Poetry and Sonnet Essay

Sonnet by bill Collins is a great example of modern day sonnets. The sonnet has everything that a sonnet should acquire to be considered a sonnet. In this sonnet Bill Collins seems to criticize the sonnet form of Shakespeare. Also, in the sonnet of Bill Collins he puts many allusions in his sonnets. For example, in the beginning of the sonnet where he mentions in an alliteration form in line 3 where you get the allusion of the story troy; to launch a little ship on love’s storm-tossed seas. The next allusion when he mentions A famous sonnet writer named Petrarch in line 12, as well as the final last allusion motioned towards the end of the sonnet in line 13, where he mentions shake spears act called Twelfth night. The first allusion in bill Collins sonnet is in the beginning of the poem. In this allusion he writes; launch a little ship on love’s storm-tossed seas. (Collins, sonnet line 3) Researching this line of the sonnet you find the phase to be the story of troy. According to phrase finder, the phrase of the line is a reference to the mythological figure Helen of Troy Her abduction by Paris was said to be the reason for a fleet of a thousand ships to be launched into battle, initiating the Trojan Wars. (Phrase finder, web) The idea of bill Collins adding this into the sonnet is because he is showing from the beginning of the sonnet the love of the poem, which is needed for an iambic pentameter. In the next allusion in the poem Sonnet by Bill Collins, he mentions Petrarch. According to Petrarch biography, Petrarch is an Italian poet who is best known for the Iyric poetry of his Canzoniere named Lura and is considered one of the greatest love poets of world literature. (Your dictionary, web) In addition, according to Peter Sadlon, Lura was a married woman. As a result, for being a married woman Lura would turn down all advances Petrarch had made towards her. (Sadlon, web) For this reason bill Collins decided to add the allusion of Petrarch towards the Volta stage. This is because towards the end of Bill Collins sonnet, he wants to point out that Petrarch will never gain the love of his canzoniere. The final allusion Bill Collins writes; take off those crazy medieval  tights.( Collins, sonnet line 13) This line in the sonnet is reference towards Shakespeare act called Twelfth night. According to the summery of no sweat shake pear, Malvolio was teased into putting on tights by some tricksters, after believing the widowed queen could fall for him.(no sweat shakespear,web) In addition, at the end of the act Shakespeare speaks of the madness of love. As a result, bill Collins add this line to his sonnet to signal the ending of the sonnet. To conclude, Bill Collins poem called sonnet was filled with many allusion and is a perfect example of modern day poems. His work followed the rules of an iambic pentameter. It seemed like he criticized the poetry of Shakespeare but yet he made meaning to the sonnet filled with love of other acts, famous writers and sonnets.

An Overview of Altruism from Darwin to the Present

Altruism itself is considered a virtue in today’s society and is present in many religions, humanitarian and philanthropic causes. This selfless concern for others of helping behaviour is not something that is only found in humans but can be found in most species and is actually a type of behaviour that has evolved with species. Though Charles Darwin first made note of com/common-core-ela-9-2014-ela3009-a-ic/">altruistic behaviour in his seminal work, The Descent of Man, the actually theory of altruism was not recognized until the early 1900s (Darwin, 1871, Kropotkin, 1902).Altruistic behaviour is difficult to understand and its evolution has proven to be interesting as the reason for behavioural changes cannot completely be defined. Additionally pure altruism is rarely found in nature, as those noble animals tend to die before they can pass down their genetic traits. Though Darwin did not completely understand altruism his work, the Descent of Man, is one of the first scienti fic published works that describes altruistic behaviour.His observation of animals helping others actually opposes his evolutionary theory of the survival of the fittest because in order for an individual to survive they need to take care of themselves and not sacrifice for others. According to natural selection theory, benevolent behavior should not evolve because it, technically, costs or even harms the doer’s fitness. Darwin did attempt to explain this phenomena by including it in group selection, as in order for groups to survive natural selection may actually favour groups of individuals and in this case the altruistic behaviours would be passed down to the next generation.(Darwin, 1871). This phenomenon of cooperation was not completely described until Kropotkin published a book, a collection of essays, dealing with mutual aid (Kropotkin, 1902). This work was a direct response to social Darwinism. Kropotkin was able to build a more satisfactory tie to individual natural selection and cooperation, displaying that mutual aid selection directly benefits individuals own struggle for personal success, so that cooperation between species will actually be the best path for individual success (mutual aid, 1955).Altruistic behaviour has since been researched and discussed by many scientists since its recognition in evolutionary biology. Scientists have thought that altruistic behaviour may be instinctual and that helping behaviour survives because it makes the individual feel good, particularly in humans (Wilkinson, 1988). There is also the theory that if an animal helps another then they may have the favour repaid back in the future, which can be found in human society (Kreb, 1952).Much research delving into altruistic behaviour and evolutionary biology cannot find a firm fit for altruism in general evolutionary terms. Inclusive selection or kin selection, in which species display behaviour that selections for those in their family to reproduce, cannot co mpletely explain altruism as it does not attempt to explain why differing species help each other (Hamilton, 1964). Symbiotic relationships, in which both species benefit, are based on specific conditions such as long-lives, dependence for food, performing a necessary service etc.(Trivers, 1971). In symbiotic relationships the help is eventually repaid by the species even if it takes a long time as the species my loss a little fitness at the current time but in the end the long term benefit will far outweigh any previous problems or disadvantages, known as reciprocal altruism. Much work has been done to investigate reciprocal altruism and inclusive fitness, particularly as evolutionary biology has evolved to include theories such as the game theory and predictive behaviour.Game theory points out that reciprocal altruism can also include negative behaviour, such as a cheater can expect to be punished in the future for its behaviour to others. (Trivers, 1971) It has been argued that t hese two types of behaviour, inclusive selection and reciprocal altruism are not truly altruism, as with altruism the species providing help does not get anything in return; much of research is devoted to study these evolutionary ideas (Rothstein and Pierotti, 1980). In the 1980s altruistic behaviour began to be investigated in Primates particularly with grooming behaviour.Primatologists noted that an individual’s status in a hierarchy seemed to be related to their relationships with others. Aiding dominant members seemed to be favoured. Juveniles needed to ingratiate themselves in the group and aiding a dominant female is a means of securing status in the hierarchical society of bonobos. (de Waal, 1989) Certain primates will chose to groom other primates and later they will gain some sort of benefit. A more recent study has shown a different aspect of reciprocal altruism as dominant female primates were found to groom subordinate primates, a type of grooming-down which had n ot been observed yet (Parr, et al.1995). Current altruism research is based around game theory and includes behavioural manipulation, bounded rationality, conscience, kin selection, memes, mutual aid, selective investment theory, sexual selection, reciprocity, and pseudo-reciprocity. The Price equation was developed to redefine Hamilton’s work on kin selection and describes natural selection and evolution. In this mathematical equation altruism is defined as a behavioural genetic predisposition that increases the fitness of the group which in turn causes the individual that belongs to that group to benefit.(Frank, 1997). A fantastic example of this is with slime mould. Slime mould live as individuals until they are starving when the aggregate and form a multicellular organism and some cells sacrifice themselves for the benefit of the group. Altruism in humans has begun to be investigated and shown that specific regions of the brain will trigger charitable or helping behaviour . It was found that altruism does not suppress selfishness but actually very basic to brain function and triggers a pleasurable response (Moll and Grafman, 2006).The theory of group selection has re-emerged when looking at aboriginal lifestyle in Africa. Individuals of groups were found to be more closely related then previously believe suggesting that the nicest really do survive. Those that shared food and other goods would reproduce and pass on their genes as individuals would ban together during difficult times (Fischer, 2006). Interestingly it is through religion that altruism is spread throughout the human population. Buddhism, Judaism, Sikhism, Christianity, Islam and Hinduism all place particular importance on altruism.There are many individuals that oppose altruism saying that it is a morality, more of an ethics branch than evolution, as individuals do not need to be altruistic to survive. Though as social beings an altruistic natural may make you more social it will not ul timately cause your death or the inability to pass on your genetics. Most of the controversy with altruism today revolves around the factor that altruism may not apply to humans, though humans do have symbiotic relationships with other species, (think of the bacteria in your digestive tract).There is a split between real altruism and psychological altruism though most will agree that those individuals that care for others, such as parents for their children will be able to survive in society much easier than those that do not care for anyone. Most of altruism in humans is psychological and not due to a selfish gene. Also due to advances in technology ands science natural selection has taken a bit of a turn or slowed down so understanding altruism in humans is possible quite different then observing altruism in other species. References;Darwin, C. (1871). The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, New York: Appleton Fischer, R. , (2006), â€Å"Why altruism paid off for our ancestors† (NewScientist. com news service) Frank, S. A. , (1997), The Price Equation, Fisher's Fundamental Theorem, Kin Selection, and Causal Analysis, Evolution 51 (6): 1712–1729 Hamilton, W. (1964). The genetical evolution of social behavior. J. Theor. Biol. 7 I: 1–16. Moll and Grafman, (2006), Human fronto–mesolimbic networks guide decisions about charitable donation, PNAS, 103 (42);15623-15628Parr, L. , Matheson, M. , Bernstein, I. & de Waal, F. (1996). Grooming down the hierarchy: allogrooming in captive brown capuchin monkeys, Cebus paella. Rothstein, S. & Pierotti, R. (1980). Reciprocal altruism and kin selection are not clearly separable phenomena. Journal of theoretical biology, 87(2), 255-261. Trivers, R. (1971). ‘The Evolution of Reciprocal Altruism’, Quarterly Review of Biology, 46: 35-57. Wilkinson, G. (1988). Reciprocal altruism in bats and other mammals. Ethology and sociobiology, 9(2), 85-100. Ã'‹

Learning Team Analysis

Learning Team C, in the Leadership Theories and Practice course, consists of five members. Each member possesses their own learning style. These learning styles translate into specific leadership behaviors and practices. The differing leadership styles of the team members reflect established leadership theories studied in the course. Team members participated in the Pearson/Prentice-Hall Self-Assessment Library Website (University of Phoenix, 2011) leadership assessments that rate the members’ use of power, team skills, and conflict handling styles. The information gleaned will assist team members in understanding the potential impact of the differing leadership styles on team effectiveness. Beth’s Analysis Team member, Beth Calvano, scored a 107 on the How Good am I at Building and Leading Teams. This is a high score and shows that Beth will be a strong team member. For the What’s my Leadership Style assessment Beth scored an 8 on the concern for people section and a 17 on the task section. The scores are high and reflect a positive concern for teammates and a task oriented teammate. On the What’s my preferred Conflict-Handling Style quiz, Beth’s highest scores were in collaborating (19), accommodating (19), and compromise (19). The What’s my Preferred Form of Power assessment shows that Beth prefers the expert and referent forms of power. Beth’s leadership style reflects the Theory Y portion of the Theory X and Y theory of leadership. Her high scores on the learning team building assessment, in the concern for people and task sections, shows her ability to care for others and still accomplish the task. Beth’s conflict-handling style shows high scores for collaborating, accommodating, and compromise, three very significant factors for effective teamwork. The fact that her preferred forms of power are expert and referent lends itself to that theory of leadership. She tends to be an expert in her field, but will ask questions and educate herself on subjects with which she is not familiar. Her preference for referent power ensures her strong interpersonal connections with teammates (Hughes, Ginnett, & Curphy, 1995). Because of the contemporary use of knowledge-based learning in organizations, Theory Y is an effective leadership style (Kopelman, Prottas, & Falk, 2010). Beth’s leadership style should impact the team positively. Mark’s Analysis Mark’s score of 79 on the assessment of â€Å"How Good Am I at Building and leading Teams† places him in the second quartile for potential leaders. Although a higher score was anticipated, responses to key questions pertaining to his leadership style indicated he would rank somewhere in the mid to upper segment of candidates that would build and lead the team. Mark’s leadership style was assessed to be in the upper ranges with respect to concern for people and task achievement. This indicated an ability to balance his orientation for task/people. This leadership style is said to be engendering to others and is reflective of an individual who accepts challenges and focuses on achieving tasks. Overall Mark should have a positive effect on the team. He may not be the designated leader initially, however he has skills sets which are supportive and if needed could evolve into a leadership role which would assure the team of continuous quality in structure, production and an atmosphere of motivation, collaboration and mutual respect and accountability. Sharra’s Analysis Team member, Sharra Jones, scored an 85 on the How Good am I at Building and Leading Teams. This score places Sharra in the second quartile which means she can be a strong team member. For the What’s my Leadership Style assessment Sharra scored an 8 on the concern for people section and a 9 on the task section. The scores are in the middle range, which means that the concern for people score is on the higher end and the score for task oriented is on the low- high end. Sharra has great concern for people, but she can also be focus on the task that is set before the team. On the What’s my preferred Conflict-Handling Style quiz, Sharra’s highest scores were in collaborating (16) and compromise (16). The What’s my Preferred Form of Power assessment shows that Sharra prefers the expert, legitimate, and referent forms of power. Based on the results from each assessment, Sharra’s leadership style falls under contingency theories. Contingency pproach is that the leadership style is based on the situation the leader is in (Fiedler & Garcia, 1987). Sharra’s scores high score in the concern for people helps her to adapt to people needs which is similar to adapting leadership styles to fit the situations. The ability to collaborate and compromise makes Sharra an effec tive team player. She is willing to do what it takes to make sure the team task is completed. Her preferred forms of power also show that she will have a strong and effective impact on the team, because she would be consider an expert in her field and is willing to share and help other to achieve what she has achieved. Ryan’s Analysis Leadership is a facet of my professional life that has always been a challenge to me. Until I entered into my present position, I rarely thought about leadership in anything greater that a Transactional level (Burns, 1990). Being in education, when I was working with student in the classroom, or athletes on the field, I see that while I was being more Transformational, there was still a Transactional underpinning to the entire relationship. Stepping in the a leadership position within the Curriculum and Instruction Department in the school district I work in brought an entirely new perspective on leadership. Honestly, I wish that I had taken this class and these assessments before undertaking this role. According to the questionnaires, I scored a 102 in the â€Å"How Good Am I at Building and Leading a Team? † This places me within the top quartile. What strikes me as interesting is that once I received the results of this survey, it made the results from the next screening more understandable. The â€Å"What’s My Leadership Style? † assessment showed an almost even distribution between my concern for people and my concern for the task. My scores were 11 and 12 respectively. According to the analysis, this places me in the category of leadership that is most versatile in any profession. From there, the â€Å"What’s My Preferred Type of Power? † survey came back with some interesting measures. Within five-tenths of a score, I had three power types tied for the highest. The first was â€Å"Legitimate† with a score of a 5. Next were â€Å"Expert† and â€Å"Referent† respectively with scores of 4. 7 and 4. 5. The screening was completed with the â€Å"What is my Preferred Conflict-Handling Style? † This measure returned with similar outcomes to the previous measure. According to the results, three styles came in close to each other. These were â€Å"Collaborating† with an 18, â€Å"Compromising† with a 17, and â€Å"Accommodating† with a 15. Oddly enough, this left me with more questions than answers from when I started. As much as I strive to be a Transformational Leader in practice, I would look at these quantitative results as moving somewhere in between Transactional and Transformational (Burns, 1978). However, these two categories are fairly generous in their latitude and approach to delineating leadership styles. Manz and Sims (1991) offer a little more depth in description of leadership styles with their four categories, or styles, of leaders. As with the Transactive/Transformative dyad, I found myself striving to be the SuperLeader these two researchers describe. However, and honest assessment of qualitative, anecdotal experiences combined with the quantitative data listed in the previous paragraph would more than likely place my style on the border between Transactor and Visionary Hero. Perhaps the borders between these six different leadership types discussed bear more scrutiny once the types, themselves, have been clearly established. Like practitioners of the hard sciences, it is the borders between things where activity is at its greatest. This is where geologists and ecologists thrive. Physicists yearn for the borderlands of the known and the theoretical to see what is truly there. For leadership, both general and individual understanding, the borders between styles is where more concentration, at least for me, is needed. This is where I see my leadership style flourishing and thriving. Here is where I can authentically cultivate and unique style to leadership with different individuals, and with various groups. However, the one issue I must maintain a situational awareness of is Situational Leadership (Hersey & Blanchard, 1995). In order to maintain a transformative stance, authenticity is a premium that cannot be sacrificed. As such, I must negotiate the situation within the acceptable limits I have put in place within myself. This awareness can only come through experience and engaged reflection after the fact. Phyllis’ Analysis This is a group that consists of five (5) team members, which will reflect five (5) different personalities and five different backgrounds. Each team member posses his or her own particular leadership style, which reflects in their assessments. I began to reflect back on my shift in roles. As I think back on my transition from a follower, to a supervisor, and to my current position as a manager, I realized those were very difficult periods for me. I knew that as time progressed I would have learn how to change the way I viewed things as well as how I reacted to certain situations. According to Avolio, Yammarino (2008), â€Å"Leadership involves the ability â€Å"to influence, motivate, and enable others to contribute toward the effectiveness and success of the organizations of which they are members† (pg 318). I completed the assessments and the majority of what the assessment revealed had a lot of relevancy. The first assessment I completed was, How Good am I at Building and Leading Teams. I scored 100. According to the score I received reflected I was a strong team member. The next assessment I completed was What’s my Leadership Style. I scored an eight (8) on the concern for people, which was a high score according to the assessment and I scored a thirteen (13) on the concern for task, which was also high. According to the assessment the scores in these two particular categories relayed balance, indicating that on a weighted scale I would equaled out. Next, I completed What’s my preferred Conflict-Handling Style. This assessment reflects more of the leadership traits I utilize. The two areas I scored the highest was collaborating and compromising receiving a score of sixteen (16) in both areas. I received a score of fourteen (14) on accommodating. In the areas of competing and avoiding, I received the same score of eleven. The last assessment I completed was What’s my preferred Type of Power. The scores I received are: Reward 3. 7; Coercive 2- I found to be the most accurate; Legitimate 4. 2; Expert 5; Referent 3. 2. After completing the assessments, the leadership theory I display would be more of transformational. Subordinates need to feel valued and given a broader look into their job. To praise them in public motivates and builds their confidence. Wren (1995) stated, â€Å"There has to be structure in leadership. The leader needs to be to explain the task to the subordinately letting them know exactly what it is they would have them to do. Subordinates will be inclined to do as they have been instructed by the leader (â€Å"that is good follower acceptance and loyalty†) (pgs. 96-97). References Burns, J. (1978). Transactional and transformational leadership. In J. Wren (Ed.) The leader’s companion: insights on leadership through the ages (pp.100-101). New York: Free Press. Fiedler, F. E., & Garcia, J. E. (1987) New approaches to effective leadership. New York: John Wiley. Hersey ,P. & Blanchard, K. (1995). Situational leadership. . In J. Wren (Ed.) The leader’s companion: insights on leadership through the ages (pp.207-211). New York: Free Press. Hughes, R., Ginnett, R., & Curphy, G. (1995). Power, influence, and influence tactics. In J. Wren (Ed.) The leader’s companion: Insights in leadership through the ages (pp. 339- 351). New York, NY: The Free Press. Kopelman, R., Prottas, D., & Falk, D. (2010). Construct validation of theory X/Y behavior scale. Leadership & Organizational Development Journal, 31(2), 120-135. Retrieved from ProQuest database. Manz, C. & Sims, Jr., H. (1991). SuperLeadership: beyond the myth of heroic leadership. . In J. Wren (Ed.) The leader’s companion: insights on leadership through the ages (pp.212- 221). New York: Free Press. University of Phoenix. (2011). Pearson/Prentice-Hall self-assessment library web site. Retrieved from https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/secure/aapd/SAS/ROBBINS sal3v/sal3v3web.html

Exam paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Exam paper - Essay Example The university also encourages for there to be effective communication with the community around to make sure that the policy goals are implemented. It is also very clear that the university is set to achieve the ISO14001 accreditation. The university plans to get to achieve this by working on its environmental management systems, which includes the Carbon Management Programme. To achieve this, the university is determined to work on its environmental performance. Biodiversity - The University plans to protect and enhance the biological and environmental quality of all campuses as well as pursue the Easter Craiglockhart Hill Local Nature Reserve Management Plan as a land manager. Energy – The University plans to develop and operate responsible energy management practices through the reduction of the consumption of fossil fuels whilst making use of renewable fuel technologies. Procurement – The University plans to maintain, operate and develop the entire University estate in a sustainable manner. It will also advocate for the purchase of ethical and environmentally-considerate products and services which will help minimize the use of damaging substances and processes. Transport – In transport, the University’s policy states that it plans to promote alternatives to single car occupancy and unnecessary domestic and international air travel. This will be achieved by the implementation of an environmentally-considerate Travel Plan covering all staff, students and visitors to the University. Wastes and emissions – The University policy states that it will ensure that there are sufficient facilities to allow students, staff and visitors to reduce, reuse and recycle waste with the aim of minimizing the amount of waste ultimately sent to landfill. On water - With the plan to maintain the water conservation programme the university will achieve reduction in water wastage. According to the policy statement, the University plans to

Terrorism the Future, and US Foreign Policy Assignment

Terrorism the Future, and US Foreign Policy - Assignment Example The United States of America, in their capacity as one of the most powerful and resourceful countries, should be the world leaders in the fight against terrorism. A prime example of a terrorist attack is the attack on the World Trade Centre, which was a catalyst in causing other countries to be concerned about the global security threat. It stands to reason therefore, that 9/11 was a catalyst in the implementation of strategies to combat terrorism in the USA and other countries. The USA took some major steps in protecting the world from terrorists and acts of terrorism which were affecting other parts of the world as well. The initial step taken by the USA in the fight against terrorism was to find the leader of the terrorists, in doing that the USA took decisive action by sending forces to Afghanistan by way of Pakistan to find the group responsible for the terrorist act against the USA. The USA deployed its forces to these countries from 1999 to 2010, as a part of their policy. The services of almost 136 countries were offered for this purpose. In the month of November 2002 in an international law enforcement effort resulted in the arrests of three thousand (3,000) terrorists in over one hundred (100) countries. According to the words of Raphael Perl in â€Å"Terrorism, the Future, and US Foreign Policy,† the author outlined the background as that of the US foreign policy, in 1995, when there were 23% of terrorists who acted against the US citizens or their property. The second step was when they searched the entire country and found terrorists belonging to a particular religious group called Al Qaida, whose group leader was the infamous Osama Bin Ladin, who is the leader of a worldwide group of terrorists. Author Raphael Perl, in his book â€Å"Terrorism, the Future, and US Foreign Policy† writes about conflicting goals and action plans. (1) To protect the people from terrorism, (2) Developing policies to fight against terrorism. The USA worked very hard to maintain world peace and was working really hard to develop anti-terrorism policies by bearing the two points outlined above in mind. For dealing with the current asymmetrical threat to global security, the author outlined both future and current threats and the capabilities of the USA as well as the opportunities which presented themselves. He also outlined how to improve the policies and systems in relation to global security both for the present and future. The USA was very instrumental in removing Saddam Hussein from being the ruler of Iraq and in so doing, gave the local residents of Iraq human rights, protection, and freedom. To summarize this, the USA which is one of the most powerful countries in the world has taken steps in order to maintain world peace. To address global security, the USA has sought the help of many countries who, in assisting the USA has also eliminated the threat of terrorism as well as the terrorists in their own countries.  

Retaliatory tariffs Mexico placed under NAFTA Research Paper - 1

Retaliatory tariffs Mexico placed under NAFTA - Research Paper Example Major impact has been on agricultural trading relation between USA and Mexico. According to trade statistics Mexico exports 80% of its agricultural exports to USA, and since the implementation of NAFTA, agricultural exports between USA and Mexico have increased by 9% every year, thus asserting that NAFTA has benefited both the nations (Agricultural trade, n.d.). The retaliatory tariffs that Mexico implemented on various imported goods from USA continued from March 2009 to October 2011. These tariffs were imposed when USA failed to meet the trucking provisions of NAFTA. Mexico initiated these tariffs keeping within the structure of dispute resolution process of NAFTA. In July 2011, a formal agreement was signed that made decisions regarding implementation of trucking provisions of NAFTA (Zahniser, et al, 2011, p.2). NAFTA came into force on January 1, 1994. It created a trilateral trading relation between USA, Canada and Mexico creating the largest single market of goods and services with these neighbouring nations as the members. The customer base of this treaty was nearly 440 million. The objective was to remove all tariffs on goods that are traded between the three nations thus creating a free trade area by the year 2009. The estimated annual valuation of traded goods between these nations was $ 14 trillion. (Ferrell, et al, 2011, p.98) NAFTA implementation has brought immense changes in the economic and trading relations between USA and Mexico and all these have had great trade impacts in USA. When NAFTA was signed by the three nations, the USA-Canada free trade agreement was already in practice for five years. There were amalgamations of many industries in USA and Canada. Mexico in the pre-NAFTA era was following a policy to produce goods that would substitute imported goods from the USA. One such example was Mexican automotive industry which was ruled by many decrees pronounced

Primo Levi Suvival in Auschwitz Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Primo Levi Suvival in Auschwitz - Essay Example Levi has moments of clarity that contribute to his ability to survive, neither optimism nor pessimism, both of which are deadly. He thinks, "clearly they will kill us, whoever thinks he is going to live is mad, it means that he has swallowed the bait, but I have not" (Levi 24). What saves him is the middle ground, his acceptance that while things could be better, things can always be worse. As he says in the beginning, "Sooner or later in life everyone discovers that perfects happiness is unrealizable, but there are few who pause to consider the antithesis: that perfect happiness is equally unattainable" (Levi 17). It is this perspective that keeps him from either sinking into despair, or losing himself in hope. In the Lager, Levi learns to take the most pleasure in the least reminder of his humanity. Throughout the narrative, food figures prominently into the lives of the starving men. Although there is nothing but bread and soup, a little more bread and soup can be the difference between content and discontent. In "A Good Day" he recalls the wonderful surprise of extra soup and asks, "What more could one want Even our work seems light with the prospect of four hot, dense pints waiting for us in the hut" (Levi 76). By adjusting his expectations, Levi adjusts his will to live. And even more soothing is the prospect of sleep. Any point in which the men can lie down, close their eyes, cover themselves with blankets, is a moment of relief. He relates with joy his assignment to a hospital bed: "a miracle! It is empty! I stretch myself out with delight; it is the first time since I entered the camp that I have a bunk all to myself. Despite my hunger, within ten minutes I am asleep" (Levi 50). In "A Good Day," the presence of the sun makes life a little more bearable. It is a thing that, as free man, they took for granted. Now, "I understood how men can worship the sun" (Levi 71). And even less than a sunny day can help the men bear their burdens. For instance, "The latrine is an oasis of peace" (Levi 68), and other small facets of a typical daily cycle provide a break from the insanity of the Lager. Beside the regular meals and rest hours, the mere anticipation of a break, which "can be almost glimpsed in the fog of the remote future, allowing us to derive a little more strength from the expectation" (Levi 69), is enough to keep him going just a little while longer. In the lager, Levi learns to live in the moment. If something good happens, he will be present and enjoy it as much as he can, without painful thoughts of past or future. When he finds himself in a beautiful, clean, warm laboratory, almost reminding him of his old life, he says, "All this is a gift of fortune, to be enjoyed as intensely as possible and at once; for there is no certainty about tomorrow" (Levi 140). Another little help is that Levi has friends. Although he writes that some men are hypocrites or spies, that men will not help those who cannot help them back, he finds himself fortunate to remain among the company of his best friend, Alberto. He takes courage in "the rare figure of the strong yet peace-loving man against whom the weapons of the night are blunted" (Levi 57). Another friendly connection is found in his countryman, Lorenzo, who gave him extra food for six months. Although every haftling lived with the

Social Policy History Scavenger Hunt Assignment Essay

Social Policy History Scavenger Hunt Assignment - Essay Example Federal law is therefore binding on all states and is superior to state law. Historically all social policies directed towards marijuana have considered its essentially negative impact on the society. The legal history of marijuana shows that the drug has regularly been regulated by the government through different Acts. The role of government has been central in the implementation of laws pertaining to marijuana usage. On several occasions throughout history, regulations restricting marijuana usage have been relaxed and tightened. Since laws vary from state to state, laws pertaining to marijuana usage have also seen many inconsistencies. Despite federal law being superior to state laws and having made marijuana illegal, state laws continue to legalize marijuana usage. In such a case, there is increased confusion regarding what laws should be followed and how states can handle the issue. Federal law has been relatively more consistent with its stand on marijuana usage. However, state laws differ on their stand on marijuana usage. With Washington and Colorado having legalized medicinal and recreational use of marijuana within their states, many other states have been joining in. However, the vast majority of the states still continue to prohibit the use of marijuana. This is due to the social costs of marijuana legalization as a result of which social policy has historically shown great concern for marijuana legalization. The association of marijuana usage with other social vices such as crimes has led social policies to be focused more towards restricting marijuana usage. This stance is aligned with federal law which states that marijuana is illegal. The inconsistencies between state laws have also encouraged people to look for permanent answers in federalism (Reisert, 2015). The similarity between the marijuana legalization issue and social

Strategy Management and Health Information Technology Essay

Strategy Management and Health Information Technology - Essay Example As will be discussed in the preceding sections, this level of organic growth was most heavily impacted with regards to the acquisition of several key firms that offered software and logistics solutions with regards to the application of EMR (Goodwin et al, 2013). Finally, the current business seeking to broaden upon the way in which the Canadian health system integrates with and understands/utilizes electronic medical records. This is of course something of a gamble as it cannot be definitively determined which direction the health and governmental organizations that control the system might develop. Nonetheless, this is a gamble that Telus Health has been willing to take. Telus Business Strategy: As with any firm, Telus Health is most supremely interested in maximizing profits. Likewise, in order to affect such an end, it is necessary for the firm to grow into new markets, integrate with new products, and gain a higher level of customers/sales. Although there are many means to affec t such an end, the particular business strategy that Telus Health has chosen to engage with can most definitively be described as one of acquisition. An acquisition strategy is a strategy that many firms/organizations would doubtless love to be able to pursue. However, there is a costly requirement in order to pursue such an end. Generally, firms that pursue an acquisition strategy have excess capital in reserve. In order to do this, it is necessary for the firm to of experienced a large degree of success in the past or to have assets that it is willing to leverage in order to affect such a strategy. A small company with extra capital may use an acquisition strategy to gain a competitive advantage. An acquisition strategy entails purchasing another company, or one or more product lines of that company. For example, a small grocery retailer on the east coast may purchase a comparable grocery chain in the Midwest to expand its operations. As the reader can see, the acquisition of KinL ogix, MD Practice Software LP, and Wolf EMR have all served to underscore the level and extent to which the firm is leveraging the strategy of acquisition in order to boost profits. Explanation of Telus Health broader objectives In order to gain a larger share of profitability, firms generally seek to make gambles with regards to what direction they believe the industry is moving towards (Business Policy and Strategy, 2010). Accordingly, many times such gambles pay off. Conversely, many firms see their profits and viability wither and died based upon incorrect calculations of future markets in the direction to which current trends are pointing. Likewise, Telus Health has made a significant gamble with regards to the current market and prospects of the way in which the Canadian healthcare system will integrate with EMR. As such, the reader can see that Telus Health has come to the understanding that EMR will dominate the Canadian healthcare system in the near future. Accordingly, Tel us Health desperately wants to be part of the transformation by acquiring as many EMR firms that coalesce with its mission and desired future mission as possible. This is done as

LL Bean methodology Essay Example for Free

LL Bean methodology Essay LL Bean utilizes a probability distribution methodology to help predict the optimal order size of a specific item. The probability distribution is driven by a series of calculations that will predict forecast errors. One of the major concerns is that LL Bean tends to order more inventory than what was predicted in the frozen forecast. Their logic for doing this is that the cost of understocking exceeds the cost of overstocking. According to Marck Fasold (CFO), this methodology leads to major discrepancies with forecasting the demand for their products. Also, this leads to buyers being challenged that products are being ordered that do not align with their forecasting predictions. In addition, Rol Fessenden eludes to the fact that the methodology has issues because they can’t find any real distribution errors among products and he is not convinced about the estimating contribution margins and liquidation costs. In summary, there are many challenges to LL Bean’s ordering process. LL Bean tends to be okay with just overstocking rather than focusing on making accurate predictions. This approach leads to unwarranted costs that can be eliminated if they focused on refining their ordering process and methodology. Secondly, it seems that buyers make forecasts that are not being applied by the company which turn leads to unsatisfied buyers because they feel their judgments are not being respected. Lastly, LL Bean should allow the distribution forecast errors to be handled by the buyers during their initial forecasting discussion. The typical forecasting process for LL Bean involves various individuals (including the Inventory Buyer and product â€Å"people†) meeting together to make forecasts of items by book. Specially, an Excel spreadsheet is utilized to rank items by expected dollar sales and â€Å"discussions† are involved to make adjustments. The buyers tend to use their own personal judgment where they invent a â€Å"rule of the thumb† to develop forecasts. Furthermore, they use personal feelings in their forecasting predications which in turn can lead to errors without hard data. The issue with the forecasting process is that it is purely focused on an individual’s personal thoughts rather than the usage of historical sales data as a benchmark. Also, according to Barbara Hamaluk (a buyer for men’s knit shirts) there tends to be a variance  with the item forecasts and the dollar target of that book. In summary, by having a forecasting process that is based on personal judgment versus actual data can lead to issues such as over and understocking items. Also, this can further lose money for LL Bean due to the inaccuracies of ordering too much or too little based on personal â€Å"opinion† forecasts. LL Bean can improve this process by having their buyers follow a standardized process that requires them to use historical and valid data to predict forecasts.

Applications of Technology in Education

Applications of Technology in Education TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION Lahore: There is an increasing demand in the country for people who corner the market of sound knowledge of technology to solve the critical problems of technical sphere. This fast growing demand has led to the creation of a number of colleges, departments and universities’ catering in this discipline by providing a specialized and structured degree program of technology based studies as this technical education is indispensable in the presence of current wake of revolutions being made up in the technical world, said by Ajmal Hussain Shah, Principal of Government College Technology, here on Saturday. He further elaborated that the future career of students after ten years of schooling mainly depends upon the marks obtained by them in the matriculation examination. Fifty to sixty percent of the top merit students prefer to get admission in FSc to start their career as engineer and doctor. Among them hardly ten percent of students can get admission in professional studies i.e. engineering universities due to limited number of seats. The rest of eager students go for admission in private sector universities which mainly depends upon their affordability as the education in private sector universities is very expensive. But the percentage is changed in the last two years as now the students prefer to be technology specialist and so they want to get admission in information technology and other degrees related to this field. The present conditions of Pakistan when its ideological and territorial boundaries are at harm, demanded some progress in agriculture and industrial areas but the recent years and revolutions have proved that the more a country is strong in technology the more it has chance to flourish. The need of the hour is to develop technical mind and skills so we can keep pace with the modern world. He argued that the students of Pakistan need to study technology because the world if moving fast is this aspect as now the US is trying to develop hypersonic aircraft and is funding Defense Advanced Research Project Agency. These aircrafts are so fast that they can reach any location on earth within an hour and circle the earth at the equator within two hours. Moreover, the US (NASA) has also launched spacecraft Juno to probe Jupiter and in 2016 it will spend one year in a polar orbit around Jupiter and will send back the information about Jupiter’s magnetic and gravitational field. It will then sort out the valuable information about the planets formed from a molecular cloud about 4.6 billion years ago. Although the Principal didn’t elaborate on â€Å"Government’s effort in the field of technology† but he shed light on the government that it has made amendments in the education system and they are worthy but still the country and its technology need much more attention. In situations where the world has made flying robots and K computers, Pakistan has yet to do a lot in the technology field for which the growing technical institutions and education system play a vital role. It does need high capital, skilled technicians and professional people to teach and perform experiments to enhance this field. Taking the challenge to make Pakistan a technically establish country is big but it will lead this country to an established economy. The information technology instructor Nazrul Islam, Government College Technology, touched upon the importance of IT in education by saying that the computer world is ready to engulf us in software heaven. Some are eager to be dependent upon anything and everything while a few remain hesitant. They are afraid of this cyber world with its new, virtual reality and take it to be the faint and fleeting colours of man’s imagination. Who knows one of these days a solution will be found to all our socio-economic problems. May be we would take heed and save mankind from annihilation. It is this that encourages us at the threshold of our new lives. He further explained that with the digital computer at the crux of these technical revolutions, the internet and the World Wide Web are among the primary drivers and the present youth is in the aura of these advancements. â€Å"what has made the big difference in recent years is not the fact that individuals computers have dramatically improved in their capabilities, but that all those information islands are being connected by digital highways made possible through the use of telecommunications infrastructure by computers, which largely explains why the internet and the WWW have begun to play such a significant role in our use of computers†. He argued that information technology is affecting us as teachers, as individuals and as a society. Our options for education, entertainment, working and a variety of things that we do in our daily lives relating to government and society are radically changing due to developments in information technology. Today, when watching TV or reading a newspaper or magazine, it is impossible to miss coverage on seemingly diverse topics related to information technology- internet, World Wide Web, digital TV, online learning, corporate restructuring, wireless communication, tele-medicine and so on. All these innovation and changes may seem disconnected, yet they all share a common denominator, computers and information technology. The adjustments that we are observing and also experiencing are neither irrelevant nor insignificant. They may be as large as those due to the industrial revolution of the 1800’s, when changes in industrial operations moved people away from agriculture and vill age life onto cities and urban life. This is the information revolution. He justified his argument about technical education by saying that Fujitsu has scored first place in International Supercomputing Conference by achieving a stunning speed of 8.162 petaflops, leaving others lying in dust. The system employed 68,544 CPUs to achieve an incredible 93% computer efficiency. So if we want to be apparent in the modern world we need to have the knowledge of every kind of technology and its possible only when we are educated in this field so which these days the colleges and universities are playing the major role. An educated person knows that in coming years the person with knowledge of technology will be successful because it’s the skill that enables one to understand the present world revolutions. He concluded the discussion by explaining that But one cannot underestimate the fact that new millennium may not be all glory and greatness. In the past, man has developed, progressed and triumphed. But to some extent this has gone to his head, and he is blinded by the luster of success and power. It’s like taking one step forward and one backward. At one moment we hail the victories of man, at another, we wail the same achievements, crippling nature and his own survival. The future, with its surprises and mysteries is opening new doors for us. In the coming years, we may look for untouched frontiers. This technological era may try to plunder other planets far off galaxies. This technology is something quaint and who knows canoeing on the crests and troughs of time, it might find the light, the knowledge and the sense of balance. Then it might transform this world into a safe, glorious place with a bright, singing reign of peace and happiness.

Public Relations in Insurance Industry

Public Relations in Insurance Industry There are various definitions of Public Relations. Lee Edwards emphasize that there is no universally agreed definition of PR due to the fact that PR is used in a huge range of industries and in each one slightly different skills and competencies have emerged among practitioners (Tench and Yeomans, 2009:4) Overall we can distinguish between academic and practitioners public relations definitions. For the academic point of view, Harlow offered the next definition: Public relations is a distinctive management function which helps establish and maintain mutual lines of communication, understanding, acceptance and cooperation between an organization and its publics; involves the management of problems or issues; helps management to keep informed on and responsive to public opinions; defines and emphasizes the responsibility of management to serve the public interest; helps management keep abreast of and effectively utilize change; serving as an early warning system to help anticipate trends; and uses research and ethical communication techniques as its principal tools (Tench and Yeomans, 2009:4). It is a definition that covers most aspects of PR. On the other side practitioners use PR to substitute terms like corporate communications or organizational communication. During the first World Assembly of Public Relations Associations, in August of 1978 that was held in Mexico City the definition of public relations was developed as the art and social science of analyzing trends, predicting their consequences, counseling organizational leaders, and implementing planned programs of action, which will serve both the organization and the public interest. (Tench and Yeomans, 2009:6) What is insurance? If a layman needs to be explained what insurance is, it is all about managing risks on behalf of others. One of the most popular forms of insurance, life insurance, the insurance company makes an attempt to manage the death rates of its clients. The insurance company charges premiums from the policyholders and then invests the money in other low risk investments. The money, along with benefits is paid to the policyholder on maturity or to the beneficiaries in case of death of the policyholder. Insurance companies use demographic data to make life estimates of policyholders. Characteristics like age, sex and smoking and drinking habits are taken into consideration to decide on the premium amount. Shorter the life estimate, higher is the premium payable. For other forms of insurance like health, property, automobile etc., the same rule applies. In the year 1999 in the United States, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act legislated that banks, insurance and brokerage firms and various other types of financial institutions can join together and offer their customers more varied and complete range of services. As a result of this act, especially in the insurance industry, there have been some major mergers and acquisitions. In the past some years, the majority of the liability insurance underwriting in the US insurance industry has been through the bigger firms while these firms have been busy acquiring other smaller insurance firms. (The Industry Handbook: The Insurance Industry) Why PR: Insurance companies are not charitable organizations. While managing risk, they also look to make profits. The industry is one of the most competitive in the world with multiple companies vying for a place in the market. It is not uncommon to find new entrants coming in from time to time. To maintain their foothold, existing insurance companies are required to come up with new products very now and then. Insurance companies are also governed by strict rules and legislations and are required to publish their financial results as and when the law states. It is also common knowledge that the insurance industry receives a lot of flak from policyholders, former employees and the media. Hence, the role of public relations in the insurance industry is of utmost importance. Unlike other fields in insurance, PR requires specialization in this field because it is a critical job in the industry. Social and economic impact of PR: The social impact of public relations is quite clearly visible. This line of job is totally concerned with communicating with the public and the media. The power exerted by public relations as a socially-embedded profession is a focus for increasing numbers of scholars in the field. Critical approaches to public relations examine the manner in which the profession sustains or generates social inequity and include theoretical critiques of scholarly work by industry frontrunners like Aldoory and Pieczka. In addition to these and other works focusing on specific aspects of public relations, there have been broader analyses of public relations and its influence on society and the discussion is still evolving. (Bridgen Liz, Emotional labour and the pursuit of personal branding:   Public relations practitioners use of social media) The economic impact of public relations has received less attention that it deserves because it has always been looked upon as a service industry. The economic impact of PR from induced economic output of PR vis-à  -vis buyer and seller transactions is completely different from the reliable figures. Till now, the calculation of economic impact of PR was done in the same way as it was done for the advertising industry. Both were considered as capital intensive activities but the fact is that PR is more of a labor intensive activity. In order to calculate the economic impact of PR, a three step process is required Identify the number of professionals in the industry. Estimate their annual CTC. Adopt an economic multiplier which accounts for the increased productivity delivered by those professionals, as it would seem senseless for an organization to invest resources in activities whose final value is considered equal to or lower than their gross costs. Falconi Toni M. (2006) Public Relations and the Insurance Industry Scope From the findings stated already, it seems quite natural that the insurance industry needs PR specialists. There are many companies that outsource their PR to professional PR firms but there are many more that have an in house team of PR specialists. PR is a specialized job that can only be handled by professionals who have done a specialized course in this field. While a PR professional has the potential to make it big in the insurance industry and earn good money, there are some social and economic contexts that must be cleared right in the beginning. The social impact of PR is difficult to measure in monetary terms but given the volatile publicity that insurance companies receive, it is vital for them to employ PR professionals who can handle the outside world well. The inner workings of the insurance industry are always under the scanner and speculations are always rife about what happens and what does not happen. It is the job of a PR specialist to handle the public, the lawmakers and the media. The insurance industry, considered by many as a faceless, giant behemoth, needs a human face to show the world. What the world likes to see is a smiling, confident face that can handle the accolades as well as the accusations. As for the economic impact, the calculations can be done but again, monetary terms matter less in PR. Some people may question the amount paid to PR professionals but the fact remains that these are specialized people who are the face of the industry. Whether it is disseminating information, getting the publicity done or handling the pressure from the people outside the industry, it is the PR professionals who do the work for the insurance industry. As stated above and reiterated, specialization is the key. Public Relations What is required and what is expected? Important requirements for PR professionals: Public relations is all about interaction and communication of various forms. There are some basic qualities that are required by PR professionals. Effective communication Effective communication is a must for PR professionals. One must be able to think on your feet and respond. There is no scope for reaction. It is important to remember that speaking the truth bluntly may not be the best policy in a PR job. One needs to be honest but tactical at the same time. What is important is a strong vocabulary and body language. Assertion is a key and it is important to know where to draw the line. It is important to remember that people out there are ready to pounce and being an extrovert and a charismatic personality is very useful. A PR professionals job is not to alienate people even in the most trying circumstances. If you cannot endear them, at least dont make enemies out of them. Effective communication in PR means reaching out and touching people of different age groups, different demographics and different social strata. Depending on the PR announcement one is making, the language needs to be fine tuned according to the audiences capability. For example, a group of bachelors would not be interested if the PR professional kept harping on the fact that insurance is for families. They need to be told about savings that could help them in future. A degree A professional Bachelors degree is a must for a PR job. One cannot expect to find a job in PR just because he or she can speak clearly. There are intricacies associated with a PR professionals job and only a professional degree can teach the tricks of the trade. Some people also opt for a Masters degree in PR and further enhance their knowledge and skill. Starting from the beginning One needs to be a go getter to become a PR professional and the learning starts from the college. People usually fritter away time during long vacations. Those who want to make PR a career spend their time doing internships with professional PR firms so that learn the skills needed for this industry. It is common to see future PR professionals getting engaged in college fests and annual events. It is here that the learning starts and it helps massively in ones future career. Industry knowledge When someone is applying for a PR job in the insurance industry, a knowledge of the industry is a must have. When appearing for an interview, the incumbent is expected to know about the insurance industry and the role of PR in the industry. As mentioned above, PR is very important in the insurance industry and only those who exhibit adequate knowledge are chosen. There is no honeymoon period even during the interview. The role starts right inside the interview room. (Gaikwad R. Education PR Know the Skills and Qualifications That Make a Successful PR Professional. Singleton A. How Do you Get a Graduate Job in Pr? Spring D. Pr People Stand Out From the Crowd.) Qualities of PR professionals: As a PR professional, one needs to meet the expectations and demands from both the employer and the audience. A PR professional cannot afford to endear someone and alienate someone else. It is said that it is not possible to make everyone happy and this is precisely the challenge that a PR professional faces. Often there is a dilemma should I keep my employer happy or should I keep the press people happy? Those who manage both sides do well as PR professionals. Be optimistic What a company looks in its PR professional is optimism. The situation may be at its worst but the PR professional needs to maintain a steady and professional demeanor and go ahead with the job. A never say die attitude is a must for someone working in the PR department. Walk the walk and talk the talk Practicing what one preaches is important in a PR role. It is important to remember that a PR professional is the face of the company and if the company does not follow what it states, the PR person faces the music. As a PR professional, it is important to be clear about everything, policies and practices, before facing the world outside and communicating. Be assertive and extrovert PR is such a job that one cannot afford not to be assertive and extrovert. The former quality allows one to draw the line as and when required while the latter quality helps one maintain good relations with the company as well as the media and the public. Be honest Honesty is a very good policy. Blunt truth does not always work in a PR role but dishonesty is a complete no-no. What is required is effective communication skill and the ability to play around with words. Be helpful Going that extra mile is a great quality for PR professionals. A helpful attitude always helps, especially when communicating bad news. Be knowledgeable The employer will expect its PR professionals to have knowledge about, well, almost everything. Knowledge about current affairs and global news is a must. One never knows which question to expect during a press conference. Even if the PR professional is not aware of some or the other topic, the communication has to be tactful. (Henderson J. Ten, Essential Qualities for Success as a Freelance PR Consultant.) Meeting the demands: What the employer demands from its PR professional is a lot of tact and inter-personal skills. The PR person communicates all types of news and a professional demeanor along with a pleasing personality is what the employer expects. As for the outside world, a PR person is expected to be honest and open and an affable person. When someone has these qualities along with a professional degree, a PR job is tailor-made for that person. As Bill Prickett of APR says that during meltdown of US economy when unemployment is out of control it is only the profession public relation experts and executives who would be able to provide the much-needed expertise and support in critical business areas like Encourage the employees Employ constant, consistent communication Embody the conscience (VandeVrede L., A bad economy demands great PR) PR: When and why is it used? Public relations covers many areas, but there are three important fields where public relations is really important. Financial public relations The role of PR here is to provide company information to business reporters and analysts. The insurance industry is one of the largest in the world and handles a lot of money, money belonging to the policyholders and money belonging to the shareholders. Like any other industry, companies in the insurance industry need to publish their financial results at times specified. A PR professional is often given the job of making the financial announcements and handle questions from the audience. Product public relations PR here is used as an alternative to advertising. This area mainly covers publicity for new products and services. Unlike advertisements, the role of the PR professionals is not to come into the limelight. A PR persons job is to make the announcement and handle the questions from the audience. Publicity and branding are important criteria in this part of a PR professionals job. Insurance companies often need to come up with new products because of the intense competition in the market. Before the advertisements blitz the media world, the PR team makes a quiet entry and makes the announcement to those who matter. Crisis public relations This is one of the most challenging areas in PR. This area covers the response to any negative publicity that the company faces. Insurance industry as a whole receives a lot of negative publicity from people who are not associated with the industry. There are lawsuits filed almost every day and the press tends to highlight even minor issues. The job of a PR professional is to act as a cushion and blunt all these attacks. As stated by Bob Kelly, a former DPR of Coca Cola and a PR expert public relations indeed packs a punch, but only when its based on a solid foundation. According to him it is the very fundamental premise of PR. He says as generally people act on their own observation of the facts and behaves accordingly in different situations one can handle the situation on the basis of the perception. It is therefore very important for the PR executives to create, modify or strengthen the clients opinion by reaching, convincing and moving-to-desired-action in a way that helps the organization in achieving its goal. According to Kelly this ensures that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ the public relations mission is accomplished. (Kelly Robert A. Why PR Packs a Punch.) PR: Key Tactics When it comes to PR in the insurance industry, there are some key tactical areas one needs to focus on. Insurance as a product is quite complex for the layman. As a PR professional, one will find different types of people in the audience. Some people will be absolutely ignorant and others will have varying degrees of knowledge about the industry. As a PR person, it is important to be able to reach out and address all the different people in the audience. This is where the skill comes into the picture. The goals of the PR campaign must be identified in advance. Setting a goal may sound a little tough when one is fresh in the insurance PR job but gradually, the idea will set in. When the goal is planned in advance, it makes life much easier. The PR person can then keep the goal in mind and work towards achieving it. All the paths to the goal will gradually fall in place and the entire process will be smooth. The second tactic is to totally understand the objectives of the PR campaign. Before one faces the audience, absolute knowledge of the topic and associated ideas should be well within ones grasp. From the venue to the audience to the speech everything needs to be planned well in advance. Invitations need to be sent out and the press release has to be marketed. This is when a PR professional is supposed to have done a good job. The message that is sent to the public, lawmakers and the media must be clear and concise. It is important to remember that a PR persons job is not to hog the limelight. The PR person should ideally deliver the message, answer questions and then gradually fade away. If the PR campaign is about disseminating the financial information of the company, the finance people can then take over. If it is about declaring a new product or service, the advertisements should do the follow up. If it is about communicating some bad news or handling some negative publicity about the company, the lawyers should take over. What the PR person needs to do is present facts and data honestly and ensure that the audience is not alienated. There are some innovative PR persons who dwell into the social fields that earn a name for the company. It is very common to see insurance companies partner not for profit and charitable organizations to take up social causes. The job of the PR professional is to advertise and publicize any such campaign and put the insurance company in a positive light. As has been mentioned again and again, insurance companies are often held in negative light and it is important to highlight the good deeds as much as possible. Of course, being in PR and having a good contact list always pays. If a PR person has good media relations, it works wonders for the insurance company. PR professionals are often invited to participate in TV debate shows and are asked to write columns in newspapers and magazines. Through these channels, PR professionals can publicize their company. The insurance company on the other hand gets free publicity without spending a dime. Social and ethical implications of PR in the insurance industry Customer relationship management Customers of insurance companies are spoilt for riches. There are simply too many options to choose from. And it is common knowledge that retaining customers is any day less expensive than acquiring customers. While it is important for insurance companies to acquire new customers, much more important is retaining existing customers. It is the existing customers that give new business either by buying new policies or by referring others to the insurance company. A PR professionals job is to keep customers happy. There are many ideas about how this can be achieved. What is absolutely important is connecting with customers. Whether it is about disseminating information or bad news, a PR person has to connect to customers in such a way that they actually feel proud to be associated with the organization in good times and feel accountable and empathetic during bad times. Promotion One of the key social implications of insurance PR is marketing and advertisement. Insurance companies today engage in various social activities by partnering with charitable organizations. The PR person must ensure that any such activity is publicized. A social cause attracts more attention than some glitzy ad that showcases a new product or service. Through positive visibility, insurance companies get the required attention and are put in a positive light by the public. There are some critics who continue to raise their brows and comment that all the social work is a gimmick. But the majority of the public tends to think high of any insurance company when they see the company associated with some form of social cause. Ethics Any company that is ethical tends to do well. Contrary to what some part of the outside world thinks, insurance companies dont earn their bread by cheating policyholders. There have been some instances over the years where people have felt cheated but those cases are a flash in the pan. Most insurance companies have their policies in place and they try their level best to help people by staying within the policies. Insurance companies have a profit motive in mind. They earn their bread by giving service to people and taking risks on their behalf. It would be unfair to brand them as anything but honest. As a PR person, it is vitally important to project this image of the company. And to achieve this, the PR person needs to be ethical himself or herself. PR codes of ethics Codes of ethics may be established by employers or by professional organizations. There are various codes of ethics but adoption of a code of ethics does not automatically bring morality to a calling. Generally, having a code reflects a sincere desire to raise standards of ethical practice and to provide criteria to guide and judge individual behavior (Cutlip and Centers, 2009:152). Ethical Public Relations is not an Oxymoron The companys conscience most often determines the role of the PR desk. It is a very important job albeit not the most popular one. (Van Hook Steven R. Ethical Public Relations: Not an Oxymoron) Praise of Secrecy Peter OMalley asks us to stop the deception that is completely muddle headed. When it comes to honesty, truth, integrity and accuracy, this is not PR ethics are grounded. (OMalley P. In Praise of Secrecy) PR Disasters The Truth Gerry McCusker says that public relations jobs these days just perpetuate PR disasters while earlier on, public relations professionals were supposed to fix them. (McCusker G. The Truth About PR Disasters) It is also said that the prevailing state of ethics in PR practice depends greatly on codes of ethics practiced by leading professional PR associations. One can voluntarily join these associations or groups to practice this concept of ethical public relations. Here you need to abide by a code of conduct that may include a set of forbidden activities and some ethical principles. (Bowen Shannon A. Ethics and Public Relations.) Summary: One cannot deny the importance of Public Relation today. With new industries coming up everyday this specialized field is evolving at a fast rate. As PR executives in an insurance company you will be facing government organizations and personnel, nonprofit or nongovernment organizations, educational institutions, athletic teams, industries, corporations, entertainment companies, and even nations. So, under the broader umbrella of the term PR you may have to work as a publicist, analyst, media specialist, as well as communications specialist. The insurance industry has always needed PR professionals ever since PR as a profession came into being. The insurance industry has the tendency to stay in the limelight for right as well as wrong reasons. Whether it is about garnering positive publicity or dousing negative publicity, PR professionals, over the years, have been the face of the insurance industry and handled the general public, lawmakers and the media. PR is the human face of the insurance industry and it is the PR professionals that act as customer service representatives, corporate communication specialists and media sources. Data shows that the demand for the number of PR professionals in the insurance industry is still higher than the supply. For fresh graduates who earn their degree in PR, there is immense opportunity in this industry. This is one profession that needs specialists and ordinary graduates are not really wanted in the PR field. Very few people choose PR as their discipline and fewer still are really able to make it big. Those who are smart and suave, have excellent communication skills, have great contacts with the outside world are cut out for PR jobs. If you are someone who has all these qualities and have the ambition to make it big in the insurance PR field, then we wish you all the best. If you have reached this portion of this manual, we hope you now have a fairly good idea about this industry and what you really need to have and need to do.

Political Views Essay -- Politics Government Ideologies Essays

Political Views â€Å"Which political side are you on?† You probably heard this question before and said you really didn’t know. I really didn’t know what political side I was on before I did some research on the three major political philosophies; Liberalism, Libertarianism, and Conservative. The civic stance I agree with the most is the liberal’s point of view. Liberals protect; individual rights to choose, government programs like Medicaid and welfare that help the needy, and that sex education programs that teach safe sex and prevent teen pregnancy.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The liberal philosophy is the one I agree with the most. Liberals believe that the federal government should protect individual liberties and promote the general welfare. Contemporary liberalism is rooted in the Declaration of Independence as well as social and economic programs that began in the 1930’s and extended into the 1960’s. Today’s liberal tends to value individual rights and to be wary of restrictions on personal behavior. Equality is very important to liberals. Liberals believe that everyone should be treated equally. Liberals believe that the government shouldn’t control sex or religion, and that women have the right to choose. Liberals protect individual rights for many people and for women they included the right to choose, only a women knows what problems she has to face by bringing a child into this world. Government programs like Medicaid and Welfare afford people the simple rights to feed their...

Video Games in Popular Culture: an Exposition Essay -- Violent Gaming

Imagine for a moment, a world of death. For 200 years your family has been sealed away with a thousand other people, to protect you from the dangers outside. Now your father has disappeared, and it’s up to you to find him. After a harrowing escape from your subterranean home, you walk through a tunnel to the outside world, past dead bodies, stretched out in front of the door, as if to say â€Å"don’t leave us out here to die!† As you walk through the gate to the outside, and as your eyes slowly adjust to the sun you have never seen, a wasteland emerges before you. The world is devastated, destroyed and annihilated. Broken twisted hunks of metal lie next to a sign on the side of the mountain saying â€Å"scenic overlook† on your right, the broken remains of the interstate bridge stand as a monument to a destroyed culture. Petrified trees are all that remains of the local fauna. Off in the distance, all that remains is destruction. While you may think of this stunning visualization of a wonderful novel, this is actually one of the opening scenes from Todd Howard and Bethesda Game Studios’ â€Å"Fallout 3.† An examination of videogames in popular culture is a complicated one. There is a large debate as to what is the very first video game. The supposed earliest known video game was created by Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann on a cathode ray tube in 1947. The game was a missile simulator similar to radar displays from World War II, and overlaid sheets of paper were used for targets since graphics were unknown at this time. On May 5, 1951, the NIMROD computer was presented in Britain. It used a panel of lights for its display and was used to play a game called â€Å"NIM†. Later, in 1952, Alexander S. Douglas made the first compu... ...lieve that video games in popular culture are a misnomer. Videogames are not â€Å"in† popular culture, they are â€Å"a part of† popular culture, just like TV, radio, and motion pictures. Bibliography 1.) Kutner, Lawrence Ph.D. and Cheryl K. Olson, Sc.D. Grand Theft Childhood: The Surprising Truth About Violent Video Games and What Parents Can Do . 1st. Simon & Schuster, 2008. 2.) "2008 SALES, DEMOGRAPHIC AND USAGE DATA." www.theesa.com. Jul/2008. Entertainment Software Association. 2 Nov 2008 . 3.) Hillis, Scott . "Video games don't create killers, new book says." Reuters UK 09May2008 2 Nov 2008 . 4.) "History of video games." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 2001. 2 Nov 2008 .

American Utopias

Utopia is a perfect place, for some it is an attempt to realize heaven here on earth. For Sir Thomas More’s Utopia, it is a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean with a perfect social, legal and political system. Several utopian ideas arose in the history of mankind, they may slightly differ from each other, but they are similar in the effort to create a perfect society.In American History, the communal movement in the 16th century to 17th century, and the similar attempt to establish the Utopian America of the 1960s to 1970s, was both a response to the social ills brought about by the development of capitalism and commercialism. While the communal movement of the 16th century can trace its roots from Europe, the Utopian movement of the 1960’s was homegrown with the relatively young members of the population leading the way. Both, however, have the similar vision of establishing a perfect community of harmony and brotherly love.While Utopian experiments in Europe were made as far back as the early 16th century, such as the Paris Commune or the Fouriesrist Phalanxes, it was only in America that the Europeans were successful in their attempt to found their New Jeruzalem characterized with idealism, zeal and moral fervor (Mizrach). Early Christian communists in Europe, propelled by the belief that America was a place free guile, deception and corruption, had decided to withdraw from the perceived sinful and corrupt world to establish new communities.Most of these communities saw themselves as islands of redemption in a world of temptation, sin and avarice (Mizrach). This belief in America as the â€Å"new† world where further proliferated by the famous literary writers of that time such as Thomas More in his Utopia and Francis Bacon in New Atlantis that suggested America was heir to the traditions of the first civilization, Atlantis, and a new â€Å"philosophic continent† within whose outlines lay modernity and freedom (Mizrach). The m ost interesting of these communities were founded in the 17th and early 18th centuries.Included here are those known as the Woman in the Wilderness founded by German Pietist in 1694, The Ireneia founded by Moravians in 1695, the Bohemia Manor founded by the Labadists in 1683, the Ephrata Cloister founded by Sabbatarians in 1732, Bethlehem founded by Anabaptists in 1740 and the Mount Lebanon founded by the Skaers in 1787 (Mizrach). All of these communities share the common feature of being founded by sects who at that time were considered as heretical by the Lutheran or the Calvinist Protestant Churches of Germany and Central Europe.Most of these also were located or founded around Pennsylvania which was Wiliam Penn’s Quaker â€Å"experiment of toleration†. Another feature of this communities were most of the members are European migrants who followed a charismatic founder. The Utopian American of the 60s and 70s flourished in about the same time when industrialization was in full swing. Soon after the World War II, the American economy prospered but it left many young people feeling estranged and isolated.While the older generation who grew up during the Great Depression was focused on material accumulation, the young people felt there was something missing in their lives (Meunier 1994). The dissatisfaction with capitalism grew and many young adults expressed this through their rejection of materialism and renewed interest in spirituality (Meunier 1994). Aside from this, the technological advances of this period made young people feel detached from their environment.The same advances that produced the atomic bomb and the television made the people feel that they are not in control or beyond understanding their environment (Meunier 1994). The political situation of this period also added to the propagation of the communal movement. The Vietnam War was not favored by majority of the American people and yet it dragged on. Aside from this, the Waterg ate scandal, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King further lead to the disillusionment of young people.It was a combination of all this political, social and economic factors that brought the young people from Haight-Ashbury movement of visionary psychedelia and politically defiant college students together to flee to rural utopian communes in attempt to escape the Establishment and take control of their own physical, cultural and spiritual environment (Meunier 1994). Known to some as the â€Å"flower people† or the â€Å"hippies†, the people who lived in communes in the 1960s were often stereotype as those who practiced free love and drug experimentation.The primary purpose of communal living in the late 1960s and early 1970s was to create a society where person to person relations is the core of existence, promoting greater intimacy and fuller human development (Meunier 1994). It rejects the established order of capitalism of competiti veness and production and turns to unity and cooperative work. People living in communes pool their resources and work together and the emphasis is no longer placed on competing for material goods but instead on friendship and family (Meunier 1994).The communes formed during the 1960s and 1970s were mostly in rural areas where people sought to return to the land. Agriculture made them self-sufficient and growing of food gave them a feeling of connection with each other and with the land. The search for a â€Å"perfect society† for both movements who happens to be centuries apart is are founded on similar assumptions of bringing change from the unrest and alienation that human beings felt as the society develops.Perhaps the utopian ideal will not cease as humans have the intrinsic need to commune, and that even the modern man sought for solace, peace and brotherhood. BIBLIOGRAPHY Meunier, Rachel. Communal Living in the Late 60s and Early 70s. Human Issues Project. 17 December 1994. Mizrach, Steve. The Symbolic Invention of America-as-Utopia. Academentia Website.

Mending Wall Poetry Analysis Essay

The neighbour keeps resorting back to the same simple argument and point of his father’s saying, â€Å"Good fences make good neighbours. † The speaker continues to remain unconvinced and presses the neighbour’s old-fashioned stubborn claims to be overlooked despite his reluctance to be swayed. The piece remarkably is quite simplistic in the way that the vocabulary of the poem contains no real fancy words, most are short and the majority can be used in conversion in everyday life. There are no stanza breaks, obvious ending rhymes or overall rhyme scheme observed either. The repetition of whole lines is surveyed twice throughout the poem however. â€Å"Something there is that doesn’t love a wall,† is the opening line of the piece and is repeated on line thirty-six. This is a reoccurring idea that this wall should not be up standing in the first place as it is unnecessary. Frost says that there is a natural force that tears down these walls as they are unnatural. The repetition emphasises that it only separates us from being able to build last longing relationships from those who may be on the opposite side to that fence. The other replication noticed is of the motto of the neighbour’s father, â€Å"Good fences make good neighbours. † This phrase holds a very strong importance to the speaker’s neighbour. In no way, shape or form does the man over the wall want to change his sturdy built tradition of his father’s trusty and wise wisdom. Frost would rather the neighbour think for himself and for him to grasp the opportunity to do something different rather than continue to â€Å"move in darkness† and let go of the unneeded barrier between that lies between them. One interpretation is that Frost could be trying to convey is one of unnecessary barriers and dead-ends. Excuses not to alter their lives, not to form new friendships or develop and build even stronger ones. The title Mending Wall could mean anything but fixing the fence between the two blocks of land but refer instead to the broken relationship that exists between two human beings.

Organizational Behavior and Management Essay

In viewing the Manager’s Hot Seat: Working in Teams: Cross-Functional, I was able to distinguish the difference between the words team and teamwork. Team refers to a small group of people with complementary skills, who work together to achieve a shared purpose and hold themselves mutually accountable for performance results ( Schermerhorm,2011). In this video, yes there was team that consisted of Rosa Denson, Cheng Jing, Simon Mahoney and Joe Tanney who plays the role of team leader for an assigned high priority project. Working in teams is essential in this age of rapidly changing technology, market-driven decision making, customer sophistication, and employee restlessness, as leaders and managers are faced with new challenges . Organizations must build new structures and master new skills in order to compete and survive. And in order to increase efficiency and effectiveness, a group effort is required as it reads in the article MindTools. In the video, the members work in the same organization but at different departmental levels with different knowledge and skills. How these people interact and relate to one another is a key factor in determining how successful the team will be at achieving its mission The group is made up of cross functional team members where there is input from people with a mixture of gender, race, age and ethnicity. It can be difficult managing a group like this because there are individual differences amongst each member. People vary among the layers of diversity: 1) personality, which is unique to every individual, 2) internal dimensions which is race and age, 3) external dimensions which includes religion and marital status and 4) organizational dimensions such as job title(McGraw Hill, 2007) These factors are likely to influence interpersonal relationships and the ability to work with others. Working together is part of many organizations that believe that by practicing teamwork skills can help produce better products and provide better services, faster and at a lower cost. However, there was no evidence of teamwork in this video. There was no defined process of people working together to accomplish a common goal, which is the definition of teamwork. Instead there was a group of knowledgeable people, who did not want responsibility and had no initiative for such project. In fact, Tuckman’s group development model should have been added to the agenda as a refresher course for all members. Schermerhorn defines Tuckman’s development model in stages. Stage 1 of the model is forming, and this was evident in the beginning of the meeting with the initial formation of the group discussing where tasks are understood by members and resources and information that delegated by the leader, in this case Joe. But it wasn’t long into the meeting where storming was evident. Individuals began to question and challenge the given task. Members disagree on the goal of the team and resist the given task. At this point personal to emotional excuses began to surface. I do not think I witnessed the rest of the stages, except the adjourning part. There was no norming stage where the team moves toward harmonious working practices where there is agreement. In fact, Joe the acting leader had to assign different tasks according to his perception of each one. And there was no performing stage displaying functional, interdependent roles that were focused on the performance of the group tasks among the members. In fact, group cohesiveness was not evident, with everyone having an agenda of their own, the interaction and motivation between them was very low. The cohesiveness that should have bonded the small group together and come up with solutions for the problem was not evident. The book states that in order for effective teams to thrive these factors need to be established and be in place: achieve and maintain high levels of task performance achieve and maintain high levels of member satisfaction and retain viability for the future (Schermerhorn, 2011) . With this said, the benefits of effective work teams within an organization are very considerable, and it takes a lot of hard work and dedication on the part of management and team members to develop, implement and maintain effective work teams. I believe that the team in the video is not team, but rather a group of people discussing an organizations’ project based on the fact that there was no commitment to the task at hand. Every member in an organization has a task to do. These roles are the expected behaviors for a given position in an organization. Sometimes roles can disrupt group progress and weaken its cohesion. For example, Rosa demonstrated role conflict when she involved her personal life with her job. She was a self-confessor, disclosing personal feelings and issues. Simon was the opinion giver, expressing his own personal opinions as to why such project has not worked before without offering solutions. Simon can also be labeled a blocker. Joe was the initiator or contributor to the team. He would propose new ideas of getting the project completed by finding solutions to the problems the rest of the team members would come up with. The creation of teams has become a key strategy in many organizations. Team building is an essential element in supporting and improving the effectiveness of small groups and task forces and must be a key part of a total program of organizational change.

Launch of a New Energy Drink

1.Possible outcomes of the launch Launching a new energy shot product presents a moral dilemma. Most energy shots are aimed at teenagers and young adults, and this target audience is known to put more trust into the ‘street cred’ of the product, rather than medical and government advise, so there is an opportunity for carving some share of the market, especially if we deliberately exploit the ‘rebel’ aspect of our product. On the other hand, given the ongoing media hype, there is also a chance of attracting negative publicity and becoming a scapegoat for the regulators. Eventually, this can result in long-term reputational damage and substantial (and unpredictable) litigation costs. We could, however, turn the situation to our advantage by launching a drink that will be based on a different stimulator than the notorious mix of caffeine and guarana – as long as it is technologically viable. Such drink would comply with the Food Safety Authority’s caffeine concentration standards and could be classified as a formulated caffeine beverage. We could then market it as a healthier alternative to the popular energy shots, so that it appeals both to the target audience and the general public. 2.Legal aspects The Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code (FSC) mandates that a formulated caffeine beverage must contain 145 to 320 milligrams of caffeine per litre1 (Commonwealth of Australia, 2009). Popular energy shots do not comply with this requirement: for instance, a 2-ounce Demon Energy Shot contains 200 mg of caffeine, i.e. 3333 milligrams of caffeine per litre (Energy Fiend, 2009). The trick here is that the producers label their drinks as dietary supplements which are exempt from the FSC requirements. However, it is not entirely unlikely that a legal clampdown on energy shots will follow: in Australia, the government of New South Wales aims to ban non-compliant energy drinks (AAP, 2009); back in New Zealand, retailers are pressed to restrict the sale of energy shots (Voxy News Engine, 2009). Moreover, according to an industry insider, the Food Standards Authority is currently working on a new standard for food-type substances sold as dietary supplements that is likely to tackle energy shots (Science Media Centre, 2009). It is thus important to think one step ahead and concentrate on developing an compliant energy shot. 3.Public Opinion In order to gauge the public opinion of the energy shots, I consider the opinions of medical professionals, food industry regulators and people from the street. A recent press release by the Science Media Centre provides the professional medics’ opinion on the impact of energy shots (Science Media Centre, 2009). The professional opinions vary from neutral to cautious to strongly negative. Dr David Jardine, Clinical Director of the Canterbury District Health Board, observes that he knows â€Å"of no bad effects [of caffeine] in children and pregnant women† and confirms that â€Å"humans seem to be able to deal with caffeine very well† (ibid). Dr Elaine Rush, Professor at Auckland University of Technology, is â€Å"very concerned about the sale of caffeine in large doses† and claims that â€Å"there are more problems than benefits associated with consuming caffeine† (ibid). However, she doesn’t launch any invectives at energy shots. Dr Jim McVeagh, a GP, â€Å"had to deal with a number of cases of teenagers having psychotic episodes following multiple cans of energy drinks† and claims that energy shots are â€Å"not a benign pick-me-up [but] a stimulant drug, pure and simple† (ibid). However, it is not clear if the ‘psychotic episodes’ of some teenagers that ‘followed multiple cans of energy drinks’ should be entirely attributed to caffeine. NZFSA Authority Director Geoff Allen admits that â€Å"new regulation to restrict sale or supply of these high caffeine energy drinks is not necessarily the whole or the best answer†. He also stresses that the energy shots that have been inspected by his office â€Å"have a caffeine advisory statement of some form, even though they're not required to† (ibid). To summarize, most medics agree that there is no clear evidence of harmful effect of caffeine onto healthy individuals. The regulator agrees that maximum recommended usage information should be provided by the producers of dietary supplements, but this requirement is already met by energy shot producers. To gauge the sentiment of the target audience of the drinks (males aged 14-25), I questioned five anonymous respondents in the streets of Auckland on 29 – 31 October 2009. The general sentiment is that of indifference. One of the respondents, who turned out to be a bartender in a night club, expressively claimed that he â€Å"doesn’t give a f**k† about the impact of caffeine as long as energy shots help him meet his professional and personal commitments. 4.Personal reflection In my personal opinion, there is nothing unethical about launching a new energy shot. The producers make it clear that energy shots are not designed for regular and frequent consumption: they aim to give a boost of energy when it is essential (e.g. when you are late with submitting a course essay), maybe at a cost of a period poor well-being after the effect of the shot wears off. The producers also make it clear that persons with poor caffeine metabolism or other health issues should consult a doctor before consuming a drink. Nippert & Gray (2009) make the case of a woman who suffered a heart attack as a consequence of regular consumption of 10 to 14 cans of Red Bull a day to shoot invectives at energy drinks. However, this case hardly supports their cause: even regular consumption of 10 to 14 blocks of chocolate can eventually send one to the intensive therapy ward. I am totally convinced that it is not the substance that should be controlled, but rather the urge to abuse it. As for the children, it is their parent’s responsibility to control that they do not take in unhealthy doses of potentially harmful substances, be it aspirin, alcohol, or energy shots.