Thursday, October 31, 2019

Krean kimchi culture research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Krean kimchi culture - Research Paper Example This is why kimchi is a special dish for them. In America and in other parts of the world, the dish has gained quite a following. By conducting research on my Korean friends, I discovered that kimchi as a culture is getting popular no matter in Korea or America. This is not only because of its tastes, healthy ingredients, nutritional value and its history, but also because it represents the spirit of the Korean people and culture. The world now is full of health products. Their manufacturers say the products will help clean people’s bodies, prevent diseases or sicknesses or help people live longer. Some of these products are supposedly organic while some come in the form of capsules or tablets that are made from chemicals. I find this fact ironic because I do not think chemicals can be good for the body. As for eating organic food, I have yet to appreciate the taste because sometimes it can be very unfamiliar to the taste buds. Hanging out with several friends from Korea, I found out that Koreans do not care for organic food or food supplements because they have their own â€Å"health dish†. This is what they call kimchi. I was further intrigued by kimchi when I discovered that it was being enjoyed around the world by non-Koreans, too. Health enthusiasts around the world have found out that the ingredients in the dish bring a lot of nutrition to one’s body. To find out more about this Kor ean delicacy, I conducted some research and personally interviewed some of my Korean friends. This paper is a collection of my friends’ experiences about kimchi. A non-American living in the United States cannot avoid eating fast food. The country is known for its McDonald’s, Burger Kings and iHops. These chains make eating convenient for the busy people in the country, foreigner or not. Koreans are no exception. However, since the K There are various kinds of Kimchi according to what main

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 13

Finance - Essay Example discounted payback period, accounting rate of return, net present value, internal rate of return, modified rate of return and profitability index (Shapiro & Balbirer, 2003, pp.242). However, I find Net Present Value (NPV) as the most reliable capital budgeting technique. I will support my point by providing a thorough comparative analysis of NPV with the four most common techniques, accounting rate of return, payback period and internal rate of return. Each method is explained with the help of numerical examples found in the Appendix. Net Present Value is a technique which takes into account the time value of money. NPV for a project is calculated by finding out the present value (PV) of all the future cash flows, which the investment in the project is expected to generate. The PV of future cash flows is found by discounting them at the expected rate of return or cost of capital. Then, sum of the PV of all cash flows is compared with the cost of investment (Hampton, 1998, pp. 328). The selection criterion of a project is that, if the PV of future cash flows is greater than the initial cost of investment, the project should be selected. In other words, NPV tells us the present worth of cash flows which would be generated by the project in future; hence, if the initial investment that we make today is less that the expected cash flows present value, it means we will cover our cost, only then it will be wise to select a project. The formula to calculate NPV is sum of present values of future cash flows minus initial investment cost. A rule says that any project which has NPV greater than $0 should be selected, however, in case of mutually exclusive projects; where you have to choose one out of all the alternatives, choose the one which shows a higher NPV. The following paragraphs will carry out an in-depth analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of using this technique, so that we can have a clearer idea about situations when it can highly aid investment

Sunday, October 27, 2019

The main aim and focus in psychodynamic psychotherapy

The main aim and focus in psychodynamic psychotherapy The main focus of psychodynamic psychotherapy is to help individuals make sense of current problems and view how their past has/might/will/ have affected the current situation that would have brought them to counseling. Psychodynamic views the person as a whole thus mind, body, soul in order to recognize the relationships between these dimensions which make up the person. These internal relationships are dynamic, always changing as they form an individual. Psychodynamic psychotherapy helps review experiences and feelings that can only be understood in relation to a clients past. This is inturn helps reflects possibilities which might have led to the current problem or situations and hence counselor and client will explore the unconscious into the conscious mind. In psychodynamic psychotherapy there is the topographic viewpoint, which refers to the layering of mental processes into conscious, preconscious and unconscious. Freuds topographical model represents his configuration of the mind. According to Freud, there are three levels of consciousness, conscious this is the part of the mind that holds what one is aware of, people can visualize about their conscious experience and can think about it in a logical fashion. While the preconscious level is the ordinary memory meaning to say things stored here are in the conscious, they can be readily brought into conscious. Freud felt that this part of the mind was not directly accessible to aw areness. In part, he saw it as a damping place for feelings and ideas  that are tied to depression anxiety, conflict and pain and if not dealt with will lead to cases of suicidal thoughts. These feelings and thoughts if not dealt with and according to Freud, they are the exerting influence on our actions and our conscious awareness (Messer 1995). Psychodynamic psychotherapy goes in depth of every detail presented in the therapy whether its past or present situation as the main aim is to view how the past might have affected the present. Psychoanalytic concepts explain human growth and development, and the nature of psychological problems. Psychodynamic counseling uses the therapeutic relationship to gain insight into unconscious relationship patterns that evolved since early stage of life, memories and other evidence of early relationships are used to make sense of current problems. The process of change occurs as clients become more aware of the effects of the unconscious, including defense mechanisms that influence negative behavior, and hence more able to control their actions and responses in the future. Existential approach sees humans as being able to change and transform a negative lifestyle to a positive, living and meeting the conditions of worth meaning clients live a life that Rogers explained to be conditions of worth that are threatening to the self ( Barret-Lennard,1998, p.101) .Meaning to say the individual can no longer live as unified whole life as this is further explained to mean one might be deserting themselves from the way of a positive lifestyle they once lived. The existential approach is all about exploring meaning and value and learning to live authentically meaning living in accordance with ones priorities and values. The existential approach hold that the human being struggle is with the givens of existence that is death, isolation, freedom and meaninglessness.People often ignore these existential givens, until life events increase the sensibilities (Corey, 2005, p.174) According to Yalom, these four existential realities are the root of most psychological problems . While other existentialists may be more optimistic about the ability of people to find answers to these questions, it is generally agreed that these four issues are central to the human experience. That is why Existential counseling seek to empower the client through self actualisation working with the here,now and the futurenot including the past (Blackham, 1975, p.114). The approach is mainly person centered as it views the client as their own best authority on their own experience, and it views the client as being fully capable of fulfilling their own potential for growth. It recognizes, however, that achieving potential requires favourable conditions and that under adverse conditions, individuals may well not grow and develop in the ways that they otherwise could. People commonly become aware of their desire for counselling when there is some internal or external disturbance in the homeostasis of their lives, the hormonal imbalances of adolescence often coincides with emotional storms which bring them to a counsellor (Clarkson, 1999,p 41 ) People seek counseling for a variety of reasons that include but are not limited to the following sadness, anxiety, relationship problems ,loss of work, persistent feelings of isolation and loneliness, or even aiming or needing motivatition to be more successful in life,work or relationships. (Prochaska Norcross, 2003) Wexler, 1974 viewed therapy as a process of expanding consciousness and bringing about more effective information that would occur in the context of genuine empathic relationship characterized by positive regard.   Existential therapy seeks to help clients live with freedom and to remove the limitations that are self-imposed.   By challenging clients about rigid beliefs and thought patterns, therapists work to provide an environment where individuals are safe to consider their belief systems and adopt new views.   Therapists focus on current life situations the client is dealing with rather than resolving past issues.   Through this focus on the here and now, individuals address their beliefs and look at enjoying life more fully and with more appreciation . Sessions of psychodynamic psychotherapy have greater frequency to allow for more in-depth treatment. The duration of individual sessions varies, It is not usually possible at the start of treatment to estimate the number of sessions that will be necessary in order to achieve the persons goals. It is possible, however, for the person to make arrangements for a specific number of sessions. Psychodynamic psychotherapy and existensial humanistic counseling operates the same way in the counseling room.They all begins with a period of evaluation during which the client discusses with the therapist the reasons for seeking treatment. This process gives the therapist the opportunity to learn about the person, to develop an understanding of his or her troubles, and to formulate ideas about how treatment should proceed. This phase of interviewing and learning may take place in one session or over a series of sessions; or it may be done in a less structured manner, depending on the therapists style. At some point within the first few sessions, the therapist and the individual will come to a mutual understanding of the goals for treatment. The two methods of counseling only defer with what has to be discussed in the treatment room meaning to say psychodynamic goes deeper into exploring a clients past of which existential only deals with current problems and focus on way forward. By allowing the client to communicate ,the counselor encourage self exploration on the clients part and also allowing the client to hear themselves speak and becoming familiar with their own thoughts and feelings that the client may have not realized had the opportunity to see (Meier Davis 2005 ). When the thoughts and feelings are taken back inside the projecting person from the other person, they may be better able to handle them as they also bring back something of the other person and the way they appeared ( Meir Davis 2005) bringing to attention that treatment will be focusing primarily on the insight of past present and future helping to make the unconscious conflict become conscious. session, the therapist is trying to judge, how much you are in touch with your own feelings, what feelings you are not aware of, how close are you to knowing the unconscious feelings, how painful these feelings are to you, and how well you can tolerate the pain that becoming aware of these feelings will bring. In the book Systems of psychotherapy, Rogers emphasizes the importance of communication as a genuine sense of empathy so that clients will experience a deeper understanding and acceptance of what they will be going through (Prochaska Norcross, 2003, p.89). As according to Prochaska some experiences are distorted or denied, there is incongruence between what is being experienced and what is symbolised as part of a persons self concept. According to Prochaska, an individual have an experimental world, in order to understand a clients action a counsellor who use both existential humanistic and psychodynamic counselling therapy place himself in the internal framework of a client (Prochaska Norcross, 2003, p.141). Wexler, 1974 viewed therapy as a process of expanding consciousness and bringing about more effective information that would occur in the context of genuine empathic relationship characterized by positive regard. A client whose counsellor might not want to use psychodynamic therapy (that is talk about past experiences in depth) may feel that the counsellor does not want to touch on certain issues of his/ her life . The therapeutic relationship in contemporary psychodynamic counselling is based on acceptance, empathy and understanding, with an emphasis on developing a good working alliance that fosters trusts. The counselor takes account of the real world of the client, including the impact of trauma, cultural difference, sexual orientation, disability and social context. The insight and understanding about human functions gained from psychoanalytic theory, can enhance the life of the counselor as well as the client, and can be put to a variety of good uses. The most defining strength of psychodynamic theory is the appreciation of the unconscious, Freud attempted to provide a means of understanding the unconscious world as it tends to review and work closely with the present situations/ probles being explained by client (conscious) . At the same time some clients might not feel comfortable to discuss their past or explore themselves and their feelings might work well with existensial counselors . existential humanistic counseling core condition of unconditional positive regard means the client is free to explore all thoughts and feelings, positive or negative, without danger of rejection or condemnation which leads to empathic understanding of clients thoughts, feelings, from the clients own perspective. Unlike in psychodynamic counseling where the counselor takes the journey to the clients past and try to match their current problems with their past. Existential therapy in a way makes the client grow in their own way unlike psychodynamic that tries to match personalities traits of clients generation to what they will be going through in the present time. However in psychodynamic therapy by getting deeper with clients past the counselor will know more information, behaviour, character and self defenses of a client. In doing so it helps strengthen their relationship as the client feels more comfortable to explore more issues in their past life and this will in turn might stren gthen the relationship of them .Psychodynamic psychotherapy is a form of depth therapy because its aim is to reveal or try to make sense of the unconscious to become conscious. The goals of psychodynamic psychotherapy vary therapy seeks to relieve a client through the development of insight, or the slowly developing awareness of feelings and thoughts that were once outside of the persons awareness through guidance from a therapist, the adult becomes aware of present ways of coping that are ineffective and how they served a purpose in childhood that is no longer relevant. The person learns that he or she now has a range of new options for solving problems, and for living in general that are now based on his or her maturity and independence.

Friday, October 25, 2019

Concert Report Essay -- essays research papers

On June seventh at eight o’clock pm I attended a concert at Beneroya Hall. The concert was part of the Masterpiece series, performed by the Seattle Symphony and conducted by Hermann Michael; also including a special performance by the pianist Hà ©là ¨ne Grimaud. The performance included four pieces, two by Ludwig Van Beethoven, one by Maurice Ravel, and the last was by Richard Strauss. The two pieces by Beethoven were; Overture to The Construction of The House, and piano Concerto No. 4 in g major, Op. 58. The piece by Ravel was Pavane for a Dead Princess. Finally the last by Strauss was Death and Transfiguration. I truly enjoy going to the symphony, the music is quite a bit better than on any type of recording I have ever heard. The segment that I enjoyed the most was the Piano Concerto, beca...

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Gulliver’s Travels: Don Pedro de Mendez

In the beginning, Book IV of Gulliver’s Travels starts off as an almost comedic anarchist story of a captain being held hostage on his own ship and being thrown off board on a strange unknown island, but in reality ends up being a satiric comment on society with a deep philosophical meaning. The author, Jonathan Swift, cleverly intertwined many intelligent, complex and interesting characters into the voyages of the antagonist: Lemuel Gulliver. Don Pedro De Mendez, a character introduced by Swift in the eleventh chapter, serves great use to the plot as well as to the readers’ understanding of Book IV of Gulliver’s Travels.Particularly as a bridge between two worlds; the reason (being the land of the Houyhnhnms) and the lawless (the yahoos or humankind around the world). Don Pedro De Mendez serves as a function of making the antagonist reflect. When the first encounter is made with Don Pedro we see that he is an outstanding â€Å"Yahoo†. â€Å"He was a very courteous and generous person; {†¦} desired to know what I would eat or drink {†¦} but he ordered me a chicken and some excellent wine. † (Swift 2456). The reader acknowledges from the start that he is a kind, generous, amiable and loving man.Many manners Don Pedro presents towards Gulliver lead’s him to commence his questioning in regard of whether humankind is really as awful as the Houyhnhnms have portrayed. â€Å"that I wondered to find such civilities in a Yahoo† (Swift 2456). Don Pedro showed care for Gulliver not only when he took him on board gratis but when he saved him from jumping off the boat to his death. â€Å"He desired to know my reason for so desperate an attempt; assured me he only meant to do me all the service he was able {†¦} that at last I descended to treat him like an animal which had some little portion of reason† (Swift 2456).At this point Gulliver begins to realise that, even though he is still repulsed by human l ook and smell, not every Yahoo is as appalling as he is lead to believe. At this point, it is quite obvious that Don Pedro is inserted into the plot for a definite reason and it starts to take effect on Gulliver. Not only does he manage to withstand Don Pedro and his sailor’s company but he begins to create false pretences â€Å"but pretending I was sick, kept close in my cabin. (Swift 2458) while he says that only Yahoos lie â€Å"the use of speech was to make us understand one another, and to receive information of facts; now, if any one said the thing which was not, these ends were defeated, because I cannot properly be said to understand him; and I am so far from receiving information, that he leaves me worse than in ignorance; for I am led to believe a thing black, when it is white, and short, when it is long. † (Swift 2428). â€Å"For I had quite forgot the faculty of lying, so particular to Yahoos in all countries where they preside, and consequently the dispo sition of suspecting truth in others of their own species. (Swift 2456). More and more as the plot refines itself, Gulliver begins to regain old everyday humanoid habits. â€Å"I only desired he would lend me two clean shirts, which having been washed since he wore them, I believed would not so much defile me. These I changed every second day, and washed them myself. † (Swift 2457). â€Å"The captain persuaded me to accept a suit of clothes newly made {†¦} which I aired for twenty-four hours before I would use them. † (Swift 2457). Jonathan Swift also used the character of Don Pedro as a plot mover. He helps advance and continue the plot in many ways.Primarily, if his ship was not spotted at just the perfect time by Gulliver, Gulliver would have continued to the northern end of the peninsula and probably have been hunted down by natives and murdered. The presence of Don Pedro saves Gulliver’s life twice that day, â€Å"and in half an hour stole out, when I thought the crew was at dinner; and getting to the side of the ship, was going to leap into the sea, and swim for my life, rather than continue among Yahoos. But one of the seamen prevented me {†¦} I was chained to my bed† (Swift 2456) so if Don Pedro’s men would not have been there to stop Gulliver from jumping, the plot would have ended. When they began to talk, I thought I never heard or saw any thing so unnatural, for it appeared to me as monstrous as if a dog or a cow should speak in England, or a Yahoo in Houyhnhnmland† (Swift 2456). Also, Don Pedro and his men were the first Yahoos he spoke to in five years, which helped his progression from a houyhnhnm to a humanoid. â€Å"When they began to talk {†¦} they spoke to me with great humanity, and said they were sure their captain would carry me gratis to Lisbon. † (Swift 2456). Finally, thinking that Gulliver is ready, shown in this quote: â€Å"In a week’s time he seduced me down to the door.I found my terror gradually lessened, but my hatred and contempt seemed to increase. I was at last bold enough to walk the streets in his company. † (Swift 2458). Don Pedro assists the plot by persuasively pushing Gulliver to return to his hometown in England and try to weave back into society. â€Å"Don Pedro {†¦} put it upon me as a point of honour and conscience that I ought to return to my native country, and live at home with my wife and children. † (Swift 2457). Although Don Pedro’s intentions were kind and comely, the attempt was a failure.Once arrived in Redriff, his hometown, he realised that he was not cured. â€Å"The sight of them filled me only with hatred, disgust and contempt; {†¦} my wife took me in her arms, and kissed me; at which, having not been used to the touch of that odious animal for so many years, I fell in a swoon for almost an hour. † (Swift 2459). In conclusion, Don Pedro De Mendez serves as a function of mak ing the antagonist reflect on whether he shall return to the world of the Yahoos or not, in this sense Jonathan Swift uses his character as a plot mover thus demonstrating a bridge between two worlds.Don Pedro also serves as a summary clearly stating the most important part of the climax to the readers so they may understand better what is going on. In general, Swift uses Don Pedro as a coin flip; on one side we find the rational world of the Houyhnhnms and on the other side the â€Å"irrational† world of the Yahoos or humankind. If you compared the situation between the Houyhnhnms and the Yahoos to present society throughout the world, how rational are we exactly?Difference in opinions has cost many millions of lives: for instance, whether flesh be bread, or bread be flesh; whether the juice of a certain berry be blood or wine; whether whistling be a vice or a virtue; whether it be better to kiss a post, or throw it into the fire; what is the best colour for a coat, whether black, white, red, or gray; and whether it should be long or short, narrow or wide, dirty or clean; with many more. Neither are any wars so furious and bloody, or of so long a continuance, as those occasioned by difference in opinion, especially if it be in things indifferent. (Swift 2432).

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Grief and Loss in Adolescence: Principles, Responses and Challenges

Grief and loss are fundamental aspects of life; they are inevitabilities that stem from our mortality and our natural propensity to form deep emotional bonds with those closest to us—our family, friends and colleagues.Perhaps C. S. Lewis captured the sensation of grief best when he said: â€Å"No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear.  I am not afraid, but the sensation is like being afraid. The same fluttering in the stomach, the same restlessness, the yawning. I keep on swallowing. — C. S. Lewis, A Grief Observed How one physically manifests grief may vary between age groups and cultures but it is a universal occurrence in humans who are of normal cognitive development.In this paper, grief and loss will be reviewed in the context of Worden’s principles and theories; specifically, what these principles say about grief and loss, how they might apply to the adolescence demographic, what challenges the health care provider might expect to encounter when working with a grieving adolescent, and how a health care provider can best respond to a grieving teenager. A series of hypothetical acute care settings will be presented to illustrate how a nurse might best proceed in responding to a grieving adolescent.Death during AdolescenceAdolescence is a transitionary stage of life that poses unique challenges for the individual. Change is the hallmark of this developmental period as teenagers struggle with hormonal changes, newfound desires for independence, confidence issues, and concerns about body image. Grief and loss during this stage of life, whether it be the loss of a parent, relative, or close friend, often greatly exacerbates the emotional state of a teen who is already experiencing the stresses associated with the transition from child to adult.According to Metzgar, typical grief responses of teenagers include anger, depression, withdrawal, frustration, confusion, acting out, and noncompliance (Metzgar, 2002). Unlike young childre n, who often do not fully contemplate the finality of death, adolescents are usually aware that death is final (Freeman, 2005). According to Freeman, adolescents have the mature intellectual development necessary to understand the core concepts of death—universality, non-functionality, irreversibility, and causality—and can elucidate fully the details (Freeman, 2005).This greater understanding of death places adolescents closer to adults on the level of death awareness; however, teens may wonder if a dead person will return; this thinking may include supernatural elements as teens often associate an unexpected death or serious illness with a supernatural event or cause (Brewster, 1982). An adolescents’ grief experience is highly personal in nature, and unlike adults, teens tend to grieve more intensely.Often their grief response is not expressed smoothly or continuously but takes the form of a series of punctuated outbursts; in some cases an adolescent may make a concerted effort to control his or her emotions (Worden, 1996). In attempting to control their emotions, a teen may retreat inwardly by immersing themselves in highly personal activities such as reading, writing, listening to music, or exercising; in other cases, a teen may want to release the anger and sadness associated with their grief; in this case, he or she may act out angry or antisocial behavior (Worden, 1996).Of particular importance from a health care perspective is the recognition that teens often perceive death as something that happens to others even though they recognize that death is a phenomenon that can and will happen to everyone. When a teen is confronted with the death of a close friend or relative, their perception of death as being a phenomenon that is distant from them, is abruptly challenged. In the case of the death of a peer, death is often sudden—in an American study, the three leading causes of death in the 15 to 24 year-old age group are acciden ts, homicide, and suicide (Minino and Smith, 2001).In such cases, a teen’s sense of pseudo-immortality is often shattered (Freeman, 2005). The trauma associated with this may cause a teen to experience an overwhelming sense of helplessness or powerlessness (Aronson, 2005). In the case of the loss of one or both parents, a teen may experience a grief reaction that is unique for their age demographic—an irrational guilt associated with the normal desire to detach from their parents (Freeman, 2005). For the health care worker, it is crucial that this particular grief reaction is considered when helping a teen deal with the loss of one or both parents.Theoretical Principles: Grief and Loss according to Worden.In Grief Counseling and Grief Therapy, Worden conceptualizes the process of grief into a framework of four tasks that he suggests need to be addressed and completed before the process of mourning can be concluded (Worden, 1991). Worden’s four task paradigm cons ists of:Task 1. To accept the reality of the lossTask 2. To work through the pain of griefTask 3. To adjust to an environment in which the deceased is missingTask 4. To emotionally relocate the deceased and move on with lifeAccording to Worden, children and teens, like adults, must acknowledge and accept the reality and finality of death before they can begin to deal with the emotional impact of this loss (Worden, 1991). Generally this is easier for teens than children because their concept of death is more developed and in tune with that of an adult’s. In order to help facilitate acknowledgement of loss, a health care worker needs to explain the circumstances of the loss in a language that is both accurate and age appropriate.Since maturity levels vary within the teen demographic, one must not assume a given maturity level based on age; in this case the carer should make a concerted effort to determine the maturity level of a teen through dialogue and observation (Smead, 199 4). In task two, Worden suggests that the painful emotions associated with grief need to be worked through. By working through, Worden suggests that emotions need to be released in a healthy manner such that a teen is able to cope with the nature of their loss.In this case, the carer needs to assist the teen with opening up—helping the teen discuss their fears and anxieties in a non-judgmental way. Encouraging teens to express their grief through creative arts and by engaging in rituals can be therapeutic in this regard. (Silverman and Nickman, 1999) In Worden’s third task, adjusting to the loss of a deceased peer, sibling or parent requires that the adolescent develop an adaptation to this loss.Adaptation will be heavily influenced by what role the deceased played in the teen’s life; often this adaptation requires an extended period of adjustment (Worden, 1991). In this case, the health care worker’s role is to help the teen adapt to the loss of old role s (roles associated with the deceased) and adjust to the emergence of new roles (roles previously associated with the deceased now taken up by other individuals). In Worden’s final task, the deceased are relocated—they are placed in an appropriate emotional place such that the bereaved can move on with their lives.For many bereaved individuals, relocation may involve the pondering of existential questions: Where did the deceased go? Why did they die? Is there a Heaven? Children and teens are often more open to supernatural explanations, and in this case, belief in an afterlife can be therapeutic as it helps the individual maintain a healthy and tangible link to the deceased—it may give the bereaved a sense that the deceased is watching over me from Heaven (Silverman, Nickman and Worden, 1992).Grief and Loss in the Acute Care Setting: A Nurse’s RoleWhen a nurse is expected to provide emotional care to a bereaved teen, he or  she must consider a number of factors that may influence the grieving process. These may include: age, level of maturity, psychological state, physical state, and circumstances of the loss. In the following hypothetical case studies, a nurse will offer emotional support directed specifically at teens whom are experiencing different stages of grief as outlined by Worden. The question to be answered in each case is this: What would be the most appropriate nursing response? In each case, as the attending nurse, you will note the individual’s age, statements, stress level, and physical demeanor.Case Study One – The immediate loss of a best friendTom is an 18 year old who has been admitted to a hospital emergency room after a traumatic car accident. His best friend Bret was a passenger and has been killed in the accident. Tom has minor physical injuries that you are tending to. He has just been informed that his best friend died at the scene. Emotional and in disbelief, he yells: â€Å"You’re a ll lying! Bret is not dead! He can’t be dead! He can’t be! It’s my fault!† Bret is shaking.Response:Using compassionate but clear and direct language you reaffirm that Bret has died. You show empathy to Tom but avoid making value judgments for him that offer explanations for the death or attribute blame. When interfacing with Tom’s parents you explain to them the stage of grief their son is going through and how best to assist him through it.Case Study Two – Working through the loss of a parentSarah is a somewhat rebellious 17 year-old with a strong sense of independence. She doesn’t always see eye to eye with her mother, Jenifer. Six months previous, Jenifer died suddenly in car accident. Since the accident, Sarah has suffered major anxiety attacks and has been plagued by guilt. At school she has been involved in arguments and fights with other girls; on this occasion she is in the school infirmary after fighting with another girl. Af ter initially appearing angry, Sarah breaks down in tears  and says: â€Å"Why did my Mom have to die! I didn’t really want her out of my life!†Response:You consol Sarah, and listen to her—you let her release her emotions without restraining or judging her. You reassure Sarah that it is ok and normal to feel fear, guilt and doubt, and that is ok to express her feelings. You tell Sarah that she can come and share her feelings with you whenever she feels the need. If interfacing with Sarah’s father, explain to him what Sarah is experiencing, and offer helpful suggestions that are in line with Worden’s model for task two grief.Case Study Three – Adapting to the loss of a siblingJanet and Karen are sisters close in age, 15 and 17 respectively. They were inseparable and enjoyed doing things together such as sports, shopping and talking about boys. Janet looked up to Karen who she thought of as being her pillar of strength and confidant. Last ye ar Karen died suddenly from a rare form of meningitis. Janet has accepted the loss but has had a hard time readjusting to life without her sister. She is in the hospital being attended to for self inflicted cuts on her arms. Janet states that life is unexciting now because her sister is gone.Response:With empathy you help Janet recognize and reassign the emotional roles filled by her sister. You may suggest ways to help Janet remember Karen in a desensationalized way such that the memory of Karen is retained and respected but that recognizes that life must go on. The suggestion of doing activities (previously done with Karen) with friends or classmates might be helpful. This information should be relayed to Janet’s parents to help them understand how they might be able to assist Janet adjust to life without Karen.Case Study Four – Relocating a deceased grandparentFourteen year old Ben loved fishing with his grandfather. Granddad was Ben’s best friend. Earlier th is year Ben’s granddad died suddenly from a heart attack. Ben accepted that granddad was gone, and he knew that there would be no more fishing. Ben was admitted to the hospital to receive stitches for a fall; Ben asks you: â€Å"Miss, where do dead people go? My Granddad died this year you know.† In a melancholy tone he continues, â€Å"I’ll never have a friend like him again.†Response:In a compassionate tone reply that you are not sure where people go when they die and that it is one of life’s great mysteries. You may suggest that many people have different ideas as to where people go after death. Suggest to Ben that life is about continuing to develop special moments with people we associate with in life. Keep in mind that grief resolution involves reflecting on the meaning of a deceased person’s life, and keeping this as a pleasant memory. It is not meant to focus on the death itself.ConclusionsGrief is a fundamental aspect of life. Adole scence, being a major transitional stage in human growth and development brings with it unique emotional challenges. These challenges need to be addressed by the health care worker if he or she is to effectively assist a teen who is grieving for a deceased peer, sibling or parent. Worden suggests a four step paradigm for the grieving process that can serve as a guide for elucidating the stage of grief an individual may be experiencing.Knowledge of this model can assist the health care worker in grief stage recognition, and in making informed decisions that will ultimately help a teen deal with challenges involved in the of grieving process. With the support and encouragement of health care workers, peers, and relatives, adolescents can learn to successfully manage grief and loss, and move forward with their lives.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Fourwinds Marina Example

Fourwinds Marina Example Fourwinds Marina – Case Study Example Four winds Marina Grade (17th, Jan. Four winds Marina Summary: The Four winds Marina is a partnership business owned by Sandy Taggart, William Brennan and Richard DeMars, which is experiencing a weak financial situation. The Marina only operates partially during a year, remaining closed between November and April. The previous general manager, though with an experience of 15 years in the Marine has opted to resign due to a misunderstanding with the owners, over payment issues, leaving the business in the hand of Jack Keltner, an employee who has been promoted to the new position, courtesy of his hard work and reasonable working experience (Cummings which comprises of a boats dock, sales room for boats and marine equipments and a marine repair shop, as well as the overall controller of the Taggart Corporation, comprising of the Marina and an Inn (Cummings & Worley, 2009). The business also offers boat storage and boat hire as part of its business, for the visitors during the season r unning between April and October each year. Also within the business complex is a snack bar, a grocery store and gasoline sales, all operating as extended ventures for the corporation. The Four winds complex sits on a 34-acre piece of land, rent by the State of Indiana, which Taggart Corporation won as a tender for a Motel and Marina, owing to the financial strength of its owners (Cummings & Worley, 2009). Owing to the financial weaknesses of this business complex, the new general manager has a daunting task of transforming it into a more profitable venture. ReferenceCummings, T. G., & Worley, C. G. (2009). Organization development and change (9th ed.).Mason, OH: Cengage

Monday, October 21, 2019

Free Essays on Bolivia

Bolivia is a country located in Central South America and to be exact with its location, it is found 17S, 65W on a compass. Quite a few neighboring countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Peru surround it. This is a country whose environment consists of humid and tropical climate, rugged terrain, lowland plains, soil erosion from overgrazing, and the beautiful Andes Mountain. To speak on Bolivia’s history it is part of the ancient Incan Empire known for their mineral wealth. With the original habitants be nomadic hunter-gathers the minerals at that time was not a big issue at the time. After Spaniards defeated the Incans most of the population left was summoned to become slaves. In 1825, they won their independence and named the country after the liberator, Simon Bolivar. When visiting Bolivia there are several sites to see and explore. Stopping by the Tiahuanaco Temple, Copocabaà ±a on Lake Titicaca, the village of Yumani, Sucre, and always stopping to the street markets is a most. Having the opportunity to ride on a ferryboat and see historical sites is fascinating. I would love to visit Bolivia to see for the shopping, boat rides, historical sites, their adoption program and the study abroad programs they offer. I would advice anyone who is interested in adopting under privilege children or engaging in an international study abroad program, that Bolivia is the place to go!... Free Essays on Bolivia Free Essays on Bolivia Bolivia is a country located in Central South America and to be exact with its location, it is found 17S, 65W on a compass. Quite a few neighboring countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Peru surround it. This is a country whose environment consists of humid and tropical climate, rugged terrain, lowland plains, soil erosion from overgrazing, and the beautiful Andes Mountain. To speak on Bolivia’s history it is part of the ancient Incan Empire known for their mineral wealth. With the original habitants be nomadic hunter-gathers the minerals at that time was not a big issue at the time. After Spaniards defeated the Incans most of the population left was summoned to become slaves. In 1825, they won their independence and named the country after the liberator, Simon Bolivar. When visiting Bolivia there are several sites to see and explore. Stopping by the Tiahuanaco Temple, Copocabaà ±a on Lake Titicaca, the village of Yumani, Sucre, and always stopping to the street markets is a most. Having the opportunity to ride on a ferryboat and see historical sites is fascinating. I would love to visit Bolivia to see for the shopping, boat rides, historical sites, their adoption program and the study abroad programs they offer. I would advice anyone who is interested in adopting under privilege children or engaging in an international study abroad program, that Bolivia is the place to go!...

Sunday, October 20, 2019

A Look at Vengeance as Illustrated in Edgar Allan Poe’s Story, The Cask of Amontillado

A Look at Vengeance as Illustrated in Edgar Allan Poe’s Story, The Cask of Amontillado â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado† by Edgar Allan Poe is the twisted story of Montresors revenge against Fortunato, a â€Å"friend† who insulted his family name. After luring Fortunato into his family’s catacombs with the promise of enjoying a drink of Amontillado, Montresor chains him to wall and leaves him there to die. Different aspects of Poe’s life, including his psychological tendencies and Freemasonry, influenced him to incorporate social status into â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado†. It is evident that both characteristics of Poe’s personality and values are reflected in this short story. Poe resented his social status, was full of pride, and took criticism harshly. Like Poe, Montresor also did not take jokes and criticism lightly. Fortunato’s continuous remarks about the Montresors is what ultimately lead Montresor to kill him. Fortunato made remarks about the Montresors because of their recent fall in wealth. Poe resented his more successful coworkers who had more money than him, and he made this known; he â€Å"quickly became upset by jokes made at his expense† (Giammarco). Montresor resents Fortunato’s wealth and happiness because he has fallen in social status. Montresor wants what he used to have and what Fortunato recently gained. Montresor and Fortunato both have a high sense of pride and reputation. Thus, Montresor’s fall in social status severely affects him and makes him envious of Fortunato. This envy and jealousy, caused by the differing social positions of Montresor and Fortunato, is what ultimately drives Montresor to kill Fortunato (Poe). Poe’s own personality characteristic of resenting his social status can be seen here in Montresor’s character. As the story unfolds, the audience learns that Montresor has fallen in social class, and that Fortunato is now wealthier and therefore more powerful than he. After Fortunato has a coughing fit, Montresor says â€Å"You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy, as I once was. You are a man to be missed† (Poe 327). This shows that Montresor was once wealthy and happy, like Fortunato currently is, but his fall in social status has caused him unhappiness. One of the influences on Poe plays a role Montresor still has his pride despite the fact that he has fallen in social status. He is still confident that he can trick Fortunato with the promise of Amontillado and play upon his weaknesses. This weakness, stemming from his high social status, leads to his ultimate demise. Fortunato is left to die in the catacombs, and Montresor has to live with the guilt of killing him for his reputation (Poe). Poe’s strong sense of pride is seen here in Montresor’s character. Three aspects of Poe’s character, including resenting his social status, taking criticism harshly, and having a strong sense of pride, all made their way into Montresor’s character in this short story. These characteristics of Montresor demonstrate the social status element that Poe incorporated in â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado†. Not only was Poe’s influenced by his own personal experience, he was also influenced by the heavy Freemason presence of his time period. The audience sees another aspect of social status embedded in Poe’s short story, and this is the reference to the Freemasons. In Poe’s â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado† a conversation between Montresor and Fortunato occurs over the Freemasons. ‘â€Å"You do not comprehend?† he said. â€Å"Not I,† I replied. â€Å"Then you are not of the brotherhood.† â€Å"How?† â€Å"You are not of the masons.† â€Å"Yes, yes,† I said; â€Å"yes, yes.† â€Å"You? Impossible! A mason?† (Poe 328). Fortunato, once again, insults Montresor by telling him that it is impossible that he is a Freemason. The issue of social status is evident again here, as the audience sees how Fortunato regards himself as a higher social status. This dialogue between Montresor and Fortunato held cultural significance for Poe because of the large presence of Freemasons during this time period. The dialogue that contains the reference to the Freemasons is a â€Å"contemporary Masonic political conflict† (Davis-Undiano). According to Davis-Undiano, contemporary analysis of the Freemasons in this short story is often incorrect; their cultural impact and significance vastly varied at the time the short story was written compared to present day. At the time this short story was written, there were two different kinds of Freemasons, and an ongoing conflict was occurring between them (Davis-Undiano). Since the Freemasons were an exclusive club, the idea of social status is seen further here. Fortunato considers himself of higher social status than Montresor, so when he references the Freemasons, he is insulting Montresor yet again, accusing him of being a â€Å"lesser† Freemason. The time period in which Poe wrote this story was the period in which the rift was deepening between the â€Å"elite† and â€Å"working class† Freemasons. Poe could have been demonstrating this rift in â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado† with the reference to the Freemasons between Montresor and Fortunato. The reader can see the similarities between Poe’s personality characteristics and morals in the characters in the story. These characteristics Montresor, including resenting his social status, taking criticism harshly, and having a strong sense of pride, all demonstrate Poe’s psychological tendencies in relation to social class. The Freemasons are also an integral part of the story, as they also influenced Poe and further show social status. Fortunato’s incredulous remarks about Montresor being a Freemason demonstrate their differing social statuses and the importance of the Freemasons to the story. Social status is a significant theme in Poe’s â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado† and many of his other great works.

Friday, October 18, 2019

Critically discuss the legal relevance of the enlightened shareholder Assignment

Critically discuss the legal relevance of the enlightened shareholder concept - Assignment Example In 1998, there were several calls by various agencies and stakeholders for the UK company law to be reviewed as it was considered to be overly based on common law (Lowry and Dignam, 2006). This call was mainly led by the Department of Trade and Industry which put forward a proposal, which was later considered by the Company Law Review Steering Group (CLRSG). Going into parliament in November 2005 as the Company Law Reform Bill, there was a passage into what is now known as the Company Law Act 2006. Even though enshrined with several provisions and regulations, one aspect of the Company Law Act 2006 that has generated a lot of public, academic and professional debate and discourse is S 172 CA 2006, which touches on the duties of directors. Theoretically, S 172 CA 2006 has been said to promote what is now known as enlightened shareholder (Kraakman et al., 2009). This paper there seeks to critically discuss the legal relevance of the enlightened shareholder concept in relation to what u sed to exist before the S 172 CA 2006. The concept of enlightened shareholder became part of public, academic and business discourse starting from the passage of the Company Law Act 2006 (Lowry and Dignam, 2009). Since then, there have been various interpretations for the term. In a much generalised framework of discourse, the enlightened shareholder concept can be said to be an approach to corporate governance whereby the role and place of the shareholder has been redefined in a more elaborate and expanded manner (Sealy and Worthington, 2010). By the use of the term approach, reference is being made to the fact that the enlightened shareholder concept has become a way of corporate life which entails a set of conduct and actions that must be exhibited or put up to justify the execution of the concept (Micklethwait and Adrian, 2003). Most commonly, the enlightened shareholder concept is said to an expansion on

Financial Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Financial Strategy - Essay Example Financialisation has influenced corporate ownership and control. Corporate control is basically the mode of its governance and this behaviour is what financial markets has worked to influence and change to align to their own interests. Financialisation has led to a change in corporate control in such a way that managers are disciplined by the prospect of ouster and takeover if they are unable to maximise profits. Because of this, managers are compelled to go for market efficiency improvements such as privately financed equity investments and leveraged buyouts as a way of satisfying stakeholder interests. Basically, managers of corporations are now forced to merge their interests with those of the financial markets. This has eliminated the countervailing force that previously interfered with the ability or willingness of managers to side with excessive financial interests. It has also broke the union-power that used to exist between corporations. This clearly depicts that financialisa tion has led to a drift in the corporate financial behaviour. Financialisation and its new approach to corporate control have fostered the growth of options like the stock pay option. The main reason behind this is that there is an increased need to align the interests of the management with those of the stakeholders and such options help to accomplish this task successfully. The top management of corporations have benefitted from these stock options and new pay practices and this has generated in managers the interest to maximise the short-lived stock prices. Financialisation has also led to excessive adoption of debt finance by corporations. The main motivation for this is tax code is more favourable to interest payments than on profits. In addition, managers of corporations have also adopted this strategy as a way of draining free cash from the firm leaving little for claimants on the income stream of the firm and putting pressure on workers (Bronars and Deere 1991). The overall effect of financialisation on corporate control is that corporate governance is becoming increasingly beholden to and dominated by financial markets. This implies that corporate managers have been pressurized to import behaviors from the current financial markets and these in turn have affected business decision-making and corporate investment. These investments and decisions include resource allocation whereby corporate managers of non-financial corporations have capitalized on stock repurchases as one of the main mode of corporate resource allocation. This has mainly been encouraged by the extent to which executives of corporations can enrich themselves by manipulating the stock prices of the corporation (Lazonick 2011, 11). These corporate control modes may be profitable and attractive and more profitable to firms. It also gives corporations a range of options for investing under various economic climates and profitability levels. For example, when profits achievable in financial markets are higher than those that can be achieved in the normal product market, then it becomes a motivation to corporation management to invest less in real assets and more on financial assets. However, such strategies may not be long-lasting. Palley (1995) and Palley (1997b), state that it is not good for the financial market behaviors of an economy or corporations are governed by short-terminism and herd behavior. Financialisation

Memo Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 5

Memo - Essay Example rts inadvertently, found out from the Academic Support office about her illness and since then kept on taunting her and publicly disgracing her in a class comprising approximately seventy (70) students. Meanie referred t her as â€Å"†¦a moron and the most brainless, dim witted person I’ve ever met. By the end of the fifth(5th) week Ms. Jones could take it no more and had no other option but to quit school. Unfortunately she had to leave her studies and let go of long cherished, childhood dream of becoming a lawyer because in the words of professor Meanie threatened to flunk her. In order to give full attention to her studies she left her a reasonably good paying job as a paralegal. After leaving her studies she again sought the old job but the positioned was filled up, so she had to work under another attorney Ms Bea Aach, a hard task master, and as inconsiderate if not more than her professor. These factors lead to further deterioration in her mental and physical health, so much so that she was hospitalized. Consequently Ms. Jones resigned from this job. As of present Ms. Jones, earns her meager income by writing abstracts. Because of her ill-treatment first at the hands of the Professor at LCLC and then while working under Ms. Bea Aach, her mental health has been badly affected. And a perfectly able young woman with a lot of potential because of the ignorance and mal-treatment of her professor and later the inconsiderate attitude of her employer is suffering as her malady has increased manifold. Initially when she gave up her studies and later had to give up her job as well, she had recurring nightmares and had sleeping problems. Now he does not suffer from nightmares but she has sleep disorder. And because of her bad experiences in the past she is reluctant to get treatment Previously she had a normal social life but now owing partly to her economic problems and the inconsiderate behavior of the people around her she is reduced to a wretch and a recluse.

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Financial Modelling Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Financial Modelling - Research Paper Example , Total assets of company (expressed in  £ millions), Extent of team working within the company (expressed as a percentage), Scheme (coded as 1 if company has a profit sharing scheme) and 0 otherwise, Market share of company (expressed as a percentage), the age of the company (since how many years it was established) and lastly, Return on capital employed (also expressed as a percentage). First we show graphical representation of the data to understand any issues or patterns which arise from the data, we then conduct univariate and bivariate analysis to find out if there is a correlation between profit sharing scheme (the dependent variable) with the independent variables (the six aforementioned variables) one by one, later the multiple variable analysis to discover if the overall model is significant or not, which means we explore if the six independent variable all together have an influence on profit sharing scheme or not. Finally a logistic regression analysis was run to find o ut the impact (positive or negative) that the six independent variables have on the profit sharing scheme. The SPSS computer program was used to conduct the statistical analysis while the excel software was used for the graphical visualizations. Graphical visualization helps us to visually explore and understand the pattern of a given data set. In this section we present the graphical visualizations of the variables. We begin by the Profit margin of company (expressed in percentage). The graph clearly shows that that none of the companies has managed to reach a profit margin of 35% and slightly few have a profit margin of below 5%. The highest profit margin recorded is 32.33% and the lowest profit margin is 4.4%. Figure 2 presents a graph of total assets of company; we observe that most companies had assets of between  £ 2000-8000 (millions). The company with the highest assets had  £ 13,686.62(millions) worth of assets while the lowest company had  £ 270.65 (millions) worth of

Advertising and promotion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Advertising and promotion - Essay Example 536). When it comes to a marketer, one of the most important aspects of his business function is value creation through the products or service that he is selling, and it is critically important that the value he created should be communicated to the proposed customers. The messages a marketer has to communicate may vary from firm to firm. It may be about the features, price and other significant elements of the product or service. Marketing communication is a collective term for all different types of messages that are used to establish a brand. The various communication modes are; 1- Advertising: It is non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or service by the marketer. Advertising is generally defined as spreading of information. 2- Sales Promotion: It involves variety of short-term incentives to encourage trial or purchase of a product or service. 3- Events and experiences: these are company-sponsored activities or programs designed to create brand related interact ions, 4- Personal selling: That is face-to-face interaction with one or more customers for encouraging the purchases. 5- Public Relation: It involves programs designed to promote a product or service, 6- Direct marketing: It is the use of mail, fax, telephone, internet etc to communicate with customers to make them aware of and to promote to purchasing a product or service (Duncan, 2004, p. 7- 12). The Process of Marketing Communication Communication is transmitting, receiving and processing the information. When it comes to the marketing communication, the marketer or communication agency that has been assigned by the marketer attempts to transfer an idea... The intention of this study is marketing communication as basically a marketing function by which business firms attempt to inform, persuade and remind consumers about the products that they want to sell to them. When it comes to a marketer, one of the most important aspects of his business function is value creation through the products or service that he is selling, and it is critically important that the value he created should be communicated to the proposed customers. The messages a marketer has to communicate may vary from firm to firm. It may be about the features, price and other significant elements of the product or service. Communication is transmitting, receiving and processing the information. When it comes to the marketing communication, the marketer or communication agency that has been assigned by the marketer attempts to transfer an idea or message to a receiver in a way that the receiver will be able to process the information being communicated to him. Though gener ally the marketer is the main source for giving the advertising or conducting the promotion activities, more often them marketing department is looking for an agency or organization that can help them in advertising and promotion. Advertising and promotion industry consist of large numbers of organizations such as Television channels, radio stations, new paper companies, film companies, websites and other firms that facilitate bulleting or digital billboard advertising etc.

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Sex Crime Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Sex Crime - Essay Example "After a three-year period of consultation with those dealing with crimes and sexual offences, the Sexual Offences Act 2003 came into force on 1 May 2004" (The Office for Criminal Justice Reform, 2006, p.12). The sexual offences act, 2003 has revealed a detailed discussion as regards consent in regard to rape. The Law Lords overturned this common law idea that marriage means a man has a 'continual' consent from his wife for sexual activity at any time (R v. R [1992]). Thomas (2005) describes as "[t]his was later brought into statute in 1994, now in Sexual offences Act 2003" (p.11). The present paper is intended to justify whether the guidance of consent as provided in the said enactment is proper or warrants further explanation and amendment. The Sexual Offences Act, 2003 has been designed to make the process easier and convenient for prosecuting people who use physical force to others for having sex despite the unwillingness of the other party. The legislation provides that a person would not be charged with the offence if he or she intends to protect a child from sexually transmitted infection, from physical safety of the child or from becoming pregnant. The Sexual Offences Act 2003 has made a greater legal protection for victims by clarifying the law on consent. Section 1 of the Act states, a person commits an offence of rape if he intentionally penetrates to the vagina, anus or mouth of another person despite her reluctance. The phraseology "reasonable belief" as enunciated in section 1 is determined in regard to the particular context of a given circumstance. Section 74 of the Act defines consent as stating that a person is presumed to give consent if he agrees by choice, and has the freedom and capacity to make tha t choice. Section 75 provides a list of circumstances where it may be considered that the victim or complainant did not consent to the said sexual interaction. From a perusal of section 76, it is clear that if (a) the defendant intentionally deceive the complainant as to the nature or purpose of the relevant act; or (b) the defendant intentionally induce the complainant to consent to the relevant act, it is presumed that the victim did not give his or her consent. As per the provisions of section 79(2) penetration is a continuing act from entry to withdrawal and if the victim consents to penetration but withdraws consent after penetration, the accused must withdraw his penis immediately.Consent in the sexual offences ActConsent must be obtained peacefully and without the use of force or violence. If it is obtained by force, threat or inducement or any other unlawful means, said consent would be declared as void and illegal. The meaning of the term "consent" as given in the Sexual offence act, 2003 is an aiding tool for the juries in deciding whether the victim was able to give or did actually give his or her consent to the said sexual transaction. In this connection, the defendant must show that his belief in consent was reasonable and obtained in due manner and a jury must consider all the circumstances including any step which he has taken to ascertain in determining whether the vi

Advertising and promotion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Advertising and promotion - Essay Example 536). When it comes to a marketer, one of the most important aspects of his business function is value creation through the products or service that he is selling, and it is critically important that the value he created should be communicated to the proposed customers. The messages a marketer has to communicate may vary from firm to firm. It may be about the features, price and other significant elements of the product or service. Marketing communication is a collective term for all different types of messages that are used to establish a brand. The various communication modes are; 1- Advertising: It is non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or service by the marketer. Advertising is generally defined as spreading of information. 2- Sales Promotion: It involves variety of short-term incentives to encourage trial or purchase of a product or service. 3- Events and experiences: these are company-sponsored activities or programs designed to create brand related interact ions, 4- Personal selling: That is face-to-face interaction with one or more customers for encouraging the purchases. 5- Public Relation: It involves programs designed to promote a product or service, 6- Direct marketing: It is the use of mail, fax, telephone, internet etc to communicate with customers to make them aware of and to promote to purchasing a product or service (Duncan, 2004, p. 7- 12). The Process of Marketing Communication Communication is transmitting, receiving and processing the information. When it comes to the marketing communication, the marketer or communication agency that has been assigned by the marketer attempts to transfer an idea... The intention of this study is marketing communication as basically a marketing function by which business firms attempt to inform, persuade and remind consumers about the products that they want to sell to them. When it comes to a marketer, one of the most important aspects of his business function is value creation through the products or service that he is selling, and it is critically important that the value he created should be communicated to the proposed customers. The messages a marketer has to communicate may vary from firm to firm. It may be about the features, price and other significant elements of the product or service. Communication is transmitting, receiving and processing the information. When it comes to the marketing communication, the marketer or communication agency that has been assigned by the marketer attempts to transfer an idea or message to a receiver in a way that the receiver will be able to process the information being communicated to him. Though gener ally the marketer is the main source for giving the advertising or conducting the promotion activities, more often them marketing department is looking for an agency or organization that can help them in advertising and promotion. Advertising and promotion industry consist of large numbers of organizations such as Television channels, radio stations, new paper companies, film companies, websites and other firms that facilitate bulleting or digital billboard advertising etc.

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Stakeholder versus Stockholder Essay Example for Free

Stakeholder versus Stockholder Essay Stakeholders and stockholders have similarities and differences. A stakeholder is any person or entity who has an interest in a company. A stockholder is any person or entity who owns stock or shares of a particular company. A stockholder is also a stakeholder, but a stakeholder is not necessarily a stockholder in a company. Examples of stakeholders are employees, vendors, manufacturers, board members, or customers. These examples may or may not hold actual stock in the company. A stockholder will always be a stakeholder because if one owns stock in company there will always be an interest in making sure the company does well to increase stock value. Specifically, an employee may own stock in his company and be a stakeholder by employment. A customer may not own stock in the company, but has a legitimate interest as a stakeholder in receiving a high-end deliverable product. The stakeholder view differs from the stockholder in that stakeholders value the outcomes of joint ventures that benefit both the stockholder and a stakeholder such as an employee. Stakeholders value the contribution all players provide in making a company successful and focus on preserving the company image and brand at all costs (wikipedia, 2006). The stockholder view is driven by profit and rate of return on investment. Stockholders have often been given a preeminent role in guiding and controlling company strategy due to monetary investments at stake. The stakeholder view or concept states that the company’s responsibilities are to all of the stakeholders. The stakeholder view is used to improve brand image, although with increased costs; and makes the firm less likely to be targeted by outside pressure groups. The stakeholder view is used to fill the needs and wants of many different people from owners to local populations by integrating resource and market-based views. Reference http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stakeholders

Monday, October 14, 2019

Comparison On Higher Education Between China And America Education Essay

Comparison On Higher Education Between China And America Education Essay The paper is set out to compare the difference of higher education between China and America from educational ideology. The author points out that the main differences of higher education between China and America from educational ideology are displayed in entrance selection system, teaching method, concept of private and public university, curriculums, evaluation criteria to students, and education on students personal characteristics and morality. In conclusion, the paper holds that both China and America have to adopt different reform measures to advance the quality of respective higher education. Moreover, the integration of these two different higher educations is also very necessary, especially for the perfection and improvement of higher education of China. Keywords: Higher Education, Difference, China, America 1 Introduction China, as one of the Brick Countries, has shocked the whole world by its rapid development in recent decades. America, as NO.1 super power since the end of the Cold War, has remained its hegemony in the world in terms of many aspects, including national politics, economy, science, technology, culture, higher education, etc. Since higher education is the symbol of national strength of one country and a vital way of cultivating its talents for the future, we Chinese ought to compare our higher education system with Americas from educational ideology and then take advantage of Americas strong points and close the gap. Higher education is the important source of power of social development on the ground that it cultivates talents and provides human resources for the social development. Therefore, only through continual improvement of higher education can China finally achieve the great rejuvenation of China. 2 Comparison of Higher Education Between China and America The difference of higher education between China and America can originate from their different historic and cultural background. 2.1 Background of Higher Education 2.1.1 Historic Background The Chinese higher education of the ancient times is mainly based on Legalist and Confucian ideals. As a matter of fact, Confucius played an important role and has shaped the overall Chinese mindset for the past 2500 years. The mode of Chinese ancient higher education was The Unity of Higher Education and Politics-which reflects the combination of government and educational structure. From Han Dynasty, China carried out the rejecting the other schools of thought and respecting only Confucianism. Since ancient Chinese Empire regarded higher education as the foundation of empowering a country, Chinese held imperial examinations to select the talents regularly. In fact ¼Ã…’Imperial examination in Qing Dynasty has formed the integral and tightening system. The Burning of Opium Stocks in Humen in 1839 marked the eruption of The First Opium War and the opening of Chinese modern tines, which, however, ended with the failure of the Qing government and then made Chinese intellectuals disc over the numerous western advances in science and technology. This new information influenced the higher education system and curriculum a lot. It is widely accepted that the first modern Chinese university was established in 1895, right after the Sino-Japanese War (1894-95), which shifted the dominant influence in Asia from China to Japan. Beiyang University (now Tianjin University) was established in the city of the same name in 1895, followed by Qiushi Academy (currently Zhejiang University) in 1897, and Jingshi University (now Beijing University) in 1898. By the time the Peoples Republic of China was founded, there were 227 higher institutions in China. The Chinese higher education of contemporary times has gone through enormous changes. From 1967 to 1976, Chinas Cultural Revolution took another toll on Chinese higher education, which was devastated more than any other sector of the country. The enrollment of postsecondary students can be used as example to illustrate the impacts. The number dropped from 674,400 to 47,800. The decline in educational quality was profound. In 1977, Deng Xiaoping made the decision of resuming the National Higher Education Entrance Examination (Gao Kao), having profound impact on Chinese higher education in history. From the 1980s on, Chinese higher education has undergone a series of reforms that have slowly brought improvement. The historic background of American higher education, however, is quiet diverse from that of China on account of its much shorter history (only 236 years). Puritanism was a religious reform movement that arose within the Church of England in the late sixteenth century. In the early 17th century, thousands of English Puritans settled in North America, mainly in New England. Puritans value the higher education very much. Thus, American higher education at that time was certainly the matrix of Puritan thinking. In 1636, Harvard was founded as the first university by vote of the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, making it the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. The Ivy League is an athletic conference composed of sports teams from eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States ,which includes Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, Princeton University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Yale University. The Ivy League, ranks among the top universities in both USA and worldwide, is well known as the symbol of American higher education. American higher education has gone through a great expansion and democratization over the past several decades. In 1900, only four percent of high school graduates attended college. Nowadays, 75 percent of high school graduates will continue their educations in colleges. American higher education opened to women in 1836.Some of the men school handled a subsidiary of the Womens College, such as Barnard College of Columbia University (1889) and Radcliffe College of Harvard University (1894). The girls gradually entered Medical and Legal vocational schools. In 1969, the Supreme Court mandatorily canceled the black-and-white segregated schools. Congress allocated large sums of money to reward the schools of enrolling both the black and white, trying to change the racial discrimination in education in the past three hundred years. According to statistics, in 1976, the black youths of school age in colleges and universities accounted for about 20% and white youths accounted for about 25%. 2.1.2 Social Background and Culture Tradition There are three important factors which exert intense influence on American higher education: Individualism, pragmatism, creative humanities. American higher education system emphasizes the actual effect and encourages their university students to expose themselves to social practice, which accounts for the equal social position of white collars and blue collars in America. The American university has set the progress of economy, the research of science and improvement of life standard together as three targets of higher education. American universities only set up the curriculums and majors meeting the needs of society. Moreover, students influenced by American higher education boast full creative humanities spirit. For example, the rise of Information Technology marked by some famous corporations in silicon valley such as Microsoft, Facebook , Apple are prominent evidences of the good result of American higher education of creative humanities spirit because all of those entrepreneu rs went to American universities, receive the higher education and then establish the corporation by their extreme creativities. With all these factors contemplated, the American higher education, to some degree, has caused Americas fast development, high technology and economic level. Chinese Higher education, however, is more collectivism, formalism and Copinism compared with that of USA. American higher education seeks diversity and individuation while Chinese ones chase unity. Therefore, Chinese students intend to interpret cases according to standard answers while American ones adopt critical thinking. In China, the reputation of ones Alma Mater can cast a great influence on the social position, occupation, even marriage because the brand of university is closely bound to Chinese typical faceproblem, which easily explain the different social position of white collars and blue collars. Chinese higher education also emphasizes the reform and improvement of higher education to meet the needs of social, economic and scientific development, but it changes so little and blindly copies too much from Americas instead of forming a perfect system suitable for Chinese current condition. 2.2 Differences of Higher Education 2.2.1 Different Entrance Selection System America has no uniform examinations for enrolling students.The five major parts of admission are ACT/SAT scores, GPA, College Application, Essay, and Letters of Recommendation. Not all colleges require essays or letters of recommendation, though they are often proven to increase chances of acceptance. American students can choose their major according to their own hobbies and the plans of development; they may also continuously finish all curriculums in universities or choose to have some gap years outside the campus till they want to come back to school and precede their higher education. To be different from the entrance selection standard of China, America has more flexible and objective one. However, the competition of The Ivy League is very fierce which demands more to students and it is quite difficult to attain the degree of a good university. On the contrary, China has a uniform system of selecting students for higher institutions by National Higher Education Entrance Examination (Gao Kao),once described asà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ a powerful army single-plank bridgeà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾.However, once one step into the gate of a university, it is easy to be accessible to the degree. Being different from the individualism of American students, Chinese students tend to be more of collectivism-which means they would choose their major by the standard of common value of Chinese society in stead of their interest. Thats why some prevailing majors such as economics, finances, management require much higher score than other majors. 2.2.2 Different Teaching Method In US, teachers duty is not what they have taught the students, but to help them construct knowledge. The teaching process takes the students independent thoughts and encourages them to propose something new and different. In the teaching method, emphasizing indefinite teaching methods, teachers encourage the students to participate in the teaching process, and even encourage them to challenge the academic authority. In this kind of free and loose environment, students can be more positive on studies and initiative concretion, applying theory to the practice easily. But in China, many teachers still adopt force-feed type teaching method. They teach with sweat streaming, while the students hear drowsily. This kind of teaching method, not only has violated the original intention of teaching and studying, but leads students comprehensive quality and the lifelong study skills to sell at a discount greatly. Teachers sing the one-man show in the teaching process phenomenon, while in the Am erican university this phenomenon is extremely rare. Whether students can make great progress or not, the teaching method plays an important role. 2.2.3 Different Curriculums In the United States, liberal arts colleges are schools emphasizing undergraduate study in the liberal arts. After four years of full-time study in general, students earned either a Bachelor of Arts degree or a Bachelor of Science degree. Liberal Education is an approach to learning that empowers individuals and prepares them to deal with complexity, diversity, and change. It provides students with broad knowledge of the wider world (e.g. science, culture, and society) as well as in-depth study in a specific area of interest. A liberal education aims to make students build up social responsibility, strong and transferable intellectual practical skills. Students could also grasp communication, analytical and problem-solving skills, and a demonstrated ability to apply knowledge and skills in working. American Universitys courses are made up of general education courses, professional foundation courses and elective courses. General education courses take up about 35% -50% and elective courses almost 1/3 among the whole courses, which aims to strengthen general education and endeavor to cultivate the comprehensive knowledge and skills to solve practical problems. Nevertheless, Chinas higher education, due to the limitation of economic and scientific level, focuses on implementing so-called the professional educationin other words, the employment education. It aims to affect ones value as a tool. Though the structure of course is close, the content and quality are far behind. General education courses or, we say public courses, including Politics, ideological and Moral class, Military Theory and P.E in Chinese university, are compulsory to whole students with a unified standard, accounting for about 18-24 credits; the applied foundation courses are mainly in English, Computers, Advanced Mathematics, and Chinese, accounting for about 20-26 credits. It is obvious implied that the proportion of general education courses is too low, the novelty is not enough and the system is so messy. Selective courses are neglected or regarded as something unimportant in China, whereas they are necessary and essential in American universities as an approach to getting exposure with other knowledge of other fields or majors. For want of basic attainment and general knowledge, Chinese graduates tend to become workers but not creators. China is globally well known as World Factory because Chinese higher education focuses the cultivation of labor skills. If China wants to trans fer from World Factory to world Designer, there will be a long way to go for the reforms and improvement of curriculums. 2.2.4 Different Concept of Public and Private University America boasts more than 1500 public universities and the number of private ones is up to 1600. Chinese public higher institutions take up 87 ¹Ã‚ ª, whereas the private ones is as low as 13 ¹Ã‚ ª. In USA, the most prestigious schools are almost private ones such as Harvard University, Yale University, Princeton University, Columbia University, the University of Chicago, Duke University and Stanford University. China underestimates the position of private universities because the enrollment mark is comparatively low. However, for want of high qualified private universities, China confronts intense obstacles in the path of the strategy of strengthening the country by education on the ground that private universities possess the flexible management, sufficient funds, free academic surroundings and excellent faculties which are exactly the shortage of public universities. The income of America private universities is mainly form four channels: the tuition, the government funding, the sponsorship of alumni and the sales and service of patent. The sufficient fund and free academic surrounding make it easy for American private universities to support scientific research, establish the new subjects and attractive great masters in each field. Moreover, private universities are not only successful educational institutions but also the cores of industries. The rise of Silicon Valley depending on Stanford University and the boom of high-tech industry around Boston attributed to IMF can be illustrated as two good examples. 2.2.5 Different Evaluation Criteria to Students The standard of inspecting the students of American high institutions is the capability to analyze and solve the problems, but not the ability of mechanical memorizing, which means American students do not need to cram up before final examinations. Chinese universities, however, adhere to the principle of learning everything by rote, especially for preparation of final examination. What is far worse is that high score becomes the one and only standard of evaluating students in China. It can be predicted that this kind of one-sided evaluation criteria has written off lots of students creativities, enthusiasm and desire to do better. American students are allowed to take some pieces of cards in the fixed size recording intricate expressions and theories to attend the final examinations. The aim of examination is very clear in American universities: it is practice but not memorizing. Some expressions would even be listed on the paper because reciting of expressions is not required, which is so incredible in China. As long as students work out the questions correctly, they would attain the due score. In China, the situation turns out to be opposite. As a matter of fact, the examination emphasizing mechanical memorizing has seriously ruined the students enthusiasm of studies, leading to excessive attention to pure theory and neglect the real practice of knowledge. The score of final examination accounts for different proportion in GPA between Chinese universities and American ones .GPA stands for Grade Point Average and it is a standard method of measuring academic achievement. The way of calculating GPA in American universities is distinct from that of China. The GPA of American universities are made up of many parts and the final examination is just one of it. One wouldnt get low GPA even though he or she plays below par as long as the assignments have been finished perfectly according to the teachers requirements, because the score of final examination only occupies 35% in the calculation of GPA, however, which closes to 70% in most Chinese universities. The standard of American universities is more objective and fair as the evaluation to students. It is high time that China abandoned the old and ossified evaluation criteria to students. There is still a long way to go before rote learning and test-taking turn into innovation by far. 2.2.6 Different Education on Students Personal Characteristics and Morality In America, volunteering and community service are two important standards of measuring ones personal characteristics and morality. Though technically not a requirement, many colleges make community service an unofficial requirement for acceptance. However, some colleges prefer work experience over community service, and some require that their students also continue community service for some specific number of hours to graduate. American universities encourage students to participate in the social and through which raise their citizen consciousness. Volunteering is also an essential part while enterprises employing new staffs, so American students are very willing to be volunteers. Certain academic honor societies such as Delta Epsilon Sigma have rejected 4.0 GPA students that lacked community service experiences on their applications because they honor community service so much. In China, volunteering and community service are not as important as in America. Chinese universities have never set the time of volunteering and community as one of the requirements of getting the diploma. However, the awareness of volunteering and community has increased by leaps and bounds. For example, 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and 2010 Shanghai World Expo has witnessed the function of volunteers, and most of them are university students. In order to continue the volunteering sprit of 2010 Shanghai World Expo, Shanghai has set up many city volunteers service stations in the tourist attractions to provide the service for tourists, which offer a good opportunity to university students. Rare as social activities are in China, Chinese university has endeavored to improve the personal characteristics and morality by making more volunteering chances. 3 Prospective of Chinese and American Higher Education 3.1 Reform Measures for Chinese Higher Education Education reform in China has reached a new and crucial stage. The driving force is the need to produce an increasingly knowledgeable workforce equipped to handle the challenges of an economy that is not only growing extremely rapidly, but also becoming increasingly diversified and sophisticated. The latest reforms are outlined in a comprehensive plan formally called State Guidelines for Medium-to-Long-Term Education Reform and Development Plan between 2010 and 2020, otherwise known as the Development Plan.1 A second round of national discussion of the Development Plan has just been completed, and more than 30,000 suggestions were collected, reflecting national involvement in such an important issue. This plan is enormous and comprehensive, and is based on studies of various educational models. Two aspects for higher education reform are key: a relaxation of central control, and opening up of the college admission process. The Development Plan specifically calls for the government to release central control, give universities autonomy, and allow presidents and faculty to run their schools. The Development Plan states that it will change from the one-exam-decides-all method to a thorough evaluation of a student as a whole person using multiple tests and factors. The plan is divided into four sections. Each section covers several chapters and each chapter includes numerous issues. Section One describes the plans overall strategy. Section Two lays out missions to accomplish and goals to achieve. Section Three outlines the reform of the educational infrastructure. Section Four provides measurements to ensure implementation. Six chapters are devoted to specific measures, which include the following: strengthening the quality of teaching faculty; increasing the government funding of education to 4% of GDP by 2012; completing education laws and regulations; and ensuring every step of the reform meets the laws and regulations. In order to accomplish these missions and goals, the Development Plan encourages educational institutions to design their own reform programs and policies. (Guo-hua Wang ,April 20,2010) 3.2 Reform Measures for American Higher Education In his State of the Union address, President Obama laid out a blueprint for an economy thats built to last an economy built on American manufacturing, American energy, skills for American workers, and a renewal of American values. As an important part of keeping the American promise alive, the President called for a comprehensive approach to tackling rising college costs. In todays global economy, a college education is no longer just a privilege for some, but rather a prerequisite for all. Reforming student aid to promote affordability and value: To keep tuition from spiraling too high and drive greater value, the President will propose reforms to federal campus-based air programs to shift aid away from colleges that fail to keep net tuition down, and toward those colleges and universities that do their fair share to keep tuition affordable, provide good value, and serve needy students well. These changes in federal aid to campuses will leverage $10 billion annually to keep tuition down. Creating a Race to the Top for college affordability and completion: The president will create incentives for states and colleges to keep costs under control through a $1billion investment in a new challenge to states to spur higher education reform focused on affordability and improved outcomes across state colleges and universities. A first in the World competition to model innovation and quality on college campuses: The president will invest $55 million in a new First in the World competition, to support the public and private colleges and non-profit organizations as they work to develop and test the next breakthrough strategy that will boost higher education attainment and student outcomes Better data for families choose the right college for them: The president will call for a College Scorecard for all degree-granting institutions, designed to provide the essential information about college costs, graduation rates, and potential earnings, all in an easy-to-read format that will help students and families choose a college that is well suited to their needs, priced affordably and consistent with their career and educational goals. Federal support to tackle college costs: The president has already made the biggest investments in student aid since the G.I Bill through increases to the Pell grant, and by shoring up the direct loan and income-based repayment programs. This reform will reward colleges that are succeeding in meeting the following principles: Setting responsible tuition policy, offering relatively lower net tuition prices and/or restraining tuition growth. Providing good value to students and families, offering quality education and training that prepares graduates to obtain employment and repay their loans. 3) Serving low-income students, enrolling and graduating relatively higher numbers of Pell-eligible students.( The White House, Office of the Press Secretary, January 27, 2012) 4 Integration of Chinese and American Higher Education China launched curriculum and teaching reform in the 1990s, resulting in great interest in studies of American university curriculum reforms and instructional systems. When China launched the 211 Project and 985 Project, this served as a great spur to Chinese studies of American research universities. New York and Duke University are building campuses in Shanghai, offering full-time programs to students there, and executive education courses are already a proven success, Harvards Senior Executive Program in Shanghai among them. There have been many joint venture programs with American colleges on the campuses of Chinese higher institutions; however, the trend toward larger-scale initiatives seems clear. In the mean time, America should also learn from China. America has always taken a laissez-faire approach to higher education-in many ways, with excellent results. But it may wish to consider whether new competition justifies a new approach. China may soon outpace the United States not only in the number of university graduates it produces, but also in the world-class universities it creates. From 1995 to 2000, levels of the Chinese government invested about $20-billion in select universities to improve their facilities and curricula. In the following years, 38 of those universities received additional money. For example, two top institutions, Peking University and Tsinghua University, each received $225-million from 1999 to 2003. American college leaders should prepare themselves psychologically for a world in which a key success factor will be partnerships with Asian universities. The good news is that Asian institutions welcome such new partnerships. 5. Conclusion Higher Education is the backbone of a country on the ground of sustaining its development through fostering talents. Without any shadow of doubt, both China and America lay great emphasis on higher education, by different form and method, though. China, as one of the emerging power in the Asian-Pacific region, ought to learn a lot from America, including higher education, in terms of entrance selection system, private universities, the position of higher educational function, evaluation criteria to students and the education to students personal characteristics and morality and campus culture .Both these two countries shoulder great responsibility to higher educational reform in the future to confront the fierce competition.

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Freedom of Speech in Cyberspace -- Internet Web Cyberspace Essays

Freedom of Speech in Cyberspace Since the public has logged onto the internet there has been vast amounts of information available. Since the 1990s more and more countries have entered into the information age. Due to the lack of freedom of speech in several countries, censorship has now taken on a prevalent role in the suppression of information. Many countries view a great deal of information as a threat if put into the wrong hands and as a consequence attempt to reduce its availability. However, unlike many of its other counterparts, the United States takes a very liberal stance towards the access if information on the Internet, which is protected by the First Amendament. In contrast to this philosophy, the Saudi Arabian government, in an act to suppress and censor the prevalence of the information on the internet, has established laws and regulations that prohibit public access to the internet for religious and social reasons. The United States has had internet access for over a decade now and information and usage has flourished. The technology development over the last five years has promoted internet access across the country with internet access in homes and businesses increasing exponentially. With any ISP a person decides to use there is no censorship or filtration system which limits their access to any part of the internet. ISPs and multiple companies’ offer software which helps restrict children’s access to pornographic sites or sites that parents deem harmful to their children, but the companies to explicitly filter the content that is received at a personal computer. There have been laws that have been revoked by the Supreme Court or regional courts which have tried to regulate or filter Internet access[i... ...4/22/2004) [iv] McCarthy, Martha. (2003). Internet Censorship: United States v. American Library Association. (4/22/2004) [v] Committee to Protect Journalists. (2003) Attacks on the Press 2003: Mideast (4/22/2004) [vi] Human Rights Watch. (1999) The Internet In the Mideast And North Africa – Country Profiles-Saudi Arabia (4/22/2004) [vii] Zittrain, Jonathan and Edelman, Benjamin. (2002) . Documentation of Internet Filtering in Saudi Arabia. (4/22/2004) [viii] Human Rights Watch. (1999) The Internet In the Mideast And North Africa – Country Profiles-Saudi Arabia (4/22/2004) [ix] Committee to Protect Journalists. (2003) Attacks on the Press 2003: Mideast (4/22/2004) [x] Committee to Protect Journalists. (2003) Attacks on the Press 2003: Mideast (4/22/2004) [xi] Jehl, Douglas. (1999). The Internet’s ‘Open Sesame’ Is Answered Warily. (4/22/2004)