European Airlines 1993-1997 Essay

⇠¨ Back ground and PEST analysis For many years, European Airlines are considered to be feed by the government. Before 1990s, the introduction of deregulation, this market was highly controlled by the government. Automatically, the result is high price as well as poor management and service. Consumers, of course, complained about the bad perform of them. Like most of the state-owned businesses, although some of the airlines intended to lower their price by cost cutting, redundancies and reorganization because of the increasing competition pressure, most of them failed because of the government interfere and strong labor reaction. Back in 1978, Airline deregulation first introduced to Americans. The new act allowed new airlines to come, permitted them to choose lines individually and release the pricing power. Till 1993, the price had decreased about 20%. A highly profitable service, transcontinental long haul flying, had exceeded 35% of the total. There in another one thing needs to mention: U.S. applied aggressive strategy, which is considered illegal in Europe. Refer to the fifteen years innovations in U.S, European politics finally made up their minds to repeal their restrictions in 1993. It is predicted that the European airlines environment might be completely open up in 1997 hopefully. In other words, there is five years for domestic airlines to adjust their strategies. Poter’s 5-force model âž ¢ The extent of competitive rivalry/industry competitors. Considering European market as a whole, the threat comes from airlines of other continents. This refers to those except cross-Europe and domestic routes. If we choose one airline specifically, for example Lufthansa airlines, its competitors most are inside the Europe. (E.g. British Airways, Deutsche BA, Air France, Alitalia etc. Further more, it was also threaten by some new entrants âž ¢ The threat of potential new entrants This involves airlines that ready to enter during this period. Generally speaking, these new entrants are relatively small size but more flexible. It does not have much burden of either the government or labor responds. As a result, they usually have low-cost so that the price might be even half less than the original ones. As a small size of the firm, their service is usually short haul and has constant demand of customers. âž ¢ The bargaining power of buyers This refers to organization/individual who buys the service. They are price/service sensitive. âž ¢ The bargaining power of suppliers Before deregulation the suppliers are disjointed with the airlines. Being centrally controlled by the government, either suppliers or airlines cannot fit efficiently and effectively. However, both sides might be automatically matched after they are release from the control. This will be mentioned later. âž ¢ The threat of substitutes Here means some other transport tools that cause airlines loss their consumers. ⇠¨ Analysis of Strategy Look back to the U.S. strategies. The whole model was set up based on a mass computing network, complex operating technique and pricing system, large investment and continuously attention to cost cutting. However, although this serious of activities are effective and improve the productivity and investment ability, it does not exceed the increasing marketing pressure. Potentially, these tactics might fit for specific European airlines, but not all of them. Except the political factors as I have mentioned before, another problem is that most of the companies operate separately form check-in to maintaining the motor. What they really need is set up a new competitive strategy in order to reorganize the business structure with their core ability.

Designing lesson tasks and materials

TASKS AND MATERIALS DESIGNED Willis ( 1996 ) has proposed a elaborate model for forming lessons which involves the phases of pre-task, undertaking and linguistic communication focal point. In the first phase, the instructor introduces the subject and pupils are involved in a communicative undertaking that will assist them remember words and phrases and brainstorm thoughts that might be utile in executing the chief undertaking. What follows is what Willis calls the ‘task cycle’ in which scholars perform the existent undertaking, in braces or groups. Then, they prepare a study and show their findings to the category. As Manolopoulou-Sergi references, â€Å"after that is their attending directed towards specific characteristics of linguistic communication signifier† ( Manolopoulou-Sergi et al. , 2004:171 ) . In add-on, as Carless observesâ€Å"the post-task stage can besides lend to reminding students†¦that while the undertaking may hold been gratifying, there were serious larning purposes underpinning it†( Carless, 2007:604 ) . The three adapted undertakings follow the aforesaid undertaking construction proposed by Willis. Undertaking 1 ( see Appendix II ) focuses on developing reading, listening, speech production and composing accomplishments utilizing communicative teaching method in a series of undertakings taking to steer pupils in developing the accomplishments necessary to form an original travel path. The subject is derived from the text edition ‘On Screen’ but everything else has been changed. More specifically, the pre-task or ‘warm-up’ activity attempts to trip content scheme, pulling on students’ bing cognition ( see Appendix II ) . The existent undertaking is a saber saw reading undertaking which serves both as an reliable input and it is besides an illustration of the mark undertaking pupils are so asked to make. In finishing the mark undertaking, pupils need to entree Google maps and follow the finish described in the reading text. Therefore, scholars will go more familiar with some tourer sites in Athens, every bit good as let the usage of engineering in a purposeful manner as they may be asked to make in existent life. Furthermore, pupils in groups of 2 or 3 are asked to develop a twenty-four hours path in their country for a friend abroad taking into consideration his/her likes and disfavors ( see Appendix II ) . Giving pupils the chance to seek on a different country will ask ‘coaction and interaction’in order to successfully finish the undertaking ( information spread ) . In add-on, though this undertaking pupils will develop travel related vocabulary. Students are so asked to show their paths in forepart of the category which will actuate them to make well-designed and interesting paths. Finally, in the post-phase, the instructor leads a treatment on the completed undertaking ( the presentation ) which will unite a linguistic communication focal point every bit good as acknowledging of import information from the publi shed article that should hold been included in the students’ presentation. What follows is a repeat of the schemes of a well-designed presentation/speech ( mentioning to a old unit ) and an existent presentation of the published article, therefore, giving scholars the chance to pattern the process and linguistic communication of a presentation one time more. Traveling on to Task 2, as a pre-task pupils are asked to bring forth a text ( see Appendix II ) through quickwriting. The undertaking is contextualized by supplying a intent and audience. Students are so encouraged to compare their quickwritings with another schoolmate and make up one's mind on a intent for composing. Therefore, pupils are asked to reflect on their Hagiographas and assist them develop schemes required in cognition transforming. In the task-cycle pupils are foremost introduced to a gap-filling activity which may non be an open-ended, procedure oriented activity or may non supply for specific written results, but will prosecute scholars in originative and synergistic ( with the speech production activity at the terminal ) state of affairss bring forthing thoughts for the existent authorship and giving scholars a feeling of success. Then, what follows is a 2nd bill of exchange and a alteration of it where pupils have the opportunity to measure their equals at a non-fin al phase with the aid of specific rating points. Through this, pupils are encouraged to portion ( verbal studies ) among themselves and assist them understand what goes in the writer’s and reader’s head and what schemes to utilize in order to acquire intending through a text ( metacognitive scheme ) . Furthermore, the following and concluding phase involves linguistic communication consciousness exercisings which are designed with the lone intent to bring forth more thoughts before pupils start composing their concluding bill of exchanges ( see Appendix II ) . Overall, this undertaking and the three phase intervention of composing a text is to let pupils to command, modify and farther develop their merchandise. Geting started can be hard and therefore, in the 3rd undertaking the instructor foremost introduces the subject and encourages scholars to brainstorm thoughts with the usage of wordlists ( see Appendix II ) . Then, in the task-cycle pupils are divided into groups sharing thoughts on a problem-solving activity where they have to come up with a text utilizing specific words and phrases given by the instructor. This collaborative authorship is particularly valuable as it involves other accomplishments as good ( e.g. talking ) . In add-on, this problem-solving activity will advance dialogue of significance andâ€Å"push scholars to prosecute in checking and clear uping as they go along†( Skehan, 2002:291 ) . Once each group has completed the text, they will be encouraged to show it in category and the remainder of the pupils to notice on it, therefore paying attending on signifier by holding the chance to ‘become teachers’ . Finally, in the last phase there is a liste ning activity in which pupils are asked to place specific words from the wordlist and so make full in the spreads of the paragraphs ( see Appendix II ) . The post-task stage is a opportunity to concentrate on linguistic communication and as Carless saysâ€Å"it is important to take the kids see the connexion between the undertaking they have merely done and some linguistic communication work†( Carless, 2007:601 ) . Scaling AND SEQUENCING CRITERIA Rating and sequencing of undertakings is so a major challenge for instructors and task-based course of study interior decorators. Therefore, a figure of theoretical accounts and standards for rating and sequencing undertakings have been developed. Two of the most popular models for the sequencing of undertakings are Skehan’s ( 1996 ) and Robinson’s ( 2001 ) . Although the procedure of rating and sequencing undertakings seems arbitrary and harmonizing to teachers’ judgement, I have chosen Robinson’s model to place ‘task complexity’ and later usage for the scaling of my undertakings. The ground for taking Robinson is as Steenkamp et Al. specifies â€Å"Robinson conducted research to find the function of undertaking sequencing in learners’ production† ( Steenkamp et al. , 2011:13 ) and I am covering with a productive country, that of authorship. Robinson distinguishes three factors that influence the complexness of a undertaking viz. â€Å"cognitively defined undertaking complexness, scholars perceptual experience of undertaking trouble and the synergistic conditions under which undertakings are performed† ( Robinson, 2001b:27 ) . Task trouble and undertaking conditions are factors that might act upon methodological analysis and the determinations instructors will be asked to do for successful undertaking completion, but as they deal largely with learners’ affectional sensitivity and ability factors they can non be manipulated beforehand. In contrast, as Robinson states â€Å"undertaking complexness is the exclusive footing of pedagogic undertaking sequence† ( Robinson, 2007 in Steenkamp et al. , 2011:18 ) , and it has to make with the undertaking itself. Therefore, it can be manipulated and predicted in progress. Furthermore, Robinson claims that â€Å"the greater the cognitive demands of a undertaking , the more they engage cognitive resources ( attending and memory ) an so are likely to concentrate attending on input and end product which will hold public presentation effects† ( Manolopoulou-Sergi et al. , 2004:176-177 ) . Along these lines, I focused on the factors that influence cognitive complexness such as  ± individual undertaking,  ± prior cognition,  ± planning clip,  ± there and now,  ± concluding and more ( see Appendix III ) . In peculiar, the undertakings presented in the old subdivision are sequenced this manner chiefly because I want scholars to set about activities which become progressively demanding, i.e. traveling from comprehension-based activities ( saber saw reading/ Task 1/ see Appendix II ) to controlled production activities and exercisings ( pros and cons of nomadic phones/ Task 2/ see Appendix II ) and eventually to activities affecting reliable communicating and interaction ( carnival/ Task 3/ see Appendix II ) . Additionally, undertakings with closed results ( Task 1 ) should be presented before more open-ended undertakings ( Task 3 ) as they will be easier to carry through and participants can direct their effects more purposefully as there is merely one correct re ply ( see Appendix IV B ) . Furthermore, undertakings affecting duologues should continue those affecting soliloquies every bit good as describing speeches/ presentations that might be extremely complex for scholars and need truth and eloquence to be accomplished. All three undertakings include consciousness-raising activities ( listening or reading transcripts of comparing, see Appendix II ) so as to â€Å"diminish the cognitive burden of the chief undertaking which comes afterwards. Therefore, scholars can be induced to remember conventional cognition they already have which is relevant to the undertaking they will make† ( Manolopoulou-Sergi et al. , 2004:180 ) . Similarly, the undertakings require mention largely to events go oning now as the attending is drawn on learners’ eloquence although much more cognitively demanding mention to events go oning elsewhere in clip and infinite could be added.â€Å"There is flexibleness in timing and grouping, with alternate functions being assigned to pupils at different times, and groups being rearranged in different ways, to supply more chances for students to ordain different roles† ,( Carless, 2002:394 ) . Another factor taken into history in sequencing undertakings is one manner or two manner constellation of information. â€Å"In a one-way constellation, all of the information related to the undertaking is given to one scholar who must pass on it to the other. In a bipartisan constellation the information is related to the undertaking is distributed among all of the scholars who must portion and incorporate it. In this respect, one manner undertakings promote less dialogue of intendi ng than two-way undertakings which affects the complexness of the tasks†( Ahmadi, 2014:338 ) , and hence should continue bipartisan undertakings. Finally, clip force per unit area put on pupils ( which will overload students’ attending ) and the support they have from their instructor or other scholars ( more support will perchance ease the undertaking ) are taken into history. Gradually increasing the complexness of undertakings is of import as it â€Å"may motivate scholars to look for more and more aid in the input, go toing to facilitative signifiers made salient by teacher intercession† ( Manolopoulou-Sergi et al. , 2004:178 ) . However, what is more of import for me is to increase the complexness of pedagogic demands in order to bit by bit come close the complexness of the existent universe.

Using Material from Item a and Elsewhere, Assess the Usefulness of Subcultural Theories in Explaining ‘Subcultural Crime and Deviance’ in Society Today (21 Marks)

Using material from Item A and elsewhere, assess the usefulness of subcultural theories in explaining ‘subcultural crime and deviance’ in society today (21 marks) Subcultural theories believe that people who commit a crime share different values to the rest of society. Subculture theories come from two different schools of sociology which are appreciative sociology and strain theory.Appreciative sociology came from the University of Chicago in the early 20th Century; Chicago sociologists were determined to appreciate other lifestyles and cultures in Chicago using a participant observation which existed after a huge number of migrants from Europe and Southern USA. Whyte’s Street Corner Society (1943) suggests that deviant groups in society have clear norms and values which justify their behaviour.The Chicago study would say that it is useful in explaining subcultural crime and deviance because they used participant observations to get more accurate results within d ifferent subcultures and Whyte would also agree that it is useful because they could justify their behaviour by the norms and values in which they share. In item A â€Å"some sociologists link subcultural crime and deviance to the nature of capitalism† this shows that some sociologists believe that it doesn’t matter about what your norms and values are but depending on the amount of money that you have will determine you to turn to crime.In a stratified society they have goals which are linked with their position in the social system, each layer share different goals, but the system can only work if the majority of people can reach their goals, however, if they can’t then you can reach an anomie. This theory of that crime is committed due to your social class isn’t useful because it is more stereotypical to say that a lower on under class would commit the crimes rather than middle and upper class due to their subcultures norms and values being different b ut it isn’t to say that they won’t commit the crimes but it would be for different reasons.Robert Merton (1938) located a deviance within a functionalist framework. He said that crime and deviance were a result of a strain between the socially accepted goals of society for example having your dream house, and socially approved means of achieving these goals which are getting a job in which can support the socially accepted goals. This can lead to a state of anomie in which an individual suffering from anomie would strive to attain the common goals of a specific society yet would not be able to reach these goals legitimately ecause of the structural limitations in society. As a result the individual would exhibit deviant behaviour. Merton then suggested if a section of society cannot achieve a set of goals, they look to alternative ways of achieving their goals. There are 5 different forms of behaviour which could be understood as a strain between goals and means and th ey are: conformity (wanting to fit in), innovation (progressing), ritualism (things you go for), retreatism (step back from society) and rebellion (rebel against society).Merton’s theory has proven useful because he said that due to the poor fit in society causes anomie and by identifying 5 different forms of behaviour each member in society will fit into one section and is easier to place them into a subculture to help explain crime and deviance, by using the five stages will help locate the highest rates and become more useful to people analysing crime rates and what their behaviour is between their goals and means.Cloward and Ohlin (1960) said that Merton had failed to appreciate that there was a parallel opportunity structure to the legal one which is called the illegitimate opportunity structure. In this illegitimate opportunity structure a regular criminal career is available, with recognised means of obtaining the society’s goals. Dick Hobbs (1998) used the ille gitimate opportunity structure to interview successful professional criminals who had demonstrated that they have a possible career in crime as they were given the right connections and qualities to be a criminal.The illegal opportunity structure has 3 different subcultures which are: criminal such as gangs, conflict such as people fighting against society and retreatist which are people retreating from society. The illegitimate opportunity structure is seen as useful in explaining subcultural crime and deviance because for some people there is a criminal opportunity structure and is easy to identify which category they fall into and how it is easier to move from one to another depending on the values and morals in each group.In conclusion subcultural theories are useful in explaining subcultural crime and deviance in society today because categorising people into particular groups allows it easier to compare and allows people to justify reasons for committing the crimes rather than just stereotyping particular people, and as seen in the Chicago study using participant observations becomes more reliable and get more of an insight into why people commit the crimes they do.

Colonial History of the United States Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 5

Colonial History of the United States - Essay Example Each of the groups was very different from each other and came to settle here for a variety of reasons which included both religious and social aspects. They contributed ideas based on government, religion, family, gender and different occupations. Every colony had its own ‘distinct social, religious, political and economic structures’. During the period of Reconquista, both Spain and Portugal gained a lot of experience in conquests and as well as colonization. In addition to this, their skills at ship navigation served as tools to help them colonize the New World. During the 15th century, the leaders who ruled the European nations were the New Monarchs who strived hard to unify their nations. They created a strong and stable centralized government which made way for a burst of economic growth in Europe. This government brought about many good changes which included limiting the power created by the Feudal Aristocracy. Though a charter granted the rights of Englishmen to its subjects, yet they were not allowed to take an active part in their own government. A few years later, Sir Edwin Sandy brought about a radical change in the government by granting the colonists a share in its government which was ‘the first representative body in America’, (See Moreys "Genesis of a Written Constitution," Annals of American Academy, Vol. I p. 529 sq.) called the House of Burgesses. In society, gender differences were maintained. Both men and women worked alongside each other, but in their homes, women had to be subordinate to the authority exercised by their husbands following the patriarchal system of the family. The man was considered as the head of the family and he is the one who took all the major decisions where his family was concerned.  

The Church And State In British Society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Church And State In British Society - Essay Example He expressed his concern, however, that secularists and atheists would capitalize on attempts to separate church and state by saying religion was in an increasingly precarious position in British life (Church and state could separate in the UK, says Archbishop of Canterbury 2008). Religion and belief in God are facing a tough time at present in many countries. Atheists are growing in numbers and they argue for the separation of religion and politics. Secularists and atheists can attack the religion in the absence of political protection according to the archbishop. Soper & Fetzer (n. d) have mentioned that religion, which was at the center of political conflict in Europe a century ago, became less important politically in the middle decades of the twentieth century (Soper & Fetzer n. d, p.3). it is a fact that the influence of religion on politics becoming feeble at present. The massacres committed by some communal groups on behalf of religion have opened the eyes of British communit y to think in terms of the dangers associated with the blending of religion and politics. 9/11 and the recent Mumbai terrorist attacks clearly indicate how dangerous if religion interferes with the politics. In short, the British politics is historically associated with religion and the influence of religion on politics is coming down for the time being. Even the religious leaders found no harm in separating religion and politics even though they have certain concerns about the how the secularists and atheists utilize it.

Manegenment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Manegenment - Essay Example ect as well reasons why project managers focus on those activities that lie within a critical path rather than those on the slack time when crashing a project. Research indicates that for many years, project networks has been developed using the PERT diagram despite being based on stochastic process which may lead to inaccurate outcomes (Pinto & Jeffrey, pp 312-314). However, with the development of Gantt charts, numerous advantages have been derived over the application of PERT diagram in project scheduling. This is because Gantt diagram not only provide a link between the activities and project schedule time, but also provides an opportunity to now how the activities will be undertaken as well as the actual date when the project will begin till and the time it will be accomplished (Pinto & Jeffrey, pp 312).However, despite the short comings of PERT diagram, the diagram provides project managers with a tool for planning on how the tasks will be accomplished (Pinto & Jeffrey, pp 312-314). Crashing project may involve compressing the activities duration in order to reduce the amount of time that could have been taken to complete the project (Pinto & Jeffrey, pp 220-311). Therefore, a project might be crashed under the following circumstances: when the project is lagging behind the scheduled time, secondly due to market demand whereby, it may be required to accomplish a project earlier before the scheduled date (Pinto & Jeffrey, pp 220-311). Project managers focus on crashing activities within a critical path because it is one of the longest paths within a network (Pinto & effrey pp-232-302). Additionally, crashing those activities within the slack path may reduce time but may subject a project to an additional cost that could have been avoided if crashing was strictly undertaken within the critical path (Pinto & Jeffrey pp-232-302). Therefore, it is advisable to utilize critical path when crashing a project in order to compress the amount of time and reduce

Poverty and Pollution Case Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 1

Poverty and Pollution Case Study - Essay Example Many of the businesses firms in third world nations across continents have collapsed due to in obedience to the business ethics. More on that, said nations do not establish an ethical decision making process. Ethical decision-making process encourages ethical business behavior (Pride, Hughes, and Kapoor, 2012).   Business Pollution and Poverty. Third World Countries are the states characterized by poor economies. Developing countries is another name for these very poor nations in the world. The common factors that makes a state be referred to as a Third World Country are low economical development, high poverty levels, heavy dependency to industrialized states, mortality infancy is high, and low natural resource utilization. The developing countries, famously Third World Countries, have a characteristic that they are technologically less developed, and they highly depend on the industrialized nations in the world for their survival. Moreover, these states has a high population grow th rate, high levels of illiteracy, and diseases since they do not establish proper disease management practices in both prevention and treatment. In addition, the reported high diseases are due to poor environmental conservation practices. This may include poor disposal of chemical industrial emissions to the air and water bodies. The pollution mostly occurs in water, land, and noise. These pollutions are done through dumping or disposal of toxic chemicals into the water bodies, and toxic gasses into the atmosphere (Pride, Hughes, and Kapoor, 2012).  The said disposal leads to business environmental contamination. This greatly affects inhabitants around the industrial business firm. Arguably, it can therefore, be said that the firm’s workers reside from within the environment. This reflects that pollution of the environment will have to affect the firm in one way or the other. This in turn, affects the production process of the firm activities. Besides the above named type s of pollutions, there exists land pollution, which has turned out to be a threat in many nations of the United States; majorly those depend on agricultural activities for survival. It is arguable that, when the soil through land pollution is contaminated, it no longer becomes nutritious for crop growth. This will consequently, lead to reduced crop yield and hence, hunger. Consequently, the said land pollution leads to poverty through the said reduced farm crop yields and hunger. Arguably, many industries have greatly aided the environmental pollution in million ways. Many extracting companies and industries have taken minimum precautions in environmental conservation, an act that has lead to a lot of pollution. Evidently, if suitable cautions and precautions not well taken, then it mean the future generation of the society is greatly, exposed to danger as some of the extraction companies, deal with nuclear element, and some radioactive chemicals. These elements really pollute the a tmosphere, which carries the air (oxygen) we breathe. Some of the industrial excretions, the unwanted toxic chemical materials are dumped, or disposed in rivers and other water bodies. (Tittle, 2000).   People in the society nearly are, exposed to the contaminated water sources and bodies on daily basis through either consumption or bathing. Understanding that the water is chemically contaminated, high chances are that the habitants of the business environm

GIS benefiting an organization Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

GIS benefiting an organization - Research Paper Example cause of the nature of the environment of their operation, firms in the private sector are less forthcoming with information regarding the technological systems they employ. This is because they fear competition from other firms. Many companies believe that sharing their technological information may lose competitive advantage that puts them in a good position of competing as compared to their competitors. This paper offers a case study of how companies have integrated GIS technology with the aim of improving their business strategies and decision-making processes. GIS is usually utilized by various industries such as real estate, marketing, transportation/logistics, insurance, and financial services. First and foremost, it is noteworthy to provide a description of the infrastructure of the GIS and how these components interact in business setting (Pick, 2008). There are four major GIS components namely: Hardware, Software, Dada, Procedure and People. Hardware is the component essential for collecting, storing, and producing geographic information such as servers, printers, personal computers among other peripheral devices. The technological transformation has helped many organizations implement GIS to help them access more information in an accurate manner. Software is the operating system utilized by organizations, imaging, data management, and other components essential for data collection and analysis. This software is usually user-friendly to ensure that many people do not have difficulty learning about how to use some specific functions. Data is simply a collection of facts stored in what is referred to as database. It can either be spatial or tabular; however, depending on the form of data, it offers different benefits to an organization. Procedures are the techniques or approaches used in GIS to manipulate or analyze spatial data in improving business decision-making processes. Lastly, people must be trained to handle software, hardware and data stored

Social Influences on Behavior Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Social Influences on Behavior - Essay Example As far as it is impossible for him not to talk on the phone while driving (he works outside the office and thus is to be available and easy of access at all times) there is supposed to be some way to make him more attentive and careful (Knobloch and Solomon 2003). Following the theory of social influences it is possible to say that this behavior is doing dissonance. This behavior is characterized by free choice of actions, no rewards and no excuse. The main focus is on behavior and practical outcomes. This is supposed to be such a principle as negative reinforcement. But Christopher's behavior (if changed) will be difficult to control. So this variant of influence can be used as additional and a kind of a safety net. What is more likely to have its positive effect on Christopher's driving behavior is such principle as respondent conditioning. This principle is supposed to be used in order to establish certain response based on methods developed and described by Ivan Pavlov and his di sciples. There are some possibilities of making Christopher be more careful on the way while talking on his cell-phone. First of all, it is possible to engage his close relatives (and even friends) into the process and ask them to constantly remind Christopher to be careful.

Operational Scenario Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Operational Scenario - Essay Example In a focus on justice criterion, rules are imposed and enforced fairly and impartially so that there is equal distribution of costs and benefits among individuals, also protects the interests of the less powerful and underrepresented individuals (Livingstone 2009). Thus, the best ethical decision criteria that can be used in addressing the problems within the prison would be a focus on justice criterion. This is because using justice criterion protects the interests of the less powerful and the underrepresented individual. Justice criterion is best in protecting the inmates from the prison staff. The first group view shows that the prison staff uses punitive approach toward the inmate population. This shows that the inmates are been abused by the staff, which could be the reason why there has been a lot gang-related violence in the prisons. It is also clear that racial identity is the biggest problem among the prison staff. Hence, use of the focusing on justice criterion would ensure there is equal distribution of duties and responsibilities among the staff without regards to race. However, focusing on justice criterion can affect productivity and innovation because it encourages a sense of entitlement that reduces the ability of an individual to take risks. 2. Within a prison, performance and social arrangement norms are likely to be norms that reinforce consistency among staff. How is this likely to affect overall job satisfaction? What effect will it have on employees who are not conforming in personality? In every organization e.g. a prison, it is crucial to have group norms in order to ensure productivity and development of the organization. As stated by Chevalier (2007), norms are acceptable or unacceptable standards of behavior that are shared by all members in a group. They are mainly created in order to facilitate group survival, avoid embarrassing situations, make behavior of individuals more predictable, and to express the values of the group. The pe rformance norms determine how group members should be engaged in their work i.e. how quickly they should work and produce (Livingstone 2009). Their main purpose is to govern levels of individual effort. The social arrangement norms are created in order to influence the informal social interactions within a group such as meeting after work social groups or lunch social groups. Thus, these norms are likely to promote overall job satisfaction and productivity within a prison. According to Daft and Marcic (2008), performance norms promote cohesiveness which is essential for productivity of the group. The cohesiveness and productivity of a group depends on the performance norms. For instance, if the performance norms are high, a group will be more cohesive and productive, but if the performance norms are low, productivity will also be low. As stated by Robbins and Judge (2010), individuals who conform to group norms experience more positive emotions due to conformity; hence result to pos itive work attitude and job satisfaction. Moreover, the social arrangement norms enhance day to day interaction of the prison staff, the supervisors and the inmates; thus, promoting job satisfaction. What effect will it have on employees who are not conforming in personality? The personality of an employee determines how they behave, think and feel about their job satisfaction or jobs. The attitudes of

Positive and Negative Aspects of Immigration in the United States Essay

Positive and Negative Aspects of Immigration in the United States - Essay Example However, the earlier immigration at the beginning of the twentieth century had a comparatively greater impact because the United States was less populated at that time (Saiz 14). â€Å"If current immigration rates are sustained, two-thirds of the population growth in the United States could be accounted for by immigration by 2050† (Saiz 14). The arrival of new immigrants is creating severe opposition as well as spirited defense for immigration. Every year, the debate on the benefits and adverse effects caused by immigration grows increasingly heated, and its political discourse is likely to be a major issue in the future (Isbister 1). Philip Martin and Elizabeth Midgley argue that a significant issue is an illegal immigration which began rising in the 1970s. This was the first main immigration issue debated in Congress in the 21st century (Martin and Midgley 3).   The arrival in the United States of large numbers of foreigners from various countries can either be a cause for concern or a trend to be welcomed. â€Å"There is no single answer, which helps to explain why Americans are ambivalent about immigration† (Martin and Midgley 3). The United States has always celebrated its immigrant heritage with mass naturalization ceremonies on July 4; these ceremonies associate immigration with the founding of the United States. American leaders have reiterated the renewal and rebirth caused by the advent of newcomers in America considered as the ‘land of opportunity’. This implies that immigration enables individuals to improve their lives and also strengthen the United States at the same time (Martin and Midgley 11).   

Article Rebuttal Essay Example for Free

Article Rebuttal Essay The author stated that, â€Å"There is a difference between a married couple and a same-sex couple in a long-term relationship. The difference is between the duties that marriage imposes on married peoplenot rights, but rather onerous obligationswhich do not apply to same-sex love. † This statement, in my opinion, is completely untrue. All relationships can be difficult and time consuming, the statement would have more truth if the author of was talking about all relationships or marriages. When reading the article, I took every word as people that are in a same sex relationship can’t have a normal marriage or a normal family and normal life and that is why same sex marriage will ultimately fail. The only thing that is different about same sex marriage is that the genders of both people are the same. This doesn’t mean that the two people can’t have children, it just means they can‘t have them in the traditional way. Homosexuals that are married can have a normal life; they just might have to face other judgmental people, which they face even without being married. This author had no credibility, no fact or anything to back up his argument. There were not any reliable sources in this argument which makes me believe that everything about this article was just the opinion of the author. While I believe that everyone is entitled to their own opinions, I believe one should have reliable sources and make valid points before writing an article and making it public especially on such a controversial topic. Reference; http://www. weeklystandard. com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/016/533narty. asp

The Notion Of Film And Ideology Film Studies Essay

The Notion Of Film And Ideology Film Studies Essay What do you understand by the notion of film and ideology. With reference  All That Heaven Allows and or other films from this unit, write an essay that explores the ideological messages or politics of class or race or gender or ethnicity in the selected film or films. Ever since their creation in the late 1800s, films have been considered an interesting and exciting form of visual entertainment that shows stories unfolding. However, the pre and post world war one era have given films a new purpose, that of demonstrating different ideologies. Ideologies can be defined as the ideas and manners of thinking of a particular group, social class or even individuals. This essay will demonstrate how films explore different ideological messages with reference to All That Heaven Allows by Douglas Sirk. Films have been considered by the bourgeoisie, or ruling class as a timeless expression of the human condition. However, they are seen as commodities that are specific to a historical period in time which privileges capitalism as well as the ruling class, but is made to appear as a common interest of all members of society (Marx 135) through the usage of ideology. In fact, movies tend to present audiences with certain types of behavior, which are either deemed as positive or negative depending on how the characters portray them. These behaviors usually reflect the filmmakers own values which will ultimately highlight the importance of certain institutions. Some argue that a filmmakers responsibility is to show a depiction of reality (Klinger 31). However, the term reality is relative. The merging of ideology and film has permitted the endorsement of the dominant values that society approves of, thus the marginalization of other alternatives (Barthes 44) which means that the public gets what it approves of. This reinforces the values put in place by society and uses films to create utopic versions of their beliefs instead of reality. Moreover, this endorsement induces false consciousness through diversion and misinformation (Marx 72), which ultimately blocks the working class from overthrowing capitalism. This theory assumes that audiences are cultural dopes, meaning that they take in the standardized directives given by society, and carry on these roles without question (Garfinkel 54). For instance, they might express either implicitly or explicitly that a womans place is only at home or that interclass relationships are not possible. However, many movies questioned the values put on a pedestal by society (Grant 33) through different film aspects such as the colors used, the costumes as well as the mise en scene. The movie All That Heaven Allows by Douglas Sirk in 1955 is categorized under melodrama, a genre known to exaggerate both plot and characters in order to appeal to emotions. Melodramas usually portray clichà © romantic or domestic situations that mostly only appeal to female audiences. This particular genre reinforces stereotypes of genders, race, class and ethnicity. Sirk, however, uses melodrama in the movie to show the failure of the ideologies that took place in the 1950s, an era characterized by conformity, conservatism, conformity, materialism as well as anticommunism (Barry 45). The movie portrays the internal and external conflicts that an affluent widow named Carey Scott with two college aged children, Kay and Ned, goes through as she attempts to break out of her bourgeois type lifestyle through a love affair she has with Ron Kirby, her Gardner. It is clear from a number of different scenes in this film that the usage of colors, reflections and characters are important to depict a theme of stereotypical gender roles in a visual manner. The mise en -scene pushes the idea of women being trapped in the confines of their own homes. Several shots of Cary through the reflection of the triangular shaped objects of her house such as windows; picture frames and even TV sets refer to a prisoner held in a cell. Moreover, her house is a cluttered mess filled with furniture and memorabilia that refer back to her previous marriage with the father of her children, the successful businessman. A set of white flowers is placed all over the house representing Careys frail beauty as well as mental state while also setting a tone of melodrama. This approach to reflection and echoing are set to imply a feeling of despair and sadness. Moreover, the dà ©cor of Careys house falls in line with that same idea of sadness. The colors present in her house are very minimalistic and use the gray scale that uses mostly blacks, whites and greys. Interestingly enough, these are the colors that Careys character is seen wearing throughout the movie, with the exception of the riskà © red dress. According to Haralovich (Lehmann 7) different colors put into scenes can help express thoroughly the dominant ideologies behind a movie. One can therefore think of Carey as part of the house, as trapped in as the walls. Further more, the use of mid and close up shots, combined with the reflective shots create a mise-en-scene that not only illustrates Carys physical and emotional disposition but also how that affects the representation of women in relation to their stereotypical gender roles. Although gender equality was a concept that was almost attained during the Second World War (1939-1945), the majority of the films in the 1950s reused pre war ideas about a womans place in American society (Benshoff 490), a womans place was back at home. Even though Carey tries to break out of the conformity in which she lives in and the social predicament shes in due to the fact that Kirby is considered as beneath her, the traditional notions of gender politics are reinforced. Carey is asked to give up a life she started with one man, her now deceased husband, to start a new one with a different man, Kirby. To be able to further pursue her relationship with Kirby, it seems that she must abide by his lifestyle, and submit to his wishes, as he is the man. This clearly reflects the bourgeoisie gender ideology that women are to sit and wait around for a man to come build up their lives for them. This was Kays case, even though she was studying to earn a degree in Freudian psychology, which meant that she could venture out into the working world on her, own, she was waiting to be wooed by a possible suitor to eventually get married. This upper class ideology had an influence on Ron Kirby that grew over time through his exposure to Careys world. Kirby feared that by giving in to everyone of Careys requests, he would be forced to live by her ways, in her world, losing all his masculinity. Rons masculinity was already put into question. Although he does appear to be the breadwinner like how a man should stereotypically be, his masculinity appears somewhat artificial. Throughout the movie, the costumes he is wearing are very working class but seem proper at the same time. His shirt and pants always matched, and his red flannel shirt always seemed to be tucked in, in a neat way. He was very well groomed, with his hair slicked back, unlike any man who actually dabbles in groundwork. In a later scene, he instructs Carey to defy the normal conventions and become her own master, just like a man is. This completely contradicts his behavior towards moving into Careys house. In this scene, he tries to treat her as an equal but fails to respect that idea when he feels that this will threaten his manhood. Ron here demonstrates a more flexible view of appropriate behaviors for men and for women.  Ã‚  Decision-making was considered to be a task left for men, and it is clear that during and even after her first marriage, Carey made no decisions of her own at all. The economic expansion of the 1950s allowed certain individuals to upgrade their social statuses, forcing certain women to quit their jobs and become submissive, but many still belonging to the working class had to work in the same equal manner as men, all while maintaining a strong figure. This was seen through the depiction of one of the parties hosted by Rons friends. The women lifted the tables and arranged them without using or expecting any help from the men, who also didnt feel the need to aid. Kirby somehow puts Carey in a sort of transitional phase where he does not want her to be as submissive as the women in her social class, but also does not want her to be as independent as the women in his. He does allow her certain privileges when he takes her to the store late at night, a moment when a woman should be at home and not out. Although the idea of gender roles in this movie is important, it cannot stand-alone, as it is irrelevant without that of conformism The opening scene of the movie, a high angle view of a peaceful New England town with rows of an infinite amount of uniform houses, sets the color palette as well as the perfect encapsulation of the conformity, obsessed American in the 1950s. The citizens of this town are portrayed as typical upper class suburban, uptight families, who live by their conformity. The film constantly stresses Ron and Careys opposing lifestyles through their friends. Carey is constantly surrounded by her upper class professional and pretentious cliques, who follow each other like sheep. They live by strict rules and etiquette. An excellent personification of this conformity is Sara Warren, one of Careys friends who serves both as an excellent model example of what a perfect bourgeois woman should be, as well as a reminder to both the audience and her friends the importance of staying within their social confines, by stressing the importance of appearances. Although her friends are well educated, they lack a finesse that would allow them to understand Careys outcries. During one of the earliest scenes, at the Stooneybroke country club, her friends anxiously await for her arrival with Ron. She decides to wear a low cut red dress as opposed to her usual black and grey attire. In fact, the other womens proper blue, grey, white and black gowns, in contrast to Careys fire truck dress accentuated the bourgeoisies cold, stiff and uninviting nature. The harsh white lighting reflects their neediness to want to know everything, which ultimately showed in their behavior towards Carey and her dress. Her attempt to stand out from the rest of her peers backfires when she is not only heavily critiqued but also mistaken for someone who is selling their sexuality. Careys friends, especially Mona, remind Carey where her place in this society is and that she is taking a big risk by attempting to stand out. The long shots taken during this scene, distances the audience from the partygoers. It scales the room, following Carey to further extend into a panoramic view th at shows off the excessive and lavish mise en scene.    This external attempt of breaking out of the norm, by asserting her autonomy and individuality, is not clearly understood by her neighbors who do not have access to the reality beyond their confines. In fact, Ron Kirby is seen as a threat to their conformist ways, his penetration into Careys life shows her another attainable, easier lifestyle, different from their own. However, the way her clique ganged up on her forced her to conceal the misunderstood dress with a large black coat, leaving her head down in shame. This emotion is highlighted through the usage of the casted shadows of dark blue that seemed to follow Carey in a uniform way. This particular scene shed some light on Sirks critique of this conformist society through the red color, as it begins to appear in a heightened way. McCarthyism paved the way to a growing dear of the people who are different and did not abide by the social norms put by 1950s America, like the communists in Soviet Russia (Doherty 215). However, this is not to say that red, here, represents communism, it only implies that like communism, it presents an alternative lifestyle and ideology different from that of the bourgeoisie. Furthermore, Rons autonomic world is celebrated through that same vibrant color. It becomes more noticeable as the shadows that follow Ron while he is working have more of a red hue as if they not only reflect his red shirt but his charismatic lifestyle. The emphasis is also actually put on the color, through the medium frame shots taken by Sirk in which the red shirt takes up half of the screen. Moreover, the clambake party hosted by Rons friends not only had the same conformity free vibe that Ron emits but also represented a huge contrast with the bourgeoisie ideology of conformity. At the Andersons everything is improvised, the makeshift table is made out of wooden planks and is covered by an old looking checkered tablecloth. The drinks are spontaneous and improvised, like the furniture and the partygoers are of different age, job groups and even do not partake in the same hobbies. It seems a little chaotic because nothing seems to be set in stone, or can be dependent on. The question that comes at play is whether these ideologies shown are actually understood. Bourdieu explains that the socio-cultural background of the audience plays a large part in the way elements in media texts such as films are comprehended (Blewit 367). The cultural capital transmitted from a parent to their child defines the type of cultural competences that would therefore either allow or limit the comprehension of such element. In conclusion, it seems that All That Heaven Allows by Douglas Sirk explores the ideology of not only gender roles but also conformity set in the 1950s in America. It uses the melodramatic genre as a way of concealing the critique buried deep within the mise en scene of the movie. In this way, Sirk was allowed to pick apart the different functions of gender roles and conformity and show their failures.

Reducing Adverse Drug Events in Older Adults

Reducing Adverse Drug Events in Older Adults Gabrielle S. Buma With age comes the prospect of multiple health problems that may require treatment with several medications and multiple prescribers. The likelihood of morbidities and comorbidities such as, heart disease, arthritis, diabetes, and hypertension increases with age. Many older adults also take over the counter medications, vitamins, and other supplements along with their prescribed medications. The use of these multiple kinds of medications is called polypharmacy, and if done so correctly the use of multiple medications can have positive results in the treatment and maintenance of disease but if not used correctly the drugs could be less effective and result in expensive drug-related morbidity and mortality. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality claim that more than 770,000 people are injured or die each year from Adverse Drug Effects (ADEs) (Lynn, 2012). What makes this even more of a concern is that many experts believe that ADEs are significantly underreported. According to the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, the annual cost associated with drug-related morbidity and mortality has been estimated to be at around $177 billion (Roth, Weinberger Campbell, 2009). Many factors play a role in the quality medication use in older adults; these factors can be considered overuse, underuse, and misuse. The misuse of medication that leads to adverse drug effects in older adults can be greatly reduced by improving health literacy and prescribing physician and patient communication. According to the Institute of Medicine, health literacy is considered an individual’s capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions (Martin, Kripalani, DuRapau, 2013). Currently in the United States, the older adults that are 65 years and older represent the largest group with the lowest general literacy and health literacy skills in the country (Bennett, Chen, Soroui White, 2009). This means that there is a large portion of the older adults over 65 that are making health decisions with the likelihood of not fully understanding them. Older adults over 65 years of age also have the highest rate of chronic illness of any other age group. The combination of low levels of literacy and high prevalence of multiple chronic conditions with multiple medications are major contributing factors to the high rate of ADEs in older adults. The article, Preventing Medication Errors, in the Institute of Medicine c ited that poor patient comprehension and unintentional misuse of prescription drugs as a significant cause for medication error and worse health outcomes (Martin, Kripalani, DuRapau, 2013). Many older adults are simply accidentally misusing prescribed medications due to a low level of health literacy. Low literacy in older adults and Medicare recipients affects their understanding of complex medication labels, instructions, and regimens (Martin, Kripalani, DuRapau, 2013). A way to improve older adult’s understanding of prescription drugs especially among those with limited literacy is greatly needed to prevent unintentional use that lead to AEDs, before the improvement can be made we need to first understand the factors associated with patients understanding of prescription drugs and their labeling. According to the National Assessment of Adult Literacy, adults who are socioeconomically disadvantaged that are a part of minority groups are more likely to be in poorer health (Davis, Wolf, Bass, Middlebrooks, Kennen, Baker, . . . . Parker, 2006 ). In the study, Low Literacy Impairs Comprehension of Prescription Drug Warning Labels, the authors measured a group of 251 adult’s ability to correctly interpret commonly used prescription medication labels. They measured the participant’s health literacy by having an expert panel evaluating the patient’s interpretation of the commonly used prescription medication labels. The results showed that one-third of patients were reading at or below a 6th grade level and that a patient’s comprehension of warning labels was associated with their level of literacy. The result that low literacy is associated with low comprehension and a difficulty understanding of warning labels on prescription medications is not a surpris e because the labels use terminology about a 6th grade reading level (Davis, Wolf, Bass, Middlebrooks, Kennen, Baker, . . . . Parker, 2006 ). The multistep instructions were found difficult for patients across all literacy levels. I found it surprising that the multistep instructions were difficult for all reading levels, but the study explains that the more steps a labels has the less concise and clear it tends to be to the patient. If the multistep instructions are a challenge for all literacy levels to understand then I would assume that it is quite challenging for a large population of the older adults who tend to have the lowest levels of literacy and so many different medications to keep track of with each having multistep directions. The study did offer recommendations that would help the understanding of medication labels for all literacy levels. These recommendations include; warning labels being developed with consumer participation, especially with lower literate populations, attempt to keep the steps short, clear and concise with familiar words and recognizable icons. After reading this study, I was surprised to learn that more prescription drug labels are not developed with the use of consumer participation, one would assume the in the developing of the instructions that it would be a priority to develop the instructions with consumer participation. It seems that more consumer participation with all health literacy levels would help create more user friendly labels that could result in a significant decrease in misuse of prescription drugs. The study, Improving Medication Management among At-risk Older Adults, evaluates health literacy but also medication self-efficacy and medication adherence. One reference in the study shows an alarming 54.3% of Medicare enrollees with limited health literacy were unable to understand what is considered simple medication instructions such as. â€Å"take on an empty stomach, † (Martin, Kripalani, DuRapau, 2013). The study describes a quality improvement pilot project where they provide at-risk older adults with illustrated medication instructions as an approach to improve medication understating use. In the quality improvement pilot project they evaluated the effect of their intervention on the older adult’s confidence in managing their medication and their self-reported adherence. This study, Improving Medication Management among At-risk Older Adults, took place at an adult day center were medication errors and misunderstanding medication instructions were identified as a problem. The authors and staff provided the adult day care center’s participants with illustrated depiction of their daily schedule PictureRxâ„ ¢ with the goal to improve the older adult’s understanding of medication instructions and improve medication safety. The illustrated aid shows the older adult’s medications pictorially, uses what they consider plain language for the instructions, and uses icons to aid patients in understanding the purpose and the dosing schedule (Martin, Kripalani, DuRapau, 2013). The PictureRx cards were used for six weeks and then the participants were surveyed along with reassessing their self-efficacy and adherence, as well as their perception on the PictureRx cards. The results showed that after the use of the PictureRx cards the participants reported much less forms of non-adherence and confidence significantly improved in areas of self-efficacy, such as correctly taking medications and following a routine. This article provides a valuable assessment of older adult’s health literacy and applies an intervention that resulted in an improved adherence and self-efficacy in older adults. When comparing the participant assessment before for the use of PictureRx and then the reassessment after shows a notably significant improvement. This pilot study shows an efficient way to improve older adult’s various health literacy levels and provides them with a way to better understand their overall medication regimens. I think something very similar to the PictureRx would be a great tool to implement for pharmacists when filling medications for older adults at the pharmacy and can provide a good reference for doctors when explaining medications to patients especially since doctors are so limited on the amount of time they can spend with a patient. Proper patient provider communication plays a huge role in a patient’s ability to understand their medications and ability to properly follow their medication regimes. Good communication about health history and medications with a provider and a patient could prevent the misuse of medication and an ADE. Before prescribing a new medication, the prescribing doctor is supposed to review the patient’s current medications, including over the counter medications, vitamins, supplements, and the patient’s health history. The article, Physician Communication When Prescribing New Medications from the Archives of Internal Medicine recommends that prescribing physicians should educate their patients about their medication’s purpose, how and when to take it, and the medications expected adverse effects. The patient and physician interaction is an opportunity for the physician to educate the patient on these topics which may reduce nonadherence that can be a result from poor understanding about medication use. The article also describes and assesses the quality of physician communication with patients about newly prescribed medications. The authors assess the provider’s communication through an observational study that combined patient and physician surveys and audiotaped 860 of the 909 participating patients while 270 new medications were prescribed (Tarn, Heritage, Hays Kravitz, 2006). During these visits the authors measured the quality of physician communication when prescribing new medications. The study by Tarn, Heritage, Hays, and Kravitz found that physicians stated full medication dosing directions for less than 60% of all of the medications that had been prescribed and informed the patients about the duration intake and ADEs for one third of the time. The study shares that ADEs were addressed for 35% of the medications and how long to take the medication was addressed at 34%. Although patients may be able to find information about their medications from different sources such as, a pharmacists and medication package inserts, information from their visits with the prescribing physician is inadequate to meet the patient’s needs. Conclusion The study found that the use of precise wording on prescription drug label instructions can improve patient understanding of how to take the medication patients with limited literacy were more likely to misinterpret instructions despite use of more explicit language Patients that have a limited literacy rate and those who are taking more medications are at a greater risk for misuse. Reference Page Davis, T. C., Federman, A. D., Wolf, M. S. (2009). Improving patient understanding of prescription drug label instructions. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 24(1), 57- Davis, T., Wolf, M., Bass, P., Middlebrooks, M., Kennen, E., Baker, D., . . . . Parker, R. (2006). Low literacy impairs comprehension of prescription drug warning labels. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 21(8), 847-851. Martin, D., Kripalani, S., DuRapau, J. (2012). Improving medication management among at-risk older adults. Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 38(6), 24-34. Roth, M., Weinberger, M., Campbell, W. (2009). Measuring the quality of medication use in older adults.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society,57(6), 1096-1102. Tarn, D. M., Heritage, J., Paterniti, D. A., Hays, R. D., Kravitz, R. L. (2006). Physician communication when prescribing new medications . Archive of Internal Medicine, 166(17), 1855-1862.

Solutions to Global Warming Essay -- Environmental Global Climate Chan

Solutions to Global Warming Scientists report that global warming has been escalating since the Industrial Revolution. Governments are trying to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions. With the speed of destruction of Earth?fs ecosystem, the survival of many species, including human beings, is threatened. In order to solve this danger, we have to reduce the consumption of energy and use the alternative energy resources. If we calculate the present energy price, alternative energy must be more expensive than fossil fuels. However if we consider the negative price which is caused by global warming, this result might be different. Now I would like to propose some solutions: (1) reduce the use of fossil fuels; (2) find alternative energy resources; (3) recycle usable resources; (4) planting trees to help combat global warming. I will explain these solutions in more detail. (1) Reduce the use of fossil fuels Global warming is regarded as being a result of the greenhouse effect, which in turn is caused by carbon dioxide emissions. Petroleum and coal are major sources of carbon-dioxide emissions. What would happen if we conserved these energy sources? The volume of carbon-dioxide emissions surely would decrease. But how? In summer and winter, we use electricity to cool our houses or provide heat. Turn down the temperature in winter and turn up the temperature in summer. Do you drive? Why not use the existing public transportation? These subtle things will reduce the use of fossi...

Comparing The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Pleasantville :: comparison compare contrast essays

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Pleasantville Have you ever heard of the great Mark Twain? Many people have and recognize his novels by name; especially his most famous book called The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The great thing about Huck is that it was meant to be a simple book, but ended up deemed a classic. The reason for this is that it contains many great American themes and motifs. Many American novels, books and movies also contain these themes and motifs, making it very easy to compare Huckleberry Finn to Pleasantville. Although the plot of each story is very different, Huckleberry Finn and Pleasantville have the same motifs. Both the movie and the book have the motifs of going west, rebel vs. the establishment and Jim Crow/Shaman. This essay will compare these common American motifs. The "go west" motif is about the characters running away or escaping from where they previously were (this doesn't necessarily have to include a trip west). In Huck Finn the river is the tool used to help Huck and Jim escape from their life. The river helps to take Huck and Jim away from civilization and reunite them with nature. The river also helps to free them from "slavery", Huck being a "slave" to the Widow Douglas and Jim actually being Miss Watson's slave. In Pleasantville a life in colour is how the townspeople are allowed to "go west". When they are in black and white they have the perfect life, meaning that nothing can ever go wrong, therefore they can never learn from their mistakes. When David introduces the thought of thinking for themselves to the teenagers of Pleasantville they begin to notice that there are other places in the world, this begins to change things from black and white to colour. Both stories contain the motif of going west. Another motif in these two works is the Rebel vs. the Establishment motif. In Huck the rebel would be Huck and one of the establishments would be the "civilized" people in the book. Huck refuses to believe that people can be so shallow and religious, and also believes that this comes from being "civilized". The other establishment would the Widow Douglas/Miss.

Marks & Spencer PESTLE Analysis Essay

Major Firms cannot survive and continue to prosper without analyzing their general environment and acting upon the trends identified. Scanning and monitoring the general environment are activities they cannot afford to ignore. Discuss this statement with reference to the performance of the UK retailer Marks & Spencer over the last 10 years. Introduction Marks and Spencer is a major British multinational retailer headquartered in Westminster, London. It has a network of 766 stores in the United Kingdom and 418 stores spread across more than 40 countries. It was founded in 1884 by Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer in Leeds. It specializes in the selling of clothing and luxury food products. Michael Marks was from Russia and Thomas Spencer was a cashier from Yorkshire. In 1884, Michael Marks started his own business in Kirkgate Market, Leeds by opening a penny bazaar stall. Then to develop his business he opened a shop at Manchester with the partnership of Thomas Spencer. Initially, the company used to be known as Marks & Sparks but over the years, the company decided to settle down for Marks & Spencer. In 1998, it became the first British retailer to make a pre-tax profit of over ?1 billion. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. PESTLE Analysis An organization’s environment is made up of: The Internal Environment: Staff, office technology, wages, finance, etc. The Micro Environment: External customers, agents, distributors, suppliers, etc. The Macro Environment: Political, economic, social, technological, legal, environmental etc. This is also known as the PESTLE environment. PESTLE analysis describes a framework of macro-environmental factors used in the environmental scanning component of strategic management. It is a part of the external analysis which gives an overview of the different macro-environmental factors that the company has to take into consideration in order to achieve its goals. Let’s talk about the different factors of the PESTLE environment for Marks & Spencer in depth. Political Political factors are those factors that are made, run and changed by the government. These factors show the level of anticipation by the government in different trades and businesses. Specifically the sectors in which government’s anticipation is the most are trade policy, labor law, trade restrictions, tariffs, and political stability. These factors also include goods and services needed or provided by the government. This is decided by the government what kind and quantity of goods and services can enter or go out of the country. These policies are directly worked by government and can only be changed by them. Other than these political factors government have a large anticipation in health, education, infrastructure and defense of the country. The government has its own sets of rules and regulations which every company has to abide such as health & safety, planning for hazard identification, risk management and risk control. If somehow a company doesn’t follow these rules and regulations, the companies will have to face strict consequences and outcomes, which include heavy fines or even closure of the company. Marks and Spencer was accused of not abiding the standards for and was charged for neglecting the safety regulation after a door fell on an employee. Marks and Spencer was not pled guilty of this trial. Marks and Spencer was the first company to achieve fair trade policy route which is cut salt and fat in M&S food. Marks and Spencer’s believes that it is very important to interact and work with the government to protect an  organization’s legitimate interests and to develop policies which addresses wider public objectives. Marks and Spencer’s respond to the government queries which are available publically on their sites. The company has full support from the government because of its rich historic values and fair means of trade practice. Because Marks & Spencer has become a very powerful organization in the retail world, new competitors find it very difficult to keep up with the quality of products and services that Marks & Spencer provide. The two political f actors that affect the company are political stability and VAT. Political stability is the government works their way whereas Marks and Spencer’s wants things differently. VAT is the terms known as value added tax which is set by the government and paid by the companies. It definitely affects Marks and Spencer’s because if the government increases VAT, M&S also has to increase their prices or else it would decrease the firm’s income. Economic Economic factors are determinants of an economy’s performance that directly impacts a company and have long term effects. For example, a rise in the inflation rate of any economy would affect the way companies’ price their products and services. It would also affect the purchasing power of a consumer and change demand/supply models for that economy. Economic factors include inflation rate, interest rates, foreign exchange rates, economic growth patterns etc. It also accounts for the FDI (foreign direct investment) depending on certain specific industries who’re undergoing this analysis. The United Kingdom has an open economy and ranks among the fourth largest in the world. Fiscal and monetary policies are properly managed because of that there is low inflation and strong government finances in the country. Marks & Spencer needs to organize a complete economic analysis. It is essential to consider the state of economy in the short- and long-terms. Issues such as i nterest rates, inflation, GDP, employment levels, etc. need to have hold in the marketing plan so that the strategies adopted encounter all such issues and ensure sustainability of competitive position. Current economic situation in the UK is favorable with low-to-moderate interest rates which signal a healthy economy. A healthy economy is a sign of increasing disposable income which, in turn, is good for the business. Marks & Spencer needs to concentrate more in the fashion arena as younger  generation spends most of their disposable incomes on clothing. Social Social factors are fundamentals that one cannot directly control but they definitely affect your business and marketing strategies. Basically, to know your social environment and to deal with it, you have to think about ‘people’ here. The aspects that we need to consider in order to understand people are cultural aspects, age distribution and emphasis on environment concerns. Trends in social factors affect the demand for a company’s products and how that company operates. Marks & Spencer has modified itself a lot according to its consumer’s wants. M&S core shops typically feature a selection of the company’s clothing ranges and a food hall. In UK, people are seen to live longer now, which means now they can spend more during their lifetime. As Marks & Spencer’s most of the customer were people aged over 40, with a large proportion of them over 55, this is why the clothing range offered by M&S is of a conservative nature. Now, as peopleâ€℠¢s choices of attire have been changing since last ten years, Marks & Spencer is improvising its clothing line in accordance with the customers changing tastes. The clothing line sold and the space given to it basically depends on the locality and customer demographic. Say for example, some shops located in London do not stock the Classic Collection, instead they go with the stock Limited Collection and a full Autograph range. The latest recession had played an important role in increasing the level of unemployment. This caused a decrease in Marks & Spencer’s sales as people’s purchasing power declined. Eventually, Marks & Spencer lowered its price for customer’s convenience. As it was estimated there will be rise again in the level of employment, people would have money to spend, eventually a rise in sales was seen. Now a days, people want to feel unique, up to date and convenient. Therefore, people have started using credit cards to satisfy their desires. Another factor is that since credit card came into action, an increase of more than 10% happened in all trade (BBC News, 2000). Since 18 April 2000, Marks & Spencer allowed its customers to pay with credit cards. They did so because they wanted to compete with its competitors who had started accepting credit cards a long time back. Another significant social effect that took place in the recent years is the environmental. Marks &  Spencer have recognized an increase in the number of their customers who say they will tak e environmental action. It is not only the usual buying concerns such as price, quality and style which attracts their customers but also making sure all these things are underpinned by sustainability. This sets Marks & Spencer apart from its opponents and assures its customers that they can trust them to do the right thing. Marks & Spencer are continuing to drive hard to reduce, reuse, recycle and reinvent to become more capable across their operations. In UK, stores have been set as â€Å"Simply Food† that cater to customer’s demand in convenient locality. In 2009 the company also began selling a limited range of other brands such as Coca-Cola and Stella Artois without dropping the number of Marks & Spencer goods they sold. Technology Constant evolution in technology has helped businesses operate efficiently in competitive markets such as retail as modern IT systems help increase productivity & lower costs. Furthermore, consumers across the globe are harnessing the power of internet to purchase items online & get them delivered straight to their homes. Online shopping has enabled M&S to automate & accelerate purchases & reduce the supply cycle for products sold online. M&S has already invested ?100m on new technologies and ?150m on a new model for its website that will be completed by 2014. This clearly shows that M&S is investing heavily in technology to increase its efficiency. Analysts expect sales figures to be somewhere between ?800 million to ?1 billion once the website is fully revamped. Recently, M&S stores in UK were equipped with free Wi-Fi. M&S hopes that customers will use the Wi-Fi to explore other products the company has to offer. Additionally, customer assistants in stores have been given iPads to help shoppers by providing them with more information about different products. This move has helped M&S to integrate its internet & high street offerings. Other tactics involve installing big screens in stores which promote clothing & interactive screens placed strategically which enables customers to browse through the products & place orders. M&S believes that their â€Å"hospitality offer† is an advanced way to get more business. Probably the biggest advancement in M&S’s books would be the opening of M&S’s distribution centre in Castle Donington. The reason for its remarkableness is that it’s a 900,000 sq. ft. by 25 metre  high centre that has been exclusively made to serve as a warehouse for online orders. Because of its tremendous size, it is arguably the biggest distribution centre in UK. The centre is capable of processing 1 million products per day & hold 16 million products as inventory. The centre is fully automated & fitted with world class warehousing technology which involves automated storage & retrieval systems. More than 150,000 different variety products are stored in the warehouse. Work g oes inside 24Ãâ€"7 & 50 vehicles are uses every day for inventory management. As for employees, 1,200 people are employed during peak seasons. Lastly, the site has been built with an eco-friendly outlook. The centre has solar panels installed on its outside to harness solar energy & use it to heat the centre during cold weather. Legal Like any other firm, Marks & Spencer has also had to deal with some legal issues. In September last year, BBC news reported that M&S was fined 1 million GBP over asbestos risk. It failed to protect the staff and customers from the risk of asbestos which is a highly heat resistant silicate mineral. The judge, Christopher Harvey claimed that the company was more interested in making profits rather than planning for asbestos removal .However the company claimed that it acted responsibly and was disappointed. On 8th august 2010, M&S was accused for sweatshop scandal where Indian workers were paid just 25p per hour and forced to work overtime. Some workers have even claimed that they were paid half the amount for the overtime they worked and those who refused to work were asked to leave and find new jobs. M&S admitted that the suppliers had worked excessive overtime and that their own audits found a number of other violations which was described as high risk issues in documentations and conditions .The observer found that the company was using workers hired through middlemen and were being forced to work for 7 days a week, a practice that is condemned by their union as, â€Å"slave labor† but the company again refused all these claims and said that they were ethical in their working and they would not tolerate anything in their supply chain. On 19th May 2013, it was found out that M&S was involved in a tax fraud like that of Amazon. Moreover, earlier M&S claimed to be doing the same business as Amazon whereas it wasn’t. The sales revenue that was supposed to go to the UK was sent to Ireland because of the tax rate being  26% in the United Kingdom and 20% in Ireland. Even though Marks and Spencer claimed to do the same business as Amazon, it was rather saving up on its sales revenue. M&S was actually engaging in unethical practices such as evading tax. Environmental It is to be noted that M&S is one of the most sustainable brands out there in the market. Infact, they launched an initiative called â€Å"Plan A† in January 2007. They set out 100 commitments that were to be achieved in a time frame of 5 years. Currently, they’ve extended their Plan A to achieve 180 commitments by 2015 & with that they are aiming at becoming the â€Å"world’s most sustainable retailer.† One of M&S’s Plan A programs is â€Å"shwopping.† The idea of shwopping is simple. You donate your old clothes. Your old clothes are sold to Oxfam. Oxfam either recycles your clothes or re-sells them to third world markets where there is demand for clothes but consumers do not have enough money to pay for them. Over the four years, shwopping has seen more than 11 million clothing items get donated which comes out at around 8 million GBP of charity in the form of recycled clothes. By engaging in sustainable practices, the company has improved energy efficiency in stores by 10% & reduced packaging by 15%. Another thing is that the distribution centre M&S has in Castle Donington, it’s been equipped with Europe’s largest solar-wall. The walls of the centre are equipped with solar panels which helps heat the building. The project is carbon neutral & half of the structure has been built from concrete that was from a former power station. Currently, M&S charges 5p per plastic bag that a consumer needs for carrying items. All profits generated from selling plastic bags are forwarded to Groundwork which invests in projects that improve parks, play areas & public gardens in and around UK. One time, when concerns were raised by customers about the production of Angora Wool, M&S took action and conducted additional visits to the farms. On 12th December 2013 it announced that it would stop selling products containing Angora Wool and that it has updated its animal welfare policy to remove all Angora from its supply chain. By engaging in sustainable practices, M&S has been able to cut down on carbon dioxide emissions by almost 40%. The company also has been accredited with efficient electricity usage, reduced gas leaks & better waste recycling levels. They also encourage their suppliers to practice eco-friendly techniques & helped them go green & achieve higher efficiency. Conclusion With the help of PESTLE analysis, we were able to gain insight into Marks & Spencer’s business environment. Although there are a lot of factors which affect every business, we think were able to highlight the important factors that affect M&S on a macro level. No doubt, M&S has been very successful & highly competitive in their drive to provide unparalleled high quality goods & services for decades. Economic slowdowns have compelled to compete against cheaper, younger & more fashion conscious clothing lines. The sustainable approach that M&S has adopted definitely deserves another mention. Firms like M&S actually make younger & smaller firms think about their practices & inspires them to undertake a similar approach to business. Agreed, there are some initial costs that have to be incurred while going green, but in the long run, there is a lot you get back, both from customers & Mother Nature. References 1. Marks & Spencer. 2014. Marks & Spencer. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.marksandspencer.com/. [Accessed 01 March 14]. 2. HubPages. 2014. Marks & Spencer’s PEST Analysis. [ONLINE] Available at: http://mr-gadget.hubpages.com/hub/Analyse-your-own-organisation-or-division-in-organisation. [Accessed 02 March 14]. 3. Tripod. 2002. A Marketing Analysis of Marks and Spencer. [ONLINE] Available at: http://betty-sung.tripod.com/marks_&_spencer.htm#_Toc23588767. [Accessed 02 March 14]. 4. issuu. 2010. A case study analysis report of Marks and Spencer Plc. [ONLINE] Available at:http://issuu.com/emmabunce/docs/m_s_case_study. [Accessed 01 March 14]. 5. The Telegraph. 2012. Marks & Spencer installs wi-fi in e-commerce push. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/9504384/Marks-and-Spencer-installs-wi-fi-in-e-commerce-push.html. [Accessed 02 March 14]. 6. Marks & Spencer. 2013. Marks & Spencer. [ONLINE] Available at:http://corporate.marksa ndspencer.com/investors/press_releases/mands-opens-new-distribution-centre-in-castle-donington. [Accessed 02 March 14].

Dear Diary

A few days ago, I ran into these strange-looking witches that had brought forth a prophecy that I hadn't believed. The prophecy stated that I shall replace Duncan, my King, from his title. This news was indeed compelling but Just the thought of ever replacing the King was something I could never do. I had to share this news with someone, so I went to the one person I trust more than anyone in this world, my wife. She was delighted to hear that I could be named King, but seemed devastated that I was hesitant on taking a type of action that could gain me the throne.I had been persuaded by my wife into assassinating the king and taking his crown. Ever since then my life has changed enormously. These past few days have been like a nightmare for me, a nightmare that I have to live in until my last breath. In order to remain king and keep the title in my family, I must take action towards the people who have the ability to that away from me. Therefore, my best friend, Banquet, and his sons must be eliminated because the prophecy from the witches had stated that his sons will be the true heir of the throne rather than my sons when they are born, which I can't let, happen.I can't kill again; the circumstances this time around are different than before. I am the king now, and after everything I had gone through Just to get this title I can't Jeopardize that. Due to the choices I had made, I need to be the most patient and kind king the world has ever seen, I need to remain calm at all times, and under no circumstance may I ever tell a soul of the actions I had taken to be where I am today. This Is what my future lays for me. This Is what my life shall look like from here on.

Electronics Human Resources Management (E-Hrm)

Introduction Electronics Human Resources Management (e-HRM) is one of the most critical tools for analyzing businesses for the next step in business strategy. Even the tiny, no more than 30 staff in an office is necessary to explore the advantage of using e-HRM to achieve higher efficiency. Many companies do not understand how much time and cost they are spending on traditional human resource management (HRM) tasks until they brainstorm and try to save their time.E-HR can provides valuable potential for a wide variety of uses including employee self-service, the production of reports, the sharing of information and the administration of functions (Pass, 2002). VHR offers a network-based structure built on partnerships and typically mediated by information technology(IT) to help an organization acquire, develop and deploy intellectual capital(Lepak and Snell,1998). Therefore, e-HRM is evaluating to be its information technology(IT) field .One of the major reason why using e-HRM is tha t global competition is giving more and more stress on managers in United State to increase the speed and the quality of decision making. Moreover, providing more funding in information technology usually result in faster and better management decision making. ( Broderick, R. & Boudreau, J. W. ,1992) More and more senior managers started to use e-HRM to improve the performance in Human Resources .Hussain, Wallace, and Cornelius (2007) discovered that the norm, irrespective of company size can be increased gradually for senior HR professionals implementing the systems of e-HRM and this had led to the HR profession providing a value-add for the company. The main objectives of this paper are to: -Understanding the Electronic Human Resource Management -Types of Electronic Human Resource Management -Theoretical Perspectives -Example of using Electronic Human Resource Management The paper is written as follows.First and foremost, we provide a understanding basic concept of e-HRM ,how it w orks and the uses of computers. Then we will describe the three types of e-HRM and explain the theoretical perspectives with example. Lastly, we recap the conclusion and provide suggestions for organization in the future. After reading this paper, we will see the importance of implementing electronic Human resource information systems. a. Structure of your paper 1. Present the major concepts or real world problems you want to address Understanding Electronic Human Resource ManagementNowadays, the concept of e-HRM is still unclear no meter how senior mangers frequently using them. In fact, e-HRM is the (planning, implementation and) application of information technology for both networking and supporting at least two individual or collective actors in their shared performing of HR activities. (Strohmeier, S. , 2007). The aim of e-HRM is to provide the potential improvement of services to HR department stakeholders. Apart from this, the operating and transferring of computerized HR in formation is also called electronic human resource management.It offers companies to reduces costs and provide more sufficient information to employees in a shorter and more efficient way. Especially in economic downturn, it becomes the key for companies to be more efficient in every section of their business. The majority of the computer applications are to manage employee personal records and payroll. A common payoff to such investments was more efficient information management. Type of Electronic Human Resource Management Three major type of e-HRM like operational, relational and transformational were revealed by Lepak and Snell (1998).Operational e-HRM is involved in supervisory function like employee personal data and payroll. Many Human Resources activities such as pay and benefits service to the Internet are rearranged by many firms in order to achieve higher efficiency (Perrine, 2001). In traditional way, the basic salary, commission, wages, and benefits were recorded and ca lculated by manual writing on paper at a certain time interval. However, the internet offers an instantaneous way for employees obtaining information on separating into salaries, deductions and accumulated balances.The information of Wages, other benefits and salary can be directly achieved by downloading from the payroll, benefits and compensation databases. (Ngai, E. W. T. , Law, C. C. H, Chan, S. C. H. , & Wat, F. K. T. , 2008) Relational e-HRM is focused on supportive business operations. Incidentally, training, recruitment, performance management are examples of under Relational e-HRM.. In recruitment and selection, online recruiting is the trend nowadays. (Bussler and Davis, 2001; Kumar, 2003)The information of the job seekers is stored in the information system.The method of screening out of suitable candidates is no longer by human eyes, but enters the keywords for identifying the basic requirement. Moreover, performance appraisal will not only be evaluated at a period of ti me, but can easily be followed up online by not tracking only one databases such as supervisors, peers, customers or subordinates. (Ngai, E. W. T. , Law, C. C. H, Chan, S. C. H. , & Wat, F. K. T. , 2008)One of the major reasons in using e-HRM is that the use of internet support for the function of training and development. (Kirrane,1990).It can save the time of teacher in recording the a series of lessons once and upload it on the e-Learning for the candidates to learn by themselves. Besides, the reference books can be printed out as a PDF file and uploaded it on the databases system for candidate or researcher further educations. As a results, the education materials like recruiting teachers, reserving rooms for teaching or ordering the books can be reduced gradually. Hence, it can save the cost in training section. On the other hand, it increase the efficiency and effectiveness .Transformational e-HRM is covered the area of HRM activities with a strategic character, for instances, know management, strategic re-orientation. Know management is about organizations using new method to engage the problems of innovation and competitiveness. (Swart and Kinnie, 2003). It is possible to create a change ready workforce through an integrated set of web-based tools that enables the workforce to develop in line with the company’s strategic choices or to have paper-based materials. (Huub and Tanya ,2004) Theoretical PerspectivesWell defined theory can become the critical part in research and development. In this paper, we will discuss them briefly. New institutional theory (DiMaggio and Powell, 1983) provides adequate and developed possibilities to explain the connections of the context and the structure of e-HRM. Transaction cost theory(Williamson,1994) explains the structure and the connection of the economic consequences of e-HRM. In the other words, organization should consider the institutional arrangements according to the cost effectiveness.Example of using Electronic Human Resource Management In cost leadership objectives, cost reduction in different aspects such as reporting, monitoring the status of applications and transaction operation is the main concerned of many senior professionals. In order to reduce the administrative cost effectively and efficiently, computerization can exclude the layers of paper writing and decentralize administrative work. As a result, administrative standardization, accuracy and the controls will also be improved. Conclusion 2.Present the theories and models that you want to use to analyze the concepts or problems based on your real world experiences 3. Analyze the concepts or problems by using these theories and models 4. Present your conclusions Reference Pass, C. (2002),†How one company has embraced e-HR†,HR Focus,Vol. 79,pp. 1-3. Broderick, R. & Boudreau, J. W. (1992) Human resource management, information technology and the competitive edge, Academy of Management Executive, 6(2), 7-17. Lepak,D. P and Snell,S. A. (1998),†Virtual HR:Strategic human resource management in the 21st century†, Human Resource Management Review,Vol. , pp. 215-34 Hussain, Z. , Wallace, J. , & Cornelius, N. E. (2007). The use and impact of human resource information systems on human resource management professionals. Information & Management, 44, 74-89. Strohmeier, S. (2007), Research in e-HRM: Review and implications. Human Resource Management Review, 17, 19-37. Ngai, E. W. T. , Law, C. C. H, Chan, S. C. H. , & Wat, F. K. T. (2008), Importance of the Internet to Human Resource Practitioners in Hong Kong, Personnel Review, 37, 66-84. Huub and Tanya(2004)†E-HRM: Innovation or Irritation.An Explorative Empirical Study in Five Large Companies on Web-based HRM† Kirrane, D. E. (1990),†Machine learning†, Training and Development Journal,Vol. 4, pp. 24-9. Kumar, S. (2003),†Managing human capital supply chain in the internet era†, Industrial Managemen t & Data Systems, Vol. 103, pp. 227-37 Swart, J. and Kinnie, N. (2003),†Sharing knowledge-intensive firms†, Human Resource Management Journal, Vol. 13 No. 2, pp. 60-75 Williamson, O. E. (1994). Transaction costs economics and organization theory. In N. Smelser & R. Swedberg (Eds. ), Handbook of Economic