year. Apparently unthinkable to most people in the space industry, even 1 million passengers per year is just 8 hours of aviation! And aviation is still growing fast at today's level of 1 billion passengers per year. So there's no reason to suppose that space travel will ever stop growing. There's certainly no limit to the possible destinations. And the access to space resources that low cost launch will bring about will ensure that economic growth needn't end for a few more millennia at least. (Virgin Galactic Website. 2008)Space tourism is a business idea whose time has come in today’s 21st century. Surely it will begin soon and it will grow rapidly and develop progressively. This will now push space related activities in the dawn of the 22nd century.Leading Space Vehicle Technologies and Space Tourism CompaniesVirgin Galactic and SpaceShipTwoVirgin Galactic, one of the leading potential space tourism groups, is planning to have passenger service on its first spaceship, the Scaled Composite SapceShipTwo with the inaugural launch in 2008 and main flights beginning in 2009. The price is initially set at $200,000. Headed by Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group  , Virgin Galactic will be the first private space tourism company to regularly send civilians into space, by training them for 3 days before their launch. The SpaceShipTwo  was built as a result of the X Prize  which was won by SpaceShipOne;  both SpaceShipOne and SpaceShipTwo were designed by Burt Rutan. Launches will first occur at the Mojave Spaceport in California and will then be moved to the permanent spaceport in Upham, New Mexico. (Virgin Galactic Website. 2008)The spaceships used wi ll go 360,000  feet (109.73  km, or 68.18  miles) high; this goes beyond the height of 100  km, which is the internationally defined boundary between Earth and space. Space flights will last 2.5 hours, carry 6 passengers, and reach a speed of Mach 3. SpaceShipTwo will not require a space shuttle-like heat shield for atmospheric re-entry as it will not experience the extreme aerodynamic heating experienced during re-entry  at orbital velocities (approximately Mach 22.5 at a typical shuttle altitude of 300  km, or 185  miles). The glider will employ a â€Å"feathering† technique to manage drag during the unpowered descent and landing. SpaceShipTwo will use a single hybrid rocket motor to launch from mid-air after detaching from a mother ship at 50,000  feet, instead of NASA's Space Shuttle's ground-based launch. (Virgin Galactic Website. 2008)Space AdventuresEric Anderson is the president and CEO of Space Adventures. He co-founded Space Adventures in 1998 with s everal other entrepreneurs from the aerospace, adventure travel and entertainment industries and has managed the company over the past several years, selling more than $120M in space tourist flights. He has developed and financed over $500 million (USD) in new projects for Space Adventures, including two global spaceports and the first private voyage to the moon, set to launch in 2009.  (Space Adventures Website, 2008)The company sells a variety of flights such as Zero-Gravity flights, cosmonaut training and actual spaceflights. In May 2001, it sent American businessman Dennis Tito to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard a Soyuz Spacecraft for a reported $20 million payment, making him the first space tourist in history. South African businessman Mark Shuttleworth  did the same in April 2002 becoming the ‘First African in Space'. Gregory Olsen  became the third private citizen to travel to the ISS in October 2005, followed by the first female space tourist, Anous heh Ansari, who completed her 10-day orbital mission in September 2006. Charles Simonyi, an ex-executive at Microsoft who managed the Office product group became the world's fifth space tourist in April 2007. (Space Adventures Website, 2008)The  Explorer space plane, which will be the main space vehicle that will be used by Soace Adventures,   is a suborbital   tourist space plane based on the Space Adventures C-21 design. The plane is being developed by Space Adventures  with the Russian Federal Space Agency  and is designed to carry 5 passengers. It is to be air-launched by carrier aircraft from a Space Adventures spaceport. The spaceport for the Explorer is being developed with Prodea in the United Arab Emirates. (Space Adventures Website, 2008)Technological AdvancementThe key in reducing the cost of space tourism is in development of space is in the development of new space vehicles. The current per pound cost of sending anything to space is simply too astronomical for accessible space tourism purposes. The costs climb even higher when sending humans into orbit. Many visionaries and entrepreneurs have realized this and are now working on new spacecraft for the purpose of space tourism.As mentioned, spacecraft for space tourism should have the goal of being economical and accessible. The Soyuz and the Space Shuttle are neither, being too expensive and needing months of training before a space tourist can climb aboard. Another implied requirement is that the spacecraft is reusable. Both the space shuttle and the Soyuz are not reusable to some degree (the Space Shuttle's fuel tank is destroyed upon take off and must be replaced). Another requirement is that passenger preparation be much reduced. Current space tourists must undergo months of grueling training before being allowed to fly to space. Lastly, with any tourism experience, the craft should provide a comfortable and safe ride for its passengers.Today, the most promising space tourism vehicle has been the prototype SpaceShipOne built by Scaled Composites. SpaceShipOne was the winner of the Ansari X-Prize after it was able to reach an altitude of 100 km twice in a two week period while having the capacity for carrying three people. Clearly these abilities are in line with the objectives of space tourism. SpaceShipOne's flight may not be considered true space flight by some people as it is not able to go into orbit. However at 100km, its passengers will be able to experience weightlessness and will be able to see the curvature of the earth as well as the fading of the atmosphere into the blackness of space.SpaceShipOne was able to do this through its design. Instead of using rockets to lift it to high altitudes, SpaceShipOne was lifted first to a high altitude before any rockets were ignited. A conventional jet-powered craft, WhiteKnight, carries SpaceShipOne to high altitude. At the predetermined altitude, SpaceShipOne breaks off from WhiteKnight and ignites its hybrid r ocket motors to push it to outer space. Upon reentry, SpaceShipOne lands like a conventional plane on a traditional runway. Together with the use of the newest materials and technology,   this â€Å"spaceplane† approach was the key in reducing the development and operational costs for SpaceShipOne. SpaceShipOne has now been retired and work is now.ConclusionSpace Tourism may still be a dream for the majority of us but it is undeniable that huge strides have been made in the past decade to make it possible. The development of space vehicles have lowered the cost for space travel and have accelerated the possibility of private space travel. In the next few years, space travel and space tourism will be one of the ordinary things that any family or any person would go to every holiday or every summer. Just like any other place in the planet, travel time will be much faster compared to early flights and the cost will be leveled off. All of these advancements will be our debt to all visionaries and the engineers who are building future space vehicles for our use.

The Need for Mass Media

Are there still mass media? The easy and immediate answer would be an absolute yes. However, the difficulty comes from substantiating the answer. For the purposes of this paper, mass media will be defined using Boeren’s (1994: 122-123) classification of media. According to him, mass media refers to â€Å"all media that enable one to disseminate ideas to large audiences through technological/electronic means†. Included here are printed medium of communication (books, newspapers, magazines, posters, etc.), recordings, radio, television, film, cassette, video programs, and the most recent information-carrying technology—the internet. Mass media here was also differentiated by Boeren from other channels of communication. These are media generated by the human body (verbal language, facial expressions, body decorations and the likes), objects or substances used in transient communication (Morse code, horn signals, perfume, etc.), objects or substances used to deposit and express ideas (architecture, ornaments, paintings, etc.), and complex media that refers to rituals and the performing arts such as songs, puppet shows, theater and the likes. To support the answer posed above, there is mass media and it is here to stay.   This is on the basis of, first, mass media play an important role in a democratic society wherein â€Å"the welfare of an entire nation depends on the knowledge and good judgment of the majority of individuals† (English & Hach 1968: 259). In support of this, the University of Washington (2000), in its article â€Å"What is the role of the media in the United States?† stated that media support democracy. This is done in a way wherein the media serve as a significant source of information. Through the information (and competing ideas) circulated by the media, people are then able to govern themselves or able to make their own decisions. Furthermore, mass media provide the general public â€Å"with the information it needs to function as a democracy† (Stay 1999). With this, it could be said that being a model country where its citizens enjoy democratic space, the United States of America will always consider media outlets as key structures or institutions for maintaining democracy in its ideal state. Second, there is a need to examine the role of mass media in a society. If those roles are still satisfied, then, it could be well validated that there is still mass media. For this paper, the roles of the media outlined by Voelker, F. and Voelker, L. (1978) were referred to. These are Informers or providers of information, Entertainers or providers of pleasure and enjoyment, and Persuaders or could be referred to as shapers of perception/public opinion and behavior. Mass Media as Informers News source for Americans has evolved over the past decades. Americans used to rely largely on print medium (mainly newspapers). Then the radio innovated how the public get their news from black and white printed paper. Then came television. And since then, it could be said that television has been the number one source of news compared to newspapers and radios. That TV is the primary source of news for Americans should not come as a surprise. In its study, the Arizona State University gave some data showing that TV sets are a fixture in American households (Arizona State University, n.d.). Data shows that 98.3% of households have TV sets, 65% have cable TV, TV sets are turned on for an average of 7 hours each day and that an average American spends 2.5 hours a day in front of TV. Aside from this access, news on TV is more available around the clock wherein we have early morning shows, noon newscasts, late night news and news breaks in between regular TV programs. In addition, TV is viewed as a source for international and national news while newspapers as source of local information. Meanwhile, with the advent of the internet, it is not yet defined whether this new technology has overtaken TV as the primary source of news. But data shows that over 2.5 million Americans are watching less TV this year compared in 2006 (Bauder c.2006). This decline has not been attributed to the internet replacing TV as a source of information (or other TV programs) but one of the factors being speculated upon is that more shows are either being downloaded or streamed. Mass Media as Persuaders With scores of discussion debating over the effects of media content, the point that mass media shapes individual or collective perception and behavior could not be disregarded. Gans (n.d.:236) stated that news, as an example of media content, â€Å"does not limit itself to reality judgments; it also contains values or preference statements.† With this, Gans forwarded that underlying the news lies â€Å"a picture of nation and society as it ought to be.† For example, a protest march pictured as a disruption to public order, would be considered more news worthy and placed in headline news. On the other hand, a family murder that claimed three victims is less news worthy would be placed in local news. The way how news stories are prioritized and presented in turn shapes the public’s perception on what social disorder is. On a different note, Klapper (1967:331-333) believes that mass media mainly strengthen the views the audience have. One factor leading to this situation is that generally, people lean to (watch, listen, read) materials that advocate the same views that they have. Similarly, people tend to ignore materials that are conflicting or opposing to their own judgment. Aside from the reinforcement power of mass media, Klapper also believes that the media is effective in creating opinion on new issues. He explained that when an individual has no predisposition on an issue, that individual would be vulnerable to adapt an opinion presented by any mass medium. That created opinion would be easy to reinforce and then hard to change. Now we go to the media as shapers of behavior. Some of the critics about media content pertain to their effects on the behavior of target audience particularly on issues such as violence, alcoholism and the likes. A research study by Atkin, Hocking and Block (1981:280-289) was used to support the idea that mass media indeed affect the behavior of its target audience. They used a correlational survey design to determine if advertising of alcoholic beverages such as beer, wine and liquor encourage non-drinkers to drink and encourage moderate drinkers to drink more. The questionnaires were distributed to 665 students from seventh to twelfth grades in the states of Michigan, California, New York, and Georgia. Over-all results of the study showed that the relationship between exposure to advertisements and liquor is strongly positive. Also, non-drinkers immensely exposed to alcohol ads expressed intentions of drinking when they get older. The difference between those who intended to drink and the opposite is a significant 26%. Mass Media as Entertainers Apart from its functions as providers of information and shapers of perception and behavior, there is no doubt that mass media also largely function as entertainers. Americans turn to different forms of mass media to enjoy, to relax or to simply spend leisure time. The expansion of leisure time in the twentieth century according to De Fleur and Dennis gave way to Americans’ â€Å"growing interest in various forms of recreation and entertainment: (1981:212). This could be attributed to reasons why most commercial TV shows (75%) are made for entertainment while the remaining 25%   accounts for the news and public affairs, educational and cultural programs and religious programs. They also classified entertainment programs that Americans watch such as dramas, situation comedies, variety and talk shows, personality and game shows, soap operas, children’s programs, movies, specials, sports and special events, and docudramas (1981:190-196). Aside from TV programs, it is also worth noting the movies or motion pictures as channels for entertainment. As early as the 1920s, Jowett (1976, quoted in De Fleur & Dennis 1981:212) stated that the movies â€Å"had become the largest and most widespread commercial entertainment form the world had ever known†. By that time onwards, the movies have become a multi-billion dollar industry. Of course, the business would not have been that successful if it had not been for the millions of audience patronizing them. Meanwhile, the print media was never behind when it comes to its role as entertainers. Newspapers and especially magazines make space for materials that offer amusement to the audience. And to complete the package, there is the internet, which makes available online versions of print materials, music, music videos, TV shows, and movies on the World Wide Web. Of course, the internet also offers other types of entertainment that are not offered by the aforementioned mass media such as online games, social networking and others. So are there still mass media? Definitely. To conclude different channels of communication—mainly print media, TV, radio, and the internet—are still prevalent today. The roles or functions of mass media in American society are satisfied because the public has a need for them. Americans are hungry for news and information. They continue to seek information, which consciously or unconsciously reinforce their views on various issues. In addition, Americans continue to turn to mass media as a source of entertainment. No mass medium has been obsolete since it was introduced decades ago. Mass media technology continues to be sophisticated and in the near future, we might be introduced to new channels of communication. Bottomline is, mass media provide distinct social needs of the Americans and that is why these channels of communication are here to stay, up until the next century or even forever. List of References Boeren, A. (1994) In Other Words†¦ The Cultural Dimension of Communication for Development. The Hague: Centre for the Study of Education in Developing Countries (CESO) English, E. & Hach, C. (1968) Scholastic Journalism. 4th ed. Iowa: The Iowa State University Stay, B. L. (ed.) (1999) Opposing Viewpoints: Mass Media [online] available Gans, H. J. (n.d.) ‘The messages behind the news’ In Media in Society: Readings in Mass Communication. ed. by Deming, C. J. & Becker, S. L. Illinois: Scott, Foresman and Company: 243 Arizona State University (n.d.) Mass Media & Society: A Sociological Perspective on Media [online] available from < http://www.public.asu.edu/~zeyno217/365/notes1.html> [17 November 2007] Klapper, J. T. (1967) ‘Basic Research in Persuasion and Motivation’ In Mass Media: Forces in our Society. 3rd ed. ed. by Voelker, F. H. & Voelker, L. A. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc.: 331-333 Atkin, C., Hocking, J. & Block, M. (1981) ‘Teenage Drinking: Does Advertising Make a Difference?’ In Media in Society: Readings in Mass Communication. ed. by Deming, C. J. & Becker, S. L. Illinois: Scott, Foresman and Company: 280-289 De Fleur, M. L. & Dennis, E. E. (1981) Understanding Mass Communication. USA: Houghton Mifflin Company Bauder, D. (c.2007) Data Says 2.5 Million Less Watching TV. [online] available from [17 November 2007] Pember, D. R. (1987) Mass Media in America. Science Research Associates, Inc.