Aristotle’s Definition Of Virtue

Nowadays, virtues are associated with refinement and nobility of one’s character. Aristotle believed that virtue is a function of the soul that guides every action of an individual. Thus, every action illuminates the discretion of an individual to act freely the chosen disposition. Since every human has a soul and virtue is its activity, can we classify every action as virtuous action? In Nicomachaen Ethics, Aristotle examined the inter-relations among the purpose of every human action, virtues, and vices in the achievement of happiness. Aristotle believed that the supreme good is the ultimate goal of every human endeavor. What then is the â€Å"good† for a man that can be possibly attained through his endeavors? It is happiness but relatively defined; vulgar men associated it with pleasure while people with refined character ascribed it to honor. While these things are pursued to achieve happiness in one’s self, but â€Å"good† should be pursued not only for happiness but for the â€Å"good† itself—as an end. The â€Å"good† brings happiness and is associated with function or activity. For instance, if you are a behest pianist then, you are good in playing piano for you are functioning well. The well-performance of your function creates happiness not only for yourself but also for the others, thus, giving you a unique identity. In the same line of reasoning, soul is an aspect of humans that differentiated them from the rest of the animals. Thus, man’s function concerns the soul. The rational component of the soul controls man’s impulses, thus, makes him virtuous. Therefore, â€Å"human good turns out to be an activity of the soul in accordance with virtue, and if there are more than one virtue, in accordance with the best and most complete. † As such, the nature of virtue then should be explored. Moral Virtues The product of teaching is the intellectual virtue while moral virtue resulted from the habit. Thus, it is never the case that moral virtue arises spontaneously on man’s being. Moral virtues are inculcated in man’s soul and perfected by habits. â€Å"For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them. For if all men are naturally born good or bad, adept or inept in certain skills, teachers have no sense at all. On the same ground, moral virtues can be learned or destroyed in one’s soul: by interacting with others we may become just or unjust; by experiencing perils we may become brave or coward; and other circumstances may impart hedonism, ill-temperance, or self-indulgence. Moreov er, by absorbing moral virtues at very young age, great difference will be made in one’s soul. Since it is through training, virtues are acquired; training then at very young age can mold virtuous personality. Conditions for the Conduct of Virtues Just and temperate actions are done by a man who has the sense of justice and temperance. â€Å"But if the acts that are in accordance with the virtues have themselves a certain character it does not follow that they are done justly or temperately. † Several conditions are necessary for the conduct of every virtuous action: knowledge of virtues; disposition for virtuous actions; and power to do virtuous actions. Hence, knowledge on virtues is not enough to become virtuous; rather, the disposition to put virtues into actions is a must. It is common sense to us, for example, that insufficient food and water taken into the body results to poor nutrition while a balanced diet ensures good health. â€Å"So too is it, then, in the case of temperance and courage and other virtues. † Avoidance of fears leads to timidity while extreme braveness endangers one’s life; absolute abstinence creates insensibility while hedonism shapes one’s indulgence. Since wrong doings are committed due to pleasure and noble character is avoided due to pain, pleasures and pain then are subjects of every virtue. The Doctrine of the Mean â€Å"Now neither virtues nor the vices are passions, because we are not called good or bad on the ground of our passions, but are so called on the ground of our virtues and our vices. † Passions, faculties, and states of character exist in the soul: passions are desires; faculties are abilities to perceive passions; and states of character are the choices to either put the passion in action or not. Feelings of pains and pleasures or passions, and the knowledge on good or bad are not virtues for virtues involve modes of choice. In addition, we naturally have faculties and desires. The man’s virtue then, involves the state of character that makes the realization of every desire that either good or bad. â€Å"For instance, both fear and confidence and appetite and anger and pity and in general pleasure and pain may be felt too much or too little, and in both cases not well; but to feel them at the right times, with reference to the right objects, towards the right people, with the right motive, and in the right way, is what is both intermediate and best, and this is the characteristic of virtue. The deficient and excess among the activities that give pleasure or pain is a vice while moral virtues lie in between of these deficiency and excessiveness, hence, the mean. However, the â€Å"mean† can not be found among actions which are entirely wrong such as crimes and envy. For the â€Å"mean† among entirely wrong actions is either its excess or deficiency, â€Å"but however, they are done they are entirely wrong; for in general there is neither a mean of excess and deficiency, nor excess and deficiency of a mean. Also, an extreme of a particular activity can be closer to its mean such as in the case of courage; courage is more of rashness than cowardice. This is so because of the things that are farther from its â€Å"mean† are its opposites. Moreover, Aristotle’s concept of the â€Å"mean† is not a strict doctrine; since the things and degree of happiness for each individual varies, so as the extent to which the â€Å"mean† for every case lies. It is only through the aid of our practical reason that we may determine the mean in a particular situation. Thus, virtue is a set of innate dispositions for the governance one’s action towards the attainment of happiness. Happiness then is not achieved unless one acted in accordance with his virtuous dispositions. Since actions are the concern of moral virtues, the attributes then of which should be examined. The Nature of Actions The nature of actions was classified by Aristotle as voluntary, nonvoluntary and involuntary. Involuntary actions are done against one’s disposition; voluntary actions are in accordance with the disposition; and nonvoluntary actions are accidentally done due to ignorance. Since virtue governs one’s disposition to act in accordance with the â€Å"mean,† the primary basis then of a virtuous action is the goodness of choice. For an action is always a product of premeditated choice of an individual for the attainment of one’s purpose, it is therefore voluntary. This also satisfies the conditions that Aristotle believed are necessary for virtue: knowledge, volition, and doing. On the other hand, if an individual was forced for a certain action, although seem involuntary, he is still responsible for that action for he has a choice for not doing. Meanwhile doing things because of ignorance is involuntary if at the end, one recognizes ignorance while failure to do so, makes it nonvoluntary. For instance, if a drunkard is addicted to liquor due to inability to discern virtuous things, the person then is guilty of ignorance and the action is nonvoluntary. If at some point of time, the person realized his ignorance, the action then becomes involuntary. With these, only ignorance can excuse an action to be called a vice but has limitation. If after realizing virtuous things, the person has continued to be a drunkard, then the action is voluntary and he is therefore vicious. Conclusion For Aristotle therefore, virtues are dispositions that acted in accordance with the doctrine of the mean towards the attainment of happiness. Happiness can not be achieved by merely just having or knowing virtues, rather by putting virtuous dispositions into actions. Thus, virtue is an active condition that makes one apt at choosing.

Economy and Society of Historical Brazil Essay

This essay investigates how the political distribution of land and the employment of coerced labor on sugar plantations and mining affected the development of economies and societies in colonial Brazil. Distribution of land in colonial Brail was politically-motivated and strikingly unequal. Landlords owned huge territories and exerted considerable influence upon both people residing in that territories and local governance institutions. People who didn’t own land were completely powerless against the tyranny of landlords. Furthermore, unequal distribution of land had negative economic consequences: landlords owned more land than they could manage, so great areas were used in a wasteful way (Wright & Wolford, 2003). As concerns coerced labor, slavery also had a profound impact on Brazilian economy and society. Coerced labor was used in sugar-cane mills, gold mines, and sugar plantation. Slavery contributed significantly to the economic development of the country, especially of its North-Eastern parts. Coerced labor can be regarded as a major factor in turning Brazil into export-oriented agricultural economy. As for the influence on the society, resistance among slaves used to be a source of constant social tension. However, in cultural terms, certain elements of African culture eventually fitted well in the mainstream culture of the country, Capoeira being the most telling example. Also, slave trade become a source of quick accumulation of wealth by certain categories of population, like traders and slave market owners. Thus, the political distribution of land and use of coerced labor can be regarded as two major factor shaping the economy and social structure of colonial Brazil.

An evaluation of the impact of social policy in relation to childhood poverty since 1997

Introduction This essay considers the effects of government policy on child poverty since 1997. This date represents both a high and low point of the war against child poverty. On the one hand, poverty and inequality were at their most serious in post-war history, with over one in four children living in relative poverty; on the other hand, it saw child poverty come into focus like never before, leading to the development of some of the most ambitious new targets, the most notable of which was the commitment to completely ‘eradicate’ child poverty within 10-20 years (Hills and Stewart 2005). All policies must go through several stages, called the policy cycle. There are numerous different conceptions of the policy cycle, each with slightly different stages. This essay will concentrate on the four main ones: agenda setting (problem identification), policy formation, policy implementation, and post-policy evaluation. The chronological sequence of the policy cycle given above provides t he rough structure for this essay; however, on occasion policies are discussed with reference to all stages of the cycle. This essay begins with a brief background section in order to frame the discussion. It concludes by arguing that on the whole government policy has been relatively successful in combating child poverty across the policy cycle, but that there are several areas of weakness requiring improvement. The notion that child poverty should be a major area of government policy is relatively modern. Historically, children have tended to fall under the care of the immediate or extended family, or under unusual circumstances someone entrusted with their care from the community or social group of the parents. However, this norm has been revised in recent years, leading to a change in the effective definition of ‘caring’, which has been expanded to include care by social workers, nurses and doctors, nursery assistants, teachers, and others (Eisenstadt 2011). The very concept of poverty itself has also varied greatly over time. The important cornerstones of modern policy related to mental and psychological wellbeing are fairly recent in origin. By contrast, Victorian campaigners against child poverty focused on bodily, or physical, problems, as embodied in the period by ragged and starving children. By the mid-20th century many other issues were in vogue. For example, child poverty began to include deficits of education caused by socio-economic problems and learning disabilities. It also began to take into account social ills such as exclusion, asylum seeking, and refugee status among children. In 1997, poverty Government policy since the late-1990s has incorporated all these elements (Eisenstadt 2011). Prior to 1997 childhood has been described by some as a ‘policy free zone’ (Eisenstadt 2011), where goals and objectives were largely hidden from view, being established primarily in office by outside experts. Since then, however, there is a strong consensus that in the early stages of the policy cycle the government has been successful in its approach to child poverty. Agenda setting in particular has been on the rise perhaps since the early- to mid-1990s across many departments and in the core of government. For example, policy debates have been a regular occurrence on many topics regarding child poverty, including cash incomes and services, as well as long-term factors underlying disadvantage and survival chances for children. This represents an impressive degree of cross-policy linkages in the government’s approach. Moreover, it is argued that this has translated into concrete results in policy terms. As Bradshaw and Bennett (2014: 5) put it: ‘the use of targets has been prolific, with those on poverty and social exclusion some of the most high profile.’ This claim is well-supported by the evidence, and several prominent cases can be cited. Take, for example, the commitment to reduce relative child poverty by 25% by 2004-5 and by 50% by 2010-11, as well as to completely ‘eradicate’ it within twenty years (by 2020) – or more pessimistically to be ‘amongst the best in Europe’ (Bradshaw and Bennett 2014: 6). The latter is among the most enduring of government promises regarding child poverty. Additionally, there is the so-called neighbourhood renewal strategy, which laid out the government’s intention that within 10 to 20 years no one would be seriously disadvantaged by where they live. Bradshaw and Bennett (2014: 7) contend that ‘such targ ets (for example, in the annual Opportunity for All reports) involve the Government holding itself to account in a way that few predecessors have done.’ This suggests that at the level of agenda setting there has been considerable success in combating child poverty, but there are also many omissions in the way the government has approached important issues. For example, child poverty might arguably have suffered as a result of the conspicuously small number of targets for overall poverty reduction, as the two are strongly interrelated. It is also questionable whether the targets and agenda setting initiatives have translated to policy formation (Bradshaw and Bennett 2014; Lupton et al. 2013; Hill and Stewart 2005). Before proceeding to discuss this issue, a note of caution should be issued about the usefulness of policy in the first place. Lupton et al. (2013: 17) highlight some of the issues inherent in policy commitments: They note, for example, that goals are in actuality mere promises, or claims, which are unenforceable in both practice and theory. Moreover, it is likely under many circumstances that these will be driven by ideo logical agendas, which will shape change according to which party is in power, ‘and be more or less shaped by the legacy inherited, the particular problems of the moment, or fiscal pressures. They may be more or less explicit and discernible. Unstated goals, some of which later become apparent from internal documentary evidence and politicians or civil servants’ Lupton et al. (2013: 17). Indeed, it is for this reason that scholars working in this field tend to evaluate what Lupton et al. (2013) call ‘realised policy’ rather than policy in a broader sense (Bradshaw and Bennett 2014). There is evidence that this concern – that is, ostensible policy not translating into realised policy – has characterised much of the government’s approach to child poverty, rending it unsuccessful to a degree. For instance, it was only in 2012 that the (Social Mobility and) Child Poverty Commission was appointed. This meant that the body could not be consulted prior to the publication of the Child Poverty Strategy for 2011-14. This contravened the government’s statutory commitment and can be seen as evidence that policy has not necessarily been realised, to use Lupton et al.’s (2013) terminology. Importantly, this had concrete implications for the Child Poverty Strategy for 2011-14, which was widely criticised from not laying out in enough detail that actual means by which policy objectives would be achieved (Bradshaw and Bennett 2014). There are other reasons to believe that agenda setting so far has lacked specificity regarding how it will deal with child poverty. This conclusion emerges through a close examination of the policy statements of government publication and the results following from these policies. For example, the Department for Education posts a statement on its website reading: ‘Poverty, as measured by a household’s income relative to the national average, is often a symptom of deeper, more complex problems. Many of these problems are passed on from one generation to the next.’ As Bradshaw and Bennett (2014) note, the ‘background’ section state that one of its primary aims is ‘reducing poverty in all its forms’, and references social injustice, but does little to directly address the issue of child poverty. The website for the Department for work and Pensions does likewise, noting the existence of a child poverty strategy and the Positive for Youth Repo rt (2011) but failing to specify what this entails in terms of policy (Bradshaw and Bennett 2014; Forest and Parton 2009). This shows that to a certain extent there has been a disconnect between the early stages of the policy cycle (agenda and target setting) and the later one (policy formation). It can also be argued that the government’s approach to dealing with child poverty has been inadequate at the level of policy formation. There has tended to be a great deal of emphasis on the idea of encouraging unemployed parents to work in order that they may better support their children. While this is commendable in several obvious respects, it also has shortcomings. Bucci (cited in Forest and Parton 2009), for example, emphasises the importance of internal factors in children’s lives and downplays the external factors that are usually emphasised by officials and practitioners of policy. This suggests, therefore, the inclusion of many more people in the work force might actually worsen poverty of a social and emotional kind by depriving children of their parents for extended periods. Another strategy employed to end child poverty has come in the form of the Sure Start Centres, the stated aim of which is to ‘improve the outcomes for all children’ (Department of Education 2008). However, the attention paid to child poverty specifically was conspicuously lacking. For example, the first brief concentrated on the objective of ‘helping prevent family breakdown and promoting readiness for schools’, which only has an indirect relationship to child poverty and arguably should not have been prioritised over alternatives, such as the provision of financial support. In addition to the educational component, the Sure Start programme is largely geared around encouraging more parents to work. The government places the promotion of employment and education at the centre of its child poverty policy, as revealed in its description of Sure Start as ‘a cornerstone of the Government’s drive to tackle child poverty and social exclusion’ (D epartment of Education 2008) This is supported by a number of groups, including the Institute for Public Policy Research, which argued that ‘social inclusion is best promoted though enhanced employment opportunity’ and that ‘‘poverty and deprivation in children’s families and in their neighbourhoods is associated with their performance at school’ (Oppenheim, 1998: 113, 139). There is also support for this policy direction from the European Commission (2014), which argued that the most important priorities for reducing child poverty are to ‘improve access to affordable early childhood education and care services’ and to ‘support parents’ access to the labour market and make sure that work ‘pays’ for them’ (European Commission 2014). It might reasonably be claimed, therefore, that while the policy formulation as regards child poverty is indirect, its efficacy in ameliorating child poverty is supported in the literature. This gives credibility to the Sure Start programme, which represents not just successful policy formulation but also the successful implementation of policy initiatives (Lupton 2013). The noticeable educational improvements among children and young people reflect the efficacy of these policies, and it has been argued that they show the success of child poverty reduction measures. For example, results in national tests at 11 and 16 indicated great improvements and few people were leaving school with no qualifications by 2010 (Lupton 2013). Socio-economic gaps were reduced across all indicators – incrementally at age 11 and then more distinctly at age 16. Larger number remained at school after the age of 16 and more went to higher education. Socio-economic gaps in HE access also closed slightly despite concerns to the contrary (Lupton 2013). On the other hand, it has also been argued (e.g., by the European Commission) that the UK has so far not done enough on these fronts in order to combat child poverty. This suggests that while policy formulation might therefore be on the right track, the implementation has not yet gone far enough (European Commission 2014). On the whole, policy formulation has generally been lauded. Education Maintenance Allowances, for example, have complemented the Sure Start programme discussed above. More important have been the tax and benefit reforms, which Hills and Steward (2005) argue have ‘reduced child poverty quickly enough to give the Government a good chance of hitting its 2004-05 targets.’ This is a dated analysis, but it indicates that in the decade after 1997 policy was relatively successful. The importance of changes in incomes for parents and their children, moreover, is borne out by the Families and Children Survey, as well as other interviews conducted in low-income areas (Hills and Stewart 2005). Nevertheless, while there has been a fall in relative child poverty between 1996-7 and 2002-3, and falls in deprivation and child-related spending by parents, the UK is still some way behind the EU average (Hills and Stewart 2005; also see European Commission 2014) There has been considerable research into the effect of Labour’s efforts to alleviate child poverty, primarily because they have been in office for much of the period and have been the main drivers behind such initiatives. The Labour government’s record has been positive on many fronts. Health is closely related to poverty, and in these terms the life expectancy of children rose, with infant mortality declining and illness declining, between 1997 and 2010 (Vizard and Obolenskaya 2013). This is supported by Stewart (2013), who has noted that for young children in particular outcomes as a result of Labour’s policies improved markedly, with higher employment rates for lone parents and fewer mothers drinking and smoking during pregnancies (the tangible impact of this is reflected in a fall in low birth weights among infants); moreover, the improvements here were concentrated among the lower socio-economic groups, which suggests relative poverty declined (Stewart 2013 ). For older children and young people, results in national tests at 11and 16 showed substantial improvements and hardly anyone was leaving school with no qualifications by 2010. Socio-economic gaps closed on all indicators –gradually at age 11 and more dramatically at age 16. Greater proportions stayed on at school after 16 and went to higher education, and socio-economic gaps in HE access closed slightly despite concerns to the contrary (Lupton and Obolenskaya 2013). Some particular shortcomings of policy have been highlighted by the research, however. For example, research into child poverty arising from neglect and abuse has revealed policy failure at all levels of the policy cycle. The neglect, abuse and eventual death of Victoria Climbe in 2000 is a good example of a policy failure in the period under consideration (Forest and Parton 2009; Laming 2003). Older children have often been classified as ‘hard to help’ and failed by agencies, while long-term neglect cases have on occasion not been properly contextualised in terms of past events in children’s lives. Additionally, there has tended to be an overreliance on universal or adult social service for physically injured children rather than the more appropriate children social care. As Brandon (2008) notes, these are reflective of policy failures in this particular area at the levels of formation, implementation, and post-policy evaluation. At the final level of the policy cycle, evaluation, there has been some criticism of policy. In particular, March and Fisher (2005: 4) highlight ‘strong arguments for the development of the evidence base, and for shifting social services towards an evidence-based approach, instead of its historic reliance on an ‘authority-based’ approach. These arguments run similarly to those suggesting that healthcare needs more of an evidence-based approach (for example, the 1997 report for the DH on R&D in primary care) (Forest and Parton 2009). In this respect, it could be argued that policy has been less effective than it might have been because the research driving it has been conducted in the wrong way. It might even be said that improvements in this area required looking to the past: As Marsh and Fisher (2005: 5) put it: ‘Despite this lack of strategy, social work research has occasionally made a significant impact’. They point to the example of the childcare research programme that was shaped by the DH during the 1980s. This led to a cogent set of policies on many critical issues and helped to make policy more focused on relevance and practical matters.. Nevertheless, this ‘did not address the question of the infrastructure for research relevant to social care’ (Marsh and Fisher 2005: 5). In a sense, these failures of policy at the final stage bring the argument full circle back to the level of agenda setting and policy formation. Marsh and Fisher (2005) and Morrin et al. (2011) see the issue as a lack of a strategic framework, which impedes agenda setting from the outset and prevents re-evaluative improvement at the end. The fact that no publicly funded research body is in place makes this more difficult, ‘and the plethora of relevant bodies has not so far offered a unified voice that could command widespread support. Unclear academic roots complicate the process’ (Marsh and Fisher 2005: 15). It might be argued that this comes down to the problem that social care does not exist as an independent academic discipline (Morrin et al. 2011; Forest and Parton 2009). In conclusion, it can be said that the impact of government policy on child poverty has been mixed. On the one hand, many important and varied issues, ranging from education to financial hardship and psychological trauma, have been brought under the government remit. This represents a success in terms of agenda setting. A large number of influential programmes have taken form across the spectrum, and these have been implemented with reasonable success in many cases, as indicated by the fact that child poverty has declined since 1997 by nearly 10 percent (Forest and Parton 2009). To a certain degree, it is too early to tell whether evaluation has been successful. There have, of course, been various shortcomings such as the inability of policy to adequately protect abused children. Detractors have also claimed that policy, despite being relatively successful, has not been based on evidence. In the end, the record of government policy is generally good, although there is clearly scope f or improvement going forwards. References: Bradshaw, J. and Bennett, F. (2014) Investing in Children: Breaking the cycle of disadvantage: A Study of National Policies: The United Kingdom, European Commission http://www.york.ac.uk/inst/spru/research/pdf/Naps2013Investing.pdf [Retrieved 22/06/2014] Brandon, M. (2008) Analysing child deaths and serious injury through abuse and neglect, Centre for Research on Children and Families http://www.uea.ac.uk/centre-research-child-family/child-protection-and-family-support/analysing-child-deaths [Retrieved 22/06/2014] Cleaver, H. and Walker, S. (2004) Assessing Children’s Needs and Circumstances: The Impact of the Assessment Framework, London: Jessica Kingsley Department for Education (2008) Sure Start Children’s Centres – good for your child and good for you http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130401151715/http://www.education.gov.uk/publications/standard/Surestart/Page1/DCSF-00787-2008 [Retrieved 22/06/2014] Department of Health (1997) R&D in primary care, London: The Stationery Office European Commission (2014) Investing in children http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1060&langId=en [Retrieved 22/06/2014] Eisenstadt, N. (2011), Providing a Sure Start: How Government Discovered Early Childhood. Bristol: Policy Press Forest, N. and Parton, N. (2009) Understanding children’s social care: politics, policy and practice London: SAGE Hills, J. and Stewart, K. (2005) POLICIES TOWARDS POVERTY, INEQUALITY AND EXCLUSION SINCE 1997, Joseph Rowntree Foundation http://www.jrf.org.uk/publications/policies-towards-poverty-inequality-and-exclusion-1997 [Retrieved 22/06/2014] HM Government (2006) Working Together to Safeguard Children: A guide to inter-agency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, Nottingham: Department for Education and Skills http://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/youth-justice/improving-practice/WT2006-Working-together.pdf [Retrieved 22/06/2014] HM Government (2004) Every Child Matters: Change for Children Programme. Nottingham: Department for Education and Skills www.everychildmatters.gov.uk [Retrieved 22/03/2014] Laming, H. (2003) The Victoria Climbie Inquiry https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/273183/5730.pdf [Retrieved 22/06/2014] Lupton, R., Burchardt, T, Hills, J. Stewart, K. and Vizard, P. (2013) A Framework for Analysing the Effects of Social Policy, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion http://sticerd.lse.ac.uk/dps/case/spcc/rn001.pdf [Retrieved 22/06/2014] Lupton, R. (2013) Labour’s Social Policy Record: Policy, Spending and Outcomes 1997-2010, Centre for Analysis and Social Exclusion http://sticerd.lse.ac.uk/dps/case/spcc/RR01.pdf [Retrieved 22/06/2014] Marsh, P. and Fisher, M. (2005) Developing the evidence base for social work and social care practice, Social Care Institute for Excellence http://www.scie.org.uk/publications/reports/report10.pdf [Retrieved 22/06/2014] Morrin, M., Johnson, S., Heron, L. and Roberts, E. (2011) CONCEPTUAL IMPACT OF ESRC RESEARCH: CASE STUDY OF UK CHILD POVERTY POLICY, Final Report to Economic and Social Research Council http://www.esrc.ac.uk/_images/Conceptual_impact_study_report_tcm8-18146.pdf [Retrieved 22/06/2014] Stewart, K. (2013) Labour’s Record on the Under-Fives: Policy Spending and Outcomes 1997-2010. Social Policy in a Cold Climate Working Paper. London: CASE Vizard, P. and Obolenskaya, P. (2013) Labour’s Record on Health: Policy Spending and Outcomes 1997-2010. Social Policy in a Cold Climate Working Paper WP02. London: CASE

Food Insecurity. Definition, Reasons, Causes and Status Essay

Food Insecurity. Definition, Reasons, Causes and Status - Essay Example In the discussion, the focus will remain on reviewing what food insecurity denotes, what causes it and the consequences that accrue thereof. The discussion is based on a critical evaluation of peer-reviewed literature beginning with the definition and then discussing what causes it, and how it emerges in the developing world. Defining and Contextualizing Food Insecurity The Context of Food Security Since the 1970s, the term food insecurity has been differently used to refer to numerous related but often diverse concepts. Yu, You, and Fan (2010) argue, â€Å"there are various descriptions of food security plus the concepts of food security that have evolved, in the previous 30 years, to reflect the transformation in official policy thinking† (p. 30). This variant understanding of food security and insecurity has been explored by Clay (2002) since the World Food Conference initiated a discussion of food security in the early 1970s, both at the national and international level. A s shall emerge hereunder, food security encompasses questions of food supply, food availability, food price stability, geographical locations and typology of available food (Bernstein, Crow and Johnson, 1992, pp. 34 - 71). However, to understand the term food insecurity, it is essential to first contextualize the term food security. According to the United Nations, food security should be defined as â€Å"all people at all times having both physical and economic access to the basic food they need† (Clay, 2002, p. 4). According to UN figures, nearly 1 billion people in the world today are not guaranteed that they can access, afford and always find adequate food. For these 2 billion people, they may not be hungry and in critical need of food, but they cannot guarantee that they will have anything to eat tomorrow to sufficiently sustain their health. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (2013), â€Å"a total of 842 million people in 2011–2013, or about one in eight individuals globally, were anticipated to be suffering from chronic hunger, regularly not getting enough food to conduct an active life† ( ¶7). While this figure is relatively lower when compared to the 868 million people reported between 2010 and 2012, and while the number of undernourished people has reduced with 17% from what was recorded between 1990 and 1992, food insecurity is still a major global problem. As such, they are insecure about the source of their requisite diets, where to find food, when and whether such food would be affordable when accessed (Curtis, Hubbard and Shepherd, 1988, 37). This context thus introduces the dynamics of food security, a complicated process determined by numerous factors from poverty levels to climatic conditions, from geography to governance, from education and awareness to culture (Grigg, 1993, p. 21; Curtis, Hubbard and Shepherd, 1988, p. 61; Bernstein, Crow and Johnson, 1992, p. 69; Kent, 1984, p. 23). The key question, therefore, is about guarantee that food will be available when needed, as well as which type of food will be avai

Marketing Myopia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Marketing Myopia - Essay Example Petroleum industry was never been continuously a growth industry. When so ever products innovation took place industry has to face challenges. Customer Orientation: Most of the industries are still product oriented than customer oriented. They are preoccupied with their specific products and do not want to change their products or vary their products according to the wishes and need of the customers. Even best companies like Detriot or Ford who have adopted best practices in the industry are not customer oriented. Some of the companies like nylon and glass industry specifically E.I. du pont de nemours and Corning Glass Work are successful not due to technical competence and product orientation but due to throughout customer oriented policies. It is constant watchfulness for opportunities to apply their technical know - how to creation of customer satisfying uses that accounts for their prodigious output of successful new product. Myopic Vision: Industry failure attributed to their faulty, narrow, short term and temporary vision. Due to poor conceptualization companies may not be able to offer more value to their customers and become ineffective. Improperly defined purposes as in the case of railroads and Hollywood films prove fatal for the industry. This narrow vision always results in the stagnation of industries. Most of the industries that define its vision so narrowly, lack of imagination, lacking the will to survive, do not satisfy public inventiveness and skill results in premature demise. Product Innovation: industries which are pretty content with their growth moves into comfort zone and never been able to think imaginatively. They have never been able to develop new products and vary their product according to their customer needs. At times industries not bother to think about product innovation. Petroleum industry is the distressing example of how complacency and wrong headedness can stubbornly convert opportunities into disaster. Most of their product improvement came from outside of the industry. Research & Development: Industries, which are heavily dependent on research and development process and mass production, could not be able to pay more attention on customers need. The top management of the company is wholly transfixed by the profit possibilities of technical research and development. Company's top management heavy with scientist, researchers and technical people seldom knows the exact situation of the market and customer requirements. They are product oriented rather than customer oriented. Part-2 Now in the present situation where information flows across the globe and people are aware and connected with almost all parts of the World marketing management has taken newer dimensions. Marketing can simply be defined, as "meeting needs profitably". (Kotler). Management theorist Peter defined marketing, as "The aim of marketing is to make selling super flows. The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well that the product or services fits him and sells itself. Ideally, marketing should result in a customer who is ready to buy." (Drucker). "Marketing management is the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion and

Financial Reports of McDonalds Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Financial Reports of McDonalds - Assignment Example This paper discusses McDonalds’ 2013 annual report with focus on the company’s operations, income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow, and ratio analysis. Accounting information, often summarized and communicated in annual reports, is important to different stakeholders to an organization. This paper reviews and reports on McDonalds’ annual report for the year ended 2013 with focus on the company’s operations and financial statements. The discussion identifies positive prospects in the annual report but offers reservations on the company’s long-term stability due to overreliance on external funding. One of McDonalds’ operational activities in the accounting year ended 2013 was realignment of its subsidiaries, efforts that begun in the year 2005. The operations were geared towards two major goals, to realign the subsidiaries to external environments in the areas of operations and to realign the subsidiaries to the company’s global perspective. Theses aimed at attaining a desired corporate image by the company. The company also operates in two scopes, through its managed subsidiaries and though its franchises. Its branches however obtain commodities and services from independent suppliers but quality assessment centers exist to ensure threshold standards in all of the company’s outlets. The company’s operations also include collaboration with suppliers to facilitate efficiencies through innovation, outstanding practices, and continuous improvements. The company offers a standard menu to its customers though a level of variation may exist to accommodate geographical diversity around its outlets. It also offers seasonal products but majorly on promotions. Monitoring and evaluation of newly developed products also form a major aspect of the company’s operations. Research and development is another significant area of the company’s operations and research and development facilities exists in the United States, Europe, and

IFRS (ADIDAS) VS. US GAAP( nike) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

IFRS (ADIDAS) VS. US GAAP( nike) - Essay Example The generic accounting principles include four types of financial statements: balance sheet, income statement, cash flow statement and retained earnings statement (Nikolai et al, 2009). The balance sheet is one of the core accounting documents produced for all business entities, which provide the financial position of a company, with details on its assets, liabilities and ownership equity, at any given point in time. The income statement is a reflection of the profit and loss details that the entity generated over a particular period of time. Reflecting the operation of the enterprise, profit and loss statements, a term commonly used to describe the income statement, include the revenue generated from sale and the expenses that are incurred over the reporting period used for the document. The cash flow statement is a report that details the various activities undertaken by an entity, linked to investing and financing. Lastly, the statement of retained earnings is a snapshot of the ch anges that have taken place in the earnings of the entity over the reporting period that is in place as part of the accounting policy. The objective of the financial statement is variable to the stakeholder utilising the information. Organizational owners and managers use financial statements as a resource to base strategic decisions on, by assessing the overall operational efficiency of the business. On the other hand, investors look into the reporting data as a way of judging the viability of the institution, especially in context of the security and benefit it would create for any investment. The government bodies would use institutional financial statements within their due diligence and auditing process, to ascertain the declarations made by the entity, especially in relation to taxes and duties (Ding et al, 2007). Furthermore, financial bodies use this form of organizational documentation to decide the security

Learning to Accept the Controversial Issues Essay

Learning to Accept the Controversial Issues - Essay Example With the vast technological growth and advancement in the telecommunications sector, people of today get to experience so many innovative discoveries never before availed. One might not be able to imagine a world without cell phones or the internet, of social networking or being perennially tuned to tunes and gadgets that keep on being upgraded to the level. The same-sex union had previously been unorthodox from my personal perspective, simply because of firsthand experience – my biological mother chose another female for a lifelong partner. My mom took Dinah as her partner when I was eight. I also have an adopted sister named Isabella who we came to our home about three years ago. It was very difficult and embarrassing for me to be around with my family due to the unconventional arrangements. I remembered trying desperately to avoid discussions prying on my family life. I made endless excuses when friends want to hang out at home: I have to make errands, I would be suddenly i nvited to a neighbor’s night out, I was not able to sleep well due to the neighbor’s howling Labrador. The list was endless and I got to be so inventive that I thought my friends actually enjoyed finding out what my next excuse would be. One time, I remembered working on an academic project that required researching on homosexuality and same-sex marriage. I found out how children of same-sex partners were not to be affected at all by the unusual arrangement since the affection and support received from them are actually the same as what heterosexual partners give. Reflecting on this, I realized that the holistic support provided by my ‘parents’ have been exceptional so far and that there really is nothing to be ashamed of. Over time, I began to start accepting my family life and started opening up to others about it. I started bringing my closest friends one at a time at home and felt immensely relieved that they did not see anything wrong with the relationship. I was just apparently too sensitive about it – making a mountain out of a molehill.     

QSAR Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

QSAR - Essay Example The loaded values are expected to give descriptive information about the descriptors that will be interpreted in terms of significant biological correlation relationships. Notably, the experimental model applied in this study revealed that the main features describing the binding activities of the experimental compounds were partially charge-based receptors. This was an automatic measure of molecular electronic property. The same property can be used in an auto correlated that can be used to weigh substitute descriptors’ position. Additionally, the linear regression equation and its application can be used in predicting biological activity in the study. It is worth noting that the comparison of the result with the literature data indicates that the proposed quality of the model compared to the provided model compares well with the sophisticated 2D based method. Introduction The quantitative structured activity relationship, the QSAR techniques are currently suitable and indisp ensable in all research aspects especially in relation to biological molecular properties interpretation. Obviously, the chemical, biological, and or physical properties of a compound depend on the three dimensional (3D) molecular and atomic arrangement; however, the same properties can be examined in a two dimensional model. Notably, the capacity to produce qualitative and quantitative correlation between 2D molecular structures and their biological activities is fundamental in deciding what synthetic ways of bioactive chemicals. Numerous research works involving the application and use of QSAR have been applied in biological properties and structural determination of biological elements; for instance, the use of the Hansch molecule description. The QSARs analysis of the 2, 4- diamino – 5- (substituted benzyl) pyrimidines and 2,4 – diamino – 6 – dimethyl – 5 – phenyldihydrotriazines have suggested that neural network application have reliab le and effective results than normal or traditional application of the regression methods. In supplementation with the regression processes, other techniques of determination of the activity of the biological molecules have since been introduced. This includes the use of inductive logic programming (ILP) that has since used to model the QSAR particularly in the trimethoprim analogues binding from E. coli to DHFR. This technique applies mainly the physiochemical attributes that are usually assigned to substituent heuristically towards a general approach. This application or process is usually applied to the design problem of drugs. However, it should be noted that this method is not significantly better than the regression or the traditional QSAR method; however, it is noted to produce rules that are likely to provide insight into the stereochemistry of the biological molecules under determination. In most cases, such stereochemistry does help in determining the structure and to some extent, depending on the analysis, chemical properties of a molecule. It should be noted that more evidence are still required to assess these newly applied methods properly to ascertain the comparative trials and the analysis in numerous and different ways. The biological steroids activities usually vary considerably depending on seemingly small structural changes within or about a molecule. The fundamental molecular family usually represents very challenging characteristics for any method of prediction. This

Provide a comprehensive report that will describe the development of Essay

Provide a comprehensive report that will describe the development of design from appraisal to completion and illustrate the prop - Essay Example All of these tasks are encapsulated in the design procedure. Different organizations describe these procedures with different names. Irrespective of individual task names, the principal elements of the design procedure consists of four key elements (architype.net n.d.); programming, schematic design, design development, and construction documents. Figure 1 exhibits the above-mentioned concept. The diagram in figure 1 shows that design procedure does not present a sum of several activities Figure 1. Principal elements of design procedure (architype.net n.d.) that flow in one direction. The activities are iterative, which is one of the paramount concepts of an Architectural design procedure. Iterative flow provides the opportunity for design modification. In the design procedure, modification plays a pivotal role since the process is cognitive. That is why tasks or activities of design phases move back and forth allowing develop more elaborate designs to control and modify the overall design. Each of the principal elements of the design procedures shown in figure 1 is divided into multiple tasks. Many recommendations are available about how to subdivide each principal process into multiple tasks. This report follows recommendations provided by the Royal Institute of British Architecture (RIBA). RIBA (architecture.com n.d ) outlines work process to manage and design architectural projects Scope and limitation of this report The report is structured using words and visual forms of presentation. Scope of this report is to describe architectural design phases thru general idea without tying to any specific project. Phases that are described hereafter present design procedure of any kind of building construction from appraisal to completion. Sketches and illustrations are used from general constructions for visual representation of different phases. The step-by-step procedures described in words and sketches exhibit work from appraisal to completion of practical const ructions. RIBA Stage A and B: Project Appraisal Phase The program of discovery begins with the appraisal phase. Design procedure starts with the determination of scope of work, and that is why this phase is also known as programming phase. This phase includes discussions, thoughts, and explorations. All participants must understand and agree on the program at the start. This phase establishes scope, objectives, limitations and criteria of the future project. For a residential housing project, the program would include information about types of amenities the client wants in the house, number of rooms, square footage requirement of rooms, and construction stages. For a bigger building project, such as a school, a program is complex and would include numbers of rooms, type and their functions, interior and exterior design, finishes, electrical, mechanical, and water supply system, playgrounds, different science laboratories, etc. For a highly complex task; a program starts with the de velopment of a master program document, which is then split into smaller individual programs of different buildings. Project appraisal phase is also called as pre-design phase. RIBA characterizes it as briefing stage. To develop the

Information Technology in Criminal Justice Systems Research Paper

Information Technology in Criminal Justice Systems - Research Paper Example On law enforcement, such information systems have helped in crime prevention and criminal justice program network, technical cooperation activities, and the development of the criminal justice information aimed at maintaining institutional capacities to respond to requests from member states as well as the general public. Future activities in the Information technology require more funding, planning, and coordination within the crime prevention and criminal justice programs in the realm of criminal justice information and computerization (Dana Spiegel 2009, pg 113). There are potential benefits that will come about with the use of wireless technologies in the criminal justice systems, which will mainly be realized in prosecutions, courts, and the correctional parts of the criminal justice systems. The prosecution will undoubtedly see an improved case output through the computer-based systems to assist with the cases' recording, in detail, and to track progress on each case, thereby triggering reminders when actions fall due. It will also bring about better use of clerical and professional resources as a result of easier recording and collating of information pertaining to different cases.

The Action of President Johnson Essay Example for Free

The Action of President Johnson Essay â€Å"The Action of President Johnson were far more important to the Civil Rights Movement than that of President Kennedy in the years 1960 to 1965† Explain what you agree or disagree with in this view. (24) President Kennedy was slow to help blacks during his short time in power during 1961 to 1963. Due to him having a close electoral victory he was hesitant to help blacks as he would become less popular amongst the whites, although he had a lot of power to do so anyway. Civil Rights legislation simply was not part of Kennedys agenda, he did use the power of the executive to back up Brown v. Board of education, but he supported no legislation to enforce or extend Civil Rights. However Kennedy had been so shocked by the number of blacks employed that he put pressure on the civil service to employ blacks. Even Kennedy himself promoted 40 blacks to top positions within the White House. However down south the situation was harder to change and Kennedy had to balance morality and practicality as he didn’t want to lose white southern voters. He’d been most helpful with his symbolic gestures by inviting more blacks than any other previous President. His group the EEOC also didn’t have much impact amongst the blacks but left a lasting impact by reminding employers of their obligations. In President Kennedys last attempts of the Civil Rights Bill to help black workers and blacks to use their vote; however the bill got stuck in congress. Johnson did not deviate from the Kennedy agenda significantly while serving the remainder of Kennedys term, but after getting elected in his own right vigorously pursued Civil Rights legislation, and got most of his Civil Rights legislation enacted into law before the new Congress had gotten their chairs warm. It only passed congress once President Johnson who came into power after Kennedy’s assassination continued to try and push the bill through although told it would affect the 1964 presidential election; Johnson insisted that discrimination was wrong. He’d had a vision of the ‘Great Society’, with an end to poverty and racial injustice. In conclusion Kennedy could be seen as someone who calculated his approach to racial problems, only helping blacks when forced to do so. The Civil Rights Bill which had been handed to congress by Kennedy was an important step to the civil Rights movement and although it was passed during Johnsons power it’s unsure if it was due to the sadness over Kennedys assassination, because of Kennedys efforts with the congressmen, or because of President Johnson.

Factors For Popularity Of Reality TV Show

Factors For Popularity Of Reality TV Show The recent onslaught of new reality programmes on general entertainment channels has once again brought this genre of programming into the limelight. Reality TV is not a new genre here; it has just become more popular (and controversial) now. Reality shows are almost a decade old but thus far, soaps have reigned large in terms of television ratings. With rising competition, however, in recent months, non-fiction-based programmes have made a stunning comeback, albeit in a new avatar-titillating reality programming. After an overdose of saas-bahu (daughter-in-law-mother-in-law) soaps, the producers and also the audience seem to be happy lapping up more realistic soaps (fiction) and reality (non-fiction) programmes. In the list of the top 10 programmes on television currently are two reality shows and some socially relevant soap operas. There are two things about reality shows that attract viewers and generate controversy: the concept of reality or realism; and the shock effect. The concept of reality TV draws from realism in cinema. So, its a format that presents ordinary people in live, supposedly unscripted (though often deliberately manufactured) situations, and monitors or judges their emotions, behaviour or talent. Such formats usually invoke competition and provide big money as rewards. Still, the very dissonance between the fact that these programmes are real and relevant (for the audience) and that contestants usually compete in them for fame and money-thereby being willing to do things they wouldnt otherwise do-raises issues related to the honesty of reality shows. The situation is exacerbated when producers use the concept of reality to shock and awe audiences-one way to break through the clutter. The point still remains: What determines the popularity of reality television show? 2.0 Review of Literature The process of QDA: John Seidel, in his article, discusses at length, the intricacies of the process of qualitative data analysis (QDA). The author goes on to explain that how the complex and rigorous practice of QDA is based on a simple foundation. QDA is described as a process of Noticing, Collecting, and Thinking about interesting things. QDA process has the following characteristics: Iterative and Progressive: The process is iterative and progressive because it is a cycle that keeps repeating. For example, when you are thinking about things you also start noticing few things in the data. You then collect and think about these new things. In principle the process is an infinite spiral. Recursive: The process is recursive because one part can call you back to a previous part. For example, while you are busy collecting things you might simultaneously start noticing new things to collect. Holographic: The process is holographic in that each step in the process contains the entire process. For example, when you first notice things you are already mentally collecting and thinking about those things. 1. Noticing Things and coding data Noticing simply means making observations, writing field notes, tape recording interviews, gathering documents, etc. When you do this you are producing a record of the things that you have noticed. Reading the record helps you focus your attention on that record, and notice interesting things in the record.Coding data is a simple process. When you read a book, underline or highlight passages and make margin notes you are coding that book. 2. Collecting and sorting instances of things This process follows once you have noticed and coded things. The author compares this process to a jigsaw puzzle where you start by sorting the pieces of the puzzle. In a puzzle picture with a tree, a house, and sky, a common strategy for solving it is to identify and sort puzzle pieces into groups ( e.g., frame pieces, tree pieces, house pieces, and sky pieces). When you identify piece, you are noticing and coding them. When you sort the pieces you are collecting them.The author suggests that disassembling, coding, and then sorting and sifting through the data, is the primary path to analysis. But intensive data coding, disassembly, sorting, and sifting, is neither the only way to analyze data, nor is it necessarily the most appropriate strategy. 3. Thinking about things In the thinking process, one examines the things that have been collected with a view to achieve the following goals: . Your goals are: a) to make some type of sense out of each collection, b) look for patterns and relationships both within a collection, and also across collections, and c) to make general discoveries about the phenomena you are researching. One must compare and contrast each of the things that have been noticed in order to discover similarities and differences, build typologies, or find sequences and patterns. In the process one might also stumble across both wholes and holes in the data. Popularity of Reality TV The article explains the results of a new study that examines the ongoing popularity of reality TV. Unlike other shows such as news programs or sitcoms, reality TV allows viewers to imagine themselves as actual participants. People may find a certain fascination in contrasting what they think they would do in a given situation to the actions taken by the real participants a group of individuals they perceive as their peers. In many of the reality shows, ordinary people are placed in exotic, unfamiliar surroundings where they are pitted against the elements. Others focus on ordinary people engaging in common activities such as dating or home redecorating. In both instances, viewers are given the chance to compare and contrast their own lives with those of the shows protagonists. The resulting experience is a complexly constructed and highly individualized experience the researchers call hyper authenticity. That viewers may be drawn by the chance to mentally test their behavior against that of the actual participants contrasts with the common criticism of reality TV viewers as passive voyeurs thereby blending fantasy and reality. Most participants agreed that the main thing that made reality TV shows more interesting than sitcoms is that they are unscripted. In conclusion, the author senses that the success of reality-based entertainment may be the depiction by certain shows that it is totally foreign to viewers. It may reflect nostalgia for authenticity among the class of consumers to whom it is most rigorously denied. According to the researchers, others may appeal simply because they are so familiar, and therefore understandable, to viewers. http://www.wfanet.org/pdf/med_documents/Whatadvertiserswantfromonlinemeasurement.pdf What advertisers want from online audience measurement The objective of this paper is to help inform current and future efforts to advance online audience measurement by providing advertisers constructive input on this vital issue Advertisers increasingly communicate to and interact with their target audiences through the online media in all its variations and platforms for a broad range of purposes and objectives including search, social networks, display, extensions of traditional media, advertisers own sites or services, on fixed and mobile platforms, one-way and interactive. The information needed is specifically related to the following: Assess the appropriateness and economic value of various online media alternatives and vehicles, Predict and plan delivery against targets, build online-and-offline strategies and related media mix, arbitrate between solutions, allocate budget resources and project ROI Purchase commercial space (and/or other inventory, e.g. search) according to properly defi ned and reliable metrics for contacts with the target audience Monitor actual execution and post-analyze if, when and how the purchased spaces or other inventory had been delivered Evaluate the results and ROI to improve future strategies The challenges inherent to the collection and production of the information arise as The online media is still in a nascent stage Exposure or commercial contact themselves are not clearly defined Receptiveness of commercial communication by the audience varies by format The vast majority have small, segmented audiences, the same person belonging to the audiences of a large number of different vehicles. Large samples and/or specific data collection procedures are required.Interactivity provides a major opportunity, which barely exists in other media: Interactivity of the devices: The technical ability to monitor (and potentially track across time) the actual display/delivery of each and every piece of content on every single device in front of the audience Interactivity of the audiences: most frequently the audiences, when reached, are in a posture/situation where feed-back is attitudinally natural and technically possible/seamless. Another opportunity arises from the relative youth of the media. As new measurement systems are introduced in parallel with the medias evolution, the industry can set them up according to the needs of all parties: Consistently across markets whilst benefitting from cross-border sharing of experimentation and experience. Objective statement: To study the factors responsible for popularity of reality TV show Variables: Dependent factor: Performance of reality TV shows Independent factors: (i) Target audience Age group Professional and cultural background Psychological mindset (ii) Social context Political issues in domestic country Social issues in domestic country (iii) TV programming Time slot in which the program is broadcasted TRPs of other TV programmes on this channel (iv) Competition TRPs of TV shows on other channels Profitability of the channel versus that of other channels Target Audience Social Context Popularity of Reality TV show Competition TV programming Measurement of variables Variable Measurement Age group Age group and gender Professional and cultural background occupation, , number of family members, Education, Psychological mindset tourist destination, idle time, you relate to, connect with reality TV program Political issues in domestic country political issue that concern you Social issues in domestic country political issue that concern you Time slot in which the program is broadcasted number of hours of TV watching, length of program (airtime) favorite time of slot for TV TRPs of other TV program on this channel favorite TV programs, TRP ratings (secondary source) TRPs of TV shows on other channels TRP ratings (secondary source) Hypothesis The popularity of reality television shows is influenced by the political issue in the mind of the respondent ( using ANOVA) The popularity of reality television shows is influenced by the social issue in the mind of the respondent (using ANOVA) There is relation between the respondents preference of activity in idle time and different genre of reality television show(using CROSSTABS) There is a relation between age group and preference of time slot (using CROSSTABS) The educational background of the respondents is independent of popularity of reality shows (using Chi Square) There is a relation between the reason for watching TV and popularity of reality TV shows. Research Methodology Recent success of reality television programs made us inquisitive about the factors that dictate their success. We turned this idea into a research question. We reviewed few articles from literature related to this topic so that the knowledge gained will help us in mapping these factors and giving importance to them. We decided to conduct the following studies: Survey-questionnaire: behaviors, beliefs and observations of specific groups are identified, reported and interpreted. Analysis: classes of data are collected and studies conducted to discern patterns and formulate principles that might guide future action We created our hypothesis to continue our studies. Our hypothesis were based on our reading over internet, blogs and personal opinion. The data will be collected and hypothesis will be analyses accordingly. We select convenience sampling methodology for which we created an Online questionnaire in Google documents and passed the link to out friends by email, Google chats and social networking websites. We were able to collect their responses and analyze the data using SPSS 17. We then again checked our hypothesis to reach to the conclusion. On analysis, anomalies in the pattern if any will be captured and the research outcome can create an impact on programming reality television shows in future. The final research report will be submitted to NMIMS university. 6.0 Sampling technique In this form of research, it would be ideal to test the entire population, but the population is just too large that it is impossible to include every individual. This is the reason why we rely on sampling techniques like convenience sampling, the most common of all sampling techniques. Many researchers prefer this sampling technique because it is fast, inexpensive, easy and the subjects are readily available. USES: Researchers use convenience sampling not just because it is easy to use, but because it also has other research advantages. This sampling technique is also useful in documenting that a particular quality of a substance or phenomenon occurs within a given sample. Such studies are also very useful for detecting relationships among different phenomena. CRITICISMS: The most obvious criticism about convenience sampling is sampling bias and that the sample is not representative of the entire population. This may be the biggest disadvantage when using a convenience sample because it leads to more problems and criticisms. Systematic bias stems from sampling bias. This refers to a constant difference between the results from the sample and the theoretical results from the entire population. It is not rare that the results from a study that uses a convenience sample differ significantly with the results from the entire population. A consequence of having systematic bias is obtaining skewed results. Another significant criticism about using a convenience sample is the limitation in generalization and inference making about the entire population. Since the sample is not representative of the population, the results of the study cannot speak for the entire population. This results to a low external validity of the study. Total Sample (n=88)Sample Regular television audience (n=60, 69%) Moderately regular television audience (n=26, 29%) Rarely watch television programs (n=2, 2%) Although we rely on convenience sampling, we have a fairly distributed sample in terms of viewership of television programs Age profile Sex profile Limitation: Since we ask our respondents to rate their favorite reality shows which actually belong to different timelines. Hence the true rating is basically relative to actual shows aired on television channels today. The same limitation also applies to data obtained from Secondary sources Secondary Data We have obtained secondary data from TAM peoplemeter system which measures audience viewership (in the form of TRPs). Since our research is based completely on TRPs, we have obtained the TRP ratings of different genre of Reality shows (Average TRP captured in the period in which the show is captured) Television Rating Interpretation: We observe that the sigma value for Thriller shows, aspirational shows and adventure politics (Fear Factor, Rakhi kaa swayamvar and Roadies) are below 0.05, hence at 95% significance level we reject the null hypothesis (u1 not equal to u2 not equal to u3 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. ). This means that we accept the alternate hypothesis which is the popularity of this show depends on social situation in mind of the respondent. For the rest of them, we accept the null hypothesis which states that the popularity of these shows do not depend on social factors. c) Hypothesis: There is relation between preferred activity in idle time and reality television Interpretation: From the above table, we observe that respondents who like meeting and hanging out with friends are generally the ones who rate reality programs on higher side. Another point is those who prefer Socialising with relatives actually like shows with high entertainment value and politics around 50% of Big Boss viewers. D) Hypothesis: there is relation between age group and favorite time slot Interpretation: Assuming 90% level of significance, we reject the null hypothesis and accept the alternate one and conclude that the liking of reality television program depends educational background of the respondents. f) Hypothesis: There is a relation between the reason for watching TV and popularity of reality TV shows. Interpretation: The above figure is a Percentage Bar Graph that shows the distribution of responses of various factors that people connect the reality shows with. Roadies Out of all the respondants who have rated Roadies as their favourite show, majority of them connect with Roadies as a pure entertainment show. The next big bunch of individuals connect with Roadies or watch Roadies as a Stress Reliever. It shows that the people interested in this show are looking for something as a stress buster. Big Boss Almost one-third of the respondants who like Big Boss relate to the show as a source of only Entertainment. It is followed by another big set of people who connect with the show as a stress reliever. SaReGaMaPa SaReGaMaPa the musical show also comes out as a major source of entertainment. Rakhi Ka swayamvar Unlike other shows, in case of Rakhi ka Swayamvar, people look at the show as a source of knowledge. This knowledge might include the curiosity of people to understand the prevailing rituals in the society. For most of the other shows, the research highlights that people look at these shows more as a source of general entertainment than anything else.

Pros and Cons of Creative Labour

Pros and Cons of Creative Labour Assignment question: Critically evaluate the concept of creative labour. Is it good or bad for workers and society? For the last 20-30 years the information, communication technology, media and services and industries have become the most essential and demanded things in the modern world. They bring people new opportunities, which can simplify people’s needs and wants. I believe this Charles Landry claimed : suggests â€Å"that the developments made are essentially cultural as they reflect the way people perceive their problems and opportunities† (Charles Landry). The important point here is that these technologies and services designed and developed by humanity, are what we now call the ‘creative labour’ market. â€Å"Creativity is essential to the way we live and work today, and in many senses always has been† (Florida, 2002 p. 21). The purpose of this essay is to critically evaluate the concept of creative labour in order to answer the question: â€Å"Is it good or bad for workers and society in our world†. Debate continues as to what creativity is exactly, what it means to be creative and how this fits into society and the wider economic environment. John Hawkins (2002) claimed that the best way to define creativity as ‘having a new idea’; he argued that our society needs information. He also advocated that we need to be active, clever, and persistent in challenging this information. In his words, â€Å"there is a need to be original, sceptical, argumentative, often bloody-minded and occasionally downright negative – all these things make us creative. However, it leads us to the question: â€Å"where does this creativity take place?† It is possible to say that creativity is produced by creative industries and it would be the right answer, but in our society, creativity can take place anywhere†. As Hawkins (2002) said, â€Å"creativity is where the brain works in the determining motive†. The psychologist Dean Keith Simonton argued that creativity is favoured by an intellect that has been enriched with diverse experiences and perspectives. Creativity is associated with a mind that exhibits a variety of interests and knowledge (Florida, 2002 p. 33). Peter Drucker said that â€Å"knowledge† and â€Å"information† are the tools and materials of creativity (Florida, 2002 p.44). Because of the ideological freight of its specific features, creative work heightens and denaturalises normal principles of work. In creative work’s marginal context, normal principles of work seem to contradict broader social values. (Theorising Cultural Work, 2013 p.74) To conclude this point, creativity is where thoughts are not ordinary, aesthetic, individual, smart and clever. A creative person innovates, produces, provides and develops new ideas and concepts. Creativity covers social, cultural and economic areas. The creative-labour market is crucial for workers. A creative worker is someone that communicates with society. The creative worker innovates, creates and develops for people; they focus on production. Raymond Williams claimed that creative workers are different from other workers, â€Å"The creative worker makes the communication of experience their central work in life – the artist’s work is the actual work of transmission and uses learned skills to transmit that experience†. â€Å"Creativity involves distinct kinds of thinking and habits that must be cultivated both in the individual and in the surrounding society† (Florida, 2002 p.21). Creative industry workers are organised and mobilised so time constraints such as normal office hours and workspaces are not set in stone. Creative workers are very influential, they form the core of the economy: science, engineering, architecture and design, education, arts, music and entertainment – even finance , law and healthcare. The creative class generates wealth and happiness – local government should develop policies to cultivate them (Florida, 2002). The creative process is social, not just individual, and thus forms of organisation are necessary (Florida, 2002). Creative work is a cooperative and independent model of production. Creative labour is power to people, where a person can take control over things they are going to create and choose how they relate to the world around them. Creativity breeds freedom, autonomy and choice, aspects which make the employee feel empowered, comfortable and in control. Free agents, so the argument goes, are able to break free from the stranglehold of large organisations and take control of their lives. (Florida, 2002 p.28). Another huge benefit for creative workers are good working condition, you can work not only at an office, but you could be in a film or radio studio, atelier, at home or even travelling across the world. Being creative is in itself a challenge, dependent upon many factors including interest and involvement from society. One example of the challenges could be an interview taken from Creative Labour. Media work in three cultural industries, told by faced is below – a documentary producer, Malcolm who shares his experience of working in the creative industries: â€Å"I have had an amazing life. I have watched democracy come to Argentina, witnessed the most violent riots they had in country for 50 years. I was there when the gate of Gaza were opened. I’ve been attacked by the KGB. I’ve filmed with the Contras in Nicaragua, all kinds of places and amazing experiences from plane[WU1] crashes to sharing terrible tragic moments to moments of great elation. I have seen so much of the world and I have been paid to do that. So it has been a very intense life with great experiences and I am glad I had it. (Interview 37 p. 128 â€Å"Creative Labour. Media work in three cultural industries) The Malcolm interview explains that the experience and skills the workers earn in creative labour area cannot be found or reproduced, or recreated in other areas, but moments in history can be captured by individuals and reflected back to a wider audience. This not only provides opportunities to be a witness of history in the making but also be part of this history. To conclude, the issue of creative work is complex and contradictory – a mixture of autonomy, glamour and exploitation, inequality and precarious conditions. Media companies operating in fields as diverse and interconnected as public relations, marketing, advertising[WU2] and journalism have traditionally been considered cultural industries, representing those companies and professions primarily responsible for the industrial production and circulation of culture. (Hesmondhalgh, 2002 p. 163) In the ongoing academic debate on the definition of culture (or cultural) industries, media production tends to be emphasised as particular to the field of action of the companies and corporations involved. In recent years, policy makers, industry observers and scholars alike have reconceptualised media work as taking place within a broader context of creative industries. The term was introduced by the UK government Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) in 1998, defining creative industries as: those industries which have their origin in individual creativity, skill and talent and which have a potential for wealth and job creation through the generation and exploitation pf intellectual property. This includes advertising, architecture, the art and antiques market, crafts, design, designer fashion, film and video, interactive leisure software and computer games, television and radio. Creativity also has some negative effects on workers. The ‘creative process’ can take a long time and there is a high level of risk. In recent times, technological advances have increased so rapidly, that adopting and working with the new technologies can make workers feel uncomfortable and left behind somewhat. With the economy as it is currently, and such high levels of unemployment, workers in the creative industries can struggle to maintain their career progress. This has led to a high level of competition and creates high levels of stress, but ultimately results in progress. David Hesmondhaulgh, a prominent academic and a director of Media Industries Research Centre stated in his book that ‘creative labour and creativity is the big aspect for media workers[WU3]’(Hesmondhalgh 2002 p.168). In his opinion professional identity of creative industries involves four constituent elements: content, connectivity, creativity and commerce (Ibid) Professionals in media industries in particular and creative industries more generally produce content, yes. However, they also invest in platforms for connectivity – where fans and audiences provide free labour. Media work involves the ‘creation’ with the industries, yes, but tends to take place within a distinctly commercial context. Within a context of destabilising legacy industries and dissolving boundaries between media consumption and production, the media worker may feel isolated. However, this isolation can give some creative control to the media professional as well. Arthur (1994) suggests that â€Å"creating a career without boundaries could be the best, if not only, way to survive in the current work environment†. To some extent, individuals could be seen as taking control of their career paths, resulting in a new type of self-directed job security. It could also be said that those who are willing to train themselves, become more[WU4] attractive to management and employers. By being proficient in various methods of media production, workers can use multiple creative talents to their advantage – and are increasingly expected to be doing so. In the everyday construction of a sense of self for cultural workers – that leads to a more or less coherent (or at least imagined) professional identity – it is the interplay between the values of providing[WU5] content, organising connectivity, managing creative freedom and being commercially successful (which is not necessarily an expression in monetary terms) that structures one’s negotiations. There is an argument to say that working in the creative industries would seem to allow the individual to identify themselves as a single producer of content and as part of a larger whole, whereas the intermediate level of the company or organisation seems to disappear. (David Hesmondhalgh, 2002) Society massively benefits from creative and cultural labour. Creative workers are constantly thinking about what audiences’ think, what they want and work on ways of delivering this. There is huge demographic analysis and numerous surveys undertaken in either new creations of technological innovations, the making of new TV shows, art, literature and other various media platforms. Creative workers make products for people and society. As Maurizio Lazzarato[WU6] said: â€Å"The image of society is dominated by knowledge and information work† (Lazzarato, 1996). Creativity and creative labour have a huge effect not only on workers and industries, but also on society and the world. London is a perfect example of a city of huge world status, which is defined and almost created by its cultural identity, practices and the development of its creative industries. Industries present in the capital are internationally oriented and diversified; which in itself cultivates the necessary support for both local and international creative activity. This type of activity makes London a more attractive environment to people that are artistic, thus resulting in the development of the city in economic, social and cultural ways. Charles Landry, (1997) claimed, â€Å"Cultural activities are inextricable to innovation and creativity, and historically this has been the lifeblood of cities as a means of unleashing their capacity to survive and adapt†. The places where the creativity and cultural activities took place in large lead only to development and gr owth of characteristic mentioned above. The cultural and creative industries are part of what is commonly referred to as the ‘service and knowledge economy’. Writers who stress the role of creative (as a source of competitive advantage) point to the injection of ‘creative’ work into all areas of economic life. (Andy Pratt, 2006). Another important point to make here is that creative labour and creative industries create the so-called â€Å"New Economy†. The New Economy, is defined as the transition from ‘heavy industry’ to a new technology based economy. Creative labour is very connected to this concept because the provision of information and communication technologies (ICTs) is central to determining our economy be dynamic rather than just stable. Terry Flew (2001) stated that the core dynamics of this economic system arose out of the fusion of technologies of knowledge generation, information processing, and symbol communication with the processes of globalisation, digitisat ion and networking. He stated that these have led to the rise of the network society as the dominant form of social organisation. The point Terry Flew makes, is that creative industries and labour, whilst providing knowledge, new ideas and innovation of technologies make a huge contribution and are central to the development of our economy, which brings only benefits to our society and world as a whole. In so-called ‘old economy’ markets are stable, in ‘new economy’ markets are dynamic, the scope of completion are less national, more global. Manufacturing used to be at the core of our economy, now everything is centred around services, knowledge and information. The source of value in ‘old economy’ is raw materials or physical capital; you could say that now, more value is placed on human resources and social capital. In business areas, key drivers of growth was capital and labour, now is about innovation, knowledge and networking. The main source of competitive advantage was lowering cost through scale, but now is made by innovation, quality and the depth and breadth of communication. The innovation of new information and communication technologies made by creative labour has changed the tastes of business and economy workers, people started to gain broad skills and adaptability when previously they have basic job-specific skills. Innovation a nd creativity make society think and discover differently in a way that is developing all the time. To conclude, creativity, creative labour and creative industries are great, significant and essential thing in our world. Creative labour creates and innovates things, new technologies, it provides new theories and information, which affects and influences workers, people, and the overall economy. It makes social and cultural life of people, cities and the world more positive and our ways of working smarter. Creative industries is useful for workers, especially media because of its highly popular graduate employment destinations with glamorous and exciting places to work alongside other highly educated, highly skilled workers. Creativity took place in media and communications. These are: advertising, architecture, the art and antiques market, crafts, design, designer fashion, film, interactive leisure software, music, the performing arts, publishing, software, television and radio. (Creative Industries Task Force, 1998) Reference Baker S. and Hesmondhalgh, D. (2011). Creative Labour. Media Work In Three Cultural Industries. Routledge Blair, H. (2001). ‘â€Å"You’re Only as Good as Your Last Job†: the Labour Process and Labour Market in the British Film Industry.’ Work, Employment and Society. 15(1): 149-169. Florida, R. (2004). The Rise of the Creative Class: And how it’s Transforming Work, Leisure, Community and Everyday Life. London: Basic Books. Flew, T. (2012). The Creative Industries: Culture and Policy. London: Sage Gill, R. and Pratt, A. (2008). ‘In the social factory? Immaterial labour, precariousness and cultural work’. Theory, Culture and Society. 25(1): 2-30 Hartley, J. (2005). Creative Industries. Blackwell. Oxford Hesmondhalgh, D. (2007). The Cultural Industries, 2nd Edition. London: Sage [WU1]Done paraphrasing [WU2]Done paraphrasing [WU3]Check para [WU4]Done in next page [WU5]Working on it [WU6]Can’t find a particular sentence in the book

Fighting and School Violence Should Not Be Tolerated :: School Violence Essays

When you are a middle or high school public school teacher, events happen instantaneously, and you have to be equal to the task of confronting the challenge of an unexpected situation face to face. You never know when or where school violence will erupt; a teacher only knows that it inevitably will. Teachers not only must be wary of being inadvertently injured by enraged â€Å"students† fighting in the hallway or the cafeteria, a peer might even wind-up becoming a threat to one’s physical safety. I recall one particular eighth grade Washington trip. As usual, I was chaperoning one hundred twenty eighth graders on the Hammonton Middle School’s annual class DC trip. We had just arrived back at the Mt. Vernon Motel after visiting the Jefferson Memorial. The nine chaperones were fatigued, but the â€Å"students† were still rambunctious. Since the â€Å"children† had been well behaved, the school rewarded them with a pizza party in the motel’s Madison Room. Five of the Hammonton’ chaperones escorted the first half of â€Å"students† from the party back to their rooms, which were located in a remote section of the expansive motel. The other half of the entourage was later escorted to their quarters by three other chaperones and myself. Another male teacher and I made sure all of our â€Å"students† had evacuated the Madison Room, and we brought up the rear of the second batch of sixty kids. Suddenly, a male chaperone from a Catholic high school class that had also been staying at the Tyson’s Corner motel came running over to us, screaming the larynx out of his throat. â€Å"Are you in charge of those nasty kids on the other side of the building?† he hollered. â€Å"Yes we are,† I answered. â€Å"There are five of our chaperones already over there.† â€Å"Well, your kids are banging their fists on the walls and setting a bad example for my kids!† he angrily shouted with a crimson face. â€Å"You’d better get over there quick and settle them down or I’m gonna’ call the cops!† â€Å"Look,† I calmly replied, â€Å"I’ve been assigned to this group of sixty students. Our school has five very capable chaperones already over there to deal with that problem.† Apparently, the livid fellow did not relish my explanation. He took a huge swing at my jaw. I ducked down just in the nick of time. His blow glanced off the top of my head and knocked my baseball cap off.

Anna Kingsley Essay -- essays research papers fc

Anna Kingsley, a woman of strength and determination overcame many odds not expected of an African American slave. She married a slave owner, owned land, and was once a slave herself. She was well known in a free black community she helped establish. Anna Madgigine Jai Kingsley was the wife of plantation owner Zephaniah Kingsley. She was the daughter of a man of high status. Her father’s sides were descendants of the well know Njaajan Njaay, the creators of the Jolof Empire. Her father was killed in April 1806, the day she was captured. The tyeddo warriors invaded her village and collected all the villagers to be sold as slaves. That day she not only lost her freedom and her home, but also her dignity and her youth (Harvey, 41). Anna and the others were lead to a ship and they sailed from Senegal to Havana, Cuba to be sold as slaves. The Havana Market was the center of commerce of Spain’s colonies in America (Schafer, 23). Anna arrived in Florida in 1806. She was thirteen years old. Zephaniah Kinglsey Jr was a citizen of Spanish East Florida. He was born in England, but raised in Charleston, South Carolina. His father, a merchant, moved his family to Nova Scotia because he was banished from South Carolina for giving support to King George III at time of the American Revolution. In 1808, Kinglsey moved to Florida, where he pledged his fidelity to Spain and imported slaves on his plantation (Schafer, 21). Once purchased, Kingsley boarded Anna on the ship Esther and they sailed to Laurel Grove Plantation north and on the west of the St. Johns River. This would be her new home. She did not stay in the slave quarters, but she did stay in his two-story home. He thought of her as his wife and she was carrying his child. A few months before Anna gave birth; she became manager of Kingsley’s household located at Laurel Grove. Most of the slave’s came from East and West Africa. The plantation consisted of corn, cotton, mandarin oranges, sugarcane, potatoes and beans. According to Kinglsey â€Å"color ought not be the badge of degrading,† only the distinction should be between slaves and free, not between white and colored (Schafer, 32). Anna and Zephaniah were open about their relationship. She was the head wife or woman in a polygamous household. One March 4, 1811 after five years of enslavement, Anna was emancipated by her husband. She was now a free woman again. In 181... ...she once again had to leave the home she created because Florida seceded the union. The Civil War soon followed. After the Civil War, Anna never had the wealth and power that she once had. Her personal wealth was acquired through ownership of her slaves. There is no true documentation as to when Anna died, but it is thought to be between 1860 and 1870. Anna Madgigine Jai Kingsley was buried in a peaceful grove off the St. Johns River in Florida. She is surrounded by many family members including her daughters. She rests peacefully in an unmarked grave sheltered from the violence that followed her through a life marked by danger, courage, tenacious defense of family, flight, and triumphant return (Schafer, 121). She was a remarkable and determined black woman who achieved many accomplishments that are extraordinary. She became a well known figure in a free black community. Works Cited Harvey, Karen. Daring daughters: St. Augustine’s feisty females. Virginia Beach, VA, 2002 Schafer, Daniel. Anna Madgigine Jai Kingsley. Florida, 2003 Tilford, Kathy, Anna Kingsley: A free woman.† OAH Magazine of history 12, 1997 http://www.oah.org/pubs/magazone/women/tilford.htm

Night World : Spellbinder Chapter 2

The crowd erupted in panic. Everything was happening at once; Thea couldn't sort out the different impressions. Half the people in front of her were running. The other half were yelling. â€Å"Call nine-one-one-â€Å" â€Å"It got Eric-â€Å" â€Å"I told you to kill it!† The red-headed boy was darting forward with his stick. Other kids were rushing around, looking for rocks. The group had become a mob. The snake was rattling wildly, a terrifying sizzling sound. It was in a frenzy, ready to strike again at any moment-and there was nothing Thea could do. â€Å"Hey!† The voice startled her. It came from Eric, the boy who'd been bitten. â€Å"Calm down, you guys. Josh, give me that.† He was talking to the redhead with the forked branch. â€Å"It didn't bite me. It just struck.† Thea stared at him. Was this guy crazy? But people were listening to him. A girl in baggy shorts and a midriff top stopped hefting her rock. â€Å"Just let me get hold of it†¦ then I can take it out into the brush where it won't hurt anybody.† Definitely crazy. He was talking in such a matter-of-fact, reasonable way-and he was going to try to pin the snake down with that stick. Somebody had to act fast. A flash of ruby-color caught Thea's eye. Blaise was in the crowd, watching with pursed lips. Thea made her decision. She dove for the snake. It was watching the stick. Thea grabbed for its mind before grabbing its body-which kept it immobilized for the instant she needed to seize it just below the head. She hung on while its jaws gaped and its body lashed. â€Å"Grab the tail and we'll get it out of here,† she said breathlessly to Eric the crazy guy. Eric was staring at her grip on the snake, dumbfounded. â€Å"For God's sake, don't let go. It can twist in a second†¦.† â€Å"I know. Grab it!† He grabbed it. Most of the crowd scattered as Thea wheeled around with the snake's head held tightly at arm's length. Blaise didn't run, she just looked at the snake as if it smelled bad. â€Å"I need this,† Thea whispered hastily as she passed her cousin. She snatched at Blaise's necklace with her free hand. The fragile gold chain broke and Thea's fingers closed around a stone. Then she was heading out into the scrub brush, the weight of the snake dragging on her arm. She walked fast, because Eric didn't have much time. The grounds behind the school sloped up and then downward, getting wilder and more gray-brown. When the buildings were out of sight, Thea stopped. â€Å"This is a good place,† Eric said. His voice was strained. Thea glanced back and saw that he looked pale. Brave and very, very crazy, she thought. â€Å"Okay, we let go on three.† She jerked her head. â€Å"Throw it that way and back up fast.† He nodded and counted with her. â€Å"One†¦ two†¦ three.† Giving it a slight swing, they both let go. The snake flew in a graceful arc and landed near a clump of purple sage. It wriggled immediately into the brush without showing the slightest hint of gratitude. Thea felt its cool, scaly mind recede as it thought, That smell†¦ that shade†¦ safety. She let out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. Behind her, she heard Eric sit down abruptly. â€Å"Well, that's that.† His own breathing was fast and irregular. â€Å"Now could I ask you a favor?† He was sitting with his long legs straight out, his skin even paler than before. Perspiration beaded on his upper lip. â€Å"You know, I'm not really sure it didn't bite me,† he said. Thea knew-and knew Eric knew-that it had. Rattlers did sometimes strike without biting, and did sometimes bite without injecting venom. But not this time. What she couldn't believe was that any human would care enough about a snake to let a bite go untreated. â€Å"Let me see your leg,† she said. â€Å"Actually, I think maybe you'd better just call the paramedics.† â€Å"Please let me see.† She kept her voice gentle, kneeling in front of him, reaching slowly. The way she'd approach a scared animal. He held still, letting her roll up his jeans leg. There it was, the little double wound in the tanned skin. Not much blood. But surrounded by swelling already. Even if she ran back to the school, even if the paramedics broke every speed law, it wouldn't be fast enough. Sure, they'd save his life, but his leg would swell up like a sausage and turn purple and he'd have days of unbelievable pain. Except that Thea had in her hand an Isis bloodstone. A deep red carnelian engraved with a scarab, symbol of the Egyptian Queen goddess, Isis. The ancient Egyptians had put the stones at the feet of mummies; Blaise used it to heighten passion. But it was also the most powerful purifier of the blood in existence. Eric groaned suddenly. His arm was over his eyes, and Thea knew what he must be feeling. Weakness, nausea, disorientation. She felt sorry for him, but his confusion would actually work to her advantage. She pressed her hand to the wounds, the carnelian hidden between her tightly closed fingers. Then she started to hum under her breath, visualizing what she wanted to happen. The thing about gems was that they didn't work on their own. They were just a means of raising psychic power, focusing it, and directing it to a certain purpose. Find the poison, surround it, dispel it. Purify and eliminate. Then encourage the body's natural defenses. Finally, soothe away the swelling and redness, sending the blood back where it belonged. As she knelt there, feeling the sun on the back of her head, she suddenly realized that she'd never done this before. She'd healed animals-puppies with toad poisoning and cats with spider bites-but never a person. Funny how she'd known instinctively that she could do it. She'd almost felt that she had to do it. She sat back on her heels, pocketing the bloodstone. â€Å"How are you feeling?† â€Å"Huh?† He took his arm away from his eyes. â€Å"Sorry-I think I sort of blanked out there for a minute.† Good, Thea thought. â€Å"But how do you feel now?† He looked at her as if he were struggling under pressure to be gentle. He was going to explain to her that people who got bitten by rattlesnakes felt sick. But then his expression changed. â€Å"I feel†¦ it's weird†¦ I think maybe it's gone numb.† He peered doubtfully at his calf. â€Å"No, you were just lucky. You didn't get bitten.† â€Å"What?† He scrambled to roll his jeans leg up higher. Then he just stared. The flesh was smooth and unmarked, with just the slightest trace ot redness left. â€Å"I was sure†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He lifted his eyes to hers. It was the first time Thea had really gotten a chance to look at him. He was a nice-looking guy, lean and sandy-haired and sweet-faced. Long legs. And those eyes†¦ deep green with gray flecks. Just now they were both intense and bewildered, like those of a startled kid. â€Å"How'd you do that?† he said. Thea was shocked speechless. He wasn't supposed to respond like this. What was wrong with him? When she could talk again, she said, â€Å"I didn't do anything.† â€Å"Yes, you did,† he said, and now his eyes were clear and direct, full of an odd conviction. Suddenly his expression changed to something like wonder. â€Å"You†¦ there's something so different about you.† He leaned forward slowly, as if entranced. And then†¦ Thea experienced an odd duality. She was used to seeing herself through the eyes of animals: a big, hairless creature in false skins. But now she saw herself as Eric saw her. A kneeling girl with yellow hair falling loose over her shoulders and soft brown eyes. A face that was too gentle, with a very worried expression. â€Å"You're†¦ beautiful,† Eric said, still wondering. â€Å"I've never seen anybody†¦ but it's like there's a mist all around you. You're so mysterious†¦.† A huge quivering stillness seemed to hang over the desert. Thea's heart was beating so hard that it shook her body. What was happening? â€Å"It's like you're part of everything out here,† he said in that wise, childlike voice. â€Å"You belong to it. And there's so much peace†¦.† â€Å"No,† Thea said. There was no peace at all in her. She was terrified. She didn't know what was going on, but she knew she had to get away. â€Å"Don't go,† he said, when she shifted. He had the stricken expression of a heartbroken puppy. And then†¦ he reached for her. Not roughly. His fingers didn't close on her wrist. They just brushed the back of her hand, sliding away when she jerked. But it didn't matter. That light touch had raised all the hairs on Thea's forearm. And when she looked back into the gray-flecked green eyes, she knew he'd felt it, too. A sort of piercing sweetness, a dizzying exhilaration. And-a connection. As if something deeper than words was being communicated. I know you. I see what you see†¦. Almost without knowing what she was doing, Thea raised her hand. Fingertips slightly outspread, as if she were going to touch a mirror or a ghost. He brought his hand up, too. They were staring at each other. And then, just before then- fingers made contact, Thea felt a jolt of panic like ice water. What was she doing? Had she lost her mind? Suddenly everything was clear-too clear. Her future stretched out before her, every detail sharp. Death for breaking Night World law. Herself centered in the Inner Circle, trying to explain that she hadn't meant to betray their secrets, that she hadn't meant to†¦ to get close to a human. That it was all a mistake, just a moment of stupidity because she'd wanted to heal him. And them bringing the Cup of Death anyway. The vision was so clear it seemed like a prophecy. Thea jumped up as if the ground had lurched underneath her, and she did the only thing she could think of to do. She said scathingly, â€Å"Are you nuts? Or is your brain just overheated or something?† He got the stricken look again. He's a human. One of them, Thea reminded herself. She put even more scorn in her voice. â€Å"I'm part of everything; I did something to your leg†¦ yeah, sure. I bet you believe in Santa Claus, too.† Now he looked shocked-and uncertain. Thea went for the coup de gras. â€Å"Or were you just trying to put the moves on me?† â€Å"Huh? No,† he said. He blinked and looked around. The desert was the ordinary desert, gray-green and parched and flat. Then he looked at his leg. He blinked again, as if getting a fresh grip on reality. â€Å"I†¦ look, I'm sorry if I upset you. I don't know what's wrong with me.† Suddenly he gave a sheepish smile. â€Å"Maybe I'm kind of weird from being scared. I guess I'm not as brave as I thought.† Relief trickled through Thea. He was buying it. Thank Isis that humans were stupider than chickens. â€Å"And I wasn't trying to move in on you. I just-† He broke off. â€Å"You know, I don't even know your name.† â€Å"Thea Harman.† â€Å"I'm Eric Ross. You're new here, aren't you?† â€Å"Yes.† Stop talking and go, she ordered herself. â€Å"If I can show you around or anything†¦ I mean, I would like to see you again†¦.† â€Å"No,† Thea said flatly. She would have liked to have kept it to that monosyllable, but she wanted to crush this new idea of his completely. â€Å"I don't want to see you,† she said, too rattled to think of any more subtle way to put it. And then she turned and walked away. What else was there to do? She certainly couldn't talk to him anymore. Even if she would always wonder why he'd been crazy enough to care about the snake, she couldn't ask. From now on she had to stay as far away from him as possible. She hurried back to the school-and realized immediately that she was late. The parking lot was quiet. Nobody was walking outside the adobe buildings. On my first day, too, Thea thought. Her backpack was on the ground where she'd dropped it, a notebook lying beside it on the asphalt. She grabbed them both and all but ran to the office. It was only in physics class, after she'd handed her admission slip to the teacher and walked past rows of curious eyes to an empty seat in the back, that she realized the notebook wasn't hers. It fell open to a page that had Introduction to Flat-worms scribbled in sloping, spiky blue ink. Below were some pictures labeled Class Turbellaria and Class Trematoda. The worms were beautifully drawn, with their nervous systems and reproductive organs shaded in different colors of highlighter, but the artist had also given them big goofy smiling faces. Grotesque but lovable in a cross-eyed way. Thea turned the page and saw another drawing, the Life Cycle of the Pork Tapeworm. Yum. She leafed back to the beginning of the notebook. Eric Ross, Honors Zoology I. She shut the book. Now how was she going to get it back to him? Part of her mind worried about this through physics and her next class, computer applications. Part of it did what it always did at a new school, or any new gathering of humans: it watched and cataloged, keeping alert for danger, figuring out how to fit in. And part of it simply said, I didn't know they had a zoology class here. The one question she didn't want to ask herself was what had happened out there in the desert? Whenever the thought came up, she pushed it away brusquely. It must have had something to do with her senses being too open after merging with the snake. Anyway, it hadn't meant anything. It had been a weird one-time fluke. In the main hallway at break, Blaise came rushing up, quick as a lioness despite the high heels. â€Å"How's it going?† Thea said, as Blaise drew her into a temporarily deserted classroom. Blaise just held out her hand. Thea fished in her pocket for the carnelian. â€Å"You ruined the chain, you know,† Blaise said as she shook back midnight hair and examined the stone for damage. â€Å"And it was one I designed.† â€Å"Sorry. I was in a hurry.† â€Å"Yes, and why? What did you want with it?† Blaise didn't wait for a response. â€Å"You healed that boy, didn't you? I knew he got bitten. But he was human.† â€Å"Reverence for life, remember?† Thea said. † ‘An ye harm none, do as you will.† She didn't say it with much conviction. â€Å"That doesn't mean humans. And what did he think?† â€Å"Nothing. He didn't know I was healing him; he didn't even realize he got bitten.† It wasn't exactly a lie. Blaise looked at her with smoky, suspicious gray eyes. Then she glanced heavenward and shook her head. â€Å"Now if you'd been using it to heat his blood, I'd understand. But maybe you were doing a little of that, too†¦.† â€Å"No, I was not,† Thea said. And despite the warmth that rose in her cheeks her voice was cold and sharp. The horror of that death vision was still with her. â€Å"In fact, I don't ever want to see him again,† she went on jaggedly, â€Å"and I told him so, but I've got his stupid notebook, and I don't know what to do with it.† She waved the notebook in Blaise's face. â€Å"Oh.† Blaise considered, head on one side. â€Å"Well†¦ I'll take it to him for you. I'll track him down somehow.† â€Å"Would you?† Thea was startled. â€Å"That's really nice.† â€Å"Yes, it is,† Blaise said. She took the notebook, handling it carefully, as if her nails were wet. â€Å"Okay, well, I'd better get to my next class. Algebra.† She made a face. † ‘Bye now.† Suspicion struck as Thea watched her go. Blaise wasn't usually so accommodating. And that † ‘bye now†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ too sweet. She was up to something. Thea followed the ruby of Blaise's shirt as Blaise went back into the main hallway, then turned without hesitation into a locker-lined corridor. There, searching through one of the lockers, was a lean figure with long legs and sandy hair. Fastest tracking I've ever seen, Thea thought sourly. She peered around the Mediterranean-blue door of a broken locker. Blaise walked up behind Eric very slowly, hips swaying. She put a hand on his back. Eric jumped slightly, then turned around. Blaise just stood there. It was all she needed to do. Blaise reeled guys in just by being. It was the glorious dark hair, the smoldering gray eyes†¦ plus a figure that could stop traffic on the freeway. Curves galore, and clothes that emphasized every one. On another girl it might have been too much, but on Blaise it was just breathtaking. Guys who thought they liked the waif look dropped everything to follow her just as fast as guys who thought they liked blonds. Eric blinked at her, looking hazy already. He didn't seem to know what to say. That wasn't unusual. Guys always got tongue-tied around Blaise. â€Å"I'm Blaise Harman.† The voice was low and liquid. â€Å"And you're†¦ Eric?† Eric nodded, still blinking. Yes, he's dazed all right, Thea thought. The jerk. She was surprised at her own vehemence. â€Å"Good, because I wouldn't want to give this to the wrong person.† Blaise produced the notebook from behind her back like a magician. â€Å"Oh-where'd you get that?† Eric looked relieved and grateful. â€Å"I've been looking everywhere.† â€Å"My cousin gave it to me,† Blaise said carelessly. She held onto the notebook as he tried to take it, and their fingers touched. â€Å"Wait. You owe me something for bringing it back, don't you?† Her voice was a purr. And now Thea knew, without a doubt, what was going to happen. Eric was doomed.