The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner - Original Writing :: Free Essays

The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner - Original Writing First, we set out from our homeland, Scotland. We sailed on southwards and were picked up by dreadful wind, we found ourselves being controlled by the wind and the sea. There was nothing we could do to stop it, it had driven us to the cold south, were mist, fog and treacherous seas all belong. Then from beneath the emerald green ice grabbed the sides of our ship, we were stationary, unable to move. It was quiet, then when we thought all was lost an albatross came and flew over our ship and it made the ice crack and we sailed north again so for many days we gave it food and played with the creature. Then one awful day when the sun was setting I got my crossbow and did shoot the albatross. The crew was so angry and cross with me that they cursed me saying how I dare to have shoot the albatross. From then on we lost our fortune and a great and terrible mist or fog came upon us but just few days later the mist was gone and the crew were telling me that it was a good thing to have killed the albatross. Then everything was getting bad we were running very low on water until just yesterday when it all was gone, oh the torture how there is water all around us but not a drop to drink. Soon our lips were baked black, our throats dry as a bone; surely we would all die soon. But then from out of nowhere a ship sailed towards us, but then I realised how could it be sailing when there was no wind? Then it came between us and the sun (which lay on the east side) then it struck us it was a GHOST SHIP! The sun was like it had been imprisoned. It neared and then I beheld two figures on the ship and these two figures were the only people on board. One was wearing a cloak and was like the most darkness I had

College Freshman - How NOT to Gain Weight Essay -- Proposing a Solutio

College Freshman - How NOT to Gain Weight Starting college life is far from difficult; in fact it is fun starting a new way of life. Life without the constant objections from your parents and annoyance from your little sibling is one of the many advantages you gain from college. Cancelled classes, late night parties and deleterious amounts of food make college enjoyable; however, this can lead to weight gain. â€Å"Freshman 15† is not a myth and although you may not be unfortunate enough to gain 15 pounds, you might gain some weight. To avoid gaining weight, freshmen should eat healthy, avoid alcohol, and maintain a positive moral.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One of the problems that cause weight gain is the lack of parental supervision over what the student consumes. In college, a student can easily stock themselves in fatty snacks such as Twinkies, cookies, chocolate, and chips. Also, the all-you-can-eat buffet seems to most likely run out of the pizza, french fries, and ice cream before the salad. A students schedule sometimes plays a factor in the consuming of too many snacks. If a student is in a hurry, he or she will grab a pop tart and be out of the door with a 200 calorie breakfast. A student should keep away from the high-fat snacks and concentrate on salubrious foods. At the cafeteria, a student should try to eat salads and attempt to eat new kinds of foods since the buffet has so much to offer. And for food on-the-go, one should try to buy healthy snacks or try to wake up earlier ...

Explain Why Pope Urban Ll Called for a Crusade

In 1095, at the Council of Clermont, Pope Urban ll made a powerful and well planned speech. His message was clear and precise, ‘go to the holy land in Jerusalem and claim back what is rightfully yours or die trying, and in return remission of all your sins with the assurance of the imperishable glory of the kingdom of heaven’. He was addressing Christians from all over France calling for a ‘Crusade’ in the name of God and as many would argue, abusing his authority and status he received from the Catholic Church.What occurred during the First Crusade is well known to many, whereas the reason behind Pope Urban ll calling the Crusade is a highly debated and contradicting issue. One of the reasons which are occasionally cited for Urban’s calling of the First Crusade is the call of help which Alexins Comnenus had sent to Urban at the Council of Piacenza. This letter was sent in response to the loss of Byzantine land which had occurred after the battle of M anzikert in 1072.The letter When Urban received this letter it is debateable as to whether he was actually galvanised by the thought of helping Alexins or if his main motive was an attempt at ending the schism between the Catholic Church and the Greek Orthodox church in Constantinople. This is likely as it was one of the ideals of the papal reform movement which Urban belonged to, following in the footsteps of his predecessor, Gregory VII. By making out to help the Byzantine emperor in their time of need, Urban hoped to heal the schism.Another reason behind why Urban called for a Crusade is for religious purposes. He felt Christians in the East needed to be rescued from persecution and had ‘suffered mightily at the hands of the Turks’ and there men and children were being persecuted and there women raped , this was also backed up in Alexins letter to the Pope. Christians were supposedly suffering under Muslim rule after the Byzantine Empire was defeated by the Seljuk Tu rks who reverted to Islam, at the point when Islam was a religion quickly rising in power and dominance.Urban saw this violation of the Christian race as a great disrespect of Christianity and used it as a stimulus in his speech at the Council of Clermont which angered and therefore manipulated the Christian race into heading to the holy land for the First Crusade. Finally, an additional reason for Urban’s calling for a so called Crusade was that he felt ‘the lands of Christ needed to be reclaimed’ and in the control of Christianity not in the hands of ‘infidels’. Jerusalem is at the centre of the Christian faith and is the eligions birth place. It is the land in which Jesus was crucified and then, as Christians believe, bought back to life in a miracle event. Urban said in his speech, ‘wrest that land from the wicked race, that land which the scripture says floweth with milk and honey and was given by god to the children of Israel’. By these few words we can understand why Urban felt so strongly that it the land of Christians and why he ordered for it to be reclaimed, even if it mean death.At the time of Urban’s speech Jerusalam was under the rule of Muslim, who also have a strong attachment with the land as it is the place where the holy prophet descended to heaven. Urban however believed that it belonged to the Christians and therefore ordered it to be reclaimed in the ‘name of god’. Pope Urban ll called for a Crusade at the Council of Clermont to claim back what he believed rightfully belonged to the Christians and unite the Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches. Through the cover of Alexins plea for help Urban strengthened relations with the Byzantine Empire and called on a Crusade that was to claim thousands of lives.

Experimental Psychology Stroop Effect Essay

The research assessed in this article discusses the Stroop effect. The Stroop effect occurs when our selective attention fails and we are unable to attend to some information and ignore the rest. This study tests the Stroop effect by presenting the participant with a congruent or incongruent word and the participant is asked to type the color of the word or the actual word in a series of trials. In this research, it has been found that participants had faster reaction times for congruent items and slower reaction times for incongruent items. In addition, participants had faster reaction times when asked to type the word and slower reaction times when asked to type the color. Racing Horses and the Stroop Effect We have the ability to attend to the things we’re looking for; however, sometimes this ability of selective attention becomes compromised. Where’s Waldo is a game that tests one’s ability to selectively attend to a stimuli; you must find Waldo in an overly crowded picture that attempts to hide him. If one’s selective attention becomes compromised, one would either not be able to locate Waldo or would take a long amount of time to locate Waldo. We can study this phenomenon of selective attention via the Stroop effect. According to J. R Stroop, â€Å"it takes more time to name colors than to read color names (1935). † In addition, it is faster to name the color for congruent items than incongruent items. Congruent items include items such the word â€Å"red† in the color red; incongruent items include items such as the word â€Å"blue† in red ink. In a basic Stroop experiment, participants are provided with a list of congruent words and a list of incongruent words and are asked to name the color of the word or the actual word itself. Having a big Stroop effect indicates that one’s selective attention has failed. In Stroop’s original version of the experiment, results demonstrated that when participants were asked to name the color of the ink of an incongruent item, there was an increase in ink naming time. However, when the participants were asked to name the word, incongruence of the ink to the word did not have an effect on the amount of time it took to read it (Dunbar & MacLeod, 1984). In Kevin Dunbar & Colin M. MacLeod’s paper, they refer to what is known as the horse race model (1984). This horse race model attempts to explain the Stroop phenomenon as a race between two responses. The first response, which always seems to win the race, is the response to the word; the second response is the one to the color of the ink. The horse race model states that color naming is slower than word naming because words and colors have different processing times; when the faster process finishes, it’s result can interfere with the slower process. â€Å"The simplest hypothesis, consistent with all the evidence, is that the interference occurs after naming (Morton & Chambers, 1973). Words interfere strongly with color naming; in an incongruent trial, one identifies the word first, the identification of color of the word only comes later and there is a need to overcome the incorrect response, which causes a slight delay in response time. The purpose of this experiment is to further test the horse race model of the Stroop effect. In this experiment, the two independent variables are congruency, whether the items are congruent or incongruent, and task, participants will be asked to name the color of the item or the word. Results will be measured by how long it takes participants to respond in each condition. There are several predictions made about this replication of the Stroop experiment: firstly, we predict that there will be a main effect of congruency; we expect an overall Stroop effect. Secondly, we predict that there will be a main effect of task; we expect that participants should be faster to type words than colors. Finally, we predict an interaction between congruency and task; we expect that the Stroop effect will be larger for typing colors than for typing words. Method Participants Twenty-one undergraduate, male and female students were recruited from an experimental lab class at the City University of New York Brooklyn College. Materials and Design In this within subjects design, we used a 2 (Congruency: Congruent vs. Incongruent) x 2 (Task Type: Naming color vs. Naming word) factorial; the dependent variable measured was reaction time. The stimuli were presented on a seventeen inch computer monitor and participants were given a standard keyboard for their responses. The stimuli used were four words: red, green, blue, yellow; and four colors: red, green, blue, yellow. For the independent variable of congruency, there were four possible congruent items and twelve possible incongruent items. For the independent variable of task, there was one block of forty-eight trials asking the participant to type the word and one block of forty-eight trials asking the participant to type the color. The order of each block was randomly determined by the computer for each participant. Half of the participants did the word naming then color naming; the other half did color naming then word naming. Each trial begins with the presentation of a fixation cross in the center of the screen, visible for 500 milliseconds. The fixation cross is removed and immediately followed by the word and color stimulus; this stimulus remained on the screen until a response was typed and the participant pressed the spacebar key. There are four possible responses: red, green, blue, and yellow. Responses are given by having the participants type the word into the keyboard. Immediately after the response, the stimuli were removed from the screen and the next trial appeared 500 milliseconds after the participant pressed the spacebar. Procedure Participants were given instructions by the experimenter, separated into groups, and sent randomly to different rooms which held the computers they would be using for this experiment. Each participant was given a total of ninety-six trials; there was one block of forty-eight trials asking the participant to type the word and one block of forty-eight trials asking the participant to type the color. The order of each block was randomly determined by the computer for each participant. Half of the participants did the word naming then color naming; the other half did color naming then word naming. The participants were prompted to read the instructions on the screen and enter their initials prior to starting the experiment. Once the experiment begins, there is a fixation cross displayed for 500 milliseconds. Following the fixation cross, the task cue and stimuli were displayed at the same time until the participant responded. After the participant responded and pressed the spacebar key, they were prompted with another trial. After each participant completed the experiment they were instructed to return to the classroom where they were debriefed by the experimenter and allowed to leave. Results The results of this experiment are presented in Figure 1. The mean for the naming color/congruent condition is 1044. 57ms; the mean for the naming color/incongruent condition is 1210. 62 ms; the mean for the naming word/congruent condition is 838. 05 ms; and the mean for the naming word/incongruent condition is 862. 24 ms. The mean reaction times (RTs) from each condition were submitted to a 2 (Task type: name word vs. name color) x 2 (Congruency: congruent vs. incongruent) within-subjects ANOVA. The main effect for task was significant, F(1,20) = 62. 48, MSE = 1616576. 0, p < 0. 05; this shows that participants had a faster RT when asked to name the word (M = 850. 14 ms) as opposed to when asked to name the color (M = 1127. 60 ms). Mean RTs were faster for word than color naming. In addition to a main effect of task, there is a significant main effect of congruency, F(1,20) = 22. 65, MSE = 190000. 30, p < 0. 05; this illustrates that participants had a faster RT when the items were congruent (M = 941. 31 ms) than when the items were incongruent (M = 1036. 43 ms) Mean RTs were faster for congruent items than incongruent items. Finally, we found a ignificant interaction between congruency and task type, F(1,20) = 42. 43, MSE = 105648. 11, p < 0. 05; this interaction demonstrates that there is a greater difference between the means of congruent and incongruent items when asked to name color than there is between the means of congruent and incongruent items when asked to name the word. Discussion We predicted a main effect of congruency which is, in fact, what we see from our results. We see this main effect due to the Stroop effect, which states that it is faster to name the color for congruent items than incongruent items. In addition, we expected to see a main effect of task type and that the word task will produce faster RTs than the color task; which is precisely what we have found. We can explain this finding with the theories of the horse race model. It has been found, through earlier research, that reading words is a faster process than color naming because reading is an automatic process (Dunbar & MacLeod, 1984). We predicted to see that naming the color will intensify the Stroop effect whereas naming the word will minimize the Stroop effect; we have found exactly this in our results. These outcomes can be explained with the horse race model as well. The horse race model assumes two things: first, words and colors have different processing times; color naming is slower than word naming. Second, the Stroop effect is asymmetrical: when the faster process is finished, the result of that process can interfere with the slower process. Words interfere strongly with color naming; however, colors interfere weakly with word naming. MacLeod’s (1991) study explained: This speed difference is seen as particularly critical when two potential responses (e. g. , one from a word and one from an ink color) compete to be the response actually produced. The time cost of this competition is â€Å"interference. This general interpretation is referred to as response competition occurring at the end of a horse race, because the two codes are seen as racing to control final output. (p. 187) One of the flaws of this experiment is that it is possible that not all participants are proficient in the placement of keys on a computer keyboard; this would affect the reaction time for theses participants as they would need extra time to find the keys. Another flaw is that we didn’t take into account typing errors and the program used did not record error rate. This could mean that we have not successfully measured one of the items we attempted to measure. We attempted to see if there was a difference in processing time between the task of naming the word and the task of naming the color. Since we did not take into account typing errors and error rate, it is possible that a participant could have responded quickly with an incorrect response and therefore caused the RT time to be quicker. The greatest defect of this experiment is the sample size, 21 participants. In future studies it is recommended that this experiment be run with at least 30 participants who can comfortably recognize the keys on a standard computer keyboard. In addition to a larger sample size, perhaps changing the colors and the names of colors (from red, green, blue, and yellow to, for example, pink, purple, orange, grey) would yield a smaller or larger Stroop effect. Another change that can be experimented with is age. MacLeod (1991) references a study done by Lund (1927) which finds that â€Å"children younger than reading age were faster on color naming than word reading. † Perhaps there may be difference between children that are younger than reading age, children who have just recently learned the alphabet, and/or children who just recently learned to read. Also, could there be a difference between children, adolescents, middle-age, and/or old-age? MacLeod (1991) also references a study conducted by Ligon (1932) that tested the â€Å"differential-practice concept† in children between the ages of about 5-14. Ligon found that practice and training did improve RTs for both color naming and word naming tasks, however, â€Å"the difference between the skills remained unchanged. † A final suggestion for future research would pose this question: would we find similar results if ran such a study with adults?

Market structure

Four basic types of market structures are: 1- Perfect competition 2- Monopolistic competition 3- Oligopoly 4- Monopoly There is also another market structure called Monopoly. 1- Perfect competition It is considered more theoretical than practical, because it is very rare. In perfect intention a large number of firms sell identical products, where none of them has pricing power. There no berries or very easy to enter to the market by any new farm. Prices. For example if we go to normal retail shops to buy vegetables, we will get at same prices from each and every shop.Fish market at Male' is a very good and a simple example, where inside the market lot of sellers will be selling same fishes. Prices will be set by the demand and supply. Neither buyer nor seller sets the price. It is more like automates pricing. Characteristics of perfect competition include large umber of small firms, identical products, perfect resource mobility and perfect knowledge. 2- Monopolistic competition It is almost like perfect competition where large number of small firms sells similar but not identical products. Relative freedom of entry, to and exit from the industry.It means buyers will have substitutes to choose from. Alternatives to buy for fulfill their needs and wants. Examples of industries structures as monopolistic competition includes, clothing industry, restaurants, and shoes and so on. 3- Oligopoly It is a market situation where products are supplied by small number of firms where ACH of them has influence over pricing and supplies which directly effects the position of the competitors. I oligopoly there is a special case where there is only two producers are called Duopoly. 4- Monopoly This is a market structure where only one producer in a market who has to the total control.Buyers do not have substitutes and have no choice. They have total control over supply and prices. In this market structure, seller is always happy and consumers suffer. They take more profit with a huge marginal value from the products. Characteristics of monopoly includes single seller, unique product, berries o entry and specialized information. The fifth type of market structure which is not included in basic structures is Monopoly. It is upside down of a monopoly where there is only one buyer. If we relate to a Mammalian context, government is the only buyer for the explosives and guns. Where there may be many sellers.Exhibit 1 Perfect Competition Monopolistic Competition Oligopoly Monopoly Number of Sellers Many Few One Barriers to Entry Very Low Low Very High Type of Substitute Products Very good Good substitutes but differentiated Very good differentiated substitutes No good substitutes Nature of competition Price only Marketing, features and price Advertising Pricing Power None Little Little to significant Significant As mentioned above, from 1988 to 2005 telecommunication industry of Maldives was a monopoly market. The following will elaborate how it was a monopoly a nd what was the situation during the monopoly. 988-2005 Draught monopoly in Maldives It was history that people used to call Draught as â€Å"Blood Suckers†. When the company started in the Maldives in Maldives there was a telecommunication service by cable and wireless which uses USB set to communicate between the islands. After their establishment as one and only telecoms service provider in 1988 they brought a major upgrade to their network in 1989 in Male and introduced paging service in the Maldives. They also introduced internet service for the very first time in Maldives in 1996 followed by mobile phone service in 1997 which was upgraded to GSM in 1999.Being the only company to provide the service and major share controlled by the government of the Maldives, they introduced services at a huge marginal value. Consumers have no substitution in the market, which lead Draught to grow up and cake huge profit and extended its service to nationwide, while charging extraordina ry high charges to cover its expansion costs and making more profit. It is usual to charge more from the consumers in monopoly market structure. In monopoly, always seller is always happy and consumers are unhappy.Some pros and cons of monopoly are: Advantages Disadvantages Large capital scale benefit to the company More money to invest on development Earning national export revenues Price discrimination between consumers Very high market share Restricts production potential Do not actively pursue new clients Poor product quality Unfair wealth distribution Entry barrier for new comers When Waiting telecoms Maldives (presently called Ordered) started their service officially in Maldives on 1st August 2005 shortly after they were licensed on 1st of February 2005, the market structure changed to an oligopoly.Oligopoly In economics oligopoly means that there are few sellers of a certain product in a market. Usually these sellers are always in a high competition with each other. In this type of markets sellers knows very well about their competitors. They have a high power to in pushing their products to the consumers. When on seller makes a change, it will directly affect other sellers. There is a special case in oligopoly which is called duopoly. Which is when the there is only two sellers in the market. Here are some advantages and disadvantages of oligopoly.Advantages Lot of control Ability to fix prices Competitive pricing More profit making Perfect knowledge of the market Price controlling will be a disadvantage for consumers Creative ideas may fail to realist Difficult for small firms to establish in the market Not much of competition No fair wealth distribution Oligopoly in Maldives telecoms industry From 2005 Ordered became the major and the only competitor to Draught. As usual they have initiated their business with a huge investment to make existence of their network across the Maldives.It was a huge challenge for them to establish when there was a well- established and government controlled seller in the marker for almost a decade, market share was 100% controlled by monopolized Draught. Immediately after starting the service in the market by the new comer, the unhappy customers of the monopolized industry started to change their service provider. They started with introductory promotional prices which was far much better than the ajar market controller, which directly affected the business of Draught. Competition, strengths and weaknesses.When there are two or more sellers are there in a market, it is obvious that the competition will be born in the market. It is very interesting to study about the competition between Ordered and Draught. Luckily I have got very good connections at the top levels of both the companies, which made me to sit and talk about their respective companies. I found that they are tightly in competition with each other. Pricing: When Draught was alone in the industry, consumers pay around USED $100 average u ser used to pay around MOVE 2000 per month for the usage. Call rates are sky high.Rates differ from calls from mobile to mobile and mobile to landlines. When the competition started and if we see current situation, we have choices for individuals and businesses depends on what consumer needs. There are some consumers who want more talk time than data while others doesn't care about the talk time but data allowance the service provider offers. Those used to spend around 2000 per month now are spending less than 500 per month because of competitive pricing by the competitors. Advertising: Earlier days Draught keeps and average advertising.Unlike that now each and every TV channel is occupied by both Draught and Ordered advertisements. All the islands with more population see those companies' bill boards near harbors and schools. It is very clear that Ordered is doing more aggressive advertising while Draught use more informative advertising. Corporate Social responsibility: We used to say that both the companies do corporate social responsibility to a certain extent. But in real, in my study I found that rather than corporate social responsibility they both do corporate philanthropy. They do not actively participate in social activities.But they do help by donation some money to do the social activities by others. That is a form of advertisement they both do. They are present in the activities as bill boards. Just to advertise the company name. For example: Thieved league football tournament is always sponsored by one of these two companies. Competitive advantages: Draught uses â€Å"first in Maldives† â€Å"Largest network† and so on while Ordered uses â€Å"best network for smart phones†. Draught is first to come and still holds 65% market share while Ordered is gaining market share at a rapid speed.Bad the backbone of the company is much better with latest technologies while Draught is upgrading its backbone. Subsidized handsets to consum ers: Ordered started offering Samsung handset to its consumers with contract for the very first time in Maldives. And soon they will be starting offer apple handsets on contract, while Draught is working with apple to introduce subsidized apple handsets with contract. Apple currently certified Ordered network for their products while Draught is doing upgrades to obtain certification of using Apple products on contract. Is this industry good for the society?Unlike the history of the monopoly in the telecommunication industry in the Maldives, with existing oligopoly (duopoly) consumers are happy now. As is economic theory, human wants are unlimited with the scares resources available, people are still aiming for mush cheaper services with better quality. As mentioned earlier in this report, consumers' expenses, for the use of telecommunication are decreased by 60 percentages. We never heard of handset for installments by service providers before. But it is started now. We have heard a bout subsidized handset with contract with carrier locked, from other parts of the world.We never imagined that a small country with a small population like us will get phones on contract with subsidized prices. But it is soon to happen. Unlike perfect competition and monopolistic competition there are no much of sellers. So competition and pricing of the products will not be according to the demand and supply. Sellers will have the power to set the prices. Consumers are very happy when there is a perfect competition and monopolistic competition. Consumers are sad at most when there is a monopoly. But than they used to have, the monopoly. It is an average good for the society. Market structure Four basic types of market structures are: 1- Perfect competition 2- Monopolistic competition 3- Oligopoly 4- Monopoly There is also another market structure called Monopoly. 1- Perfect competition It is considered more theoretical than practical, because it is very rare. In perfect intention a large number of firms sell identical products, where none of them has pricing power. There no berries or very easy to enter to the market by any new farm. Prices. For example if we go to normal retail shops to buy vegetables, we will get at same prices from each and every shop.Fish market at Male' is a very good and a simple example, where inside the market lot of sellers will be selling same fishes. Prices will be set by the demand and supply. Neither buyer nor seller sets the price. It is more like automates pricing. Characteristics of perfect competition include large umber of small firms, identical products, perfect resource mobility and perfect knowledge. 2- Monopolistic competition It is almost like perfect competition where large number of small firms sells similar but not identical products. Relative freedom of entry, to and exit from the industry.It means buyers will have substitutes to choose from. Alternatives to buy for fulfill their needs and wants. Examples of industries structures as monopolistic competition includes, clothing industry, restaurants, and shoes and so on. 3- Oligopoly It is a market situation where products are supplied by small number of firms where ACH of them has influence over pricing and supplies which directly effects the position of the competitors. I oligopoly there is a special case where there is only two producers are called Duopoly. 4- Monopoly This is a market structure where only one producer in a market who has to the total control.Buyers do not have substitutes and have no choice. They have total control over supply and prices. In this market structure, seller is always happy and consumers suffer. They take more profit with a huge marginal value from the products. Characteristics of monopoly includes single seller, unique product, berries o entry and specialized information. The fifth type of market structure which is not included in basic structures is Monopoly. It is upside down of a monopoly where there is only one buyer. If we relate to a Mammalian context, government is the only buyer for the explosives and guns. Where there may be many sellers.Exhibit 1 Perfect Competition Monopolistic Competition Oligopoly Monopoly Number of Sellers Many Few One Barriers to Entry Very Low Low Very High Type of Substitute Products Very good Good substitutes but differentiated Very good differentiated substitutes No good substitutes Nature of competition Price only Marketing, features and price Advertising Pricing Power None Little Little to significant Significant As mentioned above, from 1988 to 2005 telecommunication industry of Maldives was a monopoly market. The following will elaborate how it was a monopoly a nd what was the situation during the monopoly. 988-2005 Draught monopoly in Maldives It was history that people used to call Draught as â€Å"Blood Suckers†. When the company started in the Maldives in Maldives there was a telecommunication service by cable and wireless which uses USB set to communicate between the islands. After their establishment as one and only telecoms service provider in 1988 they brought a major upgrade to their network in 1989 in Male and introduced paging service in the Maldives. They also introduced internet service for the very first time in Maldives in 1996 followed by mobile phone service in 1997 which was upgraded to GSM in 1999.Being the only company to provide the service and major share controlled by the government of the Maldives, they introduced services at a huge marginal value. Consumers have no substitution in the market, which lead Draught to grow up and cake huge profit and extended its service to nationwide, while charging extraordina ry high charges to cover its expansion costs and making more profit. It is usual to charge more from the consumers in monopoly market structure. In monopoly, always seller is always happy and consumers are unhappy.Some pros and cons of monopoly are: Advantages Disadvantages Large capital scale benefit to the company More money to invest on development Earning national export revenues Price discrimination between consumers Very high market share Restricts production potential Do not actively pursue new clients Poor product quality Unfair wealth distribution Entry barrier for new comers When Waiting telecoms Maldives (presently called Ordered) started their service officially in Maldives on 1st August 2005 shortly after they were licensed on 1st of February 2005, the market structure changed to an oligopoly.Oligopoly In economics oligopoly means that there are few sellers of a certain product in a market. Usually these sellers are always in a high competition with each other. In this type of markets sellers knows very well about their competitors. They have a high power to in pushing their products to the consumers. When on seller makes a change, it will directly affect other sellers. There is a special case in oligopoly which is called duopoly. Which is when the there is only two sellers in the market. Here are some advantages and disadvantages of oligopoly.Advantages Lot of control Ability to fix prices Competitive pricing More profit making Perfect knowledge of the market Price controlling will be a disadvantage for consumers Creative ideas may fail to realist Difficult for small firms to establish in the market Not much of competition No fair wealth distribution Oligopoly in Maldives telecoms industry From 2005 Ordered became the major and the only competitor to Draught. As usual they have initiated their business with a huge investment to make existence of their network across the Maldives.It was a huge challenge for them to establish when there was a well- established and government controlled seller in the marker for almost a decade, market share was 100% controlled by monopolized Draught. Immediately after starting the service in the market by the new comer, the unhappy customers of the monopolized industry started to change their service provider. They started with introductory promotional prices which was far much better than the ajar market controller, which directly affected the business of Draught. Competition, strengths and weaknesses.When there are two or more sellers are there in a market, it is obvious that the competition will be born in the market. It is very interesting to study about the competition between Ordered and Draught. Luckily I have got very good connections at the top levels of both the companies, which made me to sit and talk about their respective companies. I found that they are tightly in competition with each other. Pricing: When Draught was alone in the industry, consumers pay around USED $100 average u ser used to pay around MOVE 2000 per month for the usage. Call rates are sky high.Rates differ from calls from mobile to mobile and mobile to landlines. When the competition started and if we see current situation, we have choices for individuals and businesses depends on what consumer needs. There are some consumers who want more talk time than data while others doesn't care about the talk time but data allowance the service provider offers. Those used to spend around 2000 per month now are spending less than 500 per month because of competitive pricing by the competitors. Advertising: Earlier days Draught keeps and average advertising.Unlike that now each and every TV channel is occupied by both Draught and Ordered advertisements. All the islands with more population see those companies' bill boards near harbors and schools. It is very clear that Ordered is doing more aggressive advertising while Draught use more informative advertising. Corporate Social responsibility: We used to say that both the companies do corporate social responsibility to a certain extent. But in real, in my study I found that rather than corporate social responsibility they both do corporate philanthropy. They do not actively participate in social activities.But they do help by donation some money to do the social activities by others. That is a form of advertisement they both do. They are present in the activities as bill boards. Just to advertise the company name. For example: Thieved league football tournament is always sponsored by one of these two companies. Competitive advantages: Draught uses â€Å"first in Maldives† â€Å"Largest network† and so on while Ordered uses â€Å"best network for smart phones†. Draught is first to come and still holds 65% market share while Ordered is gaining market share at a rapid speed.Bad the backbone of the company is much better with latest technologies while Draught is upgrading its backbone. Subsidized handsets to consum ers: Ordered started offering Samsung handset to its consumers with contract for the very first time in Maldives. And soon they will be starting offer apple handsets on contract, while Draught is working with apple to introduce subsidized apple handsets with contract. Apple currently certified Ordered network for their products while Draught is doing upgrades to obtain certification of using Apple products on contract. Is this industry good for the society?Unlike the history of the monopoly in the telecommunication industry in the Maldives, with existing oligopoly (duopoly) consumers are happy now. As is economic theory, human wants are unlimited with the scares resources available, people are still aiming for mush cheaper services with better quality. As mentioned earlier in this report, consumers' expenses, for the use of telecommunication are decreased by 60 percentages. We never heard of handset for installments by service providers before. But it is started now. We have heard a bout subsidized handset with contract with carrier locked, from other parts of the world.We never imagined that a small country with a small population like us will get phones on contract with subsidized prices. But it is soon to happen. Unlike perfect competition and monopolistic competition there are no much of sellers. So competition and pricing of the products will not be according to the demand and supply. Sellers will have the power to set the prices. Consumers are very happy when there is a perfect competition and monopolistic competition. Consumers are sad at most when there is a monopoly. But than they used to have, the monopoly. It is an average good for the society.

Movie : American History X Sociology Essay

In a shocking opening scene, teen Danny Vinyard who is played by Edward Furlong, races to tell his older brother, neo-Nazi Derek, about the young blacks breaking into his car in front of the house, whereupon Derek gets his gun and with no forethought shoots the youths in their tracks and he forces the other man to put his mouth on the curb, then brutally kills him by stomping on the back of his head, crushing his mouth against the curb. Danny watches in horror as this unfolds. The police arrest Derek as he smiles at a shocked Danny.. Derek having already been influenced by the latent racism of his bigoted firefighter father. Derek is driven to action when his father is shot and killed while fighting a fire in a suspected Compton drug den. Eventually Derek becomes second-in-command of a neo-Nazi street gang, The D.O.C. (Disciples of Christ), and entices young whites to join. Tried and convicted, Derek is sent away for three years in prison, where he acquires a different outlook as he contrasts white-power prisoners with black Lamont, his prison laundry co-worker and eventual pal. Flashbacks, told in reverse chronology and represented by black-and-white throughout the film which is opposed to the present-day events represented in color, Meanwhile, Danny, with a shaved head and a rebellious attitude, seems destined to follow in his big brother’s footsteps. After Danny writes a favorable review of Hitler’s Mein Kampf, black high-school principal Sweeney puts Danny in his private â€Å"American History X† course and assigns him to do a paper about his older brother, who was a former student of Sweeney’s. This serves to introduce flashbacks, with the film backtracking to illustrate Danny’s account of Derek’s life prior to the night of the shooting. Monochrome sequences of Derek leading a Venice, California gang are intercut with color footage of the mature Derek ending his past neo-Nazi associations and attempting to detour Danny away from the group led by white supremacist, Cameron, who once influenced Derek. At a neo-Nazi party which Derek and Danny are both attending (despite the fact that Derek told Danny not to attend), Derek confronts and tells the leader, Cameron Alexander, that he will no longer associate with him and the gang and tells him to â€Å"Stay away from me and Danny†, at which point Cameron provokes and insults Derek. Derek beats him up and finally, kicks him in the head, which knocks him unconscious before leaving his office. At school the next morning, after Danny uses the urinal in the bathroom, he is confronted by a young black student named Little Henry, with whom he had a confrontation the previous day. The student pulls out a gun and shoots Danny in the chest, killing him. When Derek arrives, he runs into the bathroom and tearfully cradles his dead brother in his arms. The ending credits are Derek saying one of Abraham Lincoln’s famous sayings, â€Å"We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.†There are a few conflicts in the movie. One is that Derek between the neo-Nazi after he gets out. The term subculture refers to cultural patterns that set apart some segment of a society’s population. Cultural diversity also includes outright rejection of conventional ideas or behaviors. Counterculture refers to cultural patterns that strongly oppose those widely accepted within a society. In American History X it explores the neo-Nazi skinhead subculture in America. The skinheads are portrayed as hate-mongers; they believe in white supremacy and blame everyone else for their problems. The movie in a strong way, teaches that everyone deserves a second chance in life. Racism exists in many ways while American History X portrays one aspect of racism. The director portrays the neo-Nazi culture of America; their beliefs, reasons, and assumptions on others. American History X thoroughly exposes America as what it is today. Every day, crimes of hate are being committed mostly by blacks and whites. In the movie Derek’s father is portrayed as an ordinary working-class family man rather than a bigot to show that racism can stem from ignorance and the need to find a social  scapegoat. Shots of Derek staring attentively at his father then looking down and playing with his food show his confusion, and his final submission under his father’s demands for agreement â€Å"Yeah†¦I never thought about it like that.† The confusion shows that Derek is impressionable, and finally believes that social problems can be generalized to be blamed other races. The change that comes from this scene is shown in a news interview tape after Derek’s father is shot while fire-fighting in a black neighborhood. Derek’s growing hate forces his change in that moment from a timid, grieving son to an angry young man whose anger is given an outlet by the shadowy adult neo-Nazi, Cameron. In chapter three the author talks about norms which mean the rules and expectations by which a society guides the behaviors of its members. Mores are referred to norms that are widely observed and have great moral significance. People are more flexible about folkways. Folkways are norms for routine ad casual interaction. Examples include ideas about appropriate greetings, and proper dress. In the movie American History X there were a few morals that were shared between the members of this subculture. One of the main morals was that the white supremacy was better than the rest of the ethnicities. In one scene of the movie Danny says â€Å"I hate anyone that isn’t white Protestant.† Ethnocentrism is the practice of judging another culture by the standards of one’s own culture. Some degree of ethnocentrism is necessary for people to be emotionally attached to their way of life. But Ethnocentrism also generates misunderstandings and sometimes conflicts. Cultural relativism is the practice of judging a culture by its own standards. Cultural relativism requires not only openness to unfamiliar values and norms but also the ability to put aside cultural standards we have known all our lives. Even so, as people of the world come into increasing contact with one another, the importance of understanding other cultures become ever greater. One person who is ethnocentric is Danny who judges other cultures mainly the black culture because he was raised around a neo-Nazi brother and father most of his life. Derek was ethnocentric but due to some circumstances he turned into cultural relativism because he was more open and more understanding since he came back from prison. He went to prison because of his actions as an ethnocentric. He came out a changed man because he got raped because he was a neo-Nazi and his cell mate was a black and he was the only one who helped him and before Derek was released his cell mate was murdered. The social message in this movie was that racism is still a big problem here in America. It might not really look like it but it still exists. The movie insights of the racist of our social world. It also shows the audience an insight of the ethnocentrism community.

Nutrition †Obesity Essay

A large controversy in the field of health and food today is the effects that fast food and industrialized food have on our wellness. The convenience of obtaining food has become the main objective in society, but is it taking a toll on our health? Fast food restaurants such as (but not limited to) McDonald’s and Burger King are a major aspect to how a lot of our generation fills their stomach. Many researchers have been trying to link the increase in obesity to the consumption of industrialized food within the past few decades, but some argue that lack of physical activity has a part in the incline of overweight Americans as well. To get a complete analysis of exactly how our health is being affected by fast food industries, I am researching the following questions: Why is fast food so popular? How does fast food consumption affect adolescent obesity? What health risks are related to fast food consumption? What are other factors that could possibly contribute to the obesity problem? And should fast food be completely omitted from a healthy diet? These questions will be helpful to determine healthy lifestyle choices for families who do not know which way to go when dealing with the issue of industrialized food. Conducting research was a necessity before I could form an opinion about the fast food industry. During a two week period in October 2010, I examined six different sources. These sources include four academic journal articles, one book, and one magazine article. The magazine article by Clare Ulrich hinted on almost all of my questions but did not go into specific detail about each one. One academic journal by Stender, Dyerberg, and Astrup was not very helpful in answering my preliminary questions, but had me posing another question about the ingredients that make fast food so unhealthy. The academic journal article written by Raymond Gozzi Jr. answered some of my questions about why Americans keep going back to their favorite fast food restaurants. An article from the book Food and an academic journal article by Nestle and Young were very helpful in expressing different factors that could be affecting obesity rates. Glassner, Barry. â€Å"Environmental Factors and Genetics Are the Source of Obesity. † Food. Ed. Jan Grover. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2008. 158-165. Print. Barry Glassner, a sociology professor at the University of Southern California, discusses his beliefs that obesity is not linked to food consumption in his academic journal article Environmental Factors and Genetics Are the Source of Obesity. Glassner suggests that other factors such as genetics, stress and inactivity are responsible for the obesity epidemic among Americans. The author mentions that there are so many diet fads because no one knows exactly what foods make a person gain weight or if any foods do at all. Glassner includes in his article that genes are the main reason for overweight people. He says that natural selection and natural resistance to obesity are the main factors to weight gain. Then the author links economic stress to the reason Americans are now more overweight. The article says that stress is a major factor to eating habits and since the economy is doing poorly right now, Americans are over eating to aliviate the stress and not staying active due to long work hours. Glassner claims that most fast food bashers try to convince the public that there is a direct link to obesity and fast food consumption, but provide no real evidence to support their thesis. This article helped answer my research questions about other factors that could affect the incline in obesity. Gozzi Jr. , Raymond. â€Å"The Fast Food Franchise as Metaphor. † A Review of General Semantics 53. 3 (1996): 322-325. Print. Raymond, Gozzi Jr. is an Assosiate Professor of the Television-Radio Department at Ithaca College. He wrote the academic journal article, The Fast Food Franchise as Metaphor which states, â€Å"A fast food franchise is an embodied metaphor for the perfect system†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (323). The author believes that people love knowing they will get the same product every time they come back. Gozzi also looks at other business franchises and compares them to human love of predictability. The crash of the fast food era is also mentioned in this article. The author explains that the fast food industry has changed in order to maintain steady business flow by adding salads and breakfast, but he also wonders how long franchises will last in our society. This information was useful to me in answering my question about why fast food is so popular. None of my other information elaborates on Americans wanting fast food because of the familiarity so this article brought a different prospective to my research. Stender, S. , J. Dyerberg, and A. Astrup. â€Å"Fast food: unfriendly and unhealthy. † International Journal of Obesity 31. 6 (2007): 887-890. Print. The academic journal article, â€Å"Fast food: unfriendly and healthy,† by Stender, Dyerberg, and Astrup, looks at the more factual aspect of the effects of fast food consumption. Stender and Dyerberg work together at the Department of Clinical Biochemistry and at the Gentofte Hospital at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark while Astrup also works at the University of Copenhagen for the Department of Human Nutrition and the Centre for Advanced Food Studies. This article examines actual studies of the difference of an American who eats fast food frequently and one who does not. The authors of the article include the fattening and unhealthy contents of industrialized food from the chains McDonald’s and KFC. To finish the article, the authors include a section about some items that are being done to make the fast food industry more consumer friendly such as nutritional labeling on all food products. This article made me consider and answered another question that would be beneficial to my research: What contents in fast food make nutritionists brand is so unhealthy? Americans need to know what to look out for in certain fast foods so we are able to limit or omit the unhealthy aspects from our diets. Ulrich, Clare. â€Å"The Economics of Obesity: Costs, Causes, and Controls. † Human Ecology 33. 3 (2005): 10-13. Print. Clare Ulrich discusses the effects that the fast food industry has on the American population. She begins her article with a heavy statistic that death from obesity, has increased by 33 percent from 1990. Ulrich obtains some of her information about the cost and reasons why people choose fast food from the presentation, â€Å"Economics of obesity,† by John Cawley. The author also uses information from the Surgeon General about the percentage of Americans who are overweight or obese. She also includes the percent of childhood obesity in the United States and some possible reasons that this number has increased since 1950. This article was helpful to me in answering the questions: Why is fast food so popular? How does fast food consumption affect adolescent obesity? What are the health risks are related to fast food consumption? Although this article did give me useful information about my inquiries, it did not go into extensive detail about what keeps Americans hooked on fast food, how obesity effects children, and how fast food is accurately linked to fast food consumption. Wood, Marcia. â€Å"Kids, Fast Food, and Obesity. † Agricultural Research 57. 9 (2009): 20-21. Print. Marcia Woods writes about the results of a study of kid’s meals at fast food restaurants done by pediatrician Jason A. Mendoza in her article Kids, Fast Food, and Obesity. Wood says that Mendoza and his team of researchers from the Children’s National Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine, did an analysis of ten fast food franchises who served kid’s meals. The author says Mendoza found only three percent of the meals met the nutritional set by the National School Lunch Program for children ages five to nine. Wood includes why the meals did not make the grade based on Mendoza’s research. The author says the research is conducted because of the growing numbers of childhood obesity and the increase in meals eaten away from home. Woods concludes her article with potential health consequences from being obese as a child. This article answered my question about the effects of childhood obesity and also my latest question about the content in fast food that makes it deemed unhealthy. Mendoza’s research is very helpful as a credible source that explains why children could be gaining more weight. Young, Lisa R. , and Marion Nestle. â€Å"Portion Sizes and Obesity: Responses of Fast-Food Companies. † Journal of Public Health Policy 28. 2 (2007): 238-248. Print. Portion Sizes and Obesity: Responses of Fast-Food Companies by Lisa R. Young and Marion Nestle discusses the relationship between the rise in portion sizes and weight gain among Americans. The authors believe that food is not specifically the reason for the increased obesity rate, but the much larger portion sizes since 1998. This article examines and compares the sizes of the most popular items sold at fast food restaurants: soft drinks, hamburgers, and French fries. The three fast food franchises chosen for the research were McDonald’s, Wendy’s and Burger King. The data in the article includes a table of portion sizes in the years 1998, 2002 and 2006. The research shows that the portions have increased in almost all areas. Nestle and Young also look at what these fast food franchises have done to reduce portion sizes in response to media pressure. The authors then include data from the original sizes of soda, French fries and hamburgers in 1955 to 2006. Young and Nestle conclude that fast food restaurants have done very little or nothing to reduce portion sizes and promote healthy numbers or caloric intake. The article was useful to answer my questions: What are other factors that could possibly contribute to the obesity problem? And should fast food be completely omitted from a healthy diet? Portion size is a big factor to weight gain with any type of food and the studies showed me that the portions since 1998 and 1955 have drastically changed which could link it to obesity.