Economic Freedom

Part I. Introduction It has become apparent in recent years that the issue of vast globalization, economic development and its impact on various aspects of state wellbeing is the one that needs to be looked at very carefully. Moreover, direct investments into the country’s development and as a result improved quality of life are an additional incentive to increase the economic freedom level.Throughout the centuries scholars and economists have argued on whether economic freedom based on private property and free markets is the only beneficial and effective form of economy formation or centralized system of governing is better. Myriad researches have been brought to public, however, our group believes economic freedom is currently in increasing phase of its development, and thus should be thoroughly examined and reviewed basing on country background and scores obtained.This, in our view, will help to accelerate the wellbeing of Kazakhstan and possibly attract additional cash in flows from external market players. The paper will examine the issue of economic freedom and indices it defines in more details, will cover all the aspects included in consideration of the latter concept and will try to assess the relationship between economic freedom and potential investments rise. Brief definition of basic concepts In order to be in line with the topic and understand it deeply, below we present some underlying definitions of basic concepts that will be used throughout the paper.The classic definition of economic freedom and its index is outlined below: â€Å"Individuals have economic freedom when property they acquire without the use of force, fraud, or theft is protected from physical invasions by others and they are free to use, exchange, or give their property as long as their actions do not violate the identical rights of others† James Gwartney and Robert Lawson Economic Freedom of the World: 1996 Annual Report As obtained from www. economicfreedom. org , â€Å"economic freedom is the key to greater opportunity and an improved quality of life.It’s the freedom to choose how to produce, sell, and use your own resources, while respecting others’ rights to do the same. While a simple concept, economic freedom is an engine that drives prosperity in the world and is the difference between why some societies thrive while others do not. † Considering economic freedom is the issue of highest importance as it deals with each and every aspect of our life. Having greater economic freedom, the society ensures higher income levels, decreased poverty, less unemployment percentages and overall healthier state position in terms of economical, financial and political development.Economic freedom index (EFI) is defined as â€Å"a ranking of countries based on the number and intensity of government regulations on wealth-creating activity. Metrics that an economic freedom index evaluates include international trade restrictions, g overnment spending relative to GDP, occupational licensing requirements, private property rights, minimum wage laws and other government-controlled factors that affect people's ability to earn a living and keep what they earn. † (Extracted from www. investopedia. com).For all over the years, The Heritage Foundation in partnership with The Wall Street Journal has tracked the trends in economic freedom around the world and assigned indices to each country. It is a valuable source to gather information from, and the current paper is mostly based on the latter findings. The key factors influencing the level of economic freedom are the personal choice, voluntary exchange coordinated by markets, freedom to enter and compete in markets and protection of individual property from aggression of other including the government intervention.This implies that in economically free society government protects the individuals and their property, maintain stable monetary environment, refrain fr om creating barriers to trade and fairly allocate benefits; however, in case a government substitutes taxes, government expenditures, and regulations for personal choice, voluntary exchange, and market coordination, it may reduce economic freedom and thus diminish quality of life of the whole state.Five broad areas are considered when summarizing and stating the index for a country: * Size of the government: meaning sound taxing (low marginal tax rates) and wise spendings from the side of the government. * Legal Structure and Security of Property Rights: this indicates the consistence of a state’s legal framework with property protection and application of the laws in various spheres of business conducting and everyday life. * Access to sound money: the essence of this concept is whether a government is able not to abuse its monopolistic power. To get high ratings here, a country’s inflation must be low and stable, and the government must permit people to own currencie s of other nations† (Lawson, Robert A. , Economic Freedom, Library of Economics and Liberty) * Freedom to Trade Internationally: the core idea here is the presence of any barriers to free trade (quotas, restrictions or tariffs). * Regulation of Credit, Labor and Business: such concepts as minimum wages for workers, price controls, business licensing ; potential barriers to entry the business might be reviewed at this stage.Having examined the surface of the issue to be researched, we formulated the research question we are going to obtain the answer to at the end of the paper. Research question: Do countries that exhibit greater degrees of economic freedom perform better than those that do not and will the latter help Kazakhstan to attract more potential investments? Part II. Economic Freedom: Kazakhstani case In 2012 Kazakhstan scored 63. 6 in terms of economic freedom level, and thus ensuring Kazakhstani economy to be number 65th in the world list.As per the Heritage Foundat ion Report as of 2012, current country score is 1. 5 points higher in comparison with last year index. This amount represents slight improvements in property rights freedom, freedom from corruption and public spendings. Figure 1. 1 represents the history of indices obtained by the state in the last 5 years. Country| Year| Overall Freedom| Business Freedom| Financial Freedom| Kazakhstan| 2008| 61. 10| 56. 80| 60| Kazakhstan| 2009| 60. 10| 57. 90| 60| Kazakhstan| 2010| 61| 73. 50| 50| Kazakhstan| 2011| 62. 10| 74. 30| 50| Figure 1. 1 Figure 1. shows the overall trends of economic freedom indices throughout the time. It is clearly seen than in 2009 Kazakhstan scored the lowest, and the backup for this might be the substantial rise of global economic crisis. At that time the state encountered myriad barriers to healthy economic, financial and political environments, as it should have sustained positive financial balances all over the country, diminished bankruptcy potential, saved money of its citizens and remained attractive for the external investments. From that time on Kazakhstan tend to increase its economic reedom index and the line of indicating the latter steadily goes up throughout the years 2010-2012, and the last Heritage Foundation Report proves the fact that the country continues its positive trend of advancing economic freedom and ensuring constant development. As presented in the graph on Figure 1. 2, the state has become one of the first to turn back to the expansion and recovery from the global crisis. This is ensured by the enhanced regulation efficiency (at least endeavors towards that) and constant policy reforms in various areas of country wellbeing.Figure 1. 2 The country also scores higher results if compared to the world and regional averages. As according to The Heritage Foundation, Kazakhstan ranks 11th out of 41 countries in Asia-Pacific region, and it is recorded one of the 20 largest score improvements in the 2012 Index considerations. Figure 1. 3 summarizes the above stated information and graphically represents Kazakhstani standpoint in comparison with global and regional averages indices. Figure 1. 3The government of Kazakhstan being aware of the increased significance of economic freedom stability makes efforts in order to continue its positive index rising over time trend and adapts vast amount of laws, amendments and promotes individual’s freedom protection. â€Å"The link between economic freedom and prosperity is undeniable: the countries that score highly in terms of economic freedom also offer their people the best quality of life† (Azis Isa, Central Asian Free Market Institute Policy Analyst).Many empirical studies using the Economic Freedom Index reveal that a country’s economic freedom is highly correlated with its level of capital investment and the rate of economic growth (Gwartney and Lawson ; Holcombe, 2006). Non-monetary measures such as social welfare and peaceful and healt hy state environment also directly correlate with EFI. Scully (2002) has found that economic freedom is correlated with more equal distributions of income across countries. Rise of GDP per capita levels, promotion of decreased poverty percentages in a given country are also affected by the economic freedom situation of the country.Below is the session of graphs analyzing the correlation of economic freedom levels with various aspects of a state development. Countries with more economic freedom have substantially higher per-capita incomes ans thus more stable economic wellbeing of the society. Figure 1. 4. As seen from the graphical representation, those states that fall into â€Å"most free† group tend to have more vast growth rates and as a result higher level of economic growth throughout the country.The difference between the first and the last groups is rather big, and that proves the above stated assumption. Figure 1. 6 represents the correlation between economic growth and income per capita among the poorest strata of the society. As per the graph, we can suppose there is a direct positive relationship between the variables. Figure 1. 6 Kazakhstan has mostly faced economic freedom challenges throughout its history. Being a young state, it had no solid experience to rely upon rather than remaining habits and regimes obtained during Soviet Union times of ruling.Kazakhstani people do not have much influence over the government and its regulations and laws and majority of them encounter many difficulties in business sphere entry levels, further conducting and maintaining of the latter as well as improving their own individual micro economy. However, there are some positive trends in formation of economic freedom in Kazakhstan, and year to year steady development as shown in the Heritage Foundation Report proves that same fact.As according to the Heritage Foundation Report, â€Å"excessive dependence on raw commodity exports makes the economy particul arly vulnerable to global price changes. Rising commodity prices and improved domestic conditions encouraged substantial economic growth in 2010 and 2011†. The organization in partnership with the World Bank states Kazakhstan has an ambitious economic development program, which is planned to be outperformed in the nearest years, and outlines some problematic zones government of the country should pay intent attention to.The further section of the paper discusses the inefficient potential risk spheres the state should work on in order to relieve the situation in the future and continue its positive trend in developing economic freedom. Economic Freedom in Kazakhstan: Challenging restrictions Once the Annual 2012 Report is over and the country obtained its rating results, we recommend the government to consider the following currently inefficient spheres of the state wellbeing.Kazakhstan still faces many challenges on the way of improving its economic freedom level. * Rule of La w As stated in the Heritage Foundation Report, legal framework is currently very inefficient and actually does not cover some spheres of the freedom the way it should. For instance, intellectual property rights are still in a very shaky position and there is no clearly stated and stable position on that sophisticated issue from the side of the government.Although in the beginning of the current 2012 year there were some endeavors made in order to improve intellectual property rights in the country (banning some Internet resources sites, increased fines and jurisdiction cases), this particular policy just raised a new set of problems and questions and was vastly criticized from the side of the business owners as well as general public, because the new Law on Intellectual Property Rights interfered with basic Constitutional rights of every citizen to express the opinion and thoughts.In addition, the court system lacks the capacity to prove its stability and honesty – this year there were many cases of court system failure: judges were taken with bribes, inefficient cases regulations and many more. Recent changes in anti-corruption law only deepened the definition and presence of the latter in the society as it implies indirect potential involvement from the side of the governmental bodies. * Limited governmentOverall tax burden that exist in the country amounts in 21. 5 % of total domestic income. Government spendings are equivalent to 23. 5 percent of total domestic output. The difference between the two variables kept the substantially large oil revenues, thus relieving the whole situation and leaving public state debt standing at less than 15% of GDP. (as per the Heritage Foundation Annual 2012 report). * Regulatory efficiency ; Open marketsBusiness freedom, labor freedom, monetary freedom inefficiencies cases could be considered in that particular section. They in overall have many problems, bureaucratic barriers and lack of regulation from the side o f the government. Business freedom in Kazakhstan, for instance, lack the easy entry possibilities for the individuals, as it is very costly and takes much more time than it is expected to, moreover, increased level of governmental taxes, quotas and tariffs are also barriers to free trade between people and states.However, there are some positive sides in that area – potential WTO entry, expansion of Customs Union are the positive measures Kazakhstan is undertaking in this regard. As for the labor freedom, there is a tendency to think only about employers, leaving the employees aside. Thus, it is very cheap for a company to hire new employee, and it costs nothing to fire him/her. Moreover, in many national companies and even governmental bodies working day are non-scheduled and overtimes are not paid at all.This is a large problem for the whole country. Child labor issue should also be considered attentively when pondering about economic freedom rise. Monetary freedom could be interfered by the government as it may tend to distort domestic prices and try to influence many industries in a row. Inflation rate is also increasing from year to year. This year it tends to be fluctuating thus leaving the individual suffer from potential commodity prices rise. Below is the summary of inflation rates statistics.

Is the Claim of White Skin Privilege a Myth

Is the Claim of White Skin Privilege a myth? As a whole, minorities from all religions, races, and sexualities have reached numerous high points in life. These high points have resulted in the establishment and entitlement to minorities having the same rights as whites. However, the right of blacks as in being equal is always up for debate. Statistics show and prove that for every dollar a white household brings in, a black household only brings in 61 cents. Some people like to say that the white household is more skilled or has a higher education, however, this is not the case in most situations.These facts can be accurately traced back to the issue of discrimination against blacks. Most people agree that this type of discrimination is seen frequently but never spoken of. Why are there different meanings of this word for different races, if the foundation of our country established as everyone is equal? What do these rights actually mean, and if most people pay these rights absolute ly no attention at all, why are these rights even in place? Focusing on the topics of white benefits, white denial, and a personal opinion, in this essay will I will explain to the reader the question, â€Å"Is the claim of white skin privilege a myth? Referring to the author from the first passage, Paul Kivel, â€Å" The reality of privilege is so embedded within the dominant group that to recognize and admit its reality is alien to most whites. † As a whole, white people in the United States do not recognize the fact that they have different right to this day. They just realize the effects that most benefit themselves. The benefits that white people receive are coveted by numerous people all over the globe. Many people around the world sacrifice their customs, beliefs, and languages, just so they can have these benefits.It has been proven that whites have thrived in many parts of life just for exploiting and manipulating people of color. Why would someone risk their own cu lture in order to obtain these privileges, is a question a lot of people ask? The only answer that makes any sense at all is for the people to be economically successful. Many people of color face difficult challenges and disadvantages over whites, simply because the person is white. With people of color having disadvantages, there comes, insults, discrimination, violence, harassment and economic and cultural exploitation.The majority of people of color have experienced at least one of these disadvantages in their lives, but most have grown to expect these disadvantages. Just because of these discriminations, a lot of colored people avoid a lot of situations at work and at school, and they are more likely to have fingers pointed at them for robberies, or have their car searched for some bogus reason. When a topic of race is brought up however, whites are quick to speak on it. Many dramatic emotions and feelings flow through the minds of white people as they are forced to talk about the existence of racism in today’s society.Black people are consistently accused of using or pulling the â€Å"race card†, but is something expected to be an outcome of it? According to Tom Wise, the black person’s reward is actually non-existent. Actually it is normally the white person who pulls a race card and gets a positive outcome from it. According to whites, the race card, â€Å"is something people of color play so as to distract the rest of us, or to gain sympathy. † However, studies show that people of color are actually normally scared to use the card in fear that they may be attacked, or simply ignored altogether.Wise accurately addresses the problem that people of color deal with. â€Å"Simply put: whites in every generation have thought there was no real problem with racism, irrespective of the evidence, and in every generation we have been wrong. † Over the course of many years, whites have actually become immune to the claims of rac ial inequality; they say that they have found cures for people of color and their problems. These cures are Drapetomania and Victim Syndrome. Drapetomania originated as a so-called â€Å"cure† to explain why slaves escaped from their loving masters.Masters were told that keeping a slave in a child state of mind, that he or she would in turn be loyal to there master. However whites also found a way to ignore the state of mind that the slaves were in, they stamp them with an illness and took it ay to far. This stamp is revealed over a century later in Washington State in a school district. People of color were falsely accused of having disorders, and also accused of being extremely paranoid. The actual name created for their â€Å"illness† is called the â€Å"victimization syndrome. Whites are quick to accuse blacks of victim mentality, due to the fact that they were being inspired by the Civil Rights Movement, and for the simple fact that they â€Å"want† to be considered targets for harassment. Whites to this day still refuse to discuss the situation and persistently deny the fact that it still exists even to this day. This could just be because whites themselves have never been through such an experience in their lives, and continue to cover it up with their own excuses and ignorance. I am white, however I do not agree with some of the racial situations that still exist in our society today.I as a white American am faced with a lot of the same challenges as a black individual, however I do strongly believe that everyone in this country from birth has equal opportunity. This is only because public education is free to everyone in America. Do I think that people of color experience difficulties in finding jobs, or moving up the cultural, corporate, or economical ladder? No, in this case I do not. Why you might ask? Well let me tell you this, every single one of my bosses at work are black, and how did they get there?They worked their way u p the ladder. However, two of the managers I work for graduated from FAMU. So I do not agree with the statements that all blacks are faced with discrimination. However I do admit that some do experience discrimination, but I must say in those situations the person of color needs to keep their head high and prove that person wrong. Many people go far in life with self-motivation, without self-motivation not much can be accomplished, but use times when you are criticized or discriminated against to push you further.Tell yourself that no that is not how it is and aim to prove that person wrong and do not stop until you get there. I do believe that this country still needs to change I would love to see everyone in this country do well and everyone should strive to succeed. There are many opinions of this situation out there, and I do not believe that in my lifetime that this situation will be resolved but we cannot focus on the past we must move forward and strive for excellence.

To Kill a Mocking Bird- Section One Study Questions

To Kill a Mockingbird – Section One Study Questions. 6) What satirical points are being made about education through Scout's experiences in school? I feel a major satirical point about Scout’s education is the fact that she is ridiculed for learning some place other than school. It’s as if her teacher feels Scout is messing her learning system. She is â€Å"introducing a new way of teaching† one which involves the teacher waving cards at the students with simple words printed on them. Scout begins to write a letter, which the teacher stops her from doing.She also is angry at Scout for writing, because â€Å"you don't learn to write until you're in the third grade. Obviously, she is stopping her from learning more. School is now a place where Scout is told to stop learning. 7) Why does Scout explain Walter Cunningham's situation to Miss Caroline? Scout feels that it is her duty, as her classmates were looking at her expectantly. Scout explains Walter Cunni ngham’s situation because Miss Caroline is not from the area and doesn't understand the â€Å"country folk† or the customs of the county and its people.Walter may be poor, but he's not a beggar and refuses to take the quarter from Miss Caroline because he knows that he can't pay it back. 8) How are Scout and Jem alike? How are they different? Jem is much wiser than scout which makes perfect sense, considering Jem is 4 years older than Scout. He is also better behaved than scout. But they are both alike because they both live under the same circumstances, and they are both afraid of the Radley’s, even though Jem won’t admit it. 9) Describe Burris Ewell. How is he alike and different from the other children?Burris is one of the eight Ewell children. He and his family only go to school for the first day every year, then leave, and are very proud of that. The Ewell Family is very ignorant and poor, and their father is awfully mean and the town drunk. Burris i s incredibly rude, and doesn't know how to be any other way. Even though many of the other children aren’t exactly â€Å"clean†, Burris is far dirtier than all of them. Although, Burris surely doesn’t get enough to eat, like many of the other school children. 10) What is the advice Atticus gives scout and how is it thematically significant?The thematic advice Atticus gives to Scout helps her understand that school is important to success and education, unlike the Ewell's who are rude and don't care about things such as learning. The point that Atticus tries to make is Scout needs to view the situation from every angle, not just hers. 11) What can you infer about Scout and Jem based on their very different reactions to the pennies in the knot-hole? He decided to wait until school starts and ask everybody who they belong to. Jem is careful and honest of the pennies he finds.He tries to explain to Scout that someone has taken care of those pennies. Scout seems to b e relying on Jem’s wisdom, but she does want to keep the pennies. Because when he suggests someone probably left them there intentionally, and they’re probably going to come back for them, she tries to provide a contradicting theory. Such as why would they person have left gum in the knot-hole, if surely it would’ve spoiled? You can infer Scout hasn’t matured much. Her thoughts don’t extend as far as to question the motives of the owners of the objects put in the knot-hole.She seems to be just a simple minded girl. 12) What do the characteristics of children in general are revealed through the Boo Radley game? Why doesn’t scout enjoy the game as much as the boys do? It shows they are ignoring the teaching of their father, which is to always respect others. Always make sure you put yourself in someone else’s shoes. But the children were more engrossed in the childish game. This reflects the immaturity of most citizens in the town, whic h is where the children actually learned such things.Scout is scared the Radley’s will somehow find out about the games they play, which is why she is hesitant. 13) What do we learn about the main characters by their relationships and interactions with Miss Maudie Atkinson? Scout is the closest to Miss Maudie than anyone, and she spends time with her when the boy’s are doing boy things she can’t be apart of. Miss Maudie acts like a mentor to Scout. The boys rarely spend time with Miss Maudie, and Atticus grew up with her. 14) What is significant about Jem’s decision to make a lone, nighttime return to the Radley place?Jem shows signs of maturity when he decides to return to the Radley house alone to retrieve his pants. Not only does he demonstrate courage in going by himself, but he also demonstrates that not disappointing Atticus is more important than his own safety. 15) What is the significant outcome of Jem’s return? Jem returns from the Radley place with his pants, but he hides the fact that they have been mended for a while; he is obviously bothered by it. When Jem finally tells Scout about the pants, he wonders how it is that someone would know he was going to come back for the ants. Jem finding his mended pants is significant because it takes all the ridiculous Radley fantasies and puts them into reality. Jem and Scout have now had real interaction with the people that live in the Radley house. 16) What does the town conclude regarding the disturbance at the Radley place? They automatically assume the intruder was a â€Å"nigger†, not because they actually saw the person, but because if anyone had a desire to commit any crime, it would be assumed to be a black person. This shows how hateful the deep south was at this time towards colored people. 7) What bewildering incidents occur to Jem and Scout? Soap Carvings that remember resemble Scout and Jem appear in the knothole. Then chewing gum, a spelling bee medal, and an old pocket watch. Soon, Jem and Scout find that the knothole has been filled with cement. When Jem asks Mr. Radley about the knothole the following day, Mr. Radley replies that he plugged the knothole because the tree is dying; but when Jem asked Atticus about the tree, he claims the tree shows no signs of death. 18) Why is it significant that Jem has been crying?Because he realized the real reason the knothole has been sealed off is not because the try is dying, but because Mr. Radley is trying to eliminate boo communicating with anyone, and Jem begins to pity him being so lonely. Jem draws the conclusion that his family must be ashamed of Boo, which is something Jem doesn’t have to live with. Fortunately Jem has a loving family. This shows Jem’s maturity, he’s thinking of someone other than himself. 19) How do people react to the fire at Miss Maudie’s house?The fire shows how the town responds when someone needs help. All of the men in the town show up to help. You can also see how small and poor the town is for one reason the fire consumes the house is that the old fire truck â€Å"killed by the cold, was being pushed from town by a crowd of men. † We can conclude that the community can be very selfless and caring. 20) What characteristics does Miss Maudie show following the fire? She returned to her normal business and was still happy, even with all the terribly traumatic events that just happened.

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS - Essay Example The regions that harbored this paradigm shift are the United States, Japan and Europe; which have been deemed as the Triad. After establishing a strong industrial base, many corporations in this region have expanded globally, particularly dispersing operations across the globe where economies of scale could be achieved in a cost-effective manner. A main feature of the past few decades has been the shift from labor intensive industries to capital intensive industries, consequently, labor activities have been shifted to less developed regions where labor cost is law and there is relatively less restraint posed by labor regulations. (Ohmae, K., 1983) While some scholars deem this transfer of functions as neo-colonialism, since most of the profits gained by virtue of these activities are diverted towards the operating MNE’s, our focus remains on the peculiar relation between multinational enterprises and small-medium enterprises that operate locally. Since Greenfield ventures are a rarity in the current sociopolitical environment, trade activities are spearheaded by focus on usage of factors of production, in particular, labor. Most of the major global corporations make use of ‘outsourcing’, delocalizing certain operational functions to push their costs down. This symbiotic relationship is possible due to particular philosophies that are distinct to the two major players here: MNEs have a focus on product innovation while local SMEs have a focus on process innovation. MNEs provide the financial and technological capital required, while SMEs facilitate production with an optimal production process. Inevitably, the SMEs, which are mostly situated in LDCs, are forced to specialize in the particular function that they are catering to. MNEs provide SMEs an opportunity they wouldn’t otherwise have in the form of markets that demand products requiring their services. It is usually the lack of local demand that inhibits many SMEs from growth and expansion. This notion is also supported by Porter’s diamond model, which suggests that in order for an industry to flourish in a national context, the local demand must be anticipatory of foreign demand. Since such is not the case in most LDCs, MNEs provide an opportunity for SMEs to expand and grow by increasing volumes of operation. Exposure to newer markets is also accompanied by the advent of newer technologies, capital and managerial skills.( Wright, R, W., & Russel, C, S., 1975) This in turn not only effects the SMEs in contact, but the local community involved as well in terms of employment. Ironically, the necessary technological capital required for SMEs is provided mainly from the Triad region. This obviously entails a certain monopolistic relation that is a feature of MNE-SME cooperation. What is deemed as an inequality, automatically translates to social indicators and economic factors as well. Some scholars label this relation as the dependency theory, which sta tes that countries within the core are capital intensive nations that are able to maintain this superiority using their vast accumulated capital which focuses on innovation and technology, while lesser important functions are transferred to the peripheries which provide the necessary labor and raw material for industries to operate but are not allowed to accelerate beyond that. Lack of knowledge transfer is

Strategic Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Strategic Marketing - Essay Example For marketers operating in a business-to-business environment, this means merging product use and industry sector segmentation with other facets that are associated with purchasing decisions. These can include factors such as the criteria for procurement, and decision motivations that will determine the out-sized purchases made by the organization. For example, the trend towards more use of subcontractors generates market for those suppliers. However, the retailers require a strategic marketing vision in order to make out or perceive these new markets before their business rivals also identify them and take the opportunity (Manning and Reece, 2003). Consumer marketers have to consider the use of demographic and geographic segmentation; along with psychographic segmentation such as attitudes, values, consumer lifestyles, and the motivation for product usage. For example, the aging population segment generates an increased demand for a wide range of goods. It also forms market niches t hat are big enough to make marketing as well as product development a worthwhile endeavor. These same factors can also contribute to the decrease in demand for other items. Occasionally, rather than increase sales or advertising efforts, it is more advisable to desert a declining market. Without strategic marketing tactics, an organization can actually waste valuable assets or miss a rare opportunity to take advantage of prevailing favourable conditions. The strategic marketing plan procedure usually has three stages. These are segmenting the market, profiling the market segments, and the creation of a market segment marketing strategy. Creating Value to Customers in Strategic Marketing The value in a manufactured product is usually defined by the reaction of customers to it. It is essentially a matter of the customer’s perception. If the product is perceived by the consumer as possessing value then that discernment will lead to a procurement. Customer value may also develop from having employed the product over and over again with pleasing results. Customer value in its most fundamental form refers to the difference between the price of a product and the benefit the customer gets from the product. Today's customers are much more informed as a result of the easily available modes of electronic communication that are available (Cravens and Piercy, 2008). As such, they usually purchase the goods that they sense are worth the cost required to attain them. Customers usually know precisely what they want to buy and will not waste time with low value products. It is important for marketers to have products that can be considered as unique. This is something that can make the product be viewed as being of utmost value, resulting in a higher price being appropriate. In their mission to communicate information to consumers pertaining to products, sales professionals frequently oversell and fail to notice the consumers’ real needs. Consequently, the produc t presented is of hardly any value to consumers. The greatest challenge that marketing professionals have to confront today is rising beyond the ordinary noise level, getting access to their targeted market, and eventually buying influence. Qualified leads are just harder to come by in today’s market which is saturated with the pitches of dedicated marketers. The convergence of rich media, digital graphics, direct response tools, email,

Behaviorism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Behaviorism - Essay Example Write a speech to be delivered in front of politicians, appealing to them to act for a drug-free state MATERIALS AND RESOURCES Instructional Materials: Copy of the poem Pad paper for writing Ballpen Pictures of street people doing drugs Resources: â€Å"We Real Cool† A Poem by Gwendolyn Brooks INSTRUCTIONAL PLAN Sequence of Instructional Procedures/Activities/Events (provide description and indicate approximate time for each): 1. Review/Assumptions Students already know the basic concepts in analyzing a poem such as persona, addressee and situation. They should know that the persona and the author are different. Although there are times when the situation in the poem relates closely with the experience of the author, it should be assumed that the author is thinking of another persona as his poem’s persona. 2. Presentation of New Information or Modeling: The teacher provides a brief introduction about the author, Gwendolyn Brooks and how famous her poem is (5 minutes). 3 . Guided Practice: The teacher shows the way to write a speech by asking students to think of a thesis statement they can use to start the speech and asking them to identify three points for discussion. The teacher checks if the students are able to write these four ideas before they proceed with the writing (5 minutes). 4. Independent Student Practice: Students work in pairs to write a persuasive speech based on their reaction to the poem. After writing, one of the students in the pair reads the speech in front of the class (20 minutes). 5. Culminating or Closing Procedure/Activity/Event: Students choose the best speech and tell the reasons why they like it (5 minutes). Pedagogical Strategy (or Strategies): Partner work; Reader-response Approach Differentiated Instruction: Students with difficulties will be paired with those without difficulties, in the same way that those who are good in English writing will be paired with those who are not. The students are encouraged to think of three points to discuss in their speech but there is no requirement as regards the length of the speech. Student Assessment/Rubrics: The following rubrics will be used to evaluate the speech made by students: Criteria 1 2 3 4 5 1. The speech has a well-defined thesis. 2. The speech contains three main points that support the thesis. 3. The speech is persuasive; its main points are clear and true to the real-life scenario. 4. The speech is free of grammatical errors. 5. The speech is free from biases and fallacies; direct to the point and informative. â€Å"We Real Cool† A Poem by Gwendolyn Brooks The Pool Players.   Seven at the Golden Shovel. We real cool. We Left school. We Lurk late. We Strike straight. We Sing sin. We Thin gin. We Jazz June. We Die soon.   B.   Discuss how you could modify the lesson plan you provided to incorporate behaviorism. 1.   Justify a curriculum content modification in the lesson plan that incorporates behaviorism. Setting the mood of st udents is an important feature of the behaviorist classroom (Wheldall, 2012). Behaviorists try to avoid negative behaviors by reinforcing positive ones (Wheldall, 2012). In the given lesson, the teacher could say, â€Å"

To Introduce Dameware Mini Remote Control Software to our Research Proposal

To Introduce Dameware Mini Remote Control Software to our InformationTechnology Section - Research Proposal Example It helps to monitor and control remote sites so that people are not required to be there physically. It is efficient when used to remote control servers so that they can be managed from remote locations. This paper will analyze the use of this software and how this software will help reduce expenses for most operations. Chapter 1 1.1 Thesis and focus The proposal is aimed at investigating in the Dameware mini remote control software and its effectiveness and efficiency to the organization. Currently, organizations are after high productivity. In undertaking this research, information technology department will be interviewed on the usefulness of the Dameware mini remote control software. In addition, training will also be carried out so that they get the right skills to run the department. In adopting the Dameware mini remote control software the organization will be in a position to formulate policies with much ease. The purpose of the proposal is to test my ability on whether I can actually research on a business proposal, will also check on whether I have the ability to plan an extended business proposal, if I can cite locate, and even criticize on data that has been done by other scholars during my proposal writing and finally to assess my ability if I can outline special features of various types of proposals. The purpose of this statement will be to evaluate the implementation of Dameware mini remote control software in the information technology department. The specific objectives of the proposal will be to establish the benefits accrued from the Dameware mini remote control software, to evaluate efficiency of Dameware mini remote control software before it is implemented in the IT department, and to identify the defects that may be associated with Dameware mini remote control software. The proposal is aimed at increasing efficiency of organization. Technology currently has taken over every aspect that is being done in any organization. In many organizat ions, an estimate of 80% of the total work being done is mainly done by the support of technology. In employing the Dameware mini remote control software in an organization, productivity is greatly improved. On the other hand, there are other operations which are harmful to human beings, technology will do it best. Lastly, in using technology, time will be saved thus work will be efficient to the users. 1.2 Introduction The Dameware mini remote control software  is remotely supported software that is in place in many organizations. It is a software program that mainly deals with remotes. It is related to the Virtual Network Computing, but the difference is that it has other functionalities like; it can install the server on a demand, smart card support and pass through authentication. It is also termed Dameware mini remote control software. It is enabled in such a way that it can support many more that one monitor in a given environment, including other functions such as encryptio n and the transfer of files have been enabled currently. It is an enterprise system management application meant for windows that give administrators the control on the remote client computers. It offers an integration of composed Microsoft Windows NT administration utilities that has been incorporated in a centralized interface for management of remote in the window servers and workplaces. Majority of the standards utilities are added into the explorer-style

Does the possession of nuclear weapons have a positive or negative Essay

Does the possession of nuclear weapons have a positive or negative effect on a state security - Essay Example The effects of the nuclear weapons are negative to not only the states having them but to the rest of the world as well. The effects of possesion of nuclear weapons on the state security are negative because they cause massive mass desctruction, they increase disaster risks in case of accidents, they create fear than security to the people as well as increase poor relationship and diplomacy with the other nations especially the rival countries. The security of the state is even worse with the presence of a nuclear weapons at arms length because they can use them anytime to fight their enermies as they are already at their disposal similar with the way they fight using bombs and missiles as they have them at their disposal. With the war on terrorism increasing not only in these super power nations mentioned above but in their affiliate nations that support them such as in parts of Africa, the disamarment argeement made by these nations is bound to be ineffective. According to the resoulution made by majority of these nations starting with US and Russia, they will only refrain using the nuclear weapons if their territories or the territories of their allies are not invaded or attacked by a nuclear or a non-nuclear nation. In this case therefore, since their allies are being attacked, there is risk of them using their weapons to fight the enermies. The nuclear attack effcts are very much known to the world simply beucase of the negative effects they had in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of 1945 which lasted years after the bomb was thrown by the US. The radiation effects killed over 200,000 people in both cities with many others suffering ling term health problems. The problems include cancers, mutations in the DNA, 46% of the population suffered Leukemia majority of them being children. Almost seven decades later, the gene mutation led to children being born having deformities such as smaller head size, mental disability

Inventory Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Inventory Management - Essay Example The researcher of this essay states that inventory is a major investment for many companies today. Manufacturing companies can easily be carrying inventory equivalent to between 50% to 70% revenue of the business. It is therefore necessary to reduce the levels of inventory held to the necessary minimum. On the other side if inventory levels are kept too low, the business faces alternative problems like stock outs, high re order cost, setup cost and lost quantity discounts. As it is stated in information that is provided by the company in the essay, that finance team of Wooden Wonders LTD have recently been reviewing that inventory management system for the company and they have decided that FIFO as a recording method would be successful. In addition, the researcher analyzes that the company is focusing on the methods of minimiseing the costs of ordering and holding inventory. Management of Wooden Wonders Ltd stated their aim to control the extra costs attached with inventory manageme nt. As Wooden Wonders’ customers are department stores from across the UK and Europe, Wood Wooden can run its manufacturing cycle in the light of Just In Time approach. For the purpose of minimising the costs of ordering and holding inventory, the company can use any of the methods that were mentioned in the essay and decide which suits with its economic conditions. It is also concluded that care should be taken before choosing any of the alternatives because any wrong step can directly affect the company’s good will.

ABC Inc. New Hire Case Analysis Essay Example for Free

ABC Inc. New Hire Case Analysis Essay Mr. Carl Robins, recently hired as a recruiter, is tasked with setting up an orientation for a group of new hires he recruited for Operations Supervisor Monica Carrolls. There is a fair amount of preparation work that needs to be completed prior to the orientation: information files and drug screening for each person, company orientation and policy manuals, and a location for the orientation process to happen. In order for the new hires to start work by July, enough time has been allocated for all tasks to be completed and room reservation prior to the orientation class on June 15. Not all of the requirements have been met, and time is short. A plan needs to be developed and implemented to ensure that situations like this are no longer experienced at ABC Inc. See more: Satirical elements in the adventure of Huckleberry Finn essay Background This case study recognizes the problems that Carl Robins is experiencing with getting an orientation class set up, and will focus on those problems that have affected his ability to have the orientation on the projected date. Key Problems One of the key contributors to the issue is that Carl Robins is new to his job, and this is the first class of new hires he is responsible for. According to Top Suggestions on Improving Employee Efficiency (2012), â€Å"It has often been said that a successful business operation, regardless of its size, depends on the effective management of â€Å"people, products, and processes.† (para. 2). The key problems that Monica Carrolls needs to be aware of and have examined before a resolution can be achieved are as follows: †¢ Carl Robins’ interview process †¢ Carl Robins’ time management skills †¢ Training Department’s supply of new hire material †¢Ã‚  Training room reservation process Carl Robins’ Interview Process One of the first things to look at would be to review Carl Robins’ interview process. What does Carl Robins do with the applications before he invites anyone to sit for an interview? Does he verify the prospective new hire’s application for completeness first? Does he require the application to include the prospective new hire’s transcripts when it is submitted to the company for consideration? Carl Robins’ Time Management Skills Something that is very important and every company will consider is whether or not their employees are productive and doing their job as efficiently as possible. They want to make sure they are getting the best employees possible for the money that they pay out to them. Mr. Robins first recruited these new hires in early April. It is now near the end of May with only a couple of weeks before the orientation is supposed to happen. What has Mr. Robins been doing for the last eight weeks that he is just now noticing issues with the new hire’s paperwork? Did he file the applications and forget about them? He was reminded by Ms. Carrolls midway through May, and assured her that it would all be done on time. When he became frustrated about the paperwork, he went for a walk. Why did he not start to make calls to the new hires for the required documentation? Could he not have also started calling everyone to get the drug screening scheduled? Training Department’s Supply of New Hire Material ABC Inc. is a company large enough to have a full-time recruiter on staff. They are, therefore, large enough to have a Training Department, or at a minimum, personnel responsible for the training of new hires. These personnel should also be responsible to maintain the material needed to hand out to the new hires for their orientation to the company. Why were there only three orientation manuals available? Why did those three have pages missing? Who is responsible for the supply of the training material? Training Room Reservation Process Who had the training room reserved first? Is this training room scheduling log just a logbook or a paper calendar written in to reserve the room? If  so, are they using some type of permanent ink to avoid someone erasing a reservation? What kind of controls or supervision is in place to oversee the use of the training room? Alternatives Carl Robins’ Interview Process Because Carl is essentially a new employee, and this is his first class of new personnel, has he been properly trained regarding all of the aspects of his own job? No company wants to have their employees set up for failure. The company could consider having Carl or any new hire follow a veteran employee to get a better understanding of their responsibilities. Starting from the beginning of the hiring process, is Carl Robins following the company’s guidelines and policies regarding the hiring of new personnel? As a recruiter, Carl is not familiar with all of the jobs at ABC Inc., and he should refer any applications to the appropriate department head for an approval regarding the applicant’s qualifications. ABC Inc. should also require that all applications will be complete, and include transcripts before being considered for employment. Carl Robins’ Time Management Skills Time management is a skill that many people need to be taught for it to be effective. From the time that Carl hired the 15 new personnel in early April, nothing has been reported as being accomplished to support the completion of the orientation class. Ms. Carrolls even checked up on him on May 15, to ensure progress was being made. Although there is currently no time before this orientation class, Carl Robins should attend a course on time management. According to Top Suggestions on Improving Employee Efficiency (2012): One of the best things that you can do is to invest in your employees’ capabilities by providing an education and training program through which they can enhance their skills and develop their competences in relation to their tasks within the company. (para. 3) Training Department’s Supply of New Hire Material There are many automated systems that can enhance the logistical aspect of maintaining an inventory of material. For a company that has not already invested in an automated inventory management system, the cost to install a new one can be significant as well as the time it would take to get the  system up and running and employees trained on its use. While orientation manuals are probably not used very often in most companies, having to make an excuse to a new hire why there are not enough of them can lead to the perception by the new hire that the company is not a professional place of business. This can lead to the new employee deciding that they will be better off working somewhere else. â€Å"Cause-and-effect analysis can also help us plan, make decisions, and implement important changes.† (Clouse, 2008, Chapter 11, Cause-and-Effect Analysis). Training Room Reservation Process The process that the training room is reserved is a simple matter to make it better and more reliable. Instead of using a log that any employee can write in or erase data from, have one of the Training Department’s personnel be responsible for the documentation of the reservations. There are also many different methods to automate the process. A simple spreadsheet on a computer that people have the authority to write information to but do not have the authority to delete information from could solve double booking of the room. ABC Inc. could also utilize a conference room, if the company has one, as an alternative to a training room if a double booking occurs. There is also the option of renting a conference room at a local hotel for the orientation class. Many hotels will even cater a lunch if the class is long enough. Proposed Solution Cherry (2012), â€Å"The ultimate goal of problem-solving is to overcome obstacles and find a solution that best resolves the issue.† (para. 1). For the moment, the best resolution to this problem is to postpone the class to the beginning of July. This will allow the new hires the ability to complete their applications and get the required transcripts in to Mr. Robins before the orientation. It will also allow sufficient time for the new hires to complete the required drug screening. The Training Department will be able to replenish the stock of orientation manuals for future classes. Joe, in technology services, will be able to complete his training requirement for the new database software eliminating the double booking of the training room. This will allow ABC Inc. the ability to get through this issue without letting the first impression of the new hires to be one of disorganization. Recommendations It is recommended that after the orientation has been completed Ms Carrolls takes action regarding Carl Robins’ interview and hiring process, and coach him to a better understanding of the company’s policies and needs when it come to new hire training. Reinforce the trust and teamwork ethic ABC Inc. has so that he does not believe he is overwhelmed when a problem presents itself. Offer a time management course for employees so they will be better able to prioritize their tasks and complete them in a more efficient manner. ABC Inc. should also implement a different scheduling process for the training room that provides better accountability. Conclusion When looking at this situation from the outside, there is no company, manager, or employee that wants to do a bad job. When an employer sets up their personnel for success, the company will succeed as a result. Many times the issue at hand is the effect from an underlying cause or multiple causes. This issue has brought to light an opportunity for ABC Inc. to set up its personnel for success and improve some of its processes to operate more efficiently. References Cherry, K. (2012). What Is Problem-Solving?. Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/problemsolving/f/problem-solving-steps.htm Clouse, B.F. (2008). The Student Writer (7th ed.). Retrieved from The University of Phoenix eBook Collection database.. Top Suggestions on Improving Employee Efficiency . (2012). Retrieved from http://www.sixsigmaonline.org/six-sigma-training-certification-information/top- suggestions-on-improving-employee-efficiency-.html

Parasite-Induced Changes in Host Behaviour

Parasite-Induced Changes in Host Behaviour Parasite-Induced Changes in Host Behaviour: Is it Truly Parasitic Manipulation? Introduction Behavioural changes in the host when infected with a parasite were first observed in 1952, when van Dobben discovered that fish caught by cormorants (waterbird) were more likely to play intermediate host to the cestode, Ligula intestinalis than fish caught by fishermen (cited in Thomas et al., 2005). However it wasn’t until 1972 that the ability of parasites to manipulate their host’s behaviour in order to facilitate their transmission was discovered and demonstrated by Holmes and Bethel (cited in Poulin, 2000). They showed that infection of the parasite, Polymorphus paraoxus caused the amphipod, Gammaeras lacustris to display abnormal behaviours that led to an increase in its predation by ducks, the definitive host of the parasite. Since then there has been considerable research carried out in this area supporting the idea that parasites have adapted in order to manipulate their host, with a large number of parasites now known to cause changes to their hosts behaviour. There is a wide array of influenced behaviours from anti-predator behaviour e.g. mice infected with the tapeworm, Taenia crassiceots show no stress response to predation (Wheat, 2009); to reproductive behaviour e.g. female mice infected with the nematode, Trinchinella spiralis show inhibition of their sexual behaviours, limiting possible mate response (Kavaliers et al., 2000). In a few cases completely new behaviours in infected hosts have been observed, for example orb-weaving spiders infected by a parasitic wasp build unusual webs that are designed to protect the emerging larva once the host spider dies (Eberhard, 2010). More recently, the idea of parasitic manipulation has come under criticism, due to the lack of supporting evidence demonstrating that these behavioural changes provide parasites with a fitness benefit (a prerequisite of an adaptive trait), either in the form of increased transmission or survival (Poulin, 1998) and has therefore been suggested that the observed ch anges may just be an inevitable consequence of infection, or in some cases mediated by the host itself in order to counteract the negative fitness effects of parasitic infection. Understanding the origin of these behavioural changes is of great importance as there are many manipulative parasites that have implications for human health, such as malaria which alters the behaviour in the mosquito in order to increase transmission to humans (Lynch et al., 2014) and Toxoplasma gondii which can alter the personality of infected individuals (Worth et al., 2014). Manipulative parasites are also seen as playing as important a role as predation in shaping biological communities, even having an influence on non-host species (Hatcher et al., 2014). Adaptive vs. Non-adaptive Behavioural Change The argument that some of the previously observed behavioural changes of the host during parasitic infection are non-adaptive and just a consequence of infection generally refers to three different kinds of phenomena (Thomas et al., 2005). The first is the idea that the behavioural changes are just a side-effect of parasitic infection and confer no adaptive value for either the parasite or its host. However this is a questionable explanation as it is highly unlikely that any such change in behaviour will not provide a positive effect for either organism. Therefore this explanation should only be used if there is strong supporting evidence and not used as a default explanation, for example the parasitic cestode, Hymenolepis diminuta was shown to cause reduced fecundity in females of the beetle intermediate host, Tenebrio molitor and was seen as a side-effect, until further research discovered that the parasite produced a substance that inhibited vitellogenin uptake (Moore, 2012). Seco ndly some behavioural changes may be considered beneficial to the parasite, but are not due to manipulation by the parasite in order to do so, for example when the parasite Ligula intestinalis infects the Roach (Rutilus rutilus) a change in host migration to areas where predation by the parasites definitive host, ichtyopahgous predatory birds, are more common is observed (Loot et al., 2001). However it was found that these areas are more productive and it is therefore more likely that the increased energy demands caused by the parasitic infection had caused the Roach to migrate to these areas in order to negate this negative effect of the parasitic infection and increase its own fitness. Thirdly other adaptations by the parasite may have coincidentally caused behavioural changes in the host which unintentionally led to an increase in the transmission of the parasite to its definitive host, for example Fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas) are commonly infected by the trematode, Orni thodiplostomum ptychocheilus which caused a reduction in behaviours associated with host vision by the encystment of the parasite in the optic lobes, which leads to an increase in its predation by piscivorous birds. However this encystment in the eye may originally been favored by selection as it offers the parasite protection from the host’s immune system and not because it increased the transmission of the parasite to its definitive host (Shirakashi and Goater, 2005) On the other hand the argument for the adaptive nature of behavioural changes of the host during parasite infection is normally supported by the idea that it should show some degree of specificity in the intermediate host, for example P. laevis induces various behavioural and physiological changes in the crustacean amphipod, Gammarus pulex, such as altered drifting behaviour, altered anti-predator behaviour, partial castration and lower immune activity. These changes are not observed in Gammarus roeseli a closely related species, showing that the alterations by the parasite are specific to Gammarus pulex (Lagrue et al., 2007) Examinations on the effect of the acanthocephalan parasite, Moniliformis moniliformis on the behaviour of different species of cockroaches by Moore and Gotelli found that different behavioural changes had evolved for different species of cockroach supporting the adaptive nature of the host behavioural change (cited in Poulin, 1998). Indirect methods have also be en used to demonstrate the adaptive nature of altered behaviours in the host by determining whether the timing of observed behavioural changes coincide with the period when the parasite is infective to its next host. For example Tribolium confusum beetles infected with the nematode, Protospirura muricola only show observable changes in the behaviour of the beetles that make them more vulnerable to predation when the parasite has developed to the third larval stage. No behavioural change is observed in beetles home to the first and second larval stage. (Schutgens et al., 2013) Behaviour as a Form of Host Defense Not all changes in behaviour can be attributed to the manipulation of the host by the parasite as they do not benefit the parasite. The host is under selection to avoid parasites, and when possible to compensate for the negative effects of infection. Behaviour is often used in order to achieve this and is the first line of defence against parasites as it allows animals to avoid becoming infected in the first place (Moore, 2012). Animals may avoid infection by parasite propagules through behavioural means such as territoriality, site-specific defecation and mate selection. More drastic measures may be taken when trying to avoid ectoparasites, including migration, shifting habitats and lethal combat e.g. howler monkeys invest a significant proportion of their energy to slap at flies, and execute over 1500 slaps in a 12 hour resting period. Once a host becomes infected with a parasite, its behaviour will also be altered in order to minimise damage caused by the parasite. For example ani mals display sickness behaviours e.g. fever and behavioural chills, which may help in obtaining the benefit of increased care from other members of a group/population. Some animals, for example Chimpanzees, show self-medicating behaviour in which infected animals may consume medicinal plants that are not part of their usual diet. It is also possible in some cases that both parasite and host are shown to benefit from a change in host behaviour, in these cases it can be difficult to determine which organism is responsible for change, or whether it is a shared adaptation, for example caterpillars of several butterfly species play host to braconid wasp parasitoids and unlike non-parasitised individuals they perch at the top of high branches. It has been suggested this benefits the host by making itself more likely to eaten by a predator, killing both the parasitoid and host, but protecting its nearby relatives from the parasite. However it may also help the parasite by reducing the risk of hyperparasitism and therefore increasing its chance of survival. (Poulin, 1998). Conclusion Up to this point mainly laboratory based studies have been carried out in order to assess host behavioural changes due to parasite infection. Future research into the area needs to include field based studies in order to fully assess these changes in the natural environment. Currently very little is known about the molecular and genetic mechanisms underlying these changes. Therefore the basis as to how parasites cause these behavioural changes in there host is an area that needs to be addressed in order for these behavioural changes to ever be fully understood. Word Count: 1490 References Thomas, F., Adamo, S. and Moore, J. 2005. Parasitic manipulation: where are we and where should we go? Behavioural Processes, 68: 185-199 Poulin, R. 2000. Manipulation of host behaviour by parasites: a weakening paradigm? Proceedings of the Royal Society Biological Sciences, 267 (1445): 787-792 Wheat, S. E. B. 2009. Parasitic manipulation: The current state and future direction. University of Sheffield, Department of Animal and Plant Sciences Kavaliers, M., Colwell, D. D. and Choleris, E. 2000. Parasites and behaviour: An ethopharmacological perspective. Parasitology Today. 16 (11): 464-468 Eberhard, G. W. 2010. New types of behavioural manipulation of host spiders by a parasitoid wasp. Psyche: A Journal of Entomology. 2010: 1-4 Poulin, R. 1998. Evolution and phylogeny of behavioural manipulation of insect hosts by parasites. Parasitology. 116: S3-S11 Cator, L. J., Lynch, P. A., Thomas, M. B. and Read, A. F. 2014. Alterations in mosquito behaviour by malaria parasites: potential impact on force of infection. Malaria Journal. 13(164) Worth, A. R., Lymbery, A. J. and Thompson, R. C. A. 2013. Adaptive host manipulation by Toxoplasma gondii: fact or fiction? Trends in Parasitology. 29(4): 150-155 Hatcher, M. J., Dick, J. T. A. and Dunn, A. M. 2014. Parasites that change predator or prey behaviour can have keystone effects on community composition. Biology Letters. 10: 20130879 Moore, J. 2012. An overview of parasite-induced behavioural alterations – and some lessons from bats. The Journal of Experimental Biology. 216: 11-17 Loot, G., Brosse, S., Lek, S. and Guegan, J. F. 2001. Behaviour of roach (Rutilus rutilus L.) altered by Ligula intestinalis (Cestoda: Pseudophyllidea: a field demonstration. Freshwater Biology. 46: 1219-1227 Shirakashi, S. and Goater, C. P. 2005. Chronology of parasite-induced alteration of fish behaviour; effects of parasite maturation and host experience. Parasitology. 130: 177-183 Lagrue, C., Kaldonski, N., Perrot-Minnot, M. J., Motreuil, S. and Bollache, L. 2007. Modification of hosts’ behaviour by a parasite: field evidence for adaptive manipulation. Ecology. 88(11): 2839-2847 Schutgens, M., Cook, B., Gilbert, F. and Behnke, J. M. 2013. Behavioural changes in the flour beetle Tribolium confusum infected with the spirurid nematode Protospirura muricola. Journal of Helminthology. 1-12

Generation of Extreme Ultraviolet Radiation

Generation of Extreme Ultraviolet Radiation Generation of Extreme Ultraviolet Radiation from Intense Laser-Plasma Interactions using Two-Colour Harmonics BRIEF HISTORY Over the past few decades breakthroughs in the production of intense laser fields have meant that multi-terawatt and even petawatt systems are now standard in laboratories**. This has been achieved through reduction of the pulse duration, originally from nanosecond pulses down to femtosecond and recently reaching attosecond levels (1as =10-18s)**. This coupled with important improvements to systems, such as the chirped pulse amplification technique (CPA)**, has allowed laser pulses to be amplified to higher peak powers than ever before and used in laser-matter interactions. The resulting scientific drive from developments such as these pushed achievable laser intensities from 109W/cm2 to the 1014W/cm2, at which the interaction between these high intensity lasers and dense electron-free gas was studied**. Only recently thanks to advances in both laser performance and computer simulation tools has study on laser-plasma interactions in the generation of HHG made progress, providing the possibility to generate sources of incoherent electromagnetic radiation of short wavelength and pulse durations**. As further study was carried out on the interaction of light with relativistic free electrons in plasma, it has reached a point now in which generation of high-harmonics of the fundamental laser, soft and hard x-rays, and shorter pulse duration (1as) lasers of intensities reaching 1018W/cm2 are now possible**. Due to this the generation of high-order-harmonics from high-intensity laser interactions has been a major area of attoscience research within the last decade. HHG PRODUCTION High harmonic generation (HHG) refers to the process in which a high intensity laser pulse is focused onto a target, classically a noble gas, in which strong nonlinear interactions result in the generation of very high harmonics of the optical frequency of the pulse**. This will occur for intensities of 1014W/cm2 and above, where typically only a small amount of this energy is converted into the higher harmonics. From these high-harmonics, spatially and temporally coherent attosecond pulses of extreme ultraviolet light can be generated, which can then be used as a reliable source of highly tuneable short wavelength radiation in many different applications e.g. x-ray spectroscopy**. In the case of high intensity laser-gas interactions this is achieved by tailoring the intensity of the laser pulse so that its electric field amplitude is similar to the electric field in the target atoms**. From this the lasers electric field is able to remove electrons from the atoms through tunnel ionisation, at which point the electrons are accelerated in the field and, with certain conditions controlled, are made to collide with the newly created ion upon recombination. The resulting collision generates the emission of high energy photons**, as shown in fig 1. Fig. 1: HHG three step model. This is known as the three step model; electron is detached from atom through tunnel ionisation, then accelerated within the field away from atom, then accelerated back towards atom where it collides and recombines, from this collision all the energy lost appears as emitted HHG ultraviolet photons. HHG from laser-gas interactions have been used extensively to generate attosecond pulses but is limited in flux and photon energy by low conversion efficiencies between the driving laser energy and the attosecond pulses, this can be attributed to two key factors; loss of phase matching between the driving laser to the generated extreme ultraviolet (XUV) radiation as its propagated through the gas over a relatively large distance, and a restriction on the intensity of the driving laser due to the ionisation threshold of the target gas, this saturation intensity is roughly 1016W/cm2**. Meaning laser intensities above this threshold limit will over-ionise the gas leaving no neutral atoms left to generate the XUV harmonics. The use of laser-solid interaction offers the opportunity of reaching much higher attosecond pulse intensities and generation efficiencies beyond the capabilities of gas based HHG**. The method of generating high-harmonics in laser-solid interactions is fundamentally different than that of laser-gas interactions. Interaction of intense ultrashort laser pulses (of pulse duration around a few femtoseconds) on an optically polished solid surface results in the target surface being completely ionised, generating a dense plasma which will act as a mirror, called a plasma mirror**. The reflection of these high intensity laser pulses will be affected by a wave motion set-up in the electrons within the plasma surface causing it to distort the reflected laser field, resulting in the production of upshifted light pulses and the generation of high-order harmonics**. Due to the coherent nature of this process, these generated harmonics are phase-locked and emerge as attosecond pulse. Fig. 2 Laser pulse moving towards overdense plasma. A key property of this plasma is its electron density, this determines whether the laser is reflected, absorbed or not allowed to pass through. This is known as the density gradient scale length, as the laser pulse interacts with the target and forms a plasma it creates a profile that extends out into the vacuum, forming a plasma density profile. This is a critical factor in HHG and consists of two regions: Overdense scale length, Lod If the electron density is equal to the critical density of the target or above, extending up to the maximum target density, the laser pulse is unable to penetrate through the target and is so reflected or absorbed. Underdense scale length, Lud If the electron density is below this critical density the laser will penetrate through, with some absorption. Fig. 3 Plasma density profile, Lud is underdense region, Lod is overdense region. The critical density is determined from: Where is the angular frequency of the laser. As stated before the target surface is highly ionised by the leading edge of the laser pulse, known as the pre-pulse, therefore becoming rapidly over-dense and creating a plasma mirror of sufficient electron density, ne>nc**. HHG within plasma requires laser intensities >1015W/cm2 for 800nm field**, which is usually stated in terms of a normalised vector potential of a ­0, where: In which; e and m are electron charge and electron mass respectively. c is speed of light in vacuum. E is the amplitude of the lasers electric field. I is the lasers intensity. à Ã¢â‚¬ °l is the laser frequency and ÃŽÂ »l is the laser wavelength. Therefore HHG in plasma requires at least an a0à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¥0.03. Recently is was discovered** that there are two mechanisms that lead to HHG from solid density plasma surfaces; Relativistic oscillating mirror (ROM) Coherent wake emission (CWE) These two process result in different distortions to the reflected laser field and therefore a completely different harmonic spectra produced. CWE Coherent wake emission is a process of three steps; Electrons on the surface of the plasma are drawn into the vacuum by the laser field and accelerated back into the dense plasma once they have gained energy from the driving laser field. When propagating within the dense plasma these fast electrons form ultrashort bunches, creating plasma oscillations in their wake. Within the non-uniform region of the plasma (produced from the density gradient between the plasma-vacuum boundary) the electron oscillations will radiate energy in the form of light of various local plasma frequencies found within this gradient. This process will occur once for every laser cycle therefore the spectrum of the emitted light will consist of harmonics of the laser frequency, in which CWE harmonic spectra have a cutoff at the maximum plasma frequency à Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­pmax **. This mechanism is predominant at moderately relativistic intensities of a0à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ¤1, and short but finite plasma gradient lengths of **. Coherent wake emission has only recently been identified as a factor in HHG in laser-solid interactions but it is known that it along with ROM contributes to the generation of high-harmonic orders below à Ã¢â‚¬ °Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­pmax and the strength of their respective influence below this threshold is determined by laser intensity**. ROM The other mechanism involved in the generation of high-harmonics from laser-plasma interactions is the relativistic oscillating mirror process, this dominates for relativistic normalised vector potentials of a0>>1, although recent studies have shown that ROM harmonics can be observed even at lower intensities when the plasma gradient length is about **. ROM process occurs when surface electrons in the plasma are oscillated collectively by the high intensity incident laser field to relativistic speeds, the plasma will reflect what it observes as a laser pulse of frequency à Ã¢â‚¬ °+. This à Ã¢â‚¬ °+ frequency is a higher upshifted frequency of the fundamental pulse due to a Doppler effect produced from the relative motion of the laser field to the moving reflection point on the oscillating plasma surface. The actual reflected laser pulse will have a frequency of à Ã¢â‚¬ °++ due to a second Doppler upshift effect as it moves towards an observer/target. This is known as Einsteins relativistic Doppler effect, in which the reflected pulse frequency is upshifted by a factor of 4ÃŽÂ ³2**. Fig 4. Schematic of a relativistic oscillating critical density plasma interaction. From past research it has been found that from this mechanism a power-law decay scaling of I(n)ROMn-8/3 is dominant (where n is the harmonic order) in the harmonic spectrum for harmonic orders above the CWE cut-off point, nCWE,** this is the harmonic order related to the maximum plasma frequency of the target, à Ã¢â‚¬ °pmax, mentioned previously. Where: nCWE = nà Ã¢â‚¬ °max = à Ã¢â‚¬ °pmax/à Ã¢â‚¬ °l = In which; à Ã¢â‚¬ °l is the frequency of the laser, is the maximum electron density of the target, Nc is the critical density shown previously. From this process initial femtosecond pulses can be used to create attosecond pulses. When coupled to a relativistic oscillating mirror it adds an oscillatory extension to Einsteins relativistic Doppler effect, so due to the periodic motion of the mirror to the laser field and the double Doppler upshifts this results in the production of extreme ultraviolet (XUV) harmonics**. These ultra-short pulses have been the focus of much scientific research recently as they offer a promising way to resolve in the time domain the ultrafast dynamics of electrons within materials**. Although the relativistic oscillating mirror process is more suited as a macroscopic model for the effective reflection point of the laser field. It assumes that the surface electrons bunch together as the target is ionised and move out into the vacuum to form the plasma where they remain in the overdense region ensuring that the laser field is completely reflected. More recently studies have discovered there is another mechanism in the relativistic regime that can contribute to the harmonic spectrum via a different process entirely. CSE This other process is known as Coherent synchrotron emission (CSE)** and is needed to explain observations that do not fit the previous two models, in which dense electron nanobunches are created at the plasma-vacuum boundary where they produce coherent XUV radiation through coherent synchrotron emission. This is a microscopic model of HHG in laser-solid interactions. It models the electrons in the plasma moving, in dense bunches, under the influence of the incident laser field and subsequent fields produced from the movement of charges within the plasma. These nanobunches are periodically formed and coherently accelerated through an instantaneously synchrotron-like orbit during each laser cycle, for oblique laser incidences. As certain conditions, such as ultrashort plasma density scale length, are met these bunches emit bursts of sub-femtosecond intense high-frequency radiation. This radiation has properties dependent on the electron trajectories and it has been shown that it can b e modelled as synchrotron radiation**, therefore the coherent XUV emissions are distinctly different from that produced in ROM from relativistic Doppler upshifts. In reality actual electron dynamics may be a mix of CSE and ROM, but due to the complex nature of the changing fields within a plasma it makes it impossible to analytically model with accuracy. Therefore requiring the use of computer simulations to deal with the electron trajectories and their respective radiation emissions. PREVIOUS EXPERIMENTS Based on the work of Edwards et al, 2014, in which the study of attosecond XUV pulse generation from relativistic driven overdense plasma targets with two-colour incident light was performed they used 1D, three velocity, particle-in-cell (PIC) code simulations, which treat oblique incidence with boosted frames, to show how pulse intensity can be improved. They converted a small amount (~5%) of the fundamental laser field energy to an additional laser operating at the second harmonic of the fundamental frequency, to significantly enhance the intensity of the generated attosecond pulses by multiple orders of magnitude. This was based on previous work in which mixing of the fundamental driving laser frequency with the second harmonic was performed on laser-gas interactions to increase the attosecond pulse intensity and isolation (K. J. Schafer et al, 1992). Edwards demonstrated that a significant improvement was also possible through this mixing method in laser-solid interactions following the Similarity theory (proposed by Gordienko and Pukhov,**), that suggests the behaviour of laser-plasma interactions follow a similarity parameter of: 1/S = a0/N à Ã¢â‚¬ °l Where S = ne/a0nc, is a similarity parameter and N = ne/nc which is the ratio of electron density of the plasma to its critical density. Therefore from this it would appear that by doubling à Ã¢â‚¬ °l while using the same laser field amplitude the reflected attosecond pulse intensity would also be increase by a factor of two. One of the main limiting parameters in these experiments is the achievable value of a0, while the largest solid material value of N (lithium at ÃŽÂ »=800nm) is 75, so this type of frequency doubling appears to be a promising pathway to optimising attosecond pulse intensity, although a drawback of this is the negative effect it has on the isolation of the reflected pulses. Therefore they stated that a two-colour method, of partially converting a portion of the fundamental laser field energy to the second harmonic, would be a more attractive alternative. Through this process the advantages of using a higher incident frequency, by increasing the gradient of the electric field at certain points within the pulse generation cycle, without the related decrease in pulse isolation and loss of energy associated to simple frequency doubling can be exploited. In their study they used a normal-incidence beam on a step-like plasma density profile using a mix of the first and second harmonic with a phase difference of to produce harmonics with a higher intensity than either incident field individually. They demonstrate substantial gains after the addition of a small amount of the second harmonic to achieve attosecond pulse enhancement of factors >10. As well as a 10-fold enhancement when using density gradients of 0.05ÃŽÂ » and 0.15ÃŽÂ » with conversions of the fundamental to the second harmonic of 5%-10% at an angle of incidence of à Ã‚ ´=30o. Therefore Edwards was able to go on and state that the relative phase of the two incident harmonics were a critical factor in the improvement in attosecond pulse intensity. This is due to the difference in the driving electric field waveform and corresponding resultant electron motion as is varied. Where they linked the strongest attosecond pulse intensities with sharp transitions in the driving electric field that are aided by the addition of the second harmonic at optimum phases, while phases that break the driving field transition reduce the attosecond intensities to levels sometimes substantially below what could be achieved pre-mixing of the harmonics. Therefore when harmonics are combined without thought to their phases they do not always improve the attosecond strength. Further detail into the trajectories of dense electron bunches, which emit synchrotron like radiation (CSE) was given to help explain this effect, where supressed pulse electrons were shown to follow a longer and slower motion before being accelerated and subsequently emitting, resulting in longer elongated trajectories. Whereas electrons that contribute to the improvement of the attosecond pulse strength are shown to experience a larger field before and during emission. This meant their velocity and acceleration components were larger than the suppressed electrons, giving them more energy as it is driven back into the plasma. Overall they state that the larger the electric field experienced by the electrons increases the intensity of the reflected attosecond pulse, due to the number of electrons travelling in a dense bunch increasing as this larger field that the electrons near the surface experience compresses them into higher density bunches. Another study performed by Yeung et al, 2016, focused on controlling the attosecond motion of strongly driven electrons at the boundary between the pre-formed plasma and the vacuum. They demonstrated experimentally that by precisely adding an additional laser field, at the second harmonic of the fundamental driving frequency, attosecond control over the trajectories of the dense electron bunches involved in intense laser-plasma interactions can be achieved. From this considerable improvements in the high-harmonic generation intensity was observed, which confirms the theoretical work by Edwards in two-colour fields reviewed previously while developing upon this to further factors. Experimentally they showed that attosecond control over the phase relationship of the two driving fields is necessary to optimise the reflected attosecond pulse intensity. While also using PIC simulations to determine the optimal and worst phase relationships, in which a phase of was found to optimise the emission. Microscopic focus determined that during each cycle the emission of the attosecond pulse begins as a primary electron bunch which is compressed and then quickly accelerated away from the surface up to relativistic velocities, from here it emits before it disperses and returns back to the plasma. Secondary bunches are also present but these were found not to have a significant effect harmonic spectrum for orders >20. These bunches were found to emit when their velocities where at their max, which confirmed that the two-colour field phase matched the emitted XUV to the acceleration produced from the fundamental laser field. While at the poorest phase relationship, which Yeung found to be , a plateau in the driving laser field is created which impedes the acceleration of the electrons from the surface, therefore reducing the density of the electron bunch produced that can emit. They concluded from the data provided by the simulations that control of the relative phase of the two colour driving fields has a significant effect the electron bunch dynamics. While from the experimental data their collected it was demonstrated that the HHG produced from the two-colour field was increased substantially when no laser pre-pulse was involved, or equivalently when the plasma has shorter density scale length. Confirming the work of Edwards et al, 2014, that two-colour fields generate significantly more higher-harmonic orders than that of a fundamental field alone, even when only a small percentage (5%-10%) of the fundamental laser energy is converted to the second harmonic. INTRODUCTION TO TWO-COLOUR HARMONICS - ABSTRACT BRIEF SUMMARY OF EXPERIMENT, RESULTS AND CONCLUSION 1x INTRODUCTION BRIEF HISTORY .5x HHG PRODUCTION .5x CWE 1x ROM 2x (inc. plasma theory e.g. scale length) CSE 1x COMPARISON WITH GAS EXPERIMENTS 1x PAST EXPERIMENTS LEADING UP TO THIS ONE 2x INTRODUCTION INTO SPECIFICS OF THIS EXPERIMENT 1x METHOD PIC CODES EXPLAINED 2x EPOCH DETAILS 1x LASER DETAILS 1x PROCESS OF ANALYSIS .5x CREATION OF GRAPHS .5x RESULTS GRAPHS COMPARE CONTRAST IMPLICATIONS CONCLUSION FURUTRE RESEARCH 1x IMPROVEMENTS 1x         

Leadership Traits in Europe, Russia, and Japan Essay -- Cross-cultural

Leadership has meaning only in an organizational context, and only in the sense of managing within a system of inequalities. Superior-subordinate relationships help to define leadership behavior, and the culture in any particular society influences the nature of these relationships. Two leadership roles are common to all societies, however. The first is the Charismatic role, or the capability to provide vision and inspiration. This is emphasized by transformational leadership concepts. The second is the instrumental role, or the capability to design effective organizational processes, control activities, and meet organizational objectives. This describes the functional expectations of someone is a leadership role. However, each society determines the relative importance of each role and therefore what makes a good leader. Cross-cultural research has identified a pattern of characteristics common to effective leaders in these two roles, but these commonalities do not constitute shared traits. They include:  · Conscientiousness Dependability, achievement orientation, and perseverance within the scope of one’s responsibilities  · Extroversion Open, accessible attitude, as opposed to remaining insulated from group activities  · Dominance Appropriate use of authority in a system of inequalities  · Self-confidence Comfort in one’s own skills and abilities for managing Recent research has also suggested that regardless of cultural contingencies, effective leaders tend to display intelligence, energy, emotional stability, and openness to experience. In the international context, this last characteristic encourages cultural sensitivity without ethnocentric imposition. Each society assigns unique meanings for most of these characteristics, and consequently their importance varies in all societies. For example, Mainland Chinese people agree with those in the United States that perseverance is an essential attribute of a conscientious manager, but the two societies do not interpret achievement in the same way; unlike Americans the Chinese ascribe little value to individual success. Other terms, such a dominance, carry value-loaded and controversial meanings, but the root meaning of accepting the mantle of leadership is worldwide. In confronting such shared attitudes, researchers have focused on how leadership roles vary across cultures a... ...ions and a growing number of foreign enterprises do business in Japan. As a consequence, observers, believe that Japan is on the brink of major changes in its management systems. They emphasize that traditions of insular relationships and company solidarity worked extremely well in a rapidly expanding economy, but today’s slower growth requires the country’s businesses to adjust to international management practices to retain their competitive strength. Consequently, industry leaders are beginning to realize the need to abandon practices that depend on homogenous companies and culture-bound commitments to the organization. A growing group of observers expects that Japanese companies will relinquish centralized control of overseas posts, and that firms will scale down large headquarters staff. Some companies have begun to adapt U.S. management techniques that reward individuals on merit; some also accept the idea of employee mobility and hire outside talent. In effec t, some evidence indicates reconciliation of Western management practices, but change is likely to be slow, and it is unlikely to affect enterprises in Japan as much as Japanese firms` activities in foreign countries.

Edmund Burke and Thomas Paines Views on the French Revolution Essay

Edmund Burke and Thomas Paine's Views on the French Revolution Edmund Burke and Thomas Paine were two of the several strongly-opinionated individuals writing back-and-forth in response to what the others were saying about the French Revolution. Burke, a critic, writes first. Paine, a supporter, responds. In the excerpt from "Reflections on the Revolution in France", Burke argues in favor of King Louis XVI and his wife, Marie Antoinette. When Marie was murdered, Burke says, â€Å"As a man, it became him to feel for his wife and his children, and the faithful guards of his person, that were massacred in cold blood about him; as a prince, it became him to feel for the strange and frightful transformation of his civilized subjects, and to be more grieved for them, than solicitous for himself. It derogates little from his fortitude, while it adds infinitely to the honor of his humanity.† Burke also argues against the rising ignorance among the people. He emphasizes the importance of education and the keeping of tradition. He says â€Å"the age of chivalry is gone,† and if this...

Price and Rubbermaid

Abdul Javeed Sociology 300 February 14, 2010 Wal-Mart analysis Wal-Mart can be analyzed using both Structural Function and Social Conflict theory. Structural function theory believes that society is a complex system of interconnected and interrelated social structures each having a function and working together to promote social stability. There is an inherent tendency to balance and equilibrium. The following three points define why Wal-Mart can be analyzed using Structural function theory: They keep their prices low but make profits on high volume and fast turnover. Wal-Mart is most admired for its reputation in cost cutting and low prices. Wal-Mart is known to have very low and cheap prices for their products. It stops the need to go look for a bargain at other stores because we know that we won’t find a better deal elsewhere. This way we not only save money but time and gas too. Driving around to different stores to buy all the products is time and gas consuming. Low cost imports from Asia were vital components for Wal-Mart’s low opening price point strategy. Social Conflict theory believes that society is not integrated but actually full of unequal divisions. It has scarce and limited social resources PWP. It is in constant competition for them and conflict Is the result. Thus the emerging social structures benefit some in obtaining or retaining PWP at the expense of others. The following three points define why Wal-Mart can also be analyzed using Social Conflict theory: America’s best known brand Rubbermaid, maker of plastic containers, garbage bins was virtually in every home in one way or another. Rubbermaid supplied to big chains like Wal-Mart. Rubbermaid was struggling to maintain its ambitious growth targets. Then suddenly the material cost for Rubbermaid increased and hence they had to increase the price of their products. Some retailers agreed with the price increase but Wal-Mart did not. So it was the first signs of declines for Rubbermaid. Wal-Mart pullback was a blow to Rubbermaid and later its plant closed. Close to 1000 jobs were lost at Rubbermaid. Rubbermaid with its reputation of quality was most admired. Wal-Mart with its reputation for cost cutting was most admired. Hence Wal-Mart used its PWP to control Rubbermaid and indirectly let it shutdown. It had power over Rubbermaid and forced it to lower its costs. Rubbermaid couldn’t do it and so Wal-Mart stopped doing business with them, and so Rubbermaid shutdown. Wal-Mart used its PWP and by this a proud American Company was shutdown and many lost jobs. Impact of Chinese export boom has been felt all over USA. Wal-Mart used it PWP to indirectly shutdown a company called Thomson Consumer Electronics which was an American Television Manufacturer. Thomson stated to see a sharp foreign competition; they saw Chinese products being sold at a price that most American manufacturers couldn’t manufacture at. Five electronics sued the Chinese TV manufacturer but was stunned to see that Wal-Marttook the side of Chinese manufacturer. But Thomson plant shutdown and lot of people lost their jobs due to Chinese competition. Wal-Mart used its PWP and was bringing in cheap Chinese imports and so caused American manufacturer hard to keep in competition.

Favorite Trip

Topic #12 I have visited many places in my lifetime, from as far east as Florida to the topics of Kauai. There were two places during my travels that have stuck out to me the most though. Visiting Mason City, Illinois, a little town of twenty-two hundred people and visiting family in Beverly Hills, California, there are bound to be some differences but also, some similarities on the subject. The majority of people in the United States, even internationally, know what Beverly Hills is.It is the place to be for amazing shopping, fancy cars, big houses, and the place to go to see celebrities. This little town in Southern California is very materialistic. When visiting, I almost felt as though I had to dress and act like these people just to fit into their society. Now, Mason City is my kind of vacation. Back in the country, life really does move slower and it is much simpler. What you wear and what you look like do not matter.The older and more broke down your truck is, the better off y ou are for mud bogging and road tripping to surrounding towns and the creeks. Everybody knows everybody and where each other live. In Beverly Hills, there are a wide variety of job professions. You could be virtually anything your heart desired, from being a banker to being a personal assistant to someone famous. The work that they do in California is on the opposite end of the spectrum compared to the work they do in Illinois.In Mason City, you either works on some kind of a farm, be it a pig farm or a corn farm, or you work for the local HULL Trucking Company. Obviously, there are other professions there otherwise there would be no local businesses or education, etc. That is virtually impossible. The job choices in both places are ways that people make their livings and contribute to our society. Beverly Hills is an urban jungle, full of high rises and the lovely smell of a big city. There are loud noises and a lot of vehicle and foot traffic through its winding streets and hills. I’m pretty sure that the drivers of these fancy vehicles on these winding streets make up their own rules of the road, almost like they are more obligated than others. In M. C. there is one road in and out of the town, Highway 65. There are not even any traffic lights, and only a few stop signs. Most roads there only require you to yield and make sure there is no one coming. People that are from Central and Southern Illinois say that Chicago and its surrounding suburbs should be considered an entirely different state. I believe that this is true.Central Illinois is rolling plains and a horizon as far as the eye can see. The smell of fresh air and the surroundings, make it an absolutely beautiful place to visit or to even live. Illinois is probably where I will end up some day, owning a farm and lots of animals. It was and still is my favorite place to visit in the United States. But, having been visiting California all of my life, it has a special place in my heart. These pla ces are polar opposites in every way imaginable. I like being able to visit different ways of life.