Inclusive Education Essay

This report details the role of educational inclusion, individual and general perspectives on inclusion and how the medical and social models have played a great part in the conception and in its application in regards to inclusion in the past and in recent times. Inclusion has different conception and used in certain terminology that relates to inclusion. It is used in different settings such as in social care and in the educational setting in the society today. In this report I will be focusing on the educational part. The Encarta English Dictionary defines inclusion as the addition of somebody or something to the rest of a whole. This definition has not specified who is to be included but a person or group being part and accepted by the rest of a whole. Inclusion have been defined and interpreted by many as just the integration of children with special educational needs (SEN) into mainstream school. According to (Rigby 2000) these kinds of misconception and viewpoints often lead to the misunderstanding and maltreatment in such a way that it creates room for continuous labelling, bulling and rejection by others without SEN. The term Inclusion according to (The Warnock 1978 Report) was initially used as integration, whereby children with SEN who have been educated in special schools where integrated into mainstream school provided they did not have any effect on adequate use of resources. The definition of inclusion is actually changing and moving, in the sense that, its concept and dynamism is now broader, people are now beginning to fully understand what it means and what it evolve in the society today. It is not just about people with special needs integrating or having the same capabilities to perform but having equal choices on where is more conducive they choose to live, having equal opportunity to engage in whatever they choose to do and being accepted the way they are (Giangreco 1997). Social Inclusion/ Social Exclusion There are no definite definitions for social inclusion and social exclusion, both of them has multiply definitions, it all depends on the context which it is used for and is still being developed. Exclusion can be defined as the act of excluding, or of shutting out, whether by thrusting out or by preventing admission; a debarring; rejection; prohibition; the state of being excluded (Inc Icon Group International 2008). According to the definition above, it indicates that social exclusion is multidimensional; people are not only excluded in the society because of their age, sex, religion, colour, disabilities, race and gender it can also be due to unemployment, homelessness, low income, poor mental health, locality, dysfunctional family, educational achievement, status in the society etc (SEU 2004). This group of people are said to be in a Cycle of Disadvantage ( Pope, Pratt and Hoyle, 1986). Article (136 and 137) of The (1997) Amsterdam Treaty was enacted in order to eliminate exclusion and promote economic and social cohesion. Social inclusion promotes integration and community cohesion, it builds the communities, promotes understanding and unity. Inclusive Education and Government Legislation According to (The 1944 Educational Act) it initially stated that, children’s education should be based on their age, aptitude and ability. During the Act establishment, there was a philosophy that children with special need were to be able fit in the school rather than the school making provision to accommodate them before gaining admission into the mainstream school. The (1944 Act) was in use until 1974, when the Warnock Committee was set up to review the provision that was available for children with Special Educational Need. This committee which was headed by Mary Warnock lead to the publication of the 1978 Warnock Report. The Report concluded that, they were about 20% of children in school population that might have Special Education Need and only 2% of which may require support in the mainstream school. The Warnock Report suggested that there should be a proper provision in place for children with Special Educational Need, which then will ensure that the 2% in mainstream school received the adequate provision. The 1978 Warnock Report had since lead to the enactment and development of various educations Act such as, (1981Education Act), (1993 Education Act), (1996 education Act) and the (2001 Special Educational Needs & Disability Act) All these Acts listed above reinforces government’s dedication and commitment to the fully inclusion of children with Special Education Needs into mainstream school and the society as a whole. Inclusive Education and Autism  Abraham Maslow formed a theory on ones personality that has a great influence on education. In his theory of human need, he emphasized that, the student with education need that has a wish or desire to belong to a normal group, that desire creates the motivation to acquire new skills, which the student can only achieve in a learning environment that is void of segregation. He further argued that the sense of belonging is the foundational need that that needs to be met in order to achieve the higher level self actualization. According to (Article 28) of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, it stated that every child has a right to education. No child should be discriminated, excluded or deprived on the basis of belonging to a particular group. Therefore Inclusive education can be defined as the integration of adults or children into mainstream school regardless their gender, age, disabilities, ethnicity, colour or impairment (Daniels and Garner 2000). Children with hidden disabilities like autism, which is a life time disability that affects the way a child communicates and interact within the society, are faced with difficulties of being fully included into mainstream school. Prior to the development of the Special Need Education, children with autistic spectrum were viewed under two models of disabilities, Medical or Social Model. These are ways how people viewed and acted towards people with disabilities. The Medical Model of Disability sees the illness in the person first and the individual second, this notion creates a bad and negative conception of disability (Cigman 2007). The Social Model of Disability sees the disable person first before their illness. This model sees the person as an individual, different and unique, who has an equal rights and opportunities to education and other essentials of life. The model recognises the fact that a disable person’s impairment does not regard him or her less than anyone else in the society.

Applying Psychology to Homelessnes Essay

Housing is a basic human want and plays an important role in ensuring the well-being children and adults. Stable housing is a necessary need for positive child and youth development in society. Although proper housing is essential for human biological and social development, statistics have shown a rising cases of homeless families with children in recent years because of inadequate affordable houses (The United States Conference of Mayors, 2006). Homelessness is a complicated socioeconomic issue with several economic and social factors underlying it. The socioeconomic factors include; poverty, inadequate affordable housing, some biological and mental ill health, community disintegration and family breakdown. These are the factors which in combinations, would contribute to the frequency, and type of homelessness (The United States Conference of Mayors, 2006). Homeless means to live without proper shelter; many people experience partial homelessness by living in uncertain, temporary, and sub-standard shelters. Homelessness has become national disaster in some countries. Some of the biological causes of homelessness are mental ill health (The United States Conference of Mayors, 2006). Due to the hard circumstances that befall homeless people throughout their lives, statistics have shown that there are higher rates of mental illness affecting this population. During the year 2008 survey conducted by the U.S Conferences of Mayors, showed mental illness the third largest cause of homelessness in the United States (The United States Conference of Mayors, 2006). Mental illnesses can be biological and medical conditions which affect the normal activity of the human brain and mind. It often affects one’s moods, emotions as well as the thought processes. The functionality of the mind is diminished hence reducing their ability of the affected individuals to take care of themselves or their living environment hence may not care even if they are living in the streets (Nielsen, 2011). Mental illness also affects an individual’s ability to make and maintain friendship and relationships and therefore, issues involving mental illness can push those closer to the affected individual away. In such case the people closer may remain homeless by keeping away or they may dispose the affected individual to be homeless in the streets (National Coalition for the Homeless, 2009). The other biological factor leading to homelessness is depression. Depressive disorders have been proved to be the most common factor causing homelessness with nearly 25% of homeless individuals suffering from depression. It controls individual’s outlook on life and their ability to judge circumstances. It results to low self-esteem, a loss of interest in actions that were once important as well as incapacitating effect on people’s ability to relate to others (Nielsen, 2011). Depression can be trigger homelessness because one feels isolated and lonely being homeless (Ravenhill, 2008). The feelings of isolation and loneliness have adverse effects on the relationship and could trigger rooflessness, for example, parental neglect (Ravenhill, 2008) Identify and describe at least 2 social factors that may be related to becoming or being homeless. Talk about how these factors may play a role in homelessness and support your statements with research evidence, where necessary Social factor that can cause homelessness is economic insecurity in a community or family. According to statistical findings, in the year 2005, almost 60% of individuals earning an income of less than 30% of the HUD were paying more than half of their salary on housing and accommodation, and almost the same percentage of people were also living in poor and inadequate housing (Ravenhill, 2008). Inadequate affordable housing for rental and the high economic recession have contributed to the increasing number of homeless adults and children. Economic recession have led to the high number of unemployed and has also increased laying off of employees hence people cannot afford decent housing due to lack of the rental allowance. Violence at home is another social factor that has led to homelessness in the United States of America. Violence often predicts whether children and adults would experience homelessness or not. Research has shown that most homeless mothers with children have at one point in their families experienced domestic violence. Domestic violence may make somebody run away from home to safety and in the process the affected find themselves homeless in the streets. This social factor has mostly affected women and children. Women and children in homeless shelters and those affected by domestic violence shelters are affected by same experiences like exposure to traumatic lives. Intimate family violence often triggers housing instability and in the process, one partner may run away from home. The domestic violence can be brutal beating or sexual abuse to a partner or a child (Ravenhill, 2008). In solving the problem of homelessness, the government should increase housing subsidies and provide permanent accommodation for those people living in domestic violence affected families, and unaccompanied youths. Research has shown that families who get housing subsidies are likely to have permanent housing stability than those who do not receive housing subsidy (National Coalition for the Homeless, 2008). Reference Nielsen, S. (2011). Psychiatric disorders and mortality among people in homeless shelters in Denmark: a nationwide register-based cohort study. The Lancet, 377, 2205-2214. Ravenhill, M. (2008). The culture of homelessness. Abingdon, Oxon: Ashgate Publishing Group. The United States Conference of Mayors. (2006). A status report on hunger and homelessness in America’s cities. Retrieved April 27, 2014 from http://www.usmayors.org/publicationsNational Coalition for the Homeless. (2008). How many people experience homelessness? Retrieved April 27, 2014 from http://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/families Source document

Bad Influence Cartoon

They tend to mimic everything that they see, and this is how they learn new things. On today’s television there are so many different shows and cartoons that kids learn things from some of the things they learn are great and other things are not so good for children viewing such as the cartoon Family Guy. People may look at Family Guy as a very funny cartoon but in all it’s actually a very rude show. When the creator came up with it I do not think that he/she thought that children would be into this show and I do not think that this cartoon was even made for children viewing because of its contents; but the fact still remains that they are looking at this show. Family Guy is not your ordinary cartoon. It has a lot of violence, sex, bad language, drinking, drugs, and smoking. Majority of the time either something has a bad influence or it has a good influence whether it be the friends we surround ourselves around, or the music we listen to but mainly what we visually encounter is what has the greater effect on who what we do and who we become. There is nothing good about Family Guy that would influence a child to head into the right direction. It does not teach children to be respectful in any way. The children that are watching this cartoon begin to mimic the baby whose name is Stewie and the dog named Brian. It does not help the show in anyway with making the dog and the baby the smartest family members of the show. Sometimes parents may be driving or cleaning for example and their child may say something that they never thought their child would say such as â€Å"damn†, and then, they may wonder where they get that from. Parents need to monitor the shows that their children watch because it’s a proven fact that kids imitate what they see. A lot of parents do overlook Family Guy because they may glance at what the kids are watching and just because they see cartoon characters they assume that it is ok. But it is a very rude, nasty, and degrading carton for kids to be viewing. In my opinion cartoons that are rated in the manner that Family Guy is, should not be allowed to be introduced on television as a cartoon. I know that’s what makes the show funny as it is for the adult viewers, but the oint is children are watching this. It’s very misleading to the adults and children that may have never saw the show before. Also since it is a cartoon and on national air, it should come on at very early morning hours such as 3am when kids are sleeping. So parents, take time out to sit down and watch what your children are watching to ensure that its child friendly, and that they are learning positive things, otherwise you will be amazed daily at what your children do and begin to say.

International Economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

International Economics - Essay Example vements of goods and services from one country to another, globalization has made a revolutionary changes in the market especially when it comes with issues related to the burgeoisie or the employer and the proletariat which pertained to employees (Steger, 2003, p. 37). As a result of changing the traditional way of conducting business and employment under the era of globaliztion, the culture and traditions, social, and economic condition within a society changes. There is a positive and negative impact associated with globalization. The positive impact includes the fact that globalization open a lot of new business or employment opportunities to people living in developing countries. However, people who live in developed countries will also suffer from the consequences of transferring some of the available jobs to low-paid competitive individuals who are working in developing countries. Specifically the shift from a pure national economy towards a more globalized economy is possible through continuous global trade, outsourcing of goods and services, foreign direct investment, the use of information and communication technology, migration, and the international capital flows (Friedman, 2008, p. 49; Bhagwati, 2004). For this reason, Lopez (2000) stated that the â€Å"economic power of a country is no longer strongly associated with political power†. In relation to globalization, this study will discuss the main purpose of establishing the world trade organization and GATT. As part of going through the main discussion, the current and most recent trade negotiations at the world trade organization will be identified followed by assessing its economic benefit as a result of a successful conclusion. In line with this, the economic importance of encouraging fair price competition in the market, strategic ways on how the implementation of GATT rules were able to encourage fair price competition will be tackled in details. Globalization is â€Å"a process of interaction and

Plato's Apology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Plato's Apology - Essay Example 1.2. Socrates’ method was to approach every known wise man and interview him in order to find one wiser than him. In asking a series of questions, he is able to deduce the speaker’s wisdom (21c) 1.3. Socrates found that when he probed each wise man with questions, he always discovered a fault in his ideas, which showed him not wiser than Socrates (21d-e) 1.4. Socrates surmised what the Delphic oracle meant by him being wiser than the other ‘wise men.’ â€Å"I am wiser than that other fellow, because neither of us knows anything of great value; but he thinks he knows a thing when he doesn’t; whereas I neither know it in fact, nor think that I do,† thereby making him wiser in that single respect (21d). 2. Socrates’ defense: 2.1. Against the old accusations 2.1.1. Socrates was accused of receiving money for teaching. While he denied it, he said that there is nothing dishonourable about this (19e to 20a). 2.1.2. The accusation of being too inquisitive – a â€Å"busybody† (19c) – Socrates simply denied, and countered that his accusers were angry at him because he unmasked their lack of wisdom. 2.2. Against the new accusations (by Meletus) 2.2.1. On the charge that Socrates corrupted the young, Socrates asked Meletus if he believed the laws, the judges, the Councillors, the people in the Assembly, all contributed to the improvement of the young, Meletus answered yes, and that only Socrates corrupted them (24e-25a). Socrates drew a parallel with horse trainers, and showed that normally, majority of influences would tend to be bad and the few good. This showed Meletus charge is not for the welfare of the young, but for his own spite (25c). 2.2.2. On the charge that Socrates was an atheist because he believed in demigods, Socrates pointed out that this was a contradiction in itself, since to believe in demigods was to believe in God, and therefore he could not be an atheist at the same time (26a-27e). 3. When Socrates proposed his own punishment, he first argued that what he had done was to provide a good for others, for which his punishment should actually be some â€Å"benefit† (36d) such as â€Å"free meals in the Pryteneum† (37a). One might say that by such levity, Socrates was treating the entire matter trivially; this is hard to imagine, however, since he was a perceptive and wise man and could appreciate the gravity of the situation and the seriousness of his adversaries. One could only deduce that he was being brutally honest and rational in asserting that he deserved to be rewarded rather than punished, for the good he had done to others, and treating no one unjustly (37b). 4. Socrates’ view of death is a blessing, not an evil (40c) and the afterlife can only be one of two things – a non-existence, or transformation of the soul to a different world. If it were the first, then the dead person will have no awareness at all, like a deep sleep whe re the sleeper did not even dream, which is then â€Å"a marvellous gain† (40d). If death were so, then Socrates would count it to be a most â€Å"agreeable† thing comparable to a single night’s rest. On the other hand, if death were a transformation then he counts it as the greatest blessing, to be rid of the false â€Å"jurors† who ruled against him and instead be in the presence of the demigods and great men who lived righteous lives (41a). By so dissecting the possibilities of the afterlife, Socrates is able to comfort his friends with his vision of death. He goes to meet death as a great adventure, or at the very least a restful sleep. Therefore, Socrates did not fear death, but only saw it as

Visual Analysis paper Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Visual Analysis paper - Assignment Example Having emerged around 1910 in Europe, abstractionism disrupted the idea of classical beauty and aesthetics in art. It believed that the first steps towards new concept of abstractionism were made by Vasily Kandinsky, a remarkable painter of Russian descent, who created his abstract watercolors around 1910. Naturally, two world wars made a great contribution to changes in perception of painting and use of abstract concepts in visual art. Abstractionism ran through the works of such prominent innovators of the 20th century as Kazemir Malevich, Mark Rothko, Vasily Kandinsky, Piet Mondrian (and his De Stijl group) and Frank Stella. The core of their legacy is represented by the basic principles of abstractionism, though their styles and perceptions of reflecting the reality in painting differ in certain aspects (for instance, Malevich’s special philosophy of suprematism). Specifically, the two most visible approaches seen in paintings of these artists are surely color field techni que and hard-edge painting. Moreover, there are tendencies of minimalism that could be traced in their styles. Among the mentioned artists, Frank Stella’s period of activity began later (which isn’t surprising as the author was born in 1936) and has endured until nowadays. The artists seems to have absorbed influence of abstractionist school and embodied key concepts in his works. The set of directions preferable for Stella includes hard-edge painting, minimalism and post-painterly abstraction. The latter presupposes distinct edges, harmony or contrast of simple forms and monumentality. Post-painterly abstraction finds its reflection in many works of this prolific painter, and – notwithstanding new elements in the style – it is clear from Stella’s paintings that this style is based mainly on traditions of abstract expressionism, lavishly cultivated by Malevich, Rothko, Kandinsky and Mondrian. It could be stated that Stella’s way of self-expr ession through abstract

Customer Value by Amway Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 10

Customer Value by Amway - Essay Example The present research has identified that Amway ensures that its products are satisfactory. This attracts the interest of customers and clients in the products and promotes the brand image. Customer retention and customer value are also realized. Constant research aimed at finding ways of improving the quality of Amway’s products and ensuring adherence to customers’ preferences is undertaken. The company does this through the over 500 active research employees it has employed. The company takes part in corporate responsibility programs (CSR) at an international level. This is a benefit to communities living within Amway’s business environment as they also gain from the company’s profits. Amway services the customer and not a global market or organizations. Its concentration is on the customer and ensuring that his needs and demands are met. This is expressed in the company’s vision. From the case study presented, it is clear that Amway ensures that c onsumers benefit from its products by offering quality products and indirectly rewarding the clients through corporate social responsibility.

Accounting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 24

Accounting - Essay Example e interested parties conceptualize as well as enabling them have a better understanding of the financial soundness of the firm (Donald, 2007).  For a new business, as well as an existing one, in order to  continue  will its operations, meeting customers  need  and its objectives of wealth maximization, there is a need to  source  funds (Steven, 2009).  The two  broad  sources of funds are  debt  and equity which may vary depending on a number of factors, though not limited to the nature of the firm, its operations and its  market  repute. The combination of these two sources of funds refers to the  firm’s capital structure. In order to achieve the stated objective of the firms four employees as stated in the question, employees numbers  are assigned  i.e., employee no. 1, 2, 3, and 4. The most appropriate rate of  payment  is monthly for easy accounting.  To achieve this, firm has to  generate  some accounts in its charts of  accou nt  including payroll, salaries and  wage  payable  accounts.  These accounts are debit (Dr) and credit (Cr) as argued by (Donald, 2007). For effective operation of the business, tangible assets like plant and  machinery, computer, motor vehicles equipment, furniture and fittings among others. According to FASB guideline, all these assets are subject to depreciation  due  to wear and tear as they continue  being used. Therefore, accounts like depreciation expense, accumulated depreciation as well as  individual  assets  account  should be prepared and be included in the  firm’s charts of accounts. An example of journal entries based on charts of accounts  is shown  bellow. Some of the internal controls which are aimed at reducing the firms overall risk are, compliance with laws and regulation, reliability of financial reporting and effectiveness as well as efficient operation of the

Assigment 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Assigment 2 - Essay Example The Texas State Senate and United States Senate allow their members to filibuster bills. This paper analyzes the similarities and differences between Texas state senate and United States senate filibustering. Similarities In the US, filibustering is a powerful legislative tool and it has been used to influence many senate proceedings and outcomes. For instance in the united states senate, most major legislations require over 60% votes before being nominated for a house debate. While filibustering may be viewed as a democratic move in most senates, most people believe that filibustering is negative and uncalled for in any proceeding. This is evident in both the US and Texas state senate’s, where parliamentarians have created bills to stop filibustering. Filibustering has also attracted positive criticism in both the US and Texas state senate. For instance filibustering has been used to shun contentious bills from being passed without prior participation of all senate members. F or instance, the abortion bill that threatened to criminalize abortion and instruct the closure of all abortion clinics has been delayed due to the existence of filibustering in the Texas. Thus, in both the US ant Texas state senate, filibustering has positive and negative criticism. Senate Rule XXII, the US state senate allows certain senators to prolong a bill or a speech for as long as they can. The law recognizes the necessity to prolong certain bills. This is usually true in both the US and Texas senate. In the US senate, prolong a house debate was an open practice until the house of representative passed a permanent rule in 1842 to limit the length of debates. Similar measures have been taken in the Texas state senate to regulate house debates. There are many uncertainties in filibustering bills as administered in both senates. The main issue attached to filibustering, is the determination of the length of a debate. According to critics, it is impossible to determine or out ru le, the length of a bill based on the filibustering policy. For instance, it is impossible to define how long a long speech is. Lack of a clear-cut definition on the length of a debate has been applied by critics to shoot down filibustering bills. Lack of clear-cut policies on filibustering is evident in both the US and Texas state senate. The passage of filibustering legislations has not been welcomed by most senators who use lengthy discussions or debates to prevent or influence the passage of bills. The issue of filibustering is commonly associated with US politics. In both the Texas and US senates, republicans are believed to be the main filibusters. The political association is historic and it has minimal implication on bill passage. However, senate proceedings are influenced by the US senate. More so, the bill of rights and other contentious issues are often ruled out depending on political affiliations. The rules of both houses are clear on the issue of filibustering and neit her of the houses identifies filibustering as a political issue. Indeed, both senates recognize filibustering as important in any proceedings. The cause of filibustering in both the US and Texas senate are similar and they are protected by the law. For instance the in the US senate, most common filibustering occur when a senator attempts to delay or obstruct a vote or a bill. On such

Wine War Essay Example for Free

Wine War Essay What changes in global industry and competitive dynamics led france and traditional producers to lose market share to challengers from Autrala, United States, and other New World countries in the late twentieth century? All over the ages, European countries were alone on the world wine market. They have a great heritage in production and are known and appreciated in all countries. They tried to exportat their products but they had faced problems ( like transportation which is extremely expensive and wine that don’t travel well). Also, producers tried to find solutions like new packages (glass bottles in the 18th century and early the 19th) but this was done outside a competition point of view. Unfortunately, the solutions found was not very elaborated and did not allow French wine to be largely spread in the foreign countries. They did not though that this non-satisfied demand in international countries would lead them in a â€Å"wine war†. Complex national and European Community legislations (taxes on exportations, little possibility to transform the wine and to create new excisting products around it, high cost of roduction ) added to the transportation problems did not allow French producers to satisfy the needs allover the world. Therefore, some countries began producing their own wine and also developed new processus and new technologies to produce, transport and market their product. Until today, United States, Australia, Chile and other countries manage to reach good ranking in sales and good reputation of their products. Their creativity, innovations and lower prices permit these â€Å"New world† producers to follow the demand and understand the new young generations’ and new wine-drinker-countries’ demand. During this time, countries such are France was struggling with legislation and continued to think people prefer French wine because of it’s quality and it’s long tradition. They just looked at the decreasing consumption of â€Å"classic†, â€Å"everyday wine†, without changing anything in their methods until few years ago. Where French producters never did anything to sell their wine, the new producers developed very good marketing strategies, and effective distribution systems. In the same time they also increased the quality of their wine and reached good opinion in wine drinker mind. The brand power that has been developed around these alcohol products allows international wine companies to defeat the French very high quality wine.

Comparison of Musculoskeletal Disorders in Gender

Comparison of Musculoskeletal Disorders in Gender Nichelle Morgan Research Question: Does the physical and psychosocial effects of musculoskeletal disorders differ between both male and female computer workers employed at the UWI St. Augustine Republic Bank Branch, Trinidad? Introduction A musculoskeletal disorder is defined as injuries or disorders that affect the human bodys movement or musculoskeletal system, i.e. muscles, tendons, ligaments, nerves, discs, blood vessels, etc. (Middlesworth, 2015). They are one of the most common occupational disorders that occur to employees both in and out of the office. When a worker experiences a musculoskeletal disorder, it has an impact on the quantity and quality of the work that they perform. Not only do these disorders affect the health of the worker, but it also affects the productivity of the organization and furthermore the economy (Nunes, 2012). For this topic, there were very limited sources that discusses gender and its association with the development of musculoskeletal disorders. As there is very little focus on musculoskeletal disorders amongst computer workers in Trinidad, this study will seek to gain more information and a better understanding of the known and unknown causal factors of musculoskeletal disorders, how or why it may differ between genders and what methods can be implemented to reduce the risk of an employee developing these disorders in the future. Problem Statement As places of business become more dependent on technology, there has been the increase in the usage of desktop computers and laptops in the workforce. Therefore, this brings about one of the most common occupational health problems, i.e. musculoskeletal disorders. One of the many groups of workers who has experienced this occupational ailment are the employees that work with computers. This group mostly express concerns about pains in their necks, arms, and backs (Punnet, 1997). The age, gender and lifestyle choices of the individual are a few factors that contribute to musculoskeletal disorders. For Trinidad and Tobago, there is very limited research conducted on the effects of musculoskeletal disorders among computer workers. Considering the lack of information for this topic, it gives rise for further research to be done on this occupational disorder in Trinidad and Tobago. Aim The aim of this research question is to further examine the long term physical and psychosocial effects of musculoskeletal disorders amongst computer workers. Factors such as gender, age, exposure time to computers and lifestyle of the worker would be used as additional control measures in this study. Theoretical Perspective With regards to the possible causes and long term effects of musculoskeletal disorders at the workplace, there are four theories which aids in analysing these causal injuries. Kumar (2004, 2007) explains the four theories as follows: The Multivariate Interaction Theory encompasses all the factors [genetic, morphological, psychosocial, and biomechanical] that a biological entity uses while conducting work activities. The Differential Fatigue Theory speaks to the various and repetitive muscle movement in the body that occurs while the worker is performing various tasks. Each muscle would experience different levels of fatigue and this depends on the type of work being conducted and how much stress that the muscle is undergoing. Cumulative Load Theory where all the muscle pain or stresses are accumulated. These repetitive motions over time causes the muscles to become weak and in some cases even deformed. Overexertion Theory This is when the muscles become extremely overworked due to the amount of stress or pressure being placed on those muscles. The muscles would either experience pain all at once or the pain will accumulate over time. The Differential Fatigue Theory is best suited to the discussion of causes of musculoskeletal disorders and its short and long term effects amongst computer workers. The neck, shoulder, back and arm muscles of the worker all undergo different levels of stress every day. The different levels stress in these muscles leads to the worker experiencing different types of pain while doing their job and even out of the office. Research Question/Hypothesis To further examine the long term physical and psychosocial effects of musculoskeletal disorders between male and female computer workers. Hypothesis: HO: There is no association with the length of computer usage and the development of musculoskeletal disorders between genders. HA: There is an association with the length of computer usage and the development of musculoskeletal disorders between genders. Definition of key terms Visual Display Unit [VDU] another term used to describe a computer monitor. A large projector can also be considered a VDU (TechTerms). Video Display Terminal [VDT] a computer terminal consisting of a screen on which data or graphics can be displayed (The Free Dictionary). Carpal Tunnel Syndrome [CTS] this is when there is pressure on the median nerve of the wrist. When this pressure is continuous, the arm or hand of the individual experiences tingling, numbness and pain (Faust, 2016). Repetitive Strain Injury [RSI] this is where an individual experiences pain in the muscles, nerves, and tendons after doing an activity that involves repetitive action (NHS UK). Delimitations The focus group for this research are the bank employees at the Republic Bank Limited branch located in the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus. Limitations The group selected for the questionnaire may be too small and not a large enough representation of all staff members at Republic Bank Limited, Trinidad. Literature Review Within the last century, the corporate workforce has increased exponentially and with this there is also the increase in the number of computers and the length of time that workers spend these devices in the workplace. Even though this machine is very helpful with everyday work tasks, its use over extended periods of time begins to have negative effects on the physical health of the worker. These physical health effects that a computer worker will most likely experience is referred to as musculoskeletal disorders. The parts of the body such as the arms, neck, shoulders and back are the main problem areas and contribute to the development of musculoskeletal disorders (Eltayeb et.al 2007). In an article written by Tittiranonda et.al (1999), it was mentioned that in the United States there was an increase in the number of the occurrence of musculoskeletal disorders in a ten-year period. The author also stated that the increase in cases involving musculoskeletal disorders is in conjunction with the increase of computer usage at the workplace. One of the most common musculoskeletal disorders that several computer users experience is carpal tunnel syndrome. This disorder affects the wrists and fingers of the worker, thus limiting the movement of the hands and the pain ranges from light to severe (Faust, 2016). The Mayo Clinic (2014) indicated that there was scientific research was done to verify the link between extended computer use and carpal tunnel syndrome but the evidence to support this statement is limited. Similarly, in his study Kryger et.al. (2003) spoke about repetitive stress injury [RSI] with regards to the pain that workers experience in their forearm and mentioned that there were inconsistent findings in a few studies which were conducted to find the association between computer use and forearm pain. Middlesworth (2015) divided the risk factors that contributes to musculoskeletal disorders into two categories, these are the Ergonomic and Individual risk factors. The Ergonomic risk factors consists of force, repetition, and posture, whereas the Individual risk factors are poor work practices, poor fitness, and poor health habits. For example, if the posture of the worker is poor throughout the entire workday, not only would it cause pain in the lower back, shoulders, and neck, but it would also lead to increased fatigue. Poor posture and the utilization of inadequate office equipment such as unsuitable computer chairs for extensive periods can also contribute to the development of musculoskeletal disorders. In terms of poor health habits and its relation to musculoskeletal disorders, it is not considered to be a major factor in the development of musculoskeletal disorders as there is very little research done to prove this as a fact. However, there is some correlation between poor fitness and the development of musculoskeletal disorders. For example, if an individual is not physically fit and is sitting at the desk most of the day, it heightens their chances of experiencing both muscle and joint pain. With regards to gender and musculoskeletal disorders, one report stated that there is no evidence to confirm that gender is a main factor in the development of this occupational disease (Petreanu, 2015). However, in another study conducted by de Zwart (1997) it was found that as both working males and females age, they are at a higher risk of developing musculoskeletal disorders at the workplace. In another article, Madeleine et.al (2013) carried out an experiment on the long-term pain complaints amongst Danish computer users which resulted in the women having higher reports of pain complaints than the men. Given the difference in opinions in the previous paragraph, this gives an indication that there is still more research to be done to find the association with gender and musculoskeletal disorder development. Trinidad and Tobago has many persons that are employed in the public sector and by carrying out a study in this area of occupational health, it would give some insight as to how musculoskeletal disorders affects the office worker and how we can reduce the number of cases of this occupational disease. Research Design/Method The quantitative design method would be used alongside with the true experimental design in this study. By pairing the quantitative method and the true experimental design, this would reduce the chances of bias during both pre-test and post-test stages. Sample Populations and Participants The population that this study will be sampling from are the employees of Republic Bank Limited in Trinidad that work with computers daily. The sample group will comprise of 100 employees that work with computers for more than six hours during the work day at the Republic Bank Limited, St Augustine Branch. The participants in this sample group were randomly chosen as this would allow for a fair distribution of participants to both the control group and the experimental group. Data Collection Instruments, Variables and Materials For this study, data would be collected by means of questionnaires and an experiment. The independent variable would be the exposure to computers during the work week [hours/week]. The dependent variables would be the musculoskeletal symptoms [back pains, neck pains, shoulder pains, arm, and wrist pains], gender, lifestyle and age of the employee. The questionnaire would consist of closed ended questions which would gather data from the employees such as lifestyle choices, health, workspace comfort, etc. To ensure that the participants respond to the questions, there would be two supervisors [a research team representative and a representative from the Human Resources Department] present while the employees take the allotted time to fill out the questionnaire. After all the questionnaires have been completed, they would be collected immediately and handed over to the research team representative. In terms of the experiment, it will be carried out at the workplace of the participants for a period of two months. In the first week, the experimental group [made up of 50 participants] would receive new ergonomically friendly computer desks and chairs, while the control group [also comprised of 50 participants] would be given a placebo. The employees would be required fill out a digital weekly log for eight working weeks to record whether there has been any decrease in muscle pains and at the end of each week the participants must submit these logs to the research team representative via the email address which was provided one day prior to the commencement of the experiment. Data Analysis Procedure As the research would be focusing on the length of computer usage and its association with the development of musculoskeletal disorders between men and women, the SPSS program was chosen to analyse the data. After the data from the questionnaires and the weekly logs have been gathered, the researchers would then go through a series of steps to ensured that the data is properly analysed. The first step is to code the data from the weekly logs [hours/week versus the musculoskeletal symptoms] and the questionnaires. Secondly, the data would be edited and then placed into a computerised system. The data would then be cleaned as this would remove any errors that may offset the results and finally, the data will be modified. Expected outcome The results from the statistical analysis should indicate that there is indeed an association with the exposure time of computers and the development of musculoskeletal disorders between male and female computer workers. Anticipated Ethical Issues This study is being conducted with human beings as the test subjects. To ensure that the ethical rules in research are not broken, the research team took measures to ensure that all the data that was gathered from the participants were to remain confidential and used only for research purposes. This would be done by having the participants signing two consent forms, one before filling out the questionnaires and the other on the morning of the experimental trial. Secondly, the head of the research team would meet the Human Resources manager of the Republic Bank Limited prior to the experimentation period to discuss the purpose of the study, why their establishment and the St. Augustine branch was chosen and how the data gathered from the employees was to be utilized. Preliminary Studies and Pilot Tests Before the research team carries out the experiment, a pilot test will be given to 40 employees at the Republic Bank Limited branch. The purpose of this pilot test is to give an assessment of the estimated cost to run the experiment, gives an idea of how feasible the study is going to be and may also predict any possible adverse events during the test period. Significance of study The study of musculoskeletal disorders and its effects on computer workers is of key importance as it allows for a deeper understanding of the causal factors of the disorder. It also brings about ways in which the computer workers themselves may have contributed to the development of musculoskeletal disorders in their bodies. The study may also bring about possible solutions for reducing the physical and psychosocial health effects of this occupational disease amongst the computer workers not only at the Republic Bank, but also all corporate businesses in Trinidad and Tobago. References Christensson, Per. VDU Definition. TechTerms. (November 6, 2009). Accessed January 3rd, 2017. http://techterms.com/definition/vdu. de Zwart, B., Broersen, J., Frings-Dresen, M. et al. Int Arch Occup Environ Health (1997) 70: 352. Accessed on January 8th, 2017. doi:10.1007/s004200050229. Eltayeb Shahla et.al. 2007. Prevalence of complaints of arm, neck and shoulder among computer office workers and psychometric evaluation of a risk factor questionnaire. http://bmcmusculoskeletdisord.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2474-8-68 Accessed on December 30th, 2016. Faust Katherine, Charles D. Jennings. Carpal Tunney Syndrome. 2016. http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=a00005 Accessed on January 3rd, 2017. Kryger A.I. et.al. Does computer use pose an occupational hazard for forearm pain; from the NUDATA study. Occup Environ Med 2003;60:e14. Accessed on January 3rd, 2017. doi:10.1136/oem.60.11.e14. Kumar, Shrawan: Muscle Strength. Florida: CRC Press 2004.https://books.google.tt/books?id=IXRJ457fGp8Cpg=PA10lpg=PA10dq=differential+fatigue+theorysource=blots=6ZQ3rQg2Kjsig=1GtsSbEPM6fKvdB7LqBgHGyY8Hwhl=ensa=Xved=0ahUKEwic67C-h6XRAhVBLSYKHStyBwwQ6AEIKTAC#v=onepageq=differential%20fatigue%20theoryf=false Accessed on January 3rd, 2017. Kumar, Shrawan: Biomechanics in Ergonomics. Florida: CRC Press 2007. https://books.google.tt/books?id=gDbMBQAAQBAJpg=PA3lpg=PA3dq=Multivariate+Interaction+Theorysource=blots=q43xFPztEHsig=zFHmVwPfraPydVFtZgRF8YSyIX4hl=ensa=Xved=0ahUKEwjfkJTdo5_RAhUI6CYKHWoVDCYQ6AEIWTAJ#v=onepageq=Multivariate%20Interaction%20Theoryf=false Accessed on January 2nd, 2017. Madeleine, Pascal et.al. Computer work and self-reported variables on anthropometrics, computer usage, work ability, productivity, pain, and physical activity BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders201314:226. Accessed on December 8th, 2017. DOI: 10.1186/1471-2474-14-226. Mayo Clinic. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: Risk Factors. 2014. http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/carpal-tunnel-syndrome/basics/risk-factors/con-20030332 Accessed on January 3rd, 2017. Middlesworth, Matt. The Definition and Causes of Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs). Accessed on December 29th, 2016. http://ergo-plus.com/musculoskeletal-disorders-msd/ NHS UK. Repetitive Stress Injury. 2016. http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Repetitive-strain-injury/Pages/Introduction.aspx Accessed on January 3rd, 2017. Nunes, Isabel L. and Pamela McCauley Bush (2012). Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders Assessment and Prevention, Ergonomics A Systems Approach. Accessed on January 8th, 2017. DOI: 10.5772/37229. Petreanu Viorica and Aurelia-Mihaela Seracin. 2015. Risk factors for musculoskeletal disorders development: hand-arm tasks, repetitive work. https://oshwiki.eu/wiki/Risk_factors_for_musculoskeletal_disorders_development:_hand-arm_tasks,_repetitive_work Accessed on January 8th, 2017. Punnet, Laura. Visual Display Unit Work and Upper Extremity Musculoskeletal Disorders. 1997:16. https://gupea.ub.gu.se/bitstream/2077/4159/1/ah1997_16.pdf Accessed on January 8th, 2017. Appendices Appendix 1: Questionnaire Good day participant, My name is Nichelle Morgan and I am a postgraduate student in the Chemistry Department of the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus. As a requirement for one of my core courses, I have been asked to create a questionnaire which looks at musculoskeletal disorders and the physical and psychosocial effects that it has on computer workers. Once this questionnaire has been completed in its entirety, the responses will be used to further explore the known and unknown causal factors of this occupational disease. With regards to confidentiality, you will not be required to fill out your name or contact information on the questionnaire thus reassuring you that your responses will remain private. I appreciate you taking the time to participate in this study. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via my email address [emailprotected] . Once again, I thank you for taking part in this study. Yours respectfully, Nichelle Morgan MSc. Occupational and Environmental Safety and Health, Department of Chemistry, The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus. What is your gender? †¢ Male †¢Female Which age group do you belong to? †¢ 20-24 †¢ 25-29 †¢ 30-34 †¢ 35-39 †¢ 40-44 †¢ >45 What is your ethnic background? †¢ Afro-Trinidadian †¢ Indo- Trinidadian †¢ Chinese †¢ Syrian †¢ Mixed †¢ Other How often do you exercise? †¢ Once a month †¢ Twice a month †¢ 1-2 times a week †¢ Everyday †¢ Never How often do you purchase or consume fast food? †¢ Daily †¢ 1-3 times a week †¢ Twice a month †¢ Once a month †¢ Never How long have you been employed at Republic Bank? †¢ †¢ 5-9 years †¢ 10-14 years †¢ 15- 19 years †¢ >20 years Do you use computers daily at work? †¢ Yes †¢ No If you responded Yes to Question 7, how many hours do you use the computer? †¢ †¢ 4-6 hours †¢ 6-8 hours While working with the computer, how often do you take a short break (besides lunch hour)? †¢ Never †¢ Every 2 hours †¢ Every 4 hours †¢ Depends on the work load Do you experience any muscular pains while working? †¢ Yes †¢ No If you responded Yes to Question 10, which part of the body does this pain occur? †¢ Neck †¢ Shoulders †¢ Upper back †¢ Lower back †¢ Arms and Wrists †¢ Legs †¢ All the above How often do you experience these pains? †¢ Everyday †¢ Every other day †¢ 1-2 times a week †¢ Twice a month †¢ Once a month †¢ Never Select the pain intensity that you experience †¢ Mild †¢ Some Discomfort †¢ Very Uncomfortable †¢ Intense †¢ Unbearable At times does the pain cause you to stop working? †¢ Yes †¢ No Was there an occasion where you missed working day/working days because of the pain? †¢ Yes †¢ No If you responded Yes to Question 15, how many days were you absent from work? †¢ 1-2 days †¢ 3-5 days †¢ 2 weeks †¢ 1 month Is your office furniture (computer chair) comfortable? †¢ Yes †¢ No If your response to Question 17 is No, select the reason below †¢ Chair is not adjustable †¢ The seat of the chair is too hard †¢ The back of chair does not support your spine properly †¢ Not enough leg room below desk †¢ All the above Appendix 2: Budget The estimated cost of the equipment required to carry out this study is $110,000. The cost of the ergonomically friendly chairs for the experimental group is $63,646.65 and the cost of the placebo chairs for the control group is $36,478.15. The rest of the funds ($9,845.05) would be distributed to the 100 participants as a token of appreciation for taking part in this study. There was a signed agreement between the sponsor of the equipment where they arranged to cover 60% of the cost while the research team will cover the remainder 40%.

accident :: essays research papers

Wild Ride   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Can you imagine being thrown from a car at 30mph? Well, I never thought I could until this happened to me in the summer of 1999. It was a gorgeous June afternoon, and summer had just begun. I had just gotten my license, and I couldn’t wait to go cruisin’ in my parents new yellow Ford Expedition. I had spent the day at my friends house, and now I was on my way home. I was almost home, I just had to turn onto the gravel road to get to my house. While I was turning, I was trying to put in a mix CD I had just made, and trying to turn the corner at the same time. I guess I was going a little too fast, because all of a sudden, I found myself lying in the ditch, outside of my truck. I had the bitter taste of blood in my mouth. I slowly got up on one leg and struggled up to the road. There was an old white pickup coming down the road and I waved it down. It was a farmer and he called an ambulance on his cell phone. While we were waiting for the ambulance I was hysterical. I couldn’t move or feel my left arm or leg. I felt like I was going to pass out from the pain in my broken limbs. The farmer did everything he could think of to calm me down a little bit. He asked me questions about family, school, and pretty much anything he could think of. I learned all about his wife, and his family; his grandkids, and even their grandkids. Eventually, after what seemed like three hours waiting for the ambulance, it finally got there. The paramedics rushed out, and loaded me into the wailing vehicle. The whole way to the hospital they asked me questions about my injuries and on what I remember about the incident. The pain was almost unbearable, so I told enough of what they wanted to hear, just so they’d shut up. They put my arm and leg in splints and finally gave me something for the pain. After about 15 minutes in the ambulance we got to the hospital and they hauled me into the X-ray room and took X-rays of my arm and leg. They found out that my forearm bone and the bone under the bicep was broken in my left arm and that I had broken my fibula in my left leg.

Religion And Discrimination :: essays research papers

Religion and Discrimination   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One might take the view that society should be tolerant to any religion so long as it conforms to our laws and written constitution. At first glance, this statement seems as fit an answer as possible to the question of societal limits to religious tolerance. Unofrtunately, if one were to consider the matter with more caution, one would eventually see that the statement could only be part of a greater answer. It is without a consideration of some of the elements which constitute cults, as well as other factors, that one would falter in devising a definitive answer to the question.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Certain followings or ‘faiths' which claim to be religions that are prevalent today are, in actuality, forms of cults. Although most of the practices and elements common to cults are legal, they are, at best, suspect. The following should constitute the line of telerance society should not cross.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Firstly, what distinguishes cults from religions is the manner in which they operate. Cults are designed with a view of insulating the individual from the rest of society. Once a member of a cult, in most cases, the individual is removed of most (if not all) of their personal autonomy. Most decisions are made by the cult leader, access to the outside world is often denied, and all information about the outside world is distorted by the leader. These types of operations should be intolerable by society.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Second, there should be no tolerance for ‘religions' that espouse any form of sacrifice, be it human or animal. Although historically, these practices were more or less prevalent and accepted, there certainly is no place for them in modern times.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Lastly, there should be a limit of religious tolerance with regards to the manner in which some display their beliefs. Individuals in society should not be subject toa ny violence or restriction of freedom as a consequence of someone else's beliefs. There have been numerous illustrations of this in the past. Individuals have blocked abotion clinics, have participated in violent demonstrations concerning one issue or another, ad infinitum. These types of religiously-fuelled practices have no place in, and should not be tolerated, in present day society.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  For some, the state has been seen to usurp the place of God on occasion. The fervent belief held by Jehovah's Witnesses, in assence, acts as the basis of their religious dissent. There have been certain areas of the law, which historically, have given rise to the conflict between the Canadian legal system and Jahovah's Witnesses. As a result of this conflict, a myriad of implications have arisen.

Charles Dickens Hard Times and David Lodges Nice Work Essay -- Lodge

Charles Dickens' Hard Times and David Lodge's Nice Work ----â€Å"Fact, fact, fact, everywhere in the material aspect of the town; fact, fact, fact everywhere in the immaterial.† – Charles Dickens In the early 1851, London staged the Great Exhibition to show the world, the achievements and inventions of the Industrial Revolution. Many people believed that this showed how much better, safer and healthier Britain was than its neighbours in Europe. People living in mansions amid lawns and fountains, with horse drawn carriages certainly felt that life couldn’t be better. However behind the publicity and the royal occasions there was another England, not so glorious. Benjamin Disraeli wrote that Britain was really â€Å"two nations†, Dickens wanted to show his readers what was behind the glittering faà §ade of Victorian industry. He wanted to show his readers the factual monotony behind the sulky blotch towns of industrial Britain. As the essay title suggests, both Lodge and Dickens have portrayed their format of an industrial landscape. Both authors’ coddle in a crestfallen environment of the industrial world: one at the height of a revolution, the other at the height of a decline. Dickens is keen to depict his Victorian contemporary world of Coketown in an essentially satirical context. It is emblemed with certain thematic issues including religion, the nature of employment and education, which follow course throughout the book. This surreal caricature of the Victorian landscape contrasts with Lodge’s realistically styled piece. Lodge’s passage, which holds a fictional veil over the names of â€Å"Rummidge and the Dark Country†, is clearly intended to represent Birmingham and the Black Country. In Hard Times it ca... ...o hold no target. In his account he mainly adopts an educational style prose to mirror the thoughts of his subject Vic Wilcox whilst also using a slightly more creative passage towards the end of the description to reveal political opinion and sentiment. Overall it is credible to say that the sources examined are quite detached in similarity. This maybe due to the large disparity of time between time periods. In view of success I think though Lodge’s modern style of writing should be recognized as playing games with the reader, I judge that the tone is overtly mundane and dreary. It is impossible to give a comprehensive argument on Lodge’s point of view due to his modern isolated style from the writing. Dickens is appealingly aggressive, motivating and quite favourably figurative. He leaves his readers without a shadow of a doubt of whom he is attacking. Charles Dickens' Hard Times and David Lodge's Nice Work Essay -- Lodge Charles Dickens' Hard Times and David Lodge's Nice Work ----â€Å"Fact, fact, fact, everywhere in the material aspect of the town; fact, fact, fact everywhere in the immaterial.† – Charles Dickens In the early 1851, London staged the Great Exhibition to show the world, the achievements and inventions of the Industrial Revolution. Many people believed that this showed how much better, safer and healthier Britain was than its neighbours in Europe. People living in mansions amid lawns and fountains, with horse drawn carriages certainly felt that life couldn’t be better. However behind the publicity and the royal occasions there was another England, not so glorious. Benjamin Disraeli wrote that Britain was really â€Å"two nations†, Dickens wanted to show his readers what was behind the glittering faà §ade of Victorian industry. He wanted to show his readers the factual monotony behind the sulky blotch towns of industrial Britain. As the essay title suggests, both Lodge and Dickens have portrayed their format of an industrial landscape. Both authors’ coddle in a crestfallen environment of the industrial world: one at the height of a revolution, the other at the height of a decline. Dickens is keen to depict his Victorian contemporary world of Coketown in an essentially satirical context. It is emblemed with certain thematic issues including religion, the nature of employment and education, which follow course throughout the book. This surreal caricature of the Victorian landscape contrasts with Lodge’s realistically styled piece. Lodge’s passage, which holds a fictional veil over the names of â€Å"Rummidge and the Dark Country†, is clearly intended to represent Birmingham and the Black Country. In Hard Times it ca... ...o hold no target. In his account he mainly adopts an educational style prose to mirror the thoughts of his subject Vic Wilcox whilst also using a slightly more creative passage towards the end of the description to reveal political opinion and sentiment. Overall it is credible to say that the sources examined are quite detached in similarity. This maybe due to the large disparity of time between time periods. In view of success I think though Lodge’s modern style of writing should be recognized as playing games with the reader, I judge that the tone is overtly mundane and dreary. It is impossible to give a comprehensive argument on Lodge’s point of view due to his modern isolated style from the writing. Dickens is appealingly aggressive, motivating and quite favourably figurative. He leaves his readers without a shadow of a doubt of whom he is attacking.

Corporate Wars Essay

Corporate war is the war between opponent firms who compete with each other for greater market share. There are always 2 groups involved in a corporate war and they are: The target company and the competitors. Whenever there is competition the first thing the target company does is to develop its marketing plans based on what they think their opponent will do. The companies formulate two strategies: * The first being their opening move * The subsequent moves are based on the competitor’s strategy But in any case the company’s success depends upon how well they prepare their marketing strategies. To do this effectively a company must carefully study its competitors as well as its potential and actual customers. Besides this the company must also identify its weaknesses. The company should also decide as to which competitor should be attacked and which one to be avoided. According to Philip Kotler: * Poor firms ignore their competitors * Average firms copy their competitors * Winning firms lead their competitors Marketing warfare strategies are a type of strategies, used in business and marketing, that try to draw parallels between business and warfare, and then apply the principles of military strategy to business situations. In business we do not have enemies, but we do have competitors; and we do not fight for land, but we do compete for market share. Types of marketing warfare strategies:- Offensive marketing warfare strategies – They are strategies designed to obtain some objective, usually market share, from a target competitor. In addition to market share, an offensive strategy could be designed to obtain key customers, high margin market segments, or high loyalty market segments.  Fundamental principles:- 1. Assess the strength of the target competitor 2. Find a weakness in the targets position. Attack at this point. 3. Launch the attack on as narrow a front as possible. Whereas a defender must defend all their borders, an attacker has the advantage of being able to concentrate their forces at one place. 4. Launch the attack quickly. Types of offensive marketing warfare strategies:- * Frontal Attack – This is a direct head-on assault. It usually involves marshaling all your resources including a substantial financial commitment. All parts of your company must be geared up for the assault from marketing to production. It usually involves intensive advertising assaults and often entails developing a new product that is able to attack the target competitors’ line where it is strong. It often involves an attempt to â€Å"liberate† a sizable portion of the target’s customer base. * Envelopment Strategy (also called encirclement strategy) – This is a much broader but subtle offensive strategy. It involves encircling the target competitor. This can be done in two ways. You could introduce a range of products that are similar to the target product. Each product will liberate some market share from the target competitor’s product, leaving it weakened, demoralized, and in a state of siege. If it is done stealthily, a full scale confrontation can be avoided. Alternatively, the encirclement can be based on market niches rather than products. * Leapfrog strategy -This strategy involves bypassing the enemy’s forces altogether. In the business arena, this involves either developing new technologies, or creating new business models. This is a revolutionary strategy that re-writes the rules of the game. The introduction of compact disc technology bypassed the established magnetic tape based defenders. The attackers won the war without a single costly battle. This strategy is very effective when it can be realized. Defensive marketing warfare strategies – They are a type of marketing warfare strategy designed to protect a company’s market share, profitability, product positioning, or mind share. Fundamental principles:- 1. Always counter an attack with equal or greater force. 2. Defend every important market.   3. Be forever vigilant in scanning for potential attackers. Assess the strength of the competitor. 4. The best defense is to attack yourself. Attack your weak spots and rebuild yourself anew. 5. Defensive strategies should be the exclusive domain of the market leader The main types of defensive marketing warfare strategies are:- * Position defense – This involves the defense of a fortified position. This tends to be a weak defense because you become a â€Å"sitting duck†. It can lead to a siege situation in which time is on the side of the attacker, that is, as time goes by the defender gets weaker, while the attacker gets stronger. In a business context, this involves setting up fortifications such as barriers to market entry around a product, brand, product line, market, or market segment. This could include increasing brand equity, customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, or repeat purchase rate. It could also include exclusive distribution contracts, patent protection, market monopoly, or government protected monopoly status. * Mobile defense – This involves constantly shifting resources and developing new strategies and tactics. A mobile defense is intended to create a moving target that is hard to successfully attack, while simultaneously, equipping the defender with a flexible response mechanism should an attack occur. In business this would entail introducing new products, introducing replacement products, modifying existing products, changing market segments, changing target markets, repositioning products, or changing promotional focus. This defense requires a very flexible organization with strong marketing, entrepreneurial, product development, and marketing research skills. * Counter offensive – This involves countering an attack with an offense of your own. If you are attacked, retaliate with an attack on the aggressor’s weakest point. Flanking marketing warfare strategies – They are a type of marketing warfare strategy designed to minimize confrontational losses. Fundamental principles:- 1. Avoid areas of likely confrontation. A flanking move always occurs in an uncontested area. 2. Make your move quickly and stealth fully. The element of surprise is worth more than a thousand tanks. 3. Make moves  that the target will not find threatening enough to respond decisively to. The main types of flanking marketing warfare strategies are:- * Flanking Attack – This is designed to pressure the flank of the enemy line so the flank turns inward. You make gains while the enemy line is in chaos. In doing so, you avoid a head-on confrontation with the main force. The disadvantage with a flanking attack is that It can draw resources away from your center defense, making you vulnerable to a head-on attack. In business terms, a flanking attack involves competing in a market segment that the target does not consider mission critical. The target competitor will not be as concerned about your activities if they occur in market niches that it considers peripheral. * Flanking Position – This involves the re-deployment of your resources to deter a flanking attack. You strengthen your flank if you think it is vulnerable. The disadvantage of this defense is that it can distract you from your primary objective and siphon resources away from where they are needed most. In business terms, this involves the introduction of new products, product lines, or brands, the defensive re-positioning of existing products, or additional promotional activity in a market niche. It requires market segmentation and/or product differentiation. You protect against potential loss of market share in a segment by strengthening your competitive position there. * Guerrilla marketing warfare strategies – They are a type of marketing warfare strategy designed to wear-down the enemy by a long series of minor attacks. Rather than engage in major battles, a guerrilla force is divided into small groups that selectively attacks the target at its weak points. To be effective, guerrilla teams must be able to hide between strikes. They can disappear into the remote countryside, or blend into the general population. The general form of the strategy is a sequence of attacking, retreating, and hiding, repeated multiple times in series. It has been said that â€Å"Guerrilla forces never win wars, but their adversaries often lose them. Strengths:- 1. Because you never attack the enemy’s main force, you preserve your resources. 2. It is very flexible and can be adapted to any situation, offensive or defensive. 3. It is very difficult to counter with conventional methods. Baskin-Robbins is an American global ice cream parlor based in Canton, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1945 by Burt Baskin and Irv Robbins in Glendale, California. The company is known for its â€Å"31 flavors† slogan, more than the 28 flavors then famously offered at Howard Johnson’s restaurants, with the idea that a customer could have a different flavor every day of any month. The slogan came from the Carson-Roberts advertising agency in 1953. Baskin and Robbins believed that people should be able to sample flavors until they found one they wanted to buy, hence the iconic small pink spoon. The Baskin-Robbins ice cream parlors started as separate ventures from Burt Baskin and Irv Robbins, owning Burt’s Ice Cream Shop and Snowbird Ice Cream respectively. Snowbird Ice Cream featured 21 flavors, a novel concept for the time. When the separate companies merged in 1953, this concept grew to 31 flavors. By 1948, Burt and Irv opened six stores, the first franchise covering the sale of ice cream was executed May 20, 1948, for the store at 1130 South Adams in Glendale (Store #1). Burt and Irv were brothers-in-law. In 1949, the company’s production facility opened in Burbank. They made the decision to sell the stores to the managers, thus becoming one of the first franchised food service businesses. In 1953, Baskin-Robbins hired Carson-Roberts Advertising who recommended adoption of the 31 as well as the pink (cherry) and brown (chocolate) polka dots and typeface that were reminiscent of the circus. The first store that adopted the new 31 look was 804 North Glendale Ave. in Glendale, California in March 1953. Between 1949 and 1962, the corporate firm was Huntington Ice Cream Company. The name succeeded The Baskin-Robbins Partnership and was eventually changed back to Baskin-Robbins, Inc. on November 26, 1962. Baskin-Robbins also was the first to introduce ice cream cakes to the public. 31 Flavors# * Banana Nut Fudge * Black Walnut * Burgundy Cherry * Butterscotch Ribbon * Cherry Macaroon * Chocolate * Chocolate Almond * Chocolate Chip * Chocolate Fudge * Chocolate Mint * Chocolate Ribbon| * Coffee * Coffee Candy * Date Nut * Egg Nog * French Vanilla * Green Mint Stick * Lemon Crisp * Lemon Custard * Lemon Sherbet * Maple Nut| * Orange Sherbet * Peach * Peppermint Stick * Pineapple Sherbet * Pistachio Nut * Raspberry Sherbet * Rocky Road *  Strawberry * Vanilla * Vanilla Burnt Almond| * Orange Sherbet * Peach * Peppermint Stick * Pineapple Sherbet * Pistachio Nut * Raspberry Sherbet * Rocky Road * Strawberry * Vanilla * Vanilla Burnt Almond Reuben Mattus, a young entrepreneur with a passion for quality and a vision for creating the finest ice cream, worked in his mother’s ice cream business selling fruit ice and ice cream pops from a horse-drawn wagon in the bustling streets of the Bronx, New York. To produce the finest ice cream available, he insisted on using only the finest, purest ingredients. The family business prospered throughout the 1930s, 40s and 50s. By 1960, Mr. Mattus, supported by his wife Rose, decided to form a new company dedicated to his ice cream vision. He called his new brand Haagen-Dazs, to convey an aura of the old-world traditions and craftsmanship to which he remained dedicated. Haagen-Dazs ice cream started out with only three flavors: vanilla, chocolate, and coffee. But Mr. Mattus’ passion for quality soon took him to the four corners of the globe. His unique ice cream recipes included dark chocolate from Belgium and hand-picked vanilla beans from Madagascar, creating distinctive and indulgent taste experiences. The Haagen-Dazs brand quickly developed a loyal following. Its early success was created by word of mouth and praise. Without the benefit of advertising, the story of an incredibly rich and creamy confection spread rapidly. At first, it was only available at gourmet shops in New York City, but soon distribution expanded throughout the east coast of the U.S., and by 1973 Haagen-Dazs products were enjoyed by discerning customers throughout the United States. In 1976, Mr. Mattus’ daughter Doris opened the first Haagen-Dazs ® Shop. It was an immediate success, and its popularity led to a rapid expansion of Haagen-Dazs ® Shops across the country. In 1983 Mr. Mattus  agreed to sell the Haagen-Dazs brand to The Pillsbury Company, which remained committed to the tradition of superior quality and innovation on which Haagen-Dazs ice cream was founded. Since then, it has become a global phenomenon, available in 50 countries. The same careful attention to quality that Reuben Mattus built into every Haagen-Dazs product remains today. Ice cream lovers the world over now recognize the unique Haagen-Dazs logo as synonymous with the ultimate super-premium ice cream. From the beginning, Haagen-Dazs ice cream has sought to innovate and bring new frozen dessert experiences to its customers, including distinctive flavors such as vanilla swiss almond, butter pecan, and dulce de leche, to name just a few. Haagen-Dazs was also the first to introduce the world to ice cream bars for a grown-up palate, with the introduction of the Haagen-Dazs brand ice cream bar line in 1986. Other super-premium innovations followed, with frozen yogurt in 1991 and sorbet in 1993.To this day, the Haagen-Dazs brand remains committed to developing exceptional new super-premium frozen dessert experiences, releasing new flavors every year. Mattus invented the Danish sounding ‘Haagen-Dazs’ as a tribute to Denmark’s exemplary treatment of its Jews during the Second World War and included an outline map of Denmark on early labels. The name is not Danish, which has neither an umlaut nor a digraph zs, and it has no meaning. Mattus thought that Denmark was known for its dairy products and had a positive image in the U.S. His daughter Doris Hurley reported in the PBS documentary An Ice Cream Show (1999) that her father sat at the kitchen table for hours saying nonsensical words until he came up with a combination he liked. The reason he chose this method was so that the name would be unique and original The ice cream comes in many different flavors and is a â€Å"super-premium† brand, meaning it is quite dense (very little air is mixed in during manufacture), uses no emulsifiers or stabilizers other than egg yolks, and has high butterfat content. Haagen-Dazs is also meant to be kept at a temperature that is substantially lower than most ice creams in order to keep its intended firmness. It is sold both in grocery stores and in dedicated retail outlets serving ice cream cones, sundaes, and so on. In 1980, Haagen-Dazs unsuccessfully sued Frusen Glà ¤djà ©, an American ice cream maker, whose name without the acute accent is Swedish for â€Å"frozen delight†, for using similar foreign branding strategies. Haagen-Dazs was bought by Pillsbury in 1983. General Mills  bought Pillsbury in 2001. However, in the United States and Canada, Haagen-Dazs products are produced by Nestlà © subsidiary Dreyer’s, which acquired the rights as part of the General Mills-Pillsbury deal. The brand name is still owned by General Mills but is licensed to Nestlà © in the US and Canada. To offset increasing costs of their ingredients and the delivery of the product, Haagen-Dazs announced that in January 2009 it would be reducing the size of their ice cream cartons in the US from 16 US fl oz (470 ml) to 14 US fl oz (410 ml).Additionally they announced that in March 2009 they would be shrinking the 32 US fl oz (950 ml) container to 28 US fl oz (830 ml). In response, Ben & Jerry’s said that they would not be changing the sizes of their cartons. Common Rivals of Baskin Robbins and Haagen Dazs London Diary is the established market leader in the premium ice cream segment. With its rich unique taste and smooth creamy texture. London Diary offers a truly delicious and unforgettable ice cream experience-which you can lose yourself in! With a $5 correspondence course from Penn State in making ice cream, two regular guys named Ben and Jerry open their first ice cream scoop shop in Burlington, Vermont. Heroes for Ice Cream Hungry for Justice SWOT analysis (alternatively SWOT Matrix) is a structured planning method used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats involved in a project or in a business venture. A SWOT analysis can be carried out for a product, place or person. It involves specifying the objective of the business venture or project and identifying the internal and external factors that are favorable and unfavorable to achieving that objective. The technique is credited to Albert Humphrey, who led a convention at the Stanford Research Institute in the 1960s and 1970s using data from Fortune 500 companies * Strengths: Characteristics of the business or project that give it an advantage over others * Weaknesses: Are characteristics that place the team at a disadvantage relative to others * Opportunities: External elements that the project could exploit to its  advantage * Threats: External elements in the environment that could cause trouble for the business or project Identification of SWOTs is important because they can inform later steps in planning to achieve the objective. First, the decision makers should consider whether the objective is attainable, given the SWOTs. If the objective is not attainable a different objective must be selected and the process repeated. Users of SWOT analysis need to ask and answer questions that generate meaningful information for each category (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) to make the analysis useful and find their competitive advantage. The aim of any SWOT analysis is to identify the key internal and external factors that are important to achieving the objective. These come from within the company’s unique value chain. SWOT analysis groups key pieces of information into two main categories: Internal factors – The strengths and weaknesses internal to the organization. External factors – The opportunities and threats presented by the external environment to the organization. The internal factors may be viewed as strengths or weaknesses depending upon their effect on the organization’s objectives. What may represent strengths with respect to one objective may be weaknesses for another objective. The factors may include all of the 4Ps; as well as personnel, finance, manufacturing capabilities, and so on. The external factors may include macroeconomic matters, technological change, legislation, and socio-cultural changes, as well as changes in the marketplace or competitive position. The results are often presented in the form of a matrix. SWOT analysis is just one method of categorization and has its own weaknesses. For example, it may tend to persuade its users to compile lists rather than to think about what is actually important in achieving objectives. It also presents the resulting lists uncritically and without clear prioritization so that, for example, weak opportunities may appear to balance strong threats. It is prudent not to eliminate too quickly any candidate SWOT entry. The importance of individual SWOTs will be revealed by the value of the strategies it generates. A SWOT item that produces valuable strategies is important. A SWOT item that generates no  strategies is not important. The usefulness of SWOT analysis is not limited to profit-seeking organizations. SWOT analysis may be used in any decision-making situation when a desired end-state (objective) has been defined. Examples include: non-profit organizations, governmental units, and individuals. SWOT analysis may also be used in pre-crisis planning and preventive crisis management. SWOT analysis may also be used in creating a recommendation during a viability study/survey. Some findings from Menon et al. (1999) and Hill and Westbrook (1997) have shown that SWOT may harm performance. Other complementary analyses have been proposed, such as the Growth-share matrix.

Original Writing – Prose: A day in the life of Lauryn-Emily Jones!

I woke up feeling worried about the day before me, The other staff members had warned me that Thursday was always the worst day but refused to tell me why. Since Monday I had been working in the oncology outpatients department of the city hospital and so far had dealt with all the different emotions adequately. It was hard work not because of the jobs I had to do but because seeing people in and out everyday either recently being told they had cancer or having suffered for years they were still sad when they got bad news and happy when they got good so all the emotions were mixed up. When I walked in on Thursday morning just before nine as I had for the past three days things looked normal. The walls which had been freshly painted were looking bright and fresh and all the staff still looked happy and were smiling so I hoped it was going to be a good day. I went behind reception and there was nothing to do so I stood and watched the people. Most were quite old but all had someone with them for support. I wished silently that everyone that day would get good news but I knew deep down that it was not going to happen and I felt a slight pain in my heart for all the people sitting there, Who were not lucky enough to be seen by some of the best doctors in the world. The disease that was slowly killing could be cured in some cases but it also had lots of side effects to go with it including hair loss, feeling sick at most times, plus the risk of killing too many good cells while killing the bad ones and being in great pain a lot of the time. As I stood thinking about all these things something suddenly popped into my head, What about all the people that did get better? These people included my own Nan who had suffered with throat cancer for a long time but was now cured? This is the proof that these treatments although terrible did work and that even if someone is diagnosed with cancer things can get better. I carried on looking around when a little girl who I later found out was only four came running in, She seemed to know her way around the department and as I looked I realized she did not have very much hair and then I saw her mother. She was a feeble looking woman in a wheel chair; Her husband was pushing her along as she was too weak to do it herself. I decided to talk to this wonderful family and found out the mother had been diagnosed with cancer not long after the doctors told her their daughter had a brain tumour and without a lot of operations and radiotherapy would not live very long and if she did she would be very weak for a lot of her life so may not enjoy it as much as she could. I watched the girl. She was very small and thin and she had tiny patches of hair on her head where the chemotherapy and radiotherapy had made it fall out. Her mother said she had a cancer which they could not specify because it was a mixture of two and she had to have more tests until they could find out. The little girl continued to run around and say hello everyone always keeping a massive smile on her face! This made me smile and I noticed that her father was a very strong man who obviously loved them very much. They soon had to go as the little girl had to have some more radiotherapy. As soon as they went I decided to see what I could find out about radiotherapy. I was told that if a child has to have radiotherapy they get fitted for a mask which fits right over their face, head and neck this is then sent to be made into plastic mask. When the mask is sent back and the child is ready for the radiotherapy, because they can not stay still enough the mask is put over their face with only two little holes for breathing as eye holes are too dangerous. The mask is bolted tightly to the table to stop the child moving because the equipment they use is just a small laser. Unlike chemotherapy it can only be used on the affected part of the body to kill the cells and not on other parts of the body as it kills too many cells and can be very harmful. I stood and thought about this for a minute and wondered whether I would be able to cope with this and how that lively, amazing little girl could cope with it and was told by the lady who does the radiotherapy that most of the time patients have to be put to sleep because they get too distressed by the mask. This thought frightened me and once again I thought how lucky I was to be a normal, healthy 15 year old girl. I found that being in radiotherapy was too distressing and decided to go back up to oncology but when I walked in straight away everything was different, the atmosphere had changed while I was away and I could feel it. I carried on in through the doors and as soon as I got round the corner I realized the whole of the oncology department was full of young men! To any other teenage girl this would be wonderful but to me it was scary. I turned to look and saw a young man no older than 22 sitting in a wheel chair and when it came to going to have his blood taken needed help to get up because he was so weak due to the all the treatment and the disease. I went back behind reception and carried on looking around when I was startled by a lad who slammed his arm down on the desk he looked at me and I noticed he was about the same age as me and he did not look very happy, he had another lad with him who I guessed was for moral support they both smiled at me but the smile was small and not very positive. I decided to go and sit with the lads to see if they would talk to me. I explained what I was doing and they were ok to talk to me. The lad who's name was Rikki told me he was 15 and had been diagnosed with teratoma cancer when he was just 13 and had recently had an operation to try and get rid of it after chemotherapy failed. The other lad who was there was his best mate Ashley, he had been there through everything and they were very close. He said today he had come in to find out whether they had got rid of the cancer or not but was told the chances were small, he gave me a glance his eyes looked sad but I could tell there was a glimmer of hope in there but as he explained he didn't want to get too excited for just in case the news was not good. He said he had to stay for a while because he also had to have blood tests and that he would come and see me before he went. I looked at the time and realized I had missed nearly half of my lunch! Although it was raining I wanted to go and sit outside in the fresh air so I could think and I had a chance to clear my head, I watched the people walk in and out and made the decision I would take each day as it comes because I never know what is around the corner, I also decided I would keep very busy after lunch so I could not think about it to much as deep down I was very distressed and was finding it very hard. When I had finished my lunch I went back in to find the waiting area not so packed but was still full of young men waiting to see the doctor. I went to find one of the nurses to talk to and came across Zoi, she had been in the oncology department for 2 years but was leaving soon as she wanted to finish training as a nurse because she never had the chance to do the things she had wanted. We talked about all the people and my feelings; she said the best way to deal with it is to just pretend that everyone was going to be cured and to think myself lucky it was not me. It sounded like a good idea and she also told me Audrey my supervisor wanted to see me at 3 o'clock. We went back to reception and I was asked to do some filing and pulling. This meant taking people's notes and putting them back on the shelves and getting the lists for the next week and pulling all the files for that which is hard because sometimes they are not there so I have to go to other places around the hospital. Once again when I was reading through the lists thinking about whether I had seen any of the sets of notes I was startled by a hand slamming down on the desk but this time when I looked up I saw a smiling face! It was Rikki again but this time he had the kind of smile I knew no one was going to get rid of! I asked him what the doctor said and in the most wonderful happy voice I have ever heard he said â€Å"It's gone! † I smiled at him and he carried on jumping around laughing and then proceeded to try and get me to go to the pub with him to celebrate. We chatted for a little while then I realized I had to get on with my jobs so he gave me one more very happy smile and walked off. Even with his back to me I knew he was going to be smiling for a very long time and it was going to take a lot to get rid of that smile!

Control of Sex in Advertising

The Control of â€Å"Sex in Advertising† in France Jean J. Boddewyn, and Esther Loubradou The growing use and abuse of sex in French advertising prompted strong reactions from consumer and feminist associations, and resulted in extensive and strict public and private controls. Recently, the French self-regulatory system has developed a system involving various stakeholder organizations to analyze social trends related to the acceptability of sexually-oriented ads, develop new voluntary guidelines, solicit complaints and handle them through an independent Jury.The number and proportion of controversial ads has significantly decreased, and French advertising practitioners have been nudged to accept greater professional responsibility in exchange for the freedom of creativity to which they aspire. A few U. S. developments parallel this increasing cooperation between the public and private controllers of the old issue of â€Å"taste and decency in advertising† which is not fading in societal importance. Jean J. Boddewyn is Emeritus Professor of Marketing and International Business, Baruch College (CUNY) (email: Jean.[email  protected] CUNY. edu). He has written extensively since the 1980s on the regulation and self-regulation of advertising around the world. Esther Loubradou holds a Master’s Degree in Communications and a post-graduate degree in Mass Media Law. She is a doctoral candidate in Advertising, Law and Communications at the University of Toulouse, France. Her dissertation deals with Decency and Sexual Content in Mass Media in France (email: [email  protected] fr). 1 Keywords: sex in advertising, advertising control by state and industry in France and the United States.Many Americans probably associate the French with sexual laxness and have seen their sexcharged ads for perfumes and cosmetics. Yet, France applies very detailed and strict controls – both public and private – to the use of sex in advertising and courts have ruled in a few notorious cases. Besides, its advertising self-regulatory body reports annually to a government ministry about the progress of its endeavors after conducting an annual survey of sex-related ads in certain media, and relatively few ads have recently been found in violation of French laws and industry guidelines.What explains this paradoxical situation, what are the special causes and features of the French control of sex in advertising, and – briefly – how does the U. S. system compare with it? Since nothing has been published in English on the French control system bearing on sex in advertising, this short Note has to be mainly descriptive and interpretive as a springboard for more theoretical and policy-related research. Still, in answer to admonitions to involve various disciplines (Richards 2009; Rotfeld and Stafford 2007; Rotfeld and Taylor 2009), this study is multi-disciplinary to the extent that cultural (e. g. the evolution of sexual mores) , political (e. g. , the impact of pressure groups), legal (e. g. , the development of â€Å"co-regulation† combining public and private initiatives) and ethical (e. g. , the â€Å"professionalization† of advertising practitioners) factors are used to interpret the French situation. One of the authors is French and an expert in communication law while the second one is American and has conducted many studies of advertising regulation and self-regulation in multiple countries. This Note’s public-policy implications are less evident because of the significant differences between the French and U.S. legal and self-regulatory systems, which preclude easy cross-border borrowings. Yet, there is a significant evolution in the United States toward greater cooperation 2 between the U. S. government and some self-regulatory bodies, which is briefly outlined in the last section of this Note. This development can benefit from knowing how the French system has moved toward c ombining the compulsory and voluntary approaches to the control of sex in advertising, and how the doubts expressed about the effectiveness of self-regulation (e. g. , Rotfeld 2003) can be partly assuaged.Besides, valid concerns keep being expressed in the United States about the potential impact of â€Å"sexualized violence† against women in ads on the acceptance of such behavior (Capella, Hill, Rapp and Kees 2010) so that the abuse of sex in advertising is likely to remain an important U. S. socio-political issue whose resolution can profit from knowing the French experience. For these purposes, we will start by analyzing the stimuli that prompted French legal and self-regulatory responses, and conclude with a brief comparison of the French and U. S. control systems. Stimulus: the â€Å"Sex in Advertising† Issue Sex in advertising† as a form of â€Å"selling sin† (Davidson 2003) has long generated negative reactions. Thus, the first International Code of Advertising Practice of the International Chamber of Commerce already stated in Article 1 of its 1937 Rules that: â€Å"Advertisements should not contain statements or visual representations which offend against prevailing standards of decency. † This principle has been adopted by many developed and developing countries, and it is expressed in one form or another in their laws and codes of conduct. Much of the decency issue used to be about goods and services thought to be â€Å"unmentionable† (e. g. toilet paper and feminine-hygiene products) and whether an ad’s execution was in â€Å"good taste† and shown at the appropriate time – with the radio and television broadcasting of objectionable commercials being limited to late hours of the day. Nowadays, sexually-oriented ads apply to all sorts of goods and services (e. g. , clothing, perfumes, jewelry, 3 alcohol, video games, cell phones and movies), they are available on the Internet at all hours, and they frequently emanate from advertisers in the luxury-goods sector (e. g. , Dior). Such audacious practices reflect the modern sexualization of mores and values in Western countries (e. . , Giddens 1993; McNair 1996; Reichert 2003) – with several French books having such evocative titles and subtitles as â€Å"The Pornographic Consensus,† â€Å"Sexyvilisation† and â€Å"The Tyranny of Pleasure. † It helps explain the advent around 2000 of sexually-oriented ads that combine pornography, violence and submission, and reflect McNair’s (2002) â€Å"Porno-chic† concept which incorporates into cultural production some practices (such as fellatio) and taboos (such as pedophilia) that transfer the transgressive qualities of pornography into mainstream culture. To categorize the scope of sex in advertising, Loubradou (2004, 2010) developed the concept of â€Å"hypersexuality† (also used by the French self-regulatory system) to encompass: (1) full nudity and/or sexual organs shown in close-ups; (2) the promotion of products and services associated with sexual intercourse (e. g. , condoms, lubricants, escort services and sex toys); (3) â€Å"Sex andShockvertising† that combines sexual information with fear and shock – a strategy particularly used in public-service campaigns about AIDS and against child abuse, (4) showing or evoking sexual intercourse, homosexual relations, fellatio, sadomasochism and violence against women, and (5) sheer pornography as in an Internet ad exhibiting fellatio. Such ads generate four major types of objections (Boddewyn 1989, pp. 9-32; 1991, p. 26): sexism covers distinctions which diminish or demean one gender in comparison with the other – particularly, through the use of sex-role stereotypes; sexual objectification refers to using The expression â€Å"Porno-chic† was first used in 1973 by a New York Times journalist when the porn movie Deep Throat was release d because people thought it was â€Å"chic† (that is, trendy) to watch it. McNair (2002, p. 2) defined â€Å"Porno-chic† as a wide process of cultural sexualization and pornographication of mainstream culture engaged â€Å"in an unprecedented flirtation with the codes and conventions of the pornographic, producing texts which constantly refer to, pastiche, parody and deconstruct the latter. † As he put it: â€Å"Porno-chic is not porn, but the representation of porn in non-pornographic art and culture† (p. 1). 1 4 (mostly) women as decorative or attention-getting objects while sexuality relies on sensual, suggestive and erotic imagery, sound and wording, and is sometimes combined with the depiction of violence against women in ads showing them in harmful, subservient and helpless positions. French reactions to these excesses have been strong. French ResponsesIncensed Pressure Groups Of the dozen French consumer associations legally recognized and financia lly subsidized by the government, most are linked to family organizations and a few to militant labor unions, and they are officially acknowledged as valid partners in discussions and negotiations with public and business bodies for the purpose of ensuring consumer protection broadly defined (Trumbull, 2006).These organizations and, later on, environmental ones have been granted a formal â€Å"political voice† – a formal status which the French advertising industry has only received very recently (see below). Besides, feminist groups enraged by the treatment of women in advertising have been very influential in France although they have not so far received the same official recognition as consumer and environmental organizations because of their fragmented and sometimes aggressive nature.Thus, vocal organizations with such evocative names as The Hunting Pack, Guardbitches and Advertising Wreckers managed in the 1980s to focus the â€Å"sex in advertising† issue around sexist discrimination, the objectification of women and the violence shown against them – the latter following studies revealing the extent of actual brutality against women (beatings, rapes, etc. ). Feminists stressed the disjunction between the extended roles and functions of women in modern society, compared to their narrow depiction in advertising (Rapport IFP 2001, pp. -6), and their campaigns have often been reported and discussed in the media which have spread and amplified these groups’ demands for more regulations. 5 Public controls Two principles compete as far as the French regulation of sex in advertising is concerned – namely, freedom of expression and protecting the dignity of human beings (Rapport IFM 2008, p. 19) – as expressed by the first article of the Freedom of Communication Law (No. 86-107 of 30 September 1986): Audio-visual communication is free.The exercise of this freedom may be limited only to the extent required, on the o ne hand, for the respect of human dignity, the freedom and property of other people, the pluralistic nature of the expression of ideas and opinions and, on the other hand, for the safeguarding of law and order, for national-defense and public-service reasons, for technical reasons inherent to the means of communication as well as for the need to develop a national audio-visual production industry.Besides, Article 3 of the Executive Decree of 27 March 1992 requires that commercials respect truth, decency and human dignity, and avoid discrimination and violence that incite dangerous behaviors. Article 227-24 of the French penal code prohibits the diffusion by any medium of messages of a violent or pornographic nature and likely to seriously harm human dignity when they can be seen by a minor.The government’s Conseil Superieur de l’Audiovisuel (CSA) is charged with controlling advertising messages after their broadcasting in order to enhance the respect of human dignity, protect children and adolescents, and prohibit messages inciting hatred or violence on account of gender (Rapport IFM 2008, p. 19-20). Searching for New Values Particularly evident in these legal texts are the repeated references to â€Å"the dignity of human beings† – a principle already enunciated in the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948).The highlighting of this concept reflects the search for new post-modern values which would justify representations of liberated women in advertisements without caricaturing or mocking their new freedoms, opportunities and responsibilities. In this respect, French feminist pressure groups provided a new discourse aimed at promoting the positive â€Å"image of 6 women† in advertising although, by excluding men, their initiative generated charges of reverse sexism!However, French public opinion and policy were concurrently shifting toward banning all forms of discrimination based on gender, age, race, role and handicap so that a compromise could be achieved by adopting a new unisex principle that emphasized the respect of human dignity and thereby protected everyone against objectionable treatments in editorial materials, programs and advertising (Rapport IFP 2001), This new principle was incorporated in various French laws after 1986 and in industry guidelines, starting in 2001.Court Decisions The Penal Code has not been used so far because of the high cost of criminal suits, the reluctance of judges to act as â€Å"censors of artistic creation† (Rapport IFM 2008, p. 20) and their fear of being ridiculed as reactionaries, and the difficulty for associations to sue in criminal courts (Teyssier 2004, p. 168). Thus, it was the Civil Code’s basic Article 1382, which obliges whoever injured others to compensate them for the legal damage he/she caused, which was used to condemn Benetton in 1996 for three 1991 billboards showing an elbow, a pubic area and a pair of buttocks stamped â€Å"H.I. V. positive. † A French governmental agency (AFLS) charged with informing the public about AIDS sued Benetton and was paid damages on the ground of this advertiser having undermined the human dignity of those affected by this disease by evoking the way meat is stamped and the tattooing of concentration-camp inmates during World War II, besides marginalizing a group of people by representing them as a marked population.Private Controls The previously mentioned â€Å"Pornochic† transgressions prompted the French advertising selfregulatory body to improve its responses to growing criticisms of the use of sex in advertising. In particular, it triggered its October 2001 â€Å"Recommendation† (Image de la Personne Humaine) fostering the dignity of human beings in the representation of people in advertisements. This 7 voluntary guideline states that ads should not hurt their audiences’ feelings nor shock people by showing demeaning o r alienating nudity, violence against people – especially women – or depicting people as objects.Concerned about the impact of advertising on minors, an April 2005 Recommendation specified that Internet ads should not harm the â€Å"physical and moral integrity of its young public† by promoting illicit, aggressive, dangerous and antisocial behaviors, challenging the authority of parents and educators, representing children and adolescents in degrading manners, presenting them with indecent or violent images and speech that may shock them, and exploiting their inexperience or credulity.In the same vein, a May 2007 Recommendation applying to erotic electronic services is aimed at promoting human dignity, the fair and true information of consumers and the protection of young audiences. The French Advertising Self-regulatory System The Professional Advertising Regulation Authority (Autorite de la Regulation Professionelle de la Publicite, ARPP) was created in June 2 008 as a private association completely independent of the government. However, it reports to a French ministry about its pursuit of violations of taste and decency in advertising because its 2003 Commitment Chart (Charte d’Engagement) requires it to submit an annual report on â€Å"The Image of Human Beings in Advertising† to the Minister in charge of Parity and Professional Equity, and to distribute it to the public at large. 3 Self-regulatory controls are applied both a priori and a posteriori.In the first place, French advertisers, agencies and media members of the ARPP may apply for non-binding copy advice by its legal experts at the pre-publication stage (15,196 projects were scrutinized in 2009). However, pre-clearance is mandatory before the broadcasting of all television commercials, and the ARPP can require modifications and even ban the proposed commercial if it is in breach of The ARPP is the successor of self-regulatory bodies dating of 1935, and it was na med the Advertising Verification Bureau (Bureau de Verification de la Publicite, BVP) from 1953 to 2008. The French government itself commissions independent studies such as the â€Å"Report on the Image of Women in the Media† (Rapport IFM 2008) that was solicited by the State Secretary for Solidarity. 2 8 the law and its Recommendations. A posteriori, the ARPP monitors ads on a random basis in all media except television where the government’s Superior Audiovisual Council (CSA) prevails. ARPP penalties consist of asking â€Å"transgressors† to modify or remove their ads, requesting the media to stop diffusing an offending ad, and the possibility of taking violators to court.Its decisions are widely publicized, and campaigns are regularly conducted to make the ARPP’s principles, recommendations and services better known as well as to incite advertising professionals to act responsibly. The previous BVP self-regulatory body handled complaints from consumer s and competitors but the new ARPP structure is more comprehensive and includes external stakeholders.It comprises: (1) an advisory Advertising Ethics Council (CEP) chaired by an independent academic to â€Å"anticipate† new societal developments; (2) an Advertising Parity Council (CPP) of which half of the members represent consumer and environmental associations, and which â€Å"concerts† with industry representatives about the need for new self-regulatory rules, and (3) an independent Advertising Deontology Jury (JDP) made up of persons who have no links with industry or consumer associations to solicit and â€Å"sanction† complaints from the public in order to complement the ARPP’s monitoring of ads.Impressive Results The 2006 BVP report to the Minister in charge of parity between the sexes dealt only with posters and billboards because they are highly visible to all audiences – young and adult, pleased or offended. Of 4,288 â€Å"visuals,â₠¬  only 8 (or 0. 19%) were considered to be violating its Recommendations. In all cases, the advertisers removed their ads, and the BVP credited the willingness of most outdoor advertisers to consult it before diffusing their ads for the low incidence of violations. Its report for 2007 (ARPP 2008) dealt with the Image of Human Beings in Advertising – with such subtitles as â€Å"Does advertising diffuse sexual stereotypes? † â€Å"Are there too many images connoting sexuality? † and â€Å"Where does Pornochic stand today? † It covered outdoor advertising, newspapers and magazines – except those publications targeted at adult audiences (e. g. , girlie† magazines) – and it compared the sampled ads with its Recommendation on the representation of human beings in advertising, whose images should not offend human dignity, undermine decency, objectify/reify people, present denigrating stereotypes, induce ideas of submission, domination or d ependence and/or present moral or physical violence. Out of 89,076 monitored ads, 96 (or 0. 10%) were found wanting – less than in 2003 (0. 15%) but more than in 2005 (0. 02%) – mainly in terms of offending human dignity (51 cases) and on account of the recrudescence of pornochic ads for luxury goods – particularly for clothing (e. . , Dolce & Gabbana). The results for 2008 were even better, with only 46 infractions and a decrease in pornochic ads (ARPP 2009) although these statistics did not cover the Internet which even very young audiences know how to maneuver in order to find and recirculate sexually-related materials. For the ARPP even 46 violations were too many and suggested greater professional vigilance and education so that its first campaign in 2008 was entitled Sexe because pressure should be maintained for even better results (e. g. , against the objectification of women).Following the implementation of the 2008 Jury system (JDP) that solicits and h andles complaints from the public, its first report for November 2008-December 2009 disclosed 24 valid ones of which 18 were related to the protection of human dignity and, in the majority of these cases, the complaint was upheld. Such public complaining and negative Jury decisions are 10 likely to persist because viral advertising on the Internet and word-of-mouth diffusion have created a huge recirculation of ads with sexual and violent content. 4 For that matter, the French self-regulatory system finds it sometimes problematic to handle new issues.Thus, the BVP report for 2005 acknowledged its hesitation about what to decide regarding a billboard showing two homosexual men kissing (Rainbow Attitude Campaign). On the one hand, such a highly visible public display would shock the public so that maximum prudence should be exercised; on the other, it would be discriminatory to oppose a homosexual kiss when heterosexual ones are frequently shown. This advertisement was not found to be in violation of any public regulation or private rule – an example of how this self-regulatory body relies on both the law and its own Recommendations to control the use of sex in advertising.The new 2008 ARPP system of â€Å"professional regulation† has been publicly recognized in several ways. Thus, a 5 March 2009 law, which transposed into French legislation the recent European Union directive on audiovisual services, did officially authorize the Superior Audiovisual Council (CSA) to delegate the preclearance of television commercials to the ARPP. Besides, the Paris Appeals Court stated on 26 October 2010 that â€Å"recommendations from the ARPP, even though they have no legal character, are professional practices that the judge must take into account if they do not contradict a legal or statutory measure. Moreover, professional regulation is now acknowledged and accepted by the French government which through several â€Å"Commitment Charters† (see above) has implicitly agreed not to regulate or ban certain practices but requires in exchange an effective system of adequate guidelines as well as an accountability evidenced by periodic and transparent monitorings and reports. These agreements amount to a system of â€Å"co-regulation† between public and private 4 Neither French nor U. S. egulators have found effective ways of controlling the diffusion of illegal or inappropriate Internet materials except through the obligation put on Internet Service Providers to remove illegal materials, on advertisers to warn about the sexual content of their messages, and on broadcasters to offer parents program-filtering devices. 11 actors who concert and collaborate in the public interest, and help generate a sense of responsibility among advertising professionals now convinced that their industry cannot claim its freedom of speech if it cannot prove its responsibility (Teyssier 2004, 2011).A Brief Comparison with the U. S. System In the fi rst place, the French have focused on protecting the dignity of all human beings and forbidding all types of discrimination in advertising while, in the United States, the problem has been framed in terms of protecting minors at the relatively modest price of adults losing only part of their free-speech right as far as the broadcasting media are concerned. 5 To be sure, other U. S. edia can still offer indecent and profane materials but they are supposed to reach better targeted audiences excluding minors. Second, compared to the French situation, politically weaker and less affluent U. S. consumer associations have exercised relatively little influence on the government in recent decades, the National Organization for Women has limited its sway to the â€Å"naming and shaming† of sexist advertisers, and even the very influential religious movement did not succeed in its campaigns to â€Å"cleanse American culture† (Lane 2006).Third, in both countries, the government h as been the main actor for the control of taste and decency in advertising, with self-regulation a strong second in France and a seemingly weaker one in the United States – largely because of First-Amendment and antitrust constraints (Rotfeld 2003). Yet, the lack of a French-like self-regulatory organization designed to study social trends, develop and publicize detailed guidelines, advise practitioners, solicit and handle complaints, and penalize wrongdoers has not precluded multiple U. S. nitiatives that add up to a control system Following various Supreme-Court decisions, obscenity and pornography are prohibited in all media while indecency and profanity are forbidden on radio and television except between 10:00 PM and 6:00 AM when children are unlikely to be in the audience. 5 12 that can respond fairly rapidly and effectively to complaints. All U. S. media have a pre-clearance system and most offensive ads are withdrawn by the advertiser or no longer diffused by a medium (Edelstein 2003) although some researchers challenge this positive evaluation (e. . , Rotfeld 1992). Besides, most sexual ads find their niches thanks to behavioral targeting and because the vast majority of sex-related ads match the programs where they are shown. Fourth, on account of various Supreme-Court decisions, U. S. government agencies such as the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have had to severely limit their control of indecent and profane materials in programs and advertisements.Thus, the FTC has rejected any â€Å"immoral, unscrupulous or unethical test† because the latter has never been relied upon as an independent basis for proving unfairness. Besides, the â€Å"secondaryeffects rationale† used by some family associations, U. S. legislators and regulators to justify further restrictions on account of their presumed effects on children and society – e. g. , fostering immorality and feeding the prurient app etites of pedophiles and child molesters – has not been accepted by the U. S. Supreme Court (Beales 2003).In contrast, such secondary effects have been used to justify all sorts of French proscriptions such as the ARPP Recommendation that Internet ads should not harm the â€Å"physical and moral integrity of its young public† (see above). Fifth, in both France and the United States, advertising practitioners believe that industry rules devised and applied by them are preferable because they know better what the problems and their realistic solutions are, and self-regulation generates greater moral adhesion than the law because industry guidelines are voluntarily developed and applied (Boddewyn 1992, pp. -8) even though it tends to improve only when the threat of regulation is real (Loubradou 2010). In this regard, there is increasing collaboration between governments and the advertising industry as evidenced by the French Commitment Charters while, in the United States , the Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus has received the 3 blessing of the Federal Trade Commission which, under the â€Å"safe harbor† provision of the 1998 Child Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), can approve industry guidelines that help implement this law – a practice which also applies to the Entertainment Software Rating Board which assigns age and content ratings to computer- and video-game ads, and which has been favorably evaluated by the FTC (Bravin 2010, p. B1).Finally, while governments, family and consumer associations in both countries are presently very concerned about personal-data privacy, behavioral targeting and the promotion of fatty, salty and sweet foods to children, â€Å"sex-in-advertising† remains an important issue because of the potential risk that sexualized violence in ads and the media may contribute to the desensitization of people and the socialization of aggressive beha vior toward women (Capella et al. 2010, p. 45; Liptak 2010, p. A16).In this context, our analysis of the French cultural, political, legal and ethical dimensions of this issue can help us understand under what conditions the above concerns can lead to its meaningful and effective public and private control. References ARPP (2008), Bilan 2007: Publicite et Image de la Personne Humaine. Paris : Autorite de Regulation Professionnelle de la Publicite. _____ (2009), Bilan 2008: Publicite et Image de la Personne Humaine. 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